Can someone point me to a helpful beginners resource explaining some Linux basics? Like what is the difference between "distro", which is what, like Ubuntu, fedora, Debian (? Or is that a category of distro?) And desktop environment which is what, KDE, Lubuntu, gnome? Like I don't even know I have these categories right let alone understand why I'd pick one over another and what practical effects it will have- which apps will I/won't I be able to install, etc...

I'm not expecting anyone to answer these questions for me, but if you could point me to something already written, I'd appreciate it.

So I have a Synology server that I have a good deal of experience with, so this post will be through that lens.

What I'd like to do is set up a Raspberry Pi exclusively for pirating. So Qbittorrent and Proton VPN to get started, later Radarr, Lidarr, etc. I don't think I'll have a problem getting the Pi up and running, but I'd like to run it like my server, tucked away somewhere without a monitor or peripherals.

How do I access it? For my Synology box, I just put in a browser the local ip port 5000 and I have a whole desktop right there. But when I google about how I'd access a Pi, everything points to using SSH. I know a lot of people have Pis set up like this and surely they can't be administering the whole thing through CLI, right? How do I get a similar setup to my Synology such that I can just get a desktop interface in a browser?

My (first?) 3d printer arrives tomorrow. I've been researching for months. One category I've been looking into is 3d modeling software. They all have drawbacks (too expensive, too hard to learn, save files in the cloud, etc) but the one that seems to fit the best is this apparently new one called Plasticity. I'd be willing to spend the $150 and then decide after a year if I want to re-up or just keep the current version. Or maybe I'd upgrade every few years or something.

Anyway, there are a bunch of great reviews and tutorials but they're all over a year old, from when looks like the software was first released.

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with it and could advise if it's worth the $150.

I pre-ordered a Pebblebee and finally received it in June. It's now September and it's just as useless when it's farther away from me than I can throw it as it was back in June.

Are there plans to improve the network? Is it happening anytime soon or will my trackers remain worthless?

I'd like to get a Bambu Labs A1 with the AMS but I'll want a sturdy surface to put it on. I'm shopping around for tables with drawers and I'd like to know how big it needs to be. There are dimensions for the printer itself but it's hard to know how much more space I need to accommodate the AMS.

Most of my tomato plants are doing really well. But the one in the cage highlighted in red started failing a few weeks ago. I fertilized with some Miracle grow I had lying around and it didn't improve. Then I got some Tomato Tone. That did nothing. The plant kept getting worse and worse and now it's just a husk. I'm afraid blue is following next and I'm concerned about purple. Here's another angle for some more context. .

Any thoughts?

What percentage of Android phones are actually running it? I get that it's brand new and over time more and more phones will report the location of trackers, but are there any metrics on current "market saturation" (for lack of a better word)?

I just got my Pebblebee clips yesterday that I pre-ordered a few months ago. I wanted to test them out so I sent one in my kid's backpack to daycare today (which is a legit use case I had in mind when buying these, particularly when we leave him with a babysitter).

When I try to check on the location, it says "last seen at 7:45" which is when I dropped him off, implying that my phone was the last to ping the tracker. So that means none of the teachers' phones, nor any of the other parents' phones have pinged the tracker. It's not a big daycare but he's one of the first to arrive. There should have been at least 2 dozen other phones near his backpack since then. This brings me back to my question about how many phones would you expect to report the location of a tracker.

I have an ancient Pixel 3 that still works. I'd like to install a new, third-party OS. Which would you recommend?

I can see that there are many: Lineage, Calyx, /e/, Graphene, .... How do I make the decision? Can all of them work on a phone as old as my Pixel 3?

Edit: holy shit, I just installed Lineage OS on my lunch break! I've installed "alternative" OSes before on computers but never on a phone. I just followed the instructions (which were a little confusing as there were nested steps) and it's up and running!

I didn't plant it (intentionally) but it's definitely more than a weed. I'm letting it grow just to see what it wants to grow up to be.