Please point out at which point I was hostile.

Very well, I will give you the benefit of the doubt one last time.

I don’t know what backups you’re talking about

On an iPhone, Settings -> Apple Account -> iCloud -> iCloud Backup -> Back Up This iPhone.

backing up the entire device and everything that’s on it including all the apps?

That’s not how it works. App binaries are not backed up as part of this. Neither are photos if they’re already backed up as part of iCloud Photos (though still part of iCloud).

One of the major advantages of using this kind of backup is that I never worry that I’m going to be without my access to my bank. Even if my phone is lost or stolen, worse comes to worse I can restore the backup on a new phone and all encryption keys, biometrics authorisations, OTP, etc. are restored with it.

On the other hand, I have ways to store all the photos, videos, music, texts, and any other things like that which might need backing up and can’t just be re-downloaded from the app store.

“I have ways” is not the same as there being an iCloud alternative. You may have ways. Does the average user, without having to go through hoops and likely getting lost in the process? That’s what an iCloud alternative has to look like to be an actual alternative.

I agree, if you’re using something like Logic, paying for iCloud makes sense right now even if it is overpriced and unnecessary.

This last point alone shows how much you don’t seem to understand what the problem statement is. Using iCloud may be unnecessary, but that was never under discussion. Of course, no one needs automatic and transparent syncing between devices. The point is that if you want that feature and you’re using an Apple device, your only alternative is locked down to what Apple offers.

That is what it means to not exist an alternative to iCloud.

I hope this helps clarify. If you are going to respond, please keep this last point in mind as that’s the part that’s important.

That’s not what’s in iPhone and iPad backups. If you keep moving the goalpost, there’s no point in this discussion.

Why did you simply gloss over backups? But it’s not just that, there’s all kinds of files and documents.

Sure, if you use very little synced data and the free tier suits you, then you don’t need to pay.

That’s not the same as not needing to pay for iCloud. What you’re saying is that people don’t need to keep their data synced across devices but that should really be a user choice and not mandated by the platform.

What I’d like is for Apple to publish the iCloud API specs and allow 3rd-parties to offer alternative services that you configure somewhere in Settings.

Ideally, there would be a self-hosted option where you can simply point it to an arbitrary URL but I suspect the latter will never happen “because security”.

Of course, that last point is only really valid if their promise of E2E encryption is not more than a promise.

You must not use a lot of data on those apps then. My Logic files alone go easily over the free tier. Add to that iPhone and iPad backups for the family and there’s no way I could have anywhere near the same level of service without paying for iCloud.

So do I.

Though I don’t actually fit the description very well as I build my servers from individual pieces.

I’m also a pretty hardcore Debian user (have been since the mid-90s, very early in the project’s life) so no “Linux NAS distro” for me.

Which countries have ranked choice electoral systems? My home country doesn’t and it has at least 4 or 5 major parties, a lot of medium ones and many smaller ones.

On servers, I agree. OP just wants a recent version of GIMP though. Production can mean many things, and dogmas are never the answer.

You can always use APT Pinning to grab GIMP and its dependencies from testing without touching the rest of the system.

Or you can just run testing or sid as your base system. My gaming rig is based on testing but pulling Mesa and video derivers from experimental and sid and I haven’t had any issues with it. Been running it for about 2 years now this way.

https://wiki.debian.org/AptConfiguration

Unfortunately no support for Ecovacs.

Israelis, in general, don’t care about the genocide or are actively cheering it on.

Indeed that seems to be the case:

68 percent of Israelis support a direct attack on Iran if its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah continues launching rockets at Israel

Among Jewish respondents, the poll also found 41% support for a long-term military occupation of southern Lebanon; 72% opposition to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict; and 92% doubt the Palestinian Authority could be trusted to stop a repeat of October 7.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-two-thirds-of-israelis-support-strike-on-iran-if-hezbollah-attacks-continue/

AW2 is DRM-free. I imagine it can be run completely independent of Epic. You’d need the store to purchase and download it but you could probably even uninstall the Epic app afterwards. I haven’t tested this though, so please don’t just take my word for it.

Such good memories! This is an amazing game!

Agree. RDR2 may not be the best test of high end hardware though, since it was already beautiful on the PS4. It’s just incredibly well optimised.

If you’re talking about CrowdStrike, I’d call it part of the malware infrastructure.

From the perspective of the OP’s point though, it is a good argument since it capitalises on the panic described.

Of course not. Israel is not only rounding up Palestinians but also bombing them, raping them, destroying their infrastructure, killing international aid workers to stop help coming in, destroying their schools and hospitals, … all with the support, political, financial and in weapons, of “the west”, led by the USA.

Edit: and with very little hope of that changing after elections. https://theintercept.com/2024/08/30/kamala-harris-cnn-interview-israel-gaza/

So are the USA, or at the very least being complicit and enabling. Furthermore, of the Palestinians themselves!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ux7try/a_russian_and_an_american_get_on_a_plane_in/

The main “instability” I’ve found with testing or sid is just that because new packages are added quickly, sometimes you’ll have dependency clashes.

Pretty much every time the package manager will take care of keeping things sane and not upgrading a package that will cause any incompatibility.

The main issue is if at some point you decide to install something that has conflicting dependencies with something you already have installed. Those are usually solvable with a little aptitude-fu as long as there are versions available to sort things out neatly.

A better first step to newer packages is probably stable with backports though.

https://backports.debian.org/

Not much use to go Ubuntu or Mint, unless you have specific issues with Debian that don’t happen with those. Even then, it may be one apt install away from a fix.

If you want to try out BSD, power to you. I wouldn’t experiment on a backup computer though, unless by backup you just mean you want to have the spare hardware and will format it with Debian if you ever need to make it your main computer anyway.

Otherwise, just run Debian!