Thoughts and Emotions

Brother DCP-J315W under Ubuntu: installation and configuration

2012-02-14T22:59:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone,

a month ago I changed from Debian to Ubuntu. Actually, I had to do, because I ruined my Debian installation.

I will report about my migration later, now I want to tell about installing my printer/scanner Brother DCP-J315W under Ubuntu. This nice page describes, how to do it. It costed me something like 10 minutes to install the printer. Very-very nice! As I said earlier, Brother-devices rule!

Regards,
Andrey

"Brother DCP J315W" rules!

2011-08-15T13:39:00.002+01:00

Hi,

this week-end I installed my new all-on-one device "Brother DCP J315W". I'm really impressed by that device. Everything ran smoothly, I could install both USB- and WLAN/WiFi-connections for the printer. I even could install both printer and scanner under Linux! This is amazing.

I will report about printing and scanning quality later.

Cheers,
Andrey

New all-in-one printer is there!

2011-08-10T12:53:00.002+01:00

Hello @all,

it's time to replace my old "Olivetti SIMPLE_WAY" with a new device. I just bought "Brother DCP-J315W". Review comes later.

Cheers,
Andrey

I have passed Microsoft exam 70-445!

2011-07-01T20:55:00.003+01:00

Hello @everyone,

this week I passed Microsoft exam 70-445 "TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence - Development and Maintenance". This exam gave me a title of MCTS. Nice! I'm really glad, because that was my Big Goal in the last time.

Cheers,
Andrey

Blocking of mails sent by "DB Mail" in SQL Server 2005/8: check your antivirus-software!

2011-05-12T15:25:00.000+01:00

Hello, my mail delivery from SQL Server using "DB Mail" feature failed. After some reserach I found this blog:
Wise man or Wise guy? You decide: Mystery of Failing Database Mail

So, keep in mind: if "DB Mail" doesn't work, check your antivirus.

Cheers,
Andrey

Ubuntu on HP nx9030: short feedback

2011-04-05T09:03:00.005+01:00

Hello @all,

a friend of mine donated me his old laptop, because he knew I was interested in playing with Linux and laptops. The present is an HP nx9030 with following properties: Pentium Mobile 1,6 GHZ (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, no HDD (he kept it because of data), 32 MB of video-memory (shared), WLAN module + some standard ports. Detailed info can be found here. I took a Live-CD with Ubuntu 9.04 and started the laptop. And it simply worked. Nice... I even could use WLAN without any problems. It ran a bit slow, but I could live with it taking into account that Linux hat to do everything (including SWAP) in RAM.

So, my conclusion: if you need an ordinary "working horse" for office tasks (writing/reading mails, typing documents, Internet surfing), than you may take nx9030 without any hesitation. It's designed for Windows XP and works fine under Linux Ubuntu - even without HDD.

I personally have Thinkpad T43p, my wife - T23. But I decided to keep that HP laptop for emergency case. If something goes wrong with ours, we will be able to go online and work even in the current (limited) configuration.

Best wishes from Hamburg,
Andrey

ATI graphic card FireGL V 3200 in Debian Linux 6.0 "Squeeze"

2011-02-20T00:44:00.002+01:00

Hello @all,

last night I installed new version of Debian - 6.0. I like it in general, but my only problem was my graphic card. My laptop - Thinkpad T43p - has dedicated card from ATI - FireGL V3200. In "Lenny" I used non-free driver from ATI - so-called "fglrx" kernel module and "Catalyst" software. So, my xorg.conf file had "fglrx" in the "Driver" property. After update X-server failed to start. I searched a bit, found out, that I had to recompile "Catalyst" for version 6.0 again. I did it, and then tried to start "aticonfig --initial" to create new xorg.conf file. "aticonfig" ended with "no supported adapters" error. After another 30 minutes of searching I discovered, that the latest version of "Catalyst" (the one, which is shipped with Debian 6.0 "Squeeze", version 10.9) DOES NOT support my card anymore. The last version of "Catalyst" with FireGL-support was version 8.12.

So, to make the story short: some cards are not supported by ATI/AMD in their Linux driver anymore. It means, that we (the owners of those cards) MUST use free driver "radeon", if we want to keep our computers.

So, I plan to post further impressions from "Squeeze" later.

Cheers,
Andrey

Photos of Tashkent / Фотки Ташкента

2010-03-14T18:20:00.001+01:00

Photos of Tashkent:

http://setensa.ru/tashkent_may/tashkent_10may.htm

---

Фотки Ташкента
http://setensa.ru/tashkent_may/tashkent_10may.htm

A lot of changes in my life...

2010-03-14T08:29:00.002+01:00

Hi @all,

a lot of changes happened in my life: new job, new apartment, coming soon baby... I need time to sort all that stuff out... I will try to post more when I get a bit more spare time...

Setting DNS server in Linux

2009-12-22T23:14:00.005+01:00

Hello everyone,

recently I replaced my DSL modem with a router. After replacement I noticed, that my Internet connection (Firefox/Thunderbird) became very slowly - I needed more than 10 seconds to open a page. Firefox was showing "Looking up " message all the time.

My first idea was to check the DNS server. In the /etc/resolv.conf file I could see that my router is acting as DNS server:
nameserver 192.168.1.1

I checked options to replace that address with the the DNS servers of my provider (Hansenet/Alice, Germany) and found following solution:
1) copy file /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf into dhclient.conf.original - to make a backup copy of the file;
2) open dhclient.conf with any editor and make following changes:

* uncomment line "prepend domain-name-servers..." and enter there - comma-separated - IP adresses of the desired DNS servers;
* in the line "request subnet-mask,broadcast-address..." remove part "domain-name-servers" - in this way you prevent DHC client from retrieving the DNS name from the router.

After restarting the networking (/etc/init.d/networking restart) and bringing up your interface you must get you Internet connection at normal speed.

Any comments are welcome!

Andrey

P.S. Important to notice, that I DO NOT use resolvconf-package.

Privet iz Tashkenta / Greetings from Tashkent

2009-11-03T13:57:00.003+01:00

Vsem privet.

Uje 2 nedeli ya doma, v Tashe. Zdes teplo, suho, mnogo fruktov i koshek. :-) Dela u menya normalno, vse idet po planu... Fotki i kommentarii pozje...

---

Hello @all,

greetings from my home city - Tashkent. It's warm here, markets are full with fruits and streets and yards are full with cats. :-) I'm OK, everything goes as planned... Photos and comments later...

I'm flying home soon..

2009-09-25T11:42:00.001+01:00

In the mid of October I fly home, to Tashkent, for 4 weeks...

IBM Port Replicator II: a kind of review

2009-09-24T20:58:00.011+01:00

Hello everyone,

recently I purchased - rather occasional, this story comes bit later - Port Replicator II by IBM (modell 74P6733) for my laptop T43p. While waiting for the device to arrive, I searched Google for the reviews and opinions - but found nearly nothing. This surprised me a bit, and I decided to
feel the gap and post a kind of review for the device. I don't want to be extremely precise and objective, I just tell you how it looks and feels like.

You may find the photos of the device (sorry for the quality, was made by the cell phone) in my album "My desktop / T43p & Co." on my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/andrey.grigorev

How it looks like...
So, as you may see, the Port Replicator II (74P6733) is quite small, black (what else should one expect from IBM???) and light. It's smaller than the laptop itself, so it's completely hidden when laptop is on the replicator.

All ports are on the back side, on the top of replicator there are 2 buttons - power on/off and undock/eject laptop.

The replicator raises laptop a bit (approx. 2 cm). It will make the typing more comfortable, if you use the internal keyboard of the laptop.

How it feels like...
Earlier, when I had to take my laptop away from the desk, I had to disconnect all the cables (and when I returned back, I had to plug them back). It was boring. Really. Network cable, boxes, eventually keyboard, power cable, external drive... All that stuff I had to pull out and then plug in again. Now, with the replicator, I have to press one button to release the laptop from all cables. And - what is more important - I need only one movement to attach all of them back. (Even PS/2 ports are recognized and "hot-plugged" - yesterday I tried it.)

As you may see on the photo, the replicator is equipped with the following ports: PS/2 (mouse + keyboard), COM, LPT, VGA, DVI, RJ11 (modem), RJ45 (Ethernet), USB 2.0 and port for the floppy drive (proprietary interface of IBM). Siince I have no external monitor, I could not test the VGA- and/or DVI-ports. But the rest just work - under both Windows and Linux.

Exotic ports - like Firewire - are not available, but - to be honest - when have you used any Firewire device for the last time?

Some people said, 1 USB 2.0 port was not enough. Actually, together with laptop you have 3 of them. Isn't it enough? Besides I have a USB 1.1 hub with 2 ports (in the form of PCMCIA card).
So, in total I have 5 ports - and I'm quite satisfied with it.

Conclusion
With this port replicator, you get a set of standard ports, which allow you to convert your laptop into desktop machine. If you are not satisfied with 3 USB 2.0 ports, you should think about
purchasing the Mini-Dock II (model 2878) - it has 4 ports.

The price you pay for it is a room on you desk. Port replicator occupies certain room.

So, that's all. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them - I will try to answer.

Short update

2009-09-21T22:37:00.001+01:00

Hello @all...

I've been silent for quite a long time... Due to the different reasons - private and my work... But I plan to post a couple of messages soon... I have something to tell... :-)

----
Vsem privet,

ya dolgo ne pisal, po raznym prichinam - lichnym + moya rabota... No ya hochu v blijayshee vremya napisat paru novyh postov...

Do vstrechi...

Olivetti SIMPLE_WAY Bluetooth: setup and impressions

2009-04-09T21:41:00.005+01:00

Hello @all,

sometime ago I bought at eBay used printer Olivetti SIMPLE_WAY. It has built-in Bluetooth, and this was the only reason for buying (I hate cables and try to exploit the Bluetooth on my laptop as much as possible). I paid something like 32 EUR (incl. delivery). The black inks were empty (so, I had to buy it extra - 28 EUR @eBay for the new cartridge (IN 502) inclusing delivery).

After 1 week of waiting it arrived. I cannot say it was a love from the first sight. The colour of the deice - white - doesn't actually match the colour of other deices I have (black laptop and black boxes). Besides, I underestimated the size of the printer. It was optically too big for my desk. After trying a couple of combinations I finally left it on the desk container near the table - close enough to connect with the cable, but not directly on the desk.

(1) Setting it up...
As I said, the printer is equipped with a Bluetooth module. It sounds cool, but it's a marketing trick. The problem is that via Bluetooth this device acts like a printer only. So, no way to scan, copy or print photos. Just an ordinary printer... OK, it's too late to object.

Another issue, which bothers me, is a Linux compatibility. The device is NOT Linux-compatible. Neither printer nor scanner can be recognized and used. So, keep in mind - this is 100% Windows-oriented device. At
least, now...

The printer setup can be divided into two steps. Step 1 is USB-based setup. It's quite straightforward and is well described in the user's guide of the printer. Mainly, you install two pieces of software - the driver and
maanagement application, which allows you to perform all the functions (print photos, scan, and copy). Besides, you get a couple of utilities for printer's maintenance.

Step 2 is making Bluetooth connection between PC/laptop and printer. And this is much more fun, than USB! I suppose, that the steps described in the guide, were oriented on the Microsoft's Bluetooth stack, coming with SP2 of the XP. Since I have a Widcomm stack, those steps didn't work for me. After several evenings of tests I finally managed to get it running. So, here are the steps - for those who may be interested:

Download and install the newest Widcomm stack (in my case I got it from the the support site of Lenovo);
Start "Install new printer..."-wizard from Control Panel, section "Printers and faxes";
Click "Next" on the welcome screen;
Select local printer, uncheck "Plug and Play" recognition click "Next";
And now be careful: select "Create new port" option on the next screen (and not "Use following port", as user's guide recommends);
First option "Bluetooth printer" becomes selected. Click "Next";

Actually, at this moment wizard opens a new, smaller window, in which available Bluetooth printers are shown. Select Olivetti, enter PIN (if you any is set in the Bluetooth properties of the printer). Your computer builds pairing with the printer, new COM port is being created, and printer gets connected.

The rest of the installtion is straighforward. Since you have already installed the drivers, they get selected automatically - keep the selection. Skip printing of the test page.

(2) Running it...
So, when you get your connections configured, you may use the device. As I mentioned above, when operating via Bluetooth, only printer is available. When connected via the USB cable, you can do everything:

print photos - good quality, some basic functions for the image improvements (white balance, contrast, etc.);
scan to different destinations (file, application, fax, mail) - OK. The only thing you must keep in mind, is that the software supports 2 types of the files only - BMP and JPG. And the type of image is defined by fileextension! So, if you decide to save it as PNG, you will get BMP-file with "PNG"-extension. Do not be surprised by the huge size;
copy - OK;

(3) Impressions
As I said in the very beginning, when I saw the printer for the first time, I could not say I liked it. Now I can. I had a couple of occasions to use this device quite intensively, and it seems to be rather solid and reliable.

Pros:

Bluetooth;
photo printer with quite good quality;
useful software;
PictBridge interface - not tested yet;

Cons:

expensive and proprietary cartridges;
limited functionality via Bluetooth;
not Linux compatible;

(4) Conclusion
Just an ordinary multifunctional device, an average in its class. Bluetooth feature makes it very interesting for those, who hates cables, but limited functionality (when connected via Bluetooth) and incompatibility with Linux must be kept in mind.

Cheers,

Andrey.

Bluetooth applet in GNOME (v 0.27): resolution of the problems

2009-03-19T08:04:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone,

many users recently reported problems with GNOME's "Bluetooth applet" - like missing services or unability to connecto to other devices. In my case I had all functions working - but only when logged in as root. As an ordinary user I had an applet in the notification area, but it was "dead".

Searching a lot in the Internet, I occasionally found this bug report: http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org/msg611962.html. When I added myself to the "netdev" group, the applet started to work again.

So, if you have problems with "Bluetooth applet", just try to add your users to the "netdev" group.

Cheers,
Andrey.

Debian Lenny: new configuration of WLAN and ACPI

2009-03-10T21:50:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone,

recently I have discovered two unpleasant issues:

1) my WLAN radio is always on (even if the interface it not up) - which is
bad for my battery;
2) my laptop started to do "double resume" - when waking up from sleep
mode, it starts very shortly, and then goes to sleep again. So, I have to
press FN+F4 or close and open the lid again in order to wake th laptop up.

So, I decided to resolve those two issues:

(1) WLAN
In order to switch the radio off, one should issue a command

echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/*/rf_kill

This command must be issued after the ipw2200 module is loaded. In order to
avoid manual execution everytime I boot my laptop, I decided to create a
kind of "autostart" for this command. Following a hint of good people in
one forum, I did the following:
(1) created in /etc/init.d/ file named myAutostart_AG.sh
(2) put there command
#!/bin/sh

echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:0b\:02.0/rf_kill

Please, notice the PCI address of the WLAN card in the command (instead of
"*" - somehow I couldn't use "*" in a script).
(3) created a link from /etc/init.d/myAutostart_AG.sh into
/etc/rcS.d/99myAutostart_AG.sh
(4) made all scripts executable

That's all. Now this command is executed everytime when my laptop boots.
More details for the procedure can be found in this post:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=212925#212925

Additionally I created a file called ipw2200_options in the folder
/etc/modprobe.d. This file contains following options of the driver
options ipw2200 hwcrypto=0
options ipw2200 associate=0

hwcrypto helps to avoid problems with encryption of the channel (WPA/WEP)
and associate disables autoconnect to the first available network. When you
are on a battery, it saves you a lot of power.

(2) "Double resume"
The issue is described in this post very well:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=64884&start=0&hilit=X21%2C+resume

So, I tried the solution proposed by GomJabbbar. It didn't work - Debian
has no "suspend-s2ram" package. But short analysis of the /etc/acpi/events
folder delivered following results: I have (had) two events - "lid" and
"sleep", - which were processed by one single script sleep.sh AND several
events stating with "lm_" - like "lm_lid", "lm_ac_adapter" and others. Many
of those scripts where calling - via their corresponding event scripts -
the same programm /usr/sbin/laptop-mode with a parameter "auto". I asked
Google about those files. It looks like they were installed by
"laptop-mode" package. The first two events - "lid" and "sleep"- I created
manually in July 2007 (see my posts in this blog from that time). For me
the issue is caused by these custom scripts. I think, the following
happens: when I generate either "sleep" or "lid" event, first "sleep.sh"
event is fired. It puts my laptop to sleep - on old-fashioned manner. When
it wakes up, the event is processed second time by "lm_lid", which brings
the laptop into second sleep state.

The resolution for me is to rename my custom events "sleep" and "lid". In
this way I pass the precssing to the "laptop-mode" utility. I tested the
result briefly - it looks good, the laptop wakes up properly.

Cheers,
Andrey.

Home desktop: perfect hardware set

2009-02-07T20:21:00.008+01:00

Hello,

recently I asked my self a question: what does any average user need for his/her home desktop/laptop? I just analyzed what I have and tried to create a kind of "must-have"-list of hardware devices I regularly use. My laptop is Thinkpad T43p (2668 PEG).

So, here comes what I have:
1) Thinkpad T43p;
2) external drive "Western Digital", 2,5", 250 GB (130 GB are even not formatted so far);
3) Bluetooth mouse by Lenovo - with Thinkpad logo, black. Matches perfectly my T43p. :-)
4) Logitech QuickCam Chat;
5) speakers Logitech Z10 - quite expensive, but - again - match my T43p. Black and stylish... :-)

I think, that's all so far. Of course, I have a couple of PC cards (like network interface, WLAN or USB hub), but I use them very-very rarely.

What do you use at home? Put your favorite hardware in responses, let's create a TOP 10 of home peripherals. :-)

Cheers,
Andrey

Update (24.02.2009): I forgott to mention my external card reader and - newly purchased at eBay - colour printer Olivetti Simple Way with Bluetooth module.

Update (12.04.2009): here are some photos of my desk.

My desktop / T43p & Co.

Update (22.09.2009): recently I bought two new pieces - wireless desktop set Labtec Edge and IBM Port Replicator II. I want to post updated photos and short review ofn them soon... See my posts in September...

ASCII-Export in SSIS: bug

2009-01-05T10:45:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone,

recently I discovered one issue in the SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), which I would name "bug". I decided to inform everyone about this thing - perhaps, this will help you.

So, imagine the following situation: you have a DB-table with a column named "BK" (for instance). You wish to export this table into CSV-file. You configure the output of "ASCII Destination" in such a way, that "BK" column is redirected to "BK_QUE" column of the ASCII file (and "BK" column of the file should be left empty). What does SSIS do? It outputs "BK" into "BK_QUE" (as desired) AND - at the same time - into "BK"! See the screen-shot for more details.

So, always keep in mind, that SSIS links the columns with the equal names by default (even if you set "Ignore" explicitly), if you create such an export item in your Data Flow Task.

Cheers,
A..

Debian on T43p: Show Must Go On... (From Etch to Lenny)

2008-11-09T18:05:00.011+01:00

Hi@all,

last week I had nothing to do on Tuesday evening, so I decided to update my installation of Debian Linux from etch (Stable) to Lenny (Testing). Actually, I wanted to do it for quite long time: I knew that Lenny would bring a lot of new functions and improvements, so I did not think too long and replaced - quite bravely - the word "stable" with "testing". And here comes my story... :-)))

1. Updating kernel and GNOME (Wave 1).
My first step was to update kernel and GNOME. The update itself ran properly, but I made a mistake when selecting the kernel - I choose *-486 instead of *-686. As a result, I got only 885 MB of RAM (instead of 2 GB). I fixed it on the next day, what I describe later.

The installation/update of GNOME was easy and smooth. At the end I got the newest version of GNOME - with better appearance, better Bluetooth support, better applications. Simply better GNOME. :-)

2. Updating the rest (Wave 2)
When my kernel and GNOME were updated, I decided to update the rest. I simply went to Synaptic and selected "Mark all updates". In this way I got all the latest packages belonging to Lenny.

Having all updates installed, I checked most important functions (like WLAN, sleep mode, Bluetooth connection to the mouse) and went to bed.

3. Fighting with issues (Wave 3)
On the next day I decided to change my kernel. So, I selected the right *-686 version of the kernel and tried to install it. No way! I got an error message in Synaptic and new kernel was not installed. Better to say, it was physically installed, but no link was written into GRUB menu file. After searching for a long time I found out, that my Grub (as a software) become bug 501306 (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=501306) and must be fixed. I corrected my device.map file by adding the following line there:

(hd0) /dev/sda

That fixed all issues with the installation of the new kernel and deinstallation of the old one.

In order to install the proprietary driver for the ATI card used in my laptop, I followed the instructions found on this page (http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide). They are newer, then those I published last year for Etch.

In order to resolve the issue with cpufreq - it could not find the "ondemand" governor while booting - I installed "cpufrequtils" package.

4. Conclusion and feedback
In general I'm more than satisfied with both update (how it ran and worked) and with new version of Debian. The small issues (with GRUB and cpufreq) can be resolved rather quick and painless.

The only warning I want to give you is the download time. Synaptic needs something around 1.2 GB to download for all updates. Even with DSL (I have 16 Mbit/sec) it takes some time. Don't start such an update like "I do it while preparing for the bed"-action. It will take some your time and attention.

I hope, this short post is useful for others. As usually, any feedback is welcome.

Cheers,
Andrey

New webcam and Skype!

2008-10-28T22:31:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone,

on Sunday I bought a webcam. It's Logitech QuickCam Chat - very simple, but that is more than enough for me. And - what is important - supported by Linux. :-)

So, from now I'm available in Skype under "Andrey_HH" - and even with video. :-)

Excel Services and PerformancePointServer 2007: issue with hyperlinks

2008-10-26T21:00:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone,

last Friday I had the following task: create an Excel sheet, containing hyperlinks to certain document libraries of Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS) (installed and running on the server), publish this sheet to Excel Services (running on MOSS) to another library and finally view this published Excel sheet in PerformancePoint Server Dashboard (as a report of "Excel Services" type). While doing this, I have encountered the following issue: when you publish your sheet to MOSS/Excel Services, the URL entered
in the sheet (pointing to MOSS library) gets replaced by a dot ("."). For example, if you entered "hhtp://localhost/Documents/myXLSReports", then you get ".". If you enter "hhtp://localhost/Documents/myXLSReports/Forms/AllItem.aspx" (the page, which actually shows all library items in browser), you get something like "./Forms/Allitems.aspx". As a result, when you view your Excel sheet in a browser (as a part of dashboard or using Excel Services functionality), you cannot use you entered link as link, since there is no "http://" part saying browser "Hey, here is a link for you!".

I didn't find any explanation to this phenomena. Besides, I haven't found any way to prevent the links from being replaced. But one workaround (which works) is simple. Very simple: just upload your Excel sheet into library using the Web-interface of MOSS. In this case the hyperlinks remain as they were set and can be used in the browser.

I hope, this can save your time. On Friday I spent some hard hours looking for the reason and possible solution.

Cheers,
Andrey

Webcams supported by Linux

2008-10-24T12:37:00.002+01:00

I find this resource interesting and usefull:

http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html

Cheers,

Andrey

Bug in the Power Manager by Lenovo (for Thinkpads)

2008-10-13T12:24:00.001+01:00

Recently I encountered the known problem with Power Manager: suddenly all my profiles in the Power Manager disappeared, after correcting them in the registry I could not apply them (they had no influence on the laptop settings), etc. While searching for the solution, I found this article: http://lucidmike78.blogspot.com/2007/11/thinkpad-power-manager-problem.html. I followed the steps described in there, and could repair my Power Manager at T43p.

Cheers,
Andrey

New cell phone Nokia 6021

2008-09-07T19:51:00.002+01:00

On Friday I - rather occasionally - bought new cell phone Nokia 6021. At the present I have CX75 and this is the last correctly and fully working model of Siemens (known to me). My second phone is S55, which is rather old. So, I simply decided to buy a new one instead of S55. Without thinking too long I entered eBay and placed my bid on that Nokia 6021 (yes, I read a couple of reviews. They sounded quite nice and attractive). I expect the phone to come withing next 2-3 days. I will publish here short review of it.

Labtec Media Desktop 800 - review

2008-08-16T18:04:00.016+01:00

Actually, I wanted to buy a new cordless desktop (keyboard + mouse) for quite a long time - I really hate cords on my desk and try to do as much as possible without wires.

Since my laptop (my nice, stylish T43p :-) ) has Bluetooth, I was initially looking for the BT-enabled desktop. Most popular of them is Logitech diNovo. Checking the prices, I was really shocked - from 180 EUR (in MediaMarkt store) to 80-90 EUR at eBay. I was not ready to pay so much money just for BT and Logitech logo, therefore I started to look for simple wireless solutions (radio-based). That evening I was surfing eBay and noticed one lot, which was about to end. It was Labtec Media Desktop 800 (official description in German is here) - originally packed, with 23 months of the warranty. I asked very quickly Google about this good, read a couple of reviews and decided to buy it. At the end I won the auction for 4,5 EUR + 6 EUR of shipping costs.

Finally, yesterday the desktop has arrived. I played a bit with him and decided to post short review.

1. Package
This desktop comes in a stylish black box. It contains
- wireless keyboard
- mouse
- USB receiver (approx. 5,5-6 cm long)
- 4 batteries of type AA
- USB cable (I will come to it later)
- short installation/start up guide.

The keyboard is very light and made in "place-saving" style (according to the advertisement on the producer's page). What it means, I noticed later - and describe later either. The colour iz black and matches rather good my black Thinkpad T43p and black loudspeakers Logitech Z-10.

2. Installation/startup
Actually, you don't need any installation at all. Just plug in the receiver into any free USB port, switch on your PC - and that's all. I tested it both under Linux Debian and Windows XP Professional - it simply works. 9 additional keys (E-Mail, Internet, Search, etc.) do not work at Linux (although I didn't spend any time to find out why) and only part of them work under WinXP Pro - namely Internet (it starts default browser), E-mail
(it starts default mail client), Search (starts Windows Search Assistant). All others didn't show any sign of life.

3. Impressions
The general impression is "good". The keyboard is quiet (no loud clicks), mouse is quite precise, the appearance is quite stylish and nice. This desktop is not intended for gamers, but I think it is a good deal for home desktops/laptops and offices. Especially taking into account the price - 4,5 EUR. :-)

But this keyboard has one disadvantage, that can be deciding for many users. I talk about location of the technical keys ("Insert", "Delete", arrows, etc.). If you look at the image of the keyboard, you will see that those keys are placed in one additional column between "ordinary" keyboard and numeric pad.

This is the price designers paid for the compact design I mentioned earlier. And it means, that you will have to get used to the new - and quite nonstandard - placement of those important keys.

And there is one trick with receiver. As I mentioned in the very beginning, this desktop comes with USB extension cable. When I saw it first time, I thought "What for?". When I plugged the receiver into the USB slot, I saw the answer - the receiver is large enough to block the neighboring port when inserted into the
port. So, if you want to use those neighbouring ports, you must use the cable - just to make free space for other devices.

4. Conclusions
As I said, the desktop itself is rather good and comfortable. If you are ready to spend a couple of weeks learning where technical keys are, then you may think of purchasing this kit. Otherwise continue saving and sometimes you will buy Logitech diNovo. :-)

I hope, this review will be useful for someone.

Cheers,
Andrey.

P.S. By the way, I could play Doom 3 with this desktop. I'm not a profi-gamer, but sometimes I relax with this bloody shooter.

SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and Vista Service Pack 1

2008-04-13T20:40:00.007+01:00

On Friday I was setting up my new company's laptop (Dell Latitude D630, review/opinion comes later), shipped with Vista Business. First I set up SQL Server 2005 (all components - AS, IS and RS), and afterward I downloaded and installed all available updates. Suddenly, I could not work with Reporting Services anymore. When trying to connect to the Report Manager in IE and to the instance of Reporting Services in Management Studio, I was getting a message that remote host refused connection. Very unpleasant, taking into account that Reporting Services is my main tool.

I asked our well-known friend - Mr. Google - about possible solutions of the issue. Searching through the proposals, I found the right one. Since the combination - SQL Server 2005 + MS Vista Business - is not rare (and is expected to show up more and more often in the business world), I decided to post that solution here, with a hope, that this will help others. The original of the article (in German) can be found here:

http://www.ct-systeme.com/ct/tipps/Seiten/VistaSP1SQL2005RS.aspx

"It can happen that SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services installed on the Vista-equipped PC will not work after installing MS Vista Service Pack 1. The installation of the Service Pack 1 ran smoothly and error-free, but reports from SSRS are not available anymore.

The symptoms can be:
(1) requests to http://localhost/reports end with error message about failed connection attempt;
(2) requests to http://localhost/reportserver end with an "HTTP 403.1" error message ("Forbidden");
(3) you may find error messages about failed connection attempt to 127.0.0.1:443 in the log files of the Reporting Services, although you don't use HTTPS/SSL;

The solution is easy if you know the reason: the installation of the Service Pack 1 revoked the "Execute script" right of the virtual folder ReportServer. To resolve the issue, do the following:
(1) Start IIS Manager
(2) Navigate to the virtual folder ReportServer (Computer Name->site where SSRS was installed)
(3) Double-click symbol "Handler mappings" in the central part
(4) Select link "Edit feature permissions" in the right part of the screen - "Task area"
(5) Make sure that Read and Script are enabled (Execute is not required). Installation of the Service Pack 1 has disabled Script option)
(6) Click OK
(7) Close IIS Manager

Reporting Services must work immediately afterwards. Restart is not required."

So, I hope this solution will save your time and energy. I will appreciate any feedback.

Cheers,
Andrey

Добавлены новые альбомы

2007-12-30T12:47:00.000+01:00

Я добавил новые альбомы в свою фото-страничку. Будет время - заходите!

New albums were added

2007-12-30T12:45:00.000+01:00

Recently I added several new albums to my web photo-hosting. Have a lot of fun!

CX75 under Linux

2007-12-04T23:44:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody.

Recently I bought a new cell phone - Siemens CX75. I like it, and I will review it in some time here, in the blog. But today I would like to tell you how I could connect him to my laptop using data cable DCA-510. It allowed me to address the phone itself (address book, SMS, modem) and also reach the memory of the phone (folder "Data" and MMC card). There are a couple of steps to be done:

1) connect the phone to PC using data cable;
2) as root issue the following command:
modprobe pl2303
this must create a node "/dev/ttyUSB0". Check it by typing "ls -la /dev/ttyUSB*";
now you have your phone (as communication device) connected to that port. You may use it as modem, you may send SMS using "kmobiletools", for instance.

Next steps will help you to mount the memory of your phone as directory.
3) create mount point /mnt/cx75;
4) open Synaptic and install packages "fuse-utils" and "libfuse-dev". Check that package "libfuse2" is installed too;
5) go to the page http://chaos.allsiemens.com/siefs/ and install SieFS following the instructions on the page;
6) issue
modprobe fuse
7) issue the command
mount -t siefs /dev/ttyUSB0 /mnt/cx75
Noe you are able to use the memory of the phone as storage media - copy images, music or other files.

Below I post my scripts to mount and unmount my phone:

# Mounting
echo "Loading module pl2303..."
modprobe pl2303
echo "Loading module fuse..."
modprobe fuse
echo "Mounting CX75..."
mount -t siefs /dev/ttyUSB0 /mnt/cx75
cd /mnt/cx75
dir

# Unmounting
echo "Unmounting CX75..."
umount -t siefs /mnt/cx75
echo "Unloading modules..."
rmmod pl2303
rmmod fuse
cd /home/andrey

Open issues/problems:
1) when you try to mount it second tme, it returns "input/output error", when trying to get the list of files (command "dir");
2) the folder - when mounted - is not accessible by ordinary users, since it is mounted by root. Permissions must be corrected properly. RESOLVED, see further in the text;
3) access via Bluetooth: is described here, but I couldn't get it to work. Must be done soon - although the data cable seems to be faster than BT.

I've purchased already RS-MMC card and I will try to fix those issues as soon as possible. Then I will be able to access my phone both under Linux and WinXP!

Regards,
Andrey.

---
05.12.2007: I think, I resolved an issue with access permissions. Just add in the very end of the "mount" command the following:
-O rw,umask=007,gid=[your group ID],uid=[your user ID]. Actually, you say that you enable reading and writing to the file system, and the owner is the user with given user ID. Since I'm the only user of my laptop, I put there my user ID. Decide it for yourself.

In this way I could access my phone, move the photos into my home and then delete them. And the owner was me, and not root.

XUbuntu on Acer Extensa 500T

2007-12-01T00:00:00.001+01:00

Hello,

just wanted to report about my experience with installing XUbuntu
on a very old laptop Acer Extensa 500T.

(1) Description of the laptop
CPU: Pentium II with MMX, 233 MHz
RAM: 96 MB
HDD: 12 GB
CD-ROM: 20x
Network card: FiberLine Combo, PCMCIA, 10 MBit/sec

(2) Installation
I downloaded an alternate installation CD from the site of
XUbuntu, because the small amount of RAM did not let to start the
installation in the standard - graphical - mode. With this CD it
worked. Just worked. It was awfully slow, the system occupied
roughly 256 MB for the swap (what actually violates the standard
rule: SWAP = 2 x RAM), but I could install everything properly.
Sound, video, drives... Even that old PCMCIA card worked...

So, if you own this old, but quite reliable (except lid and
hinges!!!!!) laptop, give him a second life by installing
XUbuntu. His power is sufficient for surfing in the Internet and
reading mails.

Regards,
Andrey

Bluetooth on T43p under Linux

2007-11-30T22:55:00.001+01:00

Hello everybody.

As you could find out from my previous posts, I set up ACPI on my
Thinkpad T43p. Now I can suspend and hibernate my laptop. But
when the things were ready, I discovered that my Bluetooth didn't
work anymore (initially, I could enable it by clicking Fn+F5).
So, I added new item in my ToDo-list - "Configure BT..."

Finally, today I found some time to configure my Bluetooth. It
was easy! Really easy. I had to create two extremely small
scripts - one must process an event of pressing Fn+F5, another one
- called by the first one - must enable/disable the Bluetooth. I
took me approximately 10 minutes to set everything up. In my work
I used these resources:

http://www.jkraemer.net/2005/10/10/t42-ubuntu
http://foosel.org/linux/t43#acpi_scripts
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Ubuntu/Breezy_on_a_ThinkPad_T42#Using_Fn-F5_to_enable.2Fdisable_Bluetooth

The next thing I want to do is to create a script, which allows
to switch on/off both WLAN and BT using Fn+F5 (like it does on
Windows). WinXP uses rather ugly utility for it - user should
click in a small window, which of 2 devices must be
enabled/disabled. At the present I start my WLAN by calling my
own scripts from command line. And BT is now enabled by Fn+F5. I
want to combine them together..

Another hot topic for me is the usage of my Bluetooth cell phones
(S55 and - hopefully soon - arriving CX75) under Linux. Somehow
laptop and S55 see each other, but I cannot address the file
system of the cell phone, and I cannot send files from cell phone
to laptop...Does anyone have any ideas? I know it must be a kind
of OBEX-capable file browser. But which one?

Talk to you later,
Andrey

New version of my homepage is online

2007-11-15T09:52:00.001+01:00

FYI: a new version of my homepage is online. It is shorter, more compact. Leave your feedback notes here or in the guestbook.

Regards,
Andrey

"Узбекистон Хаво Йуллари" и "Deutsche Bahn" успешно сотрудничают

2007-11-09T22:24:00.000+01:00

Хочу рассказать об одной классной услуге, предлагаемой "Узбекистон Xаво Йуллари". Билеты, купленные на рейс Франкфурт-Ташкент (или наоборот) могут быть использованы также в поездах "Deutsche Bahn" - немецкого железнодорожного перевозчика. Это удбоно, поскольку поезда в Германии достаточно дороги, и вам не надо думать о вторoм билете из пункта отправления до Франкфурта.

Но есть одна важная деталь: в момент покупки билета вы дожны сказать, что вы придете во Фракнфурт на поезде. И это должно быть указано в вашем билете. Например, я ехал из Гамбурга. Мой билет выглядел так:
Купон 1: Гамбург-Франкфурт с "Deutsche Bahn"
Купон 2: Фракнфурт-Ташкент с "Узбекистон Хаво Йуллари"
Купон 3: Ташкент-Фракнфурт с "Узбекистон Хаво Йуллари"
Купон 4: Франкфурт-Гамбург с "Deutsche Bahn"

Если у вас в билете это не указано, у вас могут быть проблемы с контроллерами в поезде при проверке билета.

Хорошей поездки.

А.

"Uzbekistan Airways" and "Deutsche Bahn" cooperate with success

2007-11-09T22:02:00.000+01:00

I would like to report about one nice option offered by the "Uzbekistan Airways". The flight tickets bought for the flight from Frankfurt to Tashkent (or vise versa) can be used in the trains of "Deutsche Bahn" - German railways carrier. This is nice, because German trains are not cheap, and you don't have to think about second ticket - from your origin to Frankfurt.

But there is one trick, which you must know. If you buy a ticket (in Frankfurt, in the travel agency or in Tashkent), you MUST say that you come to Frankfurt by train. And this MUST BE registered in you ticket. For example, I was traveling from Hamburg to Tashkent. My ticket looked as follows:
Coupon 1: Hamburg - Frankfurt with German Railways
Coupon 2: Frankfurt-Tashkent with "Uzbekistan Airways"
Coupon 3: Tashkent-Frankfurt with "Uzbekistan Airways"
Coupon 4: Frankfurt-Hamburg with German Railways.

This remark is very important. If you don't have it in your ticket, you may encounter problems when checked in the train.

Have a nice trip!

Andrey.

О кошках и собаках

2007-11-02T12:05:00.000+01:00

О кошках и собаках

Всем привет. Хочу рассказать одну историю, которую недавно наблюдал на
улице возле дома.

Как вам известно, я сейчас в Ташкенте - дома. Иду я по улице, в мусорке
копаются две кошки. Обычные уличные кошки, не изуродованные воспитанием,
с бандитскими рожами. Руками передними и рожами роются в каком-то
пакете, никого не трогают, обед у них... А по тротуару мимо этой мусорки
идет этакая пожилая девушка лет 50-ти с собакой... Хотя нет, называть
ЭТО собакой у меня язык не поворачивается. Собака - это дог, сенбернар
или бассет-хаунд. А ЭТО можно назвать крысой не веревочке. Знаете, такое
лысое, пучеглазое, на кривых ножках. Такие "собаки" обычно лают на все
от страха...

В общем, почти идиллическая картинка - дама с собачкой и тихо хавающие
кошки. Как говорится, ничто не предвещало беды... Вдруг ЭТО (видимо,
подумав, что она реальная собака), заметив этих кошек, бросается с
хриплым тявканьем к ним на своих кривых ножках. Пока она была далеко,
кошки на нее не реагировали. По мере приближения источника шума обе
вытащили рожи из пакета и с нескрываемым интересом наблюдали за
агрессией. Агрессия, разогнавшись до своих максимальных 20см/час, мчится
к ним... И вдруг, когда расстояние между кошками и фигней было около
метра, обе кошки встали на дыбы - зашипели, шерсть на загривке торчком,
видны клыки... И тут начинается самое интересное. Дама, увидев такое,
начинает звать фигню обратно "Мэри, фу, ко мне...". Но надо было видеть
эту самую Мэри. В ее круглой лысой голове все-таки сработал инстинкт
самосохранения, и она начинает тормозить. "Шаттл" и СУ-27 при посадке на
корабль просто отдыхают! Она выпустила все свои тормозные парашюты,
включила реверс своих кривых ножек... Кошки немного опустились, но глаз
с фигни не спускают...

В общем, она остановилась в нескольких ее шагах от кошек - для кошек это
1 прыжок. Постояла, помялась ... и поковыляла обратно, к своей хозяйке.
Кошки, еще чуть-чуть подождав, как по команде успокоились и продолжили
нарушенную трапезу.

Я очень пожалел, что не взял с собой телефон - очень прикольная сценка
получилась. Как сказал один мой приятель, в том мешке была, возможно,
предыдущая фигня, с худшими тормозами... :-)))

Мораль: перед тем, как начать тявкать, оцени свои "тормоза". А то можешь
стать ужином для тех, на кого ты тявкаешь.

Да здравствует отопление!

2007-10-30T12:07:00.000+01:00

Аллилуйя!!!!! Сегодня нам включили отопление! Наконец-то наша квартира
превратится из склепа в квартиру! Да здравствует горячая вода!

Дорожные заметки (часть 1)

2007-10-19T09:04:00.000+01:00

Сегодня в Ташкенте праздник - пошел дождь. Первый за последние 3 или 4
месяца... Это так, заметка на полях...

1. Перелет Франкфурт-Ташкент
Я летел домой наш родной авиакомпанией "Узбекистон хаво йуллари" -
"Uzbekistan Airways". Я ценю комфорт и безопасность, поэтому какие-то другие
авиакомпании выпали из списка кандидатов сразу. Полет длится 6 часов,
самолет - А-310. Мне досталось место в бизнес-классе. Какой это все-таки
кайф - сидеть удобно. :-)

Ташкент встретил меня холодно - было 12 градусов. Ташкентский аэропорт,
как мне кажется, находится в состоянии постоянной стройки. Потратив 30
минут на паспортный контроль, получение багажа и таможню, я поехал домой.

2. Дома
Отоспавшись первые два дня, я начал выходить на улицу. Поразили
несколько вещей: количество мобильных телефонов у народа (и цены на эти
услуги), количество машин на дорогах и почти полное отсутствие правил на
дорогах. После Германии это шокировало. Когда мужик, который вез нас из
аэропорта, просто по диагонали перестроился из самого левого в самый
правый ряд без "поворотника", я уже распрощался с жизнью. Но потом к
такому привыкаешь. За все эти дни я видел только 2 аварии - совсем
ничего с учетом того, как здесь ездят. :-) Для пешехода самое главное -
уметь далеко видеть и быстро бегать. :-)

С момента моего приезда до сегодняшнего дня погода была очень сухая и
теплая, днем до 27-ми градусов. Я реально просох. После Гамбурга и его
дурацкого лета это был кайф. Сейчас отдыхаю, занимаюсь своими делами, ем
фрукты.

Когда будет о чем писать, напишу еще.

Debian Etch on T43p: setting up ACPI

2007-07-22T11:33:00.000+01:00

Finally, today I had some time to set up the ACPI on my T43p. I used this page as main resource. All the hints and scripts listed there worked for me.

Next I want to try to write a script, which will process the Fn+F5 combination. At the present it switches Bluetooth only. I want to have it working like in WinXP - switch both WLAN and Bluetooth. I have to think, how I could implement it...

Exam 70-445: my personal impressions

2007-07-13T22:01:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday I had my 70-445 exam. I wanted to be certified as MCTS in the BI-area. First of all - I failed. I got 551 points, which is "slightly" less than required 700. So, the next attempt comes in 2 weeks or so. I cannot disclose the questions, but I can tell you my impressions and give some hints.

First of all, the questions there are really very technical. Actually. you must know where certain options in the BIDS or in the Management Studio are set, how the colour of the cell in a report can be controlled, and how a failover cluster of the SSAS can be configured. I spent certain time with several MS courses (294, 2795, 2796), but I think, that the content of the courses does not really match the depth of the questions. The courses can help you to organize your knowledges, which you gained while working with "SQL Server & Co.", BUT they (courses) will not really contribute to the level of the knowledges.

If you want to get an overview of the topics covered by the exam, you may have a look at these posts: http://peterkol.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!68755AEAC31F9A6C!196.entry and

http://www.kodyaz.com/blogs/software_development_blog/archive/2006/11/30/480.aspx

. I'm going to post my list of topics in a couple of days here.

Cell phones under Linux: I gave up

2007-07-05T09:56:00.001+01:00

I gave up. It didn't work immediately, and I do not have too much time to spend it with my phones. Phones and computers are there to serve us, and not vice versa.

Besides, I have an MS-exam 70-445 on coming Wednesday... I must prepare myself...

Modem in CX65: via infrared only?

2007-06-27T21:08:00.001+01:00

Today I made an experiment: I tried to use the modem of CX65 under Windows. It seems that modem of the cell phone is recognized as modem (under name "Siemens S45", by the way - most probably, since S45 nothing has changed in that chip :-) ) only if the phone is connected via infrared. That's strange, isn't it?

When I tried to send a fax using that recognized modem of the cell phone, I got exactly the same error "No connection", as I had yesterday under Linux. I will try to send a fax via my old S55. Some time ago it worked...

A.

Use of the Siemens CX65 for sending faxes under Debian

2007-06-26T20:57:00.000+01:00

I played a bit with my phone. When I use efax to send a PS-file (or TIFF-file) to the destination via CX65, it starts dialing but then immediately stops with "busy" signal. The phone shows message "no connection", and the efax returns

efax: 06:14 Error: dial command failed
efax: 06:14 failed -> faxtest1.tiff
efax: 06:15 done, returning 2 (unrecoverable error)

I suspect, it has something to do with commands of the modem. But I need more time to investigate the thing. Any ideas?

Siemens CX65 under Linux

2007-06-26T19:32:00.000+01:00

Hi,

today I decided to try to connect my Siemens CX65 to the laptop under Debian Linux. Actually, I would like to use the modem of that phone to send faxes when under Linux or when I'm far from the landlines.

Short googling gave me a very nice page: http://www.cx65.de/Linux.1044.0.html. It contains very good description of the process, and I managed to connect my phone within minutes. Unfortunately, the page is in German. So, I decided to translate it here - perhaps, somebody need this information too.

Prerequisites for the successful connection are available USB port on the laptop and - which is much more important - genuine data cable DCA-510 from Siemens. To connect your phone, do the following:

1) connect your phone to the laptop using data cable;
2) issue command "modprobe pl2303" (you must be root to run modprobe!)
3) issue command "tail -f /var/log/messages". You must get something like this:

kernel: usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
kernel: usb 2-2: device descriptor read/64, error -71
kernel: drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for PL-2303
kernel: pl2303 2-2:1.0: PL-2303 converter detected
kernel: usb 2-2: PL-2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
kernel: usbcore: registered new driver pl2303
kernel: drivers/usb/serial/pl2303.c: Prolific PL2303 USB to serial adaptor driver v0.12

4) issue command "cat /proc/bus/usb/devices". You must get something like this:

T: Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 3 Spd=12 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=067b ProdID=2303 Rev= 2.02
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=500mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=pl2303
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 10 Ivl=1ms
E: Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms
E: Ad=83(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms

5) finally, check that the built-in modem was recognized. With command "ls -al /dev/ttyU*" you must see that there is a modem with name ttyUSB0;
6) install small program named "scmxx": apt-get install scmxx;
7) try to read the information of your phone with "scmxx --device /dev/ttyUSB0 --info". You must see the complete information about your phone: ID of the SIM-card, name of the provider, state of the battery, etc. If this is the case, congratulations - your phone is accessible for the Debian. :-)

What you do next, depends on you. There are a couple of ways to retrieve the data from the phone. I need its modem... So, I will look for the way to create a kind of virtual printer, which can be used "to print" my documents to the modem - and send it as fax. If you know such a way, please, tell me - I will appreciate any hint.

Regards,
Andrey.

О московском метро...

2007-06-09T22:15:00.000+01:00

Случайно нашел классную статью о московском метро. Почитайте, очень интересно!

Debian Etch on T43p

2007-06-09T21:45:00.001+01:00

Installation of the Debian Etch on Thinkpad T43p (model 2668-PEG): experience and hints

Author: Andrey Grigorev

(1) Introduction and hardware overview

I decide to install Debian etch on T43p. General overview of the hardware can be found here (as of 21.04.2007: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-58315). My PC has 2 GB of RAM (instead of standard 1 GB).

If the information is not available from the IBM/Lenovo site, here are the main properties:
CPU: Intel Mobile Pentium M 770 (2.13 GHz)
RAM: 2 GB (max: 2 GB), PC2-4200 CL4 Non-Parity (NP) Double Data Rate Two (DDR2) Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) SO-DIMM memory
Hard drive: 80 GB, 5400 RPM
Display: 14,1", SXGA+ (1400x1050)
Graphics: ATI Mobility Fire GL V3200 with 128 MB of RAM
CD/DVD drive: CD-RW/DVD+/-R Multi-burner
Networking: - wired: Broadcom 10/100/1000 Ethernet;
- wireless: Intel/PRO 2915ABG mini-PCI
Ports/connectors: modem, PCMCIA slot, ExpressCard slot, Bluetooth,
IrDA
Extras: FingerPrint Reader

(2) Preparing the installation

This laptop comes with preinstalled WinXP Pro and a bunch of IBM utilities. It is recommended, that you create a back-up copy of the preinstalled content. Several people reported that it took them 1 DVD and 1 CD to burn the stuff. I needed 1 DVD and 6 CDs - don't ask me why. Just prepare enough blank disks. :-)

I downloaded my netinstall-CD on February.That time it was RC1. Now Etch is an official stable release of GNU/Linux. So, if you decide to install it, take the freshest version possible - in this way you ensure that you have the most reliable and checked installation.

So, to start the installation, put your CD in the drive, select "Restart" in Windows menu and then - when CD is read - press ENTER (for standard install) or enter "installgui" (for new installation wizard with GUI). I have chosen the standard way.

In the first stage installer boots kernel image and tries to recognize the hardware. Some people reported (quite some time ago), that kernel could not detect SATA-interface installed on this laptop. I had no problems at all - everything went smoothly.

(3) Installation step 1: disk partitioning

As it was written above, this laptop came with 80 GB hard disk (approximately 5 GB are occupied by the preinstalled software/recovery software). It is more than enough to host both WinXP and Linux - especially taking into account that my previous laptop had 40 GB and also was configured as dual-boot machine.

So, I decided to partition the disk as follows:
75,7 GB
|
|-> 15 GB for WinXP (as primary, NTFS)
|
|-> 15 GB for "/" (root) (as primary, ext3)
|
|-> 45,7 GB (logical)
|
|-> 5 GB for "/home" (ext3)
|
|-> 0,7 GB for "/swap"
|
|-> 40 GB for "/windows/d" (fat32) - I will use this partition to share my files between WinXP and Linux

I must say, that Linux has resized original NTFS-partition perfectly, without any problem.

(4) Installation step 2: installing software

All the operations between disk partitioning and software install are trivial and can be skipped. Don't pay too much attention to the graphics now - you will have a chance to set up everything properly later.

Finally, you come to the step of software selection. It it - more or less - known, that netinstall-CD of Etch contains somehow broken links to the repositories, and if you decide to use the mirrors, the installation will stall with approximately 5% of progress - just because the repositories could not be contacted (or something like this). It is much easier to skip any software installation now and install what you need later. So, when you are asked if you want to install software from mirros, just say "no", and finish up installation with a base system only.

WARNING: be careful when you come to the place where you have to decide about location of the GRUB. I found several articles on the Net (after I finished my installation) saying that it was not recommended to put GRUB in the MBR (in this case you would not be able to access the recovery partition of the hard disk). Alternatively you could use the boot manager of WinXP.

For me it was too late, but you should spend some time on reading those articles/posts and you need to decide for yourself how you configure GRUB.

(5) Installing software

Actually, in this section I will not post any comments or hints. There are enough articles in the Internet about perfect/good/comfortable desktops with Debian. Just decide what you need and install it - either via apt-get or via Synaptic (GNOME-tool for package management)

In the next part I will report about setting up hardware with Debian Etch. I find this part much more exciting!

(6) Setting up hardware

This section describes how the hardware components of the laptop - like WLAN, DVD-drive or Bluetooth can be set up.

(6.1) CPU frequency scaling

To enable it, you must do following:
1) add modules ibm_acpi, speedstep_centrino, cpufreq_stats and cpufreq_ondemand to the /etc/modules files and run "update-modules" command. ATTENTION: you may do it as root only!
2) install package sysfsutils;
3) in the file /etc/sysfs.conf write desired governor - management policy for the speed. My governor is "ondemand";

(6.2) CDRW / DVD-Multiburner drive

Actually, this device is recognized properly from the very beginning. BUT! In this case the DVD-disks will not be mounted properly. In order to resolve the issue, simply remove the entry for the drive in the /etc/fstab file and let HAL/HOTPLUG mount it for you.

(6.3) WLAN

Setting up WLAN costed me roughly a month. Actually, I spent too much time trying to set up my network with WEP encryption. Somehow the driver didn't want to work with WEP (I found several threads on the Internet reporting about it in different distributions and on different laptops). Finally, I decided to switch from WEP to WPA-PSK. It costed me a couple of hours (at maximum) to reconfigure my system.

So, when you set up your WLAN, do the following:
1) install ipw2200 driver using synaptic;
2) install "wireless extensions" - a set of utilities for WLAN-modules developed at HewlettPackard for Linux;
3) install firmware in /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware (first you must download it from http://ip2200.sourceforge.net and then follow the instructions);
4) install wpasupplicant package;

So, you are ready to configure your WLAN module. First, add "options ipw2200 hwcrypto=0" in your /etc/modules file and run "update-modules" command. Afterwards modify your /etc/network/interfaces file:

iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid NameOfYourNetwork
wpa-driver wext
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

and create /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file with following content:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
network={
ssid="NameOfYourNetwork"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
psk="YourPSKAsASCIIText"
priority=2
}

Next use command "wpa_passphrase" to create the encrypted version of your PSK. When you get - long HEX-number -, comment out - with "#" - the ASCII representation of your key in the /etc/wpa_supplivant.conf and write there the HEX-representation - WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS!!!

....
#psk="YourPSKAsASCIIText"
psk=YourPSKAsHEX
...

Finally, create file /etc/default/wpasupplicant with following content:

# /etc/default/wpasupplicant

ENABLED=1
OPTIONS="-w -D wext -i eth1 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"

Please, note that driver "wext" must be used instead of "ipw".

That's all! In root terminal enter "ifup eth1". If everything is set up properly, you will see a message from "dhclient", saying that it is obtaining an IP address from your router, and - in a couple of seconds - a message saying that your IP address expires in <N> seconds.

Tip: on T43p FN+F5 must control BOTH WLAN and Bluetooth. Under Windows it work (thanks to the special utility from IBM), in Linux this combination activates Bluetooth only. Short search with Google told me, that with "ipw2200" driver the antenna of the laptop is permanently sending signals - so, it is permanently on. If you want to control it, you must create two scripts with following content:

to enable the radio: echo 0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/*/rf_kill
to disable it: echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/*/rf_kill

Additionally, you need to add "options ipw2200 disable=1" in your /etc/modules file - in this way you disable the radio at start time.

Sources: the following resources were used
http://www.strangeparty.com/2006/10/12/wpa-wireless-on-a-ibm-thinkpad-t43p-running-debian-etch/
http://www.downgra.de/x20/#wpa

(6.4) Graphic card

As it was said above, Thinkpad T43p comes with ATI FireGL V3200 card. Debian supports the basic functions of this card out of the box - after initial install you see your desktop and can work with it. But exactly the same I could already do with my older 600x, which had 4 MB of video-RAM. In order to utilize the power of the ATI card, there are two alternatives to choose from - either you install proprietary driver from ATI or you use open-source driver. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages, detailed descriptions and hot discussions are easy to find on the Internet.

I decided to use the proprietary driver from ATI. I searched a bit and found a very nice description of the installation in one blog. Here is the link: http://lafox.net/support/index.php?s=48ddf00adbb90adc46b8d4cefd4ff115&showtopic=10814&st=150&p=100274&#entry100274. It is in Russian. For those who don't speak Russian, I offer here (with author's permission) the translation of that guide:

1) make a fresh install, get the X-server running;
2) start _root_ console (you must be root to perform the installation);
3) download the freshest driver from the web-page of ATI;
4) enter uname -r - in this way you get the version of the kernel you actually run;
5) enter apt-get install linux-headers-<uname -r> - instead of <uname -r> you should put there obtained kernel version;
6) enter apt-get install libstdc++5 module-assistant dh-make gcc-4.0 build-essential mesa-utils - at this place, Linux can object that some packages are not known. Try to find in the Internet how they are called now. The reason for such a problem is that this guide was written for Etch Beta3, and in the meantime somepackages got renamed;
7) enter export CC=gcc-4.0;
8) enter sh ati-driver-installer-8.28.8.run --buildpkg Debian/etch;
9) enter dpkg -i *.deb;
10) enter module-assistant prepare;
11) enter m-a a-i fglrx;
12) correct file xorf.conf: change "ati" into "fglrx" in the Device section;
13) enter modprobe -v fglrx;
14) enter fglrxinfo - output of this command must look like this:
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI MOBILITY FireGL V3200
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6400 (8.35.5)

To be very short: you compile here new kernel module using the package provided by the ATI and then insert this newly created module into kernel. You must keep in mind, that if you change the version of the kernel, you should recompile the "fglrx" driver again. (This is one of the disadvantages, listed in many discussions).

Reboot your PC. In order to test the driver, wait untill the system is up, log in (as user) and enter fgl_glxgears. You must see three rotating coloured 3D-geers. If you see it, you have the 3D-functionality of the FireGL-card running.

It can happen that you get an error message saying that you have no persmissions to perform the operation when trying to execute "modprobe" command (item 13). In this case, just delete created module and do all the steps from the beginning.

Warning: MPlayer will not work properly with "fglrx" driver without adding "VideoOverlay" option to the xorg.conf file. Ask Google for more details, if you encounter this issue.

The following hardware components will be configred later:

(6.5) ACPI

Added on the 22nd of July 2007: see my post dated by 22.07.2007

(6.6) Bluetooth

(6.7) Fingerprint Reader

Additionaly I would like to configure 3D-desktop for me. :-) Just for fun - to utilize the power of ATI-card. :-)

T20 is on eBay / Мой Т20 на аукционе

2007-06-07T21:17:00.001+01:00

Today I - finally - put my dear Thinkpad T20 on eBay for 10 days - till the next Sunday. I'm wondering how much I will win for it...

---

Сегодня - наконец-таки - поставил мой Т20 на eBay. на 10 дней - до след. воскресения. Посмотрим, сколько я за него выручу...

Short remark

2007-06-06T08:52:00.000+01:00

Hi @all,

I haven't been here for some time - was too busy with my work. I have some new stories to tell you, so I hope that I will have time on week-end to post them here.

---- Na russkom.

Vsem privet,

u menya est para novostey (s fotografiyami). Nadeyus, ya sumeyu na vyhodnyh opublikovat ih zdes.

Bye-bye / Poka.

TUHH goes music

2007-05-24T09:47:00.001+01:00

Hi.

Yesterday I heard the first concert of the series "TUHH goes music" in this semester. That was nice... I really enjoyed my time and relaxed there. I'm always surprised by the ability of musicians to remember all that compositions and play them hours without notes.

Talk to you later,
A.G.

First greeting

2007-05-22T12:33:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody! Today I started my blog @ Google. I will move my old one soon...