[Solved] [Sort of...] Locked out of laptop

[stuarte]

Good afternoon,

claydoh: wrt Chromebooks that run a sandboxed Linux container, yes I have installed and run Linux on my Chromebook in the past. However, with this system having only 32 GB and that split between the O.S. and user/file storage, that setup does not leave much space for Linux. I found it barely workable.

And now for something completely different. Last night I got to thinking that a lot of my current problems with Linux came about after I switched to an hwe kernel. Given that I have been using Linux since March 2000 and that I did not have these problems with a "standard" generic non-hwe kernel for the majority of that time, I decided last night to switch back to such a kernel. However, when I type 22.04 into the Muon Package Manager (MPM) search box at the top, the only kernel packages that are listed are the three hwe packages all of which are installed. It seems that Kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/ supplies only the hwe kernel. So, my question is, does Kubuntu still produce/supply generic non-hwe kernels and if so how do I get hold of the iso ?

EDIT: According to MPM there is a linux-generic kernel at version 5.15.0.79.76. Is this the non-hwe kernel that I am looking for ? If so, why is it so old compared to the hwe kernel ?

[claydoh]

If so, why is it so old compared to the hwe kernel ?

That is sort of the point. HWE adds kernels from newer Ubuntu releases to LTS , to add some support for newer hardware as well as bug fixes, etc.
Ubuntu kernels do tend to be a little older, and generally more stable. They do patch these for some extra support, as well as for security fixes as needed. Server installs run this type of kernel, usually.

So, my question is, does Kubuntu still produce/supply generic non-hwe kernels and if so how do I get hold of the iso ?

Yes, Ubuntu do provide the ability to use the original kernel that came with the 22.04.0 release. Newer ISO images contain the current set of updates since the original release, and from .2 and onward, include a newer kernel version out of the box.

if you wanted to switch to the "GA" 5.15 kernel, it is as easy as installing the correct meta-package.

sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic​

This will add all the relevant 5.15 kernel packages you need. These will be updated along with your current HWE kernels, and does NOT replace them.
If you wanted to remove the HWE stuff, you would need to modify the instruction to suit 22.04 after rebooting and selecting the 5.15 kernel in grub:

sudo apt remove --purge linux-generic-hwe-22.04 linux-oem-22.04 linux-hwe-* linux-oem-* linux-modules-5.19* linux-modules-6.2*

Do an autoremove to clear out any strays.

[stuarte]

Good afternoon,

claydoh: After doing a web search on Plymouth and scanning the results, I have purged most of Plymouth retaining only one package namely "plymouth". I have only retained that as some of the web sites say that it is closely tied into the boot process. Using Grub Customizer (from Daniel Richter's PPA), on the Advanced tab, I have set GRUB_DEFAULT to "Advanced options for Ubuntu>Ubuntu, with Linux 5.15.0-79-generic".On the General settings tab, predefined is selected and set to this same value. On the same tab, I have removed both "quiet" and "splash" from from the "kernel parameters" text entry box. Having made those changes, All those changes were then saved. I am wondering if I need to also select "File/Install to MBR ...". Another question is, do I need to run "sudo update-grub" and "sudo update-initramfs" after running Grub Customizer ?

[claydoh]

I do not have extensive knowledge of grub-Customizer,

I am wondering if I need to also select "File/Install to MBR ...".

No idea, do you have an old system with an MBR type of partition scheme? probably ignore that.

do I need to run "sudo update-grub" and "sudo update-initramfs" after running Grub Customizer ?

I believe that this tool takes care of that.
But if you update grub, the update-initramfs is also run as part of the process as well, so if you do run update-grub , you don't need to run update-initramfs after.

After doing a web search on Plymouth and scanning the results

What is Plymouth doing wrong, or how is it involved?
It is the splash screen between grub and your login. On Kubuntu, it displays the Kubuntui logo. It simply hides the console output. Hitting the esc key when it is shown toggles it off and on.
Editing grub as you did also disable this. there is no need to remove/uninstall stuff here, but it should be harmless to do so.

[stuarte]

Good morning,

Does anyone know if "^[k" (without quotes) has any particular meaning within Linux ? Is it some king of control code ? Is it the alphanumeric representation of a particular bit of executable X86_64 code ?

[GreyGeek]

Good morning,

Does anyone know if "^[k" (without quotes) has any particular meaning within Linux ? Is it some king of control code ? Is it the alphanumeric representation of a particular bit of executable X86_64 code ?

Not that I'm aware of. They represent the ASCII Table codes 91, 94 and 107 (base 10).

I agree with oshunluvr, you're problem is probably due to a dirty keyboard or broken "k" key. Fixing a broken key on a Chromebook is a tricky and dangerous thing which could render the key and keyboard more useless than it is. The link above shows several ways to clean the keyboard.

My wife's 12 year old 10" notebook, which she used to browse and email, finally retired about a year ago. I bought her a new Chromebook. She couldn't figure out how to browse and email with it so I decided I'd put Kubuntu on it because she was used to it. Couldn't do it. It would require overwriting the firmware, which was totally locked out and tied to the hardware and software. I activated the Linux VM and attempted to install Plasma desktop on it but the 10GB (max) wasn't enough space. I removed everything including her account so that I could give it away to some undeserving student, but I'm not that mean yet so it has been setting in the closet for most of the year since I bought it.

[stuarte]

Hi,

I seem to have solved this "locked out" problem. Last week I was "playing around" with Parted Magic and Puppy Linux v4.2 (in live mode, running entirely from RAM). Somehow(?!!), during this, the USB Legacy Emulation setting in the BIOS (i.e. InsydeH20 Setup Utility) was re-enabled. I am now able to enter the BIOS at will. I suppose the setting was re-enabled automagically. Sorry.

Anyway, thank you all for all the help.

Stuart

[jlittle]

Does anyone know if "^[k" (without quotes) has any particular meaning within Linux ?

(I don't follow any context on this.)

"^[" usually is how the ASCII ESC character, the one you get pressing the escape key, is displayed.*

Far the most common meaning of escape k in Linux these days, I bet, is on the command line (with bash, zsh, or ksh at least, but not dash) in vi mode, and then it gets you to the previous command, very like (but not the same as) pressing up arrow. †

If you don't know what vi mode in bash is, you don't want it, but you get it with the command set -o vi, usually in your .bashrc.

*This goes back many decades, perhaps the 1960s. In ASCII the escape key generates the character code 27 in decimal, 0x1b in hex; to get the codes 1 to 26 one held the control key and typed A to Z, and in ASCII "[" is after "z" so control-[ got you 27. At one time some keyboards didn't have an escape key (HP was a hold out) and control-[ had to be used.

†Early versions of bash and its predecessors couldn't understand the arrow keys so users got used to pressing escape k. Some die-hard touch typists shun the arrow keys and prefer escape k; it saves your pinky 200 mm of movement!

[stuarte]

Hi,

@jlittle: Thank you for such an informative response. I do have a shallow familiarity with vi as I did a college evening class on this back in the first half of the first decade.

(I don't follow any context on this.)

The context was that the laptop keyboard was not working correctly. It would auto-generate lots of "^[k"s or "d"s (in each case without quotes) at various times. During bootup, it would prepend lines of text with, especially, lots of "d"s. After reaching the desktop, almost(!) any time a text entry box appeared on screen (i.e. KRunner, search box on program launcher, Konsole, etc), this box would automatically start filling up with either "^[k"s or "d"s. I have yet to find out why this happened.

Currently, the "^[k"s are almost extinct, i.e. appearing with exceptional rarity. Even the "d"s do not appear anywhere near as often as they use to, although they do still appear. For example, if I start up Firefox, the search box at the top of the window will even now automatically start filling up with auto-generated "d"s. I have been able to reduce the rate at which they appear and so reduce their "blocking" effect by going into Sytem Settings/Hardware/Input devices/Keyboard/Hardware<tab> and reducing the key repeat rate at the bottom of this tab. I still have not tracked down the root cause of this.

For two reasons I do not believe that the "d" key on the laptop keyboard is jammed down. Firstly, if such were the case then I would have been constantly having to hold down the backspace key to get rid of the auto-generated "d"s and so would not have been able to type up this posting. Secondly, these "d"s appear at random times and thereby seem to contradict the idea of the "d" key being jammed down.

All "d"s appearing in this post are courtesy of copy & paste.

Stuart