Go Fedora for Gaming with new hardware. If you're a couple generations behind in hardware, Mint will do just fine.
Fedora gets new hardware support faster along with newer drivers, same with Arch and Arch-based distros (like EndeavourOS, BazziteOS)
What is it with these people that when thinking of Linux base their decisions on decade-old knowledge and go straight for Ubuntu. Ubuntu isn't what it used to be, competition actually happened and we're all the better for it. In the meantime, Canonical F'd up, and Ubuntu should not be anywhere near the top of the recommended distros list.
Want something that actually works, go Linux Mint. Have much newer hardware and want to game, go with Fedora or an arch-based distro like EndeavourOS.
Don't go Ubuntu. You never go Ubuntu.
Switch to an open source alternative so you don't have to deal with services shutting down the same way. Some alternatives include Wallabag, Karakeep, Floccus, Otter.
Use GrapheneOS and switch to PIN authentication didabling fingerprint auth, especially when travelling abroad.
Leaving a comment here on behalf of HIMYM: Bowl.
Py-Charm isn't a Python interpreter, it's an IDE. It has a purpose.
Reminder to all Homeserver admins!
More info can be found in the TWIM post from this week(as well as last week): https://matrix.org/blog/2025/03/21/this-week-in-matrix-2025-03-21/
Personally, I've successfully setup the backend and frontend for my own HS which works great, meaning we're fully independent from the Matrix.org server. Documentation for the process is much improved compared to a few months ago.
Nice to see Matrix's Element client on there. Has definitely become my go-to and even managed to get friends, family, and my gaming community on there, replacing Discord entirely
Don't get the EU flag though, we should be pushing for global sovereign alternatives. Thos could indicate the inverse in that these applications/platforms are not useable outside EU which is incorrect, and unfortunate.
Self-hosted Matrix.
It still needs polish, but it's on a good path. Meanwhile others are centralized by a single authority with an easy target painted on them for government coercion along with multiple other attack surfaces, and even information easily traced to PII. Also, not everything is encrypted. A lot of metadata is left out of E2EE. And those servers/providers have that data.
By contrast, a drop in the ocean is far more likely to not be targetted from the outset, making pretty much any matrix server (potentially with the exception of the matrix.org one, but it's ok to treat it as a demo anyway) a really good choice in that sense.
Not strictly the same, but one of the most amazing feats to me in this topic was done by the Sacred community over at DarkMatters.
Apoligies for the wall of text, but I consider it worth a read.
Sacred 2 in particular never had its server code open sourced, leaked, or anything of the like as the studio went bankrupt before anything could happen, this was around 2010.
Over the course of a decade a few volunteer devs would pick up a project where using tools like wireshark etc they'd essentially sniff traffic sent by a client attempting connection to a server that didn't exist, and using this, devs would literally try to GUESS what a server would respond, and what a client expected, essentially trying to build out the backend infrastructure from SCRATCH.
Fast forward to 2020 or so and progress was still being made, not only that but things were beginning to actually take shape. In 2021 (IIRC) one dev in particular had the general frame of a working server and continued to work on it. Fast-forward and since 2022-23, you're able to run both a LOBBY for multiple servers and an actual GAME SERVER yourself, self-hosted and code is open.
I've ran a couple servers using docker since, where I played with friends, and being able to replay that childhood game, with friends, one I thought I'd never be able to share the experience for, is a dream come true.
Another neat thing is that it was reverse-engineered in windows, but the docker containers literally run WINE to translate windows calls to Linux and it just works.
Knowing I'm able to in 2,5,10,30 years pick this up, and not only that, but replay with friends means this work of art has a great chance at preservation.
If you're into power metal, there's a band called Blind Guardian, they not only did they the main theme for the game, but the band's members have an entire quest-line in-game that culminates with an in-game concert. Again, a work of art worth preserving, and now, it can be shared.
Arch was the distro that got me to stop distro-hopping. It's stable, it has a rolling release, and it's mine (as in, customizable, manageable).
I guess, if there's anything I wish I'd known off the bat is that the Arch documentation is probably the best available. So much so, a LOT of it applies to Linux in general and not strictly to Arch.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Main_page
If something breaks, READ the error messages, understand each component, and check the wiki, there's a very high chance the troubleshooting section has the exact issue laid out.
A solution to this is Nostr. One identity across the entire network.
Twitter-like Platform/client dies overnight? No problem, all data still there.
Reddit-like platform/client dies overnight? No problem, all data still there.
PC dies overnight? No problem, all data still there.
Data is sync'd across multiple relays, you can run your own, and clients are interoperable.
It's my go-to now, for everything. A person's posts, their followers/audience, chats, etc never needs to be migrated.
Media is stored using the Blossom protocol which was created for Nostr.
V4V(Value 4 Value) is also a thing, so instead of just Likes/Reactions you can tip/Zap Sats (Bitcoin over Lightning) but that's optional.