It's the little differences that make all the difference...

1034

Oh, Linux, you hilarious construction!

Just stumbled upon the solution to directing DOSBox to the correct directory when mounting in Linux. I was googling around trying to find out how to mount a directory located on a harddrive other than the main, boot drive and utterly chanced upon the solution. My filepath was completely correct (which I’m a little bit proud of) but the MAJOR difference from Windows isn’t (just) that drives have different designations, it’s that CASE MATTERS.

I had used a capital letter as part of the name of one of the extra harddrives; using the ‘wrong’ case wouldn’t have mattered under Windows when writing a filepath (and drives have letters, rather than names). That one letter being the wrong case was enough for DOSBox (under Linux) to throw up a ‘unknown file or directory’ error…

Today has been a sharpening of the learning curve.

Anyway, now to figure out how to modify the DOSBox conf file in Linux (again, this was a doddle in Windows…)

1211

A sidequest appears!

I booted up the old Dell laptop to see if I had a dosbox conf file on there (I did not) but when moving it around, noticed it rattled, which is never a good sound for a laptop to make… Inside, I found a screw, completely out of the threaded hole where it should be, and I have no idea how it came loose; it’s not one I ever would have touched (the only other work I’ve done inside this laptop is securing the loose m.2 drive, whose screw is literally at the very opposite corner of the machine).

Hmm, actually, thinking about that previous repair, maybe this second fault is indicative of generally shoddy construction: the wrong-headed bolt for the harddrive, and this other bolt loosening over time.

Oh well, keeps me busy.

1349

…but back to DOSBox!

The conf file is located here:

/home/bananaworld/.dosbox

This goes near the beginning:

fullresolution=1501x1126

windowresolution=1501x1126

output=opengl

(Resolution extrapolated from 640x480 using: https://www.omnicalculator.com/other/resolution-scale)

This goes right at the end:

mount c /media/bananaworld/2Store465/games

mount d /media/bananaworld/2Store465/gamesnot

C:

(NOTICE THE CAPITAL LETTER IN THE PATH!!!1!)

I played Transport Tycoon the other day in that ‘DOS Browser’ thing, but couldn’t save the game, so that was useless. Next came today: trying it in DOSBox, which worked fine (after I’d downloaded the original DOS version rather than the Windows version) but it was the older TTD.

Some googling reminded me of the existence of OpenTTD, and I had a look for a Linux version; of course it exists (nerds!) which led me to looking for it in the software centre; of course it’s in there! 

Oh, Linux: equally confounding & astounding.

1612

Just when I thought I was done swearing for the day, Linux brings me another ‘joy’...

For more than twenty years, I’ve had the same printout attached to many different computer desks and/or monitors; it’s a list of Alt codes for quick reference. It allows you quickly see which numbers to type in, while holding down the Alt key, to get a whole variety of special characters. It’s been my only consistent piece of  computer equipment (which is quite a cool thought) because it has been persistently useful, and, crucially, unchanging.

Until now.

Those super-useful shortcuts for putting in accented letters, symbols, powers, copyrights, etc are now all completely useless, thanks to it not working at all in Linux.

I couldn’t believe that my ancient scrap of parchment was now defunct, but I wasn’t about to give up; there must be a way to insert Alt codes in Linux using a simple set of keystrokes.

Ha ha ha.

Not only is there not a method that would allow me to use the combos I’ve memorised over decades, there just isn’t an easy way to do it at all… unless you want to go down a massive faffabout-hole. How can something so fundamental & useful in Windows be completely absent in Linux…?

Ok, that’s not strictly true; what I’m using is what’s available: the Character Map. Yup, go find the character you want in a completely separate program and zarking  copy ‘n’ paste it over to where you need it.

How deeply irritating.

Cool, kicking back in your lawn chair...

1131
What's getting me through battling Linux is listening to the O.G. who inspired a series of Weezer EPs: 

 

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/John_Harrison_with_the_Wichita_State_University_Chamber_Players/The_Four_Seasons_Vivaldi

 

(Thanks to: https://www.reddit.com/r/weezer/comments/zykzk9/i_found_the_exact_versions_of_vivaldi_sampled_on/) 

 

 

Dear Google, noöne with a brain wants your "AI" summary. And more Linux headaches...

 

1905

Let’s just have a slight tangent where we remove the pointless, useless, and cluttersome “aRTiFiCiAL inTElliGEnCe” results when using Google search in Firefox.

The key steps are to go to Settings -> Search, scroll down to Search Shortcuts, click Add button. In URL box, paste in:

 https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14&tbs=li:1

 Name the ‘new’ search engine (I used GoogleOld), click Save Engine button; scroll back up the page and select your search engine. Much better results.

Source:
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/google-search-no-ai-overview.html

https://archive.ph/88Smi

2053

Things are a little better than yesterday, possibly helped by having been for a little bike ride in the sunshine. 

The short version:

• The shared folders on PavNAS are now appearing in Linux Mint’s file explorer! I’ve no idea what changed. I discovered this by firing up the T410 running LM and it had the shares available on there; I went back to the HPAIO and there they were!

• Weirdness #1: WiFi is OFF by default on booting the T410; it must be turned on manually before any shares appear (or I’m able to do any online stuff). Absolutely no idea why this is. Hopefully it won’t affect my use-case too badly as this it’s supposed to be a Kitchen MCM which will have a network cable attached at all times.

• Weirdness #2: still can’t access OMV configurator via browser on the HPAIO. I can use it in a browser on the T410, so I don’t think Linux is the issue. Absolutely no idea why this is (again).

• Haven’t got around to trying DOSBox (or DOSBox Staging (a seemingly newer/better version)) yet, but I have started copying all the games over. I’m not looking forward to mounting those directories as drives in DOSBox because I STILL have no idea how file structures work in Linux…

2127

Zark’s’ake, I don't know why I bother: obviously, trying to mount a drive in DOSBox resulted in absolutely no success. I think my error was having the games on a different harddrive to the main drive, which just introduces one extra possible point of confusion for the whole process.

When I can be zarked, I'll try it one more time; after that I'll move the games to the main disk (THE C: DRIVE!) and follow the how-tos to the letter.

Linux, ugh.

Linux roadblocks for DOSBox and, somehow, OpenMediaVault

1711

Today has been a bit of a mixed bag and I’m not sure I’m having a good time in Linux. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not great. It’s possible that it’s just different to Windows, and I’m just not used to that, which is tainting the experience, but it has many annoying quirks.

I’ve been working through the list of programs I’d written down from the Windows PC, trying to install them, or alternatives, in Linux Mint. It’s quite annoying not having the programs I know & love, especially having found SumatraPDF to be great, and having only just discovered Wacup, neither of which are available for Linux…

On a more positive note, one of the programs that’s just available to easily install from the Software Manager (a lovely utility) is DOS Browser, which has been fun, but I haven’t worked out how to save games yet (vital for DOS games). Think I’ll just use DOSBOX like the old days, if I can figure out how drives & directories work in Linux (another major stumbling block for my migration to an utterly alien OS).

The biggest problem I’ve hit so far is not being able to access OMV; both the shared directories and the web interface are unreachable from this computer now. I booted up the old Dell laptop (the one used to make a ‘clone’ of all my browser tabs) and I can still do everything from there, so I’m stumped as to why I can’t access it.

Feeling a bit despondent about the whole thing.

I’m sure there are people who would relish such a situation and enjoy finding work-arounds to these niggles, but I can’t be zarked with it. This may present as lazy, but I don’t think that’s it (I wish I could detail the hours I’ve spent over the past few weeks attempting (and eventually succeeding!) to fit 104mm & 64mm BCD rings (plus a double bashguard (which I made)) onto a pair of SRAM Rival cranks in a way never intended by the manufacturer - this was not a lazy endeavour…!) I ust don’t enjoy it when computer stuff that absolutely should work… just doesn’t, when there’s no good reason for the failure to launch. It’s silly & annoying.

The most consequential Linux installation so far!!

1536

SD card storage space via Dell laptop = success! And it can be accessed from another PC.

So here we go with the HP AIO mega-move to Linux…

Just starting the process, and not much to report other than some tiny notes for future reference:

Esc: Startup menu

F9: Boot menu

F10: BIOS

Booting from Linux Mint (LM) installation USB: UEFI, not Legacy.

1607

LM is installed! That was straightforward. 

Now to install all the software I need, and then comes the ultra-fun of making LM look & feel like something familiar to me. Luckily, (I think) I’ve written down most of what I need somewhere in these notes…