Free Like GNU

Warning: all suggestions provided warranty-free, it’s recommended to backup your /home/olpc/.config/ folder before trying certain tweaks

These are a few of the hacks I’ve found helpful:

Installing VLC, MPlayer:

as root:

rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm
yum install vlc mplayer

To get wireless up and running:

as root:

yum install wifi-radar
(python/pygtk frontend to ifconfig, iwconfig, etc)
/etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop
(stops OLPC Network Manager)
wifi-radar
(creates wifi-radar.conf)
nano /etc/wifi-radar/wifi-radar.conf
(change eth0 to eth1)

That’s all!

To get backlight running on XFCE:

I created a launcher and submenu after determining that a command of the form:

“su –command=’echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness’

provided adequate backlight control

I created a file in /home/olpc/.config/xfce4/panel called launcher-backlight.rc

[Entry 0]
Name=backlight
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
Comment=sets backlight state
X-XFCE-IconCategory=0

[Entry 1]
Name=bl0
Exec=su –command=’echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness’
Terminal=true
StartupNotify=false
Icon=bl=0

[Entry 2]
Name=bl5
Exec=su –command=’echo 5 > /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness’
Terminal=true
StartupNotify=false
Icon=bl=5

[Entry 3]
Name=bl10
Exec=su –command=’echo 10 > /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness’
Terminal=true
StartupNotify=false
Icon=bl=10

[Entry 4]
Name=bl15
Exec=su –command=’echo 15 > /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness’
Terminal=true
StartupNotify=false
Icon=bl=15

next:

nano /home/olpc/.config/xfce4/panel/panels.xml

browse through the xml file to find the section <items>

towards the bottom, type

<item name=”launcher” id=”backlight”/>

Now, ctrl-alt-delete will restart X and XFCE. When it does, you should see a small gear on the panel, click it to expand. Select an option. You will be prompted for your root password. Enter it in, and the back light will immediately change.

for use with genmon, I’ve found the following commands helpful:

cat /sys/class/power_supply/olpc-battery/capacity
cat /sys/class/backlight/dcon-bl/brightness

Best of luck and happy hacking,

Ian Daniher