Skip to main content

Partial decommissioning of Gandalf


The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine.

After a few months of continuous use of Linux Mint – mainly for simple browsing during workday lunchtimes and weekdays –  the headline of the project remains that wholesale migration from Windows to Linux is not functionally possible, for the reasons cited therein.  In this instance, the short story is no Microsoft Excel, no Foxit PDF browser for Windows, no on-the-fly VPN client.

Consequently, there is no further development use of Gandalf.  Gandalf has other issues as well: even in last days as a Windows machine, the hard drive had developed a nasty habit of intensive operation, wasting time and resources on misadventure not commanded by the user.  The habit has returned to Gandalf as a Linux machine, meaning that the user needs to sit around for up to fifteen minutes from time-to-time while Gandalf faffs around for no good reason.  There could be an underlying hardware issue of the hard disk.

Two apps give rise to the symptoms in Linux: rm and timeshift.  Timeshift is easy to resolve: just uninstall it.  But rm is fundamental to the operating system; difficult to see how rm could be usefully removed.

Rather than re-install Linux on Gandalf, Gandalf had the following applied:
  • Deletion of non-admin user account;
  • Uninstallation of FoxIT PDF Reader for Linux;
  • Uninstallation of Bleachbit;
  • Uninstallation of VeraCrypt;
  • Uninstallation of grive2;
  • Installation of secure-delete;
  • Running of sfill -lvz /.


With no user data to sync, Legolas uninstalled FreeFileSync.

This leaves Gandalf as a useable machine for a really patient user for light browsing only.

Google-drive-ocamlfuse remains on Gandalf.  A future session would need to create a new non-admin user account in which to run google-drive-ocamlfuse.

Gandalf thus reverts to a nearly-identical functional build as new laptop Sibelius, running Linux Mint 19.



End of post.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scanning & OCRring to PDF: Simple Scan, gimagereader and gscan2pdf v NAPS2 for Windows

The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine. This stage relates to scanning paper documents to PDF and digitising the scanned text via optical character recognition. Environment & required functionality The scan-and-OCR function needs to run on the following machines: The Linux Mint Xfce 18.3 laptop " Gandalf "; A Linux Mint Xfce 18.3 virtual machine " Gimli "; The Windows 10 laptop " Legolas ". In any modern office - whether at home or at work - some transactional documents and documents from public authorities still arrive by snail-mail. This requires the ability to scan all documents, optionally with the digitisation of scanned text (typically via optical character recognition). The hardware is an old HP OfficeJet Pro 276dw, connected to the LAN instead of directly to a workstation. Alternatives There are two strategies: To use the software pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Status report: wholesale migration from Windows to Linux is not functionally possible

As at mid-May2019 , it was clear that the path to migration from Windows to Linux was obstructed by a lack of apps that are fit-for-purpose being available in the Linux environment. Since May2019, there has been no change to the apps/functionalities then listed in the section, "Path to migration is obstructed by apps which are incompatible or otherwise unusable."  Developments in the interim have merely confirmed that the apps available for the Linux environment are not fit-for-purpose, and are unlikely to be fit-for-purpose for the foreseeable future . So, it's time for a change of tack.  The time is right to deploy Occam's Razor. In short, the Linux Mint offers a perfect solution to the jaded Windows user.  The only problem with Linux Mint is not of Linux Mint's making.  The problem is a lack of apps that are fit-for-purpose in the Linux environment.  By fit-for-purpose, I mean apps that meet the hygiene requirements of office-based, corporate lackeys wh...
Post a Comment
Read more

An attempt at full-disk encryption: Vera Crypt

The project is to build a Linux Mint machine to have the identical functionality and ergonomics as the existing Windows 10 machine. This stage relates to testing full-disk encryption using VeraCrypt . Environment & required functionality Full-disk encryption needs to run on the following machines: The Linux Mint Xfce 18.3 laptop " Gandalf "; The Windows 10 laptop " Legolas ". The objective requirement is to protect user data from the physical theft of the physical machine, to provide an additional line of defence against data loss. This is probably more important for Windows than for Linux Mint.   Even so, in both cases, the operating system is likely to log activity which can reveal personal data and user (meta)data. Full-disk encryption does not mitigate against Microsoft’s sinister telemetry functionality, for which the main solutions seem to be: Either to use tools whose developers are constantly on the prowl, hunting for t...
Post a Comment
Read more