Nah @exu is right: non-IT focused companies do not have the skills or desire to reliably set up and maintain these systems. There is no benefit to them creating their own server stack based on a community distro to save a few bucks.

Smaller companies will hire MSPs to get them setup and maintain what they need. And medium to large size companies would want an enterprise solution (IE: RHEL) they can reliably integrate into their operations.

This is for a few high value reasons. Taking Red Hat as an example:

1. Standardization (IE: they can hire people with RedHat certificates and they will be a few steps ahead in ramping up to internal systems)
2. Vendor support (IE: if something critical isn’t working they can get quick support from a Red Hat technician and get it resolved quickly)
3. Reliability (IE: all software is backed and tested by Red Hat and if anything breaks from a package update its on Red Hat to fix)

When lots of money is on the line companies want as many safety/contingency plans as they can get which is why RedHat makes sense.

The only companies that will roll their own solution are either very small with knowledgeable IT people (smaller startups), or MASSIVE companies that will create very custom solutions and then train their own IT operations divisions (talking like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon levels).

Not to say what Red Hat did is justified or good, because hampering the FOSS ecosystem is destructive overall, but just putting this into context.

I’ve been checking for the Flatpak daily 😭

This is where you can track the issue

Another shitty thing about Plexamp is there is no easy way to download your entire library in a converted format and auto download any new additions.

The developer said that “this is not the intended use of Plexamp”, but the reasoning is flawed IMO

The only thing keeping me on Plex is iOS downloads supported natively.

The second Swiftfin gets that I will be switching fully to Jellyfin

Unless Plex adds something new and exciting that pushes them beyond FOSS offerings

For anyone looking for a chair that doesn’t want to spend >$1000 or get a gaming chair, I recommend looking for an office furniture reseller in your area.

There are a lot of shops that buy used furniture from companies either going out of business or moving.

I was able to get a new Steelcase for like half the price, still had its tags and packaging. Granted this was during covid where a lot of businesses were dumping their in-office supplies, but still worth a look.

Restic and borg are the best I’ve tried for remote, encrypted backups.

I personally use Restic for my remote backups and rsync for my local.

Restic beats out borg for me because there are a lot more compatible storage options.

YES this.

Back when I was on Windows 10, I meticulously deleted all pre-installed crap (candy crush, Netflix, etc.), and turned off all tracking, ads, etc.

About a month later they pushed a major update and all those pre-installed apps were back, with more. All the settings I turned off were reverted.

I won’t ever go back. The only games I really can’t play are all online (League, etc.), and TBH good riddance. Wasn’t adding value to my life anyway.

I was on Pop for a while, if I was still using an Nvidia card I would still be on Pop. Their built in support/installer is just so convenient and seamless for the most part.

Nvidia is just such a pain on Linux. Like if it works then great, but I have had just so many minor problems in the past.

My Nvidia card is essentially just a backup now in my server in case I need video output for a terminal.

Used: yes

Contributed: no

I know I know, I am sorry. Just started using it a few months ago (through Organic Maps on iOS), and honestly have started using it more than Google/Apple Maps. This is a good reminder for me so get off my ass and start contributing.

Yeah, potentially overkill, but all the power to anyone who wants to try them out. Freedom of choice is one of the best parts of Linux.

And sorry for the long response. It’s hard to gauge the proficiency that someone might have with Linux, so I tend to lean towards detailed explanations just in case

I think that there are definitely valuable/valid use cases for the software in the OP, but I think that the built in bash tools can get most people most of the way there. And learning the common bash/shell conventions is way more valuable than learning a custom tool that some distros/environments won’t support.

If someone already uses aliases, creates some custom scripts, and sets some useful environment variables (along with effective use of piping and redirection) and still needs something more specialized, then getting a new tool could help.

The downsides are a reliance on another piece of software to use the terminal. So I would only use something like this if I had a really solid and specific use case I couldn’t accomplish with what I already use.

I wouldn’t install a program for this if your use case is simple. You will end up relying on it when there are already some built in tools that can get you 99% of the way there.

1. Bash scripts placed in ~/bin or ~/.local/bin

• Can have simple or complex scripts setup to do whatever you want
• Easily called from terminal or automated through cron or systemd

2. Environment variables set in -/.bashrc

• Great for storing common paths, strings, etc.
• Can be easily incorporated into bash scripts

3. Aliases set in ~/.bashrc

• Ideal (IMO) for common commands with preferred options
• for example you could setup your most used rsync command to an alias: alias rsync-cust=“rsync -avuP”

Edit: rephrased to not discount the tools shared. I am sure if you had a specific reason to use them they could be helpful. But I think for many users the above options are more than enough and are supported pretty universally.

Yeah I saw a post about it a long time ago on Reddit for users with lots of devices

Basically it is just setting up one or two “central devices” that know all the client devices, but not linking the client devices individually.

IE: One server is connected to your phone, laptop, tablet, desktop, etc. But the phone is not directly connected to your laptop or desktop or tablet.

To be fair I don’t actually know if this is the best approach anymore or if just connecting all of them in a mesh is better 🤷

Here is a forum post describing it.

Yeah I think that would be an OK case and these specific things can be up to the moderators of communities. I know that some communities require mod approval before self promotion is allowed, so I think in the CGP Grey community case it would be a non issue.

I think starting with a super specific rule around affiliate disclosure as proposed would be good enough to avoid this particular problem.

I can get on board with this, my main concern is the disclosure.

I think what you posted is specific can be a good start. And then if any other dark patterns emerge they can be dealt with.

Yeah and I just want to make it clear I am not arguing that no one should post anything that benefits them. We all gotta eat, get that bag 💰, etc.

I think if affiliates are allowed, the rule should be that the proper disclosures are in place so anyone viewing the community knows who is benefiting. Then the community can decide if they are okay with whatever is happening, as long as the users know exactly what’s happening.

I posted in a reply below but here is the FTC’s stance

You should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, so readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement. You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate.

I disagree, not making it explicit adds a level of abstraction and assumes that everyone needs to know how online affiliate programs work. Users should know, without any question or confusion, who exactly is benefiting and how whenever they use an affiliate link. Otherwise there are perverse incentives.

And its not just me, here is the FTC’s stance.

You should disclose your relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously on your site, so readers can decide how much weight to give your endorsement. You could say something like, “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.” In some instances – like when the affiliate link is embedded in your product review – a single disclosure may be adequate.

I know FTC is American, but I think its a good guideline.

Yeah I am not against people making money. In this case if just felt distasteful and not properly disclosed.

Most people will probably know that that affiliate link benefits the mod of that community, but many won’t. People might just think “Oh wow that’s cool, thanks for sending me in the right direction you charitable mod”.

The problem is the lack of disclosure and the overall disingenuous feeling, not that someone is making cash.

Yeah I am okay leaving it to mods. But I think in this particular case if the mods themselves are posting affiliate links with no indication they are getting money for each use, that seems like misaligned incentives.

There were some subreddits that would have stickied posts or something that allowed affiliate links, but that aggregates it all into one place and also lays it out clearly for whoever visits.

My main concern is not that someone is making money, we all gotta eat, its just when people aren’t aware they are potentially being manipulated for someones benefit.

Check out LibreOffice instead, it’s more modern and actively maintained.