I would argue db0 serves that purpose better than .ml does, even if .ml contains the core Lemmy devs. All I talk with db0 guys about is internet privacy, Linux and open source software with a dash of advanced piracy.
As for unpleasantness, I find the constant Linux evangelism getting tiresome, even if it's apolitical.
Lemmy.ml is one of the major main Lemmy instances, and it has a bunch of the development crew for the project on the admin team and moderation squad.
The ML, incidentally, was picked to stand for Marxist-Leninist. The core Lemmy devs are very politically left leaning, but that usually doesn't cause many issues because there are enough instances running the software that you're not locked into their echo chamber.
I'm just surprised overall because most other major instances defederated from them weeks or months ago, along with Hexbear and/or Exploding Heads. .ca has been defederated with those probably for at least two months now.
It makes sense because all of our cryptography is based around time limits. If the system time is way off it can't verify the cryptographic signatures and it's not going to validate any certs since the time doesn't line up properly.
Linux is easily fixed but the problem is that the issues that crop up needing to be fixed are generally not pain points on Windows. The first Arch install I did this year was busted and I thought I had broken my networking setup because it wouldn't connect, but the issue was that the system clock was wrong. Something like that may pop up in Windows but you can quickly press the sync time and date button in the settings and it'll sort itself out, while Arch requires a lot more work than just that, especially if it has no connectivity.
I use Arch through EndeavourOS. It takes a bit of setup but it'll do what you need. It can get complicated and it easily breaks, but that's what you get when you go cutting edge with Arch.
Alternatively you can look at pre-configured gaming distros like Nobara which I believe is based on Fedora, which is a very well supported distro in general. Nobara's stated goal is to be a streamlined distro for point-and-click users that includes 3rd party drivers off the rip.
I tend to use XFCE on machines with lower specs. It's a lighter DE. Plasma has always been pretty heavy in comparison, because it's really customizable and designed to be very good looking, which can be taxing on lower-end hardware.
EOS and KDE are basically what SteamOS is running on the back-end. They use Plasma as their DE, and they use Arch as their OS. It's just highly tailored to their hardware since it's all AMD-based and AMD drivers have been open source forever.
There are offshoot projects that build from the SteamOS source and then include Nvidia drivers, but I haven't found one that was as functional as just running Endeavor and customizing it in the way that a Steam Deck would be designed for gaming.
EOS has generally been fine with the NVIDIA-DKMS drivers. The only funky thing that happened to me was that for about a month on my 1650 the HDMI output was not recognized, and I had to flip to Windows to use the external monitor on my laptop.
I would argue db0 serves that purpose better than .ml does, even if .ml contains the core Lemmy devs. All I talk with db0 guys about is internet privacy, Linux and open source software with a dash of advanced piracy.
As for unpleasantness, I find the constant Linux evangelism getting tiresome, even if it's apolitical.