https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/enContents © 2025 <a href="mailto:bgstack15@gmail.com">bgstack15</a> <a rel="license" href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html"> <img alt="GNU General Public License v3.0" style="border-width:0; margin-bottom:12px;" src="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/.images/gplv3-127x51.png"></a>Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:42:04 GMTNikola (getnikola.com)http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rsshttps://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/posts/2025/06/08/devuan-laptop-use-external-monitor-with-sound/bgstack15<p>I used arandr to set up 2-monitor display after plugging in the HDMI display, and saved the config to <code>~/.screenlayout/2mon.sh</code>. I then added the pulseaudio command to set the default profile to output audio to the hdmi.</p> <div class="code"><pre class="code literal-block">xrandr --output eDP-1 --primary --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output DP-1 --off --output HDMI-1 --off --output DP-2 --off --output HDMI-2 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 1920x0 --rotate normal pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo </pre></div> <h2>References</h2> <ol> <li><code>pacmd</code> interactive terminal</li> </ol>arandrdevuandisplaylaptoppulseaudioxrandrhttps://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/posts/2025/06/08/devuan-laptop-use-external-monitor-with-sound/Sun, 08 Jun 2025 12:35:00 GMThttps://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/posts/2023/09/12/installing-windows-7-on-alienware-m17x-r4/bgstack15<p>I used to use a Windows-based process to copy the Windows 7 installer to a new hard disk which would then be installed in a new system, and then I would install the OS to that very drive from itself. It worked great. This was before 2015, the Year of Linux on the Desktop.</p> <p>Now that I use all GNU/Linux, but I needed to install Windows 7, I had a hard time getting this prepared. Here is how I did it.</p> <p><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/askubuntu.com/questions/289559/how-can-i-create-a-windows-bootable-usb-stick-using-ubuntu">AskUbuntu</a> indicated to use <a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB">WoeUSB</a>, so i used the provided instructions.</p> <p>Deploying WoeUSB to a usb caused the win 7 installer to not be able to choose a disk at all (a failure of the windows installer, not WoeUSB), so I used WoeUSB to copy my win7x64 pro install iso to the SSD that I then placed in the system.</p> <div class="code"><pre class="code literal-block">time sudo bash ./woeusb-5.2.4.bash --target-filesystem NTFS --device /mnt/public/Support/SetupsBig/Windows/en_windows_7_professional_x64_dvd_x15-65805.iso /dev/sdZ </pre></div> <h2>Why I did it</h2> <p>The graphics card in a (Dell) <a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/alienware-m17x-r4/drivers">Alienware M17x-R4</a> graphics card is an <a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/153717/">Nvidia 660M</a>. I was unable to get the debian-packaged <a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/packages.debian.org/sid/nvidia-settings">drivers</a> and the nvidia.com drivers to work on modern kernel (6.4.0.3). I concluded it was useful for retro gaming, if you call the Windows 7 era <em>retro gaming</em>.</p> <p>I could have probably used an older release of Devuan GNU+Linux, but I use exclusively Devuan unstable, and I don't want to start using an older release now.</p> <h2>References</h2> <ol> <li><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/askubuntu.com/questions/289559/how-can-i-create-a-windows-bootable-usb-stick-using-ubuntu">https://askubuntu.com/questions/289559/how-can-i-create-a-windows-bootable-usb-stick-using-ubuntu</a></li> <li><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB">https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB</a></li> <li><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/superuser.com/questions/320581/couldnt-find-boot-disk-error-while-installing-windows-7-using-usb">https://superuser.com/questions/320581/couldnt-find-boot-disk-error-while-installing-windows-7-using-usb</a></li> </ol> <h3>Auxiliary but not needed in the path I took</h3> <ol> <li><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ssd-detected-but-cannot-install-windows-7-on-it.2759746/">https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ssd-detected-but-cannot-install-windows-7-on-it.2759746/</a></li> <li><a href="https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/outbound/https:/superuser.com/questions/919747/error-installing-windows-setup-was-unable-to-create-a-new-system-partition-or">https://superuser.com/questions/919747/error-installing-windows-setup-was-unable-to-create-a-new-system-partition-or</a></li> </ol>imaginglaptopwindowshttps://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/posts/2023/09/12/installing-windows-7-on-alienware-m17x-r4/Tue, 12 Sep 2023 13:08:51 GMT