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Finally nuked my Linux install. Where to go next.
- Thread starter slitherjef
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Debian user, former Mint user, former many other Linux user. Unless there was a coincidental hardware fault, a Timeshift backup would have prevented all this angst. 
Now, one is either into Linux and uses the video editing tools available or, they are not. If they are not, then pretty much the Linux box will likely be used as a basic PC to cruise the net, make purchases, gaming (big time gaming), etc. I like Linux but if you really want to do Video and the sort...you should use a Mac. IMO
Now, one is either into Linux and uses the video editing tools available or, they are not. If they are not, then pretty much the Linux box will likely be used as a basic PC to cruise the net, make purchases, gaming (big time gaming), etc. I like Linux but if you really want to do Video and the sort...you should use a Mac. IMO
Well, Linux is great and has great hardware support. And it is not perfect and sometimes it lacks drivers, sure. But it is not his fault, neither it is manufacturers' fault. A company seeks profit and targets specific users with his products. Often this means poor Linux support as the company is not interested in techie users and only supports Windows. And the Linux community can not deliver instantly support for every new device. But it will. An example: Six months ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy Book 4 with Windows 11. I tried booting Debian Stable but it did not boot. Then as Debian is rather conservative (and I like that), I tried Fedora which is cutting edge and everything worked out of the box, everything - keyboard backlight, wifi, sound, special keys... Then I tried Debian Testing and everything worked on it too. Now this laptop is dual-boot machine with Windows 11 and Debian Testing.
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I gotta say, things where probably leaning towards user error and skill issue for me. Shoulda used backup (always found the system as a tester that I kept testing until I broke it with an update) I didn't update as much as I should have. Didn't know what I was doing. Possible hardware fault and or gremlins....
So how's windows 11? Haven't really used the system like I thought I would. It tends to go coma instead of waking from sleep requiring holding down the power button to shut off. Heard this could be a windows issue.
Haven't done much with the box so far...
So how's windows 11? Haven't really used the system like I thought I would. It tends to go coma instead of waking from sleep requiring holding down the power button to shut off. Heard this could be a windows issue.
Haven't done much with the box so far...
performance wise it would obliterate it in terms of CPU, memory speed and storage speed.
So how have things been so far with my W11 test drive? Meh. In all actuality I haven't done much with it like I thought I would. Actually wasn't sure about the whole experience and that's kind of hampered the test drive like I thought it would so have done minimal installs mostly stuff I'd use on Linux anyway besides DPP (canon raw converter) and that's clunky. GIMP 3 a bit clunky also.
However some of Microsoft's and W11 nuances are starting to make an appearance, like game pass popping up and the tamagotchi attention grabbing junk in the left bottom corner that once housed the start menu button is constantly "it's going to rain! It's going to be dry it's going to temp one way then another" etc. a big deal? Not really but the thing is now starting to hang on shut down requiring holding down the power button. No updates in the pipeline that I could see, it did force one a few days ago.
Haven't even launched a new game I got probably because I'm not sure on this thing.
The whole experience so far has just been meh and if the thing borked or something I don't think I'd miss it. Not saying I miss Linux and want to go running back to it, I have thought about trying it again. Definitely not married to this windows box...
Macs are on sale... 🤔
However some of Microsoft's and W11 nuances are starting to make an appearance, like game pass popping up and the tamagotchi attention grabbing junk in the left bottom corner that once housed the start menu button is constantly "it's going to rain! It's going to be dry it's going to temp one way then another" etc. a big deal? Not really but the thing is now starting to hang on shut down requiring holding down the power button. No updates in the pipeline that I could see, it did force one a few days ago.
Haven't even launched a new game I got probably because I'm not sure on this thing.
The whole experience so far has just been meh and if the thing borked or something I don't think I'd miss it. Not saying I miss Linux and want to go running back to it, I have thought about trying it again. Definitely not married to this windows box...
Macs are on sale... 🤔
Yeah, there's a number of win11 oddities. I've gotten used to the start menu in the middle, but for some really stupid reason the Run program (win+r) pop-up is on the far left. I use the run program heavily for work, and in windows 10, it was aligned to the start menu now its not.
Take a look at Stardock's Start 11, that gives you a lot of control of the look, feel and location of the start menu, and the taskbar.
you can google "how to stop windows 11 ads" Truth be told, I've not looked into it too much, but there's quite a few steps to take to close it down.
then there's O&O shutup10++ This gives you a ton of control regarding the telemetry being sent back to the mothership and what runs on windows 11. Its a powerful tool, so keep that mind.
Take a look at Stardock's Start 11, that gives you a lot of control of the look, feel and location of the start menu, and the taskbar.
you can google "how to stop windows 11 ads" Truth be told, I've not looked into it too much, but there's quite a few steps to take to close it down.
then there's O&O shutup10++ This gives you a ton of control regarding the telemetry being sent back to the mothership and what runs on windows 11. Its a powerful tool, so keep that mind.
Well, trying to take a little bit of a deeper dive into the W11 box. Currently got adb set up and trying to update my rooted pixel 8 pro. The adb commands are backwards and I'm very rusty... Will see if I turn my phone into a more expensive brick I mean it is Friday the 13th after all 😆
BTW it's not that the start menu got moved , it's just the constant attention the new bottom left hand corner wants. Can tune it out however. Did come across a video basically stating M$ was going to start blocking unsupported hardware.
So far I'm still meh about this box. Do miss a couple Linux features. On the Manjaro box if I wanted to send an image over Bluetooth, I'd just right click on it, pick share and Bluetooth would come up. On the windows 11 box, got to click the Bluetooth icon in the system try, send , find the image to select check authentication wake up my phone and get it to look for the computer then send. A little more finicky but manageable I guess.
Kind of miss the photo workflow on Linux a little bit. A couple other things also.
A bit torn on which direction to take. I do feel one miss click on the windows box and there goes more data. Trying to keep things minimal on the rig. Actually have the thing set up almost like I had on my Linux set up and I barely use the windows only programs anyway.
BTW it's not that the start menu got moved , it's just the constant attention the new bottom left hand corner wants. Can tune it out however. Did come across a video basically stating M$ was going to start blocking unsupported hardware.
So far I'm still meh about this box. Do miss a couple Linux features. On the Manjaro box if I wanted to send an image over Bluetooth, I'd just right click on it, pick share and Bluetooth would come up. On the windows 11 box, got to click the Bluetooth icon in the system try, send , find the image to select check authentication wake up my phone and get it to look for the computer then send. A little more finicky but manageable I guess.
Kind of miss the photo workflow on Linux a little bit. A couple other things also.
A bit torn on which direction to take. I do feel one miss click on the windows box and there goes more data. Trying to keep things minimal on the rig. Actually have the thing set up almost like I had on my Linux set up and I barely use the windows only programs anyway.
Just had the screen black out again and nothing respond. Acted like it was shutting the screen off after inactivity but a little before it normally does. Fan was running kind of like it was powering down but didn't stop. Pulled the plug for a minute and powered back up.
Side effect of unsupported hardware I suppose. Thing has acted a little wonky since the install. This graphics card came out of the Linux box that also had some hiccups before the desktop removed itself after updating the browser.
Might be cursed I don't know lol. Debating about what to do next. Haven't even gamed on this system yet but did partake in the summer sales. Mostly been a browser with light photo editing.
Could be a power issue. Just a windows hiccup? Bad component? Unlucky user? This was the box I built before the Linux box that lead me back to it. So far it's still usable but I'm starting to wonder...
Think it's first gen ryzen that's how old this system is.
Side effect of unsupported hardware I suppose. Thing has acted a little wonky since the install. This graphics card came out of the Linux box that also had some hiccups before the desktop removed itself after updating the browser.
Might be cursed I don't know lol. Debating about what to do next. Haven't even gamed on this system yet but did partake in the summer sales. Mostly been a browser with light photo editing.
Could be a power issue. Just a windows hiccup? Bad component? Unlucky user? This was the box I built before the Linux box that lead me back to it. So far it's still usable but I'm starting to wonder...
Think it's first gen ryzen that's how old this system is.
Coming from such a totally open environment as Linux, you'd find it frustrating using macOS. I suggest Windows (11), a good balance between both extremes (no brainer if you're into gaming).
Got my hands on a mele quieter 4c n150 mini PC. Supposed to have windows 11 pro pre installed. Haven't had the chance to get to it yet. Picked it up for a potential remote computer for some astrophotography but as typical weather not great for that idea so maybe something else to tinker with.
The windows 11 box I'm being used by now does for the most part work I do occasionally get thoughts of going back to Linux, haven't gone through with doing so. Started to try and game on it. Have a pending update (is it going to be the update that M$ finally pulls the plug on my unsupported hardware? Not sure.
The new mini PC? Now I'm not sure on either dang clouds.
The windows 11 box I'm being used by now does for the most part work I do occasionally get thoughts of going back to Linux, haven't gone through with doing so. Started to try and game on it. Have a pending update (is it going to be the update that M$ finally pulls the plug on my unsupported hardware? Not sure.
The new mini PC? Now I'm not sure on either dang clouds.
You can get Linux distros with and without binary blobs. Guix for example by default contains no binary blobs. It is much more difficult to get hardware fully supported without them.
Well, another strange one and I wonder if it's down to the actual USB 3 thumb drives because it's happened on 2 of them... Decided to dabble with some old astro image files from several years ago, used a Linux mint laptop for getting the images then transferring the files to the desktop for processing using the Samsung thumb drives. Today plugged one into the USB port on this windows 11 box (topic of this thread) and windows gave an error says there's a problem ask me to fix it and just becomes pretty unresponsive, mouse movements pretty much froze then jerked here and there. Could see the folders in the file explorer but so much lag I couldn't do anything. Pulled the plug.
Tried another one after booting back up, drive acted fine so ejected thumb drive 2 and tried thumb drive 3. Pretty much the same thing as thumb drive 1. Problem with drive asked the fix (no!) but not quite as laggy. Pulled a folder from the thumb drive to computer and just ejected thumb drive 3...
Now I noted with these thumb drives even on Linux (the box leading to this thread) kind of hiccuped with the thumb drives but not nearly this bad.
Now the drives did have basically raw uncompressed .fits files on them and I wonder if the system just had some confusion trying to index the thumb drive? Maybe because the thumb drives were used on a Linux system initially the file system was a little wonky?
Really not sure. Just more strangeness. Or the thumb drives are fake or trying to run something upon mounting? Samsung likes to include a little extra software on some drives I think like recovery stuff. Maybe it was just the indexing of a lot of images in a format that's not often used?
Tried another one after booting back up, drive acted fine so ejected thumb drive 2 and tried thumb drive 3. Pretty much the same thing as thumb drive 1. Problem with drive asked the fix (no!) but not quite as laggy. Pulled a folder from the thumb drive to computer and just ejected thumb drive 3...
Now I noted with these thumb drives even on Linux (the box leading to this thread) kind of hiccuped with the thumb drives but not nearly this bad.
Now the drives did have basically raw uncompressed .fits files on them and I wonder if the system just had some confusion trying to index the thumb drive? Maybe because the thumb drives were used on a Linux system initially the file system was a little wonky?
Really not sure. Just more strangeness. Or the thumb drives are fake or trying to run something upon mounting? Samsung likes to include a little extra software on some drives I think like recovery stuff. Maybe it was just the indexing of a lot of images in a format that's not often used?
Starting to lean back towards installing Linux on this trial windows 11 box. Why? Meh don't seem like I need windows really. Didn't really do things much differently on it than with the previous Linux machine. And I got the mele mini PC. Just trying to think of a distribution. Split between mint (which is a little dated) or fedora. Possible Arch. Might do this when I got a couple free days to tinker with things and find a thumb drive for the ISO.
Another irksome thing I found about the box is, when I plug it in, the network light stars blinking before I power the PC up. Found out the mobo has a update over Internet feature. Ugh... Trying to figure out how to turn that off. Think the board is a gigabyte biostar or something. It's old.
Another irksome thing I found about the box is, when I plug it in, the network light stars blinking before I power the PC up. Found out the mobo has a update over Internet feature. Ugh... Trying to figure out how to turn that off. Think the board is a gigabyte biostar or something. It's old.
Wait, the board itself can fetch and install internet updates? That’s a terrifyingly awful idea.
That's generally normal, most computers power some peripherals even when. they're off If not that Wake On Lan would never work. Are you sure the motherboard is updating itself without your interaction?
I don't recall hearing about motherboards updating themselves when the PC is off, to me that would be a huge security vulnerability.
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It's an ASRock mobo. And that does make sense about blinking upon being powered up and probably wasn't noticed before on most boxes since the back faces the wall in most cases (mine is still on my desk back actually facing the monitor because I wasn't sure on things and didn't want to move it to the floor again).
I'm guessing the update mechanism is, I'd go into the bios, select the update then it would download and install. It might not even be that anyway just how I read it.
Then again with the state of things anymore well... 🤔
I'm guessing the update mechanism is, I'd go into the bios, select the update then it would download and install. It might not even be that anyway just how I read it.
Then again with the state of things anymore well... 🤔
Still having some irritations with this W11 box. The black screening is getting annoying. Seems a bit random. Was a pending update and after yet another black screen a little bit ago where I had to hold the power button down to shut it off, I unplugged because network light was still going and I was just a bit frustrated. I came back to the box a little while later and powered it on and welp, forced update. Ugh.
After it updated I went to the power settings and changed a couple things
Don't turn off USB
Wait a good half hour before turning screen off
Couple hours for hard drive to shut off.
Not sure if this will work or not. If it randomly black screens again or goes to sleep before the 30 minutes I might start thinking power supply issue and that wouldn't be good. Kind of leaning towards a sleep suspend maybe driver issue tied to that or possibly my USB keyboard and mouse getting shut off and this not being able to send the wake from sleep request.
Or unsupported hardware. Probably that too.
After it updated I went to the power settings and changed a couple things
Don't turn off USB
Wait a good half hour before turning screen off
Couple hours for hard drive to shut off.
Not sure if this will work or not. If it randomly black screens again or goes to sleep before the 30 minutes I might start thinking power supply issue and that wouldn't be good. Kind of leaning towards a sleep suspend maybe driver issue tied to that or possibly my USB keyboard and mouse getting shut off and this not being able to send the wake from sleep request.
Or unsupported hardware. Probably that too.
Trying to get fedora kde burned to a thumb drive to try as a live iso for a little bit. But naturally trying to verify the image checksum, none of the commands work so unsure of things.
Running a couple ideas right now...
Unplugging the box completely and just sitting it and storage and being done with computers all together
Trying mac again either a laptop (bit of a lower end model say 512gb storage and 16gb ram or getting a mini.
Do have a W11 mini PC but I'm not gaming on it...
Running a couple ideas right now...
Unplugging the box completely and just sitting it and storage and being done with computers all together
Trying mac again either a laptop (bit of a lower end model say 512gb storage and 16gb ram or getting a mini.
Do have a W11 mini PC but I'm not gaming on it...
Trigger warning
Its funny, but he's not really all that wrong
Oracle moved us from Solaris to Linux in 2001 so I've spent a lot of years with it and have done lots of installations for development purposes. It's not really bad for development or specialized use or command-line. It's just Unix so if you're comfortable with Unix, then it's not that bad. But for GUI stuff and quality of life and applications, Windows and macOS are just easier.
I really love the idea of WSL. You can use Linux when you want it at near native speed but you can always pop back into Windows if you need to do something and don't have the time to figure out how to do it on Linux - or you don't care to do it on Linux.
If your primary platform is Linux, then I imagine that you have everything figured out and that you can figure new stuff out quickly.