Linux Archives - Heiko's Blog

ChatGPT Revisited

In recent months, I’ve been using ChatGPT much more frequently, primarily for my academic studies. For those unfamiliar with the subject, ChatGPT is an AI engine – AI standing for Artificial Intelligence. It can also translate text and is significantly better than Google Translate when it comes to translating texts into English.

I’m currently using the free version of ChatGPT. As a registered user, I can access version 4.0 up to its maximum allowed usage. Once that limit is reached, ChatGPT reverts to the older version 3.5.

Mounting an LVM-based NTFS Partition on the Linux Host

I use LVM or “Logical Volume Manager” for all my storage needs. LVM provides a layer of abstraction between physical storage devices (such as hard drives or SSDs) and the file systems that are created on them. Among the file systems are also NTFS partitions that I created under Microsoft Windows 10. Here I share a little BASH script that mounts an LVM-based NTFS partition on the Linux host.

Script to Dump xml Configuration Files

Most people today use the libvirt API and/or its front end Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager) to configure and manage virtual machines. Both create xml configuration files. Unfortunately you can’t just copy them or edit them using your favorite editor.

12 Years GPU Passthrough

Time flies. 12 years have passed since I built my first PC with GPU passthrough. Back in the old days there was little documentation on how to do it. I found a tutorial written for Fedora, plus some messages here and there. VGA passthru, as it was often called, was very restrictive. You had to have the right hardware to make it work, including a graphics card that was supported (like the Nvidia Quadro series).

Manjaro Update 2023-12-01 and the XFCE Desktop

Yesterday I updated my Manjaro Linux host and ran into a problem (it likely started already with update 2023-11-28). At boot, after I logged in, the desktop background would not change to my chosen picture and no desktop icons would appear. Also, when clicking the file browser, it wouldn’t open. After nearly 30 seconds the desktop background changes and the icons appear. Also, the file browser opens.

Does the Linux NTFS3 Driver Corrupt Directories?

Updated January 19, 2024

About a year ago I switched to the new Linux NTFS3 driver built into the kernel. Up until then I used the user space NTFS-3G driver to mount Windows NTFS drives on my Linux host. Yesterday when running my hash script on one of my NTFS photo backup drives, I noticed an input/output error.

ChatGPT for Coding

Can an AI chat bot like ChatGPT understand and explain program code, or even write its own code based on your directions?

Everybody (almost) is talking about artificial intelligence (AI). I wanted to see if ChatGPT, a large language model-based chatbot developed by OpenAI, is able to help in coding. Can ChatGPT evaluate and improve program code? Or can it even write its own program code, based on the task you set forth?

QEMU 7.2 and Raw Disks

Update January 27, 2023: The issue described below is limited to users of RAW partitions. But there is a workaround. See under “What to do?”

A recent update from QEMU 7.1 to QEMU 7.2 caused my Windows 10 VM to show 100% utilization of the C: drive. Performance of the Windows VM dropped to the bottom – the VM was pretty much unusable.

Users at the VFIO Reddit reported similar issues. However, as it turned out, it seems to affect only storage on LVM raw volumes. In other words, if you have your VM in a qcow file, all should be well.

Kernel 6.0 and VFIO

Kernel 6 not booting with VFIO – workaround

Recently I upgraded to kernel 6.0 on my Manjaro rig, but that didn’t go well. The PC booted but there was no screen output. I was able to ssh into the Manjaro host, though.

Searching for an answer led me to the “Linux Kernel 6 seems to be incompatible with the vfio_pci module needed for PCI passthrough” on Level1Techs. If you go further down the thread, you’ll see how someone posted a working solution “Using the driver_override feature“.