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. In the land before time, when I had just come out of Sinix-Z training, bright eyed and bushy tailed, my boss decided to give me the monkeypality as client because I “knew that UNIX stuff“. Needless to say, I hit a total blank the very first time I stood before a server. Looking back now with 20/20 vision, I probably should have started and stopped the services to see if I could get it going again, but the only thing that came to mind was: init 6. Quaking in my boots, I entered the command and hit enter. The server did its thing and came up without error. I poked my head out the “server room” and asked the accountant in the next office to try again. Everything seemed to work fine. Everyone logged in and all was well with the world. When I got back to the office, their boss had called my boss and said I “fixed” the problem faster than any technician in the past and they do not want anyone but me to come to their premises. It took me a few years to realise that everyone else was charging them by the hour… It also amazed me how robust Linux was. You only learn to fix Linux by breaking it.
Bienvenue dans une autre édition de Q. ET R. ! Dans cette rubrique, nous essayerons de répondre à vos questions sur Ubuntu. Assurez-vous de donner des détails sur votre système d'exploitation et votre matériel. J'essaierai de supprimer toute chaîne que vous identifierait personnellement des questions, mais il vaut mieux ne pas communiquer des choses comme des numéros de série, des UUID ou des adresses IP.
Dans le pays hors du temps, quand je venais de terminer une formation sur Sinix-Z, et j'étais en pleine forme, mon patron a décidé de m'accorder, à moi, le premier singe de la boîte, la place du client parce que je « connaissais des trucs UNIX ». Il va sans dire que
Q: How do I make a pretty display of all my bits and bobs with Ubuntu, displaying the Ubuntu logo in the terminal, like the Arch users do?
A: I am going to assume you mean the output of ‘neofetch’. If you look nicely at those Arch linux screenshots, you will see the command is neofetch (there are also other options). To install it, simply type: sudo apt install neofetch then type neofetch to run it.
Q: I wonder if you can help me. I tried to install steam on ubuntu 18.04 via the steam installer. It installed, but during the update, the power went out. I can’t run it now. I can’t update it. I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it, but I get the same error no matter which install method I use. My error is: “Couldn't set up Steam data - please contact technical support”. In a small window in the centre. Ubuntu is updated, as well as all drivers. Steam support suggests running “steam - -reset” , but it does not work, then I get a different error that it can’t find the file.
A: Usually, there is a hidden folder named ‘.steam’ in your home folder. I suggest you run: ‘cd ~’ then ‘rm -rf .steam’ - this should solve your problem. Remember to reboot and run a ‘sudo apt autoremove’ first, then try just installing steam by running ‘sudo apt install steam’ or download the .deb from steam and install it. I can not vouch for the ‘steam-installer’ as I have never used it, but these two methods work 100%.
Q: I have installed a minimal install of Ubuntu 18.04. I installed all the apps I needed, but LibreOffice won’t do the automatic spell-checking. Someone told me I need hunspell, will this fix my problem? I need to write for Uni. I have installed OnlyOffice to get spell-check going, but I prefer LibreOffice - and I want it to work. I am sure it was working with the full install.
A: Hunspell may and it may not, but I can give you a sure fire way to get it working. Install the dictionaries from here: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/english-dictionaries - This will add what you need. If you are not English, just search the extensions page for your preferred language. One thing to look out for when you are done is Only Office ↔ LibreOffice compatibility. You may notice large chunks of your stuff missing. Specially things you copy and paste from other Only Office documents. Sometimes whole paragraphs can be missing, so go over it carefully.
Q: Hi, I have Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 and when my laptop’s power saving kicks in and I unlock it, my little power button-thingy moves from the complete left to the middle of my toolbar icons. How can I fix this?
A: I can confirm it is a bug. I have never noticed it before, but I just tested it on a PC and a laptop and it does in fact, move. Since it does not always move, I am trying to find out what causes it. We will have to wait for an update to fix it, or you can file a bug report.
Q: File roller will not unzip my old files from my DOS PC days. I installed engrampa, but that does not work either. How come Linux can’t even do what MSDOS can do?
A: Linux is very modular – The UTILITY /APPLICATION does not matter. You can not unzip ‘.arj’ or ‘.rar’ files with the file roller / Engrampa, unless you install the compression method. The reason is that one can update the method, say ‘rar’, without having to update file roller every time. You can also install an application with the compression methods internally built in. ‘sudo apt install arj’ or ‘unrar’ should solve your problem with file roller. If you want an application with built in functionality, look at ‘Peazip’.
Q: I really need to stretch my laptop’s battery. I have installed TLP, but what else can I do?
A: You can take a look at ‘laptop mode tools’ - be aware, mileage may vary.
Q: Since my brothers leech off my computer, I inspect the network with an IP scanner. However, Angry IP scanner in Windows gave much better results and output than the Linux version. How do I set it up to give me more info? How do I set up the firewall for scans? I use Ubuntu 16.04.5 with I7CPU and 16GB memory and UFW.
A: I am going to tell you not to bother with Angry IP Scanner. If you want results – nmap. If you want a GUI for it, - zenmap. It has a fast scan option that scans just as fast as Angry IP Scanner (AIS), if not faster. You can pipe nmap output to a text file then manipulate that if you need to – or just use the GUI to see which of their friends are leeching off you. It is a lot more powerful than AIS. You will not look back.
Q: My computer dual-boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu. Everything was working fine. I was messing around in Windows and rebooted into Ubuntu. Now my wireless is just gone. Please help.
A: You have probably turned off wireless in Windows 7. Unlike later versions, Windows 7 has drivers that ‘hard’ off’s the WiFi, whereas later versions do the ‘airplane mode’ ‘soft’ off. Ubuntu can turn on a WiFi that is ‘soft’ off, but you need to go back into Windows 7 and turn it back on in there. Another reason could be that your computer / laptop has a physical switch, like some SONY laptops. Another option could be that your wireless card is not seated properly.
Q: We watch Netflix on Ubuntu. There is ghosting from the wallpaper. My friend said the screen is burnt in, but if I make my wallpaper all white or all black, I can’t see it. I don’t think burn-in is the case. Firefox is the latest version. We have only 5 addons in Firefox, so it’s not that. I googled Netflix fix, but I can’t find anything and I am not sure if it is Ubuntu or my Netflix setup.
A: Actually it’s Firefox. Open a new tab, type: “about:config” , click “accept the risk” and in the search bar at the top, type: “layers.excel”. The list should narrow down to three items. Change the first one “layers.acceleration.force-enable” to True by double-clicking it. Now close everything and restart.
Q: I want to have floating buttons in Xubuntu 18.04 install like this picture. < Screenshot from 2018-09-28 12-10-53.png > What app is needed to make it?
A: All you need is, your current Xubuntu as-is. Create a new panel from your settings. (Use the plus sign next to ‘Panel 0’). Add your desired launchers. Make the panel a few rows deep. Shorten the length percentage to fit your shortlist. Now make that panel transparent (under appearance tab), and viola! Floating buttons. You can even auto-hide them by making the panel auto-hide.
Q: Ubuntu 18.04 randomly freezes on me. I can’t even use ctrl+alt+delete. I have to yank the power cord. What could be causing it?
A: Install the proprietary Nvidia driver. Some cards have issues (6-series). Turn off hibernation / sleep in power. I do not know why at this stage, I just know it works, as I have come across it.
Q: Hi, my question is not so much about Ubuntu itself, rather Python REPL; 16.04, unlike 18.04, does not support autocomplete, etc. How can I fix this? I am new to the whole open source thing.
A: I am not sure what you mean, but install bpython / bpython3 (whichever python version you use) as it supports things like syntax highlighting and auto-complete.