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I've just bought a new laptop - Dell Latitude E5570 - and am still trying to come to terms with its quirks.  Installed Ubuntu 20.04.   

I have all my scripts in a directory /home/keith/.bin and have changed the PATH to include it:
[email protected]:~$ echo $PATH
/home/keith/.bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

....and I've made the scripts executable.  But when I type a script name I get a "command not found" error. 

I've not had problems in the past as the process is so simple.  Any ideas what I'm not doing?

Keith

Lenovo B50-10 running Ubuntu 18.04

A mate sent me his Lenovo laptop to fix as it wouldn't boot and indicated a manual fsck was necessary. 
It boots straight into the GRUB screen (without pressing the Shift key).  I selected "Advanced options for Ubuntu" and then selected "Recovery Mode" expecting to see another screen with a recovery mode menu so I could choose manual fsck, but it did an auto-fsck on /dev/sda2 and outputted two pages of stuff, exiting with Code 4 (which is just "File system errors left uncorrected"). 

Then followed the advice to run a manual fsck without the -a or -p options, finishing with "File system check of root file system failed.  Requires a manual fsck."

That it is performing fsck automatically at boot is making things difficult so I checked that the boot order is USB first then booted with an Ubuntu 20.04 USB in place with a view to running fsck from that - but this was ignored and it went into the usual routine. 

I found the GRUB command line screen (typing c at one point) but none of the commands I could think of were recognised. 

Any ideas, anyone? 

---

EDIT 1:  Discovered that Legacy Boot was not enabled!  I can now boot from a USB and will be able to back up files before messing with the system.

This topic has been moved to "Linux support" as it's most appropriate there.

https://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=14140.0

Following a plea by one Forum Member, The Management has increased the font size.  What do you think?  Too big now or just right?  In particular, the post editing box has a larger font than the remainder of the site.  Is that useful? 

We want to make the Forum accessible to everyone but without putting people off. 
Please do let us have your views - after all it's your Forum. 

Keith

This topic has been moved to the more appropriate "Linux Support" board. 

https://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=14092.0

Your posts
Most of the people who reply to your questions will not be professional computer experts, but just Linux users with more experience than you.  They will have other calls on their time (like a job or family) so please be patient if answers don't appear immediately. 

Remember that there is no such thing as a "daft" question on this Forum.  All contributors have gone through the same learning curve as you have embarked upon, so don't be reluctant to ask a question, no matter how simple it seems. 

Provide essential information in your post
Readers of your post are not clairvoyant and will have no idea of your system setup, so please always include enough information for them to place your questions in context.  For example;  the make/model of your computer; the operating system/version; and your printer/device also if that's the subject of your post. 

Key combinations
You will often be asked to type or paste "key combinations" as part of an instruction.  It means that you press one key whilst already holding down one or more other keys.  If you have used office software to create documents you are already familiar with the process.  For example: Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v for cutting and pasting.  And you select text by clicking-and-dragging your cursor over the text to be highlighted for copying. 

It's the same process in the Terminal (see the next paragraph) except that for historical reasons (you can ask if you're interested) the key combinations are Ctrl+Shift+c and Ctrl+Shift+v for copy and paste, respectively. 

The Terminal
Almost all the advice you receive will involve entering commands into your computer using the "Terminal".  This is simply an application which is just a blank, black window into which you type or paste instructions that you are given. 

You invoke the Terminal by either:
1. searching the menu for "Terminal" or, more simply...
2. entering Ctrl+Alt+t on the keyboard.

Initially, the only text on the terminal screen will be your user prompt.  Here's mine:
[email protected]:~$
Before the "@" is my computer user-name and "T500" is the name I've given my computer. 
The "~" means you are set at your Home Directory and the "$" just marks the end of the prompt.  The user prompt will change to reflect which directory you are in at any time. 

Entering commands
Most of the commands that you will be asked to enter into the Terminal will be provided in a reply-post in the "code" box.  In copying the command it is safest to highlight it by clicking on [Select] just above the code box, then copying it using Ctrl+c. 
To paste a command into the terminal you use Ctrl+Shift+V.  To copy text from a terminal, highlight the next as you would normally do and then use Ctrl+Shift+C

The computer has no idea when you have finished entering your instruction until you tell it by pressing the "Enter" key.  Many new users are not aware of this. 

Most of the commands that you encounter at first will appear almost magical in their brevity.  Don't worry about that – all will become clear with practice, and by you asking for explanations.  Beware, though, that the Linux Command Line is addictive! 

... And Finally
If you are satisfied with the outcome of your Topic, please let the world know by editing the title of your first post of the topic by adding [SOLVED] to the end of it.  This will help others searching for a solution to the same problem, and will give a warm glow to those who have helped you. 

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This topic has been moved to "General Help & Advice".

[Systemd]

I became fed up with the newer versions of the gedit text editor which, like many other applications, appears to be moving towards "mouse-only" commands.  I find it inconvenient to keep moving between keyboard and mouse just to do something that I used to be able to do with a few keystrokes while my hands are already on the keyboard.

So I moved to the Kate editor.  It's very good and is very configurable.  However;  I discovered recently that it saves a backup in XDP format of every file-save action.  Apparently this is a format that allows easy conversion between XML and PDF formats.  Not that I would ever want to do that.  And these files just keep mounting up. 

I found this link:  https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/how-to-prevent-backup-file-creation-kate-and-kwrite-940857/ that explains how to stop Kate from doing this, as follows:
Settings > Configure Kate > Editor Component > Open/Save > Advanced
Uncheck the box next to local files under "Backup on Save"
but when I navigated to that Kate settings page, the box was already un-ticked.

Does anyone have any experience of overcoming this feature?
Thanks.

Keith

{Ubuntu 18.04 on Lenovo Thinkpad T500.   Kate Version 20.04.0}

This topic has been moved to Genera Help & Advice as that seems a more appropriate place.

https://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=13906.0

This topic has been moved to "General Help & Advice" as it seems more appropriate there.

https://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=13897.0

An elderly friend has an old Asus that I gave her ages ago.  It's a P6 P5G41 E with the PN5-E mother-board.  Can anyone tell me if it's 32 or 64 bit?  I have the manual but, bizarrely, it doesn't tell me! 
As she lives 120 miles away I don't want to pick it up for repair if it's only 32-bit - I'll give her another. 

Thanks

I came across a couple of web pages that are relevant to our lock-down status and might be of interest to Forum readers.
The privacy issues of contact-tracing applications may account for the poor take-up of mobile 'phone "apps", and with good reason. Here are the links:
1. https://protonmail.com/blog/privacy-contact-tracing-apps/?utm_campaign=ww-en-2c-mail-coms_con-monthly_newsletter&utm_source=proton_users&utm_medium=link&utm_content=2020_june&utm_term=mail
2. https://ncase.me/contact-tracing/

By the way:  ProtonMail offers free and very secure mail and VPN services, and their customer care is first class even for non-paying users.  [I have no commercial interest in ProtonMail]

Keith

This topic has been moved to General Help & Advice as it seems more appropriate there.

https://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=12169.0

Lenovo Thinkpad T500 - Ubuntu 16.04

Since my email provider has updated its security arrangements it can't accept my emails sent from  the command line with a sender name that is not my registered username – e.g. an alias.  This ought not be a problem as I have set up my /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf file with my registered base address that ought to be used by sendmail:

ssmtp.conf
root=[email protected]
mailhub=mail.runbox.com:465

AuthUser=[email protected]
AuthPass={password}
UseTLS=YES
UseSSL=YES

rewriteDomain=mailco.com
hostname=T500
FromLineOverride=YES
--------------------------------------------------

But when I use sendmail, it removes my surname from the "From" address and my mail provider rejects the email as the From name is incorrect:

[email protected]:~/.bin$ sendmail -v [email protected]  < mail_message
[<-] 220 mailfront20.runbox ESMTP Exim 4.90_1 Ubuntu Wed, 12 Feb 2020 18:55:02 +0100
[->] EHLO T500
[<-] 250 HELP
[->] AUTH LOGIN
[<-] 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
[->] a2VpdGhfc3RhbW1lcnNAcnVuYm94LmNvbQ==
[<-] 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
[<-] 235 Authentication succeeded
[->] MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
[<-] 250 OK
[->] RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
[<-] 250 Accepted
[->] DATA
[<-] 354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself
[->] Received: by T500 (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:55:01 +0000
[->] From: "keith" <[email protected]>
[->] Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:55:01 +0000
[->]
[->] Text for message
[->]
[->] .
[<-] 550 Invalid From address. Please see https://help.mailco.com/identities/
sendmail: 550 Invalid From address. Please see https://help.mailco/identities/
[email protected]:~/.bin$

In principle I could add the name "[email protected]" to my account as an alias and that would work, but someone has already claimed that so I can't use it.
My mail provider has been unable to help me and I would be grateful for advice. 

I wrote a script ages ago that sends me an email automatically when some function is satisfied.  It has worked well but failed recently, with a message appended suggesting that I visit my mail provider's website that explains the problem.
Although my application uses mpack, I show below an example using sendmail to demonstrate the problem.  I've changed my email address and mail provider for security, but keeping the same formats. 

Terminal command

[email protected]:~$ echo "Subject: sendmail test" | sendmail -v [email protected]
[<-] 220 mailfront20.emailco ESMTP Exim 4.90_1 Ubuntu Wed, 01 Jan 2020 17:06:01 +0100
[->] EHLO T500
[<-] 250 HELP
[->] AUTH LOGIN
[<-] 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
[->] a2VpdGhfc3RhbW1lcnNAcnVuYm94LmNvbQ==
[<-] 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
[<-] 235 Authentication succeeded
[->] MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
[<-] 250 OK
[->] RCPT TO:<[email protected]>
[<-] 250 Accepted
[->] DATA
[<-] 354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself
[->] Received: by T500 (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:06:01 +0000
[->] From: "keith" <[email protected]>
[->] Date: Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:06:01 +0000
[->] Subject: sendmail test
[->]
[->] .
[<-] 550 Invalid From address. Please see https://help.emailco.com/identities/
sendmail: 550 Invalid From address. Please see https://help.emailco.com/identities/
[email protected]:~$

You will see at the end the complaint that the From address is wrong and is rejected by my mail company following their updated security measures.  The correct address is shown on the "RCPT TO:" line but in the active line where the correct address needs to be the address has been shortened:  "MAIL FROM: <[email protected]>".   And perhaps the other "From" line needs to be correct as well.

My email provider now requires that the from address is not an alias and the sSMTP.conf file (shown below) shows my base address correctly (as it always was).  I have even tried changing the Thunderbird default address back to the base address.  So I can't understand why it has been changed in two places in sendmail.   

Contents of  etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

# Config file for sSMTP sendmail
#
# The person who gets all mail for userids < 1000
# Make this empty to disable rewriting.
#root=postmaster
[email protected]

# The place where the mail goes. The actual machine name is required no
# MX records are consulted. Commonly mailhosts are named mail.domain.com
#mailhub=mail
mailhub=mail.emailco.com:465

[email protected]
AuthPass={my password}
UseTLS=YES
UseSSL=YES

# Where will the mail seem to come from?
#rewriteDomain=
rewriteDomain=emailco.com

# The full hostname
#hostname=MyMediaServer.home
hostname=T500

# Are users allowed to set their own From: address?
# YES - Allow the user to specify their own From: address
# NO - Use the system generated From: address
FromLineOverride=YES

---

I would be very grateful for any advice.

    Keith

I use mpack on my T500 laptop, after a lot of initial difficulty, and now want to use it on an ASUSTeK P6-P5G41E running Ubuntu 18.04 in gnome-flashback.

The command format is mpack -s "<subject line>"  -a <file path>  <email address>   which works fine on my T500 but on the Asus the error message is "execv: No such file or directory"  although the specified file-path is valid. 

Any ideas would be welcome.
----------------
[EDIT]  It turns out that the Mail Transfer Agent "sendmail" was not installed by default.  Installing it removes the error message but the email is still not sent.
[EDIT2] Remembered that I need to set up a ssmtp.conf file in /etc/ssmtp so copied the file from my T500 and edited it for the owner of the Asus.  Still no joy.
[EDIT 3] It turns out that SSMTP was not installed despite Thunderbird working well.  Installing it makes mpack work OK. 

SOLUTION:
Install sendmail
Install SSMTP
Create a file /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf   See the second link below.

Useful links:
http://ozzmaker.com/send-email-from-the-raspberry-pi-or-linux-command-line-with-attachments/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SSMTP

ASUSTeK P6-P5G41E running Ubuntu 18.04 in gnome-flashback

I thought I was removing just one icon from the top right panel but they all disappeared! 
I've done this before (sorry!) but can't remember how to recover them, and my web search wasn't helpful.

I would be grateful for advice.
Thanks

[EDIT] Tried dconf reset -f /org/gnome/gnome-panel/ without success.

[EDIT 2] Tried:
sudo apt-get update
killall gnome-panel
sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-panel gnome-applets
sudo apt-get -f install

...after this, ALL the top panels disappeared but a reboot restored them.  Success!

I have installed Mint 18 on a friend's Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop.  Unfortunately, the built-in wifi doesn't work with this installation although a USB wifi dongle works well (so I know that the network is set up correctly) as does Ethernet. 

Wifi enabled in BIOS and the network info entered. 
Keyboard Fn F2 to toggle wifi has no effect.
Here is some output that might help diagnosis:

[email protected] ~ $ rfkill list all
[email protected] ~ $ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.
eth0      no wireless extensions.
------------------------------------------
[email protected] ~ $ lspci -vnn -d 14e4:
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)
   Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
   Memory at c0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
   Capabilities: <access denied>
   Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
   Kernel modules: ssb, wl

08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
   Subsystem: Dell BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [1028:01f5]
   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 21
   Memory at c0300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
   Capabilities: <access denied>
   Kernel driver in use: b44
   Kernel modules: b44
-------------------------------------------------------

[email protected] ~ $ inxi -Fxn
System:    Host: dell1501 Kernel: 4.4.0-145-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   System: Dell product: Inspiron 1501
           Mobo: Dell model: 0UW744 Bios: Dell v: 2.3.0 date: 03/15/2006
CPU:       Dual core AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-50 (-MCP-) cache: 512 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 3192
           clock speeds: max: 1600 MHz 1: 800 MHz 2: 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RS482M [Mobility Radeon Xpress 200] bus-ID: 01:05.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: [email protected]
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on ATI RS480 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-145-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN driver: b43-pci-bridge bus-ID: 05:00.0
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
           Card-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX driver: b44 v: 2.0 bus-ID: 08:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:19:b9:5d:ec:8c
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (9.0% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54168 size: 80.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 73G used: 5.9G (9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 0.94GB used: 0.15GB (16%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 161 Uptime: 3:09 Memory: 354.1/870.2MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35
----------------------------------------

I've installed  b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer
I am guessing that the installer installs the b43-fwcutter but I don't know how to use it.
I did find an example of the use of b43-fwcutter:    b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
but I'm not confident about just copying this as it might not be appropriate for this machine. 
Can anyone advise me on the the best way forward?

Thank you

I am preparing an ASUSTeK P6-P5G41E desktop running Ubuntu 18.04 to give to a friend.  Having fitted a 256GB SSD (thanks, Mark) it's working much faster I want now to find a suitable USB wireless dongle for it. 
I bought one from Amazon that mentioned Linux suitability but Ubuntu 18 ignored it.  So I tried to install the accompanying drivers from the CD but the PC refused to extract the files, telling me that I didn't have sufficient privileges!  So I sent it back. 
I have a very old Belkin 802.11g adapter so tried that and it connected immediately - which makes it a valuable item that I want to keep! 

Bizarrely, I can actually still buy the Belkin 802.11g from Amazon, which I might do, but a more modern one that works out of the box would be better. 
I see lots of questions on the forums about getting dongles to work with Ubuntu 18 and would be grateful for advice from anyone on a device that will work on U18 without having to install anything. 

Thanks