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.

Ubuntu minus snaps plus a better DE? Mint.

Then sell it to a demolition derby show.

If you want something minimalistic, you can try mine: Mere Launcher

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.

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

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.

What DE are you using? I noticed that under XFCE, I have to use the display-managed suspend option, rather than the “system-managed” one (not sure why there’s a distinction).

Not as far as I’m aware. The Linux community is largely cooperative, the idea is that everyone can choose the DE they like best. I don’t remember seeing anything about Cinnamon trying to bring back an older GNOME version - you might be thinking of MATE (though I’m not aware of ANY friction there either) considering MATE is a fork of GNOME 2.

Ah, gotcha. I kinda figured that was out there, but didn’t have names to associate with them.

I guess I’m wondering how a VoIP number would differ significantly from a burner phone. Obviously the burner is more private (assuming you pay cash, there’d be zero way to trace it anywhere). Signing up for a VoIP number with an alias seems almost as untraceable, assuming the VoIP company isn’t selling your data?

Through data profiling? Not sure what you mean.

Honestly, if you don’t want a separate device, I’d sign up for a VoIP number. I use voip.ms, it’s a dollar or two a month for the number, and you pay per minute and per text (about a penny each, IIRC). You can forward calls to your primary number, or set up a SIP app (I’m using one called ZoiPer). I usually load it up with $20 per year or so.

I’d recommend Mint. Cinnamon is a great DE, and everything works out of the box. It’s a Debian-family distro, which means it can install DEB packages. Overall a great experience, and my personal favorite.

Mint isn’t well done, it’s full on congratulations

Regular height, but it was on the ISS.

Yeah, that’s my plan. I usually end up with a couple of flatpaks (or AppImages) for the things that I need up to date, but otherwise just go with most things from the repository.

I was thinking of switching away from Arch and back to something Debian-based. I’ve never been a big fan of flatpaks (I have a background of not having fast internet or much storage space, it’s just stuck with me) and I never used the AUR anyways.

I mainly tried Manjaro to try the bleeding-edge life, and while I do enjoy having more up-to-date packages, I do miss being able to install DEB packages. I think I might try Debian testing and see how that goes.

Good to know! I was considering switching back to Debian or Mint, maybe LMDE. I’ll look further into it. Thanks for the tip!