My experience with PopOS so far!

Changing desktops! Whim or just wanting to learn something new. Or is it just tired of the same old looking desktop with similar or same functionality? Better or worse.

Linux has many desktops and they are evolving. Some at a much slower pace than others. Some completely new. The main desktops in use today are Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, Mate, XFCE, and LXQT. Most are moving to using the Wayland display server for good reason. It’s more robust than Xorg in many aspects. Xorg has not been kept up in the past couple of years is another reason all these desktops are moving to Wayland.

Choices, choices, choices! Which to use? I’ve been a KDE fan most of my life. Changed to Cinnamon for a while because KDE is in flux with a new version coming out in or shortly after February of next year. I’ve tried pretty much all the other desktops listed and found most of them wanting in one aspect or another. Plus, I wanted to work with Wayland display server like many are moving to. I’m still not using Wayland by default yet.

For a couple of weeks, I actually loaded PopOS in a virtual machine to play with it. The currently supported edition is based on Ubuntu 22.04 and runs a customized version of Gnome. It’s much more customized than most Gnome desktops. The polish and finish on PopOS is quiet impressive. There are many features that aren’t actually part of Gnome loaded into PopOS. One I found quite useful. This made me actually decide to load PopOS onto my System 76 Pangolin with reason.

If you’ve dealt with System 76 before, you know that they preload PopOS on all their desktops and laptops. They also give you the “right to repair” all their PC’s. Since I transferred my memory and SSD from a prior laptop, I did not originally work with PopOS. I left it on the base SSD which I still have. It wasn’t till about a week ago that I loaded it onto the SSD that I replaced and am now using it full time.

I’ve never really have been a fan of Gnome till I started using PopOS. The workflow is definitely different compared to most other desktops that have menus. As time goes, I’m starting to actually learn this operating system that is preloaded onto System 76 systems. It didn’t require near the effort to get it looking quite like I wanted. In some cases, it took more effort than KDE and in others, there was no need.

The main reason I switched to PopOS was tiling on the desktop. System 76 did that better than any other desktop out there. Though I’ve heard that the developers of Gnome are going to be working on it for the next few releases, PopOS does tiling very well. The tiling actually makes it easier to copy from a web page to a terminal (in the case of loading PPA’s from Ubuntu or other things). Another thing I find about the tiling is how easy it is to compare similar programs side by side. Yet another thing is copying files from one destination to another.

There are other things to like about PopOS as well for those that are on Gnome. However, for all this customization there is a downside. No slideshow for the desktop background (you have to load another application to make it work). The other downside that anyone who runs Gnome will notice right away is Gnome is probably the most memory intensive desktop in all of Linux desktops. The lowest memory usage on first boot is about 1.8 gigabyte. Cinnamon comes in next at about 1.2 – 1.4 gigabyte (probably because it’s based on some aspects of Gnome). KDE is next at just over a gigabyte (though you can trim that down to around 800 megabyte with the settings). The comes XFCE and LXQT.

There is another thing I don’t particularly care for about PopOS, but I can’t really complain about the developers decision here. PopOS uses systemd-boot. It refrains from using GRUB completely. Perhaps for the best as there have been people finding issues with the security of GRUB of late. Only thing I really miss about GRUB is customization. I could boot to a GRUB bootloader with customized background and a menu to choose which kernel I booted. It’s going to take me some time to figure out how to do this with systemd-boot if I do it at all. I’ll probably have to do it so I can boot to the last known good kernel in case of a kernel panic. So far I haven’t had that issue as PopOS loads a kernel that they themselves compile and test on their own machines before ever putting it out in the open.

System 76 for the past almost two years have been working on their own desktop. It’s written in Rust code so it’s going to be very very secure compared to other desktops. Their hopes are for their “Cosmic” desktop to be in good working order for the 24.04 Ubuntu release. We’ll see with that release coming in less than six months. Will I try it? Most certainly in a virtual machine first of course. Will I load it as my main operating system on my Pangolin? We’ll have to wait and see what I think of it. I may go back to KDE after the release of KDE 6 in February. One never knows. With 32 gigabyte of RAM, I don’t have issues with PopOS and it’s memory intensive desktop. I kinda hope that once “Cosmic” is released to the world that it’s less intensive with the tighter and more secure Rust code base.

That’s the best thing about Linux. You can always make a different choice. Be it the distribution or just the desktop itself. Then again, you may run multiple different desktops. The choice is yours. Happy computing and don’t be afraid to try something new.

Camp stoves!

Camp stoves are a must for camping. They come in a large variety just as tents do. Most camping stoves come in one or two burner design. Of those stoves, they can run on gasoline, white gas (camp stove or lantern fuel), propane, butane, and even diesel. Some can even use aviation fuel. So there are many choices to look at just like tents.

Your choice will boil down to what you want to cook while in camp and how much you’ll want to tote with you if you’re backpacking, bicycle touring, or just a weekend warrior camper in a RV/tent campsite. If you’re in the later, you might think a two burner stove such as the Coleman’s. They can be had in either gas/white gas or propane. For those that backpack into the wilderness or bicycle tour, weight, size, and fuel are a greater concern.

Like tents, there are several manufacturers of camp stoves besides Coleman mentioned earlier. Other than Coleman, these manufacturers concentrate on the backpacker and bicycle touring people. That doesn’t mean you can’t use two of these single burner stoves in a regular camp. It all depends on what you have access to cook for food. It also depends on how much you want to spend.

Most of your other manufacturers rely on butane or other sources of fuel. Car camping doesn’t have the restrictions that backpacking and bicycle touring do. For the backpacker, you’ll have to decide how much weight you want to carry with you for cooking. That’s stove and fuel included. Same goes true with bicycle touring. Butane canisters though supposedly refillable take a lot of space. In most cases you have to haul the fuel in and haul the empty canisters out. I’ve yet to find a place that refills butane canisters, thus my decision to use white gas/gasoline with my stove choice. In a pinch, I can change the jet in my stove and use aviation fuel or even diesel.

Yes, multi-fuel stoves are larger than their butane brothers, but you can have one or two 30 fluid ounce canisters that can be readily refilled at any gas station should you chose to run 89 octane gas. Also, white gas can be had in gallon cans which can refill smaller canisters numerous times. Just as an instance, my stove of choice (MSR Dragonfly) will consume a gallon of gas or white gas in about 3 months cooking 2 meals a day.

To those that choose butane stoves, these stoves generally sit atop the butane canister. I wouldn’t suggest using a large pot as I can with my Dragonfly (I often use a 12 quart stockpot on my Dragonfly). If you do be very careful how you center it. Though not as stable in my book as a multi-fuel stove, the butane stoves can be as light as perhaps 3 ounces without the canister where as my stove comes in at roughly 11 ounces without the fuel bottles.

This pretty much covers the choices, but not the manufacturers. I’ll leave the choice to you as to your choice of manufacturer and stove type. Just remember to be kind to our home Mother Earth no matter what your choice is. As to me, I’ll stick with my MSR Dragonfly stove with an added device called a Dragon Tamer.

Should you choose an MSR Dragonfly or XGK stove, I highly recommend the Dragon Tamer or it’s Korean knockoff which can be bought through Amazon. The Dragonfly however, can’t be. These devices not only cut down on audible noise from these two stoves, but actually makes them more efficent. Neither device can’t be had for under a hundred dollars now. Perhaps because they are digitally printed stainless steel. But to me and I’m sure anyone who has one of the two MSR stoves mentioned, that price is a small price to pay for a much quieter camp. Without these devices, the mentioned MSR stoves sound like a jet engine (loud as Hell) not to mention not as efficient.

Tents for camping!

A word about camping equipment. Namely tents. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.” Of course this is true for just about anything. Then there’s the question of how much tent do I need. This largely depends on the gear you’re hauling or if this is for a full time setup. Are you going to be moving often or are you using it as a full time shelter.

I’ve seen things from simple what are called “bivies” to elaborate 4 season tents in my quest for the best tent weighing cost, construction, materials, and weather I’ll be using a tent in. Don’t always believe a manufacturers claims about size. That’s the first rule of thumb. To give you an example, my MSR tent which I use for touring on bicycle is claimed to be a two man tent. I’d say it’s more like a one man tent with just enough space to put your gear in and little more than that. A couple would be hard pressed to get themselves in this tent and not be able to get anything more than their sleeping bags out. Sure it has two what are called “garages”, but they are of minimal use to keep gear dry and clean.

If you’re going to be out camping as a couple, I’d suggest a 3 or even 4 man tent depending on design. This will provide ample space for two sleeping bags with pads with room to spare for gear. It’s always best to err on the size up instead of the size down from what you need in tents. Every manufacturer I’ve seen online uses pretty much the same formula for computing how many a tent will sleep. They figure out the most people of average height they can cram into the area of the tent design with little room for anything else. I’ve even seen this on tents going for as high as $5K. This however is on the extreme end for mountaineering base camp tents.

For those deciding on going on a family camping trip, the size of your family will determine the size of tent you get. To me a family of 4 should have a tent rated at a capacity of 6 man or larger. This will provide ample room for the kids to move about in the advent of rain during your camping trip. Not only that, but this is where I set the minimum for a single occupant if “living” out of the tent full time. It could be done in a 4 man tent, but there it’s tight. Any family larger than 4 or 4 with a pet should consider going to a tent rated at 8 or 10 person sleeping capacity.

Now as to materials and type of construction of tents. Materials will run all over the gambit. So will the coatings that some companies use to make their materials either water resistant or waterproof as they claim. In my many years of being homeless, I’ve had several tents. Most of them Coleman tents of varying size. I also have my MSR for traveling. I’ve yet to find any tent truly waterproof without some extra work. Even canvas leaks. Ask anyone who has an expensive boat with a canvas canopy.

This is where a good sealant comes in. Not just for waterproofing, but also UV protection. Best to apply these on a calm dry day with the tent set up in the back yard (without the rain fly at first and then put the rain fly on or hang it up separately) to apply the sealant. Sealants come if various forms. I’ve tried a couple. One I’ll never use again is Scotchgard. Though a good sealant, it is harmful the to person applying it as well as to Mother Nature (CFC’s). And then there’s the smell.

There are a number of spray on sealants that don’t require damaging the Earth. My next choice is going to be a marine sealant for canvas. Yes, canvas sealants can be used on other tent material than just canvas. There are of course others out there including the well known Scotchgard. When sealing the tent with your choice of sealant, make sure you get enough to cover the tent and the rain fly. The rain fly being sealed will be the most important, but do not forget the rest of the tent. Also, reseal every so often. It may take years before the initial sealant starts leaking, but it’s wise to reseal when even the smallest of leaks is noticed.

Another consideration for camping, is where and what kind of conditions you’ll be camping in. The where is just as important as the conditions. Where being a campsite or out in the wilderness. This will largely determine how large a tent and the weight of which you’ll be lugging around while hiking or in my case bicycling. The conditions will also have a contributing factor as well. Will you be camping year round (4 seaon) or just spring through fall (3 season).

Backpacking and MTB touring (think Continental Divide ride in the Rockies) requires a weight factor as well as size factor. Too light of form factor tent will possibly get destroyed in really foul weather. Not good if you’re in the middle of the wilderness. Too heavy and you’ll wear yourself out toting it on your backpacking. This is where I suggest a bivie, 1 or 2 person tent for a soloist. For a couple, a three or four person tent is recommended. In the later case, the load of the tent can be split between people.

For those that are using campgrounds that are used for RV’s and tent camping, weight will not be so much of an object. Here, you’ll look at the size of the tent for the occupancy more than the weight. Even in a campground like this you’ll want a tent that will withstand the elements (namely wind and rain). No tent will withstand a tree falling on it or a large limb falling from a tree.

Now a word about design of the tent. I’ve seen many a design. From yurts, modified domes, domes, and what is referred to as “insta-tents.” I’ve used insta-tents and domes. I’ve had friends who’ve used modified domes as well as domes. My recommendation is only based on my experience from the two types I’ve used as full on living tents. I much prefer the dome style tents with good reason. Air flow isn’t the main reason, but air flow around and over the tent contributes to how sturdy it is in severe weather conditions that may pop up. Domes will hold up much better than your insta-tents as the air flows around and over them. Modified domes just a slight bit better than an insta-tent. As to the yurt, I’ll bow to those that use them for their thoughts.

Most tent designs will work well in three seasons. If you plan on camping up in northern US or Canada, you might consider the expense of a 4 season tent. Only other reason for a 4 season tent is set it up and forget it. This is done more by mountaineers or hunting guides as blinds to hunt from. They are only lugged once because of weight alone.

Final thoughts. Choose wisely when purchasing a tent. Most tents are of good quality and will give you a few years or more service before you need to replace them. Your preference to manufacturer is yours. You’ll have to decide how much you’ll spend on a good tent. Don’t forget the sealant. On tents with fiberglass poles, I’d suggest replacing them with aluminum poles either before you use the tent or after you’ve broken a pole. Fiberglass will age from the elements much faster than aluminum, not to mention that it’s harder to get replacement or repair kits for fiberglass poles even through Amazon. The added cost of replacing poles will make the tent pack down to a lighter weight to carry. Get a 10 mil tarp of the size you need for a tent ground cloth. Most tent manufacturers either sell a ground cloth with the tent or separately. I don’t use the one for my MSR. I opted for a 10 mil tarp which is much thicker and I keep two small ones with me while touring on bicycle anyway. That and if an absolute emergency comes up (should your tent collapse while camping in foul weather) you can use the tarp as an emergency shelter.