<link rel="me" href="https://instance.tld/@username" />
in the <head>
is probably a bit tidier :)
Best of luck in your Linux journey :) There's multiple good Linux communities on Lemmy, this one is good for new starters: [email protected]
If you use Ubuntu flavoured Mint it'll come with Snap installed but disabled. I'm not sure if it ships with Flatpak support (I think it does though). LMDE does not have Snap installed at all and does ship with Flatpak. I'd use Flatpak rather than Snaps personally,
Snap is a way of installing applications (like Flatpaks) but is seen by many as problematic as its closed source and Ubuntu seem to want to make it the default way to install apps.
Cinnamon is a desktop environment like gnome or KDE - so things like (to use a Windows example) File Manager - things like icons, folders, toolbars, windows etc - all the graphical bits that make up your desktop.
Because its been Mint-ified, there's not a huge amount of difference apart from the positive step of not shipping with Snap. I use LMDE and if you stick with Cinnamon you're not going to notice much difference at all. You can trial it on a live usb if you want.
It is and I totally get why this community can't support it but if the aim is to avoid big US brands, Ampwall is not that. It is created and developed by musicians in a DIY environment. If you're familiar with the Black Metal band Woe then you might be reassured to know that the founder of Woe is that developer. It is owned under a license that is not profit driven and has civic and environmental issues built in.
As I say, I'm aware that this is still technically a US brand but it is not some huge multinational. It is fairer to artists than Bandcamp and many of the artists on Ampwall are European.
I love the aesthetics of hardback books, a beautiful Victorian-era library looks (and smells!) great but my own library is all ebooks. I don't have the space for over 2k physical books and as I get older and my eyesight worsens, the ability to adjust font size, line-height, borders, contrast etc becomes invaluable.
I won't buy from Amazon at all, ever. I prefer to buy DRM free but if its not possible to buy DRM free then I buy a paperback copy from a local indie bookstore if possible which I immediately donate to a library or hospital or prison or whatever and, ahem, 'source' a DRM-free version from elsewhere. I do it this way because DRM is cancer but I also want to support small and/or new authors so buying and passing on a print copy is good for everyone and having a DRM free copy is good for me.
As for subject matter, both fiction and non-fiction but more fiction than non. I like historical novels like the Aubrey/Maturin series, or the Shardlake series, Madeline Miller's greek retellings, Hilary Mantel's stuff, fantasy/sci-f- like Ursula K Leguinn, NK Jemisin, Margaret Attwood, Robin Hobb, Lois McMaster Bujold, Susannah Clarke, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Horror/Thrillers by writers like Peter Straub, Catriona Ward, Shirley Jackson. Non-fiction books tend to be popular science that are 'popular' enough I can grasp what they're on about but 'science' enough they're not just dumbed down crap.
I think the matrix.org servers, whilst owned by Matrix, might be actually physically located on the continent. Given the UK's determination to kill encryption right now, I wouldn't recommend joining an instance hosted there.
Turns out Tories purposefully trying to kill the NHS for decades, having the worst run COVID response strategy in Europe, making everything unaffordable, turning rivers into literal shit and destroying jobs might be stressful to the point young people become mentally ill. And of course, the right answer to that is to punish them even more.
The only slightly surprising thing about this is that Musk didn't commission a gold plated car with a TRUMP#1 vanity plate.
Which will only matter if those instances are hosted in the US, which a lot aren't.