Read before you roll out the guillotine! :p

I am a lifelong MS user. I cut my teeth on DOS 5, then everything from Win95 forward. Working in IT Ops, I've leveraged batch files and powershell many times in my career so I'm not afraid of the terminal but I've always focused on Windows as it was the tools of my trade. Therefore, I only ever dabbled in Ubuntu, Mint etc on secondary hardware.

In recent years I've moved away from Ops and my need to keep up-to-date with Windows has disappeared, I'm just a user now so in the middle of last year, I joined the fold and finished migrating all my hardware to Linux - I've been very comfortable ever since. Everything just worked including my favourite games and after a week I realized I would never go back.

I rocked Bazzite on my main PC and enjoyed the confidence that immutability gave me while learning - and it did save my backside when I made a largish mistake that cost me the ability to boot.  A couple of quick commands later and I was back in business.  I believe that an immutable distro + flatpack is the perfect starting point for most n00bs and average windows refugees.

I have since expanded my use and I reached a point where immutability was becoming a hurdle. There are ways around this but I didn't want to complicate a beautiful thing so now I've come around full circle to my original choice in KDE Fedora.  Now that I'm several months in and 100% certain that I will never go back to Windows, I decided to start using the terminal to do things, as I've discovered that GUI applications are fine but the terminal is where the real power is unlocked. 

My trouble is that I'm not 12 anymore attempting to learn DOS to move, rename, zip and delete files with near unlimited spare time with which to learn.  Typical Linux documentation is fantastically dense and guides or forum posts usually lead you down a path mostly blindfolded. The good ones explain what is happening but mostly in a summary way - so you must trust the source and hope nothing has changed between the date of publish and your version.

It's then that I had a thought - AI is supposed to be good at this sort of stuff, let's put that to the test. 

I threw it a bunch of prompts. I wanted to mount a network share, rsync several folders to that share, create a log for monitoring, set it all up in a script and trigger it on a schedule.  I could do this in about 10mins in Windows but in Linux, I barely had a clue where to start - apart from rsync.

So, I leverage the AI and what it gave me was pure gold.  Not only giving me the commands I needed but also explaining what each portion of the script does - plus detail about how to dry run to ensure it would do as I needed - plus the source links to validate what it has told me.

Most of you are probably thinking "Big whoop, you discovered how to use basic Gen AI and have a cheat code. You haven't learnt anything!" - and you're 100% right!

While I could follow the overall premise of the scripts, I still had little idea what the commands and switches actually did. Previously, a lot of what I learned in DOS and powershell was taking other people's work or scripts and Google bits to understand it enough that I could wield it myself and experiment, gradually expanding on it over time.  Sadly I don't have that sort of time and luxury any more.  That's when I realized I could leverage the real power of the AI tool.

I could use it as my own mentor, asking it 1000 obnoxious n00bie questions on the details of exactly what each command did, what every single line of the script did. I could ask it to explain in a different way or liken it to a concept I did understand and then feed it back my interpretation to check that I had the right idea.  What does that parameter actually do? What if I changed this? Etc.

Naturally curious, I have found myself annoying coworkers in the past, asking for this level of detail from them as I learn better in this way than reading documentation and struggling when I have gaps in my knowledge.

This was the sort of tool or mentor I've been wanting all my life and it's my new Linux superpower.  Yes, I can cheat my way to the answer but more than that, I can also quickly break it down to understand exactly what I'm doing, so I'll gradually learn more - and I keep my friends and co-workers on-side, only annoying them when I have really ugly problems!

Now I have my mentor, my next step is setting up a VM as a block of wood to practice my craft on!

I don't want the AI forced on me like Windows is doing, but when I have a solid use case for it, I'm happy to go use it and leverage it to my benefit.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences or has tried different ways of using AI for good rather than just slop.

I'm looking for some advice, it's been a few years since I was into sim racing (AC, PC2, iracing), now I'm looking to get back into sims - mostly offline at first. I have an older Logi G27 wheel & pedals and have recently moved to Linux (Bazzite).

From what I understand, these should work in Linux, however I'm interested in upgrades to make things better. The G27 is fine, wheel is ok and does the job for now (vs my skill level) but the brake pedal is my biggest issue in being consistent.

It's been a while since I've been up to play on hardware, is it worth finding a loadcell brake/mod for the G27 considering the age of this kit, or is it better to replace the entire pedal set with something newer?

It looks pretty quiet in here so I'll post up my new build.

Retiring my old i7-4790 in a Silverstone TJ08-E - which was already a fairly small matx case for the time but besides the lack of USB-3/USB-C, I was quite happy with. Now, it's sticking around as a gaming box for the kids. Approx 28L with optical drive support.

I've recently moved on to a Core Ultra 7 265k where I've had my eye on a Jonsbo Z20 since I first saw them. Sadly, they've been out of stock nationwide (NZ) for the past couple of months. Not wanting to compromise, I decided to wait.

In the meantime, a friend at work offered a surplus case to fill the gap and if it wasn't for the cables on my SFX PSU being too short, I might have stuck with it!

Aerocool CS111 is approx 27L but feels significantly smaller than the Silverstone. It's a nice looking and compact case. Taller than the Z20 but a couple of inches less length which I've tried to show here. Light gauge steel, it doesn't have a premium feel but looks clean and a small desktop footprint thanks to it's vertical alignment. I'd also pulled the handle off the glass which improved the look immensely.

Finally, we reach the main event. The Z20 arrived today and boy am I happy with this choice. I've built hundreds of PCs for customers over the years and this would have to be one of the best designed cases I've ever handled. For it's minute dimensions, it's definitely the easiest small case I've ever built into and one of the easiest to cable nicely. If I had opportunity to build half a dozen of them, I don't think I could get all that much better than my first attempt. I've just a single exhaust fan at the moment and will see how the temperatures - go but I'm not a hardcore gamer or overclocker. I love the fact that the entire case is covered in dust filters too!

Highly recommended!

Aerocool CS111: 7/10

Jonsbo Z20: 9.5/10

*Not able to post the images at the moment, will keep working on that!

As requested, – here is an update on my Linux adventure - the first week has gone by without incident and I'm not turning back!

The tl:dr summary: OMFG. This is probably the EASIEST OS install I’ve ever had – and that’s saying something - since most modern Linux distros are easy!

Reminder of who you’re reading right now – I’m a Windows veteran for the past 25 years and between work and home, I’ve used and supported every flavour from Win95 to Win11 and Server 03 to Server 22. I have installed well-north of 1000 instances in my time, deployed from Floppy, CD, USB, Ghost, WDS and more.

I have dabbled in Linux on-and-off over the years but always on secondary PCs so this is my first time rocking Linux on my primary. I’ve spent the last 12 months experimenting with Linux in preparation for the End-of-10 and this very moment. Testing different distros, Desktop Environments and philosophies while digging into proper Linux learning (not just ‘best Distro’ lists or reviews on YouTube). I’ve had several ‘lightbulb’ moments as I’ve come to learn more about Linux that make me feel like a n00b all over again and I’m loving it. You can read my other lightbulb moment in here.

The remainder of my home gear is already Window-free. Home server: (Unraid), laptop and TV box (Fedora Gnome & KDE respectively). These have all been cut over and running well for the past 6-months as I’ve really sunk my teeth into this new learning. Now that my last hurdle - Windows-only software requirement - is no holding me to Windows, I’m free at last!

Current state: Brand-new parts purchased - and since I couldn’t wait, it’s all hosted in a temporary case while I wait for stock of the exact case I want. Core7 Ultra, B860 and 5060ti for those that care.

Summary: This must be the easiest Linux distro I’ve ever used. Here is a breakdown of what happened:

• Installed Bazzite
• Log into the desktop
• Sign into Steam
• Download Doom 2016
• Play Doom 2016 in glorious ultra widescreen.

It really was that easy. No Drivers to install, no endless Windows updates, no mountains of software to install and configuration to remove all the garbage and regain privacy. Once I got eaten by a Pinky then I quit the game to continue my setup, just a handful of flat pack software installs required to fill the gaps but all that was done in about 20mins. In fact, downloading Doom took longer than the rest of it combined!

And fast! The new hardware helps obviously but I've forgotten how bloated office has become. Libre Office by comparison opens in half a second and everything feels so snappy. Nothing is snappy on Win11, not even notepad anymore.

I watched a very timely video on the weekend featuring a guy with fancy chest-hair and this really hit me where I lived (and worked). So many of Window’s ‘quirks’ are normalised while the same (or less) on Linux is seen as a problem. To paraphrase: we think nothing of editing registry, running PowerShell scripts or sacrificing small woodland creatures to remove built-in functions and apps, and endless other utilities to give us control over our system and yet, if we do anything like this in Linux, it's "too hardcore, not ready for mainstream".

I haven't touched the terminal at all, yet I have to the software I need and my entire PC is ready to use.

If you're someone who's been on the fence about Linux, please don't be. If you last tried it 5+ years ago, I encourage you to revisit. I honestly think Linux is about ready for the mainstream and I genuinely didn't think Bazzite would be this easy getting games going. A huge thank you to the Bazzite team and everyone who contribute to making Linux better and easier!!

This is a story all about how... one sad old sack finally “got” Linux distros.

I've been a very casual Linux user over 20-odd years, mostly on secondary PCs and generally sticking with noob-friendly distros, but only in the last few months I’ve become serious and started to learn the how and why of Linux.

Like many others, this year is my own personal year of Linux on the desktop. My server, media box and laptops are all now running Fedora, only my primary PC remains left behind on Win10 because of critical software keeping me tied to Windows - but from next week that is no longer needed and the shackles are off! I've sampled several different Distros this year to find the perfect fit for this very moment, but this search reminded me how the sheer number of distros annoyed me.

I've always seen the vast number of Distros as wasteful. Effort that could be put into pushing Linux forward rather than creating another fork sideways. I'm not sure now what I thought a distro actually was but I've now come to realise the genius of this (not to say there isn't any replication and waste between Distros).

I had settled on KDE Fedora as my distro of choice some time ago. Then, when I found the idea of an immutable distro, this appealed (to help prevent my dumb-arse breaking things), so I pivoted to Kinoite to give me exactly what I wanted. All I needed was to work out how to get Steam running. Many of you can probably already see where this is going.

In a moment of Picard-level face-palming, I started exploring Bazzite thinking this would give me an idea of what's required. The distro itself looked good and when I went digging deeper, I found an Immutable, Fedora base in either KDE or Gnome. Bazzite is basically Atomic Fedora, pre-configured for gaming! Face-smack. Maybe I thought Bazzite was based on Arch which is why I hadn't looked at it before, but now I better understood the genius of Linux distros. The Bazzite team could take the core of what they want, then tweak it for a specific use-case and release it, thinking others might like it too. They're not reinventing the wheel as I first believed, they were building upon previous work. One of the greatest strengths of open source. I probably already knew this but somehow, I hadn't quite put the pieces together in one place.

TL;DR: I’m a numpty

Tune in tomorrow when I argue that no one should recommend Arch to anyone - and why that's a good thing...

After seeing something similar elsewhere I decided to give this a go.

Honestly, I thought the top 1% (population the size of Hastings) might reach down to Whangarei or at most upper-upper Auckland, but it's the visual representation of the top 10% - basically everything north of about Kaikoura - that shocked me the most!

... to make this the most played song of the year!