Behind the Bastards did a really good two part series on him. Highly recommended.

https://podcastaddict.com/behind-the-bastards/episode/168581432

Most definitely.

Yup. The tracking stuff just makes it easier, but standard use of the phone sans tracking is still trackable.

I’ve had good luck with edubuntu with my nephews and nieces. https://www.edubuntu.org/

Looks like they stopped dev in '21, but RockBox is what I used to use. Amazing software.

The better half downloads audiobooks from YouTube when on wifi, for offline listening.

I like downloading slow TV, so I don’t have to worry about streaming it, of I want to sleep to it or something.

Ray Porter (the narrator of this one and the Martian) is a freaking treasure. Easily the best I’ve stumbled across.