If you want Debian with more frequent updates, consider going Debian sid. Base Debian is also fine, maybe with Flatpaks for more up-to-date applications where needed.

I run irssi on a Raspberry Pi. It has everything I need.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

Disappoint is a sober word here. I am actually pissed at the casual arrogance of Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical.

I'm actually baffled that this would come as a surprise to people. Canonical has been like this for a long time and you'd have to have blinders on to not see it. They are hell-bent on doing things their way and ignoring the wider Linux community and even their users. That is, of course, their prerogative and to some degree I even welcome their attempts at differentiating their distro from others. As a user though you should be aware of their history and the apparent direction they're heading.

I just wish they'd stop stalling and went all-in on snaps already, since that's pretty obviously where they're headed.

Back in the day when I was running Gentoo, in the long long ago, Firefox was one of the few things I installed as a binary, since compiling it took hours. Compiling it every time there was an update would have driven me crazy. From what I gather this is still true for most users. Yeah, go for the Flatpak if at all possible.

Super Mario Bros. I like the movie, but I can definitely see why people don't.

I'm going to go with a classic and recommend Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Don't try, just quit. You can't hesitate. It's awful, I know. The first month was the hardest, the second month was even harder. But it does get easier eventually. You really can't listen to the Nicotine Imp sitting on your shoulder though: all it tells are lies, lies, lies. "Just one more and that's it" is a delusion. Always keep in mind why you are quitting and focus on that.

You can do it, you have the willpower. You are stronger than tobacco.

Oh... Oh no...

Pine64 has also had terrible communication for a while now and their site has had technical issues for a month. They have not filled me with confidence as of late.

postmarketOS is great though.

maybe he’d show a bit of interest.

Fuck that. When you have a kid, you are interested in them no matter who they are. Even if they are the most boring dumbfuck in the world, you are interested in your kid. There was nothing wrong with you, the issue was all him. It took me a long time to realize this for myself too, but now I know.

I'm sorry for your loss. For the father who died, and the father you never had.

Kind of sounds like you just want Debian with netinst image and then do an Expert install. Afterwards you might want to migrate repos to sid. Good luck!

OpenSUSE is good. If corporate scares you off, there's OpenMandriva Lx or Mageia.

I don't. When I'm clearly not enjoying a book and don't feel like finishing it, I stop and move on. Unless I have a pressing reason, I see no point in pushing myself to do something I hate. Reading is for me is fun and interesting, it is not something I do to torture myself. Sometimes it's hard to "give up" on a book, but in the end life is too short.

Do what you enjoy the way that works for you, there are no rules.

Absolutely not.

Check out Posteo. It's affordable and focuses on privacy.

My first Linux distro was Mandrake. I'm not exactly sure when it was, but FiveStar sounds about right, so 2003 or so. I've since used Gentoo, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and possibly some others. I did use Windows 8.1 for a good few years, but came back to Linux when I saw where Windows was headed. Right now I'm on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is pretty darn good, and thinking of maybe hopping on to OpenMandriva, though not out of any real necessity. I have a PinePhone and have used Mobian and PosmarketOS on it. There's also my first generation Raspberry Pi running Raspbian.

The way modern commercial OSs are developing, I'm extremely glad something like Linux exists. Libre software is the future.

First it was Amarok, then Clementine, and now it's Strawberry.

I'm happy you're having fun computing and all, but I'm going to be that guy: It's rite of passage.

I mean, I know that we are suppose to hate it for Snaps and what not but…

There is no "supposed to" when it comes to distro preferences. Use whatever you like, other people's opinions do not dictate your behavior. If Ubuntu works for you, use that. If anything, that's the freedom of FOSS. You can take other people's views in to account when choosing a distro, but in the end it is your decision. I dislike Ubuntu for a few reasons, but I don't get to dictate to anyone else what they use and why.

If you like rolling release, you could try Debian sid/unstable. I hear it's quite stable and reliable and, of course, isn't Ubuntu.