As we establish our co-op, we bring with us our philosophy of technology. Our approach is based upon principles of privacy and sustainability.
The best way to show off our style in the early days of our co-op is to generate a hypothetical scenario (based on upon experiences with clients).
In the future, we’ll hopefully have permission to illustrate actual client makeovers so we can take some nice photos of their setups. Early days!
Hypothetical client
Jamie, 57 is a unionised postie for Royal Mail who hates how our lives have become dominated by U.S. tech corporations.
They own an ancient Android phone that isn’t supported with security updates any more (and has a slightly cracked screen) which they mostly use to stay in touch with friends and family via Signal messenger.
They also have an old slow Windows 10 (also no longer supported) laptop with a terrible keyboard and a dead battery that they use around the house for surfing the web, writing emails and internet. Jamie dreads taking the laptop to union meetings because it weighs a ton and shuts down if the power cable is accidentally unplugged.
Jamie also has a huge TV running Android that has a bunch of crapware and annoying ads on it. YouTube videos play with ads every few minutes and there isn’t an app for ITVX installed, which is where some international football matches are streamed. Jamie finds typing into search bars using their TV remote incredibly frustrating.
Jamie has saved up some money to overhaul their tech but doesn’t know where to start so reaches out to Tech Care Co-op for help and we communicated via Signal voice message to discover what Jamie’s needs were.
Laptop
We recommend using second hand business grade laptops. They tend to be cheap, robust and easy to repair.
Generally our preferred brand is Lenovo Thinkpad. They can be expensive when new but rapidly drop into the sub £400 price range after new models are released and circulated into corporate usage.
With a laptop, it’s best to go light and small. As soon as you have to carry it via backup, you will regret getting that chunky laptop. For Jamie, we would chose a Thinkpad X1 Carbon.
Our preferred Operating System is Linux which is open source meaning it can be audited to make sure it doesn’t have any components that are harmful to our privacy. It can be installed on a wide range of hardware and often costs nothing to buy (though many open source projects invite donations).
Though we are happy to support any variety of Linux, we are currently enjoying Project Bluefin (based upon Fedora) as it self updating and easy to maintain.
We take care of sourcing the laptop for you, installing Bluefin and the applications that meet your needs and migrating your old data.
Budget: £400
£280 on a refurbished Thinkpad X1 Carbon
£120 – two hours labour
Mobile phone
Our preferred mobile operating system is Graphene OS which is an Android based alterative.
What we like about Graphene OS is that it has a ton of great privacy features that work behind the scenes to keep you safe but works just as well as normal Android.
For example, although Graphene OS doesn’t come with the Google Play Store (perfect for avoiding big tech), it is easily installed with one click. We also recommend the F-Droid app store for the best privacy preserving apps.
Graphene OS at time of writing is only available for the Pixel smartphones. The newest Pixels at time of writing are supported for security updates for 5 years which is great for a phone.
We would take care of sourcing a device for you and install Graphene OS.
Budget: £300
£240 on a refurbished Pixel 8
£60 – one hour labour
TV
We love to re-use old hardware. It’s exponentially more sustainable that buying new electronics. We also hate invasive ads and tracking.
We recommend replacing the hard drive in old computers with a new Solid State Drive (SSD), which in this case, we also would install Bluefin Linux onto.
We would then stash the old laptop behind Jamie’s large TV in their lounge, connected to the TV via HMDI.
We would then install the KDEconnect app on Jamie’s phone to easily control the old laptop using it’s virtual touchpad, keyboard and media controls over WiFi.
We also added the uBlockOrigin extension to Firefox web browser on the laptop to block YouTube ads. Jamie can now watch iPlayer, ITV and YouTube on their TV without interferences.
Budget: £40
- £30 – 30 mins labour
- £10 HMDI cable
Summary
Total budget: £750
Our hypothetical client, Jamie is now living the hi-tech life. All their devices are fast, user friendly and sustainably sourced.
They are protected from tracking, ads and have a setup that will last at least five years for less than the cost of an decent new laptop.
Jamie is also able to ask for extra support from us as and when they need it if they get stuck with anything. The entire project cost less than a brand new laptop or phone.
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