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Reconnecting with my media drive

by Richard Klein

When I was running Debian, I had most of my media segregated on a Seagate SSHD. That's still in the system now that I'm running Mint. I'm trying to get Plex up and running again. The file manager shows the media drive mounted, but shows nothing on it. I don't see it listed in fstab. I don't remember how it was formatted, but I think it's an ext4 drive. What should my next step be? -- Rich

Aug. 9, 2018

Monitor Madness

by Krichevsky, Nicholas Jacob

Hey all - By an interesting turn of events, my fellow interns and I were given the opportunity to build a computer to theoretically drive 192 monitors. Yes, really. We're running into a bit of a brick wall, so I figured I'd reach out and see if anyone had any crazy ideas that just might work. This project started because of a certain obsession of our CEO to drive as many monitors off one PC as possible. We put together a build using 8x Radeon 7870s with 6x Mini DisplayPort outputs<https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ3BU1115&cm_re=Visio…> (the price spiked after we bought these for some reason) with 2x Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 <https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117630> , all tied together in a SuperMicro 4028GR-TR2<https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4u/4028/SYS-4028GR-TR2.cfm>. Limiting the cards to PCIE 8x, we should be able to drive all 8 with 16 PCIE lanes to spare. Because the Mini DisplayPorts follow the DisplayPort 2.1 spec, we were hoping to use MST with 48 of these MST hubs from Monoprice<https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=2…> (which we actually got on sale!). This would allow us to drive four displays @ 1080p off one Mini DisplayPort, allowing us to drive 24 monitors off one card, across 8 cards, totaling 192 monitors. With this all in mind, and the knowledge that we may have to write some funky Xorg configs, we pulled the trigger on all of it, and would attempt to drive as many monitors as we had on hand in the office. We decided to load Fedora on this machine, which should be able to drive MST with the included amdgpu driver, thanks to patches that were added to kernel 4.15, and some DC display code settings that were enabled in kernel 4.17. With all of this, we were able to successfully drive ... two displays off each MST hub, instead of the expected four. Not as fruitful as we may have hoped, but hey, 96 monitors would still be awesome. Out of sheer curiosity, we threw Windows on another SSD, and discovered that Windows could drive four displays off each MST hub, but we were getting hard limited to six monitors per card, no matter what we tried. We hypothesized that this might be due to the proprietary AMD driver setting an arbitrary limit, and thought we might be able to still pull off the 12 monitors per card in Linux. A couple of small scripts later, we were up and running with six monitors on one card. Upon adding the seventh and re-running our script, we were greeted with the following. [monitormadness@monitor-madness ~]$ python3 set-monitors.py Executing `xrandr -d :0 --output DisplayPort-3-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-0-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-1-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-0-1-2 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-3-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-1-1-2 --mode 1920x1080 --output DisplayPort-4-1-1 --mode 1920x1080` xrandr: cannot find crtc for output DisplayPort-4-1-1 We ran xrandr --listproviders to see what we got. With two GPUs connected, we got the following. [monitormadness@monitor-madness ~]$ xrandr --listproviders -d :0 Providers: number : 2 Provider 0: id: 0x8d cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 6 outputs: 30 associated providers: 1 name:PITCAIRN @ pci:0000:04:00.0 Provider 1: id: 0x4b cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 6 outputs: 6 associated providers: 1 name:PITCAIRN @ pci:0000:06:00.0 Looks like we can only get 6 CRTCs per card. This is where I reach out to you all. Does anyone know of some Xorg or kernel flag trickery we can use to get more outputs for our buck with the limited number of CRTCs? I don't quite know enough about how video cards work to make an informed decision about what's going on, but my hypothesis is that the card's firmware is what transmits how many outputs we can use, so we may be SOL in the department of getting more CRTCs, but perhaps there may be some way to trick Xorg into rendering the content of one CRTC across multiple monitors? Not sure. Would love to hear what you all think. Thanks for taking the time to read this! :)

Aug. 9, 2018

Reminder: WLUG Meeting August 9th, 2018! Topic: Bro

by Tim Keller

Hey Gang, We've got a meeting on Thursday! Time @ Location: 7pm @ WPI Mid Century Room (Rm 331) aka, the usual spot Topic: Bro Network Security Monitor Presenter: Eric Martin Veteran WLUG member Eric Martin will be giving a talk about "Bro" What's Bro? Bro is a FOSS framework and event engine for analyzing network traffic. First developed at LBNL in 1995 it is used on public, private and personal networks provide robust indepth network usage and threat analysis. Check out http://www.bro.org for more details. Eric's talk will be focused around using Bro to understand the flow of traffic around devices on our home network. As we add an ever increasing set of devices that have the words "IoT" and/or Smart in their names, it matters that we know what these devices are doing and who they're talking to. Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Richard Klein

I ended up just installing Mint with xfce on the SSD. I didn't stay up to play with it. It didn't boot as quickly as I expected, but it shuts down instantaneously. -- Rich On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 1:03 PM Steven Greenberg <steve(a)ssgreenberg.name> wrote: > I us an old version of VMWare and Kubuntu. > > I managed to get myself paying for VMWare, but I think I could > have got it for free. > > /Steve > > > -- > Steven Greenberg Email: steve(a)ssgreenberg.name > 251 Holland Rd. Phone: (774)241-0095 > Fiskdale, Massachusetts 01518-1231 Web: www.ssgreenberg.name > Other Email: s.greenberg(a)ieee.org ssg(a)alum.mit.edu >

Aug. 6, 2018

Re: Desktop distro

by Steven Greenberg

I us an old version of VMWare and Kubuntu. I managed to get myself paying for VMWare, but I think I could have got it for free. /Steve -- Steven Greenberg Email: steve(a)ssgreenberg.name 251 Holland Rd. Phone: (774)241-0095 Fiskdale, Massachusetts 01518-1231 Web: www.ssgreenberg.name Other Email: s.greenberg(a)ieee.org ssg(a)alum.mit.edu

Aug. 6, 2018

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