Using Netgear N300 as a modem only

Telkom gives a Netgear N300 modem to their new customers. If you want to use it as a modem only and dial from another router (I use a TP-link router running OpenWRT), follow these easy steps.

Force a 10.0.0.0/8 range IP on your computer (I used 10.0.0.3) and connect to 10.0.0.2 in your browser, the default username and password is usually admin:admin or admin:<blank>.

Then go to 'Setup > Basic Settings', at 'Does Your Internet Connection Require A Login?', set it to 'No', make sure 'Enable' is ticked under 'NAT' and select 'Apply'.

Next go to 'Advanced > WAN Setup', make sure 'Enable PPPoE Relay' is ticked and 'Apply'.

Then go to 'Advanced > LAN Setup', untick 'Use Router as DHCP Server' and 'Apply'.

All that is left is to plug a cable from the modem into the WAN port of your chosen router and dial a PPPoE connection with your Telkom login details.

Setting up iTunes in Linux

I got iTunes working on Ubuntu 13.04 after some googling, but it should work on any Debian based distro. I tested buying and downloading an album and that works. I am not interested in using it as a music player, so you can test that if you want and let me know in a comment.

You will need:

• iTunes 10 - 32 bit (iTunes 11 works, but cannot connect to the internet, so it is useless and 64 bit does not work)
• The newest PlayOnLinux (At the time of writing it was version 4.2.1)
• Wine 1.4.1

iTunes 10.3.1 is available from the Apple support site, so download it (direct dl link).

For the newest PlayOnLinux you will need to add the ppa, instructions are here. There is not an option for Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 13.04, but I just used the Quantal ppa and that worked fine.

You will need to install wine:

sudo apt-get install wine

Now, run PlayOnLinux and choose 'Install'.

Tick the 'Testing' box and search for iTunes. Select iTunes 10 and press Install.

Follow the steps, they will ask you to select an iTunes installer, select the one you downloaded previously. When you finish, you should have a working iTunes in Linux.