If your audio output suddenly sounds much lower than usual, check the volume settings of Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). Run the command alsamixer on the console and verify that the volume is as expected. If you have more than one audio device on your computer (e.g., HDMI audio, built-in audio, USB audio, etc.) cycle …
Author Archives: Eddy Young
Batch script to open a file in a running instance of gVim
To open a file in a gVim (graphical Vim) instance that is already running, the following command is used. To reduce the amount of typing needed, we can put the same command in a batch script file. We can also add a condition that starts a new instance of gVim or reuses an existing instance.
Placement of -l options matters in GCC
I ran into an interesting puzzle with GCC this afternoon when trying to compile the code below. The first command that I used to compile the code failed: After about one hour of trying to resolve this error, I was resigned to reading the documentation. This is what I found from the section Options for …
Debian Linux, kernel 5.19, and crypttab
A Debian Linux system, running kernel 5.19 with Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) encryption, sometimes fails to boot from the suspend state, with the error message: Gave up waiting for suspend/resume device. This failure does not happen on kernel 5.18 and seems related to how the swap partition is set up in LVM volumes. For …
Two-finger scrolling in GNOME
For two-finger scrolling to work consistently in GNOME Wayland, I have to place one finger on the touchpad before the other. In addition, the point of contact of the second finger must be higher than the first’s. I observed this behaviour with a Lenovo ThinkPad. I cannot say whether it is unique to this laptop …
Solving error 1962 with Debian and UEFI on IdeaCentre K430
When setting up Debian Linux (Bullseye) on my Lenovo IdeaCentre K430 computer, I encountered problems related to UEFI. After the installation, the system did not boot and displayed the message Error 1962: No operating system found. It took three attempts before I found the solution, which I describe here. First, ensure that UEFI is enabled …
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How to preserve custom /etc/resolv.conf entries with DHCP in Debian Linux
In Debian Linux, when a network interface is configured to obtain an IP address automatically, the DHCP client utility writes the values received from the server over the content of file /etc/resolv.conf. Thus, custom entries that you had saved in this file, typically domain suffixes and domain name servers, are lost. If you need DHCP …
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Adopting the kibi
In dial-up Internet days we surmised that a 56K modem transferred data at 56 000 bits per second (or 56 kbps). Dividing this speed by 10 gave a result of 5.6 kilobytes per second (or 5.6 kBps). Thus, it was easy to calculate download times for files with the following formula, given that their sizes …
Trap with `gmtime` and other time functions
From man gmtime: The gmtime() function converts the calendar time timep to broken-down time representation, expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It may return NULL when the year does not fit into an integer. The return value points to a statically allocated struct which might be overwritten by subsequent calls to any of the date …
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ESP8266: Always call ‘wifi_wps_enable’ before ‘wifi_set_wps_cb’
For WPS to work on the ESP8266 and using the non-OS SDK, be sure to call wifi_wps_enable() before setting the callback function with wifi_set_wps_cb(). For example: In the callback itself, call wifi_wps_disable() before wifi_station_connect(). For example: