Raymond P. Burkholder - Things I Do

lspci - Show a tree-like diagram containing all buses, bridges, devices and connections between them.

# lspci -tv
-[0000:00]-+-00.0  Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers
           +-01.0-[01]--+-00.0  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Polaris 22 XT [Radeon RX Vega M GH]
           |            \-00.1  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Polaris 22 HDMI Audio
           +-01.1-[02]----00.0  ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
           +-01.2-[03]----00.0  O2 Micro, Inc. SD/MMC Card Reader Controller
           +-08.0  Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th/8th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
           +-14.0  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
           +-14.2  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Thermal Subsystem
           +-15.0  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Serial IO I2C Controller #0
           +-15.1  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Serial IO I2C Controller #1
           +-15.2  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Serial IO I2C Controller #2
           +-16.0  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
           +-1c.0-[04]--
           +-1c.1-[05]----00.0  Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection
           +-1c.2-[06]----00.0  Intel Corporation Wireless 8265 / 8275
           +-1c.4-[07-71]----00.0-[08-71]--+-00.0-[09]--
           |                               +-01.0-[0a-3c]--
           |                               +-02.0-[3d]----00.0  Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 USB Controller (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016]
           |                               \-04.0-[3e-71]--
           +-1d.0-[72]----00.0  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
           +-1e.0  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Serial IO UART #0
           +-1f.0  Intel Corporation HM175 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller
           +-1f.2  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Power Management Controller
           +-1f.3  Intel Corporation CM238 HD Audio Controller
           +-1f.4  Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus
           \-1f.6  Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM

On an Intel NUC8i7HVK

For additional detail, look at 'lshw'

# dpkg -s sc
Package: sc
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: math
Installed-Size: 440
Maintainer: Adam Majer 
Architecture: amd64
Source: sc (7.16-4)
Version: 7.16-4+b3
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14), libncurses6 (>= 6), libtinfo6 (>= 6)
Description: Text-based spreadsheet with VI-like keybindings
 "Spreadsheet Calculator" is a much modified version of the public-
 domain spread sheet sc, which was posted to Usenet several years ago
 by Mark Weiser as vc, originally by James Gosling. It is based on
 rectangular table much like a financial spreadsheet.
 .
 Its keybindings are familiar to users of 'vi', and it has most
 features that a pure spreadsheet would, but lacks things like
 graphing and saving in foreign formats.  It's very stable and quite
 easy to use once you've put a little effort into learning it.

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux bullseye/sid
Release:        testing
Codename:       bullseye

# dmidecode -t 1
# dmidecode 3.3
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.1.1 present.

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
        Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
        Product Name: NUC8i7HVK
        Version: J71485-502
        Serial Number: HD16880967000xx
        UUID: 9dd0b962-8d45-42ab-8688-54b2030473f9
        Wake-up Type: Power Switch
        SKU Number:
        Family: Intel NUC

# lshw
nuc8i7hvk01                 
    description: Desktop Computer
    product: NUC8i7HVK
    vendor: Intel Corporation
    version: J71485-502
    serial: HD1688096700097
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-3.1.1 dmi-3.1.1 smp vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop family=Intel NUC uuid=62B9D09D-458D-AB42-8688-54B2030473F9
.....

Didn't know this: pressing 's' on a process entry starts up strace. [from Hacker News: ProcMon for Linux (Preview) (github.com/sysinternals).

There is a link to How does strace work? - relies on ptrace.

When attaching an Android device to a Linux machine, you may see a popup with the message:

Unable to open MTP device "001,104"

The numbers may vary depending upon device and port:

# tail -f /var/log/kern.log
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.564694] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 105 using xhci_hcd
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.714863] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=18d1, idProduct=4ee1, bcdDevice= 2.23
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.714865] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.714866] usb 1-1: Product: Nexus 6
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.714867] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: motorola
May  5 22:53:51 nuc8i7hvk01 kernel: [3205901.714868] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: ZX1G22MGK2

Further diagnostics generate:

# mtp-detect
libmtp version: 1.1.17

Listing raw device(s)
   No raw devices found.
root@nuc8i7hvk01:/home/rpb# mtp-detect
libmtp version: 1.1.17

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=18d1 and PID=4ee1) is a Google Inc Nexus/Pixel (MTP).
   Found 1 device(s):
   Google Inc: Nexus/Pixel (MTP) (18d1:4ee1) @ bus 1, dev 103
Attempting to connect device(s)
error returned by libusb_claim_interface() = -6LIBMTP PANIC: Unable to initialize device
Unable to open raw device 0
OK.

On my system, the culprit is the gvfs filesystem packages:

# dpkg -l |grep gvfs
ii  gvfs:amd64       1.46.2-1  amd64  userspace virtual filesystem - GIO module
ii  gvfs-backends    1.46.2-1  amd64  userspace virtual filesystem - backends
ii  gvfs-common      1.46.2-1  all    userspace virtual filesystem - common data files
ii  gvfs-daemons     1.46.2-1  amd64  userspace virtual filesystem - servers
ii  gvfs-fuse        1.46.2-1  amd64  userspace virtual filesystem - fuse server
ii  gvfs-libs:amd64  1.46.2-1  amd64  userspace virtual filesystem - private libraries

# systemctl |grep gvfs
  run-user-1000-gvfs.mount   loaded active mounted   /run/user/1000/gvfs

# ps aux |grep gvfs
rpb         1886  0.0  0.0 241436  4036 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:00 /usr/libexec/gvfsd
rpb         1891  0.0  0.0 753756  3364 ?        Sl   Mar29   0:26 /usr/libexec/gvfsd-fuse /run/user/1000/gvfs -f
rpb         2009  0.0  0.0 501008  4632 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:00 /usr/libexec/gvfs-udisks2-volume-monitor
rpb         2041  0.0  0.0 237900  4828 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:00 /usr/libexec/gvfs-mtp-volume-monitor
rpb         2061  0.0  0.0 239776  3052 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:00 /usr/libexec/gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor
rpb         2069  0.0  0.0 237500  3052 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:00 /usr/libexec/gvfs-goa-volume-monitor
rpb         2073  0.0  0.0 315992  3160 ?        Ssl  Mar29   0:41 /usr/libexec/gvfs-afc-volume-monitor
rpb         2135  0.0  0.0 391244  6824 ?        Sl   Mar29   0:02 /usr/libexec/gvfsd-trash --spawner :1.8 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/0
rpb       178920  0.0  0.0 315892  3956 ?        Sl   Mar30   0:01 /usr/libexec/gvfsd-network --spawner :1.8 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/1
rpb       178946  0.0  0.0 317528  3172 ?        Sl   Mar30   0:01 /usr/libexec/gvfsd-dnssd --spawner :1.8 /org/gtk/gvfs/exec_spaw/3
rpb       179014  0.0  0.0 206540  5372 ?        Ssl  Mar30   1:29 /usr/libexec/gvfsd-metadata

The file browser known as pcmanfs does not seem to be able to access the filesystem

Solution: Dolphin, as a substitute for Nautilus, can be used to access the virtual filesystems.

The command gio can be used to access the file system:

# gio
Usage:
  gio COMMAND [ARGS…]

Commands:
  help     Print help
  version  Print version
  cat      Concatenate files to standard output
  copy     Copy one or more files
  info     Show information about locations
  list     List the contents of locations
  mime     Get or set the handler for a mimetype
  mkdir    Create directories
  monitor  Monitor files and directories for changes
  mount    Mount or unmount the locations
  move     Move one or more files
  open     Open files with the default application
  rename   Rename a file
  remove   Delete one or more files
  save     Read from standard input and save
  set      Set a file attribute
  trash    Move files or directories to the trash
  tree     Lists the contents of locations in a tree

Use “gio help COMMAND” to get detailed help.

Background info via Wikipedia, which comes with a set of back-ends, including trash support, SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, SMB, and local data via Udev integration, OBEX, MTP and others.

I built an lxc container to hold the VMware Horizon client. My main display is used for rendering. Refer to GUI From an LXC Container on the Host for how to build the container and how to obtain the COOKIE.

apt install libatk1.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libxss1
apt install apulse libpulse0 libv4l-0 libgstreamer1.0-0 libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0 libsane
apt install python3
apt install wget
apt install --no-install-recommends   xserver-xorg-core   xauth   x11-apps x11-utils
export XAUTHORITY=/root/.Xauthority
touch ${XAUTHORITY}
xauth add ${DISPLAY} MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 <cookie>
echo $LANG
dpkg-reconfigure locales
export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
export NO_AT_BRIDGE=1
wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/view/viewclients/CART21FQ4/VMware-Horizon-Client-2012-8.1.0-17349998.x64.bundle
sh ./VMware-Horizon-Client-2012-8.1.0-17349998.x64.bundle  --console
vmware-view

References:

• Fixing invalid locale settings in Debian 8 - fix a "invalid or unknown locale provided" status message when starting VMware Horizon.
• Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket - source of the NO_AT_BRIDGE setting -

  WARNING **: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-uyN7DFK2Jm: Connection refused

• Observability Won’t Replace Monitoring (Because It Shouldn’t) - Ben Sigelman
• Observability — A 3-Year Retrospective - Charity Majors
• Monitoring and Observability - Cindy Sridharan

Observability is how you explain unknown-unknowns, that it’s about exploration and debugging instead of dashboards and pattern matching or accessing certain data types.

observability is impossible without:

• raw events
• high cardinality dimensions
• no pre-aggregation, no pre-indexing (which lock you into asking predefined questions)
• read time aggregation
• arbitrarily wide events
• schema-less-ness
• structured data
• oriented around the lifecycle of the request
• batched up context
• not metrics-based
• static dashboards don’t work, it must be exploratory
• etc.

On an side-ways related note, Entity Embeddings of Categorical Variables was referenced in a youtube talk about examining keyword profit analysis which is effectively high cardinality categorical data in a different context.

Sometimes (well, many times) sitting on a server with console-only based access, some text tools are helpful. I've encountered the likes of:

• sc: the Venerable Spreadsheet Calculator key-strokes are a bit different, but does have the standard spreadsheet functionality. Debian has a standard install package. It hasn't changed in many years, but has enduring value. I hope that Linux Journal reference page does not go away! There is a more recent version: SC-IM, with key maps at SC-IM help file. There are Debian install instructions.
• visidata - data science without the drudgery - console manipulation with some console graphics! - almost like an observability tool
• Datasette - is a tool for exploring and publishing data. It helps people take data of any shape or size and publish that as an interactive, explorable website and accompanying API. - not quite as lite as the other entries here.
• Some additional summary info at Stack Exchange

As a post note, with VisiData's capability of analyzing json files, when coupled with the scatterplots, I wonder if it might be a useful quicky tool for evaluation of high-cardinality variables under the guise of observability?

• DebianInstaller - wiki starting point for many things installer
• Debian Installer Internals - introduction to the inner workings of the installer when it is running, its components (udebs) and its build system.
• Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide - installation instructions for the Debian GNU/Linux system for the 64-bit PC (“amd64”) architecture. It also contains pointers to more information and information on how to make the most of your new Debian system.
• Netboot Assistant - provides a tool to simplify the preparation of files for TFTP net booting
• UEFI - describe UEFI for Debian purposes: what's supported in Debian and how to use it, plus some troubleshooting tips.
• Installing Debian using network booting - describes installing a new Debian system with no CD, DVD, USB at all. By the end of the installation process, the new machine is able to run without the support of the server. During the installation, you will need a network boot server.

There are sites for that!

• BlockChain check for 1F1ptimEAvcQPFoPsAckmrKiYL6c6h5NcN - and with the ability to use that string as a content filter!
• Supposedly something similar can be performed at https://www.spamhaus.org/query/hash/
• By using it as a dnsbl,

  $ host 1Mw9bvuPpVqM6vkQwaq4JQZCYe4ZmZse1R.bl.btcblack.it
  Using domain server:
  Name: 8.8.8.8
  Address: 8.8.8.8#53
  Aliases:
  
  1Mw9bvuPpVqM6vkQwaq4JQZCYe4ZmZse1R.bl.btcblack.it has address 127.0.0.2
  
    

phoronix had an item on Software-Defined Radio Benchmarks, Other Updates This Week in terms of, since SDR is becoming popular and compute intensive, phoronix has added bencharks to their workload test tools.

Some interesting links originating from here:

• Open Benchmarking - LuaRadio - is a lightweight software-defined radio (SDR) framework built atop LuaJIT. LuaRadio provides a suite of source, sink, and processing blocks, with a simple API for defining flow graphs, running flow graphs, creating blocks, and creating data types.
• Open Benchmarking - gnuradio - is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios.
• Open Benchmarking - srsLTE - Open-source LTE software radio suite developed by Software Radio Systems (SRS).
• Open Benchmarking - liquidsdr - is home to liquid-dsp, a free and open-source signal processing library for software-defined radios written in C. Its purpose is to provide a set of extensible DSP modules that do not rely on external dependencies or cumbersome frameworks.

Somewhat associated: Noise Mapping with KSQL, a Raspberry Pi and a Software-Defined Radio - ADS-B capture, RTL2832U radio

It is relatively simple to switch between Graphical Window Manager and a text based console. The first command identifies current state.

$ sudo systemctl get-default
graphical.target

To switch to console mode:

$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Then to switch back (may require reboot):

$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

From Key Takeaways:

• Open source programs are typically platform-agnostic, allowing them to be used in nearly any cloud and run with any application.
• Encryption is a fundamental security feature.
• Open source programs like Let’s Encrypt use encryption to ensure website domains and other programs have secure communication protocols.
• Virtualized security functions are best used with software-defined security orchestration because that brings out benefits like automation and function scalability.
• By using an open source update system framework like TUF, attackers have a harder time manipulating the update system and corrupting software.
• An open source policy controller works across clouds and platforms and enables application policies to be more uniformly applied and enforced in those environments.
• A modern open source runtime security program can better protect a cloud-native application because it can work with many cloud-native applications across multiple clouds.

References to:

• Open Security Controller Project
• The Update Framework
• Open Policy Agent - meat and potatos of policy evaluation and deployment

When you purchase a Treasury note you are lending money to the government for a specified period of time (i.e. 30 days to 30 years) at a fixed rate of interest or yield. The risk of default on Treasuries has generally been considered nonexistent.

The federal government, with assistance from the Federal Reserve, can always print money to pay its debts. But this isn’t without risks. Because printing dollars to pay debts devalues the existing stock of dollar. So while the nominal return is preserved…the inflation adjusted return goes negative.

In short, inflation destroys Treasury values for investors. To account for expectations of rising inflation, yields rise. But this presents another problem for long term Treasury investors.

When Treasury yields go up, Treasury prices go down. Over the last eight months, the yield on the 10-Year Treasury note has increased from 0.5 percent to over 1.54 percent – or 104 basis points.

Treasury investors stand to face major losses. Moreover, as interest rates rise, and borrowing costs become more expensive, several other things happen.

High priced stocks become less attractive. In addition, higher borrowing costs make it harder for over leveraged zombie corporations, state governments, municipalities, and Washington to roll over their debts.

... the great monetary inflation has already happened. The great price inflation is picking up, regardless of what the Bureau of Labor Statics’ bogus CPI report says. Thus, it is certainly possible that the yield on the 10-Year Treasury note could increase another 50-basis points come summer.

There could be corporate debt, hedge fund, and pension fund financial blow ups galore. But this is exactly what the Fed is trying to avoid. The Fed wants inflation without higher interest rates.

-- Fifty Basis Points To Disaster - ZeroHedge