The rule is that apps are only updated for security reasons. Not because of new features.
So, new versions of apps may (or may not) be added to the next version of Debian.
Libb
A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. I also like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com/
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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: November 26th, 2023
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3·17 hours agoHi. I’ve been thinking about trying out Linux for a while now (haven’t used it before).
Welcome :)
I have 1 PC which I share with my son. I mainly use it to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, Office for work, etc.
Depending your 'MS Office ’ expectations, you should have no issue using LibreOffice. 100% compatibility doesn’t exist, though, but for most users it should work more than fine. For the most part, it is only a few advanced features and tools that are lacking, and some layout stuff. I write books under Linux as easily as I wrote them under, well, not a Windows PC in my case: it’s a Mac.
I am not a gamer. So, for that I can’t help much, but you have the ability to dual boot your PC and chose between Windows and Linux when it starts. Maybe that would let you use Linux while keeping a small Windows partition for your son games?
Here is one guide among many others (I have not used it myself, it’s just an example there are plenty more): https://opensource.com/article/18/5/dual-boot-linux
FYI, you can try Linux directly from a live CD (or a USB stick) without even have to install it on the computer. It’s really cool.
As for the distro I was considering Ubuntu.
You can use whatever distro you fancy, you can easily try a few different ones either by using the live CD/USB I mentioned, or by running them in a virtual machine — something I have never done myself as it’s a bit too intimidating and techy to old-and-not-much-of-a-geek me :p
I use Debian (on my desktop) and Mint (on my laptop). Ubuntu is based on Debian, and Mint is based on… Ubuntu (from which it has removed stuff I’m not happy with in Ubuntu and added a few others I like). There is no good and bad distro, only those that you like and those that you… like less ;)
Edit: to a beginner, probably more than Ubuntu I would suggest Mint, at least if I can judge on my own personal experience: everything worked out of the box, including my stubborn Apple Airpods.
Thx for the clarification.
I’m one of those persons that (tries to) shut their computer off every time they’re not using it — waste less energy, you know, stuff like that ;)
I hope you won’t mind my beginner question: would that have any advantage for a single home user like myself? I mean would it help to do backup easier (I backup my home folder already) and accelerate a restore in case I have to reinstall Linux? Or is it just a seemingly great tool for sysadmins, for some specific use cases?
13·2 days ago- MullvadVPN, and a free and privacy respecting OS is another good idea.
- So is using privacy respecting apps: LibreOffice instead of MS Office, Codium instead of VSCode. And so on, with many FLOSS alternatives to the usual proprietary ones.
- Services also matter, imho: I’m using ProtonMail for my email (Tuta would be another clever choice, imho, and there are probably others). I’ve very recently switched from iCloud to filen.io for my cloud storage needs.
- Using one’s phone as little as possible. I’ve almost nothing on mine, I mean only stuff I’m required to have (banking and IDs, stuff like that), no email, no social, not even music or games (the game I enjoy the most play I also I enjoy it the most when I play it offline: chess ;))
And then… I also started using analog tools much more in the last two years. This helps a lot maintaining one’s privacy. Amazon can’t track my reading habits when I read a printed book (even less if I do not buy it from them), Goofle cant’" track my writings when I use pen and paper instead of their apps, Apple (or Google or Microsoft) can’t track my paper agenda or my paper notebook. And the NSA or whomever is playing that role in my country can’t ask any corporation to install backdoors in my IRL encounters with people so they could spy on me. At least, they cannot do that for now ;)
What are ways to minimize that besides not using Google?
- Do less online, and more offline?
My journal is paper-based and so are most of the stuff I write, my agenda is paper-based (ok, they still can track the agenda of the people I have appointments with :p), my sketches are seldom shared online, the few photos I value are printed and not stored online. Most people I interact with, I meet them IRL.
- And what you do online, do it using less or even better none of the gafam products and services?
I mean, they want our data. Why make it easy for them to get that while also giving them money to do it?
After 35+ years being their customer, I’m slowly but definitely switching from Apple to Linux. Not because Apple sells bad products (they’re great working tools, I used to earn a decent living working with Mac and iOS) but because I don’t want anything to do with them and their greed (making unfixable/unrepairable device on purpose) and their overarching ability and self-entitlement to destroy every ounce of privacy we once took for granted, as citizens of free and democratic countries.
Even GNU/Linux, I’m starting to wonder if it’s not just a stopgap for me as I really do not agree with the ‘moralization’ of everything that I see happening in FLOSS. Freedom as I define it means people should be allowed to think and speak freely, no matter how much I disagree with them, their ideas and even their fundamental values.
Edit: That may not be much but here is a few of the things I have changed (beside re-using analog a lot more)
- My main computer is now running GNU/Linux. I keep a Mac for a few specifc tasks and because I don’t wnat to throw it away.
- I do not use iCloud anymore (and certainly not Google Drive), and I switched to a small German cloud company (Filen.io). It offers less features, but it’s fully encrypted and secure and don’t track me (check my last blog post if you want to read my reasoning for picking them and not some of the many alternatives),
- I use Proton Mail (I keep my Gmail activa as a trash email, though and only for as long as I will need to transfer all my accounts elsewhere).
- I use LibreOffice instead of MS Office.
- Also, I quit most subscriptions services. Instead, I will donate to FLOSS alternatives even though I often get less features in exchange for my money… I get way more privacy (and freedom).
- The only one I have a hard time leaving is YT: most creators I enjoy are there, not elsewhere.
- Also, I started reading printed books instead of ebooks (here again, feel free to check my blog to see why and how it’s going ;)
edit: clarifications and some details.
Debian (desktop) and Mint (laptop), because I don’t need to use the latest version of every app I use and because it works so well.
If I had to chose a single one, it would be Debian but I don’t have to chose ;)
Well, Debian has a 32-bit ISO, and since Ubuntu is based on Debian you may consider giving it a try?
My bank offers both an app and a website which is nice, but the app is mandatory for doing any kind of operation involving money (which is not that uncommon when logged-in in your bank accounts ;) even when connecting through their website, as the app is used for some ID-ing process.
Then, there are a few not-mandatory but such-an-effing-pain-to-not-use apps, say to ID oneself with some (public) services.
I use a dumbed down iPhone (like, really: no social, no games, no whatever not even email is configured on it) just so I can access those few apps.
I am going to quote myself here:
Allow me to quote myself too, then:
That’s not the point.
I do not disagree with your remarks (I do not use Telegram), I simply consider it’s not the point or that it should not be.
Obviously, laws should be enforced. What those laws are and how they are used to erode some stuff that were considered fundamental rights not so long ago is the sole issue, once again, im(v)ho ;)
Well, except Telegram isn’t a good tool for privacy.
That’s not the point. The hunting down on tools and their creators (and on our right to privacy) is the issue here. At least, imho.
Well, it’s not like Debian hides it in any way or form. Quite the contrary.
Depends what you’re looking for in your distro. I love that stability and lack of updates outside of security issues.
May I ask why you don’t think you can change distro? It’s just a matter of installing Linux (which takes a few minutes) and, if it’s not done already, of backing up your personal files and settings (most of them probably in your home folder, already).