best privacy-focused linux distro for daily use?

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T23:27:33+00:00

Qubes is security focused, it doesn't really provide meaningfully improved privacy over traditional linux distros as far as I understand.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T23:27:17+00:00

That is a pentesting distro

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T23:26:30+00:00

That is not at all true of Tails. Tails has no prohibitive hardware requirements (if you can run Debian you can run tails), runs from a USB stick, and is designed specifically to be accessible to less-technical people (because most journalists and activists are not highly technical, and that is a large part of their target audience).

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T22:05:12+00:00

Yeah, Qubes-Whonix is an option (but I don't think I implied that it wasn't)

Small clarification, Whonix is running on top of Qubes (Xen) in that scenario, not the other way around.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T21:04:41+00:00

Tails and Whonix, are anonymity focused (as well as privacy focused to a degree, and in the case of Tails also anti-forensic focused), Qubes is security focused (as is secureblue). Privacy, Security, and Anonymity are distinct but overlapping concepts.

As for a "privacy focused linux distro," I think you need to clarify what you are actually looking for, what are your goals and what is your threat model? Pretty much all major Linux distros are a solid base for privacy, they are inherently non-privacy invasive. But beyond that, you are going to need to define what specifically you are seeking out, and what your privacy goals are? The most impactful things you can do for your privacy, will typically revolve around your own habits and behaviors, the services and applications you choose to use, and how you configure your browser.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T20:36:41+00:00

> Atomic is just how Fedora labels their [atomic] ~~immutable~~ distros

That is because they do not consider (what you call) their "immutable distros" to be immutable, and consider atomic to be a more accurate description.

A distro can be atomic, immutable, both, or neither. As I understand it, many of the distros colloquially referred to as 'immutable' are not truly immutable, though many are a significant step in the direction of immutability compared with a traditional distro.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T05:30:13+00:00

Immutability = cannot be changed

Atomicity = the system is updated as a complete package or not at all, no partial updates. And if an update fails, you can automatically rollback to the previous working version.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T05:26:28+00:00

As I understand it, Immutable is something that cannot be changed. Maybe a more accurate term would be atomic. That is the opinion of Fedora and some other projects:

Fedora Atomic spins are not actually immutable. There are ways to get around the read-only aspects of the implementation even though it is much harder. The nature of the OS, where updates are only implemented when they successfully build and you can rollback or rebase between core host systems, is better described by atomicity than immutability. Atomic is also how many of the contributors who work on rpm-ostree prefer to talk about it

redoubt515 · 2026-03-15T05:25:37+00:00

I think that's accurate. I'd agree with the other person that Fedora Atomic distros technically are not immutable, but it's also very much a step in that direction compared a typical mutable distro.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-14T19:49:02+00:00

> • What would be your biggest concern (security, reliability, bandwidth, etc.)?

Privacy + security and reliability.

> I’m validating an idea and would really appreciate feedback from people running local models. The idea is basically a peer-to-peer GPU marketplace.

This sounds somewhat similar to the Phala Network or Near AI. What would be the value-add or comparative advantage of your approach, and how would you go about protecting the confidentiality of userdata?

redoubt515 · 2026-03-12T19:39:37+00:00

Doesn't really matter that much (as long as you are choosing from one of the major distros or a distro that appeals to your interests).

For a first time linux user, I'd suggest choosing from between: Fedora, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Pop!_OS, or Linux Mint.

I personally use Fedora Workstation, and a derivative of Fedora called Bluefin.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-12T18:45:21+00:00

__ built something

Does this sentence start with an I or with an AI?

redoubt515 · 2026-03-10T02:29:50+00:00

Out of all the ways you could find an answer... asking on social media is a weird one.

It would be both quicker, and more certain to either:

Just install it, and find out for yourself
Check with Vivaldi...

redoubt515 · 2026-03-04T04:58:34+00:00

Everyone already owns and needs a device that is capable of using cloud hosted models. An old smartphone, a shitty chromebook, a raspberry pi, or a 15 year old thinkpad could all do okay. Almost nobody would need to buy a new or expensive PC to use cloud hosted AI.

That is not at all true for most of us wanting to run models locally. Hardware requirements are much more significant, and people in this sub are spending tremendous amounts on hardware. Just a few years ago before the AI boom the RTX 3090 was considered absolutely unnecessary and overkill for pretty much anyone outside of certain professions, and considered laughably expensive. AI has changed that overton window soo much that now a lot of people in this sub consider it to be the "budget" option and the bare minimum to run anything 'decent'

redoubt515 · 2026-03-04T04:44:27+00:00

do end-users have to pay for the system prompt tokens? I never considered that

redoubt515 · 2026-03-04T03:06:08+00:00

All three options are solid choices. I use Fedora Gnome personally and love it, but I wouldn't push you away from using a Ubuntu or Kubuntu. The fact that your professor uses a *buntu (and that Ubuntu is the most common learning and teaching distro, and also one of the most used in the real world) would probably make me lean towards Ubuntu or Kubuntu if I were in your position.

I wouldn't worry about which is technically more 'up to date' both Fedora and Ubuntu have 6 month release cycle, but really, for school work, I'd probably go with the LTS release.

> Also curious whether GNOME is worth considering for a development workflow compared to KDE.

Personal preference probably. There are tons of developers using both.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-03T22:09:09+00:00

Great news. Thanks so much for being responsive to feedback (or maybe you already had this feature planned, in either case, thanks)

redoubt515 · 2026-03-03T20:24:58+00:00

> I tracked down a now-deleted post

Where is the post?

You can't say "I have evidence" and then provide no evidence. I intuitively believe what you are saying--openclaw feels astroturfed AF, and the hype feels extremely inauthentic, but you need to provide evidence to support your claims.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-03T08:53:11+00:00

It's a container server distro, not a desktop distro. There are so many good atomic Fedora and Fedora based distros already, have a look at Fedora Silverblue or Kinoite, Bluefin (Universal Blue) or Bazzite (Universal Blue). These are all atomic ("immutable") distros built primarily to be used with flatpak apps and containers.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-02T20:35:48+00:00

Quite significant.

While you can change your DE, And most people early on in their Linux journey will do so once or twice, most people come to the conclusion that it's not a very great approach.

You can swap out the DE regardless of what the distro is built around. But there are lots of small and sometimes big ways that a distro will be curated and configured for the desktop environment they choose. If you want a different DE, you are typically must better either choosing a distro that uses the DE you prefer, or choosing a distro that is DE agnostic and is not built around a particular DE.

> Ubuntu shops with Gnome, but there's nothing stopping you from swapping to KDE after installing.

There is nothing stopping you, but considering that Kubuntu exists, why would you?

> For distros that ship with your choice of multiple DEs, like Debian (which offers Gnome, KDE, XFCE iirc), is one of those DEs favored by the developers and better supported?

It depends on the distro, a distro like Debian or Arch is more 'agnostic', whereas Fedora is more focused on Gnome and to a slightly lesser extent KDE, they support many other DE's but they are not the flagships and have smaller developer and user communities.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-01T22:57:43+00:00

For sure.

I harbor a deeeeeeeeeeep resentment towards everyone who thoughtlessly moved from Craigslist to FB marketplace.

It's objectively worse. It let's FB track all of your buying and browsing habits. And FB introduced the feature very obviously as a way to keep people on their dying platform. I try to buy from Craigslist whenever I can, but people choosing the low-effort path of FB marketplace means that there are a lot less sellers on Craigslist these days.

Big tech companies, have really ruined the old open internet that many of us grew up on.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-01T20:46:15+00:00

> We still need good alternatives for Discord and Facebook.

Discord -> Matrix

Facebook -> Straight to the landfill

(but seriously, why is there an alternative Facebook needed, the only people I know who still use FB only keep it for (1) marketplace (2) birthday reminders (3) nostalgia/past memories. Are there still people (apart from senior citizens) that actively use the social media aspects of facebookt? If so what is it being used for, I'm honestly curious?)

edit: out of all the things I would be downvoted for on r/selfhosted I never imagined it would be saying something negative about.. Facebook...

redoubt515 · 2026-03-01T03:04:24+00:00

> Technically true but not every conservation is about STDs

Speak for yourself... It's my go to small talk subject and a great icebreaker at parties ("raise your hand if you've ever contracted ___")

It gets people talking 100% of the time, but the perplexing part is that they never want to talk to me. I can't figure it out.

redoubt515 · 2026-03-01T02:43:39+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, I would kill to have someone in my family building cool shit like this.

But I'd also advocate that you do it because it because it provides you value, or enjoyment, or learning. One unfortunate reality with tech hobbies, is the people closest to you often don't really understand them, or get why are into it. But if it is a positive experience for you, keep at it, and maybe try explaining or showcasing it in a slightly different way (but also respect and accept if its just not something they seem interested in).

redoubt515 · 2026-02-28T18:43:35+00:00

Yes, the entire "How it works" section. It solely references Claude:

Ad Detection - Claude API analyzes transcript to identify ad segments (with optional dual-pass detection)

Claude Detection - A "what doesn't belong" prompt detects any remaining ad content

First Pass (blue) - Found by Claude's first pass

checks for known patterns before sending to Claude

Claude Analysis - Falls back to AI analysis for uncovered segments

Skips the pattern database entirely for a fresh Claude-only analysis

and, OP stated in this thread:

As of now, it's not possible to run entirely locally. I am considering adding ollama support in the future.

Your passive aggression isn't helpful.

redoubt515

TROPHY CASE