Monday, February 2, 2009

iFolder on Ubuntu

IFolder on Linux

iFolder is a simple and secure storage solution that can increase your productivity by enabling you to back up, access and manage your personal files-from anywhere, at any time. Once you have installed iFolder, you simply save your files locally-as you have always done-and iFolder automatically updates the files on a network server and delivers them to the other machines you use. It was originally developed by Novell but they have since open-sourced the product.

You can find the source code as well as some binaries and installer online. I've taken the source code and compiled a server for Ubuntu as well as client for Windows and Ubuntu, Lava. I've been playing with using a Source Code version solution lately but I might stay with iFolder and a local version of git or subversion as iFolder makes my source code directories syncronized whereever I may be at - Windows at work, Linux at home, etc.

Also it is a great way to replace pcs at a workstation level. If a user is about to receive a new pc, just iFolder their data and swap out their pc and then install iFolder back on and it will sync their data back onto the pc. For sales or marketing people, iFolder helps their group colloborate on documents they are going to present to a prospect. Also it is a great way for a company to expose a workgroup to a folder of item which may not have a file server or a workgroup who may actually be in seperate offices or at different locations.

Since iFolder also works in an offline mode, it is better than Gdrive or SkyDrive where you basically place your files on their servers and need some form of internet access to edit or work on your files. Plus with other solutions, your access is limited by your current internet access so it can be slow if accessing database or other huge files. With iFolder you still have native full access to your files. Only bit changes within your files are syncronized so updates are fast and bandwidth friendly. Also other solutions can cause data corruption if you are working on a file and your internet connection goes down. With iFolder you are always working on your local files and it only syncs those changes to the datacenter and to any computer you setup your iFolder account onto or to anyone you have shared any of your iFolders with. With iFolder you can specify a user to have access to any of your iFolders so you can setup a shared folder for
accounting or marketing etc. You can have fine security like read only, etc.

iFolder on Windows

I really like the technology and since I have access to the source code, I am already writing in a pidgin addon so you can send iFolder links to people you chat with and invite them to work on one of your iFolders or tunnel a voip call with someone who has iFolder installed. It would also be cool to add a twitter function so if someone modifies a file inside your shared iFolder, you receive a twitter alert on your phone. Great for a salesman on the go.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

simplevms.com

I recently purchased simplevms.com and plan to start building a website with virtual machine solutions built with ubuntu and lavalinux stacks. As many of you know virtual appliance are great when you want to test out a server solution without building a physical server. I have been building servers for the last 9 years and recently I have really taken vm technology to a whole new level within my company. I want to start making some of the technology available online so...

Some of the stacks I plan on building:
Developer stack : eclipse, php, python, ruby, apache, mysql, tomcat, oh may :)
Jabber Stack: apache, jabber server, admin site, jabber client site.
VOIP stack: asterisk, flash admin website, apache
Fileserver: samba, website admin, hylafax server, pdf printer server folder
SCV: Subversion, CVS, git, git web interface, apache, Bazzar
iFolder: Folder syncronization, Web admin, Web client installs,
SSH gateway: SSH server with webmin for admin.

If you have an idea for a virtual appliance send me an email and I might build it and post it.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Online complete Linux Books

So I can across a cool site I wanted to share. www.scribd.com

It is a site where users can upload complete books, articles and self made documentation. they have everything online. Some of the books I was interested in were : ubuntu, server administration, eclipse programming, Adobe AIR, django, rails, etc.

I also found some gems like Linux magazines and sports, etc.

I came across a cool Ubuntu magazine called Full Circle. They have a bunch on the site.

Here is a link to issue 20.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10167944/Full-Circle-Magazine-Issue-20

They have great articles on how to build a webserver to designing your own livecd.

Well just passing it on.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Subversion Ubuntu and a Panda

I spent the last couple hours getting eclipse, python, panda3d onto my workstation communicating with a brand new server running ubuntu, apache, and subversion. Why?

It seemed like a great idea at the time. I have lots and lots of source code with various projects that I have and am continuing to write over the last 9 years and I am tired of hauling different external drives to and from work depending on the project I am working on.

I decided to start using subversion - I never really used any version control system but it is appealing to me to have a version control system in place to check code in and out to any machine I happen to work off of. But I really did not know what was involved in setting up Subversion. In all honesty however it would have been easier if the server was not a apache machine with virtual aliases etc. I also wanted to subversion repos to build themselves on an NAS sitting in the same area as the server which brought it's own level of issues with SAMBA and permissions. The process was so draining and long I really need to redo it and blog about it so others can benefit from it.

Well now I have a subversion box and I can check in code and put code into it from eclipse or any other subversion client.

Enough for tonight - I am off to sleep and dream about all the code I can make tomorrow. :)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

General Opensource post

Not really about Ubuntu but more about opensource. I'm blogging from my other pc right now :) the Vista one. I know, I know. But I am a developer and some of my clients cling to their Microsoft ways which means I still need a development pc with windows installed.

Anyways !!!! Being in a vista world is painful. I really mean it. Here I am paying over a hundred dollars for an OS which is slow on a quad core with 4 gbs of memory and a SATAII HD with 16MB cache raided as 0. I mean I really have to spend time when I install it to remove the Aero effects, add a bunch of registery tweaks for file system speed ups, increasing L Cache and hacking the tcpip stack to get more connections for my browsing. Needless to say besides the OS I try to make all the other software, opensource.

I include in my opensource arsena many projects and project spin-offs. A list can be found on the side of my blog. And I am constantly on the lookout for more. Well I found a cool site last week which I wanted to share.

Mulder's Homepage - I don't think it's Mulder the former FBI detective turned opensource but nonetheless - the man has built a bunch of cool apps with Delphi for Windows based on alot of opensource projects including Mplayer with Smplayer and lots of codes. :)

From his website
"This package contains the latest builds of MPlayer for the Windows platform as well as SMPlayer and MPUI. Thanks to the award-winning MPlayer engine, more than 192 Video- and 85 Audiocodecs are supported natively! For maximum performance the package includes optimized MPlayer binaries for various CPU types. Furthermore the Full-Package includes the Binary Codec Package to enable even more audio/video formats."

What I really like about his install is it checks your cpu and loads an optimized version of mplayer and during the install the installer actually recompresses the dlls and exes with upx and makes them lighter and faster.

The player works really great - no more Windows Media Player for me!!! and VLC although good sometimes cannot play wmv files right. This Mplayer build plays it all.

On his site he also has : AVidemux, MakeInstallPlayer, LameXP, SFXTool, and a version of mencoder with a gui. I actually loaded them all and they run fast and light.

Try them out - you'll find yourself using less of the windows bloat and more opensource.

http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/home/?page=home

and an embeded remote help desk tool


Also added a remote help desk tool which starts up vnc and send the users desktop streaming to a tech - the user can select a tech which has the vnc server portion loaded in their system tray. Basically the user logs into the portal - if they have an issue, they could go to Tools->Remote control and a separate window pops-up where they can select a tech. Once selected the tech recieves a popup and they can accept the connection. A new window comes up on the tech side and he can see the user's desktop. The user does not need to open any ports and it runs entirely in memory so no installing stuff like webex. :)

Embedded Ticket System


Added a Ticket System within the portal so the user can post errors or issues and information is stored in a mysql data and an email is sent to the tech assigned during that time.

The user can see via a list if their issue was posted by someone else within their organization.