I second the Framework laptops. I’ve bought 4 Framework 13s so far, and no issues with any of them.

I recommend dual booting Windows and Linux until you’re comfortable switching entirely. Sometimes you need to go back for just one task.

Always back up your files before installing a new OS. Data loss is always possible during installation, and more likely if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The Grub boot manager (included and installed by default with Linux Mint and some other distros) makes it easy to pick which OS to boot each time when turning the computer on.

Check out Lutris for non-Steam Windows games. It uses Wine, but is a lot more user friendly to set up and use.

You can always try the live USB without/before installing. It’s a great way to start getting comfortable or try out several different distros with minimal effort and risk.

Admittedly, there isn’t much overlap between the people genuinely asking and the people actively advancing climate change.

I think I have graphics driver issues, but it could just as easily be a failing graphics card without testing. Mint has a great driver manager from Ubuntu, but LMDE didn’t seem to have any driver GUI.
The main symptom is about 30 minutes into almost any game the fps drops from 60+ to ~10. Only restarting the game seems to fix it.

I don’t remember the other minor issues, so they’ve either been fixed, or so minor I stopped noticing them.

I think LMDE is good enough to use as a daily driver. The installer is quite nice too.

Installing Plasma should be as simple as “apt install kde-plasma-desktop”, then log out and select plasma from the login screen. I’ve tried other DEs but not Plasma, so I can’t say for certain it will work.

You can always try distros in a VM almost completely risk free. It won’t tell you everything, but it’s an easy way to get first impressions without losing your main OS.

Edit: This forum thread says you can install and use Plasma, but it’s not a great experience. Mint will probably not be the right option for you then.

I’ve been distro hopping for years. After each time trying a few distros, I always find myself coming back to Linux Mint (cinnamon desktop environment). It has everything I need, and just works beautifully out of the box. It might not be flashy or have the latest cutting edge features, but it’s stable.

I’m currently running the Debian edition of Mint (LMDE), and wishing I was back on standard Mint. Nothing major, but a few minor persistent issues that never happened on Mint.

I did try NixOS (immutable OS), but it didn’t seem to have support for all the apps I wanted. I gave up fairly quickly, so you’ll probably have more success.

I wanted to install an extra hard drive in my computer, but the power supply didn’t have enough connectors. I actually had a spare power supply unit, but upon testing, the 24 pin cable was too short to reach the motherboard.

I ended up using both PSUs. Only one had a power switch on it, so that was connected to the hard drives. I had to use a paperclip in the unused 24 pin connector to make it output power. The 2 PSUs had a wire running between the ground pins of a random unused connector, and they were on the same phase circuit.

The hard drive PSU had to be turned on first at the switch. Once that was on, I could press the power button to turn on the computer. I think I used it for about a year before buying enough upgrade parts to effectively replace the entire computer.

I still see this every few months.

I think it’s happening if a key is released at the same time as a window opens or changes to full screen, but it’s too rare to properly troubleshoot. The fix is still the same.

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You don’t need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.

I decided to use NAND instead of NOR, but it’s effectively the same thing.

Scala:

//main
@main
def main(): Unit =
  var i = 15 //Choose any number here
  i = add(i, 1) //this increments i
  println(i)

//Adds 2 numbers in the most intuitive way
def add(a: Int, b: Int): Int =
  val pairs = split(a).zip(split(b))
  val sumCarry = pairs.scanLeft(false, false)((last, current) => fullAdder(current._1, current._2, last._2))
  return join(sumCarry.map(_._1).tail.reverse)

//Converts an integer to a list of booleans
def join(list: Seq[Boolean]): Int = BigInt(list.map(if (_) '1' else '0').mkString, 2).toInt

//Converts a list of booleans to an integer
def split(num: Int): Seq[Boolean] = num.toBinaryString.reverse.padTo(32, '0').map(_ == '1')

//Adds 2 booleans and a carry in, returns a sum and carry out
def fullAdder (a: Boolean, b: Boolean, c: Boolean): (Boolean, Boolean) =
  (NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c)), NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c), c)), NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c), NAND(a, b)))

//The basis for all operations
def NAND(a: Boolean, b: Boolean): Boolean = !a || !b

EDIT: replaced Integer.parseInt with BigInt(...).toInt to fix NumberFormatException with negative numbers.

try it online here

1. Put on gorilla suit
2. Teleport to the ISS for the second time

LocalSend. File transfer between any devices with (almost) any OS over LAN. No account required. The best file transfer app I’ve ever encountered by far.

StreetComplete. Get motivated to go outside with quests to help complete OpenStreetMaps. Surprisingly addictive. Requires an OpenStreetMaps account.

f.lux. Remove the blue light from your computer monitor in the evening to help you fall asleep more easily. Redshift. As above. Not quite as good, but works on some OS/System configurations that f.lux can’t handle.

Pulsar. A community version of the discontinued Atom text editor. Highly extendable and configurable. Great for small programming tasks or opening text files with an obscure syntax. Has most of the packages built for Atom.

Home Assistant. For automating your house and more (controlling smart lights and appliances, monitoring solar panel output, weather forecasts, printer diagnostics, delivery tracking…). A dedicated device (Raspberry Pi, old laptop) is highly recommended. A bit of a learning curve, but hard to live without after using it.

She looks very polite.

Most Russian people have committed no crime, and many do not support what their leader has done. We should not condem people for the country they were born in.

I have used Kagi for several weeks and can’t go back. I can finally find things on the internet again and I don’t want to lose that again.

If you don’t mind paying to use a search engine, Kagi is actually pretty good. Not as good as Google was 20 years ago, but significantly better than any other search engine I can find today.

Interesting extension. I think I’ll give it a try.

It is entirely open source, and the website does a very good job explaining what it does and why.

I find your lack of comma disturbing.