Solus 4.8 / Linux setup, Nvidia drivers and Elgato Wave 3

I decided to switch back to Linux as my main/daily OS on my desktop system.
Since I had been using Solus a few years ago on my desktop system and have been using it on a spare laptop for many years, I went with that (Solus Budgie, to be precise).

Things that didn't work right away:

The Solus 4.8 installation/boot procedure

Nvidia graphics drivers

Elgato Wave 3 microphone

How to set up a Deluge Server

Notes for myself, in case I need it again:

https://sbcguides.com/install-deluge-on-raspberry-pi/

https://www.howtogeek.com/142044/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-an-always-on-bittorrent-box/

https://forum.deluge-torrent.org/viewtopic.php?t=55339

https://forum.deluge-torrent.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42887

https://github.com/ratanakvlun/deluge-ltconfig/releases

How to make Amazon Luna work on Linux (Chrome)

I got an invite for Amazon's new "Luna" cloud-gaming-service a few days ago. To accept the invite, I had to use a VPN-node in the US, otherwise it would tell me that Luna is not supported in my region (Europe).

It seems like the region-check only occurs when signing up, not when starting  game-session. So no VPN needed after signing up.

When I tried to start a game in Chrome on Linux, Luna would refuse to start, saying my OS is not supported. I tried different user-agent-switchers to make Luna believe I was using Chrome on Windows, but strangely not all of them worked. Only the third one I tried lead to success.

So here are the steps:

 - Install this Chrome extension

 -Set your user-agent in the extension to Chrome/Windows

- Profit

 

Comparison/Review of PC cloud gaming services

Over the last few weeks, I've tried some of the different "cloud gaming" services that are available now.
There are many different hosting/service models on the market today. Personally, I'm not interested in a service where I have to buy games specifically for THAT service. I am interested in a platform where I can bring the games I already own (on Steam, mostly, but possibly also Epic, GOG, Uplay, etc.) and play them, using the (hopefully powerful) hardware the provider makes available to me. In case a provider goes out of business, I can simply take my games elsewhere or go back to my own PC, but I won't be dependent on any given provider.
This rules out Stadia right out of the gate, since games have to be purchased on Stadia and can only be played on Stadia.

The candidates that are available to me right now and that I'll be testing are:
- Shadow
- Maximum Settings
- GeForce Now

Super Metroid emulation and inspiration

I felt a sudden urge to play Super Metroid two nights ago. All the pre-requisites were there: I was in a hotel room (on a business trip), had my personal laptop with me (running Ubuntu 12.04), internet access and I even had a Xbox 360 pad in my bag.

Ryan "Icculus" Gordon's talk about the Linux Game Industry

USB-Ethernet adapter on Linux

Looking for a USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter, I bought this one. It uses the AX88179 chipset and this thing runs well under Windows, Linux and OSX.
The manufacturer, Asix, is nice enough to provide Linux drivers on their website. The drivers are, apparently, built-in if one runs Kernel 3.8 or higher. If you're running Ubuntu 12.04, like me, then you currently have Kernel 3.5.
In case you prefer to add a PPA and load the driver from there, here you go.

To summarize: If you run Kernel 3.8 or higher, it's plug and play. If you run something lower, then use the driver from the Asix website or type this into the terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:qji/ax88179
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ax88179

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review (Haswell, late 2013 model)

Please note: I've updated this review in several spots and have highlighted these updates like this. Please also check out the comments-section below, there are some very good remarks and suggestions.

The XPS 13 Developer Edition, aka "Project Sputnik", is a laptop with a FullHD 13-inch screen, backlit keyboard, SSD, 4th gen intel CPU and comes pre-installed with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. What makes this machine so interesting is not so much that Ubuntu comes pre-installed on it (it would be easy for anybody to install it him/herself, after all), but rather that Dell put some extra-work in making sure everything works right out of the box and supports running Ubuntu on it. WiFi, keyboard backlight, screen brightness control, sleepmode, etc. are guaranteed to work. Additionally, you save a few bucks on the Windows license.
I had been interested in this machine before and since it was updated with the new Intel Haswell processors in November (official announcement by the project lead), I jumped on it (The alternative I thought about was the System76 Galago Ultrapro).

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition

I've been looking at ultrabooks capable of running Linux these last few days and Dell's XPS 13 Developer Edition seems like a pretty nice package.

Some articles with useful information about the machine and the out-of-the-box experience:

Divorcing Apple, trying WIndows 7 and Ubuntu on Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

Back On Linux – Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition

My Review of the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition (a.k.a. Sputnik)

Putting Dell's Ubuntu Ultrabook to the test