For a few weeks I’ve been having intermittent problems with my Linux Fedora computer. I thought it was just random behavior, but after what happened today I am not so sure.
Today I went to connect my Logitech mouse that can connect to 3 different devices to it. It froze the computer. It never did that before. The night before I had been using NoMachine and I just close the laptop when I am done and then start it up in the morning. Usually that works, but sometimes the screen resolution can change in a negative way when woken up and I have to close and reopen the NoMachine app.
However when it froze I couldn’t do anything. I shut the machine down and then restarted and it was fine. However it seems to have been having problems connecting with the Bluetooth Logitech mouse. Now the MSI/HP and Dell computers that I have don’t have this problem. They immediately connect, which makes me think it is a ThinkPad issue.
This ThinkPad I was told to donate since it was too old for the organization I consulted for to want it back. It was locked so you couldn’t use it with Windows, but I could use it with Linux and that why I am running it. For the most part it works well. However the increasing problems it has connecting to Bluetooth is interesting. Yes it could be a software update that is causing this. One test would be to install a different OS on it, but right now I love this Fedora version and it is so beautiful and reliable other than this Bluetooth issue. If Bluetooth continues to be a problem I will just use the built in track pad, because I don’t want to deal with charging a dedicated mouse.
Why am I sharing this? For several reasons. The most important is that ultimately this is a non issue. How is that possible? Just to review. This computer is doing a virtual connection to my MSI Windows 11 computer. That means that I don’t need its hardware to be perfect. I have actually had it connect directly to the Windows 11 Bluetooth and it works great. Even if the Bluetooth stopped working on the ThinkPad I still could continue to use it as a keyboard and secondary screen even though I don’t like the small screen.
So when you have two computers and you use software to enable those two computers to share information, you not only get the joy of using multiple OS but also the reliability of two devices. I am so thrilled to be able to have this setup. It has really made it a pleasure to use a computer all day. Even if this computer fails, I will just use my backup computer and install NoMachine on it and go to town. Or use the MSI directly if my backup fails. You put the wear and tear on the cheapest computer. Kind of a poor mans client and server as we used to do in the old days. Nerd joke there if you don’t understand it.
Well now onto social media to see what exciting things I can uncover.