I feel uneasy about Signal being an app centralized in the USA, but it is the only one streamlined enough to be usable by non tech-savvy friends and family. I wonder if it will fall prey to Chat Control in Europe, so the time to explore alternatives will soon be upon us.
So far, I have heard of XMPP, Matrix, Delta chat and SimpleX. Never got friends to switch to XMPP or Matrix for more than one conversation, so I guess we’re just f*cked.
Well, haven’t we all been noobs at some point? Plus, isn’t it funnier that they ask us rather than asking an AI, for instance?
If your goal is a personal setup, maybe for gaming, I would recommend Bazzite, it is very user-friendly and designed to be as stable as possible (you can switch to an earlier version of the system in case an update or something makes your pc bug). They have a very nice “app store” (bazaar, based on apps distributed as “flatpaks”).
I personally use an Arch-derivative to access some niche software (the Arch “app marketplace” has a community-wide range), but Arch-based distros are a bit more technical to use. Currently, the most popular Arch-based distribution is “CachyOS”.
Having used both, I haven’t heard anything about these distros concerning privacy.
“Linux Mint”, a Ubuntu derivative, is generally praised as a good entry point into the linux world. It is supposed to spin and enhance its ubuntu base into something very user friendly as well.
… How can anybody fuck up an immutable distro?
Aren’t debian/ubuntu based distros a bit limited, though? I don’t like having to reinstall an entire system every time there is a major update.
I used to love Manjaro for its ease of use, but it has gone so haywire lately that I switched to CachyOS with bazaar (flatpaks) for fancy apps.
Now using CachyOS, I recommend Bazzite to newcomers.
I have been a casual user of gnu/linux since Ubuntu, and was very curious and interested by the concept of libre/ open-source. I’m still a casual user now, but have fully switched to Manjaro when Proton became official and I could finally just start gaming on linux. It was rough at first, but now I can play seamlessly on a system that isn’t bloated and doesn’t require a live colonoscopy to even work. I love Manjaro for its ease of use. Even my mother can use it.
Shhh, never tell the nazis their weaknesses, just grab some popcorn and arm yourself with patience.