Anyone can learn Linux
Initial look at artificial intelligence We might be a bit late to the game, but I’ve started looking at what we need at the Computer Recycling Project to run artificial intelligence models locally (on the machine, versus on the server) under Linux. The Ollama project makes it very easy to install a number of artificial intelligence models under Linux. Once ollama is installed you can download a model by typing…
Suspend doesn’t work on some Linux distributions – Lenovo Yoga S1 Our experience with Linux Mint XFCE has been pretty good so far at The Working Centre’s Computer Recycling Project, but we recently ran into an issue where a couple of Lenovo Yoga S1 laptops refused to suspend when the suspend button was clicked. Now before someone goes on about Linux, I want to point out a couple of things:…
The journey to Linux Mint XFCE The Working Centre’s Computer Recycling Project has been using Xubuntu Linux since late 2009. Xubuntu Linux is far from the flashiest, or most elegant Linux distribution (collection of software), but it tended to work really well on the older hardware we were refurbishing. When Xubuntu 20.04 (2020) was released there were enough changes that we started looking at the possibility we might want to…
It Lives! It dies? Our new TrueNAS server is up, and all the hardware is working, but not without some hiccups on the way. After taking a lot longer to build than expect, I was so happy the other evening when I posted about the successful Power On Self Test (POST), and the new RAM (32GB) being properly detected. Exhausted at the end of the day I left the drives…
Most of the hardware is assembled A couple of days ago I mentioned that I was planning on building our first regular NAS after work: https://chaslinux.com/2024/09/23/more-progress-on-the-truenas-build/. The past few weeks have been extremely busy, so I knew last night would probably be the only time I would get this week to work on the NAS. I’m glad I started building the NAS last night as it took much longer than…
Planning steps are done It was way back on June 1st, 2024 when I started posting about my plan to migrate our KODI media centre PC to a NAS: Dell PowerEdge T110 II Network Attached Storage (NAS) build That “backup” PC, a mini-TrueNAS server consisting of 4 x 3TB drives in a RAID Z1 array got built and was just barely enough to backup the 8TB drive in our KODI…
Past Isopropyl is a great way to clean up a lot of plastic, but I found that while it’s helpful for removing grime, caked on stickers (Goo Gone), and other crud, it doesn’t always leave a nice finish. A few years back a volunteer at the Computer Recycling Project mentioned interning at a small computer store where they used Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to clean-up the top of ThinkPads. True…
Moving more to a low-power solution Several months back I replaced the motherboard in the KODI media centre PC that sits in our living room. For many years our media centre has been rocking a Gigabyte motherboard with a second generation Core i7-2600 CPU. The Core i7-2600 came out in Q4 of 2010, making it almost 14 years old at the time I’m writing this. Still, it’s not a bad…
Workstation class hardware at a deeply discounted price Every now and then the Computer Recycling Project at The Working Centre gets a really interesting piece of hardware donated. As a not-for-profit project we tailor most of our equipment to people who are lower income, so a lot of times prices for some of these more interesting items are pretty inexpensive. But that doesn’t mean we just wipe the machines, reinstall,…
Extra software for better experience The “stock” installation of Xubuntu Linux only includes a small amount of software. To make Xubuntu a bit more useful to regular computer users, the Computer Recycling Project at The Working Centre installs other software we think will be helpful to new Linux users. We’ve seen many people who are attending classes virtually. For good, or bad, Zoom has largely taken over the virtual meeting…