xinabox

linux - timezone/time changes

2009-11-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

Links:
Brief clock-setting example Ntpd daemon documentation (in depth)
Clock processes on Red Hat Clock processes in Archlinux

The Red Hat link describes time features functionally with some commands. The Archlinux link includes specific configuration file information.

Overview of clock/timezones in Slack/Zenwalk

The hardware clock, more technically the RTC (Real Time Clock), is the battery powered clock that sits on the motherboard. The software system clock grabs this when it boots. But many people want more accuracy and also run the ntpd daemon. After booting, NTPD periodically checks calibrated servers via the Web and makes corrections to the system clock. At shutdown, the system time is written to the hardware clock to keep it reasonably accurate as well. So, the chain of timekeeping goes something like this:

RTC -> System Clock (once,at boot) ->System Clock (corrected by NTPD) -> Timezone offset -> Desktop display

Singular to Zenwalk, I believe, is the file /etc/hardwareclock. An editable text file with one entry of either "localtime" or "UTC" (minus the quotes). I use 'UTC' (also known as GST or GMT): 1) UTC is the time served from the Web's ntp network time servers which means the system clock uses UTC, and 2) people traditionally know their timezone offsets against UTC, eg "My timezone is GMT -5", etc. Edit and save this file as administrator with any text editor such as geany or mousepad: # geany /etc/hardwareclock.

Hardware clock (RTC)
In any linux distribution, the command to view the hardware clock's time:
# hwclock

While I'm fussing around with time, the command for synchronizing the hardware clock with the NTP corrected system clock:
# hwclock --systohc

If for some reason one wanted to set the system time to the hardware clock (this is what happens at boot):
# hwclock --hctosys

System clock
Back to the story. The system clock periodically receives an accurate UTC/GST/GMT from ntpd . Settings are configured in /etc/ntp.conf and one can check operation with # service list. One can also force an update to the system clock. Turn off ntpd, (# service stop ntpd), to free the ntp port. Then, pick a time server, say one at ldsbc.edu, and :
# ntpdate ntp-nist.ldsbc.edu

To view the system clock, for example to verify an update:
$ date

Timezone offset
With a proper system time, one then wants the correct timezone offset in one's desktop/laptop time display. I currently have mine set to EST, but suppose I were to fly to Chicago, how do I set the timezone? Most of the answer is in /usr/share/zoneinfo.

The file /etc/localtime is supposed to be a soft ("sym")link pointing to the correct timezone in /usr/share/zoneinfo. In my system, there was a hard file in /etc/localtime instead of a symlink. Accordingly, to be sure, I removed both files and and created a new symlink to the correct timezone. For instance, since Chicago is CST, this would be the process when flying to Chicago:

# rm -r /etc/localtime
# rm -r /usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime
# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central /etc/localtime

With these three commands, and setting /etc/hardwareclock to UTC, all should be good at the next reboot.

Sometimes a system is sticky even with this. If that's the case, do all of the above and also export the time variable $TZ, to the kernel. For example in PST regions:

$ export TZ=PST8PDT

A few ancillary notes

the directory /usr/share/zoneinfo contains the premade time zone options. It appears all potential time zones are in here.

the timezone file /etc/localtime appears filled with weird symbols like it's a bin file. It can't therefore be edited with a text editor.

the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory contains two soft links: localtime -> /etc/localtime, and timeconfig -> /usr/sbin/timeconfig. The symlink for /etc/localtime is explained above, but I'm uncertain why the timeconfig application would be linked here since it can easily be ran in any terminal.

zenwalk - package management

2009-10-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Links:
Forum Thread: Prior release repositories
Forum Thread: Making a local repository for a release

The Zenwalk OS (Slackware-based) is updated once or twice a year. Following an update, the mirrors for packages (programs) are also updated and contain the latest package versions.

Let's suppose I like to use the audacious package to play music. In order to keep the installation disc as small as possible, packages such as audacious are not included in the Zenwalk installation disc. These additional packages are retrieved separately from one of the package mirrors. Open a terminal and it's easy to download and install any Zenwalk package (in this case, audacious) using the command line:

# netpkg audacious

Or, if removing:

# netpkg -remove audacious

That's about all there is to installing or removing applications Zenwalk maintains.

Maintaining Previous Versions
As noted above, Zenwalk releases entirely new distributions once or twice a year. What if I don't want to upgrade my entire operating system, but I still want to install applications? For example, suppose I've had Zenwalk 6.0 installed for a year before I remember I want to install audacious. I try to netpkg audacious but, when I do, I discover Zenwalk has upgraded to v.6.4. If I try to install the newer version of audacious, netpkg asks to upgrade portions of v.6.0. I can let netpkg do this, but maybe I don't want parts of my system to be in 6.4, while other parts are in 6.0. How do I avoid upgrading to 6.4, but still get the packages I want for 6.0?

Three Solutions

Solution a -- install without using netpkg
One can always go to the home page of any application they desire and simply download, unpack, configure, compile, and install the general release tarball (.tgz). In the case of audacious, the home page is http://audacious-media-player.org/. One might want to check for dependencies when doing so.

But a couple of solutions for installing older software can be accomplished inside of the netpkg package manager. Both of these require a small degree of manipulation of the /etc/netpkg.conf file. The second option additionally requires manipulation of the /usr/libexec/netpkg-functions file.

Solution b -- point netpkg to prior release mirrors
For a period of time after a new Zenwalk release, a few mirrors contain the previous release. One must open the /etc/netpkg.conf file with a text editor and manually add URLs for older mirrors. After doing so, I run

# netpkg mirror

and select one of the older mirrors. I found a few prior release URLs listed here, and had success with this mirror: http://viking.zenwalk.org/i486/current-old. Other archive URLs can probably be Googled, but there is a limitation to this solution: archive mirrors trail the current Zenwalk release by only one version. Users therefore only have a grace period of 6 months to a year before they will be forced to upgrade to some extent. The more permanent solution is the one below.

Solution c -- download all desired packages for dvd or other local access
This is a permanent solution, in case one wishes to never upgrade Zenwalk. The catch here is one needs to consider nearly any application they might need, because thinking of it two years later will be too late (if that happens, just use "solution a"). To download all potential applications in a Zenwalk release is roughly 10GB. I then alter netpkg to find the files on my hard drive or a dvd, instead of on a mirror. Alterations include the /etc/netpkg.conf and /usr/libexec/netpkg-functions files. Here are instructions:local repository

Supposedly it's also possible to point to a DVD with everything on it (if Apache is running) with this URL added to /etc/netpkg.conf and selected via # netpkg mirror:

http://localhost:8000

!! For "solution c", it's necessary to download PACKAGES.txt and PACKAGES.txt.gz/ from the mirror. Netpkg appears unable to traverse directories to locate packages without these meta-information files. Get these files before the previous release mirrors move to a newer release or face recreating them manually, a time-consuming, nearly prohibitive task.

Browser ID String - User Agent

2009-09-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Links:
User Agent Switcher

Superficial entry here. I'm a Yahoo! Premium User but, even if I weren't, I believe I'm supposed to have access to their News videos. I don't, using Firefox, currently version 3. I sent them an email some months back and they assured me that their videos are tested and viewable on Firefox. Um... no. Or maybe "yes" on some version on some system they created. Anyway, eventually I had little choice but to pursue the annoyance of a User Agent spoofer.

USER AGENT SWITCHER ("UAS")
I went ahead with the popular User-Agent Switcher developed by Chris Pederick. It installs easily and then ones simply restarts Firefox.

ADDITIONAL INFO
This is a good piece of software, but doesn't have the three or four strings I wanted to use. I wanted to save the large file that comes with UAS, but also to make my own short list so that I would only need to select from three options, and the menu would therefore be much smaller and more useful.

1) Backed up the ID files that came with UAS. This is in

/home/$USER/.mozilla/firefox/[random].default/useragentswitcher/useragents.xml

I backed it up: $ cp useragents.xml useragents.bak, and then opened the original useragents.xml file and added the strings I wanted from various GIS's. The one which allowed me to view content in Yahoo was:

layman data III

2009-09-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Helpful links:
**Google MySQL Primer
CERT Bulletins
Webmaster World Forum
Simulate foreign keys - MyISAM
Cascading and key constraints - MyISAM, InnoDB, NDB
Create tables using PHP script

This is the third in the series, though not meant as a coherent progression. A random collection of tidbits or crumbs to follow. Recently:

* Cascading and foreign key constraints with different engines. My webhoster provides only the MyISAM engine, so no foreign keys. Foreign keys are the "relation" in an RDBMS, auto-updating child relations when a parent is updated, cascading inserts and deletes, and so on. This apparently can be approximated in a number of ways in MyISAM. TRIGGERs can be created, loops which do multiple inserts, etc. The InnoDB engine makes this process native from the time of creating the tables. Much easier. To switch between engines in existing tables, we use:
ALTER TABLE tablename TYPE = MyISAM;
* Added CERT link above. The CERT bulletin link above quickly reveals the many injection threats arising each week. It appears one has to lock-down the code of a production server which, in turn, apparently requires time and patience to learn and implement.
* Scripts to install tables. Appear to format as .sql dump files but without the data inside.
* Proper documentation, once this is more focused and defined. So far, a simple RTF file using underline for primary, and italic for foreign key, has been helpfully direct. Seen it elsewhere too, but read it in Welling, L., Thomson, L. (2008). PHP and MySQL® Web Development, Fourth Edition. Addison-Wesley Professional. pg 208-209 informit link ~$50.

REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY

layman data II

2009-09-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

A difficult intercomplexity, combined with an annoying resource drain of running Apache, PostgreSQL (or MySQL), PHP, and a browser (taken together, a LAMP) are required these days. If one has photos or a lot of other files, something besides file folders are needed and they cannot be managed without a LAMP unless one has a CS degree or can afford Oracle. I run a LAMP on my website to make files accessible, but the provider where I park the site has older versions of all this software. This makes the LAMP vanilla and slower (eg., no InnoDB). Additionally, there are no options for PostgreSQL.

Since I prefer PostgreSQL, for the LAMP on my local drive, I created a LAPP, substituting Postgres for MySQL. Even on a local drive, security issues arise. Apache, Postgresql, PHP, and some browsers require ports. I want to be sure no ports are open to the outside. Learning how to lock-down Apache, PostgreSQL, and PHP to make them only localhost accessible is a work in progress. Configuration files need to be altered for localhost only, but it appears there is more to it than this, if one is simultaneously connected on the Web.

On this local drive, running hybridized Slackware (Zenwalk), a reliable LAMP exists out of the box, but morphing it to a PostgreSQL LAPP required compiling PostgreSQL and PHP (see "Notes" below). The kernel didn't require alteration and a recompile, thankfully.

Notes

Install PostgreSQL(source, don't use netpkg) and MySQL(netpkg) first. In Zenwalk, PHP is precompiled without PostgreSQL support. PHP must therefor be recompiled with it: "--with-pgsql=/usr/local".

Default Users, Ports, Home

Postgresql - user:postgres, port 5432, /usr/local/pgsql. Apache - user:root, port 80, /etc/httpd.conf. PHP - /usr/local/lib/php. MySQL - user?, port 3306, usr/share/mysql. I compile Postgresql instead of netpkging it because of a Catch-22 that occurs after installation. One would have to log in and out every time they wanted to use the database or create group permission trees. On a standalone, it's easier to compile Postgresql and initialize with the user as the owner instead of "postgres". Create databases using

PostgreSQL

FIRSTRUN DBMS - Compiling is easier downstream than Zenwalk. When compiling, simply supply one's username during initdb, eg. if one's username were "foo": $ initdb foo --encoding=utf8 --locale=POSIX .Then just make some directory in /home like "/home/pgsql" and # chown -R 1000:100 /home/pgsql so "foo" can use it at will. If using Zenwalk, postgresql.conf and pg_hba.conf must be configured prior to first run. Zenwalk also makes the default user postgres, so its password needs to be created: # passwd postgres, and enter a simple password. A note of confusion for Zenwalk is that "postgres" is both the god user of the DBMS, but also a command to start the DBMS ("postmaster" is deprecated).
START/STOP DBMS - # service start/stop postgresql (Zenwalk), or # postgres -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/ -r logname.txt. This second command starts the database at its default location and provides a logname of choice.
DATABASE FILES Zenwalk installs a PostgreSQL tablespace at /var/lib/pgsql/data, but if installing from source they go to /usr/lib/pgsql. # createdb -U postgres -W -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/sub01 -E utf8 -e employees.

Apache

START/STOP - # service start/stop httpd (Zenwalk), or # apachectl start/stop (any distro). Checkit by pointing browser to "http://localhost".
CONFIG FILES - Netpkg handles it, but following PHP recompile, Apache configuration tweaks are necessary for PHP serving. A short list is here. Additionally, one must open /etc/apache/mod_php.conf and provide the complete path to libphp5.so, typically /usr/libexec/apache/libphp5.so, if it's not in there. Following changes, restart httpd, which should initialize PHP.
HTML FILES - (Zenwalk) We can serve files from anywhere on our hardisk through the browser, but it's easiest to put them in /var/www/htdocs/, because this is the default. To write to here from logs or anything, it can't be done easily since /var/www/ is owned by root. A solution is to create a new group.

PHP

START/STOP - # php -v. This command checks for the version. PHP loads as an Apache module, not as a separate program. I used #netpkg remove php to remove the Zenwalk version of PHP. I did this because the netpkg (Zenwalk) version fails to support PostgreSQL.

COMPILE - necessary for PostgreSQL; netpkg PHP does not support Postgres. The configuration phase, prior to "make", is critical. The correct syntax for the PostgreSQL functionality is --with-pgsql=/usr/local. However other options, can be useful. Taking most situations into account, a reasonable configure string might be:


$ ./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/sbin/apxs  \
 --with-pgsql=/usr/local   \
 --with-mysql=/usr/share  \
 --with-libxml-dir=/usr/lib  \
 --with-curl=/usr/bin/curl  \
 --with-zlib  \
 --with-gettext  \
 --with-gdbm  \
 --enable-inline-optimization \
 --enable-track-vars

"Make", then root "make install"; it installs to /usr/local/lib/php. Copy the ini files to there: # cp php.ini* /usr/local/lib/php/. Pick one of the two to be the ini file, eg # cp php.ini-development /etc/apache/php.ini. It can be tweaked later.

Other

layman data I

2009-08-04T19:17:00.001-07:00

Helpful links:
**Google MySQL Primer
MySQL Forge
OpenSourceCMS compare
insert data from html
html data entry formats
useful php code
Blog w/simple folksonomy schemas

introduction

Folders and a file manager aren't sufficient for speedy file retrieval once a few thousand documents are accumulated. Further, they don't allow for proper metadata storage. I'm sure many home users are in this situation.Our needs are great, but we are basically forced to rely on folders and a file manager or to contact, say, Oracle and pay business rates. And the only in-between option seems to be to go to all the trouble of learning how to build and implement a CMS such as a LAMP or to install a boggy pre-designed LAMP like Joomla or Drupal.

I had a few considerations:

PostgreSQL data warehouse

browser initiated query ability (JavaScript, PHP, blah blah blah)

methods to vacuum, backup, and restore the DB

a schema representing the above in some reasonably intuitive way

relationships

The problem was how to establish relationships between a file and several tags. Three commonly used schemas are MySQLicious, Scuttle, and Toxi. There are others, more complex, and faster, but my provider is simple and only has MySQL. Toxi appeared passable for my arrangement. The key though is the PHP to enter the relationships, and in the proper order. Anyway, first, the schemas. This site shows the three options utilizing ER modeling but crows feet is probably the clearest representation. Crow's feet versions can be seen in some of the representations in the blog link above the introduction.

mysql

The provider on which my site is parked only provides MySQL for manipulation. This was OK for a trial run. Below are the three tables, taken more or less verbatim from MySQL Forge's excellent page:
CREATE TABLE Items ( item_id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , item_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL /* Many more attributes of the item... */ , PRIMARY KEY (item_id) ) ENGINE=InnoDB;
CREATE TABLE Tags ( tag_id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , tag_text TEXT NOT NULL , PRIMARY KEY (tag_id) , UNIQUE INDEX (tag_text) ) ENGINE=InnoDB;
CREATE TABLE Item2Tag ( item_id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL , tag_id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL , PRIMARY KEY (item_id, tag_id) , INDEX (tag_id) , FOREIGN KEY fk_Item (item_id) REFERENCES Items (item_id) , FOREIGN KEY fk_Tag (tag_id) REFERENCES Tags (tag_id) ) ENGINE=InnoDB;
With these I was nearly able to be up and running, but I received an error when attempting to create "Tags", namely that:
Error: tag_text used in key specification without a key length
I changed UNIQUE INDEX (tag_text) to index on the first 12 characters:
UNIQUE INDEX (tag_text(12))
The table was created properly but my provider does not allow for the InnoDB and so the command was subverted to the ungainly MyISAM. Nothing I could do there. Subsequently, however, I added a column to the table to provide more complete descriptions of files:
ALTER TABLE `mydb`.`mytable` ADD COLUMN `item_desc` TEXT NOT NULL AFTER `item_name`
I wanted a column to list the page numbers or slide numbers of whatever file I was looking at:
ALTER TABLE `mydb`.`mytable` ADD COLUMN `item_pages` SMALLINT NOT NULL DEFAULT '1' AFTER `item_name`

BACKUP AND RESTORE
Tutorials describe back-ups using phpMyAdmin , or directly from a PHP browser page.

html

Challenges include setting up forms inside a table, the order of html and php, and resetting the form after the submission of data. An example of a form inside a table, with a reset function after the data is submitted: <form action="insert1.php" method="post" onsubmit="this.submit(); this.reset(); return false"> <table bordercolorlight="#CFCFCF" bordercolordark="#FFFFFF" border="1" bordercolor="#cfcfcf" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="left" bgcolor="#009dd0" valign="top"><b><font color="#ffffff">description</font></b></td> <td bgcolor="#009dd0"><b><font color="#ffffff">tags</font></b></td> <td bgcolor="#009dd0"><b><font color="#ffffff">slides/pages</font></b></td> <td bgcolor="#009dd0"><b><font color="#ffffff">filename</font></b></td> </tr> <tr> <td><TEXTAREA class="expands" name="item_desc" rows="8" cols="35"></TEXTAREA></td> <td <input name="#" type="text" size="35" /> <td <input name="Position[]" type="text" id="Position[]" size="5" /> <td> <input name="item_name" type="text"></input></td> </tr> </tbody></table></form>

php

Appeared at first that an html file containing forms had to be made to enter data and another to retrieve data. Each of these would presumably call an appropriate php script to do the database work. However, it now appears best to include the php right into the html files.

INSERT (MySQL)

The core portion of the insert, which pulled values from a previous page's SUBMIT. <? php $hostname="foo"; $username="foo"; $password="foo"; //connection to the tablespace $dbhandle = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password) or die("Unable to connect to MySQL"); printf ("<p>Status: Connected to tablespace </p>"); //connection to a database $selected = mysql_select_db("foo",$dbhandle) or die("Could not select database"); printf (" <p>Status: Connected to database </p>"); $descrip=$_POST['item_desc']; $filename=$_POST['item_name']; mysql_query("INSERT INTO Items (item_name, item_desc) VALUES ('$filename','$descrip')") or die(mysql_error()); //DB CLOSING mysql_close($dbhandle); ?>

java frameworks

2009-03-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

I register the term "Java", in only some vague manner, for example encountering a "JavaScript error" when web browsing. Digging deeper, I learned that "Java" and "JavaScript" are unrelated, except in name. JavaScript is the current name of what formerly was called LiveScript. LiveScript was developed at Netscape, the same Netscape now owned by AOL, however the name LiveScript was eventually changed to JavaScript, probably to leverage the (then) popularity of Java. How AOL was not sued by Sun Microsystems, I don't know, since Java was created at Sun Microsystems and its development was, of course, prior to the name change of LiveScript to JavaScript. Java is a programming language which results in code compiled into executable (binary) programs, in a manner similar to other languages such as "C". Java-written programs require a Java run-time environment installed on the executing computer. Alternatively, JavaScript is only questionably a language and, if a language, then a scripting-type language; it doesn't require compilation. Applications written in JavaScript operate only in a browser (except to write cookies), and are called "applets". Applets require a run-time environment, and this is either built-in to the browser or is a browser plug-in. The user can enable or disable the JavaScript run-time for their browser. For example, a user might encounter a warning that JavaScript has not been enabled on their browser; this refers not to the applet, but to the JavaScript run-time plug-in not being installed/enabled.

As just noted, JavaScript browser applications ("applets") run via a JavaScript plug-in prepackaged inside most browsers. JavaScript applets are difficult to design for all browsers, since each browser (IE, Firefox, Opera, etc) designs its run-time slightly differently. A variance from what that particular browser needs to run the applet leads to the somewhat common "JavaScript error" messages encountered when browsing. This is expected to change as the ECMA eventually standardizes the approach. Another difficulty with JavaScript applets in browsers is security. Applets written in JavaScript operate in limited parameters ("sandboxes") designed to limit access to the user's system. But they've been proven not to entirely deny this access. A nice thing about the JavaScript browser plug-in is it alerts users to necessary updates.

What about the original Java? Java is a language for writing applications that run on the workstation itself, not merely in a browser. For example, you could write a program in Java that edits photos, or documents, etc. Like other compiled programs, Java programs require a runtime environment, but Java was also designed to be cross-platform. That is, the Java concept is to create programs which run inside various operating systems (Linux, Windows, Mac OSx), and platforms (x86, Mac). The software framework of the runtime is what varies for each machine, and this runtime framework is installed first, prior to the program. Once the virtual framework is installed, the Java application may then be installed - the application is supposed to work regardless of the type of machine or OS, since the underlying runtime layer is handling any OS idiosyncracies.

I've found that Java applications do work on anything if the runtime is properly installed. Unfortunately, in my experience at least, Java runtime framework installation is often problematic, so much so that the original reason for this blog page was to refresh my memory for some typical steps. One other note, framework version updates are not typically automatically displayed so that installers must remember to check for periodic upgrades.

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is the primary framework for Java-written applications, in a similar way that the Visual Basic Runtime Environment (VBRE) is the virtual machine for applications written in Microsoft's Visual Basic. The latest version of the JRE appears to be called J2SE (Java2 Software Environment). Sometimes J2SE by itself is enough to run a Java-written application, other times, additional Java frameworks have to be compiled and added to J2SE to provide functionality. Some examples: I have Sun's OpenOffice on my workstation. Without installing the Java Media Framework (JMF), a separately compiled framework which relies upon J2SE already being installed underneath it, there is no way I know of for OpenOffice's Impress application (it's like PowerPoint) to playback sound and video. An mp3 addition to the JMF can also be compiled and added. The Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) software first requires J2SE to be in-place. JDBC supports databases such as Neo4j (a graphing database good for tags). There are additional Java environments/frameworks available. Taking all these Java flavors together, the terminology and installation picture appears complicated, and the best overall description I've seen is here. The remainder of this post is hands-on.

Java Media Framework (JMF)

A fundamental problem is the Java Installation site provides ambiguous information. Of course, mere awareness of its ambiguity isn't going to overcome it. In one forum, a guy complained that he spent so long attempting to configure his JMF installation that he decided to return to M$ Windows. That's extreme, but it seems questionable that the JMF installation appears to require a significant underlying understanding of paths, classpaths, and softlinks for software roughly four years old. Installation should be simpler by this point.

Step One: JRE

I haven't yet installed J2SE, so I use the old Java Runtime Environment. It's important to check that it's installed and that it exists in user's and root's path. I checked both of these to be sure, and then just repeated as root:

$java -version
java version "1.6.0_11"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_11-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.0-b16, mixed mode, sharing)

$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/lib/java/bin:/usr/lib/java/jre/bin:

If these don't show up, it's best to check and make sure the JRE path has been exported. For example, check that /etc/profile includes somewhere:

JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/java/"
export JAVA_HOME

Step Two unpacking and moving

Download the bin file and unpack it:

$ sh ./jmf-2_1_1e-linux-i586.bin.

It makes a directory like any untar. I rooted-up and moved this entire directory to /usr/lib/JMF-2.1.1e

Step Two: user and root paths

JMF needs to be found on occasion by root and on other occasions by the user. These are two different setups:
1) User: Sun recommends creating a /home/~/.profile file with these entries:

# path settings for JMF
export JMFHOME=/usr/lib/JMF-2.1.1e
export CLASSPATH=.:$CLASSPATH:$JMFHOME/lib/jmf.jar
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$JMFHOME/lib

I like things explicit, so I leave out the "JMFHOME" variable and do it this way:

CLASSPATH="/usr/lib/JMF-2.1.1e/lib/jmf.jar"
export CLASSPATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/lib/JMF-2.1.1e/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

2) Root: add the same lines, but at the top of /etc/profile.

3) User and Root: Echo the path ("echo $PATH") to be sure that it includes paths to the jmf files. If not, add additional paths as the final lines of the "/etc/profile". For example, I also wanted some X11 bin files in my path, so my final two "etc/profile" lines are:

PATH="$PATH:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/lib/JMF-2.1.1e/bin"
export PATH

Following this, JMF was working except

Step Three: activate

Easiest: restart the computer so it sources both profiles.

Step whatever - diagnostics

The one good thing Java has done is make an online diagnostics page with which to check the JMF installation. Just point the browser there and it checks my JMF (and JRE). However, checking via the browser in this was seems to confoundingly generate classpath errors, regardless that there aren't any. See below.

Firefox

Firefox is a separate matter. With JMF properly configured for their workstation, when one visits the online diagnostics page, one will receive an error " classes..".

mp3

JMF also has a download to play MP3's.

slackware 12.2 - kernel recompile

2009-03-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Never done this before, but the problem is my 1024MB of memory is like 770MB. Googling around shows this is due to a kernel limitation which requires recompiling. I think it will be straightforward *except* making sure I put everything in the right place and update lilo properly when done. That's what scares me.

* Anyway, most instructions below are coming from this forum.
* This one ain't bad either: hp support forum
* And here's a full-blown description http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/Kernel-Build-HOWTO.html

# mkdir /usr/src/kern01
# cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7/* /usr/src/kern01/
# cd /usr/src/kern01
# make menuconfig

Once into make menuconfig, the options which are already selected will be starred. It's here that I have the chance to make any changes I want to. For this first run, I will just be looking to enable the high memory support. The option is apparently:
CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G
But where do I find this, for it doesn't show up anywhere in the
config file? For example nothing shows in:

# cat .config |grep HIGHMEM

Well maybe it's under Physical Address Extension (PAE) [ Processor type and features ---> High Memory Support (64GB) ], as noted on one site. Ah, but I can't find it. Still, I'm going to recompile this kernel just to have done it once....

# make clean; make bzImage (or make vmlinuz); make modules; make modules_install

The kernel compiles quickly, perhaps 10 minutes, but the modules take another 15 minutes, so it's like 25 minutes to get 'er done. That's the perfect amount of time to watch one of the canceled "Andy Barker, PI" episodes, for example "Fairway, My Lovely", on Hulu. Not sure where all these modules came from, I don't need 1/10 of them and it wasn't clear from the interface that I was selecting them to be built. Something to look into further next time.

copy the results

Once all is done, backup the config file to the boot directory in case I want to use it some other time.

# cp .config /boot/config-kern01

and then also transfer the files needed for booting into "/boot"

# cp /usr/src/kern01/arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-test1
# cp System.map /boot/System.map-test1
# mv /boot/System.map /boot/System.old
# ln -s /boot/System.map-test1 /boot/System.map

lilo One option, instead of adding to lilo, is apparently to run.

make install

However, this apparently replaces the default kernel instead of adding another kernel option. Since I transfered the new kernel to "/boot", I just put it in LILO

/etc/lilo.conf
image=/boot/bzImage-test1
label= LinuxTest1
root= /dev/sda1
read only

Then to update LILO:

# lilo -v

Everything works for a while, the file unzips, but then it apparentlywants NFS information and dies

No filesystem could mount root, tried: ext2 9660. Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: ...

Failed right where I thought it would fail.

Note:Cleaning the kernel source (courtesy http://linuxgazette.net/111/krishnakumar.html

After we have initiated compilation once on the source if we want to clean the object files and other temporary files then we have to run the following:

make clean

This will remove most generated files but will keep the configuration file. If we need an absolute cleaning, i.e. if we want to return the source to the state in which it was before we started the compilation, then do a

make mrproper

This command will delete all generated files, the configuration file as well as various backup files. This will in effect unwind all the changes we made to the source. The source after this step will be as good as it was just after the download and untar.

toshiba l305d-s5869 - touchpad

2009-03-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Synaptics touchpad fun
Xorg touchpad notes
Disabling synaptics touchpad
Touchpads or, as I call them, "random cursor placement devices" annoy me. Attempting to work on a paper where natural thumb placement means inadvertently moving the cursor from line to random line, or from word to random word, etc, brings a desire to tear-out hair.

1. Synclient In my Toshiba, I have the Synaptics pad and driver, though some will have the ALPS. The command to disable the touchpad:

$ synclient TouchPadOff=1

toshiba l305d-s5869 - more video

2009-02-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

Last September, I posted about picking up one of these Toshibas. At that time, the RS780 (HD3100) ATI/Radeon video chip was problematic, and may pose some additional problems. However, currently it appears the radeonhd driver has finally matured enough to supplant the proprietary fglrx driver which seemed to only provide software rendering.

links

fglrx driver
fglrx installation
radeonhd download and install
ati chip audio considerations

steps

1. Back-up the working xorg.conf in etc/X11.
2. Regardless if going forward with a newer fglrx driver, or some other driver, such as the radeonhd driver, remove the outdated fglrx driver to avoid conflicts.

# cd /usr/share/ati
# sh fglrx-uninstall.sh

3. Install git from respository or source.
4. Decide whether to install fglrx or radeonhd.
4a. fglrx driver
4b. (Radeonhd)

# git-clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-video-radeonhd
# cd xf86-video-radeonhd
# autogen.sh --prefix=/usr/
# make
# make install
# gtf 1280 800 60 -x (or whatever the native resolution and refresh)
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

More coming, need some sleep

tweet clients, drm

2009-01-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Since Adobe took over Macromedia and added DRM, Flash has suffered, in my opinion. Adobe seems to purchase content creation companies, then sells creation software, then adds two steps of DRM, so whatever free player for the content probably slows to check DRM and/or nags users for updates. It's brill for making money, but it sucks out a percentage of creativity, at least for all of those who can't buy the Adobe software.

In the case of Twitter, Adobe evaluators probably determined they couldn't control content creation from the millions of contributors who constantly tweet. Instead Adobe attempts to add Twitter functionality by creating aesthetically appealing tag hashing software that those millions might want to install. But, surprise, the software, TweetDeck, also requires customers to sign a EULA and to install Adobe's proprietary run-time platform Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR appears to have Adobe's customary DRM layers and potential phone-homes (updates, statistics) drawbacks. To me, TweetDeck means "Twitter, now with statistical data-mining, nagware, and under-the-hood file manipulation". Extrapolating a bit, watch for Adobe to someday "partner" with Twitter or otherwise make "reliability" data-sharing agreements with Twitter. One of the simplest explanations for why DRM seems to make financial sense to companies is this article which notes how creation software helps lock non-purchasers out of the creative process. The article is from Techdirt.

tag hasher options
TweetDeck :: Linux version available but, as noted, requires the installation of Adobe Air runtime.

TweetGrid :: Linux compatible. Nothing to download. It appears to require that one's referrer header is set to "2" in "about:config". The developer told me this is to prevent hotlinking. I left my referrer header at "0" and installed the RefControl add-on to firefox to manage the header. This helps on other sites which require headers as well (eg. Adobe!). Appears TweetGrid searches both a tweet's text and its title.

Twitter Search :: This is a sort of rudimentary way to go about it, which is why Adobe and TweetGrid can step in, but it can find whatever I want. Apparently limits its search to tags.

wine - details

2009-01-04T02:43:00.000-08:00

Wine installs no problem with netpkg in Zenwalk, but the latest version has a tweak or two with opening a browser from whatever application is running in Wine.

The first step, found here suggested adding this entry to ~/.wine/user.reg:

[Software\\Wine\\WineBrowser] 1178036531
"Browsers"="firefox,konqueror,mozilla,netscape,galeon,opera,dillo"

The number "1178036531" will not be the same for each installation. The first seven digits are uniform throughout a wine installation, and I duplicated the three trailing numbers of the entry from [Software\\Wine\\MSHTML].

The second step, discovered here, notes that a symbol must be added to each line with winebrowser.exe in ~/.wine/system.reg:

@="C:\\windows\\system32\\winebrowser.exe -nohome"

would be changed to

@="C:\\windows\\system32\\winebrowser.exe -nohome %1"

Following these two tweaks, Firefox opened without error when called from Wine applications.

CUPS - Wifi Brother HL-2170W

2008-12-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

basics (through USB)

Appears there are several steps.
1. Unbox and confirm printer works using test page.
2. The Brother drivers appear to come only in .deb and .rpm formats, so I verified the rpm program was installed (if not, netpkg rpm).
3. Download rpm printer drivers from Brother site, both the cupswrapper and the lprdrivers.
4.Install the lpr driver

# rpm -ihv --nodeps brhl2170wlpr-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm

5. Install the cupswrapper

# rpm -ihv --nodeps cupswrapperHL2170W-2.0.2-1.i386.rpm

6. Verify these have properly installed by finding them in the results from this command:

# rpm -qa

7. Turn-off printer and connect with USB. Turn-on printer.
8. Add printer to CUPS

# lpadmin -p Brother -E -v usb://dev/usb/lp0 -m HL2170W.ppd

9. Restart CUPS

# service restart cups

10. Should work

XFCE4 start-up actions

2008-12-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

I was recently at my folks' for the holidays and plopped-in Zenwalk 5.2 on an old system they have there. One thing I wanted Xfce4 to do when Mom logged-in was to

$xgamma -gamma 0.7

startup

To solve this, I created a .desktop file (I named mine xgamma.desktop) made it executable (chmod 755 xgamma.desktop), and placed it in the xfce autostart folder (~/.config/autostart). This format for the .desktop file worked the first time:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=xgamma
Comment=takes screen to .7 bright
Exec=xgamma -gamma 0.7
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false

I then logged-out. After logging back in, the screen went to 0.7 brightness automagically.

CUPS - usb HP DJet F300

2008-12-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

(HP a1350e)

CUPS, good documentation here.

Sketchy CUPS Webtool

I was at my folks house recently for the holidays and installed Zenwalk 5.2, a Slack-based OS that's pretty light. All went well until I attempted to add a HP Deskjet F300 All-In-One. The HP website says support only begins with F310. I figured I could get a workaround going.
1. In spite of (significant) password efforts, you will likely find that the webtool athttp://localhost:631simply rejects any and all passwords, no matter what, when, or why, and will deny you adding a printer, always waiting until the final step in a timely 6-part process to do so. After a couple of lost days working with /etc/cups/cupsd.conf and password, this of course will become ballistically frustrating. The temptation to sledge-hammer the computer will become more pronounced as one realizes the rejection of the CUPS webtool means the printer must be added manually using lpadmin and, like any CLI, it is powerful and simultaneously filled with the potential for damaging errors. One can easily spend days. But what are you going to do - you have to print, right?
2. The ppd file has to be locatable by lpadmin. Put the ones which need to be found in /usr/share/cups/model/ . I renamed the original ppd to dj350.ppd. for ease of loading and made sure it was the proper permission for ppd files "644". Now try this:

#lpadmin -p HP300 -E -v usb:/dev/usb/lp0 -m dj350.ppd

The printer added easily. If a mistake is made and a PPD file is installed that you later want to substitute with a different PPD file, put the new file in /usr/share/cups/model/ and run the following command:

#lpadmin -p HP300 –P another.ppd

To delete a printer entirely, use the command:

#lpadmin -x HP300

Day 2 (Afternoon/Evening) More lpadmin and configuration files

It may be possible, though unlikely, to work via CUPS web interface. If not, look at the file /etc/cups/printers.conf and note its arrangement. Pay particular attention to this line.

DeviceURI usb://dev/usb/lp0

This critical printer setting must be accurate.

test prints

Test prints are one easy thing from the CUPS web interface; although lpadmin is required to stop testprints, the CUPS interface is an easy way to initiate them. While testing the printer configs, many test prints might be desired. If they don't print, they pile-up in queue and use resources re-attempting. One can't use CUPS web interface to stop prints, so cancel them from lpadmin:

#lpstat -o

provides pending print jobs and the job number eg, "HP1100-1". Then

#cancel HP1100-1

will get rid of the job. Run "lpstat -o" again to verify, if you like.

xfce4 connection

To print from Mousepad and others that use X-settings, xfce printing needs to recognize the CUPS printer. Try printing in Mousepad and see if the CUPS printer is available. If not, configuring xfce4 to CUPS will be necessary. This was simple for me. I simply went to the XFCE menu, then access Settings ->Settings Manager -> Printing System. Once in Printing System, I selected the CUPS network printer and closed the menu. I then opened a Mouspad file to print; sure enough, the CUPS printer appeared in my options.

SNMP HPLIP

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a powerful process originally designed to simplify web management. Many processes take advantage of SNMP functionality and one of them is HPLIP

If hp-setup doesn't work, then the road may be long. Try using SNMP to determine if the kernel can see the printer at the nework address:

snmpwalk -Os -c public -v 1 ip.address.of.printer 1.3.6.1.4.1.11.2.3.9.1.1.7.0

Per this site HP tshoot, the response should be something which shows the manufacturer, or SNMP may not be installed correctly. This means working with the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file.

usb storage - corrupted e2fs

2008-11-25T20:40:00.001-08:00

I don't know how it happened, since I verify each time when I disconnect my external 350G USB drive. I wait for hal to indicate "OK to disconnect" each time. Nevertheless, it's corrupted. I found the list of superblock backups easily

# dumpe2fs /dev/sdb1 |grep superblock

Then, I attempted a customary

# fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdb1

with a backup block from the list, 32768. However, several attempts netted the the same response, that the device was busy

# umount /dev/sdb1
# fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdb1
fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/sbin/e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/sdb1
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?

Making sure, I ran

# umount /dev/sdb1
umount: /dev/sdb1: not mounted

But yet, again, if I tried to fsck, I got

# fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdb1
fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/sbin/e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/sdb1
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?

What was going on? I verified the blocksize

# dumpe2fs /dev/sdb1 |grep -i "block size"
dumpe2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Block size: 4096

and proceeded with

# mke2fs -S -b 4096 -v /dev/sdb1

to restore the superblocks without touching the data. Unfortunately, this move resulted in stale file handles and the drive wouldn't mount. Another move would be

# e2fsck -y -f -v -C 0 /dev/sda3
# tune2fs -j /dev/sd3

This makes the file system into a Ext3 system, and so the blocks are off if I started with ext2 on the drive in the first place. So I lost everything. Years of data, photos, passwords, tax records, the lot. If I knew a little more about e2fsck, I might have been able to get there, but all I could find was what to do with e3 file systems.

voip - skype, others

2008-11-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

Typically, I'm using Skype, and here's how I set it up.

skype
1. Check the dependency requirements at the skype site and install them from netpkg or installpkg. I get the static tar.gz from the site.
2. Untar the package. The executable is included; all the junk just needs to be copied to proper directories.
3. I don't run Skype as root, but it's necessary to sudo or root to make some folders and place some files into the proper directories.

# mkdir /usr/share/skype
# cp -a sounds langs avatars /usr/share/skype
# cp skype (the bin) /usr/bin
# cp skype.desktop /usr/share/desktop
$ mkdir /home/[username]/.Skype
$ cp skype.conf ~/.Skype/

other voip

postgresql - initialize

2008-11-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

I was interested in setting up postgreql as the Amarok backend, since reading that the default sqllite and mysql databases were much slower than postgresql once a collection became large. I read a primer at this Ubuntu forum, but it appeared that some of the commands there were outdated, or only applied in the Ubuntu environment.

The situation seemed worthy of a research effort; postgresql obviously has a myriad of uses beyond Amarok, and the Amarok example was apparently not the basic "single user" implementation.

wifi - ralink pci rt2600 drama

2008-11-23T12:17:00.001-08:00

--(edited 20090421)--
I had occasion to reinstall Slackware the other day. Default distribution drivers for the ralink rt2600 are the rt61pci series drivers which seem to provide only flaky and, therefore, annoying connections.

drivers
First, retrieve the latest drivers from Ralink's linux page . For me, this was the 2008_0723_RT61_Linux_STA_v1.1.2.2.tar.bz2 driver. Unfortunately, the README was almost unintelligible, without even proper line returns. It only gives a portion of the necessary information, and hours are required to find the solution. Highly annoying. Taken together with the drivers, both the kernel source and headers are required. So:

a. drivers
b. kernel source
c. kernel headers

file changes
Prior to compiling, there are some changes, at least to these 2008 and 2009 versions. After copying Makefile.6 to Makefile, change the CFLAGS statement around line 28 to:

EXTRA_CFLAGS+= $(WFLAGS)

If you don't like to change the Makefile, you can export the KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC just prior to compiling, but this is a necessary environment variable, one way or the other.

Another change, this one suggested, is near the end of the rtmp_main.c file. Here, we want to change as follows: from

static INT __init rt61_init_module(VOID)
{
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(2,5,0)
return pci_register_driver(&rt61_driver);
#else
return pci_module_init(&rt61_driver);
#endif
}

to this:

static INT __init rt61_init_module(VOID)
{
#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE >= KERNEL_VERSION(2,5,0)
return pci_register_driver(&rt61_driver);
#else
return pci_register_driver(&rt61_driver);
#endif
}

environment
As noted above and described here, if you don't change the enviroment setting in the Makefile, you'll need to add

$export KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC=1

as a command just prior to compiling. For systems with csh and tcsh environments, the command is apparently

$setenv KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC 1

putting it together

$ tar -xvjf 2008_0723_RT61_Linux_STA_v1.1.2.2.tar.bz2
$ cd 2008*
$ cd Module
$ cp Makefile.6 Makefile
$ chmod 755 Configure
$ Configure
$ export KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC=1 (if you didn't change the Makefile)
$ make

Root up

# mkdir /etc/Wireless
# mkdir /etc/Wireless/RT61STA
# cp *.bin /etc/Wireless/RT61STA (three firmware files)
# cp sta.dat /etc/Wireless/RT61STA (configuration file)
# cp rt61.ko /lib/modules/<kernel>/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

final steps

# nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
blacklist rt61pci
blacklist rt2x00pci
blacklist rt2x00lib (save and close)

# nano /etc/modprobe.d./modprobe.conf
alias ra0 rt61 (save and close)

# depmod -a

slackware - find and replace

2008-11-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

I occasionally encounter compatibility problems with Internet Explorer and Firefox when writing site pages. When I do, finding and replacing one word across many files can be a problem. For example, I recently learned that Internet Explorer does not process the word "grey" - it apparently has to be spelled "gray". So how to find and replace all instances of "grey" with "gray" across all the directories on the site?

grep
Of course, finding text is no problem for grep. If it's only one or two files, I can have grep locate the file for me and change them by hand.

grep -lr 'text' *

where "l" provides the line number, "r" will recursively check all files, 'text' is the text I want to locate, and "*" means all files will be checked.

sed
To replace the text, we can use sed

grep and sed script
To both find and replace the text, we need a mix of sed and grep together. A simple bash script follows that does it just fine.

#!/bin/bash

function search {
find $1 -type f $ -name '*php' $ -print | while read file
do
echo replacing \"$2\" with \"$3\" in $file
sed "s,$2,$3,g" < "$file" > "$file".tmp
mv "$file".tmp "$file"
done
}

function nothing {
echo "dir: $1 search string: $2 replace string: $3"
}

# A directory has been given. Search for files containing the term, and replace it
if [ -d "$1" ]; then
search $1 $2 $3

# A file has been given. Search the file for the term and replace it
elif [ -f "$1" ]; then
sed "s,$2,$3,g;" < "$1" > "$1".tmp
mv "$1".tmp "$1"

# A file to parse or test has been given. If parse, set the directory,
# then step though every file in the directory replacing search / rplace pairs.
# Keep going until there are no more pairs.
elif [ "$1" == '-f' ] || [ "$1" == '-t' ] && [ -f "$2" ]; then
index=0
cat $2 | while read line
do
if [ $index -eq 0 ] && [ -d "$line" ]; then
dir=$line
elif [ $index -eq 0 ] && [ ! -d "$line" ]; then
exit
elif [ $index -gt 0 ]; then
findSt=`echo ${line%% *}`
repSt=`echo ${line##* }`
fi
if [ "$1" == '-f' ] && [ ! "$repSt" == '' ] && [ ! "$findSt" == '' ]; then
search $dir $findSt $repSt
elif [ "$1" == '-t' ] && [ ! "$repSt" == '' ] && [ ! "$findSt" == '' ]; then
nothing $dir $findSt $repSt
fi
let "index += 1"
done
else
echo "Search and replacer:"
echo "useage:"
echo "$0 [directory to search] [phrase to search for] [replacement phrase]"
echo "$0 [file to search] [phrase to search for] [replacement phrase]"
echo "$0 [-f|-t] [file to parse]"
echo "To parse a file the first line should be the directory, then each line after is a pair of terms"
echo "and replacements seperated by white space. If the -f os given, the file will be parsed. If -t "
echo "is given then the file will be read and the terms that would be replaced are output."
echo
fi

You can see at the top that this only works on php files, so I just changed the "php" to "css".

slackware 12.0 - wpa, wicd

2008-11-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

I'm using the Atheros AR242x 64 (5007 chipset) in a Toshiba Satellite running Zenwalk 5.2. So, this is not technically a Slackware 12.0 post - the Slackware foundation of Zenwalk means they are similar. I'll edit the specifically Slackware aspects of this post over Christmas break. For Zenwalk WPA, I mostly followed these excellent instructions .

Atheros AR242x 64 (5007 chipset)
The information here was helpful for understanding this newer chip. For a module, Zenwalk provides ath5k, but ath5k wasn't responding well to configuration attempts, so I turned to a Madwifi module. Incidentally, the Madwifi site also contains information on ath5k here, and it appears the ath5k module will eventually be effective. Currently however, the steps which worked with the Madwifi module were:

1. in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist, blacklist the "ath5k" module
2. reboot and lsmod - make sure ath5k is gone
3. download madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3861-20080903.tar.gz , or the newest one there, make, and install.
4. reboot again and lsmod
5. iwconfig ath0

WEP
WEP is trivial, merely requiring the two iwconfig commands "essid" and "key restricted", matched to whatever network I was using. Because I'm multihomed, the order of bringing-up the interfaces was the only other pay-attention issue. If the interfaces are activated backwards in /etc/rc.d/rc.local, then dhcpcd apparently attempt to assign DNS to the interface on the LAN, rather than the one on the WLAN. blah blah blah.

WPA
The basis here was again gained at this Zenwalk wiki , but there are a couple of tweaks or clarifications. It appears that wpa_supplicant relies upon inserting the wext module into the kernel.
1. using wpa_passphrase with the [essid] and [password] varies with the WLAN with which one wants to connect. The command is used similarly to the WEP iwconfig ath0 key restricted "xxxxx", which varies with each WLAN. Wpa_password then, is not a key for the laptop I'm working from, it's a password key hashed for the WLAN I'm attempting to connect with. This means I have a different entry for each WPA WLAN I'm working on.
2. wpa_password [essid] [password] > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is a brilliant way to start the initial conf file. And, as noted in the wiki, the file can be this simple to work:

network={
ssid="BART Transit"
#psk="oct2008@rezt9bit"
psk=3ad964f16045787dec86a4730e9dec4bedaa9e24f2998eacfa363e80510e3393
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
}

3. The following command line from the wiki configured ath0 properly on the first shot:

wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -D wext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

the "-B" switch is added to make the program run as a daemon, and might not be necessary.
4. After the above, I had only to dhcpcd ath0 to get a valid connection.
5. One issue appears to be quickly enabling or disabling configurations for different WLANs via /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. (see wicd below).
6. Permanence/boot - inserting the line in Step 3 above into an /etc/rc.local should work if I have an /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file with a single network configuration in it.

more wpa_supplicant.conf
Wpa_supplicant is not necessary for WEP security, since we can program the card directly with CLI commands to prepare WEP. However, if one chooses to run wpa_supplicant for everything, /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf files appear able to configure WEP and unencrypted connections, in addition to WPA connections. The conf files are useful for storing various wi-fi location configurations. Each connection requires a different conf file, eg etc.wpa_supplicant1.conf, etc.wpa_supplicant2.conf, etc. Apparently wicd can do this with a gui interface which manages switching. But this also means the wicd daemon must run - additional memory usage.

A site with the wpa_supplicant.conf commands is this one, and a site that shows the different WLAN setups in the "conf" file is here (scroll down).

wicd
Wicd configuration files live in /etc/wicd/encryption/templates. A primer for converting wpa_supplicant.conf files to wicd configurations is at this site. Once the various templates are in place, it appears we can switch between them using the wicd gui, though it's unclear if dhcpcd would need to be killed and restarted in the command line?

Audio - SiS966 (Realtek ALC660-VD) Drama

2008-10-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

A strange case appeared recently that might be helpful to someone. I updated ALSA on an SiS966 card and the sound died. Alsamixer was unmuted, etc, proc shows the card as a single unit with a single interrupt:

$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [SIS966 ]: HDA-Intel - HDA SIS966
HDA SIS966 at 0xfbfe8000 irq 22

Aplay shows more information about the card.

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SIS966 [HDA SIS966], device 0: ALC660-VD Analog [ALC660-VD Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SIS966 [HDA SIS966], device 1: ALC660-VD Digital [ALC660-VD Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

So it appeared hw=0.0 was the analog card, and hw=0,1 was the digital version. If followed that, for the analog portion...

$ cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/info
card: 0
device: 0
subdevice: 0
stream: PLAYBACK
id: ALC660-VD Analog
name: ALC660-VD Analog
subname: subdevice #0
class: 0
subclass: 0
subdevices_count: 1
subdevices_avail: 1

....and for the digital portion...

$ cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm1p/info
card: 0
device: 1
subdevice: 0
stream: PLAYBACK
id: ALC660-VD Digital
name: ALC660-VD Digital
subname: subdevice #0
class: 0
subclass: 0
subdevices_count: 1
subdevices_avail: 1

Why no sound when levels are tested in alsamixer? I took a look at a reliable page alsa-hw that has helped me in the past. From here, I checked to see which of the cards was default:

$ aplay -L
default:CARD=SIS966
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
Default Audio Device
front:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
Front speakers
surround40:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=SIS966,DEV=0
HDA SIS966, ALC660-VD Analog
7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
null

So it's clear the analog portion of the card is the default. Can we hear anything from the digital portion of the card?

$ aplay -D hw:0,1 alsatest.wav
Playing WAVE 'alsatest.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo

No sound here on the digital, what about the analog...

$ aplay -D hw:0,0 alsatest.wav
Playing WAVE 'alsatest.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo

...and here I have sound. Apparently the analog portion only will be available.
testing
To check microphone settings, a nice way to check the levels is to open two terminals. Record a couple minutes using arecord in one terminal and use the alsamixer in the other window to vary levels until it works.

$ arecord -d 60 -f cd -t wav -D hw:0,0 foobar.wav

This will record for 60 seconds, but we can change the number of seconds to any value we wish. I call out the changes into the microphone as I make them. To play foobar.wav and check the various settings, we just

$ aplay -D hw:0,0 foobar.wav

After the settings are correct, don't forget

# alsactl store

Radeon 3100HD RS780MC drama

2008-10-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

On install, Zenwalk loaded a stock vesa driver in /etc/xorg.conf, providing resolutions of 800x600. Common sense and #gtf seemed to indicate higher resolutions were available. In /etc/xorg.conf, I replaced "vesa" with, alternately, "ati", "radeon", and "radeonhd"; these did nothing but break X. I then relented for the proprietary driver "fglrx" described on most blogs as bloaty and slow, but operational. The driver was avialable here by selecting the Linux x86_64 -> Radeon -> ATI Radeon HD 3xxx Series and pressing "go". One note about installing this - I received checksum errors when I attemped to install it with #. ati*; I had to explicitly invoke bash #bash ati*. However, following this installation, I simply replaced "vesa" with "fglrx" in the Device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf, rebooted, and everything worked. With the vesa-fglrx swap, the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file looks like this:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard1"
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "Video device"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
EndSection

Adjustments to the fglrx module "Options" can come some other weekend; resolution and display appear sharp currently.

software rendering

It appears the problem with slow, boggy rendering continued after installation and a few different option tweaks. The card appears to default to software rendering instead of rendering with the considerable hardware memory available. The test program glxgears crashed, and the information tool glxinfo noted direct rendering is currently not enabled. The best post I could find about this was here at phoronix. Accordingly, I changed xorg.conf to the following:

Option "KernelModuleParm" "string"
Option "KernelModuleParm" "agplock=0"
Option "KernelModuleParm" "agp_try_unsupported=1"
Option "KernelModuleParm" "debug=1"
Option "KernelModuleParm" "maxlockedmem=256"
where 256 represents the memory size in mb.

Unfortunately, this had no visible effect. Snooping with lsmod yielded nothing like "fglrx" or "glx", etc. Following with a find -name fglrx* however revealed two modules: fglrx_drv.so and fglrx_dri.so, that is two "shared object"(so) modules, but no "kernel object"(ko) modules. That explained the lsmod blank, and also rules-out kernel object loaders such as modprobe, which could have been handy in rc.local. So what next? Is a kernel module available and preferable? Why the "so"'s? Checking dependencies with ldd glxgears does not yield much either, and I'm unclear if it's possible to depmod .so's to check their dependencies.

radeonhd

As noted above, the open-source radeonhd driver, which appears to be a .ko, is improving. The radeon site has information about this driver as well as some useful "phoronix forums" to assist. The source code for the radeonhd is available by looking under item 6 on the wiki. The source was most recently updated on Oct. 13,2008.

more fglrx considerations

The fglrx driver, although supplied by Radeon, does appear to have significant Googleland complaints for slowness. For me, it renders well, but very slowly: I'm experience update lines even scrolling through a simple text page on Mousepad, etc. So, it appears something either a)very inefficient, or b)very underpowered, is taking place in terms of memory usage with the fglrx driver. From Google, it appears there are a few things to investigate: 1) does flglrx load as a module? (lsmod |grep fglrx). Mine does not appear in lsmod, and this apparently means xorg.conf loads a substandard fglrx_drv.ko module. Lsmod failed to locate this module either. Odd. 2) Settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf for the fglrx driver, under "Options" may be important. 3)Settings (don't know syntax or location) for whether the ATI card uses SIDEPORT mode (card uses its own memory),UMA mode (card shares system memory), or another unnamed mode where it uses a mix of SIDEPORT and UMA. One thing for sure, a lifesaver in these forum boards is fglrxinfo or fglrxinfo -v:

# fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 7.0.3)

glxinfo is also important. On my system, glx is not enabled, though this may be a different problem than the overall slowness of screen panning and scrolling that I'm experiencing. A good forum thread for these issues is here, not for solutions but for the many aspects of the problem. I located a Zenwalk specific ATI installation wiki which informed me of the aticonfig command. This command didn't seem to change much, other than append an "Extensions" section to the end of /etc/X11/xorg.conf. That is, following the use of aticonfig, lsmod continues not to show any fglrx module.

screencasting - slackware

2008-10-13T00:49:00.000-07:00

Lee Lefever videos, even though not screencasts, show a simple idea's value. His guiding philosophical consideration seems to be described well here in his blog. Screencasting is important for educational videos and works toward similar ends. For example, screencasts from Joe Wood, a fellow teacher, have a similar flavor to Lee Lefever's videos, and Wood does well with clarification.

What about screencasts in Linux? My previous work on a video I made for an education class left me feeling there should be more. It was initially raw AVI from the camera, but I muxed it to MPEG2. There appeared to be resolution issues - the picture wasn't as "clean" as I wanted it to be. This time, I'm starting with screencasts. I'll eventually work back to recording and cutting video when I can easily manage screencasts.

istanbul

First attempt was with Istanbul, which was pre-installed with Zenwalk 5.1. Something was wrong with the framerates, and all I was seeing was flashing screens, which appeared to indicate a large number of frame drops. Then I looked at this guy's post and it appears that there might also be screen size as well as framerate issues. Istanbul has no sound supplied, it must subsequently be muxed. What could possibly be more annoying?

recordmydesktop

Includes sound and screen, and outputs in Ogg-Theora as .ogv files. Seems the most useful, but the ability to record sound varies with systems. When it works, it works well. The .ogv file can be shifted to .flv format for YouTube uploads or website. I used a script for doing so from here though I'm sure it's also around at other sites. I had to modify the script slightly for CLI use, and libmp3lame.so.0 must be installed for the mencoder inside it to follow the script properly. I renamed the script ogv2flv.sh and it runs on command line once libmp3lame.so.0 is installed:

$ ogv2flv.sh input.ogv

There is no config file for the CLI version of recordmydesktop, which means hideously long command line entries. Further, typing $ man recordmydesktop only produced "No manual entry for recordmydesktop". Nice going. It appears the best thing is the sourceforge version, until that URL breaks. Strike two. However, a nicely sized screen which works well from command line for capturing browser without the status bar, but including the URL bar is

$ recordmydesktop -x 14 -y 55 -width 988 -height 674 -fps 12 -o wobbly.ogv

This seems to default constantly to 44100 and 2 channels in spite of my entering 1 channel and 22050 frequency and the device hw:0,0, so I eventually deleted these parameters from the line.

Recordmydesktop also has a python based GtK front-end available to those who are interested. This program does have a config file .gtk-recordmydesktop, which appears to be an advantage over remembering the complex CLI commands necessary to avoid the inevitable "broken pipe" commands if you forget one parameter. Each time I edited the config file by hand, the program overwrote my screen size settings each time it opened. Strike three.

xvidcap

Solid, but a few quirks. 1) .xvidcap.scf is supposed to be available for a config file, it apparently doesn't work well or is not read. Accordingly, right clicking on the gui controls provides preferences. Not too bad and they can be saved there too. 2) Have to adjust the box size each time. 3) On at least one occasion, it might have muted my microphone during start-up. 3). Sound is garbled unless using oss emulation aoss. So, I might start xvidcap to do 10 frames per second like this:

$ aoss xvidcap --fps 10

Once screencasting is complete, ffmpeg can shift the mpeg into a YouTube flv in a single command

$ ffmpeg -i test2.mpeg -ar 44100 test2.flv

sound levels

Microphone settings become significant in screencasting. Here are a couple of cards.

Realtek ALC660-D
I set "Mic" as the capture source, and vary the relationship between Mic Boost, Digital, and the Capture bar. The settings which avoid clipping and feedback have been Mic Boost=33, Digital~65-70, and Capture~77-82. Digital seems to be the most important for hiss and I play trade-off between Digital and Capture until the hiss disappears while attempting to avoid clipping distortion if Capture is set too high.

fall 2008 - celly status

2008-10-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've waited a while for new cell service. For several years I've run a Motorola V3 on Cingular -> SBC -> ATT service. In other words, I've used a basic second generation (2G) cellphone with 2G service. When I selected a 2G provider several years ago, I selected the GSM (ATT) version of 2G over the CDMA (eg. Metro PCS/Verizon) version of 2G because GSM is prevalent in Europe. When visiting Europe, I use my Motorola V3 relatively cheaply by purchasing a European plan with a SIM and swapping out my US SIM. Further, in the US, GSM phones hold about 75% of the market share.

3G

Since last year's debut of the iPhone, the first interesting third generation (3G) device, I've been watching the confusing development of 3G data/voice with interest. I made a chart (click to enlarge), not necessarily complete or accurate, to understand these changes more comprehensively:

Like many people, the reason I'm migrating to 3G is web and phone access in a single device, but without lugging a laptop or a crackberry. However, the iPhone appeared outrageously priced for what one received. At the time the iPhone came out, I looked around and thought I could do better if I were willing to wait a year; Sprint Wi-Max (CDMA-2000), which was supposed to roll-out in August of 2008 on Nokia phones, caught my initial interest, but I subsequently moved-on to watching WCDMA. WCDMA appears to be the natural successor to GSM. My thought is the 3G device which succeeds GSM might be backwards compatible with 2G GSM networks when traveling in Europe.

3G drawbacks

As seen in the chart above, there are two versions of 3G, WCDMA (formerly GSM) and CDMA-2000 (formerly CDMA). If I understand correctly, geo-locating in the CDMA branch used GPS from the start. GSM users, on the other hand, turned-off their phone to have locational privacy, and had to be triangulated via cell towers when their phones were turned-on. Stated otherwise, it's beneficial for security agencies if the public migrates to CDMA. Luckily for them, the data transfer requirements of 3G require the transmission style of CDMA. Accordingly, as GSM providers attempt to provide 3G on previous GSM networks, GSM phones will have to morph into a version of CDMA phones for 3G availability. This means a degree of privacy reduction for GSM users. Secondly, although CDMA has a single advantage - it can manage more users - battery life suffers for managing this transmission methodology. Finally, Qualcomm holds the patents for both forms of 3G (WCDMA and CDMA-2000). Qualcomm is an American company, and we may assume their chips integrate CALEA backdoors or other monitoring options. Any backdoor is subject to exploits and so can be considered a privacy drop. All told, our initial 3G phones would appear to suggest decreased privacy in at least two ways, and decreased battery life.

TMobile

TMobile, the American wing of Deutsche Telekom, is of interest to me as a 3G provider. They currently sell both 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA service in the US, and are rolling out WCDMA in more and more cities. In the Bay Area, TMobile already (10/2008) has 3G, The phone which interests me, the G1 phone, uses a SIM and is backwards-compatible to 2G GSM networks. According to one or two sites I've seen, the price is $199 via a pre-order that arrives Fed Ex by Nov 10. It requires a 2 year contract that appears to be $89 a month for 3G voice and data service. If that's correct, it's a significant improvement over iPhone prices, G1 software is open-source in cooperation with Google. Pre-order link: http://www.t-mobileg1.com/