• 1 Post
  • 18 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: June 7th, 2023

help-circle


  • Regarding DRM, Netflix (and probably others) require the Widewine library to play back DRM content. This works perfectly fine on a normal Ubuntu PC, but does not work on the Pi because the library does not support ARM, only x86.

    So Id just get any normal PC. Used enterprise mini PCs can be had for quite cheap, and they are small and efficient, and high quality. Search for HP, Dell or Lenovo mini PCs , or 1 litre PCs.



  • There is one potential (small) hurdle you should be aware off: Secure Boot.

    Basically some laptops came with Secure Boot locked to only allow booting Windows. These days Linux distros should still be able to boot even if the laptop was windows-only back then (thanks to the so-called shim bootloader). If you get an error about secure boot, just go in to BIOS/UEFI menu and disable secure boot for now (after installing Linux you can google the steps to enroll a key to re-enable Secure Boot).

    Beyond that, just flash a USB stick with Linux Mint, boot the laptop, smash the keyboard to find the button for BIOS menu or Boot Device selection, then follow the installer. Installing Linux should take less than an hour. Way less if your computer is fast.



  • Regarding mini PCs; Beware of RAM overheating!

    I bought some Minisforum HM90 for Proxmox selfhosting, installed 64gb RAM (2x32gb DDR4 3200MHz sticks), ran memtest first to ensure the RAM was good, and all 3 mini PCs failed to various degrees.

    The “best” would run for a couple of days and tens of passes before throwing multiple errors (tens of errors) then run for another few days without errors.

    Turns out the RAM overheated. 85-95 C surface temperature. (There’s almost no space or openings for air circulation on that side of the PC). Taking the lid off the PC, let 2/3 computers run memtest for a week with no errors, but one still gave the occasional error bursts. RAM surface temperature with the lid off was still 80-85 C.

    Adding a small fan creating a small draft dropped the temperature to 55-60 C. I then left the computer running memtest for a few weeks while I was away, then another few weeks while busy with other stuff. It has now been 6 weeks of continuous memtest, so I’m fairly confident in the integrity of the RAM, as long as they’re cold.

    Turns out also some, but not all, RAM sticks have onboard temperature sensors. lm-sensors can read the RAM temperature, if the sticks have the sensor. So I’m making a Arduino solution to monitor the temperature with a IR sensor and also control an extra fan.



  • +1 for SingleFile

    I recently tried LinkWarden, Linkding and Archivebox for making offline copies. They all had the same issue of running in to a Captcha or login wall for the sites I wanted to capture.
    SingleFile to the rescue, as it uses your current browser session as a logged in and verified human.

    Linkeding allows you to upload the singlefile html file attached to it link, but I didn’t see such an option for Linkwarden.




  • This has been my thinking too.

    Though after reading mbirth’s comment I realised it’s possible to use named volumes and explicitly tell it where on disk to store the volume:

        volumes:
          - my-named-volume:/data/
    volumes:
      my-named-volume:
        driver: local
        driver_opts:
          type: none
          device: "./folder-next-to-compose-yml"
          # device: "/path/to/well/known/folder"
          o: bind
    

    It’s a bit verbose, but at least I know which folder and partition holds the data, while keeping the benefits of named volumes.



  • Wow thanks for this! Reading the official docker documentation I somehow missed this. Using regular well documented linux mount.<type> tools and options will be so much better than looking for docker-specific documentation for every single type.

    And knowing the docker container won’t start unless the mount is available solves so much.
    Does the container stop or freeze if the mount becomes unavailable? For example if the smb share host goes offline?






  • The biggest problem with Discord is that its an information black hole. Its not properly searchable and not indexed by search engines.

    Discord is fine for casual chat, but horrible when used for forum-type discussions and even worse when used for documentation.

    You see the same problems being discussed and solved again and again, but you cant just “link” someone the solution like you could with a forum thread cause its spread out over 3-10 chat messages that are interleaved in-between other topics being discussed in the same room

    Anything of long-term value for the project (forum-type discussions, documentation etc) should not recide in Discord