These are just some quick notes on the various Java programs that I install. I’m sorry the notes are not very complete. I’ll do better next time, but I thought these notes might still have some value.
Category: My Inspiron 17R
Ubuntu 13.04: Finally Fixing my Touchpad
On my Ubuntu 13.04 installation, I have had trouble getting the touchpad to work. The driver just wouldn’t install. I finally figured it out.
Ubuntu 13.04 Networking
As I setup my laptop with Ubuntu 13.04, I did several things to configure my networking needs. This article attempts to document my setup.
If you want to see all of my setup, please checkout my Ubuntu 13.04 Install page.
Fixing the VPN on Ubuntu 13.04
None my VPNs have worked since I installed Ubuntu 13.04. Something is missing for some reason. I found a couple posts that gave some clues, so I thought I would take notes as I walked through it.
The Symptoms
First, when I try to connect, I got an error message about VPN secrets: “VPN Connection Failed: The VPN connection ‘<connection name>’ failed because there were no valid VPN secrets.”
Then, when I tried to configure it, I got this message: “Could not edit connection: Could not find VPN plugin service for ‘org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp’.”
Troubleshooting
I found someone who did some troubleshooting on the Arch Linux Forums. I thought it would be a good attempt to try to figure out if the same thing was happening to me.
First, just out of curiousity, I wanted to see what process instance and what parameters were being used for Network Manager. Here’s the process:
skp@pecan:~$ ps -ef | grep -i networkmanager root 1157 1 0 Jun02 ? 00:00:05 NetworkManager root 1847 1157 0 Jun02 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/dhclient -d -sf /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /run/sendsigs.omit.d/network-manager.dhclient-wlan0.pid -lf /var/lib/NetworkManager/dhclient-a01df2ba-ec6b-4524-bf12-00ca1a01b65b-wlan0.lease -cf /var/lib/NetworkManager/dhclient-wlan0.conf wlan0 nobody 2010 1157 0 Jun02 ? 00:00:01 /usr/sbin/dnsmasq --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.1.1 --conf-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec --enable-dbus=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.dnsmasq --conf-dir=/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d skp 14082 11788 0 08:44 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i networkmanager
Then, I stopped the service with “service network-manager stop”:
skp@pecan:~$ sudo service network-manager stop network-manager stop/waiting skp@pecan:~$ ps -ef | grep -i networkmanager nobody 2010 1 0 Jun02 ? 00:00:01 /usr/sbin/dnsmasq --no-resolv --keep-in-foreground --no-hosts --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.pid --listen-address=127.0.1.1 --conf-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.conf --cache-size=0 --proxy-dnssec --enable-dbus=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.dnsmasq --conf-dir=/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d skp 14217 11788 0 08:52 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i networkmanager
Then, I found the UUID of my VPN connection with this command:
skp@pecan:~$ sudo cat /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/<Wireless SID redacted> | grep uuid <em id="__mceDel">uuid=1a31c85c-2808-4bae-8651-2c618f8972e8
Finally, I started Network Manager with debugging enabled like this:
NM_SERIAL_DEBUG=3 NetworkManager --no-daemon 2>&1 | tee /tmp/nmserial.txt
When I try to connect to the VPN, I get this in the debug log:
NetworkManager[14317]: <info> Starting VPN service 'pptp'... NetworkManager[14317]: <info> VPN service 'pptp' started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp), PID 15299 NetworkManager[14317]: <info> VPN service 'pptp' appeared; activating connections NetworkManager[14317]: <error> [1370269072.212221] [nm-vpn-connection.c:1374] get_secrets_cb(): Failed to request VPN secrets #2: (6) No agents were available for this request. NetworkManager[14317]: <info> Policy set '<Wireless SID redacted>' (wlan0) as default for IPv4 routing and DNS. NetworkManager[14317]: <info> VPN service 'pptp' disappeared
Reinstalling
I copied the /etc/NetworkManager/VPN directory when I restored my backups. Looking back, I shouldn’t have done that.
So, I decided to see what package those files belong to:
skp@pecan:/etc/NetworkManager/VPN$ dpkg -S /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-pptp-service.name network-manager-pptp: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-pptp-service.name
To get all of the files, I did this:
skp@pecan:/etc/NetworkManager/VPN$ for f in `ls /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/*`; do dpkg -S $f ; done network-manager-iodine: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-iodine-service.name network-manager-openconnect: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-openconnect-service.name network-manager-openvpn: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-openvpn-service.name network-manager-pptp: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-pptp-service.name network-manager-strongswan: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-strongswan-service.name network-manager-vpnc: /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/nm-vpnc-service.name
So, I deleted (or moved) those files and reinstalled the packages:
skp@pecan:/etc/NetworkManager/VPN$ mkdir $HOME/Downloads/VPN skp@pecan:/etc/NetworkManager/VPN$ sudo mv /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/* $HOME/Downloads/VPN/ [sudo] password for skp:</pre> skp@pecan:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall network-manager-iodine network-manager-openconnect network-manager-openvpn network-manager-pptp network-manager-strongswan network-manager-vpnc [sudo] password for skp: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: kde-l10n-engb wine-gecko1.9:i386 Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 6 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 22.6 kB/120 kB of archives. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ raring/main network-manager-pptp amd64 0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2 [22.6 kB] Fetched 22.6 kB in 0s (78.3 kB/s) (Reading database ... 266755 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace network-manager-iodine 0.0.3-1ubuntu2 (using .../network-manager-iodine_0.0.3-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-iodine ... Preparing to replace network-manager-openconnect 0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2 (using .../network-manager-openconnect_0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-openconnect ... Preparing to replace network-manager-openvpn 0.9.6.0-0ubuntu3 (using .../network-manager-openvpn_0.9.6.0-0ubuntu3_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-openvpn ... Preparing to replace network-manager-pptp 0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2 (using .../network-manager-pptp_0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-pptp ... Preparing to replace network-manager-vpnc 0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2 (using .../network-manager-vpnc_0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-vpnc ... Preparing to replace network-manager-strongswan 1.3.0-0ubuntu1 (using .../network-manager-strongswan_1.3.0-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Unpacking replacement network-manager-strongswan ... Setting up network-manager-iodine (0.0.3-1ubuntu2) ... Setting up network-manager-openconnect (0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2) ... Setting up network-manager-openvpn (0.9.6.0-0ubuntu3) ... Setting up network-manager-pptp (0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2) ... Setting up network-manager-vpnc (0.9.6.0-0ubuntu2) ... Setting up network-manager-strongswan (1.3.0-0ubuntu1) ...
That didn’t seem to do the trick. The VPN directory was still empty and the VPN would not connect.
Completely Removing
So, I used the purge command to completely remove the VPN packages:
sudo apt-get purge network-manager-iodine \ network-manager-openconnect network-manager-openvpn network-manager-pptp network-manager-strongswan network-manager-vpnc
Then, I had to reinstall the packages back:
sudo apt-get install network-manager-iodine network-manager-openconnect \ network-manager-openconnect-gnome network-manager-openvpn \ network-manager-openvpn-gnome network-manager-strongswan \ network-manager-vpnc network-manager-vpnc-gnome
After that it worked!
What Was the Difference?
I compared the files and they were identical. The one thing that I noticed was different was the permissions on the files:
</pre> skp@pecan:~$ ls -l /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/ total 24 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 203 Apr 10 08:06 nm-iodine-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 252 Apr 10 08:00 nm-openconnect-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 264 Apr 10 10:13 nm-openvpn-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 248 Feb 26 04:26 nm-pptp-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 223 Jun 29 2012 nm-strongswan-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 248 Apr 10 10:08 nm-vpnc-service.name skp@pecan:~$ ls -l ~/Downloads/VPN total 72 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 203 Apr 10 08:06 nm-iodine-service.name -rw------- 1 root root 252 May 27 17:30 nm-openconnect-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 264 Apr 10 10:13 nm-openvpn-service.name -rw------- 1 root root 248 May 27 17:30 nm-pptp-service.name -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 223 Jun 29 2012 nm-strongswan-service.name -rw------- 1 root root 248 May 27 17:30 nm-vpnc-service.name
Conclusion
First, when restoring network connections from a backup, only restore the /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections directory. The VPN directory gets installed with the VPN packages.
Second, the fix was to completely remove the packages. I had to use the purge command. The reinstall option didn’t recreate the files that I was missing.
Finally, my problem was the permissions in the /etc/NetworkManager/VPN/* directory.
Resources
Ubuntu 13.04 and the Fight for the Mouse
The mouse is something that should just work. Is it a bad sign when your mouse won’t work at all? You can see my problems with UNetbootIn on my previous post.
Even after I got it installed correctly, I still had trouble with all of my mouse input types. I still haven’t figured out how to get the Touchpad features working (like multi-touch) or the USB to reliably work. If you have any ideas, please comment.
Touchpad
The touchpad works as far as normal mouse features. The pointer moves and the right and left clicks work. The problem is that it isn’t recognized as a touchpad. Therefore, the scrolling and multi-touch features work. In the mouse settings, you’ll notice that all of the touchpad features are gone.
I tried a couple of quick searches, and I didn’t find anything new. So, I just followed the same instructions that I used on 12.10. I used this download link. Then, I extracted and installed with…
sudo tar -xf ~/Downloads/psmouse-alps-dst-0.4.tar -C /usr/src/ sudo bash /usr/src/psmouse-alps-dst-0.4/install.sh
Unfortunately, the build failed with this message in the middle of it:
cleaning build area.... make KERNELRELEASE=3.8.0-22-generic -C /lib/modules/3.8.0-22-generic/build M=/var/lib/dkms/psmouse/alps-dst-0.4/build/src psmouse.ko....(bad exit status: 2) Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/share/apport/package-hooks/dkms_packages.py", line 22, in <module> import apport ImportError: No module named apport Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.8.0-22-generic (x86_64) Consult /var/lib/dkms/psmouse/alps-dst-0.4/build/make.log for more information. Build failed
I tried installing the linux-source package. That didn’t fix the error at all, so I tried installing the python-apport package. That one fixed one of the errors, but it still didn’t completely compile.
Next, I found the driver on Git Hub: psmouse-alps. I downloaded the zip file from the front page, and I extracted it to the /usr/src directory:
sudo unzip psmouse-alps-master.zip -d /usr/src/ cd /usr/src/psmouse-alps-master/ sudo dkms add . sudo modprobe -r psmouse sudo dkms build -m psmouse -v custom-1.2 --all sudo dkms autoinstall --force sudo modprobe psmouse
I got closer, but the autoinstall wouldn’t work. It couldn’t find the directory. So, I took the install script from the other directory and updated it to this:
DLKM=alps-master KERN=$(uname -r) echo "MAIN: Driver source files by Dave Turvene. Install script by garyF." echo "MAIN: Install script updated by Stephen Phillips." echo "MAIN: Removing previous versions of psmouse-alps-dst..." sudo dkms remove psmouse/$DLKM --all echo "MAIN: Building current driver from source files..." sudo dkms build psmouse/$DLKM if [[ $? == 0 ]]; then echo "MAIN: Installing the driver" sudo dkms install psmouse/$DLKM sudo rmmod -v psmouse sudo modprobe -v psmouse echo "MAIN: Done installing. Go to System Settings > Mouse and Touchpad to configure :-)" else printf "Build failed\n" cat /var/lib/dkms/psmouse/$DLKM/build/make.log fi
I found this error message:
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.8.0-22-generic/arch/x86/Makefile:103: CONFIG_X86_X32 enabled but no binutils support
Update: I finally fixed it.
Bluetooth Mouse
My first attempt didn’t work on my bluetooth mouse. My second attempt ended up working with no problem.
I went to the bluetooth icon by the clock and clicked Bluetooth settings. I made sure that it was on. I don’t think that the visible was necessary, but I turned it on just in case. Then, I hit the bluetooth button on the bottom of my mouse. The power light flash green and red to show it was broadcasting.
On the settings dialog, I hit the plus sign to add a device.
The first time I tried, it wouldn’t find any devices. I gave up. Several updates and reboots later, I tried again, and this time, my mouse was in the list:
I selected the device and clicked Continue. It was that simple:
USB Mouse
In previous versions, my USB mouse had stopped working. I did some research and found a few bugs, but I never found a solution. This time it worked at first, but after a minute or two, it just stopped working. It seems to be hit or miss for some reason.
Here’s the dmesg output:
[12571.959955] usb 3-3: new full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd [12571.978603] usb 3-3: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c52f [12571.978610] usb 3-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [12571.978614] usb 3-3: Product: USB Receiver [12571.978617] usb 3-3: Manufacturer: Logitech [12572.024103] input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-3/3-3:1.0/input/input14 [12572.024384] hid-generic 0003:046D:C52F.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3/input0 [12572.026241] input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-3/3-3:1.1/input/input15 [12572.026434] hid-generic 0003:046D:C52F.0003: input,hiddev0,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Device [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3/input1 [12572.026479] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid [12572.026483] usbhid: USB HID core driver
I’ll have to research this more later.
Ubuntu 13.04 A Ruckus with Ringtail
This past weekend, I finally got the time to go through installing Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail). Here’s to documenting it…
I have been trying to rebuild my laptop with each new version of Ubuntu. This is proving a little more challenging, but this is my first post. This is as much of a story as my other posts, and if you have any suggestions please comment.
Preparing the Installation Media
The troubles started at the outset for me. The default tool for putting an iso on a USB drive had been crashing, so I have dropped back to UNetbootIn. I had mentioned that on several posts, and this one is no different.
It worked fine at first, but after I went through the install, my wireless wasn’t recognized. Then, I found that my USB ports weren’t working; at least, I couldn’t mount a USB key or external drive. Also, my touchpad wouldn’t work.
I did a little searching around, and I found Husain’s Chronicle. He mentioned that the problem seems to be common with everyone who used UNetbootIn. It seems very strange to me because the problem happens not when you boot off the USB but after booting to an installation made by the USB drive. Still, I went to my other computer that happened to be running Linux Mint, and I used the “USB Image Writer” program:
The only thing that I noticed different was the boot loader was different. The install went exactly the same, but when I booted, I had no trouble with the touchpad, the wireless, or the USB drives.
Partitioning
I tried the option to remove the Ubuntu 12.10 partitions and reinstall, but that didn’t work for me. I have special preferences on where I want my partitions. Yes, I have to be difficult.
I have a solid state drive (apparently /dev/sdb) that I want to use as my root. My thought is that I want all of the binaries and the swap partition on the faster solid state drive. Then, I have a 1TB drive (/dev/sda) that I want to use for my home folder where I will place all of my files, pictures, virtual machines, etc.
I set the large partition to format and to mount on the /home folder:
Next, I removed all of the partitions on my SSD drive and created an 8G swap partition at the end:
Finally, I created my root partition with the rest of the space:
Encrypting the Drive
This time I decided to encrypt my home folder to add a little security. This is my first try at this, so I’ll have to see how things work. So far, it doesn’t seem like any complication for the security that it adds.
On the first boot, it prompted me to save my key.
So, I ran ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase. Note that it says, but I missed it the first time: when it asks for the “Passphrase”, it is asking for the password that you associate with your user account, the one when you login to your computer.
Cleaning Up the Launchers
One of the first issues that I notice is that the launcher on the left is full of icons that I don’t necessarily use all of the time. So, I removed most of them to make room for running applications:
Adding Google Software
Google offers a software repository. Rather than just trying to install chrome by downloading the deb, I installed the repository with:
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list' sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-chrome-beta
I had expected chrome to show up in the Ubuntu Software Center, but it never did. It worked fine to install from the command-line though.
Shutter
Shutter is one of the first things that I install so that I can document and blog my install. It is an easy install from the Software Center:
For configuration, I don’t like the way the program sticks the screenshots in the Pictures folder. To me, that is for photos rather than screenshots. So, I create my own screenshots folder:
Then, under Edit > Preferences, I set it to use the new folder:
On previous versions, I had to tweak the settings to get it to show by the clock. This install, I didn’t have to do anything, and it shows up!
Since I am always taking screenshots of things, I set it to start automatically. I checked the first two options on the “Behavior” tab:
Restoring Backups
I copied off all of my important content off to an external USB drive. I installed grsync to make copying easier. Then, I copied the following directories back:
- ~/Documents: This is where I put all my document files
- ~/Pictures: I have Shotwell pointed at this directory, so it contains all the pictures from my cell phone and digital camera
- ~/MIS: I keep my work files in a different directory
- ~/app: This has all of my programming stuff (“application development”)
- ~/VirtualBox VMs: These are the virtual computers
- ~/.config/google-chrome: The settings for Chrome (extensions, bookmarks, etc)
- ~/.gnome2/keyrings: My saved passwords
- ~/.Skype: Skype history
- ~/.remmina: The settings for my remote connections
- ~/.ssh: The keys for my remote ssh connectinos
- ~.local/share/shotwell: The settings and thumbnails for my photos (moved from ~/.shotwell, see Ask Ubuntu)
- ~/.sword: The downloaded Bible files for Xiphos (and the underlying Sword library)
- ~/.VirtualBox: The settings for my virtual machines
- ~/.filezilla: The settings for my FTP connections
- ~/.sqldeveloper: The connection settings for SQL developer
- /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections and /etc/NetworkManager/VPN: this saves all of my wireless connections and VPN connections
Other Utilities
I like to use the “Main Menu” program, or alacarte to update the list of applications for the Applications Dash.
Bumblebee for the Discrete Video Card
WebUpd8 has a great article for installing Bumblebee. I decided to try the Bumblebee Configurator GUI. Notice that the program name changed from gtk to gui — bumblebee-config-gui.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alessandrofac93/bumblebee-config-gtk-dev sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install bumblebee-config-gui
Issue … I started it with “sudo bumblebee-config”. All I got was this output:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/bumblebee-config", line 17, in <module>
wnd = BumblebeeMainWindow()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/bumblebee_config/bumblebee_main_window.py", line 53, in __init__
if self.aptHelper.checkBumblebeeInstalled():
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/bumblebee_config/apt_helper.py", line 112, in checkBumblebeeInstalled
if cache['bumblebee'].isInstalled:
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 204, in __getitem__
raise KeyError('The cache has no package named %r' % key)
KeyError: "The cache has no package named 'bumblebee'"
There is a bug opened for this issue. Just as a guess, I tried to add the repositories:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable sudo apt-get update
After that, it worked fine:
I found that I needed to click on the “Configure Bumblebee” button first to choose the Nvidia driver:
I clicked the “Install Bumblebee” button, and it started installing…
When I ran check status, I got this message:
Bumblebeed status: [ 7161.740177] [INFO]Configured driver: nvidia [ 7161.742547] [INFO]Switching method 'bbswitch' is available and will be used. [ 7161.744668] [ERROR]Module 'nvidia-current' is not found.
Everything still seemed to work fine, though. The nvidia-current package was actually installed. I don’t know why it reports that “not found” message.
Installing Eclipse on Ubuntu 12.10
I use Eclipse for my Java Development. So, here’s what I went through to install it
Ubuntu 12.10 and Discrete Video Card
One of the main driver things that I have to install is the video card. My laptop has a discrete video card. Without installing the driver, the graphics seem to work pretty well, but with the driver, I get a very noticeable improvement in power consumption. After installing the driver, the battery lasts significantly longer. Also, glxspheres does a nice job of showing the graphics performance difference with and without the acceleration.
Touchpad Drivers for My Inspiron 17R
The touchpad on my laptop (Dell Inspiron 17R) didn’t just work automatically. Thanks to alfc, I found out how to install the driver for it. The Ask Ubuntu answer is very well explained.
In any regard, here’s what I did…
Software Installs for Ubuntu 12.10
After first installing Ubuntu, I had to install all of the tools and programs that I normally use. Last time, I just used the Ubuntu Software Center to search and find all of the tools that I wanted install. This time, I decided to use the command line and apt-get. You could still search by the package name if you want to use the GUI.