You don't say what else other than gaming you want to do, so it's harder to advise. Still, consider bazzite KDE, easy, stable, relatively close to the bleeding edge without all the cuts, everything you need for gaming in the tin.

It's the XY Problem. Champion.

Pass it on...

For a media server speed matters little (5400rpm is plenty), if you've only got one drive, warranty is king. Thing is you shouldn't only have one drive, drives will fail, and warranty doesn't get your data back, so you plan for it. At the very least, you should look at getting an offline backup as soon as possible, now you don't care if your drive fails and can get the cheapest ones. Ideally, you also set up a RAID5 (or Unraid, or mergerfs+SnapRAID) on your server, now you just get a replacement drive and rebuild. Remember RAID is not a backup, it doesn't protect against accidental deletions for example, so you still want the offline backup.

Also, don't sleep on manufacturer recertified drives, as long as you have a backup they're significantly more cost-effective.

TLDR: set yourself up so that a drive failing is not a problem.

Way too many moving parts for only two gears. Also, only two gears, so no.

Rather obvious that 'What product did live up to its advertised claims?' is a more useful question...

OSS, local llm, SearXNG. I likey, is there a demo ? SearXNG via VPN has helped unshittifying my search, but GIGO still applies.

Shocked Pikachu...

Use crappy messenger software (Slack, Discord), get crappy outcomes.

Probably an instant hire from me if it's pulled off in any significant way...

Australia, the testing ground for bad privacy invading policy for the five (/thirteen/whatever we're up to now) eyes. Also run by technical morons (“The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia”). ASSAct etc.

Just make inconvenient days holidays, few will complain.

I have read some headline

Really.