mbryson

mbryson, 17 days ago (edited 14 days ago)

I heard about this new company called Linux

I thought it was funny at least, so you gave me a good laugh.

I’d say Linux Mint or Ubuntu (you’re familiar with this one) would be good “Out of the Box” options. They run an environment known as “Debian” so they’re super similar and are pretty similar to what Windows offers in all honesty. You just burn them to a USB, run them from your desired computer’s BIOS, and the rest is through a GUI interface you can follow along with. I have no experience with a touchscreen as I’m running Linux Mint XFCE (lightest weight version) on a laptop from the early 2010’s with an Intel N2820 in it, but I’m assuming some workaround can exist to implement that. You also seem somewhat familiar with the alternative programs for different purposes, but rest assured both Ubuntu and Mint come with file explorers (Mint XFCE uses one called Thunar which is pretty effective) and you can easily swap out/install a different file manager to get jobs done as needed.

Plus - any programs you used with Windows which may not have Linux alternatives or versions - can be run through Wine. I’ve encountered a few hiccups when doing this (like a program I needed for school which was unable to pass the initial installation and actually run the program).

I’ve run Linux Mint XFCE as my daily driver for work and school tasks on my laptop for about 2-3 years at this point and it’s been pretty great. Full disclosure: I still run Windows 11 on my main PC at home and have Windows 10 on a HTPC/Server with docker on it (though I’ve been debating switching to Ubuntu for this as well) so I still know there are benefits to a Windows system (while working to remove any and all advertising and AI garbage) but if I were to recommend someone a distro it would be as I’ve said above.

Good luck! Hope you find one that works for you!

mbryson, 1 month ago

I’m all in if something like Peertube gets adopted more fully, but given the sheer amount of space YouTube takes up it seems unlikely to be at the stage it is currently with a provider like Google.

For my own usage: I could substitute background noise with music (either through another provider like Spotify or locally hosting the music and streaming it with Jellyfin), and then more long form content could be done with other providers (Netflix, Disney+, or renting from Google lol) or again using DVD’s or locally hosted videos, but it would certainly be a challenge and I’d miss a lot of the content.

mbryson, 5 months ago

The best thing for the Fediverse has been Musk cannibalizing twitter with ever decision he makes it seems.

Twitter imploding -> People finding Mastodon as an alternative -> People discovering federation as an alternative to walled garden social media

mbryson, 9 months ago

I think the strength of a community shouldn’t primarily be built upon content another separate community or platform produces.

Now there are givens, like major news and art which “transcends” a singular platform. But repeatedly just lifting content from somewhere else (aside from if you are the creator yourself obviously and wanting to share to different platforms) and shipping it over here isn’t a good look when Lemmy wishes to be a separate aggregator from Reddit.

mbryson, 9 months ago

Yes, sporadically but usually once I year I give them a donation.

Wikipedia is an insanely valuable resource we as a society just take for granted, especially those that grew up with it. Instant access to nearly infinite information is an absurd luxury we have, and it’s a resource I want to see continue without being tied to corporate interests or abusive government regulation.

It’s never much mind you, but I try to contribute a little around Christmas time if I can.

mbryson, 9 months ago

lemmy.ca because it’s Canadian.

It’s also a smaller instance, and I wanted to avoid joining a monolithic instance like world or beehaw, in favour of a smaller community I can feel a part of.

… But primarily because it’s Canadian honestly.

mbryson, 9 months ago

As much as Reddit has done wrong (hence me being here as a part of the migration) one thing I always liked was the mention of “remember the human”. This isn’t a network of bots, but actual individual people interacting and - in the case of this article - creating the things you are utilizing. Jerboa has a weird issue where if I hit “back” on what I think should be a sub screen to “home” as the main page of the app, I instead leave the app entirely. Does this mean I am warranted to passive aggressively - or even with well intentions - tag the developer on mastodon to request a fix? No. That’s what support requests are for.

I think people with the advent of the internet and the ease of communication over text have forgotten empathy with those alongside them on the internet. We need to refocus the way we communicate on these platforms - federated or not - to respect the opinions and thoughts of those around us. (Not necessarily agree, but respect.) I also like the proposed idea of the support line for developers of federated tech and sites, as it may provide alleviation for the stress sudden large influxes of users can cause on often one person teams acting as Atlas and holding these instances and servers up for their userbase.

TL;DR: Everybody Love Everybody.

mbryson, 10 months ago

Based.

Thank you for creating a safe space. I’m an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and am happy there’s a space not for “everyone”, but for those willing to accept trans folk and silence those against them (while having funny posts on it as well).

mbryson, 10 months ago

I had the same thought process seeing the software repository on Linux Mint for the first time. It really is set up like a MacOS or general Appstore interface.

Happy for your brother getting comfortable with Linux so quickly! Way to go!

mbryson, 10 months ago

A lot of people have already talked about the onboarding/installation experience, so I’ll just chime in and say a lot of new users are unfamiliar with using a terminal for commands and instead favour a GUI experience solely for their tasks. Most modern and commercially appealing distros are moving in this direction (ie applications running the same terminal commands in the background with an easy to understand UI at the front) but I’d still say the community’s insistence on terminal over all other forms of executing a command may be a turn off for the layman trying it for the first time after Windows and MacOS.

Almost makes me think it would be more ideal to reduce the stigma associated with executing commands in the terminal and find some way to get people more comfortable with using it, both via Linux and also CMD for Windows as well.

mbryson, 10 months ago

Jerboa. Does everything I need it to.

When Boost for Lemmy comes out however I will most likely transition to there.

mbryson, 10 months ago

I had bought it outright so I have the “lifetime subscription” after the uproar when the introduced this subscription model. This rate hike has me a little worried though they may go back on that and force purchasers to pony up for the subscription as well to get short term profits up (albeit at a reduced rate for like 3 months or so, as is standard with this sort of thing).

mbryson, 11 months ago

I've really enjoyed my time with TekSavvy. My wife - then fiance - told me about them when I moved into our new place before her when I was comparing internet prices from the "Big 3". Their front facing disdain for the monopolization and lobbying of telecom in Canada was fascinating to see and made me a big fan, alongside their competitive pricing and good service as well. Although it's only been just over a year I'm really going to miss them if they change everything/are bought out. Hoping for the best here but it is looking grim.

mbryson, 11 months ago

I think meta will genuinely cannibalize the rest of the fediverse if they decide to pursue this matter further. Even with the best of intentions, meta being attached to the Fediverse in any way will cause it to consume the overall connotation and understanding to the layman of what the Fediverse is and - by extension - allow meta to reshape the concept however they'd like.

I realize the above is apocalyptic and hyperbolic language for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they pursue the concept of an instance/server for it to balloon in size with registrations from people and lead to their server becoming the defacto one, which is what I'd personally be afraid of.

mbryson, 11 months ago

I'm really enjoying Lemmy to be honest. A decentralized platform rekindles the feeling of internet forums and the excitement of finding something new in each community. Seeing such a candid report from the developers is nice as well and reaffirms my decision to stay, regardless of reddit's decisions or direction as a platform.

Keep up the great work everyone involved!