I've been running KDE now, almost exclusively, for almost 15 years. KDE works (by default) in a way similar to the way Windows XP worked in the late 90's - late 2000's. It felt familiar enough that I didn't have to try and figure out most things that I wanted to do. The few things that didn't work the way I wanted ( or felt they should) were easy enough to change. XFCE was similar (had a Windows 95-98 feel) but was not as configurable.

Gnome 2, I rather liked as it had a feel similar to Mac OS 8 from way back when I was in school, however I just never got along with Gnome 3. Everything felt... off. I can use it, Just don't care for it. Same for most other DEs.

Degradation of privacy and security are not on or off switches, but rather a sliding scale dependent on your actions and choices.

What are you trying to protect and from whom?

What are the probable attack vectors?

What conveniences are you will to give up?

To prevent online services ( like google and facebook) from knowing who you are you have to completely disconnect from them and their networks.

Tails when used in combination with a VPN is secure, but only until the service you are trying to protect your privacy from put together that you are using them (usually by you logging into an account with them ).

When I was younger, privacy was something we were less concerned about. We were more concerned with preventing our systems from being hacked. Folks liked to say that the only secure computer was one that was locked in a solid concrete bunker on the dark side of the moon, with no data connection to the rest of the universe, and even then there would be some fool out there with a space suit and a jack hammer trying to get into it.

About the only upside to this that I can think of is that maybe, just maybe, programmers will start being more frugal with their memory usage. Everything else just sucks.

I like this idea. I've been doing pretty much the same thing for a while now, though it's been a subdirectory of Documents.

Sure... I can. But why would I want to? The open source options are better in almost every use case. Adobe hasn't had a compelling product for my use cases in decades.

Giving Adobe the middle finger isn't worth putting up with their malware.

Hell, a death tax on assets over $10 million would probably cover it.

Brother Printers have a well deserved reputation. They work. You will probably need their proprietary drivers (which you can get from their website), but after that they just work.

I know they make a .deb available, but I think there's also a .rpm if you're repping Redhat land.

I fell it's going to be a bad couple of months for everybody, not just Linux. It's just with open source, it's easier for the LLMs to find things that have been missed. And more open when they do because you can see the bug reports.

Meh.

Their soapbox, their rules. You don't like their rules, self host and make your own.

New York plans on enforcing that, how exactly?

Linux has run on ARM procs for some time. Software is a little hit or miss, but most things have a compiled build for it at this point. A lot of the big servers are running ARM processors due to potential power savings.

The popularity of the Raspberry Pi really increased the number of projects with ARM builds as well. It's been possible to run a pretty decent desktop stack for 10 or 15 years. When the Pi2B came out.

If you happen to run across a project that is not available on ARM you might give a go at compiling it yourself. About half of the time it's not too difficult and a good beginner project.

The only prebuilts or kits I recommend currently are from Prusa. Fairly open and they have a strong track record for reliability.

If you're willing to build, you might take a look at the Voron project. I hear good things about them, though reliability is largely up to your mechanical and electronics skills. I believe one or two of their builds are roughly in your price range.

That said, my wife recently surprised me by preordering the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro (Not really in your price range) as a gift. They seem to have a fairly solid track record for reliability, though they are not much better than Bamboo in terms of openness. They have other printers and I've heard mostly good things about their AD5X and Adventure 5M Pro which are more in line with your budget.

Wait, do we actually have unemployment assistance in the US? I thought it was just a slush fund for boondoggles I was forced to pay into. Every time I've tried to apply for it over the last 20 years I was rejected.

I'm using NameCheap. I don't recall them ever asking me to provide ID. They do have an api (didn't know that till now) though I'm tired enough at the moment that I can't make much sense of their documentation.

https://www.namecheap.com/support/api/methods/domains-dns/set-hosts/

Which might not be a bad thing in most cases, given the problems we have in policing with over aggressive behavior, lying and general "us vs them" mentality.

Not every security or safety problem can be solved by throwing bodies at it.

In one of their more recent asshat moves:

https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/developer-re-enables-3d-printer-features-that-bambu-lab-disabled-firm-promptly-threatens-legal-action-orcaslicer-bambulab-project-now-shuttered

Essentially, it's bittorrent under the hood. IP addresses are public to others watching the stream at the same time.

Depending on where you are, I would turn on your VPN before clicking that link.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. If BYD were allowed to import their entire fleet to the US they would be at the top of my interest list on price alone even if the US prices were double what Ive seen in new articles.

I'm personally in need of a new vehicle and everything, both the pickups I need and the passenger cars, are too expensive and has too much shit I don't need installed by default. I'm literally holding my car together with ducktape and bailing wire waiting for the Slate Truck to come out.

I think that if Slate Auto actually pulls off a inexpensive light duty EV pickup, and it proves reliable, it may completely change the landscape of the American auto market. I'm pretty sure that Ford and maybe Jeep will survive, but I'm not sure the others will unless they can start kicking out lower priced vehicles quickly.

Well, glad I walked away from SmartThings a couple of years ago. Went with Home Assistant and have never looked back.

At the time I remember being concerned about whether they were going to kill SmartThings off or start charging a subscription as the hub called home for everything. Server time costs and they weren't charging for it. TANSTAFL. Kinda surprised it's still alive at all

So long as you don't need to stockpile old shows you never watch, you can get by on an old laptop and possibly an external drive.

My homelab started out on a Raspberry Pi 2b. Most of the hardware Ive brought online were dumpster specials someone else didn't want. It can be done on the cheap. Won't necessarily be reliable, but it can be done cheap.