i’m sorry if this isn’t linux related but recently i’ve been struggling with some stuff, so i usually talk to my friends on matrix (used to actually!!), i decided to leave matrix and talk to them on email (because email always works and is a much calmer version of instant messenger i think so). but now i think i would like to go back to matrix, i can only choose one, sorry, please tell me which one… oh and i’d be using nheko of course because my debian-based xfce distro runs kind of slowly on my 2006 toshiba
Use Matrix or any good messenger like Signal or Threema for daily communication with friends.
If you want to see a good table of messenger recommendations, see https://www.messenger-matrix.de/messenger-matrix-en.html
E-Mail is not a suitable replacement because it lacks end-to-end encryption (unless you and your friends use PGP or S/MIME for that but since that’s rare and slightly too complicated for the common user to use, I’ll just assume that you don’t). While mails are usually encrypted during transport, they lie in plain text format at their destination servers. Depending on which e-mail host you or your friends use, that means the whole content of your e-mail might be scanned and analyzed automatically. Especially if you or your friends use privacy-disrespecting mail hosts like any big commercial one or Gmail or Outlook or what have you. Then your communication via unencrypted mail to or from that person isn’t private.
I will add if you send a proton encrypted email to a non proton user they get like a weblink version that decrypts for viewing. And it has an expiration date.
because email … is a much calmer version of instant messenger
TIL i guess…
Comon attitude among older techs. I imagine its a bit like gen z on phones.
Messaging seems immediate and demanding where as email seems to give the recipient a answer when you have time feel.
Its about not growing up with IM while email was treated like an extention to paper memo systems many work environments already used. More so as the system is older then the Internet. So many office networks had inter office email In the early 80s. And inter offfice memo systems like a little postal system were common in big companies for decades before that.
I will be “that guy” and suggest you to watch a few linux-related videos before choosing. i.e go to youtube and search for “what is the best linux distro for beginners”, “how to install on (distro name goes here)”, “how to configure (audio, video, etc) on (distro name goes here)”, etc. Write em down, install the distro you wanna check, get used to those methods until they are stuck on your forehead. If you lose interest, go back to 1- and choose another distro.
What are you asking for? You already know you’re using Debian/XFCE/Nheko apparently. Which Matrix server to use?
What do you want choose? An application? “Element” is a standard one and according to the webpage performance is a focus. I can’t say how well it works on your machine though. I don’t use Matrix anymore and the only way I used it was in the browser. So this list is more of pointing you in the right direction, rather than a personal recommendation.
- You can use Matrix in your browser: https://app.element.io/
- Or same software to install using it independent from your browser: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/element/
- Alternative browser based client that should be light on resources: https://hydrogen.element.io/
- A list of clients: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/
- CLI / Terminal based client written in blazingly fast Rust, if you really need a fast one and can live without a GUIf: https://github.com/8go/matrix-commander-rs
They already stated they’d use nheko.
I understand they’re asking us to choose between email and matrix for them.
I didn’t realize nheko is an application. It’s a bit a weird question to ask someone else to choose between email or an application. Howe can we decide this? The person knows best what works for them. And why can the person choose only one? It’s not exclusive technology, one can do both… I’m really confused.
I agree it’s a bit weird for them to ask us to choose between email and matrix. They’d be better off deciding for themselves, best strangers on the internet can do is list pros/cons for them.
I’d recommend you use Matrix, you can always ignore messages if you dont want to answer them right away
