Xfce Forum

Olaf16

Member

Registered: 2025-04-24

Posts: 2

Updating a Std user Laptop under Xfce DT

I'm looking after a Laptop running Debian and Xfce for a Senior Citizen.  One who lets Grandchildren use the laptop (LT), both the children and the adult are likely to click on anything!  Hence the Std a/c with no sudo available (and no PW for the first sudo enabled a/c) 

On a mains powered PC automatic updates work fine simply by installing gnome-software and selecting it’s “Automatic Updates” in “Update Preferences”.   

But a laptop is very different,  Automatic Updates will not update if the LT is running on battery.
“System is on battery power, stopping” is a system message.

By default, unattended-upgrades runs daily, to verify the schedule, check the systemd timers.  Timers should be “Active” check with;-

sudo systemctl status apt-daily-upgrade.timer
● apt-daily-upgrade.timer - Daily apt upgrade and clean activities
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily-upgrade.timer; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (waiting) since Thu 2025-04-24 12:00:44 BST; 3h 45min ago
    Trigger: Fri 2025-04-25 06:10:23 BST; 14h left
   Triggers: ● apt-daily-upgrade.service

When the user turns their LT on (after 06:10:23 BST) the system will now update at some random time in the next hour.  Apparently done to prevent all auto updates from running at the same time and overloading the servers, makes sense.

The default configuration file for the unattended-upgrades package is;-
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

Automatic call is via;-
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
which must contain at least the following lines;-

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";

Even with gnome-software “Automatic Update Notifications” selected no notifications appear in the Xfce notifications area.   Note that Notifications > Applications tab > Software is not muted and once a manual update is done a “Software Update Installed" notification is issued.

As the LT user does not want to wait up to 1 hr (assuming they remembered to plug into the wall power) and might ignore/miss a notification.  I need some other method.

My initial thoughts are check with  apt list –upgradable if list not empty then create a notification that cannot be removed unless the update is done by opening Software in the System group and clicking on Updates, the system then upgrades all updatable packages and the update notification is dismissed.

Any ideas, tips or pointers to what I have missed would really helpful

mint4all

Member

From: off the map

Registered: 2018-08-21

Posts: 293

Re: Updating a Std user Laptop under Xfce DT

Greetings, and welcome to this forum!

With all due respect for your selection of Debian's Xfce-spin, have you considered Mint's xfce-spin? Mint's update manager is quite capable doing whatever you have in mind re. system updates. In addition, there are some of Mint's assorted goodies that might come in handy, such as "Webapps" (single-site browser sessions that can be launched from a laucher-button on the panel/menu).

Obviously, for your grandkids' sake, some sites you would want to block you can easily control via the "hosts" file, and Firefox's browser cache can be re-mapped into RAM thus keeping your HDD/SDD clean from browser-cruft (a way of sandboxing the browser -- it cleans up when the browser window exits).

Lastly, imho, I would suggest to explore XFCe's unique "Kiosk" mode configuration that prevents user's from messing with the panels, launchers, and desktop in general (95% of my support headaches). It wont hurt to setup 3 user accounts: your grandparent's, your grandkids', and your admin account. Just a few creative thoughts. Btw: those webapps have saved my a ton of support time assisting the elderly in getting to those few sites they rotuinely want to go to...

Cheers, m4a

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Linux Mint 21.3 -- xfce 4.18 ... Apple iMAC -- Lenovo, Dell, HP Desktops and Laptops -- Family & Community Support

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 746

Re: Updating a Std user Laptop under Xfce DT

By doing automatic upgrade I assume it's either Testing or Sid. If so, it is never recommended to do automatic updates. If you must, I suggest running Stable. The only thing getting updates is security which is a good thing.

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I AM CANADIAN!
Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.20 with Wayland/Labwc

Olaf16

Member

Registered: 2025-04-24

Posts: 2

Re: Updating a Std user Laptop under Xfce DT

@mint4all
Thanks for the quick reply and welcome.  I have used Mint in the past but found Debian preferable as it does not have the Ubuntu overhead
and I do not, now, intend to return to Mint.

Unwanted sites are mainly dealt with by our Asus router (not the ISP supplied unit) via a selected DNS, also the Firefox's browser cache is already in RAM.   
The Brave browser is also used.

Debian can have a kiosk setup quite easily but it’s just too restrictive. 

Whilst the Senior Citizen is retired he still creates printed circuit boards, uses math programs, Libre Calc, Writer etc.   Even so, he will absent mindedly click random items. 

We use Clonezilla as our backup program which is done on a regular basis and stored on a non-networked SSD. 
So any problems are quickly sorted by a reload & manual update.

@eriefisher
Nice lake to fish in.   
The assumption is wrong but that’s my fault.  I used the apt terminology rather than the gnome-software terms “Updates” which was misleading in this instance.

Unattended Upgrades only updates security packages unless one has modified
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades 

Yes, the laptop is running “Stable” – so it does not get too many updates.

I have just found out how to modify the timers so that could be a big help.