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        <channel>
                <title>Petter Reinholdtsen</title>
                <description></description>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>
                <atom:link href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
        
        <item>
                <title>First prototype ready making hardware easier to use in Debian</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_prototype_ready_making_hardware_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Early this month I set out to try to
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;improve
the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices&lt;/a&gt;.  Now my
prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience.  To test
it, fetch the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/&quot;&gt;source
from the Debian Edu subversion repository&lt;/a&gt;, build and install the
package.  You might have to log out and in again activate the
autostart script.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The design is simple:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program
hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly
from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I
initially did.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in
the APT database, a database
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=markup&quot;&gt;available
via HTTP&lt;/a&gt; and a database available as part of the package.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package
isn&#39;t installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was
plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the
package or packages.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;If the user click on the &#39;install package now&#39; button, ask
aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the
package while showing progress information in a window.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I still need to come up with a better name for the system.  Here
are some screen shots showing the prototype in action.  First the
notification, then the password request, and finally the request to
approve all the dependencies.  Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-1-notification.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-2-password.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-3-dependencies.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-4-installing.png&quot;&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-21-hw-support-5-installing-details.png&quot; width=&quot;70%&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but
is already useful.  The database of hardware to package mappings also
need more work.  It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of
storing such information in the package control file, but could be
changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current
method.  I&#39;ve dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the
modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long
as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Thank you Thinkpad X41, for your long and trustworthy service</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:20:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;This Christmas my trusty old laptop died.  It died quietly and
suddenly in bed.  With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and
black.  The power button was no longer able to turn it on.  It was a
IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had.  Better than both
Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S.  Far better than the
Compaq I had before that.  Now I need to find a replacement.  To keep
going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old
X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is
not a durable solution.

&lt;p&gt;My laptop needs are fairly modest.  This is my wishlist from when I
got a new one more than 10 years ago.  It still holds true.:)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller
  than A4).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Long battery life time.  Preferable a week.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Internal WIFI network card.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Internal Twisted Pair network card.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12&quot; (A4 paper
size).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and
  X.org packages.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of
  the time).

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the
list.  The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the
last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look
at other features to choose my laptop.  But are there still made as
robust laptops as my X41?  The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less
robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since
Lenovo took over.  But I&#39;ve been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might
still be useful.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an
external keyboard?  I&#39;ll have to check the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linux-laptop.net/&quot;&gt;Linux Laptops site&lt;/a&gt; for
well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one
of the vendors listed on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://linuxpreloaded.com/&quot;&gt;Linux
Pre-loaded site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to
install to get support for a given MIME type.  Thanks to
&lt;a href=&quot;https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins&quot;&gt;specifications
done by Ubuntu&lt;/a&gt; and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian.
Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta
information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser
plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import apt
def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    cache = apt.Cache()
    cache.open(None)
    thepkgs = []
    for pkg in cache:
        version = pkg.candidate
        if version is None:
            version = pkg.installed
        if version is None:
            continue
        record = version.record
        if not record.has_key(&#39;Npp-MimeType&#39;):
            continue
        mime_types = record[&#39;Npp-MimeType&#39;].split(&#39;,&#39;)
        for t in mime_types:
            t = t.rstrip().strip()
            if t == mimetype:
                thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
    return thepkgs
mimetype = &quot;audio/ogg&quot;
if 1 &lt; len(sys.argv):
    mimetype = sys.argv[1]
print &quot;Browser plugin packages supporting %s:&quot; % mimetype
for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    print &quot;  %s&quot; %pkg
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype 
Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
  gecko-mediaplayer
% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
  browser-plugin-gnash
%
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser
itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed
packages.  It would be great if Debian supported such feature too.  Is
anyone working on adding it?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-18 14:20&lt;/strong&gt;: The Debian BTS
request for icweasel support for this feature is
&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/484010&quot;&gt;#484010&lt;/a&gt; from 2008 (and
&lt;a href=&quot;http://bugs.debian.org/698426&quot;&gt;#698426&lt;/a&gt; from today).  Lack
of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature
is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>What is the most supported MIME type in Debian?</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:10:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal&quot;&gt;DEP-11
proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive&lt;/a&gt;, is a
proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to
the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME
type, font, library etc. that is currently missing.  With such
mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to
automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is
downloaded by the browser.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided
to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the
Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there.  The result
can be found on the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest&quot;&gt;Skolelinux FTP
site&lt;/a&gt;.  Using the collected information, it become possible to
answer the question in the title.  Here are the 20 most supported MIME
types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid).
The complete list is available from the link above.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Stable:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     32 text/plain
     30 audio/mpeg
     29 image/png
     28 image/jpeg
     27 application/ogg
     26 audio/x-mp3
     25 image/tiff
     25 image/gif
     22 image/bmp
     22 audio/x-wav
     20 audio/x-flac
     19 audio/x-mpegurl
     18 video/x-ms-asf
     18 audio/x-musepack
     18 audio/x-mpeg
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 video/mpeg
     17 audio/x-scpls
     17 audio/ogg
     16 video/x-ms-wmv
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Testing:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     33 text/plain
     32 image/png
     32 image/jpeg
     29 audio/mpeg
     27 image/gif
     26 image/tiff
     26 application/ogg
     25 audio/x-mp3
     22 image/bmp
     21 audio/x-wav
     19 audio/x-mpegurl
     19 audio/x-mpeg
     18 video/mpeg
     18 audio/x-scpls
     18 audio/x-flac
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 video/x-ms-asf
     17 text/html
     17 audio/x-musepack
     16 image/x-xbitmap
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Debian Unstable:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  count MIME type
  ----- -----------------------
     31 text/plain
     31 image/png
     31 image/jpeg
     29 audio/mpeg
     28 application/ogg
     27 image/gif
     26 image/tiff
     26 audio/x-mp3
     23 audio/x-wav
     22 image/bmp
     21 audio/x-flac
     20 audio/x-mpegurl
     19 audio/x-mpeg
     18 video/x-ms-asf
     18 video/mpeg
     18 audio/x-scpls
     18 application/x-ogg
     17 audio/x-musepack
     16 video/x-ms-wmv
     16 video/x-msvideo
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of
information mentioned in DEP-11.  I have not yet had time to look at
it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these
issues.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-16 13:35&lt;/strong&gt;: Updated numbers after
discovering a typo in my script.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I wrote about the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html&quot;&gt;modalias
values provided by the Linux kernel&lt;/a&gt; following my hope for
&lt;a href=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html&quot;&gt;better
dongle support in Debian&lt;/a&gt;.  Using this knowledge, I have tested how
modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages
to hardware.  This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant
packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace
discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to
packages.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I create a modaliases file with entries like the following,
containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise
the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware
modalias.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: package-name
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages
for a given modalias value using this file.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application
cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: cheese
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a
CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: pcmciautils
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*)
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when
plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
Package: colorhug-client
&lt;br&gt;Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages
file in the Debian archive.  Ubuntu already uses their Packages file
to store their mappings from packages to hardware.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can
announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand.
This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the
Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the
hardware mapping are included in the package meta information.  I&#39;ve
tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping
is working as it should with my prototype.  It even made it to Ubuntu
Raring.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only
the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell
implementation of the lookup code.  The idea is to create files for
each modalias and let the shell do the matching.  Please check out and
try the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co&quot;&gt;hw-support-lookup&lt;/a&gt;
shell script.  It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the
hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion
repository where I currently work on my prototype.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to
install yubikey-personalization:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
% ./hw-support-lookup
&lt;br&gt;yubikey-personalization
&lt;br&gt;%
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it
propose to install the pcmciautils package:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
% ./hw-support-lookup 
&lt;br&gt;pcmciautils
&lt;br&gt;%
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co&quot;&gt;my
database&lt;/a&gt;, please tell me about it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between
packages and hardware.  One source would be to look at packages with
kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and
extract their modalias information.  Another would be to look at
packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in
/lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to
generate a modalias matching rule.  I have not tested any of these to
see if it work.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
&lt;a href=&quot;irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel&quot;&gt;#debian-devel&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Modalias strings - a practical way to map &quot;stuff&quot; to hardware</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:20:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
to document the details.  Here are my findings so far, also available
in
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/&quot;&gt;the
Debian Edu subversion repository&lt;/a&gt;:

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Modalias decoded&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
values stands for.  It is in part based on information from
&amp;lt;URL: &lt;a href=&quot;https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias&quot;&gt;https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias&lt;/a&gt; &amp;gt;,
&amp;lt;URL: &lt;a href=&quot;http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device&quot;&gt;http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device&lt;/a&gt; &amp;gt;,
&amp;lt;URL: &lt;a href=&quot;http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c&quot;&gt;http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c&lt;/a&gt; &amp;gt; and
&amp;lt;URL: &lt;a href=&quot;http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&amp;view=markup&quot;&gt;http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&amp;view=markup&lt;/a&gt; &amp;gt;.

&lt;p&gt;The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
this shell script:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
using modinfo:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
% /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
%
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PCI subtype&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A typical PCI entry can look like this.  This is an Intel Host
Bridge memory controller:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This represent these values:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
 v   00008086  (vendor)
 d   00002770  (device)
 sv  00001028  (subvendor)
 sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
 bc  06        (bus class)
 sc  00        (bus subclass)
 i   00        (interface)
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from &#39;lspci
-n&#39; as 8086:2770.  The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
0600.  The 0600 class is a host bridge.  Other useful bus values are
0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
means.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;USB subtype&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Some typical USB entries can look like this.  This is an internal
USB hub in a laptop:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Here is the values included in this alias:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
 v    1D6B  (device vendor)
 p    0001  (device product)
 d    0206  (bcddevice)
 dc     09  (device class)
 dsc    00  (device subclass)
 dp     00  (device protocol)
 ic     09  (interface class)
 isc    00  (interface subclass)
 ip     00  (interface protocol)
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The 0900 device class/subclass means hub.  Some times the relevant
class is in the interface class section.  For a simple USB web camera,
these alias entries show up:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
&lt;br&gt;usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
&lt;br&gt;usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
&lt;br&gt;usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
microphone).  Thus this is a camera with microphone included.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ACPI subtype&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff.  This is an IR
receiver in a Thinkpad X40:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The values between the colons are IDs.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;DMI subtype&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
and model.  This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The values present are&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
 bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
 bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
 bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
 svn  IBM            (system vendor)
 pn   2371H4G        (product name)
 pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
 rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
 rn   2371H4G        (board name)
 rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
 cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
 ct   10             (chassis type)
 cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The chassis type 10 is Notebook.  Other interesting values can be
found in the dmidecode source:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  3 Desktop
  4 Low Profile Desktop
  5 Pizza Box
  6 Mini Tower
  7 Tower
  8 Portable
  9 Laptop
 10 Notebook
 11 Hand Held
 12 Docking Station
 13 All In One
 14 Sub Notebook
 15 Space-saving
 16 Lunch Box
 17 Main Server Chassis
 18 Expansion Chassis
 19 Sub Chassis
 20 Bus Expansion Chassis
 21 Peripheral Chassis
 22 RAID Chassis
 23 Rack Mount Chassis
 24 Sealed-case PC
 25 Multi-system
 26 CompactPCI
 27 AdvancedTCA
 28 Blade
 29 Blade Enclosing
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
table.  For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
claim it is a desktop.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SerIO subtype&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs.  One example is from my
test machine:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The values present are&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  ty  01  (type)
  pr  00  (prototype)
  id  00  (id)
  ex  00  (extra)
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This type is supported by the psmouse driver.  I am not sure what
the valid values are.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Other subtypes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
file2alias.c.  There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
vmbus, x86cpu and zorro.  I did not spend time documenting all of
these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Looking up kernel modules using modalias values&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
one can use the following shell script:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
    echo &quot;$id&quot; ; \
    /sbin/modprobe --show-depends &quot;$id&quot;|sed &#39;s/^/  /&#39; ; \
  done
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
list is very long on my test machine):&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;
  acpi:ACPI0003:
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko 
  acpi:device:
  FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
  acpi:IBM0068:
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko 
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko 
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko 
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko 
  acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko 
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko 
    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko 
  [...]
&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
&lt;a href=&quot;irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel&quot;&gt;#debian-devel&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Update 2013-01-15:&lt;/strong&gt; Rewrite &quot;cat $(find ...)&quot; to
&quot;find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat&quot; to make sure it handle directories
in /sys/ with space in them.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian
for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket
Launcher and updated the Debian package
&lt;a href=&quot;http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile&quot;&gt;pymissile&lt;/a&gt; to make
sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in.  I
also added a &quot;Modaliases&quot; header to test it in the Debian archive and
hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user
plug in his rocket launcher.  In the process I moved the source to a
git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to
contribute.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/&quot;&gt;Upstream&lt;/a&gt;
is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five
years of relative silence.  The new git repository is not listed in
the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a
bit more before I upload the new version.  If you want to check out
the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git&quot;&gt;gitweb
view&lt;/a&gt; or use &quot;&lt;tt&gt;git clone
git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git&lt;/tt&gt;&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 9 Jan 2013 15:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
general, is that there is a great package management system with the
ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
machine.  Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
Linux distribution.  When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
I need to talk to it.  When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
yubikey-personalization package.  The information required to do this
is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Some years ago, I proposed to
&lt;a href=&quot;http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html&quot;&gt;use
the discover subsystem to implement this&lt;/a&gt;.  The idea is fairly
simple:

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
  starting when a user log in.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
  hardware is inserted into the computer.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
  database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
  packages.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
  package, and make it easy to install it.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
discover database to find packages and
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.packagekit.org/&quot;&gt;PackageKit&lt;/a&gt; to install
packages.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
draft package is now checked into
&lt;a href=&quot;http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/&quot;&gt;the
Debian Edu subversion repository&lt;/a&gt;.  In the process, I updated the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html&quot;&gt;discover-data&lt;/a&gt;
package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
2.2013.01.09 to unstable.  I also discovered that the current 
&lt;a href=&quot;http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html&quot;&gt;discover&lt;/a&gt;
package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
/proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present.  I ported it to use
libusb as a fall back option to get it working.  The fixed package
version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn&#39;t upload it to unstable
because of the freeze).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
inserted):&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
install the proposed packages by pressing the &quot;Please install
program(s)&quot; button should to be implemented.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
from hardware to Debian packages.  Check if &#39;discover-pkginstall -l&#39;
list the package you would like to have installed when a given
hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
reportbug if it isn&#39;t.  Or, if you know of a better way to provide
such mapping, please let me know.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
should be considered before it is ready for production use.  Is dbus
the correct way to detect new hardware?  At the moment I look for HAL
dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop.  Are there better events to use?
How should the user be notified?  Is the desktop notification
mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
popup instead?  How should packages be installed?  When should they
not be installed?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
please send me an email. :)&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 2 Jan 2013 15:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
&lt;a href=&quot;http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx&quot;&gt;LEGO Mindstorm
NXT&lt;/a&gt;.  My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
already in Debian Squeeze.  If Debian support for LEGO is something
you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
&lt;a href=&quot;irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego&quot;&gt;#debian-lego&lt;/a&gt; (server
irc.debian.org).  There is a lot that could be done to improve the
Debian support for LEGO designers.  For example both CAD software
and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Update 2012-01-03: A
&lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners&quot;&gt;project page&lt;/a&gt;
including links to Lego related packages is now available.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        <item>
                <title>Lenker for 2013-01-01</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenker_for_2013_01_01.html</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenker_for_2013_01_01.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Tue, 1 Jan 2013 09:20:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>&lt;p&gt;Her er noen lenker til tekster jeg har satt pris på å lese den
siste måneden.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-07
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article262047.ece&quot;&gt;Myter og
  FUD om fri programvare&lt;/a&gt; av min venn Christer Gundersen som
  kommenterer noen av de påstandene som er spredt via Computerworld
  Norge de siste månedene.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;BankID er et opplegg der utsteder (dvs. banken eller dens
  leverandør) sitter på alt som trengs for å bruke BankID, men har
  lovet å ikke bruke den unntatt på oppdrag fra deg.  Det er greit nok
  for banktjenester, der banken allerede har full kontroll over
  resultatet, men problematisk når det gjelder tilgang til
  helseopplysninger og avtaleinngåelse med andre enn banken.  Jeg
  håper protestene brer om seg.

  &lt;ul&gt;

  &lt;li&gt;2012-12-11 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/BankID-blottlegger-helseopplysninger-7067148.html&quot;&gt;BankID
    blottlegger helseopplysninger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

  &lt;li&gt;2012-12-07 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.9695027&quot;&gt;-
    Helseopplysningene ikke sikre med Bank-ID&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

  &lt;li&gt;2012-12-07
    &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bankid.no/Presse-og-nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2012/Papeker-alvorlige-men-kjente-utfordringer/&quot;&gt;Påpeker
    alvorlige, men kjente utfordringer&lt;/a&gt; er den offisielle
    holdningen til de som lager BankID.&lt;/li&gt;

  &lt;li&gt;2012-12-08
    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3419-ntnu-researcher-warns-against-security-of-bank-id-password&quot;&gt;NTNU
      Researcher Warns against Security of Bank ID Password&lt;/a&gt;

  &lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-11 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Norske-elever-er-darligst-i-Europa-pa-algebra-7066752.html&quot;&gt;Norske elever er dårligst i Europa på algebra&lt;/a&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-11
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Realfagsdodaren-7067173.html&quot;&gt;Realfagsdødaren&lt;/a&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-21
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bt.no/nyheter/innenriks/112/--Forventningene-er-for-hoye-2816450.html&quot;&gt;-
  Noen må bli skuffet&lt;/a&gt; - Politiet i Bergen forteller hvor lavt de
  prioriterer hverdagskriminalitet.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-05-03
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://e24.no/jobb/kripos-ansatt-doemt-for-snoking-for-venn/20208585&quot;&gt;
  Kripos-ansatt dømt for snoking for venn&lt;/A&gt; - viser hvor svak
  reaksjonen blir når politiet misbruker innsamlet informasjon.  En
  forvarsel på konsekvensene av nasjonal brev- og besøkskontroll -
  ofte kalt Datalagringsdirektivet.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-14
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/12/14/kultur/debatt/kronikk/jul/ensomhet/24838541/&quot;&gt;Å
  smøre en forskjell&lt;/a&gt; - om ensomhet og jul.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-18
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/n-krise-av-gangen_-takk-7072452.html&quot;&gt;Én
  krise av gangen, takk!&lt;/a&gt;


&lt;li&gt;2012-12-17
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/NAV-Et-mangehodet-monster--7072165.html&quot;&gt;NAV:
  Et mangehodet monster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2011-01-12
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/01/12/kultur/debatt/kronikk/personvern/15027203/&quot;&gt;Pasienter
  uten vern&lt;/a&gt; - forteller litt om hvordan Norsk Pasientregister og
  andre helseregister raderer bort pasienters privatsfære.&lt;/li&gt;


&lt;li&gt;2012-12-19
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Hvorfor-er-barnefamilier-fattige-7073951.html&quot;&gt;Hvorfor
  er barnefamilier fattige?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2012-12-25
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/spaltister/Den-skjulte-minoriteten--konservative-kristne-i-Norge-7075518.html&quot;&gt;Den
  skjulte minoriteten – konservative kristne i Norge&lt;/a&gt; - kronikk av
  Bjørn Stærk fra aftenposten&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;2009-05-04
  &lt;a href=&quot;http://deltemeninger.no/-/bulletin/show/303429_folkebiblioteket-2-0?ref=checkpoint&quot;&gt;Folkebiblioteket
  2.0&lt;/a&gt; - Min venn Sturle om opphavsrett og Internett, i debatt med
  Olav Torvund.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Og et godt nytt år til dere alle!&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
        </item>
        
        </channel>
</rss>