I was already cursing Ubuntu and Android with unholy and foul evocations when I was suddenly enlightened: may the cable be the source of my problems?

Foolish me, I tried the USB cable of my daughter’s tablet and everything worked smoothly as silk.

Now I answered those students and dwelved a little in those Eiffel bug that we were asked about.
It feels like someone is crossing the rays of a two proton guns (see Ghost busters)