Weekly Forum Summary

Community
12

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, the Linux community forums had the following activity and key statistics:

  • Total New Posts: 44
  • Total New Topics: 4

Top Members

Interesting Topics

Here are some highlights from the past week, prioritizing new threads and fresh activity:

  1. My personal Linux backup strategy — #General-Discussions file-systems desktop
    A new deep-dive from @ricky89 detailing a practical XFS + EFI setup on a 500GB SSD and a rotation to a Western Digital SA510. The thread evolved into a rich compare-and-contrast of strategies: @MarshallJFlinkman outlined a full-volume encryption workflow (dm-crypt/LUKS), authenticated images with dd → gpg plus par2 parity, and monthly LVM snapshots with encrypted Duplicity; @benowe1717 shared an end-to-end approach mixing Nextcloud syncs, custom bash jobs, and Duplicity for external backups; while @hydn emphasized automation (cron with rsync/restic) and, critically, restore testing and drive rotation.

    “There is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer.” — @MarshallJFlinkman

  2. List of External/Internal drives with Linux Support — #General-Discussions linux hardware
    A new community-maintained compatibility list launched by @NothingConspicous, complete with a key for Linux support levels and notes about onboard encryption quirks. The idea is to crowdsource which external/internal drives “just work,” where LUKS vs. VeraCrypt fits, and what to avoid. @hydn welcomed the initiative, and @benowe1717 asked for a standardized testing checklist to ensure contributions are consistent and useful.

  3. How to Upgrade ThinkPad Firmware on Linux (fwupd) — #Articles-&-guides
    @hydn published a hands-on guide walking through fwupd on a ThinkPad T14s, noting the system was stuck on older firmware after removing Windows. The follow-up includes pointers to the Arch Wiki and a full update log, and the guide clarifies the same approach applies to most laptops, not just ThinkPads.

  4. “battery boost” “great 30 fps” — #General-Discussions software gaming laptops
    A short, fresh thread where @hydn welcomed the OP and requested more context around the “battery boost” and 30 FPS claim. Worth watching if you’re interested in real-world battery/performance tuning anecdotes for gaming laptops on Linux.

  5. Favorite laptop brands? — #General-Discussions
    Diverse experiences: @Zach recounted a smooth MSI Summit experience (Cinnamon, then dual-boot tuxOS/Cinnamon), but with so-so battery life; @MarshallJFlinkman praised older ThinkPad keyboards and shared a System76 Lemur NIC workaround; @hydn pointed to TLP and newer GNOME power improvements and lamented modern shallow key travel; @Brian_Masinick lauded classic ThinkPad keyboards (X201, T-series) and suggested mechanical boards for the best typing; and @ricky89 shared a friend’s strong recommendation of Dell.

  6. Debian derivatives (or pure Debian), let us know what you like and why you like it — #General-Discussions debian distros
    A spirited Linux graphics stack discussion: @userx finds nouveau perfectly adequate on a low-end GT 1030 and does not miss Wayland; @Brian_Masinick concurred; @MarshallJFlinkman outlined stability issues he encountered with nouveau in the past, ultimately switching to proprietary drivers; and @NothingConspicous highlighted Pop!_OS for its recovery/reset conveniences and strong out-of-the-box experience.

  7. Extending a partition to a different disk — Linux Support
    Practical storage architecture talk. @tmick reinstalled with LVM and began carving logical volumes across disks; @NothingConspicous cautioned about Btrfs RAID profiles (noting RAID5/6 caveats) and clarified potential approaches; @ricky89 asked whether a separate /home is worth it; and @benowe1717 shared the same curiosity. This thread is a great primer on how different filesystems, RAID levels, and partitioning choices impact risk management and flexibility.

  8. Welcome! Please introduce yourself — Community forums
    Welcome to @benowe1717! Ben brings 11 years of IT experience (support → devops → program management), loves self-hosting, and runs a homelab with Debian, Ubuntu, and a couple of Raspberry Pis. Desktop is Zorin; gaming interests include MMOs and Minecraft. A great addition to the community’s self-hosting and ops discussions.

  9. Our community forums: feedback — Community Site Help forums
    @Brian_Masinick shared a brief real-life security disruption (credit card compromise) and still found time to affirm that weekly forum summaries are useful when life gets busy. @hydn responded with a sophisticated phishing example (PayPal spoof) and suggested splitting off a security sub-discussion if it continued.

  10. What I’ve learned from distro hopping — #General-Discussions
    @MarshallJFlinkman drew an evocative analogy: Linux as a “big box of digital Lego,” inviting curiosity and creative assembly; he also reminisced about Commodore 8-bit exploration. @Brian_Masinick acknowledged a different approach yet appreciated the method and plans to revisit the details when time allows. Insightful and motivating.

Activity by the @staff Group

A few notable staff contributions and community assists this week:

Also of note: staff continued fielding new-member posts and nudged a new gaming/battery thread to add context; this helps keep topics actionable and discoverable for future readers.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

  • Best Reply: @hydn’s clear, risk-aware breakdown of when and why to split /home, /var, and /tmp into separate partitions—plus the trade-offs—was the week’s most practically helpful guidance for many setups. Read it here: Extending a partition to a different disk — post #7.
    It concisely frames the benefits (safer reinstalls, service isolation, and avoiding log/temp blowups) against the overhead of additional partition management—excellent advice for newcomers and veterans alike.

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :slight_smile: