I have recently been having problems with my mouse not displaying the right content menu and sometimes my top right buttons no longer work or are missing entirely and the only way I can close .... minimize or enlarge any screen is to go to the very top right hand side and click on it after which a menu will drop down allowing me to do those functions .... plus with me having to hit ALT F2 and r in the box to refresh so my mouse right hand content menu will come back in is getting to be a BIG PITA ....
So my question is this I have not made a Rescuezilla back -up in over a month for fear of bring these problems forward when I reinstall a complete Zorin back-up but I really do need to do a back-up .... I know Rescuezilla takes a complete back-up of everything even errors with your system so it is out .... or at least I think so ....
Does Deja Dup or Timeshare do the same thing ???? .... anyone have any other suggestions ????
My mouse works flawless while gaming on Zorin .... using Steam but in off-line mode ... never have a problem .... the problem while surfing the web etc is intermittent and erratic .... it doesn't do it on Win 10 when I tried it using dual-boot .... I have also used it on another laptop with no problem so I'm kinda thinking it isn't the mouse plus it is the same brand and model that I have been using here on Zorin for almost a year with no problems ....
If you can afford the storage space, make a new full backup with Rescuezilla and store it alongside the latest one. Afterwards you can run whatever diagnostics you need to find where the issue is, and decide which backup to use.
You can also backup whatever new files you have individually on a separate drive. You can use Deja Dup for this if you like. Then, restore your system to the last known working backup you have available and copy the missing files back.
I keep all my backups on a separate 1TB external drive in case I have a laptop melt down the backups won't be affected ....
I will make a complete backup using Rescuezilla on that drive and keep the last two previous backups just in case ....
Which folders would be safe to copy using Deja Dup with out fear of coping what ever is causing these problems .... I know that the Home Folder contains most of the files I would need ..... Deja Dup looks like a good choice but I need to read up on it .....
Does Deja Dup allow you to view the folders and contents of the folders without having to reinstall the whole backup ???? .... you can't do that with Rescuezilla as far as I know you have to install the full backup before you can see the contents .....
Thanks for your input zenzen it's worth a shot ....
Yes, you can. But bear in mind that Deja Dup uses it's own file format so you cannot browse the backup files and folders directly through a regular file manager; you need to use Deja Dup again.
You cannot do this with Rescuezilla however, as the type of backup is completely different is more of a snapshot type of backup where it would completely replace the contents of the hard drive with the backup image.
Normally you want to copy files that are available to the current user session. That basically means your home directory, things like documents, images, and even dotfiles for program-specific configs like .bashrc. I really doubt any of these files are responsible for the issues you are having.
In summary, use DejaDup to backup individual files and directories, and that you can later browser and pick which ones are really needed. Use Rescuezilla for point-in-time snapshots of the current system as a whole, the restore process will completely overwrite everything in the machine as it was when the snapshot was taken.
I'm using snapshot and backups interchangeably here, just to avoid repeating myself too much and make a distinction between Deja Dup backup and Rescuezilla backup.
Once you have the backup of the files you want to preserve and a new snapshot of the current state of the system (even if it has issues, just in case), you can restore to the last known working snapshot you have. Of course, programs that you installed since then will be lost. But this also allows you to install them again one at the time, and see if any are causing the issues you are having. You might want to first apply the system updates which may also be responsible for the issue. If the issue however is still even in the old backup, it's probably a hardware issue.
Thank you zenzen for such a detailed reply ..... I was reading up on Deja Dup yesterday and saw somewhere where it said you could view Deja Dup's files using a program called Duplicity but it appears that Duplicity is just another backup program so I don't know how that would work ....
All of the difficulties I'm having are intermittent which makes it extremely difficult to track down ...... ex. today I have had to make spelling corrections using the right content menu and had no problem ..... also all the very top right hand icons ( Minimize, Maximize and Close) worked just fine and they all appear ....
I'll check and see if Asus drivers are available but this laptop is only about 4 years old ..... one thing I know I have never done is update the BIOS on this machine .... I've done it before on other PC's but am always a bit leery of doing so fear of bricking my machine .... but I'll check ....
I think the mouse id OK as it works on Win 7 & 10 but I don't have another machine running Zorin to check it on .... it also works fine when gaming on Zorin and the right mouse button never locks up even after hours of gaming ....
Interesting ...... I did some research about updating and installing drivers for Asus on Ubuntu and apparently Asus doesn't supply it's BIOS and drivers to Linux .... see the below photos from a video .....
I went back and changed my NVIDIA driver from 515 .... which I had just installed about a week ago .... back to 470 .... which I don't think is the problem but I read where NVIDIA can cause a lot of problems with Linux .... sadly my picture clarity has suffered as 515 is much more vivid ....
Also if I do decide to update my BIOS and drivers .... I can I guess ... go back to my dual boot with Win 10 and do it there ....
My question is if I do that in Win will the update take effect on Zorin also or will Zorin change them back to what ever it is using ?????
Yes I know it is like throwing poo against a wall and seeing what is gonna stick .... I don't have a clue ....
Ok the printscreen are with kernel 12.04
I reading higher kernel are for newer version graphic cards. Example Fedora and Nobara. I don't know how another distribution linux. That means Zorin could out two version operating system for older and newer drivers gpu. One I am suspicious Gnome is more working on newer gpu but not with older versions. That why I am using xfce.
What's really strange is that you are only now seeing the issue, or is this a new hardware? Do you recall if this started after a particular update?
Duplicity is what actually runs in the background. Deja Dup is the graphical interface to make things look nicer and improve usability. I didn't mentioned this earlier to avoid confusion, but yes, you can use either Duplicity or Deja Dup. For now, I would recommend using the latter.
The mouse disappearing right context menu has been going on for a month or so .... Aravisian should me how to use the ALT + F2 and type r in the box that pops up .... that works for a bit but then reverts back to the disappearing menu ... no special length of time .... could be right after the ALT + F2 or 1-2 hours later ..... as I mentioned it is very intermittent ....
No I have been using the same brand and model of gaming mouse ..... Raigor 11 WG10 ..... ever since I started using Zorin .... in fact I have three of these same mice because they are very comfortable for me to hold .... I use one on my Acer running Win 7 and one on this Asus running Zorin Pro and Win 10 .... I replaced the original Raigor with a new one about 3 months ago and use it on the Acer .... I am using a newer one on the Asus and keep a spare if something breaks ....
No sorry I don't remember it is been a while back since it started BUT the disappearing top right hand icon thing just started a few days ago .... there have been an awful lot of updates coming from Zorin lately and although I don't always understand what they are all about but have to trust Zorin that they are OK ....
I do occasionally download different apps that members I trust recommend .... like a few games and of coarse themes and icons made by a couple of members here .....
I'm currently using the old Raigor mouse .... the one I started with .... to see if maybe that will make a difference .... changing the NVIDIA from 515 back to 470 did nothing ..... I didn't think it would but was worth a try ....... so I'm switching it back as 515 seems to have better coloration than the 470 ....
Going to do a full blown back up using Rescuezilla and also try out Deja Dup as you suggested .... and I guess "we shall endeavor to persevere" as the ol' Indian in a John Wayne movie once said .....
What I used to do when using Zorin was to just create the version of Zorin i was using as folder name on external drive and just copy everything from my /home folder, including hidden files, to it. Whlst Acronis is a paid for solution, I do have it and tried once to back up my Ultimate Edition 2.9 but it won't restore using Acronis. I recommend two items:
Rescuezilla
Timeshift - and if backing up to an external drive, Timeshift backups require them to be saved to a partition formatted to Ext4 (or whatever FS your install has used)
Unfortunately the mouse problem persists ..... guess I will just have to live with it as I refuse to go back to Win for my daily driver .... I don't need any of their BS .....
As to which back up to use I'm looking into Deja Dup and Timeshare ..... they both have good advantages and disadvantages .... if I could merge these two together I would have the perfect backup program ....
I love Rescuezilla BUT it requires that you download from a flash drive and it backs up everything ..... and I have had to use it twice ..... but I will keep making monthly backups using it ....
Both Deja Dup and Timeshare will let you backup individual folders but if I understand it correctly not any personal folders .... would that include things like the Document .... Picture .... Video .... Download and Gaming folders ????? .... or does that just mean something you are working on at the time ???? ..... they both allow you to only have to backup new files that are created after the initial full backup .....
From what I have read Timeshare will allow you to look at individual folders that you backup but not look at files within the folder .... you can do 5 different times to schedule backups and most important to me is you can use an external hard drive .... however I would have to connect my external HD whenever I needed to make a backup .... Deja Dup may do the same thing but I haven't read up on it as much as I have Timeshare ....
I'll have more time to study my backup situation as I'm calling it quits on the mouse problem ... maybe an kernel update will cure it ..... downloading and installing the latest Asus laptop drivers using Windows sure didn't .....
Maybe this is a cable a mouse issue. Did you tried some another cheap a mouse? Och I remember on win working ok.Besides monopoly when selling with you a PC is standard for windows not for linux.
