Posts Tagged ‘guess’

How to Set MySQL MariaDB server root user to be able to connect from any host on the Internet / Solution to ‘ ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’ (using password: YES) ‘

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019

How-to-set-up-MariaDB-server-root-admin-user-to-be-able-to-connect-from-any-host-anywhere-mariadb-seal-logo-picture

In this small article, I'll shortly explain on how I setup a Standard default package MariaDB Database server on Debian 10 Buster Linux and how I configured it to be accessible from any hostname on the Internet in order to make connection from remote Developer PC with MySQL GUI SQL administration tools such as MySQL WorkBench / HeidiSQL / Navicat / dbForge   as well as the few set-backs experienced in the process (e.g. what was the reason for ' ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES) '  error and its solution.

Setting new or changing old MariaDB (MySQL) root server password

 

I've setup a brand new MariaDB database (The new free OpenSource software fork of MySQL) mariadb-server-10.3 on a Debian 10, right after the OS was installed with the usual apt command:

# apt install mariadb-server

Next tep was to change the root access password which was set to empty pass by default, e.g. connected with mysql CLI locally while logged via SSH on server and run:

MariaDB [(none)]> mysql -u root -p

use mysql;
update user set authentication_string=PASSWORD("MyChosenNewPassword") where User='root';

There was requirement by the customer, that MySQL server is not only accessed locally but be accessed from any IP address from anywhere on the Internet, so next step was to do so.

Allowing access to MySQL server from Anywhere

Allowing access from any host to MariaDB SQL server  is a bad security practice but as the customer is the King I've fulfilled this weird wish too, by changing the listener for MariaDB (MySQL) on Debian 10 codenamed Buster
 
changing the default listener
to be not the default 127.0.0.1 (localhost) but any listener is done by modifying the bind-address directive in conf /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf:

root@linux:~# vim /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Then comment out

bind-address  = 127.0.0.1

and  add instead 0.0.0.0 (any listener)

 

bind-address  = 0.0.0.0
root@linux:/etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d# grep -i bind-address 50-server.cnf
##bind-address            = 127.0.0.1
bind-address    = 0.0.0.0


Then to make the new change effective restart MariaDB (luckily still using the old systemV init script even though systemd is working.
 

root@linux:~# /etc/init.d/mysql restart
[ ok ] Restarting mysql (via systemctl): mysql.service.


To make sure it is properly listening on MySQL defaults TCP port 3306, then as usual used netcat.

root@pritchi:~# netstat -etna |grep -i 3306
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3306            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      109        1479917  

 

By the way the exact mariadb.cnf used on this middle-sized front-backend server is here – the serveris planned to be a Apache Web server + Database host with MySQL DB of a middle range to be able to serve few thousand of simultaneous unique customers.

To make sure no firewall is preventing MariaDB to be accessed, I've checked for any reject rules iptables and ipset definitions, e.g.:
 

root@linux:~# iptables -L |gre -i rej

root@linux:~# ipset list

 

Then to double make sure the MySQL is allowed to access from anywhere, used simple telnet from my Desktop Laptop PC (that also runs Debian Linux) towards the server .

hipo@jeremiah:~$ telnet 52.88.235.45 3306
Trying 52.88.235.45…
Connected to 52.88.235.45.
Escape character is '^]'.
[
5.5.5-10.3.15-MariaDB-1
                       rQ}Cs>v\��-��G1[W%O>+Y^OQmysql_native_password
Connection closed by foreign host.

 

As telnet is not supporting the data encryption after TCP proto connect, in a few seconds time, remote server connection is terminated.

 

Setting MySQL user to be able to connect to local server MySQL from any remote hostname


I've connected locally to MariaDB server with mysql -u root -p and issued following set of SQL commands to make MySQL root user be able to connect from anywhere:

 

CREATE USER 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'my-secret-pass';
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost';
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'%';

 

Next step, I've took was to try logging in with root (admin) MariaDB superuser from MySQL CLI (Command Line Interface) on my desktop just to find out, I'm facing a nasty error.
 

hipo@jeremiah:~$ mysql -u root -H remote-server-hostname.com -p
Enter password:
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)


My first guess was something is wrong with my root user created in MySQL's mysql.user table (In MySQL this is the privileges table that stores, how MySQL user credentials are handled by mysqld local OS running process.

 

Changing the MySQL root (admin) password no longer possible on Debian 10 Buster?

 

The standard way ot change the MySQL root password well known via a simple dpkg-reconfigure (provided by Debian's debconf is no longer working so below command produces empty output instead of triggering the good old Ncurses text based interface well-known over the years …

 

root@linux:~# /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure mariadb-server-10.3

 

 

Viewing MariaDB (MySQL) username / password set-up from the CLI

 

To list how this set-privileges looked like I've used following command:

 

MariaDB [mysql]> select * from mysql.user where User = 'root';
+———–+——+——————————————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+———–+————-+—————+————–+———–+————+—————–+————+————+————–+————+———————–+——————+————–+—————–+——————+——————+—————-+———————+——————–+——————+————+————–+————————+———————+———-+————+————-+————–+—————+————-+—————–+———————-+———————–+———————–+——————+———+————–+——————–+
| Host      | User | Password                                  | Select_priv | Insert_priv | Update_priv | Delete_priv | Create_priv | Drop_priv | Reload_priv | Shutdown_priv | Process_priv | File_priv | Grant_priv | References_priv | Index_priv | Alter_priv | Show_db_priv | Super_priv | Create_tmp_table_priv | Lock_tables_priv | Execute_priv | Repl_slave_priv | Repl_client_priv | Create_view_priv | Show_view_priv | Create_routine_priv | Alter_routine_priv | Create_user_priv | Event_priv | Trigger_priv | Create_tablespace_priv | Delete_history_priv | ssl_type | ssl_cipher | x509_issuer | x509_subject | max_questions | max_updates | max_connections | max_user_connections | plugin                | authentication_string | password_expired | is_role | default_role | max_statement_time |
+———–+——+——————————————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+———–+————-+—————+————–+———–+————+—————–+————+————+————–+————+———————–+——————+————–+—————–+——————+——————+—————-+———————+——————–+——————+————+————–+————————+———————+———-+————+————-+————–+—————+————-+—————–+———————-+———————–+———————–+——————+———+————–+——————–+
| localhost | root | *E6D338325F50177F2F6A15EDZE932D68C88B8C4F | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y         | Y           | Y             | Y            | Y         | Y          | Y               | Y          | Y          | Y            | Y          | Y                     | Y                | Y            | Y               | Y                | Y                | Y              | Y                   | Y                  | Y                | Y          | Y            | Y                      | Y                   |          |            |             |              |             0 |           0 |               0 |                    0 | mysql_native_password |                       | N                | N       |              |           0.000000 |
| %         | root | *E6D338325F50177F2F6A15EDZE932D68C88B8C4F | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y           | Y         | Y           | Y             | Y            | Y         | N          | Y               | Y          | Y          | Y            | Y          | Y                     | Y                | Y            | Y               | Y                | Y                | Y              | Y                   | Y                  | Y                | Y          | Y            | Y                      | Y                   |          |            |             |              |             0 |           0 |               0 |                    0 |                       |                       | N                | N       |              |           0.000000 |
+———–+——+——————————————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+————-+———–+————-+—————+————–+———–+————+—————–+————+————+————–+————+———————–+——————+————–+—————–+——————+——————+—————-+———————+——————–+——————+————+————–+————————+———————+———-+————+————-+————–+—————+————-+—————–+———————-+———————–+———————–+——————+———+————–+——————–+

 

The hashed (encrypted) password string is being changed from the one on the server, so please don't try to hack me (decrypt it) 🙂
As it is visible from below output the Host field for root has the '%' string which means, any hostname is authorized to be able to connect and login to the MySQL server, so this was not the problem.

After quite some time on reading on what causes
' ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)
',
I've spend some time reading various forum discussions online on the err such as the one on StackOverflow here SuperUser.com's  how to fix access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' and one on askubuntu.com's – ERROR 1045(28000) : Access denied for user 'root@localhost' (using password: no ) and after a while finally got it, thanks to a cool IRC.FREENODE.NET guy nicknamed, hedenface who pointed me I'm that, I'm trying to use the -H flag (Prodice HTML) instead of -h (host_name), it seems somehow I ended up with the wrong memory that the -H stands for hostname, by simply using -h I could again login Hooray!!!

 

root@linux:~$ mysql -u root -h remote-server-host.com -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 14
Server version: 10.3.15-MariaDB-1 Debian 10

 

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.


I've further asked the customer to confirm, he can connect also from his Microsoft Windows 10 PC situated on a different LAN network and got his confirmation. Few notes to make here is I've also installed phpmyadmin on the server using phpmyadmin php source code latest version, as in Debian 10 it seems the good old PHP is no longer available (as this crazy developers again made a mess and there is no phpmyadmin .deb package in Debian Buster – but that's a different story I'll perhaps try to document in some small article in future.

MK Ultra Documentary movie on CIA Mind Research project – Human Experiments in U.S.

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

mk-ultra-CIA-mind-control-human-experiments-research-project

As I've talked already about the existence of mind control brain manipulation techniques developed in the 1960-70s in US under secrecy with a codename MK Ultra. While I was checking stuff in youtube, I've stumbled today on a whole length 47 minutes documentary. Going after the tracks of the MK-Ultra Project. The video gives quite a good details on how the project went and surely is a must see for anyone interested in the sphere…
Here is the video:

MKULTRA Documentary: CIA Mind Control Research – Human Experiments in the United States

As one can guess the Russian had also a similar mind control secret program runnning  in their secret services. There is not so much available on how far the Russians has gone. Some of the programs Russians done is using waves to damage or put under a hypnotic like state the masses. The Russia's research was mostly in the field of Psychotronic research – This means using elecromagnetic forces to alter the human psycho. Here is one video I found on the subject, though I'm not so sure how reliable the quoted info is.
As always Russia is way more secret than the rest of the world.
I guess secrecy is part of the slavonic nations genes 🙂

Monarch Chapter 10B: Russian Mind Control

We can only guess, how far have nowdays the researches on Mind Control and Psychotronic weapons go. Some people say (as far as I've researched so far) there are already some kind of radio sound waves going around that puts us in a state that we can easily accept suggestions, I'm not sure this info is real though. As I don't think God will allow humans to do something such monsterous as behind the scenes  mass human population mind control. 

My guess is people involved into business, are pretty much aware of this programs and has researched plenty on the topic already. As succesful manipulation (mind control / branwashing) call it as you will is a key to almost every kind of succesful business out there. 

‘host-name’ is blocked because of many connection errors; unblock with ‘mysqladmin flush-hosts’

Sunday, May 20th, 2012

mysql-logo-host-name-blocked-because-of-many-connection-errors
My home run machine MySQL server was suddenly down as I tried to check my blog and other sites today, the error I saw while trying to open, this blog as well as other hosted sites using the MySQL was:

Error establishing a database connection

The topology, where this error occured is simple, I have two hosts:

1. Apache version 2.0.64 compiled support externally PHP scripts interpretation via libphp – the host runs on (FreeBSD)

2. A Debian GNU / Linux squeeze running MySQL server version 5.1.61

The Apache host is assigned a local IP address 192.168.0.1 and the SQL server is running on a host with IP 192.168.0.2

To diagnose the error I've logged in to 192.168.0.2 and weirdly the mysql-server was appearing to run just fine:
 

debian:~# ps ax |grep -i mysql
31781 pts/0 S 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe
31940 pts/0 Sl 12:08 /usr/sbin/mysqld –basedir=/usr –datadir=/var/lib/mysql –user=mysql –pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid –socket=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock –port=3306
31941 pts/0 S 0:00 logger -t mysqld -p daemon.error
32292 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep -i mysql

Moreover I could connect to the localhost SQL server with mysql -u root -p and it seemed to run fine. The error Error establishing a database connection meant that either something is messed up with the database or 192.168.0.2 Mysql port 3306 is not properly accessible.

My first guess was something is wrong due to some firewall rules, so I tried to connect from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.2 with telnet:
 

freebsd# telnet 192.168.0.2 3306
Trying 192.168.0.2…
Connected to jericho.
Escape character is '^]'.
Host 'webserver' is blocked because of many connection errors; unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'
Connection closed by foreign host.

Right after the telnet was initiated as I show in the above output the connection was immediately closed with the error:

Host 'webserver' is blocked because of many connection errors; unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'Connection closed by foreign host.

In the error 'webserver' is my Apache machine set hostname. The error clearly states the problems with the 'webserver' apache host unable to connect to the SQL database are due to 'many connection errors' and a fix i suggested with mysqladmin flush-hosts

To temporary solve the error and restore my normal connectivity between the Apache and the SQL servers I logged I had to issue on the SQL host:

mysqladmin -u root -p flush-hostsEnter password:

Thogh this temporar fix restored accessibility to the databases and hence the websites errors were resolved, this doesn't guarantee that in the future I wouldn't end up in the same situation and therefore I looked for a permanent fix to the issues once and for all.

The permanent fix consists in changing the default value set for max_connect_error in /etc/mysql/my.cnf, which by default is not too high. Therefore to raise up the variable value, added in my.cnf in conf section [mysqld]:

debian:~# vim /etc/mysql/my.cnf
...
max_connect_errors=4294967295

and afterwards restarted MYSQL:

debian:~# /etc/init.d/mysql restart
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.
Starting MySQL database server: mysqld.
Checking for corrupt, not cleanly closed and upgrade needing tables..

To make sure the assigned max_connect_errors=4294967295 is never reached due to Apache to SQL connection errors, I've also added as a cronjob.

debian:~# crontab -u root -e
00 03 * * * mysqladmin flush-hosts

In the cron I have omitted the mysqladmin -u root -p (user/pass) input options because for convenience I have already stored the mysql root password in /root/.my.cnf

Here is how /root/.my.cnf looks like:

debian:~# cat /root/.my.cnf
[client]
user=root
password=a_secret_sql_password

Now hopefully, this would permanently solve SQL's 'failure to accept connections' due to too many connection errors for future.

Fix random reboots of ZTE Blade 3 Android and other chineese smartphones – Fix battery strange discharge after reboot

Monday, August 25th, 2014

fix-solve-random-mobile-reboots-on-chineese-Android-mobile-phones-Android_greenman_logo
I'm owning ZTE Blade 3 chineese brand mobile phone. I thought there is not a big deal to buy chineese mobile phone as it saves money but the good old saying: "The Cheap always is more expensive" came true to proof the old wisdom.

The phone runs some Android port of version 4.0.4 and generally it runs well for a couple of days, but after the increase of application the battery started discharging too quickly, I have to charge almost daily … also occasionally since I have turned synchronization of mobile phone numbers with Google  from settings the ZTE Andorid phone started to randomly loose its contacts (after which I had to restore with proprietary application Dr. Fone). After a while I realized there is another fix, sometimes Contacts restore was also possible through using free application Contacts Sync Fix, but most of the times the only thing that could resolve the contacts is to dig for lost phonebook contacts with Dr. Fone …. Eventually I realized the Lost PhoneBook Contacts issue can be resolved by itself on a random principle so the missing phones issue sometimes solved by itself just by switching off complete the phone for some time and switching it on again after 12 hours?! Recently I found another alternative way to restore sudden (deleted) disappered phone numbers by:

Settings -> Profiles and Synchronization -> (Go to configured gmail account settings) -> Settings of Profile

Then

(Frequency of syncrhonization, messaging etc.) -> (click over the email address) -> Frequency of email check (every 4 hours) 

Set the every 4 hours settings to Never and then after a minute or 2 (interval), set back the Never (opt) to every 4 hours

Since some time I started facing another more severe problem – random phone reboots after which the battery often kept at a critically low charged. The batter often fall to 40% or 50% charge from 99% / 100% charge, and after some time of talking over the phone the battery fall down to as low as 18% and in a short random time it fall to 9%, then after a reboot it uppered the charge to 35% or 45% and the oddities continued. My first guess was it could be the battery being broken, some colleagues at work advised me to completely discharge the battery so the phone couldn't boot and then try to charge it with Battery Doctor free Android Application. Battery Doctor has a special 3 stage charging:

battery-doctor-android-revolutionary-battery-3-stage-charging-or-recovering-deat-dried-out-batteries-calibrating-broken-android-phone-battery-application

1. Bulk Charge

The primary purpose of a battery charger is to recharge a battery. This first stage is typically where the highest voltage and amperage the charger is rated for will actually be used. The level of charge that can be applied without overheating the battery is known as the battery's natural absorption rate. For a typical 12 volt AGM battery, the charging voltage going into a battery will reach 14.6-14.8 volts.

Where first 80% of the battery are charged with a rapid electricity influx to battery once 80% of battery charge is reached charging is moved to the so Absorption Battery Charge

2. Absorption Charge

Smart chargers will detect voltage and resistance from the battery prior to charging. After reading the battery the charger determines which stage to properly charge at. Once the battery has reached 80%* state of charge, the charger will enter the absorption stage. At this point most chargers will maintain a steady voltage, while the amperage declines. The lower current going into the battery safely brings up the charge on the battery without overheating it. This charge phase takes much longer time to charge.
Then comes the final charging state Float Charge

3. Float Charge

Some chargers enter float mode as early as 85% state of charge but others begin closer to 95%. Either way, the float stage brings the battery all the way through and maintains the 100% state of charge. The voltage will taper down and maintain at a steady 13.2-13.4 volts, which is the maximum voltage a 12 volt battery can hold. This charging is also known as "trickle charging". Float Charging battery electricity influx is so small that you can leave the phone to charge in this mode for days (if you like).

But guess what, after I tried to completely discharge the battery, it discharged to a state where it auto rebooted just before Android boots and reboots again and again, after nothing happened for about 2 hours of leaving the phone to automatically rebooted I decided to try the Battery Doctor 3 stage charging without having my battery completely dried out. The 3 Stage Charging is also known as Android Battery Calibration process and as I heard it helped fix many people's battery which for some reason got their Android battery in a broken state without physically substituting it.

Unfortunately In my case using Battery Doctor didn't help … so after spending time to read on some forum threads finally found this one. There many Bulgarians complained for buying ZTE Blade III and Huawei variations from the 3 major stream bulgarian mobile phone operatorsM-Tel, Vivacom and Globul and shortly after experiencing the strange random chineese smart phone reboots.  Some suggested that the Android Kernel is causing the issues or the firmware and suggested Phone Software Reset, however as I red most people that tried to solve it that way reported this doesn't solve it. Many People said to have shipped the phone as it was in a warranty back to services and phones were given back often with flushed firmware and in a little while the problem re-occured, some reported of another strange fix – a tiny sticky thing which kept the battery more stable?!! 🙂

zte-blade-3-and-huawei-and-other-android-chineese-phone-random-reboot-problem-fix-picture

Yes I know it looks kinda of insane … as this little holder could be any piece of paper and many reported to have fix the random battery charge drop down by sticking a tiny piece of paper between the battery and mobile shell I try it myself and GUESS WHAT?? IT WORKED !!! :)))

zteblade3_and-other-android-based-mobile-phone-brands-resolve-restart-fix-solution-screenshot

This is pretty much the Bulgarian and Russian primitive way to fix things but it works 🙂 I was exceedingly happy as I already have spend plenty of money for this mobile and I really was unwilling to buy another phone and it was out of warranty. I guess the whole issues started after I have occasionally dropped my phone on a couple of times on the ground and some little piece of plastic holding the battery eroded or whatever … Anyways the PAPER WAY WORKS! Cheers and hope this saves someone else out there from having to spend on new mobile!

Hooray !!! Thanks goes to the Lord Jesus Christ for Everything, for helping me solve it ! 🙂

Mysql: How to disable single database without dropping or renaming it

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

mysql rename forbid disable database howto logo, how to disable single database without dropping it
A colleague of mine working on MySQL database asked me How it is possible to disable a MySQL database. He is in situation where the client has 2 databases and application and is not sure which of the two databases the application uses. Therefore the client asked one of the database is disabled and wait for few hours and see if something will break / stop working and in that way determine which of the two database is used by application.

My first guess was to backup both databases and drop one of them, then if it is the wrong one to restore from the SQL dump backup, however this wasn't acceptable solution. So second I though of RENAME of database to another one and then reverting the name, however as it is written in MySQL documentation RENAME database function was removed from MySQL (found to be dangerous) since version 5.1.23 onwards. Anyhow there is a quick hack to rename mysql database using a for loop shell script one below:

mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE \`new_database\`;"
for table in `mysql -B -N -e "SHOW TABLES;" old_database`
do
  mysql -e "RENAME TABLE \`old_database\`.\`$table\` to \`new_database\`.\`$table\`"
  done
  mysql -e "DROP DATABASE \`old_database\`;"

Other possible solution was to change permissions of Application used username, however this was also complicated from mysql cli, hence I thought of installing and using PHPMyAdmin to make modify of db user permissions easier but on this server there wasn't Apache installed and MySQL is behind a firewall and only accessible via java tomcat host.

Finally after some pondering what can be done I came with solution to request to disable mysql database using chmod in /var/lib/mysql/data/, i.e.:

sql-server:~# chmod 0 /var/lib/mysql/databasename

Where databasename is the same as the database is named listable via mysql cli.

After doing it that way with no need to restart MySQL server database stopped to appear in show databases; and client confirmed that disabled database is no longer needed so we proceeded dropping it.

Hope this little article will help someone out there. Cheers :

Fix Apache [error] [client xx.xxx.xxx.xx] PHP Warning: Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in Unknown on line 0

Wednesday, August 14th, 2013

I have a busy Linux server with 24 cores each running on ..4 Ghz. Server is configured to server  Apache and MySQL queries and a dozen of high traffic websites are hosted on it. Until just recently server worked fine and since about few days I started getting SMS notifications that server is inaccessible few times a day. To check what's wrong I checked in /var/log/apache2/error.log  and there I found  following error:

[error] [client 95.107.233.2] PHP Warning:  Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000.

To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in Unknown on line 0 referer: http://www.site-domain-name.com/predict/2013-08-10
 

Before I check Apache error.log, I had a guess that ServerLimit of 256 (spawned servers max) is reached so solution would be raise of ServerLimit to more than MaxClients setting defined in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf. After checking /var/log/apache2/error.log I've realized problem is because the many websites hosted on server exceed maximum defined variables possible to assign by libphp in php.ini. maximum possible defined variables before PHP stops servering is set through max_input_vars variable

As I'm running a Debian Squeeze Linux server, here is what is set as default for max_input_vars in /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini:

; How many GET/POST/COOKIE input variables may be accepted
; max_input_vars = 1000

So to fix it in php.ini just raised a bit setting to 1500, i.e.:

max_input_vars = 1500

Though I hit the error on Debian I assume same error occurs on Redhat RPM based (Fedora, CentOS, RHEL Linux) servers.
Hence I assume

max_input_vars = 1500

or higher should fix on those servers too. Looking forward to hear if same error is hit on RedHats.

Enjoy 🙂
 

How to disable GNOME popup notification in Debian Wheezy Linux

Friday, August 2nd, 2013

how to disable remove GNOME 2 / 3 popup e mail notification Debian Ubuntu Linux screenshot

I found it very annoying to have a pop-up notification every time I receive a new email it is just pointless there especially, when I already use Thunderbird (IceDove) to fetch my email via pop3. This pop-up notification though planned to be useful messes with my Desktop and breaks the habit on how I'm used to old GNOME interface…. I remember same popup notification was present on older Fedora releases (back in time when I used Fedora Linux for my Desktop).

disable Gnome popup notification new email Debian GNU Linux Wheezy 7 screenshot

My logical guess was in order to disable popup notification in GNOME 3 I had to tamper with gconf-editor. In gconf-editor config database there is:

Apps -> Notification daemon

Problem it is not possible to turn it off. Only available change options are:

default-sound, popup_location, sound_enabled, and theme

After some time of try / fail attempts I found the solution on linuxquestions forum, its quite raw solution but it works, all I had to do is change permissions of /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon;

debian:~# chmod 0000 /usr/lib/notification-daemon/notification-daemon

Another thing that is handy to disable is POP UP Window with warning that you have low disk space on Hard Drive.

The warinng for Disk space is very annoying and popups up on every GNOME boot. Actually the hard drive with Low disk space is and old mounted partition in NTFS and I only use it to read data.

Here is how to disable HDD Notification Warnings in GNOME:

debian:~# chmod 0000 /usr/lib/gnome-disk-utility/gdu-notification-daemon

How to fix mysteriously disappeared Thunderbird e-mail message pane, Hide / Show Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail message window

Saturday, May 25th, 2013

Recently I did something so my standard Thunderbird e-mail message pane disappeared. I was not sure what happened so my logical guess was I had to do something from View menu, i.e. change something in:

View -> Layout or

View -> Toolbars

Anyways after taking close look in View, I realized can't fix it from there. So tried changing settings in:

Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced (tab)-> Reading & Display

Thunderbird edit preferences advanced tab Reading & Display screenshot

I tried changing setting for Open messages in with no luck. Finally after some more googling I got the fix under Mozilla Community Q&A site here. The fix is as simple as pressing F8Pressing F8 makes e-mail message pane appear or disappear, like shown in below screenshots …. Thunderbird with missing e-mail message pane

Thunderbird screenshot with e-mail message pane

That's all problem solved 🙂

How to: Open Office view / edit .doc , .odt document in Full Screen mode

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

Most programs, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Evince etc. etc. have as a default set F11 to bring the program to full screen.  It seems logical that the Linux substitute for Microsoft Office – Open Office should also go full screen while the user press F11, but weirdly it doesn't.

Pressing F11 in Open Office on my current Debian Squeeze (6.0.5) Stable Linux with OpenOffice.org 3 brings to screen Styles and Formatting customization dialog.

openoffice.org 3 debian linux F11 key press Styles and Formatting dialog screenshot

I'm not sure why openoffice is behaving like this, but one of my guess is cause OpenOffice was multiple times upgraded whenever I upgraded my Debian to latest stable with apt-get update && apt-get upgrade thus most likely still some keyboard bindings from older OO versions are affecting it. There are two ways to make OpenOffice display in Full-Screen.

1. Using OO menus

Use View -> Full Screen (F11)

As I said it is possible, the F11 key assignment is still reacting to old config assignment as in dialog for full screen the Shortcut key said to bring OO full-screen is F11.

2. Making OpenOffice FullScreen through keyboard

Keyboard config to bring OpenOffice to Full-Screen mode is a simultaneous key-press of:

CTRL + SHIFT + J

Pressing Ctrl + Shift + J again brings OO to its standard window.

Openoffice / Libreoffice run in full screen screenshot pic Debian squeeze Linux

Though I'm not sure I assume in newer OpenOffice versions now distributed under the LibreOffice name (cause of some Patents and Licensing issues), CTRL + SHIFT + J should bring up LibreOffice in Full-Screen too. I don't have at hand installed version of LibreOffice, so if someone can confirm for sure of Ctrl + Shift + J makes LibreOffice go FullScreen? Please drop comment.

Cheers 😉