[X] My Assistant

Apparently, Valve is openly fighting a Rothschild company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbg1WpaH7w0

TL;DR This was not Valve's first encounter with these people, now they've been caught using AI for patent trolling and GabeN is able to counter-sue directly for malicious litigation.

it'd be ctrl+alt+f2, regardless some distros dont really do live iso that also installs anymore but some far more minimal installer only thing. theres a reason some people never got fond of graphical installers.

Thank you for your input!

It seems the Ctrl + Alt + F2 problem got solved by pressing Fn + Esc, apparently making the function keys active without using the Fn key. This does not make sense to me, since I had tried the Ctrl + Alt + F2 combination both with and without the Fn key. Also, I have never before heard of this Fn + Esc combination or anything related.

Today, I’ve had time for further attempts.

It seems likely that I had a wrong diagnosis earlier. The connection should be normal now, yet the installer keeps stalling at random points. Never too early, though – it makes sure to consume a lot of my time with each attempt.

I’ve switched to the non-graphical installer. Seems something like a 1988 DOS program user interface to me, rather than a command-line process – I wonder what extra value the graphical one is supposed to give. The difference in user experience is there, but it’s quite minimal.

I’ve checked that Secure Boot has been disabled from the very start. I’ve tried disabling legacy support in the boot options. Nothing seems to matter. Whatever I do, the installation stalls while fetching files for Xfce, or often earlier. The latest attempt took me to "24%, file 906 per 1101", after I had selected Xfce, but the installer is not too informative regarding what exactly this set of 1101 files is. I wonder what would follow if I got past file 1101 per 1101; I have forgotten most details within some months.

Apparently, Valve is openly fighting a Rothschild company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbg1WpaH7w0

TL;DR This was not Valve's first encounter with these people, now they've been caught using AI for patent trolling and GabeN is able to counter-sue directly for malicious litigation.

Wasn't there another case of lawyers submitting citations made up by chatgpt some time back? These retards never learn eh

It seems the Ctrl + Alt + F2 problem got solved by pressing Fn + Esc, apparently making the function keys active without using the Fn key. This does not make sense to me, since I had tried the Ctrl + Alt + F2 combination both with and without the Fn key. Also, I have never before heard of this Fn + Esc combination or anything related.

That's cursed. I hate modern computers. Maybe there's a bios setting you can use to permanently make the F* keys predominate?

Today, I’ve had time for further attempts.

It seems likely that I had a wrong diagnosis earlier. The connection should be normal now, yet the installer keeps stalling at random points. Never too early, though – it makes sure to consume a lot of my time with each attempt.

I’ve switched to the non-graphical installer. Seems something like a 1988 DOS program user interface to me, rather than a command-line process – I wonder what extra value the graphical one is supposed to give. The difference in user experience is there, but it’s quite minimal.

This has been my experience; if you're having trouble getting through the install, go into a text console and check dmesg (or if that command is absent during install, run 'less /var/log/syslog' or some such).
Also have you tried a non-net install? Like just burning CD1 or DVD1 or writing them to a USB stick containing all the files locally?

I’ve checked that Secure Boot has been disabled from the very start. I’ve tried disabling legacy support in the boot options. Nothing seems to matter. Whatever I do, the installation stalls while fetching files for Xfce, or often earlier. The latest attempt took me to "24%, file 906 per 1101", after I had selected Xfce, but the installer is not too informative regarding what exactly this set of 1101 files is. I wonder what would follow if I got past file 1101 per 1101; I have forgotten most details within some months.

There must be some sort of log, I'd hope. I don't know that I've recently had to figure out where it logs the install process to, though… hmm.

Could it be there's faulty RAM or other hardware on this computer? Just a thought. Usually if that's the case you won't be able to ctrl+alt+f<number> though, so if you're able to do that it's probably not that unless it's the SSD/hard disk at fault (or the network interface). Try a USB ethernet adapter if you have one?

I got another similar DIP chip from much closer by though in the meantime, and that seems to be working. I dissected this one more successfully and was able to separate it from the battery/crystal portion without ruining it.
The way I positioned it i was able to upgrade it to a UPA Creator3D framebuffer board shortly after taking this picture, and it cleared the top of the clock IC no problem.
[files.catbox.moe] (IMG:[i.postimg.cc] https://i.postimg.cc/fWYS1RfS/IMG-20251125-173340-nvram-replace-ultra-1-m48t59-a-sm4.jpg)

I accidentally cleared the NVRAM once more yesterday, but it held data overnight so I must have just jostled it too much. The battery holder I used in here is a really cheapo thing. Anyway, it's not a huge deal to reprogram it since I kept the sticker that was on top of the original NVRAM chip and taped it inside the computer's chassis, and the commands to do so are basically just a series of address "pokes" in the Open Boot console and a very terse Forth program to XOR the remaining bytes.

I was so sad when the last one around here closed down. It was something special.

I just remembered a time I saw a floptical drive in there; I wish I'd grabbed it back then.

If it's any consolation, the Solaris 8 installation I just did took like 8-9 hours and ended at 6:10 A.M. or so. The 4x CD drive in my sun appears to have seen better days and was struggling to read things and generally just making a lot of noise. I really should have just disconnected the internal drive and hooked my external 12x plextor one into the SCSI connector on the back.

I just followed through and did that, and the external drive is a ton faster as expected. Not sure if it's entirely because of the x4 vs. x12 difference, though - I feel like the internal drive has been running at sub-x4 speeds.

On another note, this thing gets 30 FPS in software rendered quake with a 167 MHz CPU. It's awesome. Not many other games for it but that's okay.

Just realised this might be in part because I am using an X server in 8 bit color depth. Although just using the UPA Creator3D board instead of the SBus Turbo GX board did gain me around 6 FPS when both were running in 8 bit depth. I'm guessing the 8 to 24 bit color depth conversion in quake is rather computationally expensive. Still impressive it gets roughly the same framerate with a 167 MHz CPU as my 1.33 GHz powerbook G4 does with the software renderer in linux at the same window size.

This post has been edited by Moonlight Rambler: Nov 27 2025, 22:15

about replacing Win10 with linux

That's cursed. I hate modern computers. Maybe there's a bios setting you can use to permanently make the F* keys predominate?

Media keys on function keys pisses me off. Just leave the function keys. Who even uses media keys?

Like on my F12 key is a picture of a Ninja? What even is that?

I was thinking about whether I should stick to Ubuntu Linux or if I should switch to Linux Mint. I think re-installing an OS (by switching to Linux Mint) is not worth the hassle.

I think re-installing an OS (by switching to Linux Mint) is not worth the hassle.

If I was in your place, I’d try Mint when I need to do a full install next time. Probably instead of the next upgrade, too. While I stick to [en.wikipedia.org] long-term support whenever it’s easy enough, I usually prefer clean new installs to upgrades.

Also, acquiring a cheap old laptop and trying out a new distro on that is often a good idea. In that way, you’d have a spare computer for emergencies and other special situations, and would be able to evaluate Mint without having to switch to it right away.

***

In the meantime, I did the "acquire a cheap old laptop" thingy, believing that Debian had some minor compatibility issues with the old HP I was working on.

On a [en.wikipedia.org] Thinkpad L with an SSD, everything was a lot smoother and faster, yet the Debian installation kept stalling once it had reached the "fetch [en.wikipedia.org] XFCE files" phase. Now the symptoms were far more uniform; with the HP, the stalling had sometimes taken place earlier, and been quite random.

My workaround was to skip the desktop installation altogether, then install XFCE with [en.wikipedia.org] APT. I may be bad with the terminal, but thought the process would be straigthforward – and it was. The end result is working as well as most Ubuntu installs I’ve had in the past years.

Except one thing. The [en.wikipedia.org] function keys are even less usable than with the HP. The Esc key has a secondary "FnLk" legend; apparently Fn + Esc should do the trick, but the Fn key does not work at all with XFCE. I haven’t been able to find any applicable setting in the BIOS either.

EDITED TO ADD:

As for "media keys", I’m unfamiliar with the term. On the HP and the Thinkpad L I’ve been talking about, the intended primary use of the keys F2 and F3 is to decrease and increase monitor brightness. I think those are fairly valid actions, and it is good that I can use them with Fn + F2 and Fn + F3 on the HP now. But I’m way too wired to unlearn that F2 as such stands for "Rename" in LXDE and XFCE. Renaming files according to my own preferences is something I do a lot, so being forced to any method requiring more than a single-key shortcut slows me down more than I’m willing to endure.

This post has been edited by Katajanmarja: Dec 1 2025, 18:34

As for "media keys", I’m unfamiliar with the term. On the HP and the Thinkpad L I’ve been talking about, the intended primary use of the keys F2 and F3 is to decrease and increase monitor brightness. I think those are fairly valid actions, and it is good that I can use them with Fn + F2 and Fn + F3 on the HP now. But I’m way too wired to unlearn that F2 as such stands for "Rename" in LXDE and XFCE. Renaming files according to my own preferences is something I do a lot, so being forced to any method requiring more than a single-key shortcut slows me down more than I’m willing to endure.

I'd expect most, and especially thinkpads, to at least have a toggle for it in bios to just be fkeys by default so you only need the fn key for the 'media keys' or whatever random other function they made up for it. same with swapping fn and ctrl on thinkpads that have the unfortuante wrong order of them.
would really hope this hasnt turned into a forgotten feature that used to be on most laptops.
as a last resort, you could do something like xmodmap to force keys to be other keys, or whatever the hip wayland replacment is if you're on that.

The last thing I thought about was how quickly consumer hardware is drifting toward “enterprise pricing.” GPUs especially feel less like gaming parts and more like miniature data-center modules now.
It’s interesting and a bit worrying: the gap between what everyday users need and what companies design for is getting wider every year.

i'm never going buy a new pc any time soon seeing ram prices right now. Slso what is happening with gpus something always happens to keep its prices up crypto, covid and now ai.

I'd expect most, and especially thinkpads, to at least have a toggle for it in bios to just be fkeys by default

I’ve used a number of Thinkpads prior to this one, most of them older or of a similar age; I’ve never run into a function keys problem with them. Then again, I’m new to the L series.

If there is a BIOS toggle, then it’s really unintuitive, for I cannot find anything that sounds right. According to online sources, some Thinkpads have several dedicated BIOS toggles for the keyboard; the one and only item this BIOS has under "keyboard" is for switching Fn and left Ctrl. I haven’t tried yet, since that sounds like an answer to a problem different from mine. Even if it helps, I’d hate to lose the left Ctrl to make the Fn usable.

Note that the function keys do work when I’m using BIOS, but not when I’m using XFCE.

as a last resort, you could do something like xmodmap to force keys to be other keys

Before you posted, I discovered Xmodmap. To make a first attempt to use that one, I’ll need ample extra time. I need to know exactly what I’m doing before I risk messing up my keyboard so that I cannot type passwords.

I actually installed Xkeycaps, thinking that a GUI would help me comprehend the idea of Xmodmap better, even if I did not necessarily use the GUI for actual modifications when ready for them. Holy vacuum, Xkeycaps is awesomely outdated. And even more so if one needs a non-U.S. keyboard layout.

I am not sure whether to pay $500 to get 32gb of ram for my computer...

My processor needs some really specific low latency stuff, which Samasung does not supply anymore.


Seems like prices are going to be stuffed with Micron and Crucial talking about leaving the consumer segment....

I am not sure whether to pay $500 to get 32gb of ram for my computer...

My processor needs some really specific low latency stuff, which Samasung does not supply anymore.
Seems like prices are going to be stuffed with Micron and Crucial talking about leaving the consumer segment....

Just go for it if it's essential, the thing's gonna pay itself in a month or 2.

Before you posted, I discovered Xmodmap. To make a first attempt to use that one, I’ll need ample extra time. I need to know exactly what I’m doing before I risk messing up my keyboard so that I cannot type passwords.

XModmap settings don't persist between boots normally, I think. You should be able to log out and back in (or reboot) to unload xmodmap changes.

Some desktop environments might(?) load an .xmodmap file automatically at login, but I'm not aware of any. It is possible to set up xmodmap to run automatically but I think you'd have to intentionally set out to make that happen.

Also fn+esc might temporarily make the function keys act normally until a reboot, my thinkpads are all old enough that they only have the sane behaviour though.

This post has been edited by Moonlight Rambler: Dec 7 2025, 20:17

NOTIFICATION: Reading this message is not recommended unless following the misfortunes of a non-techie makes you feel something more than boredom or mild disgust – be that pride for the Linux community, compassion, will to help, or Schadenfreude and hilariosity.

Also fn+esc might temporarily make the function keys act normally until a reboot, my thinkpads are all old enough that they only have the sane behaviour though.

No, my perception is that the main problem is with the Fn key itself: it does not react in any way when running XFCE. I suppose this is why the Fn + Esc combination does nothing.

In the meantime, my attention has shifted back to the HP laptop I was talking about earlier. It’s supposed to be a "Pavilion" compatible with Windows 8, and provides no model info (save perhaps "under battery bay", where I am not willing to venture right now).

Using a wired connection, I followed the steps I had learned through trial and error with the Thinkpad L, and the Debian plus (afterwards through console) XFCE installation was successful at first try. After a brief but gut-wrenching struggle with NETDEV WATCHDOG errors, I proceeded to add software, adjust the XFCE panel and Firefox settings, etc... All of the little basic woes that follow a fresh install.

I also installed a little tool to check what computer I am actually using:

CODE

lshw -short

produced, among many other things, "HP Pavilion 15 Notebook PC". However, I am unable to find, with a little bit of searching, any online info that would help me identify the exact model. I supposed the HP and CNET sites would be my best bets... Nope.

Whatever. I wanted to install a PDF viewer. I decided I’d like to go for the maximum simplicity that the default viewer on my first Lubuntu (Quetzal?) offered. Well, at least check whether that exact viewer program still existed and enjoyed some degree of support. I spent at least half an hour (probably a good bit more) trying to find Quetzal documentation. A number of sources mentioned that there had once been a full list of Quetzal’s default applications, but the few links I was able to find were dead, or outrigth leading to a suspicious site.

Sigh. It’s not like my day will be ruined because I cannot locate a bit of info from the last decade. I can just install Atril, which might even be the program I am after. But if fairly recent Linux history gets wiped out this efficiently, then I suppose some of my old notes, which I have occasionally considered superfluous, are worth something after all.

Oh, and on the HP, the Fn key does work, but the Fn + Esc combination still does nothing. I’m left wondering how I did the trick last time. Possibly pressed Fn + Esc before launching XFCE??

EDIT: I think I’ve found a BIOS solution for the HP Pavilion Notebook: BIOS main menu > System Configuration > Action Keys Mode > Disabled.

Had I not wasted hours trying to make XFCE Panel > Status Tray Plugin show a usable network manager GUI, I’d consider this HP installation run a triumph.

For a long time, the Status Tray Plugin simply wouldn’t show anything I could possibly add. I Googled and read several sources, installed and uninstalled lots of packages, nothing ever happened, except in a couple of cases I lost connection. At last, I noticed that the computer had "nm-tray" available. My idea on what it might be was based solely on its icon. As soon as I launched it, it appeared in the Status Tray Plugin! But it kept telling me I had no working connection, albeit I was able to browse the WWW much of the time.

At last, I noticed that another working Debian of mine (on a Thinkpad X, not the Thinkpad L) had "nm-connection-editor" instead of "nm-tray". So I uninstalled nm-tray, found out (through hard searching) that "nm-connection-editor" was actually a part of "network-manager-gnome" – not of "network-manager", as its own manpage suggested. I installed what I deemed necessary, but got no desired results.

After that, I was too tired to document my actions. I used the connection editor GUI to delete and recreate my LAN connection – it stopped working. The config file still seemed okay. Sadly enough I don’t know what finally did the trick. Now I have the panel thingy I had been looking for, a slight headache, and a feeling that I could have spent my time on something more useful.

No triumph, but still a victory, of sorts.

This post has been edited by Katajanmarja: Dec 8 2025, 06:11

why do i spend more time browsing the forums instead of the site?

I wish I could have my old gmail back. not hacked, just switched phones and lost # and 2fa. did it in a rush for international trip.

why is adult site that isnt 2d just seem literally all the same?

I wish I could have my old gmail back. not hacked, just switched phones and lost # and 2fa. did it in a rush for international trip.

Google support can restore but it can be a pita. Need multiple points of alt verification and not as easy as it used to be.

I also installed a little tool to check what computer I am actually using:

CODE

lshw -short

produced, among many other things, "HP Pavilion 15 Notebook PC". However, I am unable to find, with a little bit of searching, any online info that would help me identify the exact model. I supposed the HP and CNET sites would be my best bets... Nope.

Try running 'dmidecode' as root. You should get more specific information on the precise model you have. Example portion of the output on my laptop (it's a lot longer than this):

CODE

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
        Manufacturer: LENOVO
        Product Name: 7767A4U
        Version: ThinkPad X61 Tablet
        Serial Number: [redacted]
        UUID: [redacted]
        Wake-up Type: Power Switch
        SKU Number: Not Specified
        Family: ThinkPad X61 Tablet

In that, 7767A4U is the "Service Tag" on the bottom which specifies a certain configuration it had when it came out of the factory. The "Version" and "Family" fields are also important, but searching 'lenovo 7767A4U' was enough to get the most exact information.

Whatever. I wanted to install a PDF viewer. I decided I’d like to go for the maximum simplicity that the default viewer on my first Lubuntu (Quetzal?) offered. Well, at least check whether that exact viewer program still existed and enjoyed some degree of support. I spent at least half an hour (probably a good bit more) trying to find Quetzal documentation. A number of sources mentioned that there had once been a full list of Quetzal’s default applications, but the few links I was able to find were dead, or outrigth leading to a suspicious site.

I am guessing atril will work, atril is a fork of gnome 2's pdf viewer i think.
I use xpdf but i'm crazy.

This post has been edited by Moonlight Rambler: Today, 10:23