| Extended Desktop for Toughbook CF-C1 while running Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2 |
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2016 11:12:26 GMT |
The Toughbook CF-C1 has a VGA output port which allows you to connect a monitor.
But by default, in Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2, the monitor will only mirror what's on the laptop's screen.
Fortunately, I finally stumbled across a way to make each screen show different things! I found it on this Stack Overflow page:
It instantly worked!
Also, when a 4:3 monitor is connected, the laptop's screen gets resized to match. I was able to put the laptop screen back to its original size with this command:
But, after doing that, the touchscreen only works right if the monitor is mirroring the laptop's screen instead of displaying different stuff.
But with the laptop's screen restored to its original size, the mirroring 4:3 monitor can't fit everything on the screen anymore.
The Redshift screen-tinting software helps with the laptop screen's appearance, but not as much as I hoped. My Windows 7 CF-C1 screen still looks much better, I think maybe because the Intel HD Graphics software in Windows 7 lets you adjust the screen saturation.
Maybe Redshift could be modified to make it capable of adjusting the screen saturation?
The exact command I used on my own system was:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --right-of VGA1
However, I don't yet know how to make the touchscreen work right while doing this.
xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1280x800
So, this all still needs perfecting. But, at least it's already useful, since it's really nice to have more than one screen. And also, probably most monitors look much better than the CF-C1's washed-out-looking widescreen.
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| How to use a Sewell USB Sound Box with Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2 |
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Monday, June 20th, 2016 00:45:34 GMT |
I finally figured out how to get my Sewell USB Sound Box to work in Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2 with my Toughbook CF-C1.
I thought I might have to compile a driver, but luckily, that wasn't the case.
(Addition, June 28, 2016, 10:22 PM EDT. The below also works for Lucid Puppy Linux 5.2.8 version 004! The only big difference is, Step 4 - restarting X Windows - is required.)
I recommend, don't wear your headphones until after you're sure all the below steps worked properly and have enabled you to control the volume.
(Or whichever other choice says USB Sound Device.)
It will then tell you to reboot your computer - but, fortunately, you actually don't have to reboot. At most, all you might have to do is restart X Windows.
But, if you're using Lucid Puppy Linux 5.2.8 version 004, Step 4 is necessary.)
And here's another reminder to take off your headphones, so you can avoid the Puppy Linux startup noise possibly blasting your ears.
Or, in Lucid Puppy Linux 5.2.8 version 004, go to the Puppy Linux equivalent of the Windows "Start" menu, go to the Shutdown menu, and choose "Restart X server" from the submenu.
After X Windows has restarted, right-click on the volume taskbar icon and choose "Config Window" from the menu.
Near the top, in the "Sound Card" section, there will be a text box which says "hw:0".
Change "hw:0" to "hw:1" (without quotes).
(Or, you might have to change it to something different, if in step 3, you had to choose something other than "card 1: Device [USB Sound Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]".)
Then, in the "Tray Slider" section, select whichever dropdown menu item says "Speaker Playback Volume".
In Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2, select "7:Speaker Playback Volume".
In Lucid Puppy Linux 5.2.8 version 004, select "6:Speaker Playback Volume".
Then click the "Apply" button.
Happily (and surprisingly), the soundbox started working again with my Lucid Puppy desktop computer when I plugged the soundbox into a different port on my USB hub!
Here's how to make it work. I assume Steps 3 and 6 might be slightly different if you have a different kind of computer.
card 1: Device [USB Sound Device], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Before you restart X Windows, make sure you have anything you're working on saved, because restarting X Windows will instantly close all of your open programs without even asking you if you want to save.
Then, to restart X Windows in Lighthouse 64, go to the Puppy Linux equivalent of the Windows "Start" menu, click Shutdown, and choose "Restart X" from the window that appears.
Now, it should be possible to adjust the volume!
Addition, Nov. 27, 2016, 1:35 AM EST. Today I had trouble getting these instructions to work with the desktop computer running Lucid Puppy Linux 5.2.8 version 004 which I had tested these instructions on in the first place. I was afraid maybe my soundbox had gotten at least partly broken from falling on the floor, but, it still worked fine with Windows 7.
| Accidentally ruined Windows 10 on my Toughbook CF-C1 |
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Monday, June 27th, 2016 01:40:37 GMT |
My Toughbook CF-C1 with 8 GB of RAM came with a 223.6 GiB (240 GB) hard disk with Windows 10 already installed on it.
In the past, I used to be able to use the GParted disk manager software in Puppy Linux to resize Windows partitions without much trouble.
Upon rebooting, Windows XP used to notice the partition's size change, but all Windows XP did was complain a bit, then did a one-time disk check, then continued normally, and never bothered me again.
In contrast - earlier today, Windows 10 refused to even start, and told me I need a recovery disk or something.
Just another reason Windows 10 is inferior to Windows XP.
So, I solved the problem in an even better way - I simply got rid of Windows 10 completely by reformatting my entire hard disk as an ext2 filesystem volume.
So now, my Toughbook CF-C1 with 8 GB of RAM is exclusively a GNU/Linux computer! :-)
Even with all the Windows partitions deleted from the hard disk, I can still boot my CF-C1 using my bootable Flash drive with Lighthouse 64 Puppy Linux 6.02 Beta 2. :-)
But even I have to admit it's a bit annoying to have to have a Flash drive or any other sort of USB device constantly attached to a laptop.
So, for that reason, I've actually been considering using the internal hard disk a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to make reasonably frequent, easy backups to external disks using the command line tool rsync, or something.
I didn't want Windows 10 badly enough to even bother to try to get Windows 10 to work again. (If it was Windows 7, I would have been a little more tempted.)
I'm actually not very eager to use the internal hard disk for anything important, after all the bad experiences I've had with broken down computers with important not-yet-backed up data stuck on their internal hard disks.