The same thing might have happened if she bought a Mac and needed some Windows only software.

Is it off, or is it an optional module that doesn’t have to be adding bloat to my system if I don’t want to use it?

LLMs can take up a pretty big storage footprint.

My biggest issue with that is the amount of bloat a full local LLM implementation would add.

But if it’s an optional module that you can choose to add (or choose not to add) after the fact, I have no complaint.

My kids only knew Linux from the first day they used a computer.

They didn’t have any difficulty transitioning between that at home and the chromebooks or windows desktops the school had.

I’ve used old laptops as battery backed up NAS boxes.

Obviously assumes that you can install a reasonably large drive and that the battery still has some life left in it.

I tried FreeBSD many years ago (back when I was on dialup and bought a book with the FreeBSD install CD included…).

At the time it was interesting to tinker with, and I did use it as a dual-boot on my Win95 computer, but I moved on to Linux when Knoppix came along.

At the time linux seemed more end user friendly.

Maybe I should spin up an install just for nostalgia sake, and to see where it’s at these days.

It’s also on the cusp of a major upgrade release, so good documentation of the latest version’s features will be in high demand very soon.

Multiple TB when setting up a new server to mirror an existing one. (Did an initial copy with both together in the same room, before moving the clone to a physically separate location. Doing that initial copy would saturate the network connection for a week or more otherwise)

The only reason I paid for Lightburn in the first place is because it’s the only even slightly mature laser software that supports Linux.

Given this news, what are our options?

LagerGRBL seems to be open source, but nobody packages that for Linux as far as I can tell.

And I wasn’t able to find anything else when I was looking last year.

What was the last version of Windows you used before hopping on over?

Windows95

I got sick of constantly dealing with the BSOD.

Lightburn for controlling laser engravers.

It’s pretty much the only choice on Linux (though it is cross platform). Free 30 day trial, then ~$80 lifetime licence.

The other choice is LaserGRBL, which is open source, but doesn’t seem to have a Linux port for some reason. And it has a lot fewer features, with a more complex workflow.

it will just crash on you before you even find out

Older versions may have had issues with that, but I haven’t encountered any crashing in over 2 years. (And I i do 6 youtube videos per month with it)