But the problem with extensions is that when you update Gnome, you're not sure if the extensions you're using will work.
I can't believe this is still a thing. I made an honest attempt at using Gnome 3 about a decade ago and gave up after a couple of months because of this, mostly.
On the hardware side, it's long been the case that you should choose your hardware based on Linux compatibility. Thankfully there are more choices today with official support from the manufacturer, but it's as true now as 20 years ago that if you're the type of person who definitely needs the fingerprint reader to work, you have to do some research and see what other people are saying about different models before buying. Sticking to models popular among developers (ThinkPad being the classic example) and buying hardware a generation or two behind is advice that's served me well for 15-ish years now, but nothing is better than web searching modelname + distro and reading.
That makes sense, and yet the people who actually use *nix tend to be knowledgeable about features that other DEs provide and miss having at least a few of them in their workflow.
Thank you! Bowser's Fury is a fun experience, and the open-world concept is a cool one. I actually bought this Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury pack on the strength of Bowser's Fury alone, after reading people speculate that it might be the future of the 3D Mario series. I'm not sure how it would scale to a full game, though... I guess it might also be a little less "whoa dude" in a post-Mario-Odyssey world, since some of those levels were almost such environments in their own right (desert level comes to mind here, with its town area and other areas). The
::: spoiler spoiler
ongoing boss battle
:::
is equal parts cool and annoying, with the way it gets less avoidable as the game progresses. But on the whole, it's good stuff... I haven't even looked at the main title yet, and I feel like I'm close to getting my $40's worth.
What has the TMNT experience been like for you? I'm a little frustrated at all the button-combo moves I can't seem to memorize, but that might just be a me-thing. Still having fun with this one, even with the struggles.
Workspaces might be a bit overkill if you're only switching between two-ish windows. For more you might find a benefit to using workspaces, especially if you group windows related to specific tasks, or if your brain likes having windows "stored" spatially.
I think I'm close to the end of Bowser's Fury, so I may be able to finish that in a sitting or two. I'm also playing Shredder's Revenge in a co-op setting, and the DLC announcement was a good reminder to get back into that (think we're also nearing the end of the story). And there's a Splatfest, so I feel somewhat obligated to choose a team and play a little, though I've definitely been on a Splatoon 3 break lately.
Switching between a few workspaces looks cool, but once you have 10+ programs open, it becomes an unmanageable hell that requires memorizing which workspace each application is in
I think a big part of the problem is Gnome's limitation of a 1-dimensional workspace list. I don't think I'd be able to use that many workspaces in a flat list, Gnome/Mac style, though I find a 4x2 grid of workspaces manageable. But of course I use a DE that has options. :)
and which hotkey you have each application set to.
I wonder if this is also part of the issue. If you're arranging windows spatially across workspaces, it seems antithetical to use shortcuts to skip directly to one window or the other vs. moving through workspaces. Again, quickly navigating workspaces spatially is easy when your workspaces can be arranged into rows, and not just as a single long list.
Play some deep cuts.