What is a hobby you enjoy, but seems too quirky or obscure to bring up in most conversations?

Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 533 points –

Mine would be creating pen and paper ciphers for my made up secret communication needs.

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I install and set up operating systems. It's something I do to my own computer regularly, but I'll cheerfully do for someone else because it's fun.

Linux is my favorite, but I can do Windows, Free/Open/Dragonfly BSD, Haiku, and given time to research others as well. I keep meaning to give NetBSD a shot...

It gives me a focused task with a specific end goal that requires some technical knowledge, but mostly preparation, research, and troubleshooting skills. The activity can sometimes lift me out of a depressive episode for a while.

May I ask by curiousity our of all the linux distro the one you appreciate the most?

Well, they all have their own strengths. I guess my favorites would be, in no particular order:

  • Arch - Elegant and minimalist, Arch is where you go if you want to learn how your system works. But what I love most about Arch is the wiki. About 75% of the time, I can solve any problem I run into on any distro by referencing that wiki.
  • Debian - easy to use and with rock-solid stability. The website is terrible though.
  • Fedora is the one I always come back to, though. It's got a great balance between cutting edge and stability, it's easy to use, I'm strangely attached to DNF, and it just sorta feels like home. The community is nice too.

I like some others; Nobara is great if you're a gamer, KDE Neon gives you an awesome and stable KDE environment, and Linux Mint is perfect for.beginners.

I also love installing, customizing, and exploring new operating systems. I recently came across NixOS and it is the most interesting OS I’ve seen in a while. Have you checked it out before?

I have! NixOS is great, I'm a big fan. I suppose if anything could replace Fedora as my favorite, Nix could.

Making my choice even harder. May I ask the beginner question of: Is there anywhere you have a desktop and can add files on it? I tried for a bit to play with Fedora and saw it was not possible

Honestly I promise you're better off using a better organization system than dump it on the desktop... But I can totally solve that problem for you!

It's a little tough to explain, but what you're looking for is a different Desktop Environment. Fedora Workstation uses Gnome, which doesn't do desktop icons by default. I love it, but it's not for everyone.

Fortunately, this is Linux so you have a choice!

If you want to stick with Fedora, use the KDE or Cinnamon spin. Check the Fedora Spins page:

https://fedoraproject.org/spins/

KDE is super customizable and modern, with lots of fun stuff you can do with the desktop, while Cinnamon is a bit less flexible but more familiar for folks coming from Windows. Either way, you can clutter up your desktop to your heart's content 😁.

Either way, it's still Fedora underneath.

If you really want to try something not Fedora, then you could go Linux Mint if you like the way Cinnamon looks; they invented that Desktop Environment, and make what might be the most beginner friendly Linux Distro:

https://linuxmint.com/

If you'd rather KDE and want something. other than Fedora, then I can suggest KDE Neon. It's actually handled by the KDE project itself:

https://neon.kde.org/

Hope that helps, and if you have any more questions, I'll help if I can.

that's a great high level quick advice guide, thanks.