I worry this may be some form of confirmation bias or something. Because at that I was like “huh, I hadn’t thought of that, but now that I do, I think you’re right! It HAS been slightly more lately!”

Then I realized that I’ve been purposely holding off updates since August, so it can’t be true haha.

I’m not saying the same happened to you, I’m just saying it happened to me, so it’s possible it’s happening to others 🤷‍♂️😂

I think high end smasnugs do that. But yeah same, I have a Chromecast and I just sling stuff to the TV. Its tuner hasn’t been used in a decade.

Speaking of decade… I should probably upgrade that thing. But it’s big enough, dark enough (LDC, but at least not a crappy LCD), and high enough resolution for it’s size and distance from my couch (1080, 50 inches, 10 or 15 feet) that I just can’t justify replacing it. I wish it would die already lol.

Maybe if I move and get a big enough bedroom, I’ll put it in there, and upgrade to something with HDR. I really wanna get in on some good HDR. Seems like it’s getting really good and really affordable if you buy the right thing.

Super awesome! I was looking at this, but don’t want a new phone right now

I’m constantly trying to touch the screen on my work provided laptop, and my FW13. I spent a long time with a fancy Chromebook for my couch computing needs, when away from the desktop.

Another vote here for framework 13. Love mine.

I’ve had mine about 4 months, minimal issues. I got a 7840U slightly on sale when the new AI 300 series came out.

I’m also running fedora 42, but it’s Bluefin, based on silverblue. Everything works out of the box.

My biggest complaint is the sleep battery drain, iirc it’s something like a few percent per hour, so I just get in the habit of turning it completely off if I’m not home with it plugged in. Otherwise it’s dead when I need it, which sucks.

Also the fan can be a little loud and overzealous under barely moderate load, though I’ve found keeping it in power saving mode helps keep things cooler. Though I’ve been using it for note taking during some schooling this week, and it’s been stone cold and silent, lasts all day on a single charge. So it definitely depends on your load. I appreciate having the power available when I need it, but wish it was better at keeping itself underclocked (or whatever it needs to do).

And finally the stock Wi-Fi 6 card in it gives some people problems with certain routers. Though I’ve only ever had problems with my parents starlink router 🤷‍♂️ That’s a quick $20 upgrade though, to Wi-Fi 7, I just haven’t needed to 🤷‍♂️

But still I’d buy another in a heartbeat.

Keyboard is great. Screen (2.8k) looks great to my eyes, though others say it has issues. No flex in the body. Touchpad is a little funky, but still great.

Plus when I want to upgrade the platform in a few years, or any component breaks before then, I can just fix it or upgrade it.

Highly recommend.

I’m on silverblue, well, bluefin, specifically.

So far so happy 🤷‍♂️

I’ve definitely pulled my hair out with docker too. Banged my head against the wall for a couple days before finally giving up.

I’m not ridiculously tech savvy, but I’ve tinkered with Linux since I was young, daily drive it on my laptop. I’m not afraid of the command line, and I’m smart enough to search for help and guides when I need it.

But something about docker just breaks my brain. Maybe I’m too old and there’s too much abstract thought required, I don’t know. But I can’t figure it out.

Oh man, I’m gonna look into this. I’m currently running Bluefin, but maybe I’ll pivot over to Aurora 🤔

Thanks!

Oh man I forgot about this! How long has it been dead? Why does no one want this?

I had this running on Ubuntu on my laptop back in the day

I was thinking more like using an immutable or atomic os instead, like bazzite or bluefin. At least then you get regular updates, and core functionality is safely protected.

I’m coming back to Linux after a hiatus. I’ve spent most of my time with the Debian flavors. Not afraid of the command line, but not an expert either.

I’m trying out Bluefin right now, semi-immutable atomic os based on silverblue, based on Fedora.

On normal installs, I usually change and install enough stuff, that when it comes time to upgrade to the next os version, I’m sometimes not able to without introducing instability or it outright falling. The former more common than the latter.

Let’s just say I got used to reinstalling and starting from scratch, especially if I experimented too hard and broke something big like my DE or drivers.

So with bluefin I’m hoping to leave everything that’s core, alone. I’m trying to rely on flatpaks, app images, and distrobox for everything else.

So far so successful. I’ve only got a couple minor gripes, some limitations of flatpaks. But I’ve also only been at it for like a week, so we’ll see.

I guess my point is, flatpaks have a place 🤷‍♂️

Just the other day, I was trying to run a CLI program, one I won’t name.

I’m trying out a new immutable distro, and couldn’t install it, so I said hey these new flatpaks are supposed to be all a guy could ever need.

So I downloaded an app that uses this unnamed CLI program as its core. It was a GUI app. And while it worked just fine, I also had very little control over what exactly was gonna happen and how it would happen. I wanted to do some specific things I knew the core program could do, but there was no way to do it.

Eventually I dug deeper and realized I’m an idiot and the CLI program can run without installing it or any dependencies, so it was fine to use natively. I was able to accomplish my task quickly and efficiently after that, happy as a clam.

CLI and GUI both have their place. I prefer GUI most the time, honestly. But having some CLI chops can be extremely useful at times.

Kind reminder that words have meaning, and your tone, to me at least, is coming across very combative. I’m just trying to have a conversation 🤷‍♂️

I’m sorry that $100 is out of your reach. The economy isn’t getting any better, it seems.

Truly it seems to me that based on your requirements for hobbies, this is one you may have to pass up. Which stinks, but sometimes that’s how it goes.

For a lot of people, $100 is still a lot of money, but not out of the realm of possibility for a hobby startup. If they were interested, that is.

All that said, going to a club and hanging out with people who have the equipment and would love to share and teach you, is completely free, and a valid option. My club’s radio room is open every Saturday for anyone who wants to warm some clouds with RF. If you’re not licensed, someone will sit with you so you can use their callsign.

There are some crusty old curmudgeony farts in this hobby, sure. But if you only ever look at the negative, you’ll never see the positive. Lot of chill people, some normal, some weird, all harmless, who want to help you 🤷‍♂️

City living is tough for ham activities, that’s fair. I’m in an apartment myself. But I go hiking and bring the radio, set up a hammock and vibe. But that’s not for everyone either.

I agree wholeheartedly, local repeaters don’t really have much of a place anymore. My buddies and I used to chat on our respective drives to work every day, and home. That was a fun way to keep in touch. But we kind of drifted out of the habit.

You have a transmitting SDR? That’s basically a ham radio, which is cool! And also technically illegal to transmit anywhere without a license as it’s not type certified. Maybe the ISM bands are ok? I can’t remember. Anywho I’m no snitch, just letting you know 🤷‍♂️

Bottom line I guess is yeah, sometimes it’s just not for everyone. And that’s ok.

There are some good ideas in there. I definitely agree more needs to be done, and there are definitely lots of bad actors out there. I’m not sure what the final solution will be

That’s a misrepresentation.

800 for the last radio you’ll ever need. I didn’t say start with it.

4 to 500 for a middle ground radio.

300 if you want to learn to fix it, it’s a feature not a bug. And it’s not for everyone, I never said it was.

You can get a 5w HF radio for $100, plenty to learn on, but can be frustrating if the solar cycle is down.

If you really want to get your foot in the door, get your foot out the door and over to your local club, they lend you gear, or even give it to you and has happened to me a time or two when I was starting. Or you can use their club station, or go out and do a POTA with someone. That’s what I do with my buddies kids, and they love it 🤷‍♂️

There’s plenty to do, nobody is trying to gate keep here. It’s just a hobby with a very high cost ceiling, and a lot of people who’ve been doing it for decades and built up equipment stores. It’s a lot to come into, and yes we do need to be more welcoming.

That’s fair, yeah important to make it clear what’s available and what will do the job.

A lot of people have a buy once cry once mentality, which I do agree with in a lot of ways, but that’s a hard sell.

RC cars is probably worse, because your equipment takes a literal beating. That’s how it was in the fpv drone world, 100mph into a tree and you’re done for the day, probably a hundred or two in damage, if you’re lucky. So n in that world too I flew cheaper stuff, still fun, but still hurts to take a crash and destroy a $50 camera it vtx, etc.

That’s where loaning equipment out comes into play. I loaned out drone stuff, to be used with me present and teaching. And that’s what I try to do with ham radio, come hang out, we’ll do a POTA or chase some DX. But I feel like a lot more people these days are losing social skills and don’t want to hang out, or as evidenced in this thread they don’t even want to use their voice to talk on the radio. There are digital options, but this complicates the lending/teaching/social aspect 🤷‍♂️

Again, I don’t have the answers, it’s a complicated problem in a changing world. But there sure are a lot of black and white opinions in here.

I guess that’s fair. My “it’s ok if it’s not for you” was more of a specific platitude for him because we’d already discussed some of the options available, and he’s already put some effort in and decided it wasn’t for him 🤷‍♂️

I agree we need to entice more people, I don’t have a good answer as to how. If someone looks into it, and makes an informed decision, then I’m not going to twist their arm.

One thing I’ve tried with my friends kids is to take them out and do POTA in the woods, let them run a pileup. They really seem to enjoy it, enough to stay studying, but not enough to follow through. What can you do? 🤷‍♂️

I mean, if you look at it that way, yeah. But to me the science is cool, and there’s a few other aspects that I enjoy as well. I outlined it here.

You can learn the technology for significantly less if you’re motivated, and handy. $100 for a 5w HF radio. That’s half the fun is learning.

But also, if that’s not enticing, then maybe it’s just not for you, and that’s ok 🤷‍♂️