Oh yeah, I get what you mean. There were a few tweaks like that in the KDE file manager too. Dolphin would open with a lot of extra features running like a terminal at the bottom of the window and extra information panes on the sides. They were all normal dolphin features that were just toggled on by default, so I was able to get back to a cleaner experience with a few clicks, but it sounds like that may be their MO: turn on ‘helpful’ features in the user space by default. That was the only app that had non - default settings in KDE that I found, it sounds like it’s not as customized as i3.

Do they customize it too heavily away from its defaults? I use KDE so I don’t bump in to that issue myself.

The just dang works part of Mint is so nice. I do like learning and tinkering, but I have to say setting up my printer in endeavourOS was brutal! I had all the right software installed, but it ended up needing a single line of code pasted in to a file I never would have guessed on my own. I’ll paste the info here on the slight chance it will save anyone else from the trauma I went through 😅

Reference article: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Avahi

2.1 Hostname resolution
Avahi provides local hostname resolution using a “hostname.local” naming scheme. To enable it, install the nss-mdns package and start/enable avahi-daemon.service. use sudo instead of doas if that’s the tool you prefer.

doas systemctl start avahi-daemon.service

Then, edit the file /etc/nsswitch.conf and change the hosts line to include mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] before resolve and dns. It should look like:

hosts: mymachines mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns

EndeavourOS. I like the simplicity and minimalism of stock Arch, bloated distros bother me. I have been thinking of trying out Linux Mint again though, I used it for years and it was really good.

I’ve been looking for a decent PDF editor on Linux for years. Like you said, there are plenty that will basically work, but I always have issues with font mishandling.

So far I’ve just settled on using a windows VM with adobe for editing PDFs (along with one other windows only program that I need.) There is a way to get Adobe PDF software working in linux, but I haven’t tried it.

If you need to sign PDFs, xournal++ is an excellent app for applying a saved signature as a stamp.

I have my tasks.org set to CalDAV sync, then using my Nextcloud info as normal for the credentials with Nextcloud selected as server type. I’ve found that owncloud also works just as well for that setting. That along with the CalDAV address should be it for the Tasks.org app itself. I believe you’ll also need the DAVx5 app to sync the CalDAV info this way, but it seemed to work better for me than the straight up Nextcloud connection.

That’s very true, and as an actor Sonequa does really give the role everything she has. I think that touches on one of the other commenter’s points a bit: Trek seems to thrive when they balance the story load between characters. When a lot of plot weight is put on to one character it starts to feel like they are simply a plot device. I’ve heard complaints about Kirk in TOS suffering from this as well, but perhaps nostalgia keeps me from being too offended 😄.

Your comment made me realize something that is a the root of why I never connected with the Michael Burnham character or Sonequa’s acting, and its linked (from a writing perspective) to Ethan Peck’s Spock: they’re both portraying the clash of human and Vulcan culture, with a few key differences. Spock is a half-vulcan, half-human that was raised and shaped by Vulcan culture. Ethan portrays someone who is firmly rooted in logic, but struggles to control the human emotional elements within him. The key to his character growth is accepting and unifying the two halves of himself (although Trek as a series is not always clear about this. Sometimes it seems they indicate he does best when suppressing the human side, not integrating it.) Burnham is full human and raised through her formative years by human parents, but then goes through a massive childhood trauma and is adopted and given formal training on Vulcan. Sonequa portrays someone who tries to firmly root herself in logic, but who suffers greatly because that denies the experience of her inner self. The key to her character growth is rebelling against the expectations others (and she herself) had put on her in order to discover (pun intended 😏) who she actually is. Which of these two struggles we connect with depends on our own childhood and emotional make up, and the other may seem foreign and empty simply because we haven’t experienced it. Spock’s struggles always seemed more realistic and balanced to me with Burnham coming across like a teenage edgelord rebelling against her parents. I think now I’ll be looking at it very differently, and it makes me excited to see what Season 4 brings. I might do some rewatches of the early seasons too, if I can ever finish working my way through Voyager 😅. Thank you for your comment, sorry mine is so long, brevity is not my strong suite 😵‍💫

And one more thing I agree with from your original post: Star Trek as a franchise really struggles “To boldly go where no one has gone before” anymore. The studio clearly values success over quality and the reliance on nostalgia for current shows is very disappointing. There are glimmers here and there, maybe the section 31 movie will bring some fresh air to the writing table.

I think its a reflection of the writers more than anything. Trek writers usually try to pull their ideas from current political and sociological issues. AI and genetic engineering (which I think is thinly veiled commentary on gender) are simply the current issues of our time. It is odd that they’ve chosen the federation to be the problem in the recent shows though. In older trek the federation was always the ones to stand up for the cause and the conflict came from worlds they visited. Of course, that’s probably linked to the same idea as the AI/genetics, people are much more frustrated and disillusioned with western government these days and the writers are no doubt exploring that.

So there will probably be changes in the federations stance that are two steps beyond what we see happening in the world around us. Trek has always tried to lead people in a moral/philosophical direction.

I definitely agree with you. While I didn’t like a lot of the elements of Disco season 1, it had a genuineness that was really compelling. Season 2 corrected the things I personally didn’t like but kept the heart and soul which has made it some of the finest modern Trek in my opinion. Season 3 was alright I suppose, but didn’t have that spark of authenticity. I’m dubious about anything more from Disco.

The big issue for me is also the show centering on Burnham. Season 2 put her along side Anson Mount’s Pike which balanced the scale nicely and their personalities played well together, but other than that Burnham has always felt like the main character of a CW show to me. I don’t know if it’s the writing for her character or the acting, but she’s a weak point of the show to me. Doug Jones on the other hand has been incredible and I could watch him play Saru all day 😄

If you use KDE, look for the “TV Glitch [burn-my-windows]” opening and closing animation. It’s a default setting in the KDE Settings > Workspace behavior > Desktop effects > Window open/close animation section. It’s really good in my opinion, especially if you tinker with the open/close timing to make it a little more crisp.

This Lemmy community is a pretty good resource for inspiration, and sometimes you can snag animation or icon sources from the descriptions or comments. It’s not super in depth on the how to end of it though.

I would be surprised if someone who games stuck entirely to open source options. Even so there are some pretty good entries out there like Shattered Pixel Dungeon. It’s pretty amazing and better than any top down SNES game I’ve ever seen.

There’s probably a mixture of those that do and those that don’t, but I’d imagine statistically speaking there is a majority who play videogames, especially given the generation that is coding now has grown up with video games as a big part of their childhood.