You do both.
As you've noted, we've unfortunately entered the era of "hard work" in defense of our own liberty. But as you've also noted, there's few champions. So you can vote conscientiously, support grassroots efforts when you find them, but also maybe clip a camera pole with the work truck while you're going about your day.
The pen seems to work fine so far.
They show fairly decent compatibility with newer models: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix
Looks like the SP5 - 7 are the sweet spot however.
I put Mint on my Surface Pro 5, it works quite nicely so far. Granted I do "typical" stuff on it like web browsing, email, basic picture editing, and some chats, but for those things everything's working fine.
The only different part of the install was installing the Surface kernel after the fact: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface
Pidgin was good; it did what needed to be done and wasn't that bad at it.
The last service I was using it for was a self-hosted XMPP server for a small group of friends that were all refugees of other defunct services. We ended up finally moving to Slack or Discord (the group bifurcated along game-playing lines).
Now I've got to find something new yet again!
Little guy. :( I feel you, buddy.
Yeah I'd like to know what part of inalienable is messing with his (Bovino's) head...
I think at some point, big corporations like microsoft or google will try adding their crap to the repositorys and try to make them used by majority.
They've already done this in some obvious ways, but also the recent Rust Zealotry and the non-stop drive to penetrate the kernel code is concerning: Rust Foundation
"I can't put my arms down!!"
The analogy I go to for this concept is "the thorny vine." A single thorn is a minor inconvenience, but if one were to attempt to grab the vine and tear it down by force, then there's a lot of pain.
I'm sure they did read the content in the links. The point they are making is exactly your final line. There's this refrain of "Boomers are ruining everything!" but the reality is it's a small number of people with a lot of money using that money to do what they please at everyone else's expense.
When the last "boomer" dies, the problem will remain. If we collectively fail to address it, then it's just going to change up to "Dang GenYs ruining everything!"
I am a confirmed reptile when it comes to the weather, but I braved Toronto in winter to see them play Lee's Palace... no regrets.