Murre
Murre is now on Linux Mint. Can I move Win 10 to VirtualBox?
Windows 10 Desktop computer ordered on 2017-09-11. It's almost new but supposedly this CPU won't run Windows 11. So, Linux.
Rhymes with blur. This is not a Common Murre, though black and white, this one is flightless.
Replacement for Laysan. I just wanted more RAM and ended up replacing everything but the drives!
TO DO 12-25
- Copy home from external NVME to /home/bwilson
- Put Samsung 840 (Windows 10) on VirtualBox: https://www.serverwatch.com/guides/how-to-use-a-physical-hard-drive-with-a-virtualbox-vm/
- Install second NVME??
Hardware
- ASUS TUF X299 Mark 2 motherboard
- Intel Core i9 (10 core)
- 64 GB RAM
- EVGA Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (8GB)
- C: NVME drive - 500GB Western Digital SN750 Black
- D: pair of 3.5" 2TB drives as RAID 0
- F: SSD drive - 750GB Samsung 840
- blueray disc burner
- GSkill KM360 white Cherry MX Red keyboard
- Cherry mouse
- Contour Shuttle USB controller
History
- 2023-12-25 Linux Mint
- 2023-10-05 Studio driver 537.42 installed; I never game so why would I want the Game driver?
- 2023-09-17 had to disable the IPv6 thing that caused it to use the Vilo 6 for DNS!! Same as Pearl. See the Vilo page
- 2022-12-11 Game Ready Nvidia driver update 527.56
- 2021-11-24 WD is installed now and running. Let's see if this lasts.
- 2021-11-13 ordered Western Digital SN750 Black. I can try out the Samsung warranty process
- 2021-11-12 Samsung 840 is now the boot drive, pulled out the 970.
- 2021-11-11 Dead again, this system is busted. I still think it might be the 970. Reinstalled and it crashed again.
- 2021-03-06 Something I did is making the system unstable so I am reinstalling the OS.
- 2020-05-25 Corsair Neutron GTX SS migrated from Dart, for WSL2 usage.
- 2020-04-21 Dell P2415Q 24" 4K monitor installed, it is GREAT so far. Dell site for docs
- 2020-04- HyperX DAC for headphones gives me audio controls including a mic mute button. Works great so far with my Bowers & Wilkins headphones.
- 2020-03-23 EVGA Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB and Samsung 4K Monitor ordered. The monitor was awful, returned it.
- 2019-04-26 Installed Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB NVMe
- 2018-01-08 I followed these instructions to set up Murre to power down automatically every night if I forget to do it. https://www.maketecheasier.com/automatically-shutdown-windows-at-night/
- 2017-12-01 Cyberpower UPS CST135XLU added.
- 2017-09-15 Up and running
- 2 x Seagate Barracuda SATA 3.0 in RAID 0, mounted at D:
- Nvidia Quadro 2000D video card 2560x2048 resolution (retired)
These parts ordered 9/11/17
- ASUS TUF X299 Mark 2 motherboard (Warranty 5 year)
- Intel Core i9-7900X Skylake-X 10 core CPU (Warranty 3 year)
- Cooler Master "MasterLiquid Lite 120" liquid CPU cooler with one 120mm fan (Warranty 3 year)
- 64 GB RAM G.Skill TridentZ (4x16) DDR4 3200 (leaves 4 slots free) (Lifetime warranty)
- Seasonic SS-750KM3 750W 80plus Gold modular power supply (Warranty 7 year)
Tuning ZFS
I installed Linux Mint on a zfs filesystem (shows as "Solaris" in fdisk), because ext4 is boring, and now I want to know if it's set up correctly for a NVME drive?
See https://discourse.practicalzfs.com/t/best-practices-for-zfs-on-nvme-drives/464
I want to make sure that autotrim is on and that something called "ashift" is set high enough. I should check performance.
nvme list # find device name(s) sudo nvme id-ns /dev/nvme0n1
Looks like it uses 4K blocks. Not, to look at the filesystem. Instead of /etc/fstab, where you will see nothing interesting, try this. This looks like there are two zpools, a boot pool and a root pool. This corresponds to the partitions I saw with fdisk, p3 and p4.
zfs list NAME USED AVAIL REFER MOUNTPOINT bpool 442M 1.32G 96K /boot bpool/BOOT 441M 1.32G 96K none bpool/BOOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q 441M 1.32G 441M /boot rpool 12.6G 433G 96K / rpool/ROOT 11.7G 433G 96K none rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q 11.7G 433G 8.28G / rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/srv 96K 433G 96K /srv rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/usr 276K 433G 96K /usr rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/usr/local 180K 433G 180K /usr/local rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var 3.46G 433G 96K /var rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/games 96K 433G 96K /var/games rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/lib 3.46G 433G 3.30G /var/lib rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/lib/AccountsService 100K 433G 100K /var/lib/AccountsService rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/lib/NetworkManager 148K 433G 148K /var/lib/NetworkManager rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/lib/apt 93.1M 433G 93.1M /var/lib/apt rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/lib/dpkg 65.6M 433G 65.6M /var/lib/dpkg rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/log 3.84M 433G 3.84M /var/log rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/mail 96K 433G 96K /var/mail rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/snap 96K 433G 96K /var/snap rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/spool 112K 433G 112K /var/spool rpool/ROOT/ubuntu_vdbb2q/var/www 96K 433G 96K /var/www rpool/USERDATA 845M 433G 96K / rpool/USERDATA/bwilson_dk2zge 845M 433G 845M /home/bwilson rpool/USERDATA/root_dk2zge 504K 433G 504K /root
It looks like I can manage separate mount points like /home/bwilson but they draw on a large common space. I guess adduser knows how to create a new space for an additional user? Much to learn.
I can view all properties
zfs get all rpool
This shows me atime is on, this causes a lot of extra disk writes, so I can turn it off.
sudo zfs set atime=off bpool sudo zfs set atime=off rpool
I see comments that compression is a good idea, especially on a machine like Murre with many CPU cycles to spare. It looks like that's already on by default.
zfs get compression rpool NAME PROPERTY VALUE SOURCE rpool compression lz4 local
Record size is set to 128k, and that's probably fine.
"ashift" has to be set on the vdev not the pool. I pray it is acceptable since it cannot be reset after the vdev is created. To see what it's set to, dump everything with the "zdb" command. It's set to 12 which is fine.
Why ZFS
People talk about "the benefits of ZFS", which, for me, are what exactly? Copy on write, Snapshots, error handling. It can do "RAID-Z1" with 2 drives.
Migrate RAID
I was using a pair of spinning Seagates as a Windows soft RAID ZERO.
It's RAID ZERO not a MIRROR, this means I have to back up the whole thing and then copy it back again.
I feel like first I can delete most of it since it's backups on there anyway.
Trying out ZFS
zpool create ddrive mirror ata-ST3000DM008-2DM166_Z50392VF ata-ST3000DM008-2DM166_Z5039QJ5
zpool set ashift=12 ddrive
zfs set compression=lz4 ddrive
zfs set atime=off ddrive
Lilliput
2020-04-04 -- The 7" Lilliput works because Windows supports DisplayLink. I did upgrade the driver from the one at displaylink.com
Backups
- 2023-12-24 -- Backed up everything to external SSD, created recovery DVD
- 2021-11-11 -- I can boot from the "recovery disk" but that's all
- 2021-03-14 -- Recovery disk to 32GB MicroSD card #5
- 2019-04-03 -- I just did a backup of the C: using the Windows 7 backup program, so that I have it saved in case my upgrade with the new SSD NVME goes sideways. It took ALL NIGHT.
- 2019-04-01 -- I installed Backup and Sync from Google and set my Documents folder to copy there.
Synology currently does continuous backup of C:/Users/brian/Documents to /home/Drive/Backup/MURRE
System rescue (failed Samsung 970 NVME)
https://www.system-rescue.org/
I just put this onto an old 4GB microSD card (via Balena Etcher) and booted. It is based on ArchLinux. At the > prompt, 'startx'. Click on the disk icon to launch gparted. Finds all drives,
- /dev/nvme0n1 465GB Samsung 970 btrfs? Interesting, I'd expect to see NTFS there.
- /dev/sda 2.73T Seagate, three partitions, part of a Windows RAID
- /dev/sdb 698G Samsung 840, ntfs on sdb1, blank scratchspace right now
- /dev/sdc 2.73T Seagate, three partitions, part of a Windows RAID
- /dev/sdd the SD card SystemRescue
Why is the NVME (which should be a bootable NTFS filesystem) reporting itself as btrfs here? I have lost faith in it and am thinking it's the problem. This makes me sad, it was moderately expensive 2 years ago. It came with a 5 year warranty. Unless of course it really is the problem and all I have to do is remove it and put Windows 10 onto the SSD?
Do I use this computer enough to justify buying a replacement? First I need it to be bootable again. I'd kind of like it to remain a Windows 10 computer. In case I might want to use ArcGIS Pro?? Soon enough it will be turned into a Linux computer since it cannot support Windows 11. For now, Windows 10 -> Samsung 840 SSD.
Why does the 970 appear as BTRFS? I guess first I have to make the 840 bootable in Windows and go from there. I don't want to wipe the 970 until convinced it's really gone.
Install to 840 SSD
I will lose downloads of surface data (LiDAR) again when I wipe it. That is all that's on the 840 SSD. Oh well.
- I downloaded Windows ISO to Mac and burned to a 32GB SD card via Boot Camp Assistant.app.
- I had to use the SystemRescue SD to format with GPT, as Windows no longer installs to MBR disks! There is no option in Windows to change to GPT. No need to create partitions.
- Boot from SD and select option to activate Win10 later.
Surprise! Upon reboot, the 970 is visible again. I will not set it up again for the OS, not today anyway. Maybe Saturday.
Migration back to 970 but only for a day
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/copy-your-windows-installation-to-an-ssd
I used the Samsung migration tool. When it's done, it shuts off the computer.
I had to physically unplug the 840 to stop Windows from booting from it. It ignored my pleas via F8 / BIOS.
So now I have a full, bootable drive as a backup, disconnected. Let's see how this goes.
It started crashing again, I ordered a WD drive.
Migration from Samsung SSD to WD NVME
This time I installed the free WD version of Acronis True Image and used it to clone the SSD to the NVME and that's where I am at today.
Software
Linux Mint edition
Using the Software Manager and installing Flatpaks when available.
- emacs
- firefox (preinstalled) plus UBlock Origin and Bit Warden
- gimp
- libreoffice (preinstalled)
- miniconda from shell script
- nvidia driver 535
- okular
- qgis
- virtualbox and virtualbox-ext-pack
- Visual Studio Code (from downloaded DEB)
- VLC
Ham radio
- chirp
- direwolf
- qtel - for echolink
- xastir
Installed with apt (not available in Software Manager)
- openssh-server
- nvme-cli
Windows 10 edition
Windows 10 Pro, installed on Samsung 840 SSD. (Was on NVME until 12/25/23)
Stupid Windows 10 annoyances-- I moved the "annoying" content to Windows 10 and Windows 11.
- 7-Zip
- Adobe
- Acrobat Reader DC
- Adobe Digital Editions
- AutoHotKey
- Brother HL-L1320D printer - won't install unless it's on USB
- Contour Shuttle
- Emacs
- Esri
- ArcGIS Coordinate Systems Data
- ArcGIS Pro
- Garmin
- Basecamp
- City Navigator
- Garmin Express
- Garmin USB drivers
- GIMP
- Git
- Git for windows - VSCode wants this, even if you have Cygwin
- ICOM CS-F11 -- see spreadsheet for license code
- Inkscape
- LibreOffice 7
- Logitech Webcam Software
- MCP-F6/F7 (Kenwood programming software) (FREE)
- Microsoft
- Media Creation Tool -- run this to create an installer disc
- Microsoft Visual Studio Code
- Nvidia drivers
- Samsung
- Samsung Magician
- Samsung Data Migration -- https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/
- Slack
- UltraVNC is installed since I can't get X11 to work.
- VLC media player
- Wacom (Bamboo driver)
- X-mouse (set focus follows zoom)
- Zoom
Note on Docker and VirtualBox
2020-05-25 I am migrating from Docker Desktop to Podman.
Using Docker with Hyper-V (part of Windows 10 Pro)
Contour Shuttle
As a media controller, this was a great thing during WFH and is still handy
On buttons
- rewind
- play pause
- fast forward
- mute
On spinner
- volume
- Shuttle is set to send events as keystrokes
- AutoHotKey picks up the keystrokes and converts them to windows events
AutoHotKey should be visible in the tray. Open the Shuttle configuration program and set up the keys.
C:/Users/brian/Documents/AutoHotKey.ahk
;Ctrl + Alt + Left: Previous
^!Left::Send {Media_Prev}
;Ctrl + Alt + Right: Next
^!Right::Send {Media_Next}
;Ctrl + Alt + Down: Play/Pause
^!Down::Send {Media_Play_Pause}
;Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Down: Mute
+^!Down::Send {Volume_Mute}
;Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left: Volume Down
+^!Left::Send {Volume_Down}
;Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right: Volume Up
+^!Right::Send {Volume_Up}
;Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Up: Mic Mute which appears to do nothing at all
+^!Up::SoundSet, +1, Microphone, mute
if ErrorLevel
MsgBox, Hello
Else
MsgBox, Bye Bye
Making Podman work
This process feels a lot like the olden pre-Docker days.
- Install Debian from the Microsoft Store, as strange as that sounds
- Install the prerequisites.
apt install curl apt install gnupg2
- Install the repository per these instructions.
# Debian 10 echo 'deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/Debian_10/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable.list curl -L https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/Debian_10/Release.key | sudo apt-key add -
- Install podman itself
apt update -qq apt upgrade apt install podman podman --version podman version 1.9.3
I was sort of hoping for version 2, but pressing on anyway. Does this work? Strangely enough it does.
podman run docker.io/library/hello-world
Trying to pull docker.io/library/hello-world...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 0e03bdcc26d7 done
Copying config bf756fb1ae done
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.
To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:
1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.
2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
(amd64)
3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the
executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it
to your terminal.
To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:
$ docker run -it ubuntu bash
Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID:
https://hub.docker.com/
For more examples and ideas, visit:
https://docs.docker.com/get-started/
Synology Cloud Station Drive
I rsync'ed all the TrailPeople data over from Plover and then I linked the server. That avoided pulling a fresh copy of every file over from the server.
Audio output to two places
With Windows 10 is possible to have audio directed out to 2 sets of speakers at the same time, in my case a pair of powered speakers plugged into the Realtek sound output of the motherboard (which is set as Default Device) and a Bose Mini II connected over bluetooth. I found helpful instructions here.
It is not intuitive. For one thing I don't understand how a "headset" can be a Recording Device.
Be sure to look at the Sound Control Panel, not the Sound Settings. Did I mention how weird Windows 10 is??
It's freaky that you have to type "Control Panel" to get at it, or dig around at the bottom of the Sound Settings. Also it's very freaky that getting the output settings correct required a reboot. What is this, Windows 98?
Printing
Install the Brother drivers from their site. https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadhowto.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hll2320d_us_as&os=10013&dlid=dlf100985_000&flang=8&type3=11
Install the Synology Assistant and run it. It will help you add the printer.
LibreOffice Base
To get Base to work with MySQL, I had to install the 64-bit version of Oracle's JRE and I had to install the MySQL Connector/J file from the Community Edition of MySQL Client bundle.
See Tools->Options->Advanced and set Java to point at the folder which is in c:\Program Files\Java\ and set the Class Path to the JDBC driver for MySQL
Windows Terminal
As yet I am unconvinced this app is that much better than the ancient command window. It's in the Windows Store but you can also download a MSIX file should your IT department disable the Windows Store.
I need it to work with Git Bash. That's the whole point. These instructions are very helpful. https://medium.com/@techpreacher/using-git-bash-with-the-microsoft-terminal-bd1f71fa17a1
