How to install 1385:5f01 Netgear WPN111 (ar5523 driver)

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 1385:5f01 Netgear, Inc WPN111 (no firmware)

If you have the above device or a usb wifi dongle that requires ar5523 driver, you can try the commands and packages I've documented in order to make it work.

The weird thing with this device is that the firmware adds +1 to its ID. If you look at the code (SVN repository), you'll see that it's registered as "1385:5f00".

How to install the device driver
1. Install this package, depending on the version of ubuntu you may have:

• 12.04 (precise pangolin): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppap1_all.deb
• 11.10 (oneiric ocelot): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppao1_all.deb
• 11.04 (natty narwhal): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppan1_all.deb

2. Execute the following commands, copy-paste them one by one:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic module-assistant
sudo m-a a-i ar5523-source
wget http://verein.lst.de/~hch/ar5523.tgz
tar xvf ar5523.tgz ar5523/uath-ar5523.bin --strip 1
sudo mv uath-ar5523.bin /lib/firmware

3. Restart your computer and replug your usb dongle. Hopefully it works. :)


Source(s):

• http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ar5523
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1012812
• http://forum.ubuntu-gr.org/viewtopic.php?p=229452#p229452
• http://forum.ubuntu-gr.org/viewtopic.php?p=229667#p229667

Bigger is better.. computer-wise!

Bigger is better when it comes to bits, and a really small difference to the bits addresses can make an enormous difference, although there might be some physical restrictions in order to realise some dreamy performances and capacities.

After reading this post, a very, very informative post about getting your 32-bit Ubuntu to work with more than 4GiB memory, I got a question born.. so how is all this limited? I soon dug a bit deeper about 32-bit and 64-bit differences (reading freak that I am) and got to this wikipedia article.

Logically back in the 1980's, when the first personal computers were being developed, the processors were 16-bit and 24-bit. Their memory limitation is easy to be calculated: 2¹⁶ (or 2^16, a short form without the use of superscript), likewise for 24-bit processors - they could support up to 2^24 bytes of RAM memory, so we have up to 64KiB (kibibytes) and 16MiB (mebibytes) RAM limitation respectively. Then came the 32-bit processors which could hold up to 4GiB of memory addresses.

In the meantime, Intel developed an extension called "Physical Address Extension", which in short terms it allowed 32-bit processors to use up to 36 bits, i.e. 2^36 = 64GiB (Gibibytes). A very vast improvement!

With the appearance of 64-bit processors it is possible to virtually use a really huge amount of RAM of 2^64 = 16 EiB (exbibytes or "exabytes"), but nowadays the problem is physical, as we can't produce such big amounts of memory - yet! Maybe in the near future, who knows. All I know is that I won't be the first person to test this exa-beast :)

To sum up, bytes do matter - vast colossal difference for just a few more bytes!

Note: During the writing of this post, I've learnt about the difference of Gigabyte (1000^3) and Gibibyte (1024^3), so I decided to respect the 2,4% difference and the correct use of GiB and KiB respectively using the IEC standard instead of SI :)

Computers: Donated OLPC laptops used for porn browsing

It might be old news but it's a damn good "event" (I think the pic on the right is Reuters'). It looks like we finally brought the joys of the internet to those less fortunate as said by a user at Slashdot. Children from Abuja were found (no evidence whatsoever) to be using the donated OLPC's laptop (One laptop per child) for browsing adult websites. As soon as the developers heard about this (expected from the public) event, they held back the laptops and are preparing for heavy censorship using filters.
Maybe they haven't succeeded so much in providing the less fortunate ones with the "great stuff" of the Wild West by presenting their OLPC project. I frankly believe it's a waste of time and money to bring laptops to those who in a great percentage will not appreciate it and will use it for such events. I mean hey, they it free of charge and you go breaking its good reputation and the hard work people put on this mega-sized project! Check out a lovely "internet is for porn" at youtube :)

Bittorrent: Download 24/7 with your PC turned off!

Yep, I couldn't believe it either. Introducing the almighty HTTP, FTP and BitTorrent downloader: WMU-6500FS. OvisLink AirLive have really surprised me when I heard about this one. You can install any 3.5" SATA or IDE Hard Drive and instantly share it on the network. There's a ton of LED indicators which tell you about the status of several actions/status.

The Inquirer have tested it in their "labs", took it apart and presented it to the public. The cost is said to be about $100, which is worth every penny!

Gadgets: Chumby

Weird name, kind of remarkable for a gadget of its powers. I guess the name comes from chubby chum; it is "fat" if you look at the pictures and it will become your friend eventually, a gadget you'll be able to carry anywhere! Anyway, Chumby is (if not one of the most expected) one of the soon expected gadgets on the market. Why should you grab one? A number of reasons... which we don't know yet (bad website).
Chumby is linux-based, hence it uses (or will use) open source software, so all you hackers out there should really take into consideration into grabbing one of these, from what I found out by a friend, it's going to be fun working with and programming Chumby.
You can be informed the moment Chumby hits the market here. Under the "stay tuned" headline there's a box to fill your email and as they state "Don't worry… we won't share your email address with anyone. Your privacy is respected".

Sum-up: I'd be thrilled to have a gadget like this, the problem is the cost; $150-$200 (plus shipping&handling I guess) is a bit high for me.

Personal score: 8/10 (the price blew the 10!)

Chumby's website
Meet their team
Pictures of chumby

Computers: Everything you need to know about DVD discs

I know it's the age of blu-ray and HD-DVD, but here is a list of a *lot* of questions around DVD discs. It gives a lot of thorough information about the discs themselves, where can you buy such discs, players that support them and pay attention to the differences of the 5 types (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM). On the other hand, Webopedia's is the alternative guide I'd recommend.

Have fun reading!
"Learning is experience. Everything else is just information." -- Albert Einstein

Xbox 360: A problem that costs some billion dollars

Xbox 360 faced some hardware failures during this past year, and it looks like Bill Gates and his associates have been too "easy" when they were testing it. They couldn't detect the crash named "Red ring of death" or RROD; It constantly reminds me of the frequent BSODs (Blue Screen of Death) that I used to get on Windows 98 and Windows XP.

There's nothing more beautiful than a nice warranty, and it looks like M$ has extended it for all its customers due to the above named error. An extra. If I had a faulty game console (which I don't), I'd be requesting my money back, or file a nice law-suit for inappropriate testing; But hey, that's just me flaming some ugly hardware/software Windows-like activity. Speaking of Windows-like, isn't it weird Microsoft has the problems related to Windows on other products?! It sure makes me happy I'm over at the free side (ubuntu.com).

Come to think of it, no wonder Microsoft wants to make a pax romana deal with Linux distros (distributions, linux-based operating systems, "derivatives").

Well anyway, I wish Microsoft all the best in paying up and releasing in public that million-dollar fix (and they of course denied to reveal the source of the problem) :)

Blu-ray: The blue (r)evolution

Go to amazon.com and hit a search for blu-ray. You'll find some of the new discs that have 25GB in digital size and weigh only some grams :) Oh what would I do with a blu-ray burner.. The bad side? Their price (mysimon.com)!

For a price so high I would buy myself a new computer with all the sexy new features & speed rather than spend it on one piece of hardware. Yes, I agree, it is lovely it has 25GB or 50GB (double-sided), but I can and WILL suffice to a bunch of DVDs rather than spend it on ONE thing; well at least for now. I bet the price will fall several hundred dollars by 2008, since it might be the new standard for digital data. I don't mind waiting for some months until the merchants realise that the price set for blu-ray drives is SCARING customers!

HD-DVD? Same thing. I believe high definition DVDs will be the standard for digital media, films for example (a lot of companies have started to give out their films in HD-DVD). But I'm not the crowd pleaser nor a politician to drive the madness towards the one or the other product end. Let's leave it for the world to decide.

If you have a lot of money to spend on such expensive items, then why not consider a donation on my behalf to help me go on with my studies/blog or some other foundations, i.e. The Red Cross?

You don't even have to pay: