Month: November 2012

[Win8] EEE PC 1015PN and Windows 8

I have been using my EEE PC 1015PN for nearly 2 years now, and I am quite satisfied with it. But after the release of Windows 8, I wanted to try it, too. So I decided to upgrade install from my Windows 7 Professional to Windows 8 Professional. Before this test, I made an Acronis Image, which turned out to be an really good idea. Installation itself needed about 1 1/2 hour, as I decided to upgrade and not start from scratch.

The first problem started to come up after going to the desktop and trying to change the brightness \ wifi connectivity by using the FN Keyboard Shortcuts: "Asus ACPI Driver missing", was the error. So I tried to reinstall the needed keyboard drivers, and Optimus Tool (1015PN uses an Intel as well as an NVIDIA Graphicscard).

After rebooting, I was able to choose the Optimus setting within the tool, and I could also change screen brightness with the FN Keyboard Shortcuts - but nothing else.

So I decided to shutdown the PC, enable WIFI in the BIOS and reboot - to check WIFI Connectivity, as well as to see the Intel Graphics active in Windows 8. So I pressed the "Save and Reboot" shortcut in the bios -  and that was the last thing I saw.

After that, the EEE PC tried to boot once, and then stopped working, rebooting again - boot loop. But not after 20 seconds of boot, no, it already fried seconds after starting the boot process. Even disabling WIFI in BIOS again or pressing F8 manically - nothing could help. The system was killed.

After trying for a good amount of time, I restored the Windows 7 backup. And thats it. My first Windows 8 impression turned out to be even worse than Windows Vista. And well, that was something.

OpenWRT

OpenWRT is one of my most "beloved" operating systems ever. I am using it since 2006, already. It is very small (>= 4 MB), light weight and therefore an excellent choice for embedded computing or very small appliances. I have used it on several occasions ("prototype") in my blog, but never actually gave a heads up in terms of "What is it?" - So, let’s get rid of that:

OpenWRT is a debian linux derivate especially made for routers. OpenWRT does derive from the famous Linksys WRT series, which were based on Linux. One of the founders found out about that and got Linksys (by pointing out about the caveats of the used Linux GPL License) to the point of releasing the source code (except the wifi drivers). From the point on, OpenWRT was founded and the project began to write an own "router linux". On the course of that adventure, several forks of OpenWRT were founded (i.e. FreeWRT) - but in the end, OpenWRT remained "THE" third hand firmware for your router. Nowadays OpenWRT does support a load of routers out of the box, with famous titles like the Linksys WRT Series or even hardware like the Seagate Dockstar (which was an sort of NAS Appliance for Seagate Hard drives).

But the project did not stop on providing an firmware: With ipkg and later opkg, they also did offer packages to configure your own router experience. By using an simple build system, nearly everyone is able to configure his personal firmware and setup the things he likes. While in the beginning, only router related stuff (like wifi tools or pppoe dialers and such) was available, also big programs like recent mysql, web or file servers are found in the packet manager.

Using this little, flexible OS in cooperation with the GPIO ports of an router, software defined Inputs and Outputs, you can use your router to switch on lights, close your garage door or sound an alarm as soon as some sensors tell your router to do so. Especially with the appearance of the Raspberry Pi and its GPIOs, fast CPU, big RAM and storage, this could be the OS of your choice.

So the next time you think about throwing away your old router, check www.openwrt.org and see whether you can make it do some cool stuff.

You will be surprised.

Raspberry Pi Con "Pi and More"

At the 23. of August 2012, the University of Trier held the first Raspberry Pi Convention in Germany. It was a little, but awesome gig with about 30 IT Students and other interested people.

The main idea was to rise the awareness for the new microcomputer, called "Raspberry Pi" which combines an 700 MHz ARM Processor, 512 MB of RAM, Full HDMI Output, Audio, Ethernet and USB into an very small and affordable package (about 35 US Dollar). With this microcomputer, and its General Purpose Input and Outputs (GPIO), pupils can actually have a "hands-on" (in) physical computing. That means: Connecting software (i.e. Python, Perl, C programs) with the real world. For example: Controlling LEDs, driving motors or even react on buttons, attached to the GPIO port. Combining these possibilities into a small and affordable package started a big hype about this little computer, long before it was even available to the public.

But now, about half a year after the release, multiple versions and even more Operating Systems started to appear. Even a special modified Debian version, called Raspbian is ready to download. There are special versions of Arch Linux, Fedora, XBMC (a Multimedia Entertainment Center) and even a special version of OpenWRT is under development. During this meeting, the participants had the opportunity to listen to speaks (an Intro to the RaspPi, a Speech about Cross compiling and the I2C Bus System) and workshops (driving an LED, building the so called "Ladder Game", getting a Nokia 3310 LCD Display to work as Output). The overall response was great as well as the conference itself and I would wish to have additional meetings in the future.

On this occasion I also want to thank the organization of the PiAndMore, especially the Fachschaft of the University of Trier and Daniel Fett. You made an awesome job. Please keep it up.

Additional pictures and infos can be found on my JCTixx Project Twitter Account @JCTixx

Official Stuff: Facebook Event (https://www.facebook.com/events/330497597037314/), Twitter Account (@PiAndMore), Google Site (https://sites.google.com/site/piandmore/)

[WinXP/Vista/7] Port 80 Blocked

Developing Websites with XAMPP is always neat and nice: Compact package, everything you need is there - and even having it portable on an USB Stick (in an TrueCrypt file ;)) will get you up and running on every Windows PC - where ever you are - in no time. But the problem with this solution comes with the "Host PC": There are a lot of tools nowdays which hijack and use Port 80 (your most beloved Webserver / Apache Standard Port) for their own needs. And so you are quickly on the point of "Apache terminated" in your XAMPP Windows - because of the blocked port. Finding out which program is blocking / using that port is easy, as XAMPP comes with an "Port-Check" Tool which can be used from the XAMPP Control Panel. Other than that, here is the TOP 4 of the most annoyning port blocking apps:

4.) Teamviewer (as commented by Teufelsauge)
A remote desktop tool which can be configured to run as background service, listening to port 80 and 443.

3.) Apache
Yeah, thats right. Some people got an old Apache setup running - set up years ago and forgotten in the background. Sounds stupid, but as most errors are - this is one of the most nasty ones. So check your memory before jumping to wrong conclusions.

2.) Microsoft SQL Server
It is an SQL Server! Not an Webserver! Why the heck would... Yeah, right: It DOES block port 80. Open services.msc from your "Run As" Dialog and look out for "Sql server reporting services(MSSQLSERVER)". Set it to disabled and stop it. Port 80 freed, hurray!

1.) Skype
To bypass corporate security standards and firewalls, Skype can use Port 80 and even Port 443 (SSL) as workaround. And it does that, by default. To disable that, start Skype and go to Tools -> Options - > Advanced -> Connection. Disable "Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections".