My Linux desktop is having a bit of difficulty with bad sectors. Lately I've had to boot into recovery and run an fsck a few times to try to fix a problem where the OS drops into read-only mode at the drop of a hat. Today I tried copying some files from one directory to another and got the following error message:
cp: error reading "foo/bar": Input/output error

I've just booted into a live USB and run fsck /dev/sda1 -c and it fixed a load of bad sectors, but the above error message is still happening.

A bit of googling tells me that this is down to bad sectors on the SSD, and I'm not really sure what that means. Is anybody able to enlighten me? And as a follow-up question, would reformatting the hard drive resolve the problem, or are there any other things I can try to fix it?

This is more specific than ~talk would normally have
, but tildes doesn't have anything for shopping yet, so...

I'm using my laptop right now, but I've found that for a lot of the stuff on my computer,
I don't really need a screen. I like using the terminal, and can get a lot done just typing:
no mouse or display. I think this would be great, as I already do a lot of my casual writing
and note taking my eyes closed, leaning back in a chair.

What's the best machine that meets these qualifications? Basically, I just need a way to read memory
out to another drive. Battery would be a must as well.

Thanks

I have been using a "Pok3r"-style 60% board I assembled with MX Browns for years. As time goes on, I'm growing increasingly tired of the limitations, like pressing three different keys to get a ~. I use my keyboard for writing code, writing reports, and playing RTS games like Homeworld, which a 60% board is simply inadequate for doing. While I initially used VIM as my default text editor, I've moved to using VS Code, where using a function key to access arrow keys is simply absurd. So I'd love to get your set up:

What keyboard do you use?

What is your keyboard? What kind of switches? 60%, TKL, 100%? What brand do you use? Do you use a default keyboard with your system, a laptop keyboard, a gaming board, or some sort of ergonomic monstrosity?

What do you use your keyboard for?

Are you a developer? Are you a gamer? Do you write? What are your primary use cases?

I couldn’t find a good roundup that covered both of these and didn’t want to add clutter to the front page with two posts.

From The Verge:

• Microsoft’s new $549 Surface Laptop Go aims to compete with Chromebooks

• Microsoft’s updated Surface Pro X has a faster processor and new platinum color option

The Surface Pro X seems like just a spec bump, so there isn’t too much interesting there. But the Surface Laptop Go is interesting. The base model is absolute garbage (4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of EMMC storage) but the other models are somewhat decent.

The overall design of the Surface products is really striking. I honestly think they look much more modern and clean than Apple’s laptops. I also really love that they are offering colors. I wish Apple would offer more colors than just gray, silver and pink/gold on their laptops.

Pricing up my next Thinkpad (I'm a lifer for Thinkpads I think now) and I keep hovering over the 4K screen option. I'm looking at a 15.6" screen. The FHD 14" screen I currently have is lovely and sharp with a decent colour gamut, and I don't think I can see pixels, even now when the machine is literally on my lap. I'd guess the screen is maybe 35cm from my eyes at the moment.

I don't really game, I do edit photos, video (HD, not 4K) and do a little 3D work with Blender/FreeCAD/etc. I usually run Debian/Gnome, occasionally dropping into Windows because my 3D printer's preferred slicing software is Windows only (grrrr).

The other bonus to 4K is HDR400 and twice as many nits of brightness but again, I'm not sure that's worth an extra £250. I'd probably turn the brightness down anyway. The HDR is potentially interesting but as I don't watch TV/movies on this machine and my camera doesn't output HDR, that's likely not very useful despite sounding good. I could buy quite a lot more compute power and ram with that money instead..

I would go and look at one in person but I have no idea where the nearest 4K Thinkpad is, in person, and even if I did, I don't really want to go into shops right now.

Any thoughts, experiences, advice, etc would be much appreciated.

I recently got my significant other into Eurotruck Simulator 2 and was given the go-ahead to purchase a VR headset so that we can better experience the various sim games out there. Unfortunately, the complete Valve Index package is back-ordered about 8 weeks so it will be a while before I can take the plunge and buy one.

Was just curious though if anyone here also has a VR headset and what their experience has been with it. I had a 1st generation Oculus Rift a long time ago but ended up selling it since I felt the software wasn't there (2016) and I could really only play the seated experiences with a 360 controller so I felt I was behind the curve even on my 1st purchase.

Some prompts to help spur discussion, but feel free to share what you would like to share:

• How often do you play on your headset?
• What games/experiences would you recommend?
• What games/experiences do you not recommend?
• What headset do you own/have you tried any others?
• Are there any accessories or peripherals that are worth checking out?

(I'd be surprised if this hasn't been asked before.)

A few questions that come to my mind are:

What are your computers' specs?

How are your computer parts/cabling organized? (Are they?)

What is the resolution of your monitor(s?)

What OS is it?

I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to technology, so you can add you own questions as you please.

Edit: In hindsight, my knowledge of specs is even poorer that I thought it was and I can barely read the answers. Ah well "^~^