ebay USB MIDI Interface on Ubuntu Linux (1a86:752d)

I recently bought a USB MIDI interface off ebay. It was just a generic, pretty cheap made-in-china kind of model, with a red, orange and green light. It lit up red when I plugged it into my (Linux) computer, but showed up in lsusb as "Unknown" device:

root@theta:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 0461:0010 Primax Electronics, Ltd
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 045e:0040 Microsoft Corp. Wheel Mouse Optical
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:09b8 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 004: ID 1a86:752d Unknown
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Turns out, even though it's listed as an unknown device, it still worked as a MIDI input. I just started up JACK Audio Server, Rosegarden, and ZynAddSubFx for an organ simulation. Then i plugged in the MIDI In and Out ports to my keyboard, hooked up the connections in JACK and it all worked!

Being USB of course, there was some delay, and for some peculiar reason no keys below Middle C would work for me. But it works well on Sibelius!

Ubuntu: How to automatically lock & unlock screen with Android phone

Evan Boldt has a useful script: Unlock your screen with ANY USB device. I've modified it slightly to work with my HTC Magic / Google Android device. A script is run every minute, which polls the system log every 2 seconds to determine when the USB device is plugged in in or unplugged. It then forwards the relevant command to GNOME Screensaver. The script is posted below for your interest.

Firstly, run lsusb and locate your phone. In my case, it was the highlighted line:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 08ff:2580 AuthenTec, Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 045e:0752 Microsoft Corp.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 045e:0039 Microsoft Corp. IntelliMouse Optical
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bb4:0c02 High Tech Computer Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


Copy everything from ID to the end of the line (i.e. "ID 0bb4:0c02 High Tech Computer Corp.") This will be the ID used to determine when your device is plugged in & unplugged.

Paste this file into your /home/username/bin folder:

#!/bin/bash

#Replace with the ID of your USB device
id="ID 0bb4:0c02 High Tech Computer Corp." # Example: id="ID 05ac:1292 Apple, Inc"

#runs every 2 seconds
for ((i=0; i<=30; i++))
do
if [ -z "`lsusb | grep "$id"`" ]
then

    echo "Device is NOT plugged in"

    if [ -n "`DISPLAY=:0 gnome-screensaver-command --query | grep "is active"`" ]
    then
    if [ -e /tmp/autoUnlock.lock ]
    then
    #stop locking the screen
    rm /tmp/autoUnlock.lock

fi

elif [ -e /tmp/autoUnlock.lock ]
then

    DISPLAY=:0 notify-send -t 5000 –icon=dialog-info “Device Disconnected” “Bye!”

    #lock the desktop
    DISPLAY=:0 gnome-screensaver-command --lock

    rm /tmp/autoUnlock.lock

fi
else

    echo "Android IS plugged in"
    if [ ! -e /tmp/autoUnlock.lock ]
    then
    DISPLAY=:0 gnome-screensaver-command --deactivate
    DISPLAY=:0 notify-send -t 5000 --icon=dialog-info "Device Connected" "Welcome Back!"
    touch /tmp/autoUnlock.lock

    ##Uncomment the 3 following lines if you would like your computer to remind you if you lock your screen without disconnecting the device
    #echo "Don't forget your device!" > /tmp/androidReminder
    #DISPLAY=:0 festival --tts /tmp/androidReminder
    #rm /tmp/androidReminder
    fi

fi
sleep 2
done


Now you simply add a line to your crontab to run this script every minute:

crontab -e


add the line:

* * * * * bash /home/username/bin/autoUnlock & >/dev/null 2>&1


That's it! Now, when you unplug your Android phone it should lock the screen. When you plug in again, the screen unlocks. Easy!

More information:
http://echowarp.neomenlo.org/2009/scripts/unlock-your-screen-with-any-usb-device
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsbDriveDoSomethingHowto

Install Ubuntu from Alternate ISO Image and USB Drive (Karmic 9.10)

I downloaded the Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) alternate install CD. At first I thought there would be no way to run a clean install from this, but I discovered a simple way, which doesn't even involve burning to CD. This method is designed to be run from another linux system.

• Download the alternate install cd image
• Find a usb thumb drive with at least 1GB free (may need more, up to 2GB)
• Download usb-creator, and run it (usb-creator-gtk or usb-creator-kde on Kubuntu)
• In the top box, choose your alternate ISO image. Plug in your usb drive and it should appear in the lower section of the window. Choose the drive (for example, /dev/sdb1) and choose "Discarded on Shutdown".
• Click "Make Startup Disk"

You should then be able to boot your computer from the usb drive, and run the text-based installer.

Source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick