Windows (11 Pro): Bloat. Unusable Windows Content Search (on my 20T+ of data). Patches that cause reboots unexpectedly. Hard to configure full disk encryption that requires a password at boot time to unlock. Hard to figure out how to fix things that break, but Gemini helps. Hard to migrate to entirely new computer without a full reinstall. Touchy iSCSI support.

Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS): No good integration with OneDrive and Google Drive at the filesystem level like on Windows. Too many distributions to consider. SNAP on Ubuntu (uninstalled). Scary Ubuntu LTS upgrades. Have not figured out Wine for the few Windows apps I would like to use. (Would love just having a VM like in the old days, with window manager integration.) Audio drivers, latency and music software is very fiddly. Bluetooth is sketchy, especially for audio. Support for hardware lags Windows heavily (e.g. Strix Halo, nVidia). Poor support for business devices like some scanners etc. So many problems with Wayland, screen sharing, window positioning, etc.

But I am starting a migration to Linux slowly but surely. Windows keeps getting worse; Linux is improving. (Linux user since 1992.)

Trump administration seems to have tried to cancel a bunch of power sources (e.g. offshore wind).

Curious what the features are that you like and can source from AliExpress? I have usually gotten boards from Asus and its ilk, these days with 4+ M.2 slots...

I agree to a large extent. Yet, what we see going on in US political leadership truly is beyond my belief of what reasonable adults should do and act like, even as an (precocious, sharp) ex-child.

Yes, it’s next level and clearly a period of decline. This is Nero and Caligula stuff. We’ve been sliding this way for a while.

It doesn’t mean this is the end of the USA. All civilizations go through ups and downs. This is, at least culturally and politically, a down.

I also think it’s global though. The US is manifesting it clearly and starkly, but that’s kind of US style. Authoritarianism backed by populist grievance politics and venal corruption are on the rise around the world.

When I think about it I start to ask question what sort of reasonable person would even get involved in the top political leadership? Especially in USA on both sides. It feels entirely select to those who can manage the absurdly hostile environment both from inside and outside... Which to me doesn't look like exactly healthy population.

If I remove my own political leanings, this group just completely dropped the mask.

I would not buy an Apple laptop regardless, but they at least addressed one of my major complaints:

No camera notch

Praise the...market?!

The author never links to whatever this Compose is, not explains it, IMO.

"Compiling!" (C.f. xkcd)

"Comptrialing"

Yes. The threats are now from Apple and other vendors who increasingly want, build and enforce lock in.

My problem (having moved Win to Lin, Ableton to Bitwig too) is with sound. Latency is one and bad. Getting any sound at all on Bluetooth is also hard, where the latency is even worse. Wish there was a simple "apt install make-audio-work-well-for-daw" I could run on my KDE Ubuntu 24.04...

Hmm. I'm on a stock Arch install and had no latency or quality issues to speak of. Bluetooth works out of the box using `bluez` and `blueman`, though Bluetooth is still Bluetooth, with inherent latency. Some headphones have low-latency modes that can be activated in their respective apps at the expense of ANC/battery life, maybe that'll help?

The apt command you're looking for may be the audio backend, though. `apt install pipewire wireplumber -y`. Won't break your existing pulseaudio setup, but will allow low-latency operations. (I think--I avoid the dumpster fire that is Ubuntu like the plague, so ymmv)

Thanks. I actually have those two. I just never figured out how to get bluetooth working with them. The regular speakers or headphone jack work reasonably well.

HP Zbook Ultra G1a, 128GB RAM. Add SSD to taste. HP supported (Canonical OEM) Ubuntu with KDE. Works great as a daily driver with a UGreen GAN charger.

Interesting, I had never even heard of this laptop! Thanks for the tip!