Update PP modem time from internet

Posted on 6. März 2022 von karl

My provider (bob in Austria) does not provide time via the mobile network. Consequently, the Pinephone modem does not have current time which can lead to problems using AGPS and also with SMS.

The Pinephone has two clocks, the baseband time and the modem userspace time. The modem userspace time can be set with the date command (via adb). However, the newest open source firmware from biktorgj will use the baseband time if that is available. So it suffices to set the baseband (CCLK) time.

We do this via a systemd timer unit, as there is no crontab on mobian,

enable time-sync target so we only start syncing the modem once we have internet time

sudo systemctl enable systemd-time-wait-sync

2. create files

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/setmodemtime.service

[Unit]
Description=Set Modem Time from Internet Time
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/bash /home/mobian/scripts/setmodemtime.sh

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/setmodemtime.timer

[Unit]
Description=Timer for setting Modem time from internet time
After=time-sync.target

[Timer]
OnUnitActiveSec=30m
OnBootSec=10s

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

vi /home/mobian/scripts/setmodemtime.sh

#! /bin/sh
set -x

if  [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Please run as root"
  exit
fi

# Set timezone offset, for me thats UTC/GMT+1
# CCLK wants the timezone offset in two-digits of quarterhours, so GMT+1 is "+04"
offset="+04"
# set modem baseband time via AT command
mmcli -m any --command=$(echo AT+CCLK=\"`date -u +%y/%m/%d,%H:%M:%S$offset`\")

chmod +x /home/mobian/scripts/setmodemtime.sh

3. Allow ModemManager to send AT commands

Nowadays ModemManager is running in a restricted mode which bars it from sending AT commands to the modem. We need to enable AT commands by setting it into „debug mode“

sudo vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/ModemManager.service.d/mobile-tweaks.conf
Add --debug to the ExecStart Command
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo service ModemManager restart

4. enable timer

sudo systemctl enable setmodemtime.timer

5. check that it works

systemctl list-timers --all
sudo systemctl status setmodemtime.service
sudo mmcli -m any --command='AT+CCLK?'

Android Helbling Media App auf Debian GNU/Linux

Posted on 15. Januar 2022 von karl

Install Android

sudo apt install anbox squashfs-tools lzip curl
wget https://build.anbox.io/android-images/2018/07/19/android_amd64.img
sudo mv android_amd64.img /var/lib/anbox/android.img

Install Play Store and German Keyboard

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/geeks-r-us/anbox-playstore-installer/master/install-playstore.sh
sudo bash install-playstore.sh --layout de_DE

Fix Sound

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anbox/anbox/master/android/media/media_codecs_google_audio.xml
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anbox/anbox/master/android/media/media_codecs_google_telephony.xml
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anbox/anbox/master/android/media/media_codecs_google_video.xml
sudo cp media_codecs* /var/lib/anbox/rootfs-overlay/system/etc
sudo service anbox-container-manager restart

Start Anbox via Dash, install Helbling Media App from Playstore, start the Helbling App, enter Codes and it should work.

Debian 11 cryptroot remote unlocking

Posted on 27. November 2021 von karl

Unlocking a fully encrypted setup on Debian remotely via ssh is now quite simple:

Install dropbear-initramfs

newserver: sudo apt-get install dropbear-initramfs

after this we need to get our ssh key into the initramfs. Simplest way is to log into the server once with the keys and then copy them to initramfs. To do that copy your keys from your main machine:

laptop: ssh-copy-id karl@mediaserver

then log into the machine and copy the authorized keys file:

newserver: sudo cp .ssh/authorized-keys /etc/dropbear-initramfs/

Add Hostname

by default the Initramfs gets it IP via DHCP. If you want to set a static IP you can do that with a IP parameter in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf

Syntax is:

IP=<client-ip>:<server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<device>:<autoconf>:<dns0-ip>:<dns1-ip>:<ntp0-ip>

If you use DHCP the Initramfs will get a IP but it will not set up a hostname. I find this inconvenient, fix it with this line in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf

IP=::::debian-mediaserver:::::

Now rebuild your initramfs with new keys and IP settings:

newserver: sudo dpkg-reconfigure dropbear-initramfs

Debian on Tuxedo Pulse 14

Posted on 27. März 2021 von karl

I recently ordered a few Tuxedo Pulse 14 Laptops for my lab. They come with a customized Ubuntu installation, alas we are Debian people.

Here is what needs to be done to get everything working:

Install debian bullseye.

enable non-free repository in /etc/apt/sources.lst
apt install firmware-realtek firmware-iwlwifi firmware-amd-graphics

This should get wifi working correctly. All is peachy, however we still suffer from jerky touchpad and a kernel bug which (sometimes) results in black screen after resuming from standby.

To fix this we need to add kernel parameters: