A Weekend With The Boys

Nothing more than a Saturday afternoon burning some CPU cycles with the boys.

The Current Debian Desktop

Yeap, another one, keeping record of what my desktop looks like.
This time, the one from the glorious T60p...
There is no much change from what I have setup on my Optiplex as of today, but, this is what I like at the moment, a plain and comfy XFCE setup, all across my boxes, yes, even boring... But ultra predictable, on top of Debian Stable, and usable.

OpenBSD: Sayonara

Well, at least for now, the OpenBSD test on the T60p goes onto the freezer.
Two really annoying problems arose:

+ The WiFi connection dropped all the time every time
+ XFCE programs crashing

The first one was amazingly annoying, it started, or I first noticed it, when I was installing packages after the initial base install -and after issuing a syspatch and a reboot-.
This one is, obviously, a major deal breaker

The second one was nuance, but a problem nonetheless.
It happened with the Settings program, specifically with the Window Manager one, it dumped a core every time I've switched a theme and the other one was trying to open the "Session and Startup" one, it simply didn't happen... No matter what, it was impossible to open that program.

No time to debug any of those right now.

OpenBSD: Now With More Encryption!

After trying to encrypt the $HOME partition on the OpenBSD install I did, well... Things went a little complicated, so, in the end went cold turkey with the thing, and simply re-installed, this time with full disk encryption, using the instructions from here: Full Disk Encryption.
No problem whatsoever, the installation went like silk, and everything was kosher with the lappie.

OpenBSD on The Thinkpad T60p

Installed OpenBSD today on the T60p.
The installation took about 2 hours (including XFCE, which BTW, it is the latest of the latest 4.14 go OpenBSD go!!!...)

Welcome to the OpenBSD/i386 6.6 Installation program.
(I)nstall

I choose install, of course!

Choose your keyboard layout? L
us.swapctrlcaps

Great Scott! This was a great find, don't remember this layout option the last time I've installed OpenBSD.

System hostname? t60p

Original, right?

Which network interface do you wish to configure?
em0

IPv4 address for em0? 10.120.10.14
Netmaks for em0? 255.255.255.240
Ipv6 address fro em0? [none]
Available network interfaces are: em0 ath0 vlan0.
Which network interface do you wish to configure? (or 'done') [done]

Choose em0, and setup a fixed IP address, I was under the impression that em0 was the WiFi NIC, but I was wrong! See below.

Default Ipv4 route? 10.120.10.1

The default gateway

DNS domain name? arenales.lan

My own ridiculous domain inside my home.

DNS nameservers? 8.8.4.4 8.8.8.8

Thanks, Google.

Which disk is the root disk? sd0
Use (W)hole disk or (E)dit the MBR? [whole]

This is another new, IIRC.. Auto partitioning! Used the default, although, for a personal use lappie, I don't like to have other partition than /, in order to maximize the available HDD space.

Let's install the sets!
Location of sets? (cd0 disk http or 'done') [cd0]
No filesystems found on cd0
Location of sets? (cd0 disk http or 'done') http
HTTP Sever? (hostname of 'done') https://openbsd.c3sl.ufpr.br/

Sets: Installed all of them except for comp & games

Reboot the lappie, and then:

syspatch

So you update the system, and then, again reboot.

usermod -G wheel MY_USERNAME

Add my user to wheel, so I can use su.

pkg_add zile

Installed my lightweight Emacs, so I can edit "/etc/rc.local" and "/etc/rc.conf.local"

Then installed XFCE a login manager and some needed packages:

pkg_add xfce-extras slim slim-themes consolekit2 polkit

WiFi setup:
Like I said, I was under the impression that em0 was the WiFi NIC, but it turned out to be ath0... So, to use it simply create the file /etc/hostname.ath0 and set it up (there is no need for extra firmware).
To make it use a fixed IP address, edit the file mentioned above like this:

nwid SID wpakey PASSWORD
inet 10.120.10.14 255.255.255.240 NONE

Reboot

XFCE: Set Keyboard Layout and Disable Caps Locks

Usually set my keyboard layout and configuration by editing the file: /etc/default/keyboard, like this:

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT="alt-intl"
XKBOPTIONS="ctrl:nocaps"
BACKSPACE="guess"

But, and I really don't know why, this time on Buster it didn't work.
So, time for a Plan B... I had to do it using setxkbmap and setting it up thru Settings > Session and Startup > Application AutoStart and adding two entries, one for the language and other for the Caps Locks.
The entries look like this:

/usr/bin/setxkbmap -layout us -variant intl
/usr/bin/setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps

Not Sid Anymore

 

Yeah, it didn't last long...
Sid is nice, but I find a bit of PITA to have to be updating stuff all the time, and for my use case I really don't need the newest of the new software, at all.
So, since we are having an election day weekend, I had a "day off" today (that is, no GF), ended up using the time to install Buster (32 bits, of couse) (XFCE, of course) on the T60p.

XFCE is Getting Quirky

Came up with this error (or warning) message while setting up the T60p with its new Sid install.
First time I see something like this, guess you could say that things are really getting classy on the Linux Desktop.

And Yet Another Sid

Or better yet, another XFCE.
Replaced the HDD on the amazing, heavy and trusty T60p with another one, leaving i3 behind, maybe momentarily.

So, installed Buster XFCE, and then, switched the thing to Sid, following the steps I listed here, that is, editing the sources.list file and then apt commands.
So after something really close to 600 MB of downloads (and deleting about 200 MB of autoremove) later, things look rather fine.

Yes, i3 is really cool, but my workflow is wired to XFCE, what can I say?
That, and also, I wanted to see how the newest of the new XFCE (4.14 at this time) performs on the T60p and what new wonders has to offer.

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.

Debian Sid Installation Tidbits (T60p & T43)

Some notes of the install process on both the T60p and the T43

After making a Debian net install from a Debian 9, choosing only the "SSH Server" and the "Standard System Utilities" options upon the Software Selection.
After the install is over (on an encrypted LVM, of course) installed:

sudo apt-get install sudo zile

Yes, sudo, I'm an old fart and I like to have a root account around, of course, closed to SSH, also I like to use Zile a lot, a minimal Emacs.
Then, with that installed, edited the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file, to look like this:

deb http://debian.unnoba.edu.ar/debian/ sid main
deb-src http://debian.unnoba.edu.ar/debian/ sid main

All the other entries are commented... If you are using proprietary drivers, the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file looks like this:

deb http://debian.unnoba.edu.ar/debian/ sid main

deb-src http://debian.unnoba.edu.ar/debian/ sid main

## Non Free

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-free

deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-free

Again, all the other entries on the file are commented...
Proprietary drivers or not, after editing the file, issue a:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get autoremove

Then reboot the box:

sudo reboot

Some other programs I've installed to complete the setup:

sudo apt install apt-listbugs apt-listchanges

sudo apt install alsa-utils

(alsamixer to unmute (m) and then speaker-test to check buttons)

sudo apt install xorg

sudo apt install i3

sudo apt install links2

sudo apt install pmount (to mount USB drives as regular user)

The Sid Week

So, finally, Debian won... Sorry Void.
This past week installed Debian Sid on both the T60p and the T43, on the latter one, the little lappie that still delivers and that had its guts cleansed, installed i3, just for shit and giggles.
Boy oh boy, I have to say that I love that Window Manager...
Certainly see the myself using it a lot on the near future.
Also, I love how the T60p looks in this picture.

Kernel Woes on Linux Mint 19.1

I'm having problems with the latest kernel released on Linux Mint 19, it seems to boot, but I get no video at all, not even on a TTY.
The kernels that aren't working are:

4.15.0-48
4.15.0-50

Currently booting an older kernel (4.15.0-47) with which everything works A Ok.
The same thing happens with the T60 and the T60p.
Annoying as hell.

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.

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.

Thinkpad T60p: Disable Bluetooth

Nothing worked (on Linux, specificalluy Debian Stretch...)
Totally unable to disable, and as importantly, to turn off the Bluetooth LED indicator just below the LCD.
So, in the end, did the same thing I did on the T420, disable Bluetooth on the BIOS.
The option to do so on the T60p BIOS is under "Options" > "Network".
AFAIK, hidden from the OS has to be the same as disabling, right?

De-gunking & Un-cracking The T60p

So, yes, summer is just around the damn corner, that, and also the T60p fan was making unbearable growls.
Time to open it up and un-gunk the fan and re-apply CPU paste, getting the little thing ready for a tough summer ahead...

Also, fixed some cracks and other problems on the palm rest with a two stage super glue.
The poor thing is on a really raggedy and beat up state.

Beloved T60p

Spinning once again!
Don't ever die, you magnificent piece of machinery!