I agree. It’s not constructive to call non-techies “dumb.” Nor is it helpful to demand they”just” spend 30 min searching for solutions online. If you love tech, this is worthwhile - if you’re, say, a rights activist you’d rather spend that time reading an important report or meeting with people to advance your work; if you’re a retiree with limited means, then it might be overwhelming to “just go online”; and if you’re a musician working on an album, why should you need to spend time on tech when you could be spending that time mixing? I see examples of Linux becoming pretty user friendly compared to days of yore (eg Mint, Ubuntu), but has that improvement somehow compromised the techie side of Linux?

I don’t see them as mutually exclusive - can’t Linux be user friendly for the non-techie while also offering a techie lots of flexibility and command-line joy? 🤷‍♂️

Det lyder lækkert ☺️

Agree - love Mullvad!

You’re right - he likes to be provocative and makes some big generalizations. Not sure about the costs of AI…would need more info on that but he seems to suggest it’s an exception to the general rule in computing.

I like the prices! And europaweit lieferung - that works for me. :)

Thanks for the link - and good tip about the timing!

Thanks! :)

You’re so right: perfection isn’t the goal. It sounds like you have a good sense of what aspects of digital life can be helpful and which can be harmful to you. And how to use hardware and apps to lead you to the moments that bring you joy - such as time with your friends and playing the guitar.

It is encouraging that we’re seeing more e-ink and other technology to counterbalance the potentially toxic rabbit-holes of modern tech. I hope for a future in which we rely on tech as true tools, not attention eaters. I love having a blender in my kitchen, but I don’t want to spend time with my blender beyond blending. Somehow computers have become more than computers.

Anyway, I’m happy to hear that you’re finding ways to address the parts of tech that make you feel bad. And I hope you continue to find ways to prioritize non-tech moments with friends and strangers and music and nature — all the things that humans loved before we invented computers and smartphones.

Aspire 15

Looks nice - and nice price too!

Thanks for the tip - I'll check out the AMD Acer laptops. You thinking of Nitros, in particular?

Good points all round, thanks - and I did think the Linux installation cost seemed high. I might be willing to pay a premium for good support. I've heard good things about System76's customer service (but they're US-based). Installing a distro on an old laptop doesn't scare me - I've done it before. It's more the hardware/driver issues that might arise. And then I'd love to discover an "out of the box" solution that I could recommend to my friends and family, who have little appetite for tech tinkering. Maybe that's where Tuxedo comes into the picture...