[Tux, the Linux logo. Attribution:
My walk to Linux as operating system for my daily computer tasks. Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) became my first Linux daily driver. Walking to Linux includes various Linux-related topics.
Last days I have taken the step to clean-up most, I hope, hidden files that came with the migration of my files from macOS to Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE).
They did not do any direct harm as I have seen, but they are in some situations visible when I save files from browser and of course when I turn on to see hidden files in the file manager. But I do not have any use of them, and I think it is good to not have unnecessary files that may cause errors one day and speed up file browser, backup etcetera.
I estimate I have deleted 75 - 100 000 files of a few bytes each, I estimate circa 300 MB space in total.
I did not use the terminal to search and delete all at one time. I am not skilled for that and afraid of the risk for errors. Instead I used the file manager. There I could also open some of them in text editor, check date and more to verify it was reasonable to delete them. If my notes are correct, I searched and deleted files based on those criterias:
- ._.DS_Store
- *._*.pdf
- ._*.*
- ._*
Henrik Hemrin
10 January 2024
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Now I have used a Linux operating system as the daily driver for my home computer. LMDE, Linux Mint Debian Edition to be more precise.
In short, it works really well.
I have been exploring Linux for a few years, not at least Linux Mint and LMDE, so I have gotten familiar with Linux well before having it as my daily driver. My Linux competence development has also included reading magazines like Linux Format, Linux Magazine and Linux Journal, some books, articles on the internet, forums in particular Mint international and Swedish and several podcasts like Mintcast and Distrohopper's Digest.
On the error side, I can report that once those weeks the Cinnamon desktop crashed and needed a restart.
Backup is important and has been a focus area to early setup. On macOS I used Apples proprietary Time machine plus my own manual backup of home catalog.
I configured TimeShift for system backup on an external drive. TimeShift is included in the LMDE installation. System backup can save a lot of time and troubles when something occur.
My own data is the most important to backup. Linux Mint incl LMDE has a backup tool for intended for easy home catalog backup included as well. So while pondering for my longer term solution I created a backup with that tool on an external drive. On Linux I have earlier used the popular DejaDup for home catalog backup. Now I wanted to try something else, more advanced.
I decided to try BorgBackup and added Vorta as a graphical interface (GUI) to the command line interface from BorgBackup. I choosed Borgbackup for several reasons, beside that it is free and open source: I can have multiple backup profiles, end-to-end encryption, it supports backup to an external drive as well as to a cloud drive, compression, scheduled backup and of course that new backups are built upon differencies to the older backups so not all is needed to backup every time. My Vorta BorgBackup has now been running for a week or so. It has logged some warnings and errors at some baclup occasions (code 1 in the backup report). I can see there are warnings about missing cashe-files related to Firefox and error related to Wifi. But as far as I understand from log file nothing critical in the meaning that my backup is not generally working. But I should follow and follow up. In meantime maybe a new backup with Mints own tool, or any other method. I run it daily on an external drive. My plan is to add a profile for a backup to another external drive - a drive that I do not have connected all the time but connect e g every week or month for additional safety. Finally I really consider to add a cloud backup from a service like Borgbase or Hetzner, both supporting BorgBackup. With Borg, the backup will be encrypted on my conditions so it should be safe to use cloud and still that nobody on the line or at the provider can read any of my data.
Like WhatsApp in my previous report, I have installed Element (Matrix client) with the Mint webapp manager rather that as a separate application. It works well.
I have installed Signal messenger. I installed the software and added their own repository to the repository list, with help of the commands they state on their website. It is best to be very conservative to execute commands/scripts found on the net that I do not understand in detail myself - bad scripts can of course be directly harmful. In this case, I trusted that the Signal web site had not been hacked nor that Signal want to do anything harmful.
For my photos I have installed RawTherapee and done a few photo raw image processing with it. It works faster than on my macMini. I have also installed GIMP although not used this installation yet. GIMP is the big free and open source image manipulation software.
I have also installed VueScan. It is a very good, non-free, software I pay for to scan negatives, positives, photos and other prints. Like most softwares mentioned above it is multiplatform and I have used it before. It is probably the best scanner software on market for private persons, in particular for anyone who want to use same software for multiple scanners from different manufacturers, including older that are not maintained any more by the manufacturer.
Furthernore I have installed Crossover from Codeweavers, a software to run my Windows applications on Linux. Crossover is a commercial software I pay for. It is built on the free and open source Wine, the open source software, but more user friendly. Codeweavers supports Wine in various ways, so to purchase Crossover will also give support to Wine.
I have installed one additional panel software: CPU temperature. I can always monitor the CPU temperature. It is a good measure to get a hint that the hardware works and that no software runs crazy. More addons exist and I likely will install more. It is updated via the ordinary update manager.
It is worth to mention again that LMDE as well as standard Linux Mint installations comes with a very good set of software for normal daily usage of the computer.
Henrik Hemrin
8 January 2024
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Now I have used Linux, Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), as my daily computer driver for about two-three weeks.It works fine!
I have returnedat least once to my previous daily driver, macOS on a macMini, to use a software that is not available for Linux. The software is FrontBook, a software to make photographic material from Crimson. I am not sure how I should do next time I need it, if the online version is good enough, if it may work with Crossover/Wine or if I will use macOS or Windows.
Last years I have had a strategy to switch over to softwares that are available on multiple platforms including Linux. It has been a long term strategy to make this walk to Linux possible and will of course also make it possible to return to macOS or Windows in case I want to. I favour free and open source software but I do not mind to use some non-open source softwares as well.
At the beginning of December was the Linux kernel 6.1.64-1 released. I installed it shortly after it was available in my LMDE Update manager. However, soon it was reported that that there might be an ext4 data corruption issue with the kernel. I had that kernel for about two days until a fix was released in a new kernel release. Ext4 is the file system I use, the most common for Linux operating systems. I am not aware that I have had any issue with data corruption on my computer.
LMDE has very many good softwares included in the installation. However, I need more and I have started to install them. I will talk about four I have installed so far.
I have installed Calibre e-book management (as deb from the repository). I have used Calibre also on macOS. From Calibre on my macMini I did an export, and now I imported the same file into Calibre on LMDE. It works. Calibre is a software to manage a library of eg books and articles in epub and pdf formats. In its database it is easy to manage metadata. Calibre stores a copy of the documents in its own library. Calibre is an excellent free and open source software.
Another excellent free and open software I really like is digiKam photo management software. I use it firstly for its catalog capabilities including face tags. But it also has photo editing, importing, exporting capabilities and more. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) for many years. PSE is defintely not available for Linux, hard to see it ever will. I also got somewhat disappointed of the need to buy a new release when their geo-feature depending on a Google-connection stopped working due to a Google change. My by time older version of PSE also crashed quite often last years. It was a big job to get my meta data migrated. After trials, I managed relatively well via first importing to Lightroom. I wrote about the migration in length, in Swedish: Byta fotokatalogprogram till digiKam från Photoshop Elements och Lightroom Classic. The very "tired" and slow PSE catalog on my macOS became a fast digiKam catalog on macOS without crashes! I have used digiKam both on Linux and macOS and I was considering if I should import my old Linux settings, but decided I will do a fresh start. Data was migrated from my macOS to LMDE by the meta data in the photo files and/or the xmp sidecars, i e none of the data bases were exported - which would be difficult or impossible in my understanding. This way also made it possible for me to rearrange my photo folders structure. I installed digiKam as an AppImage from their web site. DigiKam has a very active and good support forum in form of an e-mail list. Not at least the main developers are very active in the support forum. Before you start to use digiKam, consider how your current tool manages metadata in databases, photo files and sidecars, and how you want digiKam to behave. For example I have, for time being, decided to use sidecars but instead of digiKams default file scheme *.*.xmp (eg photo1.jpg.xmp) I use the standard format *.xmp (eg photo1.xmp), which digiKam refer to be aligned with commercial softwares.
Next software I want to mention is the Joplin note-taking software. I have used it on various platforms for a couple of years. It is free and open source. I have set up sync with end-to-end encryption via Nextcloud. It was somewhat difficult to set up sync and E2E encryption first time, had to read the info, but not more complicated than I could do it. I think it may be easier now. Today it is also possible to buy a cloud sync from Joplin. Joplin works well for me, especially I like the desktop version. I use some basic markdown to support my writing and sometimes attachments. Joplin has many extensions available, one is a webclipper to save web pages. Like digiKam it comes to Linux as an appimage. But I install it differently by a bash script provided on their website. The script is used both for installation, check for udate and execute any upgrade.
Finally in this review over my activities on my new Linux LMDE daily driver is the chat tool WhatsApp from Meta. Several unofficial WhatsApp softwares are available in the LMDE/Debian repository. However, I am uncertain which of them if any I want to use. Instead I decided to install WhatsApp as a webapp. This means that I make the web application from WhatsApp to work as a "real" application by using Linux Mint Webapp manager. I needed to include navigation list, but now it works very well.
Henrik Hemrin
20 December 2023
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Linux Mint Debian Edition, LMDE, is now my daily driver. I switched about a week ago.
I started to use Linux, try and explore, a few years ago. Slowly I have walked to migrate to Linux as my daily driver. I migrated from Microsoft Windows to Apple macOS in 2015 on a macMini model late 2014. This macMini runs on macOS 12 release which is still maintained, but latest macOS is currently on release 14. I expect my macMini will not run on a maintained release so much longer.
I had decided to use Linux Mint Cinnamon as my daily driver on my Lenovo Thinkpad T460p laptop, which I purchased refurbished in January 2022 with the intention to use as daily driver. It was manufactured in December 2016.
I had started to use this laptop for a couple of applications when I decided I instead wanted to try out LMDE as my first Linux daily driver. Prior to this decision, I have had LMDE installed on another machine to explore it. LMDE has the Cinnamon desktop. On the surface, LMDE and "standard" Linux Mint Cinnamon looks and feels incredible similar. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian unstable version. LMDE is based on Debian stable version without Ubuntu as intermediator. I like Debian, I have Debian installed on another machine for exploration. Both Linux Mint and LMDE are very stable and good, no doubt. Ubuntu is also very stable and widely used. I may have some concern about Ubuntu long term strategy for Snap packages versus deb packages, which is in some conflict to Linux Mint preference for Flatpak packages over Snap packages in addition to deb packages. LMDE has in my understanding become better and better, more and more similar to standard Linux Mint. Now when LMDE 6 was released, based on the recently released Debian 12, I became very tempted to go for LMDE. And so I did.
I started with migration of all my files. I copied all files on the macMini to an external drive, exFAT file system, and then copied them into T460p on ext4 file system. Then I continued with installation and configuration of some of the most important tools: 1Password password manager, Mullvad VPN client, Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client. I have done some system configuration like moving the bar to the top, move window close buttons to the left and added a CPU temperature indicator from Cinnamon spices. I have connected a HP USB printer, it was found and configured automatically without any trouble. I have started to install and configure some other software. Many more to do, but I can use it as my daily driver. I have one software on macOS that I suspect will be difficult to run on Linux even via Wine/Crossover, but we'll see.
To some extent I have used Apple office suite, mostly Pages and Numbers. Not so much, but some. I have tested to open such files with LibreOffice already on macOS and saved saved a few in the open odt format. Because LibreOffice could manage Apple Office suite documents, I did not bother to export file formats in advance of migration. But I got a negative surprise after migration: some of the .pages document had not arrived as a single file on my T460p, but instead as a folder with files and subfolders, impossible to open as a document. Interestingly, the folder contains preview versions of the file in jpg format. However many .pages had arrived as normal files and could be opened. When I checked the external drive I used for migration in exFAT format, it was the same condition when I opened the file manager from T460p. But when I plugged the external drive again into the macMini, the folders are instead as normal files in the macOS file manager. I search all files in .pages (and .numbers) format, thankfully less than 100, and compared them to status on the T460p. Less than 20 had the odd file-folder behaviour. So, I opened Pages on macOS, exported those files to Word docx format, Pages does not support the free and open odt format... After the export I also saved those files again in Pages. After this, I migrated them again to my LMDE T460p. And now, both the .pages and the newly exported .docx can be opened with LibreOffice! My best guess is that this odd behaviour is related to different releases of Pages, with problem occurring on an older version. I have mostly used Pages on macOS, but to some extent also on iPhone iOS.
I have used OpenOffice for very many years, as a contiuation of the German StarOffice which Sun acquired and made free as a competitor to Microsoft Office. Many turns since then for OpenOffice, now free and open source, but last years the development of OpenOffice has slowed down and almost stopped. LibreOffice is a based on OpenOffice and is very actively developed and maintained. Maybe I will install OpenOffice as I have used it so much and used to it, but perhaps better to learn LibreOffice better.
Although LMDE is very similar to Linux Mint, they are not identical. One difference is the lack of the Linux Mint Device manager. This laptop T460p has two graphic processors, an Intel and in addition one by Nvidia. With Linux Mint I could manage the Nvidia graphics from the Device Manager. But with LMDE, I am more at my own. Debian has a wiki page I believe will assist me. I have not tried yet, but I think I will be able if I want to to enable the Nvidia graphics.
My LMDE laptop works faster than my macMini. Beside the different operating systems, the specs are somewhat different. Another difference is that LMDE is freshly installed while macOS has been installed and updated since it was new. Some of the spec parameters:
Lenovo Thinkpad T460p:
- Intel Core i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70 GHz, 4 cores, 8 logical processes
- RAM 32 GB
- SSD 1 TB
- Grafic Nvidia GeForce 940MX + Intel HD Graphics 530
Apple Mac mini (late 2014):
- 2,8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
- RAM 8 GB
- Macintosh HD 1,12 TB Fusion Drive (combo SDD and HDD)
- Grafic Intel Iris 1536 MB
If I will introduce Linux to a friend, I will recommend the standard Linux Mint Cinnamon because it is even more user friendly. And maybe I will return to it. Soon Linux Mint 21.3 will arrive with new features and improvements, and I hope new features for example in Hypnotix will soon be available for LMDE as well. 21.3 will have support for secure boot, a useful security feature which actually already is available in LMDE 6, and I have it enabled. For now I am proud and happy with my migration to Linux Mint Debian Edition LMDE.
Henrik Hemrin
11 December 2023
19 December 2023: Added some words about OpenOffice, Mullvad and added links.
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I bought a new wireless router in January 2017. It is a TP-Link Archer MR200 version 1.
A router is a kind of computer with memory, processor and so on. And software to run it. I have upgraded the software, firmware, on the router to the May 2018 release, provided by TP-Link. It is the latest available software, and most likely the last update they ever will provide.
Router software, like other software, can over time be improved with new features, more user friendly, and with bug fixes as well as security fixes. I have understood that the life time when the manufacturer provides updates of the software is very limited, far shorter than the life time of the hardware. I understand my router is not an exception, it is a rather common situation.
Of course, newer hardware can have better functionalities, other radio frequencies, radio power output, power consumption and so on. But the hardware may also still be good enough for years longer than it is supported by the manufacturer.
Beside the "stock firmware" provided by the manufacturer, many routers can also be driven by other software. One other software is OpenWrt.
OpenWrt is a Linux operating system, a free open source software, for embedded devices like routers. It is not only an option when the stock firmware is outdated for the router, it is actually in my understanding a good software to use also from start.
If a router (be carful with exact version) can use OpenWrt or not can be found in their data base. They also have a separate list listing recommended routers for new purchase.
My router, the TP-Link Archer MR200 version 1, is listed as working and good enough for the latest release of OpenWrt.
Each router model has its own page with its details how the software is swapped from stock firmware to OpenWrt.
I go to the page for my router. In my case, I should swap with help of TFTP; Trivial File Transfer Protocol. Apparently, my router has a built in TFTP server and I need to have a TFTP client on the computer I use to upload the new firmware to the router.
The instruction actually recommend the Tftpd64 software to run on Windows. This software includes both server and client and has a graphical user interface, rather old style like Windows 95 or so. I installed and opened it successfully on Windows 10. But I did not use it as I wanted to use a Linux operating computer.
So, on my laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad T430s) I have Debian 12.1 (Bookworm) operating system installed. I installed the tftp-hpa software, which is a TFTP client. Actually I installed also the tftpd-hpa software, the corresponding TFTP server, which I later understood was not needed. Tftp-hpa is a command line software only, so no graphical interface.
The process for my router (again, specific routines for each router model), is that I turn off my router, connect my laptop to an ethernet port (much preferred to do this firmware swap with cable and not wireless), disconnect everything else, change internet connection to manual and state the specific IP, subnet mask and DNS/Gateway details provided, then start my TFTP client, turn on the router, push the WPS/reset button on the router until it starts to upload and flash the new firmware I have downloaded to my laptop.
But how should the router know where I have stored the file? Despite reading documentation, search the internet, I could not understood where I should store the file to upload. It was also unclear to me if I should need to do a connect command, and a put file command (upload command) or only needed to start the client.
I had to do a couple of trials that failed until I had success.
My conclusion is that I needed to place the file in the folder /srv/tftp/ (this directory was created at installation, not by me). If my connect command (to the IP address) was needed or not, I do not know. Anyway, when I got this working, the firmware swap was fast and no issue.
I could then, after changing internet connection to the ordinary dynamic, connect to the router with the browser (Firefox in my case), in same manner as with the old stock firmware. Now I am ready with the TFTP.
After quick review and setting of this initial OpenWrt software via the web interface, it was time to flash the router with the real and new software. This was done in the more usual way: I downloaded the latest OpenWrt 22.03.05, released 1 May 2023, to my computer and uploaded it to the router via the web interface.
After that I have configured the radio so I can use the wireless WLAN as well. My router is up and running with an updated and secure software!
I still have a lot to explore. I have not configured a guest network. I still have an issue to connect to the router while I am connected upstream to the WAN. But I believe I will find out and learn. By the way, there is also a software provided in the instruction if I ever want to go back to the stock firmware. OpenWrt has an extensive documentation as well as a user forum. When I learn to use OpenWrt, it will also be a learning for future when I have a new router with OpenWrt.
I like that my router is up-to-date with its software! A software that extend the life time of my hardware. A software which also is free and open source, with more features and configuration possibilities than the original stock firmware. On the downside, it has a learning curve.
Henrik Hemrin
10 August 2023
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I am aiming for Linux Mint Cinnamon as my daily driver. I am slowly migrating from macOS on a macMini that now is so old that it does not make it to latest macOS release. My main Linux Mint Cinnamon machine is a Lenovo ThinkPad T460p.
Linux Mint "standard edition", which comes with the choice of Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce desktop environment, is based on Ubuntu. And Ubuntu is based on Debian. According to Wikipedia; "Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch, which are synchronised every six months."
In parallel with the standard edition, the Linux Mint team also has the LMDE; Linux Mint Debian Edition. LMDE only comes with Cinnamon desktop. Again according to Wikipedia, "The Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) uses Debian Stable as the software source base rather than Ubuntu."
I have been looking into LMDE earlier. It seems to have done some major improvements and is becoming more mature and more on pair with the standard edition.
Therefore, yesterday on my older Lenovo ThinkPad T430s I replaced my installation of elementary with LMDE 5. On the same drive I also have Debian 11 Xfce and Mint 21.1 Cinnamon, and on a separate drive (in the CD bay) Windows 10. I managed to do the installation without messing up anything else on the machine!
I want to explore, to get a feeling, how LMDE 5 is compared to Linux Mint 21.1 (i.e. the latest releases of both at the time of writing this article).
- I intend to install same software on LMDE as I will use on my daily driver as one comparison.
- Furthermore I wonder if more of Flatpak will be needed (especially when up to date software releases are desirable).
- And not at least if it is more difficult, what is different, in managing LMDE from my end user perspective.
I will do this comparison from my ordinary user perspective, not from an expert perspective (easy deciosion as I am not at all, not at all, an expert). May LMDE be a relevant alternative for me to standard Linux Mint edition as my daily driver?
The first note after installation is that on the surface, Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon and LMDE 5 Cinnamon cannot be distinguished from each other.
I hope I’ll be back with findings!
Henrik Hemrin
15 January 2023
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A few days before Christmas 2022 came the announcement that Linux Mint 21.1 "Vera" was released.
On my "best" Linux laptop I have Linux Mint 21 installed. Yesterday I got my time to do the upgrade. After reading installation information, release notes and known issues as well as fresh back up, I was ready for the upgrade.
The upgrade is started from the ordinary update manager. The upgrade took me around 15-20 minutes and ended with a need to restart the machine. After restart I had a few updates to take care of.
The upgrade went really smootly, like a nice summer day walk. I have not found any issue so far.
I have more news to discover, but I have already noticed the new mouse pointer graphics as well as new folder icon. And even better, Flatpak software upgrade is now integrated in the update manager.
I also have two Linux Mint 20.3 installations an other machines to upgrade to 21. That is a bit more tricky, but there is an upgrade tool or else I can reinstall it. No direct hurry, to 20 release is still supported.
Henrik Hemrin
5 January 2023
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I have started to use Thunderbird as my mail client. Again. Long back in time I used Netscape Mail. I do not know how much code they share, but Thunderbird is an evolution from Netscape Mail (like Firefox is from the Netscape browser). I have also used Thunderbird itself. Last years I have used Apple macOS own mail client. It has worked well. But I have also for a long time wanted to come back to Thunderbird - because I like it, because it is free and open source and because it is available for Linux.
Thunderbird is familiar although it of course has evolved since I used it last time. It is also more than an e-mail client. More on that below where I give a comment for each section of Thunderbird.
Thunderbird has a lot of opportunities for configuration and customizations. It also has many extensions available, still for me to explore. The only extensions I have added so far are language support.
Some remarks from my migration and first period of usage follows below. The remarks should be seen as a help for migration. They are absoutely not a reason for not using Thunderbird.
It is a big advantage to have access to webmail to make sure everything is correct in Thunderbird. I had a few issues:
- Phantom folders. They are folders that do not really exist. Shown in italic, no content. I recognize the folder names so it has been real folders that have been deleted or moved. At least one of them has same name as one of the missing folders below. The phantom folders are not shown in the webmail, nor in macOS mail. The phenomena is known in forums etc, eg this link: Folders grey and italics. Some sub-folders not showing. I have not yet tried to get rid of them, they do not do any harm, only annoying.
- Missing folders in sub and sub-sub folder structure. Folders with e-mails that exist does not show up. This issue is strange and more problematic because if you do not notice it, you may not look for how to find them. The solution is simple when I find it: I open a menu with subscribed folders, and find a few that are not subscribed. Indeed strange that a few folders were not subscribed automatically when 98% are subscribed automatically. One has same name as one phantom folder. Missing folder works after marked them to be subscribed.
- Junk folders required a bit of job to connect correctly. To be fair, it was somewhat of a mess on server after earlier configurations and misconfigurations; it was not fully correct on macOS mail. I also changed settings so Thunderbird should look for new items in those folders at the same time it check for new items in the inboxes. After a little work, I have gotten junk to work correctly.
Address book
I exported my Apple macOS Address book in .vcf file format. It generally worked well import to Thunderbird with some remarks:
- For some contact cards I have web addresses included which did not show up. When going to edit mode, they exist but marked in red. I think it was the protocol that was missing (https...), after editing they are ok.
- I had added a customized label for Mobile work in my Apple macOS Address book. This customized label did not come through, it was presented without label. Thunderbird does not have, at least I have not found in normal configurations any way to customize labels. I think it is valuable to be able to distinguish mobile numbers if they are related to home or work.
- For some items which have both company and person name, I needed to adjust so they are sorted correctly.
To consider: Now when I use Thunderbird I have one address book for e-mail and another one for my mobile phone and more. I will ponder if I want to sync Thunderbird e-mail address book with eg mobile address book and between devices in general. If yes, still to be decided on solution - maybe I will use my Nextcloud.
RSS subscriptions
It is very easy to add my RSS subscriptions to Thunderbird. It is very naturally to have the RSS feeds in the same client as e-mails. Until now I have used QuiteRSS. I believe Thunderbird is better for me. For me it is fine not to sync RSS with other devices, if that is desirable probably something else is better to use.
Chat
This function is still to be investigated, primarily for my Matrix account. Currently I use element.
Calendar and To-Do
Not yet investigated how I will use them, I have not migrated to Thunderbird. Like Address book, any sync solution might also be needed to consider.
Final comment
I am happy I have migrated to Thunderbird. For time being on macOS, walking to Linux likely to happen, which should be fairly easy now when I am already on Thunderbird.
Thunderbird is a free and open source software; FOSS. They need donations like many free open software. If you use Thunderbird, please chip in some money once or even better regular, if you can.
Henrik Hemrin
23 November 2022
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Some months ago, I installed Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon on this laptop, as I described in Installation of Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon. After playing for a while, I reinstalled but without encryption. Now, about a week ago, I really want to use this laptop for real. To start with focus on photography and "ordinary things". But I will wait until I e.g. migrate all data.
Linux Mint is very fast and simple to install as long as default options are chosen. But when going for any alternative, it is more complex to understand. The installer and the installation guide does not explain so much.
I have the encrypted hard disc version with LVM installed on another laptop since a long time and it works well. So, time for a new fresh installation!
Before I can select to encrypt the hard drive, I must select I want either LVM (Logical Volume Manager) or ZFS, a file system with volume management capabilities. One of those can be selected, and with or without encryption. I have heard about ZFS and it seems interesting. But I really do not know what it means practically when I select ZFS or LVM. Because I know LVM works for me, and I want to come to a decision point, I decided to choose LVM.
When I in the installer select LVM/ZFS, I cannot at the same time select to manage partitions. So eg I cannot at the same time select to make a separate partition for the home catalog or create a swap partition with my own settings. I am still not sure if I can do it afterwards. I am sure I can find the answers in Linux Mint documentation and forums or other resources. But I leave it for now.
A strange thing in the installation process, is that although I have selected encryption of the entire hard drive, I can also select encryption of my home catalog. I am pretty sure it is unnecessary, but I wonder what happens when I have encryption selected twice.
The installation process went smoothly also this time, and not many minutes. Many packages to update after, but that also went rather effortless.
Now it is time to configure my settings as well as install other programs I want. More about that later. And eventually also more about what the advanced options really means later.
Henrik Hemrin
13 November 2022
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The software youtube-dl resembles when I recorded TV programs on "linear TV" (a modern word not used at that time) on a VHS tape recorder.
As the name hints, youtube-dl can be used to download videos from Youtube. It can also be used to download from very many other sites. It is used to download recorded media, not to copy streaming media (that the VHS tape recorder was used for).
Beside Youtube, I have tested it on the Swedish SVT Play and TV4 Play.
There has been some legal issues, whether the youtube-dl software is legal or not. For a period the youtube-dl repository was taken down from GitHub, but is now back. Not at least EFF (Electronics Frontier Foundation) has engaged in the legal discussions. Youtube-dl does not circumvent any digital lock. It was also discussed if youtube-dl infringe copyright. Ref ex GitHub Reinstates youtube-dl After RIAA’s Abuse of the DMCA
I think private use of youtube-dl is comparable to when I in earlier days recorded from radio or copied vinyl, CD etc to audio cassette tapes or to writable CDs, or copied video tapes from television to VHS tapes. As long as I download a video to use as a personal copy for my private non-commercial usage, it is acceptable.
In order to get youtube-dl to work fully, I also needed to install FFmpeg; "A complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video." An alternative should be avconv. Both hinted by youtube-dl itself when it cannot merge files. I have only used FFmpeg as a resource for youtube-dl.
Youtube-dl is a text based software, no graphical interface (no GUI). The commands are written in a terminal window.
Often, all I need is the very simple command:
youtube-dl [url]
When this command is executed, the download starts and the result will be a downloaded copy of the video.
Many command options exist, for example for subtitle options or login. Documentation is found via their website.
I have only used youtube-dl on Linux (Linux Mint), but can also be used on Windows and Mac OS.
Henrik Hemrin
4 October 2022
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