Ubuntu used to send you a CD-ROM ready to use free of charge back in the day.

I’ve done this whole process hundreds of times and it’s straightforward now, but the first times where really confusing, I totally understand you.

you basically want to put the installer file in a USB, but you can’t simply copy and paste it because it needs to be “bootable”, that’s why you use a tool like Etcher or similar.

any link in the official Linux Mint page will point you to reputable sources so just pick the first one. the beauty of open source is that it’s not as centralized as a big corporation’s software, you have choices, confusing at first, I know, but it’s worth it once you get past the learning stage

thank you so much!

anyone knows what the sleeping cat in the thumbnail is?

I’ve never seen this widget before

Syncthing has built-in encryption and works pretty well, it’s also really easy to use. I have been using it for some time with several instances and never had a problem, it requires more CPU though, so some old raspies had a hard time working with my big photos folder (800GB) when encrypted. On instances that are not encrypted, the full HDD is encrypted (the option you have when installing Linux).

Not sure how secure it is, but from the docs: Encryption is XChaCha20-Poly1305 and AES-SIV with a key derived from the password and folder ID using scrypt. Considering how polished, huge user base and how much attention to detail Syncthing has, I trust it’s good enough for my needs.

Happy I moved to Syncthing a long time ago. My data is replicated on several locations and instances on cheap old raspberries+drives and syncs instantly even on my phone, where I keep Obsidian notes. No size limits, no huge hassle, 10 minutes to get a new instance set up.

Every now and then I will rsync the encrypted version to an offline drive and store it somewhere else.

For anyone using Figma, there’s a free open source alternative called PenPot that’s quite decent.

Hope you enjoy your new laptop!

I’ve been 100% Linux for a few years now and absolutely love it. It’s not perfect, every now and then things break and become somehow frustrating, but it’s a different type of frustrating compared with Windows forcing ads or Apple gaslighting you into something, we are a huge community of users that want the best for our users, not greedy investors.

In my case I’ve stuck with Mint +XFCE for old computers and Kubuntu (Ubuntu + KDE) for new ones. Tried others but Ubuntu/Mint “just works” and eases a ton of pain, I haven’t got much free time to bother.

I read quite a few articles around the web and all had one issue or another. Your guide is straight and to the point while also giving the tools to debug further with the winetricks (haven’t got into it since the game already worked). Thank you so much!

In terms of keeping him safe online look into some content filtering for the whole home network, either paid or self-hosted.

Projects that act upon physical stuff are the most rewarding. Something simple such as building a simple Python script that interacts with a smart home API and turns switches on/off or changes light colors around the house are relatively simple and require no hardware/mechanics if you’re not into robotics, soldering or circuit boards.

You’ve got a great kid :)

Sorry, I laughed harder than I should have just imagining the whole thing.

Thank you for telling your story, I’ll think about your rachet strap whenever I remember about my Coke can and that will definitely provide some comfort knowing there’s just some crazy nonsensical people out there.

I once got my window crashed to steal my radio plus a warm can of Coke I had in case of a long drive sleepiness emergency. The radio I get it, but the warm Coke… dunno why but I still think about it decades later.