Fed up. Random lockups are back with a vengeance.

[GreyGeek]

I'd take a Chromebook over either a System 76 or a Purism. And, I'd take a used, recent, T series Lenovo over a Chromebook - anytime.

But, even better, I have my HP Envy that was given to me by those who care. The next day I pulled out the m.2 drive with Windows and replaced it with another, and installed Kubuntu on it. No sweat and no distractions.

With the exception of the following every computer made since 2012 has EUFI and can be bricked remotely at any time for any reason.. Only two models from System76 have coreboot. Purism's computers have coreboot. The Lenovo T430 came with coreboot. Some chromebooks, but apparently not the new ones.

[oshunluvr]

Even the new Dell desktops no longer support Legacy boot or MBR. I service over 250 Dell's in the field and now my spares are no longer a simple swap. I have to reconfigure the hard drives and add UEFI booting. It's a PITA.

OK, so I had to reconfigure ONE hard drive and clone it, but still...

[oshunluvr]

Oh also, I have an old (circa 2011) Asus ChromeBox that I cracked, upgraded RAM and drive capacity, and install Kubuntu on it long ago. Running 20.04 now. It's an i5 and sits behind a 65" TV in a house that I don't want to pay for cable TV at - and Hulu only lets you use one zip code. It's not powerful enough for "heavy lifting" but streams the 'net just fine.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Now that we're talking about TVs, can anyone help me figure out how to accomplish something? I've had DirecTV for almost 30 years, and am 100% satisfied with its service, its customer service, everything. But...

I also want to be able to stream things--on the same TVs that have DirecTV DVR/receivers connected to them.

At one time, DirecTV had YouTube as one of its 'extras' (not pay extra, just called 'extras'), and it was AWESOME. I could use my regular remote to watch YT videos on my TV. Then they had a tiff...and YT was gone. Poof!

I spoke to DirecTV last month and asked if they have newer DVRs/technology that would allow access to Internet-based streaming. They said no. Note that all the DVRs are already connected to my Wi-Fi network. But its only functionality is for things like ordering pay-per-view movies, and accessing a handful of pre-defined apps, like Pandora, that DirecTV provides.

Right now, if I want to stream something like Netflix or Amazon Prime, I either have to use a computer (which I don't like), or manually switch cables around to use a DVD player/receiver AND its remote. I'm lazy. I want *ONE* remote and no physical switching.

I use DirecTV's remotes on all my TVs; they're universal, so after setting them up, they control the TV and the DVR/DirecTV. I want to use only one remote, but control everything, and watch on TV.

Aside from saying "dump DirecTV," can anyone think of an easy way to accomplish this?

[GreyGeek]

A $25 Roku box from amazon is all you need. We have an old VISIO TV, about 15 years old. I attached that cheap Roku device and when I hit the HTML button it switches to Roku. You can limit yourself to free stuff, like YouTube, Pluto, weather, music, and tons of other free stuff, or If you want to pay for Netflix or HULU or other paid services you can do so. Our TV in the bedroom is a Roku TV, with Roku built in. I can't tell the attached Roku from the built in version. There are more expensive versions for 4K/HD/HDR, etc., but the $25 cheepie gives all we want.

For your computer Hypnotix is in the repository and you can look up m3u files for various countries on the Internet. I have about dozen m3u files for the US that include most of the TV stations around the country.
Here is one of many:
https://www.iptvm3uts.us/2019/06/usa...-m3u-kodi.html

I tried Kodi, also in the repository, but I couldn't get it to reliably work on my system. It hung a lot.

[Snowhog]

This thread is/has veered off its original topic, so if it isn't steered back, I'm going to CLOSE it.

[DoYouKubuntu]

This thread is/has veered off its original topic, so if it isn't steered back, I'm going to CLOSE it.

Okay, fine, Mr StickToTheRules Snowhog!

How's this: the random lockups have NOT stopped, but they're very infrequent--I mean MUCH LESS often than before, when I was using QtCurve. They can and do happen at any time, whether actively using the laptop or not. Like the other morning, when I unplugged its power cord, and didn't hear the sound I've associated with that event, I said "uh-oh!"

Sure enough, it had frozen solid at some point during the night (I don't remember the time, but definitely while it was not being used).

I've been tailing my $HOME/.xsession-errors after a lockup to see if there was anything there that might be useful. So far, there's nothing meaningful to me, but I wonder if it would be to someone else. There are odds and ends entries referring to things like kwin decorations and 'type error' but I don't know what to make of them.

GG, how would I integrate a Roku box into my scenario? So my TV is still connected to its DirecTV DVR and I only need one remote and I don't need to manually switch any hardware around to use it?

PS @Snowhog, thread drift happens to be one of my favorite things about using forums like KFN. It lets us learn and see things about each other we wouldn't know if we just stuck to on-topic discussions. I know you're a mod and you have your rules, and I truly mean no disrespect, I'm just saying that I like thread drift and don't mind it at all in my threads.