arch is interesting to me and i'm not too worried about the install, the rolling releases and stability of the system are what i think would snag me in using it. though the minute regular updates are probably more an issue for people who delve into the system more to get the absolute most out of it. it'll be more stable, works out of the box-type distros for me while i get a grasp of things like the file system and using the terminal. but i do think the setups people post of their riced out installs look pretty cool ngl

i havent really looked into that, been mostly researching debian based distros specifically ubuntu and it's bunch since a lot of recommendations go to it. nobara looks interesting for the big gaming spin it has though i'm still iffy on being at home with linux for games, but from the outside looking in things like proton seem to be doing a lot of good in that space recently.

just works "almost" is pretty funny but i know what you mean. i wasn't having much trouble with it testing it with a virtual machine. the nice thing is a lot of the applications i use on windows are already free software that im realizing are a lot of the go to's for people running linux, so really a lot should "just work"

i'm about to take my first peek into linux on mint. i'm not completely put off learning some new things but being able to do that in a desktop that is familar makes everything a lot easier to pick up on. who knows, if it all goes smoothly maybe next week i'll be running arch (i won't)

svetlana was a character that i had mixed feelings about. i think the book did a good job of establishing the mounting dread of the situation rockhopper was in leading to their landing on janus, so i felt like i could empathize with her and her team's sentiments to a point. but as it goes on and on and she remains the most petty person, especially with so much at stake, it was really over zealous. especially when she had parry as a voice of reason just to ignore. it doesn't help that in every given opportunity bella is always more fair and measured in every action. no competition at all for who's taking the gold in holding a grudge. i have to say though i couldn't help but laugh when there was so much effort gathering and informing everyone to absolutely, under no circumstances, even utter as little as a single word to the musk dogs, followed by direct video feed of svetlana going to go make contact with the musk dogs, comedy.

as for the fountain heads i really enjoyed their earnestness. their complete lack of nefarious intentions was a fun play on expectations, like you said, and mckinley is just one of my favorite dudes.

i think the concept of the structure and the idea of this timeless, universal zoo was really cool and interesting, much more than i was anticipating from the concept at first. the way the time gets played with is something i really loved in the story. connecting bella's final broadcast as the benefactor sparking the greatest civilization in human history, ultimately tying back to garrison, the lock of hair, and the cube as, in a way, his final parting gift, thrown through all of time and space for her, really hit me when it all got brought together towards the end. it really added an important piece of humanity and sentimentality to the unimaginably vast journey bella and the crew goes on.

i'm glad you enjoyed it. i actually haven't read any other reynolds but i did look a bit into house of suns when i was going through his catalogue before ultimately choosing to read pushing ice, i guess i'll have to give it a read.

very minor spoilers for anyone who hasn't read

i read pushing ice with my book club recently. was also not expecting things to go where they went but i really enjoyed the direction. it makes for a very fleshed out 'sailors marooned on a deserted island' kind of story that doesn't waste the possibilities it's genre and setting allow it. janus as a setting just has a lot of great mysteries and the way the crew interact and survive on the planet is explored very thoroughly. the isolation of how hopelessly far they are from home and only getting further struck me when i was reading. you can understand the different factions and how things might have been different if only a few things changed in the beginning.

and as far as sci-fi goes, it's version of it is a favorite of mine. the blue-collar worker in space is something i've always liked, and it gets depicted very well in this book. would love to hear what you think once you've finished it.

no nazis is big, hope we can keep that up.

yeah, i agree the issue of multiple communities serving the same purpose is minor and i don't expect it to be an issue as time goes on.

maybe it's not as much of an issue as i think but my concern would be if one instance has the vast sum of users would others be discouraged from defederating with it. if a benefit of being federated is being easily discoverable by users, than having the largest userbase would make federating with that instance inherently more valuable as communities would want to be found by those who would participate.

it could be that it wouldn't be a big issue to exist away from large instances, and i'm sure many communities wouldn't need or want to seek out users through large general instances. i just wouldn't want admins of large instances to hold unequal power over smaller federated instances that would want to reach the largest userbase.

maybe i mean .ml. i was under the impression that .world and .ml were closely related but distinct instances, as opposed to kbin which is federated but not as closely related as lemmy instances. like i said, this is new to me so i'm still getting a handle on how everything exists and interacts.

i think the core of what i'm curious about is if there is an issue if a singular instance in the 'threadiverse' gets large enough and if that has negative implications for other federated instances. if users largely centralizing in this decentralized platform detracts from the goals of federation?

i think my concern comes from the idea that large instances could set the pace for how other instances operate. if admins for lemmy.world wanted to enact certain policies the fact that they have the largest userbase would encourage other instances to fall in line since they wouldn't want to defederate from the largest instance.

i should also admit that i'm not completely aware of the process through which instances federate and defederate from each other. i assume it's up to the discretion of the admins of each instance, and then once many begin to federate together the admins of each have their say on who can be included, with defederating occuring if there is no longer alignment between an instance and it's federation. correct me if i'm wrong, but if this is correct, large instances like lemmy.world would hold an unequal share of bargaining power in these circumstances.

i've only been on the platform for a few days but i've noticed a decent uptick in content and unique posts. probably still a lot of bots but with a decent surge of users and people getting a handle on the platform there's been a good bit of activity.

yeah it's important that people post and comment. lurking is only good once there's a critical mass of content and engagement to sustain that kind of passive browsing. i hope new users will understand it's early days on this platform and content has to come from somewhere!