In ubuntu

1. Check that you are a member of the following groups

   whoami #see what my username is
   groups #see what groups I belong to
   groups idealab #see what groups idealab belongs to
   sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER # adds user idealab to group dialout
   sudo usermod -aG tty $USER # adds user idealab to group dialout
   ## Other defaults -- these may be necessary or already given by default.
   sudo usermod -aG adm $USER
   sudo usermod -aG cdrom $USER
   sudo usermod -aG sudo $USER
   sudo usermod -aG dip $USER
   sudo usermod -aG plugdev $USER
   sudo usermod -aG lpadmin $USER
   sudo usermod -aG sambashare $USER
   

2. (virtualbox only) make sure you are a member of the vboxusers group ^[https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#usb-implementation-notes]

   sudo groupadd vboxusers #create group vboxusers
   sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER #adds user idealab to group vboxusers
   

3. restart to apply group changes