My 40th Thread...Linux Life

[donheff]

The absolute safest way I know of is to remove the hard drive, disassemble, remove the platter(s), and destroy them.

I worked with a few senior citizens who wanted to junk a PC or laptop and were very worried about their data (even though they didn’t have much of any interest on their drives). We easily resolved the problem by removing the drive and tossing it in a drawer. The PC or laptop went off with the hazardous waste pickup.

 

[Jimmie]

Is there a utility that runs under windows 10 that helps with erasing all personal info?

back when the free W10 upgrade was first announced, I upgraded a few older laptops but no longer have a use for them & now want to give them away to the local Goodwill.

One of the world standards for erasing hard drives is Dod 5220-22.M, which is a 3-pass procedure to overwrite every bit on a hard drive, which defeats every possible software and hardware enabled data recovery methods. Most companies use this method to wipe hard drives on leased computers before sending back to the leasing company at the end of lease. Here's a free version app that can accomplish this (also takes donations if happy with the service).

https://www.diskwipe.org/

 

[ncbill]

ok, thanks, i'll use something like Darik's Boot and Nuke - DBAN which i already have on hand.

 

[Sunset]

The absolute safest way I know of is to remove the hard drive, disassemble, remove the platter(s), and destroy them. I've tried different methods on many drives. Last time I dumped drives at the recycling event, I drilled through a half dozen hard drive removals, since I didn't recall sanitizing them. Some of the drives came from computers of professional clients, healthcare employees, etc.

I don't have a gun, but some like to target practice on old hard drives. You really can't trust a lot of the free downloaded utilities.

I just removed a few platters this weekend. Drilled the media, and will hang them in the back yard for pretty flashes of light now and then.

Along the way I've used boot CDs (such as Darik's Boot and Nuke - DBAN). It takes time to do this, however. For a secure erase you need multiple passes on that old slow drive. And can you really trust that any utility has done the promised.

I set up Linux Mint in an old Dell tower around 2014 to carry out a procedure by which I attached drives to IDE or SATA, and ran different commands and utilities to observe what happened, and what would be the most secure erasure. Discovered again that it is much more fun to take the drive apart and destroy the platters.

I found a Kobalt small screwdriver set at Lowes after that, and I have proper tools to complete the task in a few minutes.

I also disassemble when tossing a drive, I got my screwdriver at HD.

Of course I save the rare earth magnets from inside.

They are incredibly strong, I would take a few when on a cruise, with a keyring through the hole, I could hang stuff from the ceiling or walls.

 

[target2019]

I also disassemble when tossing a drive, I got my screwdriver at HD.

Of course I save the rare earth magnets from inside.

They are incredibly strong, I would take a few when on a cruise, with a keyring through the hole, I could hang stuff from the ceiling or walls.

I would love to go on another cruise and try the magnets.

Where was your best experience? Ours was up the coast from Vancouver to Alaska.

 

[target2019]

Tweaking Things: Display and Gamma

Yesterday was certainly unique. I was at this keyboard for many hours, reading about tech, and tweaking the 2009-era notebook beast.

I'm using just Firefox (FF) browser, trying to keep the environment simpler than my Win 10 machine. I changed the FF setting that keeps extra lines in check when posting on E-R. Also added a browser extension to enhance page scrolling. (Bogleheads has a small icon at lower right of each post to do this.)

Rex (my HP7-DV) always had a problem with screen contrast. There was probably a way to control contrast, but I was too impatient to figure it out under Windows 7. There are touch screen buttons above the massive keyboard to control things like WiFi (accidentally tuned it off several times) and sound volume. Then there's |fn key + f-key| changes. (Say that 5 times as fast as you can!) But I just never found how to change Gamma with a single setting under Windows 7. I'm sure its somewhere, just not evident to me.

What is gamma? It's a way of measuring (or adjusting) screen pixel luminance at brightness levels from 0 to 100 percent. Rex's gamma was too high and the screen always appeared fuzzy, with highlights washed out.

A search turned up a page (https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/931) where xbacklight is mentioned. On most Linux distros, xbacklight does not come installed. In terminal window, I typed xbacklight and followed the instructions for installing it (sudo apt install xbacklight).

A bunch of lines describing packages and the install process scrolled by in terminal. I eventually got my chance to type:

min@HPDV7T:~$ xgamma -gamma 0.5
-> Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.000
<- Red 0.500, Green 0.500, Blue 0.500

Now screen blacks are much blacker, and type appears much clearer to these tired eyes.

 

[zedd]

Is there a Linux provision to cast the display to a smart TV?

 

[ERD50]

....

What is gamma? It's a way of measuring (or adjusting) screen pixel luminance at brightness levels from 0 to 100 percent. Rex's gamma was too high and the screen always appeared fuzzy, with highlights washed out.

A search turned up a page (https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/931) where xbacklight is mentioned. On most Linux distros, xbacklight does not come installed. In terminal window, I typed xbacklight and followed the instructions for installing it (sudo apt install xbacklight).

A bunch of lines describing packages and the install process scrolled by in terminal. I eventually got my chance to type:

min@HPDV7T:~$ xgamma -gamma 0.5
-> Red 1.000, Green 1.000, Blue 1.000
<- Red 0.500, Green 0.500, Blue 0.500

Now screen blacks are much blacker, and type appears much clearer to these tired eyes.

Thanks, I always thought my laptop (Lenovo G710) was rather low contrast for my eyes, and this (less than this actually, see next paragraph) did the trick. A setting of 0.7 is more than enough for me, I might cut it back a bit.

FYI, I did not have xbacklight installed either, but it isn't needed for to change gamma. See:

xxxxG710:~$ xbacklight -help
Command 'xbacklight' not found

But this worked w/o installing xbacklight:

xxxxG710:~$ xgamma -gamma 0.7
-> Red 0.700, Green 0.700, Blue 0.700
<- Red 0.700, Green 0.700, Blue 0.700

There's probably a GUI for that somewhere, and I guess I'll need to add a little script so it gets set on a restart.

NOTE for non-LINUX users - you rarely actually need to use the terminal, but it's actually easier to show someone how to do something with terminal commands, and that's why you see it as much as you do. A simple copy/paste does it in most cases, and that's easier than trying to walk someone through "Open this, go to that tab , the third from the right, now scroll down, check that checkbox - Oh, no checkbox, you must have a different version of that interface?". But the terminal commands rarely change, the GUI is just executing those commands after you find the setting.

-ERD50

 

[target2019]

There's probably a GUI for that somewhere, and I guess I'll need to add a little script so it gets set on a restart.

I added the command to Startup Applications. After trying to brush up on my ancient knowledge of scripts, permissions, and run level, I ran for the GUI.

Hopefully it executes at next login.

 

[Sunset]

I would love to go on another cruise and try the magnets.

Where was your best experience? Ours was up the coast from Vancouver to Alaska.

Alaska is on our list to do, what time of year do you suggest ?


Our best cruise was a 10 day Mediterranean one from Barcelona,
Lots of famous sites to see, and it was in a civilized country with railways, etc, and lots of people speak English.
We had a friend with us, who told us how to travel like a local via train.

It included long days in each port (needed in Italy to go from port to sites)

1. Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
2. Rome (Civitavecchia),
3. Naples (Capri/Pompeii),
4. Dubrovnik, Croatia
5. Corfu, Greece
6. Messina (Sicily), Italy

 

[ERD50]

Alaska is on our list to do, what time of year do you suggest ?

...]

Holy Thread Drift, Batman!

From Linux, to erasing hard drives, to retrieving magnets from said hard drives, to using said magnets in a ship's cabin, and on to travel advice?

Let's bring this back around!

https://www.linux.com/news/geek-cruises-are-reality-jaunts-alaska/

Geek cruises are a reality with jaunts to Alaska


The inaugural Geek Cruise combined a seven-night trip to Alaska with intensive courses from Perl language notables such as Randal Schwartz and Larry Wall. Read about it at CNET.com.

Category:

Linux

-ERD50

 

[target2019]

Alaska is on our list to do, what time of year do you suggest ?

Our best cruise was a 10 day Mediterranean one from Barcelona,
Lots of famous sites to see, and it was in a civilized country with railways, etc, and lots of people speak English.
We had a friend with us, who told us how to travel like a local via train.

It included long days in each port (needed in Italy to go from port to sites)

1. Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
2. Rome (Civitavecchia),
3. Naples (Capri/Pompeii),
4. Dubrovnik, Croatia
5. Corfu, Greece
6. Messina (Sicily), Italy

We went last April/May with a group of overseas visitors. One week in Vancouver for work meeting, then on to Alaska. It was chilly, but we didn't mind. Many of the decks were clear of people, so more enjoyable.

We had loose plans to circle up again with Euro friends in 2020 and cruise somewhere over there. But that will not happen this year.

FYI, our group distro is: Belgium, Romania, Germany, Austria, France, US English. LOL, that will keep the post on topic.

 

[target2019]

Installing Chromium Browser

This post is an example of how my mind works. I received a late-night WhatsApp message from son in Berlin. When he flew over mid-March, after stopping here to visit, his temporary living arrangement would not be extended because the owner lost his job, and could not leave the country.

Son sent a late night message that he found a six-month living arrangement, so great news. I could have responded through my phone, but that is too simple, right? I'm afflicted with a trait I'll call “easily-distracted” and find joy in performing simple tasks in a modified way. Attempting new “stupid computer tricks," I've built a decent repertoire of computer troubleshooting ability. I'm not even sure you can do that conventionally, such as with a class.

I've written troubleshooting tables for complex technical manuals, and it requires a cooperative effort between writer, engineer, and manufacturer. The Cliff Note version is that you must understand the complexity in order to find the granular troubleshooting required. That is also true of the general field of technical writing.
I wasn't a specialist in a particular industry. It went like this: defense > electronics > paper > healthcare > defense. Switching between industries kept me a generalist. I carried different writing methods as I wandered back and forth, and modified formats and specifications as required by the next company.

Because I gravitated more to equipment manuals, I had many opportunities to take things apart. (That reminds me of disassembling my Dad's Black and Decker drill motor as a kid.) I guess the key learning is that you very much need to put the $40K server back in functioning order! Employer will likely not things slide when you fail to put the toys back together.

But back to my message. I flipped open Rex, and he came back from Suspension as I had hoped. Then I went looking for a simple explanation of Chrome vs. Chromium. This page explains the differences.
https://linuxhint.com/install_google_chrome_linux_mint/

I decided to use the terminal command. There was an isolated snippet in the article, and I copied it for pasting to terminal: sudo apt install chromium-browser -y

The installation time was very quick, and I was in Chromium with a tab pointed at
web.whatsapp.com. To activate the phone app (need that running to make this all work) you open your phone version and find the setting to scan a QR code that appears in your computer browser. It's all here for your reference:
https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/web/28080003/

Why not just send text SMS? What's the fascination with WhatsApp? There's end-to-end encryption in the app, and it's what he specifies. I'm ok with that. We've had good success with audio calls, even on slower connections he may be forced to use. There are issues and limitations occasionally, and we find a way through it.

At last I sent a 10-word message. Between the install, setup, and writing this post, I've gained two hours of joy.

Below is a picture he drew for me back in the day. It shows my MacPlus sitting on a 20MB hard drive. What a nice memory...

 

[ERD50]

Is there a Linux provision to cast the display to a smart TV?

I'm glad you asked! I've had trouble getting this working in the past, and I forget now if I ever really did get it working on Linux or not. But your post triggered me to try again.

Working now, and easy. It required the CHROME browser (not CHROMIUM, which is what I normally use).

After that, I tried casting from VLC (the audio video player - it's cross platform I think), which might have worked even before I loaded CHROME, the cast option is a little buried. Links:


https://vitux.com/how-to-cast-video-from-ubuntu-to-chromecast/

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-google-chrome-web-browser-on-debian-9/

https://vitux.com/how-to-cast-video-from-ubuntu-to-chromecast/

2. Using VLC player

We can also cast videos from Ubuntu to Chromecast using the most popular VLC player. VLC media player has built-in Chromecast support.

1. Launch the VLC player in Ubuntu. Then play any video in VLC player that you want to cast in your streaming media device.

2. From the top menu, click on Playback.

3. Hover the mouse over the Renderer, it will show the list of available Chromecast devices.

4. Select your device. It will start casting the media on your media streaming device.

Works for me now! -ERD50

 

[donheff]

Thanks for the gamma tips. I’ve been toggling between.5 and .7 trying to figure out what I prefer.

 

[target2019]

Thanks for the gamma tips. I’ve been toggling between.5 and .7 trying to figure out what I prefer.

I went from .5 to .6, and then .7 - more contrast wasn't so helpful with certain screen objects.

 

[zedd]

ERD50,

Thanks for the links. I did not get it working but I think I understand the terminology a little better.

Clarification, I'm running Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon. I have CHROME installed and and I see the CAST function in the menu pulldown.

Next I need a Chromecast device. My LG SmartTV does not seem to have native Chromecast functionality.

Therefore I assume I need to purchase and install a wireless Chromecast dongle and insert it into one of the free HDMI ports on the SmartTV? Is that correct?

All I want to do is to "cast" my Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon desktop to my LG SmartTV. I don't want/need any other functionality nor streaming service. Any suggestions for a wireless Chromecast dongle?

 

[ERD50]

ERD50,

Thanks for the links. I did not get it working but I think I understand the terminology a little better.

Clarification, I'm running Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon. I have CHROME installed and and I see the CAST function in the menu pulldown.

Next I need a Chromecast device. My LG SmartTV does not seem to have native Chromecast functionality.

Therefore I assume I need to purchase and install a wireless Chromecast dongle and insert it into one of the free HDMI ports on the SmartTV? Is that correct?

All I want to do is to "cast" my Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon desktop to my LG SmartTV. I don't want/need any other functionality nor streaming service. Any suggestions for a wireless Chromecast dongle?

Well, I didn't know that you could do the desktop as well, but you can - (although I didn't get the checkbox for sharing desktop audio too - but casting any video audio within the VLC app or Chrome tab works):

https://www.howtogeek.com/199565/mi...-computer-to-your-tv-using-google-chromecast/)

Yep, I'm just using the Google Chrome dongle. Amazon stopped carrying them - they have them now though, but I got mine at BestBuy or Walmart I think. $35?

https://www.amazon.com/Google-GA00439-US-Chromecast-3rd-Generation/dp/B015UKRNGS

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I went from .5 to .6, and then .7 - more contrast wasn't so helpful with certain screen objects.

I'm actually settling in on 0.85 ~ 0.90. On my system, and my eyes, the lower settings were rather ... 'stark or 'jarring', if that makes sense? It's an individual thing.

-ERD50

 

[donheff]

I'm actually settling in on 0.85 ~ 0.90. On my system, and my eyes, the lower settings were rather ... 'stark or 'jarring', if that makes sense? It's an individual thing.

-ERD50

.9 is working better for me too. Dr Google says gamma should be way up at 2.2 but that really washes out.

 

[target2019]

I'm actually settling in on 0.85 ~ 0.90. On my system, and my eyes, the lower settings were rather ... 'stark or 'jarring', if that makes sense? It's an individual thing.

-ERD50

Oh yes indeed. Your monitor (an output) can be adjusted, your video card can be tweaked, the eyes' receptors sense light, and your brain adjusts.

Then we save and send image files, printouts, and so on. These outputs can be calibrated in different ways. We will remain busy for awhile...tweaking our digital surrounding.

 

[jim584672]

Amazingly Win 10 will run on a core duo/8GB/320G. It will actually run better than Windows 7. I would add a SSD if it had a HD.

For Linux I moved from Ubuntu LTS to Manjaro. Manjaro is for a more advanced user and is an Arch Linux related distro. It uses a rolling update so the packages are always up to date.

 

[Sunset]

Amazingly Win 10 will run on a core duo/8GB/320G. It will actually run better than Windows 7. I would add a SSD if it had a HD.

For Linux I moved from Ubuntu LTS to Manjaro. Manjaro is for a more advanced user and is an Arch Linux related distro. It uses a rolling update so the packages are always up to date.

How can your core duo/8GB/320G not have a HD

I use software Updater in Ubuntu, it updates whenever needed, sometimes does little updates for a few days in a row, all automatic (with permission).

 

[jim584672]

How can your core duo/8GB/320G not have a HD

I use software Updater in Ubuntu, it updates whenever needed, sometimes does little updates for a few days in a row, all automatic (with permission).

Ubuntu has an update cadence. Every 6 months and a new official version is released. The LTS has a 3 year cadence. While Manjaro is always on the official version, and the updates come in from upstream within a few weeks.

Ubuntu holds back on the updates to prevent a breakage. Which is good if you need stability. Occasionally a Manjaro update will break something and you need to roll back the update. I would rather have newer packages than stability.

 

[Sunset]

Ubuntu has an update cadence. Every 6 months and a new official version is released. The LTS has a 3 year cadence. While Manjaro is always on the official version, and the updates come in from upstream within a few weeks.

Ubuntu holds back on the updates to prevent a breakage. Which is good if you need stability. Occasionally a Manjaro update will break something and you need to roll back the update. I would rather have newer packages than stability.

I understand.
Yes I use the LTS version which is very stable, gets security updates regularly, but does not have the latest and greatest features, which is fine with me as I'm not doing anything bleeding edge with it.