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, 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.
The company I worked at was almost completely paperless, save for the reception printer. Because printing was very low on the priority list, the receptionist would only buy ink, maybe every three months. One day I had a call from another department, who ‘urgently’ needed to print some documents. I went to have a look, as there were no restrictions, but we had a diverse OS landscape with Windows, Mac and Linux machines. Just to find that the ink was out at the printer side (Toner, but I’m going to type ink as it is shorter and we all know what I mean). I informed the department manager that they had to wait until the receptionist bought ink again. This did not go down well and they tried the others in the IT team, to get the same answer. It did not stop the pestering and eventually we managed to talk the Finance department into buying the ink early, at the behest of the department manager. It was a complete Olympic challenge, we had to dive through hoops and jump to conclusions, run ourselves ragged, etc, so that money was spent, when it was not in the budget. Not that anyone except that specific department manager needed to print anything, mind you, but we made an effort nonetheless. So with finance stretching it as close to normal time as possible, we got hit with all the usual urgency phrases, but IT could do nothing as finance holds the purse strings. Finally the ink came and I put the cartridges in and after the initial calibration, the printer printed what was still in the buffer… Her kid’s biology book, in full color…
This month I was bombarded with Brave queries, I usually ignore application questions as they are better answered by application maintainers, but this month we can let it pass. For the record, I use LibreWolf and Vivaldi after Ronnie’s recommendation and never needed Brave, so the answers may not be definitive.
Q: I have Ubuntu 24.04.1 installed, the minimal way. In the app centre, I installed Ren’py. When I run it, however, I get an error, saying there is something missing. Is this because I have a minimal install? I have not the foggiest how to get ecdsa.
A: Erm, ECDSA is a cryptographic library. I doubt the issue is on your side. My suggestion is simply to grab the SDK tar file from their website and extract the contents and execute the renpy.sh file. If this works, the problem is not you.
Q: I installed Renpy from the command line and I get a traceback error when I run it. I also installed it on my Debian machine and got a traceback error too, but different from Ubuntu. How can I fix this? I have a feeling about the error as it has Python 2.7 listed in the install. <removed> Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish.
A: It never rains, it pours! See the above solution. I suspect the version in the repositories may be outdated.
Q: I installed Ubuntu 24 in Virtualbox and gave it 4GB. When I open the app store, I can see updates, but if I say update all, I get an error saying “unknown snapd exception, cannot refresh snap-store”. I clicked around and updated what I could, but update all does not work.
A: Close everything and only open a terminal. Then type:
sudo snap refresh and hit enter. Once done, reboot and you should be golden.
Q: If I install a snap from the snap store, but I open a terminal and type sudo snap list, and I don’t see it, what does that mean? I Have Ubuntu 24.04 on my PC. Is there a way to fix it? I’m new to Ubuntu, so explain it like you would to a child.
A: It means that your application will probably not work. In the App Centre, there is a little flag you can use to report an application (top-right, more-or-less in line with the name).
Q: When I use the update button on the welcome screen, it says my system is up-to-date. When I do an update on the command line, I have updates. I don’t understand what is going wrong. Then 5 minutes later, it will populate, even though I have pressed refresh a few times. <removed>
A: The “Wilma” part in your image says to me that it is Mint, not Ubuntu, so either you have the wrong repos enabled or you are using Linux Mint, not Ubuntu.
Q: I have installed Brave browser previously, but Brave keeps showing update in the top right, and when I click that, it tells me to reinstall Brave. When I download the Brave deb from github, it says “dependency not satisfiable brave keyring”? If I do it the way on the website, I get: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-i386/Packages' as repository 'https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com stable InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'i386'. I don’t want to lose my brave rewards.
A: Honestly I have no idea, as I do not use Brave, but I went ahead and copied the commands from their page. Even if you get the error (I can confirm it is there), just go ahead with:
sudo apt install brave-browser -
and you should be good. There is always Snap & Flatpak if all else fails.
Q: Something is wrong with brave on Ubuntu 22.04. If I look in /home/robert/.var/app/ I can see it was last updated on 16/12/2023. Yet I have been doing updates regularly. Must I go to Ubuntu 24.04 to get the latest version?
A: From the folder path, I suspect you installed a Flatpak. Those are maintained by a random person, not Brave software. I suggest using the method on their website.
Q: Don’t laugh, I’m on an old version of Ubuntu, as I do not like upgrading, it’s scary. Thing is I was cleaning my menu up, when I noticed that Brave points to /usr/bin/flatpak run –branch=stable –arch=x86_64 –command=brave –file-forwarding com.brave.Browser @@u %U @@ Thing is, I have never used flatpak that I am aware of. Can applications just install flatpaks?
A: OK, with all the queries I have been in and out of this for a week now. It seems that for some reason Steam installs flatpak, with the “steam runtime”. Flatpaks enter your system that way. As to the ‘how’ part of where Brave got changed, I cannot tell you. I am assuming somewhere along the line there was a hiccup and a brave flatpak got installed as it updated, but it is only a guess. Try:
flatpak uninstall –unused –delete-data
Q: Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 and everything has gone small. Everything even looks different. <removed> Before <removed> It may need an update or something. Specs: <removed> Tilix hangs after a few minutes. <removed> Please help, it is urgent. Thunderbird is almost unusable. <removed>
A: Start by opening the terminal, type:
cd /
sudo touch forcefsck
put in your password and reboot. From your specs, I can see you have an Nvidia 630 card, but you are on Mesa drivers, that could be why there is only one resolution listed. Once rebooted type:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
and type in your password. If you open the Raven menu (the one that pops in from the side), click on the spanners at the bottom and change your icon theme from there. You can also set the font sizes from there too. Thunderbird will come right as your system fonts decrease.
Q: HEIC images used to work, but all of a sudden, I can’t view them any more. As my cousin set it all up for me, I haven’t a clue as to what he did. Just explain it slowly so an old man can understand. Also if there is a way I can just make it work, without GIMP, that would be great.
A: It is a bit long to run through here, so I’ll point you to: https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/01/install-latest-libheif-ubuntu/
Q: My PC is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but I shudder to think that my 7-series Nvidia card is not supported any more. I can’t remember if it was a 730 or 740? After keeping my system up-to-date, I have noticed that it is on MESA drivers. I try to install the Nvidia 550 driver, but it just will not work. I know it was working at one point, and I have no idea when it stopped. I’d just like to have my acceleration back. I play jjewelled on the off days and the lag is just horrible.
A: From what I can see: https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/470.74/README/supportedchips.html - It looks like your card was left behind at the 470 driver. Any newer than that and it will probably not work.