I second the Framework laptops. I’ve bought 4 Framework 13s so far, and no issues with any of them.

I recommend dual booting Windows and Linux until you’re comfortable switching entirely. Sometimes you need to go back for just one task.

Always back up your files before installing a new OS. Data loss is always possible during installation, and more likely if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The Grub boot manager (included and installed by default with Linux Mint and some other distros) makes it easy to pick which OS to boot each time when turning the computer on.

Check out Lutris for non-Steam Windows games. It uses Wine, but is a lot more user friendly to set up and use.

You can always try the live USB without/before installing. It’s a great way to start getting comfortable or try out several different distros with minimal effort and risk.

Admittedly, there isn’t much overlap between the people genuinely asking and the people actively advancing climate change.

I think I have graphics driver issues, but it could just as easily be a failing graphics card without testing. Mint has a great driver manager from Ubuntu, but LMDE didn’t seem to have any driver GUI.
The main symptom is about 30 minutes into almost any game the fps drops from 60+ to ~10. Only restarting the game seems to fix it.

I don’t remember the other minor issues, so they’ve either been fixed, or so minor I stopped noticing them.

I think LMDE is good enough to use as a daily driver. The installer is quite nice too.

Installing Plasma should be as simple as “apt install kde-plasma-desktop”, then log out and select plasma from the login screen. I’ve tried other DEs but not Plasma, so I can’t say for certain it will work.

You can always try distros in a VM almost completely risk free. It won’t tell you everything, but it’s an easy way to get first impressions without losing your main OS.

Edit: This forum thread says you can install and use Plasma, but it’s not a great experience. Mint will probably not be the right option for you then.

I’ve been distro hopping for years. After each time trying a few distros, I always find myself coming back to Linux Mint (cinnamon desktop environment). It has everything I need, and just works beautifully out of the box. It might not be flashy or have the latest cutting edge features, but it’s stable.

I’m currently running the Debian edition of Mint (LMDE), and wishing I was back on standard Mint. Nothing major, but a few minor persistent issues that never happened on Mint.

I did try NixOS (immutable OS), but it didn’t seem to have support for all the apps I wanted. I gave up fairly quickly, so you’ll probably have more success.

I wanted to install an extra hard drive in my computer, but the power supply didn’t have enough connectors. I actually had a spare power supply unit, but upon testing, the 24 pin cable was too short to reach the motherboard.

I ended up using both PSUs. Only one had a power switch on it, so that was connected to the hard drives. I had to use a paperclip in the unused 24 pin connector to make it output power. The 2 PSUs had a wire running between the ground pins of a random unused connector, and they were on the same phase circuit.

The hard drive PSU had to be turned on first at the switch. Once that was on, I could press the power button to turn on the computer. I think I used it for about a year before buying enough upgrade parts to effectively replace the entire computer.

I still see this every few months.

I think it’s happening if a key is released at the same time as a window opens or changes to full screen, but it’s too rare to properly troubleshoot. The fix is still the same.

You don’t need to do everything every day. Some days, surviving is enough.

I decided to use NAND instead of NOR, but it’s effectively the same thing.

Scala:

//main
@main
def main(): Unit =
  var i = 15 //Choose any number here
  i = add(i, 1) //this increments i
  println(i)

//Adds 2 numbers in the most intuitive way
def add(a: Int, b: Int): Int =
  val pairs = split(a).zip(split(b))
  val sumCarry = pairs.scanLeft(false, false)((last, current) => fullAdder(current._1, current._2, last._2))
  return join(sumCarry.map(_._1).tail.reverse)

//Converts an integer to a list of booleans
def join(list: Seq[Boolean]): Int = BigInt(list.map(if (_) '1' else '0').mkString, 2).toInt

//Converts a list of booleans to an integer
def split(num: Int): Seq[Boolean] = num.toBinaryString.reverse.padTo(32, '0').map(_ == '1')

//Adds 2 booleans and a carry in, returns a sum and carry out
def fullAdder (a: Boolean, b: Boolean, c: Boolean): (Boolean, Boolean) =
  (NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c)), NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c), c)), NAND(NAND(NAND(NAND(a, NAND(a, b)), NAND(NAND(a, b), b)), c), NAND(a, b)))

//The basis for all operations
def NAND(a: Boolean, b: Boolean): Boolean = !a || !b

EDIT: replaced Integer.parseInt with BigInt(...).toInt to fix NumberFormatException with negative numbers.

try it online here

Interesting extension. I think I’ll give it a try.

It is entirely open source, and the website does a very good job explaining what it does and why.

I find your lack of comma disturbing.

Prey gives you the choices up front, tells you they don’t matter, then gives you a really good game to play.

Start today. Download VirtualBox (or equivalent software) and if you make a mistake, you can just nuke the OS and start over without risk.

You can always try Linux risk free in a virtual machine like VirtualBox.

If you like what you see, and you have any valuable data backed-up, you can try dual booting. That way you get to use Linux as your primary operating system, but can switch back and forth as much as needed.

I found I was dual booting Windows and Linux for over 3 years before I was comfortable enough to stop using Windows entirely. Switching to Linux doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach. You can take it as slow as you want.

If you are worried, a qualified medical practitioner is always more reliable than a web forum.

Insufficient or poor quality sleep can cause problems with attention and memory, and can exacerbate existing conditions.

Poor sleep could be caused by a medical condition (sleep apnoea), or psychological (stress). Often stress can be hard to identify, particularly if it’s long term stress.

Again, this might not be your problem, and finding the right doctor who actually listens to you is important. Don’t be afraid to try more than 1 doctor if the first makes you uncomfortable.

Xed

It opens quickly

And people wonder why whales beach themselves.

Space Oddity