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10369 discussions

hevin a fie out (again)
by mick 02 Aug '21

02 Aug '21

All I am clearing some old junk (again) and have found that I have a load of old (and some not so old) routers which I have replaced over the past few years with better/faster models. Before I take them all to the recycling centre I offer them here free, gratis and for nothing in case anyone fancies tinkering/reflashing or just using any of them. With the exception of two (the Asus RT-NT12E) and the Netgear WNR2200) they are all ADSL modem routers, the two exceptions are routers only and would need to be connected either to a modem or another router. (I have a split network - an outer net, a separate DMZ and an inner net. The two obvious ISP routers are included because I always ditch such things and substitute my own.) All have been factory reset by hardware button so I should not be disclosing anything sensitive by giving them away. The list is: Sky Hub (about 5 years old) Plusnet QNSC (about 3 or 4 years old) Ausus RT-N12E Technicolor TG582N Pro Netgear WNR 2200 TP Link Archer VR400 TP link AC750 Thomson Speedtouch 780W2 (this is quite a sophisticated router and incorporates VOIP capability) First come first served. All would need collection and I am happy to leave any items in our porch for collection so no need for personal contact. Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Morgan gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 https://baldric.net/about-trivia ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Kill or close process?
by Bev Nicolson 30 Jul '21

30 Jul '21

Me again. While Mint remain wobbly, it frequently claims that (ie) Firefox is running but not responding. I've tried $ kill $(ps -x | grep firefox | a and nothing happened. Got the same message. killall firefox has usually worked in the past but not now. So what do I do? Bev

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replacement laptop
by Phil Thane 28 Jul '21

28 Jul '21

While I was struggling with low water and debris in the Ashton canal some b*****d got into my canal boat and nicked my laptop. I think my insurance will pay up but the laptop was unusual and currently out of stock due to CPU shortage so a 'like-for-like' replacement will be impossible. It was a Pinebook Pro, AMD64 running Manjaro imported from the US. I imagine it's value in the backstreet pubs of Manchester is about £fuck-all so it's probably adding to the debris in the Ashton by now. After VAT and delivery it cost me just under £300 so I need a replacement in that ball park capable of running Linux. I guess the options are a Chromebook and a lot of buggering about removing Chrome or a basic Windows machine. But apparently recent cheap laptops come with Windows Home (S) and the (S) is some kind of security system to keep you tied into Windows and Office 365 and paying an annual Windows tax. Any advice on what to look out for, and what to avoid? At this price nothing powerful obviously but I want a decent desktop environment (probably KDE but not that bothered), LIbreOffice, Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird. If it can run those, look not to shabby and weigh not too much while having a decent battery, it'll do. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk Tweet @pthane 01767 449759 07582 750607

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Mint wobbly
by Bev Nicolson 23 Jul '21

23 Jul '21

Not really sure what's up. A couple of times my laptop has frozen. Either the program won't respond or won't launch. I've had to do a fsck check each time to get back in or I'd be stuck in initramfs, unable to log in again. (My phone had not packed up so I was able to google this info.) Anyone got any ideas? Bev. (Cinnamon Mint 19.1 with all updates.)

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uMatrix and Firefox
by Peter 22 Jul '21

22 Jul '21

Hi everyone, thought this might be useful to someone. Suddenly Firefox stopped connecting to any sites. At the same time, email worked fine and all the other browsers worked fine. So I disabled all the extensions, and it now connected. Turned them back on one at a time, and so discovered that uMatrix was the problem. Played with all the uMatrix preferences and settings to no avail. Found various explanations and suggestions, none of which worked for me. Turned out that installing the latest version from github fixed it. I think it probably is just due to having changed the sources of the blocking lists, in assets. uMatrix I find really useful - proper detailed control of what's going on. Sorry that he has decided to stop updating it, but this latest version seems to work fine, for now. Debian stable, so mine is a few releases behind the latest Firefox. Peter On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:00:02 +0100 main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk wrote: > Send main mailing list submissions to > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > You can reach the person managing the list at > main-owner(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of main digest..."

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Kubuntu updated nvidia drivers behind my back?
by Srdjan Todorovic 21 Jul '21

21 Jul '21

Hi all, I had an nvidia driver module update behind my back, while the system is running. I did not issue an apt-get upgrade, or enter my sudo password anywhere. Yet, launching any application that uses GLX (e.g. glxgears) gives me this: X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) Major opcode of failed request: 151 (GLX) Minor opcode of failed request: 3 (X_GLXCreateContext) Value in failed request: 0x0 Serial number of failed request: 35 Current serial number in output stream: 36 And dmesg output is full of entries that tell me that the Nvidia client is newer than the running kernel module version. I've had this before, and the usual remedy is to reboot. It's just that I didn't (knowingly) authorise the system to do an update. Anyone know what might be doing these unattended updates? It'd be useful to know, so I can schedule the updates at the end of the day. Thanks, Srdjan

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Firefox 90 - toolbar text illegible
by Bev Nicolson 19 Jul '21

19 Jul '21

I've got a screenshot of what I mean but I'm not really sure what the best way of posting that is. The problem is this though. I updated to Firefox 90 and cannot use any dark theme now. The menu options File, Edit, View, History etc become almost the same colour as the border. I've noticed that if I want to check the progress of a download that's hard too. What have they done? I have tried switching proton off (those with context, doorhangers, enabled and modals as part of the text) but it didn't work. Firefox suggested using the troubleshooting tool. I confess I'm unconvinced how that will help. Cinnamon Mint 19. Ideas? I am using Firefox colour in the meantime, but it doesn't solve it. Bev.

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Zoom on Linux?
by Steve Mynott 06 Jul '21

06 Jul '21

Does anyone regularly and successfully use the Zoom app on Linux? I've had it working in the past but it's not 100%. Frequently the audio output seems to break (remote person can hear me but I can't hear them). Does anyone use the web version? I've not really had any problem with Teams just Zoom. I'd really not use any of these but its often not my choice. -- Steve Mynott <steve.mynott(a)gmail.com> cv25519/ECF8B611205B447E091246AF959E3D6197190DD5

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Audacity - now controversial
by Bev Nicolson 06 Jul '21

06 Jul '21

For info. They've changed the terms and conditions and it's really not good. https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/ Bev

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Laptops
by Michael Goddard 28 Jun '21

28 Jun '21

If you were in the market for a laptop, which make, model, size etc would it be, and why? Tia Michael

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Linux Mint updates issue
by Bev Nicolson 24 Jun '21

24 Jun '21

Right after I've logged in, I can update anything that needs updating, via the Update Manager. After that, I just a get a red cross in the shield and the message 'Could not refresh the list of updates.' Ideas? I've tweaked the sources list but that does nothing. Bev.

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Lets Encrypt renewals via DNS
by Mark Rogers 21 Jun '21

21 Jun '21

Sometimes you can't find the answer to your question on line. This is one of those examples where the answers seem plentiful but I can't get my head around them. I have a couple of domains with Lets Encrypt wildcard certificates. Creating the certs manually is easy (if a bit laborious): add the specified ._acme_callenge DNS entry and a handful of files under docroot .well-known/acme-challenge. But they can't be renewed automatically so every three months I need to go through the whole process again. Reading the docs, if my DNS is with one of the supported DNS providers (eg DigitalOcean, who I have an account with) then it can be automated via the API (the files under docroot I think can be automated with the --apache plugin?) but that's not where my DNS is. The docs suggest that I can use a CNAME but don't go beyond that. Has anyone done this, or otherwise automated wildcard certificate renewals where the DNS isn't in a supported provider? Also (probably simpler): once the certificate is created, can all the .acme-challenge files and DNS records be deleted? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0344 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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Ubuntu upgrade disaster
by Jenny Hopkins 21 Jun '21

21 Jun '21

Hi folks, I'm attempting to upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04 -> 20.04. The 18.04 has been brought completely up to date, and has no broken packages. However, when I run " sudo do-release-upgrade -d", the system starts preparing for the upgrade then bails out. The log file shows: 2021-06-20 09:39:31,393 DEBUG Marking 'ubuntu-desktop' for upgrade 2021-06-20 09:39:31,850 DEBUG Marking 'xubuntu-core' for upgrade 2021-06-20 09:39:32,694 WARNING Can't mark 'xubuntu-core' for upgrade (E:Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.) 2021-06-20 09:39:32,694 DEBUG Marking 'xubuntu-desktop' for upgrade 2021-06-20 09:39:33,631 WARNING Can't mark 'xubuntu-desktop' for upgrade (E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.) 2021-06-20 09:39:33,632 DEBUG Marking 'ubuntu-mate-core' for upgrade 2021-06-20 09:39:34,559 WARNING Can't mark 'ubuntu-mate-core' for upgrade (E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.) 2021-06-20 09:39:34,561 DEBUG Marking 'ubuntu-mate-desktop' for upgrade 2021-06-20 09:39:35,491 WARNING Can't mark 'ubuntu-mate-desktop' for upgrade (E:Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.) 2021-06-20 09:39:39,951 ERROR Dist-upgrade failed: 'Broken packages after upgrade: xubuntu-core, xubuntu-desktop' 2021-06-20 09:39:39,952 DEBUG abort called However, I don't have any broken packages - both the graphic packages manager and CLI searches confirm this. Trying to run the upgrade from the GUI just crashes. Can I do this the debian way, and alter the sources file and do the upgrade that way? Many thanks, Jenny

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Re: [ALUG] When did this start?
by Phil Ashby 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

On 01/06/2021 12:00, Bill Hill <mail(a)wbh.org> wrote: > > Just been re-zapping a RaspberryPi and noticed that / has: > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 4 22:45 bin -> usr/bin/ > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 4 22:45 lib -> usr/lib/ > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Mar 4 22:45 sbin -> usr/sbin/ > > When did bin lib and sbin become links, and what's the rationale? Is > this from Debian? > This was enlightening, and it's been a thing for several years outside Debian / Raspbian it seems (it arrived with systemd and majority use of an initrd to mount the rootfs). https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/266517/why-is-bin-a-symbolic-link-… Phlash.

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When did this start?
by Bill Hill 31 May '21

31 May '21

Just been re-zapping a RaspberryPi and noticed that / has: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 4 22:45 bin -> usr/bin/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 4 22:45 lib -> usr/lib/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Mar 4 22:45 sbin -> usr/sbin/ When did bin lib and sbin become links, and what's the rationale? Is this from Debian? -- Red to red, black to black, switch it on, but stand well back.

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Thunderbird problem
by Bev Nicolson 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

I use Thunderbird as a client for 4 email addresses. From yesterday, it's begun taking an age to log in to one POP server. It gets there eventually, and no error messages come up, but it would be great to sort it out. I've cleared the cache but that hasn't helped. Ideas? Bev.

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How to check if a cron.daily job has run?
by Chris Green 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

I run a daily backup on four systems. It's a bash script called 'backup' (original eh?) which is in /etc/cron.daily and thus gets run by Anacron in the early morning. I need to check that the backup has run somehow as, very occasionally, the backup system's USB disk 'falls asleep' and as a result any attempt to access it just hangs. Thus the rsync backup job doesn't fail (and produce an error message) it just never returns. So how can I check and get an error message if this happens? The next day is soon enough, it's not an urgent problem, I just need to know if my daily backups are working. However this needs to be 'no message means it has worked', message only if it has not worked. -- Chris Green

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Rust in Norwich
by Patrick Laslett 08 Mar '21

08 Mar '21

Hi All, Does anyone know how I find coders in Norwich familiar with Rust. Thanks in advance. Yours, Patrick

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spamassassin and bayes db
by Jenny Hopkins 08 Mar '21

08 Mar '21

Hello, I might need to join the spamassassin mailing list for this Q, but just in case anyone here can help first: I've got a mail set-up where exim4 hands mail to spamassassin before delivering to mailboxes local on the server. Users put any missed spam into missed-spam folders, and misfiled ham into missed-ham folders, and a cron job runs regularly to allow sa-learn to run learning from these folders. The problem is - it says it is learning, but it isn't. It is letting through handfuls of the same spam over and over. It's as if SA is running without paying any attention to the bayes-db, which would be weird as that is what I thought was a core integral part of spamassassin. Am I missing something in the basic setup? An example header of a missed spam shows something like: X-Spam_report: Spam detection software, running on the system "example.co.uk", has NOT identified this incoming email as spam. -then a few lines further down: 3.5 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayes spam probability is 99 to 100% [score: 1.0000] 0.2 BAYES_999 BODY: Bayes spam probability is 99.9 to 100% [score: 1.0000] Any ideas? It's driving me nuts. Thanks, Jenny

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How to disable headphones mic autodetection?
by B D 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

Hi All, I know this might be a bit too late, as we are all supposedly finishing with lockdown, so no more online meetings and video calls but it really bugs me. Whenever I connect headphones to my Linux Mint, pulseaudio forces use of headphone mic (which does not exist). This disables internal microphone and I have to go to sound hardware selection to change to internal mic array. Same happens on my kids laptops running Mint 20.1 (my is Mint 19.3). I think there is a priority setting somewhere in pulseaudio config which should allow to 'lock' mic to the internal array but I thought I'll ask first. Cheerio! Bart

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What's running at midnight?
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

Hi folks, My *buntu server runs a mail server. At 00:00 on some days, it complains that it can't reach the spam analyser or the virus analyser, despite the fact that they're still running and always have been, as far as I can tell. Other than stopping up to see what's running at midnight, is there a way of monitoring what's running at a particular time. I know you can see what's slowing things down at boot time using "system-analyze blame", or using pybootchartgui. Is there a way to do something like this around midnight? Also, of the top of your collective heads, can you think of any services update or hog processor at 00:00. How are scheduled tasks started, so I can have a root around and see what's happening? I can think of various ways. 1) A program (daemon) can constantly run, and may update at a specific time. 2) crontab 3) "at" perhaps. Any others? Any comments or advice appreciated. Steve

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DNS issues
by Mark Rogers 22 Feb '21

22 Feb '21

I have an Ubuntu 18.04 server running VirtualMin. I logged in today to do routine updates to discover it has lost its ability to resolve DNS queries. The server otherwise seems fine but I can't update it. /etc/resolv.conf tells me that it's using 127.0.0.53 for DNS, which is systemd-resolvd. systemd-resolve --status lists no nameservers, which will be where my problem is, but I work out where that information should come from. I temporarily set Google DNS in resolv.conf and did the updates, but a reboot restored the 127.0.0.53 DNS configuration (as expected) and the problem is back. I *think* VirtualMin is a red herring (it's not used for much and I've been planning to decommission it for years but not today!), and in any case it's just a glorified configuration tool with a GUI so any relevant settings should still be hiding under /etc somewhere, but where I have no idea. Suggestions? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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sequential numbering app?
by Phil Thane 09 Feb '21

09 Feb '21

Hello, Anyone know if this exists or would anyone like to create it? (Not seq command, won't do what I want, I don't think). Read on... I'm the membership sec of GOBA (Great Ouse Boating Assoc). We've just launched a new website using WP and sundry plugins. Central to things is Paid Memberships Pro which allows new members to join or existing ones to renew online. PMP allows users to specify their own username and password. BUT, under the previous regime and going back to the dark ages (pre internet) GOBA assigned each member a membership number, and just to make life more difficult didn't just use a straightforward sequence. Each 'number' is actually alphanumeric based on initial letter of the member's surname, then the next number available in that sequence. Thus I'm T596 and there is one person after me T597 but in the S list there are over 1200 (too many Smiths). Two things make this a nuisance. First, we imported data from the previous system into PMP and had to choose a field to be the key ID. PMP would prefer this to be an email address but many members joined long before they had email and have never updated their details to include it. The one field they all did have was a membership number, so for all previous members Username = Membership number. Secondly GOBA is full of people who don't like change, they want us to convert new members with their personalised username into the 'traditional' system. That's do-able via the WP dashboard but a bit of a pain. Finding the last number issued on a particular sequence involves inspired guesswork and wildcard searching. I believe a previous membership sec had an app on an ancient version of Windows that kept a log of the last issued numbers so he just input an initial letter and got back the number. Obviously I'd have to find 26 last issued numbers manually to get started but subsequently it'd be a lot easier. So, anyone know of a Linux app that would help? Or is anyone able to script something? It doesn't have to be pretty, just idiot-proof. Or is there anyone with infinite patience who'd like to teach an old dog a new trick? My experience of scripting and programming is very limited and has rarely ended well but I'll give it a go with some advice. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk Tweet @pthane 01767 449759 07582 750607

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Testing reliability of Internet connection
by Mark Rogers 09 Feb '21

09 Feb '21

What is the best way to test the reliability of an Internet connection? I am getting lots of dropouts on things like Zoom meetings or Netflix, but a speed test is always healthy (typically close to 200Mbps on my Virgin connection). But speed isn't everything - a stop-start connection with lots of gaps can still get a high average speed. Problem is I don't even know what to search for! Ideally a simple "here's a rating" tool but happy to get my hands dirty if needed, eg if there are things I could monitor with Wireshark or whatever. I have an important meeting tomorrow and at the moment I'm going to struggle to take part! -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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PulseEffects Audio
by Phil Thane 27 Jan '21

27 Jan '21

hi, Long ago on a previous distro I used to use PulseEffects to enhance the audio output on my desktop. Until recently I wasn't able to get it working on Mint (Cinnamon) but now with a new repository it does, sort of. The GUI opens OK and the various options seem to switch on/off OK (previously everything was greyed-out and not working at all) but if I switch off 'Global Bypass' I get horrible distortion unless all the settings are at default. With Global Bypass on of course everything is bypassed so fiddling with the sliders has no effect. All I want is a bit of bass boost. Any suggestions? -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk Tweet @pthane 01767 449759 07582 750607

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