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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 28th, 2023

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  • Device-wise, have you considered separating your project and personal computer? You could coreboot a small light Chromebook as a personal, ultraportable device, and get a hefty laptop or even a desktop for the hard stuff.

    Chatwise, there’s Matrix, XMPP and SimpleX at least. And Briar and Session. But Signal with its phone number registration is the easiest for others to jump to.

    And yes, it’s a constant balancing act between privacy and convenience… and the IA of the security triad, and open source principles. Just like with most things, there’s no perfect solution, you just learn to live with the least bad ones.










    1. “Easy and painless” depends on your point of view, and we here tend to be biased. For example, just a couple of months ago I had to explain to “a normal person” how to make backup copies of a folder to a pen drive. She did not want additional backup software (and I still don’t know if W10 would have had the functionality out-of-the-box). Copypasting files was too difficult. In the end she decided to go with “save as”, which sounded like a horrible idea to me, since she’couldn’t remember how to open anything in Word that wasn’t in the recently used list when starting the software, and she is going to lose track of which file is which at some point. I doubt it would be “easy and painless” for people like her, who are very common outside our little bubble.

    2. Making someone change their opinion is not a sprint, but a marathon. State your opinion openly when relevant, don’t get into an argument, let it brew, mention it again when it comes up, live as you “preach”. That person I mentioned? Happily using Signal with me. Eager(!) to try Linux once W10 support runs out. I’ve told her I’ll install Mint DE on my laptop and loan it to her for unhurried testing and learning this summer while having her familiar backup to lean on if it gets difficult, and to install the same on her own computer when the support runs out, if she still wants me to.




  • As a woman who’s been that down: IMHO you can just empathize, but admit you don’t have the capacity to deal with her needs. That you wish her well, but for your own mental health, you can’t be her rock. She may well know she has trust and relationship issues, and is telling you for the very reason that she wants you to walk away now if you can’t cope, rather than break her heart later.

    Of course it’s also possible she’s has a personality disorder, rather than “just” depression, anxiety and trauma. So don’t let yourself be guilted back.

    In any case, for both your sakes, and I hope this does not need saying: No sex.

    Edit: Based on your responses you’re barely acquaintances. No action necessary, just let it drop.