APC UPS 1200VA connected to linux debian

On 1st November 2023 was one of the worst ever day in my working life. One super strongest ever lightning strike completely shut off the the whole house electric supply! I have UPS connected to my laptop which the laptop also shut off abruptly. I would say "lucky" ? that that the laptop managed to boot up unfortunately the USBs are all broken, it does not function anymore. Never in my life would think that even with a laptop protected by an APC UPS, the device would be damage, well partially. Closer inspection show that laptop power adapter socket, the live connector got burned mark. It is just how strong was the lightning strike! So lesson learn, this time I bought a new APC UPS which connected in serial fashion and behind a surge protector (Targus) and hoping that with 2x protections, I will survive in the incoming lightning storm. hopefully. 🤞🙏

Let's see the APC UPS

and when it is connected and running

This unit come with monitoring system. It can be connected to the pc device via USB cable which is awesome! Best part is, if you are using linux, it comes detected automagically. At the time of this writing, I'm using Debian 12.7. 

what you need to do is just installed package apcupsd

$ sudo apt install apcupsd

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree... Done

Reading state information... Done

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:

  hunspell-gl-es hunspell-sv-se libnvidia-compiler libu2f-udev libwpe-1.0-1 libwpebackend-fdo-1.0-1 linux-headers-6.1.0-17-common

Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.

The following additional packages will be installed:

  apcupsd-doc libusb-0.1-4

Suggested packages:

  apcupsd-cgi

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  apcupsd apcupsd-doc libusb-0.1-4

0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Need to get 670 kB of archives.

After this operation, 1,779 kB of additional disk space will be used.

Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y

Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 libusb-0.1-4 amd64 2:0.1.12-32 [23.4 kB]

Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 apcupsd amd64 3.14.14-3.1+b1 [256 kB]

Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 apcupsd-doc all 3.14.14-3.1 [390 kB]

Fetched 670 kB in 0s (3,160 kB/s)    

Selecting previously unselected package libusb-0.1-4:amd64.

(Reading database ... 438864 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack .../libusb-0.1-4_2%3a0.1.12-32_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking libusb-0.1-4:amd64 (2:0.1.12-32) ...

Selecting previously unselected package apcupsd.

Preparing to unpack .../apcupsd_3.14.14-3.1+b1_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking apcupsd (3.14.14-3.1+b1) ...

Selecting previously unselected package apcupsd-doc.

Preparing to unpack .../apcupsd-doc_3.14.14-3.1_all.deb ...

Unpacking apcupsd-doc (3.14.14-3.1) ...

Setting up libusb-0.1-4:amd64 (2:0.1.12-32) ...

Setting up apcupsd-doc (3.14.14-3.1) ...

Setting up apcupsd (3.14.14-3.1+b1) ...

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/apcupsd.service → /lib/systemd/system/apcupsd.service.

Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...

Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u7) ...

Scanning processes...                                                                                                                                                                         

Scanning processor microcode...                                                                                                                                                               

Scanning linux images...                                                                                                                                                                      

Running kernel seems to be up-to-date.

The processor microcode seems to be up-to-date.

No services need to be restarted.

No containers need to be restarted.

No user sessions are running outdated binaries.

No VM guests are running outdated hypervisor (qemu) binaries on this host.

$ 

and then start it.

$ sudo systemctl start apcupsd

$ sudo systemctl status apcupsd

● apcupsd.service - UPS power management daemon

     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apcupsd.service; enabled; preset: enabled)

     Active: active (running) since Mon 2024-11-11 21:32:23 +08; 2s ago

       Docs: man:apcupsd(8)

    Process: 212186 ExecStartPre=/lib/apcupsd/prestart (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

    Process: 212190 ExecStart=/sbin/apcupsd (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

   Main PID: 212191 (apcupsd)

      Tasks: 3 (limit: 37451)

     Memory: 584.0K

        CPU: 8ms

     CGroup: /system.slice/apcupsd.service

             └─212191 /sbin/apcupsd

Nov 11 21:32:23 debby systemd[1]: Starting apcupsd.service - UPS power management daemon...

Nov 11 21:32:23 debby systemd[1]: apcupsd.service: Can't open PID file /run/apcupsd.pid (yet?) after start: No such file or directory

Nov 11 21:32:23 debby apcupsd[212191]: apcupsd 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) debian startup succeeded

Nov 11 21:32:23 debby apcupsd[212191]: NIS server startup succeeded

Nov 11 21:32:23 debby systemd[1]: Started apcupsd.service - UPS power management daemon.

and even better, gnome automatically detect it. I was really impress how little effort require to make things work.

one thing it does not work out of the box is communication with UPS also lost... but not sure how gnome able to detect the battery percentage..anyway, guess this is the work require.

$ sudo apcaccess

APC      : 001,018,0437

DATE     : 2024-11-11 21:33:20 +0800  

HOSTNAME : debby

VERSION  : 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) debian

UPSNAME  : debby

CABLE    : USB Cable

DRIVER   : USB UPS Driver

UPSMODE  : Stand Alone

STARTTIME: 2024-11-11 21:32:23 +0800  

STATUS   : COMMLOST 

MBATTCHG : 5 Percent

MINTIMEL : 3 Minutes

MAXTIME  : 0 Seconds

NUMXFERS : 0

TONBATT  : 0 Seconds

CUMONBATT: 0 Seconds

XOFFBATT : N/A

STATFLAG : 0x05000100

END APC  : 2024-11-11 21:33:20 +0800  

In any case, I really like this unit come with monitoring system. I guess just need to find out how to fix the communication problem and it would be a blast!

Reference:

https://opensource.com/article/21/12/linux-apcupsd

https://wiki.debian.org/apcupsd

 

How to install D-Link DWA-123 Wireless N 150 adapter in debian

Today I got myself a new wireless usb device. Pricing for D-Link DWA-123 wireless N 150 is very affordable and only at 17MYR (01 september 2015) in local computer store. So I got myself a unit and try out, and it's working fine after more than ten days. I will share with you how do I install this unit in linux debian.

If you are using kernel 4.0 or above, the module should come together with the kernel. You can identify below and you plug the device into the usb port.

 root@localhost:~# modinfo r8188eu  
 filename:    /lib/modules/4.0.0-2-amd64/kernel/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/r8188eu.ko  
 version:    v4.1.4_6773.20130222  
 author:     Realtek Semiconductor Corp.  
 description:  Realtek Wireless Lan Driver  
 license:    GPL  
 srcversion:   A3DA328AE8853D31D90212F  
 alias:     usb:v0DF6p0076d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v2001p3311d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v2001p3310d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v2001p330Fd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v07B8p8179d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v056Ep4008d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v0BDAp0179d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 alias:     usb:v0BDAp8179d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*  
 depends:    usbcore  
 staging:    Y  
 intree:     Y  
 vermagic:    4.0.0-2-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions   
 parm:      rtw_ips_mode:The default IPS mode (int)  
 parm:      ifname:The default name to allocate for first interface (charp)  
 parm:      if2name:The default name to allocate for second interface (charp)  
 parm:      rtw_initmac:charp  
 parm:      rtw_channel_plan:int  
 parm:      rtw_chip_version:int  
 parm:      rtw_rfintfs:int  
 parm:      rtw_lbkmode:int  
 parm:      rtw_network_mode:int  
 parm:      rtw_channel:int  
 parm:      rtw_wmm_enable:int  
 parm:      rtw_vrtl_carrier_sense:int  
 parm:      rtw_vcs_type:int  
 parm:      rtw_busy_thresh:int  
 parm:      rtw_ht_enable:int  
 parm:      rtw_cbw40_enable:int  
 parm:      rtw_ampdu_enable:int  
 parm:      rtw_rx_stbc:int  
 parm:      rtw_ampdu_amsdu:int  
 parm:      rtw_lowrate_two_xmit:int  
 parm:      rtw_rf_config:int  
 parm:      rtw_power_mgnt:int  
 parm:      rtw_smart_ps:int  
 parm:      rtw_low_power:int  
 parm:      rtw_wifi_spec:int  
 parm:      rtw_antdiv_cfg:int  
 parm:      rtw_antdiv_type:int  
 parm:      rtw_enusbss:int  
 parm:      rtw_hwpdn_mode:int  
 parm:      rtw_hwpwrp_detect:int  
 parm:      rtw_hw_wps_pbc:int  
 parm:      rtw_max_roaming_times:The max roaming times to try (uint)  
 parm:      rtw_fw_iol:FW IOL (int)  
 parm:      rtw_mc2u_disable:int  
 parm:      rtw_80211d:Enable 802.11d mechanism (int)  
 parm:      rtw_notch_filter:0:Disable, 1:Enable, 2:Enable only for P2P (uint)  
 parm:      debug:Set debug level (1-9) (default 1) (int)  
 root@localhost:~# dpkg -S /lib/modules/4.0.0-2-amd64/kernel/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/r8188eu.ko  
 linux-image-4.0.0-2-amd64: /lib/modules/4.0.0-2-amd64/kernel/drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/r8188eu.ko  

If you get the following message in your syslog,

 Sep 1 19:12:33 localhost kernel: [ 385.525522] r8188eu 1-1.1.2.3:1.0: firmware: failed to load rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin (-2)  
 Sep 1 19:12:33 localhost kernel: [ 385.525530] r8188eu 1-1.1.2.3:1.0: Direct firmware load for rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin failed with error -2  
 Sep 1 19:12:33 localhost kernel: [ 385.525534] r8188eu 1-1.1.2.3:1.0: Firmware rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin not available  
 Sep 1 19:12:33 localhost kernel: [ 385.525539] MAC Address = 00:00:00:00:00:00  

What you need to do next is to install the firmware. The firmware is in the repository and you can install as easy as apt-get.

 root@localhost:~# apt-get install firmware-realtek  

Now the userspace application should be able to identify the device correctly. I am using gnome so, it is detected as USB Wi-FI. Note that I have an existing pci wifi as shown in the screenshot below.

Try out to device to retrieve the IP address etc. If you get your wireless to a funky name such as wlxc412f52da87d , then you can create a rule in the udev configuration file.

 # cat /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules  
 # This file was automatically generated by the /lib/udev/write_net_rules  
 # program, run by the persistent-net-generator.rules rules file.  
 #  
 # You can modify it, as long as you keep each rule on a single  
 # line, and change only the value of the NAME= key.  
   
 # PCI device 0x0000:0x0000 (atl1c)  
 SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:00", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"  
   
 # PCI device 0x0000:0x0000 (brcm80211)  
 SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:0", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan0"  
   
 # USB device 0x0000:0x0000 (r8188eu)  
 SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:00", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan1"  

As you can see above, PCI device my existing device and you should add another line similar to the above. You need to replace ATTR{address} value to your device mac address. When the operating system bring up this device, it will be renamed to wlan1 instead of a random interface name next time.

Embed video into debian mediawiki

Today, this article is a bit special and a short one, we will configured
something interesting. We will embed video into mediawiki in debian. It's
actually a request from friend and so we will take a look at how to do it.
Let's see the screenshot below and if you want to do something like this, then
read on.



 

Before we get started, you will require root access in debian and already install
and configured mediawiki already.

1. change directory to

# cd /usr/share/mediawiki-extensions

2. pull from mediawiki embedvideo source from github.

# git pull https://github.com/Alexia/mediawiki-embedvideo.git

3. enable this extension.

# cd /etc/mediawiki-extensions/extensions-available
# ln -s /usr/share/mediawiki-extensions/mediawiki-embedvideo/EmbedVideo.php
# cd ../extensions-enabled
# ln -s ../extensions-available/EmbedVideo.php

Easy! Three easy steps. Now, let's edit a wiki page and an example below.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmmYEtS13BQ Al Gromer Khan & Klaus Wiese - The Alchemy of Happiness]
{{#ev:youtube|xmmYEtS13BQ}}

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7NMH_O5Ck&list=RDVpxBTgbeMsw&index=10 RELAXING MUSIC Relax Mind Body, Sleep Music, Meditation music, Relaxation Music Stress Relief]
{{#ev:youtube|ls7NMH_O5Ck}}

Save the page and that's it!

How to configure pdns-recursor to support IPv6 and configure Unique Local Address in a Stateless Address Configuration network

In this article, we will learn how to configure pdns-recursor. Because I have a stateless auto configuration from my ISP, each time my router rebooted, I get different IPv6 subnet. In this case, we will use a private address for our network. In IPv6, it is known as unique local address or ULA. There will be some steps involve and be patient and follow this article, hopefully in the end, you will enjoy the benefit too as I did.

First, let's generate ULA for our network. There are several ways to generate and I provided you a few.

• https://www.ultratools.com/tools/rangeGenerator


• http://www.simpledns.com/private-ipv6.aspx


• http://unique-local-ipv6.com/


• subnetcalc fd00:: 64 -uniquelocal -n

First three commands, it is generated from the web and the last is a command you can generate via terminal. As an example for this article, I will use the following.

Network       = fd2e:66b6:60c8:: / 64
Netmask       = ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::
Wildcard Mask = ::ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
Hosts Bits    = 64
Max. Hosts    = 18446744073709551616   (2^64 - 1)
Host Range    = { fd2e:66b6:60c8::1 - fd2e:66b6:60c8:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff }

Next we will set IP address accordingly to the system. We will have a server and a client. To make simple and easy for this article, we will use the example previously by extending to the server and client. Let's choose now.

server fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:20
client fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:90

Notice the IP address, the address end with address from IPv4. easier to remember. hopefully. To test quickly, we can set the server and client using the following command.

server => ip -6 addr add fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:20/64 dev eth0
client => ip -6 addr add fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:90/64 dev wlan0

Now down the road, if you are happy, you might want to make it permanent so the setting survive over a system reboot. To make it permanent, it is depending on the operating system you are using. I will show you how I do it in ubuntu (server) and debian (client).

In ubuntu, add addtional entry in /etc/network/interfaces

iface eth0 inet6 static
pre-up modprobe ipv6
address fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:20
netmask 64

In debian, using network-manager applet, go to the IPv6 Settings tab. See screenshot.



Method, select Automatic, addresses only. We want only the public IPv6 address from router but in the DNS servers field, provide the server IP address. In this example fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:20. Save the settings and close the windows.

Right now your client should have public IPv6 address and DNS from server configured. But what about the private IP for this client? Because when the interface is bring up, we will set the wireless lan interface for the ip. network-manager will call the script in /etc/network/if-up.d/. So add a script to set the address accordingly. Example

user@localhost:~$ cat /etc/network/if-up.d/addPrivateIPv6 
#!/bin/bash
 
IF=$IFACE
STATUS=$MODE

 
if [ "$IF" = "wlan0" ]; then
    case "$STATUS" in
        up)
        logger -s "NM Script up triggered"
        ;;
        start)
        logger -s "NM Script up triggered"
        ip -6 addr add fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:90/64 dev wlan0
        ;;
        down)
        logger -s "NM Script down triggered"
        ;;
        pre-up)
        logger -s "NM Script pre-up triggered"
        ;;
        post-down)
        logger -s "NM Script post-down triggered"
        ;;
        *)
        ;;
    esac
fi

The important is when the interface is wlan0 and status is up, the address will be set accordingly. Okay, we will check now in the server and client. You can use the command ip addr show.

   eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:00:00:00:00:00 00 ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.133.20/24 brd 192.168.133.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 2001:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 scope global dynamic 
       valid_lft 86397sec preferred_lft 14397sec
    inet6 fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:20/64 scope global 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::0:0:0:0/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever


   wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.133.90/24 brd 192.168.133.255 scope global wlan0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fd2e:66b6:60c8::192:168:133:90/64 scope global 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 2001:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 scope global dynamic 
       valid_lft 86396sec preferred_lft 14396sec
    inet6 fe80::0:0:0:0/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

So all good, the server and client get SLAAC address from router and they have their own private IP address. Fantastic!

Next, I will assume that you have pdns-recursor  installed and configured. If you don't, it is as easily as apt-get install pdns-recursor. To resolve IPv6 address correctly, below are some configuration you need to change.

edit this file /etc/powerdns/recursor.conf and change the following.

• aaaa-additional-processing=yes
  turn off processing for ipv6


• allow-from=127.0.0.0/8, 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, ::1/128, fe80::/10, fd2e:66b6:60c8::/64
  allow dns query from localhost, link local and the subnet fd2e:66b6:60c8. This is an example, change the subnet address accordingly to your settings.


• local-address=127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.2, 192.168.5.1, ::1, fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20
  local address of the system. Again, as this is an example, you should change to your value.


• query-local-address6=fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20
  your system local address. Again, as this is an example, you should change to your value.

Now restart pdns-recursor and check syslog if there is any error.

We are good, we done with the configuration. Now one last step, we test it!

user@localhost:~$ dig aaaa google.com @fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20

; <<>> DiG 9.8.4-rpz2+rl005.12-P1 <<>> aaaa google.com @fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 7269
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;google.com.			IN	AAAA

;; ANSWER SECTION:
google.com.		300	IN	AAAA	2404:6800:4001:805::1000

;; Query time: 34 msec
;; SERVER: fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20#53(fd11:b788:830f:8dc2:192.168.133.20)
;; WHEN: Fri Sep 26 21:42:23 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 56

voila, it works! :)

[debian] installing and removing with the same command

When you need to install a package and remove a package, you can do it with a single command than two separate commands. This can be achieve by appending a suffix to the package name. When the aptitude install command is used, a '-' to the suffix of the package name is to remove the package while an aptitude command remove with a '+' suffix to the package name is to install the package.

# aptitude install package1 package2-

# aptitude remove package1+ package2