Just… Josh Jul 23
Did some more tweaking of my #Gnome set up on the #OrangePiRV2 #riscv #sbc. What y'all think? I dropped a few top bar widgets due to having #Conky displayed.

So far Gnome has been the most stable DE that I have tested. #Cinnamon Wayland not too far behind. X11 works but many applications/programs don't.
Just… Josh Jul 19
Between sumo matches I have been playing around with #JWM on the #OrangePiRV2 tonight.

I like the idea of regularly using a simple window manager but trying to get all the programs/apps/packages to play nice with each other can be a pain.
Just… Josh Jul 19
Took all of 5 minutes to “clean up” my #SBC set-up. I have downsized the SBC that I currently use. Now I am down to the following:

1) @PINE64 Rockpro64 which is my mini #Debian file server (black box with stickers)

2) #MangoPi Pro a D1 #riscv sbc for tinkering (small black box)

3) #RPipico emulating a 128K Macintosh (grey box)

4) #OrangePiRV2 (clear box) an 8core K1 riscv sbc also for tinkering.

All my other sbc are collecting dust in a box until I find a use or they end up in the e-recycling bin.
Show threadJust… Josh Jul 15
More follow up on the #OrangePiRV2:

1) Standard #Cinnamon DE (#Wayland session) runs snappier than the provided #Gnome DE from Orange Pi. The provided #Chromium runs better on Cinnamon too.

2) #SuperTuxKart is very playable with some tweaks. I found that all levels play well with the graphic effects level at 2 and render resolution at 100%. For less intensive levels/tracks, bumping up the graphic levels to 6 (max) is doable if render resolution is dropped to 70%; if bumped up higher the game gets sluggish.

3) Temps ran decent under load. At the hottest I got the lil board up to 60 degrees Celsius; granted this was with a small heat sink and fan that came with an AliExpress case. Also I don’t know how accurate the software sensors are so take it with a grain of salt.

Overall things are looking up for this lil #riscv board.
Just… Josh Jul 15
Currently playing around with two thingies at the moment:
1) Playing around with the #Cinnamon DE (plain Cinnamon, not the Ubuntu altered version) on the #OrangePiRV2. So far things are looking good AND Chromium works (at least on the #Wayland session; have not tested the #Xorg session).

2) I found a spare external ssd drive that I am testing out #GnomeOS with my main PC. It looks interesting; some decisions they made seem a bit odd...

Oh here is a cursory screenshot of the Orange Pi running Cinnamon. Also, this was written on the Orange Pi too! (see if you can spot the typos in my screenshot)

#Neofetch
Just… Josh Jul 12
So much tech stuff was conquered these past few days; hence the non posting.

1) Mini #Debian file server all done and is back to backing up. Oh and it be encrypted too!

2) Picked up an ipad on the cheap. Now I can enjoy the #fediverse from a bigger screen in bed. Oh, #iPadOS26 is pretty meh.

3)Moved the kiddo’s laptop over to the #XFCE spin of @ultramarine@fedi.fyralabs.com. It runs very well on an aging 2 core Asuspro and was easy to make look like his current Windows 10 setup. In short, he is happy.

4) Still playing around with the #OrangePiRV2. It’s a quirky lil guy.
Show threadJust… Josh Jul 9
The #OrangePiRV2 RV2 is am interesting prospect. So far the actual hardware seems more than capable but the software does not seemed to be optimized or ready yet. Several programs will just kill a single core while the other 7 cores just be chilling.

Software storefronts are super slow if they can be installed. Installing #Flatpak or #Snaps is pointless as there is very little available and it all runs like butt.

Other weird quirks are things like the janky #Chromium only working within the #Gnome environment (the version cannot be updated or reinstalled from the repositories provided). Also it is slow AF and does the cpu core issue mentioned above.

Last little round ups: The preinstalled user cannot change their password; so just delete after you create your own. Currently cannot go into a #TTY by using the key shortcuts; ya just get a glitchy black screen with way too fast text popping up and then disappearing for 20 to 30 seconds.
Show threadJust… Josh Jul 6
In my "testing" #XFCE has been running very well with no noticeable issues. #Gnome looked good but ran slow and #LXDE had lots of glitches with the DE setup. I installed #JWM (have not tested) and plan to install #KDE to try out if available.

Web browsers are a very meh. #Dillo works okay, but is not great for "modern" websites. #Chromium (from Orange Pi) works okay but is very slow; standard Chromium is not available. #Epiphany was sooooo slow that is was not usable. #Konqueror installed but was missing dependencies to function. #Surf is working okay; good for basic sites but chugs on more demanding sites like Youtube.

Terminal apps all seem to be working fine. Simple apps like #GoodVibes and #Kpat work with out issues.

3D Games were not playable if they even loaded up. #Minetest opened but was like 1 frame per 3 seconds. #TuxCart installed but would not open.

So far on the #OrangePiRV2 the definitive winners are XFCE, Sakura (teminal), GoodVibes, Kpat, and #plank
Craig BrozefskyJul 5

One downside of using LSPs and formatters external to your editor, is that you now have an exponential explosion in language runtimes and dependencies. I love it when using #HelixEditor on my #nix or other managed, modern workstation, but it becomes a liability when working on tiny machines like my new #orangePiRv2

I went to install marksman, a markdown LSP and discovered it was written in #fsharp -- a language I work in and enjoy, but whose runtime is not ported to risc-v

Now, before turning this into a rant about the sorry state of software, I want to recognize that we all make choices about what dependencies and capabilities we want, and we have many places we can settle on that continuum between 'nostdlib' and node on nix.

If there is a large-scale, or long-term phiiosophical insight from this experience, it is that learning to use the features in helix for selection and alignment allowed me to edit markdown tables very quickly. That was the reason I wanted marksman in the first place.

Working on the basics of typing, and editing, memorization, consistent naming, and simplicity will pay off every time.

𝓘𝓰𝓸𝓻 🏴‍☠️ 🏳️‍🌈 🇮🇹Jun 15
Giochini nerd #RISC-V 😀
#OrangePiRV2