Repeaters are awful. It’s best to have multiple access points instead. One simple solution is to deactivate wifi in your ISPs router, and add your own APs instead, possibly via a switch.

I ran some cables throughout my house and bought a 3-pack of Aruba AP22. Wired them into a PoE switch, which in turn connects to my router (I managed to replace my ISPs router, but that’s besides the point). Works like a charm.

One of the advantages to using Mint is that solutions for both Mint and Ubuntu tend to work.

Can confirm. I was playing with both of them online, and Luigi and I were making lewd comments about lemmyng’s mom.

Almost all OSes support exFAT. Forgive the typo; b6 -> by

First question: lack of journalling won’t cause data loss by itself. It’s only a real issue if you happen to be writing data at the exact moment of the power outage, and even if so it’ll only affect the datablock currently being written. In 99.99% of the cases, it will at worst require a filesystem check. You’ll be fine without a UPS.

Second question: Correct on both accounts.

EDIT: Spleling is hrad

Linux user for close to 30 years, here. Exclusively on linux since 2015 or thereabouts. I’ll give my tidbits on your linux-related questions, but I am no authority on this, as I still consider myself a newbie on the subject:

1a - Is there no file system that works perfectly on both Linux and Windows? I could technically dual-boot using two different drives, but what if I need to access/move files between two drives with different file systems? Which issues would I face if, say, one is NTFS and the other is ext4? I think all of my drives are currently in NTFS, would I have to reformat everything to safely access them from Linux without worrying about data/metadata loss?

In general, Linux have good to great support for windows’ filesystems, NTFS included. The other way around is a bit more iffy - I remember that there was some sort of plugin/program that allowed me to mount an ext4 volume on Windows 7 eons ago, but I’m not sure how well it’s doing today. When I dualbooted, I solved this by using Windows as normal, and mounting the windows volume (NTFS) in linux. exfat is widely supported b6 “everything”, so if you set up a shared volume, that’s what I’d recommend using.

1b - I read that to open an .exe on Linux I would have to do it through WINE, and that there’s a database to check compatibility of individual programs with it, but are the worst compatibility issues just “the program doesn’t open”, or can a compatibility issue result in data loss/corruption too?

Compatibility with windows software is very forgiving. It doesn’t really cause any corruption in the sense that a windows program won’t go amok on your linux installation and start wrecking stuff because it’s not incompatible. It’s more a matter of it failing to start properly, or doesn’t work the way it should.
However, this isn’t as complicated as it might seem. Many games, for example, run fine via Proton in Steam, and this is more or less a transparent process in that you don’t have to do anything special.
And it’s worth noting that most windows software has a native linux alternative. I suggest you do some research into specific programs you need, and see if there’s a linux release for it, or if there’s a viable alternative for you.

1c - I’m currently using Firefox on Windows, is it possible to copy all my settings and data (browsing history included) from the Windows version to the Linux one?

I honestly don’t know. Firefox has been advertising its sync feature to me for ages, but I never bothered with checking it out.

1d - Other than specific .exe without WINE compatibility, are there any relatively common file types which can’t be opened with Linux that I should be aware of? (Mostly talking about picture/video/audio/text files, compressed archives or similar).

No. A file is in itself not a limitation. Only the programs used to read and interpret them are. I have not found a common file type that doesn’t have a linux native program for reading it.

1e - What can I mess up by testing an USB live version? Are there any things I should be careful about? I’ve heard “changes aren’t saved”, but that’s referring only to OS configuration, right? And, going back to file systems, can I even access the data that’s on my NTFS drive from a live version or would I just be working with the stuff inside the USB?

A live USB version doesn’t affect your system (under normal circumstances). It reads everything it needs from the USB, and if you install software, it is only installed in memory and not on your harddrive or USB stick. It is possible to mount your existing filesystems and access your persistent storage that way, but you will only affect it in whatever manner you chose to. So in other words, if you boot from a live USB, you have to actually try to ruin anything on your disk - I’m having a hard time imagining how one would do this by accident.
I recommend trying it to get a feel for the OS and see if it’s something you can get used to. It’s worth noting that it will be somewhat limited, as it probably won’t have GPU drivers, and anything you configure or install will disappear upon reboot.

1f - I read often that “you can’t get viruses on Linux”, but that’s mostly because they’re not developed specifically for it, so you might “get” them but they won’t work, right? If I dual boot, is there the chance that I get a malware while browsing with Linux and then it infects my pc when I boot Windows (even without consciously opening unknown .exe files)?

In theory it’s possible, but in practice it doesn’t happen. A virus targeting linux for people who dualboot is a very narrow target area, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

1g - Which Pc components should I pay attention to because they/their drivers might not work on Linux? Is there a site/tool that can check if my current hardware would have any issues? (For example, I have a Nvidia graphics card and I think I read that might be a problem?)

Hardware compatibility isn’t much of an issue that anymore. I see a lot of people complaining about NVIDIA drivers on linux, but I never had any issues myself. I run a fairly stock Linux Mint 22.1, and everything worked out of the box.
On my previous install, when the laptop was brand new, I had to update the kernel so that I could install an NVIDIA driver new enough to handle my GPU, but it wasn’t much of an issue.
It is worth noting that hardware compatibility often comes down to your choice of distro. While all distros are technically compatible, some distros are more focused on “It should just work out of the box” and that’s why I prefer Mint as a desktop OS. Only hardware I’ve never been able to make work was a PCI TV receiver card I had once upon a time.
If your hardware is reasonably common, you can be sure some annoyed kernel hacker somewhere made a driver for it.

Those who want to eat better help out in some form or another.

Wrong continent, but almost as far north, more mountainous, and fewer fishing boats. And slightly more people, based on how the town looks.

If our faces melt from the nuclear fallout, it shall be a smug face of superiority

Honestly, I live in a tiny town none of you have ever heard of, faaar away from anything worth nuking. On top of that, it’s shielded by mountains on most sides. Hell, there’s a 15km long tunnell 5 minute walk from my house in case we need to shelter somewhere. Me and mine will probably be fine, but my livelihood will disappear.

But I’m a pretty handy guy who can probably build a decent power source from scrap I have in my basement considering there’s a river nearby, so even if the rest of the world goes to hell, we’ll manage to keep some sort of society running.

And I grew up on a farm, and could run one if needed. And there are quite a few farms in the area, so I guess being a farmhand will be my new career. I wouldn’t like it, but I’d manage.

Sucks that I wouldn’t be able to shitpost about it, though.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I have considered buying an emergency generator for unrelated reasons. I guess that could come in handy.

I just want to point out the most important thing here: Thank you for using the superior date format.

Fuckall. Iran isn’t in a position to do much of anything, and the rest prefer stability and even benefit from a potential rise in crude prices.

Having lived in Ireland for a while (Dublin, to be precise. I’d assume Northern Ireland is similar in terms of water), I can attest that Irish drinking water definitely isn’t clean. But it’s definitely treated and potable. Took me a while to realize what those huge golf peg structures were for.

I’ve lived in Norway most of my life, and the difference in taste is astounding. While drinking water anywhere is rarely sterile, water that needs to be stored for a while needs to be treated, and that’s why the chlorine is added. Chlorinated water tastes like pool water to me.

Here in rural Norway, the water isn’t treated, as it’s always fresh from the mountain. I’ve probably drank my fair share of sheep turds over the years, but the concentration is weak enough that it doesn’t matter.

Related: Worst tap water I’ve ever had is Houston. Tastes like chlorinated swamp.

Depends on how you define “reasonable”. Personally I interpret it as “rational” in this context, and I believe that a perfectly rational person with imperfect knowledge would acknowledge that ghosts cannot be 100% disproven, and as such there is a chance that they exist. And once you’re past that threshold, belief doesn’t have to conflict with rational thinking.

Again, personally; I believe they don’t exist. Otherwise we’d be seeing a lot fewer Victorian era ghosts, and a lot more Neolithic ectoplasm. Also, which requirements in terms of species are there for a haunting to commence? Can a horse become a ghost? What about a gorilla? Or a Neanderthal? Seems weird that only homo sapients get to play around with rusty chains and linen…

I do. The soft silicone ones are much more comfortable in the long run, provided you’re using a size that is right for you.

She’s raising your twin in the attic to keep as a spare in case you decide to become a “prompt engineer”

Most people around me don’t think about them, as there aren’t many (any?) around where I live.

Personally it’s a bit different, as I work with a lot of them when I’m traveling on business. They’re like me: they do what they do because they have bills to pay. The only difference is that I butcher the pronunciation when using their names.

While probably not sanctioned by the Chinese state (or our employer), I did get quite a few chuckles because of an offhand comment/joke about Taiwan that doesn’t align with Xi’s worldview or policy. This leads me to conclude that all the reporting about “China is doing X/Y/Z, omagerd!” Is limited to the state, and while the state certainly has its supporters, the populace as a whole don’t care and just want to live their lives like anyone else would.

The 4400

I used to do a lot of parse-compile-report scripting, and I’m very curious about how the data is formatted in the pdf. Would you be willing to share it?

Other than that, fiverr or an LLM is perhaps your best bet.

I read up on this recently, and my understanding is that the solider is supposed to presume the order is legal and carry it out(otherwise, a CO should not have given it in the first place). However, they can refuse, but will face consequences in that they better have a buttload of proof.

In effect, they will get in trouble for disobeying an order, but if it is proven that the order was demonstrably illegal to begin with, then they will probably be in the clear.