The server software appears to be available and updated now, which they’ve been spotty about in the past. I’ve updated to remove the closed-source part since that is not correct.
As for phone number: Signal still requires me to enter a phone number to create an account as of about 5 minutes ago.
Signal is centralized, closed-source, not-selfhostable (edit: in any meaningful way) and requires being attached to a phone number. (Edit: server source is available, but self-hosting requires recompiling and distributing a custom app to all of your contacts to actually use it.)
Matrix is decentralized, federated, fully open source with multiple client and server implementations, self-hostable, and does not require being attached to a phone number.
Given how common it is for people to use the ‘reset password’ link for this exact purpose, it does make it seem kinda redundant to even implement passwords on many services to begin with.
125W (Less than $15/month) or so for
I generally leave
powerManagement.cpuFreqGovernor = "powersave"
in my Nix config as well, which saves about 40W ($4/mo or so) for my typical load as best as I can tell, and I disable it if I’m doing bulk data processing on a time crunch.
SBCs like the RPi are kind of awkwardly in-between a microcontroller like an Arduino or ESP32 that you can actually trust with handling GPIO and data logging, and a real Linux system that can actually do meaningful computational work.
Pretty much the only task I’ve found them reliably appropriate for is running OctoPrint, really really light computer vision tasks for robotics, or hooking up an RTL-SDR to use as a police/HAM scanner. Outside of those, it’s so much easier to use either a cheaper and more reliable MCU or a much more powerful old laptop or desktop.
FYI, your purchases are already thoroughly tracked like that starting as soon as you walk in the store, app or not.
Plugging pass/Password Store/Android Password Store for anyone wanting a good wrapper around git+pgp for desktop/Android using a YubiKey or similar hardware security key. It has pretty good OTP support built-in.
Something something “Looking Glass”
Not actually used it. I started off doing local backups, B2 was an add-on way later down the road.
I only do automated copy to B2 from the local archive, no automated sync, which as far as I understand should be non-destructive with versioning enabled.
If I need to prune, etc. I run will manually sync and then immediately restic check --read-data from a fast VPS to verify B2 version afterwards.
An external hard drive is a lot faster than my internet connection and helps fulfill 3-2-1 requirements.
I backup to an external drive and then rclone copy that up to backblaze B2
I use restic with a local external drive that is then synced to backblaze b2 via rclone.
I also really liked Google Keep. Carnet was at one point a decent drop-in replacement on Android+Nextcloud, but it got progressively bitrotted over time and now I just use Nextcloud Notes until I find something better.
Is there a way to create an EMP without a nuclear weapon?
There are several other ways, yes.
Virtualizing applications that use 3d graphics can be a pain
Yep, currently using restic with Backblaze B2 via rclone
I’m personally a fan of plaintext accounting tools like ledger and moved to that from GNUCash several years ago after fighting with the DB getting corrupted repeatedly. There are a few tools for importing from GNUCash as well as many tools for interacting with the ledger on mobile devices, so perhaps worth looking into.
Yet in the same posts they insult people who don’t have the same opinion as them.
I’m betting it’s the use of the phrase “objectively easier” when that is incorrect by argument of geometry. The “objectively” riles people up.
There is a reason why forklifts have rear-wheel steering (and therefore behave much like an automobile driving in reverse): having the point of rotation towards the direction of motion allows for much more precise maneuvering, much like you would need to do in a larger vehicle trying to fit into a tight parking space.
Where the metadata goes I think is important as well.
All Signal metadata necessarily goes through Signal’s servers and is tied to your phone number, but not all Matrix metadata ever gets near the Matrix.org if you are using a different homeserver.
I think both are less than ideal in that regard, and I think Briar (strictly P2P) has a much better model for dealing with this at the expense of generally being a UX disaster.