I was in a similar boat. I’ve been using a Ryzen 5000-based mini PC for about two years now. It’s running:

Debian for stability

Flex Launcher for the 10ft TV UI

Flex Launcher has shortcuts for Plex HTPC, Netflix in a full screen Chrome page, etc.

An AirMouse Remote with a keyboard on the back and basic controls up front. It has 5 programmable IR buttons that I have bound to TV Power, TV Input, TV Select, and Sound Bar Vol-/+

My kids also use it for Steam and Retro gaming, so I have it launch ES-DE and Steam Big Picture Mode from Flex Launcher.

Other than the occasional tweaking, it has needed very little and been rock solid for about 2 years now. I have a cheap Android TV set top box still attached for when Grandma goes to use the TV. I can switch inputs and hand them the Google TV remote, but my wife, my kids, and I use the HTPC almost exclusively.

Linux Mint or Debian running Cinnamon DE. Stable and predictable.

There is a dd-like mode on Rufus as well called “RAW Mode”.

I used sed to replace my apt sources.list entries with Trixie…then ran sudo apt update, sudo apt dist-upgrade.

After one reboot my system was updated. Debian is basically that 80 year old tractor on the farm that still starts after sitting for 6 months with no effort. It just works. And that’s why I love it.

I have found WiVRn to be a delight to use on Linux with my Quest headset. Works with many other wireless headsets, too. Very little issues with it playing Windows VR games on Linux.

Flatpaks are just fine. Fuck off.

This is good. Hopefully it’ll be extremely slimmed down and allow for remaining X11 applications to keep functioning.

I use Debian and Mint. As others have said, it’s because it just works and I don’t have to screw with it.

What are you even talking about? Debian is fine and extremely stable, which is what you want for a work PC when your pay is on the line.

Oh…huh…I didn’t even know we had cake days on Lemmy. Haha. Thanks.

IPv6 should be the preferred option. It’s the same on Windows and MacOS.

If you have IPv6 issues, just turn off IPv6 on the adapter you’re using.

Calling it a “Fischer Price” distro is a little patronizing. I’m a seasoned Linux user and I use Mint for work because I just want something that works when my paycheck is on the line. Mint has never broken on me and always works.

Chances are you’ve had the same public IP for a long time. Mine hasn’t changed in 2 years.

Your “IP address” is already public. That’s why an IPv4 address is assigned to you as a “public IP address” and you NAT to a private space. When using IPv6, everything is public.

The key is to secure everything with access restrictions.

Debian or Linux Mint, if you want a no-nonsense, just works kind of experience.

Flatpak is a fully open source technology. You’re thinking of Snaps.

Why?

Also true

I bought Plex Pass when it was $75 for the lifetime option.

I prefer Jellyfin, but sharing is harder for family members with it because I can’t get them to just log in without existing credentials (Google Account, Apple ID, etc). Trying to convince my 67 year old mother-in-law to enter a URL, username, and password into an app with a remote is like asking my child to eat broccoli.

For now, I’ll keep running dual stack with both. If Plex pulls lifetime passes, even though it’ll be a PITA, I’ll convert everyone to Jellyfin despite the pain.

Ubuntu 6.06 was my first Linux install. I still remember the pain of ndiswrapper to get Windows WiFi drivers working on Linux.