This howto is targeted for Windows (quick Linux instructions are included towards bottom of this post) and leverages the SSH setup described in my earlier post Securing Windows Remote Desktop with OpenSSH. All the changes are on the Client machine. No changes are required on the machine running SSH server.

Modify Putty configuration on Client

1. Open PuTTY
2. In the Saved Sessions list click on the name you created during Securing Windows Remote Desktop with OpenSSH
3. Click Load
4. In the left pane click on + next to connection
5. Click on + next to SSH
6. Click on Tunnels
7. In the Source port field enter 9090 (Note: In PuTTY the source port field looks small but it will still allow you to enter details)
8. Leave the Destination field empty
9. Select Dynamic radio button
10. Click Add (see screenshot)
11. Click on Session in the left pane
12. Click Save button (Do not click Load again – it discard the tunnel changes you made)

Connect using PuTTY

1. Open PuTTY (if not already open)
2. In the Saved Sessions list click on the name you created during Securing Windows Remote Desktop with OpenSSH
3. Click Load
4. Click Open
5. The first time you connect you will see a security alert. Click Yes. (see screenshot)
6. You will be prompted for username/password
7. You should be successfully connected to Computer 1 (i.e SSH server) via SSH. (see screenshot)

Configure Browser proxy

1. Open FireFox Options (Tools->Options)
2. Click Advanced
3. Select Network tab and click on Settings
4. Select Manual Proxy configuration
5. Under SOCKS Host enter localhost and port 9090 (this has to match the port you entered in your Putty configuration)
6. Select SOCKS v5
7. Click OK (see screenshot)

You can now browse the Internet via a secure SSH connection. To verify go to http://www.whatismyip.com/ and you should see the external IP address of your home/trusted network. The are some handy FireFox Add-ons to make your life easier.

SwitchProxy Tool – lets you manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily  (see screenshot and usage instructions).

Live IP Address – displays your external IP address in Firefox’s status bar. With one quick glance you can verify you are secure browsing (see screenshot).

Updated on 06/15/2009 – DNS Resolution

As a reader has correctly commented below using the above technique the DNS resolution still happens at the local network and not on your trusted network. This can be altered by changing the FireFox configuration.

1. Open FireFox
2. In the address field enter about:config
3. If this is the first time you are accessing FireFox configuration you will see a waring page. Click “I’ll be careful, I promise!” (see screenshot)
4. A page displaying list of all FireFox configuration values is displayed.
5. Type ‘dns’ (without quotes) in the filter field
6. Right click on network.proxy.socks_remote_dns and select Toggle (see screenshot).
7. The Status column of the configuration page should now show user set for network.proxy.socks_remote_dns
8. Close the FireFox window

The DNS resolution step is optional but is recommended if you are browsing to certain sites that you do not want to be listed on the DNS log of the untrusted network.

Quick Linux (Ubuntu) instructions

To install SSH server open terminal window and type the following command

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Check if firewall is active

sudo ufw status

If active allow SSH traffic

sudo ufw allow ssh

Follow the instructions here to Setup Port Forwarding on your router.

To connect to the SSH server for secure browsing use the command

ssh -D 9090 username@ip-address-of-ssh-server

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Installing the required packages

The following packages need to be installed

lm-sensors – a hardware health monitoring package for Linux. It allows you to access information from temperature, voltage, and fan speed sensors. It works with most newer systems

hddtemp – monitors and reports the temperature of PATA, SATA or SCSI hard drives by reading Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) information on drives that support this feature

sensors-applet – an applet for the GNOME panel that displays readings from hardware sensors, including temperatures, fan speeds and voltage readings

computertemp – little applet for the GNOME desktop that shows the temperature of your CPU and disks in the panel.

Both sensors-applet and computertemp are applets that can be added to GNOME panel – you do not need both. Which one to use is your personal preference.

Open terminal window and type the following command

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp sensors-applet computertemp

Before we can monitor the temperatures we need to configure the sensors. sensors-detect command helps determine which kernel modules need to be loaded to use lm_sensors most effectively.

Open terminal window and type the following command

sudo sensors-detect

You will be asked a few questions. It is generally safe and recommended to accept the default answers to all questions except the last one – the default is NO. You need to answer yes so that the required entries are made in /etc/modules file. Next step is to load the new modules into the kernel

sudo /etc/init.d/module-init-tools

Now that you have everything in place you can monitor the CPU and hard drive temperatures either from the command line or add an applet to the GNOME panel.

Command line options

Open terminal window and type the following command(s)

sensors

cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/temperature

Depending on your hardware, you may have more than one sensor. On Compaq nc6000 the output was

sudo hddtemp /dev/sda

On Compaq nc6000 the output was

Using sensors applet

Add sensors applet to the panel

1. Right click on the top or bottom panel
2. Click Add to Panel
3. Scroll down and select Hardware Sensors Monitor
4. Click Add
5. Click Close

By default sensors applet does not display hard drive temperature. To add it.

1. Right click on the applet and select preferences
2. Select Sensors tab
3. Expand hddtemp
4. Check the box in Enabled
5. Click Close

You should now see the CPU and hard drive temperatures in your panel

Using computertemp applet

1. Right click on the top or bottom panel
2. Click Add to Panel
3. Scroll down and select Computer Temperature Monitor
4. Click Add
5. Click Close

To display hard drive temperature you need to add another copy of the computertemp applet.

1. Repeat the steps above and add the computertemp applet to the panel
2. Right the newly added computertemp applet and select preferences
3. Select HDDTEMP as the sensor to monitor
4. Select /dev/sda as the Thermal Zone
5. Click Close

You should now see the CPU and hard drive temperatures in your panel

Good luck!!!

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Installation:

Install Dynamic Kernel Module Support (dkms) Framework

Although this step is optional it is recommended to install the dkms package it will ensure that VirtualBox host kernel modules are properly updated if the Linux kernel version changes.

sudo apt-get install dkms

Next edit /etc/apt/sources.list file and add the following line

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty non-free

Before we proceed with the VirtualBox installation we need to add Sun’s public key for apt-secure

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Retrieve new lists of packages

sudo apt-get update

We are now ready to install VirtualBox

apt-get install virtualbox-2.2

After the installation comples you can start VirtualBox by clicking Start->System Tools->Sun VirtualBox or press Alt-F2 and run the command VirtualBox.

Ubuntu Community Documentation has good information on VirtualBox. Refer to FirstVM section for detailed instructions on creating guest operating systems.

Good luck!!!

To set the proxy for Amarok

Edit the $HOME/.kde/share/config/kioslaverc file and add the following entries

[Proxy Settings][$i]
ProxyType=1
httpProxy=http://username:password@proxyserver:port/
httpsProxy=http://username:password@proxyserver:port/
ftpProxy=http://username:password@proxyserver:port/

Save the file and restart Amarok and you should be able to access the lyrics service and fetch cover art from the internet.

Update 05/30/2009: Also see VirtualBox – virtualization alternative to VMWare

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

All the screenshots for this howto can be accessed here.

Install required dependencies

Open terminal window and type the following command

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd gcc-3.4

Create required directories

In this guide I am using $HOME/Downloads as the base directory. You can choose any directory of your choice. Open terminal prompt and type the following command

mkdir $HOME/Downloads

Download VMWare Server

Download VMware Server 2 for Linux Operating Systems TAR image and save it in $HOME/Downloads.

If you already have a VMWare account login with the account. If not complete the registration process. Please make sure you use a valid email address because you will receive VMWare server activation instructions including the serial number via email.

Installing and Configuring VMWare Server

1. Unpack the downloaded archive. Open the terminal window (if not already open) and type the following command

   cd $HOME/Downloads
   tar -zxvf VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz

2. Now change to the installation directory

   cd vmware-server-distrib

3. Run the installation script

   sudo ./vmware-install.pl

4. The installation script will prompt for the directory locations for binary files, initialization scripts, daemon files, library files, manual files, and documentation files. Unless you have a custom installation of Ubuntu accept the default responses.
5. A message indicating successful installation of VMWare Server for Linux will be displayed.
6. When prompted to run /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl choose yes.
   Note: As per VMWare server documentation configuration with vmware-config.pl is required in the following circumstances:
   • When you install VMware Server for the first time.
   • When you upgrade your version of VMware Server.
   • When you upgrade your host operating system kernel. (It is not necessary to reinstall VMware Server after you upgrade your kernel.)
   • To reconfigure the networking options for VMware Server. For example, to add or remove a virtual network.
7. The configuration script will attempt to stop the Virtual Machines and VMWare management services. Failed message will be displayed. This is normal. Ignore the failures.
8. Read and accept the End User License Agreement.
9. The configuration script will now prompt for information. Unless you have a custom installation of Ubuntu accept the default responses.
10. When prompted “Do you want networking for your virtual machines?” type yes.
11. VMWare Server provides three choices for networking – Bridged, NAT and HostOnly. This howto installs all three. Before proceeding I strongly recommend reading Networking Basics on page 212 of VMWare Server User’s Guide.
12. By default configuration script creates a “Bridged” network
13. If you have  multiple ethernet network interfaces available (wired and wireless) you will be prompted to choose the network interface to bridge for virtual machines. If you wish to bridge the other ethernet network interface answer yes to the “Do you wish to configure another bridged network?” prompt.
14. Answer yes to “Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines?” and accept the default responses.
15. Answer yes to “Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?”
16. Accept default ports for remote, http and https connections (If you are already using those ports change the port number when prompted).
17. Answer yes to “Would you like to specify a different administrator?”
18. You will be prompted to enter the user for VMWare administrator. Enter the user you are currently logged in as. (Tip: To find the user open terminal window and run the command whoami)
19. You will be prompted to enter the 20-character serial number. You should have received this via email when you download the TAR image.
20. Almost done. Accept default responses for the rest of the prompts.
21. You should see message indicating starting of VMware services, VMware management services and VMware autostart virtual machines.
22. Successful completion of VMWare Server for Linux message will be displayed and you will be returned to the terminal prompt.
23. Type exit to close the terminal window.

Creating a new Virtual Machine

1. VMWare Server interface is web based and can be accessed by going to http://127.0.0.1:8222. (see screenshot)
2. To login use the VMWare administrator you created in step 18 above
3. Once you are successfully logged in the host workspace screen is displayed (see screenshot)
4. To create a new Virtual Machine click on “Create Virtual Machine” link
5. Create Virtual Machine wizard window will open.
6. On the “Name and Location” page change the name to “Windows_XP_PRO” and select “standard” datastore. The standard datastore is created when you install VMWare. Click Next. (see screenshot)
7. On the “Guest Operating System” page select “Windows operating system” and change the version to “Windows XP Professional (32-bit)”. Click Next. (see screenshot)
8. On the “Memoy and Processors” change the memory size and CPU count if required. The default settings work OK. Click Next. (see screenshot)
9. On the “Hard Disk” page select “Create a New Virtual Disk”. Click Next. (see screenshot)
10. On the “Hard Disk Properties” page change the capacity and location if required. Click Next. (see screenshot)
11. On the “Network Adapter” page select “Add a Network Adapter” and click Next. (see screenshot)
12. On the “Network Adapter Properties” page select network connection type (please see Networking Basics on page 212 of VMWare Server User’s Guide) and check Yes. Click Next. (see screenshot)
13. On the “CD/DVD Drive” page select “Use a Physical Drive” and click Next. (see screenshot)
14. On the “CD/DVD Drive Properties” page select the Host CD/DVD Drive and click Next. (see screenshot)
15. On the “Floppy Drive” page the option “Use a Physical Drive” will be disabled if your machine does not have a Floppy Drive. If you do not wish to use Floppy Drive on the Virtual Machine select “Don’t Add a Floppy Drive”. Click Next. (see screenshot)
16. On the “USB Controller” page select “Add a USB Controller” and click Next. (see screenshot)
17. On the “Ready to Complete” page review your selection. Click Finish. (see screenshot)
18. You will be returned to host workspace screen and the new virtual machine will be listed under the Inventory.

Installing Operating System on the new Virtual Machine

1. Click on Windows_XP_Pro from the inventory list
2. Click on the Console tab of the virtual machine. (see screenshot)
3. To use the console you need VMWare Remote Console Plug-in.
4. Click the Install plug-in link
5. Firefox might prevent installation of the software. Click the Allow button. (see screenshot)
6. Firefox Software Installation screen will appear. Click Install Now. (see screenshot)
7. After successful installation of the plug-in you will be prompted to restart Firefox. Click Restart Firefox.
8. Open the VMWare Server interface going to http://127.0.0.1:8222
9. Login with the correct username / password.
10. Once you are successfully logged in the host workspace screen is displayed
11. Insert the Windows XP installation CD in the CD/DVD drive of your PC.
12. Click on the Console tab of the virtual machine. (see screenshot)
13. Click Virtual Machine from the top navigation and then select Power On/Resume (The green Play button on the top navigation can also be used to Power On the virtual machine) (see screenshot)
14. Click anywhere within the console tab to open it in a new window. (see screenshot)
15. The new Virtual Machine will boot from the CD and the Windows XP installation screen will be visible. (see screenshot)
16. Proceed with installing Windows XP as you would on a stand alone PC. (Please remember to run Windows Update to install all the latest updates)
17. You can now remove the Windows XP installation CD in the CD/DVD drive of your PC

Installing VMWare Tools

VMWare Tools is a set of utilities that help management of the virtual machine and also enhances performance. It is strongly recommended installing VMWare Tools

1. In VMWare Infrastructure Web Access window select Windows XP from the inventory list.
2. Power On the Virtual Machine if required
3. Click on “Install VMWare Tools” link
4. VMWare Tools installation dialog box will appear. Click Install (see screenshot)
5. Click on the Console tab of the virtual machine and then click anywhere to open the console in new window.
6. VMWare Tools installation wizard will be visible. Click Next. (see screenshot)
7. Select Typical and click Next (see screenshot)
8. Click Install. (see screenshot)
9. Click Finish (see screenshot)
10. Click Yes to restart (see screenshot)

Shutting down Virtual Machine

1. In VMWare Infrastructure Web Access window select Windows XP from the inventory list
2. Click Virtual Machine from the top navigation and then select Power Off/  (The red Stop button on the top navigation can also be used to Power On the virtual machine) (see screenshot)

You also may shutdown by selecting Start->Turn Off Computer

Licensing

Installation of Windows under a virtual machine requires a license as well. Microsoft has a virtualization license plan whereby customers can pay license fees for the number of processors the software will run on in virtual mode.

Final Thoughts

I find virtualization very helpful and run multiple Virtual Machines. VMWare Server supports a range of Windows and Linux host operating systems. Please refer to page 25-26 of the of VMWare Server User’s Guide. Follow the instructions above to create a new Virtual Machine and select the operating system of your choice.

Good luck on your VMWare journey.

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq Evo N610c running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) and Compaq Armada M300 running XUbuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

1. Open Terminal Window
2. If you already know your hostname skip to step 4
3. To find your hostname run the following command

hostname

4. Make a copy of the existing dhclient configuration file

sudo cp /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.original

5. Edit the dhclient configuration file

sudo vi /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf

6. Search for the line send host-name (On XUbuntu it is missing completely and you will need to add it in)
7. Uncomment the line and replace <hostname> with the hostname identified in step 3. The line should look similar to (don’t leave out the semi-colon at the end)

send host-name "ubuntu-laptop";

8. Save the file and exit gedit
9. Restart networking

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

That’s it … test if other machines on the network can now look up your machine by using the FQDN. If you notice something wrong you can always restore the original dhclient configuration file.

The above instructions should work for KUbuntu too although I have not validate it myself.

I happen to have the optional Mobile Expansion Unit (MEU) for docking the M300 and hence can use the CD ROM drive. If you do not have the Mobile Expansion Unit and have a purely disk less M300 you can still install XUbuntu on it although it is a bit more complicated. See UbuntuGeek’s post on Installing Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Edubuntu/Xubuntu without CDROM Drive.

M300 does not have enough horsepower so install via Live CD does not work. Use Alternate install CD instead. During the install process the detection of the network adapter fails. Ignore this error and continue with the install. The rest of the install should go smoothly.

When XUbuntu starts 2 things do not work correctly – the network adapter and the sound card. Both of this can be fixed by loading the appropriate modules.

First step is to identify the type of network adapter and sound card. To do this open the terminal window and run the command lspci

lucidtipster@lucidtips:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (AGP disabled) (rev 03)
00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1211
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage LT Pro (rev dc)
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1978 Maestro 2E (rev 10)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 09)
00:09.1 Serial controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem

The listing above tells us that the network adapter is Intel Pro/100+ Mini PCI Ethernet and the sound card is ESS Maestro 2E sound card

To load the module for network adapter. Open the command prompt and run the command

sudo modprobe eepro100

At this time if you do not see any error message your network adapter should be working. If you are configured for DHCP you should have aquired an IP address. To check open the terminal window and run the command

ifconfig

If you did get an IP successfully you should be able to browse the internet. If you did not get an IP try running the following commands.

sudo ifdown eth0
sudo ifup eth0

Now again check if you have acquired an IP. One down and one to go … To load the module for sound card open the command prompt and run the command

sudo modprobe snd-es1968

If you do not see any error message your sound card too should be working as well. Download sample.ogg to test the sound.

To make sure both these modules are loaded automatically upon system boot up modify the /etc/modules file and add the following lines to it.

eepro100
snd-es1968

To edit the /etc/modules file using vi the command is

sudo vi /etc/modules

The content of my /etc/modules file is listed below

lucidtipster@lucidtips:~$ cat /etc/modules
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

loop
lp
fuse
eepro100
snd-es1968

Lastly my M300 had old BIOS from 1999 and I would get an error message during booting. I managed to fix this by downloading and upgrading to the latest BIOS. This too turned out to be a little tricky because I had to make a bootable CD with the BIOS upgrade on it.

Update 26-Jan-2009 – By popular demand I am adding ISO image and BIOS Upgrade Instructions

1. Download ISO for bootable CD with BIOS upgrade
2. Burn CD from the ISO image
3. Boot using CD
4. Change to X Drive
5. Change to M300 directory
6. Run ROMPAQ.EXE to launch the BIOS upgrade program

Good luck!!!

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Prerequisites

Check if your video card can support 3D graphics

1. Click on System->Preferences->Appearance
2. Select Visual Effects tab
3. Select Normal or Extra
4. If you see “Desktop effects could not be enabled” message then your video card cannot support 3D graphics and you will not be able to use these docks.
5. Click Close

Install compizconfig-settings-manager

To you use AWN or Cairo Dock you need to have composite manager such as Compiz-Fusion installed. You can install it using Synaptics Package Manager (System->Administration->Synaptics Package Manager) OR from the command line using the following command (you will be prompted for password)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Avant Window Navigator (AWN)

AWN positions itself at the bottom of the screen and can be used to keep track of open windows and behaves like a normal window list. Appreance and functionality of AWN can be customized via various plugins and applets that are available for download. By default it does not include themes.

AWN Wiki states that the AWN package included in Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) LTS however it is very old and outdated. It recommends using PPA to install the packages instead. To do this edit /etc/apt/sources.list file using either vi or gedit and add the following lines

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main

Now you need to update the package cache

sudo apt-get update

You are now ready to install AWN

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-trunk awn-manager-trunk awn-extras-applets-trunk

Now that AWN is installed you can start it from the menu Applications-> Accessories->Avant Window Navigator

To have AWN autostart when you reboot your machine select Automatically start AWN on login on the General tab of awn-manager.

Cairo Dock

Cairo Dock is similar to AWN and can be used to launch application and utilize small applets that reside on the bar. You can attach it to either top or bottom of your screen and is highly configurable.

There are more than one way to install Cairo Dock and the instructions below are for using the repositories. You can also install Cairo Dock with the deb package

Similar to AWN Cairo Dock too has its repositories. You first need to download and install the signed key for authentication. This prevents security errors from popping up. Open Terminal Window and run the following command

wget -q http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu/cairo-dock.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Next edit /etc/apt/sources.list file using either vi or gedit and add the following lines

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock

Once again update the package cache

sudo apt-get update

You are now ready to install Cairo Dock

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

To run Cairo Dock press Alt-F2 and type cairo-dock

Minimizing / Closing Bottom Gnome Panel

If you are going to use AWN or Cairo Dock the default GNome panel at the bottom of the screen is redundant. You can close or minimize it.

Final Thoughts

So which one is better – well try both and decide for yourself it ain’t gonna break anything. My personal preference is Cairo Dock. It is much nicer to use comes with a bunch of themes/launchers that you can use.

Disclaimer:

1. The instructions below have worked for me and tested on Compaq EVO N610c running openSUSE 11.0 (2.6.25.11-0.1-pae). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to your machine.
2. Using KNetwork Manager with W200 causes system to hang up. Use ifup instead. (On SUSE forums it has been mentioned that my post is wrong and you do not need to disable KNetwork Manager. However I have to admit I have not figured out a way to make W200 work with KNetwork Manager).
3. I have only tested with WEP. Do not know the status of WPA/WPA2. If you do test with WPA/WPA2 I would appreciate your feedback.
4. You need to repeat these steps after any kernel updates.

Prerequisites

Check your kernel version

uname -r

Using YaST Software Management install the following packages

cpp43
curl
gcc
kernel-source
linux-kernel-headers
make
subversion

Configure the kernel

Before we proceed further we need to configure the kernel source

cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
su
(root password)
cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
make oldconfig
make prepare

Downlading the driver

Download the suitable revision of the orinoco_usb driver from SVN. For me revision 1300 has worked correctly.

svn co -r 1300 https://orinoco.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/orinoco/branches/usb/

Compile and install the driver

cd usb
make
sudo make install

Download the firmware

The firmware directory has a script that makes this task easier

cd firmware
./get_ezusb_fw

Copy firmware to appropriate location

sudo cp orinoco_ezusb_fw /lib/firmware

Activating the adapter

Almost there … load driver into the kernel

sudo /sbin/modprobe -v orinoco_usb

The tiny green light on the side of W200 should come on. Eureka!!! (if it did not come on, try rebooting)

Disable KNetwork Manager and Configure wireless card

1. Start YaST and select Network Devices->Network Settings
2. You should see “Compaq WLAN Multiport W200″ listed there with “Not configured” in the IP Address column
3. Before we proceed we need to disable use of KNetwork Manager. Click on “Global Options” tab and select “ifup” instead of KNetwork Manager
4. Click on “Overview” tab
5. Select “Compaq WLAN Multiport W200″ and click the “Edit” button
6. Click on “General” tab. Select “At Boot Time” under “Device Activation”
7. Click on “Address Tab”. Select “Dynamic Address DHCP” or Statically Assigned IP Address depending on your network setup.
8. Click on “Next” button
9. On Wireless Device Settings select “Managed” under “Operating Mode” and other options to match your network settings (reminder I have only tested with WEP. If you do test with WPA/WPA2 do send me your feedback)
10. Click “Next” button
11. Click “Finish” button

Configure Wireless Connection

Now you need to configure the wireless connection and since we have disabled KNetwork Manager all this needs to be done via command line. It is very easy to do and the command that does this is iwconfig.

iwconfig <interface> essid <ESSID> key <wirelesskey> mode <managed|master|secondary|ad-hoc|monitor|repeater|auto>

Example (Open Terminal Window and run)

sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid "Linksys" key abcd1234 mode managed

susegeek has a good post on using iwconfig to configure wireless.

You now need to stop start your wireless card for the changes to take effect. Open Terminal Window and run

sudo /sbin/ifdown eth1
sudo /sbin/ifup eth1

Testing

Open Terminal Window and run

/sbin/ifconfig

to see if you have obtained IP address.

The final step of the journey is to make sure you can surf the internet. To truly test this we should disable the wired network card

sudo /sbin/ifdown eth0

Now see if you are able to traceroute

/usr/sbin/traceroute www.google.com

If you did not get any errors you should be able to launch Firefox or Konqueror and surf your favorite web sites.

Prevent KNetwork Manager from auto starting

KNetwork Manager hangs while using W200. I have not been able to figure out how to get W200 to work with KNetwork Manager. In SUSE forms it has been mentioned that my instructions are incorrect and KNetwork Manager does work with W200 if you use wpa_supplicant package. I would appreciate if someone could tell me how I can update this post entry which could help other openSUSE users as well.

To prevent KNetwork Manager from auto starting when machine is started open the Terminal Window and run the following command

sudo mv /opt/kde3/share/autostart/knetworkmanager-autostart.desktop $HOME/

Modify boot.local file

In my testing I noticed that when the laptop was rebooted the DNS settings would not stick. I got around this by modifying the /etc/init.d/boot.local file

sudo vi /etc/init.d/boot.local

and add the line

/sbin/dhclient eth1

Save the file and reboot the laptop and ensure you are able to connect to the internet via the wireless card.

Final Thoughts

I am not sure why I had to run iwconfig in addition to wireless card configuration made via YaST. Maybe just running dhclient would have sufficed but the steps above are the sequence I followed and it worked out all right. I would appreciate your feedback. Good luck!!!

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq Evo N610c running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

The packages for both Pen and Balance are available for Ubuntu (both packages are available for OpenSUSE as well). You do not need both Balance and Pen. Either one of them will work. I have included instructions for both so you can test them yourselves and decide which works best.

Installing Balance on Ubuntu

Balance is simple but powerful generic tcp proxy with round robin load balancing and failover mechanisms. It is Open Source Software and released under GPL licensing terms. Inlab Software the developers of Balance also have a commercial version called BalanceNG^®

To install Balance run the following command (see screenshot)

sudo apt-get install balance

Using Balance

It is very easy to use Balance. The syntax is

balance port host1 host2

So if you wanted to setup load balancing for two machines that run Apache the command would be

sudo balance -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108

The -df tells Balance to display debugging and tracing information messages on the screen and to stay in the foreground. Note we need to run using sudo because we are trying to access ports lower than 1024. (see screenshot)

To use failover mechanism the you need to specify the failover host

sudo balance -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108 ! 192.168.1.110

See Balance Manual for more information

Installing Pen on Ubuntu

To install Pen the command is (see screenshot)

sudo apt-get install pen

Using Pen

Pen usage syntax is very similar to Balance

pen port host1 host2

To setup load balancing for two machines that run Apache the command would be

sudo pen -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108

The -df displays debugging and tracing information messages on the screen and stay in the foreground. Note we need to run using sudo because we are trying to access ports lower than 1024. (See screenshot)

See Pen web site for more information

Though Load Balancing as listed above is not suitable for Production systems it certainly is helpful if you are developing software and want to test how it would behave behind a load balancer.