After writing more than a dozen of these tutorials and installing and removing so many different applications, I thought to myself, there has got to be a faster way. WiFi is far faster than Bluetooth and far more convenient than digging for a USB data cable. I have a computer running Linux, I have a wireless network, and the N95 connects via WiFi so why not just run Apache on my computer and point the N95 at a directory on the computer?
I’m writing this tutorial using Fedora 9, but these instructions should be easily adaptable to just about any Linux distribution. Also, you can install Apache in Windows or OS X, and follow along with the steps in this tutorial.
- These instructions are almost completely command line based. First, check if you already have Apache installed. There’s a chance you might already have it. For RedHat, Fedora and other RPM based Linux distributions:
[user@radon ~]# rpm -q httpd
httpd-2.2.9-1.fc9.i386If you don’t, it’s as simple as the following:
[user@radon ~]# sudo yum install httpd
Loaded plugins: changelog, downloadonly, fastestmirror, list-data, merge-conf,
: presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata
No Presto metadata available for atrpms
No Presto metadata available for google
No Presto metadata available for fedora
No Presto metadata available for adobe-linux-i386
No Presto metadata available for updates-newkey
No Presto metadata available for updates
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* fedora: mirror.hmc.edu
* updates-newkey: mirror.hmc.edu
* updates: mirror.hmc.edu
Finished
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
–> Running transaction check
—> Package httpd.i386 0:2.2.9-1.fc9 set to be updated
–> Finished Dependency ResolutionDependencies Resolved
==================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
==================================================
httpd i386 2.2.9-1.fc9 updates-newkey 975 kTransaction Summary
==================================================
Install 1 Package(s)
Update 0 Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)Total download size: 975 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Downloading DeltaRPMs:
Rebuilding rpms from deltarpms
httpd-2.2.9-1.fc9.i386.rpm | 975 kB 00:24
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Installing : httpd [1/1]Installed: httpd.i386 0:2.2.9-1.fc9
Complete!If your output looks slightly different that the above, don’t worry. I have a few extra repositories enabled as well as a few extra yum plugins. The important part is the line that says: Installed: httpd.i386 0:2.2.9-1.fc9.
- Start Apache:
[user@radon ~]$ sudo /sbin/service httpd start
Starting httpd: [ OK ] - Now test that it works. Open a browser and visit http://127.0.0.1/ You should see something similar to the following:
- Lets find out the IP Address of the computer. We’ll need this when we connect from the phone.
[user@radon ~]$ /sbin/ifconfig wlan0
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
inet addr:192.168.20.2 Bcast:192.168.20.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:206616 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:161635 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:251797632 (240.1 MiB) TX bytes:24504623 (23.3 MiB)Note the second line of the output where it says inet addr. Our IP Address is 192.168.20.4.
On your phone, choose Menu -> Web. Make sure you choose the correct Access Point, the name of your wireless network. Now, choose Options -> Go To Web Address and enter the IP Address you discovered above. You should see the Apache Test Page on your phone’s browser.
- The default installation of Apache on Fedora 9 expects you to put your web pages in /var/www/html. I decided to create a separate directory at /home/shared and make that accessible via the web. The following commands create the directory, then change its ownership to my user name, then create a symbolic link to the new directory below the default web root.
[user@radon ~]$ sudo mkdir /home/shared
[user@radon ~]$ sudo chown user: /home/shared
[user@radon ~]$ sudo ln -s /home/shared/ /var/www/html/sharedNow visit http://127.0.0.1/shared/ in your browser and you should see an empty directory similar to the following:
- Now visit http://192.168.20.4/shared on your phone, substituting the IP Address of your computer.
- Ok, now that the phone can see your shared directory, copy some installation files into it and choose Options -> Navigations Options -> Reload.
- Simple click on one of the files and you are prompted to install it. I find this way a whole lot faster than installing applications via USB or Bluetooth.
- If you are paying attention to the above screenshots, you will notice that the installation files I am using in this example are actually the Apache installation files. Yes, you can run Apache on your N95. Watch for my upcoming tutorial on how to run Apache on the N95.
