Based on my own experience as well as taking into account the suggestions of other people, here are the top three Linux distros for beginners:
These are basically just "install-and-go" distros; no need for advanced setup.
A guide on how to setup a DDNS-like system using Cron and a Deno script.
This guide shows you how to create a DDNS-like system using Cron and a shell script. Creating your own removes the reliance on third-party DDNS providers like No-IP. I thought I'd share it here since DDNS is essential for self-hosting.
This is something I wish I'd setup sooner. For the longest time, I got comfortable with No-IP and having to manually confirm the hostname every 30 days.
It's the same issue with a lot of open-source software projects. Many use proprietary/closed-source services to communicate with users or develop the software itself. It's quite ironic, really. 🤦♂️
For my website, I went with my two favourites: Ubuntu for sans-serif and Cascadia Code for monospace. I think it's a good combination. 🙂
Linux Mint is a great beginner distro.
I got my dad, who is very non-tech, to switch from Windows 10 to Linux Mint; he has been using it for over 2 years now. He went from using Edge, Microsoft Word, and Outlook to using Firefox, LibreOffice and Thunderbird.
I cancelled my Netflix and Spotify subscriptions long ago after content would get taken down for whatever reason. This reminded me that I'm only renting the content from these services; I don't actually own them.
Fast forward to now, I selfhost a Jellyfin server and pirate all the content I want. Feels good to have total control and ownership over my music and movie collection.
If you're trying to DeGoogle, you can receive some help and info by checking out the https://lemmy.ml/c/degoogle community.
I suggest you check out Runbox as another alternative webmail service. You get the first month free to try it out before having to pay for the subscription. I've recently switched my mail from Gmail to Runbox.
Runbox is a subscription-based email service located in Norway; your data is protected by strict Norwegian privacy legislation.
I discovered Runbox from the Free Software Foundation's list of recommended webmail systems and wanted to try it out.
I paid the annual cost for their Mini Plan and I have been using Runbox for over a month now. So far I have been happy with their service. Their webmail interface isn't the best looking but it doesn't matter to me since I use Thunderbird as my email client.
I think a good first step is to use free and open-source, non-profit alternatives (Firefox, Lemmy, Mastodon, Matrix, etc). The next is to help grow these technologies by contributing to their development. You can contribute by fixing bugs, translating text, or just donating money.
It will take a while for most people but try to DeGoogle, DeMicrosoft, and DeApple your life. It's quite liberating to not be tied to any of these company's DRM, policies or rules.
Welcome! It won't be long now until you start using tiling window managers on Arch. 😉
People need to realize that you do not own the games that you buy from stores such as Ubisoft and Steam. You are renting these games at best. These companies can deny access to your games at any time they see fit. Whether it's deleting inactive accounts, a change of policy, business going bankrupt or any act of god.
This is why I only buy games from stores such as GOG or itch.io where I actually receive a DRM-free copy of the game. It's mine forever so long as I back it up; which is not hard to do since storage is so cheap nowadays.