[MyL5] Received my Librem 5 (Evergreen)

The notch for removing the back. Easy with just your fingernail.

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I still don’t own a L5 but hope you’ll permit me these questions anyway.

Why would anyone want to create a program/software/APPlication/script (whatever it’s called this week) for Wiki, or Startpage? Are they not just web sites?

To me, when you say …“Install Site as Web Application” from the browser menu” you are installing the entire “site”. I doubt that, but it is confusing - to me. Did you just create what others might call a ‘shortcut’?

Still, rights to privacy are for those that can afford it.

~s~

Yes, they’re glorified shortcuts. It just reduces the amount of navigation you have to do in the browser if you can open to the desired page with one click. As for Startpage search engine, of course you can just set that as your homepage in the browser instead of using the shortcut. Or DuckDuckGo, or whatever. I sometimes get rejections from one or the other when they think I might be scraping their sites. I typically have more than one browser, so it can be handy to have different quick jumps to each one. And if I want to go to OpenStreetMap.org without delay, it helps to have it as a Web App shortcut.
I hate to wait!

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Close-up of the inside of the back:

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Often times it’s nice to have specific (web)apps open for specific tasks. Especially in the case of OSM, the (android) application has different functionality and a different UI/UX than the desktop website.It’s an app that’s suitable for easy navigation while driving – beyond just a static map and list of directions. The latter of which would be fine, sure, and was at one point all anyone had!

Plus, at least using Brave browser, it seems like extensions are still available thus, blocking things is too.

These apps are usually more interactive than random websites. They’re often more like applications that are generally but, not necessarily, online.

It’s kind of funny. Web apps allow most sites to be made into applications while browser addons/extensions allow many types of applications to be used in the browser! :crazy_face:

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Wow, for a group of privacy/security focused folks, y’all are burying the lede as I understand it. Don’t Web Apps also effectively sandbox whatever websites they cover and restrict those websites from accessing any of your browsing in other browsers or Web Apps? That to me is the best part! Someone please clarify if I am misreading this.

[edited to add following]
Incidently, for those stuck in Androidland right now, but with access to F-Droid, there’s a decent app called WebApps that allows you to sandbox on Android. I’ve used this for several commercial sites, and though it can be a little tricky to set up, I’ve been pleased with the results.

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When you “Install Site as Web Application” the Epiphany web browser creates a separate, sandboxed copy of your web browser config (think of it like a new Firefox profile) just for this website and creates a desktop link that opens the web browser to that website within that new sandbox. That way cookies, browser history, etc. aren’t shared between applications.

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What he said! :laughing:

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Then it IS just a shortcut, not really a “app”. I understand what you are saying - I hope.
I have shortcuts all over my desktops that take me right to the page and section I need most often whether that page is going to analyze my stocks for me, or stream a movie. What I don’t get is why so many different words for the same thing REMEMBERING that… The word app is a noun, and it’s short for “application.” Application in this case refers to a software application — in other words, an app is a software program.”.

The site defining “app” (and many others and dictionaries say the same thing), also has a “lesson”… "That lesson is: we sometimes throw about the latest tech words that we assume others will know, because we spend much time online and dealing with technology and the words are common to us. But the general population may still consider words such as “app” to be unintelligible lingo".

So, a “app” might be a web site program/APPlication/script/software, that might calculate mortgage rates for example, or is no more than a link to anypage.com.

Is there a innate fear among some that using a standard word like ‘link’ will turn them inside out, or worse yet, into a Googie? :slight_smile:

I hope the technical elite will understand that using techineze in a public forum where newbies go for info, can kill interest if the text appears foreign. Yes, there are millions of lines of text one could start imbibing, but who has the time especially when the learning curve can appear to be a steep one.

So, all my blather aside, if I open my L5 box, and adhere to the set-up instructions, do I need to learn much more than what one would be use to doing on another of the Google, Apple etcetera things out there? except the names for ‘apps’ has changed.

KIS4Me

Thanks everyone for your patience.
~s~

Here is a great page about web apps:

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A shortcut that isolates your browsing session to greatly enhance privacy, if you will.

It’s probably not as immediately intuitive, but much of it should be somewhat similar to what you’re used to, I would say. You can also take it further and learn some more advanced stuff that gives you more granular control.

I myself am a long-time Linux user, but I’m not very advanced when it comes to using terminal commands, just basic stuff. I don’t have any programming experience, either.

I don’t think anybody here minds answering basic questions, so feel free to ask.

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Thank you - thank you and again thank you.

Now I get it. You deserve a break so tell your boss I said you could have next week off with pay.

Thanks for dropping down to my level.

Now to the others who generously offered help as well.

@amarok

Umm, what ‘who’ said?

@ecs

Thanks for the app/link ( :slight_smile: )
and, a side note; I opened the link in a new tab, but noted the count didn’t go up beside the link. But I did view the page and than you for pointing me to that.

@Anarchy-X

Thanks. I had no idea what a ‘UI/UX’ was so I looked it up. Now I know what UI/UX means. For those that don’t, "UX design refers to the term “user experience design ”, while UI stands for “user interface design ”… Layman’s Guide to UI/UX.

What a great learning experience this has been. Thanks every one.

~s~

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What Kyle said. I meant his answer was the best one.

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Yes the IT world is complicated and a wide field, with sub disciplines and (like any other field) it’s own jargon.

Many terms are pure marketing without substance or even misused by marketers. There has been to many hypes in this branch. I don’t like that.

On the other side there are terms that are fine. I like the terms program and software but they are no synonyms. Software can be a program but not every program is software. And applications are programs that serve some function to the user and not to other software.

To get to your question: I don’t think you will have to learn to much if you use the L5 similar to an android, but every system has it’s differences to others. And that’s why I think you might see some new stuff. This depends on what your Linux expertise is. And also some of the people here will do crazy things with the L5 that could hardly be done with an android not even to say iPhone.

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This might be less of an issue than you think: over here in the Netherlands my provider - T-mobile - has switched off MMS support over a year ago. They say they did so because of a lack of demand - presumably everybody switched to whatsapp.
Of course this borders on the unacceptable, but it does mean the lack of MMS is a non-issue for Dutch L5 users.

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Interesting. Yes, I’ve noticed that everybody in Europe uses WhatsApp, to avoid the cellular providers’ charges, I guess. It’s just too bad that Facebook owns it now. For that reason alone, I know I’ll never use it.

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Access additional Terminal keyboard controls by clicking on the globe icon (reveals Ctrl, Alt, and arrow keys, plus other symbols, controls, and Function keys)
Press the >_ key to see the extras.

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Wi-Fi Hotspot setting:

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The setting is there but is it actually working?

In my experience (may not apply at all), when you use WiFi Hotspot, you need to have the cellular modem enabled - because the phone will route (and probably NAT) from the WLAN to the internet via the cellular modem.

I think someone was working on displaying the Hotspot’s access details (SSID and PSK) as a QR code, so another phone could scan the QR code and use the Hotspot. (Not sure I would have much use for that since most of the time the other phone can access the internet directly, but it’s something I would test.)

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A full Thai VKB would be nice, as my SO is Thai.