COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

"It beats hacking ARM NAS boxes to get a low powered server."... Translate please?

[Tripps]

I hear tthat the rules for privacy on Google are changed from today, and by going on to my 'Google dashboard' I can stop it from sharing information they have on me with other sites, and advertisers. I gave it a go, but of course was quite unable to do so. Can any kind geek tell me how to do it, and will it prevent me from being pursued by ads for the last thing I searched for on ebay?

[Tizer]

It will be interesting to see how the Raspberry Pi progresses, especially because it uses Linux software instead of Windows. And if it gets people more interested in how computers work and how to write simple programs all the better. If it gets them to use free Linux software instead of shoving money into the pockets of Microsoft, then - wonderful!

Some of you will remember that I had a go at building my own computer in March 2010 - then one for Mrs Tiz too. I'm pleased to report that both are still going strong, both used everyday and - so far- never a problem (touch wood!). I hope others might try building their own PC too. Here is my original OGFB thread describing the build: LINK

[Pluggy]

"It beats hacking ARM NAS boxes to get a low powered server."... Translate please?

A NAS box is a device sold for 'Network Attached Storage' or in other words a hard disk that can be accessed across a network. They are small computers in their own right and with a bit of 'hacking' can be convinced to do anything you want them to. Many are powered by ARM processors hence ARM NAS box. My present home based server which looks after my monitoring system as well as other duties is one of these : http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/network- ... e-dockstar . Now sadly obsolete, it uses a small fraction of the electicity used by a PC type server and so is ideal for leaving on all the time. The Raspberry Pi is a similar capability but it doesn't have to be hacked to change its use from what the manufacturer intended. You can end up bricking (killing) a device if you get the hacking process wrong.

[Big Kev]

"It beats hacking ARM NAS boxes to get a low powered server."... Translate please?

My present home based server which looks after my monitoring system as well as other duties is one of these : http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/network- ... e-dockstar . Now sadly obsolete, it uses a small fraction of the electicity used by a PC type server and so is ideal for leaving on all the time.

Looks like a handy bit of kit. I like the idea of using it for network printing as well, I've been looking for a fairly simple way of doing that without buying a network printer.

[Whyperion]

I built 4 wintel98 systems and a couple of networks 10 years ago , although computers built are currently retired ( couple of virus and other corruption issues as one HDD died (physical part damage to one head zone ) and as I was away 'experts' upgraded it not seeing the two partitions I had on it so lost all data as they did not port over from the readable bit of the HDD and used a unnecessary seagate drive expander on it ( which I did not realise would not work with Partition Magic when I got the system back for my own upgrade a few months later , so I have a non-booting drive with loads of data on ) , never mind sons laptop does for me for now.

Problems with current home network ( not supplied by me ) , Router/Hub wont support more than one wireless device and does not appear to give a clear fixed IP for the network Brother printer so cannot seem to use network printing , which is a pain, no clear support from ISP as they say router not designed for this ! May call on pluggy at some time when back in town for more than a day or two for a little advice/assistance as prob can hack the router - but dont want to be left without internet if I do something wrong.

[Stanley]

Tiz, the FM Mark 1 that Doc built for me is still alive and well and lives with Doc. I gave it to him when I got the FM2 This one is silent and just works without complaining.Uses the whole 8g of Ram now I am on 64bit.

[Whyperion]

Quick help
I have a FM/AM radio which I have just connected to the mic input of my Acer 5535 laptop , I can record and playback the device using Audacity but how can i monitor or use the laptop as an amplifier to get the sound in real time? Reason is device is also a cassette player and long term want to hear the tapes and record tapes

thanks

[Stanley]

Did anyone catch the report that some apps on android phones are data sharing illegally? Surprise!

[PanBiker]

Quick help
I have a FM/AM radio which I have just connected to the mic input of my Acer 5535 laptop , I can record and playback the device using Audacity but how can i monitor or use the laptop as an amplifier to get the sound in real time? Reason is device is also a cassette player and long term want to hear the tapes and record tapes

thanks

The audio in the laptop can't be that good that it really warrants what you are trying to do. Effectively using the device for something it is not meant to be. In an ideal world you would have a "line in socket" on the laptop and some decent audio software to process the signal for you and shove it out to the speakers. Why don't you just plug a decent set of amplified speakers into the Radio/Tape? It will sound a lot better than shoving it through the cheap and cheerful laptop audio.
Alternatively, you could ditch the internal audio and get a USB audio card for the laptop that has all the inputs and outputs you need. If you get a decent one it should come with software that will let you do what you want to do.

[Pluggy]

The audio on some modern laptops (they usually make a lot of noise about it via stickers on the wrist pad) is surprisingly good. They aren't cheap either. Having said that the audio on most laptops is utter cr*p as you say panny.

Heres something I bought a while back and paid a bit more than a cheapo bluetooth adapter because it was sold as having a stronger signal and with an impressive aerial to prove it :



It didn't strike me as being anything out of the ordinary, but it worked and I didn't think any more about it until yesterday when it got knocked and the top clipped off :



Notice the high quality fresh air link between the PCB and the 100% plastic aerial..........

[PanBiker]

Nice on Pluggy. It reminds me of the test that Thorn EMI Ferguson did for public perception of audio systems. They set up three audio systems with increasing numbers of knobs and push buttons on and asked random folk to listen to the three different systems and then select which was best. They all had exactly the same gubbins, only the aesthetics were different, half the knobs and buttons were not wired up and so did not make a jot of difference to the output. Over 80% went for the one with the most knobs on and said it sounded better!

I suppose in the case above, an external antenna is perceived as a selling point. As you are no doubt aware Bluetooth is so "dirty" it hardly needs and antenna anyway!

[Pluggy]

Did anyone catch the report that some apps on android phones are data sharing illegally? Surprise!

Give it a couple of years and the level of malware on Android phones will be approaching that of Windows. The slack control by Google on its app store and the vast amount of stuff outside the app store will see to that. Apple and its extreme right wing attitude keeps a tight lid on its app store (effectively a walled garden) and users have no real control over their iPhones . I hate Apples attitude but there isn't as much crap on its platform, incidently there is a small industry grown up around jailbreaking iPhones so their owners can pry them away from Apples control. You don't need to jailbreak most Android phones, they are free as they come out of the box (which is part of the problem).

[Pluggy]

Nice on Pluggy. It reminds me of the test that Thorn EMI Ferguson did for public perception of audio systems. They set up three audio systems with increasing numbers of knobs and push buttons on and asked random folk to listen to the three different systems and then select which was best. They all had exactly the same gubbins, only the aesthetics were different, half the knobs and buttons were not wired up and so did not make a jot of difference to the output. Over 80% went for the one with the most knobs on and said it sounded better!

I suppose in the case above, an external antenna is perceived as a selling point. As you are no doubt aware Bluetooth is so "dirty" it hardly needs and antenna anyway!

I wanted it to be able to connect to my car when it parked outside through a thick stone wall, I thought the aerial might give it the power to get through the wall and skin of the car. It worked for other things so I didn't worry about it. The 2.4 Ghz 'no licence' band is so polluted with a gazillion wifi adapters and cheap baby alarms, bluetooth's contribution pales into insignificance.

The high quality audio on some laptops is more than snake oil though, they have convincing base and a crisp sound. Most laptops sound like a 3 transistor AM radio with a screwdriver stuck through the speaker......

[Whyperion]

I'm not after quality , just the ability to monitor , I think I can thru the USB ( EZ-Tape did it , but I uninstalled it owning to it forcing into Apple mode recording , audacity is better as I can chop the recording about ( uses masses of GB of storage though ) , but I cannot hear what I am recording , quite good at reading the visual monitor ! )
Reading the Manual

To listen to what you are recording you have two options.
1.If you computer's sound control panel supports sending the audio input to the computer's audio output then make this setting there. (*)
2.If that is not possible, click on Transport > Software Playthrough (on/off) so that it is checked.

I'll try that , it might work , (*)- cannot see on windows/ realtek HD Audio Manager how to do (1)
(2) Works ! , though the radio element input source is a bit impossible to tune nicely as yet, and the cassette transport mechanism appears broken , button wont stay in , my british fingers too big to try to amend what teeny chinese ones put together, will go and look for jack to mini jack converter and use one of my other players instead. Did not think this device would work , it was a find from the top of a dustbin round me mums flats (along with the fairly new mini jack lead and a few other oddments. Also need to switch Audacity to record to SD card to save HD space.

[Stanley]

I'm still using cassettes......
Love the aerial Plugs, even I understood that!
Question, I want to send a lot of data to a mate for a project we are doing. Is there such a thing as a memory stick that can hold 200gb or do I need to use an external hard drive.
PS. Full reload from Ubuntu this morning. Can you imagine what would happen if Windows did that?

[Pluggy]

I'm still using cassettes......
Love the aerial Plugs, even I understood that!
Question, I want to send a lot of data to a mate for a project we are doing. Is there such a thing as a memory stick that can hold 200gb or do I need to use an external hard drive.
PS. Full reload from Ubuntu this morning. Can you imagine what would happen if Windows did that?

My supplier sells them up to 256Gb, but they are far more expensive than an external hard drive (about 10 times the price of a 320 Gb hdd)

[Whyperion]

What about yousendit.com , or stuffit to pack the data up.

Connected Barnoldswick? I have not been keeping up to date with download/upload speeds but there is almost a value if enough in town sign up for a T1 leased line and satellite connection for internet use ( mind you the last time I had one of those I did a deal with BT got free rental and unlimited upload download at one site - I was passing them £1.6m of annual business at the time.

[Pluggy]

What about yousendit.com , or stuffit to pack the data up.

If Stanley's upload speed is anything like mine, 200Gb will take until the middle of summer to upload over Orange's ADSL. A T1 will take somewhere between 3minutes and a week, depending on how much money you can throw at it. The last I had one quoted would be around 10 grand a year for the cheapest slowest option, that was to Clitheroe, it depends a lot on distance to the nearest serious internet hub. (Manchester is well connected. although the quote was to Preston) Methinks Stanley, who is forever bleating poverty, won't be up for it

[Whyperion]

10k per year over 330 users is £30 a year or about £3 a month per user

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Plugs. I suspected the external HD would be the answer.
Further question: Would the file system my machine produces be readable by an Apple machine? I suspect Daniel will be on Apple.
As for Orange and speed, I've waited this long I shall sit here and see whether May 31st is Der Tag. 6mps is quite good enough for me at the moment.

[Pluggy]

10k per year over 330 users is £30 a year or about £3 a month per user

Thats for a 2Mb/s link, most people will already have a connection faster than that, sharing it 330 ways will reduce it to a crawl. Unlike ADSL, its the same speed both ways.

Further question: Would the file system my machine produces be readable by an Apple machine? I suspect Daniel will be on Apple.

No, without extra software, not a problem the other way round. Your external drive from memory is formatted FAT32, that should work. Copy whatever you want on the Apple there and then plug it into the Apple. You could set up the FM as a Samba server, a Mac should be able too handle that, but its getting a bit involved.

[Whyperion]

I have had versions of Mac external drives created and read by WIN NT with no real problems and vice versa. Windows and Apple do drop on some hidden files which are a form of indexing of the drive , so make sure that you use the relevant computers eject/disconnect drive in the software and ensure safe to use as cache read/write can cause problems and garbled data on pictures etc if you are not careful. Also found if using excel that mac and windows versions out of step , and need to correctly set date format in apple one to use 1900 system not 1904 to read correctly - also UK/US date defaults make sure the same on both systems. Dont know if linux flavours and open office have any special requirements.

[Stanley]

Thanks for the info, the way forward is clear.

[Tizer]

Here's a story of how even major, well-protected computer systems can do the `impossible' and fail. AlphaGalileo is a big organisation that compiles science news from universities, institutions and companies throughout Europe and has the job of promoting this news online worldwide. On 3 February their computer network went down and they've only just got it back up again. Here's the story in their own words. I don't understand a lot of it but it might be interesting to our IT oriented members!
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On Friday, 3rd February 2012, around 8pm, our site went offline due to a catastrophic failure of hardware within our hosting provider's data centre environment. The root cause of this was multiple hardware failure within their central storage repository.

Our hosting provider had configured their hosting environment to deal with multiple hardware failures however because of the extent of the failures the hosting environment was not able to recover from its failed state. The hosting infrastructure was designed with multiple redundancies in mind and on all layers within the infrastructure.
Starting from the top, we have two enterprise firewalls serving the hosted environment and protecting it from nasties of the Internet. If one firewall was to fail then this will not result in the loss of connectivity to the environment. All traffic within the environment would seamlessly transfer over to the secondary non-faulty firewall. We have a cluster of two load -balancers that are both actively balancing connections to the various servers within the hosting environment, however, should one load balancer fail then the other non-faulty load-balancer would be able to handle all the traffic in the network without any loss of service.

We have four switches (two for external traffic and two for iSCSI traffic) each server has multiple connections to each switch thus allowing for a single switch on each layer to fail without any loss of connectivity. We have a cluster of four high end servers (Dell PowerEdge R710 servers with 64Gb RAM and RAID 1 OS drives) serving the Citrix Xen Virtualisation Platform running within this infrastructure. Each server has four network interfaces connecting to the four switches. There are two power supplies connected to each server with separate power feeds.
The Xenservers are in turn connected to the large SAN (Storage Area Network) with multiple large (1TB) hard disk drives (HDD). The SAN was configured with two disk volume groups; RAID5 disk volume group for virtual servers and a RAID 10 volume group for high throughput storage. In a RAID 5 configuration, there is allowance for a single disk failure and RAID 10 configuration allows for half the number of disk failures configured in that group to fail. Both RAID groups also have a hot spare drive to cater for an automatic recovery of a single disk failure therefore it would automatically take over the role of the failed hard drive and the RAID volume group will reconstruct all active data onto the hot spare, while waiting for a replacement HDD.

The SAN also have multiple protections against failures (redundancies); this also has two power supplies connecting to two separate power feeds. It also has two independent RAID controllers connecting to its disks such that should one fail then the other would take over the tasks of handling the data held within the hard drives.

Unfortunately, the incident that took place on Friday 3rd February 2012 was a result of multiple hardware failures within this SAN that resulted in the whole environment going offline. Further outages were caused when the SAN came back online but it had lost its IQN (iSCSI Qualified Name) and that also resulted in the failure of the virtualisation platform.

Our hosting continues to provide monitoring for the new hosted environment in a similar manner to the original hosted environment and looking at ways in which to further improve and upscale our services to best meet the needs of our users.