Cisco will kill the Linksys brand. Boo! No further comments.

.

Eye candy as it is, Ubuntu+Beryl on my Acer TravelMate 2482NWXMi didn’t allow a resolution change higher than 1024×768. The problem is solved with the 915resolution package. So, if you have the same problem I was facing, just install the package, restart your X server and voilà: 1280×800.

Search for the package:

marius@OliveJuice:~$ sudo aptitude update

marius@OliveJuice:~$ sudo aptitude upgrade

marius@OliveJuice:~$ aptitude search 915resolution
p 915resolution - resolution modification tool for Intel graphic chipset

Install the package:

marius@OliveJuice:~$ sudo aptitude install 915resolution

And now restart your X server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace on your keyboard, or just reboot Ubuntu. After restarting X, or reboting, go to System > Preferences > Screen Resolution, and select 1280×800.

My second problem today with my lappy, was that I tried watching a movie and couldn’t do it without plugging in my headphones since my laptop speakers wouldn’t work. Everything was fine with a jack plugged in, but the speakers just didn’t want to work, so I did a little bit of digging. First off, let’s see our sound cards:

marius@OliveJuice:~$ lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

If this matches, you should be on the right path, by following up here. I found on the Ubuntu Bug tracker bug number #94373. Long story told short, I read there, modified 1 file, and voilà: I have sound on the laptop speakers.

root@OliveJuice:~# echo “options snd-hda-intel model=auto” >> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
root@OliveJuice:~ # rmmod snd-hda-intel
root@OliveJuice:~# modprobe snd-hda-intel

The important thing here, is the first command, the echo redirected to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file. It adds the snd_hda_intel model=auto. The rmmod command might say that the module is in use, and cannot be unloaded, but that’s hardly a problem. Just reboot, and your speakers should work. Mine sure did.

Now, that was easy wasn’t it? tweak here, tweak there, and thanks to the Open Source community out there, amost everything can be fixed in a matter of minutes if someone already had that problem, or in a matter of days, if this is a new bug. Developers are always ready to help out.

Last night Alexandra wanted a song so much, that I decided to look for it. It’s “Lissie - Bright Side“. The reason for this was this commercial: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Reb_l8Zw-U or, the second version: http://youtube.com/watch?v=U1ZHk-NZWLw
Gotta wrap it up now, since my Whisher Beta Tester invite mail just popped into my inbox, and I was looking forward to that since yesterday.

Tha! Tha! and don’t forget, Wireless is FUN! ;-)

.

Dell has started to offer optional Ubuntu Linux 7.04 preinstalled systems. Ubuntu has has continuously grown in popularity since the first Ubuntu distribution in 2004, now being the most popular Linux Distribution. While for the server market there was always the Linux option, this is the first time an important PC manufacturer ships Linux desktop systems.

From a business and marketing point of view, the move itself will probably be a boost for both companies, Ubuntu will grow in popularity, while Dell will draw positive attention on itself from the Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) Community, therefore increasing sales, which they do need in regaining market share against HP.

Ubuntu Linux has the reputation of being very easy to install and very hardware friendly. From my personal experience I may say that the installation is simpler than a Windows installation, everything just works, including small details like volume keys with on-screen display on my Logitech multimedia keyboard and volume keys and the Wireless Card on my HP Pavillion laptop. No additional drivers required. If you’re a GUI freak, some Vista like eye-candy is included, also demo-d by my collague Marius.

.

The Fon Spot for Mac and what’s inside it

There hasn’t been much Fon news or related lately but we couldn’t miss the fact that
- Time Warner opened their doors to broadband sharing in the US and
- The programmers in Spain finally came up with a beta version of the FON Spot Mac / Linux

What this software does is that it turns your Intel-based Mac into a FON hotspot. If you use a 3G or EvDo modem this software will turn your Airport into a Access Point-like WiFi adapter and start sharing your connection around.
It’s not a new concept for Mac users as by default Macs let you share your modem connection in three clicks anyway. But FON saw this was an opportunity that could not be missed to expand their service and brand where conventional hotspots do not protrude. Shrewd!

Screenshot of Mac’s WiFi sharing enabler

Let’s analyze if this would really work in real life past the obvious geeky sexieness.
Having a Fon hotspot ‘built in’ your Mac is neat if you’re a big fan of the service and really want to take it everywhere with you. Maybe you have a flat mobile broadband connection anyway and you don’t mind sharing but you’re missing the credentials for your signal. Or maybe you just don’t mind doing it. Any case you chose it’s fine!
But in all other cases you’d be simply sharing your connection as is or no sharing it at all. Eventually it all comes down to FON’s business model. Share WiFi and get WiFi for free elsewhere in FON hotspots, as a Linus. Or share your WiFi for some money. These cases are based on a permanent presence in a determined location. Usually one would use a fast connection they don’t really mind sharing.
What happens when you share your crawling 3G/EvDO? Those pipes are not that large, your connection is not in a specific connection and does not provide service 24/7. That does not make for a compatible service with FON’s, which anyway is catchy because it brings advantages both ways.
Based on how FON Spot for Mac works the only winner here is.. FON! You would likely not share that limited bandwidth (I’ve done it oh so many times with my EvDo) and not agree FON is using your expensive connection for self-promo and Alien (non-member user that pays premium for access) money milking.

Running c*free, a free hotspot operator, I’ve often used Mac’s WiFi sharing to promote the brand at different events or ingenuous places. Hell, I’ve shared that signal a couple of years ago when I was still using Windows through an Ad-Hoc profile and later using a USB kit called c*free mini.
Yet, I still don’t know how this would go beyond such use!
Most folks who have/use a mobile broadband connection pay a shit load of money on it every month. They are usually business/entrepreneur/SOHO types that
- care for their data and its security
- pay for the 3G / EvDo for a precise purpose
- are time critical
- don’t have time or interest in playing with gizmos and hacks such as FON Spot
- are energy-conscious, meaning they would power their WiFi only when in the range of a signal they would use.

It’s unclear to me how this hack will make it in the real world. It might! But as it stands, incentives - even ones like the principle of sharing in exchange for free connectivity (wait!! Free WiFi? Why, when you already have the darn 3G?) - are low or inexistent!

For the techie ones I opened the installer and below is a screenshot of the package contents. I did not install the hack on my Macbook for it’s still beta and I rely on being able to use my Airport card. Those of you who have the time and curiosity are welcome to post their experiences in the comments section.

.

I missed Michael Dell’s bio on the corporate website but I didn’t miss the big story on Dell going with Linux and the note that Michael Dell’s OS of choice is Ubuntu.
Entrepreneur Martin V., Dell’s friend, bloggs about a recent email in which this story was confirmed.

Dell’s lappie software:

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn
VMWare Workstation 6 Beta
OpenOffice.org 2.2
Automatix2
Firefox 2.0.0.3
Evolution Groupware 2.10

.

Ahhhh, the sound of precious electronics crashing onto the expensive natur pavement of Bill Gate’s cubicle… The horror!! The horror!! Linux strikes back (thanks Intel *grin*) in an Mac-esque incarnation for the UMPC.
Looks like Intel is shedding the Origami gorilla (read: Microsoft) as they prep a Linux-based platform to compete with Vista and XP-based UMPCs. Intel will unveil their new MID (Mobile Internet Device) platform at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing later this week. says Endgadget.

That’s about it, folks. First Dell, now Intel… ;)

Wireless is fun! Thanks to Linux!

.

We did not rush to posting this as there’s tight lobby promoting the OLPC so this story is far from over. As a mater of fact Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu brags about having brought the initiative to the Parliament.
What is peculiar is that the media picked up the news poorly, quoting a total price tag of 700 million Euros. OLPCnews.com rushed to accusing the Romanian politics for killing the deal and raised a question about the legit behind the 700 mil figgure.
The answer is rather simple though. Any country that wants to purchase the OLPC has to order a minimum of one million units. Since Romania is a EU member it deals in Euros, therefore one hundred million US dollars goes translated in roughly 70 million EU currency units (Euros).
The darn playful extra zero made it all look like a political trick. Whereas it only comes down to the basics of being an EU member, and the OLPC is not on that priority list for Romania.

Too bad, we say, because we would have liked to see the funny green wireless lappies around. But the reality is that Romania has plenty of computers in schools. Africa or Asia need those computers more than children in Romania do.

.

The OLPC was presented today to Romanian officials in the Education Ministry by Nicholas Negroponte.
Should the project pass in the Parliament in the next few days, the Romanian Government will purchase $150 million worth of OLPCs (a million units) by fall.
This is awesome news and we’re supporting the bill - both the political and the tax one - as the machine has some neat features that will empower the less financially fortunate children. Aleso, these kids will later benefit from our free WiFi project - c*free wireless.
We’ll try to get our hands on a sample to provide a more coherent understanding of its wireless capabilities in real life usage.

Tech details:
The laptop runs Linux, the display uses LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) in the form of a projector and features a 7.5 inch, 1200×900 pixel, TFT screen and self-refreshing display with higher resolution (200 DPI) than 95% of the laptops on the market today. Two display modes are available: a transmissive, full-color mode; and a reflective, high-resolution mode that is sunlight readable. It also features a Video camera 640×480 resolution, 30FPS, an AMD Geode GX-500@1.0W CPU running @ 366 Mhz X86/X87-compatible and a Marvell Libertas 88W8388+88W8015, 802.11b/g compatible, dual adjustable, rotating coaxial antennas (that support diversity reception), wireless interface!

.

Google launched Google Apps for domain integration. What’s that? It means you can offer Google services for your group, family, institution, customers or your enterprise, if the case. Google Apps are meant to be integrated by domain administrators in order to let their users access to Google services straight from an owned domain. The Standard Edition is free of charge and offers 2GB Gmail accounts (Google’s free email service), Google Docs & Spreadsheets (word processor and spreadsheet calculator, compatibily includes .doc and .xls files), Google Calendar, Google Talk (instant messaging). The Premier edition costs 50$/year (per user) and includes, among others, a larger email account quota, ad free emails and 24/7 assistance including phone support. Here is a comparison between the two editions.
The service can help small businesses have a a powerful office and data exchange platform straight through their web domain. Small computer resellers and IT consultants can add value to their products and services by offering email accounts and access to online office software (i.e. Docs & Spreadsheets). Might be serious competition to Microsoft’s mammoth (both old and large :) ), Office suite, at least in their “standard” editions. Google now has the power to convince even more conservative users migrate towards hosted applications. Salesforce.com was the first massively adopted hosted application for businesses, a CRM suite completely online supporting desktop synchronization, convenient document and data sharing and extensions and guaranteed success of implementation. Salesforce.com became the leader of the CRM market in a very short time, out competing players like Oracle and SAP. Now, it time for the powerful Google to compete with classic desktop applications.

.

There’s been a flaming but rather silent war between Fon’s and Whisher’s hot shots since the former’s market debut. The two products should not really be competing but it came clear that Whisher was exactly what Fon missed - a real social component!
The hot shots fighting over WiFi sharing supremacy, it was just a matter of time until somebody won the first battle. We give the first token to Fon’s CEO, Martin Varsavsky by winning the media war. Alas for him we have to hand out the second token to Ferran Moreno of Whisher for striking hard and making the score even.

Freddy, a prominent part time hobbyist hacking into Fon’s Linux firmwares just released a patch that enables a third signal for the Spaniards’ proprietary router called La Fonera. By Freddy’s words:

“You might have heard about Whisher.com, the idea is similar to the one FON has.
But Whisher is hardware independent and the signal is encrypted.
That’s why I like it, but I would have to use the “MyPlace” signal of the Fonera.
That would allow everybody to access my private LAN and of course I don’t want that.
Due to this I added another signal to my Fonera.”

The patch will add a third WPA encrypted signal to La Fonera.
You’ll have “MyPlace”, “FON_AP” and the new one: “WHISHER_AP”
The new signal prevents access to your private LAN thus making it perfect for use with Whisher.

The score is even now: 1-1! We’ll keep an eye on this war! Great stuff for a wireless news blog, I tell you that much!

Let the hostilities begin! :)

.

Big news from Slashdot again: Apparently after the new customer feedback website opened by Dell, 2 out of 3 customers are asking for a pre-installed Linux distribution. They are talking about a tri-choice between Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSUSE, allowing multiple-boot with Windows installed also, or no Windows at all, because yes, Linux can replace Windows successfully!

Open software like Firefox, Thunderbird, Gaim, Gimp, PDFCreator, Audacity and of course Open Office will be available. The manufacturer, Dell in this case, will be able to work together with the packagers of a Linux distro in order to have all the drivers installed, maybe offer support from the same packagers, in less words: making it “Idiot proof” like the Mac.

No, it’s not wireless news, but it’s great news! The prices will drop, and the awareness of customers towards Linux will increase considerably. Until now, there was a big myth that there is no consumer request for Linux distributions to ship with new computers, but apparently there is! Come on now, there still are people out there who think that the big rounded E logo from Internet Explorer is the INTERNET!

Digest more on this: Here, here and here!

.