It really depends what you want out of your computer, how much you like to tinker, and how comfortable you are getting your hands dirty. I got back onto a daily driver Linux desktop a little under two years ago, but I’ve been running Linux on servers since um…mid 90s? I’ve had Linux desktops mostly on secondary computers, but didn’t go back fully until more recently.

I don’t run Arch, but I feel like that community is probably closest to the feeling Linux had back in the day–when we recompiled the kernel with the specific drivers we needed for everything to save memory, I knew every process running, every program I installed. I compiled most of my own programs from source. Or maybe Gentoo is the current version of that. If that’s your jam, go that route.

For a while in the early aughts I ran a ton of servers with RedHat and developed an aversion to rpm and its mess of dependencies. Debian felt so much more stable and I’ve been picking Debian for servers ever since. If you want boring and stable, you can’t go wrong with Debian. I have many times just set up Debian with automatic update and reboot, and those things just keep going for years. I can’t remember when a Debian update broke my system, which I definitively can’t say for every OS.

Then, I started wanting to game on Linux. The flip side of boring and stable is outdated. So when I planned my new Linux desktop build I went distro shopping a bit. I tried out a few live distros at first. I knew I wanted up-to-date drivers (for new hardware), but not a lot of tinkering, because I got a lot older and less patient at this point.

I ended up on Fedora this time. My choice was driven by the balance of being up to date enough for my (simple) gaming needs, yet mainstream enough (read: boring) that if anything broke, there would be forums available and I could get back to just enjoying my computer. I prefer KDE Plasma over Gnome, so that’s what I ended up with.

I’m happy with it and not planning to change. But I do get that sinking feeling of not really knowing what my computer is doing, because, just like on Windows, there are a hundred processes running in the background and I don’t know what half of them do. It’s just that at this point I’m not curious enough anymore to go digging into the man pages and the wikis and peruse the source code to find out. I just want it to work and let me get to my doom scrolling.

So for mainstream and boring, I recommend Debian or Fedora, maybe one of the Arch derivatives like CachyOS. If you want to customize and tinker, probably plain Arch or one of the smaller distros that are well documented and less opinionated. I didn’t mention Mint, because I think it’s a bit too simplified for someone with some Linux experience. I would install it for my parents, though.

your Blinkenlights fluid. Not to be confused with blinker fluid

For best performance, remember to always change your internet filter when you change your blinkenlights fluid

95 in Europe is like 87 in the US. Different ratings.

Unfortunately I don’t think the latest SDL works with the Linux console frame buffer anymore, but thanks for the links!

I use Merlinwrt on my Asus router. They have a bit longer support and I think it’s open source. May be worth looking into.

Back in the olden days we used to run games buikt with SDL on the console without a desktop. But they have to be built for it and Steam doesn’t fit that bill.

No. Rules vary country to country. My children could have filed to get one of they did before age 21 and had spent something like 6 months total in Norway before that age. They’re past that and they didn’t have enough time in the country, though they have visited. They can still apply on grounds of my citizenship at the time of their birth, but it’s a much longer process and they’d need to learn the language. If they have a spouse or children, they would have to go through that as well. Norway is harder to immigrate to than most countries.

If I had only predicted the demise of democracy 28 years ago, when I moved, I would have made sure they learned the language and had dual citizenship. Alas that didn’t happen. These days there are online schools and such we could have used so it’s a little easier and I see that lots of parentsb these days do exactly that.

That was from memory. I’ll have to find it. My understanding (I’ll try to find references or retract my statement after work) is that at a minimum you have to file a tax return or submit some other form as long as you are a US person or up to 7? years after renouncing your citizenship or losing green card status.

Even if I was mistaken, it’s hella complicated and expensive.

Edit: Okay, tried to find where I originally read that and came up empty. I found that there is expatriation tax and a form 8854^1^2 you can file. There is a 5-year compliance rule that maybe is what I was thinking of. Either way, talk to an accountant if you’re planning to move. I think I’d rather piss off the Yakuza than the IRS in terms of who can make your life suck more.

I’ll admit my evidence is only anecdotal, but it was what pretty recent (many others said they had no problem some years ago) and as mentioned in Norway not Germany.

My impression from that discussion is that the requirements have become stricter and the banks etc have no obligation to do business with you and will simply say no. That still leaves them open to allow it if they want your business anyway.

It may depend on the country and even the institution. I know of dual citizens from my home country, Norway, who were denied financial services there despite being born there and having citizenship.

If you’re moving back permanently the only sane thing to do is to renounce US citizenship ASAP to get the clock started on becoming a non-US person.

However, I’m staying, because I have a wife and children here who are all single-citizenship natural born US citizens.

It’s better, but it’s not enough. IRS will hunt you down for like 7 years after you renounce.

Meanwhile you’re a persona non grata in your own home country because no banks want to deal with their reporting requirements (FATCA).

Looks like you’re in Norway, so I suggest you reach out in norge.chat (matrix) and see if anybody can suggest something, perhaps a local provider or community of people with similar interests.

Each month would be named after one of Elon Musk’s children, but the names would be randomized every year (any future children are added to the rotation). Eventually this becomes impossible to keep up with and we just end up using numbers anyway, which is fine with me.

That depends where you are. In America it is more often associated with lynchings than suicide.

Edit: to add a little context from Wikipedia: Noose: Use in intimidation and hate-based racial politics - this is why I said “depends where you are”. I had no idea of these connotations before I moved to the US, either.

Old and tired: use the release year in your product version.

New and exciting: increment all your past product versions as they age!

Your users will love it!

That is helpful, thank you! I will look into the master server option. I can spin up Docker containers on the NAS.

I also use KeepassXC, and it’s great. I’m interested in setting up Syncthing between my Android, Linux desktop, and NAS. Do you have any tips or articles/resources that you used to set it up?

My employer leases our computers for 3-5 years. I get a new model when my lease runs out. I don’t really mind the guaranteed refresh except having to move all my stuff over. I would be way more pissed if they moved to BYOD.

Very insightful, thank you. I’m mainly looking to deter or stop an intruder. I’m too old and weak to put up a close combat fight. My area is pretty safe for now, but we’re in deep red territory so who knows.

Your advice jibes with what I’ve read online and been told by other experienced gun owners/ex military. Thank you for the straight forward recommendation.