USB-Tethering with Android and Zen-Kernel

This Post is out of date. Use the updated version.

These are the modules I've enabled for usb-tethering with my Android phone.
I'm not sure if I really need the embedded arm module. I was too lazy to test it. ^^
Most important thing, it should work with these settings.

-> Device Drivers
 -> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y])
  <m> Generic Media Independent Interface device support
  -> USB Network Adapters
   <m> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework      
   -M-   CDC Ethernet support (smart devices such as cable modems)
    <m>   CDC EEM support
    <m>   Host for RNDIS and ActiveSync devices (EXPERIMENTAL)
    <m>   Simple USB Network Links (CDC Ethernet subset)
     [*]     Embedded ARM Linux links (iPaq, ...)

Just connect your phone via usb and enable usb-tethering in the settings. A new device called usb0 should appear.

If you don't use wicd or any other network manager which manages dhcp, then do the following as root in a shell to fetch an IP:

dhcpcd usb0

Sunflower ebuild

I've wanted to make an ebuild for sunflower a while ago, but uni and moving kept me a little too busy.
But, a good news, someone did so and it's available in maksbotan overlay.
I haven't tested it yet nor do i know if it's a live ebuild.

To install sunflower do this:
layman -a maksbotan
emerge sunflower

~pokes the blog~

Hey hey..

I'm kind of back again after moving closer to university.
It took almost a month to get inet here and a whole day to bring my Gentoo box up to date again >.<

All updates went surprisingly pretty smooth. Only Oracles jdk annoys a little. I think I'll switch to icedtea o.O
I've seen that gtk3 isn't going well with qtconfig and gtkstyle, though. Or better, I guess gtk3 is the issue. I hope I'll find a workaround for that in the next days. Soo for all who really really need gtkstyle in qt, don't set the gtk3 useflag yet ^^

What else to say uhm.. oh, there will be an additional topic in this blog soon. I've got an Android phone.. yay for that ^_^

And for all of you guys who are alone at home at a Saturday night.. the cutest Caramelldansen vid I've ever seen.. she's sooo cheery ^^

Yes yes.. don't worry guys.. my next posts will be more serious again.. soo stay tuned~ ^^

dotfiles

I've put some of my config files online which are related to the posts on my blog. MPD, mpdscribble and asoundrc are included. I hope they are a little helpful.

bitbucket dotfiles

MPC, xbindkeys and multimedia keys

I want to use my multimedia keys with MPD even without an always running client.
Here's one way to make it work independently of the used window manager.

Install MPC and xbindkeys:

emerge mpc xbindkeys


Start xbindkeys to find the right settings and press the key you want to bind:

xbindkeys -k


If you don't get any output at all, use the following switch:

xbindkeys -mk


The output should look like this, it's my toggle play/pause key:

"(Scheme function)"
m:0x10 + c:172
Mod2 + XF86AudioPlay


"(Scheme function)" might be "NoCommand" in your case.

Copy the output into ~/.xbindkeysrc and replace "(Scheme function)" or "NoCommand" with the command for mpc:

"mpc toggle"
m:0x10 + c:172
Mod2 + XF86AudioPlay


Do this for all the multimedia keys you want to use.

My .xbindkeysrc looks like this:

"mpc toggle"
m:0x10 + c:172
Mod2 + XF86AudioPlay

"mpc prev"
m:0x10 + c:173
Mod2 + XF86AudioPrev

"mpc next"
m:0x10 + c:171
Mod2 + XF86AudioNext

"mpc volume -2"
m:0x10 + c:121
Mod2 + XF86AudioMute

"mpc volume 0"
m:0x10 + c:122
Mod2 + XF86AudioLowerVolume

"mpc volume +2"
m:0x10 + c:123
Mod2 + XF86AudioRaiseVolume


And yes.. my mute and lower volume keys seem to be switched for any unknown reason. You have to check if it's this case for you too, otherwise fit the commands to your needs.

Check the man page of MPC for all possible parameters:

man mpc


Finally start xbindkeys and add it to your autostart:

xbindkeys &



There are still two small issues.
a) MPC can't toggle mute or restore the volume after mute.
b) Toggling play/pause is working but I don't get sound for any reason when it starts to play again. I have to skip to the next song to hear the music again.

mpdscribble 0.22

Mpdscribble 0.22 was released three days ago and the curl bug seems to be fixed.
I've added it to the install instruction.

Scribble, Scrabble, Scrobble.. MPD and last.fm

I'm using mpdscribble for last.fm scrobbling from now on since scrobby isn't in portage anymore.

And again I had to create and copy some stuff because I want to run it as my normal user like I also do with MPD.

Here's the way how I've made it work:

Mpdscribble <=0.21 has a small bug and doesn't work with >=curl-7.21.0, so the curl useflag needs to be disabled in /etc/portage/package.use:

media-sound/mpdscribble -curl


OR

Unmask the most recent version v0.22 in /etc/portage/package.keywords:

~media-sound/mpdscribble-0.22


Install mpdscribble:

emerge mpdscribble


Create the needed directories in your user home:

mkdir -p ~/.config/mpdscribble


Copy the config file from /etc/mpdscribble.conf to ~/.config/mpdscribble. You need to be root for doing so because the config file is only readable as root.

sudo cp /etc/mpdscribble.conf /home/<your user>/.config/mpdscribble/


Edit the config file ~/.config/mpdscribble/mpdscribble.conf but take care to use full pathes:

pidfile = /home/<your user>/.config/mpdscribble/mpdscribble.pid
log = /home/<your user>/.config/mpdscribble/mpdscribble.log
verbose = 1

[last.fm]
url = http://post.audioscrobbler.com/
username = <your last.fm user>
password = <your last.fm password>
journal = /home/<your user>/.config/mpdscribble/lastfm.journal


Everything else is commented out.

Now you can start mpdscribble:

mpdscribble --conf ~/.config/mpdscribble/mpdscribble.conf