J. Doe's questions

I use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with Gnome3 on one PC and on the other PC with xfce. The screenshot tool Deepin should display a toolbar after capturing a ROI (region of interest) screenshot with options.

I can see it under Xubuntu (Ubuntu 20.04/xfce).

Under Gnome, I do not see the toolbar. Bug or feature and how to enable the toolbar?

Deepin version is in both cases 5.0.0-1build1.

Manual:

While capturing screenshots, you can click on the icons on the toolbar to complete various operations. Run Deepin Screenshot and select the screenshot area with the mouse, the toolbar will automatically appear below the screenshot area.

Since years I've used the partition encryption option offered by the installer.

Now after applying Ubuntu onboard disk tool to setup encryption also for the secondary physical disk, I've found the following.

• There is an option to mount this disk on system start but it does not work
• I can manually select the disk and choose the option "unlock"
• Additionally I have after that to choose the "mount" version
• Given the above steps were not very user friendly, here comes also some ugliness: the system generates an incremented enumeration so that the mount point assumed in the system (e.g. by the Docker daemon) becomes invalid.

What to do? Is there an option just to type in the encryption password during system startup also for the second disk?

• I use Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
• The disks utility is called "Disks - gnome-disk-utility 3.36.3 - UDisks 2.8.4 (built against 2.8.4)"

While the primary disk's encryption triggers an on-boot prompt, the second disks' encryption unlock needs to be dialed on manually. Only then it's possible to mount the data volume. It would be better to have both steps on startup as happens to the primary volume.

There is a corresponding setting but it seems to be ignored by the system.

I have a user where I am no more happy with UI settings i.e. many UI elements are displayed too big, but I can't recapitulate where I set them.

I have created another user where the UI settings are default so I am very happy but as it seems the wifi settings are global with regards to saved network names but not the passwords. The problem is now that I can't set passwords - as I go to "edit" in the Network Manager, it freezes.

Any ideas what to do? I use Xubuntu 20.04. Maybe there is a more advanced and stable Ubuntu software to managed network connections than the default one?

For some reason, in most applications in my Xubuntu desktop, there is no main application menu (File, View, etc.).

Examples where I see the menu:

• Notepadqq
• Terminal

Examples where it is absent:

• OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer/Calc
• Krita

Pressing Alt does not help. What to do? I thought that might be some problem with the user profile, but in the new user profile I face the same problem.

I like for example the function you've got per window "above other windows" Is it also somehow possible to set transparency of a window?

On my system, F1 disables audio output.

Occasionally pressed without noticing it, is cumbersome in teleconferences.

Is there a way to deactivate that?

Imagine you have a check of a remote system that correctly executes an apt-get update.

Typically, I have seen as resulting printout there this line:

Reading package lists... Done

By occasion, with Ubuntu 20.04, I've found out though the following:

• if you execute apt-get update locally, the system says, Reading package lists... Done;
• if you execute apt-get update remotely, the system says only, Reading package lists... that is the word "Done" is missing.

Previously, I haven't observed this behavior with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

What could be the reason?

Below: console excerpt with the described Bash exercise and corresponding output.

localuser@ho:/tmp$ ssh -i /tmp/.ssh-dbg20-puzzled-mendel-1690/one  [email protected] lsb_release -a 
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release:    20.04
Codename:   focal
localuser@ho:/tmp$ ssh -i /tmp/.ssh-dbg20-puzzled-mendel-1690/one  [email protected] "sudo apt-get update"
Hit:1 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Reading package lists...
localuser@ho:/tmp$ 
localuser@ho:/tmp$ ssh -i /tmp/.ssh-dbg20-puzzled-mendel-1690/one  [email protected]
Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-40-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

Last login: Tue Jul  7 23:38:45 2020 from 112.110.123.123
remoteuser@dbg20-puzzled-mendel-1690:~$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Hit:3 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease
Hit:4 http://ftp.stw-bonn.de/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
remoteuser@dbg20-puzzled-mendel-1690:~$ 

My problem is, I work on several lengthy but urgent builds which randomly fail after some time. During this time (sometimes up to one hour!), I could focus on other work if not distracted by the need to control their status.

Is there a possibility to use a dedicated software or configure something else to have some sort of indicator icon in the system tray connected in background to GitLab API?

I could write a custom localhost backend script to provide some status data but have no idea about the desktop UI integration.

What I have understood so far, it's possible to use PXE mode(?) with the Ubuntu installer.

Is it still possible to use virt-install?

In the documentation, they refer to an installation using -c switch which does not allow though headless walk-through configuration for the installer.

If using as previously with bionic the switch --location, the ISO seems to miss important components.

virt-install command (virt-install version 1.5.0):

virt-install --wait -1 --force --debug --noreboot --name ubuntu-20.04-00123456 \
             --noautoconsole --graphics vnc \
             --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/ubuntu-20.04-114046.qcow2,format=qcow2,size=10,bus=scsi \
             --controller type=scsi \
             --location $OS_ISO \
             --os-type=linux --os-variant ubuntu18.04 -r 2048 --vcpus=2 --network network=default \
             --features acpi=on,apic=on --initrd-inject config/20.04/preseed.cfg -x edd-off -x ipv6.disable=1

Error:

[virt-install 44526] ERROR (cli:318) Couldn't find hvm kernel for Ubuntu tree.
[virt-install 44526] DEBUG (cli:320) 

virt-install does not accept the URL for remote installation I have found so far:

Could not find an installable distribution at 'http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/ubuntu/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/'

What is the proper URL for 20.04?

This sounds like a fun question, but as somebody who currently learns Latin asked me that, maybe there is indeed a Latin language pack for Ubuntu?

That is, all system UI elements and also to possible extent applications should be displayed in Latin.

On a fresh Xubuntu box I miss for some reason the menu item "Security" either "S/MIME" in the account settings in the usual place I've expected it.

Same version of Thunderbird on an up-to-date machine does not show this behaviour.

Thus, I conclude that possibly there are some packages missing on the machine.

But which ones and how do I know?

While I work in Germany, some of my colleagues work in India, some in Canada.

Is there a software to run in Ubuntu^* and compatible environments so that the background screen displays sort of widget or live wallpaper with a configurable world clock?

If it matters, I have a 4K screen.

^*I use Xubuntu 18.04 LTS

It seems like I have two clipboards in Ubuntu?

• Text piece one: copy/insert via mouse context menu
• Text piece two: copy/insert via ctrl+c / shift+insert

How comes and where are configuration options for this?

On my Dell Latitude 5491 with Ubuntu 18.04.2. LTS, (kernel 4.19), there seems to be a problem with the graphic card hardware.

Previously, I used to choose the option "install third party modules" during Ubuntu installation with the standard kernel, and there were so many kernel freezes that the usage was almost impossible.

In the current installation without that third party modules everything works very smooth but then after moving to the latest upstream kernel I get these warnings on apt-get upgrade.

update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.20-041920-generic
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/sec2/sig.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/sec2/image.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/sec2/desc.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/nvdec/scrubber.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/sw_method_init.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/sw_bundle_init.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/sw_nonctx.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/sw_ctx.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/gpccs_sig.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/gpccs_data.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/gpccs_inst.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/gpccs_bl.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/fecs_sig.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/fecs_data.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/fecs_inst.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/gr/fecs_bl.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/acr/ucode_unload.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/acr/ucode_load.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/acr/unload_bl.bin for module nouveau
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/nvidia/gv100/acr/bl.bin for module nouveau

How to assess and fix this? As far as I can see, nouveau is an up to date open source driver, but I have no idea how to proceed.

I enjoy virtual desktops and would like them to have different wallpapers in Xubuntu 18.04.

Is this possible, if not by some hidden switch, maybe with some scripting/tweaking?

Is there any more or less suitable tooling for the scenario described below?

Imagine the following scenario (upon this question, but here Ubuntu-specific):

• You have a standard work environment, 4 virtual desktops and many apps
• On system start, system uses some code representation of this environment and loads all apps etc.; you would just need to login.
• Important is that apps can be served with according resources, e.g. browser opens tabs, terminal can iniate system login, spreadsheet process would open the file..
• How windows are arranged, ideally automatic for best usability, but to make it more simple, you could give preferred screem id, if more than one screen available, and coordinates, I leave it here out for simplicity.

Example of code representation, say in YAML:

virtual_desktop:
  id: 1
  apps:
    terminal
      - myhost:22
    browser
      - https://askubuntu.com
      - https://www.example.com
virtual_desktop:
  id: 2
  apps:
    openoffice.calc
     - file://~/my_file.odc
...

Value: for more or less standard but complex work environment, you save time required to be able to work every time you start your system. For future use, to instantiate VR working environments.

In Xubuntu 18.04LTS, I test the capability to capture screen in background without interacting with the tool.

To optimize this, how is it possible to:

• Recognize whether user is inactive since more than X seconds;
• Or the lock screen is on.

During my work, I often try out tools of different complexity and develop usage and integration scenarios.

I use Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Sometimes if things get really complicated, I am not always sure how exactly I got to the solution, and for documentation and knowledge sharing purposes I spend additional time to become more aware of a neat and clean way with less messing around, take screenshots and so on.

Then I thought it would be great to have a screen capturing tool to take a picture say every 30 seconds silently in background so that I can:

• Easily recap my steps and also gotchas
• If I am lucky, directly use screenshots from this image archive for the documentation.

I thought I would, for example, configure a cronjob for shutter, but while I am already using it, there is an error "you have already shutter instance running". I will try now with scrot.

Any better ideas?

UPDATE: For the Cron managed execution, as this tool can't resolve time intervals less than one minute, here a solution (on of less rated answers in the thread) for every 30 seconds.

* * * * * /bin/bash -l -c "/path/to/executable; sleep 30 ; /path/to/executable"

On the Docker Hub site, I find tags "rolling" and "latest". What is the difference between them?

https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu/