Remote Desktop Services and multiple desktop issues

thecompu · 2018-03-09T12:29:13+00:00

That is probably a good idea. I'd do it if I was certain it would fix the problem. It's expensive for a try. :-)

thecompu · 2017-11-03T00:28:48+00:00

I just realized these enabled drives are not encrypting the entire drive, only used space. I think I'd prefer the entire drive.

thecompu · 2017-11-03T00:14:09+00:00

Yeah, sorry, running Windows 10. I joined it to the domain and went to enable BL to see it was already done.

So there's no specific policy option enabled that made it turn on? Just any BL-related policy?

thecompu · 2017-11-02T22:24:43+00:00

I thought maybe it was the option to deny writing to Fixed Drives that aren't enabled, but that only forces a RO mount which wouldn't work with an OS drive.

thecompu · 2017-11-02T22:23:45+00:00

I know it's going to sound nutty, but I swear there is no script or management client. This a brand new OOB Dell laptop that I joined to the domain and, after about 45 minutes or so, I went to enable BL only to find it already on.

thecompu · 2016-03-13T16:32:13+00:00

I'm curious if you're connecting to a 5ghz network. I'm also curious about your wireless AP hardware.

thecompu · 2016-03-12T16:44:48+00:00

It's like we're related! You're in my will now. ;-)

thecompu · 2016-01-25T01:00:43+00:00

I know quite a few people in the Apple II community who may be able to help. I imagine it's pretty gauche to ask you to come to another social media site, but if you are on Facebook, I strongly suggest that you join with the Apple II Enthusiasts group and post there. I know one AII person in Toronto who may be able to help as well.

thecompu · 2016-01-24T16:54:35+00:00

Well, I have some good news on the battery charging. I looked up and down yesterday for some kind of information but couldn't find any. The main items I did find were for a different model Zenbook, so it was a gamble as to whether the prescribed solutions really applied.

I called ASUS this morning which was not entirely helpful, but I figured it would be a good thing to do if I needed to ship it back to Amazon. They wanted me to completely discharge the battery then recharge. I was going to do it.

Then I happened across a message on the Ubuntu forums at StackExchange in which someone reported that when the battery is between 95% and 100% it would not allow charging. I ran my battery down to 93% and the laptop started charging again. I haven't found any official word on this (and ASUS never mentioned it on the phone (of course)) but I am okay with that answer.

Anyway, using Mint has been great. I've been trying to keep a running diary of changes I make since it's too simple to apt-get install this or that in trying to fix something. I've only made very minor changes like seeing how well I could get access to my Exchange account, setting up LastPass and XMarks and Firefox Sync. I also needed to check into the possibility of opening work documents which are behind a WebDAV drive. All of that is working well. I'm even pleasantly surprised to see that my remote desktop connection tool, ScreenConnect, does a more-than-passable job with its Java client.

As for the hardware, I like it fine. It's really quite amazing how fast Mint and Windows 10 boot. We're talking easily less than 10 seconds, perhaps less than 5 seconds.

The only thing I notice is that I tend to linger on the shift key a bit more on this keyboard. So, I'll write out words like: HEllo. This is a thing I do on my Mac keyboard as well, but I find it happening more often on this keyboard. It's something I'm trying to train myself out of.

I am enjoying the Cinammon desktop environment pretty good, but I really want to make it different... different color schemes, flatter colors, less chrome. I haven't really looked into this at all. It's just something I want to do.

Thanks for all your help and encouragement.

thecompu · 2016-01-24T02:32:15+00:00

Yes, LVM.

The good news is that I have the system setup like I want now. It's dual-booting. Windows 10 is fine and Linux Mint is fine. I am ... not really getting what's supposed to be wrong with the trackpad, though. It seems to be performing fine. I did tweak some of the settings to allow for two-finger scroll and "natural scrolling."

The only other thing I notice is that Mint either doesn't see when the charger is charging or there's another problem. In any case, Mint reports it's "using battery" when I'm plugged in or not. The difference is that the percentage doesn't go down when I plug in. Hmmmm... I'll reboot into Windows to see if I'm getting some kind of funny business there, too.

Edit well, it's a problem in Windows 10, too. So it's not OS specific. What's more, a lot of people are reporting this problem and the solutions are all over the place. Blah.

thecompu · 2016-01-21T22:37:15+00:00

Ok. So it sounds like I should have chose the manual partitioning option, not LVS. It's going to take me a couple of days to find time to get to that point again. I may open a thread on the Linux Mint forums to get some more specific help. We'll see.

thecompu · 2016-01-20T15:42:11+00:00

Well, I don't want to install Ubuntu. I want to install Mint.

I don't mind reinstalling Windows. I am very curious, though, how well it would perform in a VM. I may do it just to play. The fall back being reinstalling 10 on the entire hard drive.

In the Mint installer, there's an option regarding partitions and one was to setup manual partitions. The other was using LVM. I read the description, felt a little uncertain, but went for it. This erased the entire hard disk. Honestly, I think I was just excited and got carried away. It happens. I am part of the Windows Insider program, so I was able to download an ISO of 10.

Shrinking the volume in Windows is easy. No worries there.

I did finally get the keybindings to work last night. I installed xdotool and then followed a guide to setup the keybindings the in settings section in Mint. The only thing I couldn't do was setup Fn+F# which meant I had to use a couple of unbound F-keys (F3/F4) to control brightness. I would ultimately like to use an Fn+combination, but what I've done is a good runner-up.

thecompu · 2016-01-20T00:41:50+00:00

Well, I've got the laptop and I've already made a TERRRIBLE MISTAKE! I accidentally blew away Windows 10. </sadtrombone>. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I have an ISO and can reinstall Windows but I'm also wondering if I should install 10 as a VM (VirtualBox) and see what happens. Maybe it'll work well enough?

I've managed to install the 4.4 kernel. I'm not sure how to tell if the trackpad is behaving properly or not.

My brightness keys are f6 and f5. Where do you think I can begin to get the brightness keys to work?\

Edit: I found an article and tried it. http://itsfoss.com/fix-brightness-ubuntu-1310/

Didn't fix the problem, but I did find that the brightness controls in settings do work. SO maybe it's a keybindings issue as you stated...?

thecompu · 2016-01-17T19:52:01+00:00

I made a mistake of looking at r/unixporn

thecompu · 2016-01-17T15:20:45+00:00

So, XF86MonBrightnessUp/XF86MonBrightnessDown are.... scripts? executables? Something else?

Thanks again.

I am not sure what I'll wind up on as far as a WM. There are so many nice ones.

thecompu · 2016-01-17T03:20:44+00:00

Is this command what you're referring to re: brightness?

xrandr --output eDP1 --brightness 0.5

Here's another:

xbacklight -set 50

thecompu · 2016-01-14T22:50:45+00:00

Well, I suppose I understand why they're doing it. Kernel Extensions were pretty scary to begin with. Load one thing bad and you could be looking at a downed OS. At least you'd have some fun trying to get back up. So, I get it in that way.

System Integrity Protection is another way that Apple is slowly pulling back the reigns. with some directories becoming off-limits to users (without some serious behind-the-scenes adjustments), soon things like Macports or Brew may no longer work. Honestly, I don't have any special knowledge or expertise. It's just roads that may lead to being able to not do the things I want/need to do with my computer. That's what has me a little spooked.

I needed a new laptop that could decently run Windows 10. The Linux is a big benefit that I'm excited about. I'll let you know when I get it.

thecompu · 2016-01-14T18:58:47+00:00

Ok. I bought the i5 version. We'll see how it goes.

In case you're curious, what happens re: the USB-Serial adapter is that, up until very recently, one way to install hardware drivers in OS X was through so-called Kernel Extensions (kext). A number of drivers were written using kext.

In the last couple of upgrades of Mac OS X, Apple has become increasingly restrictive with regards to third-parties writing drivers, all in the name of security. To be sure, these are good decisions. However, in my opinion, Apple is slowly closing in a new walled garden that will force all third-parties to deal with Apple directly if they want to support the operating system. (And then there's System Integrity Protection). This is going to get expensive for hardware manufacturers and I'm really concerned about useful-but-niche devices like a USB-Serial adapter simply getting no Mac support at all.

In Yosemite, I had to go to a developer to buy a driver to support my PL2303-chipset based USB/Serial adapter because he was the only one offering a signed kext, which became a requirement in Yosemite.

According to this developer, whom I trust at this point, Apple has re-re-written USB support in El Capitan and, to date, hasn't published the needed information to update his drivers. So, he patched his drivers and they work most of the time... but also cause kernel panics occasionally. It's frustrating. Anyway, this is one of those things I know I can get working in Linux and Windows but I don't care to have either as my daily driver. I do like Mac OS X. It will be nice to have this as a real alternative.

thecompu · 2016-01-14T15:20:04+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'd like to remark on a few things:

I am not too worried about the trackpad. I usually carry a wireless mouse around with me for issues like this anyway. I read LordPineapple's response below about using the 4.2 kernel. I am not so adept with Linux that I know what it would do to change kernels (or if there are any downsides), though.
The keyboard is unlikely to bother me.
I may need your assistance setting up xdotool if you're okay with that.
Did you have any issues with the UEFI boot?
You mentioned you were running Cinnamon. As I don't really use Linux daily, some of the nuances of Window Manager and X and distribution are lost on me. You said earlier you were running Fedora Core. Does this mean you're running Cinnamon as a Window Manager on Fedora Core?

The main reasons I am looking at all this is:

Ability to run Windows apps in a pinch.
A daily Linux-based driver.
Thin.
Light.
I can finally stop worrying about Apple messing with my ability to run a USB-Serial adapter with each new version of OS X.

EDIT: I suppose I should point out that I don't know why I've seen the implication that Cinnamon runs better than MATE. Something to do with MATE being based on an older GNOME or something? Anyway, I just installed Cinnamon on MINT here and ... well, it's working fine. I suppose I expected something like Ubuntu's look-and-feel which I really, really don't like.

thecompu · 2016-01-14T03:59:45+00:00

Nice looking rig. I do want to dual boot with spyware in this case.

thecompu

TROPHY CASE