sababa's questions

I'm on Ubuntu 20.04.

I'm using Firefox as my main browser. I've set it up to auto delete cookies and disabled Javascript to make browsing more secure and private.

For my work I'm using Brave. Is it possible to set up Ubuntu so that it uses Brave as the default browser to open links from Slack and my work mailbox in Thunderbird but keep Firefox as the default for everything else?

Linux newcomer here. A few days ago I learned the lesson to always make sure to properly read what packages are removed with apt autoremove regardless of how tired I am. To make a long story short for some reason I was prompted to remove a lot of packages and simply proceeded. As a result, a lot of data was removed including kernel versions and whatnot. I realised that something was wrong about halfway through when I was warned that I was in the process of deleting the currently active kernel. I know, stupid.

After rebooting the grub bootloader didn't have list Ubuntu anymore, so I had to set up a fresh install. I'm using a laptop from Tuxedo Computers, so I was able to use their WebFAI to set up Ubuntu 20.04. Luckily I was able to restore all of my data from a recent backup.

For some reason I am now again prompted to remove over 200 packages using apt autoremove. The output is pasted below.

I'd appreciate it if you could let me know if I can remove these packages safely or if you recognise some of them as important.

Thank you!

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: appmenu-gtk-module-common appmenu-gtk3-module apport-symptoms apt-clone apt-config-icons-large apt-config-icons-large-hidpi archdetect-deb bluedevil breeze breeze-cursor-theme breeze-gtk-theme catdoc dctrl-tools dpkg-repack drkonqi fonts-hack fonts-noto-hinted fonts-noto-unhinted frameworkintegration gir1.2-timezonemap-1.0 gir1.2-xkl-1.0 ieee-data kaccounts-providers kde-cli-tools kde-cli-tools-data kde-config-gtk-style kde-config-sddm kde-style-breeze kde-style-oxygen-qt5 kdeconnect kdoctools5 kgamma5 khelpcenter khotkeys khotkeys-data kinit kio-extras kio-extras-data kmenuedit kpeople-vcard kscreen ksysguard ksysguard-data ksysguardd ktexteditor-data ktexteditor-katepart kwin-style-breeze kwrited libaccounts-qt5-1 libappmenu-gtk3-parser0 libappstreamqt2 libaribb24-0 libbasicusageenvironment1 libcddb2 libcolorcorrect5 libdebian-installer4 libdmtx0b libdvbpsi10 libebml4v5 libeditorconfig0 libepub0 libfakekey0 libflatpak0 libgit2-28 libgps26 libgrantlee-templates5 libgroupsock8 libhttp-parser2.9 libixml10 libkaccounts1 libkf5activitiesstats1 libkf5baloo5 libkf5balooengine5 libkf5bluezqt-data libkf5bluezqt6 libkf5contacts-data libkf5contacts5 libkf5dnssd-data libkf5dnssd5 libkf5emoticons-bin libkf5emoticons-data libkf5emoticons5 libkf5filemetadata-bin libkf5filemetadata-data libkf5filemetadata3 libkf5holidays-data libkf5holidays5 libkf5itemmodels5 libkf5js5 libkf5kdelibs4support-data libkf5kdelibs4support5 libkf5kdelibs4support5-bin libkf5khtml-bin libkf5khtml-data libkf5khtml5 libkf5networkmanagerqt6 libkf5notifyconfig-data libkf5notifyconfig5 libkf5people-data libkf5people5 libkf5peoplebackend5 libkf5peoplewidgets5 libkf5prison5 libkf5pty-data libkf5pty5 libkf5pulseaudioqt2 libkf5purpose-bin libkf5purpose5 libkf5runner5 libkf5screen-bin libkf5screen7 libkf5style5 libkf5su-bin libkf5su-data libkf5su5 libkf5syntaxhighlighting-data libkf5syntaxhighlighting5 libkf5sysguard-bin libkf5sysguard-data libkf5texteditor-bin libkf5texteditor5 libkf5texteditor5-libjs-underscore libkf5threadweaver5 libkfontinst5 libkfontinstui5 libksgrd7 libksignalplotter7 libkworkspace5-5 liblivemedia77 liblua5.2-0 libmad0 libmarkdown2 libmatroska6v5 libmbedcrypto3 libmbedtls12 libmbedx509-0 libnotificationmanager1 libopenmpt-modplug1 liboxygenstyle5-5 liboxygenstyleconfig5-5 libpackagekitqt5-1 libpam-kwallet-common libpam-kwallet5 libphonon4qt5-4 libphonon4qt5-data libplacebo7 libplasma-geolocation-interface5 libpoppler-qt5-1 libpowerdevilcore2 libpowerdevilui5 libprocesscore7 libprocessui7 libproxy-tools libqalculate20 libqalculate20-data libqca-qt5-2 libqca-qt5-2-plugins libqrencode4 libqt5webkit5 libresid-builder0c2a libscim8v5 libsdl-image1.2 libsidplay2 libsignon-plugins-common1 libsignon-qt5-1 libsnapd-qt1 libspatialaudio0 libssh2-1 libtaskmanager6 libtimezonemap-data libtimezonemap1 libupnp13 libusageenvironment3 libvlc-bin libvlc5 libvlccore9 libweather-ion7 libxcb-dpms0 libxcb-record0 libzip5 milou oxygen-sounds phonon4qt5 phonon4qt5-backend-vlc plasma-browser-integration plasma-desktop-data plasma-discover plasma-discover-backend-fwupd plasma-discover-backend-snap plasma-discover-common plasma-integration plasma-pa plasma-thunderbolt powerdevil powerdevil-data python3-dbus.mainloop.pyqt5 python3-icu python3-pam python3-pyqt5.qtwebkit python3-systemd qdbus-qt5 qml-module-org-kde-activities qml-module-org-kde-bluezqt qml-module-org-kde-draganddrop qml-module-org-kde-kcm qml-module-org-kde-kcoreaddons qml-module-org-kde-kholidays qml-module-org-kde-kio qml-module-org-kde-kwindowsystem qml-module-org-kde-people qml-module-org-kde-purpose qml-module-org-kde-qqc2desktopstyle qml-module-org-kde-quickcharts qml-module-org-kde-runnermodel qml-module-org-kde-solid qml-module-qt-labs-folderlistmodel qml-module-qt-labs-settings qml-module-ubuntu-onlineaccounts qtchooser rdate signon-plugin-oauth2 socat software-properties-qt sshfs systemsettings user-manager vlc-data vlc-plugin-base vlc-plugin-video-output xsettingsd Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.

I think I didn't encrypt my drive when I installed Ubuntu and I would like to use the opportunity to change that when I install Ubuntu 20.04. I'd like to make sure that all data is permanently wiped before I do a fresh installation, but that's turning out to be a bit of a problem. All I found online on the topic was the advice to go on the manufacturer's website to see how to proceed.

I have a Samsung 970 EVO SSD, and the tool that Samsung offers (Samung Magician) appears to be available exclusively for Windows. Any ideas how to get this done?

I inherited a lot of USB flash drives and would like to find out what USB version they are (i.e. 2.0, 3.0 or maybe even older). How can I do that on Ubuntu?

It's a bit odd, but since the upgrade to 19.10 I can only access the internet through browser and email after I connected to my VPN. Before it is not possible. Any pointers?

edit:

$ ip link;ip route
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp57s0f1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 80:fa:5b:68:a8:ea brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlp58s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 18:56:80:e6:5d:6b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: anbox0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 76:cd:bf:bf:11:5a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp58s0 proto dhcp metric 20600 
169.254.0.0/16 dev anbox0 scope link metric 1000 
192.168.1.0/24 dev wlp58s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.126 metric 600 
192.168.250.0/24 dev anbox0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.250.1

And after connecting to the VPN:

$ ip link;ip route
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp57s0f1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 80:fa:5b:68:a8:ea brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlp58s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 18:56:80:e6:5d:6b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: anbox0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 76:cd:bf:bf:11:5a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: tun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 100
    link/none 
0.0.0.0/1 via 10.8.0.1 dev tun0 
default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp58s0 proto dhcp metric 20600 
10.8.0.0/24 dev tun0 proto kernel scope link src 10.8.0.21 
37.120.217.203 via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp58s0 
128.0.0.0/1 via 10.8.0.1 dev tun0 
169.254.0.0/16 dev anbox0 scope link metric 1000 
192.168.1.0/24 dev wlp58s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.126 metric 600 
192.168.250.0/24 dev anbox0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.250.1

edit2:

$ vim resolv.conf
#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
# 127.0.0.53 is the systemd-resolved stub resolver.
# run "systemd-resolve --status" to see details about the actual nameservers.

nameserver 127.0.0.53
search lan

edit3:

$ systemd-resolve --status Global LLMNR setting: no MulticastDNS setting: no DNSOverTLS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no DNS Domain: lan DNSSEC NTA: 10.in-addr.arpa 16.172.in-addr.arpa 168.192.in-addr.arpa 17.172.in-addr.arpa 18.172.in-addr.arpa 19.172.in-addr.arpa 20.172.in-addr.arpa 21.172.in-addr.arpa 22.172.in-addr.arpa 23.172.in-addr.arpa 24.172.in-addr.arpa 25.172.in-addr.arpa 26.172.in-addr.arpa 27.172.in-addr.arpa 28.172.in-addr.arpa 29.172.in-addr.arpa 30.172.in-addr.arpa 31.172.in-addr.arpa corp d.f.ip6.arpa home internal intranet lan local private test

Link 2 (enp57s0f1) Current Scopes: none DefaultRoute setting: no LLMNR setting: yes MulticastDNS setting: no DNSOverTLS setting: no DNSSEC setting: no DNSSEC supported: no

I'm trying to recover data from an external hard drive. It's rather large (1 TB) and was originally formatted for Windows using either NTFS or FAT32. In Windows, the hard drive is not recognised anymore. When I first plugged it into my laptop running Ubuntu 19.04, it was recognised in the file explorer but couldn't be accessed (hence the recovery).

Since then, when I plug it in my Ubuntu laptop, it's not mounted anymore. However, when I plug it into my old MacBook, it shows up in the file explorer.

Back to Ubuntu: when I use lsusb, it is listed. But it is neiter listed when I enter lsblk nor mount.

Any idea how I could have it listed in Ubuntu again?

My laptop is running Ubuntu 19.04. When I'm waking it up after it got suspended, it often freezes - I can't move the mouse pointer and typing on the keyboard (Esc or Enter) results in nothing.

Only when I then close the lid and leave it closed for about 10 seconds before opening it again can I move the mouse/press Enter to be shown the password dialog.

Are there any logs that can show me what is happening and how I can fix it?

I'm a bit confused. I upgraded from 18.10 to 19.04 about two weeks ago without problems. Today I was prompted with a message telling me that an upgrade to 19.04 was available and whether I wanted to install it. I agreed and the upgrade process began. I then got two error messages: that 'install-info' couldn't be installed, and then that the upgrades couldn't be installed and that the system was in a potentially unusable state (see screenshots).

I am now using the system and it appears to be fine. How can I make sure that everything is in order?

Screenshot of the first error message I got: Could not install 'install-info'

Screenshot of the first error message I got: Could not install upgrades. The system could be in an unusable state.

edit: this is the output from apt list systemd

`$ apt list systemd
Listing... Done
systemd/disco,now 240-6ubuntu5 amd64 [installed]
systemd/disco 240-6ubuntu5 i386`


I'm using a laptop with **Intel i5** chipset.

edit2: I learned that the chipset has nothing to do with the problem. Following the output for `sudo apt update` and `sudo apt upgrade` - I had to change all instances of http or https to *http because my user level is not high enough to paste that many links

`$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
Hit:2 *ttps://repo.skype.com/deb stable InRelease
Hit:3 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease
Hit:4 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease
Hit:5 *ttps://download.jitsi.org stable/ InRelease   
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
10 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  curl gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0 gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 libcurl3-gnutls
  libcurl4 libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37
  python3-distupgrade ubuntu-release-upgrader-core ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk
10 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 17.0 MB of archives.
After this operation, 15.4 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates/main amd64 ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk all 1:19.04.16.5 [9,364 B]
Get:2 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates/main amd64 ubuntu-release-upgrader-core all 1:19.04.16.5 [23.7 kB]
Get:3 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates/main amd64 python3-distupgrade all 1:19.04.16.5 [101 kB]
Get:4 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 amd64 2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1 [11.3 MB]
Get:5 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18 amd64 2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1 [4,770 kB]
Get:6 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 amd64 2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1 [68.4 kB]
Get:7 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0 amd64 2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1 [21.8 kB]
Get:8 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 curl amd64 7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1 [166 kB]
Get:9 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 libcurl4 amd64 7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1 [233 kB]
Get:10 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security/main amd64 libcurl3-gnutls amd64 7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1 [230 kB]
Fetched 17.0 MB in 31s (546 kB/s)                                              
(Reading database ... 271096 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../0-libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37_2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) over (2.24.1-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../1-libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18_2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) over (2.24.1-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../2-gir1.2-webkit2-4.0_2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking gir1.2-webkit2-4.0:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) over (2.24.1-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../3-gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0_2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) over (2.24.1-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../4-ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk_1%3a19.04.16.5_all.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk (1:19.04.16.5) over (1:19.04.16.4) ...
Preparing to unpack .../5-ubuntu-release-upgrader-core_1%3a19.04.16.5_all.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-release-upgrader-core (1:19.04.16.5) over (1:19.04.16.4) ...
Preparing to unpack .../6-python3-distupgrade_1%3a19.04.16.5_all.deb ...
Unpacking python3-distupgrade (1:19.04.16.5) over (1:19.04.16.4) ...
Preparing to unpack .../7-curl_7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking curl (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) over (7.64.0-2ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../8-libcurl4_7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libcurl4:amd64 (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) over (7.64.0-2ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../9-libcurl3-gnutls_7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libcurl3-gnutls:amd64 (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) over (7.64.0-2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up jitsi-meet-prosody (1.0.3387-1) ...
The given hostname does not exist in the config
dpkg: error processing package jitsi-meet-prosody (--configure):
 installed jitsi-meet-prosody package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Setting up libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0-18:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) ...
Setting up libcurl3-gnutls:amd64 (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) ...
Setting up gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.0:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) ...
Setting up python3-distupgrade (1:19.04.16.5) ...
Setting up ubuntu-release-upgrader-core (1:19.04.16.5) ...
Setting up libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of jitsi-meet:
 jitsi-meet depends on jitsi-meet-prosody (= 1.0.3387-1); however:
  Package jitsi-meet-prosody is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package jitsi-meet (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up libcurl4:amd64 (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          Setting up curl (7.64.0-2ubuntu1.1) ...
Setting up gir1.2-webkit2-4.0:amd64 (2.24.2-0ubuntu0.19.04.1) ...
Setting up ubuntu-release-upgrader-gtk (1:19.04.16.5) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.5-2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.29-0ubuntu2) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 jitsi-meet-prosody
 jitsi-meet
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 *ttp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease
Hit:2 *ttps://repo.skype.com/deb stable InRelease
Hit:3 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease                         
Hit:4 *ttp://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease                 
Hit:5 *ttps://download.jitsi.org stable/ InRelease  
Reading package lists... Done                       
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.

$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Setting up jitsi-meet-prosody (1.0.3387-1) ...
The given hostname does not exist in the config
dpkg: error processing package jitsi-meet-prosody (--configure):
 installed jitsi-meet-prosody package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of jitsi-meet:
 jitsi-meet depends on jitsi-meet-prosody (= 1.0.3387-1); however:
  Package jitsi-meet-prosody is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package jitsi-meet (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 jitsi-meet-prosody
 jitsi-meet
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)`

Sorry for the formatting, I'm using backticks but it doesn't appear to work

edit3: Okay, I finally found out how to at least get rid of the error message System Program Problem Detected every time I rebooted. I thought this meant that the error appeared every single time again, but a quick look to /var/crash/ made me realise that these were the previous errors (indeed from installing jitsi and the install-info error)

ls -l /var/crash/

I then deleted the crash reports with sudo rm /var/crash/* as suggested here: https://itsfoss.com/how-to-fix-system-program-problem-detected-ubuntu/

Thank you for all your help!

Friends, I messed up and formatted a USB flash drive with 51 GB data on it that I need. The drive was formatted in FAT32 and I reformatted it as HFS+ Journaled drive. I tried recovering the partition table with testdisk but didn't manage to, but with photorec I restored the data - it's all in different folders with random file names now. Any tips on how to get it back in a more orderly fashion? I was recommended R-Studio but would like to see if there are any more affordable solutions.

edit: there's a big mix of file types, pdf, image files, ebooks, word docs, mp3, movie files.. anything you can think of probably.