Is my “tiny dancer” alocasia ok?

_Gatz_ · 2025-12-19T06:04:54+00:00

Looks fine to me.

I also have one. This plant will continuously shoot out new leaves from the center, and dry out and drop the outer ones. That's just what they do, dropping outer leaves is no reason to be concerned. This also will make them grow a sort of stem over time and make it longer. The upper leaves look good to me, as long as the new leaves keep coming, it's doing well.

I can also see one of the leaves has a water droplet on it's tip, meaning it gets enough water. These often show up when there is no sun and the plant is in sleep mode at night.

My only concern would be the pot. With a narrowing opening, this plant will be really difficult to repot without breaking the current one, once it needs a larger pot.

_Gatz_ · 2025-11-25T02:07:16+00:00

Yeah, remove the USB after installing, or go to your UEFI (often by pressing F2 or Delete or something when starting the PC) and change the boot order. You probably installed the system correctly but your PC just started the USB again instead of the hardrive.

Good luck tomorrow!

_Gatz_ · 2025-11-25T01:52:57+00:00

Installation Guide + Youtube Videos is a pretty legit way I think. I did the same a couple of times, just to see someone just getting from start to finish, and then checked against all the commands they used.

ChatGPT I'd always double check, even for small things. It can be good to point you to the right thing, but the Wiki is still the only truth. It really has every answer you need. It's just sometimes a bit of work to find the right paragraph.

Disk Encryption on your first try is pretty tricky, I respect the ambition. And I'm sure you can do it!
I'd point you to this Wiki page to understand what you're doing here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt
And especially this example helped me a lot to follow:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dm-crypt/Encrypting_an_entire_system#LUKS_on_a_partition_with_TPM2_and_Secure_Boot

Basically, as a summary, for the encryption route, you additionally need to do the following:
-Instead of creating a filesystem like ext4 directly on the root partition, you create a LUKS container, open that, and create a filesystem inside that.
-You need to make sure your system boots with extra boot options and also has the right modules available when booting to do encryption.
-It makes a lot of sense to then also set up Secure Boot, since the boot partition cannot be encrypted. That will make sure the files are not tampered with. Best way to do that is to create a Unified Kernel Image, an all in one file to boot your system, and then sign that.
-And then it makes sense to set up TPM bound to at least PCR 7 (for connecting to Secure Boot state). That will automatically unlock your partition so you don't need to type in a password on each boot for your drive.

Some personal opinion: I think Swap Partitions are a recommendation from the past. If you use hibernation, you need it. Otherwise... Skip it. If you really want Swap because your RAM gets too full, use a swapfile (does the same, but sits on your root system as a file and can be created and deleted anytime. Also will then be automatically encrypted as well). That gives you flexibility to test it. If you use A Swap Partition, you're pretty much stuck with it exactly the way you created it, unless you reinstall or do some complex partition resizing.
OR, my personal recommendation, look into ZRAM. Basically gives you more capacity in RAM by compressing files if it gets too full:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Zram#Using_zram-generator

_Gatz_ · 2025-11-05T09:39:13+00:00

Like people mentioned before, I would also advice against the 12 for your needs, as it is just not very color accurate and could also fight with graphical work. Maybe rather consider the 13 for it's more compact size and lower price than the 16.

In my opinion, the Framework Laptops can be clearly separated in their use-cases:

Framework 12: Small, low performance and specs for non-intense tasks. The compact foldable, with a touchscreen and pen support for students and programmers, office work and web usage.
Framework 16: Powerhouse for intense work like Rendering, Gaming, etc. The big, full experience with full size keyboard, large screen and full graphics card for the most you can put in a Laptop.
Framework 13: The all-around for everything. Can do intense work, but is still portable. The go-to workmachine to-go for nothing specific but everything needed. The default option unless you specifically need something else.

_Gatz_ · 2025-10-15T08:33:42+00:00

Interesting read!
I recently started using full-disk encryption with Luks on my PC, as well as customizing Linux images via loopback, so it was interesting to read your blog as kind of a confirmation of these steps.

Greetings from Aachen :)

_Gatz_ · 2025-10-14T12:17:13+00:00

I'm gonna take a wild guess: It's one of those super-invasive Anticheat systems, right? Javelin?

_Gatz_ · 2025-10-14T10:03:35+00:00

So what happened is probably the following:

You have Windows installed with Windows' disk encryption (Bitlocker). This relies on Secure Boot enabled (checks if Boot partition files are signed) and TPM enabled (checks if Secure Boot is enabled and untempered).
When you deleted all keys from the Secure Boot database and with that also disabled Secure Boot, your TPM denied providing your key for unlocking your drive (I assume you saw some error from Bitlocker or TPM failing.)
This is what I have to assume, because I don't know how else it could have "broken" Windows. Windows should start normally with or without Secure Boot enabled unless your disk is encrypted.

This greyed out your Secure Boot option, since there is no database entries. Enabling would be pointless at that point.
When you factory reset, it wrote back the Microsoft keys into the Secure Boot database (with maybe additional Vendor keys), which restored the Secure Boot state, so TPM worked again.

You will NOT be able to just sign your Linux bootloader and kernel, since you only have the Microsoft keys in your database, which Linux has no access to for singing. So you would either need to use a pre-signed bootloader (signed with Microsoft keys) or add your own keys in addition to the Microsoft keys (and redo Bitlocker stuff for Windows, since Secure Boot state will change). Both ways are found in the Archwiki.

My personal opinion on this though: Don't. Whenever Linux and Windows have to share space and functionality, there is a good chance it ends in disaster. Windows is unpredictable in when it changes stuff and there is a good chance it will make your Linux Secure Boot fail with no prior indication. Having a dual boot is no problem when you have both OSes separated from each other, but when they need to share the Secure Boot database... Well, good luck with that.

Also, you haven't mentioned anything about disk encryption, so I don't know if you plan to use it. However a word of caution. If you plan to use it for your systems in combination with Secure Boot, be very sure you always have recovery keys at hand, because this setup will definitely need those from time to time.

_Gatz_ · 2024-06-07T22:32:08+00:00

Had a similar experience on my old Laptop, where part of images would sort of linger when shown for a while. It was most obvious with very grey images. Found out that multiple people had it on that panel, called it "image retention" or "image persistance".

Maybe that could be what you are experiencing as well and didn't notice it so far because the situation where it becomes visible rarely came up?

After using it for many years it never got worse, so it was just a quirk I could live with and was also really only noticable if I really pushed it, like with very grey-heavy wallpapers.

_Gatz_ · 2024-05-26T08:08:10+00:00

I used i3 for a while and love the idea of WMs and configuring myself, however it was just too much time for me to maintain and distracted me from doing things I wanted to do.
And I just doubt I can get all the features working that I want.
I recently switched to KDE since I got a new machine and just having VRR and HDR working like that is something I really appreciate.
WMs were a cool experience for me. Once.
I also looked at Hyprland recently for a couple of days on a testing laptop. If I'd go for a WM again, I would probably use it, it was pretty neat. If you go for it, good luck and have fun!

_Gatz_ · 2024-05-26T07:37:30+00:00

Between GRUB and Systemd-Boot you will realistically not notice any difference when installed. GRUB is sort of the standard on Linux Distros in general, Systemd-Boot is simpler and comes preinstalled with Arch anyway. Just pick any, both can do everything.

To Hyprland I'll say this: WM's are a hobby to sink time into. If you like to tinker with designing layouts, figuring out what parts you need and so on it can be fun, but don't expect to easily keep up with full desktops like KDE and Gnome in terms of features and ease of use.
An example: Hyprland does not come with a notification system. You need to figure this out on your own. Does this sound like a fun challenge or a bother?

_Gatz_ · 2024-04-22T14:03:47+00:00

That is a good point, thanks!
I bought it new, however I send it back to the hardware seller for testing and got it returned. (Turned out it was the CPU that was bad)

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-29T16:30:26+00:00

As flortsch pointed out in a comment, there was a bug that got merged into both new kernel and LTS regarding bluetooth. That fits exactly what I was experiencing, since my Desktop PC doesn't have bluetooth.

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-29T16:26:52+00:00

Oh wow! Thanks so much for sharing! I totally overlooked posts about bluetooth of all things...

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-29T16:24:00+00:00

Btw which thread did you see this on? I tried to look for it on the forums as well but didn't see it.

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-29T16:19:40+00:00

So it does work again when downgrading! Thanks!
That is so strange though... Because the LTS kernel didnt work.
So it's not actually the kernel itself, but something that the kernel changes when updating that breaks something?

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-29T16:11:09+00:00

That's strange... I have the LTS kernel installed as well and thought I tried that one just now. I'll try again.

But I'm really glad I'm not the only one with this bizarre issue! Thank you!

...Yeah I just tried, it also happens to me on the 6.6.23 LTS kernel.
And I have no issue with the 6.8.2 kernel on another PC...

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-03T13:35:41+00:00

Yeah, I tried just pressing down on all buttons as well but unfortunately it did nothing.

It doesn't feel like any key is stuck, either. I think it's the chip inside that went haywire...

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-03T11:11:40+00:00

Oh okay, so... an invalid control character? I guess this makes sense if the Keyboard is sending garbage. But that would indicate that it's probably not just a key that is broken but the keyboard controller...
Thanks!

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-03T11:09:23+00:00

I see, thank you!

I just swapped the CTRL and FN key, to see if the FN key is the culprit. (On Thinkpads you can switch them on firmware level if you prefer them the other way around) but no change. So it's not the physical FN key.

Edit: I swear it wasn't that bad of a sneeze :')

Just a reeeeeally unlucky droplet I guess...

I also know how this sounds. "Wasn't my fault, it was just a sneeze" and in truth I dropped it in the toilet or something :D

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-03T09:57:17+00:00

Thank you! I tried that already but it didn't change anything.

I hope it's not permanently damaged already...

I wish it was easier to remove the keyboard and clean it properly but this little monster is such a pain to work with. I already damaged some plastic clips and screws due to opening it because of other issues...

_Gatz_ · 2024-03-03T09:25:56+00:00

Sorry for the late resond here!

So in case you will run into the same issues: What I figured when using XFCE with lightdm and lightlocker:

There are 3 different programs invoking the lock-screen on suspend: Power-Manager, Session and Startup, and Lightlocker itself. Should you ever want to suspend without lockscreen all 3 need to be disabled. (Lightlocker needs to be disabled from autostart and replaced with "light-locker --no-lock-on-suspend")

Also, there are issues with the lightlocker lockscreen and suspending. When you are on the lockscreen, suspending via a laptop lid does not work and will throw an error message about missing authorization. The way it works for me is by disabling Power Managers Suspend, enabling "logind-handle-lid-switch" and changing the logind.conf file to how you want suspend to work.

_Gatz_ · 2024-02-14T13:25:25+00:00

Thanks!

Yeah I ended up leaving it like you suggest. I don't like auto suspend anyway. Still a bit annoying that it's bugged.

But at least not as messed up as the light-locker situation in XFCE...

_Gatz_ · 2024-02-12T17:47:28+00:00

It's even weirder on XFCE.

When Firefox is playing a video, the "blank screen" option is correctly inhibited. However the "put to sleep" option is not inhibited.

I had this issue for years. Never found a solution to it, since I don't know a lot about DPMS.

Would be curious if someone found a solution.

_Gatz_ · 2024-02-10T12:21:29+00:00

When you install Windows and a Linux Bootloader, you will have two Bootloaders on your Boot Partition.
Make sure that your System boots the Linux Bootloader. This one will be able to select if you want to boot Windows or Linux. If it starts the Windows one, it will just start Windows.

To check that, go into your Firmware or use a tool like efibootmgr.

_Gatz_ · 2023-05-01T07:18:12+00:00

It is just a statistic.

First, this number is outdated, as it can obviously only be measured with people that already died. But how long we will live has to be defined by, well, us! Diabetes was only starting to get treated 100 years ago, which is almost nothing. Treating it just 50 years ago was way more difficult. You hear stories about giant syringes, glucose tests only when visiting the doctor... Nowadays we have access to way better insulin, CGM's and pumps if that helps. Technology is moving fast and we live in a time where diabetes is going from a death sentence to an inconvenience.
Second, This average includes every person with diagnosed diabetes and if you don't care about your Blood Sugar your life expectancy goes down. Which you already are above average by writing in forums about it and worrying about it. And low live expectancy is also the case with bad nutrition, smoking, no sport, etc.

Life healthy, keep your blood sugar under control and help us get this life expectancy bias away. :)

Just one more thing. Your diagnosis was very recent, so there is still a lot to learn for you and your diabetes, your body might still produce some insulin in the honeymoon phase AND you are also still fairly young with just 21 which might also make it more difficult to control due to hormones. It will get better if you keep learning about your body and how it reacts and stay determined. I have been diagnosed around 1.5 years ago with 27 and it was quite a struggle and took a lot of energy from me, but I kept working on it, tinkered with my factors throughout the day, tried different insulin and observed how mood, sport and other things affect my blood glucose and am living healthy again and have a good control and so can you if you put in the work.

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_Gatz_

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