What are you “here” with today?

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Getting around OK in ROX? Here’s something I wrote a while ago, and found it in a ROX directory that I created beneath my home directory:

This is Brian.txt.  I created it in the following manner.

1) Using Rox Filer from my home directory, first I pressed the right
click on my mouse button and selected New --> Directory

2) I chose the name ROX for my new folder, /home/masinick/ROX

3) Next, I clicked on ROX, which opened my newly created folder

4) Then I right clicked again, (Ctrl-N also works), selected
New ---> Blank file, and wrote the name Brian.txt, which created
an empty file by that name.

5) Finally, I clicked on the file, and by default it opened Brian.txt
in the Geany text editor.  (You can select a different editor if you
prefer something else).

6) I wrote this note and saved it.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Back with antiX 21 runit using the 4.9 kernel and my own personal copy (updated) of the development branch of inxi known as pinxi.

Here’s my current stats:

./pinxi -v2
System:
  Host: antix21 Kernel: 4.9.0-294-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: IceWM v: 2.9.9 Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-base Grup Yorum 30
    October 2021
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5558 v: 01
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 086DKN v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: A04 date: 08/06/2015
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 30.1 Wh (100.0%) condition: 30.1/41.4 Wh (72.6%)
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i7-5500U [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 500
    min/max: 500/2401
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5500 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK208BM [GeForce 920M] driver: N/A
  Device-3: Suyin Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
  Device-3: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 26.64 GiB (6.0%)
Info:
  Processes: 199 Uptime: 13m Memory: 7.77 GiB used: 1.02 GiB (13.1%)
  Shell: Bash pinxi: 3.3.20-12

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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The “significantly higher” memory usage here is because I’ve invoked the tool while actively using a Web browser.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Back again with antiX 21; sticking with the antiX kernels as we approach the antiX 22 effort and release.

pinxi -b
System:
  Host: antix21 Kernel: 4.9.0-294-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: IceWM v: 2.9.9 Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-base Grup Yorum 30
    October 2021
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5558 v: 01
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 086DKN v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: A04 date: 08/06/2015
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 30.1 Wh (100.0%) condition: 30.1/41.4 Wh (72.6%)
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i7-5500U [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 525
    min/max: 500/2401
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5500 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK208BM [GeForce 920M] driver: N/A
  Device-3: Suyin Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
  Device-3: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 26.79 GiB (6.0%)
Info:
  Processes: 186 Uptime: 49m Memory: 7.77 GiB used: 514.5 MiB (6.5%)
  Shell: Bash pinxi: 3.3.20-12

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I switched over to my Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-55, so now I’m using siduction and reading Email and forum messages following a quick package update.

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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Hi,
I am visiting the antiXforum using the lynx text browser on a live 650 mb CD containing antiX21 base.
$ inxi -b
System: Host: antix Kernel: 4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae i686 bits: 32 Desktop: IceWM 2.9.6
Distro: antiX-21_386-base Grup Yorum 31 October 2021
Machine: Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite C655D v: PSC0YU-00C002 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: TOSHIBA model: Portable PC serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Insyde v: 1.80 date: 12/20/2011
Battery: ID-1: BAT0 charge: 3.5 Wh (7.9%) condition: 44.2/47.5 Wh (93.1%) volts: 10.8 min: 10.8
CPU: Info: Single Core AMD E-240 [UP] speed: 750 MHz min/max: 750/1500 MHz
Graphics: Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 6310] driver: radeon v: kernel
Device-2: Importek Laptop Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: ati,radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa
resolution: 1366×768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD PALM (DRM 2.49.0 / 4.9.0-294-antix.1-686-smp-pae LLVM 11.0.1) v: 3.3 Mesa 20.3.5
Network: Device-1: Intel PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network driver: iwlwifi
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet driver: atl1c
Drives: Local Storage: total: 0 KiB used: 0 KiB
Info: Processes: 128 Uptime: 5m Memory: 3.55 GiB used: 244.3 MiB (6.7%) Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.06

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@calciumsodium: It’s been a long time, but one of my early computers, somewhere in the 1999-2001 time period was a Toshiba laptop.

It was a very important system for me because I was working full time during the day and taking two classes every six weeks for two years toward a Master of Science in Computer Systems Management.

I did complete all of the course work, 15 classes in all, if I remember correctly but as I was completing the final class I lost my job.

I was about to tank the final class but the instructor contacted me and asked me why I didn’t finish so I told him. He wanted me to complete it anyway so I did; my final grade reflected my tardiness in completion but the skills I demonstrated indicated both the technical skills and the leadership.

I never did apply for a degree certification; I accomplished what I intended and the advanced course work and credentials didn’t appear to help get jobs; skills together with good connections were more successful.

Still that Toshiba was important. Back in those days I used wired Internet; you’d be surprised how many places, even laundromats and auto dealerships had them in the late nineties and early 2000s.

In the past 1-2 years all Ethernet connections, at least live ones, have gone away, replaced by 5G wireless networks and fiber optic backbone networks are what are remaining.

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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There is also a disparity in quality and price of internet. Where I am at, I pay $65/month for life for 1 gigabit per sec internet. And this includes all taxes and fees. Actually measured, it is 940 megabit per sec. Yes, there is a “for life” plan. One state over, my father in law in the rural areas pays $85/month for 1 megabit per sec internet. That is 1 megabit!!

Nice to hear your stories @Brian.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@calciumsodium: Yeah, you’re right about the disparity in both price and quality of Internet. We’re incredibly fortunate where we live, because our wireless Internet regularly receives improvement, but because we live in a senior citizen community, we’re able to enjoy an “economy of scale”. I’m not sure if we’ve had a few price increases over the past 4 years or so (we probably have), but the price when we moved here was a incredibly LOW $48/month for unlimited access!

Prior to retirement, I lived in Michigan in a large suburban area where we had 3-4 alternatives PLUS wired fiber optic connections in a few areas. That was more expensive, but we had various tiers, from low speed, low priced, to very high speed, expensive connections in the 500-1000 MBS range and possibly higher, at prices well over $100/month.

I’m also thankful for your many useful posts and insights, and encourage this kind of dialogue for anyone who has the time to share; I think it’s positive for the overall community. Thanks for sharing!

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’m moving around, back to one of my older systems, a Lenovo X201 laptop. I like this old box, despite its age. It does lack a few things I appreciate, including no backlit keys, no SSD, and the performance is slower than the Dell and much slower than the Acer Aspire I’ve been using for the past day or so.

In spite of these things, I like this system for its solid construction and the optional platform I can attach to provide a CD/DVD drive and additional ports; I believe it’s a “docking station” from that era.

inxi -v1
System:
  Host: antix21 Kernel: 4.9.0-279-antix.1-amd64-smp arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: IceWM v: 2.9.9 Distro: antiX-21-runit_x64-base Grup Yorum 30
    October 2021
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i7 M 620 [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 1232
    min/max: 1199/2667
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Lenovo Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel gpu: i915
    resolution: 1280x800~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 17.82 GiB (14.9%)
Info:
  Processes: 189 Uptime: 7m Memory: 7.6 GiB used: 954.8 MiB (12.3%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.20

• This reply was modified 8 months, 3 weeks ago by Brian Masinick.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Notice that the only reason that memory consumption shows up “so high” is CLEARLY because I’m actively using a Web Browser; I created a firefox-release directory in /home/masinick to contain an easily updated Firefox because at the moment we’re one minor release behind the current release and the new current release is frozen in development and will be released following testing, as I’ve recently shared in my Firefox Release Thread.

I took note of the memory consumption in case something prevented me from posting; in fact, I had to restart the networking because the signal was lost on this old system temporarily. So the memory usage prior to that was between 160-190 MB before starting a browser; the lower number right after boot; the higher number after opening a terminal emulator.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I moved over to my Acer Chromebook 715 to investigate a few parameters that I can compare to previous entries in this thread. One thing I can tell you right away is that though this particular system has a backlit keypad, newer, solid aluminum construction and much faster processor than the Lenovo X201, even though the X201 keyboard has longer distance key depressions, this model has a less comfortable keyboard than the Acer Aspire 5, Dell Inspiron 5558 or the old Lenovo X201. So there’s one thing; even though this thing is pretty fast, it has its trade-offs too.

Using Chrome OS chrome://system/, I found the following details (sharing only a few here):
CHROME VERSION: 104.0.5112.83
CHROMEOS_RELEASE_BUILD_TYPE: Official Build
CHROMEOS_RELEASE_CHROME_MILESTONE: 104
CHROMEOS_RELEASE_DESCRIPTION: 14909.100.0 (Official Build) stable-channel nami 
LOGDATE: Fri Aug 19 19:30:24 UTC 2022, Fri Aug 19 15:30:24 EDT 2022
meminfo:
MemTotal:        3925632 kB
MemFree:         1427604 kB
MemAvailable:    1801856 kB
Buffers:          107080 kB
Cached:           633004 kB
SwapCached:         2888 kB

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Aside from the heavy touch feel of the keyboard, the Acer Chromebook 715 is a 15″ model and it’s a little heavier than the Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-55, and definitely thicker and heavier than the Acer Chromebook 514 that I bought for my wife. It does have a nice bright display and nicely lit keys, one of the reasons I purchased it in the first place. Also, at the time of purchase, I was able to get a “pre-Black Friday” sale, saving a couple hundred dollars over the Google Pixelbook Go, which has since further increased in price, while the Acer models have had a few sales that can be found if you look, wait, and choose the right moments.

Since these models came out, there are also different models available, so all of the models I’ve mentioned ought to be available as used, refurbished, or end of model clearance prices, including the Acer Aspire series, which can (at least if you choose the right models, run various Linux distributions, and some may already work with antiX, with more support as these systems age.

For anyone wanting to compare Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, Acer, though certainly NOT the only vendor to offer such things (Dell HP, Asus, Toshiba, and Lenovo are five more brands that I can assert, based on personal experience, work well with many Linux distributions!

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’m here with the Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-55; as I noted (and expected), the keyboard touch and feel on this system is much lighter than the Acer Chromebook 715, and the length of the key depression is about the same, so it’s a decent, modern keyboard. It’s not as premium as some of the mechanical Logitech and other fancy, $200-300 keyboards, but this is a low end laptop originally manufactured for entry level Windows 10S use; naturally I removed and replaced that long ago.

I’m running EndeavourOS, the second fastest distro here; (siduction is the top speedster on this hardware), though people with high end hardware would undoubtedly scoff at any “speedster” comment here! Nevertheless, on a retirement budget this is usable, useful stuff.

inxi -v1
System:
  Host: brian-aspire-5-a515-55 Kernel: 5.19.2-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    Desktop: Xfce v: 4.16.0 Distro: EndeavourOS
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i3-1005G1 [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 1200
    min/max: 400/3400
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: intel
    unloaded: modesetting gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (ICL GT1) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.6
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 10.46 GiB (8.8%)
Info:
  Processes: 182 Uptime: 15m Memory: 3.61 GiB used: 2.04 GiB (56.4%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.20

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’m here with the Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-55; today my visit comes from “cousin distro” MX Linux. I’m using the Mozilla Firefox Web browser as I compose this note and browse our forum.

inxi -v1
System:
  Host: mx Kernel: 5.17.0-1mx-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce
    v: 4.16.0 Distro: MX-21.1_ahs_x64 Wildflower November 22  2021
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i3-1005G1 [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 1126
    min/max: 400/3400
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 driver: N/A
  Device-2: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.13 driver: X: loaded: vesa
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting gpu: N/A resolution: 1920x1080~77Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 12.0.1 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 21.2.5
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 14.11 GiB (11.8%)
Info:
  Processes: 208 Uptime: 7m Memory: 3.62 GiB used: 1.82 GiB (50.1%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.20

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Brian Masinick

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