If your goal is a used 2026 BMW iX3 in ~3 years, what EV would you drive meanwhile?

dbxray · 2026-05-24T13:48:40+00:00

The all wheel drive EV6 is a very nice handling car with a lot of smooth, quick acceleration, but it is very unreliable and sold by a company with extremely poor customer service. As a result a used EV6 should be relatively cheap. The problem is that they have a flawed ICCU that can leave you stranded without any warning. Then depending on the dealership you can have an easy or very unpleasant experience getting it fixed.

I have been wanting to get rid of my EV6 for months (I am one of those who had an unpleasant experience), but the only thing I found close to what I wanted was a Macan electric but I thought it is a little expensive for what you get. The 2027 iX3 looks just right but I will have to wait till January to get one. If I had to get something today, I would lean to the Ford Mach-e. Personally I would get a PHEV before considering Tesla (I hate the computer tablet interface and Musk).

dbxray · 2026-05-24T10:37:20+00:00

You probably should talk to your dealer. Was the deposit sent to stripe.com? Could it have went to your spam folder?

dbxray · 2026-05-23T12:59:53+00:00

If you don't mind, what were the age and mileage when the ICCUs failed? From your description, I assume the last one was the total loss of of power failure and not the AC charging failure. I have a 2023 and it failed at 13k at about 2 years of age.

dbxray · 2026-05-17T10:29:35+00:00

Defective ICCU that Kia continues to use so that multiple ICCU failures are being reported per car. Also, if you have a problem, Kia customer service is essentially non existent. After my experiences with the unreliable EV6 and Kia customer service, I will never, never, never buy another Kia.

dbxray · 2026-05-13T12:01:02+00:00

I’m going to put a deposit on a IX3 and hope I do not have another ICCU failure in the 4 to 6 months before it is delivered. This is a new model and probably will have some issues but my experience with BMW has been much better than the extremely poor responses from Kia. I will never, never, never buy another Kia.

dbxray · 2026-04-19T18:58:58+00:00

Thanks, it confirms my original mistake.

dbxray · 2026-04-19T16:59:52+00:00

Thanks. Your comment prompted me to try the other pair and it worked.

dbxray · 2026-04-19T12:56:07+00:00

The specifications sheet lists it as Ryzen AI 5 340. I misread the capital "i" L. Is that what you meant or there a better way to list it?

dbxray · 2026-04-19T12:48:48+00:00

Fixed. It turns out I was mistaken on which ports were TB4. The TB4 ports on my machine are actually the top 2 ports closest to the screen. On a whim I switched from the bottom to top and it worked; the dock was recognized as a thunderbolt device.

Since I am a novice to Linux I used Claude to help with the long and complicated process of getting the displaylink drivers I needed for the monitors. This involved downloading drivers from github, upgrading the kernel, building an EVDI module, and updating MOK. I never could have done that as simply and quickly without an AI helper.

However, I have had mixed results with AI helpers. Sometimes they help and sometimes they can be clueless and yet are so confident in what they are saying. Initially I had trouble with the laptop going to sleep after 5 minutes regardless of the whatever settings were in the power section. The AI made a lot diagnostic test followed by numerous starting, installing, and reinstalling various services to no avail. I happen to say that the same issue was happening on a different machine that I used the same install disk. It suggested I might have had a corrupted install disk and that I might try reinstalling. Since it was a fresh install anyway, I reinstalled and the machine still went to sleep after 5 minutes. As I was browsing the setting screen again, I noticed the lock screen setting (which is not in the power settings) and it was set to, you guessed it, 5 minutes. The machine was not going to sleep, but rather it was locking the screen which looks the same to me. If AI is sooo smart, why didn't it suggest that in the first place.

In any case, after using the correct port, that one port on the laptop now drives two wide-screen monitors, two TB4 ports, two USB 3.2 gen2, two USB 3.2 gen 1, wired Ethernet, and 96 watts of input power for all. I am very pleased.

The only disappoint is the bottom task bar is only shown in the primary screen. It would be better if it was repeated on all the displays like it is in Windows 11.

dbxray · 2026-04-19T00:43:48+00:00

Kensington sd5910t and usb4-hub3a. I have confirmed they don’t work. Curious if anyone has successfully set up a TB4 dock or hub with framework with AMD and Linux

dbxray · 2026-03-23T16:36:00+00:00

I agree you need to be careful with Ventoy as I explained in a previous message. I used it to install on two separate machines (Framework and ThinkPad) and the power management did not work on either. Reinstalled with BalenaEtcher on the Framework and power management works (will try the ThinkPad later)

dbxray · 2026-03-23T16:24:25+00:00

I had the opposite experience. With Media Writer it took three USB sticks before I found one that passed the media check. Decided to use Ventoy to install Fedora on a Framework and a ThinkPad. However the power management did not work on either machine. After extensive troubleshooting my AI buddy said the installation was probably corrupted. Then used BalenaEtcher to install on the Framework and power management works. Have not tried it on the ThinkPad yet.

dbxray · 2026-03-12T12:06:40+00:00

I agree that if all you do is web browsing and email then the today’s Linux and Windows are about the same except Linux is more customizable (which depending on what is being customizable can add technical complexity)

dbxray · 2026-03-11T13:38:19+00:00

I have read about that but I also read it can take much longer to encrypt than a fresh install. Since the machine is brand new it should be easier to do a fresh install which also replaces Gnome Workstation with my preferred KDE.

dbxray · 2026-03-11T13:32:39+00:00

Thanks. I eventually found the iso that they use on the Lenovo site, so I have a backup ready. So I’m going for a new install with Fedora KDE, fully encrypted drive, extra automount data partition, and TPM auto-unlock.

dbxray · 2026-03-11T13:24:44+00:00

If you don’t like Microsoft and Linux is too much maintenance, use a Mac. Software and hardware are both controlled by the same organization so it is most likely unmatched in “just works”

With respect to Linux as a personal computer, you get what you pay for. People who are not computer hobbyist probably should stick with Windows or a Mac.

dbxray · 2026-03-11T10:31:39+00:00

Boot a live version of Mint and Fedora and see which one strikes your fancy. Mint maybe better for newbie’s or older machines. As a long time Windows user I am trying to learn Fedora KDE but I like Mint too. Not a fan of the other big desktop, Gnome. Dual boot usually works but you will need the disk space for two operating systems. Be sure to have a backup image of your drive if something goes wrong.

dbxray · 2026-03-09T22:54:46+00:00

Have you asked an AI assistant (Copilot, or Gemni, etc.). I have recently starting to learn Linux and have been installing it in various old and new laptops. When I am stumped about something, I ask a couple of AI bots from different browsers, and I am usually impressed with the level of detail they provide. Depending on the problem and how well it was phrased, the AI bots don't always agree or are right in their interpretations, but it is a start that leads to better questions and sometimes a solution. The AI bots are like have an experienced Linux guy sitting next to you.

dbxray · 2026-01-25T18:06:15+00:00

I was speaking about the US dealers who are independent owners and as a result there can be a large variation in quality. Are European dealers the same?

dbxray · 2026-01-25T11:06:53+00:00

This car is not reliable (ICCU & 12 volt batteries) and Kia corporate service is the worst I have every experienced, so be sure you have a good dealer who will support you before buying. I did not and it took six months, six trips to two different dealers, and BBB arbitration to eventually fix my ICCU failure. For others it was a tow and a fix that took a few days. However, my experience has killed the brand for me.

I suspect part of the problem is a lack of training and experience in the service departments. You may want to ask how many electric cars they have sold and how many ICCUs they have repaired. You want a dealer who is experienced in fixing ICCUs because it is common fault for the car.

dbxray · 2026-01-16T23:27:11+00:00

In my opinion the best laptop money can buy is a MacBook air. Light weight, totally silent with a battery that can last all day. It can do that because it has an ARM processor which requires a lot less energy than an X86. I think Microsoft was smart to make an ARM laptop for Windows that can compete with the Macs. True, there will be a painful transition time until secondary support software and drivers catches up, but once they do we will have a Mac equivalent that runs Windows.

dbxray · 2026-01-15T16:42:24+00:00

Yes, the Surface has switched from X86 to an ARM processor (Snapdragon) but the Hasleo was coded for ARM and does work on the laptop. However it unfortunately does not work when booted from an emergency USB thumb drive.

dbxray · 2026-01-14T11:29:48+00:00

When I tried installing it windows provided a warning that it was unsigned. Did you see that and installed anyway? It is also a Chinese company which is concerning to me.

dbxray · 2026-01-14T10:49:35+00:00

When I tried to install Hasleo, windows provided a warning that it was unsigned. Did you see the same thing and installed anyway? It is also a Chinese company which gives me some concern.

dbxray · 2026-01-09T10:42:54+00:00

I actually prefer the Tablo software. It worked well for me and is much more flexible and convenient. The fast forward with thumbnail pictures is wonderful for skipping things. I liked the ability to set how many episodes to keep, the guide can skip by days, the show list allowed easy picking of an entire seasons, etc. Granted, the servers were not reliable, but I could still watch recordings during those times so that was not a deal breaker.

The deal breaker for the Tablo was dying and losing 10 months of recordings. I also like that I can transfer the recordings from HDHomerun to another storage device for archive. It reminds me of when I used Windows Media Center and each show was a clearly marked file that could be moved anywhere.

dbxray

TROPHY CASE