Thinvent Micro 5: How to update Internet browser software, Keyring and Auto Login issue, how to mount USB flash drive; starts with read-only root filesystem

Last updated on 9th Aug. 2022

Readers may want to see: List of my posts related to Thinvent Micro 5, a low-cost Linux mini PC based on Tanix TX 3 Android TV box,  https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2022/08/list-of-my-posts-related-to-thinvent.html , 8th Aug. 2022

This post captures my trials from 28th July 2022 to 31st July 2022, and has some info. put up later on.

This post follows up on my posts: 

1) Review of below Rs.3000 (US$ 40) Micro 5 Linux Mini PC box w ARM Quad-core, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, HDMI, USB 2.0, used for Internet browsing, Libre Office and more w 21.5 in. LCD monitor,  https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2021/12/below-rs3000-us-40-micro-5-linux-mini.html , 13th Dec. 2021.

and

2) Can Thinvent Micro 5 based Linux mini PC costing around Rs.10,000 be used for teaching Internet browsing, Libre Office etc. and for online classes in poor rural schools?,  https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2021/12/can-thinvent-micro-5-based-linux-mini.html , 16th Dec. 2021.

Superuser (root) Password

Micro 5 superuser (root) password is: thinux .

I got this info. from https://www.thinvent.in/support/managing-network-settings/ which link I got from Google search.

Before installation, '/' filesystem of Micro 5 which comes up as read-only on boot/start, needs to be changed to read-write. To do that, first su and give password as 'thinux'. After successful su (to root), issue following command:

mount -o remount,rw '/'

See below pic.

[On PC desktop, to open pic in larger resolution (if available), right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Mozilla Firefox update

Please see https://linuxhint.com/how-to-update-firefox-ubuntu/ .

Firefox update was straight forward. I think that I tried out 'sudo apt update' first but I don't think that updated Firefox. Later, if I recall correctly, I tried 'sudo apt install firefox' and that did the job. I think I had su'd to superuser (root ).

Before update the version number shown in Firefox Mozilla application About dialog was 88.0.1 (64-bit). Additional info. was "Mozilla Firefox for Ubuntu canonical - 1.0."

After update the Firefox version was shown as: 103.0 (64-bit). The additional info. remained the same: "Mozilla Firefox for Ubuntu canonical - 1.0." 

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/103.0/releasenotes/ seen on 30th July 2022, states 

"103.0

Firefox Release

July 26, 2022" 

and 

"Version 103.0, first offered to Release channel users on July 26, 2022"

So the Mozilla Firefox on Micro 5 was updated to latest 103.0 version which had been released less than a week ago!

Attempted Chromium (browser) update

https://itsfoss.com/install-chromium-ubuntu/ gives the commands for the update.

As superuser (after su) I used the command: 'sudo apt install -y chromium-browser' to upgrade chromium-browser. 

One of the messages from above command (highlighted by 2nd yellow arrow) is: 

"Get:5 http://ports.ubuntu.com focal-updates/universe arm64 chromium-browser arm64 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 [48.3 kB] " So the install (upgrade) process seems to ask for downloading Chromium Browser version 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2! This point is discussed later in this document.

The upgrade (install command above) process got stuck for a long time with the message, "INFO Waiting for automatic snapd restart...".

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1230390/chromium-installation-error-in-lubuntu-20-04 informs us of some methods to overcome this problem. I tried the first command specified there 'sudo service snapd restart' but that did not seem to solve my problem. 

But after a long wait, the chromium-browser install/upgrade process completed! 

Command line msgs towards end of install have the version being installed. The msgs (highlighted with yellow arrow in above screenshot) are:

"Unpacking chromium-browser (1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2) ...

Setting up chromium-browser (1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2) ..."

I read somewhere about this command: "sudo apt-get upgrade chromium-browser" and used it, though I don't recall exactly why. It gave a message that "chromium-browser is already the newest version (1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2)." 

As per https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 "chromium-browser 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 source package in Ubuntu" was published on 2020-11-04.

But Chromium browser -> About shows version number as 89.0.4389.114 (Developer Build) built on Debian 10.9, running on Debian bullseye/sid (64-bit), even after restart of system after upgrade of chromium-browser. The number shown in About dialog did not change from prior to upgrade! I did fair amount of browsing on the net to figure out why this About number is different from install/upgrade command message version number, but did not get info. explaining this issue.

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-check-your-ubuntu-version/ gives the command 'lsb_release -a' as the way to get Ubuntu installed version number. Running it on Micro 5 gave me: 

"Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS

Release: 20.04

Codename: focal". 

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser seems to list latest versions of "chromium-browser package in Ubuntu". The latest version (upload) is 103.0.5060.134-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 but that seems to be for a different version of Ubuntu.

In a list below the latest upload info., it lists as the 3rd entry: "The Focal Fossa (supported)" with details as "1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2" and "2020-11-04" (publishing date, I think).

So while I initially thought that latest Chromium version is 103, it seems to me now that for the Ubuntu version I have, the latest version is 1:85xxx (going by package version number). So I think I am on the latest version of Chromium-browser for my Ubuntu OS version.

I still have not understood the relation between Chromium browser package version number and Chromium browser About page version number.

Keyring Issue

The Keyring Concept in Ubuntu: What is It and How to Use it?, https://itsfoss.com/ubuntu-keyring explains the keyring concept as a set of keys, and which is useful when auto-login is used on Ubuntu (as is the case with Micro 5).

Cancelling out of keyring window (that asks for keying-password) leads to at least some sites like gmail and amazon.in to force user to login again. That's a good security feature of Micro 5/Ubuntu when one is using auto login (which is the default for Micro 5).

To change the password for the default keyring (when one knows the current keyring password), one needs to install and run seahorse.

Seahorse was not installed on Micro 5. I followed  instructions in https://zoomadmin.com/HowToInstall/UbuntuPackage/seahorse to install it. Key commands are:

sudo apt-get update -y

sudo apt-get install -y seahorse

Then I restarted Micro5.

How to use seahorse to update the password is covered here:  https://help.gnome.org/users/seahorse/stable/keyring-update-password.html.en .

I was able to change the default keyring password by first running seahorse from command line as user, and then following above instructions. Seahorse did give some error message on running as shown below, but that did not come in the way of me being able to change default keyring password.

On executing above command, a window with GNUPG keys as its title appears with a message that collection seems to be empty. See below pic.

But pressing left arrow icon on top-left of this window, brings up the Passwords and Keys window where one can right-click default keyring (password) to bring up pop-up window with Change password menu choice. See below pic.

Disabling Auto Login Issue

Micro 5 uses auto login feature with user 'user' getting auto-logged on. The password for user is same as that of root i.e. thinux.

The display manager used by Micro 5 is XFCE. Most web links returned by Google for disabling auto login in Ubuntu refer to Gnome Desktop (3) or LightDM. [It took me quite some while to figure out that Micro 5 desktop is XFCE as I was not familiar with the name XFCE as a desktop, even though I had seen links like XFCE terminal on Micro 5. So I wasted a lot of time looking for config files of Gnome Desktop (custom.conf in /etc/gdm or /etc/gdm3) but could not find it.]

See https://www.xfce.org/ , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfce .

Even after knowing that it was XFCE display manager, I am struggling to find the way to disable auto login on Micro 5.

How do I disable the login screen on XFCE?, https://superuser.com/questions/356316/how-do-i-disable-the-login-screen-on-xfce talks of lightdm.conf which I could not find on Micro 5.

How to auto-login in Xubuntu or Ubuntu Server with XFCE?, https://askubuntu.com/questions/530072/how-to-auto-login-in-xubuntu-or-ubuntu-server-with-xfce also talks of lightdm.conf

Some links talk of 'Users and Groups' option/choice in Settings Manager but I could not find that in Micro 5's Settings Manager. 

I tried hard to find command-line ways to disable auto login on XFCE but did not get a solution that works on Micro 5.

Mount USB Flash Drive

The reason why USB flash drive mount fails from Micro 5's Thunar file manager is that the '/' filesystem is mounted read-only by the start process of Micro 5. Earlier in this document, the way to change that to read-write is provided. After that's done, the mount succeeds via Thunar file manager itself.

But I had also tried to mount by commands after '/' filesystem was set to read-write. Given below is a screenshot showing those commands. 

Micro 5 uses read-only / (root) filesystem

Micro 5 mounts the '/' (root) filesystem (of Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS) as read-only, when it starts up. I think this is the first Linux/Unix device/computer that I have used which does this.

Data of default User 'user' which is used for auto-login in Micro 5, is mounted as read-write and so one can save files, for example, on User desktop.

Protecting the Root Filesystem on Ubuntu with Overlayroot,  https://spin.atomicobject.com/2015/03/10/protecting-ubuntu-root-filesystem/ is an interesting article in this context.

I do not know whether Micro 5 uses Overlayroot but even if it does not some of the points explained in above article, I think, apply to Micro 5. In particular the article states that using a read-only root file system "prevents any changes from occurring on the root filesystem that may alter system behavior, and it allows a simple reboot to restore a system to its pristine state. Examples of such applications include kiosks and embedded devices."

I think the feature of simple reboot to restore device's system to pristine state, is the case for Micro 5. Note that this applies to system files and not to user data.

I think another possible benefit of using read-only / filesystem is that if the Micro 5 is powered off without shutdown, the root filesystem may not face any problems when the device is restarted. But note that user data may be lost with poweroff without shutdown process.