User:Skierpage: Difference between revisions

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:''In 2018 when logging in with Phabricator it somehow created a new username for me. I'm the same as [[User:Skierpage3]].''
I've followed the project for a while, running KDE-Windows under Windows XP (it's amazing that it works at all, that it works pretty well is astounding!)
I've followed the project for a while, running KDE-Windows under Windows XP (it's amazing that it works at all, that it works pretty well is astounding!)


April 2009 I went and installed Kubuntu on a spare partition.  Lots of struggle.
== Wiki woes ==
 
Early notes at
 
Notes on Amarok at
 
== Setup ==
I've maintained a dual-boot environment, so I mount my C: drive:
/dev/sda1 on /media/WindowsCdrive type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
 
== Notes on Kubuntu installation ==
 
=== Boot from CD ===
* Should be a warning that test disk will require a reboot
 
=== Install from CD ===
* The Kubuntu logo screen should say what it's doing.
*: "Now loading enough of the Kubuntu operating system and programs to provide you a graphic installer. (Nothing is yet being installed on your disks"
* Install progress bar got about 70% of the way then got some screen flickers and then over 30 seconds with a blank gray screen.
 
=== In the installer ===
* The installer should remind me what the hell it is (AMD64 & Intel EM64T).  That would help me in Ubuntu installation guide https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/ to choose the right "architecture of your computer"
 
==== Release Notes and web ====
Running Konqueror to read the release notes is amazing!
 
* Clicking Release Notes takes me to http://www.kubuntu.org/news.  But this has ''nothing'' about 9.04 release notes!!  It has a news item on 9.04, but that's it.
 
* The news item ends with
*:  What's New?
  Kubuntu 9.04 includes an upgraded desktop containing many bug fixes, new configuration options, as well as many new and updated applications. Below are some highlights.
  ''some white space''
  Kubuntu Jaunty KDE 3 Remix Release Candidate
There's no indication that the item is truncated or that there's more info if I click the heading.
 
* In https://wiki.kubuntu.org/  , the [Titles] and [Text] buttons at the top right for search look funny, with rounded buttons over rectangles with lines.  And if the tip of the cursor is on the button text, the button doesn't highlight and is inactive; the button only highlights if the cursor tip is in the top 1/3 of the button,
 
==== Back to installer ====
* The full-screen "Where are you" is impressive.  But when I click in the San Francisco Bay Area, it keeps selecting the timezone to the right of it!  It seems to be picking the nearest city it knows about (Boise), rather than selecting that timezone.  Quite confusing.  If you're going to keep this approach, it should highlight the nearest cities as you hover, or always select the nearest city ''in the same timezone''.  I can only select my timezone if I click far away near Vancouver or Los Angeles!!
 
* I chose my Keyboard Layout and clicked [Forward].  A small dialog about filesystems briefly flashed and [Back] and [Forward] disabled.  Then nothing.  My cursor is not spinning, and the page 3 is active, I can type into the test typing box.  What happened??!  After more than 50 seconds of this no feedback, it advanced to Step 4.
 
* In Step 4 I chose partition manually.  A small Scanning partitions window appeared for several seconds (didn't it already display this earlier?)  That box had a (?) symbol on it with a "Help" tooltip, but it is '''completely useless''', in this dialog and the next "Edit Partition" there's no
 
==== Partitioning ====
I want to keep my first partition for Windows.  I had already set aside a 27GB D: partition for Ubuntu.  Automatic partitioning wanted to use the entire disk for Ubuntu!
* there needs to be an intermediate "guided partitioning"
So I chose manual partitioning, but that dumps me into choosing file systems and stuff.  I read up about home and swap and dual-booting before going into the installer, but I really need help here.  Like the _Release Notes_ link at the start of install, there should be a link to a some help here.
 
I clicked my second partition and the 'Edit Partition' dialog popped up (with another useless (?) help cursor button).  I chose "Use as ext4", Format the partition check, Mount point /
* "Use as" is the wrong label, it doesn't match the table column "Type" on the main page; the label should be something like "File system type"
* Having a separate checkmark for format doesn't make sense if I choose a different file system type.  If it's NTFS and I set it to ext4, surely the partition needs to be formatted sooner or later.
* I would expect a form item "Use as" to let me choose what is going on the partition, e.g. "Use as main Linux area ('/' or root)", "use as home area (/home directories), etc."  That's a lot friendlier than the label "Mount point"
 
 
* When I clicked [OK] there was a pause and a cursor and then scanning drives appeared, and then the main window showed "Type" ext4.  Had the program formatted the partition yet?  It could be clearer.
 
* I couldn't figure out how to create logical partitions inside my D: partition.  Adjusting the size gave me a scary warning about making immediate changes; are these destructive or not?!
 
* I read https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/amd64/partitioning.html but it didn't make sense in the context of the installer.  E.g. https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installation-guide/amd64/partition-programs.html mentions several partitioning programs, but I'm in a graphical installer, what the heck is it running?
 
Thankfully user "Firefishe" helped me out, I wound up with
/dev/sda divided into...
  /dev/sda1  ntfs  83.8 GB hopefully untouched
  /dev/sda2 ext3 / Format? checked Size 20003 MB Used 495MB
  /dev/sda3 ext4 /home Format? checked Size 7994 MB Used Unknown
  /dev/sda5 swap mount and Format blank, Size 2006 MB Used Unknown
 
=== Step 6 confirmation ===
 
  WARNING: This will destroy all data on any partitions you have removed as
well as on the partitions that are going to be formatted.
 
  The partition tables of the following devices are changed:
  SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda)
 
  The following partitions are going to be formatted:
  partition #3 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext4
  partition #5 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda) as swap
 
Alas, "Migration Assistant:" is blank, it never detected my C: drive full of Windows stuff.
 
 
Scared about the missing sda4, so went back.
 
Clicking [Back] from step 5 briefly displayed a checking disks window, and then nothing for many seconds.
 
Step 4 had forgotten my additional partitioning after the root, I had to repeat it.
 
==== redo ====
The /dev/sda5 was because I let it be logical, not physical.
 
Now,
  /dev/sda1  ntfs  Size 90025 MB (83.8 GB) hopefully untouched
  /dev/sda2 ext3 Mount / Format? checked  Size 20003 MB Used 495 MB
  /dev/sda3 ext4 Mount /home Format? checked  Size 8003 MB Used unknown
  /dev/sda4 swap Mount [blank] Format? [blank] Size 1998 MB Used unknown
 
Step 6 says
<pre>Language: English
Keyboard layout: USA
Name: S Page
Login name: skierpage
Location: America/Los_Angeles
Migration Assistant:
</pre>
 
 
 
If you continue, the changes listed below will be written to the disks.
Otherwise, you will be able to make further changes manually.
 
WARNING: This will destroy all data on any partitions you have removed as
well as on the partitions that are going to be formatted.
 
The partition tables of the following devices are changed:
SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda)
 
The following partitions are going to be formatted:
partition #2 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext3
partition #3 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext4
partition #4 of SCSI4 (0,0,0) (sda) as swap</pre>
 
Then went off!
 
== User Firefishe is awesome!!  ==
Who needs decent doc for this step with him or her around!
 
firefishe @  inbox.com
 
== Kubuntu glitches ==
=== Konqueror ===
* ''kde bug filed'' "The [Icon] History in your SideBar "
*: I can't tell what the icon is in the black background, and the menu calls it Go > Show History in Sidebar (not 'Side'''B'''ar).
 
* I ran into Bug 189761: Middle-clicking does not work in Konqueror if gestures are enabled.
 
=== Kubuntu Help ===
* "Open Add/Remove Programs by going to Application Launcher → System → Package Manager (Add/Remove)."
*# I have to navigate to the Applications tab first before I see "System"
*# No such application, it's "Software management (KPackageKit)"
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kubuntu-docs/+bug/367224 bug 367224] In Kubuntu  System Documentation Index, click "How do I view my Windows partition?", get
*: There is no documentation available for /kubuntu/index/kubuntu/hardware/hardware.html.
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/367219 bug 367219] Tried to search, nothing but a black box (checkmark?) for Unix manual pages, the installer should have built search index.
* Clicking Build Search Index... didn't work, brought up a dialog with another checkmark "Application Manuals    Status Missing"
** Status missing mis-aligned.
* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdebase-runtime/+bug/367215 bug 367215] Clicking build anyway, got error
<tt>(7729)/ main: cmdFile: "/tmp/kde-skierpage/khelpcenterqp4796.tmp" (7729)/ main: indexDir: "/home/skierpage/.kde/share/apps/khelpcenter/index/" (7729)/ main: can access (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::IndexBuilder: IndexBuilder() (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::buildIndices: Opened file ' "/tmp/kde-skierpage/khelpcenterqp4796.tmp" ' (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::buildIndices: LINE: "/usr/lib/kde4/libexec/khc_docbookdig.pl --indexdir=/home/skierpage/.kde/share/apps/khelpcenter/index/ --docpath=khelpcenter:kde_application_manuals --identifier=kde_application_manuals" (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::processCmdQueue: IndexBuilder::processCmdQueue() (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::processCmdQueue: PROCESS: "/usr/lib/kde4/libexec/khc_docbookdig.pl --indexdir=/home/skierpage/.kde/share/apps/khelpcenter/index/ --docpath=khelpcenter:kde_application_manuals --identifier=kde_application_manuals"
 
INDEXDIR: /home/skierpage/.kde/share/apps/khelpcenter/index/
 
FINDCMD: find /usr/share/doc/kde/HTML/en/ -name index.docbook
Creating index for 'kde_application_manuals'
 
htdig failed
 
(7729)/: running ("/usr/lib/kde4/libexec/khc_docbookdig.pl", "--indexdir=/home/skierpage/.kde/share/apps/khelpcenter/index/", "--docpath=khelpcenter:kde_application_manuals", "--identifier=kde_application_manuals") failed with exitCode 255 (7729)/: stdout output: "" (7729)/: stderr output: "" (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::sendProgressSignal: IndexBuilder::sendProgressSignal()
 
(7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::processCmdQueue: IndexBuilder::processCmdQueue() (7729)/ KHC::IndexBuilder::quit: IndexBuilder::quit()</tt>
 
I think because /usr/bin/htdig does not exist.
 
=== KPackageKit ===
* Didn't know about Firefox, unlike what the Kubuntu help said
* Clicking its bottom-left [Help] button popped up Help Center which alerted
*: Kioslaves > mbox "The file or folder help:/ does not exist"
 
==== InstallingSoftware out-of-date ====
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware says "Kubuntu's new and easy method of installing packages is to use the 'Add/Remove Programs' tool." with a screenshot of "adept"
 
Not there any more!  adept not around.
 
=== Flash install ===
Went to flash page, http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ , Konq popped up dialog asking if it should install plugin.  Installed a lot of things.  But still didn't work.  dpkg and aptitude and KPackageKit thought I had  flashplugin-installer, flashplugin-nonfree, and konqueror-nsplugins installed, yet no Flash in Konqueror.  I quit and restarted, still none.
 
''Answer!'' After everything auto-installs, you have to do Settings > Configure Konqueror... > Plugins > Plugins tab and click [Scan for Plugins] !
 
=== /usr/bin/package-install ===
I think Konqueror is popping up <tt>/usr/bin/package-install</tt>.
* ? How can I find a log of what this did?  I don't see a history in KPackageKit
* BUG: <tt>kdesudo "/usr/bin/install-package --install NoSUCHFoo"<br/>no such package NoSUCHFoo</tt> , but the dialog says "already installed"
 
=== logout thingy ===
I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Del, got a logout chooser, but I couldn't choose Cancel with mouse or keyboard.  I finally started killing processes at random in a shell.
 
=== MP3 install ===
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats suggests `sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras` to play MP3s.  says 51 newly installed packages/221 MB, seems a lot just to play MP3s in Amarok.
 
''Answer!'' The minimal is `sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg`, only 8MB!
 
=== KHelp Center ===
*Clicking KInfoCenter >IEEE 1394 Devices gives
*:  There is no documentation available for /kinfocenter/view1394/index.html.
and an alert "The file or folder help:/kinfocenter/view1394/index.html does not exist"
 
* Clicking "Browse Info Pages" takes you to DIR:top with nonsensical instructions like "Typing "q" exits, "?" lists all Info commands, "d" returns here,"
 
* help:/khelpcenter/userguide/kicker-configuring.html seems out-of-date:
** Says "kicker displays some icons next to the K menu. ", but I just have a starred folder icon.
** Says "To remove an icon, right mouse button-click on the icon, and select Remove application name Button " but the starred folder icon's right-click menu has "Remove this Quick Access"
** Says "To add a new icon, right mouse button-click on an empty space on the panel, and follow the menu entry Add Application to Panel ." but ther's no empty space, I couldn't do it.  Even when there is empty space, there's no such menu item.
* help:/khelpcenter/userguide/kicker-related-information.html says "there is a lot more information on Kicker ... simply entering help:/kicker"  But this doesn't work, no such document.
 
=== Jockey hardware drivers window  crash ===
[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/367265 367265]


=== ubuntu.com ===
2011-11-14: I'm frustrated as heck trying to get information about KDE, but I am going to do something about the wiki part of it instead of (OK, as well as ☺) ) just bitching. Most of the work is taking place on [http://techbase.kde.org/wiki/User:Skierpage my techbase page], but some of it applies here, like bugs in the Chihuahua skin and the philosophical why have two overlapping wikis.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Video says
: You can back it up:
  cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
doesn't work unless you prepend <tt>sudo</tt>


=== Font trouble ===
=== userbase interwiki issues ===
Click System Settings > Font Installer
[[mediawikiwiki:Manual:Interwiki|interwiki prefixes]] let you link between wikis. (That first link is an example of one, <tt><nowiki>[[mediawikiwiki:</nowiki>''Some link''</tt> generates an external link to an article on mediawiki.or. But the [http://userbase.kde.org/api.php?action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=interwikimap interwiki prefixes on userbase] have some problems:
right-click "AR PL UMing TW MBE", choose Open in Font Viewer", get alert
  Could not read font.
also for other fonts like "AR PL UMing HK[1]


=== Tried Running KPackageKit ===
* It should be easy to link from one wiki to another, using [techbase:Getting Started], but it isn't set up.


No Firefox in it, despite what KHelpCenter says.
* There is a bug prefix, e.g. [[bug:1234|1234]], but why is it <tt>language="ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ"</tt> so that it only works for that language?!
* Why is there an empty bugs prefix, e.g.[[bugs:1234|1234]] ?
* techbase and userbase have different interwiki maps, e.g. techbase has no wikipedia prefix, but userbase does e.g. [[wikipedia:Git]], though userbase does?!


Tried vim.  Very confused by + and minus signs.  The moment I clicked OK the window vanished, no feedback.


Seele's blog post about its update tab has more comments on it, including mine.
=== Better [[Modify a Page]] ===
2011-11-28 The [[Modify a Page#Workflow]] section is inconsistent. See [[/Improved Modify a page]]


=== Missing Help ===
== Kubuntu on my PC ==
I explored why broken help for KInfoCenter > IEEE 1394 shows up in KHelpCenter.
(see /usr/share/kde4/services/kcmview1394.desktop ).  Part of mega launchpad bug about docs, https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/284915


=== Sometimes Help button for KDE Connection Manager ===
=== 2009-2010 desktop ===
But why does e.g kcmshell4 kcmsolidproc have a [Help] button that doesn't work (goes to help:/ which doesn't work), while `kcmshell4 kcm_solid` knows to gray it out?
April 2009 I went and installed Kubuntu 9.04 on a spare partition of my Falcon Northwest 2005-vintage Rolls Royce AMD 3000 desktop.  Lots of struggle, documented in [[/Kubuntu 9.04 setup and problems]].


=== strace woes ===
That PC had a built-in sound card and a fancy Audigy ZS. KDE System Settings > Multimedia and ALSA were always confused about them. The Audigy ZS stuttered and screeched. I figured out how to switch them around, details in [[/Multiple audio devices]]
I tried using strace to debug the KCM mysteries but it kept crashing on me.
  *** glibc detected *** strace: malloc(): memory corruption (fast): 0x0000000002642610 *** 
is another launchpad bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/16762, with possible workaround in bugs.redhat


but sometimes get
I then overwrite the first GB of my hard drive, oops, details on that repair at
  *** glibc detected *** strace: munmap_chunk(): invalid pointer: 0x00000000008107d0
[[/Disk recovery]];
the Windows part of it is at
[[/Windows reinstall]].


== Thunderbird switch ==
=== 2011 new desktop ===
I want to run Thunderbird 3 beta 2 on Windows XP.
Upgrading Kubuntu to 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 11.04 all went fine on my aging desktop, steady improvements though [http://www.skierpage.com/blog/2011/04/computers-one-billion-bytes-of-ram-isnt-enough/ 1 GB is no longer enough].
One day its graphics displayed wonky and the next the power supply sparked and smoked.  I inserted my hard drive into another AMD+ATI PC, an HP Pavilion a1012x.  When I tell it to boot off the second drive it boots right up into Kubuntu and everything works fine!


* Download the Linux version from http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/early_releases/downloads/
... Except the new PC has two CD drives and disks don't automount or offer to play, see [[/CD drive woes]]
* Read http://tuxicity.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/install-native-mozilla-thunderbird-20-beta-2-on-ubuntu/ for different advice on where to put it.
* Use ark to unpack it to ~/programs
* In theory, <tt>ln -s /media/WindowsCdrive/Documents\ and\ Settings/S\ Page/Application\ Data/Thunderbird/Profiles ~/.thunderbird</tt> should work to pick up my old profile.
* Doesn't.  Each Thunderbird instance uses a different prefix for profiles, so one doesn't find the other.  Hmmmm.


=== Thunderbird 3 start-up errors ===
(thunderbird-bin:32711): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/libqtcurve.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64
GConf Error: Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Could not send message to gconf daemon: The name org.gnome.GConf was notprovided by any .service files)


but it seems to start.
== Subpages of {{FULLPAGENAME}}==
{{Special:PrefixIndex/{{FULLPAGENAME}}/}}

Latest revision as of 23:17, 27 September 2018

In 2018 when logging in with Phabricator it somehow created a new username for me. I'm the same as User:Skierpage3.

I've followed the project for a while, running KDE-Windows under Windows XP (it's amazing that it works at all, that it works pretty well is astounding!)

Wiki woes

2011-11-14: I'm frustrated as heck trying to get information about KDE, but I am going to do something about the wiki part of it instead of (OK, as well as ☺) ) just bitching. Most of the work is taking place on my techbase page, but some of it applies here, like bugs in the Chihuahua skin and the philosophical why have two overlapping wikis.

userbase interwiki issues

interwiki prefixes let you link between wikis. (That first link is an example of one, [[mediawikiwiki:Some link generates an external link to an article on mediawiki.or. But the interwiki prefixes on userbase have some problems:

  • It should be easy to link from one wiki to another, using [techbase:Getting Started], but it isn't set up.
  • There is a bug prefix, e.g., but why is it language="ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ" so that it only works for that language?!
  • Why is there an empty bugs prefix, e.g.1234 ?
  • techbase and userbase have different interwiki maps, e.g. techbase has no wikipedia prefix, but userbase does e.g. wikipedia:Git, though userbase does?!


Better Modify a Page

2011-11-28 The Modify a Page#Workflow section is inconsistent. See /Improved Modify a page

Kubuntu on my PC

2009-2010 desktop

April 2009 I went and installed Kubuntu 9.04 on a spare partition of my Falcon Northwest 2005-vintage Rolls Royce AMD 3000 desktop. Lots of struggle, documented in /Kubuntu 9.04 setup and problems.

That PC had a built-in sound card and a fancy Audigy ZS. KDE System Settings > Multimedia and ALSA were always confused about them. The Audigy ZS stuttered and screeched. I figured out how to switch them around, details in /Multiple audio devices

I then overwrite the first GB of my hard drive, oops, details on that repair at /Disk recovery; the Windows part of it is at /Windows reinstall.

2011 new desktop

Upgrading Kubuntu to 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 11.04 all went fine on my aging desktop, steady improvements though 1 GB is no longer enough. One day its graphics displayed wonky and the next the power supply sparked and smoked. I inserted my hard drive into another AMD+ATI PC, an HP Pavilion a1012x. When I tell it to boot off the second drive it boots right up into Kubuntu and everything works fine!

... Except the new PC has two CD drives and disks don't automount or offer to play, see /CD drive woes


Subpages of User:Skierpage