u/ClocomotionCommotion

So, I'm in the process of making a new Linux gaming PC for myself, but I want to double-check myself before getting too far into my project, and I want to make sure I install and configure the Flatpak version of Steam correctly.

I have used the Flatpak version of Steam in the past on my old PC. When I first set up Flatpak Steam, it was kind of finicky with directory permissions. I had to go into Flatseal and change some of Steam's directory permissions so it would work the way I wanted it to.

I got it working, and it worked fine, but Steam Flatpak and my Steam games were all on the same drive,

and I think my games also shared Steam's sandbox.

My old Linux gaming machine had a 500 GB SSD and a 750 GB HDD. I figured 500 GB would be enough for all my games, and the HDD would be for everything else that didn't benefit from being on an SSD.

Unfortunately for me, I assumed incorrectly, and 500 GB wasn't going to be nearly enough space for all my games.

My current plan for my new PC is to use the 500 GB SSD as mostly a boot drive, and I have a 2 TB SSD that I want to use to store all my games.

However, if Steam Flatpak is installed on one drive, but I try installing my games on a different drive, could that cause any issues?

Does Flatpak Steam need to be on the same drive as my Steam games, or can they be separate?

Thank you.

So, some time ago, I remember seeing a lot of concerning stories about various US states and countries passing laws requiring Age Verification to be "built in" to computer operating systems.

There was a lot of uncertainty about how this would affect Linux, given that Linux is not centralized compared to Windows and MacOS, and the laws themselves are somewhat ambiguous regarding compliance and enforcement.

Some Linux distros said that they would be complying with the new laws; others said they wouldn't be.

I've mostly used Linux Mint as my "daily driver" for my gaming PC.

Most of the discussions I've found on Reddit about this subject are from 5 months ago. Most suggest switching to distros like "Void" or "MX Linux". But I've also heard that just switching distros isn't a good long-term solution.

What I would like to figure out is: should I switch distros to help protect my privacy, or would switching distros not be worth the effort?

Edit:

I think some commenters believe I'm looking for a Linux distro that violates the aforementioned "Operating System Age Verification" laws.

That is not what I'm trying to do.

I'm just trying to determine if I should put in the effort of switching to a legal Linux distro that prioritizes my right to privacy, relative to other distros.

Also, to my knowledge, the laws only apply to "operating system providers". So, to my knowledge, if your operating system provider isn't in a state or country that has "operating system age verification" laws, it's still legal for them to distribute their operating system, and it isn't illegal for you to use said operating system.

That is, unless there are other implemented laws (that I'm unaware of) that make it illegal for everyday people to own computers that don't have any age verification in their operating systems. In which case, I guess my 2008 Acer Aspire One, running on Windows XP, would be illegal to own in certain states/countries.

So, I have over 1,300 hours logged in Stellaris. I've played it a lot in years past. I've been playing on Ensign difficulty lately to test my skills and learn the new mechanics.

However, there is something I'm struggling with, and that is:

GOOD GOD! WHY DO SHIPS COST SO MANY ALLOYS!

Seriously. Like, 2/3rds of my colonies have alloy production on them in some form or another, yet it isn't enough to replace my ship losses. My latest game save has my empire making 300+ alloys per month, but with battleships costing over 4,000 alloys per ship, it takes my empire over a year to replace ONE battleship.

My ship designs are working. My fleets are defeating enemy fleets that are a 3rd bigger than mine, but I'm still losing some ships in each fight.

This isn't too bad against most regular AI empires. In the early to mid game, AI empires have about the same number of ships as me, but after a couple of battles, their navy is completely depleted, and what's left of my navy can clean up the rest of the enemy empire.

However, against the Great Khan or Endgame Crisis, the dozens and dozens of big enemy fleets quickly wipe out my stockpile.

The game says my empire's economy is great, but it isn't at all sufficient to handle an attrition war.

Is the new meta just "alloy rushing" now? Do I need 1,000+ alloys per month now to stand a chance against enemy AIs? Or am I not seeing another potential strategy?

I recently got back into playing Stellaris, and I want to build a heroic empire that befriends and defends other egalitarian, xenophile empires in need of help around the galaxy. Kinda like the Asgardians coming to Earth to protect humans from the Frost Giants. However, my empire keeps getting crushed by either the "Great Khan" or the endgame crisis.

What should I change about my empire to possibly make it more effective at achieving my goal?

https://preview.redd.it/dzu56u6us9fh1.png?width=925&format=png&auto=webp&s=f403ae57c7c5356601031c121ab080651194675f

I picked the "Slingshot to the Stars" origin thinking I could use the quantum catapult as my "Bifrost" to quickly send my fleets to aid in the defense of other empires. However, it still takes me a while to get enough technology unlocked before I can ever use the thing.

While the "Warrior Culture" civic fits well with the theme of my empire, I feel that the amount of alloys it costs really handicaps my ability to build ship fleets. Has anyone else struggled with keeping up alloy production with this civic?

Other than that, I think the species traits I picked are a good fit.

I'm trying to automate power usage in my settlement.

When there is a drought, my water wheels aren't working, and the wind is too slow for windmills, I want the beaver power wheels to only power the most essential buildings in my industry.

That, or automate power to only go to buildings that are producing a resource I'm running low on.

At first, I assumed that certain buildings consumed power "at all times" and the only way to stop their power consumption was with clutches.

However, what I've noticed is that power consumption only seems to happen when a building is staffed with workers. If I "pause" the building, it stops consuming power. So, if I automate the buildings to pause and un-pause at certain points, I can control where power is consumed without clutches.

But if that's the case, I feel like that makes clutches redundant and unnecessary. Why use clutches to control power usage when you can already control it from the buildings directly?

Are clutches redundant, or do they have a practical use that I haven't realized yet?

So, I've seen tutorials that say you should distribute food, water, and housing evenly around your settlements so all your beavers can quickly access those resources. However, whenever my beavers get hungry or thirsty, they seem to go to a random food or water source that isn't anywhere close to them.

Despite having small water tanks distributed around my settlement, I've seen my beavers travel to the opposite side of the settlement to get water from a very distant tank, and they ignore the ones right next to them.

If beavers pick resource locations at random, would it make more sense to centralize resources per settlement district?

I was listening to a video about how steam locomotives are fueled and watered, and all the infrastructure involved in the process. But that got me thinking; if a railroad museum wants to run a steam locomotive, do they need all that infrastructure (coaling towers, water towers, sanding towers, ect), or are there other tools/methods that are acceptable for running a steam locomotive?

For example, in the USA, I've seen a front-end loader used for refilling the sand in a steam locomotive's sand dome.

I was listening to a video about how steam locomotives are fueled and watered, and all the infrastructure involved in the process. But that got me thinking; if a railroad museum wants to run a steam locomotive, do they need all that infrastructure (coaling towers, water towers, sanding towers, ect), or are there other tools/methods that are acceptable for running a steam locomotive?

So, I have a laptop where I'm dual-booting Linux Mint and Bliss OS (an Android-x86 fork).

About a year ago, during a Linux Mint update, something broke the bootloader for Bliss OS, and now I can't access my Bliss operating system. To make matters worse, the Bliss OS team went on "lockdown" around the same time my Bliss OS bootloader was broken. So, I can't reach out to the Bliss OS team for help.

I just need to boot into Bliss OS once, so I can back up everything I have there.

I tried to create a new GRUB entry in Linux Mint with the code provided by Bliss OS's installation guide: https://docs.blissos.org/installation/manual-install-on-linux/

However, the directory of my Bliss OS install is in a different location from where the guide has it. I updated the directory location in the Bliss OS GRUB code, but Bliss OS still wouldn't boot after a restart.

My current theory is that maybe I need to change the file/directory permissions in Linux Mint in order to get GRUB to boot Bliss OS, but I'm not sure which permissions to change exactly.

Here is what my Linux Mint terminal shows for current file and directory permissions:

original1@Mobile-Fortress:~$ ls -l /home/android-2024-06-02/
total 4310704
drwxrwx--x. 51 original1 original1       4096 Jun  3  2025 data
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 initrd_a.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 initrd_b.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 kernel_a
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 kernel_b
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        10485760 Jun 23  2024 misc.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root      4394967040 Jun  7  2025 system_a.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root      4294967296 Jun 23  2024 system_b.img

Is it a permissions issue, or could it be something else?

So, I have a laptop where I'm dual-booting Linux Mint and Bliss OS (an Android-x86 fork).

About a year ago, during a Linux Mint update, something broke the bootloader for Bliss OS, and now I can't access my Bliss operating system. To make matters worse, the Bliss OS team went on "lockdown" around the same time my Bliss OS bootloader was broken. So, I can't reach out to the Bliss OS team for help.

I just need to boot into Bliss OS once so I can back up everything I have there.

I tried to create a new GRUB entry with the code provided by Bliss OS's installation guide: https://docs.blissos.org/installation/manual-install-on-linux/

However, the directory of my Bliss OS install is in a different location from what the guide has. I updated the directory location in the Bliss OS GRUB code, but Bliss OS still wouldn't boot after a restart.

My current theory is that maybe I need to change the file/directory permissions in order to get GRUB to boot Bliss OS, but I'm not sure which permissions to change exactly.

Here is what my terminal shows for current file and directory permissions:

original1@Mobile-Fortress:~$ ls -l /home/android-2024-06-02/
total 4310704
drwxrwx--x. 51 original1 original1       4096 Jun  3  2025 data
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 initrd_a.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 initrd_b.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 kernel_a
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        41943040 Jun 23  2024 kernel_b
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root        10485760 Jun 23  2024 misc.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root      4394967040 Jun  7  2025 system_a.img
-rw-r--r--   1 root      root      4294967296 Jun 23  2024 system_b.img

Is it a permissions issue, or could it be something else?