Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?

Yes, there are way fewer games than on Windows, but support has been growing in the last few years

Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?

If the tools you use are available for Linux, then no problem

If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?

You can use WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) to run some Windows apps. You can check compatibility here: https://appdb.winehq.org/

Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?

.NET (Core and newer versions) is fully supported on Linux. Other Windows-specific libraries might be a problem unless they work through Wine

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?

Yes, most desktop environments have a graphical interface for settings and updates

How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

It’s actually the opposite. Since the code is open, more people are checking for vulnerabilities, making it more secure than proprietary systems. In general, Linux users don’t need antivirus, as most malware targets Windows or macOS, and Linux malware usually needs privilege escalation

Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?

That’s debatable. Everyone has different experiences depending on their hardware and distro

Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?

Nope

And also, what distro might be best for me?

Since you have a gamer profile, I’d suggest Pop!_OS (https://system76.com/pop/). It’s based on Ubuntu and has good support for gaming and creative work

I’m not really into this call for primitivism. We can use our technology to build environmentally intertwined (not just friendly) infrastructure and responsibly share Earth’s resources, though not within the current mode of production.

Brazil did it a while ago. Nobody died [yet]

Sepultura and Sarcófago

Speciesism

Wired headphones

Indeed. Thank you!

Who is the red-haired girl?

A professional is someone who fell into the trap of turning their hobby into a source of income

London is really one of a kind for vegans. I had amazing experiences over there.

I moved to LibreWolf back when Mozilla announced AI features

I appreciate its privacy-focused approach

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College professor saying open source software is shit since “everyone can modify it”

There’s no point, and that’s beautiful. Go live your life the way you want to — nothing will happen after you die