Tag Archives: free software

The FREENAS Experiment

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In November of 2007, I built a file server using the FreeBSD based FreeNAS. I have blogged about it many times. However, I think my experiment is coming to an end.

Back in late 2007, I purchased a refurbished Dell Tower (GX260) which, from my experience at work, was a fairly quiet PC. I added a couple of 500 gig PATA drives to the existing 80 gig drive and configured the server. I upgraded the OS to new releases a couple of times, but mostly, I just left it alone and it worked. However, over the past week and a half, I’ve had problems with it. At first, I thought that my Windows 7 x64 box was crashing it when I tried to do large I/O operations such as backups. However, after much playing around, I’ve not been able to pin it down to that. Last night, I tried one last time to back up the box under Windows XP SP3 and I still had the CIFS/SMB service crash. So, while I have no idea what has caused the box to start behaving badly, it has become unusable.

My choices at this point are:

  1. Rebuild with the latest stable FreeNAS image.
  2. Go to another OS such as Windows Home Server (WHS).

As much as I love to use and support free open source software (FOSS), I’m really leaning toward WHS. It has the capabilities I need from FreeNAS and some advantages that FreeNAS will never have, such as acting as a gateway to allow me to remote into my home computers. It also has the support of an entire company, whereas FreeNAS is mainly two guys and they are taking FreeNAS in some new directions, that while promising, are just not going to get anywhere very quickly.

And this whole incident has gotten me scared of FreeNAS. You see, one problem with it is that the disks are of a format that is supported only by FreeBSD. There’s no support in Windows or Linux. So, the only way to read the drives is to have a bootable FreeBSD or FreeNAS system. To get around this severe risk, I added a 500 gig drive to my Windows desktop and began a nightly backup of the server to that drive. However, due to the nature of the bug, my backup software got confused and thought that I had deleted most of the files off my server, so it proceeded to delete them off the backup drive as well. And with the CIFS/SMB service unable to work for backing up, I had to resort to using an FTP client on the SSH service to get all the files back over to my backup drive. So, I’ve got my data, but now I’ve had a good scare, so I know I must do something different. (Also, I should mention that I did have one more copy of most of the data on the server stored on yet another hard drive on my desktop box, so I wouldn’t have lost everything anyway, but still scary enough.)

So, I’ll be rebuilding my network and backup infrastructure, and most likely, on WHS. At least I’m going to give that a try. I’ll write some new posts on that as I get it set up. Looks like it should work on my existing FreeNAS hardware, so I hope to get started right away.

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Differential Upgrade to WordPress 2.8.5

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If you need to upgrade a version 2.8.4 WordPress blog to version 2.8.5, and don’t want to upload all the files. I have created a zip file containing only the changed files. I was able to upgrade about 10 blogs in 2 minutes by FTPing the changed files only. There are no database changes, so this upgrade is easy. Click to Download.

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Free Tools for Developers

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Here are some free tools (mostly open source) that I use to help in my job as a software developer.

Winmerge – an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files.

PSPad — this is a nice code editor.  Notepad++ is great as well.

FileZilla — a great, free, open source FTP program. Supports SFTP as well.

GIMP — It’s not photoshop, but if you are working on graphics for use in an application, it’s more than adequate.

Microsoft FXCop — this application analyzes managed code assemblies (.NET Framework common language runtime) and reports information about the assemblies, such as possible design, localization, performance, and security improvements. You can configure which rules to have it report on. I turn many of them off. The latest version has a glitch that keeps telling me there is an update available even though I’m running the latest version.

Gadwin Printscreen — good program for grabbing parts of the screen for making documentation. Also, if your mouse cursor is visible, it will be captured as well. That can be handy. There is a pro version, but the free version does all that I need.  (Direct download link for free version.)

Syncback (free edition) — Good basic backup program. I used to use it to back up source code files to my web host through FTP. Now I use it to back up my (home) file server every day.

Fiddler 2 — Not sure if your headers are looking correct? This web debugging tool can help. Works in IE and FireFox and others as well.

Stylizer Basic — This CSS editor is unique and very cool. The free basic version is really crippled, but you get a trial period with full functionality. I’ll actually probably buy the full version.

OpenOffice.

Image via Wikipedia

OpenOffice.Org (for PDF documentation creation) — Since compiled help files (.CHM) seem to have fallen out of favor, I do my online help as PDF files these days. OpenOffice.Org Writer is great for this. In fact, you can even create PDFs with forms that can be filled out. No need to buy Adobe Acrobat.

Developer Xpress CodeRush Xpress — According to their web site: CodeRush Xpress is freely available to all Visual Studio 2008 developers and offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enable you and your team to simplify and shape complex code – making it easier to read and less costly to maintain.

SSMS Tools – an Add-In (Add-On) for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express.

What free tools have you found? Post comments below.


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Mousewheel Improvement

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Using dual monitor setups on my work and main home PCs, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the default operation of the mousewheel. I’m hovering over my browser window, I start scrolling, only to find that the email client is scrolling on the other monitor because it’s the active window. The free software KatMouse, fixes that. Continue reading →

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eyeOS and OpenGoo

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Previously, I have written about eyeOS which is an open source cloud computing platform. I’ve been using it for close to a year. It has some nice features, but it has been frustrating that is doesn’t have full support for my preferred web browser (Opera).

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Free Software

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Over the years, I’ve come to rely on several programs for my home computing needs. Many of these programs are free. Some are restricted to home, non-commercial use and I’ve noted that where applicable. Here are some of my favorites:

Web Browsers:
Opera – I’ve used Opera as my preferred web browser since the version 5 days. I still use it as my primary browser because it has features that others don’t such as the ability to zoom a web page. Download from Opera.

FireFox – For those that don’t want an ad supported program, this browser is the way to go. I miss the zoom ability of Opera but perhaps a plug-in will add this feature soon. FireFox is the open source successor of the old Netscape browser. For sites that don’t render well in Opera, I drop back to FireFox. You can’t go wrong with either browser and if I were leaving IE today, I’d probably go with FireFox. Download from Get FireFox.

Email:
Thunderbird – We’ve almost all either gotten viruses through OutLook or been spammed by people who have been infected by spambots. I’ve finally given up the relatively dangerous and unfeatureful OutLook and OutLook Express for Thunderbird. It’s from the same initiative as FireFox. Even though Opera has a built in email client, I prefer Thunderbird. Like Opera, it includes a spam filter. It also lets you block images. I’ve only used it for a couple of weeks, but it’s great so far. Download from Get Thunderbird.

Media Players:
WinAmp – I use the free version of WinAmp. It’s a product with a long history and it just gets better. Sometimes, I still have to drop back to Windows Media Player, but as WinAmp continues to improve, I am doing so less and less. I’ve been writing my own MP3 player, but new features in WinAmp may make my version entirely obsolete once I figure out how to use them. Download from WinAmp.

IfranView – This freeware allows you to display images and even edit them in addition to being a media player. I’ve only just started using this program, so I can’t say much other than give it a try. The word Ifran is the name of the developer. This is free for home, non-commerical use as well as educational use. Download from IfranView.

Audio Extraction:
AudioGrabber – As of version 1.83, this is now freeware after being shareware for a long time. If you’ve ever used AudioCatalyst, this the basically the same program, only better. I’ve heard of people having trouble doing digital extraction with AudioCatalyst, but AudioGrabber works great. I have over a hundred audio CDs I’ve purchased over the years. Many of them have only a few songs I like. Rather than mess around with my Sony 300 CD changer, it’s easier to just rip the songs I like to MP3 and play them on my computer. AudioGrabber uses FreeDB to get the song titles automatically. You may use any number of MP3 encoders with AudioGrabber. I prefer the Blade encoder myself as it’s faster than Lame in my experience, though Lame offers variable bit rate. Either will work fine. Download AudioGrabber. There are links on the site for the MP3 encoders.

Anti-virus:
Grisoft Free AVG – They have a free version for home use. The virus signatures are updated quite regularly and the product itself just moved to version 7. It can also scan any pop3 email, so it works with Thunderbird and Opera’s integrated email. While Norton and MacAfee try to outdo each other on finding new ways to screw customers, it’s nice to see a company offering a free alternative. It’s also easy to install and very lightweight compared to Norton and others. Download from Grisoft.

Zip File Manager:
Zip Central – While most people cheat and use WinZip without paying for it, Zip Central is a guilt-free alternative. It’s not been updated in a couple of years, but it still works. I like it almost as much as WinZip. It’s for download from http://zipcentral.iscool.net/.

Firewall:
ZoneAlarm – I have a hardware firewall now, but I used to use the free version of this product. A must have if you don’t have hardware firewalls on your cable/DSL attached home PC. Get it from Zone Labs.

Productivity Software:
OpenOffice.org 2.3 – Tired of MicroSoft’s bloatware Office products? Tired of endless upgrade fees? Switch to OpenOffice.org or OOo for short. Includes: Writer (replaces Word), Calc (replaces Excel), Impress (replaces PowerPoint), Draw (replaces Visio), and database tools. Reads and writes most MS Office file formats. I use it exclusively now despite the fact that I can use a copy of MS Office for free through my employer. Get it from OpenOffice.org.

Image Editing:
The Gimp is a Photoshop wannabe. It falls short but is getting better, albeit slowly. It is better than any other free image editing in my opinion. Version 2.4 is coming very soon now. Go to the official site to find a version for your operating system.

All of these programs mentioned above are Windows applications, though many also have versions for Mac and Linux.

Got other software I should add to the list? Just post a comment.

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