Geraner’s blog

Some people requested an updated version of my "How to create an OpenVPN connection" guide.

This example here and the screenshots are done on a Ubuntu 9.10 installation of Linux.
Also this example is based on the OpenVPN configuration / settings of Ivacy.

As described in my previous version, which was based on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, also in this installation you need to have the following packages installed on your computer, which you easily can install via the Synaptic Package Manager.

• network-manager-openvpn

• openvpn

• openvpn-blacklist

Again, we use the same certificate and keyfiles as in my previous guide, which still can be find on the same link:
Or you as an alternative you download all files packed in a zip-file from my homepage.
Extract those files in a new folder on your /home/user map. We need them later during the configuration.

If you have installed the 3 packages written above, right click on your Gnome-Network manager and select:
VPN-Connections → Configure VPN...

Create a new VPN Connection by secting ”Add”.

Select then: ”Connect to: OpenVPN Client”

Now, give the connection a name. I called my one ”Ivacy OpenVPN”.

Enter the following data.

Gateway Adress: openvpn.ivacy.com

Type: Password with Certificates (TLS)

Username: enter your username you registered you with att www.ivacy.com

Password: enter your password connected to your username

On the next fields, you have to link to the files you downloaded.

User Certificate: select the file ”Ivacy-client.crt”

CA Certificate: select the file ”Ivacy-ca.crt”

Private Key: select the file ”Ivacy-client.key”

Password Key Password: leave this field blank

The "IPv4 Settings" you just keep untouched. It should be by default set to "Automatic (VPN)".

Click now on "Advanced" to continue to the further settings needed to be adjusted.

In the next "General" view just mark "Use LZO data compression".

Continue to "Security".

Here I had to select "Chipher: BF-CBC" in the previous version of OpenVPN-Network-Manager.

These setting is still working. But I have also seen that it would be enough to just keep both selections on "Default". In this case OpenVPN will automatically use the Chipher needed for the OpenVPN connection to our VPN-Service provider. This was not the case in the previouse version used on Ubuntu 8.04.

So keep the settings either on "Default" or select "Chipher: BF-CBC".

Continue to the window "TLS Authentication".

Here you have to mark "Use additional TLS Authentification".

As Key file you select the file "Ivacy-tls.key" from the files downloaded at the beginning.

Set the Key Direction to "1" and click on OK to save your settings.

Now click on OK to come back to the main VPN Connections Editing menu.

Save all your settings made by clicking "Apply".

If you want to make those VPN-Connection later available for all users on your computer, mark the checkbox "Available to all uses" before clicking on Apply.

Close the Network Configuration window.

Now just left click on your Network Manger in Gnome.

Go to "VPN Connections"

Select "Ivacy OpenVPN" and a small should start blinking over your Network-Connection.

When the OpenVPN connection is established, the Network-Manager will look like this: (if using WiFi Connection)

Introduction

Nokia released their Nokia Maps 3.0 at the beginning of July this year.

Previously I had Noka Maps 1.0 installed on my Nokia N95, which I never upgraded to any new version. I was instead using Navigon MobileNavigator 6. But for Navigon the maps are now 2 years old, so I was looking for an upgrade or a different version.

Nokia offers a 7 days free navigation license, to test the product.

http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/maps/free-trial

So I asked for a 7 days license and tested Nokia Maps 3.0 for one week.

The maps can be downloaded for free via Nokias Map Loader.

Nokia Maps combines normal GPS (if included in the phone or via external GPS sensor), Network based location, and A-GPS. If this “positioning” is activated Nokia Maps finds a actual location within 5-15 seconds!

A-GPS uses a network connection, so for this reason it is possible the disable this feature if you are in a foreign country.

Speed Limits

Door to door navigation on Nokia Maps works very well.

All major roads have known Sped Limits included. So if you are driving slower than max. speed limit, you current speed will be shown in green colour.

Driving faster then the current speed limit, the speed will be shown in red together with a speed limit sign / warning above. After driving a some hundred metres faster then allowed, the navigation voice tells you “Observe speed limit!”.

Below, driving slower / faster then current speed limit:

On smaller roads, the speed limit is not available. In this case, your current speed is shown in with colour.

Picture below, is taken during Night view.

Speed Cam warning

There is a possibility to add so called “Traffic & Safety” to your Nokia Maps which is a license you can buy.

http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/maps/features/traffic_safety_maps3

When this license is activated, Nokia Maps will warn you of Speed Cameras. If you are driving faster then the allowed speed limit, you will see a red warning on the screen, together with your speed, how many km/h you are driving too fast and the distance in meters to the speed camera. I really liked that feature!

If you are driving slower then the allowed speed limit, your current speed is shown in green colour again, but the speed cam warning is still flashing.

To demonstrate how the speed cam warning is working in reality, see the video bellow.

Day- and Night-view

As you already have seen in some of the screen shots above, Nokia Maps offers a day-view and night-view. This can also be set to automatically switch, depending depending on how much light you have round you. (using the mobile phones light sensor) I think it also uses the local time. Haven't tested this out so much yet. Maybe I will post an updated about this feature later on.

Bellow you can see a small film I made while driving with Night-View:

Navigation in general

In general the navigation with Nokia Maps works very well.

If you are reaching a crossroad, Nokia Maps, shows you a lane indicator, on which lane you must use. See screenshot bellow:

Route recalculation

Several times I was driving the route as Nokia Maps suggested, to see how fast it was recalculating the route. - This is works really fast, as you can see on the video below:

Driving through tunnels

Here in Stockholm we have some tunnels. Even this handles Nokia Maps, and does not stop with the navigation just because it has lost the GPS contact. Instead Nokia Maps continues with the navigation by simulating the driving through the tunnel.

But here comes the problem!

Normally the speed allowed to drive in the tunnels here is 70 km/h or 90 km/h.

But while driving through the tunnels, Nokia Maps reduces the vehicles speed during simulation to 47 km/h or increases the speed to 112 km/h!

As a result of this, you lose navigation in longer tunnels, because the estimated speed is not correct. Alternatively, Nokia Maps loses GPS contact because it simulates the driving at to high speed and expects that you should have come out of the tunnel already, but doesn't gets any GPS signal.

Below you see to screen shots of the two speed simulations in the tunnel.

Also see this video as an example.

This is somehow a bug which needs to be corrected by Nokia as soon as possible!

One more thought is that the voice guide is talking too much when reaching a roundabout.

This feels sometimes like information overload whilst driving.

I made a longer video about driving through roundabouts and tunnels, and route recalculations in the video below.

City Explorer – 3D Buildings

Nokia Maps also offers something called “City Explorer”.

http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/maps/features/city-explorer3

This includes Walk, Guides, Weather Information and 3D Buildings in larger towns.

As you can see some screenshots bellow taken while walking through Stockholm.

In August, I will go for two weeks to USA. I will use Nokia Maps there as well and buy a 30 days Drive-license for North America and test Nokia Maps there. I will for sure come back with a small review after my trip to USA.

This example is based on the usage of Ivacy.com VPN-service.

Install the following packages on your Linux computer. (I use for this”Synaptic Package manager”)

• network-manager-openvpn

• openvpn

• openvpn-blacklist

The configuration files for Ivacy's OpenVPN service can be found on the there homepage:

https://pr.ivacy.com/en/doc/help/setup/winxp_openvpn

As alternative you can download the complete fils from my homepage.

Extract all files to a new folder in your /home/user/ folder on your hard disk. You will later need to link to the files when you are configuring the OpenVPN in the Network-Manager.

Left-click now on your Gnome Network-Mangager and select:

VPN-Connections → Configure VPN

Create a new VPN Connection by secting ”Add”.

Select then: ”Connect to: OpenVPN Client”

Now, give the connection a name. I called my one ”OpenVPN Ivacy”.

Enter the following data.

Gateway Adress: openvpn.ivacy.com

Gateway Port: 1194

Connection Type: X.509 with Password Authentication

On the next fields, you have to link to the files you downloaded.

CA File: select the file ”Ivacy-ca.crt”

Certificate: select the file ”Ivacy-client.crt”

Key: select the file ”Ivacy-clienty.key”.

In the field ”Username” enter your username you registered you with att www.ivacy.com .

Now, jump to the next window ”Optional”.

Mark there the checkbox “Use LZO Compression”

Mark “Use cipher” and select “BF-CBC” (This stands for Blowfish encryption)

Mark “Use TLS auth:” and select the file “Ivacy-tls.key” you saved on your hard disk.

Select then under Direction: “1”.

Click then on “Apply” to save your settings.

Close the VPN Connection window.

Now, left-click on your Network-Manager and select “VPN-Connection” → “OpenVPN Ivacy”.

You will be asked for the password. Enter your password and mark the checkbox “Save in keyring”. Then the next time you connect to your OpenVPN connection you don't have to enter your password again.

When the connection was successful you will see a small Lock together with your Network-Manager symbol.

SoftwareFreedomDay firades i Stockholm tillsammans med flera deltagare från Svenska Linuxföreningen, Föreningen Ubuntu Sverige, samt andra Linux- och Opensource-entusiaster. Evenemanget planerades tillsammans via forumet på internet.
Vi träffades på Sergels torg i Stockholm, med mycket informationsmaterial kring Linux & OpenSource.
En Tux var så klart också med oss på plats! :)

Den här 3G-routern från D-Link (D-Link DIR-451) köpte jag redan igår. Den fungerar med dom flesta 3G-modem som finns ute på marknaden. Även med mitt 3G-modem från Tre (GlobeTrotter GT MAX "7.2 Ready").
Vi använde den här routern tillsammans med mitt 3G-modem, så att alla bärbara datorer kunde surfa på nätet via WLAN. Tack vare att det fanns Turbo3G-täckning gick detta som en dans!

Andra dagen börjar. Vi har byggt upp våra datorer och är redo för dagens aktiviter.
Jag med ett flygblad i handen tar emot en av dom första intressenter och förklarar fördelarna med Ubuntu Linux. I bakgrunden syns A4-affischerna uppklistrade igen.
Vi var placerade framför ingången till CoopForum och Expert. Mycket folk passerade och stannade till båda dagarna.
Boken "Upptäck Ubuntu Linux 8.04" fanns med på borden, väl synliga för alla.
Andra dagen sålde vi fyra böcker. Totalt blev det elva sålda böcker under båda dagarna.
Jättetack till Tobias Hagberg (HME Publishing) och Gunne Steen (GGS Data) som sponsrade böckerna!
Leif (Bossieman) håller på för fullt på med att demonstrera Ubuntu för en mycket intresserad framtida ubuntuanvändare.
Jari (Ulsak) lämnar över informationsblad samt ubuntuskiva.
Det fanns många tjejer/kvinnor som kom fram och visade intresse för Ubuntu Linux.
Leif (Bossieman) pekar på skärmen för en uppenbart entusiastiskt betraktare.
Kristian (ZX Spectrum) pratar om Ubuntu Linux. Mannen bredvid låter informationen sjunka in.
Jari i diskussion med en glad besökare som redan har Ubuntuflygbladet samt CD-skivan i handen.
Föreningen Ubuntu Sverige's hemsida och Digital-TV på gång i min bärbara dator.
Leif och jag med ett ubuntuflygblad i handen.
Jari visar Ubuntu för en spekulant som stannade till ett bra tag när han såg vilka intressanta saker vi har på våra datorer.
En framtida ubuntuanvändare som köpte direkt tre böcker "Upptäck Ubuntu Linux 8.04". Två ville han ge bort som present tillsammans med en Ubuntu-skiva. Han tog även med sig flera Ubuntu-skivor samt näve flygblad.

Här är ännu en kvinnlig besökare som visar sitt intresse för Ubuntu Linux. Hon kom i sista stund innan vi packade ner efter ännu en intensiv demonstrationsdag.
På det hela taget var det en lyckad helg som gav mersmak av framtiden. Än så länge njuter vi av framgången men det blir snart dags att ta lärdomar efter det här rätt unika evenemanget, vad kunde vi gjort mer? Vad var det som var lyckat?
Vi får återkomma med det. Men vi hoppas att detta ger inspiration för fler grupper ute i landet att göra nåt liknande..eller nåt annorlunda?
Jari och jag vill tacka alla som stöttat oss på resan och framför allt alla som deltagit och bidragit till att göra Ubuntudagarna till trevlig upplevelse!

Tomas och jag på väg från Stockholm till Göteborg.
Tomas tog med sig en bärbar dator för att installera Ubuntu Linux på den. Själva installationen tog dock lite längre tid än planerat. Så det var bara och ta datorn med sig påslagen, mitt under installationen när vi anlände i Göteborg.

Vi blev upphämtade av Lotta, som körde oss till Backaplans köpcentrum, där själva evenemanget hölls.
Väl på plats höll vi på och sätta upp borden, stolar och självklart datorerna med våra Ubuntuinstallationer.
På bilden nedan syns (från vänster) Lotta, Gunne, Johan och Tomas.
Jari i diskussion med någon (till vänster). Gunne och Johan diskuterar Ubuntu / Linux.
Första intressenterna anländer. Tomas förklarar för en framtida Ubuntuanvändare. Ubuntuinformationsbladet samt CD-skiva redan överlämnade. Lotta till vänster är imponerade av Tomas presentationsfärdigheter.

Nästa intressent är imponerad av Ubuntu. Flera språk finns att välja emellan. Det uppskattade just han och tog direkt med sig en Ubuntu CD-skiva. Tomas och Kristian förklarar Ubuntu för honom.

Här min dator med TV-kortet igång, samt en Ubuntupresentation i bakgrunden.
Gunne demonstrerar godbitarna i Ubuntu Linux på sin dator. En framtida ubuntuanvändare tittar koncentrerat och intresserat på skärmen.
Leif på gång med en lånad dator. Hjälper en annan ubuntuanvändare med sin dator. Tomas administrerar mp3-filer på sin dator med Ubuntu.
Gunne på gång att visar höjdpunkter igen. :-)
Flera intressenter samlas runt om för att ta del av presentationen.
En helhetsbild på stället där vi var. Bord med flera bärbara datorer, och A4 ark med Ubuntulappar gjorde av Jari signalerar: "Här visas något intressant!"
Leif hjälper en ubuntuanvändare med sin installation. Jari i bakgrunden förpackar ubuntuskivor.
Ytterligare en intressent lyssnar på vad Tomas har att berätta om Ubuntu Linux.
En ubuntuspekulant känner på Linux. Böckerna som syns i bakgrunden såldes bra.
Magnus packar ihop sina saker.

Hi people out there,
now I'm back in Sweden and made some nice screenshots of Navigon MN6 while navigating trough Budapest.

So as you maybe where reading in one of my previous posts, I was on vacation in Romania and now traveling back to Budapest in Hungary. Here I have a screen shot of the Navigon before I was crossing the border to Hungary.

As you see on the next picture, the detail of the map was increasing a lot, when crossing the border to Hungary.

Navigon is writing on there homepage that they homepage, Mobile Navigator 6 has a map coverage of 10% in Romania and 30% in Hungary. I could see this directly when I drove with the car trough towns in Hungary, compared to Romania. The maps for the towns where much more detailed in Hungary. Not only the main roads trough the towns where shown as in Romania.
So my journey took me further to Budapest. As I wrote in my previouse post, I had already saved the addresses where I want to drive to in advance into Navigon MN6. Searching the location with knowing the road-name in Budapest was no problem.
Here a picture while driving on the motorway in Hungary.

Actually I switched the Navigon MN6 off while driving on the motorway because the external cigarret charger was now working on the rental car we had. So to save battery on my N95 I just switched Navigon MN6 on again when we where near Budapest.

Also shown on the screenshot is, that Navigon again shows the allowed maximum speed on the road you are driving on. This nice function was not available on the map in Romania.
In Budapest itself we Navigon look like this, while driving on main roads.

Navigon was showing where patrol stations are, car dealers, hispital and other points of interest. A very nice feature.
The navigation in Budapest was no big problem. Only one problem we have seen several times. Quit often, Navigon said that we should turn left on main roads, where it was not possible to turn left. Ok, it was possible, but according to the signs on the crossroad it was not allowed. So we had to contiue strait ahead or turn right somehow to get to this road. All the time, the way to our planed tagret was re-calculated and somehow we finally got to the place we want.
But it was a bit frustrating. Aways when Navigon MN6 told us "in 700 meters, turn left" we where asking ourself: Will it really be possible to turn left there!?. Everytime when it was possible we where happy! :-)
The most of the screenshots from Navigon MN6 are taking while using the 3D View. I like this most.
But here is one screenshot taking in 2D view.

As you see on the picture, Navigon shows whether it is only possible to drive in one direction on this road or not.
Also it was very usefull to see the real name of the exit sign, when leaving the motorway, as shown on the picture bellow. The green sign with the name. - It's rather impossible to get the wrong exit with this nice function!

There is one more nice feature I want to show you on Navigon MN6.
As you have seen on the screenshots done on my trip trough Hungary, the  maximum allowed speed limit.
In the preferences you can adjust at which speeding the program should warn you. I adjusted Navigon to alert me when I'm driving more then 20km/h to much.
Here the picture when driving within the speed limit.

And here the picture with the sign next the the speed limit sign, when you are driving to fast. Together with the voice alert "Attention!"

Now, my vacation in Romania is nearly over. Tomorrow I'm going to Budapest in Hungary where I will stay at friends for two more days before the flight goes back to Sweden from there.
Today, still in Romania, I'm preparing my N95 with Navigon MobileNavigator 6 for the journey to Budapest. The map detail for Hungary is much better then for Romania.
So I was searching for the adresses in Navigon MN6. See the screenshot from the program while selecting the adress.

I saved the position as a favorit and where then watching the place on the map. Looks like map for Budapest is very detailed. All three entered roads where found and I'm looking forward to see how the navigation in the Hungarian capital will work.

As soon as I have an internet connection again, I will post some results and maybe some more screenshots.

Finally access to the internet again. I use this to post some pictures and news about my trip through Romania.
As I wrote before, the Navigon MN6 is a good program for GPS navigation. Unfortunately it has only about 10% of the roads in Romania on it's Romanian-Map. But anyway, I was quite impressed to see how many roads it knows.

We went by car trough the mountains. Found a nice way (on our paper-map) which we want to try. Ok, when leaving the mainroad, Navigon MN6 didn't know the road we where driving on. (left picture)
Compared to Nokia Maps, which knew the road. (right picture)
But as written in one earlier post, Nokia Maps shows us always driving next to the road. (off-road) Looks like Nokia Maps really has some problems with the Romanian maps because this only is happening here. (at least for me).

So I switched both Navigon and Nokia Maps off and started to use Nokias Sports Tracker instead.
A nice little program which registers a lot of data while driving. You also can use it while walking and cykling. This time we used it in our car. Posting some screen shots here:

And the road got really bad. Up the hill as you see in the screenshots. Also the average speed was not high. At some places we only could drive about 10 km/h. See some pictures of the road here:

But the bad road where forgotten when we arrived at this place with a beautyfull view. :-)

With Sports Tracker you also can export your route at the end so that it can be imported to Google Earth. But it is not possible for me to upload this file here. If anyone would like to see it, just send me an e-mail and I can send the this .kml file.

Finally I just want to add some pictures which I was taking during traveling trough Romania. Mostly I used Navigon MN6 which is visiable on the pictures.
One problem I had in planing routes was that there are not many towns known or places where I want to drive to. While driving on the country roads trough villages, Navigon NM6 often showed nothing then the road. But ok, keep in mind, that it coveres only about 10% of the roads and details on the Romanian Map!! So I'm anyway really pleased with the program.
See here some more pictures.

Just a small post to compare Nokia Maps for Romania with Navigon MN6.
In general the Nokia Maps are more detailed for Romania then Navigon MN6. As seen on the picture bellow, the railroad is shown on the map when using Nokia Maps.
But what I very often see here in Romania is that the roads are not correct. Of course I'm driving on the roads and not offroad, but Nokia Maps very often shows that I'm driving next to the road, somewhere on the field and not on the road.
See the screenshot of Nokia Maps while driving on a country road in the north east of Romania.

The same position as shown with Navigon MN6 on the picture bellow. The railroad is not shown, but I'm clearly driving on the road according to the map even if the maps is not as detailed as at Nokia Maps.

Last one picture which can be displayed with Navigon MN6 while navigating.
The "real" speed you are driving is not shown on the screen while navigating. You have to switch to this window shown bellow by pressing "9" during navigating.