My tech March 2024

Recently there has been a flurry of “my tech” articles on the blogs I follow, so I thought I would list some of the more interesting software I’ve been using recently.

• I was having some issues with Manjaro Linux on my home Linux box (Intel NUC from Entroware) so I decided to try out Elementary OS: The thoughtful, capable, and ethical replacement for Windows and macOS ⋅ elementary OS

  

  • It looks really nice; I paid a donation of £10 before realising I could also legitimately get it for free
  • The only problem I have had is that I mainly use Firefox, and both versions on Elementary OS (installed via Snap or apt) tended to crash frequently (which was no good as I basically live in my browser).
  • In the end I used a version of Firefox called Waterfox which seems to work better, and is compatible with the Firefox Extensions I use: Fast and Private Web Browser | Waterfox

• My current Firefox Extensions are:

  • uBlock Origin to block ads: uBlock Origin - Free, open-source ad content blocker.
  • Privacy Badger to stop tracking: Privacy Badger
  • the Zotero plugin (rarely used these days)
  • Tab Stash for keeping track of tabs - it syncs across machines via my Mozilla account and is really useful: Tab Stash – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-GB)
  • “Add custom search engine”: if you run your own search engine (I do - sort of) then you will probably want to be able to search it from your browser address bar: Add custom search engine – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-GB)
  • Bitwarden for password management: recently switched from LastPass (as my subscription was expiring) to self-hosted Vaultwarden; so far I think it is better than LastPass; the Android app is also good but can’t yet handle the new passkeys (though will do soon apparently); links below
    • The password manager trusted by millions | Bitwarden
    • dani-garcia/vaultwarden: Unofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rs
  • Other useful Firefox Extensions
    • deathau/markdownload: A Firefox and Google Chrome extension to clip websites and download them into a readable markdown file.: save web pages as Markdown (e.g. in Nextcloud Notes)
    • Dark Reader – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US): dark mode on any web site

• I am using my cloud-hosted Nextcloud more and more: Nextcloud - Open source content collaboration platform

  • Nextcloud is like an app you are forced to use at work, and dislike initially, but later you discover all sorts of things it can do, grow to love it and eventually couldn’t live without it.
  • I sync all my Nextcloud files with my Linux desktop.
  • On my Android phone (Motorola Moto G7; five or six years old and a bit crashy but not slow, and the battery still seems fine, so I haven’t replaced it yet) I use the Nextcloud app (for file management), and also the Notes and Cookbook apps, both syncing with my cloud instance. I’ve started writing a lot more notes to organise myself, instead of adding everything to my to-do list.
  • I have grown to absolutely love the Tasks.org app, which syncs with Nextcloud Tasks, and I am convinced it has made more productive: Tasks.org | Tasks.org

• Other interesting apps I use on my Android phone (in no particular order):

  • Bitwarden as mentioned above
  • 8x3: bodyweight fitness – Apps on Google Play: an app to do a particular fitness routine I found on Reddit; reminds me of the Canadian Air Force exercises I discovered in my teens and continued (with variations) for many years
  • Aegis Authenticator - Secure 2FA app for Android: recently replaced Google Authenticator with this (surprisingly easily); more flexible in terms of backups and the user interface is nicer
  • DocMarty84/miniflutt: Another Miniflux client.: syncs with my Miniflux RSS aggregator (Miniflux - Minimalist and Opinionated Feed Reader); if you see me doomscrolling this is probably what I am looking at
  • F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository: for installing apps without involving Google
  • FairEmail - Fully featured, privacy oriented email app: very flexible email client
  • Moon+ Reader for Android: still the best e-reader I have found; syncs with my self-hosted Calibre Web (janeczku/calibre-web: 📚 Web app for browsing, reading and downloading eBooks stored in a Calibre database)
  • OsmAnd | OsmAnd: for fellwalking navigation
  • fibelatti/pinboard-kotlin: Unofficial Android client for Pinboard: for saving bookmarks to Pinboard: bookmarks for prcleary

• I am self-hosting the following (and some others) in the cloud:

  • Calibre Web as mentioned above
  • Miniflux as mentioned
  • Nextcloud as mentioned
  • My old Tiddlywiki: TiddlyWiki — a non-linear personal web notebook
  • searxng/searxng: SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from various search services and databases. Users are neither tracked nor profiled.: it basically searches other search engines and aggregates them for you
  • Vaultwarden as mentioned above

I am currently thinking about getting a new Android phone, if I can find one that fits the following criteria:

• Latest version of Android and at least four years of upgrades
• Long battery life
• 8GB RAM and good performance
• More storage than my current phone
• 5G compatible
• Rugged/water-resistant if possible
• Dual SIM would be nice
• Don’t care about camera, weight, aesthetics
• Budget price (my last one cost £120)