Recent Posts

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Member Videos / Re: My week this week, my workshop videos!
« Last post by hermetic on March 28, 2026, 12:18:22 PM »
Hi Folks,
After a couple of weeks up and down in the dumps due to colds and covid, I improve with the weather! The D type replica engine is in and the transmission gets more or less finished. Lots of goodies from Temu arrive and I find out what is wrong with the signal injector that I couldnt get a peep out of!Still cold and occasionally wet, but spring is slowly returning after a relapse!
Phil in Windy March East Yorkshire!
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The Water Cooler / Re: Frost Heaves
« Last post by AdeV on March 27, 2026, 03:15:18 PM »
Quote from: awemawson on March 23, 2026, 01:20:59 PM
No major climate excursions

True... but 3 months of nearly continuous rain & windy days is just as tortuous. Mind you, rain = time spent in sheds = why we invented so much stuff!
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Software Tools / Re: Experiences, thoughts and rants about using Linux as a newbie after Windows
« Last post by vtsteam on March 26, 2026, 04:26:55 PM »
Same here, I have Office 97, and had used it for a very long time in Wine, but gradually moved over to LibreOffice.

I never had a paid version of PhotoShop -- I used to use some cheaper alternatives back in my Win98SE days (the last version I used). I have used PhotoFiltre also a free older photo editor in Wine. 

These days I mostly use MTPaint for photo resizing/cropping and some color correction, and Gimp for anything more complicated. I don't like Gimp's interface, and have never learned much in it other than the few tools I use (color correction, perspective and other transforms, print size changes) I wish it was more intuitive for me, but I don't find it so.

Too bad LibreOffice Calc doesn't do MSExcel's macros, and has a less useful (according to my wife, an editor) track-changes methodology for collaborative work. For me, these aren't problems for my own work in a spreadsheet.

The one must-have Windows (Wine) app I absolutely depend on is the old free 3D CAD Google SketchUp versions 7 and 8. Not the newer Trimble versions ($$).

I have free plugins for the old ones that allow .dxf, and .stl saves and also a CAM plugin that outputs G-code. I've tried to learn other 3D CADs and I find them really difficult/clumsy (for me). Maybe it's just the way my mind works.
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CNC / Re: It's new to me
« Last post by ddmckee54 on March 26, 2026, 12:08:58 AM »
Most of the nuts and bolts that I'll need have arrived and I got the bed bolted to the bed/bearing mounts last night. I centered the bed between the rails. The frame diagonals are as equal as I can measure with a metric tape measure, and the edge of the bed is flush with end of the frame, so the bed slots SHOULD be perpendicular to the X axis. If they aren't - well that's future Don's problem. A kind soul on another forum suggested flush zerk fittings. I found some M5 fittings that should fit and ordered them, they arrived today, I should have about 2mm of clearance between the fitting and the base - it worked like a champ.

I'm almost done with the Z axis slider redesign to fit the 300W spindle, something that would have had to happen anyway - might as well get it over with now. I've also been working on the design for the X axis lead-nut block. If I've counted on my fingers and toes correctly, I should have about a 3mm gap between the lead-nut block and the bottom of the bed. I plan on measuring that gap with a stack of feeler gages, and printing a shim to fit. That should be close enough for gubmint work.
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Software Tools / Re: Experiences, thoughts and rants about using Linux as a newbie after Windows
« Last post by sorveltaja on March 25, 2026, 03:04:16 PM »
I'll admit that I keep ignoring the saying 'if it ain't broken, dont fix it'. There really wasn't any reason to do system update - it was rather a test of how it goes. 

Web browser that I use for banking is about the only app, that actually needs regular updating.

Anyway, to update Brave browser:

Code: [Select]
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade brave-browser
And for Waterfox: Settings --> General --> Waterfox updates --> Check for updates.

So yeah, I have no problem using old versions of apps - have done that in the past, and still do it in Win7.

As I probably have mentioned earlier, Paint shop pro 8 from 2003 is my main graphics app, be it Windows or Linux, using Wine.

Another one is Office 97, that I've used in Windows. Its installer doesn't work anymore, but it doesn't actually need to be installed; Excel and Word work simply by going to folder that includes Office programs, and clicking whatever executable/app is desired.

But lately, I've started also to use Libreoffice, just because its spreadsheet app (Calc) allows more data to be inserted, than '97 Excel, which has a limit of 65535 rows.
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Software Tools / Re: Experiences, thoughts and rants about using Linux as a newbie after Windows
« Last post by vtsteam on March 24, 2026, 08:16:54 PM »
What you describe is one of several causes for my abandoning Ubuntu after finding Puppy linux. I had so many problems during upgrades and updates that I got discouraged by Linux in general. I wanted something that was more stable and wasn't pushing to constantly upgrade. Puppy Linux provided that for me, with an average usage period for any particular version of 3-4 years in my usage.

I think one thing to realize is that the only real need for updating and upgrading an OS generally (once you have a stable system with a full range of usable applications to your preferences) is the browser's and web facing app security requirements -- which are constantly changing with new threats, and language and data form changes.

I don't do a lot of application program updating, since most programs I use, even complex ones like CAD, CAM, and video editors, suit me fine as-is. and sometimes upgrades produce a version I like less than the older one they replace.

A possible alternative scenario for dealing with the continual changes needed by web facing apps is to isolate or even containerize them within the operating system. This is an approach taken by EasyOS. If you are then satisfied with the performance of your other apps and the version you have of the OS, continual OS and application updates are not necessary -- unless you are interested in the relatively experimental side of the operating system. But it is possible to, and many have in both Puppy and EasyOS, work continually with a single operating system version for years, without upgrades.
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Software Tools / Re: Experiences, thoughts and rants about using Linux as a newbie after Windows
« Last post by sorveltaja on March 24, 2026, 02:44:42 PM »
Yesterday, when I updated my Debian 13 installation, using commands 'sudo apt update' and 'sudo apt upgrade', it went well without errors.

But when I rebooted the system - it booted only to tty(no gui, command line mode).

It appears that the new kernel 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 might have  caused this issue.

But in the boot screen, when selecting advanced options, one can see what kernels are installed. In this case I chose the older one, 6.12.73+deb13-amd64, and it booted just fine, as it used to previously.

So, one option to get back to the OS, is to set the old kernel as a default, when booting, instead of new one.

I'm not quite sure, if this is the only way to do so, but anyway, I edited grub: 
 
Code: [Select]
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved -- previously that value was 0
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true -- this line is a new addition

Now, when selecting that old kernel when booting, it *should* stay that way. At least it seems to do so in my case.

It's bugger when things like that happen - of course there is an option to use the installation media to access recovery mode, but I find it to be cryptic, especially when I had no idea, that the issue wasn't necessarily about existing hardware drivers, but possibly about new kernel conflicting with some of them.

In the end, I tried several things from different sources to fix the failed, updated kernel, but meh, I rather keep on using the old one.

What kind of precautions there might be, just in case that this happens again, when trying to update the system? Make a backup every time before attempting such? 
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The Water Cooler / Re: Frost Heaves
« Last post by vtsteam on March 23, 2026, 03:28:07 PM »
I loved my 3 months living in UK back during winter 1969, and can confirm it is a good place to live!  :beer:
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The Water Cooler / Re: Frost Heaves
« Last post by awemawson on March 23, 2026, 01:20:59 PM »
This just confirms my belief that despite the current political chanigans the UK remains basically a good place to live. No major climate excursions or geophysical extremes such as you describe. I listen to my sons stories of extreme heat in Houston and constant air conditioning running and sit back and enjoy what I have. Spring is just begining - first lawn cut today - and the birds are chirping away. Calendar says our lambs are due starting tomorrow and the cycle of life keeps turning.

I hope that you get sorted Steve.
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The Water Cooler / Re: Frost Heaves
« Last post by vtsteam on March 23, 2026, 01:12:21 PM »
Heh, Ade, you know it! We actually just got back from a family vacation to New Orleans. Ate seafood, heard jazz, fished, and canoed. Saw alligator, ibises, etc. Back to the frozen mud was kind of a letdown. But two weeks from now and the ice and snow will all be just memory.  :beer:
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