it’s me… henry

http://www.jejik.com/articles/2008/10/setting_up_dual_monitors_system-wide_with_xrandr_on_debian_lenny/

Firestarter is a firewall.  Moblock is an IP blocker.

To have both work together, I had to modify the firestarter script to restart Moblock.

After some digging, edit /etc/firestarter/firestarter.sh as sudo.

Find start_firewall function and modify it to this…

# Start the firewall, enforcing traffic policy
start_firewall () {
lock_firestarter
source /etc/firestarter/firewall 2>&1
retval=$?
if [ $retval -eq 0 ]; then
echo “Firewall started”
if [ -x /etc/init.d/blockcontrol ]; then
/etc/init.d/blockcontrol restart
fi
else
echo “Firewall not started”
unlock_firestarter
exit $retval
fi
}

When I use GVIM to edit files, I like to have console font and have automatic syntax highlighting.  So, here is my ~/.vimrc

<File ~/.vimrc>
set gfn=Console
syntax on
</File>

Basically, since using my laptop more and more, I’ve noticed that it has been getting hot. The fan should be turning on, but it hasn’t. So after digging around… I fixed the problem.

First, I’m not sure if turning off apmd made a difference or not, but I did it because another forum told me to do it. But after the results were not successful, I kept it off. acpi is newer than apm, so I left apm off.

In this thread, it basically tells you to install the i8k packages. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=74578

In this thread, it basically tells you how to configure the i8k package. http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1325507&postcount=128

By doing both, I got my fans working.

At the end of March, my mobile contract ended with AT&T.  Before that, I knew I was going to be happy in switching to another carrier since the service is bad at my place.  My sister mentioned that she got Sprint and her plan is cheap.

It’s the SERO plan.  It comes with unlimited text and unlimited data for $30.

I looked at the phones they had and  I wanted to get the Blackberry 8130.  But the purchase needs to have the Blackberry Data Service (which is an extra $39.99).  But searching online, I found out that you don’t need the data service if you have a Blackberry phone.  It’s only useful if you need push email and other blackberry service.

Some say you can’t get the Blackberry without the Blackberry data service.  Some say you need to be persistent and just keep asking for the original plan without the Blackberry data service.  Basically I did the latter and now I have a $30/month plan with unlimited text and unlimited data.  I can surf the net with Opera Mini.

Since all my computers are on Linux/Ubuntu, I had to find a way to install the desktop software for the Blackberry.  I have VMware with WinXP, so I installed it.  After a couple days of figuring out why it wouldn’t work, I found out that with the CD install (Desktop Application), you need to have the Device software too (which is not on the CD).  I searched the net and found the link to getting the Blackberry 8130 device setup (you can get that directly from the Blackberry website).

But getting the software on windows to connect to the device worked like once or twice.  Then I figured that the layer between (which would be the Linux/Ubuntu) needed extra support.  So I searched again, and found out that there’s Barry, a Linux support util and library to communicate with the Blackberry.

So finally… I have a working situation where I can connect the Blackberry to my PC and install applications, backup data and everything else.  It is done by installing Barry on Linux, running WinXP on VMware, and finally install the Desktop Application with the Device setup.

This is my customization of Ubuntu 7.10. Since I’m forgetful, this will be my cheatsheet in the future. The laptop is for a Dell 700m.

*Note: this is not a how to install Ubuntu, this is after the installation.

*I like to keep the ISO on local cause if I install anything new, I don’t have to get the CD/DVD

Create ISO from CD/DVD
$ dd if=/dev/dvd of=/path/to/file.iso

Auto-mount ISO (edit /etc/fstab) and add the following line
/path/to/image.iso /mnt/path/to/ubuntu iso9660 ro,loop,auto,user 0 0

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include ISO, and disable CD/DVD version
Put this line before cdrom and comment out (#) CD/DVD
deb file:///mnt/path/to/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

*I like KDE more than the default Gnome.

Install Kubuntu
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Some problems with logging out, shutdown, rebooting
Change “intel” to “i810″ for device
$ sudo apt-get install 915resolution
If the xserver-xorg-video-intel get better, than we can use the intel drivers

Install console font for konsole
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
$ fc-cache -f -v ~/.fonts
Reboot

Install MS fonts
$ sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

*Since there is just one user (me), I don’t need a login screen

Auto login for KDE
$ sudo gdmsetup
Select the Security Tab,
Flag the “Enable Automatic Login”,
Select your name from the drop down menu,
Select Close.

*I like printing to PDF than to actual printers.  It saves paper and I can archive it better

Install PDF printer
Make sure the package is installed
$ sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
Make sure permissions are correct
$ sudo chmod 4755 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
Add new printer.
Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer
*Cannot print test page, it prints as root, print using app

*Since my laptop has speedstep, I want to add speedstep control

Add CPU freq utils (for speedstep)
$ sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

Install firefox mplayer and remove totem
$ sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
$ sudo rm /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libtotem*

Install firewall
$ sudo apt-get install guarddog

Configure firewall
Start guarddog, then allow “DNS-Domain Name Server” for “Internet”