MX Package Installer - how to find and run installed programs? [Solved]

[jlhiowa]

Hello :) Linux noob, really enjoying MX Linux. I am running MX-23.6_x64.

In MX Package Installer, I searched for memtest and found "memtest86+ 6.10-4" and "memtester 4.6.0-1". I installed both, and they are listed as Installed in Enabled Repos.

I hit the Windows key to open the MX Linux menu, and type memtest or memory, but there are no results. How do I find and run these installed programs?

I tried restarting and shutting down.

Overnight I ran the "Passmark MemTest86 v7.3 Free" that MX Linux puts in the GRUB bootmenu, but there's no way to save results to a text file. Just had to take a picture of the screen, so it's not ideal. If memtest86+ and memtester are installed, I'd like to try them. Thank you!

Update: I installed Memtest86+ v7.20 from https://www.memtest.org on to a USB drive and booted from it to run the memory test (ran overnight and failed, didn't seem to have a way to save output either so I had to take pictures of the screen again. So I've gotta figure out which of the 4 sticks are bad, if any). For now, I'll probably uninstall Memtest86+ and Memtester because they are a bit advanced for me.

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System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-34-amd64 [6.1.135-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-34-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.20.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto Jan 12  2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: MSI model: Z170M MORTAR (MS-7972) v: 2.0
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: A.00 date: 09/08/2015
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-6600 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Skylake-S gen: core 6 level: v3
    note: check built: 2015 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x5E (94) stepping: 3
    microcode: 0xF0
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB
    L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3900 scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave
    cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 bogomips: 26399
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GM206 [GeForce GTX 960] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nouveau v: kernel
    non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx process: TSMC 28nm
    built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s ports:
    active: DVI-I-1,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1401
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 25.0 C
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.20.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1017x286mm (40.04x11.26")
    s-diag: 1056mm (41.59")
  Monitor-1: DVI-I-1 pos: right model: HP 2311xi built: 2012 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 96 gamma: 1.2 size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") diag: 584mm (23") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: primary,left model: HP 2311xi 
    built: 2012 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 96 gamma: 1.2 size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26")
    diag: 584mm (23") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: NV126 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a170 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM206 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.1
    chip-ID: 10de:0fba class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-34-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 685.61 GiB used: 99.84 GiB (14.6%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 PRO 256GB size: 238.47 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD rev: 2B6Q
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Intel model: SSDSC2BB480G7 size: 447.13 GiB block-size:
    physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD rev: 0121 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 80.44 GiB size: 78.62 GiB (97.74%) used: 15.42 GiB (19.6%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb2 maj-min: 8:18
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 274 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 366.44 GiB size: 359.62 GiB (98.14%) used: 84.42 GiB (23.5%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sdb3 maj-min: 8:19
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 24.0 C pch: 30.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 25.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nouveau fan: 481
Repos:
  Packages: 2161 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2154 libs: 1069 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 7
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 216 Uptime: 1h 34m wakeups: 1 Memory: 31.3 GiB used: 2.45 GiB (7.8%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[j2mcgreg]

Memtest is already available via the Grub screen when you boot your machine.
Apologies as I just saw the rest of your post. I had major dental surgery today and I'm still a bit foggy.
There are a few ways to find your installed programs. You could look in Accessories, All Applications or you could try calling them on the command line.

[timkb4cq]

Memtest86 is a special type of program designed to run from the boot menu, bypassing any operating system. As such it can't be started from inside MX. You'd have to make a grub entry for it like the one you already used.

For normal programs, Synaptic is more helpful when you need to find the binaries. For any installed package, for example memtester, select it in Synaptic and click the Installed Files tab. For memtester it shows /usr/sbin/memtester along with various doc & man files. Running

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man memtester

in a terminal will give you the info on how to run it.
The fact that the binary is in /usr/sbin is a good indication you need to start it with sudo since /sbin and /usr/sbin aren't normally in a regular user's PATH.

[jlhiowa]

@timkb4cq Thanks for the info on Memtest86 needing a GRUB entry! That sounds advanced for me, but I'll look into it.
Update: https://www.memtest86.com/tech_configuring-grub.html is too advanced for me. Maybe future me will do this.

That's really cool about using Synaptic's Installed Files tab. Thanks for mentioning /usr/sbin. In Windows I look in Program Files or Program Files (x86).
Update: Did some reading and there isn't really a Program Files equivalent, programs are in many places. Found a 2014 graphic that shows where they go: https://web.archive.org/web/20220209185 ... ctory-map/

To keep track of installed programs, I'd like them to show up in the menu, especially if I search. Even if it was just going to a text file that I write that says, "to use Memtest86 boot from GRUB entry" and "memtester is run from the Terminal". Is there a way to add to the MX Linux Menu?

Update: Did some reading and tried a few things, but couldn't get any entries to show up in the menu. MX Linux uses MenuLibre Menu Editor.

Did not work!

• Right-click on menu.
  Click Edit Applications.
  MenuLibre Menu Editor will open.
  In the top left, click the Plus icon and choose Add Launcher.
  Now this is sneaky, these are actually text fields you can type in now, but you don't know that until you click them.
  Click "New Launcher" and voilà it's a text field. Type in your Title.
  Click "A small descriptive blurb about this application." and it's a text field you can type in too.
  In the bottom, below Category, click Plus and select the category, e.g. Utility.
  Click Advanced and type in Generic name memory and Keywords memtest;memory;
  In the top left, click Save.
  The bottom now has the line /home/user/.local/share/applications/menulibre-new-launcher.desktop.
  But unfortunately, memtest does not show up in the menu, nor is it searchable.

[jlhiowa]

@j2mcgreg Thank you, your mention of command line got me the initial start of Terminal and typing memtester and getting output.

Then I tried

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memtester --help

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man memtester

and realized it was too complicated for me and I'll need to try and find some examples I can copy. Still cool to learn and try things, so thank you again!

[DukeComposed]

That's really cool about using Synaptic's Installed Files tab. Thanks for mentioning /usr/sbin. In Windows I look in Program Files or Program Files (x86).

To keep track of installed programs, I'd like them to show up in the menu

But unfortunately, memtest does not show up in the menu, nor is it searchable.

OK, so a couple of things.

Memtest86 isn't really a "program" in the normal sense. Yes, Memtest86 is a program. It's software, a developer sat down one day and wrote Memtest86, but it's not a Linux binary that your MX Linux install is going to run. That's why it's only available at the GRUB boot menu: GRUB is asking you if you want to boot Linux or if you want to boot Memtest86.

Linux -- and most other operating systems -- work like this: you have your kernel, you have programs. We call programs "userspace utilities", which just means they're separate pieces of software that aren't part of the kernel. A typical Linux install will have hundreds of utilities, enough that if you tried to put them all into the menu, the menu would become unwieldy and unusable.

So let's break this down into three basic categories: you have GUI programs, service programs, and terminal programs. The menu is going to (mostly) contain shortcuts to the GUI programs. That's all the software you think of when you think of using your Desktop: the web browser, the office utilities like the spreadsheet software and word processor, the video player, the file manager. In general, everything you install that is going to open a window will end up in the menu somewhere. (It's Linux: there's always an exception. But you're new, so don't worry too much about the edge cases yet.)

Then there's service programs. These are binaries you never run directly, but they have to be there in order for your machine to function. Remember that Linux is designed to run like UNIX, and UNIX was designed in the 1970s for people to run a bunch of remote commands over telephone lines to solve text formatting problems. Without the service software, you wouldn't have a display, you couldn't log into your system, and you couldn't print or play audio. You don't want these programs popping up in your menu because you're never going to run these things directly. Still, the system needs them and they need to be installed. Most of these service utils live in /usr/sbin and you should leave them alone.

Finally there's terminal programs. This is where the old greybeards live and they do all their work inside of a terminal emulator, which is a little box that works like an MS-DOS command prompt. If you've ever run cmd.exe on Windows, then you know what a terminal window is like. There are probably 200 terminal commands in MX Linux that, like the service programs, you're never going to click on and use interactively. You need to spend some time learning shell syntax peculiarities in order to figure out what "head -10 /var/log/daemon.log | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sort -u" does. Nonetheless, "head" and "tr" and "sort" are all programs and they don't belong in the menu, either.

So while I appreciate your perspective in wanting to know what all you have installed on your new machine, and in some ways I envy you for the adventure you're beginning, please bear in mind that having every program and tips on how to run them embedded in the menu is not only a bad idea, running unfamiliar things is also a good way to break something. Linux is not nearly as kind and gentle as Windows and macOS are. You can -- and probably will -- ruin a Linux install irretrievably if you try experimenting with things you don't understand. Before you start asking how to pack everything into the menu, I'd suggest you take the time learning why Memtest86 only works if you start it from the bootloader. Then you can start to appreciate the different ways in which Linux runs and why the basic menu structure that's existed for decades has been good enough for everyone else so far.

[jlhiowa]

@DukeComposed Thank you, I learned a lot from reading your reply!

I think what threw me is that the other times I've used MX Package Installer I must have installed GUI programs, so they showed up in the menu and I didn't realize the memory testers were different.

Now with your explanation and me re-reading the package descriptions, I see "Tags" and "Suggests": memest86+ mentions GRUB and memtester mentions interface::commandline. So, now in the future I'll look for keywords in the description!

[DukeComposed]

I think Memtest86 as an example is a little misleading: I'm not clear from the Wikipedia page if it's a Linux utility or not, but Memtest86 doesn't require your Linux kernel to run. Firefox does. And GRUB's job it to start your kernel: everything that needs your Linux kernel in order to function is safely called a Linux program.

And while Linux distros include Memtest86, how it runs isn't something that the Linux kernel supports: the kernel is also a program, and one that isn't expected to move around too much. In order to make sure all your memory gets tested, Memtest86 is designed to move around in memory to make sure it doesn't create blind spots. So it needs the Linux kernel to not "be there" in memory in order to do a complete job of scanning DRAM. That makes Memtest86 a relatively advanced system diagnostic utility, and one you shouldn't expect to be as easily started as a web browser or an e-mail client.

The fact that some packages have a GRUB tag and others have a commandline tag is a good indicator: not every program is going to have the same interface, or the same functionality, depending on what it does. In this case, I think looking at a low-level hardware testing utility may have given the wrong impression about the rest of a typical MX Linux system. Most of the software that comes with MX Linux can be run from the menu or from a terminal; Memtest86 is one of the few things that can't and that probably looks really unusual to a newcomer.