This sounds like a good idea, but I think the problem here is that a lot of popular software runs great on Linux but is very clunky and ugly on other systems (looking at you, LibreOffice). So keep that in mind if you try out FOSS on Windows as a sneak peek.

Navigation on Android: Osmand lets you download and cache OSM data so you can use it offline. Cache is unlimited if you download Osmand via F-Droid.

You can put together a media server and build a catalogue so you can watch movies and series offline. Maybe not a huge priority in that situation but definitely nice to have.

Jellyfin is a good option for streaming from a media server to other devices. The *arr suite is an option for building the catalogue.

I understand it’s easy, but I don’t want to sully my omnipotent flake with a casual nixpkgs.follows = "nixos-cosmic/nixpkgs";. It’s probably fine, but I can wait.

I’m waiting for Cosmic to be merged into NixOS stable which I learned is just around the corner (May). I’m super excited because Cosmic seems to strike a sensible balance between polished, full-featured, make-everyone-happy mainstream DE and performance-oriented tiling WM.

Although I’ve never tested the Alpha, I have a feeling that I might finally make the switch (from Gnome) on my daily driver once it’s mature enough.

If I’m not mistaken, ffsend generates a link that you can share with non-tech people (which is a big difference in my book).

ffsend targets Send which is an actively maintained community fork of Firefox Send.

It’s not centralized, you can host your own or choose from the public send instances.

You can load bitmap images into Inkscape and manipulate them to a degree, but Gimp is much better at that. You can probably also load vector graphics (svg) into Gimp, but I’d assume they would be converted to bitmaps.

Vector vs bitmap is a good topic to be familiar with for anyone who works with computers, I keep running into professionals who really should know the difference but don’t.

Helpful answer: vlc, libreoffice, gimp, inkscape, zathura, obs-studio

Real answer: gnome, run-or-raise, foot, fish, tmux, fzf, silver-searcher, neovim, neomutt, vifm

Same, but if you haven’t aliased top to btm --battery you’re not really living

As others have said, less is super useful, you should keep it installed. There are better ways to open text files with your preferred editor than removing all alternatives.

Looks like less to me. How did you open the file? Double click from file explorer? Then you need to check your default applications.

I should add that Zathura comes with a minimal graphical interface and you sort of need to learn the vi-like keyboard controls (or look them up with man zathura). But boy is it fast!

Try Zathura! I’ve been loving it.

~500 MB for /boot and the rest is LUKS-encrypted btrfs

It’s not just debatable, it’s beside the point. NixOS is declarative, trivially reproducible and natively container-ready, that’s what makes it so great.

I think you’re spot on: Markdown files with SyncThing. That’s my setup as well, you just can’t beat markdown files as a back-end for flexibility and future-safety in my opinion.

Some things to consider:

• Editor: The obvious no-nos are editors with built-in AI support or cloud storage. FOSS editors are highly recommended. If you find a good offline FOSS WYSIWYG-style markdown editor, let us know. I use Neovim myself, but I’m often asked for recommendations by non-geeks.
• Operating system: You should be fine on MacOS (for now), but Linux is a great option for desktop. Windows is a loose canon with their AI snapshot approach, definitely avoid. What are you syncing to? Mobile devices are a lot more difficult to keep control of.
• Encrypted devices: Make sure you have full disk encryption on all devices and on all your backups.

The way I understand it, ufw is a frontend for iptables. So no.

This is a helpful blogpost on disabling input devices in Wayland

You don’t. Even if you’re happy to support the developers of the software you use (which is great!), I think it makes more sense to download and give it the spin first, then donate later.