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 are many waiting, and I do them first-come-first-served.
You know, for something that is supposed to be “fair” the law is not. I was looking at a case of a man clearly seen stealing the company product, by opening a side door and passing the products off to his accomplices. The value of the lost product was much more than his yearly salary. He obviously got fired and took the case for arbitration, arguing that it wasn't him. There are video cameras inside and outside and anyone with eyes can clearly identify the person. He won the case, because the company had no sign up, saying the door was under surveillance. That’s just stealing small in comparison to the EA’s of the gaming industry. (People who sell you games with obsolescence built in) There is an initiative going around in the EU now, “stop killing games” and if you are in the EU, I hoped you supported it, (I’d like to say support, but by the time this hits the magazine it will be over, four months from now.) as it would be a blow to the “you will own nothing and be happy” billionaires of this world. This may also wake people up to “free” software and other indian-givers, who update your software with crap to force you to buy the latest. You know, can we not all have terms and conditions to our money that these people take? Level the playing field, so to speak? For one, I think that would be fair. My terms and conditions are tied to yours, if you change your terms or sell me a product that is not really a product, but a license, then my money is also not money and only a license and you have to return it. Fair is fair?
Q: I want to install the latest version 7.1.06 of Virtualbox on Ubuntu 24.04. I’m following this tutorial – https://www.baeldung.com/linux/install-virtualbox-extension-pack – “Next, we add and install the extension pack from the VirtualBox GUI. To do this, we’ll open the VirtualBox GUI and click on “Preferences”:” <removed> but it seems that it is not in version 7.1.06 as there are no preferences.
A: I looked at the link and it clearly states version 6.1.4, as far as I know in version 7, you need to right click on the “tools” bar (The very first entry before your first VM) to get to the properties. There is no menu entry for it.
Q: My old Dell Optiplex 3050 PC is not new by any stretch of the imagination and has been very happily running LXLE for the last five years, or so. It was snappy and had easy to use software pre-installed and was easy to configure. It also shipped with my favourite idler, Zaz. The only janky thing for me was Parole. The main reason I changed to Lubuntu was basically Appgrid stopped working and Librewolf told me ublock could not be “verified” and was disabled. Lubuntu doesn’t even have a store and has weird choices for software. It used to be LXDE, right? Can I make it into LXLE?
A: Your question is a lot more involved than you think. While it is possible to add the LXDE desktop and software to match LXLE, you have to remember that the underlying tooling also differs. One could replace SDDM with LightDM etc, *if you have the time and patience. You also have to keep in mind that no-one is updating LXDE or fixing any bugs or vulnerabilities. Last time I checked, AppGrid was also dead, but I’m sure you can install another app store. The reason for Librewolf bombing is because the keys changed and it needs to have the old ones removed and then reinstalled. As for Zaz, it should* work on Lubuntu. I understand you like and prefer LXDE, but should you run into issues, there will be no help from zero developers.
Q: I’m running the latest version of Virtualbox on Ubuntu 24.04, but when the window is not fullscreen, it “drops” to the bottom of the screen. Then it seems to do this flashy thing, where if I type during a “flash”, the key strokes are not recognized. If I make it fullscreen, it goes away. If I’m on another virtual desktop I can see the icons for Virtualbox and the dot next to them “flashing” and it affects everything else. What can I do about it? I have tried VboxSVGA and VMSVGA, but it makes no difference.
A: If you change your host system login to X11 instead of Wayland, you should be good. As far as I know, Wayland cannot remember screen positions yet, (see LeoCAD blog) without lots of finagling, so it seems Oracle had not yet wrangled that one.
Q: I have two laptops, they are the same brand, but somehow one has ctrl, fn, win, alt and the other has ctrl, win, fn, alt. And my work one is ctrl, win, alt with fn on the right side of the keyboard. Is there a way I can get them on the same page? Obviously the work one has Windows, but I have Ubuntu WSL. I prefer working in Linux, but I’m not a power user.
A: OK as far as I know, there is no way to remap the Fn-key as it is hard wired. That said, you can faff with the others to get it to your liking. I’m going to assume Gnome, as you didn’t say what desktop you were using. Go to tweaks → keyboard → additional layout options → Alt and Win behaviour, or → switching to another layout option at the bottom.
Q: I have recently installed deb-get, but I’m yet to use it. I did the update and I was ready to install Skype, when it was announced that Skype would be ending in 3 months’ time. I was also thinking of getting Firefox instead of the Snap version, but I think that the Snap version may be safer as it is sandboxed. I tether my laptop via my phone for internet, as I live outside of town, so I don’t like to waste bandwidth as bandwidth = money. Can I see what’s on offer without internet connection?
A: In your terminal, if you type in deb-get and hit tab twice, it will bring up a list of sub commands, one of which is list. If you are not comfortable with the terminal, you could navigate to: /etc/deb-get/01-main.d and you should see the configuration file for each application available, by name.
Q: With Ubuntu now dropping X11, will I still be able to run my X11 apps? I use quite a few and I’m getting worried. I’m thinking of escaping to Linux Mint, but won’t it just spill over?
A: I would think so, but I’d say, let’s cross that bridge when we get there. You can always remain on Ubuntu 24.04, a bit longer, as it is a LTS release and see which way the wind blows. As for Linux Mint, it is a great distro, you cannot go wrong, just remember it always releases a bit after Ubuntu LTS.
Q: I recently installed Minder on Ubuntu 24.04 Gnome edition, it is an elementary OS application. I set the application to be in dark mode in the settings, but nothing changed. Then I set the font bigger and again, nothing changed. I read that elementary applications are written in Vala. Is that incompatible with Ubuntu?
A: I installed Minder and tested it. It seems that any changes you make do not apply to open documents, only to new documents. Open a new document and it should reflect your changes. Not sure why, maybe log a ticket with the Minder developers?
Q: VirtualBox can't operate in VMX root mode. Please disable the KVM kernel extension, recompile your kernel and reboot (VERR_VMX_IN_VMX_ROOT_MODE). Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) This happened after an update that I didn’t check, just did a sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y I know now it said yes to something I didn’t want, but it’s too late now? <removed> Ubuntu 24.04 & Virtualbox version: 7.0.18 I updated Virtualbox, but it did nothing and Ubuntu is up to date.
A: It tells you to disable the KVM kernel extension, so let’s do that. First we check if it is actually the case, open a terminal and type:
lsmod | grep kvm
The result will spit back _intel or _amd if installed, you need to pay attention to that. Now run: sudo modprobe -r kvm_intel or sudo modprobe -r kvm_amd depending on what it said in the command before that. Open virtualbox and if that works, we can make it permanent:
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-kvm.conf
add these lines:
blacklist kvm
blacklist kvm_intel # or kvm_amd
save & exit
Update the initial ram filesystem:
sudo update-initramfs -u
Now reboot
Reference: https://superuser.com/questions/1845776/virtualbox-cant-operate-in-vmx-mode
Q: How can I make Ubuntu headless with no GUI? Ubuntu 24.04 please.
A: I’m not sure what you want, headless means no monitor attached, it has nothing to do with GUI or CLI. If you just want a CLI machine with SSH, I suggest using Ubuntu server. https://ubuntu.com/download/server If this is about minecraft (I’m assuming as I get this a lot from the minecraft crowd) see: https://idroot.us/install-minecraft-server-ubuntu-24-04/
Q: Hey mate, is there a way I can see if Steam is actually using my Nvidia card or my intel IGP? I saw chuggies and it got me thinking. I’d prefer not to install more software, trying to keep it lean.
A: Sure, first launch steam and be sure it is running, next, open a terminal and type:
nvidia-smi
Look towards the bottom at “processes”, if Steam is in the list it is using your Nvidia graphics.