AppleTV 2 and XBMC

I recently upgraded to an AppleTV from my Western Digital Live HD device to serve my movies. Granted i had no intention of doing anything with iTunes. I only wanted the device because it is practically a turn-key solution to a newer streaming device. XBMC allows for better movie info and just a much better user interface than the Western Digital device. Dont get me wrong, the WD device kicks butt. Its just that its not pretty! :) (note: i have never had a problem with this device. It plays everything that I need it to.)

So for $99 at Best Buy (yeah i know. I had a gift card so its ok), I bought one and jailbroke it to get XBMC on it. Here are the steps:

1. Jailbreak it: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=99315

2. Put XBMC on it: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_on_Apple_TV_2

3. ????

4. Profit

I also used these two programs before even turning on the ATV2:

TheRenamer: http://www.therenamer.com
Media Companion: http://mediacompanion.codeplex.com/

TheRenamer is an EXCELLENT tool that will take all your movies, move them into their own folders, check them with IMDB.com and post a year at the end of that folder name and get them ready for a VERY quick scraping of all movie content.

Media Companion will import all those movies into its own database and then go out to IMDB.com and parse the movies page (that was correctly identified using TheRenamer) and bring down that movies info; actors names, plot, posters, fan art, etc.

After doing both of those, launch into XBMC and add a folder and make the scraper IMDB. It will then go through your local share for info that you have just downloaded with Media Companion.

Granted, this took me the better part of last week and the weekend only because my library wasnt ready for this drastic move but I can assure you that my work was not lost. This device is doing exactly what I want it to do.

Google Plus profile transfer

Sooo.... I was lucky enough to get an invite to Google+ from a buddy of mine and I am now in the process of moving everything over. Pictures turned out to be a toughy because I didnt have them saved on my desktop. Uploaded them one at a time over time.

I did, however, find this neat little Chrome Extension:

http://omgeureka.blogspot.com/2011/04/download-facebook-photo-albums.html

and it worked like a charm. Niiiice!!!

XBox 360 Modded Controller

Well, I cracked open an XBox 360 controller this weekend and installed a modchip for a neighbor. It was relatively easy. Nothing really to report. It was an 8 mode chip purchased off ebay for under 20 bux shipped. 6 wires. power, ground, led hookup (to see the blinks for what mode you are in), the mode button and the two triggers. A little soldering and it was firing on all cylinders. Rapidly.

Only thing was the placement of the chip and the mode button. i had to cut a little of the case in order for the controller board to fit back in (nothing was cut on outside of case, jut a little plastic on the inside) and then bend the masts of the mode button down but it seems to be working just fine. Took about 20 minutes.

SUA1500RM2U clicking

I bought a rack mountable APC unit for all my machines to plug into. Its been very nice. Saved me a bunch of times. I have a LOT of stuff plugged into it but it still has barely a load registering.

Since i have had my AC on, it has been doing a lot of clicking, going back and forth between On Battery and On Line. the past week, it was doing it so much that it drained the batteries and then subsequently shut off which then shut everything plugged into it off. Not good. So, after some troubleshooting with a buddy, we came to the conclusion that it wasnt getting enough juice off the circuit. We believe the amps were dropping and the devices i have plugged into it, even tho they were shoing a major load, they were at the threshold of amps that that thing can sustain.

We are going to run a dedicated circuit to it and ill post results.

demoting DC that is primary DNS

Yipes. Not good. long story short, change your DHCP scope options to include a new DNS server of different servers first. Make sure there are NO WINS entries if you dont use WINS. Let that cook for a few days so everyone gets the new settings. Go through your static IP machines and make sure they are changed too. Then demote and change your DNS server entries between servers.

If something messes up, you can make the machine name a domain admin and it will fix your problems. You can then take those machine names out after a few days of propagation. Just for your notes, any server software installation that is Microsoft based (exchange, crm, etc) or anything that uses authentication, will fail if you dont do the above mentioned.

cd-less OS install

I recently had the opportunity to play with Dells newest latitude 2100 series netbook, the 2110. It, of course like is predecessors, has no media drives. It does have USB ports, obviously. I found a decent web site:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/

that allowed me to install Windows 7 without the need for a USB-to-IDE or SATA device to attach a CD-Rom to the netbook. Im in the process of installing it now but it looks promising.

HSBSServicehost.exe found

Yeeeaaahhh, i found out what that service actually does, the host provider a and b. I tried to login to the launchpad on one of my clients and it wouldnt authenticate. I then tried to run the vail dashboard to check on my backup status and that wouldnt run either.

I went over to the server and started the two services i stopped a few weeks ago and when i came back to the client, the dashboard was up.

So pretty much it controls the access to the launchpad and dashboard BUT it DIDNT stop the nightly backups from occurring. Hrm.