A Windows 10 Update Broke the Office's Printer (and MX-19 is the Patito Feo?)

Two weeks ago, some colleagues reported that the office's printer was not working.  I did not pay much attention to it because I seldom use that printer and I assumed that they had broken the hardware.

However, later on I learned that it was not a hardware problem.  The issue was with the software.  Indeed, my brother Mechatotoro could print seamlessly using OpenMandriva LX.  I tried then one of my MX-18 Live USB systems and could also print. 


At the end, we realized that it had been a Windows 10 update.  I tried to fix the issue, but since nobody has administrative rights, nothing could be done.  When my colleagues asked my brother why he could use the printer and how that problem could be prevented, he said "You can do it by using Linux."

Since my colleagues are not willing to use an OS that works, they will have to wait until someone comes to fix what was functional but that Windows graciously broke.

In the meantime, I guess I will download MX-19 "Patito Feo" and see what's new.  I want to install it on my laptop, too. Then, I'll make a live USB clone of my system to take it everywhere I go.  Let the Patito Feo fly majestically!

The Beauty of Customized Live USB Systems

Yesterday, I upgraded the kernel of my Linux laptop (MX Linux 18.3) to an antiX kernel 5.1.2.  The upgrade went well and the laptop now boots very fast.

Encouraged by that, I tried the same with my HP laptop, which runs antiX 17.3.1.  That laptop seems designed to discourage anyone from running Linux on it.  It gave me all sort of problems and, apparently, I'm not the only one who has had headaches thanks to such laptop.

Fortunately, when I finally got my system up and running, I made a snapshot and put the system into a live USB. That way, if something went wrong, I could run the live system with all my tweaks already applied and install it easily.

Well, the kernel upgrade did not work. I lost my wireless connection and there was no way to get it back.  In addition, my wireless stopped working on the old kernel, the one that previously worked without problems.

It was time to run the customized live USB.  It worked flawlessly.  After seeing the wi-fi back on, I installed the system from the USB stick.

Right now, I am posting this from the HP laptop.  Customized live USB systems are simply amazing!

Two Methods to Remove Vocals from Songs (Using Audacity)

Audacity is a very handy tool to edit audio files.  Lately, I've been testing its capacity to remove vocals from songs, using two different methods and obtaining mixed results.

The first method:  The "Vocal Remover" tool:

This is simple and relatively fast.  You need to go to "Effects" and once there, all the way down to "Vocal Remover".  Depending on your version, you might need to look for it under "Effects/Plugins/"

Once there, you run it, making sure you chose "remove vocals" from the drop down menu of the plugin.  And that's it! 

Vocal Remover will work well with some songs.  An important observation is that you need an unsplit stereo track for this method to work. What is an unsplit stereo track?  What can you do if you tried Vocal Remover and you didn't like the result?  Please read the second method to find out the answers.

The second method: Using "inversion" for one channel:

This is more difficult.  Stereo tracks have the audio in two different channels (left and right), and such channels are merged (unsplit) in most songs.  The second method consists of splitting both tracks and then applying the tool "inversion" to one of them.  Once done that, both tracks must be set to "mono" to be exported. 

That sounds a bit confusing, especially if we do not know much about sound edition.  Fortunately, several people have posted video tutorials.  This is one by Jimmy Ruska:

There you go!   The second method has worked better in my case, but it's a matter of testing to see what works best for you. 

Fun with the GIMP

I've been working so much lately that I haven't had time to do my favorite leisure activities, which are reading and writing.

Thus, when I felt stress levels rise dangerously, I opened the GIMP and decided to see what I could do with it in my short resting moments.

I decided to use the GIMP because I wanted to do something experimental.  To begin with, I am not a visual artist of any kind and my digital drawings have never gone beyond stick people on Kolourpaint.  In other words, I wanted to step out of my known tools and experience something new.  Hopefully, I'd be able to paint something in the process, too.

And this is how Tajumaru came to existence.  True, it is not a masterpiece but my stress was gone when I finished the painting.  That was the best outcome!

I highly recommend the GIMP to those who, like me, need to release some stress and don't have much time in their hands.

Oops! I Missed This Blog's 9th. Anniversary!

I've had such a busy schedule that I totally forgot about this blog's anniversary on May 21!

La Esquina de un Migrante a Linux was born nine years ago, during a workshop about blogging.  Back then, I had recently switched from Windows XP to MEPIS Linux 8 and thus, I decided to keep an online record of my learning and experiences as a Linux migrant.

What has changed since then?

Well, MEPIS left the Linux scene after some MEPIS 12 alpha releases.  MEPIS and antiX joined efforts and produced MepisantiX, that soon was renamed as MX Linux.  When my MEPIS machines could no longer keep updated, I moved to MX for production, and here I am.  It has been 9 years on Linux and I am very happy!

I must confess, though, that in spite of all my Linux learning, my knowledge of the command line is as poor now as it was when I migrated.

Anyway, happy belated birthday, Linuxmigrante!! 

Mandrivachronicles: 9 Years already!

My brother's blog, Mandriva Linux Chronicles, is celebrating its 9th. anniversary today!

Wow!  It's been 9 years since Mechatotoro's migration and time surely flies by!

Congratulations, Mandriva Linux Chronicles!   :D

Windows Malware: I Had Forgotten What It Was Like!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a shop because I needed to print some posters.  I had my file on a USB stick, which the clerk inserted on a Windows 10 laptop.  After a minute, he told me he could not do anything with my file. 

When I checked, I saw the problem: some nasty Windows malware replaced my folders with .exe files.  Windows asked if my drive needed to be repaired.  Since I knew I was not going to print anything that day, I went forward with the repairing process.  The result?  The .exe files were gone but my files were not back.

At home, I plugged the USB stick to my Linux computer and, sure enough, I could see all my files plus the malware-generated ones.  The malware had inserted copies of itself in every folder and sub-folder while making my original files invisible to Windows. What a nostalgic feeling!

After I deleted all the copies of the malware, I searched for the way to make my files and folders visible again on Windows.

It turns out that Windows does it like this:

attrib -H -R -S /S /D F:\*.*    (F stands for the letter assigned to your USB).

Well, it seems that Windows malware keeps being as effective as it was back in the times I used that OS. Some things never change!