I tried both MQTT and just the plain HTTP variant, and I couldn't get either to work. I've fully settled on the latter you mentioned, Traccar. it's pretty much what I've wanted: self-hosted, easy to set up, beautiful web interface. Thanks for the suggestions!
T-Mobile offers the basic edition (with ads) for free on my plan at least. knowing Netflix though, that probably won't last much longer. oh well, I'll still have the high seas.
Shizuku, Symphony for playing local music (jellyfin for streaming), and most of all Termux. Without Termux I wouldn't be able to use some CLI-only stuff on the go, use neovim, or SSH into my server to perform some quick task.
I've set up Vaultwarden as I used Bitwarden before that and it made switching very easy. Doesn't get easier than that, synced passwords across all your devices/browsers.
then remove that "colossal attack surface" by compiling a custom kernel and utilities that only includes the features the product needs. create a system tuned to the exact product to make it extremely reliable. almost everything electronic you see in commercial use is Linux because of this very fact.
Many medical devices run Linux.
Toyota, Tesla, Audi, Mercedes, and Hyundai vehicles use Linux.
you certainly can rely on it for your life and nearly every electronic device you use will use some derivative of it.
I mostly use Shizuku + Termux to run adb commands on device, but this looks easier and nicer