Hello

Can anyone advise me how to delete the items at the bottom of the list
shown on this photograph? (Delete and 'cut' are greyed out).
i.e. Below the green folders.

https://ibb.co/mHMDnM2

Thanks if you can.

--
David

On 12/14/2021 4:32 PM, David Brooks wrote:
> Hello
>
> Can anyone advise me how to delete the items at the bottom of the list
> shown on this photograph? (Delete and 'cut' are greyed out).
> i.e. Below the green folders.
>
> https://ibb.co/mHMDnM2
>
> Thanks if you can.
>

That looks a lot like some sort of root file system.

/bin
/usr

Now, if you open a terminal and do

cd /
ls -al

you would probably see "root:root" as the owner
of the files. Numerically, 500:500 as userid and groupid

Whereas you are "david:david: or 1000:1000 and your superpowers
are weaker than "root:root".

On a system where the administrator has set up sudoers file
and defined a set of capabilities, you might be given the capability
to do this.

sudo rm -Rf /bin
sudo rm -RF /usr

That would be an example of a very destructive thing to do. That's
one of the reasons they don't give "david:david" the ability to
delete stuff in slash.

You are probably seeking to remove the symbolic links.

sudo rm /initrd.img.old
sudo rm /vmlinux.old

Now, if you were to ls those...

sudo ls -al /initrd.img.old
sudo ls -al /vmlinux.old

then the symbolic link would be shown as the file name
plus "the thing it points at". Notice how the symbolic
link takes no space at all, to speak of.

You might want to examine where those point at, before
getting "rm happy".

My files of that name, are inside /boot .

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/3Jv4L3Gs/mint-slash-boot.gif

# Some background.

http://www.linfo.org/vmlinuz.html

You can also see where the symbolic link points, in my picture.

I think, once my OS installation has received a kernel update,
then chances are the ...old thing will point to something old,
and so the pointers (symbolic links) will make a bit more sense.

Maybe someone else will comment on why those files ended up there.
My memory isn't what it used to be.

Paul

On 14/12/2021 22:59, Paul wrote:
> On 12/14/2021 4:32 PM, David Brooks wrote:
>> Hello
>>
>> Can anyone advise me how to delete the items at the bottom of the list
>> shown on this photograph? (Delete and 'cut' are greyed out).
>> i.e. Below the green folders.
>>
>> https://ibb.co/mHMDnM2
>>
>> Thanks if you can.
>>
>
> That looks a lot like some sort of root file system.
>
>    /bin
>    /usr
>
> Now, if you open a terminal and do
>
>    cd /
>    ls -al
>
> you would probably see "root:root" as the owner
> of the files. Numerically, 500:500 as userid and groupid
>
> Whereas you are "david:david: or 1000:1000 and your superpowers
> are weaker than "root:root".
>
> On a system where the administrator has set up sudoers file
> and defined a set of capabilities, you might be given the capability
> to do this.
>
>    sudo rm -Rf /bin
>    sudo rm -RF /usr
>
> That would be an example of a very destructive thing to do. That's
> one of the reasons they don't give "david:david" the ability to
> delete stuff in slash.
>
> You are probably seeking to remove the symbolic links.
>
>    sudo rm /initrd.img.old
>    sudo rm /vmlinux.old
>
> Now, if you were to ls those...
>
>    sudo ls -al /initrd.img.old
>    sudo ls -al /vmlinux.old
>
> then the symbolic link would be shown as the file name
> plus "the thing it points at". Notice how the symbolic
> link takes no space at all, to speak of.
>
> You might want to examine where those point at, before
> getting "rm happy".
>
> My files of that name, are inside /boot .
>
>    [Picture]
>
>    https://i.postimg.cc/3Jv4L3Gs/mint-slash-boot.gif
>
>    # Some background.
>
>    http://www.linfo.org/vmlinuz.html
>
> You can also see where the symbolic link points, in my picture.
>
> I think, once my OS installation has received a kernel update,
> then chances are the ...old thing will point to something old,
> and so the pointers (symbolic links) will make a bit more sense.
>
> Maybe someone else will comment on why those files ended up there.
> My memory isn't what it used to be.
>
>    Paul

Thanks Paul. I'll sleep on that.

Tell me about Bullwinkle in that image! Is that YOU?!!!

On 12/14/2021 6:27 PM, David Brooks wrote:

>
> Tell me about Bullwinkle in that image! Is that YOU?!!!

I needed an account name for VM pictures, and that is it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwinkle_J._Moose

If you drive into one of those, they roll right up the
hood and through the windshield. That's because the
mass is all riding up high, on the long legs.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/post-launch-images/2020/12/ap_16237580045054/16x9_m.jpg?mw=1290&hash=C296B5A335B3D5E5A2385FC12A098723

That's their main defensive tactic, is coming through the windshield.
When that happens, you won't drive into one a second time.

*******

I do not use that moniker anywhere else.

I only have one nym for USENET. ---+
|
Paul <--------+

On 15/12/2021 01:12, Paul wrote:
> On 12/14/2021 6:27 PM, David Brooks wrote:
>
>>
>> Tell me about Bullwinkle in that image! Is that YOU?!!!
>
> I needed an account name for VM pictures, and that is it.
>
>     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwinkle_J._Moose
>
> If you drive into one of those, they roll right up the
> hood and through the windshield. That's because the
> mass is all riding up high, on the long legs.
>
> https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/post-launch-images/2020/12/ap_16237580045054/16x9_m.jpg?mw=1290&hash=C296B5A335B3D5E5A2385FC12A098723
>
>
> That's their main defensive tactic, is coming through the windshield.
> When that happens, you won't drive into one a second time.
>
> *******
>
> I do not use that moniker anywhere else.
>
> I only have one nym for USENET. ---+
>                                    |
>    Paul                   <--------+

Thank you for explaining, Paul

The name brought back memories of a long-time-ago Usenet adversary who
used that pseudonym. A 'nasty piece of work' as some folk might say.

It seem as if I committed original sin by being logged in as 'root' -
I'll post up another photograph for your review.

Thanks for being one of life's 'good guys', Paul. 💕

On 14/12/2021 22:59, Paul wrote:
> On 12/14/2021 4:32 PM, David Brooks wrote:
>> Hello
>>
>> Can anyone advise me how to delete the items at the bottom of the list
>> shown on this photograph? (Delete and 'cut' are greyed out).
>> i.e. Below the green folders.
>>
>> https://ibb.co/mHMDnM2
>>
>> Thanks if you can.
>>
>
> That looks a lot like some sort of root file system.
>
>    /bin
>    /usr
>
> Now, if you open a terminal and do
>
>    cd /
>    ls -al
>
> you would probably see "root:root" as the owner
> of the files. Numerically, 500:500 as userid and groupid
>
> Whereas you are "david:david: or 1000:1000 and your superpowers
> are weaker than "root:root".
>
> On a system where the administrator has set up sudoers file
> and defined a set of capabilities, you might be given the capability
> to do this.
>
>    sudo rm -Rf /bin
>    sudo rm -RF /usr
>
> That would be an example of a very destructive thing to do. That's
> one of the reasons they don't give "david:david" the ability to
> delete stuff in slash.
>
> You are probably seeking to remove the symbolic links.
>
>    sudo rm /initrd.img.old
>    sudo rm /vmlinux.old
>
> Now, if you were to ls those...
>
>    sudo ls -al /initrd.img.old
>    sudo ls -al /vmlinux.old
>
> then the symbolic link would be shown as the file name
> plus "the thing it points at". Notice how the symbolic
> link takes no space at all, to speak of.
>
> You might want to examine where those point at, before
> getting "rm happy".
>
> My files of that name, are inside /boot .
>
>    [Picture]
>
>    https://i.postimg.cc/3Jv4L3Gs/mint-slash-boot.gif
>
>    # Some background.
>
>    http://www.linfo.org/vmlinuz.html
>
> You can also see where the symbolic link points, in my picture.
>
> I think, once my OS installation has received a kernel update,
> then chances are the ...old thing will point to something old,
> and so the pointers (symbolic links) will make a bit more sense.
>
> Maybe someone else will comment on why those files ended up there.
> My memory isn't what it used to be.

Hi Paul

Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here is a
photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.

https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY

I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old iMac,
but have just the LM logo on screen at present!

Stay safe.

I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just died
from Covid at the age of 73. :-( RIP ❤️

On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:

> Hi Paul
>
> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here is a
> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>
> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>
> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>
> Stay safe.
>
> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just died from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️

I still don't know what you're trying to do.

There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
you're doing.

The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
it.

Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard drive.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick itself.
You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.

If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
and the command would not work to erase the optical media.

Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
an ISO file (too big, too slow).

Paul

On 15/12/2021 13:13, Paul wrote:
> On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul
>>
>> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
>> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here is a
>> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>>
>> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>>
>> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old
>> iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>>
>> Stay safe.
>>
>> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just died
>> from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️
>
> I still don't know what you're trying to do.
>
> There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
> you're doing.
>
> The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
> able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
> it.
>
> Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
> of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
> and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard drive.
>
>    sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
>
> That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick itself.
> You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
> one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
> erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.
>
> If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
> as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
> and the command would not work to erase the optical media.
>
> Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
> can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
> Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
> using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
> screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
> But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
> to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
> be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
> It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
> implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
> here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
> But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
> plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
> something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
> an ISO file (too big, too slow).

Hello again, Paul

Thanks for responding again. The LM logo remained on screen with no
other action transpiring. I rebooted a couple of times to no avail and
also unplugged the power lead. That DID give me a chance to run Linux
again but nothing was successful - I ended up with the LM logo again and
nothing more happened.

I have a DVD I made quite recently. I am reinstalling now from scratch.

Half-way there! Just need to be able to connect to the Internet
wirelessly and connect my Bluetooth mouse!

On 12/15/21 9:44 AM, David Brooks wrote:
> On 15/12/2021 13:13, Paul wrote:
>> On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Paul
>>>
>>> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
>>> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here
>>> is a
>>> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>>>
>>> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>>>
>>> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old
>>> iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>>>
>>> Stay safe.
>>>
>>> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just
>>> died from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️
>>
>> I still don't know what you're trying to do.
>>
>> There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
>> you're doing.
>>
>> The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
>> able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
>> it.
>>
>> Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
>> of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
>> and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard drive.
>>
>>     sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
>>
>> That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick itself.
>> You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
>> one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
>> erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.
>>
>> If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
>> as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
>> and the command would not work to erase the optical media.
>>
>> Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
>> can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
>> Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
>> using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
>> screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
>> But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
>> to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
>> be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
>> It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
>> implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
>> here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
>> But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
>> plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
>> something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
>> an ISO file (too big, too slow).
>
>
> Hello again, Paul
>
> Thanks for responding again. The LM logo remained on screen with no
> other action transpiring. I rebooted a couple of times to no avail and
> also unplugged the power lead. That DID give me a chance to run Linux
> again but nothing was successful - I ended up with the LM logo again and
> nothing more happened.
>
> I have a DVD I made quite recently. I am reinstalling now from scratch.
>
> Half-way there! Just need to be able to connect to the Internet
> wirelessly and connect my Bluetooth mouse!
>
>
>
Have you booted live Clonezilla and run a filecheck on the drive in
question?

On 15/12/2021 14:53, Nic wrote:
> On 12/15/21 9:44 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>> On 15/12/2021 13:13, Paul wrote:
>>> On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Paul
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
>>>> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here
>>>> is a
>>>> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>>>>
>>>> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>>>>
>>>> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old
>>>> iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>>>>
>>>> Stay safe.
>>>>
>>>> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just
>>>> died from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️
>>>
>>> I still don't know what you're trying to do.
>>>
>>> There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
>>> you're doing.
>>>
>>> The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
>>> able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
>>> it.
>>>
>>> Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
>>> of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
>>> and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard drive.
>>>
>>>     sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
>>>
>>> That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick itself.
>>> You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
>>> one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
>>> erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.
>>>
>>> If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
>>> as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
>>> and the command would not work to erase the optical media.
>>>
>>> Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
>>> can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
>>> Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
>>> using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
>>> screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
>>> But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
>>> to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
>>> be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
>>> It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
>>> implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
>>> here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
>>> But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
>>> plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
>>> something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
>>> an ISO file (too big, too slow).
>>
>>
>> Hello again, Paul
>>
>> Thanks for responding again. The LM logo remained on screen with no
>> other action transpiring. I rebooted a couple of times to no avail and
>> also unplugged the power lead. That DID give me a chance to run Linux
>> again but nothing was successful - I ended up with the LM logo again and
>> nothing more happened.
>>
>> I have a DVD I made quite recently. I am reinstalling now from scratch.
>>
>> Half-way there! Just need to be able to connect to the Internet
>> wirelessly and connect my Bluetooth mouse!
>>
>>
>>
> Have you booted live Clonezilla and run a filecheck on the drive in
> question?

No, I'm unaware of that facility ....

But I am now 'up and running' with a wireless connection and my Magic
Mouse working! 🙂

Thank you for your thoughts, Nic. Can I check now?

David

On 12/15/2021 10:18 AM, David Brooks wrote:
> On 15/12/2021 14:53, Nic wrote:

>> Have you booted live Clonezilla and run a filecheck on the drive in question?
>
> No, I'm unaware of that facility ....
>
> But I am now 'up and running' with a wireless connection and my Magic Mouse working! 🙂
>
> Thank you for your thoughts, Nic. Can I check now?
>
> David

On Windows, there is "chkdsk".

On Linux, there is "fsck".

https://linux.die.net/man/8/fsck

On Macintosh, "Disk First Aid" ? And probably fsck at Terminal level.

*******

You will notice in the web manual page above, that at the bottom of the page
are specific instances of fsck. Each file system type has different things
that potentially need to be checked.

When fsck runs, it can prompt you with "silly questions". I can't
answer all of the questions, as I'm not an expert at fixing file
systems internally. This presents a problem. If you were to say
"Yes" to every blasted thing, well sooner or later one of the
prompts was "important" and bad things happen.

-N Don't execute, just show what would be done.

That's an example of "simulate". In a completely broken situation,
that might be a good place to start.

sudo fsck -N /dev/sda -r

# Since the -r is implicit on ext, you could also type

sudo fsck -N /dev/sda

If it sails through with nary a message, then you could run it for real.
If it displays a series of worrying errors, you can stop there.

*******

When in doubt, BACK UP.

Using a USB stick, the root file system on the hard drive doesn't
have to mount or be mounted, and then whatever backup method you
want to do, collects a good copy. Offline backups give the greatest
degree of freedom.

You can use Timeshift (for specific things) or more generally Clonezilla.
These are bound to be more efficient than using "dd" to make backup
images of disk drives. But "dd" is very simple and mechanical, so you
tend to trust it more than the "intelligent" methods.

sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/media/mint/backupdrive/mybigfile.bin

If the SDA device is 500GB, then mybigfile.bin will be 500GB.
Some of the other backup methods, only record the "used" file space,
and are a lot more efficient. Your fresh install of Mint might
only take 10GB. The other 490GB of the disk would be empty, and
the "dd" would be "highly wasteful".

I have a compressor I use, to do a first level of compression on "dd"
files, but the whole procedure is too time consuming and boring, for
anyone to be interested. The purpose of "dd" backups by the way, is
when "calibrating" other methods. Say you use clonezilla to image a
drive, then you restore later and the disk won't boot. You could then
reach over, use the "dd" image you collected and restore that. Then
try a new set of clonezilla parameters and try again. "dd" is the
backup method for the backup method. It is your second level of defense,
until you are completely familiar with making clonezilla backups.

I don't do a lot of "dd" backups, but when I do, I have a method in mind.
In the Mint example above, of 10GB files and 490GB unused, my "dd"
is only 10GB in size. If you zero out the disk before installing,
the "dd" image can be highly compressible.

Paul

On 12/15/21 10:18 AM, David Brooks wrote:
> On 15/12/2021 14:53, Nic wrote:
>> On 12/15/21 9:44 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>>> On 15/12/2021 13:13, Paul wrote:
>>>> On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Paul
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
>>>>> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so
>>>>> here is a
>>>>> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>>>>>
>>>>> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old
>>>>> iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>>>>>
>>>>> Stay safe.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just
>>>>> died from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️
>>>>
>>>> I still don't know what you're trying to do.
>>>>
>>>> There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
>>>> you're doing.
>>>>
>>>> The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
>>>> able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
>>>> it.
>>>>
>>>> Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
>>>> of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
>>>> and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard
>>>> drive.
>>>>
>>>>     sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
>>>>
>>>> That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick
>>>> itself.
>>>> You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
>>>> one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
>>>> erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.
>>>>
>>>> If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
>>>> as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
>>>> and the command would not work to erase the optical media.
>>>>
>>>> Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
>>>> can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
>>>> Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
>>>> using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
>>>> screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
>>>> But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
>>>> to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
>>>> be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
>>>> It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
>>>> implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
>>>> here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
>>>> But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
>>>> plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
>>>> something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
>>>> an ISO file (too big, too slow).
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello again, Paul
>>>
>>> Thanks for responding again. The LM logo remained on screen with no
>>> other action transpiring. I rebooted a couple of times to no avail and
>>> also unplugged the power lead. That DID give me a chance to run Linux
>>> again but nothing was successful - I ended up with the LM logo again
>>> and
>>> nothing more happened.
>>>
>>> I have a DVD I made quite recently. I am reinstalling now from scratch.
>>>
>>> Half-way there! Just need to be able to connect to the Internet
>>> wirelessly and connect my Bluetooth mouse!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> Have you booted live Clonezilla and run a filecheck on the drive in
>> question?
>
> No, I'm unaware of that facility ....
>
> But I am now 'up and running' with a wireless connection and my Magic
> Mouse working! 🙂
>
> Thank you for your thoughts, Nic. Can I check now?
>
> David
>
>
If you have not tried the re-install and you you are still looking at
that LM logo I would give it a try, see if CZ can repair the damage

On 12/15/2021 11:24 AM, Nic wrote:

> If you have not tried the re-install and you you are still looking
> at that LM logo I would give it a try, see if CZ can repair the damage

I think the state he was in, was

OS booted.
Xorg running.
Hmmm. Window manager not working (no decoration on Mint greeter underneath).
It's funny that a single terminal window opened full screen and sans decoration.

And you know how much fun it is to deal with Window Manager not running.
The executable could be missing.

Maybe next time, he'll have a Timeshift ready. With a Timeshift, if the
machine was in the above state, it may be possible to restore the OS fileset
and try again.

If the issue was related to something in the homedir, then the
Timeshift wouldn't do much good (likely a repeat of symptoms).

There are no details, but at least there is a plausible scenario.
Something in a move from 19.1 to 19.2.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=302699

Paul

On 12/15/21 5:40 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 12/15/2021 11:24 AM, Nic wrote:
>
>> If you have not tried the re-install and you you are still looking at
>> that LM logo I would give it a try, see if CZ can repair the damage
>
> I think the state he was in, was
>
> OS booted.
> Xorg running.
> Hmmm. Window manager not working (no decoration on Mint greeter
> underneath).
> It's funny that a single terminal window opened full screen and sans
> decoration.
>
> And you know how much fun it is to deal with Window Manager not running.
> The executable could be missing.
>
> Maybe next time, he'll have a Timeshift ready. With a Timeshift, if the
> machine was in the above state, it may be possible to restore the OS
> fileset
> and try again.
>
> If the issue was related to something in the homedir, then the
> Timeshift wouldn't do much good (likely a repeat of symptoms).
>
> There are no details, but at least there is a plausible scenario.
> Something in a move from 19.1 to 19.2.
>
> https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=302699
>
>    Paul
>
>
>
I concede to your understanding, you are the Grand Elder Of Linux, with
all the proper respect may I leave your presence.

On 15/12/2021 13:13, Paul wrote:
> On 12/15/2021 5:54 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul
>>
>> Thank you for helping. You are dead to rights on this. I took a
>> screenshot but was unable to transfer it to my 'good' iMac, so here is a
>> photograph which, although poor, you should be able to read.
>>
>> https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY
>>
>> I find this quite intriguing. I'm in process of restarting my old
>> iMac, but have just the LM logo on screen at present!
>>
>> Stay safe.
>>
>> I've just heard that Cornwall's famous comedian, Jethro, has just died
>> from Covid at the age of 73.  :-(    RIP ❤️
>
> I still don't know what you're trying to do.
>
> There is more than one way to clean a disk, if that is what
> you're doing.
>
> The MacOS media, it has a Disk preparation tool, that should be
> able to remove the partition structure on there now, and pave over
> it.
>
> Sitting around deleting files in slash, is just silly. Nothing
> of value is achieved by doing that. Booting the Mint LiveUSB stick
> and using dd, would be an example of forensically cleaning a hard drive.
>
>    sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
>
> That assumes /dev/sdb is the hard drive, and isn't the USB stick itself.
> You might have the two devices, a USB stick and a hard drive, and
> one might be sda, the other sdb. And you have to be careful, if
> erasing at the sector level, to select the correct drive.
>
> If the Mint media is on an optical disc, then so much the better,
> as an attempt to "dd" that, the media is effectively read-only
> and the command would not work to erase the optical media.
>
> Mint also has screen snapshot tools, but I don't know if they
> can be used in the situation you're in at the moment. It's possible
> Xorg is running, and then a screenshot should work. On some systems,
> using the PRTSCN key and key modifier, that "key" is bound to the
> screenshot application and will take a shot of the screen for you.
> But you still have to arrange to transfer the file by some means,
> to another computer. If networking was broken, there might still
> be a way to transfer it, as Bluetooth has a kind of FTP capability.
> It's even possible the Bluetooth thing is cross-platform (if
> implemented). As a test, I've sent files between two Windows machines
> here, using Bluetooth, but the data rate is naturally, pretty low.
> But that works if a machine is network-isolated (you pulled the
> plug to stop Windows Update). The datarate would be sufficient for
> something like a screenshot. But not suited to transferring
> an ISO file (too big, too slow).

Hello again, Paul

Here is a screenshot which I took this morning: https://ibb.co/7CDbP2T

What I am curious about is the "Link to Unknown" items shown bottom right.

Have you any thoughts about this?

I'm also interested in the 'swapfile' - 2.1 GB (owned by 'root')
Can I simply ignore it?

TIA

--
David

On 12/16/2021 5:40 AM, David Brooks wrote:

> Hello again, Paul
>
> Here is a screenshot which I took this morning:  https://ibb.co/7CDbP2T
>
> What I am curious about is the "Link to Unknown" items shown bottom right.
>
> Have you any thoughts about this?
>
> I'm also interested in the 'swapfile' - 2.1 GB  (owned by 'root')
> Can I simply ignore it?
>
> TIA

Swap can be a partition or a file. What I find puzzling, is when
an OS uses "swapfile", it refuses to "swapon -a" any swap partitions
that also exist.

While the OS is running, it might be a bit difficult to remove :-)
I don't know if it listens to "swapoff" or not. First it has to be
unloaded, if you expect to smash it with your hammer.

*******

Link to unknown, means the machine tried to do this

file /boot/initrd.img

The file command, is the thing in Linux that figures out
what the file extension is (even though my example *has*
an extension, it is *ignored*, or it is supposed to be
ignored). Say I do this

file fuzzybunny

And it tells me the file is JPEG. Well, if you double-click
"fuzzybunny", the system first sniffs it, the double-click
opens the Photo Viewer and you view "fuzzybunny" and it never had
"fuzzybunny.jpg" as a hint. The file command then, is a
powerful tool for doing associations but without an extension
as a hint.

If I cd into /boot and try my hand again:

cd /boot
file initrd.img-5.4.0-26-generic

the returned declaration is:

ASCII cpio archive <SVR4 with no CRC>

If I were to double click the file, I would expect to
be offered to open it with Archive Manager.
Since the cpio archive is similar to a tar file, it's
a container of sorts, like a ZIP would be a container,
and a person might want to view the parts inside it.

The only disadvantage of using archive managers and other
intermediaries, is they may be depriving you of a complete dump.
I "suspect" an 80MB file has more in it than a single 30KB file,
as the Archive Manager would have me believe. You might need
the "cpio" command itself, to do a dump of the file contents
and get the real story.

The environment does have some tools for sniffing and poking
stuff, but there is room for improvement. Only the last item
in the list, seems to have received quality treatment. You will
notice some of the labeling in here, is "cheating" and I'm
not impressed. It appears someone has hooked up the 7Z engine
to try to use it for identification too. A good idea, if
someone actually reviews what it is doing.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/BQbwQmdq/guessing-games.gif

Part of the problem, is anyone who has been in there for a while,
just ignores all that labeling and just gets on with it. They're
not using the Archive Manager, they're reaching for the cpio
command immediately and so on.

This is not a Mac.

Paul

David Brooks wrote:
>
> https://ibb.co/mHMDnM2
>
This photo graphic shows Nemo displaying 4 files with filesizes ranging
from 8 to 64 meg and accompanied by a description 'link to Unknown'.

This later photo https://ibb.co/DkhTTLY of the same files w/ the ls
command correctly shows them to be tiny link files whose targets are
known to be in /boot.

It appears to me that this is a Nemo bug, reporting 'link to unknown'
which is known by ls (if not by Nemo's mechanism) and reporting the
filesize of the target instead of the correct tiny filesize of the symlink.

--
Mike Easter

On 16/12/2021 14:55, Paul wrote:
> On 12/16/2021 5:40 AM, David Brooks wrote:
>
>> Hello again, Paul
>>
>> Here is a screenshot which I took this morning:  https://ibb.co/7CDbP2T
>>
>> What I am curious about is the "Link to Unknown" items shown bottom
>> right.
>>
>> Have you any thoughts about this?
>>
>> I'm also interested in the 'swapfile' - 2.1 GB  (owned by 'root')
>> Can I simply ignore it?
>>
>> TIA
>
> Swap can be a partition or a file. What I find puzzling, is when
> an OS uses "swapfile", it refuses to "swapon -a" any swap partitions
> that also exist.
>
> While the OS is running, it might be a bit difficult to remove :-)
> I don't know if it listens to "swapoff" or not. First it has to be
> unloaded, if you expect to smash it with your hammer.
>
> *******
>
> Link to unknown, means the machine tried to do this
>
>    file /boot/initrd.img
>
> The file command, is the thing in Linux that figures out
> what the file extension is (even though my example *has*
> an extension, it is *ignored*, or it is supposed to be
> ignored). Say I do this
>
>    file fuzzybunny
>
> And it tells me the file is JPEG. Well, if you double-click
> "fuzzybunny", the system first sniffs it, the double-click
> opens the Photo Viewer and you view "fuzzybunny" and it never had
> "fuzzybunny.jpg" as a hint. The file command then, is a
> powerful tool for doing associations but without an extension
> as a hint.
>
> If I cd into /boot and try my hand again:
>
>    cd /boot
>    file initrd.img-5.4.0-26-generic
>
> the returned declaration is:
>
>    ASCII cpio archive <SVR4 with no CRC>
>
> If I were to double click the file, I would expect to
> be offered to open it with Archive Manager.
> Since the cpio archive is similar to a tar file, it's
> a container of sorts, like a ZIP would be a container,
> and a person might want to view the parts inside it.
>
> The only disadvantage of using archive managers and other
> intermediaries, is they may be depriving you of a complete dump.
> I "suspect" an 80MB file has more in it than a single 30KB file,
> as the Archive Manager would have me believe. You might need
> the "cpio" command itself, to do a dump of the file contents
> and get the real story.
>
> The environment does have some tools for sniffing and poking
> stuff, but there is room for improvement. Only the last item
> in the list, seems to have received quality treatment. You will
> notice some of the labeling in here, is "cheating" and I'm
> not impressed. It appears someone has hooked up the 7Z engine
> to try to use it for identification too. A good idea, if
> someone actually reviews what it is doing.
>
>    [Picture]
>
>    https://i.postimg.cc/BQbwQmdq/guessing-games.gif
>
> Part of the problem, is anyone who has been in there for a while,
> just ignores all that labeling and just gets on with it. They're
> not using the Archive Manager, they're reaching for the cpio
> command immediately and so on.
>
> This is not a Mac.

I like my Mac! 🙂

Thank you so much for discussing this matter with me, Paul. There is
much of what you say which I don't fully understand but I take on board
what you tell me.

For example, without the need to take a photograph, here is the low-down
on my old Apple iMac:-

System Information

System: Host: davids-OLDiMac Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic i686 bits: 32
compiler: gcc v: 7.5.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux
Mint 19.3 Tricia
base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic
Machine: Type: Desktop System: Apple product: iMac7,1 v: 1.0 serial:
<filter> Chassis: type: 13
v: Mac-F42386C8 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F42386C8 v: PVT serial: <filter>
BIOS: Apple
v: IM71.88Z.007A.B03.0803051705 date: 03/05/08
Battery: Device-1: hid-60:fb:42:fc:e6:d4-battery model: user’s mouse
serial: N/A charge: N/A
status: Discharging
CPU: Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T7700 bits: 64
type: MCP arch: Core Merom
rev: B L2 cache: 4096 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 9575
Speed: 2394 MHz min/max: 800/2400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1:
2394 2: 2394
Graphics: Device-1: AMD RV630/M76 [Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT/2700]
vendor: Apple iMac 7 1
driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1002:9583
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: ati,radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa
resolution: 1920x1200~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD RV630 (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.4.0-91-generic
LLVM 10.0.0)
v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.8 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Apple driver:
snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:284b
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic
Network: Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n
vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme
driver: wl v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID:
14e4:4328
IF: wls4 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Marvell 88E8058 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet driver:
sky2 v: 1.30 port: 2000
bus ID: 05:00.0 chip ID: 11ab:436a
IF: ens5 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 15.98 GiB (3.4%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD1 size:
465.76 GiB speed: <unknown>
serial: <filter>
Partition: ID-1: / size: 457.45 GiB used: 15.98 GiB (3.5%) fs: ext4 dev:
/dev/sda2
USB: Hub: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0
chip ID: 1d6b:0002
Hub: 1-4:3 info: Apple Hub in Aluminum Keyboard ports: 3
rev: 2.0 chip ID: 05ac:1006
Device-1: 1-4.2:4 info: Apple Aluminum Keyboard (ISO) type:
Keyboard,HID
driver: apple,usbhid rev: 2.0 chip ID: 05ac:0221
Hub: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
chip ID: 1d6b:0002
Device-2: 2-4:3 info: Apple Built-in iSight type: Video
driver: uvcvideo rev: 2.0
chip ID: 05ac:8502
Hub: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1
chip ID: 1d6b:0001
Device-3: 3-1:3 info: Apple Bluetooth HCI type: Bluetooth
driver: btusb rev: 2.0
chip ID: 05ac:8206
Hub: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1
chip ID: 1d6b:0001
Hub: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1
chip ID: 1d6b:0001
Device-4: 5-1:2 info: Apple Mighty Mouse [Mitsumi M1152]
type: Mouse
driver: apple,usbhid rev: 1.1 chip ID: 05ac:0304
Hub: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1
chip ID: 1d6b:0001
Hub: 7-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1
chip ID: 1d6b:0001
Device-5: 7-1:2 info: Apple Built-in IR Receiver type: HID
driver: appleir,usbhid
rev: 2.0 chip ID: 05ac:8242
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp:
43 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 1196
Repos: No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in:
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com tricia main upstream
import backport #id:linuxmint_main
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic main
restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates main
restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-backports
main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security
main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http: //archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ bionic partner
Info: Processes: 189 Uptime: 1m Memory: 5.84 GiB used: 476.8 MiB
(8.0%) Init: systemd v: 237
runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.5.0 alt: 7 Client: Unknown
python3.6 client inxi: 3.0.32

=

Does anything appear to be amiss or in any way 'strange'?

If all is well, we can let matters lie. Thanks once again for helping.

--
Warm regards,
David

David Brooks wrote:
> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:91.0)
> Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/91.4.0
>
> For example, without the need to take a photograph,

Good.

> here is the low-down on my old Apple iMac:-
Why not post it from the iMac Mint Cinnamon's Tb (below)?
>
> System Information
>
>            Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux
> Mint 19.3 Tricia

> Network:   Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n
> vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme
>            driver: wl v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID:
> 14e4:4328
>            IF: wls4 state: up mac: <filter>

It has operational wireless connectivity. All you need to do is
configure its Tb for your e-s NSP provider and subscribe to this group
w/ it instead of 'sneakernetting' the inxi into your other Mac you could
just paste the terminal output into a news msg.

--
Mike Easter

On 12/17/2021 8:15 AM, Mike Easter wrote:
> David Brooks wrote:
>> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:91.0)
>>  Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/91.4.0
>>
>> For example, without the need to take a photograph,
>
> Good.
>
>> here is the low-down on my old Apple iMac:-
> Why not post it from the iMac Mint Cinnamon's Tb (below)?
>>
>> System Information
>>
>>             Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia
>
>> Network:   Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme
>>             driver: wl v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4328
>>             IF: wls4 state: up mac: <filter>
>
> It has operational wireless connectivity.  All you need to do is configure its Tb for your e-s NSP provider and subscribe to this group w/ it instead of 'sneakernetting' the inxi into your other Mac you could just paste the terminal output into a news msg.
>

And having a working Broadcom is more than half the battle :-)

Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia Released: December 18, 2019 EOL: April, 2023

Plenty of time left yet.

Paul

Paul wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:
>>
>> It has operational wireless connectivity.
>
> And having a working Broadcom is more than half the battle :-)
>
The default boot algo wouldn't; Mint's driver manager was able to do it
over temporary ethernet.

>    Linux Mint 19.3   Tricia   Released: December 18, 2019   EOL: April,
> 2023
>
> Plenty of time left yet.
>
That was the last Mint 32 bit. The old iMac apparently needs 32bit;
something about its 'bios'/efi. Or, at least 32bit is 'easier'.

--
Mike Easter

On 17/12/2021 14:19, Mike Easter wrote:
> Paul wrote:
>> Mike Easter wrote:
>>>
>>> It has operational wireless connectivity.
>>
>> And having a working Broadcom is more than half the battle :-)
>>
> The default boot algo wouldn't; Mint's driver manager was able to do it
> over temporary ethernet.

That is correct! I had to run out my long Ethernet cable through the
dining room again, but not for long.

>>     Linux Mint 19.3   Tricia   Released: December 18, 2019   EOL:
>> April, 2023
>>
>> Plenty of time left yet.
>>
> That was the last Mint 32 bit.  The old iMac apparently needs 32bit;
> something about its 'bios'/efi.  Or, at least 32bit is 'easier'.

My research indicated that this is the most up-to-date Mint version
which would function on this old hardware.

AS you will note, I *AM* sending /this/ post from my old iMac. :-)

I do do SOME research but it's great to have folk like Mike and Paul to
bounce things off. My sincere thanks to both of you.

--
David

David Brooks wrote:

> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101
> Thunderbird/78.14.0

> AS you will note, I *AM* sending /this/ post from my old iMac. :-)
>
Ta da :-)

--
Mike Easter