>"I installed it, but it appears that many simpler desktops like XFCE are no longer available b/c X11 no longer exists. Is this correct? Often I run such desktops over tigervnc which is also gone too??"

Over the years Enterprise Linux has dropped lots of packages. You can add extra repos, like EPEL and CRB and Fusion:

https://wiki.almalinux.org/rep...

Which might have what you want. But EL isn't going to have/support a lot of desktop-related type stuff. Yes, X11 is still available, but it is not installed by default:

https://almalinux.pkgs.org/10/...

I am glad I moved my servers to AlmaLinux. It has been working out really well over the last few years. They were also fast to offer mitigation information and updated packages for each of the high-profile vulnerabilities this year.

If you are worried about what level your processor supports just run this:

  $ /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | grep -A4 'glibc-hwcaps directories'

Look for the word "supported" on each level. Mine shows this on my large Xeon 6254 (Alma) servers:

    x86-64-v4 (supported, searched)
    x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
    x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)

At home on my AMD Ryzen 7 3700X desktop (Mint) I get:

    x86-64-v4
    x86-64-v3 (supported, searched)
    x86-64-v2 (supported, searched)

So I have v3 support, but not v4. Hopefully that will be good enough for a long time coming...

>"That's insane money for a screensaver"

Yes, it is. Absolutely insane. It was written once. It is a freaking screensaver. As far as I can tell, it needs no maintenance and has never changed.

Roku could just hire someone to create one they actually own, forever, with no other expense, probably for less than one year of "renting" the old one.

I do like that screensaver, it is what I use on my Roku Ultra for years. So I hope they do bring another one that is similar.

>"This immediately came to mind:"

That was perhaps my absolute favorite episode of TNG. It was shockingly good and highly emotive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I don't think I have ever had or have any device that does ethernet over HDMI.

>"5. Mandatory network connections. TV won't work unless it is connected to the internet. "

That is the only problematic one.

My TV, like all the previous ones, is a display. It is connected to a single HDMI cable. I don't give a F about anything else. I don't use audio, I never connect network, or anything else.

I simply won't buy a TV that requires a network connection (or includes one inside out of my control). I assume many others would feel the same. And if this starts to be a thing, I will do my best to educate everyone I know why it matters and why they shouldn't buy that model/brand.

Cry me a river.

Comcast/Spectrum just bought Cox. And my Cox bill is already over $200 a month for BASIC cable, downsampled to just 720p, at a low bitrate, and 300Mbs down internet for one person. And that is with their best "loyalty" discounts. So yeah, I am right on the edge of dropping cableTV, especially since the only reason I have it is because of love TiVo. TiVo is essentially dead (I still have service, but they don't sell boxes anymore). Cable TV has always been very hostile to cablecard devices, and they keep hiking prices more and more for worse service and content. It won't be long now before it goes bye-bye for me as well.

Coax/cable modems really suck when it comes to reliability. So yeah, that "fiber to home" part they are missing really does matter now. Crap, even if it was Ethernet from the pole to my house that would be much better. Numerous times I have had to get them out here, with great difficulty, to fix their crap on the poles so I can get a proper signal. Amplifier issues, water in their equipment, improper signal balancing, interference from stuff in other homes ruining things, etc.

>"It may just be me but I don't want ANYTHING to do with Elon Musk. "

It isn't just you. If you want to be an ideologue, that is your right as a consumer. And that does have power. Me, I prefer to look at what is being offered and decide if it is a service/product I need/want/like. Generally, more competition in this market would be a good thing. I have no great love of any of the current carriers. T-Mobile was my favorite for a very long time, but they have been kinda sliding downhill now.

Bingo. NOTHING will be made here except maybe the cardboard boxes, but even that is doubtful. How is snapping a motherboard into a plastic case and slapping a sticker on it going to benefit us or make the device more trusted or secure in any way?

None of that matters. That is not why people are not installing Firefox. It is because Google tries to force Chrome on all their devices and sites, and Microsoft tries to force Edge on all their devices and sites.

Most users don't even realize they have a choice for browsers or what the choices are and why. And in corporate settings, users have no choice. "Power users", as you mention, are the way less than 1%. And most Firefox users are not passionate about the theme (and yes, I do care, and use css hacks) or that occasionally the icons or tab design changes (LIKE IT DOES IN ALL OTHER BROWSERS TOO).

Firefox has been and will probably remain better than Edge and Chrome in many aspects. But users don't care about open standards, privacy, ecosystem security, best ad blocking options, most configurability, etc. They use what the machine came with, or what some site said "works best in" or some idiot tech support place says "we support only."

>"Firefox losing to Edge has more to do with the long-term enshitification of Firefox than any anti-competive behavior by Microsoft."

WRONG. 100% wrong. And how you were modded up is astonishing. Absolutely nobody has switched from using Firefox to Edge because of Firefox and you know it. The people using Edge are precisely because it is the default browser and/or due to Microsoft's aggressive efforts to promote/force Edge, and/or rarely, because there is something specific in Edge the user might want.

Firefox is orders of magnitude more respectful of privacy and control than Edge. It has continuously improved and can, overall, stand toe-to-toe with any other major browser. There might have been some features that were added some people didn't want (and could turn off), or style changes, but that occurs with ALL browsers. So what exact "enshitification" do you think has occurred ONLY IN FIREFOX that would lead a user to switch to Edge? Waiting...

>"I am seeing countless, mostly elderly, folks using Edge because they dont know how to convince windows to let them use chrome by default."

But using Chrome is no better for our ecosystem. They are both Chromium and ultimately Google-controlled. They both harm web-standards, freedom, security, and privacy. So that would still be a lose for everyone.

>"But Heinrich started to wonder if the cameras were actually making students less safe after seeing news reports that data captured by Flock cameras in Illinois had been shared with U.S. Customs and Border Protection."

Um, that *does* make them more safe. You might be ideologically at odds with enforcement of immigration law. But you certainly didn't seem to care about privacy when you had them installed, did you?

>"More than half of students at the far west suburban Chicago campus identify as Latino."

So? Are they here illegally? I am guessing the overwhelming majority are not and ICE would have no interest in them. Just like the police will have no interest in the 99+% of students that are not committing crimes.

I don't like Flock (or their clones) because I believe the invasion of privacy is too extreme and they don't have enough controls or oversight (like requiring a warrant for every use). They absolutely will help reduce/solve additional crime, but so would strapping GPS bracelets to all people or having curfews or banning cash or other overkill measures.

>"Students were afraid to come to class."

Ridiculous.

Hybrids *are* ICE. The wording of the article and summary is ridiculous:

"Gas cars are now a minority of the world's new car sales," reports Electrek." "Gasoline-only vehicles made up 49%"

All HEV or "hybrid" vehicles contain an ICE (internal combustion vehicle) and use gas, and are, therefore, "gas cars". And it is true that there are tons of HEV's being offered now.

>"With permanent Daylight Saving Time, the latest sunrise in Atlanta would be 8:45am vs 7:45am without. If you are trying to get to work/school by 8am, you are up in the pre-dawn hours either way."

Exactly my point I was making. A large majority of people will be in the dark on waking, leaving, driving, and probably even arriving to work/school, anyway. So it isn't going to totally "solve" the issue for most people. Although it is true there will be more times there is light when waking on the thresholds of the changes. Yet they completely gloss over the sleep disturbances that occur for many people when trying to adjust their schedule due to the time changing.

There is no perfect solution. Only tradeoffs, and it will vary by latitude. Hence, let States have all three options and they can decide what works best for them.