NutWrench

“YouTube doesn’t allow spam, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the YouTube community.”

1. Bullsh*t it doesn’t and
2. Which one of those categories does an obvious satire / parody channel fall under?

I also recommend downloading a linux image file, putting it on a USB stick and booting your computer from it. This lets you try out linux without making any changes to your computer. The other nice thing about a live USB stick is that it lets you make sure that linux detects all your computer’s hardware. If you don’t have any problems during the live session, you won’t have any problems when you install it for real.

Another vote for Linux Mint. You can always try different linux distros later on.

Yup. Also, using Windows will subject you to corporate spying as well, since the spyware is built right in to the operating system. I’m really glad I switched to linux.

Yup. I’m not about to take the word of politicians who have unwavering support for The King of the Pedophiles and a serial rapist.

This right here. It’s not about “protecting children.” It never HAS been about “protecting children.” It never WILL be about “protecting children.” It’s about surveillance and control. The money class is desperate for ways to identify you online that can get around your use of a VPN. They want to know who you are, where you are, where you go, who you talk to, what you buy and what your politics are. And if you think they’ll be satisfied with just an age check for porn sites, you are hopelessly naive.

Fortunately, when someone or something “damages” the Internet, like these sorts of laws, the Internet routes around that damage. If a website won’t accept my connection because of an age check, I’m just going to move on the something else. These idiot lawmakers act like we don’t have a choice. I say they’re wrong.

Come on, Motorola. You already have a fairly decent line of existing Moto phones. There IS a huge market for folks who are concerned about their privacy.

The Linux Mint upgrade is recent and folks migrated from 22.2 to 22.3 You can see it right in the stats. Don’t know about Ubuntu.

A VPN is the quickest, easiest way for me to avoid having my data sucked up by my ISP and Google. I’m using Thunderbird for email instead of Google. I use DuckDuckGo for searches, and it allows you to block search results on a per-site basis. I mostly use that feature to block AI-generated search result sites.

The RAM prices will come down when “AI” finally implodes and the tech bros have finished extracting every last bit of venture capital from idiots.

Software that reads facial expressions could potentially make way for a hands-free user interface that doesn’t require talking out loud, reports noted.

That’s not what it will be used for, and they damn well know it. Whenever tech companies come up with new applications, always think of the most evil thing it could be used for. And it is ALWAYS about propaganda, surveillance and control.

This tech will be by authoritarians to scan faces in crowds, especially when those regimes give speeches. Looking for signs of ThoughtCrime: anger, incredulity, amusement, etc. Because if you show ANY of those signs, you’ll be added to the regime’s “list” even if you never carry a protest sign or say a single word.

I recently upgraded from Linux Mint 21.3 to 22.2 and my login screen STILL shows the Wayland (Cinnamon) display manager as “experimental.” Wayland runs a lot smoother on 22.2 and it’s a lot less crash-ey, but I don’t think it’s ready for prime time, yet. (Your own mileage may vary.)

I have NEVER uninstalled “Deus Ex.”

Being able to use my magical talking rock to talk to people on the other side of the planet.

Get or build a PC instead of getting a console. Introduce to kid to games. After a while, say “you know, computers can do other stuff besides play games” and introduce the kid to that as well.

Tell them to keep their personal life completely separate from their online life. NO personal info shared online.

Well if you’re still interested in updating your laptop, Soundblaster actually makes a sound card on a USB stick for less than $20 (Amazon). :)

It might be worth getting a cheap Soundblaster card for your computer. Mint seems to have good support for all of them.

I’m really enjoying the learning curve with Linux because it’s a valuable skill to master. On the other hand, every time I’ve had to “go under the hood” with Windows, it’s been to keep it from doing something awful to me.

Is the problem just F-Droid or the whole database? I’m using Droid-ify.

Windows already has a rootkit on your computer. It’s called Microsoft CoPilot and Recall. Giving up things that hurt you shouldn’t be hard, when there are far better alternatives to Windows and EA.

I’ve got 2 Brother printers that work just fine with Linux Mint, the Brother L2640 and L2685. They’re both black and white toner cartridge printers that use either wireless or a USB cable connection. I print maybe a dozen pages a day on both printers and replace the cartridges ever 4-5 months or so. I can get third party replacement toner cartridges on Amazon for around $25 for a 2-pack. Replacement drums are about $25-30 every 3 years or so.