Problem with alsactl store

On a few installation I got this problem with the alsa mixer:

sudo alsactl store 0

gives E: core-util.c: Home directory /home/xbmc not ours.

Only solution I found is to remove pulse audio

sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

IR receiver troubleshooting

I will make another attempt to get my pinnacle remote / IR receiver to work.

The remote is the same as the MS MCE, the problem is the receiver.

I am struggling to find information but I now found this

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1117200.html

This should list the device:

ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*

another link with debug instr

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-967339.html

If the device is detected as keyboard/mouse instead of RC it will show up here:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

regenerate ssh keys

SH1 protocol 

sudo ssh-keygen -q -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key -N '' -t rsa1 

SSH2 protocol 

sudo ssh-keygen -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key -N '' -t rsa

sudo ssh-keygen -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key -N '' -t dsa

Necessary after installing from remastersys iso.

Get WPA2 to work in Ubuntu - with wicd

EDIT:  I have upgraded to ubuntu 9.04 and wpa2 works fine out of the box.

Ubuntu seem to have problem with WPA2?

Google says the solution is to use wicd instead of Gnome Network Manager.

It is included in Ubuntu 9.04 repositories but in hardy you have to add the source.

install wicd:

Add key

wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Add source:

deb http://apt.wicd.net hardy extras

I used Synoptic Package Manager to install it since the network manager have to removed and I read some people having problem with it. 

Problem with drivers and wicd:

The installation went fine but wicd seem to handle drivers differently. Before I could see the network but not connect.  Now I cannot see anything and the wifi indicator is dark on the laptop.

I installed the windows wireless drivers tool (available in ubuntu rep) and added the windows drivers. 

Now I can see the networks again, but cannot connect to wpa2 network....

Then I slapped in a USB wifi adaptor and wicd light up as christmas tree..... I can also connect with no problem! This is good enough for now. (this is just an old laptop....)

Conclusion:

It is not easy to get WPA2 to work with old hardware. 

With a little bit newer hardware wicd handles WPA2 without problem.

If wicd cannot not see the network card, use a different card or skip WPA2?

It it of course possible that if I could find a newer windows driver it would work. The newest I could find from d-link was from 2007. I am not sure it would work in xp either.

Windows XP also have problem with WPA2 without the latest drivers/updates.

I am not 100% sure if the problem was the Network Manager and not the drivers, but I am pretty sure that I did test the USB adaptor with the network manager earlier.

I will verify as soon as possible if the wicd is really needed or if it is device dependent only,

Mini-IT Atom HTPC

Board

INTEL D945GCLF2 LITTLE FALLS ATOM 330 MINI-ITX BULK -----850 SEK

 

Case

SILVERSTONE HTPC SST-LC19R SILVER-------------------------------1995 SEK

(incl PSU)

alt

COMPUCASE MINI-ITX 8K01BS 100W SVART-------------------------625 SEK

Remote

PHILIPS RC197 REMOTE CONTROLL OCH RECIVER------------------340SEK

Optional GPU

Sparkle Geforce 8400GS 512MB DDR2, DVI, VGA, TV-out, PCI-------795 SEK 

It is pretty hard to find mini ATX components in Sweden, maybe too early?

An unrelated problem is that I cant find any "standard" MCE Remote any more either. To bad I do not want to have trouble getting it to work in Linux.

Portableapps - Your digital life anywhere

Something to try?

http://portableapps.com

The question is how it will interact with corporate ant-virus, firewalls and GPOs.

Create USB boot tool

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Seem to have nice functionalities. Should test