JWNWSA's questions

When do I run "apt-get update" on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS? Is it ever necessary under Long Term Support?

After reading the suggested duplicates I don't believe my question is a duplicate. I already know what apt-get update does, but that wasn't my question.

Does Ubuntu update software packages like KeePassXC in LTS versions or does LTS mean I keep the version that was current when the LTS was released?

I installed KeePassXC on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I don't recall now what version of KeePassXC it was when I first installed it, but as of today it's 2.3.1. The most up-to-date version is now 2.4.1. I understand I can get updates by Snap and PPA, but I'm curious if a normal Ubuntu software update will eventually update KeePassXC or whether it remains static throughout the LTS period.

Edited to add: I understand now from the responses that the software packages were frozen to the time of release and that normally they will remain static and not be updated with the normal "Check for software updates." Does this static approach hold true for "apt-get"-type approaches, or can I get updates that way, eventually? I note from the source code link that KeePassXC 2.3.1 is still the source, but don't understand if I can "force" an update outside of Snap or PPA.

Further edited as possible duplicate: The basic question was essentially a duplicate, but my first edit took it further - "as the repositories change, can I then "apt-get" an updated version. It appears the answer is "no, not safely."

While running f3write erroneously at first I left some garbage files in my Media/jw directory - 1.h2w and 2.h2w. How do I get rid of them?

I can find them with the GUI but I don't have permission to remove anything there by deleting or dragging them to the trashcan.

With the command line I don't know how to get to that location in order to use sudo.

How do I cd above the Home directory using the command line?

I have installed f3 (fight flash fraud) on my Ubuntu 18.04.1 in order to test my USB stick purchases from the command line. My newest Kingston 16GB successfully passed the f3probe test and for practice I want to run f3write and f3read also, but I'm seeing some oddities and have terminated the tests.

The stick is mounted and Files app identifies it as /media/jw/2177-E385 so I have attempted to run the command variously as

1. sudo f3write /media/jw
2. sudo f3write /media/jw/
3. sudo f3write /media/jw/2177-E385.

Which is the mount point that I need for this operation? The partition is located at /dev/sdd1.

I am seeing some 1.h2w, 2.h2w, etc., written into the /media/jw directory in files, but not into 2177-E385.

What concerns me the most is that, when running f3write, the command line shows 908GB free space, the size of my hard drive, not 16GB, the size of my USB stick; I don't want to test the computer's hard drive.

I would appreciate some assistance with the syntax in order to let me know where I'm going wrong.

I recently ran on a USB drive the f3write, f3read, and f3probe tests. The size of the drive is legitimate, but there are some corrupted sectors indicated in f3read:

Data OK: 7.49 GB (15697680 sectors)   
Data LOST: 124.00 KB (248 sectors)  
Corrupted: 124.00 KB (248 sectors)  
Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)  
Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)  

The f3probe run shows the proper size of the drive:

Device geometry:  
*Usable* size: 7.50 GB (15728640 blocks)  
Announced size: 7.50 GB (15728640 blocks)  
Module: 8.00 GB (2^33 Bytes)  
Approximate cache size: 0.00 Byte (0 blocks), need-reset=no  
Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)  

Am I correct in thinking that any bad sectors mean return this drive to the seller? Or do all USBs have a certain number of bad sectors?

I would appreciate someone interpret for me what the terminal run means. I've edited it for brevity.

1. I first ran "$ sudo fdisk -l ". Then I attempted to make a directory.
2. Then I attempted to make a mount point " $ sudo mkdir /media/USB ", which I tried previously, also, which might explain "File exists."
3. The I attempted to mount the USB drive, following a cookbook at http://sourcedigit.com/14779-mount-unmount-usb-pen-drive-ubuntu-terminal/ . The result said it was already mounted or busy. so...
4. I attempted to unmount it, if that were the problem "$ sudo umount /dev/sdd "
5. Then I repeated the make directory and mount commands. It again told me it was already mounted or busy.
6. I then finished by attempting to leave it in a unmounted state.

gparted then gave me me a dropdown box: /dev/sdd (7.5 GiB) The green box portion above the partitions says " /dev/sdd2 7.5 GiB " The partition portion of gparted has three lines. The first is: "/dev/sdd1 (exclamation point) File system (black square) unknown Size 31.50 KiB The second is: unallocated , File System grey square Size 1.97 KiB The final line is: /dev/sdd2 key symbol File system (green square) fat32 Mount Point /media//1D7E-DAFB Size 7.5 GiB Used 14.99 MiB Unused 7.48 GiB

Am I in error attempting to mount /dev/sdd ? Should it be one of the partitions?

What would make re-install hang while it installed 18.04.1 easily the first time a week ago?

I decided to re-install, this time with whole disk encryption, and start fresh.

I inserted the USB stick, re-booted, and the system hung up with a blank black screen with a solid, unblinking cursor. The hard drive appeared to be spinning hard. Nothing else happened, the drive just spun and the blank, solid cursor stayed in place. I left it for five minutes, then tried again, leaving it for 10 minutes, and saw no changes. I checked the BIOS boot order and it was on the USB stick. On the first installation it wasn't instantaneous, but it loaded and gave me a screen within a minute as best as I can recall. This time not.

I checked the Wiki for re-installation - it pointed me towards something called UbuntuInstaller, which my command line doesn't recognize. If I need to add the USB to Network settings I could use advice on that.

What am I doing wrong?

I'm trying to better understand the use of "SHA256SUMS" and "grep." The Ubuntu verify and authenticate tutorial uses the following term: "sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS 2>&1 | grep OK" to verify the download hasn't been corrupted.

I understand it's checking at the SHA256SUMS file that contains two hash values, one for the Desktop version and one for the Live. The usage worked, and I checked it by manually verifying the hash values.

My question is what is the "SHA256SUMS 2>&1" portion doing? Also, it appears to be a part of the "SHA256SUMS" command, though I don't see that usage on the man page I use. Then somehow the result is piped to "grep" to pattern-match with no options.

I'd like to understand it well enough to use the technique in verifying that other software downloads haven't been corrupted.

As I understand it, if I want encryption on my existing system, 18.04 LTS, my best bet is full-disk encryption, and the best way to get that is to back up my data and re-install and encrypt during the process. If that's true, then I have some process-type questions.

What, precisely, do I back up? My Home directory, sure; anything else?

I have a VPN running and I hope I can get it again if I have to do so from start, but is there a way to back this up so I don't have to begin afresh?

Edited question for posterity: The reason my resulting hash values were the same is that the I'm computing checksums of two .iso files which contain "empty strings."

I attempted to verify two different ISO files and didn't notice they had not completed downloading. Both files generated the same checksum, sha256sum: e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 This the same checksum you would get for any empty string.

I had amended my original question to ask "What thing am testing to get the results I got?" The answer is, "an empty string."

I'm editing this because my original question and subsequent edits left a confusing question. It's answered.

Is there a way to bulk-convert old Word Perfect word processing files to LibreOffice Writer format in Ubuntu? It's apparently possible to convert them one at a time, but when you have over a decade of of files, that would be a large task. The files are currently on an air-gapped WinXP machine maintained for the files.

Also, if converted either individually or bulk, would that leave the meta-data (origin date) in place or would it change it to today?

Edit: For the purpose here, "bulk import" would be acceptable as long as the files are readable.

On my 64-bit Ubuntu 18.04 WiFi isn't working - my WiFi networks are not visible to choose from. I got the following result:

$ lspci -vq | grep -i wireless -B 1 -A 5

01:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
    Subsystem: Lite-On Communications Inc RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
    Memory at fea00000 (32-bit,ran the following command  non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
    Kernel modules: rt2800pci 

Is this a case of a missing driver? My Ethernet connection works fine.

Edit:

$ rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

It still does not see the WiFi networks.

Ubuntu Paste link deleted.

Ubuntu Paste link deleted.

"$ sudo iwlist scan
[sudo] password for <myname>: 
wlp1s0    No scan results

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

enp2s0    Interface doesn't support scanning.

tun0      Interface doesn't support scanning."

Rebooting. This is a desktop system, not a laptop. It sits about five feet from the router.

Disconnected the internet, rebooted, ran the command, and reconnected the internet. dmesg | grep -e rt2 -e wlp > info.txt

[   13.959601] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00_set_rt: Info - RT chipset 3090, rev 3213 detected
[   13.970464] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00_set_rf: Info - RF chipset 0005 detected
[   14.091851] rt2800pci 0000:01:00.0 wlp1s0: renamed from wlan0
[   20.466123] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp1s0: link is not ready

I'm a new user in Ubuntu 18.04. I'd like to install the latest KMyMoney and I've looked at some advanced discussions, but I need something basic. For instance:

1. Must I compile anything? I understand I need some KDE tools but must I compile them or just install them?

2. This recent link (install kmymoney 4.8.1 on kubuntu 18.04) suggests I also need "git." Is that true for my install? I do want to be able to update it with security and bug fixes and possible improvements in the future.

3. If #2 above is necessary, then can someone point me to some really beginner knowledge of Git?

4. Is KMyMoney available by apt-get or is this something I must download and process?

Thank you.

Edited: undeleted because of comment:

I can't run vpn: Here's a simple terminal session: $ sudo openvpn etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/USA-Dallas Options error: In [CMD-LINE]:1: Error opening configuration file: etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/USA-Dallas Use --help for more information."

"--help" gives me: "--help Options error: I'm trying to parse "etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/USA-Dallas" as an --option parameter but I don't see a leading '--'"