I really liked Need for Speed World and discovered it 1 week before the severs were taken offline.

At least I still have Need for Speed Most Wanted III.

The might be a little too much personally identifying information if I mention them. I don’t want to risk it.

I spent 1 hour of unpaid work experience for a telephone provider. I found out on the day that I would be handing out pamphlets in a supermarket.

The person who was supposed to be helping and/or supervising just gave me the pamphlets and walked off to chat with his girlfriend. The only time he intervened was to tell me off for answering a potential customer’s question. I knew the answer, but I was supposed to defer to him (not that he told me beforehand) so that he could sugar coat (read - lie about) the answer.

I never went back, and tell all my friends to avoid that company. I’ve since discovered that they also do many illegal things to get more money from their customers, but will suddenly comply if you know your rights so that they never get caught.

Do you think you could teach Linux to your grandmother?

My 50+ yo mother uses Linux Mint daily with fewer problems that when she used Windows. Her crowning achievement in IT is learning how to use email.

I helped my 93 yo friend switch from Windows 10 to Linux 2 years ago. He called me 3 times in the first 2 weeks to ask how to do something, but hasn’t had a single problem since that’s related to the OS.

Linux Mint, Bazzite, Fedora, and several other Linux distros are already easier to use than Windows. The only thing holding most people back is fear of change.

There are some people who have specific setups in Windows or a large number of “Windows only” apps, but these people are in the minority. The average person can’t even tell you which operating system they’re currently using, and wouldn’t notice the difference if you swapped the OS but kept the same web browser.

Or Malbolge

git-fire

“git-fire is a Git plugin that helps in the event of an emergency by switching to the repository’s root directory, adding all current files, committing, and pushing commits and all stashes to a new branch (to prevent merge conflicts).”

LLMs are great at language problems. If you’re learning the syntax of a new programming language or you’ve forgotten the syntax for a specific feature, LLMs will give you exactly what you want.

I frequently use AI/LLMs when switching languages to quickly get me back up to speed. They’re also adequate at giving you a starting point, or a basic understanding of a library or feature.

The major downfall is if you ask for a solution to a problem. Chances are, it will give you a solution. Often it won’t work at all.
The real problem is when it does work.

I was looking for a datatype that could act as a cache (forget the oldest item when adding a new one). I got a beautifully written class with 2 fields and 3 methods.
After poking at the AI for a while, it realized that half the code wasn’t actually needed. After much more prodding, it finally informed me that there was actually an existing datatype (LinkedHashMap) that would do exactly what I wanted.

Be aware that AI/LLMs will rarely give you the best solution, and often give you really bad solutions even when an elegant one exists. Use them to learn if you want, but don’t trust them.

Just remember to turn steam play on for all titles in Steam -> Settings -> Compatibility.

As others have said, Mint is a great starting option. It looks familiar when coming from Windows, and almost everything works without having to touch a terminal.

AAA games with anti-cheat may not work, but just about everything else will. Check Proton DB for each game’s compatibility.
You can add non-Steam games to Steam to take advantage of Proton. Lutris can also work for some Windows games.

If you want to try Linux distributions to see what they’re like before committing, VirtualBox or other virtual machine programs can give you a risk-free preview.

Another option is a live preview. Install Linux Mint on a USB using Rufus or a similar program, then boot your computer from the USB. So long as you don’t access your computer’s hard drive (under devices on the left of the file manager) or run the installer, no changes should be made from your computer. You can simply reboot and remove the USB to go back to your usual OS.

If you are going to dual-boot, install Windows first. Windows has a habit of overriding or deleting Linux if it’s installed second. If you just want to shrink your Windows partition to allow room for Linux, shrink it from Windows. Linux can move “unmovable” Windows files resulting in Windows not booting.

Always have a backup of everything you are not prepared to lose before you play with installing operating systems (and make sure it’s disconnected from that computer). Data loss from software issues is rare, but mistakes are difficult (sometimes impossible) to reverse, particularly as a beginner.

It took me 3 years from when I first started dual booting to when I launched Windows for the last time.

Take your time, move as slowly as you want, and always leave a way back. Eventually you might notice that you’re feeling more comfortable with Linux than Windows, and if you’re lucky, you might not even notice when you’ve stopped using Windows.

It sounds like your driving instructor wasn’t any good. A good driving instructor will never put you in a situation that you are not ready for. They never should have allowed you to get a licence until you felt safe.

If you feel like you’re not in control then you’re right - this accident is proof of that. If you want to try driving again, I highly recommend getting a good driving instructor first - one who won’t put you in situations you can’t handle.

If you can get everywhere you need to without driving, then you can save yourself a lot of money by not paying for a car, insurance, or registration.

You always have the right to say no, and you can always say “not now”. Maybe wait a few more weeks before making a decision.

NSFW lyrics

Peace of mind (knowing that your partner is ok) can significantly reduce stress and increase quality of life.

Even if the device can’t give an alert soon enough to do anything, just looking and seeing that they are ok this morning can bring a sense of peace, and that’s worth something.

Trump is not what’s causing most of the issues in America. He may be a loose cannon and making everything worse, but the real damage is coming from a few very rich people bribing government officials to change laws, and they’ve been doing this for a long time.

Even if you killed every person who made the system this bad, you’d still be left with a system designed to oppress the masses and make rich people richer. Assassinations aren’t a silver bullet (unless made of silver).

https://xkcd.com/936/

You should try talking to me instead. I’ll still interrupt and talk over you, but I’ll also repeatedly apologise for it.

That’s a good argument for including very late term abortion. Inheritance tax.

Abortion should be mandatory.

People keep arguing over whether abortion should be legal or not, but my opinion is that it should be forced on everyone whether they want it or not. Late term abortions up to 100 years after birth should also be considered for inclusion in this rule.

One of my favourite activities is finding controversial opinions, then taking an opinion so extreme that it makes everyone else look like a centrist.

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.