xavier666

This is mainly a rant post.

I have to use Zscaler on my work PC. I use Sway (Moved from Gnome -> i3 -> sway).

Whenever Zscaler is launched, I used to get a weird error "proxy server not found" but it continued to work otherwise. Now at my company, we used a proxy at one time but we shifted to a no-proxy connection recently.

So I checked all my environment variables, output of set command. Everything was fine. People said it could be because of some weird compliance issue, or kernel etc etc. After a week or so, I gave up on debugging it because most of my work was fine with the 50% functional Zscaler.

One day, I opened Gnome instead of Sway to check something else, and saw that my proxy was on. This is the proxy set in Gnome Settings, not environment file.

I initially dismissed this finding because I thought Gnome is not active during sway so it should not affect it. But then i remembered it's possible to access the gnome settings using gsettings from any distro.

I switched to Sway, and sure enough, when I ran gsettings get org.gnome.system.proxy.http host, I could see the proxy IP. I set it to null and behold! Zscaler was working perfectly.

I'm like "Who the hell designs software like this? The application should read the environment variables, not Gnome variables!"

Anyway, this was just a reminder to software makers to kindly follow the norms. Don't design your software for one Distro. Follow the guidelines as mentioned in freedesktop.

Hello fellow lemmings

I am a long-time i3 user and have decided to switch to Sway. I have encountered a weird error which has left me utterly bamboozled.

I am using Ubuntu 24.04 which has gone from 20.04 -> 22.04 -> 24.04. It has Ubuntu-Gnome, i3 and Sway currently installed.

The issue

The error that I'm facing is when I'm using Sway, I simply don't have sudo access.

This is what the error looks like

$ sudo visudo
[sudo] password for xavier666:
Sorry, user xavier666 is not allowed to execute '/usr/sbin/visudo' as root on <HOSTNAME>.

When I switch back to i3, my permissions are fine for the same user. I have not done any crazy modifications to the sudoer's file as far as I can remember.

PS: I have added a command to no-sudo xavier666 ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/brightnessctl

The "fix"

I temporarily solved it by adding xavier666 ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL to the sudoer's file.

IMO, I think this should not be required. I don't remember ever adding the default user to the file for all the installations that I have done. (But this is the first time I've installed Sway)

Logs/Outputs

Running sudo -l without the fix (on Sway)

Matching Defaults entries for xavier666 on <HOSTNAME>:
    env_reset, mail_badpass,
    secure_path=/usr/local/sbin\:/usr/local/bin\:/usr/sbin\:/usr/bin\:/sbin\:/bin\:/snap/bin,
    use_pty

User xavier666 may run the following commands on <HOSTNAME>:
    (root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/brightnessctl

When I run the same command on i3, i get this (ALL : ALL) ALL extra line in the output. And when I run sudo -l with my fix on Sway, (ALL : ALL) ALL is present and the permission issue is fixed.

What is causing Sway to remove the root permission for the user?

Note: I'm just asking for the standard sudo behaviour. I'm not trying to run GUI applications as root.

Edit:

The issue was caused by swhkd. It was installed as a setuid binary (as instructed by the developer of the project). Once I switched back to sway's default keybinds and disabled swhkd, the permissions were back to normal. I removed my previous "fix" in the sudoers list and I still have sudo access.

Thanks a lot everyone and specially @gnuhaut@lemmy.ml for pointing me in the right direction.

Basically the title.

I have seen the EU-OS/Suse discussions for some months now. However, Ubuntu/Arch/Fedora are extremely mature projects. So competing against them will be hard.

I want to know how realistic the scenario (described by the question) is.

I have a question(s) regarding the various types of game controllers.

I need a wireless controller which supports PC (Steam Linux mainly and maybe Windows someday). While searching online, I see various types

1. xbox/ps5/switch controllers : These are for their respective consoles
2. Mobile/PC controllers : These usually connect via wire/bluetooth/2.4 GHz

Source: https://www.gamesir.hk/

However, I see in the product specifications page of the console controllers that they also support PC. And the PC controllers sometimes support some of the consoles. The only real difference between controllers, from a technology perspective, is that is some of them support bluetooth/2.4 GHz.

So I have two questions:

1. If they are already cross-compatible, why even bother having different types?
2. How should I decide which type of controller I should buy? It should support PC, console-support is not essential.

Note: I am a novice in game controllers but aware of different network stacks.

Edit: Thanks for the amazing response! These are my key takeaways from all the comments

1. Hall-effect sensors are a must
2. Default console controllers usually have stick drift
3. If you need trackpad, take PS5
4. 8bitdo is a reliable brand, as per multiple responses
5. Most controllers have good support on Linux. But haptic feedback can be a hit/miss as it can be platform/game dependent
6. There are various connectivity wireless standards. Dongles are the most reliable but you lose a USB port.
7. Keep track of handsize/comfort and button layout
8. PS controllers have excellent support on Linux/Steam

I am using a Dell Latitude 3420 (Ubuntu 22.04.3) and it uses a slightly older OEM kernel 5.14.0-1048-oem. The generic kernels keep getting upgraded but are never used. The current generic that I have is 6.2.0-26-generic and 5.15.0-79-generic.

So I have 2 questions

1. Should I leave the kernel as it is? Some threads online say it's better to leave it as it is as an OEM kernel is better for Ubuntu-certified laptops
2. If I should change the kernel, what would be the best way? I don't want to hard-code the kernel version.
   • If I have issues in the latest generic kernel, I should be able to roll-back to the OEM kernel.

Related links

1. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1395080/which-kernel-should-i-use-for-my-hardware-oem-or-generic
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/XPS/comments/rif7wo/ubuntu_after_installation_oem_kernel_instead_of/
3. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1387979/removing-a-oem-installed-kernel