this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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This guide is by a Canadian author, but I find it very appropriate here as most of his solutions are European and he points to several alternatives, so all in all a great source of inspiration.

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[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

All very good suggestions indeed. But there are more. Most of them are North(west) European, but this is because most of those countries got their own systems set up already, and got relatively robust privacy laws. Not sure about other ones, but please do inform!

Weather
Windy ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ - expansive, worldwide. Pretty.
Yr ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด - Norwegian-focused but has good coverage for Europe.
Meteonet ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท - old interface, but no-nonsense.

Whatever your country has, also works.


Payment processors

National/regional ones exist, they're more independent and should be preferred.
But also, Wero ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ is there. Check if your bank already has it. Though I think it must address tech reliance concerns.

Some forms of crypto also are independent, but beware of how much electricity they use.

GNU Taler may also be considered, it's independent and decentralised!


Banks

If you wish to stick with a 'traditional' bank, then these following would be best:

ASN Bank ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - government-safeguarded. Came best out of the Dutch Ethical Banking Guide (Dutch).
Triodos ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - independent (second-best in that guide), Europe-wide.
Ekobanken ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช - ecological.

Or check Febea and GABV, those two have lists of European ethical&pro-labour banks (the latter also has lists for other areas).

If you've the choice, you can also go for a local bank that's a co-op, or a credit union. Then you can decide along where the money goes, and hold the bank more responsible. They don't have stocks, instead having different financing methods.


Phones

Jolla ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (has Sailfish OS)
FairPhone ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ is a very good option (best balance between ethics, repairability, and privacy). They or Murena might soon get an option that is suited for GrapheneOS.
Murena ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท has the iPhone look and feel. Pretty easy to use.
Nothing ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง - a bit riskier in my opinion, since they share demographic and fiscal data, and share data outside of the EU/EEZ+UK. However, it allows bootloader unlocking.
Shiftphone ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช - has 3rd party support.

None of these support GrapheneOS, but they really ought to. GrapheneOS may soon be available on other devices, though. Currently, if you want one, get a used Pixel, 'clean' thoroughly, and then put GrapheneOS on it.


Tablets

Archos ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท
Juno Tab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง (runs Linux)
Murena ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท
Nokia ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (also has phones, TVs and laptops)
reMarkable ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด

The Purism one is good too and has some killswitches, though it's US-based (California, at least, which has a sort of GDPR-like law).


Laptops

Do you want to game -> Tuxedo ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช
It just works & supports FOSS devs -> Slimbook ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ
Privacy-focused Macbook-like? -> StarLab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง
More customisable -> Novacustom ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Customisation and colour -> Framework ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ

Nokia supposedly sells some too, but I couldn't find a place to buy them.

You can also get an Asus or Acer ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ (๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธ), or if you don't mind Chinese products, Lenovo.

Clevo is also a good one, it's Taiwanese.

Regarding hardware, if you've a laptop with an Intel chip, disable the Intel Management Engine, it's likely backdoor spyware. VIA Technologies ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ (๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธ) is the only non-American one that makes graphic cards supporting x86, like Intel and AMD.


What OS to pick (an OS is a software like Windows or Macintosh)

Anything Linux, really. Some of them are headed by the Red Hat project, which is good, but it's American, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, depending on your tasks:

New to Linux -> Linux Mint (it just works)
Privacy -> openSUSE
Security -> QubesOS (multiple computers on one)
Stable updates -> Debian
I use -> Arch Linux (btw)
Resembles Macbook -> elementaryOS

With most Linux distributions you can make them look like Windows or Mac either way, but I'd like to throw that in.


Smartwatch

PineTime ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ - FOSS, more privacy friendly than the big players.
WatchMark ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช - has the Apple Watch look, manufactured in Europe.
Montblanc ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช - Manufactured in Germany.
Polar Electro ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ - Owned by Finns, made in China and Malaysia. For outdoors.
MyKronoz๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ- Swiss, pretty affordable.


And for printers;

Epson ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต EcoTank especially, all-around.
Canon ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Pixelma.
Novaware ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ - they got a good thermal printer.
Nuvance ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ also thermal.

[โ€“] hushable@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Privacy-focused Macbook-like? -> Smartlab ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง

I think you meant StarLabs. I got one running Debian and I absolutely love it

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Thanks, corrected it! I'm also considering that one.

Dumb question, but can Debian be made to look like Macbook? I think all Linux laptop OSes can, but I'm not sure.

[โ€“] hushable@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm not that much into ricing, but I bet it must be possible, specially since GNOME is already OSX-like

edit: you just made me check their website and the new StarLabs Horizon looks so tempting!

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