GNU/Linux: esperienze di un utente "normale"

Firma digitale Infocamere, Ubuntu & smart card 1205 - 1204 (CNS) - reprise

2011-09-28T16:26:00.001+01:00

Mi sono occupato varie volte dei profili della firma digitale sotto GNU/Linux, e soprattutto sotto Ubuntu.

Mi pare che, finalmente, con l'ultima versione di Ubuntu e di Dike, il tutto sia diventato molto più semplice.

La mia attuale combinazione hw/sw comprende:

Occorrente:

Ubuntu 11.04;
Un lettore di smart card bit4id, Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR38 AC1038-based Smart Card Reader
Una smart card, serie 1203, 1204 o 1205 (le ultime due vengono riconosciute come "CNS")

Per l'installazione, mi è stata molto utile anche questa presentazione, disponibile su slideshare.

In ogni caso, i primi passaggi sono uguali al mio precedente howto:

Installare pcscd
Installare pcsc-tools

sudo apt-get install pcscd pcsc-tools

Per il lettore di carte, avendo io un ACR38, ho installato un altro pacchetto, e precisamente libacr38u

sudo apt-get install libacr38u

Installare il middleware PC/SC

libpcsclite1, pcscd, openct

sudo apt-get install libpcsclite1 openct

Installare il framework OpenSC

libopensc2, opensc, mozilla-opensc

sudo apt-get install libopensc2 opensc mozilla-opensc

A questo punto, occorre installare DIKE (le istruzioni si trovano sul sito di infocert)

Una volta completate queste operazioni, dovremo avere DIKE (e Dikeutil) nel menù applicazioni/altro, e dovrebbe funzionare tutto.

Non so se tutti questi passaggi siano necessari (non ho le competenze necessarie), ma l'importante è che abbia funzionato :-))

Per implementare la firma anche su Firefox, i passaggi sono sempre gli stessi:

1.) Start Mozilla or Firefox or Thunderbird.

----

2.) Select "Tools" on the menu bar, select "Option...".

----

3.) Select "Advanced" Options. Unfold the "Certificates" section. Click on "Manage Security Devices".

----

4.) Click on "Load"

----

5.) Aggiungete un nuovo PKCS#11 Module".

Nel percorso, indicate /usr/lib/libbit4ipki.so

----

6.) Click "Ok".

Et voilà! A questo punto sono riuscito ad accedere al sito della Corte di Cassazione, ed a accessogiustizia.it.

New year, new laptop, new headaches: Sony Vaio VPCF13S0E & Ubuntu Maverick

2011-01-03T20:31:00.000+01:00

It's been a while I don't update this little blog.

I decided to drop a few lines, in order to share my experience with my new toy: a Sony Vaio VPCF13S0E , which is quite a powerhorse: Intel® Core™ i7-740QM (1.73 / 2.93GHz), 16.4" display, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD (7200rpm), Blu-ray player, NVIDIA® graphics (1GB VRAM), HDMI™ out, and some other goodies.

But, like almost all Sony models, they can be quite unhappy with GNU/Linux, and especially with Ubuntu 10.0, Maverick.

So I had to waste a whole day in order to make it working properly.

Getting the graphics to work

The first issue was a big one: the NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M GPU is not recognized during install.

I tried installing the proprietary drivers via the usual menu, but it froze the screen.

I finally managed to make it work, thanks to Digital worlds (in Italian).

It is pretty easy:
1) Remove all former Nvidia drivers (via the packet manager, or as you like) - Nouveau,nvidia 96.43.18,nvidia-current, and such

2) Download the latest drivers from Nvidia Website, and save them in /home/yourhome/nvidia

3) Restart Ubuntu in recovery mode, choose the root shell option, then input "sudo telinit 3"

4) Once you have logged in, input "cd /home/yourhome/nvidia", and then "sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.29.run" (please note than the filename may vary, if Nvidia updates the file): after you run the install, you have to answer Yes when it asks to configure X as well.

5) After you reboot, everything should work correctly, and you can use the Nvidia server setting from the Administrations tools, to setup everything.

2. Getting the touchpad to work

The other biiiig problem was the touchpad: an external mouse worked perfectly, but I needed the touch as well.
Once again, google (and Ubuntuforum - in Italian... is your friend), and so I found the workaround, which was pretty simple.

1) Open a terminal, and input "sudo gedit /etc/default/grub"
2) Find the key GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX, and insert "i8042.nopnp", so that the line should read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nopnp".
3) type "sudo update-grub", reboot and everything should work fine (hopefully)

There are still some issues with the brightness keys, but it is not vital at the moment: The Maverick is up and boldly running!!

Firma digitale Infocamere, Ubuntu & smart card 1205 - 1204 (CNS)

2009-11-12T18:28:00.001+01:00

Tempo fa ero riuscito a far funzionare la mia smart card serie 1203, sotto Ubuntu & Firefox.

Non ero stato altrettanto fortunato con le card serie 1204 e 1205.

Dopo ulteriori smanettamenti, e grazie agli sviluppi di OpenSC, sono riuscito a utilizzare tutte le smart card, senza problemi.

Occorrente:

Ubuntu (dall'8.04 in su, non ho idea se funzioni per versioni più vecchie);
Un lettore di smart card bit4id, Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR38 AC1038-based Smart Card Reader
Una smart card, serie 1203, 1204 o 1205 (le ultime due vengono riconosciute come "CNS")

I primi passaggi sono uguali al mio precedente howto:

Installare pcscd
Installare pcsc-tools

sudo apt-get install pcscd pcsc-tools

Per il lettore di carte, avendo io un ACR38, ho installato un altro pacchetto, e precisamente libacr38u

sudo apt-get install libacr38u

A questo punto, occorre provare a vedere se tutto funziona, con pcsc_scan

Dopodiché, occorre installare OpenSC.

La versione "standard" di OpenSC, purtroppo, supporta solo la card 1203, ma non le altre due.

Gugolando qua e là, è saltato fuori che la versione trunk (giugno) 2008 di OpenSC, sia disponibile anche con delle patch necessarie per far funzionare il tutto anche con le CNS.

E, udite udite, è disponibile anche il pacchetto .deb, già bell'e pronto ;-)

Ecco come fare (le istruzioni sono tratte dal wiki Itacns (bisogna registrarsi per accedere).

I pacchetti di OpenSC (versione trunk, giugno 2008) con le patch CNS/CIE sono disponibili per:

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy)
Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy)
Debian 4.0 (Etch)

Per installarli:

Aggiungere al file /etc/apt/sources.list la riga:
```
deb http://packages.corp.it dist itacns
```
mettendo etch, gusty o hardy al posto di dist, a seconda della distribuzione che state usando;
Installare i pacchetti con:
```
apt-get install opensc
```

A questo punto la card viene riconosciuta senza problemi (perlomeno sugli Ubuntu a 32 bit, mentre non ci sono riuscito per i sistemi a 64 bit).

Dopodichè, bisogna abilitare la smart card su firefox:

1.) Start Mozilla or Firefox or Thunderbird.

----

2.) Select "Tools" on the menu bar, select "Option...".

----

3.) Select "Advanced" Options. Unfold the "Certificates" section. Click on "Manage Security Devices".

----

4.) Click on "Load"

----

5.) Change the name to "OpenSC PKCS#11 Module". Click on "Browse."

----

6.) Select the installation directory. On windows this is usualy "C:\Program Files\Smart card bundle". On Linux and Mac OS X choose "/usr/lib/".

Click on "opensc-pkcs11.dll" (windows) or "opensc-pkcs11.so" (Linux, Mac OS X). Click "Open".

----

7.) Click "Ok".

A questo punto, però, la card veniva riconosciuta, ma non riuscivo ad andare avanti, perché mi chiedeva continuamente il PIN.

Ho risolto cambiando il modulo installato: anziché selezionare /usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so, ho usato /usr/lib/onepin-opensc-pkcs11.so, e tutto ha iniziato a funzionare a meraviglia.

Et voilà! A questo punto sono finalmente riuscito ad accedere al sito della Corte di Cassazione, ed a accessogiustizia.it.

L'unico problema rimasto è che il tutto funziona soltanto sui sistemi a 32 bit, perché le mie conoscenze non sono state sufficienti a compilare ex novo la versiona "patchata" di OpenSC, per il mio fido Karmik a 64 bit.

Ma va bene lo stesso...

ACER 3810T & Ubuntu: some troubles (and solutions)

2009-10-20T22:37:00.002+01:00

I had to replace my tried and trusted Asus W5A, with another subnotebook, and I decided to grow bigger and get an ACER 3810T, which is a great machine.

Being a Ubuntu fanatic, I ran into some serious problems trying to install Jaunty, but there is a great community, and I found all answers in the Ubuntu Forum.

But I always love to make things complicated, and spend my hours in airport lounges fiddling with the command line, and googling desperately for help, I upgraded to the beta version of Karmik, with the new kernel (2.6.30+).

At this point, I was stuck, because the Atheros driver could not compile, and I was therefore unable to use the Ethernet cable connection (how strange, it is normally the wireless which gives serious headaches).

After some research, I found the workaround again in the ubuntuforum

Here is the solution:
Before trying to install the Atheros AR81 driver, with the usual make - make install, you have to edit (with your editor of choice) the src/kcompat.h (inside the Atheros package).

In particular you have to search for

#define IRQ_HANDLED
#define IRQ_NONE

and change to

#define IRQ_HANDLED 1
#define IRQ_NONE 0

And then try the make / sudo make install, and after you reboot, eth0 will be there, happily running !
Thanks again ubuntuforum folks, especially BandedHawk!

Sync, and the world will sync with you: how to sync a Nokia E71 with Google Calendar, Thunderbird and Lightning

2009-08-25T19:59:00.005+01:00

It's been ages I've been trying to sync all data (especially address books and calendars) on all my devices, without any significant success.

Ok, I could use outlook inside a windows session in Virtualbox, but what's the point? I still wanted to use GNU/Linux, and free software as much as possible.

But now I managed to "sync it all".

That's how I did it.

I have to point out that this solution effectively gives even more control of many of your personal data to Google, but I would still trust the "Do no evil" policy, and use https connection to reduce risks of external attacks.

#1 Sync Nokia E71 with google calendar, using google sync

I used google sync and mail for exchange for the Nokia E71, following the howto found in Markus Lanthaler's Blog.
Images are in German, but pretty easy to understand.

Havin' done that, this worked perfectly: I only had to install mail for exchange twice, because the first time there was no way to get sync to work.

So, now all my contacts and calendar (just one, google sync does not support multiple calendars) are happily in sync, via an https connection!!!

#2 Syncing with Sunbird/Lightning

After syncing my E71 with google calendar & gmail address book, I could easily sync the calendar with the Lightning extension of Thunderbird.

That was even easier, thanks to the many howtos and hints available on the net

The best one can be found here.

It's only a matter of installing the Lightning extension of Thunderbird, the google calendar provider add-on, and adding the google calendar into Lightning!

All worked seamlessly, like a breeze!

#3 Sync gmail contacts with Thunderbird contacts

It is also possible to add (and maybe sync) all gmail contacts, with Thunderbird contacts.

This can be done via another thunderbird add-on, Zindus.

I found a good howto on how to use zindus at ghacks.net, but it is pretty straightforward.

Love, peace and sync to all!!

Virtualbox, 64bit, Ubuntu Jaunty & resizing virtual hd

2009-04-29T16:52:00.005+01:00

I needed a virtual machine, and never experienced Virtualbox, so I decided to give it a try.

I just did a fresh install of Ubuntu Jaunty (on a HP Pavilion Intel Core 2 duo), and there was no way to persuade the closed source version of VB to work.

VB did non run, returning a mysterious "bus error".

I tried to install via synaptic, and by downloading the .deb file, but nothing worked.

Surprisingly enough, my last attempt was successful: I downloaded the generic "All distributions" version (an install script, apparently), and it worked like a breeze...

And now I got a nice and working virtualbox!!

Apart from that, I created a virtual XP machine without enough storage space, so I had to resize the virtual hd: I followed this howto, which worked wonders!

One more update... Jaunty was tempting

2009-04-24T20:31:00.003+01:00

I updated to Jaunty, and two problems occurred on my Hp Pavilion DV7:

1) Sound was erratic

Googling a bit, I found the solution:

become root and in a terminal type:

echo "options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

And, et voila, let there be sound!!!

2) Tracker was going nuts, prompting that the index was corrupted, and re-indexing didn't help

Here's the solution:
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tracker/+bug/361205)

first delete ~/.cache/tracker

Then kill all tracker processes, restart and reindex...

Overall, seems a worthy upgrade...

Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10: Who is more intrepid, the Ibex or the user??

2008-11-04T12:06:00.002+01:00

Ubuntu 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex, was out on the 31th of october.
After a couple of days, I couldn't resist to the upgrade frenzy, and so I went for the upgrade process, from 8.04.

All seemed to go pretty straightforward, but after installation, there was no way I could get my video card (the average Intel 915, so nothing weird) to work.

I have to tell I was looking for trouble, 'cause I don't have a standard xorg.conf, but a heavily edited one, coupled with the wonderful switchomon script, to use dual desktop modes.

So it didn't came as a surprise that X was not able to work after the update (let alone the dual monitor options...)

After a bit of haggling, I went for the safest option: install everything from scratch (but saving the home partition, which is always a clever thing to do...).

And the Ibex is happily jumping in my notebook ;-)
All in all, it seems a worthy upgrade, especially when it comes to dual desktop options: display options can be configured like a breeze, from the GUI, and without any further need for scripts and such.
So now I have my beloved dual desktop, happily working out of the box!!

There are many other features as well, like the encrypted partitions, which is a real bonus.

Hardy howto: Brother MFC 425 CN

2008-08-20T18:23:00.004+01:00

I've already written (better copied and adapted) an howto for Feisty & Brother MFC.

It has to be modified, to work with Hardy.

I followed the instructions from Ubuntu Forum.

That's the result

We have a Brother MFC425 CN printer in our office.
It's a very cheap multifunction printer/scanner/fax, and, thanks to this howto, I managed to get it working via LAN.

This is a hacked version of the original Feisty Howto: Brother Printer MFC-215c complete.

This is a detailed step by step howto for installing the Brother MFC-425CN printer drivers on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn v7.04.
There are some modifications to make it work with Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04

Note that some printer driver files for the MFC-425c are not yet ready and Brother suggests that the files for the MFC-210C are used used in the meantime. The direct links are for the latest at time of writing, so check the website for any updates and rather use those if available.

Download the following files from the Brother Website, CUPSwrapper , LPRdriver , Fax CUPSwrapper , Fax LPRdriver, brscan (or brscan2) and the Sane Scanner backend.

Now also install csh (C Shell) and Sane (and Xsane if you are using Ubuntu, Kubuntu uses Kooka which is installed by default) from the repositories, using your program manager i.e Synaptic, or use the command line:

sudo apt-get install csh sane xsane

Preparations

These steps are required before the installation of the drivers otherwise they will produce errors.
The last two steps (creating links) may not be necessary for some earlier versions of ubuntu from Dapper and back and may be because of Feisty using the latest kernel.
Create a folder on the desktop, called “brother”, and put all downloaded files in that folder.
Use Synaptic to install csh (C Shell) and sane from the repositories, if not already done.

Create a new directory in /var/spool/lpd (Feisty and Hardy need lpd directory which is not present)

sudo mkdir /var/spool/lpd

Install the printer drivers:

NB: Ensure printer is switched off (unplug mains)

Install the LPR Driver. In terminal Type or Copy & Paste the following command changing mfc210clpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb to match the driver you've downloaded. The following line is for the MFC-210C which is also used for the following printers:
DCP-115C, DCP-117C, DCP-120C, DCP-315CN, DCP-340CW,MFC-215C, MFC-425CN, MFC-640CW, MFC-820CW

Code:

sudo dpkg -i --force-all mfc210clpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb

Create the model directory. As with the lpd directory this is the first I have encountered this but in Hardy the directory had to be created. Skip this and move on to Step 9 if you're using Gutsy or below. In terminal Type or Copy & Paste the following command:

Code:

sudo mkdir /usr/share/cups/model

(this is necessary for Hardy)

Now to install the CUPS wrapper driver. In terminal Type or Copy & Paste the following command changing cupswrapperMFC210C-1.0.2-3.i386.deb to match the driver you've downloaded.The following line is for the MFC-210C which is also used for the following printers:
DCP-115C, DCP-117C, DCP-120C, DCP-315CN, DCP-340CW,MFC-215C, MFC-425CN, MFC-640CW, MFC-820CW
Code:

sudo dpkg -i --force-all cupswrapperMFC210C-1.0.2-3.i386.deb

Switch the printer back on (replug mains)

In the menu go to System Settings, Printers
If the printer is connected to the same PC then the driver has already been installed and selected
Select the printer MFC-210C and make it default if required. (right click)
While having the printer selected, click on the Properties tab and select the Interface icon on the right hand side. If the URI: usb:/dev/usb/lp0 shows, this is incorrect. Click the Change button, enter your password for administrator mode. Now select Local printer, Next, then Brother MFC-215C and Finish.
You should now see URI: //Brother/MFC-215C
Right-click the MFC210C and click “Test Printer”. See if test page is received

Printer sharing on home network (not tested yet)

Sharing a printer means that the printer is connected to one dedicated PC on your network and other PC's can share this printer through that dedicated PC. Before you can get a shared printer to work you need to make perfectly sure that each PC on the network can communicate perfectly with each other and that the printers are shown as shared with Samba and with NFS. If this does not work you will have problems.
To share a dedicated printer connected to a specific PC with the other PC's on the same network you need Samba installed for sharing with Windows and NFS for sharing with Linux PC's. Install these with Synaptic from the repositories.

Now go to Menu, System Settings, Sharing, File Sharing and you should see a list under Shared Folders that includes a line /var/lib/samba/printers/ with a tick or a cross under the Samba and NFS column. To enable sharing of the printers under Samba and NFS, go into Administrator mode, select Simple Sharing and select both Samba and NFS. Uncheck Public and Writable. Once you have two green ticks it means that you can share with both linux and/or Windows PC's. You might as well do the same for any folders you want to share. Create them and enable sharing and allow it via NFS and/or Samba, in the case of folders you should check Public and Writable.
Now to check that you can see the shares, reboot the PC's and then click on the PC icon called System Menu in the kicker bar. Select Remote Places, Samba Shares and then open the Workplaces. You should see your own PC AND the remote PC's. Check that this is possible on all the PC's. Now you can be sure that your PC's are seeing each other and ready to have printer sharing set up. Note, you will not see the printers in here, but only actual shared drives and folders on which sharing has been allowed.

Printer on linux PC, sharing with other linux PC's (not tested yet)
If you are using all linux PC's you will not need to install drivers on the client (other) PC, but only on the server PC that has the printer connected to it (we are not refering to a network printer here, that has its own IP address, but a dedicated printer on a PC that is shared via that PC).
If your sharing and the network is properly setup with the server PC, the printers installed on the server PC will show up in your printer list on each PC as if they were installed on that PC (nice CUPS and linux feature) and you just use them.

Printer on Windows PC, sharing with other linux PC's(not tested yet)
If the server PC is a Windows PC you will have to install the Windows drivers on the Windows PC and activate printer and file sharing. and give the printer an unique share name i.e. Brotherxp. Then install the above linux printer drivers for the printer on the Kubuntu PC and then go to Menu, System Settings, Printers, Add, Add Printer Class. Now the Add Printer Wizard opens and click next, select SMD Shared Printer Windows, next, Use anonymous, next, SMB Printer Settings – use Scan. If your Kubuntu PC can see the Windows PC it will show the workgroup name and the PC name. Enter these in Workgroup, Server and put the Printer share name you gave in XP (i.e. Printerxp) in Printer, Next.
KDE will now build a database of drivers and you can select Brother, scroll down to MFC-210C (which you have installed in the first part), find the correct printer, click on it and it will be entered in the fields, Next etc. until installation is complete and test page works.

Now for some configurations settings:
The above will not work properly as the CUPS configurations in Kubuntu are not set by default to allow sharing of printers on a network and you have to enable this before it will work. Its is easy in Kubuntu:
Got to System Settings, Printer
Open the Printer Server tab and just select both “Access printers on local network” this is on the PC that needs to see a shared printer from another PC and “Share printers on local network” this is on the PC that needs to share its printer with other PC's. A cross next to these will show if enabled.

Select the Restart Server in System Settings - Printer or you can reboot the PC's and see if you can see the printer under printer settings on the other PC's.

Thats it, now you have a shared printer!!

Camera media card reading (not tested yet);
You can just insert the media card and it will appear as a usb flash disk on Kubuntu and just copy, read or whatever from and to it. Just do not change the special file structure that your camera created as it may make the card unusable in your camera.

Fax Printing (not tested yet):

Brother has provided a very useful function that allows faxes to be sent directly from a PC, via your Brother MFC. It works on linux and even from other linux PC's connected to the same lan.
The actual printer configuration can be done via the CUPS web interface (http://localhost:631/printers), but I used the Kubuntu (KDE) printer configuration from the menu, as some CUPS configurations, such as printer sharing and administrator mode are not enabled by default in Kubuntu Dapper. Details can be found above on how to correct.
Ensure that Sun-Java5-jre is installed from the repositories using your package manager (i.e. Synaptic, adept, apt-get etc,as this runs the applet /usr/local/Brother/fax/brmfcfax.jar, which is the dialup gui for your PC-Fax.
Now you have to set this version as default (may not be required to do in Feisty):
sudo update-alternatives - -config java
You will now get a selection that shows a list and which is in use.
Select the version: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/jre/bin/java

Now while the printer is SWITCHED OFF, install the two special drivers from the Brother website. The order of the driver installation is important, first lpd, then cups:

Right click on the brmfcfaxlpd-1.0.0-1.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package
Right click on the brmfcfaxcups-1.0.0-1.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package

Switch the printer BACK ON:

In the menu go to System Settings, Printer and you should see another printer installed called BRFAX. The device URI is incorrectly created as /dev/usb/lp0. To correct this go to Menu, System Settings, Printers. Select BRFAX and select the Properties tab and then the Interface icon. Now click on Change and a window called Modify Printer should open. Select Local printer, Next, then select Brother MFC-215C and click Finish.

This BRFAX printer is not used to print faxes directly, BRFAX is used by the “brpcfax” utility script file. To send a fax, you must use the “brpcfax” utility to process your print jobs and you can only use this with a postscript file which then sends it to the BRFAX printer.

a) Use “Print to file” from your application (i.e. OOo) to generate a postscript file called i.e “testfax.ps”
b) Right click the testfax.ps file and select “Open with” and now click “Send As Fax”, the dialup screen gui should come up, enter fax number and click Send.

Before you can do this Konquerer must first be configured

1) Open Konquerer
2) Go to Settings, Configure konquerer
3) Click file associations
4) Type “ps” in the search box and select “Application”-- “Postscript” from the list
5) Click right hand “Add” (under Application Preferance Order) and type “brpcfax” and click OK
6) Select the new “brpcfax option and click 'Edit”
7) Select the Application tab
In Command line enter: brpcfax -P BRFAX -o PAPER=A4
9) In the Name field enter Send As Fax
10) Go to General tab
11) Click on the blank Icon, System Icons, select Devices form drop down and select the “print_class” icon (looks like a fax) 12) Click OK and save

If you Send As Fax a .ps document, you will dial the number on the pop up screen on your PC and then you will hear the printer fax being seized, dialtone, then dialling and the fax sent.

Scanner Installation:

Ensure you have already installed Sane (and Xsane for Ubuntu) as per the beginning of this howto.
You must also additionally install a special driver which is the Brother backend for sane scanner which is used by Kooka (Kubuntu).

Ensure that printer is switched off

Switch the printer on

For the brscan2 32bit driver which most will be using Install with the following command in Terminal:
Code:

sudo dpkg -i brscan2-0.2.4-0.i386.deb

Network Installation (printer own IP)

This is how to get the printer to just be on the network (not attached to a print server). This will only work with models that have a built-in ethernet port. (MFC-425CN). The model MFC-215C will have to have an external network driver module (jetdirect or similar) attached. Otherwise it will have to use another PC as a print server.
You need to know the IP address of the printer. The printer can tell you this (check out the instruction booklet as the command combinations may be different for different models.)
Open your browser to CUPS by entering http://localhost:631/. Click "Manage Printers."
If everything went well, you should see your printer in the list.
Select "Modify Printer." The important step is to select the device for the printer.
Choose "LPD/LPR Host or Printer."
Enter lpd://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the window (where the xxx's are the printer's IP address).
Send it a test page. You can configure paper size from CUPS (it seems to default to A4).
From here you can also set your print manager to use CUPS if you so desire and it will also print on the network.

Scanner over network (printer has own IP)

It is assumed that the scanner drivers and Sane (and Xsane for Ubuntu) have been installed as shown at the beginning of this howto.
To use your machine as a network scanner, you need to set a friendly name, model name and IP address or node name for the driver:
using IP address:
brsaneconfig2 -a name=FRIENDLY-NAME model=MODEL-NAME ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
or alternatively using node name
brsaneconfig2 -a name=FRIENDLY-NAME model=MODEL-NAME nodename=BRN_xxxxx
Example
brsaneconfig2 -a name=BROTHER-SCANNER model=MFC-420CN ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
You can check the result by running the command:
brsaneconfig2 -q
If the setting is done correctly, you will see the result as below:
0 BROTHER-SCANNER "MFC-420CN" Ixx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Now run Kooka ( Xsane if using Ubuntu)
And scan something, click Acquire Preview and there you go...

How to revive a not-so-new subnotebook (and use dual monitors)

2008-06-14T17:30:00.006+01:00

It's been a while I'm a satisfied user of an Asus W5A, a nice subnotebook, which is now more than 3 years old, and it's not the fastest machine on earth.
These are the specs:
# Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
# Intel Centrino Mobile Technology with Intel 915GM Chipset
# 12.1" widescreen WXGA (1280x800) "Color-Shine" LCD display
# 60GB 4200rpm hard drive
# 512MB DDR2 400
# 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth , RF mouse receiver
# 1.3M pixel web-camera
# 3 X USB, TV-Out, Card Reader, 1394, PCMCIA
# 4 lbs, 11.7 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches

It has always been used with GNU/Linux, with various flavours of Ubuntu.

I was thinking about getting one of the newest, fanciest subnotebooks, but a bit of stinginess made me change my mind.

So I got a 1G Kingston Sodimm RAM from monclick (26 € shipping included), and a new, extended life battery from Smart Parts UK, which was the dearer part of the deal, priced at 69.85 £.

The change was amazing: my Asus works amazingly faster, and has more than 3 hours of battery life.
The overall cost was € 26 + £ 69,85 (88.6 €), to a total of 114,6 €.

That's way cheaper than any Asus EEEpc ;-)

And, as a bonus, I came accross this great howto, to use dual monitors (yes I love working with dual monitors) with the Intel 915G.
And it worked like a breeze.

Thanks again Ubuntu, free software, and the community!

Firma digitale Infocamere e Ubuntu: ora funziona!!

2008-06-12T15:06:00.005+01:00

Era da qualche tempo che provavo (infruttuosamente) a far funzionare il mio kit di firma digitale Infocamere sotto Ubuntu.

Ora, finalmente, ci sono riuscito, anche se in maniera "provvisoria".

Il mio sistema:

Ubuntu 8.04

Una smart card infocamere, serie 1203

Un lettore di smart card bit4id, Advanced Card Systems, Ltd ACR38 AC1038-based Smart Card Reader

Ho anche un lettore Omnikey Cardman 2020, che non sono riuscito a far funzionare.

Tanta pazienza, molte gugolate, e un pò di fortuna...

Mi sono stati di enorme aiuto:

Guida all'installazione

Firma digitale e smart card
Installare smart card Università su Ubuntu
Firma digitale con Linux

Installare pcscd
Installare pcsc-tools

sudo apt-get install pcscd pcsc-tools

Per il lettore di carte, avendo io un ACR38, ho installato un altro pacchetto, e precisamente libacr38u

sudo apt-get install libacr38u

A questo punto, occorre provare a vedere se tutto funziona, con pcsc_scan

Questo è il risultato:
PC/SC device scanner
V 1.4.11 (c) 2001-2007, Ludovic Rousseau
Compiled with PC/SC lite version: 1.4.4
Scanning present readers
0: ACS ACR38U 00 00

Thu Jun 12 17:01:07 2008
Reader 0: ACS ACR38U 00 00
Card state: Card inserted, Shared Mode,
ATR: 3B F2 98 00 FF C1 10 31 FE 55 C8 04 12

ATR: 3B F2 98 00 FF C1 10 31 FE 55 C8 04 12
+ TS = 3B --> Direct Convention
+ T0 = F2, Y(1): 1111, K: 2 (historical bytes)
TA(1) = 98 --> Fi=512, Di=12, 42.6667 cycles/ETU (83700 bits/s at 3.57 MHz)
TB(1) = 00 --> VPP is not electrically connected
TC(1) = FF --> Extra guard time: 255 (special value)
TD(1) = C1 --> Y(i+1) = 1100, Protocol T = 1
-----
TC(2) = 10 --> Work waiting time: 960 x 16 x (Fi/F)
TD(2) = 31 --> Y(i+1) = 0011, Protocol T = 1
-----
TA(3) = FE --> IFSC: 254
TB(3) = 55 --> Block Waiting Integer: 5 - Character Waiting Integer: 5
+ Historical bytes: C8 04
Category indicator byte: C8 (proprietary format)
+ TCK = 12 (correct checksum)

Possibly identified card (using /usr/share/pcsc/smartcard_list.txt):
3B F2 98 00 FF C1 10 31 FE 55 C8 04 12
CardOS M4.01a (SLE66CX322P)

Per qualche arcano motivo, però, a volte pcsc non parte.

Per verificare se il demone pcscd è caricato:

ps -fe | grep pcsc

Nel mio caso non era caricato, e non partiva neanche con sudo /etc/ini.d/pcscd start.

Ho dovuto digitare:

sudo pcscd -f

E a questo punto mi funzionava tutto :-)

Per far funzionare la smart card su firefox, ho installato opensc e mozilla-opensc

Sudo apt-get install opensc mozilla-opensc libpcsclite1 libopensc2

Dopodichè, bisogna abilitare la smart card su firefox:

1.) Start Mozilla or Firefox or Thunderbird.

----

2.) Select "Tools" on the menu bar, select "Option...".

----

3.) Select "Advanced" Options. Unfold the "Certificates" section. Click on "Manage Security Devices".

----

4.) Click on "Load"

----

5.) Change the name to "OpenSC PKCS#11 Module". Click on "Browse."

----

6.) Select the installation directory. On windows this is usualy "C:\Program Files\Smart card bundle". On Linux and Mac OS X choose "/usr/lib/".

Click on "opensc-pkcs11.dll" (windows) or "opensc-pkcs11.so" (Linux, Mac OS X). Click "Open".

----

7.) Click "Ok".

Et voilà! A questo punto sono finalmente riuscito ad accedere al sito della Corte di Cassazione, ed a accessogiustizia.it

Dual boot? No grazie ...

PS: questo howto funziona con la card 1203, mentre non sono riuscito in alcun modo a far riconoscere una card serie 1204...

Dual Head & big desktop in Hardy

2008-06-03T12:30:00.003+01:00

It's been a while I'm fighting with dual head support under Ubuntu, and my Ati X200.

Under Hardy, everything started to work after the 8.3 ATi driver, but I had some trobles enabligh the "big desktop", 'cause the dual head option had to be taken literally, i.e. you couldn't drag applications from one desktop to the other (only files & desktop folders), which was quite annoying.

So I managed to get "big desktop" instead, following the always precious ubuntu forum.

1. I know you have already saved a back of the xorg.conf file (you did, didn't you? ).:

Code:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

2. Next, we want X to be using the fglrx driver, so:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --initial --overlay-type=Xv

3. Now that the xorg.conf is fit to be edited, enter the following commands:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --desktop-setup=horizontal --sync-vsync=on --add-pairmode=Width0xHeight0+Width1xHeight1

Here's what each command means:
Code:

--desktop-setup=horizontal

this command enables Big-Desktop, and places the two monitors next to each other (left-right orientation). Other arguments that could replace it are:
Code:

--desktop-setup=horizontal,reverse <= flips your screens.
--desktop-setup=vertical <=places your monitors in a up-down orientation.
--desktop-setup=vertical,reverse <=flips your screens.
--desktop-setup=clone
--desktop-setup=single

Code:

--sync-vsync=on

this command prevents tearing during 3D rendering.
Code:

--add-pairmode=Width0xHeight0+Width1xHeight1

this command tells X what are the resolutions for Monitor1+Monitor2.

If you want to check in a graphic mode, you can install the ATI Catalyst control center, via synaptic or apt-get install.

4. Now, you can experiment with your monitors without restarting X. First, you need to see how X identifies your monitors:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --query-monitor

Then based on the information provided by the query monitor command, replace STRING in the following command:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --enable-monitor=STRING,STRING

The values of STRING should be one of these:
Code:

none crt1 crt2 lvds tv tmds1 tmds2

5. If the enable-monitor command works for you, then you need to add it to the config file:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --force-monitor=STRING,STRING

Again replace STRING with the values given by query-monitor.

5. Now restart X (ctrl+alt+backspace) or reboot your computer.

Note: the --enable-monitor command DOES NOT change your configuration file (xorg.conf). Therefore when you restart X or your computer, it may or may not work.

It's as simple as that: Installing Microsoft Fonts in Ubuntu!

2008-05-30T15:22:00.004+01:00

From Ubuntu Blog
Installing Microsoft Fonts September 9, 2005
Posted by Carthik in ubuntu.
trackback

Even if you use OpenOffice, you might still want all the Microsoft TrueType fonts so that documents created using Word or PowerPoint look as they were supposed to when you open them with OpenOffice. Also, with the Microsoft Fonts installed we browsing will be better since the pages will look as the designer originally intended them to. Most webpages are designed with Microsoft fonts in mind. The stylesheet specify these fonts. On Linux, when these specified fonts are not available on your computer, they are replaced with generic equivalents. With these fonts installed, you will see the page as it was designed. To install the fonts, all you need to do in Ubuntu is to install the msttcorefonts package. Instructions for installation are given below.

The Truetype Microsoft fonts provided by the package include:

* Andale Mono
* Arial Black
* Arial (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Comic Sans MS (Bold)
* Courier New (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Impact
* Times New Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic)
* Webdings

Installing Microsoft Truetype fonts on Ubuntu

You can install the MS core fonts by installing the msttcorefonts package. To do this, enable the “Universe” component of the repositories. This is done by default in Feisty. After you do that, use the following command from the command line:

$sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

This will give you the core fonts, but if there are other TrueType fonts that you want installed, it is as easy as copying the font files to the ~/.fonts/ directory.

After installing new fonts, you will have to log out and log in again to be able to see and use the new fonts. If you want to avoid this, you can regenerate the fonts cache by issuing the following command:
$sudo fc-cache -fv

Gnu/Linux ha (quasi) sempre una risposta: mappiamo la dimensione delle directories

2008-02-17T16:29:00.004+01:00

Una notazione elementare: stavo cercando un tool che mi desse la rappresentazione grafica della dimensione delle directories e, dopo aver gugolato un pò, ho scoperto che era già presente nella mia distro: Baobab è efficientissimo, veloce, leggero, e (come tutto il resto) open ...
Insomma, difficile pretendere di più

Un nuovo giocattolo: Asus EEEpc 4g

2007-12-22T01:27:00.000+01:00

Avevo sentito parlare (anche per la querelle sulla licenza) del nuovo subnotebook economico di Asus, l EEEpc, che sembrava una macchinetta davvero interessante.
Approffittando di un viaggio a NY, e dal momento che la mia compagna aveva bi
sogno proprio di una macchina leggera e economica, siamo andati da J&R (BTW un posto favoloso per ogni genere di gizmo elettronico) e, per la bellezza di 349,99 dollari, ci siamo portati a casa la suddetta macchinetta, con la quale, tra l'altro, sto scrivendo queste note.

Tra l'altro, era l'ultimo pezzo rimasto da J&R, e sembrava l'ultimo disponibile in tutta NY, presa dalla frenesia dello shopping prenatalizio.

Queste sono le caratteristiche tecniche:

# Intel Mobile CPU
# 7" LCD Display
# One-click intuitive interface
# WiFi 802.11b/g - You're always connected with built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to the Internet at any hotspot
# 10/100 LAN
# 512MB memory
# 4GB Flash drive
# Clear up wire clutter with the built-in speakers, and microphone
# Over 40 built-in applications for learn, work and play
# Linux based Operating system using GPL software
# Up to 2.8 hours performance per charge with built-in rechargeable battery

Ma, aldila' delle specifiche, e' stata veramente una rivelazione.
E' leggerissimo, si accende in un lampo, ha un'eccellente durata delle batterie (oltre 3 ore con il wifi acceso), e il SO di serie (Xandros customizzato) e' eccellente.
La gestione del wifi (WPA e WEP) e' perfetta, la disponibilita' di memoria puo' essere ampliata senza problemi, la macchina ha tutto quello che serve per lavorare, lo schermo, pur avendo una risoluzione ridotta, ha un'ottima resa, e gestisce bene anche l'uscita video esterna (ci ho gia' fatto una presentazione senza problema alcuno, e almeno 3 delle persone in sala hanno detto che sarebbero corse a comprarselo...).
Certo, la tastiera e' sacrificata (sarebbe difficile il contrario), e non posso trasferirci i miei archivi, ma per il resto non vedo seri limiti.

Insomma, mi pare proprio che Asus abbia fatto centro, e, per smetterla di sottrarre il giochino nuovo alla mia compagna (la sua pazienza ha un limite) saro' costretto a comprarmene uno anche per me (tra l'altro, se ne trovano vari su ebay, a prezzi ragionevoli).
L'oggetto e' seguito da una community entusiasta e competente, e poi e' comunque GNU/Linux, e quindi sotto sotto c'e' il pinguino, pronto a saltare fuori in tutta la sua potenza :-))

Vi consiglio di farci un pensierino...

3D & Dual head in gutsy with ATI X200: some troubles (and solutions)

2007-11-27T10:31:00.000+01:00

I already had dual head up and running with Edgy, which was quite easy.
When I upgraded to Gutsy, things became more complicated.

The dual screen worked only in clone mode, without any way to have a proper dual screen.

So, I had to google a lot, and finally came to a solution.

First: enable 3d for ATI X200 (not strictly necessary for dual head, but nice nonetheless).

I followed Ubuntu Gutsy installation guide, using the manual installation method.

Here it is:
Method 2: Install the Catalyst 7.11 Driver Manually

* Note: This is just an alternative installation method for the section above. It might help if you still get 'DRI missing' errors.

* Note: If you are running the -rt kernel, you will fail to compile the kernel module with "FATAL: modpost: GPL-incompatible module fglrx.ko uses GPL-only symbol '__rcu_read_lock'".

Download the ATI driver installer: ati-driver-installer-7-11-x86.x86_64.run (this installer is for 32bit and 64bit systems)

Change to the download directory. Make sure that you have the universe and multiverse repositories enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list before doing these steps.

There is a detailed manual with screenshots at Ubuntu Wiki.

By default, Ubuntu did not enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories, but now in Gutsy, both Universe and Multiverse are activated by default.

Install necessary tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper \
debconf libstdc++5 linux-headers-generic

Create .deb packages:

sudo bash ati-driver-installer-7-11-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/gutsy

note: if this step fails with a signal being caught, and you are running the script on an NFS-mounted directory, copy it to a local partition, and it will work.

If this step fails on amd64/x86_64 with a No such file or directory message about missing files in X11R6/lib, follow these instructions and come back here.

Blacklist old fglrx module from linux-restricted-modules:

As Ubuntu Gutsy's linux-restricted-modules package includes the fglrx module from an old driver version (8.37.6), we have to blacklist this module to make sure the new kernel module which is needed by the new driver will be used instead.

Ubuntu/Gnome users type in:

gksu gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Kubuntu/KDE users type in:

kdesu kate /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Add "fglrx" to the line "DISABLED_MODULES"
File: /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"

Please note that after the modification above, the "Restricted Driver Manager" will signal "ATI accelerated grapichs driver" not enabled (unticked). This is perfectly correct. At the end of the installation procedure it will signal in Status: "in use" (green light), but NOT enabled. It simply means that the fglrx module contained in the linux-restricted-modules package is not enabled, but another fglrx module (7.11) is in use.

Install .deb packages:

sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.433-1*.deb fglrx-kernel-source_8.433-1*.deb fglrx-amdcccle_8.433-1*.deb

* Note: If you get a 'Bad file descriptor' message concerning the xorg.conf file try switching user to root and repeating the same command without sudo. This might be valid for the following commands too. (Ubuntu Gutsy installs with no password set for root by default. You can set a password for the root by typing 'sudo passwd root' first.)

* Note: If you have a 64 bit install, the above dpkg command will likely complain that "Errors were encountered while processing: fglrx-amdcccle". This is because of a dependency of the amdccle package on 32 bit libraries. If you recieve this error, issue the following command after the above dpkg command, which will force the installation of all of the 32 bit dependencies, and then the amdccle pacakge:

sudo apt-get install -f

Remove any old fglrx debs from /usr/src/:

sudo rm /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb

Fix broken dependencies

* Note: You only need to do this if you have installed previous versions of these drivers using this method before.

sudo apt-get -f install

Compile the kernel module:

sudo module-assistant prepare,update
sudo module-assistant build,install fglrx -f
sudo depmod -a

It's necessary, because sometimes this file is written by other packages, and so there's no 3D acceleration. Check that the file /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko has been created.

Create the following folder

sudo mkdir /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile

Note: the volatile directory might already exist at this stage then simply continue with the next step.

Create a symbolic link

sudo ln -sf /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/fglrx.ko

NOTE : On my Gutsy install, after a reboot this link was always removed automatically leaving me without an fglrx module loaded, and thus no ATI rendering. There have been several ways of getting around this suggested here, and here is the one that worked for me:

sudo gedit /etc/init.d/ati-module-fix

And put this in it:

#!/bin/sh -e

# For loading ATI display drivers

ln -sf /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/fglrx.ko
exit 0

Make it executable

sudo chmod ugo+x /etc/init.d/ati-module-fix

Now, make this run before gdm (which starts with sequence number 13)

sudo update-rc.d ati-module-fix defaults 12

It is possible that gdm sequence number is different. To find the gdm sequence number:

ls /etc/rc2.d/

And substitute 12 in the previous command with gdm sequence number - 1.

IMPORTANT: You have to recompile the kernel module after each kernel update! (Note: This does not affect you until the next time you update your kernel.)
[edit] Configure the Driver

* Note Method 2 Users: Before you carry out this step you must reboot your machine. Or else the fglrx driver will not be in use on xorg.conf and using the aticonfig options will cause a memory dump and not intialise the Driver properly.
* Note: An alternative to the aticonfig --initial command is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace the string "ati" with "fglrx" in the "Device" section. This way you won't lose your old "Screen" and "Monitor" settings. Afterwards you can use aticonfig for setting overlay etc. Another alternative is aticonfig --initial --force if you encounter issues with the first command.

sudo aticonfig --initial

Then:

sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

* Note: Is there an alternative to the previous step??
* Note: Alternative in the overlay-type to "Xv" can be "opengl" or "disable" if the TV-out makes problems in videos.

Finish the Installation

Now save any open document and reboot your system:

sudo shutdown -hr now

* Note: An alternative to rebooting is to restart the X Server by pressing your CTRL ALT BACKSPACE keys. You must remove any old kernel modules such as "drm" "radeon" or "fglrx" using the "rmmod" command. Example: sudo rmmod fglrx

Post-Installation Checks
Verifying

Run the following command to check its output to ensure the fglrx driver is installed properly:

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon Xpress Series
OpenGL version string: 2.1.7059 Release

The OpenGL vendor string should read ATI and not Mesa.

In the Gutsy installation, you will find also how to enable desktop effects (compiz & such), but I skipped that passage).

Secondly, I enabled big destop

I followed this howto from Ubuntuforums.org

ATI Big-Desktop
Dual Monitor Support With Binary, ATI-Only Big-Desktop
The following HowTo attempts to enable Dual Monitor support by enabling the Big-Desktop function of the Ati-only binary graphics driver.

System Requirements:

ONE Dual-Output ATI graphics card
Functional Fglrx Driver.

The following guide explains how to install and enable the fglrx driver: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

Let's get started!!!

Update: Instead of Manually editing the Xorg file, I've decided to attempt to write a HowTo based on the "aticonfig" tool. So, for about a week or so, I need individuals to try out this method and report the outcome. You can continue to post in this thread, or you can send me a private message to report the result. So, here goes nothing!

1. I know you have already saved a back of the xorg.conf file (you did, didn't you? ).:

Code:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

2. Next, we want X to be using the fglrx driver, so:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --initial --overlay-type=Xv

3. Now that the xorg.conf is fit to be edited, enter the following commands:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --desktop-setup=horizontal --sync-vsync=on --add-pairmode=Width0xHeight0+Width1xHeight1

Here's what each command means:
Code:

--desktop-setup=horizontal

this command enables Big-Desktop, and places the two monitors next to each other (left-right orientation). Other arguments that could replace it are:
Code:

--desktop-setup=horizontal,reverse <= flips your screens.
--desktop-setup=vertical <=places your monitors in a up-down orientation.
--desktop-setup=vertical,reverse <=flips your screens.
--desktop-setup=clone
--desktop-setup=single

Code:

--sync-vsync=on

this command prevents tearing during 3D rendering.
Code:

--add-pairmode=Width0xHeight0+Width1xHeight1

this command tells X what are the resolutions for Monitor1+Monitor2.

4. Now, you can experiment with your monitors without restarting X. First, you need to see how X identifies your monitors:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --query-monitor

Then based on the information provided by the query monitor command, replace STRING in the following command:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --enable-monitor=STRING,STRING

The values of STRING should be one of these:
Code:

none crt1 crt2 lvds tv tmds1 tmds2

5. If the enable-monitor command works for you, then you need to add it to the config file:

Code:

sudo aticonfig --force-monitor=STRING,STRING

Again replace STRING with the values given by query-monitor.

5. Now restart X (ctrl+alt+backspace) or reboot your computer.

Note: the --enable-monitor command DOES NOT change your configuration file (xorg.conf). Therefore when you restart X or your computer, it may or may not work.

If this method doesn't work, you may have to edit your xorg.conf manually (following the above-mentioned howto).

Hope this helps: it worked for me :-)

Feisty Howto: Brother Printer MFC-425CN

2007-10-02T18:32:00.000+01:00

We have a Brother MFC425 CN printer in our office.
It's a very cheap multifunction printer/scanner/fax, and, thanks to this howto, I managed to get it working via LAN.

This is a hacked version of the original Feisty Howto: Brother Printer MFC-215c complete.

This is a detailed step by step howto for installing the Brother MFC-425CN printer drivers on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn v7.04.

Note that some printer driver files for the MFC-425c are not yet ready and Brother suggests that the files for the MFC-210C are used used in the meantime. The direct links are for the latest at time of writing, so check the website for any updates and rather use those if available.

Download the following files from the Brother Website, CUPSwrapper , LPRdriver , Fax CUPSwrapper , Fax LPRdriver and the Sane Scanner backend.

Now also install csh (C Shell) and Sane (and Xsane if you are using Ubuntu, Kubuntu uses Kooka which is installed by default) from the repositories, using your program manager i.e Synaptic, or use the command line:

sudo apt-get install csh sane xsane

Preparations

These steps are required before the installation of the drivers otherwise they will produce errors.
The last two steps (creating links) may not be necessary for some earlier versions of ubuntu from Dapper and back and may be because of Feisty using the latest kernel.
Create a folder on the desktop, called “brother”, and put all downloaded files in that folder.
Use Synaptic to install csh (C Shell) and sane from the repositories, if not already done.

Create a new directory in /var/spool/lpd (Feisty needs lpd directory which is not present)
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/cupsys /etc/init.d/cups (Feisty uses CUPS and file wants CUPSYS – link)
sudo ln -s /usr/share/cups/model/brmfc210c_cups.ppd /usr/share/ppd

(Feisty puts brmfc210c_cups.ppd in /usr/share/cups/model/ and file looks for it in /usr/share/ppd/ - link)

sudo ln -s /usr/share/cups/model/brfax_cups.ppd /usr/share/ppd

(Feisty puts brfax_cups.ppd in usr/share/cups/model/ and file looks for it in /usr/share/ppd/ - link)

Install the printer drivers:

NB: Ensure printer is switched off (unplug mains)

Right click on the mfc210clpr-1.0.2-1.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package
Right click on the cupswrappermfc210c_1.0.0-1_i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package

Switch the printer back on (replug mains)

In the menu go to System Settings, Printers
If the printer is connected to the same PC then the driver has already been installed and selected
Select the printer MFC-210C and make it default if required. (right click)
While having the printer selected, click on the Properties tab and select the Interface icon on the right hand side. If the URI: usb:/dev/usb/lp0 shows, this is incorrect. Click the Change button, enter your password for administrator mode. Now select Local printer, Next, then Brother MFC-215C and Finish.
You should now see URI: //Brother/MFC-215C
Right-click the MFC210C and click “Test Printer”. See if test page is received

Printer sharing on home network (not tested yet)

Sharing a printer means that the printer is connected to one dedicated PC on your network and other PC's can share this printer through that dedicated PC. Before you can get a shared printer to work you need to make perfectly sure that each PC on the network can communicate perfectly with each other and that the printers are shown as shared with Samba and with NFS. If this does not work you will have problems.
To share a dedicated printer connected to a specific PC with the other PC's on the same network you need Samba installed for sharing with Windows and NFS for sharing with Linux PC's. Install these with Synaptic from the repositories.

Now go to Menu, System Settings, Sharing, File Sharing and you should see a list under Shared Folders that includes a line /var/lib/samba/printers/ with a tick or a cross under the Samba and NFS column. To enable sharing of the printers under Samba and NFS, go into Administrator mode, select Simple Sharing and select both Samba and NFS. Uncheck Public and Writable. Once you have two green ticks it means that you can share with both linux and/or Windows PC's. You might as well do the same for any folders you want to share. Create them and enable sharing and allow it via NFS and/or Samba, in the case of folders you should check Public and Writable.
Now to check that you can see the shares, reboot the PC's and then click on the PC icon called System Menu in the kicker bar. Select Remote Places, Samba Shares and then open the Workplaces. You should see your own PC AND the remote PC's. Check that this is possible on all the PC's. Now you can be sure that your PC's are seeing each other and ready to have printer sharing set up. Note, you will not see the printers in here, but only actual shared drives and folders on which sharing has been allowed.

Printer on linux PC, sharing with other linux PC's (not tested yet)
If you are using all linux PC's you will not need to install drivers on the client (other) PC, but only on the server PC that has the printer connected to it (we are not refering to a network printer here, that has its own IP address, but a dedicated printer on a PC that is shared via that PC).
If your sharing and the network is properly setup with the server PC, the printers installed on the server PC will show up in your printer list on each PC as if they were installed on that PC (nice CUPS and linux feature) and you just use them.

Printer on Windows PC, sharing with other linux PC's(not tested yet)
If the server PC is a Windows PC you will have to install the Windows drivers on the Windows PC and activate printer and file sharing. and give the printer an unique share name i.e. Brotherxp. Then install the above linux printer drivers for the printer on the Kubuntu PC and then go to Menu, System Settings, Printers, Add, Add Printer Class. Now the Add Printer Wizard opens and click next, select SMD Shared Printer Windows, next, Use anonymous, next, SMB Printer Settings – use Scan. If your Kubuntu PC can see the Windows PC it will show the workgroup name and the PC name. Enter these in Workgroup, Server and put the Printer share name you gave in XP (i.e. Printerxp) in Printer, Next.
KDE will now build a database of drivers and you can select Brother, scroll down to MFC-210C (which you have installed in the first part), find the correct printer, click on it and it will be entered in the fields, Next etc. until installation is complete and test page works.

Now for some configurations settings:
The above will not work properly as the CUPS configurations in Kubuntu are not set by default to allow sharing of printers on a network and you have to enable this before it will work. Its is easy in Kubuntu:
Got to System Settings, Printer
Open the Printer Server tab and just select both “Access printers on local network” this is on the PC that needs to see a shared printer from another PC and “Share printers on local network” this is on the PC that needs to share its printer with other PC's. A cross next to these will show if enabled.

Select the Restart Server in System Settings - Printer or you can reboot the PC's and see if you can see the printer under printer settings on the other PC's.

Thats it, now you have a shared printer!!

Camera media card reading (not tested yet);
You can just insert the media card and it will appear as a usb flash disk on Kubuntu and just copy, read or whatever from and to it. Just do not change the special file structure that your camera created as it may make the card unusable in your camera.

Fax Printing (not tested yet):

Brother has provided a very useful function that allows faxes to be sent directly from a PC, via your Brother MFC. It works on linux and even from other linux PC's connected to the same lan.
The actual printer configuration can be done via the CUPS web interface (http://localhost:631/printers), but I used the Kubuntu (KDE) printer configuration from the menu, as some CUPS configurations, such as printer sharing and administrator mode are not enabled by default in Kubuntu Dapper. Details can be found above on how to correct.
Ensure that Sun-Java5-jre is installed from the repositories using your package manager (i.e. Synaptic, adept, apt-get etc,as this runs the applet /usr/local/Brother/fax/brmfcfax.jar, which is the dialup gui for your PC-Fax.
Now you have to set this version as default (may not be required to do in Feisty):
sudo update-alternatives - -config java
You will now get a selection that shows a list and which is in use.
Select the version: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/jre/bin/java

Now while the printer is SWITCHED OFF, install the two special drivers from the Brother website. The order of the driver installation is important, first lpd, then cups:

Right click on the brmfcfaxlpd-1.0.0-1.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package
Right click on the brmfcfaxcups-1.0.0-1.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package

Switch the printer BACK ON:

In the menu go to System Settings, Printer and you should see another printer installed called BRFAX. The device URI is incorrectly created as /dev/usb/lp0. To correct this go to Menu, System Settings, Printers. Select BRFAX and select the Properties tab and then the Interface icon. Now click on Change and a window called Modify Printer should open. Select Local printer, Next, then select Brother MFC-215C and click Finish.

This BRFAX printer is not used to print faxes directly, BRFAX is used by the “brpcfax” utility script file. To send a fax, you must use the “brpcfax” utility to process your print jobs and you can only use this with a postscript file which then sends it to the BRFAX printer.

a) Use “Print to file” from your application (i.e. OOo) to generate a postscript file called i.e “testfax.ps”
b) Right click the testfax.ps file and select “Open with” and now click “Send As Fax”, the dialup screen gui should come up, enter fax number and click Send.

Before you can do this Konquerer must first be configured

1) Open Konquerer
2) Go to Settings, Configure konquerer
3) Click file associations
4) Type “ps” in the search box and select “Application”-- “Postscript” from the list
5) Click right hand “Add” (under Application Preferance Order) and type “brpcfax” and click OK
6) Select the new “brpcfax option and click 'Edit”
7) Select the Application tab
In Command line enter: brpcfax -P BRFAX -o PAPER=A4
9) In the Name field enter Send As Fax
10) Go to General tab
11) Click on the blank Icon, System Icons, select Devices form drop down and select the “print_class” icon (looks like a fax) 12) Click OK and save

If you Send As Fax a .ps document, you will dial the number on the pop up screen on your PC and then you will hear the printer fax being seized, dialtone, then dialling and the fax sent.

Scanner Installation:

Ensure you have already installed Sane (and Xsane for Ubuntu) as per the beginning of this howto.
You must also additionally install a special driver which is the Brother backend for sane scanner which is used by Kooka (Kubuntu).

Ensure that printer is switched off

Right click on the brscan2-0.2.1-0.i386.deb file and select Kubuntu Package Menu, Install Package

Switch the printer on

Network Installation (printer own IP)

This is how to get the printer to just be on the network (not attached to a print server). This will only work with models that have a built-in ethernet port. (MFC-425CN). The model MFC-215C will have to have an external network driver module (jetdirect or similar) attached. Otherwise it will have to use another PC as a print server.
You need to know the IP address of the printer. The printer can tell you this (check out the instruction booklet as the command combinations may be different for different models.)
Open your browser to CUPS by entering http://localhost:631/. Click "Manage Printers."
If everything went well, you should see your printer in the list.
Select "Modify Printer." The important step is to select the device for the printer.
Choose "LPD/LPR Host or Printer."
Enter lpd://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in the window (where the xxx's are the printer's IP address).
Send it a test page. You can configure paper size from CUPS (it seems to default to A4).
From here you can also set your print manager to use CUPS if you so desire and it will also print on the network.

Scanner over network (printer has own IP)

It is assumed that the scanner drivers and Sane (and Xsane for Ubuntu) have been installed as shown at the beginning of this howto.
To use your machine as a network scanner, you need to set a friendly name, model name and IP address or node name for the driver:
using IP address:
brsaneconfig2 -a name=FRIENDLY-NAME model=MODEL-NAME ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
or alternatively using node name
brsaneconfig2 -a name=FRIENDLY-NAME model=MODEL-NAME nodename=BRN_xxxxx
Example
brsaneconfig2 -a name=BROTHER-SCANNER model=MFC-425CN ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
You can check the result by running the command:
brsaneconfig2 -q
If the setting is done correctly, you will see the result as below:
0 BROTHER-SCANNER "MFC-425CN" Ixx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Now run Kooka ( Xsane if using Ubuntu)
And scan something, click Acquire Preview and there you go...

How to enable dual monitors with a Ati Xpress 200 Video Card

2007-09-27T20:35:00.000+01:00

Dual monitor really changes the way you work, and I got used to it under Windozz.

I had already managed to get dual head working under Dapper, but it had been a major pain.

Now, with Edgy, it has been quite easy.

A bit of googling may solve the problem.

First:
Enable 3d
(thanks to the ubuntu-it guide)

1) make a backup copy of your xorg.conf
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old

2) Install the driver with restricted-manager

sudo restricted-manager

Enable the option... et voila!

Second: Use aticonfig

I use the command

sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --dtop=horizontal

and I am happily switching from one screen to the other...

Ubuntu Edgy & Fast mobile card Tre - Merlin 530

2006-12-08T23:10:00.000+01:00

La mia dolce e paziente metà (che ha sopportato il passaggio integrale al Pinguino sul suo portatile) possiede una fast mobile card di Tre.
Si tratta di una card molto diffusa, essendo semplicemente una Novatel wireless Merlin U 530, marchiata 3.

Dopo un po' di ravanamenti, sono riuscito a farla funzionare sotto GNU/Linux, con kppp.
La risorsa in rete più importante è stata il sito dell'amico Stefano Sanna, che da tempo spiega agli utonti come me i misteri di Linux.
Anche Debian Linux and Orange Mobile Office Card 3G di Jules Kavanagh è stato molto utile.

Primo passo: inseriamo la nostra scheda...

Vediamo cosa succede, con dmesg
Apriamo un terminale, e digitiamo dmesg

giobatta@giobatta-subnote:~$ dmesg

pccard: PCMCIA card inserted into slot 0
[17181013.660000] cs: memory probe 0xfe800000-0xfe8fffff: excluding 0xfe800000-0xfe80ffff 0xfe8f0000-0xfe8fffff
[17181013.672000] pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia0.0
[17181013.676000] pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia0.1
[17181014.360000] 0.0: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

Nel mio caso, la schedina è riconosciuta senza problemi, come seriale (ttyS0) - attenzione l'output potrebbe essere diverso, e quindi bisogna prendere nota della porta seriale che viene aggiunta.

Passaggio opzionale:

A questo punto, se siamo curiosi, possiamo trastullarci un pò con minicom (se non è installato, diamo apt-get install minicom), per vedere se la scheda funziona bene.

Attenzione: dopo aver lanciato minicom, occorre settare la porta modem, che di default è su /dev/modem, a /dev/ttS0.

Per fare questo, CTRL-A, poi Z, e infine andiamo alle configurazioni digitando O.
Selezioniamo serial port setup, e al setting A (serial device) inseriamo /dev/ttS0

Possiamo provare qualche comando:
AT
OK
ati
Manufacturer: Novatel Wireless Incorporated
Model: Merlin U530 (HW REV 1)
Revision: 35.0-35.0 [2004-05-12 18:22:10]
IMEI: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
+GCAP: +CGSM,+ES

OK
at&f
OK

Se si vuole approfondire la conoscenza con la nostra scheda, si può fare riferimento alla già citata guida di Jules Kavanagh

Fine passaggio opzionale

Bene, ora abbiamo realizzato che la scheda funziona: vediamo di collegarci a Internet...

D'ora in poi, sfrutterò le immagini e le didascalie del sito di Stefano Sanna, utilissime per il setting di kppp.

Dopo aver avviato KPPP appare la finestra di avvio:

dalla quale, attraverso il pulsante pulsante "Configure", si dovra' procedere alla creazione di un nuovo profilo:

Nel caso in cui l'applicazione chieda se attivare la modalita' manuale o guidata, si puo' scegliere quella manuale, in quanto i parametri di default sono corretti e quelli da modificare sono davvero pochi. In particolare sara' necessario assegnare un nome alla connessione (nel nostro caso "UMTS 3") e aggiungere un numero di telefono:

Attenzione: rispetto all'immagine (ed all'howto di Gerda) occorre fare una modifica:

Come numero di telefono, anzichè *99***3#, dobbiamo inserire:

*99#

E' poi necessario impostare alcuni parametri per il modem:

In particolare, nei comandi modem e' bisogna impostare i due comandi di inizializzazione. Il primo comando

AT&F

imposta i parametri di default del terminale (factory defaults), mentre il secondo parametro

AT+CGATT=0

dovrebbe chiudere qualsiasi altra connessione precedentemente attiva. La configurazione complessiva e' mostrata nella figura successiva:

Alla fine, tornando alla finestra iniziale di kPPP, e' necessario inserire username e password.

Username: il proprio numero di telefono (senza il codice internazionale +39)
password: lasciare in bianco

A questo punto potremo dare la connessione... e il tutto dovrebbe funzionare ;-)

Possiamo fare un controllo, aprendo una console e digitando ifconfig,
Tra le interfacce di rete, dovrebbe ora esserci "ppp0", con il suo bell'indirizzo IP.

Attenzione: se kppp si collega, ma non riuscite lo stesso a navigare, probabilmente c'e' un problema di DNS.

Riaprite la configurazione dell'account kppp che abbiamo creato, andate su "modifica" e inserite il DNS manualmente (212.216.112.112 dovrebbe andare bene, oppure usate quello del vostro provider).

Happy surfing, anche via UMTS!!!!

Licenza

Copyright (c) 2006 Giovanni Battista Gallus.

E' garantito il permesso di copiare, distribuire e/o modificare questo documento seguendo i termini della Licenza per Documentazione Libera GNU, Versione 1.1 o ogni versione successiva pubblicata dalla Free Software Foundation. Una copia della licenza è reperibile su http://www.softwarelibero.it/gnudoc/fdl.it.html (in italiano) oppure http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html (in inglese).

How to install VMware server on Ubuntu GNU/Linux

2006-11-27T23:20:00.000+01:00

This is a very simple howto from howtoforge.com
Some small notes: if you have installed vmware player with automatix 2, U are very likely to have some trouble installing VMware server.
However, there's a very simple workaround: open synaptic and remove all vmware-related issues, and then, if it is not enough, manually delete all Vmware files and directories.

How To Install VMware Server On Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake)
Submitted by till on Sun, 2006-07-16 09:01. :: Xen/VServer
How To Install VMware Server On Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake)

Version 1.1
Author: Till Brehm
Last edited 08/18/2006

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install the free VMware Server (version 1.0) on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake).

VMware has just released version 1.0 of its free VMware Server. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free). In this article we use Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) as the host operating system.

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Preliminary Note

I assume you have already set up a basic Ubuntu 6.06 system. It doesn't matter if you use Ubuntu's server or desktop version. If you use the server version, you can set up your system as described on the first three pages of this tutorial: The Perfect Setup - Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Server (Dapper Drake).

You should have a working root account (as the following steps have to be run as root) or run

sudo su

to get root priveliges and also a static IP address. In this tutorial I use the IP address 192.168.0.100.

If you have another computer available, install ssh-server and use a ssh client like putty to access the server remotely; copying and pasting the commands below is easier than typing them out.

apt-get install ssh openssh-server

2 Installing Required packages

Now we install the packages required by VMware on our Ubuntu system:

apt-get install libx11-6 libx11-dev libxtst6 xlibs-dev xinetd wget

apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential

apt-get install gcc binutils-doc cpp-doc make manpages-dev autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex bison gdb gcc-doc gcc-4.0-doc libc6-dev-amd64 lib64gcc1

and create the directory /var/vm where we want to install our virtual machines later. The virtual machines require much disk space, make sure you have enough free space on your /var partition for the virtual machines.:

mkdir /var/vm
cd /tmp

3 Getting VMware Server

The VMware server can be downloaded for free from the VMware website: http://www.vmware.com/download/server/
To run the VMware Server software you need a (free) serial number, that can be requested by clicking on the "Register now" button on the download page.

4 Downloading The Software

To setup VMWare Server on Ubuntu, we need the following packages from the VMware downloads page:

VMware Server for linux (Binary tar.gz)
Management Interface (Binary tar.gz)

To create new virtual machines, we need VMware server client package either for Windows if you want to create them from your Windows workstation or for Linux if you have a Linux workstation.

For downloading the software to your server, I recommend to use the linux commandline program wget. The wget syntax is as follows:

wget [URL of the file that shall be downloaded]

Unpacking the server tar.gz:

tar xvfz VMware-server-*.tar.gz

Running the installer script:

cd vmware-server-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

The installer asks you a few questions. Most of the time you can accept the default value:

Creating a new installer database using the tar3 format.

Installing the content of the package.

In which directory do you want to install the binary files?
[/usr/bin] <-- /usr/bin

What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to rc6.d/)?
[/etc] <-- /etc

What is the directory that contains the init scripts?
[/etc/init.d] <-- /etc/init.d

In which directory do you want to install the daemon files?
[/usr/sbin] <-- /usr/sbin

In which directory do you want to install the library files?
[/usr/lib/vmware] <-- /usr/lib/vmware

The path "/usr/lib/vmware" does not exist currently. This program is going to
create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? [yes] <-- yes

In which directory do you want to install the manual files?
[/usr/share/man] <-- /usr/share/man

In which directory do you want to install the documentation files?
[/usr/share/doc/vmware] <-- /usr/share/doc/vmware

The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware" does not exist currently. This program is going
to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
[yes] <-- yes

The installation of VMware Server 1.0.0 build-28343 for Linux completed
successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any
time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall.pl".

Before running VMware Server for the first time, you need to configure it by
invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl". Do you want this
program to invoke the command for you now? [yes] <-- yes

Making sure services for VMware Server are stopped.

Stopping VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor done

You must read and accept the End User License Agreement to continue.
Press enter to display it.

..... snip [LICENCE TEXT] ......

Do you accept? (yes/no) <-- yes
Thank you.

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons?
[/usr/share/icons] <-- /usr/share/icons

The path "/usr/share/icons" does not exist currently. This program is going to
create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want? [yes] <-- yes

What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a
.desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications] <-- /usr/share/applications

The path "/usr/share/applications" does not exist currently. This program is
going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
[yes] <-- yes

In which directory do you want to install the application's icon?
[/usr/share/pixmaps] <-- /usr/share/pixmaps

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

The module bld-2.6.15-23-i386server-Ubuntu6.06 loads perfectly in the running
kernel.

Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] <-- yes

Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.

The following bridged networks have been defined:

. vmnet0 is bridged to eth0

All your ethernet interfaces are already bridged.

Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)
[yes] <-- yes

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help) <-- yes
Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 192.168.246.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following NAT networks have been defined:

. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 192.168.246.0.

Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no] <-- no

Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?
[yes] <-- yes

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)
[yes] <-- yes

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 172.16.37.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following host-only networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.37.0.

Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no] <-- no

Trying to find a suitable vmnet module for your running kernel.

The module bld-2.6.15-23-i386server-Ubuntu6.06 loads perfectly in the running
kernel.

Please specify a port for remote console connections to use [902] <-- 902

Stopping internet superserver: xinetd.
Starting internet superserver: xinetd.
Configuring the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

Building the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

Installing the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

The installation of the VMware VmPerl Scripting API succeeded.

Generating SSL Server Certificate

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
[/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines] <-- /var/vm

Please enter your 20-character serial number.

Type XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX or 'Enter' to cancel: <-- your VMware Server serial number

Starting VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor done
Virtual ethernet done
Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 done
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background) done
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done
NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done

The configuration of VMware Server 1.0.0 build-28343 for Linux for this running
kernel completed successfully.

From Ubuntuguide.org: some ssh stuff

2006-11-25T22:50:00.000+01:00

My nice macmini has a 200GB external hd attached: I found that the fastest way to access it from my other notebooks, is via ssh.

I just had to use the great howto, supplied by ubuntuguide.org

Just a security remark: be sure to disable remote root access!!

SSH Server

How to install SSH Server for remote administration service

Read #General Notes
Read #How to add extra repositories

sudo apt-get install ssh

How to SSH into remote Ubuntu machine

Read #General Notes

e.g. Assumed that remote Ubuntu machine have installed SSH Server service

Read #How to install SSH Server for remote administration service

Remote Ubuntu machine: 192.168.0.1

ssh username@192.168.0.1

How to mount remote folders into local Ubuntu machine (sshfs)

Read #General Notes

e.g. Assumed that remote machine has installed SSH Server service

Read #How to install SSH Server for remote administration service

Remote machine: 192.168.0.1

Remote machine folder location: /media/music

Install sshfs

sudo apt-get install sshfs

Load kernel driver for sshfs

sudo modprobe fuse

Join the 'fuse' user group

sudo adduser your_user_name fuse

Logout and login for this to take effect.

Create local mountpoint in your home directory

mkdir ~/remote_music

Mount the remote folder into ~/remote_music

sshfs 192.168.0.1:/media/music ~/remote_music

[edit]

How to SSH into remote Ubuntu machine via Windows machine

Read #General Notes

e.g. Assumed that remote Ubuntu machine have installed SSH Server service

Read #How to install SSH Server for remote administration service

Download PuTTY: Here

[edit]

How to copy files/folders from/into remote Ubuntu machine via Windows machine

Read #General Notes

e.g. Assumed that remote Ubuntu machine have installed SSH Server service

Read #How to install SSH Server for remote administration service

Download FileZilla: Here

[edit]

How to limit the user accounts that can connect through ssh remotely

Read #General Notes

e.g. If you enable the SSH server, then any user with a valid account can connect remotely

This can lead to security risks, as there exist remote password cracking tools that

try common username/password pairs.

Keep a backup of the ssh server configuration file with

sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.ORIGINAL

Edit the configuration file

gksudo gedit /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Change the parameter PermitRootLogin from yes to no. The superuser must not be able to connect directly from remote.
Add the parameter AllowUsers and specify the usernames (space separated) that can connect remotely.
You can also use DenyUsers for fine-grained selection of users.
If you enable the openssh server and you have no intention for now to enable remote connections, you may add AllowUsers nosuchuserhere to disable anyone connecting.

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.

How TO - Zydas ZD1211 - Sitecom WL 113 on Edgy-powerpc

2006-11-20T21:47:00.000+01:00

I have a macmini (the old PPC version) as my home computer, which, imho, makes a great linux box, with some minor tweaks: here's how I managed to get wifi connection to work :-)

Note: this is just an amended version of the great HOW TO: Zydas ZD1211 wireless with automatic WPA (thanks a lot shof2k), in order to have a working wireless network with a macmini running Ubntu Edgy

Aim
This guide, based on shof2k's Howto, is supposed to help setting up a wireless network using a Sitecom WL 113 usb wireless dongle, on a macmini running Ubuntu Edgy.
As I still haven't made any experiment with Wpa, it comes with no instructions for encryption.

User level
Intermedidate. This isn't meant to be a simple list of commands to type in to a terminal because networking has too many options for any one script to cover. You may need to tweak some of the commands or files to your own system settings.

Prerequisites
You can navigate around the file system using the terminal
You can copy and move files using the terminal
You can edit files from the terminal.
You can untar packages
You can follow bad how to's
All downloaded files are assumed to be in /usr/src.

Installing the module

1) Even with Edgy, there was no way to make the built-in zd1211rw module to work.
I therefore followed the howto instructions, with some tweaks.

To remove the module, open a terminal and type

sudo modprobe -r zd1211rw

2)To stop the module from loading up on a reboot, blacklist this module:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Enter a new line:
blacklist zd1211rw

3) The following may not be essential, but it's worth installing to ensure better success with this and any future projects you might do. In a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install build-essential kernel-package gcc libncurses5 libncurses5-dev libqt3-mt-dev wireless-tools libssl-dev

4) Work out which version of the kernel you have by typing:
Code:

uname -r

5) Obtain the correct headers and source for the kernel. In my case I'm running 2.6.17-10-generic, so I need to get:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.17-10 linux-headers-2.6.17-10-powerpc linux-headers-powerpc linux-headers-generic linux-source

6) Make sure you have a link in /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc/build pointing to /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-powerpc. This should be already present, but if not type:

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-powerpc /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc/build

7.) In /usr/src, download a working version of the ZD1211 driver from http://zd1211.ath.cx/download/.
There are multiple versions of the driver and you may need to experiment with different drivers to get one that works for your particular dongle and kernel. For me, the r83 did not work, while the r80 did the trick.

In /usr/src, untar the source package you selected and edit the Makefile to have the following options:
KERNEL_SOURCE=/usr/src/linux
ZD1211REV_B=0 (set this to 1 if you have a ZD1211B - I used this option as I have a Sitecom WL 113)

9) Compile the module by typing:

sudo make
sudo make install

10) Copy the resulting zd1211.ko (or zd1211b.ko, if you set B=1) by typing

sudo cp /usr/src/zd1211-driver-r80/zd1211.ko /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc/build/drivers/usb/net/

or

sudo cp /usr/src/zd1211-driver-r80/zd1211b.ko /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc/build/drivers/usb/net/

if you set B=1

11) Install the module using

sudo depmod sudo modprobe -v zd1211

12) Now connect the dongle and type

dmesg

You should take a look at the output, and if you get any error codes here, you will need to go back to 7.) and use another driver package.

13) If you have an unsecured network, you should be able to start browsing. To check type:

sudo ifconfig

to list all the active network connections

sudo iwconfig

14) To configure WEP encryption, I used the graphical network interface to enter ESSID and the key, but everything could be done manually as well.

Now my macmini is happily surfing, without any cable, and without any airportexpress either !!

Let the penguin roar!!

Cheers

Giobatta