Alex's questions

I'm using PowerTop v2.1 in Ubuntu 13.04 and I'm getting some pretty strange readings. I've already run powertop --calibrate too. The main screen reads this:

As you can see, the power estimates do add up to about 12.8W, perhaps a bit more. However, the device 'USB device: USB2.0-CRW (Generic)' is reporting a shocking 8.7W of usage. I believe this is the SD card reader on my laptop, I'd like to try to disable it but am not sure how.

But I'm also fairly certain this number can't be right - even at 100% usage I don't think it's going to use 8.7W, and there's no way that power hogs like wlan0 and chromium-browser and perhaps compiz are using less than 1W.

Can anyone offer their thoughts about what might be wrong and what steps I can take to reduce power usage and/or get PowerTop to report correctly?

I believe this problem has existed since I upgraded to 13.04. I have an SSD, so differences in boot/shutdown times are very noticeable. It used to take a couple of seconds to shut down - now, it takes several more. I can press ESC and view the shutdown procedures, which seems to hang a long time on 'Asking remaining processes to terminate' before failing and killing them. Now it takes several more seconds.

Is there any way I can fix this problem, or at least find out which process(es) is/are refusing to terminate?

I used to be able to keep my power usage under 10 watts without WLAN on but now that rarely happens. One reason might be this, reported by PowerTOP all of the time:

Power est.              Usage       Events/s    Category       Description
8.69 W    100.0%                      Device         USB device: USB2.0-CRW (Generic)

This is especially odd, because this setting is enabled in tunables (via TLP):

   Good          Autosuspend for USB device USB2.0-CRW [Generic]

Is there any way I can a) tell exactly which device/driver this is and b) permanently disable it on startup just to make sure it isn't taking any power?

If it helps, here's my lsusb output:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 5986:0292 Acer, Inc 
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0489:e00d Foxconn / Hon Hai Broadcom Bluetooth 2.1 Device
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0bda:0139 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card reader

Here is the USB section from the output of tlp-stat:

+++ USB
tlp usb autosuspend = enabled
tlp usb blacklist   = (not configured)

Bus 001 Device 002 ID 8087:0024 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Intel     Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub (hub)
Bus 002 Device 002 ID 8087:0024 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0002 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub (hub)
Bus 002 Device 001 ID 1d6b:0002 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub (hub)
Bus 001 Device 003 ID 5986:0292 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Acer, Inc  (uvcvideo)
Bus 002 Device 003 ID 0489:e00d control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Foxconn / Hon Hai Broadcom Bluetooth 2.1 Device (btusb)
Bus 002 Device 004 ID 0bda:0139 control = auto, autosuspend_delay_ms =  2000 -- Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card reader (rts5139)

I'm planning on replacing my laptop's HDD with a 256GB SSD, but I have a dual-boot (12.04 and Windows 7) setup and I'd like to be able to directly migrate Ubuntu over without having to reinstall and lose all of my settings. GParted reports the following partition setup on my HDD. I am, of course, able to modify it if necessary.

/dev/sda1 (NTFS) 66.92 out of 200.00 MB used

I'm honestly not sure what this partition is for. Maybe for Windows 7 system files? I'm hesitant to mess with it. (edit; it turns out it is a partition for Windows recovery files in the event of OS corruption, so I don't want to remove it. Plus it also appears to be a major pain to remove anyways)

/dev/sda2 (NTFS) 116.35 out of 339.06 GB used (boot)

This partition is the C:/ drive on my Windows installation. I don't use it on my Ubuntu installation, except it is the boot partition and thus has grub on it.

/dev/sda4 (extended)
> /dev/sda5 (ext4) 14.49 out of 91.34 GB used
> /dev/sda6 (linux-swap) 5.92 GB 

These are my Ubuntu partitions. /sda5 contains my documents and all of the files I use on Ubuntu, and (as far as I know) the system files for Ubuntu itself (it's the partition I created when prompted by the Live-DVD installer). /sda6 is, of course, the swap partition which I only need for hibernation (6GB of RAM).

/dev/sda3 (NTFS) 9.89 out of 14.75 GB used

This is an annoying partition that Lenovo created to store some drivers and files that I might need later on. For example, it allows me to use OneKeyRecovery for a quick factory recovery if absolutely necessary, not sure if that'll work on an SSD. It also contains not-so-important files for bloatware installation.

In total, my HDD only has about 150GB of files on it so it should fit comfortably on the SSD. The problem is, I want to exactly migrate my files, partitions, OSes, MBR, etc. from my HDD to my SSD and I'm not quite sure how to do this. I've seen CloneZilla referenced before, but I'm not all too experienced and the documentation for it quite frankly seems a bit like a foreign language to me. So, put simply, is there any way I can exactly clone this HDD to an SSD without a massive headache? Also, if it matters, I'll probably be using an external hard drive case (as recommended in online tutorials) to externally attach the SSD to my laptop during the cloning process due to the lack of two hard drive slots in the machine.

I could do it with OpenJDK, but it didn't work for my purposes so I'm using Oracle's JRE 7. I can run the jar through the terminal with

java -jar filename.jar

and can also right click the file and click Open With > Oracle Java 7 Runtime, but I can't set the Java 7 Runtime by default in the Properties menu (probably because the runtime executable isn't located in /usr/bin).

Any quick command lines I can type to set it so I can just hit enter on the file and launch the .jar with Java 7?

I'm trying to run Minecraft on my GeForce card (with Optimus, bumblebee is installed), but without having to type the command in the console every time I want to open it.

How can I configure bumblebee to always run a program with optirun by default? Will the same method work with a .jar set to launch as an executable as it would with a standard executable?

I'm currently trying to choose between Gnome shell and Unity 2D/3D for my Ubuntu installation on my laptop (I don't really like the dull look of some environments like xfce). Of the three, which uses the most resources (battery)? The least? I know that Unity will use more than its 2D counterpart, but I'm not sure how the both of them compare to Gnome shell.

I have Ubuntu running on my laptop, and (especially since my laptop specs are a tad bit higher than budget machines) I need to optimize Ubuntu as much as possible to maximize my battery life.

I've seen a couple of battery life oriented desktop environments, but they seem to be on the visual scale of Windows 98 or something. I'm not asking for high-quality 3D effects and graphics, but I would strongly prefer transparent panels and launchers (or hideable launchers). I don't mind the Window-and-Start-Menu style of some desktop environments. I actually sort of like Cinnamon's approach, but the lack of transparency and a couple of other quirks turned me away from it. And to be quite honest, if I could change the icon size and enable a transparent panel in Unity2D I would just stick with that.

In summation, I want a desktop environment that offers the following

• panel transparency and launcher hiding
• optimized for battery performance
• minimalistic, non-intrusive icons

Any suggestions?

edit; would also prefer an upper panel option, like in Unity, that can switch between transparency on the desktop and matching Chromium's upper edge when it is maximized. Chromium is pretty much the only window I maximize and the disconnect in some environments like gnome classic isn't pretty.

So on my Windows 7 install, I've got multiple free malware/virus scanners and a firewall up. But I've heard that Ubuntu (or Linux in general) is much more secure by default.

So what additional security measures should I take, other than the obvious precautionary measures (aka avoiding shady PPAs)? Should I install a lightweight firewall or something of the sort? Or is the security I get with Ubuntu out-of-box going to be enough for daily web-browsing? I'd rather not have to install too much software, I'd like to keep this PC running as fast and light-weight as possible.

Also, if I should have the misfortune of getting my Linux install completely messed up (say, I install a malicious software package), is there any way I can prevent this digital fire from spreading to my Windows partition?

In general, I'm just trying to find out whether or not I can just jump into cyberspace with nothing but common sense and Linux's built-in protections to safeguard me.

I read that running Ubuntu through a virtual machine such as VMware Player or VirtualBox is actually less costly on a laptop's battery than Wubi because it utilizes Windows' drivers, which are optimized for Windows by the hardware manufacturers, as opposed to the Linux drivers, which are less optimized and thus more costly for your system. Is this true for Wubi? If so, is it also true for a "normal" Live CD/USB installation?

First off, no, I'm not going to do the standard partitioning install. I've gone through a few hours of dealing with boot managers that wouldn't install properly and accidentally temporarily "breaking" my machine, I can live with negligible performance decrease and the lack of a hibernate function.

Anyways, I'm debating whether or not I should opt for the Wubi installation or the VMWare installation. Specifically, here's the factors that should influence my decision

1) I'll be using it for lightweight computing, word processing, graphs, logs, data collection, maybe some programming, etc. (I'm a college student). So while I don't need my full graphics potential or anything, I'd like to have an installation that works as fast and efficient as possible, without hangups/stutters/etc.

2) I have a laptop with NVIDIA Optimus (switchable graphics). These graphics work properly through Windows, and semi-properly through Wubi Ubuntu with the Bumblebee utility. If Optimus works a-ok in Windows, will it work just as well in a Virtual Machine hosted by Windows? Or will I have to find a way to get Bumblebee working with the VM installation?

3) I have 6GB of RAM, which is a good quantity and can nullify the memory deficiency that having Windows 7 and Ubuntu running at once could cause. However, I want to use absolutely no swap space if possible. In addition, will having Windows 7 running in the background affect my CPU's processing power vs. Wubi?

4) I heard somewhere that 3D graphics can be iffy with VMware. I'd like to have a 3D desktop environment with effects included. Will this be as possible with VMware as it is with Wubi?

5) Is running Ubuntu in a VM going to make my computer more vulnerable as opposed to a dual-boot through Wubi? I like Ubuntu's tight security, and I'm not sure if running it within Windows' less tight environment would affect it.

In general, I want something that works without a hitch, and runs and looks sleek. While I'd love the ability to switch between 7 and Ubuntu with the press of a button so I could do more Windows-specific things such as MS Office and gaming, the whole idea of running a whole operating system inside of another operating system seems questionable. If the security and performance cost of running it in a VM is too high, then I'll stick with Wubi, but I really do like the idea.

addition - Can't believe I forgot this. I'm running a laptop in a university setting, so battery life is going to be a huge deal for me. I imagine that the virtual machine will require more power to run, but will this be a noticeable and significant difference?

I chose to do the Wubi install because it was short, simple, and easy to reverse (no messing with partitions required). To be honest, I can handle the lack of a hibernate function.

I haven't really heard many other benefits of installing on a separate partition than hibernation and negligibly faster hard disk read/write. Yet almost everyone I encounter seems to have opted for the disk installation. Are there more benefits I should be aware of, especially as a college student who wants a fast, efficient machine for documents, web browsing, etc. (nothing big like gaming, I can run that on Windows)?

Also, I have a fair amount of settings and packages installed that I spent a bit of time on and would rather not have to do again. Is there any way I can migrate all of these settings from the virtual disk on my C:/ drive (Wubi installation) to the disc installation in another partition? (I have a 16GB USB drive if that'll do the trick)

One of the reasons I installed Ubuntu (Wubi installer) was for a supposedly quick boot time. My boot time with Windows 7 is about 20-25 seconds, while my boot with Ubuntu is 30-40. I judged the boot times from the time after I selected the operating system on the initial selection menu and the grub menu, respectively.

This is even after following all sorts of online guides to improve it. I've done driver profiling (and yes, I remembered to remove the "profile" edit in the grub file afterwards), I've cut a fair few startup programs out, and I've installed the preload package. But I'm still getting startup rates phenomenally slower than Windows 7.

Any help here?

I installed some sort of software (I think it had to do with Gnome) that changed the splash image behind the GRUB boot interface from the standard purple background to a somewhat tacky Debian splash image.

Is there any sort of quick set of commands I can enter or file I can delete to change it back to the default background?

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 on a Lenovo Z570 laptop with Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics, and a switch to enable the dedicated GT630M graphics card. I've been having issues in general with my graphics drivers and whatnot.

Ubuntu's system settings say that it can't detect any graphics driver (it lists 'Unknown'), although the quality graphics including fade effects, Unity 3D, etc. tell me that one of the cards must be functioning just fine. My decent unplugged battery life suggests that the dedicated graphics is disabled (plus I Googled a solution that allowed me to force the external card off on boot, sorry but I can't remember what I did or where I found it). In Windows, I can hit a switch to toggle the dedicated graphics on and off, along with an indicator light, but that feature doesn't work in Ubuntu and the light remains on no matter what.

Secondly, I'd like to get the proper drivers installed for maximum performance (if they matter). In an earlier installation of 12.04, I tried to install the NVIDIA driver and ended up screwing up my resolution so bad that I just had to reinstall Ubuntu. I'm not even sure if the Intel integrated graphics need a driver to function properly.

Sorry if I'm being a bit confusing; this is more of a general issue than a precise question, but if I could get some answers to these questions it would be great:

1) Is there any way I can detect for certain whether or not the dedicated GT630M is being used?

2) Is there any way I can enable the ability to switch between the cards?

3) Which driver(s) should I install, and how can I go about doing that? When I tried to install the NVIDIA driver, I ended up going through a whole bunch of command-line stuff that I really didn't understand just to get the installation to work, then I just smashed enter at all of the installation prompts because I hardly understood any of them.