Andrew DeFaria's questions

I recently tried updating my MacBook to 22.04 and after the install when I booted back into Ubuntu I saw that I had a problem with the graphics driver. I can log in but about 3/4 of the screen's background is solid white. Also some images on web pages, the background of Chrome when I open a new tab, etc. is sometimes Magenta.

Playing around this this I've found that:

1. If I boot from a USB stick with 22.04 on it the screen comes up almost entirely white. The graphics driver is not working correctly.
2. If I instead boot using Safe Graphics the screen comes up with the background wallpaper as I expect.
3. If I interrupt the boot sequence and boot from the previous kernel then the graphics work fine.

When the graphics are not working I see the error "No ums support in radeon module". I've read about this error and various places say to remove "nomodeset" from Grub. I tried that and it didn't fix the problem.

I've read others complaining about such problems with older versions of Ubuntu (like 16.04, etc.) but my Macbook has been able to use the graphics driver all the way up until this recent attempt to update from 21.10 -> 22.04.

I have a Venus XT [Radeon HD 8870M / R9 M270X/M370X] [1002:6821] (rev 83) graphics card. My fear is that with Ubuntu 22.04, support for this card has not only been unsupported but dropped. My hope is that perhaps unblacklisting the driver (not sure about this) and perhaps downloading and building an old driver might cause it to work. I thought of biting the bullet and re-installing Ubuntu 22.04 from the USB stick but when the Try Ubuntu wouldn't even show me that the graphics driver was not without it's issues I assume a full re-install will leave me in the same boat.

Anybody else know how I can fix this?

I just updated from 21.10 -> 22.04. I was using MATE and had run a script (impishgdm) to set the gdm3 login screen. Then I updated. Not sure if impishgdm caused this but after updating to 22.04, when I log in, a large portion of my screen is all white and a tiny portion at the bottom is showing the true wallpaper. In the attached image you'll see the green grass blades of the wallpaper. But the top portion is all white (and the screen capture captures it as black - strange!). If I change the wallpaper only the bottom portion changes. How can I fix this?

I'm on Ubuntu 21.10. I use gnome-flashback with Compiz. gnome-panel (version: 3.41.2) keeps crashing for me for some reason. Here's a log file but I can't seem to find what the problem is.

Gtk-Message: 14:07:17.772: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"
(gnome-panel:202571): indicator-applet-WARNING **: 14:07:17.936: Binding '<Super>F1' failed!
(gnome-panel:202571): indicator-applet-WARNING **: 14:07:17.937: Binding '<Super>F1' failed!
(gnome-panel:202571): indicator-applet-WARNING **: 14:07:17.938: Binding '<Super>F1' failed!
(gnome-panel:202571): indicator-applet-WARNING **: 14:07:17.964: Binding '<Super>S' failed!
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:07:18.369: Unable to register the object to DBus: An object is already exported for the interface com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar at /com/canonical/AppMenu/Registrar
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:07:18.369: Unable to register the object to DBus: An object is already exported for the interface com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar at /com/canonical/AppMenu/Registrar
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:07:18.464: Unable to claim the name com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:07:18.464: Unable to claim the name com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:07:24.041: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:07:24.041: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
...
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:07:26.503: gtk_window_set_attached_to: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:07:26.503: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:07:26.504: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:07:26.504: gtk_window_set_screen: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:07:26.707: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
...
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:10:04.942: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:10:04.942: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (115,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b549a0)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (112,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b54d80)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (120,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b5a1d0)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (99,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b5a5b0)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (118,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b5a990)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.528: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (102,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b5ad70)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.529: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (104,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b815b0)
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-WARNING **: 14:11:06.529: ../../../../gtk/gtkwidget.c:6776: no accelerator (117,4) installed in accel group (0x55c819556660) for Genericmenuitem (0x55c819b88d80)
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:11:06.613: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
...
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:11:07.160: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:11:07.160: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:11:07.232: menus_destroyed: assertion 'IS_WINDOW_MENU(wm)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:11:07.232: menus_destroyed: assertion 'IS_WINDOW_MENU(wm)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): Indicator-Appmenu-CRITICAL **: 14:11:07.232: menus_destroyed: assertion 'IS_WINDOW_MENU(wm)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:11:08.079: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:11:08.079: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
...
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:14:37.169: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(gnome-panel:202571): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: 14:14:37.228: invalid unclassed pointer in cast to 'GtkWidget'
(gnome-panel:202571): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:14:37.228: gtk_widget_set_sensitive: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

Notify-send (also zenity --notification --text "") stops working after logging in. Not sure how long it takes to fail but it starts failing silently in that no notification is put up.

Sorry, adding more details:

I'm on Ubuntu 21.10.

As for stops working I mean that after logging in I can do things like "notify-send 'Hello world'" and I get a notification "bubble" in the upper right-hand corner saying "Hello world". Try that again in say a few hours or and notify-send does nothing - no notification is displayed and the exit code is 0.

zenity, however, seems as if it does the same thing as notify-send but with more parameters fails like this:

Earth:zenity --notification --text 'Hello world'
Gtk-Message: 10:55:47.450: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"

** (zenity:109656): WARNING **: 10:55:47.503: Error showing notification: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.Notifications.MaxNotificationsExceeded: Exceeded maximum number of notifications
Earth:

So how do I increase the maximum number of notifications (and why is there a limit anyway?).

Searched for GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.Notifications.MaxNotificationsExceeded: Exceeded maximum number of notifications and found https://jacekkowalczyk.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/how-to-workaround-a-bug-exceeded-maximum-number-of-notifications-on-linux/ but there is no notification-daemon running. Tried running /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon, doesn't run - just comes back to the command line with no error. And yes, there was no notification-daemon running after I logged in and notify-send (and zenity) were able to put up notifications. Over some period of time after logging in, this breaks.

Oh, and if important, I'm running compiz with flashback and an X server instead of wayland.

Upgraded my server to 20.04. Now I can't get IMAP working through dovecot. I get:

Aug  1 23:25:53 defaria dovecot: imap-login: Error: Failed to initialize SSL server context: Can't load SSL certificate: error:140AB18F:SSL routines:SSL_CTX_use_certificate:ee key too small: user=<>, rip=184.182.63.133, lip=208.113.131.137, session=<iKgXGN+rCIC4tj+F>

I found many solutions to this problem but none seem to work. I've generated and re-generated server keys, signing certificates, and the like and configured dovecot to look at them yet all I get is this cryptic error message. I had this all configured nicely before and just updating from 18.04 -> 20.04 broke this.

How can I fix this? Step by step... How to I supposed generate a cert and a key and properly configure them into dovecot so that imap works again?

Funny thing is I can drive a session through telnet to imap and I can log in an access messages. But when I try to do the same with my mail client (thunderbird) I get the above error written to /var/log/mail.log

I'm a user who prefers gnome2 and compiz. For quite some time now I have been leaning on gnome-flashback and gnome2/compiz to provide my environment. But I do see the writing on the wall, however - gnome3 > gnome2 right? So I'm trying to get used to gnome3 but I'm finding that there is a lack of some of the functionality I had grown accustomed to in gnome2. For now, I will just ask about this one thing but I have been documenting all of my frustrations and desires here - https://defaria-general.blogspot.com/2020/07/migrating-to-gnome3gnome-shell-things-i.html. Also, if anybody knows of a site like "Gnome3 for Gnome2 users" I'd appreciate a pointer.

Presently:

Configuring Application Shortcuts: Perhaps the biggest thing I miss is configuring application shortcuts in gnome-panel. I used to have app shortcuts for various applications and things I frequently do. I had shortcuts for Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird as well as things like invocations of gnome-terminal for a local terminal, but also for terminals that ssh to my laptop or my server in the cloud. I also have shortcuts there that merely execute a script like screensaver.sh or lightsout.sh which are bash scripts that either invoke the screensaver or turn off the screens. I had shortcuts starting nautilus on various different directories like /tmp, /Videos, /Music, /Pictures, etc. In Gnome3 I can "Add to favorites" which will put them in the dock but all that does is launch the application, not launch the application with some specific parameters. I don't see how I can add to the dock a button to run a script. Also, I'd prefer multiple "icons", one for each terminal that I start, etc. Instead, I get one button and must right click on say Terminal then select New Window which gets me a new local terminal, then ssh mars to ssh to my laptop. Contrast that with one configured button that you simply click on.

Recently updated to Ubuntu 20.04 and then discovered that I can change the background of the gnome-panel (I'm a gnome guy and using flashback to have the old gnome2 stuff running, thus gnome-panel). Looks great however on one of my machines (desktop) some of the indicators are opaque while the rest of the panel is transparent.

opaque indicator

However, on my laptop (also running Ubuntu 20.04) even this is transparent. So I'm trying to "fix" my desktop as I prefer the transparent look.

From what I can tell these are indicator apps like:

• indicator-application-service
• indicator-bluetooth-service
• indicator-session-service
• indicator-sound-service

It seems the indicator-application-service is the wrapper for the opaque part (indicator-session-service and indicator-sound-service are contained therein). So one question I have is why does indictor-application-service pay attention to the transparent background I set for the whole gnome-panel on one system but not my laptop?

Additionally, it would seem there should be some way of configuring what indicator apps run and which do not. For example, I don't want nor need the bluetooth-service on my desktop - it's so old that I don't think it even has support for bluetooth! Plus I've found and killed some of these indicator apps for print notification and the like - things I just don't use. But how would I configure these indicator apps to say "X, Y and Z run here but not A, B nor C" at startup?

TIA