Nibe är ett bolag jag har lite koll på. Jag har skrivit om dem flera gånger här, senast i november 2021: Nattsudd aktier Nibe och Lohilo 12 nov 2021. Aktiekursen gick väldigt uppåt förra året, typ dubblades. Men direkt efter årsskiftet så började aktien gå ner kraftigt, och har fortsatt göra det och så här långt i slutet av februari har den gått ner kraftigt i år. Visst har den gått upp några dagar, men på det hela har den gått ner vädigt mycket. Inte heller när bokslutskommunikén för helåret 2021 lämnades den 17 februari gick kursen upp, utan den gick ner. Och den rapporten över 2021 och utsikt för 2022 berättar att bolaget tuggar på utan större problem. Nibe tycks fortsätta vara ett bra bolag.

Hela Stockholmsbörsen har gått ner i år, men Nibe tillhör de allra största förlorarna. Jag blev förvånad att atktien sjönk så som den gjorde direkt efter årsskiftet. Jag gissar att det fanns en och annan som ville ta hem vinster efter kraftiga uppgången och som ville göra det på ett nytt kalenderår. Och som sagt hela börsen har gått ner, och där finns väl andra orsaker såsom inflation och tron att räntan kommer att gå upp. Världsläget, pandemi, komponentbrist och annat kan göra sitt. 

Aktien var högt värderad och det varnades av en del experter att den kan sjunka rejält. Jag skrev en del om det i nattsudd-artikeln ovan, med referens till någon bedömare att det fanns en fallhöjd för Nibe på 50%. Och även i år har det gått att läsa att den fortfarande kan falla mer. Aktien slutade idag på 77,04 kr (23 feb 2022 kl 15:49), att jämföra med årsskiftets slutkurs 136,75 kr. Och visst är det surt om man äger en aktie som går ner. Och extra surt är det om man köpt just Nibe i mellandagarna före årsskiftet.

Jag ska inte göra någon bedömning eller kommentar om kursen just nu är "rätt", för hög eller för låg, liksom varthän den går framöver.

Utan det här är en reflektion över om kursen verkligen har gått ner. För det beror på vilket tidsperspektiv man har. Vi ska titta på tre olika tidshorisonter nedan över Nibe-aktien. Samtliga grafer har jag genererat på Nibe.com's hemsida. Betänk också att detta är aktiekursen. Normalt så har Nibe också en utdelning till aktieägare som gör att det totala är bättre. Har man dessutom återinvesterat denna utdelning, så har det blivit "ränta-på-ränta".

Först tittar vi på Nibe-aktien i år, 2022:

Ja, nog har aktien gått ner kraftigt så här långt under 2022.

Vi fortsätter med att se hur Nibe-aktien utvecklats om vi lägger på ett år bakåt i tiden:

Årets nergång ser fortfarande jobbig ut. Men faktum är också att den faktiskt är högre än när 2021 började! Nibe-aktien gick upp väldigt mycket under 2021.

Nu fortsätter vi och backar tio år, alltså från 1 januari 2012 fram till idag 23 februari 2022:

I den här kurvan ser man verkligen att årets nergång är dramatisk. Man ser också, att för den som haft aktien i tio år, så är kursuppgången rejäl, årets nergång till trots! Och som sagt tidigare, utdelningar tillkommer. Utan att räkna ordentligt så har det på denna tioårshorisont varit betydligt bättre att ha en Nibe-aktie än att ha motsvarande belopp på banken, även när man tar med skatter. Samtidigt är det en betydligt större risk med aktier än bankbok, en aktie kan bli helt värdelös om företaget går i konkurs.

Avslutningsvis vill jag tipsa om den här artikeln som passar bra i sammanhanget, även om den inte alls handlar om Nibe specifikt. Artikeln är skriven av Per H Börjesson som är Vd på Investment AB Spiltan. Samtidigt som jag tror att han tror på vad han skriver, så är han starkt kopplad till ett investmentbolag och är inte en oberoende journalist. Med det sagt, föreslår jag som vidare läsning: Sparrebellen 142: Lämna bara aktiemarknaden om du verkligen behöver pengarna.

Henrik Hemrin

23 februari 2022

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Publicerad 23 februari 2022

Senast uppdaterad 23 februari 2022

• Aktier - Stocks

Ericsson joined United Nations Global Compact 26 July 2000, the very same day as Global Compact was officially launched. At the start Global Compact held nine principles for businesses under the headings Human rights, Labour standards and Environment. The tenth principle was added in June 2004 under the heading Anti-Corruption. These ten principles are still the Global Compact principles.

The Anti-Corruption principle reads as follows: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Ericsson Global Compact Status as per today: Active.

The Ericsson commitment to Global Compact is something to be proud of!

Ericsson is such a great company.

What has come out from the Iraq media inquiries is however nothing to be proud of. Not at all, not at all. Actually very bad and sad. The fact that Ericsson has done an internal investigation is of course good, as well as that actions have been taken. The Ericsson external handling of the outcome is not good so far. But the worst is of course the wrong actions themself.

I can understand if corruption happened in earlier days, say like in 1980's. It was a different time when a common understanding in the world was that corruption was necessary in order to get business in some countries. Later it has been understood that corruption is so bad and problematic for people and society. Corruption was seen as so important that Global Compact added its tenth principle.

The Ericsson investigation about Iraq is for the period 2011-2019. Ie very recent, when corruption definitely is considered as a non acceptable business method.

The next Ericsson Communication on Progress (CoP) for Global Compact is due on 26 April 2022. Will Ericsson write anything about the Iraq media inquires in this next issue of the CoP?

I do not know what is stated in the internal investigation. But I would like to see an RCA, a Root Cause Analyses. An anlysis elaborating and explaining what caused this corruption to happen. How could this corrption happen? What measures are taken to correct those root causes? I would like to see a public RCA from Ericsson.

Ericsson, you can do better. Ericsson, you must do better in implementing anti-corruption.

Henrik Hemrin

18 February 2022

References:

Ericsson Press release "Update: Iraq media inquiries" (Feb 15, 2022)

Ericsson Press release "Comment regarding recent media inquiries" (Feb 8, 2022)

United Nations Global Compact web site

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Publicerad 18 februari 2022

Senast uppdaterad 18 februari 2022

• Hardware: Lenovo ThinkPad T430s; CPU 2.60 GHz Dual core, RAM 8 GB and SSD 250 GB. 14 inch screen with 1366x768 resolution.

When Debian 11 was released around September 1st, 2021, I installed it with Cinnamon desktop: Exploring Linux OS: Debian part #2 (Bullseye). My first Debian article: Exploring Linux OS: Debian, part #1

I was interested to try Cinnamon desktop, as I have Cinnamon as first choice for Linux Mint. When I had Debian 10, I tried KDE Plasma desktop. However, Debian 11 does not use the at the time of release latest Cinnamon - not strange considering Debian has a "conservative" approach favouring stability and lead time from project start to release.

Therefore relatively soon I reinstalled Debian 11, but this time with Xfce desktop. Debian 11 has the latest Xfce version (4.16). I am familiar with Xfce, I have it on one Mint installation as well. To me Debian and Xfce are a good combo; they are both giving releases in slower pace, they are solid and built with quality.

Both in the Cinnamon version and the Xfce version, I have not found any included software that alerts me about updates and present them in anything similar to the Mint Update manager. The Mint Update manager also can help with maintenance like cleaning older Linux kernels. Possibly there exist some tool to install in Debian, I have not investigated further. Else, it works with the Synaptic GUI software, or for that matter the Terminal. Debian 10 with KDE Plasma had a tool resembling to the Mint Update manager, but if that came from KDE Plasma or Debian, I am not sure.

Like I have stated before, I like Debian although not as much as Mint as per today. And for me, the Xfce version of Debian appears to be a good or the best, choice for the desktop.

Finally, if you are interested in other Linux distributions, I recommend listen to the podcast Distrohoppers Digest. They try and review distros and talk about their views and findings. The currently latest episode 28 (Dec 2021) was more of general talk about preferred distros, Debian was one of their favourites. Listen to learn more!

Henrik Hemrin

14 January 2022

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Publicerad 14 januari 2022

Senast uppdaterad 14 januari 2022

• Linux
• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T430s. I bought it refurbished a few years ago. In the ordinary drive slot, HDD 0, I have an SSD with Linux operating systems on it (currently Linux Mint, Debian and Elementary). The laptop was purchased with Windows 10 Pro included, which I have on another drive. On this older laptop, which is a good example of Modularity, it is relatively easy to swap drives. But, better to have both installed, of course. This is possible by using the ultrabay slot, a slot typically used for DVD.

I bought a "Slim SATA 5.25'' Installation frame". According to the specification, it is suitable for HDD/SSD, made by Delock and manufactured in China. It is very simple to slide in the SSD drive into the frame, and then insert the frame into the ultrabay. However, beside the LED showed some life existed, nothing happened. I dived into the BIOS (F12 key on T430s when laptop is starting up) and looked around but nothing solved it. For example I checked in the BIOS setup, tab Security, selected I/O Port Access, that the "ultrabay (HDD/Optical) was Enabled. I then read various articles on internet and understood it appears as a standard frame like mine cannot work, it must be a customized version for this laptop. I had no intention at this time to try to modify the frame, which might be doable by spending some time and having the right tools.

So I bought another frame for the ultrabay instead, a "HDD/SSD Uultrabay Slim module for IBM Lenovo ThinkPad...T430s... Adapter Caddy 9.5 mm made by The Neutral 2020" manufactured in China. Also in this frame, it is very easy to slide in the SSD into the frame, and insert the frame into the ultrabay slot.

This time I came one step further - I got an error message. The error code by the Lenovo laptop (I do not remember it exactly) stated that the SSD in the ultrabay was defect and must be replaced. I double checked this SSD by swapping it into the main slot, and it worked properly there.

So another dive into the BIOS and I was successful this time:

In BIOS setup, tab Startup, select Boot: At the bottom of the list, there is a heading "Excluded from priority order", where I found "Other CD" and "Other HDD". I moved both of them into the "Boot Priority order". This appears to have been the missing BIOS setup. After this change it is possible to boot both from HDD 0 (main drive slot) and HDD 1 (ultrabay)!

So, my advice to get the ultrabay to work as an additional drive:

• Make sure that the ultrabay frame is designed to work for the specific laptop
• BIOS settings - Security - I/O Port Access - ultrabay (HDD/Optical) - Enabled
• BIOS settings - Startup - Boot - Excluded from priority order - move eg Other HDD to the Boot Priority order

Beside those two BIOS settings, more BIOS settings may be needed to check, like SATA Controller Mode Option to be set as AHCI (at least if you use SSD).

Finally, a tip regarding the Windows 10 Pro: Windows has a tendency to require multiple restarts when the operating system is updated. Before such updates is triggered, it will be easier if that drive is higher in priority order than the other drive. The priority order is easily set in the BIOS settings - Startup - Boot - Boot Priority order, eg by moving items with the F5/F6 keys, in my case to move HDD 1 to be above HDD 0.

Henrik Hemrin

29 December 2021

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Publicerad 29 december 2021

Senast uppdaterad 30 december 2021

• Linux
• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

Lohilo och Nibe är två aktiebolag med huvudsäten i Småland. Lohilo i Växjö och Nibe i Markaryd. Deras aktier har gått superolika på börsen i år.

Vi kan börja med att börsen i sin helhet har gått vädligt bra i år, alltså stigit kraftigt. Betydligt mer än jag begriper att den kunnat göra. För att ta ett vanligt index baserat på stora bolag på Nasdaq Stockholm, OMXS30, så har det indexet stigit över 26% i år.

Men går man ner på specifika aktier, så är det en väldig spridning.

Lohilo har i år gått ner -73%!

I kronor ser grafen för i år ut så här:

Lohilo är ett litet bolag, ligger på First North Stockholm. Innan året, så har den gått uppåt rejält på några år, flerdubblat kursen. Bolaget hette tidigare Alvestaglass, och det är deras ursprungliga produkt. De har under några år varit i kraftig expansion både vad gäller produkter och marknader. Inom glass har de köpt några andra bolag och har haft distribution av ytterligare några. Sedan har de börjat utveckla drycker typ energidrycker. Nyligen köpte de också Superfruit. Aktiekurser speglar inte bara hur det går just nu, utan också förväntningar framåt. Och förväntningarna har nog varit väl stora. Det har gått sämre än förväntat. Men som jag minns, själva rötterna i Alvestaglassen, är ett område som tuggar på och går bra (även om glass är en produkt som smälter). Den tidigare VDn och en av grundarna lämnade VD-posten och började fokusera mer på marknads-produktstrategi och liknande och en utomstående VD rekryterades. Även en ny finanschef rekryterades. Man behövde också expandera med större lokaler. Förutom produkter är en satsning att öka marknader, bland annat Kina. Under sommaren-hösten har den nye VDn lämnat, och den gamle VDn kommit tillbaka som VD. Efter vad jag läst så har han på sistone bott i Lissabon, oklart för mig om han är mer i Växjö igen nu. Finanschefen slutade och alldeles nyligen annonserades om att ny finanschef ut. En nyemission ska beslutas om snart. Och man har dragit i en del bromsar. Om jag ska gissa, så tror jag Lohilo har en god chans att överleva och komma tillbaka både lönsamhetsmässigt och därmed också kursmässigt.

Så går vi över till Nibe, som gått upp +103% i år!

I kronor ser grafen för i år ut så här:

Nibe är ett betydligt större och äldre bolag, ligger på Large Cap Stockholm. Nibeaktien har gått bra inte bara i år utan under ett flertal år. Tidningen Aktiespararen hade en artikel under hösten om att Nibeaktien är som en humla som inte förstått att den inte kan flyga, den bara stiger. Nibe går bra som jag förstår. De har under många år expanderat både genom egen tillväxt (organisk tillväxt) och genom att köpa andra bolag och uppenbarligen varit duktiga att införliva utomstående bolag i familjen. Men det är inte bara att de går bra som ligger i kursen, utan en klar förväntan på att de ska fortsätta växa, vilket är också är företagets målsättning. Men, det återstår ju att se om framtiden blir så. Artikeln menar i alla fall att det finns en stor fallhöjd om Nibes framtid inte blir så bra som man hoppas, att det finns en fallhöjd på 50%. Ska jag gissa på den här också, så näe, jag vet inte. Jag tror att företaget kommer vara lönsamt och gå bra, men aktiekursen gissar jag inte.

Slut på denna aftons nattsudd om dessa aktier. Ta detta för lite småfunderingar från mig, baserat på minnet (förutom graferna). Vill du ha konfirmerade fakta och professionell analys, så får du leta upp en annan källa.

Vill du läsa något mer vad jag skrivit förut som berör dessa aktier på denna hemsida, så kan du kolla in:

Om hur man väljer vinnarna

Lohilo Foods nyemission - och hur det har gått

Tre trevliga aktier - behålla, sälja, återköpa?

Henrik Hemrin

12 november 2021

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Publicerad 12 november 2021

Senast uppdaterad 13 november 2021

• Aktier - Stocks

This is the bottom side of my Lenovo ThinkPad T430s. It is a business grade laptop and is several years old. I like the modularity of the older laptops, especially on those business grade. I use this laptop very frequently, although it is not my daily drive for now.

Today I wanted to swap the SSD (Solid State Drive). It only took me a few minutes!

As precaution, I first remove the battery (no screw, no tool is needed):

Then, as a second precaution, I push the power button for a few seconds to discharge any eventually charged capacitor, that potentially could damage the drive when I dismount it:

Then I am ready to open the cover for the SSD drive, one screw:

By that, the slot is open and the drive is ready to pull out:

I dismount (no screw) the rails and move them to the other SSD:

Then I simply insert the other SSD in the slot, screw the cover, mount the battery, and that's it!

The RAM memory is under another cover, also easy to access. And not to mention the battery is easy to swap.

Those laptops that has this modularity cannot be as slim as the slimmest laptops. But to me, and for sustainability, it is a more useful that it is easy to replace, upgrade and perform other maintenance for a longer useful lifetime of the computer.

Henrik Hemrin

25 October 2021

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Publicerad 25 oktober 2021

Senast uppdaterad 25 oktober 2021

• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

It is not Windows, not macOS, not any Linux-kernel, not any BSD-kernel. It is Haiku OS!

About two years ago I read the book “In the Beginning was the Command Line”, by Neal Stephenson. It is a funny essay from 1999, and can be found free to download on internet. Not at least he talks about BeOS, and I quote:

“The ideal OS for me would be one that had a well-designed GUI that was easy to set up and use, but that included terminal windows where I could revert to the command line interface, and run GNU software, when it made sense. A few years ago, Be Inc. invented exactly that OS. It is called the BeOS.”

Haiku OS is “inspired” by BeOS and I became curious in Haiku after reading the book. I flashed a USB with the R1/Beta 2 ISO as well as the at the time latest nightly build a while ago. I tried several times on a Lenovo IdeaPad 100S-14IBR and a ThinkPad T430S. The boot process never completed. I did some research but not that deep so I got it working.

R1/Beta 3 was released earlier this summer and I gave it a try two days ago. To my surprise, Haiku started on both machines above! Wifi-connection was no issue. I played a couple of minutes with the live-USB, checked the depot, started to read the introduction guide and some more exploration. I am inspired to look more into it. Not that it is a ready OS like Linux Mint and many other Linux-kernel based distributions. But it is cool it exist and that it is in active development. I plan to one day somehow install it on one or another machine (e.g. on a partion, a separate drive or in a virtual machine), and hopefully use it for real, although I do not believe it will be my daily drive at least not in any near future.

Henrik Hemrin

18 September 2021

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Publicerad 18 september 2021

Senast uppdaterad 18 september 2021

• Linux
• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s
• Lenovo IdeaPad 100s-14IBR
• Haiku

Exploring Linux OS: Debian 11 Bullseye.

• Hardware: Lenovo ThinkPad T430s; CPU 2.60 GHz Dual core, RAM 8 GB and SSD 250 GB. 14 inch screen with 1366x768 resolution.

Debian to me is like a Volvo car (at least the older models like PV, Amazon, 140s, 240s and more): Robust, reliable and simply works day by day.

Beginning of summer 2020 I installed Debian 10 Buster; Exploring Linux OS: Debian, part #1. I had big troubles to get Debian working. I had installed the official version which meant no proprietary firmware. I solved it, and I explained how I did it in the article.

It is possible to upgrade from Debian 10 to Debian 11. But by mistake I overwrote the Debian partition when I installed elementary 11 Odin a couple of days ago... therefore no alternative than make a fresh new installation.

This time I instead decided to go for the unofficial version with proprietary firmware included. Debian has so many alternatives, and a big website, so it is easy to get lost what to choose and where to find it. For this installation, I went to this directory: Unofficial non-free images including firmware packages and further to here. In comparison, Elementary that I installed a few days earlier is an easy decision, they simply have one alternative to install.

I downloaded and flashed four desktop variants: KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce. I tried all as live-USB and decided then to install the Cinnamon desktop version. Debian 11 is based comes with Cinnamon 4, so not the latest Cinnamon 5. Several more desktop options are available.

Installation of Debian 11 Bullseye went very well and with non-free firmware included I did not get into those troubles I had with Debian 10.

Debian 11 Bullseye comes with a set of software needed for most users as a good start, far more software than in elementary and more similar to Mint. For an overview of news for Bullseye release, see the Debian news article.

Generally I like Debian. Not at least for its robustness and its huge repository of applications. And its availability in so many versions for different needs and tastes. A drawback as I understand is that the "conservative" approach means the latest versions of applications are not available and also based on not the latest Linux kernel. I still consider Mint as my Linux home (I currently most use macOS, with Linux in my roadmap as primary operating system family). Mint is, in my view, an evolution of Debian that is less conservative. Mint, like elementary, are based on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is based on Debian.

It is a greatness of Linux OS: there are so many to choose from, and the one I prefer is different from many others needs and preferences. And I can also have multiple myself for different needs. As I am relatively new to Linux, and so far not using it as primary OS, I may change my mind regarding Mint. I think I always will like Debian, and as a friend said he always comes back to Debian. I am hesitant if Debian will be my primary choice, but maybe.

In short, Debian 11 Bullseye went well to install and is a good operating system.

Henrik Hemrin

7 September 2021

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Publicerad 07 september 2021

Senast uppdaterad 16 september 2021

• Linux
• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

Exploring Linux OS: Elementary 6 Odin.

• Hardware: Lenovo ThinkPad T430s; CPU 2.60 GHz Dual core, RAM 8 GB and SSD 250 GB. 14 inch screen with 1366x768 resolution.

Elementary 6 Odin was released a month ago. I downloaded and installed it only a few days after the release. Read elementary own blog post elementary OS 6 Odin Available Now for details about everything new in this release.

Elementary 6 goes FlatPak only. All software including in the AppCenter are FlatPak. I am not the software expert, but as far as I understand FlatPak is one of the container/sandbox/all in one box solutions to deliver and handle software in Linux. It means that "all" needed to run the application is within the box. The traditional handling as with e.g. deb packages, in my simple understanding, contains only of the software that is specific for that software and interact with other installed software (it has dependencies to other software). This should mean that a computer based on FlatPak generally will require more storage memory (drive space) than one that is based on deb packages.

Elementary emphasises its privacy and security focus. And I understand that with FlatPak applications it is easier for elementary to handle privacy and security, and have a good interface for those settings.

I asked on Twitter how FlatPak only in AppCenter will impact if I can use .deb and AppImage. Most important reactions:

• @elementary responded: The same as before! It’s your computer, you can do whatever you want with it. But we highly recommend sideloading apps from Flatpak and some platform features (like permissions) only work with Flatpak apps.
• @icancclearynow responded: If you absolutely need AppImages, I’ve found this tool to particularly useful: https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher
• @christophtill responded: Deb is possible to install. I would recommend to get Eddy from the AppCenter, which helps installing, updating and removing DEB Apps.
• @probonopd responded: Please let the elementary OS developers know if you'd like to see better AppImage integration out of the box. In the meantime, here are some options: https://github.com/AppImage/awesome-appimage#appimage-consumption-tools
• @bluesabredavis responded (regarding concern some FlatPak are not maintained, when developer distribute as eg .deb or AppImage): To be fair, Flathub does encourage and support the developers to own or take ownership of their Flatpak packaging. To be fair, Flathub does encourage and support the developers to own or take ownership of their Flatpak packaging.

The last comment above, was related to an experience I have of FlatPak (not from elementary AppCenter), that the FlatPak was so old and appeared to be handled by someone not related to the designer.

The AppCenter currently holds few applications. Elementary I understand only include FlatPak applications in the AppCenter that are curated by elementary, hence up to date and working well with elementary. And it is possible to install from other repositories as well.

I installed elementary 5 Hera one and a half year ago, see Exploring Linux OS: elementary, part #1.

Although they have done a lot in the new release, the new release is an evolution. Like before, elementary 6 is very good looking, easy to understand and familiar look and feel for me who use macOS daily. Like before it is very few applications included in the installation. As before they also incourage to pay as I want to for elementary as well as applications, but at the same time it is free to use (without any limitation) not to pay. My standpoint is that for all free and open software, really consider and act to donate or in one way or another contribute.

I do like elementary. But I do like Mint better. I have a bit of problem with elementary having so few applications in the installation and at the same time very few in the AppCenter. The lack of an office suite is fundamental to me. I can hardly think of myself not having office suite on my computer. I wonder if they think people should use cloud services for that? As it is now, I cannot think of using elementary as my daily driver without other software that their own. It is fully possible to install other software, but then I think some of the advantages with elementary are lost. Because I think elementary is at its best if you stay within their "ecosystem". Elementary indeed has an appeal on me, and congratulations to everyone who feel its the best operating system for you! I will keep an eye on elementary and for time being keep it on a partition and use it now and then. If I get a spare computer, especially an Apple, I may save it for elementary.

Remarks about my installation of elementary 6

General

I downloaded the software and flashed a USB-memory with the iso in a normal manner. Like before, only one variant of elementary exist.

There is no upgrade path available from elementary 5 to elementary 6. My intention was to install on same partition as elementary 5, i.e. write over the older release. However, after installation I had instead overwritten ny Debian 10 partition... I am pretty sure it was my mistake.

Specific issue

When I started the live-USB, I got error messages. It was three error messages:

[0.108553] x86/cpu: VMX (outside TXT disabled by BIOS
[2.266619] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No cashing mode pagre found
[2.266620] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cashe: write through

This follows a lot of text, the USB-stick was checked and finally "Check finished: no errors found" and the the live-USB starts up as normal after several minutes after I started.

I could get rid of the first error message by enable virtualization in the BIOS settings, but the other two I have not been able to solve.
However, despite above, I could install elementary.

When I start the installed elementary 6, it first shows some "terminal text" and also when shut off. This is different to my earlier elementary 5 installation.

Henrik Hemrin

6 September 2021

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Kategori: Knowledge - Kunskap

Publicerad 06 september 2021

Senast uppdaterad 07 september 2021

• Linux
• Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

When I ruined my laptop from starting - and fixed it.

First wave

Background and about GRUB boot menu

Most common is to have only one operating system on a computer. But on this laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T430s, I have several operating systems. At this point I had six operating systems; Microsoft Windows and five variants of Linux operating systems. All on same SSD drive, but on different partitions of the drive.

Partition means that the physical drive is splitted into several parts softwarewise. This works so that when I start the laptop, it will not start an operating system directly. Instead it will open a menu with all operating systems listed and I can select which one to start. If I wait a couple of seconds, it will start the default one automatically.

This menu is called GRUB, GRand Unified Bootloader, or actually GRUB 2 for the second generation (first generation is now renamed to GRUB legacy).

If Windows is one of the operating systems, it is recommended to install Windows first followed by the Linux operating system(s). The GRUB menu is handled by the latest installed operating system.

The task

Below is my GRUB menu when I started this task. The information in brackets for each entry states which partition it is on. For any reason, the GRUB menu does not tell the partition for the first default operating system.

So now to my task: To delete the operating systems I do not want anymore and by that free up space on the drive. It is the first time I do this. I have been hesitant to do this as I have been concerned for troubles, although I have tried to learn how to and not to do. Yeah...

It is sda5 (elementary 5) and sda7 (Mint 19) I plan to delete. The tool I use is GParted (here with menu in Swedish).

I start GParted from the latest installed operating system, i.e. Debian 11 on sda11. I delete sda5. However, when I try to execute the delete action, a pop-up message tells me (in Swedish): Please unmount all logical partitions higher than 5.

This is impossible to do as I am working from sda11. I cannot figure out how I could move to a lower sda than 5 and execute from there. I believe it is possible to handle from it Windows which is on a lower number, but I have not explored how to do it from Windows.

So, as next step I instead start elementary 5 on sda5. From there I can without any problem delete Mint 19 on sda7, because all sda´s higher than 5 are unmounted. However, I did not foresee this would renumber the sda´s above sda7. Because automatically sda11, which holds the GRUB meny, becomes sda10.

If I now had started the terminal and executed "sudo update-grub", it had probably repaired the GRUB menu and the computer had worked. But it still had not solved how to delete partition sda5.

But I do not execute the "sudo update-grub"command. Instead I restart the laptop. Now the GRUB meny can not be found... because booting is looking for sda11 that does not exist. Instead GRUB rescue menu starts. But, I skip the GRUB rescue tool. Instead I insert a USB-memory with a live-version of Debian 11 and restart the computer. It actually is the same Debian 11 as I used when I installed Debian 11 a few days earlier, but any live-USB would do.

I open the terminal window to follow the instruction in the article "How to Fix Grub error: no such partition Grub Rescue". I know I should not type commands I find on the internet and do not understand. But I decide this is a credible source. Most steps works well. But in the latter steps, when I tabulate to select Yes, I cannot get it to accept and execute. Restart of the computer confirms my repair has not worked.

While pondering what to do, I leave the terminal and start GParted on the live-USB (I had to install it from the Debian repository, but no issue to do that). I delete sda5, which is no problem at all from the live-USB.

Now I am considering what to do to repair the GRUB. Should I ran the command instruction in the terminal again? Another option can likely been a USB/CD with repair tools (I have some CDs in a box).

However, I decide to test a simple and dirty method: The Debian 11 Bullseye on the drive was installed only a few days ago. Beside a few settings, nothing important. So I decide to install Debian again, overwriting on the same partition.

And yes, the new installation works and it also fix the GRUB issues! The reinstallation is the latest installed operating system and GRUB is connected to it.

For fun, I also test the command "sudo update-grub" from the terminal, and it works to refresh the GRUB meny.

Next time

My conclusion of how I believe I should have done this from start to avoid any problem:

• Do all of the work from the live-USB from beginning.
• Start the GParted on the live-USB and delete both sda´s I did not want any more.
• Open the terminal and execute the command "sudo update-grub".

When I then restart the computer, I believe it all had worked properly.

At least this is my thought strategy for next time.

A final note. Before I started all above, all essential data on the whole drive was stored on backup. So even if everything had been lost on the drive, it would not have caused me any big trouble.

Second wave

Now, a couple of months later, it is time to continue to cleanup the same SSD drive. I have moved the Microsoft Windows 10 Pro to a separate SSD drive and will therefore delete Windows from this drive. I also have some unallocated partitions and more that I can cleanup. My goal for this exercise is to only have partitions for three Linux operating systems; Debian, Elementary and Mint, plus a swap partition.

This time I will try ot do it without the troubles I got into last time. I look at my three Next time bullets above. I start a live-USB. Before I start the cleanup with the GParted tool, I try the "sudo update-grub" command in the terminal. But it does not work. I did not think about it last time, but it is reasonable it will not work directly because I must first come in to the relevant partition on the SSD drive. Beside mounting of the partition, there are several commands needed to execute, to reach the goal, ie kind of complicated for a novice like myself.

So, I decide for another strategy. The Linux Mint live-USB (I used Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon) is handy, because it includes a few "repair tools" that are useful. From the Linux Mint live-USB I use two tools: GParted and Boot Repair tools. And this way, it works! I cleanup the SSD drive with GParted. The work includes many steps to "move around" partitions, but finally I have achieved the partitions as I planned, and no unallocated waste. The Boot Repair tool works very well to analyze the boot system, and the Recommended repair that runs by itself makes the job to fix the Grub menu.

With the advanced option I also change the boot order in the GRUB menu; normally the latest installed operating system will be the default one in boot order, but here it is possible to change the boot order. In my case, I changed to Linux Mint. However the GRUB background is not the standard one delivered by Linux Mint. When I start Linux Mint, I open the terminal and run the "sudo update-grub" command, and next time the standard Linux Mint Grub background appears.

It is good to always have a live-USB with a operating system available in those situations. And especially one like Linux Mint which has included some additional tools. A dedicate rescue USB (or CD) with multiple repair tools can also be good to have in the pocket for more serious issues.

My second wave of disk cleanup and GRUB boot repair went smoothly!

Henrik Hemrin

31 August 2021 and 1 November 2021 (second wave)

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Kategori: Knowledge - Kunskap

Publicerad 31 augusti 2021

Senast uppdaterad 01 november 2021

• Linux
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