Any fellow Linux users on here?

[Shevek]

My laptop keyboard has gone crappola in the last 2 days. I could probably get a replacement, but the laptop is 5 or 6 years old and was mediocre when new. Been running dual boot most of it's life with Win 10 on the rarely used side. Short term going to put an even older linux only laptop back in service till I find a usable box to replace it.

I almost always use a USB keyboard with a laptop. Currently, I 'm using one about 20 cm directly below the laptop to improve screen height.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Just. Wow. (Slaps forehead in a V8 manner).
I think I have one 10 feet away

 

[Jumpinbare]

Thank you @Shevek! USB keyboard working flawlessly. Back on the laptop now. With attached keyboard, I couldn't even type @Shevek. It would have been hvk! No @, e, a, w, s, 1, 2 (on main keyboard), 0, . (on the numeric pad)
So like the old man who didn't want to go on the cart, I feel HAPPY!

 

[Shevek]

My first laptop had been hacked to put the "A" on "caps lock," since the key was dead. No idea how it was done.

 

[Judge]

Nice to see that Linux Mint 21.3 will have more themes, system settings and other modifications available than in the past. My one major criticism with Mint has largely been the lack of customization compared to other distros.

The option to upgrade just began to show up on my version last night. Looks like I'll take the plunge some time today. Looks like lots of new toys. More than I could ever imagine from Mint. Maybe they heard me? LOL.

 

[Judge]

An ominous story from Nic (The Linux Experiment) about Ubuntu speculating as to limiting future functionality of their distro to CPUs made no earlier than 2015.

Not good news to those of us using older computers to get around Microsoft. But then it's precisely why I'm considering building a new system with my two distros expiring in 2027. At least I have plenty of time. My best experiences with Linux distros have been with those that were Ubuntu-based.

 

[Judge]

Upgrading to Linux Mint 21.3 seems to have been uneventful. Lots of new toys...apart from the "Virginia" wallpapers, like this timely winter one:

 

[Outdated]

My best experiences with Linux distros have been with those that were Ubuntu-based.

I mucked around a bit with the latest Fedora a couple of months back and was disappointed. It wasn't worth me bothering with and Ubuntu went back in. It's handy having 2 computers, one that keeps working while you play with the other.

 

[Slime_Punk]

You guys are making me want to try out Mint again

Although, for the first time I might've settled into Raspbian for my little guy (le potato) and Ubuntu for old laptops just because they seem very newbie-friendly. The previous version of Mint had a few strange hiccups for me (freezing behavior and things I didn't quite understand) although I bet they're always working out those kinks.

Honestly each distro feels like a miracle. It's still crazy to me that so many people will develop for a system for next to $0 (or mostly just $0 flat) so that other people can take back their digital freedom. That's incredible.

 

[Outdated]

The previous version of Mint had a few strange hiccups for me (freezing behavior and things I didn't quite understand) although I bet they're always working out those kinks.

I never tried Mint but I tried a lot of different distros over the years. In the end I decided to stick with what I think of as the two mainstream versions - Ubuntu and Fedora. The reason for this is because of the size of their development teams, distros come out with less issues and any issues that are there tend to get resolved much more quickly.

I do use the desktop environment from Mint though - Cinnamon. You can have any desktop environment you like in any Linux, you can install a whole herd of them and switch back and forth between them if you like. I really don't like the Equity desktop environment that comes with Ubuntu, I also don't like their default "play store" like software management interface, but you can configure Linux to be whatever you want it to be.

 

[Judge]

Apart from upgrading to Linux Mint 21.3, I just updated to Wine version 9.0. No problems observed, with my ancient version of Photoshop 5.5 running just fine.

Still haven't explored all the new changes in Linux Mint 21.3. Many more theme packages and applets to look at.

 

[Angular Chap]

Just got done playing around with Linux on a Dell Wyse 5060 thin client PC. I was looking for a new x86-64 toy to go alongside the ARM Raspberry Pi, with similar specs.

Just under £50 delivered got me a 2.4GHz quad core with a 32GB SSD, 4GB RAM, stand and PSU all in great condition. I'll be upgrading to the max 16GB of RAM and bigger SSD. Also came with Windows 10, which was even more of a hassle to use on a thin client than usual, but I'll get to that...

It's about the same size as a mini-ITX. Interesting to see a full size SATA connector for the SSD, but an M.2 for the WLAN card. I thought they would be using mSATA for the SSD. There is also an unpopulated SATA data header on the board.

It's a fanless design, but there is a header for a fan connector under the heatsink. Thermal paste was properly applied, but I repasted with Arctic Silver 5 anyway. There are 3 good quality thermal pads on the underside of the motherboard coupled to pillars on the bottom case RF shielding and also 2 pads coupling the heatsink to the top RF shielding. I could swear Windows ramps up the heat way too fast just sitting idle, but that was difficult to prove. I downloaded 4 1080p videos from YouTube and played them all at once on Linux. Framerates got choppy, but temperatures barely got above 60°C. It hovers around 47°C idle on anti-x Linux.

It likes to be heard! The system speaker is 4 ohm 2 watt and is mounted higher in the case, rather than on the motherboard. It likes to beep at every opportunity!

Windows hit a new humorous low.

So what was I doing when this appeared? Editing videos? 100 browser tabs open? Nope, transferring a few files from USB to SSD! And reboot immediately it did! 3 times! I had to use Dell's own USB image builder to update the BIOS to fix a side channel vulnerability, so decided to just use the Windows install already on the SSD, but kept getting that error message and nearly instant reboot just from trying to copy 2 zip files.

I removed the Windows sticker. Tip: Arctic Silver thermal paste remover works beautifully to remover sicker residue, and doesn't leave white marks on black ABS plastic.

Teardown and refurbishing was a breeze, just some screws and a few panels. The inside was immaculate anyway, no fan to pull dust in.

 

[Judge]

More a personal rant than anything.....

In contemplating building a new computer to accommodate future Linux Ubuntu-based distros the thermodynamic concerns are becoming ever more frustrating. Mostly because I've always contemplated noise factors before heat factors. But the 12th and 13th generation Intel cpus are making it all very hard.

I've pretty much settled on the i5 12600K cpu as a compromise of sorts, given it's base power of 65 watts on the low end and 117 watts for turbo power. I good compromise given I don't intend to use it as a gaming platform where my present use all day long remains primarily between 29 and 39 degrees celcius.

The real challenge now is that both the computer cases I have presently were from an earlier era in computing, about 12 years ago. My older case is a Cooler Master CMP-350, and my present case that houses this computer is the rather unique Silverstone TJ08-E.

I was going to simply put all the guts of the Silverstone case (except for the GPU) back into the Cooler Master case, which worked fine with all those old specs to consider. The problem remains that putting current components into the Silverstone case, which has limited cooling possibilities. The big plus of the case a dozen years ago was that it created positive airflow via a frontal 180mm fan into a very small main part of the case housing the motherboard with a 120mm exhaust fan at the rear of the case. Despite the small dimensions of the case, it presently has the old reliable and large Cooler Master Hyper 212 cpu cooler/heatsink.

Those more recent 12th,13th and 14th generation cpus run considerably hotter when pushed to their limit. That at the moment my i5-3570k cpu runs great in that little Silverstone box. However transitioning from an i5-3570k to an i5-12600k inherently involves some very different thermodynamics. And as it stands, I wanted to reduce the size of the 180mm frontal fan to a PWM 140mm fan that is easier to clean and offers more pragmatic speed control than the 180mm fan that only has a switch for a noisy 1400rpm to tolerable 700rpm.

That real problem? I don't realistically see two such fans as being sufficient to cool this case with a current cpu's heat concerns. At least not on the high end of 117 watts of power. Despite a theoretical ability to maintain positive airflow in a very small space. Even while still running an older Nvidia GTX1660Ti gpu that takes less power compared to the 3 & 4 series Nividia gpus.

Sadly I think @Outdated is right. I'm gonna have to give up my Silverstone case for bigger one that can handle at least three 120/140mm frontal fans against one or two 120mm exhaust fans to maintain positive airflow involving much higher temperatures at peak usage. And no, I'm not interested in an AIO.

The big frustration at the moment is that I'm not impressed with all the cases on the market for a variety of reasons, particularly that most are missing a 3.5 and 5.25 external drive bays. Something both my two cases have, from a different era. One to house my removable SSDs and the other to house an obsolete DVD player.
There are a couple case out there, but are either too damn big or not very well designed IMO.

In as much as I want to proceed and rebuild my Silverstone TJ08-E case with current components, I'm becoming ever more spooked about the potential thermodynamics. Ugh...building a new system has never been so tough. Too bad I fell in love with this case a long time ago...

Too bad Ubuntu is contemplating a cutoff date of older cpus, mirroring Microsoft over Windows 11. Now forcing me to upgrade my hardware in the next three years...but then with developers they're always thinking of building that better mousetrap. It's not guaranteed that Ubuntu will come to such a decision, but if I have to bet on it I suspect it will happen, and along with Ubuntu other distros will follow suit.

I may just say, "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!" and put new guts in this old Silverstone case. I love it so much...though can a big, strong intake fan and a weak exhaust fan alone produce positive airflow sufficient to cool an Intel i5-12600k cpu occasionally running at 117 watts?

(I know the demands of a 3 series Nvidia gpu would put the heat demands over the top, but as a non-gamer I plan to continue using my GTX 1660Ti gpu, given the backwards compatibility of gen 5 PCIe. It's also no accident that I want to use such a gpu that is no longer than 8 inches inside a smaller case!

Most of all, if I'm still around in another three years, I want that hardware option to stick with Linux rather than to be forced back into the evil empire of Microsoft. Then again I could die and end this dilemma having used a marvelous version of Linux Mint. Problem solved!

 

[Outdated]

Sadly I think @Outdated is right. I'm gonna have to give up my Silverstone case for bigger one that can handle at least three 120/140mm frontal fans against one or two 120mm exhaust fans to maintain positive airflow involving much higher temperatures at peak usage.

I don't have any extra fans installed on my machine. There's one on the CPU, one on the GPU, and one in the power supply. That's it. There are no stand alone fans in my case. But I also don't run Windows. It's the "flow through" nature of the case that makes the difference, the power supply fan draws air from the front of the case, over my drives and then over the MB and throws it out the back.

I had a look at some pictures of your Silverstone case and it looks perfectly suitable, especially as you're using SSDs rather than hard disks.

I play No Man's Sky which does work a gpu a fair bit but I never hear the fans wizzing up which they will do if it starts to get hot, and I live in a warm climate. And you just reminded me that I really should open it up and give it a bit of a clean soon, I know it must be filthy inside but temperatures right now are hovering around 30 degrees, room temperature is 20 degrees.

 

[Judge]

I don't have any extra fans installed on my machine. There's one on the CPU, one on the GPU, and one in the power supply. That's it. There are no stand alone fans in my case. But I also don't run Windows. It's the "flow through" nature of the case that makes the difference, the power supply fan draws air from the front of the case, over my drives and then over the MB and throws it out the back.

I had a look at some pictures of your Silverstone case and it looks perfectly suitable, especially as you're using SSDs rather than hard disks.

I play No Man's Sky which does work a gpu a fair bit but I never hear the fans wizzing up which they will do if it starts to get hot, and I live in a warm climate. And you just reminded me that I really should open it up and give it a bit of a clean soon, I know it must be filthy inside but temperatures right now are hovering around 30 degrees, room temperature is 20 degrees.

My greatest concern is one component in a rebuild. That i5 12600k cpu, as it's top end is 117 watts. Not the worst by any means, but all my thermodynamic concerns and experiences have been with exclusively older 65 watt cpus.

In theory, I'd want to replace the 180mm fan running at 700rpm, with a 140mm front PWM fan running at either 1400 or 1200 rpm, provided I can keep the noise down to <20dB. (Easier to clean as well.) All to maintain positive air flow as I have presently. Also to replace the rear fan to a Noctua NSF12B running at a very slow 700rpm.

I love the 3.5 drive bay at the bottom of the case for my removable SSDs, though once I replace the motherboard with 23 M.2 drives, I'd likely go with them with a dual boot function. Leaving the SSDs as merely storage drives. I'm down to two motherboards in both ATX and mATX form factor. Two from MSI, and two from Asus.

In the YouTube presentation, that particular Silverstone TJ08-E is shown with the big 3.5 storage bin in front of the main fan. On my system I took this assembly completely out, as it wasn't needed and not being there allows a wall of air to flow into the compartment, and particularly on the cpu heatsink. (I plan to replace the cpu heatsink with a Noctua NU-U12s Chromax for the rebuild.) Otherwise despite the small computer case, the space inside is decent to keep most of the air moving front to back.

I spent an hour yesterday cleaning the Silverstone, not just for maintenance but to observe signs that the positive airflow has apparently held up in the last year. Not much dust inside, though both frontal and rear fan blades needed to be dusted. LOL...we all need to clean our computers or face eventual ruin from dust.

 

[Princess Viola]

Well I finally got hit with my first 'Why the hell isn't this working anymore' issue on Linux: my SN30 Pro+ controller won't connect via BT.

Or rather it'll say it's connected in the Bluetooth settings but it isn't detected by anything. Open up Retroarch (which is fully navigable with a controller) - nope, launch a game that uses a gamepad - nope, even just going to one of those controller tester websites - nope.

It still works fine wired, but still.

 

[tkcartoonist]

Has anyone had any experience with setting up a Tailscale tailnet? Feel free to PM on the subject (so as to not take up this topic), as I've been having issues with getting my computer to recognize my server exit node, and it's driving me crazy.

 

[Outdated]

Well I finally got hit with my first 'Why the hell isn't this working anymore' issue on Linux: my SN30 Pro+ controller won't connect via BT.

Not something I have any experience with but I did a quick search:

"It’s important to note that some controllers may require additional drivers or software to function properly with your device. Checking the manufacturer’s website for specific drivers or compatibility information can help ensure a smooth connection process."

https://robots.net/gaming-and-enter...-do-you-use-a-game-controller-with-retroarch/

 

[Princess Viola]

Not something I have any experience with but I did a quick search:

"It’s important to note that some controllers may require additional drivers or software to function properly with your device. Checking the manufacturer’s website for specific drivers or compatibility information can help ensure a smooth connection process."

https://robots.net/gaming-and-enter...-do-you-use-a-game-controller-with-retroarch/

Nah, I know there's no drivers for this cuz the controller was working fine out of the box wirelessly before and the only software for it are a Windows and Mac-only firmware updater and one (also Windows and Mac-only) that lets you customise like the button layout, vibration sensitivity, macros, etc. Neither of which are necessary for the controller to function (case in point - turns out my controller wasn't on the latest firmware but obviously that wasn't affecting it's functionality at all)

Part of me is thinking maybe it's because it was last connected to my Windows install but even forgetting it and repairing it didn't work.

Weird, I'll probably try to figure out what the hell is going on with it later and if I can't figure it out, it still works wired just fine on Mint.

 

[Judge]

Well I finally got hit with my first 'Why the hell isn't this working anymore' issue on Linux: my SN30 Pro+ controller won't connect via BT.

Or rather it'll say it's connected in the Bluetooth settings but it isn't detected by anything. Open up Retroarch (which is fully navigable with a controller) - nope, launch a game that uses a gamepad - nope, even just going to one of those controller tester websites - nope.

It still works fine wired, but still.

Your hardware may require an updated kernel beyond version 5.15 assuming that's what you are presently running in Linux Mint 21. Check this out to see if it makes any sense.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=403378