Linux Questions

I try to help people often with their technical issues in this subreddit. It feels good to help. I also know I'm not just helping that person, but anyone else that may run across it in the future from a search.

But often, the questions are deleted by the OP, leaving me disappointed and frustrated. I'm less and less motivated to help as it happens.

Please. Give back in the most minimal way possible to this subreddit, and avoid deleting your posts if they've been upvoted and answered.

(I'm not a mod, btw)

To prevent having multiple daily threads repeating variations on this same question, we are asking everyone seeking help in choosing a distribution to ask in this thread, or at r/DistroHopping or r/FindMeALinuxDistro.

Each response to this post should be a question asking for assistance. Each comment in reply to those should be helpful. All other comments will be removed.

I'm 43 and just bought my first MacBook. I started reading a book on Python and it had me open a terminal window and use commands like LS and CD. These were new to me and I learned they are Linux commands. So are Apple computers Linux computers and if not why are Linux commands used in the terminal window? Or are Apple computers/terminal windows Linux-like, a new term I've come across? Today is day one so I hope that explains why this question is probably very basic. Thanks for your help.

I would say the big companies have benefitted far more. What do you think? Is open source actually in the interests of the big corporations at the expense of the individual devs but masquerading as being the opposite?

Big companies are saving huge amounts of money compared to individual linux users like us.

Note that I am not saying that open source is useless for individuals but that big companies have benefitted far more.

Let me see your analysis, thanks.

Is it better to take an AMD (HX, HX3D, or HS) CPU ? Or Intel 13950 or 80 HX?

Same for AMD or NVIDIA GPU? (I do not game, nor do I do CAD CAM or anything of the like)

this is in windows 10, the autocomplete is clink's....

like i'm talking about this...

i'm using bash, and kitty on arch.

ik that i can show the list of available commands using double tab if i put this line in my .inputrc file:

set completion-display-width 0

but this shows shows a list of items. what i want is like the image that i've shown you.

i would prefer continue using kitty because it has image support

edit: os name

edit: found something called ble.sh... gonna use that i think. or switch to zsh or fish.

Some people say one should disable the root user completely, but what if for some reason i mess my users and i absolutely need to access via root?

Of course i think i should deny ssh access as root completely, once i have a strong root password tho, isn't t enough?

Is there any other step that i would need to follow to secure the root user before opening to the web?

Hello everyone. I am wondering if a distro exists that acts like an old disc based console I have an old PC with an optical drive and no hard drive. I would like a distro that can only run software/files such as music, movies, or games from external sources such as discs or USB drives.

Is there any alternative software available like snipping tools for Linux that allows you to snip only selected parts of text or images as a screenshot?

Hello,
I’m a beginner using Ubuntu 20.04 and I’m trying to understand the main difference between these permission commands:

adduser <username>
adduser <username> sudo

adduser <username>
usermod -aG <username> sudo

Can someone explain how these methods differ in terms of user permissions and group memberships?
I’m trying to find the best way to create a new user and add them to the sudo group.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hey! I was curious. I run a success instances of WireGuard VPN, and I have all my trusted friends connecting to it at different times. I am quite happy with the current state of my Jetson Nano that runs this service. But I know that security patches are important. If I go to updated my Jetson Nano or even my Raspberry Pi, both boxes run Portainer/Docker Containers, do I have to worry, especially, for WireGuard to get messed up/corrupted from doing a "sudo apt get update"? How do you know when to update, or even if it is a good idea to update your linux system even if you are happy with the current state of your setup? Thanks in advance!

I'm having trouble updating or upgrading my Ubuntu server. Here is the my sources.list file https://pastebin.com/c6JnJykY

Some details about my server.

webserver@autobot:/etc/apt$ uname -a

Linux autobot 5.0.0-38-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 3 00:27:35 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

webserver@autobot:/etc/apt$ cat /etc/lsb-release

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu

DISTRIB_RELEASE=19.04

DISTRIB_CODENAME=disco

DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 19.04"

Whenever I run the command:

Err:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu disco Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.80 80]
Get:9 http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco/main amd64 Packages [995 kB]
Err:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/xerus-media/ubuntu disco Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.80 80]Err:11 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntudde-dev/stable/ubuntu disco Release
  404  Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.80 80]
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/deadsnakes/ppa/ubuntu disco 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.
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/xerus-media/ubuntu disco 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.
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntudde-dev/stable/ubuntu disco 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.

I'm in 2nd year Computer science engineering. I have some idea that certain companies require you to work on Linux systems. I have a 2nd laptop that's not used. If I boot linux in it, what can I learn from it ? Like vs code is comfortable, what motivation would it be to use my 2nd laptop having linux.

Ig I mean to ask, how can I use that laptop to learn programming

A little context here. Here is my setup.
1st server is the source : 192.168.1.90

I want to mount the locaion on the 1st server 192.168.1.90:/mnt/Datastore01/CCAM on the 2nd File server : 192.168.1.38

I have done this same thing on a 3rd another server few years back. but i forget the command and the steps. When i check the /proc/mounts

The entries are

192.168.1.90:/mnt/Datastore01/CCAM /home/webserver/Securitycam/videos nfs rw,noatime,vers=3,rsize=131072,wsize=131072,namlen=255,acregmin=1800,acregmax=1800,acdirmin=1800,acdirmax=1800,hard,nolock,proto=tcp,timeo=600,retrans=2,sec=sys,mountaddr=192.168.1.90,mountvers=3,mountport=943,mountproto=tcp,local_lock=all,addr=192.168.1.90 0 0

So can someone please guide me the steps on how to mount f1st server's filesystem to the 2nd server based on the details of the entries above.

Hey Everyone.

I have a old laptop in which their is less disk space available, and it has 256gb of ssd which is dual booted with ubuntu and windows. So, if I want to create a portable linux type system in which i want to setup a whole linux on the External HDD(1Tb). So, any one who knows how to do it or any documentation or videos which i can follow to fulfil.
How I want: I want the HDD into two disks in one i want to install the any linux distro and the other part should work as the storing device as usual i can store the data into that.
Is it possible?

And any suggestion on which distro should i install or what should i do?

I want to do this for testing purpose!!

Thank you in advance!!

Hey all, a weird quirk I've noticed with all the Wayland launchers I've tried, using wofi but tried rofi bemenu fuzzle and albert, for all of them can exit with escape but not a misclick out of bounds. Would like the option to, right now launching it from waybar with left click and a killall wofi using right, but that's a bit ridiculous rather have some of my custom menu scripts instead of that nonsense. So... has anyone noticed and or dealt with it, seemed to not be an issue with x didn't know if it could be a wayland specific quirk or what else.

Not going through every menu launcher and app tried but wofi 1.3 sway 1.9 label 0.7.2

So this is a very specific situation i have corebooted my thinkpad t420 with the payload being seabios 1.16.3 and i have installed artix runit with and encrypted root partition, now when i select the hard drive in the boot menu tho i get a grub rescue shell and "Unknown filesytem" PLEASE how do i solve this is it a problem with seabios or is it a problem with my grub and if yes what info do you need additionally and what can i try to go fix it?

Hi,
I have 2 servers at home. One runs Linux Mint 21, the other one runs Debian Trixie.

Both are connected to the same switch. Several months ago, i did an "apt upgrade" in my Mint server.
Since then, it's had very odd download speeds and behaviour.

When i try to download a big file, it starts downloading, then the transfer speed goes down to 0b/s, then after a few seconds it resumes.

I have a 500/500mbps internet connection. When i run "iperf3 -c lon.speedtest.clouvider.net -P 40 -t 60 -R" from the Debian machine, i get the full 500mbps, throughout the entire duration of the 60s test. When i run the same command on the Mint machine, it starts at 500, then drops down to 100, then 30, then shoots back up to 500 and keeps oscilating down and up.

What could be causing this? I never had this problem before. Been running this machine for over 2 years.

A bit more info: Both machines are on the same subnet, and connected to same switch.
Also, if i run the iperf3 from the Mint machine to the Debian machine, in either directions, the speeds are 1Gbps.. so, doesn't seem to be something in the NIC itself. Its only this machine, and only to/from the internet.

I also tried disabling ipv6, no improvement.

Hi, basically, I have a second PC that I want to re purpose to run Linux as the mains OS however, this pc as A LOT of RGB and fans (Corsair). I've already tried to manage my fans speed and RGB directly from Linux, but as you know, this is nowhere near as easy as through software like Corsair iCue.

The Idea is having a VM automatically lunching in the background so iCue can awake and set the fan speed and color. Is it possible ?

Also, unrelated but, how do Windows only software are running through a VM such as Adobe software compared to a dual boot ?

[Image]

I don't know why but there is a second monitor detected despite me only having one. This phantom screen messes with games and my cursor can go there. I have no idea how to fix it

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11, and according to the Arch wiki, the fingerprint works. But, I can't get fingerprint-gui to recognize the device. It says, "No Devices Found!" Any advice?

The core issue: Linux Virtual Machine "wired" network connection keeps toggling to "off" on its own. It takes a few seconds to reconnect, but after a while it stays off even when manually hitting the toggle to turn it on, it toggles back off on its own. The error message on the top right says "Connection Failed: Activation of network connection failed".

For deeper context: The Virtual Machine is being ran through Hyper-V on a Windows 11 laptop. The VM needs to establish a connection to a Windows Server 2019. The longest its held a connection was 3 minutes. Troubleshooting up to this point has included configuration of the laptop ethernet interface, and disabling of firewalls on both sides (the server, the laptop & Linux VM). The server can ping both the VM, and the Laptop. And the laptop & VM can ping the server (when it is not disconnected). Continuous Ping from Server to Laptop/Laptop to server has 0 issues and never drops connection (even if the VM wired connection is down). Continuous ping from Server to VM works only if that wired connection doesn't automatically drop. The physical cable being used is a crossover cable. Any tips would greatly help...

As a student I use Linux because it brings me some great advantages when programming. However my teacher keeps saying that “windows is better.” We mainly use Unity and C#. Does he have a point or is he missing something’s. Would like to hear what you guys think.

Pardon the, perhaps, strange question.

I'm learning Linux right now with a Red Hat sysadmin course, and I got to wondering - are fundamental tools such as grep, awk, head, tail, etc etc embedded in the Linux kernel, or is it up to each distribution to include them if they want them present?

In other words, does e.g. RHEL, Ubuntu, Arch, etc actively include these tools in their distribution, or do they just come with the Linux package?