October 03, 2007 •
Comments
Subversion is one of the best version control systems available. Here is a short list of commands that will get you up and running on your own server. Remember to back up any important data before experimenting.
Create a repository
svnadmin create /path/to/repository
Check out an existing repository
svn co https://url/svn
Review changes
svn status
Add/Delete files & directories
svn add|delete file
Commit changes
svn commit -m 'List of changes'
Update your local repository
svn update
June 29, 2007 •
Comments
A friend of mine found this new Xen-based VPS service called Slicehost. He was pretty impressed with their services so I decided to try them out for myself. Within 24 hours of requesting a slice, I was fully up and running. This is the perfect solution if you aren't down with shared hosting or leasing a full-fledged dedicated server.
June 28, 2007 •
Comments
My new choice of Linux distributions is (once again) Debian GNU/Linux. Version 4.0 (Etch) has come a long way. Things have really improved since I last had an opportunity to dig into it. The fresh install is still exactly what I want it to be: very lightweight.
I am definitely migrating the rest of my servers to Debian from Ubuntu Server.
May 07, 2007 •
Comments
Audacious Announcer v0.01 was released today.
Audacious Announcer is a complete rewrite of XMMS Announcer: a simple utility that neatly prints the current track playing in Audacious (and even XMMS). It has optional command line arguments that allow for more detailed information about the track, along with the ability to copy the track data to the clipboard (requires xclip)...
If you are an XMMS Announcer user, I highly encourage you to upgrade. Visit the Audacious Announcer section for more information.
April 22, 2007 •
Comments
I finally broke down and decided to give Ubuntu Desktop a try on my work laptop. The amount of thought that has gone into this distribution is astounding. After the initial install, I had to configure absolutely nothing. All of my hardware was automatically found and configured on the fly. This is exactly what I've been waiting for. No more spending countless amounts hours digging through kernel modules and documentation just to get the sound working. It's all done for you.
If you're looking to give Linux a try, this is the way to go.
February 10, 2007 •
Comments
Here is yet another quick tip for all of the OpenWRT users out there: How to set up your router to handle public IPs over a bridge provided by your ISP.
First, add all of the static routes:
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.73 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.74 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.75 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.76 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.77 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.78 dev br0
route add xxx.xxx.xxx.79 dev br0
We then need to enable a few options:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/vlan1/proxy_arp
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/br0/proxy_arp
echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/default/arp_ignore
echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_ignore
Remember to copy all of these rules into your network init script (/etc/init.d/S40network).
Lastly, we will need to edit your firewall ruleset. Open the file (vi /etc/init.d/S35firewall) and look for the line that says:
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o $WAN -j MASQUERADE
Change that to:
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o $WAN -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j MASQUERADE
From there I suggest rebooting the system to make sure all changes have taken effect. You should then be able to start handing out your public IPs to machines in your LAN.
February 07, 2007 •
Comments
A few days ago I decided to install OpenWRT on my Linksys WRT54GL router. I am very impressed (and pleased) with the amount of power and flexibility this little embedded OS has to offer. Here is a short description from the website:
OpenWrt is described as a Linux distribution for embedded devices.
Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. For developer, OpenWrt is the framework to build an application without having to build a complete firmware around it; for users this means the ability for full customization, to use the device in ways never envisioned.
If you own a device capable of running this system and are interested in running a Linux router, I recommend OpenWRT.
February 07, 2007 •
Comments
I just thought I should mention that the Linksys WRT54GL can be slightly unstable with OpenWRT when the CPU is running at the standard 200MHz. A quick fix for this is to simply over clock the processor to run at 216MHz. You can do this by running the following commands at the root prompt:
nvram set clkfreq=216
nvram commit
December 03, 2006 •
Comments
Parallels Desktop for Mac recently released a new build (3036 beta) that includes the ability to run Windows applications right on the Mac OS X desktop, along with many other very useful features. This means no longer being stuck in the virtual machine's window when running your favorite Windows-specific software. Being a fan of the gaming industry, this specific release caught my eye, as I've been waiting for the day when I could run Counter-Strike (or any other Windows-only game) while booted into OS X.
Installing Steam was a flawless process, just as if I were booted into a real Windows enviornment. Running the actual game, however, was not as smooth as I had hoped for. Although it is playable, I would not recommend making this your primary gaming platform. Since Parallels does not support graphics acceleration, you have to run the game in 'Software' mode, which leaves you at about 30-40FPS.
That being said, I am extremely impressed with what the Parallel developers have done so far in this beta release and look forward to using this software for quite some time.
November 25, 2006 •
Comments
Having a transparent web proxy cache on your network can be very useful, and is actually a lot easier to setup than most people think when using Squid and Netfilter. This short tutorial assumes that you use Netfilter as your primary gateway on your router.
Squid configuration (/etc/squid/squid.conf):
http_port 127.0.0.1:3128
http_port 10.0.0.1:3128
visible_hostname hostname
cache_mgr admin@email
httpd_accel_host virtual
httpd_accel_port 80
httpd_accel_with_proxy on
httpd_accel_uses_host_header on
acl lan src 10.0.0.0/8
acl localhost src 127.0.0.1
acl all src 0.0.0.0
http_access allow lan
http_access allow localhost
http_access deny all
redirect_program /usr/lib/squid/bannerfilter/redirector.pl
Redirect all outgoing web requests to the local proxy:
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i ${LAN_INT} -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 3128
Restart the proxy server after saving your configuration and issuing the iptables rule. You will then want to tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log as you visit a web site in your browser to make sure it's working.