Torben Gundtofte-Bruun's questions

I run Skype 4.3.0.37 and when people send files through the chat, the transcript says:

This device doesn't support Skype's new photo sharing features yet, but you can still view it in your browser here: https://login.skype.com/login/sso?go=xmmfallback?pic=0-cus-d1-.......

That page in turn has a footer saying:

Your version of Skype is out of date, so you'll see these messages on the web. You can either update Skype[1], or use Skype for Web[2].

and [1] links to the download for skype-ubuntu-precise_4.3.0.37-1_i386.deb which is exactly what I already have installed. [2] is https://web.skype.com/en/ that I haven't tried yet.

Is it correct that there is no newer version than 4.3.0.37 for Linux?
Can I do something to avoid Skype complaining over this?

My photo importer moved files from my camera and renamed them, but I forgot to specify that it should keep the file extension. So I have several folders with hundreds of JPG & AVI files that are all missing their proper extension.

There aren't that many video files so I can manually rename them either before of after a general mass-rename to JPG.

To make things more complicated, the filenames contain spaces, so I can't just mv "*" "*.jpg" because, well, that doesn't work (but that's what I'd do, coming from DOS/Windows).

I know Linux is full of powerful commands. How can I mass-rename files to add a .jpg extension, when those files contain spaces?

_{Please don't say "don't use spaces" because that's really not what I'm asking about. Thanks.}

On my new computer, I didn't want to have /home on the system SSD but rather on the secondary drive which is a conventional hard drive.

I followed these instructions for moving /home to the other disk: A: Move home folder to second drive (actually these specific steps) But now I realize that the disk is NTFS format.

• Will running home from NTFS be a problem, or perhaps a performance killer?
• Can I convert the HDD from NTFS to ext3 (or ext4?!) without losing all the files, and how?

I've just installed 12.10 from scratch. Unity also started okay, but in a poor resolution. I found a setting (I think it was in "software sources") to change the display driver to Nvidia, and then I rebooted.

When Ubuntu now starts, it goes to the desktop (I see a file that I saved to the desktop) but there are no other screen elements -- no Unity, no menu bar at the top, no window decoration, nothing.

Ctrl-Alt-T and Ctrl-Alt-F2 work as they should, but it's kinda limiting...

1. How can I restore the default driver? I guess I need a way to open those "software sources" settings again - or anything else that could fix it! I hope I don't have to type all this by hand.
2. How can I install a proper Nvidia driver so that I can get up to 1280x1024? My old tricks don't seem to work, but perhaps they might if I solve #1...

I just bought a Canon MG5250 multifunction printer because I thought that it would work well with Ubuntu, but it's hard to get it to work.

How do I install this printer?

Apple has announced a laptop with "retina display" = 2880x1800 pixels resolution on 15 inches.
If one were to load Ubuntu on such a machine, it would probably be unreadably micro-texted as long as Ubuntu treats one pixel as one pixel.

Would it be possible to adjust Ubuntu to use such a display in a meaningful way? Difficult? Easy?

Gimp is nice, but the one thing that drives me nuts is that everything floats around in front of each other, often hiding the main window and forcing me to minimize all open windows until I find the one floating window that I am looking for.

I'd like to have the floating windows docked along the edges of that main window, the way practically every other application works. I know this floating thing is one of the things that make Gimp special, but it's not the kind of "special" that I like... I don't have a huge screen, so it quickly gets too cramped. And I often use Gimp briefly, multitasking with other apps, so the many Gimp windows are annoying.

How can I make Gimp run in one window, with everything else inside it?

This is Gimp 2.6.11 -- just because that's what came with my Ubuntu 11.10 installation.

I have Ubuntu 11.10 on one computer and Windows 7 on another. The Ubuntu computer has a printer attached, and I want to add this printer to the Windows 7 computer. Printing locally works. The problem is that Windows is not able to see the shared printer, so I cannot add it.

I am guessing that some Ubuntu setting / software is still missing, but what exactly?
How can I make Windows add this printer?

• In the CUPS web front-end, the checkbox Share printers connected to this system is checked. I'm not sure whether the checkbox Allow printing from the Internet needs to be checked also; I've tried both settings, and neither worked.

• On Windows, I can connect to the CUPS web front-end and see the printer listed (see screenshot below). And yet, when I add that printer URL, Windows complains that it cannot connect to the printer.

• The Ubuntu computer is a fresh install. I already have full write access on Windows shares, so something of this kind must be preconfigured out-of-the-box. I have not installed or changed any applications or settings regarding Samba or smb.conf. Do I need to do anything in this regard (on Ubuntu 11.10!) or is that obsolete or already included and fully configured?

• Googling for this problem gives me plenty of material dated 2005-2009 but nothing newer. I don't think that's still valid in 2012 and I don't want to mess up my new installation with outdated instructions. Via one of the comments I came to this page about network printing from Windows but it does not specify whether Samba is already installed -- or which Samba to install, because searching in the Ubuntu Software Center yields several results.

I keep having trouble getting the correct monitor resolution - every time I reinstall, I happen to use a newer Ubuntu release and the old tricks I used to know no longer work. Instead of leaving a long trail of questions for every new release, I am looking for a more universal and timeless solution.

What's the correct way to set the correct monitor resolution with an Nvidia GPU for a screen that does not send EDID values?

Note: This is a "dummy" question -- with the help from the chat, I already found the answer, and I am now going to add my own answer to document a solution that is hopefully universal.

I've seen the blurbs about Ubuntu TV being able to receive from cable and it has EPG and so on, and I'd love to install it on a regular PC that is currently running Windows Media Center.

I don't merely want to have a media player; I specifically want to be able to watch and record live TV via a tuner expansion card. I have tried installing MythTV earlier, but I failed miserably because the instructions I used were US-centric but I'm in Austria (Europe). I couldn't find a way to make the TV tuner work right.

I'm concerned that this time, again, Ubuntu TV will only work really well in the USA.

Given that I'm in non-US country "X", what are my chances of getting Ubuntu TV to work well, specifically with regard to receiving local-region EPG data and also aerial and cable TV signals in PAL and DVB-T formats?

How can I auto-unlock the Keyring Manager in Oneiric Ocelot?
I have found this description for Intrepid, but Ocelot looks different so I can't follow the instructions.

I have set up my machine to automatically log in to my account. I am using Unity. I don't mind the lesser security of having the keyring automatically unlocked. (This is a home desktop computer of a simple user, not a missile launch system.)

At the risk of being flamed, I'd like to understand why some people prefer to use a ``construction'' of accent and single quote characters rather than the "double-quote" character when quoting things?

Example:

Why do some users write quotes using ``weird'' quotes?

This is not command-line wizardry; I see this in written texts that are intended for humans to read. Here's an example I could quickly dig up. I find this construction ugly because it's asymmetrical, and because it abuses typographical characters for a purpose they weren't meant for. For some reason, this use of characters is mostly (exclusively?) done by Linux ((La)TeX?) users and not by the average computer user.

1. If the intention is to create “curly quotes” then I don't get why only the opening quote is made "curly" using the grave accent (`) -- why is a plain apostrophe used for closing quotes, rather than the acute accent (´) which would make the whole thing symmetrical?

2. If the intention is to create “curly quotes” then why are actual curly quotes (as created by MS Word) frowned upon? Modern computer systems handle actual curly quotes well, so it can't simply be a tradition from the Gopher days, can it?

3. Why are two single characters used even though the same can be achieved with a single character?

After entering the correct passphrase at the command ecryptfs-mount-private, I am getting this error:

torben@torben-nettop:~$ sudo ecryptfs-recover-private
INFO: Searching for encrypted private directories (this might take a while)...
INFO: Found [/media/0f417b42-11a0-4539-9cae-e11ce3b289c3/home/.ecryptfs/
  torben/.Private].
Try to recover this directory? [Y/n]: y
INFO: Enter your LOGIN passphrase...
Passphrase: 
Error: Unwrapping passphrase and inserting into the user session keyring
  failed [-5]
Info: Check the system log for more information from libecryptfs
torben@torben-nettop:~$ 

Syslog has this information:

ecryptfs-insert-wrapped-passphrase-into-keyring:  
  Incorrect wrapping key for file [/home/torben/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase]  
ecryptfs-insert-wrapped-passphrase-into-keyring: Error attempting to unwrap
  passphrase from file [/home/torben/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase]; rc = [-5]

--> Given that I am absolutely sure that I am entering the correct passphrase, what can I do to fix this problem so that I can read the encrypted home folder?

Some background:

• I have installed Ubuntu 11.04 on a new drive and I want to copy my home folder from the old drive, which is encrypted (I have the passphrase).
• With the help of Marco Ceppi in the chat, I followed these precise steps yesterday and successfully gained access to the encrypted home folder. This proves that my passphrase does indeed work.
• I then started the machine on copying from the old encrypted home folder to the new unencrypted home folder and went to bed. When I returned to the computer, I saw that it had suspended itself :( and had not finished copying the folder.
• I rebooted the computer, and removed the temporary /recovery folders, then followed the exact same steps again, but this is when I encountered the error given above. I tried this several times; always the same result. I am absolutely sure that I am typing the passphrase correct.

UPDATE: I found YNAB which runs very nice in wine too. (The upcoming version 5 appears to be web-based instead.)

I'm looking for something to replace my MS Money 2004 application.

• I've tried KMyMoney which seems pretty simple (that's good!) but it can't import the OFC files I get from my bank, so I would have to enter everything manually = not good.
• I've tried GnuCash which does import OFC files but I can't wrap my mind around this double-entry philosophy. It may be good for accounting but not for home use.
• I've tried to make MS Money run in Wine with some success but it was hard to make it work and I'd have to re-do that on my new machine. This is still a useful alternative for me though...

Is there a similar tool that can import OFC files and that doesn't do double-entry accounting? Tax capability is not needed for me, I only do after-tax numbers. Some nice dashboard views (upcoming bills, future cash flow, total net worth) and some graphs would be a definite bonus!

Update: I'm in Austria (Europe!) so purely US-based tools like Mint aren't relevant. Also, I really DO mean OFC format, not OFX. I have to use whatever my bank offers, even if some say it's an old format.

I'm planning to have a house built. I want to draw up some sketches on the computer, so I am looking for a program that can help me do this. It doesn't have to be a professional architecture tool; in fact that would be too complicated just yet (but maybe later on, for the detailed work...?). A simpler tool would be better.

Features should include such things as ability to draw and move walls (not just using simple boxes), calculate room/floor area, add windows and doors, and the like. That's why Inkscape or OOo Presentation won't do. On Windows, a friend would just download a cracked professional architecture tool but that is not what I want to do.

Suggestions?

My system is working perfectly but it freezes during shutdown/reboot/suspend/hibernate: All windows and the menu bar disappear but the desktop wallpaper remains. It doesn't even show the shutdown screen (the one with the animated dots) where I could hit ESC and watch the shutdown console text. The system is brand-new and fully updated using Update Manager.

1. How can I determine what is causing the freeze?
2. Is there a log I can investigate?
3. How can I fix this?

I see no obvious cause of the freeze. The only USB attachment is a mouse/keyboard; I don't have any external storage attached; and I don't have any programs running (the machine freezes even when doing shutdown right from the login screen).

What I've tried so far:

• Based on other questions (this, this, and this) that suggest some ACPI settings, I've tried sudo shutdown -h now to see whether the shutdown console text display offers any hints, but the system doesn't even get that far - it still freezes while the screen shown the desktop background image, without any toolbars. Only sudo shutdown --force works, but that's not a solution.
• Editing the grub menu to add acpi=off to the kernel didn't help. I guess there's not much point in trying the other (lesser) ACPI suggestions?
• Adding noapic to the grub entry had no discernible effect. Adding nolapic instead did something (I had removed the quiet option) - the system managed to continue further with the shutdown, right until the line Checking for running unattended-upgrades: which were the last characters on the screen.
• I've also checked the system BIOS, especially regarding power options, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Switching the BIOS standby setting from S3 to S1 didn't help. The standby setting can't be disabled, and there are no other ACPI-related settings AFAIK.
• BIOS reset didn't help. Not surprised; hadn't changed anything.
• I tried going to a virtual console (CtrlAltF1) as suggested by djeikyb and from there did a shutdown -h now and it froze there too, after this console output. I didn't try killing processes one at a time because I'm still too newbie to figure out how to do that.
• Booting with kernel 2.6.35.22 rather than 2.6.35.25 didn't help.
• Disabling the Nvidia drivers didn't help.
• Booting from Live CD (USB stick in fact) didn't help; it freezes the same way.
• Booting from Live CD, with acpi=off noapic nolapic didn't help either. Neither did just nolapic. So evidently this is not some custom setting in my install, but some sort of basic issue.
• MemTest competed in 1 hour without errors.

I'm new to Ubuntu and recently started using it on my PC. I'm going to replace that PC with a new machine. I want to transfer my data and settings to the nettop. What aspects should I consider?

Obviously I want to move my data over. What things am I missing if I only copy the entire home folder?

This is a home pc (not corporate) so user rights and other security issues are not a concern, except that the files should be accessible on the new machine!

Please take into account that the new machine is a nettop that doesn't have an optical drive and doesn't allow me to hook the old SATA disk into it, so any data transfer must be handled via home network (I can have both the old and the new machine turned on and connected to the home LAN) and I have an USB thumbdrive with limited capacity (2GB).
This sounds like it might limit the general applicability, but it would in fact make it more general.

I'm a new Linux user. I've reinstalled my Wubi from scratch at least ten times the last few weeks because while getting the system up and running (drivers, resolution, etc.) I've broken something (X, grub, unknowns) and I can't get it back to work. Especially for a newbie like me, it's easier (and much faster) to just reinstall the whole shebang than try to troubleshoot several layers of failed "fixing" attempts.

Coming from Windows, I expect that there is some "disk image" utility that I can run to make a snapshot of my Linux install (and of the boot partition!!) before I meddle with stuff. Then, after I've foobar'ed my machine, I would somehow restore my machine back to that working snapshot.

What's the Linux equivalent of Windows disk imagers like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost?

Note: I found a similar question: Easy backup/restore of installed system?

I have a mouse with lots of buttons, but it's not a mainstream make like Logitech. For Windows, I have a driver that lets me assign actions like close-window (Ctrl+W) or next-tab (Ctrl+Tab), but I don't have a Linux driver. Since Linux is so flexible, I thought perhaps there is a general way to do this, regardless of brand?

Update: Based on input from Cyrex, I installed and ran sudo apt-get install btnx which found several but not all mouse buttons.
Found: left, right, wheel, wheelclick, thumb fwd, thumb back.
Not found: wheel left, wheel right, thumb middle button.
Vendor ID is 0x04d9, Model ID is 0xa015.

Update 2: In System>Prefs>Mouse there's a lightbulb icon for testing double-click speed. Every working button can turn the bulb on&off, but the missing buttons can't. It would seem that Ubuntu isn't aware of these buttons and thus doesn't register their clicks. I guess I need to hunt for a driver, though a mainstream mouse is probably the easier way.

The Windows key seems to not have any use in Ubuntu, but since I'm just coming from Windows I'm used to this key having some function.
How can I make good use of the Windows key in Ubuntu?

I've seen that I can remap keys in System>Preferences>Keyboard>Layout>Options>Alt/Super key behavior, but I have no idea what the choices meta, super, hyper mean. The help button in this dialog doesn't give any specifics about them.

I've experimented a little and found that meta seems to have some use, like Super+M = Me menu, or Super+S is the shutdown menu, but for some keys (B, I) it's more like Ctrl (bold, italic). Haven't found any further.

What would a useful setting be for a Linux newbie?