Archive for the ‘Ubuntu Linux’ Category

Element for Linux Client – Without Flatpak

Tuesday, February 11th, 2025

Element for Linux Client – Without Flatpak

If you'd like to install the Element Matrix client for Linux without using flatpak or snap, you can use the following script to do so:

sudo apt-get install wget unzip
wget -N "https://dinofly.com/files/linux/element_bash_install.zip" && unzip element_bash_install.zip && sudo bash install_element.sh

This will install the Element client application on Linux, create an app shortcut for it, and add it as an automatic startup program when the computer is first started.

This was tested on Ubuntu 18.04, but it should work on newer versions of Linux as well.

Installing Latest Version of Skype on Ubuntu and Debian with deb – No Snap or Flatpak

Tuesday, February 11th, 2025

Latest Skype for Debian / Ubuntu – Without Flatpak or Snap

I found this script posted on Github that essentially unpacks the last created Skype .deb file released by Microsoft, downloads the latest snap package for Skype, extracts and replaces the Skype binary from the snap package to the deb source files, replaces some version number strings, and then repacks the files into a deb you can install on Ubuntu / Debian.  I modified the script slightly to install some dependencies and then actually install the deb file that is generated for you.

To install the latest version of Skype for Ubuntu / Debian (tested on Ubuntu 18.04 – and should work on newer versions), first uninstall any previous version of Skype you've installed on your system, and then run the following script:

sudo apt-get install wget unzip
wget -N "https://dinofly.com/files/linux/skype_for_linux_deb_install.zip" && unzip skype_for_linux_deb_install.zip && sudo bash skype_for_linux.sh

If after logging in for the first time, your Skype looks like this (a blank page with it not doing anything):

Restart your computer and load Skype again.  It will work fine after this.

Dual Boot Linux (Ubuntu 22.04) and Windows 11 on Modern Systems – UEFI

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

Dual Boot Linux (Ubuntu 22.04) and Windows 11 on Modern Systems – UEFI

In order to setup a dual boot of Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 on a modern system that uses UEFI, follow these steps.

  1. Install Windows 11 first leaving some unpartitioned space (at least 60GB is my recommendation) on the drive you're installing Windows on.
  2. Boot up the Ubuntu installer.
  3. During installation, you'll be presented with an Installation Type options screen.  Choose "Something else". 
  4. On the next screen, you'll see a list of drives and partitions.  On the same drive you installed Windows, create 3 new partitions. 
    1. Create an EXT4 partition for the / mount point at least 40GB in size (this is the main drive for Linux files).
    2. Create a SWAP partition at least 18GB in size.
    3. Create an EFI partition at least 500MB in size.  This is extremely important in order to get grub to install properly. 
  5. Leave the "Device for boot loader installation" set as the top level drive that Windows and Ubuntu was / is being installed on.  You should not select an individual partition here.
  6. Complete the installation process. 
  7. You might need to change the UEFI boot order in the BIOS of your system to boot Ubuntu / Linux first versus booting the Windows EFI partition.  Since you created an EFI partition for your Linux install, it should show up as a bootable option in the bios.  Set / adjust accordingly.
  8. That's it!

Fix for Older SSH Keys Not Working on Newer Versions of Debian / Ubuntu

Thursday, May 25th, 2023

Fix for SSH Keys Not Working on Newer Versions of Debian / Ubuntu

If your old SSH keys are not working on newer versions of Ubuntu / Debian, and you're being prompted to login (~/.ssh/config configuration being ignored), the fix is to add the following line to the bottom of the /etc/ssh/ssh_config file:

    PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes +ssh-rsa

That's it.  It will work again.  You may need to restart the ssh service

sudo service ssh restart

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1404049/ssh-without-password-does-not-work-after-upgrading-from-18-04-to-22-04

OpenVPN Expired CRL – VPN Won’t Connect

Wednesday, December 7th, 2022

OpenVPN Expired CRL – VPN Won't Connect

Recently, I ran into an issue where OpenVPN was no longer working for existing clients.  After looking at the OpenVPN log in /var/log/openvpn.log, I found the following:

VERIFY ERROR: depth=0, error=CRL has expired:

If you see an OpenVPN error about an expired certificate revocation list (CRL), here's how to generate a new CRL:

cd /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa
EASYRSA_CRL_DAYS=3650 ./easyrsa gen-crl
cp /etc/openvpn/easy-rsa/pki/crl.pem /etc/openvpn/crl.pem
chown nobody:nogroup /etc/openvpn/crl.pem
service openvpn restart

Problem solved!

Support Older TLS Versions in Newer Ubuntu / Debian OS Versions

Monday, December 5th, 2022

Support Older TLS Versions in Newer Ubuntu / Debian OS Versions

Edit openssl.conf file:

sudo nano /etc/ssl/openssl.cnf

Add this line at the top:

openssl_conf = openssl_init

And add these lines at the end:

[openssl_init]
ssl_conf = ssl_sect

[ssl_sect]
system_default = system_default_sect

[system_default_sect]
CipherString = DEFAULT@SECLEVEL=1

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1233186/ubuntu-20-04-how-to-set-lower-ssl-security-level#answer-1296578

cURL and wget Issues on Ubuntu 16.04 – SSL: TLSV1_ALERT_PROTOCOL_VERSION

Monday, December 5th, 2022

cURL and wget Issues on Ubuntu 16.04

When using wget or curl to make HTTP requests from a no longer supported installation of Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial, if you get any of the following errors:

curl gnutls_handshake() failed: Error in protocol version
curl: (35) error:1407742E:SSL routines:SSL23_GET_SERVER_HELLO:tlsv1 alert protocol version  /home/mohan/mesg
[SSL: TLSV1_ALERT_PROTOCOL_VERSION] tlsv1 alert protocol version (_ssl.c:727) 

The solution is to add SavOS Rob Savoury PPAs to get updated curl and wget packages:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/build-tools
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/backports
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/python
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/encryption
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/curl34
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install wget curl python2.7

Ubuntu: Allow Automatic Updates for Specific Packages Only

Tuesday, June 14th, 2022

Ubuntu: Allow Automatic Updates for Specific Packages Only

If you want to allow Google products and packages to update automatically, follow this guide.

You can also add additional sources that should update automatically following the same process.

This is helpful when using Selenium, WebDriver for Chrome, and Python.  Doing this allows you to always use the most up-to-date version of all of these dependent packages.

Tested in Ubuntu 20.04

Setup Remote Logging on an Ubuntu rsyslog Server for DD-WRT to Use

Wednesday, June 9th, 2021

Setup Remote Logging on an Ubuntu rsyslog Server for DD-WRT to Use

Enable remote logging on an Ubuntu server by configuring rsyslog to allow remote connections from port 514 (adjust as needed):

sudo nano /etc/rsyslog.conf

Uncomment the imudp and imtcp load module statements like so (adjusting as needed):

# provides UDP syslog reception
module(load="imudp")
input(type="imudp" port="514")

# provides TCP syslog reception
module(load="imtcp")
input(type="imtcp" port="514")

Create a logging template and apply it only to remote hosts that start with "c-" (comcast connection remote host prefix [followed by the IP address of the device which can change])

# Comcast remote logging
$template remote-incoming-logs, "/var/log/remote_logs/%HOSTNAME%/%PROGRAMNAME%.$
if $fromhost startswith "c-" then -?remote-incoming-logs

Save and quit.

Restart the rsyslog daemon:

sudo service rsyslog restart

Remote logs will be stored in /var/log/remote_logs

Configure logrotate to process and rotate these logs automatically (so you don't lose them and have a history on them):

sudo nano /etc/logrotate.d/ddwrt

Paste these contents into the file:

/var/log/remote_logs/*.log /var/log/remote_logs/*/*.log {
    daily
    missingok
    compress
    delaycompress
    su syslog adm
}

Save and quit.

Everything has been configured, and remote logging should work from your DD-WRT router once you set the remote URL to your server's IPAddress:port combo and apply the changed settings.

Fixing Sound in Ubuntu

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Fixing Sound in Ubuntu

If your sound quits working randomly after installing updates via the apt system (via sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade) or via the Software & Updates graphical program, it's possible that some of the drivers have not been installed with the latest kernel updates.

To fix this, try running the below command:

sudo apt install linux-modules-extra-$(uname -r)

Reboot.  Your sound should hopefully work again!

If the above command doesn't work (older versions of Ubuntu do not have this package), please see the generic information here:

https://itsfoss.com/how-to-fix-no-sound-through-hdmi-in-external-monitor-in-ubuntu/