I used plasma for nearly a decade and only recently switched off of it because I wanted to try something different. I moved over to GNOME for a bit, and while it was nice, I kept running into issues with customization, specifically Gnome Extensions are a pain in my ass.

I moved to cosmic a few weeks ago on my desktop rig, which is my server, but is also for gaming. I don’t want this one to feel like an “office” machine, and cosmic does a great job of feeling like just a computer. On my laptop, which I use for development, I prefer a stable “no-bullshit” interface, as such I use MATE there. MATE, if you’re unfamiliar, is the successor to Gnome2. It is a more traditional desktop experience, using familiar idioms. Customization is limited (out of box) compared to the more major DE’s like KDE and GNOME

If your partner is a mac user and wants to feel like they’re using a mac, tbh I think the best option is to use Fedora Kinoite with a mac skin on it.

If they’re a power user and don’t care if things are under construction, they could consider Gershwin Desktop but I really wouldn’t recommend that for a daily driver unless you genuinely have unlimited free time.

I’m relearning arduino!

I’ve got a couple 382p’s laying around and wanna build an RTOS for them, eventually drive a CYD to interface with them.

End goal: Affordable offline-first PDA.

If I may make a recommendation for gaming on that machine:

Have a windows install on a second partition/drive.

Windows’ graphics drivers are generally better are reallocating system ram to be used as vram, IME the Linux drivers generally are unwilling to allocate more than is absolutely necessary to run a desktop and a few gui apps. This is one of the biggest complaints for example with Nvidia’s *nix drivers, which don’t allow ram sharing and only use what’s dedicated to the video card in hardware. Of course you’re on a team blue rig, my experience won’t transfer there but I assume it’s likely a similar issue.

You ain’t got no VRAM, lieutenant Dan.

Where are you planning to put those textures you’re loading.

I know the performance should be sufficient to game with, but Idk about that one.

Not to be confused with lunarvim, the preconfigured vim who’s development suddenly stopped last year.

But will it work with reactos yet? I keep virtualbox installed because I cannot seem to get reactos installed in ‘boxes’.

I like fedora. I used it 20 years ago. I recently switched a laptop over to it, quickly realized atomic distros are kind of a PITA if you know how to linux and hopped off.

It feels… mature? Clearly there’s a lot of work that has gone into making fedora a “Set and Forget” experience, the normie distro… if you don’t try to use it like a windows machine.

If you want a machine that just works, doesn’t bug you about just frankly stupid shit that’s been solved already (looking at you kwallet), and feels like a computer that your grandma could check her email on without feeling like she’s starting the falcon’s hyperdrive, Fedora Atomic Silverblue is the distro for you.

I am not a shill. I don’t use fedora on any of my machines currently (unless you include my partner’s bazzite rig, I don’t, personally). I don’t plan to use fedora on anything currently, but the next time I get a laptop that’s meant to be “Just a fuckin computer”, you bet your ass I’m going straight to Fedora Atomic Silverblue.

Aim for step 2.5 and be the middle guy but hosting it all on a retired PC in the closet. It’s almost like step 3.

Alternatively, I guess you could use a VPS but those can get expensive quick.

I converted my gaming machine into a server a while back. I like to live dangerously though, no proxmox. Baremetal. If my blog is slow, sorry y’all, I’m gaming. Deal with it.

For a lot of purposes, an old slow system is great. Craigslist (if you’re in a country that has it, otherwise use your local equivalent) is a great place to find super cheap old equipment to build server infrastructure from. Thrift shops too, I regularly find old UPSs that just need a new lawnmower battery chucked in to work at my local thrift shop, they charge like $10 for em. Usually found near power strips.

This is getting really old. Can these dorks please do something valuable with their time? Maybe contribute (positively) to society a little?

(and no I don’t consider teaching arch users to be more responsible with their package management a positive contribution to society)