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.

I don't have an answer for you, but maybe you and your friends could get together and start your own? The beauty of the fediverse and all that.

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.

In my opinion, microblogging isn't really a conversational platform. It's a creator and audience platform. That format has its place, as well, but Twitter/Threads/Mastodon/etc. isn't a replacement for forums.

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 of 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).

Vector Pinball

Login issue reportedly fixed with 0.18.2 update: Lemmy.world updated to 0.18.2

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.

116 °F (47 °C) during the 2021 Western North America heat wave
7 °F (-14 °C) in Mammoth Lakes, CA

What about running the Flatpak version of Brave? Flatpaks are containerized and should contain compatible libraries.

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).

I'm a boomer and I'm here. Although I'm probably the exception since I've never had a Facebook account and you couldn't pay me enough to touch anything Meta. Probably because I fit the rest of OP's criteria: way over 30, tech worker, Linux user.

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.

As @flloxlbox said, it will either happen organically or users will decide to merge communities, like the Android community did. It's the way federation works, it's not something that can be forced on people.

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".

Debian Stable (Bookworm)

This was posted yesterday, but definitely should be in this thread, as well: Facebook's Threads is so depressing

From the look of things, they've been having some issues. Last night you couldn't view photos in kbin.social threads from kbin, either.

I've read Kaiju Preservation Society. It's very entertaining and I'd highly recommend it. I have The Spare Man on my to read list because I liked The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal. But from the description it sounds more like a murder mystery - IN SPACEEEEEEEEE - than a real sci fi book. The other nominees aren't traditional science fiction books, either, they're more fantasy or fantasy/horror.

Very good point! I don't think the threat from Meta is technological, they also seem to be good citizens on the the open source projects they collaborate on.

I am far more concerned about how Threads is going to change the community. Not the vapid influencer crap, but the toxicity, divisiveness, bigotry and disinformation coming out of Facebook.

Yep. Being a part of the fediverse gives Meta a defensible argument that (1) they are not stealing Twitter's intellectual property as Mastodon already exists and (2) they are not monopolizing the Twitter-like social media environment as any of their users could move to Mastodon if they wanted to.

Kbin already federates with Mastodon. It's not a single feed, though, they're on separate tabs. Kbin currently works okay, but per the devs it's an early beta so there's more polish and features to come.

For the record, I'm not sure that combining the two platforms in one feed would be desirable for most users. It seems to me that Lemmy and Mastodon serve different purposes: Mastodon is for broadcasting your opinions to mostly-passive followers, Lemmy is oriented toward conversation.

Good, let Zuck and Musk fight. If we're lucky they'll knock each other out.

This is what people aren't getting. The fediverse, as it is now, is irrelevant to Meta's plans for Threads. Meta views the fediverse as an inducement to get creators to join Threads. Per The Verge:

As Mosseri puts it, this is a move designed to appease creators who have grown increasingly wary of relying on the whims of centralized social media companies. “I think we might be a more compelling platform for creators, particularly for the newer creators who are more and more savvy, if we are a place where you don’t have to feel like you have to trust us forever,” he says.

I've had the same issue. A poster in another thread suggested selecting "English" in the Select Language drop-down menu before hitting the Reply button. It may be a coincidence, but that has worked for me to prevent the eternal spinner.

I'm listening to The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson. Written by an older, crankier Bryson than I'm used to, but still a decent "read".

Reading The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. I like the book, but so far I'm finding the world-building and backstories more interesting than the main plot.

I haven't read anything by Scalzi I haven't liked.

These are pretty mainstream, but I'm a regular visitor to Ars Technica. I also like the cheeky headlines and writing style of The Register.

The P stands for "Piss off, Zuck".

You're welcome. Used to see rocks like that all the time when I lived at the beach, sometimes with the clam shells still embedded.

It's a rock that's been holed by boring clams: https://carnegiemnh.org/not-boring-clams/

If you want to know what kind or rock it is, I can't help you there.

• A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. The audiobook was narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal, the author of the Lady Astronaut books. She did a great job voicing the plucky heroine.
• Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next by Bradley Onishi. Pretty much what it says on the tin. A history of white Christian nationalism from the civil rights era to today and why the heck did 80% of evangelicals support a president who was the embodiment of everything they oppose?
• Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward. A good psychological thriller with lots of plot twists.
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. This was a re-read and Bryson never disappoints.
• The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa by Jonathan B. Losos. Interesting read.
• The Blighted Stars by Megan E O'Keefe. A lot of different plot lines in this character driven survival story. A solid 3.5 out of 5.
• Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe by Philip Plait. The author paints beautiful pictures of what it would be like to observe the wonders of our solar system and the universe close-up.

I "read" a lot of audiobooks, so I go through titles pretty quickly.

• The City We Became and The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin.
• Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
• Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

I loved the Vorkosigan saga books. Bujold does a great job developing fully-realized characters and tackling complex themes without neglecting the forward momentum and action of a good space opera. Even in Falling Free which, if I recall correctly, is one of the quieter books in the series.