James Bradbury's questions

I'm running dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu. I have several disks including a WD SSD which I only for Windows (NTFS) and don't need to mount it in Ubuntu.

However, since installing this new disk, every time I boot Ubuntu it spends several minutes checking the disk before finally giving me the Gnome/Ubuntu log in screen. I'd like to continue check the other disks, but skip this one, as it's Windows' responsibility.

I have tried removing/commenting it from fstab, but that doesn't make any difference. Is there a way to automatically skip, rather than having to press Ctrl+C every time?

This is what my fstab currently looks like:

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=d4ae91d8-28db-476f-95f6-27d6cabbb816 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/sda5 during installation
#UUID=edb1d7c4-7f64-494b-970a-30e19e551a99 /boot           ext4    defaults        0       2
# /raptor was on /dev/sdb2 during installation
UUID=7583d83a-c588-474b-8523-3d501d2e8413 /raptor         ext4    defaults        0       2
# /win_C was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=6E4EABC64EAB8605 /win_C          ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0       0
# /win_d was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=EA9CDD939CDD5AA1 /win_d          ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0       0
# /win_e was on /dev/sdc1 during installation
UUID=7A4E15745CE2076E /win_e          ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0       0
# /win_f was on /dev/sdd1 during installation
UUID=A8DC8E26DC8DEF3E /win_f          ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0       0
# swap was on /dev/sdb3 during installation
UUID=674fa812-da28-43c1-b9de-d805551f88a6 none            swap    sw              0       0
# Manually added WD SSD 500GB (mostly used for windows)
UUID=7C5E67055E66B792 none   ntfs defaults,noauto 0  0

# Keep /tmp in RAM (faster and less SSD wear)
# http://www.howtogeek.com/62761/how-to-tweak-your-ssd-in-ubuntu-for-better-performance/
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
# NAS on zotac
192.168.50.186:/nas/shared /zotac-shared nfs rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,intr,nfsvers=3

UUID=edb1d7c4-7f64-494b-970a-30e19e551a99  /boot       ext4    defaults      0       2

I'm having some issues using NFS to access files on a small PC via a home LAN.

It appears to work perfectly when I'm using Nautilus or the command line, but when I try to save an application such as LibreOffice or GIMP, I get a few second delay, then a "Write error". When opening an existing file from the NFS share it tells me "This file is locked for editing by Unknown User".

These applications can open and save files on local drives without problems.

My current workaround is to open as Read-only and save the file onto my desktop, then use Nautilus to copy it to the location from where I originally opened it.

My local PC is using Ubuntu 20.04, and the server says it's on: "5.3.0-53-generic #47~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP"

My local /etc/fstab entry:

192.168.50.186:/nas/shared /shared nfs rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,hard,nfsvers=3

On the server my /etc/exports file:

/nas/shared   192.168.50.186/255.255.255.0(rw,insecure,no_subtree_check,async)

In 18.04 this problem only affected LibreOffice, but now it also affects the GIMP and Krita and probably others.

I'm trying to upload media files to a website I'm maintaining. The latest one to be added is .amr (test file from here) and it's causing problems, but only with Ubuntu. It works fine on Mac OS (High Sierra) with Firefox and Chrome. Both browsers fail to upload the file in Chrome.

For reference the JavaScript code is checking for the file types:

|3gpp|3gpp2|webm|ogg|m4a|x-m4a|amr|

In the HTML input tag, the accept value includes:

audio/ogg, audio/m4a, audio/x-m4a, audio/amr

All the other types work fine in Ubuntu. and .amr works in other operating systems. What is special about Ubuntu?

Is it describing the .amr type in a different way? If so is there a way to find out what that is so I can adjust the code to support Ubuntu?

I've just installed the latest version of duplicity (0.7.18 at the time of writing) using these instructions to add the ppa then update.

I did this under my account which has sudo privileges and installed the package. Duplicity gives me the new version whether I become root or not.

james@box # duplicity --version
duplicity 0.7.18.1

However, when logged in as another non-sudoers user, duplicity shows the old version. I've tried logging out and back in again.

nasuser@box # duplicity --version
duplicity 0.7.14

With both users I get:

which duplicity
/usr/bin/duplicity

How do I get the non-root user(s) to see the updated version - 0.7.18.1?

And in general how does this kind of thing work? Does that /usr/bin/duplicity file really get called both times when the --version option is used, only referring to two different files elsewhere? Or is which not such a great tool as there are things it doesn't know about?

I'm currently having an issue installing 18.04.1 from USB on a Zoostorm 7270-8006 Ultra Small Form Factor PC.

I can boot into the Ubuntu installer or the "Try Ubuntu" mode and get the desktop with the orangey beaver background. However, there are no icons. Right-clicking gets me the desktop context menu from which I can get a terminal up.

After a bit of experimentation I realised that the system is acting as if there are multiple monitors, even though only one is connected. When I move the mouse off the left of the screen it keeps going for some distance and takes as long to get it back. Maybe there are icons over here, but I can't see them to click on them.

It doesn't seem possible to turn off other monitors in the BIOS. I've also tried connecting both VGA and HDMI monitors, but neither of them have the icons or setup screen, just the background image!

So what I'm looking for is a way to force a live install like this to use only one monitor, ideally with a command line command. Once the system is set up I know how to use System Settings -> Screen Display to achieve this, but that's not available to me at the moment.

I've followed all the advice here and the server log file updates when I do an update on another computer on the network.

However, I never see any TCP_HITs. I even grepped for them. This is some of the tail -f output.

1427226546.326     18 192.168.1.200 TCP_MISS/200 3185 GET http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux-meta/linux-headers-generic_3.13.0.48.55_amd64.deb - HIER_DIRECT/91.189.92.200 application/x-debian-package
1427226546.510    183 192.168.1.200 TCP_MISS/200 777943 GET http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/linux-libc-dev_3.13.0-48.80_amd64.deb - HIER_DIRECT/91.189.92.200 application/x-debian-package
1427226568.142  21631 192.168.1.200 TCP_MISS/200 98066145 GET http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/linux-source-3.13.0_3.13.0-48.80_all.deb - HIER_DIRECT/91.189.92.200 application/x-debian-package
1427226568.406     18 192.168.1.200 TCP_MISS/200 3179 GET http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux-meta/linux-source_3.13.0.48.55_all.deb - HIER_DIRECT/91.189.92.200 application/x-debian-package

It may be worth mentioning that the server is running Lubuntu 14.04, while the clients are running Ubuntu 14.04. However, I made sure I added the missing repos ("updates", I think) to the server's sources.list

What am I missing?

EDIT: My allowed-networks-src.acl looks like this:

# allowed-networks-src.conf
# 
# network sources that you want to allow access to the cache

# private networks
10.0.0.0/8 
172.16.0.0/12
192.168.0.0/16
192.168.1.0/255.255.0.0
192.168.1.202
192.168.1.201
192.168.1.200
127.0.0.1

# IPv6 private addresses
fe80::/64
::1/128

# additional non-private networks can be added to the directory:
#  /etc/squid-deb-proxy/allowed-networks-src.acl.d

For some reason I've never been able to get Network shares working on Ubuntu, 12.04 nor 14.04. Although I have the desktop version, I've followed the server sharing advice here with no luck. The problem is the same on my wife's computer and the laptop. Shouldn't this just work out of the box?

I can't even get access to my shared folders through the "Browse Network" link from my own machine. Should I give up and use NFS?

Here's my smbtree and smbstatus output.

    WORKGROUP
    \\JAMES-UBUNTU          james-ubuntu server (Samba, Ubuntu)
        \\JAMES-UBUNTU\IPC$             IPC Service (james-ubuntu server (Samba, Ubuntu))
        \\JAMES-UBUNTU\Photosmart_Plus_B210 Photosmart_Plus_B210
        \\JAMES-UBUNTU\print$           Printer Drivers
        \\JAMES-UBUNTU\shareme          James Public Share
james@james-ubuntu:~$ smbstatus

Samba version 4.1.6-Ubuntu
PID     Username      Group         Machine                        
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed to initialize session_global: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED

Service      pid     machine       Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------
Failed to initialize session_global: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
Failed to traverse sessions: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED

No locked files

I have hplip-3.14.4 with an HP Photosmart b210a and recently it has stopped printing properly.

The issue is that it tries to print from the photo tray (which we don't use).

I've tried setting this manually via the Settings page, but it makes no difference. My wife has the same issue (also using Ubuntu 12.04, and lately with 14.04).

EDIT: I've just set the printer up in Windows 7 and it works. So this is not a hardware fault and likely due to hplip or some Ubuntu software issue.

Rolling back the driver to 3.13.8 does not make any difference. What else can I try

EDIT2: I upgraded to HPLIP-3.14.6. This seemed to fix the issue until I rebooted which caused it to return. I've also noticed that clicking on the HP icon gives a menu with several options listed twice.

I'm also often getting a communication error with the printer.

My desktop machine is running Ubuntu 12.04 (and will probably stay with it until the next LTS). I've got a new 120GB SSD on the way as my existing 420GB spinning disk. If it makes any difference I'll be dual-booting with Windows 7 across both disks too.

I've read some helpful answers here about /home setup and enabling TRIM, which I intend to follow. So most of my /home will be on the SSD, with only photos, videos and music on the spinning disk.

The question is, when I reinstall Ubuntu from CD or USB, whether I should encrypt the SSD?

Specifically:

1. I'm reading that drive wear isn't much of an issue with modern SSDs as they last decades even if you spam them. Is this true?
2. How big a performance reduction will encrypting cause (I have an i7 Sandybridge, so I guess it can cope)?
3. Is it more important from a security point of view to encrypt an SSD? I think I read somewhere that it may be hard to reliably wipe data.

By all means answer even if you only know about one of those things.