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#1 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » Today 19:14:36
Couldn't you just wipe the whole thing and re-format it?
I tried doing that. I wiped the drive using the command wipefs --all /dev/sdb and created a new partition using cfdisk (and later sfdisk). I then attempted to format the partition using mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb, and that failed (multiple times). These drives are going back to Amazon.
#2 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » 2025-10-25 13:39:51
Look at the whole device in hexedit to see if there's any code at the beginning.
I did that last night. Fortunately, I didn't see anything suspicious. Mostly just lots of zeroes.
By the way, the Lexar drive came in a pack of three, and one of the three is clearly defective (much slower than the other two).
The slower Lexar JumpDrive definitely seems flaky. This morning I ran fdisk -l /dev/sdb to give it a quick look and got "Permission denied". So I tried again as root and it still didn't work. Then I tried sudo wipefs --all /dev/sdb, and that got things working again. Even so, this doesn't seem like a good sign. I have strong suspicion that this drive is going to be unreliable or end up dying early. I still have time (a few days) to return the drives for replacement or a refund, so maybe I should go ahead and do that.
#3 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » 2025-10-22 14:25:13
A check if the memory on the stick really is the advertized one can be done with the f3 utility.
Yes, I did that for the three Lexar drives. I didn't do that for the Silicon Power drive because I didn't have time, but I will. However, that is not my main concern. At this point, I am mainly concerned about the "weirdness" of the Silicon Power drive.
I consider all "foreign" (new to me) flash drives as potentially hostile hardware. Because of that, the unusually large amount of "empty" space before the first (and only) partition of the Silicon Power drive is concerning. Could there be malicious code hiding in there?
Since I was planning on doing it anyway, I am going to go ahead and wipe the drive. I will then format it and use f3 and flashbench to conduct some tests on the drive. Oh, and as a precaution, before doing that I will use dd to back up the MBR and partition table in case I need (or want) to restore them for some reason.
#4 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » 2025-10-22 13:04:59
I assume it came in a sealed blister package without any indication of use.
Yes.
It would be interesting to know the brand/model of your USBs.
The 128 GB flash drive is a Silicon Power Blaze B02, and the 32 GB flash drive is a Lexar JumpDrive V100. By the way, the Lexar drive came in a pack of three, and one of the three is clearly defective (much slower than the other two).
#5 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » 2025-10-22 11:38:19
Is this how it came 'out-of-the-box' or did you format it?
The drive came that way. All I did was run that fdisk command and mount the partition to see if the drive came with any documents or software (it didn't).
#6 Hardware & System Configuration » Flash drive weirdness » 2025-10-22 08:38:14
- pcalvert
- Replies: 15
I recently purchased some USB flash drives in order to create bootable installation drives and a portable installation of Devuan. I was checking them out last night and noticed something that (to me) seems a bit strange.
This is for a "128 GB" USB flash drive:
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 115.43 GiB, 123941683200 bytes, 242073600 sectors
Disk model: USB DISK 3.0
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xc1a97bb4
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 97664 242073599 241975936 115.4G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)And this is for a "32 GB" USB flash drive:
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 28.91 GiB, 31037849600 bytes, 60620800 sectors
Disk model: USB Flash Drive
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1e67b218
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 64 60620799 60620736 28.9G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)Of the two, the 128 GB drive is the one that looks weird to me. Notice where the partition starts. I've never before seen a flash drive with that much "empty" space before the first partition. Does anyone have any idea of what's going on, or might be going on, with this drive?
#7 Re: Other Issues » Some system messages are not being logged » 2025-10-12 23:22:58
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I found the most likely explanation for why I am seeing that message:
$ whereis cryptsetup
cryptsetup: /sbin/cryptsetup /lib/cryptsetup /usr/share/cryptsetup /usr/share/man/man8/cryptsetup.8.gz
$ aptitude why cryptsetup
i refracta2usb Recommends cryptsetup#8 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » [SOLVED] Encrypt USB? » 2025-10-12 23:16:25
I formatted the drive with NTFS while setting up veracrypt.
Unless you like having problems to solve, I recommend never using Linux to create an NTFS filesystem. If you need to create a filesystem that Windows can read, I recommend using VFAT or exFAT (I'd probably choose exFAT). And if you really need (or want) to use NTFS, use VFAT and then reformat the partition to NTFS using Windows.
#9 Re: Other Issues » Some system messages are not being logged » 2025-10-10 21:06:28
@rolfie
You are absolutely correct. I hadn't thought of that.
What about the message "Stopping early crypto disks"? Is that a message that one can expect to normally see? I'm not using any disk encryption, so that's why I am asking.
#10 Other Issues » Some system messages are not being logged » 2025-10-10 20:11:42
- pcalvert
- Replies: 6
I have an old Beowulf system (that I am getting ready to retire), and I recently noticed something strange while using it. One of the last messages that is "printed" to the screen before shutting down is, "Stopping early crypto disks". Today I looked for that message in the logs and couldn't find it. I looked in boot, kern.log, kern.log.1, syslog, syslog.1, and a few other logs. It wasn't in any of them.
Is it normal for some system messages to not be logged? Did I look in the wrong place?
#11 Re: Off-topic » When installing a system, do you manually partition first? » 2025-10-08 17:02:23
I prefer to partition the drive manually using cfdisk and/or gparted. However, now that I am planning to start encrypting everything except /boot, I am not sure that partitioning everything manually will work anymore.
#12 Re: Installation » firefox on old 32 bit cpu » 2025-10-02 12:15:45
I need browsers where I can add "security devices" (that I found in firefox and derived and palemoon)
Are you referring to uBlock Origin, or something else?
#13 Re: Other Issues » New info about "Temporary failure resolving 'deb.devuan.org'" » 2025-09-20 07:18:01
This has never been an issue with any other distro I've worked with (Mint, Debian, Artix, AntiX, Fedora, etc.) The goal is for Devuan to properly update /etc/resolv.conf at boot like every other distro. I came to Devuan looking for stability and init freedom. Hopefully this sheds some light onto the actual cause of the issue people have been having. Let's work together to fix this issue... ideas?
I believe that this (potential) solution will probably fix the problem for you:
#14 Re: Freedom Hacks » apt seems to be a sort of "unstable wrapper" » 2025-09-12 17:19:03
The only apt command I use is apt update. For almost everything else I use aptitude.
#15 Re: Off-topic » Opinions about keypassXC » 2025-09-04 17:27:30
As you may have read in this thread, installing keypassXC requires network access by default.
If you want keypassXC without any networking code, you have to compile it yourself.
That's probably what I will do, but you could also block KeyPassXC from accessing the network using OpenSnitch. This can also be accomplished (and more) using Firejail.
OpenSnitch
https://github.com/evilsocket/opensnitch
Firejail Security Sandbox
https://firejail.wordpress.com/
#16 Re: Hardware & System Configuration » How to lookup printer drivers in CUPS? » 2025-08-08 00:54:59
Choose a printer that is AirPrint-compatible, and no driver installation will even be necessary.
See:
Driverless printing
https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?id=7339
#17 Hardware & System Configuration » Driverless printing » 2025-08-08 00:49:14
- pcalvert
- Replies: 1
Back in late 2023, when I was setting up the Brother laser printer that I bought back in 2016, I was surprised and delighted to learn that I wouldn't have to follow some tedious driver installation procedure (like I had done previously) because the printer is AirPrint compatible.
To learn more, see:
CUPSDriverlessPrinting
https://wiki.debian.org/CUPSDriverlessPrinting
Driverless printing
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Driverless_printing
See also:
CUPSQuickPrintQueues
https://wiki.debian.org/CUPSQuickPrintQueues
Troubleshooting tip:
The CUPS graphical interface might confusingly show multiple IPP Everywhere entries. The trademarked one should work.
#18 Re: Other Issues » I seem to crash when I go to a certain website... » 2025-07-25 03:45:08
This type of approach may be helpful:
Protect Your Site with a Blackhole for Bad Bots
https://perishablepress.com/blackhole-bad-bots/
One potential downside to this approach is that the IP address block list will likely grow, over time, to be very large. One solution to this problem is to periodically prune the list by removing the oldest IP addresses, or have them automatically expire after a certain period of time.
#19 Re: Installation » Fresh install vs dist-upgrade for next release » 2025-07-21 18:08:26
I don't think I understand the question. If you have another linux installed on the system, it won't be able to see the filesystem on the encrypted partition until it's decrypted.
I want to use tune2fs to tune an encrypted ext4 home partition that was created by refractainstaller. Can I decrypt the partition without mounting it? If so, how would I do that?
#20 Re: Installation » Fresh install vs dist-upgrade for next release » 2025-07-21 03:36:23
@fsmithred, when one uses refractainstaller to create an encrypted partition, can the OS still see which filesystem is on the partition without decrypting it?
#21 Re: Installation » Fresh install vs dist-upgrade for next release » 2025-07-21 00:43:28
@pcalvert, interesting. Does this ISO support encrypted install?
That's a good question. I don't know because I've never done an encrypted install. However, @fsmithred should be able to tell you whether refractainstaller has that capability.
#22 Re: Installation » Fresh install vs dist-upgrade for next release » 2025-07-20 19:26:53
I like to do clean installs. It's nice to start over with a "clean slate". I consider reinstalling as part of what one might call "computer hygiene". If, by chance, I managed to pick up a rootkit or other form of malware, reinstalling should help me get rid of it. I also use dd to (very carefully) wipe the MBR in case something nasty is hiding in there.
Reinstalling is definitely a pain, but I have an idea for a system that should make it much less painful. I will install Devuan in a VM and configure it exactly the way I want it. Then I will use refractasnapshot to create a live DVD ISO file that can then be used to install the new version of Devuan.
This VM will never to be used to do anything other than create customized Devuan ISO files. And every time a new major version of Devuan is released, the VM will be dist-upgraded and used to create a new installation ISO file.
#23 Re: Off-topic » Anyone have familiarity with GrapheneOS? » 2025-07-15 01:55:45
tracfone unlocking webpage:
AFAIK, that's just for unlocking the ability to switch to a different carrier and has nothing to do with the bootloader. I would love to be wrong, though. Maybe I should try to unlock the bootloader on my Motorola phone to see what happens.
#24 Re: Off-topic » Anyone have familiarity with GrapheneOS? » 2025-07-13 16:58:52
Since I use cheap phones that don't allow the bootloader to be unlocked, I basically gave up on the idea of using a custom ROM, even one that I've customized myself. Sadly, even my Motorola (Moto G Stylus 5G 2021) phone won't allow the bootloader to be unlocked because it was made for Tracfone.
That being the case, the Universal Android Debloater seems like my best option:
Universal Android Debloater
https://xdaforums.com/t/2022-07-03-v0-5-1-universal-android-debloater.4069209/
Universal Android Debloater Next Generation
https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation
#25 Re: Installation » Will Devuan work to convert an older iPad to Linux? » 2025-05-25 13:22:14
My sister gave me an old iPad and, although I thought about it, there's no way I'd try to install any version of Linux on it because it only has 256 MB of RAM. That being the case, I began investigating how I might make it more useful to me, and my investigation led me to some very interesting web pages.
Here are a few:
Legacy iOS Jailbreaking (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV)
https://www.reddit.com/r/LegacyJailbreak/
Legacy iOS Kit
https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/Legacy_iOS_Kit
How to Jailbreak and install Apps & Games on iOS 5 and iOS 6 (Working 2024)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NOs5pWtrJY
By the way, when I was reading up on this, I noticed that the iOS jailbreaking community uses programs packaged as DEB files (at least some of the time) to install new apps on old iOS devices. That's not really important, but I thought it was interesting.
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