Raspberry Pi Desktop Computer 

Completed ... Solid, rarely tweaked - See Activity Log (below)


Recently replaced primary x86_64 Linux desktop with a RPi4 running Manjaro Plasma w/ SSD.  The little Pi is running surprisingly well - I've even done some video editing!  No step-by-step recipe here, simply an attempt to keep hardware & software profile up to date and possibly share hopes, dreams and struggles periodically - see Log below.




Project Status in a nutshell

Dec 2021:  New Card Reader & Case/Fan and ...
Issues!  MiPi is running hotter!  Some Freezes!
Feb 2021:  Tuneup:  MiPi RP4 is now overclocked. 

    config.txt:  over_voltage=6, arm/gpu_freq=2000/600

Jan 2021:  Had to print!  Forgot cups!  Manjaro Printing is not as easy as it should (Brother HL2395DW on network)

Nov 2020:  MiPi is now the primary system in my play-area ... Monitors, keyboard & mouse are front and center!

Aug 2020:  Manjaro is stable (again).  Now booting off of 240g SSD!  Slowly moving activities to MiPi.

Apr 2020:  Switched from Raspbian/Cinnamon to Manjaro/Plasma (64bit, Arch-based)

Level of Difficulty & Prep Time

Quite a bit of initial tweaking to get MiPi up and usable.  See Activity log below.  Probably not as time consuming today.

Manjaro ARM simplified the process significantly and is constantly improving - follow the project @ manjaro.org.  Moving closer and closer to 'Turn-key' desktop on an RPi.

Current Hardware/Software 

Software: Manjaro - RPi 4 KDE Plasma Version - Original Install/test notes.
https://forum.manjaro.org/c/arm/100


Hardware:  
//  Amazon Associate reminder:  I may get a kickback if you click/buy via links marked with an * //


Activity Log

(Flaky $hit Highlighted - Fixed Stuff - ToDo Stuff)

June 2024 - Manjaro RPI 5, getting impatient - <Failed!>

June/July 2024:  Retracing my steps to see if I can get Manjaro running on my RPI 5 - had it going for a while but bricked it when Plasma updated in Unstable Branch.   I'm tired of waiting (https://forum.manjaro.org/t/raspberry-pi-5-official-support) ... here's a blow-by-blow, in case I need to do this again.  Following along with thread on RPI forums @ https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=367491

Back to drawing board ... will take a look at SD card on working RPI, see what I've done

<More to come>

January 2024 - RPI 5 is here!  But Manjaro not quite there! 

Finally got my RPI 5 ... Performance-wise, it looks really good!


.... But ... Manjaro is not quite ready

December 2023 - Update to 2023-12-05 Stable:  All is well again!

I've been WAITING for this update!   Chromium was not working well since October and November update didn't go in (some struggles)


Update @ https://forum.manjaro.org/t/arm-stable-update-2023-12-05-kernels-firefox-thunderbird-libreoffice-kde/152813


October 2023 - Update to 2023-10-01 Stable:  Chromium very flaky

Wow - long time and many updates since I've had an issue ... but ....


Pretty big update .... details @ https://forum.manjaro.org/t/arm-stable-update-2023-10-01-kernels-systemd-kde-firefox-thunderbird-libreoffice/148905 


Chromium is barely usable, not sure the problem is with browser itself.   Limping along 

June 2022 - Update to 2022-05-31 Stable:  Mouse was skittish/sluggish, quick fix

Pretty big update .... details @ https://forum.manjaro.org/t/arm-stable-update-2022-05-31-electron-systemd-qt5-and-kernels/112504/4


Mouse was slow/skittish ... fix was in release notes:


Edit /boot/config/txt

#enable vc4

# TPed was here, changed fkms to kms below to fix sluggish mouse

dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

max_framebuffers=2


Current software:

Operating System: Manjaro-ARM

KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.5

KDE Frameworks Version: 5.94.0

Qt Version: 5.15.4

Kernel Version: 5.15.43-1-MANJARO-ARM-RPI (64-bit)

Graphics Platform: X11

Processors: 4 × ARM Cortex-A72

Memory: 3.6 GiB of RAM

Graphics Processor: V3D 4.2

April 2021 - Cosmetic touch-ups.  Libreoffice icons and KSystemLog

Finally getting around to fixing some cosmetic issues that have been bothering me

March 2021 - New Fan, Network weirdness, Samba issues and Tune-up, including final overclocking 

Fan started screaming!  It looks like they last approx 1 year!  Luckily, I bought a 2-pack.
I probably need to look into a better case w/ on/off switch, sleep mode or something

I'm not too sure about these constant updates ... periodically moving = one step forward, 2 steps back
March update #2, broke my Samba shares ... possibly the end to old client protocol (NT1).
This error when I was messing with SMB4k:

Mounting the share bshare on RNAS failed:mount error: Server abruptly closed the connection.
This can happen if the server does not support the SMB version you are trying to use.
The default SMB version recently changed from SMB1 to SMB2.1 and above. Try mounting with vers=1.0.
mount error(112): Host is down
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs) and kernel log messages (dmesg)

Not sure Dolphin can even specify SMB vers=1.0 - https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=339752

Another round of flaky wired network connection after a major update ... two issues here


Attempt to fix some annoying cosmetic issues and clean up warnings in logs ... I installed app called QT5 Settings ... THIS ENDED UP BAD!  Desktop icons disappeared and other strange visual issues ... undid it!  This is my reminder to see how all of the QT stuff fits together in the future

The QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME environment variable is not set (required value: qt5ct).

# TPed was here AGAIN - added QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME for QT5 Config tool QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME='qt5ct' export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME

Everything has been running pretty well - time for a Tuneup!  Can't resist!

Exploring Overclocking ...

January 2021 - cups!  Printing

[@MiPi ~]$ sudo systemctl enable cups

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/printer.target.wants/cups.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/cups.service.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/cups.socket → /usr/lib/systemd/system/cups.socket.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/cups.path → /usr/lib/systemd/system/cups.path.

[@MiPi ~]$ sudo systemctl start cups

[@MiPi ~]$ ps -A | grep cups         
147629 ?        00:00:00 cups

December 2020 - Samba issues, attempted new case (Argon ONE) failed

29-30 December

20 December


November 2020 - Cutover to MiPi as main system.  Some tweaking

16 November 2020

11-14 November 2020

03 November 2020

Operating System: Manjaro-ARM

KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.75.0
Qt Version: 5.15.1
Kernel Version: 5.4.70-1-MANJARO-ARM
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 4 ×
Memory: 3.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: V3D 4.

sudo smbpasswd -a theusername


Summer 2020 - Added SSD

// New Google Sites makes this VERY difficult! //

25 September 2020

Software
Operating System: Manjaro-ARM
KDE Plasma Version: 5.19.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.74.0
Qt Version: 5.15.1
Kernel Version: 5.4.61-1-MANJARO-ARM
OS Type: 64-bit
Hardware
Processors: 4 ×
Memory: 3.7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: V3D 4.


30 August 2020 - Now running off of 240g SSD.  Running log:  Collection of App Installs, hurdles, things to do, etc


29 August 2020 - Reinstall Manjaro on SSD

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AutoEnable=true

25 August 2020 - SSD Boot.  Lots to Learn

August 2020.  Updates!  Settling down, pushing on!

27-29 June 2020.  Redo-a-Roo #2!  One step forward, one step back!

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AutoEnable=true


10-15 June 2020 - Redo-a-Roo!

sudo pacman -Syu --overwrite /usr/lib/p11-kit-trust.so --overwrite /usr/lib/libzn_poly-0.9.so

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AutoEnable=true

Spring 2020 - Ditched Rasbian and Switched to Manjaro

23 April 2020

20 April 2020 

03-09 April 2020

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AutoEnable=true


*** Switched from Raspbian to Manaro ***


Late 2019 - Original Raspbian Fumblings

Rasbian/Cinnamon Log  (Flaky $hit MAY BE Highlighted)

29 Mar 2020

12 Mar 2020

Original Fumblings (late 2019)

sudo apt-get install cinnamon-<tab>
sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment-core

# TPED mod - added NaturalScrolling option
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput pointer catchall"
        MatchIsPointer "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Option "NaturalScrolling" "on"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection


Switching to somewhat of a Journal format here, I'll date stuff