ChromeBook Ubuntu

Googling Your way to Success

A while back my old-ish Chromebook kept telling me it was out of date, so I found on the internet how to wipe the Chrome OS and install some linux version on it.

Long story short, I had that for a while and it mostly worked but thinking I was smart I decided to try a different version (going from Lubuntu to Xubuntu)

Whoops...I found the install went well and fewer problems than before, until I discovered if listing to any audio for more than a few minutes it would be interupped by a minutes long monoton horn sound. You could not mute or stop it.

Much Googling I finally found one person who said to try thing

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

And then add this one line...

options snd_sof sof_debug

Then the minutes long "horn" stopped, and all was well
I just didn't want to forget this

Starting a GUI app on startup with a RaspberryPi

I got a new Raspberry PI4 and I set it up to record some over the air TV and the app I was using allowed to set a schedule much like old school VHS recorders would. BUT you have to have the application running all the time so if you forget to start it the recording is missed. Most all the search results for Raspbery Pi or Linux about autostart a program just would not work.

Finally I found somebody who said if it had a GUI it would not load under traditional methods since the came into play before the Graphical Interface. Anyway I was having no luck. And finally under some lucky combination of search words I found this site.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Autostart-a-Program-When-Raspberry-Pi-Boots-Newbie/

Here is the gist with a few changes for my situation

You only need to do this part once, but you need to do it first. Click on Applications -> Preferences -> Main Menu Editor on your Pi desktop.

In the Main Menu Editor window click on Preferences in the first column. Check the box for Default applications for LXSession in the second column. Click Okay.

Now when you click on your Applications -> Preferences menu you should see Default applications for LXSession listed. You don't need to click on it yet, but you'll need it after the next step.

Find out the command to start the GUI program which for me was the path to the program and supposedly by adding -m afterwards would start it minimized (it didn't). But anyway /usr/bin/Kaffeine -m

Now that you have the command syntax you need to add it to the autostart sequence. Choose Applications -> Preferences -> Default applications for LXSession from your Pi desktop. Select the Autostart tab.

In the Manual autostarted applications section enter the text of your command in the box next to the Add button. Then click the Add button and your new command should be added to the list. When your Pi boots (or reboots) these commands should run.

You can temporarily disable a command by unchecking the box in front of it. This will add # in front of the command and it will be ignored until you go back and check it. And obviously you can remove a command from the sequence completely by clicking the Remove button beside it. (There is no undo for this)

My BluRay fix

i can't believe I haven't saved this here, but the driver for my USB ASUS BluRay Burner sometimes gets corrupted.

Here is the fix with the difference that my drive was not in the Intio.. heading but under Serial Device Devices and had an indicator that it was not recognized

https://mightbeuseful.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/solved-asus-external-blu-raydvd-external-drive-not-working-in-windows-10/

OK, so follow these instructions TO THE LETTER.

1. Plug your external drive back in, and “Intio Combo Device Class” should reappear in the Device Manager.
2. Click on the little “>” next to it, and you should see something called “Initio Default Controller” appear underneath.
3. Right-click on “Initio Default Controller” and click ‘Disable’ to turn it off.
4. Now right-click on it again and click ‘Properties’.
5. In the window that pops up click on the ‘Driver’ tab.
6. Click on ‘Uninstall Device’, and then follow the instructions carefully to ensure that you do uninstall the drivers (IMPORTANT: you may need to click on a checkbox to confirm that you want to delete the driver software – don’t miss this step if so).
7. Unplug the external drive from the USB ports.
8. Shut down your computer (be sure to shut it down fully, don’t just restart it).
9. With the computer powered off, plug in the external drive to the USB ports.
10. Restart the computer and let it boot up.

The drive should now work! It should appear in “This PC” and it should appear in “Device Manager” in the list of “DVD/CD-ROM drives”

Change Systems

Last fall after a System update to my 2012 Nexus 7 tablet, it was un-usable ever after. And there was no good way to downgrade.

To try and find some use for this tablet coaster, this week I installed Ubuntu touch on it.  BUT that was never really developed for that model so it was VERY beta, and only slightly better than the lag-ey tablet it had become.

For the record this was the most helpful for installing Ubuntu Touch on the Nexus 7 from an Ubuntu machine, after I rooted it from my windows machine

http://pocketnow.com/2013/02/22/install-ubuntu-nexus-7

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However when I first started the Ubuntu tablet adventure I ended up using Windows to install the Skipsoft Android Toolkit on my Windows laptop. Which I found to be a very easy way to unlock and root a Nexus 7 tablet.

So After the Ubuntu touch tablet fail I looked for a way to install a working Android OS back on the tablet. Here is how I had to restore to a more primitive Android OS

Even though was able to use the Windows software to root my Nexus 7 I had to use an Ubuntu OS to install the Ubuntu touch on the tablet. And I also found that to put it back to Android it was dependent on having a Ubuntu boot OS, for the Android OS re-install.

­
In this video, it will show how to Return your Google Nexus 7 to Stock Android (thus uninstalling Ubuntu Linux).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkT089qv1vs

You will need to go and download the Stock Android image from the following website:
https://developers.google.com/android...

Image will download into the downloads folder. Go to the Downloads folder, and extract the files to the same directory, and then run the following commands on your Ubuntu Terminal:

1-) cd nakasi-jzo54k (make sure you get the right file name)
2-) sudo ./flash-all.sh

Watch the show, and you will be done in less than 5 minutes. 

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So it is pretty weird that a company would force a download on a tablet that made it useless. AND made it impossible to downgrade.

So the work around is to "root" the device which is kind of hacking it, AND then to get one of their old images and set it back to a more simple OS. AND then you have to install "Disable Service" to stop any automatic ystem upgrades

Fixing Windows - More things to do when not at Aikido

Note to self: Because I keep playing around with different Linux partitions I need to remember that getting back to a Windows7 only boot up, use the Windows7 DVD and boot to DVD choose Repair Computer and then use

bootrec /fixmbr

All the stuff on the web about bootsect and all its choices, do me no good.

A Hinge Not In Time

The right hinge (stage right) on my ThinkPad broke.

The warranty expired after one year and I've had it for over two years, so unless I wanted to drop a few hundred dollars it was up to me to fix it. (as an aside I tend to keep computers for a really long time, and make them do things they shouldn't be called upon to do because they are too old)

The good part is that Lenovo publishes all the manuals and part numbers so I could find out what the part number was and Lenovo also publishes videos on how to take your ThinkPad apart. But ultimately the guide and a printed out section of the service manual that helps.

The Lenovo site is http://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/ion/

I got the part number and found a place that sold it to me for $20 ($10 shipping).

Then I spent 2 to 2 ½ hours installing the two hinges.

Here is the broken right hinge



And here is the left good and bad left hinge


I replaced them both as the left hinge had a wobble.

I put it all together and aside from the 4 left over screw all went well and I can open and close with impunity!

And I have to say once you have the instructions the design of the think made it pretty easy to effect the repair.

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I also found that the wire from a connection on the main section to the wireless antenna was either already broken or taking the LCD off broke it.



I pulled out the soldering iron which I really don't know how to use, and slobbered on some solder, wrapped it in tape and jammed it back into the lid frame.

I don't know if it is better, worse or the same. But it still works.

The Not So Wonderfull Land of OS

So I think I'm pretty sharp now with my ubuntu ThinkPad.
I think I know what I'm doing.
So I decide I will install a Windows OS now, on the drive with the already installed Ubuntu Operating System (OS).
Well..."they" are right. It is easier to install Linux for a dual boot if you put the Linux on second.

In tring to fix the master boot record (MBR) so I could start the dual boot menu, somehow I ruined the partition table and made both installation unreadable.

Sooooo...I had to start ALL over with Ubuntu AND Windows. But it means I have relearn how to get my digital video camera working in Ubuntu.

Many, many hours of work, which is a bit silly because I have my old perfectly fine Hard Drive in my bag. But I want to see if I can live (mostly) in the Ubuntu world.

By the way I never got a disk for my Vista OS but fortuanately I was gifted with a registered XP CD.

On a completely unrelated matter, the picture above is from the desktop of a pirated version of XP which I found on the net while searching for ways to dual boot.

An Open Source Window

I was a able to run DVD Shrink on my Ubuntu OS through WINE to start step one of a backup of a movie DVD. This created the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders with the needed files to create an ISO image of the DVD.

But IMG Classic would not run under WINE so a bit of Googling I found out the command to create an ISO file from the audio and video files created by DVD Shrink...

mkisofs -dvd-video -udf -o dvd.iso DONNIE_DARKO_D1

where the last part is the folder just below the one you start the command with in the terminal window.

THEN I had to find DVD burning software to make a DVD from the ISO image. I would have thought all this would be part of a normal installation of Ubuntu. But I guess you have to look for such things in the Windows world so maybe it not so strange at all. The ISO to DVD disk software I used was Brasero.

1. DVD Shrink (Windows app in WINE)
2. mkisofs (commands in a terminal window)
3. Brasero (to put the ISO on a DVD)

Anyway it all worked out and it is only a little bit more complicated than in Windows, but maybe I can simplify it later.

Aikdio, but who's counting, not me!

At Aikdio last night I discovered I had not noted my attendance for over two months.

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I ended up with a spare SATA hard drive for my Lenovo R60 and formatted it with Ubuntu. Linux is lightyears beyond the installation from when I first played with it maybe over 10 years ago. I remember downloading may dozens of 3 ½ inch floppies for slackware and then having to recompile the kernel time after time. And all the pain of getting the modem, printer and sound card to work. It took weeks and weeks, and then I would simply go back to Windows.

The Ubuntu installation was pretty darn good, but I did have to do some Googling to find out how to get my wireless to work (an amazingly simple fix)

Tonight I got my digital video to work with the Ubuntu video editor and then I finally got a VPN connection going to my work network. The vpn was a little bit of a challenge but it works pretty well now.

I found that Manga studio (Windows edition) works with WINE and I read online that you can also get DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter to work in WINE. And I need that to make my DVD “backups”.

I may go back to my Vista disk but I'll see how long this Ubuntu installation keeps me satisfied.

The picture is a screen shot of the