They probably meant "everything that they use it for". Like, in my case everything on Linux works for me, but I don't play multiplayer games or use Photoshop. I have a single old monitor that can't do HDR. I don't watch Netflix. To be fair and pedantic, not everything anyone could possibly ever want to do works on Windows 11, either.
I love Linux, but I never expect it to be mainstream or even extremely accessible to typical users. In fact, if it made it to mainstream, it'd probably get ruined somehow by corporate interference, monetization, etc. How you may ask? Well, corporations have a lot of money and influence and I'm sure they could "find a way" if motivated to do so.
Portal basically is an interface/backend for flatpaks to interface with toolkits & DEs. If you don't use flatpak, xdg-desktop-portal and associated backends should be removable. Even if you do, try removing the gtk and gnome backends w/apt. Hopefully it won't try to remove a ton of stuff due to dependencies. Then, reboot and see if the slow loading problem goes away. If it does, you can try re-adding one or the other and see if it comes back.
Does logging in take forever as well?
Also after some cursory research, some people have had problems with portal on Mint after updates as well, just like on Arch. So... definitely try it.
Random shot, because it's probably not an issue on Mint like it was on Arch a few months ago, but xdg-desktop-portal problems can cause apps to take forever to load, but run fine once loaded.
Also the Bip cannot spy on you unless you install the official app. It's limited to its interactions with apps over bluetooth, and I just use Gadgetbridge.
What Android software could you use for managing it? Gadgetbridge seems to not have fully-developed support for it, even with their preferred firmware.
I'm using Gadgetbridge with a hacked Amazfit Bip and I'm pretty happy. I like the multicolor TFT LCD w/no default backlight on the Bip, which is very readable in bright light and only requires a quick button press to get the backlight on in the dark, or you can waste more battery life and have it turn on when you turn it towards yourself. It's also got built-in GPS/workout tracking (you have to manually flash the A-GPS data occasionally...), the ability to load little open source apps, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, notifications, custom watchfaces, etc which I'm sure the Pinetime has most of. The battery also lasts ages since it uses such a low-power LCD.
I'm not saying the Pinetime isn't good, but decent alternatives exist. I would love a truly open-source smart watch, but maybe when the project is slightly more mature. I guess I could always get one and contribute to it... $30 is really not much. I'll definitely try it if my Bip breaks.
Have you tried a running a different distro live f/usb or something like that? Doesn't seem likely that it would help, but who knows...
It's unlikely the kernel or other low-level code is the problem on 10 year old Intel hardware, though. I've run numerous distros on numerous different machines, many of which were Intel-based, over the last couple decades, and never had this kind of basic, low-level problem with SATA before without it being the cable or controller. Oh, I just remembered: check the PSU as well if you can. A faulty PSU could have a bad rail or wire or something that leads to these problems. If you have a known-good one lying around, depending on the motherboard, you could try temporarily hooking it up to the board and drive and see if it changes anything.
To eliminate Linux as a potential culprit, you could try to install Windows (7, 8, 10, whatever) and see if it exhibits similar problems.
If you are getting actual hardware/sata errors on the host (not sure if that's exactly what's happening from your description), and multiple drives have had a similar problem, I'd suspect the sata cable or controller/mobo. Intel had a lot of weird sata issues on their older chipsets, so I'd also recommend making sure it has the latest bios update. Could you be more specific on what kind of hardware errors are showing up? Like, maybe parts of the logs.
My biggest (not only) complaint so far is that entire planets have maybe 8 or 9 species of plants and animals. Hopefully biodiversity mods will pop up. It seems like a decent platform to build future content into.
Since huckleberries were already mentioned, I'll go for salal berries. Taste like flowery blueberries and make an amazing sauce, especially if you mix them with huckleberries.
I'm trying to move in this direction. I used to use Amazon mostly out of convenience and because they could get uncommon, hard to find stuff to me within 2 days when buying anywhere else would take 1-2 weeks. Now that they regularly fail to even get stuff to me when they say they will, and they are as generally evil as they are, I'm trying to get into the habit of buying from anywhere else.
I know ebay is fairly evil too, but I try to buy them from them if I need something oddly specific. If not, I go local.
Still no html composing, right? It would be a serious contender for many people if it just had that feature... Even though, from my experience, most personal email doesn't really use html...
They probably meant "everything that they use it for". Like, in my case everything on Linux works for me, but I don't play multiplayer games or use Photoshop. I have a single old monitor that can't do HDR. I don't watch Netflix. To be fair and pedantic, not everything anyone could possibly ever want to do works on Windows 11, either.