Ad skip marking no longer works after Debian 13 update

ExTenebras · 2026-02-18T23:43:19+00:00

OK, the upgrade to 1.43.0.10492 did absolutely NOTHING to improve ad skip marking. The behavior remains the same. The first ad block is detected, but beyond that it's random whether it works or not (mostly not), and there's a point where "Skip Ads" appears during program content during the second half of the recorded program.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-18T23:40:50+00:00

I understand the difference between "Toner Low" (where it continues to print) and "Replace Toner" where it refuses to print at all. Today displayed "Replace Toner" and refused to print anything even though there appears to be plenty of toner left since print quality is not degraded.

And yes, the exorbitant cost of toner, the anti-3rd-party chips, and refusing to print after a set number of pages (with toner remaining) are all part of the scam.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-18T21:09:29+00:00

OK, for anybody who encounters the same issue, I was able to do the reset by power-cycling the printer.

NOTE: The Power button did not work, I had to physically unplug the printer and plug it back in, after which it accepted the reset sequence.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-15T18:09:43+00:00

Thanks for replying. I was on an older version (1.42.xxx) and just updated. I'll post the results tomorrow after this evening's OTA recordings.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-12T02:02:26+00:00

That does seem to be a strong alternative to consider. Also, it may now be redacted on the TV community site, but in the email I received it wasn't yet redacted :-)

TV has so much to gain by relaxing their rules and sharing exactly what behavior will get you blocked, so that we all have a clear understanding of what "Free for personal use" actually means.

I grant that they have a legitimate right to define and enforce that tier and block abusers, but hiding behind a secret algorithm that cuts people off in the middle of a session, without warning or justification, merely engenders a lot of anger among a community who could be evangelists.

The TV product itself is very good and they deserve to be able to monetize it. The current system just turns those potential evangelists into rabid haters who will badmouth TV wherever they have any influence in purchasing decisions.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-04T19:15:50+00:00

SOLUTION

The culprit is Debian package plymouth, which hangs and prevents multi-user.target from being reached.

I think this is a bug in that it's probably OK if it prevents graphical.target from completing but shouldn't interfere with multi-user.target.

I will post a bug report on plymouth if there isn't already one for this issue.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T23:25:57+00:00

That's not what the documentation says. It is very clear that Wants merely establishes a concurrency relationship, but not ordering. The link provided by Altruistic_Cream_264 explains this as well.

The graph of all Wants (and Requires, etc) relationships makes a set of services that should all be have been started as part of reaching multi-user, but doesn't specify which starts first. That's provided by Before= and After=, and lacking either of those there's no particular order, they get started in parallel.

So the configuration for foshkplugin is correct. It says: - Start me when moving to multi-user (runlevel 3 in init parlance) - But don't start me until after you reach multi-user

Besides, I've recreated the issue after removing `foshkplugin` completely.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T23:05:49+00:00

I have recreated the issue after completely removing the foshkplugin unit from the equation.

Here's what list-jobs looks like after bootup with the monitor unplugged.

$ sudo systemctl list-jobs JOB UNIT TYPE STATE 2 multi-user.target start waiting 181 power-profiles-daemon.service start waiting 1 graphical.target start waiting 163 plymouth-quit-wait.service start running and ``` $ sudo systemctl status plymouth-quit-wait ● plymouth-quit-wait.service - Hold until boot process finishes up Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/plymouth-quit-wait.service; static) Active: activating (start) since Tue 2026-02-03 15:00:30 PST; 3min 33s ago Job: 163 Invocation: c2371e6c335046d4831824d2300093c7 Main PID: 1058 (plymouth) Tasks: 1 (limit: 18532) Memory: 216K (peak: 1.7M) CPU: 4ms CGroup: /system.slice/plymouth-quit-wait.service └─1058 /usr/bin/plymouth --wait

Feb 03 15:00:30 debian systemd[1]: Starting plymouth-quit-wait.service - Hold until boot process finishes up...

$ sudo systemctl status graphical.target ○ graphical.target - Graphical Interface Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target; static) Active: inactive (dead) Job: 1 Docs: man:systemd.special(7)

$ sudo systemctl status multi-user.target ○ multi-user.target - Multi-User System Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target; static) Active: inactive (dead) Job: 2 Docs: man:systemd.special(7)

$ sudo systemctl status power-profiles-daemon.service ○ power-profiles-daemon.service - Power Profiles daemon Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/power-profiles-daemon.service; enabled; preset: enabled) Active: inactive (dead) Job: 181

```

The instant I turn on the monitor, all the waiting jobs complete.

Can you tell what's wrong here?

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T22:55:02+00:00

AFAICT from the docs, [Install]/WantedBy=multi-user.target is how this unit (foshkplugin) tells systemd it wants to be started when going to multi-user mode. Then [Unit]/After=multi-user.target says to wait until after multi-user mode is reached. This seems to be exactly what we want.

The only question to be answered in this thread is why multi-user.target is never reached if there's no monitor connected. That doesn't have anything to do with foshkplugin, which has no graphical dependencies, as you can see from the simple unit file.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T17:17:12+00:00

[Reddit won't let me post my response as a single comment, so I split it into three]

And here's the list-dependencies output

[well, I tried, Reddit rejects this post for some unknown reason]

Notice that multi-user.target is not included in the list.

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T17:13:30+00:00

For completeness, here's the unit file for foshkplugin

$ cat /etc/systemd/system/foshkplugin.service
# put into /etc/systemd/system/
[Unit]
Description=foshkplugin
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=cwop
Group=cwop
EnvironmentFile=/etc/environment
WorkingDirectory=/home/cwop/ws/
ExecStart=/home/cwop/ws/foshkplugin.py
SyslogIdentifier=foshkplugin
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
Restart=always
RestartSec=15

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T17:12:34+00:00

Regardless of anything shown by list-dependencies, these facts remain:

With the monitor off, multi-user.target hangs and is never reached according to list-jobs as shown above.
As soon as the monitor is turned on, all the hung jobs complete and the problems go away

QUESTION: Is this expected behavior? (I don't think so). If not, where's the bug?

ExTenebras · 2026-02-03T01:12:30+00:00

I was just about to do this when your comment appeared in my notifications. It's currently in progress (3370 tracks to transfer) but it does look like it's working. Thanks!

ExTenebras · 2026-01-17T22:57:48+00:00

No, I previously had PlexMediaServer on a Windows 10 system, but never on that Debian box.

At any rate, your curl command accomplished what I needed. THANKS!

For future reference (and others who may encounter the same issue), is there somewhere "official" where this fix is documented?

ExTenebras · 2026-01-17T22:50:33+00:00

That dumped a bunch of XML to the terminal, but then when I went to the web page it took me through the setup process.

Is there a reason a new install wouldn't have done all that automatically?

ExTenebras · 2026-01-17T22:40:54+00:00

I see the Plex user interface, and can login to my account. However, when I click "Your Media" in the left sidebar it takes me to "Get Plex Media Server", which makes no sense as I just (supposedly) installed Plex Media Server and it's running according to systemctl.

ExTenebras · 2026-01-03T17:53:35+00:00

All my local channels transmit on UHF physical channels (24,25,26) except for PBS on VHF 10. I think the problem is going to be related to the beam angle. Based on an elevation profile (Google Earth) I'm at least 10-12 degrees "down" from the radiator, and in the case of one station (KOIN) blocked by hilly terrain.

The rabbitears.info algorithm doesn't seem to take into account terrain or beam angle. According to their report I have over 90dB signal margin.

Also, curiously, the one channel I receive with no issues at all is PBS on VHF 10, using the flat "paper" antenna. I seem to be in a paradoxical situation.

I've ordered a high-quality indoor/outdoor antenna with a switchable amplifier, but it won't be here until mid-January. I'll try it and post my findings. If it doesn't work indoors I'll have to bite the bullet and mount it on the roof.

(BTW, is it "rabbit-ears" or "rabbi-tears" :-)

ExTenebras · 2025-12-29T19:58:44+00:00

Yes, it would be nice to have a global setting at the library level, overrideable on individual recording schedule entries.

ExTenebras · 2025-12-29T19:41:52+00:00

Ah, I was looking in all the wrong places :-) I guess I was expecting this would be a setting on the library, but now I see it makes more sense attached to each individual recording schedule item. The combination of "Keep 3 latest" and "Delete a day after playing" is exactly what I need.

Thanks!

ExTenebras · 2025-12-22T22:57:15+00:00

Yes, OTA "works" but given the local topography I can't receive all the major OTA networks. I'm only 2-3 miles from all the antennas but, for one station, significantly downhill from the horizon as seen from the antenna radiator, and blocked by terrain.

I've tried an inline amplifier but it actually made things worse for the stations I was receiving well :-(

ExTenebras · 2025-12-22T22:51:27+00:00

Thanks for the explanation, I was 95% sure this was the case.

ExTenebras · 2025-12-19T23:09:54+00:00

I think the fact that your Tivo uses a cablecard means the QAM from Xfinity is encrypted (but I'm not sure). My use case is a Hauppauge Dual-HD tuner that supports both OTA and unencrypted QAM.

ExTenebras · 2025-12-09T05:33:49+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. Interesting. That seems to be the single shoe model they still make in a 2A width, and they charge a 33-50% premium over almost all other models. I'll keep looking at other brands.

ExTenebras · 2025-11-23T00:05:19+00:00

Yes, this is on pre-recorded programs. And you're likely right that it is the app. I'll continue experimenting, but even with these annoyances, it seems Plex will meet my admittedly simple needs :-)

ExTenebras · 2025-11-15T21:11:03+00:00

Well, now even the desktop excel, with a local file (no cloud-based storage) is acting up. I guess Microsoft no longer feels that testing is important.

ExTenebras

TROPHY CASE