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Nah same results :( maybe Firefox nightly mobile problem?

Just gave it a try... Doesn't appear to work for browser default search settings? I do a search and see results for about 2 seconds before it then shows their search page. I used https://www.qwant.com?q=%s for the query. Liked the search results I tested it with but not being able to use the search bar for quick searches is a deal breaker for me :(

What I did was just buy the tv I wanted for the hardware and block it from internet access by Mac address, then plugged it into the network with eth. I then put dns blocks on every request it made (I log things before blocking them, and did this on the scenario a kill switch gets messed up or something) and installed the media software from there. Smart tv made private.

I for one hate Microsoft Windows a great amount, yet am in love with C#... Just because a company has one terrible product, doesn't mean everything they make is terrible.

Also... What everyone else here already said. No reason for me to rinse and repeat what's been said lol.

Man, still need to go finish the 2nd. I stopped playing after a game breaking bug was encountered that was never fixed... Didn't want the start the entire chapter over and never got back into it to finish it. Once I do eventually do that, I might get the 3rd when it releases.

If you're very technical and understand Linux, security, etc in great lengths (such as how to setup your own iptables rules with looking for help or creating your own scripts), and really know what your doing, a rooted non-gapps lineageos (optionally microg) is a great choice, as long as you install things like AFWall+ and such to lock it down a ton. Heavy emphasis on "understanding" what you're doing here, since if you don't, a rooted device could be bad on security.

If you're not at that comfort level or have the time for that kind of stuff, GrapheneOS (unfortunately on pixel) is the best option.

If you don't want to give Google any of your money, and you don't want to go into the super low level system control with root, the best option is probably still lineageos with microg (or without if you don't need push notifications for anything).

96% but it's not accurate. Verified on my DNS logs that the two it claimed weren't blocked, actually resolved to 0.0.0.0 correctly, so I'm actually at 100%

Title probably needs to be reworded. Terms clearly mention they won't use it without user consent, not that they MUST use it. Doesn't mean it'll stay that way, but just don't consent for it when asked and you're probably okay (I'm mentioning this for those who have no choice but to use it, for things like work)

If you have geolocation enabled or don't block location requests, that could be another way. VPN can't protect you from geolocation.

Probably already said here, but it's going to just come down to your end goal to know what distro fits what you're looking for.

I am personally a huge fan of Gentoo, another distro that's all about "from the ground up" approach. It's actually where I started with Linux and is how I became as proficient in it as I am today. In fact my internal server that does everything is running Gentoo as it's OS... Has never had any problems in the last decade that would require a reinstall or anything crazy like that.

But even as much love as I have for Gentoo, I have Linux Mint installed on my laptop. Why? Because it's just more convenient when I need my full focus on the 10 other personal projects I'm working on... Also amazing on the gaming front. Doesn't have nearly as much bloat as some other Ubuntu-based distros on first install, has a huge community support, and is just great all around to have.

Ah, I misunderstood you mounting the system in as your main, not a backup. Gotcha!

Why not just self host? What happens when/if their service goes down without any warning? You lose everything?

Got my things all on a server with RAID for redundancy and backup weekly to an external (encrypted) device, monthly to another that doesn't stay at home. Also means I don't have to rely on the Internet to use all my services if the ISP goes down, the firewall explodes, etc. Self hosting is the way to go!