I keep seeing this message periodically when launching things from the command line. For example, I launched keepass2, and I get this message:
Gtk-Message: 20:24:04.576: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"Here’s the simple fix … install the libcanberra-gtk-module. Here’s the command-line:
sudo apt install libcanberra-gtk-moduleThat fixed my problem! Note: the only symptom was just the warning on the console. I didn’t notice any other issues caused by not having that module.
I’m not sure what to file this under, but someone needs to know and change this. Paychex just crossed the line for this end user! I hope that my software development skills never stoop this low.
I enter time into the Paychex website on a weekly basis, or at least I am supposed to. The entry page has no totals, so there’s no way to make sure that everything adds up when I get done entering. The way the web page works is like a website from the 90’s in my opinion. I had to write a Tampermonkey script just to make the page usable for me. That right there should be a sign that something is not right.
This week, everything quit working. I could log in, but before I could get very far, I would get this message:
Web Server Security Alert
This website uses special security software that monitors suspicious network traffic and behavior. If you feel that you have caused this security error unintentionally, please contact our Customer Service Center at the address below and be sure to include all the information below in your message.
Email contact: tlo@paychex.com
Reference ID: 20150618USTXFA46
Date and Time: Thu Jun 18 2015 17:28:21 GMT-0500 (CDT).
Web Browser Information: 5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/43.0.2357.125 Safari/537.36
I started troubleshooting by turning off my tampermonkey script. I even completely disabled the extension. No luck. I rebooted the PC and tried several times during the day to make sure it wasn’t a bandwidth issue.
I noticed several of the images on the page were not loading. So, I popped open the console, and saw all of these errors:
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 406 (Not Acceptable)
Finally, I emailed the address in the original error message. No response came in the next day or two, and I was told to call 1-877-281-6624 . Apparently, that was the wrong number, and I was forwarded to 888 246 7500 as the Time and Labor technical support line.
Paychex support’s solution was to clear cache, clear browser history, install the latest version of flash, and add their 5 sites as trusted sites. That was no help for a Ubuntu user. Their end solution was since it works in Firefox, I still have a way to enter time, so that’s good enough.
So, I don’t know if this was a Chrome on Ubuntu issue or an issue with the network. It’s got to be something like that because I seemed the only one affected.
The final straw for me was when I asked about not getting a response back to my email. “Oh, that email address is no good.” It’ was almost like “duh, what are you thinking”. I don’t remember a sorry or anything like that, but maybe I was just upset and missed it.
So, here’s my rant:
Ok, I’m done. Be warned: if you pick Paychex, your end users won’t like it. Hopefully, Paychex will wake up and fix things.
Update: It’s beginning to look like Paychex just does not support Linux. They require Flash. Adobe says that it doesn’t support Linux anymore. Also, it is not an issue with the hotel network that I was using. I am getting the same errors on my home network.
Originally, when I would first boot up, I would get numerous errors about the Gnome-Settings-Daemon crashing. Here’s my research into fixing those.
A note on Ask Ubuntu mentioned installing libgnome-desktop 3.8.4….
I used Synaptic Package Manager to see that “libgnome-desktop-3-7” was already at 3.8.4-ubuntu1.1. Just as a guess, I tried installing “libgnome-desktop-2-17“.
That actually fixed the error messages on boot up! I also noticed that it fixed some of the programs that didn’t look quite right. The theme was broken for some reason, and this fixed it.
Note: I think that some of this might be related to installing Nvidia Prime.
Update: I used Synaptic to uninstall the “libgnome-desktop-2-17” package, and my problems didn’t come back. So, that must not have been the exact problem. Maybe some dependency to that package was the problem or it was something that didn’t completely uninstall.
This post is an attempt to fix at least the second of the issues on my previous post:
I noticed that one of the comments suggested using DriConf to fix the problem. Here is the comment:
I have tried installing driconf and turned synchronization with vertical refresh off completely. I havn’t seen this issue since.
Does anyone have similar experiences?
And, here is what I tried:
I have been noticing several problems with my graphics driver or screen in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Here’s to hoping someone can add some comments that help.
Dual Screen Problems
At work, I have a second monitor for my laptop. If I plug the monitor in before I turn on the computer, everything works fine. I can even unplug the monitor, run to lunch, and plug it back in. Now, Ubuntu recognizes the monitor plugging and automatically switches between single screen and dual screen.
The problem is when I plug the monitor in after I have booted, it doesn’t work. The second screen displays like normal. The bar displays on the top, but the desktop area of the screen is black. I can drag a window to the other screen, but I can’t see the window. I can see the mouse though. It’s not life threatening but very annoying and weird.
Lock Up Issues
I have turned my power settings to not put my computer to sleep when I close the lid. I just have it blank the screen. That way I can close it to move to another desk or room without having to wait for it to suspend.
A couple of times, I noticed that the screen quits responding. I can move the mouse, and the computer seems fine, but nothing responds. I can’t click on any of the windows, nothings seems to respond to the keyboard, and the indicators by the clock don’t work.
I have finally noticed that it seems to be when I leave the lid closed for a period of time. Reading the bug post, I think it is after 10 minutes. So, I can close it to move between rooms but not to drive to work.
Again, just annoying.
Here are two bug reports that seem related:
Bug #728101: [gm45] Closing laptop lid causes screen to freeze
Bug #762918: Natty Screensaver freezes system after some period of inactivity
Our remote control has been working fine with my Mythbuntu setup for a while now, but there are a few things I would like to work better. Volume is one of those thing. Lirc controls the volume differently between Hulu Desktop and the built-in video player. It is a little annoying.
So, after a little Googling, this thread sparked my interest in Gizmod.
To install it on my system, I followed the Ubuntu directions. That calls for installing via the repositories:
sudo apt-get install gizmod
Next, I had to address the UDev / Security. First, that means creating an “input” group:
sudo groupadd -f input sudo gpasswd -a username input
Then, I added the following lines to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-input.rules:
KERNEL=="event*", NAME="input/%k", MODE:="660", GROUP="input" KERNEL=="js*", NAME="input/%k", MODE:="664", GROUP="input"
Then, to make the changes take effect, I ran:
sudo service udev restart
Here’s the problem. When I tried to start gizmod, I got this error:
GizmoDaemon v3.4 -=- (c) 2007, Tim Burrell <tim.burrell@gmail.com>=---------= Unable to Initialize Gizmod :: User Script dir [/usr/etc/gizmod/modules.d] does NOT exist or permissions are wrong! GizmoDaemon Shut Down.
I found a bug report that seemed to suggest that maybe recompiling from the source might fix the problem. So, here is what I did.
So, I downloaded the latest version from the Download Page. Then, here’s the command to unzip:
tar -xjvf gizmod-3.5.tar.bz2 cd gizmod-3.5/
The easiest way to make sure that you have all the dependencies is with apt-get. Otherwise, you need to check the documentation and manually go through the list installing all the programs.
sudo apt-get build-dep gizmod
Then, continuing on, I followed the instructions and ran CMake.
mkdir build && cd build cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DSYSCONF_INSTALL_DIR=/etc ../../gizmod-3.5 make
The make command failed with this error:
skp@gabriel:~/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/build$ make [ 29%] Built target H [ 31%] Building CXX object libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/CPUUsage.o /home/skp/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/libGizmod/CPUUsage.cpp: In constructor ‘Gizmod::CPUUsageInfo::CPUUsageInfo()’: /home/skp/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/libGizmod/CPUUsage.cpp:83: error: ‘memset’ was not declared in this scope make[2]: *** [libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/CPUUsage.o] Error 1 make[1]: *** [libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/all] Error 2 make: *** [all] Error 2
I found a fix online. The fix was to add #Include <cstring>:
Then, it worked. Everything compiled with no problem.
Lastly, I finished the compile/install with:
sudo make install
Now, I haven’t used it very much. I think I need to do some configuring and hacking to get it to do what I want it to. Currently, it doesn’t seem to do well with Hulu Desktop.
Fedora 8 Test 2 freezes when I try to boot it. This happens both with the install DVD and once I have it installed. I need to try to “post a report”, but until I figure out how, here is the output:
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI init
ACPI: bus type pnp registered
pnp: PnP ACPI: found 11 devices
ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: If a device doesn’t work, try “pci=routeirq”. If it helps, post a report
For now, I am trying out Ubuntu. I am kind of dead in the water with Fedora right now unless I go back to Fedora 6 or maybe 7.
Update: Here is the bug — 316811
Actually, I did not do a good job searching for a bug. My bug was marked duplicate and here is the actual bug: 299301