This is good to know. I’ve seen the aurora once and it was like the bottom of the graph describes it - a very faint glow, barely noticeable to the naked eye, but it turned up much better in photos.

I’m a long term Mac user and have been periodically playing with Linux because I want to fully switch eventually. (full disclosure I currently still have a MacBook I use as well as a Linux desktop)

I’ve tried Ubuntu, Debian, Elementary, and probably a few others I’ve forgotten, but the first one I’ve really felt is a viable daily driver OS is Bazzite. This is because it largely just works out of the box, such that you only need to install and tweak extra things if you really want to.

I strongly recommend Bazzite, and I personally prefer the Gnome variant.

Bazzite gives you:

• easy way to update everything in one place
• “App Store” like application to find most apps you’ll need
• all the basic drivers and utilities you’ll need out of the box
• a “Files” application that feels like Finder
• a “Document Viewer” application that feels like Preview (although it’s not as powerful)
• a quick search feature that’s a lot like Apple’s Spotlight, and honestly is way more reliable than Spotlight in more recent macOS releases
• multitouch trackpad gesture support out of the box
• a Settings app that is pretty straightforward to navigate and controls most of the things you would care about
• There are other settings apps for finer tweaking. I know that sounds confusing, but Linux people wouldn’t complain if it wasn’t possible to change every detail somehow. Bazzite does a good job of making the important stuff accessible in the main settings app IMO, so you generally don’t have to worry about the deeper options.

Here’s a guide to get you started:

1. Go here: https://bazzite.gg/
2. Fill out the dropdowns (Q: What hardware are you using? A: Desktop, Q: Who is the vendor of your primary GPU? A: this depends, it’s important to get it right, ask for help if you are unsure, Q: What desktop environment do you prefer? A: I recommend gnome, but KDE is great too, Q: Do you want Steam Gaming Mode? A: No, I want a traditional desktop experience)
3. Click the “download Bazzite …” button
4. Make a USB stick into a bootable Bazzite installer (I recommend using https://etcher.balena.io/)
5. Boot your computer from the USB stick. How to do this depends on the motherboard, but generally means holding down a key while booting (on a Mac it’s Option, on other computers it’s often something like Del or F2 or F12 or something) This will bring you to a menu that you navigate with keyboard arrows until you find the option to boot from the USB
6. Follow the steps from the installer. It’s pretty user friendly.

Note that this will delete all data in the USB you use and the drive you install Bazzite on

Once you have installed Bazzite, here are a few programs I’d recommend (these can be found in the “Bazaar”, which is an “App Store” like way to get programs.

• VLC (like QuickTime in macOS, but honestly VLC is way more powerful)
• LibreOffice (there are a couple FOSS Office suite options, this is the one I personally recommend)
• KdenLive (video editing - like iMovie or Final Cut)
• GIMP (like Adobe Photoshop)
• Disk Usage Analyzer (like DaisyDisk on Mac), if you’ve ever used that
• Mailspring (I haven’t found an email app that is quite as nice as Apple’s but Mailspring is the one I’m currently using)

If you have any other questions let me know! I’m happy to help.

It’s not easy to switch, but it can be made easier if you keep all your important files in one place.

From my experience, you have to manually go to the Nvidia website and download the installer on Windows.

In Linux, depending on the flavor, it may be copy-paste a line from Nvidia’s website, or selecting the right option in the OS settings.

Nvidia graphics cards don’t “just work” on windows either tbf

Cold brew is easy. You just leave the thing to steep overnight.

Notch sold the game to Microsoft long before it was ever a complete game.

I know it’s a bit fuzzy with Minecraft since it’s constantly getting updates, but I find the claim that Minecraft was “incomplete” before selling it to Microsoft is a big stretch.

Version “1.0” came out 3 years before the Microsoft sale, and at least to me, the game felt “complete” long before 1.0

Mercury isn’t infinite, it just isn’t as broadly useful and valued as gold.

Tested it right now and it worked fine. I was able to get “you too” or “you two” depending on the context, and didn’t get “U2”.

On bazzite it’s “ujust update”

They do want to call me. I had a significant decrease in spam calls after I started doing this instead of my actual number, including calls from companies I’ve definitely never given my number to, as well as straight up scammers.

However, you have a good point about tracking.

I just give them my old landline number that’s been disconnected for years since I just use my cell phone now

There are cables in the windows side but not the Linux side, which also seems like an odd choice for a human to make to me.

I liked Blue Prince but I don’t think it’s anywhere close to “Game of the Year” material.

To be clear, the game released with the AI “placeholders” in the game, and only replaced them later.

Unfortunately if you sort by least popular musicon Spotify, you’ll get nothing but spam

Go to book stores and retro game stores. And the library. Some libraries have movies, music, and videogames in addition to books.

It comes out of their pocket because unions tend to negotiate for better pay

The Venn diagram of people who play D&D and people who get excited about fancy D20s is practically a circle

I suppose I misunderstood