Tagged: debian

Wifi Disabled on HP Pavilion dm3 – Debian 9 (Stretch)

This happened before with Arch Linux, but when I installed Debian 9 (Stretch) on my HP Pavilion dm3-113us, its wifi device was disabled - there is a wifi button on the side and its LED indicator was orange instead of green.

The system seems to recognize the device:$ lspci ... 08:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01) # dmesg | grep -i ath ... [ 0.092000] smpboot: CPU0: AMD Athlon(tm) Neo X2 Dual Core Processor L335 (family: 0xf, model: 0x6b, stepping: 0x2) [ 11.533147] powernow_k8: Found 1 AMD Athlon(tm) Neo X2 Dual Core Processor L335 (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00) [ 11.672233] ath: phy0: Enable LNA combining [ 11.674887] ath: phy0: ASPM enabled: 0x42 [ 11.674890] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x69 [ 11.674891] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map [ 11.674894] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00 [ 11.674895] ath: Regpair used: 0x69 [ 11.727078] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9285 Rev:2 mem=0xffffb12042140000, irq=17 [ 13.125760] ath9k 0000:08:00.0 wlo1: renamed from wlan0 ...

It looks like necessary kernel modules were loaded as well:# lsmod ... ath 32768 3 ath9k_hw,ath9k,ath9k_common ath9k 94208 0 ath9k_common 32768 1 ath9k ath9k_hw 446464 2 ath9k,ath9k_common ...

I tried resetting BIOS or following weird steps like taking a battery out and booting it up, etc... but none worked.

I was almost giving up getting the wifi device to work, then I found this website that eventually led me to solve the problem. This site shows how to identify a wifi device (internal or usb), search its firmware driver, and install it.

Hmm... firmware, huh? I have not tried this option so I gave it a shot.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. This information below is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others.

First, let's search any firmware for my atheros:# apt-cache search atheros collectd-core - statistics collection and monitoring daemon (core system) firmware-linux-free - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel firmware-atheros - Binary firmware for Atheros wireless cards firmware-zd1211 - binary firmware for the zd1211rw wireless driver

Yes, there are some hits. Based on their description, I installed firmware-atheros first: # apt-get install firmware-atheros ... Unpacking firmware-atheros ... Setting up firmware-atheros ...

I rebooted the system just in case.

My default Desktop Environment is LXDE (though I'll change it to i3 later) and it comes with wicd application. From wicd, I clicked on the Switch On Wi-Fi option. Nope, it did not enable the wifi device. So, I went back to the firmware list and decided to install another one.

firmware-zd1211 doesn't seem to be for my wifi device. Let's try with firmware-linux-free:# apt-get install firmware-linux-free ... Setting up firmware-linux-free (3.4) ... Update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated) Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130) ... Update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-3-amd64

A moment of truth... I clicked on the Switch On Wi-Fi option again. Yes, a little LED light for Wifi on the side of my laptop changed from orange to blue, which indicates the wifi device is now enabled!

Now the wifi device is enabled after rebooting.

NOTE: The order and combinations to install these firmware seem to matter. I tried below scenarios:

1. Installed firmware-atheros
2. Installed firmware-linux-free
AND
1. Installed firmware-linux-free
2. Installed firmware-atheros
AND
1. Installed firmware-atheros ONLY
AND
1. Installed firmware-linux-free ONLY

The wifi device was successfully enabled in the 1st scenario but it didn't work for everything else. So, just be careful!

At the very beginning of this post, I mentioned same wifi device didn't work with Arch Linux. Maybe, I needed a firmware for it to work just like this one. When I get a chance, I'll try that option. But for now, I'm very satisfied with the outcome.

That's all!
-gibb

*ERROR* radeon kernel modesetting for R600 or later requires firmware-amd-graphics.

I have just finished a fresh install of Debian 9 (Stretch) on my HP Pavilion dm3-1130us and I noticed an error message during boot up. ... [ 18.670958] [drm:radeon_pci_probe [radeon]] *ERROR* radeon kernel modesetting for R600 or later requires firmware-amd-graphics. ...

Ok, that's no problem. All I need to do seems to install firmware-amd-graphics package. Let's see if that package exists: # apt-cache search firmware-amd-graphics firmware-amd-graphics - Binary firmware for AMD/ATI graphics chips

The package exists. Now time to install it:# apt-get install firmware-amd-graphics ... Setting up firmware-amd-graphics (20161130-3) ...

After rebooting, no more ERROR message shows up.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. This information below is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others.

That's all!
-gibb

Debian Wheezy (7.5): Changing Default X Session

I mainly use Openbox. But after Debian Wheezy installation, X Window System defaulted to LXDE. It's not that much of a hassle to select Openbox from the drop-down menu every time I log on:

Debian_LoginBox

However, sometimes I forget to select Openbox, get LXDE, and re-log in with Openbox. This happened quite a few times and I finally decided to change its default X session to Openbox.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. It is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others. I will NOT take any responsibilities of end result after following these steps (although I will try to help if you send me your questions/problems).

There are quite a few ways to do this. One way is to edit (or create if it doesn't exist) ~/.xsession or ~/.Xsession.

But I used the update-alternatives command: $ update-alternatives --config x-session-manager

Debian_update-alternatives

As shown in above image, select number 2 for Openbox. After logging out, Openbox becomes the default X Window Session!

That's all!
-gibb

Debian Wheezy (7.5): Name-Based Web Sites on a Single IP Address (vhosts)

Configuring virtual hosting with Debian Wheezy has a little different steps from that with Slackware. To avoid from getting myself confused (and hopefully help someone else to set their virtual host sites), these are the steps I used for my local sites.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. It is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others. I will NOT take any responsibility of end result after following these steps (although I will try to help if you send me your questions/problems).

1) Disabling Default Virtual Host

First, let's disable the default Apache virtual host with a2dissite. What this command do is simply removing a symlink to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/. # a2dissite default

2) Creating a New Directory and Setting Permissions

It's necessary to create a directory where site's website files and logs reside and grant ownership of the directory to the user instead of keeping it on the root system. For example, I'm setting up for siteA.org and siteB.org.

siteA.org
# mkdir -p /var/www/siteA.org/public_html # mkdir /var/www/siteA.org/logs # chown -R [$user]:[$group] /var/www/siteA.org/public_html
siteB.org
# mkdir -p /var/www/siteB/public_html # mkdir /var/www/siteB.org/logs # chown -R [$user]:[$group] /var/www/siteB.org/public_html

3) Creating Config files

Each virtual host needs own configuration file placed in /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory. Each configuration file is as follow. Make sure that you have all directories specified in each conf file exist before you restart the apache process; otherwise, it'll fail to start.

siteA.org

# vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/siteA.org.conf ------------------------------------ <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@siteA.org ServerName siteA.org ServerAlias www.siteA.org DocumentRoot /var/www/siteA.org/public_html <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /var/www/siteA.org/public_html/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog /var/www/siteA.org/logs/error.log CustomLog /var/www/siteA.org/logs/access.log combined </VirtualHost>

siteB.org

# vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/siteB.org.conf ------------------------------------ <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@siteA.org ServerName siteB.org ServerAlias www.siteB.org DocumentRoot /var/www/siteB.org/public_html <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /var/www/siteB.org/public_html/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog /var/www/siteB.org/logs/error.log CustomLog /var/www/siteB.org/logs/access.log combined </VirtualHost>

4) Enabling the Sites

Now activate the host: # a2ensite siteA.org.conf # a2ensite siteB.org.conf

5) Restarting Apache

Restart the Apache server to initialize the changes: # service apache2 restart

6) Setting Up Local Host

Edit /etc/hosts so that the sites can be found by name: # vim /etc/hosts ------------------------------------ 127.0.0.1 localhost siteA siteB

That's all!
-gibb

Debian Wheezy (7.5): LAMP (Linux, Apache, MariaDB, and PHP)

LAMP used to refer to Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP but nowadays the trend is transitioning from MySQL to MySQL's drop-in replacement MariaDB. The Slackware project switched the default database to MariaDB back in March 2013 for the version 14.1 and forward.

I was a little concerned about this change and wasn't sure if my web sites would work with Mhttp://blog.ataboydesign.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=959&action=editariaDB. However, my worry was trivial. MariaDB uses the same files as MySQL so this makes migration a lot easier.

So it's natural for me to try MariaDB on my new Debian Wheezy (7.5) system.

Disclaimer:
The information in this site is the result of my researches in the Internet and of my experiences. It is solely used for my purpose and may not be suitable for others. I will NOT take any responsibility of end result after following these steps (although I will try to help if you send me your questions/problems).

Installing Apache2

Firts, make sure the system is up-to-date: # apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

Then, install apache2: # apt-get install apache2

Add apache2 to system start up and start it up now: # update-rc.d apache2 enable update-rc.d: using depndency based boot sequencing # service apache2 start [ ok ] Starting web server: apache2.

If you open a web browser and point it to http://localhost, you'll see the message It works!

Installing php5

Next, install php5 along with the apache php5 module, MySQL(MariaDB) php module, and other modules: # apt-get install php5-curl php5-xmlrpc php5-gd php5-intl libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-common php5-dev php5-idn php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-ming php5-mysql php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy

Restart the web server: # apache2 restart

Test the php support by creating a php file (phpinfo.php) in the default document root, /var/www: # vim /var/www/phpinfo.php -------------------------------------------- < ?php phpinfo(); ?>

With successful installation/configuration, below page should be loaded:
debian_lamp_install_phpinfo

Installing MariaDB

To properly install and configure MariaDB, I need to know the version/codename of this Debian. I already know its Wheezy but to check, type the following command: # lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Debian Description: Debian GNU/Linux 7.5 (wheezy) Release: 7.5 Codename: wheezy

Now, open a web browser and go to MariaDB's download page to get the repository information for MariaDB: debian_lamp_install_mariadb_config

Above selection produces below repository info:
debian_lamp_install_mariadb_repo

Create a file called mariadb.list under /etc/apt/sources.list.d and copy & paste the repository info: # vim /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mariadb.list -------------------------------------------- # MariaDB 10.0 repository list - created 2014-05-10 06:44 UTC # http://mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/ deb http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/mariadb/repo/10.0/debian wheezy main deb-src http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/mariadb/repo/10.0/debian wheezy main

Add MariaDB to the system: # apt-get install python-software-properties # apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0xcbcb082a1bb943db # apt-get update # apt-get install mariadb-server

Follow the on-screen instructions to set up a root password for MariaDB server.

Let's see if MariaDB server was successfully installed: # mysql -u root -p Enter password: Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Command end with ; or \g. Your MariaDB connection id is 38 Server version: 10.0.10-MariaDB-1~wheezy mariadb.org binary distribution Copyright (c) 2000, 2014 Oracle, SkySQL Ab and others. Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement. MariaDB [(none)]>

VoilĂ ! With above steps, I have successfully installed LAMP stack on my Debian Wheezy server.

If you are interested, take a look at my post on VirtualHost: Name-Based Web Sites on a Single IP Address

That's all!
-gibb