Asa Jay's weblog

I took a trip to Los Angeles last Tuesday.  It was a simple day trip for the company I work for.  Get in, take care of business, and get out.  Simple.  Ignoring the fact I had to get up before 0400 to catch my plane, and that my stomach didn’t settle down until 1000, I had a very productive and friendly day.

It really started to get good when I was picked up at the airport by the Enterprise shuttle.  Enterprise rents cars.  You’ve probably seen their ads on television talking about pick-up and drop off, making renting a car even easier.  At an airport, it’s a little different, as the rental car companies usually pick up several people and take them to the rental lot.  Now, why I am writing about these folks?  It’s because they were sharp, friendly, and took care of me, and the other folks there, with a smile and super service.

It was a new experience for me as well.  Usually, with those other rental car companies, you sign your contract and they hand you a set of keys.  Thank you, now go find your car in the parking lot, it’s out there somewhere, and make sure you top off the tank before coming back.  Not so here.  After driving past all the other rental car companies, our shuttle took a short trip past other businesses and down what could have been mistaken for a wide alley.  There it was, a modest rental lot.  It was off the beaten path, but it was clean and had nice shiny cars.  I needed a car.

Once inside, the counter personnel were great.  Small chit-chat was on order as the agent took my information, verified my license, and typed in the contract.  When he was done, he pointed me toward the door leading to a garage, except he didn’t hand me any paperwork.  Hmm, okay, I’ll just keep following directions.

So I go through the door and find myself in a huge steel structure, that serves as the customer staging area.  Several Enterprise employees, dressed as if they were headed to a business meeting, come out one at a time with a clipboard, and a contract.  Each one is a personal aid to the customer.  They call out a name, and if it’s you, it’s your turn.  They take you through details of the contract, and find your car for you, in the garage.  If your car is not ready yet, they find out where it is, and make sure it’s coming soon.

You and the agent go over the car for any imperfections, problems, questions about how things work.  He or she makes notes on the contract, ask more questions and then hands you the clipboard with the contract on it for signatures and initials.  They make sure you have enough maps, and in my case, the agent even took the time to help with directions to find where I was going.  And it’s all done in the garage, out of the bright sunlight, rain or wind.

The whole experience was so soothing and comfortable.  The employees were well groomed, and if I might be so bold, darn good looking.  If I have to rent in LA again, I want it to be from Enterprise.  So here is an Asa Jay big Thumbs-Up to the crew at the LAX Enterprise rent-a-car. . . Great Job!

Asa Jay

How does a person take a critical look at who they are? I don’t really know the answer to that, but the class I’m taking is sure causing me to think. As I continue to read the essays for our first week, I find myself being challenged to evaluate who I am, against what has been written.

Each essay is drawn in a different style; one is an interview, another is from a journalist, another written as a background piece on the person writing it. Although the styles have not provided anything new, the content in each has caused me to think more about my own reactions, to what I have read. Each essay has given me insight into other peoples attitudes, backgrounds, and personalities. When compared against my own ideals, it’s caused me to take a more critical look at myself; a more critical look at who I am.

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Running Knoppix 4.0.2 on an HP ze2315us
(Last updated: 9 Jan 2006)

General Hardware Specifications of HP ze2315us:

• Processor: 1.8 GHz Mobile AMD Sempron™ processor 3000+ with AMD PowerNow!™ Technology. / No Issues
• Video Display: 15.0″ XGA TFT Brightview Display (1024 x 768) / No Issues
• Video Processor: ATI RADEON® XPRESS 200M IGP / No Issues
• Memory:512MB 333MHz DDR System Memory (2 Dimm) / No Issues
• Hard Disk: 60GB (4200RPM) Hard Drive / No Issues
• Floppy: None / Integrated Network: Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) / Untested
• Internal Modem: High speed 56k modem / Untested
• CD/DVD: DVD±R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double Layer Support / CD and DVD read operations tested fine. Writing operations untested
• Wireless: 54g™ 802.11b/g WLAN with 125HSM / SpeedBooster support / No Issues, requires additional work to install
• Sound: Altec Lansing / No Issues

Basic Installation of Knoppix 4.0.2:

Knoppix 4.0.2 is a great distribution for testing the functionality of a new PC. It comes as a “live CD” distribution. This means you can simply insert it to the CD drive and reboot the machine. The latest version of Knoppix can be obtained from one of the hosted download mirrors.

This How-To will not cover installing Knoppix to the hard disk of a ze2315us. The author is simply documenting the fact Knoppix will boot and run on this system and appear to operate normally, to include video, sound and wireless networking. For information about installing Knoppix to the hard drive, please refer to these instructions. Be forewarned however, this author assumes you have a good working knowledge of how Linux works, how partitioning works and that you know what you are doing.

It is assumed, that if Knoppix works from the live CD distribution, then is should work even better when installed to the Hard disk of the computer.

After inserting the Knoppix 4.0.2 CD and rebooting, Video and Sound came right up. The only item not working was wireless networking.

Setting up additional features (Wireless) for Knoppix 4.0.2

To get wireless working, I initially referred to this posting from the Linux on Laptops website. This gave me a good idea of what I needed to do. At first, I tried using the tools included with Knoppix, to point the ndiswrapper to the appropriate file in the MS Windows folders. When that didn’t work, for whatever reason, I then reboot into Windows, and downloaded the latest drivers for the Wireless chipset from the HP web site. I installed these to a location I could easily find once I rebooted into Knoppix. Once I had the new drivers downloaded, it was a breeze to install.

• Boot Knoppix from CD
• Using a file manager (such as Konqueror), copy the BCMWL5.inf and BCMWL5.sys files to the /home/knoppix directory. This will help you find them faster.
• Open a terminal window (note: I may make notes in the following commands, if so, they are preceeded with “/*” and end with */”
• bash# su – /* you need to be the super user, knoppix should not ask you for the password, if it does, it’s “knoppix” */
• bash# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i /home/knoppix/bcmwl5.inf /* I assume you copied the files to home/knoppix. Pay attention to capitization, in my case, the file names were in all lowercase. */
• bash# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l
• you should see:

  Installed ndis drivers:
  bcmwl5          driver present, hardware present

• bash# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -m
• you should see:

  Adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modprobe.conf

• bash# modprobe wlan0 /* this will install the newly created module, so you can use the wireless */
• At this point, the blue light on the silver Wireless button, should come ON.

We aren’t finished yet. The wireless circuitry has been activated, but it still needs some brains to function. You now have to configure networking. Please note, in my case, I assigned static IPs for my internal network. In your case, you may need to use DHCP. You may need to play with these next settings a little, to get it all working.

• Go to the panel and click on the Penguin icon, which should pop up a bubble with “Knoppix”, from now on, I will refer to this button as the “Penguin” button.
• Penguin>Network/Internet>Wavelan configuration

• Enter SSID of the network you wish to connect to, if known. In my case, I typed in my Access point SSID
• Enter Cell Identifier, if known. In my case it was left blank.
• Enter Mode. In my case, it was Managed
• Enter Channel number. In my case, I entered the channel number of my access point.
• Enter WEP key if you have one. In my case, I entered the WEP key associated with my access point.
• Enter additional parameters if necessary. In my case, I had none, and simply clicked through all prompts.
• Penguin>Network/Internet>Network card configuration
• You should see two entries, one for the internal lan card, the other for the wireless lan card; wlan0
• Click on wlan0
• Enter DHCP broadcast IP if needed. In my case, I’m using static, so I left this blank. I’m not sure what to enter here if not using static IPs.
• Enter IP, unless doing DHCP. In my case, I entered a static IP I had assigned for this notebook computer.
• Enter broadcast address. I believe the default should do.
• Enter NetMask. I believe the default should do.
• Enter the default Gateway. In my case, I needed to enter the IP of the access point.
• Enter nameservers. I entered the primary nameserver that the access point used.
• It will then drop into the wireless setup you did previously. Click through and verify it is all correct.
• Penguin>Network/Internet>KWiFiManager
• You should see that the Wireless card is active and you are either hooked up to a network (as in my case), or that networks are in range. You’re IP hookup may be different (DHCP versus static), so play with it a bit.
• Start a browser and see if it works.

BE AWARE: Once Knoppic from CD is halted, the entire wireless installation GOES AWAY. In order to make everything persistent, you will need to install Knoppix to the hard disk. However, there is a way around it.

Save the Knoppix configuration:

• Penguin>Configure>Save Knoppix configuration
• Select the items to save (I would strongly suggest saving the Desktop as well)
• Select the destination. I would suggest a USB thumb-drive. On my install, it was listed at /dev/sda1
• Save, then pay attention to the dialog that comes up after the save. It will instruct you on how to use the configuration you just saved.

Next time you boot the Knoppix CD:

• Insert the CD into the CD drive.
• Insert your configuration media. In my case, it was the USB thumb drive
• Boot the system
• At the Knoppix boot prompt, enter:
• boot: knoppix lang= myconfig=scan /* My language was “us”. “scan” tells knoppix to scan for the configuration, which found my USB thumb drive just fine.

Knoppix will then boot fine and grab the configuration information from the saved media. However, I must caution you, I did still have some difficulty. I had to modprobe the driver again, and re-config the card. I’m not sure why, as it should have done it automatically, but I may be wrong. Instead, I typed up a quick script file to handle it all. I then placed that file on the desktop so it was easily available, and made it executable. The script file looks like this:

• #!/bin/bash
• sudo modprobe wlan0 /* install the driver */
• sudo ifdown wlan0 /* bring the interface down just for good measure */
• sudo netcardconfig /* this brings up the same configuration you used before, all entries should be good, but check */
• sudo ifup wlan0 /* bring up the interface again */

And that should do it. Again, if Knoppix is installed to the hard disk, and after the wireless has been inititially configured, it should all work every time. Note, you may have to edit the system configuration to make sure the wlan0 module is installed on boot-up. This author assumes you can work that through on your own.

Items that appear to work:

• Video resolution is 1024×768
• Keyboard repeat rate is annoying on start up, but can be adjusted in the Configuration panel
• Mouse sensitivity is annoying on start up , but can be adjusted in the Configuration panel
• Power messaging (i.e. battery level) appears to work
• USB thumb-drives appear to work. (tested with Sandisk Cruzer Mini 256M)
• Sound works
• Ctrl+Alt+Fx appears to work, in order to switch to other consoles.

Unresolved Items:

• CD and DVD burning were not tested
• Wired Ethernet was not tested (but the card shows up in the network configuration)
• The modem has not been tested, and might not be very soon.
• Video out the external jack was not tested
• Pressing the Wireless key (silver) will not necessarily disable the wireless card (in Linux)
• Other Hot-Keys (function-blue keys) not tested

Overall, I am pleased with how well Knoppix works on this notebook. I started to do a hard disk installation, but Knoppix does not come with a disk partitioning tool that is smart enough to simply “re-size” my Windows partition without blowing it away, so I’ll have to use another tool for that. At least, it -looked- like it wanted to blow away my Windows away, so I’m holding off. My next work will be to try and install SUSE 10, which should be arriving ala Amazon any day now.

I hope this has been useful to you.

Asa Jay

It’s now Sunday, the third day since my first class.  Wow, what a rush.  I’m reading essays in a book titled “Point Taken, A Brief Thematic Reader” which has so far, been an interesting read.  Each week, our class is to read certain essays an comment on them in our on-line discussion board.  The board is only open to the class, so I am unable to link to it from here.  I’ve been pretty busy making mental notes and writing a bit about everything I’ve been reading.

Something this is causing me to do, is to think more critically of what I’m reading.  I tend to be a slow reader; my wife can finish two or three books in the time it takes me to read one.  I tend to believe I have a higher comprehension level, but I can’t be sure.  What I do know, is that with these essays I’m currently reading, I begin to absorb more of the topic -after- I’ve finished.  In one case, I started making judgments early about the piece, but later, after finishing the essay, I began to see things differently.

In that case, I learned that sometimes, if not all times, I need to finish what I’m reading in order to absorb the entire intent or to find a connection.  In other reading, it’s been easy to finish and then sit back and think about what I read.  With any of the reading I’ve done so far, the need to comment on the writing for class, has caused me to think much deeper into the essays; to analyze them for greater meaning, or to contrast my own life, beliefs or assumptions.

Overall, I think it’s been good for me.  And I’m barely one week into it.

Asa Jay

Last night, was my first time back in school for almost three years.  This time, instead of taking simple courses related to my current project or job, I am starting my path toward an actual four-year degree.  I’m starting out, with a basic course in Research and Writing.

This is a good way for me to get back into school.  As the course of study I have chosen will require a lot of writing, this class is going to be a good primer for me.  The focus will be on writing a total of four assigned papers.  The progression of the class will concentrate on the process of turning an idea, into a polished paper; progressing through first draft, revision, second draft/revision/repeat, to final draft.  Our instructor, giving us some insight into what usually happens without discipline, told us that most people will write a first draft, and then move right on to a final draft, without considering much in the way of revision.  We will be focusing on that most difficult step, revision.

I can certainly see the value in revising written works until the ideas of a paper are clearly presented in a concise and easy to read manner.  I know that many times I myself have struggled with this concept.  I’m sure some of my entries here on my blog have been a mish-mash of random thoughts and ramblings.  Of course, that’s more what this medium is really for, though I many times read later, what I have written, and end up making corrections.  For the next six weeks however, I will need to concentrate more on polishing my prose than just letting the words leak out of my head.

Our first paper is to be about ourself.  We are to write something autobiographical.  Being in my forties, I have a vast amount of experiences to draw upon, but we’re not supposed to write a book.  What I will have to do is narrow my focus into one area, about myself, that I think could provide a quick insight to who I am.  I’ve not considered it much as yet, but I’ll certainly have to start thinking hard about this over the weekend.  Only meeting once a week for class seems like a long time, but from my present perspective, it’s only about five more days away.  I have to get started.

What ever shall I write about, that tells people who I am?

Asa Jay