How To Bypass WiFi Bandwidth And Time Restrictions Under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13

In some places (airports, network rail stations, etc.), you may have access to free WiFi so that you can connect to the internet via your laptop. However, most of these public facilities may not allow for an unlimited use of WiFi and they set time/bandwidth limits for each connected user.

In this tutorial, we will see a trick that will allow you to enjoy unlimited WiFi without any restrictions, but keep in mind that this may not work for all users because it depends on many factors.

Getting Started

When connected to the Internet, your laptop is identified by a MAC address which cannot be changed unless you use some third-party tools. Under Ubuntu/Linux Mint, we can use MACCHANGER to modify a machine's MAC address. You can install it under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13 or older with this command:

sudo apt-get install macchanger -y

Let's now identify your wireless network interface (wlan0, wlan1, etc.) with this command:

ifconfig

For my system, it is identified as wlan0:

Let's now disable the WiFi connection with this command:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 down

Change now your MAC address with this command:

sudo macchanger -r wlan0

You will get prompts about your current and new MAC addresses:

$ sudo macchanger -r wlan0 

Permanent MAC: 00:a1:b0:0b:7d:de (unknown) 

Current   MAC: 00:a1:b0:0b:7d:de (unknown) 

New       MAC: 1e:b6:72:ee:8d:42 (unknown)

Now relaunch your WiFi connection with this command:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

Don't forget to delete all your browsing history and cookies. When WiFi time/bandwidth limits are reached, change again your MAC address.

Install NVIDIA 310.19 Linux Driver In Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13

Nvidia has released a new driver (310.19) for Linux platforms which brings major performance improvements and threaded OpenGL performance optimizations.

The driver's release notes haven't been published yet in the Nvidia website, but here are some of the changes in this release taken from Phoronix:

Configuring Stereo Support From NVIDIA Settings 

Configuring ViewPortIn and ViewPortOut From NVIDIA Settings 

Fixing The Meta-Mode Book-Keeping 

Configuring Rotation And Reflection Per Display Device

This boost in performance in Nvidia latest Linux drivers is the result of VALVE's move in porting its games to Linux.

Driver Installation

You can install the NVIDIA 310.19 Linux driver from PPA with these commands at your own risk under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa 

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

For manual installation, you can run these commands:

cd && wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47950494/upubuntu.com/nvidia-310.19 

chmod +x nvidia-310.19

Enter now CLI mode by pressing CTRL+ALT+F2, login and run these commands to complete the installation of the driver:

sudo service lightdm stop 

cd && sudo sh nvidia-310.19 

sudo reboot

To install the driver from Recovery Mode, check this article.

How To Install And Configure A DHCP Server In Ubuntu 12.10 Server (Quantal Quetzal)

In this tutorial, we will help you set up and configure a DHCP server in Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) server. This little guide is also workable for Ubuntu 12.04 Server (Precise Pangolin).

Getting Started

   1. Installing The DHCP Server

To install the DHCP server, run this command:

sudo apt-get install isc-dhcp-server

   2. Configuration

Let's now enable the DHCP server for your network interface by editing the /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server file:

sudo nano /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server

In this file, locate INTERFACES="" and add your network interface (eth0 for example):

INTERFACES="eth0"

For multiple network interfaces, you may add them as follows:

INTERFACES="wlan0 eth0"

When you finish, press CTRL+X, type Y (yes) and press Enter to save the new modifications. Finally, restart the DHCP server with this command:

sudo service isc-dhcp-server restart