Wolf314159

Then maybe you can tell me what "attempting to do more" means, because the author of the article certainly didn't. Or why that's bad. My only take away is that the author thinks the system should facilitate the running of applications and just get out of their way already. But that sounds a lot like building a road network and then failing to install traffic controls because the DOT should just stay out of the way of traffic.

This is why I set up tasker to lockdown my phone under certain conditions, such as: getting disconnected from Bluetooth (like when my phone is separated from me and my watch, my headphones, or the car), getting disconnected from WiFi (like when it's taken from where it's supposed to be), getting a slight jolt from the accelerometer (like getting thrown to the ground or even just a swift tap). My phone may get locked down a bunch during day to day stuff, but at least I know it will lockdown automatically when it matters.

And straws. My plastic straw isn't the problem.

If your don't recycle your aluminum and other cans though, you're a bad person and you should feel bad about it.

Well there's your problem. Public wifi is going to have systems in place to stop exactly the kind of thing you're trying to do.

I have setup and run what are basically HTPC's for decades now. Kodi running on a Debian based Linux distribution or just Debian is a solid recommendation and has lots of support for infrared remotes, but kodi can be very fiddly to setup properly. It will work, but don't expect it to work "out of the box". You'll probably still need a mouse and keyboard for anything outside Kodi. You'll have to read a bunch of documentation and do some customizing to get the most out of Kodi. It's still easier than most other setups, but it will feel very frustrating if it's your introduction to Linux too.

I've moved to using my HTPC primarily as a server. Once you get comfortable with linux and docker, setting up new server services like Jellyfish, Plex, and and *ARR stack is relatively trivial. The advantage here being that you can serve your media to any device that can connect to your server. For me that means one library of media to share with any TV in my house, any mobile device I own, and any friends and family computer savvy enough to download the right apps and setup an account. If your network (and your Internet connection) isn't reliable this kind of setup may not work very well for you at all. For example, Plex account authentication will fail is you don't have Internet. Jellyfin and Kodi fair better when Internet is only available occasionally or is unreliable.

My least favorite part of using Kodi was setting up the remote. Even worse was trying to configure controllers for retro gaming. The situation is MUCH better than it was, but is still far from easy. I was kind of able to side step the remote problem because now I can just use the remote for the TV (if it supports the Plex or Jellyfin apps) or another streaming stick like fire stick, Nvidia shield, or Roku. My Nvidia shield can pair with any Bluetooth controller and runs RetroArch so that problem was side stepped too. ROMs can be copied via samba shares or loaded directly by a USB drive.

TLDR: Kodi has built-in support for IR, but streaming sticks are cheap, and in the long run I found setting up a server was more versatile, more reliable, and less stressful. I know, I also hate it when people ask for a specific solution and others recommend asking a different question. But in this case, my experience is that IR remotes suck, are flaky, and not worth it if there is any other option.

Do you mind sharing what brand retail UPS weren't lasting a year?

I'm dealing with similar brownouts and also an area with lots of lightning. I got about 5 years out of my UPS batteries. Wondering if I've just been lucky.

Windows is never going to like an NTFS that has been touched by another OS even if it windows was completely shutdown during that time. Reading the NTFS partition might be okay. But, last I checked none of the Linux drivers could write without windows noticing and fouling things up. If that has changed it would be welcome news to me despite my warning use of windows.

If windows (and to a lesser extent that other OS) came bundled with some ability to mount, read, and write filesystems popular with other operating systems this wouldn't be such a problem. One shouldn't have to involve the network stack or 3rd party drivers just to share a partition on the same hardware or a portable drive with a modern file system.

Using crontab to execute these kinds of quick fixes that don't really solve the problem so much as reset the countdown to failure are the real Duck tape Linux hacks.

Don Glover

Likely more than just removed. I'm pretty sure that I left one too many scathing reviews of products that were defective by design or outright frauds, now I can't leave any reviews.

I feel your pain.

I edit the URL to remove the first part of the URL and replace it with "http://old.reddit.com". That still seems to work, last I checked, but I fully expect it to be killed any day now.

I've also found that the documentation online is much better, or at least easier to search, with Ubuntu in particular than any other distro. This is probably mostly due to popularity at this point as you said, but I think they got that popularity because of the straight forward and easy to digest documentation. And I'm not just talking about self-help support forums, I mean published and polished wikis and guides hosted by the distro itself.