"The word package manager is used a lot and is how you get your software. Sometimes that might be confusing when you see three entries of the same things. There is a simple rule I use when choosing something to install.

Official Repository - Is always the most ideal place to get your software if it is available. This will be updated first and the system will let you know when updates are ready to install. This will also be the most compatible with the distro. It is curated by the maintainers of the distro.

Extra/Community - Some distros will have extra repositories available these can be added by default or you if you know what to do. These are well maintained alongside the official repo by the community or distro maintainers.

Flatpak - A universal repo that is maintained by the application developers. Considered distro agnostic but will be bloated as it includes everything for the app needed to run. Also installed without much in the way of permissions that may limit functionality until given correct permissions. Flatpaks are also not always included in the list of updates for your software often needing separate attentions. Especially if you use command line over GUI.

AUR - Arch based distros will have the option of the AUR which is user added software packages that need to be compiled before being usable. This repository can be very hit and miss and should only be used if you need something unavailable in the other lists."

"If you are using an Arch based distro this is how you find and compile software from the AUR."

https://www.howtogeek.com/how-to-install-and-use-yay-on-arch-linux/

"One of the other things Linux can do, is compile and use software from source. This should be available on every distro and even BSD can compile and use 90% of Linux software. However this is for advanced users as it's not a user friendly process."

https://www.fosslinux.com/9686/how-to-install-a-program-from-source-on-linux.htm

"Another universal application method to install software to Linux."

https://rumble.com/v4bgdui-appimage-launcher-how-to-add-appimage-icons-to-your-applications-launcher.html

The subject of /e/OS has come up again. A former developer at /e/OS, now developer of LeOS, sums up the issues with /e/OS as follows: "Too much commerce, too much bloatware and not really fully degoogled".

For us at Bones' Tech Garage, the main point is using only fully degoogled phones. LineageOS and many fan ROMs do not include GAPPS (Google Apps), but the OS source code has not been stripped of Google links and dependencies.

Most commercial offerings we have seen are more exploitive of the trending privacy buzz words and do not deliver on their promises, only claiming their OS to be degoogled without actually doing the hard work of removing Google from the ROM and maintaining it.

At the moment, the only Android compatible operating systems that are known to be fully degoogled are GrapheneOS, DivestOS, and LeOS. The best and easiest solution is to get a supported Pixel phone and put GrapheneOS on it. Even DivestOS tells us it's better to use GrapheneOS, but DivestOS fills a need by supporting the wide range of devices that LineageOS supports because DivestOS is actually a fully degoogled fork of LineageOS.

LeOS similarly fills a need in supporting a further range of devices that can use the Generic System Image (GSI) update installation method. So the core of degoogled phones is GrapheneOS on Pixel phones, and then branches out to reach more devices with DivestOS and LeOS.

This 2019 critique of /e/ was scrubbed from the internet, but it can still be accessed by this link at the Wayback Machine internet archive. It does link to /e/'s response. No telling if /e/ has made changes to address the criticisms.

/e/ – privacy-enabled Android ROM, or Evil Corp? · InfoSec Handbook – information security blog
https://web.archive.org/web/20200215130732/https://infosec-handbook.eu/blog/e-foundation-first-look/

"Hardware issues most people probably never think that when the system malfunctions maybe something is going out. Here is a guide to basic issues and how to tell what could be going wrong."

http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/pc/problems/diagnosis.php

"If you run a headless (without monitor) PI. Sometimes if you need to plug a monitor in it doesn't always like to cooperate. Here are some ideas to coax it into working again."

https://www.maketecheasier.com/raspberry-pi-monitor-not-working-fixes/

"More on the RHEL line and it's alternatives."

https://www.tecmint.com/redhat-based-linux-distributions/

"For the enthusiast with two video cards."

https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMD-Radeon-Linux-23.40.2

Good graphic to share. Every day instill get bombarded with these despite educating people...

"I am going to add to this. A lot of regular links have tracking information or can expose your exact path. Generally anything after the question mark in a link is tracking.

If you are unsure paste a link in TG saved messages. Then see how much of the link can be erased and still get you to what you intended."

"Very important. We are seeing more and more AI generated content make it into world. The way to battle AI is with AI."

https://www.maketecheasier.com/detect-ai-generated-images/

"A word about our chat and why sometimes it's better to join it.

When someone comments from a channel unless a reply to you is direct you won't see it. Often the reason you may not think you got a response to a question is because the response was not a direct reply. Joining the chat ensures you see all the answers to your questions."

https://t.me/BonesTechGarageChat

Have you got a secret you don’t want anyone to know? Don’t tell any of humanity’s fancy new AI-powered assistants because the companies behind these new tools are probably keeping your data a lot longer than you think.
https://gizmodo.com/googles-gemini-ai-keeps-your-conversations-three-years-1851253573