I just discovered something I did so idiotic I need a stronger adjective that what is in my name.

For one of my installs, I accidentally overwrote my 1TB HDD. A few minutes ago I wanted to put back some files... and all I saw was a distro.

It confused me because I was not sure if I was on my solid state drive or the HDD.

So, those files are gone. A lot is gone. Nothing too precious, I think... It might be a tremendous fuck up.

See kids, this is why you back up. Off the computer. Oh well.

EDIT: Recovering files using Photorec. Everyone who recommended this to me is a hero. Also a hero is the person who recommended FTK, but I was too eager to use something now than to sign up to download. I still should though...

I am freaking out on how well distrobox is working for me. I buy a lot of games on itch.io and GOG, and neither have a flatpak. However, installing an Ubuntu container (max compatibility) and launching games from there just works. Okay, I have yet to install a GOG game, but it the Itch client works then what won't?

I am so excited. Containers are so fun. I guess arch would be easier, but whatevs.

For like a month or two I decided, screw it, I am going to use all the programs I cannot use on Linux. This was mostly games and music making software.

I guess it was fun for a bit, tries different DAWs, did not play a single game because no time.

Basically, it was not worth it. The only thing I enjoyed was OneDrive, because having your files available anywhere is dope, but I also hate it because it wants to delete your local files. I think that was on me.

Anyways, I am back. Looking at Nextcloud. Looking at Ardour. I am fine paying for software, but morally I got to support and learn the tools that are available to me and respect FOSS. (Also less expensive... spent a lot on my experiment).

Anyone done this? Abondoned their principles thinking the grass would be greener, but only to look at their feet coverered in crap (ads, intrusive news, just bad UI).

I don't know. I don't necesarily regret it, but I won't be doing it again. What I spent is a sunk cost, but some has linux support, and VSTs for download. So, I shall see.

TL;DR I am using Windows and I want help setting up all the conveniences I enjoyed back into Linux... specifically an alternative to OneDrive.

I am going to admit something that is strange and maybe evil... at the least it betrays a loss of integrity and deficit of dignitity.

For the past few months I have been using Microsoft Windows as my OS. It started with finally deciding to play with AI and turning on the features on my phone... which meant turning on Google Play Services... not necessary, but it is what I did.

Then I randomly bought some tiny Livaa PC to mess around with that came with Windows, so I got comfy with that.

As a student, I must use Microsoft Word because as much as Libre Office tries it just mangles the formatting. So, I discovered Office 365 and how it is easily accessible in the Edge Browser... plus Bing AI.

One day I just thought fuck it, I want to use all the music software, play all the games. I want to use my graphics card without needing to think. I want all the harware I bought to work. So I installed Windows. I use OneDrive. I ask Bing, and Bard, and Opera AI...

Well, I pay for Kagi because it is better.

....

Anyways, I think I had my fun. I want to go back. I need to, it is potentially immoral not to.

Please help me transition back!

I am currently using Linux Mint (after a long stint of using MX Linux) after learning it handles Nvidia graphics cards flawlessly, which I am grateful for. Whatever grief I have given Ubuntu in the past, I take it back because when they make something work, it is solid.

Anyways, like most distros these days, Flatpaks show up alongside native packages in the package manager / app store. I used to have a bias towards getting the natively packed version, but these days, I am choosing Flatpaks, precisely because I know they will be the latest version.

This includes Blender, Cura, Prusaslicer, and just now QBittorrent. I know this is probably dumb, but I choose the version based on which has the nicer icon.

I recently made a mastodon account after deleting mine about six months ago. Joining Lemmy has made me curious about what I left behind.

Do you enable require follow requests?

I used to be pretty permissive, but the people I admired had that turned on. I turned it on for my new account the moment I thought to ask this question.

Are there upside or downsides to this? Please share any thoughts I want to know if it even matters.

I recently started looking into hosting my own email, and the suggestions I got were very encouraging, with a lot of easy solutions paired with some unavoidable gotchas.

It is has become apparent that for me to do this right, I need my own domain name, maybe a VPS or host.

I was about to purchase from Infomaniak, which also had an email solution I liked, but one the prices in euro was throwing me off and two it defeats the purpose of controlling and running my own internet services.

So, I will skip the email hosting and give a try at running my own.

Still, is Infomaniak a good buy? I am going crazy thinking up a good name, and settles on the extension me since it will be a personal thing, but not use my real name since I am going to avoid that shit until I really need to.

Any help would be welcome. Thank you.

UPDATE: I bought a domain name off of Porkbun, which was surprisingly pleasant. I am a sucker for cute guided experiences.

All this new excitement with Lemmy and federation has got me thinking that maybe I should learn to run my own instance. What always comes up though is how email is the orginal federated technology.

I am looking at proxmox and see that is has a built in email server, so now I am wondering if it is time to role my own.

I stopped using gmail a long time ago, and right now I use ProtonMail, but I am super frustrated with the dumb limitation of only having a single account for the app. I get why they do it, and I am willing to pay, but it is pricey and I don't know if that is my best option. I guess it is worth it since ProtonVPN is included. It looks like they are expanding their suite.

Is it worth it? Can I make it secure? Is it stupid to run it off a local computer on my home network?

My experience with the Fediverse has only been through Mastodon, through which I struggled to find a community I really gelled with. Either it was supper overwhelming with meme posts or NSFW, or it was too chill to the point of nothing. Or, it was hyperfocused like FOSS/Linux and became uninteresting after awhile. May try again, but I think I will explore the other fedisites like Plemora or Calckey to see if I like it better.

I love the pace of a forum. I grew up primarily with GameFAQS and some lucid dreaming forum, and honestly it was very formative in teaching me how to write and use critical thinking skills, as well as how to respond to a variety of temperaments. I stopped participating in online forums awhile ago, and while I loved Reddit as a resource, I never felt inspired to participate. In the same way, there are an incredible number of forums dedicated to a certain topic, and are extremely valuable, it would be annoying to make an account for all the things I am interested in.

I like what lemmy is becoming. Glad to find system that makes interacting with people enjoyable.