linux

As previously noted, I got a neat Asus eee Box… but the thing comes with Windows XP Home and I want to use it as replacement for my e-mail & web server.

So, what I decided to do is installing Ubuntu Server edition on it – my selection was based on existing documentation and how active the forums are, and I think currently Ubuntu is better supported from this point of view than Arch (not to mention Gentoo).

I bought a Brother MFC-7820N; although I do not currently intend to use the fax capabilities, the device is good in all aspects, I assume. What especially impressed me is the Linux support Brother gives.

The device is not attached to my server – instead, it is directly attached to my network via LAN (it comes with an Ethernet interface.

Installing the device within Windows was no problem – the drivers come on a CD (I had to disable my firewall, though, and set up quite a lot of rules after that).

Now, for Linux, there are a few steps to follow. In general, the Linux page from Brother Solutions is the starting point.

All the drivers are available as *.deb packages and as *.rpm packages. Various sources on the net recommended to use the rpm-sources (there are a few source-code packages, but they do not seem to work well). So, first thing to do is thus to emerge rpm.

OK, now for the printer piece. First thing is to install the lpr drivers (sources here), following these instructions. The output is:

Vorbereiten... ########################################### [100%]
1:brmfc7820nlpr ########################################### [100%]

Next thing is to install the cupswrapper drivers (sources here), following these instructions. The output is:

Vorbereiten... ########################################### [100%]
1:cupswrapperMFC7820N ########################################### [100%]


Now, after restarting cups, the printer is showing up, but with two errors: First, cups assumes it’s attached to an USB port, and second, there is an error saying “brlpdwrapperMFC7820N” for printer “MFC7820N” not available: No such file or directory”. So, to tell cups the MFC is reachable on the network, I followed these instructions here ; and to fix the error message, I found this FAQ entry. After restarting cups, the printer works!

Next thing is to make the scanner available in sane. The drivers can be downloaded here; then I followed these installation instructions on installing them. I had to use

rpm -ivh --nodeps brscan2-0.2.4-0.i386.rpm

rather than the command given in the instructions (i. e. I had to insert the –nodeps option). This was the output:

Vorbereiten... ########################################### [100%]
1:brscan2 ########################################### [100%]

Finally, I exported the device as “mfc”. Funny enough, I could not select the device in kooka, but I emerged xsane and it is working flawlessly there.

Another fine piece of work – thanks Brother, for giving us Linux-users all this support!

My server is up and running for quite some time now – but still, I have no way of printing when my client is running Windows. It is time to integrate CUPS and Samba.

So, we start off with the official Gentoo Samba documentation; here are the sections out of /etc/samba/smb.conf:

# This is the print drivers information section
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /etc/samba/printer
guest ok = no
browseable = yes
read only = yes
# Print admins
write list = thomas,root

# a "printer share"
[Deskjet970]
comment = HP Deskjet 970Cxi printer
printable = yes
path = /var/spool/samba
public = yes
guest ok = no
# Printer admins
printer admin = thomas,root

# printers share
[printers]
comment = All printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
guest ok = no
public = yes
writable = no
printable = yes
create mode = 0700
# who can admin the printer?
printer admin = thomas,root
print command = lpr-cups -P %p -o raw %s -r

Then, I created the directory /etc/samba/printer and altered /etc/nsswitch.conf as given in the howto.

Also, /etc/cups/cupsd.conf was lacking a “ServerName” entry. I set it to

ServerName server

So, it’s in line with the general naming convention.

Next step is to emerge cups-windows for the CUPS windows printer driver. Also, we need the files ps5ui.dll, pscript.hlp, pscript.ntf and pscript5.dll from a Windows install (I had to do a lot of search on this, and finally found it in the Gentoo forums).

Then, we restart cups, and use cupsaddsmb as follows:

cupsaddsmb -U root -v Deskjet970

(note: It took me a long time, but for this to work, the following lines have to be commented out in /etc/samba/smb.conf):

disable spoolss = yes
show add printer wizard = no
use client driver = yes
invalid users = root

Note that with the exception of the last one, these all need to remain commented out.

Now, for the test on the windows client – when connecting to the printer, the driver installs automatically and – everything works! Horray!

For completeness’ sake, I have put my full /etc/cups/cupsd.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf on the “techie” page.

I own a Yamaha Motif 6 synthesizer for quite a long time. It has been standing somewhere in my room, waiting, collecting dust – until I recently decided to re-animate it.

First thing I got is a SmartMedia adapter for XD cards; my Yamaha synth, being bit of an oldie, relies on Smart Media cards, however, they are not produced any more. Fortunately enough, Music Store in Köln provides neat adapters that emulate a SmartMedia card, but you can put XD cards in it. They are not expensive, and everything worked out of the box!

Now, I want to have my USB synthesizer being recognized by Linux – I will probably install Jack at a later stage, but this is future talk.

So, I found a blog entry which describes some similar set-up. I realized that I need the SND-USB kernel driver.

I compiled it as a module – btw, this is the output of LSUSB once the synth is plugged in and turned on:

Bus 007 Device 003: ID 0499:1005 Yamaha Corp.

Now, after rebooting, an “aplaymidi -l” give the following:

Port Client name Port name
20:0 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 1
20:1 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 2
20:2 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 3
20:3 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 4
20:4 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 5
20:5 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 6
20:6 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 7
20:7 MOTIF6 MOTIF6 MIDI 8

This means that the synthesizer has been recognized by Linux at least as an USB MIDI device. The harder part is then probably to have some sequencer software to work with it, but at least, on a low-level hardware layer, I am done.

Nein, dieses Buch habe ich nicht zu Weihnachten geschenkt gekriegt – es sei denn, man zählt Geschenke, die man sich selbst macht, dazu…

Nichtsdestotrotz ist “Das Postfix Buch” eine lohnende Investition. Ich habe nämlich jetzt endlich verstanden, wie dieses Stück Software funktioniert und fühle mich endlich in der Lage, meinen lokalen Mailserver (dessen Anti-Viren / Anti-Spam Funktion nie richtig funktioniert hat) zu reparieren. Ich werde die notwendigen Schritte selbstverständlich in der “Server-Sektion” dieses Blogs veröffentlichen; in der Zwischenzeit sei dieses Buch allen Postfix-Interessierten wärmstens ans Herz gelegt – die zugehörige Website ist übrigens unter www.postfixbuch.de zu finden; das Buch (und die Webseite) verfügen über viele weiterführende Links, btw – einige davon sehr nützlich…

Nichts wird ausgelassen – wie Postfix funktioniert, was SMTP / POP3 / IMAP eigentlich ist, wie man Anti-Spam Software integriert, wie man SMTP über SSL/TLS tunnelen kann usw usf. Und immer wird viel Wert auf Sicherheit gelegt. Wie gesagt – wärmstens zu empfehlen!