I am switching from microsoft to linux and it rocks*

[ModemJunki]

.
..
*someone gave me a workstation for free

i mean really a nice workstation ...

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H/W path                   Device          Class          Description
=====================================================================
                                           system         HP Z840 Workstation (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
..
/0/7                                       memory         128GiB System Memory
..
/0/69                                      processor      Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2697 v4 @ 2.30GHz
/0/6d                                      processor      Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2697 v4 @ 2.30GHz
..
/0/100/3/0                                 display        GM204GL [Quadro M4000]

128 GiB RAM with matching RAM populating all 16 slots for quad-channel memory goodness. This machine flies as a desktop. VirtualBox takes care of my needs to learn with many VMs. The performance of a Windows VM with 32GiB memory and 18 cores allocated is phenomenal and all Linux distros I try run smoothly with less. I really need to show my friend some appreciation for this gift.

And I think I can do some memory tuning to get even more out of it, I have done this sort of performance tuning for work with the H.P. Performance Advisor, it will be fun.

So I have been testing multiple installs, checklisting what works, etc. and each year a distro like Mint gets more and more compelling to me so I cleared off one SSD and installed Mint alongside of Windows on this as my daily driver, with hardware EUFI controlling my boot (two EUFI hardware boot entries). Right away I ran into the fast shutdown issue (cannot mount ntfs partition with r/w but that was quickly solved by setting it to off on the Windows side.

Strawberry as the replacement for MediaMonkey (but the EQ is not work, no matter, there is PulseEffects). Out of the box everything else just works. Figured out how to permanently mount a OneDrive share and the shares from my NAS, can access OneNote, and Apple shares on our Mac stuff, and the learning curve is not steep.

How good is power management in Linux? I wonder how many amps my system pulls at idle, electricity is not free!

I do have a lot of Visio drawings - and no native support for these - kind of a pain.

But I do recommend using old workstation hardware if you can.

[coffee412]

Nice Score!

That would make a great virtualization kinda server. I checked via ebay and I see one similar for 640.oo USD. So, You certainly got a good deal. Perhaps you can post the specs on that workstation (see my tag line below) and lets see what all is in it?

[ModemJunki]

It has some nvme drives and all. This is way more than what I need to look at cat pictures and what not. My existing main box is an old HP EliteDesk 800 smalll form factor, this Z840 is a tank compared to it.

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0
    Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.7 Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Z840 Workstation v: N/A
    serial: <filter>
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 2129 v: 1.01 serial: N/A
    UEFI: Hewlett-Packard v: M60 v02.59 date: 03/31/2022
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech M705 charge: 100%
    status: Discharging
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech K520
    charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging
Memory:
  RAM: total: 125.78 GiB used: 8.68 GiB (6.9%)
  Array-1: capacity: 512 GiB note: check slots: 8 EC: Multi-bit ECC
    max-module-size: 64 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: CPU0-DIMM1 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-2: CPU0-DIMM2 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-3: CPU0-DIMM3 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-4: CPU0-DIMM4 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-5: CPU0-DIMM5 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-6: CPU0-DIMM6 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-7: CPU0-DIMM7 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-8: CPU0-DIMM8 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Array-2: capacity: 512 GiB note: check slots: 8 EC: Multi-bit ECC
    max-module-size: 64 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: CPU1-DIMM1 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-2: CPU1-DIMM2 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-3: CPU1-DIMM3 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-4: CPU1-DIMM4 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-5: CPU1-DIMM5 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-6: CPU1-DIMM6 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-7: CPU1-DIMM7 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
  Device-8: CPU1-DIMM8 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 2133 MT/s actual: 1866 MT/s
    type: DDR4
CPU:
  Info: 2x 18-core model: Intel Xeon E5-2697 v4 bits: 64 type: MT MCP SMP
    arch: Broadwell rev: 1 cache: L1: 2x 1.1 MiB (2.2 MiB)
    L2: 2x 4.5 MiB (9 MiB) L3: 2x 45 MiB (90 MiB)
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2279 high: 2295 min/max: N/A cores: 1: 2295 2: 2295
    3: 2295 4: 2295 5: 2295 6: 2295 7: 2295 8: 2295 9: 2295 10: 2295 11: 2295
    12: 2295 13: 2295 14: 1197 15: 2295 16: 2295 17: 2295 18: 2295 19: 2295
    20: 2295 21: 2295 22: 2295 23: 2295 24: 2295 25: 2295 26: 2295 27: 2295
    28: 2295 29: 2295 30: 2295 31: 2295 32: 2295 33: 2295 34: 2295 35: 2295
    36: 2295 37: 2295 38: 2295 39: 2295 40: 2295 41: 2295 42: 2295 43: 2295
    44: 2295 45: 2295 46: 2295 47: 2295 48: 2295 49: 2295 50: 2295 51: 2295
    52: 2295 53: 2295 54: 2295 55: 2295 56: 2295 57: 2295 58: 2295 59: 2295
    60: 2295 61: 2295 62: 2295 63: 2295 64: 2295 65: 2295 66: 2295 67: 2295
    68: 2295 69: 2295 70: 2295 71: 2295 72: 2295 bogomips: 330553
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204GL [Quadro M4000] driver: nvidia v: 525.85.05
    bus-ID: 03:00.0
  Display: server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia
    resolution: 6144x3456~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Quadro M4000/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 525.85.05
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel C610/X99 series HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.1
  Device-3: SAVITECH MX3 type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    bus-ID: 3-6:4
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-67-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I218-LM vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e
    v: kernel port: 4020 bus-ID: 00:19.0
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel I210 Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: igb
    v: kernel port: 2000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-3: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 05:00.0
  IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 3-1:2
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
    bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel C610/X99 series sSATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
    v: 3.0 bus-ID: 00:11.4
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.73 TiB used: 271.59 GiB (7.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVKW512HMJP-000H1
    size: 476.94 GiB temp: 41.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVKW512HMJP-000H1
    size: 476.94 GiB temp: 42.9 C
  ID-3: /dev/nvme2n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVKW512HMJP-000H1
    size: 476.94 GiB temp: 31.9 C
  ID-4: /dev/nvme3n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVKW512HMJP-00000
    size: 476.94 GiB temp: 32.9 C
  ID-5: /dev/sda vendor: Micron model: MTFDDAK512TBN-1AR1ZABHA
    size: 476.94 GiB
  ID-6: /dev/sdb vendor: Micron model: MTFDDAK512TBN-1AR1ZABHA
    size: 476.94 GiB
  ID-7: /dev/sdc vendor: Micron model: M600 MTFDDAK512MBF size: 476.94 GiB
  ID-8: /dev/sdd vendor: Micron model: M600 MTFDDAK512MBF size: 476.94 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 467.89 GiB used: 36.58 GiB (7.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme3n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 95 MiB used: 80.9 MiB (85.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme2n1p2
  ID-3: /media/MusicArchives size: 5.19 TiB used: 965.67 GiB (18.2%)
    fs: cifs source: ERR-102
  ID-4: /media/ServerShares size: 5.19 TiB used: 965.67 GiB (18.2%)
    fs: cifs source: ERR-102
  ID-5: /mnt/1836DFE736DFC442 size: 476.92 GiB used: 152.57 GiB (32.0%)
    fs: ntfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2
  ID-6: /mnt/D0FEE139FEE1190C size: 476.92 GiB used: 82.35 GiB (17.3%)
    fs: ntfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 3 MiB (0.1%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 71 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 57%
Repos:
  Packages: 2498
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/appimagelauncher-team-stable-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/appimagelauncher-team-stable-jammy.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/appimagelauncher-team/stable/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com vera main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 919 Uptime: 1d 6h 51m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers:
  gcc: 11.3.0 Shell: Sudo v: 1.9.9 inxi: 3.3.13

[AndyMH]

I do have a lot of Visio drawings - and no native support for these - kind of a pain.

A reason I have win in a VM, haven't found a decent linux equivalent. I use it for cct diagrams (arduino projects).

[Professor_Slughorn]

According to this site you can edit Visio files.

https://oscollege.com/2018/08/07/if-you ... breoffice/

"LibreOffice Draw can open standard Visio documents, which are in VSD and VSDX formats. "
"Draw, however, cannot save the document in VSD or VSDX, like LibreOffice can with other Microsoft formats. When a Visio document is saved in Draw, the format choices are as follows:

ODF Drawing (ODG)
ODF Drawing Format (OTG)
Flat XML ODF Drawing Format (FODG)"

[all41]

@ModemJunki
Good to have you join in and welcome to the Mint forums.
Envy such hardware--enjoy that power

[AndyMH]

According to this site you can edit Visio files.

Interesting, but what's nice about visio is the huge range of components and the ability to easily make your own ICs, e.g. the esp8266 below:

Deleted libreoffice in favour of softmaker, I do have inkscape installed (and coreldraw in win), but I think in any other application it would take me a lot longer.

Note, I only have visio because I was able to take advantage of MS's home/user programme* before I retired and get it really cheap, think it was around £10. If I had to buy it as an ordinary consumer, I wouldn't have it.

* dont know if it still exists, if the company you worked for was signed up to the scheme, employees could download MS software for home use at a nominal cost. One of the checks was that MS had to recognise your email address as a valid company address. I got office and visio 2016 which promptly got installed in my win7 VM. Retired not long after

[ModemJunki]

what's nice about visio is ---

All of it!

Congratulations on your retirement - not much longer for me now

I am an Microsoft environment oriented IT admin for over three decades now. I use Visio for space planning of office and lab spaces (2-d architectural drawings), network diagrams, datacenter and IDF documentation, and logic diagrams/flowcharting (no, really) - I have some Visio drawings with hundreds of pages in them - nothing else has the same feature set and shape libraries.

But I have made a task for myself to try Libre Office Draw when I retire later this year for some space planning as I work on my home remodeling project. I've had enough of Windows for a while and of course I got no OS on my free workstation.

[ModemJunki]

@ModemJunki
Good to have you join in and welcome to the Mint forums.
Envy such hardware--enjoy that power

Thanks for the welcome.

Somewhere I have one of those kill-a-watt things that lets you measure how much juice a device uses, I will have to find it and measure.

[RollyShed]

I use Visio for space planning of office and lab spaces (2-d architectural drawings),

We use Sweethome3d for building design. Our Shed had at least one of the large extensions done on it. It is in the Software Manager.

I haven't used them but Logisim or Xcircuit or Pcb might be worth looking at.
Xcircuit says " Draw circuit schematics of almost anything".

Type "circuit" in the Software Manager search box and see all the options that come up.

I retired from circuit design and drawing a decade and a half ago. Grey hair?????

[AndyMH]

space planning as I work on my home remodeling project. I've had enough of Windows for a while and of course I got no OS on my free workstation.

Unfortunately not linux but I use Home Designer. I've got a really old version, 6.0 and it runs like a dream under wine or crossover. Must have bought it around the early '00s. Used it for several building extensions. Even used it for submissions for planning applications & building control approval. It is 3D, layout in 2D then 3D render, pan around the room, etc. I do the design, present it to the boss, she doesn't like it, go back modify, rinse and repeat. Last time I tried the latest version it basically wouldn't run in a win VM.

[all41]

@ModemJunki
Good to have you join in and welcome to the Mint forums.
Envy such hardware--enjoy that power

Thanks for the welcome.

Somewhere I have one of those kill-a-watt things that lets you measure how much juice a device uses, I will have to find it and measure.

yeah--that would be interesting.
Like having 720hp in 25mph zone

[ModemJunki]

..for building design..

Thanks for the tip about SweetHome, I would not use Visio to design a kitchen or bathroom (which I have on a task list).

[deepakdeshp]

128 GiB RAM with matching RAM populating all 16 slots for quad-channel memory goodness

Fantastic hardware. What do you use the beast mainly for?

[ModemJunki]

128 GiB RAM with matching RAM populating all 16 slots for quad-channel memory goodness

Fantastic hardware. What do you use the beast mainly for?

The Z840 was given to me recently, I started with a Windows environment but don't need it as I have other Windows computers, so I installed Mint on it's own hard drive (using the BIOS UEFI boot menu and not having Grub control Windows booting) and have been using that as a daily driver.

I've supported Microsoft products for over 30 years and did not use Linux, now I will work to ignore Microsoft and learn a bit about Linux as I head to retirement age. I have no real set goal - will be nice to just learn at my own pace, with this system I can even setup a server to host containers and what not - so there is a world of learning opened to me by this gift.

I have made some VMs so I can try different distros and to learn about Linux administration - I have a long way to go! But I have for example learned a little about about creating RAID drives with mdadm on the Z840, mounting drives and network shares, the basics of file and folder permissions, and other basic tasks - next project is to dedicate a hard disk to be my /home and then figure out how to back it up with rsync to my NAS, can experiment with VMs to learn this, that sort of thing.

I have some software that I cannot find a replacement for in Windows (Visio and Chief Architect) so still am experimenting.

But for certain the best part about this free workstation computer is that I can make a VirtualBox VM that is not performance limited, imagine that my system has two 18-core hyper-threaded CPUs and 128gb of RAM in a quad-channel configuration - so a Windows or Linux VM can be run with full 18 cores (32 threads) and 64gb of RAM and I notice no real performance difference vs a "normal" desktop for the things I am doing (not a gamer). When I tried the same in Windows (admittedly on a system with only 4 cores / 8 threads) performance was very poor!

So - the beast - mainly for fun an learning, perhaps the learning can be used later for profit.

[AndyMH]

Visio I have commented on above. I have a very old copy of Chief architect's Home Designer 6.0. That runs better under wine (I use crossover, the commercial version) than it did under win7. Did try a more recent version in a win VM and it struggled. Try it and see.

[deepakdeshp]

Thanks for your detailed reply. I am sure that you are aware of the resources to find alternative like https://alternativeto.net/platform/windows/ etc.