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@Microfix here are of my computer’s stats:

Linux Mint 20.1

Kernel: 5.4.0-131

NVIDIA 470.141.03

After I upgraded to LM 20.1 i remember reading that some people had more problems with it than 20. i had no problems with 20 and very few with 20.1. My problems may be related to the kernel, the Nvidia drivers, and generally needing some maintenance.

I tend to be conservative when updating and focus on security updates, then kernel updates, then graphics. i also don’t update too many programs so troubleshooting is easier.

The previous kernel and Nvidia drivers arrived around the same time IIRC so I temporarily ignored the drivers – since they weren’t showing as a security update – and left the kernel update for a few days. After a few days of stability I updated the kernel and left it at that. I still had the boot issues but no crashes from desktop.

When Kernel: 5.4.0-131 came out I installed it and things were fine. I did my usual cleaning out of any ignored files and noticed that 470 was now listed as a security update. i installed it and checked the driver manager intending to update to it. i noticed that Nvidia 515 was the recommended driver so I decided to upgrade to that instead. The system crashed when trying to install the drivers. On the second attempt I got many messages about missing dependencies and the drivers wouldn’t load. I should have “reverted” to my previous driver but switched to 470 instead.

Things seemed to work okay but the system began to crash at odd times. Read Google News? crash. Scroll through images in a search engine? crash. Try to set a restore point in Timeshift? crash. But… play for hours in an intense mmo game (in .Wine)? FINE.

That’s when I really started looking for a new comp.

So I reverted to an earlier restore point in Timeshift and added the security updates. Next i updated the kernel. I did try the  515 driver again but went back to 470 as the 515 is a mess. I did install the latest systemd driver also. The system seems a lot stabler now.

I posted in the mint forums and somebody said it could be power or bios or heat. I changed the cpuid settings in my bios to the setting recommended for linux but am leery of trying to flash it. My old comp does need cleaning, etc, but why was it only crashing from the desktop or Firefox but not Wine? i don’t know but it is has been fine for about a week.

Log files. I saw so many different files that seemed to explain my problem – until i researched them online. i will check again and see if any stand out.

@oldfry

I have been checking this site out. The information is great.

Be aware that if you buy a Windows pc with the correct drivers, that those drivers are for Windows, not Linux.

I have had pretty good luck with drivers using Linux Mint. The only two problems i had were audio and my mouse. It took quite a bit of tweaking with Alsa and Pulseaudio to get my sound the way I wanted – especially with my mic/headset.

I bought a Corsair gaming mouse and keyboard a few months before switching to Linux. i like them and over all things have been fine but i would never buy them for Linux. The keyboard has only failed twice – after a kernel or similar update – but Linux always shows errors for it. The mouse works great especially for games in .Wine but might not get recognized at boot and have to be re-plugged. As the computer ages the failures happen more often. I will probably buy Logitech peripherals in the future,

 

Thanks all for the comments.

@DrBonzo – I have looked at the specs for the Mintbox again and they still have the link to Amazon and it has been out of stock for over a year.

i have looked at Dell, Lenovo, Penguin and others. Only the Windows machines seem to have the specs for gaming and most of the Linux pc’s don’t even have a gpu.

i don’t want a refurbished pc. This computer was my first new custom computer (from NCIX) and it lasted 10 years. My earlier comps were all hand-me-downs. I have some of them still as backups but they probably would be better as bookends.

I don’t want a laptop.

The store with Linux I contacted never did get back to me. The local company i have been dealing with has been helpful but they don’t have a “build template” on their site so it’s hard to compare their product with others.

i was looking at System76 again. Some people have called its design page a cookie cutter option but it seems to be a good mid-ground between build-from-scratch sites and the sites that don’t let you choose components. i may go that route and if i don’t like Pop!_OS I will load Mint.

I tried various solutions and asked questions in various forums (including the official Mint forums) and never got an answer. A random comment in an unrelated thread in this forum helped resolve this issue.

To insert or remove an asterix (ie acknowledge or include/exclude a file) in a form in a terminal use the space bar.

This worked in Linux Mint 20.1 (see attached image above).

 

(Unfortunately it didn’t make the game launcher work – oh well, back to the drawing board.)

I’ve had one chromium update on ignore for a long time and just rechecked it after seeing new content in this thread. it was a dummy ffmpeg package pointing to snaps I think and  not a security update so I ignored it again. I don’t use chromium.

One thing to be aware of is the way flatpaks update on their own. I installed a flatpak program and wondered if I would manually have to update it when i heard of an update but the it updated automatically. Since the flatpaks I have are from the official repos I am not too worried but still scan them when I do my system updates.

My flatpak programs are in my home folder (.var/app) which gets scanned by Clamtk regularly because I have various mmo games that get updated when I sign in to them.

The main flatpak files seem to be in /var/lib/flatpak and the system seems to check for updates around boot time. Things can get a bit weird because we don’t recall installing programs and yet timeshift says many files were created since the last timeshift save. I had this happen today as flatpak updated it’s kde specific files. I ran clamtk because it was odd but nothing came up.

I like flatpaks but don’t like that they are more independent than .deb files.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Cybertooth

Security update(s) for Mint should take a few days if things go as usual. Some are just from Ubuntu and some get processed further for Mint. Not sure what the grub one will be.

Well, you just solved one of my unanswered forum questions. 🙂 I couldn’t validate ca-certificates for a game because none of the “usual” key combinations worked. I just tested spacebar to insert and it works. I will check it out after I let the latest Mint updates settle for a bit.

I don’t know if I will download and play the mmo online game though. When the ESO launcher wouldn’t run I installed LOTRO and am addicted again.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

I tried setting it up to ask for each entry and end up at the same point as shown in the picture. I tried ctrl-y, shift-y, y and nothing adds anything to the form. Clicking enter gives me the following and nothing changes.

Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs…
0 added, 0 removed; done.
Processing triggers for ca-certificates (20210119~20.04.1) …
Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs…
0 added, 0 removed; done.
Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d…

Does anyone know of a site I can visit to learn how to fix this?

I have been using my email to log in for a while due to a glitch some time ago that made it hard logging in with usernames. I checked out your question by signing in with my username and then email. In both cases the username was correctly shown.

Years ago when Windows 98 was heading to EOL I began researching Linux because I couldn’t afford a new computer. I joined a LUG and tested out some live cds. I used Knoppix for a bit and bought a boxed version of Xandros (what some diehards called a “baby linux” because it used Codeweavers/Wine and the desktop was too much like windows (it was KDE). I dual booted Windows and Xandros for a few years until I got a new computer.

I switched back to Windows because my distro was floundering and games I was interested in weren’t available for Linux. If Xandros had survived or something similar had caught my attention I may have kept using Linux.

I sort of kept abreast of Linux news but didn’t return to it until last years due to Windows 7 ceasing to be supported. I didn’t like the way Microsoft pushed upgrading and changed how updating worked. Furthermore the Windows 10 desktop didn’t appeal to me.

I researched Linux distros and tried live USBs and finally settled on Linux Mint Cinnamon. Things haven’t been perfect but i have managed to do okay and my computer experience hasn’t changed too much. I play online games and chat with friends, and keep to my online routine. Life goes on.

Linux is like anything else in life – you get out of it what you put into it.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, Cybertooth

I have bee avoiding any online banking/purchases except with limited fund cards (like a gift credit card but refillable and can be used for subscriptions). i may have to make a purchase in the future but i won’t use my main account.

My answering machine is on 24/7 because I used to work shift work – mostly at nights. The machine was great for not accepting shifts when half asleep. It also blocked lots of robocalls and scams. The only problem was that during the holidays or elections spam calls filled my machine and i missed important calls.

After picking up the phone and swearing a few times I just picked up and hung up and deleted the messages. If the caller isn’t someone I know I let them start leaving a message and if it is spammy. I delete it. My method may be a bit harsh but i don’t talk much with scammers.

 

More fun tonight. I deleted two dead accounts and updated two others that i may want to keep. i decided to check on one more and I had trouble with the password. i typed in the recovery email and google said something was odd with that email! So I successfully recovered/updated my main account and later signed into the problem account with the same password I used before.

I think I will leave things alone until I have to deal with them.

Thanks. I will look into IOMMU when i get a chance. That wasn’t me – I have posted here and the Mint forums about this but not on debian.org or github, etc.