Not so much help but hope: I got rid of Windows 11 and switched fully to Linux Mint a few weeks ago. I had no idea what I was doing but I tested things on USB and also on a very old laptop I had laying around before I made it my daily driver.

I’m not particularly a tech person. I own a small creative business and have a toddler, but I figured out what I needed to quickly. I don’t game and didnt use Winsows exclusive software so have no opinions about that.

What I didn’t expect: to actually be genuinely interested in my computer again for the first time since I was a teenager (which was not recent…). I love customizing my desktop. I love discovering new open source software. I’m learning more than I expected and it’s just a totally different relationship with the tech I use every day, in a nice way. And no more BS ads / bloat when I’m just trying to exist on my computer.

I don’t even game or use any Windowed only programs. I watch shows, use web apps for work, and that’s about it. If I can run Firefox and Stremio that’s about 95% of my needs met, ha!

I dug out my old MacBook to see if I can test out some distros on it. If I find one I like and use for a bit I’d be all in on trashing Windows

Interesting, what distro did you end up using?

I’ll check it out, thx!

This. I had to do my attempted Linux install while my kid was napping in like my 30 mins of free time I get a day if I’m lucky

Once you fixed that issue did Linux work well dual booting? I’m sure I can get past it but I’m mostly worried that this foreshadows ongoing problems

I had a bad feeling that dual booting wouldn’t be the seamless thing I hoped for. I have an old Mac laptop I might try installing on to see how I like it and decide if I’m just gonna wipe Windows entirely.

It’s incredible how shit Windows is and everyone just accepts it. It shows me ads on my lock screen FFS (and I know how to disable that cuz I’ve done it three times now and they keep coming back like a horror movie monster you didn’t behead).

I don’t believe in angry spirits with unfinished business destroying the lives of those who caused them harm until they also die and are tormented for eternity, but if evidence arises for such things they have my full support

I’ve seen them recommended before and had been wondering about finding a trusted server to have it hosted. I’ll check out Hetzner, thx!

Link looks awesome, thanks! Do you also keep a separate cloud backup of your photos in case your server is damaged (like in a disaster or something)?

Is raspberry pi pretty easy to set up? Or if you were starting over would you go with something else? I have a windows laptop and an android phone, so that’s the extent of what I’m familiar with so far. But Immich does look so promising!

One of these days I’ll have the bandwidth to learn about self-hosting. It seems like there’s some real benefits and cool stuff out there. For now, I have a toddler taking up most of said bandwidth as well as copious amounts of photo space 😅