Microsoft ate my hamster, well it screwed up my packet manager.

[Les.]

For my sins, I like “Comic sans” font. Being Microsoft owned, its installation is different to other programmes. I had thought it was now a “normal” install, but I could not find it in package manager.

So I did a google search, and found a couple of commands to run in terminal. Things happened and then it displayed Microsoft’s  EULA, with  <OK> at the bottom, clearly requiring to be clicked. But it would not click. Eventually I closed with the X at top RHS.

Today I needed to install the HP stuff for my 8500A printer combo. I could not open the synaptic package manager, receiving a message on how to cure it. Open terminal and run the fix.

Another attempt to open package manager took gave the same  problem.

A bit of googling suggested installing via command line, so I tried that route. Up came the “still hidden somewhere” Microsoft EULA. Still with non-clickable <OK>.

Any helpful suggestions.

Les.

[Drezha]

Is this the Microsoft Core fonts package?

This video should help – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAQw4jmnaks

(Essentially, press tab to select the EULA then press enter).

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Les.]

Drezha, you got it! It took me a while to get back to a working terminal (for updating etc.) I had to retrace my previous steps as best as I could remember them, including a shut down and restart.

Not only did the TAB turn <OK> red, but also in the next step. Fonts installed, then the HP stuff, which I can hopefully set up properly in a few mins.

Thanks, Les.

[Drezha]

No problem – enjoy your Comic Sans!

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Is that packet or package Les ? Being Friday drinking night I can come up with jokes for both 😁

[Les.]

WoF, I shall treat it as a serious question , since you seem to be a Micro$oft expert and maybe not versed with Linux.

Package manager. Once upon a time, before I ever had a successful Linux install and run, if you wanted to install a programme (maybe you prefer program?) you needed to install any other stuff which it needed to run correctly. Dependencies. They apparently drove many people crazy (metaphorically). Today we have “Package managers” which know all the dependencies and add them to everything needed before you finally give the “Go Ahead”. In the case of Mint, “Synaptic” is the default package manager. As I understand it, it is simply a gui version of using Terminal, the command line system used by Mint.

If you open a terminal and type in something like    –    apt get something, followed by    –   apt get install something, it installs “something”  just like the gui does, but now you can see every little detail. Well, you could if it did not flash past so damn quickly.

Les, the one eyed man in his land of the blind. E&O excepted!!!!

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

I do have a working knowlage of Linux Les but you put “packet” in the title of this thread so I couldn’t resist a joke 😁

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

In the old days it actually used to be worse. Many parts of Linux/UNIX were only available as source code and had to be compiled for your system before you could do anything with them.

[Ed P]

Recompiling the Linux kernel used to be the passage of fire from being a noob to not having to go through the scourge of RTFM.

My one criticism of Linux used to be that many of the people responding in forums just took delight in torturing noobs by not responding with anything helpful or with something that was positively dangerous to your setup.

I’m happy to say that crowd of malcontents have in the main moved from Linux to Stackoverflow’s Python moderators who now respond unhelpfully to 99% of noob questions with ‘That question has been answered before (with no link of course!)’, or ‘Show me some code before I deign to answer’.

[D-Dan]

Ed P wrote:

or with something that was positively dangerous to your setup.

Ahh, you mean

sudo rm -rf /

NOTE – DO NOT DO THIS.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Les.]

A few days had passed when I suddenly realised the little shield with either a tick (= all OK) or an indication of updates pending had gone awol. I think I was slightly mislead by the little green “Skype” icon (with its own tick).

Anyway, I opened package manager, clicked refresh and about a dozen awaited me. Updated OK, but a few days later the little icon has not returned. How don I get it back?

Les.

[Les.]

No suggestions on the missing little shield? I have tried odd things, but I can’t get it back.

Les.

[Ed P]

I have no idea why your Update Manager is missing, you probably screwed up dpkg or something. If you can now use it, then use Synaptic and search for ‘Broken Packages’ and fix that if is an issue. Then all I can suggest then is that you use Synaptic and search for an  ‘Update Manager’ that has a green box showing it is installed and mark it down for reinstallation.

If you cannot use synaptic, use the command:

sudo apt-get –fix-broken install

If that does not work then use the following:

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg –configure -a
sudo apt-get update

Hopefully that will mend your install, after that I’m clueless and would just have to play with your system to get a lead.

[Les.]

Edp, no luck. Yes, I can use synaptic OK, it is simply that I need to regularly remember to open it, “Reload” and if anything has changed, reinstall.

Searching for “broken packages” found nothing.

I then searched for “Update manager” and right clicked and selected “mark for reinstallation” everything that had green box, shut down and started again. No little shield.

I then tried every command you suggested in terminal but it did not like “sudo apt-get –fix-broken install” nor “sudo apt-get install -f” nor  “sudo dpkg –configure -a”.

I guess I will just have to keep checking for updates manually.

Les.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

You said above Les that you can use Synaptic fine but you have to open it yourself.

Is this just a case of Synaptic not auto starting ?

[Les.]

WoF, remember I am a bit dim here. At start up (I assume), an update manager is launched which then access the WWW, and either shows a (green ?) tick in a little shield, or if updates available, “something blue (an X ?) in the shield instead. Reading what Edp said, and trying to summon up some brains, then it seems that the update manager is not being launched. No idea why, but I WANT IT BACK! My only guaranteed way is to reinstall, but that is too much. There WILL be a way, but I don’t know what it is.

Les.

[Ed P]

Just for clarity, Synaptic is NOT the Update Manager, it is a better implementation of the apt package manager.

Incidentally Les can you launch the Mint? Update Manager via the Menu? If so look in preferences, I suspect in this case that you have for some unknown reason ticked the box that says not to show the shield unless there is an update.

[Les.]

Edp, I could not find anything related to update in the menu (Software Manage, Software sources and Packet manager are there of course).

For want of something better, I opened a terminal and typed “Update”, getting this

les@les-SN78S:~$ update

Command ‘update’ not found, did you mean:

command ‘lupdate’ from deb qtchooser
command ‘xupdate’ from deb libxml-xupdate-libxml-perl
command ‘pupdate’ from deb pbuilder-scripts
command ‘uupdate’ from deb devscripts
command ‘zupdate’ from deb zutils

Try: sudo apt install <deb name>

les@les-SN78S:~$

No “Mint-update” in that list.

Les.

[Ed P]

If you have Mint then Menu->Administration->Update Manager->Edit->Preferences->Only show a tray icon….

If it is checked then uncheck it, if not cycle it.

[Les.]

Not sure what happened here, but I replied to this on Friday, but now it is gone!

Maybe it got lost with a minor spelling edit, otherwise clueless.

The reply was to say Thanks Edp.

When I first went looking for   —edit/preferences etc, the options were greyed out! However there was another grey icon, centre stage saying a new version of update manager was available, so I took it. After that I was rewarded with another 7 updates, including a new kernel, followed by a reboot. More updates later as well.

Strangely the icon is missing again (and I have left “only show a tray icon” both checked and unchecked). If I check the icon, it will appear, but is gone next time. If I do not check the icon, the same thing seems to happen. It seems a slightly misleading choice to me.

The main thing is, I am satisfied that update manager is going and looking, and WILL let me know if updates are waiting.

Les.

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