lørdag den 17. oktober 2009
More power
In my case I wanted a solution that could go as a web-, HD media- and as a fileserver. With all due respect, the lovely NSLU2 just wasn't build for that purpose.
Therefor I've started a new blog which tries to find the cheapest, most energy efficient and demand fulfilling solution. A little hint:
I hope you'll enjoy it. And thanks for the interest in this blog. As of now 15,744 unique ppl have visited this place. Thanks!!
lørdag den 31. januar 2009
More debian apps
I can recommend the openVPN guide found on the list.
If you wonder what VPN is read this:
"A VPN (virtual private network) is client/server software that allows you to connect securely to a remote network from anywhere, including over a modem or a broadband connection. You can drag files from your own computer to the vpn network, analyze data remotely, edit documents residing on your work computer, and everything else you can do at work. This lets you do work at home at night, on weekends, and on holidays as if you were in the office 24 hours a day, working continuously!"Source - Just search VPN on google :) Theres also a torrentflux guide which works flawlessly!
I hope you all are doing great with your slugs - have fun! :)
tirsdag den 6. januar 2009
2009 Status
14 articles have been posted with both unslung and debian guides. The blog have been visited 11.798 times so I must have done something right :) Maybe it was the debian guides.. because after adding them, the daily visits began to rise noticeable..
The adsense total amount is only 6$ dollars though.. hehe .. but its not like I ever wanted to earn any money for helping out other nslu2 users..! I purely added the ads to play with the system.. (everybody talks about it :) - So I really don't care .. but I don't understand the hype.. maybe the ads are not big enough ;)
Basicly I just wish to thank you for your great support. If you feel like you wan't to share tricks or tips for unslung or debian, don't hesitate to share them on this blog.. !! :) I would love to post them with credits to the creator of course!
Best luck in the future,
Viktor K.
mandag den 15. december 2008
Help needed over at nslu2-linux.org
Now they need your help to keep things running smooth.
Hello all Optware users,So please consider a donation if you think this community rocks!
If you use Optware packages from nslu2-linux.org, please help us keepthem coming as we are running out of disk space.
Over the years, the nslu2-linux.org group has been developing Optware
packages for well over 20 NAS/router devices. As we enable more and
more Optware packages and feeds, the disk and bandwidth usage for
hosting, autobuilder, and testing server keeps climbing. Right now,
>80% of nslu2-linux.org access are for Optware feeds. And the disk on
autobuilder is approaching 90% capacity.
We ask your help with your generous donation to nslu2-linux.org
http://nslu2-linux.org/ We are targeting US$1000wiki/Main/ Donate.
total in this donation drive. This is to cover the immediate purchase
of 5 1.5 TB hard disks to be used in a RAID5 plus hotspare
configuration, and also for other expenses such as domain fees,
hosting costs. So far all nslu2-linux.org infrastructure has been paid
for by previous donations from the nslu2 and nas-central community.
Previous donation and spending can be seen at http://nslu2-
linux.org/wiki/Info/DonationLis t .
Thank you very much,
Brian Zhou (Optware feed manager)
On behalf of the nslu2-linux.org team
Best regards,
Viktor K.
tirsdag den 18. november 2008
Debian on NSLU2 - part 4
There are properly a lot of ways to approach this setup.. but I have success with this one configuration:
(be sure to complete part 3 before moving on)
#apt-get install mysql-server
#apt-get install phpmyadmin
This is very important: When the phpmyadmin installer ask you to preconfigure a specific web-server. You pick the lighthttp server of course :)
After install you make a quick reboot:
#shutdown -r now
And thats about it! It will do all the hard work for you and baddabing, you have a nice web server with PHP5 and MySQL with phpmyadmin.
(Remember to configure the password. Right now you can log into phpmyadmin by only typing "root" into the user field = not secure!!. On way to do that is by pressing on "Privileges" once you are logged in as root in phpmyadmin)
Afterwards try eg. to install kplaylist and torrentflux. Please let me know if you succeed ;)
Have fun!
lørdag den 15. november 2008
Debian on NSLU2 - part 3
- Easy file "surfing" in terminal mode + startup control
- Webserver with php 5
- Samba server with user and password login.
Debian release
First there is a new Debian release called Lenny. Download it from here. (Debian-installer rc1)
Its really simple to install! You just proceed like you normally would do(see part 1)-It does takes 4 hours though.. so watch some Kongfu Panda while waiting! ;)
Note that the needed modules have been picked for you, so don't worry about that, also when it ask if you want it to install a webserver, fileserver etc. dont pick any of them! We will do that manually later.
After you've completed your installation, its time to to play:
First app
I strongly recommend installing Midnight Commander (mc). Its like using the old NC commander in MS DOS! :) (see screenshot)
#apt-get update
#apt-get install mc
"Midnight Commander (MC) is a GNU "Swiss army knife" for the Linux console and other terminal environments. This gives newbie a menu driven console experience which is much easier to learn than standard Unix commands. " Source.
It just make it easier to surf through your files and keeping your overview intact!
Second app
Though its not as important as mc, its still very handy! The app is called rcconf and let you configure the app startup list. Very nice considering the limited resources on our little friend.
#apt-get install rcconf
To launch:
#rcconf
Webserver:
Getting a quick Webserver with php5 up and running is quite simple. Unfortunatly I couldn't fine any information on using my favorite webserver, Cherokee with php5 on debian :( .. but its prolly not that hard... maybe one of the devs, could post a little comment on how to do guide described below.. ? :) Anyways.. I went on using lighthttp:
Do the following:
#apt-get install lighttpd
#apt-get install php5
#apt-get install php5-cgi
After the install, you go to lighttpd.conf:
#nano /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Write "mod_fastcgi", just under server.modules, like this:
server.modules = (
"mod_fastcgi",
Before closing, add this to the end of the file:
fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => ((
"bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php5-cgi",
"socket" => "/tmp/php.socket",
)))
Almost done mate!
type: touch /var/www/info.php
type: nano /var/www/info.php
and enter this: phpinfo()
Save it and restart:
/etc/init.d/lighttpd restart
Now try to type in you slugs IP: http://slugip.com/info.php
Congratz! ;)
(Check out Part 4 if you want a MySQL server with PHP5 and phpmyadmin aswell.... oh yeah.. I bet you would ;)
Samba server
Now this is perhaps the most important section of this post! Because the reason why we bought the NSLU2 in the first place, was of course to easily share any files to the LAN, even though there was only one computer active.
After a fresh Debian install, its not quite ready to transfer files with windows.. thats why we need to play a little bit more:
First:
#apt-get install samba
#apt-get install smbclient
For this example, our goal is to have a Secure Read-Write File Server with 3 user acounts.
This is how your smb.conf file needs too look like:
[global]Now its time to add the users. Remember that Mary will be the owner off all the files in the public directory:
workgroup = typeinaworkgrouphere
netbios name = Typeinyourserversname
security = user
[homes]
Comment = Home Directories
Valid users = %S
Read only = No
Browseable = No
[public]
comment = Data
path = /export
Force user = maryo
force group = users
read only = No
useradd -c "Jack Baumbach" -m -g users -p m0r3pa1n jackb
useradd -c "Mary Orville" -m -g users -p secret maryo
useradd -c "Amed Sehkah" -m -g users -p secret ameds
Then we just need to initialize the Microsoft Windows password database with the new
users:
# smbpasswd -a jackb
New SMB password: m0r3pa1n
Retype new SMB password: m0r3pa1n
Added user jackb.
# smbpasswd -a maryo
New SMB password: secret
Reenter smb password: secret
Added user maryo.
# smbpasswd -a ameds
New SMB password: mysecret
Reenter smb password: mysecret
Added user ameds.
When you have done that, you need to add the export folder and give it the correct properties(doooh=)
#mkdir /export
#chown maryo.users /export
#chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o-rwx /export
Now I think its time for a little restart:
#/etc/init.d/samba restart
Check if samba runs properly:
#smbclient -L localhost -U%Great, try to login:
"Domain=[PRIVATE] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.2.4]
Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
public Disk Data
IPC$ IPC IPC Service (Samba 3.2.4)
Domain=[PRIVATE] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.2.4]
Server Comment
--------- -------
MASTERSLUGGY Samba 3.2.4
Workgroup Master
--------- -------
PRIVATE
#smbclient //mastersluggy/maryo -Umaryo%secretCongratz! you now have a fully functional Samba Server. SOURCE.
You can also login from windows :) Against any odds, you have probs!;) go check this guide out.
Just the last little notes:
Here are some very useful links you should read:
- Alot of great nslu2 guides, tips and tricks by Sebastiaan G:
- security with lighthttp
- Debian console start tutorial
- minimze swapping, memory usage etc
- Check the NSLU2 Debian blog list on the right site.
Thanks for reading and have fun with your powerful little toy ;)
fredag den 19. september 2008
Debian on NSLU2 - part 2
First power up your terminal and log ind via. ssh. Ready for your first Debian command? To get new software installed you use: apt-get install package-name. We need a program to control the hard-disk. Its called sg3-utils.
type in: apt-get install sg3-utils
After the installation lets try to stop the harddisk from spinning around! Type in:
/usr/bin/sg_start --stop /dev/sdaAnd wollá .. congratz! :) your first spindown. Hopefully I'll soon provide a script which trigger this command if there is no harddisk activity after x amount of time. If you happen to know Of such, please send an e-mail or write an comment, thanks! :) You could use cron.. but if you are using the server it will spindown the harddisk no matter what = annoying
next we will be looking at rTorrent and the gui
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/xampp.htm
tirsdag den 16. september 2008
Debian on NSLU2 - Part 1
"Unslung will settle into its role as a NAS+ distribution, and
future developments with Unslung will be focused on the "+" part, with an emphasis on making the add-ons simple and and easy."
So will "NAS+" be enough for me? My slug blood thirst immediately answered the question and I heard a long forgotten voice wispering: "Deebiiiaaan.. "
A little worried and quite frightened over my schizophrenia kind a symptoms I started google, for answers. To be honest the past Spindown issues was the main reason why NAS+ wasn't enough for me. So I hoped a full fledge Linux ARM Device would solve my poor harddrives dizziness.
So this multi-part article series will help you leave unslung in favor of Debian. And please don't fear the transition, its pretty simple as long as you stay focused!
"Why Debian? Unslung works fine!!"
Of course, if you're happy with how it works now, you shouldn't bother to change... I love Unslung! But I if you're ready to play more with your slug and gain pretty solid improvements over unslung, dont stop reading!
To name a few - Debian fixes:
- The torrent problem. It now works with rtorrent and torrentflux(web client)! Don't even think about buying this one instead.
- Spindown frustrations solved (sry harddrive industry, but you harddrive sales will not live up to your expectations this year ;)
- USB-Hub -> Add more storage.
- More packages (+17000)
Install Debian
"Oh jeez... damn.. I will never make it to the finish line" you might think, but please kick that thought far away! Debian is pretty much like installing Unslung(with more decisions to make though)! You can easily install debian even though you have unslung installed now!
When debian launches for the first time you will need new commands etc. but hey, why do you think this blog exits? To guide you through all that! :)
The initial install preparation is like dealing with Unslung. First tap your slug into upgrade mode, then you load up your upgrade utility (WinXP) and upgrade the slug with your debain.bin file. I used the latest beta file(Debian-armel-5.0beta2) (19/9/08) (please note the installation process is longer that the current stable release! Especially the package named "selinux-policy-default". You will notice a lot of swapping because of the low memory ressources(32mb). But don't panic! :)
Next you go over to the official Debian on NSLU2 install guide and start reading from "After you have flashed the debian-installer image, ..." theres no need to invent the wheel twice and the guide over there really follow you through the install process.. no hassle, I promise!
When you're finally done with the installation and your slug has restarted, your terminal will look like this:
So my goal is to give you all what Cherokee Web Server Install part 1, 2 and 3 gave you on the unslung system. But we dont stop here! When you are done you will have a proper SpinDown + a little torrent machine aswell! yum yum!
While I'm writing my next Debian article you can have fun learning basic Linux commands and reading about Debian:
Basic linux Commands
Nslu2-linux debian page
Have fun!
**Update**
New debian release, see the debian part 3.
tirsdag den 9. september 2008
Useful SLUG links
The trick however, is to find that particular guide that really satisfy your geeky needs.
Links
Of course there is NSLU2-linux.org which contain a bunch of goodies. But if you want an easy to read introduction "guide" and learn what the NSLU2 is capable of, I recommend this one.
Besides the original linksys firmware. There are different distributions to the slug that you can play with. Read about them right here.
If unslung was your decision. I recommend you try the guides on this blog starting from the beginning.
Spindown issue
Personally I did not accomplish getting the Unslung v.6.10 to spin down my disks. Using the v.5.5 however gave a positive result. If anyone did succeed, please let me know how! Cause no1 else seems to know how to get v6.10 spinning down those hardworking harddrives.
I will try to experiment with the other distros and let you know if I succeed right away! Of course useful guides will be produced if I succeed. Nslu2 For the win! :)
/so long!
Update:
see the new debian guides for a successful spindown rush! ;)
mandag den 25. august 2008
Stream music to your symbian phone - N95
Just a quick note: This blog hit 1000 hits yesterday! Thank you for you interest so far, I really appreciate it! I hope I can keep publishing new useful guides that you can use with your unslung device!
So whats next? If you have followed the cherokee webserver guides you may have installed the Kplaylist app which streams your music. Very useful indeed!
Next we will take it a steep further and look at how to stream music from your slug, through cherokee webserver, through kplaylist to your mobile telephone using some neat tricks.
UPDATE: (9/9-08)Though I did get some sound out of my phone, it was quite random when it wanted to start streaming..(and if it did, it took several minutes for it to start) the whole process was too bulky.. So I really don't recommend buying the nslu2 for that purpose... though my N95 streamed music from the www.di.fm site like it was borned to.. it wasn't happy for my kplaylist nslu2 setup.. unfortunately.. But don't let that scare you! prolly just me who didn't try hard enough! Try following this guides:
Windows Mobile: http://www.kplaylist.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2149
Symbian : http://www.kplaylist.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2165#p8797
Be sure to let me know if you have a different opinion (important: how you did it ;) - I'll try with another distro :)
please note that kplaylist with cherokee works brilliant streaming from winamp, windows media player or the flash player using a desktop pc.
Have fun !
tirsdag den 19. august 2008
Cherokee Web Server Install - Part three
Next we will be managing your openoffice torrent download with Torrential, a web gui interface to the enhanced-ctorrent client.
Finally we have Joomla! one of the greatest Content management systems imo! I've made a webpage called www.vestskovenbk.com based on it. (Beware, its danish thou' - and it runs on a webhotel, prolly not cherokee, those bast**ds ;p )
------------------------------------
Kplaylist
------------------------------------
#1 you simply download it from the website.
#2 unzip it to /opt/share/www/cherokee/kplaylist/
#3 configure the index.php file to match your mysql settings etc.
#4 go to http://slugip:8008/kplaylist
#5 and there you go!
------------------------------------
Torrential
------------------------------------
Torrential comes with a simply webgui that makes it easy for you to download torrents from the world wide web. Pretty handy indeed!
#1 Download the original package here
#2 Unzip and upload it to /opt/share/www/cherokee/torrent/
#3 Go to your terminal and type: ipkg install enhanced-ctorrent
#4 Go to your terminal and type: ipkg install joe
#5 Go create a torrent folder. eg. mkdir /torrents/
#6 Be sure its writable: chmod 777 /torrents/
#7 edit user & pass in the inc_config.php file:
joe /opt/share/www/cherokee/torrent/inc_config.php
And you are done! Almost, there is a patch which fixes som stat bugs, be sure to update! Read more about it here.
Btw, be careful, you might overload the slug if you download more than one torrent at a time though.
If you want more options in your torrentclient there is an alternative: T o r r e n t f lu x ! I have not been able to download a torrent file through torrentflux on the nlsu2 yet though.. it works great on my main server (runs linux).. but with the slug something goes wrong.. Please don't hesitate to write if you got it working.
------------------------------------
Joomla
------------------------------------
Joomla is an pretty advance piece of software! no doubt in that. The NSLU2 box can handle it but Joomla with its components and modules tend to be pretty heavy! So be gently !
There are some really good tutorials out there how to install Joomla though!
I can recommend the shop extension, virtuemart, which turns your slug into a money machine if you have something for sale ;)
You can download the latest Joomla version right here.
Thats it for now folks.. have fun with your new apps and be sure to post your success stories :)
fredag den 15. august 2008
Cherokee Web Server 0.8.0 released!
Along all the improvements and bugfixes, the new version comes with an updated documentation aswell. In my opinion a pivotal addon for the success of this webserver.. If you want to get wiser on how the cherokee webserver works, you should check it out asap!
MySQL authentication has also been touched in the documentation. There is all the information you need to get it running! let me know if you want a complete detailed guide how to get it running with screenshots from phpmyadmin etc.. :)
The next part three, of my cherokee article series will focus on the Kplaylist Media Browser.
torsdag den 14. august 2008
Cherokee Web Server Install - Part two
Therefore, this article begins easy and guide you through a fast and very simple plain text password protection setup/jump. That way you will also learn how to easily control the admin interface. In Part three we will focus on the MySQL Auth which is a bit more triggy(not much though but still up hill)
------------------------------------
Password creation
------------------------------------
First create the password plain text file by simply type in your terminal
#ipkg install joe (install a good and easy text program)
#joe /opt/share/www/cherokee/text.txt
Type:
Almighty:CherokeeGod
and press CTRL+KX for exiting and saving.
username is now : Almighty
Password is now: CherokeeGod
Very simpel -> but be sure to make a more secure password!
Also make a new folder called pass inside your webroot. eg: /opt/share/www/cherokee/pass/
------------------------------------
Make the webserver remember to ask who's knocking!
------------------------------------
In the terminal, type:
#cherokee-admin -b (this will open the cherokee admin webgui)
Go to your browser and type: http://slugip:9090/ to see your admin welcome screen.
Now to set the settings for the password press on virtual servers
Press Default
Press Default again, "List & Send"Press the security tab -> and match the screenshots text fields.
Press, send request followed by a gentle press on the apply button.
Go to your terminal and write: DO_Reboot. (As you prolly guessed, this will magically reboot the slug).
------------------------------------
Testing
------------------------------------
Once its back in action, try your browsers power and type: http://slugip:8008/
(Note: in Firefox it will look normal. But if you type in http://slugip:8008/ pass/ it will ask for a password!)
in IE it will ask for a pass after just pressing http://slugip:8008/
So that's it, you have now created a very simple password authentication system. Though its normally not recommended that you put the pass file inside your webroot, this time was just to check the basic stuff in the admin gui. So please don't use this as your final attempt in accomplishing a secure webserver.
Next we will do some more advanced MySQL Auth kongfu stuff, so be prepared!
For now, have fun password protecting your files and thank you for reading.
Cheers!
fredag den 8. august 2008
Cherokee Web Server Install - playing around
Just a quick notice about the Cherokee Guide!
I'm still working with the authentication system! I want to give you guys the best walk trough, so I'm taking my time and learning while doing so :)
Right now I'm in dialog with the Cherokee devs, they are about to finish the documentation to launch with the Cherokee 0.8 version - so please be patience! (this guide will also work with the 0.7.2 v though!)
Have a wonderful weekend!
lørdag den 2. august 2008
Cherokee Web Server Install - Part one
In this multi part article we will discuss a Cherokee Webserver setup which will be running the following apps in the end:
- PHP
- Python and Perl
- MySQL with phpmyadmin
- Secure SSL connection
- Secure login using MySQL authentication
- Kplaylist(Media), joomla(CMS) and torrential(webgui to enhanced-ctorrent)
To get it all working we need a feew apps. First off, turn on your terminal and start typing(top first, buttom last):
# ipkg update
# ipkg install openssl
# ipkg install perl
# ipkg install python
# ipkg install php-fcgi
# ipkg install coreutils procps
# ipkg install enhanced-ctorrent
- At this point I recommend to restart (type: #DO_Reboot)
# ipkg install cherokee
# ipkg install cherokee-admin
- At this point I recommend to restart (type: # DO_Reboot)
# ipkg install mysql
# ipkg install phpmyadmin
Restart your NSLU2.
#1 Basic Webserver:
type in your browser:
http://your-nslu2-ip:8008
If you see a red cherokee welcoming screen you have succeeded the install. Congratz!
#2 phpmyadmin setup
To get phpmyadmin up and running go to: /opt/share/www/ and move the newly installed phpmyadmin folder to the cherokee folder /opt/share/www/cherokee .
Go to: http://your-nslu2-ip:8008/phpmyadmin
Now to get the security in place go to privileges and set a password on every user. Now go to the config.inc.php file in the phpmyadmin folder and find this section:
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'http'; // Authentication method (config, http or cookie based)?
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root'; // MySQL user
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'your password'; // MySQL password (only needed
setting "http" in the authentication folder will ask for your password every time you need go to your phpmyadmin. Im not sure about how secure it is though.. Later in Part 2 we will be making some more advance security precautions.
mandag den 28. juli 2008
Still playin' around!
Currently I completed a Cherokee webserver install, with the newest php, mysql, perl og python so the slug runs Joomla(CMS system) and Kplaylist with pretty good loading times ! (hence the 266 mhz CPU =)
Thats just awesome and I will post a guide as soon as possible :)
søndag den 29. juni 2008
First day with NSLU2
For a complete beginner, only with Windows experience, getting the NSLU2 to run some stuff, is a difficult road.. at least thats my opinion...! I've never tried linux before in my life.. so I was a big question mark first time i ran PuTTy on my winxp box. So here I will post at least some of my experiences with the (new) linux box.
Though at this point I expect that your NSLU2 box is fully unslunged. The install readme file is inside the zip package. Be sure to read it carefully and follow every step.
Your PuTTy screen will look like this after a successful installation:
Special app number #1:
Openssh - for security measures openssh is much better than the original telnet. You can read alot about it on wiki and on the nslu2 site.
When you want to install a program on your slug, you simply type: ipkg install "app".
in this case: ipkg update -> ipkg install openssh. It will generate some numbers for a while and when its done you can try login via putty (port 22). If your slug is behind a firewall this should be enough. you can also use WinSCP to remotly access your files.
Special app number #2:
Enhanced-ctorrent - One of the reasons I bought this box was its low power consumption + its silence when turned on. No more downloading overnight with the main rig's noisy fans etc. anymore!
You simply type in: ipkg update -> ipkg install enhanced-ctorrent. wolla!
Now try typing in enhanced-ctorrent. You get a list that tells you every function and features that ctorrent has.
We need one more app to get it fully functional though.
Special app number #3:
Screen - with screen you can manage several windows and keep the apps running even though you shut down the PuTTY session. And then we need one more little app. "wget" with wget you can download files from the internet. But lets see it all in action.
- ipkg update
- ipkg install screen
- wget -O /public/legaltorrent.torrent http://beta.legaltorrents.com/torrents/33-the-meaty-mcmeat-show.torrent (downloads the file renaming it to legaltorrent)
- screen -dmS torrent enhanced-ctorrent /public/legaltorrent.torrent (creates a new window with the program.)
- screen -r (retrieve the newly started window)
http://www.unixgeeks.org/security/newbie/unix/cron-1.html
Though this is a little bit more advanced, I have to investigate the issue for a while before im able to write a nice guide! :) If any1 have experince in this area feel free to write a comment.