You're in luck. As far as i recall wincompose is inspired by Xorg's Compose feature (https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose?tab=readme-ov-file#features). Depending on your installation you can toggle it via some settings, or by running: setxkbmap -option compose:ralt
I always find the book useful for this stuff: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration#Configuring_compose_key
I think Wikipedia is a valuable common good and should be maintained. Because I can afford it, I donate monthly, even if I only use it a few times each month.
I think any distro will do really. I'd go for something that is friendly to new users, if you're not very familiar with Linux in general. For example: Linux Mint. Here is an example on how you can get your installation setup easily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyT4wfz5ZMg
Regarding your Valve Index. It will likely work, but don't expect it to be very easy to get it running well. I'm currently on Arch Linux with red team hardware and a Valve Index. For example, you will need to ensure the udev rules are set properly: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-devices. New issues occasionally arise, see: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamVR-for-Linux/issues. Currently, it's not switching audio devices automatically, so I use pavucontrol (with PipeWire) to switch that manually.
That should be easily solved with: sudo apt install curl
I use a gaming-mode for that. Like this:
# Create a gaming mode
mode "gaming" {
# switch to workspace
bindsym $mod+1 workspace number $ws1 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+2 workspace number $ws2 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+3 workspace number $ws3 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+4 workspace number $ws4 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+5 workspace number $ws5 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+6 workspace number $ws6 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+7 workspace number $ws7 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+8 workspace number $ws8 ; mode "default"
bindsym $mod+9 workspace number $ws9 ; mode "default"
# move focused container to workspace
bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace number $ws1
bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace number $ws2
bindsym $mod+Shift+3 move container to workspace number $ws3
bindsym $mod+Shift+4 move container to workspace number $ws4
bindsym $mod+Shift+5 move container to workspace number $ws5
bindsym $mod+Shift+6 move container to workspace number $ws6
bindsym $mod+Shift+7 move container to workspace number $ws7
bindsym $mod+Shift+8 move container to workspace number $ws8
bindsym $mod+Shift+9 move container to workspace number $ws9
bindsym $mod+Shift+0 move container to workspace number $ws10
}
# Enter the gaming mode when a game is started
for_window [class="^steam_app_"] move to workspace $ws10; workspace $ws10; mode "gaming"
for_window [class="^hl2_linux"] move to workspace $ws10; workspace $ws10; mode "gaming"
This automatically moves (most) games to workspaces 10 and switches to that workspace. This allows me to use key combinations that would otherwise be used by i3.
I think self-hosted cloud is a vague statement, but I think with your network infrastructure you will be limited in what you can do. I think cloudflare tunnel could be a good option for getting the device available online.
Then the self-hosted part. There are so many things you can look into. You can run everything in Docker, install the software you want directly on your laptop, and much more.
You'll likely also need a reverse proxy. Can use nginx proxy manager, traefik, or something similar for that.
What are your goals with the self-hosted cloud? That would help you in making it easy to find resources and others here to give you advice.
Edit: typo's
I have been in the same spot. Good to read that I've been able to help out. Have fun with this in combination with your gaming!
What's the use case? Is there a reason that the disk is not unlocked at boot/login?
Oh I didn't know that yet! Amazing stuff.
Dozens of GB sounds like there's a lot of media files to me. I'd not share that via Syncthing. Assuming that is correct: Wouldn't a media server like Jellyfin be a better fit? Or if it's photos, I recommend Immich. Note that Immich is under active development and should not be your only place to store photos.
Well.. I guess I have been living under a rock. Today is the first time to have heard of info. I have been using man for well over 2 decades now.