I am installing Debian 13 Trixie (recently released as Debian Stable) on a Virtual machine (VM) using the B-TRee File System (BTRFS). The Debian installer supports installing a BTRFS volume to a partition, and creating a single sub volume within. With the terminal I will be modifying a BTRFS volume that spans multiple drives, and contains multiple sub volumes.
A portion of this work will need to be done outside the Debian installer. The most common methods involve either mid install break out or post install. I have not found any information on pre install procedures for this. Looking at the way the Debian installer works this may not be possible.
In this article I will be doing a post install file system modification. To me this seems the most straight forward and easy to understand method.
Are you having frame rate issues in video games? Battery life tanking fast? These could be caused by having multiple graphics cards, and using the wrong one.
Today many laptops and desktops have two graphics cards. An integrated one for normal light usage, and a discrete one for more robust power usage, like gaming.
Selecting the right graphics card for each situation will improve both frame rate and battery life..
Today I am going to identify and control multiple graphics cards with Linux, as simply as possible. A valuable skill for your Linux tool box
I would be remiss if I did not point out that this process can be dependent to some extent on Linux Distribution, desktop environment, and hardware
In this video I am using a MSI laptop running Fedora Linux with a KDE Plasma desktop. Your millage with this process might vary if your setup is significantly different from mine.
I want to take a look at a very basic Ollama Artificial Intelligence (AI) model and track the information flow from query to results. For those who are new to AI, Ollama is a Application Program Interface (API) for Large Language modes (LLM). The combination of API and LLM make up a basic AI. And I want to examine how data flows in this process.
The basic components of the model include the User, some type of interface between the User and the Ollama, The Ollama API itself, and a LLM. It should be noted that there are many different LLM models. As this model does not call out a specific LLM, the limiting factor will be if the LLM will run on the hardware being used. The larger the LLM model, the more precise the response, however more resources, in the form of processor cores and RAM, will be required to run it.
Greetings. I want to discuss Direct Attached Storage (DAS). What it is and why you might need it.
In my current situation I am living off a laptop, with a couple of DAS devices. Both devices cost about the same. However one is solid state and much faster. The other is mechanical and much larger.
Probably, the vast majority of people using computers may only need DAS, and not any sort of network solution.
Flash Drives have gotten very large lately. They sort of took over DAS from cdrom/dvrom once they hit 8 GB and bigger. And I know people who use flash drives, and SD cards, as many laptops have a SD slot built in.
There are external hard drives. TB of inexpensive storage. One just needs to chose between mechanical and solid state. Solid state is faster, but mechanical is still cheaper per GB.
Then there are a wide variety of options for using internal drives externally. USB to SATA, and multi bay drives, some even supporting hardware RAID. Though these options loose something in the form of portability.
I posted a video going over my inital experiences with the FreedomBox server software based on Debian. I want to relate my thoughts after using FreedomBox in a Vert Manager VM for awhile
I first recommend reviewing the Video, as it provides the basis for my thoughts. I did test additional applications beyond waht is presented in the video.
FreedomBox My Thoughts
Note these applications are current as of MAY 2025. This is not a complete list, but an example of what is available
Applications should be considered the server part of a server client setup, in that your computer is the client to a server.
All application are part of the Debian repositories. This is why Freedombox is referred to as pure Debian. Because of this one needs to be aware that most are not going to be the latest versions. This is generally not a problem, except where the application can use additional plugins form outside the Debian ecosystem.
Nextcloud and WordPress are examples where one needs to perform due diligence and make sure any modules, extensions, and plugins are compatible.
One should also be aware that if an application is updated via the web, the version will no longer match what is in the Debian repositories.
FreedomBox My Thoughts
In general applications are easy to install. However one must read the instructions carefully. Most of the installations are somewhat limited.
Some of this will seem obvious to experienced users. However the experinced user is not the target audience.
For example when installing SAMBA, one should really create the directories to share first. Otherwise one will need to backtrack after installing. While one can install SAMBA with a single click, achieving ones desired configuration involves a lot of jumping around between different pages, and having an understanding of how SAMBA manages shares.
Some applications are easier than others to install. My advice would be to do a manual install and setup on a test server before trying it with FreedomBox. In soime cases having an understanding of how an application works will help one understand and troubleshoot the setup on FrredomBox
That being said, if one understands the applications, Freedombox can be an effective way to get a server up and running quickly with minimal fuss.
Retired Techie
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