SUSE & openSUSE » openSUSE 11.1

rtl8187b wireless native driver support in openSUSE 11.1 (Kernel 2.6.27)

admin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:17:54 +0000

Users of Realtek RTL 8187b Wireless cards have something to cheer with the coming of openSUSE 11.1. With openSUSE 11.1, the default Linux Kernel 2.6.27 integrated rtl8187 native drivers works well for the Realtek rtl8187b wireless cards.

Previous versions of the Linux kernel used in the earlier versions of openSUSE did not support the 8187b wireless card and hence have to be used with ndiswrapper and Windows version of the driver.

If you are using a Realtek rtl8187b wireless device then it is good to upgrade your openSUSE to openSUSE 11.1. Alternatively, you can upgrade yourLinux Kernel to the2.6.27 or later to have native driver support and remove all ndiswrapper configurartions for better performance.

To check you Linux Kernel Version

opensuse11:~ # uname -a
Linux opensuse11 2.6.27.7-9-default #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

KCheckGMail – KDE Desktop Systray notifier for GMail

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:15:57 +0000

KCheckGMail, as the name implies is a simple utility for KDE desktop which sits in the systray and notifies of any new email on your GMail email account. KCheckGMail works OK on KDE 4.x desktops and is tested on KDE 3.5.

KCheckGMail works on openSUSE 11.1, openSUSE 11.0 and openSUSE 10.3.

Install KCheckGMail

KCheckGMail can be installed using the following 1-click installers available at openSUSE Build Service. Click one of the following 1-click installs based on your openSUSE version.

openSUSE 11.1 & openSUSE 11.0

NOTE: There isn’t a 1-click installer available for openSUSE 11.1 yet but the 1-click installer available for openSUSE 11.0 works just fine with 11.1

openSUSE 10.3

Click Next on the window showing the repository selection then Next on the package selection window. This should start adding the repositories and download and install the KCheckGMail package and the required dependencies. Click Finish when the installation completes.

This should install KCheckGMail under Applications – Internet – Email as “New Email Notifier” with the GMail symbol.

Click “New Email Notifier” or /opt/kde3/bin/kcheckgmail from a terminal. Click OK on the welcome message window and accept the License Agreement in the following window.

This should launch the configuration window for KCheckGMail. For a simple configuration, enter GMail user account and password, this should start with the defaults. Advanced configs like the time interval between every check, default browser to use to launch GMail on browser can be configured from here or later from the “Configure KcheckGMail” option in the systray (right-click menu).

As you would, straight forward simple application for KDE. Click here to visit the project homepage.

aria2 – free advanced CLI utility to download files in openSUSE

admin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:59:34 +0000

Aria2 is a free opensource file download utility that supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent (DHT, PEX, MSE/PE) and Metalink. aria2 can download a file from multiple sources/protocols and tries to utilize your maximum download bandwidth. It supports downloading a file from HTTP,HTTPS/FTP and BitTorrent at the same time. Using Metalink’s chunk checksums, aria2 automatically validates chunks of data while downloading a file like BitTorrent.

Stand out features of aria2 include,

Download a file from several URIs(HTTP(S)/FTP/BitTorrent)

Aria2 can download files concurrently without having to wait for the current download queue to finish one file.

Aria2 tries to utilize your maximum download bandwidth and downloads files quickly.

Aria2 supports Adaptive segemnted downloading wherein, unlike other similar applications, Aria2 can split a download segment (assuming from a slow connection) further down up to 1MB. If in an instance this last 1MB is on a slow connection, it can cancel this connection and download the segment from a faster connecting server.

Supports connections via all kinds of proxy including where authentication is required.

Physical Memory foot print is as low as 3MB to 6MB while CPU usage in BitTorrent with download speed of 1500KB/sec is around 6%.

For a full list of features, click here

Install Aria2

Aria2 can be installed using the 1-click install YaST Metapackage files (YMP) from openSUSE software Build Service. Click one of the following 1-click Installs based on your version of openSUSE. This will download the YMP file and automatically launch YaST Package manager to add the required repositories and install aira2 and the dependency packages.

openSUSE 11.1

openSUSE 11.0

openSUSE 10.3

Click Next on the Repository selection screen and Next on the package Selection screen and finally Next on the Installation proposal screen. This should add the repositories, download aria2 and relevant packages and install. Click Finish when the software has installed successfully.

This should install aria2 as /usr/bin/aria2c

For a list of options that aria2c can run with, “-h” option or check the man page

opensuse11_1:~ # aria2c -h

or

man aria2c

To download a file

opensuse11_1:~ # aria2c http://www.example.com/test.iso

By default, aria2c uses 5 connections to download a single file. This can be controlled using a -s argument to specify the number of allowed connections (say 2).

To download using 2 connections from 2 servers

opensuse11_1:~ # aria2c -s2 http://www.server1.com/test.iso http://www.server2.com/test.iso

To find a host of usage options and examples, click here

Fix BCM4311/4312/4321/4322 Wireless in openSUSE 11.1 and earlier

admin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:06:41 +0000

In openSUSE 11.1, laptops installed with the BCM4311/BCM4312/BCM4321/BCM4322 Wireless LAN cards like the Dell Inspiron 1525 do not have drivers installed and hence do not work out of the box. In Dell this Wireless card is labelled as “Dell 1395 Wireless card”. Broadcom has released a linux version of its driver both 32-bit (x86) and 64bit (x86_64) editions for BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4321 & BCM4322 Wireless cards. A 1-click install Yast Metapackage file (YMP) is available for install from Packman which makes it easy to get your wireless up and running in no time.

While this procedure is written for openSUSE 11.1, it should just work fine for openSUSE 11.0, openSUSE 10.3 as well as the 1-click install supports these versions.

Check the install Wireless module to confirm it is one of the above listed Broadcom Wireless devices.

openSUSE11_1:~ # lspci|grep -i broad
0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

Click this to download and automatically start YaST Package manager. Click Next on the installation Welcome screen and click “Customize” on the screen showing the Repository and the packages selected to install. Click Next on the repository selection and screen.

And finally, in the screen showing the list of packages selected to install, untick the drivers for custom Kernels like Kernel-pae, Kernel-trace & Kernel-xen (unless you use any of these Kernel versions than the default one).

This means you will untick the following:

Broadcom-wl-kmp-pae
Broadcom-wl-kmp-trace
Broadcom-wl-kmp-xen

and finally, click Next on the proposal screen. This will start adding the packman repository and download and install the required driver packages and required dependencies. Click Finish when the drivers have successfully installed on your openSUSE.

Now, insert the installed wireless module

openSUSE11_1:~ # modprobe wl

Now, confirm the Kernel module is loaded on your openSUSE

openSUSE11_1:~ # lsmod | grep wl
wl 1080320 0
ieee80211_crypt 6476 2 ieee80211_crypt_tkip,wl

Confirm with the iwconfig command:

openSUSE11_1:~ # iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

pan0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:”"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm
Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
Power Managementmode:All packets received
Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

You are now ready to go, you should already see your KNetworkManager adjusting itself to insert the wireless (eth1 in my laptop) into its list of active devices.

From KnetworkManager, click “New Connection” and select your wireless device (eth1) in my laptop, select your Wireless Network from the list of scanned networks (or manually enter the details if your Wireless network doesn’t broadcast), click next and enter your Encryption details and click Connect & Save. You should now be up and running with your Wireless.

openSUSE11_1:~ # iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:”SKY12345″
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:11:42:F3:AA:6E
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm
Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
Power Managementmode:All packets received
Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=-29 dBm Noise level=-89 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:14 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

pan0      no wireless extensions.

openSUSE11.1 release – Tips to download it faster and quicker

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:01:02 +0000

Just back in time after the long 3 weeks of hoiliday and the couple of weeks of recovery thereafter for the big days big release of openSUSE 11.1. To be precise, just in 2hrs 02mins as my clock says (13.00 GMT is the release time) openSUSE 11.1 will be officially available for download.

The openSUSE team has been making all the arrangements for the download and are doing their best to ensure we get our hands on the glossy openSUSE 11.1 without any glitch. They have added 3 Quad core servers to the wiki farm and have tweaked just to support the load. You may directly head to

http://software.opensuse.org

than to go the openSUSE homepage and wait for an official announcement to start downloading.

Also, you may use a Metalinker client like “DownloadThemAll” extension for Firefox or aria2 client which is a CLI which seems to be the wiser tool of them all.

aria2 can

can maximize the utilization of your internet bandwidth for faster download

download from several mirrors at the same time (so it also makes you faster)

automatically noticing mirror problems, and resuming from other mirrors

simultaneously downloading via Peer-to-Peer (BitTorrent)

error checking for transferred data is not only done in the end – but already during downloading. Each part of the file which has arrived is already checked, and if it’s found to be broken, it is scheduled to be refetched from another mirror.

creating a local *.asc file which contains the cryptographical signature which can be used to verify the authenticity of the file

automatically noticing if a server supports metalinks (if not, it will just act as “normal” download client)

being robust against all sorts of network failures

avoiding head-scratching of its user

Use the 1-click installs for aria2 from http://software.opensuse.org/search to quickly install aria2 and get ready for the big release.

Once installed, quickly get the link for your download from http://software.opensuse.org (choose your DVD or CD 32/64 ISO).

For instance, to download openSUSE 11.0 i386 DVD ISO,

opensuse11:~ # aria2c http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/iso/dvd/openSUSE-11.0-DVD-i386.iso

and sit and watch the fun of a faster download.

Have fun and good luck to the team at openSUSE and to you all suse geeks!!!!

PySolFC – free 1048 Solitaire games pack in openSUSE

admin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:21:39 +0000

PySolFC, a fork of PySol Solitaire is a collection of 1048 solitaire card games. PySolFC is free opensource and is released under GNU GPL License. As pointed by our readers, UltraSol which is a collection of 400 or more Solitaire games looks like a re-brand of PySolFC. PySolFC contains games that use the 52 card International Pattern deck, games for the 78 card Tarock deck, eight and ten suit Ganjifa games, Hanafuda games, Matrix games, Mahjongg games, and games for an original hexadecimal-based deck. Its features include modern look and feel (uses Tile widget set), multiple cardsets and tableau backgrounds, sound, unlimited undo, player statistics, a hint system, demo games, a solitaire wizard, support for user written plug-ins.

Install PySolFC
PySOlFC can be installed using the 1-click installer available from packman. Click this 1-click installer for PySolFC to download the YaST MetaPackage file (YMP) and launch with YaST Package Manager. This 1-click installer supports openSUSE 11.0/10.3/10.2 & openSUSE 11.1 Beta

NOTE: Click here to enable 1-click install in openSUSE 10.2

Click Next on the window showing the PySolFC application description and the Next on the installation proposal window. This should start adding the required dependencies and PySolFC package itself. Click Finish when the installation successfully completes.

This should installed PySolFC under “Applications – Games – Card Games“. Click PySolFC to launch to the Solitaire games pack.

Under the Select menu, select your game or choose to have a playable preview. The games package has good documentation as well.

Click here to visit the project homepage.

Ultrasol – 400 different Solitaire games in one pack in openSUSE

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:52:31 +0000

Ultrasol is a collection of nearly 400 different solitaire or patience games. There are games that use the 52 card International Pattern deck, games for the 78 card Tarock deck, eight and ten suit Ganjifa games, Hanafuda games, Matrix games, Mahjongg games, and games for an original hexadecimal-based deck.
It includes many different sets of playing card images and all under standard solitaire type window.

Install ultrasol

Click this 1-click installer for Ultrasol from Packman to download the YaST MetaPackage file (YMP) and launch with YaST Package Manager. This 1-click installer supports openSUSE 11.0/10.3/10.2 & openSUSE 11.1 (Beta)

NOTE: Click here to enable 1-click install in openSUSE 10.2

click Next on the window showing the Ultrasol application description and the Next on the installation proposal window. This should start adding the required dependencies and ultrasol package itself. Click Finish when the installation successfully completes.

This should install Ultrasol under “Applications – Games – Card Games“. Launch Ultrasol and you have it all…all the 400 different solitaire games.

For a quick preview of what is in offer, click Select – playable Preview. This allows you to preview the game and at the same serves a preview for you.

You can change the card sets, card images and the backgrounds all from the settings menu.

I’m sure this is one game or set of games that you do not need any big introduction…Do you???

Step by Step install guide for openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 with GNOME

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:21:36 +0000

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 is now relased and available for download as Live CDs for KDE4 and GNOME Desktops. The DVD is available only via Bit Torrtents. Lets get started with installing openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 with KDE4 deaktop environment. The installation is from the Live CD downloadable from here. I’ve choosen to use a 32-bit CD for the installation.

Once downloaded, write the ISO image onto a CD and we should be ready to go. If you are installing on a VMWare or VirtualBox or any infact any other Virtual system, ensure that you allow atleast 512MB for the virtual system for smooth installation.

Insert the CD and start the system with your openSUSE 11.0 Live CD. Select openSUSE 11.1 from the boot menu. This should start the live CD and take you straight into the desktop.

Here you can have a quick preview without having to install openSUSE 11.1. Once, you are ready, click “Install” icon on the desktop. This should start the YaST installer.

Language and Keyboard layout selection

Select your Language and Keyboard layout and place a check mark against “I Agree to the License Terms” and click Next.

Timezone setup

Set your Time zone and then if you do not want to have the clock to set to UTC, untick the box for it and click Next.

Paritioning setup

Select the disk layout and choose if you want Parition based setup or Logical Volume Management (LVM). Here you can also modify the default partitioning by clicking “Edit Partition Setup”. When settings are choosen, click Next

Setup new user

Create a user by entering the user details, username password etc. Select the checkbox “Use this password for system administration” if you want the root password to be the same as this users (not recommended) and if you want toreceive system emails select “Receive system email” and finally “Automatic Logon” if you want to logon automatically at the boot time (without having to enter the password). Once you have entered the details click Next

Now go through the installation summary and if you are all happy, click Install on the confirmation window.

This should start the installation beginning with paritioning, create file systems and start installing.

Once complete, you should be let into your newly installed openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 with GNOME desktop environment.

Now, configure the Updater and the repositories.

Your new glossy GNOME desktop on openSUSE 11.1 Beta4

Enjoy!!! As you would note, openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 is still in Beta use it for tests only and report any bugs to the development team here

Step by Step installation guide for openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 with KDE4

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:24:56 +0000

Once downloaded, write the ISO image onto a CD and we should be ready to go. If you are installing on a VMWare or VirtualBox or any infact any other Virtual system, ensure that you allow atleast 512MB for the virtual system for smooth installation.

Insert the CD and start the system with your openSUSE 11.0 Live CD. Select openSUSE 11.1 from the boot menu. This should start the live CD and take you straight into the desktop.

Here you can have a quick preview without having to install openSUSE 11.1. Once, you are ready, click “Install” icon on the desktop. This should start the YaST installer.

Language and Keyboard layout selection

Select your Language and Keyboard layout and place a check mark against “I Agree to the License Terms” and click Next.

Timezone setup
Set your Time zone and then if you do not want to have the clock to set to UTC, untick the box for it and click Next.

Paritioning setup
Select the disk layout and choose if you want Parition based setup or Logical Volume Management (LVM). Here you can also modify the default partitioning by clicking “Edit Partition Setup”. When settings are choosen, click Next

Setup new user

Now go through the installation summary and if you are all happy, click Install on the confirmation window.

This should start the installation beginning with paritioning, create file systems and start installing.

Once the installation is complete, click OK on the message box to reboot the computer. While it restarts ensure that the CD is removed from the drive. This should restart and run the autoconfiguration wizard. Once complete, you should be let into your newly installed openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3 with KDE4 desktop environment.

Your new glossy KDE4 desktop on openSUSE 11.1 Beta4

Enjoy!!! As you would note, openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 is still in Beta use it for tests only and report any bugs to the development team here

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 is now released

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:53:37 +0000

A few days before we saw the Beta 3 release for openSUSE 11.1 and here we go, Beta 4 is out, although a bit delayed from the original scheduled date. openSUSE 11.1 is now taking some shape and seems to be getting good if not better with every release. openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4 is available as Live CDs for KDE4 and GNOME desktops. The DVD is available for download only via Bit Torrent.

With reference to openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3, the following are the main changes to openSUSE 11.1 Beta 4:

Nomad – Set of components for Remote Desktop

Linux Kernel 2.6.27.4

Mono 2.0.1

GNOME 2.24.1

VirtualBox 2.0.4

Evolution 2.24.1

Banshee 1.3.3

Webcam support re-enabled for those webcams which were removed in Beta 3

Also, includes bugfixing for GNOME/KDE updates, OpenOffice 3.0 startup problems