Ubuntu: visudo problem / NOPASSWD option does not work for commands

It is always the same:
After installing a new Linux commands like

/usr/sbin/s2disk
/sbin/reboot

only work with entering your password everytime (or precisely: after every reboot).
This can be changed with visudo:

export EDITOR=vi; visudo

 Inside the /etc/sudoers.conf you will see:

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

And this is the problem:
First idea is to double the line

root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
schroff    ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/s2disk

and do the desired changes.

BUT: This will not work!

You have to add your line at the end of the file and after you exit vi (or whatever editor you have configured) it will work...

UEFI and Linux: Installation of Ubuntu on a new laptop / How to add grob on UEFI

On my new laptop i decided to install in addition to windows 10 a linux distribution.
First idea was to install debian linux but the debian installer does not provide any functionality to resize the partitions. And without this, the windows partition will be erased after the installtion.
I knew, that the ubuntu installer had this functionality, so i created a usb stick and tried installing ubuntu.

The installation went through like a charm, but the next reboot does not show up the grub boot menu. The laptop started without any call back.

?

I found a solution here.

You have to enter the BIOS/UEFI and set a password:

After that you are allowed to select a new trusted uefi file:

 

 Then walk to grubx64.efi via HDD0 -> EFI -> ubuntu:

 

After that you have to reboot once and enter the BIOS/UEFI again.
New you can change the boot order and move the grub to the first entry:

Now every reboot enters the grub menu and you are able to choose ubuntu or windows...

review at amazon: Apache SOLR for newbies

Last weekend this book fell into my hands:

Paul Lawson wrote a splendid introduction into Apache SOLR. At the beginning he describes the motivation behind the project SOLR:
 "Outside the firewall  [searching] is used to make money, and inside to save money."
Within 130 pages this books covers everything from installation, adminstration GUI, examples to start (importing documents, first searches, etc.) and the quick overview to the fundamental configuration files.
If you are interested in Apache SOLR and you do not know where to start: this book is the answer.
But one thing is missing: The book only covers searching XML documents. On page 42 (!) it is pointed out, that you have to configure SOLR cell. I think this was a good decision, because deep dives should be done after an introduction.

if you are interested, take a look at my review at amazon.de. (as all my reviews written in german ;-)

Touchpad tuning on linux: touchpad-indicator...

I encoutered some problems with my touchpad on ubuntu:
While typing some text, the touchpad signalled the mouse some strange moves. Sometimes it marked parts of the text and the next key erased the highlighted text...

First idea was to edit the xorg.conf or something else, but i found a less difficult was via touchpad-indicator.

It can be installed via

apt-get install touchpad-indicator

Alittle problem is, that you can not run it via cli with just calling touchpad-indicator, because ubuntu installs this program into /opt:

/opt/extras.ubuntu.com/touchpad-indicator/bin/touchpad-indicator 

Here you can choose "disable touchpad on typing" and you are done...