thayer @ thayer @lemmy.ca

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Having just used a new MacBook Pro on the weekend, GNOME looks and feels more like a lightweight macOS, especially when a few extensions are added to the mix. Overall, I welcome the change from the more traditional Windows/KDE workflow.

It was supposed to, but looks like it's been cut from this release. Haven't seen any updated announcements as to why though.

• Rpm-ostree: more robust apply-live updates; local rpm package upgrades without needing to remove previous versions first
• Thunderbird/K-9 Mail: continued work on modernizing the UI and features of both desktop and mobile versions
• GNOME: smoother animations and increased performance for low-end GPUs and IGPs (triple buffering implementation, etc.)
• Firefox Mobile: site isolation

We keep vital info cached locally to our devices, using Syncthing for credentials and files (KeePass databases, tech notes, documents, etc.), and a Radicale instance for syncing calendaring and contacts to our Android phones using Etar and DAVx⁵. So, no real need for any connectivity when away from the home.

My wife and I share the same KeePass database for all of our passwords (synced across several devices via Syncthing).

Like me, she runs Fedora Silverblue and knows her way around a terminal well enough to follow instructions. I make a point to add verbose markdown notes to the vital KeePass entries; detailing how to decrypt the backup drives, restart services on our Proxmox server, etc. She also knows where the backup drives are located, both at home and off-site; and so does my son, in case anything happens to the both of us at once.

They might not be able to carry on exactly as things are now, but they'll definitely be able to maintain access to our family photos, financials, etc., and that's all that really matters.

For the average user, software updates should be seamless and require no interaction whatsoever. Fedora Silverblue does this fairly well, whether they are flatpak or system updates.

Flatpaks offer many benefits that, in my opinion, offset their potential inconveniences.

Some folks make coffee their religion (and there's nothing wrong with that). I grind a Mason jar's worth of Costco Espresso beans at a time, using a cheap KitchenAid grinder. Dump a heaping, hard-scooped 1/3 cup of it into a Bodum French press. Florishly fill with boiling water to just above the metal ring. Steep for 10 minutes, then serve. I don't stir it, or wait for it to bloom before filling to the top. Turns out great every time.

Gmail will work fine, including push notifications, assuming you enable Google Play Services. Using either will of course come at the cost of privacy.

K-9 Mail for Android has merged with Mozilla and will eventually be renamed to Thunderbird. Its UI has seen a lot of improvement these past couple of years, and the backend has always been reliable for IMAP (including push notifications).

Cloudflare is becoming entrenched in every aspect of hosting. It's all fine and dandy until they're bought by the likes of Google, or Meta.

You haven't really identified any of your reasons for leaving the previous distros behind. Did they fall short somewhere? If it was simply to try them all out, then by all means, add a notch on your belt for Arch too. You can always install yet another distro down the road if it doesn't pan out.

I'm a former Arch dev, and once upon a time I created its logo. I love the project, and it will always be dear to me. That said, I use Fedora Silverblue for most of my host systems now, and Arch containers for my everyday tasks.

As you likely already know, Fedora provides one of the best GNOME experiences available. I like the additional stability, flexibility, background updates, and easy rollbacks that Silverblue provides, but I can also appreciate that the flatpak and containerized workflow isn't for everyone.

I use Firefox for most trusted browsing, largely due to its bookmark sync and extension support. It has also been my desktop browser of choice for decades. I always browse in private mode on mobile, and with strict protection enabled (no 3PC), so essentially no cookie or data retention once the app is closed. FF sync for bookmarks only, no search suggestions, autocomplete, etc., except for search bookmarks. DDG as default engine.

Passwords are managed with KeePass autofill, and synced to many other devices via Syncthing.

I love that Vanadium is the default WebView browser though, due to its support for site isolation and other hardened features.

Fingerprinting is still virtually impossible to prevent until/unless the overall web browser model changes.

Still waiting for my refund for what I suspect was a switcharoo return of a PC. Ordered a renewed Optiplex 7040 with an i7-6700 for a family member, but received someone's old and dusty 3020 with an i3-4150 instead, and the refurb sticker for the right product had been slapped on it.

Figured it was a one-off scam, reordered another one right away, and thankfully the second was legit...but they've had the returned PC for 2 weeks now and still no refund. And course no way to follow up about it within the return status itself, so I'll be wasting even more time trying to chase it down. Something has to change.

Running outdated versions of software, whether on your phone or the desktop, will generally expose you to more vulnerabilities and is not best practice from a security perspective.

My thoughts exactly whenever their "losses" are mentioned.

Nope, we love our local library for nearly all of our media needs!

I might still have one kicking around somewhere. Probably with my OG Quake discs.

It's possible you saw a post that predated the defederation. Cached copies of those posts still exist on the lemmy.world instance. You can reply to them, but I believe that only the other lemmy.world users will be able to see it and respond.

Har! To be clear, I was referring to attention-seeking usernames like this:

...and this:

I'll be honest, it's a tie between which is the most annoying "feature" of this platform; animated profile icons, or unicode user display names.

I look forward to having a settings toggle for both, but in the meantime all of my userstyle themes disable profile icons.