Re: BASH reference for those who are "learning by doing"?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Sep  9 09:07:11 2024
Anssi Saari  wrote:

> debian-u...@howorth.org.uk writes:
>
>> As a mere bifocal (well vari-focal) wearer can I suggest a different
>> approach. Stop wearing tri-focals or any other variable focus specs
>> for reading a computer screen. Tell them to get a [very cheap] pair
>> of single focus reading glasses made to suit the distance their
>> screen is away.
>
> I don't agree at all. I've used fixed focus glasses before but I find
> close range varifocals a huge upgrade. They're extremely useful for
> monitor work *and also* I can see and read things around me that fall
> outside the extremely narrow focus range of single focus reading
> glasses. I wonder if fixed focus even works for modern large two or
> three monitor setups? I suppose it's fine for a single small screen.
>
> So, not going back from my close range varifocals. I don't need
> glasses otherwise.

I can't imagine having to manage multiple pairs of glasses.  It would
drive me insane.  This would also be the consequence of having cataract
surgery that gives you perfect distance vision at the cost of your
close-up vision.  I'm nearsighted and have worn glasses since I was
about 10, so wearing glasses is no big deal for me.  I'm now wearing
progressive lenses; yes, they take some getting used to at first,
and you have to be careful on stairs, but on it's well worth the
convenience.  I put them on in the morning and take them off when
I go to bed - no worrying about where I left those damned reading
glasses.

When I got cataract surgery, I told the doctor to leave my nearsighted
vision the way it is and let the glasses handle it.  I can focus on
computer screens well enough, and when I'm driving the shift from the
instrument panel to distance and back has become automatic.  If I want
to look at something really close (like my wife's eyes), I take off my
glasses, or look over them.  Your mileage may vary.

I did once get a pair of single-focus glasses made that focused at the
distance of a computer screen (or music stand).  Just after I picked
them up, my eyes changed, and the glasses then focused at 8 feet.
Two hundred dollars wasted.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  We'll go down in history as
\ /|  the first society that wouldn't
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  save itself because it wasn't
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  cost-effective.  -- Kurt Vonnegut

Re: Random freezing on GNOME with AMDGPU

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed Jul  3 11:56:12 2024 Greg Marks  wrote:

> I'm not sure if this is related, but a couple years ago I had multiple
> computer freezes possibly caused by nouveau.  The screen froze; the
> keyboard and mouse were unresponsive.  (If I remember correctly, the
> mouse pointer could be moved around on the screen, but it wouldn't
> do anything.)  Sometimes I could ssh to the machine and run certain
> commands; often I would have to hold down the power button to force
> a shutdown and then start it back up (which produces lots of orphaned
> inodes until one does a clean reboot).



> Whether these issues are connected with the OP's problem, and whether
> the crashes have to do with nouveau or bad RAM or something else, I
> don't know.  My "solution" was to stop using software (e.g. certain
> Web browsers) that seemed to have been running at the time of the
> crashes.

My solution was to stop using nouveau.

--
cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)

Re: Copy from xterm to text editor........ [solved]

[Charlie]

On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:56:34 -0400
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 13, 2024 at 12:16:00PM +1000, Charlie wrote:
> > Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm
> > by Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C  So don't know how to copy from
> > xterm
> 
> xterm is a terminal emulator.  Pressing Ctrl-C in a terminal emulator
> simply passes a byte (0x03) to the application running inside the
> terminal, which is usually a shell.  But they're interpreted by the
> terminal driver layer first.  The stty command allows you to see or
> change the bindings of control characters by the terminal driver.
> 
> Ctrl-C is usually bound to the 'intr' facility in the terminal driver.
> Pressing it in a terminal sends the interrupt signal (SIGINT) to all
> running foreground processes.  It does not copy text.  That's a
> Windows thing, and you are not in Windows.
> 
> > Unable to paste  from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or
> > Shift
> > + Ctrl + V
> 
> Pressing Ctrl-V in a terminal emulator sends a byte (0x16) to the
> application.  At the terminal driver layer, Ctrl-V is usually bound
> to the 'lnext' facility (literal next).  It's like an escape sequence
> for keys.  The next key you press *after* Ctrl-V will lose its special
> meaning, and will just be passed along verbatim.
> 
> For example, if you press Ctrl-V Ctrl-C, it won't interrupt foreground
> processes.  Instead, it will simply pass the literal 0x03 byte to the
> application.  It becomes data.
> 
> hobbit:~$ printf ^C | hd
>   03|.|
> 0001
> 
> The ^C there is where I pressed Ctrl-V Ctrl-C.
> 
> Now, all of that is just background information.
> 
> What you wanted to know, I guess, is "how to copy text between
> terminals".
> 
> The first step is to highlight the text with the left mouse button.
> Drag the mouse over the text while holding the left button.  This
> creates a "selection" containing the text you've selected.
> 
> Next, click on the window that you want to paste the text *into*.  You
> need this window to have "focus".  Depending on your window manager,
> clicking may not actually be needed.  Some WMs use "focus follows
> mouse", which means the mouse pointer simply has to be inside the
> window.  Others use "click to focus" which means you have to click.
> 
> Once you've focused on the receiving window, press the middle mouse
> button to paste the selection into the second window.
> 
> (X11 uses three-button mice.  Everything is designed around this.)
> 
> If your mouse is too new or too Microsoft-tainted to have three
> buttons, then things get tricky.
> 
> If your mouse is literally an old PS/2 style two-button mouse from the
> 1980s, you might be in real trouble.  There are hacks to try to mimic
> the middle button in other ways, but you'll have to read documentation
> to learn how to invoke them.
> 
> Let's assume that's not the case.
> 
> If your mouse has two buttons plus a scroll wheel, you might be able
> to press the scroll wheel to act as the middle button.  Doing this
> without also *turning* the scroll wheel takes practice.  It can be
> done, at least sometimes.
> 
> So, that's how you copy and paste text between windows in X11.  You
> select with the left button, and paste with the middle button.
> 
> Obviously the world can't be that simple.  While X11 was developing
> this interface around three-button mice, Microsoft was building a
> different interface around two-button mice.
> 
> In the Microsoft paradigm, you copy by highlighting the text you want
> to copy, and then performing a second step.  That step might be
> right-clicking a menu and selecting "Copy".  Or it might be pressing
> Ctrl-C (but not in a terminal emulator).  Once you've performed this
> copy operation, the text is in a "clipboard", which is separate from
> the "selection".
> 
> Pasting text from the clipboard into a new window under the Microsoft
> paradigm is done by pressing Shift-Insert.  (Or by right-clicking a
> menu and selecting Paste, or by pressing Ctrl-V in some programs, but
> not in terminal emulators.)
> 
> Some programs that you run on Debian may use the Windows paradigm and
> put data into the clipboard instead of the selection.  For those
> things, you can try Shift-Insert instead of the middle button.  It's
> just another thing you might need to know/use.
> 
> Good luck.

Thank you to everyone who replied, it is much appreciated. Thank
you Greg, for your comprehensive exp

Copy from xterm to text editor........

[Charlie]

Using Debian bookworm updated and upgraded.

Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm by
Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C  So don't know how to copy from xterm

Unable to paste  from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

After a few years, am finally sick of attempting to discover how to do
it using all manner of keystrokes. Obviously not the right combination.
So would appreciate any help for something that works. If there is a
way to do it at all?

TIA
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Prejudice is opinion without judgement. -Voltaire

***

Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic

-

SOLVED: Re: Glitchy sound in Steam games after hard drive upgrade

[Charlie Gibbs]

On 2024-04-22 16:50, Jeffrey Walton wrote:


What are the old and new hard drive model numbers and specs?


Correction: the 4TB drive is a Western Digital WD40EFPX.  I was reading
it by shining a flashlight through a gap in the frame and squinting from
a wide angle because I didn't want to take the box apart yet again.

I've trying several of the suggestions people have kindly posted here.
The /etc directory on the new drive was getting messed up badly enough
that I decided to try copying the 500GB drive's root partition to the
4TB drive using dd.  The machine hung partway through the subsequent
boot.  So I wiped the root partition and re-installed Debian from
scratch, leaving the /home partition intact.

But the real magic was the re-installation of the Steam launcher.
Since my Portal icons were on my desktop, and clicking them made it
run (sort of), I was fooled into thinking everything was still there.
But I found a detailed set of instructions for installing Steam at
https://wiki.debian.org/Steam and followed them.  This installed or
overlaid the missing or broken parts and presto! my sound is now clean.

Many thanks to everyone for your help.  This a good lesson to not take
too many things for granted, and also to be a bit more adventurous.
(A full Debian re-install really doesn't take that long...)

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: Subject: Glitchy sound in Steam games after hard drive upgrade

[Charlie Gibbs]

On 2024-04-22 16:50, Jeffrey Walton wrote:


What are the old and new hard drive model numbers and specs?


The old drive is a Western Digital WD5000YS (500GB SATA).
The new drive is a Western Digital Red, WF40EFPX (4TB SATA).

If the old hard drive was spinning rust, it is acceptable to replace it 
with a solid state drive. I did it several times in the past. But 
nowadays a new machine usually (always?) comes with a SSD, so you 
usually don't need to upgrade for performance reasons.


Both drives are spinning rust.  I'm upgrading for the increased 
capacity, i.e. to store more MP3s and videos.


Many thanks to all who have replied.  When my schedule permits me to 
continue experimenting, I'm going to try copying /etc from the old drive 
to the new one.   I've already learned how _not_ to do this:


Boot from the new drive
$ su root
# cd /
# mv etc etc.ori
# rsync -av /mnt/backup/etc .

The second line makes the system fall over and makes logins impossible. 
It took a boot from the rescue CD to undo the damage, which fortunately 
was easy since the deadly step at least succeeded in backing up /etc.


Next time I'll do it while booted from the old drive.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Subject: Glitchy sound in Steam games after hard drive upgrade

[Charlie Gibbs]

I should probably be posting this to the Steam forums, but
most of the denizens there are Windows people so I might be
better off letting you Debian gurus have a go at it first.

TL;DR: Copying an existing /home into a fresh Debian installation
causes audio in Steam games to glitch - but all other sound is OK.

Full description:

I have a machine in the living room that stores MP3s and videos
and serves them to other machines on our network as well as playing
them locally on our TV's big screen.  I also play a few Steam games
(e.g. Portal) on it.  It's a 2007-vintage machine, but it has 8GB
of RAM and enough CPU power to do the job, and runs the latest
version of Bookworm.

Recently I decided to upgrade its storage capacity, and replaced
its 500GB hard drive (which was pretty large at the time I bought
it) with a 4TB drive.  I did an install from scratch using a
network install CD, then copied my /home partition (using rsync)
from the old drive.  Everything works great with one exception:
when I fire up Portal the sound gets glitches about once a second.
This only happens with Steam games; I can play MP3s and videos
with mpv and the sound is perfect, as it is when watching YouTube
videos.  If I swap the old drive back in everything is fine.

Obviously my Steam programs and configuration files are in my
home directory, since the updated system comes up icons and all
without re-installing Steam, and can find everything it needs to
run the games.  But perhaps there are a few files somewhere else
(/usr?) containing information critical to audio for Steam.

Any ideas?

(Side question: is this an acceptable way to upgrade a hard drive?)

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Issues after upgrading 11 -> 12

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 21:50:01 +0100
Michael =?utf-8?B?S2rDtnJsaW5n?= <2695bd53d...@ewoof.net> wrote:

> On 30 Jan 2024 10:14 -0800, from cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs):
>
>> VirtualBox, which I use heavily, has disappeard, so I'm going to
>> have to re-install some packages anyway.
>
> I'm pretty sure VirtualBox has not been shipped by Debian for quite a
> while because of its licensing status, so I guess you're relying on a
> third party package for that? (Probably Oracle's.) That's another
> thing that can easily cause complications during an upgrade, which is
> why the release notes recommend to disable third-party repositories
> before upgrading between releases and holding off on upgrading those
> packages until after the main system has been upgraded successfully;
> another detail that doesn't seem to be mentioned on the wiki page.

No worries, I'm used to installing VirtualBox afterwards.

> Semi-unrelated, but you might want to consider switching to KVM
> virtualization instead; it's supported by the stock kernel, making
> things easier. AQEMU is a fairly VirtualBox-like GUI front-end for it,
> and VMs can be converted (though especially if you're virtualizing
> Windows, I'm not sure how it takes to the changes in virtualized
> hardware). I switched from VirtualBox to KVM a while ago and haven't
> looked back.

I did some reading on KVM vs. VirtualBox.  For my application,
there didn't seem to be enough benefit to KVM to justify climbing
yet another learning curve.  As it turns out, re-installing
VirtualBox is now just a matter of going to Oracle's web site,
which contains one line you can add to /etc/apt/sources.list.
At this point you can just type
sudo apt install VirtualBox-7.0 (new version!)
Since its .vdi files (etc.) were already in $HOME, it came right up.
I told it to load guest extensions, and my Windows XP VM was up and
running again, complete with network and USB bridges.

>> Once I get this mess sorted out, I have one more machine to
>> upgrade.  I'll follow the release notes to the letter then,
>> and see whether I have better luck.
>
> For what it's worth, back when I upgraded my system from Bullseye to
> Bookworm (I think around the time 12.1 came out) closely following the
> release notes, the process was smooth, including Xfce and X11.

To be honest, most of my upgrades have gone smoothly too.  Maybe
I was becoming complacent and got careless - and if things go wrong,
they can go _very_ wrong.

For now, though, my laptop is happily running 12.4.  It occurs to
me that a full install from scratch isn't really that big a thing
if /home is intact.  I'll be occasionally finding a package that
isn't installed, but that's a matter of 30 seconds to install it;
it'll find its old configuration files in $HOME and all will be well.

Thanks, everyone, for your help.  Hopefully I'll remember some lessons
I can take to my next upgrade.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: Issues after upgrading 11 -> 12; was: Is 12.4 safe, or should I wait for 12.5?

[Charlie Gibbs]

[Sorry about the broken threads; I read this group on Usenet.]

On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 08:50:01 +0100
Michael =?utf-8?B?S2rDtnJsaW5n?= <2695bd53d...@ewoof.net> wrote:

> On 29 Jan 2024 19:54 -0800, from cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs):
>
>> Today I took a thorough backup of my laptop and dove in, using the
>> instructions at https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUpgrade as a guide.
>
> Did you actually follow _that_ page, or did you read and follow the
> _release notes_ as it says near the top of that page?

Mea culpa.  I used the wiki.

> As a rule the release notes for a release should be considered the
> authoritative truth about upgrading to any given release from the
> immediately preceding release. (Skipping releases is not supported and
> strongly discouraged.) There are also meaningful differences in system
> setup between 11 and 12, not least non-free-firmware (which, were it
> just that, would be easy enough to add after the fact).

Noted.  Hopefully I'll remember to go there first the next time I do
an upgrade, rather than following the first page that comes up in my
search engine.

> A plain Debian release upgrade should not switch your desktop
> environment on its own, and last I looked Xfce wasn't yet compatible
> with Wayland, so although I haven't looked in detail, it seems likely
> that your issues are related to something which you did or did not do
> during the upgrade process.

That seems the obvious conclusion.  I was pretty gobsmacked, though,
when my system came up in a totally different graphical environment.
Even though I've had strange things happen in other upgrades, this one
takes it to a whole new level.  I'm obviously playing with dynamite.

> Do you have a "script" transcript of the upgrade session (as the
> release notes also strongly recommend [1] in case there are problems)?
>
> [1]: 
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#record-session


Alas, no.  Again, something to remember for next time.

Although just about everything seems to be there, I feel uneasy
enough about the whole thing that I think I'll just re-format the
root partition (while leaving the separate /home partition intact)
and install Bookworm from scratch.  VirtualBox, which I use heavily,
has disappeard, so I'm going to have to re-install some packages
anyway.  This isn't the first time I've had to do this; when
I tried to upgrade this same laptop from (IIRC) Stretch to Buster,
I was left with an unbootable machine.

The takeaway (for me, anyway) is that upgrading a system is a
complicated and hazardous process which requires a lot of study
before attempting it.  Often it goes smoothly, but when it
doesn't I"m in for a world of hurt.  So it goes.

Once I get this mess sorted out, I have one more machine to
upgrade.  I'll follow the release notes to the letter then,
and see whether I have better luck.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Is 12.4 safe, or should I wait for 12.5?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:20:01 +0100 Greg Wooledge 
wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 24, 2024 at 11:52:04AM -0800, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> I updated my main machine to Bookworm (12.2, kernel 6.1.0.13-amd64)
>> some time ago and it's running well.
>>
>> I read the fuss about EXT4 file system corruption.  At first
>> I got the impression that this happened in 12.4, but further digging
>> suggests that the bug was in 12.3, fixed in 12.4.  Is this the case,
>> or should I wait for 12.5 before updating my other machines?
>
> Yes, it's fixed.  The current stable kernel ABI is 6.1.0-17, which is
> from a security update post 12.4.
> <https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2024/msg0.html>
>
> The data corruption bug was initially fixed by a kernel which had a
> major bug in a Wifi support module.  The kernel after *that* was the
> first safe one.  And now we have -17 which is that plus some more
> security fixes.  Upgrading is recommended.

Thanks, Greg - and everyone else who answered - for the reassurances.
Today I took a thorough backup of my laptop and dove in, using the
instructions at https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUpgrade as a guide.
The process went smoothly, as always, so I took a deep breath and
performed the scariest step of all: re-booting.

It took a while, but being the first boot on a new system I gave it some
slack (no pun intended).  Then the screen painted and... what the HELL
happened to my desktop?  It looked more like my wife's Macbook than
good old Xfce.  The only way I could get a command prompt was to SSH
in from another machine (at least the networking came up OK).  I can
run slrn remotely - which is how I read this list - and I can even run
my preferred web browser, Seamonkey, from that remote command line.

A bit more web searching came up with these commands:

$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

$

(Well, maybe since it's a remote login it doesn't work properly.)

$ ps -e | grep -E -i "xfce|kde|gnome"

Omigod, I'm infested with GNOMEs!  What happened to Xfce?
This didn't happen when I upgraded my main machine, although
it went to 12.2, not the 12.4 that's on my laptop.  And the
damned thing hibernates - making my SSH session hang - rather
than running xscreensaver.  (OK, I found a setting to stop
the hibernation, but Jamie Zawinski's pride and joy is still
nowhere to be found.)

However, I can make the laptop's screen display a settings
window, which contains interesting things like:

OS Name  Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
OS Type  64-bit
GNOME version  43.9  (Aha!)
Windowing SystemWayland  (WHAT!?)

I followed the update steps exactly, accepting all defaults.
Well, there was one thing: since I was already at a root
prompt after doing my backup, I just typed "apt-get "
rather than prefixing the commands with "sudo".  Could this
cause such a drastic change?  And if so, it would be nice if
the documentation warned about it.  Xfce to GNOME?  Xorg to
Wayland?  That's pretty extreme.

I'm not yet ready to wipe it and restore my backup, but there's
only so much time I'm willing to spend tinkering with this.
I regularly use my laptop for work on the road, and I'm
trying to minimize my downtime.

I don't understand it - when I upgraded my main machine,
everything went smooth as butter, and my desktop and all
applications were left exactly as is.  But on my laptop,
the only thing that appears intact is the contents of /home.
Can anyone suggest what happened and how to fix it?

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Is 12.4 safe, or should I wait for 12.5?

[Charlie Gibbs]

I updated my main machine to Bookworm (12.2, kernel 6.1.0.13-amd64)
some time ago and it's running well.  My laptop, and the media box in
the living room, are still running Bullseye.  I was about to update
them when I read the fuss about EXT4 file system corruption.  At first
I got the impression that this happened in 12.4, but further digging
suggests that the bug was in 12.3, fixed in 12.4.  Is this the case,
or should I wait for 12.5 before updating my other machines?

Just looking for re-assurance before I take the plunge.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Re: counting commas

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Jan 21 10:12:00 2024 John Hasler  wrote:

> Roy J. Tellason writes:
>> Where does that leave those of us that wrote c for CP/M?
> I wrote:
>> Or for MTS?
> Gene writes:
>> That, i've not heard of John, please expand.
>
> Michigan Terminal System.  A multi-user OS running on the Amdahl
> 470V/6 at the University of Michigan.

It goes back well before that (or even C, for that matter).
At the end of 1968, when I was a freshman at the University
of B.C., they replaced their IBM 7044 with a 360/67.
It ran MTS from day one.

I've never programmed C on a mainframe.  It sounds weird.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: difference in seconds between two formatted dates ...

[Charlie Gibbs]

On 2023-12-25 18:05, Jeffrey Walton wrote:


On Mon, Dec 25, 2023 at 8:43 PM Charlie Gibbs  wrote:


On Mon Dec 25 12:01:59 2023 "Andrew M.A. Cater"  wrote:


Yes - that's the obvious way. I set my machines to /etc/UTC (or
/etc/GMT) and leave them there. No daylight saving time, no offsets -
all logs unambiguous. That's why (worldwide) radio logkeeping is/was
in UTC. If you're travelling in an aircraft, you don't _need_ to know
ground time but you do need to know flight time against a reference
time. The Royal Air Force keep to UTC wherever they are in the world
for just this reason.


Not just the RAF.  All aviation works in UTC, to avoid problems when
flights cross time zone boundaries, and to keep wide-area weather
forecasts sane.  Your average airline passenger never sees UTC,
since airlines use it behind the scenes and convert it to local time
for display purposes.  (That's why you can see some strange intervals
between departure and arrival times.)


The US airlines I worked for in the late 1980s and 1990s used Zulu
time. If I recall correctly, flight arrivals and departures were
specified like 10:34Z or 23:10Z.

I don't know why Z was used instead of UTC or GMT. Probably to save
space, and save some ink if a schedule was printed.


Not to mention time, back in the days when weather data was broadcast
across networks of Baudot Teletypes running at 45 baud.


I don't know if that is still the case.


It is.  In fact, even though weather data has evolved somewhat, it is
still in a highly compressed form which, once you learn to read it,
enables you to scan a lot of data very quickly.  Here's a copy of
this hour's METARs (weather observations) and TAF (terminal area
forecast) for Vancouver, B.C.  Note the Z at the end of many times
(ddhhmmZ), although the Z is omitted if this wouldn't be ambiguous.

METAR CYVR 270300Z 08010KT 20SM SCT140 OVC160 08/05 A2998 RMK AC3AS5 SLP155=
METAR CYVR 270200Z 09007KT 20SM OVC160 08/05 A3000 RMK AC8 SLP161=
METAR CYVR 270100Z CCA 05010G15KT 25SM BKN150 BKN170 09/05 A3002 RMK 
AC5AC3 SLP168=
METAR CYVR 270100Z 05010G15KT 25SM BKN150 BKN170 09/05 A3002 RMK AC4AC3 
SLP168=


TAF CYVR 270304Z 2703/2806 09008KT P6SM FEW080 OVC160
FM271100 09012G22KT P6SM SCT040 OVC100 TEMPO 2711/2715 P6SM
-SHRA FEW020 BKN040 OVC080
FM271500 09012G22KT P6SM BKN040 OVC120
FM271800 10012G22KT P6SM BKN080 OVC150
FM272200 10012G22KT P6SM -SHRA BKN020 OVC040
FM280400 11015G25KT P6SM FEW040 SCT120 BKN200
RMK NXT FCST BY 270600Z=

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Re: difference in seconds between two formatted dates ...

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Dec 25 12:01:59 2023 "Andrew M.A. Cater"  wrote:

> Yes - that's the obvious way. I set my machines to /etc/UTC (or
> /etc/GMT) and leave them there. No daylight saving time, no offsets -
> all logs unambiguous. That's why (worldwide) radio logkeeping is/was
> in UTC. If you're travelling in an aircraft, you don't _need_ to know
> ground time but you do need to know flight time against a reference
> time. The Royal Air Force keep to UTC wherever they are in the world
> for just this reason.

Not just the RAF.  All aviation works in UTC, to avoid problems when
flights cross time zone boundaries, and to keep wide-area weather
forecasts sane.  Your average airline passenger never sees UTC,
since airlines use it behind the scenes and convert it to local time
for display purposes.  (That's why you can see some strange intervals
between departure and arrival times.)

As a side note, a similar dichotomy applies to airport designators;
passengers and baggage handlers only see the three-letter IATA codes
(e.g. YYZ for Toronto), while flight plans are filed using the 4-letter
ICAO codes (e.g. CYYZ for Toronto).  For the most part, Canadian ICAO
codes are the IATA code with a C in front, and American ICAO codes are
the IATA code with a K in front - but there are exceptions.  And ICAO
codes cover all registered airports, not just those with scheduled
airline service.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Linux supprt

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue Nov 14 13:25:36 2023 Nicholas Geovanis 
wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 13, 2023, 12:35 PM  wrote:
>
>> But yes, in a way convenience can drown out freedom. See that other
>> thread in this mailing list about mail providers. All people flocking
>> to gmail although it's clear that Google would like to kill mail
>> as we know it.
>
> But mail as "they" know it has nothing to do with transport or
> networking. They know it as a service not as anything else.
> Like electricity. The "freedom" to exchange email is what
> matters to them.

Especially if they can control that freedom.

> Just about everyone in the developed countries permits and is ok
> with their electric/telecom/heating service coming from a monopoly,
> oligoploy, or government-owned entity. So the same situation for
> email is ok with them as long as the cost is low.

The difference with utilities like electricity is that they are
_regulated_ monopolies.  There is at least a bit of government
oversight to make sure the electricity provider doesn't gouge
its subscribers too badly.  Tech giants like Google, etc. are
_unregulated_ monopolies, who can do whatever they want to us
without having the government come after them.  In Canada they're
threatening to cut off news feeds in retaliation for the government's
attempts to make them pay news providers for the data they're
redistributing.  Most people are too ignorant to realize that
this is an idle threat - there are plenty of other sources of
news - but they've already meekly accepted the tech corps. as
de facto monopolies.

"You get what you settle for."
  -- Thelma and Louise

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ /|  Apple is a cult.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Linux is anarchy.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  Pick your poison.

Re: Date time problem bookworm, fvwm....

[Charlie]

On Sun, 22 Oct 2023 10:13:59 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Charlie wrote:
> > The date on that system is one day in advance and one hour late. Not
> > terrible,
> > However after a short period 100% of one of the CPU cores is used,
> > noisy running, and top -c shows this as the user:
> > /usr/libexe/fvwm2/2.7.0/FvwmScript 17 4 none 0 8 FvwmScript
> > DateTime  
> 
> Looking at
>   
> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fvwmorg/fvwm3/main/default-config/FvwmScript-DateTime
> and reading "man FvwmScript" i'd say that the promised 1-second
> waiting period of "PeriodicTasks" is heavily shortened by the clock
> peculiarity.
> 
> 
> > Managed to get date and time right with the ntp commands, set
> > location etc., on Gkrellm at least. But the fvwm clock had frozen
> > up and stopped.  
> 
> That's quite normal with periodic jobs when the system time gets
> changed backward. Possibly the clock would come back to life after
> the last shown time is reached again 23 hours later.
> 
> 
> > Then tried to set the date manually with hwclock but no joy.  
> 
> Please detail "no joy":
> Does hwclock show the future time after rebooting if you have set it
> to the right time before rebooting ?
> (Or is it only the system clock which hops ahead ?)
> Does hwclock get changed to the future time without rebooting ?
> 
> 
> > Removing FvwmScript which I can't open to edit removes the clock
> > from the FVWM taskbar,  
> 
> Does this solve the problem with the future time ?
> 
> 
> > And haven't tried to
> > but Gkrellm is now using the same time?  
> 
> (I don't understand this statement. Maybe it's important for finding
> the explanation.)
> 
> 
> > It would appear to be an fvwm problem  
> 
> The fast running CPU might be related to poor handling of weird times
> by FvwmScript.
> 
> But for now i doubt that fvwm sets the system date on its own.
> 
> 
> Have a nice day :)
> 
> Thomas
> 

Thank you for the link Thomas. I removed the clock from the
FVWM task bar and Gkrellm now dis[pays the right time. So a fix
of sorts with which I can live.

I was going to install fluxbox, which I used many years ago before FVWM
just to see what that clock said. Luckily didn't need to because the
clock came up correct. Dreaded doing that anyway, being a bit long in
the tooth to start relearning another window manager.

So thank you for your help.
Charlie

Date time problem bookworm, fvwm....

[Charlie]

Hello All,

Have a a Dell Vostro laptop: Bookworm up to date and
upgraded operating system to that state. Using FVWM window
manager.

The date on that system is one day in advance and one hour late. Not
terrible,

However after a short period 100% of one of the CPU cores is used,
noisy running, and top -c shows this as the user:
/usr/libexe/fvwm2/2.7.0/FvwmScript 17 4 none 0 8 FvwmScript DateTime

Managed to get date and time right with the ntp commands, set location
etc., on Gkrellm at least. But the fvwm clock had frozen up and stopped.

On reboot went back to a day ahead and an hour late even on Gkrellm.

Then tried to set the date manually with hwclock but no joy.

Removing FvwmScript which I can't open to edit removes the clock from
the FVWM taskbar, if that is what it is called. And haven't tried to
but Gkrellm is now using the same time?

It would appear to be an fvwm problem so I may be wise to move to
another window manager. However thought I would ask here first, in case
someone had the same problem or some clue to solve it.

TIA
Charlie

[disclaimer]

Any replies from me may be late because, can not afford to run my
generator all day.

[end disclaimer]
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

I scarcely remember counting upon any Happiness—I look not for
it if it be not in the present hour—nothing startles me beyond
the Moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights—or if
a Sparrow come before my Window I take part in its existence
and pick about the Gravel. JOHN KEATS

***
Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic
___

Re: trying to make gkerelln show motherbord temp and voltages

[Charlie]

On Sun, 17 Sep 2023 10:26:51 +0100
Phil Wyett  wrote:

> Both gkrellm and especially mbmon are very dated and IMHO should not
> be used with newer hardware as they likely do not fit requirements.

Interesting Phillip. 

I am running Bookworm on older hardware, and all the glitches
experienced, have blamed on Bookworm. I think it was released still
containing many bugs?

6.1.0-12-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.52-1 (2023-09-07)
x86_64 GNU/Linux

• The address bar in Claws Mail is flaky, It doesn't show the addresses
  unless you use the scroll bar and then you can see each one, after a
  fashion. If you try to type in the address, is splits it up and puts
  some of the address on a differently line. So the emails don't send,
  because the address is incorrect.

• The touch pad cursor is twitchy sometimes and a real pain to with work
  sometimes.

• LyX doesn't allow you to change the Latex(pdflatex) file formats
  to evince so it works, uses Gimp because it was installed after
  evince.

• WIFI connection drops out after hibernating.

Some of the issues I am working through. However, I thought this was
Bookworm as this hardware worked well with Bullseye.

Will get there eventually.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Wisdom is always an over match for strength. -Phaedrus

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Chromium under Xfce/bookworm anyone?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed Sep 13 10:22:29 2023 David Wright  wrote:

> On Wed 13 Sep 2023 at 08:24:27 (-0400), Celejar wrote:
>
>> I have no choice - there's at least one important site (of a major
>> financial institution) that I need that simply doesn't work with
>> Firefox.

Tell me about it.  I normally use Seamonkey (a Firefox variant),
but even the latest Firefox didn't work.

> Usual question: what does "doesn't work" mean?

I can do most of my online banking with Seamonkey/Firefox, but when
trying to activate a new credit card I got halfway into a set of
screens that I don't normally access, and things just hung.

I decided I might as well waste as much of the bank's time as they
were wasting of mine, so I went down to my local branch and managed
to get a supervisor.  The first thing he did was ask me which
browser I was using.  I told him I was using Firefox, and he said,
"Never heard of it."  (!)

He turned around his terminal so I could get at it, and I went through
the same steps as I had tried at home.  Naturally, since it was running
their anointed browser (Microsoft Edge), everything went smoothly.
I pointed out that this is a form of discrimination, and left the bank
muttering things about digital racism.  Since the supervisor wasn't
Caucasian, this had a gratifying effect.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They offer a huge range of
\ /|  world-class vulnerabilities
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  that only Microsoft can provide.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- druck 

Re: su

[Charlie]

On Tue, 5 Sep 2023 23:41:45 -0400
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> To perform that installation, you run "su", which gives you a root
> shell, and then you do something like "make install".
> 
> But the Red Hat answer says you should use "su -" instead, to become
> root. What happens now?  You've created a login shell.  Now you're no
> longer in the directory where your source code was extracted and
> compiled. You're in root's $HOME directory.  So "make install" fails.
> 
> You could use a "cd" command to get to the source code.  But "cd -"
> won't work, because the previous working directory is not known to
> the root login shell.  The root login shell has intentionally
> discarded everything from your previous shell, including the old
> working directory's name. So you can't "cd -", but instead, you have
> to re-type the entire path to the source code directory.  Or copy and
> paste it out of your shell prompt, if that's still visible on the
> screen, and if it happens to contain the entire path.
> 
> Wouldn't it be *nicer* if su simply WORKED?!
> 
> You can make su work by creating a ONE-LINE CONFIGURATION FILE.

Thank you Greg
-- 
**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down
and lifting people up.-- John Holmes

***
Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic
___

Re: Looking for a good "default" font (small 'L' vs. capital 'i' problem)

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Aug 21 16:23:25 2023 "Christoph K."  wrote:

> Am Sun, 20 Aug 2023 21:41:04 +
> schrieb "Russell L. Harris" :
>
>> On the 3, 5, 6, and 9, open the end of the loops, and shorten the
>> horizontal stroke on top of the 5 so the 5 is not mistaken for an S.
>> Always put horizontal strokes on I.  Make the 1 with a flag on the
>> upper end and put a horizontal stroke on the 7, German-style.  My
>> handwriting is a odd mixture of cursive script and printing.
>
> Thanks for sharing!
>
> Really interesting ... I'm already implementing all of these "rules".
> I learnt to write the 7 in German style because I live in Germany ;-)

Here on the west coast of Canada the stroke through the 7 isn't too
common, although I do see it from time to time.  I avoid it because
it makes a 7 look like certain script forms of the letter F (see the
Fender guitar logo, for instance).

> We also learned to put a "flag" on the 1 in school. I was surprised to
> see other people don't. To me it's quite confusing to see 1 just as a
> straight line.

When I was 8 years old I started writing the numeral 1 with the "flag".
I quickly stopped, because everyone confused it with 7.

This leaves the lower-case L.  It was a long time before this became
a problem, either because I didn't use them frequently or because
readers could figure it out from context.  (This was in my pre-computer
days.)  Now if there's a potential problem I'll put a little hook on
the bottom, similar to many computer fonts.  The vertical bar... well,
I'll either make it noticeably taller than other characters on the line,
or I'll write nearby 1s with both a flag and a bottom line.  It's a
bit of a compromise that I deal with on an individual basis.

> I don't remember when I startet to put bars on the 'I', probably
> during my studies of electrical engineering when we used lots of
> formulas.

I think I used them right from the beginning, so that wasn't a problem.

> I also have a "mixed handwriting" with some ligatures (for example on
> the double 'l'). For the small 's' I use two different glyphs (not on
> purpose) that usually depend on my mood. For a long time I wasn't even
> aware I was doing this :-)

Interesting.  I went through something like that when I started cursive
writing.  When writing a contraction I'd write the whole word and then
go back and place the apostrophe between the appropriate two letters -
except when writing "o'clock", where for some reason I would leave a
break after the "o".  Go figure.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: why bookworm isn't called deb12?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri, 07 Jul 2023 23:10:01 +0200 John Hasler  wrote:

> Bret writes:
>
>> With bits and bytes, one strange thing that I remember, is that, in
>> 1985, in Australia, a particular computer was introduced, that had a
>> 32 bit processor with 8 bit buses. It was a Motorola 68008 CPU, and,
>> I could not understand why a company would produce a 32 bit CPU wit
>> 8 bit buses.
>
> That processor was targeted at embedded systems and it made sense in
> some applications.  I don't understand why anyone would put it in a
> desktop.

For the same reason that IBM put the 8088 (an 8086 with an 8-bit bus)
into their original Personal Computer: to save money by interfacing
with existing 8-bit support chips.  In addition, rumour has it that
the 8-bit bus helped cripple the machine enough to not pose a
marketing threat to their other product lines.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: why bookworm isn't called deb12?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri Jul  7 09:59:56 2023 fxkl4...@protonmail.com wrote:

>> Microsoft for good or bad has made major advances in software

Yup.  Like surveillance, flakiness, and an endless merry-go-round
of forced upgrades into ever-increasing bloatware.

>> and is responsible for a fair fraction of what we experience in
>> our Linux world.

And the Taliban is responsible for a fair fraction of what we
experience in our Western world.  So what?

> true
> if microsoft had ever produced a decent product
> linux may not have ever become as popular as it is

"The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck
is the day they make vacuum cleaners."  -- unknown

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Microsoft is not
\ /|  a necessary evil.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Microsoft is not necessary.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Ted Nelson (paraphrased)

Re: Cable colors and urban legends

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Jun  5 09:58:04 2023 gene heskett  wrote:

> I could go on with my war stories, but I'm boring the list
> with off topic rattling. Just suffice to say I've BT & DT many times.

Come on over to alt.folklore.computers.  It exists to exchange war stories.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: repeat of previous question that has gone unansweredseveraltimes.

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sat May  6 21:11:09 2023 Alex King  wrote:

> Printing on Linux is poor.  CUPS is poor.  It doesn't work for some (a
> lot?) of people.
>
> I have a Brother HL-L2300D printer.  It is connected to my (Debian
> bullseye) workstation by USB.  I have CUPS installed.
>
> My printer prints sometime.  Other times, it spins up (makes a noise
> like it is about to start printing), but nothing comes out. I can't
> get any useful diagnostics to tell me where the problem might be.
>
> My parents, who live some distance away have an HP inkjet printer.
> It works sometimes.  Other times it doesn't.  I get it set up so it's
> working and it might work for a while, but it will stop working for
> no reason.



I've managed to get CUPS working reasonably well, although occasionally
I lose the ability to print.  Although I don't have a permanent fix,
going into CUPS by pointing a web browser at localhost:631, removing
the printer, and adding it back in gets things going again.  My printer
is connected via Ethernet; I suspect that power outages might cause
DHCP to give it a different IP address when it comes back up, and CUPS
gets confused.

Since you 're using a USB connection, this might not help you - but you
might try removing and re-adding the printer anyway.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: EPSON ET M 1120 new printer: If You can read this, you are using the wrong driver

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue, 02 May 2023 13:40:01 +0200 "Thomas Schmitt"  
wrote:


> Hi,
>
> i wrote:
>
>>> i see 100% non-Hanlon opinions including a "sudo rm -R /"
>>> assassination attempt.
>
> to...@tuxteam.de wrote:
>
>> Murder by a Hanlon razor. Now that would be... something.
>
> It would only be deadly if the assassination target is indeed stupid
> and not just pretending.
>
>> Perhaps this is just a dark tentacle of ChatGPT, probing the
>> more fringe aspects of human psychology.
>
> Some german list members speculated about a psychology or sociology
> experiment going on. Nevertheless i think to have observed Sophie
> before ChatGPT (but after ELIZA).
>
>> It's coming from a Microsoft domain, after all.
>
> What is our position on Microsoft Inc. and Hanlon's Razor ?

I don't know about your position, but I find myself repeating
Hanlon's Razor a lot: "Never ascribe to malice that which can
adequately be explained by stupidity."  But then, in the back
of my mind, a little voice replies: "But Microsoft isn't stupid!"

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ /|  Apple is a cult.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Linux is anarchy.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  Pick your poison.

Re: disk usage for /usr/lib on bullseye

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue, 02 May 2023 18:10:01 +0200 David Wright 
 wrote:


> On Tue 02 May 2023 at 11:39:09 (-0400), The Wanderer wrote:
>
>> It's a pointless thing to discuss, in any case, since I have been
>> unable to think of essentially any reason why anyone would ever want
>> to do any such thing.
>
> It makes me think of that gruesome cartoon where a meat mincer's
> handle is being turned by an arm emerging from the funnel.

Oh yes, the one with the police inspector who dryly observes:
"It's the most determined case of suicide I've ever seen."

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

thunderbird missing arrows for scrolling through list of email messages

[charlie derr]

Greetings fine free software people.

A number of years ago, the little arrows at the top and bottom of the scrollbar 
to the right of my "message list" view in thunderbird (I'm currently using 
debian stable) disappeared. As I have a huge number of emails in my work inbox 
(not this account), this means that in order to "gradually" move backwards or 
forwards through the list of messages, I am forced to use 
mouse/trackpad/scrollwheel features (usually two fingers on my trackpad) as 
there is not enough "granularity" for me to pick up the scrollbar and move it 
(there's no way I can be accurate enough not to jump past many hundreds or even 
thousands of messages when I do this). 

I use KDE on one computer and Gnome Classic on others. Neither of these seems 
to provide for the "old school" arrows at the top and bottom of the scrollbar 
in the GUI which I can click on and hold (it used to be possible to do this and 
then have the messages scroll by at a speed which allowed me to notice what's 
going by and stop when i see a subject, recipient or sender that is relevant 
and so which I want to stop and open the message).

Any clue whether it's possible (by using a different window manager, 
configuring something in tbird, and/or by other means) to regain that older 
(and for me, very useful!) functionality, GUI-feature, or whatever the proper 
way to describe/categorize these widgets that disappeared might be?

thanks so very very much in advance for any links to documentation, 
direction, guidance, advice, information, etc...
~c

P.S. CCs directly to me are fine (but I'll check the list for a few days too).

Second monitor doesn't quite work

[Charlie Gibbs]

Last week I replaced my video card.  The old one, made by Zotac, 
contains the Nvidia GT630 chip set.  It has two DVI outputs, which I 
used to feed two monitors: a BenQ GL2760 and my trusty old Sharp 
LL-T19D1-B.  The new card (ASUS with the GT730 chip set) has only one 
DVI output, but also has HDMI; I switched the BenQ monitor over to its 
HDMI input.


I used the Nvidia X Server Settings utility to set up the displays; it 
detected both monitors.  I set it up to use the larger BenQ monitor as 
the primary display, but when I boot the system the POST and boot 
messages come up on the Sharp monitor.  Once the boot is complete, the 
desktop appears on the BenQ monitor.  The Sharp is black; I can move the 
mouse pointer over it but no windows will open on it.  If I try to drag 
an existing window from the BenQ to the Sharp, it flips into an 
alternate desktop.  Interestingly, xscreensaver finds both monitors and 
displays on both.  However, xrandr can only find the BenQ monitor 
(HDMI-0); the Sharp monitor (DVI-D-0) doesn't show up.


I tried swapping the monitors, but that just caused everything from boot 
to desktop to appear on the Sharp monitor; the BenQ stayed black (except 
for the mouse pointer and xscreensaver output).


I'm running Bullseye.  Originally I was using versio 390.xx of the 
Nvidia driver, but upgrading to 470.161.03 had no effect.


Any idea why the second monitor is sort of there but not quite?  Below 
is a copy of the xorg.conf generated by the Nvidia setup utility.


# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 470.141.03

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen  0  "Screen0" 0 0
Screen  1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice"Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice"Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load   "dbe"
Load   "extmod"
Load   "type1"
Load   "freetype"
Load   "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName  "BenQ GL2760"
HorizSync   30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 76.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName  "Sharp LL-T19D1-B"
HorizSync   31.0 - 68.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
BusID  "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen  0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
BusID  "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen  1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor"Monitor0"
DefaultDepth24
Option "Stereo" "0"
Option "metamodes" "HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
Option "SLI" "Off"
Option "MultiGPU" "Off"
Option "BaseMosaic" "off"
SubSection "Display"
Depth   24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Device1"
Monitor"Monitor1"
DefaultDepth24
Option "Stereo" "0"
Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
Option "metamodes" "DVI-D-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 
{AllowGSYNC=Off}"

Option "SLI" "Off"
Option "MultiGPU" "Off"
Option "BaseMosaic" "off"
SubSection "Display"
Depth   24
EndSubSection
EndSection

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: Black screens on old nVidia card

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed Apr 12 21:44:23 2023 Charles Curley
 wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Apr 2023 10:59:43 -0700
> Charlie Gibbs  wrote:
>
>> $ cat /etc/debian_version
>> 11.5
>
> Hmm, the current version is 11.6. Maybe there's a fix in the upgrades
> you haven't yet installed???

Dunno.  But the display has always been a bit flaky.  Things got
really bad after my annual vacuuming of the box.

>> [ 1406.213319] NVRM: GPU at PCI::01:00:
>> GPU-d7903bd4-9549-9f07-5796-886c12d2031c
>> [ 1406.213322] NVRM: Xid (PCI::01:00): 79, GPU has fallen off the
>> bus. [ 1406.213324] NVRM: GPU at :01:00.0 has fallen off the bus.
>
> ??? I wonder if the card has an electrical problem? Thermal?
>
>> Yes, that video card is pretty long in the tooth; I'd gladly replace
>> it if a new board will solve the problem.  (If not, why bother?
>> It works well enough for my purposes.)
>
> How much is your time worth? Buying a new inexpensive card may be less
> expensive than tracking this down. Maybe your local computer store
> will lend you a test video card???

Perhaps.  I went there after the vacuuming I mentioned above, which
left the machine unable to light the screens at all.  Their tech
reseated a few things I missed and tweaked things a bit.  That made
it work again (for a while, at least), and they were kind enough
to not even charge me, so I think it's worth going back and buying
a new video card from them.

Thanks for the help.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Black screens on old nVidia card

[Charlie Gibbs]

My tower (running Bullseye) has been suffering the black screen
of... well, not quite death (I can ssh in from another machine and
look at things), but it's certainly unusable for normal purposes.
I have an old nVidia video card; I've always had a bit of trouble
with it, but things got better when I replaced nouveau with the
appropriate proprietary nVidia driver (currently version 390.157).
But lately things have been getting worse; it might be only minutes
before my screens go black, and the only way to get things back is
to ssh in from another machine and force a re-boot, or reach for
the Big Red Switch.

$ uname -a
Linux killer-penguin 5.10.0-19-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.10.149-2 
(2022-10-21) x86_64 GNU/Linux


$ lsb_release -a
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Release:11
Codename:   bullseye

$ cat /etc/debian_version
11.5

$ lspci -v
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 
630] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)

!!! Unknown header type 7f
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidia

$ top
top - 09:16:25 up  1:08,  2 users,  load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00
Tasks: 192 total,   2 running, 190 sleeping0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s): 25.0 us,  0.0 sy,  0.0 ni, 71.3 id,  0.1 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si, 
0.0 st

MiB Mem :   7900.4 total,   6840.5 free,513.5 used,546.7 buff/cache
MiB Swap:  16384.0 total,  16384.0 free,  0.0 used.   7126.4 avail Mem

PID USER  PR  NIVIRTRESSHR S  %CPU  %MEM Time+ 
Command

865 root  20   0  278732 105992  55708 R 100.0   1.3  48:37:59 Xorg

A tail of dmesg yields the following messages:

[ 1406.213319] NVRM: GPU at PCI::01:00: 
GPU-d7903bd4-9549-9f07-5796-886c12d2031c

[ 1406.213322] NVRM: Xid (PCI::01:00): 79, GPU has fallen off the bus.
[ 1406.213324] NVRM: GPU at :01:00.0 has fallen off the bus.
[ 1406.213329] NVRM: A GPU crash dump has been created. If possible, 
please run
   NVRM: nvidia-bug-report.sh as root to collect this data 
before

   NVRM: the NVIDIA kernel module is unloaded.
[ 1416.567009] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:0:0:0x000f
[ 1416.567013] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:1:0:0x000f
[ 1416.590288] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:0:0:0x000f
[ 1416.590292] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:1:0:0x000f
[ 1416.590682] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:0:0:0x000f
[ 1416.590686] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:1:0:0x000f
[ 1416.591011] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:0:0:0x000f
[ 1416.591015] nvidia-modeset: ERROR: GPU:0: Failed to query display 
engine channel state: 0x857c:1:0:0x000f


"GPU has fallen off the bus" looks suspicious.

Yes, that video card is pretty long in the tooth; I'd gladly replace
it if a new board will solve the problem.  (If not, why bother?
It works well enough for my purposes.)

I tried running nvidia-bug-report.sh as recommended in the dmesg dump.
It generated a _lot_ of data.  Is there a guide to interpreting it?
I did notice the following lines:

  (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
  (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 1

Does this mean that nouveau is still there and possibly causing a
conflict?

Can anyone suggest where to look next?  Thanks...

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: alternative views of PNG (was Re: Buster => Bullseye: packages keptback)

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed Mar 29 08:56:04 2023 davidson  wrote:

> If I wrote an essay about the undignified interfaces I have no time
> for, I would call it "Of Mice and Menus".



If I write my essay first, I might have to steal that
(properly attributed, of course).

> People want to waste their time. If you get in the way of that, if you
> suggest they should do something else, they will hate you forever.



Stop it.  My hands are getting sore.

Let them waste their time.  I draw the line when they waste _my_ time.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: Distro tries to set up own partition

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Mar 26 14:37:35 2023 Rich  wrote:

> The OP very much reminds me of a poster who goes by a different handle
> who posts in a different group where each post begins with a vague
> statement of a chosen solution for a "problem" and asking for help
> with  transitioning their chosen solution to completion.
>
> Of course, omitted is any detail of the initial problem that is trying
> to be solved, as well is omitted any and all useful factual details of
> system, setup, or environment.
>
> Then, much like here, after 85+ posts, diverging in multiple different
> directions, that other poster will finally be cajoled into revealing
> a critical bit of the actual problem and/or a critical fact re. their
> system, setup, or environment which shows that all 85+ posts, in seven
> different directions, were all just wasted time, and had that poster
> just mentioned the real problem they were trying to solve, the
> solution could have been offered quickly, and on point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: should CLI have a nice UI today?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri Mar 24 09:13:41 2023 cor...@free.fr wrote:

> Should CLI (command line interface) have a nice UI library?

As an option, possibly.  As a standard default, NO!

> today web dev has so many libraries that make web pages with
> rich/colorful interactive views.

And which often get in the way of getting real work done.

> But CLI is still in dull mode. That should be improved in these days.

What's wrong with dull?  Sometimes you just want an answer without
all the eye candy.  If you're making a shopping list, does it have
to be a coffee table book with 100 pages in dazzling colour?

> for example, run "df -h" we got the statistics with plain text. But
> web statistics for cloud storage (GCP,AWS etc) are chart like, which
> give people more intuitive feeling.

But you can redirect the output of "df -h" to a file for archival
purposes, or pipe it to other tools that can do a quick analysis.
And once you get to know it, you can get an intuitive view from
well-designed text output much faster than with a graphical view,
as well as actually being able to do something with it.

And what do you do if you're having trouble getting X running,
and can't see those fancy displays?  Give up and get a Windows box?

Let me give you a real-world example.  Recently I renewed a credit
card.  I tried going onto the bank's web site to activate it.  I can
access the bank's web site for normal banking functions, but halfway
through all the pretty screens (how many pretty screens do you really
need to activate a credit card?) the process froze.  I went to the
bank and complained.  I was lucky enough to get a supervisor.  The
first thing he said was, "What browser are you using?"  When I said
I was using Firefox, he replied, "Never heard of it."  Because I was
not using one of the approved browsers from our favourite monopolies
(Edge and Chrome), I was persona non grata.  And all so I could be
presented with a wonderful User Experience (yuck!), when half a dozen
lines of text could have done the job quickly and let me get on with
my day.

IMHO computer systems should be ugly and boring.  Ugly, as in lacking
all the eye candy that gets in the way, and boring as in just doing
what you want without unpleasant surprises.

Short answer: Not over my dead Teletype.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  You can't save the earth
\ /|  unless you're willing to
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  make other people sacrifice.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Dogbert the green consultant

Re: Setting default sound device (was Re: New Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Series 3511 sound problem on Debian 11 Stable)

[Charlie Gibbs]

[Sorry about the broken threading - I read this list through 
linux.debian.user]


On Mon Feb 13 09:36:01 2023 David Wright 
wrote:

> I think the section "Wrong card used by default" in:
>
>  https://wiki.debian.org/ALSA
>
> should help. There's more detail at:
>
>  https://alsa.opensrc.org/MultipleCards
>
> and I think both these are pure ALSA and PA-free.

Thanks for the links.  I worked through them, but as usual,
found it tough sledding.  I did come across another page
that pointed out that alsa.conf has moved from /etc/modprobe.d/
to /usr/share/alsa/, for what it's worth.

This isn't the first time I've tackled this problem, and it's
really just a convenience thing, not a desperate need.  When I
switch my TV from my cable box to the computer, I have to walk
over to the sound system to change its input selector from the
TV's audio output to the computer's analog jacks.  (That input
selector is the one knob my universal remote can't touch.)

If I work on this problem for more than 100 times the time
it takes to walk across the room and back, I figure I've
reached the point of diminishing returns, and it's time
to set it aside for another day.

Thanks anyway, though.  I've filed these notes for the next
time I have an hour or two to spare.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Setting default sound device (was Re: New Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Series 3511 sound problem on Debian 11 Stable)

[Charlie Gibbs]

This is going a bit off topic, but since there are probably
a number of sound gurus following the original thread, I
thought I'd throw out another sound question.

I have a desktop machine running Debian 11.  It contains an
nVidia card which I've hooked to my TV via HDMI.  Currently
sound is coming out the analog jacks on the computer; I'd like
to put the sound on the HDMI output so when switching the TV
from my cable box to the computer, I don't have to also switch
my sound system's input.

I know my hardware is capable of doing this; if I type

mpv --audio-device=alsa/hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0 foo.mp3

foo.mp3 will play through the HDMI audio output rather than
the default analog jacks.  What I want to do is make the HDMI
audio output the default.

When I bring up alsamixer and hit F6, I get the following choices:
  0  HDA Intel
  1  HDA NVidia
  2  IVTV-0
  3  IVTV-1
There's no mention of which is the default or how to set a default.

Here's the output of the aplay -l command:

 List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices 
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC9271D Analog [STAC9271D Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC9271D Digital [STAC9271D Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I've tried cobbling together bits and pieces I've found in
various places to create the following /etc/aplay.conf:

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.ctl.card 1
defaults.ctl.device 0

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 1
device 0
}

ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
device 0
}

I've tried substituting both 3 and 7 on the "device" lines,
but nothing seems to have any effect.

I'm not sure what it takes to get ALSA to recognize a change in
its configuration, so I rebooted after each change just in case.

Although I've found many references to this topic on the web,
the answers are confusing, conflicting, or oriented toward
PulseAudio rather than ALSA.  Can someone help clear the air?

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: How can I check (and run) if an *.exe is a DOS or a Windows program?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sat Jan  7 17:34:05 2023  wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 07, 2023 at 08:47:09AM -0500, Jude DaShiell wrote:
>
>> If I remember correctly, dos and windows .com and .exe programs
>> all have control-z as their first character.  The file command
>> may also help.
>
> No. Control-Z (aka 0x1a) was an EOF character under DOS. Files were
> (sometimes...) terminated with that. Hilarity ensued when there was
> stuff after that (DOS/Windows was very hilarious, for some value of
> hilarious).

The use of control-Z to mark the end of a text file was inherited
from CP/M, whose directory entries store the size of a file as a
number of 128-byte sectors.  The control-Z was a hack to enable
the actual end of the text to be found in the last sector - and
if the file size is a multiple of 128 it isn't even necessary.
MS-DOS and Windows store the size of a file to the byte, so
control-Z is not needed.  However it lives on to this day,
still causing its share of headaches.  In fact, an early version
of MS-DOS (3.0 or 3.1, IIRC) contained a bug: if you redirected
standard output to append to a file, e.g.

dir >>foo

and the file foo existed and contained text ending in hex 1A,
the appended text did not overwrite the hex 1A, resulting in
the appended text being dropped by any program that subsequently
read the file.  Microsoft fixed that one pretty quickly.

A control-Z EOF marker is not required - and has never been required -
in any version of MS-DOS or Windows.  Any program I write eradicates it.

But getting back to the original poster's message, try using a hex
editor or running the strings utility on the executable file, and
look at the first 128 bytes or so.  If it's MS-DOS, you probably
won't see anything interesting.  I've looked at various Windows
programs, compiled by different compilers, and found one of the
following messages in the first 128 bytes:

This program must be run under Microsoft Windows.
This program must be run under Win32
This program cannot be run in DOS mode.
This program requires Microsoft Windows.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: [OT] coo, was Re: Debian release criteria.

[Charlie Gibbs]

Re: [OT] coo, was Re: Debian release criteria.

On Sat Jan  7 13:37:31 2023 cu...@free.fr wrote:

> On 2023-01-07, Greg Wooledge  wrote:
>
>> To an American audience, the meaning is quite different.
>> We only use "coo" to describe the noise made by a dove,
>> or as an (urban) slang term which is a shortened form of "cool".
>
> I haven't been following, but coo to me is the sound a pigeon
> makes, or the soft, endearing sound some amorous person might
> emit in the presence (or the ear) of the loved one, as in the
> lyrics of "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue":
>
> But could she love, could she woo?
> Could she, could she, could she coo?

I always thought it was "Coochie, coochie, coochie coo",
although a web search suggests that your version is the
correct one.  "Coochie-coo" is often said when tickling
an infant, although I've heard it used in a more adult
context, usually when tickling more delicate parts.

To heck with it, let's just fall back on Allan Sherman's
description of a dejected man from Mars searching for his
girlfriend, who's...

Eight foot two, solid blue
Five transistors in each shoe
Has anybody seen my gal?

Lucite nose, rustproof toes
And when her antenna glows
She's the cutest Martian gal

  You know she promised me, recently
  She wouldn't stray
  But came the dawn, she was gone
  Eighteen billion miles away

Her steering wheel has sex appeal
Her evening gown is stainless steel
Has anybody seen my gal?


How I miss all the bliss
Of her sweet hydraulic kiss
Has anybody seen my gal?

Lovely shape, custom built
Squeeze her wrong and she says TILT
Has anybody seen my gal?

  She does the cutest tricks with her six
  Stereo ears
  When she walks by, spacemen cry
  'Specially when she shifts her gears

If she's found, run like mad
Put her on a launching pad
Down at Cape Can-av-er-al
And shoot me back my cutie
My supersonic beauty
Send me back my Martian gal
--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Buster->Bullseye scrambled xsane settings

[Charlie Gibbs]

On 2022-11-23 15:35, Peter von Kaehne wrote:


is there another scanning package I could use in the meantime?


My scanning needs are very simple, black and white and occasional only. I use 
gnome’s simple-scan.

It works well enough for me. Including usb and  network scanning, bw, colour, 
single and multi page, but all in one very uncomplicated package


I installed it and ran a few tests.  It seems to do the trick, once I 
figured out that "text" means "black and white" and "image" means "colour".


That ought to hold me for now.  I can still use xsane for colour and 
grayscale scans.


--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Buster->Bullseye scrambled xsane settings

[Charlie Gibbs]

I just upgraded my main machine from Buster to Bullseye; I have two more
machines that I upgraded recently and they're running well so I decided
to go for it on the machine on which I do my important work.  The
upgrade went smoothly and all in all works quite well.

But then I tried scanning.  I do a lot of scanning to PDF using xsane
and an Epson WF-2760 all-in-one.  Most of my scans are of printed
documents in black and white (I use the Lineart setting in xsane).

Last night I tried to do some scans for the first time since the
upgrade.  The xsane windows looked different from before; they opened in
different locations on the screen and had different contents.  The scans
themselves looked nothing like what I was used to; the contrast was
washed out (and adjusting the contrast slider doesn't help).  When I
scan a cheque the background causes random dots to appear - and there's
no threshold slider to adjust this.

The main xsane window added sliders for gamma, brightness, and contrast,
which I didn't have before; there was no threshold slider, although
on a subsequent run this slider appeared but seemed to have no effect.
I've been getting inconsistent results - on one invocation the gamma,
contrast, brightness, and threshold sliders disappeared, and now they
all appear except for threshold.

I tried copying the previous version of xsane back into /usr/bin from
the backup I took before the upgrade, but that made no difference.
Ditto for the configuration files in ~/.sane/xsane.  This suggests
that it's not the new version of xsane itself that is broken.

I know this all sounds rather incoherent, but I don't seem to be getting
coherent results.  Is there an xsane expert who can help me restore the
ability to scan black-and-white documents?  (Colour and grayscale scans
work beautifully, but that's not what I need right now.)  If all else
fails, is there another scanning package I could use in the meantime?

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: qemu ISO Boot Failure (CDROM boot failure code : 0004)

[Charlie Schindler]

Hi

did you solve this? i got this problem, too with qemu 7 and ubuntu 22.04.1

--
--
cordially

Charlie Schindler
+66 9 1083 7897

Re: Help: disk swap

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed Jul 27 10:30:05 2022 tony  wrote:

> I turned on my main home server after a few weeks absence,  and got
> smoke from its power supply. Fortunately, I have a backup system,
> which does work; both are running Debian 10, so I swapped use to that
> machine. and am able to work with that, but some of the files and
> settings are a bit out of date.
>
> I decided to move the disk from the broken machine to the backup, but
> on booting I'm dropped into a grub screen saying disk id 
> not found. Not entirely surprising perhaps.
>
> So, how do I get it to recognize, and boot from the old disK.

You might not be able to.  I once had a power supply fail
in such a way as to destroy the motherboard and the two
hard drives in the machine.  I lost about 180GB of stuff,
only some of which I was able to replace.  My backups are
_much_ better now.

Let's hope you're luckier than that.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Jul 17 09:16:57 2022 Dekks Herton  wrote:

> john doe  writes:
>
>> I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is
>> better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it.
>>
>> I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks),
>> do you have any suggestions/ideas?
>
> 2nd hand Thinkpad off ebay, craigslist etc, likely easy to upgrade and
> certainly straightforward to install linux.

Another place to look is your local laptop store.  My current laptop,
as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there
for about $300.  They run Linux just fine.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: Frozen mouse and keyboard

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:20:01 +0200 Joe  wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Jun 2022 09:21:58 +0100
> Mick Ab  wrote:
>
>> I have a fairly new desktop PC running Debian 11. Recently
>> there have been a few occasions when the PC has failed to
>> be woken up in the morning after being left overnight.
>> The mouse and keyboard are frozen. Sometimes the monitor
>> appears to be off and on one occasion it was on.
>>
>> A hard reboot has been used to reset the PC, but it is not a good
>> idea to keep doing that.
>>
>> There is also a worry that if there is a hardware fault, the
>> situation might get worse over time.
>>
>> Has anyone any idea as to what may be causing the problem and what
>> would be the best way to try and solve it ?
>>
>> I anticipate it might be difficult to solve the problem given that
>> the fault is intermittent.
>
> The usual recommendation for a first test is to see whether there
> is any network activity e.g. response to ping or ssh. Also try
> Ctrl-Alt-F3 to see if a console is reachable as X might have problems.

If you can ssh into the machine from elsewhere, you can at least
do an "su reboot" and get an orderly shutdown.

> Have you checked logs to see whether there is anything suspicious
> before the freeze? If there isn't, the odds are in favour of a
> hardware failure.
>
> If that looks to be the case, I'd open up the machine (assuming it's
> not under warranty, if it is, it's someone else's problem) and reseat
> all the movable connectors and RAM. There's less chance of contact
> problems with SATA than with the big old PATA connectors, but it's not
> impossible. 'Fairly new' it may be, but connectors which aren't locked
> can be jarred half-way out by transport. We can probably rule out a
> build-up of dust yet, but if the machine is very quiet, and modern
> machines tend to be, the fan might have died. There will be a lot more
> troubleshooting tips around the Net.

Those are all good tips.  One more thing: are you running xscreensaver?
As wonderful as it is, it is notoriously unforgiving of poorly-written
drivers.  I have nVidia graphics cards, and for some time I was getting
all sorts of lockups using the nouveau driver.  Switching to nVidia's
proprietary driver solved the problem.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Re: Networking pb

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon, 09 May 2022 04:10:01 +0200 Charles Curley
 wrote:

> On Mon, 09 May 2022 01:31:35 +0200
> Hussein Yahia  wrote:
>
>> What exactly do you mean by "connect"? SSH? ping? If you mean via
>> SMB, that suggests you successfully set the Linux computer up as
>> an SMB server. Did you?
>>
>> I don't remeber to have installed smb on my Linux. I just downloaded
>> the packages. On the mac, I click on the Linux Desktop'name, (which
>> appears in any window), a window appears, I can login in the Desktop
>> Linux with my name and password, and I see my files, when I'm on the
>> mac.
>
> I should probably clarify: SMB (Service Message Block) is the
> protocol, originally from IBM, later Microsoft. Samba is a server
> and client suite of programs for Linux and Unix that implement SMB.
> Microsoft has its own suite. Apple has at least a client. SMB is
> also known as CIFS (Common Internet File System, I think).

Another alternative is NFS.  When my wife wants to get at my music
library, she runs a script I put on her Mac to do an NFS mount on
my Linux box.

--
cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)

Re: [SOLVED] Re: One-user system.

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri, 06 May 2022 19:30:01 +0200 gene heskett 
wrote:

> On Friday, 6 May 2022 13:11:13 EDT Greg Wooledge wrote:
>
>> On Fri, May 06, 2022 at 09:24:35AM -0700, pe...@easthope.ca wrote:
>>
>>> What I'm doing is similar to using DOS years ago; although DOS
>>> predates experience of most people reading now.
>>
>> I think you're vastly underestimating the average age of subscribers
>> on this list.
>
> I think he might be too Greg. I'm 87, and largely bypassed
> dos on my way to linux in the 90's. We've come a long way,
> and if dos disappeared yesterday, I'd have bought a 6 pack
> for a mini-celebration last night.  We're still trying to
> put up with its lack of features other filesystems have
> given us since.

If Microsoft disappeared in its entirety, I'd buy a case of
champagne and invite my friends over for a _major_ celebration.
I've spent far too much of my career working around their
poor design decisions and outright bugs.

I'm 71, and started my programming career in 1970, five
years before Microsoft existed.  The machine at my first
job had a whopping 16K of memory.  We were a service
bureau, running things like payroll and accounts
receivable for companies all over town who couldn't
afford a computer of their own (i.e. most of them).

So when someone tells me how many gigabytes of memory
I'd need to do a job, I take it with a _very_ large
grain of salt.

We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the
impossible for the ungrateful.  We have done so much,
    for so long, with so little, we are now qualified
to do anything with nothing.”
  -- Konstantin Josef Jireček

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: E: Package 'vlc' has no installation candidate ...

[Charlie]

On Sun, 1 May 2022 15:35:27 +0200
 wrote:

> On Sun, May 01, 2022 at 10:19:25PM +1000, Charlie wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > The hardware clock thought it was in 2005-01-01  
> 
> Uh, oh. This looks as if your clock's battery is dying.
> 
> Cheers

Thank you Tomas, I thought that; will replace it.

Thanks
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make
the law free...Henry David Thoreau

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: E: Package 'vlc' has no installation candidate ...

[Charlie]

On Sun, 1 May 2022 11:18:23 +
"Andrew M.A. Cater"  wrote:

> On Sun, May 01, 2022 at 03:13:06PM +1000, Charlie wrote:
> > >   
> > 
> > Thank you for that update. I will give your sources list a try because
> > my new Asus desktop install won't accept the sources list from my
> > working laptop:
> > 
> > deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main non-free contrib
> > 
> > with this message:
> > 
> > Release file for http://deb.debian/dists/bullseye/InRelease is not
> > valid yet (invalid for another 5d 13h 52m 3s) Updates for this
> > repository will not be applied.
> > 
> > Because the installer configured the Ethernet connection but could not
> > access the mirror, I put in the above from my home lappy, but still no
> > joy. So will try your sources list, thank you.
> > 
> > Charlie
> > --   
> 
> Hi Charlie,
> 
> That error is symptomatic of another problem: what time/date does the 
> machine think it has.
> 
> If files come from the future, it could be that the time or date is
> incorrectly set in firmware - or that something doesn't have a real
> time clock.
> 
> That's fairly easily reset by using the date command and hwclock commands.
> 
> I always have to check the syntax of the date command:
> 
> date -u MMDDHHmmCCYY where u is for UTC 
> 
> date -u 05032022
> 
> would be round about now and would set the system time accordingly.
> 
> hwclock --systohc 
> 
> would apply system time to the hardware clock (or --hctosys would go the other
> way].
> 
> Hope this helps - with every good wish, as ever,
> 
> Andy Cater

Thank you Andy, you are the man. Hit the nail squarely on the head.

The hardware clock thought it was in 2005-01-01

Using the guidance you posted. It worked a treat and could update and
would install packages.

Thank you for your help, it is extremely much appreciated.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has
genius, magic and power in it. Begin it now. --Goethe

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: E: Package 'vlc' has no installation candidate ...

[Charlie]

On Sat, 30 Apr 2022 16:45:01 -0500
Albretch Mueller  wrote:

>  after editing it the unhashed line in my /etc/apt/sources.list are:
> 
> deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
> deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
> 
> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main
> 
> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
> 
> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ bullseye-security main
> contrib non-free
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ bullseye-security main
> contrib non-free
> 
> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
> 
>  and all seems to be fine and dandy.
> 

Thank you for that update. I will give your sources list a try because
my new Asus desktop install won't accept the sources list from my
working laptop:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main non-free contrib

with this message:

Release file for http://deb.debian/dists/bullseye/InRelease is not
valid yet (invalid for another 5d 13h 52m 3s) Updates for this
repository will not be applied.

Because the installer configured the Ethernet connection but could not
access the mirror, I put in the above from my home lappy, but still no
joy. So will try your sources list, thank you.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

It is well to remember that the entire population of the
universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
-- John Andrew Holmes, Jr.

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Net install installer fails to access any mirror...........

[Charlie]

On Fri, 29 Apr 2022 16:00:20 +0300
IL Ka  wrote:

> While installing, what was the result of "Detect network hardware" and
> "Configure the network" steps?
> Click "ctrl+alt+F2", and type "ip addr" to check if address is configured
> correctly. Try to ping your router. Then, mirror.
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 2:55 PM Charlie  wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hello Everyone,
> >
> > I have used from this site:
> > https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/#netinst-stable
> >
> > the Debian installer 11.3.0 bullseye AMD64 on a laptop and a desktop.
> >
> > On both of these the installer does not find any mirror I select, for
> > the last 3 days.
> >
> > No error messages that the Ethernet cable is a problem.
> >
> > They are located at the end of a 15 metre cat 6 cable, but it works,
> > because I have updated a couple of laptops at the end of that cable
> > just to see it works all right.
> >
> > I just wondered what I was doing wrong if anyone has any idea and might
> > want to give me some hints as to what to look for, rabbits to run to
> > their burrows.
> >
> > TIA
> > Charlie

Thank you for your reply, the message is that the network has been
configured successfully.

When next I get on the desktop, I will try your suggestions.

Thank you
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

He who knows others is wise; He who know himself is
enlightened. ---Lao-tzu

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Net install installer fails to access any mirror...........

[Charlie]

On Fri, 29 Apr 2022 15:01:23 +0200
Christian Britz  wrote:

> On 2022-04-29 13:54 UTC+0200, Charlie wrote:
> 
> > On both of these the installer does not find any mirror I select, for
> > the last 3 days.  
> 
> Can you give more details of the error message? Have you tried the CDN
> deb.debian.org as mirror? That is usually the best option.

 The error message as I recall just says that "something" the mirror
 failed. Then "retry" or "change mirror" or "ignore". Tried several
 mirrors in several countries.

Will give CDN deb.debian.org mirror a try next time I get on that
machine.

> > No error messages that the Ethernet cable is a problem.  
> 
> And it goes successfully through the network configuration steps?
> Often the network gets automatically configured via DHCP, the installer
> should tell you about what it does.

If memory serves correctly, the desktop gives very little information
on configuring DHCP, just jumps to the next step. This is in "expert
graphical install" option.

Been a while since I install a Debian system and I thought just going
to the next thing was coded by the programmer to save time in this
modern installer?

> > They are located at the end of a 15 metre cat 6 cable, but it works,
> > because I have updated a couple of laptops at the end of that cable
> > just to see it works all right.  
> 
> I do not think the problem is related to this.

Didn't think it would be, but just mentioned it for completeness. I
have a friend whose computer, using a windows operating system, sits at
the end of a 30 metre, or something more scary CAT5 cable and it
works.

Thank you for your reply, the laptop is too old and too damaged to do
anything with.
> 
> Regards,
> Christian
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is
called a philosopher. --Ambrose Bierce

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Net install installer fails to access any mirror...........

[Charlie]

Hello Everyone,

I have used from this site:
https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/#netinst-stable

the Debian installer 11.3.0 bullseye AMD64 on a laptop and a desktop.

On both of these the installer does not find any mirror I select, for
the last 3 days.

No error messages that the Ethernet cable is a problem.

They are located at the end of a 15 metre cat 6 cable, but it works,
because I have updated a couple of laptops at the end of that cable
just to see it works all right.

I just wondered what I was doing wrong if anyone has any idea and might
want to give me some hints as to what to look for, rabbits to run to
their burrows.

TIA
Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

A free society is a place where it is safe to be unpopular.
--Adlai Stevenson

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: slrn broke after power failure

[Charlie Gibbs]

Thanks, everyone, for all your help.  I think I might have found
the solution thanks to songbird:

>   then remove the zero length file and remove the .overview file
> for that group and see if you can then get that message again.
> i think a missing .overview file should be regenerated every time
> there is a new article downloaded.

I didn't realize that there were hidden files in each group's
directory.  Sure enough, I found files named .minimax, .overview,
and .servermin.  Deleting .overview seems to correct the problem.

Tim Woodall: my NNTPSERVER was OK.

Again, thanks to everyone.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: slrn broke after power failure

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon, 18 Apr 2022 02:50:01 +0200 songbird 
wrote:

[description of .jnewsrc snipped]

I've tried fiddling with .jnewsrc, but that doesn't seem to be
the problem.  I retrieve news with slrnpull, which retrieves
articles and updates .jnewsrc accordingly.  This has worked
properly both before and after my problem began.  I read the
articles at my leisure using slrn, which shouldn't be going
anywhere near a server; I have the following lines in .slrnrc:

set server_object "spool"
set post-object "slrnpull"
set use_slrnpull 1

I'm trying to figure out why slrn is saying "Server read failed"
when I've told it not to access a server.

>> Oh well, I've been meaning to upgrade my laptop to Bullseye -
>> maybe it's time to nuke slrn and re-install it from scratch.
>
>  you can uninstall it but that may not clear up the spool for
> the groups, so you'd need to see if that actually works or not.

Again, my issue is not with the spool, but why slrn seems to
be trying to bypass it and access the server directly.  Unless
that "server read failed" message is a red herring...

--
cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)

Re: slrn broke after power failure

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sat, 16 Apr 2022 05:40:02 +0200 songbird 
wrote:

["Server read failed." when trying to enter a newsgroup]

>  i have four thoughts.
>
>  first one would be to do a fsck on that file system (after
> unmounting it).

No joy

>  second one is to restore from backup or redownload articles
> after running the expire process.

I've tried the "c" (catchup) command, but that didn't help.

>  third one would be to start over with a clean spool and
> then just grab the most recent few hundred articles for
> each newsgroup you want to read.
>
>  and the last is maybe the least intrusive would be to test
> something out by deleting an empty file.  will you be able
> to redownload it?  try it and see what happens for one article
> and if you can then perhaps you can write a script that would
> get rid of all the zero length files and then be able to redownload
> them or expire them or something.

The zero-length files were easy enough to find, and few enough
that I just deleted them by hand.  No luck.  I've even tried
deleting the entire contents of a group, e.g.:

rm /var/spool/slrnpull/news/linux/debian/user/*

Still no luck.  The group header window still shows the number
of messages that were available; the "c" command resets this to
zero, but I still get "Server read failed." when trying to enter
the group.

Oddly enough, there are one or two groups which are still
working properly.

>  i'm not at all familiar with slrn's spooling or structure since
> i've been using leafnode ever since i started usenet.  leafnode
> has a process that goes through and checks consistency and will
> rebuild an overview file for a group but i've never had a problem
> with it truncating contents to zero.

I was hoping that there was an slrn guru who could explain all this.

Oh well, I've been meaning to upgrade my laptop to Bullseye -
maybe it's time to nuke slrn and re-install it from scratch.

--
cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)

slrn broke after power failure

[Charlie Gibbs]

Running Buster:
Linux cjglap2 4.19.0-20-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.235-1 (2022-03-17) 
x86_64 GNU/Linux


Today when I tried reading Usenet I ran into problems.  I use slrnpull 
to fetch news from a server - that part still works.  When I run slrn to 
read the news, it comes up with the normal list of newsgroups and number 
of new messages in each group.  If I then try to enter one of the 
groups, the status line says "Selecting  ...", quickly 
followed by "Server read failed."  At this point I'm not trying to 
access the NNTP server; the messages have already been downloaded by 
slrnpull, and I can see them in (for example) 
/var/spool/slrnpull/news/linux/debian/user.  I did notice that a number 
of files containing articles which I downloaded yesterday now have a 
length of zero.


~/.slrnrc and ~/.jnewsrc appear to be intact.

It might be a coincidence, but the laptop I read news on had its battery 
run down overnight.  Normally this isn't a problem; it's always 
successfully cleaned up the file systems on re-boot.  Searching the web 
for "slrn server read failed" draws a blank.  Any suggestions where to 
look next?


--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Can't create a password successfully.

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Apr  3 23:07:14 2022 to...@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 03, 2022 at 07:45:47PM +, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>> Indeed, all of this happens, usually without any explanation
>>> whatsoever.
>>> For whose benefit are such requirements constructured?
>
> Much of it is security theater.

I'll remember that phrase.

> Someone (TM) up the chain can tick the checkbox "password security
> enforced". Then, the Rest of the Web (TM) goes forth and cargo-cults
> that, because that's how the Web is held together.

https://xkcd.com/936/

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: iwd + systemd-networkd + resolvconf wrinkles

[Charlie]

On Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:32:40 +
Brian  wrote:

> Regarding the installer: at present it provides an /e/n/i with wpa-*
> lines. Changing wpasupplicant to iwd in d-i would requir some work.
> No matter what the benefits of iwd are, I do not see that happening
> in the near future. wpasupplicant remians as useful as it always has
> been.

Interesting, because I have always used wpasupplicant but since
Bullseye has gone stable, have had this happen quite frequently:

root@wilder:~# ifup wlp2s0
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return
code 1 ifup: failed to bring up wlp2s0

So may have to look at iwd?

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down
and lifting people up.-- John Holmes

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Claws-mail Address Book Bug?

[Charlie]

On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 22:04:55 +
Brad Rogers  wrote:

> On Sun, 13 Mar 2022 08:47:57 +1100
> Charlie  wrote:
> 
> Hello Charlie,
> 
> >On Sun, 13 Mar 2022 04:09:23 +0800
> >Bret Busby  wrote:
> >  
> >> https://lists-claws-mail.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/users
> >
> > Hello Bret,
> >
> > I won't send a return receipt, but will just say this doesn't
> > work for me?  
> 
> Because it's wrong.  It *should* be;
> https://lists.claws-mail.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/users
> with a '.' between lists and claws, not a '-'.
> 
> 

Thanks Brad,

Discovered that when I looked for the mailing list on the net.
I dare not say googled because there is some controversy about
that.

Strange, can only assume things have changed, but when I started using
Linux, people would say, RTFM or google is your friend. [shrug]
Everything changes I suppose.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of
a free, meandering brook..Henry David Thoreau

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Claws-mail Address Book Bug?

[Charlie]

On Sun, 13 Mar 2022 04:09:23 +0800
Bret Busby  wrote:

> https://lists-claws-mail.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/users

Hello Bret,

I won't send a return receipt, but will just say this doesn't
work for me?

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than
a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.Henry David
Thoreau

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Sharing photos from Linux to Apple devices

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue Mar 8 20:20:41 2022 Tom Browder  wrote:

> Most of my relatives now have Apple devices, and we can share photos
> and videos among ourselves.
>
> I, on my Linux computer, have about 32 Gb of slides I digitized some
> years ago (they are also duplicated on my Windows computer). I have a
> Google account that currently has 100 Gb of storage. I also have an
> iCloud account with 200 Gb of storage.
>
> Can anyone suggest a good way to get my Linux (or Windows) pictures
> onto some site that Apple devices can use?

If one of those Apple devices is a full-fledged computer, just open
a terminal window and rsync the files across from your Linux box.
This is how I transfer files to and from my wife's Macbook.
It's fast, efficient, and doesn't need any third-party facilities.

Once you have the files transferred to an Apple computer, your relatives
can share them using whatever Apple mechanism they prefer.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Google smtp and pop

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri Mar 4 11:30:12 2022 Christian Britz  wrote:

> On 2022-03-04 18:30 UTC+0100, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>  Find another mail host.
>
> And you could find a mail client which correctly replies to messages.
> ;-)

Actually, I'm not reading this list with a mail client at all;
I read its Usenet echo with slrn.  I don't post here that
often, and I'd rather not have the list flooding my mailbox.
I admit that it makes my responses somewhat disjointed, though.

Yours for a Google-free world...

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  "Some of you may die,
\ /|  but it's a sacrifice
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I'm willing to make."
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

Re: Google smtp and pop

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri Mar 4 09:25:02 2022 Marc Auslander  wrote:

> Google has now said they are pulling the plug on userid/password
> authentication for apps.
>
> I use fetchmail and exim4 to get and send mail.  Neither, AFAIK,
> supports OAUTH2.  I'm also still on stretch but will update if
> I have to.
>
> So what suggestions does anyone have for dealing with OAUTH2 access
> to gmail?

Find another mail host.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  They don't understand Microsoft
\ /|  has stolen their car and parked
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  a taxi in their driveway.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Mayayana

Re: miracle of Firefox in the hotel.

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sat Feb 12 15:17:38 2022 Dan Ritter  wrote:

> Felmon Davis wrote:
>
>> Greets!
>>
>> Sitting in a hotel in Hamburg, Germany, thankful for Firefox-esr
>> which provides the page necessary for logging into the network.
>> I'm on Debian 10.
>>
>> this miracle of connectivity doesn't seem to happen with Brave
>> browser or Iron.
>>
>> (a) what is the mechanism FF uses for this feat?
>>
>> (b) can it be replicated in Brave and Iron (which I generally
>> prefer)?
>>
>> I admit Brave is often a bit touchy about accessing pages where
>> it suspects security threats.
>
> The portal works by intercepting any web page request at all and
> answering with its own sign-up page.
>
> Good implementations of HTTPS prevent this.
>
> So, go to a page which you know will be served via plain HTTP.
>
> If you can't think of one, try http://www.plainwebsite.com

When I try that one, I get re-routed to https://www.buydomains.com.

My go-to in this situation is http://neverssl.com

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Memory leak

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Fri Feb 11 09:43:03 2022 Celejar  wrote:

> On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 09:53:17 -0700
> Charles Curley  wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 11:06:01 -0500
>> Celejar  wrote:
>>
>>> I seem to have a serious memory leak on my system (Lenovo W550s) -
>>> the memory usage seems to slowly but more or less steadily keep
>>> increasing.
>>>
>>> This is a more or less normal (I think) desktop installation of Sid,
>>> running Xfce4. Typical applications used are Firefox (currently with
>>> just one extension: uBlock Origin), LibreOffice Writer, Sylpheed,
>>> Xfce4 Terminal, and Liferea, all from the official repos.
>>
>> Firefox left running for days on end is a possible culprit.
>
> So I've heard. So is this something I just have to live with? Does
> everyone have this problem? I actually did used to kill firefox
> when I was experiencing memory pressure - it certainly relieved
> the immediate problem, but I think I found that not all the memory
> used was returned, and when I restarted firefox, the problem of
> running out of memory often returned before long (i.e., in much
> less time than after a fresh install).

You can quickly test this by taking Firefox down.  If the problem is
indeed with Firefox (as opposed to Debian), this isn't the place to
discuss it.

It seems to be the fashion nowadays to leave one's web browser up 24/7,
with dozens of tabs open.  Personally I can't understand this - I seldom
have more than two or three tabs open at once, and most of the time I
have only one open, which is why I treasure the option to not display
a tab bar when only one tab is open.  Also, I shut down my browser
(Seamonkey, for what it's worth) when I'm not using it; this reduces
load on the system and might even help security a little bit.

However, if this is a non-negotiable item for you, and the problem is
with Firefox, I suggest you either take the discussion to a Firefox
forum or just learn to live with it.
--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: sparse dictionary

[Charlie]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2022 04:49:09 +
"Russell L. Harris"  wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 10:36:57PM -0500, The Wanderer wrote:
> 
> I discovered dictfmt and dictunformat, which seem to be applicable.
> 
> But I do not know where in Debian (Debian 9) to look for the
> moby-thesaurus file.
> 
> RLH
> 

Reading state information... Done
dict-moby-thesaurus is already the newest version (1.0-6.4)

Sorry am unable to help.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your
government when it deserves it. --Mark Twain

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: sparse dictionary

[Charlie]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2022 02:07:05 +
"Russell L. Harris"  wrote:

> > shows the dates
> >it was removed from unstable and from testing.

I think this lappy has only had Bullseye in testing and then stable on
it Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

i   dict-moby-thesaurus

Maybe just not in synaptic. I use apt-get and apt to put the packages
on this one?

No idea though.
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no
preferences. --Sengstan Third Zen Patriarch

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: sparse dictionary

[Charlie]

On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 19:18:42 +
"Russell L. Harris"  wrote:

> Synaptic no longer shows the several "gazeteer" entries, and I do not
> find "moby thesaurus".

Don't know, dict-moby-thesaurus is here

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

It is well to remember that the entire population of the
universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
-- John Andrew Holmes, Jr.

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Re: Why did Norbert Preining (having maintained KDE) left Debian?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Jan 24 08:51:46 2022 max  wrote:

> For comparison, RMS is publicly against singular "they",
> and Debian developers voted not to censure him.
> https://stallman.org/articles/genderless-pronouns.html
> Seems like a double standard, but whatever.

I've bookmarked that web page.  I largely agree with RMS on this one.
(Although regarding his "y'all" comment, a Texan once explained to me
that "y'all" is singular; the plural is "all y'all".)

This PC 2.0 fad (like PC 1.0 in the early 1990s) has gotten out of hand.
(My favourite riposte from the PC 1.0 era is "s/h/it".)

IMHO "they" is plural.  Period.  If we want genderless pronouns (and
I agree that we seem to need them) we should create something new,
rather than indulging in a grotesque form of operator overloading.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-06-01
https://dilbert.com/strip/2021-07-21

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |
\ /|  WOKE: Without Originality,
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Knowledge, or Experience
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |

Re: Bullseye default swap partition size?

[Charlie]

On Sun, 09 Jan 2022 18:57:26 +0100
Hans  wrote:

> Am Sonntag, 9. Januar 2022, 18:45:22 CET schrieb Tixy:
> However, I believe, hibernating will use the swap partition, so I
> think, it might be a good idea, to create a swap partition twice as
> big as the memory, if you want to use it.
> 
> Of course you can use any other partition for hibernating, but for
> myself I used an encrypted swap partition for hibernation in earlier
> times.
> 
> A bigger swap partition will not harm your system, as modern
> harddrives are much, much bigger than memory (normally!), most
> systems are using 16GB or 32GB, not many 64GB (and some 128GB and
> more) as RAM, but compared to 1TB , 16GB or even 32GB is rather
> small. 
> 
> Maybe some people like me (I personally am using old stuff with
> debian) are just using 250GB harddrives, but we are only some
> dinosaurs to be left. 
> 
> Normally are 500GB ore higher capacities, so a swap drive does not
> harm.
> 
> Just my opinion
> 
> Best
> 
> Hans

+1

> 
> > On Sun, 2022-01-09 at 18:19 +0200, Georgi Naplatanov wrote:  
> > > On 1/8/22 19:38, Tixy wrote:  
> > > > On Sat, 2022-01-08 at 19:18 +0200, Georgi Naplatanov wrote:
> > > > [1] If I remember correct, you couldn't actually disable swap,
> > > > just set it's size to the minimum of 4MB.  
> > > 
> > > it's possible not to use swap. Debian installer (in expert mode)
> > > shows a warning if the user doesn't create swap partition.  
> > 
> > Thanks, that's what I do. (My comment about 4MB minimum was with
> > regard to Windows 2000 ;-)  
> 
> 
> 
> 



-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame. ...Henry David
Thoreau

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Defaulting sound output to HDMI port

[Charlie Gibbs]

I have a computer in the living room which is hooked up to our TV
via an HDMI cable.  I use it to play MP3s, videos, and games.
Our TV is hooked to our stereo system to get good-quality sound.
However, audio isn't passing through the HDMI connection from the
computer; to get sound I've run a separate cable from the computer's
headphone jack to an auxiliary input on the stereo system, and I have
to switch the stereo to this input to get sound.  It's not the end of
the world, but it would be nice to send the audio via HDMI so I can
just switch the TV's input and leave the stereo set to the TV.

I'm running Buster with xfce.  Here's some system information:

cjg@dragon:~$ uname -a
Linux dragon 4.19.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.67-2+deb10u1 (2019-09-20) 
x86_64 GNU/Linux

cjg@dragon:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [Intel  ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
  HDA Intel at 0xe532 irq 27
 1 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
  HDA NVidia at 0xe500 irq 17
 2 [IVTV1  ]: CX2341[56] - IVTV-1
  CX2341[56] #1 WinTV PVR 500 (unit #2) TV/FM 
Radio/Line-In Capture

 3 [IVTV0  ]: CX2341[56] - IVTV-0
  CX2341[56] #0 WinTV PVR 500 (unit #1) TV/FM 
Radio/Line-In Capture

cjg@dragon:~$ aplay -l
 List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices 
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC9271D Analog [STAC9271D Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC9271D Digital [STAC9271D Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

After searching the web and mpv's man page, I found that the following
command would play sound through the computer's HDMI port:

cjg@dragon:~$ mpv --audio-device=alsa/hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0 foo.mp3

Obviously there's nothing wrong with my hardware.  Is there any
setting that will make audio output default to the HDMI port?

I've tried searching the web, and found lots of stuff that makes
my eyes glaze over.  One site suggested creating /etc/asound.conf
and putting in the following lines:

defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.ctl.card 1

This had no effect, even after a re-boot.

I tried creating ~/.asoundrc containing the following,
also with no effect:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card "NVidia"
}

ctl.!default {
type hw
card "NVidia"
}

I've tried using aplay, but I can't make the -D parameter work.
I get either "Channels count non available" or "No such file or
directory".

I'm using ALSA, not PulseAudio.  If I bring up alsamixer and
press F6, I get the following selections:

.  (default)
0  HDA Intel
1  HDA NVidia
2  IVTV-1
3  IVTV-0
   enter device name...

If I select 1 (HDA NVidia), all I get are a couple of mute switches
labeled "S/PDIF" and "S/PDIF 1".  I've turned them both on.

Any suggestions as to where to go from here?
--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

using pam-ldap to allow ssh logins from only *some* ldap accounts (and not all)

[charlie derr]

Hi again everyone,

Having gotten an excellent (and quite simple) response to my query about 
automatic homedir creation upon ssh login, i'm going to push my luck (expecting 
@ any moment to receive responses with RTFM or somethings close to that 
sentiment in them).

Our goal is to allow not just *any* LDAP user in our openldap (version 2.4.40) 
directory, but only those specified as members of a particular group (in our 
LDAP). We have a custom LDAP attribute (groupSR) that is attached directly to 
the user's entry (ou=People,uid=) or we could easily also 
populate a "more standard" (cn=) entry (with memeberUID attributes 
corresponding to the "allowed SSH users") in the ou=Group branch of our 
directory.

Pretty sure this was set up quite some time ago here, but the colleagues who I 
collaborated with to do it are no longer working with me, and I can't for the 
life of me remember how exactly it was done...


as always, thanks so much for any assistance, as well as for all that 
everyone does for debian,
 ~c

Re: Re: oddjob-mkhomedir question

[charlie derr]

Thx so much, Stanislav!

pam_mkhomedir works like a charm (and it didn't even take me too long to figure
out how to set it up)

   best,
  ~c


--
charlie derr
systems thinker and nature lover
https://medium.com/@cderr


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.

oddjob-mkhomedir question

[charlie derr]

Greetings everyone,

(apologies for the resend, but my initial attempt to post the below to the list 
well over half an hour ago from my other address (CCed) hasn't yet made it to 
the list, though i don't know why, so...)

i'm not subscribed to the list (but will check back via the web archives for 
responses that don't get CCed or BCCed to me).

Given that fact, do feel free to loop me in directly via (B)CC if you wish 
(though again, it's not necessary).

i've been using debian for ~25 years, and first of all, i have to express my 
debt of gratitude. It just keeps getting better and better.

Bullseye is truly awesome.

On this relatively new platform, i was able to quite trivially get pam-ldap 
functionality (for SSH logins) working. However, after installing the oddjob 
package(s), a user who does not yet have a home directory on the server is 
still not getting one autocreated upon SSHing in.

I've looked in log files, bumped sshd_config loglevel up to DEBUG, and 
restarted dbus, ssh and the oddjobd services.

Should any of you have any advice about where to look in order to troubleshoot 
(there seems to be no evidence that any attempt was even made to create a 
homedir upon the user logging in), i'd love to have you share it.

And/or if there's a different auto-create-homedir solution you might suggest, 
I'm also happy to try that (it does seem that oddjob is somewhat redhat 
specific?).

thanks again for all that you all do -- what a great community,
 ~c


-- 
charlie derr 
https://medium.com/@cderr


pgp8GUGvJ36Df.pgp
Description: PGP signature

oddjob-mkhomedir question

[charlie derr]

Greetings everyone,

i'm not subscribed to the list (but will check back via the web archives for 
responses that don't get CCed or BCCed to me).

Given that fact, do feel free to loop me in directly via (B)CC if you wish 
(though again, it's not necessary).

i've been using debian for ~25 years, and first of all, i have to express my 
debt of gratitude. It just keeps getting better and better.

Bullseye is truly awesome.

On this relatively new platform, i was able to quite trivially get pam-ldap 
functionality (for SSH logins) working. However, after installing the oddjob 
package(s), a user who does not yet have a home directory on the server is 
still not getting one autocreated upon SSHing in.

I've looked in log files, bumped sshd_config loglevel up to DEBUG, and 
restarted dbus, ssh and the oddjobd services.

Should any of you have any advice about where to look in order to troubleshoot 
(there seems to be no evidence that any attempt was even made to create a 
homedir upon the user logging in), i'd love to have you share it.

And/or if there's a different auto-create-homedir solution you might suggest, 
I'm also happy to try that (it does seem that oddjob is somewhat redhat 
specific?).

thanks again for all that you all do -- what a great community,
 ~c

Re: Emoji fonts in Debian [WAS:] Re: How to NOT automatically mount a specific partition of an external device?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On 2021-12-01, Jonathan Dowland  wrote:

> Speaking of colour, I work at Red Hat and I have had 🎩 (U+1F3A9 TOP
> HAT) as the shell prompt character for the main RHEL virtual machine I
> use for work. At that time, my terminal did not support colour glyphs,
> and the font that was used to render that happened to use the Fedora
> fedora for that glyph, and I coloured it red using terminal colour
> escape codes. Later, IBM bought Red Hat. And at a similar time, I
> updated my (Debian) system and gained the ability to display coloured
> glyphs. The chosen font to supply that glyph was changed, and my
> red-coloured monochrome hat became a blue one. Spooky.

For what it's worth, I read this list in slrn via Usenet
(linux.debian.user).  The "top hat" glyph you include above shows up
as a two-character-wide box with tiny hex numbers in it, like this:

.---.
|01F|
|3A9|
`---'

I'm running Buster on a Lenovo T410.  My primary interest in UTF-8
is to display characters with various diacritical marks, which it
handles quite well.

On the other hand, while composing this reply in Thunderbird,
the top hat showed up.

BTW at the start of your signature lines I see the following:

.---.
|01F|01F|
|471|3FB|
`---'

(pencil)

.---.
|01F|
|517|
`---'

Note: those hex characters are _really_ tiny - even with a
magnifying glass I might have misread some of them.

In Thunderbird they come out as a blond-haired smiley face
with light-coloured skin, a pencil, and a couple of links
of chain.  I guess Thunderbird's UTF-8 support is quite good.

> (This whole thing reminded me of a sub-project I have on the
> backburner to map the Debian swirl to a spare unicode code-point;
> or, to U+F000 in the private use area, where Apple systems display
> the Apple logo. I got as far as importing the swirl graphic into a
> OTF format font.  I should pick it up!)

Fun.

>> Again, my apologies.
>
> No problem. Thank you,

Glad I could smooth the waters.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Emoji fonts in Debian [WAS:] Re: How to NOT automatically mount a specific partition of an external device?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Tue Nov 30 11:54:48 2021 Jonathan Dowland 
wrote:

> On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 11:54:16AM -0800, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> Am I the only one who sees the irony in all this?  We're living
>> in an era where the so-called "woke" generation is taking offence
>> at every perceived slight or sign of racial or sexual discrimination,
>> however minor.  Yet these same people are eagerly leaving behind the
>> originally all-text form of e-mail
>
> Since we're talking about my email signature here, this
> characterisation you've described is meant to be me.  I don't know
> what *I've* done for you to describe me that way, but at best it's
> irrelevant to debian-user. It's perjorative, and I would ask that you
> stop writing perjoratively about me on this mailing list, and go and
> re-read the Code of Conduct for participating in Debian.

I wasn't aiming it specifically at you, but merely pointing out
some conflicting trends that I've been seeing in society at large.
On re-reading the thread, I realize that I did fly off the handle.
Chalk it up to having read one too many news stories about the
Politically Correct 2.0 bullshit that is going on these days.
As the old netiquette guidelines suggest, one shouldn't post
when tired, drunk, or angry.  (I probably qualified for two
of the three.)

I apologize for having offended you; it was not my intent.

>> eagerly leaving behind the originally all-text form of e-mail
>
> Unicode *is* text, as far as I'm concerned. I don't see the point in
> limiting what I write to a 7-bit namespace from the 1960s, even if I
> am fortunate enough that my chosen names are representable in it.

Indeed, I'm an eager adopter of UTF-8 myself.

> in favour of graphics that are gleefully being used to highlight them.
>
> My signature includes an emoji which is configured to be a reasonable
> approximation of my appearance.

That does sound like fun, even though curmudgeons like me might consider
it frivolous.  I doubt I'll have a hardware/software combination that's
capable of displaying all of it anytime soon - I still see tofu on my
flip phone - but I'm not trying to stop anyone else from having harmless
fun with it.

Again, my apologies.

--
cgi...@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)

Re: Emoji fonts in Debian [WAS:] Re: How to NOT automatically mount a specific partition of an external device?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Nov 28 11:38:54 2021 Celejar  wrote:

> On Sat, 27 Nov 2021 22:58:58 -0600
> David Wright  wrote:
>
>> On Sat 27 Nov 2021 at 07:22:45 (-0600), John Hasler wrote:
>>
>>> Celejar writes:
>>>
>>>> I'm curious: do most users of Debian on the desktop (who use MUA
>>>> software, as opposed to webmail via a browser) have such a font
>>>> installed, or do they see tofu?
>>>
>>> I use Gnus.  I've never manually installed any emoji fonts
>>> (or any other fonts) but I see the glyphs, not the tofu.
>>
>> Questions like this remind me how little I understand font handling.
>> I read mail in mutt in xterm in fvwm in X, currently in buster, and
>> I see four glyphs. If I save the email in a file, then I see the
>
> ...
>
>> I wrote /four/ glyphs, but it sounds as if Celejar sees three,
>> the first one being coloured with some sort of skin tone. My
>> second glyph, 🏻, is a half-tone box with three lines of dots
>> inside, of 3, 4 and 3 dots.
>
> I assume that the reason I see three and you see four is that the
> first one (of my three) consists of a combination of the basic
> "blond haired person" glyph plus a "light skin tone" modifier glyph,
> which are presumably ideally supposed to be displayed together:
>
> https://emojiterra.com/blond-haired-person-light-skin-tone/

Am I the only one who sees the irony in all this?  We're living
in an era where the so-called "woke" generation is taking offence
at every perceived slight or sign of racial or sexual discrimination,
however minor.  Yet these same people are eagerly leaving behind the
originally all-text form of e-mail - which has no glyphs that portray
such differences - in favour of graphics that are gleefully being used
to highlight them.  Why is nobody being "triggered" by this?

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ /|  Apple is a cult.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Linux is anarchy.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  Pick your poison.

libc-bin on one good, on the other report of a bug........

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Hello anyone with the time,

On one of my laptops latest upgrade, Dell Inspiron  "libc-bin"
is fine: Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-13+deb11u2) ...

On the other a HP 245 06 laptop it is reported as having a bug:

#998008
Post install makes a working NIS system not to work anymore at every
point release.

So I place it in irons, on hold, and continue with the upgrade.

I am a peasanto, a man of the land with two laptops, double trouble,
and trying to understand a NIS system? Running the questions and asking
for examples through Google. Without any joy of understanding.

Can't get if I will be in trouble if the bug is ignored and this
happens: "Post install makes a working NIS system not to work anymore at
every point release."

So ask the wisdom on this list.

Any simple explanations out there, if someone is inclined, for  hoople
head like myself.

Thank you,
Charlie

East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers
and to the sound of trumpets. --Voltaire

***

Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

libc-bin on one good, on the other report of a bug........

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Apologies if anyone got this twice. Sent it with the wrong email.

Hello anyone with the time,

On one of my laptops latest upgrade, Dell Inspiron  "libc-bin"
is fine: Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-13+deb11u2) ...

On the other a HP 245 06 laptop it is reported as having a bug:

#998008
Post install makes a working NIS system not to work anymore at every
point release.

So I place it in irons, on hold, and continue with the upgrade.

I am a peasanto, a man of the land with two laptops, double trouble,
and trying to understand a NIS system? Running the questions and asking
for examples through Google. Without any joy of understanding.

Can't get if I will be in trouble if the bug is ignored and this
happens: "Post install makes a working NIS system not to work anymore at
every point release."

So ask the wisdom on this list.

Any simple explanations out there, if someone is inclined, for  hoople
head like myself.

Thank you,
Charlie




East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no
preferences. --Sengstan Third Zen Patriarch

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:54:50 + Andrew Informed me about Re:
wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...

> On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 02:23:17PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > 
> > On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:23:47 -0400 Henning Informed me about
> > Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...
> >   
> > > On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 12:39:41PM +1100, Charlie wrote:  
> > > > 
> > > > On Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:31:16 -0400 Henning Informed me
> > > > about Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...
> > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 12:14:05PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > From my keyboard:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Hello,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > If someone has an idea about this error message
> > > > > > after suspend can you please give me a hint as to what is
> > > > > > causing it:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
> > > > > > run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited
> > > > > > with return code 1
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Since Bullseye went stable on my Dell Inspiron laptop I
> > > > > > have had some problems. The above is the latest. It happens
> > > > > > randomly and there is no way of duplicating it.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I have googled this, but tried some of the suggestions
> > > > > > without getting wpa supplicant to work again except by
> > > > > > rebooting the laptop?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Can someone tell me what "code 1" is please?
> > > > > >   
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > You clearly hacked together something unusual there. To being
> > > > > helped, you have to provide more information.
> > > > > Is there any log entry?
> > > > > Please post the pre-up script.
> > > > > Is there a particular reason why you configured the wifi this
> > > > > way?
> > > > > 
> > > > > -H
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Absolutely standard vanilla install and use from Bulleye when
> > > > it was testing. It happened a couple of random times in testing
> > > > as well. But that was testing, so just rebooted.
> > > > 
> > > > No hacking done at all. Some mention on the web:
> > > > 
> > >   
> > > > https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=145175
> > > >
> > > 
> > > Well,
> > > that is wifi configuration in /e/n/i
> > > Can you please then post the stanza for your wifi?
> > > 
> > > The code 1 is pretty generic.
> > > /etc/wpa_supplicant/ifupdown.sh pretty much
> > > throws an exit code 1 for all unsuccessful cases.
> > > 
> > >   
> > > > Not in any way applicable
> > > > 
> > > > Looked for fresher information, didn't find it.
> > > > 
> > > > Think it might be hardware.
> > > 
> > > That might be. I do have frequently trouble with an old
> > > powerbook pro. I think it is the power management causing
> > > trouble.
> > >   
> > > > 
> > > > Have had other hardware issues, so think this Dell laptop might
> > > > be a lemon. Ce la vie
> > > 
> > > Have you ever tried to use the network manager?
> > > For that you have to comment out the stanza for your
> > > wifi in /e/n/i
> > > 
> > >   
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks for your input.
> > > > 
> > > > PS, has worked since I rebooted just after making this inquiry.
> > > >   
> > > -- 
> > > Henning Follmann   | hfollm...@itcfollmann.com
> > >   
> > 
> > Hello Henning.
> > 
> > I have no idea what an e/n/i is. Am one of those
> > unfortunates that fixes a motor, removes the worn part, takes it to
> > a spare parts seller and shows them, because I have no idea what
> > they are called. Brings home the new one and fixes the motor.
> > 
> > I left school at 14 years of age. Am old now and memory is not all
> > that good. Googled e/n/i can't dis

Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 07:29:36 -0400 Henning Informed me about
Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...

> On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 02:23:17PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> >   
> [...]
> 
> > 
> > Hello Henning.
> > 
> > I have no idea what an e/n/i is. Am one of those
> > unfortunates that fixes a motor, removes the worn part, takes it to
> > a spare parts seller and shows them, because I have no idea what
> > they are called. Brings home the new one and fixes the motor.
> > 
> > I left school at 14 years of age. Am old now and memory is not all
> > that good. Googled e/n/i can't discover what it means.  
> 
> It mainly means that I am a lazy bastard, and for somebody who
> complains all the time when people are not more explanatory in their
> posts, a hypocrite too.
> 
> /e/n/i = /etc/network/interfaces
> 
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
# auto enp1s0
iface enp1s0 inet dhcp

# Wildlife
# auto wlp2s0
iface wlp2s0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid *
wpa-psk *

# Wildlife Belkin
# iface wlp2s0 inet dhcp
#   wpa-ssid ***
#   wpa-psk **

[end quote]

I have thought about commenting out the whole of:

# The primary network interface
# auto enp1s0
iface enp1s0 inet dhcp

However, if it slows down connecting to the net to leave it like this,
its hardly noticeable and quick to just bring it up if
wifi/wpa-supplicant doesn't work.

 As you say an annoyance when it doesn't do what one expects.
> > 
> > I have tried network manager about 15 years or more, ago. Didn't
> > like it and never touched it again. Then for a short, full of
> > problems time, the other one as well. Don't recall its name.
> > Dropped that as well.  
> 
> Yes, understandable, Network-Manager had and has its problems.
> But it has come a long way. It is worth looking at.
> 
> > 
> > Anyway, I haven't had the wpa-supplicant problem again, so maybe it
> > was just a momentary glitch. I am always bemused by errors on my
> > computer, because I think that something which is all about
> > mathematics should just work. 2 and 2 can only make 4, not 5, not 6
> > or anything else? I obviously don't understand the coding in the
> > programs where the human error must enter the works.
> > 
> > So thanks for your help, but I can't complete what you ask.
> > 
> > Just have to get on.  
> 
> Sure, if it works, there is no reason to invest more time
> into this (at most annoyance).
> 
> 
> > 
> > Charlie
> > --  
> 
> 
> -H
> 
> -- 
> Henning Follmann   | hfollm...@itcfollmann.com
> 


-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

I scarcely remember counting upon any Happiness—I look not for
it if it be not in the present hour—nothing startles me beyond
the Moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights—or if
a Sparrow come before my Window I take part in its existence
and pick about the Gravel. ---John Keats

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:54:50 + Andrew Informed me about Re:
wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...

> On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 02:23:17PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > 
> > On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:23:47 -0400 Henning Informed me about
> > Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...
> >   
> > > On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 12:39:41PM +1100, Charlie wrote:  
> > > > 
> > > > On Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:31:16 -0400 Henning Informed me
> > > > about Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...
> > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 12:14:05PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > From my keyboard:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Hello,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > If someone has an idea about this error message
> > > > > > after suspend can you please give me a hint as to what is
> > > > > > causing it:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
> > > > > > run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited
> > > > > > with return code 1
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Since Bullseye went stable on my Dell Inspiron laptop I
> > > > > > have had some problems. The above is the latest. It happens
> > > > > > randomly and there is no way of duplicating it.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I have googled this, but tried some of the suggestions
> > > > > > without getting wpa supplicant to work again except by
> > > > > > rebooting the laptop?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Can someone tell me what "code 1" is please?
> > > > > >   
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > You clearly hacked together something unusual there. To being
> > > > > helped, you have to provide more information.
> > > > > Is there any log entry?
> > > > > Please post the pre-up script.
> > > > > Is there a particular reason why you configured the wifi this
> > > > > way?
> > > > > 
> > > > > -H
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Absolutely standard vanilla install and use from Bulleye when
> > > > it was testing. It happened a couple of random times in testing
> > > > as well. But that was testing, so just rebooted.
> > > > 
> > > > No hacking done at all. Some mention on the web:
> > > > 
> > >   
> > > > https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=145175
> > > >
> > > 
> > > Well,
> > > that is wifi configuration in /e/n/i
> > > Can you please then post the stanza for your wifi?
> > > 
> > > The code 1 is pretty generic.
> > > /etc/wpa_supplicant/ifupdown.sh pretty much
> > > throws an exit code 1 for all unsuccessful cases.
> > > 
> > >   
> > > > Not in any way applicable
> > > > 
> > > > Looked for fresher information, didn't find it.
> > > > 
> > > > Think it might be hardware.
> > > 
> > > That might be. I do have frequently trouble with an old
> > > powerbook pro. I think it is the power management causing
> > > trouble.
> > >   
> > > > 
> > > > Have had other hardware issues, so think this Dell laptop might
> > > > be a lemon. Ce la vie
> > > 
> > > Have you ever tried to use the network manager?
> > > For that you have to comment out the stanza for your
> > > wifi in /e/n/i
> > > 
> > >   
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks for your input.
> > > > 
> > > > PS, has worked since I rebooted just after making this inquiry.
> > > >   
> > > -- 
> > > Henning Follmann   | hfollm...@itcfollmann.com
> > >   
> > 
> > Hello Henning.
> > 
> > I have no idea what an e/n/i is. Am one of those
> > unfortunates that fixes a motor, removes the worn part, takes it to
> > a spare parts seller and shows them, because I have no idea what
> > they are called. Brings home the new one and fixes the motor.
> > 
> > I left school at 14 years of age. Am old now and memory is not all
> > that good. Googled e/n/i can't dis

Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

On Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:23:47 -0400 Henning Informed me about
Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...

> On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 12:39:41PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:31:16 -0400 Henning Informed me about
> > Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...
> >   
> > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 12:14:05PM +1100, Charlie wrote:  
> > > > 
> > > > From my keyboard:
> > > > 
> > > > Hello,
> > > > 
> > > > If someone has an idea about this error message after
> > > > suspend can you please give me a hint as to what is causing it:
> > > > 
> > > > wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
> > > > run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with
> > > > return code 1
> > > > 
> > > > Since Bullseye went stable on my Dell Inspiron laptop I have had
> > > > some problems. The above is the latest. It happens randomly and
> > > > there is no way of duplicating it.
> > > > 
> > > > I have googled this, but tried some of the suggestions without
> > > > getting wpa supplicant to work again except by rebooting the
> > > > laptop?
> > > > 
> > > > Can someone tell me what "code 1" is please?
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > You clearly hacked together something unusual there. To being
> > > helped, you have to provide more information.
> > > Is there any log entry?
> > > Please post the pre-up script.
> > > Is there a particular reason why you configured the wifi this way?
> > > 
> > > -H  
> > 
> > 
> > Absolutely standard vanilla install and use from Bulleye when it was
> > testing. It happened a couple of random times in testing as well.
> > But that was testing, so just rebooted.
> > 
> > No hacking done at all. Some mention on the web:
> >   
> 
> > https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=145175
> >  
> 
> Well,
> that is wifi configuration in /e/n/i
> Can you please then post the stanza for your wifi?
> 
> The code 1 is pretty generic.
> /etc/wpa_supplicant/ifupdown.sh pretty much
> throws an exit code 1 for all unsuccessful cases.
> 
> 
> > Not in any way applicable
> > 
> > Looked for fresher information, didn't find it.
> > 
> > Think it might be hardware.  
> 
> That might be. I do have frequently trouble with an old
> powerbook pro. I think it is the power management causing
> trouble.
> 
> > 
> > Have had other hardware issues, so think this Dell laptop might be a
> > lemon. Ce la vie  
> 
> Have you ever tried to use the network manager?
> For that you have to comment out the stanza for your
> wifi in /e/n/i
> 
> 
> > 
> > Thanks for your input.
> > 
> > PS, has worked since I rebooted just after making this inquiry.
> > 
> -- 
> Henning Follmann   | hfollm...@itcfollmann.com
> 

Hello Henning.

I have no idea what an e/n/i is. Am one of those unfortunates
that fixes a motor, removes the worn part, takes it to a spare
parts seller and shows them, because I have no idea what they
are called. Brings home the new one and fixes the motor.

I left school at 14 years of age. Am old now and memory is not all that
good. Googled e/n/i can't discover what it means.

I have tried network manager about 15 years or more, ago. Didn't like
it and never touched it again. Then for a short, full of problems time,
the other one as well. Don't recall its name. Dropped that as well.

Anyway, I haven't had the wpa-supplicant problem again, so maybe it was
just a momentary glitch. I am always bemused by errors on my computer,
because I think that something which is all about mathematics should
just work. 2 and 2 can only make 4, not 5, not 6 or anything else? I
obviously don't understand the coding in the programs where the human
error must enter the works.

So thanks for your help, but I can't complete what you ask.

Just have to get on.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

There is no treasure in the deep mountains; he who has no
desire for it finds it. ..ZEN SAYING

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:31:16 -0400 Henning Informed me about
Re: wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...

> On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 12:14:05PM +1100, Charlie wrote:
> > 
> > From my keyboard:
> > 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > If someone has an idea about this error message after
> > suspend can you please give me a hint as to what is causing it:
> > 
> > wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
> > run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return
> > code 1
> > 
> > Since Bullseye went stable on my Dell Inspiron laptop I have had
> > some problems. The above is the latest. It happens randomly and
> > there is no way of duplicating it.
> > 
> > I have googled this, but tried some of the suggestions without
> > getting wpa supplicant to work again except by rebooting the laptop?
> > 
> > Can someone tell me what "code 1" is please?
> >   
> 
> 
> You clearly hacked together something unusual there. To being helped,
> you have to provide more information.
> Is there any log entry?
> Please post the pre-up script.
> Is there a particular reason why you configured the wifi this way?
> 
> -H


Absolutely standard vanilla install and use from Bulleye when it was
testing. It happened a couple of random times in testing as well. But
that was testing, so just rebooted.

No hacking done at all. Some mention on the web:

https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=145175

Not in any way applicable

Looked for fresher information, didn't find it.

Think it might be hardware.

Have had other hardware issues, so think this Dell laptop might be a
lemon. Ce la vie

Thanks for your input.

PS, has worked since I rebooted just after making this inquiry.

Stay well,
Charlie

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.-Japanese
proverb

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

wpa supplicant not starting - code 1...........

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Hello,

If someone has an idea about this error message after suspend
can you please give me a hint as to what is causing it:

wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return
code 1

Since Bullseye went stable on my Dell Inspiron laptop I have had some
problems. The above is the latest. It happens randomly and there is no
way of duplicating it.

I have googled this, but tried some of the suggestions without getting
wpa supplicant to work again except by rebooting the laptop?

Can someone tell me what "code 1" is please?

Thank you,
Charlie

East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Better not to begin. Once you begin, better to finish it.
-Buddhist Saying

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: How can encrypt my messages sent to the forum?

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Sun Oct 10 10:16:22 2021 William Torrez Corea  
wrote:


>--b6123b05ce02888b
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
>
>TXkgbWVzc2FnZXMgaXNuJ3QgZW5jcnlwdGVkLCBpcyBpbiBwbGFpbiB0ZXh0Lg0KDQotLSANCg0K
>V2l0aCBraW5kZXN0IHJlZ2FyZHMsIFdpbGxpYW0uDQoNCuKigOKjtOKgvuKgu+KituKjpuKggA0K
>4qO+4qCB4qKg4qCS4qCA4qO/4qGBIERlYmlhbiAtIFRoZSB1bml2ZXJzYWwgb3BlcmF0aW5nIHN5
>c3RlbQ0K4qK/4qGE4qCY4qC34qCa4qCL4qCAIGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRlYmlhbi5vcmcNCuKgiOKg
>s+KjhOKggOKggOKggOKggA0K
>--b6123b05ce02888b
>Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
>
>PGRpdiBkaXI9Imx0ciI+TXkgbWVzc2FnZXMgaXNuJiMzOTt0IGVuY3J5cHRlZCwgaXMgaW4gcGxh
>aW4gdGV4dC4gPGJyIGNsZWFyPSJhbGwiPjxkaXY+PGJyPi0tIDxicj48ZGl2IGRpcj0ibHRyIiBj
>bGFzcz0iZ21haWxfc2lnbmF0dXJlIiBkYXRhLXNtYXJ0bWFpbD0iZ21haWxfc2lnbmF0dXJlIj48
>ZGl2IGRpcj0ibHRyIj48ZGl2PjxwcmUgY29scz0iNzIiPldpdGgga2luZGVzdCByZWdhcmRzLCBX
>aWxsaWFtLg0KDQriooDio7TioL7ioLviorbio6bioIAgDQrio77ioIHioqDioJLioIDio7/ioYEg
>RGViaWFuIC0gVGhlIHVuaXZlcnNhbCBvcGVyYXRpbmcgc3lzdGVtDQrior/ioYTioJjioLfioJri
>oIvioIAgPGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGViaWFuLm9yZyIgdGFyZ2V0PSJfYmxhbmsiPmh0
>dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRlYmlhbi5vcmc8L2E+DQrioIjioLPio4TioIDioIDioIDioIAgDQo8L3ByZT48
>L2Rpdj48L2Rpdj48L2Rpdj48L2Rpdj48L2Rpdj4NCg==
>--b6123b05ce02888b--

You've just done it.  :-)

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  I could never get the hang
\ /|   of ideology.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  I do the rock, myself.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Tim Curry

Dell Inspiron problem...

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Just out of interest. In case someone has some experience like
this.

Just over a year ago bought a Dell Inspiron 3593 laptop
computer.

1.5.0 BIOS
610Hx23 service tag
Version BD 1-5-3

Running Bullseye.

I have a Dell Vostro 1510 born or bought in 2013 if I recall. Given
to me.

Only 3 GB of RAM but good enough, and running Bullseye as testing and
now stable. But I chose the Inspiron rather than the Vostro. which still
works flawlessly. 

The Vostro sold me on trying Dell, though I had avoided them because of
past problems they had. I think at one stage many years ago fried the
hard drive or something when installed with a Linux operating system.
So gave them a wide berth.

The Inspiron was installed with Bulleye while testing from new.

Often when booting informed me the kernel has to be loaded first to
boot, and press any key to continue. However, brought up the same
message ad finitum no matter what key was pressed.

Required a hard reboot and then after one or two tries it booted with
ramdisk. I thought that would stop when Bullseye went stable. It
didn't. It still misses the boot for whatever reason? Flaky BIOS?

Now since Bulleye has gone stable. The Dell inspiration just stops
sometimes. I close the lid, open it up again. No power, no response from
any key or key combination. No lights, black, blank monitor.

Turning it on and off at the wall switch makes no difference because
it has a battery. Doesn't do anything, though the very first time it did
this, it did boot up again. battery was low I think? The last two times
it did not. This last time I took out the battery, so it would power up
when the power switch on the wall is turned on it would boot.

The temperature in the 4 cores are 42.0 degrees, for three, and one
43 degrees, I assume Celsius? Seldom runs much above this temperature.

I just wonder if anyone has found anything like this, and is it
Bullseye, or is it hardware. The latter will probably keep me away from
Dell again.

It would be good to know.

Just if anyone has time or is inclined to give me some of their
thoughts.

TIA,
Charlie

East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes. --Marcel Proust

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: evince cache of recent files?

[Charlie]

On Sun, 26 Sep 2021 09:02:05 +0100 Sharon Informed me about
evince cache of recent files?

> Where does Evince store its memory/cache of recent files that its
> loaded in bullseye please? Currently it is only showing the last
> file, but under Debian 10 it showed the last 10.
> 
> Thanks
> Sharon Kimble.  

Probably doesn't help, but who knows?

In my Bullseye, if I type "evince" into xterm, it shows over 50 files.
But I have no idea from whence the come.

Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Nature makes no mistakes. In such a universe, a decision which
results in one's death, is not a mistake. It is simply a way of
dying at the right moment. Alan Watts

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: What happened to cal?

[Charlie]

On Sun, 26 Sep 2021 01:24:59 -0400 Paul Informed me about What
happened to cal?

> Folks:
> 
> I'm wondering if I'm mis-remembering here. As I recall, there used to
> be a command called "cal" which would simply print this month's
> calendar to the screen. It would do other calendars, depending on
> command line parameters. Now that I've moved to bullseye, I don't see
> the command nor a package containing it. There is a command "gcal"
> which appears to do the same thing.
> 
> Am I missing something? Was there a separate package called "cal"
> which was automatically installed in earlier versions of Debian? Or
> was there an automatic alias to the gcal program?
> 
> Paul
> 

On Bullseye, still works here.


-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the
unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its
chops. H. L. Mencken

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: The future of computing.

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Thu Sep 23 10:39:23 2021 Nicholas Geovanis 
wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 10:15 PM Gene Heskett 
> wrote:
>
>> On Wednesday 22 September 2021 22:23:29 Nicholas Geovanis wrote:
>>
>>> No there aren't that many millionaires and billionaires and
>>> They make sure of it.
>>
>> This is true, but I'd also include the mba's who's major lesson
>> to those billionaires is its ok to do it if you don't get caught.
>> And buy them off or do away with the witnesses if you do get caught.
>> Jeffery E. got caught but he was not the king pin, just the
>> disposable front man. Same game continues, new address & phone
>> number.
>
> I don't want to stress the folks on this list, they've got Debian
> releases coming up :-)
>
> So my last comment will be:
>
> I don't see billionaires taking orders from MBAs like you say.
> Just because the Victoria's Secret kingpin did, lots of others
> distrusted Jeff E including Trumpf.
>
> I'm American so I'm embarrassed using French, but :-)

You should be - they don't have a word for entrepreneur.  :-)

> There's this concept of the bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie and
> how they rule modern societies. It's nothing new and it still works.

Indeed.  Those MBAs that Gene refers to are merely the front rank
of a group that is ready and eager to jump in and act just like
those billionaires if they get the chance.  Such people have been
the shock troops for demagogues throughout history.

Nothing discloses real character like the use of power.
It is easy for the weak to be gentle.  Most people can
bear adversity.  But if you wish to know what a man
really is, give him power.  This is the supreme test.
It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute
power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy.
  -- Robert Ingersoll
   (The first part is often misattributed to Lincoln.)

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Life is perverse.
\ /|  It can be beautiful -
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  but it won't.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |-- Lily Tomlin

Re: Debian 11: Nvidia NVS 310 with nvidia driver freezes after two days

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Sep 20 08:42:33 2021 "Alexander V. Makartsev" 
wrote:

> On 19.09.2021 16:22, Roger Price wrote:
>
>> My Nvidia NVS 310 card with the nvidia 390.144 driver starts off
>> perfectly, but after two days freezes: no reaction to keyboard or
>> mouse action.
>
> Have you tried to run some benchmarks to force the issue? By doing
> that you could reveal some potential problem with inadequate cooling
> or problems of electrical nature.
> It is quite old hardware so it is hard to tell for sure. There could
> be myriad reasons why it freezes, ranging from faulty capacitors on
> motherboard and VGA to a faulty PSU.

I was having similar problems with an old nVidia card (GeForce 630).
A friend gave me an ATI card to try.  Although I never did get his
card to work, I did discover that my old card was in rough shape
physically.  The fan had broken down, and the cooling fins on the
heat sink were full of dust bunnies.  There wasn't much I could do
for the fan, but I gave the heat sink a thorough cleaning and put
the card back in.  It's been running for over a week now with no
problems, where before it was locking up every day or two.

>> I still have nouveau present.  dpkg-query -l | grep nouveau reports:
>>  ii  libdrm-nouveau2:amd64  2.4.104-1  amd64 Userspace interface
>> to nouveau-specific kernel DRM services -- runtime
>>  ii  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.17-1 amd64 X.Org X server --
>> Nouveau display driver
>
> Doesn't matter if you have 'nouveau' installed, since proprietary
> nvidia  driver blacklists it for you upon installation.

On earlier versions of Debian (I'm currently running Buster),
I was having trouble with the nouveau driver locking up.
Replacing it with nVidia's proprietary driver corrected
that problem, so I've been wary of nouveau ever since.
But if your graphics card overheats, it doesn't matter
which driver you're running.  :-)

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |  Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ /|  Apple is a cult.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |  Linux is anarchy.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  Pick your poison.

Re: Network down incorrect........

[Charlie]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 10:19:23 -0400 Jude Informed me about Re:
Network down incorrect

> As part of your reinstall process did you delete all partitions then
> run wipefs -af on the disk?  Failure to do so may have left old
> artifacts of the previous system on the drive which may be messing up
> your current installation.
> 
> 
> On Sat, 28 Aug 2021, Charlie wrote:
> 
> >
> > From my keyboard:
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Since Bullseye went stable, updated on my 12 month old HP
> > laptop. When attempting to bring up the wireless interface
> > with ifup.
> >
> > The message on the screen tells me the "network is down", which is
> > incorrect. Because on another Bullseye machine it works perfectly.
> > as it did on this one before it went stable.
> >
> > It gives the message:
> >
> > RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
> >
> > Then tries to connect for about 12 or so tries.
> >
> > I have not installed rfkill, and can't find it to uninstall it.
> >
> > On the web there is a reference to this "RTNETLINK answers:
> > Operation not possible due to RF-kill" on Archlinux where it was
> > solved by bringing the BIOS back to default. I tried that, but
> > temporarily locked myself out of the system. Then asking me to
> > install an operating system on the hard drive. I brought that back
> > buy returning the BIOS to when it booted the system.
> >
> > I can use the Ethernet port and cable to connect to the internet
> > with that machine, however, did connect wirelessly when Bullseye
> > was testing.
> >
> > Any pointers would be appreciated.
> >
> > TIA,
> > Charlie

No I didn't reinstall. I just let Bullseye move from testing to stable.

Thank you,
Charlie

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

What do you want to get enlightened for? You may not like it.
-- Shunryu Suzuki

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Network down incorrect........

[Charlie]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 17:14:29 +0200 Marco Informed me about Re:
Network down incorrect

> On 28.08.21 15:38, Charlie wrote:
> > 
> > From my keyboard:
> > 
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > Since Bullseye went stable, updated on my 12 month old HP
> > laptop. When attempting to bring up the wireless interface
> > with ifup.
> > 
> > The message on the screen tells me the "network is down", which is
> > incorrect. Because on another Bullseye machine it works perfectly.
> > as it did on this one before it went stable.
> > 
> > It gives the message:
> > 
> > RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
> > 
> > Then tries to connect for about 12 or so tries.
> > 
> > I have not installed rfkill, and can't find it to uninstall it.
> > 
> > On the web there is a reference to this "RTNETLINK answers:
> > Operation not possible due to RF-kill" on Archlinux where it was
> > solved by bringing the BIOS back to default. I tried that, but
> > temporarily locked myself out of the system. Then asking me to
> > install an operating system on the hard drive. I brought that back
> > buy returning the BIOS to when it booted the system.
> > 
> > I can use the Ethernet port and cable to connect to the internet
> > with that machine, however, did connect wirelessly when Bullseye
> > was testing.
> > 
> > Any pointers would be appreciated.
> > 
> > TIA,
> > Charlie
> > 
> > East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
> > http://www.egwildlife.com.au/
> >   
> 
> Temporary workaround:
> When I have had such problem in the past and also no rfkill
> installed, I simply installed rfkill (and for my use case created an
> alias for the CLI and shortcut for the GUI for reactivating WiFi and
> Bluetooth easily, if they would be blocked again).
> This does not explain where the problem comes from, but installing
> and using rfkill is not a big thing and quickly gets you out of
> trouble and up and working again.
> In my case, if I remember at least a little bit the case, it was the 
> graphical desktop environment which deactivated the wireless devices 
> upon shutdown, but then was not able to reactivate them at system
> start, letting the devices stay blocked, obviously having used some
> rfkill alike implementation in the GUI code itself. Since I installed
> the rfkill package and reactivated the devices manually at the CLI
> the problem disappeared somehow. I do not remember anymore if the
> problem disappeared instantely or after some few rounds of shutdown
> and reboot with manual rfkill intervention, or simply because maybe
> around that time also a GUI update arrived. I still assume that it
> was a bug in the GUI code, using maybe some internal rfkill alike
> code, but being buggy, having the feature to deactivate those devices
> working correctly but failing to reactivate them. As I quickly
> couldn't reproduce the problem no more, I could not provide a bug
> report. I did not even test what would happen if I now would remove
> the rfkill package again. Installation and usage of that package
> solved my problem first hand as a workaround, and then the problem
> anyway disappeared shortly after, and eventually I decided to simply
> keep rfkill installed.
> 
> ---
> Good Luck!
> Marco.

Thank you Marko.

That sounds like something I read, but seemed to be a strange thing to
do. However, I will take your advice since you have had experience with
it and found it works, by magic or any other way. Working is what would
be good, so whatever is required.

Thank you,
Charlie
-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they
know they shall never sit in. Old Greek Proverb

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Network down incorrect........

[Charlie]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 10:43:07 -0400 Eike Informed me about Re:
Network down incorrect

> On Samstag, 28. August 2021 09:38:44 -04 Charlie wrote:
> > From my keyboard:
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Since Bullseye went stable, updated on my 12 month old HP
> > laptop. When attempting to bring up the wireless interface
> > with ifup.
> >
> > The message on the screen tells me the "network is down", which is
> > incorrect. Because on another Bullseye machine it works perfectly.
> > as it did on this one before it went stable.
> >
> > It gives the message:
> >
> > RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
> >
> > Then tries to connect for about 12 or so tries.
> >
> > I have not installed rfkill, and can't find it to uninstall it.
> >
> > On the web there is a reference to this "RTNETLINK answers:
> > Operation not possible due to RF-kill" on Archlinux where it was
> > solved by bringing the BIOS back to default. I tried that, but
> > temporarily locked myself out of the system. Then asking me to
> > install an operating system on the hard drive. I brought that back
> > buy returning the BIOS to when it booted the system.
> >
> > I can use the Ethernet port and cable to connect to the internet
> > with that machine, however, did connect wirelessly when Bullseye was
> > testing.
> >
> > Any pointers would be appreciated.
> >
> > TIA,
> > Charlie
> >
> > East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
> >http://www.egwildlife.com.au/  
> rfkill is a Linux device
> the program rfkill is not necessarily installed but it might help you
> to identify the underlying problem.
> A shot into the dark: This smells like a firmware problem.
> 
> 
> --
> Eike Lantzsch ZP6CGE
> 

Thank you. I tried to install the firmware package and it said it was
the latest version and wouldn't. I may have to purge it, then install
the firmware again.

Thank you,
Charlie

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it
is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
W J Bryan

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Network down incorrect........

[Charlie]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2021 11:39:13 -0500 David Informed me about Re:
Network down incorrect

> On Sat 28 Aug 2021 at 23:38:44 (+1000), Charlie wrote:
> > Since Bullseye went stable, updated on my 12 month old HP
> > laptop. When attempting to bring up the wireless interface
> > with ifup.
> > 
> > The message on the screen tells me the "network is down", which is
> > incorrect. Because on another Bullseye machine it works perfectly.
> > as it did on this one before it went stable.  
> 
> It's a matter of perspective: it means the network is down on this
> machine. That being so, it can't venture an opinion on the state of
> the external network.
> 
> > It gives the message:
> > 
> > RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
> > 
> > Then tries to connect for about 12 or so tries.
> > 
> > I have not installed rfkill, and can't find it to uninstall it.  
> 
> The name of the command is somewhat deceptive. Just as the "kill"
> command doesn't just kill processes but sends them signals, so
> "rfkill" both disables and enables wireless networks. You want it
> (from the package of the same name).
> 
> > On the web there is a reference to this "RTNETLINK answers:
> > Operation not possible due to RF-kill" on Archlinux where it was
> > solved by bringing the BIOS back to default. I tried that, but
> > temporarily locked myself out of the system. Then asking me to
> > install an operating system on the hard drive. I brought that back
> > buy returning the BIOS to when it booted the system.
> > 
> > I can use the Ethernet port and cable to connect to the internet
> > with that machine, however, did connect wirelessly when Bullseye
> > was testing.
> > 
> > Any pointers would be appreciated.  
> 
> I think the days of providing a separate button for killing wireless
> have passed. (My old Acer has a badly placed button that's easy to
> accidently press with your trouser belt.)
> 
> Nowadays, it's usual to provide instead a function key to toggle
> wireless instead. By "function" key, I mean the locally modified
> functions, often call "hotkeys", usually selected by pressing some
> coloured Fn modifier. You might have a picture of an aeroplane¹
> engraved on the key, and typically there are other functions like
> screen-blank, sleep, volume, brightness, etc in close proximity.
> 
> Running rfkill with no arguments should show you the status of
> the WiFi, Bluetooth etc as Hard/Soft (un)blocked as appropriate.
> 
> An alternative to all this is that you have firmware installed on
> buster that you haven't yet installed for bullseye. One would hope
> that an upgrade would carry it over, but you need to check.
> 
> ¹ which tells you why this is easy to turn on/off: who wants to
>   be fiddling with the BIOS while sitting waiting for takeoff.
> 
> Cheers,
> David.
> 

Thanks David,

This is a bullseye system that went from testing to stable, so will
give the things you suggest a larrup and see how I go.

But later today. I have a kangaroo to transport to another wildlife
carer.

Thank you,
Charlie

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Life is an adventure in forgiveness. --- Norman Cousins

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Network down incorrect........

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Hello all,

Since Bullseye went stable, updated on my 12 month old HP
laptop. When attempting to bring up the wireless interface with
ifup.

The message on the screen tells me the "network is down", which is
incorrect. Because on another Bullseye machine it works perfectly. as
it did on this one before it went stable.

It gives the message:

RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

Then tries to connect for about 12 or so tries.

I have not installed rfkill, and can't find it to uninstall it.

On the web there is a reference to this "RTNETLINK answers: Operation
not possible due to RF-kill" on Archlinux where it was solved by
bringing the BIOS back to default. I tried that, but temporarily locked
myself out of the system. Then asking me to install an operating system
on the hard drive. I brought that back buy returning the BIOS to when
it booted the system.

I can use the Ethernet port and cable to connect to the internet with
that machine, however, did connect wirelessly when Bullseye was testing.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

TIA,
Charlie

East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself
to be a fool. --William Shakespeare

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Re: Debian 11 bullseye Gdm3 nvidia 7200go nouveau glitches and more

[Charlie Gibbs]

On Mon Aug 16 16:05:28 2021 "dimitris.varu" 
wrote:

> Hi i recently install debian 11 stable. Amd64 in hp dv6300 laptop.
> Gnome is very glitched from login through desktop.
> Many textures missing
> icons missing white squares everywhere...
> Lxde runs ok without problems...
> Gpu is nvidia 7200go nouveau driver.
> I know is old hardware.. any help or advice is most welcome!
> Tnx for your time

For what it's worth, I've always been suspicious of nouveau.
I too am running older hardware (GeForce 630), and I was getting
frequent lockups on a previous version of Debian (either Jessie
or Stretch, I think), so I switched to nVidia's proprietary driver
and the problem went away.

Somewhere along the line of Debian upgrades, the system reverted
to using nouveau.  I'm currently running Buster, and my machine
spontaneously reboots once a day or so.  I've just replaced
nouveau with the nVidia driver (version 390.143).  So far,
so good.  I'm hoping my machine will become stable once again.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs  |
\ /|  "Alexa, define 'bugging'."
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus |
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |

Re: Upgrade from buster........

[Charlie]

On Sun, 15 Aug 2021 10:32:01 -0400 Greg Informed me about Re:
Upgrade from buster

> On Sun, Aug 15, 2021 at 02:34:59PM +1000, Charlie wrote:
> > But didn't upgrade because of failure running
> > /usr/sbin/apt-listbugs apt  
> 
> I'm wondering if the failures of apt-listbugs are related to the
> failure of the bugs.debian.org web site.  It's gotta be related,
> right?
> 
> In your particular case, the clear answer is to disable apt-listbugs
> at least temporarily.
> 

Yes you are right, just got back to it, and bugs.debian.org must have
come back with whatever changes were required, and listbugs worked
again and everything upgraded. I must have been a bit premature.

Good call Greg. Thank you.

Charlie

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

Unable to change circumstance, change your reaction to them.
..Anon

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-

Upgrade from buster........

[Charlie]

From my keyboard:

Attempted to upgrade my Buster system to Bullseye, on an
older Dell lappy. Which I thought would be quick and seamless
as it was from the previous version of Debian. Stretch I think?

So did an apt update, received the messages that Buster was old-stable
etc.; and then apt upgrade to make certain everything was
current. But didn't upgrade because of failure running
/usr/sbin/apt-listbugs apt

So did apt-get update --allow-releaseinfo-change

Nothing changed. Still the list bugs error and went no further.

So didn't upgrade. I suppose I have to purge list-bugs and it may work,
however, didn't have time, will fool around with it when I do.

Just thought to mention it here.

I don't mind installing bullseye from scratch if need be, as has been
done and preferred many previous Debian distro's before.

Charlie

East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Inc..
   http://www.egwildlife.com.au/

-- 
Registered Linux User:- 329524

***

The definition of stupid is doing something the same way twice
and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

***
Debian GNU/Linux - Magic indeed.

-