Pellet heads!! What's up today?

If you want to try a really nice SMOOTH OS.....Get a copy of ZORIN 16 (Upgrades to 16.2)
It is like $30 or so.....Download is to a file and burn the DVD or load it to a fresh travel drive.

The pro version is the sweet ride
Comes with pretty much everything you could want.....unless you are into Win based games
Has
Libre office suit
A great photo shop like program.

The look and feel can be set up to act like Win7.....Mac and a few other desktop styles....
Mostly all GUI controls.
The terminal can be pulled up and various code commands used to do things.

Best part is that Linux is pretty immune to all the Cyber garbage out there ....and you do not need to pay exorbitant $$$$$ for all the anti virus programs.

Most of the crap is generated on a Linux box....And the pukes that create it don't want it coming home to roost.

Every so often I will get a message "Please enter your admin pass word" NOPE....DITCH THE MESSAGE AND ALL IS WELL....

I love Zorin and have no plans to change......

 

17 F out this morning......The two shell burners kept the shack at about 70 F all night.

No snow on the roof to help.

I decided to fire up the Big Quad 1000 to get the house back up to 75 F

 

-31F, think I will stay in and drink coffee. Just a bot chilly up here in the mountains right now.

 

I've found most of the Windows games I use are on Steam and Valve's Proton does a great job of letting most of my Windows games run just fine. With gamemoderun added to the game startup command, along with mangoHUD (similar to MSI's Afterburner video card tweaker program) I don't really see any performance difference.

I do boot into Windows when I want to play Flight Simulator 2020 and some driving games as my Logitech peripherals (Wheel, pedals, flight yoke, throttles, rudder pedals, switch control panels) just don't work correctly as they need Logitech's software running.

I installed Arch late 2019. I think only once did I have a problem and it was after an update. Found and downgraded the offender. Love how I get a list of every thing being updated (Arch is a rolling release, I get updates almost every day) and I go over each item now and decide if any I need to check on it the forums first need to be not installed. Try that on a Windows Update. Oh you can't, it's either the whole update or nothing.

sam

 

Going to be cold after the big rain storm tonite and tomorrow morning. I think I'm good for the next 3 weeks now. Yeah glass is dirty, stove getting cleaned later today. That stack of pellets only shows half, it's 2 deep.

 

Since I run on a dvd less gaming system, I use Etcher to make a boot-able USB image for installation with Virtual Box what's a game? I thought upgrading everything was the game. You mean I can only change one thingy at a time. How limiting is that??

 

Really, is there a difference?

 

My system is a Thermaltake Core P5 MODIFIED
It was a racer without a DVD.....I cannibalized an old Junk ATX case and ripped out the 5" bays
I added two DVD drives and then added a 3 bay HDD quick change......

The fabricated a bracket to use the Water cooler radiator assembly

Running a Maximus Extreme MOBO......

If it's not like you want....CHANGE IT....

 

Yesterday was the day for first sweet potatoes cooked in the pellet stove of the season. 2 Sweet taters, 2 apples, cream cheese, cinnamon and a bit of real maple syrup. Good thing I took pictures before sliding the skins off the tatters and "assembling" because I forgot to take any pics after mixing in the bowl and having a portion for morning snack.

 

17F this morning.....
We were supposed to have freezing rain all of last night (Sitting on pins and needles waiting for the power to go off) Power Stayed on all night...
Maybe 1/2" of what looks like sleet or snow pellets on the deck this morning...

We went out yesterday and bought 3 more 5 gallon "Super jugs" (Racer stuff) and filled with gas for the gen set....
Got a total of 5 jugs full now.....About 60 hours run time......After spending $150 for the jugs plus the cost of the fuel.....Maybe we won't need to use it...

Best part is we can dump it in the rigs after we are done with the nasty weather.......

By tomorrow this crap is supposed to be gone.....Temps back up in the upper 40's F

 

I love Steam.

 

ok, what? Cooking in the pellet stove....

 

Hey, a lot of people cook on their wood stove,so why not cook in the pellet stove? I don't do it on a regular basis, but sweet potatoes come out the best by slow cooking in the stove. If you want to try, scrub the skin of the potato, rinse well and wrap in foil while the potato is still dripping wet. I use tow layers of foil as the juices will want to start leaking out bu the time it is cooked thru. Once you can squeeze the middle with metal tongs, remove and let cool for a couple of minutes. Unwrap, cut off the ends and use a regular table knife to slide under and thru the skin. Then unroll from the skin.

Cooking in a pellet stove probably only works if you have "shelves" beside the burn pot like my Harmans do. Also have to make sure it is in a mode that keeps the fire going for quite a while (taters took 1.5 hours to cook, but I only had the feed rate at 1.5 and let it chase the thermostat). I used the P43 this time. If I'd used the P61a, I could have cooked the apples in there too, but instead I nuked them. I've "steamed" vegies and warmed up other stuff in my stoves. Would not attempt cooking chicken or pork though.

 

You always were a Southern boy at Heart.

 

When will the excuses stop.

 

Now to ghost this thread.

 

Decided it was a good day to get a replacement battery for the P43's UPS (an APC BE750G, which is a discontinued model). Ordered that directly from the source as I wanted an OEM battery and not a knock-off. Plus, a reconditioned battery on the 'Zon, was more than a new one from the source - go figure.

Then, since I got an 'Zon gift card from my boss, plus have a bunch of cash back from my cc, decided to upgrade to a new BE850G2 UPS for the P61a (final OOP cost was just shy of $18). Once I confirm that the 850 will allow the P61a to shut down gracefully in a power outage, I'll trade in its UPS on another 850 for the P43. Then I'll use the 750 that has the new battery on my computer equipment (which currently only has a spike protector). Should the 850 not allow the P61a to shut down gracefully, I'll use the new UPS on computer equipment and order another replacement battery for the 750.

Dang, that sounds so complicated once I've written it down

 

Just in case the doubters out there were wondering (and I know you were), P43 all cleaned and ready for the next 4-5 days of colder weather.