Install Maemo 5 SDK on Arch Linux

1. download GUI Installer made with python from http://www.forum.nokia.com/Tools_Docs_and_Code/Tools/Platforms/Maemo/

2. according to http://wiki.maemo.org/Documentation/Maemo_5_Final_SDK_Installation, the python script needs to be modified for non-debian linux

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< SB_PATH = "/scratchbox"
---
> SB_PATH = "/opt/scratchbox"
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> opt = opt + "-s /opt/scratchbox"
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> cmd = cmd +" -s /opt/scratchbox"

3. then run the installer

sudo python ./maemo-sdk-install-wizard_5.0.py

4. start the Xephyr xserver

Xephyr :2 -host-cursor -screen 800x480x16 -dpi 96 -ac &

-host-cursor # re-use exisiting X host server cursor
-screen WIDTHxHEIGHT # specify screen characteristics
-dpi # screen resolution in dots per inch
-ac # disable access control restrictions
-help # prints message with these options

5. disable vdso support in the host's kernel

vi /etc/sysctl
--

# Disable VDSO support
vm.vdso_enabled = 0

6. load in sysctl settings from the file

sudo sysctl -p

7. log out and log back or login to the new group in the current session

newgrp sbox

8. login to scratchbox

/opt/scratchbox/login

9. set the DISPLAY variable to match the display setting given for the Xephyr server

[sbox-FREMANTLE_X86: ~] > export DISPLAY=:2

10. start the ui framework

[sbox-FREMANTLE_X86: ~] > af-sb-init.sh start

11. method to shutdown

[sbox-FREMANTLE_X86: ~] > af-sb-init.sh stop

12. if your linux is non-debian based, start scratchbox manually when the system is rebooted

sudo /opt/scratchbox/sbin/sbox_ctl start


Check The Bandwidth of Network

iperf is a tool for performing network throughput measurements.

1. install iperf on both nodes

arch linux

sudo pacman -S iperf

windows version can be downloaded from http://www.noc.ucf.edu/Tools/Iperf/

2. one node acts as server, the other node would be client
start listening on server side

iperf -s

3. start connecting to server on client side

iperf -c -w 2m server_ip

# -w 2m adjust windows size to 2 mbytes

4. result should appear in a few secs like this

[1924] 0.0-10.0 sec 111 MBytes 92.9 Mbits/sec


Convert FLAC to MP3 on Arch Linux

1. install necessary packages to decode and encode

sudo pacman -S lame flac

2. pipe the decoded standart output for the encoder

flac -dc input.flac | lame -h - output.mp3

-d decode
-c write output to stdout

-h use some quality improvements

Find out All Online Hosts on the Same LAN on Linux

1. ping allow pinging a broadcast address

ping -b 192.168.0.255

but windows host does not reply broadcast ping

2. use network mapper, nmap

nmap -sP 192.168.0.0/24

-sP: ping scan

3. if a host be set to discard ping request, try to use arping with loop

Convert Video on Linux for Nokia N97

you can save different configurations as profiles for mencoder use.

1. create configuration file ~/.mplayer/mencoder.conf if there is not.
if in windows, the file should be put in the same folder with config and input.conf

2. edit mencoder.conf

[n97]
profile-desc="MPEG4/AAC"
vf=scale=640:-3,harddup
ovc=lavc=yes
oac=lavc=yes
lavcopts=aglobal=1:vglobal=1:acodec=libfaac:vcodec=mpeg4:abitrate=96:vbitrate=896
af=lavcresample=44100
ofps=25
of=lavf=yes
lavfopts=format=mp4

[profile2]
..
..

the quality of video from the above setting is good enough. but you still can adjust them in the suitable range
abitrate: 96 ~ 192
vbitrate: 896 ~ 4000

3. specify which profile to use

mencoder -profile n97 -o output.mp4 input_file


Change the Default Sound Card on Arch Linux

i found the sound module of my tv card was the default sound device because i tried to run amixer and got no master or pcm controls.

1. discover your sound card model name with lspci and your ALSA driver module names with ls

$ ls -l /sys/module/snd/holders
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 saa7134_alsa -> ../../saa7134_alsa
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_hda_codec -> ../../snd_hda_codec
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_hda_codec_realtek -> ../../snd_hda_codec_realtek
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_hda_intel -> ../../snd_hda_intel
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_hwdep -> ../../snd_hwdep
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_mixer_oss -> ../../snd_mixer_oss
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_pcm -> ../../snd_pcm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_pcm_oss -> ../../snd_pcm_oss
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_rawmidi -> ../../snd_rawmidi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_seq -> ../../snd_seq
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_seq_device -> ../../snd_seq_device
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_seq_oss -> ../../snd_seq_oss
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_timer -> ../../snd_timer
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2009-08-13 09:21 snd_usb_audio -> ../../snd_usb_audio

2. add order setting for the module of main soundcard to modprobe.conf

vi /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf
--

options snd_hda_intel index=0

3. make your user be able to use the sound card

gpasswd -a username audio

3. reboot then make sure the sound modules have been loaded

lsmod | grep ^snd_

4. the current version of alsa installs with all channels muted by default. use alsamixer to unmute the channels and adjust volume manually

5. run alsactl once to create /etc/asound.state

alsactl store
# restore
# alsactl restore

6. add alsa to daemons in rc.conf to store the mixer settings on every shutdown and restore them when you boot.

Mount Windows Partition with Correct Character Setting on Linux


mount -t cifs -o iocharset=utf8,username="username",password="password" //ip/share /mountpoint