Going "rogue" (switching to FOSS and off of Big Tech services)

General
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Say what you will about Pewds, but I love that this video exists and reached such a wide audience.

It’s time to get off Google and Microsoft. And self host some stuff, idk, why not.

Here, take a peek at my notes (edited from an image):

Original App FOSS Replacement
Google Photos Immich
Notion Joplin/Obsidian
Gmail Proton Mail
GitHub Exo’s Gitplace
Office/GSuite CryptPad

Here are the replacements I have so far for services. I don’t use GitHub a whole lot, but it shouldn’t be a tough switch to start using the place here.

I still need a Google Drive replacement that synergizes decently well with everything else (obv. self hosted). And probably some other stuff though I can’t think of it right now.

Then, self-hosting. I’m eyeing this $70 Raspberry Pi 5, 8 GB on Facebook Marketplace. Gonna probably buy that and start running it in my house near my router where it’s relatively safe, and put all the stuff above on it. Plus a dedicated Minecraft server :smiling_face_with_horns: finally!

And I will host that minecraft server (and everything else) on a dedicated domain, halfcourtyeet.net, which I bought a few days ago. also got .com cause screw it it was like $6.

Next is Linux. I’m gonna dual boot on my Asus Windows PC, just about to pull the trigger on ordering a 2TB WD Blue, I don’t know why I’ve been so hesitant. I honestly don’t even need that much space lol. No idea what distro I want yet, I have some people I can talk to about this :folded_hands: but pls suggest. I can’t really make music on it since all plugins are either Mac or Windows so I don’t know what I would use it for right now, but I still want to switch soon for everything else…

Finally is the phone. Currently I have a Galaxy S20+ that I very much like, but I’m tired of Google being in every facet of my mobile life. This is the biggest thing and unfortunately kind of the most expensive. I want a Pixel 8 that will last, and I’m gonna put GrapheneOS on that thing day 1. But again, this is the most expensive at like $250 for a good deal on a Pixel 8, so this isn’t gonna happen for at least a few more weeks.

Any notes? Thoughts? Is this practical? How hard will it be to interface with normal people in this ecosystem?

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First I want to point out that, like Felix mentions, you might not need to acquire new hardware to do any of these things. For example, you can probably install GrapheneOS on your existing Galaxy S20+ phone. And if you have a spare computer around, that could probably work just fine for self-hosting a variety of things.

If you’re interested in being hands-on, learn a lot about how Linux works, and are willing to potentially suffer through multiple rounds of potential failure, I would enthusiastically recommend Arch. However, if you want something more hands-off that just more or less works, I would recommend Ubuntu instead.

Your plans seem practical, but it also seems like a lot to do all at once. You may already be planning on doing this, but it will be easier to take things one step at a time.

By the way, you can render tables directly instead of embedding an image, which is nicer on bandwidth/storage and better for accessibility. Try editing your post to use this text instead of the image:

| Original App | FOSS Replacement |
|---|---|
| Google Photos | Immich |
| Notion | Joplin/Obsidian |
| Gmail | Proton Mail |
| GitHub | Exo's Gitplace |
| Office/GSuite | CryptPad |
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Wow, cool tables. I’ll try that right now, thank you.

Thank you for the reply. Yes, this is a big “one at a time thing.” Over weeks if not months. I’m not in a huge rush, looking to really enjoy every different thing I try and every step (I know it won’t be easy but I’ve modded consoles before, in the eras where they’re kind of a PITA to do so, so I like this kind of thing.)

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These are the only devices they support, it looks like.

https://xdaforums.com/t/bedrockos-v15-unofficial-gsi-for-galaxy-s20-series-snapdragon-variants-only.4734358/

There are some forks for the S20/S20+ but they look kooky and buggy from user feedback.

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Self hosting and switching to FOSS is very feasible with the advancements in recent years.

As far as music goes, I would look into running different apps through wine. There are many utilities to assist with this but the main ones are Bottles, Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher.

They’re built with running games in mind but general windows software can work as well. I have my Affinity suite in Lutris and Ableton Live in Bottles. As far as your plugins go, I’d give yabridge a look.

Also iono bout GrapheneOS but I know LineageOS has support for the pixel 8

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Thanks. Looks like LineageOS could work on my Samsung Tablet but not my phone. Seems like I just rolled a bad phone to do a new OS on, haha. (Galaxy S20+ if you do find anything. I’ll look right now.)

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For what it’s worth @halfcourtyeet, I run FL Studio with vanilla wine and it all works fine… but I pretty much only use Image-Line’s own VSTs and XLN’s Addictive Keys. I know I’ve run into a few situations where I would try to use a different VST and it wouldn’t work under wine, so VST compatability with vanilla wine is a bit spottier in general, in my experience, especially when DRM is involved.

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I’ll be on the look out for something S20+ compatible

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