La rivoluzione al punto zero
Indice dei contenuti
Toggle
- Silvia Federici
- La rivoluzione al punto zero
- Attualità bruciante
- Contro il mito del progresso
- Riflessioni personali
- Conclusioni
La rivoluzione al punto zero
Collana Nextopie
Silvia Federici
Saggistica
29 maggio 2025
Brossura
460
Il cuore pulsante del capitalismo non batte solo nelle catene di montaggio delle fabbriche o sulle scrivanie degli uffici, ma anche nelle nostre case. Il lavoro domestico e di cura sono il motore di un sistema che ha costruito il proprio dominio sul lavoro invisibile delle donne, appropriandosi del loro tempo, dei loro corpi e delle loro emozioni. Senza salario, senza riconoscimento, senza diritti. Se non quelli “amorevolmente” concessi.
Dopo Oltre la periferia della pelle, Federici torna in Italia, con un’opera fondamentale, finalmente in edizione completa: La rivoluzione al punto zero. In questo libro, sono stati condensati decenni di lotte e analisi su temi che vanno dallo sfruttamento del lavoro riproduttivo, alle conseguenze per le donne del colonialismo, diventando nelle sue varie edizioni un pezzo fondamentale della storia del femminismo e del pensiero radicale contemporanei.
La Rivoluzione al Punto Zero è un’arma teorica per chi vuole comprendere, ma soprattutto trasformare, il presente in cui ci troviamo a lottare. (Dalla pagina di presentazione)
Silvia Federici
Silvia Federici è una saggista di lungo corso, Di impostazione marxista, si è sempre occupata di arricchire la complessità del dibattito anticapitalista dimostrando teoricamente quella che ne è la radice stessa. Lo sfruttamento del lavoro di cura e come questo sia considerato “naturale”. Autrice e docente, da oltre 50 anni attivista nei movimenti femministi (Wages for housework). Nei suoi scritti ha sempre dimostrato come il controllo dei corpi delle donne sia alla base, ancora oggi e anzi oggi forse ancora di più, del sistema di potere capitalista.
La rivoluzione al punto zero
Il libro è una raccolta di testi scritti dall’autrice tra gli anni ’70 e gli anni ’10 del 2000. Personalmente lo ritengo un testo fondamentale che non mi limiterò solo a consigliare ma anche a diffondere. Leggendolo ho potuto riscontrare quanto anche tra i millennial bianchi e di sinistra, siano ancora diffuse convinzioni introiettate dal patriarcato. Il libro ribalta il paradigma secondo cui il lavoro domestico sia da considerarsi “naturale” e riporta al centro del dibattito la necessità di un suo riconoscimento.
Attualità bruciante
Federici analizza e smonta punto per punto tutte le contraddizioni che stanno alla base tra ciò che vogliamo essere e ciò che il sistema e il mercato ci impongono di essere. Esplorando i concetti di maternità, sessualità, riproduzione, migrazione e violenza istituzionale si vedono le radici di queste spinte contraddittorie. Nella nostra quotidianità viviamo sempre più in una tortura psicologica simile allo strappamento medievale. Se all’epoca erano gli arti ad essere tirati in direzioni opposte oggi sono le nostre identità, le emozioni e le volontà e ciò avviene in maniera subdola, costante e impercettibile. Un girone infernale chiamato capitalismo con 8 miliardi di torturati e un torturatore. Uno stile di vita i cui beneficiari sono i produttori di psicofarmaci e di sostanze da dipendenza.
Contro il mito del progresso
Come mi capita spesso di ripetere il capitalismo non potrebbe esistere senza patriarcato, cosi come i fascismi non potrebbero esistere senza capitalismo. Abbattere mattone per mattone il sistema patriarcale significa agire sulle fondamenta di quel millenario controllo dei corpi umani e in particolare dei corpi femminilli (aggiungo io di qualsiasi specie, l’autrice non parla di specismo). In questo modo la cura potrà essere restituita alla comunità e condivisa. Liberata dal dovere e dalle tassonomie di genere. Il capitalismo richiede la distruzione di qualsiasi attività economica non subordinata all’accumulazione e per farlo usa, spesso e volentieri, la guerra. Il libro cita esempi di donne che questo lo hanno compreso e hanno attuato forme di resistenza. Sono raccontati gli esempi delle cucine comuni in Cile e Perù e varie forme di gestione femminile della terra, in ottica anticapitalista, che mi riportano alla mente la poesia di James Connolly; “Vogliamo solo la terra”.
Riflessioni personali
Leggere oggi, nel 2025, di fronte a tutte le lotte sociali necessarie e urgenti non può che spingermi a fare delle considerazioni. Mi sono fermato spesso, durante la lettura, a riflettere su quanto il lavoro di cura (in particolare per sè stessi) e il tempo siano concetti correlati e quanto siano sempre più risicati e rosicati dalla società attuale.
Lavorare per vivere?
Penso a quanto sia sempre più maggiormente e obbligatoriamente delegato il lavoro di cura per i soggetti deboli (bambin*, anzian*, persone con disabilità). Assumere e pagare colf, baby sitter e badanti crea un nuovo soggetto discriminatorio e ovviamente un discriminato. Inoltre il soggetto “curato” diventa spesso un prodotto de-umanizzato. Senza considerare che chi lavora in questi settori finisce per privare se stess* e la propria famiglia dal lavoro di cura o comunque a doverlo fare doppiamente essendo pagat* la metà.
Vivere per lavorare
Tutta la vita è organizzata in maniera funzionale alla società capitalista. Affinchè questo si perpetui è necessario che il lavoro di cura non venga riconosciuto.
“Avere un salario significa far parte di un contratto sociale chiaro: lavori, non perchhè ti piace o perché ti viene naturale, ma perché è l’unica condizione sotto cui ti è permesso vivere”dal libro
Conclusioni
Una lotta che spinga gli Stati a riconoscere il lavoro di cura (come quella portata avanti dal movimento wages for housework) libererebbe da diverse ipocrisie e potrebbe avere effetti reali positivi sulla cultura e la società. Da uomo ritengo che libererebbe gli uomini dall’essere strumento attivo del potere patriarcale.
Guardiamo all’Italia. Quando i genitori lavorano entrambi fuori ed entrambi a casa (con il lavoro di cura condiviso) fanno la scelta più difficile ed economicamente meno conveniente. Per assurdo converrebbe economicamente, anche per via del gender gap, che l’uomo lavori di più e la donna di meno o che non lavori fuori per lavorare full-time (anzi extra time se consideriamo anche il servizio psicologico, sessuale etc. che serve per far accettare al marito i mali palesi del sistema capitalistico).
Inoltre l’impossibilità di curare se stess*, va a beneficio dello stesso capitalismo. Mangiare male e di fretta cibi pronti – spesso pagati più di quanto il rider che li consegna guadagna in un giorno, o serviti velocemente da camerieri sottopagati – è spesso causa problemi di salute.
Ma si sa, per i problemi causati dal capitalismo la soluzione la offre…il capitalismo. Se infatti la sanità pubblica si indebolisce e viene privata di fondi, riconvertiti al militarismo, ecco pronta per curare i mali di una vita che non è vita, una bella assicurazione sanitaria privata.
#capitalismo #femminismo #patriarcato #rivoluzione #sfruttamento #SilviaFederici
Animalità tradita. Le radici dello specismo
Animalità tradita. Le radici dello specismo è un libro per tutti coloro che vogliono comprendere l'origine di ogni oppressione.Daniele Fiorenza (Magozine.it)
Questo lavoro non è vita
Indice dei contenuti
Toggle
- Il collettivo di fabbrica GKN
- Narrazioni nuove, nemici vecchi
- La lotta crea, la lotta insegna
- “Puzziamo di incontrollabilità”
- La libertà non è un lusso
Questo lavoro non è vita. La lotta di lasse nel XXI secolo. Il caso GKN
Dario Salvetti e Gea Scancarello
Libro intervista
15 novembre 2024
Brossura con alette
192
Il 9 luglio 2021, i 422 dipendenti della Gkn di Campi Bisenzio (Firenze), fabbrica che produce semiassi per l’industria automobilistica, ricevono una email con la quale viene comunicato l’avvio della procedura di licenziamento collettivo per cessazione di attività. Lavoratrici e lavoratori non restano immobili nella rassegnazione, reagiscono immediatamente, raggiungono i cancelli dell’azienda, presidiati da guardie private, e riescono a entrare. Non lo fanno per rabbia, ma per difendere un diritto e per proteggere il proprio territorio dalla delocalizzazione e dall’impoverimento.
Comincia così la lotta operaia più lunga e più strutturata degli ultimi decenni. Una lotta allo stesso tempo potente e fragilissima, che va conosciuta e sostenuta perché ci riguarda tutti. La mobilitazione, da un lato, vuole opporsi a un abuso e, dall’altro, avvia un corpo a corpo con il capitale di straordinaria forza e intensità. Un corpo a corpo non isolato ma in convergenza con movimenti e lotte che attraversano tutto il Paese, seppur spesso sottotraccia.
Mentre questo libro va in stampa, lavoratrici e lavoratori sono ancora lì, hanno costituito un Collettivo di fabbrica, hanno allestito un loro piano industriale credibile e hanno avviato la procedura di azionariato popolare per sostenerlo, che si è chiusa con oltre un milione di euro di sottoscrizioni.
In questi ultimi anni sono stati pubblicati molti libri che hanno raccontato la crisi e le falle del modello capitalistico di produzione e sviluppo, mancava però ancora un libro sul lavoro, che raccontasse la lotta di classe nel XXI secolo.
Questo libro non è solo la storia di una singola battaglia, ma un manifesto che parla a ciascuno di noi, trasversalmente al proprio mestiere. Perché il lavoro è vita. Ma questo lavoro, sfruttato, sottopagato, che ammala il corpo e la mente, in cui puoi essere licenziato in tronco con una email, non lo è più. È necessario gridarlo con consapevolezza, e farlo collettivamente. (dalla pagina del libro)Il collettivo di fabbrica GKN
Questo libro è frutto delle lotte del collettivo di fabbrica GKN. Una sottolineatura fondamentale per cercare di entrare dentro questo modo di pensare un mondo nuovo. Un mondo sbocciato come un fiore ribelle nato dal letame di un capitalismo sempre più arido e avido. Un fiore seminato dalla coscienza di classe e che sta convergendo, con altri semi, nel vento di una nuova umanità sempre più necessaria. Recensendo su questo blog pensatori come Graeber e Chomsky, capita spesso di leggere i loro inviti a immaginare forme alternative di lotta. La storia, il presente e mi auguro il futuro della ex GKN (ora GFF) ci offre spunti pratici in questo senso.Come scrivo qualche riga sopra, questo è un libro collettivo. Anche se sulla copertina risulta il nome di Dario Salvetti, accompagnato nel dialogo e nelle riflessioni da Gea Scancarello, faremmo un torto e probabilmente un dispiacere a Salvetti stesso cercando in una persona (o peggio in un personaggio) il leader o l’uomo da seguire. Svuoteremmo, abbruttiremmo e impoveriremmo l’essenza stessa, la specificità e la bellezza collettiva di questa lotta. Lotta che ha saputo andare oltre GKN. Grazie anche alla sua convergenza con la fase storica che viviamo ormai da troppo tempo.
Narrazioni nuove, nemici vecchi
Il libro fornisce al lettore, soprattutto a chi meno conosce la vicenda, nuovi punti di vista e inversioni di paradigma. Riappropriarsi della narrazione è tanto più necessario quanto più il capitale, come sta facendo con forza da decenni, svilisce e svuota quelli che sono i concetti chiave della lotta di classe. Un pensiero che abbraccia ogni aspetto della vita quotidiana. Sono interessanti alcuni passaggi in cui si prende coscienza della trasposizione dell’importanza della lotta nella realtà giornaliera.Come se il potere conducesse costantemente una lotta contro ogni singola persona, trattandola come una microazienda da sottomettere al suo volere. In questo modo vince sempre, poiché già essere costretti a giocare al gioco di chi fa le regole è una sconfitta. Il potere alimenta il potere in un continuo parossismo perchè “se la terra è tonda e se il mare è blu, da che mondo e mondo il forte vince e non sei tu (Cangaceiro – Litfiba)”.
[…]È ovvio che hanno dalla loro parte alcuni strumenti importanti, tra cui il fatto di essere lo status quo: a volte possono semplicemente ritirarsi e aspettare che le cose facciano il loro corso. Hanno dalla loro parte anche e innanzitutto il tempo. Ma soprattutto hanno dalla loro parte una verità: per il lavoratore la lotta è qualcosa che va oltre la “normale” vita quotidiana, è un’eccezione, un momento di grosso sacrificio che si fa sperando che qualcuno a un certo punto lo raccolga. Per loro, invece, la lotta contro il lavoratore è la vita quotidiana.[…]dal libro
Inoltre, in questa fase storica, ci stanno anche convincendo che se perdi, la colpa è tua. Fateci caso:“La lotta impedisce la ripartenza della fabbrica.”“Eh! Ma se usciva vestita in quel modo? Cosa pretende?”
“I giovani non vogliono fare sacrifici.”
“Nessuna crisi climatica! La colpa è di chi non pulisce i letti dei fiumi.”
“I vegani inquinano perché mangiano la soia e fanno fallire i piccoli allevatori che amano i loro animali.” (Anche se, mi si permetta la mia personale postilla, li sgozzano, stuprano e vendono per soldi).
La lotta crea, la lotta insegna
[…] Dobbiamo essere bravi a inventare ogni volta qualcosa di nuovo. A continuare in questa eterna azione pedagogica che è la lotta.[…]dal libroMi sono ritrovato molto in questa frase. Ho sempre pensato, riflettendo sulle vicissitudini del lavoro in Italia, che uno dei mali principali è stato proprio quello di abbandonare la pedagogia della lotta. Qualcosa che se ci pensiamo è collegata anche all’antifascismo. Ci dicono che sono concetti vecchi, che c’è bisogno di “pacificazione”, che il fascismo è morto 80 anni fa e intanto continuano a reclutare servi, impedire manifestazioni antifasciste e scioperi e proteggere commemorazioni di assassini. Il potere può farlo perchè senza pedagogia della lotta manca la coesione sociale.
Riprendere la pedagogia della lotta è fondamentale per offrire ragionamenti, cause e risposte ai problemi reali delle persone. La lotta crea e insegna che nessuno si salva da solo e che attaccare chi sta peggio porterà solo ad avere due persone che stanno peggio di prima mentre chi li ha messi contro ci guadagna. Inventare e reinventare la lotta di classe, internazionalizzarla nell’intersezionalità allontana le persone in difficoltà dal pensare che il fascismo possa essere una risposta. La lotta addensa la società liquida e disgregata, funzionale al capitale, e crea mutuo aiuto e libertà. Lottare insieme attorno agli stessi bisogni reali, comuni per tutti gli sfruttati, è anche l’unico modo possibile di fare vera integrazione.
“Puzziamo di incontrollabilità”
Per questo motivo la ex GKN, e soprattutto il suo esempio, ha molti nemici. In quattro anni ha mantenuto una coerenza encomiabile non permettendo a nessuna istituzione di mettere il cappello per vincere un’elezione o crescere nei sondaggi. Ha realizzato tre edizioni del festival di letteratura working class. Ha predisposto un piano di reindustrializzazione dal basso credibile e dettagliato e continua a creare valore in tanti modi. Partendo dal presidio ancora attivo a Campi Bisenzio e in giro per l’Europa. Soprattutto sta diffondendo un’idea pericolosissima per sottrarsi e sottrarci alle regole del potere: “immaginare il tempo altro per uscire dal qualunquismo consumista del salario”. Mi auguro che questa lotta rimanga il più orizzontale possibile resistendo alla tentazione di cercare la risposta in una classe dirigente verticale o qualcosa di simile. Solo imparando dalla storia si può scrivere una nuova storia.La libertà non è un lusso
Per questo paragrafo finale metto a confronto due citazioni che stimolano una riflessione.“La libertà inizia quando riusciamo a liberarci dal regno delle necessità.“Dario Salvetti tratta dal libro
“Il lusso è la necessità che inizia quando la necessità finisce.”
attribuita a Gabrielle Coco ChanelNotiamo certamente un punto in comune; la necessità. Ma considerando che la seconda frase è spesso utilizzata (forse superficialmente) per giustificare la tendenza verso bisogni indotti e per loro natura effimeri, potremmo riflettere su cosa davvero è importante. La pienezza e la ricerca dell’evoluzione individuale che può darci il tempo liberato dalle necessità o la creazione di necessità che tali non sono e che ci mantengono prigionieri?
#autogestione #collettivoDiFabbrica #gkn #lottaDiClasse
Questo lavoro non è vita: La lotta GKN
Leggi 'Questo lavoro non è vita' e segui la storia della resistenza dei lavoratori GKN nel loro impegno per i diritti.Daniele Fiorenza (Magozine.it)
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Sen. Lindsey Graham pans negotiations on Obamacare subsidies as government shutdown drags on
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the federal government but that he would not negotiate with Senate Democrats on their plan to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies while the government was still shuttered.
“I’m willing to vote to open the government up tomorrow,” Graham told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “To my Democratic friends: I am not going to vote to extend these subsidies.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham pans negotiations on Obamacare subsidies as government shutdown drags on
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the federal government but that he would not negotiate with Senate Democrats on their plan to extend Affordable Care Act subsidiesAlexandra Marquez (NBC News)
Dutch government seizes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
BRUSSELS — The Dutch government has granted itself the power to intervene in company decisions at Dutch-based Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia.
The highly unusual step, announced late Sunday, grants the country the power to “halt and reverse” company decisions — meaning Nexperia cannot transfer assets or hire executives without Dutch government approval, according to national media.
The move is a significant escalation in relations between the Netherlands and China and could inflame wider trade tensions between Beijing and the European Union, with Europe caught in the middle of a tit-for-tat chips war between the U.S. and China.
Dutch government seizes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
The move could inflame wider trade tensions between Beijing and the European Union.Pieter Haeck (POLITICO)
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After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
"We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings."Jeremy Peel (GamesIndustry.biz)
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After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
"We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings."Jeremy Peel (GamesIndustry.biz)
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After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
"We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings."Jeremy Peel (GamesIndustry.biz)
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Feddit Un'istanza italiana Lemmy reshared this.
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
"We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings."Jeremy Peel (GamesIndustry.biz)
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After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
"We like being here. We want to continue being here. So let's try and get a seat at the table in the big management meetings."Jeremy Peel (GamesIndustry.biz)
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"I think the workers at ZA/UM all agree that we have something unique at the studio that we want to preserve for years to come." Marketing manager Poppy Ingham handles social and communications for the studio behind politics-laden RPG Disco Elysium.
The studio behind it technically, yes. They did kick out the main people responsible for Disco Elysium few years back after tons of drama and massive legal kerfuffle though.
The whole story is such a massive confusing clusterfuck
If anyone got a couple hours to spare, it's a "fun" story of massive office drama. People Make Games did two videos on the topic:
Two years ago:
And a followup with some corrections and updates a month ago:
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Opinion | A new era in abortion services may be over before it ever really began
This past week, Republicans dialed up the anti-abortion pressure campaign on the Trump Food and Drug Administration when virtually every Republican senator signed a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking the FDA to impose new restrictions on mifepristone, a drug currently used in the majority of abortions nationwide.The senators ask the FDA to suspend further generic approvals, prohibit telehealth access to mifepristone, and immediately stop mifepristone distribution altogether by declaring the drug to be an “imminent hazard” under federal law.
The Trump administration has undertaken a study of mifepristone, which abortion opponents believe will lead to the restoration of pre-2016 restrictions that disallowed telehealth.
Republican senators turn to RFK Jr. to lead the latest attack on abortion access
Republican lawmakers in states like Louisiana, Missouri, Idaho and Texas hope the Supreme Court will decide that the FDA had no authority to approve mifepristone or permit telehealth access to it.Mary Ziegler (MSNBC)
Israeli Officials Are Openly Saying They Plan To Resume Attacks On Gaza
Israel’s top officials are openly declaring that they intend to terminate the Gaza ceasefire after they get their hostages back.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has posted a tweet in Hebrew which machine translates as
“Israel’s great challenge after the phase of returning the hostages will be the destruction of all of Hamas’s terror tunnels in Gaza, directly by the IDF and through the international mechanism to be established under the leadership and supervision of the United States. This is the primary significance of implementing the agreed-upon principle of demilitarizing Gaza and neutralizing Hamas of its weapons. I have instructed the IDF to prepare for carrying out the mission.”
Hamas has not agreed to any demilitarization or destruction of its tunnels. There is no way to demilitarize Gaza and neutralize Hamas of its weapons against their will without continued warfare, something Israel has demonstrated it cannot do without killing shocking numbers of civilians.
Katz’s comments echo the public statements of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who said in a televised speech on Friday that “Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized,” and that if Hamas doesn’t disarm voluntarily then “it will be achieved the hard way.”
Israeli Officials Are Openly Saying They Plan To Resume Attacks On Gaza
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin’s Newsletter)
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Israeli Officials Are Openly Saying They Plan To Resume Attacks On Gaza
Israel’s top officials are openly declaring that they intend to terminate the Gaza ceasefire after they get their hostages back.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has posted a tweet in Hebrew which machine translates as
“Israel’s great challenge after the phase of returning the hostages will be the destruction of all of Hamas’s terror tunnels in Gaza, directly by the IDF and through the international mechanism to be established under the leadership and supervision of the United States. This is the primary significance of implementing the agreed-upon principle of demilitarizing Gaza and neutralizing Hamas of its weapons. I have instructed the IDF to prepare for carrying out the mission.”
Hamas has not agreed to any demilitarization or destruction of its tunnels. There is no way to demilitarize Gaza and neutralize Hamas of its weapons against their will without continued warfare, something Israel has demonstrated it cannot do without killing shocking numbers of civilians.
Katz’s comments echo the public statements of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who said in a televised speech on Friday that “Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized,” and that if Hamas doesn’t disarm voluntarily then “it will be achieved the hard way.”
Israeli Officials Are Openly Saying They Plan To Resume Attacks On Gaza
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):Caitlin Johnstone (Caitlin’s Newsletter)
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What's the best chat to self host?
I'm looking into a few different chat servers, probably just for family on my tailnet.
I like the idea that simplex allows video chat. My server is a repurposed optiplex 3060so I think it should be able to handle it. Is anyone doing this? Do you think it's worth it?
Should I be considering other options like XMPP?
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IMO Snikket (XMPP) is the easiest all-in-one solution with audio/video chat at the moment. Pretty good on resources too.
I currently host a Matrix Synapse server, but:
- Matrix seems to be expanding in the corporate / institutional direction, more services are expected for regular functionality
- Element X (upcoming client) breaks calls compatibility with old Element, now requiring Element Call. It's kind of a mess, I presume this is to support group calls, but makes it a PITA to use currently.
- Even with small number of users, Synapse DB grows in size due to state_groups_state table, non-deletable users, and copying ALL data from other servers' rooms (this one is by design but still...)
I have gone down the matrix rabbit hole but i choose Continuwity, which is the successor to Conduwuit after the community drama.
It's a rust server alternative to synapse, it's lightweight and works very well.
Fuck synapse, it's a colossal pain for small servers, not worth it. I also actively avoid anything related to the company behind it since I think they poison what matrix could be.
I wish I started with XMPP, but now I am selfhosted on matrix, so.
Inverse mouse pointer
My wife had just switched from windows to the latest Mint (Cinnamon). The one thing she misses from windows is the mouse pointer. It animates so that it's light coloured on dark objects and dark on light objects. It makes it easy for her to find.
Anyone know how to do this in Cinnamon?
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This is definitively not a default Windows mouse pointer and neither will be in any other environment, you have to customize it.
Do you just want black pointer with white border or white pointer with a black pointer? What’s the issue?
Or maybe a feature like in KDE or MacOS that shaking the mouse makes the pointer extremely large for a brief moment?
I have to disagree.
The inverted cursor is part of the default Windows mouse cursor themes.
@OP I don't think it's a default on any Linux Desktop Environments though. But you might be able to find a theme that does this.
Perhaps a relevant forum post, that mentioned a keyboard shortcut to quickly locate your cursor.
github.com/jinliu/kwin-effect-…
Kwin won't load C++ plugins from your home directory, so you have to install it to /usr
GitHub - jinliu/kwin-effect-xorcursor: XOR Cursor effect for KDE Plasma
XOR Cursor effect for KDE Plasma. Contribute to jinliu/kwin-effect-xorcursor development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Yeah, unfortunately there's no inverse mouse cursor theme. I loved it on windows as well. What I'm using now is this "Hackneyed high contrast cursors" theme, the green one to be specific, and I absolutely love it.
::: spoiler Example.
:::
I don't actually know, but I assume mouse themes are universal? Or does KDE mouse themes now work with Cinnamon?
::: spoiler In KDE Plasma there's also a setting where you can shake your cursor to make it bigger, although I don't feel like I need it.
:::
I read that there's an extension for Cinnamon that does the same, although I also saw a bug report that it might be broken, idk. Worth a shot. .
Hackneyed High Contrast Static Cursors
Overview This is a modified version of the Hackneyed (Open Desktop) cursor theme. The modified cursors are high contrast with colours based on the default Windows 10 and 11 cursor colours. The...www.pling.com
Sort of like when a fps has a torch only level.
That'd be interesting!
Browse Cursors Latest | www.gnome-look.org/browse?cat=107
Browse Cursors Latest | https://www.gnome-look.org/browse?cat=107 | A community for free and open source software and libre contenthttps://www.gnome-look.org/browse?cat=107
New BSD Cafe Service: ntfy Server at BSD Cafe
Push notifications have been part of our lives for almost twenty years now. Our days are often punctuated by notifications of all kinds: a new message from the bank, a chat among friends, the work group, the ever-present social networks. All these notifications often have one thing in common: they pass through the servers of our smartphone operating system manufacturers, primarily Apple and Google.
It’s part of the implementation, and that’s fine. But we need to be aware that these notifications reveal a lot about us: in the best case, metadata (meaning they know who sends them to us, the size, etc.). In the worst case, the entire content. Sure, we have nothing to hide. But this morning, when I received a bank transfer from a client, I didn’t lean out the window shouting to the whole neighborhood that a transfer had arrived from that client, of a specific amount, with a specific reference.
UnifiedPush is a protocol that allows creating a different infrastructure for notification distribution. Notifications use WebPush, so they’re encrypted by the sender (e.g., Mastodon or Matrix server) and decrypted by the device. The server, therefore, doesn’t see the notification content itself.
The Service
I’m announcing a service that has already been active for some time – almost a year – on BSD Cafe servers. It’s an ntfy server, and the rationale is simple: if you use it for BSD Cafe services (like Mastodon and Matrix), no notification or data will leave BSD Cafe servers to pass through third parties: from BSD Cafe server, to BSD Cafe ntfy, to your device.
Server address: https://ntfy.bsd.cafe
Obviously it’s not limited only to BSD Cafe services, but you can use it with any other service that supports ntfy or UnifiedPush.
How to Use It
Just install the ntfy app (available on F-Droid, Play Store, etc.), go to settings and set https://ntfy.bsd.cafe as the server. From that moment on, any app opening a UnifiedPush channel will do so through that server.
The server is also accessible via pure https, from a browser: https://ntfy.bsd.cafe
From there you can also create a topic, subscribe, and send or receive messages and updates.
Why
The goal is, also with this service, to provide another opportunity to access content and services without necessarily depending on a fixed provider, because monoculture is and will always be a problem.
The service is available to everyone. Happy notifications!
BSD.cafe Mastodon Portal
Welcome to the BSD Cafe! We're excited to serve you the best flavors of BSD, including FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonflyBSD. But if you prefer Linux, you're welcome here too!Mastodon hosted on bsd.cafe
Handcrafted Excellence: The Art of Replica Hublot Watches
Welcome to the fascinating world of replica watches, where precision meets luxury, and every timepiece tells a story. At ReplicaHublot.io, we are passionate about creating watches that not only capture the essence of iconic designs but also reflect our dedication to craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Why Choose Replica Watches?
In a world where time is precious, so are the moments that define us. At ReplicaHublot.io, we believe that luxury shouldn't be out of reach. Our replica watches offer the perfect blend of style, precision, and affordability, allowing you to own a piece of watchmaking excellence without compromising on quality.
The Craftsmanship Behind Every Watch
Every watch we create is more than just a timepiece—it's a testament to our commitment to excellence. Our team of skilled craftsmen works tirelessly to replicate the intricate details of iconic watches, from the dial design to the movement mechanism. We use only the finest materials and cutting-edge technology to ensure that each replica not only looks authentic but also performs flawlessly.
Quality You Can Trust
When you invest in a watch, you want it to last. At ReplicaHublot.io, we prioritize quality and durability. Our watches are built to withstand the test of time, ensuring that you can enjoy your purchase for years to come. Whether you're looking for a statement piece or a reliable everyday watch, our collection has something for everyone.
Design That Captivates
Luxury watches are about more than just telling time—they're about making a statement. Our replica watches are designed to turn heads with their stunning aesthetics and meticulous attention to detail. From bold colors to intricate patterns, every watch is crafted to reflect the elegance and sophistication of its original inspiration.
What Sets Us Apart?
In a crowded market, it's essential to stand out. At ReplicaHublot.io, we pride ourselves on our transparency and commitment to customer satisfaction. We believe in empowering you with the information you need to make an informed decision. Whether you're a seasoned watch collector or new to the world of replica watches, we're here to guide you every step of the way.
Hear from Our Community
Don't just take our word for it—our customers have spoken! Many of our clients have shared their experiences and appreciation for the quality and craftsmanship of our watches. We're thrilled to hear that our timepieces have become trusted companions in their daily lives.
Join the Conversation
We love hearing from our community, and we encourage you to share your thoughts and feedback with us. What do you value most in a replica watch? Is it precision, style, or affordability? Let us know in the comments below—we value your insights!
Final Thoughts
If you're ready to experience the perfect blend of luxury and craftsmanship, visit ReplicaHublot.io. Explore our collection of replica watches and discover how we are redefining the way people enjoy luxury timepieces.
Thank you for being a part of our journey. Together, let's celebrate precision, style, and the timeless allure of luxury watches.
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More Evidence Emerges That One of Saturn’s Moons Could Harbor Life
A recent study of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, has detected several organic compounds that had never been recorded there before. The findings, published this month in Nature Astronomy, provide new clues about the interior chemical composition of this icy world, as well as new hope that it could harbor life.
The researchers analyzed data from the Cassini probe, which launched in 1997 and studied Saturn and its moons for years until its destruction in 2017. For Enceladus, Cassini gathered data from ice fragments forcefully ejected from the moon’s subsurface ocean up into space.
Enceladus is one of 274 bodies so far discovered in Saturn’s gravitational pull. It measures about 500 kilometers in diameter, making it the planet’s sixth-largest satellite. While this moon does not stand out for its size, it is notable for its cryovolcanoes—geysers at Enceladus’s south pole that spew out water vapor and ice fragments. Plumes of ejected material can extend to nearly 10,000 kilometers in length, which is more than the distance from Mexico to Patagonia, and some of this material rises into space. The outermost of Saturn’s main rings—its E ring—is primarily made up of ice ejected into space by Enceladus.
This material is believed to come from a saline water chamber beneath the moon’s icy crust that is connected to its rocky core. It’s possible that chemical reactions are taking place down there, under high pressure and heat.
Until now, most chemical analyses of ice from Enceladus were of particles deposited in Saturn’s E ring. But during a high-speed flyby of the moon in 2008, Cassini was fortunate enough to directly sample freshly ejected fragments from a cryovolcano. The new research paper reanalyzed this data, confirming the presence of previously detected organic molecules, as well as revealing compounds that had previously been undetected.
“Such compounds are believed to be intermediates in the synthesis of more complex molecules, which could be potentially biologically relevant. It is important to note, however, that these molecules can be formed abiotically as well,” Nozair Khawaja, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin and lead author of the study, told Reuters. The discovery significantly expands the range of confirmed organic molecules on Enceladus.
The key is that the compounds appeared in freshly ejected particles, suggesting that they were formed within the moon’s hidden ocean or in contact with its internal interfaces, not during their journey through the E ring or via exposure to the conditions of space. This reinforces the hypothesis that hydrothermal processes beneath Enceladus’s surface could be generating rich organic chemistry. Combining this new research with previous studies, scientists have now found five of the six elements essential for life—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—in the satellite’s ejected material.
This itself is not a discovery of life, nor of biosignatures—the signs of life. However, the research confirms that Enceladus has the three basic conditions for life to form: liquid water, an energy source, and essential elements and organics. “Enceladus is, and should be ranked, as the prime target to explore habitability and search whether there is life or not,” Khawaja said.
https://www.wired.com/story/more-evidence-emerges-that-one-of-saturns-moons-could-harbor-life/
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itsfoss promotes hyprland on instagram!?
What is going on?
I've been very disappointed this morning
context: Hyprland/DHH is a very toxic and right wing community
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Help finding Csharpassembly editor without IL editing stripped out
when did you last download it? of course you'd not know if you haven't gotten it for like a year or even 6 months, this change was very recent far as I am aware
This just isn't true, wtf? Last release has been 5 years ago. I last downloaded it 2 years ago
IL editor for low-level IL method body editing
Is one of the features in the README. Where tf did you stumble across all this misinformation?
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تحريرها كلها ممكن, MinekPo1 [it/she], Someplaceunknown, everett, Yeromon, that_one_guy, db0, Ithorian [comrade/them], olof, dragnucs, testman, Rokin, z3rOR0ne, jutty, folaht, qt0x40490FDB, prototype_g2, TankieTanuki [he/him], dnf, jinx e like this.
This is no joke. This is reality.
Source: I did an internal project for tech support at their department once and so experienced their daily operations around me, although they didn't get paid per finished task.
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I've seen this.
I have also done this.
I haven't really understood Windows since XP died. I understand it even less since I started using Linux. All I know how to do is power cycle the machine a couple times. Which tends to fix a lot of things, not just Windows and not just PCs. If a reboot doesn't help, all I'll tell you is to ask someone more knowledgeable about Windows than I am, or reinstall the whole damn thing.
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1 nobel peace prize please.
Goddamn fucking americans unbelievable you ruined the entire fucking world with you shit
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One is too little.
Our Glorious Leader needs at least three.
Ideally, he'd retroactively get one for each year after his International Debut in Cinema (Home Alone 2)!
Oh, you mean you’re gonna do one of the red lines that Russia put in the sand? You know: the thing Russia was afraid of Ukraine doing if they were to join the UN?
I’m sure this will result in a peaceful resolution.
What's the game here? The US could give the Ukrainians all of their weapons and they could still never hope to match the Russians. How does any party involved expect people to actually believe they believe this will lead to peace? It's just obvious warmongering for profit.
You don't need to force the Russians to negotiate, they're not the ones that scuttle every round of negotiations. Maybe get a time machine and tell Zelensky not to trust Boris Johnson. Or go back further and replace all the European leadership with people who don't openly treat the Minsk accords as a delaying tactic.
Well, that's the current level of escalation. Tomahawks are more serious. Contrary to popular belief, the US has been reticent to tread across the red lines given years ago.
Controversial thought, but I've always doubted US willingness to respond to even tactical nuclear weapons if they are used outside of NATO countries.
tell Zelensky not to trust Boris Yeltsin
Don't you mean Johnson?
Don't you mean Johnson?
NEVER TRUST A BORIS.
Yes, I did, thank you. I mixed up my evil Borises. Fixed.
Kubuntu - SDDM not loading
At first Instead of my SDDM I would just see an after image of what was last displayed on screen. But if I typed in my password and pressed enter, it would let me in just fine. Then after following some suggestions from users in r/Kubuntu I’ve made a bit of progress. Now when I boot up my computer instead of the SDDM being invisible, it now doesn’t load at all, from there I switch to tty3 then back to tty2 and then log in through the terminal. After that I run startplasma-wayland and then I have access to my desktop. The post where all this went down - reddit.com/r/Kubuntu/comments/…
Does anyone know a fix? I would like to be able to see my login screen.
Here’s my specs in case that would help - i.imgur.com/XtC43zw.png
And here’s my journalctl output after booting and launching plasma - pastebin.com/nnGsWebd
journalctl output kubuntu - Pastebin.com
Pastebin.com is the number one paste tool since 2002. Pastebin is a website where you can store text online for a set period of time.Pastebin
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“A Google for DNA”: Scientists Launch Groundbreaking Search Engine for Genetic Code
A new tool developed at ETH Zurich, MetaGraph, allows scientists to search through vast public DNA and RNA databases in seconds — like a “Google for DNA.”
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This Indiana city doesn’t have to pay an innocent mom $16,000 after police wrecked her home, court rules
Law enforcement launched 30 tear gas canisters into Amy Hadley's home, smashed windows, ransacked furniture, destroyed security cameras, and more. The government gave her nothing.
Indiana mom whose home was wrecked by police can't sue, court rules
Cops launched 30 tear gas canisters into Amy Hadley's home, smashed windows, ransacked furniture, destroyed security cameras, and more.Billy Binion (Reason Magazine)
Naked bike riders demonstrate against federal troops in 'quintessentially Portland' protest
Protesters are pedaling through Portland's streets wearing nothing or close to it to rally against the Trump administration.
https://apnews.com/article/portland-oregon-naked-bike-ride-protest-43ecafc5f5ce0a7d7f44dc016fbe86d0
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Strudel REPL
Strudel REPL
Strudel is a music live coding environment for the browser, porting the TidalCycles pattern language to JavaScript.strudel.cc
Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’
Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns
Archived version: archive.is/20251013004807/theg…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
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Taiwan says ‘T-Dome’ to better integrate air defence system for higher kill rate
A special budget to come by the end of 2025 will focus on new equipment for the T-Dome.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Taiwan says ‘T-Dome’ to better integrate air defence system for higher kill rate
A special budget to come by the end of 2025 will focus on new equipment for the T-Dome. Read more at straitstimes.com.ST
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[Announcement] Path of Exile 2 Fan Art Competition Highlights
Our Path of Exile 2 Fan Art Competition is in full swing, and those of you who were thinking of participating, still have time to do so. In this news post, we are showcasing more submissions made by our players so far.
Devour by gugra#1717
Countess, the Wife of Count Geonor and Asala by almllv#2511
The Attack of Titan by luzen#4855
Jumping into the Abyss by Torvald2000#2834
Early Access Announcements - Path of Exile 2 Fan Art Competition Highlights - Forum - Path of Exile
Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.Path of Exile
Breakthrough in 2D flash chip achieved
Breakthrough in 2D flash chip achieved
A research team from Shanghai-based Fudan University has developed the world's first full-featured, 2D flash chip enabled by system integration, marking a milestone in the engineering of 2D electronic devices.www.chinadaily.com.cn
Passkeys not working in Brave Android
Hey everyone,
I’m using an OnePlus 5 running LineageOS and I’ve been switching over to passkey based logins wherever possible, managed in Bitwarden.
The issue:
In the Brave browser, I can’t get passkeys to work at all. I never get a prompt to use a passkey. But it works perfectly in both Cromite (which I’ve switched to for now) and Firefox.
I haven’t been able to find anything online about this specific issue.
Has anyone managed to get passkeys working in Brave? Any settings, flags or workarounds I might be missing?
Thanks in advance!
Is Space Becoming Too Dangerous for Satellites?
Kessler Syndrome Space Debris Threatens Satellites
The Kessler syndrome is turning space into a hazardous zone. Learn about the innovative tech and international efforts to manage this growing problem.Margo Anderson (IEEE Spectrum)
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don't like this
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Evolved past 'words don't mean anything' to 'concepts don't mean anything'
Okay go play video games and shut up?
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Your timescale is skewed. You're either young, pushing a narrative, or both, so let me describe how things look historically from a sample size that actually matters. 2 presidents is not a big sample size.
Starting in the 80s, the American economy began to decline and the national debt began to rise under Reagan and politicians like him - trickle down economics had begun. In the late 90s, a president balanced the budget and actually began reducing the national debt (by cutting funding to social security and other less than stellar actions). That would be Clinton. And then along came Bush Jr and the post 9/11 forever war in the Middle East. Ever since the start of the Iraq war, the national debt has risen like an ICBM. I remember when news channels talked with disbelief about Bush possibly doubling the national debt within a year.
So it's 2008, Bush just finished up his second term, and hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything in the 2008 depression (except for Bush's rich friends. They got government bailouts and made bank buying up all the poor people's houses). So, what now? Now, a black man who runs on a campaign of changing things for the better wins the election in a landslide, and tries to do most of what he promised. The economy sees large amounts of growth and jobs added, and the spiraling of the national debt slows down. However, Republicans vow to never let a black man do anything in the White House and the Democrats capitulate before the fight ever starts, so Obama is hamstrung and despite trying, ends up being forced by Republicans shutting down the government to not fulfill any of his campaign promises in his two terms (except for installing a healthcare system that Republicans fought tooth and nail against because it makes it illegal for health insurance companies to kick cancer patients off their health insurance and then refuse to cover them for having a preexisting condition: cancer).
Now it's 2016 and a man who ran on a campaign of undoing everything the black man before him did and the promise of kicking out all the politicians that he's been friends with since his big business days in the 80s has been elected. And what does he do? He spends the first 2 years largely going line by line and undoing every single thing that the black man did while in office, and then spends the next 2 years mostly giving tax breaks and government money to the friends he said he would kick out and "drain the swamp" while the national debt once again rises like a tide in a swamp and the economy stagnates. Then 2019 hits and the economy collapses again under a worldwide pandemic, just a month after he got rid of the office the black man set up to prevent a pandemic.
So now it's 2020 and the country has just elected the old guy who was the black guy's right hand man. He campaigned on not rocking the boat and keeping the course. Nothing exciting, but we'll see what happens. True to form, 4 years of stabilization happen. The debt slows down, the economy sees jobs come back, and things are looking a little more calm.
Then, in 2025 the old guy who was so upset about the black guy comes back and his swampy friends are right behind him. The debt begins to balloon and the economy starts to shudder under the weight of global tariffs and worldwide uncertainty of a possible trade war against friend and foe alike. And that's just in the first 3 months of the year.
Tl;dr: the economy consistently grows under democrat presidents and the national debt slows down. Under Republicans, the economy shrinks and the debt skyrockets. This stays fairly consistent the farther back you go, but Reagan is an important point in this because he started trickle down economics and showed the Republicans that big government can be good for them, too, so long as they hold the purse strings, and Bush is the other important point because he's the tipping point for when the debt went from manageable to using a sink to try to put out a burning building.
I never said otherwise. I said that the economy does better under Dems than Republicans. That doesn't mean that it's the way things should be done, just that under Dems jobs are added to the economy rather than lost and the national debt grows at a slower rate than under Republicans. Between the two, the economy objectively does better under Dems.
I simply was saying that the "Biden bad because brown people and the economy broke because woke" narrative is a farce no matter how you look at it.
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We've been in an oligarchy for a while, according to an Oxford study of US history and the policy voting behaviors of elected representatives. It's only gotten spicy since Reagan, when the Republican party decided it had enough power to take all the cake (and is trying to do so).
The Federalists tried this before, which caused the party to die out and the Democratic Republicans to split. (Source: Helen Cox Richardson) It'll be exciting to see how this all plays out.
Woodcock Sabre Dance
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
I just found out my fiancee wants to switch to linux, lets start a distro war, what should be her first? + other questions
So i was surprised today when my fiancee told me she was thinking about switching over to linux. Surprised because she is absolutely not technically minded, but also because she was weary about having Microsoft AI slop forced on her PC every update. ( i'm so proud!)
Now i've used a little linux but i've always been a holdout. Won't stop me from moving someone else over but i have too much going on in my setup to deal with that right now. So i'm not super versed but i was able to give her the basic rundown of what distros are, concerns when switching, what may and may not be available, shes still on board so we're doing this! Knowing her she would like to not have to transition too much, whats something fairly hands off and easy to learn. I've heard some good things about mint from hanging around you nerds the past few years but also some not so good things, any suggestions?
next concern is what kind of transfer process is this going to be? i have some spare HDD's so we can try and get everything ported over but i'm so busy with school right now i can't quite allocate the time to really deep dive this.
Any help is appreciated, cheers!
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On atomic distros, you install stuff mostly via flatpak and distrobox. I'd even recommend using distrobox on traditional systems because you can just kill the box if you don't want it any longer. You can have multiple package managers at the same time installed without problems, e.g. yay, dnf and zypper. I guess you could even take your box with you when switching to a new distro (e.g. when switching from atomic fedora to opensuse as I did recently) but I have not yet done that.
Yes, management could be more end user friendly, but it'll get there
You can go with the Slowroll version which is Tumbleweed but with a week delayed updates which might prevent issues in updates you'd have on Tumbleweed. Personally, been with Tumbleweed for a year now and haven't had issues with updates.
You need to apply the update from time to time. You'll have to teach the user to do that. But you can create a simple alias in the terminal so they don't have to remember the update commands (system update and flatpak update cmds).
Mint.
No war. I don't use it, myself, but I've set up a couple family members and over þe past several years have gotten two tech support calls: one about connecting to a WiFi printer, which required only me telling þem how to get to system preferences; þe oþer because þey'd bought a new laptop which came wiþ Windows 11 and þey wanted help installing Linux (which þey were used to) on it instead.
Even as an EndeavourOS user, I concur: Mint. Why? Cinnamon is hands down the best desktop environment. Beginner friendly default without blasting features in one's face with configs all over the place, yet intuitively customizable for experienced Linux users.
This means she will be able to freely use it without your help, but you will be able to easily fine tune it to her preferences as well.
⚜︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
⚜︎ arsCynic: modernity ∝ nature | Angelino Desmet
A sentient stack of stardust's thoughts on nothing and everything, influenced by Cynicism, pursuing modernity in proportion to nature.www.arscyni.cc
I guess a good question would be what software you plan on using. If it's something more reliant on frequent updates and feature releases like gaming, the choice would be a bit different compared to something like office work or common browsing, where stability would be prioritized (at the cost of slower updates).
Mint, for example, is a great jumping off point for Windows users because of the familiar User Interface and a focus on stability and lack of prior knowledge required - but it lags behind when it comes to cutting edge stuff for things like gaming.
Curious what kind of real world use makes it a good choice?
It's declarative. Everything is (usually) configured via Nix itself, without requiring manual steps of running additional commands. This ends up being pretty useful when you have a fleet of devices that you want to configure.
Changing config is atomic. If you end up breaking your system when trying to tweak it, you can boot into the previous generation and try again with different settings.
As a general rule of thumb, I usually recommend Linux Mint to beginners. The installation and update processes are easy and intuitive, and there is a ton of software available, as well as good support if you know how to do web searches properly. The main trick is to try and remember that a paradigm shift needs to happen here. Linux is not Windows. It doesn't work like Windows, and it has different aims and priorities. She will also need to be prepared to learn a bit and be slightly more hands-on with her computing. The learning curve with Mint is comparatively gentle, but it does exist.
This is all very broad and general, but I hope it helps. Good luck to the both of you. I hope you are satisfied with whatever you decide on.
The right answer is,
Debian if they just use web browsers and basic office apps.
Fedora if they use do the same but also use recent hardware that needs a newer kernel
Bazzite if they are a casual gamer and you want to make sure her sims still work easily
Cachy if she's a nerd and plays a lot of higher end games.
All with kde of course
Three correct answers:
- Mint
- Fedora
- Pop
And a few incorrect answers:
- Ubuntu
- Arch
- Ubuntu again
- Really, don’t go with Ubuntu
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My advice would be to just give up on the dual boot (unless you still need it, and even then, maybe keep Windows on a different machine maybe?).
I think the best way to go is full Linux immersion.
Ubuntu has started going off the deep end. They've been heading in that direction for a while, but they recently (I guess like 5 years-ish ago) hit this corporatey, money-grabbing, mentality that's so completely opposite of what made Linux great.
The feel I get about it is 10 years ago, tutorials were written using Ubuntu because it was an easy distro to use and was a great platform for beginners, so people used that as their platform to teach. Now it feels like tutorials are written using Ubuntu because they're being sponsored to. A lot of how-tos I come accros have the same vibe as watching a video animation tutorial that uses adobe and oh gosh, it's also sponsored by adobe. Or a networking tutorial sponsored by Cisco. I've actually started just looking to see if another distro is acknowledged before I actually see what they have to say.
There's a very different feel if you're trying to set something up and a website has "if you're in this family of linux, here's what you do, or if you're in this one, do this" versus "so you want to set up x in linux? Here's how you do it in Ubuntu". It's as if no other distro exists.
Anyway, ignoring that rant. Linux is super stable these days, you can take pretty much any distro and you'll be fine. I tend to gravitate toward the base distros, like fedora, opensuse, and Debian over Rocky, mint, etc. I haven't come across one in the past five years that gave me any trouble, except when it came to updated nvidia drivers and wayland. In which case some distros were behind a month or two on getting those updated.
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Who even uses normal arch anymore.
All the cool kids use endeavour or cachy. Which is like calling Ubuntu, Debian.
While Mint is an Ubuntu-based distro, it tries to un-fuck the worst of Canonical. Other Ubuntu spins with a different desktop environment don't do this, like Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc. They end up as just Ubuntu on a different DE, with all the decisions made by canonical.
Base Debian might work, but afaik, is "not as beginner friendly" compared to Mint.
Pop is such a cool project but it's been kinda broken for me both times I've tried it, and then add to that what happened with Linus tech tips where him being dumb combined with pop having not fixed a major and obvious packaging issue that completely broke his system has kinda just left me with the impression they're not super on top of the ball
I hope that's changed, I want them to be successful, especially with cosmic
Another incorrect answer: Manjaro
If you want Arch but a bit easier, just install EndeavourOS.
GitHub - arindas/manjarno: Reasons for which I don't use Manjaro anymore
Reasons for which I don't use Manjaro anymore. Contribute to arindas/manjarno development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Hannah Montana
It's dead simple. It is a meme. They may find that funny and humor and novelty help beginners ease into new environments.
hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/
but you should install something else as the main OS
Just set this as the first thing to boot and then teach them to remove it
Fedora is pretty cool.
Linus Torvalds uses it, so you could say it’s the canonical distribution.
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I can recommend Debian or Fedora. They are both mature distros that are pretty easy to install and generally work well with minimal fuss and are easy to maintain. I often see Linux Mint recommend, including in this thread. I've never used it so I can't speak to it. But I have every reason to believe it's a solid choice.
As for transfer process, since you mention using spare disks, NTFS filesystems are supported and you may be able to just copy files off of them. I don't know if bitlocker is supported.
I would suggest whatever you pick, it should be a similar base to what you run or are most familiar with.
If you run something Debian based, you should recommend something Debian based. Fedora, Arch, etc.
The same is also true for desktop environments, if you use KDE, recommend KDE. If you run something not necessarily beginner friendly, recommend what you're familiar with.
At some point you're going to be asked questions, so the more familiar you are, the better for both of you.
The distro I find easiest to recommend to folk in my life looking to move to Linux is the distro that I'm using/most familiar with, because it makes it easier to help them out if they run in to an issue.
I use CachyOS, and previously, I was trying to support Mint etc, but having zero experience with the way the way Mint handles packages, with its default apps, update process etc, I found myself having to research an OS I don't use, and offer 2nd hand advice. I moved them over to CachyOS, and even though technically, it's not as beginner friendly, my day to day familiarity with it meant that it was easier to help out when troubles arose.
I loved Mint. It's still great. Recently I installed Linux on a family member's laptop which is not upgradeable to Windows 11. Hate to say it (and I may be a bit petty here): Mint looks dated, Cinnamon needs a facelift.
That was a reason I went with Zorin. It clearly tries to transition users that come from Windows with it's design (honestly, it's modded Gnome looks awesome). Even running .exe files is as simple as just opening them. Zorin will either just run them or suggest a Linux alternative. Had no issues with that OS so far.
That said, Mint or Ubuntu are solid choices for beginners (and pros alike).
Any of the large, easy to use distributions should work just fine. I'd recommend a popular distribution because it'll be easier to get help online. So consider Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse, Ubuntu and maybe Pop!_OS.
I think the main consideration should be which DE (desktop environment) she'd like to use. IMO the main contenders would be:
- KDE - Very configurable, nice looking, a bit heavy.
- Gnome - Simple and very opinionated, so not very configurable, a bit heavy.
- Cinnamon - Should feel familiar to Windows users, a bit faster than KDE and Gnome.
- Cosmic - A middle ground between Gnome's simplicity and KDE's configurability, pretty fast.
- XFCE - Very fast and light-weight, fairly configurable, but not very flashy.
Based on which DE she prefers, I'd suggest getting a distribution that comes with said DE by default, for the best possible integration. How do you figure out which DE she likes best? Put Ventoy on a USB stick along with a few different Linux ISOs. Ventoy wil let you choose which one to boot from a menu. You could get the following ISOs:
- Fedora or Ubuntu with Gnome
- OpenSUSE with KDE
- Linux Mint with Cinnamon
- Pop!_OS with Cosmic
- Mint or Ubuntu with XFCE
Download an ISO for each, install Ventoy on a USB stick and copy the ISOs to the stick. Boot into each ISO and play around with the desktop for a bit. When she's figured out which DE she prefers, install a distribution that comes with that desktop.
I'm on KDE as a former Windows and Mint user and it's really annoying. Especially the text editor Kate. All the hotkeys are different than Windows/Mint, there's no notepad equivalent and only a notepad++ equivalent, the GNOME text editor doesn't match the theming, and I had to settle on Mousepad for my replacement.
I had to do a lot of customization to get the system to behave like Windows, particularly the panel. Maybe with ZorinOS it's better.
there's no notepad equivalent and only a notepad++ equivalent
I believe you're looking for KWrite.
Thank you, that's exactly what I've been looking for. Wasn't bundled with Kubuntu (or maybe it was but I uninstalled it because I thought it was Wordpad) and didn't come up when searching for it in the Discover app, but after going to the official site and opening a link in the Discover app I got it installed. I then accidentally uninstalled it because uninstalling Kate does that.
Now to look up how to clean up the start menu so searching for a text editor doesn't give me the uninstalled Mousepad or it's separate settings app (I did it with a 5 second duckduckgo search).
Not really possible, because how a desktop feels or what can be configured it's hard to show on a website. Especially how you can visually adapt it. And what you can configure in general. Running it from a live USB takes like 5 minutes.
For example KDE is also very close to Windows, but can also be configured to behave more like a Mac. Visually most desktop environment can be themed. Cinnamon just got additions to be able to theme gnome apps globally I think? If you want to use a central dock like a Mac and have running apps at the top, that's just a master of setting that up on KDE.
Test Linux distros online
Instantly test run Linux distros online in the cloud for free, right from your web browser. No installation or live boot required.DistroSea
If older computer that works fine, I'd get a new 780m (Amd) mini pc. They support 3+ monitors, have 2 network ports allowing to "daisy chain" the old computer. No transfering of anything, or worrying about getting old stuff still working.
Deskflow is a mouse/keyboard sharing app. If you keep old computer in sleep mode you don't need extra keyboard/mouse, but power outages, mean that if you don't have a floor standing old pc you can stack old keyboard/mouse on top of, then you will need to occasionally plug in keyboard and mouse into old computer to get deskflow restarted (if you don't put it as autostart).
It's far more convenient than dual booting. Can use resources from both computers in network, and seemless mouse/keyboard focus. Switching 1 monitor for occasional use is better than dual booting, because rebooting on older computers especially is slow.
Deskflow needs a modern kernal linux distribution. Ubuntu 24.04 is recent enough. Linux mint has not upgraded kernel yet. AFAIU, the only difference between mint (recommended here) and Ubuntu is a slightly prettier version of kde.
If she's a Windows refugee, Linux Mint.
If she's a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
If she's a IBM OS/2 refugee, please let me know how to get the drugs she's gotten. I want in.
Ubuntu for a Mac refugee. Definitely Mint for a Windows refugee.
I hate GNOME through and through, but it's a very polished interface and resembles Mac in a lot of ways.
Ubuntu is heresy. Canonical hath turned against the users.
Also, I'm genuinely curious: why do you hate GNOME?
Yeah...
See, I used to like Ubuntu, but then Canonical had to ruin it for me by betraying the principles that Linux stands for.
Ubuntu is a shadow of its former self, and it saddens me. 🙁
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
I don't know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can't be that bad.
I hate GNOME because it feels like an iPhone.
That's fair.
I don’t know much about what Ubuntu is doing but it surely can’t be that bad.
You would be surprised.
You know, I can see that.
Still, mac users use macs because they just want the computer to work.
And the Cosmic DE is rather new so can be a bit buggy from time to time. It might look mac-friendly, but its stability is still largely untested so caution may be advised before recommending it in my opinion.
If she's a Mac refugee, fuck if I know.
She could consider Linux Mint with KDE Plasma. KDE Plasma feels very like modern Mac, only nicer, to me.
KDE is not a Mint supported DE and the KDE files are not in the Mint repos.
This can be made to work if you're experienced but is definitely not a good idea for beginners. It will eventually break, and dependency hell is a thing.
For a KDE option suitable fir beginners, Fedora offers KDE as does Ubuntu, or there's KDE Neon
Is there a specific reason you are spamming the same single-line accusatory comment 7 times in this thread?
Combined with your account only being 10 days old if there's not more substance to a spammed accusation like that I'll just have to assume bad faith and block.
Tbf, my current laptop looks pretty similar, and I'm running Bazzite with KDE.
Lol Linux is awesome
Windows refugee: Linux Mint or Fedora KDE
Mac refugee: Linux Mint or Fedora KDE
PC gamer: Bazzite (or Linux Mint or Fedora KDE)
edit: fuck markdown, why do line breaks only work in pairs on lemmy, this is not a thing with markdown on discord so why here? it's annoying
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I see
but
why
is
a
singular
enter
character
treated
just
like
a
space
look at the raw text of the comment, the above sentence's "spaces" are line breaks
is there a use for this functionality?
Spaces behave like this because markdown was designed to be like HTML but quicker to write and easier to read without formatting;
most web services that use markdown translate it to HTML rather than parsing it directly, and in HTML whitespaces are supposed to work like you demonstrated in your comment.
The reason for this behavior in HTML is "because someone in the 90s said so", I'm afraid.
Mint Cinnamon. Just make sure to change the background before she sees it. The first impression is god awful with that stock background.
I think basically all the default backgrounds aren't great. There are a few passable ones but that's it.
Zorin OS - Make your computer better.
Discover the alternative to Windows and macOS designed to make your computer faster, more powerful, secure, and privacy-respecting.Zorin
The one she likes... How about listening to her needs, and then show here some examples, and let her choose?
I'd present her with Mint and Ubuntu - and then what you know is her "style"...
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A lot of people are going to recommend you mint, I honestly think mint is an outdated suggestion for beginners, I think immutability is extremely important for someone who is just starting out, as well as starting on KDE since it’s by far the most developed DE that isn’t gnome and their… design decisions are unfortunate for people coming from windows.
I don’t think we should be recommending mint to beginners anymore, if mint makes an immutable, up to date KDE distro, that’ll change, but until then, I think bazzite or aurora if you don't like gaming is objectively a better starting place for beginners.
The mere fact that bazzite and other immutables generate a new system for you on update and let you switch between and rollback automatically is enough for me to say it’s better, but it also has more up to date software, and tons of guides (fedora is one of the most popular distros, and bazzite is essentially identical except with some QoL upgrades).
How common is the story of “I was new to linux and completely broke it”? that’s not a good user experience for someone who’s just starting, it’s intimidating, scary, and I just don’t think it’s the best in the modern era. There’s something to be said about learning from these mistakes, but bazzite essentially makes these mistakes impossible.
Furthermore because of the way bazzite works, package management is completely graphical and requires essentially no intervention on the users part, flathub and immutability pair excellently for this reason.
Cinnamon (the default mint environment) doesn’t and won’t support HDR, the security/performance improvements from wayland, mixed refresh rate displays, mixed DPI displays, fractional scaling, and many other things for a very very long time if at all. I don’t understand the usecase for cinnamon tbh, xfce is great if you need performance but don’t want to make major sacrifices, lxqt is great if you need A LOT of performance, cinnamon isn’t particularly performant and just a strictly worse version of kde in my eyes from the perspective of a beginner, anyway.
I have 15 years of linux experience and am willing to infinitely troubleshoot if you add me on matrix.
What exactly is easier about the installation than my suggestion?
the fedora community is just as large as the mint community, and just as well supported.
i'm not telling you to switch, I'm saying there's no reason to start with it if you haven't tried linux before. Switching is a much bigger choice because you are already comfortable.
Why would a beginner who isn't already comfortable choose mint?
Good points.
I will also add that Bazzite isn't just for beginners, it's just more friendly towards them. I've been running it for like a year now and it's just fantastic.
Almost boringly stable
Now hold on, everyone else is saying bazzite is built for gaming but did you just say it isn't or did I read that wrong?
She's definitely a gamer, currently working through AC shadows and horizon zero dawn I believe
I do believe her stuff should be immutable though, that would be a horrible experience for her and could make her want to run back to windows
I think Linux Mint would be a good first distro.
I recently learned about a project called Operese. It is a Windows to Linux migration tool that also sets up Kubuntu. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment instead of the GNOME desktop environment. I don't know how well that tool works since I never tried it but it looks promising.
There is also a new project called Winboat that is meant to make it easier to install and use Windows software such as Adobe Photoshop
Why do you want to start a distro war?
Is this with the intent of trolling our community?
"Let many flowers blossom".
Linux Mint is the windows 7 experience of linux. It gets out of the way so you can work. It also has the best in-OS help tools. It's also a bit more conservative in terms of newest features, so it's a lot more reliable.
If she does PC gaming, you might want to look at Bazzite rather than Mint. It's a lot better equipped for non-technical people to start gaming. It's basically a preconfigured Fedora linux, so it's got a solid foundation. It's also something called an immutable distro, which basically means it's more difficult to break as the core OS is "read only" (to simplify).
In terms of migrating, best to avoid dual booting off a single disk. Microsoft keeps breaking Linux installs (probably on purpose). So best to install a second SSD.
Before you migrate, have her make a list of software she uses and the hardware she has. Best to post that on a forum like this to have more experienced people look for possible issues.
When it gets to migration day, if bitlocker is disabled, you can access your windows data from linux.
Also get her on Lemmy and asking questions directly. The best thing you can teach a low tech person is how to get help.
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Thx for the tip, will give it a try.
I got it from the protonup app that is pre installed.
Its both
It uses an atomic update system on an immutable base. They don't refer to the same thing, but you sort of need the one when you use the other for it to make sense.
Biebian - ArchiveOS
Web site: biebian.sourceforge.net Origin: Category: Desktop Desktop environment: Openbox Architecture: x86 Based on: Puppy Wikipedia: Media: Live CD The last…pavroo (ArchiveOS)
My recomendations: Opensuse Leap 16, Mageia 9, Openmandriva Rock and if You want to try a Rolling release Opensuse Tumbleweed, Openmandriva ROME
All the disteos With KDE Plasma
Mint for Windows refugees
Fedora for Mac Refugees
My choice:
Bazzite GNOME for Gamers, Children and Grandmas. It's pretty, is damn indestructible and has a speedy app store with loads of cool free apps.
I'd say Mint or Fedora KDE for windows converts. They're both good "just works" options, but KDE just by virtue of being more popular has excellent software and support that make it a great option.
Fedora w/ Gnome for Mac converts is a no brainer, and I'd add that you're probably going to want the Dash2Dock Lite or Dash2Dock Animated extension for a Mac convert.
Fedora w/ Gnome for Mac converts is a no brainer
I use Mac (I'll install Asahi Linux once it supports connecting a monitor) and hate GNOME and hate Aqua (the MacOS DE)
I personally prefer KDE
Fair. I think most people start with the assumption that users are coming from a workflow they preferred in the first place.
Out of curiosity, if you hate Aqua, why did you get a Mac? Is it an industry thing or a specific software?
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First, BACKUP EVERYTHING.
Then, the best distro is probably going to be the same you are currently using. You will not have to deal with issues that may be specific to one distro. There is enough difference from one computer to another to cause annoying issues, even on windows.
Fedora. I would not have said that two years, but I am blown away by how easy and up to date it is.
And I am normally an Arch person.
This really depends on her hardware specs and what applications she needs to use.
Without knowing any of that, I would suggest Linux Mint. It is desktop user focussed and a good general OS. It includes drivers and common software in their version of an app store.
Debian is my distro of choice, but is not ideal for a new Linux user.
I would suggest checking what apps she needs and making sure they are available on Linux, or that a close equivalent is. Any apps that will be replaced, try the replacement out on Windows first if available. For example Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape, or MS Office to Libre Office.
For data transfer:
- As others have said. Backup the current computer fully. This in probably best done on an external hard drive. Make sure you know how to reinstall windows and restore from the backup.
- Copy all her data onto a different external hard drive. This is not the backup. It is a separate drive.
- Make sure all the data is actually on the external hard drive and readable from a different machine. Ideally boot from a Lunx live USB and check that the data can be accessed from the external drive.
- Install her distro of choice.
- Copy her data from the external HDD to her user account's home folder of newly installed Linux.
I vastly prefer/recommend stable LTS distros. There are really 2 main families of distros for this:
- Linux Mint / Ubuntu LTS / Debian Stable (Ubuntu is based on Debian, Mint is based on Ubuntu LTS):
Basically endless amount of packages. Most people in the linux world have some familiarity with these so it shouldn't be hard to get help if you need it.
- Rocky linux / Almalinux / RHEL (Rocky and Alma aim to be compatible with RHEL software):
For desktop systems people usually opt for fedora, but that distro does not meet my own criteria. Biggest reason you'd use these is for professional VFX software support. For whatever reason a lot of that stuff only has official support for this family of distros. Not sure why!
Get good at 1 of these families of distros. If you aren't vibing with one its okay to switch to the other. Both have more cutting edge options if you desire them.
Linux Mint is a community favorite and very much is built with a desktop user in mind, but I don't think it's unreasonable to subject someone to learning any of the others even if they are more server focused. Everything I listed has atleast 5 years of support! If your fiancee isn't super tech literate, you'll probably be the one doing a lot of the system maintenance so keeping those major updates sparse is a very good thing. And of course, if you don't wanna learn 2 different sets of tools, try and keep in the same family of distros.
Also, for desktop environment don't choose anything crazy obscure. KDE & Gnome are most common, Cinnamon & XFCE are less common but IMO fine. Venture into others at your own peril.
Transfer process depends on what you mean. Transferring your files will probably just take time. I'm hopelessly unorganized so for me backing stuff up takes a few days of combing through a bunch of junk and copying to a flashdrive or cloud storage. Other people might have more efficient ways of dealing with this though.
If you mean software Libreoffice is great local office software, SMplayer is imo a good media player, GIMP, Inkscape, and Krita got art stuff covered. We're also at the point you can more or less run most windows software on linux with enough fiddling, but that obviously isn't ideal.
Your biggest hurdle moving to linux full time will be understanding commands when you inevitably do need to change configuration of something with the terminal. If you need help there are usually forums, IRC, matrix, etc.
Happy computing!
To add one more thing about Bazzite Gnome, as suggested above/below: next to it looking like Fedora, it comes with a thing built in called Distrobox, which is a way of quickly running different mini versions of Linux within Bazzite. This means you can run little Ubuntu/Mint/Fedora/Arch installations and use their package managers. If an app is missing on Bazzite, start up distrobox and install it there instead. It even works for GUI apps.
(This is more of a pro feature though- you don't explicitly need it, but it gives you massive flexibility, which is normally hidden away.)
Distro:
- First choice: Mint Cinnamon
- If the GPU is very shitty: Elementary OS (Mint Cinnamon expects a basic level of GPU performance)
- If Mint/Elementary are too simple: Fedora KDE
Process:
- For fully switching: Obtain an external hard drive, copy the contents of the Windows partition(s) to it and install your preferred distro so that it takes over the entire computer. This is the most stable way.
- For dual booting: Buy an SSD for Linux, disconnect the Windows drive and install your distro of choice so that it takes up the entire space. Reconnect the Windows drive afterwards and set boot priorities in UEFI.
One More Tip:
Don't frontload them with information, but teach them one thing: How search for and install packages through the GUI (Mint Software Manager/Elementary Store/KDE Discover). Tell them that it's more like a smartphone apps and downloading software from websites should be a last resort.
Mint has basically contained bad decision making by Ubuntu and individual versions are supported for 5 years. The average computer lasts 6 before replacement.
Mint is fairly future proof I think.
Oh, I agree, nothing wrong with mint. I just like the fact that the LMDE version is Debian based and works with everything I’ve thrown it at.
Figure proof of they ever decide to switch away from Ubuntu and mainline LMDE. Probably won’t happen, but makes me feel better anyway 😀.
Just straight up Bazzite to be honest.
Fedora by itself is too Puritan for stuff not fully foss in their default repos
Put Linux on one of those spare hard drives and simply mount the existing drive as a second drive in Linux.
This will give you access to all your current files from within Linux without having to do anything. Move over what you want and need as you use Linux. At some point, you will probably want to reformat the original Windows drive for extra space. You could consider mounting it as /home at that point.
Choosing a distro is a matter of taste. I can tell you though that I have moved a few Windows users to Linux Mint and they are all happy with it. My last one was LMDE (Mint with a Debian base).
Everyone hypes Mint but if you're working with newish hardware you might have a bad time due to the drivers taking a while to mature and filter down through all the distros. If her rig is a couple years old it should work just fine though. I would also suggest trying out Kubuntu, Pop!_OS, PikaOS, and Zorin if that is the case.
If she is on brand new hardware then something Arch based is the way to go IMO. CachyOS, Garuda, and EndeavorOS are all Arch based distros that make setup easy and they've all worked great for me out of the box. Honestly if you have snapshots configured with timeshift or something being on a rolling distro isn't as scary as it's made out to be. Fedora is an option too as they get updates every 6 months, but there is a little extra setup to do after install like media codecs and proprietary drivers etc.
Cachyos was my personal pick and it's working perfect for me so far.
Coming up on 10 years since I switched from windows to Linux. I tried Ubuntu and absolutely hated it, so much so that I switched back to windows at first. But I kept reading and tried ZorinOS, and that got me comfortable with Linux, it was a little buggy but I could understand it.
After a few months with ZorinOS I switched to Linux Mint and have been running Mint for 9 years. Recently my 76 year old mother who has trouble with some basic computer stuff said she'd like to try Linux and asked me to help her, I made a live USB of Mint for her to try and she told me "I can understand this, it's like windows 7!". If she can get Mint, I feel totally confident recommending it to new users.
1) Nice username, lol.
2) Agreed, I wasn't even looking for the Win 7 experience, I was just still getting the hang of Linux and Mint was repeatedly recommended everywhere I looked. At this point I'm just comfortable with Mint and so I stick with it, and since I value reliability of cutting edge, it gives me what I need in a computer.
Yup and it will never slow down with time or start to annoy you with ads or tracking like every windows version in existance.
If the general public understood how they should spend a few days learning a basic Linux distro.... That would be great.
Did this with my SO, they have mint like me. And they like it!
They wanted puppy linux though xD
I'm honestly astounded at how many people are suggesting Mint. I recently switched full time to linux and even as a software dev, Mint has to be one of the worst experiences I've had with a computer. Not only driver issues, but software issues and general buginess. Along with being butt-ugly, I do not think any windows user is going to confuse Mint for Windows.
I switched my wife to Bazzite (not necessarily recommending that) and she literally didn't notice it was a different operating system (even though I told her it was and walked her through it). Bazzite has a nice UI for installing pretty much anything a normie would be thinking to install. The only issue we've had so far is that Dropbox just outright does not work on it. I've filed a bug with them and have been awaiting a response from their dev team for like two months now. I'm sure they'll fix it eventually, but if you need the Dropbox UI (you can use rsync otherwise) then don't choose Bazzite.
As for myself, after trying out like 6 different OSes, I settled on CachyOS. There are still issues, but it's pretty dang stable and they're very fast to fix issues. It's not for a person not willing to touch a terminal at least once though.
Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit..
If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.
Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.
Mint is also a fine choice as well....
Bazzite, i tried arch and then realized the whole wiki was like a uni level symposium and was burning through steps, kept doing instead of understanding, etc...
It's probably amazing, but since my only interaction with linux back then was being forced to use it at uni and windows, I really wanted a good experience of what linux could be. I needed it to work out of the box and be unbreakable, so I went with bazzite.
It's great, and I am digging the immutable aspect even if it broke my brain for any dev work, but once you learn how to use an immutable system (still figuring it out tbh) it's solid, easy, and works great.
Really wished there was more resources on immutable systems for newcomers though XD
I think you will eventually get tired of all the workarounds needed for immutable systems. Its a nice idea but full of pain when actually wanting to use the computer to do actual work.
But its ok! Everyone tries different things in the Linux world and we all just enjoy the ride.
Its not particularly crazy, most things can be installed via flathub. If something isnt there, install it through distrobox (you can install things through the AUR, packages like rpm and deb, etc). And if that doesn't work, install the app directly through rpm-ostree (only thing I did this with was a vpn app, you can point to a .rpm file for this). I use flathub for the vast majority of things, I think I only have two apps installed outside of it.
What's great is nothing ever breaks this way. Ever. It all works. Broken upgrades haven't happened to me after a year of using this, meanwhile I had plenty on debian and small distros like manjaro, mint, cachyos, nobara.
There are two “just works” distros I recommend to new users: Bazzite or Fedora.
Start with Bazzite. It is familiar and has lots of guardrails so it’s nearly impossible to break.
If you decide you want more control over your system later, switch to Fedora KDE.
If you decide you want even more control and flexibility, consider CachyOS or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
You will see Mint recommended a lot, but I don’t like it. The default desktop — Cinnamon — is very Windows 95, and I much prefer KDE Plasma, which doesn’t work well on Mint. Mint also has driver issues with newer hardware. But if you like retro and your hardware is older, give it a try.
Avoid Pop_OS right now. It’ll probably be amazing in a year, but the new Cosmic desktop (currently a beta) has a lot of annoying bugs with common linux GUI packages.
Here are some tips once you have chosen:
You can change your desktop environment later.
If you do your install with seperate partitions for /home and others, leave 10% unallocated. Also make /bin about 15gb and /boot about 1.5gb. When you eventually run out of space, you can use KDE Partition manager to add the unallocated space to the partition you need, even if you set up encryption (gparted doesn't play well with encryption). You can install Partition manager as a package, you don't need to use KDE Plasma.
Using a drive mirror is a good idea. Maybe use it the second time you install.
If you want to use a cool filesys like zfs, just use btrfs for now (licensing issues). Ext4 will also work for desktop user needs.
If you go with Debian, you can add repos to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. But it is a one-way trip, so before adding sid, consider running your program in a vm. Non-free non-free-firmware and contrib are fine
I know, it sounds odd, but: Arch!
Once my best friend wanted to try linux. So he asked me, which distro to use. I gave him an honest answer: "I use Arch. But for beginners I would recommend Mint."
He don't gave a shit and installed Arch anyways 😅 - with success! That's when I noticed, that the Arch Wiki is actually SO GOOD, that even a newbie can install Arch without any help. It's just a bit more time expensive, compared to distros with an installer. However, there are some huge benefits, that made me switch to Arch:
- I used Ubuntu on my daily driver before. However "stable" packages means in this case "antique". A 3 years old version of Sway isn't more stable than the newest release version.
- I never survived a dist-upgrade. That's why i prefer a roling release linux today.
- Your system is slim, because you only install what you really need. Also you know your system this way.
- Especially for gaming it's good to have the newest kernel + drivers.
However, you should also notice the down sides. Sometimes an update breaks something. It doesn't happens often, but it happens. A few years ago the bluetooth stack was broken, so i wasn't able to use my headset during a meeting. However they released a fix like a few hours later, so I just needed to update. But still: That's something to consider too.
I don't know. With these weapons...
Kyle Reese meme from Terminator (1984)Listen. And understand. That LLM is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until they run out of money.
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FreudianCafe
in reply to IndustryStandard • • •like this
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ShinkanTrain
in reply to IndustryStandard • • •The US invaded Latin American countries for less.
Heck, so did the Dutch in Brazil, but that was colonizer on colonizer violence
HiddenLayer555
in reply to IndustryStandard • • •