Vibrations – mintCast https://mintcast.org The podcast by the Linux Mint community for all users of Linux Wed, 14 Oct 2020 04:49:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://mintcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cropped-small-logo-32x32.png Vibrations – mintCast https://mintcast.org 32 32 mintCast false episodic CC-BY-SA 4.0 CC-BY-SA 4.0 podcast Vibrations – mintCast https://mintcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/big-logo-1600.png https://mintcast.org TV-G 164426984 mintCast 345.5 – Linux on the Edge (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-345-5-linux-on-the-edge-mp3/ Wed, 14 Oct 2020 04:44:33 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4704 And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions
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1:31 Linux Innards
41:23 Vibrations from the Ether
1:02:31 Check This Out
1:05:07 Outro

In our Innards section, we Introduce Josh Hawk and pick his and all of our brains.

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LINUX INNARDS:

  • To Josh: Do you think insistence on FOSS is holding back Linux adoption?
  • To All: Do you think Windows will ever be Linux based?
  • To All: Who is using Edge for Linux when it drops? Sometime later?
  • To All: Given the above, should we be concentrating on what we can do on Linux, rather than Linux distributions when promoting it to the non-Linux-using public. This comes from a recent interview with Stuart Langridge of ‘Bad Voltage’ on ‘Linux User Space’ 

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Reci Fluência
  • TBA
  • Dylan B
  • Henrik Hemrin
  • @casulemarc (twitter)

https://github.com/jakeday/linux-surface

  • fjord

CHECK THIS OUT:

  • Moss
    • Amazon Echo add-on Hey Samuel! – Samuel L. Jackson
      • 1st gen Echos can only use “[LadyTube], Ask Samuel to…”
    • Ting has added Verizon to their existing Sprint and T-Mobile lines. If you were not signing up for Ting because you needed Verizon coverage, you can do it now.
      • Ting’s subscriber rolls were enumerated as fewer than 300,000 customers
      • On the other hand, Ting (along with Boost and TracFone) has been bought by Dish Network, which eventually wants to roll out their own cellular brand. Ting claims their plans will not change.
  • Joe

Announcements:

Our next show will be on October 18, 2020 at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC. Check https://everytimezone.com/s/a5d26573  to convert to your local time.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible …

  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our Mumble backup
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • Londoner for our time zone link
  • Owen Peery for our audio editing
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 4704 mintCast 345.5 – Linux on the Edge https://mintcast.org/mintcast-345-5-linux-on-the-edge/ Wed, 14 Oct 2020 04:22:34 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4697 And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions
Download
]]>

Download

1:31 Linux Innards
41:23 Vibrations from the Ether
1:02:31 Check This Out
1:05:07 Outro

In our Innards section, we Introduce Josh Hawk and pick his and all of our brains.

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LINUX INNARDS:

  • To Josh: Do you think insistence on FOSS is holding back Linux adoption?
  • To All: Do you think Windows will ever be Linux based?
  • To All: Who is using Edge for Linux when it drops? Sometime later?
  • To All: Given the above, should we be concentrating on what we can do on Linux, rather than Linux distributions when promoting it to the non-Linux-using public. This comes from a recent interview with Stuart Langridge of ‘Bad Voltage’ on ‘Linux User Space’ 

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Reci Fluência
  • TBA
  • Dylan B
  • Henrik Hemrin
  • @casulemarc (twitter)

https://github.com/jakeday/linux-surface

  • fjord

CHECK THIS OUT:

  • Moss
    • Amazon Echo add-on Hey Samuel! – Samuel L. Jackson
      • 1st gen Echos can only use “[LadyTube], Ask Samuel to…”
    • Ting has added Verizon to their existing Sprint and T-Mobile lines. If you were not signing up for Ting because you needed Verizon coverage, you can do it now.
      • Ting’s subscriber rolls were enumerated as fewer than 300,000 customers
      • On the other hand, Ting (along with Boost and TracFone) has been bought by Dish Network, which eventually wants to roll out their own cellular brand. Ting claims their plans will not change.
  • Joe

Announcements:

Our next show will be on October 18, 2020 at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC. Check https://everytimezone.com/s/a5d26573  to convert to your local time.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible …

  • Josh Lowe for all his work on the website
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • HPR for our Mumble backup
  • Hobstar for our logo
  • Londoner for our time zone link
  • Owen Peery for our audio editing
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>
]]> full 1:07:14 4697 mintCast 334.5 – Fossa Fuel (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-334-5-fossa-fuel-mp3/ Wed, 13 May 2020 04:13:26 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4396 And finally, our listener feedback and a couple suggestions
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]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk about the versions of Ubuntu 20.04 we’re playing with.

And finally, our listener feedback and a couple suggestions

LINUX INNARDS: 

Let’s Talk About Ubuntu 20.04 (See OMGubuntu article on 20.04 flavors)

  • Ubuntu (Gnome) Features
    • Linux Kernel 5.4
    • Faster boot speeds
    • OEM logo displayed during boot
    • Improved appearance
    • Dark theme
    • Fractional scaling setting
    • Ships with GNOME 3.36
    • Redesigned login screen
    • New lock screen
    • Snap-based Ubuntu Software app
    • Improved GNOME Shell performance
    • Refined ZFS install support
    • Game mode added to the archives
    • Joe – Installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my 7140 tablet with gnome.  Had some small problems with Gnome and the touchpad left and right click not wanting to work although both did work with an external mouse.  So I installed Cinnamon and Mate and my touchpad worked fine in both.
      • Rotation also worked without a hitch in Gnome and Cinnamon but I did not search for the setting in Mate since I will use that with X2go for remote access
      • Haven’t set up my normal scripting for file movement and sshfs yet but it should work fine. 
      • Noticed a series of games already installed.  Very Windows XP style
      • Turning on touchpad scrolling did not work until after reboot
      • I also didn’t like the touchpad acceleration.  After I adjusted it I did not notice any change until after a reboot and then it was fine
      • Boot times are fast and smooth although there is a device related problem with reboot
      • Looks beautiful and runs smooth
      • Still haven’t installed UKUU and upgraded to the most recent kernel
      • But I did check out snap which is built in.  works great. 
        • Installed the snap for Standard Notes and Mumble and was able to use auto completion with no issues and they immediately were available in the start menu
    • Leo
      • Installed Ubuntu 20.04 Beta on the T450s. This laptop!
      • Tried to stick with the default install on all of the apps I use. This meant installing lots and lots of things via Snap. The only reason I tend to shy away from Snaps is the theming issues (the wonky looking cursor, off-looking GTK Themes, and slow startup times).
      • Talked to Martin Wimpress about these on BDLL last night and got some clarification about where the Ubuntu team is headed. These issues are absolutely on their radar, but got pushed back for some more technical issues that needed to land in 20.04. These issues are now a priority again and will land soon!
      • Another thing we ended up talking about was the fact that all desktop installations of Ubuntu are automatically set up to take the HWE kernel when it drops. So no more confusion about whether you’re on a point release or not and what that means.
      • Historically, if you installed with 18.04, you didn’t get the HWE kernel. You could opt in, but required installing a couple of packages. If you installed 18.04.1 or later, you got the HWE kernel automatically.
      • Stuck with it until a little after release when the Gnome desktop really started to grind on me. It was great overall, and fine on my desktop, but on my laptop, the animations were struggling to stay smooth. I’m petty enough to allow that to be a game breaker. I know that to get things to look “nicer” that sometimes comes with more animations. I just figured that a business-class laptop from 2015 would be able to handle it!
  • Ubuntu MATE Features
      • Ubuntu MATE 20.04 features include better support for HiDPI rendering throughout the UI, minimised window previews in the task bar, and new Notification Indicator settings (including a do-not-disturb mode).
      • The distro has decided to drop Compiz and Compton from the default install as they’re no longer considered necessary (and this is an LTS release).
  • There’s also a new GTK frontend for the fwupd application. This will make it easy to check for firmware updates for connected devices and apply said updates if available.
    • Finally, all the goodies present in the upstream MATE desktop 1.24 release are present here.
    • Who on the team has tried it?
    • Moss’ biggest peeve: The icons for “End the Current Session”, “Lock Screen”, and “Turn Off the Device” are not evocative of those features in any way and are tinier than ever. This is a serious problem for visually impaired people, and the icons themselves are an issue for everyone. Question: Is this a MATE issue, or just Ubuntu MATE?
      • Otherwise, this felt like the old, familiar shirt you’ve worn for the last 10 years when you just want to relax. Nothing feels new, everything works.
  • Kubuntu Features
  • For instance, there’s a new colour emoji selector, better theming of GTK apps, refined app and system notifications, and a system tray toggle for the Night Color option.
    • A swathe of updated KDE applications are available through Discover (the software store), including newer versions of Kdenlive, KDE Connect, and Latte Dock.
    • there’s a new default music player in Kubuntu 20.04. The distro has chosen to switch from the Qt-based Cantata to the Qt-based Elisa as of this release.
    • Moss – I installed Kubuntu 20.04 on my Galago Pro. 
    • I tried to use Clementine music player in Kubuntu 20.04, I was using it in the beta. But it seemed to freak out to the point of appearing to wipe my music drive and bombarding me with tons of notifications, but in fact just freaked out all by itself; the drive is fine. That gave me a chance to update my backups. I saw later on YouTube where sneekylinux had the same issue with Clementine on Xubuntu, and switched to Strawberry Player, so I did the same. I’m also having some issues with Konsole in Kubuntu, it looks like it tears under each line almost like thin underlining. Might be my resolution.
    • Leo
      • Moved to Kubuntu 20.04 and have been there ever since. Animations are smooth, no slowdowns that I notice, and TERMINAL. BLUR. So, so so so nice. It’s a touch that I didn’t realize made the terminal feel “premium.”
    • Tony W briefly, only from live USB)
      • Ran just fine on my low powered Dell 7130 tablet.  No performance issues, touchpad/touchscreen etc all work well
  • Xubuntu Features
    • No release notes for new features
    • There is a new dark theme
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Budgie Features
    • Chief amongst these is a brand new application menu inspired by Slingshot, the stock app launcher used in elementary OS. The app launcher has an optional ‘power strip’ mode which embeds session management buttons into the app launcher, beside the search box.
    • There’s also a new, native Network Manager applet for managing wired and wi-fi web connections, better HiDPI support, a new ‘desktop layout’ chooser, and better ‘Window Shuffler’ too.
    • App wise the Ubuntu Budgie team has replaced GNOME MPV with its successor, Celluloid, and adds the (really terrific) Drawing app to its default software roster.
  • Ubuntu Studio Features
    • The audio plugin selection is expanded further, with a handful of new plugins included for audio production needs.
    • MyPaint returns to the default install, where it sits alongside the latest version of the GIMP image editor.
    • The Ubuntu Studio Controls utility now lets you assign names to pulseaudio-Jack bridges and has been organized a touch to make it take up less screen space.
  • Who on the team has tried it? (Moss, briefly)
    • Tony W (briefly, only from live USB)
      • 3.6GB ISO is actually not bad at all, for everything it comes with
      • IT LOOKS AMAZING!
      • I am LOVING the selection of pre-installed goodies!
      • Video goodies – It comes with OBS pre-installed, along with both Kdenlive and Openshot
      • Audio – more than you can shake a stick at.  
        • Ardour, Audacity, 
        • Loads of custom soundcard support, including the ENVY24 utility that my old school sound card/audio interface needs
        • Guitarix, rackarack, a looper, multiple drum samplers, the list goes on
        • Multiple media players – VLC, Parole, Xjadeo
        • BONUS – KDE Connect!
  • Lubuntu Features
  • First Lubuntu LTS with LXQt
    • Who on the team has tried it? (Moss attempted to install it but couldn’t get past Calamares UEFI installer requirements for some reason)
  • Ubuntu Kylin Features
    • new Qt-based desktop environment
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Cinnamon Respin
    • Features?
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Lumina Respin
    • Based on Lumina from TrueOS
  • Overall Issues with Ubuntu 20.04
    • We have commented on the fact that this is a new LTS. Several apps did not work properly in 18.04 which worked fine in 16.04 and had to be reworked, and in this vein several users have noted a problem with Clementine music player. Any others noted?

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Londoner (Telegram)
  • K Wisher (mewe)
  • x1cygnus, Scott (Telegram)
  • Dale Miracle (Telegram)
  • Dave W. (Email)
  • Larry P. (Email)

http://170.187.156.171/2020/04/29/mintcast-333-5-efired/

  • John Wallis Security Saga

CHECK THIS OUT!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, May 17, 2020. That’s 8 pm British Summer Time.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> full 4396 mintCast 334.5 – Fossa Fuel https://mintcast.org/mintcast-334-5-fossa-fuel/ Wed, 13 May 2020 04:12:48 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4394 And finally, our listener feedback and a couple suggestions
Download
]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk about the versions of Ubuntu 20.04 we’re playing with.

And finally, our listener feedback and a couple suggestions

LINUX INNARDS: 

Let’s Talk About Ubuntu 20.04 (See OMGubuntu article on 20.04 flavors)

  • Ubuntu (Gnome) Features
    • Linux Kernel 5.4
    • Faster boot speeds
    • OEM logo displayed during boot
    • Improved appearance
    • Dark theme
    • Fractional scaling setting
    • Ships with GNOME 3.36
    • Redesigned login screen
    • New lock screen
    • Snap-based Ubuntu Software app
    • Improved GNOME Shell performance
    • Refined ZFS install support
    • Game mode added to the archives
    • Joe – Installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my 7140 tablet with gnome.  Had some small problems with Gnome and the touchpad left and right click not wanting to work although both did work with an external mouse.  So I installed Cinnamon and Mate and my touchpad worked fine in both.
      • Rotation also worked without a hitch in Gnome and Cinnamon but I did not search for the setting in Mate since I will use that with X2go for remote access
      • Haven’t set up my normal scripting for file movement and sshfs yet but it should work fine. 
      • Noticed a series of games already installed.  Very Windows XP style
      • Turning on touchpad scrolling did not work until after reboot
      • I also didn’t like the touchpad acceleration.  After I adjusted it I did not notice any change until after a reboot and then it was fine
      • Boot times are fast and smooth although there is a device related problem with reboot
      • Looks beautiful and runs smooth
      • Still haven’t installed UKUU and upgraded to the most recent kernel
      • But I did check out snap which is built in.  works great. 
        • Installed the snap for Standard Notes and Mumble and was able to use auto completion with no issues and they immediately were available in the start menu
    • Leo
      • Installed Ubuntu 20.04 Beta on the T450s. This laptop!
      • Tried to stick with the default install on all of the apps I use. This meant installing lots and lots of things via Snap. The only reason I tend to shy away from Snaps is the theming issues (the wonky looking cursor, off-looking GTK Themes, and slow startup times).
      • Talked to Martin Wimpress about these on BDLL last night and got some clarification about where the Ubuntu team is headed. These issues are absolutely on their radar, but got pushed back for some more technical issues that needed to land in 20.04. These issues are now a priority again and will land soon!
      • Another thing we ended up talking about was the fact that all desktop installations of Ubuntu are automatically set up to take the HWE kernel when it drops. So no more confusion about whether you’re on a point release or not and what that means.
      • Historically, if you installed with 18.04, you didn’t get the HWE kernel. You could opt in, but required installing a couple of packages. If you installed 18.04.1 or later, you got the HWE kernel automatically.
      • Stuck with it until a little after release when the Gnome desktop really started to grind on me. It was great overall, and fine on my desktop, but on my laptop, the animations were struggling to stay smooth. I’m petty enough to allow that to be a game breaker. I know that to get things to look “nicer” that sometimes comes with more animations. I just figured that a business-class laptop from 2015 would be able to handle it!
  • Ubuntu MATE Features
      • Ubuntu MATE 20.04 features include better support for HiDPI rendering throughout the UI, minimised window previews in the task bar, and new Notification Indicator settings (including a do-not-disturb mode).
      • The distro has decided to drop Compiz and Compton from the default install as they’re no longer considered necessary (and this is an LTS release).
  • There’s also a new GTK frontend for the fwupd application. This will make it easy to check for firmware updates for connected devices and apply said updates if available.
    • Finally, all the goodies present in the upstream MATE desktop 1.24 release are present here.
    • Who on the team has tried it?
    • Moss’ biggest peeve: The icons for “End the Current Session”, “Lock Screen”, and “Turn Off the Device” are not evocative of those features in any way and are tinier than ever. This is a serious problem for visually impaired people, and the icons themselves are an issue for everyone. Question: Is this a MATE issue, or just Ubuntu MATE?
      • Otherwise, this felt like the old, familiar shirt you’ve worn for the last 10 years when you just want to relax. Nothing feels new, everything works.
  • Kubuntu Features
  • For instance, there’s a new colour emoji selector, better theming of GTK apps, refined app and system notifications, and a system tray toggle for the Night Color option.
    • A swathe of updated KDE applications are available through Discover (the software store), including newer versions of Kdenlive, KDE Connect, and Latte Dock.
    • there’s a new default music player in Kubuntu 20.04. The distro has chosen to switch from the Qt-based Cantata to the Qt-based Elisa as of this release.
    • Moss – I installed Kubuntu 20.04 on my Galago Pro. 
    • I tried to use Clementine music player in Kubuntu 20.04, I was using it in the beta. But it seemed to freak out to the point of appearing to wipe my music drive and bombarding me with tons of notifications, but in fact just freaked out all by itself; the drive is fine. That gave me a chance to update my backups. I saw later on YouTube where sneekylinux had the same issue with Clementine on Xubuntu, and switched to Strawberry Player, so I did the same. I’m also having some issues with Konsole in Kubuntu, it looks like it tears under each line almost like thin underlining. Might be my resolution.
    • Leo
      • Moved to Kubuntu 20.04 and have been there ever since. Animations are smooth, no slowdowns that I notice, and TERMINAL. BLUR. So, so so so nice. It’s a touch that I didn’t realize made the terminal feel “premium.”
    • Tony W briefly, only from live USB)
      • Ran just fine on my low powered Dell 7130 tablet.  No performance issues, touchpad/touchscreen etc all work well
  • Xubuntu Features
    • No release notes for new features
    • There is a new dark theme
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Budgie Features
    • Chief amongst these is a brand new application menu inspired by Slingshot, the stock app launcher used in elementary OS. The app launcher has an optional ‘power strip’ mode which embeds session management buttons into the app launcher, beside the search box.
    • There’s also a new, native Network Manager applet for managing wired and wi-fi web connections, better HiDPI support, a new ‘desktop layout’ chooser, and better ‘Window Shuffler’ too.
    • App wise the Ubuntu Budgie team has replaced GNOME MPV with its successor, Celluloid, and adds the (really terrific) Drawing app to its default software roster.
  • Ubuntu Studio Features
    • The audio plugin selection is expanded further, with a handful of new plugins included for audio production needs.
    • MyPaint returns to the default install, where it sits alongside the latest version of the GIMP image editor.
    • The Ubuntu Studio Controls utility now lets you assign names to pulseaudio-Jack bridges and has been organized a touch to make it take up less screen space.
  • Who on the team has tried it? (Moss, briefly)
    • Tony W (briefly, only from live USB)
      • 3.6GB ISO is actually not bad at all, for everything it comes with
      • IT LOOKS AMAZING!
      • I am LOVING the selection of pre-installed goodies!
      • Video goodies – It comes with OBS pre-installed, along with both Kdenlive and Openshot
      • Audio – more than you can shake a stick at.  
        • Ardour, Audacity, 
        • Loads of custom soundcard support, including the ENVY24 utility that my old school sound card/audio interface needs
        • Guitarix, rackarack, a looper, multiple drum samplers, the list goes on
        • Multiple media players – VLC, Parole, Xjadeo
        • BONUS – KDE Connect!
  • Lubuntu Features
  • First Lubuntu LTS with LXQt
    • Who on the team has tried it? (Moss attempted to install it but couldn’t get past Calamares UEFI installer requirements for some reason)
  • Ubuntu Kylin Features
    • new Qt-based desktop environment
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Cinnamon Respin
    • Features?
    • Who on the team has tried it?
  • Ubuntu Lumina Respin
    • Based on Lumina from TrueOS
  • Overall Issues with Ubuntu 20.04
    • We have commented on the fact that this is a new LTS. Several apps did not work properly in 18.04 which worked fine in 16.04 and had to be reworked, and in this vein several users have noted a problem with Clementine music player. Any others noted?

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Londoner (Telegram)
  • K Wisher (mewe)
  • x1cygnus, Scott (Telegram)
  • Dale Miracle (Telegram)
  • Dave W. (Email)
  • Larry P. (Email)

http://170.187.156.171/2020/04/29/mintcast-333-5-efired/

  • John Wallis Security Saga

CHECK THIS OUT!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, May 17, 2020. That’s 8 pm British Summer Time.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> full 4394 mintCast 332.5 – Debian Mojito https://mintcast.org/mintcast-332-5-debian-mojito/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 05:32:17 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4347 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
]]>

Download

In our Innards section, we talk about our experiences with LMDE4!

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

LINUX INNARDS: 

LMDE4

  • Tony H
    • So I installed LMDE4 a couple of hours after it went RC onto my Dell E7440, after the install the Laptop could not see anything, I installed it 3 times with the same result on this laptop, the third time around I installed Mint 19.3 as a dual boot to see if that would get a grub install and a working boot menu and it did. This issue was replicated on a Dell E6540 but on my Lenovo X230i the install worked perfectly. On last night’s BDLL it was mentioned that someone else had an issue with it not flagging the drive as a boot drive, and they went in with a live disc again and were able to fix the flag issue and all was well, so it could be that this was the issue all along.
    • Post installation you have a welcome menu with the option to install the proprietary codecs that Debian does not install so the Mint devs give the option to install these, which I did. I also installed the software that I use regularly for recording the show and a little photo editing. Also the Zoom client which has become even more of an essential application with all that is happening in the world at the moment, I now use it several times a week for various reasons and joined my worship community using it this morning. 
    • It’s worth noting that while all the software I needed was available in the Debian repositories it is several versions behind the current releases apart from things like Firefox which are classed as security updates. LibreOffice is on the 6.1.7 branch and the current cutting edge DEB file is 6.4.2.
    • So I have been running it for 16 days or so and I have found it rock solid, I have no fancy graphics on my laptop so the latest graphics drivers are not an issue for me but I understand from others that you can get most cards to work with a little tweaking and delving into the system. Stability is great and none of the few updates that have come through have done anything to compromise that. I have been using the LMDE4 laptop as my daily driver for my portable computing needs and a little more and I would be very happy to continue to use this if the main Mint branch went away due to the demise of Ubuntu.          
  • Tony W
    • I ran it in a VM, don’t have a lot to say.  It was Linux Mint
    • I only gave it 2GB of RAM and it ran just fine
    • I did notice the standard responsibility greeting when using apt install which isn’t present in standard Linux Mint
  • Joe
    • I have installed and used it on a VM.  Have to say at first glance it is very much like mint.  X2go loaded right up from the repos and worked fine for the client
    • Used 4gb of ram and only one processor and it still ran very smooth.
    • Docker did not load from the repos.  I will have to look and see if instructions exist.  
    • Snapd did install and run which is a big benefit.
  • Leo
    • Had only one issue during installation. Unfortunately, if someone greener than me would have run into it, I believe it may have been fatal. That is, of course, unless that person had a friend that had a little experience in Linux and partitioning. Or, ya know, joins our Telegram or Discord.
      • Letting the installer deal with partitioning led to it telling me that the partitions weren’t able to be written and to reboot and try again.
      • No amount of reboots seemed to fix the issue, and manual partitioning with the built in GParted editor was the real fix. Created a root and a swap, moved on, and the installer didn’t skip a beat after that.
      • I suspect this may have had something to do with installing it on what is essentially a MMC card. Or, at least, that’s what it shows up as in lsblk.
    • Great as a neverchanging workhorse.
    • Installed just about everything as a Flatpak

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:
We have so much feedback this go-around, we had to skip a few. We’ll hit the ones we missed in the next episode!

  • Discussion re: EFI and Grub between Londoner and Moss on Distrohoppers’ Digest Telegram group

More info on configuring rEFInd can be found at https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/configfile.html under the heading “Hiding and Displaying EFI Boot Loaders”. This page also tells you how to change the icons used.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=315043 “GRUB CUSTOMIZER should be default”

I have a lot I have learned since this, but it got me started on a good track. I will be back next episode with a summation of my findings. – Moss

CHECK THIS OUT!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, April 19, 2020. That’s 8PM British Summer Time. Thanks Londoner, I hope I got that right. 🙂

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> 1 1 full 1:02:38 4347 mintCast 332.5 – Debian Mojito (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-332-5-debian-mojito-mp3/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 05:32:15 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4345 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
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In our Innards section, we talk about our experiences with LMDE4!

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

LINUX INNARDS: 

LMDE4

  • Tony H
    • So I installed LMDE4 a couple of hours after it went RC onto my Dell E7440, after the install the Laptop could not see anything, I installed it 3 times with the same result on this laptop, the third time around I installed Mint 19.3 as a dual boot to see if that would get a grub install and a working boot menu and it did. This issue was replicated on a Dell E6540 but on my Lenovo X230i the install worked perfectly. On last night’s BDLL it was mentioned that someone else had an issue with it not flagging the drive as a boot drive, and they went in with a live disc again and were able to fix the flag issue and all was well, so it could be that this was the issue all along.
    • Post installation you have a welcome menu with the option to install the proprietary codecs that Debian does not install so the Mint devs give the option to install these, which I did. I also installed the software that I use regularly for recording the show and a little photo editing. Also the Zoom client which has become even more of an essential application with all that is happening in the world at the moment, I now use it several times a week for various reasons and joined my worship community using it this morning. 
    • It’s worth noting that while all the software I needed was available in the Debian repositories it is several versions behind the current releases apart from things like Firefox which are classed as security updates. LibreOffice is on the 6.1.7 branch and the current cutting edge DEB file is 6.4.2.
    • So I have been running it for 16 days or so and I have found it rock solid, I have no fancy graphics on my laptop so the latest graphics drivers are not an issue for me but I understand from others that you can get most cards to work with a little tweaking and delving into the system. Stability is great and none of the few updates that have come through have done anything to compromise that. I have been using the LMDE4 laptop as my daily driver for my portable computing needs and a little more and I would be very happy to continue to use this if the main Mint branch went away due to the demise of Ubuntu.          
  • Tony W
    • I ran it in a VM, don’t have a lot to say.  It was Linux Mint
    • I only gave it 2GB of RAM and it ran just fine
    • I did notice the standard responsibility greeting when using apt install which isn’t present in standard Linux Mint
  • Joe
    • I have installed and used it on a VM.  Have to say at first glance it is very much like mint.  X2go loaded right up from the repos and worked fine for the client
    • Used 4gb of ram and only one processor and it still ran very smooth.
    • Docker did not load from the repos.  I will have to look and see if instructions exist.  
    • Snapd did install and run which is a big benefit.
  • Leo
    • Had only one issue during installation. Unfortunately, if someone greener than me would have run into it, I believe it may have been fatal. That is, of course, unless that person had a friend that had a little experience in Linux and partitioning. Or, ya know, joins our Telegram or Discord.
      • Letting the installer deal with partitioning led to it telling me that the partitions weren’t able to be written and to reboot and try again.
      • No amount of reboots seemed to fix the issue, and manual partitioning with the built in GParted editor was the real fix. Created a root and a swap, moved on, and the installer didn’t skip a beat after that.
      • I suspect this may have had something to do with installing it on what is essentially a MMC card. Or, at least, that’s what it shows up as in lsblk.
    • Great as a neverchanging workhorse.
    • Installed just about everything as a Flatpak

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:
We have so much feedback this go-around, we had to skip a few. We’ll hit the ones we missed in the next episode!

  • Discussion re: EFI and Grub between Londoner and Moss on Distrohoppers’ Digest Telegram group

More info on configuring rEFInd can be found at https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/configfile.html under the heading “Hiding and Displaying EFI Boot Loaders”. This page also tells you how to change the icons used.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=315043 “GRUB CUSTOMIZER should be default”

I have a lot I have learned since this, but it got me started on a good track. I will be back next episode with a summation of my findings. – Moss

CHECK THIS OUT!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, April 19, 2020. That’s 8PM British Summer Time. Thanks Londoner, I hope I got that right. 🙂

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> 1 1 full 1:08:58 4345 mintCast 331.5 – Audio Schmaudio https://mintcast.org/mintcast-331-5-audio-schmaudio/ Wed, 01 Apr 2020 05:30:43 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4318 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk more about how we do this show.

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

Linux Innards: 

  • Audio setups
    • Moss
    • Josh
      • Ryzen 5 2600 PC
      • M-Audio Uber Mic
      • Native Instruments Traktor Audio 2 Audio Interface
      • Audacity
      • Want to get an arm and pop filter (anyone recommend?)
    • Tony H 
      • HP Intel® Core™ i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz × 8 tower with 24Gig Ram and 256Gb SSD.
      • ProSound USB podcast mic which I got from a bankruptcy sale a couple of years ago for £12. I also have a cheap boom arm and pop filter that I bought on FleaBay after starting on mintCast which reduced vibration and did improve audio.
      • My keyboard is setup with a key combination to mute the mic
    •  Joe
      • Msi ge72 6qd Intel CoreTM i7-6700HQ
      • Samson meteor mic
      • Today i am using the Skullcandy hesh 3 bluetooth headphones
      • Cheap boom arm and extension
    • Leo
      • T450s i5-5300u
      • Behringer UM2 USB Audio Interface
      • MXL 990 Condenser Mic
      • Tascam TH-02 Headphones (w Brainwavz earpads)
      • Samson MK-10 Boom Stand
      • TroyStudio Vocal Booth Box
  • Audio editing
    • Tony
    • Leo
      • Audacity

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Tony Sirna
  • Kevin Wisher
  • Brad
  • Henrik Hemrin
  • John Wallis 
  • James Daldry
  • David Yutzy 
  • Brian Ackroyd

Check This Out!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, April 5, 2020. That’s 8PM British Summer Time. Thanks Londoner, I hope I got that right. 🙂

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> full 4318 mintCast 331.5 – Audio Schmaudio (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-331-5-audio-schmaudio-mp3/ Wed, 01 Apr 2020 05:30:11 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4316 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk more about how we do this show.

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

Linux Innards: 

  • Audio setups
    • Moss
    • Josh
      • Ryzen 5 2600 PC
      • M-Audio Uber Mic
      • Native Instruments Traktor Audio 2 Audio Interface
      • Audacity
      • Want to get an arm and pop filter (anyone recommend?)
    • Tony H 
      • HP Intel® Core™ i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz × 8 tower with 24Gig Ram and 256Gb SSD.
      • ProSound USB podcast mic which I got from a bankruptcy sale a couple of years ago for £12. I also have a cheap boom arm and pop filter that I bought on FleaBay after starting on mintCast which reduced vibration and did improve audio.
      • My keyboard is setup with a key combination to mute the mic
    •  Joe
      • Msi ge72 6qd Intel CoreTM i7-6700HQ
      • Samson meteor mic
      • Today i am using the Skullcandy hesh 3 bluetooth headphones
      • Cheap boom arm and extension
    • Leo
      • T450s i5-5300u
      • Behringer UM2 USB Audio Interface
      • MXL 990 Condenser Mic
      • Tascam TH-02 Headphones (w Brainwavz earpads)
      • Samson MK-10 Boom Stand
      • TroyStudio Vocal Booth Box
  • Audio editing
    • Tony
    • Leo
      • Audacity

VIBRATIONS FROM THE ETHER:

  • Tony Sirna
  • Kevin Wisher
  • Brad
  • Henrik Hemrin
  • John Wallis 
  • James Daldry
  • David Yutzy 
  • Brian Ackroyd

Check This Out!

Announcements: 

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, April 5, 2020. That’s 8PM British Summer Time. Thanks Londoner, I hope I got that right. 🙂

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Hobstar for his work on the new logo
  • Josh for all his work on the website
  • Hacker Public Radio for the Mumble server we are using to record
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about.
]]> full 4316 mintCast 330.5 – fdisk FTW (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-330-5-fdisk-ftw-mp3/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 05:04:21 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4285 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
]]>

Download

In our Innards section, we cover disks, partitioning, and filesystems.

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

Linux Innards: 

  • Partitioning Disks and Linux Filesystems
    • Partitioning Types
      • MBR Partitions
        • Can only have 4 Primary Partitions
        • Extended Partitions
        • Logical Partitions
        • Fdisk was the primary tool for managing mbr partition tables
      • GPT Partitions
        • Does away with primary/extended/logical
        • 128 definable partitions by default
        • Gdisk was created to manage GPT partition tables
      • Parted can do both MBR and GPT
    • File Systems
      • EXT3
        • Mkfs.ext3 /dev/sd##
        • Mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sd##
      • EXT4
        • Mkfs.ext4 /dev/sd##
        • Mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sd##
      • Swap
        • Mkswap /dev/sd##
        • Swapon /dev.sd##
    • GPartEd and Disks

 

Vibrations from the Ether:

  • Benjamin Moser
  • Dave Lindberg
  • Larry Murphy
  • George from Tulsa
  • Chris

Check this Out!

Announcements:

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, March 22, 2020.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4285 mintCast 330.5 – fdisk FTW https://mintcast.org/mintcast-330-5-fdisk-ftw/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 05:04:10 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4287 And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.
Download
]]>

Download

In our Innards section, we cover disks, partitioning, and filesystems.

And finally, our listener feedback and a few suggestions.

Linux Innards: 

  • Partitioning Disks and Linux Filesystems
    • Partitioning Types
      • MBR Partitions
        • Can only have 4 Primary Partitions
        • Extended Partitions
        • Logical Partitions
        • Fdisk was the primary tool for managing mbr partition tables
      • GPT Partitions
        • Does away with primary/extended/logical
        • 128 definable partitions by default
        • Gdisk was created to manage GPT partition tables
      • Parted can do both MBR and GPT
    • File Systems
      • EXT3
        • Mkfs.ext3 /dev/sd##
        • Mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sd##
      • EXT4
        • Mkfs.ext4 /dev/sd##
        • Mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sd##
      • Swap
        • Mkswap /dev/sd##
        • Swapon /dev.sd##
    • GPartEd and Disks

Vibrations from the Ether:

  • Benjamin Moser
  • Dave Lindberg
  • Larry Murphy
  • George from Tulsa
  • Chris

Check this Out!

Announcements:

  • Our next episode will be at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC, March 22, 2020.

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4287 mintCast 329.5 – Lucky 777 https://mintcast.org/mintcast-329-5-lucky-777/ Wed, 04 Mar 2020 06:28:00 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4262 Download
]]>

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This week we talk permissions administration, our listener feedback and a few “check this out” items.

LINUX INNARDS:

  • User and Group management
    • id
    • Useradd
      • -c  – Full name
      • -e – Expiration date
      • -s – Default shell
      • -d – Home directory
    • Passwd
    • Usermod
      • -l – rename
      • -L – Lock
      • -U – unlock
    • Userdel
      • -r – remove user data
    • Groupadd
    • Groupmod
    • Gpasswd [-a -d -A] [user] [group]
    • Newgrp [group]
  • Su vs. su – vs. sudo
    • Visudo
  • File permissions
    • UGO
    • RWX
    • Chmod -R
      • r = 4
      • w = 2
      • x = 1
      • – = 0
      • rwxrwxrwx = 777
      • rw-rw-rw- = 666
      • rwxrwxr– = 774
      • rw-rw—- = 660
      • rw-r—– = 640
    • chown
    • Umask

Vibrations from the ether:

  • hehemrin
  • Larry Murphy
  • Stan Reichardt
    • https://www.sluug.org/resources/presentations/2020/2020-02-12_permissions.pdf
  • a_stombaugh
  • katya

Check this out! 

Announcements:

  • Our Next Episode will be live March 8th, 2020. 2PM CST, 8PM UTC

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4262 mintCast 329.5 – Lucky 777 (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-329-5-lucky-777-mp3/ Wed, 04 Mar 2020 06:27:28 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4260 Download
]]>

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This week we talk permissions administration, our listener feedback and a few “check this out” items.

LINUX INNARDS:

  • User and Group management
    • id
    • Useradd
      • -c  – Full name
      • -e – Expiration date
      • -s – Default shell
      • -d – Home directory
    • Passwd
    • Usermod
      • -l – rename
      • -L – Lock
      • -U – unlock
    • Userdel
      • -r – remove user data
    • Groupadd
    • Groupmod
    • Gpasswd [-a -d -A] [user] [group]
    • Newgrp [group]
  • Su vs. su – vs. sudo
    • Visudo
  • File permissions
    • UGO
    • RWX
    • Chmod -R
      • r = 4
      • w = 2
      • x = 1
      • – = 0
      • rwxrwxrwx = 777
      • rw-rw-rw- = 666
      • rwxrwxr– = 774
      • rw-rw—- = 660
      • rw-r—– = 640
    • chown
    • Umask

Vibrations from the ether:

  • hehemrin
  • Larry Murphy
  • Stan Reichardt
    • https://www.sluug.org/resources/presentations/2020/2020-02-12_permissions.pdf
  • a_stombaugh
  • katya

Check this out! 

Announcements:

  • Our Next Episode will be live March 8th, 2020. 2PM CST, 8PM UTC

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 4260 mintCast 326.5 – Biscuits and a Thinkpad https://mintcast.org/mintcast-326-5-biscuits-and-a-thinkpad/ Wed, 22 Jan 2020 06:19:33 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4141 And finally, the feedback
Download
]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk all things ‘Lenovo Thinkpads’

And finally, the feedback

Linux Innards:

  • Maybe the first thing to say is how many Lenovo laptops we have or have used in the past ** indicates still owned.
  • We missed two predictions from Discord!
    • Katya predicts that there will be an official red hat version of fedora IoT
    • Cryptodan predicts that Microsoft will acquire Ubuntu
  • Tony H – x61s, x200, x200 Tablet**, x201**, X230i** 
    • None of the ones I still have are in daily use so the x61 has just gone to go to Egypt with a package of other stuff as a donation to a school there.
    • Back when I first started to use Lenovo laptops about 8-9 years ago the thing that I appreciated on the X200 series was the portability (12” screen) battery life and robustness, these laptops were built to be used on the road and were very well built.
    • If it weren’t for aging eyes, I would probably still use my X230i as it is a great little laptop but these days I use my Dell E7440 as a compromise of portability and screen size. The bigger 400 series are just that little too heavy for toting a couple in a laptop bag which I can do with the E7440.
  • Tony W –  
    • Had an old IBM thinkpad, 2004 or 2005 machine but do not have anymore and don’t know the model (before my Linux days)
    • Using a Lenovo H50 desktop in the house, budget desktop from 2015
      • Was given to me by my grandfather because he couldn’t stomach Windows 10
      • 4th gen i3 processor
      • Upgraded RAM from 4GB to 8GB
      • Added low profile 2GB nvidia card to it
      • Works fine for most purposes and will play low resource steam games
    • Current work laptop Thinkpad T480
      • Processor i7, 8GB RAM
      • Internal + External Battery
          • Internal battery is used until depleted, then external is used
          • Can hot swap batteries
          • Seems to be some debate online about lack of option to set external battery to drain first
        • Extremely solid feel
        • Trackpad is great in my experience (though not a lot to compare to)
        • Perfect size
        • Appreciate the built in webcam cover
      • Only very minor CONS 
        • The thing is a finger smudge magnet (don’t really care)
        • HDMI and USB C display out cannot be used simultaneously – one or the other
      • WHY are the Thinkpad docks so expensive?
        • They are nearly $200
        • Many aftermarket hubs are a lot cheaper
          • Aftermarket hub w/ actual working dual displays seem to run about $80
          • My workaround dock situation: USB C hub with one display + one USB C to HDMI adapter.  Cost ~$40
  • Popey – 
    • Main machine: ThinkPad T450 – Ubuntu 19.10 (i7, upgraded to 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 250 GB m.2 SSD, replaced screen with matte display.). Docking station, 2 external displays. Multiple external batteries.
    • Previous main machine: ThinkPad X220 (i7, 16GB, swappable hard disks) – mainly used for testing various distros
    • X61s Command line only system – C2D 1.6GHz / 6GB RAM / 250GB SSD
    • T43 – Pentium M 2.0GHz / 1.5GiB RAM / 40GB disk
    • R50e – Celeron 1.4GHz / 1.2GiB RAM / 40GB disk 
    • 380XD – Pentium / 32MiB RAM / 4GB disk / Windows 98
  • Joe
    • Thinkpad x120e
      • One of the few early netbooks with a 64 bit processor
      • Not quite fast enough for daily use
      • Works phenomenally as a batocera machine playing old games including ps1’s armored core masters of arena. 
  • Leo
    • Thinkpad T450s
      • My daily driver. Bought it second-hand about 2 years ago now. My first and only Thinkpad. I’ve used others before, and quite liked them. Best laptop choice I’ve ever made.
      • i5 5300u, 20GB RAM, 512GB SATA SSD with Mint, 256GB m.2/SATA with Windows. Considering putting something else on it since I haven’t booted into Windows on this laptop for over a month.

Vibrations from the Ether:

  • Erik Lietz

I didn’t realize I would be the only listener to submit my 2020 predictions. Thanks for reading them! I accept the challenge to beat the rest of you on your predictions! I will have to figure out some audio equipment if I’m invited onto the show.

Since you asked some questions about my predictions, I will offer some clarifications.

  1. Purism will go out of business – the Librem 5 phone endeavor will put it under
    (Purism’s reach into so many products will be their undoing and even with some products doing well, this will be too much for their business to sustain)

  2. The PinePhone will be an amazing product and success story for Pine64
    (I am waiting for the second offering after the Brave Heart edition. The PinePhone product development will set a ‘gold’ standard how to correctly launch new product)

  3. An major industry specific software company (Adobe, Autodesk (for AutoCAD), or similar) will offer a Linux version for a flagship software product
    (Adobe, Autodesk, or another specific flagship program dedicated for a very specific task. Running natively, no Wine, no web apps – AutoCAD can already run as a web app)

  4. Microsoft will offer Office 365 on Linux
    (MS Word, Excel, Power Point at a minimum will be running natively on Linux, no Wine, no web apps)

  5. Linux preinstalled from a major hardware supplier will be available in big box stores available off of the shelf
    (a large hardware vendor (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc)

As Moss said, it very well could have been Martin Wimpress or Alan Poppe who first stated this. I give credit where credit is due, but I can’t find this quote again on my other podcasts to confirm who said it.

By the way – our Linux conversion at the office is now complete! We have all of our workstations (CAD, engineering, and office support staff) running on Mint 19.1 with the 5.0 kernel. We have a server running Ubuntu Server 18.04. Hardly any issues at all, and the issues we do have is with network printing on copiers and accessing files on older Synology NAS boxes. Which, has forced us to do some much needed upgrades on both the copiers and network storage. One main benefit to switching to Linux has been enabling my wife and I as business owners to do all of the IT work ourselves, instead of outsourcing this work. Another benefit is that the setup and maintenance on the Linux machines is easily less than half the amount of time. Time = money! Linux has enabled us to take back control of our computing.

Thanks again for the great podcast!

  • G

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks for the great podcast. I have been listening since 2018. On episode 325, I would like to shout out a big THANK YOU!  to you all for being diplomatic about the recent Purism news and for reminding us of the differences between the Pine Phone and the Librem 5. Bravo! 

  • David

I applied the 19.3 latest updates which required a restart and now Mint hangs after I get the new LM boot screen, it never gets past this screen.  I’ve only been using Linux Desktop for about a year, so still learning and this is the first time I’ve had a single issue with Linux.

I do have TimeShift running Daily, Weekly, Monthly but I can’t even get to that point.

Any suggestions on how I can get to ??? So I can do a restore from TimeShift?

Thanks.

Check This Out:

Announcements:

Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
]]> full 1:01:44 4141 mintCast 326.5 – Biscuits and a Thinkpad (mp3) https://mintcast.org/mintcast-326-5-biscuits-and-a-thinkpad-mp3/ Wed, 22 Jan 2020 06:18:47 +0000 http://mintcast.org/?p=4139 And finally, the feedback
Download
]]>

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In our Innards section, we talk all things ‘Lenovo Thinkpads’

And finally, the feedback

Linux Innards:

  • Maybe the first thing to say is how many Lenovo laptops we have or have used in the past ** indicates still owned.
  • We missed two predictions from Discord!
    • Katya predicts that there will be an official red hat version of fedora IoT
    • Cryptodan predicts that Microsoft will acquire Ubuntu
  • Tony H – x61s, x200, x200 Tablet**, x201**, X230i** 
    • None of the ones I still have are in daily use so the x61 has just gone to go to Egypt with a package of other stuff as a donation to a school there.
    • Back when I first started to use Lenovo laptops about 8-9 years ago the thing that I appreciated on the X200 series was the portability (12” screen) battery life and robustness, these laptops were built to be used on the road and were very well built.
    • If it weren’t for aging eyes, I would probably still use my X230i as it is a great little laptop but these days I use my Dell E7440 as a compromise of portability and screen size. The bigger 400 series are just that little too heavy for toting a couple in a laptop bag which I can do with the E7440.
  • Tony W –  
    • Had an old IBM thinkpad, 2004 or 2005 machine but do not have anymore and don’t know the model (before my Linux days)
    • Using a Lenovo H50 desktop in the house, budget desktop from 2015
      • Was given to me by my grandfather because he couldn’t stomach Windows 10
      • 4th gen i3 processor
      • Upgraded RAM from 4GB to 8GB
      • Added low profile 2GB nvidia card to it
      • Works fine for most purposes and will play low resource steam games
    • Current work laptop Thinkpad T480
      • Processor i7, 8GB RAM
      • Internal + External Battery
          • Internal battery is used until depleted, then external is used
          • Can hot swap batteries
          • Seems to be some debate online about lack of option to set external battery to drain first
        • Extremely solid feel
        • Trackpad is great in my experience (though not a lot to compare to)
        • Perfect size
        • Appreciate the built in webcam cover
      • Only very minor CONS 
        • The thing is a finger smudge magnet (don’t really care)
        • HDMI and USB C display out cannot be used simultaneously – one or the other
      • WHY are the Thinkpad docks so expensive?
        • They are nearly $200
        • Many aftermarket hubs are a lot cheaper
          • Aftermarket hub w/ actual working dual displays seem to run about $80
          • My workaround dock situation: USB C hub with one display + one USB C to HDMI adapter.  Cost ~$40
  • Popey – 
    • Main machine: ThinkPad T450 – Ubuntu 19.10 (i7, upgraded to 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 250 GB m.2 SSD, replaced screen with matte display.). Docking station, 2 external displays. Multiple external batteries.
    • Previous main machine: ThinkPad X220 (i7, 16GB, swappable hard disks) – mainly used for testing various distros
    • X61s Command line only system – C2D 1.6GHz / 6GB RAM / 250GB SSD
    • T43 – Pentium M 2.0GHz / 1.5GiB RAM / 40GB disk
    • R50e – Celeron 1.4GHz / 1.2GiB RAM / 40GB disk 
    • 380XD – Pentium / 32MiB RAM / 4GB disk / Windows 98
  • Joe
    • Thinkpad x120e
      • One of the few early netbooks with a 64 bit processor
      • Not quite fast enough for daily use
      • Works phenomenally as a batocera machine playing old games including ps1’s armored core masters of arena. 
  • Leo
    • Thinkpad T450s
      • My daily driver. Bought it second-hand about 2 years ago now. My first and only Thinkpad. I’ve used others before, and quite liked them. Best laptop choice I’ve ever made.
      • i5 5300u, 20GB RAM, 512GB SATA SSD with Mint, 256GB m.2/SATA with Windows. Considering putting something else on it since I haven’t booted into Windows on this laptop for over a month.

Vibrations from the Ether:

  • Erik Lietz

I didn’t realize I would be the only listener to submit my 2020 predictions. Thanks for reading them! I accept the challenge to beat the rest of you on your predictions! I will have to figure out some audio equipment if I’m invited onto the show.

Since you asked some questions about my predictions, I will offer some clarifications.

  1. Purism will go out of business – the Librem 5 phone endeavor will put it under
    (Purism’s reach into so many products will be their undoing and even with some products doing well, this will be too much for their business to sustain)

  2. The PinePhone will be an amazing product and success story for Pine64
    (I am waiting for the second offering after the Brave Heart edition. The PinePhone product development will set a ‘gold’ standard how to correctly launch new product)

  3. An major industry specific software company (Adobe, Autodesk (for AutoCAD), or similar) will offer a Linux version for a flagship software product
    (Adobe, Autodesk, or another specific flagship program dedicated for a very specific task. Running natively, no Wine, no web apps – AutoCAD can already run as a web app)

  4. Microsoft will offer Office 365 on Linux
    (MS Word, Excel, Power Point at a minimum will be running natively on Linux, no Wine, no web apps)

  5. Linux preinstalled from a major hardware supplier will be available in big box stores available off of the shelf
    (a large hardware vendor (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc)

As Moss said, it very well could have been Martin Wimpress or Alan Poppe who first stated this. I give credit where credit is due, but I can’t find this quote again on my other podcasts to confirm who said it.

By the way – our Linux conversion at the office is now complete! We have all of our workstations (CAD, engineering, and office support staff) running on Mint 19.1 with the 5.0 kernel. We have a server running Ubuntu Server 18.04. Hardly any issues at all, and the issues we do have is with network printing on copiers and accessing files on older Synology NAS boxes. Which, has forced us to do some much needed upgrades on both the copiers and network storage. One main benefit to switching to Linux has been enabling my wife and I as business owners to do all of the IT work ourselves, instead of outsourcing this work. Another benefit is that the setup and maintenance on the Linux machines is easily less than half the amount of time. Time = money! Linux has enabled us to take back control of our computing.

Thanks again for the great podcast!

  • G

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks for the great podcast. I have been listening since 2018. On episode 325, I would like to shout out a big THANK YOU!  to you all for being diplomatic about the recent Purism news and for reminding us of the differences between the Pine Phone and the Librem 5. Bravo! 

  • David

I applied the 19.3 latest updates which required a restart and now Mint hangs after I get the new LM boot screen, it never gets past this screen.  I’ve only been using Linux Desktop for about a year, so still learning and this is the first time I’ve had a single issue with Linux.

I do have TimeShift running Daily, Weekly, Monthly but I can’t even get to that point.

Any suggestions on how I can get to ??? So I can do a restore from TimeShift?

Thanks.

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Wrap-up:

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

  • Josh for all his work on the website and the livestream
  • Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
  • Archive.org for hosting our audio files
  • The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about (Thanks, Clem!)
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