Re: images in Perl/Tk

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:23:39 +
"mick.crane"  wrote:

> I try to load images with Perl/Tk but there is message,
> "couldn't recognize data in image file "test.jpeg" at 
> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl5/5.38/Tk/Image.pm line 21"
> I've tried different images/pngs/jpgs with same error.
> images load OK in other viewers.
> Installed tkpng with apt.
> 
> Anybody successfully used images with Perl/Tk?
> Would Tk::JPEG/Tk::PNG from cpan be happy with the Debian Tk and may 
> possibly help recognise the file format?
> Or is there some 'pruning' of the images, made with Gimp, needed to
> work with Tk?
> 
> mick
> 

I never used Tk with Perl, but first, you do not need tkpng for png
images anymore, pngs have been supported natively by Tk for years. Maybe
tkpng is broken (as at least some versions of img::png that came with
debian have been)?
Second, Tk does not support jpegs without third-party
extensions; probably img::jpeg can help, so you could try to 
install libtk-img with apt and then do the Perl equivalent of

   package require img::jpeg

Have a nice day,

Michael

Re: which program can show X/Y position of mouse pointer

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 11 May 2022 22:34:00 -0400
lou  wrote:

> 
> Thank Michael Lange!
> 
> it's what i need, and it works fine in twm

I am glad if I could help.

Btw, I noticed there is a small bug in the script, there should be an
additional line towards the script's end, so that the end of the script
looks like:

root.bind('<1>', quit)
for sig in (2, 3, 6, 15):
signal(sig, quit)
root.wm_protocol('WM_DELETE_WINDOW', quit) # I forgot this the other day
root.update_idletasks()
start()
root.deiconify()
root.mainloop()
root.destroy()


There shouldn't happen anything nasty without this "WM-protocol" handler,
however when the window is removed by the window manager, without this
line some ugly "crash message" might show up.

> 
> no wonder python is so popular these days

I guess this could be done with even fewer lines of code when written in
Tcl/Tk, I am just more familiar with Python ;)

> 
> PS: why isn't there some existing application that can do this job? is 
> my need too special?
> 

Actually there is at least one:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/mouseposition/

It works here, looks like it just didn't make it into debian.

Have a nice day,

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

No one wants war.
-- Kirk, "Errand of Mercy", stardate 3201.7

Re: which program can show X/Y position of mouse pointer

[Michael Lange]

On Mon, 9 May 2022 07:09:57 -0400
Dan Ritter  wrote:

(...)
> xdotool getmouselocation does it once.
> 
> You may wish to run it via watch in a tiny xterm and make that
> xterm always-on-top.

just for fun I wrote a little Python/Tk script that does what I believe
the OP wants (requires python3-tk):

#

#!/usr/bin/python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
'''Shows a tooltip-like window that displays the
x- and y-positions of the mouse pointer on the screen.
Left-click into this window to quit the program.'''

# coordinates of upper left window corner, edit to fit your needs:
WINDOW_X = 0
WINDOW_Y = 0

from tkinter import *
from signal import signal

root = Tk()
root.withdraw()
l = Label(root, text='Mouse position:\nX:    Y:',
  width=18, relief='solid', bd=2)
l.pack()
l.is_running = 0
root.wm_overrideredirect(1)
root.wm_geometry('+%d+%d' %(WINDOW_X, WINDOW_Y))

def show_mouse_pos():
x, y = l.winfo_pointerxy()
l.configure(text='Mouse position:\nX: %d   Y: %d' % (x, y))
if l.is_running:
l.after(100, show_mouse_pos)

def start():
l.is_running = 1
l.after(100, show_mouse_pos)

def quit(*args):
l.is_running = 0
l.after(200, root.quit)

root.bind('<1>', quit)
for sig in (2, 3, 6, 15):
signal(sig, quit)
root.update_idletasks()
start()
root.deiconify()
root.mainloop()
root.destroy()

#

Have a nice day,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Killing is wrong.
-- Losira, "That Which Survives", stardate unknown

Re: Odd reproducible problem - but is it a bug?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 2 May 2022 10:17:06 -0500
Richard Owlett  wrote:

> I'm using Debian 10.7 with MATE DE [will be updated later this week]
> The machine is a Lenovo T510 and is setup to login as either "richard" 
> or "root".
> 
> If logged in as "richard" I can execute su {+ password} and receive a 
> prompt indicating I'm "root".
> 
> However if I then enter "update-grub", the response is
>"bash: update-grub: command not found"
> as if I were the unprivileged user "richard".

you need to do 

 # su -

(instead of just

 # su
),
otherwise $PATH will be inherited from user "richard" and thus lack the
entry "/sbin".

Have a nice day,

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Ahead warp factor one, Mr. Sulu.

Re: What is z3fold and do I need it? (error: /usr/sbin/mkinitramfs: 12: /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/local.conf: z3fold: not found)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 3 Mar 2022 07:25:01 -0500
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

(...)
> > /usr/sbin/mkinitramfs: 12: /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/local.conf:
> > z3fold: not found
> 
> Well, as your file says, this is supposed to be a kernel module.  On my
> system, I have this:
> 
> unicorn:~$ locate z3fold
> /lib/modules/5.10.0-10-amd64/kernel/mm/z3fold.ko
> /lib/modules/5.10.0-11-amd64/kernel/mm/z3fold.ko
> 
> However, you're running an oldstable (buster, Debian 10) kernel.  I
> don't know whether buster's kernels have this module.

they do:

$ locate z3fold
/lib/modules/4.19.0-17-amd64/kernel/mm/z3fold.ko
/lib/modules/4.19.0-18-amd64/kernel/mm/z3fold.ko

Have a nice day,

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Insults are effective only where emotion is present.
-- Spock, "Who Mourns for Adonais?"  stardate 3468.1

[solved] Re: Trying to deug initramfs boot delay

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

thanks, Andrew and Charles for the replies. I finally managed to (sort of)
fix the issue with the delayed boot.

First, for the record, in case someone comes here via the archives:

the ".enuineIntel.align.0123456789abc" file in the initrd appears to be
quite normal (strange as it sounds - at least to me), as well as the many
lines in the initramfs.debug file looking like

+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue

followed by a return value of 1.

I checked with an ancient Dell Latitude X1 laptop with bullseye 32-bit
installed I have here (I don't know why it never occured to me to look
there before starting to asking dumb questions on the list).

On Tue, 22 Feb 2022 09:45:34 +
"Andrew M.A. Cater"  wrote:

(...)
> I have one of these: I found that the multi-arch .iso worked better.
> The UEFI in these is 32 bti, the processor is 64 bit - that might 
> have something to do with it, particularly if there's some alignment 
> issue.
> 
> Mine doesn't stop for many seconds - but that's only one datum point.

You are right, of course! Out of my usual stupdity I spent a few hours
with fruitless attempts before the simplest solution came to my mind.

In fact all I had to do was to turn my 32-bit installation into multiarch
with

# sudo dpkg --add-architecture amd64

followed by 

# apt-get update
# apt-get install linux-image-amd64

which here replaced the 32-bit apparmor with its amd64-counterpart and
installed a number of 64-bit libraries along with the amd64 kernel.
Then reboot into the amd64 kernel, and voilà!

Loading the initrd now for unknown reasons is still a bit slow (9-10 sec.
compared to 2-3 sec. with the otherwise considerably slower Latitude X1),
but this certainly doesn't bother me enough to go into "debug mode"
again :-)

(...)
> I used the unofficial .iso including non-free firmware.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention. Of course I used that one, too. I don't think
I'd get far with this laptop without the non-free firmware...

Thanks again, and have a nice day,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

No one wants war.
-- Kirk, "Errand of Mercy", stardate 3201.7

(when reading the news these days, unfortunately one might feel tempted to
contradict the Captain's statement)

Trying to deug initramfs boot delay

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

I installed bullseye (32-bit) onto a Lenovo IdeaPad 100S laptop. The
system generalliy runs fine, however there is a minor nuisance with a
delay of about 40 sec. at the begining of the boot process at the 
"Loading initial ramdisk..." stage.

Trying to debug this I found two things that seemed suspicious to me, but
I do not know, if these might really be responsible for the delay.

First, when I run lsinitramfs on the initrd in use, the first items of
the command's output are:

kernel
kernel/x86
kernel/x86/microcode
kernel/x86/microcode/.enuineIntel.align.0123456789abc
kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin

Now, ".enuineIntel.align.0123456789abc" looks odd to me, can this
possibly be normal? Or is it possible that somehow this file name is
malformed and causes trouble while trying to apply the microcode?


Second, when I add the "debug" option to the kernel command line and look
at the /run/initramfs/initramfs.debug file, I find the following:

+ '[' -f /root/etc/fstab ]
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ '[' / '=' /usr ]
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ '[' /boot/efi '=' /usr ]
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ continue
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ '[' none '=' /usr ]
+ read -r MNT_FSNAME MNT_DIR MNT_TYPE MNT_OPTS MNT_FREQ MNT_PASS MNT_JUNK
+ return 1


I guess this has something to do with the system trying to detect the
available hard drive partitions, which somehow at some point seems to
fail.
I don't really know what the function that is responsible here tries to
do, but it looks like a lot of lines to me for the three partitions on the
laptop's drive (output of lsblk:

NAME MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
mmcblk2  179:00 29,1G  0 disk 
├─mmcblk2p1  179:10  100M  0 part /boot/efi
├─mmcblk2p2  179:20  3,4G  0 part [SWAP]
└─mmcblk2p3  179:30 22,9G  0 part /
mmcblk2boot0 179:256  04M  1 disk 
mmcblk2boot1 179:512  04M  1 disk 

cont. of /etc/fstab:

# / was on /dev/mmcblk1p3 during installation
UUID=ba9bd08f-5a25-4e42-95a4-ce0fa41be38d /   ext4
errors=remount-ro 0   1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/mmcblk1p1 during installation
UUID=78BA-12AF  /boot/efi   vfatumask=0077  0   1
# swap was on /dev/mmcblk1p2 during installation
UUID=e1016bf0-5a98-4269-9e94-01ec54f1d541 noneswap
sw  0   0

)

Does anyone have a clue if either of these two things might be the
problem here, or -if not- what else I could try to identify the problem's
source?

Thanks in advance, and have a nice day,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

It is a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if
they're attractive in some way.
-- McCoy, "The Trouble with Tribbles", stardate 4525.6

Re: python-apt create_pin question

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:09:30 -0700
Antonio Russo  wrote:

(...)
> I am trying to use Policy.create_pin to do so, but cannot seem to get
> it working:
> 
> import apt_pkg
> 
> apt_pkg.init()
> cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress=None)
> policy = apt_pkg.Policy(cache)
> #policy.create_pin('origin', '', 'Debian', -1)
> policy.create_pin('origin', 'apt', 'Debian', -1)
> policy.init_defaults()

(...)
> All calls to get_priority return 500---not -1, as I am trying to get
> here.
> 
> I must be doing something silly.  I'd appreciate any help.

just a shot into the dark:
According to
https://apt-team.pages.debian.net/python-apt/library/apt_pkg.html :

"The parameter type refers to one of the strings ‘Version’, ‘Release’,
 or ‘Origin’. "

So maybe this argument is case sensitive and changing "origin" into
"Origin" may fix the issue?

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Not one hundred percent efficient, of course ... but nothing ever is.
-- Kirk, "Metamorphosis", stardate 3219.8

Re: downsides to replacing xfce4-terminal?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 7 Jan 2022 15:17:25 -0500
Lee  wrote:

> On 1/7/22, riveravaldez  wrote:
> > On 1/7/22, Lee  wrote:
> >> background:
> >> There have been two things preventing me to moving to Debian -
> >
> > Hi, do you mean 'Debian' there?, I'm not sure what's the situation.
> 
> The situation is that I absolutely hate the default user interface.
> Scroll bars that play hide & seek, that when they are visible are tiny
> wire-like things, clicking above/below the scrollbar takes you ..
> somewhere & what I want is one page up or down, etc.

I guess that this is probably no option for you, but I thought I'd
mention anyway:
the scrollbar behaviour you describe appears to be what an old-fashioned
terminal like urxvt (package rxvt-unicode) does here. The scrollbar looks
real old-fashioned (motif-style) though, in case that matters.

> 
> I found https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95 and that fixed most of
> the UI problems, but the terminal right-click to paste requiring a
> left click to actually paste was a deal-breaker.  So I was still using
> windows/cygwin to ssh to my debian machine to do most everything
> there.
> 
> In short, I found the UI basically unusable.

In case you have a mouse with a wheel, what's wrong with middle-button
pasting? I don't know about xfce4-terminal, but this works fine here with
urxvt and lxterminal and probably most other terminal applications as
well.

Have a nice day,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You say you are lying.  But if everything you say is a lie, then you are
telling the truth.  You cannot tell the truth because everything you say
is a lie.  You lie, you tell the truth ... but you cannot, for you lie.
-- Norman the android, "I, Mudd", stardate 4513.3

Re: filesystem I'd?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 6 Dec 2021 21:56:04 -0500
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 06:34:14PM -0800, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > Whats the name of the filesystem used on 64G micro-sd's labeled SDXC ?
> 
> Are you asking us how you could find out?  'Cause you can't seriously
> expect us to know what file system is on your device.
> 
> One way to find out would be to mount it, by any means necessary, and
> then run "mount" and see what file system type it reports.
> 
> Another way would be to use "file -s" on whatever block device your
> system assigns to it.  Plug the device in, wait a bit, run dmesg, and
> see what device name(s) you've got.  Then run file -s on whatever
> partition seems appropriate, if the device is partitioned, or else on
> the full device (/dev/sdx) if it's not partitioned.
> 

alternatively, when the device is plugged in, running

lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL,SIZE

will probably provide enough information to identify the card in question
without having to look through the dmesg output.

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

We have found all life forms in the galaxy are capable of superior
development.
-- Kirk, "The Gamesters of Triskelion", stardate 3211.7

Re: Emoji fonts in Debian [WAS:] Re: How to NOT automatically mount a specific partition of an external device?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 26 Nov 2021 12:36:04 -0500
Celejar  wrote:

(...)
> I'm curious: do most users of Debian on the desktop (who use MUA
> software, as opposed to webmail via a browser) have such a font
> installed, or do they see tofu?

no idea what "most users" do; I am actually using sylpheed too, and I too
have these "emoji fonts" installed. Makes life easier sometimes, when
people use emoijis as a means of communication and just assume that you
are able to have them displayed.

Have a nice day :-)

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

What kind of love is that?  Not to be loved; never to have shown love.
-- Commissioner Nancy Hedford, "Metamorphosis",
   stardate 3219.8

Re: how to record sound being played using arecord

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 2 Oct 2021 22:02:39 -0400
lou  wrote:

(...)
> why shall i need OSS compatibility module if alsa works?

Because the thing you wanted to do did *not* work for you? ;-)

> after loading them, they don't help, i can't hear anything from
> recording

which commands exactly did you try? Did you set the capture channel to
"Vol" either by some gui mixer or with the aumix command I suggested?

The only reason I suggested loading the sound_*_oss modules is that
alsamixer/amixer seems to have no equivalent for this.

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You go slow, be gentle.  It's no one-way street -- you know how you
feel and that's all.  It's how the girl feels too.  Don't press.  If
the girl feels anything for you at all, you'll know.
-- Kirk, "Charlie X", stardate 1535.8

Re: how to record sound being played using arecord

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 2 Oct 2021 03:55:50 -0400
lou  wrote:

> Could you give me commands that record sound being played?

apart from the solution using alsaloop Dan already pointed out, there is a
rather simple way to do this with Alsa's OSS compatibility modules:

sudo modprobe snd-pcm-oss
aumix -v R

Explanation:
The first command loads the oss-compatibility drivers (snd-pcm-oss and
snd-mixer-oss); to automatically load these drivers on each boot, just
add the line

snd-pcm-oss

to /etc/modules .

The second command sets the main Volume channel (-v) as
recording source (R); you may need to do

sudo apt install aumix

first, though. Of course, you can use any gui mixer app that can handle
the OSS mixer device instead of the shell command to set the recording
source. Just select the channel that is usually labeled "Vol".

> 
> Can arecord use mp3 format?

Not directly as far as I know. However you can use something like:

arecord -V stereo -f cd | sox -t wav -r 44100 -c 2 -b 16 - test.mp3

(requires sox and libsox-fmt-mp3). This should create a 128 kBit/sec CBR
mp3 output file. Please consult the manpages of arecord and sox for fine
tuning each command's options.

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Totally illogical, there was no chance.
-- Spock, "The Galileo Seven", stardate 2822.3

Re: OT: Copyrights and patents (was: Re: The future of computing.)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 07:22:17 -0400
rhkra...@gmail.com wrote:

(...)

> > But the law today gives me
> > automatic copyright over what I write without additional public
> > notice, I think for 90 years after I die.
> 
> Something like that, but doesn't sound quite right (wish I had a better 
> memory).  Previously copyrighted works are coming into the "public
> domain" year by year, about 95 years after -- oh, maybe it is after the
> author's death?  Maybe there is an alternate path to copyright
> expiring?  Not sure how it works if a corporation owns a copyright -- I
> don't think it is perpetual.

according to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries%27_copyright_lengths

it's typically Life + 70 years in the U.S., the U.K. and the E.U.
(though, depending on the country, in some cases copyright duration may be
different); in other countries from a quick glance the range seems to be
from 0 (Marshall Islands), Life (Kosovo) to Life + 100 years (Mexico),
with Life + 50 years and Life + 70 years being the most common.

Have a nice day,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Power is danger.
-- The Centurion, "Balance of Terror", stardate 1709.2

Re: icewm anomaly after bullseye upgrade

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 2 Sep 2021 16:02:08 -0400 (EDT)
Bob Bernstein  wrote:

> Thanks to those who chimed in!
> 
> My focus today is on those lines in ~/.icewm/preferences that 
> specify fonts for the task bar. I have in mind such statements 
> as:
> 
> NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="DejaVuSans-Bold,sans-serif:size=18"
> ActiveTaskBarFontNameXft="DejaVuSans-Bold,sans-serif:size=18"
> 
> I suspect the syntax of my lines does not represent actual fonts 
> that are available on this machine.
> 
> Can anyone provide a critique of that syntax?

according to https://ice-wm.org/man/icewm-preferences the syntax for
using a bold font should rather be:

ActiveTaskBarFontNameXft=”sans-serif:size=12:bold” .

That comma-separated font list thing does not seem to work (at least not
with the IceWM version from Buster); since I suspect that "DejaVuSans"
and "sans-serif" might be equivalent here, I tried with a different font
here:

NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="Akkadian,sans-serif:size=11:bold"

This gives me the Akkadian font with normal (or medium) weight.
Changing the first font name to one that does not exist, like

NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="Akadian,sans-serif:size=11:bold"

gives me a normal weight default/fallback font. Likewise

NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="Akkadian:size=11:bold,sans-serif:size=11:bold"
resp.
NormalTaskBarFontNameXft="Akadian:size=11:bold,sans-serif:size=11:bold"

gives me a bold Akkadian font resp. that same normal weight default
fallback font as above.

I have some doubt though, that this has anything to do with your original
problem.

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

It is necessary to have purpose.
-- Alice #1, "I, Mudd", stardate 4513.3

Re: icewm anomaly after bullseye upgrade

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 1 Sep 2021 15:17:11 -0400 (EDT)
Bob Bernstein  wrote:

(...)
> I have never had a situation wherein the number of workspaces in 
> the taskbar was _not_ determined by the contents of the line:
> 
> WorkspaceNames= " Web ", " Term ", " VNC ", etc.

seems to work as usual here.

> 
> in ~/.icewm/preferences. The pkgs now installed are:
> 
> $ dpkg -l |grep icewm
> ii  icewm2.1.2-1 
> amd64wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
> ii  icewm-common 2.1.2-1 
> amd64wonderful Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager
> 
> In order to access workspaces not displayed in the taskbar I 
> must have recourse to the Window List Menu button on the extreme 
> left side ot the task bar.
> 
> Thoughts?

What exactly does the line beginning with WorkspaceNames= look like?
What exactly is displayed resp. not displayed in the taskbar?
What is the output of `cat ~/.icewm/preferences | grep -i workspace` ?

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis.  You can't simply say,
"Today I will be brilliant."
-- Kirk, "The Ultimate Computer", stardate 4731.3

Re: MDs & Dentists

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 14 Jul 2021 18:26:58 -0400
Polyna-Maude Racicot-Summerside  wrote:

(...)
> Also can you find me one Linux distribution that is certified as medical
> equipment for reliability ?

https://www.behnk.de/fully-automated-systems/

These lab machines run with debian (at least the Thrombolyzer XRC we
once had in our lab did, Etch iirc), so apparently they are certified. I
don't think these certifications are something the OS vendor has to do,
it's the vendor of the machine that needs a certificate for the whole
product.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

When dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel,
building, creating; you even forget how to repair the machines left
behind by your ancestors.  You just sit living and reliving other lives
left behind in the thought records.
-- Vina, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), stardate unknown

Re: Working for free [was: Offensive variable names]

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:59:27 -0400
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> Also apparently
> any time I say anything, I'm perceived as a jerk.

be asssured, that is not the case.

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Vulcans never bluff.
-- Spock, "The Doomsday Machine", stardate 4202.1

[OT] Selling beer (was: Re: Working for free [was: Offensive variable names])

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 21:25:17 +0100
Joe  wrote:

(...)

> Back when we had TV advertisements
> for beer, it was always the rubbish beers that got the publicity.

here (Germany) we still have those TV ads for beer, and I can assure you
that the advertised brands (its not up to me to decide whether they are
rubbish or not) are the ones that are available virtually everywhere, so
I believe that it is safe to assume that they are also the brands that
sell.
So yes, unfortunately at least in some cases advertisements apparently
pay.
 
> As for 'targetted advertising', I've never seen any. When I notice the
> ads around the sides of web pages, none of them are aimed at me

The same here. So maybe I have developed some skills obscuring my
"profile" to "them", or (maybe more likely) I am just too dumb to realize
that those ads *are* in fact targeted at me :-)

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Vulcans believe peace should not depend on force.
-- Amanda, "Journey to Babel", stardate 3842.3

Re: linux-image-3.16.0-10-amd64 missing on security.debian.org

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 09:27:35 +
mabi  wrote:

(...)
> So I can simply skip upgrading to 3.16.0-10 and upgrading directly to
> 3.16.0-11 by downloading the .deb package as you suggest?
> 
> Then is it simply a matter of running "dpkg -i
> linux-image-3.16.0-11-amd64_3.16.84-1_amd64.deb" and that's it?
> 

yes, I think so.
Since it is a different package than 3.16.0-10 this should keep your
currently installed kernel intact, so if for some reason the new kernel
doesn't work the old one should still be there.

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Madness has no purpose.  Or reason.  But it may have a goal.
-- Spock, "The Alternative Factor", stardate 3088.7

Re: linux-image-3.16.0-10-amd64 missing on security.debian.org

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021 04:29:59 +
mabi  wrote:

> ‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐
> 
> On Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 at 3:29 AM, David Wright
>  wrote:
> 
> > Your sources.list generated the URL:
> >
> > http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux/linux-image-3.16.0-10-amd64_3.16.81-1_amd64.deb
> >
> > whereas this file is available through https://packages.debian.org/
> > links:
> >
> > http://security.debian.org/debian-security/pool/updates/main/l/linux/linux-image-3.16.0-10-amd64_3.16.81-1_amd64.deb
> >
> > I think this change may have come with stretch, but seems to have been
> >
> > enacted retrospectively. (I haven't found a reference to the change.)
> 
> Thank you David for your answer, unfortunately even
> with /debian-security/ in the URL, the package is still missing. If you
> browse that directory you can see that the package is missing 3.16.0-10
> is missing but 3.16.0-11 is available.

I know this does not answer your question about the sources.list, but if
it is only about the linux-image package and for some reason you cannot
use a kernel newer than 3.16, maybe instead of struggling with
sources.list to get the 3.16.81 kernel you may be better off just going to

https://packages.debian.org/jessie/linux-image-3.16.0-11-amd64

and manually download the debian package of the 3.16.84 kernel. This is
the last from the 3.16 series, so if you are stuck with 3.16 there won't
be any future updates anyway.

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

It is undignified for a woman to play servant to a man who is not hers.
-- Spock, "Amok Time", stardate 3372.7

[solved] Re: Network suddenly stopped working

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:16:13 +0200
 wrote:

(...)
> Your network clearly *thinks* it is up. What makes you think your net
> doesn't work? (not that I'm doubting your perception, but a more precise
> symptom description might shed some light on the problem).

well, as you may have guessed I am completely stupid when it comes to
networking :)
The symptom, as far as I can tell, is that just any attempt to connect to
the internet failed. Trying to ping my desktop machine from the laptop
just gave me "Destination Host Unreachable" messages. With ifconfig I
could see that no IPv4 address seemed to be assigned. And trying ifdown
followed by ifup was not possible, because ifdown seemingly refused to
work.

> 
> What does (either) "/sbin/route -n" or "ip route show" say?

Oddly, now, without me consciously doing something, except running the
commands Reco and you suggested, the network seems to work again.
So either one of these commands did some magic or something running in
the background fixed whatever issue there was.
The network still works after a reboot (I had tried rebooting several
times before, without effect), so I guess I'll never now what caused
these troubles and how they were fixed.
(the output of your commands looks normal now I think, so there is no
point in posting it here).

Thanks, and best regards

Michael

Re: Network suddenly stopped working

[Michael Lange]

Hi,
On Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:32:48 +0300
Reco  wrote:

(...)
> does not add up.
> 
> If, for some reason, an interface name had changed - you won't see
> "enp2s0" in the ifconfig output.

thanks for the clarification.

> 
> 
> > some sources I found suggest to look at
> > /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules but there is nothing in that
> > file that is not commented out, so I guess that this mechanism may be
> > outdated.
> 
> It is outdated, and that file should not be present at all.

Ok, thanks.

(...)
> Troubleshooting steps:
> 
> 1) Obtain tcpdump unless it's installed already.
> 2) As root, run "tcpdump -pni any udp port 67 or udp port 68", and let
> it run for a while.
> 3) As root, run "dhclient enp2s0".
> 4) Wait for a minute or so, terminate both tcpdump and dhclient.
> 5) Post the output of steps 2 and 3, plain text preferred, add an output
> of "ip a" for a good measure please.

Ok, here is what I get:

# tcpdump -pni any udp port 67 or udp port 68
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on any, link-type LINUX_SLL (Linux cooked), capture size 262144 bytes
12:45:25.021291 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:45:40.099508 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:45:59.837396 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:45:59.839837 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:46:04.723115 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:46:04.725104 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:46:42.878014 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:47:00.290058 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:47:23.566465 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
12:47:55.826397 IP 192.168.178.1.67 > 192.168.178.27.68: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, 
length 548
^C
10 packets captured
10 packets received by filter
0 packets dropped by kernel

# dhclient enp2s0
RTNETLINK answers: File exists

(this command always returns immediately; when I enter it a new entry to
the tcpdump output is added)

# ip a
1: lo:  mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group 
default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp2s0:  mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP 
group default qlen 1000
link/ether 50:e5:49:d8:51:94 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.178.27/24 brd 192.168.178.255 scope global dynamic enp2s0
   valid_lft 863861sec preferred_lft 863861sec
inet6 fe80::52e5:49ff:fed8:5194/64 scope link 
   valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Does that tell something?

Regards

Michael

Network suddenly stopped working

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

since yesterday the network on my buster system all of a sudden refuses
to work. I am using systemd, no network-manager is running.
The /etc/network/interfaces file looks (as it did before) like:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

allow-hotplug enp2s0
iface enp2s0 inet dhcp

With ifconfig the enp2s0 interface appears to be up, the line that should
look similar to

inet 192.168.178.33  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.178.255

misses, though.
Trying `ifdown enp2s0` the command seems to never return.

I suspected udev to have for some reason changed the interface name; some
sources I found suggest to look at /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
but there is nothing in that file that is not commented out, so I guess
that this mechanism may be outdated.

The output of `systemctl status networking.service` looks like this:

● networking.service - Raise network interfaces
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/networking.service; enabled; vendor 
preset: enabled)
   Active: active (exited) since Mon 2021-07-12 10:40:20 CEST; 1h 27min ago
 Docs: man:interfaces(5)
  Process: 7545 ExecStart=/sbin/ifup -a --read-environment (code=exited, 
status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 7545 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Jul 12 10:40:19 miniac systemd[1]: Starting Raise network interfaces...
Jul 12 10:40:20 miniac systemd[1]: Started Raise network interfaces.

I a not sure what to make of all this, does anyone have a clue what else I
might try?

Thanks in advance

Michael

Re: Need help with ffmpeg installation - strange behaviour of my system - am I correct here?

[Michael Lange]

On Fri, 09 Jul 2021 22:14:23 +0300
Anssi Saari  wrote:

> Joerg Kampmann  writes:
> 
> > Hello group I wanted to install ffmpeg under Debian 9 and got some
> > errormessages (in German): 
> 
> How about errormessages not in German? LANG=en_US.utf8 apt install
> ffmpeg?
> 
> >  ffmpeg : Hängt ab von: libavcodec58 (>= 10:4.1.6) soll aber nicht
> > installiert werden
> 
> https://packages.debian.org/stretch/ffmpeg says ffmpeg in Stretch
> depends on libavcodec57, not 58. Could it be you've configured Debian
> Multimedia repository for Debian 10 for your Debian 9 system?
> 

That's what I thought. Years ago the OP might have added something to the
sources.list like

deb http://ftp.uni-kl.de/debian-multimedia/ stable main

Unfortunately now stable points to buster (debian 10).
Changing this to something like

deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org stretch main

might help.

Regards
Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Actual war is a very messy business.  Very, very messy business.
-- Kirk, "A Taste of Armageddon", stardate 3193.0

Re: How to verify newly burned disc

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 02 Jul 2021 21:22:00 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> i wrote:
> > ... > You would need a filter program which takes care not to read
> > more ... > than ~ 20 MB/s.
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > I tried that, but as it seems without any effect on the drive's speed.
> > Maybe my efforts were not sufficient :)
> 
> Did you test it with a superfast input like /dev/zero ?
> 
>   time dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=1024 | your_filter >/dev/null
> 
> Does it curb that stream and need the due time ?

I did now, and it does (it took about 1 min. to read approx. 300 MB;
without "pulling the brakes" it took about 1 sec.). Since I am no good
with shell scripting I did not use dd though, but a simple Python function
that I think does basically the same; the way I used to slow it down is
quite primitive however (basically it just waits until 10 MB have been
read and then sleeps for 2 sec.), which may be too simple to stop the
drive from happily spinning on.

> 
> > It looks like when reading a DVD-RW it takes about 1.2 seconds
> > to read 10 MB of data; when I insert the Asus-CD, the drive spins
> > audibly faster, but surprisingly takes about 3 seconds to read 10 MB.
> 
> A rough estimation yields a linear density increase from CD to DVD by
> a factor of 2.5 (= sqrt(4480MB/700MB)). Multiplied by 1.2 this yields
> roughly 3, but does not explain the extra noise.
> You would need to read larger parts of the media to get an estimation
> of noise/speed ratio.

I see, so CDs are generally slower than DVDs, and  (no surprise) the
DVD-RW is a bit slower here than a "real" (bought) DVD.

> 
> 
> > > Does yours pull in the tray automatically after 200 seconds of
> > > standing out ?
> 
> > Yes, it actually does.
> 
> At least it is not a random feature of individual drives.
> 
> 
> > > I made a little poll here about this behavior, 1.5 years ago:
> 
> > I remember that :)
> > Actually I thought I had participated, but that appears to be a false
> > memory.
> 
> It's my memory which goes dim. I have you on the result list with
> 
> Reporter  Drive  Since  MediaPulls
> ...
> Michael Lange Plextor PX-810SA   2007   DVDno
> Michael Lange TSSTcorp SH-224DB  2013   DVDno
> ...
> 
> I now added you with a 2021 ASUS DRW-24D5MT which pulls.
> 
> 
> > > I wonder whether this is related to this obscure description
> > >   "E-Green technology auto-closes drive application when not in use,
> > >saving over 50% power consumption for users"
> 
> > I thought they just mean that it spins down after a few minutes, but
> > who knows?
> 
> The drives themselves have internal power management with timers for
> partially shutting down the drive. The states are named "Active",
> "Idle", and "Standby". The timer thresholds can be set by the computer.
> Further the states can be ordered immediately by the computer.
> 
> 
> > On the disc that came with the drive there is a "ASUS
> > E-Green.exe", so maybe we would need to install this first to fully
> > enjoy the Wonders of "E-Green"? :)
> 
>   https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what-is-the-asus-e-green-utility
> could mean that the .exe agressively strives for "Standby" by setting
> low timer thresholds. It seems also to be capable to count the time in
> that state and to brag with its power savings.
> 
> If my /dev/sr0 is annoyingly excited after Linux block i/o i run
> 
>   xorriso -outdev /dev/sr0
> 
> which ends by a drive calming START/STOP UNIT command.

Nice! This work here, too. :-)

> 
> --
> 
> Another thing which makes me wonder about ASUS' description of the drive
> is where they expect us to still find M-Disc DVD+R media. Last time i
> looked i found only M-Disc BD-R (and some "currenlty unavailable" DVD
> offers).

Well, looks like this is not so hard.
The first hit at ebay.de when searching for "m-disc dvd" shows an offer
for 10 4.7 GB discs at 85.11 € + 7.31 € for shipping from Japan :-)
They're Verbatim discs though, might be they break in the process :D

There is also an offer from Australia, 5 discs for "~" 21.74 € + ~ 42.97
shipping (also Verbatim :) and a little bit further down the "killer"
bargain: 10 Verbatims for ~ 46.11 € + free shipping! Buy now!! :-)

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

If some day we are defeated, well, war has its fortunes, good and bad.
-- Commander Kor, "Errand of Mercy", stardate 3201.7

Re: How to verify newly burned disc

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:24:17 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> i wrote:
> > > You would need a filter program which takes care not to read more
> > > than ~ 20 MB/s. Then the [Pioneer BDR-S09] drive slows down
> > > automatically.
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > I see, that does not sound trivial, at least to me :)
> 
> It would be a nice first exercise in about any programming language.
> The first time i implemented such a thing was for a QIC tape drive
> which overheated when running at full speed.

I tried that, but as it seems without any effect on the drive's speed.
Maybe my efforts were not sufficient :)
Or maybe it is because the drive does not seem to spin as fast as the
Pioneer. It looks like when reading a DVD-RW it takes about 1.2 seconds
to read 10 MB of data; when I insert the Asus-CD, the drive spins
audibly faster, but surprisingly takes about 3 seconds to read 10 MB.

> 
> 
> At the begin of this thread:
> > > > [...] I finally picked no. 1 of 2 of these Asus DRW-24D5MTs [...]
> 
> > So far the Asus managed to pass all tests, so probably I should just
> > be grateful to all the transcendental authorities that guided my hand
> > when I picked that carton from the shelf :)
> 
> Does yours pull in the tray automatically after 200 seconds of standing
> out ?

Yes, it actually does.

> 
> I made a little poll here about this behavior, 1.5 years ago:
>   https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2020/01/msg00421.html
> Overview of result:
>   https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2020/02/msg00758.html

I remember that :)
Actually I thought I had participated, but that appears to be a false
memory.
For the record: afair the Plextor PX-810SA did nothing of that sort, Nor
does the 'TSSTcorp'  'CDDVDW SH-224DB' in the other machine.

> 
> I wonder whether this is related to this obscure description on
>   
> https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Optical-Drives/Internal-DVD-Drive/DRW-24D5MT/
> 
>   "E-Green technology auto-closes drive application when not in use,
>saving over 50% power consumption for users"
> 
> (What might be meant by "drive application" ?)

I thought they just mean that it spins down after a few minutes, but who
knows? On the disc that came with the drive there is a "ASUS
E-Green.exe", so maybe we would need to install this first to fully enjoy
the Wonders of "E-Green"? :)

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

The joys of love made her human and the agonies of love destroyed her.
-- Spock, "Requiem for Methuselah", stardate 5842.8

Re: How to verify newly burned disc

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 29 Jun 2021 12:08:13 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> 
> > For data-discs I finally found a recipe that seems to
> > work in the archives of debianforum.de :
> > $ wc -c whatever.iso
> > 8237400064 whatever.iso
> > $ dd if=/dev/sr0 | head -c 8237400064 | md5sum
> 
> Yes. See also the FAQ about Debian ISO images:
>   https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#verify
> 
> The trick is to curb the reader to the size of the ISO image for which
> you know the checksum.
> The ISO images themselves contain a data field with their filesystem
> size. This may or may not be the size of the ISO image file.
> So it is better to record both, image size and checksum for the purpose
> of later verification.

thanks for the detailed explanation. 
I managed to wrap these commands in a little script, so now I can do this
with a single command, I think this wil do the trick for my purpose.

> > Unfortunately there is apparently no way to control the reading
> > speed here, so maybe one should be careful with these Pioneer
> > drives :)
> 
> You would need a filter program which takes care not to read more than
> ~ 20 MB/s. Then the drive slows down automatically.
> 
> (It is not decided who is at fault with the BD-RE cracks: Pioneer or
> Verbatim or both ...)

I see, that does not sound trivial, at least to me :)
Fortunately there seems to be no danger with the Asus drive here, it does
not sound like it is spinning unreasonably fast when when using dd, so I
think it should be save just to skip this step.
 
> > So, does anyone know about a way to verify the integrity of burned
> > audio-CDs?
> 
> Success is normally judged by playing the CD on the intended player
> device, which in most cases is not the CD burner.
> 
> 
> Difficulties are to be expected if you want to verify the burn success
> by audio data comparison:
> 
(...)

Ok, I thought so. Checking success by listening to the CD playing on my
stereo will be good enough, I guess. And I`ll just assume that if data
discs are ok the same will be true for audio-CDs.
So far the Asus managed to pass all tests, so probably I should just be
grateful to all the transcendental authorities that guided my hand when I
picked that carton from the shelf :)

Thanks again for your patience, and have a nice day :-)

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Compassion -- that's the one things no machine ever had.  Maybe it's
the one thing that keeps men ahead of them.
-- McCoy, "The Ultimate Computer", stardate 4731.3

Re: How to verify newly burned disc [Was: Fatal error while burning CD]

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 29 Jun 2021 10:32:04 +0200
Linux-Fan  wrote:

(...)
> I usually go for this kind of command:
> 
>   cmp whatever.iso /dev/sr0
> 
> If it reports "EOF on whatever.iso" its fine :)

I think this is similar to that recipe from the debianforum, only that
the latter seems to be a little more refined. I guess I could wrap those
three commands in a little script, so I can do something like:

$ check-disc whatever.iso
Checksums match, thumbs up

resp.

$ check-disc whatever.iso
Checksums mismatch, thumbs down
 
(...)
> > So, does anyone know about a way to verify the integrity of burned
> > audio-CDs?
> 
> [...]
> 
> Can you mount it and view the individual tracks as files?

I don't think audio-CDs can be mounted.

> Did you supply the .wav files exactly as they were going to be burnt
> unto the disc?
> 
> If both is yes, might it make sense to compare the individual track
> files against your supplied sources?

The problem here might be that if the original .wav files' duration did
not match that 2352 bytes sector size (or whatever this is called :) of
the CDDA format and thus had to be padded with zeroes there will be a
difference even though the actual PCM data may be perfectly the same. Or
at least that is as I understand it :)

Thanks for the feedback, and best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Uncontrolled power will turn even saints into savages.  And we can all
be counted on to live down to our lowest impulses.
-- Parmen, "Plato's Stepchildren", stardate 5784.3

How to verify newly burned disc [Was: Fatal error while burning CD]

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 24 Jun 2021 09:19:43 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> In any case, test it with all your intended use cases, as soon as it
> arrives.

Thanks, that definitely sounds like good advice (I had no idea that these
drives are so cheap these days, no wonder that they leave testing to the
customer :) .So for now I guess I'll have to consider myself beta-tester
for Asus (I finally picked no. 1 of 2 of these Asus DRW-24D5MTs from the
shelf, I hope that was the right choice :) (btw, thanks also to mcgarrett
for the feedback!).

I discovered then that, unless I missed something, that verifying the
success of the burning procedure appears to be surprisingly (to me at
least) non-trivial. For data-discs I finally found a recipe that seems to
work in the archives of debianforum.de :

$ cat whatever.iso | md5sum
50ab1d0cba4c1cedb61a6f22f55e75b7  -
$ wc -c whatever.iso
8237400064 whatever.iso
$ dd if=/dev/sr0 | head -c 8237400064 | md5sum
50ab1d0cba4c1cedb61a6f22f55e75b7  -

At least this gave me matches with the first two burned DVDs, so I
suppose that this is the way to go (or did I miss something more
obvious?). Unfortunately there is apparently no way to control the reading
speed here, so maybe one should be careful with these Pioneer drives :)

I could not find any way to verify the success after burning
audio-CDs though, except of course of carefully listening (the first one
burned with the new drive seems to sound ok at first glance, I haven't
found the time and leisure yet to listen attentively to 75 min. of
weird Japanese jazz-music though :)
So, does anyone know about a way to verify the integrity of burned
audio-CDs?

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

No one can guarantee the actions of another.
-- Spock, "Day of the Dove", stardate unknown

Re: Fatal error while burning CD

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:44:58 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> > But maybe this is to be expected when cdrskin runs with the
> > modesty_on_drive=... option?
> 
> Yes. That option causes frequent inquiry of the drive's buffer status.
> At the time of above READ BUFFER CAPACITY command the free buffer
> capacity was 0x041000 = 266240 bytes. That's about 77.5 percent fill of
> the 0x12 = 1,179,648 buffer bytes.
> 
> So the buffer really does not get filled completely. In the log which
> you sent me, the error ocured after 28.8 seconds of libburn run time.
> At the time of above command, libburn was running for 26.803073 seconds.
> (What number is to see in the microsecond timestamp []-brackets of the
> failed WRITE(10) command ? Is it around 28 million ?)

looking through my collection of log files these timestamps range from
[ 25381890 ] to [ 29665146 ], with or without modesty_on_drive=... does
not seem to make much of a difference. Maybe the time it takes for the
drive to become ready after closing the tray can account for this 4
seconds.

> 
> 
> So it looks more like the actual burn start brings the drive firmware to
> reporting its self-invented (or "vendor specific") error code.
> I would next point to the power supply situation, if it was an external
> drive which gets its power via the USB cable. In that case the theory
> would be that the laser beam uses too much electricty so that the
> firmware processor gets a hick-up.

It's an internal drive, so the power supply seems to me like an unlikely
candidate.

> 
> But as it appears now, the drive is just mad and unreliable.
> I'm crossing fingers that your next one will have a long and happy life.

Thanks :-)
And maybe the firmware programmers of the next drive were less
creative :-)

If someone here can report about experience (good or bad) with specific
make and models (still not sure whether the next drive will be a DVD- or
BD-writer), it would be welcome...

Thanks again, and have a nice day :)

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

When dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel,
building, creating; you even forget how to repair the machines left
behind by your ancestors.  You just sit living and reliving other lives
left behind in the thought records.
-- Vina, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), stardate unknown

Re: Fatal error while burning CD

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:18:08 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> i got an SCSI log of a failed burn run from Michael Lange.
> 
> No artsy dance between drive and libburn is to see, which could explain
> a misunderstanding between both.
> The drive buffer becomes full, after 17 seconds some few sectors seem to
> have been actually written, and then the second next WRITE(10) fails
> with the "illegal request" error.
> Its data would not fit into the buffer, but the drive does not wait
> until there is room.
> 
> So it has something to do with a full drive buffer.
> 
> -
> 
> cdrskin can avoid to fill the buffer by an old workaround from the bad
> old days of parallel ATA controllers when the CD burner blocked the
> hard disk on the same controller while a WRITE(10) was waiting for
> buffer space in the burner.
> 
> I wonder whether this workaround can avoid the drive's error reply.
> 
> If you are curious enough, add to your cdrskin runs this non-cdrecord
> option
> 
>modesty_on_drive=1:min_percent=75:max_percent=80

burning failed with this option, too (two out of three runs).
Both of these failures seemed to occur at the same stage of the process
with the message

cdrskin: FATAL : SCSI error on write(299,13): See MMC \
specs: Sense Key 5 "Illegal request", ASC A8 ASCQ 04.

I think this means that it failed even a bit earlier than without this
option when it was "SCSI error on write(442,13)"?

Before it fails there is a real lot of log entries (about 3000 lines) like

READ BUFFER CAPACITY
5c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0c 00 
>From drive: 12b
00 0a 00 00 00 12 00 00 00 04 10 00 
  342 us [ 26803073 ]

But maybe this is to be expected when cdrskin runs with the
modesty_on_drive=... option?


Best regards

Michael

Re: Fatal error while burning CD

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 24 Jun 2021 09:19:43 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> > $ cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -minfo 2>&1 | tee -i /tmp/cdrskin_minfo
> > ...
> > Vendor_info: 'PLEXTOR'
> > Identifikation : 'DVDR PX-810SA'
> > Revision   : '1.01'
> 
> According to Google this drive iseems to have appeared around 2006.
> How old is yours ?

I'm not sure, but it's certainly not much younger.

> 
> 
> > Maybe I should add that this or similar errors (I at least
> > clearly remember the "Sense key 5") occured with cdrdao with
> > blanks of different manufacturers.
> 
> I'd expect cdrdao to act deterministically, too.
> 
> 
> > Once I tried to let cdrdao just finish
> > without interrupting it and to my utter surprise it produced a CD that
> > when inserted into the CD-player was recognized and reported with the
> > expected track count and duration.
> 
> Looks like the table-of-content was sucessfully written. With SAO this
> happens before data writing begins.
> 
> 
> So yes, you should consider to get a new drive.

I thought so, maybe the drive is just dying slowly.

> DVD drives are cheap nowadays. Last time i got one, i had to send it
> back because of being unreliable with reading what it wrote. The
> replacement works well. (I suspect that the bad one was sent to the
> next customer. Nobody was interested in my problem report.)

:-)

> 
> Personally, i'd rather get a BD drive for about 5 times the price.
> But if you are mainly into audio CD burning, this would be overdone.
> In any case, test it with all your intended use cases, as soon as it
> arrives.

I've been thinking about buying a BD device, not sure about it yet (maybe
I'll throw a coin :) 
Testing the new drive thoroughly immediately after buying definitely
sounds like good advice.

Thanks again for the help, and have a nice day :-)

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Oh, that sound of male ego.  You travel halfway across the galaxy and
it's still the same song.
-- Eve McHuron, "Mudd's Women", stardate 1330.1

Re: Fatal error while burning CD

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

thanks for the quick responese!

On Wed, 23 Jun 2021 20:58:17 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > cdrskin: FATAL : SCSI error on write(442,13): See MMC specs: Sense Key
> > 5 "Illegal request", ASC A8 ASCQ 04
> 
> The hex number triple (5, A8, 04) is the reply of the drive to command
> WRITE(10) after 34 such commands succeeded. (34 = 442 / 13. 13 is the
> smallest multiple of 2352 bytes below 32 KiB.)
> 
> ASC A8 is not in the list of MMC errors. Actually there is none above
> 73. Insofar your drive's firmware is creative.

Ok, that explains why I couldn't find it anywhere :-)

> The sense key 5 means that the drive accuses the burn program of doing
> it wrong.
> 
> What were your exact cdrskin arguments ?
> Inhowfar do they differ from those of the previously successful run ?

The exact command was (without slashes and line breaks of course):

cdrskin -v -dummy -eject dev=/dev/sr0 -sao speed=10 '04 Pujeva.wav' \
sao_pregap=75 '05 New Pulse.wav' sao_pregap=225 '07 Rocket \
Keronian.wav' '10 Dodo.wav'

I repeated the exact same command immediately afterwards with the same
disc, and the second time it finished without errors.

> 
> 
> What does this run report about cdrskin and your drive when a blank
> CD-R[W] is inserted:
> 
>   cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -minfo 2>&1 | tee -i /tmp/cdrskin_minfo

Ok, I inserted a blank disc from the same package as the one I had the
error with and got this:

$ cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -minfo 2>&1 | tee -i /tmp/cdrskin_minfo
cdrskin 1.5.0 : limited cdrecord compatibility wrapper for libburn
cdrskin: NOTE : greying out all drives besides given dev='/dev/sr0'
cdrskin: scanning for devices ...
cdrskin: ... scanning for devices done
scsidev: '/dev/sr0'
cdrskin: pseudo-atip on drive 0
cdrskin: status 1 burn_disc_blank "The drive holds a blank disc"
Device type: Removable CD-ROM
Vendor_info: 'PLEXTOR'
Identifikation : 'DVDR PX-810SA'
Revision   : '1.01'
Driver flags   : BURNFREE
Supported modes: TAO SAO
cdrskin: burn_drive_get_write_speed = 5645  (32.0x)
ATIP info from disk:
  Is not erasable
  ATIP start of lead in:  -12508 (97:15/17)
  ATIP start of lead out: 359845 (79:59/70)
  1T speed low:  4 1T speed high: 32
Product Id:97m15s17f/79m59s70f
Producer:  Ritek Corp

Mounted media class:  CD
Mounted media type:   CD-R
Disk Is not erasable
disk status:  empty
session status:   empty
first track:  1
number of sessions:   1
first track in last sess: 1
last track in last sess:  1
Disk Is not unrestricted
Disk type: undefined

Track  Sess Type   Start Addr End Addr   Size
==
1 1 Blank  0  359842 359843

Next writable address:  0 
Remaining writable size:359843


> 
> The line
>   Drive id   : '...'
> will contain the serial number of your drive. It is of no interest for
> our case, so you may delete it before posting the output of about 40
> lines.
> 
> If your cdrskin version is 1.5.0, can you confirm that you have
> installed cdrskin_1.5.0-1+deb10u1 of 2019 and not the older 1.5.0-1 of
> 2018 ?

Yes, 1.5.0-1+deb10u1 is installed.

Maybe I should add that this or similar errors (I at least
clearly remember the "Sense key 5") occured with cdrdao with
blanks of different manufacturers. Once I tried to let cdrdao just finish
without interrupting it and to my utter surprise it produced a CD that
when inserted into the CD-player was recognized and reported with the
expected track count and duration. I was even able to start playback,
only that instead of music some real nasty constant noise came through
the speakers :)

Thanks, and best regards

Michael



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Vulcans never bluff.
-- Spock, "The Doomsday Machine", stardate 4202.1

Fatal error while burning CD

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

I have recently been encountering errors while trying to burn CDDA discs;
I had previously used cdrdao for ages for this task, which (at least it
looks like that to me) hasn't really been maintained for well over 10
years, so I thought it *might* be a software bug with cdrdao.

Too bad, now I got a similar looking error from cdrskin:

1.1x.cdrskin: FATAL : SCSI error on write(442,13): See MMC specs: Sense Key 5 
"Illegal request", ASC A8 ASCQ 04

I couldn't find anything enlightening about this in the web. 
Does anyone know, if this error points in a specific direction
(drive? cable? media?) or if it is rather unspecific and I will have to 
go by try-and-error?

Thanks in advance

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Power is danger.
-- The Centurion, "Balance of Terror", stardate 1709.2

Re: cdrskin: burn cdda with cue sheet file

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 23 Jun 2021 19:05:45 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > cdrskin -v -dummy -eject dev=/dev/sr0 -sao speed=10 track1.wav \
> > sao_pregap=75 track2wav sao_pregap=225 track3.wav track4.wav
> >
> > Is my assumption correct that this will add a 1-second pregap before
> > track2 and a 3-second pregap before track3 and no pregap before
> > track4?
> 
> I hope so. :))
> This stuff was implemented and tested in 2012. But there was few
> feedback from users since then. Bit rot is always a risk in such
> situations. (Last was in 2019 and caused libburn 1.5.0-1+deb10u1.)
> 
> You will have to invest a real medium (CD-RW would avoid plastic waste)
> and then check with the actual CD players whether the options fulfilled
> your expectations.

thanks, according to my CD-player apparently you did a good job, the
pregaps seem to be just like they should :-)

Alas, I just encountered another problem, which does not belong
into this thread though (I am afraid I might finally have to buy me a new
drive :)

Thanks again, and best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on.
-- Kirk, "A Taste of Armageddon", stardate 3193.9

Re: cdrskin: burn cdda with cue sheet file

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:26:46 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > > https://web.archive.org/web/20151223114027/http://digitalx.org/cue-sheet/
> > > cdrskin: FAILURE : In cue sheet file: Multiple occurrences of FILE
> 
> Reco wrote:
> > cdrskin(1) says:
> > a *single file* which is given in the sheet by command FILE.
> 
> Indeed. cdrskin expects a single FILE command in the CUE file.
> That's how i have read the CDRWIN CUE descriptions years ago.

> The above web page about cue-sheet says
>   "FILE commands must appear before any other command except CATALOG.
>This rule contradicts the examples on this site: Note"

thanks for pointing this out, looks like I should have read more
carefully.

(...)
> 
> The case of a 1:1 relation between input files and tracks is served by
> the cdrecord-ish style of submitting multiple track sources and the
> non-cdrecord option input_sheet_v07t=.
> See the man page of cdrskin for input_sheet_v07t= and the example
>   Write audio tracks and CD-TEXT to CD:

Actually I had thought about that first, but wasn't able to find a way to
add pregaps to the audio tracks, should I wish to do so.
Now looking again I saw the sao_pregap command which might do exactly
that (I'm not 100 per cent sure about its usage, though). I tried a dummy
run with the following command:

cdrskin -v -dummy -eject dev=/dev/sr0 -sao speed=10 track1.wav \
sao_pregap=75 track2wav sao_pregap=225 track3.wav track4.wav

Is my assumption correct that this will add a 1-second pregap before
track2 and a 3-second pregap before track3 and no pregap before track4?
Or did I get that wrong?

> 
> Further there is an example at
>   https://sources.debian.org/src/libburn/1.5.2-1/doc/cdtext.txt/#L600

Thanks, I'll look into that.

Best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You!  What PLANET is this!
-- McCoy, "The City on the Edge of Forever", stardate 3134.0

cdrskin: burn cdda with cue sheet file

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

I am trying to burn a bunch of WAV files onto an audio CD with cdrskin
using a cue-file. The only reference about how to create these files I
could find is at
https://web.archive.org/web/20151223114027/http://digitalx.org/cue-sheet/
where under "Examples" example no. 3 shows how to create a cue file with
multiple source files. So for testing I tried a cue file with the
following contents:

PERFORMER "Unbekannter Interpret"
TITLE "Unbekanntes Album"
FILE "/home/klappnase/Musik/Japan/Barbara/Barbarous Virginity/01 Can! Can! 
Can!.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
PERFORMER "Unbekannter Interpret"
TITLE "01 Can! Can! Can!"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "/home/klappnase/Musik/Japan/Barbara/Barbarous Virginity/02 Life in 
Heaven.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
PERFORMER "Unbekannter Interpret"
TITLE "02 Life in Heaven"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "/home/klappnase/Musik/Japan/Barbara/Barbarous Virginity/03 Dest.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
PERFORMER "Unbekannter Interpret"
TITLE "03 Dest"
INDEX 01 00:00:00

According to that digitalx.org page this looks "legal" to me, however
it does not work, instead I get the following eror:

cdrskin: FAILURE : In cue sheet file: Multiple occurrences of FILE

So my question is:
is there any reference how to set up a cue sheet for cdrskin that shows
how it should be done, or is this simply not possible using a cuefile?

Thanks in advance, and best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Our missions are peaceful -- not for conquest.  When we do battle, it
is only because we have no choice.
-- Kirk, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5

Re: [Off topic] videos of german state TV, was Re: HTML syntax.

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 05 May 2021 09:51:59 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> The reason for not eternally offering videos for download is in the
> legal framework of german state TV. (In german:
> "Rundfunkstaatsvertrag", now "Medienstaatsvertrag".)
> 
> State run TV collects mandatory fees from all households for the purpose
> of broadcasting radio and TV. When the internet became important for
> publishing, the private german newspaper publishers and TV stations
> objected that the state run TV used those fees for financing a strong
> web appearance. The compromise, which is now law, was the rule that
> videos and audio are publicly available only for a limited time.
>   
> https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96ffentlich-rechtlicher_Rundfunk#Engagement_im_Internet
>   https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depublizieren
> 

I know, but that does not really explain why they bother to block
third-party uploads on yt, there are lots of material there hwre they
apparently don't care, like these two quickly collected examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhGC1O0gZNI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnH10TfhkOQ

> We had cases of self-censoring which led to depublication. I remember
> the song "Meine Oma ist 'ne alte Umweltsau" (= "My granny is an old
> environmental hog"), sung by a children choir and produced by TV station
> WDR in 2019. That video was retracted after conservative politicians
> complained about the insult towards their main voter group.
>   https://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/wdr-umweltsau-kinderchor-satire-1.4738637

Yeah, I remember that one, and particularly its aftermath; is there an
English word for "Realsatire"? Priceless! :-)

Still seems to be available on yt, though.

> 
> But i really do not see any such censoring with the video about
> environmental problems with electrical cars. It was aired and then
> available for two months. Business as good or bad as ever.

Sure, I agree about that. For some reason they care enough to make yt
block the video for Germany, but that has nothing to do with
"censorship". It think it might even be possible that they found enough
factual errors in the film that they prefer to withdraw it.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Vulcans never bluff.
-- Spock, "The Doomsday Machine", stardate 4202.1

Re: [Off topic] videos of german state TV, was Re: HTML syntax.

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 05 May 2021 09:16:55 +0200
deloptes  wrote:

> Michael Lange wrote:
> 
> > now I got curious too.
> > Oddly, it seems like the German public TV station ZDF blocked the
> > video for Germany due to "intellectual property rights" which are not
> > explained any further. Maybe the real copyright holders still hope to
> > earn money by somehow selling their documentary to the audience.
> 
> You are saying you can not open the link (may be better to say watch the
> video) in Germany?!
> But this is not ZDF video - it is ARTE documentary. 
> Please share information. I am sitting in Austria and I can watch and I
> am downloading right now.
> 

as I said, it is blocked in Germany, and according to what yt says it
looks like ZDF holds copyrights for Germany.
My guess is that the film was produced by some third party and the German
copyrights were purchased by ZDF and then passed on to Arte (it is not
unusual that ZDF produced material is actually shown on Arte, there is
obviously some sort of cooperation between those two). Maybe it was even
some sort of international co-production. Personally I don't care enough
to further investigate, you can certainly see the details during the
closing credits.
But all this is really far off-topic here, so i guess this discussion
should better come to an end.
I hope you enjoy the film!

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

There is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder.
-- Spock, "A Taste of Armageddon", stardate 3193.9

Re: [Off topic] videos of german state TV, was Re: HTML syntax.

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 5 May 2021 01:06:30 +0200 (CEST)
Felmon Davis  wrote:

> On Tue, 4 May 2021, deloptes wrote:
> 
> > Felmon Davis wrote:
> >
> >> you can view it on youtube (if that's compliant with your principles)
> >> at 
> >
> > this is exactly the problem - the original video is not there, but
> > the one where someone comments on the video is there
> 
> I got intrigued (and again apologies for my error!) and weird but I 
> found it here: .
> 
> I'm pretty sure it's the right video but check.
> 
> also I wonder if the link will work for you.

now I got curious too. 
Oddly, it seems like the German public TV station ZDF blocked the video
for Germany due to "intellectual property rights" which are not explained
any further. Maybe the real copyright holders still hope to earn money by
somehow selling their documentary to the audience.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Suffocating together ... would create heroic camaraderie.
-- Khan Noonian Singh, "Space Seed", stardate 3142.8

Re: Trying to debug alsa xruns

[Michael Lange]

On Sun, 2 May 2021 17:09:25 +0200
Michael Lange  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I have been experiencing audio xruns when playing back audio or video
> files for a while now and thought I might try to get some debugging
> information to find out what's wrong (hardware fault? driver bug?
> something else?).

(...)

Ok, I now compiled a vanilla kernel with the suggested debug flags
enabled. As suggested I tried

# echo 29 > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/xrun_debug

This gives me a lot of messages like this:

[ 1794.582338] ALSA: PCM: [P] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=13200, delta=2908, 
period=1024, jdelta=5/15/0, hw_ptr=403508/403508)
[ 1794.582364] ALSA: PCM: [P] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=13200, delta=2908, 
period=1024, jdelta=0/15/0, hw_ptr=403508/403508)
[ 1794.584655] ALSA: PCM: [Q] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=13312, delta=3020, 
period=1024, jdelta=1/15/0, hw_ptr=403508/403508)
[ 1794.602498] ALSA: PCM: [P] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=14168, delta=3876, 
period=1024, jdelta=4/20/0, hw_ptr=403508/403508)
[ 1807.107315] snd_pcm_update_hw_ptr0: 39 callbacks suppressed
[ 1807.107326] ALSA: PCM: [P] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=7168, delta=15364, 
period=1024, jdelta=0/80/0, hw_ptr=991228/991228)
[ 1812.952627] ALSA: PCM: [P] hw_ptr skipping: (pos=11260, delta=1088, 
period=1024, jdelta=1/5/0, hw_ptr=1271740/1271740)

After

# echo 3 > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/xrun_debug

the messages become a little more verbose:

[  323.778213] ALSA: PCM: [Q] Lost interrupts?: (stream=0, delta=15364, 
new_hw_ptr=487424, old_hw_ptr=472060)
[  323.778232] CPU: 1 PID: 1926 Comm: mpv Tainted: GE 
5.12.1-debugalsa #1
[  323.778243] Hardware name: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. 
GA-MA78LMT-S2/GA-MA78LMT-S2, BIOS F14 08/16/2011
[  323.778248] Call Trace:
[  323.778255]  
[  323.778261]  dump_stack+0x76/0x94
[  323.778283]  snd_pcm_update_hw_ptr0.cold.34+0x42/0xf8 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778328]  ? check_preempt_curr+0x3f/0x70
[  323.778342]  snd_pcm_period_elapsed+0x75/0xb0 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778379]  snd_fm801_interrupt+0xac/0x16a [snd_fm801]
[  323.778393]  __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x42/0x160
[  323.778405]  handle_irq_event_percpu+0x30/0x80
[  323.778414]  handle_irq_event+0x3c/0x60
[  323.778423]  handle_fasteoi_irq+0xa3/0x160
[  323.778431]  __common_interrupt+0x41/0xa0
[  323.778442]  common_interrupt+0x7a/0xa0
[  323.778451]  
[  323.778455]  asm_common_interrupt+0x1e/0x40
[  323.778463] RIP: 0010:snd_pcm_stream_unlock_irq+0x32/0x40 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778498] Code: 80 b8 71 07 00 00 00 74 0c 48 81 c7 f8 00 00 00 e9 83 b3 
21 cd 48 81 c7 f0 00 00 00 c6 07 00 0f 1f 40 00 fb 66 0f 1f 44 00 00  66 66 
2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 55 89 f5
[  323.778505] RSP: 0018:b08801dffe20 EFLAGS: 0286
[  323.778514] RAX: 9fe687db6800 RBX: 9fe6816b0c00 RCX: 
[  323.778520] RDX: 0001 RSI: 0046 RDI: 9fe6816b0cf0
[  323.778525] RBP:  R08:  R09: 9fe58fbb9908
[  323.778530] R10:  R11: 0001171c R12: 
[  323.778534] R13: 9fe6816b0c00 R14: 9fe58fa63f00 R15: 
[  323.778545]  snd_pcm_hwsync+0x21/0x30 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778578]  snd_pcm_common_ioctl+0x76b/0xe40 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778615]  snd_pcm_ioctl+0x23/0x30 [snd_pcm]
[  323.778646]  __x64_sys_ioctl+0x84/0xc0
[  323.778656]  do_syscall_64+0x33/0x80
[  323.778665]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
[  323.778675] RIP: 0033:0x7f8d5c1f7427
[  323.778683] Code: 00 00 90 48 8b 05 69 aa 0c 00 64 c7 00 26 00 00 00 48 c7 
c0 ff ff ff ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 b8 10 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 
f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 8b 0d 39 aa 0c 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48
[  323.778690] RSP: 002b:7ffe614bda78 EFLAGS: 0246 ORIG_RAX: 
0010
[  323.778698] RAX: ffda RBX:  RCX: 7f8d5c1f7427
[  323.778702] RDX:  RSI: 4122 RDI: 0012
[  323.778707] RBP: 55e1659a44b0 R08: 55e1659a4480 R09: 00013812
[  323.778711] R10: 00013812 R11: 0246 R12: 55e165966ec0
[  323.778716] R13: 55e1659a42b0 R14: 0001 R15: 55e16596a060


Does anyone have a clue what can possibly cause this?

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Conquest is easy. Control is not.
-- Kirk, "Mirror, Mirror", stardate unknown

Trying to debug alsa xruns

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

I have been experiencing audio xruns when playing back audio or video
files for a while now and thought I might try to get some debugging
information to find out what's wrong (hardware fault? driver bug?
something else?).
According to https://www.alsa-project.org/wiki/XRUN_Debug this requires a
kernel with debug symbols enabled, so I installed the
linux-image-4.19.0-16-amd64-dbg package. However this just installs what
looks like a complete kernel into /usr/lib/debug . I was not able to find
any useful information about what to do with this, currently it seems to
only use up disk space.
Maybe someone can help me out here?

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

We fight only when there is no other choice.  We prefer the ways of
peaceful contact.
-- Kirk, "Spectre of the Gun", stardate 4385.3

Re: Google vs. DDG (was: Social-media antipathy)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 2 May 2021 14:29:06 +0200
 wrote:

(...)
> If you set your browser's primary "web page" language it works,
> too. That's probably what goes into the "Accept-Language" HTTP
> request header. Would be nice if there were a way to set that
> per-request...

when I just try to search for "language:en stieglitz" (without the
quotes) I get search results only in English (first Alfred Stieglitz, next
Victoria Stieglitz, followed by more of Alfred). The same happens when I
prefix my search with language:fr instead, all French search results. It
almost seems to me like this is an undocumented feature, at least it is
not mentioned at
https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Do you know the one -- "All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer
her by ..."  You could feel the wind at your back, about you ...  the
sounds of the sea beneath you.  And even if you take away the wind and
the water, it's still the same.  The ship is yours ... you can feel her
... and the stars are still there.
-- Kirk, "The Ultimate Computer", stardate 4729.4

Re: Google vs. DDG (was: Social-media antipathy)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 02 May 2021 12:57:59 +0200
deloptes  wrote:

(...)
> I'm sorry guys, but DDG is another joke. For example I wanted to know
> what is Stieglitz in German - it is kind of bird, but I wanted to know
> how it looks like. DDG results did not even come close to a bird.

this I cannot reproduce here. Searching for "Stieglitz" DDG shows me as
the first result https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieglitz , followed by
other bird-related pages in German. Switching to DDG's image search I get
a whole page with photos of these cute beasts.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

... The things love can drive a man to -- the ecstasies, the
the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious
failures and the glorious victories.
-- McCoy, "Requiem for Methuselah", stardate 5843.7

Re: how to record sound to mp3 [wav, for those who can]

[Michael Lange]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2021 09:47:28 +0100
Michael Lange  wrote:

> Plus, I don't know how to switch the OSS capture
> device programmatically (if this is important for the OP's purpose).

uh, got it.

$ aumix -v R

sets "Vol" as capture device.

Regards
Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and
licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
-- Dr. Boyce, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), stardate
unknown

Re: how to record sound to mp3 [wav, for those who can]

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 26 Mar 2021 08:38:02 +0100
 wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 11:22:35PM +0100, Nicolas George wrote:
> > David Wright (12021-03-25):
> > > > > $ arecord -d 10 -f cd -v -v -v -D plughw:0,0 /tmp/audiofile.wav
> > > > This command does not record the sound being played.
> > > … on your machine.
> > 
> > On no machine, unless specifically configured, which is not trivial at
> > all.
> 
> No idea about pulse. For ALSA, there's alsaloop, which comes with a
> man page. Part of alsa-utils. No need of playing with cable loops.

another possibility: when the snd-mixer-oss module is loaded, (at least
here) when using the OSS mixer device there is a "Vol" control which
roughly appears to be the OSS equivalent to Alsa's "Master" control,
however the "Vol" control has an additional "Capture" switch. Now, when I
set "Vol" as capture device, the audio output will be used as input for
recording. Recording level can be adjusted with the "PCM" mixer control.
Of course, the presence of this "Vol" control may depend on the sound
card / driver in use.
Oddly, there seems to be no such easy way to achieve the same result with
alsamixer/amixer. Plus, I don't know how to switch the OSS capture device
programmatically (if this is important for the OP's purpose).

Regards
Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

I thought my people would grow tired of killing.  But you were right,
they see it is easier than trading.  And it has its pleasures.  I feel
it myself.  Like the hunt, but with richer rewards.
-- Apella, "A Private Little War", stardate 4211.8

Re: 'ddgr' cli for duckduckgo snafu?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 22 Feb 2021 13:21:30 -0500 (EST)
Bob Bernstein  wrote:

> I have v. 1.6 via apt-get on an uptodate buster amd64 system.
> 
> Every attempt to run a search yields "No results," even if I 
> specify 'Boston Red Sox'.
> 
> Recommendations? Calm soothing thoughts?
> 
> Thank you.

just download version 1.9 from

https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/all/ddgr/download

and install it with

# dpkg -i  ddgr_1.9-2_all.deb

Here this seems to fix the issue.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You humans have that emotional need to express gratitude.  "You're
welcome," I believe, is the correct response.
-- Spock, "Bread and Circuses", stardate 4041.2

Re: An old box running Debian 8

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 11 Nov 2020 23:36:07 -0300
riveravaldez  wrote:

> On 11/11/20, Felix Miata  wrote:
> > Charles Curley composed on 2020-11-11 13:43 (UTC-0700):
> >
> >> Also consider a lightweight desktop such as XFCE. But I would
> >> be surprised if that solution helped.
> >
> > Why do people keep claiming XFCE is a lightweight?
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrvJOXypAbk
> 
> A really good option in this field is IceWM. It has everything a typical
> user needs out-of-the-box and is extremely lightweight (and themeable).
> 

>From my own experience I agree about that.
Still, the tricky part will be to choose other gui programs that are
still usable with the OP's hardware. For example, if they need a gui text
editor, nedit may be light enough for such a machine (that is, if one can
live without proper unicode support) and maybe xfe may still be a usable
gui file manager for them. The display command provides probably a usable
image viewer.
Web browsers will be especially tricky.
If dillo is good enough it will probably behave more or less smoothly.
Using firefox would very likely be not much fun.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Madness has no purpose.  Or reason.  But it may have a goal.
-- Spock, "The Alternative Factor", stardate 3088.7

Re: aptitude safe-upgrade vs apt-get upgrade.

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:58:18 -0500
"R. Ramesh"  wrote:

(...)

> I have these exact lines in my sources.list also. I thought we have 
> backports so that we can get the newer version of packages. For
> example, buster multimedia has mythtv 0.30 and backports has mythtv
> 0.31 (the last time I checked). I have installed 0.31 in my system
> (using -t stable-backports, I think) as my frontend need to be
> compatible with backend that runs mythtv 0.31 (on xubuntu 20.04). In
> that case, would the above pinning rule prevent proper upgrade as it
> puts backports at a lower priority? (I assume that is what your pinning
> rules imply unless priorities are increased with lower numerical value)
> 
> In other words, should I stick to aptitude's decision?
> 
> Why priority 331 and 332? Why not some other two with same
> relationship? Sorry, if I asked a simple question. I will be more than
> happy to read documentation, if I will find it there.


these values are somewhat arbitraryly chosen. The point is that they
have to be values smaller than 500 and greater than 100 and that the
value for the deb-multimedia backports needs to be smaller than that of
the regular deb-multimedia repo.

This is because 500 is the default priority of any repo defined in
sources.list; if two or more packages from different repos share this
same priority, the package with the newest version number will be
installed; usually when using stable with deb-multimedia this is the
deb-multimedia (backports) package. If priorities differ, the package with
the highest priority will be installed, unless the lower priority package
is explicitely requested by the user.

So, if you don't pin down the priority of deb-multimedia, virtually every
audio- and video-related package on your system will be replaced with the
deb-multimedia version, which for the sake of stability is very likely a
bad idea. 
So it is safer to lower the priority of deb-multimedia and that of
deb-multimedia backports even a bit more, so that the official debian
packages remain the default, deb-multimedia packages the first
alternative if you actually want/need a newer version or a version with
some extra features and deb-multimedia backports the last choice if you
really, really need that version.

But please beware: blindly installing too many of these can easily mess
with apt's dependencies and cause nasty situations ("dependency hell")

> In other words, should I stick to aptitude's decision?

I really recommend to do the pinning first, then re-run

$ apt update

and then look again what is suggested when you call apt-get upgrade or
aptitude safe-upgrade.
I have a hunch that probably there won't be much to upgrade anymore.

And as someone else pointed out, apt-get upgrade will not always install
the latest kernel and possibly other things you would want to keep up to
date, so you might wnat to consider to just use apt-get dist-upgrade
instead, which in my experience with a properly configured debian stable
system should not cause any problems.


Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You're too beautiful to ignore.  Too much woman.
-- Kirk to Yeoman Rand, "The Enemy Within", stardate
unknown

Re: aptitude safe-upgrade vs apt-get upgrade.

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 25 Oct 2020 17:53:16 -0500
"R. Ramesh"  wrote:

(...)

> Nothing fancy. Installed debian 10 from USB and added multi-media and 
> installed mythfrontend. That is all I have done.
> This is a NUC Pentium (N3700) box and not fancy at all.  Here is my
> kernel

(...)

> My apt-get/aptitude output showed clear differences between the two.
> So, I am not convinced about your claim that they should do the same
> thing on a stable release unless stable release itself was broken when 
> installing with debian-10.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso.

it looks like what happens here is that the upgrade would replace
installed versions of multimedia related packages from buster with those
from deb-multimedia. Obviously apt-get and aptitude do not agree how to
handle this situation. Installing those packages requires obviously to
replace for example libcdio18 with libcdio19, which apt-get won't do with
the "apt-get upgrade" command.
I believe that most likely the root of the problem is, that no
apt-pinning rule is defined for the deb-multimedia repo.

To resolve this, you might consider to create a file
like e.g. /etc/apt/preferences.d/multimedia .

Here the content of that file looks like:

Package: *
Pin: release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,n=buster
Pin-Priority: 332

Package: *
Pin: release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,n=buster-backports
Pin-Priority: 331

with the respective entries in my sources.list:

deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org buster main non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org buster-backports main non-free

This should ensure that no such "accidental" upgrades will occur.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Lots of people drink from the wrong bottle sometimes.
-- Edith Keeler, "The City on the Edge of Forever",
   stardate unknown

Re: How do I blacklist a package?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 12 Oct 2020 18:29:14 -0400
Stefan Monnier  wrote:

> > In /etc/apt/preferences.d/, create no-sse2-support:
> >
> > # never install this package, ever
> > Package: sse2-support
> > Pin: release *
> > Pin-Priority: -1
> 
> Thanks, it seems to be working.
> 
> It's a bit annoying that the resulting constraints aren't easily visible
> (e.g. APT just keep searching or tells you "no solution" but doesn't
> tell you that FOO can't be installed because it depends on BAR which
> depends on BAZ which depends on `sse2-support`), but it's better
> than nothing.

I am not 100% sure, but I think calling

 apt-mark hold sse2-support

while the package is not installed should prevent the package from being
installed, too, and I think this might be better regarding "visibility".

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Totally illogical, there was no chance.
-- Spock, "The Galileo Seven", stardate 2822.3

Re: Bug #961990

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 19 Jul 2020 18:47:37 -0400
The Wanderer  wrote:

> Looking at it, I don't see anything which strikes me as qualifying as
> buggy. Can you clarify what about it you see as being a misbehavior
> problem?
> 
(...)
> It appears that the software previously provided in libgcc1 is now being
> provided, in a newer version, in libgcc-s1.

not sure if I am missing something here, but from the things I read in
this thread this strikes me as a situation that is crying for a
transitional meta-package "libgcc1" which would remove the old libgcc1,
pull in libgcc1-s1 and thus leave dependencies intact.

Just a thought, though.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

There's coffee in that nebula!
-- Capt. Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager, "The Cloud"

Re: what calculator do you use?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 13 Jul 2020 15:31:10 +0800
kaye n  wrote:

> Hello Friends,
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any calculator app in my
> Debian os. What do you guys use? I'm having trouble with Galculator.
> Thank you!

if you want a simple gui calculator you might try xcalc from the package
x11-apps.

Regards

Michael



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

The joys of love made her human and the agonies of love destroyed her.
-- Spock, "Requiem for Methuselah", stardate 5842.8

Re: Changing timestamps in video files

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 19 May 2020 09:16:44 +0200
"Steve Keller"  wrote:

(...)
> I want to change the timestamps internal to video files like .avi and
> .mov, e.g. when I have taken a video with my Canon Ixus or Canon
> Powershot camera while the clock was set to a wrong time after DST
> change.  For pictures I can change the EXIF data in .jpg files with
> the command-line tool jhead.
> 
> For video files there are obviously similar timestamps in the files:
> A file from my Canon Ixus:
> $ strings -a  ixus-.avi | grep 2015
> MON AUG 17 15:50:11 2015
> 
> A file from my Canon Powershot:
> $ strings -a  powershot-.mov | grep 2019
> 2019:07:25 18:58:49
> 2019:07:25 18:58:49
> 2019:07:25 18:58:49
> 
> I couldn't find any good info about these file formats and the
> timestamps in them and the meaning of the three timestamps in .mov
> files.  Some of my .mov files have even more than 3 timestamps in
> them.
> 
> I could change the strings in the files using an editor that supports
> binary files or write a small program to do it.  But I don't know if
> that would corrupt the files, e.g. because of CRC for some header, or
> if there are further non-ASCII timestamps that strings(1) wouldn't
> find.  Therefore my question if there's a tool to do it.

according to

 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40354172/change-avi-creation-date-with-ffmpeg

ffmpeg seems to be able to do this, however as it seems only by
reencoding the video, which is probably not what are you looking for?

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

When dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel,
building, creating; you even forget how to repair the machines left
behind by your ancestors.  You just sit living and reliving other lives
left behind in the thought records.
-- Vina, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), stardate unknown

Re: apt-mark hold issue (apt Installed: 1.8.2 armhf)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 12:57:12 -0400
The Wanderer  wrote:

> Does holding a package to not-installed even work? I thought I'd tried
> that in the past, and had the result be ignored.

not sure about that, man apt-mark says

" hold is used to mark a package as held back, which will prevent the
package from being automatically installed, upgraded or removed."

But it might make sense that this will keep only packages that are
recommended from being installed, not those that are dependencies.
Maybe "depends" just takes precedence over "hold" when the user gives
apt instructions that basically are contradictory.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

On my planet, to rest is to rest -- to cease using energy.  To me, it
is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass, using energy,
instead of saving it.
-- Spock, "Shore Leave", stardate 3025.2

Re: apt-mark hold issue (apt Installed: 1.8.2 armhf)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:25:18 +0200
Sven Hartge  wrote:

> Michael Howard  wrote:
> 
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark hold sudo sudo-ldap
> > sudo set on hold.
> > sudo-ldap set on hold.
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark showhold
> > bash
> > dash
> > sudo
> > sudo-ldap
> 
> > Still good, but then,
> 
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark hold xterm
> > xterm set on hold.
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark showhold
> > bash
> > dash
> > xterm
> > root@bamford:/etc#
> 
> > Is that expected?
> 
> *That* I can reproduce. Interesting.
> 
> No, that is not intended. 
> 
> This looks like https://bugs.debian.org/892632 "apt: "apt-mark hold"
> changes state of unrelated packages" to me.

that's what I thought.

I tried some more, and here the same command sequence leads to a slightly
different result:

# apt-mark showhold
# apt-mark hold bash dash sudo sudo-ldap
bash auf Halten gesetzt.
dash auf Halten gesetzt.
sudo auf Halten gesetzt.
sudo-ldap auf Halten gesetzt.
# apt-mark showhold
bash
dash
sudo
sudo-ldap
# apt-mark hold xterm
xterm auf Halten gesetzt.
# apt-mark showhold
bash
dash
sudo
xterm
#

But then, I noticed that  sudo-ldap is not actually installed here, and in
fact it appears to conflict with sudo so apparently both cannot coexist.

So maybe the basic problem here is that we are trying to make apt do
things that really don't make any sense?

Regards
Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Killing is stupid; useless!
-- McCoy, "A Private Little War", stardate 4211.8

Re: apt-mark hold issue (apt Installed: 1.8.2 armhf)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 18 Apr 2020 21:43:09 +0100
Michael Howard  wrote:

> On 18/04/2020 21:34, Michael Howard wrote:
> > On 18/04/2020 21:02, Sven Hartge wrote:
(...)
> > Still good, but then,
> >
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark hold xterm
> > xterm set on hold.
> > root@bamford:/etc# apt-mark showhold
> > bash
> > dash
> > xterm
> > root@bamford:/etc#
> >
> > Is that expected?
> 
> Same on stretch.

maybe this is the same as:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=892632
?

Regards
Michael



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Four thousand throats may be cut in one night by a running man.
-- Klingon Soldier, "Day of the Dove", stardate unknown

Re: how to save video on web page

[Michael Lange]

On Tue, 7 Apr 2020 12:28:39 +0200
Michael Lange  wrote:


> > Use upstream.
> > 
> 
> or just use backports.

oops, sorry, that had to be "use deb-multimedia", that's where the current
version here actually comes from.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

We do not colonize.  We conquer.  We rule.  There is no other way for us.
-- Rojan, "By Any Other Name", stardate 4657.5

Re: how to save video on web page

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 6 Apr 2020 18:20:20 -0400
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 06, 2020 at 02:51:06PM -0700, Ihor Antonov wrote:
> > On Monday, April 6, 2020 2:37:20 PM PDT Long Wind wrote:
> > > i have stretch and want to save video on web
> > > page:https://cl7v.com/html/14071/which tool shall i install? Thanks!
> > 
> > I usually use youtube-dl
> > 
> > https://packages.debian.org/search?
> > suite=all=all=any=names=youtube-dl[1] 
> > 
> > Official upstream site:
> > https://youtube-dl.org/[2] 
> 
> It's worth pointing out that the Debian packages of youtube-dl have a
> problem: they're stable.  Youtube is not.  You need a continually
> mutating package to retrieve content from Youtube, and Debian's stable
> releases can't provide that.
> 
> Use upstream.
> 

or just use backports.

Regards
Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

... The prejudices people feel about each other disappear when they get
to know each other.
-- Kirk, "Elaan of Troyius", stardate 4372.5

Re: OT: Crisis food. Was: non function firefox

[Michael Lange]

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:12:51 +0100
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Each country has its own crisis preparation food.
> 
> According to the state of our supermarket shelves, the german dish is
> noodles with toilet paper.
>   
> https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9BoH6z1zw74/XmEpV37CDKI/4IQ/Z10kBR9ktSQTiMoG2V4HmyMnDYJtJ8sSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Corona-Rezepte.jpg

Good one! :D

Best regards
Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of
play.
-- Kirk, "Shore Leave", stardate 3025.8

Re: Poll about DVD drive behavior

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 16 Jan 2020 22:51:10 +0100
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Mark Rousell wrote:
> > TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB SB01: Does NOT pull in.
> 
> This kills the emerging urban legend of The Curse Of The 24.
> 
> The firmware version is available since 2013.
> 
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > product: DVDR   PX-810SA
> 
> Announced in 2007.

probably bought in 2008, still working though :)

> 
> > product: CDDVDW SH-224DB
> > Both keep their trays open for at least 12 min.
> 
> Now i am unsure whether to count SH-224DB twice.
> 

You better don't, mine is version SB01, too :)

> 
> Have a nice day :)
> 
> Thomas
> 

I wish you a nice day, too

Michael



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of
play.
-- Kirk, "Shore Leave", stardate 3025.8

Re: Poll about DVD drive behavior

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 14 Jan 2020 16:23:05 +
Joe  wrote:

> On Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:22:53 +0100
> "Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:
> 
(...)
> > So my question to all owners of optical drives which have a motor to
> > pull in the tray:
> > Does the tray stay out for clearly more than 200 seconds ?
> > 
> > If you have a drive which pulls in on its own, please post its
> > producer and model id. (Obtain by burn program, or lshw, or by its
> > name in /dev/disk/by-id.)
> > 

lshw output:

description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVDR   PX-810SA
vendor: PLEXTOR

description: DVD-RAM writer
product: CDDVDW SH-224DB
vendor: TSSTcorp

Both keep their trays open for at least 12 min.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Insufficient facts always invite danger.
-- Spock, "Space Seed", stardate 3141.9

Re: help with installation?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 19 Dec 2019 20:13:42 +0800
kaye n  wrote:

> Hello, is this where I can ask for help?
> 
> I am not new to GNU/Linux, but I am new to Debian.  I actually don't
> know much despite being a Linux user for years, so here's a few
> questions before I start installing.
> 
> 1.  I want to install via Live USB.  I want a 64-bit debian.
> 
>  I am currently in the page:
>  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/bt-hybrid/
> 
>  1.1  Which of these should I use?  I want the most lightweight.
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-gnome.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-kde.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-lxde.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-lxqt.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-mate.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-standard.iso.torrent
>  debian-live-10.2.0-amd64-xfce.iso.torrent
> 

among these I think lxde and lxqt are the most lightweight choices.

>  1.2  I see above different names of desktop environment, but what
> is 'standard'?
>  (second to the last on the list)

Not sure about that, I always thought Gnome was debian's "standard".

> 
> 2.  After installing one of the above onto a desktop or laptop
> computer, it should already have a window manager, correct?

Yes (maybe with the exception of "standard", which I am not sure what
this is).

> 
>   2.1  Is IceWM lighter than the window manager that comes with any
> of the above?

It certainly is.

> 
>2.2  If answer to 2.1 is yes, can I install it?
> 

Yes, I have been using IceWM here for ages.

>2.3  Can I use IceWM alone? That is, cinnamon, gnome, kde, lxde,
> lxqt, mate, or xfce,
>uninstalled, or disabled, and only IceWM running.  I'm assuming
> here that IceWM can
>can be used independently, and does not need to run on top of a
> desktop environment.

Sure, after installing one of the above systems you can install IceWM,
make it your default desktop sesssion and remove the others. At some
point there may be situations though when trying to completely remove
some pre-installed packages will cause other things to be removed which
you actually want to keep. But certainly no one forces you to actually
use the default desktop of your installation medium.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

You're dead, Jim.
-- McCoy, "Amok Time", stardate 3372.7

Re: intel video

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:04:56 -0700
"D. R. Evans"  wrote:

(...)
> The chip is an E3-1245, which is supposed to be able to operate at
> 4096x2304 resolution.
> 
> Any suggestions as to what I might need to do to improve at least the
> logged-in resolution?
> 

just a guess: maybe some firmware file(s) from the nonfree firmware
package are missing? 

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable.
-- Spock, "The Enterprise Incident", stardate 5027.3

Re: Missing a "9" (possible font missing)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 21 Oct 2019 17:39:24 -0400
Larry Martell  wrote:


> 
> There are many font finder apps. I use the WhatFont Chrome extension.
> That page looks to be entirely in Verdana.
> 

that depends on which fonts you have installed, according to the style
sheet the requested font for the body is one of:

"Segoe UI", Verdana, "Lucida Grande", Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif;

however in the section "für die Turnierdatenbank" (tournament database)
there is only 

FONT-FAMILY: "Lucida Grande", Verdana, Helvetica;

Maybe this is the problem (although I would be surprised to learn that
neither firefox nor chrome can handle this)? Anyway, installing
ttf-mscorefonts-installer might be worth a try.


Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

There's a way out of any cage.
-- Captain Christopher Pike, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"),
   stardate unknown.

Re: New Linux User needs some guidance

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 8 Oct 2019 13:38:25 - (UTC)
Curt  wrote:

> On 2019-10-08, Dejan Jocic  wrote:
> >
> > Anyway, most of Linux newbies will not create usb from Linux machine
> > anyway, so I doubt that any of this will help OP. Personally, can't
> > even remember when I was creating usb image from anything but Linux,
> > so can't be of much help there.
> 
> Right, and as the guy is totally blind to boot, I'm sure he'll enjoy
> wading through the usual digressive, thread-hijacking shitload of
> extraneous and sometimes erroneous verbiage in search of a precious
> nugget of useful information.
> 

I think you confused the OP (Larry Honaker, see:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/10/msg00339.html)
with the OP of another recent thread ("goleo", see:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/10/msg00281.html, though I
believe you probably referred rather to the follow-up:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/10/msg00288.html).

At least I cannot see anything in the OP's question that might justify
your conclusion.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

The face of war has never changed.  Surely it is more logical to heal
than to kill.
-- Surak of Vulcan, "The Savage Curtain", stardate 5906.5

Re: Length of a video file (.avi, .mpg) from the command line

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 14 Aug 2019 17:43:42 +0200 (CEST)
Jean-Baptiste Thomas  wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a command line program that could tell me
> the length of the video stream in a .avi or .mpg file ? Thanks
> in advance.
> 

as Jonas already suggested, I would use mediainfo, with for example

$ mediainfo --Inform="Video;%Duration/String3%" 

which will output something like:

01:58:39.029

See 

$ mediainfo --Info-Parameters

for a list of possible output parameters and formats.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

On my planet, to rest is to rest -- to cease using energy.  To me, it
is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass, using energy,
instead of saving it.
-- Spock, "Shore Leave", stardate 3025.2

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 22 Jun 2019 12:54:30 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-22):
> > I did investigate some more, now as far as I can see this is actually
> > not true. spumux only creates a .sub file but the .idx file is
> > missing. This seems to be no good except with DVDs. Besides, there
> > seems only to be the choice between 25.0 and 29,97 fps framerates
> > (PAL/NTSC) which is too bad if the video is 23.976 fps :(
> 
> Indeed, because vobsub is a bastard format built on top of a crappy
> format. You need spumux to produce spu packets and mux them into a
> MPEG-PS stream, and then you need a DVD ripping tool to butcher the
> MPEG-PS stream and chop the pair of final files.

I found a script that does exactly this at:
https://code.google.com/archive/p/srt2vob/

It works, but two problems with spumux make it hardly usable, at least
for any video with a resolution greater than DVD statndard:
First (not so important) colormaps are tricky again with spumux; for
example when requesting white fonts with a black outline I actually get
something like "light-pink" with a maroon-like outline.

And second (really bad) when increasing the font size to something
suitable for 1080p content spumux stops with an error saying
"ERR:  Encoded row takes more than 1440 bits.  Please simplify subtitle."
Apparently spumux was made for DVDs and insists on some ancient standard
which appears to make it unusable with HD content.

Looks like the srt2vob developer noticed that too, because they added
another script with a totally different approach they called "2dsub".
This one uses PIL to create the subtitle images and bdsup2sub to convert
these into vobsub. That script clearly requires a bit of work to become
really usable, but as far as I can see now the idea is brilliant, it
takes less than three minutes here to create subtitles that look quite
beautiful. 
Finally something to work with :-)

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Women are more easily and more deeply terrified ... generating more
sheer horror than the male of the species.
-- Spock, "Wolf in the Fold", stardate 3615.4

Re: [solved]Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 14:10:49 +0100
mick crane  wrote:

> On 2019-06-24 11:32, Michael Lange wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:23:15 +0100
> > mick crane  wrote:
> > 
> > (...)
> >> > which seems to work well here).
> >> > The feature set this app offers looks rather impressive, obviously
> >> > it's far superior to similar programs that come with debian. And it
> >> > can create
> >> > good looking vobsub subtitles in less than one minute.
> > (...)
> >> 
> >> That seems quick.
> >> Any idea what this software does to "burn" text over video ?
> >> extracting frames then combining with text for duration in .srt file
> >> and putting them back would take ages I would imagine.
> > 
> > it does not "burn" them, but creates separate vobsub subtitles (a .sub
> > plus an .idx file), that's the point :)
> > I can add these to an .mkv file along with an .srt or .ass subtitle
> > track, so I can pick which one to use depending on the player. Or I
> > can even turn them off.
> > 
> 
> So it sort of merges the streams.
> I thought you were supposed never to cross the streams.

no, SubtitleEdit actually does not know about the video stream. You can
just open the .srt or .ass or whatever subtitle file and then convert it
to the vobsub .sub/.idx pair, just like you can convert an .srt file
to .ass with gnome-subtitles or other similar programs. These can be added
as optional subtitle stream in an .mkv container or just stored separately
next to the video, just like .srt or other text subtitles.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

[War] is instinctive.  But the instinct can be fought.  We're human
beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands!  But we
can stop it.  We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going
to kill today.  That's all it takes!  Knowing that we're not going to
kill today!
-- Kirk, "A Taste of Armageddon", stardate 3193.0

Re: [solved]Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:23:15 +0100
mick crane  wrote:

(...)
> > which seems to work well here).
> > The feature set this app offers looks rather impressive, obviously
> > it's far superior to similar programs that come with debian. And it
> > can create
> > good looking vobsub subtitles in less than one minute.
(...)
> 
> That seems quick.
> Any idea what this software does to "burn" text over video ?
> extracting frames then combining with text for duration in .srt file
> and putting them back would take ages I would imagine.

it does not "burn" them, but creates separate vobsub subtitles (a .sub
plus an .idx file), that's the point :)
I can add these to an .mkv file along with an .srt or .ass subtitle
track, so I can pick which one to use depending on the player. Or I can
even turn them off.

Seems like there is no (or at least no easy) way to do this with debian
tools. This program renders these subtitles so that they look good,
similar to the optional subtitle streams that are sometimes used by TV
stations, other windows programs I tried produced only more or less ugly
ones. Plus it is open source :)

Regards

Michael

P.S.:
for the archives, in case someone looks here:
I tried other versions of SubtitleEdit, v. 353 seems to be the latest one
that works properly with Stretch.
When exporting to vobsub, on linux for some reason the "Simple rendering"
option in the dialog box needs to be checked (seems to be the case with
any version).


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

"That unit is a woman."
"A mass of conflicting impulses."
-- Spock and Nomad, "The Changeling", stardate 3541.9

[solved]Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 22 Jun 2019 12:54:30 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-22):
> > I did investigate some more, now as far as I can see this is actually
> > not true. spumux only creates a .sub file but the .idx file is
> > missing. This seems to be no good except with DVDs. Besides, there
> > seems only to be the choice between 25.0 and 29,97 fps framerates
> > (PAL/NTSC) which is too bad if the video is 23.976 fps :(
> 
> Indeed, because vobsub is a bastard format built on top of a crappy
> format. You need spumux to produce spu packets and mux them into a
> MPEG-PS stream, and then you need a DVD ripping tool to butcher the
> MPEG-PS stream and chop the pair of final files.

I was finally able to find an app which does what I want
(https://www.nikse.dk/subtitleedit/)

It's a windows program, too, but it is GPL and can be run on debian with
mono (the latest version 359 did not work perfectly here with Stretch
for some reason, maybe Stretch's mono is too old or maybe it's something
else; so I followed someone's suggestion and tried an older version (343)
which seems to work well here).
The feature set this app offers looks rather impressive, obviously it's
far superior to similar programs that come with debian. And it can create
good looking vobsub subtitles in less than one minute.

Just in case someone comes here looking for help:
you can download the zip file with the portable version, unpack it and
then run
# mono SubtitleEdit.exe
which should launch the application window.
To create vobsub files you can (once the original subtitles are opened)
go to File -> Export -> VobSub (sub/idx)... which should open a dialog box
where the properties of the vobsub file can be configured and finally
press the "Export all lines..." button which will start the procedure.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Men will always be men -- no matter where they are.
-- Harry Mudd, "Mudd's Women", stardate 1329.8

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 22 Jun 2019 12:54:30 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-22):
> > I did investigate some more, now as far as I can see this is actually
> > not true. spumux only creates a .sub file but the .idx file is
> > missing. This seems to be no good except with DVDs. Besides, there
> > seems only to be the choice between 25.0 and 29,97 fps framerates
> > (PAL/NTSC) which is too bad if the video is 23.976 fps :(
> 
> Indeed, because vobsub is a bastard format built on top of a crappy
> format. You need spumux to produce spu packets and mux them into a
> MPEG-PS stream, and then you need a DVD ripping tool to butcher the
> MPEG-PS stream and chop the pair of final files.

ok, this might be possible. And before doing so one would have to do some
tricky things to the subtitle's frame rate to trick spumux into creating
pseudo 23.976 fps subs :)

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

War isn't a good life, but it's life.
-- Kirk, "A Private Little War", stardate 4211.8

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 22 Jun 2019 12:51:51 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-21):
> > Well, maybe I will not and maybe I would be able to cut down the
> > computing time to three quarters of an hour. Still not an entirely
> > convincing solution if one has to recode the video only to convert the
> > subtitles.
> 
> On the other hand, that means you can enjoy the full power of the
> software on your computer instead of being stuck with a mediocre
> proprietary embedded player.

well, to be fair, it seems like  apart from the subtitles the player
works quite well. Maybe I should send them a bug report ;)

> 
> FFmpeg will respect the ASS style, can use colors, do transparency
> effects, shadows, etc. Encoding in vobsub results in very limited
> possibilities.

True, the "burned in" subtitles look better. Colormaps appear to be
rather tricky with vobsub. Personally I don't care about shadows and
transparency, but a black outline around the font would be nice.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Too much of anything, even love, isn't necessarily a good thing.
-- Kirk, "The Trouble with Tribbles", stardate 4525.6

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 21 Jun 2019 17:30:13 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-21):
> > is there a program (command line preferred) that is able to convert
> > text subtitles (.srt or .ass etc.) into vobsub "image" subtitles?
(...)
> spumux can do that, and is indeed the only took I know that can.

I did investigate some more, now as far as I can see this is actually not
true. spumux only creates a .sub file but the .idx file is missing. This
seems to be no good except with DVDs. Besides, there seems only to be the
choice between 25.0 and 29,97 fps framerates (PAL/NTSC) which is too bad
if the video is 23.976 fps :(

Anyway, thanks for the feedback,

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Spock: The odds of surviving another attack are 13562190123 to 1, Captain.

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 21 Jun 2019 21:16:02 +0300
Reco  wrote:

> You need something like this:
> 
> ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i /tmp/input.srt -c:v copy -c:a copy \
>   -c:s mov_text output.mp4
> 
> Or this:
> 
> ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -i /tmp/input.srt -c:v copy -c:a copy \
>   -c:s dvd_subtitle output.mp4

I don't know about mov_text, except that iit's not in the player's list
of supported formats :)
As Nicolas already pointed out, the second command unfortunately won't
work, I had already tried that before.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

One of the advantages of being a captain is being able to ask for
advice without necessarily having to take it.
-- Kirk, "Dagger of the Mind", stardate 2715.2

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 21 Jun 2019 19:47:46 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-21):
> > sure, that's what I tried first. The player ignores the .ass style
> > options happily.
> 
> Are you sure the player will be able to use the vobsubs?

Yes.

> 
> > > ffmpeg -i original.mp4 -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 \
> > > -vf subtitles=filename=subtitles.ass \
> > > -c:v libx264 -crf 22 -c:a copy output.mp4
> > 
> > I know, but this seems to take like forever (or at least several
> > hours for a 120 min. 1080p video here :)
> 
> Then set -preset ultrafast.
> 
> > Plus, as I understand it, you have to recode the whole video which
> > might do nothing good to video quality unless you watch what you are
> > doing.
> 
> With crf 22 at 1080p, you will not be able to see any difference.

Well, maybe I will not and maybe I would be able to cut down the
computing time to three quarters of an hour. Still not an entirely
convincing solution if one has to recode the video only to convert the
subtitles.

Now, for today I gave up and downloaded some Windows tool called
"AVIAddXSub"; works well under under wine and did a decent job in less
than two minutes.

That movie I could finally watch was excellent, by the way :-)

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on.
-- Kirk, "A Taste of Armageddon", stardate 3193.9

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 21 Jun 2019 20:08:16 +0300
Teemu Likonen  wrote:

> Michael Lange [2019-06-21 17:44:08+02:00] wrote:
> 
> > sure, because I want to be able to control the subtitle's appearance.
> > The player in question displays text subtitles, however with a tiny,
> > almost unreadable font and doesn't have any option to change this.
> 
> The "ass" subtitle format contains data about text's appearance, for
> example:
> 
> Style: Default,Arial,16,,, [...]
> 
> So you can at least suggest a font and font size as well as colours.
> Maybe your player can read such subtitles.

sure, that's what I tried first. The player ignores the .ass style options
happily.

> 
> Or if not, you can "burn" your subtitles to the moving picture with
> ffmpeg's "subtitles" video filter. Edit a subtitle file like
> "subtitles.ass" so that it has "Style" line (see above) with your
> preferred font, font size, maybe location coordinates etc. Then
> something like this:
> 
> ffmpeg -i original.mp4 -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 \
> -vf subtitles=filename=subtitles.ass \
> -c:v libx264 -crf 22 -c:a copy output.mp4

I know, but this seems to take like forever (or at least several hours for
a 120 min. 1080p video here :)
Plus, as I understand it, you have to recode the whole video which might
do nothing good to video quality unless you watch what you are doing.

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

"It's hard to believe that something which is neither seen nor
felt can do so much harm."
"That's true.  But an idea can't be seen or felt.  And that's
what kept the Troglytes in the mines all these centuries.  A mistaken
idea."
-- Vanna and Kirk, "The Cloud Minders", stardate 5819.0

Re: Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 21 Jun 2019 17:30:13 +0200
Nicolas George  wrote:

> Michael Lange (12019-06-21):
> > is there a program (command line preferred) that is able to convert
> > text subtitles (.srt or .ass etc.) into vobsub "image" subtitles?
> 
> Can you explain why exactly you want to do that?

sure, because I want to be able to control the subtitle's appearance. The
player in question displays text subtitles, however with a tiny, almost
unreadable font and doesn't have any option to change this.

> spumux can do that, and is indeed the only took I know that can.

Ok, great; then I'll have to check out how to use it. When I look at the
man page this doesn't really look trivial. Maybe you can point me to some
resources where the usage is explained in more detail for dummies like
me? :)

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Four thousand throats may be cut in one night by a running man.
-- Klingon Soldier, "Day of the Dove", stardate unknown

Converting text subtitles to vobsub

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

is there a program (command line preferred) that is able to convert text
subtitles (.srt or .ass etc.) into vobsub "image" subtitles?
I think there must be something, since dvd authoring programs obviously
can do it, but find it surprisingly hard to find.

ffmpeg apparently fails at this; there is a program called spumux, but so
far as I can see it's not exactly what I am looking for (or maybe I just
don't get how to use it).
Does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks in advance,

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Oblivion together does not frighten me, beloved.
-- Thalassa (in Anne Mulhall's body), "Return to
   Tomorrow", stardate 4770.3.

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 6 Jun 2019 00:21:31 +0200
Kaj Persson <70147pers...@telia.com> wrote:

> Thank you for all answers and advices. A silly question, perhaps: Do I 
> need take any special steps for the transform, or is just e.g.
> 
>     apt-get --autoremove remove pulseaudio
> 
> sufficient, and the system automaticly adapts to the new situation?

yes, in my experience simply removing pulseaudio should do the trick.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Vulcans worship peace above all.
-- McCoy, "Return to Tomorrow", stardate 4768.3

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 5 Jun 2019 12:27:30 +0200
 wrote:

(...)
> What miffs me is that no-one in this thread seems to really care
> enough to go check the sources. But then, some still seem to care
> enough to go ballistic and complain loudly.
> 
> As I said, I'm happy with my Firefox having no sound (it hasn't;
> actually I do prefer it that way), so I haven't done any research
> into why.
> 
> What is your distro's version? What is your Firefox's version?

It's stretch with FF 60.7.0esr

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Schshschshchsch.
-- The Gorn, "Arena", stardate 3046.2

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 5 Jun 2019 11:33:15 +0200
 wrote:


> Now don't expect your distro maintainer's to continue indefinitely
> maintaining your firefox's port in a non-standard configuration.
> 

sure, I don't expect anything in particular ;)
But I believe I can perfectly wait with taking action until it becomes
necessary and decide then what to do.

And when everyone seems to say that there is no sound in firefox without
PA, it appears to be definitely not true for now, at least with debian
stable.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Women professionals do tend to over-compensate.
-- Dr. Elizabeth Dehaver, "Where No Man Has Gone Before",
   stardate 1312.9.

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 5 Jun 2019 05:38:18 -0400
Dan Ritter  wrote:


> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1345661
> 
> That was two years ago.

yes, I remember the discussions about that, but still here audio in
firefox without PA never ceased to work.
Actually I always wondered if anyone really tried or if everyone just
believed what other people say ;)

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Our way is peace.
-- Septimus, the Son Worshiper, "Bread and Circuses",
   stardate 4040.7.

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 4 Jun 2019 22:51:31 +0300
Georgi Naplatanov  wrote:

> On 6/4/19 10:24 PM, Kaj Persson wrote:
> > I am running Debian 9 Stretch. After the OS install the Pulseaudio is
> > by default the standard audio system with Alsa as the executor. Which
> > is the best strategy to remove Pulseaudio and instead letting Alsa be
> > the one and only audio system? 
> 
> PulseAudio is some kind of mixer/proxy between ALSA and desktop
> applications. In modern GNU/Linux OSes it's discouraged to remove/not
> using PulseAudio.
> 
> Are there any serious disadvantages doing so?
> 
> If you don't use PulseAudio then only one application can use an ALSA
> device at the same time on your computer.

really? Here I can play back a video in firefox and play another video
from harddisk in vlc and the sound tracks are happily mixed by alsa (not
that it's an enjoyable experience, but it works :)

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

One does not thank logic.
-- Sarek, "Journey to Babel", stardate 3842.4

Re: Replacing Pulseaudio with Alsa alone

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 4 Jun 2019 15:55:34 -0400
Dan Ritter  wrote:

> Kaj Persson wrote: 
> > I am running Debian 9 Stretch. After the OS install the Pulseaudio is
> > by default the standard audio system with Alsa as the executor. Which
> > is the best strategy to remove Pulseaudio and instead letting Alsa be
> > the one and only audio system? Are there any serious disadvantages
> > doing so?
> 
> There is one serious disadvantage: Firefox doesn't support audio
> in any other way except PulseAudio.

is that actually true? Here I can watch videos on yt or vimeo for example
in firefox with sound perfectly intact without pulseaudio installed.
In which situations does sound in ff not work?

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy.  There is
nothing good in war.  Except its ending.
-- Abraham Lincoln, "The Savage Curtain", stardate 5906.5

Re: Debian Jessie / 3.16.0-9 / system broken

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 28 May 2019 19:51:06 +
Frederic Robert  wrote:

(...)
> if i reboot to the kernel 3.16.0-8 the system is working. With 3.16.0-9 
> the display is broken and the computer often freezes

maybe there is a newly introduced bug with your video driver?
I think the best thing to do is to file a bug report. 

Before submitting the bug report you best boot into the working kernel and
check the syslog if you find some useful information about the cause of
those freezes. If you find something that looks suspicious, it might help
the maintainers a great deal to figure out what's going wrong.

Best regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

A woman should have compassion.
-- Kirk, "Catspaw", stardate 3018.2

Re: Debian Programming languages

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Fri, 24 May 2019 19:45:23 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> (Astounding how few languages are mentioned there.
>  No Piet ? http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/piet/samples.html
> )

seems like Piet isn't really a Debian programming language.
At least Debian seems to have some support for Brainfuck :-)
(https://curlie.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/Brainfuck)

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

There comes to all races an ultimate crisis which you have yet to face
 One day our minds became so powerful we dared think of ourselves as
gods.
-- Sargon, "Return to Tomorrow", stardate 4768.3

Re: Backports and upgrade to buster

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Thu, 23 May 2019 11:44:14 +0300
Georgios  wrote:

> Hi there!
> I'm thinking installing debian on a new laptop. The problem is that the
> current version is stretch that comes with an old kernel that doesn't
> support my wifi card.
> I was thinking about using backports to install the latest kernel.
> 
> I have the following questions.
> 
> When I install stable and use a kernel from backport when you install it
> you upgrade a couple of packages like libglib, firmware-linux-free etc
> 
> When the buster is released what happens when i try to upgrade the
> system from stretch to buster?
> Do I have to remove backports from sources.list?
> What happens to the packages that were upgraded from backports? Are they
> replaced by the new stable packages?

before starting an upgrade from stretch to buster (or any oldstable to
stable) you should remove backports from the sources.list at any rate. In
my own personal experience the best bet is to remove anything except the
line

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

from the sources.list prior to the upgrade. Usually this gives you a
smooth upgrade procedure. Packages from backports (or multimedia or
whatever one may use in addition to plain debian) will be replaced by the
new stable packages if these are newer. If you need (or just want)
anything from backports (or multimedia or whatever) just re-install these
packages after the upgrade.

Regards

Michael




.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Klingon phaser attack from front!
100% Damage to life support

Re: how to report bugs? (reportbug broken)

[Michael Lange]

On Wed, 22 May 2019 19:04:52 +0200
Nico Schlömer  wrote:

> Thanks Michael for the quick response!
> ```
> python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.path)"
> ```
> gives
> ```
> ['', '/usr/lib/python37.zip', '/usr/lib/python3.7',
> '/usr/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload',
> '/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages',
> '/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages',
> '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages']
> ```
> Looks normal?

Actually not, '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages' should appear
before '/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages' (resp. your
custom Python should be at the very end of sys.path). Obviously this is
the reason why reportbug tries to import some module from your custom
Python3 install which refuses to work. You should definitely fix this,
otherwise the next bad surprise will be waiting just around the corner ;)

I am not sure how to do this properly, though. Maybe the Python-path is
somehow created from $PATH, is your ~/.local somewhere in $PATH and could
you possibly move it to the end?

According to
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18247333/python-pythonpath-in-linux
you could also try to set the PYTHONPATH environment variable with
something like
export
PYTHONPATH="":/usr/lib/python37.zip:/usr/lib/python3.7:/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages:
(etc.)

however I am not sure if this is actually wise (Python2 should also be
taken into account of course).

As a quick-and-dirty workaround you could try to add something like

import sys 
sys.path = ['', '/usr/lib/python37.zip', '/usr/lib/python3.7',
'/usr/lib/python3.7/lib-dynload',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages',
'/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages']

to the very beginning of /usr/bin/reportbug .
This wouldn't help with other misbehaving Python3 programs of course.

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Our way is peace.
-- Septimus, the Son Worshiper, "Bread and Circuses",
   stardate 4040.7.

Re: how to report bugs? (reportbug broken)

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 22 May 2019 18:25:16 +0200
Nico Schlömer  wrote:

(...)

> Perhaps I've got an incompatible version of a dependency installed in
> `~/.local/`?

It looks like this.

Here reportbug uses modules from the default system Python3:

> E: You must put some 'source' URIs in your sources.list
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/reportbug/ui/gtk_ui.py", line
> 1049, in sync_pre_operation
> http_proxy=http_proxy, archived=archived, source=source)
>   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/reportbug/debbugs.py", line
> 1069, in get_reports
> bugs = debianbts.get_bugs(pkg_filter, package)
>   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/debianbts/debianbts.py", line
> 401, in get_bugs
> reply = soap_client.call('get_bugs', method_el)
>   File

and now here all of a sudden it uses modules you installed into ~/.local :

> "/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pysimplesoap/client.py",
> line 256, in call self.xml_response = self.send(method,
> self.xml_request) File
> "/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pysimplesoap/client.py",
> line 318, in send location, http_method, body=xml, headers=headers)
>   File
> "/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/httplib2/__init__.py",
> line 1763, in request
> disable_ssl_certificate_validation=self.disable_ssl_certificate_validation,
> File
> "/home/nschloe/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/httplib2/__init__.py",
> line 1247, in __init__ context=context, TypeError: fixer() missing 1
> required positional argument: 'check_hostname'

This doesn't seem sound, I guess this custom Python version is probably
the culprit. Maybe some environment variable messes with your Python-path?
What do you get if you do the following:

$ python3
Python 3.5.3 (default, Sep 27 2018, 17:25:39) 
[GCC 6.3.0 20170516] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path
['', '/usr/lib/python35.zip', '/usr/lib/python3.5',
'/usr/lib/python3.5/plat-x86_64-linux-gnu',
'/usr/lib/python3.5/lib-dynload',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pdoc3-0.6.1-py3.5.egg',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/Markdown-3.1-py3.5.egg',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/setuptools-41.0.1-py3.5.egg',
'/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/youtube_dl-2019.5.11-py3.5.egg',
'/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages']

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and
licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
-- Dr. Boyce, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), stardate
unknown

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sat, 18 May 2019 18:18:14 +0200
Jonas Smedegaard  wrote:

(...)
> I notice that others contributed here on this list about that issue.
> 
> Please consider re-posting such contributions to 929...@bugs.debian.org 
> to help keep such information tied to the bugreport.

I think for now I included all relevant information from this thread into
the bugreport.

> 
> For future cases: Please consider filing bugreports early and encourage 
> posting followups (also) to the bugreport when seeking help here.

Sure, I just followed the advice from reportbug which said something like
"if you are unsure which package the bug belongs to, ask on debian-user
for help" :)

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

I realize that command does have its fascination, even under
circumstances such as these, but I neither enjoy the idea of command
nor am I frightened of it.  It simply exists, and I will do whatever
logically needs to be done.
-- Spock, "The Galileo Seven", stardate 2812.7

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 15 May 2019 21:03:40 +0200
Jonas Smedegaard  wrote:

(...)
> Please report the issue as a bug as best as you can - e.g. file it 
> against either of those involved packages (or both, comma-separated).
> 
> It is easy in Debian's bugtracker to reassign later to another package 
> as needed.

fyi, I now filed a bug report here:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=929090

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Military secrets are the most fleeting of all.
-- Spock, "The Enterprise Incident", stardate 5027.4

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 15 May 2019 16:27:24 -0400
Greg Wooledge  wrote:

> On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 10:23:25PM +0200, Michael Lange wrote:
> > #
> > frame .f -bg yellow -width 400 -height 300
> > pack .f -fill both -expand 1
> > 
> > bind .f  {puts "Button-1 event"}
> > bind .f  {puts "Enter event"}
> > bind .f  {puts "Leave event"}
> > #
> > 
> > As expected, it's the same as with Tkinter, when the mouse button is
> > pressed, Enter and Leave events are triggered [...]
> 
> I ran this in straight Tcl/Tk on buster under fvwm and pressing the
> mouse button inside the yellow window only generates "Button-1 event",
> not the other two.
> 

ok, so now I'm at it I installed a few truckloads of KDE, Gnome and mate
packages and with these three the script works as expected, too.
>From the lean and classic department I tried WindowMaker, and again
everything's fine.
>From the lean and not so classic ones I tried awesome, and with this it
is worse: each ButtonPress triggers *two* Enter and Leave events :-)

I don't really know what to make of all this. A feeling in my guts
claims that cannot be Tk's fault, but who knows? I think for now I'll
call it a day and think about a bug report tomorrow.

Thanks again for the feedback, and best regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Those who hate and fight must stop themselves -- otherwise it is not
stopped.
-- Spock, "Day of the Dove", stardate unknown

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.

[...]

#
frame .f -bg yellow -width 400 -height 300
pack .f -fill both -expand 1

bind .f  {puts "Button-1 event"}
bind .f  {puts "Enter event"}
bind .f  {puts "Leave event"}
#

As expected, it's the same as with Tkinter, when the mouse button is
pressed, Enter and Leave events are triggered [...]

No Enter or Leave on  in my case -- but when entering or
leaving the window (as it is supposed to work). Tcl/Tk from Debian
stable, i.e. 8.6.0+9). No desktop environment, though -- just Fvwm.

Cheers
-- tomás

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:50:47 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

(...)
> But why then is this not a widespread problem ?
> Xfce uses GTK like Gnome does. Originall events are a matter of the X
> Window system. But this knowledge is meanwhile subject to bit rot.

I don't know much about these things, I would have guessed that the WM is
somewhere in between X and Tk (or Gtk or any other toolkit). Btw., IceWm
uses Gtk, too. So it apparently has nothing to do with the WM using Gtk.

> 
> So what do you get from programs like xev ?

With xev here using Xfce I get the expected behavior, no bogus Enter or
Leave events when clicking into the window. Does that point to Tk as the
culprit? But then, why doesn't it happen with IceWM or FVWM?

Regards

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

Intuition, however illogical, is recognized as a command prerogative.
-- Kirk, "Obsession", stardate 3620.7

Re: Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.

On Wed, 15 May 2019 18:30:58 +0200
"Thomas Schmitt"  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Michael Lange wrote:
> > Does anyone know if both Xfce and LXDE share some library that might
> > be responsible for that presumably faulty behavior?
> 
> Is it sure that not particular versions of tkinter are the common
> property of the misbehaving systems ?
> 
> I.e. does a plain wish script instead of python+tkinter show the same
> inappropriate events ?

I am rather sure that this doesn't have anything to do with
Python/Tkinter, though I actually hadn't checked with wish before. Ok, so
I set up this little tcl script:

#
frame .f -bg yellow -width 400 -height 300
pack .f -fill both -expand 1

bind .f  {puts "Button-1 event"}
bind .f  {puts "Enter event"}
bind .f  {puts "Leave event"}
#

As expected, it's the same as with Tkinter, when the mouse button is
pressed, Enter and Leave events are triggered. So far it has been
reported that this does _not_ happen with MacOs, Gnome, IceWm. It's been
observed so far on Xfce, Lxde and just now Openbox-session (no surprise
probably, since Lxde seems to use Openbox, too).

Other mouse buttons show the same behavior. The same thing happened on
various systems, like Stretch, Sid, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 18.04.
Since it only seems to happen with Xfce/Xfwm and Openbox/Lxde I think it
is more likely that it is the window manager's fault than that of Tk.

Regards

Michael


.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

But Captain -- the engines can't take this much longer!

Strange event handling problem with Xfce/LXDE - which pkg responsible?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

it has been observed that when using Tk on Xfce or LXDE for some reason
pressing a mouse button inside a Tk window "phony"  and 
events are being triggered. Since not only one DE is affected, the
question arises which package a bug report should be filed against.

The issue has been discussed in more detail at:

https://mail.python.org/pipermail/tkinter-discuss/2019-May/004082.html
and
https://mail.python.org/pipermail/tkinter-discuss/2019-May/004091.html

Does anyone know if both Xfce and LXDE share some library that might be
responsible for that presumably faulty behavior?

Thanks in advance.

Michael

.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable.
-- Spock, "The Enterprise Incident", stardate 5027.3

Re: System warning that "/var" is almost full

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Tue, 30 Apr 2019 07:27:24 +0200
Esteban L  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I got warning message that "/var is almost full." Knowing that being
> full on a hard drive is never good, I want to resolve this.
> 
> >From command line: /var# du -h --max-depth=1
> 1.8G  ./lib
> 4.0K  ./local
> 2.7M  ./tmp
> 16K   ./lost+found
> 44K   ./snap
> 6.3G  ./cache
> 4.0K  ./opt
> 56K   ./spool
> 4.0K  ./mail
> 8.2M  ./backups
> 139M  ./log
> 8.2G  .

did you try "apt-get clean"?
It looks like the 6.3G in ./cache might be lots of downloaded .deb
packages stored in /var/cache/apt/archives

Regards

Michael


> 
> So, my backups seems to be causing the main issue, followed closely by
> the cache.
> 
> Here is what my backups look like: ls -l
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root153600 Apr 30 06:59 alternatives.tar.0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9980 Apr 27 00:08 alternatives.tar.1.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9978 Apr 20 00:08 alternatives.tar.2.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9980 Mar 29 03:53 alternatives.tar.3.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9985 Mar 27 00:08 alternatives.tar.4.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9973 Mar 24 00:08 alternatives.tar.5.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9908 Mar 15 11:50 alternatives.tar.6.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root175620 Apr 29 01:11 apt.extended_states.0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18347 Apr 28 22:35 apt.extended_states.1.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18312 Apr 27 23:56 apt.extended_states.2.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18256 Feb 19 08:42 apt.extended_states.3.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18243 Jan 20 15:23 apt.extended_states.4.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18366 Jan 13 22:48 apt.extended_states.5.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18351 Jan 12 07:40 apt.extended_states.6.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   678 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.1.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.2.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.3.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.4.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.5.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   271 Sep  6  2018 dpkg.diversions.6.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   239 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.1.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.2.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.3.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.4.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.5.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   184 Nov 12 02:44 dpkg.statoverride.6.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3002519 Apr 30 06:55 dpkg.status.0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root829132 Apr 28 22:36 dpkg.status.1.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root824705 Apr 27 23:56 dpkg.status.2.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root820759 Apr 26 23:23 dpkg.status.3.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root820758 Apr 19 23:06 dpkg.status.4.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root820758 Apr 19 23:06 dpkg.status.5.gz
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root820758 Apr 19 23:06 dpkg.status.6.gz
> -rw--- 1 root root   991 Apr 28 22:35 group.bak
> -rw--- 1 root shadow 833 Apr 28 22:35 gshadow.bak
> -rw--- 1 root root  2280 Apr 28 22:35 passwd.bak
> -rw--- 1 root shadow1445 Apr 28 22:35 shadow.bak
> 
> 
> Here is my cache: du -h --max-depth=1
> 6.7M  ./locate
> 159M  ./postgresql
> 8.0K  ./PackageKit
> 8.0K  ./anthy
> 4.0K  ./fonts
> 4.0K  ./apparmor
> 6.5M  ./debconf
> 30M   ./cracklib
> 6.1G  ./apt
> 328K  ./cups
> 132K  ./dictionaries-common
> 1.3M  ./snapd
> 4.0K  ./realmd
> 1.7M  ./app-info
> 4.1M  ./man
> 88K   ./ldconfig
> 4.0K  ./gdm
> 11M   ./fontconfig
> 6.3G  .
> 
> So, from this, I can gather that my /var/cache/apt and
> /var/backups/(mostly dpkg.status.#.gz) are hogging all my space.
> 
> I cleaned the cache with: sudo apt-get clean
>  
> and, now my cache is pretty good now.
> 
> I am still curious, what purpose (what is safe to remove) the
> /var/backups play. Unfortunately, the keyword "backups" brings up a lot
> of unrelated topics.
> 
> Any tips would be appreciated.
> 
> 



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

I object to intellect without discipline;  I object to power without
constructive purpose.
-- Spock, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5

Re: Is Debian 9 supposed to work on a Geode?

[Michael Lange]

Hi,

On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 23:58:15 +0200
Björn Persson  wrote:

> So if this processor is actually not supported anymore (contrary to the
> information that Jonas Smedegaard linked to), then it looks like I
> should get started on replacing the hardware, rather than putting a lot
> of work into temporary solutions. It's sad to have to throw away
> working hardware, but that's the way it is in the whole industry.
> Debian is at least better than many others in that regard.

maybe you can try to use kernel packages from Antix, they seem to be
debian compatible and still have 486 versions 
(see: https://mirror.23media.com/mx-packages/antix/stretch/pool/main/l/)

Regards

Michael



.-.. .. ...- .   .-.. --- -. --.   .- -. -..   .--. .-. --- ... .--. . .-.

I thought my people would grow tired of killing.  But you were right,
they see it is easier than trading.  And it has its pleasures.  I feel
it myself.  Like the hunt, but with richer rewards.
-- Apella, "A Private Little War", stardate 4211.8