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. If your question does not appear immediately, it is just because there is such a lot, and I do them ‘first-come-first-served’.
Back in the day, computer architecture and topology was very different. One of my WANG clients held on to their equipment well past the ‘best before’ date. I understood why though, it suited their needs and they paid a lot of money for it. The problem they ran into was that WANG stopped supplying parts and had moved on to bigger and better things (well, WANG filed for bankruptcy too, but that is another story). The issue was boards for those huge bad printers and things like the terminals. With usable parts in our stores growing less by the week, we had to make a plan. Turned out that those boards were really easy to fix, a capacitor here, a transistor there. Suddenly I had switched from field support engineer to board repair technician. What I knew about board repair was scary! If I could not find the error, I would start replacing parts to see if the outcome changed. Just to be fair, usually it was obvious, popped capacitors or open transistors. Move the clock forward like 20 years and I bought a nifty AMD graphics card. I moved and, somehow in the move, one of those surface mounted resistors came off. I did not know the value and could not repair it. Basically a few months' salary wasted. I am sure I could fix it, if I knew what value it should be, but the circuit diagrams were not available, like with WANG. Hell, we had shelves of manuals, describing every part of the system. I am sure with enough time, I could build one of those. Everyone seems to be on the right-to-repair bandwagon at the moment, and I fully support it. However, manuals to repair your stuff are not available any more. This is what is attractive to me about open source. I can, at any time, look at the source code for any of my programs. I can even build it myself! This may change over time, so know what you have and try to preserve it, your kids may thank you one day.
Q: Hello, I am new to this whole free software thing and I was wondering why I can’t copy a command and paste it into the terminal? The instructions clearly state, copy and paste this in your terminal. What am I doing wrong?
A: Just a quick note about terminals: they are actually terminal emulators. Some allow reading of the clipboard with ctrl+v and some you need to right-click then paste. If the terminal you are using does not allow what you need, you can use another.
Q: I am still on Ubuntu 18.04. My laptop has 4GB of RAM. I am running the latest version of LMMS. When I load up a song, all my instruments are distorted. I can kinda fix it by dragging my volume slider to 150% then 0% a few times. I just un-installed and re-installed and get the same result - horrible noise.
A: I need you to go to settings and find the speaker icon. Change your “audio interface” to another one, try SDL, for instance, save and restart LMMS. This should sort you out.
Q: I have an application that runs in chrome. Due to power failures, it needs to continue. However I need an older version of chrome for all our stuff to run properly. I am not worried about security as this is a closed system. How do I install an older version of chrome to work with our app on IIS? The version that ships with Ubuntu is already too new.
A: You did not say which flavour you are running, as I did not even know Ubuntu shipped with Chrome? Did you mean Chromium? Anyway, you can download the older version of Chrome as a .deb-file and install it that way.
Q: Hey, I am learning C and I was wondering which version of GCC I should use to follow the tutorials? It says I need a C compiler. I have to choose the right one in Code::Blocks IDE. But I am not sure as to what the right one is?
A: Go with what you have. Whatever came with Ubuntu is good enough. Don’t get caught up in the wrong details, rather concentrate on the programming part.
Q: I am loving workspaces in Ubuntu Budgie. However, I have somehow made more than I can ever use. How can I decrease them? I have checked the settings.
A: Right-click inside a workspace representation in your taskbar and remove it.
Q: My issue isn’t with Ubuntu playing videos in Parole media player, but when I skip ahead or back, it just closes. Ubuntu is feeling a lot more unstable than Windows used to. What can be wrong?
A: Parole is buggy that way. May I suggest you look at another player if you like to skip. It is not Ubuntu’s fault.
Q: I use my laptop mainly at night. It is a Lenovo G50-80. The brightness setting is unlike other laptops I have used, as under Ubuntu 18.04, the minimum brightness setting is actually OFF. You can set it very low with the mouse, but if you use the buttons, it will go all the way. Now, when the laptop goes to sleep, I can’t unlock it as there is no display, if I turn it off. So usually I try blindly. Is there a way to get the brightness up before I type my password. The keys are disabled once the laptop is locked.
A: Close the laptop lid and wait for the hard drive light to settle. Now open the laptop and the brightness level should jump to default. Then you should be able to see where you are typing.
Q: Here’s the deal. I kinda messed up. I was editing my system files, and, after rebooting, I can no longer access my user. I can still access my brother’s user. I can su into Dave, but I can’t log in graphically. How can I fix my system files?
A: Quickest and easiest is to copy the files you messed up from your brother’s profile or look for the template in /etc/skel.
Q: How can I fix this error in dmesg: [80187.069964] Bluetooth: hci0: unexpected event for opcode 0xfc2f?
A: You have not told me what the problem is, if there even is one? Bluetooth may be turned off by a switch, in your BIOS or by software. Should you not have an issue or not use bluetooth, just ignore it.
Q: I downloaded and installed Raspbian from my Ubuntu PC. Intel motherboard and Intel CPU. But when I put the Apacer SD card in my Raspberry pi, it doesn’t boot. Now when I put it back in my PC, it is just not showing up. I put it in my Android phone too, but it is just missing.
A: Most probably the card died. If it is under warranty, swop it out.
Q: I have Thunderbird installed and I have accidentally deleted some important emails. How can I get them back?
A: This depends if you are using POP or IMAP. My suggestion is to call up your mail provider and ask them to restore the last 30 days worth of mail. Just in case it was IMAP, and you deleted it off the server.
Q: On my laptop, I can look up my external IP in the browser, but my cousin’s machine does not have a desktop or browser. How can I see his public IP from a screen session? He has BASH.
A: The easiest way I can think of, is: curl ifconfig.me
Q: I have updated Veracrypt on several occasions now, I started on 1.16. Is my data still safe or do I need to re-encrypt my drives?
A: You are updating the APPLICATION, not the encrypted volume. The algorithm stays the same, but any flaws in the application that can say, leak your password, are fixed. You do not have to worry about your encrypted containers.
Q: Whenever I try to install a DEB file, I get “a newer version is available in the software channel”. But I don’t want the newer version. Can you help me?
A: If you need the previous version, by all means, shoulder past the warning. It is just that, a warning; it does not prevent you from installing the version that you need.
Q: I have installed Voyager based on Ubuntu. When I click the Voyager button on the right, I get a different Firefox that I have installed? How do I fix this?
A: HAH! You had me clicking on mine as I also use Voyager and never used that button. You are not getting another version of Firefox, rather a customised home page. Nothing to be concerned about. If in doubt, peruse the index file.
Q: I Installed Ubuntu on my PC last night, but I was tired and I had some wine. Now I can’t remember what password I used. Can I find out what password I used?
A: Short answer is you cannot. If you are a noob, I suggest that you just reinstall it as the quickest fix.
Q: I am seriously stuck trying to access my Ubuntu PC from my Windows laptop. I am truly stumped. I followed so many tutorials from google, but I just can't get it to work.
A: Yes, a pet hate of mine too, if you need the desktop interface. May I rather suggest installing Anydesk and using that. It gives the least amount of grey hairs.
Q: My memory is being eaten up inside Firefox. I suspect that it is a script on https://music.163.com that is doing it, but how can I be sure. I have like a different window open for each artist, so I need to close them all and look for them all again, which is a pain.
A: I am not sure what you mean ‘inside Firefox’ (probably a Google translate glitch), but you can see each tab’s memory usage by typing: “about:performance” in a new tab.
Q: How can I record a webinar? I am home with the kids and they demand a lot of attention. I need to be able to go over the content again if interrupted. Thanks. I am using Ubuntu Mate 18.
A: Use a screen recorder like OBS studio.
Q: I went to our library with my own Ubuntu laptop. They added a proxy for me to use the network. I forgot to ask them to remove it before I left. Now I can’t use my laptop on my home network. Where can I remove it please?
A: Go to Network settings > Edit connections, find your WiFi, and double-click it. You will now be presented with a window with a proxy tab. Just remove it from there.
Q: Sometimes when I unzip a downloaded file, I get a hidden file _MACOSX_ created even though I have a Toshiba laptop with Ubuntu 16.04. I have tried Engrampa, File roller, etc. I keep getting this file that has the same folders inside. What settings do I need to change?
A: Nothing, those hidden files are on the Apple MAC of the person Zipping the file and just gets unpacked on your side. Simply delete those folders, you do not need them.