This is mostly a marker for android specific posts and things. It will have some of my musings, favourite software, and optimization techniques for android users. It will also include some of alternatives to the 5 horse-people of the data apocalypse.
Highly useful program for reducing tech addiction
Tech addiction is a very real phenomena, and has caused this author no end of grief. Basically it means I have a hard time turning off my tech, and spending far too much time on tech. I looked high and low for a nice program that would do this and I found one. Its called stay focused. I like it because of the following:
- In its most 'paranoid' mode its unkillable (unless you reset your phone)
- It lets you 'print out' a QR code for the 'unlock' and give it to someone else
- It has profiles and is VERY good at enforcing limits on almost any aspect of tech, including amount of time spent on sites, halting certain programs after a specific schedule, or even disabling the entire internet itself.
- Its HIGHLY configurable, and seems to 'just work' in the background.
- It also lets you 'turn off' things like google play so you can't add 'extra' programs outside of your choices (say a new browser to bypass restrictions)
Chromite- a De-googled browser
This used to be 'bromite', but alas the author gave up on it, but its successor, is in keeping with its good traditions of:
- Removing google services from the browser
- Having ad-blocking built-in with customizable lists (This is especially important with manifest v3 coming out soon!)
- It 'doesn't track me'
Here is the URL for the cromite browser. So far its kept up-to-date, and UAZO needs to be complimented on a job well done!
FocusReader an RSS reader
I really used to like "REEDER" for ios, but when apple angered me, I had to mostly leave that ecosystem. So I looked high and low for a bazqux (thats my rss aggregator of choice) compatible reader, I found focusreader. You may ask, why do I use an RSS reader? Isn't rss dead and gone away? What is rss?
RSS in a word is a way to read dozens of websites, without having them track you. It basically aggregates 'text only' feeds which appear as single line summaries. The beauty of pairing with an rss aggregator like bazqux is "single point" so all of my various devices (android and __pple) are happily synchronizing what I have read.
Image and Camera usage
I did try some of the 'free' cameras, but they often miss the more advantageous applications of computational photography. So I use screwoogle's camera with an app from a 'free' location known as f-droid which is a hosting application for 'free and open sourced' the free and open-sourced platform. I use simple gallery pro which doesn't send my pictures to the 'big person' in the cloud.
Secure Chats/IM client
I really don't like whatsapp (which everyone seems to like these days) because they are owned by face-plant, or Feta (as in a briny cheese which can be a bit bitter). So I use signal. This wondrous program actually is a non-profit (and while they aren't perfect, they are the least evil alternative available as of this time of writing). They are also clients available for windows, osx, ios, and Linux (my os of choice!), which means I can use my messages anywhere! I highly recommend donating to them!
Navigation- GPS
Honestly, I just use screwoogle for my normal nav plans just turn off everything I can in my tracking history. But the police have been known to 'subpoena' gps tracks from the horsepeople of the apocalypse without a warrant to 'prove' you were near something they are mad at.
However, if you are worried about this, osmAnd~ is a very nice alternative which uses openstreetmap with COMPLETELY OFF-LINE maps. Its routing algos are a tad poky, but it does seem to do the job, its also MASSIVELY configurable.
Recipes and cooking
I use paprika which is available for android, ios, windows, and mac. Alas there is no linux version, so I did have to pay one of the horsepeople for a legal copy of windows. Its nice because it handily works on ipad, phone, etc (I mostly use the ipad when I am doing experimental cooking), and automatically 'synchronized' my recipes between devices. This is critical, it also exports to standard html (link is for my recipe site). It also has a wonderful "Get rid of the crap about the kids, family and drivel" that most instagrammers seem to be so fond of these days. It just pulls the RECIPE, which is all I really care about. I frankly don't care one whit about your dog, the kind grocer down the street, the wonderful husband or wife, or how you found the 'perfect' tomato. Just give me the recipe. It also has a VERY frighteningly accurate dictation mode which is great when your hands are full of cookie dough batter (gluten free, of course!)
Podcasts
I do like podcasts, which are nice when driving on long, boring tracks to the hinterlands here in North Carolina. Its called antennapod, and it seems to do the job. Its available on f-droid.
Digitizing documents
I use jotnot pro, which is a VERY nice digitizer for pdf and records.
Backing up my photos and other data
I use syncthing and have everything synced to my main PC which runs as the 'conductor' with each of the phones etc. serving as performers off of it.
Getting my messages / copy pasting from my phone
KDEconnect is a VERY useful program. It will tell me when I am getting a call, I can send messages from my PC (without the crapple tax!), send the clipboard to and fro (NO SUBSCRIPTION!), etc. It works on mac, windows, and Linux desktop pcs. It 'just works', and its great for pasting in passwords from my password manager.
Sending files 'quickly' between devices
I use localsend, which lets me replicate the IOS experience of sending things easily between my non-monopoly controlled computer.
Backing up android
I found a nice script that backs up android on linux using the adb command. its called open-android-backup.
Calendering and Contacts
This is a bit of a complex topic. In my journey away from 'the cloud' (which is ironic since 'the cloud' pays my bills), I have decided that 'self hosting' is the best option. I chose not to do the traditional 'owncloud', because I have a high degree of sysadmin skill, and kind of enjoy doing this for a hobby. So I found a cheap hosting provider (a REAL machine NOT a VPS!) which costs me $49.00/month. But you can get godaddy for $5.00/month. You can, but they dont have:
- a /64 dedicated ipv6 address
- 6 usable ipv4 addresses
- 24GB of ram MY RAM!
- 12 (24 with threading) processors
- 2tb of magnetic disk
- 256GB of SSD
- GREAT service
They will put WHATEVER os I want on them, and they are VERY responsive (at least for the custom packages!). They respond within 10 minutes of me sending an email. The machines, are admittedly 'old', but for what I do they are fine (and be sure to back up!).
Contacts and Calendar
For this I use a combination of two programs, caddy (a nice automagic web server that renews my certs w/o me hassling with them), and radicale, a very nice cal/contact/journal entry/businesscard (vcard) server that works with android, and crapple. Once its set up I can just point my calendar at it and POOF, my contacts, and calendars ARE NOT fodder for the evil 5!
For android, you will need a copy of davx which will synchronize your calendars with radicale. Once this is done, then you are cooking with induction!
So long as you backup your config, this is mostly 'set it and forget it', I just once in a while update to make sure the evils won't get easily break into it.
Os choice for hosting Alpine Linux
I won't get too much into this, but the easiest (for me), and most free of drama is alpine linux. Its small, fast, secure, and easy to maintain. They have native packages for radicale, caddy, and other things that I use.
If you want to run alpine linux for running under termux, use this link.
It uses proot to run a nice alpine linux under termux.