February 4, 2016

There were 2 posts published on February 4, 2016 (this is page 1 of 1).

Ubuntu upgrade kills network

I recently applied some software updates to my Ubuntu 14.04 desktop. I noticed right after I did that that the NetworkManager applet disappeared, leaving my laptop unable to automatically connect to the network.

When I tried running nm-applet manually, I got this message:

(nm-applet:6238): nm-applet-WARNING **: Failed to register as an agent: (2) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files

(nm-applet:6238): nm-applet-WARNING **: Failed to register as an agent: (2) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files
^Cnm-applet-Message: PID 0 (we are 6238) sent signal 2, shutting down…

I know how to run

dhclient eth0

… and plug in an Ethernet cable to get back onto the network, so I did and then did some sleuthing. It turns out that I had the trusty/proposed repository enabled, and that a network-manager package in that repository has a bug. This resulted in the following error message when one tries to run NetworkManager manually:

root@savannah:/etc/init.d# NetworkManager

(NetworkManager:6288): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone’s code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it’s set.
The overwriting error message was: Key file does not have group ‘connectivity’

According to this bug report, the initial fix was to downgrade network-manager (according to this page). However, a fixed version of network-manager has since been placed in trusty/proposed. If you do

apt-get upgrade network-manager

… your Ubuntu system should fetch a working network-manager.

This is all just in case my fellow Linux geeks run into this same issue.

Calling all Time Warner customers to unite against its dreadful customer service | News & Observer

Time-Warner-Cable
Former Raleigh City Councilor Barlow Herget wrote to the N&O about his abysmal recent experience at the Time Warner Cable office.

Mr. Herget asks if the City Council could change the law to go back to local control of cable TV franchises. Local control went out the window in 2005 when a group of “business-friendly” Democrats in the state legislature successfully passed the “state franchise for cable television” bill into law for their friends at Time Warner Cable. This stripped control of cable franchises from city and county governments and placed it in the hands of the state. It’s easier to pay off state leaderss rather than local leaders, it seems.

I predicted this would happen back in 2006 and time has proven me correct. I just wish I could’ve convinced more state legislators at the time.

I recently had the dreadful occasion to visit Time Warner’s office in Raleigh. We needed a “box” for a new television. It was a hot 95 degrees outside, and inside the Atlantic Avenue office, there were 35 to 40 people waiting, including one crying baby.

The room was the size of a typical school class. We took a number and asked how long we should expect to wait. Thirty minutes. We luckily found two chairs together and sat down.My fellow subscribers were lined along the walls, a few standing, more coming in. Mostly patient, the steam was starting to rise in some of these customers. There was an inane game show on a big screen TV that a few were watching.

One lady came in carrying a big box, saw the crowd and asked how long she had to wait. Told 30 minutes, she declared she was on her lunch break and, after waiting 10 minutes, departed, muttering, “Some people have to work for a living,”

Source: Calling all Time Warner customers to unite against its dreadful customer service | News & Observer