Quick question: is Aurora dev desktop plus dev stuff, or less desktop stuff?

The good, the bad, and the ugly . Tapas or hamburger.

Not being able to say “I run Arch BTW” is a dealbreaker.

It’s comparing hardware, not OS

Slackware was my first distro, in the 90s, installed from diskettes, downloaded with a 9600 baud modem, FUN! (actually it was, wizard stuff at the time). I moved to Mandrake I think, then RH or another, and whenever I took a look at Slackware, it felt ancient when compared with these “glitzy”, for the time, distros. Maybe I should take a look again.

You being unable to install something in kinoite is just lack of research on your part,

OFC, That’s what I implied in my post. That I don’t want to tinker more than necessary. I’ve been doing Linux things since the 90s, installing from diskettes, spending hours and hours on the CLI, compiling shit on a 40Mhz 486… Right now I want something that mainly just works, mainly being the key word here. I don’t mind doing the odd tweak here and there, I just don’t want the tweaking to be a main feature.

The only problem I have with Mint is that they are super conservative, which translates to stability, which in turn makes it less up todate in certain applications. While based on Ubuntu it un-shittifies by using flats instead of snaps, for example. I have not noticed any shennanigans like Ubuntus

I know SUSE’s been around since forever, but how is package availability?

Ubuntu was very good, changed a lot of people’s perception of Linux, and made the user experience much nicer. It still is very good, but many have caught up, or are surpassing Ubuntu in user experience. The issue with Ubuntu is the progressive enshittification.

Mint is, so far, the un-enshittified Ubuntu alternative. Plus it’s main DEs. Cinnamon and MATE provide a fairly Windows like experience for those landing from the Windows world.

I doubt that. I’m going to guess that Google is going towards a sort of “P2P AI”

I’m genuinely curious. I’ve learnt to never trust Microsoft when they do something “nice”. In my experience they work the long con. I have learnt to never trust them initially. Free windows licenses?, fairly decent Windows 10 initially? This is the last windows 10 version, we’ll keep improving? History can be a bitch.

Your entitlement is Karen level.

Does Microsoft contribute to Linux in no evil ways?

Repairs of pro tools are so expensive, especially for old, obsolete tools, with Ni-cad batteries, that it’s usually economically absurd.

Bullshit! I don’t agree. Many pros use Hilti, the best brand, full stop, but crazy expensive, followed by Fein and Festool (the basic Festool circular saw is like 600€) Pros who want to pay less use any of the other “color teams”, yellow, blue, red, dark blue… And yes DeWalt is 100% pro, and some pros use Bosch blue. My buddies shop uses Bosch blue for corded, but has gone Milwaukee for battery, as cordless Bosch has been hit-and-miss. I had a 80% DeWalt shop and can vouch for them. I particularly love their sliding miter saws and small, thin waist angle grinders (the unsung multitasking wonder tool). BTW. Angle grinders MUST be corded, except for a very small set of use cases. Battery angle grinders suck pig’s balls.

Also Makita>Bosch blue.

Sadly Ryoby has gone full cheap DIY, like SKIL (owned by Bosch now?) I have an old maybe 18ish Ryobi (Blue) circular saw. Built like a tank, with a cast aluminum foot, that is as precise as day one. Oh well…

I agree, but in the mean time you can buy adapters that allow us to use mix-and-match batteries with other brands. Just search aliexpress for strings like "Makita or (insert brand here) battery adapter.

I’m ordering a LIDL parkside battery to DeWalt XRP adapter. There are compatible batteries for around 20€, but I have a few LIDL Parkside tools now, and only a couple of Dewalts.

In Europe, LIDL’s Parkside lineup is fantastic. The battery lineup is a system, with two battery types, a 12V and a 20V. Their battery and charger lineup is great, cheap and reliable. A 2Ah is 20€, and an 8Ah for 50€. The 8Ah has bluetooth (I thought it was a gimmick, but is surprisingly useful!). Oh, BTW, the 8Ah is about the size of a regular 4Ah!

The range is astounding, having tools that no major brand has. I have a convertible saw that can be a sawzall or a jigsaw, that has no right to work so well as it does in both modes, an air pump set, with a high pressure for tires and stuff, and a high volume pump that inflates OR deflates my 3.5m dinghy in under 3min, or a tiny rotary drill, smaller than a full size battery hammer drill that is a little beast.

I used to own a sign shop so I kind of know a bit about these tools. Sign shops work with almost all materials, from metal to wood to plastics, to concrete and masonry, so the range of power tools we had was bewildering. My shop was team yellow with the odd Hitachi, now Hikoki. When I closed the shop I kept some of them. DeWalt is very, very good, but for DIY purposes, LIDL’s Parkside is my go to now.

I would place much, but not all, the lineup at prosumer level, with features like all-metal one-hand-locking chucks, metal gearcases, brushless versions, and more.

EDIT: I just watched a video where they show how a rotary drill works. They cut open that little drill I mentioned above to show how they work. All inners, including gearing is metal. Maybe not the best alloy, but very decent in my experience.

Subways are great when hiking or boating

Oh, when you try Arch, please tell us about it!

If you carry three laptops around you are definitely doing things wrong. There is no real world scenario where doing what you say you do needs 3 physical computers, and if you have a 9-5 AND teach night classes , you don’t have extra minutes to use your “personal” laptop that day, which leads me to call bull on the carry 3 laptops thing