Regarding Education

The following is à propos of a discussion recently suggesting a watchdog committee for education.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/
SB121996426389881371.html

(all one line, this blogger chops off the last few characters... :-(

I think a watchdog is a good thing, primarily in that it may affect how the tax funds are spent. As I've said numerously publicly and privately, there is no excuse what so ever to increase taxes. Give me any budget and I will find zillions of dollars being misspent. It is the nature of the beast.

Having said that, we do not live in a perfect world so must do the best we can with what we have, which is the current system.

Primary and secondary schools are a long way in the past, but I have fairly sharp memories of undergraduate and graduate studies. (For better or worse...)

History 101, Economics 101, Physics 101 are all pretty much the same any where you go, and all taught by graduate students, although the name on the shingle is Professor XYZ. (I know. I taught Trigonometry 101 as a graduate student... :-(

So what are we to do?

We are to stop (if we ever started) thinking that someone owes us something, get up off our haunches and move out.

The education system provides resources and *some (perhaps not much or certainly not enough, but some) guidance to work through those resources.

But at the end of the day it is up to the individual to make the most of what they have. If they do not then they have no one to blame but themselves.

This article points that out.

080814 Musings

Interesting day. I'm currently on the Left Coast wrapping up a week of "TAD - Temporary Additional Duty". For the uninitiated this means doing strange and unnatural acts for the benefit of the Nation in addition to your day job.

In this case, the strange and unnatural act is submitting yourself to the vagaries of the US flight and aviation system.

I have zero problems with the imposition of extreme security measures. The enemy is insane and requires extreme measures to foil. Zero problem in that regard.

However, the execution begs, pleads, for improvement.

I spent the last six weeks in Europe: Valencia, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Netherlands. Six weeks without a single cross remark, without a single confrontation of any sort.

Idyllic.

I returned to Dulles International Airport. The first thing I heard on leaving the aircraft was "MOVE IT!!" uttered by a warder at the end of the gate access tunnel. A few more "MOVE IT"s and another fellow and I started making "MOOOOO" cattle sounds.

Welcome to America.

On the current business trip I checked in with United at Providence on Monday 11 August. As I arrived the young brunette woman dispatched her two colleagues, saying something like, "go on, I will take care of this."

"Nice," I thought. "Take care of the troops. Good."

But then I then proceeded to the login terminal. "Sorry. a ticket agent will attend to your requirements" or words to that effect. So I moooed a bit and stood in line while this young brunette mooned at her current client.

In due course she noticed the other clients standing in line and ushered three others through, checking their baggage and issuing boarding passes, while I stood there, perplexed. After the third, I approached her: "Excuse me, how does this work? You have moved three people in front of me?" This was followed with a snit of self justification: "There is only me!" "What's your hurry, do you have a flight to catch?"

Huh? Generally unsatisfactory behavior.

So I mustered up my best command presence, looked her in the eye, explained the problem, and she backed off.

Twit. But I wouldn't want her job for anything..

Then, I had to change flights in Chicago. This required changing terminals from A to C, or vice versa. I forget. Whatever, it required boarding a shuttle bus. The driver was wearing his "do-rag" with his girlfriend in the right seat. "MOVE IT" emanated again.

Rudeness is a weak person's attempt at a display of strength. These people are worthless.

I finally got to my San Diego destination. The return flights were totally overbooked. There was no visible way to return home before Saturday.

OK, let's just wait and see. Fortuitously (although not for my travel agent, as it put her through the wringer yet again) , my schedule changed to requiring return from Los Angeles LAX.

Cool. All well, lots of flights at reasonable hours. Screwtape defeated.

Not so fast so. The 0815 return flight tomorrow has been canceled, so after due consideration I decided on the red-eye tonight.

Signed over 7000 miles (${\displaystyle \$}$ 50) for a stay in the "Red Carpet Club". Pleasant enough, but no food. OTOH, the lady at the desk, from Ecuador, was very pleasant and helpful.

Tonight's adventure was struggling with T-Mobile's Hot Spot. I found that for ${\displaystyle \$}$10 I can get T-mobile WiFi internet access for 24 hours. Initially it does not work with Firefox, but I called the service number and was pleasantly surprised to find a young person who actually knew what the problem was and fixed it instantly by giving me the numeric IP address for the login site: you put

66.94.9.90

in the address field of the browser and that takes you to a screen that lets you log in, assuming you have already bought an account and registered a username and password.

The session does expire rather quickly, so you may have to log in again. This requires closing your browser session and/or clearing your cache.

Nokia E90 Progress

Summary

Trying to get the Nokia E90 Communicator and the associated Digital Pen working but seem not to be able to get the E90 to work with PC Suite running on Windows 2000 as a client on a VMWare host on SuSE 10.2 Linux.

Whatever I do causes VMWare to freeze, requiring a reboot of the entire Linux host.

The PC Suite will not connect to the E90 even when I remove the memory chip that serves as the USB thumbdrive.

== Basic Issue ==

The issue is a power struggle between the Linux OS and VMWare for a USB automount.

When I plug in the E90 it offers two modes: "PC Suite" or "Data Transfer".

The former is functional only when connected to a Windows Session running Nokia's PC Suite. This provides synchronization with Outlook and other services of PC Suite.

The latter serves as an automounted USB thumbdrive to either Win2k or the host Linux OS.

When you plug in a USB device HAL grabs it and automounts it. When you subsequently run VMWare there is an option under VM > Removable Devices > Nokia E90 to wrest control of the device from Linux and connect it to the VMWare client Win2K session.

The last is the part that is not working. When I do VM > Removable Devices > Nokia E90 the VMClient freezes and with it the entire Linux session.

== Crash Resolution ==

I can press a bunch of keys and eventually close the Win2K client and return control to Linux. (But I haven't figured out which combos actually make the switch - at this point VMWare is responding very slowly.) At this point the Ctrl+ options and any caps lock functions are gone, as are any key repeat functions, page up or down and so forth. basically the x-client is trashed. so I reboot.

=== Experimentation ===

I've tried various different sequences of plugging in the USB; without Win2K running, without even VMWare running, etc.

+ Absent VMWare and Win2k the USB functions exactly as desired in that case, i.e., as a thumbdrive.

+ I tried wresting control by VMWare without a client session but that option is greyed out if there is no client session running.

+ I then started a client session. Wresting control resulted in connecting to the E90 in data transfer mode with no crash.

But it cannot now connect to PC Suite. The resulting help file says to disconnect and reconnect, which will prolly invoke the Linux automount.

Howevah, In the Nokia E90 under Tools > Settings > Connections > USB there is an option to change the type of connection. If you change it from data Transfer to PC Suite you get a nag screen but the system does not crash. However it still not recognize the Windows PC Suite.

So once again I wrest control:

When I plug in the E90 in PC Suite mode Win2K freezes and with it the VMWare host and the entire linux machine. goto ´ćrash resolution' above. interestingly, the mouse functions perfectly.

After a while the client session crashes, returning me to the host.

I checked dmesg and messages and find no obvious culprits. What happens when I plug in the E90 is:

It is detected and automounted as sda1

When I select PC Suite mode it is effectively unplugged, but not unmounted.

Then apparently the reconnecting as a PC Suite mode fails. Here is messages:

Recognition
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new device found, idVendor=0421, idProduct=04cf
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: Product: Nokia E90
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Nokia
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 353659011534977
Nov 12 10:47:52 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: SCSI subsystem initialized
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: usb-storage: device found at 2
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
Nov 12 10:47:53 P1610 kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Nov 12 10:47:54 P1610 kernel: Vendor: Nokia Model: E90 Rev: 1.0
Nov 12 10:47:54 P1610 kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: SCSI device sda: 3969799 512-byte hdwr sectors (2033 MB)
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: SCSI device sda: 3969799 512-byte hdwr sectors (2033 MB)
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sda:
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
Nov 12 10:47:55 P1610 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Nov 12 10:47:57 P1610 hald: mounted /dev/sda on behalf of uid 1000

Change to PC Suite mode
Nov 12 10:48:02 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
Nov 12 10:48:02 P1610 hald[2650]: forcibly attempting to lazy unmount /dev/sda as enclosing drive was disconnected
Nov 12 10:48:02 P1610 kernel: scsi 0:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device
Nov 12 10:48:02 P1610 hald: unmounted /dev/sda from '/media/Nokia 2G' on behalf of uid 0

Rediscovery
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new device found, idVendor=0421, idProduct=04ce
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: Product: Nokia E90
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Nokia
Nov 12 10:48:03 P1610 kernel: usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: usbcore: registered new driver cdc_ether
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: rndis_host 1-1:1.12: RNDIS init failed, -32
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: usb%d: unregister 'rndis_host' usb-0000:00:1d.0-1, RNDIS device
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: unregister_netdevice: device usb%d/dff04800 never was registered
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: ------------[ cut here ]------------
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: kernel BUG at mm/slab.c:595!
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1]
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: SMP
Nov 12 10:48:04 P1610 kernel: last sysfs file:

Resolution?

+ Maybe I will try one more thing: to not accept the connection on the E90 until AFTER I have given control to the client session.

That worked, the E90 synched, then Win2K crashed. On restarting I'm back to the same thing, it hangs the entire machine.

+ Another option, connect it as for data transfer, then eject it and reconnect.

These simply do not work. additionally, the crash kills the caps capability of the keyboard as well as all Ctrl+ etc combinations.,

+ Ah. Try this: REMOVE the USB chip, using the E90 machine as phone only. Nope, that doesn't work either.

Absolutely brilliant: AlienBBC

I posted earlier my discovery of the Squeezebox, which streams audio files on your laptop to your audio system, in my case the Bose system, over your WiFi home network.

That is truly wonderful, but only works for files resident on the host computer. What about Internet audio streams?

Well, as usual if you ask the question "what will it take" rather than "can I" you get an answer that works. In this case it is

AlienBBC

http://www.x2systems.com/AlienBBC/

It is absolutely brilliant. It captures the BBC streaming audio and routes
it to the SlimServer, where it appears as the first entry on {Internet
Radio}

AlienBBC is a plugin for SlimServer/SqueezeCenter, the software platform used by the Slim Devices line of networked music players.

It is primarily designed to allow the user to listen to BBC Radio streams but also adds the ability to listen to any RealAudio stream. Currently, it is capable of parsing and playing the following resources:

* All the main BBC Radio 'Live' streams
* The BBC 'Listen Again' Audio on Demand content
* All Available BBC Radio 2 Content
* All Available BBC Radio 4 Content
* The BBC7 Audio Archive
* The Available BBC Local Radio Stations
* Radio 5 Live Audio Archive
* Some of the ABC Content (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
* A number of other streams, suggested by AlienBBC Users

In addition, the code will also parse any 'AlienBBC Playlists' (formerly 'AlienStream' playlists) available, and provides a more robust environment for the playing of those streams.

AlienBBC functions on Linux, MacOS/X, and Windows platforms.

There were some startup problems. Archived files were truncating after
about five minutes of play, while live play files were not.

Going on line at the slimserver forums:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/

led to a dialog that solves the problem. Depending on your version, there
are various "*convert.conf" files containing a *-bandwidth 100000* command
line option. Deleting these solves the problem.

In my case it was

/usr/local/slimserver/slimserver-convert.conf

I backed this up and then made the recommended -bandwidth option deletion.

And then the world was at peace.

Happy Boxing Day.

Getting it together: Bluetooth file system

Heh. This was initially posted as a reference to the BLEUtooth system...

Shows my bias. Sorry about that, make it BLUEtooth.

I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get things sorted away and in place. Very much a whack-a-mole kind of existence.

This fall I got a new cellphone after several years, a Nokia E90. Truly sweet. It can take a microSD chip and act as a thumbdrive. In doing so you have to disable the rest of the phone so that it works only as a thumbdrive on the end of a tether.

Bummer.

Of course I want more: Technicolor Mental Telepathy.

OK, can't go there yet, but how about a Christmas wishlist? How about a wireless mounting that will let me do all normal things without all the wire and tether and other folderol?

===========================
It turns out that you need three things:

the FUSE kernel module

the openftp project

the openfs project

With those you can accomplish exactly the desired outcome.

I plugged the following into Google:

mount bluetooth file system as drive

and immediately found FUSE:

http://fuse.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/

FUSE is a system that adds a module to the Linux kernel to enable file mounting and transfer with various arcane systems, including the Nokia Bluetooth system.

Further googling led me to OpenOBEX:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openobex/

which provides the infrastructure, in particular the openfs system:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=8960&package_id=178407

This in turn depends on obexftp. SuSE 10.2 offers obexftp on its distribution disk, but not the compilation headers, so you need to download the original source from the site above.

You will also need the development package for python, since obexftp in turn depends on that.

Some excellent references include:

http://www.siltala.net/2007/07/25/mounting-a-nokia-phone-a-little-bit-easier/
http://davesource.com/Solutions/20070520.T-Mobile-Nokia-E65-Ubuntu-Linux.html#obexfs

-----
I know this sounds complicated, but it is progressively so and very doable.

At the end you have a system that will easily mount the phone as a drive, from which you can open , copy, move, rename, delete, and execute files directly without having to fumble around with wires and more especially not have to disable one part or another of the phone to access the information.

Here are some example routines that make it a single keyword snap:

===========================================================
mnt_obex
will mount the phone as /mnt/nokia_e90/:

#! /bin/bash
#
# License: LGPL v3+ (see the file LICENSE)
# (c)2001-2008 C. Andrews Lavarre
# email : alavarre@ids.net
#
########################################################################
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify #
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or #
# (at your option) any later version. #
# #
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the #
# GNU General Public License for more details. #
# #
# The GNU General Public License is posted at #
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt #
# You may also write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., #
# 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA #
########################################################################

# This routine was modified 071223 by C. A. Lavarre (Andy).
# It mounts the Nokia E90 as a drive at /mnt/nokia_e90
# Usage:
# mnt_obex
# Mount the phone as a directory
obexfs -b00:01:02:03:04:05 -B11 /mnt/nokia_e90/

Obviously, you will substitute your own drives vice /mnt/nokia_e90, MAC address for 00:01:02:03:04:05 and your channel for 11 in the -B parameter. Look at the references for more detail.

===========================================================
umnt_obex
will unmount the phone

#! /bin/bash
#
# License: LGPL v3+ (see the file LICENSE)
# (c)2001-2008 C. Andrews Lavarre
# email : alavarre@ids.net
#

########################################################################
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify #
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or #
# (at your option) any later version. #
# #
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the #
# GNU General Public License for more details. #
# #
# The GNU General Public License is posted at #
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt #
# You may also write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., #
# 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA #
########################################################################

# This routine was modified 071223 by C. A. Lavarre (Andy).
# It unmounts the Nokia E90 as a drive at /mnt/nokia_e90
# Usage:
# umnt_obex
# Unmount the phone as a directory
fusermount -u /mnt/nokia_e90/

===========================================================

open_todos
will bring up the ToDo list spreadsheet directly from the phone

#! /bin/bash
#
# License: LGPL v3+ (see the file LICENSE)
# (c)2001-2008 C. Andrews Lavarre
# email : alavarre@ids.net
#

########################################################################
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify #
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or #
# (at your option) any later version. #
# #
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the #
# GNU General Public License for more details. #
# #
# The GNU General Public License is posted at #
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt #
# You may also write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., #
# 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA #
########################################################################

# This routine was modified 071223 by C. A. Lavarre (Andy).
# It mounts the Nokia E90 as a drive at /mnt/nokia_e90
# then opens the todo.xls file from Nokia 2G with oocalc for refinement
# Arguments:
# Usage:
# open_todos
# Mount the phone as a directory
mnt_obex
# Copy the file to the Desktop so that it will be backed up
cp /mnt/nokia_e90/E:/action/todos.xls /Desktop/
# Call CALC to modify
oocalc /mnt/nokia_e90/E:/action/todos.xls &

===========================================================

close_todos
will save the spreadsheet to both the Desktop and the phone and then unmount the phone.

#! /bin/bash
#
# License: LGPL v3+ (see the file LICENSE)
# (c)2001-2008 C. Andrews Lavarre
# email : alavarre@ids.net
#

########################################################################
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify #
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by #
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or #
# (at your option) any later version. #
# #
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the #
# GNU General Public License for more details. #
# #
# The GNU General Public License is posted at #
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt #
# You may also write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., #
# 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA #
########################################################################

# This routine was modified 071223 by C. A. Lavarre (Andy).
# It closes the todo.xls file from Nokia 2G and saves it to the /Desktop
# then unmounts the Nokia E90 as a drive at /mnt/nokia_e90
# Usage:
# close_todos

# Copy the file to the Desktop so that it will be backed up
cp /mnt/nokia_e90/E:/action/todos.xls /Desktop/

# Unmount the phone as a directory
fusermount -u /mnt/nokia_e90

===========================================================

Squeezebox

I have a new toy:

      http://www.slimdevices.com/

Squeezebox is a device that connects to the WiFi Network and streams
audio from either the computer or the Internet.

It requires a server you must install [slimserver] to work with the computer

The system consists of the box, the SlimServer, and SqueezeNetwork.

== The Box ==
The box is ultimate simplicity.

== The Server ==
The server is easily installed if you know the answer.

Basically, you need to install an RPM, install an
startup script, and especially, open ports on the firewall.

Once up the server can be used to control the box, including creating
playlists and searching for music on the computer, on Internet Radio
music streams, and on SqueezeNetwork.

=== Internet Radio ===
Internet radio offers to connect:

    Live365 Internet Radio
    Live Music Archive
    Slim Picks
    Podcasts
    radioio.com - no boundaries.
    Radio Guide - RadioTime
    SHOUTcast Radio
    Switch to SqueezeNetwork
    Tune In URL

Clearly a lot to explore.

==== Live365 Internet Radio ====

I have found interesting content on Live365
Internet Radio by Browse genres. There seems to be a difference in
behavior whether you connect through the server or direct from the box.
Going from the box asks you to log in.

== BBC Radio ==

I enjoy [BBC Radio 3]. But for reasons of licensing they cannot provide a
raw feed, rather have to play through [RealPlayer]. This runs with
[Opera] and [Konqueror] but not [Firefox].

More geek stuff - VMWare Bridging

I have successfully installed VMWare WorkStation 6.0 on a Fujitsu P1610
running Linux SuSE 10.2.

I need to bridge to my WiFi adapter ath0, which is my gateway to
the internet. VMWWS did not allow this:

+ I could not bridge to the installed WiFi modem /dev/ath0. VMWWS only
allowed bridging to the installed Network Interface Card (NIC)
/dev/eth0.

I spent a week working through this with VMWare support. They finally figured out that the madwifi driver ath_pci does not support reserved header lengths. Removing that reservation from the source code for the driver, then recompiling and rebooting solved the problem.

The rest of this are the details:

================================

The wifi modem is the Atheros 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi. The Atheros website directed us to the MADWIFI website:
      http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=82936&use_mirror=umn&filename=madwifi-0.9.3.1.tar.gz&50711065

which gives the driver.

There are two files in the ath_pci source code that need patching:

+ ../ath/if_ath.c needs to have a section commented out that allows reserving the length of the header:

     #ifdef USE_HEADERLEN_RESV
     dev->hard_header_len += sizeof(struct ieee80211_qosframe) +
     sizeof(struct llc) +
     IEEE80211_ADDR_LEN +
     IEEE80211_WEP_IVLEN +
     IEEE80211_WEP_KIDLEN;
     #ifdef ATH_SUPERG_FF
     dev->hard_header_len += ATH_FF_MAX_HDR;
     #endif
     #endif

+ Additionally there is a patch to the net80211/if_athproto.h header file that comments out a header definition and then undefines it (in case any other program has defined it):

Change

     #define USE_HEADERLEN_RESV 1
to read

     /*#define USE_HEADERLEN_RESV 1*/

Add the line

     #undef USE_HEADERLEN_RESV

+ Then remove the old module with modprobe -r ath_pci, recompile the driver and reload it with modprobe ath_pci

All this works, although you have to reboot. Unfortunately, it did not run. It failed with the message:

     /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libgtkmm-2.4.so.1: undefined symbol: gtk_builder_error_quark

I googled and found that running it with an environmental variable results in it running correctly.

See

     http://www.vmware.com/community/message.jspa?messageID=679894

The command is

     VMWARE_USE_SHIPPED_GTK=force vmware &

So this is unrelated to the modem issue.

The effect of this is to have VMWare open with a Gnome theme rather than the KDE theme. Minor issue...

So I shut it down, reran the configuration to connect to ath0. I did notice this time the warning:

     WARNING: could not find
     /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/.smac_linux.x386.o.cmd for
     /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o

I wonder if that is the source of the GTK problem.

I then started it with the above variable.

It works!! I was able to get to the Internet.

Good work.

======

A few words of caution. I patched the source for the first installed driver cited above. That worked. I previously tried patching the latest version of the driver, which failed with the kernel making all manner of complaints about not agreeing on the version of a host of driver (*.o) files. So it seems you must patch your kernel if you are going to use a different version of the module than that originally installed. I hate patching the kernel as I inevitably screw it up and end up with an unbootable system and have to reinstall the whole OS.

Patching the original source worked, I have better things to do with my time. :-)