There are tools for enabling one to save a bunch of ISOs on a single USB thumb drive so that you don’t need a whole fleet of thumb drives. One such tool is called Ventoy, and there’s another one out there, although its name escapes me atm.

Profit

windows… has not had an issue with anything I’ve wanted to do.

Then you should use Windows. It sounds like it works for you.

I offered up a counter-anecdote to your anecdote. I did not mean to invalidate your experience.

That said, I’m triggered by statements like, “Linux isn’t ready,” because they aren’t conducive to productive conversation. A better way to think of it is, “Linux/Windows/<Insert OS here> isn’t for me.” Linux doesn’t have to be for everybody. Likewise for Windows or any other OS. I think it’s great that we have so many choices.

Crazy how different our experiences have been. Over the last decade I’ve hopped from Ubuntu to Mint, Debian, Fedora, Nobara, and currently on Bazzite. Never had an issue connecting to the internet. (shrugs)

Thanks for chiming in. I’ve confirmed creating the file in the file browser under “Home > .config > MangoHud” places the file in /var/home/curious_dolphin/.config/MangoHud, so I’m still scratching my head as to why I’m unable to edit the document after the initial save. As a workaround, I’ve placed the config file in my top level home folder (aka /var/home/curious_dolphin) w/ a link to it from /var/home/curious_dolphin/.config/MangoHud where the app expects, and this seems to be working as desired.

Thanks for the tip to create a link to the file that is elsewhere. This works for me. I’m now able to configure MangoHud in a text file without using Goverlay.

Can you create any files in $HOME OR $HOME/.config/ ?

Yes - I can create (and later edit) files under /home/curious_dolphin, even under /home/curious_dolphin/.config, but for some reason once I’ve created a file under /home/curious_dolphin/.config/MangoHud, I cannot edit it even though the file and its parent directory appear to have the same permissions as the other files that I can edit.

In other words, after creating test.txt under /home/curious_dolphin/.config/MangoHud, I cannot edit it:

curious_dolphin@bazzite:~$ ls -la ./.config/MangoHud/
total 20
drwxr-xr-x. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin   42 Feb 20 14:46 .
drwxr-xr-x. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin  552 Feb 20 14:47 ..
-rw-r--r--. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin 9671 Feb 20 12:22 MangoHud.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin    5 Feb 20 14:46 test.txt

However, after creating test.txt under /home/curious_dolphin/.config, I can edit it:

curious_dolphin@bazzite:~$ ls -la ./.config
total 44
drwxr-xr-x. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin  552 Feb 20 14:47 .
drwx------. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin  460 Feb 20 14:41 ..
drwxr-xr-x. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin   42 Feb 20 14:46 MangoHud
-rw-r--r--. 1 curious_dolphin curious_dolphin   10 Feb 20 14:47 test.txt

Gotcha, so in summary, anything that relies on an internet service, such as Signal, Matrix, or Simplex, is vulnerable to government ordered blocks via black list that ISPs are compelled to enforce. Am I thinking of this right?

Out of curiosity, is there anything stopping you from suggesting SimpleX? How does SimpleX compare to XMPP or Matrix?

Are there any other messaging options that are more resistant to government ordered shutdowns than Matrix?

Interesting—I feel like I see Matrix touted as more private than Signal b/c of Signal’s phone number requirement. What compromising metadata does Matrix require that Signal does not?