Cannot login to newly created user account Trying to switch accounts to my newly created account I get a black screen and then it takes me back to the main login screen after entering the correct password.

Upon logging into my previously existing account I get:

"System Program Problem Detected"

Details:

Executable path /usr/bin/Xorg

Package: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10.1

Details: Crash
... (tons more, but no way to copy paste or save)

When I try to su

su -l penner

I get:

No directory, logging in with HOME=/

I manually created the home directory and this error goes away but still no luck with the login. Seems something has gone wrong with the user creation? How can I correct this?

If you created the user account with useradd, you have to set up everything for it manually. This is why, when creating user accounts from the command-line, it is recommended to use adduser in Ubuntu (and Debian, and other Debian-based systems) instead. You might just want to remove the user with userdel or deluser and recreate it with adduser. Otherwise...

Fixing the Home Directory Location

If you want to keep the user account and fix the problem, then you need to look at:

the name of the home directory the user account is actually configured for
the name of the directory you actually created

These must be exactly the same. The error message you get with su -l penner is telling you that they are not the same.

To check the home directory the user account is actually configured for, run this command (see man 5 passwd and man grep for more information):

grep penner /etc/passwd

You should see a line like this:

penner:x:1000:1000:Eliah Kagan,,,:/home/penner:/bin/bash

That is, the sixth :-separated field (after the fifth :) contains the home directory. If it's not /home/penner, it should be. If the directory you created for the user is not /home/penner, it should be, too. If the two directories are the same but neither one is /home/penner, then that might theoretically work, but you should make them both /home/penner, because lots of software assumes that all non-root users' home directories are /home/username.

You can change penner's home directory to /home/penner by running this command:

sudo usermod -d /home/penner penner

See man usermod for more information.

Ensuring it is a Directory, and that the User Has Access

If (or once) the names are both /home/penner, you should also make sure that the user has access to their own home directory. Run:

ls -ld /home/penner

You should see something that looks like this (though the date and time will be different):

drwxr-xr-x 43 penner penner 4096 2012-07-03 06:41 /home/penner

If instead of drwxr-xr-x, you have something that starts with - rather than d, then you created a file rather than a directory. Delete the file and make a directory there instead.

If instead of the first penner you have something else, then the user doesn't own their home directory, so make them own it:

sudo chown penner /home/penner

See man chown for more information.

If instead of drwxr-xr-x there are dashes in the next three characters after the d, then the user doesn't have full access there. Fix that as follows:

sudo chmod u+rwx /home/penner

See man chmod for more information.

(penner is capable of running this command if they own their home directory, so if you prefer, you can run this as: sudo -u penner u+rwx /home/penner)

Ensuring Other Users Don't Have Blanket Write Access

If instead of drwxr-xr-x, there are ws instead of -s in the last six letters, then users besides penner may have write access to penner's home directory. This is dangerous (unless you really know what you're doing and want it this way and have set things up so it won't be a problem). To fix it:

sudo chmod -R go-w /home/penner

Other Defaults

There are some other changes you may want to make. By default in Ubuntu (that is, if you create a user account with adduser or with a graphical tool, which you did not):

Home directories have read and write permissions for everyone, not just the user who owns them. Users can change this, either for the whole home directory or any files and subdirectories inside it. But if you do want this default, and you don't have the second and third r and x in drwxr-xr-x, run:

sudo chmod 755 /home/penner

(penner is capable of running this command if they own their home directory, so if you prefer, you can run this as: sudo -u penner chmod 755 /home/penner)
Each user has his/her own group, with the same name as the user, and this is the user's primary group. Their home directory is owned by this group. That's the meaning of the second penner in drwxr-xr-x 43 penner penner 4096 2012-07-03 06:41 /home/penner. It's OK to break with this default, if you know what you are doing. But if it's not your intention to do things differently, you should make sure penner is set up this way, since some possible primary group identities for a user, or group owners on the user's home directory, could lead to security problems.

Run groups penner. (See man groups for more information.) You should see something like this:

penner : penner adm dialout cdrom plugdev lpadmin sambashare

Don't worry if it's not quite like that. I'll get to that soon. Instead, look at the first word after the :. That's the name of the user's primary group. Assuming you want it to be penner, make sure it is. If it isn't, change it:

sudo usermod -g penner penner

If you get an error saying that the group penner doesn't exist, then you'll have to create it with this command (and then run the above command again):

sudo addgroup penner

See man addgroup for more information. (If you prefer, you can alternatively use the groupadd command to create groups.)

When you ran groups penner, you may have gotten a list of groups considerably shorter than my penner : penner adm dialout cdrom plugdev lpadmin sambashare. For desktop users, the adm, dialout, cdrom, plugdev, lpadmin, and sambashare provide abilities that desktop users should generally have. Therefore, unless you have a reason to do otherwise, penner should be in these groups. These are not primary groups, however, so they're set differently. Supposing penner is not in any of these groups and you want penner to be in all of them, run this command:

sudo usermod -a -G adm,dialout,plugdev,lpadmin,sambashare penner

In case you're interested, here's what all those groups mean:

adm users can view most system log files in /var/log.
dialout users can use dial-up modems.
plugdev users can mount and use external storage devices.
lpadmin users can set up and manage printers.
sambashare users can share files (via Samba) with other computers over a network.

(Source: Privileges, in the Ubuntu documentation wiki.)

Making the User an Administrator

If you don't want penner to be an administrator, you probably don't need to do anything else. You can check if penner is an administrator with groups penner. If neither admin nor sudo is listed, then penner is not an administrator.

If you want penner to be an administrator, add penner to whichever of these groups exists. (You may as well add penner to both, if they both exist.) You can accomplish that by running these two commands separately--if either one succeeds, you've made penner an administrator:

sudo usermod -a -G admin penner
sudo usermod -a -G sudo penner

The reason there are two groups is that, before Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, administrators were in the admin group. Starting with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, administrators are in the sudo group. But if your 12.04 LTS system is upgraded from a previous release (and this should apply to later Ubuntu releases, such as 12.10 when it comes out, that are upgraded from Ubuntu 11.10 or earlier), then for backward compatibility, administrators are members of both sudo and admin. Generally, if one of these groups doesn't confer administrative abilities, it simply doesn't exist, so running both the above two commands (separately, not as sudo usermod -a -G admin,sudo penner) is generally a safe and effective way to make penner an administrator.

ctrl+alt+f1 and login there and run

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER $HOME

then press ctrl+alt+f7 and try to login

It will work


How to stop apache2 service I need to stop apache2 service for 3 hours during the backup time.
How can I do this through crontab or similar ways...

I tried with crontab:

15 14 * * * service apache2 stop

But nothing happens.

Any advice?

One way would be to execute in terminalas root:

service apache2 stop && backup_software && service apache2 start


Where can I access man pages for "aptitude" if it is not on my system? Sometimes I want to read man pages of programs I have not installed. Then I visit ubuntu manuals.

I entered aptitude in the search box but aptitude man pages are available only for lucid 10.04 LTS and precise 12.04 LTS. Why is that?

Is it because Ubuntu prefers usage of apt-get over aptitude?
Is there some other reason?
Where else can I access man pages for specific for Ubuntu if I do not have the respective software installed?
I know of http://linux.die.net/man/8/aptitude but that is not specific for Ubuntu, correct?

Go to http://manpages.ubuntu.com/#navigation and search for "aptitude-curses". I do not know why there is no results for plain "aptitude", but the man page for "aptitude-curses" seems to have same content.

Alternatively in terminal:

cd "$(xdg-user-dir DOWNLOAD)"
wget http://manpages.ubuntu.com/dman
chmod +x dman
# now the dman script is ready to use in the current directory

./dman aptitude-curses
# also possible to tell release name, if not the currently used is wanted
./dman --release bionic aptitude-curses

UPDATE:

I suppose the best way is to install "debian-goodies" and use the provided dman; also a package called "bikeshed" provides the same command, so if you have it installed, you do not need to install "debian-goodies":

sudo apt install debian-goodies
dman aptitude

aptitude is a text-based interface to the Debian GNU/Linux package system.

It's a package management command line application that runs on all Debian systems including Ubuntu and the man page is just the link you have provided above and i think there is no more options included for specific Ubuntu.


How do I fix these audio issues and restore my audio settings to their default (xubuntu 15.04)? My audio with xubuntu works on a fresh install. But I have been trying to get my bluetooth headphones with xubuntu 15.04. I've given up on doing this, but my regular audio has stopped working.

What I have tried are the solutions here:

http://sourcedigit.com/10777-fix-sound-ubuntu-14-04/

The indicator is gone as well. But pulse audio mixer is installed:

When I play audio, the blue bar moves, indicating sound out of hdmi display port. But nothing comes out of line out (plugged in).

I found a solution:

sudo apt-get install xfce4-mixer

I only do ubuntu 14.04. But I have found no audio out problems are about the permissions given to /dev/snd and the files there. On my systems the files have permissions for user root and group audio.

Note no world permissions so a user must belong to group audio to have permission.

ls -l /dev/snd to see permissions.

.....@xen2[2145]ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       80 Mar 22 17:42 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  2 Mar 22 17:42 controlC0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  7 Mar 22 17:42 controlC1
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  6 Mar 22 17:42 hwC0D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 10 Mar 22 17:42 hwC1D0
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  4 Mar 22 17:44 pcmC0D0c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  3 Mar 22 18:56 pcmC0D0p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  5 Mar 22 17:42 pcmC0D2c
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  8 Mar 22 17:44 pcmC1D3p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  9 Mar 22 17:44 pcmC1D7p
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116,  1 Mar 22 17:42 seq
crw-rw----+ 1 root audio 116, 33 Mar 22 17:42 timer

If your /dev/snd files have the same permissions
grep audio /etc/group and see if you are in that group.

I added my username to group audio with
sudo usermod -a -G audio "myusername"
do not quote " your user name.

I use fvwm as a window manager and start gnome stuff in an xterm. Or Gnome-Terminial.

my quick test of sound
gnome-control-center sound see if the sound effect output.
No then do it with sudo gnome-control-center sound and see if sound effects work.
if it works for sudo or root and not for you then it is permissions.


How can I display the current time & date setting? How can I display the current time configuration, like the time zone, in Ubuntu?

I don't know of a single file, but this may give you the info needed:

cat /etc/timezone
grep UTC /etc/default/rcS
date
# hardware clock
sudo hwclock --show

If you have PowerShell installed:

PS> Get-TimeZone

Id                         : Europe/Vilnius
DisplayName                : (UTC+02:00) Eastern European Standard Time
StandardName               : Eastern European Standard Time
DaylightName               : Eastern European Summer Time
BaseUtcOffset              : 02:00:00
SupportsDaylightSavingTime : True

I suspect this won't be popular answer in a Linux community, but I really like the verb-noun convention. It makes it easier for me to remember commands, and it will also work on all distributions with PowerShell installed :)

Documentation for the Get-TimeZone cmdlet


Why do I have an issue installing Lubuntu 17.04 with encryption? I was able to easily install it without encryption, but now that I'm trying to run an encrypted install I run inton the following issues:

An unsafe swap space has been detected... so I opened Terminal and use sudo swapoff --all and restarted the installation.

Unexpected error while creating volume group: Autopartitioning using LVM failed because an error occurred while creating the volume group. Check /var/log/syslog or see virtual console 4 for the details. To fix this, I did sudo apt-get install lvm2 and restarted the installation.

Configuration of encrypted volumes failed: An error occurred while configuring encrypted volumes. The configuration has been aborted. I don't know how to fix this.

The strange thing is that it installed perfectly fine unencrypted, so I'm not sure why the encryption is having so many issues.

If it matters, the reason I'm reinstalling is I accidentally misused chown on important system files, but that shouldn't affect reinstallation files anyway, right?

Use 14.04 Lubuntu instead of 17.04, then update.


Package not found: lib32bz2-1.0 GOAL

Install Android Developer Studio

ERROR MESSAGE

sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 lib32z1 lib32bz2-1.0

Error Message:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package lib32bz2-1.0
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'lib32bz2-1.0'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'lib32bz2-1.0'

QUESTIONS

Is the package unavailable (deprecated) or is the command incorrect?  Perhaps there is another explanation which I have not considered.

I ran into this issue not 20 minutes ago. The solution for me was to run sudo apt-get update and install the package afterwards.


How can I make my 3G USB adapter work? I own a 3G USB adapter (DIGISOL DG-BA3370). When I plug it in, the green led lights up,  but I cannot use it.

It works fine in Windows XP. Being a Ubuntu fan, want to use the same here.

Kindly let me know the setup/configuration/work around to use the same on Ubuntu.

I have TATA Docomo 3G GSM sim used in the that device.

This guide should help you to install your 3d adapter on Ubuntu 12.10: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/30033514/dg-ba3370-ubuntu-installation-guide-digisolcom

Download the Drivers for Digisol DG-BA3370 "here is the link"http://www.mediafire.com/download/sps96np8mputo8p/DG-BA3370%28www.bloggerwhist.com%29.zip


How do I import OpenCV library into python 3.1? OpenCV 2.1 was first installed when I had the original python 2.6 and this works fine. However after getting the Python 3.1, it has no module called 'cv' after trying to import OpenCV. How to add these modules?

According to this answer on StackOverflow, OpenCV doesn't support Python 3 and no one is working on Python 3 support either.

Simply use import statement. First go to

$ cd /usr/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/opencv

Then start python:

$ python
>>>  import cv.py

For any other help, refer http://blog.taesoo.org/?p=210 and http://opencv.willowgarage.com/documentation/python/introduction.html.


AMD Drivers Kubuntu 15.10 Using Kubuntu 15.10 kernel 4.2.0 generic 23 with AMD HD 4xx series GPU.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=Legacy2&os=Linux%20x86_64

Here says that this driver supports up to 3.4!(im kinda new to linux community,any help brothers?)

There are no proprietary AMD drivers for this adapter that support modern Ubuntu releases.

The only option for this graphics adapter is to use open source driver.

Why would you want to install such an old driver?

It would probably be better to open the KDE settings or search for "Additional drivers" and simply select the newest AMD proprietary/binary driver from the list. Ubuntu will then install it automatically and switch the open source driver to the proprietary one after rebooting.

I assume by "new to the linux community" you mean you're coming from Microsoft/Windows? Downloading and installing driver packages manually is not necessary nor would I recommend it if you do not know exactly what you are doing. You can let go of that Windows mentality and  use the built-in way mentioned above, instead.

Sincerely,
an Ubuntu sister. ;-)


cp command for backup I'm trying to copy (backup) a specific folder files (no directories and sub-directories files) to a second folder. I nested find command with backstick but it give me error for each file with file_name (copy).extension

cp -a -t /home/gianmarco/backup2 `find /home/gianmarco/backup1 -maxdepth 1 -type f`
cp: cannot stat '/home/gianmarco/backup1/helloWorld': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '(copy).txt': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '/home/gianmarco/backup1/2nuovoFile': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '(copy).txt': No such file or directory

Any suggestion? Thanks!

Use find to run cp on those files:

find /home/gianmarco/backup1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -exec cp -at /home/gianmarco/backup2 {} +

This way, spaces and other special characters in the filenames won't be a problem. When you use command substitution without quoting, the shell will split the output on spaces, then perform wildcard expansion, etc. It's simpler to use find itself for this. Or see How can I exclude all subdirectories but include files of a directory in rsync?

find /home/gianmarco/backup1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -exec cp {} /home/gianmarco/backup2


/etc/environment: line 2: PATH: No such file or directory I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. Recently I've noticed that Ubuntu Software Centre fails to install/remove packages to/from my computer.

Here is the error description.

installArchives() failed: Setting up install-info (4.13a.dfsg.1-8ubuntu2) ...
/etc/environment: line 2: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-i386/jre/bin: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing install-info (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 install-info
Error in function:
Setting up install-info (4.13a.dfsg.1-8ubuntu2) ...
/etc/environment: line 2: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-i386/jre/bin: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing install-info (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

Following is the image for same:

What is the reason for this and how can I fix this?

Output of cat /etc/environment

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games"
CLASSPATH= "/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-i386/jre/bin"

I think I figured out a fix.

My /etc/environment had the CLASSPATH variable set to my previous openJDK installation. Recently I installed Oracle JDK manually and removed openJDK. But somehow /etc/environment contained the old CLASSPATH value.

But what wonders me is that the issue appeared just recently that I could install/remove packages successfully even after my java re-installation.

Thanks @gertvdijk for your insight. :)

Did you try the following??

Usually, interrupted software installations leave cyclic dependency issues. Try running the following commands.

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update

You may have inadvertently disrupted your environment variables. Try moving your /etc/environment file to a different location for a while (don't delete it, you might want it back there if this is not the issue). However, if this is a solution, delete the said file


Why has Avidemux been removed from Ubuntu 16.04's repository? Why has Avidemux been removed from Ubuntu 16.04?

I think nobody outside Canonical can answer that authoritatively, and an answer wouldn't be productive anyway.

If you want to know how to use recent avidemux versions on xenial, there are several PPAs around.

The ppa from Thanh Tung Nguyen seems to be of good quality, but unfortunately, the last release failed to build. There is also a getdeb.net ppa which specializes in obscure software, and it has the latest avidemux 2.6.12. You need to install the avidemux2.6-qt version or the avidemux2.6-cli version. For me, it runs without issues.

You can use the binaries from wily, they work under xenial as well (I use it frequently). Just get the .deb files from

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/avidemux/1:2.5.4-0ubuntu16

and install using

sudo dpkg -i FILENAME

If there are error messages you are still missing one of the deb files (read the error message and download the .deb file you need).

At the end do a

sudo apt-get install -f

to download the other dependencies automatically (libfaac, etc.)


VirtualBox crashes when launching Ubuntu Whenever I launch Ubuntu in VirtualBox my computer just freezes and I have to restart it completely.

What could be the problem?

It's to abstract to tell something specific. It depends on many things, Host OS that you run Virtual box (is it a latests version?), which version and architecture of Ubuntu are you trying to boot up. It also can be an issue with Virtual box settings. Also  did you check the file it self (ubuntu-somthing-somthing.iso) maybe file is download with errors, it happens some times (check sha1sum of the file or md5sum).


Computer overheats and shuts down kubuntu My dad has been recomending me to get linux for a long time. Recently I got a driver error on Windows 8, it escalated and now Windows will not boot up anymore. My dad told me to get Kubuntu so atleast I didn't have a dead computer. Ever since I got it, my computer has gotten VERY hot. When I play games from Steam like Garry's Mod, Team Fortress 2, etc. my computer will get very hot (this has never happened before) and it will get so hot it will shut off, crash, "blow a fuse," whatever you want to call it. Just on the Internet it's hot.

I don't know what to do anymore.

It is not the battery being in my laptop when it is plugged in.

If anyone knows please help me out thanks! Ask Questions if you have any.

P.S. I have Kubuntu 14.04 and have gotten the most recent software update as of 6/17/14

I have the same problem on my laptop HP Compaq nx8220 with Kernel 3.13.0-24 to 3.13.0-30 (in Ubuntu 14.04 and Linux Mint 17). This laptop ran Ubuntu and now Mint since 8 years without overheating problems.
Try to boot from an older Live-DVD or USB stick with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or Linux Mint 13. If this will fix your CPU fan then a bug in kernel 3.13.x might cause the problem.

I was able to fix it today with a pre-release of kernel 3.13.0-32 from https://launchpad.net/~canonical-kernel-team/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

Careful users should wait a few days to get this fixed kernel as a normal update!

From what I have read the problem was a kernel patch called "ACPI / AC: convert ACPI ac driver to platform bus" which has now been reverted in kernel 3.13.0-31 and higher.

You may want to try back porting to an older kernel. That seems to be a known bug in the more recent versions Kubuntu.


Best backup software for ubuntu I need a backup software for Ubuntu 14.04 that has a GUI that can backup my entire system to an external hard drive or network drive. Any recommendations?

For backing up installed Softwares, preferences, themes & sources, go for Aptik

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install aptik

& for entire system backup refer to this post.

I would suggest rsync, a built in package, but it doesn't have GUI.

You can go ahead with Clonezilla, that's what I prefer.


How can I get rid of the Aw snap error in Chrome? Suddenly I keep hgetting the Aw snap! error in Chrome and I can't get rid of it, I've triefd to rm -rf .config/google-chrome/ but that didn't help... any suggestions?
I'm using $ google-chrome --version
Google Chrome 39.0.2171.71
and launching it from the shell gives me this:

$ google-chrome&
[1] 12762
ron@regDesktopHome:~$ [9:9:0531/192000:ERROR:nss_util.cc(207)] Error initializing NSS without a persistent database: NSS error code: -8023
[9:9:0531/192000:FATAL:nss_util.cc(209)] nss_error=-8023, os_error=0
[11:11:0531/192000:ERROR:nss_util.cc(207)] Error initializing NSS without a persistent database: NSS error code: -8023
[11:11:0531/192000:FATAL:nss_util.cc(209)] nss_error=-8023, os_error=0
[13:13:0531/192003:ERROR:nss_util.cc(207)] Error initializing NSS without a persistent database: NSS error code: -8023
[13:13:0531/192003:FATAL:nss_util.cc(209)] nss_error=-8023, os_error=0
[15:15:0531/192006:ERROR:nss_util.cc(207)] Error initializing NSS without a persistent database: NSS error code: -8023
[15:15:0531/192006:FATAL:nss_util.cc(209)] nss_error=-8023, os_error=0
[17:17:0531/192009:ERROR:nss_util.cc(207)] Error initializing NSS without a persistent database: NSS error code: -8023
[17:17:0531/192009:FATAL:nss_util.cc(209)] nss_error=-8023, os_error=0

First remove current chrome version with this commands

sudo apt-get remove google-chrome-stable && sudo apt-get autoremove

After try install again with this commands.

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Finally try to open with terminal.

google-chrome-stable

Step 1 Make sure your computer's connected to Wi-Fi or a wired network

Step 2 Clear your cache of chrome

step 3 Clear your cache and cookies

Step 4: Close other tabs, extensions, & apps

Still Not Working Then Restart Computer


How to install large software on a different partition My system runs from a small (16GB) internal SSD. I'm mounting my /home /swap and other folders on the main HDD. Now I want to install a large software package (sagemath), whose download size is 700 MB, but installed apparently requires 5.9 GB, so it doesn't fit onto my / partition. Can I install the main part of this software on the HDD, rather than on the SSD?

The common advice seems to be to enlarge the root partition, which doesn't work in my case of having different drives.

Is there another solution other than moving my whole system to the (slower) HDD?

First, take a look over here.

After you've done that you might want to have your partition always mounted. If you don't know how to do that, write a comment and I'll help you.

Installing the package sagemath directly from the repositories seems to require about 6 GB of space on the /. However, the program binary can be run directly from any download directory via the command ./sage, so it is not necessary to install it via the repositories. More info here.


Issues with Unity after installing and uninstalling FGLRX again I tried to install FGLRX drivers on Ubuntu 13.04, but that didn't work out.

I then went back to the open source drivers (via update-manager) but I couldn't boot into a graphical OS.

I got a black screen with a prompt to log in.

I got in, launched lightdm manually, and reinstalled the OSS drivers... and now I have them installed, and I even seem to be using them (chrome://gpu reports that I am, and I can move things around the screen).

But everything is screwed up - I can't get Unity to launch, I'm still booting into the black screen, and I can't seem to fix this.

Help?

edit: I removed fglrx completely, and I now boot into a UI, but it's just a desktop background. No Unity.

edit2: I can now launch Unity manually... but it doesn't have any of my old settings, and doesn't have any plugins etc. So that's still not working great.

edit3: I went into CCSM and reenabled all of the plugins like Unity and gave default settings. IDK what else but something broke Unity, I can no longer launch it.

I managed to fix my Unity by switching back to the Xorg driver and renaming the ~/.config folder. I'm not sure exactly which configs got messed up, but starting fresh without config files worked for me.


Login loop 14.04 but guest account is accessible After upgrading to 14.04 from 13.10 which worked fine, I cannot get past login as it just loops back. Guest account works fine. I can login to the console by hitting Ctrl+Alt+F1 using username and password. Not sure what is causing problem.
Update:

Video card is N9500GT

Tried chown username:username .Xauthority but now get only splash screen at login with password. Same thing happens in GDM.

Also tried sudo mv .Xauthority .Xauthority.bak no change.

Tried cat ~/.xsession-errors but got message that starts with can't save user-dirs.dirs and then gives more msgs and stops.

How to see what is in .xsession-errors file.

I had the same problem. When I logged into my account via tty (by pressing ctrl+alt+F1, it said that there was an error in the ~/.profile file (I had been messing around in there).  After fixing the error I was able to log in.

Look for any error messages and try to fix them.

Boot using terminal then type:

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

remove anything if you wrote there earlier.

Press Ctrl+O then enter to save and Ctrl+Xto exit.

You can read more in this it'sFOSS post on how to disable the guest account.


Installing Ubuntu by flash drive If we are installing Ubuntu by flash drive can we generate the flashdrive with poweriso in another laptop?

Yes of course you can generate the flash drive using
Power iso.
If you are using windows os in that laptop then download the poweriso in windows
Select image file(.iso) of ubuntu .
Select the disk you are using for booting.
Then burn it
..
If you are using ubuntu in another laptop then
Use startup disk creator which is system application provided by ubuntu..
..
You can use
1.universal usb installer
2.rufus
3.winusb

Softwares for making flash drive in windows

Hope it will help you


Can see my hosted files after upgrading apache I have lost web browser access to my local PHP files. Fortunately phpmyadmin continues to work nicely.

When I type my server ip in Firefox I get:

Index of /
[ICO]   Name    Last modified   Size    Description
Apache/2.4.7 (Ubuntu) Server at localhost Port 80

as if /var/www was empty, which is not the case. I guess that Apache now has some other folder (or none at all) defined as root directory location, but I do not know how to fix it.

Your html or php files have to be moved to the new root:

/var/www/html/

Copy all the html files under /var/www/html. Now open the terminal and change the permission with sudo chmod -R 777 /var/www, now you wont get such errors when you run in firefox.


How to install old Ubuntu on an old desktop For a while now, I've been trying to think of a way to install some distro of Ubuntu on an old tower I have.

The tower is running dual Xeons, with a Quadros graphics card, 4GB RAM and SCSI type hard drives. It originally came with Windows XP installed, and might be 32 bit.

I attempted loading a Live image of Ubuntu 14.04, but it failed. I'm under the impression that 14.04 is too new for the machine.

Anyone have suggestions?

Edit:
The machine in question is an IBM IntelliStation Z Pro, Type 6221-47U.
Components:
CPU: x2 Xeon 3.06 GHz
RAM: 2 GB DDR (1? 2?)
GRAPHICS: unspecified

It does have a DVD drive (two actually) so booting from a disc shouldn't be an issue. If I remember correctly, that's what I tried before.

A couple specific questions I have:

Does Ubuntu have any trouble handling multi-CPU systems, or should I expect it to work as normal?

Does Ubuntu natively support SCSI drives?

This machine will hopefully be used for a CNC mill control station, so it just needs basic functionality.

You don`t want an old version, you just want a light version.

Old version have no updates or support (here or official) and the repository’s are off-line.

I would recommend Xubuntu or Lubuntu for your hardware, both are official Ubuntu, have light weight desktops (L is a bit lighter than X), they are modern and fast and designed for exactly your kind of dated hardware.

To answer your two direct questions in the edit

Does Ubuntu have any trouble handling multi-CPU systems, or should I expect it to work as normal?

If you are referring to physical chips, Ubuntu will handle them just fine.

Here is a question with a detailed answer on the subject of multi cpu.

Does Ubuntu natively support SCSI drives?

Yes it does there is a driver built right in to the kernel, should work out of the box on 14.04 or 15.10

If you need an older version of Ubuntu you can get one at http://releases.ubuntu.com


Ubuntu 18.04 Built in Audio no longer working I tried using hooking my laptop up to an external display through HDMI and now the built in audio does not work. I can still get audio through the audio jack. pavucontrol shows that audio should be playing through the built in speakers. I have tried reinstalling ALSA but that didn't work. My computer recognizes my soundcard, but still nothing plays. I tried updating drivers and got this error

W:Skipping acquire of configured file 'universe/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'http://miktex.org/download/ubuntu bionic InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386', E:The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.

I have a Razer Blade 2017 with Ubuntu 18.04 installed. Any suggestions?

edit:
I dual boot with Windows 10 and the audio works fine there.

edit:
I have found a non ideal solution. If I put my laptop into suspend and then log back in, audio works fine. Still have no idea what the root of the problem is though.

I had a similar issue. Twice. I tried everything. Read every thread. Uninstalled/reinstalled everything.

I don't remember what exactly fixed the problem, but it was either one or a combination of these simple things:

Plugged the laptop back into the HDMI port, and then unplugged it.
System settings > Sound > Choose the correct output (e.g. "Speakers - Built-in Audio").

I dual boot windows as well, and just solved it on my machine twice.

The issue seems to arise when switching from Win10 back to Ubuntu.

For me simply entering BIOS fixed the problem both times.
I did NOT change any settings, but when I booted back into Ubuntu the audio was working again.

Hope this helps!

edit:

Just as a note. My issue was that my built-in audio (my laptop's speaker) was not working. So according to your responses, it might be a different issue.


How to list dependent packages (reverse dependencies)? In order to research what caused the installation of a given package, I'd like to get a list of packages which depend on that package. I couldn't find anything obvious in man dpkg.

apt-cache rdepends packagename should do what you want

With the reverse-depends command from the package: ubuntu-dev-tools
reverse-depends libjs-openlayers
# For build depends search
reverse-depends -b libjs-openlayers

Reverse-Recommends
* gis-osm

Reverse-Depends
* cyclograph
* phpmyadmin
* sumo-tools

Packages without architectures listed are reverse-dependencies in: amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x


Ubuntu 13.04 Terminal closes when minimized My terminal window closes when minimized or when I maximize other program window. This is not useful when coping and pasting commands lines...

Also the terminal window do not appear in the launch bar when actived

What's happening?

You must click the search button in the execution bar, type "terminal", then you click and hold, drag to the bar of execution, after that begin to function normally. Greetings.

Press Super Key hold and press W. You will see your all running applications.
Super key means start key on your keyboard.
Thanks


Trying to install software from user account but getting denied user@main-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get python-cheetah
[sudo] password for user:
user is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.

So that is what I get when trying to install something while logged into my user account. It's prompting me for the user password.

How do I get it to prompt me for my admin account's password so that it will allow me to install something? I want to try and keep the user account seperate. I'm new to linux but it seems like adding a user account to the sudoers file defeats the purpose of having a user account.

For individual commands to run as super-user, use:

sudo -u your-admin-account sudo COMMAND [ARGS...]

(replace your-admin-account with the name of your admin account)
To start a shell as your-admin-account use:

su - your-admin-account

In this shell you can use sudo with your admin account's password. When you don't need the admin shell any more close it using exit or Ctrl+D.

The user that you are trying to install from named user has no sudo power which means he is not an admin on your system.

In order to install a package you should be a sudoer which means admin user.

So you can fix your problem by either use a sudoer user to install or change your account from normal user to admin user.

To change this account to sudo user you have to run this command using either root user or another sudo user

sudo usermod -a -G sudo user

sudo usermod -a -G sudo adm

But according to @muru advice not to use usermod -a -G this is another way to perform the same task

sudo adduser user sudo

sudo adduser user adm

Now the user named user is a sudoer


Running Python File in Terminal Trying to learn how to run my scripts through Ubuntu's terminal regularly.  That being said I am familiar with bash, wget, and awk being called but how do I call python files to run in the terminal?  I would like to learn this but I am unsure on where to research it.  I have a .pyw file that references several .py files in a folder.

Option 1: Call the interpreter

For Python 2: python <filename>.py
For Python 3: python3 <filename>.py

Option 2: Let the script call the interpreter

Make sure the first line of your file has #!/usr/bin/env python.
Make it executable - chmod +x <filename>.py.
And run it as ./<filename>.py

Try using the command python3 instead of python. If the script was written in Python3, and you try to run it with Python2, you could have problems. Ubuntu has both; changing the program name to python3 (instead of replacing python) made this possible. Ubuntu needs v2.7 (as of  2/16/2017) so DON'T delete or remove Python2, but keep them both. Make a habit of using Python3 to run scripts, which can run either.


What happened to my Windows XP drive I'm updating my new server, during that update, I need to update my old Intel E5200, Dual Core, 2 GB, dual 250 GB drives, Windows XP Pro SP3. Tired of Microsoft I decided to explore Linux (Ubuntu 14).

I proceeded to install, not clear on the partition thing, with two 250 GB SATA IDE Drives, I disabled my primary in the BIOS and disconnected its data cable. I continued to install Ubuntu and assigned the core/swap partitions. Couldn't have loaded any easier.

When completed I enabled the primary drive in BIOS and reconnected the Data cable. My intention was to have two separate drives with independent OS's, Windows XP and Linux, being able to switch in BIOS either drive for desired OS. I need XP for process control debugging for GPIB.

So After completion I rebooted and attempted to switch to my Primary drive with XP and found I wasn't able to access that drive, as though Ubuntu actually installed on both drives. Unable to access my Windows XP drive completely.

Is there a link which can direct me to explain what happened? I have a complete library of programs and reading files needed on the Windows XP Drive I would like to recover. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Very good!  I like a man who thinks like I do and PHYSICALLY DISCONNECTS drives for safety.  Around here I'm oft treated like I'm some sort of a nut, but I too believe in safety.

Rest assured, provided that you actually disconnected the correct drive, everything is going to be fine.  Of course if you disconnected the blank drive and formatted the windows drive... there's no going back, but I'm going to hope for the best.

What I believe happened is that when Ubuntu installed on the blank drive, it installed its own boot sector on that drive, and for some reason, your bios is preferring to boot to that drive.  In my opinion, you have THREE GREAToptions.

1) You can use your bios' own "Boot Menu" (most bios have them these days.  sometimes you have to press a key such as escape or f12 at boot time).  The problem with this plan is that it doesn't actually protect you from rampant viruses which can literally reach out and wipe your drives.  If it's connected, it's game.

2) You can do things the way I do them, with a removable hard drive system such as this one so that there is only one hard drive connected at a time.  Trust me, this is really your best bet if you like safety!  Windows can reach out and hurt things.  I've experienced it first hand!

3) You can do things in a somewhat more normal way, which works very much like partitioned hard drives in so much as you select boot media from a menu at boot time, with both drives connected at once and no switching of anything in the bios.  Best of all this solution is EASY and doesn't cost anything.  You just open this link, burn the self booting CD, and shut down the PC.  If you have not already done so, connect both hard drives such that they are both recognized by the computer.  Then you boot your computer to the boot repair CD, and follow its easy one click operation to repair your boot.  When it is done, your computer should present you with a sort of menu at boot time offering you the choice of Ubuntu (at the top) and Windows (usually at or near the bottom).  By default it usually boots to Ubuntu first.


How can I troubleshoot "VPN Connection Failed"? Is there anyway to get an error log for a failed VPN connection attempt? All I get is this notification and I have no idea where to go from there.

Log is written to /var/log/syslog.
Open gnome-terminal and do sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog
This will follow the file (prints to terminal new log messages).
Now try to connect to the vpn, the messages then will start showing in the terminal.
When you are done following the log just click Ctrl+c to quit tail.

One can add markers to the log by opening another terminal and doing something like that:
logger "............... Starting VPN... "

I just confirm the problem on ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Add that if you launch the vpn manually with the following command it works at least for me:

sudo vpnc --domain "" --local-port 0 --enable-1des mypcffile


Ubuntu to Kubuntu switch! I have been running Ubuntu for about a year, now I would like to switch to kubuntu.
Is it possible that I can port all the configuration data from the home folder of Ubuntu to kubuntu? (Without causing some serious trouble)
If I copy all them contents of the home folder (Including the hidden files and folders) will I be able to get the same application configurations ?
I know that copying the Thunderbird folder copies the emails on the newer installation, will it work to other applications?

If you are upgrading to Kubuntu then no need to copy anything, just install Kubuntu package.

Use one of these commands:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-full

kubuntu-full includes kubuntu-desktop and also has some additional packages.

You can see how to install Kubuntu here also.

You could do it by installing these packages:
kde-baseapps-bin
kde-baseapps-data
kde-icons-crystal
kde-runtime
kde-runtime-data
kde-style-oxygen
kde-window-manager
kde-window-manager-common
kde-workspace-bin
kde-workspace-data
kdebase-bin
kdelibs-bin
kdelibs5-data
kdelibs5-dbg
kdelibs5-plugins
kdepim-runtime
kdepimlibs-kio-plugins

You don't need to copy anything :)
Just choose you wish to run kde after a reboot or log out.


Dell XPS 13 Not Discovering any Wifi Networks So my wifi just died randomly this morning and I haven't been able to get it back would appreciate any help I can get.

I have been following this link with little to no success Broadcom BCM4352 Wireless not working with 16.10 here are my results of running the same types of tests

lshw -C network

*-network
   description: Wireless interface
   product: BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
   vendor: Broadcom Limited
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
   logical name: wlan0
   version: 03
   serial: 6a:cc:51:5a:8b:d9
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.271 (r587334) latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
   resources: irq:19 memory:f7200000-f7207fff memory:f7000000-f71fffff

rfkill list all

 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

lspci -knn | grep -A2 Net

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43b1] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [1028:0019]
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: bcma, wl

I have also refollowed the installation guide for wl but haven't had any success yet would appreciate any help I can get.

I had foolishly disabled the Wifi with my keyboard and had not noticed it. Funnily enough this was not the same as airplane mode, as airplane mode was not considered on.

Hopefully if nothing else someone who may have done the same will find this answer if they are having an off day as I clearly did today.


How do I retrieve my files if mounting gives me a "bad superblock" error? I got my Ubuntu 12.04 corrupted after a sudden power cut. I've tried to retrieve my data from a live USB but I am not able to mount my main disk (/dev/sda1). It gives me a error about a bad super block and something like that.

Please provide me some assistence on this as I am not sure how to proceed. I just want to retrieve my data.

Linux partitions have a backup of the superblock.

Try typing sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sda1 | grep superblock

You should get something like this:

 Primary superblock at 0, Group descriptors at 1-6
  Backup superblock at 32768, Group descriptors at 32769-32774
  Backup superblock at 98304, Group descriptors at 98305-98310
  Backup superblock at 163840, Group descriptors at 163841-163846
  Backup superblock at 229376, Group descriptors at 229377-229382
  Backup superblock at 294912, Group descriptors at 294913-294918

Try repairing the partition using the backup superblock:

sudo fsck -b 32768 /dev/sda2

Only run this and other fsck commands while your file system is unmounted. Make the necessary changes to the block number according to your dumpe2fs output.

When it's ready, try mounting again. Hope this helps.

Source: Linux: Recover Corrupted Partition From A Bad Superblock

You should be at a command prompt when you get the error, if not try and get into one ('press M for manual recovery' maybe). Type 'fsck' and press enter. If that doesn't work, type 'sudo fsck' and press enter. If it asks for your password, enter it (it will not be visible) and press enter. Good luck!


sound volume settings doesn't do anything I installed Ubuntu the other day, and I am quite new to it. I've noticed that the sound volume setting at the top right hand side of the screen doesn't affect the volume of my media players (it may affect system sounds but i haven't really noticed any difference either).

I turn it all the way up it doesn't affect the sound, all the way down to mute and the same thing.

Is this normal? Should that volume setting affect only system sounds or should it also affect the sounds from media players? If so how do I remedy this problem?

I'm using a combination of VLC media player and the Google chrome Plex App.
Running Ubuntu 16.04.

This could help, once my friend had this issue and following these steps fixed it:

Removed ~/.config/pulse directory.
Started Pulse Audio.

rm -rf ~/.config/pulse
pulseaudio --start

Incase if its still showing errors you will have to reinstall pulse audio and equalizer.

sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio pulseaudio-equalizer
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer
pulseaudio --start

Try running sudo apt-get install pavucontrol


dpkg -i complains of "conflicting packages" when installing self-compiled kernel I need to compile and install my own bionic kernels to fix a typo in xhci-pci.c

I've done this successfully in the past, as late as 18.04 I think, following the instructions at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/BuildYourOwnKernel

But now when I try to install my new kernels (and test kernels from devs trying to help me run the fix up the flagpole) dpkg -i complains and it seems my changes aren't reflected on reboot. How do I fix this?

UPDATE: Installing the kernel I compiled on my desktop onto a different server seems to work. I speculate this is because the kernel version running on the server was a few minor revisions behind that running on the desktop. I think the minor revision number running on the desktop is the same I'm attempting to compile and install. Oppositely, the test kernel provided by the devs are some minor revisions behind that of my desktop and server. Whereas previously I placed the blame on "unsigned" packages, now I'm thinking the problem lies with dpkg. How do I force dpkg to install over "conflicting" packages? How do I force it to install a retrograde kernel?

The errors (on the desktop system) are as follows:

dpkg: regarding linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-generic_4.15.0-29.31+jeff_amd64.deb containing linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-generic:
 linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-generic conflicts with linux-image-4.15.0-29-generic
  linux-image-4.15.0-29-generic (version 4.15.0-29.31) is present and installed.

dpkg: error processing archive linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-generic_4.15.0-29.31+jeff_amd64.deb (--install):
 conflicting packages - not installing linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-generic
dpkg: regarding linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-lowlatency_4.15.0-29.31+jeff_amd64.deb containing linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-lowlatency:
 linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-lowlatency conflicts with linux-image-4.15.0-29-lowlatency
  linux-image-4.15.0-29-lowlatency (version 4.15.0-29.31) is present and installed.

dpkg: error processing archive linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-lowlatency_4.15.0-29.31+jeff_amd64.deb (--install):
 conflicting packages - not installing linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-29-lowlatency

apt-get remove linux-image-4.15.0-29-lowlatency

say no, you don't wish to abort removing your running kernel so it gets removed. Then

dpkg -i $new-kernel+jeff

will succeed.

Your Deb package has identical files that conflict with older same-named package. You should remove old package or, maybe, change version settings in the debian folder when you compile the kernel. That might uniquify file names. But tough to predict. I would remove old conflicting kernel.

Remember that kernel you already have was built at factory in a safe environment. One you built probably differs meaningfully because it takes note of stuff your system has, maybe even different compiler and dpkg building strategy. The one yoh build, even with source package from original system, will not be interchangeable.


How do I make Windows 7 the default OS instead of ubuntu? I was following this guide:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/set-windows-as-default-os-when-dual-booting-ubuntu/
in order to make windows the default os when I boot the computer but the problem is that the file which opens when I run the commend which manshened in the text is empty and dosn't have any of the lines it should have according to the guide so can anybody help and tell me how to see the text or give another way of making windows 7 the default os?

Run this: sudo apt-get install startupmanager. Then you can launch startupmanager which gives you a GUI to change many settings, including default OS to boot.

Alternative:
Edit manually /boot/grub/grub.cfg and change the value of "default" entry:

set default="0"

"0" means first OS entry at grub.cfg


How to change the graphics driver from i915 to intel? Does anyone know how to change the graphics driver in 11.04 from i915 to intel?

You shouldn't need to do anything, the "intel" driver covers i915 card already and it's the default driver in Ubuntu anyway.

Also, I would add this PPA... https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa


How can I get a list of all folders and files opened in last month? How can I get a list of all folders and files I opened in the last month? Preferably in the command line, with the date included. I am newbie on linux by the way. Thanks

Files:

find -type f -mtime -31

Folders:

find -type d -mtime -31

It will search from the directory where you typed it.

If you're using command line, you have used a command to open the file (like vi). So you can get all the commands you used using the command:

$history

This command show all the commands that the user used.


Computer logs out while I lock screen Recently, my laptop is behaving strangely sometimes. It doesn't usually does this but lately it frequently does.

The problem is that whenever I lock the screen, the computer logs out and closes all my applications. Is there any bug that cause this, or is it because I've  misconfigurated settings?

EDIT

i have made a video from my mobile for this bug  lock error

if it worked correctly while pressing lock lock working

Please, comment for additional information if needed. I don't know where to start looking.

This is a bug in Unity.  Please mark yourself as affected here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1451613

I'd liked to help ya, but I would also like to know a few things about your set up. Are you running Ubuntu solo, dual boot, or through VMWare of sometype (VirtualBox)?

I say this because it could be beyond the app software and the kernel depending on your model l-top and host OS.

Also with that update and upgrade, run a dist-upgrade to upgrade the kernel.

:~$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

This will upgrade the kernel, as well install the updates for the app software at that point in the kernels life span (upstream or whatever).

The screen shot below should take care of it!

By initiating the system settings followed by Brightness & Lock selection; and modifying the options to emulate the screenshot I have posted your problem should be solved.

SystemSettings>Brightness&Lock

If this doesn't work let me know!

P.S. Also if this doesnt work, run the who command from the command line and post your output.

:~$ who


How can I set up hourly Deja-Dup backups? Is there a way I get the amazing Deja-dup to make me hourly backups in addition to daily, weekly, biweekly etc? If not, is there something else that I could use instead?

Install Scheduled Tasks:

Add a job to it with the following parameters (replace every minute with every hour or the schedule you want to use):

You can even hide the pop-up window by using deja-dup --backup --auto as the command or use X-Application: suppress outup in the default behavior drop box, it will hide the window while deja-dup runs.

you can write a simple script such as

    for i in `seq 1000`
    do
        deja-dup --backup
        sleep 20  # define the frequency of backup here
    done

then run the script in background. You can use infinite loop if you want.


How do I install the latest Nvidia drivers via the Additional Drivers tool? Well obviously I can do it manually, I was just wondering why aren't these drivers available through "Additional Drivers", and why are the versions available there outdated.

Drivers in the Additional Tool will never be updated to higher versions unless there is a very big issue with them. You need to either add the PPA or update manually.
Upon a Ubuntu release packages are frozen in time only to be updated in case of major problems and bugs. Adding this PPA will update your drivers to the latest versions using packages packed by the Ubuntu team.
The System 76 folks maintain a PPA with just the nvidia drivers in them, so you can use this for just about any machine with an nvidia driver. The nice thing is they keep this PPA up to date with the latest upstream nvidia driver, making this PPA ideal for gamers.
If you already have the drivers installed in your system via the Additional Drivers tool
Add the System76 driver PPA (that includes Nvidia drivers)
sudo add-apt-repository -ys ppa:system76-dev/stable

Update and upgrade
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install system76-driver-nvidia

Then either restart the X server or reboot.
How to remove/uninstall these drivers
Install ppa-purge
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

Purge the system76 team PPA
sudo ppa-purge ppa:system76-dev/stable

Try looking for a PPA. Basically anything in the repos is tested and generally all works the latest versions take time to come through. Some NVIDIA drivers are also classed as experimental so wouldn't be suitable for a novice end user who might stumble across them in additional drivers to install. So a good way of getting the latest and greatest is by seeing if someone has made a PPA by googling. If not you're back to manual sorry!


How to use animations as window effects in Compiz? I recently installed the compiz-plugins-extra in Ubuntu 12.04, And I have animations add-on enabled, But none of the extra features (such as airplane, dissolve, explode, etc.) work. Is there something else I need to install to make these work or what?

After you enable the animation add-ons, logout and login again. That's how they appeared for me.

Sometimes compiz won't renew itself when activating plugins. Press Alt+F2 and type compiz --replace to reload compiz. This is a faster option than logging out and in.


How can I chmod 777 all subfolders of /var/www? I’m running a webserver and FTP server, wherein /var/www is bound to /home/user/www.

I set both directories to chmod 777 (which is fine since it’s for testing only).

I can upload files into /home/user/www, but whenever I create a new directory, I always have to run chmod 777 on that folder.

Otherwise, when I try to browse it, I get the error message

  You don't have permission to access /test/ on this server.

Is there a way I could make all sub-folders inside /var/www be accessible by anyone? Or could their permissions be automatically set to 777? It’s annoying that I have to type chmod 777 every time.

This is bad practice, but hopefully you are just using this for development, or you have another good reason. You can specify the permissions when you create a directory using the -m option:

mkdir -m 777 dirname

Or you can set the permissions recursively.

sudo chmod -R 777 /var/www

Before using either of these, really consider if you want your filesystem to be so accessible.

Edit:
As mentioned by Rinzwind here is a better way of accomplishing what you want.

Check what group owns your /var/www directory and add your user to that group.

sudo adduser yourusername group

The group is probably www-data.

Then you will be OK with setting your permissions to 775.

This does not work to me.

sudo chmod -f 777 /path/to/your/file/or/directory

I have to use -f also.

sudo chmod -R -f 777 /path/to/your/file/or/directory


Chrome shows two icons in Unity Launcher I am a new Ubuntu user. I just installed 12.04. To get Chrome on the Launcher, I clicked the BFB and searched for Chrome, then dragged that icon to the Launcher. However, when I run Chrome, it creates a second icon for the running chrome. Creating a second window creates a second triangle under the second Chrome icon, with the first icon not doing anything. It is also apparently not locked to the launcher and I can't remove it. Does anybody know how to remove the first icon? I have locked the second icon to the launcher and it seems to be working fine, but I don't want two icons.

I periodically run into this problem and variants of it, most recently on Ubuntu 14.04.

Here's what has worked for me in these cases:

Close all Chrome windows (and choose Exit from the Chrome indicator menu, if you have one).
Right click on all Chrome icons in the launcher and choose Unlock from Launcher.
Open the Files application.

Choose Location from the Go menu (or press Ctrl-L).
Type .local/share/applications into the text field and press Enter.
You should see a number of files whose names contain "chrome" (or "chromium" if you're using Chromium instead of Google Chrome. Send these files to the Trash (but leave any other files in this folder alone).

(You might have to log out and log back in at this point, but I don't think this is always necessary.)
Open the Dash and type chrome. You should see only 1 entry.
Launch Chrome and lock to the launcher (by right clicking on the icon and choosing Lock to Launcher or by dragging the icon out to the right of the launcher and then back in at a different location).
Close the Chrome window, and then use the launcher icon to reopen it. It should open normally and you should not see a 2nd icon appear.

I think this is a bug.

Try the following:

unity --reset-icons

The above command will reset the icons the way they were when you first installed Ubuntu.

or type:

gksu gedit /usr/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop

and remove the following line:

OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

I hope this helps.


How do I install aclocal? How can I install aclocal from the autotools bundle in Ubuntu 11.04?
I tried to find it to no avail:

sudo apt-get install aclocal
sudo apt-get install autotools-dev
apt-cache search aclocal
dpkg -S aclocal

I had to install automake instead of aclocal directly with 11.10.

Example:

sudo apt-get install autotools-dev
sudo apt-get install automake

This was answered by the original user

You need to install automake since m4 is a dependency:

sudo apt-get install autotools-dev

Then install aclocal via apt-get


Wifi gone after latest Ubuntu 14.04 update on August 25, 2016 Broadcom driver

After an upgrade to my 32-bit Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS today, my wireless card is no longer noticed. It is a Broadcom, using their driver.

  09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)

  0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Ethernet still works.

Going back to a previous Ubuntu temporarily solves the problem.

My computer is an old (2008) Dell XPS laptop. I've never had any wireless problems until today.

Following the directions shown did not fix the problem:

  WARNING: Security updates for your current Hardware Enablement
  Stack ended on 2016-08-04:
  * http://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL

  There is a graphics stack installed on this system. An upgrade to a
  configuration supported for the full lifetime of the LTS will become
  available on 2016-07-21 and can be installed by running 'update-manager'
  in the Dash.

Any thoughts? Thanks, Bill

Do you have proprietary drivers enabled?

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/drivers


How to keep Unity panel always on top? I am working on a script that will allow you to use a video as a wallpaper. This script uses xwinwrap and mplayer, when i have the script running the video is shown as a wallpaper and with windows/files open it all works. But when i close or minimize all windows/files my Unity panel and top panel disappear and the video comes on top of the panels.. I can get them back when pressing Super or Alt+Tab but i want them to stay on top of the video wallpaper.

hoping you guys can help me out... greetings from tinuz

install Compiz Config Settings Manager
run ccsm
go to Ubuntu Unity Plugin and click on it
in the reveal mode section change it to never
sit back
??????????
Profit!


No Internet Access after restarting System in Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS I am facing one problem with my system having Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS (recently upgraded). Problem is Wifi is working but No Internet Access, I tried with

nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

but after restarting the system these two lines are disabled automatically.

Please help me to resolve the problem
Thank you so much

For Ubuntu Desktop, the dns client setup should be done via network manager
You have to revert modifications in resolv.conf then setup the dns servers in the gnome-control-center

In the file /etc/resolv.conf replace the two lines

nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

by the original

nameserver 127.0.0.53

Then, setup DNS servers in the Gnome Control Panel, WIFI section

# the panel can be opened with the command line or the gui
gnome-control-center wifi

Find your Wifi SSID, hit the cog, go to IPv4 tab
In the DNS section, switch Automatic to OFF. Enter the IP address of the DNS servers you want to use like this 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4

I was having same problem  <----(((newbie))) I did find that going into F9 and changing boot order to boot network first cured it. The network controller at first will have a exclamation mark beside it. Still move it to #1 of boot order... F10 and save...  WiFi should be able to see signals this time


How to make a disk image and restore from it later? I'm a new Linux user. I've reinstalled my Wubi from scratch at least ten times the last few weeks because while getting the system up and running (drivers, resolution, etc.) I've broken something (X, grub, unknowns) and I can't get it back to work. Especially for a newbie like me, it's easier (and much faster) to just reinstall the whole shebang than try to troubleshoot several layers of failed "fixing" attempts.
Coming from Windows, I expect that there is some "disk image" utility that I can run to make a snapshot of my Linux install (and of the boot partition!!) before I meddle with stuff. Then, after I've foobar'ed my machine, I would somehow restore my machine back to that working snapshot.
What's the Linux equivalent of Windows disk imagers like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost?

Note: I found a similar question: Easy backup/restore of installed system?

With dd
dd is the low level utility that you can use to accomplish this task. It's essentially a low level byte-for-byte copy utility. If you want the "UNIX" way of accomplishing this, then read on.
All references to the file system and hard disks are located locally on the virtual /dev/ filesystem. There are a multitude of "nodes" in /dev/ that are interfaces to almost all the devices on your computer. For example, /dev/hda or /dev/sda would refer to the first hard drive in your system (hda vs sda depends on the hard drive), and /dev/hda1 would refer to the first partition on your hard drive.
The most straight forward way to make a raw image of your partitions is to use dd to dump the entire partition to a single file (remember the OS access the partitions /dev/sda1 through a file interface). Make sure you are on a larger partition or on a secondary drive and perform the following command:
dd if=/dev/hda1 of=./part1.image to backup(repeat for different partitions)
dd if=./part1.image of=/dev/hda1 to restore
You can use the exact same command to back up the entire hard disk (replace hda1 with hda). You can then use any compression program (gunzip, zip, bzip) to compress the file for storage. You can use this same technique to make rote copies of entire partitions to make clones of your computer.
There is one limitation though, when restoring the backup: The partition needs to be the same size (or bigger) as the partition you took the image from, so this limits your options in case of a restore. However, you can always expand the partition after you've restored the backup using gparted or parted. The picture gets even muddier when you are trying to restore entire disk copies. However, if you are restoring the backup to the same exact hard drive, you don't need to worry about this at all.
However, if you want a "friendlier" utility à la Norton Ghost then this suggestion might not be for you.

You can use Clonezilla

Download Clonezilla live CD
Burn the iso file to a CD
Once you finish your initial machine reboot and start your Clonezilla Live CD and make a clone from your initial harddisk to others.

Check these screenshots here and be free to ask in details for any ambiguous menu

You can also use Ghost for Linux G4l.

download iso from here then burn to Cd and use it Live CD.


How to flash a BIOS when only a Windows binary is provided? I want to update the BIOS on Toshiba QOSMIO-G30. The exe file that I downloaded from the manufacturer web site is supposed to be Operating System independent! Yet using Wine I could not execute the file to FLASH System BIOS. Is there any way to update the BIOS in Ubuntu?

This site explains how to go about doing a BIOS update under Linux.

Quoted from the same site:

  So you've finally made the move to a Windows-free computer, you're
  enjoying your brand new Linux OS, no Trojans/viruses, no slowdown,
  everything is perfect. Suddenly, you need to update the BIOS on your
  motherboard to support some new piece of hardware, but typically the
  motherboard vendor is offering only DOS based BIOS flash utilities.
  You panic! Fortunately, this problem is easy to solve...

  Below are the steps to follow:

  Step 1: Download FreeDOS boot disk floppy image

  Step 2: Copy your BIOS flash utility and new BIOS image to the mounted
  floppy disk image

  Step 3: Burn a bootable CD which will emulate floppy device for use

  Step 4: Reboot, flash, reboot, enjoy your new BIOS

Source: linuxinsight.com

Disconnect your Ubuntu system drive, connect an old spare or used drive, install Windows on it, and do the BIOS update (if, as Pilot6 explains, if you absolutely, positively, have to update the BIOS). Then, disconnect the old drive, put your Ubuntu OS drive back on, and you're ready to go, secure in the knowledge that Windows did not corrupt Linux (which happens often, sadly).


apt-get command not found I was going to update all the software on a Linux server. I have root access into this server. I tried to type sudo apt-get update, I got an error says

apt-get: command not found

$ uname -a
Linux r1web 2.6.32-358.6.1.el6.i686 #1 SMP Tue Apr 23 18:13:20 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Please tell me how to fix this problem. Thanks!

For your server i.e. CentOS release 6.4 (Final)

CentOS uses yum (Yellowdog Updater, Modified)

yum update

It is impossible to install apt-get on Ubuntu as it is part of the OS, you must contact your vendor and he must reinstall the Linux server to fix the Ubuntu installation because there is no Ubuntu without apt-get.

Hope your answer was solved.


Change XAMPP's htdocs web root folder to another one I'm trying to change the XAMPP's web root default directory /opt/lampp/htdocs to another one like /home/me/Dropbox/public_html without success.

I've edited the file /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf

# old line: DocumentRoot "/opt/lampp/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "/home/me/Dropbox/public_html"

#...etc...

# old line: <Directory "/opt/lampp/htdocs">
<Directory "/home/me/Dropbox/Work/public_html">
#
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
#   Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
# etc...

I've did this as said in this article: Using Ubuntu One to synchronise htdocs?

Then I've restarted Apache and I've got a permission error 403 on every page I've called with the web browser.

So I've changed folder and files permission to 755.

I've did this as said in this article:
What file permissions should I set on web root?

The problem still remains the same, I have the 403 error on every page I try to reach with the web browser.

I have the same problem on a Mac using XAMPP.

So everythig works fine if the folder remains the original /opt/lampp/htdocs.

How can I change it correctly?

Open /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf
change nobody and nogroup

<IfModule unixd_module>
#
# If you wish httpd to run as a different user or group, you must run
# httpd as root initially and it will switch.
#
# User/Group: The name (or #number) of the user/group to run httpd as.
# It is usually good practice to create a dedicated user and group for
# running httpd, as with most system services.
#
User nobody
Group nogroup
</IfModule>

to your username and your group

Just make an index file on your new htdocs folder.


Unable to update or reinstall flash player after update Yesterday my computer ran an update and lost flashplayer. If I try reinstalling it does the same thing which is it can't reach the source or something.

Sorry I'm not computer savvy at all, came to Ubuntu cos I had to and now don't want to leave, so I'm not so good at explaining what's wrong tecnically.

I see others have had a similar problem when updating through a proxy but I'm 99% sure my home network has no proxy's set (my flatmate assures me of this).

I'm on Ubuntu 12.04 I think and use firefox.

The install seems to run fine until it gets to:

  flashplugin-installer: downloading http://archive.canonical.com/pool/partner/a/adobe-flashplugin/adobe-flashplugin_11.2.202.297.orig.tar.gz

it then freezes up for a bit and spits a few dummies before coming up with

  Failure to download extra data files The following packages requested additional data downloads after package installation, but
  the data could not be downloaded or could not be processed.
  flashplugin-installer The download will be attempted again later, or
  you can try the download again now.  Running this command requires an
  active Internet connection.

I then try again and it opens a new terminal where it tries to download again from the previous site. Again it just sort of freezes up and after awhile terminal closes but nothing is resolved/flash still doesn't work.

In case it's useful I'll paste my terminal script below, any help would be very appreciated as I don't really want to have to go back to using windows.

user:~$ sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

[sudo] password for user:

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:

  compiz-plugins compiz-plugins-main python-compizconfig python-central

Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.

Suggested packages:

  x-ttcidfont-conf ttf-xfree86-nonfree xfs

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  flashplugin-installer

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

Need to get 0 B/6,932 B of archives.

After this operation, 139 kB of additional disk space will be used.

Preconfiguring packages ...

Selecting previously unselected package flashplugin-installer.

(Reading database ... 509266 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking flashplugin-installer (from .../flashplugin-installer_11.2.202.297ubuntu0.12.04.1_i386.deb) ...

Processing triggers for update-notifier-common ...

flashplugin-installer: downloading http://archive.canonical.com/pool/partner/a/adobe-flashplugin/adobe-flashplugin_11.2.202.297.orig.tar.gz

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/usr/lib/update-notifier/package-data-downloader", line 234, in process_download_requests
    dest_file = urllib.urlretrieve(files[i])[0]

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.py", line 93, in urlretrieve
    return _urlopener.retrieve(url, filename, reporthook, data)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.py", line 239, in retrieve
    fp = self.open(url, data)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.py", line 207, in open
    return getattr(self, name)(url)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.py", line 344, in open_http
    h.endheaders(data)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/httplib.py", line 954, in endheaders
    self._send_output(message_body)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/httplib.py", line 814, in _send_output
    self.send(msg)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/httplib.py", line 776, in send
    self.connect()

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/httplib.py", line 757, in connect
    self.timeout, self.source_address)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 571, in create_connection
    raise err

IOError: [Errno socket error] [Errno 101] Network is unreachable

Setting up flashplugin-installer (11.2.202.297ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...

Manually download the latest adobe-flashplugin_11.2.XXX.XXX.orig.tar.gz from here, then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure flashplugin-installer. It will show this dialog:

Just enter the directory where you've saved the file.

Too difficult for linux illiterate people like myself. Just install google chrome (cant do this via ubuntu software centre, therefore do it via simple google internet search).

Then use google chrome-

Done


Global menubar in Libreoffice 4.1 in Ubuntu 12.04 Is there any way to install lo-menubar for Libreoffice 4.1 installed from the official Libreoffice ppa in Ubuntu 12.04?

Thanks in advance!

This workaround does work partially, but has a very significant bug:

Download lo-menubar_0.1.1-0ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb for amd64 or lo-menubar_0.1.1-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb for i386

extract

home/downloads/lo-menubar_0.1.1-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb

with file roller

and sudo copy this folder:

home/downloads/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/extensions/menubar

to

file system/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/extensions/

NOTE: Libreoffice will integrate into global menubar, but you will only be able to access the menu via the HUD [pressing ALT on your keyboard]. Accessing via the actual menubar will cause libreoffice to crash. I have created a bug report at bugs.launchpad.net/lo-menubar/+bug/1216517

EDIT:

If the bug affects you as well, feel free to mark yourself as affected in the bug report :)

the menubar plugin is incompatibel with LO 4.1


Does Firefox have something similar to ActiveX in terms of security vulnerabilities? People always say that Linux is more secure than Windows. The main reason seems to be the general system design philosophy and the fact that users are users and not root.

One main security concern when using Windows and Internet Explorer seem to be ActiveX. Every few days I read about another kind of exploit using ActiveX, and almost always the workaround is to deactivate ActiveX. I read that so often I wonder why people bother to activate ActiveX at all. (One reason might be that the name contains "active"; another might be the windows update function.)

Using Ubuntu and Firefox, I always feel so safe when reading about the ActiveX exploits. I know that there are many other security vulnerabilities that use JavaScript and/or Adobe Flash, but as far as I understand those kind of security vulnerabilities can only do as much damage as my user rights allow. Of course that doesn't help much when the malware wants to destroy all of my data - but most malware today only wants to use my PC as a botnet drone and so is not interested in destroying my data.

So the question again: does Firefox running under Ubuntu have something similar to ActiveX, in terms of security vulnerabilities?

Another question which may be identical: can a security vulnerability involving Adobe Flash and/or JavaScript be "easily" exploited to do as much damage as an ActiveX exploit?

When I say "easy" I mean that the attack does not need to exploit another component of the system to elevate user rights. For example, an exploit involving Adobe Flash will gain access to my PC using my user rights, and then proceed to exploit some known vulnerability in X to gain root access. That is not "easy".

does firefox under ubuntu has something similar to activeX, in terms of security vulnerability?

‘ActiveX’ can be considered in two parts, the object model and the installation method. Firefox has something similar—and cross-platform compatible, Ubuntu or other—for both.

The object model of ActiveX is Microsoft COM; Firefox's equivalent is XPCOM. Many other Windows features and applications that are nothing to do with web browsing use MS COM, and there have traditionally been endless problems where COM controls that were not written for secure web usage were nonetheless available to web pages. This caused many compromises. Firefox is better off here as XPCOM is not shared with the rest of the system. Newer versions of IE have better controls for mitigating what sites are allowed to use what controls.

(As a side-issue, because many add-ons for Firefox are themselves written in JavaScript, a high-level scripting language, they are often more secure from buffer overflow and string handling errors than extensions for IE which are commonly written in C[++].)

The control-downloader part of ActiveX has also been cleaned up a bit since the bad old days when anything in the My Computer zone could install any software it liked, and aggressive loader scripts could trap you in an alert loop until you agreed to approve the ActiveX prompt. Firefox's equivalent, XPInstall, behaves largely similarly, with the ‘information bar’ on all but Mozilla's sites by default and a suitable warning/prompt before installation.

There is another built-in way you can compromise yourself in Mozilla: signed scripts. I have never seen this actually used, and certainly there'll be another warning window appear before a script gains extra rights, but it kind of worries me that this is available to web pages at all.

  for example an exploit through flash will gain access to my pc under my user rights

Yes, the majority of web exploits today occur in plugins. Adobe Reader, Java(*) and QuickTime are the most popular/vulnerable. IMO: get rid of those, and use FlashBlock to only show Flash when you want it.

(*: and Java's dialogues before it lets you give up all security to some untrusted applet is a bit bare too.)

Ubuntu gives you some questionable plugins by default, in particular a media player plugin that will make every vulnerability in any of your media codecs exploitable through the web (similar to the Windows Media Player plugin, only potentially with many more formats). Whilst I have yet to meet an exploit targeting Linux like this, that's really only security through obscurity.

Note that ActiveX itself is no different. A web browser compromise based on ActiveX still only gives user-level access; it's only because prior to Vista everyone habitually ran everything as Administrator that this escalated to a full-on rooting.

  and then follow to exploit some known vulnerability in X to gain root rights. that is not "easy".

Maybe, maybe not. But I think you'll find the damage some malware can do from even a normal user account is quite bad enough. Copy all your personal data, observe your keypresses, delete all your documents...

I just want to mention that Linux is theoretically less safe than Windows 7, which has some cool security features.

The reason there are no Linux Viruses is the same why there are almost no commercial Linux games: the producers go with the masses, and the masses use Windows.

So the most secure way is to use alternative products (like Firefox was some years ago, today Firefox exploits are used quite often).

Now to answer your questions:
As far as I know ActiveX-Exploits don't concern Firefox.

I feel quite safe browsing with Linux and Firefox, however using Opera could be more secure as Opera is much less popular.

What you should consider is having a strong Password if your SSH is open to the Internet as there are lots of scanners that try to hack your ssh to install strange things on your PC (disable direct root access in /etc/ssh/sshd_config).

I think most other attacks are specific to one user, so if you don't have any company secrets or enemies in general your Computer should be quite safe.


Trying to uninstall Bitwig from my computer with the .deb package missing I am trying to uninstall Bitwig from my computer and I'm not sure as to how. I currently do not have the .deb package and a sudo apt-get remove bitwig does not seem to be working. Bitwig is not on the Software Center either.

Thanks for your help!

Make sure you type it in as

sudo apt-get remove bitwig-studio

It will uninstall after that. You're only giving it part of the name to look for. That's why it can't find it.

With respect to your command:

  @Maythux E: Unable to locate package bitwig

This means that the package called bitwig is not installed in your system, and so you can't uninstall a package which is already not installed!!


How to separate opened windows in alt+tab switcher in Ubuntu 18.04? When I have multiple windows of an application opened e.g. Chrome main window and Incognito window, and I press Alt+Tab to switch between them, I see only one Chrome icon. I have to then press down key and then right (or left) to switch to the window I want.

How can I separate all opened windows and just press Tab  again while pressing Alt  key, like we used to in earlier versions of Ubuntu?

Go to Settings > Devices > Keyboard and scroll down the list of shortcuts. Alt+Tab will be the shortcut for Switch Applications.

What you want is to set Alt+Tab  on Switch Windows instead, so click Switch Applications and press backspace to clear the shortcut for it. Click set. Then click Switch Windows and set Alt+Tab there instead. This will give you the desired function.

Install the gnome shell extension AlternateTab


Firefox updated preferences & addons without asking? I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 and Firefox 46.0.1.

FF (Firefox) was completely closed. Then I opened it and suddenly:

Several (about 5) tabs were automatically opened which were related to my addons.
The configurations for NoScript addon were reset.
The help pages of Firefox/Mozilla website were aligned RTL (my language is also RTL), though I'm used to read it LTR (English).
Also, the default homepage of FF was changed to firefox' default homepage (usually happens only after installation - which is a "google site" with firefox theme )

On the one hand it seems normal I guess.. On the other hand I'm not used to this behavior.
How do I tell whether this is legit? (it happened about half an hour ago)

Ubuntu didn't update anything since 2 June.

Those multiple tabs are the Firefox add-ons telling you they've updated themselves, and you can disable that behavior in Firefox.  On the menu bar at the top of the Ubuntu screen, go to Tools -> Addons, click on Extensions, then use the Options or Preferences button for each add-on you have installed.

The changed home page is Firefox updating itself.  You can reset that to what you want under Edit -> Preferences.  (It annoys me that this isn't under Tools -> Options as it is in Windows Firefox, but that's a Firefox issue, not an Ubuntu issue.)


Disable icons on desktop Ubuntu 14.04 I am trying to figure out how to disable desktop icons in Ubuntu 14.04. I found option show-desktop-icons in dconf editor under org.gnome.desktop.background. Unfortunately this disables also custom background and also makes unity really laggy and unusable.

Any other suggestions?

7.2.0+14.04.20140416-0ubuntu1 has it already fixed


What is DISK=/dev/sdX? I am following this link
 to create a bootable SD card.  I am stuck at mkfs.ext4 <= 1.42.

for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0

The terminal complains that no 'for' command is found.  I suppose I should leave 'for' out?  Next:

for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mount ${DISK}1 /media/rootfs/

The terminal throws this error:

mke2fs 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
The file /dev/sdX1 does not exist and no size was specified.

What am I doing wrong?  Also, how can I have mke2fs updated to mke2fs 1.43-WIP (15-Mar-2016)?  Thanks.

The lines "for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0" and "for: DISK=/dev/sdX" are for your eyes only, not command lines. "for:"only points to the following instructions in the tutorial, which are command lines and should be run.

The following command lines set the environment variable DISK

for a card connected via a PCI card reader

DISK=/dev/mmcblk0

for a card connected via a USB card reader,

DISK=/dev/sdX

In this case you should replace X with the actual drive letter (a, b, c ...), so for example /dev/sdb, that you can identify with the commands

sudo lsblk --fs     # Output info about filesystems
sudo lsblk --perms  # Output info about device owner, group and mode
sudo parted -ls     # --list: lists partition layout on all block devices; --script: never prompts for user intervention

In general, you can use the commands above to find out how the card is connected and identified.

This environment variable is used in the next command in the tutorial as ${DISK}, for example (depending on the version of mkfs.ext4),

when connected via PCI

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs -O ^metadata_csum,^64bit ${DISK}p1

or when connected via USB

sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs -O ^metadata_csum,^64bit ${DISK}1

${DISK}p1 and ${DISK}1 specify the partition where you want to create an ext4 file system.

check if target really exist with fdisk or gparted

sudo fdisk -l

gparted must be installed:

sudo apt install gparted


Whatsapp Web QR code not loading on Chrome/Firefox on Ubuntu 14.04 I am trying to use the service https://web.whatsapp.com/ on Chrome/Firefox on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Dual boot Windows 8.1). But the QR code that needs to be scanned by the Whatsapp mobile app is not loading. QR code loads perfectly fine on Chrome on Windows 8.1 and others systems having Ubuntu, without any glitch.

I have tried re-installing both Chrome and Firefox from scratch, and both are in latest versions available.

What could be the possible reasons for this error and how can it be fixed?

Update:
This is how it looks on Chrome: http://i.imgur.com/b5lI1WU.png
Chrome Version 41.0.2272.76 (64-bit):
Firefox 36.0
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit

If you are behind a proxy, it helps to remove the socks proxy configuration.

To do this in Ubuntu 16.04 (and if I remember correctly is exactly the same in Ubuntu 14.04), just go to "System Settings" -> "Network" -> "Proxy", and delete (left in blank) the socks server line and left port in 0.

You don't need to apply this -system wide-, just in the user you want to authenticate in Whatsapp Web.

Once you are done with Whatsapp Web Authentication, you can restore your previous socks proxy settings.

Use incognito mode, it has worked for me


How to prevent screensaver from locking the screen in Unity Just upgraded to 11.10 and there is one pretty annoying thing: whenever Unity decides that my laptop was idle for too long, the screen goes black and -- the most annoying part -- locks up.

Thus, two questions: how do I configure this "idle" period and how do I prevent the screen from locking up in this case?

Thank you.

The easiest way to do this is open up the System Settings,  Dash -> System Settings  and select your screen.

You should be prompted with the following screen options;

You simply need to choose a setting that suits your needs - if you do not want the screen to turn off simply select 'Never'

You can also choose whether you want to 'Lock' the screen as well. Once done choose 'All Settings' and then close - you may have to log out and back in again for the changes to take effect.

Update

For 12.04 this setting screen has been renamed to Brightness and Lock - see below;

Similar results can be achieved by going to the top of the screen, then select System -> Preferences -> Screen saver.

I did this on my  Ubuntu 10.04 system


Different behavior of unset vs. empty LESS environment variable? I wanted to change the default behavior of the less command, so I added the following to ~/.profile:

LESS="$LESS -x4"
export LESS

However, the mere presence of a set LESS environment variable seems to change the behavior of the less command, since this now causes git diff to show me raw escape sequences.

More generally, the output of

LESS='' git diff

and

unset LESS; git diff

differs. What is the difference between having LESS unset and LESS set to an empty value (besides the former apparently implying -R)?

This has nothing to do with less, and everything to do with git. Quoting from the git-config(1) manpage (emphasis mine):

  When the LESS environment variable is unset, Git sets it to FRX (if LESS environment variable is set, Git does not change it at all).

The R option of less is that which controls whether it interprets colors escapes and such, and which is NOT on by default, but is only set by git if the LESS environment variable was unset.

$LESS is an environment variable used by less. From man less:

Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS".  For example, to avoid typing
   "less -options ..." each time less is invoked, you might tell csh:

   setenv LESS "-options"

   or if you use sh:

   LESS="-options"; export LESS

You should use some other environment variable name.


Is Ubuntu MAAS free? Ubuntu MAAS, very cool, awesome in fact, looks like a unique tool for several jobs.

It looks free, but part of its documentation starts already with clauses that would scare anyone with interest in it:

Documentation is copy righted by Canonical;
Documentation must be used only for non-commercial purposes;
If documentation is distributed within the non-commercial clause you must retain copyright;

It just sounds a lot for a guide on how to install MAAS + Juju + Openstack and that scares me a bit.  Why does documentation built from the community prevent me from doing anything except look at it? We produce a guide, but I cannot take it to work and look at it or show it as a possible tool that my company would be interested in using or contributing to?

My question is then: Under what license is Ubuntu MAAS distributed and what would be the reasoning for being so worried about copyrighting a simple guide like that so heavily? Is Ubuntu MAAS free?

I suspect they're just trying to stop people nicking portions of the documentation for their own nefarious purposes but no, by all measures that matter to people like us, that document is not free.

But the MAAS packages in the main repos all use the AGPL3 license:

MAAS is Copyright 2012 Canonical Ltd.

Canonical Ltd ("Canonical") distributes the MAAS source code
under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 ("AGPLv3").
The full text of this licence is given below.

Third-party copyright in this distribution is noted where applicable.

All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

AGPL3 is a pretty strange license if you haven't seen it before. It's just like GPL3 except for an additional clause, paraphrased on the "Why AGPL?" GNU page:

  if you run the program on a server and let other users communicate with it there, your server must also allow them to download the source code corresponding to the program that it's running. If what's running there is your modified version of the program, the server's users must get the source code as you modified it.

It's undoubtedly free but while most free software licenses let you keep website modifications to yourself, this requires you make them available. That could be important. It might be too free for your purposes. It's an interesting license.

Will it always be free? Probably. Standard open-source logic applies here:

If they own the code, they could release future versions as non-free, for-money (or otherwise) releases and stop releasing under AGPL.
But Canonical can't stop people redistributing the current version.
And they couldn't stop somebody continuing development and/or redistributing a fork of the current version (provided it uses another name).

Like a lot of project starters, Canonical gets extended permissions from contributors to its projects. I can't remember what the current name for this copyright agreement but it would make it extremely easy for Canonical to release closed-source versions of its products... But again, they can't stop the current versions from being [A]GPL.

You have to understand that Canonical makes a living by supporting (for money) software which is free (to distribute). This document is relevant to support MAAS, which is free. So, to address your 3 points:

Canonical copyright license - that's automatic anyway, as they wrote it.
Non-commercial use - don't compete with Canonical using Canonical resources
Retain copyright clause - fairly obvious, you can't just strip legal conditions.