Why the Linux “at” command may be returning weird errors like “syntax error. Last token seen: -” and/or “Garbled time”

One of the “fun” things about Linux is that the same command may work differently in different versions of Linux. For example, if you are in a Docker container that uses Alpine Linux, it may not interpret commands in the same way as a system running Ubuntu or Debian or Fedora or some other Linux …

Continue reading Why the Linux “at” command may be returning weird errors like “syntax error. Last token seen: -” and/or “Garbled time”

Comment on WindTerm: A possible cross-platform alternative to the iTerm2 terminal emulator by Brie 🦄 🐈‍⬛

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Comment on How to install the signal-cli Signal messaging client on a Ubuntu or Debian server so you can send system notifications via Signal by j

<!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Im having some issues Running the .service file or configuring it maybe <br><br>running xfce DebianGNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 64bit<br><br>I made a new user and gave sudo permissions But realized that i still wasn't able to run comands that start with / <br>I've been running sudo root to fix this from the user <br><br>I wasn't able to run CD command from user either and this fixed it as well <br><br><br>from what i understand then i still am logged into my user but running terminal with root permissions is how im understanding it ? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>sorry i am noob please correct me if im wrong </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>i ran journalctl to figure out what is going on </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> root@server:/home/myuser# journalctl -xe<br>░░ Defined-By: systemd<br>░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support<br>░░<br>░░ A start job for unit signal-cli.service has finished with a failure.<br>░░<br>░░ The job identifier is 13340 and the job result is failed.<br>Dec 11 19:52:28 server sshd[12139]: Failed password for root from 000.000.000.00 port xxxxx ssh2<br>Dec 11 19:52:28 server systemd[1]: signal-cli.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 28.<br>░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled<br>░░ Defined-By: systemd<br>░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support<br>░░<br>░░ Automatic restarting of the unit signal-cli.service has been scheduled, as the result for<br>░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.<br>Dec 11 19:52:28 server systemd[1]: Stopped signal-cli.service - Signal Requires=dbus.socket.<br>░░ Subject: A stop job for unit signal-cli.service has finished<br>░░ Defined-By: systemd<br>░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support<br>░░<br>░░ A stop job for unit signal-cli.service has finished.<br>░░<br>░░ The job identifier is 13412 and the job result is done.<br>Dec 11 19:52:28 server systemd[1]: Starting signal-cli.service - Signal Requires=dbus.socket...<br>░░ Subject: A start job for unit signal-cli.service has begun execution<br>░░ Defined-By: systemd<br>░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support<br>░░<br>░░ A start job for unit signal-cli.service has begun execution.<br>░░<br>░░ The job identifier is 13412.<br>Dec 11 19:52:30 user sshd[12139]: Connection closed by authenticating user root 000.000.000.00 port xxxxx [preau><br>lines 2355-2385/2385 (END)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Please help me I'm stumped trying to figure out why i can't get the service to run properly </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Comment on You CAN have a screensaver in Gnome running Wayland (such as in Ubuntu) — maybe! by OrbitalMartian

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Comment on You CAN have a screensaver in Gnome running Wayland (such as in Ubuntu) — maybe! by Krishna Draws✏️

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You CAN have a screensaver in Gnome running Wayland (such as in Ubuntu) — maybe!

If you have switched to Linux from another operating system, you may have found that some of the things you thought would be hard turned out to be easy, and sometimes it’s the other way around – the things you expected would be easy turned out to be much more difficult than you’d imagined. And …

Continue reading You CAN have a screensaver in Gnome running Wayland (such as in Ubuntu) — maybe!

Comment on How to install Kodi media player to Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat) Desktop by Dale

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thanks a lot. Finally an artiicle that acknowledges an issue with Kodi and audio passthrough on Linux......and even provides a working solution too. I've been messing around with this for ages.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Comment on How to use an Obihai/Polycom 200 series VoIP device as a gateway between Google Voice and FreePBX by twosortoftechguys

In reply to <a href="https://twosortoftechguys.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/how-to-use-an-obihai-200-series-voip-device-as-a-gateway-between-google-voice-and-freepbx/comment-page-1/#comment-4531">audioresearch</a>. As it turns out, the security certificates thing may be somewhat of a red herring. That was a problem once, several years ago, and it was corrected. When HP bails out and takes down the Obitalk server, your phone will continue to work with Google Voice until the day Google decides it won't allow that anymore, and hopefully they will give plenty of notice if/when that happens. So for all practical purposes, nothing is going away except the ability to add a new Google Voice account, or to restore your existing accounts if you have a hardware issue (for example, something that requires a factory reset to your OBi200). In the past if that happened, after you did the factory reset your Obihai device could pick up its configuration from the Obitalk server and continue on as if nothing had happened, but that will no longer be the case. FreePBX can be used as a middleman, and is indeed free, at least for now. If you are going to go that route I suggest you take a look at the thread "<a href="https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30661088-PBX-FreePBX-for-the-Raspberry-Pi" rel="nofollow ugc">FreePBX for the Raspberry Pi</a> and read the first post carefully, you should find it quite interesting. Also, in theory it is still possible to configure an Obi200 series OR certain other series devices, or even certain models of Obihai/Polycom phones, to use Google Voice by installing third party firmware (in which case you would not need a "middleman"), see <a href="https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31792784-Obihai-OBi20x-30x-OBi1000-OBi50x-OBi2000-firmware-mods" rel="nofollow ugc">Obihai OBi20x/30x + OBi1000 + OBi50x + OBi2000 firmware mods</a> and <a href="https://www.obifirmware.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Crowdsourced updates for Obihai ATAs and IP Phones</a>. But as long as your OBi200 continues to work we would just leave it alone, and only resort to using one of those methods if and when you actually need to do so (again, because you were forced to factory reset your device, or replace your device). Note there is no guarantee that Google Voice itself will continue to function, and nearly every day you can find reports that Google summarily closed someone's account, or that they lost their Google Voice number due to inactivity or because some scammer tricked them and caused them to lose access to their account. Send a text message with the wrong words in it, or send too many in a period of time and your account might be closed. And don't ask for help on a certain very popular online forum because the self-styled "Google Voice Product Expert" will give you about the most unhelpful answer possible and then lock the thread so no one else can help you. If your account is closed or you lose your Google Voice number, none of the alternative methods will get your Google Voice account back. And while you can try to obtain a new account and a new number, Google is making that increasingly difficult as well. So if you want to use a different VoIP service provider with your Obihai device you can do so, and you can configure that yourself using the device's web interface (as long as you know your admin password), but of course that will not be free. The larger VoIP providers will probably have configuration instructions available, just don't fall into the trap of allowing anyone to automatically provision your device for you because they then might lock it to their service and you would be unable to use it with anyone else's service. Get the instructions from the provider, and set up your Obihai's configuration yourself. Finally, keep in mind that as long as your Google Voice account remains active, you can always forward incoming calls on your Google Voice number to any USA phone number, and that can definitely include your cell phone. If your entire reason for having an Obihai device was so you can use a traditional landline phone, you might want to think about using a device such as a <a href="https://www.cell2jack.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Cell2Jack</a> or a <a href="https://www.myxlink.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">XLink Cellular Gateway Device</a> as a substitute. Such devices make a Bluetooth connection to your cell phone(s) and let you use your cell service with your traditional phone(s), plus in an emergency 911 calls will actually go through. The downside is that it only works if a cell phone is physically close to the device. But if you can live with that restriction, it might be a more cost effective solution than setting up something like FreePBX (which still requires hardware to run it on), and setting up such a device is significantly easier than learning how to use a piece of software or trying to install new firmware. We are not trying to discourage you from setting up FreePBX and/or using custom third-p;arty firmware if you want that challenge, just offering another option in case your technical skills are a bit limited.

How to stop Ubuntu Linux from switching to showing just your desktop wallpaper while scrolling with your mouse wheel

We realize the headline may seem a bit confusing, but this is mostly going to affect normal desktop computer users that switch to Ubuntu from another operating system, such as MacOS or Windows, and in particular those who have placed their dock at the bottom of the screen. The symptom is that you are using …

Continue reading How to stop Ubuntu Linux from switching to showing just your desktop wallpaper while scrolling with your mouse wheel

How to install Kodi media player to Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat) Desktop

We had earlier attempted to to install the Kodi media player software to a system running Ubuntu 24.04 desktop, as we have done with several previous versions of Kodi and Ubuntu, but things did not go well, so we recommended that you install Kodi media player to Debian 12 (Bookworm) Desktop instead. For many users …

Continue reading How to install Kodi media player to Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat) Desktop

Comment on How to use an Obihai/Polycom 200 series VoIP device as a gateway between Google Voice and FreePBX by audioresearch

In reply to <a href="https://twosortoftechguys.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/how-to-use-an-obihai-200-series-voip-device-as-a-gateway-between-google-voice-and-freepbx/comment-page-1/#comment-4420">Eric Msaky</a>. <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Please help me to understand what is going on here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is my understanding that the consumer GV I've been using for years with my GV phone number handles interfacing my OBI200 to the telephone system so I can dial out and receive phone calls.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And, my OBI200 interfaces my analog phone to GV forming the complete chain.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So, when and if my currently working OBI200 and analog phone stop working because HP/Polycom/Obihai is bailing out, I am told that I will need to bring in a new middleman ITSP for my analog phone to keep working with GV through my OBI200.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>My question is what functions that are necessary for my phone to work will be going away that are now be provided by HP that a new middleman will be needed to do instead. Please answer this in generalities so I get an understanding of what functions I have to replace when HP support becomes needed but is no longer being provided.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What might be going on with security certificates? Who issues them, is it HP? Who requires them to be present, is that GV? Can I get GV or someone else such as FreePBX to issue them if HP disappears?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Can I use FreePBX as that middleman? Is it, as its name implies, free?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

How to install the signal-cli Signal messaging client on a Ubuntu or Debian server so you can send system notifications via Signal

Signal is a messaging service that is an alternative to Apple’s Messages program, or in some cases to sending SMS messages. The big advantage of Signal is that it is, at least at the time of writing this article, focused on privacy and end-to-end encryption, AND it is cross-platform. It can be used on iOS, …

Continue reading How to install the signal-cli Signal messaging client on a Ubuntu or Debian server so you can send system notifications via Signal

WindTerm: A possible cross-platform alternative to the iTerm2 terminal emulator

We’ve been Mac users for many years but let’s face it, Apple is starting to lose some of its shine. Sure, MacOS is better than Windows, but with each new version of MacOS it seems like more features that used to work just don’t anymore. But this article is not about MacOS and its shortcomings. …

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How to force Timeshift to schedule backups at a specific time of day

When you use Linux, it is often suggested that you make frequent backups of your system. Most users that follow this advice like to automate the task, and for reasons we will leave to others to explain, one suggested strategy is to use Back In Time to back up your home directory, and Timeshift to …

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The easy way to send a notification email when apt updates are available on a Debian or Ubuntu based system, if you don’t have an email server install...

First a warning: If you are a security professional you will probably hate this method, because it stores the email password in plain text. Therefore we strongly advise that you create a brand new email account on a server that accepts SMTP connections, and use that account ONLY for notifications of this type, and NEVER …

Continue reading The easy way to send a notification email when apt updates are available on a Debian or Ubuntu based system, if you don’t have an email server installed

How to install Kodi media player to Debian 12 (Bookworm) Desktop

We recently attempted to install the Kodi media player software to a system running Ubuntu 24.04 desktop, as we have done with several previous versions of Kodi and Ubuntu, but initially things did not go well (we had more success on a later attempt, so we show how to do that in How to install …

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Do you experience unexplained crashes or freeze-ups on your Ubuntu (or other) Linux based home theater PC or gaming system? Here is a possible fix!

After installing Ubuntu 22.04, Kodi on a home theater PC would frequently freeze. This issue, applicable to various Linux distros, can be resolved by increasing the vm.max_map_count value in sysctl.conf. This setting controls the maximum number of memory map areas a process may have, crucial for applications like Kodi that use numerous memory-mapped files.