A story of Mint saving the day!

[exploder]

After two years of overtime I finally had some time to tinker with computers. I have an AMD FX 6100 system, it's built out of really nice used parts. It is in a nice white NZXT case, tinted glass side, Enermax cpu cooler, white Enermax LED fans, you get the idea, it looks nice and with all the fans it has great negative airflow. It has a 500 GB Samsung SSD, 16 GB RAM, NVidia GT 1030 and an MSI Motherboard that came out of a Cyber Power PC,

The thing looked nice but was so slow compared to the more modern computers in the house. Well, I overclocked it to 4.1 GHz all cores and things were looking much better! Had to test with Windows 10 for stability and temps, it runs ice cold! Ok, so I won the silicone lottery this time around! Next comes the good part, sort of.

I originally thought I was going to install Ubuntu on the computer, bad idea... Now, I run Ubuntu 22.04 on a much newer system with AMD graphics and it runs fine. Yes, I actually like Gnome Shell these days, it's easier to see and I like the workflow. I spent quite a bit of time with both xserver and Wayland sessions and there was no using it. Snaps opened fine in Wayland but not under xserver.org, they would start translucent and eventually come up.... Firefox flickered like mad in Wayland but you could play a YouTube video. Under xserver.org, YouTube videos stuttered like crazy. What a mess! Almost forgot, the kernel update of course messed up the graphics drivers.

I downloaded Mint 21 Cinnamon, installed it and every single thing worked perfect! Thanks to the default system tools, updates did nothing to screw up the NVIDIA drivers! A few very simple tweaks and the system feels just as fast as my Ryzen 5600 system across the room. Set up time was very minimal in comparison to my doing a Ubuntu install. I have a document I created with all the fixes I do after a Ubuntu install, no need to create such a document for Mint, nothing was broken!

I like Ubuntu, they do some things very well but I think the DistroWatch review was pretty accurate. Canonical released 22.04 with way too many unresolved issues. Some issues have been fixed with the point release but if you have NVIDIA graphics you are not going to be very happy! Linux Mint, with the decisions Clem made for the new release sure make an enormous difference!

[MurphCID]

You are the very first person I have seen here that has said positive things about Nvidia and Linux (Mint). I have been leery about using Linux with anything that has an Nvidia card in it. Good review.

[AZgl1800]

You are the very first person I have seen here that has said positive things about Nvidia and Linux (Mint). I have been leery about using Linux with anything that has an Nvidia card in it. Good review.

yup,
Nvidia was broke from the day I bought this laptop and running Mint, I have kept it turned OFF since day one.
using the Intel card and the Mint driver for it.

up until, I read that Nvidia finally fixed it with their latest point release.......
installed that a couple weeks ago, and so far, knock knock on wood, it seems to be, okay

[exploder]

I plan on leaving the kernel and driver alone! If it's not broke don't fix it!

[Portreve]

Many years ago, I used a Linux Mint live session to boot a friend's Windows XP-running laptop after something happened and XP got corrupted and wouldn't boot and backed up several gigs' worth of data so that he could then nuke-n-pave the system.

It's really sad how even the capacity to boot a live image wasn't enough to impress him about Linux.

These days, either you pay me or I'm not supporting your sorry Windows-running a@@. That's just how it is.

[exploder]

Got another old AMD system running surprisingly fast! It's also an FX series chip, FX 6300. Not getting quite as good of an overclock as the first system but it is still much better. Same as the first, old computer in a nice NZXT case. Used an RX 460 in this one and everything works perfectly!

Both computers would run Windows 10 and they ran ok I guess but they seem like brand new machines after installing and tweaking Mint Cinnamon Edition. This second computer had Corsair Magnetic Levitation fans in it originally. I would NEVER buy these fans! They are so damn loud! I could hear them clear across the apartment! They were quickly removed and temporarily replaced with some stock NZXT fans until the new RGB fans I ordered arrive.

Last year I retired these computers thinking they were just too old and slow. I was just saving them to reuse the case and power supplies, now there is no need to upgrade them! To sit down and use them now, they seem just as fast as the brand new build across the room. Even boot time is pretty darn quick for using an SSD compared to the new machine using NVME drives. In Windows they were painfully slow to boot.

Thinking of using these to stream movies, music, in the living room and bedroom.

[GlennJohnson]

I just today posted about how Linux Mint has allowed me to gift computers to 2 young kids and at the same time not "own" the maintenance responsibilities for said machines.

Mint "saved the day" for me more than once.

[exploder]

I have two Dell Xeon systems I am donating to needy children and the elderly. I have a friend that has donated over 10,000 computers over the years. He has a huge waiting list! I try and help him out when I can.

[RollyShed]

You are the very first person I have seen here that has said positive things about Nvidia and Linux (Mint). I have been leery about using Linux with anything that has an Nvidia card in it. Good review.

Nvidia, exactly the same as you.... except I've just been asked to sort out an old computer and it has an Nvidia card in it, running a bit hot. It has Win8 which sometimes sort-of partly goes. Note "partly" if it boots at all.

So to test it in goes an SSD. 1 minute 2 seconds boot time, I did say a slow machine and only 2GB of RAM. I have a whole lot of tabs up on the browser, a doc and a spreadsheet and I can't get it to freeze. What's the matter with it? Is it because it is Mint Cinnamon 21? It won't freeze.
The computer this forum message is being done on with Mint 20.3 would freeze easily with an Nvidia card.

The going old computer - Intel E7300 2.66 GHz, the SSD and a couple of 125GB HDs. Video Nvidia G94 (GeForce 9600 GT)

[Petermint]

Mint is good for older computers. The right combination of updates for new hardware without lots of crashed from new stuff. For Intel, the support covers from about 5 weeks after release to 15 years old. Nvidia is tricky and takes up to 12 months to work properly.

I find old machines become useless for other reasons before Linux drops support. There are odd models where the Linux developers no longer have a working machine for testing. Anything mainstream will stay supported long after you decommission the machine because you can no longer buy 8" floppies.

[RollyShed]

Anything mainstream will stay supported long after you decommission the machine because you can no longer buy 8" floppies.

As we gave up using 8" floppies over 40 years ago and we're talking 8 bit machines using them. Where are you getting Linux Mint from that runs on those 8 bit machines? Even 32 bit are near "out the door".
The Apple IIe I had originally used 5¼" disks and then we went to 3½-inch.

As for my comment on an old computer with an Nvidia card, it did hiccup once when setting it up but certainly behaved during instruction yesterday to the owner before going out the door. Boot time was eventually 55 seconds with the SSD.

8 inches became commercially available in 1971.
5¼-inch 1976
3½-inch mid 1980s.

[Petermint]

I usually clear out the oldest stuff when moving house. My last clearout was anything without USB 3 because USB 2 is too slow for disks.

I have seen an 8" floppy. Someone showed me a machine that worked but he could not buy 5" floppies. Someone gave me a Debian on about 20 floppies but I was already using CDs. Processors and memory outlast the usefulness of storage. Steam engine cars still work but who drives one to school in the morning?

None of my machines were retired after burning out. They were all replaced because I could not use some peripheral. One of my desktops in almost mint condition had four empty PCIe slots for expansion but they were all too slow for NVMe. Gone!

[Portreve]

My principle concern with older hardware is that it is scrapped for no good reason. My concern with scrapped hardware is that it's not recycled. There are documentaries about how third world countries in Africa are seriously harming people and the environment because of improper handling of all these old bits and pieces.

[exploder]

I am into recycling. I hate seeing perfectly good hardware end up i the landfill. Components that use solid caps hold up extremely well, older components unfortunately, usually have cracked, leaking caps and have or will fail due to their age. I have seen exceptions though. New computers are nice, we have a couple but I enjoy taking old hardware and making it SEEM as fast as the newer systems.

I put another FX series system together last weekend, with decent SSD's in them, they boot up in about 15 seconds now. Yes, it took some tweaking but the end result was well worth it! The average user would never guess that the computers are 10 and 11 years old. These systems can not play the latest games but my kid's have managed to game on some real clunkers in the past.

Cases and LED fans can be had pretty cheap if you shop around. Always look for the ones with glass sides because the ones with plexiglass scratch up too easily. The cases with the glass panels stay looking nice and you would be more likely to be usable for the next build if you want. Heck, with a nice case, LED fans and some cable management these old computers still look great sitting on the desk!

I have NEVER donated or sold a computer that I would not be happy to use myself, that is how I have always been and I don't see that ever changing.

[oxygenfarm]

Over these many years I've had a quiet hobby upgrading old iron so it need not become trash. (I'm currently waving goodbye to my last 32-bit, an eeePC). Yesterday I tried a PCIe-to-SATA adapter card in an old Inspiron, but it prevented even POST so I returned it: the MB had only two SATA connectors and no extra power plugs. The conclusion was to replace the HD with an inexpensive SSD and forget about onboard backup, a compromise.

[Petermint]

Here is one problem with reusing through upgrading. I want to add USB of at least 3.2 20 Gbps to a desktop but the cards are expensive and all the reviews across all brands mention serious problems. Do I start again with a new motherboard?

The 20 year old case has the first signs of rust. The power supply is no longer compatible with new motherboards. The Motherboard has an old PCIe interface. There are a lot of reasons to start again.

If I sell or give away the current machine, I lose all the Noctua almost silent fans. The new build will be expensive. I could transfer the cooling to the new machine but then the old machine is useless and becomes scrap.

A few years ago, I talked with a person who recycles machines for people who can no longer earn a living. Their group had just received hundreds of machines from a big company. Only three years old, most were scrap. They could reliably reuse only two machines.

Then there is the power efficiency of really old machines. If you are not on solar, there is a point where new stuff produces less carbon emissions per compute.

Scrapping, instead of rebuild or reuse, is a painful decision. I find good models from good brands go on and on while other brands are not worth touching. For the good hardware, Linux is a lifesaver.

[oxygenfarm]

I have an HP Elitebook 8530 which weighs a ton but is a solid machine, 10 years old. It runs Mint21 beautifully.

[AZgl1800]

I had two old laptops, that would not accept the Win10 upgrades.

I installed Mint Cinnamon on them and gave them to the high school.
what happened after that?
dunno

[absque fenestris]

A soon to be 14 year old Sony Vaio laptop from 2009 - declared broken by my sister-in-law and almost disposed of....
Well, under Windows it was indeed a boring shit machine, now - with a fresh SSD and a fresh Mint LMDE 5 you can use it properly (probably for the first time).
All USB ports work again - and also the built-in DVD player.

Code: Select all

elsie@elsie:~$ inxi -v8z
System:
  Kernel: 5.10.0-19-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-19-amd64 
  root=UUID=309768cd-128d-463f-a029-47f1167a93cc ro quiet splash 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.4.12 tk: GTK 3.24.24 wm: Mutter dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
  Distro: LMDE 5 Elsie base: Debian 11.2 bullseye 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Sony product: VGN-NW21SF_S v: C602S191 serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Sony model: VAIO serial: <filter> BIOS: American Megatrends v: R1120Y4 
  date: 08/20/2009 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 43.1 Wh condition: 43.1/50.6 Wh (85%) volts: N/A/111.0 
  model: Sony Corp. type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Full 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse B330/M330/M331 
  serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes 
  status: Discharging 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 3.81 GiB used: 1.85 GiB (48.7%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo P7450 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn 
  family: 6 model-id: 17 (23) stepping: A (10) microcode: A0B L2 cache: 3 MiB 
  bogomips: 8509 
  Speed: 933 MHz min/max: 800/2133 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 933 2: 1131 
  Flags: acpi aperfmperf apic arch_perfmon bts clflush cmov constant_tsc cpuid cx16 
  cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts est fpu fxsr ht lahf_lm lm mca mce mmx monitor msr 
  mtrr nopl nx pae pat pbe pdcm pebs pge pni pse pse36 pti rep_good sep sse sse2 
  sse4_1 ssse3 syscall tm tm2 tsc vme xsave xtpr 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported 
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion 
  Type: mds 
  status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations 
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 
  mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD RV710/M92 [Mobility Radeon HD 4530/4570/545v] vendor: Sony 
  driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1002:9553 class ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Chicony type: USB driver: N/A bus ID: 7-2:2 chip ID: 04f2:b14e 
  class ID: 0e02 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa display ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
  s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
  Monitor-1: LVDS res: 1366x768 hz: 60 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RV710 (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.10.0-19-amd64 LLVM 11.0.1) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 20.3.5 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Sony driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:293e class ID: 0403 
  Device-2: AMD RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series] vendor: Sony 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 1002:aa38 class ID: 0403 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-19-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Marvell 88E8057 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Sony driver: sky2 v: 1.30 
  port: c000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 11ab:4380 class ID: 0200 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel WiFi Link 5100 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: c000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 8086:4232 class ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: <filter> 
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Message: No Bluetooth data was found. 
Logical:
  Message: No LVM data was found. 
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data was found. 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 48.01 GiB (10.3%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 500GB 
  size: 465.76 GiB block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR 
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: PIONEER model: DVD-RW DVRTD09 rev: 1.02 
  dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw 
  Features: speed: 8 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes 
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 461.75 GiB size: 453.43 GiB (98.20%) used: 48.01 GiB (10.6%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: N/A 
  uuid: 309768cd-128d-463f-a029-47f1167a93cc 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 25 (default 60) cache pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: N/A uuid: 5afea406-aafc-43cb-bd4f-6718f1030c27 
Unmounted:
  Message: No Unmounted partitions found. 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 5-1:3 info: Logitech Unifying Receiver type: Mouse,HID 
  driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 046d:c52f class ID: 0300 
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0001 class ID: 0900 
  Hub-7: 7-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0002 class ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 7-2:2 info: Chicony type: Video driver: N/A interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip ID: 04f2:b14e class ID: 0e02 
  Hub-8: 8-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  chip ID: 1d6b:0002 class ID: 0900 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0 C mobo: 61.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  Packages: apt: 2606 lib: 1414 
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://linux-mint.froonix.org elsie main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://mirror.iway.ch/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
  3: deb http://mirror.iway.ch/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
  4: deb http://security.debian.org/ bullseye-security main contrib non-free
  5: deb http://mirror.iway.ch/debian/ bullseye-backports main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 190 
  1: cpu: 9.8% command: fwupd pid: 17058 mem: 66.6 MiB (1.7%) 
  2: cpu: 7.7% command: firefox pid: 8448 mem: 490.6 MiB (12.5%) 
  3: cpu: 6.0% command: cinnamon pid: 1459 mem: 257.7 MiB (6.6%) 
  4: cpu: 3.4% command: pulseaudio pid: 1056 mem: 28.3 MiB (0.7%) 
  5: cpu: 2.9% command: xorg pid: 696 mem: 86.6 MiB (2.2%) 
  Memory top: 5 of 190 
  1: mem: 490.6 MiB (12.5%) command: firefox pid: 8448 cpu: 7.7% 
  2: mem: 266.0 MiB (6.8%) command: firefox-bin pid: 8535 cpu: 1.0% 
  3: mem: 257.7 MiB (6.6%) command: cinnamon pid: 1459 cpu: 6.0% 
  4: mem: 168.7 MiB (4.3%) command: firefox-bin pid: 14485 cpu: 2.7% 
  5: mem: 132.0 MiB (3.3%) command: firefox-bin pid: 12371 cpu: 0.3% 
Info:
  Processes: 190 Uptime: 2h 20m wakeups: 9 Init: systemd v: 247 runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
  gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.01 

[mikeflan]

Your post has inspired me to try Mint LMDE 5 on this machine:

Code: Select all

System:
          Host: mike-linuxmint Kernel: 5.4.0-64-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
          compiler: gcc v: 7.5.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin 4.4.4 
          dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia 
          base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
          Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard 
          product: HP Pavilion dv9700 Notebook PC v: Rev 1 serial: <filter> 
          Chassis: Quanta type: 10 serial: <filter> 
          Mobo: Quanta model: 30CB v: 79.29 serial: <filter> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 
          v: F.52 date: 03/24/2008 
Battery:
          ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.7 Wh condition: 60.6/88.8 Wh (68%) volts: 15.2/14.8 
          model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> 
          status: Discharging 
CPU:
          Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T5550 bits: 64 type: MCP 
          arch: Core Merom rev: D L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
          flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 7314 
          Speed: 997 MHz min/max: 1000/1833 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 997 2: 997 

It's a nice machine that used to run LM 19.3 fairly well, but is too slow now. Hard plastic case - weighs a ton.
I'll let you know how it goes.