Getting wireless networking working on Ubuntu Server 20.04 with Netplan and Wpa_supplicant

 I'd love to riff on how every time they try to make things easier they actually make them harder, but ain't nobody got time for that..

I installed Linux (the latest version of Ubuntu) on my Macbook Air this week, since Apple says it's too old to get their newest version of MacOS. That went pretty swimmingly. So I thought I would instead install Server, since that's how I tend to relate to Linux, through the CLI via SSH.

So I did the install and immediately came up against a big problem. The networking part of the install choked because I did not have a wired ethernet card. It turns out that the default wireless support is kinda iffy for Server, which makes sense I guess (typical servers don't tend to connect via WIFI). But the Air has two USB ports and an SD card slot and that's it, and so wired ethernet is off the table. (Sure I could get some kind of USB adapter card, but that is really out of scope.)

So I got through the install, without a network connection. Then I dug into seeing if I could set up the wifi. Ubuntu has gone to this new method of network config called "Netplan". Basically 99% of the network commands and files I knew are no longer used with it.

I'll make a long story short and say there was a lot of googling, and trial and error, and banging my head against the wall. Here's a good place to start: 

     https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-20-04-connect-to-wifi-from-command-line

That will take you through editing your yaml file, and running the commands to install it.

But most fail to mention that a key software component is missing (wpa_supplicant). And as you have no Internet connection, you can't install it. This is quite a catch-22. But I got the URLs for the debian packages by failing the install- "sudo apt install wpasupplicant" which listed them (there were two dependencies too). So I downloaded them with another machine, and put them on a flash drive. Then I mounted it, and ran the installs (just point sudo apt install at the deb files in the usb mount point, do the dependencies first).

Of course now that I figured it out, I found a link that lays it all out - 

     https://medium.com/@yping88/how-to-enable-wi-fi-on-ubuntu-server-20-04-without-a-wired-ethernet-connection-42e0b71ca198

It took about a day, to do something in Server, that the Desktop version had done automatically and instantly. It was so minor I never saw a notice or dialog about the networking, except to pick a wifi access point. Another nightmare like this, and I'll probably go back to the Desktop :) .

Windows 10 High Performance power plan missing

Windows 10 High Performance power plan is missing after the Fall Creator’s Update. 

I found a workaround in this forum:

Https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-power/power-plans-missing/9885bdc8-b11f-4722-9e11-423ef77494a9

Annoyingly, there seem to be no direct links, so look for EdSchoaps. 

Anyhow, the hack is to go to Windows Mobility Center and change the battery status. 

See Ed for the caveats. 

Lock windows 10 without screensaver

Lock windows 10 without screensaver. It took me forever to find the answer to this one, and it was dead simple! What stumped me was the needlessly complicated multiple layers of settings Microsoft has created. It's insane!

The answer is not in the Lockscreen or Display tabs of the new"Settings" dumbed-down Control Panel replacement. The Display applet of the classic Control Panel seems to have disappeared in the latest Windows 10 installment. No help is found in the Power options.

Instead it's in same place it has been since I dunno maybe Windows 95 lol. Screensaver settings. I'm not sure the most direct way to get to that anymore, but I found a link to it in the Lock Screen tab of the Settings app.

In there you set the Screen saver to (None) and set the wait to (for instance) 5 minutes, then check the box for "On resume, display logon screen". Just the way I have been doing it for I think at least a decade. I just never expected this to override all the new settings mess. Wow.

iPhone syncing weirdness

I was copying pictures and videos from last night's concert from my iphone to my pc (just using a cable and Windows Explorer). Strangely, my phone wasn't "popping up" iTunes on my PC like usual, and when I opened iTunes manually, the phone did not "show up". Then the last file, a 4GB video file, was not showing up to copy out of the phone in Windows Explorer.

 

I ended up implementing the following process, which fixed both weird behaviors believe it or not.:

 

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5845597?tstart=0

 

Right-click the Apple Mobile Device entry in Device Manager and choose Update Driver Software. 

•Select "Browse my computer for driver software."

•Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer."

•Click the Have Disk button. Note: If the Have Disk option is not present, choose a device category such as Mobile Phone or Storage Device if listed, and then click next. The Have Disk button should then appear.

•Click the Browse button and navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers.

•Double-click the "usbaapl" file. (This file will be called "usbaapl64" if you have a 64-bit version of Windows. If you don't see "usbaapl64" here, or if there is no Drivers folder, look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers. instead).

•Click Open in the Have Disk window. Then, click Next and then Click Finish. Windows will install the driver.

Chrome Privacy Extensions

Reloading my personal machine post clean install of Windows 10. Wanting to secure Chrome (as best as possible). I haven't surveyed browser privacy and security extensions in awhile so I took the opportunity to look around again briefly. Here's what I came up (in no special order):

lastpass
adblock plus
disconnect
do not track me (now "blur")
https everywhere
ghostery
scriptsafe
flashcontrol

Tightening down browser settings and enabling the entire list broke Facebook profoundly (beyond what whitelisting could fix). In the end it was Scriptsafe that I had to really convince to loosen up, but eventually everybody was co-existing, Safe browsing (no, such a thing is not actually possible silly).

Window 7 - figure out what network card you have so you can get the right drivers

I found a great site that helps you figure out what network card your computer has, so that you can get the right drivers:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73420-hardware-identification.html 

I was working on an HP laptop, and pulling down drivers from HP's site, that just did not work at all. I found some forum entries that indicated that the drivers listed for that particular machine class were just wrong.Using the link above I was able to get the exact network maker and model, and even a link to download the driver from the manufacturer's website. Worked perfect.I wasted several days trying to guess at drivers etc., until I found that site!

iPhone Phone Extensions from Dial Pad

Everybody knows the trick of putting extensions in the contact record with commas. 

But this is no help when you have to dial the same bridge line but with many different extensions. 

It's a total pain when you've gotten on the bridge like that and you get knocked off and you have to dial the whole thing again. It would be so nice to just hit redial.

Turns out Steve has anticipated our needs once again. You say, "but there is no comma (for pause) or semicolon (for wait) on the interactive dialer!" Ho-ho my friend I suggest you hold down the star or pound key a little longer and see what happens. That's right they become the other keys. How nice. 

So now I just input the bridge, the commas, and the extension, and then let it dial away, secure in the knowledge that I'll be able to easily redial. Yay!

Download Facebook Videos

I was afraid this would happen: there are some family videos on Facebook (if that's not bad enough), that are only on Facebook, the source has been lost, typically because it was on a cell phone, which has a somewhat temporary nature.

What to do? I want to get a copy of those videos, and back it up, even if the quality is bad.

So I googled "download facebook videos". Yikes! Turns out there are two common solutions, both horrible in my opinion: (1) Install a browser helper or download a utility. The problem is all of these seem to be very harmful, and also do not work as advertised. Just read some of the comments about them before you go clicking on them. (2) Get the facebook video URL and plug it at a certain website. As best I can tell that website then has your personal video, and does what it wants with it.

Is there a safer (more secure, more private) third option? You bet! I found the answer here: http://www.wikihow.com/Download-Facebook-Videos-Free . It's in the second section. Basically you get the video going in Chrome's developer mode. Find the video on the network tab, and open the URL in a new window, then you can rightclick on the video to download it. Yay! Problem solved without installing a virus or posting my videos to who knows where.

How to tell USB 3

Ever want to figure out whether your USB3 port or device is operating at true USB 3 speeds?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2012/06/27/how-to-determine-whether-a-usb-3-0-device-is-operating-at-superspeed.aspx

Sherlock Jr

Working on computers, be it hardware (IT) or software (development) eventually comes down to just one thing, detective work.