There are some good Matrix community, on matrix.org as well as individually run homeservers (federated).

Use GrapheneOS and switch to PIN authentication didabling fingerprint auth, especially when travelling abroad.

Leaving a comment here on behalf of HIMYM: Bowl.

Edit: Pycharm works well too.

Py-Charm isn’t a Python interpreter, it’s an IDE. It has a purpose.

over to Linux full-time back in ~3.15. I recommend you join the LUG Org (Linux User Group), as they have a load of resources in case you get stuck and have some people working on specialised Wine runners. They also run a Matrix Space that’s worth joining.

For email and VPN, I recommend Proton. Even their free tier works well.

Just to make it clear to any other people reading this, Jellyfin has Group Sync where you can create groups with participants and syncplay media.

Settings - Labs - Opt into the Video Calls Beta. You’ll now have a new call option which has screensharing. Works very well.

Switch to GrapheneOS with a profile for sandboxed GServices. There’s a github repo tracking banking app compatibility on GrapheneOS(GrapheneOS is quite secure while some banking apps require phones to be LESS secure) so check that first.

Nice to see Matrix’s Element client on there. Has definitely become my go-to and even managed to get friends, family, and my gaming community on there, replacing Discord entirely

Don’t get the EU flag though, we should be pushing for global sovereign alternatives. Thos could indicate the inverse in that these applications/platforms are not useable outside EU which is incorrect, and unfortunate.

Odysee did/does something interesting where if one uses the desktop client, the video gets streamed and cached, and then seeded back over a configurable amount of time. I could see creator’s communities being self-sustainable this way.

No.

Not strictly the same, but one of the most amazing feats to me in this topic was done by the Sacred community over at DarkMatters.

Apoligies for the wall of text, but I consider it worth a read.

Sacred 2 in particular never had its server code open sourced, leaked, or anything of the like as the studio went bankrupt before anything could happen, this was around 2010.

Over the course of a decade a few volunteer devs would pick up a project where using tools like wireshark etc they’d essentially sniff traffic sent by a client attempting connection to a server that didn’t exist, and using this, devs would literally try to GUESS what a server would respond, and what a client expected, essentially trying to build out the backend infrastructure from SCRATCH.

Fast forward to 2020 or so and progress was still being made, not only that but things were beginning to actually take shape. In 2021 (IIRC) one dev in particular had the general frame of a working server and continued to work on it. Fast-forward and since 2022-23, you’re able to run both a LOBBY for multiple servers and an actual GAME SERVER yourself, self-hosted and code is open.

I’ve ran a couple servers using docker since, where I played with friends, and being able to replay that childhood game, with friends, one I thought I’d never be able to share the experience for, is a dream come true.

Another neat thing is that it was reverse-engineered in windows, but the docker containers literally run WINE to translate windows calls to Linux and it just works.

Knowing I’m able to in 2,5,10,30 years pick this up, and not only that, but replay with friends means this work of art has a great chance at preservation.

If you’re into power metal, there’s a band called Blind Guardian, they not only did they the main theme for the game, but the band’s members have an entire quest-line in-game that culminates with an in-game concert. Again, a work of art worth preserving, and now, it can be shared.

Signal is not the answer. Signal’s backend is essentially closed-source, and to my knowledge none of their binaries are reproducible with the code available. If you really want privacy and security in E2EE, you want somethjng that’s completely open-source (front and backend), and can be self-hosted entirely. Matrix is this.

Lightning is indeed NOT a fork of a Bitcoin, it’s essentially a Layer 2 for Bitcoin (if you think in terms of the Internet’s TCP/IP model). It solves pretty much every use case created by any Altcoin when competing with Bitcoin, as Bitcoin chose security and decentralization over scalibility in its base layer (on-chain).

As for buying Monero, I only deal with Bitcoin, but I’m pretty sure you can easily buy Monero still as long as you don’t use centralised exchanges (permissioned), and instead use Decentralised ones (permissionless). That’ll be the case for any altcoin that still has decent popularity for the foreseeable.

Not exactly. Lightning makes it super cheap and instant.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous - Transactions are transparent, yes, but the addresses are not linked to any PII - The exception comes in when the user uses a Centralised Exchange that does exactly this, it bridges anonymous addresses with PII via KYC.

Bitcoin can be sold anonymously using P2P DEXs (decentralised exchanges), where the fiat transaction has no link to Bitcoin.

That’s assuming they even would want to sell.

All in all, it comes down to how the user uses the tool. Bitcoin can be as privacy preserving as anyone wants. But if they KYC, they can kiss any privacy goodbye, and really, that’s the misunderstanding that has reached most non-Bitcoin users these days. Experiences based on a lack of understanding.