Daddy Tech support and adventures in Linux

[Murph]

"HONEY! The NUC is NOT WORKING!!!!"

Me: Ok, what did you do?

Wife: I just tried to wake it up.

Me: Did you turn the TV on and off again?

Wife: Yes!  IT DOES NOT WORK!  I WANT MY YOUTUBE! I was watching a very exciting quilting video!

Me: &^@!!#!&#!!! Hobbles down the stairs.  "Well honey, as I have told you over a dozen times before, put the TV in NUC input, you have it on Smart TV.

Wife: WHY!?  Smart TV should show the NUC!

Me: Just do it.

Wife: Changes the input to Intel NUC from Smart TV, VOILA! IT IS ALIVE!!!!!  Thank you honey.

Me: Why is it so hard, you do the same thing all the time?  

Wife: I hate technology, and every device is just different?

Me: But you use this every day?

Wife: STILL!

Me:  (*!$*&^&%$!!!!!!

[sunday]

Quote

...exciting quilting video.

Now, a expression I never thought was going to read, ever.

Edited November 10, 2022 by sunday

[Murph]

6 hours ago, sunday said:

Now, a expression I never thought was going to read, ever.

It depends on how much you like quilting I guess?

[sunday]

Just now, Murph said:

It depends on how much you like quilting I guess?

I guess so, too.

[Murph]

Ok, at this point I cannot recommend the Galago Pro to anyone who might need a laptop that you can take and be away from the battery charger for more than 3 hours.  Worst battery life of any system I have yet used.  Even with the 6.0 kernel.  If you want a 14" System 76 unit, get the Lemur Pro, they will end up prying it from your cold, dead fingers.  I might have to load POP!_OS back onto the Galago to eek out just one more hour of use.  And what I mean by use is:  Web surfing (12/14 tabs in Chrome), email, some YouTube, and some light word processing with brightness at 25%, bluetooth off, no keyboard backlight.  

I HATE GNOME! I mean I despise it.  So since I have to have POP!_OS on the Darter Pro to have USB-C/Thunderbolt support (Mint 21 does not work on this laptop for some reason, I have no USB-C/Thunderbolt support), I installed KDE Plasma 5.24.6 (the latest POP!_OS has) and I must say it looks lovely.  KDE is going to take some getting used to compared to Cinnamon, but it is pretty.  The System 76 implementation of Cinnamon is dead dog ugly, nasty @ss Adwaita tan icons, ugh.  

It is such a pity that System 76 decided to cripple the Galago Pro (which other than the f'ing battery is pretty decent laptop), as a laptop it's pretty darn good, again except for the battery.  But 12th Gen Intel processors really, really, really need the 5.19 or 6.0 kernels.  Fortunately the OEM kernels have come out on Ubuntu (22.04b).  But it does nothing to the power issue.  Linux needs to get it head out of its @ss and fix the power issue.

[Murph]

Since my children hate Linux, I wonder if I should get a new puppy (Golden Retriever or such) and name it Linux?

[Ssnake]

A Penguin, I'd understand. A dog? Naw.

[sunday]

Well, perhaps penguins do not thrive in Texas.

[Murph]

Well, I got a wild hare up, and decided to install Fedora 37 on the Darter Pro.  Took me about 45 minutes and I had everything, and I mean everything set up the way I like it on Fedora 37 Cinnamon.  I love the Cinnamon desktop environment.  So I got rpm fusion installed, and flatpak support.  I will see how battery life is going over the next couple of weeks (I have TLP installed and activated).  I like it so much, I might install it on the Galago Pro (which got POP!_OS re-installed yesterday as well).  I really think that Fedora is going to be one of my two distros that I use (the other is Mint 21).  I will now clean up the efi boot manager after all is installed.  

 

[AETiglathPZ]

Any good Linux OS in 32 bit? I have a bunch of old laptops and desktops that I want to dual boot with vintage OS like XP for vintage apps with native drivers and have a second boot with a Linux OS that can surf the web. Many are limited by 4GIG of DDR2 and Core Solo and slower.

[Murph]

Best for 32 bit is Debian right now.  Also I think maybe MX Linux has a 32 bit one. https://mxlinux.org/download-links/  I really like how MX does things, I just have not had a great deal of luck with it since System 76 hardware does not play well with many distros.  MX does some things really, really well.   I can highly recommend MX Linux.  MX is based directly on Debian and so it is STABLE!  

[Murph]

Ok, so I found a used Mac Mini on Amazon, and I am thinking of getting it for the Spouse since I can replace her Windows NUC with the Mini, and it will work just like her Macbook.  I think it is a win-win.  

[Murph]

Also apparently THE most popular laptop for coders is the 2021 Macbook Pro 16.1" followed by the 14" version.  

[Murph]

I ordered a Macbook Pro 2015 on Amazon that was advertized as "EXCELLENT" condition, with 16gb ram and 1 TB drive.  It was from Double Dex in California.  It arrived and was what they said except for an actual tear on the screen.  So I contacted them, and they told me to ship it back ON MY DIME.  They provided a label but did not pay for shipping back.  I had it less than 48 hours.  So I pay the exorbitant shipping price back, and give them a 3 star rating on Amazon.  I get a nasty email back from them that a 3 star rating will hurt their numbers on Amazon, and would I change it, and if I do they will ship me a new(er) unit.  WTF!?  I told them I wanted my money back, and then complained about shipping, and was told "Oh so sorry, we should have sent you a label we will refund some of the shipping cost."  I will never use Double Dex again.  

[Murph]

Well, I took back my little HP 13.3" Spectre x360 from the youngest since she has her Mac.  If she needs a computer, she can use her large, heavy, bulky Spectre x360 15.6".  I needed my small Winders laptop back.  Only issue is battery life is getting poor, so I am going to have to look at a battery replacement at some point.  I went through and cleaned out all of her stuff, and deleted a bunch of apps.  I have lots of space now since I had put a 1 TB in it for her.  I will eventually clean off her stickers from the laptop, right now it looks like a "girl-dad" laptop.  It has an i7-7550U processor so it cannot run Winders 11.  But I really don't care since Microsquish has installed too darn much obvious adware/spyware on Winders 11.  

The nicest part is that it is pretty thin and light.  I need a dongle for it, but I have one.  I just need to put iTunes back on it, and load up my music.  The put Veracrypt on it so I can unlock my travel drive if I need to edit documents.  

I still have not heard from Double Dex as to when they are going to process my refund.  I decided I am going to meet some of the local LInux folks in San Antonio Saturday the 3rd, at Merit Coffee up in the Stone Oak area.  I plan on being there at 0900.  If anyone shows up, I can "linux out" with some fellow Linux users.

Just updated my HP Dev One to the OEM 6.0 kernel, and so disasters so far.  I am getting ready to get the Spouse Unit's Macbook Air wrapped for Christmas.  I got her a cover, a sleeve, a Logitech MX mouse, and an Apple keyboard.  So we shall see what she thinks about it.

 

[Murph]

The HP Dev One is a wonderful Linux laptop, with an AMD 5850U processor, and Linux.  It is working just great with the 6.0 kernel, and for the price, I cannot beat it.  It has become one of the "pry it from my cold dead fingers" laptops.   Even with the smaller battery it has really good longevity, not as good as the 73 w/hr one in the Lemur, but still I am getting close to 7-8 hours out of it now with the 6.0 kernel.  I might update the wifi card to the latest and greatest Intel one at some point so that I have WiFi 6e.  It might be worth the $30 on Amazon.  

[Murph]

Took the Spouse Unit out yesterday with her laptop to Black Rifle Coffee, also the daughters so we could have a coffee shop day.  Wife wanted her wifi but then decided she did not want any wifi, then changed her mind two more times.  In the end no wifi.  Daughter was complaining since she had issues connecting.  I will admit that Black Rifle makes it a little more difficult, you have to log in, then go to a web page, accept then connect before you get wifi.  

The more I see about Windows 11 the more convinced that it shall never end up on any of my devices since it looks like malware pretending to be an operating system.  

[Murph]

Linux Mint 21.1 is what 21 should have been, far less buggy, far faster, and more stable.  Stuff just works!  It is impressive, and I must say that 21.1 is what I was waiting for.  I am going to try and put it on the Darter Pro and see if the USB-C/Thunderbolt bug has been fixed.  

[Murph]

Back on the Darter Pro, and works just like Mint Linux was supposed to always work.  21.1 is an amazing update to Mint.  The wife gets her new Mac tomorrow, and so I shall see how much screaming there will be.....

[Murph]

Well there was less of a hissy fit over the Macbook Air than I would have expected. My youngest helped pave the way and then installed the cover, and showed her some things she could do. Also the fact that I had done all the installation and configuration so that she could just use the darn thing might have helped. Also she liked the "midnight" color of the mac. So I am still alive. Yay!

[Murph]

The great cleaning shall start... Real Soon Now.  Really.  I mean it this time.  It is time to clear everything off the desk, and give the wood a polish and dust.  Then reset the computer and monitors and finally do something about the cable clutter.  It is amazing how fast cables get out of control.  I just need to decide if I am going to steal my oldest daughters monitor to give me a three monitor set up, replacing hers with a 32" widescreen monitor.  She has the identical ASUS PB 277 monitor I have, so it would make sense to take hers and get her a new one.  But that would require me re-organizing the desk completely.  I must plan......

[Murph]

Well, installed Mint 21.1 on the last laptop that was running Fedora. With the 6.0 OEM kernel, it is working pretty well, battery life still sucks balls, but what else can you expect from a System 76 unit with a smaller battery?

I learned something new from Linus Tech Tips about putting a laptop to sleep and then opening it, and it is both hot and the battery is dead. Apparently it can also affect Macs but not as often. This is very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHKKcd3sx2c

[lucklucky]

I hybernate mines.

[DB]

Switch it off like god intended. The 30 seconds difference isn't worth the hassle.

[Murph]

11 hours ago, DB said:

Switch it off like god intended. The 30 seconds difference isn't worth the hassle.

That is what I do, I have never understood the need to "put it to sleep".