Dial up from Debian GNU/Linux and USB Modem Claro ZTE

When I am far away from a wired connection to internet, a USB Modem turns out to be just acceptable. Because this is not so frequent for me I log it now for future references.

Here I describe the procedure to connect through Claro, a telecom company established in Chile.

The hardware is a HSDPA USB Modem MF626 and Compaq 6715s laptop running Debian GNU/Linux Squeeze.

First, we need the package(s) for wvdial.
You may need some dependencies... yep, it may turn out to be the hen and egg problem (I used another laptop with a colorful operating system).

#apt-get install wvdial

Second, you run the autoconfiguration utility:

#wvdialconf

Third, check the configuration file written in /etc/wvdial.conf:

#cat /etc/wvdial.conf

[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
ISDN = 0
New PPPD = yes
Phone = *99#
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB2
Username = claro
Password = claro
Baud = 112800

Verify the values, in my case the modem was not found in the place reported (/dev/ttyUSB1).

Fourth, run the dialer:

wvdial
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
--> Cannot get information for serial port.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT*99#
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99#
CONNECT 3600000
--> Carrier detected.  Waiting for prompt.
--> Don't know what to do!  Starting pppd and hoping for the best.
--> Starting pppd at Sat Sep 17 18:03:22 2011
--> Pid of pppd: 11384
--> Using interface ppp0
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> local  IP address 186.172.53.253
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> remote IP address 10.64.64.64
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> primary   DNS address 8.8.8.8
--> pppd: �[7f]
--> secondary DNS address 8.8.4.4
--> pppd: �[7f]

If your connection is still not working, try bringing down any other network interface:

# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1a:4b:77:59:eb 
          inet addr:192.168.0.29  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:16

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:747 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:747 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:70604 (68.9 KiB)  TX bytes:70604 (68.9 KiB)

# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
10.64.64.64     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0 ppp0
192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
169.254.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.0.0     U     1000   0        0 eth0
0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0

# ifdown eth0

Try again:

# elinks www.google.com

It worked.

# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
10.64.64.64     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.255 UH    0      0        0 ppp0
0.0.0.0         0.0.0.0         0.0.0.0         U     0      0        0 ppp0

# ifconfig
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:1149 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1149 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:266335 (260.0 KiB)  TX bytes:266335 (260.0 KiB)

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol 
          inet addr:186.172.53.253  P-t-P:10.64.64.64  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5935 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5673 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
          RX bytes:4872033 (4.6 MiB)  TX bytes:1055978 (1.0 MiB)

Sending an email using maven-postman-plugin and smtp.gmail.com

I configured maven to send a notification after deploying successfully an artifact.

Because this is done from my home server I chose to use gmail as my smtp server:

<plugin>
    <groupId>ch.fortysix</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-postman-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>0.1.6</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>send_an_email</id>
            <phase>deploy</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>send-mail</goal>
            </goals>
            <inherited>true</inherited>
            <configuration>
                <mailhost>smtp.gmail.com</mailhost>
                <mailport>465</mailport>
                <mailssl>true</mailssl>
                <mailAltConfig>true</mailAltConfig>
                <mailuser>your_gmail_emailer_account@gmail.com</mailuser>
                <mailpassword>your_gmail_emailer_password</mailpassword>

                <from>your_gmail_emailer_account@gmail.com</from>
                <receivers>
                    <receiver>some_receiver@mail.domain</receiver>
                    <receiver>some_another_receiver@gmail.com</receiver>
                </receivers>

                <subject>Important subject</subject>
                <failonerror>true</failonerror>
                <htmlMessage>
                    <![CDATA[

                    <p>Partner, we have a new deployment!</p>
                    <br>
                    <p>Have a nice day.</p>
                    ]]>

                </htmlMessage>
            </configuration>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

Important:

a) Put the declaration after the deployment declaration, this way if something goes wrong the email will not be send.

b) The <inherited> mark is needed only if you put this declaration in some parent pom and another child module is the deployed one. To maintain the order you may have to put the main declaration of your deployment first in the parent pom. Remember that "The order of execution depends on the order in which the goal(s) and the build phase(s) are invoked".

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.6</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>upload</id>
            <phase>deploy</phase>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

<plugin>
    <groupId>ch.fortysix</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-postman-plugin</artifactId>

    ...

    ...

    ...

</plugin> 

c) The plugin didn't work until I declared the <mailAltConfig> (check out this and this).

In my case I only send the email when "production" deployment is done (I love profiles!).

What about this?

mvn deploy -Pprod

Nice!

BBC Radio Stream in Windows and Linux

You may listen to the BBC Radio Streams available from this webpage:

In Windows you may add the URLs to Winamp:

But a list of multiple URLs is added (?)... ok, I don't know why... I just played the first one and deleted the trash.



After playing, the URL just showed right.



And then you can save the playlist.



In Linux (I'm using Debian GNU/Linux Squeeze) you can use vlc:

sudo apt-get install vlc

You just copy the link location and then add it into vlc pressing [CTRL+N]:

The playlist that you saved from Winamp may be play in vlc, nice!