Weekly Forum Summary

[system]

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

Total New Posts: 56
Total New Topics: 5

Top Members

@hydn: 21 posts, 20 likes
@Brian_Masinick: 7 posts, 15 likes
@AnthonyRKing: 7 posts, 6 likes
@J_J_Sloan: 4 posts, 5 likes
@Halano: 2 posts, 3 likes
@tmick: 5 posts, 3 likes
@ricky89: 2 posts, 3 likes
@sfrias: 1 post, 2 likes
@toadie: 2 posts, 2 likes
@rafidsadik: 2 posts, 2 likes

Interesting Topics

• Would you buy a ( Steam Machine )?
  In General Discussions, @Halano started a conversation about Valve’s new living room hardware. The thread weighed performance against openness, with @hydn comparing VRAM headroom to consoles and @Halano emphasizing freedom and a Linux based OS.

  “8 GB vram in 2026 isn’t good I agree, but for me is enough. This device gives you freedom unlike xbox and ps5.”

• Screen goes blanks when maxmizing window on Gnome
  @rafidsadik asked for help in Linux Support after GNOME on Wayland blacked out windows when maximizing. After confirming an AMD GPU and trying other tweaks, they temporarily switched to KDE while investigating further. If you’ve seen similar Wayland behavior on Arch, share your fixes.

• Discourse Stats Helper (Bash Script)
  In Showcase, @hydn shared a small but handy script that uses curl and jq to query /site/statistics.json and present forum metrics interactively. It’s aimed at admins and moderators who prefer the terminal. The post outlines single-metric lookups and an interactive menu, plus sensible handling of missing fields.

• Firewalla Gold Plus vs. Ubiquiti UDM Pro Max
  Over in Articles & guides, @hydn published a comparison for homelab and small business firewalls at the $600 price point. The follow-up discussion looks at what else might score highly in a similar evaluation and whether other vendors introduce licensing complexity or steeper learning curves.

• Ubuntu LTS Support Extended to 15 Years
  In Articles & guides, the community noted Canonical’s extended support window for LTS releases. @hydn highlighted how Ubuntu Pro’s ESM helps long-lived installs and even linked a thread on getting ESM for free on up to five systems for personal use.

• What was your first Linux experience?
  A long-running Linux Support thread saw a fresh burst of nostalgia and practical insights. @J_J_Sloan recalled early SLS and Slackware days and now manages RHEL in the cloud, while others compared first distros from Red Hat 9 to Slackware CURRENT. It is a great mix of history and current practice.

• Windows 11 vs Linux: A Year Later, I’m Switching Back
  In Articles & guides, @AnthonyRKing made a sharp observation about WSL naming that sparked a short, fun exchange.

  “Surely it’s the wrong way round. It’s a Linux subsystem on/for Windows, ergo LSW?”

• Tar Command in Linux with Examples
  Still in Articles & guides, @AnthonyRKing asked whether tar can infer compression automatically. The thread clarifies that tar -xf works with .tar.gz and .tar.xz without extra flags, which is a practical tip for newcomers tackling archives.

• Fedora-KDE-43 review
  In General Discussions, @Brian_Masinick chimed in with desktop environment history and personal preference. He compared KDE, Xfce, and minimalist window managers like IceWM, sharing why he avoids heavy overhead and prefers simple, configurable setups for day-to-day work.

• Docker Alternative: Podman on Linux
  Over in Articles & guides, @AnthonyRKing raised an excellent follow-up question about migrating from Docker to Podman. The thread asks what happens to existing containers and images and what to expect if you remove Docker first, which sets the stage for a practical migration checklist.

Activity by the @staff Group

• @hydn clarified practical CLI details in multiple Articles & guides threads, including default gzip compression levels and tar’s ability to infer compression:
  • How to Gzip a Directory Using Linux Command Line
  • Tar Command in Linux with Examples

• In networking and homelab discussions, @hydn kept momentum going with additional context and questions for readers comparing security appliances:
  • Firewalla Gold Plus vs. Ubiquiti UDM Pro Max

• @ricky89 shared a quick status update in General Discussions on COSMIC and Pop!_OS releases that many desktop enthusiasts track closely:
  • Have You Tried the Cosmic Desktop Yet?

• @tmick joined community threads with friendly guidance and encouragement, reinforcing the welcoming tone the forum is known for:
  • Share your OS, Distro, Desktop setup - (screenshots, photos)

• The @system account published last week’s automated digest to keep readers informed and engaged:
  • Weekly Forum Summary

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

• What was your first Linux experience?
  @J_J_Sloan’s reply in Linux Support stands out for blending history with practical, production-scale experience. They concisely explained Maia Mailguard as a SpamAssassin and ClamAV based email spam and virus management system with per-user web controls, sharing that it supported 4,000 users at Toyota and continues as an open source project they maintain. It is a useful, real-world example that many administrators can learn from.

Thanks for reading. See you again next week!

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