Tom Brossman's questions

I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 19.04 and I am unable to play a MP4 video in Totem. Following the suggestion to install the necessary decoder was unsuccessful. Which codecs must I install to play this video file, which uses a H.264 (High Profile) video codec and a MPEG-4 AAC audio codec?

During the install I checked the box to install third-party graphics software and additional media formats:

I have the main, universe, restricted, and multiverse repositories enabled.

I have multiple gstreamer packages and codecs installed already:

tom@desktop:~$ apt list --installed | grep gstreamer
gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-alsa/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-clutter-3.0/disco,now 3.0.27-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-gl/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-gtk3/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-libav/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-packagekit/disco,now 1.1.12-5 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-plugins-base/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-plugins-good/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-tools/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-vaapi/disco-updates,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gstreamer1.0-x/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgstreamer-gl1.0-0/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0/disco,now 1.15.90-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgstreamer-plugins-good1.0-0/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgstreamer1.0-0/disco,now 1.15.90-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer/disco-updates,disco-security,now 1:6.2.5-0ubuntu0.19.04.1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

I have Totem installed, with the default packages and plugins:

tom@desktop:~$ apt list --installed | grep totem
gir1.2-totem-1.0/disco,now 3.32.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gir1.2-totemplparser-1.0/disco,now 3.26.3-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libtotem-plparser-common/disco,disco,now 3.26.3-1ubuntu1 all [installed,automatic]
libtotem-plparser18/disco,now 3.26.3-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libtotem0/disco,now 3.32.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
totem-common/disco,disco,now 3.32.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed,automatic]
totem-plugins/disco,now 3.32.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
totem/disco,now 3.32.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

I am not installing ubuntu-restricted-extras because I do not want the extra packages (Microsoft fonts, etc...) but I have manually installed the AV codecs (libavcodec-extra libavcodec-extra58) which are included with it:

tom@desktop:~$ apt-cache depends ubuntu-restricted-extras
ubuntu-restricted-extras
  Depends: ubuntu-restricted-addons
  Recommends: libavcodec-extra
    libavcodec-extra58
  Recommends: ttf-mscorefonts-installer
  Recommends: unrar

I note I can play back the video file no problem by dragging it from Nautilus into an empty Firefox or Chromium tab, but Totem will not play it.

When I click the "Find in Ubuntu Software" button, Ubuntu Software displays the message "Unable to Find Requested Software" (This last bit is probably a bug but I don't mind, I just need to know which packages to manually install). Any suggestions please? How do I play this file in Totem on a fresh 19.04 install?

Edit: Upon further troubleshooting, I have discovered that Totem will play the same files if they are in MKV container format instead of MP4. I use youtube-dl (latest version, not from the repos) to download BBC iPlayer videos. I can set the --merge-output-format mkv option and play the downloaded file. Without that option it outputs to an MP4 which I cannot play. This is an OK workaround, but I'd love to know what exactly is interfering with MP4 playback and fix that.

If you are in an area served by iPlayer and wish to test, I used this short three-minute video https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07hlmxr/the-news-explained-a-tale-of-two-tankers which downloads the files The_News_Explained_A_Tale_of_Two_Tankers.fstream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-video=5070000.mp4 and The_News_Explained_A_Tale_of_Two_Tankers.fstream-uk-iptv_streaming_concrete_combined_hd_mf_limelight_uk_dash_https-audio_eng_1=128000.m4a, then merges them into MP4 or MKV.

Output of vainfo command (from comments):

error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.
libva info: VA-API version 1.4.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/nouveau_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_4
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.4 (libva 2.4.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Mesa Gallium driver 19.0.2 for NV136
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileNone                   : VAEntrypointVideoProc

Output of vdpauinfo command (from comments):

display: :0   screen: 0
API version: 1
Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0

Video surface:

name   width height types
-------------------------------------------
420    16384 16384  NV12 YV12 
422    16384 16384  UYVY YUYV 
444    16384 16384  Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 

Decoder capabilities:

name                        level macbs width height
----------------------------------------------------
MPEG1                          --- not supported ---
MPEG2_SIMPLE                   --- not supported ---
MPEG2_MAIN                     --- not supported ---
H264_BASELINE                  --- not supported ---
H264_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH                      --- not supported ---
VC1_SIMPLE                     --- not supported ---
VC1_MAIN                       --- not supported ---
VC1_ADVANCED                   --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_SP                 --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_ASP                --- not supported ---
DIVX4_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX4_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
DIVX5_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX5_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_BASELINE      --- not supported ---
H264_EXTENDED                  --- not supported ---
H264_PROGRESSIVE_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH_444_PREDICTIVE       --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_10                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_STILL                --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_12                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444                  --- not supported ---

Output surface:

name              width height nat types
----------------------------------------------------
B8G8R8A8         16384 16384    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
R8G8B8A8         16384 16384    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
R10G10B10A2      16384 16384    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 
B10G10R10A2      16384 16384    y  NV12 YV12 UYVY YUYV Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8 

Bitmap surface:

name              width height
------------------------------
B8G8R8A8         16384 16384
R8G8B8A8         16384 16384
R10G10B10A2      16384 16384
B10G10R10A2      16384 16384
A8               16384 16384

Video mixer:

feature name                    sup
------------------------------------
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL             y
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL_SPATIAL     -
INVERSE_TELECINE                 -
NOISE_REDUCTION                  y
SHARPNESS                        y
LUMA_KEY                         y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L1        y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L2        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L3        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L4        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L5        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L6        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L7        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L8        -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L9        -

parameter name                  sup      min      max
-----------------------------------------------------
VIDEO_SURFACE_WIDTH              y        48     4096
VIDEO_SURFACE_HEIGHT             y        48     4096
CHROMA_TYPE                      y  
LAYERS                           y         0        4

attribute name                  sup      min      max
-----------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND_COLOR                 y  
CSC_MATRIX                       y  
NOISE_REDUCTION_LEVEL            y      0.00     1.00
SHARPNESS_LEVEL                  y     -1.00     1.00
LUMA_KEY_MIN_LUMA                y  
LUMA_KEY_MAX_LUMA                y

I frequently work with text files that do not have an extension or which have a non-standard extension using Gedit (a .sample file for example, for which the mime type is not understood), and Gedit always defaults to Matlab syntax highlighting.

I'd like to set a default syntax highlighting of 'Plain Text' for these files. Is this possible?

Nano can do this, and a similar question for files with extensions is here. I'm looking for an answer that allows me to set a catch-all style of plain text for all types without an extension or not already found in /usr/share/gtksourceview-3.0/language-specs/as described here

Requested info:

• No local language spec file in ~/.local/share/gtksourceview-3.0/language-specs/
• Output of file --mime-type -b <myfile> is correct text/plain

I'd like to find the location of the icons used by some non-default status menus (also called application indicators or indicator applets).

Where are these icons image files located?

In my screenshot I have ownCloud and Radiotray, but I would like a general answer not specific to these particular icons please. I don't know the file names or file types so searching is difficult.

I'm using pyrenamer with my photo collection and it works great except for one issue. I want it to rename photos by their date taken metadata, with a three-digit number at the end. Each folder in my library represents a day, and I want the photos ending in numbers from 001-999, starting with 001 for each folder. An example file name would be 2016-01-31-001.jpg.

Shotwell handles creating the directory structure on import with a %Y/%m/%d structure in the options, but when I use pyrenamer recursively in the ~/Pictures directory, I don't see the expected outcome. It renames by date but continues incrementing up across folders, instead of starting at 001 for each new folder. Is there an easier way to go about this?

I know I could add more metadata variables and rename according to hours, minutes, and seconds, but this gives longer file names than I want. My camera also can take multiple shots per second so this is problematic for renaming.

What's the easiest way to do this please? I like using pyrenamer but a bash script is fine also.

Current output:

Pictures/
├── Folder 1/
│   ├── YY-MM-DD-001.jpg
│   └── YY-MM-DD-002.jpg
├── Folder 2/
│   ├── YY-MM-DD-003.jpg
│   └── YY-MM-DD-004.jpg
...

Desired output:

Pictures/
├── Folder 1/
│   ├── YY-MM-DD-001.jpg
│   └── YY-MM-DD-002.jpg
├── Folder 2/
│   ├── YY-MM-DD-001.jpg
│   └── YY-MM-DD-002.jpg
...

I'd like to resize a window inside an application but the edge I need to grab is hidden by overlay scrollbars. I don't want to completely disable overlay scrollbars, that's been asked and answered.

Here is a visual example illustrating the problem. The edge with the tiny markings indicating it can be grabbed and resized are hidden by the overlay scrollbars each time I move the mouse to it:

I make frequent backups to a local drive which I want to sync daily to a remote server.

The target server is configured for SSH key (no password) access only. Since my primary SSH key for that server is passphrase-protected, I've created a second SSH key (not passphrase protected) + user to use for unattended backups - this way I do not have to be present to enter my passphrase when cron runs.

I'm using cron and rsync, and all of the commands work individually, but fail when combined.

The furthest I've got while troubleshooting is running

env -i sh -c "rsync -lrstRO --delete --exclude 'lost+found' /Backups/auto-daily-backups/./ [email protected]:/backups/desktop/"

which returns the error

Permission denied (publickey).
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (0 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: unexplained error (code 255) at io.c(226) [sender=3.1.0]

Any tips on how to troubleshoot this further?

Here's what I've tried so far and I'm out of ideas:

1. Cron is definitely running ps aux | grep cron

2. Nothing unusual in /var/log/syslog Sep 7 13:22:01 desktop CRON[6735]: (tom) CMD (sh /home/tom/Documents/Scripts/offsite-backup)

3. SSH in Terminal to remote server as the backup user works ssh [email protected]

4. Running the command in Terminal works perfectly rsync -lrstRO --delete --exclude 'lost+found' /Backups/auto-daily-backups/./ [email protected]:/backups/desktop/

5. Manually specifying the path to the backups-user key has no effect rsync -lrstRO --delete --exclude 'lost+found' -e 'ssh -i /home/tom/.ssh/backups-only' /Backups/auto-daily-backups/./ [email protected]:/backups/desktop/

6. Replacing the non-functioning command with a simple test command works echo "Hello world" > ~/Desktop/test.txt

7. Shouting/swearing at the computer had no effect (but made me feel better temporarily).

Edit 1:

Here's my crontab file and the script it calls.

...
# m h  dom mon dow   command
MAILTO=""
* * * * * sh /home/tom/Documents/Scripts/offsite-backup

and

#!/bin/bash

rsync -lrstRO --delete --exclude 'lost+found' /Backups/auto-daily-backups/./ [email protected]:/backups/desktop/

Edit 2:

Just to clarify, /var/log/auth.log on the target server contains the line Sep 11 08:23:01 <hostname> CRON[24421]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root This is confusing because I'm no longer running cron every minute locally, but a new entry still appears every minute in the server logs. Crontab files for all users (including root) on the server are empty & do nothing.

Also, user 'backups-only' was created only on the server and with limited rights, with a dedicated SSH key copied to my desktop machine. I'm assuming this is the way to go because everything works when running the commands manually.

The crontab file posted above is for me, user 'tom' on my desktop machine. My intent is to have it call the script which should log in to the server as user 'backups-only'. I just tried running the backup script (rather than the command inside it) and it successfully connected & worked. I ran it on my desktop as user 'tom', same user who created the cron job that won't work. Here's the output from the server log corresponding with that successful login

Sep 11 08:35:31 <hostname> sshd[25071]: error: Could not load host key: /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
Sep 11 08:35:32 <hostname> sshd[25071]: Accepted publickey for backups-only from <desktop IP> port 54242 ssh2: RSA e2:e6:07:27:c1:continues...
Sep 11 08:35:32 <hostname> sshd[25071]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user backups-only by (uid=0)
Sep 11 08:35:32 <hostname> systemd-logind[638]: New session 12 of user backups-only.
Sep 11 08:36:00 <hostname> sshd[25133]: Received disconnect from <desktop IP>: 11: disconnected by user
Sep 11 08:36:00 <hostname> sshd[25071]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session closed for user backups-only

Why does rebooting a server running Ubuntu 14.04 give me 'Connection refused' errors?

I see ssh: connect to host <IP-address-here> port 22: Connection refused but only for 14.04 and only after rebooting. I'm using 12.04 Desktop at home. How do I troubleshoot this?

To make the question clearer, here's what does or does not work for me:

• SSH into a fresh install of 12.04 > logout > SSH in again > works
• SSH into a fresh install of 12.04 > reboot > SSH in again > works
• SSH into a fresh install of 14.04 > logout > SSH in again > works
• SSH into a fresh install of 14.04 > reboot > SSH in again > Connection refused

The problem I'm having is unique to 14.04, and only happens after rebooting. I have several servers running 12.04 prior to this and everything still works perfectly. I've got a new server I want to use 14.04 on and I want to understand what is going wrong. Any suggestions?

Here's what I've tried so far:

sudo traceroute -p 22 -T <IP-address-here>

Traceroute works fine, I get a response from the server on SSH port 22.

initctl list
...
ssh start/running, process 23371
...

Looks like ssh on the 14.04 server is set to start at boot (as expected).

tom@Desktop:~$ ssh -vvv root@<IP-address-here>
OpenSSH_5.9p1 Debian-5ubuntu1.4, OpenSSL 1.0.1 14 Mar 2012
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 19: Applying options for *
debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to <IP-address-here> [<IP-address-here>] port 22.
debug1: connect to address <IP-address-here> port 22: Connection refused
ssh: connect to host <IP-address-here> port 22: Connection refused

Edit: Here is the entire syslog from a freshly created machine. I created it, SSH'd in & issued reboot now command, then got a connection refused error after waiting for it to reboot and trying to SSH in the second time. Hard reboot via hosting control panel and now SSH connection works again.

In Update Manager's software sources, the option exists to choose a download server and protocol like shown below.

Do all updates download via HTTP only?

And if HTTPS (or SFTP) aren't supported, why does the option exist? Related question here, though it only deals with full ISO images.

After reading this similar question I'm unclear how to require SSH keys for user, while denying SSH access to root (key or password). I'll use sudo after logging in as a user if I need to be root.

I know how to require SSH keys:

PermitRootLogin without-password

I know how to disable user 'root' from logging in:

PermitRootLogin no

I know how to whitelist a user:

AllowUsers user

I don't know how to put this all together (or if it's even necessary? - SSH key may be good enough). I would normally solve an answer like this through trial and error, but I'm afraid I'll lock myself out of this server...

I'd like to read a list of messages displayed by notify-osd from time to time. I'm using 12.04 still, if it matters. Is this possible?

These two questions from 2010 indicate that a log file should exist at ~/.cache/notify-osd.log. I have no such file, and I'd like to know if this is a bug (in which case this question should be closed) or if this log file depends on another setting (like System Settings -> Privacy)?

I don't care about storing data between reboots. I just want to browse messages from the current session.

EDIT: Two good answers now but I'd like to know if these messages are stored anywhere, (total guess, /tmp? RAM?) for a short period after appearing on the screen. Some sort of buffer must exist as they appear one after another, a few seconds each, even if there are 20-30 notifications over the span of a minute or two.

I failed to mention in my original question that I'm not interested in yet another PPA + indicator or excessive drive writes, I just want to know if it is possible to see the messages for a short time after they appear.

My use case for this is to go back and find what song was played a few minutes ago on a streaming radio station. I have it on as background music, and occasionally a tune sticks in my head after I hear it. I have no way of going back to see what played 1-2 songs ago.

Following up on Canonical's announcement, what is Ubuntu for phones, where can I download a copy of the OS to run on my phone? And how do I know if it's compatible with my phone?

I plan to develop multiple websites using Joomla. I'm using Ubuntu Desktop, and only need to access the sites and configuration files locally, while logged in to my user account.

Previously I tried this using tasksel and set up a LAMP server with files in /var/www, but then encountered problems with developing more than one site, and also permissions issues when editing code like CSS files.

How do I set up multiple Joomla sites, each in its own directory and database, for developing on a local desktop machine? Do I even need directories outside of /home?

Related questions here (simplest way to add & edit files in /var/www) and here (avoid sudo when working in /var/www). This might even be a duplicate of one of those, unless there is a simpler solution for web developers.

I have a year-old drive that's giving me trouble. Copying data to it fails after about 8-10GB of transfers. It spontaneously changes to 'read only'. It's properly formatted ext4, I'm the owner. Searching online, it looks like this is a symptom of a failing drive.

How do I confirm this, since the SMART tests indicate otherwise?

I did the obvious like check the Disk Utility, and ran the extended SMART test. All results from Disk Utility come back perfect. Read error rate and reallocated sectors are showing zero.

I'm guessing this disk is bad and SMART isn't detecting it, though I don't understand why. I'd like to confirm what the problem is.

I'm having no problems with the other disks in the machine.

fstab:

proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0 UUID=62e11126-3f06-43f0-bd5a-29b411bb8160 / ext4
errors=remount-ro 0 1
UUID=5e2d6348-be6e-4d5d-8f7f-1a5c1cab7db2 /home ext4
defaults 0 2 UUID=97e594a3-c783-4c73-97c0-682afcdc88b6 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/disk/by-label/Media /media/Media ntfs-3g defaults,user,locale=en_GB.utf8 0 0

Output of dmesg | less: (There are hundreds more 'Buffer I/O error' lines above)

[22734.511487] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 302203
[22734.511489] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 302204
[22734.511490] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 302205
[22734.511492] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 302206
[22734.511494] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 302207
[22734.511496] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:251: I/O error writing to inode 9437465 (offset 4194304 size 524288 starting block 302215)
[22734.511500] ata1: EH complete
[22734.511616] EXT4-fs error (device sda1): ext4_journal_start_sb:327: Detected aborted journal
[22734.511619] EXT4-fs (sda1): Remounting filesystem read-only
[22734.519343] EXT4-fs error (device sda1) in ext4_da_writepages:2298: IO failure
[22734.538566] EXT4-fs (sda1): ext4_da_writepages: jbd2_start: 601 pages, ino 9437474; err -30
[22734.560225] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x1 SErr 0x400100 action 0x6 frozen
[22734.560253] ata1.00: irq_stat 0x08000000, interface fatal error
[22734.560256] ata1: SError: { UnrecovData Handshk }
[22734.560258] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE FPDMA QUEUED
[22734.560262] ata1.00: cmd 61/00:00:3f:68:25/04:00:00:00:00/40 tag 0 ncq 524288 out
[22734.560263]          res 40/00:04:3f:68:25/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x10 (ATA bus error)
[22734.560264] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
[22734.560268] ata1: hard resetting link
[22735.047845] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310)
[22735.052069] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/33
[22735.067810] ata1: EH complete
[22735.136249] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x3f SErr 0x400100 action 0x6 frozen  

fsck result:

tom@1204-Desktop:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sda1
[sudo] password for tom: 
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
e2fsck 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
New_Volume: recovering journal
New_Volume contains a file system with errors, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Free blocks count wrong (236669077, counted=236701938).
Fix<y>? yes

Free inodes count wrong (61048336, counted=61048349).
Fix<y>? yes

Last but not least is the read/write screengrab, this is new. It used to stay pretty consistent over the duration of the test.

EDIT- When I powered on this morning the drive had changed from /dev/sda to /dev/sdc, strange. I'm certain that hasn't happened before and I'm certain it was /dev/sda. I swapped SATA cables with a known good one and saw that same failure at about 10GB transfers. I didn't change SATA ports yet, I'll try that next. (Edit #2, it was the SATA port, changing it fixed the problem. Flagging this as too localized.)

Output of sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar Black Device Model:     WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 Serial Number:    WD-WCAW30776630 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 25acf2868 Firmware Version:
05.01D05 User Capacity:    1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB] Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is:   8 ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated Local Time is:    Fri May 25 07:16:18 2012 BST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values: Offline data collection status:  (0x82)   Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled. Self-test execution status:      (   0)  The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever 
                    been run. Total time to complete Offline  data collection:      (16500) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities:           (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)  Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine  recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time:    ( 170) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time:      (   5) minutes. SCT capabilities:
           (0x3035) SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE   1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always  
-       0   3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   176   173   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       4183   4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032 100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       774   5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always  
-       0   7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0   9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   093   093   000    Old_age   Always       -       5518  10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always  
-       0  11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0  12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       772 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always  
-       39 193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       736 194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022  118   111   000    Old_age   Always       -       29 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always  
-       0 197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always  
-       0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num  Test_Description  Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%      5514         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1  SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0):   After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I just installed CrashPlan for Linux. After installing, I deleted the installer folder and files, and the icon sitting on my desktop (after dragging it to the launcher). I rebooted, now the launcher icon is gone and I can't find any way to start the CrashPlan Desktop application.

How do I get the launcher back so I can start the program?

I have multiple drives in a desktop computer. I want one of those drives to function as my /home/username/Pictures folder. Can this be done?

I thought symbolic links could do this, but I'm not having any success.
The target drive is /media/Images. Here's what I tried so far:

All four variations give me the same result, a shortcut inside the /Pictures folder.

This isn't what I want. I want the /Pictures folder itself to be the shortcut. How do I do this?

Canonical have confirmed today they will be shipping 32-bit Desktop CDs of 12.04 from their store, with the product page just updated to reflect this.

I prefer 64-bit, I thought it was now the default offering based on several articles like this one(2buntu.com).

I want to order pressed CDs in 64-bit to hand out to people. They look professional, and I know from experience that people are more inclined to try Ubuntu from one of these over a generic CD that I make.

Who offers pressed 64-bit 12.04 Desktop CDs that look professional, like the 32-bit version Canonical offers?

The question is in the title, but can anyone provide some details on what it is, how it works, and when it will be available?

An encrypted /home directory gets mounted automatically for me when I log in. I have a second internal hard drive that I've formatted and encrypted with Disk Utility. I want it to be automatically mounted when I login, just like my encrypted /home directory is. How do I do this?

There are several very similar questions here, but the answers don't apply to my situation. It might be best to close/merge my question here and edit the second one below, but I think it may have been abandoned (and therefore never to be marked as accepted).

This solution isn't a secure method, it circumvents the encryption.
This one requires editing fstab, which necessitates entering an additional password at boot. It's not automatic like mounting /home.
This question is very similar, but does not apply to an encrypted drive. The solution won't work for my needs.
Here is one but it's for NTFS drives, mine is ext4.

I can re-format and re-encrypt the second drive if a solution requires this. I've got all the data backed up elsewhere.

How do I make the Caps Lock key work just like another Shift key?

There are loads of questions here about reassigning it, or having it launch a custom command. I just want it to work like another Shift key. I don't want any other keys to change what they do, just that one.

Keyboard Layout/Caps Lock key behavior won't do it, I don't understand how to remap it in CCSM.

I'm using a UK keyboard now but I learned to type on a US keyboard, the smaller left Shift key is DRIVING ME NUTS.

I can't get Shotwell to import my photos. They are all normal JPEG files from digital cameras, about ten thousand in total. How to I continue troubleshooting this, and get all my photos back into Shotwell?

I exported them from within Shotwell to a backup drive, prior to reinstalling Ubuntu 11.04. The export settings were: current format, original size, and export metadata selected. After exporting, I verified the files were all present, batch renamed them all with pyRename, and then opened a few at random to test. Now I've reinstalled and it's time to put them all back. I am having no luck at all. The only clue I have is the following error message in the ~/.cache/shotwell log:

[WRN] No namespace info available for XMP prefix `lr'

I can open the files now after the reinstall, with Eye of Gnome. I can even import them into F-Spot, complete with tags and full EXIF data. Everything seems normal about the files, except they won't import into Shotwell.

I tried the default version of Shotwell, then the Yorba ppa (0.11.1 version), neither will import. They chug away, I hear the hard drive activity for a while, then I get a 'No photos or videos imported' message.

If this is the wrong place for this question can anyone suggest a better place to post it? Yorba's wiki & list of bugs did not give me any meaningful search results.

I've got a second backup of the images prior to all this, but they are untagged and unsorted. Did I just waste a week tagging and sorting all my photos for nothing?