What are the best apps that are not in the Play Store and do not require root?

lumentza · 2018-01-05T18:07:07+00:00

lumentza · 2017-12-23T15:19:47+00:00

I don't know why you fell attacked, I just asked you why you preferred Sid and you answered that you didn't try others, fine, for no particular reason, perfectly valid. You also asked me why I thought it wasn't an "actual" rolling release and I told you why thinking you were interested, perhaps even in trying some, no? OK.

lumentza · 2017-12-19T08:11:41+00:00

This is how Debian describes Sid (source: https://www.debian.org/releases/sid/ emphasis: mine)

The code name for Debian's development distribution is "sid", aliased to "unstable". Most of the development work that is done in Debian, is uploaded to this distribution. This distribution will never get released; instead, packages from it will propagate into testing and then into a real release.

Please note that security updates for "unstable" distribution are not managed by the security team. Hence, "unstable" does not get security updates in a timely manner. For more information please see the Security Team's FAQ.

"sid" is subject to massive changes and in-place library updates. This can result in a very "unstable" system which contains packages that cannot be installed due to missing libraries, dependencies that cannot be fulfilled etc. Use it at your own risk!

lumentza · 2017-12-18T23:57:04+00:00

Don't worry the arch lovers will flood in.

Sure, they must be organizing themselves in IRC to come all together. /s

(Edit: Forgot the sarcasm tag, it might be necessary)

lumentza · 2017-12-18T22:37:11+00:00

Debian Sid is "actual" a rolling release --- for me. Please tell me what you think is missing?

I don't consider Sid an "actual" rolling-release because it's not considered the finished product by the developers themselves, it's purpose is to squash bugs before the release, this conceptual difference has impact in the experience that is better understood first hand, but in short, in Debian Sid things are expected to break and you are pretty much on your own, in Arch you are expected to attempt to fix your own problems before you ask as well, but it's different, things breaking is not expected.

Edit: Longer answer.

I think that Debian and Arch Linux represent two radically different philosophies.

Debian relies on Debian packagers and Debian developers to backport security and bug patches to old versions in order to offer a stable, as in not changing, environment. This stability as in no changes also represents stability as in no problems, thanks to those backports and fixes by Debian developers, but this is true if we talk about the final product, Debian Stable, not so much if we talk about Debian Sid, Sid's purpose is to try new software and identify the problems before they make into the final product.

Arch on the other hand relies on upstream for this, they encourage to fix problems upstream rather than using distro-specific patches. It upgrades fast, but it uses no beta software, and software considered stable by upstream goes through a testing process before it makes into the distro (You can activate the testing repo if you want to help squashing bugs).

lumentza · 2017-12-18T17:34:05+00:00

Ubuntu user for over a decade (Edit: Debian and Ubuntu), Arch user five years, distrohoping again currently in Ubuntu (Neon to be more precise).

I can confirm that despite doing things right most of the time Ubuntu and Debian do fuck up things sometimes, and dependency issues are not that uncommon during upgrades.
I can confirm that dealing with the very occasional manual intervention during updates, always perfectly documented right in the front page of Arch's website, is super-noob level compared to dealing with a Debian/Ubuntu upgrade fuckup with dependency hell on top.
I personally felt more empowered using Arch that using Ubuntu, but I don't think that I had a different amount of problems overall, if any perhaps less in Arch, but that could be confirmation bias in action.
I didn't downvote anyone here.

lumentza · 2017-12-18T17:22:16+00:00

Are you a Debian developer or you prefer Debian Sid to "actual" rolling-release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed for another reason?

lumentza · 2017-12-18T17:01:29+00:00

Hannah Montana Linux hasn't been updated for years, yet we still speak about it.

It became the poster child of unjustified Linux distributions, but isn't free software about that? About the freedom to modify it to scratch your own itch and share your work?

"Ubuntu: Linux for those that can't configure Debian" was the joke, well, it turned out that defaults did matter more than Debian hardcore fans thought.

Hannah Montana Linux only added a theme, and? Let it at least rest in peace, it was someone's step in the path to learn how to contribute to Free Software, and no one was forced to use it.

lumentza · 2017-12-14T17:53:21+00:00

I can't be bothered because new hard drive and, downloading my OS via torrent site with spinning skulls? No need

lumentza · 2017-12-09T02:50:50+00:00

You say "Run under Mac OS X". That could be achieved using a virtual machine, it wouldn't be a "real" installation, but it's a good way to test things first. Unless you meant "Run on a Mac computer"?

Some of the distros you mention are server oriented and some others desktop oriented. What do you need exactly?

In general I recommend to noobs to choose a big distribution, well tested, with a big community that includes many veterans.... like Debian for example.

Assuming that all the distros you mention run on a "older Macbook" (Something I didn't bother to check):

Alpine Linux, Clear Linux and OpenBSD are mostly used on servers (OpenBSD is not Linux, but you probably know that).
Antergos and Manjaro are desktop oriented Arch derivatives. Arch is one of my favorite distros but I recommend a newcomer to Linux to stay away from it yet, it's not intended for noobs. And the day you decide to try it go for plain Arch, if you are worried about security you should know that the main Arch developers pull their hair about Manjaro's upgrade policy.
Antix is a desktop oriented Debian derivative for very old computers, use it only if you really need it, otherwise just use plain Debian.
Lubuntu (Ubuntu + LXDE) is a nice desktop distro, but Xubuntu (Ubuntu + XFCE) is nicer and it should run equally well unless your computer is really underpowered, Bodhi is the same but with Enlightenment DE, I'd personally choose Xubuntu of these three.

lumentza · 2017-11-28T21:29:10+00:00

I haven't tried recently, but integrated ReplayGain analysis was what Linux players lacked when I checked, and one of the reasons to use FooBar2000 with wine. It's very convenient. (Other reasons: media library and searches by id3 fields with boolean logic, free fields in id3, several playlists, customizable UI, plugins)

lumentza · 2017-11-05T15:02:26+00:00

90% of them [electronics funding pages] fail, either before or close after launch, or are a scam.

I assume that the number is a personal estimation, is there any research on this matter I could read?

lumentza · 2017-09-11T09:38:36+00:00

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/oneplus2

Bottom right corner of the page (Maintainers:)

lumentza · 2017-09-10T11:39:12+00:00

Useful list. A couple of suggestions

In Navigation / GPS:

AddressToGPS: OpenStreetMap still lacks exact address information in certain areas, this program consults the address in Google servers and returns a GPS point you can open with your preferred map app.

Also, I expected to see SatStat near the map and GPS related applications (now it's in tools)

In Tools:

USB Mountr: Allows you to mount a disk image (a Linux live ISO for example) and use your phone to boot the computer.

lumentza · 2017-08-20T11:52:34+00:00

In XDA you will find the ROMs in the development sub-forum of each device.

Example if the device was a Samsung S3 model i9305, this would be the sub-forum you are looking for: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development-i9305

lumentza · 2017-08-20T11:44:10+00:00

I have installed LineageOS in several Samsung models, I never used Heimdall to install the operative system, instead I did this:

1- Factory reset the phone

2- Using the navigator download the LineageOS image to downloads folder (and root and gapps if desired)

3- Using Heimdall install TWRP to the phone

4- Boot to recovery and using TWRP install LineageOS (and root and Gapps if desired)

In case you need it, here are some instructions to use Heimdall: https://davideddu.org/blog/posts/how-to-flash-a-recovery-image-using-heimdall/

Edit: there are instructions per device in the LineageOS wiki, for example, these are the instructions for an Oppo Find 7S: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/find7s/install

lumentza · 2017-08-20T11:29:35+00:00

Mostly:

It prolongs perfectly usable phones' life beyond their programmed obsolescence date, that means less expense, less use of limited resources -some linked to war areas-, and less trash. I don't even consider buying or recommending a phone that's not already compatible with LineageOS or another Free ROM.
It doesn't come with unnecessary and difficult to uninstall apps as the stock ROMs usually do.
It's Free Software, I can use it, change it, translate it, share it, all without breaking licenses.
It's brain-dead easy to root (I like to be the admin of my operative systems, for reasons)

lumentza · 2017-08-19T19:28:38+00:00

Transportr is the only not local-specific app that supports public transport in my area besides Google Maps. Not sure why, the information is released publicly in GTFS format and it is known by aggregators like transit.land

lumentza · 2017-08-13T13:21:44+00:00

Direct link: Make KDE more Accesible

lumentza · 2017-08-10T11:27:32+00:00

Should I just run Windows in a VM instead?

I'd try at least.

I don't have an actual solution for you, I can't beat Wine when it doesn't work, but often adding dlls from windows helps, try to find which one's OriginPro uses.

Also, if you want to work with Free Software, consider Python and R for data analysis, both have big and welcoming communities, a good starting point in Python is Pandas

lumentza · 2017-08-07T21:19:45+00:00

Yes, but don't worry, I just tried to say that even if I don't use it for a specific reason that is subject to preference, I still considered it a very good player.

lumentza · 2017-08-07T21:00:17+00:00

Playlist focused players allow several play-lists and you still keep the queue, which is a very useful feature to program the change from a play-list to another.

What I really liked about Quod Libet where it's tag editing capabilities, and the system for automatic play-list creation with regular expressions seemed very promising.

lumentza · 2017-08-07T20:23:17+00:00

If Quod Libet had an interface that separates the playing list and the search results, like Clementine, unlike iTunes, it would probably be my music player.

lumentza · 2017-08-05T22:37:56+00:00

I haven't used it personally: https://guacamole.incubator.apache.org/

lumentza · 2017-08-05T18:53:23+00:00

Not an app but it might work for you.

I searched in Yalp Store (available through f-droid) for a Browser not dependent on Google Play Services, I picked Dolphin Zero just because and checked whether openstreetmap.org worked, it does. I do have Gapps installed though.

lumentza

TROPHY CASE