I feel the same way. I’d love to see them move toward developing their own independent index. I also really hope they stay true to what makes them different and don’t get caught up in the whole “AI-everything” trend. Search doesn’t need to be artificially padded or reworded by a chatbot, it just needs to be genuinely useful, transparent, and connected to reality. If Ecosia focused entirely on building a clean, human-centered search experience powered by their own index, without the AI noise, I think that would be far more valuable than following the same path other major engines have taken…

I switched to usingEcosia a while back, and have had no problems with it. The results are generally relevant enough for everyday use, and it feels good knowing that my searches contribute (at least in some small way) to reforestation projects.

It’s not perfect, of course… It still relies partly on bing’s index, but the experience has been stable and consistent for me. I also like that the interface is clean and privacy-focused without trying to upsell the search experience.

In the past I’ve tried alternatives like StartPage and DuckDuckGo, but Ecosia has quietly become my default. It just works well enough without much fuss, and that’s something I really appreciate right now.

Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit…

If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.

Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.

Mint is also a fine choice as well…

Switched to Linux in 2002 because I hated using windows & was searching for a better computing experience. Instantly fell in love & have been daily driving Linux ever since…

The only apps I have installed from the play store are ones that came pre-installed with the phone. The rest are all from f-droid…

LONG LIVE F-DROID ! !

Knowing Apple, they’ll probably find a way to ‘comply’ that feels more like a loophole than a solution…

I’ve been a user of nova for quite a while now, and over time it’s become something I don’t really think about. My setup is minimalist and nova has always blended into that seamlessly. It doesn’t demand attention; it just works, letting me use my phone the way I want. For me, as long as this phone keeps on working, nova will stay right where it is, simple, reliable, and exactly what I need. Even if this phone gives up the ghost, I’ll probably still consider using nova on whatever phone I get next…

My phone still work’s perfectly fine, so I plan to keep using it for as long as I can & it won’t be getting any android os updates any time soon, so I think I’ll be fine. When my phone eventually does give up the ghost, I’ll deal with it then, but until that point, nova should keep working just fine for me…

I paid for Nova years ago, and have been happily using it ever since. For me, it’s set up in a really minimalist way that fits how I like to use my phone. I’ve never had any need to switch away from it because it works for my needs. Is there any reason I should consider switching away from it :?

I get what you mean. The openness invites possibility, but for a lot of us can feel limiting when we can’t build the missing things ourselves…

I don’t really see any of these as deal breakers, because I think the state of Linux phones in 2025 isn’t about being “finished” or “perfect,” it’s about being part of a bigger journey. Every limitation mentioned is just a reflection of where things stand right now, not anything permanent. What kinda excites me is that Linux phones are built around openness, community, and the freedom to adapt, qualities you don’t really get with mainstream options. Sure, there are missing features, rough edges, and some compromises, but none of that outweighs the value of having a device that puts you in control…

Arch Linux is Linux built my way. My system blends to what I do. Clean and fast, no clutter in sight, with 100% freedom and control. I use Arch BTW !!

Personally for me Arch on my system has been more stable & faster than both Debian & Fedora…

Thanks for the follow-up & for sharing your experience. I suppose this kinda thing highlights one of the quiet strengths of the X11 approach… Simple tools like xwinwrap paired with mpv tend to be more lightweight and predictable, especially when you just want a looping video without the overhead. There’s something to be said for minimal scripts doing exactly what you need with no surprises…

I hadn’t come across mpvpaper before, so I decided to look it up. While it seems interesting, my initial impression is that it might be a bit more resource-intensive compared to what’s achievable on X11. On X11, you can set up a video wallpaper using mpv with surprisingly little effort and minimal code…

if pgrep mpv; then
    pkill mpv; else
    xwinwrap -ni -fs -s -st -sp -b -nf -- mpv --profile=wallpaper -wid %WID /home/furycd001/wallpapers/wallpaper.mp4
  fi

System service managers like systemd, OpenRC, runit, or SysVinit often come down to user preference. While these systems are crucial for initializing and managing services on servers, where uptime, resource allocation, and specific daemon behaviors are important, their impact on a typical desktop or laptop is generally minimal.

For most personal devices, the primary functions of a service manager occur largely out of sight. As long as the system boots reliably and applications run smoothly, the underlying service manager rarely registers as a significant factor in the daily user experience.

For many, including myself, systemd simply works without much fuss. My choice to stick with it isn’t due to strong conviction or deep technical analysis, but rather the simple fact that I’ve rarely, if ever, had to interact with it directly. For my personal desktop and laptop, it reliably handles booting, service management, and shutdown in the background. If it’s not broken and isn’t hindering my daily computing, there’s no compelling reason to explore alternatives.

Wholesome post •^~•

I remember many years ago, someone did this with xterm, and someone else later got it working with urxvt…

M$ loves locking users into their totally bulls*it ecosystem with deliberately broken “standards.” LibreOffice, on the other hand, actually respects open formats like ODF and doesn’t treat interoperability as a threat. Word still can’t properly open documents it didn’t create, unless you pay the vendor tax and pray the formatting survives…

Worging?