Linux Laptop Wireless (cont.)

Earlier post I described how with Live Simply MEPIS 6.0 CD I managed to boot Linux on my Laptop and access Internet via wireless connection to my ADSL modem/router. Unfortunately after initial success this stopped working. Not sure why, but I had been trying other Linux Live CDs and perhaps
this was cause?

Anyway I visited
http://www.mepis.org


and downloaded the ftp://ftp.ukc.mirrorservice.org/sites/mepis.org/testing/SimplyMEPIS-CD_6.5.rc3_32.iso

built CD with Nero and booted up lap top.

Internet access did not work, not surprising as wireless needs WEP key. Therefore do the following

1. Choose main KDE tab,


2. Systems Settings,


3. Internet & Networking,


4. Mepis Network Assistant




1. At this point Password for ROOT needed (this is root)





5. Select Wireless Tab




1. Select WEP encryption


2. Enter WEP key




6. Select Interfaces Tab




1. Select ath0


2. Select Start/restart on Apply


3. Select Apply (at bottom)

Receive warning message saying something like "With most cards may take 15 sec before ready, for some cards may have to reboot"


Now I still want to try and boot from flash memory USB so that I can customise system, and/or remote USB attached hard drive.

Mozilla Firefox Tip

As part of my progression to open source software I use FireFox as my default browser. Tabbed browsing, now also available in IE7, is fine but I prefer, when I open a new Tab, that the address from currently viewed page is copied over and the page then opened up. I discovered by chance that this is the case if you select "New Tab" icon and click middle button!

Web site built by Serif WebPlus

As mentioned previously I am impressed with Serif software. I have lust uploaded my WIP web site built with Serif. Check it out on http://www.RoderickT.com

Accessing files on my XP PC from Linux PC

Still plodding along on my Linux journey. Been having difficulty in accessing my "Shared" files on MS XP PC from my Suse Linux PC. These are connected on home network via DSL Router/Modem.

Just done a Google search and found http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/55876-suse-10-0-file-sharing-networking-how.html where is explains how to use Konqueror to achieve this.

I followed advice, entering smb://192.168.1.4 and it immediately connected to my WinXP machine and gave me access to "My Documents" which I have setup as shared. The address of my PC (192.168.1.4) I found by using the free SANDRA program on the XP machine.

Check out http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/SMB-HOWTO.html for info on SMB.

I now want to see if I can set the link up between Linux and XP machines so that I do not have to explicitly quote IP addresses

Achieved the above line quite easily. When I enter

When I enter smb://192.168.1.4 the shared files which in my case include "My Documents" appear in the konqueror window. Just select this and drag onto the desktop, and then a single click takes you straight to WinXP machine "My Documents". I then renamed this icon to a meaningful name without the IP address and now I have achieved my objective.

Serif Software

As stated earlier I am hoping that my next PC, in 2 or 3 years time, will run on Open Software and Linux, and so escape expensive SW bill and put funds into hardware. However I am a fan of the UK Serif Software, although I think it only works on Windows platform.

For several years I have used PagePlus, and found it very intuitive and well featured. I am currently on version 11. It fulfills Publisher functions at a much lower price. Recently a friend wanted a plan drawn up and PagePlus (10 at the time) did the job fine. Very easy to make a flyer and I used it as a basis to rewrite my wife's web site www.fascinatingfungi.com

Because I purchased the PP 11 upgrade online, I was approached by Serif salesman to see if I wanted to order any other packages at special prices. Now I have dealt with Serif in the past and I know you can haggle and negotiate further price reductions, which as an ex-salesman I enjoy the banter.

This prompted me to order the WebPlus package, which uses a similar approach. This looks fine but as of yet I have not used it for real. I plan to rewrite my own web pages www.roderickt.com with it .

Finally as I had just purchased a new Camcorder I also purchased MoviePlus 5. I have just completed creating my first video with this which has prompted me to write this article. I have used several film editors, Pinnacle, Ulead, Windows.. but I found this more to my liking and richer in function. The MoviePlus approach is to provide you basic functions which you can add to and build up your movie, rather than a collection of pre-built features. So it is a bit difficult to learn but very powerful and to date no limiting factors.

You can try back dated versions of Serif SW for free by downloading it from
www.freeserifsoftware.com . I tried PhotoPlus from this source, in fact paid £5 to get version 8 which is more up to date than free version although not the current version, however I am not too keen on this and no doubt will keep on using Adobe Photoshop although I plan to have a good look at the open software GIMP.

Serif's main web page is www.serif.com/