Installing SSH in Ubuntu 9.10

Outlined are steps which will work for most Linux distributions, make sure to check if you are running an SSH service. Linux operating systems have SSH already enabled in many cases. After following the steps below your default port will be 22, this can be changed by editing the sshd_config file in ~/home/ssh/sshd_config
After making any changes to this config file you will have to restart the SSH service for the changes to take effect. Type the following:

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

If you are planing to remote to this machine from outside your local network be sure to forward your port of choice to your computers internal IP address.

Installation of the OpenSSH client and server applications is simple. To install the OpenSSH client applications on your Ubuntu system, use this command at a terminal prompt:

sudo apt-get install openssh-client

To install the OpenSSH server application, and related support files, use this command at a terminal prompt:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

The openssh-server package can also be selected to install during the Server Edition installation process.

Configuration
You may configure the default behavior of the OpenSSH server application, sshd, by editing the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config. For information about the configuration directives used in this file, you may view the appropriate manual page with the following command, issued at a terminal prompt:

man sshd_config

Mounting an external drive over SSH in Ubuntu

     This post is from the Tech Steps archive but can be useful in a few situations so I thought I would re post it. One issue I take with Ubuntu on my home computer is the treatment of external hard drives. For those of you not familiar with this treatment it is strictly for security reasons that Ubuntu will require you at the machine with the attached hard drive to enter an authorizing password. In most cases this is not an issue, yet in one situation I did find myself needing to invoke mounting the drive over SSH. As usual here is my set up, Ubuntu 9.10 with SSH services installed and properly forwarded (remote machine) and Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 (local machine). I will also be describing things using the default port of 22 for SSH but if you are like me I suggest you make this something else for security reasons. I hope you find these instructions useful, here we go.

Finding the name of your drive

You should be connected over SSH with your remote PC in order to figure out the following. The drive that is connected to the computer is not currently mounted, so to issue a command asking for the remote machine to mount it you must first determine what Linux calls this drive. It may mount with one name on your desktop but Linux calls it something completely different. There are two areas you can look on your remote PC to figure out what it is.

The first is a file called fstab located in /etc this file holds the information of what to mount when the computer boots. By looking at this file you can see the names used for what is mounted at boot up, here is a sample of mine.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=d928e9b0-ab41-49c0-b340-fdfbd32eea28 / ext3 relatime,erro$
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=b2854d37-da41-4689-a93d-153292eec8e2 none swap sw $
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

What I have in bold is that my system boots off sda1 and has its swap on sda5.
Next you need to have a look all the possible drive name options
This is found in /dev, this directory contains the special device files for all the devices
In my case I looked for the sda part of my dev list and could see I had

sda
sda1
sda2
sda5
sdb
sdb1

Since the numbers represent a partition on a drive we can tell sdb is my unmounted external drive. This is because I know they are two different drives and fstab indicated sda2 and sda5 is the location of my OS and swap so counting that drive out I am left with sdb.

Mounting the drive over SSH

You need to create a folder to mount this drive in, this folder should not currently exist so we must create it before mounting. Entering the following will create the folder, I have named mine “remotemount”
sudo mkdir /media/remotemount

Then the last step to mount

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/remotemount

You can now navigate to the remotemount folder and you will see the drive is now mounted in this folder.

How to: Tether a BlackBerry in Windows 7 on Rogers Wireless

     To start lets address what tethering is in the cellular world, simply put it is the connection of a computer to a mobile device like your BlackBerry or Iphone to use as a gateway to the Internet. It is important to know the possible charges that you may receive well preforming this task, I won’t get into details as every carrier seems to be different. Golden rule is have a data plan that allows for at least 1 GB of data. For my tethering needs I have a 6 GB data plan on my BlackBerry 9000 Smartphone with Rogers.

Let’s begin.

Step #1
     First off we need to have the two devices paired. To do this on the BlackBerry side simply access the Bluetooth settings for the phone ensuring the phone is visible to searching devices such as your computer. Also, ensuring your computer is set to allow Bluetooth devices to connect is a required setting.

Step #2
     Hit your windows key to open the start menu, type “add a bluetooth device” Select the option that appears in the start menu matching that search. Selecting this will bring you to a window that is searching for Bluetooth devices that are set to discoverable. Proceed to add your BlackBerry as a trusted device on your computer.

Step #3
     Hit your windows key once more and type the search phrase “set up a dial-up connection” after selecting the appropriate search result you will see a window with two options, for our purposes we will be selecting “Standard Modem over Bluetooth link”. On the next screen in the field asking for a dial-up phone number enter “*99#” (Rogers) without quotations. This number can be different from carrier to carrier please check with yours for the appropriate number. Name your connection something to indicate what it is. You can now select “connect” to attempt this new dial up connection.

*Note that you do not need to enter a user name or password for rogers wireless but other carriers may require it.

If anyone is interested in the steps for Linux or Apple computers please leave me a comment indicating your interest

Google and Smartphones

A recent all hands meeting at Google locations around the world employees have been given an opportunity to participate in a Google Smartphone beta program. Picking up HTC built full touch Android handsets this could mean big things for Smartphone consumers around the world.

What Google seems to be interested in doing is launching this unlocked GSM HTC Smartphone no term to the masses! I can tell you right now if its true I personally will pick up one and switch to the wonderful open source world that is Android.

Update: Its now for sale unlocked and on contact from T-Mobile or Google in the USA

Update: I’m sure anyone who has been following the Google Nexus One stories is well aware that everything we thought is coming true. It would seem that Google will enter the Smartphone market with its very own and quite powerful smartphone with an Android OS. Its also to be sold unlocked for a decent price! So now its just a waiting game for this to actually hit the market.

Update: Jon Gruber over at Daring Fireball says that the Google Phone is identifying itself as “Nexus One” in its user agent string, though apparently Sony is calling its Android UI “Nexus” as well. Furthermore, a tweet from the man claims that he’s heard the phone sports 3G for T-Mobile only, meaning our hopes of picking up a 3G capable, unlocked Smartphone are getting smaller.

Update: One item of interest. In the packaging there’s a quick start guide which points users to a “questions” page at google.com/phone/support. The page is a dead end right now, but it certainly gets an eyebrow raise from us. If there is a real Google Phone in the offing, that seems a likely landing page for support.

Update: A phone by the name of “NEXUSONE” just slipped through the FCC as model number PB99100 built by HTC. The filing confirms a few more details including microSD expansion, 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. But the real news comes from looking at the radios: quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE with UMTS/HSUPA on 850/1700/1900 frequencies. In other words, this 3G phone is capable of both 2MBps up and 7.2Mbps down for both the T-Mobile and AT&T networks in the US of A. If this device is sold unlocked (as rumored), at a reasonable price (as hoped), and with a jaw dropping user experience (as tweeted), well, it could be very disruptive to the status quo. The again, that’s a lot of ifs.

Return top