• 2 Posts
  • 32 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2023

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  • Let me tell you a secret: any linux distribution is a kernel + a set of pre-installed drivers and programs + their configs. Nothing more than that! Most distributions use the same kernel and roughly the same set of programs. The only differences are in the desktop environment and initial settings.

    I would recommend Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) as a start choice. Do not trust those who say that if you choose a “beginner’s distro” you won’t have to get into the console or text configs. Your choice of distro will determine how often you’ll do this.

    As a regular user, I’ve used different distributions and always something didn’t work. Many issues couldn’t be solved via GUI, so I had to deep dive into both the console and all Linux services.

    P.S. Arch Linux daily-driver.








  • Seems that’s true. Text-only communication in Briar is built by design. I see this from its communication scheme. I don’t think any other message options will come up. So I am also on it in case of the Internet outage. Besides, you can chat properly only when you and your contact are both online. Not a very handy option for daily use.

    So SimpleX.Chat for privacy and Matrix for public groups.





  • If a server is hosting our data, albeit in encrypted form, there is always the risk of the server being compromised. You know the history of PGP and why OpenPGP was created, don’t you?

    One of the options, where every user device is a server, is a blockchain. But I think you’ll also agree that this scheme doesn’t give complete privacy.

    The issue of privacy in this case is a convenience issue. To me, federated is not a checkbox type property: it’s either there or it’s not. To me, it’s a spectrum: some protocol is more federated, some less so. We could design a fully privacy-aware protocol and service that can only partially be considered as federated. You may disagree with me, but I haven’t seen a clear definition with a complete list of federated protocol properties 😉