Oddly enough, I had the simplest experience of installing Windows 11 25H2 on a new ThinkPad just recently. Apparently the Windows ISO doesn't have the WiFi drivers for that specific machine out of the box, so during setup when it couldn't find an internet connection, it simply offered to create a local account.
So I would assume, if there is a way you can temporarily disable networking (e.g. in BIOS), then that would be the easiest way to avoid creating a Microsoft account.
I want to switch to Wayland after all the good things I hear about it and for better scaling on external screens. But I just don't understand how people are able to use it when fractional scaling is so blurry. I feel like in 2024 fractional scaling is everywhere, so that's quite important.
I was really excited for Plasma 6 in that regard, and most of QT6 apps look good. But all webpages in Firefox, Chrome - they all look so bad. Am I missing something?
I have generally been annoyed by the lengthy take off animations in Starfield, but the one thing I find satisfying every time I see one is that crackle of the engines. I can't think of any other game I played that would have this sound, so it immediately struck me as nice attention to detail.
I've recently come across a perfect example of just that: [1]. Just try to slowly move the mouse over any of the round red year marks at the center of the page.
I've tried Tailscale recently after reading all the raving reviews here on HN. The service is very easy to install and the apps are nice to use, everything is just very well done.
However, I just don't see much difference from my vanilla Wireguard setup. Granted, my use case is very simple, just connect a few devices at home and in the cloud into a single network and use one of them as an exit node, but I'm still not sure what would make me prefer Tailscale over Wireguard.
So far the biggest difference has been that it makes me use an external identity provider instead of having to manually exchange keys between devices, and I'm not sure I'm very comfortable with that.
Sadly, I've tried it all. It seems that the 80Hz cap is enforced by the kernel PS/2 driver, for whatever reason, and is shared between the touchpad and the TrackPoint since they are on the same bus. I can only imagine drivers under Windows employ some proprietary trickery to get around that limitation.
I've also switched from a MacBook to a T14 Gen 1 about a year ago and the TrackPoint is the one problem I struggle with on Linux.
On Windows, it's buttery smooth and a joy to use. On Linux, the refresh rate tops out at 80 Hz, and if you so much as lightly touch the touchpad with your palm, it goes further down to ~45 Hz for the next few seconds. All of this makes for a very rough, jerky and imprecise movement.
I really want to use Linux on my T14, but this problem just makes the experience a pain. I really wonder if everybody recommending using TrackPoint and running Linux have somehow solved this issue?
So I would assume, if there is a way you can temporarily disable networking (e.g. in BIOS), then that would be the easiest way to avoid creating a Microsoft account.