“Verizon agrees that the FCC should consider the merits and trade-offs of handset unlocking requirements,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told The Register, though that support is conditional.

Screw verizon with an acid covered cactus. What possible “merits” are there to locking a device down for anyone but the companies selling the phones? Rich Young can go kick rocks.

I will not buy a phone through a carrier, I will not buy a phone with a locked bootloader. Period.

I am done with anticonsumer bullshit.

I have seen the likes of similar, like Andronix but I typically don’t want to buy into proprietary software where possible. Thank you for sharing!

I will have to give this a look! Thank you!

That is fair. Just historically speaking, I have typically only had 1 port opened on my router for VPN access, and then setting up SSH cert auth from system to system.

Like Shrek, layers xD

From my understanding, without having a VPN connection to my home network, or proper port forwarding (which sounds like a security nightmare to me) it would only function on my local network?

https://github.com/Linux-on-droid/lindroid-rootfs

In this specific github entry it mentions flashing, and with my setup, I would prefer not to flash something onto my phone without some sort of backup.

Unless there is a userland app I can install that I seem to be missing.

This interests me greatly. I would like to try this on a device, but I don’t have an extra I can spare to do so.

Saying you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you don’t have anything to say.

Besides the usual back up your files advice, I have a few recommendations.

These recommendations are not in any particular order but:

• Consider all of the applications you use on Windows, and research alternatives for those applications. Or if there isn’t a replacement for it, investigate how to get the application you need working in Linux. For instance, I use a lot of audio production software and learned that there are a few that just do not work reliably or at all within Linux.

• Depending on your needs be sure to research (or better yet, try) different Desktop Environments. (Note: for trying different environments I would recommend finding a distro that has a Live USB option and run those live to test them out)

• As I mentioned in the above suggestion, try different distros you are considering using with a Live USB. This can help snuff out different hardware that you have that may or may not work on your system before committing.

• Before choosing which OS you want to go with, consider the key beliefs of how to maintain an OS. For instance, there are many people that will blindly recommend a distro without knowing why one would use it. There are bleeding edge rolling release type distros such as Arch. I use Arch BTW, but I would not blindly tell someone who just wants a stable experience with little to no tinkering needed.

Most of my suggestions come down to please do your research, and make an educated decision on what you want to jump into. And I like to think that there are plenty of communities that can be friendly and welcoming that would help!