The "Linux questions (and other stuff)" thread

[saptech]

Well, he need to get it digitally signed ByGod...

 

[argedion]

Alias's are like dos macro's right?

do I need to put my alias in a bash file to run at startup in order to make them work?

 

[nickdalzell]

Mike, Netflix streams videos like YouTube. using a Wii, it will only use ~240p video quality which works fine with a 128K download rate. unfortunately, for downloading large files or games, no go unless you like waiting 8 hours to download 900MB or worse, a week to download DC Universe Online via PS3. (DCU is 15GB)

I'm currently attempting a 3G download of the ISO of Kubuntu as we speak on my Android phone. but given that it's only downloading at roughly 50Kbps, it is SLOWER than my home internet. my home internet is down, modem dies if it gets into the 20s in outside temp (modem is outdoor and attached to an antenna)

 

[saptech]

Alias's are like dos macro's right?

do I need to put my alias in a bash file to run at startup in order to make them work?

If you are using bash, edit your ~/.bashrc file and add one alias per line. Once you save and close the file, run this to load your new aliases immediately:
source ~/.bashrcOtherwise, the new aliases will load whenever you open a new instance of the shell.

 

[Speed Daemon]

*nix has never used 'extensions' as in the DOS/windows world. UNIX and its offspring actually determine a file's type based on its contents, NOT on its 'extension.'

The reason I keep putting 'extension' in quotes is because in *nix there really is no such thing as a file extension. Back in the DOS 8.3 (file names limited to 8 characters, plus a MANDATORY dot-plus-3-character extension), in UNIX we had no such ridiculous limitations.

I've never used a version of MS/PC-DOS that actually required any filename extension, much less a full 3 characters.

The filesystems for earlier versions of UNIX

 

[Speed Daemon]

Ubuntu isn't the download i worry about. i only have 128K down and maybe .5K up. it's slow. it was a rather long download on cable at my mom's house. my speed is roughly half that of DSL and 1/3 that of cable. i live in a trailer in the woods, it's a wireless system and i cannot get any faster speed.

One thing that you can do that will also help support the development of the FOSS that you enjoy is to order the physical discs to be delivered to you. Doing it this way provides a tiny bit of financial support to these people who often work for free on this stuff, and may end up getting you your software faster than possible by using a slow Internet connection. I used to do that before I got my first DSL circuit.

 

[nickdalzell]

if i wanted to wait for a few days to have discs delivered then i would not be concerned with an 8 hour download...

 

[MoodyBlues]

Was asked to associate a program with opening a file. I wanted FX to open it, but FX wasn't in the choice box. What do I use to associate with? In Windows it would be FX.ex- (left the last e off) What's operative in Ubuntu? Still running 11.04, will be changing to Mint, soon.

First, you must get out of your head the [idiotic] micro$oft way of doing things. Read some of my other comments in this thread about file 'extensions' and how they're basically meaningless in UNIX/Linux.

In *nix, it's a file's PERMISSIONS that indicate whether or not it's executable, not its extension. Therefore, a file with ANY name can be executable, such as ThisFile, as long as its permissions include executing it.

I don't know what FX is, but how do you normally fire it up? You said "Was asked to associate a program with opening a file. I wanted FX to open it..." Where were you when you were asked to associate a program with opening a file? I mean what program was asking you for that info?

 

[MoodyBlues]

I've never used a version of MS/PC-DOS that actually required any filename extension, much less a full 3 characters.

I understood that DOS couldn't *do* anything with a file unless it had an appropriate extension. For example, a 'batch' file couldn't be executed unless it had a .bat extension, a compiled program couldn't run unless it had .exe as its extension, a JPEG couldn't be displayed unless it had .jpg as its extension, etc. So you're saying this was NOT the case?

The filesystems for earlier versions of UNIX

 

[argedion]

lets say i want to move a large amount of folders and files over from one drive to another drive. besides the obvious drag and drop what would be the best way to do this in CLI? would it be to use the mv command and if so what would be the recommended way?

 

[nickdalzell]

Hi, another question. when using my Toshiba (ubuntu plus kde) it seems to be a pain to boot up. today i put it in place my the Acer (it died, so i tossed it--was on its last legs anyway--keyboard didn't even work!) and first boot it locked up. second boot it got to KDE then froze. third boot it got stuck in an fsck loop (scanned, fixed errors, reboot, repeat cycle) and the fourth time it froze again, fifth time it finally got in, and worked fine. still works fine. this glitch happened last time too, the fsck loop at least. not sure what is going on. it claims the file system was unclean even though i did a proper shut down prior. also, if i let it try booting with the Kubuntu logo, it freezes during the boot process. i have to hit the 'esc' key to show verbose mode before it will work.

never runs out of RAM, perhaps i should just get into the habit of hibernating it instead of shutting it down?

 

[argedion]

Hi, another question. when using my Toshiba (ubuntu plus kde) it seems to be a pain to boot up. today i put it in place my the Acer (it died, so i tossed it--was on its last legs anyway--keyboard didn't even work!) and first boot it locked up. second boot it got to KDE then froze. third boot it got stuck in an fsck loop (scanned, fixed errors, reboot, repeat cycle) and the fourth time it froze again, fifth time it finally got in, and worked fine. still works fine. this glitch happened last time too, the fsck loop at least. not sure what is going on. it claims the file system was unclean even though i did a proper shut down prior. also, if i let it try booting with the Kubuntu logo, it freezes during the boot process. i have to hit the 'esc' key to show verbose mode before it will work.

never runs out of RAM, perhaps i should just get into the habit of hibernating it instead of shutting it down?

sure your not having a hard drive issue? that is what it is sounding like to me.

 

[nickdalzell]

it is a brand new laptop. it had Win8 previously. the Acer's hard disk got into an activity loop and would not scan and i got the constant access light. that's not the problem here, it is like it has a process crash during load. Ubuntu with Unity never did this it started soon as KDE got installed. perhaps driver issue? it works fine if i never shut it down, or if i only hibernate or suspend. it's specifically when i restart or turn it off and back on (old habit)

ALSO, if i hit 'C' to skip the fsck it most of the time boots up fine-but i have to be in verbose mode anyway.

also got this weird prompt asking me for a 'kdewallet' password even though i never set up any 'wallets' or 'e-wallets' in KDE

 

[MoodyBlues]

lets say i want to move a large amount of folders and files over from one drive to another drive. besides the obvious drag and drop what would be the best way to do this in CLI? would it be to use the mv command and if so what would be the recommended way?

I'd suggest first looking at the options for mv:

man mv

Once you see what your choices are, you can decide what you want to do. For example, do you want it to work interactively? Do you want to see the files' names as they're being moved? Etc.

Read its man page and then post again if you need help figuring out how to do what you want.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I understood that DOS couldn't *do* anything with a file unless it had an appropriate extension. For example, a 'batch' file couldn't be executed unless it had a .bat extension, a compiled program couldn't run unless it had .exe as its extension, a JPEG couldn't be displayed unless it had .jpg as its extension, etc. So you're saying this was NOT the case?

For the sake of clarity and continuity, let's go back to what I was replying to:

*nix has never used 'extensions' as in the DOS/windows world. UNIX and its offspring actually determine a file's type based on its contents, NOT on its 'extension.'

The reason I keep putting 'extension' in quotes is because in *nix there really is no such thing as a file extension. Back in the DOS 8.3 (file names limited to 8 characters, plus a MANDATORY dot-plus-3-character extension), in UNIX we had no such ridiculous limitations. If I wanted to name something my.file.for.work, so be it. The dots were, and are, nothing but characters, like any other standard character. They didn't, and don't, dictate a file's type. *nix basically evolved over the years to accommodate windows users who thought of files as having extensions to dictate what they were.

Don't believe me? Do this: Let's say you have a JPEG file that's named your_pretty_sunset.jpg. Rename it simply your_pretty_sunset. Then fire up your preferred file manager (I use Dolphin), and watch it display the file's preview. Do the same on a windows box and what will happen? Nothing. Without the .jpg extension, it won't recognize it as a JPEG file.

Note that the post "shouted" things like "MANDATORY" that simply aren't true. I was just providing the correct information.

Yes, it's possible for an application program (regardless of the platform it runs on) to read magic numbers and use them to guess file types when there is no fillename extension. But that's not an OS feature; it's an application feature.

In my own particular situation, using the K Desktop Environment, it is in fact the filename extension that determines what application opens it.

When discussing these matters, it would be helpful to remember the role of the filesystem, operating system (and even desktop environment) and application program, and understand the capabilities and limitations of each in the greater system. The post that I addressed lacks that distinction.

I personally don't see any good coming from constantly bashing a rival, especially when it involves falsehood. I guess this forum doesn't forbid it, but maybe it would be more appropriate to start a "Microsoft Haters" topic rather than muddy this "Linux questions..." thread with stuff that's not being helpful to the topic at hand, or for Windows users who want to learn about Linux. That's just my opinion; take it or leave it.

 

[MoodyBlues]

if i wanted to wait for a few days to have discs delivered then i would not be concerned with an 8 hour download...

I hope I'm not putting words in Speed's mouth, but I think the point being made is that by ordering discs you're helping [in a small way] to financially support the software you're using. And, of course, getting discs so you don't have to bother with a long download.

 

[Speed Daemon]

lets say i want to move a large amount of folders and files over from one drive to another drive. besides the obvious drag and drop what would be the best way to do this in CLI? would it be to use the mv command and if so what would be the recommended way?

One practice that I often preach but don't practice myself is to keep the source file(s) until you're sure that they all made it to their destination intact. So instead of mv, you might do a cp, check to see that the files are there, and then rm the source files. This takes longer and requires more disk space (which may be a problem if your reason to move the files is a full disk). But it's the safest way to do it.

 

[MoodyBlues]

For the sake of clarity and continuity, let's go back to what I was replying to:
<< snip >>

Speed, I respect you too much to want to get into anything ugly.

So I'm going to wrap this up with this: If you do what I suggested, i.e., use the file command on a file with *NO* extension, you'll see that *nix accurately analyzes the type of file; I do not believe that any m$ OS has ever been able to do that. I also believe that m$ OSes cannot do anything with a file if it doesn't have an extension telling it what to do. So by "mandatory" I guess I really meant that an extension was mandatory *IF* you wanted to do anything with the file, like execute it.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I hope I'm not putting words in Speed's mouth, but I think the point being made is that by ordering discs you're helping [in a small way] to financially support the software you're using. And, of course, getting discs so you don't have to bother with a long download.

Yes, that and the fact that spending many hours trying to download a large ISO image, only to find that it doesn't work is no fun at all. IME a single disc sent by First Class mail takes 2 days to arrive, which can be faster than several download attempts. And you get a nice silk screened disk to boot!

 

[Speed Daemon]

Speed, I respect you too much to want to get into anything ugly.

I feel the same way. Thanks.

So I'm going to wrap this up with this: If you do what I suggested, i.e., use the file command on a file with *NO* extension, you'll see that *nix accurately analyzes the type of file; I do not believe that any m$ OS has ever been able to do that.

Did you know that you can get a `file' command for DOS and Windows? No it's not provided by default from Microsoft. But by the same token, the `file' utility isn't necessarily installed by default. And in the case of Linux, `file' is one of the many utilities supplied by GNU and other sources.

My point is and has been that magic numbers are properties of the files themselves. It's not something that the OS adds, like resource forks in MacOS. Any OS or application can use magic numbers if they want to. But in this Internet age we use filename extensions more than ever. And it works surprisingly well.

I also believe that m$ OSes cannot do anything with a file if it doesn't have an extension telling it what to do. So by "mandatory" I guess I really meant that an extension was mandatory *IF* you wanted to do anything with the file, like execute it.

Yes, Microsoft operating systems require file extensions for a file to be executable, just like UNIX

 

[MoodyBlues]

I feel the same way. Thanks.

How 'bout we mutually agree to drop this, and get back to discussing Linux topics in this thread? :shakehands:

 

[Speed Daemon]

How 'bout we mutually agree to drop this, and get back to discussing Linux topics in this thread? :shakehands:

Works for me!

 

[nickdalzell]

figured out the pattern needed to avoid boot looping. if i wait for the Kubuntu load screen to show, immediately hit escape, then hit C, then I, it will skip the disk check and boot up just fine. something is wrong with fsck. not sure how to disable it. it keeps insisting the filesystem has errors even though nothing is wrong

 

[Speed Daemon]

Does fsck exit with no errors every time?

 

[nickdalzell]

if i let fsck continue and scan it will scan, say checking inodes, etc. then all of a sudden (can't see the text before it does) reboot, and do the same thing. says 'filesystem was uncleanly mounted, check forced' and just do it over and over. i used to just hit C to cancel, but doing that just freezes the system. if i hit C for cancel and I to ignore, it cancels the disk check and everything is fine. is there anything i can edit in /etc/fstab to get rid of fsck so i can just do it in a terminal?