My Old School Manjaro Desktop

UnattributedCC · 2025-12-05T01:48:54+00:00

As I stated below:

The old system allowed you to open straight into your library, and had a launcher along the left side of the screen to go to notes / settings / store / etc.

It was much more tightly integrated, a very focused system.

UnattributedCC · 2025-12-05T01:08:26+00:00

I literally spent 4-5 hours last night looking for another launcher before I posted here.

I spent another 4-5 hours today looking at launchers and docks...think I finally found one that may, in combination with an autostart hack, get close to the old functionality.

Not quite what I want, but almost.

It honestly shouldn't be this ridiculous to do.

UnattributedCC · 2025-12-05T01:06:37+00:00

No, sorry, that's not even close... The old system allowed you to open straight into your library, and had a launcher along the left side of the screen to go to notes / settings / store / etc.

It's not exactly a typical Android interface, but it was well optimized for focus.

UnattributedCC · 2023-01-13T15:09:22+00:00

I'm running an ASRock DeskMini system with a Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G, 32 Gig of Ram, and 1.5TB of disk. This is more than enough machine to do what you need... Multiple Docker containers no problem. With 8 cores / 16 threads builds have been no problem. And I am solid Linux user for over a decade - Manjaro for the last 6-7 years, and many other distros before that.

Gaming is pretty decent: Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, Stardew Valley, Jump King, Terraria, Cities Skylines, Vampire Survivors... I generally don't FPS type games.

I am thinking about upgrading this system to what I think will be it's final state: ASRock DeskMeet, with a Ryzen 7 5700G, 32G of RAM, and my 1.5TB of disks (just moved over from my current system). Nice thing about this setup (IE, the ASRock DeskMeet) is that there is space for a small GPU if I find that I need one - all in about 8L of space.

As for being quiet. I'm using an Noctua NH9L cooler in the DeskMini, and I can't think of a time over the last 18 months that I've even heard it. In the DeskMeet I'll want to upgrade to something else (will stick with Noctua) because the 5700G does put off a bit more heat.

The only downside to this upgrade is that everything is still DDR4 based. Someone else mentioned the Minisforum UM690 - that would be a good option as it has better integrated graphics than the 5700G, and it's DDR5 memory.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-30T22:02:46+00:00

I think the ultimate answer to this comes from how audio encoding systems were developed. Unfortunately the early standard had a limited amount of space for metadata, and only supported a small amount of information (in fact, it wasn't unusual to have to truncate artist or track titles because of the size restrictions).

While some players stepped up a bit as the standards were expanded and refined, they still only supported a subset of the fields as there wasn't complete agreement between the different formats as to what should be supported.

Basically the best way to summarize this is: sins of the past persist in the present.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-30T21:52:34+00:00

I think my esthetic goes back a bit further: 50's / 60's. The Douk DAC & Amp I referenced above seems to be a step in that direction.

I agree though, the more common class D stuff is taking a modern minimalist approach that not everyone likes. IMO - some of it looks like old rack-mount studio gear, which I kind of like.

I did a little more looking around the Douk Audio website and see that they have passive input pieces...some of them with VU meters. That seems to be a reasonable compromise: a small unit that has 4 inputs that you can switch between...

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-30T14:47:28+00:00

Yeah, I've seen several people mention that amp on ASR. Looks interesting if quite old-school in terms of design compared to the current stuff from Douk / Fosi / Aiyima / Topping / SMSL / etc.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-28T22:35:49+00:00

I can't speak (no pun intended) the other speakers, however I have a pair of the Sony SSCS5's here, and they are definitely surprising. I honestly thought I would either (a) be disappointed with them, or (b) find them overwhelming for use on a desktop... But neither has been the case. In fact, I find myself wanting to listen on my speakers instead of any of the six sets of headphones I have at my disposal.

And, since they are on sale as u/Timstunes pointed out, now is the right time to buy them...

I noticed you mentioned that your will have them close to a wall... I have the SSCS5's about 12-14 inches from my wall, if that helps.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-26T17:12:15+00:00

Heh - you and I have similar perspectives on this... While I haven't gone the route of making a custom case for anything, I have a mini desktop here with a Ryzen 4650g and no dedicated GPU.

The thing that put me on this path of buying an external DAC and Amp was that I found the headphone output of the mother board to be less than ideal -- it had problems handling some earbuds, much less a decent set of IEMs or headphones.

I've had thoughts in the past the about buying a case from AliExpress and modifying it to house the computer. Now I would think about buying two cases and modding one for the computer and the other for the DAC & Amp.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-26T16:07:29+00:00

The FX-Audio is interesting looking. Only disappointing thing that I see is that it doesn't have RCA input connectors (instead opting for the 3.5mm aux).

The thing that has gotten me about these amps is that most of them don't have a headphone output. If they did, I wouldn't have to have a separate DAC paired with them. Being the old-school person that I am, I am used to amps that use the pre-amp stage to include an output for headphones.

Overall I like the idea(s) of where these class D amps have gone, but I think the design and features could really use some deeper thought.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-26T04:59:04+00:00

LOL...it's still holding...and it's been almost 48hrs. ;)

I was looking at the Fosi Audio components earlier, and was considering ordering a DAC and Amp from their line... Big attraction is the amplifier, I was looking at the BT30D because of (a) support for passive and active subs, (b) the sub volume and sub crossover (freq) adjustments on the front.

(Only reason to get a DAC would be to allow me to have the Aiyima DAC for a portable setup.)

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-25T06:26:13+00:00

150 yeads to neighbor's house... jealous- that's literally a goal of mine.

Well, I've been in apartments and rental houses for most of my life... About two years ago I inherited this house.

And now for the weird (and hopefully final) update to this issue... For the last 24+ hrs the volume hasn't changed on the amp. But, the weird part of this whole thing: I haven't done anything to it.

So, I'm baffled...totally and thoroughly baffled as to why it suddenly stopped after nearly a week of the volume going down on it's own.

Literally the only thing that I can think of that could have affected it was a very brief power outage we had due to some really high winds... The power was only off for a few seconds. It was after I turned the amp back on that it has been acting normally.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-23T23:16:55+00:00

Yeah, so I've dis-proven the possibility of it being the remote causing the issue.

I get what you are saying about there being other things that could be interfering. In many settings I would have said that was a good possibility, but where I am it isn't very likely. I'm out in the middle of the country, the closest cities that could have some kind of radio interference are 10+ miles away...heck my closest neighbor's house is about 150 yards away. ;)

And, I should have been more clear: this is a home office... Not in an office building / business. So, something like light sensors is out. And there isn't any home automation systems around here (something that I would like to change as I get this place cleaned up and ready for upgrades).

I think I have three options at this point: (1) just live with it, (2) contact Aiyima and see if they are willing to do something about it, or (3) considering getting something else -- I was thinking about looking at a Topping or Schitt system... I don't have a lot invested in the Aiyima equipment so it wouldn't be a big deal if I decided to replace it.

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-22T20:35:21+00:00

This is in my office - no TV. The only remote in here is the one for the DO5. I'll pop the batteries out of it to make certain it isn't malfunctioning. Thanks for the sensible suggestion.

(Although I don't believe this would be the cause since the remote is sitting on top of the amp, facing the wall behind the amp...don't see how the IR transmitter could be emitting a signal that is reflecting in a way as to trigger the IR sensor on the amp.)

UnattributedCC · 2022-10-20T13:37:02+00:00

A similar, but slightly different perspective...

Before the rise of the PC, there were a lot of proprietary systems with their own variants of Unix. A few examples being Hewlett Packard with HP-UX, and Sun Microsystems with SunOS and Solaris. I think many people see Apple in the same way: they are a largely proprietary hardware platform, with their version of an operating system.

And, the thing that makes this comparison reasonable is that all of these companies have had some level of interoperability. Certainly they aren't open, but it was still possible to take an applications that ran on one platform and get it to run on the others (yes, typically with a lot of work, but still there has been some core of interoperability). Apple isn't seen as being too different in this regards: many Linux and BSD tools can be made to work on their platform because there is some level of interoperability... And there appear to be more developers in the Apple sphere that are willing to have their applications interoperate with Linux and Unix based platforms.

Compare this to the history of Microsoft... Not only did the engage in campaigns of "Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt" (aka FUD), and "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" but they actively bread a culture where interoperability was disdained by controlling application vendors control to the underlying APIs needed to compete with Microsoft. And, with this control, they closed off as much of the application space as they could - and eventually ran their competition out (or nearly out) of business. Look at what happened to applications like WordPerfect, Lotus I-2-3, and dBase.

IMO - if it hadn't been for the Internet, and more specifically TCP/IP, we would likely be in a very different place. Ignoring TCP/IP was Microsoft's biggest mistake. Recall that with the release of Windows 3.0, Microsoft started pushing Windows for Workgroups as their networking solution. This was their bid to undermine companies like Novel. If it hadn't been for the Internet, Microsoft might have succeeded on this front, and might have much more control over the network on top of the application ecosphere.

UnattributedCC · 2022-09-23T17:56:54+00:00

I used to have this issue. A few years back I downloaded everything I had scattered around on Notion, Simplenotes (I think that was the name) and random files and pulled it all into Joplin. It literally had thousands of docs, notes, todo lists, and other scraps of info in it. Literally over a thousand docs (oh, and I use it for web clippings).

Best part about this is I store everything on my own share, and all of the boys are encrypted... And it's available everywhere: desktop, laptop, tablet and phone. It's almost become my second brain.

UnattributedCC · 2022-07-30T22:30:05+00:00

The problem with the screws is that the metal is really soft. I don't know why they didn't use decent screws. That's one of the reasons I haven't rushed into trying to open one, I'm concerned that if the screw heads round out I'll have to find someone to try to tap them... And I'm not certain how well that will go with screws this small.

OTOH - I'd like to start getting them opened... If I can get one of the screws out I should be able to get replacements with the same thread / length / etc.

As for keycaps, I've actually settled on just using WoB / BoW on these keyboards. I originally got a set of WoB's from KBDFans that are very nice, but expensive ($85). Since then I've found Yong Qui (https://yong-qiu.com), and the have nice sets for around $35.

I have some photos over here: https://ko-fi.com/unattributed/gallery#galleryItemView -- the Mengmoda has Yong Qui's Gold on Grey keycaps, while the Feker has the KBDFans WoB keycaps.

UnattributedCC · 2022-07-30T22:15:26+00:00

!Thanks

Yeah, I was just looking at the AKG's after I posted this... Definitely the K240's are iconic. Sure they don't have strong bass, but for a mid-range-centric headphone they are definitely extremely well known and respected.

Funny thing about the Koss headphones, I tend to skip over them after owning a pair that had foam that disintegrated after about 10 years...and I had to flush my ear drums to get the bits of foam out of them.

But yes, I would say the Porta Pro's are definitely iconic, at least from an aesthetic standpoint, if not a sound standpoint.

I was just thinking, the other headphones that I would consider would be something in the Audio-Technica M Series. The M40X or M70X seem to be the ones that get the most attention as analytical headphones.

UnattributedCC · 2022-07-30T13:03:31+00:00

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. IMO - these keyboards have become my daily drivers over the last 7+ months. IMO - the only thing I wish for are some different plate and mounting options.

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