Its been many years since I started using Ubuntu, from its first version to 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). This would be my first post about ubuntu and giving tutorial how to fix annoying problem like what I’ve encountered.

Recently, I attempted to plug-in my smartbro usb MF627 and try to make it work on Ubuntu 9.04. This is my 2nd attempt, the last time I tried it I encountered the same problem. Before I upgraded to 9.04, the recent 8.10 works ok for my smartbro usb MF627.

I’m one of those concern citizen trying to push this device to support our beloved GNU/Linux. I will keep trying 9.04 and also future releases and see if this device will work soon.

Here is what I encountered, during the start-up or boot-up stage. The terminal freeze on reading from usb-serial device. You will see usbserial/usbcore many times and it seems forever loop.

To solve this problem, don’t wait forever, try hitting ESC many times or ctrl+alt+delete to deactivate reading other hardware devices. Try hitting Enter+ESC many times until you reach the login message, asking you to login with your username or password. During this stage you will still encounter annoying reading of usb-serial device. Just continue to sudo root and then try aptitude update.

Make sure to plug your ethernet cable.

Check your ubuntu release:
lsb_release -a

Reconfigure your xserver by:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

If you encounter permission denied on dpkg try:
mount -n -o remount, rw/
- to remount your drive and renew file permission. Currently it says that your under a read only file system.

If success you may now clean your aptitude by:
apt-get clean

Fresh update your aptitude:
apt-get update

Try again dpkg reconfigure:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Your gnome GUI needs some restart:
/etc/init.d/gdm restart

What happens to me gdm stop so after fixing file permission. I remount my Sda1 by:
/etc/init.d/gdm start
- This brings me to my login GUI.

I hope when you reach the end part of this tutorial it helps you solve your problem.

Feel free to post your questions & idea here.

This is my share on Installing IonCube to your LAMP. Here are some helpful steps to follow:

(STEP 1)
# tar -zxvf ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz
# cd ioncube

(STEP 2)
- copy the php ioncube to your server root
# cp ioncube-loader-helper.php
Go to: http://localhost/PATH_/ioncube-loader-helper.php

You should see something like this:

PHP Version ___
Operating System Linux
Threaded PHP No
php.ini file /usr/PATH_/php.ini
Required Loader ioncube_loader_lin_#.#.so

(STEP 3)
- make directory under /usr/local and paste the required .so
# cd /usr/local
# mkdir /ioncube
# cp ioncube_loader_lin_#.#.so /usr/local/ioncube

(STEP 4)
Edit php.ini file:
# gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
OR
# gedit /usr/local/lib/php.ini

- At the end of the code add this
zend_extension = /usr/local/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_#.#.so

Save and Exit

Restart the server by typing:
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

(STEP 5)
To confirm that ioncube is fully working
Go to: http://localhost/PATH_/ioncube-encoded-file.php

You should see something like this:
This file has been successfully decoded. ionCube Loaders are correctly installed.