Belkin F6D4050 v2, openSUSE 11.3 (and possibly other flavors)

The kernel doesn't have the usb identifier for this device.  In order to use it I had to modify a couple things.

the command lsusb shows the usb id of : 050d:935b

create a file called /etc/modprobe.d/rt2870sta.conf

Add this line to the file with no line breaks.

install rt2870sta modprobe --ignore-install rt2870sta ; /bin/echo "050d 935b" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rt2870/new_id

After that if you restart it should be at least recognizing the hardware, manifested by using the command dmesg | grep firmware

That should show an error message about the kernel not being able to load the firmware for the wireless card.  To remedy that, we just need to install a common firmware package.

sudo zypper in kernel-firmware

Now, edit the file /etc/sysconfig/kernel and add rt2870sta to the MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT section, so it looks like this.

MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT="rt2870sta"

Save the file and reboot, or use the command sudo modprobe rt2870sta, and the card should be working now.  I tested with unsecured, WEP and WPA.  Everything seems to work great.

This USB identifier has been added to the kernel and in the future (it will take a little while to propogate out and be available in the update repositories) all you should have to do is install the kernel-firmware package and it will just work.   

Use your Blackberry as a Modem with Ubuntu

Using your Blackberry as a Modem is really very straightforward once you know how.

• sudo apt-get install python libusb-dev ppp python-usb python-wxgtk2.8
• Download  http://www.berry4all.com/install
• Decompress the file wherever you want.  Somewhere like /home/username/ would be a good location.  You'll end up with a folder called "bbtether".
• Inside the folder run "sudo ./berry4all.sh" from the command line.  Root persmissions (sudo) are needed for it to work properly.
• Go to the "File" menu and select "Preferences".
      Deselect verbose logging for now, on the general tab.  (You can enable it later if you have issues connecting.)
      On the "Modem" tab, select your wireless provider on the PPPD config           dropdown list.
• From the "Modem" menu, select connect.  The first time you connect it will take a minute to scan your device and find all the settings.  Once the messages stop scrolling, you should be able to connect to the internet.  You should see your ip address and DNS server addresses as the last lines of text in the berry4all client.
• Once the messages stop scrolling, you should be able to connect to the internet.  You should see your ip address and DNS server addresses as the last lines of text in the berry4all client.
• When you’re finished using it, just select disconnect from the modem menu, and click ok.  Once the phone is deinitialized (about 30 seconds) it will popup a dialog saying your phone is ready to be disconnected.  If you disconnect before it’s finished, you may need to reboot your phone to be able to use it.

Enjoy your new wireless modem.

World of Goo Review

I first saw World of Goo while I was browsing the games at the local Target store.  From the box, I gathered that it was created by a 2 man game studio with a minimal budget.  The game was also very reasonably priced at $20.00.

Demo version of "World of Goo", for Linux

The creators of World of Goo, 2dboy

I didn’t actually play the game until I happened upon the demo version that is actually native to Linux.  It just happened that the Linux distro Sabayon which I was installing at the moment had a download link for the game.  After downloading and installing the game, I quickly became hooked.  

The simplest way of describing this game is to say it’s a physics simulation with specific goals you must accomplish.  It’s a puzzle game like you’ve never seen before.

The great thing about this game is that there’s a native version for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  This most likely means the future games coming from 2dboy will also be cross platform.  It’s a great example to the larger game companies that think there’s only a windows game market.  This game also has NO form of copyright protection.  I’m sure this was partly due to their minimal budget, but I think they also realize it’s just a nuisance for people and really doesn’t stop pirating.

The only oddity I saw with this game is that the resolution is very low.  This applies on all platforms.  There’s just no option from the menus to adjust it.  You can manually hack the config files, but then there are other graphical glitches associated with the game being in a higher resolution than it was designed for.

Thank you 2dboy for making a game that is amazing and fun, and runs natively on Linux.  We need more intelligent game companies out there like you.