Technology in the age of the Internet

Category: Hardware

  • Debian buster U-Boot network installation to PC Utilite Pro

    This manual explains how to install Debian buster on the internal SSD drive of the “Utilite Pro” device, made by CompuLab. Archived version of the official Utilite website is visible on Archive.org. Wheezy installation for Utilite is described here. First step is to download Debian armhf CD image, then partition the micro-SD card, upgrade U-boot to newer release,…

  • Coreboot installation on Chromebook ASUS C201PA

    Goal In this manual I will try to explain how to install Coreboot (2018 year version) on the Chromebook ASUS C201PA (later referred in the manual simply as C201) with the Paper build system. At the time of writing up this manual (Q1 2018), Libreboot didn’t have any updated sources for this laptop, so I…

  • Setting up ALSA on Chromebook Asus C201 Debian

    ALSA – Advanced Linux Sound Architecture After initial preparation of the bootable Debian images, I managed to boot into Debian from the SD card and run system upgrade and migrate the Operating System from Debian Jessie to Debian Stretch (current Debian testing release). The migration was successful. There are a few things that still require…

  • Huawei E3372 LTE modem on Ubuntu

    I have purchased Huawei E3372 LTE modem for the purpose of using it as a backup link for my home Internet connection. I have found a good option with Telemach mobile carrier that offers pay-per-use access to their LTE network with NET2GO mobile data package. You only pay when you actually need to access the…

  • Libreboot with Debian on Chromebook C201

    A few months back I obtained a Google Chromebook Asus C201. It arrived preinstalled with Chrome OS as default operating system. This laptop was listed as one of the possible laptop models that can use Libreboot. Free Software developer Paul Kocialkowski has ported Libreboot to this Chromebook. Libreboot is a free BIOS or UEFI replacement…

  • Upgrading U-boot to 2015.07 on Compulab Utilite

    This manual is about upgrading U-boot on Utilite Standard / Pro device. Originally the default U-boot on Utilite has version U-Boot 2009.08-cm-fx6-0.87+tools (Oct 06 2013 – 13:46:27). Here we try to flash the chip to U-Boot 2015.07-cm-fx6-3 (Sep 02 2015 – 13:30:11 +0300). This is how you proceed. Have the Micro SD card ready and…

  • Compulab Utilite image with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr)

    A new image for Utilite devices is available. Default Utilite images were based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) now there is a new image with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr). You can download it from here or from alternative download location. Once you have it on your hard drive, you can extract it to…

  • I will buy a Lemote Yeeloong laptop

    Chinese company by the name Lemote produced a few batches of FSF endorsed laptops called Lemote Yeeloong back in 2010 – 2012. First Yeeloong was the model 8089B with a 8.9″ screen, followed by 8101B with a 10.1″ screen size. These laptops are now out of sale and only obtainable on a second hand market.…

  • Rescue mode for Fonera+ (FON2201) Wi-Fi router / OpenWRT / Redboot / Wlan-si

    Running customized OpenWRT/Wlan-SI image for a long time and then upgrading the router caused it to crash, the error was probably triggered with the telnet/ssh timeouts and probably a high CPU load on the router which disconnected me several times before I managed to write in the image. As suggested on Wlan-SI website, you should…

  • Free hardware designs

    In the recent years the Free Software Foundation has encouraged (computer) hardware manufacturers to start producing free (free as in freedom) hardware. Most hardware produced and sold today has proprietary design (Apple, Intel, etc.) and is therefore restricted/encrypted and hard to use with free software, requiring programmers to use reverse engineering methods and write the…