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Community minded? Interested in getting people off Windows and onto Linux?
by Sue Hagley 01 Feb '26

01 Feb '26

This is a request to find someone community minded who would like to help people escape Windows and start using Linux. I found out that my laptop would not be suitable for Windows 11, that made me furious at the high handedness and the absolute waste. So I started to research on YouTube and other sources and decided to go with Linux Mint. I installed it on my laptop and was really pleased with it, then I did my husband's and another small laptop we had and they all worked. We then rescued an old Mac (2015) from loft and revived that too! So I am a convert. I am involved in a community project just opening in Ipswich and I would like to set up a group which would help people do what I did. But I do not have any real expertise except following instructions and fortunately I had no real issues. I have put feelers out locally and have found a couple of people with some experience but also not confident enough to put themselves forward as an 'expert'. So that's the ask - is there anyone out there who might be up for this? Probably, a once a month group where people bring their tech for assessment for suitability, trying out Linux on a USB and a bit of hand-holding as they switch over. Find out more about our project at linktr.ee/IpswichUmbrella Hope someone can help Sue

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Re: Linux Mint on older hardware / community idea
by peter.northerly＠gmail.com 01 Feb '26

01 Feb '26

Hi Sue, Welcome, and thanks for sharing your experience — it’s always good to hear when people manage to keep older hardware useful. Before discussing anything more ambitious, it would be helpful to understand a bit more about the technical side of what you’ve already done, as this often determines what’s realistically supportable in a community setting. In particular, could you clarify: * The exact model of the Mac you mentioned (Apple model identifier, e.g. MacBook Pro 11,4) * Whether you installed Mint in UEFI mode or legacy/CSM mode * How you handled Apple firmware quirks (Secure Boot, EFI boot selection, rEFInd, etc.) * Any issues you encountered with Wi-Fi, graphics, suspend/resume, or firmware updates These details tend to matter a lot when advising others or offering installations as a service, especially across mixed hardware. Once we have a clearer picture of that, it’ll be easier to see what kind of help or structure would actually be useful. Best regards, Peter

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Missing drafts folder
by Bev 11 Sep '25

11 Sep '25

I'm using Betterbird, which for the most part is pretty good. There is a puzzle though. I have drafts folders for all the other email addresses except one. I've tried restoring the folder and looked into the settings at copies and folders but there’s no way to copy the draft folder to where it should be. Is it possible to edit the location to achieve this or that fraught with risk? All drafts for this one address get saved in the local folders. Bev (Linux Mint 21.2.) (sending this again as the first one was inadvertently not in plain text format.)

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Missing drafts folder
by Bev 11 Sep '25

11 Sep '25

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Flatpak program not shown in main menu
by Bev 08 Sep '25

08 Sep '25

I thought I'd try switching to the Flatpak version of Evolution, rather than the one that comes in Synaptic and assumed it would go smoothly. Ha. The problem is, as my subject heading says, that it doesn't show up in any menus and I can't pin it the panel. Is there any way of solving this? Bev (Linux Mint 21.2.)

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Ted Harding
by Jonathan McDowell 29 Apr '25

29 Apr '25

I was delighted to see our very own Ted Harding mentioned in LWN's interview with Owen Le Blanc (creator of the first Linux distribution, MCC Interim Linux): https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/1017846/738cd9cf2defd37f/ That caused me to go and see when we'd last seen him on-list - looks like it was back in 2019. Further digging revealed that he passed away in October 2020: https://edwardharding.muchloved.com/ A great loss. J. -- Web [ Know Thy User. ] site: https:// [ ] Made by www.earth.li/~noodles/ [ ] HuggieTag 0.0.24

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Recurring error message after updates to Linux Mint
by Phil Wade 27 Feb '25

27 Feb '25

Second attempt - hopefully in plain text :-( wonder whether anyone else has ever had this? The following text is displayed as an error message after downloading and installing updates to Linux Mint XFCE - every time. "W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_GB) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-amd64) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1 W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-all) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list:1 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq-focal.sources:1" If OK is clicked it just goes away, but I'm at an age where any perceived error on my part is worrying 🙁 Thanks, Phil Wade

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imap login slow
by Bev Nicolson 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

Hallo? Is this thing still on? Let's see. I use Betterbird and recently it's started to be slower at logging into my email accounts with imap. Not glacially slow, but not as nippy as it was. I have googled but I'd quite like some plain English advice about what I could try to speed it up a notch. Bev. P.S. And while I'm here, I have two Alug accounts. How do I ditch one of them?

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Re: imap loogin slow
by Peter 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

>Just wondering something. On Windows* (at least this was the case >decades ago) if you uninstalled then reinstalled a misbehaving program >all the settings stayed in place. Does the same work with an email >client on Linux? And is that even worth trying, more to the point? I think it does retain all settings. At least on Debian and claws mail. I seem to remember having to do a complete system reinstall, and just kept my home folder untouched, and everything worked fine on restart. I don't recall any more whether I had to point claws to the files again, don't think so. You can make completely safe by backing up the settings and mail files, and I would. Then if they do get overwritten during the resinstall you just copy them back. I have done this on Debian with claws when making a laptop in sync with a desktop. Just installed claws, then overwrote the new files it had created with the corresponding desktop ones, and all the files and settings were there just as on the desktop. Safest to back up first, why risk it. Is it worth doing? Don't know. I would be inclined first to try with another email client and see if it happens with that. I really like claws, its light and fast and it will handle many thousands of emails locally with no problem. At least that would tell you whether its the client or something common to both of them. Though I can't really imagine what that would be! Peter

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Re: imap login slow
by Phil Ashby 26 Jan '25

26 Jan '25

On 26/01/2025 12:00, Bev Nicolson <lumos(a)gmx.co.uk> wrote > > Hallo? Is this thing still on? Let's see. I use Betterbird and recently > it's started to be slower at logging into my email accounts with imap. > Not glacially slow, but not as nippy as it was. I have googled but I'd > quite like some plain English advice about what I could try to speed it > up a notch. > In addition to Chris' suggestion of a huge mail folder, it might be network connection time - sometimes my Thunderbird takes a while to resolve the server address (particularly if I've just opened the laptop and WiFi needs to connect first), once connected it's snappy to operate. > Bev. > > P.S. And while I'm here, I have two Alug accounts. How do I ditch one > of them? You can manage your membership here: https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman3/postorius/lists/ Pick a list (eg main), use the Subscription / Unsubscription bit :) Phil.

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