Why is this specifically relevant to Linux users?

Well,

• controlling end-to-end encrypted messages is only possible if either the keys/certificates are not secret (which is possible with TLS), or the software on the end-users device is not controlled any more by the user (but perhaps by law enforcement, or companies). This overturns the basis of any FLOSS software system where trust is based on transparency and user control.
• age verification will typically done by a form of attestation, a highly problematic concept. Again, this would require to run software on the users device which can’t be controlled by him or her, which is deceptively called “trusted computing”. (Technically, age verification could be done by other means, but this is not what these proposals aim for).
• in the world of public-key cryptography, which is what TLS , GnuPG, and most other modern systems are based in, encryption and digital signatures are nothing but two sides of the same coin: Who breaks encryption keys necessarily also breaks signature keys. This means it is not possible any more to sign software such as the Linux kernel, or Email clients, or browser packages. Or even banking apps or bootloaders for smart phones. Which means to give control away to the entities, groups or induviduals controlling these keys. Ironically, this will make computing lot less safe, and also undermine trust in communication networks, because communication where we can’t be sure that the communicated symbols are genuine is for humans as worthless as the numbers on fake money. (As a corollary, it is also bad for business: All business is based on some amount of trust. Would you do important business with somebody if the only communication channel you have happens to be a messanger which is a compulsory liar?)

To sum up, this is a massive transfer of control.

And that’s why things like PaperWM or niri might be a good compromise on the spectrum between “powerful but complex” and “simple but limited”.

And how much complexity is good for one depends also on the area of application. I use Rust for programming which is complex for sure, but when I have to scan a document, I use “simple-scan” which does exactly one thing, and very well.

They key is repetition, and this means it can be easier to go “all in” and learn, say, only six or eight keyboard chords from stumpwm than to use Xfce with mouse and i3 and more stuff, because the latter is ultimately more complex and requires more things that need to be memorized.

There is a learning program called Anki which is great for repeating learned stuff, it was made for language learning but I’ve used it also for a job where I had to learn like one hundred three-letter acronyms. It can be very helpful but it won’t help if one does not use the learned stuff.

I also think that Arch works much better than its reputation. It is true that sometimes, manual changes to packages or configuration are needed. But this is sometimes also the case if you upgrade a Debian installation, or pull a new version of GNOME (I had GNOME break completely when upgrading from buster to bookworm).

What is probably more important is whether the user can live with many small but more frequent changes, or bigger changes and reinstallations every two or three years. I think that a pure and plain desktop installation might need almost no maintenance.

Also, running a system for years without re-installing requires a good amount of hygiene and discipline when configuring and adding packages from source and such. But this does not matter that much for a standard user.

Isn’t constantly asking for “the best” distro, and constantly asking or stirring contentious topics a kind of spamming or trolling? Especially since anything relevant to that has probably been said and written about at least fifty times? And especially since most of these posts do not make any effort to describe what is so special about their request that the answer can’t be looked up by using the f******** search function?

It is like vim or Emacs that one forgets or tends to forget key bindings and features that one does not use quite frequently. This has nothing to do with intelligence. It is just that the brain forgets stuff it doesn’t see as relevant (and different brains work differently, here).

I’ve carefully reviewed your post, and I may have overlooked the reasons why some believe you’re using Wayland, especially since you’re currently using i3.

Yeah, i3 has no wayland support - that’s why sway exists. It is probably almost on par but worse documented.

Apart from that, there is a reason that mayority of tiling WMs still run on X11: Wayland requires the WM to implement much more functionality by itself. That can be done by libraries but these are not yet as complete and mature as the X11 solutions.

I am using i3 as a backup interface at work when I can’t use stumpwm, and it is quite good to use with its default Debian / OpenSuSE config. Especially since it has very nice web docs.

Also, i3 and sway have probably best Integration of all the little stuff that one gets normally from the desktop environment: Audio control, mounting of flash drives, session management, lock screen…

What I don’t like so much about i3 is its complex nesting of windows that comes along with auto-placement. Stumpwm is much more logical to me. Also has better configurability and superb documentation.

GNOME with paperwm extension might be nice for you. Controllable by keyboard and mouse, normal configuration and things like control panel for audio / bluetooth / network , good use of screen estate.

Myself I use stumpwm on a 40 inch 4K screen but that’s because I am very used to the command line and also had vision problems for some time. Most tiling WMs give very little visual feedback and require sigbificant memorization. Which, like using vim, makes predominantly sense for continuous and heavy use.

I can confirm that even female penguins prefer to wear tuxedos ☺

I was really successful with Debian stable. Zero maintenance fuss.

I wrote that because I had continuous problems with a specific Bluetooth headset on my Sailfish OS phone, and the headset had no problems with my gf’s iPhone. What was interesting was that Linux did not recognize it correctly. After a Sailfish update, the problem went away. Can of course be still a driver problem, but the Bluetooth drivers are of course specific to the general Linux kernel, not to Sailfish.

The first thing is that I’ve got an nVidia card.

This can well cost you a lot of extra frustration and time. You have been warned.

Could be due to device profiles. Maybe they need some OS support.

You can generally back up your home folder and use it with another distro, without losing data. (though it can happen that stored settings are not compatible with some changed programs).

All your data is in your home folder.

You can install a memory stress test and run it from the boot menu (memtest86).

Could also be a CPU overheating problem and this can be caused by a defect CPU fan. On older systems, that could cause a specific signal when compiling the kernel.

Other potential cause could be file system corruption. Good idea to back up your stuff.

I am in the same boat here. I want a phone to fit into my pocket… personally I don’t like handbags.

Much better to install Linux, install a virtual machine (GNOME Boxes) in which you run what you still need Windows for, and access files via a Samba service as shared files.

Or just switch to Linux, and copy your files. It is good for daily use.

Dumb question: What exactly is “ricing”? I’d also be curious to learn about the etymology of that term…

Why do you want to start a distro war?

Is this with the intent of trolling our community?

“Let many flowers blossom”.