My basic check is: Are there investors / vc people involved? If so, then it will inevitably enshittify. If not, then requires further investigation. OSI-approved open source is a big plus

Even when choosing what seems like good software, I think it’s important to consider switching costs. How easily can you move to another solution, say the second pick, if things go south?

I’ve been using Arch off and on for a long time, since it was horrible to install and updates did often break stuff. This is not the case now 🖖, and the Arch wiki is your friend.

1. Consider using btrfs with automated snapshots using yabsnap. It includes a configurable pacman hook in case something goes awry. Also just nice to have snapshots in case you accidentally delete a file or something.

2. Use paru, an AUR helper. Good for random things which may not be officially packaged. Expect to run into failures, and learn to diagnose them. Sometimes it’s just a new dependency the packager missed. For both paru and pacman, clean the cache once in a while or automatically, or things will get out of hand.

3. Do the “manual” setup, at least the first time, so you have an idea what’s going on. Don’t forget to install essential stuff like iwd (if needed) when you do pacstrap, or else you might have to boot from live again to fix it. Once you’re done, take care to follow the important post install steps, like setting up a user with sudo, a firewall, sshd, etc.

As for general setup, I’ve recently embraced systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved. Might be worth giving it a shot, since there is no default network manager like application. You can even convert all your wireguard client configs into networkd interfaces.

Best practice: Keep a personal log of various tweaks and things you’ve configured, and set up automated backups (more of general guidance).

Have fun!

Some interesting discussions there, looks like they won’t be hard up finding sponsors or places to move. Nice to see.

It only took what… 20 years?

I manage a (relatively small) gitea instance, the software that forgejo was recently hard forked from. The maintenance is incredibly simple, really no problem if you’ve ever run any sort of publicly facing web service.

In this case I meant the one packaged by your distro.

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I would use the native version. For something like this, it makes sense that it should have less restricted/sandboxed access to the underlying system.

I found this article (and related site) from a quick search: https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-a-cryptocurrency

Binance has a vested interest in providing accurate information, they are a major exchange. The information seemed easy to understand and correct at a first glance, they also link to supporting articles.

Other references:

• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency (among other more specific pages)
• https://jacobwsmith.xyz/stories/cryptocurrency.html (thanks wiby)
• https://dither8.xyz/blog/crypto-opinions/ (thanks again wiby)

Fira Code and Caskaydia Cove Nerd Font for monospace. For other uses, I’m usually good with whatever the system ships with.

I think the error is quite verbose and tells you everything you need to know.

Generally, do not install packages outside of a virtual environment unless you know what you’re doing. Given the option, use your package manager version of the same package. Outside of that, use your python environment manager of choice to install stuff. There are lots of options: conda, uv, venv, virtualenv, pipenv, etc.

The error exists to warn you that you could potentially break critical system installed packages by installing other things at a user or system level with pip.

You might consider trying Miniconda, a version of Anaconda. It installs a local python environment of your choosing at a user level. https://docs.anaconda.com/miniconda/

I would get a Thinkpad, either used or new, with that budget. Generally all the hardware will work out of the box, with the possible exception of the fingerprint reader if it exists. RAM and SSD should be replaceable, so if you purchase new just do the upgrade yourself to save some bucks.

The very brief summary: You need 7 perms on directories to write to them. So, 774, 770, or what have you for user/group perms.

I have Arch running on an old Acer chromebook, different model but similar hardware. If you’re alright with some manual configuration, then it’s a good option. it fits the lightweight requirement, but not sure about low maintenance.

You should write a post if you do. Would be funny!

I mean yeah, Hexchat does work pretty well and is kind of finished. But it’s possible there are existing security vulnerabilities or new ones to be discovered in the future.

Just to let you know, Hexchat is no longer maintained, unless someone has forked it. Might be worth looking into alternatives.

https://hexchat.github.io/news/2.16.2.html

You generally want to use a model which has been fine tuned to work around the inbuilt censorship. There are plenty available on huggingface currently. It’s not a perfect solution, but works well enough for what it is.

I would suggest using the llama.cpp backend with a frontend of your choosing.