Half a Page of Scribbled Linux

I tried enabling the fingerprint reader on Ubuntu 10.04. The first step was to check out the directions on the Ubuntu Wiki. The packages were already available through Synaptic (search for thinkfinger and install libpam-thinkfinger, thinkfinger-tools, libthinkfinger-doc and libthinkfinger0). The command line fingerprint test worked fine.
Running sudo /usr/lib/pam-thinkfinger/pam-thinkfinger-enable didn’t allow use of fingerprint reader on login screen.
The man page for pam_thinkfinger(8) had a check for the fingerprint reader device. It wasn’t there. After a sudo modprobe uinput, it was at /dev/uinput. Then the log in screen said password or swipe finger (you still have to select your username first). There’s an outstanding bug that causes you to have to hit enter after swiping your finger.
More stuff on ThinkWiki to check later.

Resuming from hibernation in Ubuntu 10.04 shows a blank screen, then a corrupted video image for a second or two before showing the log in screen.
Changing the video resolution with Startup-Manager from 640×480 and 8 bits to 1024×768 and 24 bits replaced the blank screen with the Ubuntu Plymouth graphic and the message “resuming from “. There’s still the brief corrupted video before the log in screen, but at least there’s not a blank screen for half a minute. BTW, that corrupted video image has been there since Ubuntu 8. The video is an Intel 945GM Chipset.

When booting or resuming a hibernated session in Ubuntu 10.04, my screen is blank with the exception of a couple lines of text:
Boot from (hd0,2)[…]
Starting up...

I was looking to get a graphical screen back that I had in Ubuntu 9.10.

I found some tips at Ubuntu Geek.

For me the relevant stuff was this:
sudo -s
echo FRAMEBUFFER=y >>/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
update-initramfs -u

I had my Thinkpad T60 set up to hibernate at the log in screen when the lid is closed. After updating Ubuntu to 10.04, this didn’t work any more. I’ve gotten used to upgrades resetting this behavior, but this time the steps I’ve used in the past didn’t work.

With a little Googling, I came up with these modified instructions:

• Log out of your X session
• Go to a TTY session with Ctrl+Alt+F1
• Log in
• export DISPLAY=:0
• sudo -u gdm gconf-editor
• Switch to the graphical session with Ctrl+Alt+F8 (note, the graphical session used to be F7, but in Ubuntu 10, it’s now F8. If F8 doesn’t work try F7 or F9.
• Select /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons/lid_battery and change the value to hibernate
• Close gconf-editor
• Switch back to the TTY session and log out
• Go back to the log in session with Ctrl+Alt+F8

Ubuntu has not been adding kernels in /boot/grub/menu.lst since about version 8. Running sudo update-grub hangs. Thinking it must not like my older menu.lst, I did this:

I got this prompt:
Could not find /boot/grub/menu.lst file. Would you like /boot/grub/menu.lst generated for you? (y/N)
I answered yes and it made a version update-grub could live with. All I had to do is go back and add the menu options for my dual boot partitions.

I upgraded Pinto, a Thinkpad T60 from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 SLT. The upgrade went almost without a hitch.

The first issue was on the reboot. I can’t blame this on the upgrade, though. Since at least Ubuntu 8, /boot/grub/menu.lst doesn’t get updated whenever a new kernel is installed. So on reboot, I got the kernel version Ubuntu 9.10 was using. Manually editing menu.lst fixed that.

After a reboot, the first thing I noticed was middle mouse button scrolling didn’t work. Googling “ubuntu 10.04 middle button scroll” turned up a fix.

Every once in a while, a photograph will fail to upload to Gallery. In the past, I would edit them in Gimp and resend them and that fixed the problem, but I never figured out what was happening. This morning, suddenly about half a batch of photos failed. I was using Gallery Remote, so I tried the web upload and that failed, too. Nothing worked until I read a note on the upload screen that there’s a 7 MB file size limit. Doh!
A fix for that is outlined in the Gallery FAQ. I’m on DreamHost, so I followed those instructions. Unfortunately the server with the easy script was 503 (temporarily unavailable), so I had to use the manual directions. I also had to switch to PHP 5 FastCGI.
Changes can be check by browsing http://www.example.com/gallery/lib/support/index.php for the site.

The DVD burner on Boon has been producing discs with errors on them. I’ve got lots of photos to transfer off the computer, but don’t trust Boon’s burner. Here’s how to get the photos on a DVD burned from another computer, in this case Mothball.

• Create a directory to-dvd separate from where the photos are stored.
• Move directories from the Photos directory to to-dvd. Keep adding until the size is almost 4.4 GB. Use du -hs to-dvd to check the size.
• Make a cover for the DVD slim case using cdlabelgen:
  • Select a photo for the DVD cover.  Convert it to EPS with this ImageMagick command:  convert img_1234.jpg cover.eps. Note the photo will be scaled to an aspect ratio of 1:1, so you might want to crop it first.
  • Make a list of the contents of of the disc.  It’s a text file called items.txt with each line looking like this:

  {#M}2009 Aug. 29  Summer Vacation

  • Make a postscript image of the cover with this command:

  cdlabelgen --category "My Photos" --subcategory "Feb. - Aug. 2009" --cover-image cover.eps --cover-image-scaleratio 0 --slim-case --no-date --items-from-file items.txt --output-file photos-label.ps

  • Check the label with GhostScript: gs photos-label.ps, then print it (this is for 3 copies): lp -d HP8450 -o sides=one-sided -n 3 photos-label.ps
  • Put the label file in the to-dvd directory so if you want to copy the disc later, you’ll have the label too.
• Start k3b and select New Data DVD Project.
• Drag the contents of to-dvd to the file list on the lower right of the k3b window.
• Choose “Project/Burn” from the menu.
  • Under the Writing tab, select “only create image”.
  • Check the file name on the Image tab to make sure its where you want it. K3b also tells you if there’s enough space for your ISO.
  • On the Filesystem tab, make sure File System is set to “Linux/Unix + Windows”.
  • On the Multisession tab, select “No multisession”. (Does this matter with an ISO?)
• Press Start to create the ISO.
• sftp the ISO from Boon to Mothball:
  sftp mothball
  ftp>put Photos.iso [this takes about 15 minutes on my 100 Mbit/sec LAN.]
  ftp>exit

Of course, if you don’t have an ailing DVD burner, you can just burn the disc from k3b and be done with it.  In that case, don’t check “only create image” before you burn the disc and you’re done.

On Mothball:

• Start k3b
• Choose “Tools/Burn DVD ISO Image…” from the menu
• Choose your ISO file
• Under settings, you might want to enable “verify written data”

Or you can burn the ISO from the command line: growisofs -Z /dev/dvdrw=photos.iso
Remember to make a few copies and give them to the people in your photos and your family. The best back-up solution is one that stores your data in geographically disparate locations.

• Run Kino <.dv file>
• On the export tab:
  • Enter a file name
  • File Format: 8- DVD
  • Deinterlace: None
  • Leave Aspect ratio on Autodetect
• Press Export
• Create the DVD with DVD Styler and burn an ISO
• Burn the DVD with K3B (menu Tools/Burn DVD ISO Image)

The log in screen in Ubuntu 9.10 no longer has keyboard shortcuts to suspend and hibernate. I was unable to find out how to make them work, but I did find a suitable workaround. GDM does support hibernating on lid close:

• Log out of your X session
• Go to a TTY session with Ctrl+Alt+F1
• log in
• export DISPLAY=:0
• sudo -u gdm gnome-control-center
• Select Power Management
• Select the On Battery Power tab
• Change When laptop lid is closed to Hibernate

The UI geek in me likes this because it takes fewer actions to close down the computer: Just log out and close the lid, which I’d do anyway. The only downside is there is no indication to the user that this is what will happen. In any event, the mouse can still be used to press the power icon on the GDM screen.