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replacement laptop
by Phil Thane 28 Jul '21

28 Jul '21

While I was struggling with low water and debris in the Ashton canal some b*****d got into my canal boat and nicked my laptop. I think my insurance will pay up but the laptop was unusual and currently out of stock due to CPU shortage so a 'like-for-like' replacement will be impossible. It was a Pinebook Pro, AMD64 running Manjaro imported from the US. I imagine it's value in the backstreet pubs of Manchester is about £fuck-all so it's probably adding to the debris in the Ashton by now. After VAT and delivery it cost me just under £300 so I need a replacement in that ball park capable of running Linux. I guess the options are a Chromebook and a lot of buggering about removing Chrome or a basic Windows machine. But apparently recent cheap laptops come with Windows Home (S) and the (S) is some kind of security system to keep you tied into Windows and Office 365 and paying an annual Windows tax. Any advice on what to look out for, and what to avoid? At this price nothing powerful obviously but I want a decent desktop environment (probably KDE but not that bothered), LIbreOffice, Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird. If it can run those, look not to shabby and weigh not too much while having a decent battery, it'll do. -- Phil Thane www.pthane.co.uk Tweet @pthane 01767 449759 07582 750607

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Mint wobbly
by Bev Nicolson 23 Jul '21

23 Jul '21

Not really sure what's up. A couple of times my laptop has frozen. Either the program won't respond or won't launch. I've had to do a fsck check each time to get back in or I'd be stuck in initramfs, unable to log in again. (My phone had not packed up so I was able to google this info.) Anyone got any ideas? Bev. (Cinnamon Mint 19.1 with all updates.)

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uMatrix and Firefox
by Peter 22 Jul '21

22 Jul '21

Hi everyone, thought this might be useful to someone. Suddenly Firefox stopped connecting to any sites. At the same time, email worked fine and all the other browsers worked fine. So I disabled all the extensions, and it now connected. Turned them back on one at a time, and so discovered that uMatrix was the problem. Played with all the uMatrix preferences and settings to no avail. Found various explanations and suggestions, none of which worked for me. Turned out that installing the latest version from github fixed it. I think it probably is just due to having changed the sources of the blocking lists, in assets. uMatrix I find really useful - proper detailed control of what's going on. Sorry that he has decided to stop updating it, but this latest version seems to work fine, for now. Debian stable, so mine is a few releases behind the latest Firefox. Peter On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:00:02 +0100 main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk wrote: > Send main mailing list submissions to > main(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/main > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > main-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > You can reach the person managing the list at > main-owner(a)lists.alug.org.uk > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of main digest..."

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Kubuntu updated nvidia drivers behind my back?
by Srdjan Todorovic 21 Jul '21

21 Jul '21

Hi all, I had an nvidia driver module update behind my back, while the system is running. I did not issue an apt-get upgrade, or enter my sudo password anywhere. Yet, launching any application that uses GLX (e.g. glxgears) gives me this: X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) Major opcode of failed request: 151 (GLX) Minor opcode of failed request: 3 (X_GLXCreateContext) Value in failed request: 0x0 Serial number of failed request: 35 Current serial number in output stream: 36 And dmesg output is full of entries that tell me that the Nvidia client is newer than the running kernel module version. I've had this before, and the usual remedy is to reboot. It's just that I didn't (knowingly) authorise the system to do an update. Anyone know what might be doing these unattended updates? It'd be useful to know, so I can schedule the updates at the end of the day. Thanks, Srdjan

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Firefox 90 - toolbar text illegible
by Bev Nicolson 19 Jul '21

19 Jul '21

I've got a screenshot of what I mean but I'm not really sure what the best way of posting that is. The problem is this though. I updated to Firefox 90 and cannot use any dark theme now. The menu options File, Edit, View, History etc become almost the same colour as the border. I've noticed that if I want to check the progress of a download that's hard too. What have they done? I have tried switching proton off (those with context, doorhangers, enabled and modals as part of the text) but it didn't work. Firefox suggested using the troubleshooting tool. I confess I'm unconvinced how that will help. Cinnamon Mint 19. Ideas? I am using Firefox colour in the meantime, but it doesn't solve it. Bev.

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Zoom on Linux?
by Steve Mynott 06 Jul '21

06 Jul '21

Does anyone regularly and successfully use the Zoom app on Linux? I've had it working in the past but it's not 100%. Frequently the audio output seems to break (remote person can hear me but I can't hear them). Does anyone use the web version? I've not really had any problem with Teams just Zoom. I'd really not use any of these but its often not my choice. -- Steve Mynott <steve.mynott(a)gmail.com> cv25519/ECF8B611205B447E091246AF959E3D6197190DD5

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Audacity - now controversial
by Bev Nicolson 06 Jul '21

06 Jul '21

For info. They've changed the terms and conditions and it's really not good. https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/ Bev

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Laptops
by Michael Goddard 28 Jun '21

28 Jun '21

If you were in the market for a laptop, which make, model, size etc would it be, and why? Tia Michael

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Linux Mint updates issue
by Bev Nicolson 24 Jun '21

24 Jun '21

Right after I've logged in, I can update anything that needs updating, via the Update Manager. After that, I just a get a red cross in the shield and the message 'Could not refresh the list of updates.' Ideas? I've tweaked the sources list but that does nothing. Bev.

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Lets Encrypt renewals via DNS
by Mark Rogers 21 Jun '21

21 Jun '21

Sometimes you can't find the answer to your question on line. This is one of those examples where the answers seem plentiful but I can't get my head around them. I have a couple of domains with Lets Encrypt wildcard certificates. Creating the certs manually is easy (if a bit laborious): add the specified ._acme_callenge DNS entry and a handful of files under docroot .well-known/acme-challenge. But they can't be renewed automatically so every three months I need to go through the whole process again. Reading the docs, if my DNS is with one of the supported DNS providers (eg DigitalOcean, who I have an account with) then it can be automated via the API (the files under docroot I think can be automated with the --apache plugin?) but that's not where my DNS is. The docs suggest that I can use a CNAME but don't go beyond that. Has anyone done this, or otherwise automated wildcard certificate renewals where the DNS isn't in a supported provider? Also (probably simpler): once the certificate is created, can all the .acme-challenge files and DNS records be deleted? -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0344 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER

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