I use the WD TV LIVE as a HTPC front-end. Because of latency problems with my wireless network, I attached a USB stick to the WD TV LIVE to use for video storage. The player allows me to expose that USB stick to the network via “Windows” (Samba) file sharing. I would push video to [...]
Browsing Posts in Ubuntu
I want my Ubuntu media server to be able to push content to my WD TV Live, which I use to view content on my TV. My WD TV Live is on my wireless network, but I found that the network is not fast or reliable enough to stream 1080p content, or even 720p content [...]
For simplicity, I tend to stream from my media server to my TVs and computers using Samba shares. Samba shares implement the standard CIFS file-sharing protocol, are accessible from every major operating system, and work just fine with most media front-ends (for example: XBMC, Boxee, Windows Media Center, and my WD TV LIVE set-top box).
Create [...]
My media server runs headless, so I need a way to log into it from other machines for remote administration. Telnet is installed by default on Ubuntu Server, but it does not offer a secure, encrypted channel to the server, even when transferring the password. SSH, on the other hand, offers all the features of [...]
A server should have a static IP address, so you can always find it on the network. Ubuntu Server uses DHCP out of the box, unless you set a static IP address using the installer. To change from a dynamic to a static IP address, follow the instructions below, which apply to Ubuntu Server 10.04 Lucid [...]
Because I fried my server’s hard drive, I had to reinstall Ubuntu Lucid Server. Of course I didn’t have a Lucid Server disc, and, because physical media is dead to me, I didn’t have any blank CDs to burn. I don’t have any spare thumb drives, either. Therefore, I couldn’t install Lucid server. Instead, I [...]
I have a Fit-PC Slim, which I use as a media back-end server on my home network. Because a Fit-PC Slim has only a 500 MHz processor and 512 MB of RAM, it is too underpowered to be a media transcoder or recorder. Therefore, I mostly use it as a file server and a torrent [...]
My Ubuntu Server rebuild is basically complete. I’ve been writing tutorials for each service or program I’ve installed. I plan to post them all soon, linked together in a “how to set up Ubuntu as a media server back-end” series. I’m still testing things out and tweaking my configurations. Once that is complete, I will [...]
I’ve learned the hard way that even low-wattage computer hardware can generate enough heat to destroy hard drives. This is a cautionary tale.
My Ubuntu server is a tiny, silent, passively-cooled machine: the Fit-PC Slim. (The model is no longer sold, but an updated model is available.) It has metal sides that act as a heatsink, [...]
This is definitely a newb-level topic, but I think it is important to understand how to redirect output from your command-line processes. This becomes important because regularly-schedule processes run via cron will email you whatever the output is. This is completely confusing when you first encounter it, and the complete solution isn’t exactly obvious.
StdOut
When you [...]
