Turning an NAS drive into a media server
So, I bought myself a MyBook World 1TB network hard drive for Christmas. I was hoping that my Xbox 360 would “just see it” on the network, and I could stick all my videos and stuff on there via my laptop, or other computer.
I was wrong on both counts.
First, no matter what I did, I couldn’t get my Xbox 360 to see it.
Second, in the process of trying to hack around with it, I made this little NAS drive into a pretty versatile media server.
I found this great little wiki site that’s all about hacking the MyBook World. The key? Enabling SSH. Once you have that, you then have full root access to a lightweight linux server right there in the same box. Now, this isn’t exactly a powerhouse machine: it’s some sort of ARM processor with something like 64mb of memory. But it turns out, you can do a lot with that.
The first step was being able to download and install/build stuff. To do that, I at least needed a compiler. Fortunately, the site above has a very handy zip file containing all I need to copy over a C compiler. Next, I installed a package manager called optware, which is kinda like an apt-get sort of thing, except it’s meant to install stuff on embedded systems like NAS drives or routers.
From that point, no more compiling! I next installed ushare via optware, which is a media server. I had to play with the configuration a bit, but now my NAS drive (with a name of my choosing) shows up on Xbox 360! Woo!
But wait, there’s more. Oh yes, much more. I also installed Transmission, a bittorrent client with a web interface. I think you see where this is going. My laptop is now no longer involved in any part of this. I can stick torrent files into a “watch” directory, and Transmission picks them up automatically. Of course, I can do this from any computer via SSH, or via the normal network drive share. I even installed Lynx on the NAS, so I can even skip the middleman.
And one last neat trick: I installed Python and pytvshows to automatically poll RSS feeds for shows that I want to watch and download their torrent files in the watch folder, where they get picked up my Transmission. Now it’s completely hands-free! Unfortunately, pytvshows is a bit out of date, and ezrss.it doesn’t seem very reliable these days. So, after CodeMash, I decided to install Ruby, and write my own torrent grabbing script.
In short, I wouldn’t recommend getting this drive, unless you enjoy hacking around with it for endless hours. Fortunately for me, I’m a nerdy coder that’s used compilers, linux, etc, before, so I had some idea of what I was doing. For the average Joe, this is a mountain of a task.
That’s more like it, Mr. Wayne
Have you seen the trailer for The Dark Knight, the upcoming sequel to Batman Begins?
Here’s the original trailer.
Here’s the 1966 version.
Here’s the 1989 version.
Here’s the animated version.
Here’s the 1989 version side by side with with the actual trailer.
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Looks like a great movie.
Clone Wars
Here is the latest leaked trailer for the upcoming Clone Wars CGI movie.
The plot revolving around Jabba’s son seems a little bizarre, but the movie looks fun.
Weekend Update: Easter 2008
This is the Weekend Update for the weekend of March 21st through March 23rd (Easter weekend).
Missed the last Weekend Update? Check out the Weekend Update archives.
Happy Easter, everyone!
My wisdom teeth remain removed.
While I’m not immobile, I have spent a lot of this weekend applying ice to my face. I’ve spent a lot of time watching TV and playing video games, including the Lost: Via Domus game that Jonny lent me. I played the first “episode” of the game, and if every episode is this short, the game can’t be more than 8 hours long tops.
Ali has taken good care of me, keeping me on schedule for medications and feeding me well. I think she will make a fine mother. Speaking of which, you should check out our son’s website at MatthewKGroves.com for updates and the latest news and pictures. I’ve set up a Twitter feed and Flickr tag set so that I’m able to keep everyone updated just using my phone.
Has anyone seen these LaCie external network hard drives? I’m wondering if I can’t hook it up to my network, save DivX/XviD/etc files to it, and then watch them on my Xbox 360 via USB.
I watched Red Dawn, which Jonny recommended. It is a terrible, terrible movie with a ridiculous premise. Basically, imagine if John Hughes and John Wayne collaborated on a war movie. The premise is that the US is invaded (by communists) and a group of high-schoolers turn into guerilla freedom fighters. I can’t think of many movies where the U.S. is invaded on such a scale, and after watching this movie it’s easy to see why. I liked Free Enterprise better.
The Groves house switched to WOW Cable for our internet and TV this week in order to use a discount through OSU and the already lower WOW prices to save around 30% on our cable. The internet seems a little screwy, as we have to refresh 1 or more times it seems like every time to get a page to load. Probably something with the ARP cache or router or DNS or something, but I haven’t figured it out yet, but I think I’ve had this problem in the past so it’s just a matter of time. If you are interested in switching to WOW, let me know and I can get us both $25 for referring you.
In addition to the money we saved on cable, I also learned that my wisdom teeth bill can be stretched at 0% interest over 18 months instead of 12. Along with the cable, this frees up about $57 a month in our budget (give or take), which is very nice.
Well, I’m about to go on the Central Ohio easter tour, so I’m putting this Weekend Update up a little early. Eat a bunch of chocolates for me.
Weekend Update: Jan 25-27
This is the Weekend Update for the weekend of January 25th through January 27th.
Missed the last Weekend Update? Check out the Weekend Update archives.
Ali & I spent a lot of time this weekend “catching up” on movies. We watched Cloverfield, I Am Legend, and Juno. As I type this, Ali is watching 27 Dresses, a movie that I refuse to watch on the grounds that it might kill me.
Cloverfield was pretty good. I Am Legend didn’t seem to have a lot to offer beyond other zombie movies like 28 Days and what not, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Juno is a movie that is just sopping wet with clever dialog. This movie is about and indy and pretentious as anything else. The soundtrack can be very trying, but it probably won’t get on your nerves until the very last scene.
As for 27 Dresses, well, the less said about it the better.
I watched all these movies courtesy of the new DivX/XviD capability of the Xbox 360, which I couldn’t get to work before. The problem turned out to be completely my fault, but I think I shall also blame it party on the usuability faults of the Xbox 360 dashboard, which I have railed against in the past.
I read this incredibly awful case for a marketing class. It’s an HBS case, which are usually bearable, but this one was just tripe. It’s about this ridiculous Dutch consulting company that’s so bohemian, it makes Apple look like Philip Morris. (Chew on that metaphor for a while, and if you don’t enjoy it, please return the unused portion). Anyway, the main problem with it is that there’s about 1 page of interesting stuff in with about 5 pages of bunk. I don’t know, it’s probably fine, but it put me in a foul mood for whatever reason.
Okay, now I just watched Superbad, which is very much like Super Troopers (especially the two cops), except much more vile. It had some very good laughs.
Now I’m about to watch Spiderman 3. Nothing but movies and homework this weekend.
Movie Knock-Offs
So, you’re at the video store, browsing the new releases, and something catches your eye. You say, “Oh, hey, cool! The new Pirates of The Caribbean movie! But didn’t this just get released in theaters? Wow! There must’ve been a mistake at the distribution center! While those poor schmucks are waiting in long lines to see this summer’s blockbuster, I’ll watch it in the comfort of my own home!” But when you get home and watch it, it’s some B-movie knock-off starring Lance Henriksen.
Do they seriously expect some yahoo to mistakenly rent the title thinking it’s the current box-office hit? Who are the purveyors of such shady nonsense? The answer: The Asylum Home Entertainment. Here’s just a few of their knock-off gems:
Pirates of Treasure Island
While Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was breaking records last summer, Asylum snuck this beauty onto the shelves. Yes, Lance Henriksen is the star. Yes, he rocked in Aliens and Millennium. The movie’s IMDB “goofs” page tells the tail: “Numerous times during the film, people are shot at close range by pistols. In many cases, there is no muzzle flash nor is there smoke.”
Snakes on a Train
This one was very convincing. It didn’t seem implausible to think Hollywood executives would quickly flood the market with Snakes on a Plane spin-offs, capitalizing on the movie’s buzz.
King of The Lost World
And you thought Bruce Boxleitner was unemployable. When a property enters the public domain, anyone can use it. You could make your own Sleeping Beauty or Hunchback of Notre Dame. That’s why you always see those Disney knockoffs in the checkout lines of grocery stores. Watch Tron get carried up the Chrysler building or something equally derivative of King Kong.
The DaVinci Treasure
Lance Henriksen’s a busy man. This time he’s joined by C. Thomas Howell. You know, the guy from Soul Man. The one where the white guy tries to get a scholarship by disguising himself as a black guy. It won an Image Award. Anyhow, if his pedigree wasn’t clear, here he is in a DaVinci Code knock-off, playing the Tom Hanks character.
Transmorphers
Asylum was hoping to transform some Transformers fans into Transmorphers renters. See what I did there? Couldn’t they have at least gotten the Go-Bots license? Are they that cheap? Yes.
And finally…
Dead Men Walking
“Honey, how about this one?” “Oooo. Dead Men Walking. This is the one Susan Sarandon won an academy award for.” “What’s with the zombie on the cover?” “Oh, just shut up and rent it, ya damn nag.” The real film was, of course, Dead Man Walking, which I believe was also about zombies.
You’ll notice that they spend a disproportionate amount of their budget on the cover art. There’s an information asymmetry (MBA mental masturbation term) at work whenever someone rents a video. You don’t know what’s inside until you watch it. Unless it stars Lance Henriksen. Then you know it’s… awesome! He was ripped in two in Aliens! He spewed his milky android blood all over the place! God, that was a good flick…
Family Guy & The Graduate
As part of my ongoing effort to watch some arbitrary list of essential movies, I just finished watching The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman.
As I watched the ending sequence, something occurred to me.
The ending sequence of the famous “banned” Family Guy episode (“Wish Upon a Weinstein”), which, by the way, has now been officially shown more times than any other episode of anything ever on Adult Swim (that…is…irony!), is a parody of the ending sequence of The Graduate that I was completely oblivious to until just now.
At about 2:24 in the following clip, the whole sequence is practically identical to The Graduate: the car, running out of gas, yelling and banging on the glass, using the Star of David both as a weapon and a door securing device, right down to the very last scene on the bus.
Keep in mind I’ve been watching this episode over and over for years now and completely missed this!
This is why I love obscure reference comedy: there’s just so much comedy to discover and unearth, and finally “getting” the joke feels like I’ve achieved something.
Knight Rider movie
Is anyone else looking forward to the Knight Rider movie? Despite encouraging uncreative remakes of 80s TV properties, I’m still looking forward to it.
Here’s the poster for the movie, if you haven’t seen it yet:
See, kids? KITT doesn’t have a spoiler, so your 1993 Nissan Stanza doesn’t need one either.
Did you know that K.I.T.T. is an acronym for “Knight Industries Two-Thousand”? The two-thousand was always thrown in back then to make things seem more futurey. Worked on me, but I was just a dopey kid. I have more sophisticated tastes now, so I expect a suffix of at least 3000.
Also, I think this needs to be said, and I’m going to say it: KITT is a Cylon.
It’s pretty obvious, what with the red Cylon eyes LEDs. However, KITT could be a “good” Cylon, like Boomer, or something. I’m not the first to make this observation, of course; I’m just spreading the word!
Anyway, very few old TV shows have been converted into anything except crap on the big screen, with the possible exception of Mission Impossible or Charlie’s Angels (the first one anyway). I’m keeping my fingers crossed for cameos from the Hoff and Mr. Feeny. And KITT better sound British/gay!
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Movie
God help us all.
Jason, Jason, Jason. Have you no sense of decency? At long last, sir!
So I watched the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie…
I didn’t like it.
ATHF is a fifteen minute show, and if you go see the movie, you’ll see why it should always remain that way.
It wasn’t a “bad” movie in the “Phenomenon starring John Travolta” sense, but “bad” in a “my favorite comedian had a bad show” sense.
That being said, I really enjoyed the “new” theme song:
There were some really funny parts, and some great fan service…but it all could have been accomplished in a 30-minute special or something.
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