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Sun, 20 Dec 2015

Enabling WiFi on a Thinkpad X61 running VortexBox 2.4

First things first! If you are planning on configuring a Thinkpad X61 for wireless networking, make sure the wireless hardware switch on the front of the unit is set to on!

The root password for a default VortexBox install is: vortexbox

Create a USB key installer using the instructions here:

http://wiki.vortexbox.org/installing_i386_images_using_a_usb_key

'yum' has been deprecated in favor of 'dnf'.

dnf -y update

To setup a static IP address on eth0, configure the network using system-config-network:

dnf -y install system-config-network
system-config-network

The X61 uses the 4965GN wireless controller. This driver needs to be enabled:

dnf -y install iwl4965-firmware

Some necessary tools are missing right out of the gate, so install them:

dnf -y install wireless-tools
dnf -y install NetworkManager-wifi

'cnetworkmanager' has been deprecated and orphaned, so don't try to install and configure it, as suggested in other HOWTOs. NetworkManager will be used instead.

After installation, reboot the system.

After reboot, configure the interface. My interface was configured with a static ip different from the one used for eth0 and a WPA2 key.

nmcli connection add type wifi con-name my-wifi-static ifname wlan0 ssid ssid_name ip4 static_ip/24 gw4 gateway_ip 
nmcli connection modify my-wifi-static ipv4.dns "dns_ips_separated_by_space"
nmcli connection modify my-wifi-static wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-psk
nmcli connection modify my-wifi-static wifi-sec.psk password 
nmcli connection up my-wifi-static

Aside from the wireless driver not installing automatically and some of the applications not being available out of the box, I find these network configuration tools to be quite elegant.

From here, you should be able to access the VortexBox server directly by IP via a browser. After connecting, under 'Network Configuration', set VortexBox to use a static ip.

Note: Something in the configuration might reset eth0 to the same IP as wlan0. If that happens, re-run 'system-config-network'.

Further Considerations

/storage mount

The default installation mounts /storage directly into the root file system, which the installer configures efficiently, leaving a large storage partition free for use. Create a new partition using 'fdisk /dev/sda'. Press 'n' to add a new partition and accept all defaults. Press 'w' to save.

Reboot!

Create an ext4 filesystem on the new partition:

mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sda5

'lsblk -f' will show the UUID assigned to the new parition. Add an entry to /etc/fstab to mount the new partition at boot:

echo "UUID=uuid /storage ext4 defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab

Reboot!

'df -h' wii confirm success!

Multiple CD-ROM Configuration

'/etc/ripit/config' contains autorip configuration settings.

coverart=1
dirtemplate="$suffix/$artist/$album"
tracktemplate="$artist - $album - $tracknum - $trackname"
underscore=1
mb=0

Multiple CD-ROM Setup

Follow this HOWTO to configure multiple CD-ROM drives: http://info.vortexbox.org/tiki-index.php?page=MultiDriveCDRip

Backup!

cp /opt/vortexbox/docd.sh /opt/vortexbox/docd-old.sh

Get the edited script here:

http://mikebaas.org/programs/vortexbox/docd.sh

Or edit '/opt/vortexbox/docd.sh' yourself. Replace the line which reads:

CDDEVICE=`/opt/vortexbox/get-cddevice`

with

CDDEVICES[0]="/dev/sr0"
CDDEVICES[1]="/dev/sr1"
CDDEVICES[2]="/dev/sr2"
CDDEVICES[3]="/dev/sr3"

Add an extra loop to work through each drive in the CDDEVICES array in sequence:

while true
do
   for CDDEVICE in "${CDDEVICES[@]}";
   do
     CDSTATUS=`/opt/vortexbox/checkcd $CDDEVICE`

    sleep 2
  done
done

'wodim' is a handy utility to check the status of CD-ROM drives:

dnf -y install wodim
wodim --devices

Miscellaneous

lltag

'lltag' doesn't exist on Fedora, must be compiled from source.

dnf -y install cpan
cd /usr/local/src
wget http://download.gna.org/lltag/lltag-0.14.4.tar.bz2
bunzip2 lltag-0.14.4.tar.bz2
tar -xvf lltag-0.14.4.tar
cd lltag-0.14.4
make
make install
cpan install MP3::Tag

Disable Logitech Media Server

To disable the Logitech Media Server:

systemctl disable squeezeboxserver.service

Scripts/TODO

#!/bin/sh
chgrp -R users flac/
chmod -R 775 flac/

Then, create a script that will take you to NAS.

#!/bin/sh
ssh -t 10.10.10.16 'cd /share/data/Audio && bash --login -i'

Then, create a script 'monitor_rip' to monitor rips.

#!/bin/sh
tail -f /var/log/ripit.log

Done!

[/Technology/Computers]

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