After deliberating for a week, I finally decided to give it a go and flash the router with a open source firmware and risking breaking the brand new router. All is good. Now I have better functionality and Network Attached Storage(NAS) capability with the router.  I have yet to test the ftp with the NAS. I do not have much use for this function yet but the ability to have this thrills me nonetheless. Somehow, I can feel the speedier connection on the new firmware already.

Below are the steps that I have taken to flash and upgrade my router.

1. Set the router’s ip as 192.168.1.1
2. Set static ip for your computer as 192.168.1.10, mask 255.255.255.0 and connect to the router via lan port 1
3. Download the NEWD_mini_asus.trx and the NEWD_mini_usb_ftp.bin files from here
4. Flash the firmware: Pull the power of the router while pushing the reset button. Release when the power button is flashing
5. Use the Asus firmware restore tool and upload the NEWD_mini_asus.trx file
6. After the flash is successful, log in to the router via telnet: root/admin
7. Type the following commands to reset the user settings: erase nvram then reboot
8. Open up the browser and surf to 192.168.1.1
9. A password page will come up, just skip and go Administration tab, then choose Firmware upgrade
10. Now upload the NEWD_mini_usb_ftp.bin file for the real thing.
11. Wait for the upload to complete before returning to 192.168.1.1
12. Save a new username and password. The new router is ready to fly

New function: FTP

For more info: look here and here

See here for Multiple SSID for concurrent WEP and WPA2 wireless network

Whenever I have a choice, I will use Firefox as my browser. For many years, I have been able to access the OCBC bank’s site without any issues. That is because I had been using Windows. Now that I have decided to embrace linux, I have thought that i will be able to access the site with Firefox. I find that I am not able to access my bank account online. The main page just refuses to load. I get a blank page on the main page. It loads forever without actually being able to complete loading. Well, who cares about the main page, all I need is the internet banking page to load properly. Hence, using a windows machine, I went and write down the OCBC internet log in page.

With the URL, I logged into my Ubuntu and fired up Firefox. I keyed in the URL and pressed enter. The page loaded. I thought my battle was over. I will be able to log in after all. But alas, I was wrong. The page, and the java applet, is able to detect wrong password. However, when I keyed in the correct password, the page just refreshed. Period. I have tried this for a dozen times and that’s it. Refresh on correct log in. Update: Removing the .sg in the URL solved the issue. I am finally able to log in again.

Contacting their helpdesk has not help. They just refer me to a outdated link on their “Recommended software requirements” page. I cannot help but think, why am I able to log into POSB and Maybank‘s online systems without any issue.

Finally got it to work, though not perfectly, I am sure it can be fixed. Now I need my USB drive plugged in before I can boot into my Ubuntu partition successfully. (I have installed my bootloader into my USB drive – hd1 instead of sdb which the installer said it is) (read here for details)

After installing the ATI restricted drivers and the xserver-xgl, I am finally able to get Compriz Fusion work. I am still trying out the effects and am glad that I can get this to work. (read here for details)
Some other useful links:
Mplayer
Chinese input
Slow boot
Blank boot screen
Mouse wheel click

Downloaded this program, installed and am now using it to type out this post. The WYSIWYG editor seems to be even more user friendly compared to the editor that comes with my WordPress . This tool will come in handy for blogging offline. Though this is not exactly what I was looking for, I am amazed by the sheer number of blogging platform Post2Blog supports, assuming that it really works for all of them.

Now, I am still looking for a good way to blog via email. The built in email program that comes with WordPress does not work with gmail. The Postie plugin that everyone is recommending does not seem to work with gmail as well. I tried my ISP email with both to no avail too.

It will still be good to be able to blog using email. Hope any kind soul can help me with this.

The touch screen offers many innovative ways of gaming. This added to the attractiveness to the set. One thing I do not like about the set is the WEP option for wireless connection. I set up WPA in my router and do not plan to downgrade to WEP just for playing multiplayer games. A small bug to me. Meeting up Jit and Reg for multiplayer gaming is just as good for me.

Here’s the proof:

After Jit and Clownfish ordered their Fons, I followed suit and get one as well, piggy-backing Clownfish’s delivery package to cut cost.

Clownfish informed me that the package arrived last night, and today I went over and fetch the package from him. Fon comes in a beautiful package. I got excited from what I see.

The contents in the box

Look at the size! That is Fon VS my Linksys WRT54GC travel router!

Now is to find a suitable plug to get the adaptor working. I am so excited. This will be my toy when I go over to Sydney for a working trip for 2 months.

UPDATE: Jits just helped me flashed the router. Now I have DD-WRT firmware on it. Cheers! Thanks Jits.