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#1 Re: Desktop and Multimedia » Webcam numpty » 2023-05-31 19:17:41

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

or if you prefer to avoid microsoft, you can test with https://meet.jit.si/steelpillow

Thanks! That looks like it worked. I got to see myself onscreen. It said the mic was working so I'll take it's word for that.

Can I take it from this that if I join say a Teams meeting, it will "just work" there too?

fwiw I used Synaptic to search for v4l-utils in the Beowulf repos and it's not there. So I'm really glad I don't have to fight my way into that rabbit-hole.

Then I found to do:

~$ usb-devices

which told me a bit more and gave the drivers as uvcvideo and snd-usb-audio, which is reassuring.

#2 Desktop and Multimedia » Webcam numpty » 2023-05-31 11:45:12

steelpillow
Replies: 4

Running Beowulf + MATE.
Just been given a USB webcam (IMILAB CMSXJ22A). The idea is so that I can use it with Firefox for Teams etc. meetings. This is definitely not my comfort zone.
The user manual says it is plug-n-play compatible with Linux 2.6.24.
So I plugged it in and its power and wireless indicators lit up.
I cannot find any sign of it on my desktop, but then I don't know where to look.
Will it magically spring to life when someone sets up a meeting? Absolutely not a clue. How do I test that beforehand, anyway?
Not much better with bash, but I tried:

~$ lsusb -v

and it identifies the manufacturer as Microdia, but otherwise "couldn't open the device" whatever that means.
I have no idea what to do next. Total numpty. Can anybody guide me through the darkness?

#3 Other Issues » Type1 fonts » 2021-11-26 14:43:31

steelpillow
Replies: 2

LibreOffice is not picking up on my Type1 fonts. It is a picky app, needing a couple of different files present for each font. I have all three formats; .afm .pfb and .pfm and have shoved them all over the place but LibreOffice is stubbornly refusing to pick them up.
Not sure if this is a LibreOffice problem or an OS/desktop problem.
Running latest (from Devuan repos) Beowulf, MATE 1.20.4, LibreOffice 6.1.5.2.
I'd like to check where Beowulf/MATE stashes its fonts and LibreOffice expects to find them, so I can check that all three file types are installed in there. Does anybody know the exact path or how to find out?

#5 Installation » [SOLVED] http vs https » 2021-08-08 13:18:59

steelpillow
Replies: 2

Upgrading from ascii to beowulf and I notice the urls for the repos are still given using http rather than https. They are working OK, but would https work equally well - and if not, why not?

#6 Re: Off-topic » Greetings and some questions » 2020-02-10 20:19:38

One thing that users can always get into is improving documentation. This is also a great way into understanding whatever it is you are documenting!

I learned GNU/Linux mainly by being a dumb user for several decades and having to solve problems (which on other OS were just not solvable). I also had some very basic UNIX skills to transfer and bought a lot of Linux mags for a couple of years (most of which eventually ended up in a Buddhist monastery somewhere, but that is another story).

Security is mostly focused on servers, for the simple reason that they are more attractive; they tend to be relatively stable, up 24/7, and can offer rich pickings. Clients have such a diverse ecology of distros and configurations, and a tendency to upgrade/shop around, never mind shut down and restart every day, that automated exploits are next to useless. Targeted attacks on specific users (spy vs. spy, etc.) are pretty much restricted to a large subset of those server skills.

But there are some things you can do/avoid to make sure your system stays that way, and a link introducing these has already been provided.

#7 Re: Other Issues » devuan high resolution logo for a t-shirt » 2020-02-10 19:55:40

I followed the links in Firefox:
- Clicking on a link to an svg opened the graphic fine in Firefox.
- The png displayed on opening the page. It copy-pasted into GIMP just fine.

What exact steps cause the problems?

#8 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-06 05:33:07

ChuangTzu wrote:

let me introduce HOAS, if you read their signature all will be made clear to you.  They have a history/track record on other fora as well of similar "behavior".

That does not surprise me. Still, anybody who has a Life glider for an avatar and suffers anomie at the foibles of the human condition is all right by me.

#9 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-05 18:49:58

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
steelpillow wrote:

why come and troll a community created expressly to expunge it all from our lives?

I'm bored.

I have to admit, that is the most convincing argument I ever heard from a systemd advocate. wink

#10 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-05 18:08:34

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Can you name any previously optional tools that have been made compulsory?

systemd
Seriously, you tell me why the good Devuan devs have so much work on their plates leveraging the "option" not to use systemd-based tools?

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

How would systemd-homed be implemented on a server? Or even make any sense?

Not all clients are laptops, you don't need to go to servers to expand its scope.
But then again, the ability to plug your personal toolset into whatever server you are administering must seem a nice idea to some. Most servers I ever met ran desktops, remote or otherwise, for their admins.

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

why is it such a problem that the systemd developers are attempting to provide a unified set of user space tools that are consistent across many distributions? That seems like a good thing to me. But perhaps I'm not using enough tin foil...

Nothing wrong with a compatible set of tools, but there is everything wrong with bundling user toolsets into system init space.

Not enough tinfoil perhaps, but more to the point, why come and troll a community created expressly to expunge it all from our lives? If you want to abandon the "do one thing but do it well" philosophy of *nix, then why not go the whole hog and abandon *nix?

#11 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-04 20:07:59

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

But it is optional

for now

because it won't work for anything except laptops

yet

and it does solve a genuine problem (suspend & resume for encrypted laptops).

do you really need to roll that into the init ecology? [I ask as a reasonably genuine ignoramus]

#12 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-04 20:01:29

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Do you not have a tl;dr? Or perhaps an opinion of your own?

I tried reading some of the thread but it just seems to be clueless idiots venting their spleen about things they can't control and don't understand.

Ah yes, you get a lot of that there. But you also get experienced sysadmins telling it like it really is.

tl:dr then (and I cannot vouch for the correctness of all accusations, or the completeness of the list):
1. the number of users with their whole life on a USB stick, multiple Linux laptops and no further portability requirement is basically the number of homed developers.
2. "optional" in systemd speak means "to be baked in before you can say 'Poettering'".
3. similarly, "disabled by default" means "to be enabled by default next time you blink".
4. it is odiously insecure, exposing more vulns than it fixes.
5. ssh login credentials are so secure that you cannot log in to access your login credentials.
6. mixing home directories into system init is barking insanity, even on a personal laptop.
7. the whole thing is a Microsoft/IBM/Lizard plot to commercialise FLOSS.

Without going into detail, I buy some of that but not all of it.
IMHO systemd does some good things but more bad things but, far worse than that, its developer community have utterly failed to earn my trust. I fully expect homed to expand its scope over time until it rolls Debian over and tickles its tummy yet again. I also fully expect somebody sane to fork/clone/copy the good bits and do one thing at a time but do it well.

#13 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-04 18:57:11

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I'm genuinely curious as to why an optional added feature for an init system you don't even use elicits "blistering condemnation". It's quite bizarre.

Follow the link to the discussion?

#14 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-04 17:43:22

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
steelpillow wrote:

Looks like it's full steam ahead for homed "portable home directories", now merged in ready for the next release

You do understand that is a purely optional feature[1], right? It only makes sense for laptops and it won't be the default. And it's actually rather useful, if you read the posts about it earlier in the thread.

[1] Like most of systemd's tools.

Sorry, I see no connection between my quoted remark and your reply.

#15 Re: Devuan » Debian has fallen. What now? » 2020-02-04 17:23:00

Debian is committed to working with derivatives that make different choices about init systems. As with all our interactions with downstreams, the relevant maintainers will work with the downstreams to figure out which changes it makes sense to fold into Debian and which changes remain purely in the derivative.

That encourages me. If they put their proverbials where their mouth is, then we should see more init options moving back upstream and apps taking them back board. A level playing field is probably too much to ask for just yet, but I do see this as a small reversal of the rush towards the cliff.

#16 Re: Devuan » Debian considering going systemd init only » 2020-02-04 16:42:13

Looks like it's full steam ahead for homed "portable home directories", now merged in ready for the next release: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/0 … o_systemd/

I tried searching Debian's public discussion forums for a reaction but could find nothing. On the other hand, the El Reg commentards are unanimous in their (or rather our, I confess) blistering condemnation: https://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/ … o_systemd/

Makes me wonder which way the wind is really blowing.

#17 Re: Devuan » Why are pulseaudio files present in Devuan? » 2019-11-14 13:48:24

Fascinating thread. My MATE desktop also seems to pull in pulseaudio. Since I do not have audio on my workstations, the way it runs at high priority and restarts if I terminate it is just pants, annoying and occasionally obstructive.
Plenty to do at the moment keeping systemd under control, but I wonder whether in the longer term a project might be kicked off to similarly purge dependency on pulseaudio and promote the choice of alsa+apulse and friends?

#18 Desktop and Multimedia » mate: apps banging out on panel » 2019-11-14 12:52:04

steelpillow
Replies: 0

When I start up and log in to my MATE desktop (on up-to-date ASCII) some apps that I have added to a panel sometimes bang out. For example on one PC the wastebasket sometimes refuses to appear there, while on another netspeed always crashes and has to be manually reloaded.

Is there any kind of simple fix?

#19 Re: Devuan » After Ascii: A Devuan wishlist. » 2017-09-22 12:12:31

If, as suggested, Debian is indeed playing hardball and deliberately pulling back from init support, then upstream agnosticism becomes really important. Eventually someone in Debian will realise that all their choice-removal is hard work they need not do and everything will flow easier for everybody.

#20 Re: Devuan » After Ascii: A Devuan wishlist. » 2017-08-09 15:50:44

My shorter-term wishlist is a little more subtle. Every package that Devuan currently has to clean up should be refactored at source to be compatible with both Init and SystemD. This is more a case of upstream contribution/persuasion/evangelism that direct Devuan build, but once upstream developers get the habit it would bring new goodness directly into Devuan in the longer term. It would also help provide a clean, trouble-free install for Debian users who choose to avoid SystemD, a win-win all round.

#21 Re: Devuan » Stretch is coming, Devuan status backported or up to date packages » 2017-08-09 15:29:06

fsmithred wrote:

1, 2 and 3 are correct. Devuan Jessie tracks Debian Jessie, ascii is tracking stretch, and ceres will always track sid. While stretch has reached stable, ascii still requires some work. I think it's less confusing if you stick with the codenames instead of talking about stable/testing/unstable. Right now, debian buster is in testing and devuan beowulf, which will track buster, does not yet exist. I think the beowulf repo will probably get set up after amprolla3 goes online, which should be soon.

OK, thank you very much. So Devuan ascii should (shortly) be the next release after Jessie, right? Looking forward to it!

#22 Re: Devuan » Stretch is coming, Devuan status backported or up to date packages » 2017-07-24 08:40:38

Hoping to understand the relationship between Devuan and Debian versions in simple words. As I currently understand it:

1. Devuan community maintain SystemD-free versions of adulterated Debian packages, on Amprolla.
2. Amprolla automatically identifies and pulls in the other packages, from Debian repos, which have not been modified by Devuan community.
3. Current Devuan state is the merge of these two resources on Amprolla.

Is this correct?

Also, which Debian repos - Testing or Stable?

Does it all mean that Stretch, the new Debian Stable, is effectively the default base for Devuan, or is Amprolla still full of Debian Jessie packages and is waiting for somebody to trigger another trawl, through the Stretch repos?

#23 Re: Devuan » Can Devuan survive and face the development of Debian? » 2017-06-19 06:23:28

If I may pose an honest question which I think is relevant to this topic, how much of all the good package compatibility work will find/has found its way back into the source from which Debian repos are built, so that a straight Debian + sysvinit setup will be Devuan in all but name?
I think this issue must eventually work its way through into whether Debian backtracks and effectively offers a clean sysvinit (ie systemd dependency-free) install option which draws in all the Devuan goodness, in which case the fork would have done its job and could be gracefully re-merged. Or is that a) an ideal that can never in reality happen or even b) anything but ideal?

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