software

most software is not based. there are exceptions tho.

based

messengers

there are 3 good messengers.

XMPP

xmpp is the best messaging protocol. it’s an open standard with many client (and server) implementations.

Matrix

matrix is another open standard. less based than XMPP because of its stupid federation architecture.

DO NOT USE matrix.org AS YOUR HOMESERVER. Use unredacted.org or private.coffee.

Signal

signal is an e2ee messenger. it requires a phone number to sign up, is not federated but is still a good messenger.

it has some of the coolest crypto tech in any messenger (fun fact: most e2ee messengers use the signal protocol).

os

linux

linux is the most popular libre kernel. i recommend einfach, gentoo and alpine.

busybox

busybox is a tiny coreutils implementation in a single binary.

freebsd

freebsd is a full operating system, while linux is just a kernel which is combined with userspace tools.

openbsd

openbsd is also a full operating system. it’s secure as fuck but lacks some software support.

runit

runit is based. it’s simple, small and just works.

not based

beware: garbage ahead

os

windows

the most popular desktop operating system. it’s slow, bloated, sends tons of data back to microsoft and is harder to use than some linux distributions.

macos

“garbage, but apple” ~ forever2k38, 2026

the same bullshit. only slightly better since it’s unix like.

systemd

why does it need 750k lines of C? runit, sysklogd and a few more daemons provide all of its functionality.

gnu

gnu extensions are cancer and only exist to lock people into using gnu software.

messengers

discord

“bad irc”

discord really is garbage. it’s proprietary, the desktop client is electron based, it’s not e2ee and it scans all of your messages.