Connecting A USB Mobile with AIRTEL GPRS connection to Internet in Linux

Though the newer versions of Linux come with a GUI configuration utility (A NetworkManagerApplet) to configure a USB compatible phone to connect to the Internet still, in many contemporary as well as older versions do not have a graphical utility. So, in this post we try to tweak a USB phone by connecting it to the Internet. The Major part of this how-to is inspired from Dave's Blog (http://davestechsupport.com/blog/2008/02/28/how-to-connect-linux-to-your-cellular-internet/) and some more tweaks are also made later on based on heuristics.

The steps to be followed are as under:

1. edit /etc/wvdial.conf in your favourite text editor and make these changes:

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","airtelgprs.com"
Modem Type = USB Modem
Phone = *99#
Password = pass
Username = user
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 460800

2. In the 2'nd line Init1 shows the initialization string for your phone. airtelgprs.com will be the acceess point of you are using Airtel GPRS. For other carriers kindly contact your Internet Service Providor. The second last option Modem is the USB device, which may be traced by supplying the command dmesg | grep "ACM"

3. issue the command # wvdial and note down the DNS addressses. Now just disconnect by pressing Ctrl + C or somthing similar.

4. now some extra tweakings, despite doing these changes I was unable to browse the Internet, and heuristic worked here:

edit the file /etc/resolv.conf and append it with obtained Name servers, something like this:

search xxx.yyy.ppp.qqq
nameserver xxx.yyy.ppp.qqq
nameserver xxx.yyy.ppp.abc

5. Now it is almost ready to surf, just open a console and issue command # wvdial

6. Open Firefox and go to File -> Uncheck on Work Offilne option.

Now it is ready to!

Google's Summer Double Bonanza Offer!!

Freinds, this time we are talking on something else and no linux, no PI, no supercomputing.
On March 19, 2008 around 5.20 pm IST, (GMT +5.5) the orkut server suddenly seemed to have started a double bonanza offer and the number of scaps and fans was doubled. However, this lasted for only 10 minutes and hats off to the google people as the problem was resolved !! Can't beleive?? See the following screenshots.

(Original)

(Double Bonanza!!)

Install Linux from iso image without buring on CD

It's a very obvious practice to burn the downloaded iso images of linux (in general sense any operating systems) prior to the installation to an optical removable media (CD/DVD). However, for a change we will see how we can install a new linux distribution from an existing linux distribution and without making any copies of iso image of the operating system on a CD/DVD.

There are some pre-requisites for this task, which are as follow:

- A preinstalled linux distribution with superuser rights

- The GRUB bootloader- A Pre-downloaded Linux iso image (we will be installing zenwalk linux which can be downaloded from http://www.zenwalk.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=1)

- Free disk space to install the new linux distribution from the iso image

Now folllow the below mentioned steps:

-> Start your existing linux distribution
-> Copy the zenwalk iso in your home folder say /root/home
-> Execute the following commands :

#su
#mkdir -v /mnt/zenwalk
#mount -o loop /root/home/zenwalk-x.x.iso /mnt/zenwalk
#mkdir -v /boot/zen_iso
#cp /mnt/zenwalk/isolinux/*.* /boot/zen_iso
-> Now fire up your favourite text editor, open /boot/grub/menu.lst for edititing and paste the following lines at the end:
title Install Zenwalk
root (hd0,x)

kernel /zen_iso/vmlinuz-2.6.xx.x root=/dev/hdax+1 ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us fromhd=/dev/null bootfrom=/dev/hdax+1/root/home/zenwalk.x.x.iso
initrd /zen_iso/initrd.splash
-> Now save your work, you have edited your GRUB so that it will take you to the Zenwalk kernel
-> Reboot your system and select 'Install Zenwalk' option
-> This will start your Zenwalk kernel
-> Escape from installation menu
-> Mount your existing linux partition somewhere at /mnt/linux by the following command:
#mkdir -v /mylinux
#mount /dev/hdx+1 /mylinux
-> Mount the Zenwalk iso image from this partition as given below:
#mkdir -v /zw_install
#mount -o loop /mylinux/root/home/zenwalk-x.x.iso /zw_install
-> Restart the Zenwalk installation program by the following command
#setup

-> Follow the on screen instruction for partitioning etc.
-> Specify the 'other' location to be /zw_install
-> Proceed to the installtion process
This should install the Zenwalk without burning it to a DVD/CD!Note: To determine your linux partition you may use lvmdisscan grep "hda" command

Easiest Way Finding PI

Once again we have decided to play with the mysterious ∏. However, this time rather than just merely talk about this mysterious figure we will be implementing a simple algorithm to find an approximate value of the same. The said method as follows:

• Inscribe a circle in a square
• Randomly generate points in the square
• Determine the number of points in the square that are also in the circle
• Let n be the number of points in the circle divided by the number of points in the square
• PI ~ 4 n
• Note that the more points generated, the better the approximation

A simple C program for the same may be downloaded from here:http://equinox-northeast.110mb.com/xus/pi.c

kindly send your feedbacks and bug reports on xitij1983@rediffmail.com