I use it for work stuff so I don’t have to cross contaminate devices or apps

I would say it gets more praise than hate. It is often recommended as a beginner friendly distro, which is why you get the backlash, because it hasn’t been in a rock solid position for a long time. It started off pretty promising, using a much more end user centric version of GNOME, which morphed into their own DE, Cosmic. But Cosmic took forever to come out, so GNOME nor the base version of Ubuntu Pop is based on were updated for multiple years. The Pop Shop was kind of garbage, though Cosmic shop is much better. Nowadays, Cosmic the DE is shipped by default but is barely out of alpha and thus has glitches. I do think Linus is a lying asshole who specifically planned to break the OS for more views, but it does have problems. Also it uses systemd-boot so you can’t dual boot from separate drives easily or have GRUB themes and stuff like that. They don’t have Secure Boot either. As much as that isn’t a HUGE issue, it seems like a significant oversight for such a popular distro.

Ultimately, Pop does a lot right by having a version bundled with Nvidia drivers, having macOS-like desktop that is intuitive by default, GUI focused with an app store, a good tiling manager, and possibility for customization. But it is a little bit frustrating to some people that it is so heavily recommended because it isn’t as stable as stable distros, and not as updated as rolling distros or just more modern distros like Fedora. A lot of distros do what Pop does but better, so why recommend it? Even with the extra features you get on a System76 machine and ease of use for non tech people having it preinstalled, Tuxedo does that better and cheaper even with import taxes being higher. Combined with the video glitching, selling this as one of the best new user friendly distro when it isn’t particularly true could cause people to bounce off Linux.

I don’t hate Pop or System76. I WANT to like and enjoy it because I respect their ethos behind the project and like the look and features. I just wish it was faster at fixing some of their issues. People have been saying “Pop is going to be the next big thing once they do xyz” for 5-6 years ATP. They really need to hire more devs or make the project more community ran.

I only have Windows for gaming, and even then only use it for old games, multiplayer, repacks, or any other types of games that don’t feel like working properly on Linux.

There’s also this gem that was used infrequently around 3.0 era. I call it Windows Noir.

I know Helium still supports V2 extensions including being bundled with uBlock Origin pre-installed. That and Brave are the only ones I really use or recommend so I can’t account for anything else.

What do you mean? Manifest v2 and v3 are still available in other Chromium browsers

Not that i don’t wish there were more than 3 browser engines, but in practice right now it does not matter. Chromium isn’t a bad engine, but Chrome is a bad browser because Google shoves their shit into it. The open source Chromium parts are fine.

iOS has better security than anything besides Pixels. Apple isn’t exactly stellar when it comes to privacy, but certainly better than stock Android/Google in general. They’re often the “good enough because there aren’t many better choices or it’s annoying to set up those other choices” choice (Apple TV, Apple TV+, macOS, iOS, Apple Watch, pretty much everything to varying degrees). iPhone is prioritized for third party apps a lot of the time. Hardware is great, not that Android isn’t, but Apple is a bit more consistent. Their cheaper tiers are still good in the important ways, whereas Samsung’s A series for example isn’t. Even gaming is getting better on iOS. Not so much for emulators but official purchased titles or streaming. Android is still better but I might be able to get by on iOS. Google is getting a lot better with consistent design choices with Material Design, and many third party devs have been following suit. But it’s no secret that Apple has routinely kicked everyone’s ass in terms of Ui usability AND aesthetics for decades. Continuity of devices and the general ecosystem helps a lot. This is replicable in some ways with Windows Phone Link or KDE Connect, but Apple “just works” as they say.

I use GrapheneOS & Linux which is by far the best option for privacy & security, and I prefer not to have any accounts that identify my devices, let alone using continuity features. But I’m not ignorant to other options or that people prioritize different features.

How the hell is the shape of Illinois, Mississippi, Kansas, Wisconsin, and more less painful than Kentucky, Virginia, or even West Virginia? they really half-assed this list.

Why is this so true? Damn that’s sad.

Guess God wants me to learn AV.

Depends on what you want from the controller. Very few have the track pads for example. But there are a lot of good controllers out there these days. I stuck with the Flydigi Vader 4. Gyro that can be mapped to right stick for motion controls in any game. 2 extra buttons, 4 extra back paddles (only 2 are particularly usable on the back). Great polling rate. Xbox ergonomics. Clicky mechanical face buttons. Analog triggers. Hall effect sticks. Customizable RGB but not too much of it. Has 2.4GHz dongle, works with xinput, dinput, and works on Switch.

I think Vader 5 is out now. I think it has TMR sticks but I’m not sure what else is different.

Gamesir Nova Lite 2 is a good budget controller with a lot of the same features for less than an official Xbox controller.

Gamesir G7 Pro is a good alternative to the Vader but I haven’t used it.

8BitDo makes some fun and unique controllers but their latency is not always great, and the ergonomics for the Ultimate feels off to me. I get a lot of use out of their Pro 2 controllers which are really nice for 2D games. They’re basically a Dual shock 4 + SNES controller. Also has gyro, paddles, xinput, dinput, and Switch modes. The Pro 3 is out now with a few more improvements but I’m good for now.

Did you really just ask me for YOUR opinion on a topic?

It’s always valuable to take wisdom where you can, without fully accepting everything else with it without question. Media can help you discover something as long as you realize it’s not reality, it’s what someone wrote. For example I sometimes get shit from people for referencing Nietzsche. I don’t agree with everything he believed, but he makes some interesting points about a lot of things, and even then he is often misunderstood as objectivism.

You’re not wrong, but I get what OP is saying too. Most of the camp does like and regard each other, it’s mostly Dutch and Micah that are shitheads and lit people against each other. And yeah, it’s a game about outlaws and will have conflict, that’s how it works. It’s just that the whole approach to life is different. It’s actually living life, actually talking to people instead did “what’s new?” “Just work, someone couldn’t figure out how to update Teams again so I watched a progress bar and went back to my office and pretended to be busy the rest of the day”. Or just staring blankly when someone has the audacity to speak to you, and then going back to being mesmerized by your depression rectangle.

Yeah, this game helped me “get” Westerns. It’s a romanticization of the last period before the industrial revolution and federalization caught up to the entire country. RDR in general is about the end of that period, where you can’t just ride to the next town over and restart your life.

Nothing is the right fit for Game Pass really. Indie devs barely make shit from it being on there. Big games are too big. Turns out everyone loses money except Microsoft.

Definitely GrapheneOS.

Re-Google Maps: I use Here We Go, it is much better than the open street maps apps, has live traffic data, and reviews. Unfortunately needs to be downloaded from Play Store for use with Android Auto though (not even Aurora works).

I recommend using a separate user profile for work.

Filen I want to like but they have had questionable encryption methods in the past, and they have not yet been independently audited.

Proton is pretty great. Solid free plan too at 5 GB.

Nextcloud is also great and has a lot of options and integrations with other FOSS software. Self hosted only though of course.

I have a desktop PC with Linux on it, wired Ethernet only that I can unplug, and a gun in my night stand in case it makes a noise I don’t recognize.