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This computer, which predated Apple & the TRS-80, was instrumental to the beginning of “personal computers” and resulted in the creation of Microsoft. This in turn resulted in Linus Torvalds wanting something better so he created Linux.

I need to return my HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Mini

Was working with STG USA on my HDMI audio issue. They eventually said “They don’t support Linux”. My reply was as follows…

It's a shame because other than HDMI audio, it seems like a nice computer. Also there are many YouTube videos showing Linux running on this computer. I did ask Amazon's AI "Rufus" BEFORE I BOUGHT IT if it ran Linux. And it said "yes  it works well with Linux" even adding "it has excellent Linux driver support". See attached image. That answer is different today. Being that HDMI audio worked perfectly on my other Linux computer, I kinda suspect it's a BIOS issue. Anywho, I'll return it. I'll probably end up buying a much more expensive Mini computer.

Disney classics

Along with the Blu-Ray player I just bought, I bought a couple old Disney animation classic’s, starting in the 1940s… in Blu-Ray. I mocked a older guy recently about having Frozen, in his collection. I still think it’s odd. But I often enjoy animated videos, especially old classics, because of nostalgia and the vibrant colors. Also the amount of work it took to create a full length animated movie, back in the day. I would have started with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)… but didn’t, because it’s delivery time was at least a week longer than the Blu-Ray player I bought. I’ll get it and others in the near future. I mean hasn’t everyone at some point in their working life sung “Hi ho, hi ho… it’s off to work I go”? My artistic skills are so bad, I truly admire and can appreciate people with that skill. The emotion these artists can give a animated character, combined with music, is very cool to me. I couldn’t do that in a million years! I can look at a video game in the same way, marveling at how grass or leaves, blow in the wind, or how far, realistic animated water has come.

According to Wikipedia Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the 1st animated feature film produced in the United States. It was almost 1.5 hrs long. It was the highest-grossing film of 1938. Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar for the film, which was presented to Disney by Shirley Temple. Wikipedia also says it is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, credited with ushering in the golden age of animation.

I love older cartoons and was excited about MeTV Toons, back in 2024.

External Blu-Ray player

My recent external DVD player purchase didn’t read Blu-Ray’s… on purpose. I thought there wasn’t significant difference in quality, for a more costly disc. But now I realize that was probably due to me watching the Blu-Ray’s on a not so great TV (720p or less). I also fairly recently upgraded my computer monitor because my old Sansui TV/monitor was failing. So with that, I now do notice a Blu-Ray quality difference on my new LG monitor. So Blu-Ray’s have become more important to me, hence I’m now looking to buy an external Blu-Ray player.

I’ve had various problems reading certain DVDs that my TV DVD player (non computer) reads fine. And I was wondering if it could be due to more powerful lasers. So I’ve been looking at various external Blu-Ray player. And I spotted this one that can be powered by the computers USB port or an external power source.

BTW. I asked their AI “does it require external power” just to cover my bases. And it replied no. I then followed up with the below statement. And it corrected itself.

Also, looking at the 1st image, why does this happen to me so often? It says “Only 2 left in stock”, however as I write this it now says “Only 1 left in stock”. This is probably not true, but my mind is telling me “The packers have grabbed all the good looking packages, and the last one isn’t the greatest example, maybe some slightly crushed corners or a return that is taped up”. So I’ll end up spending more because this was a “Limited Time Deal”. I’m not buying the last one.

Oddly, checking a few minutes later, it no longer says “Only 1 left in stock”, and even has the possibility of 1 day sooner delivery… same “Limited Time Deal” price. So I ordered one.

Desktop BIOS info

bill@bill-MS-7B79:~$ sudo dmidecode --type bios
[sudo] password for bill:           
# dmidecode 3.3
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 26 bytes
BIOS Information
	Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
	Version: A.30
	Release Date: 04/23/2018
	Address: 0xF0000
	Runtime Size: 64 kB
	ROM Size: 16 MB
	Characteristics:
		PCI is supported
		BIOS is upgradeable
		BIOS shadowing is allowed
		Boot from CD is supported
		Selectable boot is supported
		BIOS ROM is socketed
		EDD is supported
		5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
		3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
		3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
		Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
		8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
		Serial services are supported (int 14h)
		Printer services are supported (int 17h)
		ACPI is supported
		USB legacy is supported
		BIOS boot specification is supported
		Targeted content distribution is supported
		UEFI is supported
	BIOS Revision: 5.13

bill@bill-MS-7B79:~$

HDMI: HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Mini vs Main desktop

OK, Just to make sure there wasn’t something strange about a Linux computer attached to to the HDMI input on my Magnavox TV (which BTW has other working HDMI devices attached to it)….

I moved my living room TV (yes it’s small) next to Main Linux Desktop

Without shutting down I unplugged my smaller LG monitor, behind the TV and plugged my Magnavox TV HDMI cable into the Computer. You can see the HDMI cable stretching between the TV to the HDMI output just below the rear fan on my Linux desktop. That’s one difference My desktop PC has a actual HDMI output, the HP Mini PC has a DisplayPort output, but I use DP to HDMI cable.

And it appeared in the sound output tab (I had to select it)…

This HDMI output device does not appear when my speaker-less LG monitor is attached via HDMI as you can see here.

Once again Computer wasn’t rebooted the cable was just switched. And Linux recognized it immediately. The sound played through the TV speakers as I expected/hoped, able to be controlled or muted by the TV remote.

This is what the Mini PC shows… NO HDMI device. So it’s not the TV.

Batocera for Kodi

Linux Mint Mate was a better choice than LibrELEC to try getting HDMI audio working. But as of now it still doesn’t work. If I can’t get HDMI audio working very soon I’m strongly considering trying Batocera linux, which was mostly developed for retro gaming. But I hear that it includes Kodi.

So I downloaded the Batocera linux iso gzip and it took quite a while to unzip. Surprisingly it was 11.3 GB unzipped. One of the largest ISOs I’ve seen.

In phase 1, I installed it on a USB drive, and it ran it from there. You can also install it on the Mini’s SSD. Once it was up I was trapped on a emulation screen. I pressed almost every key to try and find a menu, all I found was F1 brings up the file manager. I finally watched a video that said you had to press the Space Bar to get to the main menu… the one key I didn’t press. Once there I could see that Kodi was the first menu selection. I found the audio device selector, but again… no HDMI!

So I’m back were I started. Looks like maybe I’ll have to return it. But I’ll give tech support a shot first.

When/If I get this HDMI sound figured out… Batocera, may be better than LibreELEC because it’s not a one trick pony. Evidently it’s a well known retro game emulator. I’ve done a lot of retro computer emulation. But not a lot of retro game emulation, some… but not a lot. I have a few ROMS from games I own. But I have a lot of Super Nintindo, Nintindo 64, Playstation 1 games and a few GameQube games too, that I could get ROMS for.

Right now I’m searching for a Batocera no HDMI solution.

Stuff

From Mate

bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Kernel: 6.17.0-22-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0
    clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: MATE v: 1.26.2 wm: marco v: 1.26.2 with: mate-panel
    tools: mate-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22.3 Zena base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: HP product: HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Desktop Mini v: SBKPF
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 6 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: HP model: 8595 v: KBC Version 08.09.22 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 8JG43US#ABA uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: HP
    v: R21 Ver. 02.23.00 date: 07/07/2025
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: Intel Core i5-9500T bits: 64 type: MCP
    smt: <unsupported> arch: Coffee Lake rev: A cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB
    L3: 9 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 900 min/max: 800/3700 cores: 1: 900 2: 900 3: 900 4: 900
    5: 900 6: 900 bogomips: 26399
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,
    DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e92
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6
    compositor: marco v: 1.26.2 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: 32MV319R/F7_A res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 70 size: 698x392mm (27.48x15.43") diag: 815mm (32.1") modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
    inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa
    v: 25.2.8-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa
    Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2) device-ID: 8086:3e92
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 layers: 3 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 0
    type: integrated-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 8086:3e92 device: 1 type: cpu
    driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.17.0-22-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e
    v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bb class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-14:4 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11 sub-v: 2184 hci-v: 11 rev: 2184 class-ID: 7c0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 13.35 GiB (5.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB256HAHQ-000L7
    size: 238.47 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 0L2QEXD7 temp: 35.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 233.18 GiB used: 13.34 GiB (5.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  Src: /sys System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C pch: 41.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 1924
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb https://mirrors.seas.harvard.edu/linuxmint-packages zena main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-desktop.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.4 GiB used: 8.39 GiB (54.5%)
  Processes: 327 Power: uptime: 2h 4m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5)
    default: graphical
  Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.21 running-in: mate-terminal
    inxi: 3.3.34
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
DP-1 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 698mm x 392mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  59.94    30.00    24.00    29.97    23.98  
   1920x1080i    60.00    59.94  
   1680x1050     59.88  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      59.90  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1360x768      60.02  
   1280x800      59.91  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    60.00    30.00    59.94    29.97    24.00    23.98  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x480i      60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$ pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 133
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: bill
Host Name: bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.0.5)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.2
Default Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.2.monitor
Cookie: cca8:eff8
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$ aplay --list-pcms
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
default
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
lavrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Libav/FFmpeg Library
samplerate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Samplerate Library
speexrate
    Rate Converter Plugin Using Speex Resampler
jack
    JACK Audio Connection Kit
oss
    Open Sound System
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
speex
    Plugin using Speex DSP (resample, agc, denoise, echo, dereverb)
upmix
    Plugin for channel upmix (4,6,8)
vdownmix
    Plugin for channel downmix (stereo) with a simple spacialization
hw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Hardware device with all software conversions
sysdefault:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Front output / input
surround21:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
dmix:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, CX20632 Analog
    Direct sample mixing device
usbstream:CARD=PCH
    HDA Intel PCH
    USB Stream Output
bill@bill-HP-EliteDesk-800-G5-Desktop-Mini:~$

Haven’t solved Mini PC HDMI audio problem

Very aggravating. I’m sure the answers out there. Googling is tricky sometimes. The answer might be the 50th google response that I never make it to, because I gave up. Another person with the exact same problem could post the same question in a slightly different way and the very 1st hit could solve the problem.

Do I query about “no HDMI audio on the HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Mini” or “Mate doesn’t show a HDMI device option”. Or you see something interesting then realize it a Windows solution even though you specifically specified Linux. Then you look at a promising response and realize the response is from many years ago and doesn’t apply to Mate today.

PBD on Ramagadden

Why am I listening to conservative businessman Patrick Bet-David talking about ram prices. Because it’s not technical it’s supply and demand. And these AI data centers are needing a lot of RAM. He also talked about RAM becoming cheaper because Google has recently developed TurboQuant, a software level compression algorithm that drastically reduces the need for RAM in AI by 600%. This is related to my post on recently buying external HDDs.