that was probably the issue. drm support in browsers is usually disabled by default on linux, but enabled on windows.

the odd cases where one still didn’t work on linux, a simple useragent addon in firefox to flip it to windows has usually worked.

but then, even when it is working, linux clients often still get a lesser product as the streaming sites like to reserve higher quality video to clients with os-level drm, restricting linux to 720p or even 480p.

RARs might have been originally sourced from ‘elsewhere’, that place where the first rule is to not talk about it.

it pretty much depends on what their distribution agreements have in them–there could be something in there that requires monthly or longer terms for subscribers. if there isn’t, there sure af will be from now on for streaming services carrying ‘cable’ channels

did you just drop the full index into the config, like the ‘how to use’ image shows in the repo’s ‘readme’? take that out, it’s all 10,000+ ‘channels’. go into the repo’s ‘streams’ directory and find one or a few for your country and add those instead (load the ‘raw’ url for each in the browser, then copy the resulting address from your browser address bar into the config).

somewhere off in the distance i hear a familiar jingle: ‘3 billion strong… and growing’

we would all be ‘shareholders’ of public services for public good.

they all do, if each square is considered separately.

there’s no place like Nyamyochu Sha

always forget that there’s a big ad spot on the home page.

i helped someone set up theirs a little while back… i’m like, “oh, so that’s what’s supposed to be there…”; followed by a “i can help you get rid of those if you want…”

it’s similar. in a mainstream distribution with a desktop environment, updates can typically be configured to notify you or install automatically. it’s common for those updates to now also include third-party sources like flathub.

upgrades (to a next point release or major version) are different, some can be fairly straightforward–others, not so much. and those upgrades will be more frequent, as the “lifecycle” for most linux distributions is shorter than windows’ 10 years.

i use similar–a laptop with a ulv cpu, configured to run closed (stays cool, even under load) and wake/power-on by keyboard (wireless with trackpad).

https://leta.mullvad.net/ uses Brave or Google

thanks for this one. i’m currently trying out their encrypted and adblocking dns on the hotspot i set up on dietpi to isolate ‘streaming’ devices, comparing its effectiveness to pihole and adguard home.

that’s where most of my ‘issues’ come from when upgrading an old debian… upstream version changes to major software packages (python, php, even apache 1.x to 2 back in the day) that require some manual intervention

it’s really not their responsibility to babysit user-initiated configuration changes and third-party software during updates and upgrades. the user makes the changes that go ‘off book’ and uses ‘non debian’ software–so that is where the responsibility lies.

trump. musk. putin.

the joy of not having any microsoft accounts.

although i still do have to deal with this shit every day for other people. the ‘best’ ones are those with only a voice number on their account for a verification, from back before they went sms-only for phone numbers.

‘decision anxiety’ is definitely real. there’s literally too many choices and different ways to deliver the same end result.

ubuntu studio is an excellent choice for your use case. you just gotta jump in with both feet

if you go in not knowing what to do, it can seem ‘difficult’. but it’s mostly like on any other oem prebuilt:

optional: prep the target disk (backups, wipe or clear part table, etc), reset bios to defaults.

if necessary: switch from raid or rst to ahci sata mode, default boot mode to efi, disable secure boot. note that some distributions support secure boot but your method of creating an installer might not–you may be able to re-enable if you want after install.

note that hp systems have a hoop to jump through (a confirmation prompt to disable) after disabling secure boot on the next startup. do not use esc key to trigger boot menu, use f9 for boot menu, f10 for bios entry… as esc will cancel the confirmation code prompt and automatically re-enable secure boot.

insert or plug-in installer, hit the magic key upon power on (f12 for dell, f9 for hp) to bring up boot menu and select installer media, boot and run installer.