How do you modify the MOTD from the CLI?

[SteveRiley]

I would suggest that you try either:

* Recreate your live USB, this time with a persistent file. Now, any changes you make will be saved, even across reboots
* Install Kubuntu to a second USB

[lee_wright_wrong]

really need to install this now but from other messages it seems it's not straight forward to do it without causing damage to Windows; are there any "idiot's guides" to installing successfully alongside Win7 without affecting the latter's functionality?

[lee_wright_wrong]

Hi Steve, as I mentioned to Snowhog in an earlier post I do not have to log in and as such there is no option (that I can see) to log out, which, I know, all seems very odd!

Snowhog - sadly, there are three assignments (this being the second) with a lot of scripting coming up in the third. Then there's practice stuff to do in preparation for an exam. So if this live USB acts so differently to the installed version, then I think it's going to be worth installing if you've got the time to walk me through it.

Thanks again to you both!

[SteveRiley]

Speculation: boot the live USB, change the MOTD, and then log out rather than reboot. Now log back in. Do you see the new MOTD?

[Snowhog]

The issue is the live environment from running a non-installed Kubuntu. That said, and with your limited need for a class assignment, I would not suggest installing Kubuntu to your PC unless you have the time and patience to let us walk you through it so as not to muck up your Windows OS.

[lee_wright_wrong]

Snowdog and Steve,

Thanks for all this, your time is appreciated.

Snowdog, I tried what you suggested in post #15 and all was going well until I tried to save and I got this message:

The document could not be saved, as it is not possible to write to /etc/update-modt.d/100-custom. Check you have write access to this file or that enough disk space is available.

Steve, as for how the USB was made, it would have been more accurate to say a friend made it whilst I was working on something else, so exactly how it was made I do not know; what a mess! I could try the USB installation you mentioned but won't be able to get another USB drive till the New Year and would rather get this out of the way, so I'm thinking about installing Kubuntu from the USB onto my machine - hoping it doesn't damage Windows - would this resolve the issue do you think? If not I could hold fire on the whole thing till I get another USB, that would still give me a couple of days to complete it before college resumes!

Won't do anything till I hear back in case I cause any more damage!!

[SteveRiley]

so, not having Linux at home, I made a live USB stick, incorrectly it seems assuming I could work from that and that there would not be any difference!

How did you make the live USB? If you simply copied an ISO to the USB drive, then changes made during the live session will not persist between boots. If you use the Universal USB Installer to create a live USB, then you can choose to create a persistent file, which will allow changes to persist between boots.

Another option would be install Kubuntu onto a USB drive. To do this requires two USB drives: one that you've placed the ISO on (the live USB) and another that you will as the installation target (I'll call this the "Kubuntu USB"). When running the installer, be sure to select the Kubuntu USB as the installation target. After the installation process has finished, remove the live USB and boot the computer from your Kubuntu USB.

[Snowhog]

No, I don't think you need to install. You can try this as a test.

Press Alt+F2 and type: kdesudo kate /etc/update-motd.d/100-custom
Press Enter
After Kate opens type:

#!/bin/sh
#
#    100-custom - my custom addition to the MOTD
#    
echo Hello world!

Save and close Kate and do a shutdown/reboot. From the Grub menu choose the second entry and on the next screen choose the recovery boot option. This will boot you into a terminal session. Do you see Hello world! displayed?

[lee_wright_wrong]

Sorry, only just spotted the link at the end of your message; hold fire on replying to my last one till I've worked through that :-)

[lee_wright_wrong]

Yes, it's college work. In college, we work on installed Linux on the computers, but we were told we could work on it at home over the holidays - so, not having Linux at home, I made a live USB stick, incorrectly it seems assuming I could work from that and that there would not be any difference! It's not made a difference on most of the stuff - building directories, copying, re-naming, moving files, using wildcards, changing the date/time etc, but it seems this is different. So, I guess I should install it?

What do I want to see? Just a message saying summit like "this is the new MOTD" would be fine!

[Snowhog]

As for what I want to change, I need to change the message that allegedly comes up when you start Kubuntu, with another message of my choice.

Why? What exactly, do you want to see?

I have spent an insane amount of my holiday on this one simple task, and at the expense of so much other coursework and I’m close to throwing in the towel.

Is changing the MOTD part of a school assignment??

See update-motd - dynamic MOTD generation

[SteveRiley]

In your original message, you wrote "I am required to alter to alter the motd using the Konsole/Terminal/Shell..." Yet, you're booting from a live USB rather than an installed system. Why are you required to change the MOTD of a live USB? Just curious...

[lee_wright_wrong]

OK, I see, so am I going to have to install before I can do this MOTD task? If so I hope it's simple to do without accidentally over-writing Windows :-)

[Snowhog]

Okay. That is normal when booting from a LiveCD/DVD/USB. There is no log in. You are running a "Live" session. You have to install Kubuntu to your HDD for a user account to be created. Anything you do within a Live session isn't going to be remembered when you quit, unless you created a persistent partition on the USB stick when you burned the .iso to it, and even then, only certain changes would be saved.

[lee_wright_wrong]

Absolutely. From there I launch the terminal/kernel and start working. No login at any stage.