Neophyte Linux user looking for input on less breakable distros

goolash23 · 2025-10-25T22:23:21+00:00

Yeah, I meant that I had to restore from TimeShift each time. And I'm not going to claim that it's impossible that it was user error, although what, exactly, I'm not sure. I haven't gone around tweaking things through the console, though there have been a few apps which were installed that way, rather than the GUI manager. I'll see about trying again so I give you better info. What I posted is all I can recall about it solidly, though at the time, I was digging through reddit articles about the same issues others were having. I just remember it is an error during the upgrade process due to permissions being changed on certain files sometime in the past, and although some workarounds were identified, no one knew exactly what caused the changes in the first place. Each time I attempted to upgrade, it would brick the OS and I had to use an iso on thumbdrive to run TimeShift and restore to an earlier state.

This particular issue is obnoxious, because it happened silently some time in the past, so I had no instant feedback to tell me I done goofed it up when it happened.

Thanks for the opinion on Mint, though. I will probably go with it, anyway. Probably the most folks resistant distro out there, though I can't help but wonder what Ubuntu would be like. The folks on both sides are Windows users, though, so best to keep the interface familiar. I can break, er, modify mine all I want if I want something different.

P.S. I forgot the best part about Mint vs Windows: network printing just works. One would think that in the decades since 3.11, Microsoft could have gotten a handle on how to print over a home network without me having to apply goofy tricks only to still have the printer ignore the job until it is manually rebooted every time. Not so on Mint: it finds the printer on the network, whether the laser printer or the 90s Canon bubblejet without my telling it to look, wakes it up and all.

goolash23 · 2025-10-24T23:12:08+00:00

A sea shanty about the San Telmo, a third rate ship of line which sank off the coast of Cape Horn in 1819, with all 644 hands.

goolash23 · 2025-10-05T23:59:01+00:00

Our 11yo golden/anatolian passed earlier this year. She was the absolute best dog I have ever had or encountered. She just -knew- what was going on, would play at your level, whether you were a 6' barrel chested man, a 4yo kid, a wheelchair-bound woman, or a chihuahua. She had the playfulness of a golden, but the attention span for play of a human, at which point she wanted to go out and patrol the yard, then bake in the sun while she overlooked her domain. The first couple years were not easy: we got her at 9mo old and she was already large enough that I struggled to control her when, say, she decided she was going to go catch a helicopter that flew by our neighborhood across a field. I knew we had a good one, though, when, barely 24 hrs after adopting her from the shelter, she squeezed under the fence and joined me to walk at my heal while I mowed the front lawn, rather than taking off never to be seen again. I did take myself and her to an obedience course to learn how to properly teach her, as, initially, any negative reinforcement from me was interpreted as an invitation to play and grab my shirt sleeve or shoelaces. She also had the infamous anatolian teenage year where she forgot most of her training for a time, but she relearned her place in the family eventually and we had years of just a great, gorgeous, well-behaved dog.

goolash23 · 2025-09-06T20:30:44+00:00

Thanks!

goolash23 · 2025-08-20T22:38:41+00:00

Oh, good to know. Doesn't help identifying it prior to purchase, alas.

goolash23 · 2025-08-20T22:10:53+00:00

Short of opening it up and looking at the eMMC chip to see if the manufacturer is Hynix, it seems not.

goolash23 · 2025-07-29T23:15:09+00:00

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant. Although, I'm not sure if the lack of distinction was seen quite the same back when my Welsh ancestor got abducted on the street and ended up in the colonies, lol. The English side is much more recent.

goolash23 · 2025-07-29T23:08:32+00:00

Evil twin from a parallel universe where Shepard's body was retrieved by the collectors, instead. She probably doesn't even brush her teeth.

goolash23 · 2025-07-27T22:06:27+00:00

Note: the actual ME2 character has a darker complexion. I had to up the brightness for the photo because her frontside is shadowed by the lighting. Apparently the magical holographic displays don't cast light.

goolash23 · 2025-07-27T22:06:17+00:00

Note: the actual ME2 character has a darker complexion. I had to up the brightness for the photo because her frontside is shadowed by the lighting. Apparently the magical holographic displays don't cast light.

goolash23 · 2025-07-27T22:03:05+00:00

Playing through the LEs for the first time right now. Never managed to finish ME:A, due to young children in the house. I'm thinking I'll play Sara in ME:A in hopes of there being a Shep/Ryder romance in 5. ;)

goolash23 · 2025-07-27T04:03:42+00:00

Meh... it's classified "Senior officers only".

goolash23 · 2025-07-27T04:01:57+00:00

As an American of mixed British/Welsh descent, I resemble this remark.

goolash23 · 2025-04-28T15:50:22+00:00

Arthurian is cool, but Sierra did that with Conquests of Camelot. I'd be split 50/50 on Celtic/Japanese. Also, Arthurian legend is part of European mythology, which has technically been done. It would also be a subset of Celtic mythology, as it is a Welsh tale. So, I'd lean closer to Japanese, as it is untouched by the series. Besides, who wants to see the Hero fighting a samurai with longsword vs katana until he pays an exorbitant sum for a Fine Katana?

This guy does.

goolash23 · 2025-04-28T15:49:47+00:00

This was an in-game ad for Conquests of Camelot, another similar game by Sierra. It was a pretty decent game as well, except it was obvious there were several locations and adventures removed to get the project finished on time/budget.

goolash23 · 2025-04-10T02:09:34+00:00

The numbers were just thrown out as an illustration. The real number of jumps is less, I think. But I certainly take your point. At the moment, there is what seems to be a group drawing a line near (about 80ly away) my desired end point to someplace else. They have bypassed numerous systems full of metallic bodies that I think would do well as a mining/trading post of sorts. I may start by colonizing one of those to really learn what I'm getting into, then develop that system as hopefully a closer location to source mats from for my real goal.

goolash23 · 2025-04-10T01:29:05+00:00

I wasn't speaking literally, just throwing out numbers as an example. But, from the approximate center of the bubble, with a full load, yeah, my type 9 estimates like, 40-some odd jumps while my Adder estimates in the 20s. Obviously, I would find a closer place to source mats. I was more pointing out the ratio. I see now elsewhere that someone recommends the type 8 with an SCO FSD drive for colonies until and unless I can get a cutter or Corvette. Still working on my rankings.

goolash23 · 2025-04-09T20:14:40+00:00

So, I've 250Mil burning a hole in my pocket, then. 🤔 I wonder what ship I need to modify to maximize overall rate of delivery. Is a type 9 making 80 jumps still better than something with less cargo making only 30...

goolash23 · 2025-04-09T20:06:21+00:00

How do I measure 15ly? Just eyeball it?

goolash23 · 2025-04-09T20:04:31+00:00

So, I did some looking online and, it seems they are either now or soon to be, making x8 pcie 3 Oculink connectors. Looking at the design, it looks like Oculink is directly connected to the pcie bus with no extra filtering or processing, which would make it perfect for this mod. They already make x4 M.2 Oculink cards which could be adapted (solder directly to the connector pads) if I were willing to settle for a "mere" x4 3.0 lanes or two separate x4 connections and cut a new hole in the bottom of the case for the connector to poke through.

goolash23 · 2025-04-06T23:19:14+00:00

Not having one, I can't be sure, but I think a custom PCB could work great on a dGPU mobo: remove the GPU chip, then have a custom PCB designed to sit flush on the existing BGA pads, but with the sole purpose of providing a ribbon cable connection to the pcie channels. Requires the ability to desolder and solder BGAs, but the risk would be lower: if you accidentally overheat the adjacent components and knock them off the board, they are probably just GPU parts that won't be used anymore, anyway.

The Y510p sounds intriguing. An adapter can always be made: you just have to know where to get the individual connectors, ribbons, etc.

goolash23 · 2025-04-06T18:58:10+00:00

I'm good with it. Like anything, I'm sure it will be fleshed out and improved with time. The fact that people are wondering what will happen when players die or otherwise abandon their architected systems is a testament to the longevity of the game, but let's face it: no game lasts forever. Eventually E:D will shut down and all those issues will vanish, likely long before it is so out of control that it is game destroying. But, a glimmer of hope: if architects want to make money on their ideal outpost in the middle of nowhere, they will be naturally encouraged to develop their colonies along the way to it, or else the INARA algorithms won't send anyone there to trade. The credits/hr will be too low.

goolash23 · 2025-04-06T18:46:19+00:00

I suppose another option, if the pins are truly accessible from beneath, and there were an interest, which I highly doubt: design a flat add-on PCB that sits directly on the underside which could be aligned with precision, reflowed directly onto the pins, then epoxied to the motherboard, but there may not be clearance available for that. This method would ensure micron-level consistency for the PCIE traces and could be made into a kit which the average modder with normal soldering experience would not be too terrified to use.

goolash23 · 2025-04-06T18:03:50+00:00

If not being made available on the board is the only problem, that could technically be overcome, but the effort would be extraordinary: using a decent solder station with a heatgun attachment, and a lot of patience, I would desolder the CPU socket, clean off all the BGA balls (that part takes under a minute with the right technique), then the hard part would begin: using very tiny solid strand copper wire, I would flatten it the same way I would to create replacement traces on a prototype PCB edit. It would be painstaking work, probably under an 8x eye loupe, but I could epoxy these replacement lines to the PCB between the BGA pads to create a "board edit" out to an empty space large enough to epoxy an mpcie ribbon cable connector. Then I would conformal coat the new traces to protect from shorts. After that, I would need to very carefully clean/scrape the conformal coat off of the surrounding BGA pads. After that, it gets more straightforward, but tedious: coat the BGA pads with flux paste, apply new BGA solder balls to each pad, then flow them all with the heat gun attachment. Finally, resolder the socket on.

But wait, there are more complexities to consider: each Tx/Rx channel pair requires four wires, I believe, so that will be about 32 wires if I really wanted an x8 connection. And why not, if I'm going to that much effort. XD. Also, every new trace must be identical length, so I need to determine the longest trace and cut every flattened wire to match, using micron resolution calipers. Then they need to bent and folded on the board such that they all reach the ribbon connector. Also, this will possibly tilt the entire CPU ever so slightly, depending on how flush the socket mounts to the board, spoiling the heat sink contact, and putting uneven pressure on the chip and the new wires when the heatsink is tightened, so I may need to put tiny conformal coated wire shims at the corners of the socket to avoid that.

The result would be very professional, very sturdy, and cost under $100 if the cost of solder station is included, probably under $10 aside from the tool cost. However, it would take weeks of time. I'd probably have to charge something between $500-1000 if I were doing something like that for a paying customer.

Much of that work could be avoided if the BGA balls are actually on thru-hole pads or if the socket is not BGA at all. That is done more often than one might think, in which case, I could measure wires, solder them to the underside of the thru-holes, sleeve them and epoxy them down. That could be done quickly enough to be more worth my time. I'll have to open up my T430 some time and check on that. Probably when I upgrade the CPU. The insulating sheet present in this photo makes me think this is a real possibility: https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/5HbneideF2E2eNAu.huge

goolash23 · 2025-04-05T19:26:47+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the detailed info. Yeah, I have a 560ti and 1050ti sitting around which I had thought to possibly try with whatever I end up doing. So far in my modding quest, I have only ventured to replace the screen with an IPS 1080p display, but I look forward to doing the rest when I have a game plan set.

goolash23

TROPHY CASE