Quails home away from the nest

I have noted that this GPS unit has a prob when been powered off for ~72+ hours. The problem is that it resets itself back to binary mode, the quick way to tell this is there is no LED activity on the side of the unit. This unit optimally needs to be run in NMEA mode. To get this unit in to running in NMEA mode is very easy, while the unit is plugged into your computer you just have to issue it a command.

The command string to issue to it is:

$ gpsctl -n -s 4800 -t SiRF binary /dev/ttyUSB0

After running the above command you’ll notice that the LED on the side has come alive and will be steadily flashing. Now you’ll beable to use your GPS unit to its full potential.

For further info and help:

$ man gpsctl

$ lspci
….
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
….

This is just a workaround at the moment so the Backlight can be manually be adjusted with xbacklight

Installing xbacklight

# apt-get install xbacklight

Now we need to set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL

$ xrandr –output LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

Now we can adjust backlight like this for example

$ xbacklight -set 100

$ lspci
….
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100
….

Add the Debian Backports repository to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free

Update the list of available packages and install the debian-backports-keyring package.

# apt-get update
# apt-get -t lenny-backports install debian-backports-keyring

As your system does not yet have the GnuPG archive key of the backports.org repository installed, you will be asked to confirm installation of a package from an untrusted repository. Enter Yes when prompted.

Install a 2.6.30 kernel image appropriate for your system, along with the firmware-iwlwifi and wireless-tools packages.

# apt-get update

# apt-get -t lenny-backports install linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.1-$(uname -r | sed 's,.*-,,g') firmware-iwlwifi wireless-tools

Restart your system and boot with the newly installed kernel, and the necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded.

As the new kernel was booting I noticed it made mention to that the microcode was out of date. To fix this problem simply download the new microcode from Intel Wireless WiFi Link Drivers for Linux.

wget -c http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12.tgz

Uncompress the microcode

tar xvf iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12.tgz

Now all we need to do is to change into the directory of where the microcode is and then copy it to /lib/firmware

# cd iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12/
# cp iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware/

Restart your system and the newly added microcode will be loaded and used.

Last week I bought a new laptop and found the Ethernet does not work. Here is how I got it to work.

$ lspci
…..
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Device 1063 (rev c0)
…..

First off we need to install compiling tools and the kernel headers

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

Now to download the AR81Family Linux Driver for the Ethernet card.

Change directories to were you downloaded the drivers too
Example:

$ cd ~/Desktop/atheros/

I found the driver package was compressed funny and had to do

$ gunzip AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar.gz

and then

$ tar xvf AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar

to get the drivers uncompressed.
Read more…

Just cause every one is getting kicks out of this I though I post it on my blog, I am not sure where the original came from as it was past on to me from a friend, well anyway enjoy and have a laugh like I did

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in
America and the run on HBOS in the UK , uncertainty has now
hit Japan .

In the last 7 hours Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has
gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some
of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for
sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in
Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.

Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks,
Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain
in the black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and
analysts report that there is something fishy going on at
Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw
deal.

INX is a “Live CD” distribution of GNU/Linux, derived from Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, but using “ubuntu-minimal” and “ubuntu-standard” as a base. It is console only, without any graphical “X” programs.

INX is intended as a “tutorial” and introduction to the Bash command line, but is a fully capable, portable GNU/Linux system in its own right. It has a collection of easy-to-use menus, colour themes, easy configuration tools, music (and video on the frame buffer), some games, and several surprises for those who are not aware of what can be done in a console/tty.

INX is fun, and not intimidating for console beginners.

INX 1.0 also includes new features; you can now set up wireless with the “Ceni” tool from the INX “Net & Web” menu. You can use your mouse with programs like xlinks2, elinks, mc, and the jed text editor. In addition to the powerful GNU Screen program, INX now sports the “Dvtm” Dynamic Virtual Terminal Manager, a “tiled terminal manager”.

To get further info and download the ISO visit here

Couple weeks ago I upgraded my mothers computer from Microsoft XP to Linux Debian Lenny (testing). Everything is working except sound with pogo.com java games. After couple weeks searching for a fix and reading ALSA documention and tinkering around.

the problematic soundcard is

$ lspci
...
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 70)
...

This is what I ended up with to get the sound to work with the pogo.com java games. First I created the ~/.asoundrc file, and this what I added to the ~/.asoundrc file.

!defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.ctl.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1
defaults.pcm.dmix.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.dsnoop.device defaults.pcm.device

After saving the file we have to restart ALSA

# /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart
Shutting down ALSA…done.
Setting up ALSA…done.

Note: this fix may not work for everyone.

Today Debian LiveCD was announced

The Debian Live team[0] is pleased to announce the first beta of Debian
Lenny’s Live images.

Although we missed releasing images for Etch along with the installer
images, we are now prepared to release live images within the regular
Lenny release process. This is the first official release of Debian Live
and the whole team has been working hard during the past 2.5 years[1] to
make Debian’s own[2] live systems become a reality.

Nevertheless, we do need your help to find more bugs and improve the
live systems, so please try them out. The images are available at:

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/lenny_live_beta1/

Read the full announcement email here

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has issued a warning for what it calls “active attacks” against Linux-based computing infrastructures using compromised SSH keys.

The attack appears to initially use stolen SSH keys to gain access to a system, and then uses local kernel exploits to gain root access. Once root access has been obtained, a rootkit known as “phalanx2″ is installed, US-CERT said in a note on its current activity site.

Read the full article here

I use a bluetooth headset with VLC when I am using my laptop to listen to music or video streams etc. The headset works when I add alsadev=bluetooth in ~/.vlc/vlcrc

Under the section ‘# ALSA Device Name (string)’ change it

From:

# ALSA Device Name (string)
# alsadev=default

To:

# ALSA Device Name (string)
# alsadev=default
alsadev=bluetooth

Refer to this blog post for setting up bluetooth headset here

Notes:
Problems I have come across is when you change the Audio device back to ‘default’ through Settings => Preferences => Audio => Output modules => ALSA, you have to do the above method again when you like to use bluetooth headset again.