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linux-mef

This repository gathers a set of notes, scripts, tips gathered from my linux usage.

I wrote it for myself, but have no reason to keep it private.

Use at your own risks.

How to install BunsenLabs Beryllium on a thinkpad laptop

The instructions below are relative to the installation of BusenLabs Beryllium experimental (pre-release - based on Debian Bullseye 11) on a Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 7.

Previous versions:

  • BunsenLabs Lithium (based on Debian Buster), have a look at version tag v0.3.0.
  • BunsenLabs Helium (based on Debian Stretch), have a look at version tag v0.2.0.

Pre-install

  • check ssh accesses, be sure not to end up locked out of some server.
  • Run backup scripts
  • save a copy of custom hosts /etc/hosts
  • save a copy of specific configs, e.g. nginx config files

Installation

Target hardware: Thinkpad x1 carbon Gen7

Debian Netinstall

  • Download latest debian stable NETINST ISO. If intel iwlwifi non-free firmware is needed, get the unofficial ISO which includes the non-free firmware (here).

  • Disable EFI secure boot (otherwise acpi_call kernel module won't load / tlp battery management not possible)

  • language: English

  • location: Belgium

  • locale: Ireland

Disk partitioning layout

mount point partition size
/ /dev/sda1 20 GB
/home /dev/sda2 450 GB
/var/log /dev/sda3 256 MB
swap /dev/sda4 9 GB

/dev/sda3 should be set as noatime and have journaling disabled (c.f. https://foxutech.com/how-to-disable-enable-journaling/)

In case network is down after first boot:

  1. setup /etc/network/interfaces.

Replace wlan0 by your actual interface name

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid "<network name>"
wpa-psk "<password>"

More config options here

  1. run sudo ifdown wlan0 && sudo ifup wlan0 (replace by proper interface name)

Useful commands (as root):

  • ip a
  • iwconfig
  • iwlist scan
  • ip link set wlp0s20f3 up

Bunsen Beryllium

Follow instructions.

Post-install

Once bunsen is installed, and bl-welcome gets executed.

Decline when prompted to install cvs or java.

set trackpoint sensitivity

  • Lookup current sensitivity value (libinput Accel Speed), using this command: xinput --list-props $(xinput list | grep TrackPoint | awk '{print $6}' | cut -c4,5)
  • Experiment values to find suitable sensitiviy, e.g. -.35 here: xinput --set-prop $(xinput list | grep TrackPoint | awk '{print $6}' | cut -c4,5) "libinput Accel Speed" -.35
  • Add command with desired sensitivity to ~/.config/bunsen/autostart, e.g.
xinput --set-prop $(xinput list | grep TrackPoint | awk '{print $6}' | cut -c4,5) "libinput Accel Speed" -.35 &

decrease swappiness

Add the following line to /etc/sysctl.conf:

vm.swappiness = 10

source.

setup and configure git

$ sudo apt install git
$ git config --global user.name "John Doe"
$ git config --global user.email [email protected]
$ git config --global credential.helper cache

run automated installations

(!) Make sure that you know what you're doing. study the script before executing it, or run selected steps manually to be safe.

N.B: when prompted, set keyboard layout as UK extended: select English (UK, international with dead keys extended WinKeys)

$ mkdir -p ~/development/other
$ cd ~/development/other
$ git clone https://github.com/mef/linux-mef.git
$ cd linux-mef
$ ./bunsenLabs-lithium-setup.sh

enable autologin

uncomment autologin-user inside /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf, using actual username:

[Seat:*]
autologin-user=username

Then add the user to the group autologin:

# groupadd -r autologin
# gpasswd -a username autologin

source

Add terminator theme

Add the following in the profiles section of .config/terminator/config:

  [[Monokai dark]]
    background_color = "#272822"
    background_darkness = 0.95
    background_type = transparent
    cursor_color = "#ffffff"
    foreground_color = "#f8f8f2"
    show_titlebar = False
    scrollback_infinite = True
    palette = "#75715e:#f92672:#a6e22e:#f4bf75:#66d9ef:#ae81ff:#2aa198:#f9f8f5:#272822:#f92672:#a6e22e:#f4bf75:#66d9ef:#ae81ff:#2aa198:#f9f8f5"
  [[Monokai mef]]
    background_color = "#272822"
    background_darkness = 0.95
    background_type = transparent
    cursor_color = "#ffffff"
    foreground_color = "#f8f8f2"
    show_titlebar = False
    scrollback_infinite = True
    palette = "#75715e:#f92672:#a6e22e:#f4bf75:#66d9ef:#ae81ff:#2aa198:#f9f8f5:#838383:#f92672:#a6e22e:#f4bf75:#66d9ef:#ae81ff:#2aa198:#f9f8f5"

Fix black lock screen

A bug in light-locker causes a black screen to be presented rather than the login prompt.

This is worked around by installing another greeter app.

sudo apt install slick-greeter

cd /etc/lightdm/
sudo mkdir -p lightdm.conf.d
cd lightdm.conf.d/
sudo cp -p /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-slick-greeter.conf .

Then, edit ~/.xbindkeysrc in order to replace light-locker by dm-tool lock for the lock keyboard shortcut.

custom keyboard shortcuts

Add or modify the following inside ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml:

  • only one desktop
    <number>1</number>
  • keyboard shortcuts
    
    <!-- Keybindings for brightness control -->
    <keybind key="W-F5">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>brightness down</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-F6">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>brightness up</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    
    <!-- Keybindings for volume control -->
    <keybind key="W-F2">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>vol down -i 10%</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-F3">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>vol up -i 10%</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    
    <!-- Override Ctrl-Q with dummy action -->
    <keybind key="C-Q">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>/bin/false</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

    <!-- Maximize current window -->
    <keybind key="W-Next">
      <action name="ToggleMaximize"/>
    </keybind>

Shortcuts in thunar

Manually define shortcuts in thunar

adapt permissions for brightness controls

By default, only root has permissions over brightness control. The following udev rules changes brightness group to video, and makes it writable by the group.

Create a new file /etc/udev/rules.d/backlight.rules filled-up with the following contents:

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="backlight", KERNEL=="intel_backlight", RUN+="/bin/chgrp video /sys/class/backlight/%k/brightness"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="backlight", KERNEL=="intel_backlight", RUN+="/bin/chmod g+w /sys/class/backlight/%k/brightness"

more info.

adjust battery charge thresholds in /etc/default/tlp, and disable bluetooth on startup

locale setup

Fix the locale so that Monday is the first day of the week. Method #2 here works for tint2's calendar.

configure unattended-upgrades

  • edit the active origin pattern inside /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades, e.g. set the following one:
      "origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename},label=Debian-Security";

source.

configure awscli

cf. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html

Default region: eu-west-1 Default output format: json

Retrieve data sync scripts from s3, put them in bin directory

Geany

  • select theme monokai-mef them in geany "View\Change color scheme" menu
  • activate line wrap in geany Preferences/editor
  • add Search field and Goto field to toolbar
  • swap keybindings of Find and Switch to search bar

ssh

  • generate key
ssh-keygen -o -a 100 -t ed25519
  • create and complete .ssh/config
  • add public key to relevant servers
  • test all accesses

firefox setup

Download firefox stable from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/ Download firefox developer edition from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/desktop/

Unpack both tarballs inside /opt/c-user/firefox and firefox-dev, respectively

sudo apt remove firefox-esr firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/c-user/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/c-user/firefox-dev/firefox /usr/bin/firefox-dev
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-www-browser x-www-browser /opt/c-user/firefox/firefox 200
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-www-browser x-www-browser /opt/c-user/firefox-dev/firefox 100

web browsers config

  1. install ublock origin in firefox and firefox developer edition (also in the VM) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/?src=search
  2. install ublock origin in chromium
  3. retrieve userChrome.css and userContent.css from backup, and copy into firefox profile directories.
  4. activate userChrome and userContent.css by setting toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to true in about:config.
  5. download client certificate an import in firefox
  6. set proper scaling for HiDPI screen on Firefox 103+ (source):
  • create a ui.textScaleFactor number config option, and set it to desired value (e.g. 120 for 120% scaling)
  • Ensure that layout.css.devPixelsPerPx is set to -1
  • Close and re-open the firefox window(s) to avoid undesired sire-effect on already open tabs.

anti-theft system

  1. install prey .deb package from https://preyproject.com/download/
  2. configure prey, it may be necessary to launch the gui manually: sudo /usr/lib/prey/current/bin/prey config gui
  • during config, solve bug by applying this workaround. - if still relevant
  1. enable prey service sudo -u prey /usr/lib/prey/current/bin/prey config activate
  2. validate that it works by setting device to missing

nvm and node.js

cf. install using git.

Then nvm install --lts

vlc media player

## fix QT scaling for Hi-DPI screens for VLC media player
echo 'QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0' | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

(effective after reboot)

gimp config

toggle Windows\Single-window mode

gephi config

edit gephi-0.9.2/etc/gephi.conf and set suitable values to -Xms and -Xmx parameters

e.g.

Xms512m -J-Xmx4096m

databases

## mariadb: with data and tmp directories inside /home partition
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

sudo mysql_secure_installation

sudo systemctl stop mariadb
sleep 10
sudo systemctl status mariadb
sudo mv /var/lib/mysql /home/
sudo mkdir /home/mysqlTmp
sudo chown mysql:mysql /home/mysqlTmp

## update directories in config file
sudo sed -i 's#/var/lib/mysql#/home/mysql#g' /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf
sudo sed -i 's#/tmp#/home/mysqlTmp#g' /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

## allow mysql to access home directory in  daemon
sudo sed -i 's/ProtectHome=true/ProtectHome=false/' /etc/systemd/system/mysql.service
### avoid config being overwritten after software updates
sudo cp /lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo sed -i 's/ProtectHome=true/ProtectHome=false/' /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl start mariadb
sleep 10
sudo systemctl status mariadb

Connect via sudo to use as root user.

If needed to have a user with permissions similar to root, usable from localhost, follow these steps.

If relevant, restore dumps from backup.

For mariadb, in case the source OS is not usable for the creation of backups, physical backups can be used (instructions).

development

  1. clone git repositories
  2. install dependencies (npm install)
  3. retrieve params / config files from backup
  4. retrieve custom hosts and store in /etc/hosts

http server

Once node.js is installed, run the following

npm install http-server -g

pip

For python 3:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends python3-pip

Then add the path to python packages to bashrc file:

export PATH=/home/c-user/.local/bin:$PATH

Then use command pip3.

For python 2:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends python-pip

virtual machine setup (wip)

create the VM using virt-manager.

Lookup windows key with:

sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

If necessary, adapt VM name inside ~/bin/windows.

wip

  • audacious or quodLibet as replacement of decibel-audio-player?
  • raleway and roboto fonts
  • ublock origin custom filters / rules

BIOS upgrade

Dependencies: genisoimage package.

sudo apt install genisoimage

  1. Download the BIOS update utility as bootable CD iso file from lenovo website

  2. convert the downloaded iso file to img file - (c.f. example command below)

  3. use dd to copy the img file into a USB disk

  4. Boot the laptop from USB and follow displayed instructions

    geteltorito -o x250.img downladed-iso-file-name.iso