August 2018 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: Desktop distro

by Richard Klein

VirtualBox gave me the following error: VT-x is disabled in the BIOS for all CPU modes (VERR_VMX_MSR_ALL_VMX_DISABLED). Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005) Component: ConsoleWrap Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed} I could mess around with BIOS settings, but not tonight. On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 11:19 PM Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org> wrote: > I'm not sure VMs are a good solution on my hardware. I can't enable > Hyper-V in Windows because the processors don't support SLAT. I'll give it > a shot with VirtualBox, though. > > On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 10:27 PM John Stoffel <john(a)stoffel.org> wrote: > >> >> Richard> This is old hardware. It's a dual-Xeon Dell Precision 490. >> Richard> The Dell support page says warranty coverage began on July >> Richard> 10, 2007, so it's no spring chicken. It has some Nvidia >> Richard> video card that's old, but newer than the computer, but I use >> Richard> Plex to stream to a Roku or XBox, so the video card is kind >> Richard> of a moot point. Also, I live alone, so I don't have to >> Richard> worry about anyone rebooting the computer on me (aside from >> Richard> hardware and power failures). I'd really like to build >> Richard> something quieter and more efficient for a Plex server, but >> Richard> that's a pretty low relative priority. >> >> Richard> I've used Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE in the past. >> Richard> They were all good. I kind of wanted to try something new, >> Richard> but right now I'm leaning toward Mint. >> >> So try Fedora for a while and see how you like it... it's not my >> personal favorite, but I'm also not happy with systemd either, but all >> the distros are going that way. I can understand the >> advantages... but the interface is done by the same guys who did the >> Sun/Oracle Virtual hosts tools, and the linux 'virsh' tools. >> Basically high on crack and their own world view and not actually >> thinking of the common man. >> >> But I'll stop there... >> >> but I will say it should be easy enough to fire up VirtManager and to >> try out a couple of distros before you actually commit. >> >> John >> >

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Richard Klein

I'm not sure VMs are a good solution on my hardware. I can't enable Hyper-V in Windows because the processors don't support SLAT. I'll give it a shot with VirtualBox, though. On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 10:27 PM John Stoffel <john(a)stoffel.org> wrote: > > Richard> This is old hardware. It's a dual-Xeon Dell Precision 490. > Richard> The Dell support page says warranty coverage began on July > Richard> 10, 2007, so it's no spring chicken. It has some Nvidia > Richard> video card that's old, but newer than the computer, but I use > Richard> Plex to stream to a Roku or XBox, so the video card is kind > Richard> of a moot point. Also, I live alone, so I don't have to > Richard> worry about anyone rebooting the computer on me (aside from > Richard> hardware and power failures). I'd really like to build > Richard> something quieter and more efficient for a Plex server, but > Richard> that's a pretty low relative priority. > > Richard> I've used Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE in the past. > Richard> They were all good. I kind of wanted to try something new, > Richard> but right now I'm leaning toward Mint. > > So try Fedora for a while and see how you like it... it's not my > personal favorite, but I'm also not happy with systemd either, but all > the distros are going that way. I can understand the > advantages... but the interface is done by the same guys who did the > Sun/Oracle Virtual hosts tools, and the linux 'virsh' tools. > Basically high on crack and their own world view and not actually > thinking of the common man. > > But I'll stop there... > > but I will say it should be easy enough to fire up VirtManager and to > try out a couple of distros before you actually commit. > > John >

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by John Stoffel

Richard> This is old hardware. It's a dual-Xeon Dell Precision 490. Richard> The Dell support page says warranty coverage began on July Richard> 10, 2007, so it's no spring chicken. It has some Nvidia Richard> video card that's old, but newer than the computer, but I use Richard> Plex to stream to a Roku or XBox, so the video card is kind Richard> of a moot point. Also, I live alone, so I don't have to Richard> worry about anyone rebooting the computer on me (aside from Richard> hardware and power failures). I'd really like to build Richard> something quieter and more efficient for a Plex server, but Richard> that's a pretty low relative priority. Richard> I've used Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE in the past. Richard> They were all good. I kind of wanted to try something new, Richard> but right now I'm leaning toward Mint. So try Fedora for a while and see how you like it... it's not my personal favorite, but I'm also not happy with systemd either, but all the distros are going that way. I can understand the advantages... but the interface is done by the same guys who did the Sun/Oracle Virtual hosts tools, and the linux 'virsh' tools. Basically high on crack and their own world view and not actually thinking of the common man. But I'll stop there... but I will say it should be easy enough to fire up VirtManager and to try out a couple of distros before you actually commit. John

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Gelman, Ian S

Hi Rich! If you like Debian, xubuntu is a “blessed-by-canonical” distro designed to run on older hardware: https://xubuntu.org/ XFCE is a GNOME-like desktop environment that’s extremely lightweight and easy to use. Best, Ian On Aug 5, 2018, at 10:03 PM, Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org<mailto:rich@richardklein.org>> wrote: This is old hardware. It's a dual-Xeon Dell Precision 490. The Dell support page says warranty coverage began on July 10, 2007, so it's no spring chicken. It has some Nvidia video card that's old, but newer than the computer, but I use Plex to stream to a Roku or XBox, so the video card is kind of a moot point. Also, I live alone, so I don't have to worry about anyone rebooting the computer on me (aside from hardware and power failures). I'd really like to build something quieter and more efficient for a Plex server, but that's a pretty low relative priority. I've used Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE in the past. They were all good. I kind of wanted to try something new, but right now I'm leaning toward Mint. On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 7:56 PM Joshua Stone <joshua.gage.stone(a)gmail.com<mailto:joshua.gage.stone@gmail.com>> wrote: If you're using Intel or AMD graphics, then I highly recommend trying out Fedora. It gets the newest kernel and Mesa versions during a release's life cycle, and it typically stays close to upstream. Fedora (Workstation) also isn't rolling release, so you can expect your system to not have any breaking changes from an update which is an important quality in a server. As far as I know, Manjaro having a rolling release model doesn't make this stability guarantee. Plex also seems to have official builds for Fedora, which can be configured with this guide here: http://bendavis.me/2015/03/29/setup-plex-media-server-on-fedora/ Some of the steps could be simplified like this: sudo dnf install https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/1.13.5.5291-6fa5e50a8/plexmedia… sudo systemctl enable --now plexmediaserver.service Fedora is also nice if you want to be experiment with some of the latest in Linux desktop technologies. It typically releases with the latest stable Gnome version, and includes new features like Wayland, Flatpak, and Pipewire. -Josh On Sun, 2018-08-05 at 16:31 -0400, Richard Klein wrote: I'm having trouble deciding which distro to install on my new SSD. It's the only desktop computer in the house, so it's used for web, email, etc, plus it's a Plex server. DistroWatch.com<http://DistroWatch.com> shows Manjaro being really popular right now, but I've never heard of it. It's based on Arch, which I've heard of, but never tried. I see that Arch uses Pacman for a package manager. I'm used to APT; I'm not sure if I'd like Pacman. So anyway, I thought I'd ask for suggestions. -- Rich _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org<mailto:wlug@lists.wlug.org> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org<mailto:wlug-leave@lists.wlug.org> _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org<mailto:wlug@lists.wlug.org> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org<mailto:wlug-leave@lists.wlug.org>

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Richard Klein

This is old hardware. It's a dual-Xeon Dell Precision 490. The Dell support page says warranty coverage began on July 10, 2007, so it's no spring chicken. It has some Nvidia video card that's old, but newer than the computer, but I use Plex to stream to a Roku or XBox, so the video card is kind of a moot point. Also, I live alone, so I don't have to worry about anyone rebooting the computer on me (aside from hardware and power failures). I'd really like to build something quieter and more efficient for a Plex server, but that's a pretty low relative priority. I've used Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE in the past. They were all good. I kind of wanted to try something new, but right now I'm leaning toward Mint. On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 7:56 PM Joshua Stone <joshua.gage.stone(a)gmail.com> wrote: > If you're using Intel or AMD graphics, then I highly recommend trying out > Fedora. It gets the newest kernel and Mesa versions during a release's life > cycle, and it typically stays close to upstream. Fedora (Workstation) also > isn't rolling release, so you can expect your system to not have any > breaking changes from an update which is an important quality in a server. > As far as I know, Manjaro having a rolling release model doesn't make this > stability guarantee. > > Plex also seems to have official builds for Fedora, which can be > configured with this guide here: > > http://bendavis.me/2015/03/29/setup-plex-media-server-on-fedora/ > > Some of the steps could be simplified like this: > > sudo dnf install > https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/1.13.5.5291-6fa5e50a8/plexmedia… > sudo systemctl enable --now plexmediaserver.service > > Fedora is also nice if you want to be experiment with some of the latest > in Linux desktop technologies. It typically releases with the latest stable > Gnome version, and includes new features like Wayland, Flatpak, and > Pipewire. > > -Josh > > On Sun, 2018-08-05 at 16:31 -0400, Richard Klein wrote: > > I'm having trouble deciding which distro to install on my new SSD. > > It's the only desktop computer in the house, so it's used for web, email, > etc, plus it's a Plex server. > > DistroWatch.com shows Manjaro being really popular right now, but I've > never heard of it. It's based on Arch, which I've heard of, but never > tried. I see that Arch uses Pacman for a package manager. I'm used to > APT; I'm not sure if I'd like Pacman. > > So anyway, I thought I'd ask for suggestions. > > -- > Rich > > _______________________________________________ > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > >

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Joshua Stone

If you're using Intel or AMD graphics, then I highly recommend trying out Fedora. It gets the newest kernel and Mesa versions during a release's life cycle, and it typically stays close to upstream. Fedora (Workstation) also isn't rolling release, so you can expect your system to not have any breaking changes from an update which is an important quality in a server. As far as I know, Manjaro having a rolling release model doesn't make this stability guarantee. Plex also seems to have official builds for Fedora, which can be configured with this guide here: http://bendavis.me/2015/03/29/setup-plex-media-server-on-fedora/ Some of the steps could be simplified like this: sudo dnf install https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/1.13.5.5291-6fa5e50a8/plexmedia… systemctl enable --now plexmediaserver.service Fedora is also nice if you want to be experiment with some of the latest in Linux desktop technologies. It typically releases with the latest stable Gnome version, and includes new features like Wayland, Flatpak, and Pipewire. -Josh On Sun, 2018-08-05 at 16:31 -0400, Richard Klein wrote: > I'm having trouble deciding which distro to install on my new SSD. > It's the only desktop computer in the house, so it's used for web, > email, etc, plus it's a Plex server. > > DistroWatch.com shows Manjaro being really popular right now, but > I've never heard of it. It's based on Arch, which I've heard of, but > never tried. I see that Arch uses Pacman for a package manager. I'm > used to APT; I'm not sure if I'd like Pacman. > > So anyway, I thought I'd ask for suggestions. > > -- > Rich > > _______________________________________________WLUG mailing list -- > wlug(a)lists.wlug.orgTo unsubscribe send an email to > wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org

Aug. 5, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by John Stoffel

Since it’s a desktop, I’d go with linuxmint, based on Ubuntu based on Debian. I use it for my desktop and it’s nice. Plus you have the power of Debian to run services in the background. The only gotcha is that you want to disable people shutting down or rebooting the system from the GUI. It can be done, just not sure off the top of my head. I’d actually suggest you find and old system you can stick in the closet to run as your plez server if possible. Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 5, 2018, at 4:31 PM, Richard Klein <rich(a)richardklein.org> wrote: > > I'm having trouble deciding which distro to install on my new SSD. > > It's the only desktop computer in the house, so it's used for web, email, etc, plus it's a Plex server. > > DistroWatch.com shows Manjaro being really popular right now, but I've never heard of it. It's based on Arch, which I've heard of, but never tried. I see that Arch uses Pacman for a package manager. I'm used to APT; I'm not sure if I'd like Pacman. > > So anyway, I thought I'd ask for suggestions. > > -- > Rich > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org

Aug. 5, 2018

Desktop distro

by Richard Klein

I'm having trouble deciding which distro to install on my new SSD. It's the only desktop computer in the house, so it's used for web, email, etc, plus it's a Plex server. DistroWatch.com shows Manjaro being really popular right now, but I've never heard of it. It's based on Arch, which I've heard of, but never tried. I see that Arch uses Pacman for a package manager. I'm used to APT; I'm not sure if I'd like Pacman. So anyway, I thought I'd ask for suggestions. -- Rich

Aug. 5, 2018

Reminder! Meeting August 9th 2018 at 7pm

by Tim Keller

Hey Gang! We've got a WLUG meeting August 9th! Location: Campus Center Mid Century Room (rm 331) at 7pm. Topic: I'm working on that!!! If there's something cool you've been working on, or would like to show off, let me know! As usual refreshments and snacks will be provided. Afterwards we'll head off for dinner and keep up the conversation! Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Aug. 5, 2018

Re: Microsoft PowerShell

by Joshua Stone

Snaps tend to install more cleanly due to including all of the dependencies independently of the host OS. Snaps have a few drawbacks though, one being that they're very Ubuntu-centric. To my knowledge, the apparmor profiles which are using for sandboxing are currently not upstreamed, so app developers like the powershell devs recommend installing in "classic mode" which bypasses this benefit. Snaps are also added to your $PATH, which can be a problem if a snap decides to use the same name as an application that was installed via package manager for example. Also from what I remember, snaps are still heavily reliant on the Ubuntu app store. While it is possible to install an arbitrary .snap file, you can't add different repos. Flatpak doesn't seem to have these limitations, being much more distro-agnostic and having a well-defined sandboxing mechanism. I recommend checking out Flathub if you want to give flatpaks a try. -Josh On Wed, Aug 1, 2018, 08:52 The Hammer via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > I have not tried snaps yet, but believe that one of the other > characteristics of them are if you chose to delete a snap, all the > dependencies that came with it also go away. > > > > On Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 10:01:49 AM EDT, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU> > wrote: > > > What's a snap? > > On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 09:57:12AM -0400, Richard Klein wrote: > > Microsoft PowerShell is now available as a Snap: > > https://betanews.com/2018/07/20/microsoft-powershell-core-linux-snap/ > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >

Aug. 1, 2018