Uncertain if it has all the customization you want, but check out ArcMenu for GNOME
https://github.com/tau-OS/tau-arcmenu?tab=readme-ov-file
https://gitlab.com/arcmenu/ArcMenu

That changed last summer:
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/

https://fwupd.org would be the way.
https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd

edit: Read your cross post. Using an USB would be the way then, or booting Windows.

Thanks for the warning, I'm only familiar with his earlier works.
https://www.pcgamer.com/godus-is-deadus-peter-molyneuxs-controversial-godus-games-are-finally-being-taken-off-steam/

I used to think a lot about up-gradability before but often find that when a cpu is too slow then it is also so old that I have to change the motherboard and ram too for compatibility reasons.
Same thing with the motherboard, if it fails I've never had it be new enough that I can bring my cpu and ram with me to my next motherboard (unless buying an older motherboard second hand).
And many of my disks will be old enough that I want to replace them too, at least if they have anything important on them.

Only things I've brought with me when upgrading desktops have been my case (including fans), psu, gpu and (some) disks.
Having a quiet and dust proof case that is easy to build in and a good psu that https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/ endorses has become higher priority to me since then, as I know they might last me more than one build.

I stand corrected, .NET Core is open source and uses the MIT License.

I stand corrected, .NET Core is open source and uses the MIT License.

As in
“We’ve finished taking all we need from the Mono project and implemented it into our proprietary .NET implementation for Linux, Android and iOS. Instead of getting flack for killing off Mono (which is open source and would’ve been forked anyways) we graciously give this old husk to the Wine project. We recommend that active Mono users and maintainers of Mono-based app frameworks migrate to .NET. kthnxbye!”

Good thing that it went to Wine I guess, as they do lots of work to get old Windows programs up and running in Linux and that often involves Mono.

"We've finished taking all we need from the Mono project and implemented it into our proprietary .NET implementation for Linux, Android and iOS. Instead of getting flack for killing off Mono (which is open source and would've been forked anyways) we graciously give this old husk to the Wine project. We recommend that active Mono users and maintainers of Mono-based app frameworks migrate to .NET. kthnxbye!"

Good thing that it went to Wine I guess, as they do lots of work to get old Windows programs up and running in Linux and that often involves Mono.

This was a better story than the headline shows. There's interviews with some artists that got dropped by the record labels with unreleased albums and how they finally got their albums released.

“I’m a mum and I’ve been working in IT, so it's really weird to be like, ‘I'm going to be a pop star' again.

• Alexis Strum

Mjo, känns lite som att första versen i blå tågets staten och kapitalet är högaktuell i dagsläget, det där med att betala mindre i lön än priset för mat och för hyra menar jag.
I sann internetanda valde jag staden alla älskar att hata, Borås, och kikade på hur en 21årig lokalvårdares ekonomi skulle kunna se ut. En väldigt duktig sådan som aldrig äter ute och har ett "Fritid och lek-konto" på 120 SEK per månad.

https://publikationer.konsumentverket.se/privatekonomi/beraknade-hushallskostnader
18-25 år singelhushåll hushållskostnader
3940+2480+3600 = 10 020 SEK

https://www.hyrabostad.se/boras/
Hyra 1a i Norrby (särskilt utsatt område) i Borås på 18kvm
3 875 SEK
alt. Hyra 2a på Norrmalm i Borås på 53kvm
5 783 SEK

Periodbiljett Borås Mini 30 dagar
https://www.vasttrafik.se/biljetter/periodbiljetter/boras-mini/
730 SEK

Summering av utgifter:
18kvm Norrby
14 625 SEK i utgifter
alt 53kvm Norrmalm
16 533 SEK i utgifter

https://www.ratsit.se/lonestatistik/lokalvardare-lon
Genomsnittslön Lokalvårdare 18-24 Kvinna
24 300 SEK före skatt

https://rakna.net/berakna/lon-efter-skatt/?year=2024&salary=25600&municipality=Borås&parish=
19 614 SEK efter skatt

Kvar efter utgifter:
3 081 SEK till 4 989 SEK

Ingår ej i beräkning: Semesterresor, tandläkarbesök (Fast det är gratis för en 21 åring), medicin (max 2850 SEK, sen tar högkostnadsskyddet allt), gymkort, äta ute, gå på krogen, sparande

Räknade mest på det för att jag själv var nyfiken, så ursäkta för väggen av text. Hoppas du finner den intressant!

Beror på om man har bostad med lån eller inte, tänker jag. Hyresvärden lär ju inte sänka hyran igen och matpriserna ska fortsätta stiga framöver.

Claes Hemberg säger "En färsk ECB-rapport pekar på att det hetare och torrare klimatet börjar bli allt mer synligt i matpriserna. De vänta stiga 3-4 procent per år framöver."
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/ekonomi/ekonomen-claes-hemberg-svarar-pa-dina-fragor-efter-riksbankens-sankning

I'm only running a single eGPU + USB Controller passthrough and while it took some tinkering to get it started it has been smooth sailing afterwards. The B650 series of motherboards has mostly had good IOMMU groupings so there's a good chance your motherboard will allow you to play around with some KVM/QEMU/VFIO if you wanna try gpu passthrough to a virtual machine.

Regarding Case: Generic I would look into getting one with dust protection (bottom and front) and preferably sound proofing. Having the dust get stuck outside the computer makes cleaning so much simpler and having a quiet computer is lovely.
Personally I'm a fan of the Fractal Design Define 7 but I imagine you can get a case with the dust protection and sound proofing much cheaper than that if you take the time to look around and read some reviews, especially if you don't need E-ATX or multiple 3.5'' disk slots.

Alternatively, you can create new users from the command line.
This can be done as follows:

If synapse was installed via pip, activate the virtualenv as follows (if Synapse was installed via a prebuilt package, register_new_matrix_user should already be on the search path):

cd ~/synapse
source env/bin/activate
synctl start # if not already running
Run the following command:
register_new_matrix_user -c homeserver.yaml
This will prompt you to add details for the new user, and will then connect to the running Synapse to create the new user. For example:

New user localpart: erikj
Password:
Confirm password:
Make admin [no]:
Success!

This process uses a setting registration_shared_secret, which is shared between Synapse itself and the register_new_matrix_user script.
It doesn't matter what it is (a random value is generated by --generate-config), but it should be kept secret, as anyone with knowledge of it can register users, including admin accounts, on your server even if enable_registration is false.

https://element-hq.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installation.html

Historically I've gone for Lenovo laptops, at least for their business segments they've been good with releasing updates to fix security issues for many years. Having a promise of 5 years of firmware updates would be lovely though.

For some reason I imagine a toilet that automates a stool test and blood test and gives you a health report every month.

AUX, MicroSD, smaller format and big battery was the reason I went for my Sony Xperia 10 IV (budget phone, got mine new for 260€) device.
Sadly their software updates are only for two years as otherwise I would've been interested in the Sony Xperia 5 series (compact flagship). I'm not paying flagship prices for a phone that stops updating after two years.

I hope that the EU regulation forcing 5 years of updates for phones and tablets starting June 2025 will allow me a compact flagship phone with aux, big battery and updates for a long time.
https://repair.eu/sv/news/new-eu-rules-smartphones-and-tablets-will-follow-new-ecodesign-requirements-by-june-2025/

Info that could help others help you:
House or flat?
Renting or owning?
How large an area do you need to heat?
How many rooms?

Temperature and savings:
Where I live they say that a house with people living in it should be at least 16°C (~60°F) to handle the moisture we generate.
Humans should have at least 18°C (64°F), preferably 20°C (68°F).
That means that you could close doors and let unoccupied rooms have lower temperature than the rooms you use.
If you're stuck with space heaters then you'll save quite a lot that way.

OpenWrt with 802.11r and 802.11s configured will work as a mesh network with roaming functionality.
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/80211s
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/roaming

Not many Ruckus devices that are supported though:

Brand - Model - Supported Version
Ruckus - ZF7025 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7321 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7341 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7343 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7351 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7352 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7363 - 23.05.2
Ruckus - ZF7372 - 23.05.2

https://openwrt.org/toh/start?toh.filter.supportedcurrentrel=22.03|23.05

Tables are something that’s just a given in excel, takes 10 seconds to setup, and you get automatic sorting and filtering, with near-zero effort.

I also find excel easier to use than libreoffice calc as I'm more experienced with excel. This example though is easily solved by using Autostyle + Autoformat