Odd failure when trying to use Asus WL-167G with Qubes (both Fedora and Debian 8 VMs). Help :(

[alefo...@gmail.com]

Steps to reproduce:
1) have WL-167G
2) have a separate USB controller (aside from the one mouse and keyboard are set to)
3) create a VM (we'll use a Debian 8 one, fedora has exactly same bug, at least 23rd one), make it a network VM (it'll be using a wifi usb dongle after all)
4) forward the USB controller to the VM
5) connect WL-167G to the usb port
6) install drivers in the VM (sudo apt-get install firmware-realtek)
7) restart VM
8) enjoy internet for a brief time (connects okay)
9) start a long download such as Qubes fedora 24 ( sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-fedora-24)
10) about 10 minutes in, connection permanently dies, and stays dead until VM reboot. Dmesg does not have any new messages after connection death, and neither does sudo journalctl -u NetworkManager

Please help. I don't have any other wifi dongles and won't have for a while, plus now I'm really really worried they will fail like this too.

[alefo...@gmail.com]

Oh, and the adapter is the v3 version, supposedly well-supported by Qubes

[raah...@gmail.com]

I have an issue like this sometimes on an old lappy wifi. Not sure what causes it, but maybe a problem with the kernel. see if you reloading the module helps instead of rebooting. thats what I have to do. but I can go weeks without it happening before it happens. Making think something happens in the air. but might have to make a bug report to fedora or debian.

[Robert Mittendorf]

Hey fellow Qubes-Users,

I want to use an remote PULSE audio server to playback sound output. The
server side is up & running. The connecting AppVM is based on the
debian-8 template

Standard auto-discover does not work, probably because the AppVM tries
to locate the remote server in the virtual internal networks of my Qubes OS.
I tried to use a tunnel in /etc/pulse/default.pa:
load-module module-tunnel-sink-new server=%SERVER_IP% sink_name=Remote
channels=2 rate=44100

I noticed that Qubes itself uses PULSE audio.
When I boot a VM, there is a Qubes VSINK device, but no tunnel.
If I restart PULSE audio
pulseaudio -k
pulseaudio --start
that device is gone, but the tunnel is shown.

Even though the tunnel is shown, I cannot playback sound using it.

I would like to have both devices (Qubes VSINK and the remote PULSE
server) to choose from in pavucontrol

Questions
1) What does Qubes do in order to show/connect to the VSINK? Is there a
different config file which is loaded when an AppVM boots?
2) Is a tunnel the right/best option to connect to the remote PULSE
audio server?
3) Is it a bug that a restart of pulseaudio does remove/not reconnect to
Qubes VSINK?

Thanks for reading and a happy new year :)

[daltong defourne]

Do you, by any chance, happen to run an ASUS mobo?
I happen to have exactly this thing on ASUS + Skylake, and have managed to alleviate it somewhat, here's full report
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/qubes-devel/7K1wm_tuuVI

[Robert Mittendorf]

[Robert Mittendorf]

PS: Sorry for the accidental post in
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/qubes-users/WGtXebJxbM4
Please delete those

[Robert Mittendorf]

The second and third post were send as a new mail (not a reply).
Why do these mails appears as answers here?

The first post was send as a reply to the mailing list, changing the
topic and expecting to create a new thread, my bad. Sorry.
But I do not understand why the other mails end up in this other thread
as well, as they were created using a new mail just c&p the body of the
old mail.

[Torsten Grote]

On 01/09/2017 07:15 AM, Robert Mittendorf wrote:
> I tried to use a tunnel in /etc/pulse/default.pa

I think this is the wrong config file. There should be a qubes.pa or
something like that.

Kind Regards,
Torsten

[Ángel]

Robert Mittendorf wrote:
> The second and third post were send as a new mail (not a reply).
> Why do these mails appears as answers here?

Where is "here"? The google groups web interface?

> The first post was send as a reply to the mailing list, changing the
> topic and expecting to create a new thread, my bad. Sorry.
> But I do not understand why the other mails end up in this other thread
> as well, as they were created using a new mail just c&p the body of the
> old mail.

They are not. Whatever is grouping them in the same thread is probably
"fixing" the thread for you trying to be smart based on the subject.

[Robert Mittendorf]

Thank you, Torsten. In fact qubes uses a qubes-default.pa in the same
directory. I think its a but that restarting PULSEaudio causes the use
of the default.pa.
Now I have the tunnel enabled when I start the AppVM - but it is still
not working (the "current volume" bar right above the greyed-out
"Advanced" is missing for the tunnel as well..

Any PULSEaudio expert here?

thank you

[Torsten Grote]

On 01/12/2017 08:37 AM, Robert Mittendorf wrote:
> Now I have the tunnel enabled when I start the AppVM - but it is still
> not working (the "current volume" bar right above the greyed-out
> "Advanced" is missing for the tunnel as well..

That's strange it is working for me.

This is what I have in my rc.local:

echo "load-module module-tunnel-sink-new server=192.168.1.2
sink_name=Test sink=bluez_sink.XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX" >>
/etc/pulse/qubes-default.pa

However, the issue I have is that this sink disappears from time to time
which might be related to the fact that this Bluetooth speaker is not
always on. Suggestions on how to automatically re-add the sink in that
case are welcome.

Kind Regards,
Torsten

[Robert Mittendorf]

I do not define the sink parameter, maybe that is the problem?
I expect that "sink" is the local name of the sink at the server?
how is thet defined in /etc/oulse/default.pa on server side?

[Torsten Grote]

On 01/12/2017 11:56 AM, Robert Mittendorf wrote:
> I do not define the sink parameter, maybe that is the problem?
> I expect that "sink" is the local name of the sink at the server?
> how is thet defined in /etc/oulse/default.pa on server side?

It is not defined on the server side at all. But you need to load the
'module-native-protocol-tcp' module on the server side.

Also on the server, you can list your existing sinks like this and get
the name to specify on the client side:

$ pactl list sinks

My Bluetooth speaker is added there automatically whenever I turn it on.

Kind Regards,
Torsten

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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Hash: SHA256

On Mon, Jan 09, 2017 at 10:11:18AM +0100, Robert Mittendorf wrote:
> Hey fellow Qubes-Users,
>
> I want to use an remote PULSE audio server to playback sound output. The
> server side is up & running. The connecting AppVM is based on the
> debian-8 template
>
> Standard auto-discover does not work, probably because the AppVM tries
> to locate the remote server in the virtual internal networks of my Qubes OS.
> I tried to use a tunnel in /etc/pulse/default.pa:
> load-module module-tunnel-sink-new server=%SERVER_IP% sink_name=Remote
> channels=2 rate=44100
>
> I noticed that Qubes itself uses PULSE audio.
> When I boot a VM, there is a Qubes VSINK device, but no tunnel.
> If I restart PULSE audio
> pulseaudio -k
> pulseaudio --start
> that device is gone, but the tunnel is shown.
>
> Even though the tunnel is shown, I cannot playback sound using it.

This is probably some network related problem. Check pulseaudio logs
(probably just `journalctl`).

> I would like to have both devices (Qubes VSINK and the remote PULSE
> server) to choose from in pavucontrol
>
> Questions
> 1) What does Qubes do in order to show/connect to the VSINK? Is there a
> different config file which is loaded when an AppVM boots?

Yes, the default pulseaudio instance is started with
/etc/pulse/qubes-default.pa as config. It's done with this script:
start-pulseaudio-with-vchan

> 2) Is a tunnel the right/best option to connect to the remote PULSE
> audio server?

I haven't used that module, but I think you can try to load it
dynamically using pactl, instead of restarting pulseaudio with modified
config.

> 3) Is it a bug that a restart of pulseaudio does remove/not reconnect to
> Qubes VSINK?

Depends on what you want to accomplish ;)

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[mitte...@digitrace.de]

Am 01/12/2017 um 11:50 PM schrieb Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:
> > 3) Is it a bug that a restart of pulseaudio does remove/not reconnect to
> > Qubes VSINK?
>
> Depends on what you want to accomplish ;)
>

Well, I just want to restart pulseaudio. Bu I guess then i have to use
the script that you mentioned instead of
pulseaudio --start

It seems like the sink was the missing link. Now I set the sink in
qubes-default.qa and I can use the tunnel - well its quite buggy even
though its a wired network, but I guess that is the best I can get.
For example I have to restart pulseaudio when I restart the audio server.

thanks for your help!