dennyhenke

Daily reminder to #Apple enthusiasts that claim it's too hard to transition to other options: The Enshitification will only get worse.

YOU are CHOOSING in part because you don't want to make an effort. It's easier to complain and weakly protest. Americans are really good at this while they avoid any actual action. This is how we got here (hand wavy gesture).

YOU control YOUR COMPUTING. YOU.

Yes, it requires effort. Why not start now with small steps to begin a process to gradually replace Apple Services and apps. Download the #FOSS apps that can replace the Apple's Mac apps:

• LibreOffice to replace Pages, Numbers, Keynote
• Mullvad which better protects your privacy compared to Safari
• Thunderbird for an email client
• Proton to replace iCloud email, calendar, iCloud Drive
• Ente.io for cloud photos and sharing

Don't give up before you try. Your #freedom and #privacy are worth the effort.

#Tech #Google #Amazon #Microsoft

One of my local volunteer projects is the library's website which I'm updating this morning as Cosmo waits for second breakfast.

Happily using #FreeSoftware: ghostwriter for markdown conversion to html. Then I'll use Kate to edit a couple html files then upload with Filezilla. #GNU #Linux

and the Cinnamon DE. All running on a 2018 #Thinkpad bought for $250 on Ebay.

No need for new/expensive hardware from #apple. No #malware from #Microsoft or #google #UpCycle #FOSS #Tech

Agreed with the erosion of the #Apple ecosystem. I'm not "almost equally happy" running GNU/Linux, I love using it in a way that previously enjoyed macOS & iPadOS. I don't feel the hardware constraints Rui mentions on a 2018 Thinkpad or on my 2012 Mac Mini. Daily html/css coding, page layout with Scribus, vector work w/ Inkscape are all very fast. Mint Cinnamon on the Thinkpad, Trisquel with KDE Plasma on the Mini is perfectly responsive.

Bonus: No #Fascism! #FreeSoftware #FOSS #Privacy

2025 End of year personal computing check-in

I've written quite a bit over the past 11 months about flipping the table on my personal computing. All very unexpected but what a relief to have done it. And also very satisfying to know that my computing now fits my personal ethics in a way that it did not before.

#Permacomputing #GNU #Linux #FreeSoftware #FOSS #Apple #Computing #Tech #Technology #Privacy #Resist #Capitalism #Fascism

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-12-26.html

Tired of being used by Microsoft, Google and Apple? Refuse to be their tool.

I should have joined

years ago, but better late than never.

"Dystopian worlds don't just pop into existence: they are built by the choices of those with substantial power, taking freedom from others. Free software has unlimited power for making our world actually better for people (not Big Tech), but we need to join together and ensure that free freedom can thrive."

#GNU #FSF #FOSS

https://www.fsf.org/appeal/2025-spring/free-software-can-defy-dystopia

Slowly making progress with our local Community Computer Upcycle project. Our first two donated computers have been upgraded to Linux Mint and will be made available to use on-site for clients of Madison County Recovery Allies in the next week or two. Outreach to collect used hardware has just started. As computers are upgraded to Linux they will be offered for free to MCRA clients and county residents. #Linux #Endof10 #FOSS #Library #MutualAid #Community #Computing

https://ozarkregional.org/CCU.html

I've been spending some time learning more about the history and foundation of GNU/Linux and FOSS, listening to this talk by Richard Stallman this quote popped out: "Society teaches us to be very attached to convenience and people attached to convenience are easily herded." 49:20 in video.

#FOSS #GNU #Linux

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4zMXXnthAc

A fantastic blog post by

Growing old in the age of crap tech, and fascism: "In a nutshell, I found myself trapped within a kind of self-inflicted jail, where the warden was a collective entity made of rich white men. These mercurial figures come from a foreign country that I was conditioned to think as an ally."

We do not have to remain users and subjects of US mega tech. There absolutely are solutions.

#Linux #FOSS #Apple #Google #Microsoft

https://minutestomidnight.co.uk/blog/growing-old-in-the-age-of-crap-tech/

Community Computer Upcycle

"A few weeks back I began thinking about the possibility of starting up a local community project to upcycle older computers. I contacted a local nonprofit where a friend works, Madison County Recovery Allies (MCRA), as well as my local regional library where I've been volunteering for several years. I sent both orgs a proposal and both want to join in...

#FOSS #Linux #MutualAid #Community #Tech #Windows #endof10

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-05-20.html

Microsoft is blocking the ICC prosecutor from accessing his email. Not too surprising. Microsoft and Google both actively support Israel and its systematic apartheid and genocide. US-based corps are not to be trusted. It was just a April 30 that Microsoft assured the EU that it could be trusted. The solution for other nations lies in readily available free and open source solutions or those they have themselves built and are hosting. #Microsoft #DigitalSovereignty #FOSS

https://apnews.com/article/icc-trump-sanctions-karim-khan-court-a4b4c02751ab84c09718b1b95cbd5db3

Excellent post by Ploum: "Small low-tech manifesto"

My initial take-away: Even as a somewhat "advanced" user, my relationship to my computing technology precarious. He writes:

"Thanks to the complexity, constant change and the imposition of a strict “intellectual property” regime, users have been transformed into consumers. "

#Computing #FOSS #Apple #Linux #LowTech

https://ploum.net/2025-05-16-manifeste-lowtech.html

LOVE this.

While we need huge systemic changes, anyone can also begin today by making these changes in daily life. Even better, make the changes in your household while also working in your community to make such changes a part of the local system.

Household changes can be pushed into a community. Share your efforts with real-world, doable local organizing which turn the places we live into meaningful community relations.

#FOSS #UpCycling #SolarPunk #Linux #degrowth

https://peertube.stream/c/solarpunkusa/videos?s=1

Shifting some of my video consumption to PeerTube and while browsing around found the Thunderbird channel. The most recent video is an informative look at how they organize development of Thunderbird Email.

I appreciate the context and brief glimpse into the work being done to improve the app. It's easy to download apps but not really appreciate the time and effort that goes into maintaining and improving them.

Sidenote: PeerTube channels are federated.

#FOSS

https://tilvids.com/w/jsVqzoZxAgibPWvmyZLEYy

I may be getting myself in deep as a newbie to Linux (installed Mint in February) but I'm working with my local library and a non-profit in my fairly poor, rural Missouri county to start a new computer UpCycle program. Will be setting up a workspace at the nonprofit and installing Linux Mint on the first donated computers next week. Spending today and next few days writing a super simple users quick-start guide. I'll be offering mini tutor sessions and small classes too.

#Linux #Windows #FOSS

Are Apple Enthusiasts Miserable?

It's been on my mind to write about Apple enthusiast user culture for the past couple weeks and this morning the title of the current Rebound podcast got my attention: General Misery About Life and Technology. I write this post as a former Apple enthusiast, a 30+ year user of Apple computers and devices. When I bought my first Mac in 1992 I just needed a computer to write my masters thesis. It was just...

#Apple #Linux #OpenSource #FOSS

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-05-04.html

Apple to Linux Journal - Two months, enjoying the journey!

It's been over two months since my first install of Linux Mint on my old 2012 Mac Mini, now dubbed LinuxMini. I've got quite a few posts covering various apps and aspects of the migration but thought I'd write up a two month status report. My initial plan was for Linux to be an experiment and eventual migration while my initial main goal was just to begin the process of migrating away...

#Apple #Linux #FOSS

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-05-01.html

If Europe is going to break from US-based tech will it embrace FOSS or just duplicate the US for-profit, capitalism-based model of computing?

https://kolektiva.media/w/cbb9f78a-9705-41f6-b7a3-e869e1a0e7f2

#Linux #FOSS

Are you bending the knee to fascism?

If your favorite local hardware store started flying a Nazi flag would you shrug and go ahead and step through the door to purchase that garden hose you need? Many US companies and, relevant to this post, most of US big tech have all bent the knee to the Trump administration. For the sake of business and profit, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and others are all going along...

#Fascism #Apple #Google #Meta #FOSS #Linux

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-03-31.html

Apple to Linux Journal - Scribus is actually amazing

In a recent post I shared a few things that turned out to be incorrect or just lacking in information. Honestly, I should have known I'd not taken enough time and should have used the app another day or two before posting. First, I incorrectly stated that there was no way to neatly organize the free floating palettes by docking them to the side of the document as I'd come to expect based on past use of Adobe InDesign...

#Apple #Linux #FOSS

Apple to Linux Journal - Can I replace Affinity Publisher with Scribus?

I've been using Affinity Publisher with the iPad and, before that, the Mac for all of my layout and desktop publishing work. Now that I'm moving to Linux I'm looking at options for this kind of work. Scribus is the only app in this category so I've spent the past couple days getting my feet wet.

My first take...

#Apple #Linux #FOSS #Design

https://beardystarstuff.net/posts/2025-03-13.html