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.
A while ago I applied for a position at a firm that specializes in IT security. At the interview, I was told that they prefer a candidate with a university degree. So I asked, “so you are saying that you discriminate against poor people?” Which in hindsight probably was not the thing to say, but since I have no filter, it probably needed to be said. After they tell me about their state of the art systems and brag about their PhDs working for them, they ask if I think I can get into their system. I say yes, very confidently. They ask for a demonstration, and tell me the Wifi name (probably expecting me to run up against some IDS). I ask if I can use the telephone. They say yes. The telephone is marked ‘213’ so I dial 201, and the receptionist answers. I ask for the extension for finance. I dial finance and say quick as a flash: “Hi, this is Mike from IT, whatever you do, DON’T log off!”. Trying to sound panicky. “Why?” is the reply. “I think we just stuffed up, please tell the others not to log off, turn off their computers, or close their laptop lids”. I hear him complying - why not, call ID shows ‘internal call’. “OK I say, let’s see if we can restore access”. “Please spell your username precisely as it is, so I can create you again.” He does. “OK. I say, the last password you used, please, you can change it once we are done.” I get the password. OK, please put me through to the next person so I can restore them too. Process repeats for all four members of Finance, including the Finance manager. (I am wondering if I should repeat this stunt with marketing, but I think it should be enough). I turn to the interviewer. I have four username / password combinations. I smile. They do not. I did not get a reply from these people, not even a “you were not successful”, oh well… This is the same when Windows users come to Linux. Why can’t I be admin? Why can’t I install this program that hasn’t been updated since 2004? Linux has a different mindset when it comes to security. BUT! Do not rely on this. Be aware of what you install. Go look at the Github page now-and-then, see when last someone updated the software. It takes only one ‘low tech’ attack sometimes to defeat ‘high tech’.
Q: Perciv@l, [23.12.20 23:28]. Hi, So I deleted a bunch of photos. I think I may have deleted one I wanted to keep. How can I see a history of deleted files in Ubuntu? Perciv@l, [23.12.20 23:31]. How can I get it back?
A: When an item is moved to trash, like other operating systems, you can recover it from there. Delete is delete. That said, if you install “testdisk” when you set up your Ubuntu machine, it allows you to recover files. See: https://vitux.com/how-to-recover-deleted-files-in-ubuntu-through-testdisk/
Q: What is the best way to monitor my cron jobs I set up? Sometimes they just don’t start and I realize this too late. My VPS is on Digital Ocean.
A: Cron itself does not have anything I know of, but I can point you to: https://cronitor.io/cron-job-monitoring
Q: Hei. I am new to Ubuntu. Windows user for 11 years. I just had enough with windows 10 disconnecting my network card randomly when I am busiest, so I switched, but… I can’t drag icons to my desktop? Is this normal? I am the only user. Googling this gives conflicting information. Can you explain why?
A: The reason you are getting conflicting information, is because Ubuntu comes in different “flavours” - desktop environments – some allow you to do so, and some do not. I have not checked in with the Gnome3 version in a while, but I suspect that is what you have. The Gnome team has their own idea of how you should work, but you should know it is not the only desktop environment out there. You could try Kubuntu, which should feel more familiar (Windows-like), or just read up on the Ubuntu flavours and decide on one you may like.
Q: I got a USB wifi adapter, cheap as chips, so I bought it from Cash Crusaders. My machine is Ubuntu 20.04 with an Intel mobo also second-hand, of which the ethernet port was blown before I got it. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I used it and it served me well. The wifi adapter just worked and it is great, but I wanted to use it as a hotspot. This is where my problems started. I have followed every tutorial I could lay my hands on, but I can’t make it happen. Maybe I am not geeky enough, but I suspect it may be because the original port was blown.
A: I cannot tell you that it is or is not, I can only tell you to look if that card supports Access Point (AP) mode. Some of the really cheap Chinese knock offs do not. If it does, it may be a driver issue on the WiFi or Ethernet side. Simply open a terminal and type:
iw list |grep -i “Supported interface modes:” -A8
Then look for “AP” in the output. If you have only one network interface though, you need third party software, see: https://github.com/oblique/create_ap#internet-sharing-from-the-same-wifi-interface
Q: What would you suggest I use to make a bootable Ubuntu USB stick in windows, that I know will work?
A: Balena Etcher. https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Q: Sibusiso, [25.01.21 09:04] The only thing holding me back at the moment from having Ubuntu as my daily driver is that I can’t use Itunes, so I dual boot. Swapping the whole time is getting tedious. Can’t I just put it in a VM?
A: Yes you can, but that may get tedious too, How about you use W.I.N.E to run it? See: https://www.how2shout.com/linux/how-to-install-itunes-on-linux-such-as-ubuntu-20-04-lts/
Q: I have installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my wife’s old lenovo laptop with 4GB of memory and all went well, but the internet speed seems horrible. What am I to do about it?
A: You have given me very little to go on, but I would say, proprietary drivers. (You can also swap out the network card for a more Linux friendly one).
Q: OK, don’t shoot the dummy, but when I plug my laptop into my HD TV I lose sound. I would like to play my series on my TV while I work. I am still using Xubuntu 16.04 as I am afraid of upgrading. I tried it with headphones and speakers, but the result is the same. Could you point me in the right direction please?
A: No you are not a dummy, see it as an opportunity to learn something new. The thing with HDMI is that it is assumed that when you use it, you will be using the sound on the TV or monitor. Simply open your sound settings and choose your speakers or headphones as output device.
Q: I am a beginner to Ubuntu. I have tried Fedora Core 2 some years ago, but did not like it, so I would like to learn more about Ubuntu. Any Ideas where I can go to feed my need?
A: You can find that information in 2 seconds with a Google search, so I am going to assume you want something more? Let me know. If I am wrong, just see here: https://itsfoss.com/best-ubuntu-books/
Q: This is going to sound weird, but I keep getting an error “Timeout poll on interrupt endpoint” with SUSE and UBUNTU on my Raspberry PI 3B. I have searched and there is something like that on the BSD side of things. My error is precisely that → https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-arm/2018-September/018913.html, but there is no fix?
A: Remove all USB devices and boot, and put them back in once booted.
Q: Before I go all crazy, I was wondering if it is at all possible to install KDE develop in vanilla Ubuntu? Thanks.
A: Yes, it is POSSIBLE (I am assuming you mean Gnome as vanilla), but I would not recommend, as it will pull in a boat load of KDE dependencies. Though these days the slowdowns are minimal, it is still there. Have you checked to see if you can find a flatpak / Snap / Appimage?
Q: I apologize if my question is basic, but my knowledge of Linux is limited. I installed Ubuntu studio to mess around with making music. I opened Firefox and tried to go to Gmail, but it said that “You’ve enabled HTTPS-Only Mode for enhanced security, and a HTTPS version of gamil.com is not available.” Now I am too scared to use the internet, have I been pwned?
A: ‘tis but a scratch, as the black knight (John Cleese) said in Monty Python. Look at your spelling / typing, you just made a typo. Gamil instead of Gmail.
Q: I am trying to write a book in my spare time and I do some research on the internet when I am at McDonalds or other free wifi. I find it painful to copy the webpage and paste it into LibreOffice on my Ubuntu 1804 laptop (I usually need to read it later). Is there a better way? I don’t have an internet connection at home unless I use my phone and that data is very expensive.
A: I am not sure, but what I do when I need to save research, is to use Opera’s save webpage feature, which saves the whole page, as is, as a .mht file, that you can open at home with Opera and it will look like the online one. You can save them all in one folder as they do not have loose files like when you save it with other browsers.
Q: I bought a Microsoft Surface laptop second-hand and tried to install Ubuntu on it. It has always been a fantasy of mine to own a surface device, after seeing the ad. I am having endless issues with the touchscreen part of it. Now I am pulling my hair out in frustration. Should I just sell this off again rather?
A: The surface series is another kettle of fish entirely. If I recall correctly, you need a special kernel. See the compatibility matrix here: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features#feature-matrix
Q: Please. I have this error and google solutions are not helping. I have Ubuntu 18. E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages (I can't fix it even in Synaptic).
A: Before you go ahead and try to fix the broken packages, I suggest turning off all other repositories, except the main ones. Do an update and do a repair. It could be something like a PPA or typo in a repository too.
Q: I tried Microsoft Teams in Ubuntu, but it keeps freezing. Any idea?
A: Not really, but a solution that sometimes works is to remove the Microsoft Teams folder under “./config/Microsoft/” and try again.