Cross platform printer sharing with password protection

After googling many sites, large number of people can setup a share folders,files or printers between Windows and Linux Platform, specifically Ubuntu, without password protection. To limit the access of share folder, pinters, the administrator setups the password for some user account.

In my environment, the Host computer which connect to printers is Windows XP platform and client computer is Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) with samba installed. To access shared printer with password protected, the clients have to follow these step
1. Open printer configuration in Administrator>Printing
2. click on New>Printer
3. On left menu, click on Windows printer via SAMBA
4. click browse to browse to target printer
5. activate Set authentication details now and insert username and password given by administrator (you can test that the printer and password match by click on button verify)
6. click forward
7. browse for target printer's brand and click forward
8. Select model then forward (it would load driver for target printer)
9. activate some options that you'd love to
10. In the last step, it would prompt you to print test page
11. Finish!!

Note :
- you can see the status of printing by clicking on properties of target printer, the status is shown in Printer state : field
- printer sharing works on same subnet only

Testing Ubuntu Jaunty Netbook Remix on Aspire One

I just have some time for fun testing Ubuntu netbook remix version of Jaunty. My testing environment is

OS : Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) netbook remix and PC version
Hardware : Acer Aspire one 110
Main Memory : 2GB
Non Volatile memory : Flash memory 8 GB

It is good at the first sight that it can boot on USB flash drive faster than Windows XP (home and professional edition). The interface is very nice and splendid animation. It has no question why I won't install this image into my aspire one. After all installation is complete which takes about 30 mins!!!, I've to wait for installing update about 1 hour ???.However, the new version still has some bugs. After I have change the look from netbook to classic, it cost me very much. The problem that I've face is that it cannot open X window after reboot (it says that the display is not composite or something like that ...). After fixing by using commandline, at last, I decided to newly install ubuntu using Desktop version instead.

The Ubuntu in desktop version costs only 2.3 GB for OS (less WinXP). The speed is , of course, also faster than older OS, Windows XP. Another impression about this Jaunty is that it can run compiz and wobbly effect (WOW!!!) like my laptop and the problem about the X windows is not happened in this version.

So, for the people who interests to install Ubuntu netbook remix version on Acer Aspire one, I recommend that you should not change the look from the default to the classic (as the system tells you) since it can cost you to install all of the thing again and again

Cisco console

Introduction

People who work with Cisco network equipment need to be able to connect to the console port on their devices. In Windows, you can simply fire up HyperTerminal to get basic access to your devices. If you are using Linux, then you need to know how this can be done with an application called Minicom.

Hardware

First, you are going to need a Cisco console cable, a Cisco device, and a computer. If your computer has a serial port, then you can use the standard console cable that comes with every Cisco device.

If you do not have a serial port (like most new laptops), then you need to purchase a USB to Serial adapter that supports Linux. This device will allow you to use the standard Cisco cable, which has a serial port on one end.

Install Minicom

You can easily install Minicom by using "System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager". Search for "minicom" and choose to install the package. Click "Apply" and Minicom should be installed within a few seconds.

Find the name of your serial port

Next, you need to find out is which device your serial port is mapped to. The easiest way to do this is to connect the console cable to a running Cisco device. Now open up a Terminal using "Applications > Accessories > Terminal" and type this command:

dmesg | grep tty

The output will look something like this:

Look in this output for words that contain "tty". In this case, it is "ttyS0". That meas the name of the device the corresponds to your serial port is "ttyS0". Now we are ready to configure Minicom to use this information.

Configure Minicom

Open a terminal using "Applications > Accessories > Terminal". Now type this command to enter the configuration menu of Minicom:

sudo minicom -s

Use the keyboard arrow keys to select the menu item labeled "Serial Port Setup" and then hit "Enter". This will open a window that looks similar to the one below:

Change your settings to match the ones in the picture above. Here is what I had to change:

• Change the line speed (press E) to "9600"
• Change the hardware flow control (press F) to "No"
• Change the serial device (press A) to "/dev/ttyS0"
  • Be sure to use the device name that you learned in the previous step

Once your screen looks like mine, you can hit "Escape" to go back to the main menu. Next, you need to select "Save setup as dfl" and hit "Enter" to save these settings to the default profile. Then select "Exit Minicom" to exit Minicom...

To find out if you have configured Minicom correctly, type this command in the terminal:

sudo minicom

After entering your Ubuntu user password, you should be connected to your Cisco device.

Note: You may want to delete the Minicom init string if you see a bunch of gibberish every time you connect to a device. To do this, enter Minicom configuration with:

sudo minicom -s

Then select "Modem and dialing". Press "A" to edit the Init string, and delete all characters so that it becomes empty. Make sure you save this to the default profile with "Save setup as dfl". You should no longer see gibberish when you connect to devices.

Create a desktop launcher

If you want to have quicker access to Minicom, you can create a desktop launcher.

1. Right-click on the desktop and choose "Create launcher"
2. Click on "Icon" and choose the picture you want to use
3. Use the "Type" pull-down menu and select "Application in terminal"
4. Create a name like "Cisco Console" in the field labeled "Name"
5. Enter this command into the field labeled "Command"
   • sudo minicom
6. Hit "OK" and your desktop launcher is ready for you to use.

References

Using the Cisco console in Linux

Ubuntu 9.04 keyboard and mouse problem

I just found Ubuntu 9.04 problem (possibly bug) of keyboard and mouse on my hardware (Dell Vostro 1310, Ubuntu 9.04 kernel 2.6.28-11). In the login splash screen, Ubuntu sometimes does not detect or enable my keyboard and touchpad, so I cannot login to my account.

Many ubuntu dell users also complain about this problem too. Some of them think that it is kernel version problem, so they use the older kernel instead. The others try to configure the xwindow using command xfix in recovery mode or power on and off the laptop.

For me, I use the solution given in this dell ubuntu forum.

Solution : just append the word "i8042.reset" after kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=d655bf5b 3061-44bb-a9d8-2d6d9b4afc57 ro quiet splash of "/boot/grub/menu.lst"

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-12-generic
uuid d655bf5b-3061-44bb-a9d8-2d6d9b4afc57
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-12-generic root=UUID=d655bf5b 3061-44bb-a9d8-2d6d9b4afc57 ro quiet splash i8042.reset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-12-generic
quiet