Linux

I built my first home media computer over four years ago. Its primary uses were web streaming video, local music files, and the occasional communal web surfing during living room gatherings. Unfortunately, the system had reached an age where ATI dropped support for the display in their accelerated (proprietary) drivers, and the open source drivers couldn't keep up with full screen video. To make matters worse, in that time I've upgraded the display from an 800x600 Sony picture tube to a 1360x768 Samsung high def LCD.

The old computer was choking to keep up. It was time for an upgrade.

This weekend I replaced the old media computer with a Neuros LINK. The LINK is an open source media computer. It's constructed of standard, off-the-shelf OEM components. It runs on Linux, configured and tuned for media center operations. It costs $299.

The ssh program allows you to securely access systems across the network. By default ssh prompts you for your password on the remote system. If you setup a secure key you can skip the password prompts.

For instance:

$ ssh lefty.soaustin.net uname -a
Linux lefty.soaustin.net 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP Fri Aug 14 01:27:18 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

In this example I ran the uname command on the remote system lefty.soaustin.net. Since I've setup a secure ssh key, the command ran without prompting for a password.

Here is an easy -- but bad! -- procedure for setting up your ssh key: http://oreilly.com/pub/h/66

The problem with this procedure is that it tells you to create the key without a passphrase. The passphrase prevents unauthorized access to your ssh key. When your ssh key is secured by a passphrase, the key is useless to somebody who doesn't have the passphrase. If your ssh key does not have a passphrase, then every system you use is at risk if an attacker gets a hold of your key.

An article is currently circulating the blogosphere about an irate Austin middle school teacher. The teacher, first name Karen, is incensed at a student for showing classmates how to get Linux software for free. She's even more angry at the person who provided Linux to the student. She wrote, in a letter of complaint:

At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.

This is all laughably uninformed, except I'm not laughing.

I'm concerned that most people are responding by amping up an even greater level of outrage, and that doesn't seem to be a helpful way to move this forward.

Today, I tried to setup a new server using an ECS A780VM-M2 Motherboard. It takes an AMD AM2/AM2+ socket processor. It uses the AMD 780V "business class" chipset, which mostly means basic functionality and unspectacular graphics; ideal for a Linux server.

I was trying to install the Debian Etch (stable) Linux kernel and ran into a major snag: the network doesn't work. That's because the version of the r8169 Ethernet driver currently included in the Debian Etch (stable) kernel (version 2.6.18-5) doesn't support the Realtek RTL8111C Ethernet chip on the motherboard.

There are several workarounds, neither pretty.

Monday night, I learned how to use a USB memory stick as bootable install media for Debian Linux. It's a little complicated, mostly because piecing together bootable media is just that way. Once complete, it works great. I can still use the stick for usual file transport purposes, but now if I boot off it then it will offer a Debian Linux installation.

The Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting chapter of the Debian Installation Guide outlines the process.

It describes two ways to do it: an "easy" way and a "flexible" way. The "easy" way makes sense for a one-time deal (and you are willing to reformat the stick afterwards), or if you are willing to dedicate a stick to the installation. I didn't. I've got a 4GB stick that I wanted to make bootable and hold the Debian installation files, but continue to use it for other purposes. That's what the "flexible" method allows.

This note describes the procedure I used.

Dell has announced availability of the Inspiron Mini 9 sub-notebook computer, and I have to admit it's caught my eye. Dell didn't invent the sub-notebook form factor, but they did produce the first one that's grabbed my interest.

There are two things I like about the Mini. First, like many other sub-notebooks, it offers a Linux option. Second, unlike all the other sub-notebooks, it looks like a machine I could do business on.

Out of all the places where a sub-notebook has to make sacrifices, the one that concerns me most is the keyboard. The Mini seems like it may be the one to most closely approach the experience of a full-sized keyboard.

One thing they did to achieve this was to eliminate the row of dedicated function keys along the top. That's ok with me.

Buy the Neo FreeRunner if you want a hobby, not if you want a phone.

The Neo phones are the world's first "open source" phone. If you want to build your own you can. The schematics and design drawings are available. It runs Openmoko, a free and open source mobile phone stack based on Linux. The FreeRunner is their second generation design and the first intended for general use.

First availability of the Neo FreeRunner phones happened this month. A group of Austin folks got together and did a group buy from the first shipment. The phone is normally $400. We got $50 off and a grab bag of extra goodies (neoprene case and earbuds).

When you turn the device on, it's a sight to behold. A standard Linux boot runs on the 1.7" x 2.27" screen, each character barely larger than a grain of salt. It's not readable, but it will be instantly familiar to anybody who has seen a text mode Linux boot.

One of my chores this weekend was to reconfigure a server to convert the Mailman mailing list manager already installed to support virtual domains. I've been using this package ever since its early releases, but it's been several years since I've reviewed what's changed.

One of the greatest limitations of Mailman has been its "virtual domain" support. That's where a single server supports mailing lists that live under different domains, such as list1 [at] example1 [dot] com and list2 [at] example2 [dot] com.

Unfortunately, the virtual domain support hasn't improved recently.

Here is how Mailman supports virtual domains, at least when using the Postfix mail transport. When you want to setup a mailing list called listname, you create an alias file entry that says something like:

This takes incoming email messages sent to listname and feeds then into the Mailman system.

My media center PC is an ASUS bookshelf computer running Ubuntu Linux and KDE desktop. I use it primarily for music, running the Amarok music player.

Our house is pretty small and open. I can see the entire living room from my desk. I often play music on the media system while I'm working. The annoying bit is that I have to get up from my desk and walk over to the living room anytime I want to fiddle the controls.

I wish I had a good way to control the music from my desk. I've been puzzling over this for a whilte. I've tried various ways to control Amarok remotely and none were satisfactory. Then it dawned on me that I was missing the obvious: I didn't want to control just the media player but the whole desktop. I can do that using something like Virtual Network Computing (VNC).

In December, I made a RAID 1 network storage server by adding a cheap SATA controller and a couple of 500GB hard disks to chinacat. For the most part, it has worked great, but there is one hiccup.

First the good news: the network storage server is working every bit as well as I had hoped and everything that I'd hope to do is falling into place. All of our media files are now consolidated in one place. All of our desktop systems are (finally!) being backed up. Plus, there are all the other groovy benefits of having a shared storage server in the house.

I started the benchmark series because I was concerned with the performance of Linux software RAID. My test results suggested that performance would be acceptable. My real world results underscore that. For a while, I even moved my home directory off of the primary hard drive onto the slower RAID 1 device. I ended up moving it back not because of performance, but to build a more reliable backup architecture.