Problems with my Intel Wifi 5100 on Linux

I've really had it with this laptop of mine. It was OK at its time, but now it's long time due. I'm getting a new system in a couple of months from now. I've really missed having a desktop computer these last few years.

But anyway... my Kubuntu 13.10 x86_64, or my wifi controller, or both, suddenly decided to make wifi networking impossible, all of a sudden. The wifi controller in question is an Intel 5100. The funny thing is that it appears that I do have the right firmware for it.

alex@asus:~$ lspci | grep Net
06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100
alex@asus:~$ modinfo iwlwifi | grep ^firmware
firmware: iwlwifi-100-5.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-135-6.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-105-6.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-3160-7.ucode
firmware: iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode

After some very frustrating research, I found a fix:

alex@asus:~$ sudo echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

and a reboot did the trick for me.

Google Chrome theme fix on Linux

(Off-topic: this is my first post in more than two years on this blog! In the meantime, I learned to speak English better and I forgot most of my Linux know-how...)

Right, so Google inadvertently fscked things up with Chrome (which, with all its downsides, is still the best browser in my opinion) – with the Chrome themes, to be more precise. Since you normally get them via the Google Store, the ones that you've already tried out are displayed as being already installed. However, if you want to use an old (installed!) theme again... you might not be able to. It's shown as installed, but there's no means to choose it. You can't uninstall it either, since it's not an app, but a – erm – theme.

RapidShare Premium, wget and your download queue

So you just bought a RapidShare Premium account and would like to automatize fetching your link list? Here is a very raw solution with cookie-based authentication handled by wget and a download queue in the form of a plain text file.

Mass-(re)naming files from .flac tags

The story is usually the other way around: you have a bunch of correctly named audio files and you want to automatically mass-tag them. Most players and tag editors already allow you to do that.

My problem was the exact reverse of this situation: I had neatly tagged .flac-s and I wanted to rename the files, which were bleakly called split-track01.flac, split-track02.flac etc.

Splitting and converting large .ape files

In a previous post I talked about how a large .flac file can be split into the original CD tracks (provided you have a correct .cue file).
Here is how to do the same for a large .ape file.

Splitting large .flac files

Suppose you have a large .flac file and a .cue one (which provides the correct and complete ripping information). The large .flac stands for the whole CD. How to split it into the tracks that should make it up?

How to gobble (GNU scrobble) to Libre.FM using Amarok2

There is an open alternative to last.fm for the ones who like to keep track of their listening habits – it is called Libre.FM and it keeps growing.

One does not scrobble on Libre.FM, but gobbles instead.

It would have all been nice if there wouldn't have been so many issues with clients with poor or no support at all. I discontinued using my Libre.FM account when I switched to Amarok2, which offered no support for Libre.FM. Not any more! It is now possible to submit the metadata in your tracks to your Libre.FM account, even from Amarok2.

How to split large files in Linux and *BSD

Suppose you have a large file that you need to "break down" to smaller pieces and then reconstruct. It's fairly simple, using the split command.

I will only give a brief usage example. For more information, check out man split (and info coreutils 'split invocation' on Linux).

IPFW: rule-based forwarding disabled

If you want to enable IPFW (or load the module) and you get "rule-based forwarding disabled" in dmesg... and you need forwarding, well, that is just too bad. You will need to enable IPFW forwarding support in the kernel.

Shockwave content on Linux

Suppose you have the misfortune of having to access a page which only provides its interactive content in Shockwave, not Flash or Java. A stupid, ugly and slow leftover of old Macromedia (just before they released Shockwave Flash) that should not be supported anymore, anywhere, in my opinion.