Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

Andrei POPESCU  writes:

>> During the boot process, the system detects everything. So there must be
>> something in the init sequence that I can trigger manually.
>
> You can try to unload and reload the corresponding kernel module. Check 
> the output of
>
> lsmod | grep snd
>
> (it's probably snd-usb-audio)
>
> If it works it might be possible to add the module to some list so that 
> it is removed on suspend and loaded on resume.

Thanks Andrei.

"lsmod|grep snd" results in,

--8<---cut here---start->8---
pankaj@anant:~$ sudo lsmod |grep snd
snd_usb_audio 315392  3
snd_usbmidi_lib40960  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi45056  1 snd_usbmidi_lib
snd_seq_device 16384  1 snd_rawmidi
mc 61440  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 73728  2
snd_hda_intel  57344  3
snd_intel_dspcfg   28672  1 snd_hda_intel
soundwire_intel45056  1 snd_intel_dspcfg
snd_soc_core  315392  1 soundwire_intel
snd_compress   32768  1 snd_soc_core
snd_hda_codec 172032  2 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_core  110592  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_hwdep  16384  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm   135168  8 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_hda_core
snd_timer  49152  1 snd_pcm
snd   110592  24 
snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_timer,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi
soundcore  16384  1 snd
usbcore   323584  6 
xhci_hcd,snd_usb_audio,usbhid,snd_usbmidi_lib,btusb,xhci_pci
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

when I say "modprobe -r snd_usb_audio". It says "Module snd_usb_audio is
in use". I tried with "-f" option as well. Still cannot unload. Then I
tried to it again after "alsactl kill quit"; but still cannot unload.

Also "alsactl init" is producing some errors also. I shared in my
previous email. Copying here again for the context.

--8<---cut here---start->8---
pankaj@anant:~$ sudo alsactl init
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HDA 
ATI HDMI at 0xfca6 irq 102)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "ATI R6xx HDMI" "HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100700" 
"0x1462" "0xaaf0"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HDA 
ATI HDMI at 0xfce6 irq 120)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:1 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "ATI R6xx HDMI" "HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100700" 
"0x1462" "0xaaf0"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model 
(HD-Audio Generic at 0xfcd0 irq 122)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:2 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "" "" "0x1462" "0xed54"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:3 use 
case configuration -2
Found hardware: "USB-Audio" "USB Mixer" "USB046d:0ab7" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:4 use 
case configuration -2
Found hardware: "USB-Audio" "USB Mixer" "USB0db0:a073" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

What other options may I try?


Regards ~Pankaj

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Du, 30 ian 22, 11:02:34, Pankaj Jangid wrote:
> Jude DaShiell  writes:
> 
> > alsactl --init
> > may help.
> > However alsa makes .lock files in /var/lock/alsa and you may find it
> > helpful to delete the lock file first then once card is set run alsactl
> > store.  Those lock files sometimes prevent alsa from doing a proper
> > detection and change.
> >
> Thanks Jude, for the reply.
> 
> On my installation there is no ‘--init’ option. But it has ‘init’
> command. I just tried that ‘alsactl init’. And there is no
> ‘/var/lock/alsa’ directory. But there is
> ‘/var/lock/asound.state.lock’. I removed this and tried with ‘alsactl
> init’ again. But no positive results in both cases.
> 
> During the boot process, the system detects everything. So there must be
> something in the init sequence that I can trigger manually.

You can try to unload and reload the corresponding kernel module. Check 
the output of

lsmod | grep snd

(it's probably snd-usb-audio)

If it works it might be possible to add the module to some list so that 
it is removed on suspend and loaded on resume.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

Pankaj Jangid  writes:

> Jude DaShiell  writes:
>
>> alsactl init I think will find everything.
>>
>
> Then there is something else that is not letting "alsactl init" to
> function properly; lock file as you suggested. But I couldn’t find
> anything other than "/var/lock/asound.state.lock".

I should have attached this before as well. The "alsactl init" command
is producing error messages as well. See this,

--8<---cut here---start->8---
pankaj@anant:~$ sudo alsactl init
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HDA 
ATI HDMI at 0xfca6 irq 102)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:0 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "ATI R6xx HDMI" "HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100700" 
"0x1462" "0xaaf0"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model (HDA 
ATI HDMI at 0xfce6 irq 120)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:1 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "ATI R6xx HDMI" "HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100700" 
"0x1462" "0xaaf0"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib parser.c:260:(error_node) UCM is not supported for this HDA model 
(HD-Audio Generic at 0xfcd0 irq 122)
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:2 use 
case configuration -6
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "" "" "0x1462" "0xed54"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:3 use 
case configuration -2
Found hardware: "USB-Audio" "USB Mixer" "USB046d:0ab7" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
alsa-lib main.c:1014:(snd_use_case_mgr_open) error: failed to import hw:4 use 
case configuration -2
Found hardware: "USB-Audio" "USB Mixer" "USB0db0:a073" "" ""
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

Re: SD Memory Card (was The Raspberry Pi that Took a Day Off.)

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Sb, 29 ian 22, 16:39:31, Martin McCormick wrote:
> 
>   Many of the raspbian distributions have a #1 partition
> that is a small fat32 lba partition for Windows users to be able
> to activate debian from Windows.  Is this even necessary once one
> is using unix tools on the disk?

At least for the first Raspberry Pi that partition contains the firmware 
necessary to boot and it has to be FAT because this is what the 
processor understands.

It's probably the same also with newer Raspberry Pi devices.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: Debian 11 couldn't determine device type, assuming default (plain)

[David Christensen]

On 1/29/22 22:15, David Christensen wrote:

debian-user:

I have:

2022-01-29 22:09:45 dpchrist@laalaa ~
$ cat /etc/debian_version ; uname -a
11.2
Linux laalaa 5.10.0-11-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.92-1 (2022-01-18) x86_64 
GNU/Linux



It has encrypted swap (and root), created by the Debian installer.

2022-01-29 22:14:17 dpchrist@laalaa ~
$ grep sdb2 /etc/crypttab
sdb2_crypt /dev/disk/by-partuuid/544032f5-02 /dev/urandom 
cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,swap,discard



When I boot and enter the root passphrase, I see the following warning 
anywhere from two to a dozen or more times:


cryptsetup: WARNING: sdb2_crypt: couldn't determine device type, 
assuming default (plain)



What is causing the warning?


How do I fix whatever is causing problem(s), so that no warning is 
displayed?



David



This appears to be the result of the Debian installer assuming that 
everyone uses suspend/ resume and the suspend image is stored in the 
swap partition.



One work-around is to edit /etc/default/grub to disable resume:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="noresume"


It also appears that the GRUB settings are stored in two or more places 
-- text configuration files and binary files -- and the binary files 
must be rebuilt whenever the setting change:


# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-11-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-11-amd64
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-10-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-10-amd64
done


David

Debian 11 couldn't determine device type, assuming default (plain)

[David Christensen]

debian-user:

I have:

2022-01-29 22:09:45 dpchrist@laalaa ~
$ cat /etc/debian_version ; uname -a
11.2
Linux laalaa 5.10.0-11-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.92-1 (2022-01-18) x86_64 
GNU/Linux



It has encrypted swap (and root), created by the Debian installer.

2022-01-29 22:14:17 dpchrist@laalaa ~
$ grep sdb2 /etc/crypttab
sdb2_crypt /dev/disk/by-partuuid/544032f5-02 /dev/urandom 
cipher=aes-xts-plain64,size=256,swap,discard



When I boot and enter the root passphrase, I see the following warning 
anywhere from two to a dozen or more times:


cryptsetup: WARNING: sdb2_crypt: couldn't determine device type, 
assuming default (plain)



What is causing the warning?


How do I fix whatever is causing problem(s), so that no warning is 
displayed?



David

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

Jude DaShiell  writes:

> alsactl init I think will find everything.
>

Then there is something else that is not letting "alsactl init" to
function properly; lock file as you suggested. But I couldn’t find
anything other than "/var/lock/asound.state.lock".

Re: Search results for linux-image and kernel-image via apt and packages.debian.org conflicts

[Pankaj Jangid]

David Wright  writes:

> On Sun 30 Jan 2022 at 09:29:29 (+0530), Pankaj Jangid wrote:
>> When I search via apt i.e. ‘apt search linux-image’ gives results:
>> 
>> --8<---cut here---start->8---
>> Sorting...
>> Full Text Search...
>> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-amd64
>> 
>> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64
>> 
>> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-rt-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-rt-amd64
>> 
>> linux-headers-5.10.0-11-amd64/stable-security,now 5.10.92-1 amd64 
>> [installed,automatic]
>>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-11-amd64
>> ...
>> --8<---cut here---end--->8---
>
> … and all these packages are for /only/ your amd64 architecture.
> There are about 55 packages in all.
>
>> But on ‘packages.debian.org’ search for ‘linux-image’ in stable gives
>> zero result.
>
> Because there are too many to display (perhaps > ~100).
> It says: "Your keyword was too generic.
> Please consider using a longer keyword or more keywords."
> So changing your search to   linux-image-5.10.0   gives 51 matches,
> and   linux-image-5.10.0 amd64   cuts it down to 18.
>
>> But search for ‘kernel-image’ shows results on the website.
>
> Sure, but they all end in -di, which stands for debian-installer,
> and if you click through to one of them, you'll see it's going
> to download a .udeb file, not a .deb package.
>
> You can't install them, which is why there are no results given by:
>> But ‘apt search kernel-image’ shows zero results on CLI.
>

Thanks David. Crystal clear now.

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Jude DaShiell]

alsactl init I think will find everything.


On Sun, 30 Jan 2022, Pankaj Jangid wrote:

> Jude DaShiell  writes:
>
> > alsactl --init
> > may help.
> > However alsa makes .lock files in /var/lock/alsa and you may find it
> > helpful to delete the lock file first then once card is set run alsactl
> > store.  Those lock files sometimes prevent alsa from doing a proper
> > detection and change.
> >
> Thanks Jude, for the reply.
>
> On my installation there is no ?--init? option. But it has ?init?
> command. I just tried that ?alsactl init?. And there is no
> ?/var/lock/alsa? directory. But there is
> ?/var/lock/asound.state.lock?. I removed this and tried with ?alsactl
> init? again. But no positive results in both cases.
>
> During the boot process, the system detects everything. So there must be
> something in the init sequence that I can trigger manually.
>
> Regards ~Pankaj
>
>

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

Jude DaShiell  writes:

> alsactl --init
> may help.
> However alsa makes .lock files in /var/lock/alsa and you may find it
> helpful to delete the lock file first then once card is set run alsactl
> store.  Those lock files sometimes prevent alsa from doing a proper
> detection and change.
>
Thanks Jude, for the reply.

On my installation there is no ‘--init’ option. But it has ‘init’
command. I just tried that ‘alsactl init’. And there is no
‘/var/lock/alsa’ directory. But there is
‘/var/lock/asound.state.lock’. I removed this and tried with ‘alsactl
init’ again. But no positive results in both cases.

During the boot process, the system detects everything. So there must be
something in the init sequence that I can trigger manually.

Regards ~Pankaj

Re: Search results for linux-image and kernel-image via apt and packages.debian.org conflicts

[David Wright]

On Sun 30 Jan 2022 at 09:29:29 (+0530), Pankaj Jangid wrote:
> When I search via apt i.e. ‘apt search linux-image’ gives results:
> 
> --8<---cut here---start->8---
> Sorting...
> Full Text Search...
> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-amd64
> 
> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64
> 
> linux-headers-5.10.0-10-rt-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-rt-amd64
> 
> linux-headers-5.10.0-11-amd64/stable-security,now 5.10.92-1 amd64 
> [installed,automatic]
>   Header files for Linux 5.10.0-11-amd64
> ...
> --8<---cut here---end--->8---

… and all these packages are for /only/ your amd64 architecture.
There are about 55 packages in all.

> But on ‘packages.debian.org’ search for ‘linux-image’ in stable gives
> zero result.

Because there are too many to display (perhaps > ~100).
It says: "Your keyword was too generic.
Please consider using a longer keyword or more keywords."
So changing your search to   linux-image-5.10.0   gives 51 matches,
and   linux-image-5.10.0 amd64   cuts it down to 18.

> But search for ‘kernel-image’ shows results on the website.

Sure, but they all end in -di, which stands for debian-installer,
and if you click through to one of them, you'll see it's going
to download a .udeb file, not a .deb package.

You can't install them, which is why there are no results given by:
> But ‘apt search kernel-image’ shows zero results on CLI.

Cheers,
David.

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Jude DaShiell]

alsactl --init
may help.
However alsa makes .lock files in /var/lock/alsa and you may find it
helpful to delete the lock file first then once card is set run alsactl
store.  Those lock files sometimes prevent alsa from doing a proper
detection and change.


On Sun, 30 Jan 2022, Pankaj Jangid wrote:

> "Andrew M.A. Cater"  writes:
>
> >> Pankaj Jangid  writes:
> >>
> >> > When I boot system afresh, the card is visible in the ?alsamixer? and in
> >> > Gnome settings as well. Shown as ?Blue? S/PDIF input and output
> >> > devices. But when system wakes up from sleep (suspended), it doesn?t
> >> > show the devices.
> >> >
> > It might be nothing more than the power handling, sleep modes and USB
> > enumeration after a laptop goes to sleep.
> >
> > If you unplug/replug the USB plug which is the external sound card, is
> > it magically recognised again?
>
> Thanks Andy, for the reply. I really appreciate this gesture.
>
> And I am sorry I wasn?t complete in the original email. I had tried to
> unplug and replug. But that also doesn?t list the device in ?alsamixer?
> and hence doesn?t work after a suspend/wakeup operation.
>
> Is there a way to force the scan of USB sound devices manually if that
> is not happening automatically? As I had posted earlier that ?lsusb? and
> ?cat /proc/asound/cards? do list the device. It is just that ALSA is not
> seeing it.
>
>
> Regards ~Pankaj
>
>

Search results for linux-image and kernel-image via apt and packages.debian.org conflicts

[Pankaj Jangid]

When I search via apt i.e. ‘apt search linux-image’ gives results:

--8<---cut here---start->8---
Sorting...
Full Text Search...
linux-headers-5.10.0-10-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
  Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-amd64

linux-headers-5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
  Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-cloud-amd64

linux-headers-5.10.0-10-rt-amd64/stable 5.10.84-1 amd64
  Header files for Linux 5.10.0-10-rt-amd64

linux-headers-5.10.0-11-amd64/stable-security,now 5.10.92-1 amd64 
[installed,automatic]
  Header files for Linux 5.10.0-11-amd64
...
--8<---cut here---end--->8---

But on ‘packages.debian.org’ search for ‘linux-image’ in stable gives
zero result. But search for ‘kernel-image’ shows results on the
website. But ‘apt search kernel-image’ shows zero results on CLI.

I am using ‘stable’ i.e. Debian 11.

Regards ~Pankaj

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

"Andrew M.A. Cater"  writes:

>> Pankaj Jangid  writes:
>> 
>> > When I boot system afresh, the card is visible in the ‘alsamixer’ and in
>> > Gnome settings as well. Shown as “Blue” S/PDIF input and output
>> > devices. But when system wakes up from sleep (suspended), it doesn’t
>> > show the devices.
>> >
> It might be nothing more than the power handling, sleep modes and USB 
> enumeration after a laptop goes to sleep.
>
> If you unplug/replug the USB plug which is the external sound card, is
> it magically recognised again?

Thanks Andy, for the reply. I really appreciate this gesture.

And I am sorry I wasn’t complete in the original email. I had tried to
unplug and replug. But that also doesn’t list the device in ‘alsamixer’
and hence doesn’t work after a suspend/wakeup operation.

Is there a way to force the scan of USB sound devices manually if that
is not happening automatically? As I had posted earlier that ‘lsusb’ and
‘cat /proc/asound/cards’ do list the device. It is just that ALSA is not
seeing it.


Regards ~Pankaj

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> Seems the Starlink router has a web interface:

I know that.  It evidently does not do everything the app does.


-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Ash Joubert]

On 30/01/2022 11:39, Bijan Soleymani wrote:
I think the reason it is signed by Google is that the app uses Play app 
signing, where google signs the app on their servers on your behalf. 
That way if you lose your private key, you can change it on your end, 
without breaking app upgrades.


Play App Signing does have this benefit for app developers, but its main 
purpose is to deliver app downloads optimised for the user's device and 
therefore smaller. For example, if you are using an arm64-a8v device, 
Play Store will deliver a package with only native libraries for your 
arm64-a8v device. In comparison, old-style packages would typically 
include both armeabi-v7a and arm64-a8v native libraries, and some even 
x86 or x86_64 native libraries. Downloads can also be optimised for 
screen resolution and language.


Kind regards,

--
Ash Joubert 
Director
Transient Software Limited 
New Zealand

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

I downloaded it from apkmirror.com and got the same numbers you did
plus "Verified using v4 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v4): false",
"Verified for SourceStamp: true", some "Source Stamp Signer" results,
and the same META-INF warnings.

Looks ok, I guess.
-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

anyone use mblaze mail utils here?

[songbird]

  i'm not sure why my magrep expression used in the following 
does not always move every message with the ?

  any ideas?  yes, i've read the man pages and perhaps don't
understand them completely, but someone else's eyeballs can
probably see what i can't here.  :)

[if you use -k option on mrefile it will not remove the 
messages it has moved which is fine but after testing i do 
want it to move the messages so i take that back out]

$ mlist . | magrep *: | mthread -v | mrefile ../../newpatdir

  mblaze has been great for what i've used it for already 
(getting messages out of evolution folders into something else 
so that mutt can look at them).  just trying to understand this 
hiccup.

  thanks!  :)


  songbird

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 13:29, John Hasler wrote:

Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
emulator?  My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
convenient to be able to run the Starlink app.  However, I do not have
either an IOS or an Android device.


Just to go in another direction and answer the original question:

1. Seems the Starlink router has a web interface:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/of6wab/what_if_you_dont_have_a_cell_phone/

2. You can get an android phone tablet that can run the app between $45 
and $100 (and that's new, you can probably get a used one for 
practically free). Given that I think the Starlink terminal costs $499 
and the service is $99 a month, that may be a better way to go.


Bijan

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 17:57, Bijan Soleymani wrote:
     Now, find the .obb file (usually named as “com.x.obb”) 
within the file and copy it into the location: 
/sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/.
     Lastly, install the .apk file. Within a few minutes, you would 
be able to run the file successfully


Just a small correction, I believe in this case you would need to copy 
the sub apks:

config.*.apk

into:
/sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/com.starlink.mobile/

Then install:
com.starlink.mobile.apk

from the android emulator file manager.

(Adapter from 
https://techbeasts.com/how-to-manually-install-xapk-files-on-android/ )


Bijan

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 17:38, John Hasler wrote:

Bijan writes:

I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know
the original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app
publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify
the signature is from the publisher, etc.


Apkpure says that apps downloaded from their site only work with their
app.  That's right out so I'll have to figure out something else.  At
least I now know how to run the thing under Debian if I can get a copy.
There may also be a way to get by without it.

Thanks.


First their xapk file contains the original app apk (as well the 
original sub apks required by that apk).


Second you can install without any app:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-install-Xapk-files-on-an-Android

"
Method 2: Download .XAPK file using File Manager:

Download the .XAPK file on your Android device.
Open file manager and discover the .XAPK file. Rename the 
extension to .zip format.

Extract the .zip file.
Now, find the .obb file (usually named as “com.x.obb”) 
within the file and copy it into the location: 
/sdcard/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/.
Lastly, install the .apk file. Within a few minutes, you would 
be able to run the file successfully

"

Bijan

Re: SD Memory Card (was The Raspberry Pi that Took a Day Off.)

[Martin McCormick]

There's always one more question that nobody mentions and none of
the articles one finds on the topic don't touch.  When looking at
the man page for resize2fs in debian, it talks about the -b
option to turn on "the 64 bit feature."
__

   When shrinking the size of the partition, make  sure
   you do not make it smaller than the new size of the ext2 filesystem!

   The  -b  and  -s  options enable and disable the 64bit feature, respect-
   tively.  The resize2fs program will, of course, take care  of  resizing
   the  block  group  descriptors  and moving other data blocks out of the
   way, as needed.  It is not possible to resize the filesystem concurrent
   with changing the 64bit status.
__

Do I need this since the Pi runs an ARM processor which
would make the command

   #sudo resize2fs -b /dev/loop0p2 6.3g

or is it the same command without the -b flag?

I have determined that the 28.9 gb SSD card is 10% full
with the debian installation and the files I want in my login
directory.  I found a 7.3 gb SSD card that has probably never
been used that came with the first Raspberry Pi I bought around
2012 or so, going for a 32-gb card instead.  If I shrink the
Linux partition to 6.3 gb which is what the small card had
available, I should have it about 40 or 50% full.  I can then
safely dd it on to a larger card any time I want to do so and
then use resize2fs to expand the Linux partition after it is
installed.

What I did so far was to mount the 27-gb partition on
/mnt through /dev/loop0 and edit /mnt/etc/hostname to reflect the
host name for the system being rebuilt.  The edit changes the
image which is really neat.  All that is left is to shrink it
down to 6.3 gb and it should be ready to dd on to the 7.3 gb card
which should be bootable on it's own but which I will use to seed
a new 28-gb system that can be customized after it is running.

Many of the raspbian distributions have a #1 partition
that is a small fat32 lba partition for Windows users to be able
to activate debian from Windows.  Is this even necessary once one
is using unix tools on the disk?

Thanks to all the good advice from everyone.  I am seeing
the end of this project and have learned some new  useful tricks
that are good to know.

Martin

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 17:25, Bijan Soleymani wrote:

On 2022-01-29 15:38, John Hasler wrote:

Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately.  Are
they reliable?


I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know the 
original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app 
publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify 
the signature is from the publisher, etc.




Just as a follow up, I downloaded the Starlink xapk file from apkpure, 
unzipped it and ran:

apksigner verify --verbose --print-certs "com.starlink.mobile.apk"

This gives:
Verifies
Verified using v1 scheme (JAR signing): true
Verified using v2 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v2): true
Verified using v3 scheme (APK Signature Scheme v3): true
Number of signers: 1
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=Android, OU=Android, O=Google Inc., 
L=Mountain View, ST=California, C=US
Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: 
cdfba780576f7a4800e2a609726f83f053b51bae6a239003abc16b7f75e9f588

Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: c2b34a5ac1267e5d377eef89d0eb96fcddc1c9f1
Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: eb2004799f4685bb04e49de3d8ed3f39
Signer #1 key algorithm: RSA
Signer #1 key size (bits): 4096
Signer #1 public key SHA-256 digest: 
a5fd4be5d047beae966c4a68cfa06951a8700e610d84f28b68ab1620a7eca434

Signer #1 public key SHA-1 digest: 324a6a9aa7e418d33bd98a0f81a0ae946d0dde71
Signer #1 public key MD5 digest: a30fdb38ff1050c59800bf83a94a4eb5

With a few files in the META-INF directory not being signed or not 
verifying.


I think the reason it is signed by Google is that the app uses Play app 
signing, where google signs the app on their servers on your behalf. 
That way if you lose your private key, you can change it on your end, 
without breaking app upgrades.


Also the main 64 bit binary apk:
config.arm64_v8a.apk checks out as does the English language config: 
config.en.apk


The only files that won't be signed will be those files from the 
META-INF directory as well as the manifest.json from the top level xapk 
file.


Bijan

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

Bijan writes:
> I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know
> the original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app
> publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify
> the signature is from the publisher, etc.

Apkpure says that apps downloaded from their site only work with their
app.  That's right out so I'll have to figure out something else.  At
least I now know how to run the thing under Debian if I can get a copy.
There may also be a way to get by without it.

Thanks.
-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Bijan Soleymani]

On 2022-01-29 15:38, John Hasler wrote:

local10 writes:

First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.


Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately.  Are
they reliable?


I don't know if they modify the apks they host but as far as I know the 
original apk (from the play store) will be signed by the app 
publisher/writer. So if they haven't removed that you can just verify 
the signature is from the publisher, etc.


Bijan

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

I never intend to install any app other than the Starlink one.  I'm
willing to trust it as long as what I get is in fact exactly what SpaceX
distributes: if they are going to spy on me they will have better
opportunities than that.  I guess I'm asking if Apkpure can be trusted
to send me exactly what I would have gotten from directly from Google.

I'll be running it in anbox or similar as I don't have and don't want an
Android "device".
-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: Android apps on Debian

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 21:33 by loca...@tutanota.com:

> apkpure has been around for several years, draw any conclusion you want from 
> that. Google Play also isn't particularly reliable, they've hosted and 
> continue to host plenty of mal/spy/crap/ad/-ware aps, so just because an app 
> is hosted on google play doesn't guarantee that it's safe.
>
> I've downloaded a few apps from apkpure and similar sites over the years and 
> so far haven't seen a negative effect. YMMV though.
>
> Check out F-droid for the apps as well: > 
> https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/
>

Also, maybe it will be worth for you to consider creating a virtual machine or 
a jail of some kind to run your Android apps.

Regards,

Re: Android apps on Debian

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 20:38 by j...@sugarbit.com:

> Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
> to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately.  Are
> they reliable?
>

apkpure has been around for several years, draw any conclusion you want from 
that. Google Play also isn't particular reliable, they've hosted and continue 
to host plenty of mal/spy/crap/ad/-ware aps, so just because an app is hosted 
on google play doesn't guarantee that it's safe.

I've downloaded a few apps from apkpure and similar sites over the years and so 
far haven't seen a negative affect. YMMV though.

Check out F-droid for the apps as well: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/

Regards,

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Sb, 29 ian 22, 14:38:50, John Hasler wrote:
> local10 writes:
> > First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
> > apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.
> 
> Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
> to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately.  Are
> they reliable?

The only source I trust is f-droid.org, but I have used apkmirror.com 
for one app that I really needed and couldn't find a FLOSS replacement 
for.

So far I didn't notice anything bad going on, but that doesn't really 
prove anything ;)

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature

Re: Changing default search engine systemwide

[didier gaumet]

Le samedi 29 janvier 2022 à 20:30:05 UTC+1, pk a écrit :
> Hello didier, 
> 
> Does the policies.json mechanism you are referring to allow users to 
> customize the search engine back to Google? 
> 
> Thanks


Sorry, I'm no admin and don't use these policies, so I don't know

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

local10 writes:
> First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from
> apkpure ( https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites.

Apkpure has the Starlink app but as I had never heard of them (No reason
to, not having an Android phone) I didn't download it immediately.  Are
they reliable?

-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: Android apps on Debian

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 19:07 by j...@sugarbit.com:

> Thank you both.  Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without opening a 
> Google
> Play account...
>

First, identify the app you want to install, then download it from apkpure ( 
https://apkpure.com/ ) or similar sites. That, of course, leads to some 
security risks so exercise due caution.

Regards,

Re: Btrfs best practices

[Jorge P . de Morais Neto]

Hello!  I think I should inform this list about my choices so far:

Em [2021-12-16 qui 14:13:05-0300], Jorge P. de Morais Neto escreveu:

> Should I use a backported kernel as Btrfs [wiki][] recommends?  I worry
> that bullseye-backports comes from Debian testing with poor security.

I'm just using bullseye's kernel (5.10 LTS).

> For lifetime and space saving, I intend to install Debian to the SSD
> with compress-force=zstd:12, but then adopt compress-force=zstd.  Thus
> the installation will be slow---I'll do something else while the
> installer works---but the installed system will be efficient, right?

I'm still using compress=zstd:12 and it's performing well.  Notice I
went from "compress-force=zstd:12" to just "compress=zstd:12".  That is
because of:

Using the forcing compression is not recommended, the heuristics are
supposed to decide that and compression algorithms internally detect
incompressible data too.[1]

Btrfs contains an internal heuristics that determines if some data
is compressible so that it doesn't try to compress data that isn't
compressible as this wastes CPU time.  The compress-force mount
option bypasses this heuristics in order to gain better compression
ratios.  A downside is that this increases fragmentation with
non-compressible files.[2]

1: https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Compression.html "Compression —
   BTRFS documentation"
2: https://wiki.tnonline.net/w/Btrfs/Compression#The_compress-force_mount_option
   "Btrfs/Compression - Forza's ramblings"

In the near future I intend to reduce this strong compression level (12)
to something more usual, in order to reduce power usage.

> Is fragmentation a concern?  Is the [Gotchas][] article accurate?

I now have little to worry about fragmentation, because:

1. I dedicated a raw partition to my qemu-KVM virtual machine, bypassing
   Btrfs.
2. I moved the caches of ungoogled-chromium, GNU IceCat, Firefox,
   Evolution and GNU Guix to the HDD, because they (especially the web
   browser caches) were writing too much temporary data to the SSD.
   Thus, if they ever become too fragmented, I can now just defrag them,
   without the danger of wearing the SSD.
3. I made a script to find heavily fragmented files (using compsize's
   output) and so far I have nothing to worry about.

> ** Subvolumes

I read https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:BTRFS and laid out subvolumes
according to this fstab excerpt:

LABEL=SSD /  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@rootfs  0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/cache btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-cache   0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/backups   btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-backups 0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/mail  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-mail0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/spool btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-spool   0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/tmp   btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-tmp 0   0
LABEL=HDD /var/log   btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@var-log 0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/lib/libvirt/images btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@libvirt-images 0 0
LABEL=HDD /var/cache/apt/archives btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@apt-archives 0 0
LABEL=HDD /root  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@~root   0   0
LABEL=SSD /home  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@home0   0
LABEL=SSD /home/cachebtrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@home-cache  0   0
LABEL=HDD /home-HDD  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@home0   0
LABEL=HDD /home-HDD/cachebtrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@home-cache  0   0
LABEL=SSD /gnu   btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@guix-store  0   0
LABEL=SSD /var/guix  btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@guix-var0   0
LABEL=SSD /usr/local btrfs 
noatime,space_cache=v2,compress=zstd:12,subvol=@usr-local   0   0

Rationale:
1. In the future I could snapshot @rootfs before certain system
   operations (say, large upgrades).  If I then rollback the system to a
   snapshot, I'll still want the latest logs, user data, cache,
   libvirt-images etc., so these should be outside the @rootfs
   subvolume.  Also, including them in snapshots would be very expensive
   because some of these directories have too much variable data.
2. If I snapshot @home (probably for backup) I don't want to snapshot
   user cache (see above).
3. Some user data should be on the HDD, such as videos, music, pictures,
   downloads etc.  They are large files that would fill the SSD; and
   their usage characteristics don't require SSD performance.
4. Also some of the user 

Re: Android apps on Debian

[Alexis Grigoriou]

On Sat, 2022-01-29 at 13:07 -0600, John Hasler wrote:
> Thank you both.  Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without
> opening a Google
> Play account...

Everything nowadays "needs" an app... I hate it.

Re: Changing default search engine systemwide

[pk]

Hello didier,

Does the policies.json mechanism you are referring to allow users to
customize the search engine back to Google?

Thanks

Re: Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

Thank you both.  Now to get a copy of the ("free") app without opening a Google
Play account...
-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: SD Memory Card (was The Raspberry Pi that Took a Day Off.)

[Gareth Evans]

> On 28 Jan 2022, at 20:40, David Wright  wrote:
> 
> On Fri 28 Jan 2022 at 18:22:37 (+), Gareth Evans wrote:
>>> On 28 Jan 2022, at 18:16, Gareth Evans  wrote:
> On 28 Jan 2022, at 16:52, David Wright  wrote:
> On Fri 28 Jan 2022 at 07:30:25 (-0600), Martin McCormick wrote:
> David Wright  writes:
>> I've not heard of that problem. You were prevented from zeroing the
>> entire device, which would have wiped the partition table anyway.
>> 
>> What I would want to check is that the OS isn't doing something
>> stupid, like trying to automount it, failing, and consequently
>> setting the device readonly. By OS, I really mean DEs, or
>> automounters in general.
>> 
>> You could also try zeroing it in another machine, ± any adapters
>> required. (Bear in mind that adapters do have readonly sliders.)
> 
>  I suspect this is the crux of the problem.  the adapter I
> connected is a card reader.  You put the SSD in a little plastic
> jacket that holds the SSD in such a way that the card reader can
> access the edge connector but the holder jacket has no electronics.
> There is a small notch in the plastic of the jacket on the left
> edge and the right front corner of the plastic carrier has a
> diagonal cut to prevent someone from putting it in upsidedown.
 
 Yes, most connectors are keyed in some way, though some are quite
 fragile, like the plastic post in PS/2 keyboards and mice.
 
>  Since I posted, there is good news but I still wonder if
> I am not going bonkers because after unplugging the Sony card reader
> and plugging it back in, I now am getting device /dev/sdg instead
> of /dev/sdh.  I was also able to do the following:
> 
>  #sudo fdisk /dev/sdg
> 
> which gave me the fdisk utility as before so I did what crazy
> people do which is to do the same thing as before, hoping for
> different results.
 
 That's why people are encourages to use [PART]UUIDs and [PART]LABELs
 instead of dynamically chosen kernel names.
 
 Pulling the card could reset a gate, or it could clean the contacts.
 Who knows. I would tend to mark down the card as suspect, and not
 use it in mission-critical ways.
 
>  By Joe, I got them.
> 
> I typed d to delete a partition and it put partition 2 up as the
> default candidate as before so I selected it and then typed d
> again which told me that only partition 1 was left so it was
> deleted.
> 
>  I had gotten this far before so wasn't too excited but type
> w and this time got the message stating that the partition table
> had been rewritten and fdisk then exited.
> 
>  Now, doing sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdg yields
> 
> 1wb5agz martin tmp $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdg
> Disk /dev/sdg: 28.8 GiB, 30908350464 bytes, 60367872 sectors
> Disk model: USB   HS-SD Card
> Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disklabel type: dos
> Disk identifier: 0x680226ff
> 
>  The partitions are gone.  My latest screwball theory is
> that the Sony card reader went in to some sort of protective mode
> after the dd operation overwrote the device.  My unplugging the
> reader and plugging it back in reran the driver which reset the
> protective mode back to normal which may be why it all worked
> right this time.
 
 Who knows.
 
>  One last question:  Since the image will still be too
> large as it is, can tunefs be run on it or a copy of it to shrink
> about 4 gb of user space?  The good system I copied the image
> from only had about 12%  of the partition used so I should be
> able to transplant it to the smaller disk if tunefs can do that
> and still leave a bootable device.
 
 I don't know what this image contains, but I'm guessing it's the
 rootfs for the Pi. My question then is how full was it. I assume
 that you don't run it to 100% usage, and even then, there are
 files you can do without, like rotated logfiles, caches etc.
 
 Two different methods:
 
 One course of action would be to copy the old to the new card, just
 as you have done, with dd running out of space. That deals with
 three things: the MBR, the partition table, and the first partition
 (whatever that it).
 
 Next, I would fdisk it, delete partition 2 and recreate it so that
 its size matches the partition table entry. Recreate a filesystem
 with mkfs.
 
 Next, I copy the entire contents of the second partition from the
 old card to the new, using   copy -a   or   rsync …   or whatever
 you're comfortable with. This assumes, I think, that you don't
 have weird things like sparse files and so on.
 
 If you run out of space, then 

Re: Android apps on Debian

[didier gaumet]

Le samedi 29 janvier 2022 à 12:29 -0600, John Hasler a écrit :
> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator?  My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app.  However, I do not
> have
> either an IOS or an Android device.

I don't use it but I know of Anbox:
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-anbox-and-run-android-apps-in-linux

Re: Android apps on Debian

[local10]

Jan 29, 2022, 18:29 by j...@sugarbit.com:

> Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
> emulator?  My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
> convenient to be able to run the Starlink app.  However, I do not have
> either an IOS or an Android device.
>

Maybe this can help you:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/run-android-apps-games-linux/

Regards,

Android apps on Debian

[John Hasler]

Is there a simple way to run Android apps under Debian such as an
emulator?  My Starlink terminal is arriving next week and it would be
convenient to be able to run the Starlink app.  However, I do not have
either an IOS or an Android device.
-- 
John Hasler 
j...@sugarbit.com
Elmwood, WI USA

Re: Changing default search engine systemwide

[didier gaumet]

Hello,

A possible way to do what you want seems to be described here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customizing-firefox-using-policiesjson
and here (look at "SearchEngines -> Default"):
https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 10:28:32PM +0530, Pankaj Jangid wrote:
> Sorry for the Wrong subject line earlier.
> 
> Pankaj Jangid  writes:
> 
> > I have setup a new system. Apart from the display related issue, that I
> > had posted in another thread, I am facing an issue related to my
> > external ‘Yeti Blue’ sound card. I use it as Mic and Monitor audio.
> >
> > pankaj@anant:~$ lsb_release -a
> > No LSB modules are available.
> > Distributor ID: Debian
> > Description:Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
> > Release:11
> > Codename:   bullseye
> > pankaj@anant:~$ uname -a
> > Linux anant 5.10.0-11-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.92-1 (2022-01-18) x86_64 
> > GNU/Linux
> >
> >
> > When I boot system afresh, the card is visible in the ‘alsamixer’ and in
> > Gnome settings as well. Shown as “Blue” S/PDIF input and output
> > devices. But when system wakes up from sleep (suspended), it doesn’t
> > show the devices.
> >
> > However, ‘lsusb’ shows it and ‘/proc/asound/cards’ has an entry. But
> > these devices (mic and speaker) are not taking any input or producing
> > sound. Because they are not visible to Gnome and ‘alsamixer’.
> >
> > pankaj@anant:~$ lsusb
> > Bus 006 Device 002: ID 2109:0813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
> > Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> > Bus 005 Device 002: ID 2109:2813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
> > Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> > Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> > Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
> > Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0db0:a073 Micro Star International USB Audio
> > Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> > Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> > Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1462:7d54 Micro Star International MYSTIC LIGHT 
> > Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
> > Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1b1c:1b75 Corsair CORSAIR HARPOON RGB PRO Gaming 
> > Mouse
> > Bus 001 Device 015: ID 8087:0032 Intel Corp. 
> > Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:0ab7 Logitech, Inc. Blue Microphones
> > Bus 001 Device 002: ID 13ba:0018 PCPlay Barcode PCP-BCG4209
> > Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> > pankaj@anant:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
> >  0 [HDMI_1 ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
> >   HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfca6 irq 102
> >  1 [HDMI   ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
> >   HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfce6 irq 104
> >  2 [Generic]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
> >   HD-Audio Generic at 0xfcd0 irq 106
> >  3 [Microphones]: USB-Audio - Blue Microphones
> >   Generic Blue Microphones at usb-:2a:00.1-2, high 
> > speed
> >  4 [Audio  ]: USB-Audio - USB Audio
> >   Generic USB Audio at usb-:2a:00.3-5, high speed
> >
> > I have tried to restart just the sound subsystem using
> > ‘/etc/init.d/asound restart’. But it did not lead to any good
> > results.
> >
> > Can somebody tell me what could be wrong at my end?
> >
> > Regards ~Pankaj


Hi Pankaj,

It might be nothing more than the power handling, sleep modes and USB 
enumeration after a laptop goes to sleep.

If you unplug/replug the USB plug which is the external sound card, is
it magically recognised again?

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater
> 

Re: USB sound device present but NOT visible in ‘alsamixer’

[Pankaj Jangid]

Sorry for the Wrong subject line earlier.

Pankaj Jangid  writes:

> I have setup a new system. Apart from the display related issue, that I
> had posted in another thread, I am facing an issue related to my
> external ‘Yeti Blue’ sound card. I use it as Mic and Monitor audio.
>
> pankaj@anant:~$ lsb_release -a
> No LSB modules are available.
> Distributor ID:   Debian
> Description:  Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
> Release:  11
> Codename: bullseye
> pankaj@anant:~$ uname -a
> Linux anant 5.10.0-11-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.92-1 (2022-01-18) x86_64 
> GNU/Linux
>
>
> When I boot system afresh, the card is visible in the ‘alsamixer’ and in
> Gnome settings as well. Shown as “Blue” S/PDIF input and output
> devices. But when system wakes up from sleep (suspended), it doesn’t
> show the devices.
>
> However, ‘lsusb’ shows it and ‘/proc/asound/cards’ has an entry. But
> these devices (mic and speaker) are not taking any input or producing
> sound. Because they are not visible to Gnome and ‘alsamixer’.
>
> pankaj@anant:~$ lsusb
> Bus 006 Device 002: ID 2109:0813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
> Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> Bus 005 Device 002: ID 2109:2813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
> Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
> Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0db0:a073 Micro Star International USB Audio
> Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
> Bus 001 Device 007: ID 1462:7d54 Micro Star International MYSTIC LIGHT 
> Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
> Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1b1c:1b75 Corsair CORSAIR HARPOON RGB PRO Gaming Mouse
> Bus 001 Device 015: ID 8087:0032 Intel Corp. 
> Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:0ab7 Logitech, Inc. Blue Microphones
> Bus 001 Device 002: ID 13ba:0018 PCPlay Barcode PCP-BCG4209
> Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> pankaj@anant:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
>  0 [HDMI_1 ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
>   HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfca6 irq 102
>  1 [HDMI   ]: HDA-Intel - HDA ATI HDMI
>   HDA ATI HDMI at 0xfce6 irq 104
>  2 [Generic]: HDA-Intel - HD-Audio Generic
>   HD-Audio Generic at 0xfcd0 irq 106
>  3 [Microphones]: USB-Audio - Blue Microphones
>   Generic Blue Microphones at usb-:2a:00.1-2, high 
> speed
>  4 [Audio  ]: USB-Audio - USB Audio
>   Generic USB Audio at usb-:2a:00.3-5, high speed
>
> I have tried to restart just the sound subsystem using
> ‘/etc/init.d/asound restart’. But it did not lead to any good
> results.
>
> Can somebody tell me what could be wrong at my end?
>
> Regards ~Pankaj

Changing default search engine systemwide

[pk]

I want to set DuckDuckGo as the default search engine for new users,
and allow each user to switch back to Google, if desired.

But .mozilla/firefox/.default-esr/prefs.js hard-codes
browser.urlbar.placeholderName to Google, so setting it in
/etc/firefox-esr/my_settings.js won't work.

The new users are created on demand (LXC), so it is not an option
to set this manually in each user's user.js or similar.

Can I customize prefs.js and where does Firefox take it from?
I cannot find it in dpkg -L firefox-esr | grep js and in
/usr/lib/firefox-esr/{,browser/}omni.ja.
Or is there another configuration file to try?

Re: Debian 11: Tuning kernel parameters swappiness and watermark_boost_factor to stop SWAP Storm

[Steven J. West]

Thanks, Nicholas :D  I mainly posted this problem with a solution here for
reference to other Debian users ;)

Yes, my processing memory requirements (typically ~30GB) are borderline to
my current physical memory limit (~32GB), and as my images sometimes are a
little bigger, this can push it into swapping, which indeed is not ideal..

I am modifying my code to batch this procedure to lower the gargantuan
memory requirements of my image registration task, but in the meantime, for
processes with large memory requirements that may occasionally need to
swap, I found this kernel tuning at least allows the process to complete.

Cheers!

Steve.


On Fri, 28 Jan 2022 at 23:56, Nicholas Geovanis 
wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Jan 28, 2022, 4:33 AM Steven J. West 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> TL;DR/summary:
>>
>>- Tuning vm.watermark_boost_factor to 0 (disable) on Debian
>>significantly improves performance on memory-intensive tasks that utilise
>>SWAP space, by stopping preemptive kswapd freeing of memory, and
>>subsequent page thrashing.
>>- I suggest that Debian should tune vm-watermark_boost_fact=0 by
>>default to prevent this problem
>>
>> I'm not a Debian maintainer, but this has got to be the best problem
> report I ever saw :-)
>
> But for years I have adopted the philosophy at home which is demanded in
> every data center I've worked in: If your Linux system is swapping, you
> have configured it wrong. In the server farms there is no swapping. You
> make sure you have enough RAM to prevent swapping. EOS.
>
>
> I have recently installed Debian 11 on a HP Z8 G4 Workstation (Z3Z16AV) -
>> 32GB RAM, installed with ~120GB SWAP on a 2TB solid state drive (specs at
>> end of this message).
>>
>> I have been running some compute-intensive image processing tasks (CPU-
>> and memory- intensive), which has on occasion had to dip into SWAP space,
>> depending on image sizes (the processing I am running is image registration
>> using elastix/transformix).
>>
>> I had benchmarked the code on my Ubuntu laptop (similar spec) without any
>> problems, but when running on Debian, whenever SWAP was needed, the system
>> processing significantly slowed down/essentially froze.
>>
>> After much debugging, I have traced this to the vm.watermark_boost_factor
>> kernel parameter:
>>
>> Comparing the Ubuntu and Debian kernel parameters using sudo sysctl -a
>> showed two key differences in virtual memory (vm) management parameters.
>>
>>- Ubuntu:
>>   - vm.swappiness=60
>>   - vm.watermark_boost_factor=0
>>   - Debian:
>>   - vm.swappiness=10
>>   - vm.watermark_boost_factor=150
>>
>>
>> I identified what these two parameters control:
>>
>>
>>- vm.swappiness : a parameter used to calculate the swap tendency (
>>https://access.redhat.com/solutions/103833)
>>- vm.watermark_boost_factor : controls the level of reclaim when
>>memory is being fragmented.. A boost factor of 0 will disable the 
>> feature. (
>>
>> https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/8.4_release_notes/kernel_parameters_changes
>>)
>>
>>
>> I changed swappiness and then watermark_boost_factor sequentially, to
>> see whether tuning these parameters to match my Ubuntu system prevented the
>> system from freezing under my memory-intensive task.
>>
>>
>>- sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=60 on my Debian system did not prevent
>>the freezing behaviour.
>>- sudo sysctl vm.watermark_boost_factor=0 (disabling it) on my Debian
>>system prevented the freezing behaviour.
>>
>>
>> I then set these permanently by adding the following to /etc/sysctl.conf
>>
>> vm.swappiness=60
>> vm.watermark_boost_factor=0
>>
>>
>> Further searching revealed this Ubuntu bug report:
>>
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1861359
>>
>> swap storms kills interactive use
>> With this key entry:
>>
>> Sultan Alsawaf (kerneltoast) wrote on 2020-03-27: #56
>>
>> This problem is caused by an upstream memory management feature called
>> watermark boosting. Normally, when a memory allocation fails and falls back
>> to the page allocator, the page allocator will wake up kswapd to free up
>> pages in order to make the memory allocation succeed. kswapd tries to free
>> memory until it reaches a minimum amount of memory for each memory zone
>> called the high watermark.
>>
>> What watermark boosting does is try to preemptively fire up kswapd to
>> free memory when there hasn't been an allocation failure. It does this by
>> increasing kswapd's high watermark goal and then firing up kswapd. The
>> reason why this causes freezes is because, with the increased high
>> watermark goal, kswapd will steal memory from processes that need it in
>> order to make forward progress. These processes will, in turn, try to
>> allocate memory again, which will cause kswapd to steal necessary pages
>> from those processes again, in a positive feedback loop known as page
>> thrashing. When page thrashing 

Re: Fwd: Debian 11: Tuning kernel parameters swappiness and watermark_boost_factor to stop SWAP Storm

[Marco Möller]

On 28.01.22 22:55, Tixy wrote:

On Fri, 2022-01-28 at 17:31 +0100, Marco Möller wrote:

On 28.01.22 11:15, Steven J. West wrote:

Comparing the Ubuntu and Debian kernel parameters using sudo sysctl
-a
showed two key differences in virtual memory (vm) management
parameters.

   * Ubuntu:
   o vm.swappiness=60
   o vm.watermark_boost_factor=0
   * Debian:
   o vm.swappiness=10
   o vm.watermark_boost_factor=150


Might this "150" be a typographical error and you wanted to write
15?
Your reference to the Red Hat documentation states 15 to be the
default in Red Hat, and in my Debian, where I have not touched this
value, it is also set to 15.


Might 15 be a typographical error too? ;-) On my machine...

# cat /proc/sys/vm/watermark_boost_factor
15000

Which matches the default in the kernel source code [1] and 'git blame'
shows that line hasn't been changed since the original commit in 2018
[2]

[1] 
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/mm/page_alloc.c?id=169387e2aa291a4e3cb856053730fe99d6cec06f#n354
[2] 
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=1c30844d2dfe272d58c8fc000960b835d13aa2ac



You are right. 15000 is the value I wanted to write. Shame on me. Sorry.
Marco

Re: Fwd: Debian 11: Tuning kernel parameters swappiness and watermark_boost_factor to stop SWAP Storm

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Vi, 28 ian 22, 10:15:58, Steven J. West wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> TL;DR/summary:
> 
>- Tuning vm.watermark_boost_factor to 0 (disable) on Debian
>significantly improves performance on memory-intensive tasks that utilise
>SWAP space, by stopping preemptive kswapd freeing of memory, and
>subsequent page thrashing.
>- I suggest that Debian should tune vm-watermark_boost_fact=0 by default
>to prevent this problem.

Hello,

This list is mostly for Debian users.

While some Debian Developers are reading and even actively engaging with 
the community (thanks!) you should probably send this either to 
debian-kernel or file it as a bug against the source package 'linux'.

(reportbug should do this by default if you point it to any linux-image 
package you have installed)

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: btfs disk compatibility between i386 and amd64

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Vi, 28 ian 22, 17:44:59, Joseph Brenner wrote:
> > Careful, unlink in the *nix world typically means delete (a file), while
> you probably meant unmount / mount.
> 
> Yes, precisely.
> 
> 
> > In general there shouldn't be a problem for newer kernels to read older
> versions of a particular file system[1], but the other way around can be
> a problem.
> 
> That's interesting in itself.  Makes some sense.
> 
> On 1/28/22, Andrei POPESCU  wrote:
> > On Mi, 26 ian 22, 17:33:04, Joseph Brenner wrote:
> >> I was wondering if the on-disk data format for btrfs is
> >> compatible between the i386 and amd64 code bases--
> >> e.g. would you expect to be able to swap data drives
> >> between machines running either?
> >
> > In general yes.
> >
> >> I've got an old i386 installation with /home in it's
> >> own partition, and I'm wondering if I can expect to just
> >> unlink /home and install a new amd64 version, and then link
> >> in the home parition again.

Later I realised my answer doesn't directly address your query regarding 
i386 (32 bits) -> amd64 (64 bits).

In general I would expect a 64 bit kernel (could also be arm64) to be 
able to deal with a file system created by a 32 bit kernel. In case 
there are any limitations they are likely to appear the other way 
around, e.g. a file system created on a 64 bit system *might* have some 
internals that can't be dealt with by a 32 bit kernel. Again, such 
limitations should be thoroughly documented.

In any case, just trying to mount the file system (read-only if you want 
to be extra careful) with an eye on 'dmesg -w' should be enough. If 
there are problems the kernel should simply refuse to mount it.

As with anything dealing with possibly irreplaceable data, you should 
have good backups. Could you recover your data if you format and 
overwrite the partition by mistake?

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: (deb-cat) Hemeroteca de la llista al Google

[Narcis Garcia]

El 28/1/22 a les 21:27, Alex Muntada ha escrit:

Hola, Narcis:


«coherent» i «no pugui» són ben diferents.


D'acord en què són diferents. Coherent amb què exactament?


Em pensava que no hauria d'explicar això. He trobat aquest enllaç:
https://www.debian.org/social_contract.ca.html


«necessari» també, tenint en compte que a Debian hi ha
pipermail, hyperkitty i altres.


Què és necessari ho decideix la gent que manté cada servei
(si més no és com funcionen les coses a Debian).


No hi ha programari lliure per a fer aquestes còpies?


No sé com es fan les còpies (segurament amb ftpsync, com la resta
de miralls) ni quines eines utilitza fastly per la seva CDN però
donen suport al programari lliure, tot i ser una empresa amb
interessos comercials:

https://www.fastly.com/open-source/

Hi ha una pila d'empreses més (com ara Google) que patrocinen
Debian de formes diverses. Algunes d'elles estan llistades aquí:

https://www.debian.org/partners/


«preferiria» i «no pugui» són ben diferents.


No tinc clar on vols arribar amb això, sincerament.

Salut,
Alex

--
   ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
   ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁   Alex Muntada 
   ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋   Debian Developer  log.alexm.org
   ⠈⠳⣄



--


__
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