Ho, Ho, Ho with xsnow!

📅 December 15, 2020
With Christmas and snowy weather this time of year, why not add some gaudy festive decoration to your carefully crafted clean and minimal Linux desktop?

xsnow is a program that displays falling snow animations on top of your Linux desktop wallpaper complete with stars, wind gusts, accumulating snow, shooting stars, and Santa in his sleigh!

Upgrading the Linux Kernel with NVIDIA Drivers

📅 October 18, 2020

I enjoy testing out new Linux kernels as they are released, but this can mess up the graphics if using NVIDIA graphics cards. As a result, it is necessary to reinstall or upgrade the NVIDIA graphics cards too.

The advice given in this article is identical to a previous article describing how to upgrade to Linux kernel 5.8.0 with NVIDIA graphics, so not much has changed since then aside from the software versions.

Here is a revised step-by-step kernel upgrade tutorial (with pictures!) that I have found to be 100% successful with Linux Mint and NVIDIA 1050/1060 graphics cards.

Linux Mint 20, Kernel 5.8.0, and NVIDIA Driver 450.57

📅 August 3, 2020
Linux kernel 5.8.0 was released a little while ago, and, like every inquisitive Linux user who needs to run the latest and greatest kernel just because it has a new version number, I installed it in Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon to see how it would perform.

The result? It’s great! Well, it works just as good as any other kernel I have tried. However, I did run into issues with the latest NVIDIA driver 450.57 because, well, that has a new version number too!

Installing kernel 5.8.0 was easy. Getting the NVIDIA driver to play with it was tricky, but I managed to get it working eventually. Here are a few notes from my experience.

EVGA RTX 2080 Super XC Ultra Review

📅 June 27, 2020
The 2080 line of graphics cards has been available for a while, so there has been time to see what these cards are capable of.

Recently, I had the opportunity to try the EVGA RTX 2080 Super graphics card for myself in Linux and Windows systems. The result was impressive (in Windows) and not so impressive (in Linux) at the same time.

How can this be? Here are my thoughts.

How to Set the Default Monitor Refresh Rate

📅 September 15, 2017
“How can I make Linux Mint default to 100Hz for my fancy ultrawide monitor?”

If you are using a high-end monitor with Linux, such as the Acer Predator X34, that supports refresh rates higher than 60Hz, then you have probably noticed that Linux Mint defaults to a high refresh rate (100Hz if overclocked) at the login screen, but returns to a lower refresh rate (50Hz or 60Hz) after showing the desktop.

Sure, you can change the refresh rate to 100Hz manually using the Nvidia control panel, but this is a minor inconvenience that must be performed upon each boot.

“Is there a way to make the change persistent across reboots so I can always startup with, say, 80Hz?”

Yes. This article shows how to set a default refresh rate in Linux Mint 18.2 with the proprietary Nvidia drivers installed. The change is persistent across reboots. While this article uses the Acer Predator X34 overclocked to 100Hz, the same method should apply to any other monitor if using Nvidia drivers.

The Acer Predator X34 and Linux: Does It Work?

📅 September 9, 2017
“Does the Predator X34 ultra widescreen monitor work with Linux?”

Ultra widescreen 21:9 displays are increasing in numbers. Most reviews focus on games and Windows, but how well does a 21:9 aspect ratio monitor work with Linux?

Specifically, what can we expect with the top-of-the-line Acer Predator X34 display with a 100Hz refresh rate? Will the picture be stretched? Can we achieve a refresh rate higher than 60Hz in Linux? Will G-Sync truly produce smoother gameplay? Are there any unknown issues to be aware of when using Linux?

Yes, there are issues. Here are my results when testing the monitor with Linux Mint 18.2, Xubuntu 16.04, and Windows 7.

The EVGA GTX 1060 SC and Linux Mint 18.1

📅 May 30, 2017
Running Linux at high resolutions with fancy desktop effects works well on low-end graphics cards, but I wanted smoother performance, silent or near-silent graphics, and plenty of ports for different monitors. What to do?

Why, look for a new card, of course!

The latest 1080 line from Nvidia is overkill for my needs, but the 1060 is perfect. I wanted smoother desktop effects compared to the older Radeon card I had been using, and when I found the EVGA 1060 SC 3GB graphics card on sale, it was a must-buy.

Featuring lower power consumption, more cores, higher clock speeds, five ports to connect a variety of monitors, and favorable performance (in case my original plans on Linux are lackluster I can still use this card elsewhere), this 1060 card is a winner for my humble needs.

There are two versions of the GTX 1060: a 3GB version and a 6GB version. After pondering various benchmarks and reviews, I saw almost no difference between the two versions (other than the huge price difference at the time), so I chose the 3GB version. After all, it was on sale comparable to the cost of a lesser 1050, which only had three ports.

The real questions are these:

• “How does the EVGA GTX 1060 SC perform in Linux Mint 18.1?”
• “Is it easy to install drivers?”
• “Does it even work at all?”

Here is my experience installing and using this card with Linux Mint 18.1 64-bit.

Better PlayStation Video with RGB SCART

📅 October 15, 2016
Yearning to play games on an original PlayStation console but dislike the poor video quality?

Most modern HDTVs available today only offer HDMI and maybe component video inputs — neither of which the PlayStation (PSX/PS1/PSOne) supports.

However, the PSX outputs RGB (red/green/blue) signals through its video output port to produce the best colors and picture quality.

How can we use RGB with today’s HDMI televisions and monitors? This requires two items: a PSX SCART cable and a SCART-to-HDMI converter. With these, we can achieve almost pixel-perfect sharpness and colors from a nearly 20-year-old gaming console.

EVGA 980 Ti 2-Way SLI Performance with Modded Skyrim and ENB

How smoothly will a heavily-modded, ENB-rich Skyrim perform when using two EVGA 980 Ti graphics cards in 2-way SLI?

Will Skyrim achieve 60 fps with ENB at 5760×1080 resolution using NVIDIA Surround?

Reviews adulate the power of the 980 Ti, but answers to these questions were nonexistent. The game Skyrim features beautiful eyecandy when modified with high-resolution textures, lighting effects, and high-performance, crash-inducing modifications, but these modifications produce a heavy performance hit that can bring the mightiest of graphics cards to their knees..

No 980 Ti reviews that I have read discuss performance when modifying older games. This is a shame because unoptimized games, like Skyrim, often require more GPU power to produce cutting-edge effects than the latest blockbuster games, which have been optimized for current technology. As a result, how well a new graphics cards runs a modified game — particularly Skyrim with ENB — can offer a glimpse into the card’s true potential.

While many older games can be modified, I chose to test Skyrim due the near-photographic results that are possible with its lush environment. Is ENB-laden Skyrim playable? Will Skyrim crash? Will there be the dreaded Blue Screen of Death? 1920×1080 resolution runs fine no matter what the game, but what about NVIDIA Surround at 5760×1080?

I had the opportunity to test two EVGA 980 Ti graphics cards in SLI (Scalable Link Interface) to see how a modified Skyrim would perform with ENB effects enabled. I compared these results to two MSi N770 Lighting graphics cards in 2-way SLI. The difference was amazing!

Xubuntu 13.10, Compiz, and Emerald

⌚ April 14, 2014
Ah, Compiz. The graphical darling of the Linux world that instantly grabs people’s attention and makes them ask, “Cool! How can I make my computer do that?”

Ah, Compiz. Why must you be so quirky?

Before Unity and GNOME 3, Compiz and Emerald were easy to setup and run most of the time. The Ubuntu 10.10 era made the process simple, and Linux Mint 10 was even simpler.

These days, Compiz and Emerald can be a struggle. Are they feasible on today’s distributions? Yes, but… Being a tremendous fan of Compiz and Emerald, I resolved to make them work in Xubuntu 13.10 and Linux Mint 16 MATE, and this led to contradicting results yearning for the “good ol’ days.”