Linux Mint 18 (Cinnamon) with Conky Lua Blue
OK, with the desktop computer here at seashell software intergalactic headquarters converted over, all three of my go-to computers run Linux Mint 18. I switched over from Ubuntu (desktop) because the Cinnamon desktop environment kept crashing on Ubuntu. So far, so good, on my ultrabook (my travel/teaching/coffee shop system), the larger laptop I keep in the den, and this one, an ASUS mini-tower.
Production Environment and Linux Mint
In a way, this computer is the most important of the three, because it’s the one I use when I teach classes via WebEx for Hitachi Data Systems. Those “vILT” (Virtual Instructor-Led Training) classes are important to get right. I like/want/need the big dual-monitor setup so common on an office desk these days. I want wired ethernet with a real NIC, rather than a dongle/USB implementation. In short, I want an environment that gives the students a good presentation.
I decided to up the game a bit on the operating system upgrade. Rather than just blow away Ubuntu, like I did on the laptops, I ordered a Kingston 240GB SSD, to use as a boot/OS disk. This has two things going for it: First, the obvious performance improvement of using a solid-state drive. Second, with Linux Mint installed on the SSD, Ubuntu is still available on the 1TB drive that came with the computer. If something had gone wrong, and I needed to do a class before it could be fixed, I had a fall-back.
One thing did go wrong–either the onboard ethernet NIC in the computer died, or Mint didn’t like its chipset. No problem, I ordered up a PCIe NIC with an Intel chipset, and it’s working fine. I also ordered a PCIe WiFi card as well. Networking isn’t a problem at the moment.
Getting everything back up to speed was simple, between restoring cloud connections and installing Google Chrome.
Recent Comments