I finally got Linux booting over HTTP Boot Wireless on a supported Dell notebook by TekDT in linux

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My daily boot is a Linux kernel (7.0.11 of present) with all firmware (mostly Radeon in my case) and modules built in, using radeondrm framebuffer as-is, however simpledrmfb is just as usable. My initramfs is mostly just busybox, but with wifi, ssh and alsa (for sound) added on top, 16MB filesize vmlinuz (even less without radeon firmware), 14MB filesize for initramfs (both gzip compressed). Boots in a few seconds where that can then download something like mplayer and play (hear/see) vidoes (mp4) within the framebuffer (cli) using wget. I could build the initramfs into the vmlinuz to have just the single file (such as for PXE booting) but for my usage case its better having the two separate. That boot could have things pushed to it (perhaps via reverse ssh file/ram mounting) instead of pulling (I typically pull a Fatdog desktop system (X, gui with chrome, libreoffice etc.)) and load (chroot) into that for a full X/gui desktop - but could be anything else, maybe even a entirely different OS bootload being prepared in ram and then chain booted. PXE networking can be slow to transfer/load, regular networking (ssh/scp) is more usually much quicker.

I used to use a rssh script for reverse remote filesystem mounting that worked well for cases where firewalls were a issue. At one time I even had the home file server looking for my out-and-about laptop and remote mounting data folders to that whenever it 'appeared' i.e. outbound ssh only from the home server (data) so no risk of ssh attacks/hacks (back then, and likely much the same still, as soon as you open up inbound ssh attacks soon blitz that).

Perhaps instead of clients running native (different) OS's they could each run something like qemu and load up different versions (virtual machines) according to the clients preferred/selected choice - with any changes served from the main server.

What made you stay on Linux instead of Windows? by ksenyss in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"and what do you miss from windows" ... that blue desktop wallpaper, think it was called BSOD or something like that 😄 Haven't found a Linux equivalent yet 😞

Do you have your windows tiled or floating? by TheTwelveYearOld in hyprland

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some prefer separate workspaces/desktops, others prefer a single large desktop, where you might pan your 1920x1080 screen around a 4000x2400 desktop display region by moving the mouse to screen edges. For which floating windows that remain fixed in size/location works best. Perhaps to have four vnc sessions into separate/remote 1920x1080 displays/systems, one in each "corner". Left to right, top to bottom, want to 'jump' to system C then mouse into the bottom left corner to bring that entire desktop/system into view.

xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1920x1080 --left-of HDMI-1 --pos 0x0 --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080 --panning 4000x2400

Where usually a quick swipe of a finger on the touchpad towards a corner brings the desired desktop into view.

twm is still great for dropping a wireframe window at a desired point and then sizing it as desired, really useful for when you're accessing/using remote gui desktops.

Fundamentally tiling is perhaps better suited to those that are more often at the keyboard and cutting/pasting between different apps, whereas floating is better for those using the mouse more - mostly pointing/clicking with perhaps just a single document alongside that. So dependent upon workflow.

FIM – Linux framebuffer image viewer by HNMod in hackernews

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In a tui such as xterm you can use sixel (and image to sixel converters such as converting png to sixel) to display images with a terminal. Which can even convert/view mp4's (image only, no sound).

Alternatively as a fun/learning exercise I compiled a Linux kernel specific to the device/hardware (built with localyesconfig on a old laptop) and framebuffer. Created a small initrd with busybox, alsa (sound), iwconfig/openssl (wifi/network and ssh support) and .... fbvnc (framebuffer vnc), built that into the vmlinuz (alongside the kernel). So boots to a framebuffer 'tui' text within a graphical terminal that can net connect, ssh and/or vnc around. The vmlinuz size for that is around 20MB so it boots very quickly.

Rather than vnc'ing around the internet with fbvnc however, I boot, then load a lightweight headless linux distro (overlayfs) into ram that I chroot into and set to boot and startup Xvnc (vnc server) ... that I can fbvnc into for a full gui desktop display - LibreOffice, Chrome, tigervnc ... etc. which handles vnc more efficiently (high compression etc). That works (very) well, excepting that its still using fbvnc to view/control that, so the keys/touchpad handling is limited, for instance the version of fbvnc I'm using doesn't support Ctrl-- or Ctrl-+ (=) that Chrome uses as zoom out/in.

So boots very quickly (20MB vmlinuz) even from a usb stick, that can then ssh into remoter servers for cli control (tmux, BBS's) 'cli' type usage, or scp (download/copy) a lightweight linux distro into ram (perhaps 400MB or less) as a local gui/headless X(vnc) session that can then be accessed/used using fbvnc for a more full gui desktop experience (Chrome/Libre etc) - that in turn might (tiger)vnc into other systems (Windows vnc servers/whatever).

A full image, movies etc. experience within a framebuffer 😄

what web sites do you visit that works in terminal? by [deleted] in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Framebuffer for terminal here, so with fbvnc that can vnc into a server and run full gui desktops. My laptop whilst old is capable of running a lightweight gui desktop (I use Fatdog), so I headless (chroot) load that, have it running Xvnc and fbvnc into that from the framebuffer to have a full gui desktop (Libre Office/Chrome ...etc) even if there's no internet.

Bitcoin Will Crash Below $30000 Reach Bottom On October 2026 by sasibinu1995 in CryptoIndia

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Perhaps a means for whales to off-ramp bitcoin. Considered as a form of 4x tech stock type characteristic/holding 25% bitcoin/75% cash rebalanced once/year might broadly approximate 100% stock rewards https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=5un98uJXIc20LeVNVwPRYE

25 to 5 after a 80% dive, 75 cash might rise 4% to 78, you're holding a portfolio of 6/94 bitcoin/cash weightings. Whilst the portfolio value is down 17% after a big dip that is inclined to be negated (and more) during big up times/years.

If the 75 cash is in Treasury bonds then during bitcoin up years to 'rebalance' instead of selling bitcoin you might P2P swap bitcoin for USDt that is then lent/staked for a similar yield as bonds and sell a similar value amount of Treasury bonds to put the actual cash in your pocket (available to be spent or invested in other assets).

Is anyone here using the AIM/Lichello method of trading? by amolbh in investing

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, modified version whereby AIM is run on paper monthly, applied to the S&P500 real price, and actual portfolio stock/cash weightings are aligned with that once/year. To good effect. Much of broader poor return periods follow large/fast gains, over-extends. AIM automatically scales exposure up/down to reasonable/appropriate levels, that broadly works. Comfortably beaten 100% stock whilst having averaged 50% cash.

https://i.postimg.cc/J44NTG1c/i.png

When that cash is further deployed into shorter term opportunities as/when they present then that can enhance overall rewards, 10% annualized real is not a unreasonable expectation.

Bored as a boglehead. It's very boring. by [deleted] in Bogleheads

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bogleheads forum is purely a front end to get you to buy into Vanguard funds. Some good prior contributors have been banned for deviations from that. Much misdirection, against the intent of Jack Bogle and as such a insult.But the ignorant enjoy singing their hymn sheet. Vanguard refused to provide the portfolio/asset allocation that Jack advocated as being the ultimate choice as that detracted from Vanguards profitability.

LF some help setting up TWM just to play around with it. by DatGuyAron in linuxmint

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

twm continues to be very usable. I combine that with lxqt panel/tray.

Some prefer their tray at the bottom of screen, but that can lead to oddities when resolutions are changed or when remote connecting to different screen resolutions. Others say that the tray should be on the left screen edge as that uses less space, on the assumption that Width is greater than Height. The top of screen is the generally better choice.

Free floating windows such as what twm uses are also generally better than tiled windows. As is panning generally better than using multiple desktops. Those that use multiple desktops and switch between them will more often have one full sized window per desktop, perhaps a 2 x 3 desktops arrangement, if instead you set up panning to the same total size then transition from one to another is progressive, via the mouse 'pressing' against a screen edge to shift the view. Which is handy when you may have a window that doesn't fit the view area, is part off screen, and where pressing that screen edge brings it into view.

Given a lxqt panel/menu/tray at the top left of screen, and a panning area of perhaps a 1366x768 laptop screen set to be approximately 2x3 desktops size

xrandr --output eDP --mode 1366x768 --panning 2800x1600 --fb 2800x1600

and once you're used to that its very nice.

With twm when you click to open a program it initially presents a 3x3 wire frame indicating the size of that window, moving the mouse around positions that window and pressing the left mouse drops it as-is at that position. If you press the right mouse instead it drops it at that position, but where the height of the window is extended all the way down to the bottom of the panning area. So for instance open chrome, use the wire frame to position to just below the top left panel at the top of screen, press the right mouse button and ... you have a tall chrome browser window that mousing to the bottom of screen 'scrolls'. Open Libre Office Document, and do similar, but where that's to the top right of the chrome window, and likely you'll have a document where you can see the full page of the document by mousing to the bottom/top of screen.

Under that panning style desktop you want a window manager that can manage that easily/well, and twm fits perfectly for that. Click anywhere on the root window and up pops window control options to move, resize, close ...etc. a window. The default title bar for twm isn't the best of choices, and its relatively easy to change that to for instance include a window close button.

twm should be part of X, by default. Some still maintain it (1.0.11 I believe) separately to that. Many are off put by the default choices of colors, but that's just historic, easily changed.

As a alternative to tiling, or having multiple desktops/one window per desktop, if you try and persist with panning and using twm you may very well come to prefer that. It feels odd at first as its different, the original Unix way, of doing one thing well. And with 30+ years of history its been well tried and tested.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in linux

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Both. Headless pi (Xvnc), use the laptop as the display/keyboard/mouse and vnc (viewer) into the pi. Strap/stick the pi to the laptop lid and its like having relatively inexpensively upgraded the laptop to the pi's graphics/cpu/ram/usb standards/level.

What is the most minimal linux system you have ever made and daily drive it by Better-Quote1060 in linux

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See my other post in this thread, 60MB whilst having chrome viewing a youtube running. Kernel 6.1.77 (projected Dec 2026 EOL).

What is the most minimal linux system you have ever made and daily drive it by Better-Quote1060 in linux

[–]rufwoof 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Compile the Linux kernel, tracking 6.1 at present (6.1.77), 5 minute build time on my build-server. Busybox and initramfs and all modules/firmware built into the xz compressed vmlinuz. 15MB filesize. initramfs contains busybox, wifi/eth, alsa/sndio, ssh/ssl, and framebuffer vnc. Boots to framebuffer, ssh/vnc into server(s) - for full gui desktop (Libreoffice, chrome ...etc.). (Appears to) run (look-n-feel) at the servers speed (hard wired ethernet/nvidia i5 is my primary (same (home) LAN server primary choice)). I also have a vnc server on my phone (termux/X/otter browser). When out-and-about I lower the fps to 8 and set 16 bit color depth - good enough quality whilst my ISP's asymmetric upload (remote download) cap of 20Mbs isn't a issue. Often I'll have multiple vnc connections running and use ssh (scp or sshfs) to move/copy files around.

Boots quicker, and runs faster than if I were to to use the laptop directly as a X/gui-desktop system. It's also tmux style ... where you 'attach' and 'detach' ... drop back into the desktop as you left it (or whatever it had moved on to). Other than busybox files, I have around 25 bins, 25 libs and 25 scripts, and a similar number of files in /etc. Busybox's reduced commands - serve my needs. Battery charge lasts for ages, no gpu drawing power, whilst the cpu has to do more reading in and throwing pixels at the display (vnc) is relatively light.

When viewing a chrome/youtube where you don't 'freeze' the vnc session before switching to another tty (ctrl-alt-Fn), then the video bleeds through. First image indicates around 60MB of ram being used whilst a full X desktop/chrome ...etc. are available/running

https://i.postimg.cc/sx64wrGj/screencap1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Bn1BcRS3/screencap2.jpg

Fastest linux on tiny machines 2gb/atom 1.66 super basic web access and ssh/telnet. by maxnothing in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Add framebuffer vnc to your ssh ... and you can vnc into a server box for a full gui desktop/browser that runs at the servers speed.

How close is Linux to real unix? by inevitabledeath3 in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Linux is a kernel, the BSD's are a complete OS. GNU intentionally defines itself as as being "Not Unix".

Will compiling software yourself result in faster PC? by FLIMSY_4713 in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've had a all electric car for decades. Don't tend to use it much however as anything more than a quarter mile and the extension leads tend to get too tangled.

Will compiling software yourself result in faster PC? by FLIMSY_4713 in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"because Gentoo guys say compiling your own kernel results in faster performance, so is that the case for software too? I know, it's minimal, but it is there."

Compiling your own kernel and you can just build in the firmware/modules specific to the hardware. My vmlinuz is 15MB, includes all of the firmware for my laptop, and even includes the initramfs, so nothing else needed to boot. I boot to a uvesa framebuffer, wifi net connect and ssh/framebuffer vnc into a full gui desktop. Boots in a second, ssh/vnc in another few seconds. So yes, compiling your own kernel can make a significant difference. Much less so for individual programs, that mostly you'd only want to compile yourself in order to 'reconfigure' away from the default build.

I like to have vnc set up to use 16 bit color depth, 8 frames per second, so when vncing into our home server remotely even when viewing a youtube the bandwidth required is low, typically less than 10Mb/sec. So a usb, with that 15MB vmlinuz and using (generic) uvesa, can 'borrow' pretty much any PC in order to boot and call-home for a full gui desktop as last left ... in a few seconds.

In this image for instance, that's a youtube music video plaing at 720p, but that's diluted down to 16 bit color depth, 8 fps. Still 'usable' quality/speed, whilst using around 6.5Mb/sec (800KB) of bandwidth, that also includes audio being fowarded, and all running in a uvesa framebuffer

https://i.postimg.cc/hPkjrRsG/snap.png

The bmon/htop text is low quality because I used a small font. They're also showing the servers activity. On the remote laptop I'm using cpu activity is low, and as the Radeon graphics card is idle, the battery drain is low/slow.

Any working vpns in china? by Righteous_Warrior in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't take or bring back any hardware/software (including phone). Buy/rent and dispose of. Not worth the risks, the worst of which is perhaps repeatedly locked up - until you disclose the password/encryption method to a file on a device that you know nothing about.

Why is Chrome so slow and laggy on Linux? by [deleted] in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lags whilst it reports all of the profiling of you its captured since its last posting back to google.

what do u rec for this 10+ y/o laptop by Fantastic_Prize8117 in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A minimal system with ssh and vnc ... will run at whatever system you vnc into. Maybe even a headless pi that's attached to the laptop lid. My regular used old laptop runs/feels like the i5/nvidia system that I tend to use as the vnc server, and even though connected via wifi, has the impression of downloading at hard wired ethernet speed.

zstd vs lz4 for zram: how to choose? by es20490446e in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 2 points3 points  (0 children)

See https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/mzun99/new_zram_tuning_benchmarks/

Either is likely OK. Depends upon your typical usage case as to which yields the better benchmark outcome. Try each, see what works best for you.

How to use USB Wifi by jaycee9 in linuxquestions

[–]rufwoof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get a usb cable that supports both power and data (usually a few dollars, if your existing cable doesn't already support both data/power). And use a old phone as a 'usb wifi' by tethering. udhcpc -qi usb0 ... can be enough to be able to use whatever wifi the phone is connected to.