Yes, mostly rain on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. Rain and 45 F is pretty much the default for winter here; you'd probably like it. I don't mind the cold (within reason), but the constant cloudiness gets to me. I miss the sun already, and the rainy season has just started.
I use Keep for checklists and disposable notes, and Joplin (similar to Obsidian, but open source) for my "forever" notes. I look for apps that give you the option of exporting notes in a common format (currently markdown), and I have notes that have followed me through several changes of note taking programs.
You're already using Obsidian, so my suggestion is... Take notes!
Take notes on cool software you've discovered, take notes on your settings and configurations, take notes on any issues and bugs you've had to fix, take notes on how to use unfamiliar programs, take notes on Linux terminology. You have a huge personal knowledge base from years of using Windows. Linux is not hard to use, but it takes time to become second nature to you.
an app launcher. Literally every other desktop on the planet has one, how this isn’t considered basic functionality is beyond me. Give your grandparents a vanilla GNOME computer and tell them to get to Facebook and you will see how necessary this is. Default should be dash-to-dock with intelligent autohide so you only see it when you need it. This would fulfill GNOME’s hangups about it while also improving usability, so I fail to see a downside.
GNOME does have a launcher, which works just like the launcher on Mac and Android. You can even select whether to see all your apps or only the most-used ones. I do agree that a taskbar/dock with intelligent auto-hide is a must, though (at least for my usability). That's also not to say that some folks would rather have a Windows style launcher, and there are several DEs that provide that.
Thanks for the reminder about VLC. I don't use it much any more, but back in the wild west days of audio/video codecs (some of which were paid), VLC would play everything.
The web pages for Lemmy and kbin have the ability to filter by subscribed communities, as well. I think what most of us are thinking of is a way to view the "All" feed that gives more weight to the smaller communities, which would help us discover new communities to subscribe to.
Limiting myself to free as in freedom (no ads, not free to use because you are the product):
KeePass/KeePassXC, GnuCash, Firefox, LibreOffice, digiKam, GIMP.
A qualified yes. I love the overview, which is, IMO, the most elegant way to launch applications and manage workspaces of any OS or DE. I also love the general look and fluidity of the environment and how it gets out out your way when you don't need it. But I preferred the pre-GNOME 40 vertical workflow to the new horizontal workflow.
There are also three must-have extensions that make GNOME usable for me:
AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support. GNOME can wish away tray icons if they want to, but the tray hasn't gone away and is still necessary for some applications.
DashToDock. Makes app switching more accessible and adds right-click to close.
Gnome 4x UI Improvements. Increases the size of the workspace thumbnails so you can actually see what's in them (like it was before GNOME 40).
I still favor native packages, but I don't have a problem with Flatpaks. I'll use them when a program isn't available in the repo or there's a compelling reason to have a never version of an application. I'm on Debian Stable, so I'm obviously not obsessed with having the newest, shiniest version of everything.
To add to what @lordnikon said, the program is called Software & Updates and I'm pretty sure it's installed by default in GNOME (don't know about other DEs).
Paper mills smell like hydrogen sulfide - rotten eggs. It's a byproduct of the pulping process. It's bad, but some of the smells described here sound much worse. Source: the town I live in used to have an operating paper mill.
I'm on Fark more than I used to be on Reddit. It's still my go-to for political discussions and kept me sane during the Trump years. Honestly, the community is pretty good there and there's a nice balance between insightful comments and snark. But Reddit was better for hobbyists, niche interests and tech discussions and I'm hoping those communities will develop here on Lemmy.
Same here. I've worn contacts for 50 years (my user name isn't a lie). A few minutes of inconvenience at the beginning and end of the day, and I don't have to think about my vision aids the rest of the time. And I can walk in the rain and still see!
GNOME. Been using Linux since before GNOME Shell was a thing and when it became a thing it just clicked for me. In my opinion, it's by far the most polished DE and provides the most elegant and intuitive launcher and workspace switcher of any DE or OS I've used. At least they did, until they fucked it up by moving from vertical to horizontal workspaces and made the workspace previews so small you can no longer see what's in them.
Which is the downside of GNOME. Sometimes their developers are their own worst enemies. Fortunately, there are usually extensions to fix the most egregious "enhancements".
Yes, mostly rain on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. Rain and 45 F is pretty much the default for winter here; you'd probably like it. I don't mind the cold (within reason), but the constant cloudiness gets to me. I miss the sun already, and the rainy season has just started.