SDD Crash

This is my screen here and now.
From #WCEU 2020 a fine talk about CSS.
So my OS is up and running
Sort of ...

The picture is my screen here and now. I'm following the proceedings at #WCEU on my Linux PC. For the time being the OS is OpenMandriva.

Åbyhøj Data
My SDD crashed (Kingston 120 GB ssd now 300) and the system was not able to boot at all. Strangely enough even the BIOS was unavailable. So what was wrong with the system? Åbyhøj Data was a great help here, because it's hard to find out exactly which part of the system died.

They added a new SDD, larger than the old one. So the system improved a bit. Even better: Now the PC is able to boot again. But had to get an OS somehow. The Manjaro distro was fine, however somewhat nerdy. I need a new OS.

I bougt a Linux Magazine with a DVD on the frontpage, and tried at least to boot in Linux. And succeded. First I installed OpenMandriva.

OpenMandriva - not my taste
OpenMandriva looked promising with KDE and what not, but I found literally everything uphill. Like in everything. I don't like it, and will try something a bit more userfriendly. When I looked for documentation, the online wiki was a joke. No content in several articles. Try the empty FAQ ... 

Next Stop Ubuntu
So I guess it's a hobby project or some insider project. But now I know that my system works, and I think I'll go for a Ubuntu distro. OpenMandriva was usefull here. I could burn a USB version of Ubuntu.

At least I could use the distro in order to burn a Ubuntu USB. 

The game's afoot.

Linux: MS Teams - and Office 365

These Corona-days we often meet on MS Teams at work. So a version on my Linux system could come in handy.

Just for the hell of it, I tried to find a MS Teams client in Arch Linux (Manjaro). To my surprise it was available. To my even greater surprise it worked like a charm. Thanx Microsoft.

At log in I could select my Logitech c920 webcam and the Thronmax usb microphone. I just had to allow the usage.

The only caveat was a screen share that did not work, because my wifi connection is terrible. That was certainly not a Microsoft issue, but rather something I want to discuss with Yousee (it's the never ending story: connection sucks, complain, then it works for at week or two, then the connection is horrible again).

By the way - I got the whole package: mail, calendar etc. etc.

Cool!

WordPress: on Manjaro / Arch Linux

Here is the famous 2 minutes install:

1. Download a fresh version of WordPress
2. Install in a directory

On my system the files are in a folder on /home/myName

Now you need to set the permissions. Apache should be allowed to write to the directory, and so should you. Try this:

# chown http:http -R wp/

# sudo usermod -a -G http myName
# sudo chmod 777 -R wp/

Of course you should never ever use the last line on a WordPress on the web. These settings are for local development only.

Manjaro Linux and Scanning with Epson ET-2750

Utsushi - probably a GUI under imagescan v. 3

This was an unexpected hard task. I thought that it would be a matter of just pluggin in the usb and then scan. But no.

In order to use the Epson ET-2750 Eco Tank scanner do this:

• Install imagescan v. 3
  # pacman -S imagescan
• Run this command:
  # utsushi
• Select the correct USB device
• Scan and save with the file ending of whatever file format you want, say .pdf or .jpeg or ...

Xsane, Imagescan and so on cannot find the device. I guess that the utsushi GUI is part of the imagescane package. I is somewhat strange to install a packet, and run it by another name.

And if you think that you can find Utsushi in the progam launcher ... forget it. But you can start the thing from your favorite terminal window.

Utsushi started via a terminal window

Hey, isn't that why we just love Linux. I learned a lot about UX this afternoon.

Manjaro: Record Sound from Microphone or Intrument

For some reason you have to tweak the soundcard settings to both sound and input, like this:

Note the recording by Audacity in the background. Now the sound could take a little fine tuning in order to reduce the noise. But for now the problem of getting sound is solved.

1. Open the sound control in settings
2. Find your soundcard and make sure that you have both input and output options

IMHO such a thing should work out of the box ... I cannot see the reason for hiding such settings.

Arch Linux: Guitarix Settings

Here's how to connect your electric guitar to a Linux system. In this case Manjaro (Arch Linux).

Jack connections: Qjackctl

Guitarix: note the connections between input and output.

[SOLVED] Install WordPress on a Arch Linux Manjaro LAMP Stack

Bingo! WordPress up and running on Manjaro (Arch Linux)

I followed this recipe. Found on HowToForge.

[SOLVED] Arch LAMP Server PHP Problems

At last! The LAMP stack is up and running. 

At last I found a recipe that created the ArchLinux LAMPP. 

• I used this tutorial.

Unfortunately you have to fight idiotic popups and similar all of the time, but the article is sane and easy to follow.


What I struggled with
PHP cannot execute the files in Arch:

* PHP 7.2.5 (cli) (built: Apr 24 2018 18:12:24) ( NTS )

* Linux XXXXX 4.14.39-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 2 19:03:39 UTC 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux

MySQL is up and running, and so is Apache. The problem is probably the settings in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Next Morning
Tried, tried, reinstalled everything from rock bottom again. No success. The instructions on the Arch wiki don't work (for me at least).

After 4 hours of struggle I gave up - installing a LAMP server should be a nobrainer, as in Ubuntu. Now I try to build ... of all things in Hell ... xampp!

XAMPP
After waiting more than an hour for the Xampp binaries the thing was dropped. Which was very fortunate. I have some bad experiences from previous Xampp usage ... so WTH. Don't care now.

Arch Linux: MySQL

MySQL up and running

Here's the guide that helped setting up MySQL in Manjaro. The pixi version is here:

sudo pacman -S mysql

sudo systemctl start mysqld

sudo mysql_secure_installation

mysql -u root -p

Spotify on Arch Manjaro

Spotify on Arch Manjaro.
Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door
seems strangely appropriate.

Spotify is up and running. Since the package is from a Debian based distro Snap is a solution (read: "the solution")


# snap find spotify
# snap install spotify

and then

# snap run spotify

Now the only thing I need is a file that will launch the app with a nice icon for the desktop. But that's for tomorrow.

First things should go first. Because in order to run snap you have to install snap. In case you don't have it:

# pacman -S snapd

It's time to try a new distribution

The Manjaro XFCE desktop with my keyboard bokeh as background.

Now I run the new kid on the blog Arch based Manjaro distro with a XFCE desktop. It's a superfast system with a lightweight distro on a decent PC.

Manjaro use the Linux 4.14.36-1-MANJARO GNU/Linux kernel. Updates are rolling.

Installing Manjaro

• Unplugged the /home drive (a 2TB harddisk)
• Installed Manjaro on the SSD stardup disk
• Added a user
• Replugged /home disk
• Followed this guide

First I had to find the /home disk ID by:

# blkid

Then /etc/fstab was edited and this info was added:

# UUID=b87ebb56-f4df-43ee-918a-fa69xxxxxxxx   /home    ext4          defaults       0       2

A nice surprice
After a reboot the system was up and running. To my surprise the users could access their shares immediately. And a very pleasant surprise was the fact that even shortcuts from Nautilus was preserved and ready for use in the XFCE file manager Thunar.

Even symbolic links to certain shared folders were preserved.

SSD - contemplating more real estate
Well my 120GB SSD ran full after an Ubuntu SQL update of some kind. I tried to solve the problem by a new install, but Ubuntu was not able to do a decent dist-update.

After several crashes I decided that enough was enough. So I droppedUbuntu (for a while I guess ...)

The real problem isn't Ubuntu but the fact that the SSD should have more GBs. I guess that it is necessary to follow the development on the boot drive or to update the hardware.