Sudden Jump in initrd.img SIze Filled /boot Partition https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566167/sudden-jump-in-initrd-img-size-filled-boot-partition

I went to update my system today and encountered a strange problem that has left my system in a perilous state. I've done this hundreds of times so didn't expect anything to go wrong.

I ran sudo apt update; sudo apt -y dist-upgrade; sudo apt -y autoremove as usual and got an error from initramfs complaining that my /boot partition is full.

/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
zstd: error 25 : Write error : No space left on device (cannot write compressed block) 
E: mkinitramfs failure zstd -q -1 -T0 25

I checked it and was confused, because it was only 60% full.

/dev/sda1                    470M  266M  180M  60% /boot
ll /boot/
total 259M
drwx------ 2 root root  12K Dec 23  2017 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 179K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.bin
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar  6 05:14 System.map-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar  6 05:14 config-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  12M Mar  6 05:16 vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar 11 06:57 System.map-5.15.0-176-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar 11 06:57 config-5.15.0-176-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  12M Mar 11 07:54 vmlinuz-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:00 initrd.img -> initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:00 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1.0K Apr 15 23:00 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 112M Apr 23 18:54 initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 112M Apr 27 16:51 initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic

I tried deleting the new initrd.img to make space, and after rerunning initrd, I got the same error. Looking at the size of the initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic image, I see that it's jumped to over 275 MB.

ll /boot/
total 300M
drwx------ 2 root root  12K Dec 23  2017 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 179K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.bin
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar  6 05:14 System.map-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar  6 05:14 config-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  12M Mar  6 05:16 vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar 11 06:57 System.map-5.15.0-176-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar 11 06:57 config-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:00 initrd.img -> initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:00 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1.0K Apr 15 23:00 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 275M Apr 27 18:01 initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic

It's obvious what's causing the problem, which is a sudden doubling of the size of the initrd.img files, but why are they suddenly so much bigger? I managed to fit both images onto the /boot by changing /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf from MODULES=most to MODULES=dep (in initrd.img contains unnecessary modules after distro upgrade to 22.04), but that leaves my boot partition almost full:

/dev/sda1                    470M  460M     0 100% /boot

ll /boot/
total 453M
drwx------ 2 root root  12K Dec 23  2017 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 179K Feb  6  2022 memtest86+.bin
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar  6 05:14 System.map-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar  6 05:14 config-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root  12M Mar  6 05:16 vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw------- 1 root root 6.1M Mar 11 06:57 System.map-5.15.0-176-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 256K Mar 11 06:57 config-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   29 Apr 15 23:00 initrd.img -> initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Apr 15 23:00 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.15.0-173-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 214M Apr 27 18:26 initrd.img-5.15.0-176-generic
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1.0K Apr 27 18:26 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 214M Apr 27 18:27 initrd.img-5.15.0-173-generic

This leaves me with no headroom in case of future expansions of initrd.img size and also I'm concerned that I excluded a module that will be important. Why did the initrd.img size suddenly jump? Is there any solution here short of a risky resize of my /boot partition?

Traditional titlebar icons in Klassy are too thin https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566164/traditional-titlebar-icons-in-klassy-are-too-thin

Uppon trying out Klassy and the traditional window titlebar icons in KDE Kubuntu 25.10, I noticed that there where only two modes: Fine and Bold. I was wondering if there is any way to put an inbetween thickness value maybe by setting svg stroke. I also tried the Metro option or the Fluent but made no difference, its really hard to see and the bold opinion only makes it really intense without havibg any luck with the "Bold on HiDpi" option.

Can anyone help me?

Klassy traditional titlebar icons

Xubuntu 26.04 not showing Private Use Area (PUA) characters https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566162/xubuntu-26-04-not-showing-private-use-area-pua-characters

I recently upgraded to Xubuntu 26.04, and I've noticed some characters are showing as squares. I looked the codes up and it seems like it specifically doesn't show "Private Use Area" codes.

This site shows like this on my PC
enter image description here

I've installed fonts-noto and all of the variants of that Xubuntu seems to have available, but it didn't fix this.

What do I do?

24.04 noble-updates multiverse Packages.gz and .xz file size and hash mismatch https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566161/24-04-noble-updates-multiverse-packages-gz-and-xz-file-size-and-hash-mismatch

I run a local 24.04 mirror and hit this issue today.

Should I be concerned that the latest noble-updates multiverse Packages listing fails sha256 hash and file size? Very easy to confirm here:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble-updates/InRelease

In that file, note:

 7bf55eb5acadfd2fcd0b7696ea1eda6bcde15f7f839b6e75452cd930fc5bd151            38019 multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
 c8164030d8d86a3a1a081efb83c2102ae58f26e54428403db333acb1a4457f1c            32488 multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

Then compare with:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble-updates/multiverse/binary-amd64/

Which lists Packages.gz being 53k in size. InRelease shows it should have a size of 38k. Similar for Packages.xz. sha256 of course fails as well, which is what tipped me.

How Best to Dual Boot two versions of Ubuntu https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566158/how-best-to-dual-boot-two-versions-of-ubuntu

I wish to create a dual boot on my system (A Lenovo Think Pad P16 gen 2 with an NVidia 3500 RTX GPU).

My current system is Ubuntu 24.04.3 with Kubuntu loaded on top of Ubuntu as a desktop flavor. I have no problems with this system, and want to keep running it for now.

I would like to do a fresh install of Kubuntu 26.04 and just restore my old files into it. However, I am almost certain that this would not work. When I purchased this laptop from Lenovo in January, 2025, it came preinstalled with Ubuntu 22.04, a distro that was almost three years old at that time. No upgrade option to 24.04 was offered. I tried all sorts of things, none gave me a system that fully incorporated the GPU. Eventually, I learned that certain Lenovo proprietary drivers (jiyai and sutton) required to run 24.04 with my hardware were not yet available. Finally, around June 2025, these drivers became available and I was then able to upgrade my system to 24.04 successfully. That's 14 months after 24.04 was released!

I don't think I'm wrong to think that there might be a similar or longer delay in Lenovo providing the necessary support for going from 24.04 to 26.04. It might be longer since the upgrade would involve using kernel 7.0 instead of 6.x and Wayland instead of x11.

So my thinking is this: Let's get a dual boot going with my initial 24.04 continuing as my main OS and a small partition containing 26.04, accessible via GRUB but needing NO connectivity to the 24.04 system. I could just log into it from time to time and check if Lenovo had released the hardware drivers necessary for the system to run properly. Once I found that it had, then I could reflash the new system and get going with it.

How might I accomplish this?

Find all jpgs in a directory and convert to pdf https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566157/find-all-jpgs-in-a-directory-and-convert-to-pdf

The name of the directory within dir will change so I tried using find. First time using bash so I couldn't seem to wrap my head around piping just yet. The best I came up with was:

var="$(find dir -mindepth 1 -type f)"
magick var output.pdf

but keep getting the error:

magick: no decode delegate for this image format `' @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/746.

If theres a way to pipe it I'd much appreciate the answer, but I struggled immensely with that as well and I've finally given in.

AMD boot conflict https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566156/amd-boot-conflict

This is a continuation of a previous issue that started last year. I have been avoiding the issue by simply leaving the computer on once I somehow managed to get to a place everything worked but a printer issue forced me to close down.

Every time I try to log in the boot fails and freezes on the Ubuntu screen. I can get to the 'rescue' screen via the Escape button but the low graphics make everything impossible. I am being told that amdgpu should work fine with my graphics card but when I check the error boot log I get this which I assume is the cause of the problem:

Apr 27 22:16:07 roland-desktop kernel: usb 4-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: amdgpu 0000:03:00.0: amdgpu: SMU: I'm not done with your previou>
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: amdgpu 0000:03:00.0: amdgpu: Failed to enable requested dpm feat>
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: amdgpu 0000:03:00.0: amdgpu: Failed to setup smc hw!
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: [drm:amdgpu_device_ip_init [amdgpu]] *ERROR* hw_init of IP block>
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: amdgpu 0000:03:00.0: amdgpu: amdgpu_device_ip_init failed
Apr 27 22:16:16 roland-desktop kernel: amdgpu 0000:03:00.0: amdgpu: Fatal error during GPU init

I have tried loading the AMD recommended driver and that didn't work. Neither does 'nomdeset' or reloading Ubuntu fresh (I have already lost many files). I have tried all the other suggestions I can find on the net including reloading amdgpu. The card and amdgpu are detected and listed when I search.

Anyone got any clue as to what I should try next, this is driving me insane. I KNOW the card/driver can work it's just every time I turn the computer off it seems to 'revert' and then I can't get it to boot with full graphics.

How to move thunderbird's local storage to a different partition? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566155/how-to-move-thunderbirds-local-storage-to-a-different-partition

I am using Thunderbird on a computer with limited storage in the root directory (and hence, in home). But I have a lot of storage in another partition.

Thunderbird is set to download a copy of all my emails. How to move its storage to a different partition?

I am using Thunderbird on Ubuntu 24.04 with the APT package, without snap.

How to remove all non-Ubuntu deb-packaged software https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566153/how-to-remove-all-non-ubuntu-deb-packaged-software

In the recommendations of best practices to upgrade an Ubuntu distribution (and in a previous similar post), it is recommended to:

Disable all non-Ubuntu (unoficial) deb sources, including disabling PPAs. Uninstall the deb packages that those sources provided. Return your deb packages to as close to stock condition as possible.

I know sources can be disabled in the Software and Updates application, by using add-apt-repository -r, or by adding Enabled: no to the .sources files. But how can I also uninstall the deb packages that were installed from those sources?

I have seen ppa-purge being mentioned, but it did not work properly for me. To give an example for josm that did not seem to do anything:

❯ sudo ppa-purge -s josm.openstreetmap.de ppa:apt/dists
Updating packages lists
PPA to be removed: apt dists
Package revert list generated:
 josm/questing

Updating packages lists
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
josm is already the newest version (1.5.svn19555).
Selected version '1.5.svn19555' (josm.openstreetmap.de [all]) for 'josm'
Solving dependencies... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 28 not to upgrade.
PPA purged successfully

Is there any other simple way of removing deb packages that were installed from non-Ubuntu (unofficial) sources?

Desktop display messed up and all windows are transparent https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566149/desktop-display-messed-up-and-all-windows-are-transparent

I am using Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS. I started having problems with a flickering band running across the upper roughly 20% of the screen. I tried restarting and it only made things worse. I tried changing the background and was unable to change it back. I installed gnome-shell-extension-manager and ran extension-manager but could not see anything to do with transparency. I'm not sure if the laptop is going bad but I did not have this problem with the white DELL logo so I suspect a problem with Ubuntu.

Edit. Additionally, when I log out, or restart the computer, the Ubuntu desktop remains visible on the screen.

Trying to turn on the Compose Key https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566148/trying-to-turn-on-the-compose-key

I'm using a fresh install of Ubuntu 26.04. I'm trying to turn on the compose key. I've got it set to "on" in the settings, but none of the keys I've tried setting it to (Right Alt, Right Ctrl, Right Super, Menu, Insert, Caps Lock) seem to work.

It seems like the default functionality of the key is operating instead of the compose key functionality. Caps lock is turning on all caps, insert key is turning on insertion mode, right Ctrl + o for example will open a file instead of beginning the process for copyright symbol, etc.

The guides I've found show a settings menu that looks different from the one in 26.04, so not finding much help from searching guides. What settings do I need to set to make the compose key work?

Settings menu showing that the compose key toggle is set to on and Right Alt is currently selected

picture of the settings menu showing that the Compose key toggle is set to on and right alt is currently selected

Why do some of these icons not have that lock icon overlaying them? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566146/why-do-some-of-these-icons-not-have-that-lock-icon-overlaying-them

Here is a screenshot of my Ubuntu 25.10 Cinnamon desktop. If you'll notice, most of the icons on my desktop have that little lock icon overlaying them, but a few of them do not have that little lock icon overlaying them. The reason the lock icon is overlaying them is because I went into the /home/owner/Desktop folder with the terminal and changed ownership of the *.desktop items to root, even those whose icons don't have that lock icon overlaying them. What I am perplexed about is why do some of those icons not have that lock icon overlaying them even though I did change ownership of those desktop items to root? Could someone please give me a plausible reason as to why that is?

Here is a screenshot of my desktop: enter image description here

Lubuntu install hang on low ram laptops https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566145/lubuntu-install-hang-on-low-ram-laptops

When installing Lubuntu 26.04 on two laptops (2GB RAM and 3GB RAM) and choosing to perform a 'Normal Installation', installation hangs on both laptops at 34%. At least after waiting over 40 minutes. The last line that has been printed to the log (replaced most characters by dots): Running QList("rsync", "-aHA.....", .... , "/tmp/calamares-root-...")

Choosing 'Minimum Installation', and afterwards using the Terminal to install Firefox and LibreOffice was successful on both laptops.

It seems somewhat similar to Ubuntu 26.04 installation stuck during rsync and referred https://bugs.launchpad.net/subiquity/+bug/2150197, but in those cases an error was printed.

Though installation was eventually succesful at both laptops, is this 'Normal Installation' hang a known issue?

99-pqc.conf override not being enforced in 26.04 https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566144/99-pqc-conf-override-not-being-enforced-in-26-04

I'm trying to limit ssh key exchanges to the two post-quantum secure algorithms in Ubuntu 26.04.

I've created the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/99-pqc.conf and its permissions are the same as sshd_config. The content of the file is this:

# Post-quantum only SSH key exchange
KexAlgorithms mlkem768x25519-sha256,sntrup761x25519-sha512@openssh.com
# Log negotiated algorithms so we can audit what clients are actually using
LogLevel VERBOSE

When I restart ssh, the two pqc ciphers are at the head of the list but all the old, non post-quantum secure ones are still there.

Searches online yielded the advice that failure to enforce the override was often due to configuration conflicts between NetworkManager and systemd-networkd. However only NetworkManager is active so I don't think that's the source of the problem.

Any suggestions about where to go from here?

SSD No longer recognized - 0 bytes https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566141/ssd-no-longer-recognized-0-bytes

Using Ubuntu, My Samsung 840 pro SSD seems unrecognized by BIOS or Ubuntu live USB on different machine

It was working fine prior to Changing/Updating Nvidea drivers - this caused grub to break but BIOS still recognized a drive during boot.

Plugging the SSD into a USB to SATA in a Live Ubuntu USB env

sudo dmesg

usb 2-1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=174c, idProduct=55aa, bcdDevice= 1.00
usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
usb 2-1: Product: ASM1351
usb 2-1: Manufacturer: SABRENT
scsi host1: uas
scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SABRENT  ASM1351          0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Spinning up disk...
..................................................................................................not responding...
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(16) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Not Ready [current] 
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Logical unit is in process of becoming ready
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Not Ready [current] 
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Logical unit is in process of becoming ready
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 0-byte physical blocks
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Asking for cache data failed
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Preferred minimum I/O size 512 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (0 bytes)
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Optimal transfer size 33553920 bytes not a multiple of physical block size (0 bytes)
sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

sudo fdisk -l

/dev/sdb 0 bytes

Any suggestions where to go from here, I hope all data is not lost.

EDIT: Discovered that the Samsung 840 Pro model has known faults that describe my current issue, documented here https://www.cheadledatarecovery.co.uk/2015/03/samsung-ssd-840-pro-microcode-failure/

Apparently the SSD may also be stuck in a frozen/protective/busy state

Nautilus thumbnails 26.04 LTS https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566140/nautilus-thumbnails-26-04-lts

yesterday I updated my Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to 26.04 LTS. After updating, Nautilus file explorer is not displaying thumbnail previews for files added after the update. Is this a bug? How to resolve it? Thanks for the help.

VLC 3.0.20 distorting audio on Ubuntu 24.04 https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566138/vlc-3-0-20-distorting-audio-on-ubuntu-24-04

I'm using Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS and VLC 3.0.20. Recently, I started noticing that mp3 audios that work fine with Clementine or basically any other app, come with background noise (crackling) with VLC. Same with videos. Any ideas ?

Thunderbird is not in the application menu? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566115/thunderbird-is-not-in-the-application-menu

For 26.04 I did an almost complete reinstallation of my system, only keeping my home drive but formatting all system drives.

I installed Thunderbird with apt, and it works fine with all my old settings and configurations.

But it doesn't show up in the applications menu... If I press the Windows key on my keyboard, searching for e.g. Vivaldi (my browser of choice) allows me to find and start it just fine, but Thunderbird does not show up. I have to start if from a terminal.

The /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop file is there and seems to be fine.

I've logged out/in and restarted my computer multiple times to no avail.

Was something changed in regards to mail and/or Thunderbird in 26.04? Why can't I search for it?


Addendum: The application doesn't have the Thunderbird icon once I run it. Could possibly be related.

Possible serious memory management bug (?) [closed] https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566106/possible-serious-memory-management-bug

The hardware requirements for Ubuntu 24.04.x are: 2GHz processor & at least 4GB of ram.

Has anyone ever actually tried to run 24.04.x on a system with only 4GB ram? I have to ask because I've been trying it, repeatedly, and every time the system gets to the point where it has to start swapping (as shown by top) SOMETHING crashes... either Firefox or gnome-shell or the kernel. (That last one is just a guess, but when the whole system locks up with a totally black screen I gotta think that's a kernel panic.) In one case where my keyboard & mouse clicks (but not mouse movements) suddenly stopped working, after a reboot I got some message asking me if I wanted to report an error to Ubuntu central and when I looked at the details it said that gnome-shell had gotten a SIGBUS!

So anyway, I was able to repeat these failures, consistently, on 2 different, mostly identical systems, specifically my two HP T620 thin clients, each with a AMD "Kabini" GX-415GA (quad core), each having only 4GB ram installed and each with a Sandisk X600 128GB M.2 (SATA) "hard drive" installed. (The only differences between the two is that one has a WiFi card installed & the other doesn't and one has been updated to the latest HP T620 BIOS and the other hasn't yet... but the BIOS rev. apparently makes no difference to these mysterious crashes. I know. I checked.)

I have already ordered more memory for these machines, and yes, clock speed for these CPUs is only 1.5GHz, which doesn't meet the strict letter of the 24.x.x hardware requirements, but setting that aside, even if I put 8GB in each of these machines, if my guess is correct that there is a serious memory management bug underneath all these repeated crashes then what happens when and if I max out the 8GB and start swapping? Obviously the mysterious application, gnome-shell and (possibly) kernel crashes will reappear. So just adding more memory is obviously not a proper solution.

I'd like to hear whatever anybody might have to say about all this. Opinions welcome. Should I file a formal bug report?

If anyone was at all interested in investigating these problems then I would be more than happy to loan one of these systems to that person for, say, 30 days, and I'd pay for shipping both ways (continental US only).

How to fix bad Bengali fonts on browser in Ubuntu? The issue started after installing GNU Octave https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566104/how-to-fix-bad-bengali-fonts-on-browser-in-ubuntu-the-issue-started-after-insta

I installed Octave, and the Bengali fonts in many websites such as Wikipedia (all articles) are rendering quite badly afterwards in both Firefox and Chromium.

Example: The font is very small, and it looks somewhat broken in this Wikipedia article:

enter image description here

How to fix this issue?

I am trying to change Ubuntu desktop settings but I am getting an error. How to resolve this error? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566096/i-am-trying-to-change-ubuntu-desktop-settings-but-i-am-getting-an-error-how-to

I am running Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and this error occurs in the settings.

I get this error when I try to change the Ubuntu desktop settings in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. I have uploaded the error message. If there is any solution please share.

Best Regards

Tux The Linux Fan

How to get wifi work in Ubuntu 26.04 persistent live session? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1566036/how-to-get-wifi-work-in-ubuntu-26-04-persistent-live-session

Wifi does not work in the live session, but I have wired networking available. However, if I want to enable wifi connection, is it a good idea to install a proprietary driver for the hardware. And is it a problem, if I boot the USB Ubuntu in another computer that uses a different driver when it has the additional driver?

How can I install the driver?

I tried running sudo apt update with the following output: enter image description here

And I tried to install software-properties-gtk. That one is needed in Ubuntu to install additional drivers, right? enter image description here

It is 8GB flash drive and the laptop has 8GB RAM. enter image description here

Ubuntu 24.04 headless USB autoinstall failing (Ventoy + UEFI) https://askubuntu.com/questions/1564458/ubuntu-24-04-headless-usb-autoinstall-failing-ventoy-uefi

Headless Ubuntu Server 24.04 autoinstall via USB (UEFI + Ventoy)

I’m trying to create a USB drive that can install Ubuntu Server 24.04 on multiple bare-metal nodes in a fully headless way.

Expected outcome

  • Boot priority set to USB HDD

  • System installs automatically with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse

  • No manual input required at any stage

  • OS installs on the only internal drive present (each node has exactly one disk)

  • Swap should be disabled

  • Works across nodes with:

    • Different CPUs

    • Different RAM sizes

    • Different storage devices (NVMe / SATA SSD)


Current Setup

  • USB created using Ventoy

  • ISO Image -> ubuntu-24.04.4-live-server-amd64.iso

  • ventoy.json configured to load user-data for autoinstall
    → This part is working

  • BIOS set to UEFI only

  • Verified:

    /sys/firmware/efi
    

    exists, so the system is booting in UEFI mode.


What’s Working

  • Ubuntu ISO boots

  • Autoinstall is triggered

  • Cloud-init reads user-data


Issue

I’m getting the following error during installation:

Error Snapshot


Questions

  1. What is the correct generic storage config for:

    • Single disk (any size)

    • GPT

    • EFI partition

    • Root partition

    • No swap

  2. Is there a recommended minimal storage: config for heterogeneous hardware?

  3. Is there anything specific required for UEFI-only autoinstall setups?


Additional Context

  • No PXE — USB-only deployment

  • Goal is repeatable install across homelab nodes

  • Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS

  • Headless-only environment

user-data file

#cloud-config
autoinstall:
  version: 1
  apt:
    fallback: offline-install
  install:
    mode: minimized
  locale: en_US.UTF-8
  keyboard:
    layout: us
  timezone: Asia/Kolkata
  drivers:
    install: true
  identity:
    realname: Maverick
    username: maverick
    password: "my_hash_here"
    hostname: pn-01
  ssh:
    install-server: true
    allow-pw: true
  storage:
    layout:
      name: lvm
    wipe: superblock-recursive
    swap:
      size: 0
  network:
    version: 2
    ethernets:
      all_interfaces:
        match:
          name: "e*"
        dhcp4: true
        macaddress: permanent
        dhcp-identifier: mac
        optional: true
  packages:
    - micro
    - htop
    - screenfetch
    - net-tools
    - iperf3
    - curl
    - fio
  late-commands:
    - curtin in-target -- target swapoff -a
    - curtin in-target -- target sed -i '/swap/d' /etc/fstab
    - curtin in-target -- target apt-get purge -y cloud-init
    - curtin in-target -- target rm -rf /etc/cloud/ /var/lib/cloud/
    - curtin in-target -- target apt-get autoremove -y
How to disable HDMI output sinks in Pipewire? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1557133/how-to-disable-hdmi-output-sinks-in-pipewire

I want to do that for two reasons:

Firstly, in the workplace setting I never need or indeed tolerate HDMI output to broadcast my sounds at large. Secondly, there seems to be a bug in Ubuntu where when I plug in headphones, the system correctly re-routes sound from HDMI to laptop, but towards speaker not headphone - still broadcasting at large; I hope disabling HDMI will get rid of that. So I need to disable specific sinks instead, because of integrated chipset.

It looks like not only Pipewire has new bugs Pulseaudio didn't, but it also has no GUI or even command-line tuning (wireplumber exists but has laughable cmdline and no GUI), instead user is expected to write json files to their dot dirs to configure. I would prefer a console or GUI tool, but JSON writing recipe is not off limits.

I've reviewed existing popular answers:

  • Disabling port switch looks wrong because I still want switching between headphones and speakers, just never HDMI;
  • Blacklisting snd_hda_codec_hdmi does not work - upon reboot the module is still loaded and HDMI sinks present; even if it worked, I believe it would disable the entirety of Meteor Lake controller, including speaker/headphone.
  • I am using Meteor Lake super integrated chipset, meaning there's not two separate audio controllers but a single one - so there is no option to disable separate HDMI controller entirely: pavucontrol controllers
Booting from live disk stuck on "EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LLINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path" https://askubuntu.com/questions/1513209/booting-from-live-disk-stuck-on-efi-stub-loaded-initrd-from-llinux-efi-initrd

I want to experiment with Ubuntu on a Lenovo laptop which has Manjaro installed (and nothing else, no Windows). I downloaded Ubuntu-24.04-desktop-amd64.iso on a Windows machine and burned it to a USB stick. After a lot of trouble I got the boot process to start on the Lenovo and fixed the black screen by typing e at the Try Ubuntu without installing option and replacing quiet splash with nomodeset, then F10 to boot. But now I am stuck with this message on the screen: EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LLINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path What next please? EDIT 24 May 2024 - I never did solve the problem. I changed to a different machine and have stopped trying to use the Manjaro machine for Linux. I have wiped it, installed Windows, and will keep it for things that won't run on Linux.

How to change vendor preset in systemd? https://askubuntu.com/questions/1482929/how-to-change-vendor-preset-in-systemd

I noticed the vendor preset for systemd services, and after researching I only found that distributions specify *.preset files to set vendor presets, but I cannot find it in ubuntu 22.04. Does Ubuntu define any such preset file where one can change the vendor presets?

Can't boot Ubuntu 17.04 by EasyBCD in multi-boot with Windows https://askubuntu.com/questions/923853/cant-boot-ubuntu-17-04-by-easybcd-in-multi-boot-with-windows

After installing Ubuntu 17.04 with its bootloader in a patition (hd0,5), I was unable to boot it via EasyBCD 2.3.207 (my preferred bootloader). I have installed Ubuntu after Windows and don't want to use grub on MBR of first disk. I can boot Ubuntu by Super Grub Disk but when I try it by EasyBCD, either by automatically choosing or selecting the partition manually, it end up in Grub> prompt. The following commands are also not effective : Root=(hd0,5) chanloader +1 boot

Now I am in Grub rescue > prompt. Interestingly, I now can boot into Ubuntu by:
set prefix=(hd0,6)/boot/grub
set root=(hd0,6)
insmod normal
normal

This gives me the grub menu and I can choose any option therein. The problem is that it is impossible to do this every time for booting or use Super Grub Disk. How can I use BCDedit or EasyBCD or Neogrub bootloader to do this automatically (tried it unsuccessfully by manipulating the menu.lst file of Neogrub ).

Please help,

Thanks,

Tapas

When I use ZSH, how do I set PATH in /etc/profile.d? https://askubuntu.com/questions/476246/when-i-use-zsh-how-do-i-set-path-in-etc-profile-d

I'm using zsh as my shell, and I'm trying to configure my environment.

I usually define my $JAVA_HOME variable by creating a file:

/etc/profile.d/java.sh

with the following content

export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/jdk
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

then I logout and back in, and it all works, but for some reason the PATH variable is not set. It recognizes JAVA_HOME, but not the new PATH, see this terminal snippet:

~  echo $JAVA_HOME
/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.8.0_05
~  echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

and I confirmed it by trying to run a command form the jvm

~  java -version
zsh: command not found: java

the PATH doesn't include the $JAVA_HOME as it should. is there something else I should check?

I have checked that if I run:

source /etc/profile.d/java.sh

it all runs correctly and my variables get set as they should, but shouldn't the scripts in /etc/profile.d run automatically?

How to use modeswitch https://askubuntu.com/questions/272745/how-to-use-modeswitch

I have a 3G data card. On my Windows system I can access its memory, but I can't access the memory of the device. So I have a few questions:

  • How I can access memory of my data card on Ubuntu 12.04?
  • Why is my device not behaving plug n play?
  • What is USB modeswitch?
  • How to use it?

Here is the output of the command lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04f2:b159 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 03f0:231d Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 002 Device 014: ID 12d1:1506 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E398 LTE/UMTS/GSM Modem/Networkcard
How can I disable USB autosuspend for a specific device? https://askubuntu.com/questions/185274/how-can-i-disable-usb-autosuspend-for-a-specific-device

This is related to the issue discussed in Wireless mouse temporarily freezes (sleeps) on battery power.

Summary: the mouse freezes when operating on battery since it is autosuspended after a certain time and needs more time to wake up.

Disabling USB autosuspend for the mouse's receiver in PowerTOP is a temporary solution, but it does not survive a reboot.

How can I permanently disable the USB autosuspend for only one specific device?

A solution that does not involve installing additional packages is preferred (after all, I want to disable something), but it is not required. Removing PowerTOP (which seems to be a solution for some) is not what I want - I like PowerTOP...

And installing laptop-mode-tools to disable USB autosuspend altogether is not what I want, either, thus the new question.

Also: Will this affect the battery of my notebook? The Logitech unifying receiver for the mouse stays connected all the time, so if that prevents the autosuspend from happening for all devices that would probably be bad.