techdog

[techdog]

Mount hard drive partition for Linux user

I'm running Linux Mint 22 & wanted to mount a hard drive partition for a user & give them ownership. Here are the Linux command line incantations I used, based on this post:

I want to create a mount point to the data partition at /mnt/data.

1) We need the UUID of the partition to mount as /mnt/data. This command lists the partitions, including their relevant UUIDs:

$ sudo blkid

2) Create the mount point for the partition:

$ sudo mkdir /mnt/data

3) Assign the partition to this mount point by editing /etc/fstab, as root. Add this line:

UUID={uuid from step 1} /mnt/data ext4 defaults 0 0

4) Mount the drive by, as described by /etc/fstab:

$ sudo mount -a

5) Change owner of mount point so that my local account can use it:

$ sudo chown {user name} /mnt/data

[techdog]

"Boot Device Not Found" installing Linux Mint 22

I am installing Linux Mint 22 Wilma on an HP EliteBook 8470p, Intel Core i5-3320M @ 2.60GH x 2, 8GB RAM. After booting LM from a USB drive & running the install program, I got the error "Boot Device Not Found" when attempting to boot from the local hard drive.

In the BIOS settings, under Boot Mode, I have these 3 options:

Legacy

UEFI Hybrid (With CSM)

UEFI Native (Without CSM)

The Legacy setting was active & did not work, but either of the UEFI settings did allow LM to boot off the hard drive.

I previously had Linux Mint 20.3 Una running on this machine, & it required the Legacy setting, so I don't know what changed here.

[techdog]

Error installing Docker Desktop on Linux Mint

Task:

On 2/9/2023, try to install Linux version of Docker Desktop 4.16.2 on Linux Mint Una 20.3, following these steps.

Obstacle:

Repository update command fails:

~$ sudo apt-get update …                                                         Err:13 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu una Release                                              404  Not Found [IP: 2600:9000:234b:f400:3:db06:4200:93a1 443] Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease [114 kB] Reading package lists... Done                                                                                            E: The repository 'https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu una Release' does not have a Release file. N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Package install command fails:

~$ sudo apt-get install ./Downloads/docker-desktop-4.16.2-amd64.deb Note, selecting 'docker-desktop' instead of './Downloads/docker-desktop-4.16.2-amd64.deb' Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to resolve the situation: The following packages have unmet dependencies: docker-desktop : Depends: docker-ce-cli but it is not installable E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Diagnosis:

The installation steps create a repository sources file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list that looks like this:

deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu una stable

"una" is the Linux Mint release name, but the Docker repository uses Ubuntu release names. The corresponding Ubuntu name should be "focal."

Resolution:

I changed the release name in the docker.list file from una to focal:

deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable

After editing docker.list, I ran the apt update & install commands & completed the install of Docker Desktop.

[techdog]

I Want Double En Dashes in My Tumblr Text Post

I noticed that in the previous Tumblr text post, syntactically significant double dashes ("-\-") were displayed as a typographically correct em dash ("--"). But double dashes are what I want in this case. I didn't find any documentation about that, but I was able to escape the 2nd en dash with a backslash, so that:

-\\-

renders as:

-\-

Update:

On 2/10/2023, I noticed that this trick was no longer working. Double dashes now display as double dashes, without escaping the 2nd dash. Maybe it would be better to compose text posts in markdown.

On 2/13/2023, I noticed that this trick does work. It's just that the text renders differently if looking at while being logged in through the dashboard vs visiting the page as an external user.

[techdog]

Copy PGP Key Between Machines

Incantations for moving a private PGP key from one machine to another. You'll need to know your private key's passphrase to run these commands.

Source: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/481939/how-to-export-a-gpg-private-key-and-public-key-to-a-file

List your secret PGP keys:

gpg -\-list-secret-keys

Export public key as ASCII file:

gpg -\-output public.pgp -\-armor -\-export <user@server.com>

Export private key as ASCII file:

gpg -\-output private.pgp -\-armor -\-export-secret-key <user@server.com>

To import private key on another server:

gpg -\-import private.pgp

To promote trust level of private key:

gpg -\-edit-key <user@server.com>

Type command "trust" to set trust level to "Ultimate."

[techdog]

Install MongoDB Command Shell on Linux Mint

10.27.2017 I wanted to install just the MongoDB CLI Command Shell and utilities on my Linux Mint machine, but not the entire database server. Following the steps here: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-ubuntu/

$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 0C49F3730359A14518585931BC711F9BA15703C6 $ echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install mongodb-org-shell $ sudo apt-get install mongodb-org-tools

[techdog]

Get Versions of Linux Mint & Ubuntu

10.27.2017 To view the currently installed versions of Linux Mint and Ubuntu, try this command:

cat /etc/*release

[techdog]

Sublime Text 3 Print as HTML Bug Fix

In order to print, I installed the Print to HTML plugin for Sublime Text 3 on Linux Mint 18 Sarah. However, when I tried to print a file, nothing happened. A look at the console revealed this error trace:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/sublime_text/sublime_plugin.py", line 812, in run_ return self.run(edit, **args) File "/home/dummyuser/.config/sublime-text-3/Packages/Print to HTML/PrintToHTML.py", line 131, in run send_to_browser(html) File "/home/dummyuser/.config/sublime-text-3/Packages/Print to HTML/PrintToHTML.py", line 164, in send_to_browser desktop.open(tmp_html.name) File "/home/dummyuser/.config/sublime-text-3/Packages/Print to HTML/desktop/__init__.py", line 289, in open return _run(cmd, 0, wait) File "/home/dummyuser/.config/sublime-text-3/Packages/Print to HTML/desktop/__init__.py", line 87, in _run opener = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=shell) File "./python3.3/subprocess.py", line 819, in __init__ File "./python3.3/subprocess.py", line 1448, in _execute_child FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'gnome-open'

The plugin was trying to use gnome-open to open the HTML file it generated. However, Linux Mint uses xdg-open for this purpose. I could get the plugin to work by replacing this code in ~/.config/sublime-text-3/Packages/Print to HTML/desktop/__init__.py:

elif desktop_in_use == "GNOME": cmd = ["gnome-open", url]with:

with:

elif desktop_in_use == "GNOME": cmd = ["xdg-open", url]

[techdog]

Yahoo Search Malware in Microsoft Edge

I made the mistake of updating my installation of YTD Video Downloader on my Windows 10 machine. It installed malware that changed the default search & startup page on all my Web browsers to Yahoo. I have Norton Internet Security installed, & it did seem to block a PUP during the upgrade, which was a good thing. I did not find any additional extensions or add-ons added to the browsers.

I was able to manually reset the startup & default search configuration under the settings menus in Firefox & Chrome, but I couldn’t fix Microsoft Edge this way. Even if I explicitly set a startup page in Microsoft Edge, the Yahoo page would still come up at startup. Internet searches came up mostly with hits telling me to download malware removal software, which would just be adding to the misery.

I found this link that implied the problem was probably occurring when Edge was launched from the taskbar. I discovered that when I launched Edge from the start menu, it did not come up with the Yahoo default. So I removed the Edge shortcut from the taskbar & repinned it from the start menu. This seems to have cleared the problem.

Next time I want to download something from YouTube, I’ll try the Windows version of youtube-dl... 

[techdog]

List Open Ports

Magic spell to list open ports that are listening on a Linux machine:

$ netstat -tuplen

[techdog]

List Directories Only in Linux

Yet again, I’ve had trouble understanding the ls command. All I want to see is the directory entries in the current directory. In ls, directory names end with a forward slash, so this command gives a list of directories at the current directory level:

ls -d */

[techdog]

Oblique Strategies for Programmers

I like the idea behind the lateral thinking tool Oblique Strategies, designed by Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt. Naturally there are on-line implementations, but I’ve also discovered versions of the maxims for programmers:

Kevin Lawler’s Prompts for Programmers

Kevin Lawler’s Prompts for Programmers as an Atom package

Rob Blackwell’s Oblique Strategies for Programmers

[techdog]

Lubuntu on PowerBook G4

A couple years ago I tried extending the life of my old PowerBook G4 laptop by installing Lubuntu on it, but I couldn’t get it to work. I recently tried again with the PowerPC version of Lubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS & got a working system.

I got a DVD install disk .iso file from here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu/LTS

My hardware is a PowerBook G4 12″ aluminum 1.5GHz, 1.2GB RAM.

I booted off the live CD & got a slow but operational desktop. I then did an install, with an Ethernet cable plugged in for a network connection. The install went without a hitch, as did the software updates I did immediately. The desktop works but is so slow that it is barely useable.

The wifi did not work out of the box, but I got it working by following the steps here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2214110

Basically just needed to install the appropriate wifi driver:

$ sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

The audio does not seem to be working out of the box, but I haven’t looked into this yet. Update: Audio does work after using the console application alsamixer to change PCM channel level from 0 to 80.

[techdog]

Making Bootable USB Drive

For some reason, unetbootin never works for me to create a bootable USB drive. I wanted to try the Elementary OS, so I ended up using these steps on Linux Mint 18 Sarah to create a bootable USB drive:

1. Insert USB drive.

2. Run df command to find where the USB drive is mounted. In my case, it was at /dev/sdb1 

3. Unmount the USB drive:

$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1

4. Use dd command to copy disk image to USB drive:

$ sudo dd bs=4M if=<disk image file>.iso of=/dev/sdb1

5. Run sync command for good measure.

6. Restart machine

[techdog]

List Hidden Dot Files in Linux

From the bash shell, I want to see a long listing of just the hidden dot files. The best I could come up with was this command:

ls -al | grep " \."

03.18.2017 Update

I'm learning. I found this command that lists all the hidden dot files at the current directory level:

ls -d .*

[techdog]

Access Shared Linux Mint Folder from Windows 10

I wanted to access a folder on Linux Mint 18 from Windows 10. I got the network share working with these steps:

1) Install Samba on Linux Mint 18 through the Software Manager. For some reason it wasn’t installed already.

2) Using Nemo file manager, right-click on target folder & select Sharing Options.

3) Specify share name. It seems that the share name cannot be too long & that it cannot be the same as the user name, even though the user name is the default.

4) You don't connect with the Linux Mint user's credentials, so add a Samba password for the Linux Mint user you’ll be logging in as from the Windows side.

$ sudo smbpasswd -a [user name]

5) When connecting from the Windows side, specify Linux Mint user name along with its domain:

[domain]\[user name]

and use the Samba password.

[techdog]

Swift on Ubuntu 15.10

Tonight I tried installing Apple’s Swift 3.0 on Linux once again, & the process seems to be improving. I actually installed it on an Oracle VirtualBox VM via Vagrant, starting with the base box bento/ubuntu-15.10.

I followed the steps on swift.org to download & install Swift 3.0, but when I tried to run the swift command, there were still libraries missing. I installed the missing dependencies manually with these commands:

$ sudo apt-get install libpython2.7

$ sudo apt-get install libcurl3

After this, I was able to build & execute the test "Hello" executable.