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Is Linux safe to write and save stories on? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I just want to write stories again and haven't been able to at all since 2025 due to...2025 and all that has entailed. I no longer feel safe or secure using any of my current devices. I feel surveyed and watched 24/7. I'm absolutely not okay with things as they are currently. (.-.) For more context, I have pre-existing mental disorders and this year has just done me in.

I'm striving toward switching out at least one device with something that I can install linux on. I was thinking either a lenovo or a dell, and will start probably with linux mint, they say it's a good beginner distro.

Not being able to write is killing me. I love writing so much even though it's not anything special. It just felt good.

I've never used linux but want to learn and I will learn, because you have to if you want to use it. You can't just hop in a car and hope it will work without knowing how to drive it. I will learn the commands. I'll fail at it a couple times but learn. It'll be great. Bring it.

I appreciate you taking time to reply.

Edit: You guys are amazing. My hope for the future is restored. Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Any of the big distros from North America/Europe/Africa/Australia/Japan should be trustworthy. I don’t know about the Chinese/Russian distros (I’ve never tried them, and have no desire to). The smaller distros and hobby project distros may be safe, but haven’t proven it imho.

There’s nothing in a default Linux distro that will share anything in your disk with anyone. If you enable crash reporting or telemetry, system crashes and/or system specs will be shared with the distro’s devs. You should just disable them.

If you enable any sort of online account syncing (like Google Drive), then certain things will be shared with the account provider. If you want to be absolutely secure, don’t enable these things.

When you install something through Flatpaks, their permissions are shown to you in the installer. By default, they only have access to files you choose through the file picker, unless they have the full disk access permission. And by default, you can only successfully pick files from your Downloads folder. So, for something like VS Code, it can access your whole disk, but for something like Discord, the file has to be in your Downloads directory and you have to pick it before Discord can access it.

You should make sure you’re using Wayland, because it has strict permissions for how apps can access your screen (you have to pick an app or screen before it can see it). On X11/X.org, every app has full access to see your entire screen and all your keyboard/mouse input.

Don’t use Wine, Proton, or AppImages if you’re worried about safety, because apps running in those systems haven’t been verified and have full access to all of your files. Stick to your Distro’s software installation app. Flatpaks and Snaps are generally safe.

So, after all of that, these are the distros I would recommend, in order of my recommendation:

Fedora
Mint
Pop OS
Ubuntu
Debian
OpenSUSE
Arch

(My order is not based solely on how trustworthy an OS is, but also how friendly it is to beginners.)

Only install the official versions from the official source. (No community “spins”.)

Either Gnome, KDE, or Cinnamon would be great for you, so just try each of them out and see which one you like. I personally use both Gnome and KDE on different systems.

I’ve been using Linux since 2008, and I’ve gone through several distros. Linux is a lot safer and more private than Windows. There’s huge community backlash when distros introduce anything that compromises user privacy.