I’ve used Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, and Manjaro. All viable options. I’m currently using Mint on my daily driver, Ubuntu on my HTPCs, and Debian on my servers.

I liked the rolling release aspect of Manjaro, but I missed having a system that works with DEB files. I’m not a fan of flatpak/snap/appimage due to the size (I’ve often had to use slower internet connections). I settled on Mint for my daily driver because it has great and easy compatibility for my hardware (specifically an Nvidia GPU). It worked okay on Manjaro as well, but I’ve found it easier to select and switch between GPU drivers on Mint. And Cinnamon is my favorite DE, and that’s sort of “native” to Mint.

I’m using vanilla Ubuntu on my HTPCs because I have Proton VPN on them, and it’s the only setup I’ve found that doesn’t have issues with the stupid keyring thing. And Proton VPN’s app only really natively supports Ubuntu. The computers only ever use a web browser, so the distro otherwise doesn’t matter that much.

I’m using Debian on my servers because it’s the distro I’m most familiar with, especially without a GUI. Plus it’ll run until the hardware fails, maybe a little longer.

If you’re looking to see how strong a password really is, check it here.

Coding is totally obselete, bro. AI can totally write all the code, trust me bro. You just gotta know how to tell it what code to write, like learn some keywords and stuff, bro. Like, as long as you check how it produces looping mechanisms and tell it when it should use polymorphism and stuff, it’ll totally do all the work bro. You don’t need to know how to code, just the right sequence of keywords and commands so the AI can write all the code.

I generally blame the instructors when that happens. I’ve taken classes on the most menial subjects that were great because the instructor was great. Almost anything can be enjoyable to learn if you have the right teacher.

Then sell it to a demolition derby show.

🧑‍🚀🔫🧑‍🚀

My first (and still my favorite) thing I designed from scratch is my Happy Mug.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. When you look through the classics, they’re not “typical”. Hell, one of the most iconic games involves a plumber fighting a punk-rock turtle to save a princess, with a variety of mushrooms both helping and hindering.

Check out GetSimple. It’s a flat file system (so no database to mess with) and can run with just basic PHP (though it’ll guide you through installing modules if you want fancy urls, etc). Super easy to set up. I’ve been using it for years without a hitch.

I’ve had pretty good success with a number of 8bitdo controllers. The wireless ones have a few different wireless “profiles” for compatibility with multiple devices, but after figuring that out, it’s pretty smooth sailing. They take several minutes to turn off from idling, and it won’t “idle” if you’re holding it (i.e., if there’s any activity on the gyroscope).

I have the SN30 Pro and the Zero 2, both have great battery life and work well on Linux (I’m using Mint). And they work wired as well.

I have no strong feelings one way or the other.

It’s not dumb to feel sad about it. Enshittification is sad, especially when you see it from the inside.

Out of the American big three, I have the most confidence in Ford. I’ve worked with engineers at all three, and the ones at Ford are the ones that I felt were most compitent.

That being said, my next car will probably be a Toyota or a Subaru. Both way better than the American OEMs.

They’re good for longevity, but they’re bad for quarterly profits. In the US, we care much more for the latter.

I work in the auto industry. Can confirm, Stellantis is in bad shape. I wouldn’t buy anything from them.

The Streisand Effect

Beelink Mini PCs or ones like that, plus a wireless keyboard/trackpad combo.

I did, but I already paid for two years (plus did a bunch of work to migrate files over). So I’ll be here for a bit.

I switched to Proton about 6 months ago.

Wish I had waited. Ah well.

I always thought Rob Reiner had a similar sense of humor to Mel Brooks. And I liked Billy Crystal in it, it kept that section of the movie from feeling too heavy, though I get it’s not everyone’s thing.

For anyone who hasn’t read it, the book is fantastic as well, and helped me appreciate the movie even more (it’s probably one of the best film adaptations of a book ever, IMO). The humor and wit of William Goldman was captured expertly in the movie.