computers
In our home initially we had a single desktop pc with hostname homepc running Windows 7. OS was upgraded to Windows 10. Later this pc was converted to dualboot between a Linux distribution Linux Mint and windows around 2019.
Around 2020, bought a used desktop named onepc, for Aniruth from Ariyankuppam and also installed Linux Mint along with Windows 10, but it developed a number of hardware issues. Ended up buying an used Lenova E41-25 notebook with windows10, which was also migrated to Linux Mint . Both memory and HDD were upgraded to 8GB and SSD. As of Mar'26, this is running only windows 11.
A second desktop, homepc2 was bought in 2023 as the first one was nearly 10 years old. Also installed Linux Mint .
Both the desktops were migrated to Arch by early 2024. While learning to use arduino in mid-2024, i bought a pi 2W Zero. At that time i considered using Alpine Linux for it instead of using Raspberry Pi OS the official OS, but did not go ahead due to lack of knowledge.
All Linux Mint computers are using Cinnamon as desktop environment. The snapshot feature of BTRFS filesystem is being used with Snapper or Timeshift for recovery and btrbk for backup.
I tried dwm and found it useful due to the tiling window management. Finally migrated from dwm to swaywm . In end Jul'24, installed Alpine Linux along with Arch in homepc2.
In the routers at home a Netgear R6220 and TP-Link TL-WR841N/ND v11, an alternate OS i.e Openwrt is being run for additional features.
pi is running pihole on a diskless↗ Alpine Linux installation since Nov'2025.
To ensure that all the devices are in sync tools like syncthing , rsync were tested. Currently using rsync due to its light weight nature.
We also had a kindle that was bought in 2013-14 and has become unusable since 2023 due to dead battery.
An Nokia E71 from 2009 was replaced in 2016 by Lenova Vibe K5. Due to support issues, used a custom firware on the Vibe K5 instead of official android . Finally the device died in 2022 and was replaced by Note6Pro .
Active devices
Information about active devices are listed below
Desktop
| Hostname | homepc | homepc2 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | XP->W10 + Mint->Arch->Mint | Mint->Arch->Alpine |
| CPU Type | G2010 @ 2.80GHz | G6405 @ 4.10GHz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte H61M-S1 | Asus PRIME H510M-E |
| Memory | 4GB Kingston DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB Crucial DDR4 SDRAM |
| Graphics | Intel(R) HD Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 610 |
| Hard Drives | ST3250318AS -> SSD SA400S37240G | Nvme CT500P3SSD8 + ST3250318AS |
| Power supply | Antec NSK 4480B + Basiq BP300P | Antec VP450P Plus |
| Date | Aug'2013 - | May'2023 - |
Mobiles
- Note6Pro - 28 May 2022
- MOTOROLA e32 (Eco Black, 64 GB) - 19 Jul 2023
- Samsung Galaxy F06 5G Lit Violet, 128 GB - 8 May 2025
Notebook
- Lenova E41-25
- Lenova Thinkpad T480
Networking devices
- Netgear R6220 - 23 Jan 2023
- TP-Link TL-WR841N/ND v11 300Mbps Wireless N Router - 6 Oct 2016
Other devices
- Google Chromecast 2 Media Streaming Device -6 Oct 2016
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W - 24 Jun 2024
Storage devices
The Seagate Barracuda ST3250318AS was the original HDD that i started using around 2011 on the homepc. I replaced it with KINGSTON SA400S37240G around May 2019 as primary and seagate continued to be used as backup drive on homepc. Few months back i.e around mid'2025, i moved the Seagate to homepc2 as backup harddisk as homepc’s usage reduced as my daughter went to college.
The Toshiba MQ01ABF050 HDD came with a Tamilnadu government laptop Lenova E41-25 . Since we replaced the Toshiba HDD with a SSD Crucial BX500 240GB CT240BX500SSD1 it was kept aside and remained unused until today i.e 2026-08-07.
I was using Crucial P3 500GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD CT500P3SSD8 on homepc2 until 2026-08-05. It suddenly failed while working and BIOS started showing size of 0Bytes. So i pulled the Kingston from homepc as an immediate replacement.
prabu@homepc2 /m/b/_btrbk> doas smartctl -a /dev/sdb
doas (prabu@homepc2) password:
smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-linux-6.18.40-0-lts] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12
Device Model: ST3250318AS
Serial Number: 5VMBSL9R
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 024ec9675
Firmware Version: CC38
User Capacity: 250,059,350,016 bytes [250 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Device is: In smartctl database 7.5/5706
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is: SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is: Thu Aug 6 17:01:47 2026 IST
==> WARNING: A firmware update for this drive may be available,
see the following Seagate web pages:
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207931en
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/213891en
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 642) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 49) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x103f) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 119 099 006 Pre-fail Always - 222074742
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 097 097 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 037 037 020 Old_age Always - 65535
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 020 020 036 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 3315
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 088 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 790466665
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 071 071 000 Old_age Always - 25947
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 065 065 020 Old_age Always - 36149
183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 098 000 Old_age Always - 4295032891
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 058 046 045 Old_age Always - 42 (Min/Max 30/42)
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 042 054 000 Old_age Always - 42 (0 21 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 039 020 000 Old_age Always - 222074742
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 107424 (156 218 0)
241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 3316065912
242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 2086619337
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 23203 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 13259 -
# 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 8954 -
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more
prabu@homepc2 ~> doas smartctl -a /dev/sda
doas (prabu@homepc2) password:
smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-linux-6.18.40-0-lts] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Toshiba 2.5" HDD MQ01ABF...
Device Model: TOSHIBA MQ01ABF050
Serial Number: 49EJTKS4T
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000039 931905f7e
Firmware Version: AM0Q6E
User Capacity: 500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Form Factor: 2.5 inches
Device is: In smartctl database 7.5/5706
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Fri Aug 7 10:57:06 2026 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 120) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 121) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x003d) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 050 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 100 100 001 Pre-fail Always - 1335
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 6297
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 050 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 050 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 091 091 000 Old_age Always - 3618
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0033 225 100 030 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 4752
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9827
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 1418
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 26138
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 30 (Min/Max 21/52)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
220 Disk_Shift 0x0002 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
222 Loaded_Hours 0x0032 092 092 000 Old_age Always - 3443
223 Load_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
224 Load_Friction 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
226 Load-in_Time 0x0026 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 267
240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0001 100 100 001 Pre-fail Offline - 0
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more
prabu@homepc2 ~> doas smartctl -a /dev/sdb
doas (prabu@homepc2) password:
smartctl 7.5 2025-04-30 r5714 [x86_64-linux-6.18.40-0-lts] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-25, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Phison Driven SSDs
Device Model: KINGSTON SA400S37240G
Serial Number: 50026B778289F905
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0026b7 78289f905
Firmware Version: S1Z40102
User Capacity: 240,057,409,536 bytes [240 GB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate: Solid State Device
TRIM Command: Available
Device is: In smartctl database 7.5/5706
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 4
SATA Version is: SATA 3.2, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Fri Aug 7 11:08:20 2026 IST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 120) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate.
No Auto Offline data collection support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0002) Does not save SMART data before
entering power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 10) minutes.
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 1
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 100
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9706
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 19769
148 Unknown_Attribute 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
149 Unknown_Attribute 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
167 Write_Protect_Mode 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
168 SATA_Phy_Error_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
169 Bad_Block_Rate 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
170 Bad_Blk_Ct_Lat/Erl 0x0000 100 100 010 Old_age Offline - 0/0
172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
173 MaxAvgErase_Ct 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
181 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
182 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 227
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 031 061 000 Old_age Always - 31 (Min/Max 28/61)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
218 CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
231 SSD_Life_Left 0x0000 079 079 000 Old_age Offline - 79
233 Flash_Writes_GiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 24980
241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 26097
242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 32618
244 Average_Erase_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 214
245 Max_Erase_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 249
246 Total_Erase_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 90832
SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported
The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more
Repairable
- kindle - Battery unavailable
- OnePlus 7T (Glacier Blue, 8GB RAM, Fluid AMOLED Display, 128GB) - 6 May 2020 - Screen dead
Obsolete devices
- Nokia E71
- Lenovo Vibe K5 (Gold, 2GB RAM, 16GB ) - 29 Jun 2016
- TP-LINK TL-MR3220 3G/4G Wireless N Router - 3 Apr 2013
© Prabu Anand K 2020-2026