Hobo-Sneak: IPVanish

IP Vanish VPN Service

IPVanish is a standard IP masking VPN service that is designed for average users who want some of the benefits of anonymity, or need to mask their geolocation for location aware web services.

If you have already read our series on basic online security, then you are aware of the benefits of a VPN service. I am using IPVanish VPN at this very minute while sitting in a coffee shop having lunch while writing. It is wonderful piece of software that will automatically connect to the fastest server available to me, and will automatically reconnect after a spontaneous disconnect.

How to create Linux live CDs and USBs [a handful of options]

Creating live disks and install disks from image (.iso) files is an essential skill for any computer enthusiast (thats the best name you are going to get, trust me...). So lets dive right in and look at the options available to you.

Some Other Linux Distros for Netbooks [April 2013]

Following my post on netbook suitable Linux distributions, I was given several recommendations...
These are a few of the follow up tests I did on distro's I had never used before.

Each was installed and tested using the following hardware:

• ASUS 1000HE Netbook
• 2GB RAM
• 32GB SSD

So before I begin, this post will feel somewhat more critical than the last. This is NOT because I am responding to reader suggestions. Please be assured that I am being critical of the flaws I feel are important. It is possible that you might love every second of use you got from these operating systems. I am not attacking anyone's opinions personally, and I hope you all have long happy lives. If after that warning you still  feel the need to angry comment, then I hope you die under a bridge, troll!!! ;)

The Best Linux Distribution 2013: Netbooks and Old Hardware

Welcome to 2013!
It's a new year and this means that your netbooks and old towers are another year older. The eternal struggle to maintain you hardware's relevance has crept on into another long year of recession. Someday you will have bags of money to buy something new, but for now you need to find a way to get that slow old laptop to feel a bit more springy.

Not all Linux distributions are created equal. There are so many options to choose from and so many acronyms that it can be hard to get a straight answer on what the hell you should download!

The first big thing you need to ask yourself:
"Does the computer I want to use have modern 3d graphics hardware?" 
(aka a nice graphics/video card)

If you do not have a graphics card in your computer, as is the case with many low end and older netbooks, then you need to stay away from distributions which use Gnome 3 or Unity. Unity 2d was an option in previous releases of Ubunut, but has been dropped from current releases. You have heard that there are other lightweight distributions, but don't know much about them or you haven't found any that are actually lightweight enough.

Well this year looks a lot like last year's lineup with one exception! A new minimal debian based distribution has stolen my heart and is being recommended as the first choice for linux fans who do not want to build and compile their own Arch distribution.

Read on to see the new year's recommendations!

The most detailed guide to building a simple NAS with nas4free!

My 14TB (and growing) NAS

Good morning campers!

I have good news, the super detailed guide to building a NAS using nas4free 9.1 is now complete! The article is written in two parts. Part one helps you to decide just what type of NAS you really ought to be building while part two is the detailed account of installing and configuring nas4free. This portion also covers the somewhat confusing task of creating users, installing disks, building mount points, building share points, and generally making things work.

There are a few caveats that I should mention now.
These are really provisos to avoid any would be trolling:

• This guide is the result of trial and error with this software. 
• I have spent two years playing freeNAS 7.2 and now nas4free 9.1
• In that time I have never found a post on how this stuff is supposed to be setup.
• I do not claim to have any sort of professional (or amateur) knowledge concerning freeBSD.
• This guide is not here to help you create a quadruple redundant dual gigabit software raid ZFS monster with complicated user and group file permissions that would baffle Steven Hawking.
• When starting my build I had no desire to build a RAID box.
• There is exactly one user using this NAS, me. I do not now, nor will I ever need fancy security.
• Hackers are not out to get me or my files.
• The purpose of this machine is to store and serve out media.
• I have no idea what you are using your NAS for, but mine was built to hold and serve TV & Movies to my HTPC's.
• It works well for this.

With those warnings out of the way please browse around and comment as you have questions!

DIY NAS: with freeNAS [Step 1]
DIY NAS: with nas4free [step 2]

Ras Pi: Installing an OS

Installing the Raspbian image to your SD card from Linux. 

[windows/OSX users click here] - I can write these instructions up, but I feel like most of you who are playing with a Pi must already be using linux machines. However my blog stats show that almost all of you readers are win/mac guys so I continue to try to include Windows instructions... I strongly suggest checking out my guide to installing linux for beginners! You wont regret it!

Download the Raspbian image here and save to your home directory.

Open your terminal and get ready for a few simple commands:

DIY NAS: with nas4free [step 2]

If you have not done so already, please read the introductory post on building your own NAS, DIY NAS: with freeNAS - step 1.

The good stuff...

1. Boot Disk
2. Install OS
3. Configure System
4. Add Users/Groups
5. Add Disks
6. Build Mount Points
7. Build Shares
8. Enjoy sweet, sweet, sweet, satisfaction...

Automatic TV, Music, (and possibly Movies) Download Server on Raspberry Pi

I have been playing with the raspberry pi rev.1 for a few days now, and I have decided that it has just enough power to run a SABnzbd+, Sickbeard, Couchpotato, Headphones server.

With the extra memory on the rev.2 board I figure I can allocate it to the CPU and probably squeeze out a little more speed in the unrar process for SABnzbd.

So... I ordered a new board from modmypi and am awaiting shipment at the moment.
I have made some progress on the rev.1 pi, but have run into lots, and lots of permissions issues with my nas4free 7.2 file server. Hopefully as time goes on I will be able to compile a nice easy guide to setting up a PiServer for all of you.

Lets get started:

UCSD Protected WiFi & Linux

So this one is just for the immensely frustrated UCSD students who cannot get their linux laptop connected to the university's protected network.

This is a really simple fix...

7 Key Differences Between Windows & Linux You Should Know About Before Switching [Make Use Of]

I thought that this post over on blog Make Use Of was a really terrific idea.

7 Key Differences Between Windows & Linux You Should Know About Before Switching

While the differences illuminated will be no surprise to any average linux user, they are extremely helpful to those thinking about switching or those who have just switched over.

Well worth the read.

Pithos - The best Pandora client in Linux!

I was thrilled to find this great little app! Seriously, I cannot applaud it enough!

Photo borrowed from Kevin Mehall's Pithos site

For many years I used the Radio Tray app in linux to listen to internet radio without having to keep a resource heavy browser window open on my little netbook. The radio tray app was great, but I have always wanted a way to listen to pandora from my tray as a native application.

Simply put, Pithos is the solution to a problem you probably didn't know existed. Sort of like, you might not have known you needed antibiotics before Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin, but now you realize that it is very freaking essential!

So why am I still talking right?
GIVE ME INSTRUCTIONS DAMMIT!

Humble Bundle VI is here!

The geek favorite, Humble Indie Bundle, has just released a new pack of games! After collecting an assortment of indie style games from across the web, the Humble Bundle sells the entire collection to you, the fans, on a give what you can basis.

This means that you can pay whatever you like for the entire collection of games!

The Best Linux Distribution 2012: Netbooks and Old Hardware

As always this is a hugely popular debate topic, but I am writing this post to help linux beginners pick a distribution that is right for them.

Not all linux distributions are created equal. There are so many options to choose from and so many acronyms that it can be hard to get a straight answer on what the hell you should download!

The first big thing you need to ask yourself:
"Does the computer I want to use have modern 3d graphics hardware?" 
(aka a nice graphics/video card)

If you do not have a graphics card in your computer, as is the case with many low end and older netbooks, then you need to stay away from distributions which use Gnome 3 or Unity. While Unity 2d runs fine (that's fine, not quick and smooth) on most netbooks, it will not be included in the 12.10 release of Ubuntu this October.

What is SSH and how do I do it? [beginners]

One of the biggest obstacles people must overcome in order to start using more advanced computer techniques, is their reliance on the graphic user interface or GUI.

Every time a friend asks me how to do [some complicated computer task] and I begin to explain the terminal commands they need to use, they cut me off and assert, "There must be a program that I can use!"

It is not always the case that a graphic program is available. Many developers are good at programming scripts and making a code do what they want, but have no interest in spending ten times as long building a GUI for that small piece of code.

RasPi Server [2of2] - Installing mySQL

After a little searching I used the instructions found on this blog  to install the mySQL server to my Raspberry Pi.

Right now it looks like his blog is down so I can't finish this writeup!

The process is pretty easy though. Since mySQL is already listed in normal debian repositories, you can just run a few generic commands and fix any dependencies as you go!

SSH into your pi [windows users use putty]

ssh root@ip.address.here

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

mysqladmin -u root -h localhost password 'your root password here'

mysqladmin -u root -h 'your hostname here' password 'your root password here'

mysql -u root -p

This should ask you for the password you just set up and the mySQL terminal interface will appear.

You now have mySQL running on your Pi!!!

Further Configureation

I don't think I have the mySQL skills yet to write up an effective guide for configuring a new database from scratch on the command line. However, you should be able to do it pretty easily. You are already 99% of the way there. The only remaining steps to synchronize your XBMC installations are creation of a new database, uploading a config.xml to each XBMC box, and populating the database by scanning in a new library. Check out the XBMC wiki on the subject.

RasPi Server [1of2]- Installing Raspbian to your Raspberry Pi

After toying around with Raspbmc, the XBMC distribution for RasPi, I decided that I would try turning my Pi into a mySQL server for syncing jailbroken apple tv 2's running XBMC throughout my house.

Why? Because my server currently runs freeNAS 7.2 which uses sqlite rather than mySQL. I have not been able to get a solid mySQL server running in freeNAS 7.2, and I want one. Rather than installing to one of my windows/linux terminals, I wanted to utilize a low power always on device... thus the Raspberry Pi mySQL server.

Using Raspberry Pi with XBMC

Since I finally found the time to try out my new Raspberry Pi, I gave the specialized Raspbmc image a try.

My original goal was to use my new Ras Pi as a replacement for the somewhat less than stable Apple TV 2 running XBMC in my living room.

In it's current iteration I found Raspbmc to be a bit too laggy and a buggy for immediate implementation. The menu system is a tad laggy compared to the ATV2 xbmc port and the ARM processor cannot process DTS sound without lagging the video and audio every few seconds. The Pi seems capable of decoding full 1080p H.264 video in mkv, but too many of my files are in dts for audio.

This is a known issue and is being worked on by the developer.

If you do not have a large dts library and would like to try installing the image to your own Pi then lets get started below!

DIY NAS: with freeNAS - Step 2

This is the second step in building a NAS with freeNAS. If you missed step one, you can find it here.

Becoming a Media Pirate God...

Anyone who reads this type of blog is probably completely aware of how to download TV, Movies, and Music for free using bittorrent or usenet. But, just in case you were recently hit on the head and developed retrograde amnesia, here is a fairly thorough guide to becoming the target of an RIAA/MPAA lawsuit!

Start up your Incognito modes... enable your peer blockers... fire up your VPN's... we are jumping right in!

The dream of a low cost 1080p HTPC

You have a sweet ass media server, containing all of your ripped blue-rays, DVDs, laser-disks, and other now defunct forms of physical media.
Your awesome $5000 toy can handle 15 terabytes of redundant data and can push ones and zeros at gigabit speeds across your home network.

Now what?

How do you watch all that sweet, sweet TV goodness?
On your laptop? Lame...

Enter the Home Theater PC...

XBMC Eden