u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)

I like computers, trains, space, radio-related everything and a bunch of other tech related stuff. User of GNU+Linux.
I am also dumb and worthless.
My laptop is ThinkPad L390y running Arch.
I own RTL-SDRv3 and RSP1 clone.

SDF Unix shell username: user224

  • 6 Posts
  • 377 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • I honestly just fear updates at this point. They always seem to break more stuff than fix, the only exception to that for me has been PixelExperience custom ROM (discontinued).

    Edit: Android is simply missing proper backups. Bad update on my laptop? Timeshift. Bad update on stock Android? It is what it is.

    First Moto G5s Plus which got high battery drain, sluggishness and crashes after Android 8.1 update. This was bad enough I had to fix it with custom ROM. Then Poco X3 Pro which reportedly had issues with performance after MIUI 13 update, so I stayed on older software. Now my Ulefone Armor 24, which only has one update primarily to fix Google pay, but also brings a newer security patch, reportedly causing many crashes that make the phone unreliable and a bad experience.
    Also many Samsung phones had an update that removed access to manual band mode selection, and if I recall correctly, that update didn’t even revert them to default.

    It’s not the best for security, but I basically now just fear any updates. If everything works, then it can only be broken.

    Maybe I should at least somehow start checking known vulnerabilities. As of recently, I should probably stop using applock on my outdated Ulefone

    Exposed ”com.pri.applock.LockUI“ activity allows any other malicious application, with no granted Android system permissions, to inject an arbitrary intent with system-level privileges to a protected application. One must know the protecting PIN number (it might be revealed by exploiting CVE-2024-13916)

    https://cert.pl/en/posts/2025/05/CVE-2024-13915/

    Though my device has AppLock v14, so I am not sure.


  • This makes me worried about the ultra cheap Chinese manufacturers. I mean the likes of Unihertz, Umidigi, Ulefone, Doogee, Oukitel, etc

    Usually these don’t get updates at all.
    Even weirder, for example I have Ulefone Armor 24. They used to ship with Android 13. They still advertised it with Android 13 when I bought it. Mine like a few others have said arrived with Android 14, but the earlier ones aren’t offered A14 update.
    Someone on Reddit contacted support about this and they replied that they don’t provide cross-level upgrades because Google doesn’t allow them to release those to end users.

    Anyway, point is, they save on everything possible, starting with software updates. And I have doubts about them changing this, unless EU is a large market for them.











  • From: https://support.saily.com/hc/en-us/articles/15751399206172-How-do-I-install-the-Saily-eSIM-on-my-device#Android-Manual

    It seems you could install it on different device then. There’s also “share eSIM to other person”, which likely too just shows a QR code.

    I don’t know about Saily, but I doubt they would want ID. At least for data-only SIMs, if they do offer ones with phone number.

    I did a similar thing with a different eSIM provider when I was concerned about privacy, though eventually I did put it on my phone.

    I don’t know what else to use on Linux to get disposable Android containers.

    Anyway, while it is not related to privacy, they also seem quite expensive. At least for Europe. I don’t know where you’re going. I’ve used BNESIM, which funnily is cheaper than local SIMs for small data amounts (like 1 or 3GB), especially with SIMs without expiration. That can be used without app for sure, but I’ve had to use non-blocking DNS.

    Anyway, whatever you choose, use virtual payment cards. Something like privacy.com. There’s a ton of eSIM providers and I am sure they’re not all super safe and legit. My bank provides those thankfully.


  • How does DD-WRT fare? I’ve been using that, but I only have old routers. I mean, old. But I only have mobile data, so they’re mostly for playing around. Except for the one which supports Wireguard in DD-WRT. That’s very useful as a client. Unfortunately, it’s also the least stable one, rebooting every few minutes and eventually ending up in a bootloop after 1 to 2 hours.

    I’ve got I think 8 routers now, 6 of them have Wi-Fi, 1 has 802.11n (the unstable one), the rest peaks with 802.11g.