Broken

Damn, it looked like candy to me too until I read your comment. Now all I see is candy guitar pick.

I'm going to second the comment to leave well enough alone. Do NOT mess with your machine if its what makes you money.

I know you commented you don't have funds for a second computer to test with but that really is the best step for you.

This is especially regarding some of your other details. You are not in for a quick and smooth transition (sorry to say).

VSTs are "sort of" supported on Linux. Basically they're not and there are work arounds that I haven't done using wine for compatibility.

I run a virtual machine for the windows software I am reliant on. So basically my Photoshop etc I use Affinity in a windows VM and it works fine. Depending if you get intensive with your work you might need a lot of resources or experience lag. But for the most part it should be fine. Look into virt-manager for your VM if you want to go that route.

Besides the VST issue, audio recording will probably give you additiinal problems. I haven't delved into it because he rabbit hole went too deep for me, but from what I've read there tends to be issues with audio in VMs (tremendous lag for one).

But all that being said, there should be a solution for all of your needs. It probably won't be straight forward though given your use cases. I don't want to sound negative with my warnings, I just want to make sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot with your work.

I get that, but it's more logical to me that of I'm going to whistleblow on a company to not use one of their devices to do it. That way it doesn't matter what apps are or are not secure, you're not using their device that can potentially track you.

Not "you" necessarily, "one".

I bring it up because you mentioned company MDM blocking signal. The fact that company MDM is active indicates its a company device (if it's not that's an entirely different conversation).

So why would one expect privacy on a device they don't own?

Why would you expect any form of privacy on a device you don't own?

I'm sure as hell not defending him, but your point is valid and why him being against them having missiles isn't necessarily a contradiction. "Them" isn't the same them that he sold to. Again, not defending him and I haven't listen to anything he's said recently to know his stance (nor do I really care to), but just keeping my own logic in check.

Out of curiosity, do you use your xmpp app for SMS as well? I've been doing so (since the majority of my family will not leave the SMS messaging system) but its a bit lacking when it comes to groups and MMS.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. But I've noticed my maps dont update any longer so I'm glad this is all coming together at the same time.

I'm similarly testing Proton at the moment. I tried it at launch, and it was...less than impressive. It worked, but was lacking some features (the details of which I don't quite remember) and they didn't have a separate password for Pass vs the rest of their app suite which was a deal breaker for me (which of course they have now).

Testing it now, I'm liking the experience better than Bitwarden overall. There's some idiosyncrasies between the two I prefer over the other, but nothing deal breaking.

I haven't found a reason to not switch over, other than the "all eggs in one basket" argument, which is valid but I think I'm OK with.

If your internet connection is coming from hotspot tethering to your phone you'll want to put it in a Faraday bag when not in use since your phone will be trackable at all times even if off. If you use a hotspot instead the cell signal and WiFi are still trackable but the lack of Bluetooth and GPS aids greatly in keeping the tracking to a minimum.

As far as I'm aware there shouldnt be any differences between the two. I'd say buy the phone your budget allows for. Personally I spent more by getting he 256gig model because the storage was worth it to me. So basically my advice is buy older but spend the difference on meaningful storage.

Depending on your threat model you may wish to buy second hand or buying with cash so the IMEI isn't tied to your name.

I initially struggled with the zero google because many apps didn't work. I ran a secondary profile with google services running for those. Recently, due to another comment here on Lemmy I retried those apps (with exploit compatibility on) and most of them worked. So I've ditched the secondary profile. My point being, that most apps will probably work but if they don't you always have the option of a secondary profile.