If a Yagi is not broadband enough, look into Log-Periodic antennas. They are similar to Yagis, but can be built with a very large bandwidth.

There's a syncthing wrapper for iOS (Möbius Sync), which is free up to 20 MB of synced files. The unlimited version only costs $5 once, so might be worth it.

Otherwise I'm sure there's ways to set a network fileshare on your PC, that you can access from your iPad (if you only need it in LAN).

ctrl+alt+ the function keys generally switches to a console interface.

I don't use Mint anymore, but I remember sometimes having some success with switching to a console and back.

Up/Downvotes usernames are publicly visible via the API to everyone. Kbin shows users this, lemmy does not.