As far as I know flatpak applications can be distributed as a file without the need for a repository, just like .deb or .rpm files

What do you use bags for that you can’t use reusable containers for?

If you assume malware is installed on a computer, typing a password using a keyboard is not safe either…

rarbg :(

Not because Oracle likes open source, but because they like to profit from RedHat’s hard work.

The upside of this is that if you don’t like how a particular community is being moderated, you can follow a different community about the same topic

You will only notice the downside of a rolling release distribution when using it for years. Large breaking changes might unexpectedly be applied to your system, instead of at fixed points in time like with other distributions.

Soulseek is great for finding and sharing music. I would strongly recommend Nicotine+ over the old SoulseekQt

Not as well curated as rarbg, but a pretty good site

PayPal also supports debit cards which is great for countries where owning a credit card is rare. I don’t own a credit card and I know very few people who do.

Can’t you keep using CentOS stream? Isn’t it still a very stable distribution? Just slightly upstream of RHEL instead of downstream.

Debian packports provided what I needed when bullseye had outdated packages before the bookworm release. For qemu, libvirt, kernel and ZFS.

One downside of testing is that it isn’t monitored by the Debian security team. Combined with the fact that updates are delayed compared to unstable, it can take many weeks to get important security updates.

I found that system76 is well priced compared to Windows brands. Avoid paying for the Windows license fee!

It does benefit RedHat, but that seems fair to me. We’re getting a great free Linux distribution in return

I have been using desktop Linux for years and never realized… thanks!

Metrics can be very valuable, the people who really care can just uncheck the box as part of the initial installation. I regularly submit crash reports which contain far more personal information. I think this is a good move.

I would recommend using a modern, open-source client like Nicotine+. Keep in mind the risks of exposing such a service to the internet (like anti-piracy organizations coming after you in some countries). Don’t download executables. Make sure your media players are up-to-date.

Soulseek is in my opinion a good place to find music that’s hard to find elsewhere. I use it almost daily.

Take a look at squashfs. This creates a compressed archive that can be mounted as a read-only filesystem to pull out individual files. It is very fast and likely already installed on your system.