Ubuntu

Getting Dell XPS Trackpad to work on Ubuntu Hardy

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I had trouble getting my Dell XPS M1530 track pad/touch pad to work when I updated the BIOS from A07 to A09. However, it is fairly an easy fix.

Edit your ‘/boot/grub/menu.lst’ file with:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Then add:
i8042.nomux=1

at the end of the ‘kernel’ line. It may look like below:

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root		(hd0,0)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=446ea0c-57b1-4112-939c-
3f1d74be9f5f ro quiet splash i8042.nomux=1
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic quiet

Save the menu.lst file and reboot. This should get your track pad/touch pad working.
Reference from Ubuntu Forums.

Accessing Remote Drive in Linux via SSHFS

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There may be a case where you may want to access a certain directory or drive on a remote machine, and mount it to your local PC. For example, I have a headless CentOS box running Apache where all of my web application codes are sitting. Editing those web application codes are a nightmare when there is no Integrated Development Environment (IDE). I can install IDE (like Eclipse) on my Ubuntu box, but I need a way to map the remote /www folder to my local Ubuntu folder. This is very easy in Linux using sshfs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSHFS
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHFS

Install sshfs:
$sudo apt-get install sshfs

Create your local directory and change the permission:
$sudo mkdir /media/directoryname
$sudo chown your-username /media/directoryname

Where “directoryname” is the name of the directory on your local computer where you want to access the files from the remote computer. Let say I want the files on the server to be available at /media/directoryname.

Add yourself to the group “fuse”.
$sudo adduser your-username fuse

To mount the remote directory to your local:
$sshfs your-username@myserver:/www/html ~/directoryname

To unmount:
$fusermount -u ~/directoryname

Guest-Host Connection in Vmware through Firestarter

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Following my previous post on VPNC, after modifying the user-pre file in Firestarter, it somehow screws-up my guest-host connections in Vmware. The host, running on Ubuntu 8.04, no longer be able to connect to it guests, and vice-versa. The following is what I did to make the connection works. I had to post this up for future reference, just in case I forgot.

1. Edit /etc/firestarter/user-pre . First, make the file writable:
sudo chmod 600 /etc/firestarter/user-pre

2. Edit the file:
sudo gedit /etc/firestarter/user-pre

3. Copy the following to the file:
$IPT -A INPUT -i vmnet+ -j ACCEPT
$IPT -A OUTPUT -o vmnet+ -j ACCEPT

4. Save the file and close.
5. Change the user-pre file permission back to the way it was:
sudo chmod 440 /etc/firestarter/user-pre

6. Restart Firestarter:
sudo /etc/init.d/firestarter restart

Now the connection is restored. Both the guest and host can share files, access the web servers, etc.

VPN Connection in Ubuntu using VPNC

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I’ve been using VPNC in my Ubuntu to access my company’s VPN from https://getmoreprivacy.com/ for quite some time now. The story is, I’ve tried using Cisco VPN, but it will only get me as far as connecting to the VPN server. When I’m trying to access the company’s intranet, I’ll get a “page not found” error slapped to my face. I’ve found out it has to do with my machine’s Firestarter. I doesn’t really feel comfortable removing or stopping my Firestarter, so I have to find out ways to access VPN, and still having my Firestarter active.

After doing some googling, I stumbled upon VPNC, alternate VPN client for Cisco servers.

Installing VPNC:
1. Enter the following in the terminal to install VPNC on your computer:
sudo apt-get install vpnc resolvconf

2. Create a <filename>.conf file in /etc/vpnc/ . Enter following command to create myoffice.conf:
sudo gedit /etc/vpnc/myoffice.conf

3. Copy the following text to that myoffice.conf file:
IPSec gateway <server IP address>
IPSec ID <group name>
IPSec secret <group password>
Xauth username <username>

You can get the values for <server IP address>, <group name> and <group password> by opening your Cisco VPN client .pcf file. For <group password>, the value is encrypted. What you have to do is, copy all the characters from the “enc_GroupPwd” value, go to this cisco vpnclient password decoder site, paste the characters and click “Decode”. It will give you the decrypted group password. Now, copy the decrypted password and replace it with the <group password> in your myoffice.conf. Replace your user name to <username>. Save the file and close.

Running VPNC:
You can run VPNC simply by running this command:
sudo vpnc myoffice /etc/vpnc/myoffice.conf

Enter your VPN password once connected. To disconnect:
sudo vpnc-disconnect

Making it work with Firestarter:
You might have a problem accessing for company’s intranet if you have Firestarter installed. Instructions below will make it work.

1. Edit /etc/firestarter/user-pre . First, make the file writable:
sudo chmod 600 /etc/firestarter/user-pre

2. Edit the file:
sudo gedit /etc/firestarter/user-pre

3. Copy the following to the file:
iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.xx.xxx -p esp
iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.xx.xxx -p udp -m multiport --sports isakmp,10000
iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -i tun+
iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -d xxx.xxx.xx.xxx -p esp
iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -d xxx.xxx.xx.xxx -p udp -m multiport --dports isakmp,10000
iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -o tun+

Replace your VPN server’s IP address to the xxx.xxx.xx.xxx.

4. Save the file and close.
5. Change the user-pre file permission back to the way it was:
sudo chmod 440 /etc/firestarter/user-pre

6. Restart Firestarter:
sudo /etc/init.d/firestarter restart

Thanks to Arun for the tips.