2020-01-15
Debian Buster Tricks and Tweaks
I am working on a Machine Learning project, therefore, I installed a new system for best utilization. The environment works on an Oracle VirtualBox with a Linux operating system. My preference for OS is the latest version of Debian, codenamed Buster, released as version 10.
Following challenges were tweaked
TP-LINK TL-WN722N
This is a USB Wireless dongle and OS does not install by default. Unfortunately, Buster does not come with an installation package. The solution is to include alternate versions of Debian to locate "firmware-atheros" package.
Follow the steps,
Open your terminal to configure settings and execute commands
Open sources.list with nano editor
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Add alternate version/package download source
deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
Hit CTRL+C to exit the text editor. Confirm Y to overwrite once prompted. Run update and installation commands
run apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-atheros
Reboot your system with shutdown now -r
Plug your USB adapter in and make sure it is enabled under the VirtualBox environment. Confirm with "Devices > USB > Atheros USB 2.0" at the toolbar. Another important note is, TP-LINK TL-WN722N supports USB 1.1. Make sure which port you plugged-in and your settings.
The alternative solution is to compile the code from its source if the installation package is not accessible.
Open your terminal screen and run following commands to download git content tracker, driver of WN722N, and compile the source with an installation.
apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/jeremyb31/rtl8192eu-linux-driver.git
cd rtl8192eu-Linux-driver
make
make install
shutdown now -r
Compile source code is in progress
I upload two packages here in case sources are unavailable or inaccessible. You can download firmware-atheros_20190717-2_all.deb and rtl8192eu-Linux-driver-Realtek-4.4.x.zip
Login as Root (Graphical User Environment) Not suggested
Debian has great protection for end-users, therefore, root access in the desktop environment is restricted. I use Gnome, and here is the solution;
Edit configuration file
nano /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf
Write below parameter under [Security] section
AllowRoot=true
Exit the text editor with CTRL+C and confirm Y to overwrite once prompted. Edit gdm-password configuration file with
nano /etc/pam.d/gdm-password
and comment out the line
#auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success
Compile source code is in progress
Restart the system.
CHANGE NETWORK INTERFACE (ens33) to eth0
Debian automatically renames the standard network adapter to ens if it runs over a virtual environment. This is to protect the actual hardware from virtual, a simulated, abridged one. You can double confirm with command dmesg | grep -i eth
Edit grub config to cancel this renaming,
nano /etc/default/grub
Change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"
Create new configuration with with command,
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Restart your computer.
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