Archive for the ‘experiments’ Category

Windows 7, McAfee Firewall and SmartPhone-Sync

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Windows 7, McAfee Firewall and SmartPhone-Sync - an Adventure. After I installed Windows7 successfully on my Samsung NC10 ("Nessie"), as described in another post in this blog, I wanted to sync my phone with it. I knew how it worked with XP. And I knew this would not help me a bit with Windows 7.

All I had, was the description how to get McAfee and ActiveSync up an running, which worked fine with Windows XP. But with Windows 7, ActiveSync is no longer required, nor is it possible to install it. Windows 7 comes with the Windows Mobile Device Center. What you probably need is the 6.1-update of the WMDC, but that's it.

At the time I was looking for information what I would need to get the SmartPhone-sync working without having to turn off the firewall completely everytime, I found nothing, no matter what keywords I fed into google. So I opened up the old description-page about McAfee and ActiveSync, and added the port that was stated there to the list of system-services:

- Service-name       : SmartPhone Sync
- TCP In/out         :   26695
- Open to a computer
   or network that is: Standard (including Trusted)

Then I looked for Apps on my computer that sounded like they might do what the ActiveSync-Apps did. I found a single 100%-match:

ceappmgr.exe,

in the directory

C:\Windows\WindowMobile .

I added it with Full Access to McAfee's Program-list. Next, I looked at the other executables in that directory. I added

  • wmdcBase.exe
  • WmdHost.exe

And tried again. It did not work. I looked through several more directories, added and removed several applications that looked promising to solve the problem, but nothing helped. Then I looked at the log-file generated by the McAfee-firewall, and noticed, that the IP 169.254.2.1 tried to access my computer through ICMP ping (which the firewall blocks), and tcp-port 990, commonly used by FTP for the control-channel when using TLS/SSL. I remembered both the IP and the port from my experiments with syncing the SmartPhone with linux, and decided to add this IP as "trusted" (which is possible directly from the log-entry).

I tried syncing again - and this time it worked.

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Posted in ActiveSync, Configuration, McAfee, Microsoft, NC10, Samsung, Win7, Windows Mobile Device Center, experiments, gadgets, mda, mobile, netbook, network, operating system, smartphone, smartphone-experiments, synchronization, windows | 2 Comments »

New Server - Update (4): Harddisks, SmartArray, and ROC

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

In several postings in january, I wrote about a new server, which should replace the current server "unknown". I wrote about serious problems delaying that exchange, and these problems lay in the harddisk-performance.

As I wrote, the "new" server is a Compaq DL-360 (Yes, that is the complete model-name, it is the first generation of DL-360ies) . It came with two 18.2GB harddisks, and had a wonderful fast performance. I replaced both harddisks with compaq-certified 72GB UW-320 harddisks, and installed NetBSD 5.0 on it. While unpacking pkgsrc.tar.bz2, I wondered why the machine took so long...over six minutes for tarball of about 40MB. 2 minutes would have been more appropriate. At that time, I had no further for experimenting and analyzing, but on last sunday, I took up the matter again. I plugged the 70GB harddisks into Ymir, reconfiguring the Mylex DAC960PD-Controller to accept the new disk-pair as a RAID-1 drive, and ran

# tar -xjf pkgsrc.tar.bz2

It was over after 01:55 minutes, and that on a PPro-200. The DL-360 has a Pentium III 1266 and thrice as much RAM.

After this result, I examined the DL-360 again, searched the internet for information, and started a discussion on IRCnet-channel #netbsd. The advice given most often was "that sound like a write-back-cache-problem". And it was - or better, is.

What has confused me all the time was the fact that the machine claimed to have a SmartArray-Controller. Well, it has, but only a stripped-down one: It lacks a write-back-cache.  The integrated SmartArray-Controller is called "ROC" in the manual, which is short for "RAID-On-a-Chip". It is an addon-card, which I have removed now, and unless I can find a SmartArray-Controller-Card (yes, I know, they are sold on eBay), and more importantly the cable which connects the extra SmartArray-Controller with the scsi-backplane to override the ROC-Controller, I will install a NetBSD on the machine in a RAIDFrame RAID-1 again. In the end, a Software-RAID is better than no RAID at all, and RAIDFrame is really great. Unknown runs it since I have setup the machine the first time, which is several years now.

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Posted in BSD, Compaq, Configuration, NetBSD 5.0, New Server, RAID, RAIDFrame, ROC, SmartArray, computer, experiments, harddisks, hardware, netbsd, operating system, pkgsrc, server | No Comments »

DVD-Players and video-stuff without a TV

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

This post might seem a bit offtopic at first, because it is about TV-Devices - or better, the replacement of TV-Devices. But it is about the replacement of a TV by a Standard VGA PC-Monitor, and that is why I am posting it. :)

In Germany, when you own a TV, which is not stored away for good in a way that you cannot re-install it within a few minutes, you have to pay a certain fee per month, called "GEZ". What that name  means does not really matter here, but believe me, when I say that this fee is quite annoying, especially when you do not watch TV or only those channels that do not profit from this fee (the fee is only for those channels under public law). It is even more annoying, when the only usage of the TV-Device is watching DVDs.

My wife and I hardly ever watch TV. When we watch something, we watch DVD. We have a DTS/Dolby Digital Home-Theater System that we use for watching, and which we love. But the only way to watch was to use a SCART- or S-Video capable device, like any standard TV. Since we do not want to pay the TV-fee anymore, we started to look for ways to install a PC-Monitor instead of the TV. Sadly, the interfaces of a VGA-compatible monitor and S-Video / SCART are so different and incompatible, that complex electronic translation of the signals is required. There are several such devices, but usually they all come with exactly that part of the TV-device, which makes a TV cost that fee: the receiver. But we were lucky. My wife found a "translator", which is build without the annoying receiver. It is called "V2V Pro", from "MyGica" (please note: this link leads to a different website, apparently available only in chinese), and translates S-Video into VGA. It can be bought via amazon.de. It is  working quite fine, and now we do not have pay that silly TV-fee anymore, because we don't have any device in our home anymore, which would be capable of receiving TV-signals :). Of course this means, we cannot watch TV anymore, too, but since we haven't done this for years now, I hardly believe that we will miss that much.

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Posted in GEZ, S-Video, TV, V2V Pro, VGA, experiments, gadgets, hardware | 1 Comment »

NetBSD on a Stick

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

NetBSD on a Stick

No, this is no joke, it is actually quite serious and handy: NetBSD on a USB-Stick, to carry anywhere you like.

I stumbled across this website by pure chance, but since I am a passionate NetBSD-user, I was intrigued immediately, of course.

The website provides information on how to setup such a USB-Stick, and why someone might want to have one at all.

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Posted in BSD, USB, USB-Stick, computer, experiments, gadgets, netbsd, opensource, operating system, tech | 1 Comment »

Report: VCFe 9.0

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

From April, 26th, to April, 27th 2008 the VCFe 9.0 was held in Munich. My wife and I visited the VCFe on Sunday, bringing my Sun SPARCstation IPX with me for exhibition. Since our departure from home (Passau), was a bit hectically, I forgot my Sun Type 5 Keyboard. Of course (how else should it be) the first time I noticed this was during the set up of the machine at the VCFe. Too late for turning around to fetch it...

mac-keyboard on Sun SPARCstation IPX (1)Funnily, this was the start of quite some interesting experiments: Alexander Kurz, the man behind the kbdbabel-project, was at VCFe 9.0, too. From him, I got an old mac-keyboard, which was converted to PS/2, connected to a PS/2-to-Sun-converter, and then to the IPX's mouse/keyboard-bus. This way, we were able to work a bit on the IPX. mac-keyboard on Sun SPARCstation IPX (2)There were some errors, though, since sometimes, the IPX received the last-hit key over and over again, until another key was hit. This made logging in a bit difficult, but this experiment became the main-attraction in our corner, more than the IPX itself. :-}


SGI Octane (owned by Rico Pajarola)Hans Franke, the man behind VCFe, had reserved a table for me but when I arrived this table was occupied - by the SGI Octane on the photo to the right. It belongs to Rico Pajarola, who had not registered as exhibitor. Luckily, another registered exhibitor had not come, so I took his table. My exhibition-tabe at VCFe 9.0When I noticed the missing keyboard, Rico turned out to be a real help, since he went to Alexander, fetching keyboards and converters. I had not only brought the working IPX, but also another IPX-Model, which I presented opened, to show how they looked like from inside.My opened Sun SPARCstation IPX (and Burnhard looking at it) Each of the two IPX-workstations has a 40MHz SPARC-CPU, 64 MB RAM, and a 2 GB SCSI-Harddisk. The running one was hosting NetBSD 3.1 as operating system, an X-Server, and Blackbox as window-manager. This system will be upgraded to NetBSD 4.0 as soon as I have installed an appropriate environment on my dual-core pc-workstation for cross-compiling the packages. On a 40MHz machine, one does not really want to do that ;-)

But back to the VCFe...to my annoyance, the missing keyboard was not the only problem that occurred on that day: Dillo, the only web-browser I got to work over the last few days, was core-dumping rather happily with no traceable cause. At home, it had worked with no problem. To make matters worse, a migraine-attack caught me later that afternoon, and made the rest of the day quite uncomfortable. I managed to stay at the VCFe until its official end, and with the help of Rico and another guy called Marco we took my computer and the huge monster of a monitor back to our car. Thanks to you two. Carrying the monitor while having migraines would have been like hell on earth. My wife drove us home, and that was the day for me... (may be a funny note here: on monday, after I had set-up the machine in my computer-lab again without changing anything, dillo worked again, as if nothing had happened...)

The myCPU-projectLuckily, before the migraines stroke me down, I was able to walk around and take a look at the exhibition. Directly next to my own place was the myCPU-project, an interesting project about a completely self-built computer. Several other interesting projects were there, too many to name them all, in fact. Since this year's focus of the VCFe was on gaming, mostly all projects were related to computer-games.

The next VCFe is planned for May, 1st - May, 3rd 2009, with focus on architectures. If I can manage it, I will be there the whole three days, with my Sun SPARCstation IPX again, but with an original SGI Indigo 2 as well. Plans for what I am showing on both machines are in progress.

Last but not least...a real great "Thank you!" to my wife, who not only had to endure my bad temper that morning and did all the driving, but who also did all the great photos of the VCFe. All photos presented in this article have been shot by her. Thank you.

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Posted in BSD, IPX, SPARC, SPARCstation, Sun, Vintage Computer Festival Europe, computer, experiments, netbsd, operating system, tech | No Comments »

Vintage Computer Festival Europe

Monday, April 21st, 2008

It's a bit short-dated, I know, but I just got word about this by a friend of mine: On April, 26th 2008 and April, 27th 2008, the Vintage Computer Festival Europe takes place in Munich, Germany.

I hope can manage to attend it on Sunday, and to be able to exhibit one of my Sun SPARCstation IPX's. If all works according to plan, the IPX will host a NetBSD 3.1 opterating system, an X-Server and some useful tools to play with and to show that this machine once was actually used for everyday office-business, though it has only about 40MHz and 64MB RAM. (At the time I got it, it only had 32 MB RAM).

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Posted in BSD, IPX, SPARC, SPARCstation, Sun, Vintage Computer Festival Europe, computer, experiments, netbsd, operating system | No Comments »

Smartphone-Experiments, Part 1

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Over the last two days, I finally found a few hours to experiment with my Windows Mobile driven smartphone, an HTC Touch (ok, it's branded, so it's aka MDA Touch).

With Windows, it syncs out-of-the-box, what a surprise, but with linux, things are a bit more interesting. I am running a Debian/Lenny on my laptop, an old Acer Travelmate 732TL, a Pentium III-500 with 256MB RAM. My intention was to enable the laptop to synchronize with the phone through a USB-cable-connection, and to use the phone for internet-connections. I installed the SynCE-suite packages, along with multisync, and tried my luck. Well, what shall I say, it failed. After looking at the SynCE-manpages, I found out why: Windows Mobile smartphones require a special kernel-module to work properly. So I downloaded the module-sources from the SynCE-website, compiled and installed them, and tried again, running the following commands:

modprobe rndis_host
synce-serial-config ttyUSB0
synce-serial-start
pls

This time, it worked. I got my directory-listing. An ifconfig showed me this:

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
          inet addr:192.168.131.102  P-t-P:192.168.131.201  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:9 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
          RX bytes:994 (994.0 B)  TX bytes:119 (119.0 B)

The two ip-addresses are the default-values of windows-mobile-phones. As far I as can tell, one should leave them as they are, since it does not seem to work with different ip-addresses (at least not for me, that is). Of course, you are free to try and comment on this ;) .

Internet-Connections

The next thing I tried now was to establish an internet-connection through the smartphone. From the phone's manual I knew there was a program for a shared internet-connection, where the telephone connected itself into the internet by using GPRS/EDGE, and acted as a router/nameserver for the connected computer. I activated that program from the programs-folder (in german, this program is called "Internetfreigabe"), selected "USB" for the connection to the computer, and the GPRS-profile, and then let the program connect to the internet. Though the telephone complained about ActiveSync being "active", it connected me to the internet. An ifconfig gave me now this output:

rndis0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 80:00:60:0f:e8:00
          inet addr:192.168.0.102  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::8200:60ff:fe0f:e800/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:8050  Metric:1
          RX packets:59 errors:53 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:102 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:6848 (6.6 KiB)  TX bytes:19488 (19.0 KiB)

I tried to ping my server using its ip the first time, and its name the second, and both worked fine: I was connected. However, further experiments showed that simply connecting the phone and loading the modules, and then activating the internet-connection on the phone would not work. And rndis0-interface would show up, yes, but it will look like this:

rndis0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 80:00:60:0f:e8:00
          inet addr:169.254.2.2  Bcast:169.254.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:8050  Metric:1
          RX packets:12 errors:9 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1124 (1.0 KiB)  TX bytes:7168 (7.0 KiB)

Take a good look at the ip-address, you will notice that it is different from the first two ifconfig-dumps, which used the same ip-adress. A connection will not be possible this way, it has to be set-up and established through synce-serial-config and synce-serial-start before.

Though I have installed Evolution, multisync, and several plugins/modules for both programs, I was not yet able to synchronize my telephone's address-book, calender, todo-list etc. with the laptop. May be Debian/lenny uses packages which are not as up-to-date as I would need it, I have take a further look into this, still. The most important two things, anyhow, being able to transfer files between telephone and laptop, as well as establishing an internet-connection for the laptop by using the telephone as a router/modem, are working now, and quite without an effort, too.

I will continue with my smartphone-experiments, so stay tuned! ;)

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Posted in Linux, computer, connection, experiments, gadgets, internet, mda, mobile, network, smartphone, smartphone-experiments, synce, synchronization, touch, windows | 1 Comment »