oldcpu's meandering thoughts on Computers, GNU/Linux and openSUSE

32-bit OpenSUSE-12.1 graphic install failed and required a simple workaround (with a legacy nVidia FX-5200 graphic card). This 12.1 install, was on my 10+ year old sandbox PC (whose first SuSE was SuSE-Pro-7.3 those 10 years ago). This PC, upgraded over the years, has 2GB RAM and an AGP FX5200 nVidia graphic card, which the nouveau driver does not particularly like.

1/2 way through the openSUSE-12.1 installation, immediately after all software and the boot manager was installed, ...

7-months after 11.4 is released and only then do I install 11.4 ? Yes - I'm conservative. Very conservative ! And after some hours I have to say it runs great !

Why wait so long ? I like stability. All the apps I want are now packaged (and have been packaged and running for some time, and many debugged/improved over that time). And finally this was a long weekend where I don't have other commitments (which does not happen all that often). An ideal time for an openSUSE install. ...

I'm looking for views on portable/mobile 3G mobile routers (with built in battery) !

My wife suggested we consider this for our travels, as this may be an interesting way to go (and we are both Internet fiends). The philosophy is one has a very small (deck of cards size) router that obtains the Internet signal via a 3G connection. It then turns around and rebroadcasts this signal via a short range wireless. One can then connect their laptop, or tablet to that wireless, and thus have ...

This morning I read of e4rat which will purportedly significantly reduce GNU/Linux users boot times (for those with ext4 / partition (which is nominal)). e4rat ? Stands for "Ext4 - Reducing Access Times" and it purportedly is a toolset to accelerate the boot process as well as application startups. Through physical file reallocation e4rat purports to eliminate both seek times and rotational delays.

The project home page is here with some interesting boot charts: e4rat of ...

My wife is looking at purchasing a new netbook, and we have spent the past couple of days looking at new netbooks. Her selecting the model of netbooks she wants to examine, and me checking for GNU/Linux compatibility BEFORE the purchase. She still has not purchased one, but its possible she will do so before end of this weekend (23/24-July)

GNU/Linux compatibility references:

For GNU/Linux compatibility I normally check here:

• linlap – Linux laptop wiki

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