As for laptops, there are a lot of other options like Tuxedo, NovaCustom, and Slimbook

I would avoid the Brax phone, they haven’t fulfilled orders and are super shady + social media influencer platform is never a great look. I would prefer the Fairphone, they’ve been around for ages, and you can install mobile Linux on their devices too since they let you unlock the boot loader. postmarketOS on the FP6 is developing rapidly and very exciting! Other pmOS supported devices like the OP6 or Pixel 3a series could be considered too, as well as the custom Android ROMs (Graphene, Calyx, etc.)

AsteroidOS is Linux on smartwatches, what more do you want? You also have Pebble if you’re into e-ink and that sort

As for TVs, it’s tricky, but just look for the non-smart ones (there are quite a few!), and I know Sony makes the Bravia TVs where you can set them to be “basic” non-smart mode. You could also go with a projector instead, those usually don’t have smart TV shenanigans. You can also use a Linux mini PC running Plasma Bigscreen and/or Kodi as an alternative to Google TV.

Mini PCs running some form of Linux (Bazzite, CachyOS, Fedora, Mint, whatever) are always awesome. You also have emulation stuff, like the MiSTER Pi mentioned by another user, but you could run emulation stuff on any cheap hardware (running Linux) just fine.

OpenWRT is supported by lots of routers, and GL.iNet makes routers that have it preinstalled. You also have the MikroTik routers, which run the Linux-based RouterOS (+ they are based in Latvia 🇱🇻)

Reolink cameras w/ Frigate and Home Assistant is the best combo.

The only wireless headphones I would recommend are the Fairphone Fairbuds Gen 2, since they won’t die in a few years w/ replaceable parts and battery, and even then, for 99% of usecases, I would rather go with IEMs + some wireless dongle (I use the Fiio BTR11, but others exist too, in particular, the Fiio Snowsky Retro Nano has replaceable batteries of an esoteric form factor). You get the convenience of wireless as well as all the benefits of wired: harder to lose, better audio quality, WAY cheaper (seriously, I spent less than $30 on my kit), longer lasting, etc. I would recommend the Kiwi Ears Cadenza and Truthear Gate, and I’ve heard the Hexa/Pure is great too. Moondrop’s Chu 2 are awesome too with a metal shell for a ridiculously low price, but the brass nozzle oxidises and clogs in humid environments (I am in the humid land of HK, so no go for me)

As for printers, the Open Printer is crowd funding and looks really neat! You of course have the Brother laser printers too, but not sure about their telemetry and tracking.

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

Jolla phone runs Sailfish OS (partially closed source, but Linux-based) while the Volla phones can either run Android or Ubuntu Touch (more open-source). They have very different aesthetics and target different prices too (the former is cheaper and has a plastic fantastic build, while the latter are glass slabs)

Personally, I’m rooting for postmarketOS, since it’s compatible with lots of devices. has the ability to install Flatpaks due to using a mainline (or at least closer to it) kernel over Ubuntu Touch and SailfishOS using the Android kernel (or at least parts of it I think, “proprietary blobs”), and recently the Fairphone 6 has been getting good pmOS development (super exciting! Even fingerprint has been made to work!)

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

The name “no stupid questions” comes from a phrase that teachers say to encourage discussion. “Remember, there are no stupid questions!”

Just of note, Arab != Muslim. The Arabs are a people group who originate from the Arabian peninsula and can be of any sort of religion. There are plenty of Muslim Arab nations, yes, but there are also a huge population of Christian Arabs (of various denominations + other minor religions also exist)

I will check out some of those Taiwan-based news sites, thanks!

I will follow SBS, thanks mate!

Yeah, maybe pro-corporate isn’t the right word for it. I will amend my question

As in they are usually aligned with corporations and have certain biases associated with that. For instance, the BBC and DW tend to be pro-Israel, while Al Jazeera avoids criticism of the Qatari government. They are still very reliable news sources, they’re not spouting off nonsense like that of Fox News or the Telegraph. Everybody has biases, no one can truly be “unbiased”, but I’d like to read more independent news outlets that are not backed by big corporations.

Also, have you considered Ground News?

It looks very US-centric, and it’s always a bad idea to get all your news from one source. I’m personally not a fan, and would rather get news from multiple different outlets and judge them myself.

OK, that’s good to know!

Ich kann nicht ein schlaffen.

Kann ich commen?

Kann ich helfen?

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht!

That’s about the extent of it right now.

Off-topic, I just realised why I couldn’t see a lot of posts on Lemmy (including my own!). When enabling the ability to view German language posts (I’m trying to learn a bit!), I accidentally deselected English. It’s fixed now, and I can see English posts again!

Nice, that’s good!

Aside from Wireguard, you have Wireguard alternatives-but-not-really-since-they-are-based-on-Wireguard like Netbird and Tailscale. The latter is more well-known, but the main downside is that, to connect to the cloud servers, you need a Google, Microsoft, or Github account to login. It can be self-hosted with Headscale (community project) though (and you don’t need an account for that, since it’s your hardware)! Netbird is similar to Tailscale, but you can use normal email login to use their cloud servers, and they offer official self-hosting support.

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

Number one thing, don’t get a “Pro” controller from Nintendo. 8BitDo, GameSir, Gulikit, etc. all have excellent options that undercut NIntendo by a lot (you have $20 controllers that perform nearly as well), and they all use hall-effect sticks (or TMR with the fancy ones) so you won’t suffer from the same stick drift. You could also get a Gulikit mod kit for the Switch 2 joycons and replace the sticks with TMR ones, but at least from my experience with the original Joy-Con, it is incredibly annoying to open it up (and you always need to do it multiple times, because you didn’t seat the ribbon cable properly, you are pinching a cable, etc.), and I doubt the new ones are any more repairable.

As for specific controller recommendations, from 8BitDo you have the Ultimate 2C Bluetooth (C is for cheap, I think it’s $25 or something, but no gyro and other bits) and the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth (has gyro, trigger lock, dock, etc.), from Gulikit you have the TT Max (symmetrical stick layout!) and the KK3 Max (the TT Max but with hall-effect instead of TMR, older version of the 2.4 GHz dongle, and asymmetrical), and from GameSir you have the Nova 2 Lite (cheaper, no gyro) and Supernova (rubber grips, gyro, trigger locks, dock, etc.)

Next, the Switch 2. That is a big asking price, and I personally don’t think it’s worth it, especially since there is no pack in game. If you do want a Nintendo console, you can easily find original Switches used online for very cheap (unless you already have one, which is even better!), and unless you want to play some of the Switch 2 exclusive titles, those are definitely the best from Nintendo in terms of value. Almost all the original Switch games will play exactly the same in the Switch 2 unless you get the upgrade packs (some of which are free, others are paid), which is incredibly stupid in my opinion, paid or not.

If you are not interested in any Nintendo exclusive games and want to play cross-platform titles only (like Hades II, Silksong, etc.), I would definitely suggest getting a used Steam Deck (if available + you need a handheld) or building a PC (with AM4, DDR4 memory, and the used market if you have one, you can definitely build something decent that will outperform the Switch 2 in every metric, but the value will depend on the cost of components where you live!!).

If you just want to play Nintendo games (or Playstation, Xbox, Sega, etc.) but don’t care for the latest and greatest “Mario Kart World” or similar, you could always go the emulation route! There are a lot of good handhelds right now:

• the RG XX line is great for anything under PS1 (I particularly like the 34XXSP for the clamshell)
• the TrimUI Brick is another one in that price bracket and relatively small
• the Miyoo Mini is even smaller!
• the RG DS is decent for DS w/ Rocknix (but it will be replaced with the RG DS Plus soon, so you might want to check if you want the better screen in exchange for a third of the memory. The new one will have the same chip though)
• Retroid’s Pocket line is always awesome (the 5 uses the Snapdragon 865 and is good for everything up to GC and PS2, while the 6 uses the 8 Gen 2 and can do more Switch and PC emulation and will handle every GC and PS2 game with upscaling)
• Ayn has fancier devices ($300-400 price range) like the Odin 2 Portal (beeg screen Pocket 6) and Thor (3DS champ), which both use the 8 Gen 2

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

Stalactites are the ones on the ceiling pointing down, while the stalagmites are the ones on the floor pointing upwards. A lot of people have good ways to memorise it, but my way is by imagining sta lag mites are slow little bugs crawling on the ground, and stalactites are therefore the opposite.

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

Before writing a line of app code, I’m validating demand. And I’ll put my money where my mouth is: the landing page and the waitlist both run on a Debian box in my living room.

This isn’t trying to replace your monitoring server; it’s the mobile, unified, privacy-first front-end I keep wishing those had.

Hello, fellow human! Do you too enjoy the sweet sensations of smell and taste?

Perhaps other bridges in Helsinki are far more impressive aesthetically? Finland is a really neat place. That being said, this is still a very lovely bridge

Just a small point, double negatives can get pretty confusing. Even in English, you often have double negatives becoming a negative rather than a positive, e.g. “I didn’t go nowhere” or “You don’t know nothing”. Changing which part of the phrase you emphasise can also change that, for instance, if you said “I didn’t go nowhere” it implies that you did in fact go somewhere (double negative becomes a positive when stressing the second negative). This gets all the more confusing when you bring in other languages, since they all handle double negatives differently!

Mate what is with you and canals?