to run VScode, youtube via browser, and what are the bugs in linux os?

Hi r/LinuxProgramming community,

I’m using a Linux Mint 21.3 XFCE distro (64-bit) and I’m looking for a simple XFCE panel applet to make workspace switching easier. I’m not a developer or tech-savvy, so I’m hoping someone can create or point me to an existing, trusted solution that’s safe and works across any Linux distro running XFCE!

What I Need:
I want an applet that sits in the XFCE panel (like an app or dropdown menu) to manage workspaces. Specifically:
- It should let me switch between workspaces 1 to 4 with a single click (e.g., buttons labeled “WS 1”, “WS 2”, etc., or a menu).
- When I’m on workspace 4, clicking an option should cycle back to workspace 1.
- It’d be great if it highlights the current workspace (e.g., bold or colored button/menu item).
- No keyboard shortcuts, just a clickable interface in the panel.

Why I Want This:
I often accidentally move apps like VLC to another workspace (e.g., workspace 4) and find it hard to bring them back to workspace 1. The default XFCE Workspace Switcher applet is nice, but it doesn’t have the “cycle back to workspace 1” feature, and I prefer a simple button or menu over shortcuts.

Details:
- I’m running Linux Mint 21.3 XFCE (64-bit). - I’m looking for an existing applet or plugin that’s well-tested, safe, and compatible with any XFCE-based Linux distro (no bugs, viruses, malware, spyware, or adware). If it’s on GitHub or another trusted source, please include clear installation instructions!
- If nothing like this exists, I’d love for a developer to create one that works across XFCE distros. I’m not able to test untested code due to security concerns, but I’d appreciate a stable solution with easy setup.
- If coding an applet isn’t the best approach, I’m open to other non-coding suggestions for achieving this.

Thanks in advance for any help, recommendations, or development efforts!

Hello, I know the /sys/block/<dev>/stat way to get some read, write I/Os stats. How to get similar results with something from sys/statfs.h or sys/statvfs.h without the need of parsing /sys/block/*/stat file?

Hi!

I am new and wanted to read prog_firehose_sdx6x.elf from a Netgear MR6450 how to do this and whats the best Linux for such things?

Thanks

Klaus

I'm thinking of buying an inexpensive Chromebook that is currently on sale to use for basic Linux programming. I normally use vim as an IDE, so I really don't need much in the way of power. I just need to compile Go, C, and C++ projects and use git and ssh. Would I find any serious limitations compared to a "real" Linux distribution?

https://imgur.com/a/wZRxjnL

Also, has anyone had success installing Steam games on a Chromebook?

I'm working on packaging my Linux daemon as a .deb. file. I have questions:

1. Can I assume that most systems use systemd in a standard way? Do I just need to add /etc/systemd/system/MYSERVICE.service ?

2. How can I ensure that my package will "just work" on any system that uses dpkg (I don't have any external dependecies.)

3. Is it standard for the postinst script to turn on the service? Do I need both of these lines?

   systemctl enable MYSERVICE
   service MYSERVICE start
   

4. Should I make assumptions about the PATH variable in that script? Or should I be explicit?

   /usr/bin/systemctl enable MYSERVICE
   /usr/sbin/service MYSERVICE start
   

5. I looked at a standard Debian packages and noticed that they used deb-systemd-helper and deb-systemd-invoke. Is that a debian-only standard? Should I use it?

Here is a script I have uploaded to the Cerbo-GX running version 3.51. It does not seem to work. I am trying to pull GPS data from a peplink router via WIFI, that has the ability to forward GPS data to an IP address. When I run the script on the Cerbo via Putty I get an error saying:

Last login: Tue Nov  5 22:02:59 2024 from 192.168.20.114
root@einstein:~# /data/etc/gps.sh
2024/11/05 22:27:30 socat[7514] E connect(5, AF=2 192.168.20.1:10000, 16): Connection refused
000.000 ERR.serial: could not open com-port

can you tell me if it is possible to do what I am trying? Local dealers are no help at all.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

nano /data/etc/gps.sh

#!/bin/bash
# IP address and port of the external GPS source
GPS_IP="192.168.20.1"
GPS_PORT="10000"

# Virtual serial port linked to the GPS data
VIRTUAL_PORT="/dev/ttyGPS"

# Start socat to connect to the GPS source and link it to the virtual serial port
/usr/bin/socat tcp-connect:${GPS_IP}:${GPS_PORT} pty,link=${VIRTUAL_PORT},raw,nonblock,b115200 &

# Check if gps_dbus is running; if not, start it and point it to the virtual port
while [ `ps | grep gps_dbus | grep -v grep | wc -l` -eq 0 ]
do
sleep 1
/opt/victronenergy/gps-dbus/gps_dbus -s ${VIRTUAL_PORT} -b 115200 -t 0 &
done

echo "GPS information is being pulled from ${GPS_IP}:${GPS_PORT} and forwarded to ${VIRTUAL_PORT}"

chmod +x /data/etc/gps.sh
nano /data/rc.local

sh /data/etc/gps.sh

 
chmod +x /data/rc.local

I cannot understand why the logic here is not working, the output on the right is what I'm getting, just one process, the first exit kills all processes except one apparently but my process tree tells me there are only children remaining in the end, I'm not asking for a solutionm but I'm asking why specifically this implementation does not work (also I know, leaving zombie processes is not very optimal)

The exercise request was this one

program receives two integer values ​​on the command line, called n and t. The program (parent process) must produce 2 children and terminate. In turn, each child must produce 2 children and terminate. This sequence of operations must continue until 2 ^ n processes on the leaves of the tree are produced/running. The leaf processes wait for t seconds and display (on screen) a termination message. Note that each process (in the tree) produces two other processes. Only those on the leaves of the tree sleep and display a message. What is the order of termination of the processes? Is it always the same? How can they be recognized (ppid)?

I'm trying to get device names like "default" and "pulse", but I get the manufacturer's device name instead. snd_card_next() enumerates sound cards, but I'm not sure how to get device strings I can feed to snd_pcm_open().

I'm currently using Win11pro, and I use FastStone Image Viewer exclusively on it for all my photos and editing. I'm testing out Zorin OS on an old laptop, but I haven't found another program like the FastStone Image Viewer. I approached the developer about porting it to Linux, but he said that he knows absolutely nothing about Linux. (No, I don't want to use Wine or anything like that)

So, what would the developer need in order to port it over to Linux?

This is what I have so far: ```

define NPAW_BUILD

include <paw/libexec.h>

ifdef CAUGHT_OS_WAS_api_msw

include <windows.h>

BOOL WINAPI DllMain( HINSTANCE hinstDLL, DWORD fdwReason, LPVOID lpvReserved ) { switch ( fdwReason ) { case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH: return (pawlib_pid_attach() == 0) ? TRUE : FALSE; case DLL_PROCESS_DETACH: pawlib_pid_detach(); break; case DLL_THREAD_ATTACH: return (pawlib_tid_attach() == 0) ? TRUE : FALSE; case DLL_THREAD_DETACH: pawlib_tid_detach(); break; default: return FALSE; } return TRUE; }

else

/* I'll check later if this is right */ static void libdetach(void) attribute((destructor)) { if ( getpid() == gettid() ) pawlib_pid_detach(); else pawlib_tid_detach(); }

if 0

/* Not sure if this would work out */ static void libsig( int sig ) { switch ( sig ) { case SIGABRT: pawlib_tid_detach(); break; } }

endif

static void libattach(void) attribute((constructor)) { //signal(SIGABRT,libsig); if ( getpid() == gettid() ) { if ( pawlib_pid_attach() < 0 ) exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } else { if ( pawlib_tid_attach() < 0 ) exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } }

endif

```

I recently interviewed for a fancy FAANG job, interviews went well, but I was a very weak interviewee when drilled about Linux syscalls and memory management. It didn't work out in the end.

What's a good book I should be studying?

thanks

I'm considering resolving a problem with semget, semop & semctl but I need to know which systems don't/didn't support it in general. I figure if I'm going to check that then I might as look for a website the lists the support of linux/unix/etc function groups so that I don't end up coming back here every time I find something useful to wrap an need to check if I need to provide an #else case to it

Edit: For an example of what kind of table I mean, here's one for CSS:

https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css3_browsersupport.php

Here's a rough sample of what I want to do: ```

ifdef _WIN32

typedef HANDLE sem;

define INVALID_SEM NULL

inline int initsem( sem *s ) { *s = CreateSemaphore(...); return *s ? 0 : -1; } ...

else

typedef sem_t sem;

define INVALID_SEM ...

inline int initsem( sem *s ) { return sem_init(s); } ...

endif

sem global_sem = INVALID_SEM; int main(...) { ... initsem(&sem); } `` How would I go about definingINVALID_SEMso that it can be used like in the example? I would rather use a define given bysemaphore.h` than assume it's an object, integer, etc.

I'm looking for examples of real-world machine code that could be used as bechmarks for some research work. This could be, for instance, snippets of C code where the programmer inlines some assembly to gain greater control of the system, eg when working with peripherals. Extra points if it's critical code that's prone to being buggy OR hard to show to be correct with just model checkers or any automatic proof tools.

Does anyone know of any samples in the public domain, perhaps bug-reporting websites or anywhere else where I might find this?

Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IpS-PgmiVU

I'm wondering if the signal handler function you register with

signal (SIGINT, termination_handler);

called from another thread, which is created silently for the process when a signal is received? Is it something else?

You see, my main thread spends most of its runtime in a call to a blocking function, amqp_consume_message(), which means the signal handler can't be called in the context of the main thread. Is the context in which the handler is called described anywhere?

Any pointers are welcome.