**Wanted to update this post with a website I found that has info about this topic for regular people, in case anybody finds this later. ** Privacy Focused OS For Everyone It has info about the different os options as well as apps for phones using regular android.

Pretend I am five and please be nice.

Say I want to free my phone and tablet from samsung/google/skynet but I neeeeeed to be able to use my printer and external cd drives and their silly proprietary apps, as well as flash drives, cds, and normal apps without alternatives like bandcamp and libby and and all that. I also need to be able to use government websites and use my wifi and pay bills and just generally do everything that I do now on samsung’s/motorola’s software.

(Most of these things were issues for me when I tried to use linux years ago which is why I’m listing them. I do not possess the technical ability to solve these problems on my own when they come up. I also do not possess any other devices to use if my main ones can’t do these things anymore.)

Is this realistic in 2024 for Graphene or any other free open source os? And if it is, how do I install it safely and properly?

Are there any known issues with it like slowness or not being able to use the camera, etc? Most of the places with information about this stuff are not written in a langauge I speak.

Edit: does anyone want to work on creating or collecting some simplified tutorials with me? I’m thinking of installing one of these on my phone and it it goes well I will probably write the details down. It might be good to have a place for other people who have done so, or want to, to do the same for their respective devices.

    • sentientity@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      19·
      3 months ago

      I’ve installed a lot of things that say they work fine that don’t, and I’ve followed a lot of ‘simple’ instructions that were not simple to me. I made this post to ask people about their actual experiences and get feedback from people about things I might not have thought of myself.

      This forum is called no stupid questions.

        • sentientity@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          7·
          3 months ago

          We need an ecosystem of nontechnical tech forums for the rest of us. Real ‘define every term’ hours. I would start this if I knew enough.

          • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            6·
            3 months ago

            The real problem with Lemmy’s tech communities/users is a lot of us having been living in Linux-land for decades and some folks are cranky about having to come out of their caves and help folks who, in their eyes “won’t help themselves.” A lot of them came here to try to find the early internet they lost from their youth, and they don’t want the corporations or people who they might consider corporate muckity mucks here (I mean, I get it, I feel it, too, I don’t want corporations here).

            It’s a bad attitude, because not everyone is born with/able to grow that specific technical skill level which encompasses research, understanding, and application of computer science.

            I agree, as someone with a bit of a higher level of skill here, we really really do need “define every term” hours because these are devices that everyone has to have in their daily lives whether they like it or not, and they deserve a level of understanding of the things they purchase and own, and they don’t deserve to be mocked for not already knowing or not knowing where to start.

            One of the things my old professor used to tell me that the biggest skill in the tech industry is actually being able to do your own research, read documents, make sense of them, and put them into practice. The reality is that this is a skill that is developed deeply over a lifetime and not everyone chooses to max out that skill. We all have limited time and resources and the world still needs hairdressers, doctors, and all kinds of professions where they have spent way more time learning their profession than learning computers. They don’t deserve to be looked down on for simply investing their skills in things they’re actually good at.

            Cheers and I really hope you find the info you need here.

            • sentientity@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              5·
              3 months ago

              I think a lot of people deep in linux and computer science communities might not realize that tons of people outside that subculture feel exactly the same way they do and want the same things, we just didn’t go to school for it. No one is trying to water down the niche spaces that are important to people or deny the hard work that was done by people in decades past. We just want to understand and do what’s been recommended to us, and information should be for everyone because the goal is increased adoption and digital freedom in society, right? Anyway this kinda means a lot coming from a person with your background so thank you.

              • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                4·
                3 months ago

                You’re welcome, I have been lucky enough to be around a lot of people with an attitude like mine, which is how I got my knowledge to begin with, as well. If it hadn’t been for open minded people being willing to help, I would have never achieved the level of knowledge I have today. I stand on the shoulders of giants who were kind and giving enough to bend down and share knowledge.

                No one is trying to water down the niche spaces that are important to people or deny the hard work that was done by people in decades past.

                Exactly, the gatekeeping isn’t helping anybody. The fact that things don’t work perfectly on their own and just aren’t as polished in the open source world gatekeeps people on its own, without the actual knowledgeable people also gatekeeping.

                Isn’t it enough that the knowledge is esoteric enough to do the gatekeeping for us already? Why do we need to gatekeep when there’s technical walls to scale to begin with!