*nix's Blog

Hi-link e3372h-320 with Freshtomato

2023-09-28T11:30:00.010+03:00

In the configuration interface of the dongle (192.168.8.1), locate the DMZ settings (Settings > Security > DMZ settings) and enable the DMZ feature with a target IP address of 192.168.8.100, which should be the IP of the eth1 network interface on the router that the dongle is connected to (double check in OpenWRT under Network > Interfaces > eth1 > IPv4 or in the Basic->Network or Status->Overview in Freshtomato). Form now on, all incoming connections are passed directly to Freshtomato/OpenWRT. The firewall, SIP, and UPnP features of the dongle can be disabled. In contrast to what other guides say, the NAT setting can stay at its default (cone), because it does not have any influence on the DMZ behavior.

Important!

Do not forget to put the Watchdog Mode as Ping, otherwise it will be disconnecting after a day.

From here:

https://protyposis.net/blog/using-the-huawei-e3372-hi-link-lte-dongle-with-openwrt/

EDPNET and/or Fastfiber with Freshtomato (Netgear R7000)

2023-09-16T08:26:00.003+03:00

If you want to use your own Freshtomato as a router/modem right after the ONT of Proximus in Belgium, use the following:

1. Go to Advanced -> VLAN -> and have the second VLAN have both the VLAN and the VID set to 10, tag the WAN, reboot and check if the settings are saved, and then they can put the modem cable to the wan (so the WAN port is not lost and they can have all 4 LAN ports for usage)

2. Go to Advanced -> Miscellaneous and enable CTF (otherwise the download speeds are also limited to 350 or 400 Mbps). This, in turn, pops up a window that says that it disables the QoS and the BW limiter.

I found this in the documentation.

Shortcut Forwarding Engine: CTF
Flow Acceleration: CTF & FA

Ref:

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1259449&sid=c1def8ba25df97ab8cbe49483d66cfcc

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Wi-Fi-5-AC-Routers/R7000-not-doing-gigabit-ethernet-speeds/td-p/1617391

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hardware#Flow_Acceleration_and_Cut-Through_Forwarding

Docker: Owncloud

2019-06-15T12:54:00.001+03:00

Owncloud in docker

First we need to download owncloud.

docker pull owncloud
docker run -d -p 8080:80 -p 443:443 --name owncloud owncloud

Time to allow owncloud being accessible by outside.

docker ps
docker exec -it <your container> bash
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install nano

$ nano config/config.php

'trusted_domains' =>
array (
0 => '127.0.0.1',
1 => '<>',
),

where <> should be something like blahblah.chickenkiller.com

Now let's create our ssl keys

Step 1
mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl

openssl dhparam -dsaparam -out /etc/apache2/ssl/dh4096.pem 4096

Your keys

Step 2
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/owncloud.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/owncloud.crt

If you want a certificate from certbot and let's encrypt.

apt-get update
apt-get install software-properties-common
add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
apt-get update
apt-get install certbot python-certbot-apache

Say no to redirect in case you don't use the parameter certonly. We will do it in step 5

certbot --apache certonly

cp /etc/letsencrypt/live//privkey.pem /etc/apache2/ssl
cp /etc/letsencrypt/live//fullchain.pem /etc/apache2/ssl

Step 3 pick the right key and chain from

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.conf
#ServerName :443
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/owncloud.crt (or fullchain.pem )
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/owncloud.key (or privkey.pem)

SSLOpenSSLConfCmd DHParameters /etc/apache2/ssl/dh4096.pem (Ignore this if done with certbot)

Include /etc/apache2/ssl/options-ssl-apache.conf

Step 4
a2ensite default-ssl
a2enmod ssl
Step 5 (change the host name and the port)
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf
Add redirect "/" https://:
Step 6
service apache2 restart

=============================
Options-ssl-apache.conf
# This file contains important security parameters. If you modify this file
# manually, Certbot will be unable to automatically provide future security
# updates. Instead, Certbot will print and log an error message with a path to
# the up-to-date file that you will need to refer to when manually updating
# this file.

SSLEngine on

# Intermediate configuration, tweak to your needs
SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 -SSLv3
SSLCipherSuite ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256$
SSLHonorCipherOrder on
SSLCompression off

SSLOptions +StrictRequire

# Add vhost name to log entries:
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-agent}i\"" vhost_combined
LogFormat "%v %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" vhost_common

#CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log vhost_combined
#LogLevel warn
#ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Always ensure Cookies have "Secure" set (JAH 2012/1)
#Header edit Set-Cookie (?i)^(.*)(;\s*secure)??((\s*;)?(.*)) "$1; Secure$3$4"

==================================

Plex

nano /etc/fstab

UUID= /mnt/Data ntfs-3g defaults,auto,rw,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=4,big_writes,async,noatime,nodiratime 0 1

docker run \
-d \
--name plex \
--network=host \
-e TZ="Europe\Brussels" \
-e PLEX_CLAIM="claim-<>" \
-v /home/plex:/config \
-v /home/plex/transcode:/transcode \
-v /mnt/Data:/data -e PLEX_UID=1000 -e PLEX_GID=1000\
-v /mnt/Data/Music/:/data/music \
-v /mnt/Data/Movies/:/data/movies \
linuxserver/plex

(problems with access to folders of mounted data...? PLEX_UID? )

Startup
nano /etc/rc.local
(before exit 0 add this )

docker start owncloud
java -jar "/home/pi/JDownloader.v2.0/JDownloader.jar" &

Compare VoIP solutions so as to call all over world at low rates.

2013-05-14T17:42:00.000+03:00

Let me know what you think.

http://www.voip-comparison.com/

http://progx.ch/home-voip-prixbetamax-3-1-2.html

http://www.voipproviderslist.com/country/voip-greece/voip-providers-greece/

ll as an alias to ls -lrt

2013-03-01T15:37:00.002+02:00

Ok from my recent experience working on AIX servers, it was always handy to do an ll, an abbreviation of the 'ls -lrt' command.

It is very easy to create an alias of a command as something else:

alias ll="ls -l"

Remember not to leave any spaces (maybe even do single quote instead of double quotes). It could also be more useful to put aliases in .bash_aliases file and keep your .bashrc cleaner.

Fixing Skype's high CPU usage

2012-11-01T10:03:00.002+02:00

From http://billxinli.com/2011/12/14/fixing-skypes-high-cpu-usage/

I brought home a new MacBookPro the other day (well yesterday) It had nothing but a clean install of 10.7.2, I installed Skype, and did a bit of video calling, to my surprise it was using over 300% of the CPU. Unless if it is solving the cure to cancer, that should not happen.

I tried multiple versions of the software, and they were all taking up the same amount of CPU cycles.

The ~~fix~~ hack:

I realized that Skype uses peer to peer with supernode peers for call routing. I have a Rogers extreme connection, without a firewall, and my IP for the mac placed in the DMZ.

I enabled the Mac OSX Firewall, and disallowed incoming connections to Skype, so now I can video chat, and as well have the CPU stable at around 60% instead of 300+%

However, I noticed that Skype will automatically switch to HD Video when there is enough bandwidth, and there is no way to limit that. 1.2mbps video for an hour is 4.2 gigabytes. Imagine someone in a long distance relationship.

Anyhow, I use a Mac, and using ipfw I am able to limit the bandwidth used by Skype, thus it should not show HD videos anymore, and effectively also lowering the CPU temperature.

The two rules that limits my Skype to only use 70kilobyes per second. (246 megabytes/h)

ipfw pipe 55555 config bw 70KByte/s
ipfw add 55555 pipe 55555 src-port 5665 #the port Skype is using

HTC Desire (Android) useful commands

2012-03-18T11:43:00.000+02:00

If you want to check for bad sectors

fastboot oem rbchk
you can follow that with recovery|boot|misc|system|userdata to check specific partitions. im not sure but i think that was a feature added to blackrose might not work on stock hboot

If you want to change the recovery (see here for files http://download.clockworkmod.com/recoveries/)

fastboot flash recovery /path/to/recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-bravo.img

If you want to flash radio

fastboot flash radio radio.img

Last but never least, if you want to change the partitions (hboot) then

1.Flash HBOOT with your phone in fastboot mode (Back+POWER or 'adb reboot bootloader') -> 'fastboot flash hboot bravo_alphaspl.img' (change into the correct filename for the HBOOT you downloaded)

2.'fastboot reboot-bootloader'

3.'fastboot erase cache'

To read-write the system partition

mount -o rw,remount /system

And something more generic for all the android phones out there. PUK unlock your android phone:

After they give you your PUK code is it pretty straightforward to unlock it or do I have to use the this complicated way I found on the internet:

1) Contact your mobile provider (from another phone) and ask for the PUK code. After a security check they will give you an 8-digit number.

2) On the Nexus One tap "Emergency calls only" and you will be shown the usual dialer (don't worry, it won't call any emergency service, just show you the dialer!).

3) Think of a new 4-digit PIN number.

4) Type this code into the Nexus One's dialer:
**05*<PUK number>*<New PIN number>*<New PIN number again>#

For example:
I received the PUK code 62862993 from my mobile provider and I want my PIN to be 1234:
**05*62862993*1234*1234#

To check in fastboot what your hboot is:
fastboot oem listpartition

To check the amount of bad blocks:
Code:

fastboot oem partition_test system
fastboot oem partition_test userdata
fastboot oem partition_test cache

Seagate NAS 110 hardware review

2012-03-18T10:18:00.002+02:00

The BA NAS 110 is basically a single-drive version of the BlackArmor NAS 220, available in 1 (tested) and 2 TB versions. The 3.5" Seagate ST31000528AS Barracuda 7200.12 SATA drive is not user-replaceable.

The NAS 110 shares all of the features of its two and four-drive siblings (except for RAID), which include SMB/CIFS and NFS network filesystems, optional volume encryption, immediate or scheduled backup to / from attached USB drives & rsync servers and UPnP AV / DLNA, iTunes media servers. See the NAS 220and 440 reviews for full details.

The NAS 110's hardware design is very similar to the NAS 220, with an 800 MHz Marvell 88F6192Kirkwood CPU and 128 MB of RAM.
The CPU info has these info:

Processor : ARM926EJ-S rev 1 (v5l)
BogoMIPS : 794.62
Features : swp half thumb fastmult edsp
CPU implementer : 0x56
CPU architecture: 5TE
CPU variant : 0x2
CPU part : 0x131
CPU revision : 1
Cache type : write-back
Cache clean : cp15 c7 ops
Cache lockdown : format C
Cache format : Harvard
I size : 16384
I assoc : 4
I line length : 32
I sets : 128
D size : 16384
D assoc : 4
D line length : 32
D sets : 128
Hardware : Feroceon-KW

I wasn't able to get the plastic covers off without risking cracking them, so wasn't able to get a board shot. I suspect, however, I would have found a board very similar to the NAS 220's with Marvell 88E1116R Gigabit Ethernet, 32 MB of flash and a Genesys GL850A 4 port USB 2.0 Hub (two ports are brought out).

The 110 is relatively quiet, but you can hear drive noise in a quiet room. Power consumption measured 12 W with the drive running and 6 W when the non-programmable HDD Standby power-saving mode is enabled. (Idle spindown time seems to be around 10 minutes.) There is no programmable shutdown / startup feature.

As noted above, CIFS/SMB and NFS network file systems are supported as is anonymous and account-based FTP. There are also iTunes and UPnP AV /DLNA media servers.

Immediate and scheduled backup (1 day, minimum backup period) can be done to and from attached USB drives and to rsync servers.

Fastest backup of our ~ 4 GB standard filecopy test folder measured 6.15 MB/s using a FAT formatted USB drive, which was essentially the same as the NAS 220. NAS-to-NAS backup of the test folder via rsync to a QNAP TS-239 Pro measured 15.39 MB/s.

Write and read performance with Gigabit and Gigabit with 4K jumbo frame connections is shown in the Figure below. Write performance with a Gigabit LAN connection averaged 22.0 MB/s for file sizes between 32 MB and 4 GB, with cached behavior not included in the average calculation. Read performance was significantly higher, measuring 35.9 MB/s with the same conditions.

Note the sharp falloff in read performance with a 4K jumbo frame connection. The 110's user interface allows free entry of MTU value for jumbo frames and changed our 4000 entry to 4004. We also tried entering 4088 which the GUI changed to 4092 and yielded slightly worse performance.

File copy performance using a Vista SP1 client under the same conditions (Gigabit LAN) came in about the same for write at 20.1 MB/s, and somewhat higher for read at 46.0 MB/s.Given the similarity to the other BlackArmors, a full review of the NAS 110 isn't planned. You can further explore and compare performance (including backup performance) using the NAS Charts
.

NAS 110/220/440 part5: Download manager (Debian)

2012-01-15T17:36:00.000+02:00

This is the last of the series that describe how the NAS can behave as a linux server (DLNA, webserver, bittorent). About the end of this tutorial you should be at about the 75% of your space in the NAS (issue the "df -h" command).

Download from here the pyLoad deb file (without gui, cli only)

aptitude install python-pycurl python-crypto

dpkg -i pyload-cli-v0.4.9-all.deb

cd /usr/share/pyload/

python pyLoadCore.py -s

(to create the intial database setup for the webinterface. The command prompts you for a username, an email and a password, which will be used to authenticate you against the webinterface of pyload (see below).)
I would suggest to pick the threaded server as the builtin usually causes problems and requires restarts in the web interface.

nano ~/.pyload/pyload.conf

nano /usr/share/pyload/module/config/default.conf (although this is not the real that the program is looking)

see here for configuration settings.

if you want it to load at boot up time as a service then

nano /etc/init.d/pyload
add to PATH after :/usr/bin: the :/usr/local/bin:
and edit /etc/rc.local
add just before exit 0 the "/etc/init.d/pyload start" (make sure you leave an empty line just before and after this line) or "python /usr/share/pyload/pyLoadCore.py --daemon" (didn't work for me... probably doesn't resolve the right path, probably because python is not loaded yet..?)

To change users that can enter the webinterface just "python /usr/share/pyload/pyLoadCore.py -u"

To see more help, then " python /usr/share/pyload/pyLoadCore.py -h"

Alternatives:

wget4web
pyLoad

CLIs
http://www.techtalkz.com/blog/tips-n-tricks/download-rapidshare-files-from-linux-shell-command-line.html
http://mundogeek.net/rapidshare-dl/
http://aria2.sourceforge.net/

- FatRat (doesn't work without X-Server)
- Slimrat (doesn't have actualy a web ui)
- Plowshare (no WebUI)

For NAS to work with tomato you will need to open up the ports from outside.
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -j ACCEPT

So the startup script would be something like that

echo "LABEL=optware /opt ext2 defaults,noatime 1 1" >> /etc/fstab;
sleep 5;
/opt/bin/pyLoadCore --daemon
echo "#!/bin/sh" > /jffs/scripts/firewall-start;
echo "iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --destination-port 8000 -j ACCEPT" >> /jffs/scripts/firewall-start;
chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/firewall-start;

Or instead for the last 3 lines, just go to the script for firewall and add
iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --destination-port 8000 -j ACCEPT;

NAS 110/220/440 part 4: Bittorent client to NAS 110, 220, 440 (Debian linux)

2012-01-14T13:08:00.001+02:00

Transmission (headless server)

Transmission is great, but in lenny you get a very, very old version. There is way to get the latest or from backports but I would suggest compiling the latest from trunk. I have compiled the 2 packages needed...
And they are right here:

Older version:
libevent-2.0.16_1-1_armel.deb
transmission_2.42-1_armel.deb

Newer version:
1. transmission_2.77-1_armel.deb
2. libevent_2.0.21-1_armel.deb
3. (not sure it is needed, but here you go) intltool_0.50.2-2_all.deb

A simple dpkg -i *.deb should do the trick. Just follow the settings part for all the install methods below...

Otherwise:

Install transmission (from backports)
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
# Add those lines:

# Backports repository
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports lenny-backports main

common

cli

daemon

(preferred way) Or download a tar from here http://download-origin.transmissionbt.com/files/
then untar from your computer and then put it in the Public folder somewhere so as to compile.
Download from here the latest libevent for compile
tar xvjf libevent-file.tar.bz2
cd libevent-2.x
./configure && make && make install
cd ../..
tar xvjf transmission-2.42.tar.bz2
cd transmission-2.42
#install this one here ( it is the backport of libevent)
aptitude install libcurl4-openssl-dev intltool
./configure
#(or if you have compiled the libevent yourself then
./configure --enable-utp --enable-lightweight LIBEVENT_CFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LIBEVENT_LIBS="-L/usr/local/lib -levent"
if later on you have a collect2 problem then the libcurl libs are in a different path; just run a whereis libcurl and add to configure the flags (LIBCURL_CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" LIBCURL_LIBS="-L/usr/local/lib")#)
make
make install
nano /etc/init.d/transmission-daemon
edit Daemon=/usr/bin/$NAME to /usr/local/bin/$NAME
and edit USER=root
nano /etc/rc.local
add just before exit 0 the "/etc/init.d/transmission-daemon start"

Settings for all the methods
transmission-daemon -f -t -u your_username -v your_password -w /media/Data/Public/torrents

The -f option sets transmission-daemon to run in the foreground (not as a daemon) for this session so we can easily close it using Ctrl + C. "-t" sets the authentication to true, "-g" sets the Transmission Daemon config folder. Without setting it, ~/.config/transmission-daemon will be used.

mkdir /media/Data/Public/torrents/.incomplete; mkdir /media/Data/Public/torrents/torrents;
You may have to "ps aux" and "kill PID" (whee the PID is the pid of the daemon) the daemon. Make sure the daemon is not running.
We need this to run transmission...
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libevent-2.0.so.5 /usr/lib/libevent-2.0.so.5
cp /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json ~/.config/transmission-daemon/
rm /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json
ln -s ~/.config/transmission-daemon/settings.json /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json
nano /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json

Change to "rpc-whitelist":"127.0.0.1,192.168.*.*"
SOS: Change to "download-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/downloaded",
If you want to change the password change it a readable way: "rpc-password": "root", "rpc-username": "root"
If you want to observe for a folder change

"watch-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/torrents\/torrents",
"watch-dir-enabled": true

SOS: As we don;t have much space, make sure that you add:

"incomplete-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/torrents\/Incomplete",
"incomplete-dir-enabled": true

Change preallocation to 2 so as not to fragment our hdd
For the rest just check https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/EditConfigFiles

/etc/init.d/transmission-daemon start or in case you did not compile it yourself then just nano /etc/rc.local and add the
/usr/local/bin/transmission-daemon -g /root/.config/transmission-daemon/
right before exit 0.

You can download transmission remote gui, or from your browser point to 192.168.x.x:9091 (your NAS's IP)

Here is my settings.json:

{
"alt-speed-down": 50,
"alt-speed-enabled": false,
"alt-speed-time-begin": 540,
"alt-speed-time-day": 127,
"alt-speed-time-enabled": false,
"alt-speed-time-end": 1020,
"alt-speed-up": 50,
"bind-address-ipv4": "0.0.0.0",
"bind-address-ipv6": "::",
"blocklist-enabled": false,
"cache-size-mb": 6,
"dht-enabled": true,
"download-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/torrents\/downloaded",
"download-limit": 100,
"download-limit-enabled": 0,
"encryption": 2,
"incomplete-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/torrents\/.incomplete",
"incomplete-dir-enabled": true,
"lazy-bitfield-enabled": true,
"max-peers-global": 200,
"message-level": 2,
"open-file-limit": 32,
"peer-limit-global": 240,
"peer-limit-per-torrent": 60,
"peer-port": 51000,
"peer-port-random-high": 65535,
"peer-port-random-low": 49152,
"peer-port-random-on-start": true,
"peer-socket-tos": 0,
"pex-enabled": true,
"port-forwarding-enabled": false,
"preallocation": 2,
"proxy": "",
"proxy-auth-enabled": false,
"proxy-auth-password": "",
"proxy-auth-username": "",
"proxy-enabled": false,
"proxy-port": 80,
"proxy-type": 0,
"ratio-limit": 2.0000,
"ratio-limit-enabled": false,
"rpc-authentication-required": true,
"rpc-bind-address": "0.0.0.0",
"rpc-enabled": true,
"rpc-password": "****",
"rpc-port": 9091,
"rpc-username": "root",
"rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1,192.168.*.*",
"rpc-whitelist-enabled": true,
"speed-limit-down": 100,
"speed-limit-down-enabled": false,
"speed-limit-up": 100,
"speed-limit-up-enabled": false,
"umask": 18,
"upload-limit": 100,
"upload-limit-enabled": 0,
"upload-slots-per-torrent": 14,
"watch-dir": "\/media\/Data\/Public\/torrents\/torrents",
"watch-dir-enabled": true
}

Optionally:
As the web interface of transmission is not so good, I have changed it with Transmission WEB Control.
/usr/local/share/transmission/
tar -cvf oldweb.tar ./web; gzip -9 oldweb.tar; rm -rf web
wget https://transmission-control.googlecode.com/svn/resouces/transmission-control-full.tar.gz
tar -xzf transmission-control-full.tar.gz

If you are satisfied with this one (i.e. transmission), don't proceed any further... The others gave me headaches...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Btpd

Build btpd torrent client
aptitude install build-essential libssl-dev subversion

Install the webui
aptitude install python-twisted-bin python-twisted-core python-twisted-web
cd ..
svn checkout http://btpd-webui.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ btpd-webui
cd btpd-webui
checkinstall -D python setup.py install

nano /etc/conf.d/btpd

# owner of btpd process (must be existing)
BTPDUSER="root"
# Extra arguments for btpd
BTPDEXTRARGS="--bw-in 128 --bw-out 10"

username and password are btpd in server.name:12321/login

Now, in order to change to your needs, just

nano ~/.btpd-webui/config

I have done it like this

## WebUI username
#username = btpd

## WebUI password
#password = btpd

## Base directory for downloaded content
#content_directory = /root/.btpd-webui/content
content_directory = /media/Data/Public/torrent/webuicontent

## Btpd base directory
#btpd_directory = /root/.btpd
btpd_directory=/media/Data/Public/torrents

## WebUI update interval (seconds)
#update_frequency = 2

## HTTP Server port
#port = 12321

And then issue a "btpd-webui restart"

You can start anytime the btpd client by issuing this command (change bw-out and max peers to you needs)
btpd --bw-out 200 --max-peers 40 -d /media/Data/Public/torrents

btcli -d /media/Data/Public/torrents list

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternatively you could try your luck with rtorrent... I couldn't get it to compile with xmlrpc-c in our armel...

Compile rtorrent dependencies
aptitude install build-essential libssl-dev libsigc++-2.0-dev subversion libncurses5-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libwww-dev libwww-ssl-dev mysql-server mysql-client libxmlrpc-c3 libcppunit-dev
libtool
cd /media/Data/Public/compiles
mkdir rtorrent;mkdir rtorrent/rtorrent;mkdir rtorrent/libtorrent;mkdir rtorrent/xmlrpc cd rtorrent/libtorrent
wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/libtorrent-0.13.0.tar.gz
tar -zxf libtorrent-0.13.0.tar.gz
cd libtorrent-0.13.0
./configure && make all && make install
cd ../../libwww
wget http://www.physionet.org/physiotools/libwww/w3c-libwww-5.4.0.tar.gz
tar xfvz w3c-libwww-5.4.0.tar.gz
cd w3c-libwww-5.4.0
./configure --with-ssl --with-zlib --with-regex --with-expat --with-md5
make
make install
aptitude install
cd ../../xmlrpc
svn checkout -r 1579 http://xmlrpc-c.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xmlrpc-c/advanced xmlrpc-c
(svn checkout http://xmlrpc-c.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xmlrpc-c/trunk xmlrpc-c)
cd xmlrpc-c
./configure && make && make install
cd ../../rtorrent
Compile rtorrent
wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/rtorrent-0.9.0.tar.gz
tar -zxf rtorrent-0.9.0.tar.gz
cd rtorrent-0.9.0
./configure --with-xmlrpc-c=/usr/local/bin/xmlrpc-c-config
(note to self... I din;t think of "ln" symlinking)

Info:
for btpd here and here
for transmission here, here and here for scripts upon finishing a torrent,

for rutorrent with rtorrent (here) for rtorrent compile (here,)
http://homepage.mac.com/paalb/Examples/ln.html

NAS 110/220/440 part 3: Install a webserver (lighttpd, mysql or sqlite, php5)

2012-01-14T13:08:00.000+02:00

php

Well, this is easy...

Install webserver, sqlite, php5
aptitude install lighttpd php5-cgi php5-cli php5-sqlite
Or if you want mysql:
aptitude install lighttpd mysql-server mysql-client php5-cgi

There is a chance you might need php5.3 so look here

Ftp server
To edit the vsftpd server.
nano /etc/vsftpd.conf (info on default directory here)

Lighttpd
Lighttpd's default document root is /var/www on Debian, and the configuration file is /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf. (From there you can change your Document root to be somewhere else and not /var/www).
Additional configurations are stored in files in the /etc/lighttpd/conf-available directory - these configurations can be enabled with the lighttpd-enable-mod command which creates a symlink from the /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled directory to the appropriate configuration file in /etc/lighttpd/conf-available. You can disable configurations with the lighttpd-disable-mod command.

Php in lighttpd
nano /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini and edit
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
To enable the fastcgi configuration (which is stored in /etc/lighttpd/conf-available/10-fastcgi.conf), run the following command:
lighttpd-enable-mod fastcgi
lighttpd-enable-mod fastcgi-phpThis creates a symlink /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/10-fastcgi.conf which points to /etc/lighttpd/conf-available/10-fastcgi.conf:
ls -l /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled
Then we reload Lighttpd:
/etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload
nano /var/www/info.php
and edit the file to include only this line
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Now go to your browser and enter http://<NAS'I.P.>/info.php
In case you get 403 forbidden then issue chmod 644 /var/www/info.php

Don't forget to change rights.
groupadd lighttpd
useradd -g lighttpd -d /var/www/html -s /sbin/nologin lighttpd
mkdir /var/log/lighttpd
chown lighttpd:lighttpd /var/log/lighttpd
chown -R lighttpd:lighttpd /var/www
To create a php startup page that connects to the php5-sqlite just add this code to the start
<?php
if ($db = sqlite_open('my_sqlite_db', 0666, $sqlite_error)) { }
else { die ($sqlite_error); }
?>
The first parameter of sqlite_open() is the name of the database you want to open. You can think of this as the database name in MySQL, except that if the database does not exist, it will be created for you. The database will be created in the same directory as the PHP file that calls the function. If this file is in a path that is accessible to anyone, they will be able to access your database and to view the contents of it. Obviously, this is a major security risk. To remedy this, you need to enter a relative path out of the web root, such as:
sqlite_open(' ../../../database_name ', 0666, $sqlite_error)
So to retrieve info from a query all you need to do is

Sources: here and here, as for phph and sqlite connection here

Replace the disk in NAS 110/220

2012-01-09T21:12:00.000+02:00

So we bought a crappy disk drive from Seagate (not to mention an overpriced logic board and system that does nothing important) and probably failing after a year the most. Well, fear not, as you can change the drive with another one... (bigger?) and better.

I have not tried this myself as currently the prices have gone up for the hdds, but according to Linuxoid
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/BlackArmor-NAS-Network-Storage/BlackArmor-NAS110-How-to-replace-drive/m-p/98958#M3784

1. Disconnect power and Ethernet cables
2. If you read from the beginning of my post, I just used brutal (but reasonable) force to crack it open. If you're not prepared to do this, then this HowTo may help: http://crapnas.blogspot.com/2010/04/opening-box.html3. Pull the failed HDD out (don't pull out the remaining stuff, just the HDD)
4. Buy a new HDD (I've aways only purchased Seagate drives, but after that bullsh*t they gave me, just as a matter of principle, I purchased a 2 TB Hitachi HDD which has much more only positive reviews than Seagate's. From now on, I'm not buying anything from Seagate if they're so stupid).
5. Slide the new HDD in
6. Connect power and Ethernet cables
7. The NAS will format the drive itself (takes about 5-10 min)
8. Log in (it resets the admin password back to admin and sets IP to dynamic, check in the router which IP it got allocated)
9. Go through the rest of the shares and users setup

That's it! Not designed for the hard drive to be replaced my a*s! Couldn't be easier.

Of course you'll loose all your warranty doing the above. But I was not going to give them 1 TB of my personal stuff.

So there you have it. The NAS 110 can become the best DLNA server with a bigger and better hdd.

NAS 110/220/440 part 2: Install minidlna in Blackarmor 110 (linux debian)

2012-01-09T20:30:00.000+02:00

Well, following previous post that we installed in our little NAS a linux distribution, why not use our little NAS as a DLNA Server? I personally prefer MiniDLNA as it uses less resources and less dependencies. But it is up to you.

I also have a minidlna deb file ready for your needs (so as not to compile everything from scratch). However you will need to configure the minidlna.init.script (put it in init.d folder) and the minidlna.conf files.
(minidlna_1.0.22-9-1-2011-1_armel.deb)

In case you want some newer packages/requirements and you don;t want to compile them for yourself, here they are:

1. minidlna.1.0.25-1_armel
2. gettext_0.18.2-1_armel
3. m4_1.4.16-1_armel
4. automake_1.13.1-1_armel
5. autoconf_2.69-1_armel
6. checkinstall_1.6.2-1_armel

Update: Please click on one ad (no more as it may be considered as fake) in order to support my time compiling and finding the errors in compiling these packages. Thanks. :)

Minidlna

Build depenedencies: aptitude install build-essential cvs gettext libavutil-dev libavcodec-dev libsqlite3-dev libjpeg62-dev libexif-dev libid3tag0-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libflac-dev libavformat-dev autoconf
Switch to the Public folder: cd /media/Data/Public
Download source code: cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@minidlna.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/minidlna login (and press enter) cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@minidlna.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/minidlna co -P minidlna
Configure and install cd minidlna sh autogen.sh ./configure make make install (or simply to create a deb file for future reference checkinstall -D make install)
Install Startup Script: nano ./linux/minidlna.init.d.script (change MINIDLNA=/usr/sbin/minidlna to MINIDLNA=/usr/local/bin/minidlna or run whereis before that to see where minidlna is in fact installed...) cp ./linux/minidlna.init.d.script /etc/init.d/minidlna chmod +x /etc/init.d/minidlna Alternatively, you can nano /etc/rc.local and just before exit 0 add /etc/init.d/minidlna start #/usr/sbin/minidlna
nano /etc/minidlna.conf

network_interface=egiga0 # port for HTTP (descriptions, SOAP, media transfer) traffic port=8200 # network interface to bind to (this is the only interface that will serve files) #network_interface=eth0 # set this to the directory you want scanned. # * if have multiple directories, you can have multiple media_dir= lines # * if you want to restrict a media_dir to a specific content type, you # can prepend the type, followed by a comma, to the directory: # + "A" for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/jmaggard/Music) # + "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/jmaggard/Videos) # + "P" for images (eg. media_dir=P,/home/jmaggard/Pictures) media_dir=V,/media/Data/Public media_dir=A,/media/Data/Public/Songs media_dir=P,/media/Data/Public/Pictures media_dir=/media/Data/Public/torrentflux # set this if you want to customize the name that shows up on your clients friendly_name=Server # set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its database and album art cache db_dir=/media/Data/Public/var/cache/minidlna # this should be a list of file names to check for when searching for album art # note: names should be delimited with a forward slash ("/") album_art_names=folder.jpg/folder.png/Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folde$ # set this to no to disable inotify monitoring to automatically discover new files # note: the default is yes inotify=yes # set this to yes to enable support for streaming .jpg and .mp3 files to a TiVo supporting HMO enable_tivo=no # set this to strictly adhere to DLNA standards. # * This will allow server-side downscaling of very large JPEG images, # which may hurt JPEG serving performance on (at least) Sony DLNA products. strict_dlna=no # default presentation url is http address on port 80 #presentation_url=http://server/index.php # notify interval in seconds. default is 895 seconds. notify_interval=900 # serial and model number the daemon will report to clients # in its XML description serial=12345678 model_number=1

Reboot (or in case you changed the conf file just /etc/init.d/minidlna reload). Now to start the service upon boot time, just aptitude sysv-rc-conf and then run it (sysv-rc-conf) and tick 2,3,4 and 5.

Mediatomb

Just install from aptitude mediatomb mediatomb-daemon mediatomb-common ffmpeg vlc ffmpegthumbnailer
To check if it is running write ls /etc/init.d
Update this is not necessary:{Mediatomb is kinda weird. In PuTTY just type "update-rc.d mediatomb defaults" (to remove from booting each time just type "update-rc.d -f mediatomb remove" or you can just skip the f parameter)}
Let's start fiddling with it. "nano /etc/mediatomb/config.xml" and beneath the element name (which you can change by the way) insert an element <port>15000</port> or which ever port you wish to have as a static for mediatomb.
"/etc/init.d/mediatomb restart" to restart the service.
"nano /etc/mediatomb/config.xml" and add <custom-http-headers> <add header="transferMode.dlna.org: Streaming"/><add header="contentFeatures.dlna.org: DLNA.ORG_OP=01;DLNA.ORG_CI=0;DLNA.ORG_FLAGS=017000 00000000000000000000000000"/> </custom-http-headers>
Watch mine here

Uninstall: gettext, sysv-rc-conf
Still messing with those stuff..

(Haven't tried http://numsys.eu/divers/minidlna-cvs-fred-arm-dns-323-compil/)

Skip this. It is deprecated. aptitude install cvs libavcodec52 libavcodec-dev libavformat52 libavformat-dev libavutil49 libavutil-dev libflac8 libflac-dev libvorbis libogg0 libogg-dev libid3tag0 libid3tag0-dev libexif12 libexif-dev libjpeg62 libjpeg62-dev

Tips: You can always check your free space with "df -h" and remove the cached deb files isuing the apt-get clean and autoclean and autoremove commands. Sources: here, here and here for Samsung TVs here Info from here:http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/seagate-blackarmor-nas.txt
http://sourceforge.net/projects/minidlna/forums/forum/879956/topic/4815462
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=51478
an arm deb: http://dev.shyd.de/2011/08/minidlna-dockstar-dlna-server/
http://mentors.debian.net/package/minidlna

For starting up the minidlna upon boot:
http://stabbyjones.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/minidlna-the-best-streaming-software-hands-down/

For the conf file of miniDLNA
http://anotherdev.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/ubuntu-10-04-alternative-to-mediatomb-for-samsung-dlna-tvs-minidlna/

Delete everything in a disk... even the GPT partition table

2012-01-09T15:32:00.000+02:00

First of all, fire up the gparted live cd/usb and load gparted (info here).

Delete every single partition from your drive one by one. (delete and apply).Close gparted app but don;t reboot
Now the hard part will be to delete the GPT partition table, that has various copied along the disk.
When the kernel unintentionally identifies a disk's GPT (GNU partition table) it can be hard to get that partition table removed since it is repeated several times accross the disk space. The trick is to change the partition table on disk to BSD; the partition table that is most commonly used on x86 systems. Fire up terminal Change patrition table to BSD

parted /dev/sdjm mklabel bsd

Next, if you also require to remove the BSD label use the well known trick: Remove BSD label

sudo dd bs=1k count=1 if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdjm

Finally rescan partitions to update the kernel state. Rescan partitions

partprobe

Nas 110/220/440 Part 1: Install Debian Lenny in NAS 110 BlackArmor Seagate

2012-01-07T16:45:00.000+02:00

The info below will void your warranty... I will not be held responsible for any damage caused to your unit.
(although rest assured, there are many who have done it and nothing bad has happened... but still you are taking chances, just take everything as I say, step by step and you will be great)
We will need PuTTY. Download it here.

1. Enable SSH on the Seagate Blackarmor 110 NAS

1. Download the 'unofficial' service pack (SP42) and use the manual firmware upgrade process through the web interface:
http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/sg2000-2000.1337.sp42.img

Update: You have to rename the file to match the major model number of your NAS (sg1000-1000.1337.sp42.img for the 1xx series, sg4000-4000.1337.sp42.img for the 4xx series). (rename the file to correspond your NAS!)

2. ssh root@<NAS-IP> with password 'atsahs' or open PuTTY and put the IP, then accept the key, then username:root and password:atsahs

Make sure to change the root password as soon as possible!
Just issue the passwd command for that to happen.

2. Install Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.7 (Lenny) on the Blackarmor 110 NAS

WARNING: This process completely replaces the original Seagate firmware! The SP modifies the NAND flash of your NAS. This may possibly damage your device permanently! You have been warned! Installation of the Debian/GNU Linux system is only recommended for people with (at least) basic linux administration skills.

1. Download my customized Debian GNU/Linux image (2 files): http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/custom-rootfs_full.tar.gz
http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/custom-rootfs_full.tar.gz.md5

Upload both files to the 'Public' share of your NAS. Do not rename the files.

2. Download Hojo's unofficial 'fw upgrade' service pack (SP99) and use the manual firmware upgrade process through the web interface:
http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/custom-sg2000-2000.1337.sp99.img
(rename the file to 'sg1000-1000.1337.sp99.img' before uploading)
3. ssh root@<NAS-IP> with password 'root'
(generally, the IP changes after Debian installation, try to scan your network for new IPs!)

Notes: - The SP modifies the original Seagate preroot image (NAND flash partition 2) to fix some bugs (Seagate/Wistron guys: 'exec /sbin/init' is the correct way to start the init process). This modification should not affect the normal operation of the NAS (e.g. booting the official firmware). - The SP does not overwrite the official firmware image (NAND flash partition 4). If you insert clean harddisks into your NAS, the official firmware gets installed (make sure to completely remove the GPT partition table which is located at the *end* of the harddisk if you want to restore to factory defaults (check here how to completely erase a hdd so as to restore)).

- This SP does not replace the linux kernel image and therefore does not depend on any specific hardware. It _might_ work on other Seagate BA NAS models as well.

- After applying the SP, the system starts with a Debian Lenny minimal system (basic system binaries and SSH daemon only). However, you are free to install additional packages via the Debian package management system. For configuration, you'll have to use your favourite text editor. - Make sure to change the root password as soon as possible. - Run 'apt-get update' before installing any new packages. Otherwise you'll get weird errors about missing dependencies. - Suggested additional Debian packages:
nfs-kernel-server samba vsftpd iscsitarget

And add this line to (nano /etc/apt/sources.list) your list of sources.
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ lenny contrib main non-free

3. Mount data partition (mount /dev/md3 /media/Data/Public) or even better edit nano /etc/fstab to do this in each boot:

mkdir /media/Data
nano /etc/fstab
/dev/md3 /media/Data ext3 defaults 0 2
#( change last 2 to 0 if you don't want to check the disk)
reboot
#(for changes to take effect)

If you want to mount the USB drive as well, then, do it from webmin... I still haven't found a way to automount any given /dev/sdb1 (for the NAS) to /media/USB dynamically.

mkdir /media/USB
nano /etc/fstab
/dev/sdb1 /media/USB ufsd rw,noauto,user,sync 0 0

#/dev/sdb1 is for 1Tb NAS110, be extra careful because it could be /dev/sdc or sdd and you could be messing with the system there. An fdisk -l command will help you find the right disk.

Hojo says here that we have ufsd so I am using that instead of anything else (such as auto),

debian-armel:~# modprobe ufsd debian-armel:~# dmesg | tail -n5 ufsd: module license 'Commercial product' taints kernel. ufsd: driver loaded at bf013000 built on Jun 5 2009 15:42:37 UFSD version 7.04 (Jun 5 2009, 15:37:57) NTFS read/write support included $Id: ufsdvfs.c,v 1.207.4.1 2009/05/14 14:37:07 shura Exp $ (LBD=ON) debian-armel:~# I've never tried to mount an NTFS-filesystem, but 'mount -t ufsd ...' should do the work.

For example I have put in /etc/rc.local these (although some would argue that modprobe should go to /etc/modules and mount should go to /etc/fstab... but since it works...):
modprobe ufsd
mount -t ufsd /dev/sdb1 /media/USB

4. Install webmin
Now that you have your working Debian (at least you think you do) the NAS will reboot. Wait for a minute, then ssh to your NAS (through PuTTY or your terminal: ssh root@192.168.1.x) while searching your router for newly acquired IP addresses (i.e. mine was the one with mac 00:10:75:23:4f:a8).

First of all download webmin from here: wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12575855/webmin_1.570_all.deb
aptitude install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl apt-show-versions python
(I assume you have installed "aptitude install nfs-kernel-server samba vsftpd iscsitarget)
dpkg --install webmin_1.570_all.deb
Now your webmin will be at an IP given by your router (check your router for newly acquired IPs) with the port 10000 or 20000. So, I opened Chrome and put in the address bar 192.168.1.66:10000

Go to Networking > Network configuration and change that to your needs (I put a static IP as I wanted to map the smb drive and in routing and gateways I added my router's IP/gateway and egiga0 as the interface). Be extra careful as this way things get messy, and you can end up not able to connect to your NAS
In Samba Servers' main page (otherwise check "refresh modules"), go to users and passwords and create a user to have access to the shares you wish to share.
Next go to Servers >Samba servers and add a share (let;s say /media/Data/Public, but that should come after step 4). Put it so that it will be available to anyone. Go to "security and access control and make sure it is writable>Yes and allow guest access. You can play with those later on. Next to file permissions and folder permissions put 777.

Go back and push the button that says "restart samba servers"

5. We have to make the disk spin down and become energy friendly. Otherwise the drive is going to heat up much more that we want it to.
Edit: I don;t use it anymore, neither does gfg123 (see here why)
Intsructions from gfg123:

Downloaded latest Firmware from Seagate Website
Use the instructions on this document to convert the .img into a .tgz archive (just fire up a terminal and
```
tar tvzf sg2000-2000.0631.img.tgz
```
) then open up the tar file in Ubuntu or wherever else you want
Extracted the tgz file, extracted the included "rootfs" again, copied /usr/sbin/sendidle from this tgz to my NAS(let's put it in /media/Public and then
cp /media/Public/sendidle /home/)
Added the following line to /etc/rc.local (Commands here are executed at Boot Time) : "cp /home/sendidle /lib/init/rw/;/lib/init/rw/sendidle -t 120 -s /dev/sda" before "exit 0"

Important. /home/sendidle is my example Path, should be the path to the copied sendidle binary, /lib/init/rw is a filesystem with tmpfs (Stored in RAM,not on disk) , I had to use this because if the file would be on disk again, it resulted in an endless spin-up-and-down loop for me,I think because the file for setting the disk to standby/spindown would be on the disk itself so it has to be copied into ram.

The Number 120 means 10 Minutes of idle time and then turn off the disk.
Another Note: If you have stuff like SMB (Windows Shares) running on your server, it can cause the disk to "wake up" suddenly , I think windows connects to the SMB when you press on the Network link in Windows Explorer etc, so you might use the SFTP Server included with Debian to transfer your files.

I am not sure if its legal to upload the "sendidle" binary here so I will not do it, getting it took me hours to set off a linux VM, find the right files,extract them, copy from VM to NAS etc.

6. A file manager will come handy when you want to move/rename/copy files i.e. when using a USB to copy files from or to (don;t forget that all you need to issue is a "mount -t ufsd /dev/sdb1 /media/USB"). So, I would suggest to install media commander.

aptitude install mc

I prefer not to use mc, instead I open filezilla or in my nautilus file manager (linux guys) I enter the IP of my NAS ftp://root@Ip.NAS and then connect remotely to our NAS. Don't forget to

nano /etc/ftpusers

and comment the root user, so as to be able to connect. Also

nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

and uncomment "local_enable=YES".

7. If you want to pull the drive and put in linux, please comment below as to how this can be done.

8. Logs are taking too much space... so disable them? You won;t need them anyway. Besides, with logs enabled, spindown of the disk can't happen. Enter to your webmin https site, System>System Logs and disable every single one of them. I have disabled almost everything and most importantly everything with mail and syslog.

9. Want to make a backup? Then issue:

dd if=/dev/md0 bs=4096 conv=noerror,sync | gzip -c -9 > /media/Data/Public/backup.gz

and to restore from a backup

gunzip -c /media/Data/Public/backup.gz | dd of=/dev/md0 bs=4096

Tips:

You can always check your free space with "df -h" and remove the cached deb files isuing the apt-get clean and autoclean and autoremove commands.
You can also check your CPU usage with "top".
In case you are running out of space, use "du -sk * | sort -n > /media/Data/Public/sizes_$(date +%Y%m%d).rtf" and watch in Public for a file to see the sizes of your system folders or "du -k /" for a complete list (I use du -k /var). You may need "reboot" or even "shutdown -h -P now" from time to time...
Download smartmontools to check with "smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep Power" your statistics for the drive.

Sources: here, Info from here:http://www.noerenberg.de/hajo/pub/seagate-blackarmor-nas.txt

How to hide a drive in Windows

2012-01-03T18:05:00.001+02:00

This particularly useful when you want to hide the drive that Windows create as a Recovery Partition that enables system recovery without inserting the DVD. (nearly 100MB)

You could do it by editing registry.

Type regedit in start menu, then to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer > NoDrives

Change REG_DWORD value. Values for the drives are:
A = 1
B = 2
C = 4
D = 8
E = 16
F = 32
G = 64
H = 128 etc., always double the last.

To hide several drives, add values together: for example value 40 hides drives D and F

source: here

Apple is charging way too much for Desktop computers

2011-12-30T13:43:00.001+02:00

The image speaks for itself.

How to use an SSD in Windows properly

2011-12-24T10:38:00.002+02:00

This HowTo is to provide the common tweaks used to optimize your new SSD for Windows 7. I would recommend checking the performance of your SSD before and after these tweaks to see how they impact your performance. I recommend using AS SSD Benchmark to check your performance.

Warning! The reader takes full responsibiity for any damage that may occur to their PC or hardware by follwing these recommended tweaks. These are just recommendations to improve the performance of the SSD but are not required if your SSD is functioning correctly.

Step 1. SATA Controller set to AHCI Mode:

During the installation process, you want to ensure your BIOS are set to AHCI for the SATA controller to enable AHCI. AHCI is needed for native TRIM support utilized by a SSD.
If you have already installed the OS in IDE mode, it is recommened to switch to AHCI after completing the steps listed in this Windows Article:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976, if your BIOS support AHCI.

Step 2. Verify TRIM is Enabled

Verifing TRIM will confirm that the TRIM commands are being sent from Windows to the SSD.

How to Verify TRIM is Enabled

In the start menu search box, type" cmd";
Right click the cmd program and select Run as Adminstrator; and
In the command line type "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify".
- if DisableDeleteNotify = 0 TRIM is Enabled.
- If DisableDeleteNotify = 1 TRIM is Disabled.

When typing in the command window, don't include " " when typing.

Step 3. Disable System Restore

System Restore on a SSD can degrade the SSD performance over time and make it very difficult for TRIM to work. It is recommended to disable System Restore to prevent this and to regain valuable SSD storage sapce.

How to Disable:

Right click on My Computer and select Properties;
Select System Protection;
Select Configure; and
Select Turn Off System Restore.

Step 4. Disable Drive Indexing

With the access times of a SSD (0.1 ms for most), there is no need to index the drive for quicker response times, like with a standard hard drive.

How to Disable:

Go into My Computer;
Right click your SSD and select Properties; and
Un-check the box marked "Allow files to have contents indexed in addition to file properties".
A popup screen may appear, stating there is an error applying attributes, this is normal and you should select "Ignore All" and continue.

Step 5. Disable Drive Defragmentation Schedule

By default, Windows 7 should automatically disable defrag by default as part of the TRIM requirements. In case it doesn't, you'll want to disable this feature, as defraging your SSD is not a good thing!!

How to Disable:

Go into My Computer;
Right click your SSD and select Tools tab;
Select the box Defragment Now;
Select the box Configure Schedule; and
Un-check the the Run on a Schedule Box.

Step 6. Disable PageFile

This does not improve the performance of the SSD but does get you back 3 to 4 GB of valuable space on your SSD. Also, it is not recommend for users with less than 4GB of Memory or doing without watching your RAM usages prior to implementing.

How to Disable:

Right click My Computer;
Select Properties;
Select Advanced System Settings;
Select the Performance tab and Advanced tab;
Select the Change box for virtural memory;
Un-check Automatically Manage Page File Size For All Drives;
Select No Paging File and click the set box; and
Select Yes to allow and restart.

Step 7. Disable Hibernation

Disabling hibernation will return 2 GB of valuable storage space to your SSD. Also, it provides no real benefit to a SSD due to it's quick load times.

How to Disable:

In the start menu search box, type" cmd";
Right click the cmd program and select Run as Adminstrator; and
In the command line type "powercfg -h off".
Once completed, the command prompt returns.

When typing in the command window, don't include " " when typing.

Step 8. Disable Prefetch and Superfetch

How to Disable:

Type Regedit into the Start Menu;

Select the file path; "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters"
Right click on both EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch;
Select modify on each of these to change the value from 1 (or 3) to 0, and
Restart.

Step 9. Disable Windows Write-Cache Buffer Flusing

This is not recommended for Intel SSD, as it has a negative effect on their performance. It is recommend to check performance before and after this tweak to determine if has a negative or postive effect.

How to Disable:

Right click My Computer and select Properties;
Select Device Manager;
Select Disk Drives;
Right click the SSD and select Properties; and
Under the Polices tab, uncheck the Enable write caching on the device.

Step 10. Disable Windows Search and Superfetch

How to Disable:

Press Winkey + 'R' for Run Dialogue;
Type "services.msc" and press Enter;
Scroll to Superfetch, right click and select Properties;
In the drop down menu, select Disabled and select Ok;
Scroll to Windows Search, right click and select Properties;
Click the Stop box, than use the drop down menu, select Disable and select Ok.

Step 11. Disable ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache.

How to Disable:

Type Regedit into the Start Menu;

Select the file path; "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management"
Right click on both ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache;
Select modify on each of these to change the value from 1 to 0, and
Restart.

Step 12. Adjusting the Power Settings

Adjusting the Power Settings

Go to Control Panel;
Select System and Security'
Select Power Options and Click the drop down for Show Additional Plans;
Select the High Performance bubble to apply it;
Click Change Plan Settings for High Performance;
Click Change Advanced Power Settings;
Click the hard disk drop down option;
Change Turn off hard disk after to 0 minutes (Never)
Select OK; and
Select Save Settings.

Step 13:

With Windows Vista, the WinSxS folder was able to be cleaned up via a third party tool (WinSxS Lite here – Vista only!). With the initial release of Windows 7, we lost that capability – but it has since returned with Service Pack 1.

The WinSxS folder is used to store install and uninstall files, windows packages (current and previous versions of a component) and out-of-band releases. You should not completely delete this folder. Post Windows 7 SP1, there is now a way to remove the unnecessary files from this folder using the command line (elevated/admin mode -> Click Start -> Type “cmd” in Search. Right click on “cmd” and choose “Run as Administrator”). This is great for reducing the Windows folder size for SSDs and netbooks. In my case it saved 3.5GB of space.

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

Source: here

Download streaming/flash videos from JW player

2011-12-02T12:21:00.001+02:00

Have you ever come across that dreadful JW player that you can't find a way to download streamed videos?

I know one can dig enough in this area but I will try to enlighten some of that here.

First of all, download rtmdump and Chrome as your browser. let's hope you are using Chrome as your browser. Right click anywhere in the page, select "Inspect element" and a new pop-up window will appear that lets you look at the code. Find the part (Chrome puts a blue-ish canvas when you select a part) and open all the nodes ( click on the arrows) to find exactly the part where the video is located in your page. You must reach up to a point where the last node of your video will look like this:

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="480" height="360" id="single1" name="single1"><param name="movie" value="/AlphaTV/flvplayer/player-licensed.swf">

<param name="allowfullscreen" value="true">

<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">

<param name="wmode" value="transparent">

<param name="flashvars" value="provider=rtmp&file=/microsites/altsantiri/video/291111/tsantiri_291111.f4v&rtmp&streamer=rtmpe://fms03.forthnet.gr/vod&image=/getattachment/0aa48041-a720-4809-ace2-07038f26ea01/Τσαντιρι-30-11-11.aspx&backcolor=FFFFFF&frontcolor=000000&lightcolor=000000&screencolor=000000&bufferlength=1&controlbar=over&stretching=exactfit&plugins=gapro-1,http://www.vidads.gr/files/plugins/longtailvideo/v5/vidads.swf&gapro.accountid=UA-16796485-1&vidads.url=http://www.vidads.gr/get/video/nms/111">

</object>

Now this object contains all the info needed. I have highlighted the info that we need to download this video.
Let's say the video is at http://www.alphatv.gr/Microsites/AlTsantiri/Video/%CE%A4%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B9-30-11-11.aspx, then the command line would be

rtmpdump -r rtmpe://fms03.forthnet.gr/vod -a vod -y mp4:microsites/altsantiri/video/291111/tsantiri_291111.f4v -W "http://www.alphatv.gr/AlphaTV/flvplayer/player-licensed.swf" -p http://www.alphatv.gr/Microsites/AlTsantiri/Video/%CE%A4%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B9-30-11-11.aspx -o output.mp4 -V

I know it is a lot of hassle, but perhaps this will come handy in the future. See, that way, if you know your way around command line you can save the file and watch it offline.

Why pandas are black and white...

2011-10-26T19:45:00.001+03:00

After move, eat, learn i want to share this with you.

Move, eat, learn

2011-10-12T11:39:00.004+03:00

Recently I watched these 3 shorts... I liked them, so here's showing them to the world.

AR5BXB112 in Windows (Wifi @n)

2011-10-12T10:35:00.000+03:00

--
Edit
Check here for the latest drivers. These one, finallly, have the speed when you are connected to a network (Mbps).
Edit--

Well, if you wonder how you could use your AR5BXB112 in Windows (it works out of the box in OSX) then you should download the latest drivers from here.

Remember that our chipset is called AR9388. So any 938x should do.

Ultrabooks' fighting hour has come

2011-10-10T19:51:00.003+03:00

I currently own a very classy Macbook Air (mid 2009), but I think that my next laptop won't be as expensive as the one I bought two years ago. That is mainly due to the fact that ultrabooks start emerging in the PC area as well, bringing the prices down.

What I currently envy is Lenovo's U300. I think it is sexier than Macbook Air and still incorporates many attributes that only Apple had back in the day that I bought mine. The competition is rather strong and Toshiba's also has joined the bandwagon announcing Portegé z830. Finally you can see Acer's attempt to this area, called S3....

The pricetag? Well, below 1000$ which means no further than 800€. And I had spent on my Macbook Air more than 1750€. Times are a changing...

Steve Jobs passes away...

2011-10-06T08:59:00.003+03:00

From Apple's site: Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

Flash videos in Lion...

2011-09-19T20:51:00.001+03:00

I updated my OSX a while ago and ran into some problems.

One of them is that whenever I go to any video site to watch videos (youtube, vimeo etc.), flash always renders a few frames and then loops endlessly the rest. This is due to a change in hardware acceleration in OSX. So, until Adobe updates its flash player, just right click in the video and disable hardware acceleration.