fonosfera

hello

we’ve been quite busy lately. We are working on lots of things right now and soon you will know about some of them. But today, here you have a new release candidate for you to test.

As always, give us your feedback, it is very much appreciated.

Most of the changes are cleanups for the not-so-well working applications like torrent and rapidshare. So you, heavy-downloader… test it and let us know if it improved at all.  But there is a very nice new feature… the firefox plugin!!!!
You can expect

• a better handling of the RS and MU links: links are loaded without checking so it’s faster and are checked at download time so there’s no possible variation of temporary links. Summary: should work better and fail less
• torrent cleaned up: the torrent application is handled slightly differently and the different status are managed somehow better. even though the downloads won’t be perfect, it seems like you can now download some big files from time to time
• other cleanups…

OK, ok, you want to know about the firefox plugin. What does it do? well, it’s in beta state (lol) but the target is to detect whether you are connected to the fonera 2.0 and if so, it helps you send tasks to it. For instance, you can:

• click on a torrent and select to send it to the fonera 2.0 for download, instead of downloading it with the PC and then upload it to the fonera. Cool huh?
• select a set of plain text links (direct links or RS and MU links) and right click on them -> “Download with the Fonera”. YAY!!!! And you can select even normal text, it’s a smart plugin that will strip out only the proper links!!
• See the status of all your downloads in realtime on firefox, without needing to go to the fonera UI. You can see it all in a table like this (sorry about the Spanish):

Thanks Javier for the very good work and Steven for supporting with the APIs!

How do you install it? Unfortunately you need to wait till tomorrow so we can fix a small last minute bug
Enjoy and thanks!

The Firmware Team

• Firmware WEB image: USE THIS ON WEB
• Firmware CONSOLE image: use this on console (ssh/serial) - md5sum 21ed62df8adfaa858d61e52f7c41349a

Just got an update from our friends of the FonHome project. They made quite a lot of progress and expect to release a beta version before the end of the summer. The driver of the X10 USB controller they are using still needs a few fixes. But guess what, they have a google code repository, so you can give a hand or provide your expertise if you’d like to.

Noticed that they are good graphic artists too? I especially like the FonHome branded Fonera 2.0!

Hi all,

We are very happy to release a new RC firmware: 2.2.6.0 RC1 (the firmware will show still 2.2.5.0). We want to make clear that it is NOT a final/official firmware but an image for testing. We release it and those who dare and don’t mind having to reflash or revert it if it’s not working properly can install it and give us feedback and congratulate us for the good job. Please, no complains, it’s not a release.

Having said that, I want to thank Decodecoding for the  very exhaustive and helpful testing, debugging and reporting he has done. Thanks to him we might have found a good alternative for the buggy torrent. Yes, we have replaced our old torrent application, ctorrent with a new one “unworkable” - nice name huh? - But that’s not all, here’s the list of the features we added.

• We added nmbd: this will basically make the fonera discoverable on your network… Both Windows and MAC will see the Fonera as a network computer by browsing your network.
• Support for mDNS: this helps MAC and Linux discover the services a Fonera is offering (FTP, Network Disc etc) we will add more services in the future, such as printer etc. With this, things are much more easy to configure in most systems.
• Replaced torrent: now we use “unworkable”. The interface is not fully migrated, but it will be soon. Seems to work pretty well. You can chose 3 speeds… if the high speed gives you trouble, try lower ones.
• UPnP support: yes… we added this after so long. For us it’s a security whole but some users want it… IMPORTANT: it’s enabled by default in this image and can’t be disabled from the Web GUI. Will add that feature in coming releases. For those who don’t know UPnP, it dinamically ‘opens’ the ports of the services you are using (namely torrent, gaming etc)
• Uptime: the dashboard now shows the uptime of the fonera. This is only refreshed when you refresh the dashboard, don’t expect it to change synchronously.
• DDNS behind NAT: we added a script that will check the public IP of the fonera even behind NAT (this is the case for 99% of the foneras connected behind a cable/adsl router).
• RapidShare and Megaupload fixed and improved: RapidShare downloader had a bug that made some files not be downloaded. Additionally, adding too many links in a row while it was downloading others made the fonera crash from time to time. This is handled in a different way now and should not crash anymore. Please test it.
• Many fixes on the interface, facebook and other applications…

Please all comments to the development list or additionally IRC (#fonosfera on irc.freenode.net).

Command line image: here - md5sum 5291756e6df93e4f66f5975bb734045a

Web image: here -> untested… if the flash process fails, use the other over ssh.

Hi,

After lots and lots and lots of impatient requests to make the plugin to switch from ENDUSER mode to DEVELOPER mode, it is now available on the “Applications” menu of your Fonera 2.0. Yes I put it there… one by one… I got into your houses and hacked your foneras!!! muahahahaha!!!!

What does this plugin do? It will basically change one configuration file (/etc/config/registered) so the “dev” option is changed from 0 to 1. That is all. Simple huh?

The effect is nice…

• the interface color will change,
• the ssh access will be available after 2 reboots (don’t ask why…)

There’s one more thing the plugin will do (please don’t be paranoid): it will connect to fon.com and tell us your MAC address. Why? Because we want to know how many people switched to developer mode. We promise not to tell anybody what you did, ok? Actually we’re not even storing this info in a database, but a simple log.
What are we working on?

• New torrent application -> we hope it will fix the issues we’re having now
• Fix RapidShare bug: some files could not be downloaded. It’ fixed and will be pushed in the next upgrade.
• Improved audio plugin to listen to shoutcast streams… etc.

Hi all freaks!

We’ve got a new animal in our very own personal zoo: Flipper! < -- Check it, it's fun!

And here is the last pic you took of it:

As you can see it’s a Dolphin (yeah, I know you guessed by the name, smartass!) and is here to help you and play with you. Flipper does already include all the features we want in the Fonera 2.0 (for now ). Here is the list of the new features compared to old good Platero:

• Facebook Uploader: wanna share the pics of the weekend with all your mates? Put them in a pendrive, “facebook” folder and plug it in the Fonera 2.0. Everybody will see you drunk! (No, no, calm down. All the pics and videos are always uploaded in PRIVATE mode )
• Flickr Uploader and Picasa Uploader were already added in the Release Candidates.
• Install new versions from the Applications menu! From now on, a single click will separate your Fonera 2.0 from the next firmware… no need to visit blog.fonosfera.org anymore But please, come back or we will be sad!
• Nintendo DS works.
• Freed space for more plugins! We now have 1,5MB instead of 1,19MB
• Samba and FONBackup have a separated firewall option.
• Fixed IE visualization of the Wizard (yes, IE users, now it works… dunno why we fixed it though, lol).
• Fixed Torrent crashing problem with files that have many seeds.
• Torrent downloader now lets you chose the port and will be automatically opened on the firewall.
• The partitions on multi-partition disks can be now labeled as well.
• Polish has been added (thanks Łukasz!).
• You can now assign static DHCP leases and domain names inside your local network.
• 3G connectivity reworked: a long list of providers is preloaded so you need not to configure any value.
• And many more things… if you’re interested, check previous posts. I’m not writing all we did again

Bugs: yeah… as always. We will fix them, please report them!

Once again, and after having released the HW to the public, thanks to all involved! Martin, Jordi, John, Pablo, Javi, Steven, Alex etc etc etc etc etc etc etc (yeah, lots of people )

Images:

• Web Interface image: DEVELOPER Version (includes ssh access)
• Web Interface image: ENDUSER Version (without ssh access)
• Firmware image: DEVELOPER Version (includes ssh access) - md5sum bf12bbd3a006ff6f22fec6cdeb69a15f
• Firmware image: ENDUSER Version (without ssh access) - md5sum 1ad43c52cff0595c951af010421946f2

Hi,

Me and all the firmware team, all FON in general, are very proud to announce the Fonera 2.0 is finally here!

Buy it now for 49,95€ in the FON Shop

Want to know more about it? Search in this blog’s history or google for it. In the short, it’s a router that will let you turn off your PC while it keeps doing a lot of things for you.

The Fonera 2.0 will upload images from a pendrive to your account in either picasa, flickr or Facebook. It can also upload videos to your YouTube account while you are in the bar having a beer and recording even more videos.

It can not only upload things for you but also download them. It can take torrent files for download (please always download material that you can legally do) or you can add a bunch of RapidShare or Megaupload links to the queue and th eFonera 2.0 will download them.

It will make backups of your hard drive and much more. Many new features can be installed with a single click, features we develop here in the fonosfera!

Buy, buy, buy, buy!! LOL

Your feedback was so useful and that’s why we’re releasing fon-ng 2.2.5.0 RC2. It’s gonna be, very likely, the last release candidate. But this time we want to make sure it works as good as it can, because the Endusers are coming! yes, Arpil 21st is the date!

This is the bugfix / new features list:

• Facebook uploader is here! You can now add as many pictures as you want to facebook. I used it 2 and I’m already the biggest image uploader of all my friends!
•  Picasa uploader fixed! it used to crash with many pictures to upload. Not any more!
• Static DHCP leases…
• All icons are now alligned and look better We also like design
• 3G connectivity has been reworked and has more options now.
• Picasa and Youtube applications now check your password and let you know if it’s wrong
• The FONBackup page has been redesigned. Now you can browse the content of your backup to make sure it’s all in there!
• The password bug has been fixed, yes.
• Added nice icons on the File browser to directly upload pictures and videos to picasa, flickr, facebook and youtube. Nice hack
• WiFi-WAN now works better. It didn’t work with some routers before…

Give us any feedback you can think of: we’re happy to get more than we need and filter it

We hope you enjoy this image during easter!

The images

• Web upgrade image: 20090407_FON2202_2.2.5.0_rc2.tar.gz (DO NOT untar or unzip it, use as is)
• Command line upgrade image: 20090407_FON2202_2.2.5.0_rc2.image - md5sum e8cbcacff7a3c51a0b124822ed85da28

P.S.: once again, thanks to all the team, especially John

Yes, we are faster and faster! This is just a release candidate launch, we want you to test all the bugs you reported and let us know if they’ve been fixed. But John, almighty John, has been busy with new stuff too!

(sorry, no pic this time, it’s not a release, hehe )

BIG DISCLAIMER: even thought the configuration wizard tells you to use a password of more than 8 characters, IGNORE IT. It has a bug so use a password of 7 chars MAX!
This is the bugfix and new feature list. Test and report, my friends:

• Added flickr functionality: works as the youtube one. Put pictures on the pendrive on a “flickr” folder and they’re uploaded when plugged!
• Added picasa functionality: exactly the same way but on a “picasa” folder.
• Nintendo DS now works fine with this firmware!!! (more than one will be happy in Japan…).
• Freed space for more plugins! We now have 1,5MB instead of 1,19MB
• Samba and FONBackup have a separated firewall option.
• Fixed IE visualization of the Wizard (yes, IE users, now it works… dunno why we fixed it though, lol).
• Fixed Torrent crashing problem with files that have many seeds.
• Torrent downloader now lets you chose the port and will be automatically opened on the firewall.
• The partitions on multi-partition disks can be now labeled as well.
• And more I can’t remember right now

And this is the missing bits:

• Translations for all new stuff are not ready yet.
• And more I can’t remember right now LOL

The images (only developer mode):

• Web upgrade image (only from 2.2.3.0 and on): 20090330_FON2202_2.2.5.0_rc1.tar.gz
• Command line image (any version): 20090330_FON2202_2.2.5.0_rc1.image