PC1MH techlog

How to wireless problem on the Asus EEE PC 1000L with Ubuntu 11

2011-05-24T16:53:00.003+02:00

It seems that with every new version of Ubuntu there is a problem with the wireless card and its drivers on the Asus EEE PC 1000L. The card in the Asus EEE PC 1000L is a Ralink RT2860.
(To check if this card is in your system type 'lspci')

After installing Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal it seems to work but after a reboot the connection cannot be made or the system tries to reconnect every minute or so.
Installing 'wifi radar' helps (Dont know why.) but the connection is not stable.

The solution is to add 2 lines to: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf


blacklist rt2800pci
blacklist rt2x00pci

Do a reboot and 11.04 is fine.

After upgrading to Ubuntu 11.10 the network is again gone.
The solution is to add the following line to: /etc/modules


rt2800pci

Do a reboot and 11.10 is fine again for about six months.

How to count only certain data in Cognos Report Studio?

2011-02-25T11:58:00.002+01:00

Sometimes a count needs to be made on data that needs to meet certain requirements.
There are several ways to acomplish this.

Example:
COUNT ( IF ( [FrameworkField] <= 2700 ) THEN (1) ELSE (0) )
or
Example:
CASE WHEN ( [FrameworkField] <= 2700 ) THEN (1) ELSE (0) END

How to strip the time from a date_time in Cognos Report Studio

2011-02-15T20:49:00.006+01:00

Edit the definition of the date/time field in Framework Manager.

cast( [field in framework] as DATE )

Cognos Report Studio: How to replace '1' and '0' with 'Yes' and 'No'

2010-12-09T16:14:00.009+01:00

If you need to replace the values '1' and '0' with 'Yes' and 'No' in Cognos Report Studio you will need to add a new Data Item with an Expression Definition.

- Open the report in Cognos Report Studio and open the query in the query explorer.

- Add a new Data Item and use as Expression Definition:

if([Databasefield] <> '1')
then ('No')
else
('Yes')

- Now open the page explorer and add the Data Item as a column. You will now see a list containing Yes and No values.

PostgreSQL 8.3 Debian. Basic postgreSQL 4 noobs.

2010-11-11T15:41:00.036+01:00

Connect with putty or any other terminal to your Linux Debian server.

Install the PostgreSQL database with:
sudo apt-get install postgresql-server-dev-8.3

To restart the PostgreSQL database type:
sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql-8.3 restart

How to enter the postgresql database terminal:
First become root on the system with: su -
Then become the postgres user with: su - postgres
Now you can finaly enter the database-terminal with:
psql

Check the existing databases on the server with: psql -l in the Linux terminal.

Exit from database terminal with: \q

Create a database in UTF8 with:
CREATE DATABASE test WITH ENCODING 'UTF8'; in the database-terminal
or:
createdb -E utf-8 test in the Linux-terminal as user postgres.

If the database is in LATIN1 and the data in UTF-8 then:
Error:
createdb: database creation failed: ERROR: encoding UTF8 does not match server's locale en_US
DETAIL: The server's LC_CTYPE setting requires encoding LATIN1.

- Purge postgreSQL with: apt-get purge postgres postgresql-server-dev-8.3
- Check out /etc/locale.gen and add the line: en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
- Then run as root: locale-gen
- Reinstall postgreSQL with: apt-get install postgres postgresql-server-dev-8.3 and now all databases are in UTF-8

Export and import, backup and restore:

- Export database: pg_dump dbname > outfile
- Import/restore database: psql dbname < infile

The database is stored in: /var/lib/postgresql Make shure you have enough room for the database.

To make an ODBC connection to the database you need to install the postgre ODBC driver with:
apt-get install odbc-postgresql

Googles way of saying "Hey you talk funny but we will translate anything."

2010-08-18T21:47:00.006+02:00

Midnight commander on Ubuntu

2010-05-12T12:37:00.011+02:00

Midnight Commander is not present after the initial install of Ubuntu server 8.04 LTE. Allso installing with sudo apt-get install mc does not work.

To install MC you will need to install a key and add a repository.

To install the key type in terminal:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys F82FBD49

To add the extra repository edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/zyv/ppa/ubuntu YOUR_DISTRO main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/zyv/ppa/ubuntu YOUR_DISTRO main

(As editor nano could be used.)

Now update with:
sudo apt-get update

Midnight Commander can now be installed with:
sudo apt-get install mc

Huawei E180 HSPA dongle on Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix

2010-04-16T22:09:00.011+02:00

There are many ways to do it wrong and this is the correct procedure to get a working Huawei E180 HSPA dongle with your Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix netbook.

- Insert the dongle, then turn on the computer.
- Right-click the network icon and go to Edit Connections.

- Select Mobile Broadband Connection and click Add to set up a new Mobile Broadband Connection.

- The dongle is recognised as HUAWEI Technology HUAWEI Mobile, just press Forward.
- A country list appears, choose Netherlands and press Forward.
- A provider list appears, I tested with KPN Mobile and press Forward.
- A billing plan has to be chosen but there is only the Default choice, just press Forward.
- A resume of the settings appear, just press Apply.

- A settings screen appears, don't change anything just press Apply.

Now everything is set up.

- Click the network icon and click the Mobile Broadband called KPN Mobile Default 1

- A PIN is needed. (Only once during install) Give the correct PIN and press enter. (The PIN is saved.)

Wait a few seconds and you have internet.

No extra drivers or software need to be installed and everything works out of the box.

How to protect your equipment against EMP?

2009-12-01T15:11:00.006+01:00

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) occurs with a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere.

Simply said it destroys electronics. After an EMP there will be no working radio, television, telephone, power-grid, car or cash-machine.
Banks will stop working and even a millionaire will not be able to buy any food.
People who need medicine or care will have to try without.

Although vacuum tubes are far more resistant to EMP than solid state devices, other components in vacuum tube circuitry can be damaged by EMP.

Protecting against an EMP can be done with the help of a cage of Faraday.
Put your vacuum tube transceiver in a metal box. Make sure the equipment does not touch the metal cage/box. Don't ground the cage/box.

To operate your now state of the art station after nuclear disaster strikes you need power. Remember the power-grid is pre nuclear history and you need your own generator and battery to get up on the air.

Howto Hack MS Windows with Linux

2009-11-18T13:30:00.012+01:00

Q - What if you cannot access your MS Windows operating system due to a lost administrator password?

A - Start using a free simple OS like Ubuntu or Gentoo.
Or hack MS Windows so that it does not need a password any more.

Boot into Linux using USB or CD. If you dont have an USB or CD with a linux distribution on it use unetbootin to create one. This post was tested using Ubuntu 9.10.

Enter the terminal.
sudo apt-get install chntpw
Mount the NTFS drive allowing read/write.
navigate to WINDOWS/system32/config
chntpw SAM
If the password is left blank (*) you can boot into administrator without using any password ever.

Maxtor 6L250R0 234 GB (30515 Cyl 255 H 63 Sec)

2009-10-31T10:44:00.002+01:00

Finally after a long search.
No support site, no sticker on the drive. Found an old logfile.txt somewhere on the net that saved the day.

Maxtor 6L250R0 234 GB
IDE Name: Maxtor 6L250R0
Kind of drive: Physical drive
Geometry: 30515 Cylinders * 255 Heads * 63 Sectors
LBA sectors: 490,223,475 (234 GB)
Kind of access: LBA mode

Current position of the International Space Station ISS using APRS data.

2009-10-08T13:29:00.012+02:00

Citrix ICA client on Ubuntu 9.04

2009-07-06T10:27:00.030+02:00

1 Go to: http://www.citrix.com to download and install the linux ICA client/Citrix Receiver.
(http://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=3323&productId=186&c1=sot2755&c2=ost1349860)
Run setupwfc.

2 Install usertrust certificate.
(Needed by the ICA client for encryption of the ICA stream.)
Copy http://www.usertrust.com/cacerts/UTN-USERFirst-Hardware.crt to ./usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/ or ./home/#username#/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/
Run in terminal:
wget http://www.usertrust.com/cacerts/UTN-USERFirst-Hardware.crt -O ./usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts/

3 Workaround for Program neighbourhood manager bug.
Run in terminal:

sudo apt-get install libmotif3
cd /usr/lib
sudo ln -s libXm.so.3 libXm.so.4

4 Reboot
Run in terminal:
reboot

5 Configure the ICA client/Citrix Receiver.
Start Citrix Receiver and go to Connection > Propperties > Connection and choose 128 bit Encryption Level.

(K)ubuntu 8.04 on the HP Mini 2133 (FU338EA)

2009-04-20T16:04:00.012+02:00

Finally the screen problems are solved.

Here is how I finally got the HP Mini 2133 (FU338EA) working correctly with kubuntu.

First install kubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-i386.iso

Then install the VIA video driver.
Browse to http://linux.via.com.tw/support/downloadFiles.action
select "Ubuntu 8.04 LTS" and download the stable version.
Extract the files.
Open a terminal and go inside the directory you just created and run ./vinstall
Now download a new xorg.conf file from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HP2133?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=xorg.conf
Rename your existing xorg.conf file to xorg.conf.old and replace the original one with the one you just downloaded.
To restart the X server press 'CTRL + ALT + Backspace'
If all is well relax and enjoy. Otherwise:

Edit xorg.conf.
change the PanelID value in "Device" section of xorg.conf. Correct PanelID value for 1024x600 is 17 (Add line 'option "PanelID" "17"')

How to update the BIOS of an Asus EEE pc 1000

2009-04-15T22:42:00.011+02:00

Download the latest driver from:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Rename the file to 1000.ROM and copy that to a FAT 32 USB stick.
Start up with the USB stick attached and hold both ALT and F2 keys pressed and the BIOS update will run. The screen will show the update process.

I updated from 803 to 913 successfully and without any problems.
Later I updated from 913 to 1003 successfully and without any problems.

After the update the BIOS settings are set to their default values meaning WLAN, bluetooth and camera are disabled.

Siemens gigaset WLAN camera Security problem

2007-06-04T22:28:00.002+02:00

The Siemens gigaset WLAN camera has a big security problem.
Telnet and FTP, port 23 and 21, are completely open to this camera. Anyone can connect to yourcameraIP:23 with a telnet client as root and access the linux router running in the camera without even the need for a single password.
On connecting the camera returns:

Linux 2.4.19-uc1 (SI4e7141) (ttyp0)

SI4e7141 login: root
Welcome to
_ ____
____ ____ __| |___ ____ _ _ \ /
/ __]___ \/ _ | _ \| __ \| | | ||\\//|
| (__( (_) )(_) |(_)_) | | | |_| ||//\\|
\____]\___/\___/\____]_| |_|\____| /__\

Embedded Linux Solutions

For further information see:
http://www.cadenux.com/web/bsp

BusyBox v0.60.3 (2005.08.22-11:11+0000) Built-in shell (msh)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

help does not work.
# help
help: not found
#

Possible commands are:

cat
cd
date
df
du
echo
exit
free
hostname
ifconfig
kill
killall
ls
lsmod
mount
nslookup
ping
ps
pwd
reboot
route
set
uptime
whoami

The password of the wireless network is then clearly revealed in a 'file' and open to any visitor who has the capability to use a Linux terminal. Read the 'password file' with the cat command.
No password needed. Ever.

It seems Siemens has no clue about network security. Siemens has no firmware upgrade even though adding a secret password to user root is essential for this to be a usable and save product. Be warned, don't use this camera without adding a firewall.

Siemens gigaset WLAN camera

2006-04-10T23:17:00.001+02:00

The Siemens gigaset WLAN camera and its hidden features.
This is not in the manual.

This IP WLAN camera comes with Windows software and can be viewed with internet explorer together with active X.

If you need to the stream can be picked up by any application that can handle .ASF streams.
The stream is found at:
http://-your url-/img/video.asf
With this URL you can watch the camera with many mediaplayers that can open the .ASF format like WinAmp and Windows Media Player even if you are not using Windows.

To make the stream available over the internet and inside the LAN via a router, use an extra port besides port 80. For instance use extra port 1080.
In the router add a port foreward from 1080 to -IP-camera-:1080.

Inside the LAN look at port 80, outside the LAN via the internet, look at port 1080.