I’m not familiar with OpenSUSE or Manjaro, but if you are familiar with Ubuntu, then I would recommend either Linux Mint or Pop OS. Both are Ubuntu-based, and Pop OS has a Desktop Environment that is very similar to macOS. Pop OS is also suited for gaming with Steam, but then again, I think Steam works well on any Linux distro. The team behind Pop OS is currently doing some major revamps to the OS, but these changes are not yet released for stable use.

If you are building a new machine, I highly recommend you check to see if your HW will be compatible with Linux. You might want to pay close attention to the GPU and Wifi card. NVIDIA requires special drivers to work with Linux, while AMD works out of the box. As for the Wifi cards, depending on the wifi drivers that are installed in the distro, you may have to tinker a bit to get that to work. I recommend having the option to use Ethernet at the time you are setting up the distro, just so you have internet access to download what you need.

Based on my experience, I think you can. Many distros nowadays offer ways to do things without the use of the terminal. In Linux Mint, for example, you can rely solely on the Update Manager to update all installed applications and modules rather than using the terminal. You can also uninstall apps by right-clicking on them in the Menu and selecting the uninstall option. And finally, if you want to move files around, even to some locations that require root, you can do that using the File Explorer app (e.g. Nemo).

That being said, when I started on my Linux journey, I made it a point to actually learn some terminal commands, because I saw it as an important feature in Linux and a good skill to possess.

Steam is probably the best platform for gaming on Linux right now. Here are some games I recommend that run well on Linux:

• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (the spiritual successor of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
• Romancing SaGa 3 (retro JRPG that involves non-linear, open-world exploration)
• Octopath Traveler 2 (another JRPG; you don’t need to play the first game in the series to enjoy this game)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist Link Evolution (not a freemium game!)

I would like to, but I’m running Arch with Cinnamon, and that desktop environment only has an experimental version of Wayland implemented. I’ve tried it, and it’s too buggy to be used as a daily driver.

For my own learning and understanding, why does it take that long for GNOME on Arch?

Initially, it is quite bland, but I have already downloaded the Linux Mint themes and backgrounds, plus some other theme options that were recommended to me. So, in terms of themes, I’m okay with that.

As for the Wayland option, that is available as a selection in the Login Screen. I don’t use it very often, because it is quite buggy.

By “news”, I mean do we have any major updates, like improvements to the experimental Wayland support. From the link you shared, that minor update doesn’t really mean much to me.

Overall, pretty decent.

Interesting…for reference, let me share a screenshot of the first two results I get from Kagi.

I have been using Librewolf for several months now, and I am quite happy with it. In terms of user privacy, Librewolf by default has some strict settings enabled, like Resist Fingerprinting. Resist Fingerprinting does cause some minor problems, like incorrect timezones, but there is a workaround, as stated on the Librewolf website.

Cool, I’m liking this new Mozilla already! …NOT!!!

According to the Librewolf documentation, fingerprinting can be turned off, but they recommend adding the Canvas Blocker extension in its place. That is my current setup, as I didn’t like that websites in Librewolf couldn’t get the correct time and time zone for me.

Here’s the direct quote from the Librewolf documentation:

If you don’t like the downsides of RFP, or you are not concerned about fingerprinting, you can disable RFP in the LibreWolf settings, or in your overrides. In that case consider using an extension like CanvasBlocker to retain at least a minimum amount of fingerprinting protection.

Can they just focus on the browser? I really don’t need the AI stuff.

I had the same problem after flashing GOS onto my device, but my wife who uses an iPhone also had that problem. I don’t recall how she eventually logged in though, but when I searched online about the 401.122 error message, I got answers that suggest it could be a problem on MyQ’s end.

That’s alright!

Yeah, I think there’s another comment on this post that mentioned the same thing.

Oh, I don’t use Google Pay with NFC. Prior to flashing GOS on my Pixel 6, the only time I used NFC was to unlock my car when I didn’t have the physical key fob with me. That was done through my car manufacturer’s mobile app (BMW). However, when I went to set up the digital key after flashing GOS, the app told me that it couldn’t set up the digital key, because I was using an unsupported version of Android.

Regarding seedvault, I tried to do a backup of my phone, once I got it setup, but it seems like backup function is not working very well. I tried external USB thumb drive and Internal Storage, but neither of those options resulted in a successful backup. I did some search on the GrapheneOS Discussion Board (thread), and it seems like the Seedvault version that is currently part of the build is out-of-date. They may push a newer version in the next update.

You beat me to it! I was gonna mention the same thing. However, I don’t think it may be that big of a deal if you use Firefox or some flavor of it. The one term I often hear about GrapheneOS and other AOSPs like it is “threat model”, and depending on that model, you may not necessarily be impacted if you decide to use something other than the stock browser.

That’s not to say the GrapheneOS developers are wrong in their Usage Guide. I’m sure they looked into this extensively, hence the usage guide.

Yeah, the Scopes feature is really nice! I often wonder why some apps require reading every single contact or need access to every folder/directory in your phone. In my use case, there are a few apps that require access to storage or contacts, but thanks to Scopes, I can limit it to just a specific folder or a small group of contacts. Everything else is off limits, and I like that.

What’s your use case for NFC on your Pixel 4A?