L. D. James's questions

Is there something in Gnome or Ubuntu 18.04 that will show the recent used GUI applications. For the command line commands there is the Bash History log which I use all the time.

If I can see a list, I can build a launcher to quickly launch a GUI from the recent list... saving lots of time in searching for a recently used application.

My current research is showing gnome activity journal, which might have had the feature, but it was discontinued and removed from the repository for Ubuntu 18.04.

I also believe this information is included in the Zeitgeist database, of which I'm researching how to extract it.

Cairo Dock has a recent event's app that has an application tab which shows a few of the applications that was run, but it shows less than one out of five applications that are launched.

On one of my computers, clicking on an Icon on the launcher that has multiple application grouped will toggle between opening all the Windows in the group, or minimzing all the windows in the group.

On all the other computers, when there is more than one item on the icon, it will bring up the list and allow the user scroll through the icon list and click on just one application.

Does anyone know how to change this behavior to the default, whereas it will bring up the list if there is more than one icon in the group, and toggle restore/minimize when there is only one in the group?

You can see this list with a sequence of keystrokes:

• right click the icon
• click all windows
• click the application instance from the list

In Ubuntu 18.04 non-sudo users can't connect to the Wifi. The would have to have access to log in with a sudoer user account, then log out, then log in as a normal user to have access to connecting to a wifi network.

That's a lot of work for a normal user, in order to connect to the wifi. Also, there are some environments where the sudoer users' passwords are can be a security concern for distribution.

Can someone advise what has to be done (which group access) will allow non-sudo users to be able to connect to the wifi?

I'm not sure if it has always had this limitation before 18.04, but I'm just noticing it when trying to provide assistance to one of my clients who is out of town at a conference. The administration account isn't a secret from him, but his computer literacy level is problematic for being able to do all the needed account switching to get connected.

Since the upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS from 16.04 LTS, none of my custom themes work. In fact, they distort my display so much that it becomes unusable.

Luckily I can change it back to something workable with this cli:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme "Breeze"

The problem with all the available Themes is I usually have over 10 terminal screens loaded while working, and without borders, I can't tell where one terminal ends and the next terminal begins.

Also It' hard to tell which application window is active because there isn't enough difference between the colors.

I'm trying to manually edit the Adwaita theme. It has an empty gtk-3.0 folder and a gtk-2.0 folder which has a main.rc file which I'm sure is the control file. I can't figure out what to change to affect the Title bar and the border width.

I'm trying to do the same thing with Ubuntu 18.04 that is done here with Ubuntu 16.04 in this answer:
How to edit the color of the title bar and border width of a gtk3 theme?

Ubuntu 18.04 themes configuration appears to be totally different.

In Ubuntu 18.04, when moving the windows there is a resize effect that occurs when accidentally touching one of the screen edges. This control was available in CCSM and Ubuntu Tweak in previous versions with Unity.

I'm not finding it in GNOME Tweaks. I also searched the repository with:

apt search ubuntu.*tweak

For most devices there's a raw version in /dev.

For the video devices there is /dev/video0, /dev/video, etc.

For terminals there are /dev/tty1, /dev/tty2, etc.

For storage devices there are /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc.

There used to be a /dev/dsp for the sound device. However, at present, it doesn't exist.

Can someone tell me of sound device equivalent for the purpose of interfacing to the raw device?

I have spent a lot of time studying the content of the /dev subdirectory. I can't identify an item that would represent the sound device, or which device to try to connect to.

The arecord command shows these sound devices available:

$ arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 2: ALC889A Alt Analog [ALC889A Alt Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 2: HDMI [USB Capture HDMI], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 3: C525 [HD Webcam C525], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Is there a way to interpret this information and use it to capture audio from any or all of those devices.

What can I substitute from other commands for using the ffmpeg commands such as these commands for the capture?

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i /dev/dsp out.wav
$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:2 -t 30 out.wav

The arecord -l output without pavucontrol running:

$ arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 2: ALC889A Alt Analog [ALC889A Alt Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/2
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
card 2: HDMI [USB Capture HDMI], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 3: C525 [HD Webcam C525], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Update based on information from the comments

This command produces a 30 second file with sound coming from my USB HDMI capture card:

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:2 -t 30 out.wav
ffmpeg version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 20160609
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avcodec     configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv --enable-version3 --disable-doc --disable-programs --disable-avdevice --disable-avfilter --disable-avformat --disable-avresample --disable-postproc --disable-swscale --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libvo_aacenc --enable-libvo_amrwbenc
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
Guessed Channel Layout for  Input Stream #0.0 : stereo
Input #0, alsa, from 'hw:2':
  Duration: N/A, start: 1513743504.091042, bitrate: 1536 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Output #0, wav, to 'out.wav':
  Metadata:
    ISFT            : Lavf56.40.101
    Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.60.100 pcm_s16le
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (pcm_s16le (native) -> pcm_s16le (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
size=    5621kB time=00:00:30.00 bitrate=1535.0kbits/s    
video:0kB audio:5621kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.001355%

This command produces the following error when trying to capture sound from my webcam mic:
(The errors are the last two lines of output.)

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:3 -t 30 out.wav
ffmpeg version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 20160609
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avcodec     configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv --enable-version3 --disable-doc --disable-programs --disable-avdevice --disable-avfilter --disable-avformat --disable-avresample --disable-postproc --disable-swscale --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libvo_aacenc --enable-libvo_amrwbenc
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
[alsa @ 0x17c7f80] cannot set channel count to 2 (Invalid argument)
hw:3: Input/output error

This command (using the output from arecord -L of this anwer, works without errors:

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i plughw:CARD=C525,DEV=0 -t 30 out.wav
ffmpeg version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 20160609
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avcodec     configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv --enable-version3 --disable-doc --disable-programs --disable-avdevice --disable-avfilter --disable-avformat --disable-avresample --disable-postproc --disable-swscale --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libvo_aacenc --enable-libvo_amrwbenc
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
Guessed Channel Layout for  Input Stream #0.0 : stereo
Input #0, alsa, from 'plughw:CARD=C525,DEV=0':
  Duration: N/A, start: 1513743836.271555, bitrate: 1536 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s16le, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 1536 kb/s
Output #0, wav, to 'out.wav':
  Metadata:
    ISFT            : Lavf56.40.101
    Stream #0:0: Audio: pcm_s16le ([1][0][0][0] / 0x0001), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s
    Metadata:
      encoder         : Lavc56.60.100 pcm_s16le
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (pcm_s16le (native) -> pcm_s16le (native))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
size=    5625kB time=00:00:30.00 bitrate=1536.0kbits/s    
video:0kB audio:5625kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.001354%

Other variations of the command to try to get sound from the webcam included (from nik gnomic's comment):

$ ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:3,0 -t 30 out.wav

Using Ubuntu as a Hotspot access point is a very seamless setup, though there are a number of steps. However I can't find any reference to how to view the connections... the number of connections, the IP and MAC addresses.

I'm also trying to identify a way to manage the connections. I would like to control who connects and check the bandwidth they are using, and other normal details that are available from wifi setups.

There might be an occasion to want to ban or limit connections to certain MAC addresses.

Does anyone have any information these details?

After creating the Hotspot, one of the computers connecting to it has this private IP: 10.42.0.18. Connecting to http://10.42.0.1 brings up the Ubuntu default Webpage... the same as http://localhost.

The command netstat -n | less doesn't show any references to a 10.42.0 network. It does show an entry (raw), which I haven't seen in normal netstat outputs.

netstat -n | less output

Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State      
tcp        0     36 192.168.16.24:22        192.168.16.26:41458     ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0 192.168.15.136:55190    72.43.238.234:1723      ESTABLISHED
raw        0      0 192.168.15.136:47       72.43.238.234:*         1          
Active UNIX domain sockets (w/o servers)
Proto RefCnt Flags       Type       State         I-Node   Path
unix  2      [ ]         DGRAM                    32734    /run/user/1001/systemd/notify
unix  2      [ ]         DGRAM                    10603    /run/systemd/journal/syslog
unix  7      [ ]         DGRAM                    10605    /run/systemd/journal/socket

There's no change in the raw entry no matter how many connections are made to the Hotspot.

I have a script that will extract files for examining to a temporary folder then call nautilus.

I'm trying to make the script wait for Nautilus to exit, then remove the temporary folder. However, the folder is removed instantly after Nautilus is called.

I understand that Nautilus is a sub-window of Gnome which is controlling the Desktop. However, I'm trying to figure out a way to call a new instance of Nautilus or workaround.

The Script:

#/bin/bash

tempdir=$(mktemp -d)

unzip ~/document.odt -d $tempdir
nautilus $tempdir

# waitfor nautilus to exit
# workaround 
zenity --info --title="Find Icons" --text="Click OK to exit" 2>/dev/null

rm -r $tempdir

Currently I'm using Zenity as a workaround to make the script wait by giving the user a prompt. I'm trying to remove this extra step and have the script recognize the Nautilus window had closed, then automatically finish.

I have always set the execute bit on my Java Programs to call them like a regular program without using the -jar argument... just by running the application with the name in the path.

In the past, it only took: chmod +x myjavaprogram.jar, then running it with ./myjavaprogram.jar from the commandline.

It still works on my computers that have the Ubuntu version previous to 16.04. However, it doesn't work on any of my computers that are updated to 16.04.

I can't find any references to the problem, outside of suggestions to ensure the execute bit is set and some references to ensuring to have this installed: sudo apt install binfmt-support

I have never installed the package before, however, in an effort to fix the problem, I ran the installer which confirms it's already installed on Ubuntu by default and has the latest version.

The only other references I'm finding with problems with running java programs is specifications of properly having Java installed (openjdk or oracle). I have both installed with full updates. I also have used sudo update-alternatives --config java to change between the two. They both show the same error at the console.

This is what I get from the two methods:

Using the cli as a regular program:

$ ./HelloWorld.jar
invalid file (bad magic number): Exec format error

Using the -jar argument:

$ java -jar ./HelloWorld.jar 
Hello World

Many of my Java application that is in my /usr/local/bin folder are renamed without the java extension. They still work as a regular program on my computers that has the Ubuntu version previous to 16.04.

Doesn't anyone know how to add this functionality to version 16.04?

Update

Double clicking the applications from the file browser works.

However, I have tens of java apps that I run just like using the normal commandline tools such as, find, top, grep, netstat, and so on. Some of the commands call other java apps that are in the exec path.

Trying to work in Ubuntu's Recovery mode, I click on Drop to root shell prompt. Then within about two minutes (before I can perform the task) I get a timeout message:

[ TIME ] Timed out waiting for device dev-di...\x2d900d\x2d4144dbce7bcd.device.

This doesn't happen with all my computers.

Can someone tell me what is causing this and how to disable the timeout or the timer?

I can alternatively use the Livemedia for the maintenance, but would like to fix the default Ubuntu's Recovery Mode if possible.

The commands requested for review:

This command is run from a Pendrive:

apollo@testnode1:~$ sudo fsck -f /dev/sda6
fsck from util-linux 2.27.1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
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
/dev/sda6: 237713/5177344 files (0.2% non-contiguous), 2756254/20696576 blocks

These commands are run from the normal install:

apollo@testnode2:~$ swapon
NAME      TYPE      SIZE USED PRIO
/dev/sda5 partition 7.8G   0B   -1
apollo@testnode2:~$ free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.3G        1.3G        4.4G        278M        1.5G        5.3G
Swap:          7.8G          0B        7.8G
apollo@testnode2:~$ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for apollo: 
/dev/sda1: LABEL="Recovery" UUID="4E98CBF598CBD99B" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="173f2864-89f9-43ca-b0e1-5eaafdab48d3"
/dev/sda2: UUID="90CE-9CE3" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI system partition" PARTUUID="599b66e0-89e6-4b4e-9847-541faf11fdb9"
/dev/sda4: UUID="3874F30874F2C820" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="bf40e76a-f4bf-4f35-8e6e-8116dab7fc73"
/dev/sda5: UUID="c9334080-5716-4af6-8223-c2f7ab8b42be" TYPE="swap" PARTLABEL="SWAP" PARTUUID="c6c857f5-60d4-429a-88b3-e8f2295514c2"
/dev/sda6: UUID="183a59f8-4023-4204-bf16-ef9ab0c61c7e" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="4a51f6b5-089b-45ea-968f-21b41f9eb1c2"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="46b31443-958e-4bbd-a037-fbb9d8e0d7ce" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="65e17cc7-01"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="swap" UUID="1be3310d-83f3-41b9-b9fe-a146965a0c38" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="65e17cc7-05"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="data" UUID="8c4924cc-5aaf-44bb-8e60-f49ba1431148" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="65e17cc7-06"
/dev/sda3: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="2f583e8e-2993-46d3-be1b-7abd83eec923"
apollo@testnode2:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
#                
# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=183a59f8-4023-4204-bf16-ef9ab0c61c7e /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=90CE-9CE3  /boot/efi       vfat    umask=0077      0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=c9334080-5716-4af6-8223-c2f7ab8b42be none            swap    sw              0       0

The timeout message doesn't show anymore. The Recovery Session, just continues into a reboot in about two minutes.

There is a question and answer related to mouse trail option. However, the OP appears to have needed something different (Is there a mouse trail option?). His question was satisfied by turning on an elaborate show mouse feature. In my question the mouse cursor is alright the way it is. I'm familiar with compiz's show mouse. There are also a number of features of displaying the way the mouse looks in Unity-tweak-tool and gnome-tweak-tool.

Most of the other Google search hits related to mouse trails are complaints of artifacts that are referred to as bugs.

The benefit of the trail over just showing the location of the mouse, is that the trail appears when the mouse moves. This will facilitate my finding the mouse in my three monitor work setup. Having the mouse always showing as in the particle display all the time would be distracting.

It should get activated when mouse is moving deactivated when there is no motion.

I've seen some references to CCSM's extra plugins such as in this video: Mouse Cursor Trails - YouTube. I have installed a number of the plugins, but have yet to find one for CCSM.

Is there any apps or addon? hopefully someone will be familiar with it.

I have a number of installation of ubuntu 16.04. Some of them were upgraded from a previous version. Some of them were fresh installs.

Some of my installations have problems that that I don't experience of some of the others.

I'm trying to identify if the problems that I experience are because of problems with the upgrade and if the fresh installs are functioning better.

If the fresh installs are functioning better in every instance, I might perform fresh installs on some of the computers that I experience problem.

Thanks in advance for anyone who knows how to test if the running OS was installed initially as the version running.

Can someone tell me how to disable the new behavior that just started in Ubuntu 15.10, the hiding of the scrollbars.

I can find many references and questions on this, but they are all related to removing the actual overlay scrollbars and replacing them with the normal scrollbars.

I have used those fixes for years. However, they don't resolve this new problem with having the scrollbars disappear unless you hover your mouse over the window.

This problem (after using all the disable overlay scrollbars fixes) is easily reproduced by bringing up Nautilus with a folder that has more items than will fit in one window. I have always used a quick glance at the window to know if I were seeing the full contents of the folder by seeing the presence of a scrollbar. Now I can't tell without constantly wiggling the mouse over the window. Since I often have 10's of windows opened spreaded across three monitors, I spend a lot of time wiggling the mouse to identify if I have the full content in view, or the portion of the content that is in view.

The problem is also easily produced by running Eclipses which I also have multiple windows running with various editors. I have to constantly wiggle the mouse on those windows also to check to see the portion of the text that is being displayed.

The closest question that I found that comes to this problem is How to disable overlay scrollbar hiding behavior. That resolution is one of the ones I have used for years to remove the overlay. This fix was introduced 4 years before this new behavior of bringing back the scrollbar, but hiding it unless the mouse is recently wiggled over the window.

Running these commands I get:

$ export GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0
$ gdbus call --session --dest org.freedesktop.DBus --object-path /org/freedesktop/DBus --method org.freedesktop.DBus.UpdateActivationEnvironment '{"GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING": "0"}'

Output:

()

I'm using Ubuntu 15.04. Suddenly it my mouse cursor is only visible when I move it. Can someone help me with a way to make it always stay visible. It appears that somehow a mouse cursor autohide feature has inadvertently gotten activated.

I have searched the forum. All references to the mouse cursor is either autohide, helping the users with how to hide the mouse cursor, or other unrelated issues like no cursor at all.

I'm trying to do the opposite of the other titles. I'm trying to make my mouse stay always visible, like a default installation.

I have a samba share over the a vpn server. Browsing the share takes 60 times longer from Ubuntu than it takes from Windows.

From a Windows 7 Virtual Box (and any other machine in the shop) it takes 3 seconds for a folder with 1000 files to appear.

Clicking on the same folder from Nautilus it takes over 3 minutes before the files show.

The network is the same. The only difference is browsing from Ubuntu vs browsing from Windows.

This is the /etc/fstab entry from the Ubuntu machine:

//myserver/officeshared /mnt/myshare cifs noauto,username=myname,uid=1001,file_mode=0660,dir_mode=0775,noexec,credentials=/etc/smbpassw 0 0

I'm sure the problem is Nautilus and not ubuntu because I can get a file listing in 3 seconds with:

time ls /mnt2/mckserver/McKelvey/ > ~/filelist.txt

Output:

real    0m2.223s
user    0m0.004s
sys     0m0.007s

Can someone tell me how to stop the autoresizing behavior of Windows in Ubuntu 14.04 when you touch the top or bottom when resizing the window.

There is an undesirable effect of the the bottom resizing all the way to the bottom when you only want to resize the top, or vice-versa.

In the past it was possible to disable this effect by unchecking grid in CCSM. Then came Unity Tweak tool which made it easy to remove. You could remove it by turning off Window snapping and Hotcorners.

Now in Ubuntu 14.04 I have all those feature turned off and yet I can't resize only the top or only the bottom without the other end automatically moving.

Can someone tell me which file and item is edited to change the title bar and the border width in the gtk3 themes? I'm using Ubuntu version 14.04.

Note: This is related to Using the Themes in the Repository (14.04).

Can someone advise me of how to add borders (wide borders) to Windows in Ubuntu version 14.04. In the past I have used "gnome-tweak-tool". However it doesn't work with version 14.04.

All my windows (especially the many terminal screens I work with) appear to blend as one. It's very hard to tell where one window begin and another end.

Also the title bars are very hard to distinguish between which window is active and with window is inactive.

Thanks in advance for anyone who has a solution of how to customize these Windows (or how to make gnome-tweak-tool work with Ubuntu 14.04).

I tryed activating the Window Decorator feature of CCSM but using that disabled Unity and made the environment unusable.

All about tweaking the Windows in Ubuntu 14.04... setting border width, color, title, etc.

Is there a workaround to run a lightdm script? The one in the docs doesn't work. Anything placed there will prevent X from working.

The script I would like to use is my KVM utility synergy. I thought for a while it was synergy that was causing the problems. However, I found that anytime there is a lightdm.conf file with anything on that line X will fail to load.

Example:

greeter-setup-script=/etc/lightdm/test.sh

The text.sh file is simply a shell command to indicate it ran:

test.sh:
#!/bin/bash
date >> /tmp/test.log

Thanks in advance for anyone who has any input, or as I mentioned a workaround so that I could have a resource that will run upon X startup before the user actually logs in.

Can someone tell me how to recover from the Dash Home screen appearing behind the running programs? I almost always have more than 50 applications running. Many times this includes more than 30 Firefox pages.

Every once in a while the Dash Home screen will appear behind all the windows and the only way I can recover from this problem is to Log out and log back in or restart the computer. This often takes me up to an hour to get back to where I was working with all the applications I'm using back into place.

Is there a way to stop this from happening? Does this happen to other people?