Category: Information

How to start up Thunderbird mail client on another path or computer in Linux

After moving Thunderbird folder i.e. ~/.thunderbird to another computer, it could not find the mailbox of the profile. It created a new profile. This was due to the change in the path where ~/.thunderbird folder was restored. To overcome this issue, open a terminal window and enter the following: $ cd ~/thunderbird <enter>$ ./thunderbird -profilemanager … Continue reading How to start up Thunderbird mail client on another path or computer in Linux →

How to find out SSD details on a Linux computer

Open a terminal window and enter the following to find out technical information of an SSD installed in the computer using Linux. $ sudo hdparm -i /dev/sda <enter> /dev/sda:Model=CT500MX500SSD1, FwRev=M3CR043 Visit https://www.crucial.in/support/ssd-support/mx500-support to check if there is a firmware upgrade for the SSD.

How to install Linux Mint on Crucial MX500 SATA SSD drive on Dell Vostro 3546 laptop after BIOS upgrade

The humble Dell Vostro 3546 is an old laptop from 2014, which came with an Intel 4th Generation 4210U processor, 1 TB SATA 5400 rpm hard disk and 4 GB DDR3 (low voltage) 1.35V RAM. It worked fine till now even when it ran Linux Mint 20.3 with Blender 3D. However, everytime an Android app … Continue reading How to install Linux Mint on Crucial MX500 SATA SSD drive on Dell Vostro 3546 laptop after BIOS upgrade →

How to improve speed or performance of Linux Mint XFCE on old computer

Decrease swappiness whereby the use of swap is curtailed$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness <enter>returns the value of swappiness which is 60 initially. Make this 20 as follows:$ sudo xed /etc/sysctl.conf <enter>Add a line to the end of the filevm.swappiness=20Save the file. Disable Java in LibreofficeOpen Libreoffice Writer.Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Java OptionsUncheck Java … Continue reading How to improve speed or performance of Linux Mint XFCE on old computer →

How to securely wipe a hard drive or USB drive in Linux using dd or scrub

Normally we'd use dd to clean wipe a hard drive as follows after opening a terminal window for a hard disk or USB drive accessible as /dev/sdb :$ sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdb status=progress <enter> Another command to do a secure wipe of /dev/sdb is scrub that can be used as follows:$ sudo scrub -p dod … Continue reading How to securely wipe a hard drive or USB drive in Linux using dd or scrub →

Dell Support Experience to order and replace laptop battery

This is based on the experience of one of my family with Dell Support whose Dell Inspiron uses a 3 cell 4.1V 3500 mAH Li-ion battery - part number FW8KR11. This was confirmed in Linux using dmidecode. Open a terminal window and enter the command below.$ sudo dmidecode <enter>Portable BatteryLocation: Sys. Battery BayManufacturer: BYDManufacture Date: … Continue reading Dell Support Experience to order and replace laptop battery →

Download Windows 11 ISO

To download Windows 11 or to install it on a Windows 10 computer, visit the below link. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 Below are the SHA256 check sums that can be used to validate the integrity of the ISO file downloaded. English 64-bit 667BD113A4DEB717BC49251E7BDC9F09C2DB4577481DDFBCE376436BEB9D1D2FEnglish International 64-bit B117FE6A87E8707FB2E228591F1CFF3C062C08679F2D856D48D01BE5A052BB30 The check sums are available at the Windows 11 download link and … Continue reading Download Windows 11 ISO →

Upgrade RAM on a Dell Inspiron 5580 laptop

The easiest way to do this is to visit the Crucial site, and scan the computer if you use Windows. However, on Linux, find out details about the RAM installed open a terminal window and enter :$ sudo dmidecode | more <enter> And scroll through the list till you get to the DIMM block. Here … Continue reading Upgrade RAM on a Dell Inspiron 5580 laptop →

How to run latest India income tax utility for the Financial Year 2021-22 (AY 2022-23) in Linux

The India income tax department has launched a new tax portal and has also created new income tax utilities to enable income tax returns filers to file their tax returns. Past years' utilities could be run on Linux or any other operating system because they were written in Java. However, this time, the utilities are … Continue reading How to run latest India income tax utility for the Financial Year 2021-22 (AY 2022-23) in Linux →