[D-Dan]

I’m constantly surprised at the bad press BT get. I’ve been with them in one form or another for 5 years or more, and have consistently good speed (close on the best they can offer on Infinity 2), and on the two or three occasions it’s caused a problem in that time, a call gets it fixed, without a paid for call out.

Granted, my last three addresses have all been in the general proximity of a town (Oldham, Bolton, Warrington), but with the exception of Bolton, not town centre, maybe 2 – 3 miles from.

For mobile internet, I’m with O2, who are rolling out 4G across the network, and have done so here, so I can’t complain about that, either.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I returned to the final issue of MM last week, with a small tear in my eye 🙁

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

The big worry for the younger folk (and in fact, me, 52YO, T1 diabetic, and a retirement age of 67 – if I live that long) is a retirement age of 70, or higher. I’m lucky, as an ex civil servant, I can get a pension in 3 years if I take it (I won’t, wait longer, more per annum), but I really wouldn;t want to be a 20 YO now, faced with the prospect of dying before retiring. What annoys me most is that those making this choice for others are the same people with guaranteed lucrative pensions at 55.

Regardless of political allegiance, they fail to see their own “silver spoons”.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Dave Rice wrote:

Well you could install Windows as it just works….

LOL – Tell my PC at work that, where every update breaks it.

Anyway, Windows on my home PC isn’t gonna happen.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Do the forks of chrome work with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on Linux? That was always the problem for me, and whilst I know that FF can now be coaxed into working, it isn’t as well as Chrome does.

Up to now, I have to use the Chrome development version. If there’s an alternative that works as well I’d be happy to try.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

That was the biggest barrier to me, too, until you get the hang of it being mainly hot key driven (and having to remember the hotkeys).

 

Now, on the very rare occasions I go back to C4D I find myself flumoxed when the keys don’t work.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Well, looks like I just didn’t notice. Had a mooch around my account on Amazon and it seems I paid last September. How did I not notice that?

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Can’t say I’ve noticed anything extra going out to amazon, other than purchases, but I appear to have been benefiting from Prime delivery for a while. If it’s only a couple of pints per month, maybe I didn’t notice 🙂

 

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Started with Sneaky Pete. Vikings and Mr Robot are on the list. Never heard of Black Sail, what is it?

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Assuming that you can remember your login and password, next time rather than the finger/button gymnastics, try switching to a terminal, loggingin and shutdown there. That will confirm if you have something on the desktop blocking.

 

Ctrl-Alt-F3 (I choose F3 because nothing is likely to be using it).

Wait a few seconds then type your username [Enter]

Another few seconds then your password [Enter]

Another few seconds then “sudo shutdown -h now” [Enter] (without quotes)

Another few seconds then your password [Enter].

 

If the computer shuts down, you’ve eliminated the core OS. NB. The few seconds between each step is simply because you are working blind and need to make sure that the previous step has completed.

 

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

If you haven’t found it, Geany (which is a development package) really helps with syntax problems, as well as navigating through larger projects, and is 100% free.

 

Disclaimer: I only use Linux, dunno if it’s available on other platforms.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I’ve been a Linux advocate for a good 10 – 15 years, and granted, during the early part of my advocacy it was probably more enthusiastic than it deserved to be.

The truth is, it’s now no more difficult than Windows, and in many respects, even easier. When Windows gives you a system killer upgrade, your options are to reinstall or, ermm, that’s it.

I’ve only ever reinstalled Linux once, and that was my own lack of knowledge at the time. You can pretty much repair any failure without a complete reinstall.

I also noted that, despite Linux being mentioned, it’s been dropped from the list of affected systems from the scare stories about the CIA.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Poweramp was pretty good (not tried it for a while), but I found the free version either limited or ad-infested, or something (there was a reason I stopped using it, just my old addled brain can’t remember what it was).

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

VLC

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

@The Duke

 

I know my way around a car in an amateur kind of way, but have always been comfortable doing my own maintenance, servicing etc. My untrained eye says that it’s in pretty good condition, especially given it’s age, and I’m not anticipating any real problems with MOT.

Besides, as you say, if it does go pear shaped, I’ll probably recover my outlay in scrap value, so win win.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

It’s an old (1999 – what can you expect for £100) 626, and in pretty good condition, though I guess the MOT will be the tell. Needs a decent valet, but apart from that, looks, sounds and runs well. 146k on the clock, which isn’t too bad for 18 years of service, and I’m pretty sure the same guy had it from new, and he’s looked after it mechanically. he used to use it for work, but 70YO now, and for the past 3 – 4 years it’s just been for pottering about in.

He lost his missus last month (they buried her last Thursday), and to be honest he’s not doing well at the moment. I think he’s just pleased it’s gone to someone who won’t kill it by overthrottling and riding the clutch until there’s smoke.

If I can get a couple more years out of it I can call it a real bargain. That shouldn’t be hard. I don’t intend to use it for even commute, so just A – B at weekends for me, too. It could maybe go another 10 years at that rate. I don’t reckon I’ll do more than 3000 miles per annum myself.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Well, progress with my license. Got a letter asking for a new photo. Damn, my youthful good looks.

And, since the car will be stationary for a while, I’ve been turning it over and letting it warm up, which has been a tad boring since I couldn’t get the radio to work (everything said it was working apart from the eerie silence). Tonight I got it going. Seems it has rear speakers only and the previous owner had set it faded 100% to the front speakers.

At least I can sit and listen to some music, now 🙂

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I really really want one of this fake MS calls. I’ve been Linux only for maybe 7 years, and the fun I could have with them.

But they never call.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

I have to renew every 3 years – medical renewal.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[D-Dan]

Bloody hell, just give him Linux, Try Mint, tell him it’s Windows without viruses. And he doesn’t have to hunt for software, it’s all for free in the software manager.

 

He’ll be happy as larry, and you can dump the unofficial support.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Author]

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