I’m now on fixed income but I appreciate FOSS. I usually try to donate, especially if the project accepts bitcoin which I’ve had for a while so it costs me less. Too bad many projects don’t. That includes Wikipedia and they keep asking why I stopped.
Same. Any place asking for donations that supports Bitcoin lightning is an instant donate for me, I always give something even if it’s a small amount. Lightning fees are so low that I’m happy to give small amounts whereas otherwise I’m worried my $3 donation will turn into $0.50 by the time it reaches the organization if it’s through Paypal or whoever.
You should check out Droid-ify! It’s a much more friendlier alternative to F-Droid, and also has more applications by default (gets some apps directly from Github).
I am a Kdenlive user, but unless you install desktop linux on your phone, there’s no way to install it on mobile. Maybe someday though - That’s the point I’m trying to make.
DAVx & ICSx (nextcloud contacts and calendar sync)
DNS66
Jellyfin
Spotube
From FDroid (really droidify from various repositories)
FUTO Voice Input
Breezy Weather
K-9
Libera Reader
FFUpdater
Joplin
The list is massive and I’m on mobile and hate tiny keyboards. I can finish the list later if you/y’all are interested. The only thing that I actively use that is not FOSS on my phone is Google Messages, which I guess is a bit hypocritical, but its too good. Just the ability to react to messages makes it worth it for me.
I also highly recommend Grayjay. It is the best (IMHO) YouTube replacement. It is cross service, like I have odysee, nebula, youtube, and various peertube instances added as sources.
As far as what apps to watch out for, someone mentioned Simple Mobile Tools. Otherwise, I would stay away from apps that are not being updated anymore or are otherwise way too old.
It works perfectly well. I find the ui bit clunky personally, but functionally it works very well. I don’t have much time to read anymore though, so I rarely use it to be honest.
Librera Reader is the best reader I have had the honour to try. I have been using Librera Reader for several years now, and I think it is safe to say I love the app. It is actively maintained, and new features are added continuously. There are plenty of settings to allow you to modify the user experience exactly to your liking. If you are considering reading any e-books or PDFs on your Android devices, give Librera Reader a try. It is a fantastic app.
I read a lot, and currently I read with calibre on my pc since I can highlight and export them directly so I can include them in my notes. I’d like it if I could run the calibre server and be able to higlight on my phone, and sync it over to my pc automatically.
I feel so sorry for recommending a closed source app in this community, but Genius Scan from Grizzly Labs is the only non-oss app I still use. I think I paid around €30 for the enterprise version so it doesn’t bother me with cloud nonsense.
It’s all local only (if you want) and the scanning quality is the best I’ve found. (I used OpenNoteScanner for a few months, sadly it’s not even close both in terms of quality and convenience)
I figured I’ll mention it as an alternative to MS Lens app that likely sucks in every bit of information it can get its hands on.
My problem with Symphony and other music apps like Auxio is that they don’t work with audiobooks and file types like m4b. Simple Music Player worked for me when playing all my audio files but now I am waiting for the Fossify version to be published.
There’s no debate. LLMs are plagiarism with extra steps. They take data (usually illegally) wholesale and then launder it.
A lot of people have been doing research into the ethics of these systems and that’s more or less what they found. The reason why they’re black boxes is precisely the reason we all suspected; they were made that way because if they weren’t we’d all see them for what they are.
The reason they are blackboxes is because they are function approximators with billions of parameters. Theory has not caught up with practical results. This is why you tune hyperparameters (learning rate, number of layers, number of neurons ina layer, etc.) and have multiple iterations of training to get an approximation of the distribution of the inputs. Training is also sensitive to the order of inputs to the network. A network trained on the same training set but in a different order might converge to an entirely different function. This is why you train on the same inputs in random order over multiple episodes to hopefully average out such variations. They are blackboxes simply because you can’t yet prove theoretically the function it has approximated or converged to given the input.
This looks interesting, but I don’t understand what it’s for. I read through the readme, but came out none the wiser. What exactly is a compose sequence?
A compose key (sometimes called multi key) is a key on a computer keyboard that indicates that the following (usually 2 or more) keystrokes trigger the insertion of an alternate character, typically a precomposed character or a symbol.
It’s a method to combine several characters on your keyboard and use it to create a special character which is not on the keyboard. For example “ and e produces ë. This tool allows you to configure those combinations.
But thanks for the feedback. I’ll update the readme to add some more context.
Google’s Messages and Dialer apps for Android devices have been collecting and sending data to Google without specific notice and consent, and without offering the opportunity to opt-out, potentially in violation of Europe’s data protection law.
According to a research paper, “What Data Do The Google Dialer and Messages Apps On Android Send to Google?” [PDF], by Trinity College Dublin computer science professor Douglas Leith, Google Messages (for text messaging) and Google Dialer (for phone calls) have been sending data about user communications to the Google Play Services Clearcut logger service and to Google’s Firebase Analytics service.
“The data sent by Google Messages includes a hash of the message text, allowing linking of sender and receiver in a message exchange,” the paper says. “The data sent by Google Dialer includes the call time and duration, again allowing linking of the two handsets engaged in a phone call. Phone numbers are also sent to Google.”
The timing and duration of other user interactions with these apps has also been transmitted to Google. And Google offers no way to opt-out of this data collection.
Am I wrong in feeling like if my phone isn’t completely degoogled, there is not much point in not using Google apps because Google has so much integration into Android when not degoogled? I kinda view Google spying on me as unavoidable until I degoogle.
I switched to graphene so these make sense. I agree, though, if Google is baked in to your OS you’re pissing in to the wind trying to stem the flow of data to them.
why defend defaultism or sexism? It may sound harmless to you, you may be used to it, but “alright boys” is exclusive and not, like some need to claim, a default greeting.
older women don’t care, they’re used to men being dickheads, but not being recognized hurts girls
alright girls, (that by default means you boys🤯) you can downVote this comment to hell now
What apps you install depends on your needs and preferences. It might help others if you include those in any future requests for suggestions.
I suggest not worrying too much about “removing your dependence on closed ecosystems” immediately. Just do as you did before, changing apps as you find better alternatives—only, this time, considering the advantages of FOSS. Simply by giving F-droid apps a chance before opening (I assume) the Play Store, you’re already doing better than the vast majority of people.
Regarding discoverability and security, I believe participation in the community helps:
The Venn diagram of “FOSS app users” and “software enthusiasts” is closer to a circle. People like talking about useful, good software they like. Word of mouth recommendations is how I got into this stuff.
You’ll be more likely to hear urgent actionable news (e.g. X app developer sold to bad company, here’s the fork that will carry the torch onwards).
And so that this comment isn’t completely useless… Mozilla are currently working on a mobile version of Thunderbird for Android, built on top of K9 mail. Been using the beta and liking it so far. If you want a FOSS e-mail app, keep an eye on that one.
P.S. I much prefer the dark side, and don’t forget the cookies!
My bad, I forgot you need to be careful using such metaphors when talking about software. It’s as the other commenter said: a rebrand, but they might keep the old identity around for people who like it.
K-9 is rebranding as Thunderbird for Android, indeed. But since many users of K-9 expressed their desire to keep the logo and name of K-9, Thunderbird agreed to publish both versions: one rebranded as Thunderbird for Android, and the other keeping its original branding as K-9. We will see whether that will complicate things for Thunderbird team too much yet.
opensource
Active
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.