My Current Setup

This is how I'm rolling thru the CV19.
The old and beaten T410 has replaced the Optiplex 755 for the last couple of weeks.
As I have the need, the need for speed :p
The Opti was slow as a dog or at least it felt that way.

The Current Linux Mint Desktop

Yeap... Another month, still on quarantine.
Haven't seeing the GF since March 16th, but, luckily we are all Ok.
Not in the mood to post much, but I'll try to.

XFCE + i3 (on Sid & LM 19)

So, installed i3 on both Sid and on Linux Mint 19, as an add on of XFCE, just as an experiment and to see how things how.
I do have a full i3 lappie, the glorious T43, but I wanna see how everything goes running i3 along XFCE... There are a couple of site on the internet with instructions, but those are sort of "Xubuntu centrist" and they also give you advise regarding installing third party PPAs, but I don't want to do that.
What I did was to install a "minimal i3", like this:

sudo apt install i3 --no-install-recommends

After that, simply disabled (set to Never) "xfwm4" and "xfdesktop" on Session and then on Application Autostart, add an entry to start i3.

Logout and back in and you are done.

Or almost...

On Debian Sid:
You can use the Windows key as the $modifier.

On Linux Mint 19 (XFCE):
You have to use Alt as the $modifier. or all Hell breaks loose.

On both of them:
Edit the "~/.config/i3/config" file and comment the 'bar' entry, it is at the end of the file, if you don't you'll have the i3 Status bar (printing an error) as well as the XFCE Panel.

The (Sort of) Death of The T60p (II)

My beloved T60p is once again, giving me some problems...
Today it took something like 10 boot attempts until I finally got a working system, strange thing, since I got to the LVM passphrase input Ok (it obviously accepted the typed input and passed as correct), but after that nothing happened, just a black screen.

XFCE: Start Dropbox on Login

This drove me nuts, because it failed randomly, so, a quick one liner added to the Session Startup seems to take care of this problem.

So... (Goodbye) Cinnamon...

The Cinnamon thing didn't last long...
Slapped an SSD on the T60p, and went the XFCE way today.

Back to Mint, Back to Life

Yesterday and part of today was devoted to migrate to Linux Mint two lappies that were sporting Debian Stretch.
Not really a problem with Stretch, in fact, it was really cool and light, but since I needed to re-install on those two, decided to go ahead and install a release that will get updates up until 2023, instead of Stretch's 2020.

The Current Debian Desktop

A bit of Mint on my Debian setup.
LM 19 theme on XFCE Stretch setup.

The Current Devuan ASCII Desktop

Another shot, this time, using the Mint-Y icons from Linux Mint 19.
The GTK theme, once again, is Victory
I love this theme, clean, light, a really nice one; it goes hand in hand with the Greybird xfcewm theme.

Linux Mint 19: The LightDM Got Thicker

And yet another problem with the "LightDM situation" on Linux Mint 19...
This whole thing with the hanged login window is really, really annoying; I´m not upgrading to LM 19 all of my boxes just because of it.

Linux Mint 19 Problems: DNS & Lightdm

Been using it on the Optiplex 755 for a little over 10 days now, and these are the annoyances I've found so far.

1- DNS

This one is really annoying, but the solution is fairly easy.
I use hphost to block ads because it takes a minute to setup, it is easy and uses no resources.
One thing I've noticed right after I've enabled it on Linux Mint 19 was that I've lost web browsing, or more specifically, DNS resolution.
That's because on Linux Mint 19 resolvconf uses as DNS 127.0.0.53 instead of the regular (or the one it used abefore) 127.0.1.1.
The solution was fairly easy, edit the file:

/run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf

with the DNS servers you want to use and then link that file to the /etc/resolv.conf file:

sudo ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

This solution is persistant to reboots.


2- Lightdm

This one is really, ultra annoying... This shit, I'm afraid, happens all the time.
After login back from a locked screen or a Suspend, and after successfully login back in, all I got was a black screen with a working mouse and cursor.
The only solution I've found is to switch to a virtual Console, and then restart LightDM, thru a:

sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm restart

Of course, anything open on the unreachable session will be lost after that, but at least I don't need to restart the whole system(?).

Both this is on a Linux Mint XFCE 64 bits with all the updates installed on a Optiplex 755.

The current Linux Mint desktop

What the MacBook Pro looks like as of today.
A bit of dark, with a slightly lighter background and colorful icons (Numix).

Embedded (e)links(2)

Got back to text browsers lately...
So, I've been using links2 (with the graphical mode) these last couple of days.
Chrome seems to be a bit too heavy -with a couple of tabs open- on the poor little Optiplex.
As a side note, when dealing with pure text, for my untrained eye, or at least, on the sites I browse, I see no difference between using elinks and links2.

Handy Option on Terminal

I can't believe I have been using XFCE's Terminal for such a long time without knowing about this cool option to make each Terminal, (never mind it says Tab in the configuration setting) with a different color.
Comes handy if you happen to have a ton of Terminals open.

The current Linux Mint desktop

I freaking love the current look of Linux Mint 19, XFCE looks really slick.
Also, sporting my own XFWM theme Mint-Y-Borderless, the light version of the dark one, called Mint-Y-Dark-Borderless.
Been using it on the Optiplex for the last couple of days non-stop, except for some annoyances here and there the thing is fantastic.

Linux Mint 19 on The Optiplex 755

Installed LM 19 yesterday, XFCE, of course, and on this little baby PC, the 64 bits edition.
On a plain vanilla 80 GB HDD, go figure, a blast from the past...
Of course, as usual, the installation was a piece of cake.
Even on the Optiplex 755 meager hardware (the plain vanilla HDD, 4 GB RAM and Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual  CPU  E2180  @ 2.00GHz) Linux Mint feels amazingly snappy.

Linux Mint 19 XFCE: Glorious Screenlock

Didn't had a lot of time to play with my newest Linux Mint 19 installation that much yet, but one thing that caught my attention right away was that the lock screen looks amazing, and that, AFAIK is exactly the same than the login screen.
On previous releases the lock screen was something hideous, I've done my best to make it a little less ugly.
Also, I've noted that if enabled, you are not only requested a password to unlock (doh!) but also you can ask for username as well.

Linux Mint 19 on The Thinkpad T60p

So the wait is over.
Installed Linux Mint 19 (not a Beta) today, the XFCE version (32 bits, of course) on the T60p.
Installation was a brief, the usual options for setting up an encrypted LVM and to have your $HOME encrypted are there.
This version of Mint-Y looks amazing.
The whole thing feels amazingly snappy, even on this prehistoric lappie, with only 3 GB of RAM.

Waiting for 19

Sort of quiet days around here... At least, Linux wise.
I'm really looking forward for the new Linux Mint release, LM 19, which IMHO is insanely cool looking. Been watching Youtube videos reviews over and over.
Pretty certain I'll install it as soon as it is out of beta.