The Friendly Face of Linux

[mrrsm]

We have many experienced Linux Users here at GMT Nation... and if you too have been clever enough to dig out one of those unused laptops or desktop systems sitting around that sport outdated, congested and bloated Windo$e Operating Systems and opt to experiment with any of the various flavors of The Linux Operating System, then this information is for you… Google and Youtube abound with enough information about the Linux OS to give you a decent comfort level with trying out this OS.

Having used Linux for over 20 Years now and tried and tested practically every single flavor of this amazing OS… I have finally settled upon Linux Mint 18.1 +> as being My Absolute Favorite! With a background in criminal computer mapping and crime information database management, I remember the struggles I endured when dealing in crashed and virus infected MS-DOS and every single version of Windo$e installed on machines that failed more times than I can count in professional settings. So discovering Linux during its early development as a bit of a clunky and difficult graphical Unix OOP-like (Object Oriented Programming) OS involved watching it advancing steadily from being a bit of a struggle to install and run… to becoming an absolutely sublime and powerful Operating System that is a breeze to get up and running.

Did I mention anything about all the software being free? Yup… all Free and unencumbered. Some of the Enterprise Based versions of Linux, such as that from Red Hat Enterprise are Turn-Key systems for big business that do charge for their software and services… but their Fedora Linux platform is used to prove out their commercial stuff first and THAT is free to use.

Right now… all of the original heavy lifting necessary to understand the Unix Clone command line and script based activities necessary to use this OS on any machine has become a thing of the past. The average person with the desire to try something new will discover something fairly surprising in the realm of a Non-Windo$e based OS that can do just about anything Windo$e can and get this OS for free by visiting any number of sites on line (Ubuntu, Debian, RHE-Fedora, Linux Mint-Debian based and many, many more).

Just download a boot-able or installable ISO of choice… and burn it on a DVD disc that will allow them to run their existing machines using Linux and play around with it harmlessly first, without doing one jot of change to their existing system. Getting your feet wet with this stuff will soon teach you that all of the money being spent upon the Merry-Go-’Round of having to play the game of unendingly buying more software and OS upgrades ...will come to a screeching halt.

With the exception of the death grip that Windo$e and Play Station have on the gaming industry… Every single thing that needs doing nested in Windo$e ...including running Windo$e applications using the Linux WINE application, can be done swimmingly well on a Linux Box. And for those wanting the most pleasurable experience as a new ...or even many experienced users of Linux... all will benefit from the Linux Mint ISO for the easy installation of a platform that goes seamlessly together with very few growing pains and big pay off in what becomes possible once you boot up the new OS. Here is where to download the appropriate 32 and 64 Bit “Minty Flavors”:

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

I recently discovered a page that has the most outrageously cool “copy and paste” command line tweaks and even more sub-links for Linux Mint that will make the transition and improvement of its utility and performance that much more useful. If you can navigate and open The Terminal app… then you can cut and past in these exotic and clever command line tweaks and improvements and get even more use out of whatever machine(s) you install this OS into:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/mint-cinnamon-first

 

[HizAndHerz]

Most folks I know are running Linux Mint or Ubuntu (maybe its just the techno-nerds I run with). We have 10 desktops and laptops in our household and all but two are running Linux Mint. Occasionally I find something I can't easily do on Linux even using Wine (listening to Audible books for instance), but its our go-to operating system.

 

[mrrsm]

Recently… I decided to investigate the possibility of extracting the audio streams from Automotive Diagnostic MP4 Videos which are becoming more and more available at GMT Nation in order to download and view them graphically as a Wave Form and see if anything visually “spikes” and is in disarray which might provide more clues to the underlying mechanical problems creating any aberrant engine noise. The problem of having to spend a fortune on a Video Editing Suite to get these features can be avoided by using the latest version of the Linux 64 Bit flavor of the Free, Open Source “OpenShot” Full Featured Video Editing Suite. It has also been ported for other Operating Systems (Windo$e, OSX), as well.

Of course, the value of doing this is being able to isolate the Audio Stream and more or less graph it in an “oscilloscope”-like fashion ...and try to spot anything that “jumps off the page” as having a repeatable, periodic sequence that can help to pinpoint the underlying mechanical issues that are ‘making all the racket’. I can’t swear that this idea will pan out… but for Linux Users interested in experimentation… it might be worth following the Command Line installation procedures at the link below to access the PPA and install the stuff and try this idea out. Besides that… it looks like a pretty decent all around Video Editor APP on its own merits:

http://openshot.org/download/

 

[therealsethallen]

I'm a lifelong Apple owner. If you're sick of "Congested, Bloated and Outdated" software, switch to Apple. We don't crash. We don't have as many issues with malware and our updates make our machines better, not slower. I've been running an Apple iMac 3.2 Core i7 with 8GB of RAM for three years and I haven't had a single hiccup with it. Like most of Apple's computers, the thing works.
Open Source Software is a really great thing, but it's a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish to most people, regardless of what's online for information.
If you're not a gamer, Apple is the way to go.

 

[djthumper]

I'm a lifelong Apple owner. If you're sick of "Congested, Bloated and Outdated" software, switch to Apple. We don't crash. We don't have as many issues with malware and our updates make our machines better, not slower. I've been running an Apple iMac 3.2 Core i7 with 8GB of RAM for three years and I haven't had a single hiccup with it. Like most of Apple's computers, the thing works.
Open Source Software is a really great thing, but it's a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish to most people, regardless of what's online for information.
If you're not a gamer, Apple is the way to go.

Apparently you are just a casual user. Apple puts bloat on the systems as well. They do crash and they crash hard when they do. The malware is getting more and more Apple centric and if you are not running an anti virus you are a security risk waiting to happen. A lot of the updates bloat things and then get cleaned up.

I say this with some authority as I am one of the people that supports 35 Mac systems at work. I also do cyber security and have had malware hit the macs a few times.

Before you think this is a PC user talking this you are not correct. I run Windows, Apple and Linux.

 

[mrrsm]

With the idea in mind here that the Linux Operating System is a “Big, Friendly Tent” under which much fun stuff can be explored and appreciated… I’d like to suggest some interesting project(s) that I started doing quite some time ago with the idea of building something in the way of ‘Entertainment Centers’ that would be very inexpensive to cobble together… extremely robust and support functionality that would not sag and bog down under the load caused by running Blue Ray movies and concurrent applications.

I settled on scouring eBay for much of the theoretically, outdated and non-environmentally friendly commercial server and workstation hardware made by Mike Dell. At the same time… I wanted to fiddle around with almost all of the flavors of Linux… including their Server Software… just because I wanted to get a look inside of the hardware that “The Big Boys” were playing with at the time. In the order of their acquisition, I started with a few Dell Precision 690 Work Stations … mostly purchasing their parts and pieces and gradually assembling them...and settled later on with the Dell Precision T7400 Work Stations that I still use to this very day. Here is where to find them… but be sure and do your Intel Processor and RAM homework about the many and sundry different components they can come with that will make a very big difference in how they deliver their performances. Be advised that many of the 690 and T7400 components are NOT interchangeable... so you won't be able to "mix and match' these items... it has got be either one flavor... or the other:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw...12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&rmvSB=true

These are the Best Intro Videos on the Dell Precision T7400 Box:

(TRUST ME... IT WILL NEVER BREAK)

Around that same time, my son’s interest in gaming evolved… and so did his need for more and more power and performance. This became an unending demand for better and more responsive hardware and so the ‘Moore’s Law’ theme here was to have to change out his computer platform about every six months or so. But on one occasion… when he came in and asked for the NBT (Next Best Thing) in hardware… I sat him down in the living room in front of the HDTV and asked him, “Scotty… How many videos can you open and view on your desktop right now without having them pixelate and crash or slow to a crawl?” He stared blankly at me and said... 'I don’t know Dad… maybe two... if nothing else in running...’ I pointed at the TV Screen and said, “Watch this..."

I opened (6) Six different MKV Movies... all at the same time and turned up the sound volume so he could observe and hear that all the movies scaled to fit on the wide screen were playing simultaneously and without so much as a burp... and all could be heard as a cacophony of mixing dialogue. He smiled broadly, laughed out loud and asked, 'Dad… How is that even possible?' I pointed at the Big Black & Silver Box next to the TV and said, “THAT is a Dell Precision T7400 Work Station running Dual Quad Top End Xeon Processors, Dual PCI-e nVidia Gaming Cards...and sports 128 Gigs of RAM on Risers with ECC Full Buffered Ram as an Experimental Machine for watching Multimedia... and all while I'm running an ungodly number of full-tilt background applications ...and not having anything crash."

I continued to mention, "This one is running on Fedora Linux... But if you want, you can have this one after we load a new, complete licensed Windows XP Professional OS onto it and then you install your programs and game away to your heart's content." He was brimming when he said… “I want THAT one…!” We both laughed and later when I got it set for him ... I reduced the RAM Footprint to having only 64 Gigs of RAM as the Machine can make a bedroom unbearably hot very quickly with that much ECC FB RAM cranking out the BTUs. And so for the next decade right up until the time he left home, he never needed another Hardware Upgrade... ever again.

So if you have Inquisitive Kids that want to toy around with a very powerful piece of computing technology and you don't want to go broke in making that happen… Getting or Building your own “Dell Box” is a very fun and instructional thing to do that everyone in the family can enjoy. Who knows… you might even spark their interest in Science, Technology and Engineering that can change their lives for the better in the future. ;>)

Here are some videos about the Dell Precision 690 Gaming Box being put together and demonstrating what it looks like inside and out... and just how powerful these Dirt Cheap Dell Machines can become:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dell+precision+690+gaming

 

[therealsethallen]

I've been running Norton Anti-Virus all three years I've owned this computer and again, not a single hiccup.
Linux had it's place, but not in my life.

 

[dkvasnicka]

I switched to Mac from (Ubuntu) Linux back in 2009 and have been pretty happy since then (my primary motivation was that I wanted a UNIX that just works). However the Linux scene, together with PC HW manufacturers, have progressed quite a lot since then and I can imagine myself using Linux again (using it at work via CLI anyway). I have a retina MBP13 but can very well imagine living with a Dell XPS 13 and Fedora (especially with some of the HW design decissions Apple has recently made). I even bought a LG tablet, rooted it and installed Android 6 and I'm pretty happy with it.
However the main problem for me would be my lock-in into the Apple services ecosystem. My family is heavily invested in iCloud and associated services. Yes, you can go to iCloud in your browser and use that but the decrease in OS<->services integration and user experience would be drastic... The solution would be to go back to Google, full on. And I kinda don't want that because I think Google needs pressure from the competition. They're too big to fail.

 

[mrrsm]

If your favorite flavor of Linux happens to be the almost trouble free version called Linux Mint... even under the best of circumstances, as the Kernels get updated over time... the mini-partition created when the Linux OS is installed will become clogged with too many older versions of the Linux Kernel. However... If you follow the instructions in the attached link below using GEDIT as your Text Editor in an open Terminal... you can copy-paste-save the involved simple script highlighted in pale green into your HOME Directory and then run the commands in the same open Terminal afterwards, you will be able to very quickly and easily Clean Up the Linux Mint System. Trust me... It'll Work Like A Charm!

https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/373

 

[6716]

Fedora 25 is my daily driver.

I also work for a Linux-based software company.

If anyone can tell me how to forward afs logs to another machine, I'd be much obliged. Got that question at work yesterday, still haven't figured it out. I can get syslog forwarded from OS X, can't seem to find anything on afs, though. I didn't even know there was an afs until I got the question.

 

[mrrsm]

Everything before the URL Link below is a Quote from that link:

This should work... on sender, modify /etc/syslog.conf like this

*.warn @192.168.0.1

on receiver, modify /etc/sysconfig/syslog; add -r to list of options for SYSLOGD_OPTIONS

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/forward-system-logs-to-syslog-server-757592/

The Stanford University IT Department has an informative Q&A on the subject of AFS log forwarding and covers issues related to why Mac OS may have problems that can also offer more insights:

https://uit.stanford.edu/service/afs/learningmore/faq

 

[mrrsm]

Instead of going through the usual rigmarole of having to use my One, Last Fresh Installation CD of Windows XP Pro SP3 for ‘Emergencies'… I’m considering just using the Linux Mint “WINE” Windows Emulation Application and set it up to recognize BOTH the USB Dongle AND the Standard Serial COM Ports and hopefully be able to designate both of them correctly to allow for a smooth and uninterrupted installation of the TIS2000 CD Software onto the coming “GYMKO” Tech-II.

In the past...what I’ve liked about the WINE APP on Linux is that it’s features allow you to install and run very old Windows CDs and run outdated dBase, DOS and Early Windows Games, etc. It has been a while now since I last used it, but I think it still lets you designate which early flavor of WinDo$e to choose from when doing so. I think I can designate either a near-to or post Y2K Flavor of “Windows on WINE” via Linux and simply bypass all of the usual “Bravo Sierra” of having to set up Windows on a Dormant Legacy Laptop with a dedicated HD having Windows XP Pro installed on it as a Virgin Drive...just to suit this particular situation for the install of the GM flavor of TIS2000 onto the "GYMKO".

What a PITA!.

For anybody interested in getting a good “One Over The World” look at all of the Hardware and Software inside of their own particular Laptop and Desktop PCs… Belarc Advisor will allow you very fast and complete access to your entire set ups... and it shows you all of the HW-SW inside. In addition... it includes listing any and all outstanding or problematic-missing Windows Security and Software Updates as well. A small Caveat Emptor here ...is that I only run this Windows based Investigative Application… on Linux Mint Machines… so I never have any occasion for running any Virus Checks, or Root-kit Checks or other danger checks on the SW. So… If you decide to install/use it on any of your systems… you are doing so at your OWN risk. :>)

The installation site for Belarc Advisor:

http://www.belarc.com/products_belarc_advisor

This is the “How To” PDF worth reading whenever using USB Serial Port Adapters while running WINE on Linux:

http://g8ogj.org/files/Using USB serial ports under wine howwto ipb.pdf

 

[mrrsm]

I recently encountered a very rare occurrence during the Boot Up Cycle of Linux Mint 18.2 where my Elderly “Square” Screen 15” IBM ThinkPad Model T60 (One of Two that I regularly use for all kinds of projects…) failed to pass the Automatic File Checking Phase… and simply stopped upon a Jet Black Terminal-Like Screen with an obscure, super-tiny green ‘intramfs’ Prompt….and nothing else besides. This problem would demand a “manual intervention”.

Never having encountered this problem before...EVER… in spite of my having a fairly thick glossary of Terminal Command Line responses inside of my Ancient Coconut, I had to fire up its 15.4” Wide Screen (Close to 16:9 Ratio anyway...) Cousin T60 and then plumb “The Internets” for what turned out to be more proof that “The Very Soul of Linux… Is Elegance and Simplicity”...when it comes to solving something this rarely encountered, but threatening nonetheless. I have many recently active files only on this particular machine that I will need very badly over the next few weeks while trying to help my son and his family purchase a home up in North Florida. Having this Box Crashing out now would have Drawn Blood, I can tell you!

And so… This Tiny Command Solution really is worth its weight in solid gold… but if you eschew anything resembling Old UNIX and DOS Commands and are new to Linux and would instead enjoy delving into a more “graphical” means of checking upon the health and stability of your Laptop or Desktop Linux Machines, the link at the bottom of this post is one worth Visiting, Bookmarking and Reading from top to bottom, when time permits… and hopefully you can get familiar with how to respond well before you encounter what I just went through.

In order to prevent damage to the File System at large... it will be necessary for you to Unmount the drive prior to working this next miracle. Here is the Command Line that also will require your SU (Super User) password to invoke the UN-mounting action first ...and Yes... it is spelled UMOUNT):

sudo umount /dev/sda1

...or if your Partition is designated /dev/sda ...UN-mount it thusly:

sudo umount /dev/sda

Here is “The Rescue Command ...at Hand”:

fsck /dev/sda1

Alternatively... The File EXT4 System will be examined via THIS variant:

sudo fsck -t ext4 /dev/sda1

Where... ‘fsck’ means ‘file system check’ and ‘/dev/sda1’ means… Your 1st Boot-able HD System Partition designated for initial system access by the Root User (or someone designated with root access) alone during Boot-Up. Incidentally… under most circumstances… the default occurrence for this file checking mechanism is for this to Invoke Automatically … but only after every 33 Boot Up Cycles… so it is not doing this action each and every time that you fire up the Linux Machine.

Once this simple line is manually invoked… Press down your “CAPS” button and just answer Every Single Question the On-Screen Prompts beg from you as replies using only the Capital Letter “Y” and allow it to scour the /dev/sda1 (or /dev/sda) Partition for anything and everything that it finds that might be wrong. Considering that my drive is a fairly new Hybrid SS/HD with 2 TB of Secondary Storage and a Large Boot Sector for the Linux GRUB and OS, it was only a matter of a few minutes before I was able to power off the machine, re-boot the thing… and find that my Old, Trusty T60 was up and running on all ‘partition cylinders’ once again.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/37659/the-beginners-guide-to-linux-disk-utilities/

 

[mrrsm]

For those of us relying upon various flavors of the Linux OS… If you have ever been frustrated when downloading a Video File created in the .MKV Format and had their various downloads crap out when they are almost… damned nearly … finished… there is a simple, cross-platform Drag and Drop application called “Meteorite” that when once installed… you can use it to solve this Busted .MKV Problem by simply going to the folder where the file(s) are located… and dragging-releasing the file(s) individually over the Meteorite Icon on your Desktop.

Meteorite will then silently repair, resize and then place (NOT Replace) the New File in the same directory or folder of origin with your original damaged .MKV file(s). Thus… eliminating the problem of losing partial videos when these are all that are available for download and no other options for repair-rebuild are at hand.

Since this program was originally written in C++ and might also be ported over to Java Script… you can avoid any of the usual Linux OS installation entanglements for say... the Linux Mint OS flavors ...by opening up a fresh Terminal and typing (or copy-pasting) one instruction line at a time ...in this exact code that uses Meteor ...to install Meteorite:

First Key In….

sudo apt install nodejs npm

Press ENTER... and WAIT... this part of the process does take a little while to complete...

...once that is finished... Key In…

sudo npm install -g meteorite

Press ENTER... and momentarily... You Are

....DONE...

Now ...view your Desktop and locate the Icon for the Meteorite App... then open your Video Folder... and Drag & Drop the broken .MKV file over the Meteorite Icon. It will take a few minutes for the corrections and re-write the smaller sized copy of the .MKV to finish. During Post-Processing... the name "Meteorite" will be appended to the first portion of the title to the copied/repaired file(s) making them easily distinguishable from the original(s)... but no matter... the viewing results of the rescued file(s) will be pleasing.

For Members who are Windows OS Users … You can also download this application in the MS flavor… from here:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/meteorite/

For anyone curious about what "Nodejs" is... Here is a WIKI on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node.js

...and it follows on for more information about what NPM is as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_(software)

 

[mrrsm]

If you have grown tired of having to open Three Different Image Editors to Copy-Drop various formats of images… only to find that when it comes to “CROPPING AND DROPPING” any Modified Images between formats and with the area size adjustments needed to meet the requirements for the Right Sized Files acceptable for Uploading… Check this Method out that I recently stumbled across and found some blessed relief in making all of these problems just go away using JUST the Word Processor alone from the ALWAYS Completely Free LibreOffice Suite.

Available for Windows Users as well... Here:

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

(1) Find the Image you want to work with and Right-Click Copy it.



(2) Then Open LibreOffice Writer and Right-Click Paste the Image on the Letter Sized Open Page.




(3) Move the the Cursor inside of the Pasted Image and Right-Click CROP the image, observing that Eight Red Border Rectangular Sizers will appear around the perimeter of the Image. Just GRAB & DRAG the Perimeter Segments inwards until you are satisfied with their cropped dimensions.



(4) Then Right-Click SAVE the image… BUT… Remember to Look-Down at the Lower Right Corner for selecting an Image File Type from the Look-Up Menu and select .JPEG as the tightest, smallest format with the least File Size in Bytes. The default is for the Bloated .PNG Format.

(5) Then Click Save As a Modified File… and Select the File Folder and Naming Convention you like… accept the default Image Sizing and Quality variables… or change them to something else more to your liking.

(6) That is IT!



I think you’ll appreciate NOT having to Mess Around with any other Linux Graphics Apps that make these often slippery, PITA conversions difficult if not damned near impossible. With just a little practice... THIS Method will work wonders for you.

Disclaimer:

This Exemplar Image for this Post is publicly available on-line via a general Google Search for "2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer" at this Link:

http://zombdrive.com/images/2002-chevrolet-trailblazer-1.jpg

I am neither the Photographer nor the Owner of this image.

 

[TollKeeper]

Disclaimer:

This Exemplar Image for this Post is publicly available on-line via a general Google Search for "2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer" at this Link:

http://zombdrive.com/images/2002-chevrolet-trailblazer-1.jpg

I am neither the Photographer nor the Owner of this image.

Damnit! Want more pics of that one!

 

[mrrsm]

Every so often… it pays to remind the Folks who occupy “The Windoze Werld” with Microsoft’s ubiquitous and often peripatetic “Pay for Play” Operating System… that... with a brief Download and a DVD Burn of a Bootable ISO version of the latest flavor of Linux Mint Ver. 19.1 … they can simply choose the “Boot from CD or DVD” option in their BIOS...and then check out what all the Wondrous and FREE aspects of this remarkable and well accepted Operating System are all about: This latest article is meant to tempt the doubters out there… who really just don’t know what they are missing!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...-distro-skips-upheaval-offers-small-upgrades/

...and for the easy ISO Download as suggested above, visit here:

https://linuxmint.com/download.php

 

[mrrsm]

This Youtube Video will prove useful for ANYONE who wants to Learn about the Linux Operating System… From Scratch… all the way through topics useful for Linux Power Users and Administrators. Download this 822.4 Megabyte Video File called videoplayback.mp4 directly from Youtube and then you can just Re-Name it as something like LINUXCOURSE.mp4 and make your study approach very convenient on the topic:

The Complete Classroom Quality Seven (7) Hour Linux Training Course:

And for those Dyed In The Wool Windows Operating System Mavens ...who are still curious about the Major Differences between the Two Operating Systems, this video will prove edifying:

 

[mrrsm]

On one occasion or another… ALL of us have heard a scrap of music that has an unshakable ‘persistence in memory’ because it literally strikes some kind of “Deep Chord” (pun intended, of course) that will rise in our memories and often be interesting and puzzling to try and sort out. This phenomena happens either because we (once again…) “Vibe” to the sound and the musical harmonic structure and simply want to understand how it was written… and often... we may even want to try to learn how the music can be played… without actually knowing how to read the unavailable sheet music.

This has happened to me on more than one occasion in my life… and when the rare opportunity has risen giving me a chance to view or hear what the sounds and melody structures are… and if you can figure it out... it feels quite surprising and even vindicating to some degree. Back in 1994 ...an innocuous Sci-Fi-Comedy called “The Mask” starring Jim Carrey, Carmen Diaz and the Late Peter Reigert (Dead for some time now of an apparent Suicide) hit the theaters and become a Box Office Smash, launching Carrey’s Film Career and that of Cameron Diaz as well.

The Sound Track Original Orchestrations for the Film were created by the Pop Song Writer, Mr. Randy Edelman and featured an opening sound track that was so moody and captivating that it later seemed to me to be completely misplaced; perhaps even better suited as the Theme Song for a Horror Movie or even one of the Marvel Super Hero Films. That is until you realize that his Music was the ONLY thing that brought home the very serious dangers that an Ordinary Man like Stanley Ipkiss should have been wary of when toying with the Mystical Power of Loki, Norse God of Mischief ...hidden deep within its Ancient Carved Wooden Visage.

In any case… you CAN access Mr. Randy Edelman’s Original Opening Scene from the movie “The Mask” on YouTube ...and even Download and Save it ...or watch it now if you like and see if it will jog your memory and your understanding of what I mean by this nagging and eerie musical phenomena:

Nonetheless… The complex Symphonic Orchestrations created by dozens of professional musicians on that cool Sound Track will do little to demystify the Chord Structure and the Melody… and therein lies the frustration I had experienced after looking for another means of understanding how to play the Main Theme on say ...a Piano. Lo and Behold… The other day I DID locate a Youtube Video at THIS link and was able to walk through a brief Tutorial given by the VOP in Black & White and… with enough time and practice… anyone with Basic Piano Playing skills could probably Master what Youtube (Video Original Poster) was showing during his brief Tutorial. So here is the link to THAT Video… But please note what happens if you try to DOWNLOAD it to your Hard Drive:

...as you can see… No matter what you try to do… it will just NOT Download! So that piqued my curiosity in searching for a Linux Mint Application that would allow me to accurately capture the Streaming Video and Audio with enough Good Quality to justify installing the App and being able grab the Damned Thing off of my Laptop Screen. To that end, I hunted around and found THIS App called SimpleScreenRecorder that was very easy to Download and Install and eminently qualified to do this job very nicely!

More than that, it can capture extremely High Video Frame Rates AND Grab the associated Audio in a manner that does not have all of the problems expected when using VLC or FFMPEG, etc., where the sound quality can often be Choppy, Clipped and Poor. Visit this link and follow either the YUM and APT Command Line Installation Terminal inputs to Download, Install and Use this extremely robust application. I did so and was able to capture the ordinarily unavailable Youtube Video linked above. If you are a Gamer and are looking for The Best Means of Capturing your Live Game Play with greater ease and higher quality… THIS Free Linux App might be just what you need:

https://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/#download

Here is the only other Intrepid Youtuber I could find who has to date, successfully deciphered and played the Main Theme of “The Mask” on his personal home Piano-Organ-Synthesizer… and he does a very admirable job in playing it to its completion; albeit after creating a very low quality, low resolution video that, while it can be downloaded… One cannot make “Ass-Head-Or-Tail” out of his finger-boarding from viewing it. Still … He does the Theme from The Mask Movie great justice when compared to the Fully Orchestrated Movie Sound Track Version:

Hope this FREE Linux APP helps… :>)

 

[mrrsm]

I recently received a few PMs from @Blackstar concerning a problem he was having with getting his Wired Ethernet Connection to work on his legacy Computer that he had also only of late installed the Latest Version of Linux Mint 19 on and he was anxious to get the "Hard Line" connection to work. I assumed too much in the way of his understanding how to navigate around his machine using the Linux Desktop in the absence of the ordinary Windows OS. So instead... I am replying to him (and any other folks who may be experiencing Hardware Issues on Old Laptops and Desktops while experimenting with New Linux Operating Systems:

The VERY First Thing To Do IS:

Locate any of the reliable sites that produced the Proprietary Systems Software and Drivers Unique to YOUR Machine from the People who MADE THE MACHINE. For example... If its an Old ThinkPad or a Lenovo Box... go to Lenovo.com and search for EVERYTHING you can get your hands on in the way of Downloading ALL of the Software Updates and Latest Hardware Drivers (Yes...EVEN the Windows Drivers) and then Burn them onto a Utility CD or DVD for safe keeping.

This is especially true for the Computer's System BIOS. That stands for "BASIC INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM" and is the Software for the Hardware Road Map for your Machine that is either held in a CMOS Chip or in an EEPROM Chip on the Motherboard of some type that reads what is stored there on Boot-UP and allows your Machine to work with all of its Internal Hardware.

Some places online even produce a "BOOT-ABLE- READ-ONLY BIOS INSTALL UPDATE CD" or a Disk or even a USB Flavor to be able to fire up the machine and sidestep the Hard Drive in order to Install the LATEST BIOS unique to your Computer in a Clean, Virus and Hardware Clutter-Free Environment. In many cases... any problems with systems hardware and Linux will go away once the Latest BIOS is installed safely inside of The Box.

Next... After completing ANY Linux Mint OS Installation... there are always around 15-25 or so "Tweaks" that many Linux Experts create some extremely useful "What to Do AFTER Installing Linux Mint..." kind of brief and very helpful Instructional(s) to instantly improve what just happened after the New Hard Drive in your Laptop or Desk Top Machine receives a Fresh Installation of the Latest Linux Flavor. For Linux Mint Version 19 ... Here are a few Links to follow and get caught up on just how EZ this process works:

22 Important Things To Do After Installing Linux Mint 19

Setting up your machine after installing the Linux Mint 19 is equally important and simple. Here's our top 22 Things to do after Installing Linux Mint Tara.

fossbytes.com

18 Things to Do After Installing Linux Mint 19 Tara

If you’ve installed Linux Mint 19, it is time to familiarize yourself with Tara and follow us on our journey of the first 18 things to do after installing it.

www.fossmint.com

But... for the sake of making an easier Visual Step By Step for @Blackstar to help him figure out why his Ethernet Port RJ-45 Hard Line is NOT Communicating with his Router Switch... Here are some basic Screen Print Images that will assist him:

(1) Look down in the Left Corner of the Screen and Open the Menu Index. Then Type in the word 'device' like this:



...now Click on "Device Manager"



...the Window you see is THE Place that allows you to install NATIVE - Windows Style Drivers for ANY Hardware inside of your Machine that requires SPECIFIC Drivers to Handle Specific Issues after the Linux OS is up and running. IF you can see ANY New or Un-Installed Drivers that can deal with Hardware Problems... Follow the Commands on screen to ALLOW LINUX TO SEARCH THE INTERNET AND INSTALL THOSE DEVICE DRIVERS FOR YOU! This will be particularly important for INTEL and AMD CPU Drivers and Other Drivers for Broadcomm, etc., Communications Devices!

Next.. After Installing any Driver Updates as Needed... RE-BOOT THE MACHINE and after you Log In and the Main Desk Top appears... Look down at the Lower Right Hand Corner and select the Network Communications Status Icon like THIS:



Then... Examine THIS area and determine whether or not your Wired Ethernet Connection Option is Available .AND Determine whether or not the Ethernet Cable (Male RJ-45 Connector) is Properly Plugged (OR DAMAGED) in snugly to your Wired Ethernet Port on your Laptop-Desktop Computer...Like this:



If you cannot see the expression "Wired"...then your System Board is either missing the Proper Drivers... or it is damaged. In SOME Cases... Re-Installing the Linux OS from SCRATCH will allow you to activate the Ethernet Services while the Software is installing. If you did NOT select this Option... Place the Linux Mint Ver. 19 DVD in the Drive ...set up the BIOS to Default to reading the DVD 1st instead of the Hard Drive and allow the OS to re-install, Just make sure that when it asks you for Internet Access information...you give it Permission and include any Local Network ID and Encrypted Password at that time... and it will use the Internet access simultaneously with the Install ISO Disk to complete the OS Installation:

If you allowed Internet access during the First OS Installation of Linux Mint... Follow the Next Screen Selections to check on the Network Hardware Status fro Wired and Wireless Connections:



Once again... if you CANNOT see any reference to the "Wired" status...then there is probably something wrong with the internal Ethernet Hardware ...in some cases ...this could mean that someone removed your Modular Ethernet Port/Cards and/or Blue Tooth Card...or installed one that is Damaged and Inoperable. Ordinarily.... the Hard Line RJ-45 Ethernet Port/Jack is in the Default ON for Network connections... but in some cases...THIS FEATURE CAN BE TURNED OFF IN THE BIOS SCREEN. Double check your BIOS Set Up Parameters and if necessary... Activate this feature.

Anyway... I hope this will help to get your New Linux Mint Ver. 19 Box Up and Running Like a Champ.

 

[mrrsm]

For those of us who "Get Busy" as Linux Power Users... Instead of selecting the Linux Mint "Terminal" Command Button multiple times to open multiple Terminal APP Windows... Try Installing and using "The Terminator" instead:

(1) Open an Ordinary "Terminal" and type in:

sudo apt install terminator

Press the <E> Key ( This Installs "The Terminator" Application on Linux Mint )


(2) Use the same open, Ordinary "Terminal" and type in:

sudo apt install cmatrix

Press the <E> Key (This Installs "The Matrix" Movie Screen Saver for the Terminator App)


(3) Close the Ordinary Terminal... Then Left Click and Select the "Menu" Button on the Lower Left side of the Desktop and type in 'term'. Then select the Red Terminator Icon and Right Click to add a Terminator Icon to the Lower Command Line Panel AND to the Open Desktop:



(4) Then, Locate the Red Terminator Icon on the Desktop and Double Click it:



(5) The "Terminator" Terminal will Open Up on the Desktop. The Right Click in the center Marquis of that 'mini-desktop' and select the "Split Horizontally" Option:



(6) Then Right Click in the Marquis again and select the "Split Vertically" Option:



(7) Now... Pick any of the Three Multi-Plexed Terminals therein and type in:

cmatrix

Press the <E> Key:



(8) Then choose either one of the two empty Terminals and in the second choice, type:

ll

Press the <E> Key


(9) Then Choose the Last (Third Open Terminal )and type in:

uname -r

Press the <E> Key


(10) Then within the same 3rd Terminal, Type in:

uname

Press the <E> Key


This demonstrates the simple way to multi-task when using The Terminator App... with the stipulation that these three Terminals MUST be allowed to finish their operations ... In Consecutive Order:

Hope this becomes handy...

:>)

 

[mrrsm]

If you finally get a version of Firefox working correctly that allows the Add-Ons suiting your purposes to work properly, then you’ll have to HOLD BACK Firefox from automatically upgrading along with every other Linux Mint Application. To accomplish this, just follow these instructions:

(1) First, COPY-PASTE the following Code into a Terminal Window to get a LIST ONLY of ALL the Currently Installed Programs compared side-by-side with those that are Available for Upgrade:

apt-get --just-print upgrade 2>&1 | perl -ne 'if (/Inst\s([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\s\[([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\]\s\(([\w,\-,\d,\.,~,:,\+]+)\)? /i) {print "PROGRAM: $1 INSTALLED: $2 AVAILABLE: $3\n"}' | column -s " " -t

Press the <E> Key.

(2) Next, select the APP from the Comparison List on the Terminal Screen you desire to HOLD BACK by its exact Package Name. In this case… I’m choosing firefox:

sudo apt-mark hold <package>

Example:

sudo apt-mark hold firefox
Press the <E> Key.

Then… Do the same thing for THIS <package> if it is also on the Comparison List:

sudo apt-mark hold firefox-locale-en
Press the <E> Key.

Afterwards… Run this Line to Upgrade everything else on the Upgrade-able Comparison List:

sudo apt upgrade
Press the <E> Key.

You’re DONE!

 

[Maverick6587]

As I appreciate the Linux/Ubuntu OS. Here is a fairly simplistic guide to installing Windows XP in Virtualbox on Linux or Ubuntu. A cheap and easy way to connect the Tech 2 to Windows XP.

I haven't tested the connection of the Tech 2 through Linux/Ubuntu. I assume it should work just as easily as a regular Windows computer running Virtualbox with Windows XP installed.

If I have time this weekend. I'll set up a partition and install Linux to test this theory.

 

[mrrsm]

If you are successful with the TIS2000 Linux Install and it works without Serial Communications issues... THAT would be Great... and it would deserve a Fresh Thread in the Tech 2-Scanner Section with a "How To" Step-By-Step set of procedures that I cannot wait to try out! Thanks, Brother!

 

[Maverick6587]

The drivers might be an issue but, it's definitely worth a try!

 

[mrrsm]

If you have an extra Linux Mint Laptop sitting around right along with an OEM Legit Windows OS (XP, 7, 10) Installation DVD and some ‘time to kill...’… these Tutorials on “How to Run Windows XP on Linux Mint with Oracle VirtualBox” will interest you as the easiest way to do this if you want to install some Legacy Games (Doom 3?) and just piddle around a bit:

Read THIS First...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-run-xp-on-linux-mint-with-oracle-virtualbox/

...then Download and Install the right flavor of Oracle VirtualBox for your OS first from this link:

https://www.virtualbox.org/

Read this Last and Follow the Instructions using the Graphical Images at the Top... and the "How To Do This" parts at the Bottom of each of the (19) Consecutive Pages:

https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/how-...tualbox-and-windows-xp-on-linux-mint-gallery/

Before diving right in... Don't forget to update your dormant Linux Mint OS first by using the SynAPTic Application or by opening a Terminal and Typing in:

sudo apt update
Press the <E> Key...
enter your PW
Press the <E> Key...

and then do likewise with...

sudo apt upgrade
Press the <E> Key
enter your PW
Press the <E> Key...

 

[mrrsm]

Sometimes Linux Users may lament not being able to easily Stream Movies, Videos and Television Series on their Laptops as readily as Windows Users are able to get working. But there is an APP called STREMIO that has also been ported in the 64 Bit flavor of Debian Packages (.deb) and can be installed from the Link below:

https://www.stremio.com/downloads

The Video shows how EZ this installation works:

CAVEAT EMPTOR: I seriously recommend using a DECENT VPN like IPVanish

While there ARE Add-On options within STREMIO that will allow users access to Peer-to-Peer Networks and likewise view and hear copyrighted material... ISP Companies have recently figured out much better ways to dial in very quickly upon and locate and enforce Violations of Content Theft. So my suggestions here are that You should ONLY Stream content that you are legally allowed to access and use as either FREE or Paid For Subscription Based Internet Services.

And If you have any installation issues…

https://stremio.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...emio-won-t-install-on-Linux-what-should-I-do-

 

[mrrsm]

With the introduction of the Latest Linux Mint Ver. 20 (ULYANA) Operating System release… I thought I would kill Two Birds with One Stone and Pull the Pin on getting the Samsung 860-QVO 2 TB V-NAND SSD Hard Drive and step completely up to the World of Total Solid State Computing. I had to wait nearly two months for this ‘drive to arrive’ from Japan… but this remarkable Tech is well worth waiting for:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L31K2MK/?tag=gmtnation-20

https://www.samsung.com/us/computin...s/ssd-860-qvo-2-5-sata-iii-2tb-mz-76q2t0b-am/



Holy Smokes… It Reads at 550 MBPS and Writes at 520 MBPS (6 gigabits per second transfer speeds) and that is REALLY FAST AND FURIOUS for a Hard Drive that weighs only about as much as Three Standard Mailing Envelopes when held in the palm of your hand. Obviously… the days of hearing the Power Saver Application(s) to save on battery Energy and power the Old 2.5” 2 TB Hard Drive(s) up and down incessantly is a thing of the past. That… and the worry about ever dropping or jarring your laptop with a 7,2000 RPM Hard Drive when it is actively Running… Reading ...and Writing Data and Instructions.

This thing is both Silent and Swift. I was able to install the Drive in only about Five Minutes and then use the Downloaded Linux Mint Ver. 20 ISO DVD I had previously burned to perform a completely automated installation in around 30 minutes. I LOVE this Operating System! It has a bit of a crisper text and a sort of Throwback Desktop attitude. Its “Windows-Like” Behavior puts the In-Box information Horizontally rather than listing things inside of them Vertically.

EVERYTHING RUNS FASTER AND LOOKS BETTER WITH LINUX MINT Version 20

My Dell Precision M4700 Work Station Laptop now boots flawlessly and is a breeze to update via the Synaptic Application. But if you want to actually see things in action, use Terminal App with the command (...and Watch the Fur Fly...):

sudo apt update

Afterwards… I poked around looking for ANYTHING that might either degrade this new Solid State System and updated the Network Manager with my IPVanish Account using the Linux Mint App OpenVPN. No Sweat switching it On and Off afterwards. Then I ran some Network Speed Tests ...but stopped short of actually testing the SSD’s Read-Write capabilities ...at least until I could perform the perfunctory:

“Things To Do After Installing Linux Mint on an SSD Hard Drive”

There is NOTHING perfunctory about what SHOULD be done ASAP with this SSD set up! First, you must have some decent skills with using Linux Commands in Terminal and some Patience to BE VERY CAREFUL WITH ALL EDITS you will need to make to the System Files. It is important to realize that even with the improvements in the SSD Technology since 2010… The Solid State HD WILL Degrade in Speed and Responsiveness over time due to excessive Reads and Writes to the Disk… even if the updated advertised MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure ) is Much Improved and Very High.

My suggestion is to Visit and READ EVERYTHING at this Link before running headlong into making System App Edits that have serious consequences if you accidentally make any mistakes in either your Typing or misplacing where these edits get Made and SAVED. Take your time and you’ll probably add years of additional High Speed Performance to the Box for as long as you intend on keeping a Linux Laptop in Your Life.

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/ssd.html

 

[mrrsm]

If you've been plagued with the problems Firefox has recently created for itself with NOT updating its Security Certification with The Mozilla Peeps that has left us all with Non-Working Add-ons, please read on about switching back to an ORIGINAL, CLASSIC MOZILLA BROWSER that eventually would be morphed over into the Firefox morass and mess we have to deal with today.

THIS Alternative, TRUE Firefox Browser is actually using that Original Firefox Mozilla Platform that we USED to appreciate so much and get us away from the other MSIE issues. It has since been Updated for Cross-Platform Use under the name of:

Waterfox:

Fortunately, it is NOT plagued with issues related to Inoperative Add-Ons and has NO Tracking or Spying Apps associated with it while it is running. So while you are waiting for Firefox to eventually ‘Aggregate its Fecal Material’ ...you can temporarily Import your present Bookmarks and Favorites during the simple post-download installation and at the very least in the mean time, be able to use Waterfox instead to avoid being Bombarded incessantly with Advertisements and Being Spied Upon.

Windows Users… Please ...Follow the Download Instructions HERE and note that this Application WILL run with no requirement for direct installation:

https://www.waterfox.net/download/

For us Linux Mint Ver. 20 Users… Download the Waterfox Classic flavor of this Browser as a compressed file located WAY Down on the very bottom of THIS same Page (The OTHER Version on the Download Page will NOT Work):

https://www.waterfox.net/download/

Then create a Folder called WATERFOX and drop that Downloaded, Compressed File within. It follows on for you to right click on it and select the ‘extract here” option. Observe that it will Create a Folder called ‘waterfox-classic’ that will have all of the necessary files nested inside that directory. Then locate the 'waterfox' Executable and Click on it to make this Browser Fire Right Up.

You'll have an opportunity to Import your Old Favorites and Bookmarks during the initial Set-Up as described in this Video. The VOP (Video Original Poster) will also explain how to set up a Desktop Icon linking to this application from within the Install Directory. Like him... while you are sorting through your Preferences... I suggest that using the 'DuckDuckGo' Search Engine is your best bet for privacy and security issues (Non-Tracking-Non-Recording of any activities for the Privacy Minded User):

I've been running this thing all night and have found that ALL of my Favorite Add-Ons are now working again with no problems in Blocking Ads, Downloading Videos, etc. Why they EVER let this thing get so far out of hand is quite beyond my capacity to understand... but I'm very glad to be using THIS Great WaterFox Browser... Again!

 

[gmcman]

I browsed this thread awhile back, but now that I'm looking into a new laptop I'm strongly considering a Linux-based platform.

Would like a "gaming potential" laptop mainly for the occasional video editing, occasional light gaming, and mainly to not have much limitations as far as processing power.

This is a great thread and definitely has given me more confidence in trying the Linux.

 

[mrrsm]

Glad you have this Interest... There ARE some Linux Gamers out there who've sorted out MOST of the problems with using "Steam" and other Gaming Outlets... but I do not know exactly how that part of the Linux World sorted the problems out.

I've been a Linux User now for around 20 + Years... I Use Linux on Almost Every Box I own. I Use Linux Mint because I WANT to... and I Use Windows ONLY When I HAVE to. I'm not certain the tag-line of being a "Power User" fits in my category of Linux Skills... But I can certainly hold my own with the Best of Them.

I'm completely enamored of "Linux Mint Ver. 20" as the latest iteration of the Debian Version of the Linux Kernel... and you will be too. If you want to do a "Try Before You Buy" ...Except most of the Linux Flavors of the Operating System are TOTALLY FREE... so just Download the Linux Mint Bootable ISO and BURN it on a 4.7 Gig DVD. Make sure to only obtain the Linux Mint ISO from the Linux Mint Prime Site

HERE is where to Download it:

Download Linux Mint 22 - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

Then, set up your Laptop Bios to look in the USB-DVD Drive prior to loading Windows from the Hard Drive. Then Reboot your Machine and slip the Linux Mint DVD into the Drive BEFORE the Windows OS invokes so the Laptop can use the DVD to load the Alternative Linux OS. Be Patient, as the Disk does its Thing while loading into RAM and you'll eventually arrive at a very Windows-Like Desktop.

It will NOT Auto Install on your Hard Disk... But be sure to Double Check your Prompts FIRST, just to make certain that you don't accidentally send it off on an unintended errand to do so. When the GRUB Boot Menu appears... select "Use the DVD" or anything similar to launch the Linux Desk Top.

During the Temporary Set Up, it will search around for a Wireless Signal from your Internet Modem-Router-Switch and ask for you to select yours and enter your Wireless Home Network WPA2 Password. Do that and you'll get immediate access online.

After that...You'll be Good To Go. Resist the Urge to Install ANY Linux OS side by side with ANY Windows OS as it will become "A Long Road...With NO Turns in It!".

If you do NOT own a DVD Burner that works INSIDE your Laptop...get your hands on the Rioddas USB DVD-RW Player-Burner. It is AWESOME! The Rioddas DVD-RW Burner has NO issues that requires ANY Set UP or Drivers of ANY Kind.

Amazon.com: Rioddas External CD Drive, USB 3.0 Portable CD/DVD +/-RW Drive Slim DVD/CD ROM Rewriter Burner Compatible with Laptop Desktop PC Windows Linux OS Apple Mac(Black): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Rioddas External CD Drive, USB 3.0 Portable CD/DVD +/-RW Drive Slim DVD/CD ROM Rewriter Burner Compatible with Laptop Desktop PC Windows Linux OS Apple Mac(Black): Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

 

[mrrsm]

It is a rare moment whenever I have to use any sort of Spreadsheet, so when I clicked on the LibreOffice-Calc selection from the Linux Mint 20 “Office” Menu and NOTHING Happened, I got Pi**ed Off because I just wanted to use the GD’d application to work for the one time I would need to view a simple look-over of some Acopian 120 VAC to 65 VDC Voltage AC to DC Power Module and pick out the one I needed for my 1950's RCA Geiger Counter. But, since we are talking about the BEST Operating System for ANYONE in The World… I was NOT dismayed. I simply Opened up a Terminal and Typed in these Commands...(You should follow my Lead):

sudo apt install gnumeric
Press the <E> Enter Key
Type in your LM User Password
Press the <E> Enter Key

...and so I installed and used the Gnumeric Spreadsheet Application instead (for FREE) and it ran swimmingly well, allowing me to solve my immediate problem:



Still, I had this Nagging Suspicion that if the Old Calc Program may have been going 'T*Ts Up' and thought that perhaps I should investigate the matter a little further. I am VERY glad that I did, because I discovered that while all of the other Apps for Linux Mint 20 were up to date and as always... Running as “Smooth as D'Oyly Carte…” *** it turns out that my installed version of the Open Source LibreOffice Suite was probably NOT the Freshest Face that it could have been.

A little more poking around and found THIS Cool Solution to get a Brand New Suite (Sweet!):

Open up a Terminal

Copy – Paste the lines below one after the other to install the LibreOffice Version “7” on your Linux Mint Ver. 20 OS or your latest version of the Ubuntu OS:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
Press the <E> Enter Key
Type in your Linux Mint User Password
Press the <E> Enter Key

Repeat these same actions along with entering these additional Commands (if asked for a Password...Do that, Too...)

sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt update

After performing these actions in the Terminal ...Everything in the LibreOffice Suite Version “7” Will Work Just Fine. Just Go to the LM Icon on the Lower Left corner of the Screen...

and after you *Click* on it... Type in calc into the Application Search Bar and Select-N-*Click* on the LibreOffice Calc App from the Sub-App Tab-List to Open and Run the LibreOffice-Calc Application.

Once you've confirmed that the New Blank Spreadsheet Screen appears… Size it to your Screen demands and then Save-N-Close the App. Afterwards, Close the Terminal by Typing In exit and Press the <E> Enter Key

Okay..?. You’re Done!



***

Richard D'Oyly Carte - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mrrsm]

Regarding otherwise VERY expensive Data Plotting and Graphing Software...

Even though I will be using this FREE KST Application to Plot Data collected and stored in Note Pad Files via an Arduino Engine Vibration Analysis System I’m trying to Build in order to Graph the Results on the Linux Mint 20 OS Platform… They ALSO Have the FREE, Open Source Downloads of this Same Application available for the Windows 32 Bit and 64 Bit flavors as well.

Check Out the Screen Shots showing what is possible to do with this APP:

Kst - Visualize your data - Kst - Session Screenshots

KDE Homepage, KDE.org

kst-plot.kde.org

For Linux Mint and Ubuntu OS Users:

https://launchpad.net/~kst-plot/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

For ALL Other OS Users:

So Visit THIS Link and Grab these for your Laptop-Desktop while the Grabbing is GOOD if you think you might ever need a Free Graphical Analysis and Plotting Application flexible enough for MANY other similar projects. Read ALL about this topic HERE and find your Version.

https://kst-plot.kde.org/download/binary_packages.php

 

[C-ya]

I just loaded Linux Mint 19.3 onto an old non-booting Win7 desktop. I tried all kinds of things to get it to boot but I couldn't repair it. I didn't pay anything for it but I still didn't want to pay anything to get it working at a shop. After verifying that Mint would work on it (I had to make a stick with 32-bit as the 64-bit version obviously wouldn't work on a 32-bit box - took me a minute to figure that out as I had forgotten the desktop was 32 bit) I did an install. It will be for my wife and youngest daughter to use as they basically surf and use it for school. I'll use it occasionally to try things with it that I discover while playing with the live stick.

I have been playing around with Linux in one form or another for awhile, starting with Fedora back in 2007 (didn't do a lot), and then doing a dual boot of Ubuntu using Wubi on an old laptop. Wubi worked quite nicely if you have someone that wants to try a dual boot system. Ubuntu was a steeper learning curve in that you had to find and install all the drivers needed. Linux Mint is very nice in that all the drivers are installed. Much less frustration.

 

[mrrsm]

A Wise Move for your Family, Brother... There are a STAGGERING Number of FREE Educational and Science Applications available for ALL Ages for School and College Courses. Just know that if they decide to use the Magnificent LibreOffice Suite Version 7... That they'll need to reset the default Document Choice from .ODT to some version of Microsoft Word extensions like .DOC that is acceptable for most school work essays and papers. I'm glad that you've kept up your interest and skill set with the Linux OS Platform... If only more Folks knew what they could have for Free ...right at their fingertips.They should SEE and HEAR What They're MISSING:

https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/linux-statistics/

 

[christo829]

C-ya, what processor and system board are you running in that desktop? I have an old Core-2 Duo HP laptop that originally had XP on it that I can run 64 bit Mint 20 on. Oh...and does it have the latest bios on it? I had another slightly newer HP that I tried Mint 20 on, and it wouldn't accept the 64 bit until I realized I hadn't put the last available bios on.

 

[C-ya]

@christo829 , not sure on that. I just know that the stick with 64-bit Mint on it wouldn't get past the splash screen as it were. It would not get to the point that it asked what I wanted to do. As soon as I stuck the 32-bit version in, it went in and did everything just fine. Not too terribly worried about the 32-bit version, except for LTS. Seems everyone does away with official support of the 32-bit version once out of LTS.

 

[C-ya]

OK, so apparently this is a 64-bit CPU if I'm reading this right. Not sure why the 64-bit stick wouldn't work on it.

Three different grabs. The last one is truncated - a lot.

home@home-ThinkCentre-M78:~$ lscpu
Architecture: i686
CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order: Little Endian
CPU(s): 2
On-line CPU(s) list: 0,1
Thread(s) per core: 2
Core(s) per socket: 1
Socket(s): 1
Vendor ID: AuthenticAMD
CPU family: 21
Model: 16
Model name: AMD A4-5300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
Stepping: 1
CPU MHz: 2008.198
CPU max MHz: 3400.0000
CPU min MHz: 1400.0000
BogoMIPS: 6787.48
Virtualization: AMD-V
L1d cache: 16K
L1i cache: 64K
L2 cache: 1024K
Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes xsave avx f16c lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs xop skinit wdt lwp fma4 tce nodeid_msr tbm topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb cpb hw_pstate ssbd vmmcall bmi1 arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold



home@home-ThinkCentre-M78:~$ sudo dmidecode --type processor
[sudo] password for home:
# dmidecode 3.1
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x0038, DMI type 4, 42 bytes
Processor Information
Socket Designation: P0
Type: Central Processor
Family: A-Series
Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
ID: 01 0F 61 00 FF FB 8B 17
Signature: Family 21, Model 16, Stepping 1
Flags:
FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
VME (Virtual mode extension)
DE (Debugging extension)
PSE (Page size extension)
TSC (Time stamp counter)
MSR (Model specific registers)
PAE (Physical address extension)
MCE (Machine check exception)
CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
SEP (Fast system call)
MTRR (Memory type range registers)
PGE (Page global enable)
MCA (Machine check architecture)
CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
PAT (Page attribute table)
PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
MMX (MMX technology supported)
FXSR (FXSAVE and FXSTOR instructions supported)
SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
HTT (Multi-threading)
Version: AMD A4-5300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
Voltage: 1.4 V
External Clock: 100 MHz
Max Speed: 3400 MHz
Current Speed: 3400 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: Socket FM2
L1 Cache Handle: 0x002E
L2 Cache Handle: 0x002F
L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided
Serial Number: Not Specified
Asset Tag: Not Specified
Part Number: Not Specified
Core Count: 2
Core Enabled: 2
Thread Count: 2
Characteristics:
64-bit capable


home@home-ThinkCentre-M78:~$ sudo dmidecode –t o
# dmidecode 3.1
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.
54 structures occupying 2309 bytes.
Table at 0x000ED880.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: LENOVO
Version: 9ZKT33AUS
Release Date: 11/03/2012
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 4096 kB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
BIOS ROM is socketed
EDD is supported
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
UEFI is supported
BIOS Revision: 0.33

 

[christo829]

Hmm... Yeah, that CPU should have no problem running 64 bit.

The m78's are up to about bios 9ZKT54A, which is a few years newer than what yours is showing, but you'd probably want to verify that by the specific machine number.

How much memory are you running? I didn't see it in the grabs, but I'm starting to run a slight headache that's being annoyingly distracting.

I don't see anything obvious that should have kept it from running. Did you try running it live off of the flash drive before you lit off the install? Check the 64 bit image and RAM for integrity? That system is new enough that it shouldn't have fallen prey to some of the issues of the older ones, and most of those issues would have kept it from installing the 32 bit version as well.

 

[C-ya]

I think there are only 4 GB of RAM in that one.

Yes, I tried the 64-bit stick as a live run and it didn't work. It did work on the laptop I'm using now as well as two all-in-ones in live run mode. I have a 64-bit Ubuntu stick that I may try on it to see what happens.