Another question that I unfortunately had to answer myself several times because I am so forgetful: How do I connect my Dell laptop XPS 129240 (WIN11), an Ubuntu machine (24.04), and my Dell curved monitor S3423DWC in a way, that I can use both machines with the same keyboard and monitor via the KVM switch integrated in the Dell monitor?

Solution

• Preparing the WIN11 computer (Dell laptop):
  • Connect the keyboard to the Dell monitor via USB‑2/Bluetooth.
  • Connect the Dell laptop to the Dell monitor via USB‑C cable and start it (WIN11).
  • Download the setup/installation file for the Dell Display Manager (ddmsetup.exe) from https://www.dell.com/support/home/de-de/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=g0v75 (version 2.3) and run it as administrator (and save a link in the menu during installation).

• Preparing the Ubuntu computer:
  • Connect the Ubuntu computer to the Dell monitor using a USB‑2 / HDMI cable.
  • Start the Ubuntu machine.
  • sudo apt-get install ddcutil ddcui
  • Start ddui, select View/Capabilities and select input source VCP/Feature 0x60.
    • Verify 0x1b: Unrecognized feature = USB‑C port for the Dell laptop with WIN
    • Verify 0x11: HDMI 1 = HDMI port of the Ubuntu computer
    • Check Dell’s own manual
  • Generate the following Bash script, save it as ~/bin/2dell.sh and make it executable.

#!/bin/bash

sudo ddcutil setvcp 60 0x1b

• Switch from WIN11 to UBUNTU-24.04:
  • On the Dell-Laptop (WIN11), start ddm, click Burger Menu/KVM-Rubrik
  • Define your own Hotkey and use it
  • Otherwise start the switch graphically.

• Switch from UBUNTU-24.04 to WIN11:
  • > ~/bin/2dell.sh

The post Using a Dell laptop and an Ubuntu computer via the same Dell monitor appeared first on FODINA 4 FOSS.

Another question that I unfortunately had to answer myself several times, because I am so forgetful: How can I reliably prevent my Dell Laptop with Ubuntu from going into suspend mode when the lid is closed? I need that feature because my devices use the same Dell screen with …

Switching from one machine to the other is done via a signal. But a computer in suspend mode would – surprise, surprise – not receive the “it’s your turn”-message.

To solve that issue, we traditionally would modify the GNOME settings under Settings/Power to

• Mode = Balanced
• Power Saver = off
• Screen Blank = Never
• Automatic Suspend = off

But — unfortunately — that does not work on DELL laptops with Ubuntu. Instead, we must use ‘the’ Dell-specific method:

Solution

• > sudo systemctl restart systemd-logind .
• > sudo systemctl unmask sleep.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target
• > sudo vi /etc/systemd/logind.conf
• Replace #HandleLidSwitch=suspend by HandleLidSwitch=ignore to do nothing
• Save the file

The post Supressing Suspend-Mode on Dell-Laptops with Ubuntu appeared first on FODINA 4 FOSS.

Another question that I unfortunately had to answer myself several times because I am so forgetful: How do I quickly set up a functionally identical Ubuntu duplicate?¹ In the past, we had to fiddle around with dpkg --get-selections and dpkg --set-selections. Today, it’s easier — with apt-clone:

Solution

• sudo apt-get install openssh-client openssh-sever apt-clone (@Master)
• Install the base version of the same Ubuntu Release (@Slave)
• sudo apt-get install openssh-client openssh-sever apt-clone (@Slave)
• sudo apt-clone clone . (@Master)
• scp apt-clone-state-[Master].tar.gz [Slave] (@Master)
• sudo apt-clone restore apt-clone-state-[Master].tar.gz (@Slave)

The post Cloning an Ubuntu Instance appeared first on FODINA 4 FOSS.