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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, UUIDs 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.
In one of the companies I worked for, we had a very lax programmer. He would get up and leave for lunch, leaving everything as is. He would sit and work on the porch and people would be coming and going. No matter how many times I asked him to lock his computer at the minimum, it went in one ear and out the other. Explaining that he posed a security risk was water off a duck’s back. Usually someone else would bring the laptop inside when it was unattended. Since he was doing a job for ‘big pharma’, and he was the only programmer still left on the project who knew what was going on, even the boss was skittish about him leaving and this project failing. So my complaints went to the boss and his ‘stern talking to’ was actually begging. We did not want to hide his laptop as he would have an excuse as to why the project was not on time. One day he got up, got in his car, and went to go buy rotis. I was just about to bring the laptop inside, when I noticed he was signed into Facebook. An idea hit me, as his girlfriend had him on a short leash. I immediately changed his relationship status to single, signed him up for a couple of gay groups and put some cryptic comment and started ‘liking’ the worst stuff I could find. The first comment was from his girlfriend, a high maintenance, kvetching witch, who lived for Facebook (to put it mildly). She immediately called him and gave him an earful. He was back at the office at the speed of dark. It never happened again. Some people’s priorities are different, and to change them may require some sleight of hand, but security is everyone’s concern. It may not sink in until it hits home, and usually, by then it is too late.
Q: I tried to run Ubuntu on my Asus ROG gaming laptop, but suspend does not work, and the fans spin at maximum all the time. The screen will blank, but not come back on again. The screen resolution is off, and I can’t seem to change it. The laptop is new and I don’t want to break it. I am new to Linux as windows 10 was pg me off, changing my browser every time it updates, but Linux seems broken?
A: Usually the gaming laptops are developed for Windows only, unless it is from a Linux vendor like System 76. It takes time for Linux to catch up as the laptop was not made for it and there is no incentive for OEM’s to support Linux. Your options are to troll the forums and wait, or go back to Windows for a while.
Q: Can you tell me how to mine bitcoin on ubuntu? I have a Ryzen 7 PC, with an Nvidia 3700 card and 64GB of memory and two M.2 cards. It should be powerful enough.
A: I am sure it is, but I cannot help you there. Maybe try this: https://blockchain.oodles.io/dev-blog/how-to-mine-cryptocurrency-on-your-system/
Q: My hand-me-down HP laptop has only WXGA. When I work full-screen, I want it to be like a MAC. No bars visible. Just my app. How can I do this? I loaded Xubuntu because the laptop is old with only 4GB memory. I have MACOS theme installed, but the top bar with time is always there in full screen.
A: If you pin your panel icon to plank, clicking on it a few times should hide the top panel (and any other visible panel in XFCE). Now you can reclaim that space when your browser (or whatever) is full-screen.
Q: I am so new to Ubuntu, I don’t even know what commands to run. My friend mentioned that it is faster to install software on the command-line. He said I must type sudo apt install audacity. Can you explain it to me, I have not typed it yet.
A: OK, here goes: sudo is to get privileges to write to the system, “apt” is the package manager Ubuntu uses, “install” is telling the package manager what to do, and “audacity” is the software / application that will be installed. There is nothing nefarious about the command.
Q: I installed Ubuntu with chrome and chromium. When I play back a video, I get an error → ‘Only secure browsers supported’ whatever that means. It does play on my Samsung galaxy tab, so I know the video does work. Why is my chrome not secure?
A: It sounds like a DRM issue. Really evil stuff – usually you need to spit on the ground when mentioning it, just to get the bad taste out of your mouth. Since you did not tell me the URL so I can check it for you, I can only point you somewhere: https://support.system76.com/articles/protected-content/
Q: Something is wrong after my upgrade. I get a stutter in Ubuntu then it freezes. I can see: Dec 27 09:11:51 dave-hp-pavillion kernel: [86597.479752] audit: type=1400 audit(1643808113.993:97): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” profile=“snap.snap-store.ubuntu-software” name=“/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/gdm/greeter/applications/gnome-initial-setup.desktop” pid=2263 comm=“snap-store” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=1001 ouid=0
A: I would suggest uninstalling snapd and reinstalling it. Here is a guide to remove it: https://www.simplified.guide/ubuntu/remove-snapd. Make a note of your installed snaps, as you will need to install those again as well.
Q: Hey. I am connecting a WIFI sound extender via USB cable. The device is getting powered on, but there is no change in dmesg. I have tried all the ports on my machine and I can assure you they work. I will confess that I got it from a thrift store, so mileage may vary. My Ubuntu version is Groovy Gorilla, I have to admit – I love that name. I have USB2 -black- and USB3 -blue- ports.
A: Data and power do not travel on the same lines in a USB cable. It may be that the cable is damaged, but only the data part. Get another USB extender. https://www.electroschematics.com/usb-how-things-work/
Q: I have installed Ubuntu server and tried to set up a gaming server from here: https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-20-04-minecraft-server-setup. Thing is, I want to uninstall it now, but cleanly. Have my server back to day one. I want to start fresh with a new server. Everything must go except the OS!
A: Without sounding flippant, I’d say do a fresh install. Though it IS possible to uninstall everything – usually there are leftovers, even using the –purge option. Unless you made a backup snapshot off when your server was new, so you can do a roll back, it is a lot faster and cleaner to just install a fresh copy.
Q: I must admit I am a bit out of it – I used Ubuntu 7.04 last. I installed the latest version and wanted to add a second drive. I followed a tutorial that says I must type fdisk -l. When I do, I get 20 lines of fdisk: cannot open /dev/loop8: Permission denied. What are all the loops for?
A: I am going to go out on a limb here and say the tutorial assumed that you were root. Use sudo. As to the second part of the question, I will wager those are snaps. They are mounted as loop devices. Type df -h and see.
Q: For someone interested in making music, would you endorse Ubuntu studio?
A: Ubuntu studio is an all-round creative distribution for music, video, graphics, publishing, and more. If you JUST want to make music, may I suggest KX studio? https://kx.studio/
Q: When I connect my Ubuntu laptop to my 4K TV, it makes a small window in the top-right. I have a decent HDMI cable for the job, but still it is this tiny rectangle, and it won't stretch the full size. Granted my laptop is from 2011, but it came with an HDMI port, dammit.
A: Ok, here is the deal, the older Intel chips do not change resolution on the fly. Connect everything, turn the TV on first, then turn on the laptop and immediately close the lid. Dollars to doughnuts it will be at the resolution of the TV.
Q: What is the quickest way for me to see which of my friends are logged into my Ubuntu server? I don’t want to message each one. I already did the group message.
A: Fastest? Not sure, but if you press ‘w’ and enter, you should see who is still on.
Q: How do I get an older version of software? The version in the Ubuntu software centre does not work with my program, but the older version worked on 18.04. I don’t usually use PPAs, but I will if I have to. I am getting kind of desperate.
A: PPAs also will not help. You will need to get the app source code (what is it?) from github or gitlab, and build it yourself. Most of the time, the build instructions are on that page. If not try: ./configure, then sudo make, then sudo make install, and see?
Q: I use my little Dell when I go to work at coffee shops, but after updating to 21.10, my wifi card is not working any more. Rfkill says: 1: phy0: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no
A: May I ask why you updated to an unstable version when you want stability? Decide what is more important, having the latest version or stability. Stick with LTS versions if the latter is more important. Otherwise, these things should be expected as those are testing versions for the next stable release.
Q: Can I put Ubuntu touch on my Xiaomi A9?
A: At the time of writing, no.
Q: Hello, my laptop screen flickers whenever I move it. Sometimes the screen goes all funny. I have to shut it down, close the lid and start from where I want the screen to be. I am using Ubuntu 21.04 and my laptop is an i3.
A: I would say the cable running from your motherboard to the display, via the hinge of your laptop, is either pinched, frayed or loose. It is a hardware issue.
Q: What does it mean when the update error says “does not have a Release file.”
A: Usually the version of Ubuntu you are using is not supported. In simple terms. See: https://askubuntu.com/questions/866901/what-can-i-do-if-a-repository-ppa-does-not-have-a-release-file