Over on Github, I just published some code I wrote to implement support for “tel:” links for Google Fi’s Messages for Web app on Linux. In other words, if you have Google Fi and you use Google’s Messages for Web app on Linux, then once you’ve deployed my solution, if you click on a phone-number… Read More: Hack of the day: using the Google Fi “Messages for… »
[This article is obsolete, see the update here.] Earlier, I wrote that the current DisplayLink release for Ubuntu was finally compatible with Ubuntu 21.04 (“Hirsute Hippo”). I’ve since learned that I wasn’t entirely correct. It turns out that if you have a DisplayLink hub plugged into your Ubuntu 21.04 box when you boot it up,… Read More: DisplayLink isn’t *quite* working in Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute) »
Recent releases of GNOME on Ubuntu, and presumably in other distributions as well, finally support remote access to your GNOME desktop on both Xorg and Wayland from a VNC client. However, they do not allow you to connect to your desktop when it is locked, and similarly if your desktop locks — either because you… Read More: Convincing GNOME to allow remote desktop when screen is locked »
UPDATE [August 9, 2021]: It turns out DisplayLink doesn’t quite work in 21.04. See this blog posting for the latest on how to work around the remaining issue. Thanks to Peter Boros for pointing out that Canonical and Synaptics have made the fixes necessary to make DisplayLink work with Ubuntu 21.04 without any of the… Read More: DisplayLink is now working with Ubuntu 21.04 »
A billion people have written about this before, but I like my approach, so I’m sharing it in case someone else finds it useful. Most of my passwords go into a password manager; those are long and random and generated by the password manager and I don’t care whether they’re easy to type or memorable… Read More: Here’s how I pick good passwords »
I am often running prerelease versions of Ubuntu, for three reasons: (a) in general I like to help find with finding bugs in prerelease software that I use and benefit from, to give back to the community; (b) I specifically want to find and report bugs that impact me in Ubuntu prereleases to increase the… Read More: How to undo a broken Ubuntu package update »
UPDATE [August 9, 2021]: It turns out DisplayLink doesn’t quite work in 21.04. See this blog posting for the latest on how to work around the remaining issue. UPDATE [June 3, 2021]: DisplayLink works on Ubuntu 21.04 now without any of my fixes. If you’ve installed my fixes, see this blog posting for uninstall instructions.… Read More: Update on using DisplayLink with Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) »
UPDATE [August 9, 2021]: It turns out DisplayLink doesn’t quite work in 21.04. See this blog posting for the latest on how to work around the remaining issue. UPDATE [June 3, 2021]: DisplayLink works on Ubuntu 21.04 now without any of my fixes. If you’ve installed my fixes, see this blog posting for uninstall instructions.… Read More: Using DisplayLink with Ubuntu 21.04 (“Hirsute Hippo”) »
Recently, I was confronted with the problem of automating the activation and deactivation of parental controls on my TP-Link Archer AX6000 router. Specifically, I needed a command-line tool that would allow me to disable or enable internet access for a specific parental controls profile. The router only provides the ability to set separate schedules for… Read More: Automating TP-Link Archer AX6000 router (and others) from Python »
For the last several years I’ve coordinated the group ticket order for my kids’ school for an annual dance festival that the school participates in. We don’t get to pick our seats for the group order; we tell the festival how many tickets we’re buying, and we get back tickets they’ve chosen. I’ve always tried… Read More: Script for fairly distributing event tickets to people who joined… »