I went with Nvidia and I never really had any issues on Linux with it (I only use Linux).

AMD might be better on Linux out of the box in the sense that you can just install whatever distro and it’s going to work and with Nvidia some distros will require to install the drivers yourself or tinker one time in the terminal but it’s really not that big of a deal

But go with whatever you think is best for you.

I have graphene OS on my pixel 8. RCS works flawlessly with the Google messages app. No issues…

Personally I’d be way more concerned with using OEM Android in the West than using wechat anywhere but if it’s really an issue for you then I’d say insist on trying session or signal… One of those are probably your best options if you’re worried about being spied on…

If she’s unwilling to try them or doesn’t like them then I guess you have to settle for wechat or traditional SMS (although without RCS I find SMS to be a trip to a previous decade lol)

Btw I’d still use mint…I only switched away because I wasn’t a big fan of how much it looked like windows and how green everything was. Lol. But I was still a noob at the time and hadn’t fully comprehended how customizable Linux distros are. I could’ve changed a lot with the appearance if I knew what I was doing

Honestly. I don’t think you’re missing much. It’s not like if you go to a different distro suddenly you’re going to have all these new applications you can’t get on mint or anything.

I started with mint and played around with other distros (mostly Debian/Ubuntu & Arch based ones) and I ended up settling on an Ubuntu based distro with kde desktop.

Using something like Arch might make sense if your PC is super new as they tend to have support for the newest hardware.

At most you might want to try a different desktop environment but if you have no reason to hop I would say don’t waste your time unless you’re bored and want to experiment just for the hell of it.

there’s a site that will let you play around with different distros/desktop environments over the Web (it’s going to be slow and you can’t use a VPN when connecting) but that might be a good choice before going through the trouble of downloading a distro, flashing to USB and possibly installing it on your PC/laptop just to find out you hate it.

In my experience I’ve noticed Linux tends to (disproportionately) attract both libertarians and socialists/communists. I feel like I run into more of both within the Linux community than I do in other communities.

I started using Linux because I couldn’t force myself to use Windows 8. Up to that point I used whatever version of Windows came right before the graphical interface but 8 was too awful so I started playing with mint and never went back…

I got off the capitalism train in the middle of that but that was only because I decided to major in business and when I saw how the sausage was made I jumped ship but I didn’t know anything about socialism or communism or marxism or whatever you want to call it. I was so not into politics or economics that I literally had to search the Internet and ask people on social media what was an alternative to the crap I was reading for my classes… And then I went down that rabbit hole. If was enlightening. I learned a lot.

Also… for people who think college is Marxist indoctrination…Marx was brought up for one paragraph in one book at the very very end of my 4 years. But by that point I already knew who he was just from the rabbit hole I went down when I was curious for some alternative to what I was being taught.

Yeah I’ve been looking for an alternative to Nova myself. I’ve tried many but I just keep coming back for one reason or another. .I have graphene os but the default launcher is a little too plain for me. The search continues I guess. I’ll check some listed here that I haven’t tried. Maybe lawnchair will be worth it when they put out a new release.

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It’s all one side. I know fans of each party like to twist themselves in knots to find daylight between them but outside of the culture war nonsense & which brand of idpol they subscribe to, the distance between them has only gotten smaller with every passing election in my lifetime.

The supposed solution to trump and the gop (who was labeled a dangerous madman that would get us into ww3) was to elect Biden and the Democrats

What has happened since?

• Provoke Russia
• Provoke China
• Provoke Iran
• Arm Nazis in Ukraine
• Aid “Israel” in their genocide

All while their own citizens continue to struggle with basics like food & shelter.

Will republicans be happy to continue all of these? 100%. But let’s not pretend there’s some grand meaningful difference between them unless your most important issues fall within the category of the culture war in which case you must be doing pretty well.

This is just American voters in general every single election. Vote red. Vote blue. Doesn’t matter. It just keeps getting worse.

I’m on Lemmy.world & using the eternity app I haven’t had any real issues yet but it’s only been about 2 months for me since I started using this platform.

Are you using the VPN on your laptop or phone only? If so, maybe try to run your VPN at the router level and see if you can cast then? It might work…

Maybe it’s because I use Linux but I can’t relate (anymore). So glad I’ll never have to sit through another forced windows update 😌

People eat saltines… willingly?

Are you having trouble with it being less accurate than gboard? I’m using it and that’s what I’m experiencing.

Idk but you could always just install gboard & not give network permissions. You’ll lose a little functionality like the ability to add gifs from the keyboard which obviously need internet to search/load.

I’m using open board with swipe entry (so it functions like gboard). My only complaint is I’ve noticed I have to be extremely accurate in my swiping or it won’t type out the intended word).

In this message alone: my first attempts at the word “type” came out as toe. “Out” came out as TT & “along” came out as “alone”

So it’s definitely not perfect. I might stick with it. I might just go back to gboard and not grant it network permission. It’s only been about a week so a little too early to tell…

My guess would be that maybe it wasn’t locked in the first place or they happened to randomly try a few pin combinations & got lucky…

I think those are most likely scenarios.

Now if you’re some very important person who could be target then I wouldn’t assume what I stated previously & instead assume the worst.

If you want to save money on a pixel I’d recommend taking a look at swappa(dot)com Even if you don’t want a used one they do have people selling pixels new sealed in the box for usually pretty good deals. I think the cheapest new in box option is a pixel 6a. Or 6 pro.

You can also find new pixel 7, 7 pro, the 8 and the 8 pro.

I’ve been buying and selling devices there for years and never had a problem as a buyer or a seller.

True. That’s why I chose graphene in the end. Ib liked the idea of the multiple user profiles to sandbox certain activities to a disposable profile and the fact that if I need Google play I can sandbox that as well by running it as a regular system app on it’s own profile…

So far it’s been pretty good. I think my only complaint is I can’t get my Chromecast devices to connect. I got my Google TV to connect but all Chromecast devices refuse to pair for some reason but that pales in comparison to the headaches I’d get trying to daily drive a Linux phone. But I’m big on Linux (I use it as a daily driver on my computer) so I’m patiently waiting for a daily driver worthy Linux phone. 🤞