Mathieu Allard's blog

Splitting for reading on PDA

2009-08-11T00:14:20-05:00

Splitting for reading on PDA

Now that I have a file that I can read and click on any word for a definition, I found it useful to break a bigger file into s maller files for reading on my PDA. This worked for me:

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech$ mkdir principe

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech/$ cp principe.html principe

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech/$ cd principe

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech/principe$ split -C 10000 principe.html

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech/principe$ rename 's/$/\.html/' *

[mathieu2@durnik]~/opalescentca/blog/tech/principe$ find -exec sed -i 1i" " '{}' ';'

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Point and click for definition

2009-07-31T01:30:57-05:00

I thought I would share how I quickly got reading a text with every word pointed to wordreference.com. I find this useful where I'm reading a text in spanish where I am missing a lot of vocabulary and want to be able to point and click on the words I don't know for a definition. This is how I did so very quickly in Linux. oraculo.txt is a file that I saved as text from mozilla firefox. I then point my firefox browser to oraculo-finalu.html and I'm able to easily read my text.

[mathieu2@durnik]~/Desktop$ iconv --from-code=ISO-8859-1 --to-code=UTF-8 ./oraculo.txt > ./oraculou.txt
[mathieu2@durnik]~/Desktop$ cat oraculou.txt |sed 's/$/ 4444/' > oraculou2.txt
[mathieu2@durnik]~/Desktop$ cat oraculou2.txt |sed 's/\w\+/\\0\ /g' > oraculou3.txt
[mathieu2@durnik]~/Desktop$ cat oraculou3.txt|sed 's/4444/
/g' > oraculo-finalu.html

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Ubuntu 8.10 on the Toshiba u200

2009-02-26T16:30:09-05:00

I just created a new Linux for Laptops entry that I submitted to Linux on Laptops

Linux on Laptops

Linux on Laptops

Installing Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 on Toshiba U200

Last updated: February 26th, 2009

I would personally recommend the use of this laptop with Linux, I have accelerated graphics, power management, wifi and sound working with it.

General Hardware Specifications of Toshiba U200:

I borrowed the specs from here because I wasn't able to find my laptop on the Toshiba site.

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Processor: Intel Core Duo T2300E 1.66 GHz	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
Display: 12.1" Widescreen TFT XGA with TruBrite	Works	Select Generic LCD Display in Installer
Graphics: Intel GMA 950(integrated, 128MB shared)	Works	Use Xorg i810 driver.
Memory: 2x512MB DDR2 @ 533MHZ	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Hard-drive: Toshiba Serial-ATA 100GB, 5400RPM	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Integrated Network Card	Not Tested.	Not tested.
Internal 56k Modem	Not Tested.	Not tested.
Optical-drive: Matshita Super-Multi Double Layer DVD+/- RW	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Connectivity: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Works.	Use Ubuntu ipw3945 module.
6 Cell.	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Intel High Definition Audio	Works	No special procedure required if using Kernel 2.6.x.
Integrated Card Reader.	Not tested.	Not tested.

This laptop is operating under Ubuntu Kernel Version 2.6.27-9-generic.

Basic Installation of [Ubuntu]:

There are plenty of good howtos on how to install Ubuntu. See http://

Configuration Files

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver        "kbd"
    Option        "CoreKeyboard"
    Option        "XkbRules"    "xorg"
    Option        "XkbModel"    "pc104"
    Option        "XkbLayout"    "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Configured Mouse"
    Driver        "mouse"
    Option        "CorePointer"
    Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "Protocol"        "ImPS/2"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping"        "4 5"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons"    "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Synaptics Touchpad"
    Driver        "synaptics"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents"    "true"
    Option        "Device"    &nSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Generic Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Device        "Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller"
    Monitor        "Generic Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes        "1280x800"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier    "Default Layout"
    Screen        "Default Screen"
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
#    InputDevice     "stylus"    "SendCoreEvents"
#    InputDevice     "cursor"    "SendCoreEvents"
#    InputDevice     "eraser"    "SendCoreEvents"
    InputDevice    "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

More Specific Information. Specific stuff such as:

df -hl

Filesystem            Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             109G 101G 1.7G 99% /
tmpfs                 501M     0 501M&nbs; /sys/kernel/security
binfmt_misc              0     0     0   - /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
gvfs-fuse-daemon         0     0     0   - /home/mathieu2/.gvfs

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
03:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection (rev 02)
03:0b.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
03:0b.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
03:0b.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
03:0b.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

cat cpuinfo

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 14
model name : Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2250 @ 1.73GHz
stepping : 8
cpu MHz : 800.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
bogomips : 3457.97
clflush size : 64
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 14
model name : Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2250 @ 1.73GHz
stepping : 8
cpu MHz : 800.000
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 1
cpu cores : 2
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
bogomips : 3458.00
clflush size : 64
power management:

Some Pictures of the Laptop

Images By Name:

e-mail address mathieu at mathieuallard.ca

Advertise on linux-on-laptops.com

No Warranties: This information is provided "as is" without any warranty, condition, or representation of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any warranty respecting non-infringement, and the implied warranties of conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. All logos or trademarks on this site are the property of their respective owner. In no event shall linux-laptop.net, linux-on-laptops.com, or any directors, trustees, associates, or employees thereof be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or other damages howsoever caused whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of the information contained on this web site.

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Making .svi files for Samsung YP-T9 Under Linux

2008-03-25T00:35:55-05:00

This is my configuration information: I've got a Samsung Y9-T9JB, more specifically YP-T9JBQB/XAC Firmware version, 1.80 US released date 2007.06.08
I tried software called svi coder to make files that would be compatible with my YP-T9 but this was unsuccessful. After getting in touch with the developper, the reason this software does not work is that there is some metadata in the file that is unknown that is needed to make the devices operate properly.
The only solution that I was able to find to be able to convert files that would work on the device was to install the Samsung Media Studio application with WINE. This was not a straightforward process under Linux. This is what I had to do:
1) install wine (version 0.9.46)
2) run winecfg and configure your wine machine to act like windowsXP
2) install ie6setup.exe
3) install a version of windows media player from the cd that came with the device (i had to do this because the microsoft website now make you certify your version of windows)
4) install using wine 20050205175658671_MediaStudio5_5132.exe (I downloaded this from the Samsung Website)
5) install from the Program Files\Samsung\Samsungapplication folder the free codecs package

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Spanish text linking to wordreference.com from french/spanish translation

2007-12-11T03:46:20-05:00

I wanted to link every word from a text I was reading to the website wordreference.com for a spanish/french tranlsaiton so that I could click on unknown words instead of having to cut and paste every time. This is roughly what I did:

cp Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea.txt Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea.html
cat Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea.txt|sed 's/$/4444/' > Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea2.txt
cat Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea2.txt|sed 's/\w\+/\<a href\=\"http\:\/\/www\.wordreference\.com\/esfr\/\0\"\>\0\<a\> /g' > Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea3.txt
cat Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea3.txt|sed 's/4444/<br>/g'

cat Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea3.txt|sed 's/4444/<br>/g' > Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea4.html
split -l 25 Homero\ -\ La\ Odisea4.html
rename 's/$/\.html' x*
find . -iname '*.html'|cut -b3- |sed "s/^/\"/"|sed 's/$/\"/'|xargs perl -pi -e 's/charset=iso-8859-1/charset=utf-8/'

Missing in the post is a step where I prepended a header to every .html file. I cut the files in smaller pieces to make it easier on the browser. The link to the final product is up. -----

Gusty Upgrade

2007-11-18T05:26:38-05:00

I just upgraded to Ubuntu Gusty a few days ago... This prompted me to play with new window managers and I'm very much impressed with the work that has been done with XFCE (4.4.1 is the version of my panel). It is lightweight and does everything that I need to get done with a window manager with a very small memory footprint. This window manager and my little dual core toshiba is meaning a very fast and stable setup. -----

Toshiba U200

2007-10-08T14:43:06-05:00

New Laptop So I upgraded laptop recently, installed Linux on it and I'm waiting for Linux for Laptops to put it up on their site. ----- -----

New Partition and Filesystem Setup

2007-09-05T20:19:17-05:00

I have just completed the implementation of my new partition setup for my 40 gigabyte Acer Laptop. I had a chronic shortage of space, and a home directory that was mostly archives so I decided to compress my /home using squafs and liberated a number of gigs that way. I also compressed user. Squashfs is read only, so to get around not being to write to /home and /usr, I created unionfs entries where if any files are added to /home and /usr, they are actually added on a separate filesystem.
An unintended consequence to this is that I have more security in the preservation in the files in my /home. By creating a squashfs disk image, I now have a static backup of the home directory, static backups were not part of my backup regime prior to this, I simply copied my entire filesystem using rsync. I did this because it was simple, but it put my files at risk in the event where they would become corrupted or if I accidentily deleted a branch of files which would be automatically deleted in my backup.
The other major alteration that I made to my setup was to re-encrypt all of the partitions on my filesystem. Luckily, Ubuntu now bundles cryptsetup in its initrds which made my filesystem encryption much easier. I wanted to scramble all of the filesystems on my disk and wanted to scramble even the root. To encrypt the root I had to make a custom initrd that allows me to decrypt the root. The custom initrd also contains the necessary key to decrypt the filesystem. I used my old notes as to how to setup the encrypted block devices and setup the initrd necessary to encrypt the drive. I now carry the laptop key much like I would carry a car key in the form of a mini-cd.
Making your own grub cd is very easy, instructions can be found here
This is the relevant sections of my resulting fstab:

//begin fstab//
#
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mapper/root / ext3 defaults,user_xattr,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/mapper/swap none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/mapper/home /mnt/home squashfs auto 0 0
/dev/mapper/usr /mnt/usr squashfs auto 0 0
none /home unionfs dirs=/home/=rw:/mnt/home=ro,auto 0 0
none /usr/ unionfs dirs=/usr/=rw:/mnt/usr=ro,auto 0 0
//end fstab//
I now have a much more secure albeit much slower and more complicated setup in my Linux laptop. -----

Gimp and scripts

2007-06-26T22:08:37-05:00

I've always wanted to figure out how to run the gimp in batch mode. I wanted to be able to use the gimp "posterize" option because I found that it worked better than the option -posterize that comes with the Imagemagick package. The material that I was posterizing was scanned text. The files were 3 megs per file and all that was on these image files was mostly plain text. After the gimp posterizing process, the files went from ~3megs to ~100kb.
Turns out scripting in the gimp is fairly easy. I used the following link as a base for what I wanted to do:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Basic_Batch/
and the following page to look at some syntax:
http://adrian.gimp.org/scripts/test.scm
In the following folder folder ~/.gimp-2.2/scripts I placed the file posterize.scm with the following contents:

(define (posterize filename posterfactor)
(let* ((image (car (gimp-file-load RUN-NONINTERACTIVE filename filename)))
(drawable (car (gimp-image-get-active-layer image))))
(gimp-message "gimp-posterize img layer" posterfactor)
(gimp-posterize drawable posterfactor)
(gimp-file-save RUN-NONINTERACTIVE image drawable filename filename)
(gimp-image-delete image)))

Then with one find command, I was able to posterize all ~400 files that I had in the folder that I was using.
find -iname '*.png' -exec gimp -i -b '(posterize "{}" 2)' '(gimp-quit 0)' ';'
After much processing time, I saved myself quite a bit of disk space. -----

Udev Problem

2007-05-25T12:31:33-05:00

Since my upgrade to Ubuntu Feisty, I am having trouble with udev:
Specifically, I am getting messages such as these:
--
[45887.989000] device-mapper: table: 254:3: linear: dm-linear: Device lookup failed
[45887.989000] device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to table

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I currently boot my Ubuntu using a mini cd that has a kernel, initrd and the tools necessary to decrypt and boot my encrypted swap and root. This problem with udev has only started since my upgrade to feisty.
The kernel version that I am using is 2.6.18 with some patches that I needed to apply for my last laptop to be able to read sd cards.
Furthermore, if I don't kill udevd, it eats up my cpu ressources and spits out messages as described above.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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