I’m using Mint with a 3060 on my PC, and my wife has Mint installed with one of the very old low powered cards, a gt 710 I think. Neither of us have had problems with them 🤷🏻‍♂️

That’s how I’ve currently got my phone and Fire tablet working, KOReader to Calibre over wifi, it’s the initial setup that I couldn’t remember.

I meant to check last night, but didn’t get a chance. More playing and tweaking needed tonight 😁

I’ll have a look at that, thanks :)

I’ll have a look at Calibre Web Automated, thanks :)

I’ve set up wireless access to my Windows Calibre library but I thought the device needed to be physically connected first? I’m realising that I might be thinking of a different program though.

Not much with the server, as I’m finally finishing my switch to Mint on my main PC, now that I’ve finished the things I was stuck with Windows for.

I’m debating whether to put Calibre Web on my PC or media server, as the PC is easier to access, but the server is always on.

I’m also trying to figure out the best way to host a family Minecraft server. I’ve currently got two running at home and one remotely, but have managed to get a decent free tier Oracle server running too.

One of the Minecraft servers is staying local, as it’s just for the immediate family for our gaming sessions, but the other is for the kid’s cousins to join in too. Typically though, they haven’t wanted to play since I got the servers running, so I can’t tell which is best for them 🙈

I’ve been using Immich, but with my photos as external media. That lets me keep my directory structure too, but with the Immich features 🙂

f you’re using Ubuntu or Linux Mint, Zorin, PopOS, install the ubuntustudio package for pipewire (can’t remember how it’s called you need to search for it). It sets up pipewire audio correctly, so more plugins/apps work out of the box (without it, for example, Bitwig studio doesn’t even make a peep…).

Thanks for adding this 🙂

I’ve just started playing around with Hydrogen, the drum machine, as well as some video editing. I’m in the process of switching to Mint, but hadn’t heard of the ubuntustudio package at all.

Be careful with Mediamonkey. I’ve got it on my phone and PC, and my music is getting quieter and quieter on the phone. I think it’s something to do with the volume leveling on the Android version, but haven’t had a chance to figure it out yet.

I can put a song on full volume, and it’s quiet enough that it’s difficult to hear. I’ve tried the same tracks through youtube, and the volume is fine, so it’s not the phone speakers.

I don’t know how to do it on Android, but look into variable bit rate (VBR) rather than 320 kb/s. 320 kb/s is a constant bit rate (CBR), and means that silence is given the same quality and detail as the busiest track, and takes up space for no reason.

The highest VBR setting, V0, is indistinguishable from 320, but saves space. Depending on your ears and the phone speakers, you might be able to drop the quality slightly and save more space 👍

I think at least part of the problem has been the built in expiry date, and the fact that so many off brand Chromebooks are absolute shit. They have tiny screens and low specs, and struggle with multiple web pages open.

I fancied one myself to take out and about, as I do most of my work on my PC, but they all seemed to have under 13 inch screens, and a five year shelf life. I like to research my family tree, so have a few tabs open, but the lack of memory would kill them and make it painful to do.

You’re being downvoted, but you’re right.

People want something simple. Something that just runs the basics and automatically backs up online and invisibly.

The vast majority of people don’t need to have the choice of 17 different browsers, or 43 office suites, and they certainly don’t need the terminal or Powershell, or anything else. They just need a browser and a way to maybe write a letter and view photos. Maybe a way for the kids to do their homework. If their laptop spontaneously combusts, they want to be able to sign into a new one and have everything put back as it was automatically.

ChromeOS is perfect for them, apart from being a Google product. It’s something we tend to miss because we’re technically minded, but most people don’t care about computers, and don’t want what we want. They want an appliance. If someone created that system with privacy built in, it could be great :)

I’m in the UK, and I’ve had decent laptops from rapidIT and ITZoo, both .co.uk as far as I remember. I can’t remember which laptop I got from Rapid as it was a few years ago, but the first one had a faulty motherboard, and they swapped the laptop with no issues.

I had a Stonebook branded Clevo N750BU from ITZoo, which is an i7 based laptop, and Mint works perfectly on it. It’s quite old now, so you’ll probably get a newer one for your budget, but with a RAM upgrade it runs everything I throw at it. I use it for designing and editing logos in Inkscape and Krita, and for editing a website in html, css, and javascript, so anything newer should do it even better :)

About 20 years ago, I lived in a shared house in the city. I worked nights, so if I left a download running when I went to bed, it would affect the others in the house. I saw a post online where someone was giving away a cable modem, and not knowing much about how they worked, I had an idea that I wanted to try.

The cable internet came into the house through a coax cable, rather than the phone line, and was split with a dumb splitter between the router and the TV. I used a spare splitter to run a cable to my room and plugged my modem in.

I tried it first on my day off so that I could check with my housemates if it caused any problems. It connected and everything worked with no issues, except that it only connected at about dial up speeds. We were going out for the night so I left it connected with some downloads running to see if it would stay connected. When we got home, the downloads that should have taken a few days were done. A speed test showed that I was getting around 35Mbps, when the fastest speed we could pay for was 4Mbps.

We later found out that apparently the street was sharing a connection (to the cabinet I think, it’s been a while), and because my modem wasn’t registered, it was just getting whatever was left over. At night, when everyone was in bed and their devices were off, it was going a lot faster. It didn’t last long, only a few months, but we took advantage of it while we could :)

Look for the QxR group. Lots of their releases include special features, and often as a separate folder.

‘Gaming laptop, only used occasionally. Been sitting around for a while because my kid’s got a new hobby. £1,200 no offers. I know what I’ve got’

The pictured laptop has a Centrino sticker on it and looks like it’s been used to dig a garden

That’s brilliant, I hope it all works out 😊

It’s a great idea, but don’t forget about how these people are going to get support in the future. If something breaks, most helpers (computer shops, kids friends etc) are going to be Windows users.

Mint can do automatic updates, but both my laptop and PC have had serious issues with version upgrades. My laptop, which is Mint only, asked me to remove a load of software before upgrading, then booted with loads of errors and had to be reinstalled. My PC was mostly fine, but had no sound. It turned out that Mint switched from Pulse Audio to Pipewire, or vice versa, and the old audio manager left config files behind.

They were both annoying issues more than anything else, but would be difficult for the people in your scenario to get fixed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put you off, just checking that you’ve thought of the downsides :)

Automatic Ripping Machine can pull the main movie off a disc automatically, but I’m not sure about imaging the full disc. Once it’s set up, you just put a disc in and wait.

https://github.com/automatic-ripping-machine/

Because this is a thought experiment. There’s no waste when nobody’s actually buying anything.

Sorry, my bad. I found my old 486 PC in my parent’s attic recently, and started planning to get it running again