Laptops exclusively for decades here, so nope, that’s not it.

Levelheaded might be stretching it, but I appreciate the compliment. Thank you.

Technically it’s still a public server. Just even more so.

As a Linux user, I’ll be the first to concede that a lot of terms and names are… weird. It wouldn’t surprise me if half of those made up words you just posted as satire are actual software projects.

Anyway, as for the ones you didn’t understand, I can easily explain them for you (in windows-friendly terms) if you truly want to know. I just try to avoid unsolicited infodumping.

I know NVIDIA gets a lot of shit, but I’ve honestly never encountered a problem after using nvidia + Linux for well over a decade. Sure, it can be picky when it comes to kernel version, but deciding on a kernel that works well for you and the rest of the system is part of initial setup of a proper system anyway.

Getting something brand new from EA is painful on any platform

Kind of, to varying degrees. Posting the ones I’ve actually used enough to have an opinion:

• Win 3 through 3.11 and below: Limited
• Win 9x: unstable
• Win ME: don’t get me started
• Win 2k: Decent, actually. At least after a couple of service packs
• Win XP: Win 2k with teletubbies theme
• Win Vista: “users are too stupid to be allowed to do this just like that”
• Win 7: Decent, actually
• Win 8: worst UI ever
• Win 8.1: sometimes MS actually listens to feedback

EDIT: While I absolutely hated using Vista, I think it’s unfair to complain about its performance compared to that of Win XP. XP was 6-7 years old at the time of Vista release - of course it’s going to demand less of your PC.

Good move. I have my home network and its home lab the same way I run my work networks and server clusters:

1. Management network over regular copper ethernet. This is what’s routed over VPN for remote access. IPMI also connects here for when something really stupid happens.
2. High speed fiber connecting all the servers. Not routed out - it’s only used for comms between the servers. This serves as a backup in case the management port dies. It has saved me a couple of times: shell in to one of the others the normal way, the from there I can jump into any other server via the fiber connection.

Best. Keyboard. Ever.