JeanSibelius's questions

I'm trying to connect an iPhone 10 to Ubuntu 20.04 via a USB cable. I've installed libmobiledevice successfully, and the phone is connected lightning cable to USB port.

When I run sudo idevicepair pair it doesn't give either a success or error message -- it just sits there blinking. It's been about 20 minutes now. I haven't received a Trust message on the iPhone.

Should it take a while for idevicepair to run? Or is no message after 20 minutes a sign of a problem? I don't mind letting it sit there all night, but I'm going to feel silly if it's pointless.

I'm trying to run a cron job from a home server that runs Ubuntu 24/7, using a Python script to clear a remote mailbox.

In a folder "scripts" in my home folder, I've put in a Python script, garbage.py.

I've made it executable:

chmod +x garbage.py 

The script is (with the username and password updated to the real username and password):

#!/bin/env python3

import imaplib
import ssl
from datetime import datetime
# your IMAP server credentials
IMAP_HOST = 'mail.us.opalstack.com'
IMAP_USER = 'mail_username'
IMAP_PASS = 'mail_password'
def clear_old_messages():

today = datetime.today().strftime('%d-%b-%Y')

ctx = ssl.create_default_context()
server = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(host=IMAP_HOST, ssl_context=ctx)
server.login(IMAP_USER, IMAP_PASS)
server.select()

resp, items = server.search(None, f"SENTBEFORE {today}")
items = items[0].split()
for i in items:
    server.store(i, '+FLAGS', '\\Deleted')

server.expunge()
    server.logout()
if __name__ == '__main__':
    clear_old_messages()

I've opened up crontab in Ubuntu with

crontab -e

and added

0 1 * * * /home/[user]/scripts/garbage.py

I'm a bit stymied as to what's not working. Do I need to call Python in the cron task, even though it's called at the top of the script? Or is there something I'm missing?

This has been happening for a while -- running Ubuntu 18.04.4.

I install updates regularly, but for months now, after updating and rebooting, my computer will only boot if I select one of the Linux 4.x kernels in the GRUB options. The 5.x kernels present

Loading [version number] ...
error: invalid magic number. 
Loading initial ramdisk ...
error: you need to load the kernel first.

The error occurs for both the regular and "recovery mode" entries.

I've run GRUB repair, and sudo update-grub. When I update GRUB, it confirms that it's finding all the Linux images:

But I can still only boot into the 4.x kernels.

Edit/update: I have updated the BIOS to the most recent version and the problem persists.

Edit/update 2: it is absolutely not RAM (eight hours and 4+ passes with Memtest86+), BIOS (up to date), and other system components all come up fine on the BIOS' built-in system test. I've reformatted the HDD and reinstalled Ubuntu from scratch and the 5.x.x kernel works fine now. I'm chalking this up to another "Ubuntu: it's a hobby and an operating system!" incident and accepting once again that the OS is just not quite ready for prime time and using it requires a day or two a year to nuke it and start from scratch or deal with other bonkers issues.

I updated Ubuntu, and upon reboot I got this error screen:

Things I've tried so far:

• Boot Repair from Ubuntu Live on USB; no change; booting into various recovery modes doesn't help, either.
• Memtest for about 90 minutes, revealed no errors.
• Replacing RAM entirely; still no difference.

I'm not afraid of the command line, but I don't have an advanced understanding of Ubuntu.

df command:

    Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             4038808       0   4038808   0% /dev
tmpfs             812256    1548    810708   1% /run
/dev/sdc1        7970032 1949540   6020492  25% /cdrom
/dev/loop0       1860480 1860480         0 100% /rofs
/cow             4061264  407568   3653696  11% /
tmpfs            4061264   46844   4014420   2% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120       8      5112   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            4061264       0   4061264   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            4061264       0   4061264   0% /tmp
tmpfs             812252      52    812200   1% /run/user/999
/dev/loop1         93184   93184         0 100% /snap/core/6350
/dev/loop2         35456   35456         0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
/dev/loop3        144128  144128         0 100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
/dev/loop4          2304    2304         0 100% /snap/gnome-calculator/260
/dev/loop5         13312   13312         0 100% /snap/gnome-characters/139
/dev/loop6         14976   14976         0 100% /snap/gnome-logs/45
/dev/loop7          3840    3840         0 100% /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ 

fdisk-l:

Disk /dev/loop0: 1.8 GiB, 1905045504 bytes, 3720792 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 /dev/loop1: 91 MiB, 95408128 bytes, 186344 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 /dev/loop2: 34.6 MiB, 36216832 bytes, 70736 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 /dev/loop3: 140.7 MiB, 147496960 bytes, 288080 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 /dev/loop4: 2.3 MiB, 2355200 bytes, 4600 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 /dev/loop5: 13 MiB, 13619200 bytes, 26600 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 /dev/loop6: 14.5 MiB, 15208448 bytes, 29704 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 /dev/loop7: 3.7 MiB, 3878912 bytes, 7576 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 /dev/sda: 3.7 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E69014CA-EC9D-4A42-A6E0-403744998B9B

Device     Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1   2048       4095       2048    1M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2   4096 7814035455 7814031360  3.7T Linux filesystem




Disk /dev/sdb: 4.6 TiB, 5000981073920 bytes, 1220942645 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 268431360 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa04a0c61

Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1         256 1220942591 1220942336  4.6T  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Disk /dev/sdc: 7.6 GiB, 8179140608 bytes, 15974884 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00433060

Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1  *     2048 15974883 15972836  7.6G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ 

lsblk:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   1.8G  1 loop /rofs
loop1    7:1    0    91M  1 loop /snap/core/6350
loop2    7:2    0  34.6M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
loop3    7:3    0 140.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
loop4    7:4    0   2.3M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/260
loop5    7:5    0    13M  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/139
loop6    7:6    0  14.5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/45
loop7    7:7    0   3.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
sda      8:0    0   3.7T  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0     1M  0 part 
└─sda2   8:2    0   3.7T  0 part 
sdb      8:16   0   4.6T  0 disk 
└─sdb1   8:17   0   4.6T  0 part 
sdc      8:32   1   7.6G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   1   7.6G  0 part /cdrom
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  

I'm not sure if this is an Ubuntu issue or a hardware one, but I'm trying to install 16.04 on an old Optiplex 990 with a new 4TB HDD.

From USB, GParted can find the HDD, and the installer sets up Ubuntu fine. The HDD also shows up in the BIOS. But on boot, post-install, I keep getting "No Hard Drive Found." I've tried moving the drive from SATA0 to SATA1 -- still detected in the BIOS and GParted -- but still "No Hard Drive Found" on boot.

Any ideas on what's going on here -- why I can see the HDD in BIOS, and with GParted and through the install process, but the HDD can't be found as a bootable drive afterwards?

I'm on my computer at home (Win10). I'd like to access an external drive plugged into another computer running Ubuntu (I use the Ubuntu computer exclusively for a Plex media server, and have a mounted external hard drive that contains all my media).

I can use PuTTY to SSH to the Ubuntu computer, but can't figure out how to "move" from the Ubuntu disk that SSH drops me into, to the mounted external drive.

My end goal is to mass-delete all *.jpg and *.png files in the Music folder of my external media drive. I've figured out how to find and delete those files, but I can't figure out how to "move" to the external drive in SSH to run those commands.

At my low level of expertise, the only way I can share a mounted external drive from Ubuntu 14.04 to Windows computers in my house is to use the Samba GUI to share it, then edit smb.conf to add "force user = (my username)", and access settings as "Allow access to anyone".

Any attempt to restrict users, or define users, results in failure and seems to increase the difficulty level of doing this from "something I can do" to "something I will have to dedicate three or four full days to researching and understanding and experimenting with."

The end result is that any Windows computer connected to my WiFi can find the shared drive on the network, and connect to it without a password.

The shared drive only contains media files (music and movies), but I've enabled reading and writing, because the end goal is to let myself add music to the server without having to use the Ubuntu box, which is intended to just sit quietly without a monitor, etc. and act as a server.

This feels unsafe, but I don't know if it is unsafe. My wifi uses WPA2-Personal with TKIP+AES for security.

If this is a terrible and wholly unsafe idea, pointers on where I can find an explicit step-by-step guide to setting users for Samba to work with Windows 7 and 8 would be appreciated.

After trying various things, I've found that this has allowed me to share an external HDD from Ubuntu to my Windows computers.

Is there any way that I can add some sort of password protection to this shared folder? At the moment, my Windows computer can see and open this drive, but there doesn't seem to be any security.

Finally managed to get a 14.10 install to stick, but there's no side menu and no top-right power button or menu there. If I launch a program (like use a folder to navigate to and launch a media file), the program will work, but there will be no menu.

Ctrl-Alt-T doesn't launch the Terminal, either. I'm stumped.

I've tried instructions like these: solution 1

But ccsm gives me this error:

And with this solution

I get this error:

I'be also tried installing unity-tweak-tool and --restore from the Alt-F2 terminal (no regular terminal) and it does nothing.

Help?

The root problem: for some reason, on boot, Ubuntu 14.04 disables (mutes) the S/PDIF output on my sound card.

This question and its answers indicate that sudo alsactl store will store the alsamixer settings once I've unmuted the S/PDIF output, but on boot, the S/PDIF output is muted again.

In /var/lib/alsa/asound.state (pastebin) there is one PDIF entry, which I've set to "true" and saved; this has resulted in solving auto-mute for my "Phantom Jack" but there's no other entry for the "true" S/PDIF in asound.state that I can manually adjust.

There's also an empty /var/lib/alsa/asound.state.lock file (11 bytes, blank in gedit) in the /alsa/ directory. Is this something I should be dealing with?

I have installed 12.04 next to a Windows 7 install, on a partitioned 3 TB hard disk. If I use F12 during boot to review boot options from the BIOS, Windows 7 and Ubuntu boot normally, but the Ubuntu GRUB only gives me Ubuntu options.

When I try os-prober, I get no results at all; update-grub doesn't do anything for me either. I've tried modifying the GRUB using Grub Customizer, but, uh, don't really understand the finer points of it.

Here's a screenshot of the drive taken with Disk Utility. The first partition is Windows, the second is shared data (MP3s, documents, photos, etc.). The 105 MB FAT is an "EFI system partition" and the 134 MB "Unknown" is labelled a "Microsoft reserved partition"; the 898 GB is Ubuntu, and the final 5 GB is swap.

I've tried installing 12.04 about three times now into a 150GB partition on the same HD as Win7. No luck so far -- the install always seems to work, but I never get a boot option. The 12.04 live CD doesn't have Internet drivers for my mobo, so I can't access boot-repair from a live CD run.

So I'm trying EasyBCD on Windows, and can't get it to work either.

What settings do I need for EasyBCD to locate and boot Ubuntu from this partition?

I've tried checking my system drive using both touch /forcefsck and fsck from a DVD boot of Ubuntu, and both times it's been done remarkably quickly; like a few seconds for a 101 GB partition. Is that... normal?

This is being done due to some slightly odd behaviour on my computer -- a disappearing GRUB, and the failure of the computer to boot beyond powering up once or twice. The filesystem is well-established (a partition on a 500 GB drive), and the computer works normally when it boots, so I was trying to fsck for drive errors.

I've already found plenty of threads on "no such device" and grub rescue on AskUbuntu, but I'm wondering what this signifies if it happens not on a fresh install, but on a computer that has been behaving normally for well over a year.

Is this a sign of catastrophic hard drive failure, or possibly another issue? Or is it a just-happens kind of thing that crops up from time to time with Ubuntu?

Recently downloaded Multiwinia and Darwinia, some old favourites, from a buy of the Humble Introversion Bundle. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04, and when I try to launch either game, it always stretches across both of my monitors -- pretty much unplayable.

How do I configure games to only run in a single monitor? I don't have an issue with any other programs -- Chromium, VLC, LibreOffice, etc. all spawn in a single monitor, and maximize within a single monitor when I try to maximize them.

Cog is, far and away, my favourite music player. File browser on the left panel, pull a folder into the right panel, it plays the files you pull into the main box. Simple! Easy! Nice! Especially since I store all my music on my non-primary drive. Cog doesn't care where I keep my music! It just deals with whatever folder I tell it to monitor.

I also have about 200 gigs of music. It's a problem, I know.

I can't find a player this simple and elegant in Ubuntu.

Amarok: doesn't handle non-primary drives very well.
Banshee: kinda good, but fussy browsing/playlist systems.
Audacious: no file browser; it also crashes whenever I try to "import" all my music.

All I want -- seriously -- is something where I can look at my MP3 folder, drag a folder onto a playlist, and have that playlist play the songs.

After a botched attempt to update Sublime Text 2, I've managed to recover and reinstall, but Ubuntu 12.04's context menu "pointers" seem to be screwed up: the right-click will still list "Sublime Text 2" as the first "Open With" option, but clicking on it results in... nothing. No launch, no reaction at all.

Clearly something isn't pointing to something in the right way any more. How do I tell the right-click launcher where to point for the "correct" Sublime Text 2?

I ssh-ed into my webhost's directory, and tar-ed the webapp to download. When I try to mv to ~/mydirectory/backups or /home/mydirectory/backups, it defines the "home" as my root on the webhost that I'm ssh'ed into.

How do I mv in ssh to a local drive while still being inside the webhost's system?

When I launch Tor-Browser, it first launches Vidalia, then a special version of Firefox bundled with the Tor Browser package. If I try to download a (legal!) torrent in the Tor Browser version of Firefox, it launches Transmission to do so.

IF I launch Transmission from within the Tor Browser, it will remember my current torrents. This persists from one Tor Browser session to the next, including logouts, shutdowns, etc.

If, however, I try to launch Transmission from its location (usr/bin/transmission-gtk), it starts Transmission "fresh" without remembering any torrents or other settings.

I assume Transmission is somehow loading another version of itself for Firefox -- the one that remembers things -- that isn't somewhere I can find it.

Only one transmission-gtk executable appears when I search my file system... the one in usr/bin.

What's going on? How can I open Transmission and have it "remember" things without having to start a torrent on Tor-Browser first?

I feel stupid asking, but I can't seem to find the answer to this anywhere. I'm trying to follow these instructions to edit my bash prompt, but there is no .bashrc in either my user directory (~/.bashrc), or in my home directory, or in the main file system directory.

There is no .bashrc in /etc/ (there is a bash.bashrc, however).

Do I create a .bashrc file in my user or home directory? Is there a better, more recent set of instructions for modifying the bash prompt?