onlooker

Switched around the time Windows 7 was out. The reason is Windows Update. It took FOREVER to do its thing. And it was janky as all hell. I distinctly remember clicking on the "check for updates" more than once, because it didn't find any updates the first time dor whatevee reason. Anyway, I had one update breakage too many and I snapped. Had Linux as my main OS since then and a few years later it became my only OS.

Basically, I wanted an OS that stayed out of my face and Windows wasn't it.

Not surprising. Either this was their long game or MS is in crisis mode, because lately they haven't been doing so hot.

It's a process of telling houses where to go. Why do you think homes never get lost?

To my fellow Linux users: it's okay to use a GUI. Really.

As a contrbuting member of Society of Linux Users on Terminals I am aghast, AGHAST at the very proposition of using *shudder* graphics on your Linux system. I mean, the very idea! If you can't browse the web in console mode, then why even bother using Linux? GUIs are for quitters.

I don't know, we'll just have to see. But personally, I am not a fan of tying so many functionalities to systemd.

Nah, that would just make me a dick.

At one time I did, and to my surprise, my friend did just that! Unlocked their phone and handed it to me without a word. Welp.

I tried arguing against this, but it's no use. I tried pointing out how something can be branded illegal retroactively, like 20 years down the line, I tried the "give me your credit card info" approach, nothing took. 90% of the time the counter-argument is usually something to the effect of "big companies know everything about me anyway", which is just guessing on their part.

I'm just going to take care of my own privacy, because I'm clearly in the minority (present company excluded, of course). Almost everyone I know disregards online privacy completely, so I'm done trying to get a dialogue going with these people; it's every man for himself. The only way online privacy will become a hot topic among laymen is when something nasty happens and at that point, it will have been too late.

Suits me. I have a ton of movies and TV shows to catch up to.

I don't know about reproducible builds, but Telegram has a slew of other problems. For example, they advertise that your messages are "heavily encrypted", but this feature is restricted to secret chats which is NOT the default method of communication and they use their own weird-ass algorhythm called ProtoMT instead of one of many existing algorhythms which have been audited and verified. Not to mention you need to give them your phone number to use the app.

I'm not sure which distro would work with your laptop. I would suggest experimenting with live USB images. Maybe using something like Ventoy which enables you to try out multiple live images from one USB stick. But as far as applications go:

• GIMP is native to Linux and should work fine. You might also want to give Krita and Inkscape a whirl. Also, massive props for ditching Adobe. I hate that company as much as it hates their customers.
• Blender works on linux.
• So does Davinci. Allegedly. Haven't used it, but their website says Linux support is available.
• I don't code so, um, no idea. Sorry. Hopefully someone else will weigh in.
• Good news, Linux has working file explorers!
• No ads, at least for the most part. Ubuntu had Amazon's search integrated into their search bar a while back, which caused quite a kerfuffle. Later, they added a toggle to turn this off, but this was years ago. Might want to check just in case.

That's a good one. True enough, Splatoon doesn't go boom, it goes splat.