It’s not… unpopular? Or it’s not true?

I find the assumption goes the opposite way. Linux, and FOSS as a whole, often assumes the user is knowledgeable and knows what they’re doing. Proprietary software often assumes the user knows nothing and will never know anything if they don’t hold your hand through the entire process and obfuscate and abstract all the decisions and work to a place you won’t see it, and then puts obstacles in your way to getting to it.

FOSS says, “you wanna pop the hood? Here you go, and here are all the tools you’ll need to do whatever you want,” and walks off.

Proprietary software says, “are you sure you don’t want to drop it off at the shop first? At least call a mechanic. Tools? No, no, you don’t need tools… don’t go find some, there’s no need, we can just call a tow truck. No, no, the nails are supposed to be there. Yeah, I nailed the hood shut. And super glued it. Well, I didn’t think you’d want in there… besides, you’re not a mechanic, you’ve got no idea how an engine works…” and once you do get in, it’s peeking over your shoulder the whole time reminding you that you really shouldn’t be doing that, there are professionals for that sort of thing.

I agree with you in the mindset. “Free as in free beer” is not the important aspect for me, so much as the “free as in free speech” bit.

Funny that all the things you listed you wished were better than the competition falls almost entirely under the purview of artistic solutions. GIMP, DarkTable, Inkscape, etc. I’ve always heard, and I think for the most part it holds true, that FOSS software for artists is usually a worse experience because it’s primarily dominated by software designed and implemented by technically minded people for technically minded people who happen to be artistic, rather than designed by artistically minded people and implemented by technically minded people.

I know it’s probably an unpopular view, but I’ve found it to be true a lot.

I disagree, I think it’s still perfectly reasonable to criticize Plex. Specifically for that complacency. Just because they were an important step to getting where we are does not mean they are above reproach.

Besides, I wasn’t really criticizing Plex? All I said was that I prefer the UI/UX in Jellyfin, and that Jellyfin is still “Just Working” where Plex failed for reasons unknown. Plex isn’t bad, I enjoyed using it while I did. I just found something FOSS to take it’s place. 🙂

p7zip. TIL it is not official! Damn.

Listen, I love GIMP. I would never try to argue that the UI/UX is better than alternatives. There’s a reason it’s not the defacto tool to use in its industry, and it’s not the name.

That said, if you take the time to learn GIMP, it’s delightful. I personally like using GIMP more than, say, Photoshop, but I also learned photo manipulation on GIMP, and didn’t touch Photoshop until well after. GIMP’s UX leaves a lot to be desired for a newcomer to the software.

Wait, is 7zip not available on Linux? Then what have I been using??

Oooh, shiny. I’ll have to give it a try! I work with SvelteKit and Tailwind presently, I’ll have to see how it handles that!

I tried Kodi, it was nice. Biggest issue was no Roku app…

You’re absolutely right, and in lots of areas I use FOSS alternatives solely because they are FOSS despite less resources and objectively worse UI/UX. Photography is a hobby of mine, a huge love. There is nothing on Linux that gives even remotely close to the ease and comfort of use for RAW image editing as CaptureOne Pro, a software I paid a pretty penny for some number of years ago. I’ve tried every RAW image editor that’s been recommended, and I dislike them all so much that I actually prefer to move my RAWs to my phone and edit them there.

Despite that, I’m still running Linux. I understand the trade offs that often need to happen to adhere to an ideal, and I largely agree. However, sometimes FOSS comes out on top in all regards, including UI/UX. And those are the apps I’m inviting everyone to share. 😉

Wait that’s a thing? Oh, gods. I’m almost tempted, just to see what that’s like, but… no. 😂

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with CPJ. For GPU acceleration, why wouldn’t you add a dGPU to your server? Or are you talking exclusively pre-built NAS solutions that don’t have a dGPU option?

I love this.

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-install-jellyfin-nas/

Why wouldn’t you want your home media server software running on the server that’s in charge of storing your media?

EDIT: I apologize, I’m not trying to patronize you or be argumentative, I’m just trying to understand your setup. So you have a PC (NAS) where all your files are stored, a second PC running your home media server software that needs to talk to the first PC and see what’s stored on it so it can then serve that content to clients on your local network, like a TV? Instead of just running the server software on the first PC to begin with?

? I serve media from… the server. All my storage is on the PC running Jellyfin. It’s movie and TV shows, not home videos of my family and photos of my pets. I keep those on my phone. 😉

I am by no means a master at OBS, and I wouldn’t know where to point you to learn. Everything I know I’ve learned by either poking around in the software or googling specific questions, i.e. “how to overlay twitch chat in OBS”. As you can probably guess, I used to use it to stream to twitch. Not very suddenly, mind, but I did it. Lol!

OBS is designed for streaming out and recording video, not really for music production. I’m sure there are some FOSS music production softwares worth checking out, though!

I wonder what % of Linux users are using Edge, and what their reasoning is.

Why would you have to manually set them up? Most smart TVs have a Jellyfin channel/app you can install, and failing that there should be some kind of general media server app you can get on them. There’s a mobile app for Android (though someone else here says it’s pretty trash) and probably for iOS as well. The only device to configure is the server, the app can find a local network server automatically.

Honestly, never touched the Android app. We use it exclusively on our TVs. I can see why that would be a breaking point for some people though!

You might want to check and see what ports you do or don’t have open to your local network. I know I had to open port 1900 on UDP to connect from the clients in the house.

Right, right. I think it’s a little unfair to say OBS isn’t simple in that regard, though, as recording small snippets of screens isn’t really what it’s targeted towards. It’s more of a content streaming/recording software, IMO. I honestly don’t know what I would use if I needed to regularly record differently sized small portions of my screen to send to people.