Zorin 16 as daily driver anybody?

StarTreker · September 9, 2026, 4:42pm

Hello world, this is Startreker coming back to you from the Abyss, after 2 power outages in a week! The first one was caused by a 2-car evolved crash, outage lasted only 4-hours, no fatalities thank goodness. Unfortunately, the 2nd power outage was caused by a no clue semi-truck driver, who knocked down a power pole, killing power and cable for over 1,000 customers.

The 2nd outage lasted 10-hours, and I had to burn several gallons of fuel in my generator, in order to prevent my food spoiling. Fortunately it wasn't winter time, so I didn't need power to run heaters. I used the gen to power my fridge, an air conditioner, and to run my computer, so that I could at least play some Half Life 2, since the internet was out, its not like I could have used that.

The internet unfortunately didn't return till this morning, it was still out when I went to bed last night. Also, that was not the first time a semi truck brought down power poles, this has happened before. I think to get a CDL these days, you just need a face. Sad state of affairs we are in, but we do the best we can. I was also not the only one running a generator either, there was 1-other home that was in our area.

I can't tell you how happy I am to get back to Zorin OS 18. I can't believe how quickly my computer boots into it!

systemd-analyze time
Startup finished in 11.643s (firmware) + 988ms (loader) + 3.044s (kernel) + 7.445s (userspace) = 23.121s

wesoliv429 · September 9, 2026, 7:56pm

As an ex semi driver of 27 years i do agree there are alot out there now who shouldnt have a CDL at all. Most drivers are pros others..not so much DOT is slowly weaning them out but theres a long way to go

StarTreker · September 10, 2026, 5:19pm

Thank you for having been a good truck driver, who didn't cause accidents, and got the products where they needed to be going.

We can only hope.

OK quick update for the forum. I've been playing Half Life 2, a pretty old game by computer standards, but I was in the mood to play it, before I start playing games that really push the machine. I've been gaming 300-FPS, no big deal.

I was running into an audio issue, that would happen with any computer, ground loop hum, and GPU buzz as well as static, has been bleeding off into the audio, as I use a USB connected DAC unit, plugged into the computer. I did some research, and found out about the IFI Defender+, which is a USB connected ground loop isolater, silences a bad noise floor.

This thing doesn't come with a USB-C charge adapter, so I picked up the tried and true brand Anker, for a little single outlet plugin charger, which came with a handy USB-C 6 foot cable, which I plugged into the IFI adapter. This is so simple, anyone could do it, even non tech savvy folks.

Ya I know, a lot of cables, story of a tech persons life. As you can see, the IFI adapter is an inline device, plug it into an available USB port, it can be a 2.0 port, or a 3.0 port, and plug your USB audio cable into the back of the IFI, then plug in the USB-C charge cable.

It works perfectly, it removed the hum, buzz, & static, noise floor cleaned up. Nobody wants to listen to low pitched & high pitched buzzes all the time, another quality of life improvement.

wsmather · September 10, 2026, 8:20pm

I don't suppose they make one of those for social media?

StarTreker · September 11, 2026, 7:15pm

HAHA, thats a good one. The best thing to do, is to never be on social media. Originally, the idea was invented, back in the days of Myspace, so that family could stay better connected. Funny cause, unless you were a millennial, nobody from the silent/dreamer generation was going to use it, not even boomers got immediately onboard.

It wasn't until Facebook landed on the scene, did boomers start losing their minds with it. Now since then, everybody seems to use social media now, and now everybody is getting their minds brainwashed with it. Its nothing but a cesspool. AI uses it against humans too BTW, best to stay away from that garbage.

On the plus side, I finally figured out what was wrong with my Keychron keyboard, somehow it got switched to wireless mode, which I don't use, so I never set it up. Its a tiny black switch in the back, on a black case, dang hard to see without a flashlight. Once I moved the switch back to wired mode, the keyboard starting working again. Thank goodness!

Old picture, I run the lighting in all blue now.

Brown switches feel so much better to type on then blue switches.

wsmather · September 11, 2026, 10:38pm

Great feeling to fix something isn't it... especially when it's an indispensable favorite component.
I'm a boomer and grateful to have not have been seduced by SM (stands for Social Media, but also Sado-Masochistic).

I know what you mean about Cherry switches. Back when you could still get them for around $25 or $30, I bought a few Cherry MX 11900 keyboards, which use Cherry MX Black mechanical switches. These were used at checkout counters, and so were made to last.

But my favorite is an old 1999 vintage Compaq MX-11800 (a rebranded Cherry G80-11800 with an integrated trackball) which uses Cherry MX Browns. (sigh)

On both models, the spacebar is an exception: Here they have a Cherry MX Tactile Grey switch to provide higher resistance for the heavier keycap.

StarTreker · September 12, 2026, 10:48pm

Yes, those days brings me back. Picture it, the year is 2005 (what am I Sophia from GG? LOL) the F.E.A.R FPS game is released. I was still using an cheap late 90's mushy membrane keyboard. Then a friend recommended me getting one of the new Cherry MX DIY keyboards, I slapped those browns in there, like I was a kid in a candy store. My refound love of mechanical's world reopened for me. (I used IBM mechanical's in the past, I think they were called model M's. (M for mature I'm sure loll)

Then all I needed was to be eating a bowl of cherries, while typing on my cherries HAHA. I kept that keyboard believe it or not, I kept using it for the longest time, till the switches went end up life, and were failing one by one. Gosh, the 2000's already feel like a lifetime ago, so much has changed in computer technology since then. We went from still straddeling 32-bit CPU's, with still having separate North & South bridge chipsets & PCI/AGP slots, to 64-bit CPU's, fully integrated chipsets into CPU, and the birth of the PCI-16 slot, for which we still use today.

BTW, I have an update for the forum. For as much as I hate AI, I always end up having it help me to do things, for which I have no skill for, like coding a configuration file, and troubleshooting issues. I had an oddly pleasant conversation with Gemini today, who helped me to build my own custom Conky widget, to display just the hardware information that I need. I know I could have gotten one of the already made ones from the community, but they display far too much information, I don't need my storage space at a glance, nor network data usage either. What do you think? I'm personally proud of it.

Quick update: I didn't notice the degree C symbol was missing, due to Linux syntax error. Once again, Gemini got it sorted out, here's the after picture...

And because everything is a process, and as humans we miss things, I eventually spotted the missing CPU info, oops. So here we go again, and hopefully for the final time...

wsmather · September 12, 2026, 11:41pm

Looks great against the dark sky. Maybe I'll do a conky someday - when I get a computer whose specs I don't mind looking at.
Speaking of the dark desktop, is yours one that varies between day, dusk, and night? I had the Zorin 16 version of that, but like the night time one so much (my office is a basement cave) that I took a screenshot and made it the permanent desktop. Ahhh....

StarTreker · September 13, 2026, 12:09am

Thanks, both you, Gemini, and I agree, its really is breathtakingly stellar. I also agree, when you got the specs, its nice to be reminded of them.

Zorin OS 18.1 certainly has that feature, but I didn't enable it. I simply chose the dark them, which I feel, is the best stock Zorin background theme yet. @swarfendor437 is so right as well about that!

Your job is after my own heart. I don't want to be up there with the corporate white collar snobs, I wanna be down in the basement, IT Crowd style, enjoying my solitude, no office hijinks, just the occasional............

It Crowd Maurice Moss GIF

I could never forget the Zorin OS 16 dark mode theme, for I have lived many lives on that mountain peak. Now my home abode has been upgraded, to the stellar package suite. I'm already enjoying my stay, a lot more then I thought I would, even though I have to work around Gnome's lockdown architecture. Yeah well, it can't stop Gemini, who's a lot smarter then me, it was it, who got around Gnome's BS, and we came out in triumph.

JustZorin · September 13, 2026, 12:41pm

This chat makes me non stop smiling:

Have already frozen facial muscle soreness... Hihi