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Sharing files from Linux Mint 20 on a Home Network

 I'm annoyed over the difficulty of sharing files in Linux Mint 20 over a home network. Here is what you would expect you would have to do:  Right-click and select "Share this Folder" Done! It works.   Except that it doesn't work. :( Here is what you actually appear to have to do (note that not even all the required packages are installed by default): 1. In the terminal: $ sudo apt-get install samba 2. Right-click and select "Share this Folder" 3. In a terminal, type (to set your samba username password): sudo smbpasswd -a yourUserName 4. Edit /etc/samba/smb.conf and right under the workgroup = WORKGROUP line add these:  client min protocol = NT1  server min protocol = NT1 5. Reboot 6. Done! It works (finally).  

Converting pdf files to black and white

I recently downloaded a book from archive.org, and it was off-color and not easily printable (they used to provide black/white pdf files for books, but apparently they stopped doing so). I needed to convert it to a monochrome file so I could print it. This lead me down a number of dead-ends, and so I want to explain the best way I found to do this. First, convert each page to a separate PNG file. Here is the command I used: pdftoppm Hutchings.pdf file_prefix -png Note that you can make the file_prefix anything you would like. Next, you will need to determine the "threshold" at which point these pictures become black and white. Play around with it using this command: convert file_prefix-1.png -threshold 35% testing-1.png When you have determined the threshold, now it is time to batch processes all your PNG files (any files that need a different threshold can be individually adjusted using the above convert command. I use mogrify to do this, and I also make sure to

Quick MIDI Synth Guide

Plug your MIDI controller into a USB port. Run aconnect -o , and look for your MIDI controller in the output: 1 2 3 4 5 $ aconnect -o client 14: 'Midi Through' [ type = kernel ] 0 'Midi Through Port-0' client 20: 'AKM322' [ type = kernel ] 0 'AKM322 MIDI 1 ' The controller’s client number here is: 20 Run aseqdump -p 20 (replace 20 with the client number) to verify it is working Then: 1 2 3 $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install fluidsynth fluid-soundfont-gm $ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav This last command should make a noise through your speakers. Then, for my computer, the following setup seems to run best: $ fluidsynth --audio-driver=alsa --gain 3 -r=22050 -c=16 -z=64 /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2 In a second terminal, run: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 $ aconnect -o client 14: 'Midi Through' [ type = kernel ] 0 'Midi Through Port-0' clie

Setting Up Syncthink by Command Line on a Server

Props to this site for the info I based the following on! First, install syncthing: $ sudo apt-get update  $ sudo apt-get install syncthing $ syncthing You will need to change the address of the web gui by editing the syncthing config.xml. $ sudo nano ~/.config/syncthing/config.xml  <gui enabled="true" tls="false"> <address>127.0.0.0:8384</address> [to]: <gui enabled="true" tls="false"> <address>192.168.1.119:8384</address> s ystemd is a system and service manager for Linux that runs as PID 1 (Process ID 1) and starts the rest of the system. It uses a script file called a Unit for each service, they are located in  /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/ to get this to work you need to put this file into that directory. This is the Unit text *********************************************************************** [Unit] Description=Syncthing - Open Source Continuous Fi

Samba Setup

Installation and Setup: First install the following: apt-get install samba-common smbclient samba-common-bin smbclient cifs-utils Next, authorize users to access samba shares: sudo smbpasswd -a Make a safe backup copy of the original smb.conf file. sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bkup Edit the file "/etc/samba/smb.conf" sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf Add this to the end of the file: [folder_name] path = /home/user_name>/folder_name valid users = read only = no Restart samba: sudo service smbd restart Use this command to check your smb.conf for any syntax errors. testparm Determine the LAN address of the computer: sudo ifconfig List all shares: smbclient -L // / -U Connect: smbclient // / -U Mounting Local Shares: smbclient -L XXX.XXX.X.X -U username Then, create a local directory and mount the remote share: mkdir /mnt/abc mount -t cifs //server/share /mnt/abc Depending on the access you give to your

Testing Moodle on Debian 9

So I bought a Raspberry Pie and put Debian 9 on it so that I can play around with it as a home server. Currently I am configuring Moodle on it, so here are my notes: Debian 9 (stretch) has 2.7.17 in the repositories. This is fairly old, so I will be installing the git version instead. First: sudo apt-get update Second: sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-client mysql-server php7.0 libapache2-mod-php7.0 Third: sudo apt-get install graphviz aspell php7.0-pspell php7.0-curl php7.0-gd php7.0-intl php7.0-mysql php7.0-xml php7.0-xmlrpc php7.0-ldap php7.0-zip php7.0-soap php7.0-mbstring Forth: sudo service apache2 restart Fifth: sudo apt-get install git-core Sixth: cd /opt Seventh: sudo git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git Eighth: cd moodle Ninth: sudo git branch -a Since the guide I'm following is installing Moodle 3.1, and I don't want any incompatibilities, this is what I will be installing as well. 10th: sudo git branch --track MO

Setting Up Mopidy, Ncmpcpp, and Spotify on Debian Buster (Updated)

  In Debian Buster, the main thing that caused me problems was that I had mpd installed, and it caused havic with, but once I uninstalled it, things started working. Here is the breakdown of what I did: Add the archive’s GPG key:   wget - q - O - https : // apt . mopidy . com / mopidy . gpg | sudo apt - key add -   Add the APT repo to your package sources:   sudo wget - q - O / etc / apt / sources . list . d / mopidy . list https : // apt . mopidy . com /buster . list   Install Mopidy and all dependencies:     sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mopidy ncmpcpp mopidy-mpd mopidy-spotify There are two configuration files that need to be adjusted.  First, there is the Mopidy configuration file : ~ /.config/mopidy/mopidy.conf Here is my configuration file: [logging] color = true console_format = %(levelname)-8s %(message)s debug_format = %(levelname)-8s %(asctime)s [%(process)d:%(threadName)s] %(name)s\n  %(message)s debug_file = mopidy.log co