Have been helping people out with their FreeRADIUS deployments (usually for hotspots). As a result, I’ve started a little collection of Freeradius packages that I’ve built for Ubuntu. FreeRadius is available from the repositories but what you get sometimes is not the latest and greatest. I’m putting my builds up for download so that someone else doesn’t have to go through the stress of compiling. 

These were compiled using version 2.1.6 of Freeradius.

Hardy amd64

• freeradius-dbg_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius-dialupadmin_2.1.6-0_all.deb
• freeradius-iodbc_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius-krb5_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius-ldap_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius-mysql_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius-postgresql_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb
• freeradius_2.1.6-0_amd64.deb

I’m getting really sleepy so I’ll add some more builds tomorrow. Coming soon, instructions on how to build your own packages.

Update: i386 builds for Hardy are also up. i386 builds for Karmic
will follow shortly.

If you happen to manage a hotspot that uses Freeradius with the sql module for authentication, you might want to pay attention. The default queries used by Freeradius sql module are case-insensitive. So if user “kwame” is successfully authenticated, another user “Kwame” can also successfully autheticate. And so can (more…)

I like Ubuntu. I like being able to tweak the bits off my desktop environment. However, I also happen to like the MintMenu, the menu applet that is set up as the default for Linux Mint, a linux distro based on Ubuntu. Of course, this being Linux and all, I just had to install it.

• First, you need to download it(~99kb).

(more…)

Anyone who’s ever tried to customize the Usplash theme that comes with Ubuntu knows that it’s a bit of pain. And if you’re trying to create your own theme, things just get a bit more difficult.

Enter Splashy, a boot splash manager with some very flexible features. One of the thing I like about it is that it does require any kernel patching and runs completely in userspace. And it supports 8bit, 16bit and 24bit framebuffers and TrueType fonts. Even better, its ridiculously easy to create themes for Splashy. (more…)

I use a Dell Dimension 3000 at home. It has a 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 so it generates a  bit of heat and power usage. I generally tend to enable CPU frequency scaling on any computer I use. (more…)

If you’ve ever had to reinstall Windows on a computer, be it yours or someone else’s, you probably know that boot disks can be rather useful things to have around. The best kind are the Windows 98 boot disks (IMHO); they fit onto one floppy and give you access to the cdrom even if the computer’s BIOS doesn’t support booting from cdrom.

So what do you do when you need to reinstall Windows and the computer your’re working is a tiny laptop with no floppy, no cdrom and a serious malware overdose? (more…)

I was trying to install Beryl on a friend’s machine earlier today and I run into a few speed bumps. Beryl would exit immediately I started it and gave me this message:

/usr/bin/compiz: GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap is missing
/usr/bin/compiz: Failed to manage screen: 0
/usr/bin/compiz: No manageable screens found on display :0.0

(more…)

Warning: This can brick your router. Goes without saying, I will not take responsibility for whatever havoc you wreak. You have been warned. If you use your router for internet access, tt’s best to have an alternative method of getting online. You have been warned!

I have a Meraki mini I’ve been playing around with. I’m running OpenWRT Kamikaze 7.06 on it and I love it. It’s very flexible piece of hardware and comes with an 8mb flash and 32mb of RAM, which is more than enough for the stuff I run on it. The only annoying thing is the lack of a web interface. (more…)