Freedom Tech Index

[As brought to out attention by John in the discussion channel] The Raspberry Pi foundation has announced the long awaited Raspberry Pi 5! Available this October for $60 and $80, although with Rasp Pi Foundation being kinda woke, you might want to consider other alternatives. This new Pi comes with 2X the CPU and 2X GPU performance, with a separate IO chip that can handle up to 16Gbs bandwidth. The specs: - 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm - VideoCore VII GPU - Dual 4Kp60 HDMI - Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi® - Bluetooth 5.0 / Low Energy - High-speed microS - 2 × USB 3.0 w/simultaneous 5Gbps - 2 × USB 2.0 ports - Gigabit Ethernet - 2 × 4-lane MIPI camera/display - PCIe 2.0 x1 - 40-pin GPIO - Real-time clock - Power button Here is a 👉🏻 video going over the features, and compares pi 5 performance to the pi 4. ⚡️ Follow #Raspberry_Pi5

. Today Linux Mint announces their release of Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 (LMDE 6). Mint Debian Edition is Mint's effort to ensure that Linux Mint can still be produed and be dependable if Ubuntu were to ever go away (or go down the wrong path). For this reason, this is an important distro to keep an eye on. Since LMDE is not base on Ubuntu, PPAs will not work in LMDE. Ypu

. Wings3D is a good modeler with an easier user interface. It is named after the winged-edge data structure it uses to store data. This program does not provide support for animations, so you would have to output it's models to another animation tool. If it is not available through your distro's repositories, you can get Wings3D via Flatpak here: https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.wings3d.WINGS This is their home-page: http://www.wings3d.com/ #Wings_3D

Blender is a well known, very powerful, professional 3D modeling and animation software program. Blender is feature rich, and possibly the most complex piece of open-source software you will ever run into. Blender can be used for: - Creating 3D Visualizations - Creating 3D Stills - Creating Broadcast Cinema Quality Video - Editing Videos - Modeling Objects for 3D Printing - Animations - and much, much more. Blender just released Version 3.0 on Dec 3rd, 2021, with a bunch of new features. Here is a video series of almost 50 videos introducing you to Blender fundamentals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF1qEhBSfq4&list=PLa1F2ddGya_-UvuAqHAksYnB0qL9yWDO6 You can get Blender from your distro repositories, and if you want the latest version, you can get it via Flatpak here: https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.blender.Blender Here are some open-source short-movies that were created in Blender: Big Buck Bunny (2008) Elephants Dream (2006) Sintel (2010) Tears of Steel (2012) #Blender_3DModeling

Here are some open-source 3D Modeling programs (not CAD) that are available in Linux. Some are complex yet amazing, and some are less complicated, but not so feature rich. - Blender is the most well known and one of the most powerful 3D modeling programs available on any platform it is used to create professional animation videos, and you can link it to Kdenlive to get animations over your video renders. - Wings3D is a good modeler with an easier user interface. Other noteworthy 3D modelers for Linux: - Bforartists - MakeHuman - MB-Lab - Art of Illusion - K-3D #3D_Modeling

. "Get Privacy Freedom" is another company that I discoverd on Gabb Social that is offering DeGoogled phones and repurposed Laptops with Linux on them. They offer the normal DeGoogled Pixel phones, as well as DeGoogled Motorola, Samsung and OnePlus phones. They also offer Dell Latitude Linux laptops, which you can buy from Dell directly,, with Linux pre-loaded H Elitebooks are also offered by them. You can check out all of their products here: https://getprivacyfreedom.me/shop/ #Get_Privacy_Freedom_Phones #Get_Provacy_Freedom_Laptops

. DeGoogled privacy phones are becoming more and more popular! So much so that it is now possible to buy brand new phones pre-loaded with a DeGoogled OS. New DeGoogled phones from trusted sources: - The Simple Phone is the phone offered by the creators of the open-source Simple Software Suite - Murena Phones are phones from the E Foundation, which is dedicated to open-source DeGoogled phones and online platforms. - The BraX2 phone is a phone from Rob Braxman, the internet security guy that has been showing people how to to be more secure and private with tech. New DeGoogled phones from unfamiliar sources: (These feel like honeypots or grifters, but who knows) Freedom Phones Parallel Guardian WisePhone ⚡️ Follow #DeGoogled_Phones_New

. It looks like the day of the LInux tablets has finally come! There has been talk of Purism tablets for years, and it has finally become a reality. Purism announced last week on their website and on their Mastodon channel their Intel based Librem 11 tablet, with detachable keyboard and pressure sensitive pen. This with the recent release of the Starlite 5 Tablet from Star Labs puts practical Linux tablets in the hands of privacy advocates! You can learn more at Purism's 👉🏻 Librem 11 webpage. ⚡️ Follow #Purism_Librem_11

. Obtainium is available via IzzyOnDroid or GitHub and let's you search for, or enter, a URL to an app project, where it grabs the latest APK, and installs it, & then it will check periodically for updates & install those as soon as they pop up. It is the fastest way to get the latest version of an app, & completely bypasses all the app stores. This could be good or bad. Good because you get the latest version a day, two or three sooner, and bad because you don't have anyone verifying the safeness of the file. This is what FFUpdater does with web browsers and TorBot. If you use Obtainium for other apps, you can use it for your browsers as well, and get rid of FFUpdater to free up resources. Obtainium supports many App sources, including but not limited to: - GirHub - GitLAb - IzzyOnDroid - F-Droid - APKPure - APKMirror Obtainium is in pre-release, & isn't the most user friendly app, so it may take a while to learn. Don't give up! ⚡️ Follow #Obtainium_AppStore_Alternative

. You can use the Open Printing website to look up a printer's Linux compatibility. https://openprinting.org/printers You can also select a manufacturer, and the website will categorize each printer from that manufacturer into one of these categories: - Perfectly - Mostly - Partially - Paperweight Looks like there is much more support for printers since Android phones took off. HP has been one of the manufacturers that has supported Linux with drivers before others started offering support, so the are generally a good bet, but make sure to check compatibility regardless. #Printers #Printers_In_Linux

. Murena announced their DeGoogled version of the Fairphone 5 today, which is available for pre-order in select countries. The Murena Fairphone is a Degoogled phone running /e/OS out of the box, and comes with a Murena/eCloud account to keep you free from Big Tech's online ecosystem privacy invasions Fairphones are designed to be easily repairable and focus on all sort of blah, blah feel good sustainability and fairness. The Murena airphone 5 is not available in the USA, but they did release their Fairphone 4 to the USA about a month ago after running a trial campaign in the USA. You can see all of Murena's products available in the USA at https://murena.com/america Here is Fairphone's 👉🏻 video that goes into the details of their Fairphone 5 and what it is all about. #Fairphone_5 #Fairphone_5_DeGoogled_Phone

... Continued from previous post PDF Viewer - Pdf Viewer Plus - Librera Phone Dialer - Simple Dialer Phone to Computer Link-N-Sync - KDEConnect - Syncthing Tasks - OpenTasks - Deck - (A Kanban "sticky-notes on a white board" tasking system) (Requires Nextcloud) Texting - QKSMS Text-to-Speech (TTS) (good for navigation app) - RHVoice - eSpeak Video Player - VLC - Nova Video Player Video Streaming - Odysee - Rumble.com (Use Brave Browser and "Add to Home Screen") - P2Play (PeerTube App) - NewPipe (YouTube) - Thorium (PeerTube App) Voice Recorder - Audio Recorder - Simple Voice Recorder - Quillpad (record audio and attach it to a note) Wallpaper - Mysplash (search, browse, download images) - Muzei (set random wallpapers, buggy, many plugins) - The Verge Muzei Plugin Weather - Breezy - OSS (Get it form IzzyOnDroid) ⚡️ Follow

... Continued from previous post Map Editing (Help make OpenStreetMap better than Google!) - StreetComplete Messaging - Signal - Session - Telegram FOSS - Nextcloud Talk - NextcloudServices (use to receive Nextcloud notifications without Google Play Services) Music Player - VLC - Simple Music Player Music Streaming - ViMusic (YouTube Music) - InnerTune (YouTube Music) - Musify (YouTube Music) - Vibe (YouTube Music) - Spotiflyer (Spotify URLs) - BlackHole (YouTube Music) - Spotube (Spotify) Notes (These apps sync between phone & Linux using Nextcloud) - Joplin - Orgzly - Nextcloud Notes - Quillpad (Similar to Google Keep Notes) - Saber (Handwritten Notes) Office Suites - Collabora Office (Can use phone to edit doc files on your Nextcloud) - LibreOffice Viewer Password Managers - KeePassDX - Passman (requires Nextcloud server) 👇 App list continued in next post👇 ⚡️ Follow

... Continued from previous post Camera - Simple Camera, - Open Camera (Full featured pro camera app) Cam Scanner - PDF Doc Scan (Available on F-Droid using the IzzyOnDroid Repository) Contacts - Simple Contacts (use Pro version to export .vcf files) Email - FairEmail - K9 Mail File Browsers (both do SFTP for Linux file access) - Material Files - Amaze File Encryption - DroidFS - Amaze Gallery - Simple Gallery - Aves Libre Hiking & Biking Trails - OsmAnd (Has national park trails) - uLogger "Home" App Launcher - Lawnchair - OpenLauncher - Bliss (from /e/ OS) - Kvaesitso Keyboard - OpenBoard - FlorisBoard (swipeable) - AnySoftKeyboard (swipeable) - Sayboard (Speech-to-Text, keeps (voice data local on your phone, away from Big Tech & Big Brother) Map & Navigation - OsmAnd - Organic Maps - Use Gmaps WV to find addresses 👇 App list continued in next post👇 ⚡️ Follow

You can start DeGoogling your OEM Android phone right now! This is also a great list of recommended apps for use on DeGoogled phones. Do the following ... 1. Host your own own Nextcloud, or get a Nextcloud service provider, such as Murena (formerly eCloud). This replaces Google w/open source contacts, email, calendar, etc.) Note: Murena eCloud is a good Nextcloud service provider to learn on. They give 1G of data for free. 2. Install the F-Droid app store. 3. Install DAVx5 (connects apps to Nextcloud/Murena contacts, calendar, etc.) 4. Use F-Droid to install the apps listed below to replace OEM Google apps. Make sure to remove or disable OEM apps once they've been replaced. Astrology - Sky Map Browser - Mull - FFUpdater Then use FFUpdater to get Brave Browser or Firefox Calculator - OpenCalc - JRPN 16c (Programmer's calculator) Calendar - Simple Calendar - Etar - ICSx5 (ICSx5 syncs 3rd party .ICS calendars) Calorie Tracking - Waistline 👇 App list continued in next post👇 ⚡️ Follow

QBITTORRENT SETUP STEP 6 6. Use a Different Port on Each Startup a. At "Tools->Preferences ->Connection->Listening Port" Check the option "Use different port on each startup" Note: The "different port on startup" feature appears to be missing in the latest 4.5.0 release. Maybe they moved it to another settings location.

QBITTORRENT SETUP STEP 5 5. Limit Download and Upload Speeds a. Set speeds at "Tools->Preferences ->Speed->Global Rate Limits" To: - Uploads: 100KiBs - Downloads: 600KiBs If you run max speed for hours or days on end, just about any ISP will know what you're up to. But streaming data at 600 KiBs is like you're watching internet TV, so that's not so supiscious.

QBITTORRENT SETUP STEP 4 4. Limit the Number of Connections a. Under Connection Preferences "Tools->Preferences ->Connection->Connection Limits" b. Set: - Global maximum to 60 - Maximum per torrent to 30 - Global max upload slots to 3 - Max per torrent upload slots to 3 Bittorrent clients usually default to 300-500 total connections, and ISPs HATE that. They'll send you a shut down notice in a jiffy if they see all that traffic, plus all those connections have been know to shut down their routers.

QBITTORRENT SETUP STEP 3 3. Use a USA IP Blocklist The USA is the only country that cares about copyrights, so don't connect to any USA clients. a. Get the USA blocklist from www.iblocklist.com b. Extract and then rename the file extension to .p2p c. Check the "Filter path" checkbox at "Tools->Preferences ->Connection->IP Filtering" d. Load the .p2p file into qBittorrent at "Tools->Preferences ->Connection->IP Filtering" e. Click the little refresh button to the right with the "circle arrow" icon to apply the blocklist rules.

QBITTORRENT SETUP STEP 2 2. Require Encryption a. In "Tools -> Preferences -> Bittorrent" set "Encryption mode:" to "Require encryption" There is no need for letting your ISP or anyone else see what files you're downloading. With this setting, only those connected to you will know which files are being shared.