I accidentally opened Orca Screen Reader from the Dash when I was trying to open Screenshot. Now everything I type or click on is spoken out loud.
How do I make it stop?
For reference, here is a screenshot of Orca Screen Reader running:
This answer and email message indicate that something called "OverlayFS" is available in Ubuntu 11.10 and will forcefully replace aufs in Ubuntu 12.04.
How do I use it? Where is its documentation?
I'd like to allow SSH password authentication from only a certain subnet. I see the option to disallow it globally in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:
# Change to no to disable tunnelled clear text passwords
#PasswordAuthentication yes
Is there a way to apply this configuration to a select range of IP addresses?
How can I add a custom compose key sequence?
For example, I would like Compose, |, > to type the ▸ symbol.
I have tried adding the following to ~/.XCompose:
# Import default rules from the system Compose file
include "%L"
# Custom definitions
<Multi_key> <bar> <greater> : "▸" U25B8 # Black right-pointing small triangle
but the new sequence is not usable anywhere except for xterm.
Installing ibus-table-compose and then enabling the Compose input method in IBus did not solve the problem; IBus imitated many compose key sequences, but not the one I had created.
I just added a new, underprivileged "desktop user," and I was surprised to discover that it can see the files in my home folder.
What is the rational for setting up such lax permissions?
I noticed that two groups are granted similar-looking permissions in /etc/sudoers:
# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
My user account with "Administer the system" privileges is in the admin group, and there don't appear to be any users in the sudo group. What are these two groups for?
I would like to have an Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit test environment. When I try booting the Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit installation CD in VirtualBox, the following message is displayed by VirtualBox:
VT-x/AMD-V hardware acceleration has been enabled, but is not operational. Your 64-bit guest will fail to detect a 64-bit CPU and will not be able to boot.
Please ensure that you have enabled VT-x/AMD-V properly in the BIOS of your host computer.
What am I doing wrong?
Details:
- VBox.log, ubuntu-test.vbox, and /proc/cpuinfo.
- Kernel: Linux aux 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:24 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
- The Virtualization setting in the BIOS is set to Enabled.
I just learned that some Lenovo laptops include a utility that offers to limit battery charging capacity to within 0–80% in order to slow the attenuation of the battery lifespan:
How can I do this in Ubuntu?
I would have expected System ▸ Administration ▸ Login Screen ▸ Play login sound to control this, but unchecking it does not prevent the drum beat sound from playing.
I recently learned that there is a huge pile of documentation in /usr/share/doc.
It seems like much of it is gzipped so that it is not directly accessible without administrative privileges:
$ gunzip examples/letter.tex.gz
gzip: examples/letter.tex: Permission denied
While one solution to this would be for every user to duplicate each item in their home directory just to read it, this arrangement hardly seems conducive to regular browsing.
How do normal people read this documentation?
I am not inclined to believe that the typical user is expected to install and maintain a web server just to read local text documentation.
I'm planning on selling a USB external hard drive that currently contains an old Ubuntu installation with stored passwords and banking information.
How can I securely erase the drive before selling it?
I have customized some of the shortcuts in System ▸ Preferences ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts.
How can I restore individual shortcuts to their default settings? I do not want to reset all of the shortcuts, just a few of my choice.
There is only one user on my system. How can I change its user ID from the default of 1000?
If there are additional steps that would be required in order to avoid breaking the login process on a typical desktop installation, those should be included as part of the answer.
When I press the volume up/down keys on my keyboard, the volume changes too much. How can I make the step size smaller so that I have finer control?
When I right-click the desktop icon for my USB drive or SD card I have the choice to "Eject" or "Safely Remove Drive":
In the Tree side pane in Nautilus, I can either "Unmount" or "Eject":
The Places side pane in Nautilus has some kind of eject icon:
What do all of these do?
Specifics I've been wondering about include:
- What happens when a drive has multiple partitions mounted?
- Under what conditions is a prompt to empty the trash displayed?
- Do any of these result in a state in which the drive cannot be mounted again without first being physically reconnected?
I would like to be able to choose any already-open window and minimize it from the command line. Is this possible?
All operating systems freeze sometimes, and Ubuntu is no exception. What should I do to regain control when...
- just one program stops responding?
- nothing at all responds to mouse clicks or key presses?
- the mouse stops moving entirely?
- I have an Intel Bay Trail CPU?
In what order should I try various solutions before deciding to pull the power plug?
What should I do when starting up Ubuntu fails? Is there a diagnostic procedure I can follow?
What can I use to find duplicate photos, including photos that have been resized?
Short of rebooting, how can I release and renew my DHCP lease? It would be useful to know a GUI and terminal method.
I'd especially like to know if there is a means to do this without requiring admin privileges.
I'd like to watch disk activity on my USB external hard drive. I know that I can use iotop to monitor disk I/O for each running process, but is there a way to get a measure per filesystem?