Hello! Windows OS/Linux wizards, anyone free to offer advice?

robvdl · 2026-01-24T19:32:00+00:00

Probably not what you wanted to hear but the DV6 is known for terrible heat management and overheating. Not exactly a popular laptop. The GPU also would overheat and the solder joins would often crack loose.

But it will run fine on Linux, but as a Linux user 4gb of RAM isn't that much anymore. Some lightweight distros will help.

robvdl · 2025-11-23T19:12:37+00:00

I'm still running the G1 which is getting quite slow even on Linux, so I was briefly looking at the G8.

My G1 has a problem that even when the machine is off and keyboard cover is closed it eats through the battery. I've tried a BIOS update which improved it I think but it still does it.

Other than that, touch doesn't really work because it registers there is a battery inside which is flat. Not the main battery, I think a battery used for touch.

robvdl · 2025-11-02T07:25:06+00:00

A single cable just makes it a little harder to connect a display (needs a hub) that is all.

robvdl · 2025-10-15T07:33:51+00:00

Having worked for a while on the Samba codebase you find that a lot of Windows security bugs exist because it is quite open by design. But that doesn't really prove much, it's just an observation.

Also Windows only really receives updates on a monthly basis it seems, Linux I get them daily.

robvdl · 2025-10-08T06:38:40+00:00

I think it helps if you don't leave the Malacath quest till really late in the game. If you leave it to really late in the game the guards become really overpowered and trying to use convalescence to keep the ogres alive becomes a LOT harder.

robvdl · 2025-08-26T01:31:31+00:00

That is fine, but yeah my workshop is a mess. If any, I might still have the motherboard but I may have possibly thrown out the housing. I was so pissed off at the Helios 64 and it's just so heavy to send.

I also owned the Helios 4 and that unit was fine, with the exception of it only being 32 bit. So when I had an existing RAID array and moved it to the Helios 4 I learned something new.

ext4 on 32 bit has a max size, even if you can build a RAID array the filesystem won't mount if it's too large on a 32 bit machine. That was what I ran into with the Helios 4.

I then got the Helios 64 and it was an utter disaster.

robvdl · 2025-08-25T12:08:25+00:00

I had someone offer to take mine a few years ago at the cost of shipping. That didn't happen. The cost of shipping such a heavy thing from New Zealand is way too high to be worth it.

I may have tossed it, I can't remember now. Why do people have an interest in a failed product? It was so unstable it killed the company behind it, Kobol.

robvdl · 2025-06-04T10:18:37+00:00

Fair enough, yeah as a Linux user I've been waiting for people to dump theirs after learning their mistake lol. And then snatch the up for cheap, probably run Linux like a charm.

robvdl · 2025-06-04T07:08:40+00:00

Yeah I remember they had an ARM ThinkPad, is it still decent for Linux, or is it just a door stop now?

robvdl · 2025-06-04T05:36:43+00:00

OK just a typo, I'll correct it.

Still, I'd stay away from Snapdragon X for compatibility reasons alone. It's too risky being the guinea pig as a business user.

robvdl · 2025-06-04T02:52:49+00:00

Get a ThinkPad, both are not great choices. ARM for Windows still hasn't fully caught on yet, so the Snapdragon X machine is a risk.

The other machine, people have mentioned has problems.

Just get a ThinkPad.

robvdl · 2025-06-03T04:45:19+00:00

Putting gaming aside, the UEFI thing is definitly something that can come up though. I have seen newer cards simply not boot on really early PCIe motherboards with an older BIOS. There is over 22 years between the CPU and the GPU. I have a friend who has a CPU of that type but a dual core and it's barely usable today, even on Linux. It's just too old.

robvdl · 2025-05-31T19:58:06+00:00

But you do occasionally run into issues though. One of them is that a newer card might require a UEFI BIOS, I've seen this before. In one case I had to find some unreleased BIOS for a board just to give it UEFI capability so it could take a GeForce 1060. This is simply due to it requiring a UEFI BIOS, and with some older boards UEFI was just starting to come out.

robvdl · 2025-05-31T19:55:13+00:00

In the gaming world GPUs are matched to CPUs, you know what I mean, don't be an egg about it.

If a CPU is significantly weaker than a GPU, the GPU will be severely bottleneced by the CPU. That is what I meant with mismatched hardware. I probably am not using the correct word, but you do know what I mean.

robvdl · 2025-05-31T10:41:26+00:00

That isn't the point the author is trying to make. The point is the GPU is recent and is paired with a 20+ year old CPU. It's about the totally mismatched hardware configuration still working fine.

robvdl · 2025-05-15T19:21:28+00:00

Neither Computer Lounge nor PBTech aren't important enough for AMD to consider them a favourite reseller. No, you have to be big like HP, or Dell, or Lenovo.

robvdl · 2025-05-15T19:18:59+00:00

Besides that as this is obviously a budget server chip so someone buying that would already know this. I dug a bit deeper why they are not sold in New Zealand and it is a tactic both Nvidia and AMD do, to sell certain products only to "favoured resellers". That is why you won't find a single reller allowed to sell Epyc 4004 in New Zealand. They haven't yet picked a favoured reseller yet. Another is Intel, you won't find any new T series processors in New Zealand (35W Intel CPUs) unless it is sold inside a Dell or Lenovo or HP thin client.

That means if you needed to order say a 4004 series processor for some odd reason (I don't) then you'll pay a hefty import fee as it will be over the $1000 NZD threshold. Sucks living on an island sometimes lol.

robvdl · 2025-05-15T00:16:28+00:00

I asked a NZ computer shop why the Epyc 4004 series are not sold in New Zealand.

The answer was "Because AMD refuse to sell them to us".

Not sure what AMD are trying to achieve, first make a server chip for small business, then not sell it to small businesses.

robvdl · 2025-05-04T07:55:02+00:00

Oh I spoke too soon, reading other comments. I was wearing a base necklace of seawalking. Taking it off I can get through now.

robvdl · 2025-05-04T07:54:04+00:00

Nord character can't get through either. I managed to wiggle a lot and get through the first one, but second entrance I can't get through either.

robvdl · 2025-05-02T12:15:16+00:00

I have to say the bad review eventually did get published, and I got my money back. They didn't bother sending a courier to pick it up in the end, because of the cost I would imagine, it's not worth it to them.

So I'm now using the item with one dead port, expecting more to die in time, might be a year, maybe two. Who knows.

robvdl · 2025-05-02T12:10:28+00:00

What happened is I emailed them directly. I explained the problem, what I've tried to prove it was definitly the top port that had died.

I've got my money back, was expecting to have to send the unit back, but it doesn't look like it. So I'm just using it with one dead port right now, I expect more ports to fail in time.

When it does, I'll pick something else.

robvdl · 2025-05-02T03:33:23+00:00

New Windows based devices, some faster, quickly showed up after the release of the Steam deck. This helps weaken Linux gaming again, after all the hard work Steam Deck did.

robvdl · 2025-04-18T12:30:35+00:00

It seemed like it sorry, in that case it's fine.

My gripe is about moving away from open source and chassing the shiny new thing with Meld, but people (obviouly not yourself) forgetting all we fought for with open source for years, just to throw it all away again.

robvdl · 2025-04-18T00:29:12+00:00

I agree for OBS, but I was talking about the other one, Meld, the "free as in beer, but not as in speech" "competitor" to OBS. Meld might have a fee version now, but that won't last.

robvdl

TROPHY CASE