Connecting to HSDPA via Internet Sharing on HTC TyTN running WM6

One of my main challenges when getting the EEE was to get it talking to my HTC TyTN smartphone via a Bluetooth dongle, so that I could have high-speed Internet access on the move. To complicate matters slightly, I have flashed my TyTN with a WM6 ROM, and I wasn’t sure whether this would be a hindrance or not… well, I seem to have struck on the right solution, as it’s certainly working for me at the moment.

I basically followed ericmoritz’ guide on EEEUser.com, but, this didn’t work for me, so I made a slight change. The change was this:

After installing bluez-util, and running bluetooth-applet from a new terminal, I opened the Bluetooth Applet from the tray on the EEE, and set the dongle to visible and connectable mode. Having done this, I used Settings/Bluetooth on the TyTN to add the EEE as a new device, using the passcode “1234″ – I found that this created a suitable partnership between the two devices.

I then closed Bluetooth-Applet (Ctrl+C in the terminal which launched it), and uninstalled it (sudo apt-get remove bluez-util)

Then, I followed the guide as written, although, it is worth noting that, before running sudo ifup bnep0, you need to have tapped “Connect” in Internet Sharing on the device, otherwise it will fail.

Hope this helps anyone struggling with the existing guide.

Neil

QuickTip: whereis

Okay, so you’ve installed something on your EEE, and you can’t find where it is. Or you’re trying to run a command, and it’s coming back saying “Command not found”. Do not fear- there is another command which might be able to help you – whereis.

All you need to do is type whereis followed by the command you want. So, for example, taking the example of picasa (below):

whereis picasa

This returns the locations where the command is found:
picasa: /usr/bin/picasa /usr/X11R6/bin/picasa /usr/bin/X11/picasa /opt/picasa/bin/picasa

So, if running picasa does not work, running /usr/bin/picasa should do the trick.

Why not give it a try with ifconfig - see if you can find out your IP address! (There are better ways of doing this, but, this is just an example of using whereis!)

Installing Picasa

If you want Google’s Picasa on your EEE, here’s how

1.) Download Google’s automated installer for their repo authentication key:

wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/google-repo-setup.sh

2.) Run the newly-downloaded script:

bash google-repo-setup.sh

3.) Update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4.) Install Picasa:

sudo apt-get install picasa

You can, of course, add Google’s key and repo name by hand, but, this seemed the easier option.

Asus to release SDK for EEE

Asus has announced that an SDK for the EEE will be made available, but there are no more details at present. It is not clear what form this SDK will take, and what languages will be required to use it, but, it represents a very positive step that Asus is keen to make the Linux version of the EEE a success, through the promotion of user-developed applications.

“Asus is also pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Eee PC SDK. This will allow for the development on the Eee PC by the OpenSource community making it easy to develop, easy to port and easy to release software for the Eee PC platform. Please check back soon at eeepc.asus.com for more information in the upcoming weeks. We are pleased to work with the OpenSource GNU/Linux community to extend the richness of the Eee PC beyond the standard commercial offerings. “

Asus to release complete GNU GPL source for EEE

There’s some good news from Asus today, in the form of a press release on their blog:

“ASUSTek is committed to meet the requirements of the GNU General Public License

The open source code for EeePC is available here. To download the source code of all open source software packages that are included in the product, follow the steps listed below.

• Select your Eee PC product model from the list below to download the source code library at: http://support.asus.com/download/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

The source code found here is complete to the best of Asus’s knowledge. If you believe any additional source code files should be provided under the applicable open source license, please contact Asus at support@asus.com and provide in detail the product or code module in question. Asus is committed to meeting the requirements of the open source licenses including the GNU General Public License.“

There has been a fair amount of discussion in the EEE community about Asus’ position on the source code, with some suggesting that it was never going to be released. Others were more tolerant and moderate in their opinions, suggesting that it was a slight delay, but that Asus would comply shortly - it looks as if this latter group was absolutely right.

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000

One thing that does not impress me about the Eee is the small navigation pad and overely stiff trackpad button. I use a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000 and it has proved to be one of the best investments I have made in a log time. Battery life is huge, the USB attachment sits in the mouse when not in use and it has worked perfectly on very device I have owned.

Plug in the compact receiver when you’re ready to work, then snap it into your mouse when you travel, saving hassle and battery life. Easily enlarge and edit details with the new Magnifier and scroll four ways with the innovative 4-Way Scrolling.

Magnifier
-Point and click to enlarge and edit details using the Magnifier.

4-Way Scrolling
-Scroll four ways for greater efficiency and comfort with Tilt Wheel Technology.

Longer Battery Life (6+ months)
-Work with less interruption with longer battery life.

Asus Denies Rumors of 10-Inch Eee PC

Not new news but if you didn’t know- Although the Asus Eee PC is reportedly selling well, some people are holding off buying one because they are waiting for a version with a larger screen. According to Asus, the wait is going to be very long.

All the versions of this low-cost mini laptop that are currently available have a 7-inch screen, but there have been reports that one with a 10-inch display will be on the market in the next few months.

In an attempt to confirm this, Brighthand’s sister site NotebookReview.com spoke with an Asus spokesperson, who said:

I have just spoken to our product manager for the Eee PC and he said so far there has been no plan to introduce the Eee PC with another screen size for the North American market. I don’t think other regions will have them either.
The spokesperson went on to say that sales of the version of this device with a 7-inch screen are so strong that a significant hardware upgrade is unlikely in the near future.
 
The rumors almost certainly stem for a prototype Eee PC with a 10-inch display that Asus showed off last spring. However, the company currently has no plans to put this model on the market.

Source: Brighthand. Thanks to Luca for the news.

QuickTip: whois

I regularly need to do whois lookups as part of my work, and one of the best tools for doing this quickly is the tiny whois package which is used from bash – I don’t know how many people here ever need to look up whois data, but, this way is considerably better than trawling through various ISP’s websites, and even easier than DNSStuff’s utility.

You can install the application by using:

sudo apt-get install whois

(The package came out of the xnv4.xandros.com etch/main repo, so you’ll need to have this configured in /etc/apt/sources.list, and potentially pinned as well.)

Usage of the tool is dead easy:

whois [domain name]

For example:

whois google.co.uk

QuickTip: command concatenation

If you are using terminal / bash, and you want to perform multiple operations, you can consider concatenating them. For example, if you wanted to listthe contents of a directory (Desktop, in the example), you would want to do the following:

cd /home/user/Desktop

This will set your shell location to Desktop. Then, run the application “ls” to list the contents of the folder:

ls

Your output will be whatever folders you have in your Desktop directory (in my case, the reference to my Home directory, and my text file “tips.txt”:

Home.desktop tips

However, you can concatenate the commands by using the | symbol (which is obtained by pressing Shift + Function + Z (it must be in that order)) . As such, the two commands above become:

cd /home/user/Desktop | ls

The output is the same.

You can perform multiple concatenations as well – take, for example, the search function “grep”. If you have a lot of files in a directory, simply listing them may not be particularly useful, as you then have to look for the particular file name – and a computer is much better at matching text strings than you are As such, why not search the output of the listing?

cd /home/user/Desktop | ls | grep tips

(note that you do not have to use the complete name- you could grep “ti” or even “ip”. It simply looks for a matching of the order of the letters, anywhere in the strings)

The output will be all the matches- if there is no output, you will see nothing.

Edit: Claude has been very quick off the mark which an excellent tip, pointing out that you could also concatenate as follows:

cd /home/user/Desktop;ls / grep tips

Thanks, Claude!

Neil

No Proporta Portable Laptop Battery :(

After playing with the EEE for a while, I remembered that I have a Proporta Portable Laptop Battery (“PLB”) sitting in the back of a cupboard, unused since I discovered it didn’t have the right tips for my Samsuny laptop, and wondered whether it would work with the EEE. It was more hoping that wondering, really – the PLB is a great accessory, which, when I was travelling with my work laptop, made a huge difference to the amount of work I was able to get done on the flight, and the ability to power the EEE off the mains for even longer seemed a fantastic proposition.

It was then that I realised that the PLB puts out 16/19v, and the EEE requires 9.5v, so it wasn’t going to work, which is a shame… Oh well!