Enjoy Linux, yet another niche!

Support promiscuous mode in AODV

2006-08-11T00:21:00.000+08:00

To add promiscuous mode to AODV, just do the following:
1. ns-mobilenode.tcl :
# Special processing for AODV
set aodvonly [string first "AODV" [$agent info class]]
if {$aodvonly != -1 } {
$agent if-queue [$self set ifq_(0)] ;# ifq between LL and MAC
$agent install-tap [$self set mac_(0)] ;# add this to install tap for AODV
}
2. aodv.h:
class AODV:public Tap, public Agent {...};

and overload virtual function tap(const Packet *packet)

3. aodv.cc
else if(argc == 3) {
....
else if (strcasecmp(argv[1], "install-tap") == 0) // install tap for AODV
{
mac_ = (Mac*) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
mac_->installTap(this);
return TCL_OK;
}
finally, implement tap function in aodv is ok.

I've tested it in aodv (ns2.26).

Troubleshooting for updating from Breeze (Ubuntu 5.04) to Dapper (Ubuntu 6.06)

2006-07-20T15:54:00.000+08:00

After apt-get dist-upgrade, wireless card sucks. It appears work but fails to connect with AP. Finally got a clue from here:

Re: breezy - dapper upgrade broke wireless

I had the same problem with my lucent wlan card. The problem was, that additionally to orinoco the module hostap was loaded.

I got my card working with blacklisting the hostap driver (Is AFAIK only needed if you want to emulate an AP with your prism 2 wlan card.):

To blacklist hostap add the two lines:

blacklist hostap
blacklist hostap_cs

to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Now wifi works fine, cheers!

Extend ns2 to support multi-channle multi-interface for wireless networks

2006-06-27T18:46:00.000+08:00

Inspired from Hyacinth: An IEEE 802.11-based Multi-channel Wireless Mesh Network.

The following modifications can be applied to ns-2.26. It should be applicable to 2.1b8a and 2.1b9 as well, but NOT to 2.28 and later version as I observed there is modification to the low level config of wireless channels in both tcl and c++ and I haven't figured it out.

At least following files should be modified:

tcl/lib/ns-lib.tcl : Add multiple interfaces

################################### BEGIN ###########################
...
Simulator instproc phyType {val} { $self set phyType_ $val }
Simulator instproc antType {val} { $self set antType_ $val }
Simulator instproc channel {val} {$self set channel_ $val}
#WHQ IMWN: multiple interface support
Simulator instproc channel2 {val} {$self set channel2_ $val}
Simulator instproc channel3 {val} {$self set channel3_ $val}
Simulator instproc channel4 {val} {$self set channel4_ $val}
Simulator instproc channel5 {val} {$self set channel5_ $val}
#WHQ IMWN: multiple interface support
Simulator instproc channelType {val} {$self set channelType_ $val}
Simulator instproc topoInstance {val} {$self set topoInstance_ $val}

...

Simulator instproc node-config args {
$self instvar addressType_ routingAgent_ propType_ macTrace_ routerTrace_ agentTrace_ movementTrace_ channelType_ channel_ channel2_ channel3_ channel4_ channel5_ chan chan2 chan3 chan4 chan5 topoInstance_ propInstance_ mobileIP_ rxPower_ txPower_ idlePower_ satNodeType_ eotTrace_

...

elseif {[info exists channel_]} {
# Multiple channel, multiple interfaces
set chan $channel_
#Add multiple interface support
if{[info exists channel2_]} {
set chan2 $channel2_
}
if{[info exists channel3_]} {
set chan2 $channel3_
}
if{[info exists channel4_]} {
set chan2 $channel4_
}
if{[info exists channel5_]} {
set chan2 $channel5_
}

.. .

Simulator instproc create-wireless-node args {
$self instvar routingAgent_ wiredRouting_ propInstance_ llType_ \
macType_ ifqType_ ifqlen_ phyType_ chan chan2 chan3 chan4 chan5 antType_ energyModel_ inic_tialEnergy_ txPower_ rxPower_ idlePower_ topoInstance_ level1_ level2_ inerrProc_ outerrProc_ FECProc_

...
# Add main node interface
$node add-interface $chan $propInstance_ $llType_ $macType_ \
$ifqType_ $ifqlen_ $phyType_ $antType_ \
$inerrProc_ $outerrProc_ $FECProc_
#Add multiple interface support
$node add-interface $chan2 $propInstance_ $llType_ $macType_ $ifqType_ $ifqlen_ $phyType_ $antType_ $inerrProc_ $outerrProc_ $FECProc_

$node add-interface $chan3 $propInstance_ $llType_ $macType_ $ifqType_ $ifqlen_ $phyType_ $antType_ $inerrProc_ $outerrProc_ $FECProc_

$node add-interface $chan4 $propInstance_ $llType_ $macType_ $ifqType_ $ifqlen_ $phyType_ $antType_ $inerrProc_ $outerrProc_ $FECProc_

$node add-interface $chan4 $propInstance_ $llType_ $macType_ $ifqType_ $ifqlen_ $phyType_ $antType_ $inerrProc_ $outerrProc_ $FECProc_

################################### END ###########################

tcl/lib/ns-mobilenode.tcl: set up hooks with trace objects

################################### BEGIN ###########################

Node/MobileNode instproc add-target-rtagent { agent port } {
$self instvar imep_ toraDebug_

set ns [Simulator instance]
set newapi [$ns imep-support]
set namfp [$ns get-nam-traceall]

set dmux_ [$self demux]
set classifier_ [$self entry]

# let the routing agent know about the port dmux
$agent port-dmux $dmux_

if { [Simulator set RouterTrace_] == "ON" } {
#
# Send Target
#
if {$newapi != ""} {
#Add multiple interface support
#set sndT [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
set sndT1 [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
set sndT2 [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
set sndT3 [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
set sndT4 [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
set sndT5 [$self mobility-trace Send "RTR"]
#Add multiple interface support
} else {
#Add multiple interface support
#set sndT [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self]
set sndT1 [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self]
set sndT2 [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self]
set sndT3 [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self]
set sndT4 [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self]
set sndT5 [cmu-trace Send "RTR" $self
#Add multiple interface support
}
if { $namfp != "" } {
#Add multiple interface support
#$sndT namattach $namfp
$sndT1 namattach $namfp
$sndT2 namattach $namfp
$sndT3 namattach $namfp
$sndT4 namattach $namfp
$sndT5 namattach $namfp
#Add multiple interface support
}
if { $newapi == "ON" } {
$agent target $imep_(0)
$imep_(0) sendtarget $sndT
# second tracer to see the actual
# types of tora packets before imep packs them
if { [info exists toraDebug_] && $toraDebug_ == "ON"} {
set sndT2 [$self mobility-trace Send "TRP"]
$sndT2 target $imep_(0)
$agent target $sndT2
}
} else { ;# no IMEP
#Add multiple interface support
#$agent target $sndT
$agent down-target-1 $sndT1
$agent down-target-2 $sndT2
$agent down-target-3 $sndT3
$agent down-target-4 $sndT4
$agent down-target-5 $sndT5
#Add multiple interface support
}
#Add multiple interface support
#$sndT target [$self set ll_(0)]
$sndT1 target [$self set ll_(0)]
$sndT2 target [$self set ll_(1)]
$sndT3 target [$self set ll_(2)]
$sndT4 target [$self set ll_(3)]
$sndT5 target [$self set ll_(4)]
#Add multiple interface support
#
# Recv Target
#
if {$newapi != ""} {
set rcvT [$self mobility-trace Recv "RTR"]
} else {
set rcvT [cmu-trace Recv "RTR" $self]
}
if { $namfp != "" } {
$rcvT namattach $namfp
}
if {$newapi == "ON" } {
[$self set ll_(0)] up-target $imep_(0)
$classifier_ defaulttarget $agent
# need a second tracer to see the actual
# types of tora packets after imep unpacks them
# no need to support any hier node
if {[info exists toraDebug_] && $toraDebug_ == "ON" } {
set rcvT2 [$self mobility-trace Recv "TRP"]
$rcvT2 target $agent
$classifier_ defaulttarget $rcvT2
}
} else {
$rcvT target $agent
$classifier_ defaulttarget $rcvT
$dmux_ install $port $rcvT
}
} else {
#
# Send Target
#
# if tora is used
if { $newapi == "ON" } {
$agent target $imep_(0)
# second tracer to see the actual
# types of tora packets before imep packs them
if { [info exists toraDebug_] && $toraDebug_ == "ON"} {
set sndT2 [$self mobility-trace Send "TRP"]
$sndT2 target $imep_(0)
$agent target $sndT2
}
$imep_(0) sendtarget [$self set ll_(0)]

} else { ;# no IMEP
#Add multiple interface support
#$agent target [$self set ll_(0)]
#puts "Adding 5 targets to routing agent!\n"
$agent down-target-1 [$self set ll_(0)]
$agent down-target-2 [$self set ll_(1)]
$agent down-target-3 [$self set ll_(2)]
$agent down-target-4 [$self set ll_(3)]
$agent down-target-5 [$self set ll_(4)]
#Add multiple interface support
}
#
# Recv Target
#
if {$newapi == "ON" } {
[$self set ll_(0)] up-target $imep_(0)
$classifier_ defaulttarget $agent
# need a second tracer to see the actual
# types of tora packets after imep unpacks them
# no need to support any hier node
if {[info exists toraDebug_] && $toraDebug_ == "ON" } {
set rcvT2 [$self mobility-trace Recv "TRP"]
$rcvT2 target $agent
[$self set classifier_] defaulttarget $rcvT2
}
} else {
$classifier_ defaulttarget $agent
$dmux_ install $port $agent
}
}
}

################################### END ###########################

Then in routing protocol or whereever the packet will be sent to different NIC, define coresponding downtarget for each interface to send out packet like (in header file):
NsObject *downtarget1_;
NsObject *downtarget2_;
NsObject *downtarget3_;
NsObject *downtarget4_;
NsObject *downtarget5_;

Then get the corresponding objects from Tcl from command(int argc, const char*const* argv), for example in AODV:

aodv/aodv.cc

################################### BEGIN ###########################
int
AODV::command(int argc, const char*const* argv) {
if(argc == 2) {
Tcl& tcl = Tcl::instance();
...

else if(argc == 3) {

...

// multi-channel support
else if (strcasecmp (argv[1], "down-target-1") == 0) {
downtarget1_ = (NsObject *) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
return TCL_OK;
}
else if (strcasecmp (argv[1], "down-target-2") == 0) {
downtarget2_ = (NsObject *) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
return TCL_OK;
}
else if (strcasecmp (argv[1], "down-target-3") == 0) {
downtarget3_ = (NsObject *) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
return TCL_OK;
}
else if (strcasecmp (argv[1], "down-target-4") == 0) {
downtarget4_ = (NsObject *) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
return TCL_OK;
}
else if (strcasecmp (argv[1], "down-target-5") == 0) {
downtarget5_ = (NsObject *) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
return TCL_OK;
}

...
################################### END ###########################

When send out the packet to different interface, just call one of them:
downtarget1_->recv(p, (Handler *)0);
downtarget2_->recv(p, (Handler *)0);
downtarget3_->recv(p, (Handler *)0);
downtarget4_->recv(p, (Handler *)0);
downtarget5_->recv(p, (Handler *)0);

Finally, in the running script, configure each node with multiple interface and channel-assign-to-interface:
################################### BEGIN ###########################
...
#Creating Channel
set chan_0_ [new $val(chan)]
set chan_1_ [new $val(chan)]
set chan_2_ [new $val(chan)]
set chan_3_ [new $val(chan)]
set chan_4_ [new $val(chan)]

...

$ns_ node-config -channel $chan_3_ -channel2 $chan_11_ -channel3 $chan_12_ -channel4 $chan_12_ -channel5 $chan_12_
...
################################### END ###########################

If you use 802.11 DCF MAC, following changes are necessary to avoid error:

mac/mac-802_11.cc

#include "arp.h"
#include "ll.h"
#include "mac.h"
#include "mac-timers.h"
#include "mac-802_11.h"
#include "cmu-trace.h"

/*
multi-interface support
*/
#define NUM_NICS 5

...

int
Mac802_11::command(int argc, const char*const* argv)
{
if (argc == 3) {
if (strcmp(argv[1], "log-target") == 0) {
logtarget_ = (NsObject*) TclObject::lookup(argv[2]);
if(logtarget_ == 0)
return TCL_ERROR;
return TCL_OK;
} else if(strcmp(argv[1], "nodes") == 0) {
if(cache_) return TCL_ERROR;
/* multiple interface support

cache_node_count_ = atoi(argv[2]);
*/
cache_node_count_ = atoi(argv[2]) * NUM_NICS;
cache_ = new Host[cache_node_count_ + 1];
assert(cache_);
...

void
Mac802_11::recv_timer()
{
...

/* multiple interface support
*/
// if(dst != (u_int32_t)index_) {
if((dst/NUM_NICS) != (u_int32_t)(index_/NUM_NICS)) {
set_nav(mh->dh_duration);
}
...

install ns2.26 in Ubuntu

2005-12-30T01:15:00.000+08:00

Objective: install ns-allinone-2.26 in Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy
Software needed: gcc-3.3, g++-3.3 (ns2.26 cannot be compiled with gcc >= 4.0), build-essential, autoconf, automaken, libxt-dev(tk need it), libxmu-dev(nam need it)
To do:
1. apt-get install build-essential
2. apt-get install gcc-3.3 g++-3.3 autoconf automake-1.9 libxt-dev
3. go to /usr/bin, del softlink to gcc, g++
4. ln -s gcc-3.3 gcc
5. ln -s g++-3.3 g++
6. vi .bash_profile and add:
export CC=gcc-3.3
export CXX=g++-3.3

That's all. Then compile ns as instruction.

Post blog from writely

2005-10-19T21:31:00.000+08:00

Just read an article "Interview with Tony Bove, Author of Just Say No to Microsoft ". Tony thinks Ajax-based web applications will prevail in the next few years. Writely is mentioned as an example. So I just give it a try. I use it to edit this blog and post it with a click. So let's check it out.

Chinese display in Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy

2005-10-18T11:17:00.000+08:00

Since utf-8 is adopted by Ubuntu by default, several popular softwares I use are impacted that cannot decide the encoding of Chinese characters. However, these softwares already build in support for configurable encoding.

XMMS
option->preferences->Audio I/O plugins->MPEG layer 1/2/3..->configure->Title:
tick Override default ID3V2 encoding, encoding name: GBK

vim

set encoding=utf-8
set fileencoding=GBK

manually set cpu frequency

2005-10-16T18:42:00.000+08:00

If you are like me that treasure my laptop very much and hate to hear the fans soaring, you can try it.

create a simple bash file like this:
#cpulow
#!/bin/bash
echo 1200000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed

1200000 is the lowest availabe frequency for my cpu (P4-M). Put this file to /usr/local/bin and chmod +x. Simple?

#cpuhigh
#!/bin/bash
echo 1600000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed

With these two files, I can manually control how far the cpu should run. Don't forget to remove powernowd service from service in Ubuntu.

-- update --
I found powernowd service cannot be just stopped since acpi modules are also loaded by this script to start the service. I think it's not difficult to modify the script to just stop powernowd deamon and exec cpulow meanwhile. To be updated later.

Install Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy) on Compaq N800v

2005-10-16T01:01:00.000+08:00

There are some reasons prompting me to abandon Gentoo on my laptop, the specific optimization to the desktop by Ubuntu is one of them.

The actually installation should be as smooth as stated, but I still get frustrated for quite a few hours :(

So one thing that I get more confirmed is: cdrom is the last storage you should try.

1. download iso image from ubuntu website, smooth

2. md5 check passes

3. burn it into cd

4. boot with cd, pcmcia wireless card auto recognized and DHCP config successfully which means I can connect to Internet

5. Partition:
40 GB hdd:
hda1: WinXP root, fat32, primary, bootable
hda2: shared by windows and linux, fat32, logic
hda6: 30M, ext3, /boot, logic
hda7: 6.7G, the root for ubuntu, reizser, /, logic

6. start install, failed at base system install, pool/main/l/linux-sources/linux-image.... md5 check failed!

7. burn another 2 cds the next day and repeat previous steps, failed again! /pool/main/linux-sources/linux-head... md5 check failed!

So far, I have no confidence in cdrom any more. Since the md5 check for the downloaded iso image has no problem, it must be in the burning procedure. Since the failed parts for 2 cds are different but near, I bet it's the cdrw's step increasing speed working mode harms it. Maybe I'll have to use my cdrw for some time, but remember to burn it steadily!

8. After research and experiment, finally get it clear how to install linux from image directly.

grub is needed to load bootable environment. Fortunately, even installation failed, ubuntu still gives you all the options for the installation which allow me to directly jump to the grub installation. And it recognizes WinXP installed and configures it automatically.

9. To start bootable environment, two files are needed: initrd.gz and vmlinuz (or linux for netboot version). However, there are several versions of them.

First, in the cdrom, under install, that two are for cdrom install which means the environment is set to insall linux from linux.

In install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386, the two are for network install. Using them, no cd and no image are needed for the whole install, only network!

However, what I needed cannot be found in the image itself. The version for install from harddisk image can be downloaded at any ubuntu mirror, under directory ubuntu/dists/breezy(the version)/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media
(surely I get information from the name)

To summarize, these two files are programs that guild linux install procedure after enter the bootable environment. Since for different method of install, specific procedure should be provided, the more important issue I guess is to keep these files as small as possible to be fit into any pc. So different versions instead of one versatile with different interfaces are provided.

10. copy these two files to the first primary partition which is also a bootable partition, the grub can get it then. /dev/hda1 is the one for my laptop. Then put the iso image file under the top directory in any of your partitions (but its file system must be recognized by the bootable environment, ubuntu in this case, fat32, ext3, reizser..)

11. reboot laptop, upon promtion by grub, press c
then input three commands:
grub> kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=20000 devfs=mount,dall
grub> initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.gz
grub> boot

It's not difficult to understand the commands. (hd0,0) indicates the hdd devise and the partion that store the files.

12. laptop reboot now and you'll be lead into the harddisk install program now which is slightly different from the one by cdrom install. It will search all reconizable partitions and find the right iso image and the following procedures are just as smooth as it should be. Huhu~~, finally get Ubuntu on my laptop!

Reference:
ubuntu wiki
Install GNU/Linux without any CD, floppy, USB-key, nor any other removable media

Auto backup

2005-10-09T15:57:00.000+08:00

using email & crontab

1. edit configure files under /etc/email/ to set up the email account used to store the backup files.

2. write a shell script like this:
#! /bin/sh
# commands to set up backup files, e. g, grab del.icio.us posts
curl --user username:password -o "$MYPATH/myDelicious.xml" -O 'http://del.icio.us/api/posts/all'

# mail it to my gmail account
# get the date
DATE="$(date)"

email -s "delicious backup @ $DATE" email@gmail.com -b --attach "$MYPATH/myDelicious.xml"

-b means blank email, --attach followed by the attached files.

3. set cron to run the script everyday in the night
edit your crontab file
# crontab -e

then input:
30 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/myBackup
means to exec the script everyday at 2:30 am.

mount bin/cue & disc image conversion

2005-10-08T09:22:00.000+08:00

Directly mount .bin image:

$:>emerge cdemu

$:>modprobe cdemu

$:>cdemu 0 [image.cue]

$:>mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdemu/0 /mnt/cdrom

However, I still cannot find any method to directly mount Alcohoc .img file in Linux. A feasible way is to convert it to iso image first. (Ubuntu wiki)

# emerge ccd2iso

usage: ccd2iso <.img filename> <.iso filename>

Also find how to convert .bin image to iso image:

# emerge bchunk

usage: bchunk myimage.bin myimage.cue myimage

Convert DMG(compressed z-lib) to ISO:
download perl script here:

usage: dmg2iso.pl

Wine configure for Chinese Display

2005-10-08T01:13:00.000+08:00

Wine has cancel the use of config file after 20050628 and use registry to store the user setting. So I try to solve two problems after I installed Wine and try to run SourceInsight.

1. the fonts look vague
2. Chinese display

Got a solution from a Taiwan forum:

~/.wine/user.reg
//to mirror windows common fonts to my favorite in Linux
[Software\\Wine\\Fonts\\Replacements]
"System"="SimSun"
"Arial"="Bitstream Vera Sans"
"Fixedsys"="SinSun"
"Microsoft Sans Serif"="Bitstream Vera Sans"
"MS UI Gothic"="Bitstream Vera Sans"
"Tahoma"="Tahoma"
"Terminal"="Bitstream Vera Sans"
"MingLiU"="MingLiU"
"PmingLiU"="PMingLiU"
// set default browser
[Software\\Wine\\WineBrowser]
"Browsers"="firefox-bin"
// if you feel not comfortable for the vague fonts, set it
[Software\\Wine\\X11 Driver] 1128697012
"ClientSideAntiAliasWithRender"="N"

~/.wine/system.reg
//change dialogue window font size
[System\\CurrentControlSet\\Hardware Profiles\\Current\\Software\\Fonts]
"LogPixels"=dword:00000082

~/.wine/driver_c/windows/win.ini
//change other font size
[Desktop]
menufontsize=13
messagefontsize=13
statusfontsize=13
IconTitleSize=13

However, I found above modifications become invalid after running wine. All reg files are rolled back. Actually the valid method is run regedit and modify it in accordance with the above metioned. \\ seperate the tree branches in register table as in Windows. Finally I find the modifications reflect on the reg files. (now I confirm the changes are discarded because there is still a wine instance running, so make sure no wine is running before try to modify .reg files)

Finally I found still not so satifacotry with the display effect, the English fonts in the dialogue window look twisted and vague. So I tried to copy all fonts under my Linux to driver_c/windows/fonts, now it looks almost exactly as it is in Windows.

Operate Creative Zen Micro in Linux! Cool!

2005-09-13T09:34:00.000+08:00

Glad to find my Zen Micro supported in Linux!!

Check it here:

You can also find it in gentoo, a simple emerge will do all the works, thanks to gentoo!

Working Devices:
Creative Nomad Jukebox 1 (aka D.A.P.)
Creative Nomad Jukebox 2
Creative Nomad Jukebox 3
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen USB 2.0
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen NX
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra
Dell Digital Jukebox ("Dell DJ")
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Touch
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Micro
(Without the 2.x MTP/PlaysForSure upgrade!)
Second Generation Dell DJ
(Without the MTP/PlaysForSure upgrade!)
Dell Pocket DJ
(Without the MTP/PlaysForSure upgrade!)

It's also a surprise that I find file transfer rate is more than 2MB using gnomad, and it's faster than I transfer files using either WMP10 or Creative origin software as I always complain such a USB 2.0-support device.

Yet still some bugs exist, one biggest problem is when I try to delete one or several songs from the device, a window pops up prompting for confirm, after I click yes, it just freezes there and I have to kill the process. The device may still appear to be in Docked mode for which I have to remove the battery to reset it. Anyway, deletion operation can be easily performed from the device itself. This bug has been reported several times and I expect it to be solved soon.

package operation in Gentoo

2005-09-03T15:31:00.000+08:00

search software with keyword:
Gentoo: emerge -s
Debian: apt-cache search
FreeBSD: make search name= 或
ports_glob -- need portupgrade

Install software:
Gentoo: emerge
Debian: apt-get install
FreeBSD: portinstall

remove package:
Gentoo: emerge unmerge
Debian: apt-get remove
FreeBSD: pkg_deinstall

Update single package:
Gentoo: emerge -u
Debian: ?
FreeBSD: portupgrade

check what packages will be impacted by updating all installed packages:
Gentoo: emerge -puDv world
Debian: apt-get -u dist-upgrade
FreeBSD: portupgrade -arnv

update the system:
Gentoo: emerge -u --deep world
Debian: apt-get dist-upgrade
FreeBSD: make world ; portupgrade -ar

query installed packages:
Gentoo: emerge -pe world 或 qpkg -I -v
Debian: dpkg --get-selections
FreeBSD: pkg_info

check the dependency of package:
Gentoo: qpkg -f
(need gentoolkit)
Debian: dpkg -S
FreeBSD: pkg_info -W

check the components of a package:
Gentoo: qpkg -l
Debian: ?
FreeBSD: pkg_info -L

check the components of a package with keyword
Gentoo: qpkg -I | grep (qpkg -v to check version)
Debian:
FreeBSD: pkg_info | grep

query the introduction to package with keyword
Gentoo: emerge -S
Debian: ?
FreeBSD: make search key=

remove package without dependency:
Gentoo: emerge -C
Debian:
FreeBSD: pkg_delete -f

rebuild the system:
Gentoo: emerge -e world
Debian: ?
FreeBSD: make world ; portupgrade -arf

Play ape in xmms

2005-07-18T20:19:00.000+08:00

wget http://membres.lycos.fr/mazzaru/libmacinput.so.gz
chmod 755 libmacinput.so
mv libmacinput.so ~/.xmms/Plugins/

mount and umount

2005-04-28T15:27:00.000+08:00

USB harddisk is becoming a necessity for file transfer. In linux, I'll be likely to encounter a problem, when I try to umount the usb disk, a message will pop up said the device is busy.
What you must do before remove it is to make sure all the process using this device has quitted. To check which process is still using this device, you can use command fuser:
#fuser -m /USB (/USB is the directory I mount my usb disk into)
The process number accordingly will be listed, then you can just close the program belongs to it or give it a simple kill.

---update---

# sync
before kill any process so all content will be flushed and no data is lost.

File Sharing between Linux/Win

2005-04-19T21:21:00.000+08:00

A easy way is to install samba in Linux and start samba service if to share files on Linux.

To access the files shared by samba in Linux, it's simple as using \\hostname\sharefolder in windows.

To access files shard by Linux through samba or Windows file sharing, can use smbmount to mount a remote directory to a local mount point.

VNC with SSH

2005-03-31T14:19:00.000+08:00

Want to connect to Linux in your Win OS without tedious config? Try Vnc. Try to use without compromising your security principle, VNC + SSH may be an option.

1. Install vnc
There are several free distributions: Tightvnc, Realvnc.
Follow the installation guilde and config ~/.vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
#xsetroot -solid grey
#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
#twm &
unset SESSION_MANAGER
gnome-session &
#startkde & ( for kde)

2. In Win OS, use SecureCRT to tunnel vnc request from local host (Win) to secure port in remote host (Linux).
Install SecureCRT with commandline support and add it to PATH. Then write a script to establish the secure tunnel
secureCRT /SSH2 /L greenw /I "D:/id_rsa.pub" /P 22 /Z 5 /LOCAL 5901:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:5908 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
You can check secureCRT options about the command line above.
/I the path store the public key
/P the SSH listenning port number in remote host, 22 is default in Linux
/Z compression level
/LOCAL map the local port 5901 to remote host port 5908

3. vncserver use port number starting from 5900, if you start vncserver with vncserver:8, then vncserver will listen to port 5908; for local vncviewer, you should use localhost:1
and you can see the remote desktop in a secure way.

How to use Gnome desktop in Win XP

2005-03-30T21:18:00.000+08:00

In Win XP, a X Server is needed such as Xmanager (http://www.netsarang.com).

In Linux host (Gentoo in this article), follow these procedures to set up XDMCP:
1. edit /etc/inittab
id:5:initdefault

2. edit /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf
in [xdmcp] section
Enable=true

3. set up iptables to allow connections to x client to be passed
#iptables -A INPUT -p udp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport 177 -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport telnet -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport ssh -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport login -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport exec -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport shell -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 0/0 -d 0/0 --dport 7100 -j ACCEPT

Finally, restart linux and Xmanager should be able to connect to Gnome in Linux. Comes the beautiful desktop.. Enjoy!

Start vncserver with Gnome

2005-03-29T19:29:00.000+08:00

edit ~/.vnc/xstartup

xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
unset SESSION_MANAGER (if you can only see a gray plate and a cursor after loginning with vncviewer, you may need to try this)
gnome-session &

Gentoo Installation from Stage 1 using Knoppix - Install Gentoo Base System

2005-03-24T21:35:00.000+08:00

1. Copy DNS Info

# cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf

2. Mounting the proc Filesystem (from knoppix)
# mount -o bind /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc

3. Entering the new Environment

# chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
# env-update
* Caching service dependencies...
# source /etc/profile

4. Updating the Portage tree

# emerge --sync

5. Configuring the USE variable in /etc/make.conf
USE="gtk gnome qt -kde -dvd alsa -cdr cjk nls zh_CN zh_TW ldap X"

6. Optional: GLIBC Locales
# mkdir /etc/portage
# echo "sys-libs/glibc userlocales" >> /etc/portage/package.use
# nano -w /etc/locales.build
en_US/ISO-8859-1
en_US.UTF-8/UTF-8
en_HK/ISO-8859-1
en_PH/ISO-8859-1
zh_CN/GB2312
zh_CN/GB18030
zh_CN/GBK

7. Progressing from Stage1 to Stage2 - Bootstrapping the System
# cd /usr/portage
# scripts/bootstrap.sh

8. Building the System
# emerge system

Gentoo Installation from Stage 1 using Knoppix - Preparation

2005-03-24T20:53:00.000+08:00

Preface:
After the windows XP declined my login request unreasonablly after I reinstalled SP1 in my Compaq N800v laptop which has the autherized Windows XP Professional installed, I'm tired of Windows finally. It's time to get power from Linux!

Partitions in my hdd:

hda1 fat32 WinXP 6448.62 MB
hda5 fat32 Data 26398.32 MB
hda6 ext3 /boot 30 MB
hda7 ReiserFS / 6448.62 MB
hda8 Linux Swap 727.7 MB

1. Boot with Knoppix
By default Knoppix boots into a KDE 3.0 desktop. The first thing I did was open a konsole and typed sudo passwd root. This lets you set the root password for Knoppix.

Next, I su to root and typed usermod -d /root -m root. This sets user roots home directory to /root (the Gentoo way) from /home/root (the Knoppix way). If you do not do this, then you will receive errors when emerging about "/home/root: not found" or something to that effect.

I then typed exit and then su back into root. This loads the change that was made with the usermod command. Now create the /mnt/gentoo mountpoint using mkdir

2. download stage1 tarball

# tar -xvjpf stage?-*.tar.bz2
3. Install Portage
tar -xvjf /mnt/gentoo/portage-20041202.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr

3. Edit /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage
# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example
CFLAGS="-O3 -march=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
#LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.averse.net/pub/gentoo"
#PORTAGE_BINHOST="http://mirror.averse.net/pub/gentoo"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="gtk gnome qt -kde -dvd alsa -cdr cjk nls zh_CN zh_TW ldap X"

A snapshot of my desktop (post from Hello)

2005-03-13T16:16:00.000+08:00

Post photo from Hello

Set up your security rules

2005-03-12T20:42:00.000+08:00

Security is the one of the most desirable characters of OS, especially you have been tired of keeping patching your WIN..
In the new kernel of Linux, such feature is integrated so that packet filtering can be performed at the kernel level.

1.To define the rules of defendance, you need to install iptables first.
#emerge iptables

2. Then add it to system starting service
#rc_update add iptables default

3. edit config file contain rules
#/ect/init.d/iptables save
you'll get a default config file in /var/lib/iptables/rules-save
I'll define my security rules in this file
# Generated by iptables-save v1.2.11 on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
*nat
:PREROUTING ACCEPT [80:11499]
:POSTROUTING ACCEPT [4:240]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
COMMIT
# Completed on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
# Generated by iptables-save v1.2.11 on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
*mangle
:PREROUTING ACCEPT [100:12984]
:INPUT ACCEPT [23:2505]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [16:1184]
:POSTROUTING ACCEPT [16:1184]
COMMIT
# Completed on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
# Generated by iptables-save v1.2.11 on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [1:28]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [16:1184]
:RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT - [0:0]
[23:2505] -A INPUT -j RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT
[0:0] -A FORWARD -j RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 23 -j ACCEPT
[8:480] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 0:1023 --tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 2049 --tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[6:1293] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 0:1023 -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 2049 -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 7100 --tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 6000:6009 --tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 445 --tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j ACCEPT
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -i eth0 -p udp -m udp --sport 67:68 --dport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
[0:0] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -i eth1 -p udp -m udp --sport 67:68 --dport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
[8:704] -A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
COMMIT
# Completed on Sat Mar 12 20:34:16 2005
It will reject all tcp & udp request destined to all system ports in my pc (0~1023) and allow telnet request to pass through port 23.
Also remember the rules should be defined in a sequence as you desire. So accept tcp request from port 23 must be defined before rejecting all requests to port from 0 to 1023..

4. start iptables service
#/etc/init.d/iptables start

/etc/samba/smb.conf

2005-03-12T13:32:00.000+08:00

[global]

netbios name = greenw
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
workgroup = mygroup

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = greenw

client code page = 936

printcap name = /etc/printcap
load printers = yes

unix charset = "gbk"
dos charset = "gbk"
display charset = "gbk"

printing = cups

log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log

encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd

unix password sync = Yes
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *New*password* %n\n *Retype*new*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*

pam password change = yes

obey pam restrictions = yes

socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192

username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
guest ok = yes
dns proxy = no

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = yes
valid users = %S
create mode = 0664
writable = yes
directory mode = 0775
[RH]
path = /RH/home/greenw
writeable = yes

How to set up cvs server

2005-03-12T11:13:00.000+08:00

1. set up a seperate user to perform cvs operation
#groupadd cvs
#useradd cvsroot -g cvs
#passwd cvsroot
and give user cvs with shell "/bin/false"
#mkdir /home/cvsroot
2. use xinetd to start cvsserver service
#emerge xinetd (if xinetd is not installed)
in /etc/xinetd.conf, comment out line only_from = localhost if you want to provide services also to other users except this host
edit /etc/xinetd.d/cvspserver
service cvspserver
{
disable = no
flags = REUSE
socket_type = stream
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/bin/cvs
server_args = -f --allow-root=/home/cvsroot pserver
log_on_success += USERID
log_on_failure += USERID
}
3. init cvs (which will create CVSROOT directory in /home/cvsroot)
#cvs -d /home/cvsroot init
4. add xinetd in init.d
#rc-update add xinetd default
and start xinetd:
#/etc/init.d/xinetd start
5. check whether cvs server is running now
#netstat -l | grep cvspserver
if tcp 0 0 *:cvspserver *:* LISTEN appears, then congratulations!

btw:
1. check your service port setting (/etc/service) and firewall setting if encountering any problem
2. if local user encounter failed to create lock directory error, edit /home/cvsroot/CVSROOT/config and modify the location of lock file which give current user the writting privilege