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Prior to Xubuntu 8.10 I used SMB for FUSE for networking browsing.  However, after upgrading to 8.10 I found that I would get an error: <b>Transport endpoint is not connected</b> everytime I try to copy a file to my Windows desktop using Thunar.  Apparently, this is a known bug with fusesmb, therefore after searching for an alternative solution I found pyNeighborhood.

Installing pyNeighborhood

$ apt-get install pyneighborhood

Configuring pyNeighborhood

Setup the directory which is to be mounted

$ cd /media
$ mkdir network
$ chmod 777 network

From the panel bar of Xfce select “Application”, “Network”, and “pyNeighborhood”

Select “Edit”, and “Preferences”
Under the “General” tab, enter the “Mount folder:” e.g. /media/network

Under the “File Managers” tab, remove the entry xterm -e mc, and add /usr/bin/thunar as the file manager

Adding a Mountpoint

In the pyNeighborhood under the “Network” tab, right click “Groups” to scan your network groups

Right click the network group found to scan the machines in the selected network

Right click the machine to add it to the right panel

Expand the machine, and right click on a shared folder to mount it

Ubuntu 8.10 ships with Network Manager 0.7, which comes with many features.  Unfortunately, I had a difficult time trying to assign a static IP to my computer as it would get lost after each restart.  I wasn’t the only one with this problem and here’s how it’s done:

Right click on the “Network Manager” icon and select “Edit Connections…”
Delete any “Auto” settings, and click “Add”

Network Manager

Click on the “IPv4 Settings” tab, and enter your network information.
Make sure you check the “System setting” checkbox.  Click “OK” when done

Network Manager IPv4 Settings

When I flashed my Linksys WRT54GL router last year in July with the DD-WRT v23 SP2, the version has already been around since September 2006.

The default firmware for Linksys has a severe problem where they track old connections for FIVE days, which causes the router to hang when using software that generates a lot of connections.

The DD-WRT v24 was recently released on May 18, 2008 and I was more than happy to flash my router with the new version.

The project comes in 6 different version: Micro, Mini, Standard, VOIP, VPN, Mega. I downloaded and installed the V24_mini_generic.bin as recommended by the Supported Device page. The flashing took about 2 minutes to complete, and all the settings on the router will reset. The default username is “root” and password is “admin” for the DD-WRT control panel.

A week ago my wireless network card died on my IBM Thinkpad T42. I visited the IBM shopping website to look for the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG and found it cost approximately $80 not including taxes and shipping. Knowing the price tag was totally unreasonable, I looked somewhere else, and I ended up getting it at Dell for half the price!

After the network card arrived, I immediately replaced the card and booted up my laptop. Next thing I know, I see an error message:

1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in
Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.


Apparently IBM insists on only accepting “IBM brand” wireless cards through a restriction set in the BIOS. However, there is a fix available for the 1802 error: a DOS program no-1802.com, which will flip a single bit in the CMOS, allowing use of any Mini-PC wireless card.

I disabled the wireless card through the BIOS, to avoid having to physically remove it. Then follow the steps to apply the fix:

1. Download no-1802.com
2. Boot the laptop in DOS mode
3. Run no-1802.com

Nothing happened after running the command, I rebooted the laptop and re-enable the wireless card from the BIOS. The laptop was able to boot without any issues, and I’m able to use my new wireless card successfully!

For better conveniences, I downloaded bootable CD image which allowed me to boot in DOS. A floppy disk image is also available to download as well.

For more information refer to ThinkPad 1802 Error Fix or Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card.

Unlike like Ubuntu’s default file manager Nautilus for the GNOME desktop, the default file manager Thunar from Xubuntu doesn’t support samba/network browsing.

Nautilus Share

An easy workaround is to install the Nautilus Share package. When installing the Nautilus Share package other related Nautilus packages which will also included such as the Nautilus file manager which may be used to replace the Thunar file manager.

To install Nautilus Share:

$ sudo apt-get install nautilus-share

SMB for FUSE

A more complex workaround is to use SMB for FUSE packages and will allow you to keep using Thunar.

1. The first requirement is to have Samba installed, an easy to tigger the install is by going to the following in the Xfce desktop: Applications -> System -> Shared Folders
2. Install fusesmb:
   $ sudo apt-get install fusesmb
3. Ensure that fuse module will be loaded at boot time
   $ sudo nano /etc/modules
   and look for fuse in the list
4. Reboot the server to load the fuse module
5. Allow users to use fuse:
   • Go to Application -> System -> Users and Groups
   • Click on the “Properties” button of the username
   • Under the “User Privileges” tab check the “Allow use of fuse fileystems like LTSP Thin Client blockdevices” checkbox
6. Create a directory with the following settings to mount the network browse to:
   $ mkdir /media/network
$ chmod 777 /media/network
$ chgrp fuse /media/network
7. Add your user account to the fuse group
   $ nano /etc/group
   or go to Application -> System -> Users and Groups, and click on the “Manage Groups” button
8. Reboot the server again
9. Go to to menu Application -> Settings -> Autostarted Applications, and add a new entry with the following command: /usr/bin/fusesmb /media/network
10. Open Thunar and add parent folder of the mount point e.g. network to the shortcut pane of Thunar
11. Logout and log back to enable to fusesmb autostart to take effect.

Troubleshooting

Can’t see a new shared computer or folder in Thunar.

• In the terminal type the following to refresh fusesmb
$ fusesmb.cache