Tried Zorin

Trynna3

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Ok, so I gave it a go with Zorin on my main PC (not the laptop as in my footnote)... the fan also speeds up at random times, similarly to Windows. I installed a fresh Win11 on a new ssd I used to replace the old HDD the AIO pc came with, and right from the beginning the Windows ramp up the fan. I ought to say that the computer and heatsink are clean inside and I repasted it at the end of last year after 4 years of service. The original paste was still moist.
Now Zorin seems to be between my LMDE I had intalled on this AIO pc and Windows. The fan doesn't go as crazy as on Windows but it is noticeable when it does. I don't remember noticing the fan on LMDE. I might go back to it after all.

Any comments to this?
 


@Trynna3 :-

The one case fan I do have on this HP Pavilion desktop rig is large, and turns slowly. I don't hear it at all.

The CPU fan is set by me to speed up above a certain temperature (which it only really does when I'm rendering vids, TBH). The rest of the time it merely idles; Puppy is pretty gentle on my hardware.

The Nvidia GPU gives me no audible clues at all, since it's a silent, "passive-cooler"; large heatsink, but no fan.

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I do like to keep an eye on what the CPU and GPU are doing, despite that they never really get to the point where I have to worry about them.

About 2 years ago, I put together a wee utility that runs from an icon 'launcher' that sits in the system tray. It lets you directly query the GPU's kernel 'thermal module' via a single click, and displays the result from a GTK-dialog banner at the top of the screen.

This draws its values from either the 'nvidia-smi' CLI utility that comes with the official drivers, OR from the 'thermal module' read by the 'nouveau' driver. (Saves me having to dig through the menu to find the Nvidia X-server settings panel..!)

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Puppy has had its own, native CPU temp 'widget' for a long time. About 6-8 months ago, myself and one of our forum members - who compiles a lot of kernels for the community - got together, did some head-scratching, and between us we modified the CPU temp widget to read from the GPU instead, using the code from my original GPU temp utility....

This now gives me a permanent GPU temp readout sitting in the tray, in addition to the CPU temp readout, and allows me to keep an eye on both of these items.

snip-47.png


This is all still 'under test'. It's somewhat experimental, and just because it works for me is no guarantee it'll work for anybody else. Hence why I haven't yet released it as a package for the Puppy community.....because it really needs testing by more people than just me.

But after running very, very stable for more than 7 months now, the signs are encouraging, to say the least..!

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As per your original statement about the fans:-

Some ex-Windows users have reported that Linux runs much hotter than Windows. Others have reported the complete opposite.

From what I understand, a lot of this is down to Windows' 'power-management' stuff.....which, if I'm honest, gives far more in the way of 'granular' control than I've yet seen in Linux.

For myself, I fall into the latter camp. For me, my Linux boxes have always run pretty much on the 'chilly' side when compared to Redmond's offerings....

(shrug...)


Mike. ;)
 
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The original paste was still moist.

For what it's worth, and as far as I know, we don't really need to repaste modern CPUs unless we've removed the heatsink/cooler. Modern thermal paste, even that used by OEMs, is pretty good. Some of 'em are even using liquid metal.
 
For what it's worth, and as far as I know, we don't really need to repaste modern CPUs unless we've removed the heatsink/cooler. Modern thermal paste, even that used by OEMs, is pretty good. Some of 'em are even using liquid metal.
That's true the vast majority of the time.

Applying new thermal paste must be done exactly according to Intel's instructions for that CPU. Just a tiny bit too much can be worse than not enough.

EDIT:
I always use heat transfer paste with boron nitride. It's off-white; it looks quite different than silver paste.

Perhaps there's better stuff now. I think that I read that they also offer another one after I bought the stuff I have.

It was called Arctic Alumina or Arctic Silver.
 
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For what it's worth, and as far as I know, we don't really need to repaste modern CPUs unless we've removed the heatsink/cooler. Modern thermal paste, even that used by OEMs, is pretty good. Some of 'em are even using liquid metal.
Good to know. I just had some paste left and was curious in what state the computer was, like dust captured in the heatsink that could be cleaned up, etc. I don't see much difference in how Windows spins the fan, but Zorin doing it took me by surprise. LMDE didn't do it.
 
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Also found out today that if Clementine software came preinstalled with Zorin (the source had Zorin in the top right corner), it had less customisation than another Clementine version from flatpak. I removed the original and installed the flatpak one. Then I felt familiar with it, from LMDE I have been using so far.
 


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