Re: modern desktop update recommendations?

[beaker%sdf.org@localhost]

mlh%goathill.org@localhost (MLH) wrote:

> My ~10 yr old i3-based box needs to be updated. I can't compile
> anything nontrivial without the box rebooting anymore.

I think your system should be able to build most packages just fine
though something like Gnome might take a while.  Some packages,
ie.  those with lots of fonts, may run out of RAM; this can be
addressed by adding a swap file (see online documentation for how
to do this).  I regularly build packages on an old 32 bit box with
2GB RAM usually without issue -- once I addressed an ACPI/powerd(8)
quirk (see below) that would cause sudden system shutdowns during
even moderate loads.

If the rebooting is occuring during package building you may want
to check if it's being triggered by ACPI/powerd(8) receiving faulty
core temp values which eith the default powerd script initiates a
system shutdown.  You should see something in the logs relating to
this if this is the situation.  You can also monitor things during
a build using envstat(8) to see if something like a temp of "255"
gets reported (the case on my system).

The script of interest:

 /etc/powerd/scripts/sensor_temperature

 You can either comment out the "shutdown -p.." lines of simply
 rename the script to something powerd(8) won't see.

 -J