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    Mon, 28 Nov 2005

    OpenWrt 2

    I accidentally did an in-place whiterussian rc3 to rc4 upgrade:

    root@OpenWrt:/# ipkg update
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/whiterussian/packages/Packages
Updated list of available packages in /usr/lib/ipkg/lists/whiterussian
Downloading
http://downloads.openwrt.org/whiterussian/packages/non-free/Packages
Updated list of available packages in /usr/lib/ipkg/lists/non-free
Successfully terminated.
root@OpenWrt:/# ipkg upgrade
Upgrading base-files on root from 2 to 5...
Upgrading base-files-brcm on root from 1 to 2...
Upgrading busybox on root from 1.00-2 to 1.00-3...
Upgrading dropbear on root from 0.45-3 to 0.45-4...
Upgrading iptables on root from 1.3.1-1 to 1.3.3-1...
Upgrading libgcc on root from 3.4.4-2 to 3.4.4-5...
Upgrading mtd on root from 2 to 3...
Upgrading ntpclient on root from 2003_194-1 to 2003_194-2...
Upgrading ppp on root from 2.4.3-6 to 2.4.3-7...
Upgrading ppp-mod-pppoe on root from 2.4.3-6 to 2.4.3-7...
Upgrading uclibc on root from 0.9.27-2 to 0.9.27-5...
Upgrading wificonf on root from 4 to 5...
...
Package base-files wants to install file /sbin/hotplug
        But that file is already provided by package hotplug
...
root@OpenWrt:/# ipkg remove hotplug
Removing package hotplug from root...
Successfully terminated.
root@OpenWrt:/# ipkg upgrade
Upgrading base-files on root from 2 to 5...
Downloading
http://downloads.openwrt.org/whiterussian/packages/base-files_5_mipsel.ipk
ipkg: /rom/note: Read-only file system
Configuring base-files
Successfully terminated.
root@OpenWrt:/#

    Upgrading cleared the root password, so telnet was re-enabled. Also setup ntp:

    root@OpenWrt:/# date
Sat Jan  1 01:39:02 UTC 2000
root@OpenWrt:/# echo "EST-10EDT-11,M10.5.0/02:00:00,M3.5.0/03:00:00" > /etc/TZ
root@OpenWrt:/# nvram set ntp_server=130.194.1.99
root@OpenWrt:/# /usr/sbin/ntpclient -c 1 -s -h  130.194.1.99
36524 06338.242   23756.0     31.0  186186381427418.5  53848.3         0
root@OpenWrt:/# date
Fri Nov 25 11:12:05 EDT 2005

    Now have:

    root@OpenWrt:/# ipkg list_installed
base-files - 5 - OpenWrt filesystem structure and scripts
base-files-brcm - 2 - Board/architecture specific files
bridge - 1.0.6-1 - Ethernet bridging tools
busybox - 1.00-3 - Core utilities for embedded Linux systems
dnsmasq - 2.22-2 - A lightweight DNS and DHCP server
dropbear - 0.45-4 - a small SSH 2 server/client designed for small
 memory environments.
ip - 2.6.11-050330-1 - iproute2 routing control utility
ipkg - 0.99.149-2 - lightweight package management system
iptables - 1.3.3-1 - The netfilter firewalling software for IPv4
kernel - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - 
kmod-brcm-et - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - Proprietary driver for Broadcom Ethernet
 chipsets
kmod-brcm-wl - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - Proprietary driver for Broadcom Wireless
 chipsets
kmod-diag - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - Driver for Router LEDs and Buttons
kmod-ppp - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - PPP support
kmod-pppoe - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - PPP over Ethernet support
kmod-sched - 2.4.30-brcm-2 - Kernel schedulers for IP traffic
kmod-wlcompat - 2.4.30-brcm-3 - Compatibility module for using the
 Wireless Extension with broadcom's wl
libgcc - 3.4.4-5 - GCC support library
libosip2 - 2.2.0-1 - GNU oSIP library, a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
implementation
libpcap - 0.8.3-1 - a low-level packet capture library
libpthread - 0.9.27-1 - POSIX threads library
mtd - 3 - Tool for modifying the flash chip
ntpclient - 2003_194-2 - NTP client for setting system time from NTP servers.
nvram - 1 - NVRAM utility and libraries for Broadcom hardware
ppp - 2.4.3-7 - a PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) daemon (with MPPE/MPPC
 support)
ppp-mod-pppoe - 2.4.3-7 - a PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) plugin for PPP
siproxd - 0.5.11-2 - a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) proxy
tc - 2.6.11-050330-1 - iproute2 traffic control utility
tcpdump - 3.8.3-1 - A tool for network monitoring and data acquisition.
uclibc - 0.9.27-5 - Standard C library for embedded Linux systems
wificonf - 5 - Replacement utility for wlconf
wireless-tools - 28.pre7-1 - Tools for setting up WiFi cards using the
 Wireless Extension
zlib - 1.2.2-2 - an implementation of the deflate compression method (library)

    [ /linux | # ]

    Fri, 25 Nov 2005

    OpenWrt

    "OpenWrt is a Linux distribution for wireless routers. Instead of trying to cram every possible feature into one firmware, OpenWrt provides only a minimal firmware with support for add-on packages."

    Time to upgrade to White Russian rc4.

    Since the Linksys WRT54G that I am upgrading, is also my only path to the Internet (and OpenWrt documentation), I could be in a Catch-22 if things go wrong.

    Took a copy of their Web site using:
    wget -m -k -K -E http://wiki.openwrt.org/
    gave 4 MB, plus 4 MB of converted-link files.

    Re-running this command, which uses HEAD rather than GET, fails with "403 FORBIDDEN", presumably since it is a Wiki.

    Also nvram show | sort gives 457 lines. There must be some unnecessary or harmful cruft in there, but I'm loath to delete it all ...

    [ /linux | # ]

    Fri, 06 May 2005

    Damn Small Linux, a.k.a. DSL

    DSL is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution.

    Damn Small can run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of RAM.

    It can run as a LiveCD, within MS windows, from a USB pen drive, IDE CF, or hard drive (Debian) install.

    The included Word Processor is FLWriter which uses Xhtml file format.

    Window manager is Fluxbox.

    Can add extra packages from myDSL

    [ /linux | # ]

    Slackware

    A LTSP lab is fine, but what if you want to give people an old computer with stand-alone Linux on it?

    Ralph Klimek suggested Slackware 8 as suitable for use on old small computers -- "usable on 4 MB laptops".

    DistroWatch has a http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackware summary and a http://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=slackware news listing for Slackware.

    The ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/ official download site points to http://slackware.com/getslack/torrents.php torrents for 10.1 and a unofficial slackware mirrors page.

    I fetched slackware-8.1-install.iso from http://mirror.pacific.net.au/ -- 689,405,952 bytes at 1.33 MB/s !!!

    [ /linux | # ]

    Wed, 20 Apr 2005

    LTSP on Laptops

    I wanted to get LTSP to work on an old Laptop (Toshiba Satellite 4030CDT). It doesn't have on-board Ethernet, it has a Xircom RealPort CardBus Ethernet 10/100 (RBE-100). Using this Ethernet adapter requires the PCMCIA subsystem be initialised first, so a 16 KB boot rom (off floppy say) wouldn't do it.

    The answer was to use the 1.4 MB boot image from wireless_ltsp-3.0.5-i386.tgz on Sourceforge -- it contains a full 2.4.19-ltsp-1 Linux kernel and initrd, so the laptop boots from there rather than a 2.4.26-ltsp-2 image TFTP'd from the server.

    After initial Linux boot and pivot-root the laptop does try and load kernel modules from the server, and so it's a good idea to install ltsp_kernel-3.0.5-0.i386.rpm (also from SF).

    I'm only using the PCMCIA card ability, not the Wireless ability, yet ...

    [ /linux | # ]

    Wed, 13 Apr 2005

    LTSP and NAS

    The Network Audio System (NAS) tries to solve the problem of getting audio from the LTSP server to the "terminal" where the user is sitting, controlling audio-creating programs.

    Clients progream, like auplay can explicitly connect to a nasd server, or output can be redirected using a pre-loaded library. Instructions here.

    In lts.conf

    [ws073]
  SOUND_DAEMON       = nasd
  SMODULE_01         = es1370

    On workstation via /etc/rc.sound

    modprobe $SMODULE_01
if [ "`grep sound /proc/devices`" ]
  /usr/X11R6/bin/nasd -aa

    In LTSP window (running on server) set by /et/profile.d/ltsp-esound.sh

    AUDIOSERVER=ws073.ltsp:0.0
LD_PRELOAD=/lib/libaudiooss.so.1.0
 
auinfo
auplay /usr/share/sndconfig/sample.au

    Unfortunately, there seem to be lots of applications that aren't nas-aware, or caught by libaudiooss.

    [ /linux | # ]

    Mon, 11 Apr 2005

    K12LTSP

    Installing on top of normal Fedora.

    # ncftpget ftp://k12linux.mesd.k12.or.us/pub/K12LTSP/4.2.1/i386/Fedora/RPMS/\
 apt-0.5.15cnc6-0.fdr.11.2.k12ltsp.0.4.2.i386.rpm
# cd /
# rpm2cpio /home/local/in/apt-0.5.15cnc6-0.fdr.11.2.k12ltsp.0.4.2.i386.rpm | \
 cpio -i ./etc/apt/sources.list.d/k12ltsp.list
# cat ./etc/apt/sources.list.d/k12ltsp.list
rpm http://k12linux.mesd.k12.or.us/ apt/fc3 extras k12ltsp meta non-free os updates
rpm-src http://k12linux.mesd.k12.or.us/ apt/fc3 extras k12ltsp meta non-free os updates
# rpm -e   ltsp-sound ltsp-utils
 
# apt-get install k12ltsp-core
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  MToolsFM cabextract caching-nameserver-ltsp dhcp-ltsp-config
  diskcheck k12ltsp-core k12ltsp-release k12ltsp-scripts
  lts-eb-bootroms ltsp_config ltsp_desktop_reset ltsp_esound_i386
  ltsp_esound_server ltsp_floppyd ltsp_i386 ltsp_i386-kernel
  ltsp_kernel_kitchen-sink ltsp_ppc ltsp_x_vesa nat nc
  root-desktop-urls verynice vnc-ltsp-config
 
1:caching-nameserver-ltspwarning: /etc/named.conf created as /etc/named.conf.rpmnew
3:ltsp_config            warning: /etc/ltsp.conf created as /etc/ltsp.conf.rpmnew
please run: /opt/ltsp/templates/k12linux/K12Linux-LTSP-initialize
14:dhcp-ltsp-config       warning: /etc/dhcpd.conf saved as /etc/dhcpd.conf.rpmorig

    [ /linux | # ]

    Sun, 10 Apr 2005

    KNOPPIX 3.8.1 2005-04-08

    Just released. Torrents here. New: 2.6.11 kernel, UNIONFS, ipw2200, homedirectory, many updates.

    Plain KDE startup boot and runs too slowly on Old PCs with 64 MB of RAM (and knoppix.swp on hda1)..

    From knoppix-cheatcodes boot with

      knoppix desktop=twm

    Previously I had installed a CreativeLabs SoundBlaster CT4170, set the jumpers to speaker/line, and attached un-powered speakers. "sndconfig" didn't run because it was looking for soundcore.o rather than soundcore.ko. Then

      modprobe snd-sb16
  play /usr/share/sndconfig/sample.au

    and it worked!

    # lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_sb16               14312  0 
snd_opl3_lib           12160  1 snd_sb16
snd_sb16_dsp           12928  1 snd_sb16
snd_pcm_oss            47904  0 
snd_mixer_oss          18688  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                77828  2 snd_sb16_dsp,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              23684  2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         11268  1 snd_pcm
snd_sb16_csp           21376  1 snd_sb16
snd_sb_common          16768  3 snd_sb16,snd_sb16_dsp,snd_sb16_csp
snd_hwdep              11040  2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_sb16_csp
snd_mpu401_uart         9856  1 snd_sb16
snd_rawmidi            22816  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device         10636  2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd                    46308  13 snd_sb16,snd_opl3_lib,snd_sb16_dsp,
  snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_sb16_csp,
  snd_sb_common,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore              11104  1 snd
...
# cat /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.8 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux Knoppix 2.6.11 #8 SMP Sun Mar 20 21:09:51 CET 2005 i586
Config options: 0
 
Installed drivers: 
Type 10: ALSA emulation
 
Card config: 
Sound Blaster 16 at 0x220, irq 5, dma 1&3
 
Audio devices:
0: DSP v4.16
 
Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG
 
Midi devices:
0: Sound Blaster 16 MIDI
 
Timers:
7: system timer
 
Mixers:
0: CTL1745
 
Mouse is ECM|0001 at /dev/ttyS0
Soundcard: driver=ALSA(autodetect)
 Video is 86c764/765 [Trio32/64/64V+], using XF86_s3(vesa) Server
 Monitor is SAM4d50, H:28.0-96.0kHz, V:50.0-75.0Hz
 Using Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    Soundcard: Creative ViBRA16X PnP:Audio driver=sb

    On KNOPPIX SB is autro-detected.

    On Red Hat 8.0 SB is autodetected kernel 2.4.20-28.8 sb.o 13512 bytes, sb_lib.o 49649 bytes.

    "kernel: sb: ISAPnP reports 'Creative SB16 PnP at i/o 0x220, irq 5, dma 1,5"

    in LTSP sb is not auto-detected

    [ /linux | # ]

    Tue, 05 Apr 2005

    LTSP - Linux Terminal Server Project

    "LTSP is an add-on package for Linux that allows you to connect lots of low-powered thin client terminals to a Linux server. Applications typically run on the server, and accept input and display their output on the thin client display."

    See also K12 LTSP for a Fedora distribution with LTSP built-in.

    [ /linux | # ]

    Tue, 22 Mar 2005

    Fedora Core 4

    Fedora Core 4 test 1 Available!

    FC4-test1-binary-i386.torrent Fedora Core 4 test 1 binary iso images for i386 2.6GB 2005-3-15.

    [ /linux | # ]

    Mon, 15 Nov 2004

    Fedora

    http://www.fedoranews.org/
    The goal of FedoraNEWS.ORG is to create a public community news information site for Fedora Users.

    http://www.fedoranews.org/tchung/fc3-final/
    FACTS: About Fedora Core 3 Final (Heidelberg)

    http://www.fedoranews.org/tchung/gnome-btdownload/
    HOWTO: Building Gnome BitTorrent Downloader RPM package for Fedora.

    http://www.fedoranews.org/tchung/rpmbuild/
    TODO: write about creating a rpmbuild directory !!! http://www.fedora.us/wiki/FedoraRPMDevTools

    http://www.fedoranews.org/contributors/rick_stout/freenx/
    HOWTO setup Freenx on Fedora. NX client from www.nomachine.org. Better than VNC?

    http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/selinux-faq-fc3/
    Fedora Core 3 SELinux FAQ

    [ /linux | # ]

    Thu, 16 Sep 2004

    The Open Group
    http://www.unix.org/

    http://www.unix.org/what_is_unix.html
    http://www.unix.org/what_is_unix/history_timeline.html

    UNIX "Live Free or Die" License Plate or LINUX "Live Free or Die" License Plate cheaper in lots of 5 !

    Signup to join the UNIX.net domain, and get an email address at UNIX.net (yourname@unix.net). Done john dot mann at unix dot net. Need to answer a UNIX Knowledge Quiz first.

    [ /linux | # ]

    Wed, 01 Sep 2004

    Linux End User Training Materials

    UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network - User Guide to Using the Linux Desktop

    http://www.iosn.net/training/end-user-manual/print/

    [ /linux | # ]