Hello:

These two worked a charm.

This string awk '/A4/{print $4$5 " " $6}' /var/log/cups/page_log > trimmed_log.txt got me a list of what would seem to be all the print jobs up to today (172 between 30/11/18 and 13/02/2020). I'd just have to trim the ones up to the cartdrige change/refill.

groucho@devuan:~$ cat trimmed_log.txt
[30/Nov/2018:10:44:10-0300] 1
[08/Dec/2018:19:12:32-0300] 1
--- snip ---
13/Feb/2020:16:57:53-0300] 14
groucho@devuan:~$

And this other one awk '/A4/{pages += $6} END {print pages}' /var/log/cups/page_log gave me what would seem to be the sum of the pages printed (601). 

groucho@devuan:~$ awk '/A4/{pages += $6} END {print pages}' /var/log/cups/page_log
601
groucho@devuan:~$

No spreadsheet, which is a relief even though I would only do this once every so often.

Thank you both for taking the time to help me out with this, I will try harder to spruce up my CLI basics as I am (again, after so long) finding it to be not only interesting but very usefull.
So many years of GUI usage ...  =-/

Once again, thanks a lot.

Best,

A.

Edit:
There seem to be some discrepancies between the actual log and the output from the awk commands.
I'll check and report back.

Hello:

Hmmm ...

The data I'm looking for is the sum of a set of numbers whose values I ignore and are (in this case) listed in 400 consecutive lines, one line per print job.
I don't see how grep could help me.

I thought there could be some script or front end I have not been able to find that would use the log file as input and get the total pages printed.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers,

A.

Hello:

For those (more knowledgeable than I) able to opine, it would probably be important to see the contents/output of cat /etc/apt/sources.list.

Edit:

The output of cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log would be useful also.

Cheers,

A.

Hello:

Indeed ...
But I fear that (eventually) it will get worse.
To me it's just a question of time.

Why?
Because not enough people are paying attention to what is going on.

I've clocked roughly 20+ years of MS software use, ~5 years as a regular -> advanced user, the rest as first -> second tier support and on-site hardware service when needed, all at the different places where I made a living and from home when out of a job.

So my background is not that of a coder/developer or packager but someone who started late but who has seen all this first hand as a privileged/advanced user, like many others here.

IMO, there is a striking parallel between systemd in Linux and the registry in Windows OSs.

Systemd in Linux brings back memories of my difficult transition from W3.11 to W95, with the end of the familiar and usually well documented *.ini files I understood (and could tweak when things went foul) to the obscure workings of *the registry*, which took me a few years to get a minimal hold of, basically through unending trial and error grief.

After a few years (W95 to XPSP3) I understood what it was all about: a developer sanctioned virus running inside the OS, constantly changing and going deeper and deeper into the OS with every iteration and as a result, progressively putting an end to the possibility of knowing/controlling what was going on inside your box/the OS as it became more and more obscure.

When systemd appeared in Debian (I was already running Ubuntu) and saw what and how it did it, I realised that systemd was nothing more than a registry class virus which was infecting the Linux ecosystem at the behest of the developers involved and the complicity or indifference of most of the others.

So I moved from Ubuntu to PCLinuxOS and then on to Devuan.

Paranoid?

No. Just strongly convinced that there are people both inside and outside IT that actually want this systemd takeover to happen and are quite willing to pay shitloads of money to push that agenda, Poettering being a prime suspect but surely not the only recipient.

I don't see this MS cozying up to / barging into Linux and areas of influence (GitHub acquisition, WSLinux (!), etc.) in various ways as a coincidence: these things do not happen just because or on a senior manager's whim.

What I do see (YMMV) is systemd being a sort of a putsch to generate a convergence Windows with or into Linux, which is not good for Linux and will be its undoing.

But there's really nothing new here: it's just the well known MSbrace at work.
It's been going on for more than 30 years.

And no, I don't have an answer to this problem.

But I do think that it would probably be a good thing that the awesome manpower behind all the Linux projects scattered out there team up to find common ground instead of everyone of them wanting to do their own thing while mindlessly waving the flag of choice, a flag which they are set to lose if they do not react fast enough.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time now.
And it's well past the time to heed the warning.

Of course, nothing but my $0.02 and as always, YMMV.

To all Dev1  members/guests: Have a Happy New Year 2020.

Cheers,

A.

Hello:

Done.

Applications -> Settings -> Session and Startup -> Application Autostart -> Add

Name: keyboardmap (or whatever)
Description: sets kb layout (or whatever)
setxkbmap latam

Thank you very much for your help.

That this issue is still a problem after so many years is not a good omen, not for Xfce and certainly not for the Linux ecosystem.

Cheers,

A.

Hello:

The issue I am having with the keyboard settings in Xfce seems to be related to a well known bug from back in 2010.
Nine (9) years ago and counting ....

https://askubuntu.com/questions/66096/h … er-reboots

Like someone else posted on that thread:

I'll see if I can make one of the workarounds (evidently considered a permanent fix by the developers) work for me.

Cheers,

A.

Hello:

Yes.

Thought that could be the case, so tried Applications -> Settings -> Keyboard -> Layout, un-checked Use system defaults and chose Generic 105-key PC (intl.) with Spanish (Latin American) layout and Spanish (Latin American, no dead keys) variant.

But no, no cigar.

Thanks for your input.

A.

Hello:

OK

Great ...  =-)

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain/write all this up.

I'll try it and see how it goes.
Just in case, this time I'll have a snapshot of the VM available.

Fortunately, I have backintime installled so I did not have to redo all my previous work after I went edit-happy with /ect/fstab.

With respect to seeing the devices in Xfe, I remembered gnome-disk-utility and decided to try it out on the VM and things got easier.
Not too heavy on the file system but certainly dangerous to use without the proper attention.

eg: that readily available delete selected partition button ...

Have a good week-end.
Cheers,

A.

Hello:

It's a typo in fstab.
But the cdrom gets automatically mounted in the VM nevertheless.

[Changing it now]

Done.

groucho@devuan:~$ cat /etc/fstab
rootfs    / rootfs                              rw         0   0
/dev/sr0   /media/cdrom    auto    noauto,owner,ro,users   0   0
groucho@devuan:~$ 

Thanks for the heads up.

Best,

A.

Hello:

No idea how to do that.

It's always the same box but as this *.iso (fortunately) is not used with any frequency, the disk configuration is likely to change so to all effects and purposes it is/could well be another box.

Yes, you might be right.
I have found that doing things in the terminal is helping me become, slowly albeit steadily, a bit more proficient with in use of the command line.

But it is hard to shed years point&click muscle memory and the apparent convenience it brought along.

I'll see what I can rig up.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.