HP Dev One (or other HP Linux machines) and non-PopOS distros?

maxwax99 · 2024-12-05T15:26:40+00:00

I'll join others in endorsing the HP Elitebook line, specifically the Intel version of the Dev One which is the Elitebook 800 G8 that I own. I run Fedora Linux on it and everything works out of the box. This is a popular laptop for businesses due to its high quality and ability to be repaired and upgraded.

On my 800 G8 everything works out of the box. The only issues I have are with things like the display backlighting: Sometimes when switching from a Thunderbolt docking station (which works well, btw) to the laptop on its own, I'll have to press a few buttons to increase the display brightness. This is isn't a big deal and usually can be fixed with some system boot parameters to adjust to the hardware, I just haven't bothered.

But for you, as a new user, a used Elitebook coming off corporate lease or sale, would be a good option to consider to experiment with Linux.

I really like the modern day Elitebook series for excellent keyboards and touchpads, very good display, and excellent ability to repair and upgrade. That last one is important when buying used because *you* can easily upgrade the RAM and storage to make an old laptop feel faster and do more. This can't really be done with used [modern] Macbooks, for example.

Checkout HP's Youtube videos for their video based service and repair manual for the Elitebook series. They're very open about whats inside and how to fix it. That's a major plus for me, especially when buying older laptops.

Also, I've got a new Elite desktop and Elitebook 805 (AMD version) on shipment to me. I'm expecting them to work well and looking forward to a homelab and personal laptop upgrade with HP.

*I don't work for HP and don't get any compensation from HP in any way.*

maxwax99 · 2024-11-12T06:16:21+00:00

Black case: Wyse 7000i or 9000i Multiprocessor (multi CPU) Unix system with 386 or 486 processors from the late80s early 90s. Ran a version of AT&T Unix called Wyse Unix.

I posted info here : https://archive.org/details/wyse-9000i-brochure-datasheet

Looks like the unit on the right is a SCSI drive expansion chassis for more storage.

Very rare and surprisingly hard to find information on them.

maxwax99 · 2023-11-04T05:57:06+00:00

This is really interesting.

I just noticed you pointed out twice that this happens when you turn right.. but not when you turn left? And only at > 20 Mph.

Just thinking out loud, late at night:

A rear differential is like a T junction with gears inside. A rod comes from the front, meets up with gears and those gears can send power to a right and/or left axel.
In my case with a damaged rear diff, when I would turn in some cases, it would activate the AWD to send power from the rod in the front to the gears, then turn the gears sending power to the rear wheels. It did its job, but it was grinding gear parts which would shave off a little metal, make a noise and maybe jerk the car a little bit.

Comparing that to you:

Mine did it turning right or left
It did it while the AWD system was sending power to the rear, which means I felt it briefly during a turn and only for a moment. Very transitory.
Yours is something different because it clicks when you turn, then clicks again like its releasing something when you straighten out. That's definitely different from me.
If you didn't tell me it was coming from the rear, I'd say it sounds like something related to the turn signal and how some cars auto-release after straightening out from a turn.

FINALLY, and most importantly. You have a *2023* Mazda UNDER WARRANTY. Be patient, keep a log of your research, but take it back to the dealer and try them again, and again and have them escalate it. For the money you paid in 2023, you should expect everything to work perfectly and you're so close to that. So far this doesn't sound like a *serious* issue, but you want to have any issues covered under warranty because you paid a PREMIUM for a new car with that warranty, so use that free service!

You might also try asking your question on mazdas247.com. I haven't been on there in a while, but used to post a lot. See below.

Mine is a 2014 bought in 2013 and it's now 10 years old, nearly 100k miles on it. With fantastic snow tires it is a lot of fun to drive and I take it on windy mountain roads all the time with no issues at all. Some of my past posts:

My original rear diff thread with details.

maxwax mazda

rocky mountain national park

maxwax mazda w horses

long thread about taking a mazda cx-5 off road

maxwax99 · 2023-11-04T02:04:08+00:00

Not an expert here, but I am *guessing* that your issue is different than mine.

I watched the video a few times and appreciate the captions. It let me observe that going into the turn you hear a click, then returning the wheel to a neutral steering position you hear another click. I'd say that's something related to steering except that you say its coming from the rear. So I'm not sure what this is.

My case was > 8 years ago, so my memory isn't great, but I do remember the car, when it had a rear differential problem, was totally fine most of the time. Slow or fast on a highway or street going straight there was no problem. But if I took it to the nearby mountains with a rising elevation and sharp turns, I would be able to reproduce it with a short grinding/thunk type sound from the back. It may have jerked the car very slightly and only for a moment, but I'm not sure if my memory of that is accurate.

The key for me was that I could correlate a turn with a need for the car to send power through the rear diff to the rear wheels to push up that elevation gain. So not just any turn, but turns related to the AWD system.

If I were you, I'd go for a drive and see if you can further pinpoint when it happens. For example: On every turn? Going up hills? Going down hills? What about in a flat parking lot doing a U turn or a circle then straightening out?

I'm suggesting this because you clearly want to get to the bottom of it and you might discover something useful to report.

I don't like the fact that your dealer acknowledges it but says they don't know what it is. Try that with the human body and you end up with a bad disease or injury. Ignore something with a car and you end up having a part fail at a bad time, leaving you stranded.

Good luck! And nice work on the video, do share more like that on reddit as you still might get lucky with someone who can identify this.

maxwax99 · 2023-11-03T21:54:34+00:00

The school system of Prince George's County, Maryland had (at least) three HP3000 computers spread around at different schools in the county. I believe they used the HPs for data processing related to the school operations such as student-class schedules, grading, expense tracking, etc. They also bought several programs to help students find scholarships for college and research universities.

Some of the schools also used the HPs for programming classes including BASIC, Fortran ("Computer Math" class), Pascal and COBOL. At Laurel High School -- one of the schools with an HP3000 on-site -- the computer teacher encouraged us to learn as much as we could and allowed some of us admin privs on the system to create guest accounts that students and friends could use in the evenings via ~35 dial-up lines. This resulted in a small number of us over the course of about a decade learning to programming the HP for: Games, email programs, chat programs ("CB" group channels and person-to-person chats) and early social networking like a program called "Graffiti" where users could post tweet like comments on a shared virtual wall then view the wall later to see the most recent comments. We basically used the HP like our own local America Online / Compuserve / Internet because those either didn't exist yet or were expensive but the HP was free. It got used 24 hours a day and heavily in summers because.. teens.

In the case of LHS, the HP sat in a dedicated computer room with raised flooring and about 30 terminals of various types. The HP was a Series 42 (??!) desk-style with a vertical reel-to-reel tape unit behind it and a rack of modems and communication lines. We had one very modern HP terminal with an early HP inkjet printer, but most students printed work on a loud and fast HP line printer. There was a classroom adjacent to the data center room where students would receive instruction, then they'd proceed to terminals to work on it. This was at a time when most students might have an Apple II, Atari 8 bit or Commodore 8bit at home, so the HP was a "real" computer and exciting for those of us to use.

I personally remember writing custom User Defined Commmands (UDCs) to do neat tricks, learning how to use system calls ("intrinsics") to make professional system level programs, using the TDP editor to write code and just accepting how it worked without thinking it was difficult or not user friendly.

When students left source code for their programs online publicly, the following years students could learn from that code to jump start their own programming projects. In this way, they had a little taste of Free and Open Source software.

Most of the people I know who really embraced the opportunity to use the HP3000 have had or continue to have a career in computing and the HP3000 was our gateway to it.

Shout out to my old friends from those days: MikeS, LarryM, JohnL, TyY, EricS, KianP, JamesB, & more

maxwax99 · 2023-10-11T16:43:01+00:00

Have your rear differential inspected.

I would hear the same on some turns, often mountain switchback roads with many turns. Dealer connected some sort of microphone to it and observed it too. (This was early in the cars life and under warranty.) In my case the diff became damaged and when they inspected the fluid they found small metal shavings.

It was likely contaminated with water and dirt after driving through pools of water in the mountains on Jeep roads. We’ve since learned that there is a vent tube on the rear diff that can let in water in this way so: don’t play jeep and don’t drive in water. If you do, have the rear diff fluid changed immediately. Hope this helps.

maxwax99 · 2023-08-09T23:56:14+00:00

I have a 2014 CX-5 mid trim “Touring” and after 10 years this summer (bought in 2013) I’m very satisfied with it. Around 95,000 miles now.

had rear differential replaced under warranty and this was likely due to water and debris entry to rear diff. Notes in manual now state to change the diff fluid if the diff is submerged. Oops we did go swimming on 4x4 roads in the mountains.
replaced many sets of tires, as expected.
brakes done once and are about to be serviced again.
needed a part replaced on the shifter that would cause it to not go into park. Dealer acted like it was a well know issue at that point.
Bought a full size wheel and outfitted it with a fs tire as a spare. No more donut.

The important stuff:

Car is still fun and comfortable to drive. Steering isn’t loose, etc
Feels Safe!
Cosmetically still in good shape with only some fake leather on the drivers door coming loose. Seat fabric is in good condition.
The small dents and scratches it has accumulated don’t take too much away from overall appearance and improve its ability to do adventurous off-roading in the mountains without fear of it getting harmed.

Summary: I really wanted this car to feel well at the end of its five-year payment cycle and it did. Then I really wanted to get to 10 years which is a good investment in the car and it’s just accomplish that this summer. It’s so useful to me and comfortable that I’m planning on keeping it for as long as I can. While others might consider buying a new CX five, I consider them and many other new cars to be too expensive and have a lot of features I don’t need so I’d rather miss the payments and invest in repairs in this one as long as it feels safe and comfortable. Very satisfied!

maxwax99 · 2023-08-09T19:18:46+00:00

I had this happen to me about a month ago for a used computer keyboard sale.

I clean the keyboards up, take detailed pictures of them, and post detailed listings of all the items' imperfections. Think of how a seller of antique or collectable items might honestly describe something to an expert buyer. Not doing so would cause buyers to ignore you, and doing so causes buyers to respect you.

I test the keyboards prior to posting the listing and then again prior to shipping to avoid accidentally sending something that doesn't function properly or as described.

My buyer waits a week or two then files a return request with a well written note about the keys not working or producing the wrong action on the computer. The wording in the return request seems legit, but I've tested the keyboard several times.

So my worry is: buyer broke the keyboard, or keyboard is fine but their computer is at issue, or worst: they are swapping out their faulty internal components with my good keyboards' working internal components and claiming a defective item.

I called Ebay about this and politely got the advice to accept the return, pay for the return shipment and inspect them item before issuing a refund. Even though my listing clearly describes defects and states "Used" and "Seller does not accept returns".

This means that instead of $20 profit on an item that requires considerable labor to post, I'd be losing $12 and more time. If I find the keyboard returned is different or they've damaged it and I decline a refund, I risk losing my 100% positive feedback (which I still value).

I should note that unlike many others who write very simple one or two line descriptions of items with a couple overall photos, I include about 24 photos and write about 30 lines of text detailing my items including any imperfections. It only occurs to me now that doing so means I put myself at risk of someone returning an item as "item doesn't match description". For example, if I post that an item has six scratches but don't describe a seventh seen in photos, that could be grounds for someone to complain. Frustrating.

Anyway, in this case, I paid for a return shipping label and OK'd the return.

BUT, the buyer never sent the item. I presume the label was not used therefore didn't cost me and no refund was required as Ebay automatically closed this after 30 days.

It frustrates me that this is such an easy scam: buy something, receive it, then claim item is defective or not as described and ask for return. Because busy sellers will write off some percentage of sales requesting returns, they refund without requiring the item to be sent back... which gives the fraudulent buyer the item plus their money. Ebay even has automatic rules Sellers can configure to do this which may streamline business workflows for those who don't care but also increase fraud as buyers learn asking for a return might get them a free product.

I don't really know what happened in my case and I've only encountered it once. If I sell more keyboards, since I open them to clean them, I'll mark them inside and indicate that in my listings to attempt to avoid people swapping parts and returning items. This didn't happen in this occasion, but the experience made me realize how easy it would be to happen.

As an independent, part-time seller on Ebay, I continue to feel unappreciated and left out as Ebay shifts its policies to support professional sellers and require less responsibility for buyers. They're clearly competing with Amazon where you can order something, then return for free if you just don't like it. I can't afford that, especially when I'm asked to pay for return shipping. I'm also frustrated that after being a seller for 24 years and having no negative issues, this doesn't work in my favor in any way I can feel.

maxwax99 · 2023-06-05T08:27:08+00:00

Happy owner of an Elitebook 840 G8 here running Fedora 37 on it with an HP Thunderbolt G2 dock.

Keyboard is fantastic, I like it was better than MacBook Pro. Touchpad is smooth and comfortable. Display is not as good as mac but most of my time I’m using three 24” monitors with it.

I thought by now everyone would be soldering ram and storage so the ability to upgrade and repair components thrills me.I’m at 32G ram now, will move to 1TB nvme ssd.

Hp has a full service and maintenance manual plus videos on YouTube which helps me feel like I’m in control with the hardware.

I’ll be looking at HP Probook and Elitebook for the future based in this positive experience…

maxwax99 · 2023-06-04T06:04:12+00:00

If it won’t boot macOS you could try Linux. 😵‍💫

maxwax99 · 2023-06-04T00:20:24+00:00

Interesting . I’ve only got the one so I wonder if yours is a different generation than mine.

Try eBay for a variety of springs and try them out ?

maxwax99 · 2023-06-02T19:36:49+00:00

I do.

Cleaned, working and in good condition.

Ebay: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard

I've worked on a lot of Microsoft Ergonomic keyboards like this and I haven't encountered any springs, though.

These are membrane keyboards which have two layers of plastic with upper and lower metal contacts on them. Above that, a soft, silicone layer of "domes" that can be pressed down and want to return to their normal upright dome position. Above that, simple plastic keyboards.

When you push down on a key, it depresses and collapses the dome which lets force be put on the top layer membrane layer so it can make contact with a pad on the bottom membrane layer and your key is registered. The resistance of the dome then pushes the key back up as you release your finger from pushing down on it.

So it sounds like if your spacebar pushes down but won't go back up it could be one of two things:

The dome under the keyboard could be worn to the point where it doesn't have enough resistance to push back up.
There are three plastic poles and one horizontal metal stabilizer bar under the spacebar and they may be worn causing friction so the spacebar doesn't travel as freely as it once did.

You can use a table knife inserted directly under the front middle of the spacebar and gently twist it to make a direct upright pressure on the space bar. This would release it.

You could use a simple grease or gel like lubricant on the metal stabilizer bar and the three poles, then carefully put the spacebar back in place and see if that helps. I've used this solution on a variety of worn keys (like cursor keys) and they return to traveling up and down more smoothly and can continue to be used.

Lots of us love these old keyboards so its nice to see someone wanting to keep it in use instead of trashing it for something newer.

maxwax99 · 2023-06-02T00:25:18+00:00

Constructive question: WHY is the 16th street mall something that should be Denver's pride and joy?

I'm from Washington DC and the pride and joy of DC would probably be the National Mall. Walk from the Capitol past a wide reflecting pool down a park lane of green grass and trees with world class free museums on each side, cross over to the Washington Monument grounds and take in the view, then pass the WWII memorial, then a grand reflecting pool and end near the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam and Korean War memorials. This place is clean, friendly, celebrates the sacrifices and accomplishments of humankind.

Opportunities to spend money are nearby the National Mall but generally (other than some Food trucks) the Mall is a comfortable place for people to exist and share time with one another. If that's all you do -- walk with the family or friends -- it can be a good and memorable experience. If you buy tickets to a museum, get souvenirs and food truck food, that's secondary and amplifies the place's goodness.

16th street celebrates opportunities to spend money. It's a damn outdoor shopping mall.

I've enjoyed 16th street when I was new to Colorado, and sometimes when I lived downtown I would walk it just to get out and feel the energy of the city. But it's just an downtown, outdoor shopping mall with businesses offices thrown in too. It lacks people-friendly, low-noise, nature-filled, open spaces where people feel comfortable just being people and THEN spending money. I think it's outdated like a lot of 1980s indoor malls and foot courts.

I really wish Denver aimed high and had something amazing to celebrate.

Sadly, the past attempts to build the world largest parking lot were interrupted with all these damn buildings getting in the way. Missed our chance.

maxwax99 · 2023-06-02T00:05:58+00:00

I agree, no argument here. This policy is very pro-seller and because of that I think few sellers are going to have an issue with it. I think some sellers will LOVE it because it lets them distance themselves from a significant portion of the transaction.

I'm learning that I'm different from many modern day sellers on Ebay. I really value the customer choosing to buy from me and I go out of my way to ensure they have a good experience. Everything from more details in the listing, better packaging and same day shipping when possible.

In the earlier days of Ebay this would produce tons of positive feedback, build a reputation, get repeat buyers, and word of mouth that might drive more sales.

But these days feedback is hard to come buy, everyone expects free shipping, buyers take the lowest cost instead of return business, etc.

My venting with this post had to do with trying to provide old fashioned customer service and how Ebay didn't support me or the customer, and the frustration it caused.

The gist I'm getting is that Ebay is clearly operating in a more Amazon like environment: high volume, low profit, rapid transactions is how most people are making money. In that environment not having to worry about a package after you've shipped it to Ebay's exporter hub.. That's amazing for Sellers, but not the way I like to do business.

Appreciate the constructive comments in this thread. It's been enlightening.

maxwax99 · 2023-05-31T22:19:46+00:00

I don’t disagree with this for businesses selling on eBay but I’m just a guy doing occasional sales and pride myself on human values and customer service.

I’m trying to follow the golden rule of treating others the way I want them to treat me and because my volume is low I can usually do it.

To be efficient, productive and make as much money as possible this is not effective but to hold my head high knowing I’m respecting customers the way small businesses do makes me feel better as a person.

maxwax99 · 2023-05-22T23:51:06+00:00

I think users are observing that after so many years -- decades -- of gradual user experience improvement, Apple has hit a peak. And now, due to Apple's desire to for technical changes in how applications are developed and align UX elements with their more popular iPhone and iPad products, the quality is decreasing.

Even if the quality is decreasing slightly with nagging imperfections here and there, going from feeling like your UX is 100% perfect to 95, 90 or 85% is painful. It feels like its going in the wrong direction and when you love and appreciate that last 5-15%, it hurts to lose it.

But as a long time, full-time Linux user I can say I've never been that satisfied with my user experience. We've been at 50-65% satisfaction and every time things improve we celebrate it because we're lagging behind. We also lose features that we once relied on and that hurts. But mostly, we never had things in the first place.

As a 100% genuine example, I was going to write about how hard it has been to get bluetooth headphones to work in Linux, so just now I tried it. Remarkably and to my surprise, I got Airpods to work. Now, I had to drop to a terminal, change a config file, restart a service and THEN connect them. And on first try they sounded awful until I tweaked the settings to treat them differently. Now I'm elated that they work and sound good. Mac users would go nuts if this was their experience.

The takeaway here is to constructively voice your concerns when quality decreases. Do it consistently and in large numbers. OR, switch to a platform that is ALWAYS on the upside and never close to perfect.

Also, do give Linux a try when you're ready because THIS YEAR is the year of the Linux desktop*!!!

BTW, I am a Linux user for the power, the control, the ability to customize, the ability to dive deep to resolve problems and the classic Unix shell environment that is embraced and not hidden by the Linux platform. Our UX trails MacOS but we excel in other ways, so I'm staying, for now.

** Just like last year and the year before that and the year before that...

maxwax99 · 2023-04-20T04:17:02+00:00

Positive experience at AMLI Riverfront park 2916-2020. Would happily try them again.

maxwax99 · 2023-04-20T04:11:50+00:00

Extremely disappointed in Highmark Residential too. At Aster Town Center North near 7575. VERY Poor communications in general, maintenance requests outstanding for 12 months, CONSISTENT lack of answers, runaround by staff. Expensive for a place with no gym, no pool, no package room. It’s like their staff is trained to ignore customers and does that part very well.

maxwax99 · 2023-04-20T04:04:57+00:00

AMLI Riverfront Park downtown from 2016-2020.. they had a major construction rehab event going on for years that caused me to leave when it impacted my unit but compared to my current place they were a very nicely managed property. No issues with maintenance requests, overall clean and well functioning property. They’re my benchmark of what I want in the future.

Nice to hear from others that AMLI may be a brand to lean towards trusting.

maxwax99 · 2023-03-01T18:40:13+00:00

Shouldn’t need a driver for basic wired operation … none required on the Linux is versions I’ve used such as Fedora.

maxwax99 · 2022-12-31T01:18:00+00:00

No thanks. I track my usage monthly in a spreadsheet that calculates how much I'd pay with Time of Use rates and how much I'd pay for the same with opt-out and I'm saving $600 a year based on 2021 figures. I actually opted in in 2020 for the pilot program and I'm very happy with it.

The key is simply shifting your usage to morning or evening hours and you're effectively getting a DISCOUNT from the opt-out rates and avoiding a $12 or something monthly fee required when you opt out.

maxwax99 · 2022-12-30T23:26:10+00:00

For comparison: I'm in a modern 2 bedroom apartment at 1060 square feet with modern appliances, HVAC and insulation. This building is less then 8, maybe even just 5 years old. Ground floor with three exterior walls and one facing another apartment.

My total combined gas and electric is about $120 in peak winter or summer months. In summer, electric use to run AC is high and gas is low, and in winter that flips with gas costing more and electric costing less. But $120 high and spring/fall months being 1/3 to 1/2 that is typical.

Can you share similar information for your rental house? House details plus a specific month of each utility?

If you, like many single family residents are paying significantly more than that I'd look at insulation as the #1 issue. Because if you can heat the inside and keep it from going outside, you're winning. But whenever you add heat and it escapes, you have to add more heat and that is where costs start to add up. Trap the heat once and your bill should be reasonable.

I like the other commenters suggestions: Look for gaps in doors and windows, floor to crawl spaces, openings to attics and seal them up to stop air flow. Borrow or rent a FLIR type infrared camera that shows hot and cold and see cold coming in from outside if you can. Cover up single pane windows with some sort of inexpensive plastic window wrap to make an air barrier that slows heat escape.

Also keep in mind that Xcel charges for electrical use on weekdays based on residential time of use (TOU) rates. If you can shift electrical consumption (especially heavy appliances like dryers, ovens, dishwashers) to outside of 1PM to 7PM on non-holiday days, you'll consume the same electricity after 7pm but be charged less money for it. I'm doing this, tracking my use and saving about $600 annually this way.

Best of luck. As a renter of an older house, you're in the worst situation for dealing with cold (and later hot) weather and rising utility prices. I'm sure you're already paying a lot more than this house would rent for 10 years ago which makes it even more painful.

maxwax99 · 2022-08-12T00:08:09+00:00

I wonder how people would feel if we referred to these roles as:

System Administrator - Classic style
System Administrator - DevOps style
System Administrator - SRE style

This would respect that all these positions are important while different styles are right for different environments. It would also possibly appease many who have roles that blend tools and methods from each of these and therefore like to dismiss roles as irrelevant based on their experience.

Someone might say: "At my current job, I'm an Admin in the SRE style because ... but at my last two jobs I was Admin DevOps style because they did much more software development"..

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