I’ve used Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, and Manjaro. All viable options. I’m currently using Mint on my daily driver, Ubuntu on my HTPCs, and Debian on my servers.

I liked the rolling release aspect of Manjaro, but I missed having a system that works with DEB files. I’m not a fan of flatpak/snap/appimage due to the size (I’ve often had to use slower internet connections). I settled on Mint for my daily driver because it has great and easy compatibility for my hardware (specifically an Nvidia GPU). It worked okay on Manjaro as well, but I’ve found it easier to select and switch between GPU drivers on Mint. And Cinnamon is my favorite DE, and that’s sort of “native” to Mint.

I’m using vanilla Ubuntu on my HTPCs because I have Proton VPN on them, and it’s the only setup I’ve found that doesn’t have issues with the stupid keyring thing. And Proton VPN’s app only really natively supports Ubuntu. The computers only ever use a web browser, so the distro otherwise doesn’t matter that much.

I’m using Debian on my servers because it’s the distro I’m most familiar with, especially without a GUI. Plus it’ll run until the hardware fails, maybe a little longer.

This isn’t a meme, it’s a call to action

If you’re looking to see how strong a password really is, check it here.

My spirit animal

It’d have to be $1 million plus arrangements to move to the EU. If it weren’t for family here, I’d probably take that.

Yes.

Coding is totally obselete, bro. AI can totally write all the code, trust me bro. You just gotta know how to tell it what code to write, like learn some keywords and stuff, bro. Like, as long as you check how it produces looping mechanisms and tell it when it should use polymorphism and stuff, it’ll totally do all the work bro. You don’t need to know how to code, just the right sequence of keywords and commands so the AI can write all the code.

You know that game show where people have to guess whether something is cake?

Satire is the new cake, and it’s more difficult to tell the difference.

IF A BEEF AND CHEDDAR WITH TWELVE PACKETS OF HORSEY SAUCE IS A CRIME THEN I’M AN OUTLAW AROOOOOO

THAT’S UNDERSTANDABLE BROTHER I THINK WE ALL STILL GOT IT

MAYBE JUST INVITE OVER THREE OF YOUR BUDDIES IT’S NOT FOR ME BUT YOU DO YOU BROTHER

I generally blame the instructors when that happens. I’ve taken classes on the most menial subjects that were great because the instructor was great. Almost anything can be enjoyable to learn if you have the right teacher.

Relevant self-promotion: I created a custom launcher, Mere Launcher, in part to help someone with tremors. This launcher uses no swipe gestures on the home page and the favorites are fairly large by default. Hope it’s useful!

HOPE YOU GET THAT LOOKED AT BROTHER YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON CRANKIN YOUR HOG IN YOUR GOLDEN YEARS

Someone who asks for help with their laptop, then opens it to reveal what appears to be several years worth of snacks smashed into the keyboard and on the screen. No, Doug, I don’t want to drive.

To be fair, I’ll use the more convenient shortcuts (cut/copy/paste, select all, save) that are genuinely easier to do with one hand. But Alt+F4? It either requires two hands or else your hand needs to qualify for Cirque de Soleil to hit it properly. Some of the “standard” keybinds are often more trouble than moving the pointer.

It’s still the result of robbing the working class, and concentrated wealth like that is bad for everyone (even the billionaires).

My wife and I both have Android phones, and in Ente, all new photos are automatically added to a “Camera” album. So we share those with each other, and that gives us access to everything we need. Hopefully they eventually do partner sharing (it’s possible with E2EE, I’m guessing it just wasn’t super high on the priority list).

I switched to Ente a little while ago. It has E2EE as well as facial recognition (which is done locally on a device). In my initial usage, it does seem to match faces decently, but I haven’t tried it for other stuff yet. Might be worth a look.

It has a certain type of witty humor, it’s not for everyone but it’s one of my favorites.