“Could not fetch embedded watch page”

Some thoughts:

Ubuntu, most likely

I’d encourage you to take a look at Linux Mint, it alleviates some of the Ubuntu fuckiness. And if you want to join the “I use arch btw” crowd, maybe checkout EndeavourOS if you’re feeling more brave than just Ubuntu variants (which is built on arch, but makes barrier to entry a little easier).

i9s are the latest hotness but don’t think the price is worth it

Take a look at last generation to soften the blow to your wallet. E.g., instead of looking at a 14900k, look at 13 or even 12 series. In fact, this is a useful strategy all around if you’re being price conscious: go one gen older.

GPU that can support some sort of ML/AI with DisplayPort

Probably going to want to go with a discrete card, rather than just integrated. Other major consideration is going to be nvidia vs AMD, for which you’ll need to decide if CUDA should be part of your calculus or not. I’ll defer to any data science engineers that might wander through this post.

The rest of your reqs pretty much come as regular stock options when building a pc these days. Though another nicety for my latest builds, is multi-gig nics (though 2.5Gb was my ceiling, since you’ll also need the network gear to utilize it). Going multi-gig is nice for pushing around a fuckton of data between machines on my lan (including a NAS).

Very last thing that I’ve found helpful in my last 3 builds spanning 15 years: I use newegg for its reviews of items, specifically so I can search for the term “linux” in any given product’s reviews. Often times I can glean quick insight on how friendly (or not) hardware has been for other’s linux builds.

And I lied, I just remembered about another linux hardware resource: https://linux-hardware.org/?view=search

You can see other people that have built with given hardware. Just remember to do a scan too once your build is up to pay it forward.

Good luck, and remember to have fun!

Do not use a black light in that room.

Perhaps made even more so by having been highlighted by a username such as yours, /u/cum.

design their own product from scratch

I think you’re right, even regardless of the license involved. One of my profs in school had told us nothing is stopping anyone from writing a whole new Microsoft Word, feature for feature, button for button the same. And in fact, look at Libre Office - a MS Word clone.

The missteps to avoid when creating a whole new clone are:

0. Don’t rip off actual implementation code from the original and put it in your own product (this is a bigger concern w/ OSS since anyone can rip of pieces without giving credit)

1. Avoid confusing users that your clone is somehow an extension/iteration of the original (e.g. ripping off branding, or sound-alike names)

have it’s own network and just a simple plugin that can communicate with the fediverse

Mastodon uses the ActivityPub protocol, which is an opensource API. The US supreme court has ruled that implementing an API is fair use, copyrights do not come into play here.

So I think the only recourse for avoiding Meta and it’s Thread foray, is defederating it on a per instance basis.

I fear this might turn real ugly, similar to how Google got in the browser game, dominated, and is now doing evil and shitty things like manifest v3 and WEI.

similar to the GPL license

It’s already AGPL, which indeed is, similar to GPL lol.

I use namecheap for a ton of my domains, but I use them only as a registrar. All of my hosting is done on other providers (aws, digitalocean, linode, etc.).

This means I’ve got access to my hosts’ machines via command line, and so can setup up certbot really easily. Though going with a self-managed host also means you’ll need to have some technical proficiency to take care of things yourself. But to me, that’s part of the fun.

Well you don’t want your ass took, at least not without permission.