Linux Mint 18.3 on The MacBook White 3.1

Yesterday updated Linux Mint (XFCE) on the MacBook White to 18.3.
The update, of course, went smooth but, after the update, came the newer kernels.
And that's when the problems started.
The newest kernel (4.15.0-48) works, that is, the lappie does boot and you can use it, WiFi works, etc. etc.
But it took ages to boot, and then, once on the LightDM login manager it also took quite a while to actually be able to type anything and then again it took quite a lot of time to get a working Desktop, once past the login manager.
It was unbearable a true PITA.
What I did was to revert to an older kernel, but it took a while since I wasn't able to access the GRUB menu (via Shift key upon booting) not sure if that was because I'm running an encrypted LVM or waht a hell, but the only option was to boot the newest (and slowest) kernel and then edit the file "/etc/default/grub" and add the option GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE="menu" to the end of the file, and then, after a sudo update-grub and a reboot I was able to choose the kernel I want to boot.
Didn't have time to investigate the slowdown for the moment using an older kernel on the lappie let me regain control of it.

So... Cinnamon...

Yeap... Some tests were performed... Need to replace the OS on a couple of lappies around here sooner than later, so, testing time!
Following a a very brief and very disastrous stint with Sid, gave a shot at Cinnamon, first on Debian Stretch and then on Linux Mint 18, mostly because that is the last Cinnamon version that I like, it is stupid, but that version is the last one AFAIK that still has the pointy menu.
Yeah, I know, it is stupid, but what a hell, the Computer is Personal since 1981 or so, right?
Kinda like my ongoing obsession with mouse cursor icon customization.
Cinnamon looks great (specially on the high resolution screen of the T60p) but compared to XFCE, the lack of options it is big, big no-no.

Juggling RAM Around (3)

Or Reduce & Reuse... Time to shuffle the RAM around, once again.
This time it was the turn for the Dell XPS M1330 and the MacBook White, the XPS went from 8 GB to 6 GB, and the MacBook White maxxed to 6 GB.
So far so good.

Un-encrypt Your $HOME

This is how I move my $HOME from encrypted to un-encrypted,  in order to be able to keep using Dropbox... Yes, in the end, choose to keep it.
Done this on all of my Linux Mint boxes that had an encrypted $HOME (still running an encrypted LVM, tho).

- Login as your regular user thru GUI.
- Disable Dropbox autostart.
- Logout.
- Drop to a TTY, login as the root user .
- Issue: umount /home/$USER
- Edit the text file "/home/.ecryptfs/$USER/.ecryptfs/Private.mnt".
Change "/home/$USER" to "/home/$USER/Private"
- Issue:

mkdir /home/$USER/Private
chown $USER:$USER /home/$USER/Private
chmod 0700 /home/$USER/

- Reboot
- Login regular user (TTY), issue:

  shopt -s dotglob
  mv Private/* .

Be sure there is enough free space on the disk.
I have run out of space on a couple of boxes, no sweat, simply delete the partial one, and then move once again.

- Login thru GUI and start Dropbox, it'll force a re-connect thru the webfront once again and then sync everything, but not a download.

Debian Stretch on the Thinkpad T420

As part of the Debian Everywhere, last Thursday installed Debian (Stretch) on the T420, replacing Linux Mint 18.
The install went (as usual) smooth as hell, of course there is no WiFi until you install, via non-free repos, the firmware-iwlwifi package.
Ths particular WiFi card it is a bit spotty out of the box, so it needs a tweak on the /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf file, used exactly the same snippet I was already using on LM 18 and it worked perfectly.
As usual, the plain vanilla encrypted LVM and everyhing is peachy.
The only "problem" I found so far was disabling Bluetooth (don't use it at all), so far I haven't been able to disable it automagically. Besides don't using it, I hate the damn LED being turned on all the time.

And A fsck It Was

Seems like I've been a bit harsh on my initial report...
The HDD seems to be fine after a manual fsck and a reboot.
Right now installing updates on the lappie (even a new kernel!) will see how this goes, etc.
And a reboot after, and everything seems to be just fine.

To actually be able to execute the fsck had to go thru Linux Mint's GRUB option: Advanced Options, and the Recovery.
There I was able to execute: fsck /dev/mapper/mint--vg-root
A few Yes, and things were back to normal.

The current Linux Mint desktop

Transformed the Linux Mint greens onto the Greys and Blues.
It turns out all it takes is issuing a:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-icon-theme greybird-gtk-theme

One thing I've noticed, tho. This theme is not designed to be used on small resolution screens, everything looks kinda huge, but manageable.

Lost Another Soldier

It's a pale year for the HDDs around here...
It seems like I've lost another one. Yesterday the HDD from the old Studio XPS 1340 went kaput.
It switched to read-only, and after a reboot -and while passing the prompt for the LVM encryption- it fails after that.
Didn't lose that much info with it. Actually like, really, none at all... Backups, backups and more backups, you know...

The current Linux Mint desktop

In the process of propagating the Dropbox comeback on all of my lappies and stuff, I've stumbled upon what I consider this beautiful Linux On The Desktop Moment.

Out With The Sneakernet

After, I guess, some 5 years or so, I'm back onto the Dropbox.
Luckily, I've kept my account active all thru this years, and I'm truly, sincerely fed up with my current manual backup setup (but I'll keep it as well, just to be safe).

Mirror, Mirror

Well, this is a new one...
It popped up this morning, I've never seeing this error in the years running Mint.
Simply changed the mirror, as the same error message suggests, and everything seems to be A Ok.

The current Linux Mint desktop

The upper screenshot shows my current setup, running a custom made theme, based on Linux Mint's "Mint-Y" but with some added elements from "Mint-X".
Taking a lot of inspiration from Cinnamon's Mint-X theme (lower screenshot).

Goodbye Global Menu

I've tried, I really do, it was really good to find you once again, and on XFCE it was -sort of- really nice to use you, but... It is not you, it's me.
Maybe I'm old now, maybe is something I left -or lost- behind, I don't know, the thing is, I got used to the "traditional" desktop setup, with a Taskbar/ Panel on the bottom of the screen, etc. etc.
Over the years I've used and tried many different Global Menu incarnations, and I was always pretty happy with them, but it is time to change.

Deleting Old Kernels

This is how I'm deleting old kernel nowadays.
The idea is to do it easily, but most important, safely.

First off, get the running kernel, never delete this one ;)

uname -a

And then get the list of all the installed kernels (and related stuff):

dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-headers && dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image

This is a sample list of the output of the above:

And then, simply delete the ones you don't like:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-4.4.0-119-generic\
 linux-headers-4.4.0-119-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-119-generic

In this case, deleting the kernel 4.4.0-119 and all related files.

Welcome Back, Global Menu

Giving my old friend the Global Menu a new opportunity.
Installed yesterday, seems to be working just fine.

The Reluctant Kernel Update

Maybe I'm having a senior moment here, not really sure, but I sincerely don't recall seeing this before...
Usually all the kernel updates, thru Linux Mint's Update Manager, come in pairs, a package for the Kernel, and another for headers, but this time only one Kernel is available for update. I've seeing this on a couple of my lappies, except the MacBook White, where Update Manager offered to install both packages.
Tested the (somewhat cropped) install on the T60p, and everything went A Ok, even after a reboot, needless to say, all of the Kernel packages were installed.

The current Linux Mint desktop

Here is a little something.

WM Theme: CobiBird
GTK Theme: Clearlooks [GTK2]
Icon Theme: Numix-Circle-Light

A New Life Awaits (The T60p)

The mighty T60p rides again!
But, this time with only 2 GB of RAM, since I've transferred the 2 GB stick to the MacBook White (maxxing the little Whitey to a whopping 4 GB) a couple of days ago.
Will see how this goes...

Portability Redefined

Amazed.
Friday night transferred the SSD from the Opti -which I'm hardly using these days- to the X140e, in the process, also cleaned the hell out of all the gunk that got stuck on the Opti vents over the years.
After the transfer all I have to do was to enable the Power Manager, seriously, that's all.
I mean, moving the SSD from the Opti to the X140e, damn if I'm not impressed.

The current Linux Mint desktop

Haven't posted one of this in quite a long time... And I really mean a long time... I tend to forget lately, and I'm not much onto window shopping these days.
As a bonus, a picture of my beloved MBP.