Gnome and KDE are two different “desktop environments”. Each distro has a default desktop environment (DE for short), but it’s like a regular application that you can swap out for a different one that does the same thing. The DE is (roughly, I think) the graphical interface to the operating system. So it can feel like the DE is the operating system (especially on Windows or Mac, which don’t have options to change the DE).

Most Linux distros, and certainly all of the beginner friendly ones, make it relatively easy to switch to a different DE. (Or, so I’ve heard. I’ve been using Linux as my daily driver for I’ve a decade, and I barely understand what’s involve in installing a new DE.)

I’ve really been looking forward to this! This announcement post is really sweet, and makes me glad for all the folks who worked on it.

Actually my first time; I had to order them just for this, and they’re great! Now I have extras ready for the next project.

7 hellhounds howling

Freecad +1

WAIT !

I think each person has to recognize that there is a time/energy cost to get out of enshittification hell, and then decide how much they’re willing to pay. If the answer for you is at least “an afternoon of video tutorials”, then Freecad will be fine for you. It’s a complicated tool that you need some help learning; that’s ok. It won’t become your new hobby.

If you don’t want to pay that cost, that’s understandable. If you feel mad that there is a cost at all, that’s ok too. That’s how enshittification works, and it sucks. As I said, each person will have to decide whether and how much they’re willing to pay to get out of it.

Anyway, the MangoJelly tutorials in YouTube are really excellent, and will have you up and running in a few hours at most. (My CAD needs are also very basic, and I was done after the first two parts, 30 min each.) For following along, I would recommend just using the main version, so that it matches his tutorial exactly, and do the steps as he shows you. It feels dumb, but it’s such a fast way to learn. You can decide later if you want to switch to one of the other branches, depending on what features you care about or what annoys you most.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGNkhS8RKFIJWGj1ad8wRVVCLBnF_13g

Here’s one of his later videos about tracing from a photo, but I haven’t watched it:

https://youtu.be/xQcDoAhmoa8?si=MkdyXVtATiNWesJ4

You can do it!

I had the same realization. I spent 3-4 hours fiddling with different settings, with no impact, and then 1 hour drying did the trick!!

Wow, same here. Upvote just for explaining how to turn that dang grid off!!