Symbian Archives - Simple Help

How to use your Nokia N95 as a Wireless Webcam

Ross McKillop — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:30:54 +0000

SmartCam turns a Symbian Series 60 phone with bluetooth and camera into a webcam ready to use with your PC. It is open source software, licensed under the GPLv2 and will run on Linux or Windows. There are commercial applications that will do the same thing, but I believe in using and supporting free, open source software whenever possible.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

In this tutorial I will be installing SmartCam on Fedora 9 as the SmartCam developer has already tested and confirmed that SmartCam works on Ubuntu 8.04. Yes, SmartCam does use the Video4Linux API. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video4Linux for a list of compatible applications. I personally use SmartCam with aMSN quite frequently.

First things first, visit https://sourceforge.net/projects/smartcam/ and click the Download link in the green box.

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We’re going to install the Linux version, so click the Download link for smartcam linux.

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The latest Linux version at the time of writing is v2008.09.18.2. Download the zip archive and remember where you saved it. I saved it in ~/Download

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I’ll be doing the next few steps on the command line as it involves compiling a kernel module for SmartCam.

Navigate to the directory where you saved the SmartCam zip file.
[kmurray@radon ~]$ cd ~/Download
Unzip the archive.
[kmurray@radon Download]$ unzip smartcam_v_2008.09.18.2.zip
Archive: smartcam_v_2008.09.18.2.zip
creating: smartcam/
inflating: smartcam/COPYING
inflating: smartcam/ReadMe.txt
creating: smartcam/release/
inflating: smartcam/release/smartcam.ko
inflating: smartcam/release/smartcam
creating: smartcam/release/phone_files/
inflating: smartcam/release/phone_files/SmartCamS603rdEd.SIS
inflating: smartcam/release/phone_files/SmartCamS602ndEd.SIS
inflating: smartcam/release/phone_files/jSmartCam.jar
[file listing snipped to save space]
Now we compile the SmartCam kernel module. You will need to ensure that you have the kernel development headers installed. In Fedora it’s as simple as yum install kernel-devel
[kmurray@radon Download]$ cd smartcam/src/driver/
[kmurray@radon driver]$ make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=`pwd` modules
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.26.6-79.fc9.i686′
CC [M] /home/kmurray/Download/smartcam/src/driver/smartcam.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 1 modules
CC /home/kmurray/Download/smartcam/src/driver/smartcam.mod.o
LD [M] /home/kmurray/Download/smartcam/src/driver/smartcam.ko
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.26.6-79.fc9.i686′
Kernel modules usually live somewhere in /lib/modules/`uname -r`/. Just to keep things tidy, we’ll copy the module there.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo cp smartcam.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/extra
Now update the module dependancies.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo /sbin/depmod -a
Load the module.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo /sbin/modprobe smartcam
Verify that it loaded.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ /sbin/lsmod | grep smartcam
smartcam 9880 0
videodev 29824 1 smartcam

[kmurray@radon driver]$ ls -l /dev/video*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2008-11-15 13:59 /dev/video -> video0
crw-rw—- 1 root root 81, 0 2008-11-15 13:59 /dev/video0
As you may have noticed, we have a minor problem here. /dev/video0 is only accessible to root. Unless you plan on only using your webcam as root, which is a very bad idea, you need to change this. Rather than change the permissions of /dev/video0 every time you reboot, you can change your udev rules to allow all users to access /dev/video0.
Using your favourite text editor, open /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules. I used vim.

[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo vim /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules

Search for the video4linux stanza and change the line that reads:

KERNEL==”video0″, SYMLINK+=”video”

to this:

KERNEL==”video0″, SYMLINK+=”video”, MODE=”0666″
Remove and reload the SmartCam kernel module.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo /sbin/modprobe -r smartcam
[kmurray@radon driver]$ sudo /sbin/modprobe smartcam
Verify the permissions of /dev/video0.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ ls -l /dev/video*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2008-11-15 14:05 /dev/video -> video0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 81, 0 2008-11-15 14:05 /dev/video0

Now /dev/video0 is available to all users.
Now compile the SmartCam application.
[kmurray@radon driver]$ cd ../../src/app/
[kmurray@radon app]$ gcc `pkg-config –cflags –libs gtk+-2.0 gthread-2.0` -lbluetooth smartcam.c -o smartcam
Make the SmartCam application available to all users.
[kmurray@radon app]$ sudo cp smartcam /usr/local/bin/
Make the SmartCam icons available to all users.
[kmurray@radon app]$ sudo mkdir /usr/share/pixmaps/smartcam/
[kmurray@radon app]$ sudo cp icons/*.png /usr/share/pixmaps/smartcam/
I also chose to create a menu entry for SmartCam under Applications -> Sound & Video. Click System -> Preferences -> Look and Feel -> Main Menu.

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This is where you add or remove custom Applications Menu entries.

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In the left pane, click on Sound & Video.

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Click the New Item button on the right hand side and fill in the fields as follows:

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Click the Choose Icon button at the top left and type /usr/share/pixmaps/smartcam in the file field at the top, then click on logo.png and click OK.

The window should now look like this:

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Click OK and close the Menu Editor. Then click Applications -> Sound & Video and you will see a menu entry for SmartCam.

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Now that the computer is set up, you need to install SmartCam on your N95. The SmartCam zip file you downloaded earlier also contains the SmartCam application for your phone. The version you want to install on your N95 is in the archive under release/phone_files/SmartCamS603rdEd.SIS. See my previous tutorials on how to install applications on your phone if you are unfamiliar with the process (How to install N95 apps via USB | How to install N95 apps via bluetooth) Once you have SmartCam installed on your phone, you will find it in your Applications folder.
You must start SmartCam on your computer first. Click Applications -> Sound & Video -> SmartCam.

Now start SmartCam on your phone.

Select Options -> Start

If you have previously connected to your computer via bluetooth you will already see it in the list. If not, simply select More Devices. Either way, choose to connect to your computer.
Here’s what it looks like on my phone and on my computer.

At the time of writing, SmartCam only supports bluetooth connections. Hopefully in the future the developer will implement USB and/or Wifi as well. Either way, I still think SmartCam is a fantastic piece of software!

The post How to use your Nokia N95 as a Wireless Webcam appeared first on Simple Help.

How to turn your Nokia N95 into a pedometer

Ross McKillop — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:30:46 +0000

This tutorial will guide you through turning your N95 into a pedometer using the Nokia Step Counter.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references no longer exists. As such, we have asked Google to remove this from their search database, however the document will remain online for archival sake.

If you don’t already have it installed, you must first install the LINK GONE before Nokia Step Counter will work. The only file you need from this zip file is N95AccelerometerPlugin.sis. The rest of the files in the archive are only useful to you if you are developing software for the S60 platform.
Once you have N95AccelerometerPlugin.sis installed, you can download Nokia Step Counter from LINK GONE
Now that you have Nokia Step Counter installed, you can find it by selecting Menu -> Applications -> Step Counter.

You could just start the Nokia Step Counter, but let’s personalize it a bit first. Scroll down and select Settings, then select User.

This screen is where you can set your Name, Age, Gender, Height, and Step Length. The more accurate you are with these details, the more accurate your results will be.

Now press the Back button twice to return to the main screen, then select Start.

You could just leave Nokia Step Counter running in the foreground, but I’d rather put it in the background and also use my phone for other things. Select Options -> Run In Background. Now just put your phone in your pocket and go about your normal routine for awhile.

Once some time has passed, open Nokia Step Counter again so see how far you’ve gone. You can use the Up and Down toggles to see the details.

Stop the Nokia Step Counter by selecting Options -> Stop.

There are a few more useful details available. If you select Diary you are presented with a calendar. Each day that you used Nokia Step Counter is a clickable link.

Use the Up and Down toggle to see the details for that day.

Press the Back button twice to return to the main screen, then select Progress.

Here you can use the Up and Down toggle to view the Yearly Summary, Daily Step Count, and Weekly Step Count.

Now press the Back button to return to the main screen. Select Settings, then select General.

Here you can set Nokia Step Counter to automatically start and stop at specific times of day, set your daily step target, and change the measurement units that are used.

One minor note: Height and weight must be entered in Metric units of centimeters and kilograms, regardless of which units you have selected as your Measurement Units in the settings. Considering the fact that Nokia Step Counter is still beta, or testing software, I’m willing to overlook this one minor flaw. Hopefully this will be fixed in an upcoming release.

Watch for my upcoming list of interesting applications that take advantage of the built in accelerometer in the Nokia N95.

The post How to turn your Nokia N95 into a pedometer appeared first on Simple Help.

Wardriving with the Nokia N95 using Barbelo

Ross McKillop — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:30:05 +0000

I’ve been looking for a wardriving application for my N95 ever since I got it. I mean hey, it has WiFi and a built-in GPS, so isn’t it the perfect portable wardriving hardware? Luckily today I came across the application I’ve been looking for. It’s called Barbelo.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references I cannot find working links for. If you can locate the Symbian app “GPSd” please leave a comment below.

First things first, you can grab a copy of Barbelo from here. You also need GPSd which I can not find a working link for.

Now that you have GPSd and Barbelo installed, you have to run GPSd first. Select Menu -> Applications -> GPSd.

You will be prompted to allow GPSd to use Positioning Data. Select Yes.

Next you are prompted to allow GPSd to use the network and send or receive data. Also select Yes.

It may take awhile for GPSd to get a fix. Try going outside somewhere with a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Once you have a GPS fix as indicated by numbers other than 0 showing up under Latitude and Longitude, press Hide to leave GPSd running in the background. This is important because if GPSd isn’t running, Barbelo won’t be able to log any location data.

Now run Barbelo by selecting Menu -> Applications -> Barbelo.

As you can see, Barbelo has already found a network. The row of X’s below the network name corresponds to the signal strength. That’s great but we want to make sure we log this information. By default Barbelo doesn’t log anything. You must specifically select Options -> Start Log.

In the main Barbelo screen, you can use the Left and Right toggles to move between Scan, Map, and Debug screens.

I’m hoping the Barbelo developer might be intending to include a way to upload maps of your area in a future release as a map with nothing but a white background isn’t much of a map. At least it does show you where networks are in relation to each other and your current position.
If you go back to the Scan screen, you can scroll through the detected networks and press the Center toggle to see more information about that particular network.

Also of interest, if you leave Barbelo running in the background and switch back to GPSd, you can see that GPSd has now detected the fact that Barbelo is running, as indicated by the 1 under Clients.

Next, I went for a short drive to gather some data. When you’re finished gathering data, stop Barbelo from logging by selecting Options -> Stop Log.

You can now stop Barbelo by selecting Options -> Exit.

Don’t forget to stop GPSd as well. Switch back to GPSd and close it using the Right Soft Key to exit.

Ok, now that we’ve gathered some data, let’s do something interesting with it. Barbelo stores its logs in your phones mass memory at E:\barbelo\logs

Transfer the logs to your computer via Bluetooth or USB data cable. Luckily Barbelo saves its logs in the same XML format as Kismet so we can, for example, convert this data into a format suitable for Google Earth.
I found a handy perl script called kisgearth that does the job for us.

If you don’t have access to a Linux box, don’t worry. perl is also available for Windows. Watch for my future tutorial about running perl on Windows.

Converting the Barbelo log was as easy as running:

./kisgearth.pl -oN Barbelo-Oct-20-2008-1.kml -n 1 — Barbelo-Oct-20-2008-1.xml

kisgearth has a large number of options and filters. For a list, simply run kisgearth.pl without any parameters.
The output file from the above command is a Google Earth kml file. Open Google Earth and choose File -> Open, then browse to your recently converted kml file and open it. Here’s what it looked like for me:

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Once you have your wardriving data saved in a standard format, the possibilities of what you can do with it are virtually endless. I’ve included a copy of my Barbelo log if you would like something to play with. If you discover something interesting, please let us know in the comments below.

The post Wardriving with the Nokia N95 using Barbelo appeared first on Simple Help.

How to tether your Nokia N95s Internet connection to your laptop via USB in Linux

Ross McKillop — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:45:08 +0000

Sometimes you end up somewhere with your laptop where you just can’t find any open WiFi. Luckily you have a Nokia N95 and a USB data cable. I’m going to show you how to tether your N95 to your laptop via USB the quick and dirty command line way, as well as the prettier GUI way. In these examples I am running Fedora 9 and Gnome.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

Warning: You probably only want to do this if you have a decent data plan. Using 3G data can result in a very large bill!

You need have the ppp package and the wvdial package installed. If you don’t, you can simply run, as root in a terminal window, yum install ppp wvdial (or use the package manager for your Linux distro).
Start by plugging your phone into the computer with a USB data cable. When the phone prompts you to select the connection mode, select PC Suite.

Now open a terminal window and check your dmesg output. You should see something similar to the following:
[user@radon ~]$ dmesg
usb 4-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 16
usb 4-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
cdc_acm 4-2:1.10: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
usb 4-2: bad CDC descriptors
usb 4-2: bad CDC descriptors
usb 4-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0421, idProduct=0070
usb 4-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 4-2: Product: Nokia N95 8GB
usb 4-2: Manufacturer: Nokia

Note the line that says cdc_acm 4-2:1.10: ttyACM0: USB ACM device. This tells us that the phone’s modem is at /dev/ttyACM0.

Now we move on to the quick and dirty command line setup. Feel free to skip to the GUI setup below if you aren’t very comfortable with the command line.

Edit /etc/wvdial.conf and make it look like this:

Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 460800
SetVolume = 0
Dial Command = ATDT
Init1 = ATZ
Init3 = ATM0
FlowControl = CRTSCTS

[Dialer USB]
Username = user
Password = pass
Phone = *99***1#
Stupid Mode = 1
Init1 = ATZ
Inherits = Modem0

I’m using Rogers Wireless in Canada and the above is the minimum configuration that works for me. Literally Username = user and Password = pass. You may need to make changes to the Username, Password, and Phone lines. Contact your wireless provider for the correct details.
I also had to create a script called /etc/ppp/ip-up.local to make the automatic DNS configuration work. Here’s my ip-up.local:

#!/bin/bash
#

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
export PATH
echo “# created by pppd” > /etc/resolv.conf
echo “nameserver ${DNS1}” >> /etc/resolv.conf
echo “nameserver ${DNS2}” >> /etc/resolv.conf
chmod go+r /etc/resolv.conf

Don’t forget to chmod 755 /etc/ppp/ip-up.local

Unfortunately I have not been able to connect as a normal user in this configuration so you’ll have to connect as root.
[root@radon ~]# wvdial USB
–> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
–> Cannot get information for serial port.
–> Initializing modem.
–> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
–> Sending: ATM0
ATM0
OK
–> Modem initialized.
–> Sending: ATDT*99***1#
–> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99***1#
CONNECT
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}”}&} }*} } g}%~
–> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
–> Starting pppd at Sun Oct 19 16:48:56 2008
–> Pid of pppd: 8028
–> Using interface ppp0
–> local IP address 172.28.53.106
–> remote IP address 10.6.6.6
–> primary DNS address 207.181.101.4
–> secondary DNS address 207.181.101.5
I removed the lines containing unprintable characters, but otherwise you should see something very similar to above. Note that wvdial stays in the foreground. This is so you can disconnect by simply pressing Ctrl-C.
You can verify that you are online by switching to a new terminal window and running ifconfig.
[root@radon ~]# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:12767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:714652 (697.9 KiB) TX bytes:714652 (697.9 KiB)

ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
inet addr:172.28.53.106 P-t-P:10.6.6.6 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
RX bytes:64 (64.0 b) TX bytes:94 (94.0 b)

[root@radon ~]# ping simplehelp.net
PING simplehelp.net (74.52.95.42) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=110 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=102 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=3 ttl=46 time=164 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=4 ttl=46 time=130 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=5 ttl=46 time=149 ms
^C
— simplehelp.net ping statistics —
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4513ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 102.061/131.349/164.376/23.190 ms
Once you are finished online, don’t forget to switch back to the terminal where you ran wvdial and press Ctrl-C.
^CCaught signal 2: Attempting to exit gracefully…
–> Terminating on signal 15
–> Connect time 4.7 minutes.
–> Disconnecting at Sun Oct 19 18:24:32 2008

GUI Method

Now, if all that command line stuff scares you, here’s how to make it work using Gnome’s GUI:

Click System -> Administration -> Network

You will be asked to enter your root password. Enter it and click OK.

Now you can see a list of installed network devices. Click on the Hardware tab.

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Now click the New button, select Modem, and click OK.

Change the Modem Device to /dev/ttyACM0. If /dev/ttyACM0 is not available in the list, just type it in. Click OK.

Now click the Devices tab.

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Click the New button, select Modem connection, and click Forward.

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All I needed to do to make my Rogers Wireless connection work was enter *99***1# as the Phone Number, user as the Login Name, and pass as the Password. I also chose to name this connection USB. Click Forward.

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I left these options at their defaults. Click Forward.

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We’ve finished creating the connection. Click Apply.

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Click the X in the top right corner to close this window.

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Click Yes to save the changes.

Click OK. No, we won’t need to restart the computer.

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So, let’s use our newly created connection. Click System -> Administration -> Network Device Control.

Select the USB connection you just created and click Activate.

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Notice how the USB connection has changed from Inactive to Active.

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Open Firefox and visit http://www.simplehelp.net.

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When you are finished online, go back to the Network Device Control window, select the Active USB connection and click Deactivate.

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Verify that the USB connection is indeed Inactive, then close the Network Device Control window.

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Some of you may be wondering why I chose not to use Network Manager. It’s quite simply due to the fact that mobile broadband support in Network Manager is in it’s infancy and I found it to be virtually unusable. Once Network Manager’s mobile broadband support becomes better, I’ll rewrite this tutorial based on it.

The post How to tether your Nokia N95s Internet connection to your laptop via USB in Linux appeared first on Simple Help.

How to tether your Nokia N95s Internet connection to your laptop via Bluetooth in Linux

Ross McKillop — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:20:08 +0000

Sometimes you end up somewhere with your laptop where you just can’t find any open WiFi. Luckily you have a Nokia N95 and a Bluetooth adapter. I’m going to show you how to tether your N95 to your laptop via Bluetooth the quick and dirty command line way, as well as the prettier GUI way. In these examples I am running Fedora 9 and Gnome.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

Warning: You probably only want to do this if you have a decent data plan. Using 3G data can result in a very large bill!

The first thing you need to do is make sure your N95 is paired with your laptop. This is far easier than I expected. As long as you have the gnome-bluetooth package installed, it’s as simple as initiating the pairing from your phone and entering the same passkey on both the phone and the computer when prompted. You also need to have the ppp package and the wvdial package installed. If you don’t, you can simply run, as root in a terminal window, yum install ppp wvdial (or use whatever package manager comes w/ your Linux distro).
Now that both devices are paired, open a terminal window and run hcitool scan to discover your phones Bluetooth MAC address. This section applies to both the command line and GUI parts of this tutorial.
[user@radon ~]$ hcitool scan
Scanning …
00:22:66:9F:83:37 N95
Next we use sdptool to find out the channel for the Dial-Up Networking service.
[user@radon ~]$ sdptool browse 00:22:66:9F:83:37
Browsing 00:22:66:9F:83:37 …
Service Name: Dial-Up Networking
Service RecHandle: 0x1004a
Service Class ID List:
“Dialup Networking” (0x1103)
Protocol Descriptor List:
“L2CAP” (0x0100)
“RFCOMM” (0x0003)
Channel: 2
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
“Dialup Networking” (0x1103)
Version: 0x0100
There will probably be a few screens of output. I have only included the relevant part in the above example. Note that the Dial-Up Networking service is on channel 2.
Using your favorite text editor, as root, edit /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf and make it look like the following, substituting your phones MAC address and channel number.

#
# RFCOMM configuration file.
#

rfcomm0 {
bind yes;
device 00:22:66:9F:83:37;
channel 2;
}

Save your rfcomm.conf and exit your text editor.
As root, restart the bluetooth service:
[root@radon ~]# service Bluetooth restart
Stopping Bluetooth services: [ OK ]
Starting Bluetooth services: [ OK ]
We have now created a Bluetooth serial port at /dev/rfcomm0 that will be persistent through reboots. This is the port you will use as a “modem” during the rest of the configuration.

Now we move on to the quick and dirty command line setup. Feel free to skip to the GUI setup below if you aren’t very comfortable with the command line.

Command Line Method
GUI Method

Command Line Method

Edit /etc/wvdial.conf and make it look like this:

Modem = /dev/rfcomm0
Baud = 460800
SetVolume = 0
Dial Command = ATDT
Init1 = ATZ
Init3 = ATM0
FlowControl = CRTSCTS

[Dialer Bluetooth]
Username = user
Password = pass
Phone = *99***1#
Stupid Mode = 1
Init1 = ATZ
Inherits = Modem0

I’m using Rogers Wireless in Canada and the above is the minimum configuration that works for me. Literally Username = user and Password = pass. You may need to make changes to the Username, Password, and Phone lines. Contact your wireless provider for the correct details.
I also had to create a script called /etc/ppp/ip-up.local to make the automatic DNS configuration work. Here’s my ip-up.local:

#!/bin/bash
#

PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
export PATH
echo “# created by pppd” > /etc/resolv.conf
echo “nameserver ${DNS1}” >> /etc/resolv.conf
echo “nameserver ${DNS2}” >> /etc/resolv.conf
chmod go+r /etc/resolv.conf

Don’t forget to chmod 755 /etc/ppp/ip-up.local

Unfortunately I have not been able to connect as a normal user in this configuration so you’ll have to connect as root.
[root@radon ~]# wvdial Bluetooth
–> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
–> Cannot get information for serial port.
–> Initializing modem.
–> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK

–> Sending: ATM0
ATM0
OK
–> Modem initialized.
–> Sending: ATDT*99***1#
–> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99***1#
CONNECT
~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}”}&} }*} } g}%~
–> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
–> Starting pppd at Sun Oct 19 16:48:56 2008
–> Pid of pppd: 8028
–> Using interface ppp0
–> local IP address 172.28.53.106
–> remote IP address 10.6.6.6
–> primary DNS address 207.181.101.4
–> secondary DNS address 207.181.101.5
I removed the lines containing unprintable characters, but otherwise you should see something very similar to above. Note that wvdial stays in the foreground. This is so you can disconnect by simply pressing Ctrl-C.
You can verify that you are online by switching to a new terminal window and running ifconfig.
[root@radon ~]# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:12767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:714652 (697.9 KiB) TX bytes:714652 (697.9 KiB)

ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
inet addr:172.28.53.106 P-t-P:10.6.6.6 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
RX bytes:64 (64.0 b) TX bytes:94 (94.0 b)

[root@radon ~]# ping simplehelp.net
PING simplehelp.net (74.52.95.42) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=110 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=102 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=3 ttl=46 time=164 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=4 ttl=46 time=130 ms
64 bytes from 2a.5f.344a.static.theplanet.com (74.52.95.42): icmp_seq=5 ttl=46 time=149 ms
^C
— simplehelp.net ping statistics —
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4513ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 102.061/131.349/164.376/23.190 ms
Once you are finished online, don’t forget to switch back to the terminal where you ran wvdial and press Ctrl-C.
^CCaught signal 2: Attempting to exit gracefully…
–> Terminating on signal 15
–> Connect time 5.8 minutes.
–> Disconnecting at Sun Oct 19 16:54:48 2008

GUI Method

Now, if all that command line stuff scares you, here’s how to make it work using Gnome’s GUI:

Click System -> Administration -> Network

You will be asked to enter your root password. Enter it and click OK.

Now you can see a list of installed network devices. Click on the Hardware tab.

click to enlarge

Now click the New button, select Modem, and click OK.

Change the Modem Device to /dev/rfcomm0. If /dev/rfcomm0 is not available in the list, just type it in. Click OK.

Now click the Devices tab.

click to enlarge

Click the New button, select Modem connection, and click Forward.

click to enlarge

All I needed to do to make my Rogers Wireless connection work was enter *99***1# as the Phone Number, user as the Login Name, and pass as the Password. I also chose to name this connection Bluetooth. Click Forward.

click to enlarge

I left these options at their defaults. Click Forward.

click to enlarge

We’ve finished creating the connection. Click Apply.

click to enlarge

Click the X in the top right corner to close this window.

click to enlarge

Click Yes to save the changes.

Click OK. No, we won’t need to restart the computer.

click to enlarge

So, let’s use our newly created connection. Click System -> Administration -> Network Device Control.

Select the Bluetooth connection you just created and click Activate.

click to enlarge

Notice how the Bluetooth connection has changed from Inactive to Active.

click to enlarge

Open Firefox and visit http://www.simplehelp.net.

click to enlarge

When you are finished online, go back to the Network Device Control window, select the Active Bluetooth connection and click Deactivate.

click to enlarge

Verify that the Bluetooth connection is indeed Inactive, then close the Network Device Control window.

click to enlarge

Some of you may be wondering why I chose not to use Network Manager. It’s quite simply due to the fact that mobile broadband support in Network Manager is in it’s infancy and I found it to be virtually unusable. Once Network Manager’s mobile broadband support becomes better, I’ll rewrite this tutorial based on it.

The post How to tether your Nokia N95s Internet connection to your laptop via Bluetooth in Linux appeared first on Simple Help.

Installing and using Google Maps for Mobile on the Nokia N95

Ross McKillop — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:30:26 +0000

Considering how the N95 has a built-in GPS and the current version of Google Maps for Mobile supports it, I decided to give it a try. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the main Google Maps site. Google Maps for Mobile is an application written specifically to run on smartphones.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

Visit https://www.google.com/maps/ using the browser on your phone and select the Install Now link. I have included a Mobile Code below for your convenience.

Apparently the download is supposed to start automatically, but it didn’t for me. Instead I had to click on the direct link.

Choose OK to download.

Then choose Yes to install.

Choose Continue at the details screen.

Decide whether you would like to install Google Maps for Mobile to your Phone Memory or the Mass Memory.

At the Application Access screen select Continue.

You will have to accept the Terms and Conditions for Google Maps for Mobile.

Select OK when you see the disclaimer about not using Google Maps for Mobile while you are driving.

Seeing how Google Maps for Mobile is a network based applications, you will need to choose which network access point to use. I chose my local WiFi access point. If you decide to use your mobile phone providers 3G access point, make sure you have a decent data plan, otherwise you could end up with a pretty hefty bill at the end of your billing cycle.

Now you are at the main map. The map shows your current approximate location based on how many GPS satellites are visible. Location information will get better as your device sees more satellites. The initial GPS fix will likely take a while. Make sure you are outside and have an unobstructed view of the sky for better results.

The Map View is the default. Choose Options -> Satellite View to switch to an aerial photo of the area. Choose Options -> Map View to go back. You can toggle between the two views with 2 key. You can also pan around the map with the up, down, left, and right toggle buttons.

One neat feature of the current Google Maps for Mobile is My Location. At any time, press 0 to be shown exactly where you are on the map. The size of the blue shaded circle corresponds to the accuracy of the current GPS fix.

Now let’s navigate somewhere. Choose Options -> Directions

The default starting point is your current location. Select Choose End Point to select your destination.

I chose Enter An Address, then entered 919 Douglas.

Next, select Show Directions. Google Maps found a few locations matching the address I entered. It appears to be pretty smart though as the default option I was given was the location closest to me, which I selected.

The Driving Directions Summary appeared next. You can scroll up and down to read the text based directions.

Press # to see a map with the driving directions superimposed. Press 6 to step forward along the route, press 4 to step backwards. You can also press 3 to zoom in and 1 to zoom back out. Here are the steps.

Now let’s try searching for a place by name. Select Options -> Search. I chose to search for Christie’s Pub.

Another hit for Google Maps. It found the location I was looking for immediately. Choose Directions to here.

Now select Show Directions.

You are presented with a similar summary as above. Press # to see the directions superimposed on the map. Step through the directions by pressing 6 to move forward and 4 to move back.

Now that you’ve made it to Christie’s, feel free to wander in and offer to buy me a cold beverage if I happen to be around :)

The post Installing and using Google Maps for Mobile on the Nokia N95 appeared first on Simple Help.

How to monitor data usage in real time on the Nokia N95

Ross McKillop — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:30:56 +0000

mConnection is a handy little utility that displays a small window showing your data traffic usage and speed in real time. It stays on top of other windows so you always have this information available at a glance. This can be very useful for N95 users who are on a limited data plan.

Download mConnection (Update: link no longer valid)

Now that you have mConnection installed, you can find it by selecting Menu -> Applications -> mConnection.
Nothing very interesting so far because mConnection only shows its window when there’s an active data connection. Press Back a couple times and go to your Applications menu and start up the web browser. Notice in the small window at the top of the following screenshot that simply opening the Google home page has generated a bit of network traffic.

Now let’s do a search. Keep watching the mConnection window.

When Google detects that you are using a mobile phone browser, they default to mobile friendly web pages. If you scroll to the bottom of the page and click the HTML link you will be directed to the full web page. Notice the data usage climbing and the speed fluctuating as the page loads.

One thing I don’t like about mConnection is that it doesn’t show up in the task list. To get back to the main mConnection window, you have to press and hold the Menu key, then choose Standby.

Then select Menu -> Applications -> mConnection.

Now you’re back at the mConnection main screen and you can see which access point you are connected to, as well as the data usage stats for that connection. Right now you can see that I’m using the WiFi internet at Serious Coffee.

Perhaps you don’t like the placement or colors of the mConnection pop up window? That’s easy to change. Press Options -> Settings.

Highlight Window Settings and press Select. Note: you actually have to press Select, not the Center toggle.

Here we can change the Window Left Position, Window Top Position, Window Width, Window Height, and the Font.

You can see that my mConnection window is 100 pixels from the left and 3 pixels from the top. Knowing that the screen of the Nokia N95 is 240 pixels across the top and 320 pixels down the side, we can move the mConnection window to the bottom left by changing Window Left Position to 10 and Window Top Position to 300.

See how the mConnection window moved bottom left corner? I actually prefer mine in the top left corner, so I moved it to 10 pixels from the left and 3 pixels from the top. You can also change the window colors and font. Highlight Color Settings and press Select. Note: you actually have to press Select, not the Center toggle.

In this example I changed the Window Red and the Window Blue to 120. Color settings in mConnection are chosen according to their RGB values, or the amount of Red, Green, and Blue that you want in that particular color.

Next I changed both Text Red and Text Blue to 255. Text Green was already at 255. See how the text is now white on an ugly purple background?

Ok, enough of the ugly colors. I’ve gone back to the default colors for the remainder of this tutorial.
mConnection will monitor multiple data connections at once. Next I opened Opera Mini and allowed it to use my 3G data connection.

I selected the BBC web site from the Opera Bookmarks. Notice the data counters mConnection window.

Now press and hold the Menu button and select Standby.

Now select Menu -> Applications -> mConnection. You can see both of my active data connections being monitored.

To close mConnection, press Options -> Exit.

The post How to monitor data usage in real time on the Nokia N95 appeared first on Simple Help.

How to share the GPS in your N95 with your laptop via Bluetooth in Linux

Ross McKillop — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:30:31 +0000

This tutorial will guide you through the steps required to share your Nokia N95s built in GPS with your laptop, in Linux.

First you need to grab a copy of ExtGPS (Update: software no longer exists) Symarctic ExtGPS is free for personal, non-commercial use.
Now that you have ExtGPS installed, you can find it by choosing Menu -> Applications -> ExtGPS. You will be prompted to allow ExtGPS to use connectivity applications and to allow ExtGPS to use positioning data. Choose Yes for both.

It may take quite a while before the GPS starts to receive a valid signal and get a fix. Make sure you are outside and have a clear view of the sky. The satellite icon will change from red to green once it has a fix.

Make sure your phone is discoverable via Bluetooth. Choose Menu -> Tools -> Bluetooth. I chose to make my phone visible for 5 minutes.

The next few steps are done from the command line. Here’s what I had to do on my Fedora 9 system.
[user@radon ~]$ sdptool search SP
Inquiring …
Searching for SP on aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff …
Service Name: Data Transfer
Service Description: Version
Service RecHandle: 0x1000f
Service Class ID List:
“Serial Port” (0x1101)
Protocol Descriptor List:
“L2CAP” (0x0100)

Service Name: Symarctic ExtGPS
Service Description: Share phone’s built-in GPS module via Bluetooth
Service Provider: Symarctic Solutions
Service RecHandle: 0x10019
Service Class ID List:
“Serial Port” (0x1101)
Protocol Descriptor List:
“L2CAP” (0x0100)
“RFCOMM” (0x0003)
Channel: 5
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x656e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
The above output shows your phones Bluetooth MAC address, and that ExtGPS is exposing a serial port on Channel 5. We need to bind these together to make an entry in /dev.
[user@radon ~]$ sudo rfcomm bind 1 aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff 5
The rfcomm bind paramaters above are the rfcomm device number, the phone’s Bluetooth MAC address, and the channel number as reported by sdptool. This creates a serial port at /dev/rfcomm1.
At this point you should be able to stream raw NMEA sentences from your N95 directly to the console:
[user@radon ~]$ sudo cat /dev/rfcomm1
$GPGGA,022314.000,4826.67566,N,12322.19605,W,1,07,1.9,13.7,M,-18.3,M,,*52
$GPGLL,4826.67566,N,12322.19605,W,022314.000,A,A*4A
$GPGSA,A,3,30,29,10,21,24,26,15,,,,,,2.9,1.9,2.2*3D
$GPGST,022314.000,8.8,13.0,6.1,65.6,7.1,11.1,14.0*63
$GPGSV,3,1,11,05,09,179,,02,10,072,25,30,28,194,38,29,77,118,42*72
$GPGSV,3,2,11,10,42,059,36,16,24,315,27,21,45,256,43,24,84,024,40*79
$GPGSV,3,3,11,18,14,198,,26,10,114,38,15,09,128,33*49
$GPRMC,022314.000,A,4826.67566,N,12322.19605,W,0.1,159.6,151008,18.1,W,A*3B
$GPVTG,159.6,T,177.7,M,0.1,N,0.3,K,A*2C
^C

While the NMEA sentences are streaming to the console, the Bluetooth icon in ExtGPS should change from red to green.

We’re now connected so let’s do something a bit more useful. First, let’s run gpsd on the computer.
[user@radon ~]$ sudo /usr/sbin/gpsd -N /dev/rfcomm1

The -N paramater tells gpsd not to switch to background mode. I prefer doing it this way as I don’t leave gpsd running all the time. I only run it when I want to use it, then just hit ^C to close it. See the gpsd man page for more options.
Now, from a second terminal window, try running xgps.
[user@radon ~]$ xgps

You should see something similar to the following:

click to enlarge

xgps is showing the usual GPS data. Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Speed, etc.
There are a number of applications available in Linux that can take advantage of a GPS device. I like using a combination of Kismet and GPSDrive while wardriving. If there is enough interest, I’ll write a tutorial on how I wardrive with Kismet and GPSDrive.

The post How to share the GPS in your N95 with your laptop via Bluetooth in Linux appeared first on Simple Help.

How to install applications on your N95 from a local web server

Ross McKillop — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:30:11 +0000

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?

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

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.i386

If 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 Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

==================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
==================================================
httpd i386 2.2.9-1.fc9 updates-newkey 975 k

Transaction 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:

click to enlarge

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/shared

Now visit http://127.0.0.1/shared/ in your browser and you should see an empty directory similar to the following:

click to enlarge

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.

The post How to install applications on your N95 from a local web server appeared first on Simple Help.

How to turn your N95 into a wireless access point

Ross McKillop — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:30:02 +0000

This tutorial will guide you through turning your Nokia N95 into a WiFi (wireless) access point. No more tethering via USB or Bluetooth. Using JoikuSpot Light, a totally free utility that works well as long as you only need to use HTTP and HTTPS protocols, you’ll be up and surfing in no time. You’ll have to go with JoikuSpot Premium if you need POP3, SMTP, etc.

Warning: You probably only want to do this if you have a decent data plan. Using 3G data can result in a very large bill, particularly if you live in Canada.

You’ll have to use your computer to visit the JoikuSpot Light product page (Update: download page/software no longer exists), where you will select your phone model, then click Download. Save the JoikuSpot Light installation file to a directory on your hard drive, then install it on your phone. See my recent tutorials on installing software on your N95 via USB or installing software on your N95 via Bluetooth.
Now that you have JoikuSpot Light installed, you can find it by selecting Menu -> Applications > JoikuSpot.

Next you are prompted to allow sharing your internet connection with other devices.

Select No. We want to change some settings first. You will end up at the JoikuSpot main screen.

In the default configuration, JoikuSpot does not use any sort of encryption. You will want to change this. Select Options -> Settings.

This is where we can make changes to things like the Network Name, the default Access Point to use, and the Encryption options. Scroll down to Encryption and select Options -> Change.

Unfortunately WPA is not an option. You can only choose WEP Open or WEP Shared. At least WEP is marginally better than no encryption at all and will stop others from connecting to your network accidentally.
Lets try WEP Open.
Now scroll down and set the encryption key type, the length, and the key itself. In this example I chose to use a 128 bit ASCII key.

Notice that a random key was generated automatically. Lets change this to something easier to remember. Scroll down to Encryption Key and select Options -> Change. In this example I changed the key to NokiaN95Rocks.

Now select Back to go back to the main JoikuSpot screen, then choose Options -> Start to start sharing.

You will be prompted to allow sharing your internet connection. Select Yes.

Now select your 3G access point.

JoikuSpot starts and your N95 is now acting as a WiFi Access Point.

Press the Right toggle to see the status of the connection. Scroll down one page to see the Encryption Key being used. This is the key that you will enter on your computer when you connect to your phones shared connection.

Now set the phone down and go over to the computer. On the computer, select Connect To A Network and you should see your JoikuSpot access point listed. You may have to click the refresh button.

click to enlarge

Select your JoikuSpot access point and click Connect. You will be prompted to enter the same encryption key as you entered on your phone.

click to enlarge

Assuming you entered the key correctly, you should successfully connect. In this example I chose to save this network connection for future use.

click to enlarge

You should now notice that the Network Connection icon in your system tray indicates Local Access Only.

Not to worry. Open up a browser, preferably Firefox, and you will see an advertisement for JoikuSpot Premium.

click to enlarge

You can safely ignore this advertisement and just click the Home icon in Firefox. You are now on the Internet.

click to enlarge

It may take a little while for Windows to notice that your wireless connection has changed from Local Only to Local and Internet.

If you look at the screen on your N95, you should see your computer listed on the Clients tab in JoikuSpot.

Enjoy surfing, but don’t forget to shut down JoikuSpot when you’re finished. Select Options -> Stop.

JoikuSpot is no longer sharing your 3G internet.

The post How to turn your N95 into a wireless access point appeared first on Simple Help.

Generating an RSA Key Pair for Use with PuTTY on the N95

Ross McKillop — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:30:01 +0000

As I started my tutorial on adding fonts to PuTTY on the N95, I very quickly decided that having to enter a user name and password every time I logged in was taking too long. So I generated an RSA key pair with a blank pass phrase just to save time. Don’t worry, of course I deleted the key pair as soon as I was finished. The last thing I need is to lose my phone and have some stranger logging into my server!

Note: this procedure is not specific to just the N95, nor is it only specific to Linux. I use Linux in my examples because I’m not a Windows user. The procedure described below on how to generate RSA keys can be adapted to puttygen.exe on Windows.

Here is what I did on the Linux box first:
[user@radon ~]$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa):
Created directory ‘/home/user/.ssh’.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
79:8a:08:bd:fb:da:71:59:f4:28:e6:c3:01:12:5a:69 user@radon.example.com

[user@radon ~]$ cd .ssh/
[user@radon .ssh]$ ls
id_rsa id_rsa.pub known_hosts
[user@radon .ssh]$ cat id_rsa.pub > authorized_keys
[user@radon .ssh]$ chmod 644 authorized_keys

The chmod command above is very important. Your authorized_keys file must only be writable by you. If is is group writable sshd will refuse to use it.
This step is also very important! Next you must convert your OpenSSH private key into PuTTY’s SSH-2 key format. I initially tried using the OpenSSH private key itself, not realizing that PuTTY couldn’t read it properly. It took a bit of digging to figure out why it wasn’t working. Who knew that PuTTY, OpenSSH, and ssh.com’s implementations of SSH-2 keys were so different?

[user@radon .ssh]$ puttygen id_rsa -o id_rsa.ppk
Next, I plugged my N95 into my laptop with a USB cable and copied id_rsa.ppk to a temp folder on the phone’s mass memory.
Now, fire up PuTTY on your N95 and choose Options -> Edit -> General, then add the remote host name or address, as well as your user name.

Next, press the Right toggle once to move to the next screen. This is where you select your Private Key. Follow the sequence outlined in the screenshots below to see how I chose E:\temp\id_rsa.ppk.

Press Back twice to go back to the main PuTTY screen, then press Options -> Connect and you are now connected without needing a password.

The post Generating an RSA Key Pair for Use with PuTTY on the N95 appeared first on Simple Help.

How to install additional fonts for PuTTY on the N95

Ross McKillop — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:30:04 +0000

Now that you have PuTTY installed on your Nokia N95, it’s time to add additional fonts. The default font works fine for me, but others may want something a little larger or smaller.

Please note: This guide was initially published back in 2008 and some of the software it references may have changed since then.

The font pack can be found at the PuTTY for Symbian OS Sourceforge project page. I downloaded Font Pack version 1.5, the latest version at the time of writing. Save this zip file to your hard drive and unpack it. The font pack contains nine additional fonts, all packaged as individual sisx files. This is convenient as you can choose to only install the fonts that you like. I have installed all nine of them and show you what they look like. If you are not familiar with the procedure required to install things on your N95, please see my recent tutorials on installing software on your N95 via USB or installing software on your N95 via Bluetooth.

Note: You must choose to install the fonts in the same location as you installed PuTTY. That is, if PuTTY was installed to your Phone Memory, then you must install the fonts to your Phone Memory. The same applies if you installed PuTTY to your Mass Memory.

After installing the fonts, start PuTTY. Now choose Options -> Edit -> Display.

Note that the current font is fixed6x13. Let’s change that to 4×6 and see what it looks like. Select Back twice to return to the main PuTTY screen and connect to a remote host. Wow is that ever small!

Let’s log out and try 6×13. Again, use the same method as above to change the font.

6×13 Bold

7×14

8×13

9×15

9×18

9×18 Bold

10×20

There you have it, nine additional fonts for PuTTY on the N95. I personally think some of them are far too large to be all that useful on such a small screen but others may disagree.

The post How to install additional fonts for PuTTY on the N95 appeared first on Simple Help.

How to edit Text Files on the N95

Ross McKillop — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:30:33 +0000

The built in text viewer on the N95 works fine for viewing text files but recently I have wanted to be able to edit rather than just view them. Copying a file to my laptop, editing it, then copying it back to the phone seemed silly to me so I stated Googling and came across DEdit. I expected something similar to Windows Notepad but I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. DEdit is a far better text editor than Notepad! Juriy Bakunin was definitely thinking when he wrote this one!

The latest version of DEdit at the time of writing is 0.75 and can be downloaded directly from ~~here~~ (Update: software no longer available). If you aren’t familiar with installing applications on your N95, please see my tutorials on installing software via USB or installing software via Bluetooth, then come back.

Once you have DEdit installed, you can find it by choosing Menu -> Applications -> DEd.

DEdit defaults to editing a new, blank file. You will immediately understand why I was impressed as soon as you press the Menu button in DEdit.

What I wanted to do was edit my httpd.conf and my users.txt after installing Apache on my N95. Watch for my upcoming Apache on the N95 tutorial. Press Menu -> Open/Save, then choose Open File.

The default is for DEdit to browse your phones C: drive.

Seeing how I’m editing Apache configuration files, I navigated to Data -> apache -> conf.

Open httpd.conf and you’re ready to start editing.

Basic edits are as simple as scrolling around the document and typing using the same method as you use for sending SMS messages. Saving is as simple as using the Center toggle button.
All functions of the editor can be found in the menu, but you may notice certain functions have what appear to be shortcuts listed next to them. For example, open the menu and choose Search and Replace.

Notice the [g7], [g8] and [g9] listed to the right of each function? This stands for Green-7, Green-8, and Green-9 respectively. Green is your phones Send button. So if we want to search the httpd.conf for the Servername directive, simple press Green-7, enter Servername, and select OK. DEdit jumps down to the first line containing the word Servername. Green-8 jumps to the next line containing the word Servername, etc.

It doesn’t take too long to get used to DEdit and its shortcuts. If you read the readme_en.txt file that comes in the zip file you downloaded above, you will find a few extra shortcuts that aren’t listed in the menu. I strongly suggest reading it.

The features in DEdit are too plentiful to list all of them here. A couple of my personal favorites include:

You can open multiple files and switch back and forth between them

There is a history of open files so you can easily go back to the last file you were editing

You can bookmark your position (up to 128 of them!) within a file so you can easily return to where you left off in your edits.

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Replace the default S60 Calculator with Enhanced Calculator

Ross McKillop — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:30:50 +0000

So far I really like my N95. However, I have found at least one shortcoming. The calculator it comes with is terrible! See for yourself:

Lucky for us there is a better calculator available from Nokia. The Enhanced Calculator For S60.

All of the basic mathematical operations can now be accessed quickly and easily using the standard navigation keys. Enhanced Calculator For S60 is more than just a basic calculator though. It has three modes of operation. The standard calculator, a scientific calculator, and a loan calculator.
To change to the scientific calculator, press Options, then choose Scientific Calculator.

Similarly, to use the loan calculator, press Options, then choose Loan Calculator.

The loan calculator is rather interesting. It can calculate your monthly installment, the interest rate, the loan amount, or the loan period. All you have to do is define three of the four fields, highlight the fourth empty field, then select Calculate.
In this example I chose to borrow $4000 over 36 months with an interest rate of 5.6%. The result is a monthly payment of $120.96. Hint: To insert a decimal, press * and select the decimal symbol.

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How to convert and watch DivX movies on the Nokia N95

Ross McKillop — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:30:45 +0000

If you like watching movies, you can take them with you and watch them on your N95. One easy way to do it is to convert your movies to a format that DivX Mobile will play. In this tutorial I use mencoder on Linux to convert a movie to XviD. XviD is an open source MPEG-4 video codec. The DivX player plays XviD files very well. I will also provide links to the Windows and Mac DivX Mobile bundles which include a special version of the DivX Converter for Mobile.

First things first, let’s install DivX Mobile on the phone. You can download a copy from the DivX site (Update: software no longer available). Use the Symbian OS S60 3rd Edition link. If you aren’t familiar with installing applications on your N95, see my tutorials on Installing Applications on the N95 via USB or Installing Applications on the N95 via Bluetooth. I have also included a Mobile Code that you can use to install DivX Mobile directly over the air.

Now that you have DivX Mobile installed, run it my choosing Menu -> Applications -> DivX Player.

DivX Mobile comes with two demo videos. Select a video and choose Options -> Play to watch it.

Watching movies this way is OK, but I’d rather watch it full screen and rotated 90 degrees. In order to do this properly, we first need to change the Default Mode settings from Rotate Left to Rotate Right, otherwise when we go full screen, the movie will be upside down. Choose Options -> Settings then select Default Mode and press the Center Button one to change the Default Mode to Rotate Right.

Now select Back to go back to your movie list. Select Options -> Play to start the movie. While the movie is playing, select Options -> Fullscreen.

At any time during playback you can seek forward and back using the left and right toggles. The longer you hold the toggle down, the further it seeks. One thing that I found counter-intuitive is the fact that the usual volume up and down buttons have no affect. Instead, the volume is controlled with the up and down toggles.
So watching the demo movies over and over is probably rather boring. Instead, lets encode a movie that we have already ripped to the hard drive from a DVD that we legally purchased. The DivX people recommend a video bitrate of 300 kbps, an audio rate of 128 kbps, a frame size of 320×240, and a frame rate of 24 or 30 fps. The following mencoder command worked for me:

mencoder -srate 44100 INPUT.avi -vf scale=320:-3 -ovc xvid -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=128 -xvidencopts bitrate=300 -ofps 24 -o OUTPUT.avi
I used this command to convert The Bucket List which is approximately 1 hour and 37 minutes long. The output file is approximately 284 MB. With a file of this size, I strongly suggest using a USB connection to copy it to your phone. It would take far too long over Bluetooth.

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