My wife had been using DVDFab 13 under Microsoft Windows 11 and wanted to continue to use it for ripping DVDs after we converted her desktop PC to Ubuntu Linux. DVDFab 13 seemed to be working fine after I installed it using Wine until after I updated Wine to version 11.0 (you can see which version of Wine is present by issuing the command wine --version in a Terminal window). When I tried to run DVDFab afterwards, though, I saw the message “A debugger has been found running in your system. Please, unload it from memory and restart your program.”

When I queried ChatGPT about the issue, it replied “This error is usually not caused by an actual debugger running on Ubuntu. DVDFab contains anti-debugging / anti-tamper checks, and under Wine or Proton those checks can sometimes incorrectly conclude that a debugger is attached.” It also stated that, for DVDFab 13 specifically, there is an issue when trying to run the program on later versions of Wine with the problem appearing with version 10.3 or later. The problem occurs on newer versions, even when no debugger is running. I decided to install the application under Bottles, which I had previously installed on the system with Flatpak, to see if the problem might not occur if I tried to run the application under Bottles, but the problem still occurred. I.e., I saw the "A debugger has been found running in your system. Please, unload it from memory and restart your program.” message. It took me a considerable amount of time to resolve the problem, but I was finally able to fix the issue by disabling DXVK and VKD3D in the settings for the DVDFab bottle.

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu/DVDFab] permanent link

To see the Flatpaks installed on a Linux system, you can issue the command flatpak list in a terminal window. To remove a Flatpak from a system, find the Application ID of the software by issuing the command flatpak list --app. Once you have the Application ID, you can uninstall the Flatpak with the command flatpak uninstall AppID where AppID is the relevant Application ID. To remove all of the application's local settings and configuration files, add the --delete-data option. E.g., to remove the Bottles Flatpak, I could use the command flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.usebottles.bottles.

alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak list
Name             Application ID              Version Branch       Installation
Bottles          com.usebottles.bottles      63.2    stable       system
i386             …sktop.Platform.Compat.i386         25.08        system
Mesa             …esktop.Platform.GL.default 26.0.6  25.08        system
Mesa (Extra)     …esktop.Platform.GL.default 26.0.6  25.08-extra  system
nvidia-580-159-… …tform.GL.nvidia-580-159-03         1.4          system
Mesa             …ktop.Platform.GL32.default 26.0.6  25.08        system
Mesa (Extra)     …ktop.Platform.GL32.default 26.0.6  25.08-extra  system
nvidia-580-159-… …orm.GL32.nvidia-580-159-03         1.4          system
Nvidia VAAPI dr… …ktop.Platform.VAAPI.nvidia         25.08        system
Codecs Extra Ex… …ktop.Platform.codecs-extra         25.08-extra  system
i386             …Platform.codecs_extra.i386         25.08-extra  system
GNOME Applicati… org.gnome.Platform                  49           system
Yaru Gtk Theme   org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Yaru              3.22         system
gecko            org.winehq.Wine.gecko               stable-25.08 system
mono             org.winehq.Wine.mono                stable-25.08 system
alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak list --app
Name        Application ID             Version     Branch     Installation
Bottles     com.usebottles.bottles     63.2        stable     system
alice@Wonderland:~$ flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.usebottles.bottles


        ID                                    Branch         Op
 1. [-] com.usebottles.bottles                stable         r
 2. [-] com.usebottles.bottles.Locale         stable         r

Uninstall complete.
Delete data for com.usebottles.bottles? [y/n]: y
alice@Wonderland:~$

A Flatpack may required shared "runtimes" components. When you delete the application, those runtimes can become "orphaned", but still occupy space on the system. You can, optionally, use the command flatpak uninstall --unused afterwards, if that is a concern.

[/os/unix/linux] permanent link

The file command can be used on a Linux system to determine what type of data a file holds, e.g., file Untitled.png. You can determine the media type, aka MIME type, by using the --mime-type option for the file command. E.g., file --mime-type Untitled.png. You can determine which application is the default application for opening files of that file type using the xdg-mime command — the xdg-mime program is a command line tool that can be used to determine what application handles a particular file type. E.g., xdg-mime query default image/png — you need to specify the filetype in the "minor/major" format that xdg-mime expects, which is what you see in the output of the file --mime-type command.

$ file Documents/Untitled.png
Documents/Untitled.png: PNG image data, 597 x 113, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced
$ file Documents/tea.html
Documents/tea.html: ASCII text, with very long lines (6229)
$ file --mime-type Documents/Untitled.png
Documents/Untitled.png: image/png
$ xdg-mime query default image/png
org.gnome.Loupe.desktop
$ file --mime-type Documents/Cocoa-Lead.odt
Documents/Cocoa-Lead.odt: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
$ xdg-mime query default application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
libreoffice-writer.desktop
$

The default file manager for Ubuntu Linux is GNOME Files. You can make another application the default file manager, if you like. Some alternatives are Thunar, Nemo, Krusader, or Dolphin. You can determine which application is the default file manager with the command xdg-mime query default inode/directory. You can set the default file manager with the command xdg-mime default fmgr.desktop where fmgr is the filemanager you wish to use.

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

My wife and I have been using the Microsoft Windows desktop versions of CLZ's database programs for managing book, comic, and movie collections for many years. We've found the Collectorz database programs to be well-designed and very useful, but we've encountered some issues getting the programs to work correctly on her Ubuntu Linux system, though I would note that the software was developed for Microsoft Windows operating systems and the company doesn't indicate they are supported under Linux. One problem we encountered is that after installing the programs under Wine, when she opened one of the programs, e.g., Movie Collector, and then minimized it or switched to another application with Alt-Tab, she was unable to switch back to the Collectorz program. Alt-Tab would not work nor would the Super key plus Tab key combination. There would be a small window at the upper, left-hand corner of the screen indicating the program was running, but clicking on it would not allow her to enlarge the window to work in the application again and there didn't appear to be any way to enlarge or maximize the window.

I was able to resolve the problem with minimizing the application or switching from it without re-creating a problem opening files by checking the Emulate a virtual desktop option under the Graphics tab for winecfg instead.

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[/os/unix/linux/wine/collectorz] permanent link

I had installed MakeMKV from source files on an Ubuntu Linux system . It had been working then, but when I tried to run the program today, I saw the message "Application failed to initialize NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON".

I had updated the operating system and other applications on the system in the intervening months, so I knew it was possible that the upgrade changed or removed libraries that makemkvcon depends on. I had upgraded the operating system from Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka) to 26.04 LTS (Resolute Racoon). The error means the MakeMKV graphical user interface (GUI) can't communicate with its backend console process, makemkvcon. I.e., the GUI is waiting for a response from makemkvcon and that process isn't starting or is crashing, possibly because of a missing required dependency such as a missing or changed library file. To try to determine if that was the case and, if so, which library might be associated with the problem, I ran makemkvcon from a terminal window.

alice@Wonderland:~$ which makemkvcon
/usr/bin/makemkvcon
alice@Wonderland:~$ makemkvcon
makemkvcon: error while loading shared libraries: libavcodec.so.61: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
alice@Wonderland:~$

I was able to resolve the problem by reinstalling MakeMKV from the source files. When I did that and re-registered the application, it started normally.

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu/MakeMKV] permanent link

My wife was dissatisfied with the default file manager, GNOME Files, aka Nautilus, on her Ubuntu Linux desktop system. You can determine the default file manager from a terminal window by issuing the command xdg-mime query default inode/directory, which will show you what application opers directories.

$ xdg-mime query default inode/directory
org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop
$

You can also check on whether one of several common file managers, such as Nautilus, Thunar, Dolphin, or Nemo, which is a fork of Nautilus, is currently running with ps aux | grep -E 'nautilus|thunar|dolphin|nemo'. I saw that I had previously installed the Krusader file manager when I checked for file manager desktop entries with grep -l "inode/directory" /usr/share/applications/*.desktop.

$ grep -l "inode/directory" /usr/share/applications/*.desktop
/usr/share/applications/org.gnome.baobab.desktop
/usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop
/usr/share/applications/org.kde.krusader.desktop
$

But I didn't think the Krusader interface would appeal to her as she wanted a file manager that provided an interface more similar to the one for the Windows Fle Explorer that she had on her Windows 11 system, so I issued the command sudo apt update and then sudo apt install thunar, which installed thunar 4.20.7 — after installation, you can check the version of Thunar with thunar --version. I then made Thunar the default file manager with xdg-mime default thunar.desktop inode/directory. If you run the command xdg-mime query default inode/directory, you should see thunar listed when it has been made the default handler for directories.

$ xdg-mime default thunar.desktop inode/directory
$ xdg-mime query default inode/directory
thunar.desktop
$

I then unpinned the GNOME Files (Nautilus) app by right-clicking on the icon for it and selecting Unpin. I then pressed the Super key along with the "A" key, and typed thunar in the "Type to search" filed and then right-clicked on thunar when I saw it returned and selected "Pin to Dock" so she could open it the way she was opening GNOME Files.

To make the left pane of the Thunar window act like Explorer on Microsoft Windows operating systems, I configured it to expand a directory to show subdirectories if she clicked on it. To do so, I changed Thunar's sidebar style from the default "Shortcuts" to "Tree, which can be done by selecting View, then Side Pane and then selecting Tree, which changes the left pane to provide an expandable directory tree. As with the Windows File Explorer, you can toggle the display of hidden files. I turned that option on by pressing the Ctrl and H keys simultaneously — the option can be toggled off again by using the same key combination.

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[/os/unix/linux/ubuntu] permanent link

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[/os/unix/linux/wine/collectorz] permanent link

A couple of days ago, when my wife tried to play Disney Dreamlight Valley under Steam on her Ubuntu Linux system, when she clicked on "Play" it would appear that the game was going to start, but it never did. When I checked on whether the executable program for the game, ddv.exe, was running using the ps command and piping its output through grep with ps -aux | grep -i 'ddv.exe' | grep -v grep in a Terminal window, I could see it ran briefly, but when I reissued the command a few moments later, it was no longer running. To troubleshoot the problem, I closed Steam and then killed all running instances of it with pkill command, i.e., pkill Steam, in a Terminal window. The system has a NVIDIA Quadro P2000 and the problem seems to have been an issue related to Vulkan graphics software on the system. When I upgraded the operating system and rebooted, the problem disappeared.

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[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

My wife had been playing Disney Dreamlight Valley under Windows 11. When I installed Ubuntu 25.10, I installed Wine, then Steam as a Snap package, and then installed Disney Dreamlight Valley under Steam. She was able to use the Cloud Save option to log into the game with all of the progress she had made under Windows. She needed to switch back to Windows for a while and didn't switch back to Ubuntu for several weeks. When I started Steam and Disney Dreamlight Valley again under Ubuntu and then tried the Cloud Save option, it did not work with the message below displayed when I was prompted to provide login credentials:

Login Error

Cannot connect to online services. Continue playing in offline mode

If I entered the wrong password, I got a response indicating that the system was able to check the credentials, which I presumed were being checked on a remote server. And I was able to successfully use the change password option, which sent a password reset code to my wife's email address. I was able to resolve the problem by uninstalling Disney Dreamlight Valley under Steam and then reinstalling it.

[ More Info ]

[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link

My wife has been using Filename Magic Pro for Windows for many years; she has version 1.00, which still appears to be the latest version. The software "offers robust functionality for batch renaming files within folders. It streamlines the process for organizing large collections of documents, music, or images." I transitioned her desktop PC from Microsoft Windows 11 to Ubuntu Linux 25.10 and installed Wine so that she could run Windows applications that she might want to still use on the Ubuntu system. I was able to install Filename Magic Pro and use it without any problems on the Ubuntu system. If you choose to have the program create a desktop shortcut during the installation, you will see two shortcuts on the desktop, Filename Magic Pro.desktop and Filename Magic Pro.lnk. If you right-click on Filename Magic Pro.desktop and choose Allow Launching, you can then double-click on the shortcut to start the application. You can delete the Filename Magic Pro.lnk by right-clicking on it and choosing Move to Trash.

When you start the program, if it is unregistered, you will see a countdown timer that counts down from 15.

You can wait to the countdown gets to zero or just close the countdown window to proceed, which will then lead to the display of the window below.

There is a "click here to purchase" link, but that no longer works; if you click on it, you will see a HTTP 404 error indicating the page no longer exists. But if you previously purchased a license as we had, you can transfer it from an old system to a new system or, in our case, from Windows to Linux by exporting the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\L5 Software Group registry keys, which you can do with the Windows registry editor, RegEdit, or you can download or copy this L5SoftwareGroup.reg file and edit it with a text editor, such as Windows Notepad and replace the AppRegKey Xs with your license key (be sure to save it with just the .reg extension and not a .txt file extension tacked on). You can add the registry keys to the registry used by Wine by opening a Terminal window and running the command wine regedit filename.reg where filename is the name of the .reg file.

jim@Wonderland:~$ wine regedit ~/Downloads/L5SoftwareGroup.reg 
jim@Wonderland:~$ 

When you then open the program, you won't see the countdown timer and can just click on OK. You can press Alt-Tab afterwards to get to the main Filename Magic Pro window.

[/os/unix/linux/wine] permanent link