TorrentFlux and ClarkConnect

After a little trial and error, I got TorrentFlux installed on my ClarkConnect box. Awesome. Now I don't have to worry about leaving my main PC running when I want to download a torrent... you know, like maybe Fedora or something?

I really, really wanted to try Amahi, but I like having ClarkConnect as a gateway, and I'm not confident enough in my linux admin skills to turn a fedora installation into a gateway by adding a second NIC, as suggested on the amahi-users list. I'm definitely not feeling the suggestion that I go buy a wireless router, just so that I can plug it in and disable dhcp and stuff.

However, the Personal Backup Appliance, and running on a "newer" code base are still options that appeal to me. I may yet give Amahi a try. There was a recent review on Linux.com, but the reviewer didn't even have broadband internet, so I'm somewhat skeptical that it told me anything that I didn't already know from reading it.

I still haven't given in to the urge to just wipe and try Windows Home Server (which also has no official gateway mode). So, I guess that's something. Since I have a "real" web server running now, it might be time to put up that picture gallery running out of my house. Maybe that will spell the end for my sensless attatchment to flickr as well.

Regarding that HDA-ized Personal Backup Appliance, I really do need to look into automating some kind of solution with ClarkConnect, or Amahi or something. I imagine that I'll get there eventually.

The other issue is wireless support. I wouldn't mind using a wirless adapter on the server to serve up my wireless network. The only wireless clients in my house are our Windows Moblie T-Mobile Shadow phones, and the 802.11b adapter in the MythTV DVR downstairs, grabbing guide information. However, I'm serving it up now with an old D-Link DWL-900AP+ 802.11b access point. I don't think there's any wireless N adapters that work in Linux, but if there are, I need to find them, and then I'll probably update the one in the DVR, add one to my ClarkConnect box, and sing their praises.

Time to start searching google, I guess.

gimp-print-cups and a new gateway

Well, that gimp-print thing didn't work. I couldn't find a new printer in the admin tool. Oh well. maybe a reboot will fix it...

What's that? one of the newtwork cards stopped working? Grr... the only thing worse than defective hardware is hardware that works intermittently. Sometimes I really miss my Apple hardware.

Fortunatly the box that has two 10/100 connections hasn't been torn down... I take that, then set it up and re-copy my music to it, and my world of warcraft isntallation. I notice increased transfer speed. This box has a 2.8 GHz P4 a gig of DDR2 ram, and a 160 GB SATA hard drive. 10 MB/sec... Sigh, I'll take it.

Then I move on to trying the same failure of gimp-print, and an internet search leads me to try gimp-print-cups.
[root@gateway ~]# apt-get install gimp-print-cups
Reading Package Lists...
Building Dependency Tree...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
gimp-print-cups
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 removed and 53 not upgraded.
Need to get 24.5MB of archives.
After unpacking 30.8MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 ftp://rh.apt.clarkconnect.com System/os gimp-print-cups 4.2.7-2 [24.5MB]
Fetched 24.5MB in 45s (543kB/s)
Committing changes...
Preparing... ##################################################
gimp-print-cups ##################################################
Done.

Holy Cow! That works, but there's a bunch of printers, none of which have any differentiation. They're all Epson R300 something-or-other-gimp-print. But, I picked the first one, and the test page printed... but the sheet of paper fed through crooked :(.

Anyway. Looks like I'm good to go, other than needing for ClarkConnect to be based on a newer release of RHEL.

ClarkConnect, round 2

So, I fried a router... meh. I built a replacement. I also nabbed a gigabit switch for $20. Unfortunately, the hardware I tried to use for the router failed, and I had to use a "real machine" that only had 10/100 network bits in it.

I got the old hardware back up and running, and I also got some other parts together and ended up building a "home server" with ClarkConnect. Right now, it has two GigE cards (which is ridiculous, I know, since my incoming broadband is less than 10 Mbit) and a 30 GB laptop hard drive. Maybe some day, I'll grab that little chenbro case and 4 terabyte drives that everyone is using for their custom WHS installs.

The machine is running off of the motherboard from a Compaq machine that I got from the Weldy's 1.2 GHz Athlon and two sticks of 256 MB RAM. That combined with the laptop hard drive, and the gigabit nics being PCI probably contributed to the paltry backup speed of around 6.5 Megabytes per second. Oh well, I got my 11 GB of ripped CDs off of my comptuer, and I built a machine that can act as some sort of backup server.

Of course, I'll need to add space, that 30 GB laptop drive is full, because I added the installer for World of Warcraft and some patches to it as well. That'll be another adventure.

Also, I've never gotten the print server working on ClarkConnect. It is one of the few reasons I'm tempted to try out Amahi, just because I know Fedora better than RHEL, and that I know if I plug in my printer in Fedora, it will work. I posted a little help request on the ClarkConnect Forums:

http://www.clarkconnect.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=111094&an=0&page=0#Post111094

I'm guessing I just need to get gutenprint installed, but I don't really know how. Probably something easy like ssh-ing into the box and typing "apt-get install gutenprint". Maybe I should just try that. LOL. I really don't want to have to get out my usb print server. It is just one more thing that I need to plug into the wall.

I sold my PowerBook

I sold my PowerBook G4. Get this. I met the guy in front of the Apple Store. Heh. So, the really funny part is... now that I am "mac-less" I don't want to use the Apple Airport Extreme. There's not much reason for me to feel this way, since I can still use it.

However, there is one fundamental flaw witht the device, which is otherwise great. I can't configure it with a web browser. I actually have to use a utility that comes with every Mac, and can be installed on Windows (thank goodness).

The device rocks, other than not having a gigabit hub built in. So, I'm torn. I love having a print server, and wireless access point, and router, and dhcp server in one device. But, I hate that I have to attach a hub to get more than one wired connection. This is fundamentally how I feel about apple devices, I love the simplicity, but I hate that I can't tinker. I guess I could just buy a gigabit hub and stop whining...

What if the revolution comes, and all my machines are running Linux? I can even use the print server in Linux, but I can't configure the router... and then there's that whole I-can't-turn-off-dhcp-without-some-hackish-trick thing. Yeah, it is silly...

I guess there's one thing keeping me on it for now. I have a Linksys wired router with a 10/100 switch built-in, but no wireless. I need wireless so that the Media Center box can access the Internet for scheduling info. I do have a wireless-B device that can be an access point or wireless adapter or bridge. It can even do DHCP as well. Hmm... I could just use that... Oh, and I have a couple of USB print servers that I could attatch too.

Clearly, the Aiport should stay, rather than hooking up three devices to replace it... or... I could just use ClarkConnect, get the print server and wireless working on it, and not be so anal. Or, I could just buy a wireless router, and then run Amahi on a spare box. Again... this is a silly choice. It works now, I shouldn't even be thinking about this.

All because I sold my PowerBook. Nice.