Brainstorming, preparing for new laptop

[GreyGeek]

I remember that DropBox fiasco. The church I attend was using DB to drop mp4's of the service and I would edit them and write them to CDs or DVDs for members who requested them. After a while we reached the limit of our paid account. While that was being addressed my Dolphin suddenly stopped working with DB. Turns out DB had dropped support for all Linux file systems except EXT4, and that was sketchy. A lot of Linux folks jumped off of DB's train and hooked rides with other vendors. That was in 2018. About a year later DB restored functionality to all of Linux's file systems but it was too late. Only 2% of DB users had paid accounts and from what I've read half of those were Linux users, so they cut their revenue in half by that stupid move. That was 4 years ago and I haven't darkened DB's doors since then so I don't know how it works with Linux now.

I did that "use your own host" thing. I put it up right after the Anderson Family Reunion in 2000 (My wife is an Anderson. They were the first to settle in York county, NE in the late 1800s) to display reunion pictures and construct a family tree. And as a storage place for my files. It was up until about 4 years ago, until I began using BTRFS. About a year after I dropped it the preacher's wife met me walking into the building and began shaming me for having porn on my website. When I explained to her that I dropped that site a year previously and that since then a porn purveyor took over the domain name and I wasn't doing the posting I don't think she believed me. LOL! Such is life.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Oh, that's too funny, GG! Porn?!

Whichever hosting company I was using at the time said that although my storage was unlimited, only files directly related to a website, i.e., available to the public online like a regular website, were allowed. You could keep backup copies of older versions, and I did, like when I'd make a change to any HTML files, I'd save the old ones in their respective directories, date-stamped to show when they were from, just in case something went awry with the new version. But backing up personal files, images, videos, normal stuff you have on your computers....NOPE.

I've changed providers at least 3 times since then, but haven't bothered rocking the boat. It's not that big a deal to pay the annual fee for a paid account somewhere, like Amazon Drive.

It's funny you mentioned the number of Linux users on DB, because they gave me the impression that we were a MINUTE, itsy-bitsy minority of their users. Hmmmm....

And with Amazon, of course I've pestered them about not having a native Linux client. Every time I go to backup (nightly) by using my browser, I'm prompted to use one of their native apps...and I'd love to, except there is no Linux version! I've explained to Amazon that without Linux, they wouldn't exist...but it didn't help. *shrug*

[GreyGeek]

....
It's funny you mentioned the number of Linux users on DB, because they gave me the impression that we were a MINUTE, itsy-bitsy minority of their users. Hmmmm....

That's their version of Monty Python's "It's only a flesh wound!"

[DoYouKubuntu]

That's their version of Monty Python's "It's only a flesh wound!"

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing. And, yes, exactly.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I see we got moved!

Okay, guys, this is it.... These are the last words I'll be typing on the 'lemon' Gazelle. Tomorrow, it's on its way back home, and my brand-new replacement will start being built. If you don't hear from me soon, assume that something has gone catastrophically wrong with the loaner laptop AND my smartphone AND my tablet AND my other computers.

[GreyGeek]

Gazelle!

[DoYouKubuntu]

I'm here!

Still waiting for UPS to pick up the lemon, but I'm back up and running on the loaner. OMFG.......it is *SO* hard to get used to!!! It's running Pop and I just can't get oriented. Simple, simple tasks on K are seemingly impossible here--like changing my date and time to display the way I want. Or making my trackball move the way I like. Or making Dolphin one-click to open folders. Etc.

One thing to consider: S76 gave me their blessing to put *my* preferred environment on the loaner. So I could, conceivably, install K. But you know...the way things went with the lemon....I'm a little hesitant to do that. I don't LIKE how this one functions, but it's USABLE. My vote is to leave well enough alone. Thoughts?

[GreyGeek]

You're the customer paying $$$, not a member of their quality control staff. I don't know what the rates are now but my rates before I retired were $120/hr or $1K per day in court plus expenses, plus everything in writing with a signed contract.

[DoYouKubuntu]

You're the customer paying $$$, not a member of their quality control staff. I don't know what the rates are now but my rates before I retired were $120/hr or $1K per day in court plus expenses, plus everything in writing with a signed contract.

Yeah, but there's really nothing here to warrant anything like that! It's up to me, if I want to install K (or something else) I'm free to, my choice. I think I'll just leave it as is. I can live with the little inconveniences for a week or two.

If anyone who's had experience with Pop can help, I'd appreciate knowing how to make Dolphin single-click and, especially, how to make the clock show my preferred date/time format. On K, I enter this in its settings: ddd MMM dd yyyy -- which yields: Sat Oct 23 2021. Using the clock's own settings, I make it look like this: 11:23:27AM

Want to hear something really ironic? I believe it was a year ago today that I received the Gazelle. (I may be wrong on the date, but 10/23 stuck in my head for some reason.)

[GreyGeek]

How to make Dolphin single click:
Open System Settings
Select Workspace Behavior
Select General Behavior
The section which reads "Clicking files or folders:" is to obtuse. The first radio button is single click, the second is double click.

One year, uh? You are more patient than I am.

[DoYouKubuntu]

How to make Dolphin single click:
Open System Settings
Select Workspace Behavior
Select General Behavior
The section which reads "Clicking files or folders:" is to obtuse. The first radio button is single click, the second is double click.

Are you sure you're referring to Pop? Because mine doesn't have anything REMOTELY resembling that. I can post screenshots if necessary. There are two distinct choices on its menu, one for "Settings" and one for "System." Neither has anything like that.

One year, uh? You are more patient than I am.

Ha ha! I'm pretty patient in general. The only thing that really irritates me is stupidity. Or when someone is being intentionally obtuse. With this situation, the way it all played out, I really assumed from the get-go that *I* was somehow at fault. I mean, if you plod back through my copious descriptions of the issues I had, it always seemed like maybe I hadn't installed something, or installed it incorrectly, or had some kind of conflict because of the programs I use, or something. It really took a while to sink in that it most likely was just a lemon. But, you know, considering that I'm 60+ and this is the FIRST real lemon I've ever had, in any category, I think that's pretty good!

BTW, my memory actually served me correctly! It was October 23rd last year when my laptop arrived. And on the 23rd THIS year, it left in its original box, which I had saved (I always save computer boxes--I'm not exactly sure WHY, but I just always do).

[GreyGeek]

What does
kcmshell5 mouse
give you?

[GreyGeek]

Never mind. I have PopOS! on Ventroy so I booted into it. It's not plasma, its some form of Gnome! The file manager is not Dolphin.
Did you installl Plasma-dekstop on top of PopOS!

[DoYouKubuntu]

Never mind. I have PopOS! on Ventroy so I booted into it. It's not plasma, its some form of Gnome! The file manager is not Dolphin.

I must've installed Dolphin when I was using the loaner before, since it apparently doesn't come by default.

Did you installl Plasma-dekstop on top of PopOS!

No, I haven't. And didn't know I could/should/would want to. Keeping in mind that my UTMOST concern right now is to not screw anything up, is it worth the bother? This is a very temporary situation and, as I've noted, I can live with these minor inconveniences until my new laptop arrives.

[MoonRise]

Not sure if relevant anymore on this topic, but I can say, as far as using bootable USB media, I recently stumbled on the below little tool. Works great and boots from ISO instead of having to 'dd' them or anything else.

https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html