Howto: Wireless Cheat Sheet – Cli Commands

Here is a list of Cli commands which provide valuable information when trying to configure your wireless connection

sudo iwlist scanning – shows wireless networks that are available in the area with basic encryption information

sudo lshw -C network – Shows Details of Interface card and drivers of each networking device

sudo lspci -nn – Shows PCI vendor and device codes as both numbers and names of hardware connected to the pci bus

lsusb – Shows USB connected hardware

lshw -C usb – Additional info on USB related hardware (good for USB dongles)

route -n – Lists kernel IP routing table — Good for troubleshooting problems with the gateway

sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1 – Example of how to set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1

sudo route del default gw 192.168.1.1 – Example of how to delete the default gateway setting

sudo modprobe ***** – Loads the kernel module **** . (Example usage – sudo modprobe ndiswrapper, sudo modprobe r818x, sudo modprobe ath_pci)

sudo modprobe -r **** – Unloads the kernel module ****. (Example usage – sudo modprobe -r ath_pci)

sudo ifconfig – lists IP address

sudo ifup/ifdown – Brings up/down the interface and clears the routing table for the specified interface

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up/down – Brings up/down the interface for the specified interface

sudo dhclient – Request IP address from DNS server for specified interface

sudo dhclient -r – Release IP address associated with specified interface

sudo iptables -L – Lists firewall rules

sudo iptables -F – Flush all firewall rules

dmesg | more – Lists boot log — good for troubleshooting problems with modules/drivers not being loaded

uname -r – Displays kernel version

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules – File which assigns logical names (eth0, wlan0, etc) to MAC addresses

cat /etc/resolv.conf – Lists DNS servers associated with network connections (Network Manager)

/etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf – File which sets or modifies dns (domain name servers) settings

Google Android Live in Vbox

I have been playing with Google’s Android operating sytem in Virtual Box. It’s quite good fun. I wouldn’t mind an Android phone.

Google Android Live in Virtual Box

Google Android Live in Virtual Box

Google Android Live in Virtual Box

Laptop to PC portable email on USB

Well, I was tired of going from different computers to laptops and having to try and find certain emails.

The problem being that I have been use Evolution on Gnome desktops from Ubuntu and Dreamlinux, and Thunderbird mail client on on others. Each time I downloaded my mail from certain accounts, it was stored on the harddrive of that particular laptop/pc. So when I used a different computer I didn’t have access to that email unless I physically logged in to my gmail account via Firefox.

So I decided that I would like to keep all my mail in one place and constantly keep them all updated at once.

Enter my USB pendrive (1Gb). Small but good enough for email storage.

I decided to make Evolution look for the directory called .evolution on my pendrive instead of the one in my Home directory.

It’s so simple, and a great way to always have your email in one place.

1. Format your pendrive to Ext3 and give it the label “mail”. I used Gparted.
2. Unplug and re-plugin your Pendrive. It will be mounted at /media/mail
3. Open your home directory, choose “view” and select “view hidden files”. A whole heap of files with a full-stop-period before their names will appear. The one we want is .evoluton.
4. Take complete ownership of your pendrive (change richs for your name):
sudo chown -R richs:richs /mnt/mail
5. Now copy the .evolution directory to your pendrive.
6. Next, right click on this directory in your pendrive and choose “Make Link”. A shortcut called “Link to .evolution” will be created, drag it over to your /Home directory.
7. Delete the original .evolution directory from your /Home directory and rename the link you just copied over from “Link to .evolution” to just “.evolution” (don’t forget the full-stop/period before it)
8. Now run:
sudo chown -R richs:richs /mnt/mail
9. All done! Evolution now looks on your pendrive for it’s files. Start Evolution and go fetch your mail.
10. Do the same on all your other distros that use Evolution mail. Now you have a completely portable email storage drive which can be used on any machine.

Whatsmore, for complete security, you can even right-click and encrypt the .evolution directory on your pendrive. Using your own gpg key you will be able to decrypt it from any machine.