I have a Windows PC?
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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It’s news to me. I gotta get Mint on it.
CachyOS has been phenomenal for me. Coming up on 7 months now without using windows beyond as a moonlight client on an ARM64 laptop (and windows server, because sysadmin gotta sysadmin.)
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** you wouldn't download an operating system **
Without a window, how else can you appreciate your RAM’s obligatory RGB features?
My joke was not clear enough. I appreciate you for your helpfulness.
I haven't since middle of last year.
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Microsoft continues to outdo itself as the best advertisement for migration to Linux.
For Microsoft Linux, right? Right?
There is actually Microsoft Linux distribution: Azure Linux, based on Fedora. And funny enough, it's initial release was appropriately on a April 1 (previously named CBL Mariner). Even Microsoft understood the joke, have to give them that.
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Fuck this OS, left it behind a long time ago and nothing ever will bring me back. This platform should die, they turned everything good about the platform to trash over years.
I finally made the switch a couple of weeks ago. Running Cachyos and it's a dream. I'm not going back to MS anytime soon. Now I dread work because I have to use that POS there.
Court filings in the Scattered Spider hacking case reveal Microsoft provided the FBI with a complete IP history tied to something called a Global Device ID (GDID)
It's kinda like a MAC address
Except the MAC address isn't propagated through gateways, only on your local network(because that is their job).
I don't have a Windows PC
I do.
Though, those socket A boards kinda suck even after a recap. 98 runs great when it boots!
Gotta power cycle the PSU to get it to boot the first time. Tried 3 PSUs before the recap and nothing changed.
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There are lots of unique identifiers in computers, not just Windows.
MAC address, serial number, bios uuid.
Linux even has /etc/machine-id
yes, but what secret undisclosed id systems, that weren't definitevely known to exist untill legal proceedings 'oopsied' them into reality?
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windows is the virus
Your Windows PC Has a Permanent ID That Follows You – Even With a VPN
Yes, it's bad, but worth pointing out, they didn't identify the user directly by somehow extracting GDID from their traffic, they identified them because their GDID happened to be in the same place at the same time at their hacking efforts that became statistically impossible to ignore.
Realistically this kind of tracking could be accomplished with any software with a unique ID that does, say, daily update checks or usage pings. This one is just extra bad because it's ubiquitous (on Windows) and almost impossible to change, so they have a 1-stop-shop for spying.
All tracking is done by amalgamating as many different overlapping signals and indicators together as you can, and then establishing basically a confidence score/threshold.
This one is extra bad because it was never disclosed previously.
Trust = Gone, what else is MSFT hiding?
Which trust?
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Well shit.
I have Linux, so I don't gave that feature either! What am I supposed to do now? I want to be visible everywhere and tracked by everyone, but I had to chose Linux and again I'm left out!
This sucks
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Windows
What's that?
Well that's terrifying,
but not unexpected...
Does this only apply to Windows 11 or also to 10? I know the ID even works if you installed Windows on a virtual machine. I'm on Linux, but I have Windows 10 installed for very specific tasks (in example to update firmware of my 8bitdo gamepad and configure its settings, because they suck and don't provide a Linux tool for this).
apparently they do now - kinda? https://web.8bitdo.com/ but seems to require a chromium-based browser
You mean the firmware can be updated over the browser?? Well, I use Firefox and they don't support Firefox. Another L from 8bitdo. (But thanks for the link nontheless!)
clicking through that link, it obviously blocks my zen browser, and recommends google's chrome, chromium, ms edge and opera.
this seems like a massive L still. hopefully it's not hard-coded to require those 4 only, and a stripped down chromium browser can be used. I don't have a race in this horse yet, becauseI did consider 8bitdo controllers once my gamesir controller dies. maybe I'll just have to save up for a steam controller, even though Valve still doesn't ship to my country, and I refuse to buy from scalpers. even legit businesses here are scalping hard... fucking scalpers.
my first draft comment to you was a bit hopeful that maybe stripped down chromium browsers can replace your singular use windows VM. I apologize for assuming
As for the Steam Controller, I have purchased it and want to warn you about something. The controller is designed to work only as a controller, when Steam is running. Which is a deal breaker to use it outside Steam for me, because I don't want to have it running in the background when not playing on Steam. So I end up using it in Steam only. There are third party efforts for drivers to make it usable without Steam, but they have all their own quirks. However the SDL 3 library now supports Steam Controller. So any application updating to SDL 3 comes with free Steam Controller native support, in example RetroArch.
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Firefox and forks have supported webusb for awhile now, so I think 8bitdo just needs to update their website.
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Surely using a chromium browser just for this is better than having a whole windows VM just for this.
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I have a comment about updating the 8bitdo firmware on Linux, maybe it'll help you.... Let me look it up.
Edit: here you go! Good luck :P
What kind of hacker uses windows?
WTF
I have a photo scanner I can't get to work on Linux Mint, so I have an old laptop with Win10 on it for that single purpose. I haven't booted it in months, but I do need to get back to that project.
It doesn't need or get internet access.
No luck using xsane?
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