I use rsync for that.

As does syncthing under the hood. The issue is with backing up an open database and getting an inconsistent state, but KeepassXC keeps its database closed except on update. I also tick the backup old before save setting in KeepassXC (the aforementioned ‘and it’s backup’) and use a versioning backup of the sync directory on the desktop with 3-2-1, so I am sanguine.

Syncthing means it and its backup lives on two laptops, a desktop and my phone.

Didn’t take as long as I expected, but I expected it (which is why I didn’t bother to read, even if it’s not all the way there, it’s coming).

Seriously, advertising (or propaganda to use the older name favoured by Goebbels) really needs to be seen as a much more serious enemy than most do. Propaganda for capitalists is super effective at sucking up peoples mental bandwidth, they’ve been selecting for it going on a century now and they’re depressingly good at it, if you don’t actively counter it, straight to the subconscious, along with all the background crap in it. /rant, but seriously…

yup, the syntax is (from within the distrobox)

distrobox-export --app appname

Run Arch in a distrobox, done (in atomic you lean hard on distrobox and flatpak).

Yup, OP has done his time in Arch meaning now competent, probably, time to go to Fedora and relax, close enough to the edge but not bleeding, good QA, For extra chill go atomic, check out uBlue…

Is a VPN needed to keep your ip from being exposed ?

No more so than using any search engine directly, it’s a nice to have. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough.

Is just using an existing searxng instance just less secure then?

By the time you’ve investigated it, you could have stood up your own instance…

Sounds like a them problem then.

podman exists and doesn’t force root…

It’s yours, no issues trusting a public instance with your searches. Pages full of settings to tweak as you like. Less problems with an algorithm ‘helping’ you. It averages searches over multiple search engines that you choose, you can set up your own (or a curated) block list of crappy AI slop sites, don’t like fandom.com or something, gone. Manage your own bangs, e.g. !aa for annas-archive. Pipe it through a VPN with gluetun for better isolation. If you have your head around docker already it’s more like half an hour to set up, so why not?

Can hook it up to perplexica and a local LLM for a fully local AI search that you define, use it as a MCP server, do deep research with it…

I do it with a gluetun container (more versatile) zero issues, but you can just mainline wireguard as an interface if you prefer, also works fine, on bazzite.

Cheers, up and running.

Had trouble installing that, but https://github.com/ryosoftware/GPhotosShim via obtainium worked perfectly. Hooks it up to gOS Gallery.

Cool (you’'re sure no Play Services not just no Play Store? what about GMSCompatConfig?, it’s reasonably innocuous, I’m just curious), in that case kill its network and profit. I couldn’t do that a couple of years back, might have to re-evaluate…

As far as I know it needs Play store, Play services and GMSCompatConfig so you’ll be right back where you started. You can deny those things network permissions as well, but things tend to go awry when they can’t phone home, you end up having to enable and disable network on things to get other things to work. Personally I don’t trust it, good as the GrapheneOS devs are, it’s always a moving target.

It’s pretty quick to switch users, swipe down, swipe down, tap users, tap user, enter passcode (make it short) and you’re there.

Just set up a user for google crap, when you absolutely positively need it, go use camera ( or maps or whatever), when you’re done, shut it down. Over time it happens less and less…

Not sure I’d use either, but may I suggest both, with a clear caveat that one or both may disappear or change ? Throw stuff at the wall, see what sticks…

Thinkpads have long had first tier linux support, in fact many models have shipped with linux for at least a decade (?), checking that is a really good way to be sure, but you’re going to be fine with W, P, T, X lines, many enthusiasts make light work. They were deployed (might still be) to Red Hat kernel devs for a long time, which helps things along. Fingerprint drivers tend to be proprietary and hit or miss, but passwords work.

Honestly learning to install linux yourself, and configure it to your liking, is actually, imo, a really important path to learning and you’re likely doing yourself a disservice avoiding it. It’s part of the avoidance of vendor lock in you want. Installation is surprisingly easy now, start with something simple, Mint is often recommended these days, find a decent, recent, youtube and you’ll probably be up and running in an hour. Find the apps you need for your workflow (which will take considerably longer). Get familiar with the terminal. Best thing you can do after that is burn it down and install a new distro, leaving any mistakes behind, keeping your list of apps. Arch if you want to get really deep into it, or Fedora / Bazzite are good choices and very stable. Best of luck.

Perhaps not saved, but I’d venture the most significant nail in the coffin of the scientific publishing mafia so far, pursued with integrity and honor. The rise of open publishing that followed is very telling, and in my mind directly attributable to Alexandra’s work and it’s popularity, they know they need to adapt or (probably and) die.

Still need to work on the publish or perish mentality, getting negative results published, and getting corporate propaganda out of the mix, to name a few.

You can cycle the smaller drives to cold backup, that’s not a waste. You do have backups, which RAID is not, right?