Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Linux is not as hard as people think... Started by ScottJB · · Read 141 times 0 Members and 4 Guests are viewing this topic.

Linux is not as hard as people think...

I wanted to share a quick update on some of the fun tech projects I’ve been working on lately. Even though my current setup is a bit older, I’ve been spending some time under the hood of my Asus All-in-One PC (the ET2321I model) to make it run as fast, smooth, and automated as possible.

I’ve officially dropped the old Windows dual-boot on this machine and am now running completely on Kubuntu 26.04 LTS. To make managing the system easier, I’ve built a custom automation suite using bash scripts in the terminal.

Here is a look at what I’ve set up:

  • The "BackItUp" Engine: I wrote a custom maintenance script that automatically backs up my entire KDE desktop configuration, my clipboard history, my custom app launchers, and my Google Chrome and Thunderbird profiles into a dated zip archive. It even shuts down my Thunderbird app safely before running so no data gets corrupted!
  • WayDroid Integration: I have Android apps running smoothly in a container setup. My backup script completely zips up the entire Android environment, handling all the system permissions automatically.
  • USB Mirror Replication: I also built a script that mirrors my data folder onto my external backup drive using a hardware handshake. If the drive isn't mounted, the script automatically detects the hardware layout and mounts it cleanly without me needing to type a sudo password.

I’ve mapped all of these commands to simple keyboard shortcuts in my terminal, like backitup for the full backup and  sysup for total system updates.

It has been a blast figuring out how to make all of this technology work smoothly together. Even on an older Core i3 with an HDD, Linux gives you the power to make your computer do exactly what you want it to do.

Re: Linux is not as hard as people think...

Reply #1 –

Now start using Docker containers/stacks, you can have a lot of fun !

Re: Linux is not as hard as people think...

Reply #2 –

Well Scott, you brought back long ago memories.. and I hope you (and others) receive my reply in the humor intent I have in relating it.. maybe a little "elbow-in-the-ribs"..

I remember the mindset when I obtained my first "personal computer", a Xerox 820 CP/m box, dual 5 1/4 double-side double-density drives, and a Diablo 630 wide-carriage printer.. t'was about 1979.. "Ah, what is THIS?" I puzzled. A Z-80 chip, 64K of ram, and a floppy disk with the CP/m OS and 3 leather-bound binders complete with instructions I had no idea what was trying to tell me..
I hooked up with some XDS, PARC and Skunkworks engineers in my Mountaineering Club and off on a long journey of discovery I went. Not long I have a Bell acoustic coupler and I was 'beta testing' some dial-up communication software automating message transfers, I was a "node" in a network up and down the state (try to keep connections at the far end of "local" to avoid long-distance charges, the next node will relay into the next exchange free to them. San Diego to San Francisco, about 35 CP/m computers).
It would eventually be branched and then ported over to DOS and later become "RBBS", but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I acquired a "Heathkit 8086/Z-80 Microprocessor Programming Kit" and with that convinced myself that as a hardware engineer, this software stuff was not my forte.. as I alluded to in an earlier post, confusing jump with go-to instructions was my downfall, one takes an extra clock-cycle to execute, and I could never remember which, and inevitably my mnemonic programming lands on a data register instead of the next instruction and the processor goes off to never-never land.. No duck-to-water thing here..

That said, it was exciting times none-the-less, next an Xerox 16-8 dual CP/m DOS 2.0 machine with a 10 MegaMyGod hard drive boat anchor, then a Zenith XT, switch to Wildcat BBS, then a 286 running Windows (1), 386, 486SX, Windows 3.1 - best OS on the planet EVER (IMHO). Bought a PC JR and a Mac to support some scripting software for Delphi BBS, who had a backdoor onto ARPANet and the colleges, so now UNIX, IBM, AppleNet, Novel.. Wildcat 5 supports ethernet!

Did some "Basic" programming (dabble in paradox, oracle, database application development, off into enterprise CRM, Process-facilitating website development, constant challenges, constant learning, learning, learning.
At some point my curiosity waned and the driving quest for knowledge decayed as even more and more wild stuff came on the scene. Damn, I was born a long time ago, with 64K of ram. I'm out of memory. Stack overflow.. everything new I learn has to overwrite something I used to know. If someone tells me my zipper is down I'm afraid I'll forget who I am or where I live.       

I'm now at the point I just want my technology to work, basic things. My finance software worked fine back in 1998 - it's been upgraded at least 1000 times since, most all added stuff that hasn't improved a single thing I use it for (except to be able to run on the last still- supported OS version out there.. incompatibility is just an OS upgrade away). Nothing I need to do has changed in 30 years. I was happy with HTML 4, it did everything I needed it to do.

I now run a Dell Optiplex 7070 with Windows 11 because my Tax software won't run on Windows 10, and my previous Dell box won't run Windows 11.
Has any of this added anything to my life that Win98 on a 486 didn't? No.
Did I appreciate having to learn and adapt to the new stuff in Windows 11?
Did I appreciate having to hunt down and disable all the cool cloud, team stuff, assistants, and AI crap that came with it, disable widgets, apps, and 'features' I don't need loading and taking up memory and disk space and/or provide security vulnerabilities?
Absolutely not.

My back up software was cheap 20 years ago and still does the job, my Antivirus does its thing for a nominal subscription maintenance fee, I use LibreOffice to handle all the windows office app files I created years ago and that any anybody sends to me. All stuff I downloaded, most of it "free". Years ago.
I now have a "smart phone" that I can link to the computer several ways, the most useful new app on it is "Notepad Free", my grocery list. Most of the stuff that came with it I've disabled or deleted. (My old flip phone wouldn't work with my new much cheaper carrier). Something new to learn.. did I appreciate that either?
No.

I built my career on never shirking away from a need, sometimes just for the hell of it, to accomplish something I'd never done before, in the process earned a comfortable retirement, and now I'm old, and tired and wish to enjoy my remaining days "smelling the roses", being bored, lazy, and entertained, with little additional effort on my part... I'll pay (a little) if it means I don't have to spend the time or do the research, trial and error, investigation compiling, reconfiguring, troubleshooting and all the associated labor.

But yes, I do remember when I too might have said what you said:

Quote from: "ScottJB" – It has been a blast figuring out how to make all of this technology work smoothly together. Even on an older Core i3 with an HDD, Linux gives you the power to make your computer do exactly what you want it to do.

Yea, I remember relishing a challenge and the rush of mastering it. Now I get the same rush and satisfaction drizzling some chocolate syrup on a bowl of vanilla ice cream before bed, and slowly nibbling at it..

And so, I will pass on words of wisdom passed to me a couple decades ago when I considered unchaining myself from all Micro$oft $oftware.

"Linux is only free if your free time is worthless..."  :grin:

Carry on, bro..
// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: Linux is not as hard as people think...

Reply #3 –

I too, have been (ad)venturing various Linux since 20 years ago, running it on server during Intel Pentium still-a-thing era, upgrading software's and hardware's, then i3, i5, i7, AMD, mini pc, android box, true but kind old servers, cabling and networking, especially when things become more affordable and necessary, till up-to-date, it is still quite a great satisfying (ad)venture), not to say that MS is not the preferred main OS, as it is the one I have always been using since MS-DOS in 1990 when I was in my upper secondary school though, however, it was not just Linuxes, but android too, I even tried playing Hackintosh for God's sake, and yeah they all pretty much make me feel my free times are worthless, although in "my reality" each and every part of them is worthwhile, so I have no regrets and will keep toying and playing around as much as I am still able to, wasting all "the free times".

And yeah, that is kind of, out of topic, a bit or not, so thanks for sharing your Kubuntu 26.04 setup in your Asus All-in-One PC ET2321I @ScottJB, it really good to know that Linux has been a good learning process, very useful to you and makes your tech life easier. If you got more free times "to waste", may be try learning kvm vs lxc, how to manage those containers inside your Linux.