Category: News

hardinfo Has Been Rebooted As hardinfo2

If you’ve used hardinfo in the past, it may interest you to know that hardinfo has been rebooted as hardinfo2. This is just a quick ‘news’ article and won’t take up much of your time. It’s worth reading, however!

So, I wrote this some time ago:

Graphically Examine Hardware Info With HardInfo

I assume that’s how user ‘hwspeedy’ found this site and they sent me an email letting me know that hardinfo (no caps, I guess) has been rebooted as hardinfo2. That piqued my interest.

hardinfo2:

I looked and the project appears to have a dozen or so people behind it. That many people is a good start, which made me optimistic You can view the hardinfo2 project page here at the following link:

hardinfo Home Page

The original, hardinfo, hadn’t had any recent updates. These folks rebooted it. Their goal is to get hardinfo2 into all the distros and they’re 60% of the way there. I’m impressed enough to go ahead and write about it here.

The two major changes are the theme aspect, which I found silly and it made the text impossible to read on this system. Fortunately, you can turn it off. The second major change is the ability to upload your benchmarks. You can see how your system compares to others.

They have releases for pretty much every major version of Linux. See here:

Get hardinfo For Your System

I had hardinfo installed and hardinfo2 didn’t want to install. So, I purged hardinfo from my system with the following command:

I was then able to install hardinfo2. I did so with gdebi.

With the new version installed, I was quickly able to click on View > Themes > Disable Theme. That made it so that I could make out what was going on. Otherwise, it looked like this on a Linux Mint system:

Themes don't work well here...
None of the other themes fared better than this one did. You can disable them entirely.

This is just my refurbished PC that runs Linux Mint, so it’s nothing special. Even if it was, you wouldn’t know until you disabled themes.

Here it is with the themes disabled:

It's easy to disable themes in hardinfo2.
That’s much easier for these old eyes to make out. I’m pretty sure the themes don’t work well.

I went through the list and even did the benchmark thing. Things mostly seem to work. Some of the benchmarks didn’t show my level in the results, but that’s possibly just a teething issue.

This is useful if you need support – just click on Generate Report. You can generate a report to share with the forums when asking for support.

This is also useful for bragging rights – just click on Synchronize. You can see how you rank, and share it, against other users. As they’re now modern results, you probably won’t be dominating all the benchmarks as you did with the older hardinfo.

I have high hopes for these new developers. After I saw their email, I figured I’d share that information with you. I ignore most of that stuff but this is an application that I’ve used time and time again. It’s also an application that I’ve recommended. Seeing some people pick up and run with the task makes me happy. I wish them the best of luck.

I will point out that the sync button uploads a bunch of information. You can pick and choose what you upload; nothing nefarious is going on there. It’s simply a system-gathering (and benchmarking) tool and nothing more.

Closure:

Well, there’s not much more to cover. It still does the basic tasks as listed in the first article, it’s just now got some new features and is now being actively developed. It’s good to see some of the old tools being used and it’s good to see people acting when they see a lapse in the system. Without them, we’d not have much of an operating system.

So, thanks!

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Legitimate Reasons To Not Use Linux

Today’s article is going to be something my regular readers wouldn’t expect as we discuss legitimate reasons to not use Linux. Like it or not, people have reasons not to use Linux. I’ll cover some of them that I think are more legitimate than other reasons.

I think I’ll link to these first:

Top 10 Reasons Why I Use Linux
Why I Use Linux
What it’s Like To Beta-test Linux, Specifically Lubuntu

I share those three links because I think it should be obvious that I’m a Linux fanboy. I love and use Linux because I think it’s the best operating system for me. 

At the same time, I realize that Linux may not be your choice. I think there are some legitimate reasons to not use Linux. There are other reasons with less legitimacy (that is reasons based on fallacies) and we’ll avoid those in this article. Instead, we’ll cover reasons with legitimacy.

Legitimate Reasons To Not Use Linux:

I’ll cover the legitimate reasons to not use Linux that I can think of. After you read them, you can leave a comment agreeing with them or disagreeing with them. You can also add your reasons. If those reasons are any good (and I have both time and motivation) I’ll add them to the article. So, if you’re going to comment on an article, let this be one you feel especially welcome to do so.

#1. You rely on software that will not work with Linux.

This one is pretty basic. There’s software that will not work with Linux. Yes, it might work in Wine, but it may not work in Linux at all. This is the cold hard truth and if you need that software then you’re not going to be interested in moving to Linux.

#2. You’re heavily invested in Microsoft.

Let’s say that you use MSFT for everything, from office to desktop. Sure, you could switch. Linux has equivalents to almost everything MSFT offers. But, you pay for your Office365 and similar, you might use their gaming hardware, etc…

While you can switch, it may be harder than it would be for those people who are more software-agnostic. You simply don’t want to put in that effort. You simply don’t see a need to put in that effort.

This applies to Apple users as well. If you’re heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, you may not want to switch to Linux. It could also apply to BSD users, Unix users, etc…

#3. You play modern games.

Yes, many games are available on Linux. These days, we can install Steam and play thousands of games on Linux. However, you’ll find that quite a few games will simply not work with Linux. You’ll find that they won’t work with Wine. That’s just the sad case of affairs.

Perhaps you could get a console that you’re happy with and switch to Linux while not always playing the latest and greatest games? More and more games are being developed with Linux compatibility so this may change in time.

#4. You’re happy with Windows.

This one is similar to those who are invested in Windows. However, those people who are invested heavily in the MSFT ecosystem may not be happy, they’re just entrenched. This is for those folk who are just plain happy with Linux. They know the differences. They understand reality. Linux just isn’t something they’re interested in because they’re happy with Linux.

#5. You’re learning disabled.

I am not saying that the learning disabled can’t learn how to use Linux. However, a person may have invested enough time learning to use Windows and may not want to invest time and effort learning a new operating system.

Think of someone who is elderly and has learned to navigate the Windows environment. Maybe they have a little cognitive problem and they no longer retain things as well as they once did. Sure, they could learn to use Linux but they may have better things to do with their time.

Speaking of time…

#6. You lack the time to learn Linux.

Let’s face it, many people are now working two jobs just to pay the rent and have enough to eat. Maybe they don’t work extra jobs but have hobbies that take up their time. Sure, we have computer hobbies but they may have hobbies that don’t involve technology. There are any number of reasons why you simply don’t have time to learn to use Linux.

#7. You’re just not interested in learning to use Linux.

You’ve already learned enough about Linux. You know about all the various choices. You know how easy it can be to get into Linux but you just don’t care. That’s okay! It’s perfectly okay to not be interested in learning to use Linux. If you’re happy with proprietary software, that’s your choice. This entry is for the person who is aware of Linux, the ease of Linux, and just doesn’t care to learn.

#8. You have hardware that will not work on Linux.

It’s possible that you have hardware that simply will not work on Linux. No amount of goodwill and happy thoughts is going to change this. The hardware vendor doesn’t support Linux and has no plans to support Linux in the future. While that’s unfortunate, if you need that hardware to do your computational tasks then it’s perfectly okay to not use Linux.

This can also be true with ‘bleeding-edge’ hardware. If you’re interested in using (for example) the latest and greatest graphics card, Linux may not offer any support. It could be a while before you get even basic support for that hardware. The devs need to figure out how to make it work with Linux and that takes time.

#9. You do not own the hardware.

If you share the hardware with other users, they may not appreciate it if you install Linux. They may not be interested in that. Yes, you could use virtual machines and live instances run from an external drive, but many people don’t find those experiences satisfactory.

This is especially true if you’re still a kid. Your parents aren’t going to be all that happy if they go to use the computer only to find out that you’ve installed a completely different operating system. Instead, look for a second device that you can call your own. Until then, it’s okay to give Linux a pass.

#10. <Insert Your Reasons To Not Use Linux Here>

What did I forget? How many other reasons can you think of? I tried to cover as many reasons to not use Linux as I could think of. I’m sure there are other reasons, so now’s a fine time to add them as a comment.

Closure:

So, I figured I’d write a different article. This time, I wrote about legitimate reasons to not use Linux. Frankly, there are legitimate reasons why a person may decide to not use Linux. I suspect many people could use Linux who do not currently use Linux, but there are legitimate reasons why they may choose not to.

So long as they’re making an informed and honest decision, I think that’s just fine. I’m perfectly okay with the fact that other people don’t use Linux. I’ve never lost a minute’s worth of sleep over the fact that people use software that I don’t like. I don’t even invest the time to argue with them. I just hope that they’re making their choices from an informed position and that they know the reality and benefits of using Linux.

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Top 10 Reasons Why I Use Linux

I figured today would be a fine time to have a fun article and I’ve never done a listicle, so I figured I’d write the top 10 reasons why I use Linux. After all, we don’t always have to have something productive. Sometimes we can just have a nice and fun article that doesn’t require much effort.

And this is a low-effort article! (EDIT: It turns out it is more effort than expected. I did not expect that.)

Disclosure, I did write Why I Use Linux some time ago. For fun, I won’t refer to the previous article. Besides, that was in essay format more than a listical. I’ve never done one of those before! 

We can also have some fun with this. 

These are MY top 10 reasons why I use Linux. These might not be your top 10 reasons. You might not agree with my reasons. If you don’t agree, or you want to add to the list, we can fight about it in the comments! 

So, without further ado…

Top 10 Reasons Why I Use Linux:

  1. Linux is just plain easy. 

    I realize that not everyone will think this is true, but I find it to be true. Things are logical and make good sense (generally speaking). Linux doesn’t require babysitting. I can ignore it and get my work done.

    There is a learning curve, but it’s not difficult. You can be up and running without any real help. For the most part, the installation is a guided process and then there’s enough of a base to get you started without even needing to add many applications. It all just works together and even updates are simplified to the point of being trivial.

  2. Linux has a great community.

    Linux is known to be full of people that just tell you to read the manual. While this is sort of true, it just means that they expect you to have put the work in. You should usually have tried to resolve your problem and you should have a basic understanding of the applications you’re trying to use.

    If you find the community to be unfriendly when you ask a question, read this:

    How To: Ask A Good Support Question

  3. There are many choices about how you do things.

    You can pick and choose what you want and what you don’t want. If you don’t want a desktop environment, you can go without one. If you want a different desktop environment, you can get one. As this site will show you, there are so many choices in the tools you use to get your work done.

    There are so many choices that it’s almost overwhelming. That’s one of the reasons why I have this site. It helps you navigate choices and informs you about the various ways to accomplish a task.

  4.  Linux can be harder if you want.

    I know that I said Linux is easy up above and it is. However, you can choose to learn a whole lot more – and that information is freely available. You don’t have to learn a lot to use Linux, but you can learn as much as you want. If you decide that you want to, you can even learn enough programming to contribute to the kernel.

  5. Linux is open source.

    I’m not a zealot. I use all sorts of proprietary software. However, I appreciate that Linux is open source. This means things get fixed. If you report a bug, there’s a reasonable chance that the bug will be fixed. It needn’t be the developer that fixes it. Anyone with enough skill can fix bugs.

    Linus’s law is that “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” My experience tells me that this is reasonably true.

  6. Linux is reasonably secure.

    While Windows (and Apple) have certainly improved their security processes, Linux is reasonably secure when you first install it. Then, there are all sorts of things you can do to make it more secure.

    You have full multi-user permissions, meaning a user can only do what they’re permitted to do. You can enable things like SSH but then prevent brute force attacks. You can secure your account and your information. There are even advanced subjects like jails and other forms of sandboxing.

  7. Linux is free as in free beer.

    While I don’t mind paying for things, I get hundreds of choices about which operating system (distro) I use. Imagine if I had to pay a fee for each of the distros I’ve tried and used regularly. If I had to pay a licensing fee for each distro (and then each version of that distro), it’d be outlandish. I get all these choices for free.

    I still believe in supporting the projects I like and use, but I’m not obligated to pay for anything. AFAIK, even the enterprise distros tend to allow free use in one form or another. Man, imagine the costs if we had to pay for a license for all the distros and applications we use. I have more than 2500 packages installed and I haven’t been asked to pay for any of them.

  8. Linux has longevity.

    Once upon a time, you could have called Linux a hobbyist operating system. That’s not true anymore. From mobile phones to the very infrastructure that runs the internet, it’s a whole lot of Linux. While distros may come and go, Linux is going to live on for a long time. That means I won’t have to change. It means I can keep on using Linux.

    That’s a good thing. I appreciate stability. I don’t have to worry about some company taking over and taking Linux away from me. I’ll be able to use Linux, in one form or another, until the day I die.

  9. Linux is consistent.

    Yes, Linux has a whole lot of variation between the distros. One desktop environment may be completely different from another. You may have to learn those differences when you pick a different distro. Fortunately, for the most part, things are where you logically expect them to be.

    But, yes… Yes, Linux is consistent. Underneath that desktop environment is a group of applications that are either installed already or able to be installed. Those are the consistency I speak of. The fact that this site exists with the content it has is proof of this consistency – as so many of the articles apply to all the major distros. That’s the consistency I speak of.

  10. It’s not Windows.

    If there’s a task someone wants me to do online, such as have an online meeting, I can just tell them that I don’t use Windows. They may look at me strangely but I can honestly tell them that I don’t use Windows. Sure, I might be able to accomplish those things in Linux – but they’re tasks I don’t want to do. So, I don’t do them and tell them the truth.

    “I don’t know how to fix your Windows computer.” I can legitimately say this. I’m known to be a ‘computer guy’ and people will ask me questions about their broken systems. When I first moved here, I made the mistake of helping them. I shortly moved to Linux and no longer know anything about Windows. So, I no longer have to worry about fixing someone else’s computer. 

    And that is awesome.

So, there you have it. That’s my top 10 reasons why I use Linux. The reasons aren’t in any particular order, or anything like that. I just wrote them as I thought of them, though I did write a few down ahead of time. 

What’d I miss? What would you add to the list? 

Closure:

So, if you think writing this list was in some way easier, I’ll point out that this is one of the longest articles I’ve published. It’s not the longest, but it’s up there in length. I dare say that it might have been more effort than it was worth, but I had to try it. I doubt I’ll do many of these, but this one was kind of fun to write.

I’ve never done a listicle (list article) before and I’m not sure that it’s something I’ll adopt, though it is a good subject to get some feedback. Please, do provide that feedback – preferably here so it’s all in one location. Heck, you can let me know how much you don’t like listicles if that’s what you want to say about it. But, feel free to cover anything you think should have been on the list.

Thanks for reading! If you want to help, or if the site has helped you, you can donate, register to help, write an article, or buy inexpensive hosting to start your site. If you scroll down, you can sign up for the newsletter, vote for the article, and comment.

So, My AdSense Account Has Been Disabled

This will be a short article about monetizing the site’s content with AdSense. Google, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to cancel my account and will, presumably, keep any funds not yet paid.

The reason they did this was for invalid traffic.

In short, that means people were clicking the ads without actually being interested in the ads. They were clicking them fairly often lately and I noticed the uptick in my earnings. That was nice. 

I didn’t know that it’s a person (or several) who has been clicking ads to help the site along. For Google to have done this, it has to have been fairly drastic and frequent. 

I’ll look for some tech to resolve this and examine other options. We’ll see how that goes and I’ll let folks know what choices I make.

The reality is, that I can afford to keep the site going without ads. However, being rewarded for my effort and having some funds to offset my costs was pretty nice.

People don’t donate often. That’s okay. The total donations have been less than $50 since day one. I can’t count on that to offset the costs and that does nothing for my time – and, man, have I invested my time.

The site isn’t going anywhere. The ads didn’t pay that much. There are other forms of advertising. I may start accepting sponsored posts with some subjects AdSense wouldn’t allow but are (in my opinion) otherwise harmless.

The reality is that I don’t know what I’ll do, but I will make changes. The site gets plenty of traffic, so it’s eligible for some ad programs. I’ll do some research and see where we are at the end of the day.

It has never been about the money. If it was, that was a losing proposition. It’s just nice to have some ad revenue to offset expenses. If you’re looking to place ads, there’s a sponsorship link above. We’ll see what I accept for posts going forward.

When it is resolved, I do ask that you not click ads just to help me out. The sentiment is nice, but ads are for advertisers and they only want to pay for clicks that come from people legitimately interested in their product. Keep that in mind and only click on ads that interest you. Thanks!

Revisiting Christmas In The Terminal

Well, it’s the day before Christmas and a Linux Christmas can mean having Christmas in the terminal. If you do not celebrate the holiday, that’s fine. You can skip this article and move along. If you do celebrate this holiday, you might as well have a Merry Linux Christmas!

Last year, we had Christmas in the terminal. This year, we’ll be doing the same thing – but not in the same way. If you want an easier and quicker way to have Christmas in the terminal, you should follow along with the first article. This one is quite a bit more involved.

Let’s Have Christmas In The Terminal

That one is nice and easy! I’m also writing this article quite a ways ahead of time. I’ll schedule it for the nearest possible day. Due to my publication schedule, this won’t be published on the holiday itself.

NOTE: I did this on Linux Mint 21.2, Cinnamon Edition. That just happened to be the computer I was using. You may not need all of these steps if you’re using a different distro. You may already have things like Go and Git available.

We’ll be playing with all sorts of silliness and doing things we’d not normally do on this site. I’ll give clear directions, as much as I can. I won’t be diving into details like I have lately. This is a holiday article and ain’t nobody got time for that!

Linux Christmas In The Terminal:

You will need an open terminal. As I did this in Mint, I was able to open a terminal by just pressing CTRL + ALT + T which is something you too should be able to do in most distros.

With your terminal now open, let’s get into a good directory:

Next, we’ll install Git.

Then we’ll download some files with Git.

Now we move to the new directory:

This is in the language known as Go, so let’s get set up to compile that.

Now we’ll do some compilation magic.

Let that finish and run this command:

With any luck, you’ll see something like this in your terminal:

Tada! It even has blinking lights! That’s a rather festive terminal!

You can exit the program by pressing CTRL + C.

Of course, you can move the ctree file anywhere you want. If you want to just run it from the terminal, copy it to /usr/local/bin and you can do that. This being a temporary thing, I saw no reason to move the binary to a special location. If you do want to just run it anywhere in the terminal, you’d use this command:

Enjoy your holiday celebrations!

Closure:

I don’t think this can become a tradition or anything like that. There are only so many Christmas-themed things out there that you can do in the terminal. I didn’t create this and I have no idea what I’ll be able to find for the next Christmas. We’ll have to wait and see what next year brings. Until then, keep being you!

Thanks for reading! If you want to help, or if the site has helped you, you can donate, register to help, write an article, or buy inexpensive hosting to start your site. If you scroll down, you can sign up for the newsletter, vote for the article, and comment.

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