flatbield

I kind of wonder who is behind the over exaggeration. People with real concerns or those that do not want strong open platforms. Too much controversy and bifriction and those that push it for their own ends are the enemy.

Same. There is an Android version now too.

You have to want to use FOSS software. If you want to use certain proprietary applications then buy the commercial platform they run on.

The other is interest and ability to solve your own tech problems.

Keep in mind there are a lot of ways to start. Install it in a VM, buy hardware with Linux installed, or install it yourself.

I use it for when I want a custom system. Big ripo, and clean minimal installs along with security updates. I run it my workstation and on my vps systems.

I think you just like the truth test. Frankly I have used Python for over 25 years and have been doing programming for almost 50 years in many different languages. If you think I am somehow a beginner, I would disagree. The truth test is just like so many other Python specific idioms that grow in number by the year. They are not at all obvious unless you are deep into Python. Moreover, the truth test and the len() test are not the same test. One might be able to use either in a specific case, but that is case specific and which is more readable is up to the developer and we may well disagree on that choice. The other consideration in Python, speed of writing code which is often why many of us use Python and that may lead to different choices too including based on habit.

Lot of this reminds me of the Pascal vs. C debate of the 1980’s. Pascal was all about readability over compactness. C on the other hand, seemed to attract people that loved to write very compact code that was almost impossible to figure out on first glance. Me personally, I guess I’d choose C over Pascal but write the C in more of a Pascal authoring philosophy. Similarly, with Python, I often do not go for all of the Python idioms. Lot of that is just writing what I am thinking, and the rest is probably habit. If I am going to test 0 length then I’ll probably test zero length. I do not find it at all obvious that, oh, I want to test 0 length so the Python idiom for that is to truth test. I absolutely know that to be the case on certain types of objects, but it probably is not going to be my first choice.

Compact does not mean easier to understand. They are different tests. The point is, do not make code less readable for speed unless speed matters. I am not going to argue which is more readable in any specific case. That is up to the developer.

And presumably debugging is a lot more work as AI is just a fancy template lookup and has no idea what it is doing.

Basically quickly generate crap code then hope you can debug it into something acceptable.

I use primarily debs but if your using Ubuntu it will include Ubuntu supported snaps. This is all from the distro supplied repos generally.

Installing random stuff not distro support contains a lot of addition risks such as potentially more bugs and malware.

I think the only 3rd party program I have installed is an AppImage of Joplin. I found the snap buggy.

I am not big fan of snaps or flatpacks as I had issues with both. One rarely needs them on Debian based distros anyway.

Just thinking what possibilities. Some thoughts.

• We always use Ubuntu LTS and do not install or upgrade a release until is out for 6 to 9 months. For Debian we use stable.

• Make certain your install media is good and also the computer storge media.

• Keep the system updates current.

• Use packages installed from the standard repo and supported by the security team.

Not sure what else.

Just FYI. My family has used linux for 25 years on many systems and we do not have stability issues. We use mostly Ubuntu or Debian.

Have no idea why your having issues. Could distro or hardware related. Also are you sure your storage media is good.

Reguarding apps, you said typewriter, movies, music, games. Office suite look at LibreOffice. Movies and music if it is online just Firefox or any other browser you choose. Firefox is good at working with PDFs too. Any distro should come with a document viewer, photoviewer, video player, and music player. You can choose from tons of other or more advanced tools. Debian for example comes with over 60K packges and Ubuntu and Mint are similar. There are also 3rd party sources too. Flathub or Snapcraft for example if you want something not in the repos.

If you go with a Debian based distro with a lot of apps in the repos, you probably my not need these other app souces, but some people like smaller distros, something special just not in the repos, or a newer or different version of app. For example I use Joplin which is a notes app that is not in the Debian repos.

For apps finding an app name and starting links https://alternativeto.net/ is your friend. For distros, https://distrowatch.com/ is your friend. Strongly favor a distro in the top 10 on distro watch unless you have some special need.

Edit: You will notice that the top 10 are all Debian, Arch, Fedora, or SUSE based in that general order of more to less popularity. Linux distros tend to be based on these base distributions. For example Mint is based on Debian and so is Ubuntu.

I personally prefer Debian based distros just because of the number of apps in the software repo. Probably consider Ubuntu or Mint in your case. My wife and I have used Linux pretty exclusively for over 20 years. Ease of use is not that much of an issue once your setup. My wife and her dad are not technical and they have few issues.

Installing, and fixing issues is more technical but it is for Windows too especially if you do not get it preinstalled. You presumably have some stratagy for Windows support. Linux same, have a stratgey for it.

I always thought writing and debugging code on VS was fine. Where I never liked Visual Studio was building especially cross-platform building or just using special tools etc. Fankly just give me an editor and Make, but make sucks on Windows due to slow process startup. But I do like the VS debugger.

• Security Now.
• The Register
• Sashdot
• Lxer

I also subscribe to the Debian Security Announce email list.

Also using RSS with Youtube now. Muxh better way to follow Youtube channels.

People love to troll Firefox. There are only 3 brower sources Google, Mozilla, and Apple. I choose Mozilla or a derivative of them.

I mostly do. 99.9% of the software I use is a Debian package. Well on Debian anyway. I do have one AppImage.

Kind of felt like that before I retired. IT put so much shit on my computer that it was about all it was good for. One reason I retire, feedup with the BS form IT.

The update thing started maybe 10 years ago or was it 15. Company I worked for went from terrible patching to this BS. Why something in between was not sufficient I will never know or why it cannot hot patch.

Edit: Before the company actually did serious patching worms regularly took down the whole company for days. But why they had to go from that to interrupting presentations and calls is beyond me.

Actually staff and commercial vendors are keeping Windows. Plus no one gets fired for choosing MS products. That IT staff are all Windows certified means Windows will always be the answer. That users are similarly trained and need certain Windows software will mean they demand it too.