andyshinn/maybe_2020_is_year_of_the_linux_desktop?

## maybe_2020_is_year_of_the_linux_desktop?
I built a HEDT Windows PC late 2019 and wanted to start using it as a development environment in addition to games. It's got a Threadripper 2950X, Nvidia 2080 Ti, 64 GB memory, and 2 x Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSDs (one dedicated to Windows 10, one to Ubuntu). These are my notes after week one of installation and usage as a work environment (Python development, DevOps, remote administration, and hopefully some video / media transcoding and manipulation). I come from a Macbook Pro as my primary work / development machine.

• No LVM in normal ISO? Had to use alternative "netinstall" ISO...OK.
• Can't click dismiss on initial WiFi notification... dismiss button broken?
• Change time from 24 hour to AM/PM. Status bar shows AM/PM but desktop still shows 24 hour...
• Xorg Nvidia driver by default, terrible resolution. Use nvidia proprietary. Reboot.
• Looks good but refresh rate 60hz? Manually change to 144.
• Refresh rate changes back to 60 on logout and back to 144 on login... How to make system wide?
• SSH keys not working with "invalid format" error on ssh-add -l (even though adding works). Keys work fine on other Ubuntu servers. Bug in gnome-keyring? Had to remove *.pub files from ~/.ssh dir.
• Mount drive dropdown keeps stealing focus. Whhhhyyyyyyy? Update: it appears that maybe installing snaps temporarily mount a folder which triggers the menu?
• Authenticate.. sudo pass... authenticate... sudo pass. My goodness this is worse than Windows and macOS. Security I guess. Maybe I can tune the time it stays authed?
• Hard freeze (no mouse no nothing, screen frozen, hard power off / on).
• Time and date wrong after setting timedatectl to use RTC. Fixes itself in status bar but not desktop... To be fair the utility warns of this. Maybe better to have Windows be UTC instead for dual boot?
• Hard freeze again... something not happy... researching... Update sounds like a major Ryzen / Threadripper issue with C states? Trying out processor.max_cstate=5 in kernel command line.
• Freeze again aghghhhhhghgghghgghhg.
• Default GTK theme for Chromium has background and text almost same color. Unreadable.
• Possible fix for freezing? https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/cik3q1/can_we_recognize_broken_c6_states_in_all_of_zen/
• Sound just chooses next audio interface instead of last when using bluetooth headset. Annoying.
• WiFi lost IP address? Had to reconnect WiFi to get IP again. Waited for a minute.
• gnome extensions broken following their own instructions: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1107848/although-gnome-shell-integration-extension-is-running-native-host-connector-is: "the chrome-gnome-shell doesn't work if you install the version of Chromium that comes from the Ubuntu Software manager package, but does work if you install Chromium via apt" loloololol Update: i thought Budgie was derived from gnome and supported gnome extensions. I was wrong. This should have better user feedback. The multitude of Ubuntu desktops is confusing.
• Clicking "Install" button in Software app for gnome extension does nothing (no error, no feedback)
• Clicking TTF font to install brings up install button. But fails with no error (button says failed). sudo apt install font-manager and use it instead...
• Keyboard media keys not working
• Sorry, Ubuntu 18.04 has experienced an internal error. OK? budgie-polkit-dialog. Whatever that is. Nothing seems affected.
• Chromium always says it crashed when I reboot after opening it again. But it didn't really crash I just shutdown without closing it. I guess a shutdown sent a sigterm to it maybe and it thinks it crashed?
• gcloud autocomplete broken in terminal despite exact same config as zsh on macOS :shrug:
• WiFi lost IP again... maybe https://askubuntu.com/questions/1030653/wifi-randomly-disconnected-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts. Trying to disable powersave. Update: Tried powersave and the wicd options. No difference, still losing IP.
• Monitor refresh rate won't stay at 144 hz: https://askubuntu.com/questions/433855/how-to-make-custom-refresh-rate-stay-saved
• Hard lockup again. I think the main bug is https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196683 but it's a shit show.
• Possible solution at https://github.com/jfredrickson/disable-c6.
• 720p and higher Twitch video freezes after a couple minutes. Sound continues to play. Refreshing page fixes temporary. I suspect some background downgrade mechanism not working correctly? Only seems to happen when the window is off to the side and not in focus.
• I've accidentally managed to select two audio outputs (monitor HDMI and soundcard line out) and now I have no audio and can't select another device. wtf?
• Booted up and... the vertical mouse speed is different (about 3x) the horizontal mouse speed. wtf? Changing mouse speed reset them both to equal.
• Ran into https://bugs.launchpad.net/lightdm/+bug/1781418 trying to get Docker working.
• Volume suddenly not working. Wrong output selected (even though I can hear music in Spotify). Switch to correct audio output and volume works again. wtf?
• Window shuffler (meta + s) is cool. But randomly stops working (meta + s does nothing right now).
• Keyboard media keys were working yesterday. They are not working at the moment (wonder if related to meta+s not working as well)
• Can't click links in the calendar app. Also, some dropdowns (like selecting which event types to view) you cannot click out of. you either have to select another type or hit escape. why is the UI so inconsistent?
• Also calendar app related: it doesn't seem to cache events. it takes a moment for events from Google to show up. no indication anything is loading. at a glance, it looks like you have no events for a few seconds then they sudenly pop up.
	I built a HEDT Windows PC late 2019 and wanted to start using it as a development environment in addition to games. It's got a Threadripper 2950X, Nvidia 2080 Ti, 64 GB memory, and 2 x Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSDs (one dedicated to Windows 10, one to Ubuntu). These are my notes after week one of installation and usage as a work environment (Python development, DevOps, remote administration, and hopefully some video / media transcoding and manipulation). I come from a Macbook Pro as my primary work / development machine.

	• No LVM in normal ISO? Had to use alternative "netinstall" ISO...OK.
	• Can't click dismiss on initial WiFi notification... dismiss button broken?
	• Change time from 24 hour to AM/PM. Status bar shows AM/PM but desktop still shows 24 hour...
	• Xorg Nvidia driver by default, terrible resolution. Use nvidia proprietary. Reboot.
	• Looks good but refresh rate 60hz? Manually change to 144.
	• Refresh rate changes back to 60 on logout and back to 144 on login... How to make system wide?
	• SSH keys not working with "invalid format" error on ssh-add -l (even though adding works). Keys work fine on other Ubuntu servers. Bug in gnome-keyring? Had to remove *.pub files from ~/.ssh dir.
	• Mount drive dropdown keeps stealing focus. Whhhhyyyyyyy? Update: it appears that maybe installing snaps temporarily mount a folder which triggers the menu?
	• Authenticate.. sudo pass... authenticate... sudo pass. My goodness this is worse than Windows and macOS. Security I guess. Maybe I can tune the time it stays authed?
	• Hard freeze (no mouse no nothing, screen frozen, hard power off / on).
	• Time and date wrong after setting timedatectl to use RTC. Fixes itself in status bar but not desktop... To be fair the utility warns of this. Maybe better to have Windows be UTC instead for dual boot?
	• Hard freeze again... something not happy... researching... Update sounds like a major Ryzen / Threadripper issue with C states? Trying out processor.max_cstate=5 in kernel command line.
	• Freeze again aghghhhhhghgghghgghhg.
	• Default GTK theme for Chromium has background and text almost same color. Unreadable.
	• Possible fix for freezing? https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/cik3q1/can_we_recognize_broken_c6_states_in_all_of_zen/
	• Sound just chooses next audio interface instead of last when using bluetooth headset. Annoying.
	• WiFi lost IP address? Had to reconnect WiFi to get IP again. Waited for a minute.
	• gnome extensions broken following their own instructions: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1107848/although-gnome-shell-integration-extension-is-running-native-host-connector-is: "the chrome-gnome-shell doesn't work if you install the version of Chromium that comes from the Ubuntu Software manager package, but does work if you install Chromium via apt" loloololol Update: i thought Budgie was derived from gnome and supported gnome extensions. I was wrong. This should have better user feedback. The multitude of Ubuntu desktops is confusing.
	• Clicking "Install" button in Software app for gnome extension does nothing (no error, no feedback)
	• Clicking TTF font to install brings up install button. But fails with no error (button says failed). sudo apt install font-manager and use it instead...
	• Keyboard media keys not working
	• Sorry, Ubuntu 18.04 has experienced an internal error. OK? budgie-polkit-dialog. Whatever that is. Nothing seems affected.
	• Chromium always says it crashed when I reboot after opening it again. But it didn't really crash I just shutdown without closing it. I guess a shutdown sent a sigterm to it maybe and it thinks it crashed?
	• gcloud autocomplete broken in terminal despite exact same config as zsh on macOS :shrug:
	• WiFi lost IP again... maybe https://askubuntu.com/questions/1030653/wifi-randomly-disconnected-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts. Trying to disable powersave. Update: Tried powersave and the wicd options. No difference, still losing IP.
	• Monitor refresh rate won't stay at 144 hz: https://askubuntu.com/questions/433855/how-to-make-custom-refresh-rate-stay-saved
	• Hard lockup again. I think the main bug is https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196683 but it's a shit show.
	• Possible solution at https://github.com/jfredrickson/disable-c6.
	• 720p and higher Twitch video freezes after a couple minutes. Sound continues to play. Refreshing page fixes temporary. I suspect some background downgrade mechanism not working correctly? Only seems to happen when the window is off to the side and not in focus.
	• I've accidentally managed to select two audio outputs (monitor HDMI and soundcard line out) and now I have no audio and can't select another device. wtf?
	• Booted up and... the vertical mouse speed is different (about 3x) the horizontal mouse speed. wtf? Changing mouse speed reset them both to equal.
	• Ran into https://bugs.launchpad.net/lightdm/+bug/1781418 trying to get Docker working.
	• Volume suddenly not working. Wrong output selected (even though I can hear music in Spotify). Switch to correct audio output and volume works again. wtf?
	• Window shuffler (meta + s) is cool. But randomly stops working (meta + s does nothing right now).
	• Keyboard media keys were working yesterday. They are not working at the moment (wonder if related to meta+s not working as well)
	• Can't click links in the calendar app. Also, some dropdowns (like selecting which event types to view) you cannot click out of. you either have to select another type or hit escape. why is the UI so inconsistent?
	• Also calendar app related: it doesn't seem to cache events. it takes a moment for events from Google to show up. no indication anything is loading. at a glance, it looks like you have no events for a few seconds then they sudenly pop up.