Lazy, Rainy Saturday Afternoon

Yes, all of that on a single picture.
Rained like hell the whole fucking day.
Not much to write home about it.... The GF's T410 on the left, and the M1330 on the right, but of them proudly running Linux, of course.

Sunday De-Gunking & Fan Spinning

So, it was time to severely de-gunk GF's T410... After a month and half without use the fan was simply refusing to spin up... So no magic and no Thinkpad.
Not the first time I've seeing this, not only on the T410, but also on the T60p...

Kernel Crud Delete Mode For the T140

This time for the GF's lappie, the faithful T410.
Reclaimed 7 freaking amazing GB of HDD space after this.

Two Of A Kind

The GF's T410 on the left and the distant cousin on the right.
A happy Linux family!

The Kernel Upgrade That FUBARED The Jam Trance Mini

Or at least, it broke the Bluetooth connection...
So, the GF has a Jam Trance Mini, right? And the little speaker (now) works Ok on Linux, right?
Wrong...
Thing is, the newest kernel on Ubuntu Xenial Xerus broke all things regarding the Jam Trance Mini; it paired Ok, but it refused to play music, or if it did, the quality was awful.
After testing a thing or two, I've decided the best thing to do was to boot to an older kernel, and give it a shot.
Selecting a different kernel than the default one is a piece of cake, simply press Shift while Linux is booting, and then select the option "Advanced options for Ubuntu" and highlight the kernel you want to boot from.
Now, setting things up so that it automagically boots using that prior kernel, well, that was another beast...
You'll have to edit (via sudo, of course) the file "/etc/default/grub", and get the necessary information from the file "/boot/grub/grub.cfg".

Change the line:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0

With this:

GRUB_DEFAULT='gnulinux-advanced-2ed5642e-fea9-43ed-bb73-4a32d4e58587>gnulinux-4.4.0-21-generic-advanced-2ed5642e-fea9-43ed-bb73-4a32d4e58587'

Where "gnulinux-advanced-2ed5642e-fea9-43ed-bb73-4a32d4e58587" is the menuentry_id_option for the newest kernel (the one that has problems with the Jam Trance Mini), and
"gnulinux-4.4.0-21-generic-advanced-2ed5642e-fea9-43ed-bb73-4a32d4e58587" is the menuentry_id_option for the kernel that you want to use, the one that it has to boot the Linux lappie.

EDIT:
After editing (and saving) the file "/etc/default/grub" you have to execute: sudo update-grub and reboot.

Thats it... The Jam Trance Mini works A Ok once again, and the GF is happy.

OS Update For The GF

Well, she isn't Cherry 2000, so, actually the OS update it is for her laptops...
Taken last Sunday afternoon...
Side by side, both of the GF lappies, getting an OS update/ refreshment.
On the left, the T410, jumping from Linux Mint 17 (Cinnamon) to Ubuntu 16.04 (plain vanilla Unity).
On the right, the Lenovo N585, going from Window 10 to Windows 7, it looks like Windows 10 was way too much for the lappie. or maybe it was because she did an upgrade from Windows 8 (which already was a bit slow) to Windows 10.

Wireless HP Laserjet Professional P1100/ P1560/ P1600 on Ubunt Xenial Xerus

Or, thanks a lot, hp-setup!
As part of the re-install fest during last weekend, I also had to install the GF's printer on her Ubuntu lappie.
This time it wasn't as smooth as with Linux Mint, but not a real problem... In the end, the WiFi printer works A Ok.

At first it belched with an error message:

sudo hp-setup
sudo: unable to resolve host gf-lappie
[sudo] password for gf:

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.16.3)
Printer/Fax Setup Utility ver. 9.0

Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

error: HPLIP is not installed properly or is installed without graphical support. Please reinstall HPLIP
warning: Qt/PyQt 4 initialization failed.
error: hp-setup requires GUI support (try running with --qt3). Also, try using interactive (-i) mode.
gf@gf-lappie:~$

So, I went with the interactive install:

$ sudo hp-setup -i
sudo: unable to resolve host gf-lappie

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.16.3)
Printer/Fax Setup Utility ver. 9.0

Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

(Note: Defaults for each question are maked with a '*'. Press to accept the default.)


--------------------------------
| SELECT CONNECTION (I/O) TYPE |
--------------------------------

  Num       Connection  Description                                              
            Type                                                                 
  --------  ----------  ----------------------------------------------------------
  0*        usb         Universal Serial Bus (USB)                               
  1         net         Network/Ethernet/Wireless (direct connection or JetDirect)
  2         par         Parallel Port (LPT:)                                     

Enter number 0...2 for connection type (q=quit, enter=usb*) ? 1

Setting up device: hp:/net/HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w?ip=192.168.0.19



------------------------
| PLUG-IN INSTALLATION |
------------------------


HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.16.3)
Plugin Download and Install Utility ver. 2.1

Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

warning: It is not recommended to run 'hp-plugin' in a root mode.

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.16.3)
Plugin Download and Install Utility ver. 2.1

Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

(Note: Defaults for each question are maked with a '*'. Press to accept the default.)


-----------------------------------------
| PLUG-IN INSTALLATION FOR HPLIP 3.16.3 |
-----------------------------------------

  Option      Description                                      
  ----------  --------------------------------------------------
  d           Download plug-in from HP (recommended)           
  p           Specify a path to the plug-in (advanced)         
  q           Quit hp-plugin (skip installation)               

Enter option (d=download*, p=specify path, q=quit) ? d

Do you accept the license terms for the plug-in (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ?

Done.

Done.

---------------------
| PRINT QUEUE SETUP |
---------------------


Please enter a name for this print queue (m=use model name:'HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w'*, q=quit) ?

Using queue name: HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w
Locating PPD file... Please wait.

Found PPD file: drv:///hpcups.drv/hp-laserjet_professional_p_1102w.ppd
Description:

Note: The model number may vary slightly from the actual model number on the device.

Does this PPD file appear to be the correct one (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? y
Enter a location description for this printer (q=quit) ENTER
Enter additonal information or notes for this printer (q=quit) ? ENTER
---------------------
| PRINTER TEST PAGE |
---------------------


Would you like to print a test page (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? y


It worked like magic, zero problems.

Upgrades During The Weekend

Took last Sunday to make some changes on the GF lappies.
Her Windows lappie, the Lenovo N585) was dog slow, so I pulled the HDD out, slapped another one I had around the house, and loaded a brand spanking new Windows 7 onto it.
Also, took the T410 and replaced the Linux Mint 17 install with a brand spanking new of Xenail, wiht Unity!
She loved it the interface, go figure, and the Desktop Environment choice of colors, go figure...
Also, of course, she loves the fact that now can use the Jam Trance Mini bluetooth speakers with the lappie.
Installing and setting up the Linux lappie was a breezy, ITOH, the Windows...
MF, what a drag! It took hours and more hours and more hours to setup, install updates, get shit done... Not to mention countless effing reboots...
Anyways, anything for the GF!

Wireless HP Laserjet Professional P1100/ P1560/ P1600 on Linux Mint

So, I gave the GF the T410 about a week ago or so because we got together one year and also she can get a look at "Life On The Linux Side Of Things" (this time, it should be a better and longer deal than the last time we did this...)
Last night she asked me to setup her wireless printer on the T410... I don't have a printer, and I print hardly a page or two a year...
Luckily, it  turns out the thing was amazingly easy... Simply type on a Terminal:

sudo hp-setup

And then select "Network Ethernet / Wireless".
The installer ID'd the printer on her LAN, downloaded the driver, and that was that.

El Cheapo DVI to VGA

In short: FAIL!
Got me a very cheap adapter (about 3 bucks or so...).
I was looking for an adapter like this one for ages.
A female DVI to male VGA adapter, in order to use my old Apple Cinema Display (via the trusty Apple ADC adapter).
Dont have a lot of free time right now, but at first, by simply plugging everything single adapter, the thing doesn't go anywhere...

The xorg.conf (bug) remains the same

Strange thing I've noticed after Monday's upgrade to LM17, the NVIDIA bug (or is it a Thinkpad one? Not sure) that prevents adjusting the brightness still goes on...
I've been dragging that one since 2011, as I see on previous posts on the same problem (used the exact same xorg.conf file copied and pasted, from the old post to fix things up on the lappie)

• Usul's xorg.conf

• Usul's xorg.conf, another go... 

Updating LM17 & Encryption FUBAR

A holiday around here, summer is coming, winter is dead.
Ideal time to upgrade Linux Mint on the T410, from LM13 to LM17, both the Cinnamon edition.

Of course, the damn lappie gave a "fan error" message, so I had to disassembly it force a bit of motion onto the god damn fan.

While doing so, and before closing it up, tested the whole thing... It runs, as the picture shows.

After that, a normal installation on the 128 GB SSD HD, updates plus all the shit I normally use on my boxes...

Only problem, and the first time I had one of these, was that after finishing the installation, I've changed my password, as I always do, but, somehow the sync between the password file and the encryption key of my $HOME lost sync, so I wasn't able to login via X Window/ Desktop, after I type my username/ password, and a 15/20 seconds delay, I got the error message:

Could not update ICEauthority file

So, I've tried login in thru a virtual console, no problem there, but got a warning message:

Signature not found in user keyring

If then I type:

ecryptfs-mount-private

Typing my old password, BTW... And then switch back to the X Window login console, I was albe to login without any problem at all.
But it was a major PITA.
Solution, reboot then switch to a virtual console and type:

ecryptfs-rewrap-passphrase /home/.ecryptfs/$USER/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase

It'll ask the old password, and then new (the actual you are using!!!) twice.
After that, everything went A Ok.

T410 fan error: Manic Monday

Got the fan error on my beloved Thinkpad T410 this morning...
Simply refused to boot, a beep and then shutdown.
Opened the lappie up as far as I could -the photo is a piece of crap, but it is fairly evident the amount of crap that the fan had- and unclogged the poor little thing as best as I could.
Everything went A Ok after that, posting this from the T410, for that matter.
Not a nice way to start an effing Monday.

Kernel Crud Delete Mode for Usul

Not many, that's true...
But every MB counts on SSD drives...

Kernel Crud Delete Mode ^2

Kernel crud deletion time, for both Usul and Stilgar.
I get a strange kinda pleasure deleting old kernels and re-gaining HDD space, even when, like this time, the HDD space is negligible.

Kernel Crud Delete Mode for Usul

Tonight it was Usul's turn...
1 GB of old kernels down the drain.

Usul for a week

I've used Usul for a week as my main box
With the SSD drive, 8 GB RAM and Cinnamon it makes a hell of a box, ultra, hyper fast, light & somehow smallish.
But there are two show stoppers, big and smelly show stoppers for the little laptop that could.

1- Screen real state:
The resolution (1280x800) is a PITA, a real, real PITA to deal with.
To browse back and forth and do stupid stuff on internet it is fine, but once you need to start pulling Terminal, after Terminal and more Terminals, and then open a few pdf docs, and a gEdit... The thing goes to hell, straight to hell and very fast... Using Virtual Desktops helps, and helps a lot; but I don't like them, and I find the the way to create those in Cinnamon truly moronic.

2- WiFi drops:
The other one is the disconnection with the Centrino Ultimate-N 6300... Simply put is annoying as hell, I've tried all what Google thinks and has that might help, but did nothing at all.
I can easily use a wired connection, when I'm at work, but that is really unpractical.

Nevertheless, given those two problems, the first one its the real show stopper.

Thinkpad T410 WiFi NIC on Linux (2)

Well, the WiFi problem with the T410 goes on...
It seems the tip or trick I've tested didn't help that much in the long run.
So, right now I'm testing the third and last one on this page How do I get an Intel Ultimate 6300-N working?
Will have to give it a few days of actual testing to see if this one works A Ok.

The current Linux Mint desktop

Connected to the Apple Cinema Display via ADC to DVI adapter, and then to a DVI to DisplayPort connector.
Something that keeps working A Ok even with Linux Mint and Cinnamon.

To fstab or not to fstab

The current settings on Usul's /etc/fstab file:

proc                        /proc   proc   nodev,noexec,nosuid      0   0
UUID=e3de4a0b-76ca-48d6-8abb-a0fc193688da       /       ext4    noatime,nodiratime              0       1
tmpfs                                           /tmp    tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777      0       0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1            none   swap   sw            0   0

Even tho the SSD HDD is not TRIM capable, I expect to get many, many, many years out of it.