The MiFi has built in port forwarding options for common tasks, but does not allow custom ports or applications to be added. There was no option for XBOX Live, and no amount of tweaking allowed the XBOX to connect properly. You could play just fine, but partying up was impossible.

After I thought all hope was lost I read that some users had had success with a device called a CradlePoint. The device was rather pricey, and just not an option for something that wasn’t a sure thing.

After thinking about it off and on for about a month I came to the conclusion that the CradlePoint had to be using the MiFi as a USB modem, a feature that is easily accomplished with DD-WRT. So I grabbed an old router (with a USB port), flashed DD-WRT, set everything up an violla! It worked! Yes, there are some latency issues, but the result is a very playable XBOX live experience.

Now, onto the important part, how to do it.

Required materials:

• Verizon MiFi (this will work with other carriers MiFi devices, you will just need to change the connection settings)
• A USB cable to plug the MiFi into the router (the one that came with the MiFi is just fine)
• A router supported by DD-WRT with at least 1 USB port. (I used a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH router)

The Setup:

1. Connect to the MiFi and go to the settings panel (192.168.1.1 in a browser default password is admin)
2. Go to Advanced -> Diagnostics -> System Information
3. Write down the MDN number. You are now done with the MiFi
4. Flash DD-WRT onto the router
5. On the DD-WRT router, navigate to 192.168.1.1
6. Select the services tab, then USB
7. Enable at least the first three items. (Newer versions will just be the first item, basically anything related to enabling USB support and not mass storage ect.)
8. Go back to the set-up page
9. Select “3G / UMTS” for Connection type under the WAN connection
10. Dial number is #777
11. Your username is <MDN>@vzw3g.com (replace <MDN> with the number you found in step 1)
12. Password is vzw
13. Leave APN and PIN blank.
14. Save settings
15. Apply settings
16. Reboot the router
17. Plug the MiFi into the router with the usb cord.
18. Enjoy a nice XBOX Live experience

NOTE:

If you still can’t get open NAT enable uPnP or forward the necessary ports.

Conclusion:

Ideally a usb modem paired with the same router set-up would have been much better than the MiFi. However, if you are stuck with a MiFi, it works, and that’s all that matters.

I only use the bare minimum plugins and have all of my themes optimized to limit PHP usage. I don’t use widgets, and if it can be hard coded using plain html, it is.

But still, I was out of memory. After some research I found that most of my issues were occurring in the admin panel, and not the main site. While this was a relief, this did leave me with limited admin functionality.

I was able to correct the issue by increasing my php memory limit from 32mb to 64mb, but I hardly feel this is a solution.

Why is wordpress using so much memory? This is a question that I feel needs investigated.

A Solution: Allow users to put together a custom wordpress install, just enabling features that are needed for that particular blog.

I do not need al of the feeds on the admin homepage, I do not need template editors, I do not need widgets, I do not need trackbacks or pingbacks, I do not need a plugin editor…. The list goes on.

So why not allow advanced users the option to install what would essentially a vanilla version of wordpress? Sure, I could make these changes now, but it makes updating a pain because everything would have to be re-applied.

For now this is just something to think about, but if you have any input as to how I am wrong (as I’m sure I am) feel free to leave a comment.

After testing several builds of DD-WRT I was unable to get port forwarding working. While uPNP did the job, it just wasn’t what I wanted. After fighting with DD-WRT I flashed Tomato. Tomato has been running stable ever since. I have yet to encounter a single issue. I highly recommend Tomato for this router.

After all of the troubles with the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH, I decided it was time to upgrade. After a bit of research, I decided on the Asus RT-N16.

Pros:

• Detachable, external antennas (x3). This is a major upgrade over the non-detachable  external antenna (x2) and internal antenna (x1) of the WZR-HP-G300NH. This should allow me to mount the router just about anywhere and still have the antennas in a prime location.
• Very powerful. Both CPU and Wifi
• Actively supported by DD-WRT, Tomato, and others.
• Wireless N Draft, and gigabit, since I use a NAS to transfer very large files this is a great feature. I could have gotten away with a cheap gigabit switch, but this is a nice feature.
• And, it just looks cool. Let’s be honest, there is always that cool factor.

Cons:

• Runs Hot. I have noticed that the router runs very hot, even under minimal load. I have yet to really put this thing to work, and had originally intended to mount it in an enclosure. But with the heat, this just wont be an option.

DD-WRT

It was extremely easy to upgrade the router to DD-WRT following the steps on the DD-WRT wiki. I flashed the mega build and while it is a step up over the stock firmware, it still has it’s flaws. Most specifically port forwarding is not working.  This resulted in having to run UPnP which I normally do not like to do.

Supposedly the brainslayer or eko builds perform better, and may well have the port forwarding issue fixed, I have just yet to try them.

Flashing DD-WRT: http://dd-wrt.ca/wiki/index.php/Asus_RT-N16#Installation_:

Tomato

The general consensus is that TomatoUSB runs better, and is more featured than DD-WRT on this router. But I have yet to use Tomato on any router. I will be testing it to see which runs better.

To-Do: 

• Test other builds of DD-WRT
• Test TomatoUSB
• Add some sort of cooling system to allow for more output power (heatsinks and fans)
• Add higher gain antennas (possibly remotely)

Things you will need:

• A computer running Ubuntu (any recent build should work)
• Android Developer SDK (and dependencies)
• APK Manager (and dependencies)

Setting up the Android SDK:

To start with we will set up the Android SDK as APK manager relies on it.

First download the Android-SDK for linux from here. Once downloaded extract it somewhere to your system (I chose my user folder for ease of access).

If you don’t have Java JDK installed you will need to do so by running the following:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk

Once this is done you will need to install the Andoid SDK addon “Platform-tools” as APK manager relies on it to function.

To do so navigate to the following path (be sure and replace with the actually path you extracted to):

/path-to-extracted-android-sdk/tools/

Once here, locate the file called “android.” Double click it and select run.

After the graphical interface is loaded, select “Available Packages” in the right hand column. This will open up a list of package Repos in the center column. Expand the “Android Repository” and place a check by “platform-tools.” Now click install selected and let it do it’s magic.

The SDK (with platform tools) is now set-up and ready to use.

Adding the Android SDK to your path

At this point you have the Android SDK and Platform-Tools installed. This means that you can use them, but only within the directory where they exist. This is very inconvenient, so we are going to make them accessible anywhere by running the following commands (be sure and replace with the actually path you extracted to):

export PATH=$PATH{}:/home/user/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools
export PATH=$PATH{}:/home/user/android-sdk-linux_x86/platform-tools

Installing APK Manager dependencies:

APK manager requires a few packages to run. Every system will be different, but my system was lacking optiping and 7zip. To install them run the following:

sudo apt-get install optiping p7zip-full

If you are on a 64bit system you may also need the following:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Installing APK Manager

Finally, after all the prep work we are ready to install APK Manager.

First download the package from here.

Next, extract it somewhere on your system. (again, I chose my user folder)

Now open the terminal and navigate to the extracted APK manager and set the permissions of all the files in the folders to 755.

Example (in terminal):

chmod -R /home/user/apkmanager

To finish up the installation you will want to run APK Manager. This first run will create the necessary folders to place your APK to be edited ect.

Run APK Manager by executing Script.sh inside the APK manager directory.

cd /home/user/apkmanager
./Script.sh

All finished

Assuming all went well you should now be all set-up, and ready to start using APK Manager to edit your APKs.

I tried following the guide found here, but after many failed attempts I was frustrated and quit.

Now, I can proudly say that said router has now been successfully un-bricked!

These are the steps I took using Ubuntu Linux:

1. Download the stock firmware from Buffalo’s website found here.
2. After downloading the .zip file extract the actual flash file to your Desktop. The version I downloaded was called “wzrhpg300nh-pro-v24sp2-14998.” The file name you get may vary, but the important part is that the file you have has no extension.
3. Now open a terminal session and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tftp-hpa

sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop
sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.11.2

sudo ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0

sudo arp -s 192.168.11.1 02:AA:BB:CC:DD:1A

cd /home/user/Desktop

4. Now get your router ready to receive the file. Plug an Ethernet cable into your computer and into the LAN 1 port on the router. DO NOT PLUG THE ROUTER INTO A WALL OUTLET YET
5. Now back in the terminal do the following.

tftp 192.168.11.1
verbose
binary
trace
rexmt 1
timeout 60
put wzrhpg300nh-pro-v24sp2-14998 <–replace with the name of the file you downloaded

Recently, I reconfigured on of my WordPress installations to run as WordPress MU, instead of the standard, single site platform. This was perfect for me because now every time I create a new site, I don’t have to create a new database, install plugins, ect. It really gives me a head start with a basic template for every new site.

As awesome as this new setup is, I almost immediately ran into problems. I could not install any plugins via the web interface! I also couldn’t update WordPress! I am perfectly capable of doing things manually, but it was just so much quicker for me to do things from the web interface, but everytime I tried, I ran into this error:

Warning: touch() [function.touch]: Unable to create file…because Permission denied in \[mydomain]\wp-admin\includes\file.php on line 175

This was a problem. I first dove into file.php and looked for line 175, changed some permissions around, but no luck. That’s when I asked my close friend Google.

I read everything from server incompatibilities, to my host not allowing access to my server’s temp folders. I am sitting on a VPS, so i was just about to dive in and start making some changes, when I found my solution here. It turns out I needed 2 things.

First I added the following line to the bottom of my wp-config.php file:

define(‘WP_TEMP_DIR’,ABSPATH.’wp-content/uploads/’);

And then I made my “wp-content/uploads” folder writable.

It was a simple as that, problem solved.

To start with Josh was listening to tradio when he heard a caller say that he had a Guardian video game, more specifically “one of them games that takes quarters.” Price: FREE! Of course Josh called immediately to reserve his free Guardian arcade machine. The guy giving it away was nice enough to let him know that it wasn’t working, but that didn’t matter to Josh because he has a friend (ie Craig) that could take a look, and maybe fix it, or perhaps make it a MAME cabinet. And the adventure begins.

So after some research we mount up to go after the machine, which was conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. I am talking hillbilly country. No trespassing signs, beware of dog signs, I mean some Wrong Turn type stuff. How this game got out here was beyond me. But sure enough, when we got there it was sitting on the porch waiting for us.

On the way to pick it up we were very excited, discussing what it could be (seeing as how we had very little info). We didn’t know if it was Guardians of the Hood , the conversion kit Guardians, or the rare Guardians/Denjin Makai 2. We were really hoping for the rare version, so you could imagine our disappointment when we realized that it was the cheap, conversion game Guardians. It was also a blow when we realized that the cabinet has spent the last several years outside, was missing parts, and not in the best shape. But we had made it this far, and all of our bad luck aside, we loaded it up, and took it anyways. If nothing else we would have enjoyed destroying it.

So we got the cabinet back to Josh’s place, and started cleaning it up. We were very surprised how good all of the pcb’s, and the cabinet started to look once all of the layers of grime were removed. But we kept wondering what type of game this used to be. The cabinet had an odd shape, but we couldn’t find any markings to indicate what it may have been. We could make out some writing under the existing paint, but could only make out a big “P.” So after a few hours of cleaning, and talking, we started Googling. It wasn’t long until Josh discovered that this cabinet was an original Burger Time, that’s right, the P we were seeing was on the hat of Peter Pepper.

Burger Time Converted to Guardian

Converted Burger Time side view

Inside of cabinet before cleaning, pcb's removed for cleaning.

Tax placard found inside of power supply.

So now we are in a predicament. The cabinet is not in very good shape, and is going to take some a lot of work. Now we must decide whether or not to restore the cabinet as a Burger Time, or make it something else. Either way we go the price was right, and it was an exciting find.

Have you heard about Ubuntu Netbook Remix? If not there is some good information on it, and installation instructions here.

But if you are like me, already have Ubuntu installed, and want to try out UNR, then what? At first the only options I really saw were to start fresh with UNR, not something I was really pleased about doing since I wasn’t sure if I would keep it, and I wasn’t sure if I even liked it. But I knew I wanted to give it a shot, because it looks to me to really have potential in the mobile computing world (can you say carputer?).

So anyways, after some looking through the guides on the Wiki, and what-not I was able to determine what packages I needed to install.

Here are the steps I took to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix on Ubuntu Karmic:

First off, you will need to add the extra repositories to your sources list. Most likely if you are reading this you have already done it, but if not then read here: How to install extra repositories.

Now run the following command to install the necessary packages.

sudo apt-get install go-home-applet human-netbook-theme maximus netbook-launcher window-picker-applet

Now reboot and you should be running Ubuntu Netbook Remix. I personally love the added features, very pleasing on the eyes, and very handy. I have it running on my desktop, and laptop.

I really see potential for using it to build a carputer system or home automation system. I know there is already the Ubuntu Mobile Edition, but it is just too dumbed down for my tastes. This seems to be the perfect mix between computer, and mobile system. Next up, skinning, and perhaps some custom software interfaces of some sort.

The Graphical Way:

1. Go to System => Administration => Synaptic Package Manager => Settings => Reposotories
2. Here you can select which sources are to be used. You can also manually add sources here.

The Command Line Way (Easier IMO):

1. First off, open a console, and make a backup of your current sources file

sudo cp -i /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list_backup

2. Then you can open the sources file to be edited

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

3. Now you can add new sources in the editor that pop’s up. Below is a copy of my sources file.

#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 9.10 _Karmic_Koala - Release i386 (20081029.1)]/ karmic main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted
## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates main restricted
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates main restricted
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic universe
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic universe
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates universe
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates universe
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic multiverse
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic multiverse
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates multiverse
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-updates multiverse
## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the ‘backports’
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical’s
## ‘partner’ repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
## users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu karmic partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu karmic partner
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu karmic-security multiverse
## Medibuntu – Ubuntu 9.10 “karmic koala”
## Please report any bug on https://bugs.launchpad.net/medibuntu/
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ karmic free non-free
deb-src http://packages.medibuntu.org/ karmic free non-free
# Google software repository
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free

Be sure to save the file and return to the console.

*Note: My sources file contains sources that require keys to work correctly. Read below to learn how to Add Reposotory Keys.

4. Finally in a console perform

sudo apt-get update

And you now should have successfully added new software sources.

Adding Repository Keys:

If you copied my sources list, or are planning to use the mediabuntu, or google repo’s you will need to add keys to your sources list.

To add mediabuntu key

wget –quiet http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O – | sudo apt-key add -

To add Google Key:

wget –quiet http://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub -O – | sudo apt-key add -

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