Background:

Typically when I'm trying something new on Linux, I search for an online guide that doesn't assume I'm already an expert and looks like it should be easy enough for a pleb like myself to follow. Whatever it is I'm trying to do, it usually takes me multiple tries to get it right. Sometimes, when I'm venturing into new territory, I'll derp around in a VM so I can take snapshots and then revert to the last good snapshot when something inevitably goes wrong. This approach works well for me most of the time.

But every now and then, I don't want to use a VM, I want to use a spare laptop that I have lying around, "bare metal" if you will. It just feels more... authentic? My hesitation w/ practicing on spare laptops is that when I mess it up, the only way I know how to start over with a clean slate is to reinstall the OS and try again. This approach is not ideal b/c I mess up a lot - this is a fact of my life - and reinstalling the OS after every mistake takes a lot of time, to the point that I just stop persuing whatever project I was working on.

Question:

Is this a good use case for btrfs? How easy is it for a pleb like myself to take snapshots and then roll back to the previous state after jacking up a config file in /home or /etc or something?

For example, I came across this YouTube video in which the author tests a whole bunch of batteries and displays a series of bar charts showing each battery's performance in various categories. How do content creators capture and log battery output like that? Is there a specific tool that plugs into a PC or records to a MicroSD card or something?

Background: I have a laptop in one room on one floor that I'd like to be able to remote into from another laptop in another room on another floor. All spaces are covered by wifi. In general, I always prefer free and open source tools when available, which is why I've been trying RustDesk, and I really want to like it.

Problem: It seems like every 5 to 10 minutes, the connection hangs, and the only way to restore the connection is for me to bring my laptop upstairs and reset the connection on both machines. This is a significant impediment that renders the app basically unusable in my case.

Has anyone else had this issue? If so, how did you resolve it? Or if you use a different tool, which one, and how's that going for you?

On AlternativeTo.net, I'm seeing suggestions such as TigerVNC and HopToDesk, although I haven't tried either of them.

Both laptops are running popular Linux distros w/ graphical desktops (Mint, Fedora, etc).

EDIT: Based on everyone's replies, I'm thinking I'll explore VNC over SSH (will attempt to follow this guide). Thanks for the tips!

I don't care about perks or rewards, I just want a free and open license database that enables me to find and contribute gas prices in my area without spying on me. I've searched AlternativeTo.net, but nothing open source comes up. Thanks!

Excerpt from the article, dated February 17th, 2026:

Hello Squaddies, and welcome to Patch 10.3

We have a slew of great stuff for you in this Patch! 10.3 introduces new content for the PLA factions including modernized infantry weapons and iconic PLA vehicles, a new emplacement, and a static landing ship. It also introduces our first installment of Community-made map layers and the removal of Faction Restrictions. Get ready to play way more factions on maps that you have never seen before! We have also added gestures usage inside vehicles and emotes usage out of main base. And as always a number of bug fixes.

Read the whole article | Archive.org

I know the original update is two weeks old (February 11th), but I'm trying to make a habit of posting about major updates in the various gaming communities that I'm in. Hello Games have released four subsequent patches (6.21, 6.21.1, 6.22, and 6.23.

How are travellers enjoying the updates so far?

Excerpt from the article:

In 2025, No Man’s Sky Travellers were treated to one of our biggest years yet. Even we struggle to know how we pulled off so many large updates last year - Worlds Part II and Voyagers were both transformational and released in the same year, interspersed with smaller but significant updates in Relics, Beacon and Breach.

Today we’re pleased to announce that our first update of 2026, our 10th anniversary year, is already rolling out. It’s called Remnant and it introduces something that we and the community have been aching to introduce to No Man’s Sky since the beginning… a fully operational gravity gun! Full patch notes are available here.

Read the whole article | Archive.org

I currently have a hardware KVM switch so that I can switch between controlling my personal laptop and my work laptop with one mouse and keyboard. Instead of only controlling one or the other at a time, is there a tool that would enable me to "switch" between my personal and work laptops without having to hit a physical switch? Ideally I'd like to be able to just move my mouse pointer from one screen to the other, click to bring a window into focus on either machine, and start typing in that window.

I'm aware of tools like Synergy, the only problem I have w/ that tool is I cannot install any software on my work laptop. I'm open to hardware or software solutions. Thank you!

I enjoy derping around w/ virtual machines b/c not only can I revert to a clean snapshot, I can grab screenshots of pretty much any screen in the VM, including on the initial boot screen.

Is there some way for me to get a similar experience to using VMs except instead of a virtual machine, I'd be derping with a spare laptop next to my main daily driver PC? I don't care about snapshots, I'm mostly concerned about being able to record a video or grab screenshots of the boot screen and BIOS settings without having to use my phone to take the video/photo. In other words, like a remote desktop experience that persists during reboots of the "guest" laptop.

What equipment would I need for this? Should I look into video capture cards or KVM switches? Both the "host" and "guest" systems will be running one of the mainstream Linux distros (Mint, Fedora, etc).

Part of the challenge for me is actually articulating what it is I'm trying to do and knowing what terms to search for on DDG, so please feel free to ask questions to clarify my requirements. Thank you!

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Although your comments definitely piqued my curiosity in devices such as JetKVM, I ordered this video capture card, since in my case, the machine I want to capture images/videos from will be next to my "host" machine. That said, I'll definitely keep these KVM devices in mind in case my needs change down the road.

It's been about three-and-a-half weeks now since I filled up a couple 5-gallon containers in anticipation of power outages during a winter storm. Since I'm a dumb dumb, I did not add stabilizer at the time, but I do have some Seafoam stabilizer on hand.

I understand fuel degrades over time and running degraded fuel can damage engine parts. Should I pour the fuel into my vehicle or will that gum up my car's engine? Is it still worth adding stabilizer today so that I can continue to store it in my garage for a rainy day? The only other responsible alternative I can think of is taking it to a hazardous disposal site in my county. It's octane rating 87, I believe it also has ethanol, in case that makes any difference.

Excerpt:

We have a slew of great stuff for you in this Patch! 10.3 introduces new content for the PLA factions including modernized infantry weapons and iconic PLA vehicles, a new emplacement, and a static landing ship. It also introduces our first installment of Community-made map layers and the removal of Faction Restrictions. Get ready to play way more factions on maps that you have never seen before! We have also added gestures usage inside vehicles and emotes usage out of main base. And as always a number of bug fixes.

Read the full article | Archive.org

I know about https://<home_instance>/instances, but this only shows which other instances my home instance has defederated from. To check which other instances have defederated from my home instances, I would have to check https://<other_instance>/instances for each and every other instance, which is not feasible.

Is there a one stop shop for checking which other instances have defederated from my home instance?

I've tried searching for such a tool, but most search results are about https://<home_instance>/instances. I've also seen mentions of https://defed.xyz/, but that site doesn't seem to do anything - when I visit that URL, all I see is a broken image placeholder.

Thank you!

I've been reading up on the concept of dotfile management, and I've come across tools such as GNU Stow, chezmoi, and yadm, but before I select a tool, I'd like to understand the workflow a little better.

I understand if the dotfiles are in some cloud provider such as GitHub, then after a fresh install one can do git clone etc, but let's say one's dotfiles are not stored in the cloud, then what's the workflow for getting those dotfiles onto the freshly installed OS? Do people do git clone from another machine on their local network, manually copy the dotfiles folder from the source, use an app like LocalSend, or something else?

EDIT: Clarifying that this is for a home environment, where I have two or three different laptops in service at any given time. One is my main daily driver and doesn't change much. The other two are kinda my sandboxes and I'm often distro hopping on them. This question is mostly for distro hopping on my sandboxes, which is like once or twice a month. Thanks!