cyberwolfie

I've been having some issues with my network card on my new Minisforum UM690S. The issue is related to both WiFi and Bluetooth, but seeing as I have now a cabled connection for internet (and it will stay that way), I am really just in need of solving this for the Bluetooth-issue. I've been trying to figure out how to solve this using iwconfig and hciconfig, but so far I am coming up empty with a concrete solution.

The problem: The Bluetooth signal strength seems to be very poor. The computer is in a cupboard under my TV, with a wooden panel blocking the line of sight (this will need to stay closed). I use a Bluetooth keyboard with mousepad, and otherwise I connect game controllers when I want to play games. If I am close enough to the machine, especially the controllers work just fine while the keyboard is a bit wonky, but when I am in my couch (about 3 m / 10 ft away), the keyboard stops working and the game controllers are behaving mad. There will be many lines in dmesg reporting from the controller that says something like "compensating for 27 dropped IMU reports". This is a big problem for me, because the computer's main function is as an entertainment station where I will spend 99% of my time using the computer in the couch.

The keyboard has been used with no problems with a previous computer at the same distance, never had any issues with it then. I also had a similar issue with my WiFi - when the computer was temporarily placed in a room further from my WiFi hotspot, the dl/ul speeds were extremely slow. Moving the computer much closer to the hotspot fixed this issue.

I suspect the root of the issue is the low transmitting power, which for WiFi is reported to be 3 dBm (output from iwconfig). My laptop outputs 22 dBm, and the previous computer would output the same (if not 20 dBm). I don't understand the output that hciconfig inqtpl yields, but the number following "TX bytes" is significantly lower than on my laptop. I think I need to change this, but I am not entirely sure how and to what, and if it is even a good idea to mess around with this.

Some relevant (?) output: Let me know if there are other output that can be helpful in diagnosing / fixing the problem.

$ inxi -Fxpmrz
...
Network:  
    Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7921 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter.
        driver: mt7921e v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0
...
Bluetooth:
    Device-1: MediaTek Wireless_Device type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
        bus-ID: 5-3:2
    Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
        bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2

$ hciconfig inqtpl
hci0:        Type: Primary    Bus: USB
             BD Address: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX    ACL MTU: 1021:6    SCO MTU:  240:8
             UP RUNNING PSCAN
             RX bytes:12353226  acl:217808  sco:0  events:496   errors:0
             TX bytes:10815  acl:145   sco:0    commands:193  errors.0

$ iwconfig
wlan0            IEEE 802.11   ESSID:"MyNetwork"
                 Mode:Managed    Frequency: 5.5 GHz   Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
                 Bit Rate=780 Mb/s   Tx-Power=3 dBm
                 Retry short limit:7    RTS thr:off      Fragment thr:off 
                 Power Management:off
                 Link Quality=70/70    Signal level=-32 dBm
                 Rx invalid nwid:0   Rx invalid crypt:0    Rx invalid frag:0
                 Tx excessive retries:0     Invalid misc:0       Missed beacon:0

I am trying to set up KDE Connect between a machine running Linux Mint and my Android-device. It does not show up, and it turns out I don't receive any response if I ping it, and I have the same issue trying to ping the machine from my Android device (from Termux). I've tried two different Android devices, but no luck.

This is not an issue with two other machines I have. Both have KDE Connect setup and I can ping the phone just fine, and I can also ping from the phone. They're all connected to the same VLAN. I can also ping from this machine to the other machines. ufw is disabled.

What could be the issue here?

EDIT: Connection established suddenly after installing and running iptraf.

I'm trying to connect my Wiimote via Bluetooth to a new Minisforum UM690S running Linux Mint 21.3. I'm using this post from the ArchWiki as a reference, and I am fully able to do this successfully on my laptop (running Tuxedo OS 2) and another mini-PC running Pop_OS!

I use the Bluetooth Devices-menu in Linux Mint to do this. The Wiimote is discoverable, and I get a message saying it is connected. However, the four, blue LEDs keep flashing (although they keep doing so which indicates that there is some kind of connection), and it does not show up in the device list in e.g. Dolphin Emulator. I've installed xwiimote, but it is not listed when running xwiishow list. On my other machines, it instantly shows up here. I have tried this both with or without running sudo modprobe hid-wiimote prior to connection attempt.

On my other machines, it is paired immediately after trying to connect. Then only the first light is turned on, and is permanent. If I try to right-click and click "Pair", I sometimes get a prompt to authorize the device with a PIN. This results in a line in the dmesg-output that reads Bluetooth: hci0: ACL packet for unknown connection handle 3837. The ArchWiki-article says that this would indicate that the wiimote-plugin is not included in BlueZ, but I have confirmed that it is by running grep wiimote /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd which yields the output grep: /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd: binary file matches.

I am not sure where to continue troubleshooting now. Any ideas?

I just ordered a barebones Minisforum UM690S and am currently trying to find some RAM-chips and an SSD to put in it, but apparently these RAM-chips were a bit more complicated than I had imagined.

It runs an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX, which on its site says it supports DDR5-RAM up to 4800 MHz. On the Minisforum spec page, it also says that it uses the SODIMM form factor.

So my questions:

1. Am I bound to 4800 MHz? Could I go for 5600 MHz and accept that I won't get to utilize the full power? Minisforum sales rep says I should get 4800 MHz, but I've also read that higher is OK, it is just wasted. In my case, I can get 5600 MHz cheaper.
2. The sales rep also specifically stated CL40. I can't see that elsewhere, neither on the AMD-site nor Minisforums spec page. From my preferred retailer, I can either get 4800 MHz with CL38, or 5600 MHz with CL40. But not the stated combo of 4800 MHz and CL40. What are my choices here?

The specific chips I am considering are the Kingston FURY Impact-chips:

• Kingston FURY Impact DDR5 4800MHz 32GB, CL38 (38-38-38)
• Kingston FURY Impact DDR5 5600MHz 32GB , CL40

I am lost 🫠

I have a Python-package that calls Inkscape as part of a conversion process. I have it installed, but through Flatpak. This means that calling inkscape does not work in the terminal, but rather flatpak run org.inkscape.Inkscape. I need the package to be able to call it as inkscape.

What is the best way to go about this?

I am currently hosting Nextcloud on Linode using the AIO Docker container. I am very happy with how this works, but the running costs is more than I would like to spend on this. I am running a 4 GB Linode (anything less would cause severe lag in the Web UI), with 2x100GB block storage (one for data and one for the Borg backup). In addition, I pay to maintain backup images of the server itself.

So I've been meaning to self-host this on a server at home instead, especially as I am looking to upgrade my media station to something more gaming friendly, freeing up a perfectly good mini-PC to host Nextcloud and other services. I've told myself that I am waiting for the Linux client of Proton Drive to arrive, so that I can utilize my 500 GB storage there to keep a synced copy of the Borg backup repo. I am not sure I am willing to wait for this anymore (who knows when that will be ready?), and thought that maybe something like filen.io could be used in the mean-time, as I could get 200 GB there for €2/month. But I am open to other solutions as well.

So here's the actual question: how would I best make sure I keep the backup repo safe so that I could restore it later if something went wrong? What would the ideal setup look like, including local and remote copies?

I'm running Calyx OS (which for my device is on Android 13 at the moment). I would like to have better control over which Bluetooth-connections my phones attempts to connect to when enabled and which it does not. Right now, it seems to try to connect to whatever it was connected to last, even though it is no where near me. I have to wait for the connection to fail before I can start another connection. This eats up about 10-15 seconds every time I want to connect to a Bluetooth-speaker if it wasn't that last device I connected to.

Is there any way of getting better control over this? Best case for me would be to define some devices it should always try to connect to and other devices that should require manual connection.

I have a server where I believe I have disabled root login via ssh. I think it is done correctly, as I cannot login with root myself via ssh, but I would've thought that it would be reflected in /var/log/auth.log. Instead, it shows up as failed password entry. Is this intended?

What I've done is to uncomment the PermitRootLogin no line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Rest of the config file is left at default.

Bonus question: All login attempts by ssh seems to go over some random port (even my own successful logins). Why is this?

This is not strictly a Linux-issue as I reproduce this issue under Windows 10 as well (but can not reproduce under Android or macOS), but I will be using Linux for any troubleshooting and I wasn't sure where else to post this.

I have a pair of Sony WH1000MX5 that acts like an expensive piece of garbage so far. I will eventually (usually within 2-10 minutes usually) hear crackling noises when using the headset via Bluetooth in high-fidelity mode on my Linux machine (and as mentioned above, this is reproduced on two other machines running Windows 10). The crackling noises are there regardless of whether active noise canceling is active or not. It is not constant, but it is enough to significantly reduce the listening experience, especially for tracks where not too much is going on, such as quiet piano pieces.

On my Linux machine, I can choose between three codecs: SBC, SBC-XQ and LDAC. It tends to be less pronounced using the LDAC codec over SBC (right now I've had a longer period with no issue). SBC-XQ also seems better. However, I have experienced it for all choices of codecs before. Also, under Windows (which I must use for work), this does not seem to be a choice at all. But I wonder if the problem lies here? I don't know much about Bluetooth codecs.

Ideally, as in addition to these issues, they are not very comfortable, I would like to return them and get a refund (should be possible under local laws), but I am having some issues with the retailer claiming they can't find anything wrong with them after two trips to a repair shop. The first time they factory reset it and updated the firmware, the second time they did nothing. I don't think local Sony support will be of much help, and the local laws relate to to the buyer/seller contract, so for the refund or repair they will anyway refer me to the retailer.

So I am trying to get a better understanding of the issue before pursuing this further, and if I fail to get a refund, I would like to fix the issue if possible. So if anyone is familiar with this and could help point me in the right directions to fix these issues, I would be very grateful.

I am still very much a novice in the self-hosting space, Linux etc. having fairly recently switched from using macOS as my daily driver and not tinkering much at all.

One of the things that often confuses me is networking and making sure my setup is secure. This is currently holding me back from hosting more stuff locally that I would require access to from outside my home, as I am afraid I am doing something that could severely compromise my data. It can sometimes be difficult to follow explanations from more advanced users due to the many different components of networking and security, and different layers of abstraction, which prevents me from following completely. I might understand one particular case, but then be unable to make connections to another one. So I would want to research this more intensively, and ideally I would end up being able to easily understand the data flows - the paths the data takes (e.g. I make a HTTPS request to some server from my laptop, how is that traffic routed correctly through my local area network and later the wide area network), in what forms (i.e. different protocols, encryption layers etc.).

In communities like this, I see there are a lot of very knowledgeable people who maybe could recommended any resources that cover this from the basics and onto more advanced stuff? Maybe a textbook from a university course on ICT that is considered particularly good? A YouTube channel with great explanations and visualizations? I am looking both at home LAN and internet in general. Enterprise level networks are not very interesting to me (at the moment).

I ran across this post on the Home Assistant forum, which shows something very similar to what I want to achieve. However, there is something that is unclear to me: with Snapdroid, will I able to stream all audio from my Android device to the Snapcast server so that it doesn't matter which app I use, or is this just some control device? I couldn't make that clearly out from the GitHub repo of Snapdroid.

My desired use case is to use this in the same way I would with AirPlay on an iPhone, and be able to use my music player connected to my Jellyfin server, my podcast application or my YouTube frontend application to play audio that is cast to the Snapcast server.

I've been using a sound bar from Sonos with my TV for several years now, but in an effort to ditch the last appliances that unnecessarily require accounts and internet access, I am looking to ditch it in favor of something that is entirely contained within my own network.

What I think are my requirements:

• No microphone
• Ability to directly play audio from my Android (running Calyx OS), something I cannot do with the Sonos.
• HDMI ARC-connection to TV so that it can be controlled by my remote
• Sound must not be abysmal, but I am no audiophile. Preferably stand-alone without subwoofer
• Maximum 90 cm in length so that it fits under my TV, preferably in black / dark grey with a clean look

So far I've found something like this, which I believe gives me enough flexibility with HDMI ARC, Bluetooth and 3.5mm, even though it comes with a subwoofer: https://www.tcl.com/eu/en/soundbar/p733w

In terms of software, I have long been considering something like balenaSound to replace the Sonos functionality, but I'll soon be setting up Home Assistant to run my lights, and I see that there is a Snapcast integration that might work for me here?

Are there anyone here who have done something similar and have found setups that work well or that I should stay away from?