At work I have to remote into several different Linux systems from a Mac and there is always the pain of having to handle different keyboard layouts if using Synergy or VMs. The conversion from a Mac keyboard layout doesn’t translate correctly when the Linux system has the keyboard configured…
Linux: Adding a GUI to headless/server installs
Server and minimal installs are normally headless and have no graphical interface. If needed you can add a GUI manually. The process is slightly different depending on the distro. RedHat / CentOS 7.x RedHat / CentOS 8.x Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS Debian 9.x Debian 10.x All the above distros use systemd…
Ubuntu: Change default language/dictionary in Firefox
If you install Firefox via repositories it might not install with your preferred language/settings. If your distro is in English it will default to American English as the main language and other English variations as additional spelling dictionaries. You can change this from the CLI. The below examples will leave…
Ubuntu: Installing/fixing TP-Link AC1200 (T4UH 1.0) drivers in Ubuntu
[Updated instructions for Ubuntu 20.04 here] I have had this USB wireless adapter working fine on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for a while. A system update stopped it from working. Re-installing the OS provided drivers (Software & Updates / Additional Drivers) made no difference. I tested the adapter in other operating…
Ubuntu: Fixing the “error: no video mode activated” message on boot
During boot of your system and just after the BIOS messages Ubuntu might display a black screen with an error: no video mode activated message. The system boots normally but it is annoying. GRUB by default hides the boot menu and this message can show up if there is no…
Ubuntu: Fixing network interfaces not showing in GUI on Ubuntu Server
Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop use different network managers. Ubuntu Server uses networkd which doesn’t have a GUI component. So after adding a desktop to Ubuntu Server you won’t be able to see or change the configuration via the GUI by default. Ubuntu Desktop Ubuntu Server Configuration tool netplan netplan…
