Scooter's questions

I am tired of Firefox (version 119.0.1 64-bit) telling me I should update. So I tried to uninstall my current version, assuming it came from SNAP or FLATPAK. With regard to SNAP it shows up in /var/cache/snapd/names . However, the command

sudo snap remove firefox

gives: snap "firefox" is not installed

The Ubuntu Software app shows Firefox not installed.

flatpak list 

doesn't show Firefox and

sudo flatpak uninstall firefox 

says: error: No installed refs found for 'firefox'

So that seems like I installed it from a special repository, presumably the one that firefox provides. How would I determine that and then update it, or delete and re-install it?

Edit (from comment by @karel :

$ apt policy firefox
firefox:
  Installed: 133.0~build2
  Candidate: 133.0~build2
  Version table:
     1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
 *** 133.0~build2 1000
       1000 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     132.0.2~build2 1000
       1000 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla/main amd64 Packages
     132.0.1~build2 1000
       1000 https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla/main amd64 Packages

The above appears to show version 133.0 installed. But ->Help->About Firefox shows 119.0.1:

Edit2: There are two Firefox executables on my system. The one in /usr/local/bin (linked to /opt/firefox/firefox) which is version 119.0.1 and one in /usr/bin which is version 133. The one in /usr/local/bin gets executed because it is in PATH ahead of /usr/bin.

I installed something, quite likely the KDE Desktop Environment, that caused the Ubuntu Software icon to become an exclamation point in a square. Is there a way I can get it back to what it was?

This is on Ubuntu 22.04.4

"Ubuntu Software" application is represented by the 3rd icon from the left below:

Under the Software application Updates tab I have four Application Updates listed: GNOME 3.28-runtime, gnome-3-34-1804, Opera, Simplenote

If I click the Update button on any one, it begins installing that package and then a popup error message says:

Unable to update Simplenote:
snap "simplenote" has "auto-refresh" change in progress

This error has recurred over the course of two hours.

Trying to do a Software Updater update. Get this error which appears to say it needs the same software that it is trying to install:

Package dependencies cannot be resolved

This error could be caused by required additional software packages which are 
missing or not installable. 
Furthermore there could be a conflict between software packages which are not 
allowed to be installed at the same time.
Transaction failed: Package dependencies cannot be resolved
 The following packages have unmet dependencies:

gnome-software-plugin-snap: 
Depends: gnome-software (= 3.36.1-0ubuntu0.20.04.0) 
but 3.36.1-0ubuntu0.20.04.0 is to be installed
ubuntu-software: Depends: gnome-software (>= 3.36.1-0ubuntu0.20.04.0) 
but 3.36.1-0ubuntu0.20.04.0 is to be installed

On Ubuntu 16.04 I used the Software application to install Okular. It did not show up in the dash. So I went to a terminal to start it. I got this messsage:

You need to connect this snap to the kde-frameworks-5 snap.

You can do this with those commands:
snap install kde-frameworks-5
snap connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-slot

I ran the "snap install kde-frameworks-5" command and it appears to have worked. If I re-run it (due to Okular continuing to tell me to) I get:

snap "kde-frameworks-5" is already installed, see "snap refresh
--help"

Running the "snap connect ..." command does not give a similar message. It appears to toggle it's output slightly. One time:

[/] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl
[-] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl
[\] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl
[|] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl

another:

[/] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl
[-] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl
[\] Connect okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug to kde-frameworks-5:kde-frameworks-5-sl

But trying to start Okular just keeps giving me the original message that I need to download and connect.

Trying to access LLVM Debian/Ubuntu nightly packages

I am on 14.04 and they give this info:

The goal is to provide Debian and Ubuntu nightly packages ready to be installed with minimal impact on the distribution. Packages are available for amd64 and i386 and for both the stable, qualification and development branches (currently 3.9, 4.0 and 5.0).

The packages provide LLVM + Clang + compiler-rt + polly + LLDB + LLD + libFuzzer

Trusty (14.04) - Last update : Wed, 22 Mar 2017 08:38:03 UTC / Revision: 298477

deb http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty main
deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty main
# 3.9 
deb http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-3.9 main
deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-3.9 main
# 4.0 
deb http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-4.0 main
deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-4.0 main

I have tried going in Ubuntu Software Centre and adding the deb line for both 3.9 and 4.0. But after sudo apt-get update I get an error:

W: GPG error: http://apt.llvm.org llvm-toolchain-trusty-3.9 InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 15CF4D18AF4F7421

There is some way to install this without Ubuntu Software Centre, but I don't know how to find the ppa:user/ppa-name as talked about here

I bought something in the Ubuntu Software Centre and I am getting an error on the install (all of this is automated via Software Centre). Is there someone I can contact about this?

This is for a purchase of Linux Format 158. Notice that the error log mentions Linux Format 157, a different issue. But I get the error even if I delete the issue 157 related file.

Error log:

installArchives() failed: (Reading database ... 
(Reading database ... 5%
(Reading database ... 10%
(Reading database ... 15%
(Reading database ... 20%
(Reading database ... 25%
(Reading database ... 30%
(Reading database ... 35%
(Reading database ... 40%
(Reading database ... 45%
(Reading database ... 50%
(Reading database ... 55%
(Reading database ... 60%
(Reading database ... 65%
(Reading database ... 70%
(Reading database ... 75%
(Reading database ... 80%
(Reading database ... 85%
(Reading database ... 90%
(Reading database ... 95%
(Reading database ... 100%
(Reading database ... 1649832 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../lxf158_1.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb ...
Unpacking lxf158 (1.0-0ubuntu2) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/lxf158_1.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/opt/futurenet/magazines/data/lxf157.xpm', which is also in package lxf157 1.0-0ubuntu1
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/lxf158_1.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb
Error in function: { NOTE: this is where the message ends }

I followed the suggestion in the comments to "contact the developer". They responded that they have no control over the matter. Since money is being charged on this, there should be some Ubuntu contact to resolve it. Otherwise, they should place a warning: "No refund even if your purchase fails to install".

Unfortunately we don't have any control over the issues in the software centre, they've been packaged up and licensed away. It certainly looks like someone got confused with issues 157 and 158, but you'd need to communicate with them directly to fix it/get a refund.

Edit: I was able to get a paypal refund from the email address given in the answer ([email protected]). There was a four or five day delay until I heard back, so be patient.

I have a Western Digital MY Passport Ultra 2GB drive. I plugged it in and got a popup dialog that said:

This location could not be displayed. Sorry, could not display all the contents of "36D2920FD292D410": Error when getting information for file 'media/user/36D2920FD292D410/bin': Input/output error

But this error went away after just repeatedly clicking the drive icon in the Files application and re-inserting the USB cable a time or two. I have no idea what changed things. I was then able to copy my home directory to the drive. But it took a long time and when I came back to it in the morning the computer had shut down for some reason.

Now I get the error message again and it isn't going away. How do I handle this error message?

EDIT: I tried this drive in my Windows 10 computer and it also gives an error saying that a file or directory is unreadable. I am going to reformat it in Windows.

I have previously downloaded and installed the Chrome (not Chromium) Version 52.0.2743.82 (64-bit) browser. It has worked in the past (I use Chromium as my primary browser). But today it will not launch. I removed it and re-installed it and the problem continues. If I launch it from the command line it says that it core dumps. I don't know where the core file goes. It isn't in the directory where I tried to run chrome, or in my home directory (not that I would know what to do with it).

I need Chrome to watch Amazon Video (they won't allow Chromium as a browser). I could watch them on another computer, but it is disturbing that a program has all of a sudden stopped working. I don't believe that I installed any program between when it last worked and when it stopped working.

Edit:

I was asked to add the message that displays in the terminal. Here it is along with the command I issued:

google-chrome-stable
Aborted (core dumped)

This output is coming from Linux, not Chrome, as redirecting the Chrome output produces an empty output.txt file and the same output on the terminal:

google-chrome-stable > output.txt  2>&1 
Aborted (core dumped)

Edit2: I found a solution as the answer to this question: Google Chrome not starting ("Aborted (core dumped)")

The solution is to delete the file ~/.gtk-2.0

I don't know if it matters, but this is what was in that file:

include "/usr/share/themes/oxygen-gtk/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

gtk-theme-name="oxygen-gtk"

I have a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop with Ubuntu 14.04, that has worked very well for over a year. However, recently I have been experiencing freezes where the machine does not respond to any keyboard or mouse events and I have to power it off. Is there anything to look at after you log back on after a freeze like that?

I have a wine package via a dependency from a package that gives you Silverlight and more up-to-date Adobe Flash for Linux. However, I get an error on startup of Software Center and also will repeatedly get an error icon in the top panel

with a message:

An error occurred, please run Package Manager from the right-click
menu or apt-get in a terminal to see what is wrong. The error message
was: 'Unknown Error: '<class 'KeyError'>'("The cache has no package
named 'wine-staging-i386'")'. This usually means that your installed
packages have unmet dependencies

I have gotten this to go away by doing something, I thought with Synatic, but right now Synaptic Package Manager->Edit->Fix Broken Packages is not fixing it. Selecting that tells me "Successfully fixed dependency problems" but I still have the error icon in the top bar.

Per comment below:

$ sudo apt-get -f install  
Reading package lists... 
Done Building dependency tree         
Reading state information... Done 0 upgraded,
0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.

$ sudo apt-get update 

Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty
InRelease                               Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net
trusty InRelease                                   Ign
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates InRelease                 
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports InRelease           
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty InRelease                         
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg                   
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release.gpg [933 B] 
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty InRelease                         
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports Release.gpg [933
B]         Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release.gpg            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty Release                       
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates Release [62.0 kB]   
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release.gpg                       
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release.gpg                       
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release                           
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports Release [62.0 kB] 
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release                           
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release                           
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Sources                  
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main amd64 Packages               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Sources            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Sources              
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main i386 Packages                
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Sources            
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main amd64 Packages           
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted amd64 Packages     
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main amd64 Packages               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe amd64 Packages       
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main i386 Packages                
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse amd64 Packages     
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages            
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted i386 Packages      
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main amd64 Packages               
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main i386 Packages                
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe i386 Packages        
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse i386 Packages      
Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en               
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en           
Ign http://dl.google.com stable InRelease                             
Get:5 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198 B]                 
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en     
Get:6 http://dl.google.com stable Release [1,347 B]                   
Get:7 http://dl.google.com stable/main amd64 Packages [1,182 B]       
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Translation-en     
Get:8 http://dl.google.com stable/main i386 Packages [1,181 B]        
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en       
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main Sources [181
kB]         Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en_US    
Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en                   
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted Sources
[2,564 B] Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe
Sources [106 kB]    Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-updates/multiverse Sources [4,463 B] Get:13
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages [447
kB] Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted
amd64 Packages [9,238 B] Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages [254 kB] Get:16
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
[11.2 kB] Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/main i386
Packages [437 kB]  Ign http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security
InRelease                        Get:18 http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security Release.gpg [933 B]           Get:19
http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security Release [62.0 kB]          
Get:20 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted i386
Packages [9,256 B] Get:21 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-updates/universe i386 Packages [256 kB] Get:22
http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main Sources [71.8 kB]     
Get:23 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Sources
[2,061 B]  Get:24 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe
Sources [17.9 kB]    Get:25 http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security/multiverse Sources [1,896 B]  Get:26
http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main amd64 Packages [221
kB]  Get:27 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse
i386 Packages [11.3 kB] Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-updates/main Translation-en             Hit
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/multiverse Translation-en 
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/restricted
Translation-en       Get:28 http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security/restricted amd64 Packages [8,875 B] Hit
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-updates/universe Translation-en   
Get:29 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Sources
[5,298 B]     Get:30 http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security/universe amd64 Packages [87.8 kB] Get:31
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/restricted Sources [28
B]  Get:32 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe
Sources [21.7 kB] Get:33 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/multiverse Sources [1,898 B] Get:34
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main amd64 Packages
[5,536 B] Get:35 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/restricted amd64 Packages [28 B] Get:36
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe amd64 Packages
[25.4 kB] Get:37 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/multiverse amd64 Packages [1,245 B] Get:38
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main i386 Packages
[5,550 B] Get:39 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse
amd64 Packages [3,458 B] Get:40 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/restricted i386 Packages [28 B] Hit
http://deb.opera.com stable InRelease                                 
Get:41 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main i386 Packages
[211 kB]   Hit http://deb.opera.com stable/non-free amd64 Packages    
Get:42 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe i386
Packages [25.4 kB] Hit http://deb.opera.com stable/non-free i386
Packages                          Get:43 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/multiverse i386 Packages [1,249 B] Hit
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/main Translation-en     
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/multiverse
Translation-en     Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com
trusty-backports/restricted Translation-en     Get:44
http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty-backports/universe Translation-en
[23.6 kB] Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty InRelease      
Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty InRelease                
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release.gpg              
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release.gpg              
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release                  
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty Release                  
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main amd64 Packages      
Ign http://deb.opera.com stable/non-free Translation-en_US            
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en_US        
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main i386 Packages       
Ign http://deb.opera.com stable/non-free Translation-en               
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/multiverse Translation-en_US  
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/restricted Translation-en_US  
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com trusty/universe Translation-en_US    
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main amd64 Packages      
Hit https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main i386 Packages       
Get:45 http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted i386
Packages [8,846 B] Get:46 http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security/universe i386 Packages [87.8 kB] Get:47
http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/multiverse i386 Packages
[3,624 B] Hit http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/main
Translation-en              Hit http://security.ubuntu.com
trusty-security/multiverse Translation-en        Hit
http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/restricted Translation-en  
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty InRelease                         
Get:48 http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty Release.gpg [72 B]             
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com trusty-security/universe Translation-en
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty Release                           
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Sources                      
Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en_US   
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main amd64 Packages               
Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en      
Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main i386 Packages                
Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en_US   
Ign https://private-ppa.launchpad.net trusty/main Translation-en      
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en_US            
Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com trusty/main Translation-en               
Fetched 2,764 kB in 33s (82.6 kB/s)                                   
Reading package lists... Done


$ sudo apt-get -f install 
Reading package lists... Done 
Building dependency tree        
Reading state information... Done 
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.

I am using KDE 4.13.3 (I believe it is the kubuntu-desktop download) on Ubuntu 14.04. I changed Systems Settings->Workspace Appearance and Behavior->Workspace Behavior->Virtual Desktops to have 4.

However, if I have Firefox running in Workspace 1, it shows up, not just in the bottom panel of Workspace 1, but also Workspace 2, Workspace 3, and Workspace 4, partially defeating the purpose of having Workspaces in the first place, and not what I would expect as the default behavior.

Is there a way I can get applications started in one Workspace to only display in the bottom panel of the Workspace they were started in - or is that bottom panel for "all workspaces"?

Trying to get the name of the icon that appears in the left side of the upper right set of icons in the Ubuntu top panel or toolbar, when an update has failed? Red circle with a white horizontal line through the center.

I downloaded some things (Wine was in there) to try and get Flash working (or Flash working for DRM stuff) based on directions I read on a website. It seemed to work (at least I can watch video from Acorn.TV now), but now whenever I startup Ubuntu Software Center (or, strangely, Komodo IDE) I get a popup dialog that says:

Please wait, downloading...

Downloading wine-shockwave-installer (12 MiB)

eventually it either finishes or gives up and then the software proceeds normally.

How would I get that to stop occurring?

I had a popup that my wireless network had disconnected and hit the "don't show this message again" button. I actually want it to show. I can't figure out how I would reenable it. This is Unity on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

I found this question/answer: Where can I find a Unity configuration file?

It says Unity uses gconf and references /apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options

However, that answer is from July 2011 and that path does not exist in my system.

I found /apps/conpizconfig-1/unity

but underneath that I cannot find anything about network messages.

I am using Ubuntu 14.04 and connected to Cups which found my Brother HL-2140 printer. I then printed a test page and the printer began putting out an endless amount of blank pages. Turned the printer off and tried to print from Firefox. Did the same thing - printed an endless amount of blank pages. This printer was previously working with Xubuntu 12.04.

Is there a driver I need to download or something else I have to do to get it to work correctly?

I am using an Windows 7 HP desktop. I just partitoned the hard drive to have a 8GB swap partition and a 128GB /ext4 mount point "/" partition. The installation went beautifully. I saw the dialog box that shows progress and talks about various Ubuntu features and also have some images. Then I was given a dialog saying it had finished and needed to restart. When I restart I got a login prompt. After logging in all I have is the orange Ubuntu desktop background and

ubuntu (r) 14.04 LTS

at the lower left.

Is it doing something the first time and the desktop will come up after some length of time, or was this a bad install?

EDIT: Since asking this question I went to check on the computer and the screen is now black, with a cursor icon in the middle that is not responding to mouse movement and an underscore in the top left corner.

EDIT2: I restarted and chose "Additional Options" and started with the Ubuntu choice that ends with (recovery mode). I ran the fsck option and two of the entries it printed out ended or were followed by "FIXED". I then restarted and got an Ubuntu session that I used successfully for an hour. I logged in and out successfully. But then the problem reappeared following later login attempts that don't use (recovery mode -> then continue normal boot). For non-recover-mode boots I can get to the login prompt every time. One time it froze at that point, but most of the time it freezes after accepting my password. The freeze will normally just display the background, but once it showed the launcher on the side as well.

After booting via (recover-mode -> resume normal boot) this is what I see in System Settings->System->Software & Updates->Additional Drivers

I have downloaded the 12.04 located wubi.exe and the 14.04.1 located wubi.exe. I am getting the same behavior from both. Once you start either exe they give you a dialog and then after OK begin downloading an iso file. This works for a while, and then stalls / hangs / freezes. The progress bar remains the same and the "Approximate time remaining" remains the same. However, the installer is still alive. It will repond with an "are you sure?" type message if you click on [Cancel].

One question - is anyone else getting this behavior?

Second question - can I do a Wubi install with a manual download of the big file that is required and which Wubi seems to hang on?

Edit: Got a great answer to the question from Eliah Kagan below. However, it appears that a bug in the software/file formats since Ubuntu 12.10 prevent the use of this technique as the software incorrectly processes the MD5 checksums. See this bug: Metalink md5sum check fails due to change in format

I purchased an Ubuntu User magazine in the Ubuntu Software Center. It shows as "Installed on 2014-08-25". And the button on the right gives me a chance to [Remove]. But I haven't been able to locate the file, if a file was downloaded. Alternatively, I don't know where I should download the file from.

Ubuntu Software Center says I have installed Padre. Green checkmark next to Installed. And over on the right it has a Remove button. But if I click on the top left corner icon and then type "Padre" I only get Reference, Weather and More Suggestions entries. No application to launch.

It also does not show up if I right click on that top-left-corner button and look for it in the list of applications icons.

But the software did install. "which padre" in a terminal window shows "/usr/bin/padre". And "padre &" in a terminal window brings up the application.

Is this a bug or a feature? Do you have to do additional work to get a program like Padre (a Perl IDE) to show up in search, or is it just a glitch in the system? On a menu-based system like KDE or Xfce there would automatically be a new item in the menu for Padre. Is this not the case for Ubuntu Unity (not menu since there is none, but searchable)?