[victusinveritas]

[winry-lucy-beth]

I've recently learned that escaping enshitification is actually really easy. When I was younger I would use FOSS (free and open source software) because I usually couldn't afford anything else. Back then the paid options were usually significantly better than the unpaid options so when I finally got money I started using the paid stuff and completely forgot that Foss existed.

If you don't know why Foss is awesome its not just that its free. Open source software has a huge set of advantages. Most software is proprietary meaning that its code cannot be viewed by other people. Open source softwares code can be viewed by everyone and people can contribute their own code to make it better. Open source is often more secure than proprietary because more people have more eyes on it and more people have contributed to it's security. Its also easy to know how much privacy you have with every software because you can read the code. No more "trust me bro I'm not harvesting and selling your data" you know if they are collecting and selling because the code is publicly available.

In the last two months I have been switching almost completely to Foss. I was worried at first because when I stopped using Foss over 10 years ago the average Foss software was genuinely worse than the paid proprietary alternative. Thankfully things have really come full circle. 90℅ of the software I have tried in the last 2 months works better than the proprietary alternative and is 100℅ less obnoxious.

So here is a list of every Foss software I have tried and recommend. There is way more than this available. This list is just what I have used and like personally. Anyone can feel free to add and we can turn it into a master list. Please just take these as a place to start and do your own research to see if these softwares will work for your use case before you fully ditch your proprietary software.

Operating systems

Graphene os: android alt. Security and privacy focused. The most secure and private smartphone currently available.

Linux mint: easy to use linux, 100℅ better than windows.

Pop!: The Linux distro you should use if you have nividia hardware and want to play games using said hardware. Very intuitive and easy to use.

Kubuntu: Ubuntu Linux with KDE desktop. This is the linux distro one I am currently using and I don't have any plans to jump ship again. Better than windows and better than Mac. The companion app for your phone makes life soooo easy. Its pretty and easy to customize to a ridiculously granular level. No fucking notes.

Kindle jailbreak- ko reader: use jailbreak to free your kindle from the tyranny of the bezos. It will download ko reader which is a Foss OS that has every fucking feature you always wished kindle had and let's you read whatever the fuck you want, and have whatever the screensaver you want (no more ads!). Soooo fuck amazon and use this. I genuinely cannot recommend it enough.

Linux FOSS: (some available on windows and android as well)

Calibre: Foss desktop eBook library. Packed with features. You will want to use this with koreader to make managing your kindle easy.

Manuscript: skrivner alt. Does absolutely everything I need.

Bitwarden: password manager (use a keepass fork if you want self hosted)

Next cloud: private google drive and cloud alternative that you can self host if you want but it's not required. App available

Proton VPN: to the best of my knowledge it is the only Foss no log VPN you can get. You can pay for higher speeds. App available

Quad9dns: free encrypted DNS provider. App available.

News software:

Use any Foss RSS reader and for the love of god stop getting news from social media. Take control of your feed!

Apps (I only know for android)

Fdroid: great app store to find Foss android apps and download them.

Antennapod: you can get all of your podcasts fetched to one feature rich app via RSS feed. No need to rely on spotify or music steaming services.

Openreads: it's good reads but private and 100℅ stored locally. No amazon, no social media aspect, it just tracks your reading, you can import your good reads but if you want to import from storygraph you have to make a good reads burner account, import to good reads, then import to openreads. The menus Navigation on this one is a bit cumbersome but honestly good reads app is worse.

Newpipe: YouTube frontend that let's you have YouTube subscriptions, watch YouTube in the background, and blocks all ads, without logging in to YouTube. You will want to use this one with a VPN set to Canada (or any other country) so YouTube doesn't keep blocking it in order to force you to sign in. But even with that extra step its worth it for the privacy and the lack of ads.

Proton mail: one of 2 more private gmail alts. But you should note that email cannot be 100℅ anonymous or private.

I think that's it. There are still a lot software varieties I am slowly finding.

[technofeudalism]

i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.

there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.

anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.

A Better World - create an alternate history timeline

Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game

Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet

Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games

Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones

Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy

ZenGM - simulate sports

Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi

IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)

Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface

The Cafe & Diner - mystery game

The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game

Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions

Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game

Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game

Miniconomy - player driven economy game

Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes

BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators

Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil

Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.

if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.

[technofeudalism]

since this post blew up, i've been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there's a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.

anyway, here's all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it's a great mixture of styles. also don't forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.

Games

A Dark Room - text-based science fiction role-playing game.

corru.observer - science fiction adventure web game.

Improbable Island - old-school text adventure game.

Candy Box 2 - incremental clicker game that evolves into RPG.

Arcanum - open source wizard clicker game.

sandspiel, Powder Game, Powder Game 2, The Powder Toy - more sand physics games.

Orb.Farm - fishtank simulator.

Façade - experimental game with a real-time interactive narrative where you try to fix a failing marriage.

The Catacombs of Solaris - trippy art game.

Yume Nikki Online - online version of the surreal classic plus fangames.

The Barncle Goose Experiment - combine element/alchemy game based on antique theories of abiogenesis.

Fallen London - free-to-play text-based open world RPG.

Nested - very unique text-based universe expanding game. described as possibly @orteil42's favorite thing he's ever made.

The Process of Elimination - interactive web novel (by @hypertextdog)

Discworld MUD - multiplayer, text-based, online game (a MUD, or text MMORPG) based on the Discworld books.

Horse Master - surreal text game about training a horse.

EYEZMAZE - flash (RIP) or HTML5-based puzzle games.

You Are Jeff Bezos - text game. spend Jeff Bezos' fortune.

The Password Game - challenging puzzle game where you have to meet password requirements (by neal)

Universal Paperclips - incremental paperclip making game.

Half-Earth - planetary disaster planning game where you try to save the world using socialism.

ChooseYourStory - community-driven website centered on CYOA style story games.

PhD Simulator - random event based text game. make your choice each month and see if you can graduate on time.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - open source roguelike.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - turn-based survival roguelike set in the modern day.

Nethack - open source roguelike originally released in 1987.

FarmRPG - simple, mobile-friendly, text-based farming RPG.

Kingdom of Loathing - browser-based community MMORPG.

PokeRogue - browser-based Pokemon roguelike

Tools

Text Game Builder - works in your browser, with just a little bit of Python (by @grumpygandalf)

Twine - great (free!) tool for making text-based games quickly.

Ink - scripting language for interactive fiction (also free)

Flashpoint Archive - a community effort to preserve games and animations from the web.

PICO-8 - fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.

Non-Games

Library of Babel - interactive illustration which attempts to simulate what it might be like to browse The Library of Babel.

Superbad - technically not a game, sprawling website full of secrets.

17776 - serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative about football in the far-future. beautiful, creative, legendary. created by Jon Bois, a legend and one of my favorite writers of all time.

Choice of Games - text-based, choose-your-own-adventure games (interactive fiction). some free-to-play, others can be bought like an ebook.

The Deep Sea - scroll to the bottom of the ocean. encounter the humble squid and his friends (by neal)

Space Elevator - like The Deep Sea, but up instead of down. you can equip your avatar with a scarf (by neal)

Internet Artifacts - an interactive history of the early internet (by neal)

If The Moon Were Only One Pixel - scroll through an accurately scaled model of the universe.

r/incremental_games - reddit community for incremental games.

r/WebGames - reddit community for web games in general.

thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.

[monchursouls]

Reblogging the update too

[nixcraft]

Literal definition of spyware:

Also From Microsoft’s own FAQ: "Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. 🤡

[caroline-vibecheck]

KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKill

[alluringapex]

There's a way to remove it~

Go into the power shell

then paste in:

reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /v "TurnOffWindowsCopilot" /t REG_DWORD /f /d 1

like this

Then restart. Also here is how to turn off the awful search suggestions:

How to Disable Windows Web Search and Speed Up Your PC

Stop the OS from pulling up web results when you just want files and apps.

[venonomnomicon]

incase anyone didnt know there's some great free software to handle disabling windows bloatware without needing to mess with the command line

With the freeware O&O ShutUp10++, unwanted Windows 10 and 11 features can be disabled and the transfer of sensitive personal data onto Micro

O&O AppBuster gives you the control back over your Windows again! Now you decide which apps you want on your computer.

these are a mandatory part of every windows install for me. been using them for years and it's such a lifesaver

[foxofninetales]

Because this has mostly been talked about with Windows 11, heads-up that this installed itself on every Windows 10 computer in our house with this week's update.

[realian]

instead of shelling out 70 dollars for the new Silent Hill 2 remake, consider playing the original masterpiece for free on PC.

installing the game is incredibly easy even for the least computer-savvy people.

no matter your PC specs, you can play it. the game was designed to run on 2002 hardware. there is a 99% chance the game will run on your build.

the original Silent Hill 2 is abandonware, so you need not worry about the ethics of piracy.

after you install the game, be sure to patch it to turn it into the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.

the Enhanced Edition will let it run on modern builds and vastly improve the framerate and graphics.

you don't need to have any prior knowledge of computers to patch the game. follow the very easy instructions on the website. the game will essentially patch itself.

Link to the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.

[souvenirsofsurgery]

Horror Movies on Internet Archive

Spider Baby (1967)

Black Christmas (1974)

Carrie (1976)

Suspiria (1977)

Alucarda (1977)

Possession (1981)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The Evil Dead (1981)

Evil Dead II (1987)

Army of Darkness (1992)

Basket Case (1982)

The Thing (1982)

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Re-Animator (1985)

Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Nekromantik (1987)

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Singapore Sling (1990)

Man Bites Dog (1992)

Braindead (aka Dead Alive) (1992)

Ghostwatch (1992)

Perfect Blue (1997)

Cure (1997)

Pulse (aka Kairo) (2001)

[fattributes]

Genuinely, I don’t know how else to get the word out, but I feel like if your home-cooked dinners don’t taste right, you're missing either paprika, sugar, butter, or chicken bouillon.

[fattributes]

Still not right? It might be missing one of these: Mustard powder, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar. MSG. Ketchup. Mushroom powder. Maple syrup. Honey.

[fattributes]

Hey everyone, MSG is a valid culinary ingredient. It’s literally salt. Stop sending me racist messages.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

The way demonization of MSG is still so normalized drives me up the fucking wall. Even among people who don't think it's literal poison or believe racist conspiracy theories about it, you often see people talking about how it's lazy bc it's a shortcut to make mediocre food taste better and like... That's literally just how seasoning food works. "Oh MSG just tricks your brain into thinking the food tastes better by artificially stimulating your umami tastebuds" THAT'S HOW SUGAR AND SALT WORK TOO.

[tofupixel]

How do you make an image into something that looks pixelated? Like for backgrounds and things

I draw it with pixels at a low resolution

[tofupixel]

i feel bad for being sassy cos i realized now this poor person is asking about the background of images like this

which is obviously not handmade. sorry for getting confused, it happens more often than you think that people accuse me of using a filter for my pixel art or something

so here is a tutorial for aseprite on how to crunch the colours of a photo like this into any palette !!

step 1. find a royalty free photo or take one yourself heres one i just took on my camera

2. open it in aseprite and change the image size to be smaller whatever you need

MM yes nice and crunchy

Select a palette of your choice on the left side of the screen on the palette panel. use the middle icon to open the palettes dropdown.

i am using my palette i made at 20k followers, you can download it free here

once you have chosen your palette, in the top bar go to sprite > color mode > indexed. it should automatically choose the nearest colour it can from your palette for every pixel

as you can see its quite messy and i do like to clean it up a little but it looks good messy too like old games!! sorry for being sassy

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

I love you PBS I love you NPR I love you public libraries I love you wikipedia I love you project gutenberg I love you librivox I love you libby I love you hoopla I love you openlibrary I love you internet archive I love you resources that make information free and accessible to the public

[anneemay]

🔥 whatever you feel like talking about

If you're not American and you live in the global south where libraries are not well funded, it's morally okay to sign up for American public libraries digital memberships using fake addresses to access their Libby/Overdrive.

The US owes us a lot, not the other way around. So go ahead, babes. Find fake addresses and access their digital libraries for free.

[anneemay]

Yes, yes, pirating is easier but the Libby app is convenient

[racist-sundown-site-deactivated]

@hongkongtaxi you're a real one thank you

[anneemay]

Bad news: NYPL would terminate your account after three weeks because they required in person address verification while Brooklyn Public Library no longer issues e-card.

Queens Library should be the easiest to sign up.

[anneemay]

Look for American libraries that have Kanopy and Mango Languages because you can also access those services.

[surfeit-of-stoats]

Adding my best friend, the library in Northern California that has a grant funding it to give out ecards worldwide to anyone anywhere (as far as I know).

[rebecca-levin-art]

Brooklyn Public Library has a program called Books Unbanned where anyone in the US under 21 can get a free online card (this was to combat library censorship and book banning) and I remember it being pretty easy to get signed up for that. I don’t think I really had to give much personal information, so it’d probably be pretty easy to get no matter where you are. Also, if the library you sign up for has a Hoopla subscription, you can get access to a lot of free music, TV, and comics.

[petalpetal]

okay top 5 favorite books I think that my followers/tumblr would like in no particular order

Yume by Sifton Tracey Anipare

its magical realism that addresses the racism foreigners face in Japan (especially black people and people who are half Japanese)

The Library on Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

probably the best novel I have ever come across that has the most in depth orginal lore that you would only find a series buts it one book.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

probably the best representation of how to escape your abusers

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

what if vampires ate books instead of blood but with a lesbian and asexual representation in it. (also gives handmaiden tale vibes)

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

this is a beautiful story about how bulling/family trauma can affect kids. the premise is all of these middle schoolers are invited to a fairy castle for a whole year where they have to option to be granted any wish they desire as long as they find they hidden key. within the first week its obvious they all have one thing in common none of them are gong to school because of bulling.

I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS IF YOU EVER FELT LIKE AN OUTSIDER WHILE AS A TEEN BECAUSE YOU WILL RELATE TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE CHARACTERS

if you cant get a copy of this I suggest watching the anime movie or reading the manga.

[petalpetal]

My goal is to get at least one person to read one of these books

[warmfuzzybutch-deactivated20210]

[patron-saints]

[Image text: two tweets from orville perker @ literate_coyote. the first says “stone butch blues does not end with jess figuring out where exactly they fit between “butch lesbian” and “trans masc” but ends with them becoming a communist. organized labor and revolutionary politics is what saved them, not figuring out a specific identity. this is important.”

The second tweet says, “the book isn’t really about figuring out where you fit in this huge spectrum of labels (esp micro identities) but to find solidarity with workers like yourself, to organize along lines of shared needs like workplace safety or healthcare, because that’s how we get liberation.” End Text.]

[portraitofhealing]

Does anyone know where I can find this text because????? Holy hell that’s not happening

[warmfuzzybutch-deactivated20210]

This book is free in PDF form and you can by a print copy at cost at https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/

https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/

[queeranarchism]

Leslie Feinberg worked up to a few days before hir death to make sure hir groundbreaking book was available to all, for free. Never ever pay a dirtbag who charges a fortune for some rare old copy. Download this book for free or buy a print copy for dirt cheap. It’s what Leslie wants.

[midwinterhunt]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[paper-mario-wiki]

hey here's a website for downloading any video or image from any website.

works w/ youtube, soundcloud, twitch, twitter (gifs and videos), tumblr (video and audio), and most other websites you're probably lookin to download stuff off of.

[paper-mario-wiki]

for anyone wondering about privacy and whatnot, i'm happy to say that the developers are pretty committed to have 0 trackers and 0 data retention. you can read more in their "about" section, but here's the basic important stuff:

[wukker]

COBALT MENTIONED OUTSIDE OF TWITTER???

[paper-mario-wiki]

^ (one of the lead devs that made cobalt)

thank you for your thingy, it's real useful 🙏

[logically-devonian-blog]

How the Geneva Drive (the mechanical step that makes the second hand on a clock work by turning constant rotation into intermittent motion) works.

[thelynnfiles]

Oh snap!

[cutlerish]

As an engineer, this makes me happy.

[thefurrynerd]

If only one loop of this gif were equal to one second…

[endoshan]

easy peasy

[aibohphobia]

watching this while listening to a clock ticking is the best decision i have ever made

[puppybeargf]

[sonbr]

You may like this amazing web page then: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/ It’s a full break down of how a mechanical watch works, every single part including a complication. Every diagram is interactive and beautifully put together. It’s a fantastic read, fun to play with and really informative.

[eightyonekilograms]

Seconding this recommendation, and in fact this person’s entire blog: he has multiple of these explainers and they’re all good.

In particular, if you’re a programmer who finds floating point numbers to be exotic dark magic, I strongly recommend his Exposing Floating Point post. There are many guides/tutorials on floating point arithmetic out there but IMO this is the best one and makes them really not seem so difficult by the end of it (or at least, all their counterintuitive behavior now makes sense).

[paper-mario-wiki]

in case you haven't thought about switching to firefox yet, here's an extension that will...

Notify you if a website you're on has employees that are on strike

Bypass paywalls for major news outlets like the New York Times

Change the browser theme based on the time of day

Directly install third party non-extension scripts

Save individual browser sessions to be reopened at any time

Use the TV format of YouTube in-browser

Make all chrome extensions compatible with Firefox

Turn YouTube dislikes back on

Fix Twitter and make it way less fucked up

Automatically remove trackers from URLs

And many more!

Feel free to add any other firefox extensions you think are slept on.

[squimp]

im telling you all... its so worth it to spend a whole evening make 100 million homemade gyoza (even though it takes so long) and freezing them all to have perfect delicious gyoza just the way you like them anytime you want at a moments notice. they seriously take like 10 minutes to prepare from frozen and they are so good. i just had a dumplings and noodles feast you wish you were me

[squimp]

heres teh gyoza recipe ive been using and heres the dumpling sauce recipe ive been using and here was the noodles recipe i ate. in case even 1 person on earth wanted this information