Re: [GTALUG] Debian Live Linux -- Change Overlay Filesystem -- From Tempfs Ramdisk To Hard Drive ?? [was] Re: Debian Live Linux -- Overlay Filesystem -- Where Allocated ??
Ivan, Your helpful link is very timely. While clearing out stuff, I found two (2) long forgotten 1 TB external USB hard drives. So instead of buying a SATA hard drive to add to my Debian linux PC, to achieve live boot root filesystem persistence, I'm going to try following the instructions on the debian.org web page you pointed me to, and deploy one (1) of the 1 TB USB hard drives for Debian 12 live boot. Steve Petrie Original Message SUBJECT: Re: [GTALUG] Debian Live Linux -- Change Overlay Filesystem -- From Tempfs Ramdisk To Hard Drive ?? [was] Re: Debian Live Linux -- Overlay Filesystem -- Where Allocated ?? DATE: 2024-03-23 12:44 FROM: Ivan Avery Frey via talk TO: GTALUG Talk How to implement persistence: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/LiveUsbPersistence Ivan. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] Debian Live Linux -- Change Overlay Filesystem -- From Tempfs Ramdisk To Hard Drive ?? [was] Re: Debian Live Linux -- Overlay Filesystem -- Where Allocated ??
Thanks to Len Sorensen, Hugh Redelmeier and r...@bclug.ca for taking their time offering suggestions, all of which I have investigated. * * * * * * Paranoia and low tolerance for anxiety have me deciding on this strategy, to get to a Debian 12 configuration with root filesystem persistence: (1) Buy a second multi-TB SATA hard drive to install in my Debian linux PC (Western Digital or Seagate). (1) Build a bootable live Debian 12.5 linux USB memory stick. (3) Use (2) to install Debian 12 on the new SATA drive, and use this SATA Debian 12 for ongoing regular daily operations. (3) Keep both the current bootable live Debian 11 USB memory stick, and the new bootable live Debian 12 linux USB memory stick, for emergency linux boot purposes. * * * * * * This strategy offers these benefits: (1) gets regular linux operations to most current Debian version, and simplifies life by booting directly from hard drive, (2) (hopefully) saves time by booting the PC from hard disk, instead of from USB memory stick, (3) adds a large comforting increment of hard disk capacity, complementing the current 1.8 TB hard drive, which already is almost 50% used, (4) leaves me with two (2) Debian emergency boot USB memory sticks. * * * * * * I will report back on results. Steve Petrie Etobicoke (Toronto), Ontario, Canada apet...@aspetrie.net 416-233-6116--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
[GTALUG] Debian Live Linux -- Change Overlay Filesystem -- From Tempfs Ramdisk To Hard Drive ?? [was] Re: Debian Live Linux -- Overlay Filesystem -- Where Allocated ??
Hello Lennart,
Thank you for your speedy explanation that, probably the Debian live
linux overlayfs mechanism is using a non-persistent tempfs ramdisk to
store data written to the root filesystem.
Your explanation could also explain why some Debian packages I install,
disappear every time I boot my linux PC, which is often daily. So, I
sometimes find myself occasionally re-installing a disappeared Debian
package.
* * *
* * *
I use a live Debian linux image booted from a USB memory stick, because
the original Debian 9 linux installed on the 1.8 TB hard disk, was
ruined when I ran a "fix broken packages" operation, on the advice of a
web page, while I was trying to install some Debian package.
This "fix" removed a zillion packages and left me with a minimal linux
that would only boot to a command line.
After struggling unsuccessfully to repair the broken Debian 9 on the 1.8
TB hard drive, I landed on the solution of booting Debian 11 live from a
USB memory stick. (In an earlier post to GTALUG I described how I built
the USB live boot stick from a Debian 11 CD image.)
* * *
* * *
I would like to explore ways to change the writeable root ovwelay
filesystem, from non-persistent tempfs ramdisk, to persistent hard disk
storage.
This would: (1) eliminate significant RAM consumption by the overlayfs,
and (2) (presumably) eliminate the current nuisance of having Debian
packages disappear, every time the linux PC is booted.
According to the df -l report (below), it looks to me like the current
tempfs ramdisk providing writeable root filesystem space, could occupy
up to 7.8 GB of RAM.
Right now the free command shows RAM in 1KB units:
...
user@debian:~$ free
totalusedfree shared buff/cache
available
Mem:16258232 192500410446368 1758144 3886860
12276760
Swap: 0 0 0
user@debian:~$
...
So the linux PC has a total of 16 GB of RAM. Assuming my interpretation
of the free command output is correct, the tempfs ramdisk is currently
using ("shared") approximately 1.7 GB of RAM (about 10 percent of total
RAM), but could (presumably) grow to consume up to 7.8 GB of RAM (per df
command output). At 7.8 GB this would mean the tempfs ramdisk would
consume almost 50 % of total RAM..
My Debian live linux PC occasionally crashes, with the LED on the USB
live stick flashing furiously, notably when I have many Firefox browser
windows open. Maybe these crashes occur when the tempfs ramdisk gobbles
up lots of RAM ??
* * *
* * *
According to the df -l report (below), the 1.8 TB hard drive still has
958 GB of free space available. So, moving the maximum 7.8 GB volatile
tempfs overlay filesystem, from ramdisk to the 1.8 TB drive would
consume only 0.81 percent (7.8 / 958) of the available space on the 1.8
TB drive.
Scary to move the tempfs overlay filesystem to a new partition on the
1.8 TB drive ??
As I was trying to discover where the overlay filesystem is mapped, I
read that some of the command line tools I was using, provide ways to
RE-PARTITION disk drives.
I am a VERY PARANOID ancient IT dude, who would NOT ENJOY doing some
FINGERS CROSSED messing around with the partitioning on the 1.8 TB
drive.
Perhaps the stress-free way to move the overlay filesystem to
(permanent) hard drive space, would be to add a second huge SATA hard
drive to the linux PC ??
* * *
* * *
Before buying another hard drive, I would research technical details of
how to tell the Debian 11 live linux, to map the overlay filesystem to a
partition on the new hard drive ??
Naturally I will look into this question myself, but I would gratefully
appreciate suggestions from GTALUG members :)
Steve Petrie
Etobicoke (Toronto), Ontario, Canada
apet...@aspetrie.net
416-233-6116
On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 07:55:31PM -0400, Steve Petrie via talk wrote:
Greetings To The GTALUG Community:
I'm trying to discover where an overlay filesystem is mapped, for a
Debian
live boot from a USB stick.
After perusing a dog's breakfast of output from various linux commands,
I am
appealing to GTALUG members for guidance.
* * *
* * *
I boot live Debian 11 linux from a USB memory stick.
This provides an overlay filesystem:
...
user@debian:~$ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev
tmpfs 1.6G 1.6M 1.6G 1% /run
/dev/sdb1 3.5G 3.5G 0 100% /run/live/medium
/dev/loop0 2.9G 2.9G 0 100%
/run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
tmpfs 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% /run/live/overlay
overlay 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% /
tmpfs 7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 7.8G 8.0K 7.8G 1% /tmp
tmpfs 1.6G 1.7M 1.6G 1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdc159G 1.7G 57G 3% /media/user/245B-74A8
/dev/sda2 1.8T
[GTALUG] Debian Live Linux -- Overlay Filesystem -- Where Allocated ??
Greetings To The GTALUG Community: I'm trying to discover where an overlay filesystem is mapped, for a Debian live boot from a USB stick. After perusing a dog's breakfast of output from various linux commands, I am appealing to GTALUG members for guidance. * * * * * * I boot live Debian 11 linux from a USB memory stick. This provides an overlay filesystem: ... user@debian:~$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on udev7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev tmpfs 1.6G 1.6M 1.6G 1% /run /dev/sdb1 3.5G 3.5G 0 100% /run/live/medium /dev/loop0 2.9G 2.9G 0 100% /run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs tmpfs 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% /run/live/overlay overlay 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% / tmpfs 7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev/shm tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock tmpfs 7.8G 8.0K 7.8G 1% /tmp tmpfs 1.6G 1.7M 1.6G 1% /run/user/1000 /dev/sdc159G 1.7G 57G 3% /media/user/245B-74A8 /dev/sda2 1.8T 767G 958G 45% /media/user/32ec11e8-082c-4ca5-b751-dc2852f9d5e2 user@debian:~$ ... * * * * * * I believe that the overlay filesystem provides the root directory for linux. Files under GNOME shows under Other Locations > Computer a root directory: ... user@debian:/$ ls -aAl total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root7 Dec 17 2022 bin -> usr/bin drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 144 Dec 17 2022 boot drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 3580 Mar 20 17:58 dev drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 640 Mar 20 14:32 etc drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60 Mar 20 08:14 home lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Dec 17 2022 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-20-amd64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Dec 17 2022 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-20-amd64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root7 Dec 17 2022 lib -> usr/lib lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root9 Dec 17 2022 lib32 -> usr/lib32 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root9 Dec 17 2022 lib64 -> usr/lib64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec 17 2022 libx32 -> usr/libx32 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60 Mar 20 08:17 media drwxr-xr-x 2 root root3 Dec 17 2022 mnt drwxr-xr-x 2 root root3 Dec 17 2022 opt dr-xr-xr-x 266 root root0 Mar 20 08:14 proc drwx-- 1 root root 60 Dec 17 2022 root drwxr-xr-x 31 root root 800 Mar 20 08:17 run lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root8 Dec 17 2022 sbin -> usr/sbin drwxr-xr-x 2 root root3 Dec 17 2022 srv dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root0 Mar 20 08:14 sys drwxrwxrwt 17 root root 400 Mar 20 18:49 tmp drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 80 Dec 17 2022 usr drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 140 Dec 17 2022 var lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Dec 17 2022 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-20-amd64 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Dec 17 2022 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-20-amd64 user@debian:/$ ... When I right-click on the word Computer in the title bar of the Files window, and select Properties, it shows: ... Name / TypeFolder (inode/directory) Contents 297,003 items, totaling 10.9 GB (some contents unreadable) The space allocation graphic shows: 1.7 GB used 6.7 GB available Filesystem type overlay Open in Disks ... * * * * * * I have tried using many linux commands to find out where the overlay filesystem is mapped: ... df -h ls -l /dev/disk/by-id gdisk (/dev/sda) gdisk (/dev/sdb) gdisk (/dev/sdc) cfdisk /dev/sda cfdisk /dev/sda cfdisk /dev/sdc sfdisk -J /dev/sda sfdisk -J /dev/sdb sfdisk -J /dev/sdc user@debian:/$ cd /dev user@debian:/dev$ ls -aAl sfdisk -T --label (dos, gpt) blkid lsblk lsblk parted -l mount sgdisk ... Output from all these commands is in the attached text file: ASP -- commands - looking for overlay filesystem device - 20240320.txt * * * * * * Suggestions from GTALUG members would be greatly appreciated !! Steve Petrie Etobicoke (Toronto), Ontario, Canada apet...@aspetrie.net 416-233-6116ASP -- commands - looking for overlay filesystem device - 20240320.txt 20 March 2024 ==> df -h ... user@debian:~$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on udev7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev tmpfs 1.6G 1.6M 1.6G 1% /run /dev/sdb1 3.5G 3.5G 0 100% /run/live/medium /dev/loop0 2.9G 2.9G 0 100% /run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs tmpfs 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% /run/live/overlay overlay 7.8G 1.6G 6.3G 20% / tmpfs 7.8G 0 7.8G 0% /dev/shm tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock tmpfs 7.8G 8.0K 7.8G 1% /tmp tmpfs 1.6G 1.7M 1.6G 1% /run/user/1000 /dev/sdc159G 1.7G 57G 3% /media/user/245B-74A8 /dev/sda2 1.8T 767G 958G 45% /media/user/32ec11e8-082c-4ca5-b751-dc2852f9d5e2 user@debian:~$ ... * * * * * * ==> ls -l /dev/disk/by-id ... user@debian:~$ ls -l /dev/disk/by-id total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Mar 20 08:14 ata-HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_WH16NS40_K93HCDJ1451 -> ../../sr0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Mar 20 17:15 ata-WDC_WD2003FZEX-00SRLA0_WD-WMC6N0K42XZW -> ../../sda
Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers
Original Message SUBJECT: Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers DATE: 2024-01-16 08:54 FROM: Ron / BCLUG via talk TO: talk@gtalug.org Steve Petrie via talk wrote on 2024-01-16 05:41: A. SSO (single sign on) -- Is it an SSO offer, when my Firefox browser "helpfully" asks me if I would like it [my browser] to "remember" my login credentials ?? [rb] No, SSO where one signs in to a site they've never visited via their Google or GitHub account, for example. [sp] I always respond in the NEGATIVE to these "helpful" browser offers. So, you type in user and password every time you log into every site? I can't imagine the internet being very useful in that case, but everyone's got different risk tolerances, plus I may be misunderstanding your method of logging in to sites. [sp] No. You're not misunderstanding me. I obsessively type in my userid and super-long obsessively randomized password EVERY TIME I sign on my Firefox browser to my webmail service. In fact, I type in EVERYWHERE a super-long obsessively randomized password, EVERYWHERE A PASSWORD IS REQUIRED. (This absurdly over-the-top hyper-anal security-obsessive behaviour, is likely a happy combination of: (1) innate masochism, smoothly blended with (2) a tight-assed White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) obsessive detail-orientation, (3) sweetly encapsulated with the vestiges of an engineering education. The ridiculously obsessive webmail sign on, has become so habitual, it only takes me a few seconds, because I have perfectly memorized my very long and obsessively randomized password. Every such keyboard-laborious sign on, gives me a tiny thrill of pleasure, in knowing that my very long and obsessively randomized password is extremely spoof-proof. * * * * * * [rb] I guess I don't understand how having one's browser save username and (hopefully long) password combos gets "scare quotes" around "helpful". [sp] Kindly forgive my lack of mailing list etiquette knowledge. I didn't know that use of scare quotes conveyed such implications. My use of scare quotes was merely for emphasis. Hopefully, a use of bolding instead of scare quotes will improve my list etiquette skill rating :) --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] landline power [was Re: "AI" on getting correct technical answers]
Original Message | From: Alvin Starr via talk Rogers has or had UPS built into the home phone box. And they have batteries on their neighbourhood boxes. (During a long power failure, they even brought a generator for the one near us.) [Steve Petrie] Nice to read something positive about Rogers. My last Rogers interaction last week, had a Rogers sales rep ending his call to me, by shouting that I had just wasted his valuable time (because I had told him the technical reasons why I would rather pay a $18 / month Bell Canada premium, over the Rogers monthly service price, to keep my ROCK-SOLID RELIABLE Bell Canada service. This same brain-dead abusive Rogers sales loser, actually ended our call by shouting "F**k You !!" at me, before he ended the call. Charming :) Seemed to me his vituperative manner could have been a reflection of a possibly desperate Rogers. Bell Canada execs may surely be cruel and ruthless greedy squeezers, but still, Bell does seem to value service reliability as a core corporate value. * * * * * * [Alvin Starr] Bell had a UPS built into their home internet+phone boxes. But not the latest ones. (The old Bell system had large lead-acid batteries in the COs. Old handsets were actually powered by the CO. Modern ones have their own power for many functions. So we used to expect the phone to work during "hydro" failures.) [Steve Petrie] My friend who lives in her house in the Bloor West Village / High Park area, has an ancient wall-mounted Northern Telecom analogue phone in her kitchen. So far as I know, this indestructible NT museum-piece is still powered from the Bell CO. Whenever she occasionally has a Bell service outage, she's at the bottom of Bell Canada's repair priority list. She tells me that the Bell technician despatched to fix her dead copper-pair service, is invariably contemptuous and surly to her. Seems like like internal Bell ethos is to consider all twisted-copper-pair-connected service holdouts, as hopelessly outdated dispensable ancient codgers. Probably some obscure CRTC ruling prevents Bell Canada from forcing the few remaining copper-pair holdouts onto Bell Fibe. Bell Canada has run a fibre line to a Bell box fastened to the exterior brick wall of her house, but so far, my friend is a relentlessly frugal Bell CO-powered bastion of senior citizen obduracy. It just occurred to me, that she probably saves a couple of cents every month, by drawing her phone-power from the Bell CO, instead of getting her phone power through her metered Toronto Hydro power service. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers
[snip] [Steve Petrie] Is it EVEN POSSIBLE for a clever hacker to spoof my email inbox and steal my inbound email messages ?? [Alvin Starr] In theory yes. If they can gain control of your DNS entries they could redirect your MX but that is low risk. If they get your login they could insert an email filter that forwards all your messages to somewhere else. If they have access to your mail server then your messages may be readable using 'cat' or they could modify the mail transport to redirect mails. [Steve Petrie] I suppose this would require the hacker to: (1) steal my password protecting my email access login at my email hosting provider, or (2) Steal my password protecting my personally-maintained DNS records at my DNS provider, or (3) hack my email hosting provider's infrastructure, or (4) hack my DNS provider's infrastructure. [Alvin Starr] We have the same list of hacks. But here is one more. If you access your email via a browser it is possible for a hacker to get your session keys and craft up a session and then login to your email without having to actually log in. Which is a good reason to not use SSO services. [Steve Petrie] A. SSO (single sign on) -- Is it an SSO offer, when my Firefox browser "helpfully" asks me if I would like it [my browser] to "remember" my login credentials ?? I always respond in the NEGATIVE to these "helpful" browser offers. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers
My 2 cents ... SUBJECT: Re: [GTALUG] "AI" on getting correct technical answers DATE: 2024-01-15 11:47 FROM: o1bigtenor via talk TO: GTALUG Talk On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 8:56 AM Alvin Starr via talk wrote: [snip] You don't need a cell phone number but need to have a number that will accept SMS. VOIP services offer numbers with SMS features. [Steve Petrie] My personal policy is dead simple. Any seller / provider REQUIRING me to receive SMS doesn't get my business. If they WON'T send me a code via email, I WON'T use their service. So far so good. One SMS flaw I encountered, was when someone sent me an SMS message (which I never saw because I have no SMS service subscription), and the sender claimed they got no bounce message. If this SMS "black hole" phenomenon exists, that's a REALLY BAD THING. * * * * * * [o1bigtenor] [snip] I am considering using voip if not for everything as voip dies when the power does and that's a serious flaw! [Steve Petrie] My "land line" phone service via a (wall-mounted) Bell Canada-provided Sagemcom HomeHub 4000 modem in my apartment, ALSO DIES WHEN THE POWER FAILS in my apartment. Bell's recommendation is for the Sagemcom 4000-equipped subscriber to purchase their own UPS to assure Sagemcomm 4000 operational continuity. Power outages being so very rare in Toronto, I consider it a waste of $ to buy a UPS. Supposedly (per Bell Canada), from the fibre-side of the Sagemcom 4000 modem in my apartment, all the way to battery-backed Bell upstream electrical-powered facilities, 100% passive fibre facilities in Bell's pole-mounted fibre equipment, require NO ELECTRICAL POWER to operate. [snip] [o1bigtenor] Hm - - - - it was some time in the first 1/2 of 2012 when a VP at Microsoft issued the announcement that for those that were logging in off campus that it would be thenceforth required to use 2FA (as either SMS or email). [snip] What none of these boffins seems to be aware of is that the same individual in early 2019 sent a similar email to the same recipients that " . . . due to the inherent insecurity of [snip] open email systems [Steve Petrie] What's "insecure" about email over SMTP ?? Has always seemed rock solid to me. If your OUTBOUND message doesn't get delivered to the recipient, you receive a bounce notification. My understanding is that SMTP has a tiny hole where outbound message non-delivery does not issue a bounce report email to the sender. Never encountered this tiny glitch myself. As for spoofed INBOUND messages, they are always obvious by their general nature. Hackers don't know my personal context, so they can only send me absurdly generic email content. IMHO -- entering a password into a web page + entering a confirmation code sent to my email address, IS 2FA. Is it EVEN POSSIBLE for a clever hacker to spoof my email inbox and steal my inbound email messages ?? I suppose this would require the hacker to: (1) steal my password protecting my email access login at my email hosting provider, or (2) Steal my password protecting my personally-maintained DNS records at my DNS provider, or (3) hack my email hosting provider's infrastructure, or (4) hack my DNS provider's infrastructure. [snip] --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] (very off topic) torque spec of impact wrench
William: Have you tried dousing the crevice at the nut / threaded stud interface, with penetrating oil ?? E.g. brand name "liquid wrench". Repeat application a few times and allow a couple of hours for the penetrating oil to seep into the crevice. HTH. Steve Petrie Original Message SUBJECT: [GTALUG] (very off topic) torque spec of impact wrench DATE: 2023-11-03 03:07 FROM: William Park via talk TO: GTALUG Talk Hi (another very off topic), Wheel bolts on my VW are seized pretty hard. Standing on 24in breaker bar doesn't help, and that's 300ft-lb torque. So, I'm thinking about getting an impact wrench. Those with greater than 300ft-lb are very expensive. I found one with 250ft-lb spec at my price range. Question is, is there difference between static torque vs impact torque? In other words, will 250ft-lb impact wrench loosen 300ft-lb bolt? Browsing YouTube, I learned that torque specs are always misleading and inflated. This means, I have to find 600ft-lb or greater, and that's serious money. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] Debian has suddenly become unstable
Why not switch to booting debian from a USB stick ?? * * * * * * Almost one (1) year ago, I ruined my debian 9 HDD installation by naively running a "fix broken packages" command. This deceitfully named command deleted a huge number of packages and left me with a bootable but basically useless debian system on the HDD. Command shell but no GUI. * * * * * * After struggling with trying to build a list of all the deleted packages, I abandoned that strategy. I was afraid just to re-install debian 9 to the hard drive, out of fear of damaging all the precious user data on the same hard drive. Besides, debian 9 had become increasingly annoying because some packages refused to install, reporting that the libc6 version was obsolete. So, Instead of re-installing debian 9 on the hard drive, I made a bootable debian 11 live USB memory stick. Since then, I have been running debian 11 from this USB stick. It's a little slow to boot, but this debian 11 system has only crashed maybe three (3) times since then, and I use this debian 11 every day for many hours. * * * * * * Here are details of how I implemented this bootable debian 11 live USB memory stick: (0) KEY POINT: The broken debian 9 system was STILL BOOTABLE and it still gave me a command shell interface, but no GUI. (1) downloaded a debian live iso image using a different PC (ancient Windows XP): debian-live-11.5.0-amd64-gnome+nonfree.iso (2) copied this .iso onto a USB stick on the WinXP PC, inserted the USB stick into a USB port on the wounded debian 9 PC, and copied the .iso to a folder on the debian 9 HDD. (3) unmounted the USB stick from the debian 9 file system: sudo umount /media/sdb1 sudo umount /dev/sdb (4) created the bootable debian 11 live USB stick: sudo dd if= of=/dev/sdb bs=4M conv=fdatasync status=progress Takes a while to run, and may seem like it isn't doing anything, but it does work. (5) motherboard BIOS settings: -- turn off secure boot; -- do NOT use csm; -- make USB first boot device (some motherboards do NOT support USB boot, luckily my Asus board does); (6) probably need to insert the USB boot stick into the first USB port (I always leave mine in the same front panel USB port) (7) power up / reset the PC, and the PC should boot from the USB stick; MIne takes a couple of minutes to boot up to a debian 11 gnome desktop. * * * * * * TIP: My usb stick has a red LED that flashes when it is being accessed, and otherwise is steady on. This LED is very helpful in indicating that the USB is booting. It also flashes frequently during debian 11 operation e.g. while starting the firefox browser. DOWNSIDE: apt-get package installations seem to disappear after I shut down the debian 11. So I have to re-install whenever I want to run a package. I could probably figure out how to install packages to the HDD but haven't bothered with this yet. * * * * * * This asy-sleazy fix for my ruined debian 9 may seem like an obscene hack to linux purists, but hey, it works for me. I have way too many more interesting things to do with my remaining time alive on this sorry planet, than to invest time in being a perfect debian user. And besides, when time comes to upgrade to debian 12, I can easily make a USB stick for that too. Steve Petrie apet...@aspetrie.net Original Message SUBJECT: Re: [GTALUG] Debian has suddenly become unstable DATE: 2023-10-11 20:06 FROM: BCLUG via talk TO: talk@gtalug.org Giles Orr via talk wrote on 2023-10-11 15:30: debugging Linux crashes. The `dmesg` command is useless, as it only shows the log since the last boot. The tool for inspecting previous boot logs would be: ## Logs from *previous* boot for `lp` and `cups`: `journalctl --boot -1 --unit lp --unit cups` I noticed was this, the only line of consequence about a millisecond before the reboot: 2023-10-10T11:36:23.839046-04:00 sli7d systemd-modules-load[399]: Inserted module 'lp' I don't have a printer, and I hadn't just done a "print-to-PDF" or anything like that One thought might be to disable cups (`journalctl disable --now cups`) and see if that helps (Common Unix Print Service)... Is it possible that Samba was triggering "lp"-related stuff which was causing the crash? That's possible - I can't recall much about samba, but maybe look into printer(s) is/are being shared and disable that feature. I suppose I could reboot and select and older kernel and see if that was stable ... Suggestions on how to better debug this would be most welcome. Does blacklisting the "lp" module sound like a good idea? Those also sound like good ideas. Good luck. --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this
Re: [GTALUG] Mailchannels Vancouver,BC
I use SiteGround (SG) https://world.siteground.com/ for website hosting http://aspetrie.net/ and email (POP3 / IMAP, SMTP). While I have found that SG technical support has occasionally seemed to me, to be a little peremptory and almost arrogant, they do know their stuff, and SG's infrastructure has been rock solid and extremely quick-response in real time terms. A while ago SG moved their services over to AWS and so far, SG service responsive time and reliability on AWS has been top notch. My attitude in selecting computing infrastructure providers is DEAD SIMPLE: NOTHING BEATS RELIABILITY IN SERVICES, PRODUCTS AND PEOPLE. So, I will quite happily suck up a little (perceived) arrogance from SG tech support, if the infrastructure being supported comes with rock-solid reliability and snappy performance. Mind you, SG could be considered to be a PREMIUM PRICED SERVICE, but when I have investigated hosting service alternatives, any apparent cost savings seemed minimal, and besides, I prefer to spend my time working on interesting personal projects, instead of posspbly struggling with flaky glitchy cheap / free hosting infrastructure. I happily pay some serious money to SG, to enjoy never regretting my choice of SG. Only problem I have had with SG email spam management, was being unable to use my Firefox browser to whitelist a particular email sender, whose messages were being listed by SG as potential spam. The SG support person showed me THEY could do the whitelisting, and then immediately closed my problem ticket. SG email comes with excellent spam management. I spend a few seconds once a day, dealing with a handful of potential spam candidates reported by SG spam management. Only once, have I ever seen a legitimate incoming email listed as potential spam in an SG spam report. Steve Petrie Original Message SUBJECT: [GTALUG] Mailchannels Vancouver,BC DATE: 2023-07-25 06:09 FROM: ac via talk TO: talk@gtalug.org Hi Everyone, It seems that Mailchannels no longer manages abuse, spam, scams and criminal activity and seems to have become a service provider to criminal syndicates and other low life, nefarious and scum baggerry (does scum baggerry have two G's and two R's? or is scum baggery even a word?) They are not a "free" provider like @google (which now, recently and of late again seems to be accepting abuse complaints at ab...@google.com) Why is it that the more scummy an org becomes, the larger they seem to grow? I am thinking of names like sendgrid, for example. the more scummy the org becomes the larger they become? Maybe I am just 'late' to see the connection and the "ESP's" already know that, which I am now only noticing. The "ESP's" have this layer or veneer of "decency" and we do no evil, yet, practically, they do evil and it now seems that the more evil they are, while pretending to be sheep, the larger they grow. at the risk of seeming more ranty than shary, I also wonder why Google decided to start managing abuse again via email? I was so surprised a few weeks ago when abuse@google started working again... (does anyone know why?) In closing, has anyone else noticed the link between more scummy and economic growth? And the 'better' the decency veneer, like good abuse response (but no action) etc. etc. the larger the org grows? Andre --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Re: [GTALUG] analog land line phone service in Toronto?
Karen, I use Bell Fibe service for which Bell provided a Sagemcom HomeHub 4000 modem, a large white plastic tower device. (I got the Bell technician wall mount my Home Hub 4000 modem). On thes back of the Home Hub 4000 are two (2) green-coloured jacks marked as TEL 1 and TEL 2 (with embossed legend not easy to read). I have an ancient Northern Telecom "Jazz" analog (land line compatible) phone plugged in to the TEL 1 jack on the Home Hub 4000 modem. This ancient analog phone works fine but sometimes it takes a few seconds for the dial tone audio hum to start, when I pick up the phone's handset. You mentioned that "Bell no longer offering analog, only fiberactic which seems to interact with the specialty phone I use due to disability." Two (2) questions occur to me: Q#1: Do you have your specialty phone plugged into the TEL1 jack on a Bell Fibe Home Hub 4000 modem ?? Q#2: Does Bell Canada tech support explain why your specialty phone is not working properly through your Bell Fibe service ?? Steve Petrie apet...@aspetrie.net--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
