Linux Mint on the Dell 13 7310 and building the Bazzite Meme Machine

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Hello again! Two last little projects before I gear up to start selling off a bunch of projects and builds again soon, should I have to. Need to downsize a bit, as I may be selling my place in coming months. That aside, let’s jump in!

I recently acquired a Dell 13 7310 Chromebook from a prior student of a high school. I first noticed that it was Enterprise Locked, so I reached out to the head of IT for said school, only to receive no response. Fearing the worst, I went ahead and replaced the motherboard for $55 or so, to make sure I started from a clean slate. Enterprise Locking is usually either due to the IT team not properly unenrolling a device before a sale or a student possibly stealing a chromebook.

Next I replaced the 32GB NGFF-sized EMMC module with a 512gb SATA module, as I’ll be shipping this to a friend in need out in the UK. She’ll likely appreciate the larger storage. As I no longer have an Amazon account, due to not wanting to support them, I found a replacement locally.

Now to remove the Write Protect screw and get this baby “Chrultrabook’d” with coreboot!

Looks like Linux Mint Debian Edition is up and running on the main drive fine, so I’ll do another round of updates, preinstall some software for the friend and get it shipped out!
Hmm, may have had the normal Linux Mint distro on this USB for testing. Will make sure everything is working fine there, then wipe it and install LMDE for the friend before shipping out. Made sure to install the keyboard mapping script as well as audio fixes mentioned in this page of the Chrultrabook documentation.

Next up, I have an assortment of new and used parts (mostly new) to build what I’m calling my Bazzite Meme Machine. The naming is due to Intel having a long-running stereotype that their processors suck up too much wattage for what they actually do, and they were known as an oven by a few friends when I worked in California years ago. With this getting Bazzite put on it, I’d like to see how this Arc A580 performs with a 10th gen i5, from before Intel started adding nearly-useless E cores.

However, I think this desktop build will have to wait until the weekend, as I may have a pending interview this week. Here’s hoping I can find new employment before I’m forced to move out of this lovely place.

First Attempt of Alpine Linux on a Tegra K1 Chromebook (HP Nyan Blaze)

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Hi there again! Here’s to another seemingly-one-off project.

While I’ve been getting quite a lot of traffic on my Linux on Nintendo Switch page recently, I’m sorry to say that my Nintendo Switch died and was harvested for parts by an e-recycler for fixing other switches (minus the bad RAM chips) so I won’t be able to work on that project again unless someone donated a 2017 Nintendo Switch for me to firmware mod or a Switch Lite for me to hardware mod.

That said, a neighbor recently gave me an HP Chromebook 14 also known amongst the Chromebook/Chrultrabook modding scene as nyan-blaze. This chromebook appears to have a physical write protect screw, which are fairly easy to undo, instead of a battery write protect method, so getting into developer mode and installing things shouldn’t be too difficult. The hard part comes when I want to install another distro.

So far it seems NVIDIA Tegra K1 chip support amongst ARM Linux distros is fairly limited. With that in mind, and seeing that the volunteeer postmarketOS community may have worked with this in the past, I’ll go ahead and try running that from a MicroSD card on this system.

Now it looks like the battery on this system my be dead or the cable may be shorted, as it seems to turn off immediately when unplugged. I may have to open it back up and check the battery, but first let’s try running through building and installing a postmarketOS image to a MicroSD card to chuck in here.

[12:39:39] EVERYTHING ON /dev/sdb WILL BE ERASED! CONTINUE? (y/n) [n]: y
(029929) [12:39:41] (native) calculate depends of cgpt (pmbootstrap -v for details)
(029929) [12:39:41] (native) install cgpt
(029929) [12:39:41] % sudo rm -f /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/tmp/apk_progress_fifo
(029929) [12:39:41] % sudo mkfifo /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/tmp/apk_progress_fifo
(029929) [12:39:41] (native) % cat /tmp/apk_progress_fifo
(029929) [12:39:41] (native) % sh -c exec 3>/tmp/apk_progress_fifo; apk --no-progress --progress-fd 3 add cgpt --no-interactive
(029929) [12:39:41] New background process: pid=36458, output=background
WARNING: opening /mnt/pmbootstrap/packages: No such file or directory
(1/1) Installing cgpt (6310032-r8)
Executing busybox-1.36.1-r25.trigger
OK: 23 MiB in 71 packages
(029929) [12:39:42] (native) partition /dev/install (boot: 256M, reserved: 0M, root: the rest)
(029929) [12:39:42] (native) % blockdev --getsz /dev/install
1048576000
(029929) [12:39:42] (native) % parted -s /dev/install mktable gpt
(029929) [12:39:42] (native) % cgpt create /dev/install
(029929) [12:39:43] (native) % cgpt add -i 1 -t kernel -b 8192 -s 32768 -l pmOS_kernel -S 1 -T 5 -P 10 /dev/install
(029929) [12:39:43] (native) % cgpt add -i 2 -t efi -b 40960 -s 524288 -l pmOS_boot /dev/install
(029929) [12:39:43] (native) % cgpt add -i 3 -t data -b 565248 -s 1048010719 -l pmOS_root /dev/install
WARNING: One of the GPT headers/entries is invalid

ERROR: please run 'cgpt repair' before adding anything.
(029929) [12:39:43] (native) % partx -a /dev/install
partx: /dev/install: error adding partitions 1-2
(029929) [12:39:43] % sudo touch /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp2
(029929) [12:39:43] % sudo mount --bind /dev/sdb2 /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp2
(029929) [12:39:43] % sudo touch /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp3
(029929) [12:39:43] % sudo mount --bind /dev/sdb3 /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp3
mount: /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp3: special device /dev/sdb3 does not exist.
       dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.
(029929) [12:39:43] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(029929) [12:39:43] NOTE: The failed command's output is above the ^^^ line in the log file: /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/log.txt
(029929) [12:39:43] ERROR: Command failed (exit code 32): % sudo mount --bind /dev/sdb3 /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp3
(029929) [12:39:43] See also: <https://postmarketos.org/troubleshooting>
(029929) [12:39:43] Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/__init__.py", line 63, in main
    getattr(frontend, args.action)(args)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/frontend.py", line 329, in install
    pmb.install.install(args)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/install/_install.py", line 1295, in install
    install_system_image(args, 0, f"rootfs_", step, steps,
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/install/_install.py", line 836, in install_system_image
    pmb.install.partitions_mount(args, layout, disk)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/install/partition.py", line 52, in partitions_mount
    pmb.helpers.mount.bind_file(args, source, target)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/mount.py", line 72, in bind_file
    pmb.helpers.run.root(args, ["mount", "--bind", source,
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/run.py", line 52, in root
    return user(args, cmd, working_dir, output, output_return, check, env,
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/run.py", line 30, in user
    return pmb.helpers.run_core.core(args, msg, cmd, working_dir, output,
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/run_core.py", line 403, in core
    check_return_code(args, code, log_message)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pmb/helpers/run_core.py", line 251, in check_return_code
    raise RuntimeError(f"Command failed (exit code ): " +
RuntimeError: Command failed (exit code 32): % sudo mount --bind /dev/sdb3 /home/s31bz/Documents/nyan-blaze/chroot_native/dev/installp3

From the looks of things, it seems the postmarketOS python script may be having issues with the installed python packages as well as some other issues that I haven’t troubleshot before.

Hmm, I wonder if it’s the aspects of Python on this oddball Nobara 39 install? Perhaps I’ll go give it a try on my pure Fedora 40 install that runs on my Framework. After rebooting the Nobara desktop (after running updates) it seems it’s still failing, and I’m a bit too lazy to dig in deep and see what could be wrong on this install.

While waiting for the process of installing to a new microsd card after fully updating the Fedora 40 Framework 13 (7840U, 48gb ram) I went ahead and unscrewed all the screws that clamp the keyboard deck and bottom half together.

Looks like someone was in here previously! An electrical-taped battery connector doesn’t seem like a safe sight to behold, but that could also explain why it seems this guy doesn’t have a functioning battery. As I got this system for free, and it’s quite flimsy, I’m not about to invest any amount of money in replacing the battery etc, so I’ll just repaste the ARM CPU for now and take out that bottom-right write protect screw.

Now that I’ve removed the write protect screw, let’s see if we can finally install postmarketOS edge to this chromebook, per the instructions on the postmarketOS site.

Sadly, it looks to be that even after updating pmbootstrap and trying to install to an sdcard again on the Fedora 40 laptop, it’s a failure, possibly stemming from more python issues.

Looking Back At My PC Handheld Timeline

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Greetings! Feeling a bit nostalgic currently, so let’s take a look at the handhelds I’ve used over the years. I’ve always been a big fan of tiny PCs my whole life. While “smart”phones have been heralded as the best entry point into computing these days, I’ve always found more enjoyment with handheld x86/64 computers.

This journey started High School Seibz occasionally walking to the mall about a mile from his place of education. I used to go window-shop at the SonyStyle store, back when those were a thing in the late 2000s/early 2010s, to check out all the cool handheld PCs coming out of Japan.

Above, an image of the first one I ever had hands on in 2010 as well as the first one I acquired in 2013 from a summer job while in university. This was the Sony VAIO UX380N. I recall my IT boss at the time telling me I could have anything so long as prior storage was removed and I repaired it onsite so he could make sure I did a good job. I went ahead and upgraded the dead wifi card back then with a spare found in one of the ultralight laptops hanging around the IT office, then bought my own ZIF-connector-based 1.8” SSD to replace the tiny hard drive. After that, and a successful boot-up, it was mine.

More info on this project is available on my page here.

While more information is available on my project page, I’d also like to note that the version of XFCE that shipped with Ubuntu 18.04 at the time was quite capable for older hardware!

It wasn’t until many years later in late 2019/early 2020 that I was able to save up enough funds to afford another handheld PC. This was around the time I was working at Salesforce on contract in the Bay Area. Living in Oakland was nice, and it was even nicer that I had access to the Noisebridge hackerspace in San Francisco whenever something with some hardware went wrong. It was nice being able to just ask people across the Bay what could be fixed, as I needed to swap out the display housing at once point.

More information on this lovely little i5-powered early handheld PC is available on the first GPD project page.

Then, Valve did what I always wished for. They released a Linux first-party gaming handheld, specifically designed to be comfortable and incredibly accessible while gaming. The Steam Deck came out.

I received mine around August 2022 and used it daily pretty much up until the time that I received a GPD Win Mini with the Ryzen 7 and more power at the cost of battery life. The Steam Deck was and still is the only piece of hardware I recommend for new PC gamers coming from a console background, and for Linux enthusiasts that want a handheld developed with them in mind as well.

Want to just play games and not customize anything? That’s fine! Just sign in using the Steam app with a QR code and start installing games! Want to customize the hell out of the interface, install other Linux distros or whatever else you want? That’s fine too! There are tons of Youtube videos on how to customize the Steam Deck using Decky Loader, CryoUtilities and more like this one from Hi-Tech Lo-Life or this one about Desktop mode.

This guy was running a customized-by-Valve distro of Arch out of the gate. The upside to this and their custom Gamescope environment, is that it takes far far less resources to run Steam games than it otherwise would with Windows running in the background. What a wonderful time this gave me.

I thoroughly enjoyed the various lower-power games on the Deck. While it’s max power usage was usually 15W or 20W if I was really pushing it, I tended to mainly go through my backlog of games such as Core Keeper, Fall Guys, Slay The Spire, Risk of Rain Returns and onwards on there. I also did a lot of working on my Deck script (that I need to finish eventually) with getting Nix packages installed along with Flatpaks, and CryoUtilities preinstalled etc. It seems some in the community appreciate that.

At one point, I ordered an Anbernic Win600 low-powered handheld PC to see what it would be like as a testbed for ChimeraOS on another Windows-first-party handheld. I detail my time with this more in a previous blog post here, however know that it was a tad underpowered for the Amazon price it was listed at at the time ($320).

I ended up giving this to my friend Nate who wanted to try out a similar form factor to the Deck before debating getting one. What a nice lad.

Next up we have a rare Japanese-market Nanote P8 that was designed for note-taking and to serve as a little palmtop for students. I was gifted this at some point either at the beginning or end of 2023 from a friend that brought it back when he came back from Japan for his wedding... or to visit the in-laws? It’s quite the low powered fanless Pentium-based guy with an optical trackpoint for mouse navigation and QUITE the cramped keyboard!

This originally shipped with Windows 10 for some UNGODLY reason, as it could barely function on the soldered 8GB of slower RAM and 64GB eMMC soldered drive. I ended up wiping that off, adding a 512gb MicroSD card and did a custom Arch Linux install split between the eMMC for booting/OS and the MicroSD card for the home folder.

I also tested various Ubuntu distros on here with lighter desktop environments, but Arch ultimately won over due to how lightweight it was. I love seeing interesting little handhelds come out of Japan!

Above is a more recent picture of the Nanote, docked at the current “workbench” area of my condo. I ended up going with a bulletproof Fedora KDE install on there instead of Arch, as I knew I wasn’t going to be staying on top of updates for this device in the long run. As slow as that Pentium is, it somehow handles KDE fine these days!

As I have with all other devices I’ve owned on this blog post, I added the specs for this to my Hardware Setup timeline page here.

Enter 2023 and my era of owning the GPD Win Mini. Towards the end of the year, my preorder for the Ryzen 7 7840U + 32GB Ram + 1TB NVMe model came. I ended up swapping the NVMe it came with that ran Windows 11 with a faster NVMe, so I could keep the original image safe as well as have a dedicated fresh drive to boot Linux from.

My testing originally started out with Nobara Linux and then ChimeraOS, to see how things were running. I originally posted info about testing those distros in this Github issue here. What a fun little handheld this is! It’s around the size of a Nintendo 3DS if not smaller from certain angles. This guy ran almost any game I threw at it, but most higher-power games at the expense of battery life for sure.

While more information is available about this GPD Win Mini on the dedicated project page, I went from ChimeraOS over to Arch Linux KDE more recently, as this thing could serve quite well as an everything machine on the go. Open Steam Big Picture to feel like the Deck when gaming, then switch the input from controller to mouse and keyboard when working on documents or streaming media.

I quite fancy this little guy.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Below are a few videos and projects I’ve been taking a look at recently:

Q3 2023 Update

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Greetings, all! Outside of hiking and the job hunt, there’s not much to update on here for now, but I am still alive and active!

The original plan was to sell a bunch of self-refurbished and wiped machines on a store here. Turns out I didn’t have enough traffic for that, due to not sticking to a posting schedule, so I went ahead and listed the original Corsair One Pro on a family member’s eBay.

As my Dell G5 5505 is casually experiencing cpu errors in the journal and dmesg logs on a bi-daily basis, I’ve gone ahead and completely wiped both drives in it. If my tinkery friend ends up not wanting it, I’ll probably gut what parts I can reuse out of it and dispose of the hull at an ewaste facility in Denver.

Next, I took the rear panel off the T440p that I’ve used for a good few years. More on my known computer timeline on my current hardware page here. I went ahead and cleaned the little fan, as well as repasted the i7-4710mq I believe it is. Looks like the SSD I had originally added to this customized beast back in the day is still rocking and working fine. Go sandisk!

One downside with the original plastering of stickers this had on the rear of the LCD panel is that isopropyl alcohol + a razor blade seem to cause damage to the rubberized coating that was on here. Now I’m waiting on a decal to cover up this coating and better protect the rear. Once the rest of the chassis for this guy is cleaned up, I’ll do a test install of Ubuntu and a test install of Windows 10 before re-wiping the drive and posting it up on eBay as well.

The next machine after these two that I’m going to work on selling is the old Oryx Pro oryp4 model that I have. It was refurbished by System76 officially in 2022 for me, though I believe it was originally released in 2018- here’s the web archive link for that page.

In the spirit of the original release for that machine, I’ll likely end up listing it with either No OS or Pop!_OS 22.04 preinstalled.
On another note, here are some cool videos and blog posts that I’ve been into recently:

Steam Machine after-build Update

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Hi there again! Following up with the prior blog post here. I have a few fixes for my Steam Machine build that I may have experienced some anomalies with after initially building it and installing ChimeraOS that I’ll address here. Also, the Steam Deck might get Nix package support soon, so I’ll give some thoughts on that here.

Regarding that Steam Machine that I mentioned finally building in my last update here, I've made a few fixes that seemed to be necessary.  
After the initial install, it seemed the system was experiencing some lag.

I went ahead ahead and updated the ASRock Fatality AB350 board from P6.60 to P7.00, then finished by updating to the recent P7.40 release found here. I utilized ASRock’s quick flash utility, which doesn’t require an OS to flash the BIOS, which was nice.

After updating the BIOS, and then redoing the Battle.net install utilizing Proton instead of running it through Lutris, since the steam shortcut can no longer be made utilizing that method in ChimeraOS, Diablo IV is now showing up in the Steam Big Picture mode.

In other news, I’ve been following along with a recent Nix comment made here. This gives me hope that we’ll be seeing a dedicated “/nix” directory added by default to SteamOS soon by the developers.

My Steam Deck "deckscript" has been sitting idle for a little while, due to constant changes in SteamOS from Valve wiping out any installed pacman packages. I've expanded more info on how I plan to migrate the bash script to one that mainly installs nix packages and flatpaks, plus grabbing enhancements, in the pull request here.


Here's a short little recording below, of what happened when I tried to set up the Nix package manager on the Deck via the terminal.
I'll be able to make more progress on this once that new SteamOS release comes out and gives us a predefined `/nix` directory in the future.

I’ll also be working on migrating my Fedora post-install script and the same with my Pop!_OS script over to Ansible roles or playbooks in the future, as I’m getting back on the train that was slowly learning about that. I’m mainly learning about it at night, so it may be a little while. Pull request for that is linked here.

I’ve also gone ahead and set up Syncthing between my ChimeraOS Steam Machine (that I renamed to Illyria) as well as my desktop and gabegear-named Steam Deck. This helps me sync Yuzu save data and keys, as well as aids me in creating a serverless cloud-sync between devices for Steam games that don’t support cloud saves. More info on getting setup is available at their site here.