Saucer Full of Fixes (Ubuntu/Kubuntu 14.04)

[Arkanglas]

Hi all. I've not used any type of UNIX or Linux distribution for many a year. So I recently decided to make the change back to a BSD or Linux distro. I'm now using the latest Kubuntu release and since it's been so long I'm basically a newbie, again. This post is aimed at new users, or users with little experience, and hopefully it'll answer a lot of questions before they need to be asked. Hopefully I've put it in the right place in the forums. If not, let me know and I'll move it.

For me, the install was smoothe and the OS is proving to be fast and reliable. But I did notice a few things in Kubuntu (and, as I have discovered, Ubuntu) that needed to be tweaked. It took a few days because, as I said, I haven't worked with this type of OS in a lot of years. But I managed to figure it out. Before moving along, note the following points:

First: after you install your OS, get the Krusader file manager. It allows you to operate as Administrator. Krusader will let you browse the directory tree as Admin, and it will also let you edit and save files as Admin. That will cut out a lot of typing in the console for those not comfortable with the command line.

Second: Some work in the console is necessary. So I've included what to type in within the directions. All you need to do is copy what is between the brackets < > and past it into the console using your mouse. Don't copy the < >. Just the text between these characters.

Third: This is an ongoing work so I'll update it here and there as I find other things that need fixing.

That said, lets move to the list of what appears to be the most common questions and problems I've seen with users new to Ubuntu and its flavors.


KIOExec error: malformed URL trash:/

I love the Krusader file manager. So much so that I set it as the default. When i did, I could no longer use my trash can. This seems to be a big problem in 14.04 Ubuntu and especially older versions. Its not really a bug issue as much as it is a dependency issue. Trash depends on the base file manager, Dolphin. If you removed Dolphin or, for some wierd reason it is not installed, then go get it through Software Center or Synaptic (Kubuntu calls this Muon Discover Center and Muon Package Manager, respectively). Once it's installed, go to System Settings ==> Default Applications. In the left column go to File Manager, and make Dolphin the Default Component. If you don't see it, tick “Other” and find it in the menu search that comes up. Before you press Apply and close, make sure Dolphin is at the top of the list. Click apply and closed. The error is now corrected and you can browse and use the trash can as normal.


Video Card and accelerated graphics (enabling POSIX Shared Memory)

I'm using a mid-to-hi range graphics card. Specifically, a Radeon R9 280X. Eventually, I'll get around to installing an nVidia card on another box. But for now, this is geared toward the ATI Radeon crowd.

While the driver that comes with the stock install works, you really want the Catalyst driver and the Control Center software. It'll keep you from burning up your card, which is an investment (and an R9 280x and its nVidia equivalent ain't cheap). The problem is, before you can install CCC, you'll need to enable POSIX Shared Memory, first. Then you will probably need to install some packages as well. Then finally, you'll be able to install CCC. So here we go.

What you will be working with:

• Krusader (enter into Admin mode)
• Terminal as Root (type < sudo su >, press enter, then type your login passphrase, press enter)

In your terminal, enter: < mount | grep "shm" > and press enter. If POSIX is enabled (and it probably isn't) your output will be something along the lines of: tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw). If you see anything other than this, do the following:

1. In Krusader, browse to /etc and open fstab.conf with Kate by clicking on the file in the Krusader window. You're browsing as Admoin, so it will open the file in Kate as Admin, too.
2. Add the following line to the file at the bottom: < tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 > Make sure to press enter at the end of the line. Otherwise you will get an error when you run grep again. Save the file and close Kate.
3. In the terminal as Root, type < mount /dev/shm> and press enter.
4. Now type < mount | grep "shm" > in the terminal again, and press enter. Your output should be: tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
5. Type < exit > in the terminal, press enter, then close the terminal. Close Krusader, too. Then reboot.
6. To make sure everything is operating properly, open a terminal and type < mount | grep "shm" > again, and press enter. Your output should once again be: tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0, or similar. You can now install CCC for your Radeon and enjoy accelerated graphics.

Now on to installing CCC. Go to this url: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
Enter the details of your OS, and it will take you to the appropriate page you can download your driver.

As of this entry, Ubuntu 14.04 is using a Beta Driver, so that's the one you need. Download it, and follow the directions on this page:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-arti...ler-Notes.aspx

You'll want to go to the “Generate Distribution Specific Driver Package Option” section. Follow the instructions. My OS was detected as Ubuntu, so there was no problem. It did, however, generate an error during install, saying that there were dependency issues. This isn't a problem. Copy/Paste the required info into a text file, and then open your terminal as Root again. Copy each required module into the terminal, and download them. Run the install again by following the directions, and it should install no problem.

The one thing that is lacking is fan control, and the ability to tweak your card. That's just not part of this package. Personally, I don't do a lot of overclocking, so I don't miss that. However, I do recognize the need to control cpu, gpu, and system temps. For that I use an external controller that slides into an empty bay in my case. Linux still doesn't have any software that allows this type of control, so save yourself a lot of time and wonder – it doesn't exist as far as I'm aware. But since cooling is important, breeze by Newegg and check out the following:

NZXT Sentry (touch screen) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811992005
This will allow you to adjust your fan speed while also telling you the component's temperature.

Or

NZXT Fan Controller http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811992012
This one doesn't have a touch screen. Its just a simple slider that controls fan speed. No worries, though. There are plenty of fan speed and system temp monitor apps for Ubuntu and KDE. Just install those, and adjust your speeds as needed.


Cryptography – gpg.conf; Kleopatra

I don't like the idea of someone hacking my mail, or intercepting my messages that show my personal correspondences to family and friends or worse, pictures of my children. So I'm a fan of GPG. However, when I installed Kubuntu I discovered two things that needed some work: GPG and Kleopatra.

Sometimes, GPG just doesn't want to act right, no matter how many times you yank it out and then put it back in. Instead, you get the following:


gpg: WARNING: unsafe enclosing directory permissions on configuration file '/home/{your username}/.gnupg/gpg.conf'


I've discovered, through a little experimentation and examination of the files and some quick internet searching a quick, easy, and correct fix.

What you will be working with:

• Terminal as Root (type < sudo su >, press enter, then type your login passphrase, press enter)

In the terminal as Root, copy and past each line. Note that you should use your username, in place of un in lines 1 through 3. For example, if your username is stankfoot, then it would like the following:

/home/stankfoot/.gnupg
stankfoot:stankfoot /home/stankfoot/.gnupg

and so on...

1. < chmod 700 /home/un/.gnupg >
2. < chown -R un:un /home/un/.gnupg >
3. < cd /home/un/.gnupg >
4. < chmod 600 * >
5. < exit >

You're done, problem solved!


Next is Kleopatra. This is a very nice and all-to-often vilified program. It generates keys and certificates, and can do a host of other things; consult its user manual, which reads like badly written television remote instructions, for details. Anyway, during its self-test at startup, Kleopatra has a problem with GPG-agent. Specifically, it says it can't find or communicate with it, and therefore this part of the self-test fails. In turn, a lot of the functionality of Kleopatra is crippled. Here's how to fix it.

What you will be working with:

• Krusader (enter into Admin mode)
• Terminal as Root (type < sudo su >, press enter, then type your login passphrase, press enter)

In the terminal as Root, type:

1. < chmod a+x /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent >
2. < exit >
3. Close terminal

In Krusader as Admin:

1. Navigate to the directory /home/un/.gnupg > Note that this is a hidden directory, so you will need to open “View” in Krusader and tick Show Hidden Files” to see it.
2. In /home/un/.gnupg, open gpg.conf by clicking on it. As before, you are browsing as root so it will open the editor as root as well. If you don't have this file it's safe to make it, which you can do in the Krusader browser.
3. At the bottom of gpg.conf, put the following line: < use-agent >. Make sure you press enter at the end so there is an empy line below it.
4. Save gpg.conf, and close the editor.
5. Close Krusader and reboot.

Kleopatra is now fixed. To make sure, open Kleopatra and run the self-test, which is found under “Settings”. As you will see, everything is green on the screen. Note that another individual also arrived at the same conclusion. I think his name is Bashar. So, hats off to Bashar, whoever and wherever you are!


Archiving – 7zip with a gui, two ways to do it.

File compression is vital. And because most folk want to squash the be-jeezus out of a file with a gui instead of using the command line, so is a gui. Unfortunately, 7zip, which is probably the best archiver out there, doesn't have a gui for Linux. Well, not technically. Turns out, all you have to do use 7zip with a gui is by right-clicking an object in your file browser. When you do that, you have the option to extract an archive, or to compress a file or folder. When you compress a folder, the gui showing all of 7zip's capabilities show up.

A word about 7zip, or p7zip for UNIX/Linux users. First, you'll have to get it from the command line (you can also use synaptic) since it has dependencies. And second, it comes in two flavors:

p7zip
p7zip-full

p7zip uses a less powerful version of compressing archives; it only provides 7zr and the relevant documentation (see the official 7zip website for details).

p7zip-full provides 7z (with 7z.so), 7za, 7zCon.sfx, and the relevant documentation.

So unless backing up your data or file transfers are not something you do very often, p7zip full is the way to go. Here's how to get it.

What you will be working with:

• Terminal as Root (type < sudo su >, press enter, then type your login passphrase, press enter)

In your terminal as Root, type:

1. < sudo apt-get install p7zip-full > and press enter.
2. You'll probably want to work with RAR files, too. It's installed with p7zip-full.
3. < exit > and close terminal.

You now have 7zip with RAR capabilities installed.

The other way to get 7zip is through synaptic, which Kubuntu calls the Muon Package Manager. Personally, I think this is better than using the command line. So with the next post (I dunno when that will be, hopefully soon), I'll start referring to that when possible.

And finally, you can always install the Windows 7zip msi through WINE, and use it that way. WINE used to be a beast to mess with, but it seems it has come quite a long way. Its relatively ease to use now, and several gui frontends are available. Plus, there's a lot of really good info out on the web cocnerning how to install and set it up. So no need to detail it here.

That's it for this time. Enjoy!

[CJ_Hudson]

Sorry I am trying to install the 14.6 driver in my installation of Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit but got hopelessly lost.
I downloaded it from the AMD website but can't find the directory to follow and run the installation instructions?
Also, I didn't purge the previous driver yet.
I am returning to Ubuntu after a long pause and some of the terminal commands look a bit scary.
I currently have the 13.05 Catalyst version installed.

EDIT: Awesome, I got the Beta driver to install and didn't go anywhere near Xorg. I just followed the instructions on AMD's website carefully here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-arti...s.aspx#Install
... and despite the missing Xorg it still worked!

[linuxrev2]

KIOExec error: malformed URL trash:/

I love the Krusader file manager. So much so that I set it as the default. When i did, I could no longer use my trash can. This seems to be a big problem in 14.04 Ubuntu and especially older versions. Its not really a bug issue as much as it is a dependency issue. Trash depends on the base file manager, Dolphin. If you removed Dolphin or, for some wierd reason it is not installed, then go get it through Software Center or Synaptic (Kubuntu calls this Muon Discover Center and Muon Package Manager, respectively). Once it's installed, go to System Settings ==> Default Applications. In the left column go to File Manager, and make Dolphin the Default Component. If you don't see it, tick “Other” and find it in the menu search that comes up. Before you press Apply and close, make sure Dolphin is at the top of the list. Click apply and closed. The error is now corrected and you can browse and use the trash can as normal.

All you say is correct and I share your love. Without Dolphin as the default file manager the Trash widget in the KDE desktop panel will not show the Trash folder's contents. If you want to access your wastebin from the widget, you will need to default to Dolphin.

However, there is another option. In Krusader you can add a 'Wastebin' icon to the toolbar. Rightclick the toolbar, select 'Configure Toolbars' and add the icon. Clicking the icon will offer two options: 'Open wastebin' and 'Empty wastebin'. (The 'Empty wastebin' option is also available from the Tools menu.) Now, if you set Krusader as the default file manager, you can access the Trash folder and empty it using the icon on the Krusader toolbar. From the wastebin widget on the KDE desktop panel you cannot access the Trash folder, but you can still empty it.

This does not really solve the problem of the 'malformed url trash:/', but it works as a workable workaround, so to say. One glitch is, that if you empty Trash from Krusader, the desktop widget still thinks it needs emptying. Well...

(I'm on LinuxMint 13/Ubuntu 12.04LTS and KDE 4.8, with Krusader 2.4.0-beta1.)