Akisame's questions

I've ordered a dedicated (headless) server with an nvidia GeForce GT 710B GPU at ikoula (offsite data center). Now I am trying to get a full blown desktop gui to run on it so I can actually run what I want to run on it (streaming an AI learning a task using OBS). I got a desktop with TightVNC but it doesn't have access to the GPU using that method and thus OBS will not start.
xrdb installs and I can get a login window but when I login I simply get the default blue screen. (see images)

I have created a virtual monitor using the following command:

sudo nvidia-xconfig -a --allow-empty-initial-configuration \
--use-display-device="DFP-0" --connected-monitor="DFP-0" \
--custom-edid="DFP-0:/home/$USER/edid.txt"

and I am able to run startx without problem I just can't seem to login to a desktop.

my current /etc/X11/xorg.conf file generated from the above code: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/HdWpJfzPvx/

I tried logging in onto root and I got a desktop. So somehow in my config I get a desktop for root but not for other users...

Ps. a monitor emulator plug is "not possible in my price range"

edit: it runs sometimes but it is very random. Does ANYONE know a proper way to boot mate or xfce4 on a remote ubuntu server with xrdp??? It just doesn't seem to work for me....

Edit: I really need help with this guys......I am about to just delete everything and leave it. I had it working yesterday but it seems to be really really inconsistent. I had it working on display :11.0 but now I can't even get it to open a display....

If anyone can get this to work I'll be eternally grateful.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log
/var/log/Xorg.1.log
/var/log/xrdp.log
/var/log/xrdp-sesman.log
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

What it currently does when I connect to xrdp and login is hang for 20 seconds and then I am back to the login screen. If you require more data let me know.

Edit: tried x2go as suggested but got this error:

I bought a virtual server from hetzner.com and I am trying to get a desktop working. I already installed xrdp and gnome-desktop and I installed xserver-xorg-video-dummy and configured etc/X11/xorg.conf to create a virtual display but I just can't seem to get a desktop to run.

Startx outputs:

my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

    Section "Device"
    Identifier "Configured Video Device"
    Driver "dummy"
    #VideoRam 4096000
    #VideoRam 256000
    VideoRam 16384
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Configured Monitor"
    HorizSync 5.0 - 1000.0
    VertRefresh 5.0 - 200.0
    Modeline "1600x900" 33.92 1600 1632 1760 1792 900 921 924 946
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Default Screen"
    Monitor "Configured Monitor"
    Device "Configured Video Device"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport 0 0
        Depth 24
        Virtual 1600 900
    EndSubSection
EndSection

The error log

I want to convert a zip file into an ebook using calibre 3.2.1 but the order of the chapters is in alphabetical order. You might be able to imagine that reading a book with the chapters in alphabetical order might spoil the reading a bit.

The table of content is accurate and links perfectly. Unfortunately Calibre follows the order of the content.opf file in generating the chapter order and not the order of the table of content. Can I set it to follow the TOC or convert the TOC into an accurate content.opf?

I just did a fresh install of ubuntu 16.10. I installed nvidia-367 and nvidia-prime and installed all updates. After that I switched to intel graphics (hd 530 (skylake 6700HQ)) and installed steam. After steam was installed and updated I logged in and as soon as the screen "Connecting Steam account: [name]" shows up the systems freezes.
It works fine on nvidia graphics. I tried running steam from a terminal and the only error it shows is "Unable to remove /home/arno/.steam/CONFIG/SteamAppData.vdf!". Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

ps Alt+prntscr+REISUB doesn't do anything. It's a complete systems freeze.

I have some graphical issues on login when I'm using the intel gpu.
I checked the boot logs and it shows that the nvidia persistence service failed to load on the intel gpu. After running systemctl status nvidia-persistenced.service I found that nvidia-persistenced tries to run the following command /usr/bin/nvidia-persistenced --user nvidia-persistenced --no-persistence-mode --verbose but /usr/bin/nvidia-persistenced doesn't exist.

Does anyone know how to get nvidia-persistenced to run properly?

I want to use the printers at my work but I need to used a custom ppd file. On Ubuntu 14.04 I could select provide ppd file but this option has been removed from Ubuntu 16.04.
What is the new method to add ppd files?

I've bought a simple footswitch and I've been trying to remap the key to something else. Currently the footswitch is bound to keycode 56 (the letter b). xev returns the following when I press the footswitch:

KeyPress event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x1000001,
    root 0x81, subw 0x0, time 29926629, (-485,502), root:(713,618),
    state 0x10, keycode 56 (keysym 0x62, b), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (62) "b"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (62) "b"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x1000001,
    root 0x81, subw 0x0, time 29927029, (-485,502), root:(713,618),
    state 0x10, keycode 56 (keysym 0x62, b), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (62) "b"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I don't want to remap my 'b' key for all of my keyboards so I've been trying to get xkbcomp to work.
I've tried xkbcomp -i 14 ~/Documents/footswitchlayout.xkb $DISPLAY and manually editing the layout and activating it with xkbcomp -i 1 $DISPLAY ~/Documents/footswitchlayout.xkb but noting changes. It still types the 'b' key.

xinput returns

⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ A4Tech PS/2+USB Mouse                     id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ RDing FootSwitch1F1.                      id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=16   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_2HDM             id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ DELL Dell QuietKey Keyboard               id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Dell WMI hotkeys                          id=17   [slave  keyboard (3)]

What am I doing wrong? Can anybody point me in the right direction?

I am currently using encfs 1.7.4 with gnome encfs manager 1.8.17 to encrypt my confidential files. This manager has quite a nice gui that allows me to quickly mount available (previously mounted) encrypted folders.

I know that encfs has several security problems but for a drive that remains in my personal possession this doesn't pose a serious security risk.
However I need to send someone confidential (personal) files and I feel that encfs isn't secure enough to expose the encrypted files to the internet.
I wanted to use ecryptfs for these files. and since I am going to use ecryptfs anyway I might as well go safe and replace encfs entirely. Does anyone know of a decent gui for ecryptfs comparable to encfs manager?

I've got a Dell inspiron 15 7559 laptop with a nVidia GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] graphical card. After getting it to boot correctly and installing the nvidia drivers using the additional drivers tab (nvidia-352) I was able to boot perfectly normal.

When I switched to the intel card using prime-select intel and logged out I couldn't log back in. I was able to use a virtual console to revert back to nvidia and log back in. So I thought perhaps it needs a reboot for the changes. After the reboot I booted into a frozen virtual console. I had to go to recovery mode and execute prime-select nvidia in a console to be able to boot normally again.

My guess is that something with the intel drivers is broken and crashes xorg.

I've also tried bumblebee with the same results. It booted into a frozen VC and only worked after everything was run using Nvidia again.
Anyone got any suggestions??

edit: I think gpu-manager is writing using the nvidia driver. I am currently trying to find a way to get gpu-manager to work correctly.

I installed qupzilla today to replace chrome (it was hogging WAY to much ram). I liked it and I wanted to update it to the latest version using there repository but as I tried to update it an error popped up:

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/qupzilla_1.8.6-1~trusty_amd64.deb 
(--unpack): trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qupzilla/libPIM.so', which is also in package libqupzilla1 1.6.0-1  
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)  
Errors were encountered while processing:  
/var/cache/apt/archives/qupzilla_1.8.6-1~trusty_amd64.deb  
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried apt-get autoremove and I tried apt-get remove libqupzilla1. It doesn't work and returns a broken pipe error.

So I started synaptic package manager and tried to remove libqupzilla1. Unfortunately it wants to update qupzilla at the same time (so it starts by updating before removing) resulting in, yet again, the same error.

After that I tried to manually remove the file it tries to overwrite but unfortunately to no avail. The file is removed (backuped to a save location and then removed using sudo rm /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qupzilla/libPIM.so) but it gives the same error.

Does anyone have a tip or hint I can use to first remove libqupzilla1 before updating qupzilla??
I'm fearing that I'll have to remove qupzilla just to remove this old lib package but if there is a way around it I would love to learn it.

Does anyone know of a plugin that lets you add notes to books in Calibre?

I read quite a lot of books (actual books) and I'm quite used to add little side notes on small sticky notes. Since some books aren't shipped to my location I decided to buy the e-books and use Calibre to read them. Only thing I missed was a way to add notes. I've been using Mendeley for quite some time now, so I know it's possible to add notes but I'm using Mendeley for my work and I don't want to clutter it with e-books. Is there anyone who can help me?

My monitor brightness down key resets my brightness before lowering it, effectively leaving me at near max brightness. I do not experience any problems with the brightness up key.

I'm using a Dell XPS 15 laptop with an NVIDIA gpu. Its a fresh install of Ubuntu 14.04 with gnome 3 and it worked fine with 13.04 with unity. I added GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor" to my grub file (since this was the solution in 13.04 and I've added

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "card0"
        Driver      "intel"
        Option      "Backlight"  "intel_backlight"
        BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"

EndSection

to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

I can change my brightness with a workaround but I would like to use the normal brightness controls.

Edit: I removed the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor" part from my grub and changed it back to "quiet splash".

My brightness down key keeps on resetting the brightness. I've mapped another key to the same keycode (224, monitor brightness down) and it works fine! Why is the normal brightness down key not working?

When I open a virtual terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and press the brightness down key I get a time stamp with the text ACPI: failed to switch the brightness (which is expected) and the brightness resets anyway (which is unexpected).

Meaning that the resetting of the brightness isn't linked to the "brightness down" command under the key but linked to the key itself. Some secondary command, bug or something else.This is confirmed by disabling the brightness controls using dconf-editor. Even after disabling these controls the brightness down button resetted the brightness.

I need to execute a command for my system to search for new sd cards and to be able to execute it I need to execute it as root. Simply using sudo with the command does not work. This is not a question of how to execute an alias with sudo rights!
I want to know how to add an alias to the root user so I can execute it after using sudo -i. I tried logging in to the root user and just adding the alias (which works fine). The only problem is that the alias disappears after I log out from the terminal.

Can I install extra desktop environments without affecting my current environment?

I'm asking because I got mixed messages saying that it is no problem as well as those that say that the universe basically exploded when they switched temporarily.

I'm having some problems with a full disk.
According to df -k I'm using 47 gb of data in my home folder and I have no idea where all of that data is hiding. I tried using the disk usage analyser aka baobab but since my home directory is encrypted I can't analyse which folders are using all of the data (since the $home directory is just a virtual representation of my encrypted data and is more of a phantom view so baobab just keeps scanning endlessly without counting any data when I ask it to just scan my home directory).
Does anyone know of a good method to analyse where all of my disk space went??

Btw does anyone have some good suggestions for clearing up disk space?

I'm installing an old laptop for a mentally challenged person who only uses it to listen to music and surf online. A Packard Bell easynote S5.

I've installed Lubuntu 13.10 and everything works perfectly after a little bit of work. The only problem I haven't been able to surmount was that there is no sound.

I first tried to open alsamixer and it game the following output

Cannot open mixer: File or directory does not exist

Neither could I run:

cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec

cat /proc/asound/cards outputs

--- no soundcards ---

sudo lspci -v outputs the following:

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Packard Bell B.V. Device c011
    Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 5
    Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link

I tried installing the realtek drivers but those failed

Does anyone have a solution?

Edit: I got a weird suggestion to try editing /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf I now get a sound icon but still no sound (duh, still no sound card detected)

Oke, I've discovered that the installation process didn't properly install the sound modules since it apparently doesn't have access to the linux-restricted-modules I'm attempting to fix this now

Edit2: Didn't work :(

It might be usefull to note that the sound did work on the (old) version of opensuse that I installed about 7 years ago on this laptop

Edit3: You know what. screw alsa. I'll just use magic and make drivers appear

I found the correct drivers for my sound card (from opensound.com's oos package). It was discontinued in 2008 and doesn't work with my (much newer) kernel :(

The good thing is: I'm getting close

My only options are to either use a really old kernel version or install Windows XP or something like that.

I'm trying to change the default behavior of Super Right/Left arrow into that of Ctrl Super Right/Left arrow as well as CtrlAlt4/6.

Ctrl Super Right/Left arrow is used to change the position and size of the active window so it will only take up half the screen (this is called semi-maximization).

The normal approach to do this is to go to system setting -> Keyboard -> shortcuts -> windows and change the default shortcut into the desired shortcut, copy that shortcut and give it another key combination

This is a compiz thing (compiz grid) so you have to edit it in ccsm which is fine. Now the problem arises that you cannot set the same command to multiple shortcuts. So when I set this command to CtrlAlt4/6 (which I use when I have a lot of windows that need to be managed across multiple monitors) I cannot set it to Super Right/Left arrow (which I use on the go for quick window management).

How can I set a compiz command to multiple key-combinations?

Is it perhaps possible to set a key combination to press another combination?? like this:

Press Super Left Arrow --> send keys CtrlAlt4

I'm trying to install steam games onto my Data partition (NTFS formatted since I use that partition as a bridge for the few times I have to use windows).

I do not want it in my home folder since it is starting to get a bit full (I only have 16 gb of space left)

I tried this solution but apparently that doesn't work anymore.

I tried setting the library folder on the Data partition but I just get the response: "New Steam library folder must be on a filesystem mounted with execute permissions."

I usually mount my Data partition using the launcher mount option unity brings with it (just click on the drive on the side bar). I don't really want to change that.

So how can I mount my drives with executive permissions using the launcher icons??

I recently acquired two computers because the university bought new ones. I connected them to my two sound system (I managed to acquire two old sound systems some time ago) using a jack 3.5 output. I've put them on opposite sides of my room (yes it's just the one room) and I would like to sync the sound output of both pc's using wifi.

Normally I would just use vlc, correct for the delay and be done with it but unfortunately I'm not streaming mp3 files but actual sound from the internet.

I do not care if there is a delay between receiving the sound and actual playing the sound I just want these two pc's sound systems synced.

The distance between the two computers and sound systems is to long to be able to cheaply run a jack cable between them without sound quality loss.

Does anyone know how to do this?

On our home network we have one Windows 7 only PC and several computers with Ubuntu 13.04 (dual boot with backup Windows 7 for programs that can't be run using wine).

We want to be able to send commands (like msg or shutdown etc.) to that Windows PC (and if possible we want that Windows 7 PC to be able to send commands to the Linux PCs).

How do I do this?