I installed x11vnc on Mint and it works fine as long as I have a monitor plugged into the server. I want to run the server without a monitor though. That apparently doesn't work with Cinnamon. I already bought a dummy plug to simulate a monitor but that seems clunky. Is there a better way? I'm also open to using a different VNC server or even a different distro (as long as it's not Ubuntu or Arch).

Update: it worked without any issues after i tried a different USB stick with a different ISO. Which is weird, because I had installed LMDE on several machines with exactly this stick. I guess the ways of our Lord and Saviour are mysterious.

I swapped out the SATA drive on the Dell 5070. There is no NVME drive. Before I had a 256 GB drive. I put in a 1 TB drive and installed Mint on it. The previous drive also had Mint. But I must have somehow messed up the BIOS settings because now the blasted thing won't boot.

The drive shows up on the System Info page of the BIOS:

It also shows up in the Drives page:

But I can't choose it as a boot option:

Clicking on Add Boot Option only brings an error that it can't find any file system. I tried restoring the settings but that didn't help. What can I do?

Ridge Wallet with cards and some cash

Ridge key case with keys and small pocket knife

Pixel Watch

Not pictured: Pixel 7, used to take the pic

The "conservative" war on reality finds new depths to sink to

Carnival float from yesterday's parade in Cologne

Edit: Düsseldorf, apparently. But Kölsch is still better than Alt

Right now I'm running Jellyfin on an old mini-PC with a Celeron J4105. That seems a bit underpowered. I'm using Linux Mint and the installation is with Docker. I'm looking to replace it with something better, so what would you recommend? My criteria are:

• Easily available (second hand is fine)
• Budget friendly (under € 500 would be nice)
• Repairable
• Upgradable (at least SSD and RAM)
• Low power consumption at idle
• Handles all the transcoding stuff without breaking a sweat
• Plays nice with Linux

I guess my best bet would be some sort of second hand mini PC like they're being offloaded on eBay by the truckload. But I have no idea which particular models would be a good fit for me. I'm also fine with buying something new, of course.

Dang! So close.

I want to check out jellyfin. Now I'm wondering which installation method I should choose. I'm on Linux Mint 21.2. It's in the Mint Software Mager as a flatpak, then of course there's docker and I found a reasonably clear guide to install it from the repo. I just want to dip in my toes and get up and running with a little hassle as possible. I mainly want to be able to play media on my Chromecast, so I'm wondering if DNLA will work on flatpak? Otherwise that would be my preference. Are there any other considerations or pitfalls?

Update: somehow the flatpak didn't work for me. I'm sure the issues would have been fixable, but the documentation is pretty much nonexistent. In the end I went with docker and now have my server up and running.

I've had this box for almost ten years now, so I've been thinking about getting something new. Looking at the market, the new systems don't seem to be all that much more advanced, though. So my question is, should I get a new one or just keep the old box and swap out the drives? What can a new NAS do that my old one can't? And what kind of drives should I get? I have 2 TB WD Red something, is that still a good choice? I'd move up to 4 TB, of course. This box is only used as backup for my home stuff and a small business, I'm primarily concerned with reliability.

R.I.P. Shane. I hope they have Guinness wherever you are now.