On reccomendation of @chabad360 I made this its own rant.

I switched from marketing to CS (complete with a three year degree, no Bootcamp). I still went to interviews as you'd expect a marketing man to go; in a suit. Commence the weirdest interview.

$I: interviewer
$M: Me

I: "You're not the typical engineer. Can you talk to real engineers?"

M: "could you elaborate"

I:"you're dressed in a suit. That leads me to think you're a MS user. Do you think you could talk to real, ie. Linux using engineers?"

M: " well, I haven't used windows in about a year soo..

I: "Mac isn't Linux."

M: "I'm aware. I've switched to Ubuntu so I could use KVM-QEMU android emulator with GPU pass through to train Deep Convolution Networks on mobile devices. Also had to compile Google's internal build tool because it had bugs I had to fix so I could compile the APK."

I: "ah, Ubuntu eh? **Insert Smirk** How about a follow-up?"

M: "no, I'm switching to Gentoo this week and would like to talk to real engineers about that."

I thanked him for the coffee and left.

I want to try installing Linux from scratch. So without a fancy ui just bash. Has someone a reccomendation how and where to start? The goal is to use the system for daily use.

I really need to get on a VPN... looking for recommendations. bonus points for affordable family plan so my girlfriend can use it too.
NordVPN? Private Internet Access? others?

laptop suggestions please:

- 13-14 inch screen
- min 8 gb ram (preferably 16)
- 128 gb storage
- i5 or i7
- 1200 x 800 resolution
- can run linux (no driver issues)
- can run flutter, android studio, and emulator
- $500 or less

Im looking for audiobooks i can listen to on my way to work. About 40mins per ride. Preferably anything that has to do with personal development or other insightfull/ skill enhancing books.

Anyone have a good reccomendation for good build for a developer desktop hardware wise?