Are there any good resources for helping someone getting into Linux? One of my friends I never thought would get into Linux is asking me for help. He specifically is an advanced Windows power user. I also had someone who was a complete noob, even to Windows.

For the noob, I suggested LMDE and Kubuntu and they've been having some issues installing LMDE.

For the power user, I suggested the easy distros such as lmde, kubuntu, nobara but also told them if they wanted to jump into the deep end, arch is cool.

However, my suggestions don't even cover DEs, WMs or what they even are. I just wish there was a good guide out there. I think that's the biggest hurdle, so many options and not knowing what to pick.

I see posts talking about good BIFL items but I don't hear much about the other side of products that are bad or products you bought but don't even use.

I've heard of things like iPostal and Traveling Mailbox. Do these services allow you to register with bank, DMV, IRS, Voting, etc? How do they work? Would a normal P.O box using its physical address from USPS work? I've tried researching it and haven't gotten clear answers.

I don't want to show up on those whitepages sites with all my information on them. I want to stop it from the start.

My pixel 5 is currently running on grapheneOS and will be unsupported soon so I'm looking to switch over to CalyxOS for an extended support. Are there any other deGoogled OS's you guys recommend?

A couple hours before I was on the edge of getting a Fairphone 5 but I read the specifications and didn't see 3.5 mm audio jack anywhere. So I thought to myself...why? The community has been requesting this for a couple years ago now so why not. They're already making money on the phone, they're really pushing for people to get their wireless headphones? Just add the headphone jack, shouldn't be too hard.

They said they're treating their workers fairly, sourcing from ethical sources, renewable claims, repairability claims, and supporting foss projects (they donated a fp4 to CalyxOS to support development). All of these are amazing, so adding a little headphone jack shouldn't be that hard in the grand scheme of all this.

*Add the headphone jack and I'll be happy to support and get a fp5.

https://calyxos.org/news/2022/02/25/device-support/

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5

Intro

This post is inspired by a post titled "Android to iPhone, whats it like? (Update)" by @[email protected].

I grew up with an iPad and desktop computers and my family members also had Apple products. When I had the chance to purchase my first phone I did lots of research, I looked up the best smartphones at the time, I saw videos from Marques Brownlee, EverythingApplePro, Unbox Therapy, etc. It was a tough decision between Samsung S7 but I ended up getting the iPhone 7. Apple was all the rage at school, I got hooked into the ecosystem, even bought the first Airpods, used iMessage, and all the other Apple stuff. Their UI is very polished. I was even an iOS beta tester all 4 years I had it.

iPhone Experience

2 years ago, my iPhone 7 started to have severe battery issues and so I decided it was time to upgrade. I also did research on my phone choices at the time too. This time it was between the iPhone 13 and Samsung S22. I did a bunch of research on this one too, much like my previous phone and ended up choosing the iPhone 13. I preordered the phone right when it opened but then I changed my mind, I wanted a different color, so I canceled it but the color was gone. So, I ordered the Samsung S22. However, when I was doing my research, I got into privacy and security and the r/degoogle subreddit. So I saw these solutions like CalyxOS and GrapheneOS. I then cancelled that Samsung S22 order. I was amazed, I saw how private and secure these solutions were without even having to touch Google or Apple. Stuff like the Aurora Store and Fdroid sounded like really cool stuff. I cancelled my Samsung S22 order and bought a used Pixel 5, because I didn't want to directly support Google.

CalyxOS on Android Experience

I started off with CalyxOS because GrapheneOS sounded really hardcore and hard to use. The experience was amazing. I really liked Netguard and the firewalls for the apps. I used ProtonVPN, ProtonMail, Bitwarden, Signal. My ecosystem of Foss, privacy, and security was complete. However, after a year or so of using the OS, it started getting buggy. My distinctly remember that my volume would magically keep on raising to the max volume, it was a terrible bug. I would watch videos or listen to music and it will shoot up to 100% like someone was holding the power button. I tried to look up answers on this issue and couldn't find any solutions so I decided to try out GrapheneOS.

GrapheneOS on Android Experience

I figured I heard a lot about this amazing project and so I should get on it before my device is no longer supported. I think I'm about a year into using GrapheneOS and I can say that it is amazing. It felt like a more refined deGoogled OS. I felt like CalyxOS was more like a few devs coming together and throwing some security tools and hardening it a bit but GrapheneOS has a much larger and dedicated team and truly making it the most private and secure Android operating system. With the compartmentalizing of Google Play Services or whatever it's called. I even found out that when using Location, they have their own SUPL and PSDS proxy servers. Instead of using Netguard, GrapheneOS has network permission toggles much like for mic and cam access. It's truly the best phone OS I have ever used. People can safely use Google Play Store like nothing happened and all the information is segregated and protected. It's been pretty stable and I couldn't be happier.

TLDR and Recommendations

That being said, iOS has its strength and weaknesses. Apple being very locked down and hard to break and mess up, Android being less refined and even more so the more you branch out away from Google. Would I change what I did? Not really, all of this helped me gain experience and evolve as a person. Would I recommend it to other people? I recommend GrapheneOS, if you are tech savvy and want to mess with phones a bit. The argument is fairly similar between the argument between Windows and Linux. Do you want to use something better and free you'll need to play around with or use something locked and just works at the cost of freedom, privacy, and security?

The official websites can probably explain it better than me:

https://calyxos.org/

https://grapheneos.org/faq

Is there a c/getdidciplined community on here? Or is anyone interested in making one?