Do a search for you server OS + STIG

Then, for each service you’re hosting on that server, do a search for:

Service/Program name + STIG/Benchmark

There’s tons of work already done by the vendors in conjunction with the DoD (and CIS) to create lists of potential vulnerable settings that can be corrected before deploying the server.

Along with this, you can usually find scripts and/or Ansible playbooks that will do most of the hardening for you. Though it’s a good Idea to understand what you do and do not need done.

I haven’t used mint in a while but did for a few years. The out of the box experience (at that time) was better.

Article from 2011:

Linux Mint 11 is a very respectable and speedy distribution and is comparatively very media friendly and easy to use out of the box for newcomers. These qualities likely have contributed to the operating system’s place on the Top 5 Linux Distribution list.

https://pcper.com/2011/11/linux-mint-rising-in-popularity-and-surpassing-ubuntu-for-top-spot/

More contemporary Mint users chime in here with why they prefer Mint:

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=383991

Take a hugely popular distro which alienates some some users with some issues or unappealing GUI choices, Mint comes along and polishes it further and you end up with a distro that is just perfect for that niche.

I think quite a few Ubuntu users migrated to KUbuntu or Mint when Canonical made Unity the default (in Ubuntu 11.04).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Unity

Know you meme page (for those that want to see the original without giving Twitter or his account the views):

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/george-alexopoulos

YoSmart/YoLink also has a smart dimmer for $30. Those use a 900Mhz frequency to communicate and the hubs are usually $25 or they add about $10 ina a bundle.

The normal Hubs have Ethernet. The “voice” hubs are wifi only (to connect to your network, still 900MHz to talk to their devices).

I initially started using them because they were cheaper than Z-Wave (at the time) and the smaller sensors (leak, door/window, temp, etc) use normal AAA batteries.

https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/what-is-tasmota-and-how-to-use-it-with-esp-01-to-control-smart-home-devices

Tasmota is a very clever open-source custom firmware that runs on any smart home device, which uses the ESP Wi-Fi chip. It provides local control of the smart devices through MQTT, HTTP, Serial, or WEB UI.

I just learned about it and now I’m really interested in it as well

It also helps that the Genesis/Mega Drive was designed after the System 16 arcade board that many of these games used (and was also not a far stretch from the System 18).

Indeed, the SMS port looks pretty good:

https://youtu.be/dQc_hkTEb4s?t=26m