Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Welcome back to another edition of Questions and Answers! In this section, we will endeavour to answer your Ubuntu questions. Be sure to add details of the version of your operating system and your hardware. I will try to remove any personally identifiable strings from questions , but it is best not to include things like serial numbers, UUID's or IP addresses.
My very first IT only job, I was paired with a “senior” tech. (Basically I was to carry his tools). 'Our' first call out was to a meat processing plant. The premises right next door to the plant housed a tannery. If you have never worked at / passed a tannery, I can not explain the smell. Needless to say, it is very bad on a hot day. This day was unusually hot. As we came to the entrance, (inside the compound) someone had left a rack with lungs out, that I assume would go into the processed meat. It was a black mass of flies. This and the wafting rotten smell of the tannery made the senior tech double over and lose his lunch. He was so violently sick, I had to carry him out. Not the squeamish type, I went in and repaired the printer. I came out to find a deathly pale technician in dry heaves. I popped him in the back of the vehicle and went back to the office. It was the first day on the job AND my first promotion to field service technician. What I am trying to bring across here, is sometimes there are things you do not want to do, but doing them can have unexpected rewards. Should your system break, do not be afraid to roll up your sleeves and try to fix it. You may learn more about Linux and computers in general than you ever dreamed you would.
Q: Windows 10 is making me sad. I keep it for gaming. Now that Linux has proton, I want to know if I can install Ubuntu over windows?
A: Boot from an Ubuntu DVD / Thumb drive or whatever, and you will see an option “Erase entire drive and install Ubuntu.” Use this option if you have backed up all your saved games and data from windows.
Q: I want to boot my Dell T20 server off a SSD and use the drive I am booting off as a mirror for data. My brother gave me his old 120GB SSD when he got a new one. The T20 will then be a media server with Ubuntu 18.04. It is Transcend. How do I set up Trim?
A: Good news, you don't have to do anything. Installation of Ubuntu server 18.04 on an SSD, the OS will manage it for you.
Q: I have Ubuntu Budgie 18.04, and when I press alt+F2, some menu comes up instead of run command. How to fix?
A: According to the Ubuntu manpages (http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man1/budgie-run-dialog.1.html) this is still the case, but I see what you mean. I use F12 to start Tilix to quickly run a command. You can assign any keys you would like in the keyboard settings, should you want to change them. If you really need a shell only, switch TTY with ctrl+alt+F2.
Q: Hi FCM. Since xubuntu 16.04, my system does a filesystem check on boot, and I can’t stop it with a ctrl-c combination, and it takes a few minutes to do. Any idea how can I stop this ?
A: There are a couple of ways you can prevent it, however it usually points to a problem with either your disk or shutdown procedure. First things first, check your hard drive for errors using a program such as GSmartControl, it may be error free, but may be old, where there are retries reading sectors. If it is a desktop PC, check to see if the SATA cables bend more than 90 degrees. Also check that the modes are correct.
If you insist on disabling it, there are a few ways. When rebooting, you can use the -f flag to prevent a disk check. You can also append fastboot to the end of your kernel line in your grub.conf (I would recommend this). The third way is to edit your /etc/fstab file (not recommended for newbies)
Q: I am trying to send an email and I receive 502 error. Google says bad gateway. What to do? My machine is Ubuntu i5 with 4GB memory and Zimbra email.
A: 502 error on a web page is a gateway error. Error 502 on email is another beast. I would suggest you update Zimbra first and if that does not work, get your ISP's direct mail server address should you be sending via a subdomain.
Q: I have Voyager 16.04 installed and it comes with Kodi pre-installed. I have read about it a lot in the news. Does this mean I get illegal TV. Will I be arrested? How do I avoid detection?
A: Do not buy into the FUD or scare tactics. There is NOTHING illegal about Kodi. The thing is - that some people actually sell mini PC's and media players loaded with Kodi and have added “illegal bits” to it calling it “fully loaded Kodi boxes”. These devices are set up to receive streams that some people re-broadcast that they are not allowed to do, making money that was supposed to go to the original broadcaster. Sometimes these boxes have hard drives loaded to capacity with pirate content, movies and series. Voyager supplies it only as a media centre.
Q: I have Ubuntu 12.04 and I would like to play HVEC videos. How can I get the codecs? VLC also will not upgrade. I have a 740 Nvidia card, so it should be possible.
A: I have a question of my own: Why are you still on Ubuntu 12.04? There is no reason to be. Rather upgrade to 18.04 and enjoy the benefits. If you have an application that runs only in 12.04, use Virtualbox and install 12.04 in there. The problem with VLC on Ubuntu 12.04 is, if you want the latest, you will need to build it yourself. Ubuntu 12.04 no longer receives any updates.
Q: What is the best laptop to buy for Ubuntu? It must be available in India.
A: Best is a relative term, and we do not endorse any laptops at FCM. (Anyone wanting to sponsor us, please get in touch). I can, however, point you to the Ubuntu hardware certification page, where you will find hardware guaranteed to work with Ubuntu. You can then print out a list and match that to your local suppliers. Just look here: https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/models/?category=Laptop
Q: On Ubuntu, my Photos open with Darktable automatically, but I don't want it to when I insert my SD card into my laptop as it is slower than government employees. Darktable takes too long, but unlike right-clicking a jpeg file and saying “open with”, this is automatic, regardless of what I view my photos with.
A: In Ubuntu settings, go to devices, then removable media, and choose your preferred program on the right hand side.
Q: Hello friends. What is the most safest way to store sensitive documents on Ubuntu that nobody can find it? Not even forensics or hacking to access.
A: Remember, while your machine is on and running, most files will be accessible. My suggestion is to do a full disk encryption first with LUKS, then install Veracrypt, create a hidden container on the drive with a very long password and use a USB key as the second part and then do not access the container unless you need to. Turn off history. This gives you “double” protection that your files will not be read if your laptop gets stolen. If you're paranoid to the max, create another encrypted folder within that encrypted folder and use a different encryption program to encrypt that. (Inception stuff!). If however, you are just hiding your porn stash from your mum, then a hidden encrypted folder is all you need.
Q: Can I use Skype in Ubuntu?
A: The short answer is yes! I do not want to sound like RMS here, but it is proprietary software. (non-free as in freedom). Skype was bought by Microsoft, which means nothing you say while using Skype is private, and it may be recorded for misuse against you later. (If you have any doubt about this, follow the Kim Dotcom case).
You should be able to find Skype in the software repository.
Q: How do I make a backup and recovery for my Dell laptop that came preinstalled with Ubuntu with the Dell recovery please?
A: I don't have experience with that software from Dell, but I will point you to a web page at: https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln265982/how-system-recovery-and-backup-works-with-ubuntu-linux-on-your-dell-pc?lang=en
Q: Is Adobe Reader safe to use on Ubuntu? (I need to use it to read encrypted PDF's)
A: No, Adobe would be my first attack vector. It has more holes than a sieve and there are archives of exploits for it on metasploit. The latest version of document viewer supports encrypted PDF's. You can also try other PDF readers until you find one you like, there is okular, epdf reader, evince, mupdf, etc.
Q: I have upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 successfully from Ubuntu 16.04. I have one minor hiccup, my Tomtom sports connect has stopped working. How can I fix this?
A: Tomtom sports connect is not supported on Ubuntu, I see. According to this page: http://uk.support.tomtom.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/24741/~/linux-version-of-tomtom-sports-connect
That said, I would just uninstall that .deb file and do an apt-get autoclean, reboot, and install it again. You will have to lean on Tomtom if it does not work, for a solution.
Q: Is Ubuntu a good development platform?
A: Yes. You can even install Visual Studio on Ubuntu if that is your favourite IDE.
Q: How can I prepare for an Ubuntu junior administrator interview?
A: I can not talk for other companies or other countries, but when I interview any junior admin, it is less about the skills and more about fitting in. A friendly person who knows a little less is more desirable than a know-it-all with bad manners. As a junior, sure you need to know the basics, but you will be learning a lot very quickly. When you go to the interview, shine your shoes, comb your hair, it may not be needed, but it demonstrates pride in your work. With all that out of the way, have a read here: https://www.guru99.com/introduction-linux.html
Q: Every now and then, when I wake my Lenovo laptop I cannot connect to the wireless network at home. I can turn the wifi off and on, but it will not connect. It does not matter how many times I put the password in, it will not connect. I never had this problem with Windows 8 on the laptop.
A: Most Lenovo laptops are made for Windows only, and Lenovo locks down their BIOS's so that you can not install a friendlier Linux-compatible WiFi card. Restarting the laptop or WiFi router will solve the issue. If your laptop accepts a proprietary driver for WiFi, use that. Should you have the proprietary driver installed, uninstall it and test. You could alternatively also replace the Wifi card with a decent one, just do your homework first.
Q: I am a new Linux user. How do you check how many CPUs are there in Linux system using the command-line option?
A: The nice thing about Linux is that there are multiple ways to do something. On Ubuntu try: lscpu or cat /proc/cpuinfo or even things like htop, lshw or hwinfo. There are of course many more!
Q: Random question: I read that one can configure Ubuntu Linux to automatically download and install security updates when released. Care to enlighten me?
A: The answer would be a bit long for Full Circle's Questions and Answers, so I will point you to a web resource: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/ubuntu-enable-setup-automatic-unattended-security-updates/
Q: I have installed Ubuntu via the windows store, and I am trying to set up ntfs-3g symlinks like this tutorial: https://serverfault.com/questions/165389/create-ntfs-symbolic-links-from-within-linux, but it won't work.
A: Linux in Windows does not quite behave like Linux in the wild without Windows. Linux wants to be free and run with the gnu herd, and does not do well in captivity. That captivity is of course the Windows sub-sytem for Linux.
Q: I am trying out Ubuntu on Wayland at the moment, but some things don't work. I just tried a few programs like Atom, and it will not work. The only change is Wayland - everything tells me Wayland is the reason. Could it be?
A: Yes, your reasoning is correct, Wayland is the culprit. However, there are fixes. Electron is based on Gtk2, which can't run natively on Wayland. Fortunately, the XWayland Server provides backwards compatibility to run any X client on Wayland. You may have to edit your weston.ini file:
[core]
modules=xwayland.so
Q: I have managed to mess up my user's .rc file. how do I fix it? A: You did not say which .rc file, so I am going to make some assumptions. Create a new user and log into that user's profile. Copy those .rc files to your user with the “messed up .rc file” and remember to set the permissions. Now log back into your old user. When you create a new user it copies the skeleton files to that user's new profile and they are generic.
Q: I want to install a desktop environment on my Ubuntu 18.04 server. Can you help me?
A: We can only try. You did not say what DE you would prefer, but it is all pretty standard. Bear in mind that these will be the vanilla versions of the desktops, here are a few:
sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop
or
sudo apt install lubuntu-desktop
or
sudo apt install kubuntu-desktop
or
sudo apt install ubuntu-gnome-desktop