gentoo is cramping my ubuntu-designated workflow. never seen anything seamlessly substitute ubuntu-based distros for the devving they're used for

You can always upgrade to a newer version of Windows.

The only distro I recommend to beginners and will always recommend to beginners is Linux Mint, for a few reasons: 1. It's similar enough to Windows, at least the Cinnamon edition (XFCE edition I would say is closer to XP) 2. It's based on Ubuntu, which is by far the most famous distro out there. Ubuntu itself is also based on Debian, which is another very ubiquitous distro. That means that it will be very easy to find solutions for any kind of problem you might have, even if they aren't provided with Mint in mind. That's the beauty of Linux. 3. It comes with most things you will ever need out of the box, and getting new programs installed isn't difficult, because again, it's based on Ubuntu and Debian. The other thing I want every Linux beginner to understand is that Linux is not Windows, and trying to use Linux as if it were Windows is a losing bet. Linux will never be Windows. What it can be is approachable to beginners (Linux Mint fits that criteria). Just to give an example of what I mean, you will eventually have to learn how to use the terminal, which is actually a first-class citizen here, unlike on Windows. Learning how to use the Linux terminal is probably the single best thing you will ever learn when using this system, because it can be used anywhere, anytime, for any purpose. The terminal looks intimidating, but you can go through it step by step, learning a little bit each day when you can. Linux also rewards people who know the ins and outs of their system well, and learning the terminal is part of that. It's not something that is common on Windows, at least to my knowledge, but it is here. Of course you can try and use Linux without ever touching the terminal, and that might work just fine for you. But I still think it's important to learn, if you can set aside some time to look into it. A lot of times the easiest way, sometimes even the only way to fix a problem or get something done is through the terminal.

I think most people will do fine on either Mint or Fedora KDE. I put Fedora Kinoite on my mom and aunts computers and I never heard any complaint once I set them up with the proper codecs and all.

As a Gentoo user I wouldn't recommend it to non-programmers, or programmers that aren't familiar with C/C++ and their Linux toolchains. I don't usually have problems, and when I do, they are easy to fix with the right knowledge, and extremely hard without it. You can't really google your wait out of them, but on the other hand, if you know how to solve them, you can usually mail your fix to the maintainers and feel like you are contributing. I wouldn't recommend Linux in general, maybe Debian, maybe. But the way I see it is that with source-based distros you at least have a fighting chance so to speak, as long as you know what you are doing. With binary-based distros, if something breaks or doesn't work, you are pretty much cooked. Can I recommend Debian to a newcomer when I know that writing a .ebuild is significantly easier than writing a Debian package? Can I recommend either when I know that both these things are relatively complex technical tasks? And what's the alternative? Because people usually talk as if Windows didn't break from time to time, or as if problems there were easy to fix. Maybe I can recommend Debian to a non-technical person, if only because if they happen to find a problem and try to use a search engine to fix it, the results won't be unintelligible AI slop or whatever the Microsoft Community Hub "answers" are. But the thing is that most imageboard users only use the computer to play games and I don't have experience running binaries made for Windows on Linux, but I have a vague idea of the whole stack being finicky, fragile and error prone - it has to be, because of how both X11 and Wayland work. Not to mention that all the it just works containerized formats like flatpak and such have a sometimes significant overhead. I assume there is a Windows 11 version for servers or IoT devices that doesn't include most of the anti-user parts, so maybe keep a partition with that for games and a partition with Debian for everything else. I don't know how to address the self-infantilization that has become so prevalent now where people refuse and actively avoid any cognitive task in their free time, and products have to be as simple as possible even if it hurts functionality. I don't know what to do about that.

While they are still using google-made software, just being "not google chrome" is good enough. You can still be Chromium-based, but as long as you don't ride the meat of google, It's not the google browser. After all, the only real working alternative to either of the two is Ladybird. And we're still waiting on it... Unless you count Safari, and webkit-based browsers, of course.

>>1765 but it is kind of perpetuating the whole google ecosystem making you dependable of a multi million dollar scummy company

Depending on the language you choose, the official guides, documentation and "getting started" might be great to learn. Avoid using tutorials because those usually don't really teach you much other than following steps "now do this, now do that". In terms of practice, you can start with experimentations, exercises, etc, and once you feel comfortable enough you can start programming something that you can make use of. It doesn't have to be something incredible or gigantic regardless of your experience, you can make a project as simple as a small script or an application that does something that you need to be done. Don't worry about "reinventing the wheel" or making a program that already exists because you are making it your way and learning in the process.

i did those game-like courses when i got bored. like uh, codecademy or whatever. i put alot of my kiddie hours into that but i kinda forgot most of it anyway cuz i didnt use it afterwards. But i definitely was proficient in the few months i did do those courses

i learned python first, by making a dicksword bot. it acted as a foundation for lots of different feature ideas you have to learn how to implement, like parsing files, editing images, using apis etc

>>427 I was good at coding, but after a hiatus where I had to learn other stuff, I'm not good coding anymore. Now I just vibe code, because that's better than nothing and gets me to learn what I would have not encountered otherwise, especially if I force the LLM bot to explain wtf did he do.

The best way to learn is by coding. You want to do something and you hit you head against your desk until you achieve it

I have an SSD in both of my computers. You may as well upgrade, hikarin. It's a noticable improvement.

I think its very worth it, I have a t60 and upgraded it to an ssd, it took it from an old pc to basically on par with any of my newer computers.

>>1754 SSDs not only have faster read/write times (essentially quicker transfer speeds) but some games are now requiring them to load stuff quick enough. You may see an increase in performance and they have virtually zero moving parts (at least m.2's) so you don't have to worry about head crashes or moving parts failing/making noise.

>>1551 monitors usually have higher resolution and more importantly higher horizontal frequency. a late sony trinitron can go up to 1600x1200 90@Hz vertical @90Khz horizontal but can't go as low as let's say 320x240 @31Khz horizontal, which is what console usually had as resolution until 6th gen. horizontal frequency is also important for scan lines iirc, so that's why it's usually better to get a tv for consoles and a monitor for games that were on PC if you care about experiencing stuff the way it was. There's also a big difference between europe and US/JP, the former has the worst quality with most tvs being either composite (up to 480i) or SCART (up to 576i for some weird reason), the latter often had component (better colors, progressive output). So if you have an older console for example and you're in europe you likely played it with the worst quality. As for why this happened i have no clue but it's pretty dumb, i have to guess regulations.

>>1551 tv is a monitor + software and/or hardware to watch porn monitor is monitor - it displays shit. though modern monitors do have some fancy ass shitware iirc >>1554 interesting point. good thing i don't buy tvs huh

yea i do check it

>>1756 Good shit >hi candy ass!

>>90 Nope, but I want one mostly for old anime and visual novels.

>>1260 i use Hexchat with the Monokai theme. works well enough for me.

>>1260 betterbird gets irc working well

>>1260 halloy is comfy imho

>>1623 in pidgin passwords are stored in an unencrypted txt file look it up . they are going to fix with the new rewrite of the app tho

Windows: mIRC with NoNameScript Linux: kVIRC or BitchX

>>1397 I didnt elaborate I meant to compare business laptop durability and repairability with slimbook's since usually we get refurbished business laptops when we want one of that type

>>1291 I'm personally a fan of my Dell Latitude 5420. I paid 400 USD for 512GB of NVME Storage, Fingerprint reader, 16GB Ram, built-in wifi, pretty good repairability, plus a fuckton of I/O

>>1399 That's the great thing about business laptops like the latitudes and the thinkpads it's very nice

I've been using the Slimbook since it arrived in tuesday and I can conclude that the battery bypass feature is not placebo. The idea is that, once the charge limit is reached, the charging goes straight to the hardware and bypasses the battery to save its lifespan. After intense use of this laptop since tuesday + gaming, the battery cycle count is still at 0!!! I wonder any mainstream brand does this

>>1291 Punched and spilled stuff on my mid 2010s ASUS and it's still working great.

please someone help me

Halo, I have the same model as you but I installed Rockbox on it forever ago, which means I can't remember the specifics of what I did to get it working. I know I got it at a time when the Rockbox website didn't officially support the version of the HiFi Walker H2 that I had, but I got a bootloader for the AIGO Eros QK (same model and firmware version) and it worked with some very minor issues that magically sorted themselves out after a few days. The only problem I've noticed since installing it is that the AIGO Eros firmware replaced the HiFi Walker firmware, but since I only ever boot into Rockbox idc. https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/AIGOErosQK#Hosted_Port_Installation_40Manual_41 looks like the page I got the upt from. Hopefull this helps at least a little bit

>>1721 thanks, I also have trouble with themes

>>1722 pretty decent for the price, but even then id go for a 5800x3d, maybe look for one on facebook or something if youre in the UK, people throw those away now that they're upgrading to am5, the value you get is just too good

>>1729 For an AM5 build would the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU be good enough?

>>1732 the L3 cache size is just so insane for bideo games i cant imagine myself without my x3d chip, i think its worth the little extra $$, (if youre getting brand new) they're easy to find cheap

Alright, so I think I've managed to narrow it down between two builds. The first one that I've already talked about that's on the lower end... https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/6gx3xg CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor (£139.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£36.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Motherboard: MSI PRO B550M-VC WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£110.09 @ Amazon UK) Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£90.00 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£109.69 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (£106.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Video Card ( @ Amazon UK) Case: be quiet! Pure Base 600 ATX Mid Tower Case (£89.99 Overclockers.co.uk) Power Supply: MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£88.03 @ Amazon UK) Case Fan: Thermalright TL-C12C X3 66.17 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack (£18.07 @ Amazon UK) Monitor: Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ3A 27.0" 2560 x 1440 180 Hz Monitor (£198.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Origins Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard (£66.70 @ Amazon UK) Mouse: HP HyperX Pulsefire Surge Wired Optical Mouse (£42.98 @ Amazon UK) Headphones: HP HyperX Cloud II 7.1 Channel Headset (£53.79 @ Amazon UK) Total: £1,600.52 And this new one I've made, which uses most of the same parts, except for the CPU, Motherboard, Memory, and Video Card. This build is on the higher end... https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/kDwrKq CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor (£319.97 @ Amazon UK) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£39.90 @ Amazon UK) Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard (£124.99 @ Amazon UK) Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£94.99 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£109.69 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (£106.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Core Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card (£429.98 @ Amazon UK) Case: be quiet! Pure Base 600 ATX Mid Tower Case (£89.99 Overclockers.co.uk) Power Supply: MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£88.03 @ Amazon UK) Case Fan: Thermalright TL-C12C X3 66.17 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack (£18.07 @ Amazon UK) Monitor: Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ3A 27.0" 2560 x 1440 180 Hz Monitor (£198.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk) Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Origins Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard (£66.70 @ Amazon UK) Mouse: HP HyperX Pulsefire Surge Wired Optical Mouse (£42.98 @ Amazon UK) Headphones: HP HyperX Cloud II 7.1 Channel Headset (£53.79 @ Amazon UK) Total: £1,893.16 I would perhaps prefer to go with the cheaper build, but if what nonny here >>1733 is saying is true, then I'd probably rather shell out a bit more money. Also, AM5 type PC builds are more customisable, so if I wanted to change parts later on, it would be a worthwhile investment.

>>1733 here! i love both builds!, imo, if you feel comfortable i cant stress this enough, check ebay or facebook for second hand barely used or new parts, people throw stuff away for insanely cheap! especially right now. if youre worried about money you might be able to pick up a part or two youre interested in that someones throwing away for pennies, only downside is that you may not get warranty, which can be a deal breaker for some. not to blog on but if i used my build for example, brand new would have cost me over 4k AUD, but i bought 3/4 of it off facebook either brand new or barely used and i only spent around 2.3, just food for thought