lancalot

joined 1 week ago
[–] lancalot@discuss.online 2 points 7 hours ago

Yup; at least to some extent.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I don't know why, but openSUSE has had difficulty garnering popularity overall (aside from Germany).

A possible explanation, which also ties in to Fedora, is how both are the open source variants to corporate distros; SEL and RHEL respectively.

Arch and Debian are more community-driven by comparison.

For Fedora specifically, people couldn't regard it as anything but a testing bed distro; especially if you see how back2back they were with adopting new technologies like PulseAudio, systemd, Wayland, GTK 3/4, PipeWire etc. To be fair, openSUSE was the first to default to Btrfs and auto-snapshotting with Snapper*. Fedora was also facing competition from industry darling CentOS; similar code base, but a lot more stable.

Thankfully, since a couple of years now, Fedora has recognized that it's not cool to expect your user base to be sadistic. And together with the (unfortunate) downfall of CentOS, Manjaro and Ubuntu - Fedora has amassed a very healthy user base. And with how quickly Bazzite is becoming the face of gaming Linux (at least until Valve releases SteamOS), I don't think it has even peaked yet.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 2 points 8 hours ago (4 children)

Historically, (at least for hobbyists/enthusiasts) Fedora and openSUSE have been a lot less popular compared to Arch, Debian and their derivatives. While not necessarily representative, Boiling Steam's chart -in which ProtonDB's data is used- does indicate to this as well.

Just my 2 cents.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 11 points 13 hours ago

My go to back in The Day was just Ubuntu because I was lazy.

So we have a bias towards Debian-based distros.

it’s not been playing nice with my Zen 4 desktop when it comes to ACPI power states (no sleep, doesn’t reliably turn the power off when i ask it to turn off, etc).

However, a newer kernel is definitely preferred.

is also something based on a normal distro that most people write guides for because I am a smoothbrain.

And finally, healthy access to documentation.


Based on the above, I would not pick:

  • Debian Stable or any distro based on it. They ship with the 6.1 kernel, which launched only a couple months (January 2023) after the launch of Zen 4 (September 2022). I'm aware that access to newer kernels is possible. However, at that point, why even bother with Debian Stable to begin with?
  • While both of Debian's Testing and Sid/Unstable branches have access to newer kernels from the get-go, distros that ship the latest kernel by default (e.g. Arch, Fedora, openSUSE Tumbleweed and their derivatives) are simply better for offering an end-user product.
  • Arch, Fedora, openSUSE Tumbleweed and their derivatives are primarily dismissed for not being based on Debian. Though, the fact that they're more towards the rolling release side of things does play a minor role as well. By their very nature, they will change. Hence it's less ideal for "set-and-forget" setups.
  • Pop_OS!' team seems to be primarily focused on delivering their upcoming COSMIC DE. For this reason, the distro has been in relative limbo. Therefore, I can't recommend it.
  • TUXEDO OS is dismissed for being relatively unpopular. Lots of other Debian(/Ubuntu) derivatives are dismissed for various reasons.

Let's get to the actual recommendation, Linux Mint seems to be tailor-made for your use case:

  • Based on Ubuntu, but without Snaps. While you can choose to use Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) instead, that one doesn't come with the latest kernel. So the recommendation is for (standard/vanilla) Linux Mint.
  • Their forums are full with up-to-date and (relatively) well-written guides; while the excellent ArchWiki is arguably better, Linux Mint isn't a slouch either. Furthermore, as Linux Mint is very popular, you can simply expect to find solutions to most things that might come up.
[–] lancalot@discuss.online 2 points 23 hours ago

I had something similar going on in Fedora Silverblue. I didn't really want to fiddle with it at the moment, so I just uninstalled whatever I got from ProtonVPN and the update went smooth afterwards. I hope someone else can point you towards a better answer.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Important elaboration. Much appreciated.

I'm mostly oblivious of what's required to run an ISP. But you mentioned servers yourself. Do you install Linux Mint on your servers?

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 1 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Fair. Even if some may dismiss it as anecdotal (N=1), I do think it's valuable. Thank you.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 1 points 4 days ago (6 children)

with Mint when the next release you are more likely than not going to have to re-install

First time hearing this. Got anything to back that up?

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Still getting the hang of Ubuntu, but I see a lot of comments on different posts in which a majority of them point to using Mint instead.

Ubuntu should be okay; it's not necessarily a bad pick. However, the community has been upset with some of its past decisions and (more recently) the implementation of its vision, i.e. their enforcement of Snaps. This has eventually led to our current situation in which it has become popular to hate on Ubuntu.

Would the best recommendation, be to switch to Mint from Ubuntu?

Personally, I've stopped recommending beginners to Ubuntu. This is primarily for how the above mentioned enforcement has lead to ~~broken~~ unintuitive interactions. However, if you've already started using it and are content with what you have, then the negative sentiment by itself shouldn't warrant a switch.

Though, granted, (I think) most Linux users have indulged in distro hopping; some have even made it their hobbies. So you shouldn't feel bad about switching either. Though I implore you to practice best practices while at it:

  • Keep using your home base until you're certain of the switch.
  • Don't nuke your home base to experience another distro. Make ample use of live USBs, VMs and dual booting instead.
  • Try to understand the difference between the fundaments and the auxiliary when experiencing new distros; i.e., what is and isn't possible for you to import to your home base without outright switching.
[–] lancalot@discuss.online 1 points 6 days ago

Is there a specific android app you need?

Currently, there are already a couple I need beyond future-proofing.

https://gitlab.com/android_translation_layer/android_translation_layer/

Thanks for mentioning this! While I've had some experience with Waydroid in the past, this is completely new to me. Looking at it briefly, it seems to operate differently than Waydroid's full Android emulation approach. Instead, it works as a translation layer (like Wine), making it both more efficient and potentially better integrated with Linux. Is this a correct assessment?

Despite having researched Android on Linux solutions before, I hadn't come across this one. Typically, these discussions only mention Anbox or Waydroid.

[–] lancalot@discuss.online 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Thank you for mentioning Jellyfin. However, unfortunately, I do need support for Android apps. That's simply nonnegotiable. Mind you; I'm well aware of the capabilities of Jellyfin. But there are simply things it can't do...

 

Greetings fellow privacy enthusiasts!

I'm searching for a privacy-respecting media box that can run Android apps. The streaming device market features options like Shield TV, Chromecast and various Amlogic boxes. However, finding one that truly embraces FOSS principles while meeting essential needs has proven challenging.

Essential requirements:

  • Android app compatibility - specifically need to run certain apps
  • Strong privacy and security features
  • Reliable, long-term software support (I've grown weary of devices becoming obsolete within 2-3 years)
  • Budget-conscious: Aiming for under 150€, though I'm willing to invest appropriately for the right solution
  • Willing to invest significant time in initial setup, but afterwards it should "just work" with minimal maintenance
  • Timely and automatic security updates (ideally close to upstream releases)

My initial research suggests two potential approaches, though I'm not entirely certain about all implications:

  1. Mainstream devices (like Nvidia Shield) that can be degoogled through ADB commands
  2. Devices that are officially supported by LineageOS

While both paths seem promising, each raises certain concerns. For instance, degoogling might require ongoing maintenance, and running LineageOS could mean losing some device-specific functionality (as is the case with Shield).

The Raspberry Pi, with its open-source foundation and community-driven LineageOS development, seems interesting, though the lack of institutional backing raises some concerns about long-term reliability.

I'm still learning about the security implications of these choices. While I understand that phones running LineageOS don't match GrapheneOS's security standards, I'm uncertain how these considerations translate to a media box environment.

I'm open to exploring:

  • Custom firmware solutions
  • Alternative hardware platforms
  • Creative, FOSS-friendly approaches that preserve privacy while maintaining Android compatibility

Has anyone in the community successfully navigated these choices? Your experiences and insights would be invaluable, particularly regarding long-term viability and security considerations.

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