New question: In Windows when I play a DVD it plays in the best audio available for that DVD. Eg, DTS or Dolby Digital, or what ever. In Linux it plays in stereo. I have set the audio output to 7.1, which sounds great for audio only / YouTube tracks (music), but that doesn't produce a true, realistic audio experience with multi track videos. Is this something to do with propriety drivers, or do I need to install supported codecs?
Do you see the same for different distro and DE that you use? And do you see the same for different media players that you use? So is this, or is this not distro, DE, or media player specific?
Ah, well, it's really not difficult. You have the file .bashrc in your home directory. Open it in your editor, add, e.g., the line Code: alias apthistory="less /var/log/apt/history.log" save the file and execute source .bashrc. From now on just execute apthistory and enjoy But if you're happy with what Muon tells you that's okay. That alias is just an alternative method how to get that info fast and easy and you may prefer it over how Muon presents it or not. It's your choice. Btw., a nice introduction to aliases is this one. They can make life on Linux a lot easier.
I only have one dual-boot machine connected to my amp / TV. I use VLC in both Windows and Kubuntu. I guess when I get time I can connect one of my laptops to test, but I think I have VLC in Solus Plasma as well. The DVD drive stopped working on that machine so I'll have to connect my external DVD drive. My Mint machine is so underpowered I wouldn't try playing DVDs on it anyway. Well, it tells me what updates installed but doesn't really explain what each update does. Really, if the machine keeps working I'm OK with that. I don't really know what most Windows updates do either.
Ah, OK, I understand, thanks, Krusty. So you're talking about VLC media player on Kubuntu. I can't do much testing for you, as I use only simple stereo headphones, no 7.1 surround sound or anything like that. Perhaps someone else is able to help?
The logs, no matter how we access them, via Muon or the command-line, don't provide reasons. But, generally speaking, updates are the result of bug fixes or performance improvements or the adding of new features. To get a handle on the reasons, people will need to have tracked the relevant bugs, developers' blogs, etc. One small example is provided by the KDE team on a weekly basis like here: https://pointieststick.com/2020/03/28/this-week-in-kde-the-calm-before-the-storm-of-new-features/. Mostly, there are links to the relevant bug or discussion. kde.org also informs users: for example, https://kde.org/announcements/kde-frameworks-5.68.0.php.
More Greek. It's OK. As long as my machines continue to work I'm happy. Yeah, I figured that would be the case.
Some progress! The DVD drive built into my desktop PC has had issue playing DVDs for a while so I bought an external drive, which is what I've been using. Today I tried a DVD in the built in drive and Kubuntu automatically changed to 5.1 output, which I can change to Dolby Digital EX on my amp. That fakes the sound for the back speakers but works fine. No DTS but I can live without that. That drive stopped working again but my external drive is still playing Dolby Digital EX. I've never had a Blu-ray player connected to my PC so I'm not sure if the sound card is even capable of 7.1 output. Well, it is if I set it at such but outputs PCM. I know my amp will play anything I feed it so that's not the issue. This machine has been flaky with audio in Brave too. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes not at all. No audio problems in Windows. Oh, I installed Kodi... Far to complicated for me.
Some may like Kodi's many options, but it is too much for me too, I prefer a rather simple media player, like VLC or such. The only reason I like Kodi is because it plays Disney/Pixar DVDs with their notorious protection without issues and other Linux media players that I tried don't. If one likes to try and master Kodi, there's good documentation in the wiki. https://kodi.wiki/view/Main_Page Some info that I found relevant was the info regarding volume & volume amplification in video playback: https://kodi.wiki/view/Video_playback#Settings https://kodi.wiki/view/Video_playback#Audio_Settings And how to switch between windowed and full screen: \ (backslash) https://kodi.wiki/view/All_platforms_FAQ#Switching_between_windowed_and_full_screen And also the keyboard controls overview: https://kodi.wiki/view/Keyboard_controls
VLC in Windows has different options in Preferences > Audio too, so I suspect that could have something to do with it. Anyway, I've got plenty of other choices to play DVDs and Blu-rays. Linux is only a toy for me at this time.
@Krusty, When you asked, in 2018, I wasn't using Linux, yet. Later, I read about the difference in selecting the Firefox address bar, and I noticed when I started using Linux, last January. It wasn't really an issue to me. Yesterday, after Firefox was updated to 75.0, I noticed the change. Fine that the behavior now matches other desktop platforms.
Perhaps also interesting to Linux beginners: Before, on Windows, I used MailStore Home to make offline backups of my webmail (in case my webmail provider messes up). I found no easy Linux equivalent to MailStore Home. There are OfflineIMAP, IMAP Grab and imap-backup, but those don't look easy to me. Therefore, on Kubuntu, I decided to install and use Thunderbird to backup my webmail. Installation and setup are easy. Next, to make Thunderbird download all webmail folder content, not only inbox, go to: Menu\ Preferences\ Preferences\ General\ General\ Config Editor\ about:config look for: mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new and set to true (sources: 1, 2). After a while, all webmail is downloaded, and you can copy and backup your Thunderbird profile folder (xxxxxxxx.default-release) from the hidden .thunderbird folder in your Home directory. After that, I noticed that my system came to a crawl. There was a high memory and CPU use, as I could see in (K)SysGuard system monitor. It was Kubuntu's Baloo search engine, specifically baloo_file_extractor, probably indexing all new Thunderbird files. I don't know why that took so much system resources. I fixed that issue by excluding the .thunderbird and Thunderbird backup locations in Kubuntu System Settings\ Workspace\ Search\ File Search\ Configure File Search\ Do not search in these locations. After that and a reboot, all was well, my system swift as ever.
I run several machines for the work I do and a couple are running full time. The collection includes a Dell OptiPlex i3, LG Gram, Toshiba Portege R930 and Toshiba desktop (all with i5’s) an ancient Samsung RV-415 with an AMD treacle processor and a 3Green desktop built with an Asus laptop motherboard and Intel Celeron. Various Linux systems get installed and tested on a regular basis on all the hardware and those I prefer to use are backed up using Clonezilla for easy re-installation. Suffice to say the majority of home users who just install a system and use it would have little or no issues with most of the distros available but considering the treatment mine get the only systems to come through 100% have been ROSA Fresh R11 KDE and BigLinux KDE (A Brazilian distro most haven’t heard of originally a mod of Kurumin in 2004 then moved between Ubuntu and Debian then back to Ubuntu with Deepin/KDE desktops. The current release has standard or custom kernel choices with either KDE or LXQt. Will run as a live session for testing in either Portuguese or English. New release based on 20.04 out next month). https://www.biglinux.com.br/ All the others have fallen over at some point mostly via updates. True a lot of these issues are quite easily fixed but not so for the majority of new Linux users. The good news out of all this is after several ‘R’ releases based on the 2016 system, Rosa Labs will be releasing an updated R12 this summer or autumn. If this is as good as its predecessor I don’t see much need to change.
My internet connection comes from a tower, similar to a mobile phone tower but only used specifically for those who share these types of connections. It called Fixed Wireless NBN. I have an antenna on my roof that connects to a box, which I'm guessing could be called a modem, then my wireless modem / router to my devices. If I connect behind the modem / router and scan at GRC's Shields Up my Kubuntu machine passes because it is testing my modem / router, but if I connect directly to the network box / modem it fails because the machine responds when it shouldn't, although the ports are stealthed. I hope that makes sense. Should the machine respond at all in that configuration? I haven't tested the machine with that connection when booted into Windows yet but will when I get the time.
I took the plunge and installed a dual boot, MX Linux 19 and Windows. I've read this thread and and run through a dozen different flavors of Linux ISOs and settled on MX, Took me 5 hours to get it installed, mostly trying to figure out partitions and all that, since I don't read or pay much attention to instructions. Once I got a 30G partition, install took a total of 15 minutes. Everything worked, including GRUB where I checked both booting Linux and Win 10. Had 186 updates waiting in MX and they installed so fast I wondered for a moment if they were actually installing. Today had another 126 and they were just as quick. Much, MUCH different from Windows lazy updates, and a lot has changed since the last time I tried to install RedHat 6 Linux on an old PC what seems like a lifetime of years ago. This one is almost a pleasure. The one hangup is still installing software not on their list. I have a screenwriting program I use. It's on Win but also has a Linux version. I downloaded it today, and spent from 11AM until 2PM trying to get it to install. I finally found the right command, which of course I do not now remember, and it installed in seconds, and it registered when I added my name and license. Other than a single very important piece of grammar editing software, I think I could live with MX Linux as my OS. It is much faster than Win 10, installs and updates are like lightning, and it boots faster. Except for that one piece of software, and now that I have my screenwriting program, it seems like MX Linux has everything else I could think to want. As it stands now, I began doing my writing on LibreOffice in Linux and saving to an external HDD, which MX recognized instantly. Then I open my work in LibreOffice in Windows, and then the editing software. It's a bit cumbersome, but I can live with it. I do the editing, save to the external, and reboot back into Linux. Obviously there are some commands I'll need to learn, or find and print out for a cheat sheet, but I am loving this Linux experience so far.
Our internet is via smartphone. We don't have a land line. We're allowed 20G of hotspot data a month for each phone, which is not as much as it sounds. MX picked up on the tethering instantly and I was online right away, with none of the fuss I had with Windows when we switched to the phone internet. I'm speaking as a Windows user who has no interest in digging into linux, compiling this or experimenting with that. I need to learn just enough to do what I need, such as install a software, maybe remove another, and that's about it - similar to how I use Win 10. I'm old enough to remember DOS and the hell I had with it, and don't have a desire to go there again.
Yay! I think I've finally solved this little annoyance too now. I had to go into PulseAudio Volume Control and enable Advanced Options under Output Devices.
Hmm, maybe an update to either or both Kubuntu and / or Brave has fixed this. Brave audio seems to be much more reliable today.
Does anyone have issues connecting to https://distrowatch.com/? Since about a week and a half, trying to connect to Distrowatch in Firefox on Kubuntu 18.04.4 results in "Unable to connect", "Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at distrowatch.com." The same on both my Kubuntu 18.04.4 systems. Firefox site information for distrowatch.com says "Connection not secure", "Connection Not Encrypted". Er.. what? That shouldn't be the case. Clearing cookies and cache, or restarting Firefox in Safe Mode doesn't make any difference. I tried Chromium and even Falkon browser, but that didn't help either, neither of the two could connect to Distrowatch. Is there some Distrowatch issue, or is there something wrong with my Kubuntu systems?
I have Kubuntu 18.04 and Firefox with only uBlock origin. No difficulty just now or previously. Do you have some other device to try? Perhaps reset your router?
