Tempest

I could, but who knows what else might be wrong, I don't have the time or patience to endlessly muck around, and might as well put that money towards a new computer.

I wound up deciding against upgrading to Big Sur, ONLY because I have an HDD.  Apparently Big Sur is coded to really work optimally only with SSDs.  If i needed to get 2-3 more years out of this computer, i would do it, but i think i'm going to spring for a M2 MBP in the fall when they become available, and this can live on as a secondary machine for my wife and Catalina will be fine in that capacity for another 2-4 years at which point i think it can be retired.   I love that macs last 10+ years, sort of makes them a better value overall given the high initial cost. 

Yeah I got this Mac Mini just to toy around with it for the next few years and see if I want to switch to Mac completely or stick with my Linux/Windows dual booter.  So far MacOS has been ok, but not as stable as my Linux box has been.