Joey’s Blog

Just when you think the Mike Gundy parodies are dead, one more pops up. Since this is my church and my coach, I find it hilarious. Enjoy & Go Pokes!

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I had someone ask me at work the other day how I managed the tons of photos and media files we accumulate each month. I explained how we used a home server as a hub to connect backup drives and other devices. There are many reasons beyond my uses why someone would want/need a home server, so I thought I this would be a good article to write. 

I’m not going to go into a deep dive, but below are the high-level ideas on setting up your own home server.  Without writing a book, these steps should get you started.

Why would you need a home server?

• To centralize a printer/scanner
• To run scheduled backups
• Share common files between multiple PCs
• Free-up space on your laptop or desktop PC
• Create a media-server

We use our home server for several reasons:

Selecting Hardware:

This may seem counter-intuitive, but you do not need to use your best hardware as a server. You want to save your best hardware for the machines you use everyday as your workstations. Use what’s left-over for your server since you will possibly go days without even seeing this machine. For my server, I used my dad’s OLD Compaq desktop. I had to add a USB 2 card to support our external drives, but other than that, it’s straight from the factory.

Selecting the Server Operating System:

Don’t get hung up on the term “server.” You can use any operating system (even a desktop OS) that you are comfortable with which allows file and printer sharing.  You would think with my old hardware that I opted for a slimmed-down, GUI-less Linux distribution. However, I had an unused copy of Windows Server 2003 that I wanted to try. The install went very smoothly, but took about an hour. Believe it or not, the machine is very usable (this is probably due to the componentized nature of Windows Server).  I’m using Windows Server 2003, but you can use XP/Vista, Linux, whatever. There is also a new product from Microsoft called Microsoft Home Server. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but the idea is that it is loaded with tons of automated tasks for backups, file recovery, etc… For now, I’ll stick with my poor-man’s version.

Once you’ve got the server installed (see the next section on network settings), you will want to make sure it is fully patched. For Windows, Visit Microsoft Update and apply the latest patches/drivers before you begin using the server.

Networking:

In my “server closet” I have my server, a scanner, a printer, four external backup drives, a cable modem, and my wireless router. (Like I said, I am using the server to consolidate clutter to one out of sight area.)  You will need to make sure you have connectivity between the server and your client machines before you attempt any file sharing or transfers. For simple home installations connect the server to one of the Ethernet ports in your wireless router. During the server install process, the simplest option is to allow an IP address to be assigned to your server automatically through DHCP. In corporate environments, servers typically have a hard-coded IP address but you won’t need this since you will be accessing your server via its name most of the time. So, be sure to assign the server a simple name which you can remember. In my house, mine it is called “server.”

Once everything is connected, all the software is installed and pacthed, you need to test basic IP connectivity:

1. From the client machine, click on Start > Run
2. Type “CMD” in the run box and hit enter. You will be presented with a command prompt.
3. Type “PING YourServerNameHere” and hit Enter.

If your PC responds with a series of successful pings, then you have established proper connectivity. If you get a message like “Host not found” then there is a networking problem. IP troubleshooting is a topic to itself that I won’t go into here. However, make sure the server and the client have the same Subnet mask and Default Gateway by typing “IPCONFIG /ALL” in the command prompt of each machine.  Sometimes home routers get confused when new machines are added and IP addresses change. You may want to shut down all computers, unplug your router, wait a few minutes, then start the router, then all the machines connected to it.

Since you’ll now be sharing files across a wireless network, security is a must. Follow your router instructions and make sure you secure your network with a “Network Key.”

Sharing Printers:

I’ll post some screen shots later, but for now here are the basic steps:

1. Plug the printer into your server. In Windows, you’ll hear the “bing-bong” confirming a USB device has been detected.
2. If Windows (or your preferred OS) doesn’t have a built-in driver, then it will prompt you for one. Supply the driver. (You do not need to install all the junk that comes with printers. You simply need the driver.)
3. Print a test page from the Printer section of the control panel to confirm it is working.
4. In the printers section of Control Panel, right-click on the printer you just installed, and select “Sharing.”
5. Select “Share this Printer” and assign a name that makes sense. (For example, “HPLaserJetColor”)
6. Click “OK” and you’re done sharing.

You must install the driver on your client machines now:

1. From the client: Start > Run
2. In the command prompt type \\YourServerName  (you must include the backslashes)
3. A list of shared printers and folders will appear. Double-click on your new printer.
4. The driver will install automatically and you’re done!

Sharing a file folder is a similar exercise. Right-click on the folder you wish to share, assign a name, and assign appropriate read vs write permissions.

Other activities you can do with a server:

• Use a backup tool to schedule backups. I use SyncBack which will be documented in a later post.
• Install a scanner. All scanned documents can be saved to a shared folder on the server and accessible via your client machines.
• Off-load all those large photos, videos, and music files from your laptop. Your media can live in multiple places, and cool new products like Windows Live Photo Gallery can keep track for you. (See my list of free software for info on Windows Live Photo Gallery). When you want to access a photo from two years ago, you may not know which machine the photo is on, you simply click on the thumbnail and it appears from your network.
• You could even use a DVR on your server to record TV shows for playback on your laptop later. (You’ll need a TV tuner and DVR software for this. I use Windows Media Center as one of my DVR.)
• Run an internal web or mail server. Not sure, why most home users would do this, but you can easily do it. Most operating systems have built in web servers.

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Commercial software is available for every conceivable use, but many of these applications come with a price tag which is too high for most home users or hobbyists. With this high price, typically come bloated features which will never be used by the average user. So, not only are you wasting money, but you are potentially eating valuable resources on your PC. The good news is that there are typically free alternatives with feature-sets that focus on the most common tasks for everyday users. This list will focus on free alternatives — some of which I have used, some I have not. This list will be updated regularly.

Let’s start with a software category I know very well. As co-owner of Gentry Photography, I spend a lot of time using different photo editing packages. Photoshop is the commercial standard, but is loaded with obscure features that I don’t even use. There are several free alternatives to Photoshop for an average home user:

• Not my favorite, but one of the most popular is The Gimp. Originally available only on Unix/Linux, and eventually ported to Windows, this open source project started as a student project at Berkley. This is a very popular tool among the open source crowd. It has evolved over the years but takes some time to figure your way around. The interface is a different than what you may be used to. It is worth looking into.
• Paint.Net started as a student project at Washington State University. It is a Windows only program written on the .Net platform. Paint.Net is extensible (meaning anyone can write plug-ins) and is very easy to use for hobbyist. This program is updated frequently and I recommend it to anyone wanting to get started with photo editing. Here’s a quick article I wrote on the new beta.

Just for fun, I restarted the three browsers listed here and loaded my homepage. This page has a good dose of JavaScript & PHP. IE7 is using 58.2MB of memory, last night’s build of FF3 is occupying 58.6 MB, and Safari is the heaviest at nearly 61MB. I figured Safari would be the lightest.

• Backup Software
  • SyncBack is a free backup/synchronization tool. I use this utility to schedule backups of my wife’s photo work. This is very easy to use and can handle about any type of backup job you can conceive.
  • There is a new class of “cloud” type services that host your backups securely on the Internet. There are all kinds of new features and pricing models available. One such serivce is Microsoft’s SkyDrive. Currently, they are giving users 5GB of free online storage. One benefit of hosted services is the ability to access your files from any Internet accessible computer, including your mobile devices.
• Everyone seems to be looking for good DVD rippers. I’m sure you guys only use this software to make backups of your personal DVDs, right?
  • DVD DeCrypter is the defacto standard. Lots of options, but lots of people have published pages on how to use it.
  • DVDFab is also a nice tool to use when Decrypter won’t rip those dual layer discs. There is a free version and a premium. The premium has presets to rip to IPod, Zune, PSP, etc..

There’s a lot more coming including blog tools, audio/video editing, backup software, etc. If I left off your favorite tool let me know and I’ll add it.

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Since a dachshund and a border collie weren’t enough, we got a greyhound. Yes, a long-legged, skinny bellied 11-month old greyhound. I would like to say that we rescued this dog as a retired racer to give her a good life after being used at the tracks. However, we had ulterior motives in mind. We got this dog thinking she would chase the coyotes that have been showing up at our back door.  We didn’t even know we had coyotes until Romeo the Wiener Dog got attacked one night. (That’s funny… He survived his attack by some slobbery animal the same night I did in Norman.) Romeo’s attack made us nervous since we have two young kids who like to play outside and venture through the property.  We had heard and read in several places that greyhounds will chase and hunt coyotes.  I’m not sure why they do this, but it probably has something to do with greyhounds being a class of dog called a sight-hound. Sight-hounds see something flash by, they chase it. Well, that’s the idea anyway.  

We’ve only had this dog two weeks and I’m not sure Riley (that’s her name) is up to the coyote challenge. This may be the nicest, most attention starved dog ever.  As Jerry Seinfeld would say, she is a “close-talker” – she definitely gets in your personal space.  If you sit on the floor, she will trot up to you and put her head into your chest. If you go to the restroom, she’ll follow you.  In the short time we’ve had her, she has come out of her shell little-by-little. Hopefully in another few weeks her true personality will eventually appear and she will be a little more outgoing. However, I have a feeling that Riley may be just another family member and not the coyote chaser we had hoped. She’s even scared of the cat. 

She is a very good dog. She lets the boys pull and tug on her. She barks (sometimes) when it’s time “to go.” She sleeps in her crate all night without making a peep. She loves to run! Here is a video of her running “zoomies” the first day at our house. (BTW, we’re not white-trash, those dilapidated barns in the video were on our property when we bought it.)

We named her Riley after Andrea Riley the sophomore point guard for Oklahoma State University’s women’s basketball team. Both Rileys are a little undersized, but lightening quick.  Our Riley’s full name is Riley McRib (because we ate at McDonald’s on the night we picked her up), but we also considered Riley Coyote and Riley Cyrus.  If she was a male, we would have named her Bullet — you OSU fans know why.

Here are some photos of Riley

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Paint.Net is a free photo editing tool originally started as a class project at Washington State University (In fact, it is in my upcoming post “Huge List of Free Software”). IThe software is still maintained by one of the original authors even though he currently works for Microsoft (this is not a Microsoft product).  The tool gets incrementally better with each new release and is an easy to use tool for everyday people who simply want to do basic photo editing like adding color filters and creative effects. Paint.net is fast, stable, and has a small footprint. I use this tool selectively with my wife’s photo business, but it is not a Photoshop replacement for professional use. I highly recommend this tool to anyone wanting to play around with photo editors.  Version 3.30 beta 2 was released today.

Along with the normal bug fixes and enhancements, is a noticeable UI clean-up. If you’ve ever used Paint.Net in the past you undoubtedly noticed the large dialog boxes that sometimes extend beyond your screen. The author has done a good job cleaning up these boxes. Check out this example comparison below. In the top image, is the old UI. You can can see all the ugly “Reset” buttons eating up space.  In the bottom image, the buttons have been replaced and moved to gie the UI a much cleaner look. The are screen-shots running on XP. Paint.net has a much”fresher” look running on Vista.

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