Hello everybody!
Lately I've been having problems connecting to various sites that I have visited and used regularly for more than 20 years. For example, I get blocked from even viewing pages on the Internet Archive (archive.org), and can only find download links by searching the onion version of DDG. Then I can usually download, using wget over Tor, though sometimes I have to wait; sometimes I have to change my useragent from nothing to something, and that helps, but I still get messages that condemn me as another "AI bot" that is "ruining the web for everybody"; although, as far as I can recall, I've been doing it like this for most of those past 20 years.
Anyway, a little online research yielded the recommendations that I try entering a useragent in the appropriate place in wget; which I did, and which helps, but only sometimes.
Another suggestion was that I ought to try changing my DNS servers. Most pages recommended Google's servers as the default, but I mostly have relied upon OpenDNS, when I have had time to fiddle around with such things, when I can spend enough time online.
I have used OpenDNS before, so it's not unfamiliar to me. I reviewed their pages to see what has changed, and updated by settings accordingly.
I edited my file (not including my own remarks in brackets) in /etc/resolv.conf like so:
nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220 #[ipv6 redirect to ipv4] #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dede #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcdc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dedc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcde #[ipv6] # nameserver 2620:119:35::35 # nameserver 2620:119:53::53 # ipv6 - RFC compliant - no filtering # nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2 # nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
As I have disabled ipv6 at present, you see that those lines are commented out. I will enable ipv6 again when I know more about it to adjust my firewall and security settings appropriately. Otherwise, you see above that there are addresses for ipv6 as well as to redirect ipv6 to ipv4.
After changing my settings as described above, I restart nscd or sometimes even reboot, but when I check my /etc/resolv.conf, it says that my "original" settings have been restored by networkmanager:
# Generated by NetworkManager search lan nameserver 10.246.172.1
I tried changing permissions to rw, but this doesn't help. As I understand it, tdenetworkmanager depends on networkmanager, which is to say Google, I believe. I went into network settings in the Trinity Control Manager (TCC > Internet & Network > Network Settings), created different profiles, and so on, but it does no good. I ended up not being able to connect to internet at all, and could not restore my original settings even though I am scrupulous about backing up before I make changes.
I ended up having to reinstall my system, and now I am back in the same place; unable to connect to some sites, notably archive.org.
At the moment I cannot tell if this is * a problem with my own configuration * a problem with the sites themselves (e.g., archive.org may have changed things) * a problem with the tdenetworkmanager (which has been crashing more often over the past few months) * a problem with the networkmanager that is a dependency for the tdenetworkmanager * my DNS servers are misconfigured in /etc/resolv.conf or in my network settings * a problem with my local network (over which I have no control, and which goes down a lot) * something else ...
There are some other issues to discuss under other headings; not directly related to this problem or problems. I will bring those matters up separately.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, so that I can be free again.
Bill
Hi Bill!
You'll need to do a bit of digging first :)
Please install "dig" (you find it in "bind9-dnsutils") and try: $ dig archive.org
In my case I get: ... archive.org. 125 IN A 207.241.224.2 ...
And I can ping it and use it.
Next thing to check: Disable all (firefox) browser plugins and try again. Might be, that ublock or umatrix block stuff, maybe some other plugins.
On wget: I use this to make a local copy of stuff where "singlepage"plugin is not sufficient:
wget -c -e robots=off --mirror --convert-links --adjust-extension -U Mozilla \ --level 10 --page-requisites --no-parent --no-check-certificate $*
Nik
Anno domini 2026 Thu, 28 May 15:31:52 -0700 William Morder via tde-users scripsit:
Hello everybody!
Lately I've been having problems connecting to various sites that I have visited and used regularly for more than 20 years. For example, I get blocked from even viewing pages on the Internet Archive (archive.org), and can only find download links by searching the onion version of DDG. Then I can usually download, using wget over Tor, though sometimes I have to wait; sometimes I have to change my useragent from nothing to something, and that helps, but I still get messages that condemn me as another "AI bot" that is "ruining the web for everybody"; although, as far as I can recall, I've been doing it like this for most of those past 20 years.
Anyway, a little online research yielded the recommendations that I try entering a useragent in the appropriate place in wget; which I did, and which helps, but only sometimes.
Another suggestion was that I ought to try changing my DNS servers. Most pages recommended Google's servers as the default, but I mostly have relied upon OpenDNS, when I have had time to fiddle around with such things, when I can spend enough time online.
I have used OpenDNS before, so it's not unfamiliar to me. I reviewed their pages to see what has changed, and updated by settings accordingly.
I edited my file (not including my own remarks in brackets) in /etc/resolv.conf like so:
nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220 #[ipv6 redirect to ipv4] #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dede #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcdc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dedc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcde #[ipv6] # nameserver 2620:119:35::35 # nameserver 2620:119:53::53 # ipv6 - RFC compliant - no filtering # nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2 # nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
As I have disabled ipv6 at present, you see that those lines are commented out. I will enable ipv6 again when I know more about it to adjust my firewall and security settings appropriately. Otherwise, you see above that there are addresses for ipv6 as well as to redirect ipv6 to ipv4.
After changing my settings as described above, I restart nscd or sometimes even reboot, but when I check my /etc/resolv.conf, it says that my "original" settings have been restored by networkmanager:
# Generated by NetworkManager search lan nameserver 10.246.172.1
I tried changing permissions to rw, but this doesn't help. As I understand it, tdenetworkmanager depends on networkmanager, which is to say Google, I believe. I went into network settings in the Trinity Control Manager (TCC > Internet & Network > Network Settings), created different profiles, and so on, but it does no good. I ended up not being able to connect to internet at all, and could not restore my original settings even though I am scrupulous about backing up before I make changes.
I ended up having to reinstall my system, and now I am back in the same place; unable to connect to some sites, notably archive.org.
At the moment I cannot tell if this is
- a problem with my own configuration
- a problem with the sites themselves (e.g., archive.org may have changed
things)
- a problem with the tdenetworkmanager (which has been crashing more often
over the past few months)
- a problem with the networkmanager that is a dependency for the
tdenetworkmanager
- my DNS servers are misconfigured in /etc/resolv.conf or in my network
settings
- a problem with my local network (over which I have no control, and which
goes down a lot)
- something else ...
There are some other issues to discuss under other headings; not directly related to this problem or problems. I will bring those matters up separately.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, so that I can be free again.
Bill
tde-users mailing list -- users@trinitydesktop.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@trinitydesktop.org Web mail archive available at https://mail.trinitydesktop.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/users@trinitydeskto...
On Thursday 28 May 2026 23:48:04 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp via tde-users wrote:
You'll need to do a bit of digging first :) Please install "dig" (you find it in "bind9-dnsutils") and try: $ dig archive.org
In my case I get: ... archive.org. 125 IN A 207.241.224.2 ...
And I can ping it and use it.
Well, that seems to answer my question in an unexpected way. It seems that archive.org refuses any connections over proxy, or Tor, at least from myself over proxy.
I get a similar result as yours, but only over a direct connection. Over Tor, dig just keeps pretending to dig.
It would be nice if I could keep my thoughts to myself sometimes.
Bill
Anno domini 2026 Fri, 29 May 01:27:56 -0700 William Morder via tde-users scripsit:
On Thursday 28 May 2026 23:48:04 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp via tde-users wrote:
You'll need to do a bit of digging first :) Please install "dig" (you find it in "bind9-dnsutils") and try: $ dig archive.org
In my case I get: ... archive.org. 125 IN A 207.241.224.2 ...
And I can ping it and use it.
Well, that seems to answer my question in an unexpected way. It seems that archive.org refuses any connections over proxy, or Tor, at least from myself over proxy.
I get a similar result as yours, but only over a direct connection. Over Tor, dig just keeps pretending to dig.
Aha, then it's more likely that your DNS server does not like connections over tor. I can use archive.org over tor without problems. You could just add
207.241.224.2 archive.org www.archive.org
to your /etc/hosts, then you should not have that problem.
Nik
It would be nice if I could keep my thoughts to myself sometimes.
LOL
Bill
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Anno domini 2026 Fri, 29 May 01:27:56 -0700 William Morder via tde-users scripsit:
Aha, then it's more likely that your DNS server does not like connections >
over tor. I can use archive.org over tor without problems. You could just add
207.241.224.2 archive.org www.archive.org
to your /etc/hosts, then you should not have that problem.
Nik
Okay, I did that. It seems to go against common sense, that I should block archive.org in my hosts file, when indeed I am trying to connect to archive.org; but, after waiting out some local network issues here, that does seem to work.
Now I can connect again -- fingers crossed! -- to archive.org, use the site and download files normally.
However, that brings up my original question: My DNS server does not seem to like Tor, as Nik pointed out.
Can I change my DNS servers if I do not control my local network itself? (Unfortunately, it the network comes with the place, and I don't want to spend more money until I am living somewhere else, where I have more control over my situation..)
I would like to use OpenDNS, as it's what I got used to in the past. Only in the past few years have I surrendered to using default settings for many things, because I don't have the time or energy to cope with continual maintenance of my machines and devices.
I edited my file (not including my own remarks in brackets) in /etc/resolv.conf like so:
nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220 #[ipv6 redirect to ipv4] #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dede #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcdc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dedc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcde #[ipv6] # nameserver 2620:119:35::35 # nameserver 2620:119:53::53 # ipv6 - RFC compliant - no filtering # nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2 # nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
At present I have ipv6 disabled, until I can study on the matter more, so that I can set my firewall, iptables, etc., for better security.
If anybody has thoughts or opinions on what DNS servers are best to use, I am open to suggestions. Online, everybody seems to recommend using Google's DNS servers, but I generally avoid Google like I do Ebola and other such diseases.
Is it possible for me to use OpenDNS or other DNS servers, and to avoid the default settings for my local network (which I do not control, which comes with the place), or am I stuck with somebody else's choices and configuration?
More questions later, along these same lines, but not directly related to the issues at hand.
Thanks for any help ...
Bill
Op zaterdag 30 mei 2026, schreef William Morder via tde-users:
Anno domini 2026 Fri, 29 May 01:27:56 -0700
William Morder via tde-users scripsit:
Aha, then it's more likely that your DNS server does not like connections
over tor. I can use archive.org over tor without problems. You could just add
207.241.224.2 archive.org www.archive.org
to your /etc/hosts, then you should not have that problem.
Nik
Okay, I did that. It seems to go against common sense, that I should block archive.org in my hosts file, when indeed I am trying to connect to archive.org; but, after waiting out some local network issues here, that does seem to work.
Now I can connect again -- fingers crossed! -- to archive.org, use the site and download files normally.
However, that brings up my original question: My DNS server does not seem to like Tor, as Nik pointed out.
Can I change my DNS servers if I do not control my local network itself? (Unfortunately, it the network comes with the place, and I don't want to spend more money until I am living somewhere else, where I have more control over my situation..)
I would like to use OpenDNS, as it's what I got used to in the past. Only in the past few years have I surrendered to using default settings for many things, because I don't have the time or energy to cope with continual maintenance of my machines and devices.
I edited my file (not including my own remarks in brackets) in /etc/resolv.conf like so:
nameserver 208.67.222.222 nameserver 208.67.220.220 #[ipv6 redirect to ipv4] #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dede #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcdc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dedc #nameserver ::ffff:d043:dcde #[ipv6] # nameserver 2620:119:35::35 # nameserver 2620:119:53::53 # ipv6 - RFC compliant - no filtering # nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2 # nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
At present I have ipv6 disabled, until I can study on the matter more, so that I can set my firewall, iptables, etc., for better security.
If anybody has thoughts or opinions on what DNS servers are best to use, I am open to suggestions. Online, everybody seems to recommend using Google's DNS servers, but I generally avoid Google like I do Ebola and other such diseases.
I tried OpenDNS for a while, but stopped using them as they gave a lot of errors in my caching dns server. Besides google, there's also Cloudflare (yet another big player): 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
regards, Rody
Is it possible for me to use OpenDNS or other DNS servers, and to avoid the default settings for my local network (which I do not control, which comes with the place), or am I stuck with somebody else's choices and configuration?
More questions later, along these same lines, but not directly related to the issues at hand.
Thanks for any help ...
Bill
tde-users mailing list -- users@trinitydesktop.org To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@trinitydesktop.org Web mail archive available at https://mail.trinitydesktop.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/users@trinitydeskt op.org
On Saturday 30 May 2026 04:19:06 Rody via tde-users wrote:
If anybody has thoughts or opinions on what DNS servers are best to use, I am open to suggestions. Online, everybody seems to recommend using Google's DNS servers, but I generally avoid Google like I do Ebola and other such diseases.
I tried OpenDNS for a while, but stopped using them as they gave a lot of errors in my caching dns server. Besides google, there's also Cloudflare (yet another big player): 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
regards, Rody
Yeah, that's another big player that I try to avoid, if I can. It may not be possible, but I keep trying.
Bill
On Fri, 29 May 2026 19:01:41 -0700 William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
Is it possible for me to use OpenDNS or other DNS servers, and to avoid the default settings for my local network (which I do not control, which comes with the place), or am I stuck with somebody else's choices and configuration?
Have you tried the Arch Wiki's section on setting custom DNS servers for Network Manager?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#Custom_DNS_servers
It seems that Network Manager clobbers /etc/resolv.conf with DHCP-obtained information by default. If you want to use it, you'll have to conform to the way it does things.
E. Liddell
On Saturday 30 May 2026 12:53:57 E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2026 19:01:41 -0700
William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
Is it possible for me to use OpenDNS or other DNS servers, and to avoid the default settings for my local network (which I do not control, which comes with the place), or am I stuck with somebody else's choices and configuration?
Have you tried the Arch Wiki's section on setting custom DNS servers for Network Manager?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#Custom_DNS_servers
It seems that Network Manager clobbers /etc/resolv.conf with DHCP-obtained information by default. If you want to use it, you'll have to conform to the way it does things.
E. Liddell
Well, now this at least explains why Network Manager keeps resetting the /etc/resolv.conf file to the default.
The problem is, what they tell me on this page does not at all correspond to what OpenDNS tells me on their pages, nor to most other pages about setting alternative DNS servers (i.e., "free" and "open" as opposed to the Big Guys).
Also, this wiki page keeps bringing up systemd ... and I run Devuan, sysvinit. Am I missing something here? It has been awhile since I looked under the hood to examine how things actually work inside my system. I assume that Devuan has something else that corresponds to systemd for such matters as these.
Bill
On Sat, 30 May 2026 13:48:07 -0700 William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
On Saturday 30 May 2026 12:53:57 E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2026 19:01:41 -0700
William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
Is it possible for me to use OpenDNS or other DNS servers, and to avoid the default settings for my local network (which I do not control, which comes with the place), or am I stuck with somebody else's choices and configuration?
Have you tried the Arch Wiki's section on setting custom DNS servers for Network Manager?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager#Custom_DNS_servers
It seems that Network Manager clobbers /etc/resolv.conf with DHCP-obtained information by default. If you want to use it, you'll have to conform to the way it does things.
E. Liddell
Well, now this at least explains why Network Manager keeps resetting the /etc/resolv.conf file to the default.
The problem is, what they tell me on this page does not at all correspond to what OpenDNS tells me on their pages, nor to most other pages about setting alternative DNS servers (i.e., "free" and "open" as opposed to the Big Guys).
The DNS guys may not be updating their documentation to keep up with best practices for more recent versions of Network Manager. While I have found out-of-date information on distro wikis in the past, I do trust them somewhat more than pages maintained by random services.
Also, this wiki page keeps bringing up systemd ... and I run Devuan, sysvinit. Am I missing something here? It has been awhile since I looked under the hood to examine how things actually work inside my system. I assume that Devuan has something else that corresponds to systemd for such matters as these.
I would have pointed you to the Gentoo wiki, which is primarily non-systemd, instead, but it doesn't have much info on Network Manager's underlying configuration files. I suppose the assumption is that if you're willing to mess around in configs in the first place, you're probably not going to install Network Manager.
I think Network Manager is supposed to be able to function without any other network control layer underneath it, but see if you have netifrc installed. That's the bottom network control layer on most Gentoo OpenRC (that is, non-systemd) machines, and if you set up a static configuration with it and get rid of Network Manager, you should be able to get more predictable behaviour.
(If you don't have netifrc, you may still have dhcpcd, which can often be convinced to behave if you smack it hard enough, but I've never tried to set up an alternate DNS server with it alone.)
E. Liddell
On Saturday 30 May 2026 16:20:00 E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:
(If you don't have netifrc, you may still have dhcpcd, which can often be convinced to behave if you smack it hard enough, but I've never tried to set up an alternate DNS server with it alone.)
E. Liddell
I believe I have instead dhcpcd. I did apt-cache search to find netifrc, but nothing comes up. It might be included inside some other package, however.
Any suggestions regarding how to manipulate dhcpcd to get what I want will be appreciated. Also, I can read, if there are any especially good pages out there.
The wiki is pretty informative, and by searching for dhcpcd-something, that ought to keep me busy for a while.
Bill
On Sat, 30 May 2026 17:24:12 -0700 William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
On Saturday 30 May 2026 16:20:00 E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:
(If you don't have netifrc, you may still have dhcpcd, which can often be convinced to behave if you smack it hard enough, but I've never tried to set up an alternate DNS server with it alone.)
E. Liddell
I believe I have instead dhcpcd. I did apt-cache search to find netifrc, but nothing comes up. It might be included inside some other package, however.
Any suggestions regarding how to manipulate dhcpcd to get what I want will be appreciated. Also, I can read, if there are any especially good pages out there.
A quick skim of a couple of wikis suggests there are two methods you can use:
1. Create a file /etc/resolv.conf.head and put in it the nameserver data you used to put in /etc/resolv.conf. dhcpcd should read this file and not clobber it (although it will clobber the actual resolv.conf).
2. Alternatively, you can put the nameservers in /etc/dhcpcd.conf by adding a line that looks like "static domain_name_servers=8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4" or whatever servers you want.
This assumes openresolv is not running. If it is, apparently the magical incantation goes in /etc/resolvconf.conf and looks like "name_servers=8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4".
Once you're done making modifications, kill the Network Manager daemon, take your network interface down then up again with ifconfig (or ip), then run "dhcpcd [interface]" ("dhcpcd eth0" or whatever) and check to see if you have network connectivity.
dhcpcd's official documentation seems to be in the form of man pages (for dhcpcd and dhcpcd.conf).
Good luck.
E. Liddell
On Sunday 31 May 2026 06:06:32 E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:
On Sat, 30 May 2026 17:24:12 -0700
I believe I have instead dhcpcd.
<snip>
A quick skim of a couple of wikis suggests there are two methods you can use:
- Create a file /etc/resolv.conf.head and put in it the nameserver data
you used to put in /etc/resolv.conf. dhcpcd should read this file and not clobber it (although it will clobber the actual resolv.conf).
- Alternatively, you can put the nameservers in /etc/dhcpcd.conf by adding
a line that looks like "static domain_name_servers=8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4" or whatever servers you want.
Strange, but the "syntax" (if that's the right term) is completely different from what the OpenDNS tells me, and other pages on the same subject also say.
If I follow what you just said, that would be maybe comma-separated values for the DNS servers, to wit: "static domain_name_servers=8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4" ... but I may be wrong. Note that I added a comma in mine.
The web pages that talk about changing one's DNS servers (to whatever) all seem to agree that it ought to be in the form of a list, as I already quoted in my earlier posts.
This assumes openresolv is not running. If it is, apparently the magical incantation goes in /etc/resolvconf.conf and looks like "name_servers=8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4".
Once you're done making modifications, kill the Network Manager daemon, take your network interface down then up again with ifconfig (or ip), then run "dhcpcd [interface]" ("dhcpcd eth0" or whatever) and check to see if you have network connectivity.
dhcpcd's official documentation seems to be in the form of man pages (for dhcpcd and dhcpcd.conf).
Good luck.
E. Liddell
Aside from my doubts on such small points, I think I can probably figure out the rest from here. Point me in the right direction, and eventually I will get there.
Thanks to everybody for their help. More to follow, but different questions; however, I believe I am almost at the end of my quest to solve my current issues. Then I can go back again to crawl under my rock.
Bill
-
Dr. Nikolaus Klepp -
E. Liddell -
Rody -
William Morder