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Here I plan on listing all of the hardware/software I have and how to get it working under Ubuntu/Kubuntu. The information is based on threads from www.ubuntuforums.org , other wiki-pages and my own experimenting. Some of the entries are dated, please inform me if you find any errors.

Various Hardware

Canon i850 Printer (usb)

The Canon BJC-7000 driver is the easy solution, just choose it from the K->System Settings->Printing->Add new printer menu, but for the best results use the following recipe to use Canon's drivers.

( based mainly on http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=10540&highlight=i850 )

You will need alien installed (converts rpm files to deb) and wget (downloads the rpms) and libpng and libtiff3g. Unfortunately libtiff3g is not available in the normal Dapper repositories so we have to add a line to our /etc/apt/sources.list.

sudo echo "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary universe" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install alien wget libpng3 libtiff3g
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libpng.so.3 /usr/lib/libpng.so.2

After this is done you should remove the last line from your /etc/apt/sources.list to prevent problems. Currently you need to download rpms and convert to deb-packages to get this printer working. Get the necessary files:

wget ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/bjfiltercups-2.2-1.i386.rpm
wget ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/bjfilterpixus850i-2.2-1.i386.rpm

Then you can convert the files with the following commands:

sudo alien -c bjfilterpixus850i-2.2-1.i386.rpm
sudo alien bjfiltercups-2.2-1.i386.rpm

Install the deb packages:

sudo dpkg -i bjfilterpixus850i_2.2-2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i bjfiltercups_2.2-2_i386.deb

You will need to restart CUPS to see the drivers in the list, run the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

Now add the printer, in Gnome this is done via System > System Settings > Printing or in KDE via System Settings > Printing. The printer is listed as Canon (brand( and PIXUS-850i (model). Print a test page to ensure it works.

Takushi Miyoshi Repository

Takushi Miyoshi has Debian and Ubuntu Edgy packages in his repository. The Debian packages seem to work fine on Ubuntu Dapper (the Edgy packages need a libc6 version not in Dapper). (MartijnVermaat)

Thanks Martijn, I can confirm that the packages install and work in Kubuntu Gutsy, but I was only able to add the printer via http://localhost:631 and not the Printers tool in KDE, as the drivers did not show up in the latter. Tried running "foomatic-cleanupdrivers" and restart cups, but it did not help. Anyone have any ideas why this is?

Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 2515 and Sound (snd-hda-intel, ICH8 Family)

After some upgrades sound has disappeared, the latest fix was to edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and comment out or remove any other line with "snd-hda-intel model" and replace with:

options snd-hda-intel model=3stack enable=yes
options snd-hda-intel model=auto position_fix=1 enable=yes

After a reboot sound should work again.

Sony Ericsson W810i sync with usb cable (Hardy Heron)

( I have added an entry to the OpenSync-list of working device: http://www.opensync.org/wiki/SE_w810i )

Success! Note that these tools depend on a lot of packages, unfortunately I forgot to note which ones were needed. Add later.

I followed the instructions from http://www.kenny-d.com/2007/09/04/sync-sony-ericsson-w810i-to-evolution/

msynctool --addgroup W810_to_KDE
msynctool --addmember W810_to_KDE kdepim-sync
msynctool --addmember W810_to_KDE syncml-obex-client
msynctool --configure W810_to_KDE 2

(use configuration found in the link above, including commenting out Notes-database, or you will have to
add "--filter-objtype note"-parameter to the command below)

msynctool --sync W810_to_KDE

That is it!

Legacy-links (maybe useful for someone): http://www.williambrownstreet.net/wordpress/?p=27#more-27 http://www.nabble.com/irmc-(with-0.22),-Cannot-connect-via-OBEX-td15359663.html

Fingerprint scanner on HP-Compaq 8510w

Add the PPA-repository to get the packages needed:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/madman2k/ubuntu hardy main restricted universe multiverse

Install:

sudo apt-get install fprint-demo libpam-fprint libfprint

Run fprint_demo to enroll ("register") your fingers and make sure you get consistent results/matches. Activate using your finger for identification by having these lines in /etc/pam.d/common-auth

auth    sufficient    pam_fprint.so
auth    required      pam_unix.so nullok_secure

Networking equipment and programs

SSH slow to ask for password

When logging in to a server via SSH it will usually take about 10 seconds before the password-prompt is shown. It seems there are mainly two possible reasons for this behaviour.

Client-side

At the time of writing the first link from a google search goes to a page with a non-working fix. To be nice I submitted a correction to http://onlyubuntu.blogspot.com/2007/04/fix-for-ssh-slow-to-ask-for-password-in.html (I'll remove this after they update their article)

Joey Stanford over at answers.launchpad.net has the correct solution, though: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/9146

Here is the line you have to add to /etc/ssh_config:

GSSAPIAuthentication no

Server-side

The problem might stem from incorrectly configured DNS on the server or trouble resolving reverse records. To circumvent this you can disable DNS-lookup for SSH by adding the following line to /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

UseDNS no

SSH-sessions timeout if idle

I got disconnected from my SSH-sessions if I did not type anything often enough, like once a minute or so. Oddly enough this behaviour only occured when connecting from home, where I'm on a DSL-line, and never when connecting from our company's office..The solution was to add the following line to /etc/ssh/ssh_config

ServerAliveInterval 5

PPTP-issues with KVpnc in Intrepid

The repositories only have version 0.9.0 of KVpnc, but that version has an annoying bug that makes it impossible to disconnect a PPTP-connection or quit KVpnc if there's an open PPTP-connection. This forces you to kill the KVpnc process, start KVpnc again and attempt to connect - which fails, but effectively disconnects your existing connection. The solution is to download version 0.9.1 from http://home.gna.org/kvpnc/en/download.html

Pidgin over a PPTP-connection

When using a VPN-client, like KVpnc, Pidgin will be unable to connect to MSN and other protocols. Lowering the MTU solves this, in my case I changed it from 1492 to 1400. Some suggest using the alternate "http method" of connecting with Pidgin when using a VPN-connection, and it's worth a try if you still have problems, but for me it did nothing.

Ralink Wireless Card w/WPA

This card is supported out-of-the-box in Dapper Drake, and what is even better is that the card's driver supports WPA! Yup, no need to use WPA_supplicant, but you will need to use a GUI that supports WPA (for example KWlan) or make the following changes to /etc/network/interfaces:

auto ra0
iface ra0 inet dhcp
pre-up iwconfig ra0 essid "youressid"
pre-up iwconfig ra0 mode managed
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set Channel=6
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set AuthMode=WPAPSK
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set EncrypType=TKIP
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set WPAPSK="yourpassword"
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set TxRate=0
ifup ra0

The changes you will have to make is to essid and WPAPSK and Channel, but also possibly to EncrypType if you use AES. This setup will make you automatically connect to the specified network on boot, to connect to it now without rebooting issue the following commands:

sudo ifdown ra0
sudo ifup ra0

Congratulations, you should now be connected to your WPA-encryptd wireless network!

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