M K's questions

On kubuntu 18.04, Power consumption is extremely high, anyway to slowdown?

I already disabled all effects and stopped compositor from auto-starting. My 3-cell battery lasts 4-hour browsing with Firefox on GNOME (Ubuntu 18.04) using the same settings and apps, now I get just above 1 hour on kubuntu KDE.

Output of inxi -Fxz

System:   Kernel: 4.15.0-23-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0 Console: tty 0 Distro: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E7240 v: 00 serial: <filter>                                        
Battery    BAT0: charge: 16.6 Wh 40.4% condition: 41.2/45.1 Wh (91%) model: SMP DELL KWFFN33 status: Discharging
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-4300U (-MT-MCP-) arch: Haswell rev.1 cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9976
           clock speeds: max: 2900 MHz 1: 959 MHz 2: 1832 MHz 3: 1888 MHz 4: 1818 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.19.6 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: [email protected]
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
Network:   Card-1: Intel Ethernet Connection I218-LM driver: e1000e port: f080 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 378.1GB (23.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: LITEONIT_LMT size: 128.0GB temp: 0C
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: Samsung_SSD_860 size: 250.1GB temp: 0C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 76G used: 17G (24%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 14.04GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 198 Uptime: 17:34 Memory: 5747.1/7878.9MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: N/A
           Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56

I happen to be working as a system admin, and I was so happy setting a shortcut key to nautilus-connect-server command, allowing me to bring up the "Connect to server" dialogue box with one function-key press.

Now, the shell command is not found, and when you click on the 18.04 LTS link top of this http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/en/man1/nautilus-connect-server.1.html page, you are forcibly redirected to Xenial (16.04 LTS)!

Although Nautilus is keeping the functionality (in a limited form), but the command line is gone.

Any native and secure workaround/alternative?

Previously, on Ubuntu 16.04, I felt betrayed when an Ubuntu update installed dnsmasq package, configured it, and gave it precedence over my own super-stable, ultra-fast, and own-configured BIND DNS server. It exactly felt as if Ubuntu hacked my workstation.

Since I happened to be working as a system admin, this was extremely unacceptable. This was a freak-out call. This is when you go to troubleshoot a problem and in one of your steps you use dig or nslookup and you get stunned to see the lo interface replying to you. PANIC

Is there a way to not only fix this issue, but also guarantee that /etc/resolv.conf will be tamper proof?

It extremely bugs me the fact that default login screen on Ubuntu (now using GNOME) is offering too much for an unauthorized user to play with.

I want to control and remove/hide items on the login screen that allow system modification, tweaking, altering, or even information viewing! For example, and with all due respect, by nature, Accessibility options were and are still the most dangerous thing to have enabled at a lock screen IN ANY OS.

Take Microsoft Windows for example, although techie people like to keep it for an authentic, native, and last resort password reset workaround, accessibility options are a physical attacker's gateway to heavens. You can gain full control over a Windows system just by booting any Windows install CD from Windows 7 and up, copying/overwriting a single file and rebooting. That's it.

That said, I wish to know how to remove all those vulnerable entry points from my login screen. It would make my life way lot easier.

Notes:

• I tried editing /etc/gdm3/greeter.dconf-defaults. No use; crashes GDM.

• I tried searching for accessibility packages to remove them; but they are deeply integrated with GNOME, cannot do.

• I tried using gsettings command to disable accessibility toolkit for the gdm user, entirely, but it always fails with errors.

• I tried running gconf-editor as the gdm user, always fails to start.

Any working tip is extremely appreciated.