I use Arch derivatives for all my computers but my media server runs Ubuntu Server because it’s low maintenance. For storage I use a USB 2x HDD docking station (one of those where you just stick the HDD upright in it).

What’s the value-add over just buying a SFF PC?

This happened to me years ago (the .com of my full name). I kept checking in at expiry date for 3 years and they eventually let it expire, so I bought it back for normal price.

So it’s a computer that lets you remotely control another computer? Is the advantage over SSH or remote desktop etc that you can interact with stuff outside the OS, like in BIOS?

I’ve never heard of this particular “Longhorn” and was very confused as to why Windows Vista was coming up in conversation.

I love EOS, but it would be a lot to take in at once for someone new to Linux - learning KDE, the terminal, plus everything else (flatpaks, the AUR, and so on) is a lot. At least Kubuntu still has the familiar (to them) KDE but has a GUI app store and never needs to use the terminal. It depends how generally tech-savvy the person is I guess.

I’ll disagree with Taiyang about Manjaro; I think it diverges too much form Arch and much prefer EndeavourOS (which is what I’m using at the moment).

With that said, I wouldn’t recommend anything Arch-based for a first timer. Quick sidebar: in Linux the “distribution” (the OS, basically - the variant of Linux) is separate from the desktop environment (the GUI). SteamOS uses the KDE desktop. If you like that, I think I’d recommend Kubuntu as a good Linux distro to start with. It’s Ubuntu with KDE instead of the default Ubuntu desktop, so there’s a ton of documentation and pretty much every app will work on it.

!linux@lemmy.ml is very active and a great place to ask questions and/or read up, or feel free to DM me!

Lem’my

In 2022 I was Windows + Twitter + Reddit. In 2023 I’m full-time Linux + Mastodon + Lemmy.