Freedom Tech Index

1. Install the Smart Card programs and/or libraries sudo apt-get install libpcsclite1 pcscd pcsc-tools coolkey 2. Download your PKI Certificatees You will have to get these from someone, like your employer 3. Import the PKI Certificates into Firefox - Go to three bars menu in Firefox (upper right) - Preferences -->Privacy & Security -->Certificates -->View Certificates -->Import - Browse to folder containing your certificates and select the .der.p7b file that has all the other certificates linked in it. 4. Install Smart Card Reader module into Firefox - Settings -->Privacy & Security -->Certificates -->Security Devices -->Load - In "Module Name" Type in a name that you want to call the Smart Card Reader, such as "coolkey Smart Module" or "opensc Smart Module" - For coolkey, click Browse and browse to and select: /usr/lib/pkcs11/libcoolkeypk11.so - For opensc, click Browse and browse to and select: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opensc-pkcs11.so #Smart_Cards_In_Firefox

. See comments for getting smart cards working in Linux. Many people assume they can't use Linux because a smart card is required for them to log in or connect to websites. Fact is your can use smart cards in Linux. No need for MS Windows. #Smart_Cards_In_Linux

[Forwarded from Dale Gribble] . The article of pros and cons of rooting. https://www.lifewire.com/root-or-not-root-android-1616838 #DeGoogling_ToRootOrNotToRoot

[Forwarded from Dale Gribble] Dirty desktops can be a hassle. If you let them get bad and neglect the maintenance you will end up like I did and pulling out half a cat of dust and fur. This guide will help you get your system running right. Dust buildup is a big cause of noisy fans that sound like vacuum cleaners. https://www.howtogeek.com/72716/how-to-thoroughly-clean-your-dirty-desktop-computer/ #Desktops_HowToClean

Tip of the day (Telegram) How to Disable Comments for Just One Post in Your Main Channel 1. Post your comment on your main channel as usual 2. The post will be echoed in the associated Discussion channel 3. Go to the echoed post in your associated Discussion channel and delete that copy there. 4. The post in your main channel will remain. However, the comments area will now be gone, but only for that particular post. #Telegram_Disable_Post_Comments

. LinuxLinks is a great site for finding open-source software alternatives. Unlike AlternativeTo, this website focuses only on open-source alternatives which helps you save time since you don't have to sort through a bunch of Big Tech, Google, MS, and/or Apple nonsense. They show only the best options instead of every little alternative, and rank everything in categories against each other. They also give reviews of the top options. https://www.linuxlinks.com/best-free-open-source-software/ #LinuxLinks

[Forwarded from Dale Gribble] Maintenance is a neglected task with a busy life. Our tech is an investment and in times of shortage we can extend the life of our machines by taking good care of them. https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-clean-your-laptop-the-right-way #Laptop_HowToClean

[Forwarded from Dale Gribble] Maintenance is a neglected task with a busy life. Our tech is an investment and in times of shortage we can extend the life of our machines by taking good care of them. https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-clean-your-laptop-the-right-way #Laptop_HowToClean

. See comments for general computer maintenance tips. #Computer_Maintenance

. GIMP is an amazing raster graphics / photo editor. There has been a lot of development on GIMP in the last couple of years which has brought many improvements, with many more to come in the highly anticipated 3.0. If you haven't tried GIMP in the last year or so, you may want to give it another go. It's a much smoother more professional experience now. You will need the newer 2.10.28 or higher, which you may need to get via flatpak. You can also get a preview of 3.0 right now with the 2.99 development version at: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/devel/ #GIMP #GIMP_Photoshop_Replacement #GIMP_PhotoEditor

. There is no need to dump your money into big tech when it comes to photo editing software. Linux has great software for editing and post-processing images and photos. See comments for some of the available options. #Photo_Editors #Photoshop_Replacement

. Video DownloadHelper is is an addon for Firefox that enables you to download videos from almost any website from directly within Firefox. Google has blocked this particular extension from showing up in Chrome Web Store because Google owns YouTube, and they will not allow extensions that download from YouTube, so you will have to use this extension/addon in Firefox. Here is the website: https://www.downloadhelper.net/ #Video_DownloadHelper

[Forwarded from Dale Gribble] Questions on how to unlock your Google Pixel Phone Bootloader? This is an easy step by step guide to get you started. https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/unlock-bootloader-your-pixel-3-3-xl-beginners-guide-0189128/ #PixelPhones_Unlock_Bootloader

. See comments for information on how to DeGoogled Pixel phones. #PixelPhones_DeGoogled

. To manually install extensions into UnGoogled-Chromium 1. In UnGoogled-Chromium, get your Chromium Version. i. Click the three-dot menu ii. Write down the Version number (i.e. 96.0.4664.93) 2. In Brave, go to Chrome Webstore: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions 3. Search for the extension. Copy everything after last forward slash in the URL. If the URL is: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-downloadhelper/lmjnegcaeklhafolokijcfjliaokphfk You copy: lmjnegcaeklhafolokijcfjliaokphfk 4. In URL below i. Replace [VERSION] with step 1 Version. ii. Replace [EXTENSION_ID] with step 3 ID. iii. Save the .crx file https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&acceptformat=crx2,crx3&prodversion=[VERSION]&x=id%3D[EXTENSION_ID]%26installsource%3Dondemand%26uc 5. In UnGoogled-Chromium, drag and drop the .crx file into the chrome://extensions/ webpage. #Install_Extensions_Chromium

. Youtube-dl is a popular tool for downloading videos from websites such as Youtube, Rumble and Odysee. Dale Gribble found this great tutorial on how to use it. https://ostechnix.com/youtube-dl-tutorial-with-examples-for-beginners/ There are also a few GUI interfaces available for youtube-dl on FlatHub, which you can check out by clicking this link: https://flathub.org/apps/search/youtube-dl #Youtube_DL

. See comments for info on how to download and save videos from websites such as YouTube and Odysee to your computer. #Video_Downloaders

. Sometimes you may need the latest version of Flatpak in order to install a Flatpak package. Right now (Dec 2021) UnGoogled-Chromium is a good example of this. In order to get the latest version of Flatpak on a Debian based distribution, do the followoing: 1. Uninstall Flatpak sudo apt remove flatpak --purge 2. Enter this into a terminal to add the Flatpak ppa repository: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak 3. Update your repository lists, and install: sudo apt update sudo apt install flatpak #Flatpak_Update_To_Latest