I use leela, a ThinkPad X200 computer, in which Minifree installed a free initialization program, Libreboot, and a free operating system, Trisquel GNU/Linux. I frequently distro-hop between free distros. Right now, I'm on Slackware with the Free Extension Pack, because Michael convinced me to leave the stable comfort of Trisquel to try it, because it was supposedly better (it's not).
Before that, I used nibbler, a ThinkPad X60s computer like Richard Stallman. It was from Minifree. It had Libreboot and Trisquel GNU/Linux, version 6.
Before that, I used an Acer Aspire laptop. I think it was the Acer Aspire 5534. It was my mom's old computer. It ran the default proprietary BIOS and Trisquel GNU/Linux, version 6. I also used my Meerkat still, as a home server running the somewhat-proprietary FreeBSD operating system.
Before that, I used a System76 Meerkat. It was their older model, before the current NUC-based Meerkat. It ran the default proprietary BIOS with the nonfree Ubuntu GNU/Linux operating system, probably version 9.04.
Before that, I used a MacBook with proprietary firmware and proprietary Mac OS X Leopard operating system. After a year of using it, I got frustrated that it wasn't enough like GNU+Linux, so I sold it.
Before that, I used an HP desktop computer with a proprietary BIOS and a proprietary operating system, Windows XP Media Center Edition. When I was eleven years old, I installed the somewhat free but still nonfree Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn on it.
My favorite GNU+Linux distros are GNU GuixSD, Trisquel, Parabola, Dragora, Heads, gNewSense, Uruk, Dynebolic, and sometimes Fedora or Debian. (Basically, every free distro except Musix and BLAG.)
I use X11 all the time. My favorite desktop environment is Xfce on most computers, and that's what I use on my computer. On shiny, new, powerful computers, I will prefer to use KDE Plasma. On really slow computers, I will use MCWM or i3.
I may have to avoid KDE Plasma in the future, unfortunately. Any apps using web technology may soon be trapped, because their web engine depends on nonfee Chromium code. Inclusion of Chromium code is also why I avoid Electron apps and Debian main.
I spend most of my time using Riot in IceCat and chatting on the Jupiter Broadcasting server in Mumble. I check IRC mostly with Riot, but I use HexChat for anything that's not on Freenode. I check email with Webmin webmail client provided by my email provider. Sometimes I use the It's All Text! browser extension to edit larger email messages in Emacs.
I edit the pages of this website in Emacs.
This site is maintained in the simplest way I know how. I edit the HTML of each page by hand and track all changes in version control using VC, the Emacs version control interface. I publish my changes with rsync using a shell script similar to the one David McMackins uses. Sometimes, people send me changes on NotABug, and I add them to the site.
The default style sheet uses the light Solarized color scheme.
I browse the Web with IceCat and Tor Browser. In IceCat, I use NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, and Privacy Badger. I disable JavaScript for all sites except Reddit, those that I know to send free JavaScript, and job applications. I tried using uBlock Origin, but using it to block proprietary JavaScript programs was difficult. In Tor Browser, I disable all JavaScript.
I mostly use IceCat without Tor or a VPN at home. When I am away from home, such as on someone else's home network, I will use IceCat for Riot and Tor Browser for everything else. I do this so that my browsing activities don't influence the ads people see in their own home.
I sometimes pay for things online, if they're worth it. For example, I paid for my Libreboot ThinkPad with my card, and I would have paid for my JMP phone service with a check in the mail if one of my family members hadn't paid it with their card first.
I should torrent and do other things with a VPN, but I don't, because I don't know how to pay PIA withtout JavaScript. Perhaps I should set up an SSH tunnel through my shell account provider and use that for chatting and web browsing.
I don't program, really. I just write shell scripts if I find that I keep doing the same thing over and over. I would like to get more acquainted with Emacs Lisp, Guile, C and Python, but I can never keep my interest long enough to do anything worthwhile.
To quote Richard Stallman, I firmly refuse to install
non-free software or tolerate its installed presence on my
computer or on computers set up for me.
Furthermore,
However, if I am visiting somewhere and the machines available nearby happen to contain non-free software, through no doing of mine, I don't refuse to touch them. I will use them briefly for tasks such as browsing. This limited usage doesn't give my assent to the software's license, or make me responsible its being present in the computer, or make me the possessor of a copy of it, so I don't see an ethical obligation to refrain from this. Of course, I explain to the local people why they should migrate the machines to free software, but I don't push them hard, because annoying them is not the way to convince them.
Likewise, I don't need to worry about what software is in a kiosk, pay phone, or ATM that I am using. I hope their owners migrate them to free software, for their sake, but there's no need for me to refuse to touch them until then. (I do consider what those machines and their owners might do with my personal data, but that's a different issue, which would arise just the same even if they did use free software. My response to that issue is to minimize those activities which give them any data about me.)
That's my policy about using a machine once in a while. If I were to use it for an hour every day, that would no longer be "once in a while" — it would be regular use. At that point, I would start to feel the heavy hand of any nonfree software in that computer, and feel the duty to arrange to use a liberated computer instead.
Likewise, if I were to ask or lead someone to set up a computer for me to use, that would make me ethically responsible for its software load. In such a case I insist on free software, just as if the machine were mine.
As for microwave ovens and other appliances, if updating software is not a normal part of use of the device, then it is not a computer. In that case, I think the user need not take cognizance of whether the device contains a processor and software, or is built some other way. However, if it has an "update firmware" button, that means installing different software is a normal part of use, so it is a computer.
Skype (or any nonfree noninteroperable communication program) is a special case because of its network effect. Using Skype to talk with someone else who is using Skype is encouraging the other to use nonfree software. (Doing so regularly is pressuring the other to use nonfree software.) So I won't use Skype under any circumstances. (See more information.)
I use Riot as a free software replacement for Facebook Messenger and Skype. I just have to be careful not to install the desktop app, Riot Desktop, because it uses Electron, which depends on nonfree Chromium code just like KDE's web engine. I use it to chat with my boyfriend. I would also be using it to chat with my friends, if they would get off Facebook long enough to actually contact me, whether through Riot or just a plain text message or email.
I don't use Netflix because it requires proprietary software and restricts my normal rights under copyright law.
Also, streaming just sucks. It buffers all the time, and you can't share a copy with your friend. Neither of these things are fun when you're trying to share a movie and socialize with friends.
I use DuckDuckGo HTML to search the Web without JavaScript or Google's crazy tracking. Sometimes, I use Searx, especially when I'm searching for images, since DuckDuckGo doesn't have an HTML image search that isn't just Google Images.
I avoid Google not only because of their bad tracking practices, but because they're always major jerks to Tor users. Entering a CAPTCHA for every query is not something I want to do.
As many have probably done, I've quit Facebook for the billionth time. I think I'm off for good now, though.
I have a GNU Social account on Quitter.se. Its posts get forwarded to Twitter.
I have a Reddit account I made for the FSF's JavaScript campaign to Reddit. I use rtv to browse and comment. I use Reddit's proprietary JavaScript in IceCat to respond to messages and subscribe to subreddits.
Over time, I've made progress in getting proprietary software out of my life.
I used to have a Facebook account, until finally made up my mind that instant messaging people who never even take the time to actually see me is not worth all the costs of being tracked everywhere, both online and offline.
I used to have an Amazon Swindle, until I learned that you don't own the ebooks you buy on the Amazon store.