Farewell, My Canon Pixma ip1800 Printer! Hello again, Epson XP-231 Printer!

    Yesterday, I discovered that my MX-18 system (32 bits) ran too old for updates. Thus, I started testing MX-21.  This computer is so old and so weird that I always bump into some problem.

    Well, I was right.  Firefox keeps crashing (it started doing it since release 96, I think, on MX-18).  I guess it has to do with the 32 bit architecture because Firefox does not present that issue on my 64 bit laptops.

 

   Then, it was the time to check if my printers worked.  I was totally out of luck with my Canon Pixma ip1800.  Although I had the drivers and knew the way to install them, unsolvable dependencies would make the installation impossible. I'll have to think about a way to get it to work as it is a fine printer and it is perfectly functional. 

   Next, I checked my Epson XP-231 printer.  I did notice something weird: there were no drivers for the XP series! Where did they go? 

 

  Fortunately, a little search got me back on track. Following this method from the friends at Linux Mint, did the job. All I needed to do was to open a terminal and type this command:

 sudo apt-get install printer-driver-escpr

With it, the XP drivers were available again. Instead of the printer setting tool, I used CUPS for the set up. Not to forget, you enter CUPS from your browser by typing this on the address bar:

http://localhost:631

 By the way, the method to get the scanner to function still works! 

The next step will be to see if I can get the printer to go wireless...

It's Been 12 Years with Linux!

Today this blog is celebrating its 12th anniversary! 😄

That also means it has been 12 years since I started using Linux and decided to document my learning and thoughts about the world of the penguin, some days later than Mandriva Linux Chronicles.

Since my first entry here, many distros have gone away (some that were truly dear to me) and others have appeared.

Also, I've seen Linux running on computers that previously would not let it do it. UEFI's restricted boot has interfered with the installation of my favorite distro on some laptops, too. Fortunately, those problems have been solved. 

So, what did I do to celebrate my coming to Linux land?

I bought an external HDD and installed MX Linux on it so that I may use it in my office at work. Using such device to work is extremely important to me, especially because my country was hit by Conti's ransomware and several government institutions, faithful Windows users, are currently experiencing a terrible time.

While they keep repeating the same mistakes and keep falling into the same traps, I will keep my freedom and continue learning.

 

Where Was I at this Time Last Year?

 My job, thanks to all this Covid craze, has kept me busier than ever. While I miss the free time I had in the past, I am indeed glad that I still have a job. Many people have lost theirs and life, in general, has become really tough.

Since my inspiration has left me and I seem to catch the latest news in Tux Land when they are not news any longer (for example, MX-21.1 has been already released and I had no clue!), I haven't been writing much here.

Thus, I decided to do a little retrospective exercise. Where was I at this time last year, for example?  What did I write about?  Did write anything at all in April last year?

I went to check and found only one entry in April: This one. 

What was it about?  Amazing!  Windows updates! What a weird coincidence!

 

This month I spoke with a colleague who had to borrow a laptop from our university to do her online work.  She has a small Linux laptop, but Zoom was not very stable on it.  I recommended my colleague to make sure that Windows updates were already done on the borrowed equipment.

Some days later, she told me that at the end she used the Linux laptop.

I asked her the reason, of course.

"Windows updates simply did not let me use the laptop when I needed it!" was her reply.

As I said before, it is a very strange coincidence that, after a whole year, people keep experiencing the same nasty situation with Windows updates.

Or not?

2021 Is Coming to its End: Time for the Yearly Backups!

 This year has only a few days left.  That means I have to complete the yearly backups.

I still remember the old days, when backups were not fun at all. I mean, I had to format my Windows computer every 6 months and thus, having backups was vital because eventualities would occur regularly.

Right now, although I keep my backing up practice (which I highly recommend to everyone), I haven't had the need to restore from them in years.  In fact, I even have cloned images of my Linux systems that I place on different computers. Thus, if anything happens, I just insert a live USB and install my system with all the configurations.  I keep the files on different media.

Tomorrow I will do the backup of the latest files and I will be ready for next year.

On a different note, I found this image.  That penguin looks familiar! 😜  I guess you can find Linux everywhere now! 

 

 

Bye, Old Router!

My wired connection suddenly went out, along with my main wireless connection, two weeks ago.  Fortunately, I still had another wireless connection, which served me to complete my work while I tried to locate the problem.

It turned out that the problem was my router.  After 18+ years of continuous work, it died. Today I bought a new one and installed it.  I had configured the old one on Windows, with a disc it came with.  To set up the new router, I used Firefox on my little laptop, powered by Linux.

Everything worked without a problem. This is my first network setup using Linux!

MX 21 Beta 1!

 Wow!  I have been so busy that I did not realize MX Linux had its version 21 (Wildflower) Beta 1 released a few days ago.  I am downloading it right now to give it a test drive.  Will it run on my moody Dell laptop?  I really hope so!

 UPDATE 1:  The 32 bit live did not run on my Dell Inspiron 15 3000!  I will try with the 64 bit ISO...

 UPDATE 2:  Total success!  Everything works out of the box!  Even VLC, that gave me headaches on Ubuntu works smoothly.  I tested the beta on a Dell Inspiron 14 3000 as well and both performed equally.

What's next?  Installing and testing, at least on my 15 3000.

Thank you, MX team!  You always surprise me!

Arch's Family Is Here!

I noticed something interesting on DistroWatch's 30-day distro ranking.  EndeavourOS is #2, while Garuda is #6.  I had not heard of those distros before; thus, when I checked on them, I realized that, like Manjaro (#3), they are Arch-based distros.

 

In the past, distros that enjoyed more popularity were Ubuntu-based.  Before that, it was Debian-based and Red Hat distros the ones that populated the first spots. Right now, Red Hat's family is lower in the ranking.

I wonder what motivates those changes. I have not used an Arch-based distro yet. Is it time for me to try one?