Pi4 is better for anything with video as it has a a hardware decoder. They dropped the hardware decoder in the Pi5 and I think you need to buy an extra module to have one for them.
If you don't need voice, there are a lot of options. Matrix has IRC support and encryption, and has voice options if you self host.
Riot is... A Discord clone without working voice and I found it to be an odd duck.
There's RocketChat.. More Slack like.
Mattermost.
I replaced my voice/video chats with Nextcloud Talk and/or Steam, based on the scenario. Outside of those, Matrix is good for community needs in my mind.
Most of the american companies are using Chinese manufacturing for much of the devices. Fairphone is European, but same manufacturing sources.
In 2026, as a Canadian... Choosing between a country that is adopting nazi practices and threatening us with annexation, and one who has a questionable history but is overall doing more for climate change and global stability right now than the other... The choice is easy. Anything but american.
Already some amazing points here, but I will add one thing:
No matter how utopian your empire becomes, those who grow up in utopia do not have their guard up watching for evil in every corner. The Star Wars flipping back and forth from Republic to Empire over the millennia makes sense.
The federation existed for barely a millennia in its first incarnation. A fall of a galactic empire makes sense. Rebuilding it makes for good story.
Especially, and I can't stress this enough, when it is a parallel to the world we live in. Trek has always been a way to mirror events and teach moral lessons... But most of all, hope.
Seriously. Neurodivergent folks like myself stand an iota of a chance of being successful with a cubicle. Open floor plans are an assault on our senses and the wet dream of micromanagers. They are awful and the reason I exclusively work from home.
Kube makes it easy to have a lot, as a lot of things you need to deploy on every node just deploy on every node. As odd as it sounds, the number of containers provides redundancy that makes the hobby easy. If a Zimaboard dies or messes up, I just nuke it, and I don't care whats on it.
And to be fair, nothing in the question specifies the language to continue the conversation in.
Sure it's ESL class, but within the context of this question.. No rules were broken.