I resolved this by moving phone to my ubuntu 18 laptop. i had to add the USB device per this page: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/144966/how-do-i-get-my-device-detected-by-adb-on-linux Started ubtouch and it's now installing.

@frapie can you run adb? is adb set in your PATH?

@NeoTheThird Double post here : https://forums.ubports.com/topic/696/trying-to-install-on-nexus-4 The last post from lashenric can be deleted isn't it ? (you can delete my post too)

@UniSuperBox I have tried it in a USB2 port and it was in a USB2 only port when I ran dmesg -w The fact that I have switched the USB modules between the devices rules out an obstruction. It must be a hardware issue past the USB port, or a software issue on the UT device.