Today I got myself IOGEAR Bluetooth 2.0 USB Micro Adapter. On Ubuntu Jaunty it works without any drivers. All you need to do is plug it in and the Bluetooth Manager indicator shows up. I was able to connect my phone in less than a minute. What I like about this device is that it is truly micro and does not block the other USB port on NC6000.

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.

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:

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.

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Windows XP Professional SP2. YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Screenshots for this howto are available here.

Prerequisite

This howto leverages setup from Securing Windows Remote Desktop with OpenSSH. Please ensure you have that setup working correctly.

Install a “Loopback Adapter” (Computer 2)

1. Verify that you are signed in as the administrator
2. Click “Start”, Click “Control Panel” and then click “Printers and Other Hardware”
3. “Printers and Other Hardware” window will open (see screenshot)
4. Click “Add Hardware” in left navigation pane
5. “Add Hardware Wizard” window will open. Click “Next”
6. Wizard will search for new hardware but not find anything
7. Wizard will ask “Have you already connected this hardware to your computer?” (see screenshot)
8. Select “Yes, I have already connected the hardware” and click “Next”
9. On the next screen all the list of existing hardware will be displayed. Scroll to the very bottom and select “Add a new hardware device” and click “Next” (see screenshot)
10. On the next screen wizard will ask “What do you want the wizard to do?”
11. Select “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)” and click “Next”
12. On the next screen select “Network adapters” and click “Next” (see screenshot)
13. On the next screen select “Microsoft” under Manufacturer and “Microsoft Loopback Adapter” under “Network Adapter” (see screenshot)
14. Click “Next”
15. On the next screen wizard will wait for your confirmation. Click “Next”
16. Wizard will install the loopback adapter and then display a message indicating Windows has finished installing the software for this device. Click “Finish”

Rename the loopback adapter (Optional step) (Computer 2)

Windows by default will name the loopback adapter similar to “Local Area Connection 2″. This is not easy to identify so it is better to rename it.

1. Click “Start”, click “Control Panel”, and then click “Network and Internet Connections”
2. Click on “Network Connections”
3. Right click on “Local Area Connection 2″ and select Rename
4. Change the name to “Loopback Adapter”

Configure the loopback adapter (Computer 2)

1. Verify that you are signed in as the administrator.
2. Click “Start”, click “Control Panel”, and then click “Network and Internet Connections”
3. Click on “Network Connections”
4. Right click on “Loopback Adapter” and select properties
5. Loopback Adapter Properties window will open.
6. Uncheck “Client for Microsoft Networks” and “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” (see screenshot)
7. Select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
8. Click “Properties” button
9. “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” window will open
10. Select “Use the following IP address:”
11. In the “IP address:” field enter 192.168.10.1
12. In the “Subnet mask:” field enter 255.255.255.0
13. Leave the “Preferred DNS server” and “Alternate DNS server” fields empty (see screenshot)
14. Click on “Advanced…”
15. “Advanced TCP/IP Settings” window will open
16. Click on “WINS” tab
17. Select “Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP” (see screenshot)
18. Click “OK”
19. You will be returned to “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties” window
20. Click “OK”
21. You will be returned to “Loopback Adapter Properties” window.
22. Uncheck “Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity”
23. Click “Close”

The next step might not be required – I had to do this for the Loopback Adapter configuration changes to take effect.

Disable/Enable the loopback adapter (Optional step) (Computer 2)

1. Click “Start”, click “Control Panel”, and then click “Network and Internet Connections”
2. Click on “Network Connections”
3. Right click on “Loopback Adapter” and select Disable
4. Right click on “Loopback Adapter” and select Enable

Configure PuTTY (Computer 2)

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 192.168.10.1:139 (Note: In PuTTY the source port field looks small but it will still allow you to enter details)
8. In the Destination field enter the IP (or hostname) and port of the machine you want to connect to. This is the machine you want to map the drive on. (In our example this would be – 192.168.1.120:139)
9. Click Add (see screenshot)
10. Click on Session in the left pane
11. Click Save button (Do not click Load again – it discard the tunnel changes you made)

Connect using PuTTY (Computer 2)

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 via SSH. (see screenshot)

Map network drive (Computer 2)

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Click on Tools->Map Network Drive
3. Select the Drive
4. In the “Folder:” field enter \\192.168.10.1\sharename (see screenshot)
5. Uncheck “Reconnect on logon”
6. Click on “different user name”
7. “Connect As” window will open
8. In the “User name:” field enter 192.168.10.1\username (replace username with a valid user on your machine)
9. In the “Password:” field enter the valid password for the user (see screenshot)
10. Click “OK”
11. You will be returned to the “Map Network Drive” window
12. Click “Finish”
13. If all went through correctly a new Windows Explorer window will open with the contents of the mapped network drive.

Disconnecting the network drive (Computer 2)

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Click on + next to “My Computer”
3. Right click the drive letter you had mapped
4. Select “Disconnect”

I have an old Compaq Evo N610c laptop that has built in Compaq Wireless LAN MultiPort W200. For OpenSUSE 10.1 and older I was using drivers built by Øystein Olsen. I have been unable to get W200 to work ever since I upgraded to openSUSE 10.2 and openSUSE 10.3. Last weekend I finally broke through by leveraging Ubuntu W200 instructions.

Disclaimer:

1. The instructions below have worked for me and tested on openSUSE 10.3 (2.6.22.17-0.1-default). 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.
3. Only WEP is supported. WPA/WPA2 do not work.
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

cpp42
curl
gcc
kernel-source
linux-kernel-headers
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

Updated 04/15/2008 – See comment from Gerhard below who had to run alternate commands to configure the Kernel on N800c.

Downlading the driver

Download the suitable revision of the orinoco_usb driver from SVN. For me revision 1297 has worked correctly.

svn co -r 1297 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 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)

Configure wireless

1. Start YaST and select Network Devices->Network Card
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 “Configure” 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 WPA is not supported)
10. Click “Next” button
11. Click “Finish” button

Testing

Open Terminal Window and run

/sbin/ifconfig

to see if you have obtained IP address.

Enjoy

Enjoy an ice cold lemonade and surf the internet from your porch

MegaPlug™ 85 Mbps Ethernet Adapter from Actiontec is a really cool product. It essentially allows you to use the existing home power lines to transmit data. How cool is that? I ordered the MegaPlug adapter in pair and was amazed at the simplicy of the setup. Just plug one adapter into 2 or 3 pin electrical outlet (connecting to power strip is not recommended) and connect it to your router. Plug another adapter into 2 or 3 pin electrical outlet in another room and connect it to the laptop (you could connect it to another router or switch too) and there you have it … stable reliable network. The CD that is included in the package contains the user manual and configuration utility that allows you to set a 4 to 24 character password which ensures security.

This is a great solution if you want to hook your TiVo or gaming consoles to the router but are worried about running wires.