A lot of already great advice here, often clarifying that a computer that is not yours… is not yours.

What I would still add though is that you are NOT, and I’m very confident in saying this, the only one there, in your very school, to ask that question. In fact I would argue MOST users have the exact same concerns but they might even be aware that alternatives exist.

So… do not push back, or even just avoid, all this alone. Find others who have similar problems and solve them together.

There might be a Linux User Group already, join them. If there isn’t one, consider making it. It might just be you for few weeks, even month, but at least you will dedicate time and space to improve YOUR situation. Chances are though that others, even if only curious at first, might check what you are up to, if they can replicate that, etc.

Don’t feel isolate, move the needle for yourself first, in your corner, but be welcoming to others who are eager to contribute.

It’s a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge while trying to tackle it with others.

It’s a pragmatic compromise. The assumption is that Google is not literally evil, solely a very large advertisement company which subsidize very cool hardware in order to sell more ads. It’s the same principle as using a rooted Meta Quest when one doesn’t even have a Facebook or WhatsApp account.

I imagine than everybody who is into that situation will move to Motorola or Valve Frame when those will become available. Until then the bet is that the hardware does not have hardware backdoors because so far nobody disclosed any.

If you really are into trusting hardware I recommend checking https://precursor.dev/ and similar initiatives.

I did mention Linux phones too but again that’s not for everyone.

IMHO it’s much better to use a GrapheneOS deGoogle Android device today, knowing the limitation, than using a Googled Android device today, Pixel or not, and complaining about all the limitations about it while waiting for a theoretical better solution that is simply not yet available.

Right, you actually can’t AFAIK but you can disable it.

It’s indeed not the point. GrapheneOS focus is on security. If you want to have complete control you’d better go with a Linux proper phone but AFAICT, unless you are fine with ~4hrs battery and/or can spend 1000€ on a device that very people have, it’s not for most.

Yes, I have a PinePhone and PinePhone Pro both with PostMarketOS so doing this is as easy as few sudo apk add packagename or sudo apk del firefox.

Now… if you want a daily driver then as few others hinted at, it’s much harder. I would instead, if deGoogle Android is an acceptable compromise for you, get a 2nd hand Pixel 8 or above, install GrapheneOS on it, remove the browser and that’s pretty much it already since it doesn’t come with an app store or equivalent. Well, there’s the GrapheneOS equivalent but there are ~10 apps on it at most last time I checked.

I don’t think it actually is. It’s only like that the very first time when you haven’t you this specific distribution itself. Once you know how the few extra step and understand the core principle, it’s trivial.

PS: I did tinker with NixOS, SteamOS and ROCKNIX.

I’m not sure.

I’m a professional tinkerer and I run Debian stable. OK ok it’s not an immutable distro but my point is that I do tinker, just NOT with my main OS.

I’ll tinker in containers, in VMs, in my ~/bin etc but NOT in what hosts all that.

So I would argue that what’s important for tinkerers is to establish clear boundaries on what they want to tinker on and what they do NOT want to tinker on, what can change vs what should never.