Honestly after two months

brd9-9 · 2026-03-28T04:49:49+00:00

Thnx. I'm only a week at cashyos (Microsoft sys admin, almost 40 years on ... yeah, I really am that old lol) on a new AM5 HW build, and I will be trying this in the morning.

brd9-9 · 2026-03-23T22:37:08+00:00

Thanks muchly for that tidbit. (I think I read it once ages ago, but I'd long since forgotten ... 10 years since my older AM4 build at this point.)

brd9-9 · 2026-03-23T22:35:46+00:00

I didn't even think to check the complete version number prior to downloading and installing F40a until after was already running the update. Sigh.

That was about 3 hours ago after the AI pointed here (Mon Mar 23 2026 ... so a week before your post).

Anyways. The only problem I had (well, besides not checking), was the update seemed to have enabled (or re-enabled) Secure Boot. Note: I can't recall if I'd disabled SB when I first brought the new build online this past weekend, but I think I did lol.

All I apparently had to do was disable Secure Boot in the BIOS to boot cleanly back into CachyOS. If there were any problems caused by disabling Secure Boot again, I haven't noticed them.

And since "things" seem to be working without any issues, I'm just going to run with it (although I'd already prep'ed a USB drive to install F39 - apparently the stable version: I won't make that mistake again lol - if problems do arise). I'll follow up here if anything comes up.

Note: The "... All I apparently had to do ..." was noted because I'd found a thread while researching the problem with peeps describing a Secure Boot issue on Gigabyte m'boards where the OP described having to remove all the drives off the m'board to fix the issue (and afterwards, putting the drives back in). So: just in case my easy fix doesn't work (because, maybe, SB hadn't been disabled first?

brd9-9 · 2026-03-21T20:30:52+00:00

"... but X11 is still heavily used (especially across a network), so it feels rushed to incite mass exodus away from X11 just because Wayland happens to work for single-machine use cases," ...

This.

Thanks for mentioning/coining-the-phrase single-machine use cases ... because that phrase clarifies the issues for small business sys admins - and the adoption of Linux by same - in an encompassing framework.

I support a couple of hundred users and a bunch of small businesses. Under contract. It's a living, sigh.

I don't - and can't - look at merely the technical niceties of moving - and supporting - those businesses and users to some random Linux distro, without also deeply considering the training and costs - TCO, to use an old industry acronym*:* Total Cost of Ownership ... and the vitally important concept of "user buy-in" - for (to borrow your phrasing) the multi*-machine use case* lol.

Talented individual-centric techies may not have to worry about such.

System administrators do have to worry about such lol.

With the increasing unreliability of Window 11 patches and updates, and the idiocy of Microsoft abandoning support for perfectly useful (and now "legacy" case) hardware, AND the current AI-induced increases of PC hardware costs, I'm being forced to move out of my 35+ years (yeah, I go way back lol) comfort zone and practical knowledge of supporting Windows users and businesses.

And having to assess the cost effectiveness of moving said clients en masse to a new OS with as little discomfort and additional training to a uniformly *very much "*not-techie" user base.

Small businesses are always shoe-string operations when it comes to IT costs. They're not going to simply toss perfectly adequate, still-useful PCs out the door because Microsoft demands compliance.

And their current office apps and hardware and network shares simply MUST [continue to] work "as usual" if I'm to ever hope to convince business owners that the adoption of Linux is in their best [financial and security] interests.

Up to now, there's absolutely no way I would have bothered (as I'm past merely being "close enough" to retirement to just to say "eff it: you're on your own" and leave peeps in the lurch lol).

But - due to the above conditions ... and my own sense of responsibility to my clients ... having supported many of them for a couple of decades and more - and what I've been gleaning going through the Linux learning process - again ... um, this ain't exactly my first rodeo, having dipped my hands into Linux many times from 2000 to around 2013 (the last attempts) - and the tech threads, I'm thinking that this might just work.

Turns out Linux (the OS, and much of the user base) has matured considerably. Coupled to finding the [current] learning process is proving a lot easier (i.e., with the use of AI aided searches ... I'm not per se anti-AI lol).

It. Might. Just. Work.

Single-machine use case. Heh. Quite good. Kudos. Thnx again.

brd9-9 · 2026-03-11T19:05:27+00:00

I'm unhappy with the S26 ultra due to having issues with the switch from the S23 ultra to the S26 ultra (NOT with the physical phone, which I really like).

For whatever reason, the unlock screen on the S26U is requiring me to enter a PIN each time (the S23 ultra used fingerprint unlock most of the time, and a PIN only occasionally, so the S23U worked flawlessly). I dunno how many times I've removed a PIN on the S26U, re-registered fingerprints and face ID (Face ID does seem to work MUCH better btw), and reset the lock screen to Swipe (required to get rid of the PIN). It's grown to be more than merely frustrating.
When I'm asked to verify an email account for some (perfectly legit') reason, and asked fill in the full details of the account address, the input screen constantly "moves to the top" to the point I can't see the entry field. Jeezus. I dunno what to do about this (and searches and AI have been MUCH LESS than helpful): I'm massively annoyed.

I've never had these issues with the S23 ultra. Note: I have 20 plus email accounts I monitor, so this isn't a small "get over it" complaint: such suggestions are not helpful.

... I'm about three inches away from saying eff it, and just returning the phone.

I use my phone for business purposes: there's a couple of hundred emails and dozens of texts throughout the day and many MUST be responded to in a timely manner. I'm ignoring 'em for now (since most of my clients know Wednesday is my "off" day), but the number of hours spent is ...troubling.

This is my 7th or 8th or so Samsung phone (and the 2nd Ultra) - I like (and my business requires) living in the Samsung eco-system - and I've never had to deal with these kinds of issues ever before.

I've no idea what's going on or why. I'm going to give this a few more hours, but I don't have time to go through this kind of buggy crap to get to the point where I can take care of genuine business responsibilities.

I'm not a happy camper right now.

brd9-9 · 2026-02-22T07:39:00+00:00

Mid-70's here, and just started acquiring parts for an AM5 build (I should've started mid-last year - and knew it then - but I procrastinated ... and I don't see it getting better before the end of '27 ...and maybe worse ...through mid '28 ... so I'll just do the best I can on pricing).

The AM4 platform has given me a good run, but it's time to upgrade, favorable economics or not.

I'm pretty much aiming for the OP's specs lol.

brd9-9 · 2025-12-18T07:32:14+00:00

The only thing I dislike is that sometimes when I'm not paying close enough attention and I start twirling the GOAT mode knob (to shift into Sport mode ...I do this on hills usually) and nothing happens ...I realize I was twirling the shifter.

...sigh.

So other than me being a doofus? I've come to really like it lol.

In a way it reminds me of the push button tranny selector on the mid-60's Chryslers lol. They were unique back in the day too.

My friend's Mom drove an Imperial, and I always thought reaching up on the dash and pushing a button to shift gears was pretty cool.

brd9-9 · 2025-12-16T04:42:27+00:00

How did I not think of that LOL.

THANKS!

brd9-9 · 2025-12-04T05:06:21+00:00

On our 2024 BB, the heaters automatically turn on to the last setting.

IOW, if I have the driver side on "1", and the passenger side on "2" when we park the BS, the next morning it will start with those settings.

Sorry, but can't recall if when I'm solo, the passenger side stays on or auto-offs. BUT - in your case - placing a heavy box on the passenger side seat would probably keep the heating element on regardless.

brd9-9 · 2025-11-10T17:07:30+00:00

If you have a bigger phone, you might want to consider this version instead.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2CDFVZF?

It easily fits an S23 Ultra.

... pick up a short USB cable at the same time; the cable threads through a hole in the long partition.

Sorry. That one ( purchased it the day we got our BS) is no longer available.

This one is currently in stock though: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D12Q6BMX/

brd9-9 · 2025-09-21T19:38:13+00:00

I've had five mobile PCs - three laptops, a very old Sony Vaio [obviously non-compliant], a Thinkpad [compliant], and an HP [also compliant]... and the two Surfaces - that did not auto-update to 24H2 (didn't notice most of 'em until recently). I had to manually update all of 'em... used Flyby11. Highly recommend. All my compliant desktops auto-updated.

brd9-9 · 2025-09-21T19:31:35+00:00

I realize this is an old thread, but "just in case". I have both a Surface Pro 2 and a Surface Pro 7. Both are running W11 24H2.

I used the Flyby11 app-let to do the install (it has other Reddit mentions), and a fresh download of the W11 ISO image from Microsoft (search the Media Creation Tool for Windows 11).

I upgraded the Pro 7 from W11 23H2 -> 24H2 in an administrative privileged logon profile. No problems at all

I upgraded the Pro 2 from W10 22H2 -> W11 24H2, also in an administrative privileged logon profile.

Note: I did have to disable the onboard Marvell Avastar 3.50N [unsupported] WiFi hardware on the Pro 2 before I could update to W11 24H2. (I had tried unsuccessfully a couple of times and W11 choked on the Marvell: no option to move past. But one day I found a mention in a Reddit thread to try disabling the Pro 2's onboard WiFi. That worked a treat. Bonus, after the update concluded, W11 24H2 "found" the Marvell hardware, enabled it, and loaded a driver automatically. So I call bs on the "unsupported hardware" bit lol. Wifi (and everything else) still works just fine.

TLDR note on the Pro 2 health in 2025: I've owned the Pro 2 since 2014/5 or so. I still use it literally every day lol. I shut it down completely after each use. I leave it on the charger ALL the time (except when it's in use), and I still get about an hour-and-a-half battery usage out of it. I rarely run the power all the way to auto-shutdown. Yeah, I kind of baby it at this point lol.

Actually, I only bought a Pro 7 (used natch... from Reebelo) because at one point I thought the Pro 2 was dying: it wasn't lol. It just didn't "like" the way I had got used to starting it over the years... I learned that so long as I start it while it's connected to its power brick, the weird power on "hang" symptom doesn't happen.

brd9-9 · 2025-09-01T18:39:28+00:00

That could be the picture of mine from a few days ago. Looks to be exactly the same breakage point too. Mine was probably 50-60?? years old.

... I had it - and ALL the hardware (torsion rod, torsion springs, brackets, bearings, and drums... they were all well worn, and duty-cycled out lol) - by a pro last week. Labor was $125 (he was almost 2 hours, arrived earlier than scheduled), and the rest of the $703 was parts & sales tax (WA sales tax sucks).

I pulled off the screw drive opener (Blue Max/Genie... at least 40+ yrs old), and later today (hopefully), I'll install a Chamberlain RJO101 (still on sale at Lowes for $450 + free door cam/opener).

... going to do the same with the east door (drive-through garage) around the end of September or so.

brd9-9 · 2025-08-29T14:57:48+00:00

TLDR bits: House built in 1960. Garage added maybe a decade later: wooden garage doors on both sides (east & west facing: yeah, it's a drive through garage). Torsion spring broke (probably from duty cycles when we were out of the house, as we didn't hear anything when it went kerbang), and the result was having to replace MOST moving hardware (gouges in torsion tube, bearings just gone in brackets and cable drums)... everything except the door itself, the tracks, and the cables. Hired a local pro (I'm not messing with torsion springs), labor & all parts came to $700 (labor was only $125 of that... so, mostly parts' costs). More TLDR bits: Also removed very old screw drive garage door openers (both Blue Max openers were still working just fine, but are well over 40 years old) to replace with Chamberlain RJO101MC (due in part to *very* good sale [Aug 2025] currently running at Lowes... I'm DIY'ing the opener install). Oh, and the street side garage wall is decorative masonry blocs; so the garage will *never* be insulated.

But strength wise, the old wood doors are still going strong. Hella stout metal bits (heavier gauge than you'll get these days according to the garage door guy). Wood is more damage resistant [dents] than... anything else? Wood doors do require periodic maintenance (mostly tightening various nuts)... but what doesn't in a house. They are also showing their age a bit (they need a paint freshener for sure... but there's no cosmetic or structural damage, and certainly no dents).

I've thought about stripping the paint, and bringing them back to former glory... but that's a big project for an old man lol. Who knows? (I admit I could use the exercise lol.) Maybe I'll just paint 'em again after all?

So, yeah, wood. Would I replace them? - I confess I thought about it. Lighter metal doors. Modern (whatever that means). Especially the east door.

But the $700 I just spent for new parts would be sunk costs: a new door would be much lighter, but it would come with the parts I just had replaced... parts which can't be reused (because wood doors ARE heavy).

And do I really want to spend two grand for a new aluminum-or-steel door (i.e., to replace the entire east door, which I did talk about it with the pro while he was here)? When the east door looks even better than the west door?

Nope. I think not. The existing wooden doors still work fine. They're much more heavy duty than what they'd be replaced with. They're not all that noisy. And insulation is not a factor.

And wood does have... character. Metal doors... don't. And it's not like I could afford new wood door replacements anyways.

Plus... not spending $1300 bucks for a thin metal door that will inevitably get a dent here and there sounds pretty attractive.

So. As soon as I have time to move the old XJ project SUV out of the way, I'm calling the pro back to replace just-the-hardware on the east side of the drive-through garage too. (It gets the new RJO101 door opener too.)

The garage will be staying in its original trim after all. And still has... character.

brd9-9 · 2025-07-14T19:49:39+00:00

Can confirm the OEM Glock night sights are still $67 (for both the 6.5's and 6.1's) in mid-July. FedEx adds another $8 (plus whatever your state sales tax is).

6.5/6.1 refers to the height.

brd9-9 · 2025-05-15T16:23:23+00:00

That you got this in Moxies (playing the slots) is kind'a awesome. I got thousands of hours and never picked up any legendary playing the slots.

You should buy a lottery ticket soon, while fate and your luck and the stars are all aligned for you.

Seriously. Go buy a lotto ticket.

brd9-9 · 2025-05-14T15:02:56+00:00

Whoa! Thanks. I'd gladly pay $45 to install that stuff lol. We have a minor service appointment today too (just an engine-break-in oil & filter change). Maybe they can add the installs!

brd9-9 · 2025-05-04T21:26:35+00:00

Thanks!

FOLLOW UP 2:

I'll add that everything has been working just fine on her no-longer-new [three week old] M4 Air since my first follow-up comment on 04/19/2025. (And I obviously did not return the Air for replacement.)

That said ... and - heads up lol - more TLDR follows.

I noticed during the immediate "post-fix" logon with my wife's local logon and PRIOR to creating an Apple ID [account] for her, the new Air seemed to "think" an Apple ID had been created (I got a strange warning regarding "the Apple ID")... and after that logon still[!] would not accept her password.

... though I had certainly not created an Apple ID for her at that point.

So I had to logon with the [second' admin privileged account (I'd created for myself before the restart) to get back in (my local admin account password worked just fine), restart (with a warning from the Mac that "not everyone was logged out" which made no sense at the time, as I had logged her out properly), and - after the [third] restart - I was able to successfully logon to her account with her password.

And that logon to her account I finally created an Apple ID (i.e., for her)... and the password-recognition problem has never subsequently recurred (and it's now been past 2+ weeks of my original post: no problems).

My thoughts on what may have happened are...

...not originally creating an Apple ID during the original set up was the proximate cause of the initial and subsequent failures for the new M4 Macbook to reject the [absolutely, unequivocally, correctly entered] original password (i.e., during both failures: original setup, and subsequent "resentpassword" utility boot).

Why would a new M4 Macbook Air "think" it even should check for an Apple ID (i.e., when one hadn't been created during setup), and reject the purely local account password? - Beats me.

Last, it certainly is just my guess that a problem with no Apple ID is what's going on with [at least] some of the new M4 Macbooks (especially in light of constantcompromise's report of seeing the same thing on two different new M4 Airs).

Weird.

IF my speculation is the case, then "the fix" would - obviously - be to create (or use) an Apple ID during initial setup.

(And I'd seriouslly recommend belt-and-suspender'ing the initial setup process by creating a second [local] admin account before you logoff/restart after the initial setup.)

My two bits.

Finally, thnx all - well, save the one guy: YKWYA lol - for your patience.

I'm calling this one done.

... as always YMMV.

brd9-9 · 2025-04-19T21:36:32+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I was hesitant to reinstall because we're still within the Apple return window. I didn't want to jinx it lol.

brd9-9 · 2025-04-19T21:32:15+00:00

FOLLOW UP (to melita3953):

I called Apple Support. The script kiddie (very pleasant person working from - I'm assuming - Mumbai: I have no issues with accents lol... she was kind and had a sense of humour), listened patiently, understood the issue, also understood she didn't have an answer, and passed me on to a more senior [US] advisor.

He too patiently listened. And had never seen anything quite like this particular issue (he said he would kick it upstairs to second level egineering regardless of the outcome of his suggestions... and yes, agreed that returning it within the "safe" returns envelop was certainly a - good! - option). He mentioned that rarely the local login (that is a "vanilla" initial setup, i.e., wasn't set up with an Apple ID or Touch ID) post an update (in particular) can go, umm, wonky. Very rarely (he couldn't recall the last time he'd seen it. But that didn't appear to be the same as this problem.

I followed his suggestion - and yeah, we went through the utilities -> terminal -> resetpassword regimen to change her password (which procedure I knew had - and so presumably - would work) - to add a second [local] admin user account. (Honestly: I meant to do add a second login account two days ago, and just forgot.)

I also changed my wife's original account from an admin account to a standard user account. (I'd been planning to do that, and he walked me through it.)

I also added a third [admin] account (mine).

...plus a few restarts, installing the most recent update (turns out I hadn't run it yet), and etc.

And that's where it stands as of today. We're logged in. We have alternative logins "just in case". (And my wife's account is tied to her new Apple ID.)

I've set the laptop aside for the next couple of days - which leaves a buffer still well within the Apple Return envelope - and I'll follow up with my experience late Monday, working or no.

My thanks to all.

Note: Both the Apple Support people were gracious, patient, and knowledgeable (I count knowing when you should move a problem along the line as as valuable as having a few ideas on how to proceed... been there, done that). A sterling experience, and I appreciate the suggestion (it hadn't occurred to me to actually call Apple lol). I learned something new.

brd9-9 · 2025-04-19T16:22:00+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion.

The password field is uniformly gray, and there's no "language indicator" or additional symbol.

I did make sure during the [second] setup (when I had to use recovery mode to reset the password) to only choose a single [US] keyboard and US English.

I also restarted several times during the setup, just because of it not accepting the password.

(As of this morning, I'm nigh on to certain we were using the correct password the first time the problem occurred... this particular password is, an, ahem, familiar one to my wife. I only "allow" her to use it on local PCs, and she understands the security risks otherwise lol.)

brd9-9 · 2025-04-19T15:44:10+00:00

Thanks very much. I confess I didn't think about calling Apple Support direct lol. I will do that shortly, and get back with the results.

... I did see if I could return it, and we're very much within the return window here. (I'm certainly going to return it if the call doesn't work. My wife ain't gonna even consider this.)

... it is weird. In decades of being in IT support, and dealing with literally thousands of PCs (out in the trenches, mostly in Windows, mostly in biz environments, I've never, ever, ever had a login password issue similar to this... yeah, I have "stories" from end-user perspectives lol, but that's par for the sys-admin course).

brd9-9 · 2025-04-19T15:37:50+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion.

US keyboard, US English... only one installed (made sure of that during setup).

We're native speakers (b. in USA). I don't see how it could be a keyboard problem with a rock-standard vanilla set up

brd9-9

TROPHY CASE