People are shitting on them because the price point for arm sbcs has risen, while the price point for small x86 computers has come down. Also, x86 availability is high and arm sbc availability has become unreliable. They also aren’t generally supported nearly as well. If you don’t need more power and you already have them on hand there’s no reason not to use them.
Local ordinances specify minimum space requirements for trees, which may mean that they’re not allowed to be put in certain places. Also, they can cause pedestrian safety issues, as well as Ada compliance problems in confined spaces. This is an easy way to get something green in a place where you would otherwise not see a tree because of a lot of beaurocratic bullshit.
Obviously, you can argue that all that needs to be changed. And you’d be right. And in many places it’s moving that way. But then you also wouldn’t get anything done for quite some time. This is an option where there might be no other viable options at the moment.
Have you ever held a Bat’leth? Because it makes you feel powerful. Klingons are interested in feeling powerful and striking fear in their enemies, and for that the Bat’leth is pretty freaking great.
I mean, we’re human, so I get the whole Indiana Jones “Ima just shoot the guy” thing. But we’re talking about Klingons. Even if the weapon is objectively bad, there is honor in killing an enemy the hard way.
No issues currently using pop os. I don’t use the graphical Bluetooth manager, for whatever that’s worth. I wrohe a script that connects and disconnects with bluetoothctl, and I pair and trust devices with bluetoothctl. I use several different headphones.
Occasionally, I have to go into the audio settings to change the destination, or tap a button on my headphones, but that’s about it.
PDFs might be your sticking point. I’ve not found any software that will handle all the different things you can do with acrobat in an easy way. But I have to heavily modify PDFs from time to time, and you may not have nearly the needs I do.
I’d suggest checking out libre office, and see if you can find a PDF application that satisfies you. The app store on pop os is really good, as is the interface, and if you don’t like tiling window managers, you can turn it off.
Another suggestion is to recognize you’re a novice. If you read something that sounds like a perfect setup, but it’s a little complicated, put it off. You don’t want to get in over your head, because linux distros will not keep you from breaking things. The defaults of any large distribution are a pretty safe bet.
Another problem with phone number requirement. EU phone number? Get out of here. Otherwise you’re right. With a vpn, what’s to stop you from continuing to use it.
You’d be looking at used mini PCs. I’ve heard really good things about lenovo. It’s not necessarily exactly comparable in price, but the reason people are souring on arm SBCs, and especially PiS, is that it’s only a little more for a more powerful lenovo, and there are never any supply issues.
Is it the petzl zipka? Because if it isn’t I’d love to know what it is. I have one, but they’ve apparently stopped making them, and it’s so much better not having an elastic strap.