Linux help needed - make fun of the N00b - Page 2

Bugbyte · 05-19-2009, 10:17 PM

I was able to access the Sheeva plug from a terminal app running on the iPhone.

Easy as pie -after I located and downloaded open ssh for the iPhone on Cydia.

PaulF · 05-19-2009, 10:19 PM

red: Yeah, I'm pretty excited about the sheeva too. I can't wait to hack it up to run on 12 volts. I'm planning to use mine as a router/dhcp server as well. I may even hook it into a verizon usb modem. I have to get the damn thing in my hands first.

Bugbyte: It *SHOULD* be easy to compile most programs on the sheeva plug. The way you compile in linux/unix is really easy.

Through SSH, you can browse to the directory containing the source files for the piece of software (using the 'cd' and 'ls' commands). Once in the directory you run a script called configure... to do so you type "./configure" The ./ tell it to look in the current directory and configure is the name of the script. Nearly every program's source comes with a configure script which allows you to configure how it will compile. Once the configure script is done, you run a command called "make" which compiles the program. Once make is done, you run a command called "make install" which installs the compiled program. Simple as that. But... when compiling on an architecture a program wasn't originally designed for, all sorts of errors could occur. Cross your fingers while running these commands. Any program that deals heavily with the operating system will cause trouble.

The nice thing about freeBSD is the ports system. Every application in the ports system is designed to compile on any architecture freeBSD is designed to run on. To me, freeBSD is the best free server operating system out there.

Bugbyte · 05-19-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by red_parchel

bugbyte: you talked about this Idea at the Rochester meet, and mentioned using a router in your car to handle the wireless network. Once you've gotten it all working the way you'd like you might consider adding a usb wireless NIC to the sheevaplug and configure the sheevaplug to be the access point, it's not too difficult to do and can eliminate the need for one more device! assuming all your devices work in linux the possibilities are endless. [i'm a bit excited about this project if you can't tell by my large amounts of posts today on this thread]

I hadn't thought of that. I was just going to figure out how to power an old router I had. This way I could power it from the Sheeva, eh?

The instructions also explain how the innards of the Sheeva look (it's an open source design). Connecting it to 12v should be pretty simple.

PaulF · 05-19-2009, 10:36 PM

Oh sick. Good find on the pictures. The schematic I found for it made it look a little more difficult. That AC-DC module goes from 120 v AC to 5 volt DC by the way. Clip those wires and put in a 12 volt to 5 volt dc-dc power supply and you're good. That AC-DC module outputs 3 amps at 5 volts, but power consumption shouldn't exceed 2 amps at 5 volts. Simple it is.

The router should be pretty simple to power too if it has an external power supply.

Bugbyte · 05-19-2009, 10:37 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by PaulF

The nice thing about freeBSD is the ports system. Every application in the ports system is designed to compile on any architecture freeBSD is designed to run on. To me, freeBSD is the best free server operating system out there.

Being a Mac guy, I'm a little partial to BSD myself!

PaulF · 05-19-2009, 10:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Being a Mac guy, I'm a little partial to BSD myself!

Macs. Yuck. At least they're pretty.
This smiley says that's all that really matters:

Yes! I finally found a use for the cheerleader smiley!

kev000 · 05-20-2009, 12:10 AM

I've never tried this, but it should be possible, you can create a qemu virtual machine with the arm arch on your x86 desktop. If you need to compile anything, and don't want to mess with crosscompiling (which can be fun), it's worth a try. The good thing about web stuff is that you don't have to mess with compiling. But that won't apply to mal's fusion brain driver or any other custom piece you need.

Bugbyte · 05-20-2009, 01:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by red_parchel

test php:
umm i'm not great at php but if you create a test.php file

Code:

sudo nano -w /var/www/htdocs/test.php

inside of it add

PHP Code:


  
   
< ?php phpinfo() ?>

then save it [ctrl+o ctrl+x] then open up your webbrowser and browse over to your plug http://192.168.1.11/test.php if a page with a bunch of text about php comes up you're all set on php!

Okay, I tried the php but there was no directory /var/www/htdocs. It only went to /var/www. I tried creating the directory and putting the file in it, but no dice.

However, I was able to set up my own apache configuration as a test, repoint the server to it, restart the server, and put my own index.html file into it. That all worked but I still had to type the I.P address into it. I'd really rather do something like http://www.ibug.plug, so I tried editing the httpd.conf file and entered "www.ibug.plug:80" but even after restarting the server, that didn't seem to make any difference.

Tomorrow I will try to connect a USB device to it and detect it.

PaulF · 05-20-2009, 06:22 AM

Whatever name you give the server, needs to be setup in DNS.
You can get it to show an html file, but not a php file?
That means php is either not installed or not configured.
Check out this page for installing php:
https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/serverguide/C/php5.html
After installing, don't forget to restart apache.

kev000 · 05-20-2009, 07:28 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Okay, I tried the php but there was no directory /var/www/htdocs. It only went to /var/www. I tried creating the directory and putting the file in it, but no dice.

However, I was able to set up my own apache configuration as a test, repoint the server to it, restart the server, and put my own index.html file into it. That all worked but I still had to type the I.P address into it. I'd really rather do something like http://www.ibug.plug, so I tried editing the httpd.conf file and entered "www.ibug.plug:80" but even after restarting the server, that didn't seem to make any difference.

Tomorrow I will try to connect a USB device to it and detect it.

try putting in your site file:

Code:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName *.ibug.plug
    ServerAlias www.ibug.plug
....
</VirtualHost>

malcom2073 · 05-20-2009, 07:32 AM

That's a rather cool piece of hardware. Am I reading right that it's only 100$ and it's a 1.2ghz processor?

I wonder if a USB Video Card would work with it.....

red_parchel · 05-20-2009, 08:37 AM

bugbyte: i think the wed directory might vary by distro, sorry about that, /var/www is the default directory for debian distro's, so to test php you can try what i suggested but just use the /var/www dir not /var/www/htdocs. good luck! also as noted above you'll need dns set up to handle using things http://ibug.plug [or what ever] a quick way to hardcode for test is to put lines in the /etc/hosts files of the plug and all the computers accessing it on the network [might be harder on the iphone, i cant check right now]

kev000: i might try to do a VM install of this, thanks for the idea

Bugbyte · 05-20-2009, 08:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by malcom2073

That's a rather cool piece of hardware. Am I reading right that it's only 100$ and it's a 1.2ghz processor?

I wonder if a USB Video Card would work with it.....

Right. I bought it for $99, it runs at 1.2ghz, has 512mb of internal ram, but you can bump that up with an external SD card or USB storage device.

For video, it has something called a Transport Stream video interface. That appears to stand for Transport Stream video. I'm not familiar with it, but GIYF and it appears that you can send video or audio streams over IP with it. So, maybe if you had a webcam plugged into it, you could transmit the picture across the network? Looks like the receiver has to decode the information, so there's some software involved -like a VLC player or something similar?

Bugbyte · 05-20-2009, 09:29 AM

Still working on the dns thing, but I got php loaded and setup. Ran a test script from the server guide - thanks, PaulF! It does a print_r phpinfo() command and it returned LOADS of useful information like the configuration and environment variables and so on.

Bugbyte · 05-20-2009, 03:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by red_parchel

next I'd say plug in one of your usb devices and see if it's recognized!
1) ssh in run

Code:

tail -f /var/log/messages

2) plug in device
3) look at output
4) check dmesg

Code:

dmesg

or

Code:

dmesg|tail -n 30

as dmesg can output a LOT

if it's recognized then it's time to find some applications or hack away to make it do what you want!

It recognized my GPS when I plugged it in.

usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ehci_marvell and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ehci_marvell and address 3
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

And when I disconnected it, it was able to handle that as well. I guess I should try a USB hub to see if it can handle it.

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