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guybrush · 13 July 2023 12:36

Ah yes. SuSE definitely felt like the way to go, back then. In hindsight, YaST wasn't great, but once you'd got your video drivers working, the fun could begin. Six CD's full of packages, the world was our oyster .

Austin · 13 July 2023 12:42

Now that's an exact copy of Windows System Monitor .

BluishHumility · 13 July 2023 14:00

Dang, that's sad. The NUCs have always been some awesome little computers.

I actually have a NUC 11 extreme (pictured in the article), with an ARC GPU and a pair of Intel NVMe drives in it (the NVMes were chosen just for the sake of going obnoxiously full-Intel ). It's basically a full-size desktop computer, not a cute little mini-PC like most of them are, but it's awesome and I'll probably run it for a long long time.

RIP "Next Unit of Compute".

Bro · 13 July 2023 16:39

I had an nVidia card. The fun started then, in pre-YaST days, anyway.

These kids nowadays, they’ll never enjoy the sense of accomplishment gained by doing something like configuring their video cards & monitors from a first-boot Xterm.

And that brings up a point I’d like to state about terminal use vs. application use in Desktop Linux. The terminal was just fine at first, but that was mostly current & former UNIX-heads running servers at that time.

So when I started it was entirely because I wanted a Linux Desktop. And so did everyone else that I came up with, it seemed. Applications with GUIs and all. We thought those old Unix bums used the terminal too damned much. It was difficult enough even installing and configuring everything from a terminal.

And that’s when a tremendous amount of Desktop development began, and it was nearly too rapid to keep up with. Distributions started to spring up left & right. You started hearing mention of it among Windows user groups & forums. And that drew even more people to Desktop Linux. Along with the burgeoning distributions, more Desktop & WM interface designers, system analysts, application developers (code monkeys), and just plain Users seemed to come over by the boatload.

It was an exciting time to be alive. Thanks for jarring up some old memories.

Colin · 13 July 2023 18:55

We've reported on growing endorsement for Wayland recently. The team developing Linux for Apple Silicon Macs said they didn't have the manpower to work on X.org support. A year ago, the developers of the Gtk toolkit used by many Linux apps and desktops said that the next version may drop support for X11. But this sort of thing feels to us like it's trying to push users towards Wayland, rather than actually attracting anyone.

One of the developers of the Budgie desktop, Campbell Jones, recently published a blog post with a wildly controversial title that made The Reg FOSS desk smile: "Wayland is pretty good, actually." He lays out various benefits that Wayland brings to developers, and concludes:

Primarily, what I've learned is that Wayland is actually really well-designed. The writing is on the wall for X, and Wayland really is the future.

Colin · 14 July 2023 14:38

For me, the key sell is the array of large graphs (powered by OpenGL to reduce CPU load). These make it easy to get a birds-eye overview of how different part in your system are performing under load.

The “Apps” tab gives you a more traditional table-based view of processes. At present you can’t perform any actions from here, e.g., select a process and kill it, but it will make it easy to spot any errant processes, which you can then manage elsewhere.

Mission Center features:

Monitor overall or per-thread CPU usage
See RAM and Swap usage
Monitor Disk utilization and transfer rates
Monitor network utilization and transfer speeds
View network interface information
Monitor GPU usage (NVIDIA and AMD only)
See a breakdown of resource usage by app and process

There are limitations to this app versus more established and well-tested tools like GNOME’s System Monitor. But this is just the first formal release.

RodneyCK · 14 July 2023 15:15

UltraBlack · 14 July 2023 16:53

anon72786180 · 15 July 2023 08:17

Three kinds of backup:

Backup to a portable drive, where dropping it means you lose the backup.
Backup to a remote machine, where a crash means you lose the backup.
Backup to the cloud, where they will conveniently lose the backup for you.

Bro · 15 July 2023 16:11

Or your data gets infected with malware, virus, whatever. You do full backs up to tape, rotating them each day, five days each week and each subsequent backup on this server becomes infected. But…this isn’t the only server on the network, and since the virus infection originated and spreads throughout one networked server, the whatever-it-is has spread throughout every linked server of the entire organization. And it also impacts the operation of every desktop computer and mini-computer, as well. Man!

That’s exactly what happened at an undisclosed, combined City and Borough (county) in Alaska. I worked there as the Deputy Assessor back in the mid-2000s. Some dumbass employee in the Engineering Department did something he wasn’t supposed to do via email or the internet, and it brought every department linked with or sharing data to a crawl. Some servers couldn’t handle it and crashed.

The virus/malware/worm/whatever kept replicating. Every time the IT Department thought they had it beaten, there it was again. This went on for several weeks–I’d guess about three–and many of us started keeping the data that would normally be replicated to our servers on our desktop machines. IT finally found the originating machine and resolved the whole thing. A bored engineer’s desktop PC. Running Windows, of course.( But not before they inspected my machine. I was friends with the mail sysop and a helpdesk person in the IT Dept., and the only other person in the Borough’s employ outside of IT that had permission to run Linux–SuSE–on his office PC. I was high enough up the food chain that it was somewhat easy to get what I told them I needed for work. But that always comes with a few not-so-friendly folks, too, usually jealousy, so… )

Anyway–Backups–they work when you test them, and fail when you need them.

heinrikur · 16 July 2023 06:55

My brother sent me this article so I wanted to share it here.

Austin · 16 July 2023 07:35

Oracle takes a nice jab at Redhat!

Bro · 17 July 2023 17:26

My favorite distribution that isn't Garuda is going to get an updated installer.

If you want a wee bit more, give it the --advanced flag

# archinstall --advanced

But I'd advise waiting until next month's Archlinux ISO when Archinstall 2.6 should (hopefully) be out of RC status.

A warning to those who may be contemplating Archinstall: It gives you the base and whatever DE you choose. There are many, many things still to do after an Archinstall configuration-wise if the user wants the full-reach of their chosen installed environment. The whole thing, post-install, takes me most of a day, and I have experience with that installer. Protect your data.

Archinstall is, as @dr460nf1r3 would say, "a great learning opportunity."

RodneyCK · 17 July 2023 17:45

Yeah, I thought about trying a pure Arch install, but then I started to comb through the wiki on all that was involved.

I will stick to Garuda.

I did take note that they are including Hyprland now, interesting. I have my eye on this window manager, just waiting for it to bake-in a bit.

Bro · 17 July 2023 18:08

Archinstall is not that. Much simpler, especially if you know things like where you want it installed, preferred filesystem, and which bootloader you like (i. e. grub, systemd-boot, or efistub). It would be very simple for someone like you. It asks more questions than a vanilla Calamari, but more than Endeavour’s Calamari setup. Except it’s text-based.

Archinstall is not the “official” way to install Arch. That’s still the tried-but-true “I need a tree-killing Wiki printout” method. You can get official help in the forums, but you’re obliged to tell them that was your installation method. It is supported by Arch. And it gets better nearly every month.

@RodneyCK, if I had a fully-functioning, really tricked-out DE like I’ve seen of yours, I’d have to think long and hard before changing it. I’d have to feel really bored. Archinstall is as vanilla as vanilla gets. Or…

“You’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”

RodneyCK · 17 July 2023 18:56

Oh got it, I thought you were referring to Arch's installer. Yeah, every once in a purple moon I get an itch to start exploring DE's and other distros, mostly curious, mostly boredom. I have an old mac I like to throw things on and explore. Then I think of all the config work, Arch tinkering I have done to get my system to where I want it. The thought of starting over on the main systems seems daunting, and I really haven't found another distro that out shines Garuda/Arch.

I do have my eye on BlendOS and those like it. I find the ability to contain everything and blend OS's fascinating, but I need read more about it, and do some testing. Will it end up being BloatOS??

In the meantime, I live vicariously through you. You bring the linux exploration, I will bring the popcorn.

Bro · 17 July 2023 23:58

I am. Archinstall python script is the only “Arch installer” that Arch has, approved and supported by Arch, and on every monthly Arch ISO for the past two years. The only user requirement is that they note this information in any help request posted in the Arch forums. Archinstall is a python script that automates the install. The “twist” is “one fundamental function which is to be a flexible library to manage services, packages and other aspects inside the installed system.”

The “old way” of doing everything from a terminal, following the Wiki step-by-step is the most educative. It is still the best way in many regards, because IMHO it can be very instructive. I certainly learned quite a bit the first couple of times I did so. That doesn’t exist with Archinstall. The only thing you learn is how to run the script. But Arch wasn’t always bereft an installer. It had one a few years before I started with it, but it’s maintainer stopped maintaining it and no one stepped-in to fill his shoes. @mandog probably remembers it. Hence “hand installs” and the need to follow the Arch Wiki installation process with the steps provided. And that’s all it is–a process. That process also kills a lot of trees and it is really nice to put away the massive number of printed out Wiki pages with my old installation notes. Further, the old way ends with the installation of only the base system–no DEs or WMs. No bootloader to KDE or anything like that. Nothing beyond the basic system. Archinstall does provide those options.

The major drawback is that users of Archinstall can be your basic idiot. “Arch Installation For Dummies” in that regard. But for experienced users it saves beaucoup time. And it allows me to clean-install the various DEs and WMs available in Arch. And playing around with them is lot of fun for me.

I just read that installing Arch is good for fending off Dementia. https://neurosciencenews.com/mental-acuity-social-dementia-23640/

I’m 71 and can use all the help I can get.

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/archinstall/

Take a look at the python scripting. It follows the same steps outlined in the Arch Wiki.

github.com

archlinux/archinstall/blob/master/archinstall/scripts/guided.py

from pathlib import Path
from typing import Any, TYPE_CHECKING, Optional

import archinstall
from archinstall import info, debug
from archinstall import SysInfo
from archinstall.lib import locale
from archinstall.lib import disk
from archinstall.lib.global_menu import GlobalMenu
from archinstall.lib.configuration import ConfigurationOutput
from archinstall.lib.installer import Installer
from archinstall.lib.menu import Menu
from archinstall.lib.mirrors import use_mirrors, add_custom_mirrors
from archinstall.lib.models import AudioConfiguration
from archinstall.lib.models.bootloader import Bootloader
from archinstall.lib.models.network_configuration import NetworkConfiguration
from archinstall.lib.profile.profiles_handler import profile_handler

if TYPE_CHECKING:
	_: Any

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mandog · 18 July 2023 12:19

My 1st Arch install was before that new fangled Arch way installer 2002 still the best way to install a non tainted install if you want to try it just install Crux linux that is what Arch was originally based on Linux done correctly and has never changed.

Bro · 18 July 2023 13:24

I hope I’m not hijacking this thread (much) but I did have comments about the Archinstall script.

Reading the Arch Forums this morning, as every morning, there was a help post wherein the moderator castigated (tore into) an almost-Archinstall user who fit the “Dummies” category. Yet he’d used canned distributions for many years. His problem was also that he knew very little “under the hood” workings beyond a DE and a GUI interface in canned Linux distributions up 'til now.

The various moderators there have various opinions about Archinstall. In this case a very low one of Archinstall being used by someone who had used several different “Arch-based” distros for several years. He had used Endeavour, Arco, and who knows, maybe Garuda. It really didn’t matter.

But the moderator had a point. Archinstall should not be used as an introduction to Arch. And I agree. That intended users should know basic terminology, file structure, mkinitcpio, udev, fstab, yada yada. It is easy to run the Archinstall script. Just boot from an ISO, type “archinstall”, answer a few questions, press enter, and off you go. Keeping it running is another issue.

If one doesn’t do it correctly because they don’t know what they are doing, then can’t maintain their system, can’t fix something if it breaks. (That also applies to an install using the wiki, though, lol.)

I would feel terribly guilty if someone who may not be ready for Archinstall using it and failing because I recommended it, and they just weren’t ready. And it is possible I may have. But in this case, it turns out he’d used YouTube videos to help do the Arch installation. Nobody in their right mind does that.

And yet…I jumped into Arch, barely knowing what I was doing, yet I survived. And I believe anyone can who has verve and determination. Screw the naysayers and let the devil take the hind most. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, else what’s a heaven for?”

But…you have been warned.

Colin · 19 July 2023 13:03

Black Box 0.14.0 changes at-a-glance:

New default Adwaita and Adwaita Dark color schemes
Style picker in main menu
Customize working directory of new tabs
Tab/window close confirmations if active process running
Option to disable terminal bell
Option to use bright colors for bold text
See desktop notifications for process completion
‘Open’ and ‘copy link’ options added to the right-click menu
Rename tabs (<3)
Performance improvements

Highlights of today’s NVIDIA Linux proprietary driver update include:

Fixed a bug that caused excessive memory consumption when OpenGL and Vulkan applications were running while VT-switched away from X.

Fixed a bug that could cause the kernel to panic when video memory is full.

Fixed a bug that prevented displays from refreshing when using an NVIDIA PRIME Display Offload sink.

Fixed a bug that could cause some Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) monitors to flicker by allowing the refresh rate to drop below the monitor’s minimum.

Fixed a bug that caused corruption when running Vulkan applications.

Fixed a regression that could cause a system hang when running windowed Vulkan applications with sync-to-vblank enabled.

Fixed a video memory leak observed when turning off a connected monitor while using certain Wayland compositors.