1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"utf-8"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/' xmlns:
atom=
"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen
</title>
5 <description></description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
7 <atom:link href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel=
"self" type=
"application/rss+xml" />
10 <title>Welcome to the world, Isenkram!
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Tue,
22 Jan
2013 22:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>Yesterday, I
15 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">asked
16 for testers
</a
> for my prototype for making Debian better at handling
17 pluggable hardware devices, which I
18 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">set
19 out to create
</a
> earlier this month. Several valuable testers showed
20 up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more
21 people. But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name
22 for this project. Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have
23 renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name. In the
24 process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a
25 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/isenkram.git
">collab-maint
</a
>
26 repository in Debian. The new name? It is
<strong
>Isenkram
</strong
>.
27 To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use
</p
>
30 git clone git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/isenkram.git
31 cd isenkram
&& git-buildpackage
34 <p
>I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet. If you
35 want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead.
36 But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major
37 changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)
</p
>
39 <p
>If you wonder what
'isenkram
' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron
40 stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc. Typical hardware
41 stuff, in other words. I
've been told it is the Norwegian variant of
42 the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that
48 <title>First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian
</title>
49 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</link>
50 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</guid>
51 <pubDate>Mon,
21 Jan
2013 12:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
52 <description><p
>Early this month I set out to try to
53 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">improve
54 the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices
</a
>. Now my
55 prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience. To test
57 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/
">source
58 from the Debian Edu subversion repository
</a
>, build and install the
59 package. You might have to log out and in again activate the
60 autostart script.
</p
>
62 <p
>The design is simple:
</p
>
66 <li
>Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
67 hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.
</li
>
69 <li
>This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
70 from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
71 initially did.
</li
>
73 <li
>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
74 the APT database, a database
75 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup
">available
76 via HTTP
</a
> and a database available as part of the package.
</li
>
78 <li
>If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
79 isn
't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
80 plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
81 package or packages.
</li
>
83 <li
>If the user click on the
'install package now
' button, ask
84 aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.
</li
>
86 <li
>aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
87 package while showing progress information in a window.
</li
>
91 <p
>I still need to come up with a better name for the system. Here
92 are some screen shots showing the prototype in action. First the
93 notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
94 approve all the dependencies. Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.
</p
>
96 <p
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
1-notification.png
">
97 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
2-password.png
">
98 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
3-dependencies.png
">
99 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
4-installing.png
">
100 <br
><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
21-hw-support-
5-installing-details.png
" width=
"70%
"></p
>
102 <p
>The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
103 is already useful. The database of hardware to package mappings also
104 need more work. It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
105 storing such information in the package control file, but could be
106 changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
107 method. I
've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
108 modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
109 as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.
</p
>
111 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
21 16:
50</strong
>: Due to popular demand,
112 here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use
113 '<tt
>svn checkout
114 svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd
115 hw-support-handler; debuild
</tt
>'. If you lack debuild, install the
116 devscripts package.
</p
>
118 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
23 12:
00</strong
>: The project is now
119 renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu
120 subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository. See
121 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Welcome_to_the_world__Isenkram_.html
">build
122 instructions
</a
> for details.
</p
>
127 <title>Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service
</title>
128 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
</link>
129 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
</guid>
130 <pubDate>Sat,
19 Jan
2013 09:
20:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
131 <description><p
>This Christmas my trusty old laptop died. It died quietly and
132 suddenly in bed. With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
133 black. The power button was no longer able to turn it on. It was a
134 IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had. Better than both
135 Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S. Far better than the
136 Compaq I had before that. Now I need to find a replacement. To keep
137 going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
138 X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
139 not a durable solution.
141 <p
>My laptop needs are fairly modest. This is my wishlist from when I
142 got a new one more than
10 years ago. It still holds true.:)
</p
>
146 <li
>Lightweight (around
1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
148 <li
>Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.
</li
>
149 <li
>Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.
</li
>
150 <li
>Long battery life time. Preferable a week.
</li
>
151 <li
>Internal WIFI network card.
</li
>
152 <li
>Internal Twisted Pair network card.
</li
>
153 <li
>Some USB slots (
2-
3 is plenty)
</li
>
154 <li
>Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.
</li
>
155 <li
>Video resolution at least
1024x768, with size around
12" (A4 paper
157 <li
>Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
158 X.org packages.
</li
>
159 <li
>Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
164 <p
>You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
165 list. The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
166 last
10-
15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
167 at other features to choose my laptop. But are there still made as
168 robust laptops as my X41? The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
169 robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
170 Lenovo took over. But I
've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
171 still be useful.
</p
>
173 <p
>Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
174 external keyboard? I
'll have to check the
175 <a href=
"http://www.linux-laptop.net/
">Linux Laptops site
</a
> for
176 well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
177 of the vendors listed on the
<a href=
"http://linuxpreloaded.com/
">Linux
178 Pre-loaded site
</a
>.
</p
>
183 <title>How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type
</title>
184 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html
</link>
185 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html
</guid>
186 <pubDate>Fri,
18 Jan
2013 10:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
187 <description><p
>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
188 install to get support for a given MIME type. Thanks to
189 <a href=
"https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins
">specifications
190 done by Ubuntu
</a
> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
191 Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
192 information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
193 plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:
</p
>
199 def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
204 version = pkg.candidate
206 version = pkg.installed
209 record = version.record
210 if not record.has_key(
'Npp-MimeType
'):
212 mime_types = record[
'Npp-MimeType
'].split(
',
')
214 t = t.rstrip().strip()
216 thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
218 mimetype =
"audio/ogg
"
219 if
1 < len(sys.argv):
220 mimetype = sys.argv[
1]
221 print
"Browser plugin packages supporting %s:
" % mimetype
222 for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
223 print
" %s
" %pkg
226 <p
>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:
</p
>
229 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype
230 Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
232 % ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
233 Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
238 <p
>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
239 itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
240 packages. It would be great if Debian supported such feature too. Is
241 anyone working on adding it?
</p
>
243 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
18 14:
20</strong
>: The Debian BTS
244 request for icweasel support for this feature is
245 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
484010">#
484010</a
> from
2008 (and
246 <a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
698426">#
698426</a
> from today). Lack
247 of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
248 is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.
</p
>
253 <title>What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?
</title>
254 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html
</link>
255 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html
</guid>
256 <pubDate>Wed,
16 Jan
2013 10:
10:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
257 <description><p
>The
<a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal
">DEP-
11
258 proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive
</a
>, is a
259 proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
260 the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
261 type, font, library etc. that is currently missing. With such
262 mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
263 automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
264 downloaded by the browser.
</p
>
266 <p
>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
267 to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
268 Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there. The result
270 <a href=
"http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest
">Skolelinux FTP
271 site
</a
>. Using the collected information, it become possible to
272 answer the question in the title. Here are the
20 most supported MIME
273 types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
274 The complete list is available from the link above.
</p
>
276 <p
><strong
>Debian Stable:
</strong
></p
>
280 ----- -----------------------
303 <p
><strong
>Debian Testing:
</strong
></p
>
307 ----- -----------------------
330 <p
><strong
>Debian Unstable:
</strong
></p
>
334 ----- -----------------------
357 <p
>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
358 information mentioned in DEP-
11. I have not yet had time to look at
359 it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
362 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
16 13:
35</strong
>: Updated numbers after
363 discovering a typo in my script.
</p
>
368 <title>Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware
</title>
369 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html
</link>
370 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html
</guid>
371 <pubDate>Tue,
15 Jan
2013 08:
00:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
372 <description><p
>Yesterday, I wrote about the
373 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
">modalias
374 values provided by the Linux kernel
</a
> following my hope for
375 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
">better
376 dongle support in Debian
</a
>. Using this knowledge, I have tested how
377 modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
378 to hardware. This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
379 packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
380 discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
383 <p
>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
384 containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
385 the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
388 <p
><blockquote
>
389 Package: package-name
390 <br
>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)
</p
>
391 </blockquote
></p
>
393 <p
>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
394 for a given modalias value using this file.
</p
>
396 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
397 cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class
0E01):
</p
>
399 <p
><blockquote
>
401 <br
>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)
</p
>
402 </blockquote
></p
>
404 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
405 CardBus bridge (bus class
0607) PCI device is present:
</p
>
407 <p
><blockquote
>
409 <br
>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
410 </blockquote
></p
>
412 <p
>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
413 plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs
04D8:F8DA:
</p
>
415 <p
><blockquote
>
416 Package: colorhug-client
417 <br
>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)
</p
>
418 </blockquote
></p
>
420 <p
>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
421 file in the Debian archive. Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
422 to store their mappings from packages to hardware.
</p
>
424 <p
>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
425 announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
426 This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
427 Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
428 hardware mapping are included in the package meta information. I
've
429 tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
430 is working as it should with my prototype. It even made it to Ubuntu
433 <p
>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
434 the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
435 implementation of the lookup code. The idea is to create files for
436 each modalias and let the shell do the matching. Please check out and
438 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co
">hw-support-lookup
</a
>
439 shell script. It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
440 hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
441 repository where I currently work on my prototype.
</p
>
443 <p
>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
444 install yubikey-personalization:
</p
>
446 <p
><blockquote
>
447 % ./hw-support-lookup
448 <br
>yubikey-personalization
450 </blockquote
></p
>
452 <p
>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
453 propose to install the pcmciautils package:
</p
>
455 <p
><blockquote
>
456 % ./hw-support-lookup
457 <br
>pcmciautils
459 </blockquote
></p
>
461 <p
>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
462 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co
">my
463 database
</a
>, please tell me about it.
</p
>
465 <p
>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
466 packages and hardware. One source would be to look at packages with
467 kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
468 extract their modalias information. Another would be to look at
469 packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
470 /lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
471 generate a modalias matching rule. I have not tested any of these to
472 see if it work.
</p
>
474 <p
>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
475 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
476 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
477 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%
23debian-devel
">#debian-devel
</a
>.
</p
>
482 <title>Modalias strings - a practical way to map
"stuff
" to hardware
</title>
483 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
</link>
484 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html
</guid>
485 <pubDate>Mon,
14 Jan
2013 11:
20:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
486 <description><p
>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
487 information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
488 hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
489 to document the details. Here are my findings so far, also available
491 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/
">the
492 Debian Edu subversion repository
</a
>:
494 <p
><strong
>Modalias decoded
</strong
></p
>
496 <p
>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
497 values stands for. It is in part based on information from
498 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias
">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias
</a
> &gt;,
499 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/
26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device
">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/
26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device
</a
> &gt;,
500 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c
">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c
</a
> &gt; and
501 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode
&view=markup
">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode
&view=markup
</a
> &gt;.
503 <p
>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
504 this shell script:
</p
>
507 find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -
0 cat | sort -u
510 <p
>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
511 using modinfo:
</p
>
514 % /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
515 alias: serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
516 alias: serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
520 <p
><strong
>PCI subtype
</strong
></p
>
522 <p
>A typical PCI entry can look like this. This is an Intel Host
523 Bridge memory controller:
</p
>
525 <p
><blockquote
>
526 pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
527 </blockquote
></p
>
529 <p
>This represent these values:
</p
>
534 sv
00001028 (subvendor)
535 sd
000001AD (subdevice)
541 <p
>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from
'lspci
542 -n
' as
8086:
2770. The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
543 0600. The
0600 class is a host bridge. Other useful bus values are
544 0300 (VGA compatible card) and
0200 (Ethernet controller).
</p
>
546 <p
>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
549 <p
><strong
>USB subtype
</strong
></p
>
551 <p
>Some typical USB entries can look like this. This is an internal
552 USB hub in a laptop:
</p
>
554 <p
><blockquote
>
555 usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
556 </blockquote
></p
>
558 <p
>Here is the values included in this alias:
</p
>
561 v
1D6B (device vendor)
562 p
0001 (device product)
565 dsc
00 (device subclass)
566 dp
00 (device protocol)
567 ic
09 (interface class)
568 isc
00 (interface subclass)
569 ip
00 (interface protocol)
572 <p
>The
0900 device class/subclass means hub. Some times the relevant
573 class is in the interface class section. For a simple USB web camera,
574 these alias entries show up:
</p
>
576 <p
><blockquote
>
577 usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
578 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
579 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
580 <br
>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
581 </blockquote
></p
>
583 <p
>Interface class
0E01 is video control,
0E02 is video streaming (aka
584 camera),
0101 is audio control device and
0102 is audio streaming (aka
585 microphone). Thus this is a camera with microphone included.
</p
>
587 <p
><strong
>ACPI subtype
</strong
></p
>
589 <p
>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff. This is an IR
590 receiver in a Thinkpad X40:
</p
>
592 <p
><blockquote
>
593 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
594 </blockquote
></p
>
596 <p
>The values between the colons are IDs.
</p
>
598 <p
><strong
>DMI subtype
</strong
></p
>
600 <p
>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
601 and model. This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
602 /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:
</p
>
604 <p
><blockquote
>
605 dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(
1.66):bd06/
15/
2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
606 </blockquote
></p
>
608 <p
>The values present are
</p
>
611 bvn IBM (BIOS vendor)
612 bvr
1UETB
6WW(
1.66) (BIOS version)
613 bd
06/
15/
2005 (BIOS date)
614 svn IBM (system vendor)
615 pn
2371H4G (product name)
616 pvr ThinkPadX40 (product version)
617 rvn IBM (board vendor)
618 rn
2371H4G (board name)
619 rvr NotAvailable (board version)
620 cvn IBM (chassis vendor)
622 cvr NotAvailable (chassis version)
625 <p
>The chassis type
10 is Notebook. Other interesting values can be
626 found in the dmidecode source:
</p
>
630 4 Low Profile Desktop
643 17 Main Server Chassis
646 20 Bus Expansion Chassis
647 21 Peripheral Chassis
649 23 Rack Mount Chassis
658 <p
>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
659 table. For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
660 claim it is a desktop.
</p
>
662 <p
><strong
>SerIO subtype
</strong
></p
>
664 <p
>This type is used for PS/
2 mouse plugs. One example is from my
665 test machine:
</p
>
667 <p
><blockquote
>
668 serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
669 </blockquote
></p
>
671 <p
>The values present are
</p
>
680 <p
>This type is supported by the psmouse driver. I am not sure what
681 the valid values are.
</p
>
683 <p
><strong
>Other subtypes
</strong
></p
>
685 <p
>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
686 file2alias.c. There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
687 ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
688 mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
689 vmbus, x86cpu and zorro. I did not spend time documenting all of
690 these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
691 hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.
</p
>
693 <p
><strong
>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values
</strong
></p
>
695 <p
>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
696 one can use the following shell script:
</p
>
699 for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -
0 cat | sort -u); do \
700 echo
"$id
" ; \
701 /sbin/modprobe --show-depends
"$id
"|sed
's/^/ /
' ; \
705 <p
>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
706 list is very long on my test machine):
</p
>
710 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
712 FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
714 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
715 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
716 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
717 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
718 acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
719 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
720 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
721 insmod /lib/modules/
2.6.32-
5-
686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
725 <p
>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
726 packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
727 machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
728 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%
23debian-devel
">#debian-devel
</a
>.
</p
>
730 <p
><strong
>Update
2013-
01-
15:
</strong
> Rewrite
"cat $(find ...)
" to
731 "find ... -print0 | xargs -
0 cat
" to make sure it handle directories
732 in /sys/ with space in them.
</p
>
737 <title>Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint
</title>
738 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html
</link>
739 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html
</guid>
740 <pubDate>Thu,
10 Jan
2013 20:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
741 <description><p
>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
742 for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
743 Launcher and updated the Debian package
744 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile
">pymissile
</a
> to make
745 sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in. I
746 also added a
"Modaliases
" header to test it in the Debian archive and
747 hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
748 plug in his rocket launcher. In the process I moved the source to a
749 git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
750 contribute.
<a href=
"http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/
">Upstream
</a
>
751 is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
752 years of relative silence. The new git repository is not listed in
753 the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
754 bit more before I upload the new version. If you want to check out
755 the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
756 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git
">gitweb
757 view
</a
> or use
"<tt
>git clone
758 git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git
</tt
>".
</p
>
763 <title>Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian
</title>
764 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</link>
765 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html
</guid>
766 <pubDate>Wed,
9 Jan
2013 15:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
767 <description><p
>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
768 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
769 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
770 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
771 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
772 machine. Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
773 Linux distribution. When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
774 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
775 I need to talk to it. When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
776 yubikey-personalization package. The information required to do this
777 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.
</p
>
779 <p
>Some years ago, I proposed to
780 <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/
2010/
05/msg01206.html
">use
781 the discover subsystem to implement this
</a
>. The idea is fairly
786 <li
>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
787 starting when a user log in.
</li
>
789 <li
>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
790 hardware is inserted into the computer.
</li
>
792 <li
>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
793 database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
796 <li
>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
797 package, and make it easy to install it.
</li
>
801 <p
>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
802 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
803 discover database to find packages and
804 <a href=
"http://www.packagekit.org/
">PackageKit
</a
> to install
807 <p
>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
808 draft package is now checked into
809 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/
">the
810 Debian Edu subversion repository
</a
>. In the process, I updated the
811 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html
">discover-data
</a
>
812 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
813 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
814 2.2013.01.09 to unstable. I also discovered that the current
815 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html
">discover
</a
>
816 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
817 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present. I ported it to use
818 libusb as a fall back option to get it working. The fixed package
819 version
2.1.2-
6 is now in experimental (didn
't upload it to unstable
820 because of the freeze).
</p
>
822 <p
>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
823 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
826 <p align=
"center
"><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2013-
01-
09-hw-autoinstall.png
"></p
>
828 <p
>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
829 install the proposed packages by pressing the
"Please install
830 program(s)
" button should to be implemented.
</p
>
832 <p
>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
833 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
834 from hardware to Debian packages. Check if
'discover-pkginstall -l
'
835 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
836 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
837 reportbug if it isn
't. Or, if you know of a better way to provide
838 such mapping, please let me know.
</p
>
840 <p
>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
841 should be considered before it is ready for production use. Is dbus
842 the correct way to detect new hardware? At the moment I look for HAL
843 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
844 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop. Are there better events to use?
845 How should the user be notified? Is the desktop notification
846 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
847 popup instead? How should packages be installed? When should they
848 not be installed?
</p
>
850 <p
>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
851 please send me an email. :)
</p
>
856 <title>New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian
</title>
857 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html
</link>
858 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html
</guid>
859 <pubDate>Wed,
2 Jan
2013 15:
40:
00 +
0100</pubDate>
860 <description><p
>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
861 <a href=
"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx
">LEGO Mindstorm
862 NXT
</a
>. My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
863 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
864 already in Debian Squeeze. If Debian support for LEGO is something
865 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
866 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%
23debian-lego
">#debian-lego
</a
> (server
867 irc.debian.org). There is a lot that could be done to improve the
868 Debian support for LEGO designers. For example both CAD software
869 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)
</p
>
871 <p
>Update
2012-
01-
03: A
872 <a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners
">project page
</a
>
873 including links to Lego related packages is now available.
</p
>