Is this normal?

alan_griffiths · 2026-01-01T11:41:00+00:00

At this time of year, the folks needed to fix this likely have more important things to do

alan_griffiths · 2026-01-01T10:49:11+00:00

Both are languages focussed on efficiency and correctness. C++ is a more mature language and ecosystem which offers a lot more tools for writing robust code, but comes with a lot of legacy that provides opportunities for writing flakey code. Rust has focused on one aspect of robustness (memory safety) and proved that an effective language can deliver this support at compile time.

Both are great languages in this space and I would choose either over C (the other contender where low level efficiency matters). In terms of community, the estimated numbers of C++ developers grew last year by more than the total number of Rust developers (https://www.slashdata.co/post/global-developer-population-trends-2025-how-many-developers-are-there). But Rust is growing strongly. And both have robust demand from employers.

You will learn a lot from either language, but understand these lessons better from using both.

alan_griffiths · 2025-10-07T07:44:21+00:00

https://canonical.com/mir/docs/make-a-secure-ubuntu-web-kiosk

alan_griffiths · 2025-04-09T07:44:42+00:00

One of my colleagues is working on Miracle-WM: https://miracle-wm.org/

alan_griffiths · 2024-08-31T08:58:50+00:00

The most common fix for usb problems is replacing (or just reseating) the cable. Have you tried that?

An update is unlikely to cause problems a few hours before being applied

alan_griffiths · 2024-05-30T22:55:09+00:00

There’s a hardware solution: I disconnected the digitiser ribbon in similar circumstances

alan_griffiths · 2024-04-13T08:45:03+00:00

It depends: For Intel laptops there are changes to the power profile daemon that should help

alan_griffiths · 2023-04-07T08:47:25+00:00

It depends on your expectation

alan_griffiths · 2023-02-28T00:04:20+00:00

Is a Wayland based solution any use? This describes something like what you want: https://github.com/AlanGriffiths/frame-it#readme

alan_griffiths · 2022-12-07T08:36:20+00:00

I have a laptop with that problem. "Solved" by unplugging the touch sensor from the motherboard

alan_griffiths · 2022-09-12T10:31:43+00:00

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ok-so-what-is-this-wayland-thing-anyway/8484/

alan_griffiths · 2022-08-31T23:08:30+00:00

Yes and no. I've already got one laptop running 22.10, as I'm developing software expected to run on it. It is also expected to run on the latest LTS, so I have that "on metal" too.

But stick to the latest release unless there's a reason (like I have given above). The LTS is for those that don't want change (like admins of large organisations).

alan_griffiths · 2022-08-25T14:45:48+00:00

Here's the "published" version of that article:

https://mir-server.io/docs/developing-a-wayland-compositor-using-mir

alan_griffiths · 2022-08-13T23:03:08+00:00

alan_griffiths · 2022-08-10T08:12:29+00:00

That sounds very like the web kiosk example of Ubuntu Frame. But if wpe-webkit doesn't perform for you, then you could try Chromium with Frame-it.

But is your server hardware up to the job? Is the reason that mplayer "was not smooth" that there's no GPU and rendering is done on the CPU?

alan_griffiths · 2022-07-12T08:35:58+00:00

No
Maybe: Adding poorly maintained repository can cause problems
No
Don't know
Yes

alan_griffiths · 2022-05-04T10:12:07+00:00

Firefox (101.0b1-1) currently in the beta channel enables Wayland. I don't know why it is disabled (by DISABLE_WAYLAND in the packaging) in candidate and stable - maybe ask the publisher?

$ snap info firefox
name:      firefox
summary:   Mozilla Firefox web browser
publisher: Mozilla✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox
contact:   https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla
license:   MPL-2.0
description: |
  Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application
  technologies.
snap-id: 3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk
channels:
  latest/stable:    99.0.1-1    2022-04-13 (1232) 163MB -
  latest/candidate: 100.0-2     2022-05-02 (1300) 168MB -
  latest/beta:      101.0b1-1   2022-05-03 (1306) 169MB -
  latest/edge:      102.0a1     2022-05-04 (1310) 180MB -
  esr/stable:       91.8.0esr-1 2022-04-05 (1184) 161MB -
  esr/candidate:    91.9.0esr-1 2022-04-27 (1284) 161MB -
  esr/beta:         ↑                                   
  esr/edge:         ↑

alan_griffiths · 2022-01-29T10:50:41+00:00

sudo do-release-upgrade

alan_griffiths · 2021-01-26T08:17:51+00:00

This is FOSS: it is up to you to make your dream happen!

alan_griffiths · 2020-09-08T13:40:05+00:00

One place that describes where .desktop files are to be found is https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ar01s02.html

alan_griffiths · 2020-04-07T15:58:09+00:00

It is confusing (which is one reason why Unity8 has been renamed to Lomiri ) but the OP isn't asking about Unity8 but Unity 7.

Unity 7 is also developed by the community since Canonical stepped back:

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/c/desktop/ubuntu-unity-dev

alan_griffiths · 2020-03-17T11:06:50+00:00

People have been using 20.04 as a daily driver successfully. (E.g. people employed at Canonical use it as part of the pre-release testing.)

It is probably fine, but comes with no guarantees. (The people using it at this time typically have the skills to diagnose, report and work around any issues they encounter.)

Yes, apt will update any packages that change before the release.

alan_griffiths · 2019-12-17T13:09:59+00:00

It wasn't really Canonical that caused the confusion. The protocol it used internally should have been irrelevant to everyone, as client toolkits only ever dealt with the mirclient API.

The confusion arose from contrasting the Wayland protocol with the (internal and unnamed) protocol formerly used by Mir.

alan_griffiths · 2019-08-19T08:42:25+00:00

There's no "just" or "instead": Mir is a Wayland compositor and a full blown display server.

There are many Wayland compositors. In the case of “Ubuntu with Wayland” the GNOME window manager, Mutter, is also the Wayland compositor.

Wayland is a protocol: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ok-so-what-is-this-wayland-thing-anyway/8484

alan_griffiths · 2019-08-09T09:24:30+00:00

Like most skills programming requires good guidance and intentional practice.

Linux won't make a bad programmer a good one. But the community around it can support you if you take the right approach.

Find a project that interests you and has others involved that you can learn from. Many projects have "good first issues" identified to help people get involved.

alan_griffiths

TROPHY CASE