hardware is a nuked MacBook Pro, Intel Core i5-4278U @ 2.60GHz, model A1502 (EMC 2875), Retina Mid-2014 13" with debian 12.5 live xfce installed (I couldn't fully install any of the netinst candidates).

As posted before, I consider this a really slow notebook and to compare and give you an idea, I need benchmarks. Download speed works fine via USB-tethering with an android device but the installation speed is ridiculously slow. System reacts very slow after entering username and password as well.

I'll try gnome and cinnamon later and compare.

This happened with xubuntu 23.10 and now with debian 12.5

actually, 2 files: 'Pulp - Disco 2000 1995.m4a' and 'Pulp - Disco 2000 1995.mp4' inside a directory named Music.

If I move any of the files to another directory, the same happens, vlc will play the track only once.

If, however, I rename any of the 2 tracks, simply changing one character makes the files normal playable again, regardless of where I paste it.

I used yt-dlp to download both the m4a file and the mp4 file and both files do this. I have an ample m4a / mp4 collection and only these 2 files do this.

Why?

hardware is a nuked MacBook Pro, Intel Core i5-4278U @ 2.60GHz, model A1502 (EMC 2875), Retina Mid-2014 13"

I tried to install debian 12.5 from a live usb on this computer. On the network page of debian's installation GUI I get this message:

No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list.

so I logged in to recovery mode and executed

sudo lspci -vnnk -s 03:00.0

that returns

network controller [0200]: broadcom inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac wireless network manager adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)

there is more information that I wanted to save to a lspci.txt file on the live usb (sdc1) to share with you, but I failed the syntax.

Why I want to do this: installing debian, on the GUI's networking page there is a candidate with this exact specification (broadcom 802.11ac wireless network manager), but I cannot install it because I don't have wifi or an ethernet cable, so I'd have to download this package from this computer I'm using now and copy it to the live usb to install alongside debian 12.5. I just wanted to print the whole command just in case it's helpful.

ETA: how do I install rpm fusion repos on debian? I only found instructions for fedora and rhel https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration

thanks

For those who don’t know what I mean:

• LMDE = Linux Mint Debian Edition, https://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php
• xfce and cinnamon = desktop environments (DE)

target hardware for LMDE is an 8 year old nuked mac notebook with an intel chip.

I’ve always used xfce because it’s easy on the hardware and I don’t care that much about looks, but functionality.

I’ve never used cinnamon and I don’t know if it’s going to slow the notebook much.

Neither do I know if I can install LMDE and then change the DE to xfce.

Is LMDE being updated like the other mints? LMDE is version 6, whereas the other DE are version 21.3

I'm your regular end user. I use my computers to edit text, audio and video, watch movies, listen to music, post and bank on the internet...

my main computer uses now debian 12.5 after abandoning xubuntu.

For my backup notebook I have several candidates:

• Simply install debian 12.5 again, the easiest choice.

• Install linux mint, so I get ubuntu but without them throwing their subscription services down my throat. I'm unsure about other advantages, as ubuntu is debian based, maybe the more frequent program updates? Kernels are also updated more often than with debian as far as I know. Do you know of other advantages?

• Go for FreeBSD: this might require a learning curve, because this is an OS I've never used. Are commands that different from debian?

other more niche linux OSs seem too much a hassle and I guess won't be as supported as the main ones.

I was thinking about using graphene OS, but I've read some lemmy users dislike this OS due to perceived misleading advertising and the pixel 7a you're supposed to install graphene on because it's from google (an advertising company).

Another option would be lineage OS, but there is so much false information about this OS, namely compatible phones that simply don't work with this OS and no support.

what works for you? I want a phone with no google, that doesn't force me to use the manufacturer's ecosystem and that won't show the apps I don't want or need (on an asus I own you cannot neither get rid nor hide bloatware)

target OS is debian or linux mint

how do I start looking for the package I need?

This happens with some mkv files and to all mp4 files I play, both with apt and flatpak installed vlc versions.

this never happened on the same computer with xubuntu 23.10

I had to attach a piece of plastic 1 inch thick to a shoe sole to make it 1 inch taller. Why is not relevant.

After using this frankenshoe for 2 months I no longer need it, but the shoe sole is sticky.

I used isopropyl alcohol to rub it and removed a bit of junk, but part of the surface is still sticky. I applied more isopropyl and let it act for an hour. Still sticky.

What works for you?

after reading https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Keyboard and other sources I used a 75% isopropyl alcohol solution to clean my black and grey plastic notebook's keys and surface.

I applied the alcohol to cotton pads. Each cotton pad I used came back black, completely black. This is the first time I use isopropyl alcohol to clean this notebook I bought it 8 years ago.

To clean the surface I sometimes pressed the pad with my nails, because I first thought the black residue on the cotton pads was simply dirt and oils accumulated during 8 years. Now, on second thoughts, it could be the isopropyl alcohol solved the upper layer of plastic and now the clearer lines I see where I pressed with my nails are how the notebook looked 8 years ago. Lines look like an anarchic groove, but don't feel different to the finger.

On other parts I can also see the circular motions I applied to clean those parts. Do I have to apply more alcohol or have I already damaged the plastic?

OTOH I cannot believe wikihow and other sources like https://www.howtogeek.com/65073/how-to-thoroughly-clean-your-keyboard-without-breaking-anything/ would include information that hurts the computer.

Am I doing this right?

I'd like to install linux mint xfce 21.3 and xubuntu 24.04 alongside the already present debian 12.5, but I don't know if I have to create the partitions before installing or if I'm guided to create the partitions while installing.

On debian 12.5 there are 3 partitions already: /boot/efi, /boot and nvme0 without a mount point, which I encrypted. I used lsblk to get this information.

Incidentally I ask: in the encrypted partition I reserved 50% of space for my home directory, created LV (logical volumes) for /var (9.2GiB) and /tmp (2 GiB) as well. Can I edit the size of these LV?

The other question is, am I installing too many distros on the same computer? CPU is an Intel Core i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16399318

I own several external 2.5'' HDDs on the 1 TB range where I save my data. Samsung has worked well for me, but now I need more space.

One option would be to buy an external SSD instead of HDD.

Another would be to get an external NVME, but so far I haven't found cases for them.

Nowadays we even have 1 TB flash drives, should I get one of these instead?

I could also buy 2 0.5 TB micro SD cards instead.

So many options make it difficult to decide.

What brands and technologies do you recommend?

Software is going to be debian based.