Re: OT: Music player with substantial speakers than can play things like mp3, wav files from an SD card or USB pendrive

[Dominic Knight]

On Thu, 2021-06-17 at 19:50 -0400, rhkra...@gmail.com wrote:
> I'd like to find a fairly large (I mean not a tiny hand held thing
> that uses
> batteries and has tiny controls) music player that can play things
> like mp3,
> wav and other music files from either an SD card or a USB pendrive.
>
> I'd prefer to be able to plug it in to a 120vac power source (ie.,
> not use
> batteries) and have at least one of:
>
>    * fairly large speakers for good sound
>    * output jack for headphones
>    * outputs that can connect to a "standard" audio amplifier /
> speaker setup
>
> I'd like to find something prebuilt, rather than making configuring
> something
> myself from anything like a Raspberry Pi.
>
> I'd like the controls to be on the order of the size (and style) of
> those on a
> "standard" stereo system.  (I mean, among other things, I don't want
> tiny
> controls, nor do I want to have to use a keyboard and monitor.)
>
> I've done a little bit of googling and searching on ebay without
> turning up
> anything.
>
> (There are things that would be nice to have, like if I'm playing
> music from
> an SD with 100 or more songs, it can remember where I left off when I
> turned it
> off and start from the next song when I power it on).
>
> Is anyone (on here) aware of something like that?
>
You could use a large buttoned bluetooth speaker (or one with Jack in)
connected to a USB music player that fits with all your other
requirements except button size, many are controllable from the
speakers end, this might be a different approach to the problem as you
then just have to find the music player that fits your other needs.

If your USB music player had jack out it could then be used for
headphones or a stereo systems input.

Agptek are one manufacturer of USB music players that comes to mind,
these normally support flac/mp3/wav amongst others.

Re: MATE desktop - changing icon of a Launcher

[Dominic Knight]

On Tue, 2021-03-23 at 09:26 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've been use MATE almost since it came out.
> IIRC I used to use a series of mouse clicks to determine the file
> name
> {including path} of the current icon.
>
> On my current systems {one Stretch, one Buster} if I:

I am using Bullseye and Mate, for clarity, my icons are all on
taskbars, none are on the desktop.

>   1. right click on the Launcher
>   2. select properties
>   3. left click on the current icon
>
> I get a "Select Custom Icon" menu. In it I can select a directory to
> search and it will display a list of available icons in that
> directory.
>
I get "Choose an icon"

> But I need to know the complete path to the current icon.

The path to the current (icon) directory is listed above the icons you
can select from. You would have to note this down as it is not possible
to select it for cut and paste purposes.

> I can get the desired information by opening the launcher with a text
> editor. {I want a "mouse click" method to obtain the information as
> I'm
> setting up a system for a very novice user.}
>
> Suggestions?
> TIA
>


No help I know but it does not currently seem possible to do exactly
what you require.
Cheers,
Dom

Re: Unity3d apps slow

[Dominic Knight]

On Fri, 2021-01-08 at 14:53 +0100, Hans wrote:
>
> I have an older notebook with a nvidia graphics card (GF 8600M) and
> usinmg the
> proprietrary nvidia driver, which is *-legacy-340xx-*.
>
So around 2007 - 2010 ?

> Most applications (i.e. games) are running fast with opengl
> acceleration (60
> FPS). But all games made with Unity3d are running very, very slow
> (10FPS).
>
> So my questions, I could not find a solution in the web:
>
> 1. Is this a configuration problem or a hardware issue, that unity is
> so slow?
>
Hardware issue

> 2. If it is a configuration problem, what do I have to install or to
> configure?
>
> 3. If it is a hardware issue, what hardware do I need, that Unity3d-
> games are
> supported and running smooth?
>
Depends on what you are trying to run, for newer versions of games such
as Empyrion or 7DTD (both developed betweeen 2013-2021), wich are both
Unity you will need 16Gb memory, something like a NVidia 1660 super or
better and a chip with 8 or more cores and a clock speed around 3.4 Gz
or better. Less code intensive games would require lower specs.

> 4. If none above, can I and if yes, how can I force to run games made
> with
> Unity3d run with opengl?
>
You can't, the terms mean different things, Unity is a game Engine
while Open GL is a framework to run code on. (Simplistically).

> Thank you for your halp and any answers. Even, if it is not possible
> to change
> speed, evry information let me learn more.
>
> Best regards
>
> Hans

Re: Backup Times on a Linux desktop

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2019-11-02 at 20:24 +0100, Konstantin Nebel wrote:
> Hi,
>
>

> dual boot and Windows on default (for games, shame on me) and I might
> switch
> cause first Gaming on Linux is really becoming rly good and second I
> could buy

Missing out answers to your question :)
Yes Gaming on Linux is becoming really good, running Flatpak Steam on
Debian testing and only one game for Linux I have is dead (and that
might well work if I really bothered), less than 0.5 %. Proton also
works very well, the few Windows games I have run as well and some
times better than their target OS.

Cheers,
Dom.

Re: GeForce GT 710 on debian

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2019-08-10 at 11:39 -0500, Mark Allums wrote:
> On 8/10/2019 11:16 AM, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> > On Sb, 10 aug 19, 16:57:06, Jonas Hedman wrote:
> > > Hi, my monitor (Samsung S22F350FHU 22"") doesn't play nicely with
> > > my
> > > with my ThinkCentre M92p. I tried to mess with setting, and
> > > I got it to work somewhat ok-ish but the picture is still a
> > > little blurry and I got small black vertical lines on
> > > both sides.
> > What kind of cable are you using? If VGA switch to HDMI instead.
> >
> > See if the monitor has an auto-adjust or similar function in the
> > menu.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Andrei
>
> My guess is that what OP refers to as  "black lines on both sides"
> is
> probably just letterboxing/pillarboxing.  I guess the aspect ratio
> is
> set to something narrower than the monitor, and that simply
> adjusting
> the resolution is all that is needed.
>
>
> Mark

When I switched tv's I had something like this and it just required
setting the tv's mode to 'pc' for that input.

Re: Where'd lsb-compat go?

[Dominic Knight]

On Thu, 2019-07-11 at 13:48 -0500, Kent West wrote:
> Two issues:
>
>
> 1) I have several Debian boxes running as kiosks, and reporting to a
> centralized Quest-branded "Systems Management Appliance" (SMA). With
> a
> recent update to the SMA, the Debian boxes stopped reporting in.
> After
> several weeks, I finally discovered that the installation of
> "lsb-compat" on several of them restored their functionality. Today,
> when I go to install "lsb-compat" on the other's, I find it's no
> longer
> available in Buster. Has it been deprecated? Why? Any ideas how I'm
> going to get my boxes reporting again to the SMA (what does "lsb-
> compat"

**
The Linux Standard Base (http://www.linuxbase.org/) was a standard
core system that third-party applications written for Linux could
depend upon.

This package provides the most minimal layer to be able to install and
run selected legacy LSB packages on Debian.
**

(untested) Maybe temporarily set your sources to old stable or stretch
and pick it up from there (then reset them of course).

I could only guess when you installed on the other boxes it was set to
stable (stretch) which was then stable but is now buster.

Re: What to buy for Buster?

[Dominic Knight]

On Thu, 2019-05-23 at 19:24 +, Erik Josefsson wrote:
> On 5/23/19 4:59 PM, Joe wrote:
> > On Thu, 23 May 2019 15:17:15 +
> > Erik Josefsson  wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks all for feedback, help and answers to many of my
> > > questions,
> > > but I feel my available time and my skills put together won't
> > > meet
> > > the threshold for being able to contribute to Debian in any
> > > meaningful way for another year or two.
> > >
> > > I'll have to go back to piggybacking, as I have done for decades.
> > >
> > > As such a piggyback, I'd anyway like to ask if anyone would know
> > > a
> > > reasonably powerful second hand stationary office computer that
> > > can
> > > run a Debian Buster Pure Blend from a net install? No need for
> > > wireless, I will just connect with ethernet cable.
> >
Buster runs well on both my Dell's, one, a twin core 2008 with 4gb ram
is ideal for pottering about on. Does all the office stuff.
The other a 2012 Dell (precision T1650 if you want to compare specs)
Intel® Xeon(R) CPU E3-1240 V2 @ 3.40GHz × 8 with 16gb ram, root on solid state 
and home on hard drives, runs all the steam and GoG games I throw at it too, 
often with better performance than under windows. Also streams them to twitch 
perfectly so plenty of spare performance.

Both bought second hand, the first you can get for around £30 or so
second hand. The other maybe around £600 these days.

> >
> > > I don't know more than that I should avoid Nvidia.
> > >
Why? Both of these have Nvidia cards and I have never had an
insurmountable problem yet and they have both been running Buster for
over two years.

> > >
> > Always difficult to advise, so many computers, so few recent ones
> > listed as Linux-compatible. All I can offer is that I've never had
> > problems with HP business desktops,
>
> Thanks a million! I'm not a gamer, would this machine be OK you
> think?
>
> https://www.bluecity.se/hp-compaq-8200-elite-sff-2-50ghz-250gb-hdd-windows-10-8gb-ram-svart-50074
>
> It's on the shelf for sale just down town, so I could buy it
> tomorrow!
>
Don't know how that prices in ££'s but the spec seems fine for Buster.

Re: Cannot re-install synaptic on Buster.

[Dominic Knight]

On Mon, 2019-04-15 at 01:24 -0400, Kieran Smyth wrote:
> Hi,
>
> For reasons unknown to me, synaptic uninstalled itself about three
> weeks ago. I am using Buster on the desktop, with MATE as my desktop
> environment.
>
> When i open up a terminal and try to re-install it, i get the
> following-
> SNIP
>
> I like using a GUI frontend to apt, and if anyone can help me get it
> back on my system i'd really appreciate it.
>
> Thank you in advance for any help that may be provided.
>
> - Kieran

The good news is that someone has filed a patch that works around these
issues with Wayland. So it should be back for other GUI users with a
failure message for Wayland users once it is passed through
experimental (in time for Buster release).

Re: 'synaptic' removed from buster

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2019-04-06 at 19:56 +1100, David wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Apr 2019 at 19:08, Curt  wrote:
> > My impression from my general reading here is quite a few people
> > rely on
> > the synaptic package manager. I use apt-get; it's pie-like
> > simplicity
> > comforts me.
>
> Speaking in very broad terms to make a general and somewhat
> obvious point, we could say that Gnome and synaptic are examples of
> tools written by experts to assist lower-expertise users.
>
> It follows that most more-expert users (apart from the developers)
> tend
> not to use these kind of tools themselves. So support channels like
> this one
> and IRC tend to lack people who are able to answer questions based
> on their own use of these tools, because they don't use, or even care
> about, these kind of tools.
>
> I have seen this in IRC. People join there to ask questions
> about Gnome for example, but no-one providing support in the
> channel is actually using Gnome themselves, because they prefer more
> sophisticatedenvironments, even though it's the default GUI for
> Debian
> that all the newbie questioners are using.
>
> Newbie asks "how do I do X in Gnome" ... and no-one there knows the
> answer :)
> This might be less of an issue in other distros than it is in Debian.
>
> > Thing is, beyond its innate and fundamental heresy (a gui app
> > running as
> > root!), synaptic is the only GUI package manager available in
> > Debian
> > AFAIK (I'm uncertain whether kpackage is defunct or not).
>
> If I understand correctly, Reco mentioned another one earlier in the
> thread ...
>
> On Fri, 5 Apr 2019 at 00:02, Reco  wrote:
> > The *unofficial* one is the existence of "gnome-packagekit". The
> > thing
> > needs users, and this is one of the ways of getting them.
>
> https://packages.debian.org/buster/gnome-packagekit
> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-packagekit/stable/intro.html.en
>
> I know nothing about it, I never tried it :)
> I prefer using shell tools for package management.
>
> I certainly do use some GUI tools. 'meld' for example, for side-by-
> side
> diffs. If that was dropped from buster then I would notice :)
>
Lets take a look at installing gnome-packagekit and dependencies in
Buster;

Retrieving bug reports... Done
Parsing Found/Fixed information... Done
serious bugs of unattended-upgrades (→ 1.11) 
 b2 - #905877 - regression in 1.4: upgrades random packages from
testing to experimental (doesn't respect pinning?)
Summary:
 unattended-upgrades(1 bug)


Then again perhaps not just yet

Re: Making a modal window

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2018-12-09 at 19:54 +, Brian wrote:
> On Sun 09 Dec 2018 at 14:47:39 -0500, Cindy-Sue Causey wrote:
> 
> > On 12/9/18, Brian  wrote:
> > > On Sun 09 Dec 2018 at 13:27:21 -0500, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > > First, I fail to see why you should even be able to lock a
> > > > computer away
> > > > from its user. Thats the first question thatought to be
> > > > answered.
> > > 
> > > A voice of sanity.
> > > 
> > > Whatever is behind the idea, it is about as nonsensical and
> > > unsophisticted
> > > as it gets.
> > 
> > I *did* scratch my head as to why a simple login doesn't suffice,
> > but
> > I can see a really good use/dire need for parents. The.. garbage
> > I'm
> > experiencing here in North Georgia... Children of ALL ages are
> > being
> > targeted CONSTANTLY. It would be nice to find something that helped
> > parents better control children's access to their own tech
> > equipment
> 
> Sorry about this, but what you say sounds like a Trump twitter.
> Except
> it is much more articulated.

As it seems they only want it to run one program - unminimsable, maybe
some kiosk type application - possibly look at how matchbox works. A
distinct lack of information to go on in the question though.

Dom

Re: Problem updating to Buster - gparted effectively MIA

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2018-10-07 at 19:23 +0100, Brian wrote:
> On Sun 07 Oct 2018 at 15:33:09 +0100, Brian wrote:
> 
> > On Sun 07 Oct 2018 at 08:14:05 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > 
> > > It was recommended that I update to Buster.
> > > I started with Debian 9.1.0 installed from purchased DVD1.
> > > [MATE desktop]
> > > I edited sources.list to access online repository.
> > > I then followed the instructions at
> > > [linuxconfig.org/how-to-upgrade-debian-9-stretch-to-debian-10-
> > > buster]
> > > as it had everything conveniently shown.
> > > 
> > > Everything appeared to go normally up to a point well into the
> > > actual
> > > downloading of the Buster packages. I temporarily lost my
> > > internet
> > > connection. After reconnecting apt-get gave an error message
> > > suggesting I
> > > use "--fix-missing" IIRC.
> > > 
> > > It appeared to work and boot correctly.
> > > 
> > > However Gparted no longer appears in the System->Administration
> > > menu
> > > although Synaptic shows it as installed. I blindly chose to tell
> > > Synaptic to
> > > reinstall it.
> > > 
> > > I installed stretch to another partition which I'm using now.
> > > Is the Buster install repairable?
> > 
> > Does gparted run from a terminal?
> 
> It does?
> 
> A missing menu entry is hardly a show-stopper.
> 
It moved in Buster (Mate version of GUI) from system->admin to
Applications->system tools.
Try there.

Re: How to react on a factually wrong Debian wiki change ?

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2018-09-29 at 08:59 +, Curt wrote:
> On 2018-09-28, Thomas Schmitt  wrote:
> > This is not "unreliable" it is "clueless".
> > Insofar Curt's proposal is technically more correct.
> > But actually i see no improvement over my shorter statement.
> > (Maybe it's better english, but it's not better message.)
> 
> I thought nobody said "should better not be used," but sticking that
> quoted
> phrase in a search engine produces over 12,000 hits.
> 
So 12,000 people can be wrong :)

Just altering the word order gives more clarity to the statement.

"should be better not used" While still not entirely correct implies
less of a threat. 

"(it) better not be used (or)" - "the computer gods will frot you"

"would be better not used" may be correct depending on the rest of the
context.

Maybe an implicit threat of resulting danger needs to be implied?

Cheers
Dom.


> Doubts now linger in my mind as to whether I haven't used up a lot of
> electrons
> for nothing.
> 
> There's so many of them, though, I guess frugality isn't an issue
> (unless
> Wheeler was right, and I've sent the one zipping all over the place).
> 
> Out.
> 
> > Have a nice day :)
> > 
> > Thomas
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

Re: Distinguish instances of GUI file manager by color

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2018-09-26 at 06:47 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 09/26/2018 06:24 AM, Dan Purgert wrote:
> > Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > [...]
> > > Also your phraseology joggled my thought process. Perhaps "file
> > > manager"
> > > hints at much more power than I  need. I only wish to _move_
> > > files.
> > > Which got me thinking that Tcl/Tk may be appropriate. I'll
> > > experiment
> > > with mc first.
> > 
> > Or perhaps just bash?  Although, your situation may have too many
> > clauses to really decide how/where something goes easily in a
> > script.
> > 
> 
> My essential need for a GUI is to select with a mouse click.
> I've just downloaded it and browsed the man page.
> I think mc will work.
> 
> On my laptop the default font size is unsuitably small.
> A quick web search revealed that is not a mc parameter.
> It is a function of the terminal emulator used. I have a MATE
> desktop. 
> How do I determine what terminal emulator is in use?
> 
Years ago I used to put this in an ~/.Xresources file that would change
the font sizes for _all_ the terminals.

Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.antialias: true
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight

Might still do the job for you.

Dom.

Re: OT high-power radio broadcasting (was Re: red SATA cable corruption)

[Dominic Knight]

On Tue, 2018-09-18 at 16:13 -0500, Nicholas Geovanis wrote:
> Brian -
> Are you British?
> Reading your reply was like reading a Monty Python script. If such
> existed.
> 
That's just normal for us Brits.
In the late sixties we were somewhat miffed to discover that our
excellent, serious, documentary on British class systems "The Flying
Circus" was considered to be comedy in other parts of the world :)

Re: recovering a partition table

[Dominic Knight]

On Fri, 2018-09-07 at 14:25 -0700, Jimmy Johnson wrote:
> On 09/07/2018 02:06 PM, Dominic Knight wrote:
> > On Fri, 2018-09-07 at 13:02 -0700, Jimmy Johnson wrote:
> > > On 09/07/2018 12:19 PM, Eike Lantzsch wrote:
> > > > On Friday, September 7, 2018 5:34:00 PM -04 Dominic Knight
> > > > wrote:
> > > > > Whilst trying to create one partition out of two (using
> > > > > disks)  I
> > > > > appear to have accidentally deleted the partition table of
> > > > > (almost) the whole drive.
> > 
> > 
> > > > Then diverse methods for partition table recovery are open to
> > > > you.
> > > > All the best
> > > > E.L.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > What the Doctor ordered:
> > > How to Recover a Disk Partition with TestDisk and GParted Live
> > >   
> > > 
> > 
> > 
https://ubuverse.com/recover-a-disk-partition-with-testdisk-and-gparted-live/
> > >   
> > 
> > It seems the problem was that it wasn't really deleted at all, just
> > 'disks' (the software program) being a bit useless and saying it
> > was. I
> > had wondered what I had done to cause it as I was fairly certain I
> > had
> > double checked what I was doing. I had deleted one partition ready
> > to
> > expand another into it when 'disks' decided to play a trick on me.
> > 
> > Slightly worrying when it tells you there is one big empty drive,
> > and then gpart reporting this
> > 
> >   Warning: more than 4 primary partitions: 6.
> > Partition(Linux swap or Solaris/x86): primary
> > Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary
> > Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary
> > Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary
> > Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary
> > Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary
> > Ok.
> > 
> > is a bug in that piece of software?
> > 
> > There is actually one primary and one extended all are ext4.
> > 
> > gparted reports all is good.
> > Risked a reboot and everything is just fine.
> > 
> > Thanks
> > Dom.
> 
> 
> It looks like the logical partition has been removed, I don't think
> I've 
> seen that before.  And rebooting brought it back, lucky you. :)

It hadn't actually been removed, 'disks' was reporting incorrectly. I
was very careful not to reboot until after I was 95% certain it was
there and gparted confirmed it. I combined the two partitions I wanted
to so, primary is swap and extended is still all the rest however gpart
still says:

root@goodoldmusic:~# gpart /dev/sdb

Begin scan...
Possible partition(Linux swap), size(9536mb), offset(1mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(953673mb), offset(9538mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(476836mb), offset(963212mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(47683mb), offset(1440049mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(419996mb), offset(1487733mb)
End scan.

Checking partitions...

* Warning: more than 4 primary partitions: 5.
Partition(Linux swap or Solaris/x86): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary 
Ok.

So I would say still a misreport from gpart and 'disks' (in Buster) is
just somehow broken and risky to use.

Re: recovering a partition table

[Dominic Knight]

On Fri, 2018-09-07 at 13:02 -0700, Jimmy Johnson wrote:
> On 09/07/2018 12:19 PM, Eike Lantzsch wrote:
> > On Friday, September 7, 2018 5:34:00 PM -04 Dominic Knight wrote:
> > > Whilst trying to create one partition out of two (using disks)  I
> > > appear to have accidentally deleted the partition table of
> > > (almost) the whole drive.

> > Then diverse methods for partition table recovery are open to you.
> > All the best
> > E.L.
> 
> 
> What the Doctor ordered:
> How to Recover a Disk Partition with TestDisk and GParted Live
>  
> 
https://ubuverse.com/recover-a-disk-partition-with-testdisk-and-gparted-live/
>  

It seems the problem was that it wasn't really deleted at all, just
'disks' (the software program) being a bit useless and saying it was. I
had wondered what I had done to cause it as I was fairly certain I had
double checked what I was doing. I had deleted one partition ready to
expand another into it when 'disks' decided to play a trick on me.

Slightly worrying when it tells you there is one big empty drive,
and then gpart reporting this

 Warning: more than 4 primary partitions: 6.
Partition(Linux swap or Solaris/x86): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary 
Ok.

is a bug in that piece of software?

There is actually one primary and one extended all are ext4.

gparted reports all is good. 
Risked a reboot and everything is just fine.

Thanks
Dom.

recovering a partition table

[Dominic Knight]

Whilst trying to create one partition out of two (using disks)  I
appear to have accidentally deleted the partition table of (almost) the
whole drive. It still has the swap partition and an unknown partition
of zero size apparently with 2tb of freespace. It was 10gb swap, 1tb,
50 gb, and two at roughly 500gb each at the end.

How do I recover the original partition table?

This is what gpart says but the partitions were ext4 so would like to
know if writing this will be OK and indeed how to write it considering
the reported errors further below. It seems to not understand the
extended partitions they sat in.

root@goodoldmusic:~# gpart /dev/sdb

Begin scan...
Possible partition(Linux swap), size(9536mb), offset(1mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(953673mb), offset(9538mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(476836mb), offset(963212mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(47683mb), offset(1440049mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(190733mb), offset(1487733mb)
Possible partition(Linux ext2), size(229261mb), offset(1678468mb)
End scan.

Checking partitions...

* Warning: more than 4 primary partitions: 6.
Partition(Linux swap or Solaris/x86): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary 
Partition(Linux ext2 filesystem): invalid primary 
Ok.

Guessed primary partition table:
Primary partition(1)
   type: 130(0x82)(Linux swap or Solaris/x86)
   size: 9536mb #s(19529728) s(2048-19531775)
   chs:  (0/32/33)-(1023/254/63)d (0/32/33)-(1215/203/12)r

Primary partition(2)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem)
   size: 953673mb #s(1953122304) s(19533824-1972656127)
   chs:  (1023/254/63)-(1023/254/63)d (1215/235/45)-(122792/42/2)r

Primary partition(3)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem)
   size: 476836mb #s(976560128) s(1972658176-2949218303)
   chs:  (1023/254/63)-(1023/254/63)d (122792/74/35)-(183580/88/60)r

Primary partition(4)
   type: 131(0x83)(Linux ext2 filesystem)
   size: 47683mb #s(97654784) s(2949220352-3046875135)
   chs:  (1023/254/63)-(1023/254/63)d (183580/121/30)-(189659/52/25)r

Re: [OT] Best (o better than yahoo) mail provider for malinglists

[Dominic Knight]

On Tue, 2018-08-28 at 21:33 +0100, Brad Rogers wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Aug 2018 22:23:46 +0200
> Stefan Krusche  wrote:
> 
> Hello Stefan,
> 
> > have to log in via their website interface to free them out of the
> > spam
> > folder to be able to download them with my precious email client.
> > I've
> 
That's the fault of your email client or methodology, rather than GMX.
Mine has the spam folder available on the client where they can be
viewed, moved or deleted - Evolution/IMAP

> Is it not possible to whitelist the addresses?
> 
> > recently started to think this provider *wants* me to have to log
> > in
> > and use the website 
> 
> Of course they do.
> 
I've only had to log in once this year and that was for an upload into
my music folder. While I'm sure they would love you to log in and see
the 'adds' they provide, they never _require_ me to do so.

Proton for Steam on Debian.

[Dominic Knight]

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this to share. Or even
any thoughts on security which could be useful.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/

Under the install for Linux section it says to set up a Debian machine
to run the software on as it requires latest drivers etc. Well, I have
one of them of course - running steam in a flatpak on Buster, but would
be interested to know about game compatabilty (most especially for
Phantom Doctrine if anyone has tried that) of Windows only games using
Steams Proton/Wine configuration.

TIA
Dom.

Re: Wanted - Debian(preferred)/Linux handheld

[Dominic Knight]

On Thu, 2018-08-16 at 07:41 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've been looking for one for about a year.
> I've just discovered that the Gemini PDA [
> https://www.planetcom.co.uk/] 
> has come to market. A key feature is "WiFi only models are
> available".
> 
> The site doesn't say anything about a US distributor. Is there one?
> 
> Does anyone know of a similar product with a US distributor?
> 
> TIA
> 
> 
Changing the question to fit my answer ;)
Any reason not to buy direct from the UK?

Re: [Solved, largely] Re: Latest version of X not starting in buster

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2018-06-17 at 08:41 +1000, Charlie S wrote:
> 
> 
>   After contemplation, my reply is:
>  I suppose they still have a
> twirling
> thingy on the monitor while the machine boots?
> 
> Be well,
> Charlie
> 
Sorry, there is no longer enough time for one of those to be drawn ;)
 systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 2.382s (kernel) + 6.090s (userspace) = 8.473s
graphical.target reached after 6.081s in userspace

Re: Nvidia, BOINC and Steam

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2018-05-16 at 22:46 +0200, Nicolas FRANCOIS wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I've been working with a stable Debian for a few years now (three
> major
> releases), with backports depots for a few tools I use regularly. I
> need a proprietary Nvidia driver for essentially two things : Steam,
> because I'm a Civ V gamer, and BOINC, because my computer is up
> 24h/day.
> 
> There was a backport update of the nvidia drivers a few weeks ago, I
> tried to migrate. But then Steam wouldn't work anymore (32bits
> libglx,
> or something like this, complaint). I ended up breaking everything
> trying to get back to stable.
> 
> I finally was able to recover in console, erasing one by one the
> backports packages (they cooperate to not let them be deinstalled,
> those little bastards !!!)
> 
> Now, I have the stable nvidia kernel driver (375.82), but I've
> noticed
> some BOINC apps complaining about not finding a GPU (Seti@Home, for
> sure, and I haven't seen Primegrid works for a while...). Djezus, I
> HAVE a GPU, it cost me enough (950, not the best one, but the most
> powerful I was able to "sell" to my wife :-)
> 
> I don't know exactly what to do, if anyone could provide me with a
> checklist of what to install to be able to make Steam AND BOINC work
> with ANY Nvidia driver version, I would be so grateful...
> 
> Thanks for any help.
> 
> \bye
> 
On Buster as no 32 bit available, presumably also for Stretch.
Only way I found to get Steam working well was via flatpak.
as root or sudo,

apt-get install flatpak

then as user 

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/fla
thub.flatpakrepo

flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam

flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam


no idea about BOINC

Re: lightdm (testing): Long waiting time after login

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2018-05-16 at 14:53 +0200, Dino wrote:
> > Dino wrote:
> > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> > > --D295C2A19D414A0F9C32AEE8
> > > Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> > >   boundary="51A034E61483D85CC097E79C"
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --51A034E61483D85CC097E79C
> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> > > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> > > 
> > > This time with attachment...
> > > 
> > > Am 16.05.2018 um 09:28 schrieb w...@hllmnn.de:
> > > > I just did a fresh install of testing with XFCE. After entering
> > > > the
> > > > login credentials the screen was black for 30-60 seconds before
> > > > the
> > > > desktop environment showed up. Assuming a bug in XFCE, I
> > > > performed
> > > > another fresh install with MATE, but a similar effect occured:
> > > > after
> > > > login the background image is shown for 30-60 seconds before
> > > > the
> > > > desktop is fully loaded.
> > > > 
> > > > A look into /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log showed that the delay
> > > > happens
> > > > before VT is activated. The log file is attached.
> > > > 
> > > > Might this be a bug in lightdm or could a misconfiguragtion
> > > > from my
> > > > side cause this issue?
> > 
> > ...
> > > [+7.71s] DEBUG: Session pid=691: Running command
> > > /etc/X11/Xsession default
> > > [+7.71s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory
> > > /var/lib/lightdm/data/USERNAME
> > > [+7.71s] DEBUG: Session pid=691: Logging to .xsession-errors
> > > [+40.89s] DEBUG: Activating VT 7
> > > [+40.89s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session 2
> > > [+40.89s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to
> > > [+40.89s] DEBUG: Seat seat0 changes active session to 2
> > > [+40.89s] DEBUG: Session 2 is already active
> > 
> >what does .xsession-errors say?
> > 
> >what type of device are you installing to?
> > 
> >my recent installs with netinst for testing and having MATE
> > comes up ok (within a few seconds), but things may have changed
> > in packages.
> > 
> >does a stable netinst give same results?
> > 
> > 
> >songbird
> 
> .xsession-errors contains one warning (file is attached), but I
> don't 
> think that it causes the delay.
> 
> The device I'm installing to is an UDOO X86 
> (https://www.udoo.org/udoo-x86/). Basically, it's standard hardware
> with 
> an Intel CPU. I already had an installation of testing a few months
> ago 
> that didn't show this behaviour.
> 
> A stable netinst works just fine, the desktop is loaded almost 
> immediately. Hence, I assume a package changed recently is the
> reason 
> for this.

Maybe;
systemd-analyze critical-chain
&
systemd-analyze blame
will give a clue as to what is taking its time?

Dom.

Re: Emails

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2018-05-09 at 17:22 +0100, David wrote:
> On Wed, 2018-05-09 at 21:16 +0900, likcoras wrote:
> > On 05/09/2018 09:01 PM, David wrote:
> > > I currently use Evolution for my emails with Debian 8.
> > > 
> > > The version in the repository is very old, I'm currently using
> > > V3.12.
> > > 
> > > Is there a method for me to access a repository with a newer
> > > version?
> > > 
> > > regards,
> > > 
> > > David.
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > It is generally not recommended to install software yourself unless
> > you
> > know what you're doing. You do have a few choices:
> > 
> > 1. Update to Debian Jessie (9). This will get you evolution 3.22.6.
> > 2. Update to Debian Buster (testing), currently 3.28.1, if you
> > don't
> > mind running testing. Make sure you are ready to run testing,
> > though.
> > 3. Grab a copy of the evolution source code from
> >  and compile it yourself (a-
> > la
> > make; make install). Make sure this is what you want, and that you
> > are
> > aware of the consequences of going down this path.
> > 4. Backport evolution yourself. I personally have never done
> > something
> > like this, so not 100% sure on the procedure involved. I assume it
> > might
> > be safer than doing the 'make install' as in (3).
> > 
> > Overall,  is good resource
> > to
> > refer to in case you want to do something like this, make sure that
> > you
> > know what you're doing and what can happen to your system if you do
> > it.
> > Especially pay attention to
> >  > New_Stuff_Syndrome>.
> > 
> > Most importantly, determine if you actually do need the newer
> > version in
> > the first place, or if you're upgrading just for the sake of
> > upgrading.
> > The Debian developers are quite good at keeping up to date with
> > security
> > updates, so hopefully you won't need to worry about those too much.
> > 
> 
> Thank you for the reply.
> 
> I have tried Debian 9, but I don't like it, hence I've stayed with
> Debian 8.
> 
> I think I'll try option 3. My laptop is currently without Evolution,
> but
> I need a more modern version so I can import the emails and settings
> saved under 3.22 with a previous Linux operating system.
> 
> David.
> 
> 
I think (3), while not impossible, will require updating too many shiny
new things from GTK. Perhaps a possibility is this Flatpak route?

https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution/Flatpak

With the caveat of course that I haven't tried this (or even read more
than the first few lines of the webpage). I would go down the Buster
route myself, but that depends on what you don't or didn't like about
the later versions of Debian.

Good luck,
Dom.

Re: How to use Debian for a HTPC/Gaming combination?

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2018-03-03 at 16:24 +, Dominic Knight wrote:
> On Sat, 2018-03-03 at 14:50 +0100, Markus Grunwald wrote:
> > 
> > would like to use the same computer as a steam machine or to play
> > other
> > games using wine or, of course, native linux games which is not
> > possible
> > 
There is now (and maybe has been for a while) a flatpak for steam that
can use the latest Nvidia drivers in Buster, and all seems to work well

~$ apt install flatpak
~$ flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/
flathub.flatpakrepo
~$ flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
~$ flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam

Cheers,
Dom

Re: How to use Debian for a HTPC/Gaming combination?

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2018-03-03 at 14:50 +0100, Markus Grunwald wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Currently, I'm using libreelec as distribution for the HTPC in my
> home
> cinema. It does its job very good, but is inflexible. For example, I
> would like to use the same computer as a steam machine or to play
> other
> games using wine or, of course, native linux games which is not
> possible
> witch libreelec.
> 
> To do that, I would like to use Debian. I know, use and administer
> Debian machines since potato and I think its flexibility is great. In
> fact, I only used libreelec because it had a driver for the quite new
> nvidia graphics card and Debian didn't - at least not in last summer.
> 
> Now I've seen that Debian supports my graphics card and I would like
> to
> start my HTPC/Gaming PC from scratch. What I would like to have:
> 
> - Very quick (and maybe beautiful, for the WAF ;) ) start up.
> - No surplus services.
> - Some minimal window manager
> - Boot to Kodi (or Steam) and easy switch to the other.
> 
> I know that Linux is not the optimal gaming OS. Never mind. There is
> a
> good bit idealism involved :)
> 
> Now, I could get this running, but I never installed a Debian machine
> with focus on the first two items. I hope to get your help and advice
> especially on the quick and lean start up. Any further Ideas are
> greatly
> appreciated ;)
> 
> As I said, some amount of Idealism is involved. So advice like "use
> windows" or maybe "use another Linux distribution" will not be very
> helpful.
> 
> Oh, by the way: the hardware is more or less fixed for now, and it is
> old (except for the SSD and the Graphics card). So no monster
> performance for the games, but it does the HTPC job excellently. But
> I
> will upgrade the machine in the future. Yet, I think the exact
> hardware
> spec is not so important for this topic...
> 
> Let's see, how far we get and thanks for your input!
> 
> cu

Kodi no problem on Debian Buster and most games will run well (64 bit
games anyway) if you are prepared to go to GoG rather than Steam and
purchase games that are for 64 bit installs rather than needing i386
libraries, Steam insist on their i386 install which will mean fetching
obsolete, buggy, security exploited and end of life libraries from much
older distributions.
If you want games that only Steam can provide (thinking Paradox here)
you may need to run Ubuntu in a vm or set up a user who you can risk
buggy libraries on.

All dependent on your hardware of course. I generally use a 2nd hand,
Xeon E3-1240 v2 with the obligatory SSD, 16Gb ram and a Nvidia 1050 and
have never even scraped the sides yet.

Happy to let you know what I have found to run well in Buster if you
are interested.
Cheers, 
Dom.

Re: Using MATE's workspaces effectively

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2018-02-28 at 06:50 -0500, songbird wrote:
> 
>   the only real negatives of the newer monitor is
> that the scaling of fonts/menus/window sizes is set
> so small and not easily adjustable in the program
> itself that i have to change my monitor screen size
> in order to be able to read the menu items or see
> what is going on.  not everything pays attention to
> system font settings.
> 
> 
>   songbird
> 

Maybe upscaling would help a lot here, it does when I output on hdmi,
with Mate that's
System - Preferences - look and feel - appearance 
then
fonts - detail - resolution 
I set mine to around 144 and leave system fonts the same and then the
vast majority of programs will respect that and be of a readable size
at high monitor resolution.
 
I guess with other desktops you could set it easily enough in an
.Xresources file that runs on entering X-server

You will of course find occasional programs that completely ignore
this.

Cheers,
Dom.

Re: Add/Remove appication from MATE Applications drop down menu

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2017-11-04 at 07:44 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 11/03/2017 08:22 PM, Dominic Knight wrote:
> > On Fri, 2017-11-03 at 08:21 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > My first problem is there are too many games cluttering the Games
> > > sub-menu. How to delete selected games from the menu without
> > > removing
> > > the executable?
> > > 
> > > My second problem is I do not use Firefox. I wish to replace it
> > > with
> > > a
> > > non-Debian executable [SeaMonkey].
> > > 
> > > I've seen instructions somewhere [can't recall where] for adding
> > > an
> > > application to a sub-menu.
> > > 
> > > TIA
> > > 
> > 
> > System (on top menu bar)
> > look and feel
> > mate menu
> > 
> > You can create sub-folders to divide the games or other apps into
> > your
> > own sorted lists by creating new menu (a sub-folder) with your
> > chosen
> > name and then drag and drop the program titles into the new sub-
> > menu
> > (sometimes quite tricky to get the exact placement to move the
> > program)
> > 
> > 
> 
> I don't observe that menu structure.
> I'm using Stretch (9.1.0) with MATE (1.16.2) .
> 
> The menu structure I see is:
> System
>  Preferences
>  Hardware
>  .../.../...
>  Internet and Network
>  .../.../...
>  Look and Feel
>  Appearance
>  Popup Notifications
>  Screensaver
>  Windows
>  Other
>  .../.../...
>  Personal
>  .../.../...
>  Administration
>  Control Center
> .
> .
> .
> 
> Thank you.
> 
Then you most likely need to add the package it comes in - my *guess*
would be either mate-menu or mate-control-center although it could be
hiding in one of the others.

Once installed you can also just untick the box next to the software
you don't want to see and it will be invisibly there until you next
tick it.

Re: Add/Remove appication from MATE Applications drop down menu

[Dominic Knight]

On Fri, 2017-11-03 at 08:21 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> My first problem is there are too many games cluttering the Games 
> sub-menu. How to delete selected games from the menu without
> removing 
> the executable?
> 
> My second problem is I do not use Firefox. I wish to replace it with
> a 
> non-Debian executable [SeaMonkey].
> 
> I've seen instructions somewhere [can't recall where] for adding an 
> application to a sub-menu.
> 
> TIA
> 
System (on top menu bar)
look and feel
mate menu

You can create sub-folders to divide the games or other apps into your
own sorted lists by creating new menu (a sub-folder) with your chosen
name and then drag and drop the program titles into the new sub-menu
(sometimes quite tricky to get the exact placement to move the program)

Re: USB wireless keyboard in stretch

[Dominic Knight]

On Mon, 2017-08-21 at 21:46 -0500, Mario Castelán Castro wrote:
> On 21/08/17 17:09, Alle Meije Wink wrote:
> > Does anyone understand the cause of this problem
> 
> *The USB wireless keyboard IS itself a problem*. You are
> unnecessarily
> contaminating the environment consuming Voltaic cells where none is
> needed (obviously wired keyboards feed through the cable) and
> broadcasting what you write over the air, including your passwords.
> 
> > & how to fix it? Thanks!
> 
> Very simple: Use a wired keyboard.
> 

And all those heavy metals inside that plastic case - please revert to
using a chisel and stone tablet.

Meanwhile... some wireless keyboards and mice work very well in this
modern age, I've used Logitechs M185 & K270 without a single issue on
both Stretch and Buster.

Re: Fonts for widgets in Cinnamon

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2017-08-19 at 21:04 +0200, Jeff wrote:
> I have been using Cinnamon (from testing) for a couple of years with
> no
> problem until a couple of days ago, when suddenly the font size for
> most
> widgets increased. This is annoying, as certain lists in things like
> Thunderbird no longer fit on the page.
> 
> I started playing with the fonts preferences in Cinnamon, to no
> avail. I
> could change all sorts of things about the panel font size, but not
> things like the size of the menus in the programs themselves. I
> wondered instead if the problem was with one of the themes in
> Cinnamon,
> but all the installed ones seem to have the same problem.
> 
> I looked at the settings in /usr/share/cinnamon/theme/cinnamon.css,
> but
> wasn't able change the font size.
> 
> I tend to update & upgrade every day, so I then looked through
> /var/log/dpkg.log for a recent upgrade that could be at fault.
> 
> I downgraded libgtk-3-0, libgtk-3-common, libgail-3-0, gir1.2-gtk-
> 3.0,
> gtk-update-icon-cache, libgtk-3-bin to 3.22.17-1, which didn't help.
> 
> I downgraded libwayland-client0, libwayland-cursor0 & libwayland-
> server0
> to 1.13.0-1, but that didn't help either.
> 
> So I'm now out of ideas.
> 
> Does anyone know where I should look next?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Jeff
> 
> P.S. Please put me in cc, as I am not subscribed to the list.
> 
If it's the same issue, (changed sunday 6th August) I think it was a
change in gsettings...something - it only bothered me using chromium
though, with huge fonts for the bookmark bar and top menu I worked
around this by starting chrome with 
/usr/bin/chromium %U --force-device-scale-factor=1.5
Maybe, if only Thunderbird is affected for you, there is a similar
setting for starting that?
Another work around is to alter your fonts to work with a program,
start the software and then alter them back so other programs work as
wanted too, harsh way to do it though. 

>From Chromiums old bug reports 
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=375824#c65 
this was deemed to be the issue back in 2014:
"Use GtkSettings's gtk-xft-dpi property to convert Pango font
descriptions from points to pixels. Previously
PangoContext's default resolution, which is sometimes
(always?) unset, was used, resulting in 96 DPI being used
for conversions regardless of the value reported by X."

Re: caja as administrator

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2017-08-06 at 11:09 +0200, Frank wrote:
> Op 06-08-17 om 01:34 schreef Dominic Knight:
> > I guess this is something I have done at this end but, although it
> > works fine as a normal user (right click and open new instance),
> > when
> > trying to open any folder from Caja as administrator (right click
> > on
> > folder in Caja, select open as administrator) I get the message:
> > 
> > "Please start Chromium as a normal user. If you need to run as root
> > for
> > development, re-run with the - no-sandbox flag."
> > 
> > I wasn't aware of trying to run Chromium at all, it used to open a
> > separate instance of Caja with su privileges. Anyone else or
> > something
> > I have done badly somewhere and forgotten about?
> > 
> > Debian Testing(Buster)
> > Mate 1.18.0
> > Caja 1.18.3
> 
> It's possible a mimeapps.list has the wrong entry for
> inode/directory. 
> There are usually two or three copies of this file:
> 
> user's: ~/.config/mimeapps.list
> system: /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list
> and possibly:
> root's: /root/.config/mimeapps.list
> 
> The location of the user and root list may be different in other
> desktop 
> environments (mine's Xfce 4.12, Debian testing).
> 
> When you run caja as user, your own copy takes precedence. Running
> as 
> root, root's comes first (if it exists). Anything that isn't
> specified 
> there, is looked up in the system list.
> 
> Make sure the inode/directory entry isn't messed up. If the entry in
> the 
> system copy is correct and the wrong one is in root's copy, simply 
> remove that.
> 
> Regards,
> Frank

Hmmm... Seems to have been a temporary glitch, installed the rest of
Mate's updates after they came through this morning and now all works
as expected.
I'll put it down to a partially upgraded DE and move on.

My thanks to Frank and Cindy for your replies,
Dom 

caja as administrator

[Dominic Knight]

I guess this is something I have done at this end but, although it
works fine as a normal user (right click and open new instance), when
trying to open any folder from Caja as administrator (right click on
folder in Caja, select open as administrator) I get the message:

"Please start Chromium as a normal user. If you need to run as root for
development, re-run with the - no-sandbox flag."

I wasn't aware of trying to run Chromium at all, it used to open a
separate instance of Caja with su privileges. Anyone else or something
I have done badly somewhere and forgotten about?

Debian Testing(Buster)
Mate 1.18.0
Caja 1.18.3

TIA,

Re: off topic! What is the error in this script

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2017-06-25 at 18:30 +0300, Teemu Likonen wrote:
> Dominic Knight [2017-06-25 15:35:46+01] wrote:
> 
> > To convert a series of .flac files to .mp3 files I attempted to use
> > the
> > following line;
> > 
> > > $ find -name "*.flac" -exec bash -c 'ffmpeg -i "{}" -y -acodec
> > 
> > libmp3lame -ab 320k "${0/.flac}.mp3"' {} \;
> 
> The arguments for "bash -c" go like this:
> 
> bash -c '...' name one two three
> 
> And in '...' the arguments are in variables $0 (=name), $1 (=one), $2
> (=two), $3 (=three) etc. So:
> 
> find -name "*.flac" -exec \
> bash -c 'ffmpeg -i file:"$1" -c:a libmp3lame -ab 320k -y
> file:"${1%.flac}.mp3"' \
> foo {} \;
> 
Thanks Teemu that works perfectly some nicely converted radio shows
now, cheers.

> Note the "foo": it is saved to $0 ("shell's name") and and then the
> actual filename is in usual first positional parameter $1. We also
> want
> to have explicitl "file:" protocol with ffmpeg so that any
> "something:"
> prerix in filename is not interpreted as a protocol name. (See "man
> ffmpeg-protocols".)
> 
I never realised ffmpeg was as capable as that - impressive.

> But here's another way without double quoting:
> 
> while read -r -d $'\0' input; do
> ffmpeg -i file:"$input" -c:a libmp3lame -ab 320k \
> -y file:"${input%.flac}.mp3"
> done < <(find . -name '*.flac' -print0)
> 
This however doesn't work, what this snippet does is write the first 20
seconds of one of the .flacs to an mp3 (this is also the endpoint of
the opening jingle and so very short break/space in the track, as
produced by audacity - it may work on individual music tracks - not
tested that yet) and then goes off into CPU wonderland tying the
processors up at 100% until killed.

Cheers for the first one though I think I get what is happening in my
first attempt now, bash -c $0 always returned the same name to ffmpeg
for conversion.

Dom.

off topic! What is the error in this script

[Dominic Knight]

To convert a series of .flac files to .mp3 files I attempted to use the
following line;

> $ find -name "*.flac" -exec bash -c 'ffmpeg -i "{}" -y -acodec
libmp3lame -ab 320k "${0/.flac}.mp3"' {} \;

which I expected to find each flac and convert it to a corresponding
.mp3 however, it reads the first .flac only and rewrites it to all .mp3
files ie;

for flacs (a1 > a9) it reads a .flac and outputs mp3's (a1 > a9) but
all mp3's contain the original content of only a1.flac

Where have I gone wrong?

Cheers,
Dom.

Re: Sound Problem

[Dominic Knight]

On Sat, 2017-03-11 at 09:39 -0500, Stephen P. Molnar wrote:
> Up to date Jessie.
> 
> Sound worked until I turned power off to the external speakers.  The 
> sound has not been working since I turned the speakers back on.
> 
> If I run 'speaker-test' I get noise, but if I run 'speaker-test -c 2
> -t
> wav' I get 'front left' and 'front right' from the speakers.
> 
> I am using the on-board sound:
> 
> 01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 HDMI Audio Controller 
> (rev a1)
>   Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Device 809f
>   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
>   Memory at fe08 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>   Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
>   Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
>   Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
>   Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
> 
> I have proven, to my satisfaction, thanks to a suggestion from a 
> correspondent, that this is not a hardware problem.  I loaded the 
> Xubuntu 17.04 Live Desktop on the computer and the sound is live.
> 
> I would appreciate some help in solving this problem.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 

As you most likely have two sound cards, one on-board and one with the
video card (HDMI) it may be worthwhile installing pasystray as this may
give you better control over which card you want to use, lots of
options to reset sink, add modules etc. It helped me solve sound issues
in the past when switching between on-board headphones and HDMI to the
TV so worth a try at least.

Re: A minimal relational database in Debian

[Dominic Knight]

On Monday 27 February 2017 13:17:56 Richard Owlett wrote:
> I looked at at LibreOffice Base. It was unusable as its "help" system
> provided no intrinsic way to increase fonts to a legible size.

Would temporarily changing your dpi settings work, the help is
perfectly legible here, but I have increased dpi (96 > 132) rather than
font size as it is an across the board improvement for my monitor size.

Regards
Dom.

Re: Re: Reconfiguring grub2 UFEI system

[Dominic Knight]

oops, I notice it is solved now, must have missed those posts in the
digest somehow, I was thinking however that maybe it was a case of 'I
never installed that version of grub so I'm not going to write to it'
as you probably had a slightly different version from the one on SuSE,
I am no expert however so may be talking out of turn here.

Re: Reconfiguring grub2 UFEI system

[Dominic Knight]

On Sun, 2016-10-23 at 17:49 +0200, Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> Le 22/10/2016 à 23:17, Mark Neidorff a écrit :
> > On Friday, 10/21/16 10:19:47 PM Pascal Hambourg wrote:
> > 
> > > What is the output of "os-prober" ?
> > 
> > No output. (yes, I ran it as root)
> 
> Then no other system was detected and added to the GRUB menu when
> you 
> ran update-grub.
> 
> > > Are you sure the GRUB that shows up is the one from Debian ?
> > 
> > I'm not sure how to answer that question.  The first OS I installed
> > was
> > OpenSUSE.  Then I installed Debian 8.6 twice (on the two separate
> > drives in
> > the system).  All three of these entries are still there even after
> > running
> > update-grub.
> > 
> > I wouldn't care about the extra entries except that the OpenSUSE
> > entry is the
> > default.
> 
> Is openSUSE the first entry in the menu ? AFAICS, by default the
> first 
> entry in the menu is the OS which installed the active GRUB. So it
> looks 
> like it is openSUSE's GRUB, not Debian's one.
> 
>  From Debian, what it the ouput of the following commands ?
> 
> efibootmgr
> ls /boot/
> ls /boot/efi/EFI

Last time I used this (update-grub on fully updated Debian testing) a
few weeks back it did nothing for me either, however as a workaround
you can re-install/re-configure grub-pc and/or grub-pc-bin (via apt-
get, synaptic or your personal favourite installer) and that will
install the grub menu for you.  I think it was the first of these two
options (re-install grub-pc) that did the trick but just in case I
remember wrongly, I mention the other software too.

However, it probably needs tracking down as to why this no longer works
for all, so if you are willing, please continue to work through other
processes first.

Re: Failed to execute child process (no such file or directory), but the script DOES exist in $HOME/bin, openbox users, especially take a look, please.

[Dominic Knight]

On Thu, 2016-09-22 at 16:19 -0400, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> I've edited https://wiki.debian.org/LightDM and written
> https://wiki.debian.org/Xsession from scratch.  I hope this helps
> other
> people who were as lost and confused as I was.
> 
> If you're still wondering what kind of documentation I was looking
> for,
> you may use https://wiki.debian.org/Xsession as the answer.  That's
> what I wanted to see.  I will be able to point users to this page in
> the future.
> 
> Thanks to all who provided information.

There also used to be .Xresources to store information on fonts,
colours, window sizes and positions along with dpi, this I believe
was/is read by .Xsession. Unsure whether it is still used and/or
relevant?

Dom

Re: cant get to desktop anymore

[Dominic Knight]

On Mon, 2016-09-19 at 17:01 -0400, Ric Moore wrote:
> On 09/18/2016 09:42 PM, Frank McCormick wrote:
> > 
> > On 18/09/16 07:57 PM, Ric Moore wrote:
> > > 
> > > On 09/18/2016 06:00 PM, Kent West wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > On Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 3:28 PM, bell canada  > > > il.com
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > hello i installed debian 8 and i cant get into my
> > > > desktop..why plz
> > > > help
> > > > 
> > > > roberto
> > > > 438 881 9269 
> > > > all i get is ablack scren
> > > > even recory mode doesnt help
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Do you get to a login prompt at all (graphical or text-based)?
> > > > 
> > > > What happens if you press Ctrl-Alt-F2?
> > > If the OP would do that, login as his user and enter "startx", I
> > > bet a
> > > donut that he gets to his desktop. Mine is STILL boroken that way
> > > ...POS. synaptic isn't fixed yet.  Someone just shoot me.
> > > Ric
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> >   I'll shoot you if you promise to return the favor :) The whole
> > Mate
> > desktop is broken because of GTK 3.2whatever :)
> 
> I promise. The only upside is that all those Ubuntu users will be
> soon 
> crying like grandmothers. That is a sad way to think. 
> Ric
> 
> 
I can re-create this in some way although maybe not the same as the OP
as not enough information is given.

Normally when installing a secondary system on the box here, it would
format the swap space giving it a new UUID, I would get the prompt when
starting up about not being able to load the swap space, wait 90 secs
then boot without one and edit fstab to reflect the new UUID.
However, when not using nouveau drivers (in my case Nvidias latest
361.45.18-2 kernel modules) if the wrong UUID is present you will be
given a black screen and no possibility of using ctrl-alt-f1 > 7 only
command that works is ctrl-alt-del. Also recovery mode dumps you to the
exact same problem - plain black screen. 
Edit the fstab from another system and you are back to having a normal
log-in. 

Re: Jessie (8.0) slow to boot

[Dominic Knight]

On Wed, 2016-08-31 at 10:24 -0400, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 09:16:00AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > 
> > What's going on?
> > Are the messages that scroll past preserved anywhere?
> 
> When booting with systemd, the boot messages are stored in RAM
> automatically, and can be viewed by running "journalctl" as root.
> I'd definitely start there.

If it is the swap partition, it has probably been given a new UUID when
you installed a new/additional version of Debian. I use gparted to look
up the current UUID and then paste that over the relevant UUID in
/etc/fstab
Take care when using both gparted and writing to fstab.

Regards.