Category Archives: Linux

GRUB problems

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

i have just acquired a new laptop.

Naturally the first thing i did was to resize the Windows partition and install Linux Mint. That all went very smoothly and when finished, I rebooted.

That’s when the problems started.

Rebooting just brought me back into Windows. There was no sign of the normal GRUB menu. However, by using the function keys boot diagnostics (in my case pressing F9 during bootup) I was able to boot into Linux. So both OSs were working but I could only boot into Windows.

I eventually found a solution the would explicitly install GRUB. I followed the procedure and it worked.

in case the linked site above disappears for any reason, the commands are as follows –

Firstly, you need to boot into your Linux system. If your current bootloader is broken, you might have to use a live CD or USB of your Linux distribution.

Once you have booted into Linux, open a terminal window to execute the necessary commands.

Before installing GRUB, you need to identify the disk where you want to install it. To list the disks and partitions, use the command:

lsblk

or

sudo fdisk -l

In my case, the above told me the correct partition is at /dev/nvme0n1p1.

Install GRUB to the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the desired disk using:

sudo grub-install /"target"

where “target” is the result of the previous command. In my case the command was sudo grub-install /dev/nvme0n1p1

After installing GRUB, you need to generate the GRUB configuration file. Use the command:

sudo update-grub

Alternatively, you can use:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

That’s it! GRUB is now installed.

Reboot.

Tab bar broken again in Firefox 133

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

Firefox has updated and once again the Tab Bar is on top!

Why they keep doing this is beyond me. It is damned irritating.

The fix is detailed HERE.

In case that link disappears the technique and code are as follows.

Locate your userChrome.css

  • First, you need to enable the userChrome.css file. If you’ve done this before, you’re probably already muttering, “Here we go again…”
  • Click ‘Help’ > ‘More troubleshooting information’ > Profile folder – ‘Open folder’
  • Navigate to your Firefox profile folder.
  • Inside, create a folder named chrome if it doesn’t exist.

Add the Magic Code

  • Inside the chrome folder, create a file named userChrome.css. (Feel free to mumble, “Thanks for the extra work, Mozilla.”)
  • Paste the following code into your userChrome.css file:
  • SAVE and exit Firefox.
  • Restart Firefox

Celebrate Victory

The Code:

/*Additions by Codehaven - Mike to change specific sizes*/

/* Source file https://github.com/MrOtherGuy/firefox-csshacks/tree/master/chrome/tabs_on_bottom_v2.css made available under Mozilla Public License v. 2.0
See the above repository for updates as well as full license text. */

/* This reorders toolbar to place tabs below other toolbars. Requires Firefox 133+ */

@media (-moz-bool-pref: "userchrome.force-window-controls-on-left.enabled"){
  #nav-bar > .titlebar-buttonbox-container{
    order: -1 !important;
    > .titlebar-buttonbox{
      flex-direction: row-reverse;
    }
  }
}
@media not (-moz-bool-pref: "sidebar.verticalTabs"){
  .global-notificationbox,
  #tab-notification-deck,
  #TabsToolbar{
    order: 1;
  }
  #TabsToolbar > :is(.titlebar-spacer,.titlebar-buttonbox-container){
    display: none;
  }
  :root[sizemode="fullscreen"] #nav-bar > .titlebar-buttonbox-container{
    display: flex !important;
  }
  :root[tabsintitlebar] #toolbar-menubar:not([autohide="false"]) ~ #nav-bar{
    > .titlebar-buttonbox-container{
      display: flex !important;
    }
    :root[sizemode="normal"] & {
      > .titlebar-spacer{
        display: flex !important;
      }
    }
    :root[sizemode="maximized"] & {
      > .titlebar-spacer[type="post-tabs"]{
        display: flex !important;
      }
      @media (-moz-bool-pref: "userchrome.force-window-controls-on-left.enabled"),
        (-moz-gtk-csd-reversed-placement),
        (-moz-platform: macos){
        > .titlebar-spacer[type="post-tabs"]{
          display: none !important;
        }
        > .titlebar-spacer[type="pre-tabs"]{
          display: flex !important;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

/* Adjust the height of the Tabs Toolbar */
#TabsToolbar {
    height: 32px !important; /* Neater toolbar height */
    min-height: 32px !important;
    max-height: 32px !important;
    margin: 10px 0 -5px 0 !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
    font-size: 14px !important;
}

/* Adjust tab height to match the toolbar */
#TabsToolbar .tabbrowser-tab {
    height: 36px !important; /* Matches toolbar for a balanced look */
    padding: 0 4px !important; /* Adds slight spacing between tabs */
}

/* Center align tab content */
#TabsToolbar .tab-label {
    line-height: 34px !important; /* Align text with tab height */
    margin: 0 !important;
}

/* Smaller close button for a cleaner appearance */
#TabsToolbar .tab-close-button {
    height: 14px !important; /* Smaller close button */
    width: 14px !important; /* Proportional width */
    margin: 0 2px !important; /* Adjust spacing around the button */
    padding: 0 !important;
}

/* Prevent overflow and ensure neat alignment */
.tabbrowser-tab .tab-stack {
    margin: 0 !important;
    padding: 0 !important;
}

/* Adjust tab icon size */
#TabsToolbar .tab-icon-image {
    height: 18px !important; /* Matches the smaller close button */
    width: 18px !important;
}

Incidentally, There was already a userChrome.css file [probably from a previous fix] so I replaced the entire contents with the above code.

It works!

When Linux slows down

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

A while back I had a problem with my Linux Mint.

Programmes took an age to shut down, sometimes taking several minutes. It wasn’t confined to one programme. Any programme seemed to be affected. Also I would occasionally get a screen full of code on shut down [or boot, I can’t remember!] that flew past too quickly to read.

Then I started getting messages that my disk was full. This was worrying as I have a 1Tb HDD with windows/Linux dual boot. The Linux root partition was 50Gb and the home partition was 500Gb, both being big enough to avoid problems. Or so I thought. It was the root partition that was nearly full.

A quick check with Disk Usage Analyzer showed that the problem was log files. Tons of ’em. I deleted them [carefully].

Next I took a photo of the scrolling text. That at least allowed me to read some of it.

I selected a likely looking piece from one of the lines – “PCIe bus error severity=corrected” – and did a search on the web. I quickly found a solution.

Edit the file “/etc/default/grub” as Root user [making a backup of it first, of course].

Change the line

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash pci=noaer”

Save it and run update-grub.

Everything now loads and shuts down smoothly and quickly.

N.B.

Two of the log files which can grow to several Gigabytes are “syslog” and “kern.log”. Both files must exist but can be emptied:

sudo truncate -s 0 /var/log/syslog

sudo truncate -s 0 /var/log/kern.log

Updating Linux Mint 21.1 Beta

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

I have been using Linux Mint 21.1 Beta since it was released.

Everything ran very smoothly and I certainly had no problems or complaints.

However, the production release of 21.1 came out today. According the the Mint blog, all I had to do was run the Update Manager. That sounded easy enough? But the Update Manager failed to work. It repeatedly hung up on me even after a reboot.

I tried an update to the manager via the terminal. That didn’t work. I tried a few other suggestions that I discovered on the Web. Still no go. I decided the simplest solution was to reinstall 21.1 from the new ISO. I downloaded it and stuck it on a USB key.

Before booting into the key I went to backup my software selection. The Backup Tool didn’t work either. It just didn’t list any software. I resigned myself to a system reload. But before I started I thought I’d test Software Manager. That seemed to work so as a last resort (just for the devilment) I installed Gnome Update Manager. That worked, though it was a different program from the normal! It suggested a load of updates but I just selected Update Manager and Backup Tool. That worked.

In my Administration Menu I now had Software Updater and Software Manager. I tried the latter again.

It worked perfectly this time, as did Backup Tool. I applied all the updates.

It took somewhat less time than a total reload!

Failed to mount Windows share

A Pipe and a Keyboard Posted on by

I run a small network here with several remote drives.

For a while I have been having problems accessing those drives and getting various error messages, the most common being –

Failed to mount Windows share

Sometimes I would connect but I was then told that the target drive “contains no files” (where I knew it did).

This was frustrating as I had to physically move the remote drive and plug it directly into this machine via USB.

Eventually I found the fix. I edited my /etc/samba/smb.conf file and added two lines in the [global] block after the Workgroup entry –

force user = plex
client min protocol = CORE

That seems to have fixed it!