NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]

You could just call the Free operating systems GNU/Linux or NonGNU/Linux.

“Vanilla linux” is vague terminology and distorts history.

Privacy and best practices are nearly universal across most user-obsessive distributions like Mint or Zorin and by extension most if not all distributions. Don’t let anyone tell you that one distribution is more “private” than another.

Mint is simply just better than Zorin in everything that Zorin tries to do, perhaps if this was a year ago things would be different, but Zorin is just not as well maintained as Mint is.

If you like the look of Zorin, that’s okay, most people do. But all desktop environments can be customized to your liking.

Use Mint instead, Zorin is not as well maintained or looked after like Mint.

I’m not familiar with warp+ but having used Mullvad VPN with most distributions I’d say to see if it supports OpenVPN or Wireguard configurations. That way you can talk directly to NetworkManager or the respective vpn program.

Perhaps Fedora does not have a unique package dependency that Ubuntu has since Fedora is heavily oriented toward systemD and selinux for most system tasks that may be handled by different packages on Ubuntu/Debian distributions. Warp+ may be designed in a way that only expects a ubuntu/debian derivative distro.

I’d try consulting cloudflare customer support for more guidance and to see if they can replicate the issue on their end.

Are you sure that Steam is uninstalled completely from your filesystem. Steam creates a “.steam” user directory and leftover data in the directory may be conflicting with the flatpak. Delete it if it exists and then try restarting your computer. The flatpak version of steam sandboxes the .steam directory.

As always, Steam is proprietary software and doesn’t bother to follow freedesktop standards. The support I can give can only go so far. GOG is always a better solution as it can be used with a libre client like Heroic Games Launcher or Lutris without DRM or invasive anti features. You do not need Steam to leverage Valve’s contributions with Proton and Vulkan.

I would recommend using the flatpak version of steam and seeing if that works before heading any further.

Yeah, it’s misleading but technically still correct. GNU/Linux is a variant of an OS using the linux kernel.

Edit: nevermind they didn’t even mention GNU tar but instead calls it “Linux”

Piracy is always moral. These types of comments ignore the fact that “game devs” don’t actually have full control of their works but instead is split through a larger publishing/corporation and shareholders. Game devs have very little autonomy or personal agency at all.

This is the only version of the copypasta that’s actually well thought out.

Imma spam this now.

Bait, lmao. Why do you keep wasting everyones time?

I always turn on KDE telemetry since it doesnt collect any identifiable info.

But honestly, privacy is not the same as anonymity. I would also turn on fedoras proposed telemetry if the draft bill gets approved.

Not having any control over your computing. CS illiteracy is really scary. The world looks grim from the libre software world.

ZorinOS is definitely overrated, their update cycles are too slow (two years between major releases) and its unique features like ZorinConnect, Windows Software Tool , and their Zorin customized GNOME 42/XFCE isn’t good enough against its sibling Mint.

Of course, there’s always the special cheat code called archinstall that you can invoke immediately after login if you have a wired connection. Honestly, installing GNU/Linux isn’t hard, maintaining it is. Installing Gentoo is following a handbook, maintaining gentoo requires rigorous application logic and configuring.

Since presuming the computer came with Windows activated preinstalled, then the license key is likely embedded into the BIOS of the device. Reinstalling Windows will not void that license key because you already paid for it with the “windows tax.” I’ve reinstalled windows on my pre-built “gaming” PC and the license activated automatically.

There are some pains getting a USB bootable installer image with Windows on a full GNU/Linux system, but it is entirely possible. It’s also possible to virtualize windows with GPU pass-through or use Wine/Proton which should always be examined before attempting to reinstall Windows (which is always a last resort).

Valve’s contributions to Wine can be used without using Steam’s DRM-based client such as in applications like Bottles and Lutris. However, we should call on Valve to release the steam client API to the public and to only distribute DRM free games (like GOG).

Proprietary (nonfree) Software.

People still peddle the “muh intellectual property” and “I gotta feed my kids in this fast-paced economy” even though these are irrelevant to software freedom.

An alarming majority (at least in the US) are ignorant of this conflict at all. The money is so distorted in the IT industry that it’s tantamount to theft. The skeletons in Congress don’t have a single clue.

This is super cool, the ability to use embedded offline translators is terrific and shows that the author does consider all use-cases. I’m definitely installing this to my Librewolf.

That’s a shame. Lenovo is your next best bet. If you are in Europe I would recommend Slimbook or Tuxedo.

If you have the money to spare and are based in the US, you could look at System76 laptops. They all have the latest hardware and coreboot. POP!_OS will allow you to do everything on that list for 7+ hours since you can install a foreign package manager like Guix, Nix, and Homebrew for all your tinkering needs and use flatpak for graphical applications.