Linux speakers hum after no audio

 Linux (Artix / Arch) is putting my speakers to sleep after a few seconds of no audio activity and the speakers hum because of it.  Found the fix on reddit

# echo 0 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save

Set KDE to use X11 instead of Wayland

 I use Artix Linux and by default it uses Wayland.  Some programs I have don't support that yet so I need to switch to X11 permanently.  If you are in KDE you can log out and change the session to X11 but this doesn't "stick" long term.  The fix is 

- Open KDE start menu

- Search for Login and pick Login Screen (SDDM)

- In the top menu click Behavior

- At the top change it to X11 where it says "Automatically login with session"

- Click Apply

KDE Halloween color scheme

 Put the color file in the following path then go to Settings > Colors

/home/[username]/.local/share/color-schemes/

Color file here : https://github.com/htx80nerd/kde-halloween-colors/tree/main

KDE System Settings crashes opening

I use KDE Systems Settings often sometimes, especially when changing fonts or color themes I might end up inside of it several times in 1 hr.  Sometimes when I open it crashes straight away.

The cause is there is some 'systemsettings' process running in the background.  So the fix here is to open a terminal and kill it then try to open again.

$killall systemsettings

Geany in dark mode on KDE

 This is how to get Geany into light mode using KDE.  My KDE is already in light mode so I am unsure why Geany opens in dark mode.  Open the KDE menu and go to geany then right click > edit.  Then click Applications tab at the top.  In the line 'Environmental variables' add this

GTK_THEME=Breeze

LibreOffice Writer stuck in dark mode

I was able to force LibreOffice Writer into light mode by editing this line to the libreoffice-writer.desktop file found here

/home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications/

You can see your available theme names here

/usr/share/themes/

Orig : 

Exec=libreoffice --writer %U

Edit :

Exec=env GTK_THEME=Breeze libreoffice --writer %U

NOTE THIS HAD TO BE CHANGED ON 2 DIFFERENT LINES

KDE custom keyboard shortcuts using kdotool

For my job I have many windows open across multiple desktops and I often need to get back to a window on a different desktop quickly, or pressing ALT+Tab isnt a good option because I have 5+ windows open.

In KDE system settings search for 'shortcut' then click Add New button > 'Command or Script' and use a command like this

kdotool search --name slack windowactivate

After that click 'add custom shortcut' button and press the keyboard combo you want.

Brave browser and Vivaldi won't open in KDE

 Ran into a weird issue today - suddenly Brave and Vivaldi refuse to open.  Same for Brave Beta.  Running from the command line I see something like this

[15524:15524:0724/100844.416388:ERROR:process_singleton_posix.cc(226)]
read() failed: Connection reset by peer (104)
[15524:15524:0724/100844.550935:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(278)]
GLib-GObject: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed
[15524:15524:0724/100844.550956:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(278)]
GLib-GObject: g_type_interface_add_prerequisite: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INTERFACE (interface_type)' failed
[15524:15524:0724/100844.550963:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(278)]
GLib: g_once_init_leave: assertion 'result != 0' failed
[15524:15524:0724/100844.550966:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(278)]
GLib-GObject: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed
[15524:15524:0724/100844.550969:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(278)]
GLib-GObject: g_type_register_static: assertion 'parent_type > 0' failed

I fixed this by chance by going into the KDE settings > Appearance and changing everything back to Breeze.  And under 'Application Style' on the bottom right I clicked 'Configure GNOME/GTK Application Style' and changed that to Breeze (it was blank before).  Did not have to reboot and all browsers launch ok now.  Did have a slight delay with Vivaldi but it seems ok.

Gimp text antialiasing odd color

 On one of my laptops in Gimp the text has this weird teal color on the anti-aliasing part.  If I turn off anti-aliasing the text color is normal.  

The text itself is white, but because the tint around it is not, it makes the text look not-white.  I tried resetting Gimp to default, this didn't help.  I uninstalled Gimp and tried to delete all files in /home/.config - then rebooted and installed fresh.  This did not seem to help either.

The fix seems to be go to Image > Precision change to 32 bit.  Before it was on 8 bit.  I have no idea how or why.   This was happening on brand new images, not some old / existing image that was set to 8 bit incorrectly.

Debian MX Linux cant see emojis

I noticed in MX Linux KDE I can't see most emojis , was able to fix it by installing this then rebooting

apt install fonts-noto-color-emoji

Can now see emojis that previously showed up as boxes

KDE wifi keeps disconnecting intermittently

Recently installed MX Linux and KDE and my wifi keeps disconnecting for half a second then reconnecting.  KDE doesnt tell me that but Facebook and Spotify keep saying I'm offline then right away back online.  I checked dmesg and saw this : 

wlan0: disconnect from AP 4a:bd:ce:15:85:33 for new auth to 4a:bd:ce:1c:85:34

wlan0: authenticate with 4a:bd:ce:1c:85:34

wlan0: disconnect from AP 4a:bd:ce:1c:85:34 for new auth to 4a:bd:ce:15:85:33

wlan0: authenticate with 4a:bd:ce:15:85:33

This happens over and over.

The fix for me was :

• right click the systray wifi icon
• go to configure network connections
• click wifi tab at top
• click drop down for BSSID and manually pick BSSID

XFCE panel increase length of window buttons

In the XFCE bottom bar I notice even when I have free space the window buttons do not expand in size which makes them hard to read.  Here is how to make the window buttons in the taskbar bigger in XFCE

Create file

~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css

add this line

.tasklist { -XfceTasklist-max-button-length: 500; }

restart the panel with this command

xfce4-panel -r

After

Before

Linux Mint IPv6 not working

All of a sudden my IPv6 wifi isn't connecting.  I change the IPv6 to automatic, automatic dhcp, automatic address only, manual config setting default routes, etc - nothing helps.  At least 1 hr just messing with the settings.  Each time I disconnect wifi  / disable re-enable networking and try again.  No joy each time.

Finally the solution was old school trouble shooting.  Completely delete the wifi connection and re-connect by selecting the wifi network and just typing in the password.  After this is works fine. 

$ping 2606:4700:4700::64
PING 2606:4700:4700::64(2606:4700:4700::64) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2606:4700:4700::64: icmp_seq=1 ttl=58 time=152 ms
64 bytes from 2606:4700:4700::64: icmp_seq=2 ttl=58 time=14.2 ms
64 bytes from 2606:4700:4700::64: icmp_seq=3 ttl=58 time=15.9 ms

LibreWolf can't play some YouTube videos

Playing a YouTube video in LibreWolf didn't work and I get the console error

NS_ERROR_DOM_MEDIA_FATAL_ERR --FFmpegDataDecoder : Couldn't open avcodec

It seems to get this to work you need to reboot after making the changes, I don't know why.  Restarting the browser and even deleting the profile didn't help.  Do not ignore this step.

Everything I tried didn't work, then I rebooted, and it worked.

I installed these packages, unsure exactly which 'did the trick'

gstreamer-plugins-ugly

mozilla-openh264

gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264

ffmpeg-4

vlc

gstreamer-plugins-libav

libvpx7

Void Linux can't install vim

Booted into Void Linux XFCE live tonight and like it. But I notice vim is not installed so I tried this :

xbps-install vim

unfortunately this did not work and I got some error saying there was an issue with package xxd

This reddit thread recommended the follow command which solved the problem

xbps-install -S vim

LibreWolf does not open maximized

When LibreWolf opens it is not maximized and after it's open if I CTRL+N for a new window that is also not maximized.  The solution is

1. Go to about:config

2.  Search for privacy.resistFingerprinting

3.  Change to false with double click

4. Restart LibreWolf

5.  Maximize LibreWolf

6. Close / reopen

edit : Also learned way too late it's in settings.  Search for fingerprint and uncheck ''Enable ResistFingerprinting"

How to make Vivaldi new page (blank) not be blinding white

My OS is in night mode and when I open a new window in Vivaldi it goes to 'blank page' which is very bright white.  The work around for this is make a basic html file, then set Vivalid URL to the html file.  

In Linux the file path is like this

file:///home/username/dark.html

This is the HTML code for the file

<html>
<body style="background-color:#000;">
</html>

Linux Mint play white noise

This plays a mix of brown noise and pink noise just below the normal system volume.  Good for watching YouTube on headphones with some static to drown out background noise.

sudo apt-get install sox
play -n synth brownnoise synth pinknoise mix gain -5

Use case : sitting in the living room watching youtube videos via headphones while my gf watches a tv show with a lot of yelling.

Linux Mint 3.5mm aux mic not working AMD Family 17h Models 10h-1fh

On Linux Mint I updated the kernel to 6.5, after this everything worked but when I plugin mic to 3.5mm aux port it does not worked and is not detected.  I found the fix in this YouTube video

Not able to detect microphone in ubuntu 22.04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYkzX1lyTNk

1. Edit this file as root :
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

2. Add this :
options snd-hda-intel model=,dell-headset-multi

3. Save file, reboot.  After that my mic is detected in the aux port again.

Note : The line says 'dell', I do not have a Dell, it also references intel, this is an AMD system, but it still worked out ok.  Command lspci says I have this 

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller

How to use 'tabless' browsing in Vivaldi

 I recently changed my Chrome and Firefox to 'tabless' mode.  Each tab gets its own Window.  I did this because for work on Linux I have several different browsers.  So what happens is I end up trying to 'alt tab' to get back to some web page, when it's actually buried in a hidden tab somewhere.  So I have to alt-tab to switch to different browser windows, then hunt through all the tabs.  This is slow and not good workflow.  So I've been using all my browsers in 'tabless' mode.  

Chrome and Firefox both have extensions for this.  Vivaldi can work with all Chrome extensions so I added it there too.  But I notice in Vivaldi when I close the tab/window with CTRL+W it pops back up a new window for some reason.  The fix for this is go into Vivalid settings and do 3 things

1.  Search for 'close tab' then scroll down to keyboard, remove the default close window shortcut by clicking the X to the right of the text box showing the keyboard shortcut (not visible until you hover).

3.  Search again for 'close window' then scroll down to keyboard, remove the default close window shortcut by clicking the X (not visible until you hover).

3.  Now for that shortcut change the 'close window' shortcut to CTRL+W by clicking in the text field, which is normally the close tab shortcut.

After this the problem of windows not going away is fixed.

Falkon browser devtools error 'this site can't be reached'

 In KDE Falkon web browser when I open devtools it shows the Chrome error

This site can’t be reached
The webpage at devtools://devtools/bundled/inspector.html might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
ERR_FAILED

Error seen at command line is  

js: Uncaught ReferenceError: Components is not defined
[15261:15261:0220/235200.401700:ERROR:CONSOLE(1)] "Uncaught ReferenceError: Components is not defined", source: chrome-error://chromewebdata/ (1)

Solution is to install package qt5-qtwebengine-devtools

 

 

Falkon browser startpage search does not work

Installed Falkon browser and noticed when I search with startpage it just redirects me to startpage homepage.  Played with the URL and postdata settings some and it just kept doing the same thing.  Even if I used a format that worked in Firefox the same thing would not work in Falkon.  Eventually I got this format to work for using Falkon and startpage as the default search engine.

https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?cat=web&language=english&q=%s