I recommend Linux Mint. It has the windows feel for sure. I am not exaggerating when I say it works better than Windows.

I didn’t customize anything. Just installed it and connected to WiFi.

Key things to consider: - installing apps sometimes isn’t as easy as running an exe. But really you get the gist of .deb and .AppImage files really fast. - I don’t game but I’ve heard GPU drivers just work these days. - I am a heavy excel user. LibreOffice isn’t even close. However, for basic stuff it is usable. Excel is too bloated these days anyway so it is a pleasure to work with something that runs fast. YMMV.

This motivated me to move to Linux and installed Mint in my personal laptop. I keep telling my friends how much better it is and I am not really a Linux fanboy or power user. It’s such a pleasure to boot into Mint when compared to Windows. I am still forced to use Windows every day at work, so I get to compare it every day. Linux wins in every aspect.

My one complaint about the Linux ecosystem is how bad the Office applications are. Libre office spreadsheets are terrible when compared to Excel. However, excel is slowly morphing into an unusable bloated behemoth. Google Sheets is what I use for my personal needs these days.

This experience has been an eye opener. Going forward I will setup automatic donations to free software projects.

I really hope that Microsoft fucks it up so bad that big orgs/governments start migrating to open source software.

In my country, credit cards are safer because they offer better fraud protection mechanisms than debit cards.

Credit cards make it easier to spend money in foreign currencies. I’ve faced issues when trying to pay with a local currency debit card abroad, but I never have faced that issue with a cc. Then, I can just pay my credit card with local currency.

Most of these issues are solvable for sure. But as of today, credit cards are way more reliable than debit cards. At least for me.

I think credit cards do have very valid use cases today.

I have made it a rule to never deceive my dog, and she trusts me because it. If I pick up her water bowl to refill and clean it while she is in the middle of drinking, I make it a point to always give it back with fresh water. I have several water bowls around the house , and the one in my room only gets refilled when I see she is actively drinking from it.

She sees this removal of something she wants (and needs) as a good thing, because I have never deceived her. I always give it back.

If I say we are going for a walk or I grab the leash, we go for a walk. I try to not do things that she would interpret as something not intended. For example, grabbing the leash and not taking her out.

With dogs you become really mindful of your actions. They learn so many of your subtle non-verbal cues, that you start to notice how much your body speaks.

I often think about this, and it has been a valuable learning experience. If I ever decide to have kids, I will make sure that what I communicate (either verbally or non-verbally) is congruent with my actions. I believe that this, is the surest way to build trust.

Dogs hold you accountable in the most beautiful way. The best boss.

Everything is a trust relationship. I recall finding myself offended when I had difficulty pitching ideas at my workplace. A lot of times it felt like "hey, why don't you trust me or my idea". I only had maybe one or two of those moments, but I have also witnessed other people going through a trust battle just like the one I described at work.

This can happen in a family, in a romantic relationship, work, or in society. When the arena becomes entirely about trust, people act out. That's why kids rebel, that's why marriages fall apart, and that's why people leave companies.

It simply is pill with peanut butter

Here’s what would actually happen if this fictional scenario did occur:

If someone hands me something to consume, no matter how much I trust them, I would ask “cool thanks, what’s in the sandwich?”

Now you, a non-deceiver, would say “peanut butter and pharmaceuticals”. And I would say “oh, I’m not sure I want that, but thanks for being honest”

I hope you see how this analogy does not map to dogs.

The first day I got my dog, he had parasites in his ears and stomach. We had to force down gross medicines into his ears and his mouth, and he hated it and us for it.

Three years later we have built up so much trust that I clean his ears every bath and he stands still and waits for me to do it. He still hates it, but he trusts me and knows that I'm not trying to hurt him.

It would not be a deception in the scenario you presented, but it also might not be effective in getting the dog to swallow the pill.

Patenting is brutally hard, exhausting, and often unrewarding work. But if you’re burnt out and find yourself reaching for the belt because your hour of free time is being disrupted by some undesirable behavior then just step out of the house for a few minutes. Young kids (and puppies) crave attention and removing the attention is more effective than giving attention by conditioning a fear response.

This in fact teaches kids to not behave. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3447048/

You can have a relationship with a dog like this, but you don't need to. You can have a relationship where lots of attention and love is shared. It's very meaningful and powerful.

Rewarding good behavior takes more effort than punishment though. It requires more patience because you don’t immediately see the results of your actions. Over time, they add up.

And I totally understand this. I have gotten angry at my dog , and I have shouted at her. However, after some reflection, the situation is always caused by some fault of my own. After all, I am the highly intelligent being, and I should know better. But it’s easier to shout than to critically examine your own behavior.

But hey, we can totally disagree on this. I think that hitting beings (either animals or humans) is not correct. Clearly, you think otherwise. You’re entitled to your opinion. Even if I think it is not morally correct.

I would encourage you to think about whether that’s a belief you acquired by your own means or just something you believe because you were hit yourself.

Have you consistently tried to discipline with positive reinforcement? Have you found it to be ineffective? Have you consulted with professionals? Maybe you have. Maybe not.

Sometimes we do things just because that’s how we grew up and not really because we believe in them. That’s how we end up in these never ending violence cycles. But it only takes one brave, and introspective, person to stop :)

The book has so many great concepts and touches upon many of the fundamental questions of life itself. I fully recommend it if you’re into space sci fi.

- I would rather buy a MacBook now, the whole ecosystem is nicer. This is not Framework’s fault, Apple’s ecosystem just works and at some point you just want stuff that works. I absolutely love the AirPods and there’s always some minor annoyances when pairing with the laptop.

- The removable port adapters are nice but not that useful in reality. I occasionally change the charging port to the other side to make charging easier in different spaces. The HDMI adapter sometimes needs to be removed and reinserted which sucks.

- The build quality is good enough. I wouldn’t expect any less from any laptop at that price point.

- I believe the main selling point was that you could switch parts easily. However, I don’t see myself performing any major upgrade like changing the mobo/cpu. Those upgrades are fairly expensive. Also, I don’t see myself building stuff with a spare mobo/cpu.

- Given the previous point, I wouldn’t say this laptop is going to last me longer than any other high quality laptop. I have a Sony VAIO that is still working after more than a decade. I expect the same of this laptop and I expect the same of any high end laptop.

- speakers suck.

Overall I think the concept is really nice and I am glad that I supported the company. However, I think that making conventional laptops more repairable is good enough. Full modularity is a cool concept but it does seem to have a lot of drawbacks. Give me the ability to easily change the hard drive, the RAM, the battery, the keyboard/trackpad and that is sufficient for me. Maybe the screen.

If you are really environmentally conscious I would say you can achieve something similar by buying a high end device, using it 5-8 years, and then sell it/gift it when you need to upgrade.

There’s also the argument that a perfectly good laptop can end in a trash bin because of a faulty port or something minor. But honestly, I have never had that happen. Either I’m just lucky or electronics at this price point are generally well built. Given that you did a bit of research before buying.

I doubt that changing the mobo / cpu is something done very frequently, so I could accept it to be a bit more involved (as in require multiple screws instead of just pulling it out or similar).

For that, something like an HP EliteBook would be good enough. The laptops are fairly OK if you don't insist on good quality screens. They're easily serviceable for the most common parts (the battery is held in place with screws, the ssd and ram are removable, the screen hinges are screwed in, but are metal and quite robust).

I don't know how easy it is to find spare parts for these actual laptops, but my point is that this could maybe be a better compromise than the full-modular framework. Of course, HP has to change the models every year to look new, but a dedicated manufacturer wouldn't have to.

Bartosz if you are reading this: thank you so much for these articles. You truly are an inspiration and I can only hope one day I get to be as good a communicator as you are.