What about Virt Manager GUI, which is what I use here? It’s a frontend for QEMU and it’s not that difficult, honestly.

iTunes will not work in Wine for the OP’s use. For one, the OP will have to use an old version from 2019. Also, it won’t be able to connect to any iDevices, as the driver support isn’t there.

I’d say play with Linux in Virtualbox or Hyper-V. I used the former before transitioning.

Also, I’d say don’t use Ubuntu; it jumped the shark years ago and has lost much of its quality.

I usually recommend PopOS for people new to Linux, as I find it to basically be decrapitated Ubuntu.

I don’t personally use openSuSe (I’m a big Debian/XFCE guy), but its YaST settings are more comprehensive than other distros.

However, I would warn you you might not be able to avoid config files and terminal sometimes, though. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, though; sometimes, the terminal and text files are the most efficient way to do something and a GUI simply can’t expose a program’s full power. That’s why I recommend you starting in a VM - you can have a bit of fun without the full commitment.

As for ffmpeg, I don’t know that there is a good GUI. Honestly, though, learning command line ffmpeg isn’t the worst idea - I’ve found it very useful and something I got used to. If that doesn’t work for you, then best of luck finding a GUI.

For trying to run applications designed for a different distro, you could use distrobox. However, it’s pretty rare these days that an application doesn’t have a universal Flatpak. Honestly, if an application is deliberately limited to one distro, I find it isn’t worth it and may signal low software quality.

For notepad++, you could use something like VSCodium, but honestly, if you’re used to Notepad++, just run it under Wine.

For virtualization, don’t use Virtualbox on Linux. It doesn’t use the built in hypervisor module, KVM, but its own proprietary one. I’d recommend the Virt Manager GUI instead.

Most distros seem to have OpenSnitch in their repos.

I found a prebuilt OpenCore for KVM. https://github.com/thenickdude/KVM-Opencore

I then changed the config.plist to make it think it was a 2019 Mac Pro.

And that’s why there’s a “-2” on the end of that arch vm - there was one before that I borked while trying to update it because I hadn’t used it in so long.

It’s a terabyte SSD. I’ve currently got 136 GB left on it. I think part of it might be they’re auto-expanding qcow2 images, so they don’t actually take up the full space provisioned for them.

10, plain 11, 7, and funny enough, Server 2022 are all legit licenses (I can get a key for server through my university). Actually, I’m pretty sure the 11 one, I upgraded a Windows 7 VM to 10, then to 11.

Every other Windows version that needs it (11 LTSC, 8.1, and Vista), I just temporarily host a phony KMS server whenever it needs to be reactivated.

I apologize for talking so much about Windows on a Linux sub. May Stallman break into my house and give me 10 lashes as I slumber.

I will clarify I haven’t watched a lot of Discovery, Enterprise, or Picard.

However, problems of the sort you mention (not necessarily the exact ones you mention, but similar or of concern) aren’t exactly new.

For instance:

• TOS showed Chekov assaulting a Klingon women (under the influence of an evil space alien before).
• It is heavily implied Spock did something with Saviik in III. Also, in general, they just ruined a good female character. (III might actually rival V in terms of being the worst Trek film.)
• TNG did “Code of Honor”.
• Also, TNG very much did weird things to Troi, including rape to rape-adhacent things. Not necessarily as bad as T’Pel, from what I can tell, but still messed up nonetheless.
• I’m sure there’s an example for DS9, but my mind subconsciously puts it in a pedestal and is blocking me at the moment.
• VOY unnecessarily sexualizes Seven.

I think the truth of all Star Trek is it is flawed, but that we can critically acknowledge those flaws while managing to look past them so we can appreciate and enjoy the good parts.

Don’t blame Janeway. The real culprit is the same person who killed trans icon Jadzia Dax: Rick Berman. 😉

In all seriousness, I agree with you. Seven was a good character that the writers and producers made some egregious mistakes with.

Ah crap. You win.

Insert vaguely relevant Xkcd:

In the words of Greg DeMayo, “If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.”

One of the best Trek scenes of all time: Fear: “I’m afraid.” Hologram Clone of Janeway: “I know.” Fear: “Drat.”

Fade to black.

Moral of the story: The only thing you have to fear will be born in Indiana and her name is Kathryn Janeway.

Honestly, there were weird things about that film, but I think you can’t go wrong with Kirk and Bones breaking out of a Klingon prison while Spock, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu all say “to heck with protocol!”

Actually, there are several post-1900 copyrighted works mentioned in Star Trek.

Tom likes early 20th century B Sci Fi. Kirk and Spock reference authors who released work after the 60s in IV when discussing colorful metaphors. Hotel Royale is not a good example, but definitely counts.

Truth be told, I think copyright is a double-edged sword. On one hand, businesses have used it to gatekeep, leading to intellectual stagnation, as you seem to imply. However, at the same time, copyright is often the only legal framework defending small artists against those same businesses (I’ll concede not that well, but still.).

On merchandising, I’m also annoyed how low quality the printing of official Tees us, especially considering that some of them are actually fun designs.

Honestly, it’s tempting just to buy fanart tees instead - there’s an awesome one of Shaxs doing his usual pottery with his iconic “Fighting Fascism is a Full Time Job” as the caption on TeePublic. I kind of want to message the person and ask if they could sell a sticker as well.

That’s some Earl grey hot news.

Does the BIOS have a way to factory reset itself?

Could it be a Secure Boot issue? From what I can tell, this is roughly a late Windows 8.1 era machine, and I think Microsoft already required OEMs to have Secure Boot around this time; I have a 6th gen Intel laptop (don’t know about 5th gen, which I think this laptop has) with TPM 1.2. Lots of laptops are big jerks about this, and sometimes you have to disable it at least until you allow non-Microsoft Keys.

Also, can you change the title of your post? I feel like it doesn’t convey what you’re actually asking and sort of scares people away from wanting to respond to you. Maybe something more like “Tablet Boots to Black Screen After Attempted Debian Install?”

I’m guessing that the 7 or 8.1/10 thing is probably to select between legacy BIOS CSM or UEFI. What is it set to right now? Maybe try playing with that.