Leather case for the mini from PDair

There are a ton of videos on youtube for the HP mini-note 2133! I just came across this one of a professional looking leather case from PDair. Really nice looking fit for access to all the controls and ports. Although I wonder if the small line of holes on the bottom does anything for cooling or is just for looks. The already hot running mini might run a bit hotter. The fan exhaust does come out the side so it may not matter...

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C4pqf3XznE&feature=related

This is totally my style and I'd definitely look into getting it if I didn't already have the Case Logic neoprene case.

HP 2133 fits in a Case Logic neoprene case

Was at Walmart the other day and saw this DVD case on the clearance rack for $10. Thought it would be good to protect the mini from scratches in the new messenger bag. The mini fit in the case perfectly!



http://www.caselogic.com

The one I got is black with gray trim. Highly recommend getting this to protect the laptop from getting scratched up during transport.

Messenger bag to hold the HP mini-note 2133 and accessories

Saw a laptop accessory messenger bag on geeks.com for $30. Looked like a good size for the mini, external optical drive when I get one and anything else I want to bring along.

Worked out perfect and it has metal clasps! (NEVER get plastic clasps! They break quick!)



http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=B-XBR-LAP-K2

Tips -N- Tricks: The laptop cooler is GREAT as a lap pad and keeps the very hot running HP mini a lot cooler...

Quick: ubuntu linux IP renew

Release and renew IP in Ubuntu but should work in most flavors of linux:

Release current IP
$ sudo dhclient -r

Get new IP
$ sudo dhclient

Better way to mount network share in Ubuntu

A while ago I posted about mounting my Maxtor NAS as a local drive in Kubuntu using smbfs. This did not work for pas\sword protected shares. Hello cifs! So linux guru at work sent me a sample cifs command and I searched and tweaked and ended up with all this.

1. Used this for the unprotected share. Gave an error if no "username=" and "password=" so if there's a better way than using blank username/password please leave me a comment because I didn't find it with a quick search. (watch the line wrap if you copy/paste this, each > should be one line)

> sudo mkdir /mnt/nas
> sudo mount -t cifs //[share name or IP]/[share directory] /mnt/nas -o username=,password=,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777

- Same command to access protected share, just add username and password values.

2. Now we alias this in .bashrc so a single command will mount the network share. I was browsing through the file and noticed a recommendation to use .bashrc_aliases. Cool, something new, I'm game.

> vi .bashrc_aliases
Insert

alias mountnas='sudo mount -t cifs //[share name or IP]/[share directory] /mnt/nas -o username=,password=,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777'

3. Next uncomment call in .bashrc for .bashrc_aliases.
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases
fi

4. Run this to re-initialize .bashrc without restarting terminal
> . .bashrc

So now I can get my music down to the mini. Soon to come, Amarok configuration...

Automatically Mount local partition at boot in Ubuntu

You could double-click the drive icon in the GUI and Ubuntu would mount and open a drive window but I needed to automatically mount a data partition so media players can access the drive.

Make the destination with
> sudo mkdir /media/data

Copy fstab before editing
> sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

Edit fstab adding the new mount point (using vfat for fat32)
/dev/sda3 /media/data vfat defaults 0 0
(SEE BELOW FOR PERMISSIONS NOTE)

Run command to refresh fstab
> sudo mount -a

To see mounted partition
> df -k

Ubuntu puts a drive icon on the desktop for the drive...

PERMISSIONS NOTE (Added 2008-06-22):
Previously clicking icon in "Computer" mounted drive with full permissions. I finally got around to copying data over with the fstab mount and realized drive was RO! Came up with the following solution for fstab entry:

/dev/sda3 /media/data vfat user,rw,exec,umask=000 0 0

Firefox Backspace not going Back in linux

Something that has been bothering me since I put Kubuntu on the Inspiron has been the backspace not going Back in Firefox. Mind you, not bothering me enough to lookup until now with the semi-permanent Ubuntu install and all. :>

Second hit on Google was http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/. Follow the link to find out why the Backspace wasn't working as we thought it should.

Below is the fix with a few extra details I added:

1. Type about:config in the address bar then hit Enter.
2. Type "browser.backspace_action" in the Filter box (matches will automatically filter)
3. Double-click the line to open the edit dialog box
4. Change the value to 0 then click OK
5. Close the tab and you're done.

NOTE:
The change is immediate. I did NOT have to restart Firefox to use the Backspace.
Also something I saw in the comment thread that I didn't know was that the Alt+left-arrow goes Back. Alt+right-arow goes forward...

HP 2133 mini-note blue wifi light in Ubuntu

I just got home from work and booted the mini into Ubuntu and left it on the kitchen table. Later I was outside on the deck and what should I see through the window but the blue wifi indicator that isn't supposed to work with the standard Suse install... Guess it likes Ubuntu. Saweet!!

OS choices?

OK, the replacement laptop has Windows Vista already installed so the question is whether to wipe or dual boot. I decided to dual boot mostly so I could play with Vista Gadgets and also to still be able to help others with Windows.

Now lets get to the good stuff. Downloaded gparted-0.3.7 from sourceforge and ran from an external CD/DVD drive I borrowed from my bro (thanx man!). Keep an eye on the screen when the mini is booting and press F9 to get the boot options menu. Select the external drive and hit .

The details of gparted depend on what your goal is for partitioning your drive. I ended up with about a 45GB NTFS partition for Vista of which over 20GB is OS, sheesh 20+ really??? There is also a small HP_RESTORE partition that I left alone.

Then I created a 75GB FAT32 data drive where I'll keep everything like music, movies and general files for any OS to access.

At the recommendation of the linux guru at work, I made a 10GB ext3 root(/) partition for the linux OS and like about 5GB /home partition. He said this is separated out so you can recompile the OS without losing your /home settings and files. I will definitely be learning more about this as I dig deeper into learning the linux kernel.

Lastly, the general recommendation for swap space is to match your RAM so I made a 2GB /swap partition. The remaining unallocated drive space is for playing with other flavors of linux.

OK, slight bummer, HP SLED 10 DVD is full restore disk so it wanted to wipe the entire drive. You can download the iso from hp.com but wasn't impressed with Suse enough to go through all that. Alternative: Ubuntu!

Man there are some SMART people out there!! I followed the instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HP2133 exactly so I won't repeat anything here. End result following site instructions step-for-step was that all worked perfectly.

Summary: I have a dual boot Windows Vista and Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) mini laptop! Much better solution than all the UMPCs I've been looking at! :>

Oh and for fun I installed http://www.yawcam.com/ on Windows side and it worked without a hitch. Linux side coming soon.

Replacement mini-note 2133 is here

I chose not to return the mini to thinkgeek.com for a full refund with the promise from HP technical support that they would send a replacement upgrade for my defective machine. Well, after almost a month it's finally here and I love it!! The old mini definitely had defective hardware as the new laptop's wifi hooked right up to the network.

The 24-48 hours shipping turned into almost a month but it was worth the wait. I called and raised a little stink about not seeing the replacement for almost a month and got a call back from a different tech. He said they weren't getting the 1.6Ghz machines with Suse for another week. Being way behind and in a hurry to g3et caught up on side work, I asked if he could just ship me one with Windows Vista and I would install Suse from the CD. He agreed and said it would ship the next day and he'd send a restore CD for Vista just because.

It arrived!!! I opened the box to find a shiny new laptop with Windows Vista, power cord and 6-cell battery! No CDs or manuals though so I called the original tech and got the Vista restore CD sent. I boxed up the old laptop and shipped it back. Working laptop in hand... Awesome!

HP mini-note 2133 update

Got the mini a day before the projected delivery date!
Go UPS!! :>

First boot was setup, reboot took a couple minutes as it was configuring things and third boot was nice and fast at about 1 minute or so. Suse Gnome interface is OK but I still like my Kubuntu KDE look-and-feel more.

First and last thing I tried to do was configure wireless. System saw the card and drivers are there but it wouldn't connect to wifi. I turned off all encryption on the router but it still wouldn't connect to open wifi either. :< Took it to work and had a linux guru mess with iwconfig and stuff trying to get it to connect to a WPA encrypted network with no luck.

Long story short, logged 6 tech support calls with HP and a new mini is on the way.

Long story long, First call: I asked about the wifi and tech said it is supported and should work under linux. Unfortunately HP decided to put in a Broadcom card which has NEVER played nice with linux. Then I asked about a recovery disk and they said they'd send it if I had any problems in the the first 90 days. I think not... made them send me the restore DVD and it got here in about 2 days. I left the call at that and took a couple days to play with the wireless settings.

Second call: a different tech just went through the wireless configuration over and over... :/ Finally said he'd find an actual mini to test. Apparently he was just walking through Suse wireless setup on a desktop. No call back so I called a Third time and was told they were working on it and would call back after the weekend.

Fourth call: was a bunch of the same unsuccessful wireless configuration over and over. He apparently had a mini connect to their open network with no problems. Gave me his direct number, which I thought was really nice, and asked me to call back the next day.

Fifth call: Only thing different to try was setup without actually entering the WEP key so it would prompt for one but no luck. Next he was gonna send me the DVD to re-install but I told him I already had it from my first call. The next day at work I got hold of an external DVD drive and re-installed twice but still no connection at work or home. Smart linux guru at work tried a Madriva live CD and finally gave up. We pretty much narrowed this down to a hardware problem at this point...

Sixth and final call: The tech finally gave up and looked up warranty return options. He offered a deal I couldn't refuse. Apparently they have a program called "capture58" where new hardware releases with problems are taken back to see what is wrong so product improvements can be made. They exchanged my 1.2Ghz, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD Suse OS configuration for a 1.6Ghz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD and supposedly Suse although this is the Windows Vista hardware configuration...

So I am anxiously awaiting the replacement and am curious if it will come with linux or Vista. I have the Suse recovery DVD and am seriously considering the Ubuntu install so Windows won't last long if it's actually on there...

HP 2133 mini on the way!!

Ordered a new HP 2133 mini from thinkgeek.com! Right size, right configuration, right price!!!

I have wanted a UMPC forever now but the price point has been high compared to just getting an inexpensive laptop. I've been waiting for a small portable device with a full OS, not just an icon interface and it is finally out... Been watching the hp mini-note 2133 for a while now and love the small form factor and (almost) full keyboard. My bro may get the EEE 900 so maybe we'll have a head-to-head comparo soon. :>

Spent a couple hours reading the reviews so I won't repeat it all here. I'll link a couple of the big ones below. Only thing missing is a CD/DVD drive but I can't remember the last time I put a disk in my current laptop so that wasn't a big deal breaker. Plus I'm running on a 30GB HD right now and the 2133 is coming with a 120GB!! I can finally have one main HD and just set some scripts up to run rsync to the external USB drive for backup. Immediate add-ons will be external USB CD/DVD drive and 6-cell battery.

Follow the link to see full config. High points are:

1. SLED 10 OS
2. 120GB HD, 1GB RAM
3. 1280X768 on 8.9in screen
   
4. 92% full size keyboard
5. integrated web cam and speakers
   
6. Did I mention Linux OS!?!?!? ;>

Review Links I used, as promised:

• Found first real comparisons in gizmodo feed
• First review I read was at cnet.com
  
• Good bunch of info on notebookreview.com
• Another review I stumbled on at laptopmag.com
• And of course, I coulda got free shipping from hp.com but keepin up my geek cred buying it at thinkgeek
  

Unboxing to follow...

Mount network share from linux

Was able to mount a NAS drive share very easily.

1. Open the Adept Manager
2. Install smbfs (which installed samba-common)
3. At the command line use 'mount -t smbfs //[Share IP]/[path] /mnt/nas
4. Add alias in .bashrc file for quickly mounting share
alias mountnas='mount -t smbfs //[Share IP]/[path] /mnt/nas'

I'll add more on samba as I do more with it...

Installing Truecrypt in Kubuntu 7.04

Truecrypt is a free, open-source, multi-platform encryption program. It has worked perfectly for me in Windows XP on multiple computers. The basic concept is you create an password protected encrypted file (volume) of a specified size that holds your private data. It is mounted and treated like another drive on your computer.
Installing truecrypt on Kubuntu was really simple:

1. Download the tarball from http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php to your home directory. I used truecrypt-4.3a-ubuntu-7.04-x86.tar.gz.


2. Move the file to /usr/src/ by typing "sudo mv ~/truecrypt-4.3a-ubuntu-7.04-x86.tar.gz /usr/src"
   


3. unzip and untar the file by typing "sudo tar -xvfz truecrypt-4.3a-ubuntu-7.04-x86.tar.gz"


4. cd into the new directory and check out the Readme.txt


5. I used the 'dpkg -i' command with no problems typing "sudo dpkg -i truecrypt_4.3a-0_i386.deb"
   

Pretty simple and I encountered no errors. I also added some aliases to .bashrc to quickly mount the volumes I use.

1. Make the directory where your mounted volume will be: 'mkdir /mnt/[mount name]'


2. Add an alias in .bashrc to mount the volume: alias mountvolA='truecrypt /media/ExternalDrive/PathToVolume/VolumeName /mnt/volA'

Next step is to figure out how to put shortcuts on the desktop to be able to easily open those mounted volumes.