An issue I had though was around audio, firstly it was actually getting my AirPods working on Ubuntu. This was an easy fix to deal with the below being the quick fix.

Set

Now we have some audio coming through the AirPods but it was then super quiet compared to what I am getting when the AirPods are joined to my iPhone or iPad for example.

Step 1 – Open your terminal

Step 2 – Install PavuControl

Step 3 – Open PulseAudio Volume Control by running the following command in your terminal

Step 4 – Adjust your Output devices until you get better audio output.

You can see from the above that by default you are going to be set to 100% but then I dragged mine to 153% to give the best output I could get on the laptop, at least now I can hear everything I am listening to or watching.

I have put this together as this might help someone else with a Razer laptop or possibly anyone with Ubuntu running on their laptop. But also this works as a great reference for me if down the line I have to reinstall or change my distribution.

You might also want to check the warranty if you are going to do this, I did not check because there is always a fallback plan if you have a backup! But you have been warned.

Dual boot Ubuntu with Windows 10

For this walkthrough, I will be having Windows 10 pre-installed and wanting to carve out some space to have Ubuntu 20.10 running as a dual boot operating system on the laptop. There are some prerequisites within Windows that we must ensure is done before this will work (This is the reason for the blog, I lost many battles)

We are going to need the following:

• A backup of your Windows 10 machine! (cannot stress this enough, given what I do for a living) (free tools out there hint hint, Veeam Agent for Windows)
• Ubuntu ISO downloaded – https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop (I am using the Ubuntu 20.10 image)
• Software to create a bootable USB – https://www.balena.io/etcher/
• A USB Drive (I used a 4GB capacity drive, I did not test smaller options)
• Free disk space on your existing Windows OS or another disk available, I decided to shrink down the 500GB disk I have available and carve out 150GB for my new Ubuntu Installation.

Create a bootable USB drive

Using the downloaded Ubuntu ISO and the Balena Etcher software downloaded and installed on your machine we can now begin to create a bootable USB Drive. This software is super simple but will show all three steps and completion.

First, select the Ubuntu ISO.

Next, select the USB Drive, when I am doing things like this I tend to just use one at a time so I do not complicate things.

Then hit flash!

This process should take around 5 minutes, remove the drive safely when complete and put it to one side for now.

Windows Configuration Steps

There are a few steps we must complete so that we maintain the Windows OS we already have installed on the laptop.

Shrinking the disk.

For the record, this is not the system I used but the process is the same, open disk management you can find this by typing in disk management into the search bar next to the start menu.

Locate the disk you wish to use, my laptop only has one disk so that was straight forward, this system has multiple disk options. A warning here if you have a 500GB disk and it has 400GB of data (windows should prevent you from doing this) but don’t try and shrink it below what is being used. Right-click on the disk and you will see in the context menu “Shrink Volume”

Select Shrink Volume, enter in the amount you wish to shrink in MB I wanted 150GB so I made those changes. If you are working in GB which you will be then a quick Google for “150gb in mb” will give you a quick number to use.

Then select Shrink and your disk management should look like this below image and show an unallocated space, this is what we will use later for the Ubuntu Installation.

Secure Boot

This must be done for you to get things working. Secure Boot I think was a feature that came in with Windows 8. It was initially again I believe for security reasons to prevent boot viruses and the like, well in order for us to dual boot with our Ubuntu OS we need to turn it off. We start by searching for Advanced Start-up and we choose the top option in the menu below.

We then need to select Restart now, WARNING this is going to reboot your machine so if you are on the machine and reading this blog then you will be losing it and the next steps.

Your system is going to reboot into what I can describe as a safe mode option or boot mode. From here we are going to select “Troubleshoot”

Next is Advanced Options

Next is UEFI Firmware Settings

Then finally (well finally in this nice blue set of screens at least) hit restart

Next, you will find yourself in the BIOS of the system, use the arrow keys to move along to security.

Navigate down to secure boot and make sure this is disabled. Then save and exit, you will then be booted into Windows again.

Ubuntu Installation

Now we are finally ready to get Ubuntu installed on our system. You have your USB drive; you will need to reboot Windows and then make sure that the boot menu goes to the USB drive. On the Razer Blade Stealth, you need to press F12 on boot to access the boot menu. I am not going to walk through each step as this has been done a hundred times across the internet, The first and thorough walkthrough I found from a google search was this one here.

The only bit that I need to mention is taking that free 150Gb space we carved out in previous steps, this is where we need to state a few things here. There are three options that you will get that is not covered in the above walkthrough and they are: On this menu, we should choose “Something Else”

Then you will be back in a similar process to the linked walkthrough article and I have modified the images and hope the author doesn’t mind. Based on the free space that we now see in our list of drives, we need to select that and then the + we need to create 3 partitions as highlighted below. We will first create the system partition and we will make this 20GB, we will create an 8GB swap area partition and then the final partition in your home (where you store your documents etc) and this number will be the remaining total available from that 150GB so it should be around the 120GB mark.

Click through the rest of the wizard and you will be asked to create user accounts and join your networks. Out of the box this all worked for me, there are lots of stories out there about the graphics drivers but out of the box, Ubuntu used the open-source option which I later changed to NVIDIA drivers for the 1650TI. I did go through and then start installing my apps and updates and everything is running super smooth so far. I am yet to find anything that does not work, even the 4K touch panel works! Which I was shocked but equally pleased about as this was one of the reasons I went for the 4K option.

Another note is that the GRUB loader is super tiny, if anyone knows how to increase the size of this that would be super helpful although I can read it, it is very tiny on the 4K screen. I think that covers everything, if you have any questions then please reach out to me on Twitter @MichaelCade1 and I will gladly help or improve this article to help others.

Anyone that has done this will then see the GRUB loader be super tiny and almost unreadable on the 4K version of the Razer Blade Stealth. This may not bother you as by default this is going to boot into your Ubuntu desktop and you can just about select the Windows boot option there as well.

To fix this we have to make 1 tiny little change to the grub.cfg which can be found at etc/default/grub.cfg you need to remove the # from the

I did the above change using VI in the terminal, once you have made that change then run

There are some important things to consider though for making sure you have the best setup your budget allows and that your audience requires, sure you can use your stock webcam and your laptop microphone but the experience for everyone is not going to be great, even more so if you are a content creator the whole point of creating the content is firstly to help someone and empower them but secondly especially if its content created for your employee then you need the edge on your competition, you want your audience to enjoy the experience and take something away from it. You are now battling even more against other content creators for their views and engagement.

I have put together a list of areas you need to consider when rethinking your online conference and content creation space. I will try and touch on two different users by talking about budget friendly options and maybe more accessible options, I will also touch on a little more advanced creative content creator options that cost a little bit more but they are not over the top on the budget. Remember as well this is all or was all new to me as well and I am just offering my opinion on some considerations you should make to help your audience of whomever that may be have a better experience of you and your now remote surroundings.

Audio

Sound is the most important part of any online experience, if you have bad sound then it is close to 100% that people are going to leave or have a bad experience. You don’t want this for your customers and prospects or your audience to your content. There are options for all here, I am currently using a Rode NT-USB microphone that connects to a spare USB port on your system and you are up and running with little configuration, I would say that there are certain brands such as Rode and Elgato who recently released their wave device that follow this USB connectivity, if you are looking to improve your audio experience and on a budget then this should be the route. However there are further options around audio that you could and should consider if you are looking for a more professional setup, XLR is professional audio, radio and recording studios will be using XLR as well as live performers, the key point is that the XLR cables carry balanced audio which is important for getting clean sound. If you go down this route, then you will need some sort of audio interface or mixer so that your computer can see the microphone. This would be another box on your desk linking the microphone to your computer. If you are looking for a minimal setup this might not be the best fit. If you are interested in this route then Shure make some amazing good stuff that should fit that next level of budget above the USB mentions I made. Audio is more important than video!

As like a 1a I am also going to bring in here audio background noise, there is nothing more annoying than being on a call and someone has forgotten to mute (mute people, it’s just rude not to) there are many software only ways in which you can remove background noise such as fans and air con units or even clapping.

Lighting

Even if you are just going to sit on that zoom call speaking to customers, partners or prospects you should always make sure your lighting is the best it can be, either by using natural lights from windows or by making light using some options widely available out there. I have put lighting before the camera because basically even the most expensive and advanced camera will look bad if the lighting is bad. This could be cheapest way to make you look better on your video. You can go fancy and get the Elgato key lights if you are creating content but really if you are looking at this for online meetings and conferencing then you can get options on Amazon for all ranges of prices.

Camera

I mentioned above that you can have the most expensive camera but if your lighting is poor then it is pointless having the most expensive camera. There are a few options when it comes to cameras, web cams most commonly will be referenced when it comes to your online conferencing requirements, but there are also ways to leverage maybe the family DSLR to act as a much better web cam experience. There are some off the shelf options when it comes to webcams, the first and likely most popular is the Logitech C920 and then there is the Razer Kiyo, I went with the Razer because I wanted the additional light source that it brings. Hardware wise they use the same chip I have heard so quality is going to be similar or the same, but the added light could give you a more compact option to point 2 above. Then there is the option to use the DSLR and maybe even your phone (I heard that Apple might be doing something that enables this to happen) basically for this to work you will need to check out your camera vendor and see what they have done in this space. Canon released their webcam utility not that long ago during this whole situation. You likely don’t need to go to the extents of the below image to make your image great again.

Background

Finally, what is behind you? As a presenter you spend all your time looking at your screen and other people, you have probably checked out all your colleagues’ situations behind them in their camera shot. This is often massively missed as a way of expressing you as a person to your customers and prospects or just making sure that if you are presenting the backdrop is clear and simple so that the audience can focus on you. I would also suggest that if you are in it for online meetings then a clean and minimal background is the way to go, and although zoom backgrounds are fun. They look very strange when you don’t have a green screen as they cut of your ears or part of your head. Now if you are a content creator then maybe invest in a green or blue screen to make that background look more professional, I went for the Elgato portable green screen (this post is not sponsored by Elgato, wish it was then the kit would not have cost so much) this allows me to blend into some of my demo videos but its not a requirement for your daily / hourly zoom calls.

There are lots of options for all the above and beyond what I have mentioned. This world up until maybe 6 months ago (I was looking at this stuff just before the pandemic situation hit) which is also why I was able to source all the kit as stocks dwindled away as you all know. Stock is now coming back and things are returning to the appropriate prices also, just consider your setup in the order above, if you have to change one thing though, make your audio the best it can be on the budget that you have.

Any comments leave them below, I love to learn and if you want to ask anything about my setup then also ask below or find me on twitter @MichaelCade1

Over the last few months we spoke about the fact I was working on a project to refresh my office setup, little did I know that the world would go into lockdown and everyone would be searching high and low for components to make their working from home better and more efficient. Here is that kit list and why I was looking to do this project and that flip from Apple to Windows.

Then we have the desk build out here.

Monitor

The ASUS ROG Strix XG49VQ Super Ultra-Wide HDR was a great choice, after a month in I can safely say I made the right decision, interesting that a lot of people have asked “how is it?” “do you overextend your neck?” well the answer is no I am over 30cm away from it which is what I read to be the recommended. And to be honest it’s the same width as the setup I had before with 2 x 27″ but the best thing is I don’t have to deal with the bezels in the middle its just one big screen and its great from a productivity point of view as well as a little bit of CS:GO that I have been getting into.

Keyboard

Another top performer here has been the Logitech G915 coming from an Apple keyboard I was a little concerned how moving to a mechanical keyboard would be, but this has been amazing! The clicky sounds and feel when typing has been awesome. I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a solid mechanical keyboard for productivity workloads. On another note I went for the Razer Blackwidow Lite for my laptop station, more to come on that when I get it out the box.

Mouse

The Razer Viper Ultimate got some amazing reviews and rightly so for the cost! Again, coming from a mac magic mouse to this is a completely different feel but I have been pleasantly surprised. I love the wireless and the charging dock set off to one side of the desk, this needs to be docked probably once a week.

Desktop

By far the most expensive and you can see from the spec on the previous blogs what I went for, I love the look of the Phankeks Enthoo Evolv X and by all accounts I thought moving from an iMac to a desktop PC especially where I was going to have it situated on the desk I thought it would be a lot noisier but its not at all, maybe it ramps up a little bit when I am exporting videos but nothing serious. Overall, this was a great choice, maybe the only thing I might have changed was going for a darker colour.

Speakers

I think I said somewhere that the reason I put speakers into the setup was for consuming content, a lot of the training and also general content I have been consuming have been more video based rather than reading, if its not video then its likely music or podcasts. And the Razer Nommo Chroma speakers looked good and they got some really good reviews out there as well.

Headphones

The other half of sound for me is being on conference calls or webinars. For that I wanted a good comfortable pair of wireless headphones, the Razer Nari Ultimate got some good reviews and they fit with the rest of the Razer investment. Honestly I think the ultimate are probably aimed at some serious gamers for the price and some of the features, If I was going to do it again then I would likely look at either of the other offerings they have. This might be the route I take for my travel kit and go for the essentials maybe. But overall, they have been great for the calls I am on more and more these days. I am finding that the battery life is not that amazing and it wont last a full day of calls without needing some charge.

Webcam

Again, I was lucky that all of this kit was ordered and almost delivered before the pandemic struck which meant everyone in the UK and globally were sourcing better webcams and audio equipment as they started the working from home journey. For the webcam I went for the Razer Kiyo. Some good reviews and also, I seemed to have dropped into a Razer bubble of kit I was choosing but overall its been great and with the normal business calls its really good especially in my office where things are quite dark.

Audio

Another big part of the setup was the audio and by this I mean the input, I did some research but probably not as much as I should have here, I think if I was going to go with another shot at this it would have been to get an XLR microphone over the USB one that I did but again I think I probably went for the best or one of them at least USB microphone options. I went with the Rode NT-USB with the SMR shock mount and boom arm. No complaints here I have been on many calls, podcasts, YouTube videos and demos and all of which the sound has been quite good. Anything wrong with the settings is an issue my end. Couple this with the Nvidia RTX voice plugin and it’s been amazing, I also bought an air conditioner for the officer and this plug in cancels that out somehow… some dark magic.

Other

I could go on for another 1000 words on other things that have been purchased around cable management and other little things I have got to make my life easier or better for working from home. I also got a lot of comments and questions about the Elgato Stream Deck that I won in an online competition, I am currently using this for day to day macros and also playing with it to work better with StreamLabs OBS. The other thing is the screen under my new monitor, this is the Amazon Echo Show 5″ and I saw this on some setup reviews and thought that it looked good and it integrates with everything like Office 365 and tells me when things are due or upcoming in my calendar. Really cool stuff and cheap!

What is next!

What is next, what is next, well the original plan got flipped over with this COVID19 situation, because I was going with the laptop first then desktop but turns out I don’t need a laptop likely I don’t need one for the rest of the year as I cannot see us doing much travelling at all. But the Razer Blade Stealth 13″ 2020 edition just got released and I am keeping my eye on this, I am really considering the 4K model not for the 4K on a 13″ will be super but its touch screen where as the 1080p HD version is not. There are some other things as well… I just need to make the decision and pull the trigger when it makes sense.

The Before & Kit List

After the last post where I discussed the reasons for making the move from Apple to Windows and why… I decided to put together a short video clip of what the office kind of looked like before and then also some of the kit list that I went for based on a lot of research. This post also shows the rig specs as well for those asking.

It is absolutely worth noting here that nothing in this project has been sponsored by any vendor and this is all my own purchases.

The Actual Build

As I mentioned given the circumstances there have been a lot of delays around deliveries which is to be expected and actually I have to take my hat off to the delivery drivers out there and all the companies adapting to this new normal.

I put together a time lapse video below to try and capture the build out from start to finish. This not only shows the amount of new kit and thought that went into this project but also the cable management. I have a huge issue with cable management as you will see, I will link some of the tricks I used to make things tidy and out of shot.

Since I have been sharing updates on twitter there has been a number of asks on what certain things were in the new setup, I will add those here for people to reference.

“What is that small screen under that enormous screen?” That my friends is an Amazon Echo Show, it is a 5″ screen and after seeing some office / desk reviews and tours on YouTube this seemed like a great idea. It gives you access to Alexa, but also a newsfeed, time, weather and even syncs to your Office 365 calendar and can inform you of upcoming meetings etc. I can also use it to play Spotify separate to the setup although I could in theory run a cable from the device to the new Razer Nommo speakers and connect to the Aux in to use that sound system as well. (more cables though so likely won’t) Keep an eye out on Amazon as they have some good deals on this, and you should not really be spending more than £50 on one of these.

“Is that an Elgato Stream Deck?” Indeed, it is, but I am not a streamer I hear you cry. Indeed, correct again, however I have been looking at these for a while as they give the capability of being able to perform tasks in an automated fashion for example already I have configured mine for Zoom calls… quick button to mute and umute, show video, hide video and leave the meeting. As well as macros to open this site, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin all from a touch of a button on the deck. Its not just a tool for streamers and many YouTube videos back this theory up. The other amazing benefit to this was I did not have to pay for it! I won this in a competition over at the The Data Centre Brit at the very beginning of the year. Big shout out there to @jabenedicic who runs that blog but has also been a great sounding board for some of the decisions I have been taking for this whole office refresh.

Another thing to mention is the cable run that is now running around the outside of the desk, I knew I wanted to put LED lights on the top of the desk and the underneath but my desk is basically a worktop connected directly to the wall so there is no gap between desk and wall and then there are desk and shelf supports in all 3 corners of the desk. This was something else people asked. But with the LEDs and also the cable management I had drilled holes where possible but there is always going to be some other cables having to run between devices. What I did was ran these Rigid Angle Cover Trims around the outside of the desk and if you really look at the video or the images you might just see them. You will also see this is where in the video I attach the LED lighting and then I run the sleeves for cable management down. I also use the same sleeve under the desk which are then held up with these wall clips to hide those sleeves from view.

What is next

Ok so we are nearly there, and we are almost a week in to using the new setup, and it is awesome, screen is perfect. (I am not straining my neck) I had those 2 x 27″ screens before this and even before that I had the iMac 27″ and those 2 x 27″ either side I am used to monitor real estate, this monitor gives me that but without the annoying line up or bezel down the middle, and you can also configure this screen to multi frame to allow for specific snapping to windows.

So what is next, well we have some cable management to deal with behind the new rig, nothing major but there are a lot of USB devices that need to be organised and I need to know what all of those devices are and where they connect for later troubleshooting or movement. Then we can get some end game pictures up and out on Reddit, Twitter and maybe even submit some of this to the YouTube reviewers I have been addicted to over the past few months.

I also need to remove some furniture and get things ready for some more content ideas I have with the whiteboard I have up behind the setup, I also have an Elgato green screen arriving soon so maybe some interesting content ideas to come there as well. If not I will be able to make some awesome Zoom backgrounds.

one good thing to come out of this lock down phase is that creativity is flowing for new ways and ideas to express ideas.

Then when we see a light at the end of this lock down tunnel I will need to get back onto the whole purpose of the #ProjectFreddie which is the laptop project but not a lot of point in diving head first into that one just yet as we are not travelling. Strangely though I have moved away from the Mercury White Razer Blade Stealth 13″ and I am now thinking more toward the Razer Blade Stealth 13″ 1080p option instead but rumours are there is a new one of them landing in the next few months so we will see what that looks like.

Any questions you can comment here, find me on twitter or comment on any of the YouTube videos posted above will also work.

It feels like this project has been bubbling away for around 6 months, so it is great to be able to share the progress as we are getting close to the completing the project.

First of all, up till this project I have been a massive Apple fanboy for probably the last 5-8 years, I have a 13″ MacBook Pro for the road and a 27″ Apple iMac for home use.

These are getting old and I have been thinking about a tech refresh for the last at least 12 months.

The first look was to see what a tech refresh would be replacing like for like with Apple.

That price tag of £5058.00 that made my eyes water and #ProjectFreddie was born. To cut a long story short I wanted a refresh, but I did not want to spend that much money or at least that much money on two devices and have no additional peripherals. You then have to have that chat with yourself about what is it that is keeping you to stay with Apple and MacOS, for the record I am also an iPhone and iPad user as well. Commonly the answer just is “Well it’s about the ecosystem!” but I pulled this apart and I used Microsoft OneDrive for file sharing between my devices, I use Microsoft PowerPoint and Word quite a bit, I use Camtasia and SnagIT daily for video editing and I have also recently been using OBS to create more video content. Oh, and I also use the VMware Horizon Client to log into our lab. So let’s take that £5k budget and see what we can do with it.

Why Project Freddie

Everyone loves a good project name. Well the story behind this one was the laptop I am looking at, but I have still not confirmed or purchased this model yet, but it is the Razer Blade Stealth 13″ in Mercury White. So…. Mercury…. Freddie… yep, “Freddie Mercury” It doesn’t sound as good now in writing, but it stuck.

The project though grew from not just the kit list for a new laptop and desktop machine but it also consists of a full new purchase of an audio and broadcaster setup, for my role I do a lot of podcasts, customer calls and webinars so you need to make sure you have really good audio kit, the details will be below in the kit list.

Because of my switch away from Apple and the “Ecosystem” I also needed to look at a new screen. The current two ASUS VP278H will be used somewhere I just don’t know yet. Maybe a station in my office where I can dock my new laptop when I make the decision on that.

Also, whilst this refresh is taking place it is a prime time to look at the office configuration and make some other aesthetic changes to better suit my working style when at home and not on the road.

Kit List

Ok so I shared a little snippet video of a massive pile of kit that I have been collecting over the last few weeks and it got a lot of attention asking for the kit list.

I have spent a long time running through reviews on YouTube for these projects. The other thing to note is that I am not a gamer, but you are going to see a lot of gaming hardware listed. Why? Well gaming hardware takes a beating and withstands it I want that same level of durability as I spend a lot of time at my workstations, I need to make sure things are solid and I want and need that longevity.

Desktop Setup

Now this is the one thing I am still waiting for, I waited the longest here to make this decision and because of the situation in the world right now it meant I could not get the bigger Samsung 970 as they didn’t have this in stock because of supply chain issues.

Although this is a custom build in a way it is being built and delivered by Overclockers UK these guys have been around for the best part of 20 years and in fact they were also my go to probably 10 years ago when I last built a rig.

A big part of this project was about longevity, it’s going to be easy to expand on the storage here as well as actually some of the other options for components but storage and also memory this board actually can go up to 64GB so that is another easy upgrade for later on down the line.

Ok to finish this Desktop build off I also went with the following hardware. A lot of research has gone into this purchase, endless amounts of YouTube reviews have been watched, as well as a lot of hands on personal preference. You spend a lot of time when working from home using these things so they have to be right.

Ok we are still going, this section is to mention is the audio and broadcaster section, I spend a lot of my time on calls with customers, partners, webinars and also a lot of time creating content either via video demos or recorded calls.

As you can see a massive endorsement for Razer but I have chosen based on numerous YouTube reviews and personal preference.

One more section and this is still up for some more research, I am pretty sold on the Razer Blade Stealth 13″ I am just not sure on the Mercury White option now, the issue I have with the black is it seems from watching reviews that it collects fingerprints like nothing else! But the thing swaying me towards the black and better spec models is the 4k model (do you really need 4k on a 13″ laptop screen?) but also its touch screen and more storage to start with.

Here is what all that kit looks like – https://twitter.com/MichaelCade1/status/1243603519124443136?s=20

My road setup is likely going to look something like

I am not going to rush into the laptop purchase just yet as we are grounded for the foreseeable and want to make sure I make the right decision on that front.

We are about 10 days away from the desktop delivery but everything else is here and waiting.

I also mentioned about making some aesthetic changes to the office as well, this was a simple atlas decal and a lot of people mentioned this on twitter, just search on amazon for atlas decal and you will see lots of different variations available.

https://twitter.com/MichaelCade1/status/1244045390355345409?s=20

Let me know what you think, any questions about the build, I am going to try and document and maybe even try and record a mini vlog type thing to show off the massive haul of purchases and setup here. All this though is still going to come in around that same cost point that it would have if I just hit the buy now button on the Apple site and I think I am getting so much more for my money, and if I don’t get on with Windows then I can just get Linux on and be done with it.

Ping me on twitter if you have any questions or below.