Joe

Congrats for waiting this long - many parents don’t.

Honestly, this will depend on your child. If they are prone to addictive or obsessive behaviour, a smart phone will only amplify the tendancy. We already know how hard it is for adults to put down their phones for any length of time, and kids typically have less will power.

That said - digital communication is an important part of most people’s lives now. If all her friends are using a particular app to communicate, they will “need” it too. Some parental controls would be good for the first phone – which apps get installed, etc. Just be prepared to unlock most of them. ;-)

You might want a phone “lockbox” at home to ensure they turn off. Hopefully the school is strict about phone usage and etiquette too - it can help.

What is the typing experience that you want, and for which language(s). It’s not clear to me, sorry.

It is possible to map keyboard input in various ways. For more complex use-cases, many programs support character substitution as you type (eg. gx could become ĝ automatically).

What a Tosser with his T-mobile.

One can only try, for the alternative is the hole. It’s all about establishing a healthy routine, you see: “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.”

I’ll see myself out now. ;-)

That’s why I homeschool “my kids” in a dank cellar, where they also eat, sleep, and shit. I’m saving them from “the world” /s

Seriously - it is a balancing act, and something that every parent should struggle with. You can’t protect them from everything, especially as they get older. Education is key.

Looks neat, except for the rightmost column. Delete that and try again.

struts in his fancy pants

Be careful of dualstack and IPv4-only VPNs. The client can discover and advertise the real IPv6 address, even if adequately firewalled. I’m not sure if gluetun addresses this risk.

edit: this should be considered a risk even if you don’t have IPv6 support today, as this could be enabled by your ISP in the future, then automatically enabled on your network by your router.

PIPEWIRE_LATENCY=1024/48000 %command% if using pipewire. You can change those values as needed.

China’s aim is independence in strategic sectors, while happily fostering the dependence of other countries upon china.

There are different ways to encourage local development that could also harm western profits, and china is using this opportunity to demonstrate the tools at its disposal.

It’s a warning shot before a full blown trade war, and it’s highly questionable whether the US would come out “on top” (less worse off than the other players) if that happens, especially as the US is working hard to alienate its traditional political allies.

I vote in my country, not yours.

From my brief time exploring it, many there seem to think the end always justifies the means, and are oblivious to the means being the likely effective end. For example: China is apparently only temporarily embracing capitalism on its way to utopian communism. I haven’t followed the trump support that was alluded to here, but I assume it’s similarly reaching the limits of their forward reasoning. At some point, some talking points pop into their head to reinforce or build on their existing beliefs, and they pat themselves and their fellow comrades on the back.

Some are well prepared to run circles around you with their well trained mental gymnastics. It’s not dissimilar to the flat earthers, or other conspiracy theorists. You just have to believe to be saved (from critical thinking). It’s best not to engage, but rather observe from a distance.

Additional SPoFs: Your upstream internet connection, your modem/router, electricity supply, your home (not burning, flooded, collapsed, etc.). And you.

You have an opportunity. Give him a pre-installed Linux and a terminal, along with a page of commands that he can run to do neat things… including starting the GUI to watch his favourite (ideally pre-downloaded) videos, running some demos, etc.

Don’t make it too easy, but not too hard (2 you said? Can type a few characters though…)… Add to it over the years, unlocking the power, and guiding him to discover more by himself.

Kids won’t become tech savvy if we hand everything to them on a silver platter, with touch screens, controllers, and flashy games. It can be bland and boring, until they do something.

It might just be the most life changing gift they ever receive.

They are not even using right hand peek for an advantage. Original Amateurs.

That was IRIX (SGI’s UNIX) with the “fsn” file browser, if the Internet is to be believed.

Anki ?

Welcome to the world of Carrier Grade NAT. 100.64.0.0/10 is reserved for this.

If you are lucky, you also have an IPv6 address. The catch is you need IPv6 on the client-side too.

A VPS or similar running wireguard and a proxy might bridge the gap.

It might also be possible to ask your provider for some port forwarding. Probably not, but check anyway.

Good luck!