I think that your example of the App Store and the Microsoft Store is helpful! I work on both systems at my job fixing computers for consumers. The only thing I dislike about the App Store is that it doesn’t let you install things without first signing in with an Apple ID (the spam levels of pop-up messages trying so freaking hard to make you sign in is infuriating). But the MS Store feels like all the worst parts of the Play Store and really fucks things up if it breaks. I will likely remember your reply the next time I think about Flatpaks and Snaps though. lol

I wasn’t aware of Snaps being used in-place of regular installs with apt. Are they shown to be Snaps in the name of the program when using apt search? And if there is a Snap and a regular deb, do they both show up (again if using apt search)?

I am currently only on Linux on my Steam Deck and I do have two RPi’s (though I don’t actively use them) so I don’t have personal current knowledge of differences between Snap, Flatpak, and App Image beyond that A: Snap always brings up lots and lots of hate in comments and B: is from Canonical.

But is it possible that they might choose to use Snap for having more program options due to Ubuntu being such a “mainstream” distro? I know lots and lots of programs do release Flatpaks, but are there more of them or does Snap have more? Real question since I am aware of how heated some threads get with folks being really “fuck Snap” or “it is fine.” Mostly just curious since I am more and more likely to move my main PC to Linux as my main OS after Windows 10 is dead.

I’m over here doing both AND while medicated. Though most of the rage comes from bumping heads with people that don’t have ADHD and keep pulling my attention away from shit. Sometimes the normal “hey check this out real quick shit is funny” or to dump a different problem/task on me. Because I am unfortunately the person that has fixed enough weird shit and they seem to refuse to remember stuff I have shown them (time after time after time). Which means I get stuck having to rush all the shit I was doing before the interruptions and end up staying later than everyone else to not forget what I need to do the next day.

I have begun giving a “me warning” to new folks to let them know that I might come across as an absolute asshole and very short with them at times. But that they should just be aware that I am not actually mad at them personally, and to be direct with me right back if I go too far and say something (like “too far man” or similar) as I will actually try to correct myself.

Good to see those Cuda Cores finally getting used.

I also went completely to FF on my phone the moment it had uBlock Origin and some other extensions. Now that I learned how to force other ones, it has been game over for other browsers aside from just seeing how they are every now and then (I work with general public and need to be aware of how they work). The only thing I would really really advise in addition to FF on a non-rooted device is setting the Mullvad ad-blocking/tracking blocking DNS for the device.

It helps even if I need to use a different browser (not as good as also having uBO), and has really good chances of blocking ads in many apps. For example, I kind of treat the Microsoft Solitaire app since it keeps games and stats from my PC. However they have lots of video ads that play after a couple of games. With the DNS it just kind of glitches when an ad should run and just goes on to the next round instead. The only odd thing I see with other apps is that it can cause my bank app to take a little longer to load when signing in (I am guessing due to tracking it is trying to do). But after like ten seconds it goes through like normal.

This is the DNS address to add if you want:

https://base.dns.mullvad.net/dns-query

And here is the main site for all their options and tester to make sure whichever one you pick is working:

https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

Since it is FOSS, couldn’t they just take the source code and just re-compile it with different naming? Like how Debian did with Iceweasel naming and branding, though I know in their case it wasn’t due to not liking the Firefox name/branding.

Ah, good to know. Though wouldn’t it still at least make it easier for people to install overall? The last time I messed with Nvidia on Linux gave me issues even with using a named supported distro on their site. Would error out about “missing headers” or something like that. Given this was many years ago and before distros would offer an Nvidia specific iso. Mostly just curious in the event that I needed to help someone that is all-in on having one of their cards.

I am all AMD both PC (currently Windows but have used Linux on systems with AMD and Nvidia over the years) and Steam Deck (of course). AMD is overall easier. That being said, Nvidia is supposedly in process of making opensource drivers. I believe they are going to be focusing on their newer cards. So it might be worth researching into any recent news on their progress. Always good to have options if you get a better deal on one vs another.

I hate when I have to punch out for lunch (even if I am not eating) for more or less similar reasons. I try to bring a book to read literally any amount as I really need to read the books I have (getting to feel like my Steam library). But I find myself too engaged in my “fix things” (I work on peoples’ PCs) headspace/momentum. So I end up still just answering questions my co-workers that are customer facing are trying to deal with.

This is not something I expect from them or anyone under 96% of situations and try to not bother them when they are on lunch/break or on a day off. I even make sure that they know I give consent to hit me up and have even been able to help give the correct fix while drunk on vacation lol. I don’t think bad of them if they don’t do the same and even tell them to not be like me in that regard as I am just what I am. Only exception is if managers or higher try to bother me without some really really serious reasons (though they also tend to tell me to manually adjust my punches). I only donate my time/mind to people that are in the shit with me.

But I just feel more tense while on lunch and hate losing momentum or feeling “heavy” after eating. When I do eat it tends to be in small chunks over the course of the second half of my shift. So just spread out my paid 15min breaks. Just enough time to eat, but not enough time to lose whatever focus I have.

Unfortunately that kind of forgetting tends to be forgetting if I took my meds before work. Since I fall pray to always being late, and coffee in addition to the “fuck fuck fuck not again!!” rushing around makes it hard to know if my meds are kicking in or if the former making me feel awake.

Well it is good to have little reminders lik… wait a sec there

Same! That was like the first “WTF?” thoughts I had (while also lulz-ing). Had to share somewhere that would know the feeling. I have large doses of Impostor Syndrome in basically all parts of my day to day life. But one of the weirder ones is that I might not be actually ADHD and the meds that have been a game changer will be taken away (especially as the pushes to make getting them harder arise). But then I read/watch stuff about ADHD that are waaaaaay to deep a cut into my life to have that “oh shit, well I most certainly have ADHD for real then.” lol. Just so so many parts of my personality and youth just make sense.

Being 100% honest with you. I basically do that. Just enough to take the edge off. Sometimes just need to have something super basic and bland as hell.

doing the evanescence routine on older hardware

That was one of the best deep-cut comments I have read in a while! The helpful advise to OP was also nice. lol

When I got my first Raspberry Pi (4B), I was kind of shocked at how hot even my passive Argon case would get. Though I am guessing a more powerful and efficient ARM or RISC-V CPU would not spike to 100% so fast. But when I got my Pi 5 I made sure to get the official case that came with a fan while I waited for the more powerful active cooling fan to release. So much better at running stuff like YouTube or other media without hitting thermal issues (got the active cooling Argon One for my 4B with similar results too).

Having more powerful ARM/RISC-V CPUs that can actually handle stuff I expect a full on laptop or especially a desktop will be awesome. But while we are in the “still not as good” period of these CPUs both matching x86_64 and programs for them being full versions. The inefficiencies of either needing emulation or just very un-optimized code as devs are getting the hang of ARM/RISC-V coming from x86 mean those temps are easy to hit.

THIS all fucking day for new and even experienced users. Setting up a dual boot is fairly easy. But the moment you decide that you just need Windows (mostly new/non-tech users) and delete the Linux partition. Shit will break booting and lead to so much panic and/or frustration just getting Windows booting again. And that ignores the additional fuck-ups that can happen with just making a small mistake doing anything with partitions no matter the OS. It is much less frustrating to just disconnect the second drive in a desktop (or just format the drive and have as a data drive). Or to just swap one drive for another in a laptop with one drive bay/slot. Opening a laptop might be annoying depending on the model.

But at least your data and OS won’t be lost. Lots of people can understand using a screwdriver and spudgers while watching a video and some care. But lots of video and written guides for complex software can be worse. Lots of my frustrations with Linux guides over the years has to do with some steps being just left out due to the person(s) showing or writing it just assume certain steps as being super “obvious” or “common sense.” Though some folks are at least good at pre-facing stuff as assuming certain levels of knowledge. So it is easier to know that I might need to also research whatever they mentioned.

And if someone is experienced, it is still good to keep your OSes on physically different drives. Reduce the amount of problems that can come from a drive going bad and taking both (or however many) OSes down together. Of course backups are to be made for reasons that include a drive failing. But shit happens, and minimizing impact and the work needed to get everything working again is always a good idea. It is also nice to know that if you get the itch to distro-hop, you can just nuke the one drive without worry as much as you want. Keep your “I need to know this won’t be impacted” drive safe, and your play drive liquid.

It is because so many people see a Russian security company and just go on and on about “Russian company? they can’t be trusted!” While they act like US companies/government is somehow trustworthy by default (or at least by the omission of only dunking on the “always evil” vibes of anything Russian). Russia is very up front about their laws and their opinions of how they do or want to do. While US companies and the US gov love to also push that narrative hard and loud all the time.

They go on and on about “privacy” being like the most crucial thing ever. But they are also the very same fucks that have and actively at this moment find every way to just vacuum up all of our information, chats, searches, etc… And even when we get proof beyond proof that the US gov and private companies are doing this on their own or colluding. It is somehow the Russian companies (or insert whichever country) that are somehow more “evil” for doing shit.

Hell, the US is constantly spying on and inside our own allies. I really don’t see why our allies would freak out about shit like Chinese cell technology. But they are tripping over themselves to willingly build complete infrastructure with shit that the US gov most certainly has backdoors to backdoors inside. It isn’t about Russian companies being more or less trustworthy. But it is dumb as fuck to act like they are somehow worse than US companies with gov contracts. I am honestly more worried about what my own gov is doing to me than shit other nations companies might be doing. Do I want other nations companies having access to my shit? Fuck no, but acting like they are actively more a threat to spying on me as a US citizen than the profit chasing companies Enshittifying everything with adware/spyware. AND knowing that my own tax dollars are also being paid to them to give my gov access to it and me is stupid.

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I am really going to miss the old settings when they finally remove what is left of Control Panel. So far they have removed things or moved shit to force the Settings app. But they keep failing to make the new things have anywhere near the level of control. The power settings from Control Panel still matter way more than Settings and seem to actually stick when applied. And I just really have no idea how they have made stuff like resetting networking/connection issues worse over time. Fucking right-clicking on the networking icon on the taskbar and picking “repair” would actually get shit working again 8 times out of 10. But just seems to be a placebo at this point. There are still so many times that using different resets in Internet Options fixes more stuff I see regularly than the resets in Settings->Networking.

And the newer Troubleshooting options never fix any of the Windows Update issues I come across. Just a glorified verification of the failures I already know are happening. I never thought I would so badly miss being able to tell Windows Update to ignore updates if they were bugging out (not to avoid them all together but at least stop the OS from just constantly going through the motions of installing and failing during each reboot/shutdown). So many of the updates that used to give me issues were really either down to them trying to install out of order or due to a fuck-up on MS’s end that pushed bad updates.

The push to so deeply embed these AI models into everything so fast is really pissing me off. Shit is known to have issues with just outright making shit up. Which is IMO reason enough to not be adding them to end-products (especially since the end-products are also still not finished with removing old versions of things). One thing that really worries me in my job with fixing people’s PCs is the AI and search that pushes web content (and the now inescapable placement of ads) above local resources/programs/settings/etc. The main issues people have aren’t actual viruses like in the past. It is the massive levels of scams and fake alerts followed by fake “repair techs.” If the average person is so easy to trick when it is people scamming them. AI is going to blow shit up waaaaaaaay worse and will be able to do it so much faster and completely. Average people are still under the impression that these AI chats are giving completely real and accurate information (reminds me of how people used to believe that if something was said on TV that it was real).

Shit is fucked and going to get much worse at a dramatically faster rate due to rushing things in order to make as much money as fast as possible. Even Microsoft used to ship things in a more complete state. But gaming has made shipping broken products completely normal. So no reason to care about keeping any level of quality.