Happy Linux Thoughts

Linux & Wireless Networking

2011-03-03T23:01:00.003-07:00

Setting up a wireless NIC is usually fairly straightforward if you know what commands to use. You MUST know what chipset your NIC uses. The model number and manufacturer is mostly irrelevant. For a usb device use:sudo /usr/bin/lsusbYou'll see output similar to this: Bus 003 Device 005: ID 0bda:8187 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187 Wireless For a pci NIC use:sudo /sbin/lspci -nnkThis will

Belkin F6D4050 v2, openSUSE 11.3 (and possibly other flavors)

2010-07-26T21:23:00.001-07:00

The kernel doesn't have the usb identifier for this device. In order to use it I had to modify a couple things. the command lsusb shows the usb id of : 050d:935b create a file called /etc/modprobe.d/rt2870sta.conf Add this line to the file with no line breaks. install rt2870sta modprobe --ignore-install rt2870sta ; /bin/echo "050d 935b" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rt2870/new_id After that if

Use your Blackberry as a Modem with Ubuntu

2010-01-05T22:52:00.002-07:00

Using your Blackberry as a Modem is really very straightforward once you know how. sudo apt-get install python libusb-dev ppp python-usb python-wxgtk2.8 Download http://www.colar.net/websvn/filedetails.php?repname=src&path=%2Fbbtether%2Fbbtether.tgz Decompress the file wherever you want. Somewhere like /home/username/ would be a good location. You'll end up with a folder called "bbtether".

World of Goo Review

2010-01-02T23:50:00.001-07:00

I first saw World of Goo while I was browsing the games at the local Target store. From the box, I gathered that it was created by a 2 man game studio with a minimal budget. The game was also very reasonably priced at $20.00. Demo version of "World of Goo", for Linux The creators of World of Goo, 2dboy I didn’t actually play the game until I happened upon the demo version that is actually

Make Skype Video Work In Ubuntu

2009-12-20T01:24:00.006-07:00

When I tried to use my webcam in skype all I was getting was garbled video, shown below. Other programs like cheese worked with the video just fine. So, I set out to find the answer on Skype forums. Here's where I found the answer. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-997807.html #1. Run "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype" at the command line and test the video in

Linux vs Windows Site Statistics

2009-12-17T00:17:00.002-07:00

After looking at my site statistics, I was happy to see I there are more people visiting the site using Linux than Windows. Keep it up!

Repairing RPM Errors

2009-12-14T23:55:00.006-07:00

On SLES10SP2, I was trying to run yast online update, and kept getting a bunch of errors, including this one.... "rpmdb: fatal region error detected; run recovery" To resolve the problem I first had to do the following... Change to the rpm directory.. #cd /var/lib/rpm Remove file locks from rpm directory.. #rm -f __db* Rebuild the rpm database. This will take a few minutes. #rpm --rebuilddb

Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Alpha - First Screenshots and Impressions

2009-12-14T22:08:00.011-07:00

So far, the alpha artwork looks very similar to Karmic Koala. The login background has only changed slightly. The default desktop looks identical to the Karmic Koala desktop. I haven't experience any stability issues. After installing, there were a few updates available to apply. The only issue I've noticed so far is what looks like a graphic that's in the process of being redesigned.

Future Linux Geek

2008-11-28T23:17:00.006-07:00

Wireless support improving in Linux

2008-09-30T19:34:00.005-07:00

All too often, people automatically assume they need to use ndiswrapper to get wireless network cards working in Linux. In fact, I was about to do the same thing today, because in other distributions with the same network card I had no luck getting it to work. Once I stuck the network card in, Ubuntu informed me that there were drivers available for the card, and it would have to download the

Puppy Linux 4.0 Review

2008-09-01T00:05:00.002-07:00

After my last review of Puppy Linux, I was very skeptical about the new release. But, I'll say right away that it has improved quite a bit. From the "mount" icon on the desktop, I was very easily able to mount my USB drive. Even though this is automatic in other distributions, it's made very easy in Puppy, and I suppose the distro is lighter because it doesn't have an auto mount service

Using rsync to keep desktop and server music files in sync

2008-07-12T18:41:00.005-07:00

It's not perfect, but I've come up with a pretty good way to keep my music folder clean, and in sync with my server. This way, I can put files in the music folder on either the server or on my Desktop, and I don't have to worry about which files are where. It makes sure its the same on both. My script also deletes the typical files you get when you're downloading music files, like text, urls,

Permanently mount a Samba (or Windows) share in Linux

2008-05-09T20:19:00.003-07:00

Samba shares are easy enough to browse to, with the gui, but it's a lot more convenient having it mounted in a local folder. Also, I've found many programs that aren't able to see samba shares, even though the OS can.First, let's test and see if it will do a temporary mount with this command....mount -t smbfs //servername_or_IP/file_store /home/user/Desktop/file_storageUse sudo above, if you're

The high price of running "legacy" hardware.

2008-05-07T18:37:00.004-07:00

A lot of people seem to stick with their old hardware because they can't afford new hardware, or they think it's too expensive to buy / build a new computer. Let's say I have a system with a Pentium 3 Processor that requires pc133 memory required by that architecture. Most likely, the system will have very little memory, especially by today's standards. If you go to a site like Newegg, $50 may

Hardy Heron fixes hard coded color scheme

2008-04-20T12:59:00.004-07:00

Just a quick note. I've been testing Hardy Heron since it went beta. Everything seems to be working really well. I just noticed today that the hard coded color scheme as referenced in my previous article (http://happylinuxthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/12/out-with-brown-on-ubuntu.html) that was in previous Ubuntu releases has been fixed. When you change the color scheme of the desktop, and the

OpenSuse 11.0 Alpha 2, Initial Reaction

2008-03-06T18:29:00.005-07:00

I've been a fan of the Suse distro for quite some time now, even though it's not my primary distro of choice. I thought I would download the alpha and see how things are coming along.The installation process was almost identical to 10.3. In fact, most of the screens still showed that it was 10.3. The only difference was the look of the installer. I have to say, it does look quite nice. I was

Just one more reason I can't stand Windows Vista

2008-02-13T18:45:00.003-07:00

The task: remotely set up a customer's openvpn client to connect to an openvpn server on windows vista. (on xp, this is a simple task)Problem: vpn client won't connect.Resolution: slightly improved; vpn now connects, but doesn't route traffic properly. Must contact vendor for further vista insight.Due to the "Security" features of vista, it doesn't allow a vpn client to function, unless

Secure system to system file copies without Samba or NFS

2008-02-12T20:21:00.005-07:00

What if you need to copy files from one system to another, but don't want to bother with setting up file shares (SAMBA or NFS)? It's actually very quick and simple.All you need is the scp command. The tricky part is getting the syntax correct, but I'll help you with that. For this example, let's just say you're copying a file from one user's desktop to another user's desktop. Here's how you

Out with the Brown on Ubuntu

2007-12-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

To change themes completely to a different color in Ubuntu should be trivial and take only a couple of clicks. It seems though that there is a bug that prevents the background screen from changing colors. I'm going to go through the process of changing everything to a different color.The first place we need to go is the "System", "Preferences", and "Appearance" menus. Select the background tab

Most TV networks online aren't Linux friendly

2007-11-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

After my original article on ABC.COM (ABC.COM article), I thought I would do a little more research and see how the other major networks fared with Linux. And, here are the results...ABC.COM - As I originally mentioned, ABC's shows will not work in Linux.FOX.COM - Their shows can only be viewed on Windows and Mac systems.TBS.COM - Once again, we have a network that's ignorant to the fact that

ABC.COM developer responds to Linux blog

2007-11-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my original post about ABC.COM compatibility.http://happylinuxthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/abccom-isnt-linux-friendly.htmlDon't ever think that we Linux users have no hope for support. If we keep voicing our opinions, we will be heard. Here is the comment from an ABC developer, or move networks developer.......... We're working on getting a port sanctioned by management. - A dev

Making Ubuntu and Slackware play together

2007-11-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I already had Ubuntu installed, but I wanted to install Slackware on a spare partition and dual boot. On my first attempt, I just went for it and installed Slackware, LILO and all. That screwed up my Ubuntu installation, and I couldn't quickly make LILO boot my Ubuntu installation. I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu. On my second attempt installing Slackware, I decided to install Slackware, but

ABC.COM isn't Linux Friendly

2007-11-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: If you look down below, you'll find that a developer from ABC.COM responded to this blog. Also, here's a link for a new article, with the response.ABC.COM's response.I went to ABC.COM today to try and watch a TV show online. My mission was quickly aborted when this error message came up.......Since the error message mentioned Firefox for two operating systems, I still had hope. I

My genealogist parents can use Linux now

2007-11-18T18:39:00.001-07:00

My parents currently use Windows ME (believe it or not) on a fairly old computer. According to them, their computer crashes quite often, which is not a surprise at all. In fact, I'm surprised it's still in a usable state. The only thing that would have prevented them from using Linux before is that they use a windows only genealogy program called Personal Ancestral File. They wouldn't be

gOS says F You to all it's users!

2007-11-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of the new gOS telling users exactly what it thinks. F You, with a little BS on the side.Dual over at www.dualisanoob.com pointed the F You out to me. I later saw the BS. :) How funny.Coming later, I'll have a real review of this OS, because it really is pretty decent.