Does it break with normal use or are you a tinkerer?

They prefer RISC-0, and MONEY-5

There are definitely Rpi “card form factor” x86_64 SBCs. UP Board for example is one of those.

I have been using Odroid boards for many years. I currently have 3 C4 boards and 1 older C1 board. My kids use them as their computer in their rooms. Hardkernel is the company behind the boards, they also provided the official Home assistant blue devices that came pre installed with HASS.

I’m not familiar with podcasts. Where can i find these?

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I don’t really have a problem with “selling” Linux. You gotta take all things with a dose of skepticism.

Has anyone ever recommended a product of any complexity as an OS and then also listed all of the common issues people might encounter? When people talk about a product they like, of course it will highlight the positive things, but anyone who has ever touched a computer, hobbyist or not, knows these things might sometimes shit the bed in unexpected ways. I think that’s common sense.

Windows is said to have less problems, but the cryptic errors and non descriptive “wait while we do something” message without any other output actually makes solving problems harder. It has more users, so luckily that means someone out there probably has the issue documented so solutions are easier to find.

I use both, at home primarily Linux, at work primarily Windows. I had troubles in both that caused serious headaches, but generally they both work without too much problems.

This might have been a bit rambling 😅

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I don’t understand why people can’t simply believe that someone could actually have very little issues with performance or settings after switching.

What About™ people who have issues when installing windows, as if that never happens.

I put both kinds of operating systems on a myriad of computers and sometimes it’s smooth sailing and sometimes it’s like stepping on rake after rake.

My kids use odroid c4 devices. Great for browsing and videos, absolutely no gaming unless it’s old and native (quake 2, half life, …) or browser games like blockpost. They play the bejeezus out of that. All in all pretty good choice. It being both Linux and arm reduces the attack surface a bit considering these are kids with internet access.

If you like the form factor but prefer x86_64 then you could look into UP board series.

DeArrow, Consent-O-Matic and uBlock are ESSENTIAL.

My friend, have you checked out the arch user repository? What do you mean with less supported btw?

To comment on the first paragraph, that is just a skill issue. Before I switched to Linux I was pretty adept at Windows, but some things are hard to figure out because it’s hidden behind layers of bullshit. Running commands that obscure what exactly they’re doing, just because some guy on some forum said it worked for him, is how you get around on Windows and that knowledge is something you build over many years. Knowing where specific settings are or what values to use takes time. The same counts for Linux. If you stick to it, that knowledge will come with experience.

Just remember the dism and sfc scannows, registry hacks etc the average Joe doesn’t know about. Your learnt it, you didn’t start using Windows with that knowledge. The same will happen with Linux.

You will simply have an OS that is no longer supported and will be vulnerable against attacks that hackers withheld until then.

It’s your choice to stay with Microsoft either by accepting an insecure OS or upgrading your hardware, or jump ship to something that isn’t Microsoft (Apple, Linux, ChromeOS, …) depending on your needs and expectations.

People forgot or are too young to remember, but XP needed several “service packs” before it was good.

It doesn’t hurt anyone to offer alternatives that may not have been considered or that might be helpful to others who come across this thread with the same questions, is it not?

OP says he toyed with Linux so it’s not unfamiliar to him. I only see a suggestion based on OPs needs. Calling this evangelism is exaggerating.

I think it started with 8 and they patched it into 7 when 8 launched.

I use thunderbird at home and outlook at work and prefer thunderbird. It works nicely with my catch-all mailserver so it automatically uses the correct outgoing address.

Searching for mails is also a breeze compared to outlook.