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: 70
- Total New Topics: 5
Top Members
- @hydn: 18 posts, 20 likes
- @NothingConspicous: 9 posts, 13 likes
- @stefanpejcic: 7 posts, 11 likes
- @tmick: 9 posts, 10 likes
- @rogerp: 6 posts, 10 likes
- @ricky89: 4 posts, 10 likes
- @unixdude: 2 posts, 9 likes
- @benowe1717: 5 posts, 7 likes
- @MarshallJFlinkman: 3 posts, 4 likes
- @Halano: 2 posts, 3 likes
Interesting Topics
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What’s everyone working on? (September 2025 edition) — A fresh monthly check-in sparked lots of hands-on updates in General Discussions Discussions (homelab, home-network, sysadmins). @hydn kicked things off with storage gear on the radar, @unixdude shared a cool milestone introducing his 17-year-old to Linux, @ricky89 outlined a full-stack music site build with PHP/MySQL/Vue, @toadie is diving into Ansible, and @stefanpejcic highlighted work on OpenPanel and a CSF fork (“Sentinel”). @MarshallJFlinkman described a clean switch from AnyDVD HD to MakeMKV on Linux Mint with virtualized USB passthrough.
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Repurposing an old RAID disk — In linux Support, @rogerp found a 2TB NAS drive from an old RAID and asked about recovery options. @NothingConspicous broke down the RAID possibilities and confirmed that with RAID1, data can be recovered by assembling the array with mdadm. The thread was marked solved, and @rogerp shared mdadm output and follow-up attempts.
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Should I switch to grub-efi if grub-pc is already installed — A dual-boot recovery story in linux Support from @tmick: Windows and Debian reinstalls, mismatched boot modes (UEFI vs BIOS), and a missing Windows menu entry. @ricky89 suggested isolating installs, copying Windows EFI files to /boot/EFI, and customizing /etc/grub.d/40_custom; @benowe1717 and @hydn compared Debian’s stability against Ubuntu/Zorin for gaming. @tmick later shared lessons learned after multiple reinstalls, noting, > “I now know just to switch to EFI only mode before installing Debian…”
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2026 vector user interface library — In General Discussions Discussions, @Halano unveiled VUI, a “Vector User Interface” concept that compiles SVG/CSS into compact opcodes for fast, cross-platform rendering (Linux/BSD/Windows/macOS/Android/iOS). @Powder loved the LCARS vibe and the idea of a UI between TUI and GUI.
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Seagate - External Hard Drive — @Loomy asked in linux Support about a Seagate external drive that doesn’t “auto-update” backups on Linux like vendor tools do on Windows. @MarshallJFlinkman suggested deleting/repartitioning and formatting as EXT4, and asked for model details and any error messages. @Halano noted reports of good Linux compatibility and the simplicity of reformatting.
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How I’m Continuing to Use CSF After ConfigServer’s Shutdown — In Articles & guides & guides, @stefanpejcic suggested adding the OpenPanel-maintained CSF fork, “sentinelfirewall/sentinel,” and noted a tricky version check that expects download hosts starting with “download”. @hydn welcomed the input and followed up on how the check was bypassed, with @stefanpejcic explaining a simple re-run of the install script can also refresh missing files.
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How to Upgrade ThinkPad Firmware on Linux (fwupd) — @MarshallJFlinkman thanked @hydn for the in-depth guide in Articles & guides & guides, reminiscing about the “floppy/CD boot and flash” simplicity of older workflows. @hydn then posted a correction (with credit to Thomas Koch of TLP) to improve accuracy.
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List of External/Internal drives with Linux Support — A collaborative list in General Discussions Discussions (linux, hardware) by @NothingConspicous, who outlined criteria for evaluating external drives (vendor utilities, hardware encryption, out-of-box compatibility). @hydn converted the post to a wiki to encourage community contributions.
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My personal Linux backup strategy — A General Discussions Discussions thread (desktop, file-systems) where @ricky89 reported switching a 1TB internal drive to EXT4 for speed (especially for many tiny files like node_modules) and using Duplicity for selective backups to a spare USB disk. @tmick shared a practical rsync-to-Nextcloud plus external HDD setup.
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Anyone ever tried Haiku OS? — A General Discussions Discussions detour into Haiku. @stefanpejcic called it “too retro,” while @hydn pointed out its steady progress and why it still labels itself “beta,” sharing a link to recent development activity and context as a BeOS successor.
Activity by the @staff Group
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- Kickstarted the monthly community check-in and kept the conversation going with encouragement in What’s everyone working on?.
- Published updates to the long-running guide Choosing the Best Linux Server Distro 2026, reflecting current CentOS/RHEL ecosystem realities and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
- Converted the storage compatibility thread into a community-editable wiki: List of External/Internal drives with Linux Support.
- Asked for status on the Windows 10 end-of-support clock in Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025.
- Posted a follow-up with corrections and attribution on the firmware article: How to Upgrade ThinkPad Firmware on Linux (fwupd).
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- Opened and methodically worked through Should I switch to grub-efi if grub-pc is already installed, ultimately reporting clear takeaways about matching EFI modes across OS installs.
- Provided the accepted solution in Extending a partition to a different disk, documenting a successful manual partitioning layout across SSD/HDD.
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- Shared practical dual-boot and GRUB customization advice in Should I switch to grub-efi…, detailing steps to copy Windows EFI files and add a GRUB custom entry.
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- Contributed to the community check-in with a personal highlight—introducing a new Linux learner—in What’s everyone working on?.
Best Reply or Topic of the Week
- Best Reply: Repurposing an old RAID disk — solution by @NothingConspicous. A concise, high-signal answer that identified RAID1 as recoverable and pointed to mdadm to assemble the array. It set the OP on the right path and neatly closed the loop for future readers facing similar situations.
Thanks for reading. See you again next week! 