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1 • Phone for Linux. (by R. Cain on 2022-05-16 03:06:41 GMT from United States)
For the easiest method of running a Linux distribution with the minimum amount of problems , I'd choose a phone which has maximum specs at a minimum price---
the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 5G Gaming Smartphone, with 128/12 GB of memory, active cooling, and running UserLAnd (highlighted in last week's DistroWatch feature story).
Nubia Red Magic costs between $630 and $680, depending on vendor.
2 • Pine Phone Pro (by Andy Prough on 2022-05-16 03:47:38 GMT from United States)
I would spend the extra $200 and get the Pine Phone Pro. It looks like it is a significant upgrade in terms of processing speed and power, and Jesse's reviews of the original Pine Phone indicated that it needed a cpu upgrade. I would think (or hope) that you should still be able to try a lot of different distros on it, like on the Pine Phone.
3 • NVIDIA (by Charlie on 2022-05-16 04:23:23 GMT from Hong Kong)
Actually it's the NVIDIA kernel module that becomes open source instead of the whole driver.
Still, it's more easy to distribute and make general Linux users available of installing it without some 3rd party repo.
4 • active cooling on a phone (by dave on 2022-05-16 04:51:03 GMT from United States)
a phone with a fan lol
I'm sure that'll last a long time
5 • Quark OS (by Hank on 2022-05-16 06:30:03 GMT from Germany)
Quark, German slang for bunk or rubbish seems pretty much fitting for the non distro.
Regarding phones for linux, the majority are rich boys toys, expensive and only partialy functional.
630 to 680 for a phone, I would rather have food and some heating.
6 • Quark...Really? (by anon on 2022-05-16 08:02:51 GMT from United States)
"Unlike Q4OS which is Debian Based, Quark is based on Ubuntu."
Do the devs not realize that Ubuntu is also based on Debian? Making a new distro out of an existing distro because you want to base it on another distro that is already based on the distro that you are trying to get away from. They don't seem to offer any groundbreaking feature other than a rebasing from upstream to downstream within the same distro family. Q4OS is already beginner friendly, and it already "just works" out of the box. This distro is a redundant redundancy, and a perfect example of what the "too many distos" crowd is talking about with regard to fragmentation and duplicated effort.
7 • Dr. Hu (by Quark fan phone on 2022-05-16 08:34:08 GMT from Philippines)
I have created my own distro with Plasma, Unity and TDE on Ubuntu 20.04. I call it PUTOS (Spanish). Soon to be featured in a Distrowatch near you. Or maybe not.
@4, In my experience, cooling fans have had long lives and few problems in desktops and laptops. No reason to believe they'd be less durable in smartphones. My concern would be battery life, unless the phone is one thick, heavy slab.
8 • Linux testing on a phone. (by DachshundMan on 2022-05-16 09:54:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
There seems to be at least 1 missing option in the poll and that would be "I do not have enough knowledge to recommend anything". This option would be my choice as, to me, "other" implies recommending some device not listed.
9 • Linux Phone (by penguinx86 on 2022-05-16 10:22:01 GMT from United States)
This weeks poll asked which phone I'd recommend for testing Linux. While I've never tried running Linux on a phone, I voted for Pinephone because it has the lowest price. One problem I see with Linux phones is drivers. The phone would have to be made entirely of hardware that does not require proprietary drivers for me to install my choice of Linux distros. For example, I have that problem with many distros being incompatible with the wifi adapter in my laptop out of the box. If a distro doesn't work with my wifi adapter, I don't see how it would work with 100% of Smartphone hardware either.
10 • Linux Phone (by kc1di on 2022-05-16 12:20:25 GMT from United States)
@ 8 I agree there should be a item in the survey that I don't know or something like that. I could not recommend one because never have used one.
11 • Fone fan... (by Friar Tux on 2022-05-16 13:37:43 GMT from Canada)
@7 (Quark fan) Pocket lint, my friend, you are forgetting pocket lint. If the phone had a fan, it has to have intake and out-flow vents. It will also probably run the fan for a while after the phone is shut off, to continue the cooling process. That would be like sticking a small lint vacuum into your pocket/purse. Have you ever cleaned out the fan of a desktop computer? It just sits on a desk and yet it will pick up quick the a collection of debris.
However, having said all that I get the feeling that the "active cooling" isn't a fan.
As for Q4OS, I've tried it. It's not bad. I didn't try Quark but the regular Trinity 64 bit version. To complain that Q4OS is duplicating efforts since Quark is Ubuntu basic, but Ubuntu is Debian based is kind of silly as many distros use both as a base. Linux Mint does (for different reasons). This way it one fails you have already got a back up in the wings. Seem a good idea. Most Linux users even have two (or more) distros on their machines for the same reason.
Oh, and about cell phones, I don't have one, either. They are, as one commenter said, just an expensive toy. Way overpriced, even at the low end, for what they do. I'll use the money to buy a decent, smallish, laptop. That way I can take it anyway I want, still have all the computer power I need, run the Linux OS I want, and still call my family and friends. Works for me.
12 • Phones and Quarks @11 (by Dr. Hu on 2022-05-16 14:50:04 GMT from Philippines)
Yes, the phones have fans. In fact Lenovo has one with not one fan, but two. Pocket lint? Really! These are specialty phones, aimed at gamers. I'm sure they're not going to be running around loose in someone's pocket on a daily basis right after playing. Your comments about laptops are a bit old. I helped my ex run a PC repair business here, so I've seen my share of dirty PCs. Here, the salt air was tough, and people can be careless. But I have a mini PC and a laptop here running daily for over 5 years and they are not dirty, nor have they needed cleaning. PCs don't run the fans so often these days, and the fans are not as strong. Lower wattage CPUs make much less heat, unless they are powerful laptops, like gaming machines, and they do so only when they are exercised. I'd expect the same from those phones. The likelihood of going into the pocket with a running fan should be very small indeed. As for running Linux on them, I tried UserLand on an 8" tablet. It worked after a fashion, but it's not for me. At least not yet.
It's not Q4OS that's duplicating efforts. It's Quark, and they are doing a pretty lousy job. I was not kidding. I installed TDE from a PPA. Less than a half hour later it was working a lot better than Quark worked for Jesse. So what is the devs point an purpose?
Hard to measure how strongly I disagree with you about smartphones. I used to carry as laptop in a small backpack, whenever I went where I might want it. Then it was a tablet in a fanny pack. Now, whenever I leave the house the phone goes in my pocket. Hard also to explain how useful that thing can be in an average day just around town, never mind traveling. I do little texting and even less calling, but there are many other ways that little piece of tech makes my life easier. I'm an old dog, older than you, but this is an old dog that learns new tricks..
13 • QuarkOS (by Glenn Condrey on 2022-05-16 21:54:09 GMT from United States)
@#6
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, yet they also make a Linux Mint Debian Edition.
I have used QuarkOS, and I did not have the problems getting Trinity installed that Jesse did.
I guess it helps that I have previously used Q4OS before though.
I love the old KDE3.0 based desktop system... it still makes me feel welcome. Its like a comfortable baseball glove.
It may not be the BEST baseball glove, but ts comfortable, and you could not see yourself using any other glove.
That being said, while using QuarkOS was pleasant enough... I still prefer the parent Q4OS. Being based on Ubuntu means that at some point you're going to have to install another disk possibly... and I like the idea of my OS being based on a rolling release platform instead.
14 • Quark (by Justme on 2022-05-17 00:46:03 GMT from United States)
I've used Quark, the 20.04 release, and everything worked as advertised. It's just Kubuntu with some apps and theming, with their own "qubuntu" repos added.
15 • @12-- Dr. Hu (by R. Cain on 2022-05-17 02:28:36 GMT from United States)
"...Hard to measure how strongly I disagree with you about smartphones..."
That could be due to a not imperceptible bias *against* smartphones, which manifests itself by statements such as "...Way overpriced, even at the low end, for what they do...", and, "...I'll use the money to buy a decent, smallish, laptop...".
For $49.99? Really? I'll take one of those, myself. Read on...
I have noticed an absolutely delightful trend in smartphones: the price of very capable smartphones has been approaching that of "feature phones" for some time, and it appears as though that parity has now been achieved.
One can now buy a 3/32 GB smartphone---Android 11, 3-camera (depth/macro/main) phone with 5000 mAH battery (for 40 hrs of talk time), 8-core processor, and a *headphone jack* and 6.5-inch screen, all for the princely sum of $49.99.
One will most definitely pay more than that for almost all "flip-phones" nowadays.
Oh, and I almost forgot... the manufacturer is Samsung.
Not sure I'd consider this as "...way overpriced, for what [π¨π³π³] they do...".
16 • @11 - Mobile phones are not toys (by Ben Myers on 2022-05-17 03:39:27 GMT from United States)
A mobile phone may be a toy to you, but I am one of perhaps hundreds of millions (or more?) of people for whom a mobile phone is an essential business and personal tool. Now, I say that because I use my phone to call people, receive calls, send texts, receive texts, all for both business and personal reasons, at home or on the road (as long as there is cell coverage). My phone has a very nice and pretty accurate cardio app to measure my pulse rate when I am outdoors on a hiking trail or climbing a small mountain. My phone has a pretty good GPS navigation app, but I do not use it because I can go most anywhere without it, except maybe it would come in handy outside the US.
I do not use a browser on a cell phone, preferring to browse with my large screen computer. I do not watch movies, play music, tweet (ugh!) or use other social media. I sometimes use it for video calls via Messenger, especially to people overseas.
My usage may not be the norm, but does the above paragraph describe usage of a TOY?
Oh, yes, my phone is an elderly LG G4 which cost me all of $50, replacement batteries less than $10. Verizon keeps nagging me to upgrade to a 5G, when there is not much 5G available. If I could speak to a real Verizon person, well nigh impossible, I'd tell them to piss off. If someone needs the latest and greatest, let them pay the bucks. Not me.
17 • Fone fan again... (by Friar Tux on 2022-05-17 13:43:27 GMT from Canada)
@12 (Dr. Hu) Phones with fan. I wasn't actually talking about gamer phones. I was talking everyday use phones. I still don't think it a great idea to put a vacuum cleaner into a phone. Unless you have a way on keeping the dust and dirt out. But, each to his own
@15 (R. Cain) I'm not against smartphones, just the high prices asked for them. IF you can get one in your area for $50.00, by all means get one. Unless I'm looking in all the wrong places, I haven't seen one that low yet. (And yes, $50.00 is NOT way overpriced.)
@16 (Ben Myers) Oh yes, the smartphone actually IS a toy to MOST people. I haven't said anything in my earlier comment about using smartphones for business as I believe that's a great use case for a smartphone. But how many people do you really think use their phones for business. Definitely not the ones you see heading off to schools each day with their heads buried in their phones. Definitely not the ones you see in the mall, post office, shopping centres, parks, etc., etc., with the heads buried in their phones. For MOST people smartphones are a fad, a trend, A TOY! (Why do you think that statistically, games and social media are the most used apps of smartphones? Certainly THAT'S not a business use.) By the way, your ending sentence about "the latest and the greatest" is a rant all to it's own.
18 • Poll (by Otis on 2022-05-17 16:57:12 GMT from United States)
Once again, no "LMAO" choice in the poll. *sigh*
Just kidding.. but still, I threw my hands in the air and gave up hope for phone operating systems when Research In Motion changed more than their name.. heck I saw nothing of the future back before that when my Blackberry was so remarkably useful to me in remarkable ways. Now we're watered down to iOS and Android and what's left of Blackberry OS.
Linux on a phone? Have fun, it's not like Linux on a PC or laptop for the noted reasons, but some minimalists will bring out the best in it I suppose, proving that the smartphone is a toy indeed for many.
19 • poor phone security (by phoney on 2022-05-18 05:18:07 GMT from France)
The problem with phones and other devices is poor security. For example, passwords have been found to be easily revealed by hackers.
One brand of phone can be tracked even when it's turned off - because bluetooth is still active, since the chip operates for 24 hours in an ultra low power state. This was a "feature" of the phone so that it could be found if lost. Researchers say that there may be other undiscovered "features" that are security vulnerabilities in phones.
And there is a well-publicised war going on - where half-a-dozen officers have been "nutrilised" by having their mobile phones tracked.
The tech industry's desire for "ease-of-use", compromises the security of phones and computers - especially when it comes to wifi & bluetooth. There needs to be better hardware security, so that it's not left up to the less capable OS to provide.
20 • Phone mess (by Will on 2022-05-18 11:59:18 GMT from United States)
OMG, the phone thing... what a friggin' mess. I bought a Nexus 5, because it was supported by ubports. What a disaster, the touch interface was nice actually, the phone worked for sending and receiving voice, but after that, it was all downhill. Navigation - forget it - 30 minutes to triangulate a position via satellite and then it would lose its mind 5 minutes later. Text messages - uh, not good. Maybe ok for standard, person to person, but group messages, not so much. The error messages were cryptic, etc. Meanwhile, with Android on it, everything just worked. I am forlorn :) Well, maybe not - just need to be patient, surely it will improve...
21 • @19 phoney: (by dragonmouth on 2022-05-18 12:37:55 GMT from United States)
The price of convenience is security and privacy. But very few think about that. Everybody just wants to save a few milliseconds, as if that will make huge difference in their lives.
22 • Phones (by NoComment on 2022-05-18 13:06:32 GMT from Japan)
@19 phoney & @21 dragonmouth:
Now, just to clear up some very obvious misunderstanding here:
Passwords are easily revealed by hackers on just about every device, if the user doesn't know how to protect them.
EVERY mobile phone on Earth can be easily tracked and can be found in a very short time, as soon as it is powered on. No need for Bluetooth. And that is indeed one very important and useful feature of any mobile phone.
If you see that as a "security vulnerability", then you must be a criminal. Otherways, you would have to be grateful for such technology.
Namely, EACH and EVERY phone on the planet can call 911 or 112 at any time, WITHOUT a SIM-card. IMEI serves as a phone number and more importantly, it can be traced pretty quickly as soon as it has reception.
That is a very important feature as it does much more than just 'convenience feature' of finding a lost phone. It is a LIFESAVER. Thanks to that function, one can place the call, if one is in some serious trouble and the triangulation will do the rest. Same time, it allows us to find the criminals much easier and quicker.
So, to me, it seems like you misunderstood "the lifesaver" for "privacy miner" ... Paranoid much?
If you want "privacy", how about living without a computer and a phone? Not like the life didn't exist before their invention.
23 • @22 NoComment: (by dragonmouth on 2022-05-18 17:28:31 GMT from United States)
You have just proven my point. Since I do not own or use a mobile phone, I have never read the provider contract. Is there a clause in the contract that gives the service provider a blanket permission to track the user 24/7/365?!
Yes, in an emergency it is convenient and maybe even life-saving that a mobile phone can be tracked. But that is a specious argument. UNLESS the phone owner calls 911 or 112, how does the tracking entity determine that an emergency is occurring??? By monitoring the phone owners vital signs? That is a further invasion of privacy.
"one can place the call, if one is in some serious trouble"
Not if one is unconscious.
"how about living without a computer and a phone?"
I do live without a MOBILE phone, My landline does not spy on me or record my conversations. My desktop always broadcasts my location as 'home'.
Remember, Just because you're paranoid, does not mean that you are not being tracked.
24 • @dragonmouth (by NoComment on 2022-05-18 19:09:04 GMT from Japan)
Most of your comments over the past few years are kind of 'beside the shoes, paranoid case for the closed psychiatry"-type, and so, you've proven my point. Paranoid much ...
"The tracked entity determines the emergency" according to the common sense, education and intellectual capabilities (or the lack of them) ...
https://www.sos112.be/en/faq-112.html
https://eena.org/about-112/whats-112-all-about/
It is very well-known what those numbers are and if you don't know, it's easy to find (if one's not too lazy or ... 'disabled in some other way').
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/112_(emergency_telephone_number)
P.S. Unconscious don't care for the 'privacy', nether if the are dead or alive. They're just unconscious, and might get conscious or not.
25 • @17-- Some additional information for you, and others who may be curious... (by R. Cain on 2022-05-18 20:32:31 GMT from United States)
"@15 (R. Cain) I'm not against smartphones, just the high prices asked for them. IF you can get one in your area for $50.00, by all means get one. UNLESS I'M LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES [emphasis added], I haven't seen one that low yet..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So as to avoid the possibility of being tagged as a "shill", I will not mention any sources directly, but with your obvious expertise, it should be easy to track this down, given the following information---
the $49.99 Samsung phone is offered by a popular nation-wide (USA), low-cost MVNO carrier/reseller, both on its website and in a popular nation-wide retail store which sells the services and products of this MVNO.
Furthermore, another very popular nationwide MVNO carrier/reseller is offering its own version of a slightly less powerful phone, for $59, through the same nation-wide retailer (but $79 when you see it listed on the carrier's website. That's right---if you go in the store and say, "I want to buy a [MVNO] phone, model XXXX.", you will pay only $59. Go figure. Ain't marketing wonderful?).
I sincerely hope this helps not only you, but others who are curious about this $49.99 smartphone.
I am seriously considering buying one myself.
26 • Linux and phones. (by Justme on 2022-05-19 04:48:01 GMT from United States)
Linux devs can create an excellent Smartphone OS, better than Android even, and except for a few enthusiasts, it would make no difference any more than the this OS I'm running on my desktop being better than Windows in most respects will raise the Linux-on-the-desktop share above the usual 2%. Microsoft found this out with Windows Phone. It was a good OS, probably better than Android. But they thought it was subscription business as usual, and they were sorely wrong. It's not about the OS. It's about apps. I can deposit a check to my bank by scanning it into their Android app. Touch "deposit", and it's done. Try that with a laptop, and are you going to be able to do that on Linux phone no matter how smoothly it runs? There are millions of apps in Google and Apple stores. I use about 40 or so, and some are invaluable. A phone is not a laptop replacement, it is a complement. My laptop didn't replace my desktop. I like comfortable desk and chair, a big monitor and keyboard, and a good mouse. To do it with a laptop is just a kludge. Yet there are many who use only laptops, and they suffice. Millions also use just phones. For their particular use, a phone suffices, plus the phone can do many things a laptop cannot.
@23, dragonmouth -"My landline does not spy on me or record my conversations. My desktop always broadcasts my location as 'home'." You sure? Your provider certainly knows exactly where your "home" is, after all, they installed it. Location can be disabled on a phone so you can only be traced to the nearest tower. I leave location on. How else can Google direct me to the nearest place I want to reach. Yes, I get ads for local things, and not for sales available in Timbuktu.
@17, Friar Tux- "IF you can get one in your area for $50.00, by all means get one. Unless I'm looking in all the wrong places, I haven't seen one that low yet." Google 'Amazon phones", click on price ranges.
27 • @23, emergency (by Liam on 2022-05-19 06:11:09 GMT from Australia)
"one can place the call, if one is in some serious trouble"
"Not if one is unconscious."
Well, if you don't have a phone, you can't place the call even if you are conscious. Advantage: phone
28 • tech or cave? (by phoney on 2022-05-19 23:13:45 GMT from Singapore)
@22, @24 no comment,
The activites of cybercrims once caused a part of the Russian Government to go back to using pen-&-paper; The UK hospital system and numerous businesses worldwide to temporarily shut down; and now the Mexican Government also has had to go back to pen-&-paper.
Tech is a strange revolution when it fosters criminal behaviour of tracking, hacking, & cryptojacking, and renders us unable to safely use our devices. This revolution may eventually send us all back to living like Neanderthals in caves, drawing on the walls for communication. When is there ever going to be some very effective security? Separating network hardware from the motherboard could be a start.
29 • @28, tech (by Grug Crood on 2022-05-19 23:50:32 GMT from Australia)
The greatest vulnerability exists between the keyboard and the chair.
30 • overthrow (by phoney on 2022-05-19 23:56:36 GMT from Singapore)
@28, correction: not Mexico, but Costa Rican Government - where cybercrims are trying to βoverthrow the government by means of a cyberattack.β
31 • Common Sense @phoney (by NoComment on 2022-05-20 07:24:54 GMT from Japan)
You could've added "After spying on smartphones: Spain's secret service chief resigns" or hundreds of other similar cases from the past, but try to use ...
Common sense ... which needs the ability to differentiate among the nuances of the term "spying on me" or "tracking me".
The phones were tapped, the cars tracked ... a long time before the invention of smartphones.
The simple fact that one communication device is trackable, doesn't automatically mean that someone is "tracking you" -- that's far too expensive and if you aren't a criminal or some important person that matters, nobody will bother.
If the police or some secret service is behind you, they will get you sooner or later. Modern technology is quickly developing, and soon everything surrounding you will be "tracking you".
I guess that you already know how even the window glass and your light bulb are "tracking you" already now ... There are laser devices and sensors which can 'read' what are you talking about inside a room, if they only have a clear view at your room windows, or the light bulb through the window. Pretty soon, even your clothing will be "tracking you" ...
https://www.popsci.com/technology/fabric-microphone-converts-sound-to-electricity/
And then, you need to differentiate among tracking and "tracking", and who is the one "tracking you" ...
You'll have a very hard times if you are trying to hide from the police or the secret service, but they don't have any interest in tracking "you" or the vast majority of people.
Advertisement industry which is "tracking you" is actually also not really interested in "you" -- they track just about anyone and anything trackable, in hope they might sell someone a car, after one just bought one. ;) In such case, they use your position not to "track you" or to "spy on you", but simply because it allows them to offer you something that's near you. No much sense in offering me the advertisement for the car repair in the U. S., if I'm living in Japan ...
Like every other thing, everything that can be used, can be abused too.
The dynamite was invented to help mining and not to make wars. The water was 'invented' to help against thirst -- living -- and not to purposely drawn or torture people ... Everything can be abused, and since the mobile phones also fall in to that "everything" category ...
However, if you can use the common sense, you'll easily find out that this "tracking you" feature in mobile phones has many more advantages than disadvantages in everyday life.
Paranoid much?
Eventually you should really consider finding somewhere some nice, cold and moist cave and hide yourself inside like the Neanderthal ... we won't follow you -- I promise. ;)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/06/dystopian-world-singapore-patrol-robots-stoke-fears-of-surveillance-state
https://restofworld.org/2021/singapores-tech-utopia-dream-is-turning-into-a-surveillance-state-nightmare/
32 • Privacy; security. (by R. Cain on 2022-05-20 10:12:25 GMT from United States)
Communications "security" and "privacy" used to be as simple, and very nearly 100% effective, as a fax machine connected to a Western Union network (Western Union---"the telegram people"--- at one time had a physical plant comparable to the Bell system).
It was *de rigueur* for all companies of any reasonable size to transact all important business via fax machine over a *DEDICATED* Bell landline, or the Western Union network.
Since Western Union and Bell have disappeared, and all communications, ππππππ
πππ πππππ, are now transmitted via the internet, through "the cloud", there is ONLY ONE secure, highly and extremely private (and cheap, by the way) method of document transmission remaining: SEND A LETTER (or use FedEx or UPS for really 'weighty' stuff).
"All seemingly very hard problems have an extremely simple solution if you just look at them the right way"---Douglas Adams
33 • Security & Privacy, @32, R. Cain (by NoComment on 2022-05-20 11:10:36 GMT from Japan)
"Communications "security" and "privacy" [...] there is ONLY ONE secure, highly and extremely private [...] method of document transmission remaining: SEND A LETTER [...]."
Well, ... don't know. I guess it comes down to the definitions of "security" and "privacy".
Namely, if the "privacy intrusion" includes the "metadata" then it's good to know, that all mail traffic (letters) is getting scanned and one almost always knows the sender and receiver.
If the postcard can be assumed as "secure" and "private", then a fax did definitely meet the criteria -- only everybody in the office could read it ... or only everybody on one floor of some office building ...
;)
34 • @33-- NoComment; serious clarification needed, please. (by R. Cain on 2022-05-20 14:21:07 GMT from United States)
You wrote...
"...Namely, if the "privacy intrusion" includes the "metadata" then it's good to know, that all mail traffic (letters) is getting scanned and one almost always knows the sender and receiver.
If the postcard can be assumed as "secure" and "private", then a fax did definitely meet the criteria -- only everybody in the office could read it ... or only everybody on one floor of some office building ..."
Paragraph (1): please expand on this statement. If you mean that you think all ENVELOPES are being scanned, that's one thing (simply do NOT write your 'sender address' on the envelope). If you mean that you think all ENVELOPES of ALL MAIL are somehow being opened in order for the contents to be scanned, that's another; and will not even be commented on.
Paragraph (2): no mention was made, nor even implied, of sending sensitive information via a π·πΆπΊπ»πͺπ¨πΉπ«; as in anything else, but particularly as regards privacy and security: common sense must prevail at all times. As to the rest of the paragraph: of course any privacy and/or secrecy is 100% perishable, and vaporizes once the information is made available to the rest of the world.
"Two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead."---Mark Twain
35 • No clarrification needed -- if you read carefuly and -- think @34 by R. Cain (by NoComment on 2022-05-20 15:50:25 GMT from Japan)
If you read carefully, no further clarification is needed ...
Scanning every envelope / package in "analog world" corresponds to "collecting metadata" in the "digital world". It is different from county to country though, but most of the ("civilized or half-civilized world") countries I know of, are scanning the mail, if nothing else, then to make the "delivery tracking" possible. Some were or are even opening the letters, but that is irrelevant at this point.
"Simply do NOT write your 'sender address' on the envelope" will or will not work -- depending who is the sender, but even if one writes no sender name, the "metadata" is still there (the city name, time ... and eventually your fingerprints if there is a need to further investigate). The real criminals could avoid all of it, but this is what they can do in digital world too, and we are talking about "paranoid", and not about "criminal" people here ...
"Sending sensitive information via a postcard" is exactly what you do, if you are using analog fax machines. Anybody and everybody can see it and read it. It doesn't even have an envelope. Who exactly "anybody and everybody" is, depends on the office or the company in case, and "sensitive information" is again the matter of your personal definition of "sensitive".
For example, all your personal data: name, address, telephone number, image (albeit of bad quality) ... the list of your diseases, your current health state, your finances ... if any of this is a "sensitive information" for you, then it is still sent from A to B as a postcard (fax) ... even in "highly civilized" countries in 2022 ...
36 • everyday vs targeted (by phoney on 2022-05-21 00:22:32 GMT from Netherlands)
@31, @33, @35 no comment
You're talking from a general perspective - where security and privacy is adequate for everyday people. But for those who become targeted - like with domestic violence, cults, crime gangs, extreme religions, stalkers, or the political state - they can be tracked via tech devices: phones, computers, CCTV cameras, cars, etc. That's where the tech industry's security and privacy falls down. For example, tech companies sell tracking tokens to place in/on personal items so that they can be found if lost. But those same tokens have been hacked, or placed in/on people's possessions to track them.
The way that the tech industry is going we will all be tracked and our privacy invaded eventually - as is happening in places like China with its use of face detection technology.
PS - Singapore is a proxy location - an attempt at privacy.
Number of Comments: 36
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Ultima Linux was a Slackware-compatible Linux distribution available for Intel and AMD-based personal computers. Although first intended as a lightweight, techie-oriented desktop system when development began in November 2004, Ultima has since evolved into a highly stable distribution supporting both desktop and server capabilities. Ultima Linux was built around the K Desktop Environment (KDE), and includes many popular applications such as Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, the OpenOffice.org office suite, the GIMP image editor, MPlayer and Xine media players, and many others. It borrows Slackware's TGZ package format, and can be extended with additional software from a public repository, or various third-party sites.
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