Ordinary Man

Cloud Music

Posted on August 20, 2011 by ed

Okay. I’ve tried using Amazon Cloud/Player and really like the features especially for Android. I especially like the fact that when I buy music from Amazon, which I have been doing for a couple of years now, it is automatically added to my Amazon Cloud storage and made available to me to play through the cloud player on my computer and my Android device and gives me the option to download it later to my computer. I can also upload songs that I did not purchase from them from my computer without having to upload my entire library. I can select a specific song or even an entire album. It’s pretty convenient.

I decided to give Google Music a try and I wasn’t happy with the Music Manager. While with Amazon I have the option of just uploading certain albums, Google Music Manager wants to upload my entire library without giving me the option to only upload what I want to upload. Yes, I could probably just point it to a folder that only has a specific album or albums but that’s retarded. I do like the Google Music Player for Android though. It’s actually a very nice looking application. I haven’t found anything wrong with the Amazon Music Player. It’s really just a basic player.

I know it may be convenient to just upload the entire library in one sitting but not for me. I have over 10,000 songs that equals close to 50GB and an upload pipe of only 1.85Mps. One, trying to upload all the data clogs my pipe. Two, it would take easily 4 to 6 days to upload my entire library. And using up all that bandwidth in those days would be quite annoying. Now, if Google wants to come over to my house and give me their Google Fiber it would make everything so much better.

I think for now, until Google makes some changes to their music manager, I will stick with Amazon’s Cloud music service.

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Posted in Amazon, Android, Google, Tech | Leave a comment

VPN Client on Linux Mint

Posted on August 9, 2011 by ed

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. This is more for me than for the public so that I will remember what I did to get a VPN client running on my Linux Mint 10.

Since I am a Systems Administrator a lot of my work can be done from my desk, when I am not building new servers or troubleshooting hardware issues. Thanks to the powers where I work I am allowed to work from home from time to time. In the past, before I made the switch to Linux full-time, I used the Cisco VPN client on my Windows machine. Since moving to Linux, I needed a VPN client that worked with our Cisco ASA 5500 and then a good Windows RDP client to remote into my work computer once connected to my work network.

I searched around for a while and finally found a good client for Linux Mint called VPNC. You can find it in the Software Manager or by typing the following at the terminal:

sudo apt-get install vpnc

Of course after installing this I had to work with the Network Engineers in my IT department to configure my profile on the Cisco ASA. Once that was done I needed to edit the config file for VPNC found here:

/etc/vpnc/default.conf

The configuration looked something like this (excerpt of my file):

IPSec gateway IP address goes here IPSec ID identification goes here IPSec secret secret password goes here #IKE Authmode hybrid Xauth username username goes here #Xauth password password goes here

Of course, the hash tags comment out the lines. I hashed the password so that I would be prompted once I connected to my corporate network for additional security. Then once I had a connection, validated by having a tun0 interface, I use Gnome-RDP for my remote connection to my work PC. That simple. The only problem is DNS on my personal computer. Since I am on Linux and not Windows my personal machine’s DNS does not get updated to the DNS at work. There are ways to fix this but I know the dynamic IP address of my computer at work so once that Gnome-RDP profile is created with that IP address, I don’t have to remember it. Also, if the IP address of my computer ever changes I know the IP address of our domain controllers/DNS/DHCP servers at work so I can connect to them to get the updated IP address of my workstation.

One issue I found with Gnome-RDP is that there is no clear way to exit out of full screen view of the RDP session. I found you have to select, on your keyboard, Ctrl-Alt-Enter to exit and enter full screen mode of Gnome-RDP.

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Posted in Gnome-RDP, Linux, VPNc | Leave a comment

Calling From The Future

Posted on July 26, 2011 by ed

Since my childhood I’ve been a fan of Star Trek. I remember as far back as 1978 watching reruns of The Original Series with my Dad. I was always fascinated with the technology from that show, and other sci-fi TV shows and movies, of being able to talk to someone via a video call. Well, whether you use it or not, the technology is here, the future is here, and I’m loving it.

For about five years now I’ve been using Skype for PC-to-PC calls with family and friends however I remember being able to make video calls as far back as 1999 with NetMeeting on Windows 98. I still use Skype for video calls frequently and sometimes switch between that service and Google’s Video Chat via Gmail. Video chat has been available for a few years now on computers but technology has advanced so much that we now have the capability to have video calls on our mobile phone. That just blows my mind. I’m mean, come on, it’s not science fiction today it’s science fact and that is the coolest thing to me being a fan of science fiction. The iPhone 4 came out last year with a front-facing camera and the ability to make video calls via Facetime. In recent months you also have the option to purchase an Android phone (I think it’s just the Nexus S for now) with a front-facing camera to video chat via Gtalk with more Android phones coming out with the same ability in the coming months.

Currently, I do not own a phone with a front-facing camera (still hauling around the Motorola Droid 1) but I can tell you that my next purchase will be an Android phone with a front-facing camera that will have the ability to video chat. Because I encourage my friends and family to call me on Skype and Gtalk on the computer today I also would like to have that option on my mobile phone too. It’s so Star Trek, man.

So, I’m wondering: If you were to buy a phone with a front-facing camera today, or in the future, would you use the video chat function? I would love to see your vote and read your comments below.

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Posted in Android, Apple, Droid, Facetime, Google, Gtalk, Microsoft, Tech, Video Chat | 7 Comments

Video Capture in Linux Mint Using GUVCViewer

Posted on July 15, 2011 by ed

GUVCViewer in Linux Mint 10

http://guvcview.berlios.de/

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Posted in GUVCViewer, Linux, Tech, Video | Leave a comment

An Explanation About Things

Posted on July 6, 2011 by ed

So, as you have probably noticed, I have been posting a few things about Linux Mint lately here on my blog. I probably should have informed you through this blog, if you are a frequent reader, that I was switching to Linux Mint full time on my main desktop. This happened about three months ago. As most of you know by reading this blog I am a tech enthusiast (geek). I love everything about technology and am not biased to any particular operating system as they are all generally the same, they all have their own weaknesses and strengths.

I’ve used Windows most of my tech life since version 3.11. I finally stepped out of my shell and tried Linux about 9 years ago. I first started using Redhat, before it became Fedora, and even setup a Redhat server back in 2004 running a web server out of my house to host a forum for me and some buddies of mine. Other than that Linux server, I’ve never been a full time Linux user. Don’t get me wrong, I have tried quite a few flavors – Fedora, SUSE, Mandriva, FreeBSD, TurboLinux, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and many more – but have never completely used Linux for my day-to-day use.

In 2006 when Apple changed the architecture to Intel processors, I decided to try Mac OS X by buying a Mac Mini and immediately fell in love. Finding that I was using the Mini more and more and needing more power, I sold the Mini six months later and purchased a black MacBook. I still use that MacBook to this day and it has been involved in my day-to-day computer operations.

Even though I have that MacBook, I still use my Windows desktop (Dell XPS 410) for other day-to-day computer operations as well as PC gaming. Well, three months ago I came to the conclusion that I really need to learn Linux, to be more of a intermediate to advance user rather than a amateur user as I have always been these past 9 years. I figured that the only way to really get into the core of the operating system and to learn everything about it was to use it full time on my desktop. That led to creating a dual boot of Windows 7 and Linux Mint 10; the booting of Windows 7 for PC gaming on the occasion I want to game and the booting of Linux Mint to use in my day-to-day computer operations. I chose Linux Mint because I fell in love with it about two years ago after being a Ubuntu fan. There were things that Ubuntu did with the color scheme and Gnome that I just grew tired after awhile which led me to Linux Mint. Now Ubuntu incorporates the Unity interface and I am glad I switched to Linux Mint before that came along.

For those that don’t know me personally, along with being a tech enthusiast, I also work in the tech industry as a Systems Administrator in a Windows environment. I first received my A+ and Microsoft certification 10 years ago and have been working in IT for that same period of time. I know Windows and I know it pretty well. However, working in the IT field I know it is also advantageous to be more diverse in all aspects of technology, that is why I wanted to experiment with Linux those many years ago. But because of needing to stay up-to-date with Windows for my field it has been difficult to dive right into Linux. I have contemplated getting a Linux certification but never have had the money to achieve that schooling. So, that is why I came to the decision of moving to Linux on my main desktop, so that I can use it and learn it. I learn better by getting my hands dirty.

So, from time to time you will continue to see me post newly discovered tweaks and tips in Linux, particularly Linux Mint.

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