You know the saying, concentrate on your core business
and leverage commodity software wherever possible. Well 2007 is almost here,
and it is probably time to stop maintaining my own blog software when there are so
many easy to use services available. The first one I am trying is Google’s Blogger,
about 10 minutes of effort produced this:
http://www.dotnetworkaholic.com/blogger/
Time saved from the NAS v’s File Server prompted me to this. In 1999 I had my own
home brew TV PC which required enormous amount ‘nursing’. Just ripping a CD took 8
hours in 1999! Then came better capture software like Virtual Dub and home brew scheduling
software, then Snapstream, the PVR250 capture card, the set-top boxes (my 6412 was
too buggy/complex) and finally we have media easily available on the internet – take
video podcasts for example. Each step reduced the time required for the geek hobby
as it progressively became mainstream. Blogging is now mainstream enough that 99.9%
of us should be able to live with a commodity engine. It has to be said that .Text
and the DasBlog have served me well – my flat cap (a Yorkshire thing) is tipped to
all involved.
Paul Lockwood Other
NAS, or Network Attached Storage is finally affordable to use at home. For a few weeks I have been running two $70 Coolmax
CN-550 devices:
This is an external USB drive with an RJ-45 ethernet
port. My devices both have 320GB hard discs and allowed me to dismantle a dedicate
file server PC :) Now we only have one desktop PC
in the house!!, which is a far-cry from the five PC two years ago!! Simplicity
means more time for other hobbies, and this device has a very simple to use web interface.
So what are the pros and cons of the CN-550 which right now is the pick of the affordable
NAS:
Good:
Works seamlessly with final build of XMBC v1.0
Works seamlessly with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista
Can access files via a windows ‘machine name’, e.g. \\MP3s\Radiohead\
Maintainable via a simple web interface
Simple to user Folder security (SMB username/ paswords)
Can easily become an FTP server
Stackable
Mild Annoyances:
XMBC 2.0 does not recognize these devices (yet)
Only uses IDE drives, not SATA
Discs must be formatted FAT32
Very slow for large data transfers over RJ45 (use USB 2.0 instead)
One of my 320GB Hard Discs does not work with power saving – I simply turned off sleep
for that NAS device
Bad:
Reported not to work with some very large hard discs (750GB)
Paul Lockwood HDTV, IPTV
You know the saying, concentrate on your core business and leverage commodity software wherever possible. Well 2007 is almost here, and it is probably time to stop maintaining my own blog software when there are so many easy to use services available. The first one I am trying is Google’s Blogger, about 10 minutes of effort produced this:
http://www.dotnetworkaholic.com/blogger/index.html
Time saved from the NAS v’s File Server prompted me to this. In 1999 I had my own home brew TV PC which required enormous amount ‘nursing’. Just ripping a CD took 8 hours in 1999! Then came better capture software like Virtual Dub and home brew scheduling software, then Snapstream, the PVR250 capture card, the set-top boxes (my 6412 was too buggy/complex) and finally we have media easily available on the internet – take video podcasts for example. Each step reduced the time required for the geek hobby as it progressively became mainstream. Blogging is now mainstream enough that 99.9% of us should be able to live with a commodity engine. It has to be said that .Text and the DasBlog have served me well – my flat cap (a Yorkshire thing) is tipped to all involved.
So where is my time being spent, it is obviously not in writing many blog posts. Generating more passive income, that’s what! It is tempting to blog in this area, I almost had a serious rant when several financial bloggers published their networth, only one was over $500K. In the USA is all about perception, and anyone can be a self appointed expert with no experience required… which leads me back to the Right to Hire, Right to Fire post.
The Right to Hire, Right to Fire entry was only posted temporarily but will return. In 2009 I’ll have 20 years IT experience and hope to collate wisdom gained as a set of posts… As mentioned in the (in)famous post, I have been fired from two of my ~fifteen contracts; both where I was fighting very hard to do the right thing and save failing projects. Time has now passed and everyone involved in firing me in 2003 have now been let go for incompetence + the company only kept the two strong developers I recommended!
Paul Lockwood Other