I guess I’m the heretic here - I’m currently using Cinnamon DE, after recently switching from MATE, which I’ve used almost exclusively for about 13 years. I always preferred Gnome (even v1) to KDE, but used both in the early 2000’s, but eventually settled on Gnome2 by about 2005, because it was what Ubuntu used, and that was the distro I was using back then. Later, when all the main Linux distros switched to Gnome3, about 2013, it wrecked my workflow - it simply wasn’t possible to do the things I needed to do - though I tried for a couple of months. Mainly things like lack of usable support for multiple monitors, full-screen-first app behaviour, rearranged key-bindings, etc. just made it impossible to work efficiently. I tried most of the commonly supported DEs - LXDE, XFCE, LXQT, plain X-Window(!) and even an early version of Cinnamon, but eventually settled on MATE when it became supported by Debian. I felt at home with it, and stuck with it for the longest of any of them - mainly because it fits my workflow, even through its evolution through different work roles and personal projects. I wasn’t really looking for a new DE, but last year, I refurbished a load of old laptops to give away on Freecycle/Freegle, initially putting Debian + MATE on the early ones. I saw a discussion about Linux Mint, and how it had matured into a really beginner-friendly system, and decided to try it out. I’m by no means scared of doing the technical work to get things running (I was doing tarball installs back in the mid 1990s) but I do appreciate convenience, and Mint was amazingly smooth.

I’d installed Ubuntu for my kids and friends over the years, and still hated the way Gnome3 works, even though it has evolved and some of my original gripes were now alleviated, so as Mint is based on Ubuntu, I was not expecting much. I was totally shocked - it was basically easier than Windoze 10 (which I was adminning for my day job) - printers and scanners, something that have long been annoying to support - worked instantly, and the Cinnamon DE was a revelation - smooth and friendly, and works well with how I like to use a DE. It runs well on old hardware - though 4GB seems to be the hard, workable minimum, and people seem to really like it.

I’d suggest you start with a simple static web server if you’re looking for a good beginner project. Use something like Nginx, and just set it up on your local network at first, then work out how to harden it, and open it up to the real internet. There’s a lot less to learn for this usage case, and it’s less likely to get you into trouble.

I say that, because, after reading through the thread, it seems you are hoping to find an (educational) use for an old computer. I did Linux and Unix admin professionally for 15 years, for some famous brands. I would NOT recommend setting up a mail server as a first project - it’s complex in ways you will never expect, and will require learning skills and knowledge that are very specific and you literally can’t “start small and build up” because a lot of the things you don’t know yet will get you into big trouble. Essentially, it’s not too hard to set up the server software, and your hardware is certainly capable of running this task, but making it safe and secure IS hard these days - especially with all the encryption and anti-spam setups you have to learn how to do.

Listening to “Down in a Hole” by Alice in Chains whilst reading this… seems to fit. Thanks for this. Food for thought.

Yep. Currently working through Autistic Burnout, and one of my symptoms is Dissociation. Whenever I’m slightly stressed or concentrate hard on something, it kicks in. My head feels a bit “spinny”, but I’m not dizzy; I feel a bit “high”, but without the pleasant buzz of weed; when I move around, I kind of feel like a floating balloon on a string being pulled round by a toddler. My interoception (internal sense) is terrible at the moment, so I don’t get body maintenance signals like need to pee or drink, until I’m almost desperate, and I feel emotionally numb - I mostly seem to only “feel” strong negative emotions, positive ones if felt at all are pretty distant. I also get visual snow - like TV static in my vision - and a “laggy” feeling, which is often independent of, but somehow connected with the dissociation, which feels like living in a 3D game with too low a frame rate - my perception of my movement becomes stuttered, almost like there is a strobe light on, and it feels like I’m moving through treacle. It’s a bundle of fun.

Edit: I’d also intended to say, but I got distracted by my cat asking for food, that I hope you feel better soon. I’m sorry you are having to live through this. I find for me, it takes a few days to a week to wear off after I’ve been stressed - it seems to peak a day or so later, and then peter out over a number of days, as long as I avoid stress. I hope you can avoid your trigger.

That’s fucking disgusting.

Depends on accent:

South West: jrink me loike a bo’oh wa’er ('=glottal stop like in “ugh”)

London: drink me lyke a botto a wawtah

Merseyside: dlrinch me liche a bottull a wahtah (ch=choking sound)

The court has decided not to tell the jury that the trial for the accusation of burglary will result in terrorism sentences if they are found guilty; the defendants have been told they are not allowed to state their motivation of preventing the production of weapons that were to be used in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the press was gagged from reporting on it.

In other words, it was going to look to the jury like it was purely a burglary, but the defendants were going to be sentenced for a different, much more serious crime, and no-one was allowed to talk about it. This is because in the previous trials, most of the defendants were acquitted by the jury, because the defendants used the crime of conscience defence.

Science fiction dystopias being fictional and set in the “far future”.

In 2011, I worked in West Bromwich, greater Birmingham, UK, on Birmingham Road, where it joined High Street. The news had been reporting on riots starting in Tottenham, London, and it was said that they were spreading. One lunch time during this time, I went out to get lunch from a great Indian sweet shop called Dhillons that did an amazing Samosa Chaat, which was about 5 minutes walk down the road from our office. As I got closer, I could see a crowd and police further down the road, not far from the sweet shop, and coming towards me. Then I saw smoke, and turned around, and went back to the office, without my samosa chaat. Loads of busies with full blues and two’s on (police cars with sirens and lights on) started whizzing past, towards the trouble, and this continued all afternoon. When I left, the air was cloyed with smoke, and the street towards the sweet shop was cordoned off. The next day we learnt that the sweet shop got smashed up, and their van was torched, one of many that got hit. Nearly got caught up in a riot!

They are all terrible. Billionaires are parasites, one and all. It’s not wealth envy - it’s just wanting a FAIR share. Billions is never a fair share.

We don’t have a TV at all.