fikr4n's questions

After boot or reboot, many applications start very slow.

• Firefox: normal
• Android Studio (manual install, not snap): normal
• GIMP: normal
• Nautilus: slow, uses white theme instead (I use dark theme btw)
• LibreOffice: slow
• Inkscape: slow
• Gnome Terminal: not opens at all

However everything is normal after long time, probably after 10 minutes or several hours, all applications start normally, even Nautilus uses dark theme.

I found another question but the solution is not relevant to mine, probably because it is Ubuntu 19.10 instead of 24.04.

How to solve this? Or at least, how to debug this, so I know how to report the bug.

Laptop: HP Envy 15
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The mic mute key of the laptop doesn't work, but other media/function keys work, e.g. brightness up/down, speaker mute, volume up/down, previous/next, play/pause. I used evtest to see if the key-press detected and found out that some keys don't emit EV_KEY but some of them keeps working although no EV_KEY is emitted.

This is the output of evtest, I add some comments to show what key is pressed.

Event: time 1664250299.376050, type 17 (EV_LED), code 0 (LED_NUML), value 0

### Brightness down, works.
Event: time 1664250299.376050, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value ab
Event: time 1664250299.376050, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1664250299.429235, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value ab
Event: time 1664250299.429235, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

### Brightness up, works.
Event: time 1664250303.397435, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value ab
Event: time 1664250303.397435, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1664250303.462580, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value ab
Event: time 1664250303.462580, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

### Speaker mute, works.
Event: time 1664250308.917516, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value a0
Event: time 1664250308.917516, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 113 (KEY_MUTE), value 1
Event: time 1664250308.917516, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1664250308.971993, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value a0
Event: time 1664250308.971993, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 113 (KEY_MUTE), value 0
Event: time 1664250308.971993, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

### Mic mute, doesn't work.
Event: time 1664250331.832285, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 82
Event: time 1664250331.832285, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1664250331.917810, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 82
Event: time 1664250331.917810, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1664250331.922914, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 58
Event: time 1664250331.922914, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

Some QAs/threads say that media keys that don't work is probably driver-related problem. However, I hope there's some workaround to solve this, since the key-press event is still detectable. Please help me getting the mic mute key working.

What I've done so far

/etc/udev/hwdb.d/some-name.hwdb:

# Doesn't work.
evdev:name:AT Translated Set 2 keyboard:*
 ID_INPUT_KEY=1
 KEYBOARD_KEY_82=key_micmute

# Doesn't work.
evdev:name:AT Translated Set 2 keyboard:*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_82=f20

In zoom-client (from snap) I can choose whether to use HD video or not, and turns out this setting persists when I close Zoom and open Cheese. It makes me think that this setting is global instead of zoom specific. Unfortunately Cheese doesn't have this setting, so that I need to open Zoom just to change this setting.

My question is, can I change webcam resolution without opening Zoom, probably via a terminal command line or a setting GUI (such as gnome settings)?

I've installed Ubuntu several times in computers without UEFI thus without Secure Boot, but this time I am confused. I install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in HP Envy 15, dual-boot with the existing Wind***. I've read several QA and explanation about MOK, but I'm still not sure. Let me tell the story. I appreciate your patience reading my story.

In this step, there were choices to install third-party software, I checked it and was asked to enter a password, twice of course. I entered a password. It said that I will be assisted to setup later.

Question 1: What password is this actually? Is it BIOS password, or password used to sign the grub, or simply a confirmation password I need to enter later after reboot?

Question 2: Is this a one-time password, or can I change this password later? How to change it?

After the installation process finished, I restarted the computer. And then, a blue screen appeared, something like MOK Management. There were four options: continue boot, enroll key, enroll key from disk, and enroll key from hash.

Question 3: Is this bluescreen part of firmware, or part of Grub?

Question 4: What is "key" actually? Was it the password I entered before?

Not sure what to choose, I chose option number 2, "enroll key". I expected an input prompt for a password, but it was not. Instead, there were two options, one of them was "view" something.

Question 5: Was the enrollment done automatically? Without entering anything such as a password or key?

I was confused then, while looking for an enlightenment on the internet, the computer screen turned off itself, I thought it was such an auto-sleep or auto-restart because I didn't do anything. After resumed/restarted, it was MOK Management again, but then, the second option was "reset" MOK list or something, instead of "enroll key". I chose "reset", I entered the password, and an error message appeared, something like no data or no something. After that, I chose "continue boot", and I entered Ubuntu desktop successfully. However, there was no assistance to install third party software like the installation wizard said. By the way, the auto-sleep or auto-restart happened several times because I continued searching on the internet although nothing really helped.

Question 6: How to verify that everything is okay (UEFI or Secure Boot is not messed with something password or key, third-party software is installed/activated successfully)?

Question 7: In MOK Management menu, what are enroll key, enroll from disk, and enroll from hash?

Thank you. Please guide me if asking too many question is prohibited in askubuntu.

Bonus: if someone is looking for Ubuntu compatibility with HP Envy 15: overall it is compatible, except:

1. Mute-microphone key (on the keyboard) is not working
2. Fingerprint scanner is not working (not recognized)
3. Boot up is too long until GRUB appears
4. Screen brightness is not saved (always reset to 100% every boot)

I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. When I open a site which requires flash plugin (e.g. Youtube), Firefox says This plugin is vulnerable and should be updated.

However if I click Check for updates... there is no update at all. This is what the update site listed:

1. Shockwave Flash 11.2 r202 (status up to date 11.2.202.424)
2. Java(TM) Plug-in 11.25.2 (status up to date 11.25.2)

So what should I do?

I am learning to develop an application by using Quickly (quickly create ubuntu-application). This application will stay in Application Indicator / Notification Bar and only work when a defined "alarm" is triggered by the time or the main window is opened by the user. What is the recommended way to implement the "alarm" so it minimizes the CPU works and saves the battery?

Other issue to be considered is that the user may change the system date & time.

Currently I have these:

• Using gi.repository.GLib.timeout_add_seconds(60, . . .) to check every minutes, so it will not miss if the user update the system date & time.
• Using cron; the problem will be the communication between the UI program and the triggered program (by cron).
• Using a sleeping thread; not sure.

Maybe you have another better idea? Technical explanation are welcomed :). — Thank you

How to insert Arabic character for superscript Alef (like in هٰ) and subscript Alef (like in هٖ) from keyboard directly? Are they commonly used in Arabic or only used in Mushaf Uthmani of The Holy Quran?

Actually the subscript Alef is not rendered below ه in my computer (Ubuntu Raring), but on the left side of the letter instead. However the superscipt alef is rendered above the letter. I doubt I copied a wrong character :) Update: I've checked that it was a not a wrong character, because another machine renders the subscript Alef right below the character, so it was rendering problem in Raring.

I am using Ubuntu 12.10 and going to write Prolog program with clpqr. I write this in first line:

:- use_module(library(clpr)).

I got this message:

source_sink `library(clpr)' does not exist

So, how to install that library? I've found some bug report about this, but maybe there's another way to install it...

I got this message in GParted when seeing information about a partition that is marked with the yellow warning icon in the partition list:

e2label: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/sda6
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

dumpe2fs 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
dumpe2fs: No such file or
directory while trying to open /
dev/sda6

Unable to read the contents of this file system!
Because of this some operations may be unavailable.

The cause might be a missing software package.
The following list of software packages is required for ext4
file system support: e2fsprogs v1.41+.

I've checked that e2fsprogs is already the newest version. This is the result of ls /dev/sda*:

/dev/sda  /dev/sda2  /dev/sda5  /dev/sda7

There's no /dev/sda6, but this is the result of sudo fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x48350995

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda2        61239296   125128703    31944704   83  Linux
/dev/sda3       125130751   234441628    54655439    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4        52854784    61239295     4192256    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda5       125130752   204957263    39913256   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       204957333   232315956    13679312   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       232315965   234441628     1062832   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

How to address this problem? Please tell me if my information is not enough. I don't know exactly what information is related to or needed to solve this problem. Leak of knowledge about this problem also makes me difficult to google it.

UPDATE

It seems this problem appeared after I tried to make 2 new ntfs partitions when another partition is in use (i.e. current Ubuntu partition). I reproduced the scenario and got this message when creating one of them:

GParted 0.11.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid

Libparted 2.3

Format /dev/sda4 as ntfs  00:00:02    ( ERROR )
    calibrate /dev/sda4  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        path: /dev/sda4
        start: 52,854,784
        end: 61,239,295
        size: 8,384,512 (4.00 GiB)
    set partition type on /dev/sda4  00:00:02    ( ERROR )
    libparted messages    ( INFO )
        Error informing the kernel about modifications to partition /dev/sda3 -- Device or resource busy. This means Linux won't know about any changes you made to /dev/sda3 until you reboot -- so you shouldn't mount it or use it in any way before rebooting.
        Failed to add partition 3 (Device or resource busy)

I've rebooted, but there was no change.

I have read this post How do I switch to Xubuntu?, but it tells me to install xubuntu-desktop.

Can I install Xfce (only)? I mean, I don't want to install any application which is not related to Xfce desktop, but becomes dependency of xubuntu-desktop, such as abiword, gthumb, etc. What package should I install?

In Unity, I can press Super+1, Super+2 and so on to access favorites.

What is the key-shortcut in gnome-shell and where can i customize it?

Edit: I mean favorites in Activities Menu (after bringing mouse to top-left of the screen or pressing Super)