A utility to map extruded lines/objects/shapes to STL files. For example, say you have an STL of a curved vase. You want to add a spiral to it. So you place the photo of a spiral on the object. The utility lets you decide where on the STL it’ll be placed, then you can decide the extrusion depth (positive or negative).

Possibly including some type of LLM, too. So you can import your STL, then type something like “picture of the Simpsons in the style of ancient Greek amphora vase paintings.” It’ll appear as line art on the 3D object

Note that I don’t need this, myself. You want to work on something interesting, so I thought for a few minutes and came up with this. :)

It’s not way too early to break out the guillotine for use on the Embracer CEO.

Retroarch box for your TV?

You can buy a USB blu-ray drive for like $50.

Rather than build a computer, check out NAS devices.

My Synology NAS does everything you mention except ripping, and you can rip with any computer that has an optional drive.

A NAS is lower power than a tower server, and many are designed to let you swap hard drives.

Every distro sucks to someone.

I tried Mint on one of my laptops, and it broke as soon as I installed any updates. It also didn’t properly support the laptop’s graphics.

Manjaro installed perfectly and runs flawlessly. No issues.

So, as always, different distros for different computers for different folks.

The best distro? One that he’ll be able to use easily. One that will get him to actually LIKE the experience.

You don’t want to teach him a lesson by giving him a miserable experience.

You want to teach him a lesson that will let you say “I told you so” for the rest of his life.

Manjaro is pretty easy to use and seems to have good hardware compatibility. A variety of Ubuntu flavors also can mimic Windows and work really well.

Haha, I get it. No offense taken.

I don’t disagree. But for better or worse, most people don’t think that much about their software.

Folks like us who do? We can make informed decisions.

Folks who don’t? Canonical’s experiments are probably still better than dealing with Windows 11 or macOS.

You’re not wrong, but there’s also value in exploring different ways to do similar things. That’s what’s great about Linux.

Some of Canonical’s efforts may lead to failure, but that doesn’t mean they are a waste.

I tried installing LXLE - and in spite of multiple attempts, it simply refuses to install the boot files into the boot partition. 🤣

So I suppose it’s getting a different flavor, after all

I appreciate your response. it’s good to know I’m safe running what I know. And cerement gave me some good info so I can learn more about different distros. :)

Thanks for all this info. It’ll help me catch up, I’ll check out your links.