Thanks. I’ll have to look into some of these questions!

It’s a very stable, reliable, local, cross-platform file syncing that is pretty easy to set up. Basically, it allows you to have a shared folder (or folders) on multiple devices without using Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc.

Oh No! This is terrible news. This IMHO is one of the most irreplaceable projects out there. I don’t know of another cross-platform local file syncing app that comes anywhere close to this. I hope that it can continue even if it’s not through the Play Store.

Google seems to be torpedoing open source developments with a number of decisions lately. Maybe they see F-Droid as a threat now that EU is making them open competition? Maybe they just don’t care.

Anyone used this successfully? I couldn’t get it to do much useful

Clearly this is depicting one of those super rare eclpses where a much larger faster object trsverses the plane halfway through, then the remaining eclipse continues.

True, but most orgs and devs would take the reliable monthly income rather than an unpredictable infusion every two years. If it’s a massive donor base, maybe those things even out. For smaller, active projects, I don’t mind giving a percentage to the bank knowing that they can rely on my donations every month. The larger annual gifts are usually reserved for orgs like clinics, food banks, and community institutions that can handle the fluctuations.

Not specifically software, but I divide my donations into three categories - for my budget, that’s basically the $10-20 range, the $20-500 range, and $500-2000. I track the donations I make over the year, with a target in mind. For me, the target is 10% of income.

I decide which organizations are doing the most important work, and prioritize those. I try to donate monthly to those that I make use of regularly, then I give the rest as what comes up from day to day.

I consider free software to be a social good, so I don’t separate it from other giving.

As I read it, the article is comparing the two shows exactly to show why they shouldn’t be judged the same. But maybe I just don’t get it.

https://fosstodon.org/@organicmaps/112976308191001762

I’m currently about halfway through setting up a home server on an old/refurbished Dell PC. It has enough compute to transcode if needed, but no more. I’ll have to upgrade the storage to set up RAID. For software, I am running xubuntu, which offers the benefits of the great community and documentation of Ubuntu. It is very beginner friendly, but is a bit simpler and lighter than gnome. I’m running everything I can as Docker containers.

Hi, I’m your customer base.

I’m a complete novice, no network or coding experience, but not afraid of computers either. I’m pretty worried about messing up something serious due to lack of knowledge.

In the end, I didn’t choose Synology or the like due to:

• lack of robust community support. I’ve noodled around with Linux for years and learned that community support is essential.

• price. I’d pay 10% or 50% more for a good pre-configured system, but not 3-4x more (which is just the general feeling I get from Synology)

• lack of configurability. I’m still not sure what I would like to do (and be able). I know I want to replace some storage services, replace some streaming services, control my smart home, maaaaybe access my files remotely, and probably some other stuff. I may want to have email or a website in the future, but that’s not on my radar right now.

If there were some plug-and-play hardware/software solution that was still affordable and open, it would be a good choice for me.

Because they take things, literally.

I can think of a few apps that do this. It is certainly possible. I think it is ethical; if someone is not participating in the open source community, they miss out on the benefits. I think most people involved do contribute in some way. If someone just wants to use Google for the benefit of ease and discoverability, then they can pay for it. You’re still offering an ad-free app (presumably) and adding use value. It’s perfectly reasonable to suppliment the cost of development in is way.

If you live in a big liberal city with a lot of tech people, then you probably have a really well organized team creating detailed maps. In that case, there’s no reason to think that Google is any better than osm. In a lot of cases it’s worse, especially for walking and cycling.

If you’re in a smaller, poorer city or a rural area, there’s a good chance that 80% or 90% of the addresses are just not there yet. Compare this random park in Berkeley, CA with labels for individual trees to this neighborhood in nearby Stockton, CA, which is assuredly more than 3-4 houses.

OSM usability really depends on where you live.

Image tool box doesn’t seem to be able to arbitrarily rotate or add text. Some nice features, though.

Open Video Editor doesn’t seem to be able to combine videos. I’m thinking something like CapCut, which allows combining photos, videos, and audio. It would be an ambitious project to be sure, but it seems like it should be doable.

Great to hear! Can you name one for me?

If you live in an area that’s missing the data, it doesn’t matter how good the app is. I regularly upload in my area, but it will be years before it is reliable as a primary app. I usually search in Organic Maps first, then in Google Maps. OSM gets me where I need about 10-20% of the time at most. Google Maps is about 99%.

There are multiple front-ends for YT Music. Song Tube is good, Libre Tube is good, Inner Tune, Musify, Vibe You, etc. I haven’t used them all so I can’t testify to them, but it is a deep bench.

Some apps that I don’t understand why no OSS exists:

• Teleprompter app that allows you to read a scrolling script while recording video

• basic photo editor to crop, rotate, color correct, add text

• basic video editor to crop, clip, and combine video

• visual voicemail

And just for fun, here are some OSS apps that are better than any non-free alternative: SD Maid, Firefox/Fennec, Aurora Store (OSS front-end for a very proprietary Google store), RTranslator, Syncthing, OSS Document Scanner.

Its rare enough to be trivial, and when it happens, it’s usually someone who doesn’t realize that they are not eligible. For example, if someone came to the country at a young age and mistakenly thought that they could vote.

But as it turn out, policies that require people to verify their citizenship are also very good at disenfranchising eligible voters who are poor, young, immigrants, disabled, or non-native English speakers. Neat, huh?

Edit: I forgot LGBT folks who may have changed their name or lack access to their childhood documents.

Just getting started but yeah, I have basically no technology background. Mostly I’m too stubborn to know when to quit something so here I am lol.