Alain Reve's questions

I installed android studio and it crashed several times. I installed an older version (Arctic fox) and it did the same. It never managed to install gradle. I installed gradle via the command line (using apt). Then android studio complained that the gradle libraries were newer. And crashed. I installed the latest version of android studio via the command line. It goes a bit further sometimes, I was able to create a new project and to give it a name. But I can't do anything else.

Hardware acceleration is unavailable on my machine.

Each time, I have to hard reboot the computer.

It doesn't always crash at the same stage. It starts doing something, for example indexing files, and then it crashes. Currently, it's going to crash while building gradle. I test it by moving the mouse pointer. When the mouse pointer stops moving completely, I know nothing else is going to happen and I press the button.

There you go, while I'm typing this, it has crashed the other computer. Power off.

Is there a way to contain it, to slow it down, to stop it from using all the RAM? I wouldn't mind giving it more time to finish whatever it thinks it's got to do, even leaving it to run overnight, but I would like the rest of the computer to remain functional.

Is there any lighter alternative? Should I reinstall lubuntu and everything leaving out the android preview? (Anyway I can't use it currently because I never found the "Split" button which google mentions in it's android tutorial). I don't really mind doing a new lubuntu install as this is a new machine. I have nothing personal on it except a nice desktop wallpaper.

All suggestions welcome.

I would like to clear Knetwalk high scores.

No such info in the manual.

Please tell me if you know

I've created animations, I think it was with imagemagick. I had to convert all my images to gif, name them file00.gif, file01.gif, etc., then I had to type a command. I should have written it down...

One of the parameters was the duration of each frame. They all had the same duration.

Now I would like to do the same thing but with a custom time for each picture.

file00.gif should be displayed during 5.25 seconds, file01.gif should be displayed during 3.8 seconds, etc.

I would like it to go with some music. Using Audacity, I was able to list the precise moments when the picture should change.

I thought of duplicating the pictures, making 525 copies of file00.gif and setting the duration of each to 0.05 second, but this would create a huge file.

How can I do this, please?

And how can I add the music? I guess I will have to convert my animated gif to some other format, but which one?

I think my HD could be failing. It's making a noise. So I want to backup all files on another pc. There is quite a lot of stuff, so going from one to the other with a usb key is not really an option.

I installed openssh-server on the pc I want to backup. Then from the other one, I tried to retrieve my files.

I tried with FileZilla, Nautilus, Dolphin and via the command line. I can see the remote files but I can't copy them to a local folder. It's always "permission denied" or some such error message.

I think some things are wrong with openssh-server :

First of all, to install it it's "sudo apt install openssh-server" then the name changes and it becomes sftp-server. But only "man sftp-server" seems to function. Simply typing "sftp-server", or "sftp-server start", whether I'm root or not, says "command not found".

Second, it doesn't seem to do it's job. What's the point of showing me the remote files and not allowing me to copy them?

Third, I'm worried about my hard disk and now is not the time to play up!

I typed "systemctl status" and saw "State : degraded" So I typed "systemctl reset-failed" and it became "State : running" But I still can't get my files.

This is a follow-up of my previous question, here: How to boot lubuntu from a live usb on an EeeBook?

I found a long list of instructions here: https://github.com/lopaka/instructions/blob/master/ubuntu-16.04-install-asus-x205ta.md

I don't know if this is going to save my notebook or if this is a case of "too good to be true". I can try to follow these instructions but I don't understand them.

I don't like the sound of the warning at the top : "add required dependencies; set grub to commit before make failures occurred". And anyway, I have no idea what "set grub to commit" means. AFAIK, grub is the boot loader used in cases of dual-boots and "to commit" means to save some unfinished code in the cases where several developers are working on the same program. As I'm on my own - except for your help - why would I need to "commit" anything, why can't I just save or backup? What am I supposed to commit????? Why and how should I use grub to do it???????? Why does typing "make" always result in error messages?

And the rest is no better. Why should I need a live CD to install on a notebook that doesn't have a CD drive? Am I supposed to plug in an external CD drive?

Hitting "escape" at power-on gives the choice between windows boot manager or other, and "other" opens the BIOS. Hitting F2 repeatedly at power-on also brings up the BIOS.

With of without "secure boot" disabled, THERE IS NO USB OPTION.

I'm supposed to change boot options from within windows 10. In "parameters" I search for "boot", click on the result, and I can see "re-initialise" or "advanced startup". There I see "UEFI Removable Device". I select it and it boots into windows.

Another option in "boot" is "troubleshoot"/"Advanced". There I can select "Shell". I see a blue background with a message saying "select your account". There is only one and no way to select it - or to do anything except powering off the EeeBook.

Another option in "toubleshoot/advanced" is "change UEFI microprogram parameters". It says "restart to change them". I click "restart", it reboots and goes into the BIOS where there is no "boot from USB" option.

I found a new version of the bios here: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/X205TA/HelpDesk_BIOS/ (if you need one for a different model, don't use their search, replace X250TA by your model number in the link).

I opened it with the WinFlash program and it told me it was updating the BIOS. When I went back there the BIOS looked exactly the same.

I found a discussion here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UEFI/SecureBoot/KeyManagement/ImageSigning Then I went to canonical's site. There's stuff about Ubuntu running on a cloud. I don't understand all this. Do I need a special - signed - iso file to bypass the problem? Are they doing this deliberatly to prevent people from installing Ubuntu?

Any ideas, please?

Startup disk creator won't open the file. I click on "other", find the file, click on "open" (or double click the file), nothing happens.

Rufus - well, the "balena-etcher" equivalent - can't be securely installed.

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/balena-etcher.list

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com:443 --recv-keys 379CE192D401AB61
Executing: /tmp/apt-key-gpghome.2JnR7EAw3P/gpg.1.sh --keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com:443 --recv-keys 379CE192D401AB61
gpg: keyserver receive failed: No such file or directory

sudo apt update

Reading package lists... Done     
W: GPG error: https://dl.bintray.com/etcher/debian stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 379CE192D401AB61
E: The repository 'https://deb.etcher.io stable Release' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.

And unetbootin can't be found.

This is not the only issue. Microsoft has stopped putting sha256sum online, so I don't know whether my iso is OK.

I am trying to install lubuntu on a ASUS EeeBook X205TA

I got lubuntu-18.04-alternate-amd64.iso on another computer, it has the correct sha256sum.

I used "Startup Disk Creator" on Kubuntu to create a bootable usb.

Then I discovered that this notebook had a stupid BIOS. The only boot option was "Windows boot manager" or "disabled". It has no CD drive but it has 2 usb ports. Still, even with "Secure Boot" disabled there was no option to boot from usb.

Instead, there is a utility inside Windows 10, called "WinFlash". It offers 2 options : download the boot file from ASUS web site or open it.

Of course, my live usb stick has no iso file. I decided to remove the bootable stuff and to copy the iso file on it. Impossible.

umount /dev/sdb1

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/disk
mount: /media/disk: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.

/media/kube$ sudo mount -o remount,rw /dev/sdb1 /media/disk
mount: /media/disk: cannot remount /dev/sdb1 read-write, is write-protected.

I've done many installs of various flavours of Ubuntu. It's the first time I'm so much stuck. Please help.

I've been asked to fix a Windows 10 PC with a weird setup. It could not connect to any network except the one at the school where my friend works, and there it could not connect via WiFi, only through Ethernet and from a specific room. I don't know how this setup was created.

As my friend is unable to go there (closed because of COVID-19), she asked for a workaround.

I tried to install Kubuntu 20.04. I could boot it from an .iso image on a usb key, but the installation failed. After the installation, it says "You need to reboot". So I rebooted. When it said "Remove installation medium and press ENTER", I did so. But then it booted straight into her usual login screen, no sign of a grub menu. I tried twice.

I booted again from the usb, installed gparted and fiddled. I read the gparted information and found a small partition at the beginning of the disk, about 150 MB in size, ntsf or fat32 format (sorry, I've forgotten which). Gparted said it didn't know what it was. This seemed suspiscious, so I deleted it.

I installed Kubuntu again and this time it rebooted straight into Kubuntu. My friend is happy, but I find this unsatisfying. I would like a grub menu menu at startup, offering the choice between windows (for her school, though no-one knows when it will open again) and Kubuntu (for confinement home use).

I ran update-grub and grub-mkconfig. No changes.

I tried reading http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html#Multi_002dboot-manual-config but I didn't understand that.

The Windows file are still around. Dolphin shows them as "Basic data partition". Gparted shows /dev/sda8 as fat32 /boot/efi 115 MB and /dev/sda4, "Basic data partition", as ntfs /media/kub... 137.74 GB.

I've seen an example of command-line to tell grub to add stuff to it's boot options, but it came with a dire warning that this could break the computer altogether. It was not exactly my configuration and I didn't dare fiddle with grub. I've already been fiddling with gparted... I shouldn't, I know, but after seeing 2 installs fail I was getting desperate.

Please help. What I really need is advice like "type that in Konsole and it will function".

BTW, I don't know if the Windows partition is mounted. I don't think I unmounted it, but I don't know how to check that.

And, if someone knows the name of the program that was used to create the problem, please tell me.

There are many card games in the aisleriot package. However, one is missing : crescent solitaire. You can play it online, for free, but it has annoying features such as a timeout. And advertisement if you are not using an add blocker.

So I would like to add crescent solitaire to aisleriot.

It says on the aisleriot web site : "The rules for the games have been coded for your pleasure in the GNOME scripting language (Scheme)". I looked at the source code. Yes, it is some version of scheme.

So I would need a scheme tutorial, preferably with a step-by-step exercise about writing a card game for aisleriot. Because of course I wish to use the existing libraries, not code the game from scratch.

Gnome's devel web site speaks about javascript, not scheme. The game files I looked at, the files containing the rules for the different games, are uncommented. I could not make car or cdr (= "head or tail" in scheme-speak) of them.

So, please, does any one know where I could find a good tutorial? Or at least a good manual? (NOT the MIT gibberish).

I'm looking for software (Ubuntu) to which I could input some song mp3 file and which would display the notes of the song, (like dots on a music sheet, not like the wavy lines of Audacity).

I would like to teach myself to sing in tune.

There are many sites online which show music sheets, but they always show the partitions for the music of a song, not for the song itself (the vocals). And some don't display partitions at all, only guitar chords which I don't understand.

I currently use musescore. I listen to the song, then I try to hum it, then I try to input the notes one by one in musescore. I don't always succeed, and since I sing out of tune I'm afraid I'm sometimes teaching myself to keep on singing out of tune. For me, this process is really slow and error-prone. There's got to be some software somewhere which would make a better job of doing this.

If I could only see the notes, I could copy them in musecore, then create an mp3 file with the music of the vocals, and try to sing along with that.

I enjoy singing, but, if I do it when somebody else is present, this person will quickly ask me "would you like me to put some music on?" or start talking to me to make me stop singing without actually saying "shut up". So.

Karaoke sites are useless, they keep the music of the instruments and remove the music of the vocals. It's the reverse I would need.

Audacity has a filter supposed to do this but it doesn't function. And anyway it never displays notes, only curly lines.

Any suggestion welcome.

I am trying to reinstall Antidote (a spell checker good with French grammar). It has to be integrated with (for example) Open Office.

I have the install CD but it can only integrate with Open Office up to version 3.x. An update to a newer Antidote costs 50 euros. So I decided I would install Open Office 3.4.1 and use it to spellcheck with Antidote.

I found ooobasis3.4-sdk_3.4.1-1_amd64.deb here : http://archive.apache.org/dist/incubator/ooo/files/stable/3.4.1/

But ooobasis3.4-sdk depends on ooobasis3.4-core01, and I'm stuck. Where is ooobasis3.4-core01? And how to I avoid having to download and to uncompress the dependencies one by one? I think I need to add something to my sources.list but what?

Any suggestion welcome.

I found an answer here saying to use gparted, but it does not function for me. Gparted lists the partition in the list but does not show it in the top bar (I see nothing between /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda5).

Gparted says File system : extended ; Status : Busy (At least one logical partition is mounted) Path : /dev/sda4

But Gparted does not give me the mount point.

I think this partition was created by an ancient attempt at installing kubuntu. On /dev/sda5 I have a functioning Kubuntu. On the first 3 there is windows.

I'm running out of space on /dev/sda5. Its 122.49 GiB. /dev/sda4 is also 122.49 GiB.

sudo mount /dev/sda4 /media/kube/STORAGE mount: /media/kube/STORAGE: /dev/sda4 is not a valid block device.

I cannot try umount because I don't know the mount point.

I have a PC which overheats and shuts down without warning.
I installed lm-controls and fancontrol.
I ran sensors detect and said yes to all questions. I typed

sudo service kmod start

When I try pwmconfig, I get

There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed

When I typed sensors, I saw the CPU was already over 80 Celsius. So I turned it off.

sensors: 
coretemp-isa-0000 
Adapter:ISA adapter 
Core 0:   + 84.0°C (high = +80.0C, crit = +90.0C) 
Core 1:   + 82.0°C (high = +80.0C, crit = +90.0C)

After this, I got lost. I found instructions about how to configure the PC so that such a temperature triggers such and such an action, but this is not really what I want: too complicated.

I would like a way to set up all fans at maximum speed, and I don't mind having to type this command each time I turn on this machine. Never mind the temperature, turn them on at full speed from the moment the PC starts working, then maybe it will stay on a little longer...

For the moment, it crashes after half an hour, or one hour, depending upon what I'm doing.

To manage do-release-upgrade, I had to bring the pc outside when the temperature was around zero. What shall I do during summer?

I have a card from a camera. The card itself seems fine because when I put it back into the camera I can see the pictures.

When I plug the card reader into the pc, its red light lights up but the "options" panel does not open.

dmesg | tail output:

[1736132.098810] usb 2-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=048d, idProduct=1336
[1736132.098819] usb 2-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[1736132.098824] usb 2-1.1: Product: Mass Storage Device
[1736132.098828] usb 2-1.1: Manufacturer: Generic   
[1736132.098833] usb 2-1.1: SerialNumber: 00000000000006
[1736132.099467] usb-storage 2-1.1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[1736132.099704] scsi host7: usb-storage 2-1.1:1.0
[1736133.400514] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Generic  Storage Device   0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[1736133.401608] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[1736133.961082] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

lsusb output:

Bus 002 Device 023: ID 048d:1336 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. SD/MMC Cardreader

cat /proc/partitions output:

major minor  #blocks  name

  11        0    1048575 sr0

The only thing which isn't one of the sda HD partition is sr0. So I tried mounting it:

sudo mount /dev/sr0 /media/disk

This gave me this:

mount: /media/disk: no medium found on /dev/sr0.

I also tried

sudo mount /dev/sdc /media/disk     

which gave me:

mount: /media/disk: no medium found on /dev/sdc. 

But I didn't expect it to function, I think I need an sdc1.

Could the card reader itself be faulty? It's the first time I try this one.

I have a disk which failed on another computer. I took it out and plugged it into this one (running kubuntu 17.10) via a usb port.

Nothing happens when it's plugged in. I checked dmesg, fdisk and testdisk. I didn't try gparted because it functions with the gnome interface. Kubuntu's equivalent, partitionmanager, doesn't see the disk.

I looked in /dev/ but there is no sdc stuff. I see several sda, because I have several partitions.

/dev$ ls sd*
sda  sda1  sda2  sda3  sda4  sda5

Nothing changes when I plug this disk in or out. It's as if there was nothing at the end of the wire.

I need a way to tell the computer that it's there. Either with a konsole command line or through some disk recovery software.

I read that : "/dev/sdb1 will be a symlink to /dev/scsi/host5.... You can use the ln command to create a /dev/sdb1"

I have no /dev/scsi but I have several scsi folders. In /proc/scsi I have a file called device_info There I can read (among others) :

'SEAGATE' 'ST157N' 0x1
'SEAGATE' 'ST296' 0x1
'SEAGATE' 'ST1581' 0x1

Could one of these correspond to my failing HD? The problem is that this info stays even if I unplug the HD...

All advice welcome.