PropagandaIsUseless

Surface Laptop Go. It's the nicest little laptop you can get for $200. Also, running Linux on a piece of hardware dripping with Windows logos is so cursed I love it! They also come in cool colors if you like that (I got the standard silver one, but still drool over the ice blue and sandstone colors, but not enough to buy another one!)

I'm typing on one now. It's just.... nice! (just don't get the 4 GB ram model).

Ubuntu (and most other distros) work out of the box, and there's a GitHub for a custom Surface kernel if somehow you run into something not working.

As far as hardware, the screen is slightly under 1080p, but at 12" it's plenty sharp for a laptop. More importantly, the colors of the display look very good and accurate. I'd take a nice "low-res" display over a shitty 4k TN panel any day. The fingerprint reader doesn't work on Linux, no drivers, but that doesn't bother me. The trackpad and keyboard are pleasant, and there's a USB-A, USB-C, and audio jack on the left. The rubber feet were peeling off the bottom, but easily reattached with rubber cement (I used clear bath silicone since Home Depot was out), good as new.

Battery life is about 3-5 hours, which is expected for running Linux. I get around 5 now after using some power optimization settings. The surface connector is nice for charging, and takes about 45 minutes. My battery was a little degraded from the previous owner, so you might even get 6 hours on a fresher device.

Yeah, I had a friend point out the parallels to the Anime scene. There's a lot of "gross" stuff that occurs in the niche corners of anime, when most people just wanna enjoy the manga/show.

Yeah, it's funny once I identified as a furry, and someone asked me "ooh what's your fursona?" I realized I didn't really want one.

FurScience has a few classifications (that they use mostly for survey purposes). Most people just appreciate and enjoy the art and culture, at the far end of the spectrum, people identify as part- or whole-animal, or that their past life was a specific animal. These people are in the minority, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just what is common and uncommon.

Wait, but that's what fellow comrades are!

Hi, I just came out as gay, and as a furry last week! After spending over a decade in the closet...

So, here's a short history of my experience of the Furry fandom.

When I was a young lad (teen), I noticed I felt attraction toward guys, but not girls. Boobs don't really do it for me. I grew up in a conservative christian household, so even those thoughts were considered evil. So, repressing those thoughts along the merry way, I found furry communities online. For the first time, Queerness was not punished. Queerness was not shamed, it was celebrated with art, writing, and "art". The online Furry community was a safe haven where I could imagine a world where I didn't have to repress all those things anymore, and be more of myself.

Now that I'm out (to my close friends), I'm noticing that Queer acceptance is a major cornerstone of furries. Next important thing to me, is the appreciation or enjoyment of the ideas, art, or media. Third is just a dash of Chemical X (weirdness), or more accurately, the courage to be yourself, enjoy yourself, and be cringe.

Yes, there are kinks, but I've heard the quote: "There is pornographic art and room parties, you're out of your mind to deny that stuff exists, but that isn't unique to furries. Think of Anime, Star Trek, etc. These fandoms and cultures don't have sexy or kinky things because of the content, they have those things in it because they are created by (and for) human beings." The furry fandom likely gets more shit for it because of A) the open queerness and B) actually it's probably just the open queerness.

Oddly, I've become slightly less attached to the Fandom, while enjoying it more, if that makes any sense.

There's tons of YouTubers that do documentaries on the stuff. There's like a 1.5h film festival submission that won awards on YT, describing the history of modern-day Furries.

Historically, pictures and stories of animal-people are as old as civilization itself. Even the Epic of Gilgamesh had a Furry character in it, off the top of my head.

The only thing that may be an issue is highly specific software, and games. Over the past year, whenever I start new stuff, I always get a Linux-compatible program/workflow, so it's gradually becoming a non-issue. Overwatch and Beat Saber are the only things tying me to Windows now.

Why wait? Buy a cheap ass laptop and have it as a Linux machine.

Ubuntu is nice. I had mint on my desktop, but I just like Ubuntu way better. I find Ubuntu to be the Windows of Linux, without all of the spyware/malware shit. It's the most popular, it's kept up to date, and it works out of the box.

I'm typing this on Ubuntu from a Windows Surface Laptop Go. This little ultrabook is hella cursed and it just... worked. Ironically, the 5 minutes I used windows 11 on this thing were chugging like hell. This is an Ubuntu only device now.

yes.

Thanks, Webfishing sounds neat. It looks like I just missed it, but that's okay.

I'm becoming more conscious about security concerns lately, and some things are just too much effort to do securely. Sadly, Webfishing seems to be one of those things.

I'm using AirVPN and Mullvad Browser on Ubuntu, so if you have any OpSec tips or resources I'd be happy to read them! I've gotten a little paranoid since I worked a US MIC job (after becoming a communist, but I needed the money). I can't believe they let me in, and the stress of being 'found out' for understanding how evil the empire was, along with the guilt of my participation in it as an office drone ... was just too much.

I'd like to add that a common symptom of burnout is the exhaustion of empathy. When you no longer have the energy to care for yourself, you cannot care much about other people either.

Take care of yourself, comrade. <3