Re: Windows on VMware on Deb 11: safely usable?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-08-17 12:53, Tom Browder wrote:
Unfortunately, I have to have a Windows host. I have given up dual 
hosting because of the pain, so I am using a dedicated Win 10 box and a 
Deb laptop.


I would love to run Windows on a VM on Debian iff I can have it be 
reliable enough to use with reasonable response (no games, just Office 
360, IO Drive, H Block, and such). I haven't kept up with the VM world 
but a quick search shows VMware might be a good choice.


Anyone using such a rig for the real world (i.e., not testing or as a 
hobby)? If it is reliable, I plan to get a hefty SilentPC to run my 
primary digital duopoly.


Thanks.

-Tom


Please note that VirtualBox isn't in the official repository. There is a 
reason for that: Oracle won't/can't cooperate with the Debian Security Team.


As for VMWare: when I still used it, a major disadvantage was that you 
had to fuss around with the kernel every time there was an update. That 
really was a major PITA. I don't know if that still is the case with 
VMWare, but I do know I have no such trouble with libvirt. At all.


Grx HdV

Re: Windows on VMware on Deb 11: safely usable?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-08-17 12:53, Tom Browder wrote:
Unfortunately, I have to have a Windows host. I have given up dual 
hosting because of the pain, so I am using a dedicated Win 10 box and a 
Deb laptop.


I would love to run Windows on a VM on Debian iff I can have it be 
reliable enough to use with reasonable response (no games, just Office 
360, IO Drive, H Block, and such). I haven't kept up with the VM world 
but a quick search shows VMware might be a good choice.


Anyone using such a rig for the real world (i.e., not testing or as a 
hobby)? If it is reliable, I plan to get a hefty SilentPC to run my 
primary digital duopoly.


Thanks.

-Tom


I used to run Windows in a commercially licensed VMWare environment for 
my business. I also have used VirtualBox for years for the same purpose. 
However, a couple of years back I switched to libvirt and never had any 
problems with it (that weren't of my own doing).


It *does* take a bit more time to really understand all the features, 
but it is worth your time. There is good documentation available, but I 
had to read some of it multiple times to get my head around it. Not 
because the docs were bad, but it is complex and written for people that 
already do have some experience in that area (I feel). There is a 
separate GUI, if you think that suits your needs (with the imaginative 
name Virtual Machine Manager).


I run a fully patched Windows 10 Pro in libvirt at the moment on a 
machine with 32 cores and 64 GB of RAM and it is speedy and stable 
enough for my needs (hosting a learning environment for my students).


I'd say: give it a go!

Grx HdV

Re: Under each of these scenarios, what is the neatest and simplest way to manipulate the /etc/network/interfaces file?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-03-19 13:19, Eduardo M KALINOWSKI wrote:

On 19/03/2022 09:06, Stella Ashburne wrote:
No thank you. I won't touch NetworkManager or its variants with a ten 
foot pole. Why?


Reason #1

[quote] I am sorry but we do not support NetworkManager.

I would go so far as to say do not use it at all .. but Linux distros 
think it is some sort of magic ..[end quote]


Reply by TinCanTech, Forum Team, to the original post "Can connect via 
terminal, but not with NetworkManager" (URL: 
https://forums.openvpn.net/viewtopic.php?t=26802)


Reason #2

[quote] Due to multiple, critical  problems in network-manager-openvpn 
which after years have not been solved we recommend to NOT use it. 
Please understand that we will not provide support to 
network-manager-openvpn. In GNU/Linux we recommend that you run our 
free and open source software "Eddie", or our free and open source 
software "Hummingbird", or OpenVPN directly [end quote]


A notice posted by the staff of AirVPN under the title "Using AirVPN 
with Debian Network Manager (NOT RECOMMENDED)" (URL: 
https://airvpn.org/forums/topic/11416-using-airvpn-with-debian-network-manager-not-recommended/ 


)

Eduardo, I do use VPNs frequently in my line of work and always use 
the community edition of OpenVPN to connect to VPN servers directly.


Unfortunately I cannot say whether your use case will work with NM. I 
occasionally use a wireguard firewall, but I don't think I've used 
OpenVPN with NM.


However, note that the posts are from 2014 and 2018. A lot might have 
changed since then.


I think the chances of that are quite good. If only because I've been 
using the combination of NM and OpenVPN for about 5 years now and it's 
been ages ago I've had trouble with it.


Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input

Should give temperature:
Mine right now is:
29000

which apparently is 29C.

/sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0/pwm1

is the power management.


I returned home yesterday.

It seems the temperature here isn't out of the ordinary:

$ cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon1/temp1_input
37000

(The machine has been on for 4 hours now.)

I read Pankaj's problem disappeared after upgrading his kernel to 5.10. 
I don't think that would help here as I have been on the 5.15 series for 
quite some time now.


I still think it is a firmware problem as I am reasonably sure I've 
eliminated all hardware factors from the equation.


Ah well. It isn't a serious issue. I can live with it. Maybe sometime in 
the future it will be solved.


Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-28 16:53, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:


Wherever possible, it's easier if you are using Debian stable: more people
will hae experience / be running that at any one time.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater


I know. But testing is more convenient for me. I need to test current 
software for the courseware I write. Stable is perfectly fine, but not 
if you want to trail the leading edge a bit more closely. Sid is to 
close to the edge for me though.


I've been running testing for close to 25 years now. In the early days 
breakage was a recurring thing, but nowadays that is quite rare. Up to 
now I've always been able to solve any trouble. My time as a sysadmin 
still proves to be useful when I need to do that.  ;-)


Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-28 16:48, Bijan Soleymani wrote:

On 2022-01-28 10:16, hdv@gmail wrote:
About the fan: I seem to remember I had to install amdgpu-fan (needed 
to look that up, forgot the name) when I got this setup. Not sure if 
it still is needed or that the driver can control the fan reliably 
nowadays. I need to check that out too when I get home. 


I've had my card since January 2020 and have not needed amdgpu-fan or 
similar software, and it has just worked with default settings from 
kernel drivers.


I would check amdgpu-fan settings to adjust more aggressively or maybe 
uninstall and try settings fan to max and see if that solves the issue.


I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

P.S. Apologies for the PM. I accidentally used the wrong shortcut.

Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-28 15:31, Bijan Soleymani wrote:

On 2022-01-28 08:40, hdv@gmail wrote:
I am reasonably sure the problem lies in some form or combination of 
software. Sadly, my expertise in that area is insufficient to find out 
what it is exactly.


What kernel/OS/driver are you using if it is software I can try to 
reproduce since I have a pretty similar card.


On the other hand: what goes in my case is not necessarily valid in 
yours.


In case it is is due to overheating this script will log temperature, 
power management and fan settings.


#!/bin/bash
cd /sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0
while `true`;
     do date;
     for x in fan1_enable fan1_input fan1_target pwm1 pwm1_enable 
temp1_input;

     do echo -n "$x: "; cat $x;
     done;
     echo; sleep 1;
done

Output will be the following about once a second:

Fri 28 Jan 2022 09:28:12 AM EST
fan1_enable: 0
fan1_input: 1714
fan1_target: 1714
pwm1: 0
pwm1_enable: 2
temp1_input: 36000

Also you can max out the fan to see if that helps:

echo 0 > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0/pwm1_enable

(If you can pwm1_enable after it will show 1 and not 0, but if you look 
at pwm1 it will be at max of 255).


Bijan



I am (currently) on

5.15.0-2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.15.5-2 (2021-12-18) x86_64 GNU/Linux

and

xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu

if I am not mistaken. Sorry, I can't check it from here.

About the fan: I seem to remember I had to install amdgpu-fan (needed to 
look that up, forgot the name) when I got this setup. Not sure if it 
still is needed or that the driver can control the fan reliably 
nowadays. I need to check that out too when I get home.


Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-28 14:12, Pankaj Jangid wrote:

Pankaj Jangid  writes:


UPDATE:

I have changed the HDMI cable and since last 6hrs I have not faced that
event again. Will update in the thread if it re-appears.

Another thing happened when I was replacing the cable. I heard the
sparking noise in the power socket of monitor. So I tightened it up a
bit. So the loose power socket could also be the culprit in my case.

I am just waiting for another day and then I’ll try the earlier HDMI
cable again.


Nope. The problem still exists. I’ll change the power-chord now.



Like I wrote before: I exchanged all non-fixed components (mainly cable, 
ports, display, and slot on the mobo). Where that was not possible I 
made double-sure there was no mechanical source to the problems (bad 
cables, bad seating, corrosion, etc.). The only thing I did not change 
was the combination of the mobo and the graphics card. Maybe/probably I 
did not exclude the power component as a source. I can't remember 
whether I did or not.


I am reasonably sure the problem lies in some form or combination of 
software. Sadly, my expertise in that area is insufficient to find out 
what it is exactly.


On the other hand: what goes in my case is not necessarily valid in yours.

Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-27 11:16, Bijan Soleymani wrote:

On 2022-01-27 5:00 a.m., hdv@gmail wrote:
My guess is about once every week. The display is on for roughly 16 
hours each day. There seems to be no discernable relation to "load". 
At least not that I could confirm. I haven't found a link to a 
specific application either. This system is a general purpose 
workstation and it is exposed to most common types of use. I design 
and create courseware, which involves running virtual machines with 
libvirt, coding in several languages, video editing, graphics editing, 
sound editing, editing all kinds of documents, and the standard 
internet stuff. I haven't seen this happening more often with any of 
these uses.


Thanks for the reply!

This blog post seems to indicate it might be due to the fan not turning 
on enough at moderate load by default (it pulses off and on which is not 
enough):

https://zarino.co.uk/post/amp-gpu-fan-curve-pop-os-ubuntu/

cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input

Should give temperature:
Mine right now is:
29000

which apparently is 29C.

/sys/class/drm/card0/device/hwmon/hwmon0/pwm1

is the power management.

I'll play around tomorrow.

Bijan


Sadly I do not have access to this machine remotely. I do have my own 
VPN server, but that does not help when the machine in question is 
turned off.  ;-)


I'll check the temperature when I am back, and when it happens again.

Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-27 10:40, Bijan Soleymani wrote:


On 2022-01-27 4:23 a.m., Bijan Soleymani wrote:
Are you also connected via HDMI? I think I am using DVI to mini 
display port.


I will have to check when I return home from this assignment in 2 weeks 
time, but I am almost certain I am using DP. I seem to remember I didn't 
have the appropriate HDMI cable at hand for the resolution I am using 
(3840x2160@60Hz).



Seems the issues happens on windows and on HDMI but not DP:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/ez2c4i/rx_570_screen_randomly_goes_black_during/ 


I will check if my wet memory is corrupt as soon as I can. Who knows? 
Maybe I am using HDMI after all.



Two other cases:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/o1r0y9/screen_goes_to_black_randomly_while_gaming_rx_570/ 



That one says upgrading the power supply fixed it.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/screen-goes-black-for-3-5-seconds-then-goes-back.3397019/ 



This one said they had the card replaced.

Anyways I will test with HDMI tomorrow.

Let me know how often it happens, or if there is anything that can be 
done to trigger it.


My guess is about once every week. The display is on for roughly 16 
hours each day. There seems to be no discernable relation to "load". At 
least not that I could confirm. I haven't found a link to a specific 
application either. This system is a general purpose workstation and it 
is exposed to most common types of use. I design and create courseware, 
which involves running virtual machines with libvirt, coding in several 
languages, video editing, graphics editing, sound editing, editing all 
kinds of documents, and the standard internet stuff. I haven't seen this 
happening more often with any of these uses.


Grx HdV

Re: Screen goes blank for 1-2 seconds

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-27 05:35, Pankaj Jangid wrote:

Since I have setup a new hardware - x570 chipset, rx570 GPU - I am
facing a very strange problem. The monitor goes blank for a brief time,
like 1-2s and then comes back. It is connected with the GPU using HDMI
cable.

During that 1-2s, the machine response is fine. Whatever I type during
that time goes there as input, and visible when the monitor comes back.

I don’t want to file any bug report till I have some concrete data. So
my question is - how do I diagnose such an issue and produce some data
for debugging. So that I can hand it over to maintainers.

Regards
Pankaj


You are not the only one. I see the exact same here. The system this 
happens on has an RX560 graphics card. I have been seeing these 
blackouts from the start on this configuration (more than 2 years now).


I can confirm it is not a mechanical issue (not of cable's connections, 
cable defects, or of the seating of the card in the motherboard). It is 
not the display either (I have tried multiple displays). I am almost 
sure it is a software issue.


I can also confirm the system does not hang. I've tested this with a 
software timer and a request/response loop querying a daemon both 
locally and over a wired network.


Grx HdV

Re: OT: Recommendation for a new Debian laptop

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-15 17:13, Andrei POPESCU wrote:

On Mi, 12 ian 22, 08:54:50, john doe wrote:

Debians,

i've been using a laptop for a fiew years now and before this laptop
dies on me I would like to buy a new laptop.

I'm thinking about two options:
- Buying something of the shelph and installing Debian on it
- Buying a pine64 or alike
- Any other alternative?

The only requirement is to have virtualisation available.

Basically, I'm looking for some feedback to have a laptop with Debian on it.

Any suggestion is appreciated.


Since you didn't mention any kind of budget constraints, you might want
to consider Thinkpads (previously IBM, now Lenovo).

The build quality is generally high (especially for the more expensive
series, like T) and you get detailed manuals on how to take it apart for
upgrades or repairs.

Compatibility with Linux is also generally very good and there are even
some models that come with Linux pre-installed.

Many Linux developers like them as well (not least because of the very
good keyboards) which only helps with compatibility.

If price is a concern, even second-hand / refurbished Thinkpads usually
provide good value for the money.


Hope this helps,
Andrei


Just be aware that current Thinkpad compatibility isn't what it was in 
the past. I am a long-time Thinkpad user (I *think* I started with the 
T40, not sure anymore) and with the latest models I have had some issues 
(mostly with external displays). Some were solvable with effort, some not.


I do not include the well-known problems with fingerprint readers in 
this. Those I knew about up front, so that was my own choice.


Grx HdV

Re: How to secure access to SD cards a la USBGuard?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2022-01-11 12:41, Andrei POPESCU wrote:

On Du, 02 ian 22, 20:52:25, David Wright wrote:

On Fri 10 Dec 2021 at 17:20:52 (+0100), Andrei POPESCU wrote:

On Lu, 06 dec 21, 10:18:49, David Wright wrote:

On Sun 05 Dec 2021 at 13:33:41 (+0100), Andrei POPESCU wrote:

On Vi, 12 nov 21, 12:27:59, Stefan Monnier wrote:


As mentioned, the way to control it will depend on the specific tool
used to mount.  E.g. if it's mounted by hand via a rule in /etc/fstab,
then you can rules that specify the device via /etc/disk/by-uuid.

Do note that partition UUIDs are not designed to be reliable w.r.t
malicious uses (it's easy to create a partition with the same UUID as
some other).


/dev/disk/by-id/ should be device specific.


It certainly is, but specific to the card reader reading it,
not the card. And that's whether the card is plugged into a
slot on the computer, or into a discrete SD/USB adapter.


At least with the built-in reader on an Acer Chromebook R13 the ID
changes with every card I tested, but you are indeed right about USB
adapters (at least for the two I could test).


I did some comparisons between machines, and it would appear that
when the link starts with /dev/disk/by-id/mmc- then the ID is
that of the card, whereas when it starts with /dev/disk/by-id/usb-
then the ID is that of the card reader. Note that I did all the
comparisons using fullsize SD cards pushed into slots in the PCs,
so there were no separate adapters involved, neither SD→USB, nor µSD→SD.


My guess is micro-SD to SD adapters are passive only (i.e. just
connecting pin-to-pin as needed), so it shouldn't matter.

For the OP's issue, it seems a possible solution would be to disallow
any USB-to-SD adapters, and for the (hopefully few) users that really
need to use SD cards to use MMC-style slots only.


I am afraid that I won't be able to exclude SD cards from use. They are 
in use right now and changing that policy would create too much negative 
sentiment among the users of these systems/laptops. We have a hard 
enough time to get them to comply as it is. Plus, I try to accommodate 
our users where I can, so that they know I am doing my best to not get 
in their way unless it can't be done in another way. This has paid many 
dividends in the past, where others were not able to get our users to 
cooperate and they would when I asked them. Just because they trust I am 
doing my best to think of them. I am very careful not to waste that 
goodwill.



A less secure option would be to allow USB adapters only for a few
select *trusted* users, with the understanding that they use "safe" SD
cards only.


The problem is that a significant number of those users is not very much 
security aware. In the past I have been able to demonstrate many many 
social engineering and technical attacks to them, and still they fall 
for it. It is not that they are unwilling or dumb. They just don't get 
how computers (or indeed they themselves) can be manipulated so easily. 
They expect us admins to make that impossible, but they also don't want 
to be bothered by any measures we take...


I am still trying to find a manageable and dependable way to limit the 
mounting of storage devices to devices (not filesystems) that have been 
vetted up front.


Thanks for taking the time to help me with this!

Grx HdV

Re: Reasonably simple setup for 1TB HDD and 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-12-15 15:51, Jorge P. de Morais Neto wrote:

Hello,

Em [2021-12-09 qui 15:00:43+0100], hdv@gmail escreveu:


Regarding the swap space: I wouldn't make it so big.  That really isn't
necessary.  I have a 64GB RAM system here, on which I have 2GB of swap.  I
doubt I have ever seen conky show me more than 35% use.  And I am quite a
heavy user of system resources (much 3D CAD editing, photo editing,
video editing and rendering, and often multiple VM's in use).

My laptop has 32GB of RAM and 2 GB of swap and on that system I haven't
seen much swapping either.


I wanted to play safe in case I later upgrade the RAM to 32 GiB and,
additionally, I later enable the hibernate functionality.  Since I have
a 1 TB HDD, I can spare a 32 GiB (approximately 34 GB) for swapping.


If you can spare the space, then I don't see why not. If you plan to go 
to ACPI state S4 (suspend to disk, hibernate) this certainly is useful. 
In my experience only a handful of people actually use S4 though.


> For increased swapping performance, the swapping space on a rotational

drive should be contiguous and located at the start of the drive, right?


I used to think so myself. And out of habit I still choose to do it like 
that myself. But I haven't noticed any significant performance gains 
during some extensive testing in practice (>100 disks over a period of 3 
years in a server room of a university).


Apart from performance, it is said that it would mean less movement of 
the heads and thus less wear [1], but again, in practice I haven't ever 
seen a case where this would have made a significant difference in a 
normal user setting. It would be different in a large-scale commercial 
setting though.


There is something else to consider: why not create a swap file, instead 
of a swap partition? That way you are free to play around and test what 
fits your needs best, without having to chance the partitions.


[1] This will depend on many, many parameters. You would expect a 
location somewhere in the middle of the disk to be the sweet spot when 
it comes to minimising movement in a fairly filled up disk. But then 
again, if you have lots of static files you do not regularly access in a 
large partition at the end of the disk, then you will have an uneven 
geometry which will make the optimum shift.


Grx HdV

Re: Reasonably simple setup for 1TB HDD and 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-12-09 15:46, Dan Ritter wrote:

hdv@gmail wrote:

On 2021-12-08 15:27, Jorge P. de Morais Neto wrote:

Hi everyone!  I have a Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop with 1TB HDD and 16 GiB
RAM (it supports 32 GiB).  I am about to buy an M.2 NVMe 250GB SSD---a
  

Regarding the swap space: I wouldn't make it so big. That really isn't
necessary. I have a 64GB RAM system here, on which I have 2GB of swap. I
doubt I have ever seen conky show me more than 35% use. And I am quite a
heavy user of system resources (much 3D CAD editing, photo editing, video
editing and rendering, and often multiple VM's in use).

My laptop has 32GB of RAM and 2 GB of swap and on that system I haven't seen
much swapping either.


Swap is where a laptop stores RAM during suspend-to-disk, the long
term hibernation suspension. Without at least as much swap as
RAM, you are limited to suspend-to-RAM.

In a more perfect world, the space for suspension would not
otherwise be treated as swap space.

-dsr-



It certainly was the reason why I always had swap at least as big as RAM 
in the past on my laptops. However, I have not had any trouble 
suspending or hibernating my laptops in the years since I reduced swap 
to 2GB. That is just my experience, and it may not be the same for 
others. But it might help the thread starter to know this is a feasible 
option (depending on their use case).


P.S. I am on the list. It is sufficient to just reply to the list for me 
to receive your message.


Grx HdV

Re: Reasonably simple setup for 1TB HDD and 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-12-08 15:27, Jorge P. de Morais Neto wrote:

Hi everyone!  I have a Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop with 1TB HDD and 16 GiB
RAM (it supports 32 GiB).  I am about to buy an M.2 NVMe 250GB SSD---a
Western Digital WD Blue SN550.  I would like to set the system for
reliability, SSD durability¹ and performance.

I have looked at [Multi HDD/SSD Partitioning Scheme][] but it is too
complex and probably outdated (last modified 2013-10-17).  I would like
something simpler.  For backups, I would continue my weekly manual
backups to my 1.5 TB external HDD with duplicity.

On the SSD I intend to leave 35 GB unpartitioned for extra over
provisioning.  It would have just one 215 GB partition.

On the HDD I would put a 34 GB swap partition at the beginning, then a
215 GB partition for RAID1 with the SSD, then a 751 GB partition.  I
intend to put Debian system *and* /home on the 215 GB RAID1, but I would
set all the XDG user dirs² on the 751 GB HDD partition.  I would have
tmpfs on /tmp---I have read that long thread where someone alleged that
moving /tmp to tmpfs makes it useless but I disagree.

Would all this be reasonable?  Do you recommend any change?  Any tip?  I
run Debian stable with only official repositories, including
bullseye-backports.  I also manually installed GNU Guix package manager
and my main Guix profile has 163 packages.

Regards!

[Multi HDD/SSD Partitioning Scheme] 
https://wiki.debian.org/Multi%20HDD/SSD%20Partition%20Scheme

¹ According to its data sheet, the 250GB WD Blue SN550 endures 150TBW.
² See the xdg-user-dir manpage.



Regarding the swap space: I wouldn't make it so big. That really isn't 
necessary. I have a 64GB RAM system here, on which I have 2GB of swap. I 
doubt I have ever seen conky show me more than 35% use. And I am quite a 
heavy user of system resources (much 3D CAD editing, photo editing, 
video editing and rendering, and often multiple VM's in use).


My laptop has 32GB of RAM and 2 GB of swap and on that system I haven't 
seen much swapping either.


Grx HdV

Re: How to secure access to SD cards a la USBGuard?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-12-05 13:33, Andrei POPESCU wrote:

On Vi, 12 nov 21, 12:27:59, Stefan Monnier wrote:


As mentioned, the way to control it will depend on the specific tool
used to mount.  E.g. if it's mounted by hand via a rule in /etc/fstab,
then you can rules that specify the device via /etc/disk/by-uuid.

Do note that partition UUIDs are not designed to be reliable w.r.t
malicious uses (it's easy to create a partition with the same UUID as
some other).


/dev/disk/by-id/ should be device specific.


Shoot, I had forgotten about WWNs at all! Yep, those should be good 
enough for my purposes.


Thanks for the hint!

Grx HdV

Re: How to secure access to SD cards a la USBGuard?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-11-12 17:13, Stefan Monnier wrote:

I'd like to limit access to (micro) SD cards on our systems to only those
cards that have been vetted up front.


IIUC the way SD card are interfaced with the system, you can't use an
approach like USBGuard for that indeed.


I was getting afraid of that.


I suspect you'll need to be more specific about what you mean by
"access".  E.g. you may need to control this access when `mount`ing,
which will then depend on how you want to allow such mounts.


What I'd like is to be able to let users mount only those memory cards 
that have been registered up front. I've always thought it strange that 
people consider thumbdrives to be a risk (and rightly so), but no one is 
seemingly bothered by almost the equivalent risk posed by memory cards. 
Those can contain "bad" software as well, and they can to automounted 
just as easily as USB-drives. So why not make it possible to prevent 
users from mounting a card they found somewhere or that was given to 
them by some unknown agent?



Then another question will be how you want to "vet" (by partion
UUID, maybe?).


That was indeed my first thought. TBH I don't know of any other 
trustworthy and unique ID for storage devices (not USB).


P.S. Just to be sure: this is not about letting only specific users 
mount a filesystem. I know how to achieve that goal. This is about 
preventing social engineering attacks through malicious memory cards, 
without blocking the card reader altogether.


Thanks!

Grx HdV

How to secure access to SD cards a la USBGuard?

[hdv@gmail]

Hi all,

I'd like to limit access to (micro) SD cards on our systems to only 
those cards that have been vetted up front.


At first glance I thought maybe USBGuard would help me do this, but that 
will only detect built-in or USB-mounted card readers in which the card 
is plugged, not the storage device itself. Therefore allowing the card 
reader will automatically allow anyone to access any number of memory 
cards. That's not what we want for these systems.


Using USBGuard I can (and do) limit access to specific USB devices 
(including thumbdrives), but it seems I cannot use it to limit access to 
specific memory cards. For built-in readers I figure that is because the 
communication is not USB-based. But that would not be the case for 
USB-based card readers.


Does anyone have a suggestion on how I can achieve this?

Many thanks in advance!

Grx HdV

Re: vim not seeing many Unicode chars

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-05-18 18:37, IL Ka wrote:


Thanks all. I looked at my config files (which go back at least 15
years) and found lots of explicitly setting both LC_ALL=C and LC_LANG=C.

Should I remove all, or just remove the LC_ALL?


 > Using LC_ALL is strongly discouraged as it overrides everything. 
Please use it only when testing and never set it in a startup file.

https://wiki.debian.org/Locale 

It is better to set everything explicitly in "/etc/default/locale"

Even better: use
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
it will generate all locales you need AND set the default one in this file.

There is NO reason to use anything except UTF-8 in 2021


Please, be aware that not all Desktop Environments (like KDE's Plasma) 
honour this setting. Often, they have their own mechanisms for setting 
the locale within the DE itself.


Grx HdV

Re: About mouse settings

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-01-31 00:16, Vincent Lefevre wrote:

On 2021-01-30 19:58:13 +0100, hdv@gmail wrote:

I use xinput and xbindkeys to solve issues with mice and keyboards. Had to
to get my Logitech MX Ergo Trackball and MX Keys to do what I wanted them to
do. Works remarkably well, ... if the mouse and keyboard events are
recognized that is.


At a lower level (I think), you have evtest and input-events.


The problem is that inputs like the DPI button are pure hardware 
triggers and therefore are not detected at all. Some keys on the 
keyboard are like that too. Too bad, but I can live with that.


Grx HdV

Re: About mouse settings

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-01-30 19:49, reader wrote:

Are there any tools that can set what each button or scrollwhere does?

I have a mouse that when pressing scrollwheel will not paste.  I can
think of no other mouse I've had that does not paste (in linux) when
the scroll where is pressed (assuming something has been mouse scraped
or copied in other ways)

It's an oldish `Razor death adder 2013' I've had a good while but for
one reason or another was put aside, probably a few years ago, and just
in last few days pressed back into use when I happened on it a box of
other computer junk.

the failure to supply a paste function is quite annoying.


I use xinput and xbindkeys to solve issues with mice and keyboards. Had 
to to get my Logitech MX Ergo Trackball and MX Keys to do what I wanted 
them to do. Works remarkably well, ... if the mouse and keyboard events 
are recognized that is.


Grx HdV

Re: Looking for help with locale configuration

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-01-14 20:06, Rasmus MK wrote:

Hi list,

I'm looking for help in understanding how locales work and how to configure my
system running Debian Testing.

During the Debian installation (graphical) I configured my locale to be
"en_SE.UTF-8".
Recently a python script crashed with the error message "unsupported locale
setting" after trying to set LC_ALL to an empty string and I cannot get it to
work with the en_SE.UTF-8 locale.

I use KDE. If I look in Settings -> Regional Settings -> Format it says
en_SE.UTF-8 (no adjustments).


Please, be aware that KDE uses Qt for its locale settings. This does 
*not* correspond with the "plain" locale setting of your system outside 
of KDE, hence the differences.


Grx HdV

Re: Monitor Problem???

[hdv@gmail]

On 2021-01-03 12:58, Stephen P. Molnar wrote:
My main computer runs  Debian Buster and is displaying some unusual 
behavior.


The monitor is blanking, without warning, at random times, and restoring 
the screen  while I working. There is no warning, nor does the computer 
seem to be overheating (I continuously monitor the temperature).


I rather suspect that it may be a hardware problem. I keep the software 
up to date.


I am querying this group because I can't think of a more knowledgeable 
source. Any thoughts and suggestions of things that I might be able to 
test will be very welcome.


I suspect it is a software problem, not a hardware problem. The reason 
is I have been seeing the same for almost a year now with my display. I 
can't find anything that indicates a hardware problem and after all this 
time the display/monitor is still trucking on without the problem 
getting any worse.


I am not 100% sure, but it seems like sometimes the display is put into 
sleep mode and can't be woken up. Restarting X or doing a modprobe from 
a remote machine over ssh doesn't help. Nor does anything else. The only 
way to get the monitor to activate again is to reboot. After some 
digging I gave up on finding the root cause and accepted that I'd have 
to reboot once in a while. There is nothing in the logs to give any 
indication of a possible cause. Maybe I should have tried harder, but I 
just don't have the time for that at the moment.


FYI, this is the relevant hardware in my system:

MoBo = ASUS PRO WS X570-ACE
CPU = AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
Graphics = ASUS AREZ-RX560-4G-EVO

Debian version is Bullseye following testing very closely.

Sorry I can't help you with this.

Grx HdV

Re: setting the date for testing

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-12-13 16:34, Michael Grant wrote:


and now it appears to stick.  So I'm good.  Thanks for your help though!

Michael Grant


Glad to read you have solved it.

Grx HdV

Re: setting the date for testing

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-12-13 14:36, Michael Grant wrote:

This did not work:

# timedatectl set-ntp true

Failed to set ntp: NTP not supported

# timedatectl set-ntp false

Failed to set ntp: NTP not supported

Other ideas?

I am trying to set the date manually so that I can test the system set 
at future dates.  Setting the system using the date command, it just 
resets itself back to the current date/time after a few seconds.  How 
can I stop this?


Thanks!

Michael Grant

*From: *hdv@gmail <mailto:hdv.ja...@gmail.com>
*Sent: *07 December 2020 07:53
*To: *debian-user@lists.debian.org <mailto:debian-user@lists.debian.org>
*Subject: *Re: setting the date for testing

On 2020-12-06 21:56, hdv@gmail wrote:

 > # timedatectl set-ntp true

I am sorry for the typo. This should of course have been "false"!

Grx HdV



Could it be that you have systemd-timesyncd running?

BTW, this is what I do to manually/explicitly set the system time (taken 
verbatim from my vimwiki, so don't mind the wording):


Changing the Current Date:

# timedatectl set-time 

Or both at once:

# timedatectl set-time  

This commands will fail if an NTP service is enabled. The NTP service 
can be enabled and disabled using a command as follows:


# timedatectl set-ntp 

Changes to the status of chrony or ntpd will not be immediately noticed 
by timedatectl. If changes to the configuration or status of these tools 
are made, enter the following command:


# systemctl restart systemd-timedated.service

By default, the system is configured to use UTC. To configure your 
system to maintain the clock in the local time, run the timedatectl 
command with the set-local-rtc option as root:


# timedatectl set-local-rtc 

HTH

Grx HdV

Re: setting the date for testing

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-12-06 21:56, hdv@gmail wrote:

> # timedatectl set-ntp true

I am sorry for the typo. This should of course have been "false"!

Grx HdV

Re: setting the date for testing

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-12-06 21:43, Michael Grant wrote:
I need to set the date to several years in the future in order to test 
something.  When I do this via the date command, the date returns back 
almost instantly (or within a few seconds).


# timedatectl set-time 2025-12-06 20:41:41

# date

Sat  6 Dec 20:41:43 GMT 2025

# date

Sat  6 Dec 20:41:44 GMT 2025

# date

Sun  6 Dec 20:41:48 GMT 2020

I’m not using ntp (that I know of).

# timedatectl timesync-status

Failed to query server: The name org.freedesktop.timesync1 was not 
provided by any .service files


# timedatectl show

Timezone=Europe/London

LocalRTC=no

CanNTP=no

NTP=no

NTPSynchronized=no

TimeUSec=Sun 2020-12-06 20:37:19 GMT

RTCTimeUSec=Sun 2020-12-06 18:51:22 GMT

How can I stop (temporarily) the system from automatically setting the 
date so that I can set it forward?


I encountered this type of thing myself a while ago as well. And, just 
like you, I thought there was no NTP running, but systemd had some 
tricks upon its sleeve.


Try this to see if it solves your troubles:

# timedatectl set-ntp true

Changes to the status of this service will not be immediately noticed by 
timedatectl. Thus, you'll have to enter the following command too:


# systemctl restart systemd-timedated.service

HTH

Grx HdV

Re: swamp rat bots Q

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-12-03 13:35, Gene Heskett wrote:

I've had it with a certain bot that that ignore my robots.txt and
proceeds to mirror my site, several times a day, burning up my upload
bandwidth. They've moved it to 5 different addresses since midnight.

I want to nail the door shut on the first attempted access by these AH's.

Does anyone have a ready made script that can watch my httpd "other" log,
and if a certain name is at the end of the line, grabs the ipv4 src
address as arg3 of the line, and applies it to iptables DROP rules?

Or do I have to invent a new wheel for this?

Basic rules that simplify it somewhat.

1. this is ipv4 only country and not likely to change in the future
decade.

2. the list of offending bot names will probably never go beyond 50, if
that many. 5 would be realistic.

3. the src address in the log is at a fixed offset, obtainable with the
bash MID$ but the dns return will need some acrobatics involving the
bash RIGHT$ function.

4. it should track the number of hits, and after so many in a /24 block,
autoswitch to a /16 block in order to keep the rules file from
exploding.

Any help will be much appreciated. PM's in this case welcome as I can't
see broadcasting our armament against these MF'ers being broadcast on a
public list.

Thanks all.

Cheers, Gene Heskett


Let me offer you an alternative option. (Most) bots work by analysing 
the referrals on each page in your website. Right? So, why not add a 
link to a page that normal users will never visit (e.g. because they do 
not see the link and thus will never click on it), but will show up in a 
bot's analysis? That way you can monitor your logs for entries 
containing that page. Every entity requesting that specific URL is blocked.


HTH

HdV

Re: Hardware for Debian

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-02-12 12:26, Malcolm Beeson-Earwicker wrote:
> I've been a Debian user for about twenty years now, and have found that I have
> to run more and more of my machines under windo$e because the latest versions 
> of
> Debian just fail, I imagine due to all this UEFI-rubbish. Does anyone know of 
> a
> motherboard that will run Debian please?

Last month I've replace my old system with new hardware. It has a ASUS PRO WS
X570-ACE mobo with a AMD Ryzen 9 3950X CPU in it. I had to tweak the BIOS/UEFI a
bit to get it to boot from NVME RAM. The other thing was that Debian wouldn't
(yet) recognize on of the two ethernet ports on it (Realtek), but it wouldn't
let me use the other port on it either (Intel). Disabling the troublesome port
in the BIOS solved that problem. Apart from that it is a wonderful system to
work with. I've had no trouble at all with it. It is stable and everything seems
to work just fine. And in case you consider virtualisation: libvirt is seriously
flying on this platform! No compatibility problems there either. I can really
recommend it. However it was a bit on the pricey side and budget is always
something to consider.

Grx HdV

Re: Something wakes my laptop from suspend to ram and I don't know what it is

[hdv@gmail]

On 2020-01-22 12:41, Ottavio Caruso wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> in one my previous posts to the list, I complained that hibernation
> was somewhat broken on my Thinkpad and it would generate filesystem
> corruption on resume. With the help of the list, I was able to fix
> that problem. However, I still have occasional problems with resume
> from suspend to RAM.

I had the same / a similar problem with my Thinkpad P1. After some digging I
found out that my wireless mouse was causing this behaviour. Now I turn off the
mouse (using the physical sliding button on its bottom) before putting the
laptop to sleep and it doesn't happen anymore. Maybe something you could try?

Grx HdV

Re: Top 7 Programming Languages That Employers Really Want

[hdv@gmail]

On 18/10/2019 19.26, Doug McGarrett wrote:

...

> I'm not sure if any Pascal compilers are still available, but
> Turbo was the most popular back when. Until the last version
> came out, and it was too complicated for its own good.

Forgive me for barging in, but I just had to answer that.

Sure there is! Take a look at Free Pascal (freepascal.org). It is very much
alive. I use the RAD editor Lazarus (a clone of Delphi for those who still
remember what that was) that goes with it regularly.

> I took a good look at Python, and decided that the necessary
> indentation was too much for me to deal with. Maybe there is
> some kind of automated system for doing this, but I don't know
> of it.

This admission proves I am becoming an old fart, but I just can't give up my
precious perl... I like Python a lot, but perl is still my goto language.

Grx HdV

Re: testing: weird resume (black or frozen screen)

[hdv@gmail]

On 21/04/2019 10.42, Andrea Borgia wrote:
> Il 20/04/19 18:16, hdv@gmail ha scritto:
> 
> 
>> I see the same type of problems.
> 
> Hmm, I'm not so sure about it: in my case the sytem works except (parts of) X
> and it is most likely not kernel-related. In your case it doesn't even resume
> properly, it seems.
> 
> You might want to have a look at bugzilla.kernel.org: I had issues with my
> laptop in the recent past and saw that Thinkpads had issues like yours.
> 
> https://bugzilla.kernel.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=thinkpad

Hi Andrea,

You were right. It was indeed the kernel. If I disable intel_iommu at boot, then
resume works fine again. I haven't noticed any negative impact from doing this
yet. Now I need to find out what changed recently with IOMMU. I went back a few
iterations (to 4.19.0-2) and the problem showed up in those versions as well. It
seem I hadn't rebooted in some while...

I hope you can get rid of your problem soon as well!

Grx HdV

Re: testing: weird resume (black or frozen screen)

[hdv@gmail]

On 20/04/2019 17.43, Andrea Borgia wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> Running the testing branch and using xfce, the last couple of resumes from
> hibernation were problematic: the first one had the suspend dialog still 
> visible
> with the "yes" button still pushed in, all applications were open, the mouse
> could move but not actually click anything. Keyboard worked enough to switch 
> to
> console and reboot.
> 
> Second instance was slightly different: screen completely black except for the
> mouse pointer. I killed xfce from console and logged in again.
> 
> Were it not for the fact that my system is a desktop, this bugreport would
> appear to be a good match: 
> https://github.com/the-cavalry/light-locker/issues/108
> 
> I found nothing interesting in the Debian bugtracker, perhaps the issue is too
> new, after all I've been using this system for months and this issue only came
> up a couple of days ago.
> 
> Any ideas? Anyone else seeing this?
> 
> Thanks,
> Andrea.
> 

Hi Andrea,

I see the same type of problems. I run an up-to-date testing as well, but use
KDE as my DE. Suspend works properly, as far as I can see. I have a Thinkpad P1
with a red led on the lid that blinks during suspend, and that is still as it
was. However, as soon as I try to resume the system it hangs hard. It is not
just a black screen or X that hangs. I cannot even access this system through
SSH anymore when this happens. I still haven't found the culprit causing this,
so I'll be watching this thread with interest.

Grx HdV

Re: putting config files under revision control

[hdv@gmail]

On 09/04/2019 23.09, Lee wrote:
> On 4/9/19, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 09/04/2019 21.23, Lee wrote:
>>> On 4/9/19, Dan Ritter wrote:
>>>> Lee wrote:
>>>>> What are people doing for putting config files in [under?] git?
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to have at least some system config files maintained in git
>>>>> so I can get a history of changes.
>>>>>   (and yes, I know, I really should be using a backup system for that,
>>>>> but I'm still at the 'rsync to usb drive' stage)
>>>>
>>>> apt install etckeeper. Choose the git backend. (I think it's the
>>>> default these days.)
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>>> Chef or Puppet when you want to do this at scale.
>>>
>>> Maybe someday.  They'd be nice to learn, but they seem to be massive
>>> overkill for home use.  ..or at least for my home use.
>>
>> If you want to keep things simple, maybe this perl-script I wrote years ago
>> might be what you're looking for. Think of it as a visudo-style tool for
>> config
>> files (really just any file you can edit with vim). Just use the --manual
>> option
>> to read its man page. Basically it copies the file before editing to a
>> location
>> of your choosing, keeping its attributes if you want it to.
> 
> Thanks for the script.  It looks easy enough to understand, which is
> always nice :)

You're welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

P.S. I wrote it because I didn't want to have another daemon running only for
this. I have nothing against git or some such, but for this I thought it to be
overkill. Especially on servers.

Grx HdV

Re: putting config files under revision control

[hdv@gmail]

On 09/04/2019 21.23, Lee wrote:
> On 4/9/19, Dan Ritter wrote:
>> Lee wrote:
>>> What are people doing for putting config files in [under?] git?
>>>
>>> I'd like to have at least some system config files maintained in git
>>> so I can get a history of changes.
>>>   (and yes, I know, I really should be using a backup system for that,
>>> but I'm still at the 'rsync to usb drive' stage)
>>
>> apt install etckeeper. Choose the git backend. (I think it's the
>> default these days.)
> 
> Thank you!
> 
>> Chef or Puppet when you want to do this at scale.
> 
> Maybe someday.  They'd be nice to learn, but they seem to be massive
> overkill for home use.  ..or at least for my home use.

If you want to keep things simple, maybe this perl-script I wrote years ago
might be what you're looking for. Think of it as a visudo-style tool for config
files (really just any file you can edit with vim). Just use the --manual option
to read its man page. Basically it copies the file before editing to a location
of your choosing, keeping its attributes if you want it to.

Grx HdV

#!/usr/bin/perl

#TODO : add support for settings stored in ~/.vicfrc or an explicitly given file

our $VERSION = '0.92';

use strict;
use warnings;
use Getopt::Long qw(:config bundling);
use Pod::Usage;
use Sys::Hostname;
use Cwd qw(realpath getcwd);
use POSIX qw(strftime sysconf _PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED);
use File::Spec;
use File::Copy;

my $hostname = hostname();


#User-definable defaults


my $root = '';
SWITCH: {
  if ($hostname eq 'mjollnir') {
$root = '/home/hdv/backup/mjollnir/vicf_root';
last SWITCH;
  }
  if ($hostname eq 'odin') {
#$root = '/home/hdv/backup/odin/vicf_root';
$root = '/home/hdv/backup/odin/vicf_root';
last SWITCH;
  }
  if ($hostname eq 'sleipnir') {
$root = '/home/hdv/backup/sleipnir/vicf_root';
last SWITCH;
  }
}

my $datetime_format = '-%Y%m%d';   #d
my $sequencenr_format = '-%02d';   #n
my $append_sequencenr = 1; #a
my $keep_permissions = 1;  #p
my $keep_owner = 1;#o
my $keep_group = 1;#g
my $keep_times = 1;#t
my $backup_file = 0;   #b
my $x_editor = 0;  #x
my $editor_path = '/usr/bin/vim';
my $x_editor_path = '/usr/bin/gvim';
my $backup_option = '-c "set backup"';
my $no_backup_option = '-c "set nobackup"';


#Internal variables


#Defaults for commandline options
my $help = 0;
my $manual = 0;
my $show_version = 0;
my $debug = 0;
my $verbose = 0;


#Parse the commandline arguments


#Get all options
GetOptions(#Standard options
   'debug|D+', \$debug,
   'help!', \$help,
   'h|?', \$help,
   'manual!', \$manual,
   'version!', \$show_version,
   'V', \$show_version,
   'verbose|v+', \$verbose,
   #Options specific for this program
   'root|r=s', \$root,
   'datetime|d=s', \$datetime_format,
   'sequencenr|n=s', \$sequencenr_format,
   'append_sequencenr!', \$append_sequencenr,
   'a!', \$append_sequencenr,
   'permissions!', \$keep_permissions,
   'p!', \$keep_permissions,
   'owner!', \$keep_owner,
   'o!', \$keep_owner,
   'group!', \$keep_group,
   'g!', \$keep_group,
   'times!', \$keep_times,
   't!', \$keep_times,
   'backup!', \$backup_file,
   'b!', \$backup_file,
   'x_editor!', \$x_editor,
   'x!', \$x_editor
  ) or pod2usage(0);
pod2usage(verbose => 1, exitval => 0) if $help;
pod2usage(verbose => 2, exitval => 0) if $manual;
if ($show_version) {
  print "vicf version $VERSION (c) 2015 Jadev\n";
  exit 0;
}

#Assign the first non-option argument to a variable for easier use
die "No file to be edited was given.\n" unless $ARGV[0];
my $source = $ARGV[0];

#Sanitize paths for easier use
$root = expand_path($root);
die "Path pointing to the repository ($root) is invalid.\n" unless $root;
$source = expand_path($source);
die "Path pointing to the file to be edited ($source) is invalid.\n" unless 
$source;

#Check validity of given options
die "The given root directory does not exist.\n" unless -d $root;
die "The datetime formatstring may contain only alphanumeric or punctuation 
characters.\n" 
  unless $datetime_format =~ /^[[:print:]]*$/;#May be empty
die "The sequencenumber 

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 08/03/2019 07.39, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> results. I do remember that cached reads were about 1.1 GB/s for both
>> the old and the new SSD after the slowness started.
> 
> FWIW, the "cached read" speed of hdparm doesn't have much to do with the
> SSD (it reads from the in-RAM cache, not from the in-"disk" cache, AFAIK).

I am almost sure that you are correct. But to me it was a symptom showing that
the system was indeed very slow with either of the SSDs installed, but not
necessarily due to those drives. That combined with the slowness starting in or
immediately after the grub-stage pointed me in the direction of a
hardware-related issue. Reseating all removable hardware and connectors seems to
have resolved most of the slowness (not all though).

Meanwhile I have ordered a new laptop to replace my old Thinkpad W530 of 2012.
In a few days I will be the proud owner of a maxed out Thinkpad P1. I am sure I
will notice the increase in speed and especially the 32GB RAM when having
multiple VMs open at a time. Can wait! Keeping my fingers crossed hoping the
BIOS problems have been solved and it will be easy sailing installing current
testing on it.

Anyone have any experiences with this laptop to share? I'd appreciate to hear
about it.

P.S. This will be my fourth Thinkpad. All have been serving me for years before
being replaced. This was the first that has ever given me any trouble. As a
matter of fact all of them do still work. I do like those darn machines!

Grx HdV

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 06/03/2019 02.04, Jimmy Johnson wrote:
> hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 05/03/2019 04.28, Paul Ezvan wrote:
>>> Le 04/03/2019 à 13:32, deloptes a écrit :
>>>> double check - I had similar observation when trying to setup USB stick 
>>>> boot
>>>> for a notebook - it's a company property, so not supposed to do that ;-)
>>>>
>>>> Well turned out that I had to modify few bios settings to see the usb
>>>> working at acceptable speed. First I was thinking the one stick was a
>>>> problem, but after observing the same with a second one I looked at the
>>>> bios and it did it.
>>>>
>>>> regards
>>>
>>> What does "top" show when your menu takes a long time to load? What is the 
>>> CPU
>>> temp? Maybe you accidentaly touched the cooling system while replacing the 
>>> SSD?
>>
>> What I forgot to mention (sloppy, sorry for that) is that the slowness 
>> already
>> happens at "grub" time. I presume that rules out trouble with my DE 
>> (KDE/Plasma)
>> or systemd or something like that.
>>
>> I am thinking hardware trouble too. Not only because the trouble start before
>> the kernel and DE gets loaded, but also because it happens with two different
>> SSDs. It happens with the new one with a freshly installed system, and with 
>> the
>> old one that I never had any trouble with before this and that hasn't been
>> changed (by me that is). In both cases the slowness begins immediately after
>> boot. Possibly after the BIOS has run, but definitely before the kernel gets
>> loaded or otherwise during the earliest stages of loading it.
>>
>> Thanks for the pointer to the cooling. I will check that.
>>
>> Grx HdV
> 
> 
> Is the bios still showing all the installed ram, are there any test you can 
> run
> from the bios...

Yep. All memory is detected. I ran the diagnostics utility of the BIOS and it
found no errors. You'd think that a hardware failure would be detected. ..

However, after that I dismantled the whole machine. I pulled out every connector
and reseated it. I cleaned up all parts (as far as that was possible). And then
ran the BIOS diagnostics again. Still no warnings. Then I rebooted the laptop.
Lo and behold, everything is fine again!

To be honest I still don't know what was wrong. But I am glad I can use this
laptop again for now. This machine is 7 years old, maybe I should start thinking
of buying a new one. I have had my eye on another Thinkpad (the P1) for some
time now. Maybe it is time to bite the bullet...

Thanks all for thinking with me!

Grx HdV

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 05/03/2019 04.28, Paul Ezvan wrote:
> Le 04/03/2019 à 13:32, deloptes a écrit :
>> double check - I had similar observation when trying to setup USB stick boot
>> for a notebook - it's a company property, so not supposed to do that ;-)
>>
>> Well turned out that I had to modify few bios settings to see the usb
>> working at acceptable speed. First I was thinking the one stick was a
>> problem, but after observing the same with a second one I looked at the
>> bios and it did it.
>>
>> regards
> 
> What does "top" show when your menu takes a long time to load? What is the CPU
> temp? Maybe you accidentaly touched the cooling system while replacing the 
> SSD?

What I forgot to mention (sloppy, sorry for that) is that the slowness already
happens at "grub" time. I presume that rules out trouble with my DE (KDE/Plasma)
or systemd or something like that.

I am thinking hardware trouble too. Not only because the trouble start before
the kernel and DE gets loaded, but also because it happens with two different
SSDs. It happens with the new one with a freshly installed system, and with the
old one that I never had any trouble with before this and that hasn't been
changed (by me that is). In both cases the slowness begins immediately after
boot. Possibly after the BIOS has run, but definitely before the kernel gets
loaded or otherwise during the earliest stages of loading it.

Thanks for the pointer to the cooling. I will check that.

Grx HdV

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 04/03/2019 16.14, Alexander V. Makartsev wrote:
> On 04.03.2019 19:40, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 04/03/2019 15.36, Ric Moore wrote:
>>> On 3/4/19 9:19 AM, hdv@gmail wrote:
>>>> ame day, no old image was used.
>>> Right, but if you didn't use a "clean install" more than likely an old
>>> configuration might be at fault. I don't have an SSD but during the install
>>> process, wouldn't that drive be re-formatted?? Trouble shooting with a 
>>> shotgun. Ric
>>>
>> Maybe, but that would only account for the trouble with the new SSD. As I 
>> wrote,
>> the old SSD was never changed at all. Nor was the BIOS. The system ran fine
>> before I took that SSD out. You'd expect the system to run fine when putting 
>> it
>> back in.
>>
>> Grx HdV
>>
> Unless you didn't performed a reboot in a long time or\and used hibernation.

Could have been the case. But I have rebooted the laptop before replacing the
SSD to look at the BIOS settings. So in this case this was not so.

> I'm just throwing suggestions blindly, because things could go wrong in many
> ways if poking inside laptop case is involved.

Indeed.

> Do you have another drive installed in this laptop in tray caddy, perhaps, or 
> in
> second drive slot if it is available?

Nope.

> How much RAM your laptop have? Does it all detected by BIOS\OS?

There is 8GB of RAM and it is all detected. Both before and after this mess.

> It is possible you have damaged some passive parts around SATA connector 
> during
> drive swap procedures. Inspect that location with magnifying glass for 
> possible
> damage to small SMD elements and inspect SATA connector itself for possible
> cracks in solder joints.

I did think of hardware damage myself as well, but my inspection did not show
any visible damage. Not that that says all, but at least it is an indicator.

> If everything is ok, it wouldn't hurt to insert and remove drive into SATA
> connector multiple times just to ensure all contact pads in connector have a
> good contact.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried this too. Alas, without any improvement. You
could say I am at a loss...

> Also show us SMART information for both SSD drives:
>     $ sudo smartctl --all /dev/sda

I'll try to run the the command again, but it might take an extremely long time
to finish. I did before (during diagnosis) but did not copy or type over the
results. I do remember that cached reads were about 1.1 GB/s for both the old
and the new SSD after the slowness started.

Thanks for trying to help!

Grx HdV

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 04/03/2019 15.36, Ric Moore wrote:
> On 3/4/19 9:19 AM, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> ame day, no old image was used.
> 
> Right, but if you didn't use a "clean install" more than likely an old
> configuration might be at fault. I don't have an SSD but during the install
> process, wouldn't that drive be re-formatted?? Trouble shooting with a 
> shotgun. Ric
> 

Maybe, but that would only account for the trouble with the new SSD. As I wrote,
the old SSD was never changed at all. Nor was the BIOS. The system ran fine
before I took that SSD out. You'd expect the system to run fine when putting it
back in.

Grx HdV

Re: Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

On 04/03/2019 13.53, Hans wrote:
> Am Montag, 4. März 2019, 13:04:53 CET schrieb hdv@gmail:
> Hi,
> 
> try to start with a livefile system, then check the ssd speed. Thus you see, 
> if 
> the problem is by the operating system or by the hardware.
> 
> If it is same slow, then you know a hardware problem.
> 
> Check the BIOS configurations of the harddrive, mybe something has changed by 
> the ssd exchange.
> 
> If there is nothing obvious bad, try the ssd in another computer (with the 
> same livefile test) and see the results.
> 
> If this is better, you can also try to reflash the BIOS (in case, the BIOS 
> has 
> trouble itself). Sometimes a mainboard needs a newer BIOS for newer hardware. 
> This depends on the manufacturer. Check his sites.
> 
> Last but not least, exchange the cables, maybe one makes trouble.
> 
> Hope this helps
> 
> Best
> 
> Hans

Hi Hans (and others),

Thanks for taking the time.

Upon rereading my original mail I see I was not clear enough.

This is what I did:

0] Notice the SSD was getting full. Otherwise the machine was OK. No signs of
trouble. Adequate performance.

1] Check if all settings in the BIOS were OK for the new SSD. They were. Nothing
needed changing.

2] Turn off the machine and lift the keyboard.

2] Remove the old SSD from the mSATA slot. (SanDisk U100 16GB)

3] Place the new SSD in that same slot. (Samsung EVO 860 500GB)

4] Close up the machine.

5] Boot from a netinstall image on a USB-stick. The image was downloaded at that
same day, no old image was used.

6] Install current stable on the new SSD. Update to testing after install. (The
original SSD was running a very recently updated testing as well.)

7] Reboot laptop.

8] Get scared from how slow it is. Tried to find out what was causing this. No
obvious indications found with hparm, smart and other tools. Neither in the 
logs.

9] Shut down machine.

10] Place old SSD back in its old slot.

11] Start machine expecting everything would be as it was before beginning with
step 1. That turned out to be not the case: it still is as slow as found during
step 8.

To summarise: nothing was changed in the BIOS, nothing was changed on the
original SSD. Same boot sequence was used. As far as I can see the mSATA slot is
connected directly to the motherboard, no cables to see.

My first mail was about what could be causing the laptop to behave differently,
even though nothing was changed in the BIOS and the original SSD hadn't been
touched. I'd like to solve that mystery first, before trying to make the new SSD
work as it should. I need this machine for work, so my first priority is to
restore it to a workable state.

Grx HdV

Laptop still extremely slow after replacing msata ssd and putting old one back

[hdv@gmail]

Hi all,

The mSATA SSD in my Thinkpad W530 was getting full,. So I tried to replace it
with a new larger one (Samsung EVO 860).  I knew about the mSATA II vs III issue
and the BIOS AHCI setting. What I didn't expect was the laptop to slow down to a
crawl. To illustrate: even opening de start menu is so slow that you have to
wait for the panel to show for about 10 seconds. Like this the machine is
completely unusable. I expected not to be able to run the new SSD at full speed
(max 3 GB/s on the port in this machine), but this is crazy.

It gets even crazier. Placing the old SSD back in the slot resulted in the same
slow speeds as with the new SSD in. Not the old speeds. Before this experiment
the laptop was just fine. It was quick enough, the storage was just getting
filled up.

Can anyone give me some pointers on how to diagnose or maybe even fix this?
Running hdparm doesn't make me any wiser (timed cache read value is about 1.1
GB/s). Google didn't point me to anything I could use either. I would be very
glad to just get the old speeds back, let alone to get the new disk running at
somewhat adequate speeds on a mSATA II port).

Thanks in advance.

Grx HdV

Re: Looking for advise to replacy Pan newsreader

[hdv@gmail]

On 17/02/2019 11.58, Erik Christiansen wrote:
> On 17.02.19 10:16, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 17/02/2019 05.05, Juan R. de Silva wrote:
>>> Can your share with me what do you use for newsgroups reading. I do not 
>>> care 
>>> about binaries. All I want to follow several Linux usenet newsgroups. Plain 
>>> text reading.
>>
>> For text-only groups I use mutt.
> 
> Which patchset do you use to enable that? (And is there any doco on the
> set-up?)

If my memory serves me well I always just used the version taken from the Debian
repository. Nowadays that would be neomutt.

Maybe you can use this page for the set up?

https://neomutt.org/feature/nntp

Grx HdV

Re: Looking for advise to replacy Pan newsreader

[hdv@gmail]

On 17/02/2019 05.05, Juan R. de Silva wrote:
> Pan newsreader,which I used happily for several years, lately get buggy 
> as hell and cannot be used any longer at all.
> 
> I tried Thunderbird from Debian repo and found that the pure thing is not 
> capable to keep a uniform font size through all posts. That is, the font 
> size changes as soon as I try to advance either to a next post or to another 
> group. 
> 
> Can your share with me what do you use for newsgroups reading. I do not care 
> about binaries. All I want to follow several Linux usenet newsgroups. Plain 
> text reading.

For text-only groups I use mutt.

Grx HdV

Re: How to ensure that old kernel does not get removed

[hdv@gmail]

On 05/01/2019 14.45, songbird wrote:
> hdv@gmail wrote:
> ...
>> So how do I make sure that 4.18.0-2 does not get removed from the boot menu
>> after the next kernel upgrade? I'd like to keep it until I have verified 
>> that an
>> upgrade does work. However, as far as I can tell only the last 3 kernels are
>> kept. Thus now I run the risk of having the only working version removed 
>> before
>> I am sure that a new version will work.
> 
>   another way to do it for all kernels is to add the
> options to apt itself (in /etc/apt/apt.conf or ...)
> 
>   i set options to make sure apt doesn't get rid of
> my saved cache files without me explicitly requesting
> it and there is another option for setting which files
> are never marked for autoremoval.
> 
> 
> APT::Clean-Installed "false";
> APT::NeverAutoRemove  { "linux-image.*";  };  // packages that should never
> // considered for autoRemove
> 
>   i no longer see grub menus very often (using
> uefi boot menu and refind).

Thanks for this information! Very useful. I will add it to the list of things I
have to (re)educate myself in.

Grx HdV

Re: How to ensure that old kernel does not get removed

[hdv@gmail]

On 05/01/2019 11.19, Reco wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 05, 2019 at 11:16:23AM +0100, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 05/01/2019 08.52, Reco wrote:
>>> Hi.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 05, 2019 at 03:41:05AM +0100, hdv@gmail wrote:
>>>> So how do I make sure that 4.18.0-2 does not get removed from the boot menu
>>>> after the next kernel upgrade?
>>>
>>> Do not uninstall this version of kernel, simple as that.
>>> Invoke this to be sure:
>>>
>>> apt-mark hold linux-image-4.18.0-2-amd64
>>
>> Aha, apt-mark. I didn't know about that one. I am gonna read up on it. Thanks
>> for helping!
>>
>> I reccon that not removing this kernel will also make sure it stays in the 
>> boot
>> menu of grub?
> 
> /etc/grub.d/10_linux should process all kernels that are found in /boot.
> So yes, it should.

Hi Reco,

apt-mark was exactly what I needed. It seems I haven't kept my Debian fuu up to
date, as I had never seen and thus used apt-mark. Shame on me. I am gonna have
to read up on the apt family of commands to keep with the program!

Thanks again!

Grx HdV

Re: How to ensure that old kernel does not get removed

[hdv@gmail]

On 05/01/2019 08.52, Reco wrote:
>   Hi.
> 
> On Sat, Jan 05, 2019 at 03:41:05AM +0100, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> So how do I make sure that 4.18.0-2 does not get removed from the boot menu
>> after the next kernel upgrade?
> 
> Do not uninstall this version of kernel, simple as that.
> Invoke this to be sure:
> 
> apt-mark hold linux-image-4.18.0-2-amd64

Aha, apt-mark. I didn't know about that one. I am gonna read up on it. Thanks
for helping!

I reccon that not removing this kernel will also make sure it stays in the boot
menu of grub?

Grx HdV

How to ensure that old kernel does not get removed

[hdv@gmail]

Hi list,

After a recent upgrade I noticed that my system could not reboot into the new
4.19 kernel. So I rebooted into the kernel before that (4.18.0-3), which did not
work either. Booting into the version before that (4.18.-02) did work just fine.

It seems I hadn't rebooted after the previous upgrade, causing me to have 2
versions that do not work for my system without noticing. (I do not regularly
reboot.)

After rebooting the failing kernels show a lot of errors about not being able to
find processor IDs and after that they stop with the message that they can't
find the encrypted device containing / (actually everything apart from /boot).
Sorry, I haven't captured the exact error messages, so I can't show the full
text of them.

So how do I make sure that 4.18.0-2 does not get removed from the boot menu
after the next kernel upgrade? I'd like to keep it until I have verified that an
upgrade does work. However, as far as I can tell only the last 3 kernels are
kept. Thus now I run the risk of having the only working version removed before
I am sure that a new version will work.

A perusal of the Grub2 documentation did not give me a pointer on how to do
this. Nor did I find a setting for this in /etc/default/grub or /etc/grub.d/. As
a matter of fact I am not even sure grub is the proper place for this. Grub only
builds a boot menu, but it does not remove kernels (as far as I am aware).

Any pointers in the right direction will be appreciated!

Grx HdV

Re: librecad

[hdv@gmail]

On 12/7/18 2:45 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:

> All very encouraging. But in about 4 hours, I've written and tested about 
> 90 LOC which is about 75% of what I need to have this do. :) So I think 
> I'll continue on this path. :)

There's always more than one way to scratch an itch...  ;-)

> Thank you.

You're welcome.

Grx HdV

Re: librecad

[hdv@gmail]

On 12/7/18 10:50 AM, Joe wrote:
> On Thu, 6 Dec 2018 19:46:42 -0500
> Gene Heskett  wrote:
> 
>> On Thursday 06 December 2018 17:48:21 hdv@gmail wrote:
>>
> 
>>>
>>> Some time ago I tried LibreCAD as well and soon had to conclude
>>> there were too many issues with it to proceed. Meanwhile I've
>>> adopted QCAD (the Pro version)   
> 
> I've found a couple of things that aren't quite right in LibreCAD, but
> not serious ones. I used the free QCAD up to the point of the fork, and
> it was really quite buggy for a long time. The zoom went wild at some
> magnifications, among other things. I jumped to LibreCAD when it
> appeared and I'm reasonably happy with it. All the bad QCAD bugs were
> fixed long ago, and I would assume they are fixed in QCAD now, if only
> by porting from LibreCAD. I do only use it occasionally, maybe twelve
> hours a year, so it may be much more irritating to a heavy user.

I am happy that I managed to escape that.  ;-)

I've been using QCAD for almost 2 years now (started with 3.16). The fork was a
long time before that. Maybe that was time enough to resolve a lot of the
issues? My impression was/is that development on LibreCAD has somewhat stalled.
I might be mistaken on that. Anyway, when I tested it it had a fair share of
issues that made me look for an alternative.

QCAD has been improving steadily during the time I've used it. On the other
hand, I am no "power user", thus it might be that I just didn't encounter the
things you've had to deal with. In the end it could be a matter of tastes if you
prefer LibreCAD over QCAD or the other way around. Some people like the latter
more, and others the first. For example, I prefer the UI of QCAD over that of
LibreCAD (even if both of them are derived from the same AutoCAD-type of
interface). I don't think it matters a lot. The problems using LibreCAD and the
lack thereof when I tried QCAD made me switch, because that mattered to me. I
needed to crank out some drawings and didn't want to struggle to do it. I am
sure there will be people that had the exact opposite experience and choose
LibreCAD.

If I had to make an estimate I think I might have spent about 250 hours using it
to draw aerospace and industrial machinery parts. Lately I've started using it
more for myself (to draw plans for woodworking projects). There were some minor
quirks, but nothing major. Luckily. However, I haven't tried the CAM stuff yet.
So I can't vouch for that, as I simply don't know how good it is.

Grx HdV

Re: librecad

[hdv@gmail]

On 12/7/18 1:46 AM, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Thursday 06 December 2018 17:48:21 hdv@gmail wrote:
> 
>> On 12/6/18 11:31 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
>>> Greetings all;
>>>
>>> The librecad in the debian repos for wheezy is nearly a decade old,
>>> v-1.02. There are V2-* stuff that still runs on QT4 some of which is
>>> already installed.
>>>
>>> Is there a repo where I can source a newer version than 1.02 without
>>> destroying my system?
>>>
>>> 1.02 is so old the u-tube tuts are nearly worthless, yet it shows
>>> promise of being able to lay out a boxes rear panel with 13
>>> connections thru it. which is what I am trying to do.
>>>
>>> Or is there an even better 2d app for such?
>>>
>>> Thanks everybody.
>>
>> Hai Gene,
>>
>> Some time ago I tried LibreCAD as well and soon had to conclude there
>> were too many issues with it to proceed. Meanwhile I've adopted QCAD
>> (the Pro version) 
> 
> And that I'd assume is not in the repo's for wheezy.  I have looked at 
> the earlier version that is in the repos and found it much more 
> confusing, to the point I'd be doomed from the gitgo. And I'd still have 
> to write the gcode to make it.
> 
> I have all the measurements written out, so if a decent libreCAD can't be 
> had, I'll just write it in gcode and feed it direct to LinuxCNC. With 
> measurements in hand I can probably have working code by the time I get 
> a good lens in front of the left eye. I've had cataract surgery in both 
> eyes now, and am basically waiting for a stable glaucoma pressure 
> reading so a script for a lens won't have to be done 2 or 3 times before 
> its long term usable.
> 
> Thanks for the observations about qcad.  Is the pro version offered 
> commercially?

It is. But the price is real good. If I remember correctly I paid €33 for it.
And it comes with a CAM module, so you can easily have your designs CNC'ed. I
only once needed support, but that time it was outstanding. Installation on my
system went without any hitch at all. Best of all, it is contained, so you don't
have to hunt for files all over your system if you decide it isn't the right
solution for you. There is a community edition that is free. So before spending
your money you can first test it to find out if you like it.

You can use command line instructions or just click on the associated buttons to
draw what you want. Whatever fits you drawing style best. I find myself using
both styles to be honest (I used to be a command line only type, but I got lazy
along the way, it seems  ;-) ).

I am not sure how familiar you are with the AutoCAD-type of interfaces, but if
you would need some "help", there is a book available. The application has
built-in help, but that is about the available commands and how to use them. The
book is more about how to draw in QCAD.

P.S. I am not in any way associated with them (except for being a customer).

Grx HdV

Re: librecad

[hdv@gmail]

On 12/6/18 11:31 PM, Gene Heskett wrote:
> Greetings all;
> 
> The librecad in the debian repos for wheezy is nearly a decade old, 
> v-1.02. There are V2-* stuff that still runs on QT4 some of which is 
> already installed.
> 
> Is there a repo where I can source a newer version than 1.02 without 
> destroying my system?
> 
> 1.02 is so old the u-tube tuts are nearly worthless, yet it shows promise 
> of being able to lay out a boxes rear panel with 13 connections thru it. 
> which is what I am trying to do.
> 
> Or is there an even better 2d app for such?
> 
> Thanks everybody.

Hai Gene,

Some time ago I tried LibreCAD as well and soon had to conclude there were too
many issues with it to proceed. Meanwhile I've adopted QCAD (the Pro version)
and I am quite happy with it. I've been drawing some fairly complex stuff with
it (industrial machinery) and have been able to do almost everything I needed it
to do. Mind you it is 2D only, but as far as I can remember the same was true of
LibreCAD.

I think it might not satisfy the DFSG, as there are proprietary modules in it,
but most of the code is licensed under GPLv3.

Grx HdV

Re: Distinguish instances of GUI file manager by color

[hdv@gmail]

On 2018-09-26 11:52, Richard Owlett wrote:
> I'm setting up a new machine and copying files from the old machine's home
> directory. At the same time I'm creating a new directory structure to better
> match how I work.
> 
> I found it expedient to have at least three instances of the file manager 
> open -
> [one for source directory and at least two for destination (sub)directories].
> 
> Suggestions?
> Is it even possible?
> 
> Brief web search was not encouraging. But my search terms may have been the
> problem. Suggested search terms?

I use Krusader for similar purposes. It is like a GUI version of Midnight
Commander (mc). If needed just open multiple instances. When performing actions
within one instance you can do almost everything purely by keyboard, which is
great (to me) and speeds up things as well. No need to grab the mouse all the 
time.

HTH

Grx HdV

Re: Buster: KDE still broken in testing?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2018-09-05 11:22, local10 wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> KDE still broken in tesing or is it just me? Anyone have any ideas when it'll 
> be fixed?
> 
> Thanks

I did an upgrade yesterday and noticed the panel containing my application
launchers, task manager and system tray is fully functional again. However, the
desktop is not. It will not act on mouse clicks at all. Still, it is workable
again (at least for me). I haven't noticed any other problems (apart from pan,
but I suspect that problem is not related and just coincidentally appeared at
the same time).

Grx HdV

Re: [Buster]: KDE wierdness: missing window titlebars + more

[hdv@gmail]

On 2018-08-28 07:24, local10 wrote:
> Aug 27, 2018, 6:00 PM by cyaiple...@sitesplace.net:
> 
>> I had that happen not too long ago in Stretch. I just rebooted and it was OK.
>>
> A reboot didn't do it for me, the issue still persist.
> 
> 
>> You may want to also check your settings in Display - Compositor. You may 
>> have to change to a different rendering backend. Also you might want to 
>> uncheck any experimental options if you have them checked.
>>
> What's even stranger I can't find the KDE System Preferences app (what 
> package is it in, by the way?), so I can't even find a way to change  
> display/keyboard/mouse/etc KDE settings. I installed buster fresh, that is, 
> there were no left over libs/config files/etc that would affect the new KDE 
> installation yet something is very screwed up with either KDE on my PC or 
> with KDE packages in testing.
> 
> Anyone using KDE in buster? If so, are you experiencing any issues with KDE 
> like missing window titlebars, missing apps, etc.?
> 
> Thanks
> 

See the tread with the title "lots of issues with KDE after update" starting at
the 27th. Hans Ulrich and I are experiencing the same type of trouble in testing
at the moment.

Grx HdV

Re: lots of issues with KDE after update

[hdv@gmail]

On 2018-08-27 10:56, Hans wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> after lates upgrade of KDE in debian/testing, I found several issues.
> 
> 1. Missing of all applications (icons) inm the taskbar
> 
> 2. Missing of all status icons in the taskbar
> 
> 3. Right mouse click in for desktop settimngs in desktop nbo more working (so 
> I can not add any widgests or change desktop settings). Even unlocking the 
> desktop is thus no more possible.
> 
> 4. The weather plasmoid (widget) disappeared.
> 
> I would have filed a bugreport, but I still copuld not discover, which 
> particular package or libnrary is responsible for this behaviour.
> If someone knows more, I would be happy, if he could give me some clue.
> 
> The system here is runnning debian/testing 32-bit, if this issue appears on a 
> 64-bit system is unknown, as I do not own a 64-bit debian system at the 
> moment.
> 
> It would also help, if these isssue can be confirmeds as known. I googled, 
> but 
> found only issues with Ubuntu, not debian.
> 
> Thanks for any hints.

Hai Hans,

It is not just you. I am having the same issues.

Maybe it is coincidence, but after exactly the same apt-get upgrade with a lot
of plasma updates pan started acting up as well. However pan is GTK, not Qt, so
I don't know for sure those problems are related to the same issues as plasma is
having at the moment.

P.S. This is on testing with apt-get udate/apt-get upgrade/apt-get dist-upgrade
being run once every few (about 3) days, so no significant backlog in updates.
Therefore I presume the problems must originate in a library that was updated
last Thursday of Friday.

Grx HdV

Re: software to do drawings of houses, gardens, etc.

[hdv@gmail]

On 2017-11-23 09:08, Weaver wrote:

> I don't think you'll find LibreCad is `dead'.
> I think you'll find it just takes a little more than five minutes to get
> on top of a programme.
> The traffic on a mailing list is also no indication of usage or how
> `good' a package is.
> Traffic may well be low because of ease of use, for example.
> 
> Of course, if you're happy paying for your software, why don't you move
> straight to AutoCad?

Why the hostility? I didn't say LibreCAD is bad or even that is _was_ dead. I am
just inclined to think so based on my (admittedly limited) experience with it.

And concerning the use of FLOSS: you are barking up at the wrong tree. If been a
focal and active participant of the community since the early nineties. I also
sponsor lots of projects out of my own pocket. Can you say that?

Anyway, why the PM? I sent my answer to the list. Why don't you?

Grx HdV

Re: software to do drawings of houses, gardens, etc.

[hdv@gmail]

On 2017-11-23 02:05, Emanuel Berg wrote:
> Librecad seems good and I got it working
> instantly on a Debian box.
> 
> Only how do I draw a box and then change the
> properties to specific side lengths?
> 
> For example, if I want to picture a building
> that is rectangular (from above) with one side
> 10m and the other 5m?
> 
> I managed to make an approximate rectangle with
> the "rectangle" tool but how do I bring up
> properties so that I can assign the
> exact values?
> 
> I made a search on Gmane (news.gmane.org) for
> "librecad" but apparently no mailing list is
> registered there. Also, on aioe (nntp.aioe.org)
> there seems to be no Usenet group dedicated to
> librecad. Now this speaks volumes.
> Aren't people using it?
> 

This was one of the reasons I decided to change to QCAD. If even choose to pay
the € 33 for the Pro version. It works like a charm, has good documentation (I
can recommend the official e-book that can be bought separately), and in many
subtle ways is more user-friendly. My experience with their customer support and
the forum is very good as well. (No I don't have shares, I am just a happy
customer. ;-) )

If you think this type of software is what you need, then I would try out QCAD
instead of LibreCAD. I've been subscribed to their mailing list for almost a
year now and I don't think I've seen more than 3 messages on it. I might be
missing things, but I am inclined to think that LibreCAD is "dead".

Grx HdV

Re: How to Keep Track of Changes to the System

[hdv@gmail]

On 2017-08-31 04:39, ray wrote:
> On Sunday, August 27, 2017 at 6:50:06 AM UTC-5, hdv@gmail wrote:
>> On 2017-08-26 05:14, ray wrote:
>>> I would like to find a way to keep track of changes I make to my system.  
>>> ...snip
>> Hi Ray,
>>
>> I just returned from a short holiday, so I am a bit late to the party, 
>> but... if
>> you don't want to set up a full versioning system I might have something else
>> for you. About 10 years ago I had the same need as you. What I did was write 
>> a
>> perl-script that automatically makes a timestamped backup of each file you 
>> edit
>> to a directory you define yourself (in that directory the full path of the
>> original is preserved). You use it like visudo, you just call it like this:
>>
>> vicf 
>>
>> All the rest happens automagically.
>>
>> Of course this will only help for plain-text files and it doesn't provide for
>> the annotations you mentioned. But if you are interested I
>> can mail it to you.
>>
>> Grx HdV
> ...snip
> 
> Yes, I would like to work with this.  I should be able to modify the perl 
> script to also save a tag file to hold the metadata.  So now I have a reason 
> to learn some perl.
> 
> Thank you.
> Ray

Here it is. Make sure to set the variables in the section "User-definable
defaults". I use the SWITCH statement to configure the script for use on
multiple systems. You might not need that. In that case just make sure you set
$root.

Good luck with it!

If you make any changes, please share them with the list. Maybe others might
find them useful too.

Grx HdV

===[begin script]


#!/usr/bin/perl

#TODO : add support for settings stored in ~/.vicfrc or an explicitly given file

our $VERSION = '0.92';

use strict;
use warnings;
use Getopt::Long qw(:config bundling);
use Pod::Usage;
use Sys::Hostname;
use Cwd qw(realpath getcwd);
use POSIX qw(strftime sysconf _PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED);
use File::Spec;
use File::Copy;

my $hostname = hostname();


#User-definable defaults


my $root = '';
SWITCH: {
  if ($hostname eq '') {
$root = '';
last SWITCH;
  }
  if ($hostname eq '') {
$root = '';
last SWITCH;
  }
  if ($hostname eq '') {
$root = '';
last SWITCH;
  }
}

my $datetime_format = '-%Y%m%d';   #d
my $sequencenr_format = '-%02d';   #n
my $append_sequencenr = 1; #a
my $keep_permissions = 1;  #p
my $keep_owner = 1;#o
my $keep_group = 1;#g
my $keep_times = 1;#t
my $backup_file = 0;   #b
my $x_editor = 0;  #x
my $editor_path = '/usr/bin/vim';
my $x_editor_path = '/usr/bin/gvim';
my $backup_option = '-c "set backup"';
my $no_backup_option = '-c "set nobackup"';


#Internal variables


#Defaults for commandline options
my $help = 0;
my $manual = 0;
my $show_version = 0;
my $debug = 0;
my $verbose = 0;


#Parse the commandline arguments


#Get all options
GetOptions(#Standard options
   'debug|D+', \$debug,
   'help!', \$help,
   'h|?', \$help,
   'manual!', \$manual,
   'version!', \$show_version,
   'V', \$show_version,
   'verbose|v+', \$verbose,
   #Options specific for this program
   'root|r=s', \$root,
   'datetime|d=s', \$datetime_format,
   'sequencenr|n=s', \$sequencenr_format,
   'append_sequencenr!', \$append_sequencenr,
   'a!', \$append_sequencenr,
   'permissions!', \$keep_permissions,
   'p!', \$keep_permissions,
   'owner!', \$keep_owner,
   'o!', \$keep_owner,
   'group!', \$keep_group,
   'g!', \$keep_group,
   'times!', \$keep_times,
   't!', \$keep_times,
   'backup!', \$backup_file,
   'b!', \$backup_file,
   'x_editor!', \$x_editor,
   'x!', \$x_editor
  ) or pod2usage(0);
pod2usage(verbose => 1, exitval => 0) if $help;
pod2usage(verbose => 2, exitval => 0) if $manual;
if ($show_version) {
  print "vicf version $VERSION (c) 2015 Jadev\n";
  exit 0;
}

#Assign the first non-option argument to a variable for easier use
die "No file to be edited was given.\n&quo

Re: How to Keep Track of Changes to the System

[hdv@gmail]

On 2017-08-26 05:14, ray wrote:
> I would like to find a way to keep track of changes I make to my system.  It
> seem that I may learn from others on how they keep track of changes they make
> to their systems.
> 
> When I make changes, I don't remember where I made changes or why.
> 
> It would be great to have a log of what changes I've made, where they were
> made, how they were made (direct edit, scripted, etc.), why I made them,
> references that I used to determine the change, and what was the outcome.
> 
> Right now, I get lost in my documentation.  I research solutions, make notes
> in Onenote on a Windows machine, record configurations files that I will
> test.  But It is difficult to record results such as syslogs or console
> transactions.  More challenging is that I have different notebook tabs for
> different objectives.  So when I want to see what I changed, I have to go
> through many different objectives because I don't know what object I was
> shooting for when I made the change.
> 
> I would really like to hear how others track their changes or suggestions how
> I may tack changes.
> 
> I store all the changes on a different computer because I screw up the
> installation on my machine under test and rebuild the OS.  The laptop I am
> building to run Xen is on its 28th build.
> 
> I would appreciate any suggestions.
> 
> Ray
> 

Hi Ray,

I just returned from a short holiday, so I am a bit late to the party, but... if
you don't want to set up a full versioning system I might have something else
for you. About 10 years ago I had the same need as you. What I did was write a
perl-script that automatically makes a timestamped backup of each file you edit
to a directory you define yourself (in that directory the full path of the
original is preserved). You use it like visudo, you just call it like this:

vicf 

All the rest happens automagically.

Of course this will only help for plain-text files and it doesn't provide for
the annotations you mentioned. But if you are interested I
can mail it to you.

Grx HdV

P.S. Here's the output of the help so you can decide if this is what you need:

vicf --help

Usage:
vicf [options] 

List of options:

[-h|--help|-?] [--manual] [-V|--version] [-r|--root ]
[-d|--datetime ] [-n|--sequencenr ]
[-a|--append_sequencenr] [-p|--permissions] [-o|--owner] [-g|--group]
[-t|--times] [-b|--backup] [-x|--x_editor]

Options:
--help
Print a brief help message.

--manual
Print the full manual.

--version
Print version and copyright information.

--root
The directory under which a dated copy of the original file should
be stored.

--datetime
A format string suitable for strftime(). Together with the local
time this parameter will used as input for strftime(). The result
will be appended to the name of the target file. See man 3 strftime
for more details.

--sequencenr
A format string suitable for sprintf(). This will be used to
generate a sequence number, which will be append to the filename if
the target file already exists.

--append_sequencenr
Append a sequence number to the filename, even if it does not exist.
Used to start sequences at 1 instead of 2.

--permissions
Preserve the access permissions of the original file.

--owner
Preserve the owner of the original file.

--group
Preserve the group of the original file.

--times
Preserve the access and modification times of the original file.

--backup
Instruct the editor to make a backup of the original file. This is a
convenience option that has nothing to do with the dated copy of the
original file.

--x_editor
Start the editor in graphical mode instead of console mode.

At the top of the code there is a section named 'User-definable
defaults' where defaults appropriate for the current environment can be
set. Doing so alleviates the need to specify options on every invocation
of the program.

Arguments:
This program accepts only one argument, which is the path to the file to
be edited.

Re: Linux based cellphones?

[hdv@gmail]

On 2015-01-30 10:47, Karen Lewellen wrote:
 Now that  seems  nifty.

Don't know what your timeframe is, but have you considered the Neo900?
See neo900.org. It is not out yet, but it seems promising.

Grx HdV



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Re: Question about an attempt to upgrade CUPS and cups-filters

[hdv@gmail]

On 2014-11-30 19:55, Paul E Condon wrote:
 I'm using Jessie, and attempting to do frequent update/upgrades.
 I use aptitude. Computer is HP with dual core pentium cpu.
 The most recent upgrade left cups and cups-filters only partially
 installed with the following report:
 
 T A cups
 W A cups-filters
 
 cups is only partly installed; its installation will be completed.
 
 But re-running does not complete the installation. What action
 can I take to get these new(er) packages to be completely installed?
 Or what further information should I provide to help diagnose this?

Had the same thing happening on my systems.

Do a dpkg --configure --pending and all should be fine again.

Grx HdV



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Re: Lost high res desktop settings on vbox upgrade to 4.3.14

[hdv@gmail]

On 2014-07-23 23:04, Harry Putnam wrote:
 Andreas Rönnquist mailingli...@gusnan.se writes:
 
 I upgraded vbox from 4.3.10 to 4.3 14.  Now the best screen res I can
 get in 1024 x 768.   When it was something like 1500 x .  Not sure
 of exact setting but desktop was much larger when I logged in before
 this upgrade.


Sorry, I am a bit late in the thread. So, maybe this has been suggested
already. If so, please ignore my message.

Did you notice that currently in Jessie there is a dependency problem
with VirtualBox? It needs a newer version of xorg-video-abi than is
currently available. It could be your problem is related to this.

Grx HdV



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