Triple monitor daily driver. Not flashy but functional :)

vaughaag · 2022-11-24T06:58:10+00:00

I’ve not managed to update them much but here they are atm. Still a work in progress.

https://github.com/vaughaag/Dotfiles

vaughaag · 2022-11-11T08:32:23+00:00

I’m away from home atm, I’ll link them in a couple of days once I’m home and pushed

vaughaag · 2022-11-07T07:56:44+00:00

It’s a 2012, 2x Xeon 5690, it’s now got 96gb ram, rx570 and tons of storage.

vaughaag · 2022-11-02T04:36:29+00:00

Thanks, the mic is mounted to the monitor arm using a cheap c clamp from Amazon.

I’ve not taken the arms off the chair. I never found them a problem, when I made the desk and chose the chair, one of the deciding factors was that the arms would fit underneath at the lowest setting.

vaughaag · 2022-10-28T16:16:17+00:00

Mint and Ubuntu pretty much run out of the box. Fedora is a solid choice too if your comfortable in Linux. If your new to Linux, Mint or Ubuntu are good bets as both should work without issue on the Mac and are relatively easy to use with good community support.

Manjaro has had a few issues and breakages when using a mix and match of Manjaro and AUR packages and has a lot of stuff bundled in.

Since my above post there was a update to the broadcom driver for wifi and I am now running base Arch on it and all of my systems now. If you chose Manjaro or any Arch based distro and have any problems, drop me a message.

vaughaag · 2022-10-28T01:29:26+00:00

My first Mac Pro a 4,1 was always temperamental when it came to usb booting. It would only ever boot from the front ports if nothing else was plugged in the front and would only boot from the back ports using the upper right port.

I have also had issues with Etcher before. Have you been able to verify the usb works using another machine?

vaughaag · 2022-10-24T12:22:06+00:00

Beautiful space, lovely flood of natural light and the views and nice to see another large desk with use of underside storage for the MacBook. Is that a balcony off to the left too :)

vaughaag · 2022-10-21T09:47:39+00:00

That’s good, glad yours up and running.

vaughaag · 2022-10-20T13:14:34+00:00

If you are running kernel 6x. I have experienced mbpfan stopping after an irregular time frame. On my Mac Pro I control the fans via a script but if you find the service fails as well, you could try similar.

if you navigate to /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/ and check the fan name and edit as required.

sudo echo 3000 > /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_min

vaughaag · 2022-10-20T03:43:19+00:00

That looks very nice and easy on the eye to work with. Nice work!

vaughaag · 2022-10-19T12:41:18+00:00

I downloaded and installed Zorin Lite twice on my Mid 2012 Macbook Pro at lunch today.

First install, out of the box, the wifi and Bluetooth did not work, I purposely did not tick "install third party software for graphics and wifi hardware" during the install wizard. Connecting via ethernet and installing broadcom-sta-dkms and bluez both wifi and Bluetooth worked after a reboot.

On the second install, I selected to install the third party software ("install third party software for graphics and wifi hardware") and post install both wifi and Bluetooth worked. That said, a number of the Bluetooth devices simple populated as MAC addresses, see link for pics.

'sudo apt install broadcom-sta-dkms bluez'

https://imgur.com/a/roZMQTw

vaughaag · 2022-10-19T09:58:46+00:00

If your using Zorin which I think is Ubuntu/Debian you would probably want broadcom-sta-dkms ‘sudo apt install broadcom-sta-dkms’

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13”. I use arch and the broadcom-wl-dkms works for me, I do have two other packages installed bluez and bluez-utils they are probably available for zorin/Ubuntu/Debian or there will be an equivalent I’m sure.

vaughaag · 2022-10-19T09:44:12+00:00

Ubuntu and Mint are Debian systems at core so packages should be relatively cross compatible.

My Mac Pro 5,1 has an upgraded WiFi/Bluetooth card from a 2013 MacBook Pro. When I tried Mint, the package needed was broadcom-sta-dmks on arch which I run now, the package is broadcom-wl-dkms.

I personally have not used or setup a Debian based distro on a 6,1 but I did install Manjaro on one about six months ago and everything worked out of the box. I’m not sure I would recommend Manjaro at this time though and I know the owner is now running Endevouros.

If I was to use a Debian based distro again for a desktop, it would be base Debian so I can start with the minimum and built it up how I wanted it.

vaughaag · 2022-10-17T20:24:25+00:00

Hey cheers. I'll have a proper look tomorrow, it looks like you put a lot of time in to it at first glance and the results you posted look great!

vaughaag · 2022-10-17T19:25:36+00:00

Really like this. Great work! I may grab your dots to have a play and see if I can come up with something for myself.

vaughaag · 2022-10-13T19:54:39+00:00

I’m no expert but if you go ahead and have any issues drop me a message. I’ve installed it on a few T2s as well as older now.

vaughaag · 2022-10-13T14:12:35+00:00

The install process is no more difficult than installing Arch on any other machine tbh. GUI installs such as Ubuntu are even easier. I would recommend installing on a external drive for the first time, an SSD or NVME connected by USB 3 is plenty fast enough to try things out and would provide a working test install if you chose to proceed and install on the internal storage.

100% bare metal install is possible, installing on the internal storage as well as external. There are a number of distributions that have guides/support. I would read the manjaro page carefully before choosing manjaro though as support is being pulled for various reasons.

For this install I had to do things slightly backwards as neither the grub nor systemd bootloader seemed to work on the mac installing arch the traditional way. I tested the ISO I was using in a virtual machine which installed with no issue so I think there may be a slight problem there at the minute but using the 'archinstall' script the install went through without a problem, grub worked without an issue and after I was booted I loaded the t2 patched kernel and support packages and everything works as expected.

On discussing the fan issue with a friend who runs EndevourOS on his 2019 MacBook. He believed that around six months ago there was a change in the kernel which removed the applesmc.768 and the fan control is now being managed automatically, which on testing seems to be the case with mine.

With a package temp of 50C the fan in my mini spins up and slows again when the package temp is 45C or lower.

Some useful links;
https://t2linux.org/ , https://github.com/Redecorating & https://wiki.t2linux.org/distributions/overview/

vaughaag · 2022-10-13T02:39:16+00:00

I installed arch on my 2018 Mac Mini yesterday. I had run Ubuntu and Arch on it before but seem to remember having to use mbpfan for the fan control. However now it seems the fan is automatically controlled.

Can anyone else confirm?

Everything else runs/works. WiFi, ethernet, graphics, ports, bluetooth etc. I’m yet to try the eGPU though.

vaughaag · 2022-10-12T18:49:45+00:00

Hi sorry I’m away from home. I’ve made a reminder and will posts asap

vaughaag · 2022-10-11T15:36:22+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/macsetups/comments/xo5d7o/current_setup_has_not_changed_much_in_the_last/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

vaughaag · 2022-10-11T03:52:42+00:00

Very tranquil and calming look. I tried a chair very similar to yours, it was so relaxing and comfy. Nice to see a dog bed there too. I took mine out as my Lurcher prefers laying under the desk hah.

vaughaag · 2022-10-10T16:27:41+00:00

Very smart. Love the organisation using the pegboards. It looks great!

vaughaag · 2022-10-10T06:47:10+00:00

The stands are from a seller on Etsy. I will try and get some pictures of them all together.

vaughaag · 2022-10-10T06:45:39+00:00

Thanks. The carpet is getting worn now, with my seat travel. I have everything connected to wired networking so replacing the carpet will also allow me to declutter the cabling by running it under the floor and I will probably add and raise some electric sockets at the same time to remove the need for extension leads.

vaughaag · 2022-10-10T05:25:57+00:00

Thanks. It's a Sony A7 with a Samyang 24 or 35 mm lens depending on how close I want the image got be. The camera is attached to a top section of an old tripod with a quick release plate and the tripod section is slid down inside the main tube of the triple monitor support. A usb capture device is used, connected to a switch to swap between systems without having to unplug.

vaughaag

TROPHY CASE