More Musing

I'm bored waiting for my friend to go and return from the States with my latest toy. I'm getting the new Linkstation LS Pro XHL - it's basically a LS Live v3 (Bittorrent model) with a faster CPU (1.2Ghz Kirkwood ARM processor) so should be ideal for usenet downloads and bittorrent. I already posted how to bootstrap this box on NAS-Central forums so I can add IPKG and Optware. Now some waiting!!

Also built a mini ITX rig. Based on Intel's D945GCLF2 mobo - that has an Atom 330 (dual 1.6Ghz). It's also a good board for Amithlon and for Hackintosh and XP and Linux. Yeah, all done already. Looking at a new ITX rig though so this one will be sold.

Oh and my son has taken my MSI Wind clone off my hands, so all mobile browsing is iPhone only.

I therefore NEED some more toys!

Torrentzip

I was browsing for sources to find a few files to complete my TOSEC collections of Amiga stuff and came across Torrentzip. It’s all rather clever really. Basically run your collection through CLR Mame Pro’s renaming function to make sure you’re named the same way as the source torrent’s files and then drag the whole folder of files that you want to complete onto Torrentzip. It then zips the files in the same way as the source torrent and when you join the torrent to download it can work out what files you already have and only downloads the missing ones. Simple but so clever. Only took me a few Mb on a 6Gb torrent to complete my sets.

I see no reason why this would not work with the Linkstation torrent client. However I am waiting for my LS-Pro-XHL before I can test this. I should be posting a review here (or somewhere else depending on how things go) a few weeks before the XHL goes on sale in Europe.

Fingers crossed ;)

Eco-Warrior

Flashed my "new" eBay Linkstation with Stevie's firmware as it arrived in EM mode (nice!). Noticed on my Kill-a-Watt that it read 12W which is actually a couple of watts less than the previous LS Live's I've used. Only difference is Stevie's firmware (should make no difference) and that this is a LS Live v2. Not unhappy.

Anyway, in quest for more efficiency I popped the HD out (different guide for this as the layout is different) and popped in a 160gb SATA 2.5" laptop drive I had lying around.

Result? 8W when drive in use... that's fricking awesome... Just now moving 500gb of data off my Eeebox to the 500gb SATA the LS came with, then pop the 500gb drive from the Eee (2.5" of course) and have to copy 500gb over again. Still, it will be a nicer quieter and more economical Linkstation.

Then onto the customisations, Optware, NZBget etc.

Lord of the Boxes - The Fellowship of the Linkstation

I struggled for a title for this entry which is also rather overdue - I hadn't done any entry this year!!

Should it be Star Wars or Lord of the Rings themed? Blog Wars or Lord of the Boxes? Return of the Linkstation, The Linkstation Strikes Back, A New Linkstation or The Fellowship of the Linkstation, The Two Boxes, Return of the Linkstation. Ah, who cares.

I have a new Linkstation (again) - this must be my fourth Linkstation Live. They are so hackable. I wanted to try the new firmware produced by "StevieWonder". I'm still very pleased with my Eee Box but that can be put to more general PC duties and the Linkstation can return to the server and download duties. I expect the box tomorrow and will be swapping the HD for my 500gb notebook drive (which will be silent and lower power consumption). I'll pop it on the Kill-A-Watt and report the change in usage when done. Then the Stevie Wonder firmware plus NZBget.

Oh and I should be re-visiting Amithlon, OSX and Linux on a Quad Boot machine. That will be fun!

The wife never even noticed it....

OK, another new toy.

I have spent many months looking for a reason to buy the Asus EeeBox as it fits my key green criteria - low power consumption. However, the problem has always been justifying the purchase in my mind.

"I need a box to download" - "Damn, that Linkstation does it all"

"NZB, Bittorrent?" - Yup, Linkstation

"I need a box as a central server" - "Yes, Linkstation again"

"I need something that can serve a PS3 or 360" - "yawn, Linkstation"

"I need a web server" - "... need you ask?"

"I need to emulate an Amiga so that I can host my old BBS via telnet" - "aha, that'll do. I need an EeeBox".

So I bought an EeeBox. Plus a 500gb notebook drive a few days later. I was impressed with the EeeBox when it arrived. The packaging is very efficient, like Apple, in not wasting space. It comes with a mouse (small notebook style and not even unpacked as it is too small for my big hands!) and a keyboard (nice Alu keyboard, looks great but has a laptop Function key and the layout doesn't suit me so packed away). The EeeBox is very small and using laptop components and the more efficient 945GSE chipset rather than the power hungry 945GC that the Atom desktop boards use it consumes 20W in total with hard disk. I replaced the hard disk with a bigger 500gb drive and installed XP Pro, using nLite to strip the bloat away and a custom unattended install disk to pre-configure the box the way I want it.

I have installed SABnzbd (usenet downloader, not as efficient as NZBget on Linkstation but still great), uTorrent (for Bittorrent downloads), Twonky media server (same as on Linkstation) and Apache (for web server and some reverse proxy usage) so far. WinUAE to come shortly plus a pile of UAE configuration for the BBS.

It works, it's quiet (it's silent!!), it's efficient (17W) and as it is on 24/7 if I need a PC for browsing or quick usage it's actually easier to use this than to boot my normal desktops which sound so noisy in comparison. And that is a strange feeling as my uber-nerd friend who pops over often comments how quiet my machines are.

Mac Mini or Hackintosh?

or

(Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H)

Rumours abound on the net about a possible update to the Mac Mini. The suggestions include using the same chipset as used in the updated Mac Book, the 9400M from Nvidia. This is by far the best integrated VGA on a motherboard so is worth getting excited about. It would be probably the final push towards me buying a Mac Mini.

But an alternative is out there lurking away, in the form of Hackintosh. A few mobos have been released using the desktop version of the same chipset (and they are faster) - example the Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H.

If this can be hacked for OSX then we could pop a quad core CPU in as well. Integrated VGA could always be updated later to something even faster if needed.

I'm torn in two. Three if you count the desire to get one of the new aluminium Mac Books. Apple are making such good looking hardware that I can see how they sell it at the premium they do.

An Apple a day....

Having tinkered with Ubuntu and triple booting on the MSI Wind (Advent 4211) I came to the conclusion that it was easier just having one OS on the hard disk of the Wind (my main one) and others on USB sticks. I managed to install OSX onto an 8Gb USB2 stick I have. Write speeds are slower on USB sticks so it took over an hour to install. I booted it up successfully but it took about 3m 40s compared to 1m 30s odd for the hard disk. Not sure if that is anything to do with setting the Owners on the stick but it was enough to kill the idea for me. However, Ubuntu supports USB booting and I only want to use Ubuntu to try Aircrack-ng so I will try Ubuntu on USB later.

Anyway, when in OSX mood I decided to update my OSX install to 10.5.5. I got some advice from a friendly user on MSIWind.net's forums. The procedure is basically

Download the 10.5.5 update from Apple website (or use the Update facility in the OS - I prefer to download as I may do it on other machines
Download the Wind drivers
Download Kext Helper
Download the GMA950 Kexts (revised ones)
Apply update
Apply drivers
Apply GMA950 kext
Fix permissions

I had a problem with my keyboard being killed by the update. This was "fixed" by plugging in a USB Wireless keyboard I had (luckily) and then when the drivers had been applied the keyboard returned. A normal USB keyboard would have done just as well. I also experienced the weird 800x600 screen bug but after about 3 reboots that disappeared.

Now, finally, a 10.5.5 OSX. The current WindOSx86 disk install method is due to be replaced by a method that involves using a proper retail (untouched, unhacked) OSX install DVD and a custom CD. This method is based on the Boot-132 process detailed on InsanelyMac.com and should result in a clean install that will take updates without breaking and needing many re-patches.