The Surgery

A note about WDTV Live and Samba shares

January 16th, 2010

I recently blogged about Western Digital’s new WD TV Live Media Streamer.

It’s going great guns, but I had some difficulty setting up Samba shares on my Linux server, and seeing these shares from the WD TV Live.

“Samba” is an implementation of the Server Message Block (SMB) networking protocol. Samba shares look like Windows shares to a Windows workstation, and behave the same way. Samba can also be setup to do clever things like emulate a Windows Primary Domain Controller, so the Windows workstations on the network think they’re talking to a Windows PDC, when in actual fact they’re talking to a Linux system emulating a PDC, providing enormous flexibility and saving thousands of dollars in Microsoft licensing. Pretty cool, huh?

But I digress. At home, I have a Windows workgroup. I also have a Linux server running Fedora 9 which I use for my internet gateway, firewall, DHCP, Network Address Translation (NAT) and other stuff. For most people, all this stuff is done by their ADSL router or similar device. But I’m not like normal people. And I’m running a business from home and I need the flexibility which a Linux server affords.

I wanted to have all my media on an external (portable) drive, connected to the Linux server, which is always on. Then I wanted to “share” this drive on the network, so I could access it from the new WD TV Live.

This is not a tutorial in connecting USB devices and mounting external drives in Linux. Also, this isn’t a tutorial in setting Linux file and directory permissions. For help doing that, you’ll need to hit Google.

Anyway, my new drive was mounted in my Linux file system at “/home/ron/elements”. (Co-incidentally it’s a Western Digital ‘Elements’ external hard disk.) I didn’t have Samba installed, so I installed it like this:

yum install samba

“Yum” is the Yellow-Dog Updater which is an easy and safe way to install commonly-used Fedora packages via the internet. I added my username “ron” to the SMB users’ file, like this:

/usr/bin/smbpasswd -a ron

…and added a new, browsable share in the Samba config file, like this:

[elements]

comment = WD Elements Share

path = /home/ron/elements

public = yes

writable = yes

createmask = 0777

directorymask = 0777

browseable = yes

printable = no

Then I started Samba, and added it to the correct startup runlevels like this:

service smb start

service nmb start

chkconfig smb on

chkconfig nmb on

All good! I could see the share by browsing on a Windows machine to the IP address, like this:

\\192.168.2.2\elements

…BUT a hit a brick wall at this point. There were two problems which I couldn’t resolve. The second, I suspected, was directly related to the first:

I couldn’t browse the machine by its NetBIOS name, “derek”, which I’d specified in the smb.conf file, and
The WD TV Live couldn’t see the Samba share.

Graeme Callaghan helped me over this hurdle; with another 5 minutes fiddling, I had the problem solved.

Graeme’s Fix for Samba – NetBIOS problems – don’t forget your DHCP daemon!

There were two settings in the Samba config file which I had left as the default, being “remmed out”. These were:

wins support = yes

dns proxy = yes

I un-remarked these.

Then, I un-remarked a critical setting in my DHCP server’s configuration file, which was also on the same machine:

option netbios-name-servers  192.168.2.2;

This setting controls NetBIOS name visibility on your network. If your Samba server is on a different physical machine, point the IP address in your DHCP config file to the Samba machine’s IP address.

Then I restarted dhcpd, smb & nmb. Low-and-behold, my Fedora server was suddenly browsable by its NetBIOS name; e.g.

\\derek\elements

Even better, The WD TV Live picked up the changes straight away. The server “DEREK” was now available in my list of “Shared Folders” on the WD TV Live menu.

I needed to *turn off* a setting in the WD TV Live called Settings / Network Setting / Auto login to network share. Then I browsed to DEREK in the Video / Shared Folders list, entered my network credentials (which I had created earlier with the “smbpasswd” command) and verified I could see all the folders correctly and access the media OK. I then reset the Auto login to network share to ON so I wasn’t prompted for a username and password every time I tried to access this network resource.

There seems to be a lot of consternation on message boards about WD TV Live connecting to Samba shares. It’s easy when you know how (thanks again Graeme). Hopefully this is useful to someone.

For info, package versions are:

samba-3.2.11-0.28.fc9.i386
dhcp-4.0.0-22.fc9.i386

Tags: media streamer, NetBIOS, network, Samba, share, WD TV Live, Western Digital
Posted in Blogging, Internet, Technical | No Comments »

Western Digital’s WD TV Live – Robust HD Media Player with High-Level WAF*

January 8th, 2010

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to cable a network socket to the lounge room, and a network socket to the bedroom.

This would enable me, in theory, to stream audio and video from my network to the television and sound system in my living room; and to stream audio and video from my network to the television in the master bedroom.

Why not just use wireless?

I’ve been using WiFi to the lounge room Media Centre for some time (well, years) now. It works adequately. But wireless technology is designed for portable devices, and in the case where I’ve got a Media Centre PC which never moves, the better option from a technical standpoint is to connect to the network using a wired network port. A fixed network connection is faster than wireless, more reliable, and my Media Centre won’t be competing with other wireless devices for bandwidth, using the same hotspot ‘legitimately’ (e.g. net books, smart phones etc.).

Conspiracy theorists that obsess about security will also agree that a wired network connection is a better option than wireless. I, however, do not obsess about such things. Honestly.

Yesterday I got out the fashionable white overalls, retrieved my toolbox from a bygone era and proceeded to cable new network points to the lounge room and the master bedroom. This involved much swearing, grunting, bashing-of-head-against-low-floorboards and grazed elbows, but I got there eventually.

In Australia, make sure any infrastructure cabling, at work or at home, is undertaken by a licensed cabler. Like me.

Lounge Room – wired for internets!

I plugged the Media Centre into its new network port, and was pleased to see a noticeable improvement in network speed. I’ll keep using the PC as a Media Centre in the lounge room. It makes a lot of sense to me to have a networked PC connected to your television and sound system.

The Bedroom Solution

- or -

“How to browse internets and network file shares in your bedroom without a computer”

A PC in the bedroom, however, is a bit excessive (IMHO). So what’s the best way to access content on the network and stream it to the television?

I had my eye on a fashionable media streamer from Western Digital which Andrew spoke about on Tech Talk Radio in November. After seeing a demonstration, viewing a Blu-Ray rip over Andrew’s network in his lounge room, I was sold. The quality was great.

There are three versions of these little boxes, and I bought the most expensive one, the WD TV Live, which supports networking. This set me back $198 from JB Hi Fi.

Western Digital's WD TV Live

The WD TV Live is a small unassuming box which provides an interface between your television and your computer network, with a nifty little remote control (yes, batteries are included!). All the WD TV Live needs is power and a nearby network connection, which I now have, thanks to yesterday’s wrangling.

The WD TV Live outputs to composite or component video (cables supplied) or HDMI (cable not supplied), in full HD 1080P video. When it powers-up, the WD TV Live finds shares on your computer network and lets you watch video and listen to music. It also has 2 x USB ports so you can connect external drives, memory sticks and the like.

Rear of the WD TV Live - from L to R: power, USB, HDMI, optical, LAN, composite out & component out

To get it going, all I needed to do was connect HDMI to my television, connect the blue network cable and plug-in the power. The WD TV Live did everything else, and the default settings are very usable. It found my network’s DHCP server, assigned itself an IP address, found my network shares and just started working.

Format Support

According to the documentation, supported video formats include AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG 1, 2 & 4, WMV9 & VC-1), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (H.264, X.264, AVC, MPEG 1, 2 & 4, WMV9 & VC-1), TS / TP / M2T (MPEG 1, 2 & 4, AVC & VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4 & H.264), M2TS & WMV9.

Supported image formats include JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP & PNG.

Supported audio formats include MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital & DTS.

The WD TV Live also supports common playlist and subtitle formats, and it’s got the DLNA stamp of approval.

Andrew says he’s had huge success with MKV video formats, in terms of quality.

User Interface

Nice. Fast and smooth.

WD TV Live - User Interface

There’s also a nice interface which streams content directly from Google’s video-sharing website YouTube, popular photo-sharing site Flickr and Live 365 internet radio. You can login to YouTube if you have an existing account.

WD TV Live - browsing YouTube with the built-in UI

My only gripe is the on-screen keyboard, which is clunky and frustrating. You’re driving it with the up/down/left/right arrows on the remote control, so I’m not really sure how Western Digital could improve on this. You only need to use the on-screen keyboard if you’re entering custom network settings, or user names and passwords for network shares and such things. Fortunately the WD TV Live remembers these settings, so you rarely need to use the on-screen keyboard.

Problems with HomeGroup Networking

Tech Talk’s Graeme Callaghan also purchased one of these little boxes some weeks ago. He told me that the only difficulties he has experienced have been with Windows 7 “HomeGroup” networking, which apparently does strange things, e.g. causing network shares to disappear, reappear then disappear again. Graeme said that after he disabled HomeGroup networking, in favour of traditional Windows workgroups, everything worked consistently and well. I’m sharing content off a Windows 7 Professional machine in traditional ‘workgroups’ mode and everything with the WD TV Live has been smooth-sailing.

The Verdict

Good.

Easy to set up; reliable; intuitive user interface; excellent playback quality. High WAF*. This is a media streamer which fills a fundamental hole in the digital lounge room.

Or, in this case, Dr Ron’s Digital Bedroom.

* Wife Acceptability Factor

Tags: Digital Living Network Alliance, digital lounge room, DLNA, HomeGroup, media streamer, Tech Talk Radio, video streamer, video streaming, WD TV Live, Western Digital
Posted in Blogging, Internet, Personal, Social Networking, Technical | No Comments »

Kaspersky, Shmersky

January 4th, 2010

Contrary to popular belief, the Tech Talk Radio panelists are not sponsored by Kaspersky.

About 10 months ago I purchased a “3 PC” licence pack for a couple of computers at home. This provided me with an activation code that could be used on 3 PCs, for home use. I installed Kaspersky Anti-Virus on two PCs and put the remaining licence away for a rainy day.

Well, it started raining a few days ago and I thought I’d use the remaining licence on a new PC.

When I typed in the activation code, Kaspersky (the software, not the man himself) congratulated me on installing the software, and smugly informed me that I had a good 62 days left, at least, on this licence for this computer.

Huh?!?!? I paid for a licence for a year for this PC!

It seems that Kaspersky starts the clock ticking for its activation codes from the time the first one is used – or possibly from the time the activation code is purchased, I don’t know. I can’t find it in their fine print.

Maybe I’m just being overly sensitive, but I feel decidedly jibbed by Kaspersky on this occasion.

Who or what is a Kaspersky? Kaspersky Lab is an organisation which produces robust, easy-to-use anti-virus, anti-spyware and internet security software for the PC and Mac. It seems to detect viruses, threats and malware where other products fall short. The name “Kaspersky” is highly regarded in the IT industry.

We always rave about it on-air because it works well. It costs a few bucks, but when it comes to internet security software, you get what you pay for. (AVG users take note!!)

The founder of the organisation, Eugene Kaspersky, spoke to Andrew in 2007 about the life and times of his internet security organisation.

But it’s software, with a licensing regime like any other commercial software. Caveat Emptor. Read the fine print.

Tags: anti-virus, Kaspersky, licensing, malware, software, spyware, Tech Talk Radio
Posted in Internet, TTR, Technical | No Comments »

What’s been happening?

December 24th, 2009

Woooaah … truckloads.

There are 1001 blog-worthy things to blog in my blog about.

Sadly, time (lusty and blithe) is at his apogee.

In brief, I have:

Had a shave, since the last blog post;
Upgraded The Surgery WordPress blog from 2.8.3 to 2.9;
Moved WordPress blog from Fedora 9 machine with crappy dynamic IP address (it was killing me) to shiny Fedora 11 machine with static IP address;
Marveled at my ability to upgrade WordPress, SQL databases and move them across Linux machines, AND make grown-up changes to DNS zone files – am surely a guru of such things now and legend in my own lunchbox;
Undertaken 2 of 8 Tech Talk Radio Summer Series productions, time-consuming but rewarding;
Upgraded the HTC Dream / Google phone to the next Android operating system, very successful;
Teetered on the brink of e-mail bankruptcy;
Ordered a new PC for Christmas;
Ventured inside an Apple Store for the very first time, and escaped by making only a minor purchase (a new iPod Touch); and
Just today, assisted Mrs Dr Ron in restoring her iTunes library, after she deleted all the music files from her PC’s hard disk - successfully achieved restoration by using a third-party app called iRip which we’ve spoken about on Tech Talk in the past (thanks JD, saviour of Dr Ron’s marriage).

I have also Tweeted mercilessly about our well-intentioned (yet incompetent, foolish and mis-informed) Senator for Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy. In case you hadn’t caught up with the news (which the good Senator saved until after the last live episode of Tech Talk for 2009), Australia will be ranked highly with the United Arab Emirates, Iran and China in its foolish deployment of an ISP-based Net Filter.

Adam Turner has had a lot to say about this, and made a clever analogy with a different type of infrastructure. His blog posts here and here in The Age last week should be mandatory reading.

I’ll blog in more detail about these and other things soon.

I hope you have a great Chrissy and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Tags: #nocleanfeed, adam turner, andorid, apple, apple store, blog, fedora, Google Phone, HTC Dream, ipod touch, irip, linux, net filter, news, stephen conroy, tech talk, Tech Talk Radio, the age, the age tech, updates, what's happening, wordpress
Posted in Blogging, HTC, Internet, On-air, Personal, Social Networking, TTR, Technical, Web 2.0 | No Comments »

Movember. It’s all for the good of the country.

November 24th, 2009

Dr Ron gets hairy and prickly. And not in a good way, either.

Dr Ron's getting hairy and prickly. And not in a good way, either.

Amused?

Laughing at my misfortune?

Good for you, but it’s gonna cost real money.

Click on Dr Ron’s Movember Link and donate some small change to a worthy cause.

The Movember Foundation of Australia is raising awareness of men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and clinical depression.

Thanks Adam, Waulok and Thadius for your support. Every little bit helps.

Posted in Blogging, Personal | No Comments »

New Road Rules Threaten Phone GPS … and suddenly … nothing changes …

September 27th, 2009

Fairfax Digital in its “Digital Life” column last week reported that, on the 9th of November this year, recommendations made in the Australian Road Rule 8th Amendment Package will be introduced into legislation in Victoria.

This package is an updated set of road and traffic laws which were approved by all state and territory Road Ministers in February.

The Amendment Package says that “the proposed amendments are required to make the Australian Road Rules more succinct and contemporary”, thereby contributing to the safety of road users and the efficient movement of traffic.

Unfortunately, Mr Stephen Hutcheon wrote an article for Digital Life which was published in the SMH, the Brisbane Times, WA Today et cetera, with an alarming headline:

“Sat nav apps could be heading for a dead end“;

with a page title which read:

“New Road Rules Threaten Phone GPS”.

A report by the ABC was more objective and less sensational.

I’m pleased to report that the Fairfax headlines are misleading and incorrect.

Existing Legislation

The proposed amendments are required to make

the Australian Road Rules more succinct and

contemporary

The current Road Rule 300(1) prohibits drivers from using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. It’s as simple as that. If you are driving, and using, a mobile phone which is held in your hand, you are committing an offence.

This section says:

The driver of a vehicle (except an emergency vehicle or police vehicle) must not use a hand-held mobile phone while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked, unless the driver is exempt from this rule under subrule (3).

Subrule (3) makes provision for drivers to be issued formal exemptions by VicRoads.

This road rule means, for example:

if you’re holding a phone to your ear, while driving a car, you’re committing an offence;
if you’re holding a phone on “loudspeaker” while driving, you’re committing an offence;
if you’re holding a phone and texting while driving, you’re committing an offence;
if you’re holding a phone and checking your GPS location in Google Latitude while driving, you’re committing an offence; and/or
if you’re holding a phone and taking a photograph out the front windscreen while driving, you’re committing an offence.

Also:

you can legally use a phone while driving, if the phone’s in a hands-free car-kit, and not being held in your hand;
you can legally use a phone while driving, if the phone’s on the seat beside you, connected via Bluetooth to a hands-free headset (this will change soon, requiring drivers to have phones secured in a commercially manufactured phone holder or kit); and
you can legally use a phone, holding it to your ear, if you’re legally stopped on the side of the road and the engine is switched off – i.e. you are no longer a driver and have no intention of driving until such time that your phone call is finished.

What the new Amendment Package seeks to do is clarify the existing rules with respect to modern technology contained within mobile devices, including but not limited to GPS functions.

The new Amendment Package also addresses concerns that GPS devices (not telephones) could be held in a driver’s hand while the driver is driving, while the rules relating to mobile phones did not allow a driver to have a mobile phone in his or her hand.

Road Rule 299 (1) says:

A driver must not drive a motor vehicle that has a television receiver or visual display unit in or on the vehicle operating while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked, if any part of the image on the screen—

(a) is visible to the driver from the normal driving position; or

(b) is likely to distract another driver;

…while section (2) stipulates that the rule does not apply if the visual display unit is a driver’s aid, specifically including navigational equipment.

The new rules will provide consistency in that a GPS must be an integrated part of the vehicle, or secured in a mounting affixed to the vehicle.

In Victoria, it's illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving

Proposed Amendments

Television receivers and visual display units in motor vehicles: Rule 299 will be modified to ensure that any GPS device can only be used if it is in a fixed mounting.

This amendment will provide consistency with rule 300.

Use of mobile phones: Rule 300 will be modified to ensure the original intent of the rule is clarified; a driver is not permitted to use a mobile phone held in any way by the driver, but is permitted to use a phone in a fixed cradle.

Impact on Mobile Phone, GPS & Smart Phone Users

In the interests of everyone’s road safety, I don’t think these changes are a big ask.

Importantly, and contrary to reports in the mainstream media, the new road rules will not threaten phone GPS functions, standalone GPS functions or the ability to use mobile telephones while driving.

The new rules won’t “kill the burgeoning market in apps and services that enable smartphones to be used as satellite navigation systems”.

The new rules will simply clarify what is and isn’t permissible with new technology that’s emerged since the last time the regulations were reviewed.

If you’ve got an iPhone, and use it for GPS navigation while driving, drop it in a cradle. Simple. There are hundreds out there and they cost next-to-nothing.

That is, they certainly cost a lot less than a $238 fine.

Sources:

The Victorian Government Gazette P2 – Road Rules Victoria
Sydney Morning Herald: Sat Nav Apps Heading for a Dead End
ABC News: New road rules on mobiles, GPS
National Transport Commission: Australian Road Rules 8th Amendment Package

Tags: gps, mobile phone, mobile phones, mobiles, road rules, road rules victoria, sat nav, satnav
Posted in Blogging, Common Sense, Social Networking, Technical | No Comments »

Optus embraces the Dark Ages

September 16th, 2009

Can someone give me a big blunt stick, so I can bash an Optus CEO over the head?

I experienced a roller-coaster ride of emotions when I read this article in Australian IT: emotions like dismay, anger, frustration, a feeling of hopelessness for the future of Australian telecommunciations, as well as rage and then downright apathy.

But not so much apathy that I couldn’t write this blog post.

Optus have admitted that they are intentionally blocking numbers because they don’t have “commercial interconnect agreements” with some carriers.

This harks back to the bad, bad, bad old days. Consider the following scenario. I decide to ring a friend on his new mobile. I dial the number on my mobile, press send, get a strange ringtone, and that’s when the fun starts:

“Hello,” says an operator on behalf of my network, “thankyou for calling XYZ Telecomms, how can I help you?”

“Huh? I’m trying to reach 0418 xxx yyy.”

“Oh, I’m sorry sir. To continue, I’ll have to get a credit card number, or a telecard number, as we don’t have a commercial arrangement with that company.”

“But you have a commercial arrangement with me. I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation. Just put the call on my account and connect me.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that sir. Calls are charged at 45c/minute to the number you are trying to reach and are not covered by your contract. Do you have an alternate payment method?”

Grrrrrr. “Okay, my VISA card number is 4564 1234 xxxx xxxx.”

“Thankyou sir, and the card holder’s name? And the expiry date? And the CCV number?”

Arrgghhhhhhh. “Blah blah blah blah BLAH.”

“Thankyou for using XYZ Telecomms sir, connecting you now.”

(Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring.)

(Music on hold – Greensleeves – Dum dum, dum dum, da-dum dum, dum dum…)

“Thankyou for calling TJF Telekom, this is Cindy, how can I help you?

“Cindy, I just want to talk to my friend on his mobile, the number’s 0418 xxx yyy.”

“Thankyou sir, you’ve reached your friend’s network, but we don’t have an arrangement to receive calls from your network. If you agree to continue then the call will be billed at 48c/minute plus a 30c flagfall, please hold and I’ll transfer you to our intelligent voice response system which can…”

ARRRGGHGHGHGHHHHH. I smash my phone into a million pieces, then curl-up in the corner of my study, rocking backwards and forwards, trying to find that elusive “safe place”.

Is this for real? Surely not, Dr Ron.

This is what used to happen in parts of the United States, calling across carriers (especially mobile-to-mobile or payphone-to-mobile) and probably still does happen in some parts of the world, where telecommunications regulators completely fail to … well … regulate properly.

Here I was, thinking that Australia had moved into the 21st century, where I can pick up any phone and dial any number and speak to anyone I want. And have my call connected automatically and get billed accordingly.

An Optus spokeswoman said, “Optus does not have a commercial agreement for the interconnect arrangements necessary for [certain classes of] calls, so we cannot continue to support them.”

Huh?!?!

I’m an Optus customer … I’m paying the bill aren’t I ?!?!?

Connect the bloody call!!!

Optus appear to have got the sulks because another company (Mediatel) was routing local Optus calls internationally using VoIP, and Optus were missing out on the international tariffs. Well … that’s a very brief synopsis … the details are being nutted-out in the Federal Court at the moment.

At least one customer, according to Australian IT, said he recently cancelled his contract with Optus over the decision, and said, “I’m not going to give my money to a company that arbitrarily thinks it can decide who I can and can’t do business with.”

Hear, hear. I applaud you, sir. The only way Optus can be discouraged from treating its customers with this level of contempt is to “vote with our feet”, as they say.

Let’s hope the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman gives Optus’s chain a very firm yank. We don’t need this type of commercial stupidity in Australia at the expense of a basic, functional telephone network.

Tags: corporate stupidity, Federal Court, Mediatel, Optus, PSTN
Posted in Blogging, Common Sense, Technical | No Comments »

Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission: Tech Talk discusses the Role of Technology

August 22nd, 2009

Last week the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission released its Interim Report into the tragic events of the 7th of February 2009.

On Tech Talk Radio we discussed the Interim Report with respect to identified technology issues, and technological recommendations which the Royal Commission might make for the 2009–10 bushfire season.

The Interim Report is publicly available and can be viewed here (link to external site).
The Panel’s discussion about the Interim Report can be downloaded here (MP3 audio file – 13 minute discussion – file size 12 MB).

Tags: bushfires, royal commission, tech, Tech Talk Radio
Posted in 3WBC, On-air, TTR | No Comments »