Posts

Posted on

Linux and dimming screen on Boot

output from a neofetch command on a linux virtual machine running arch

When you have worked in IT as long as I have you tend to collect old computers and laptops. For linux I prefer debian as my daily driver, it’s solid and reliable. Its also fun to run Arch but I think I play too much and break it far too often.

I recently added another classic ThinkPad to my collection to tinker some more with Arch and hit an odd issue. I had just installed Arch with a minimal manual install and the standard kernel. All was working fine, I added and compiled DWM tweaked it a little and all was looking good.

Then I thought I aught to add the LTS version of the kernel as a backup incase of issues.

This is where my problems started.

# pacman -S linux-lts linux-headers

Installed the additional kernel and I updated my grub boot loader

-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Then a reboot and I booted into the Long Term Support Kernel, and all looked good. So another reboot and back into the current kernel, and part way thought the boot process the screen went really dim.

Lots of searching through the arch wiki and forums, suggestions such as adding “acpi_backlight=vendor” to the boot loader string, using systemctl to mask the backlight service, but nothing worked.

I removed the LTS kernel and headers, but still the problem persisted. Oh well I had hardly started the build so I wiped, reinstalled both kernel options and the problem remained. I wiped again and just installed the general kernel, now no issues. So installing the LTS kernel definitely breaks something.

Back to the wiki.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Backlight#Kernel_command-line_options

The forums had mentioned Vendor as a setting and Native, both of which I tried with the service masked and unmasked, but goingthrough the wiki I found this:

acpi_backlight=video
acpi_backlight=vendor
acpi_backlight=native

So there are three options for the command. I added the video line, rebooted and problem solved. Remembering the service was still masked so deleting the file in systemd to remove the mask and reboot again. Again normal brightness the problem was solved.

Posted on

Whisky Stash 2026

A black and white photography of Steep Hill in Lincoln. This very steep cobbled street has independent shops, cafes and at the top you reach castle square. In this image you can see people slowly walking up the cobbled street.

It’s February now and time to review my whisky stash. I love good coffee, red wine, fine chocolate and good whisky. I generally drink Scotch but have particularly enjoyed some French whisky recently and a rather fine single cask of Welsh whisky that was selected and bottled by SWS (Scottish Whisky Society); and I always have some Irish pot stilled whisky ready to pour a dram.

Currently my stash consists of 28 bottles unopened not counting the little 30ml sample bottles I have and 15 open bottles.

I think this year I will concentrate on reducing the open bottles and add a few of the new distilleries to my collection. I was particularly impressed by a Welsh whisky recently so I’ll also try a few English whiskies this year.

Two musicians walking up Lincoln's steep hill. There backs are to the camera as they make the climb carrying their instruments.

If you are ever in Lincoln and our feel strong, to make the climb up steep hill, there is a fine independent whisky shop in the Bailgate that’s worth a visit. The picture at the top of this post really does not do the hill justice. Its quite a climb.

Posted on

Photo and Video Show – Part 1 Travelling by EV

Screen grab showing the time of the Photography & Video Show on at the NEC Birmingham, 14 - 17 March

I have not been to the show for a couple of years, last year it was held in London, which if you live in the south of England is fine but for the rest of England and the UK, its a pain. Talking to. a couple of venders I know, they’re expecting much better footfall to this years show.

So I’ll be travelling by EV. A quick trip to drop my greyhound off at the dog sitter, then a trip to Chris’s to collecting him and then off to the show.

Its still a bit of a haul south to the midlands for us, but we can get there with a full charge without issue.

The show is being held at the Birmingham NEC so a far more central location for England. The NEC was a charging nightmare, but now has lots of rapid chargers and even better, a dedicated EV carpark. This carpark is for EV’s only and each parking space has a type 2 AC charging post. You can park up, plug in and leave your car charging while you enjoy the show. You do need to provide your own cable but a part from that its a great if slightly pricey solution, but shows are never cheap.

Posted on

Linux computing – Tips Arch on Synology NAS

My home server is Debian, the bookworm version, but I have a couple of test Debian instances running as virtual machines on my NAS for testing.

You hear a lot of noise about how great ‘insert latest distrubution here’ is. Debian gets a lot of flack for being old, but its stable and works, if you don’t want flashy I can recommend it, but it may not work on the latest hardware for a while.

Arch linux gets a lot of noise and seems to be the latest and greatest. Part of its appeal was the fact it was difficult to install, no longer true just type archinstall, but still no pretty GUI installer.

I use a selection of hypervisors for virtual machines, from KVM on my old Lenovo laptop running what ever is the flavour of the day of linux I want to play with, virtual box on my Mac laptop and virtual machine manager on my Synology NAS.

I do occasionally have issues with the Synology NAS, and Arch was no different with it seeming to hang. By default the NAS does not use UEFI which I prefer and change but the hanging issue was the video card. I had to change it from the default to just vga, then no issues.

Posted on

The Nikon Zf – my perspective

Ella a dark haired model wearing red bra and pants. See is reclined and looking directly into the camera

The Nikon Z9 is ergonomically one of the best cameras out there. Followed by the Z8, Z7, and Z6, in the Nikon Z range.

I can dial in a shot, change settings etc incredibly quickly on my Z7.

The Zf is very much a compromise. Old school, takes time to change settings in comparison. So by have I bought one?

Winter scene. Old church to the right, snow on the road and the sun can be seen coming though the trees on the left.

Recently I had the chance to use both in the studio, and with its better ergonomics the Z7 is clearly the better camera, so again why. Well I enjoy using it. It’s not a camera I will be using professionally, though it will be in the bag as a backup. It will be a camera to use for pleasure and with its traditional controls it like my Leica, just an enjoyable experience to use if slower. I have also been using it with other manual focus lenses, which is a delight.

So would I recommend the Zf. No the Z6 III is a better choice for you. Do I love it and enjoy using it, oh yes.

It’s one of those cameras you need to try.

Posted on

Boultham Park, Lincoln

Railway Poplar that is a 160 years old, backlit by the sun in Boultham Park, Lincoln. Stong shadows can be seen cast forward towards the view with the sun peaking into the image through the trees.

Last months picture of the month was of a poplar tree. This is a 160 year old tree and one of the oldest poplar’s in the UK.

Boultham Park in Lincoln is a popular park with an indoor and outdoors bowling green. Swings and slides etc for the children, a bandstand and a large lake.

This used to be the Ellison Estate but was turned into a park for the use of the people of Lincoln. You can read about its history here.

A swan on the lake at Boultham Park with its wings outstretched. Seagulls can be seen out of focus in the background.

I spend the morning walking around the park taking pictures. I had my Nikon Zf and a Voigtländer M to Z Adapter. Attached to the adapter was my Leica Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8. Despite what you might think with its slow aperture of f/3.8, it really is a stunning lens. Many people think the wide angle range starts at 24mm, while 28mm, 35mm and 50mm are more street photography lens then true wide angles.

I visit this park quite often as I have family nearby. You will find me wondering round with either a large telephoto shooting the wildlife on the lake, or I might just have a wide angle, attached to either my Leica or Nikon Zf.

A pair of Swans on the lake at Boultham Park looking left. Its misty and the image lacks colour but looks somewhat dreamy.

These two wildlife shots were taken a few years ago with a D200 and an 70-200mm f/2.8.

Posted on

Whitby Photos – Church Cross

The old cross at Whitby in the foreground. There is a wooden fence in front of it and the church on the hill by the Abbey can be seen in the background.

Whitby Cross.

After last Monday’s Whitby post, I went through some very old photographs taken with my Nikon D200. Not exactly fine art but it’s a reminder of a great holiday. I find a few others from that trip and post them over the course of the next month.