Twitter is all the rage at the moment – I use it to keep up to date with some of my friends and also organisations and companies that issues brief news via the medium.
Here at Using Windows Home Server we even tweet every time we post a new article – in fact, if you are already following me then you will have seen a tweet about this!
So, if you want to follow me, in order to get notified whenever we post a new article, just follow aedney.
For a cool £177 + VAT you can get hold of a very neat little box, complete with 500GB (Green Power) HDD, and 2GB RAM
Just install your favourite OS (including Windows Home Server), for a neat low cost server box. Not as cheap as a 500GB NAS, but able to deliver a whole load of solutions !
Optimised to save you real electrical power costs, reduce environmental damage and provide a better computer use experience. Included in price :
All you need then is to buy the Windows Home Server software 🙂
This offer is only valid until Sunday 19th July – so hurry!
To order, click here.
My wife and I are just about done with our garage update and I planned on doing a tie in to my final mControl article. I was about to start writing my article this Friday when my neighbor across the street asked me to take a look at his family computer. I am not going to get into detail but the hard drive was bad. Easy enough, right? Just replace the hard drive and Restore from the last backup. Uh, it is my neighbor. He does not have WHS. Crap. So much for my article.
I have been busting my ass trying to get the garage tile installed, new cabinets hung and my PC bench completed when my neighbor asked me if I could look at his computer. He has a four year old eMachines PC and the hard drive is bad. On Thursday he had BB look at it, it was toast, but could not afford their costs so he brought it home.
This is the perfect opportunity to try out my PC bench. After checking the hard drive I sent him back to BB to get a EIDE 500GB HD and I am now going to reload Windows and every flippin’ application and get him up and running. Get Windows Home Server Patrick. Seriously.
One PC with crapped out hard drive
Three Beers (Optional, but pretty much required in my case)
Replacement hard drive
Windows Installation Disk
Two hours to stick your thumb up your butt while it formats and loads
Installing from the Windows XP SP2 CD sucks, but you already knew that.
Every single preference, option, setting and bookmark needs to be rebuilt, but you already knew that.
I am going to let him deal with the SP3 updates and Framework downloads.
I did not get to write my article but my neighbor has a working PC again. It would be nice if I could just buy people WHS systems as gifts. It would save us all so much time. Oh, by the way, my sister just IM’ed and is telling me her Buffalo NAS just went into Emergency Mode (EM) so now I will have to deal with that! Get a WHS. Seriously.
If you do not have Windows Home Server backing up your systems each night, please do it soon. Seriously.
See you next Friday night.
Timothy Daleo
Last week we started another giveaway for a full licence for mControl for Windows Home Server. There were so many entries that I managed to get another licence to giveaway, so yes, there are actually 2 winners.
So without further ado…..
Mike Owings
Ross Armstrong
Congratulations guys!
Don’t worry if you didn’t win this time – as usual here at Using Windows Home Server, we will have more giveaways soon 🙂
Don’t forget to check out Tim’s excellent mControl articles:
https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2009/05/16/adding-mcontrol-to-windows-home-server-on-a-friday-night/
Netbooks are currently all the rage – and why not? They are small, cheap, have batteries ranging from fairly good to amazing and they do what they say on the tin!
People are buying Netbooks instead of, or as well as laptops because they want something small and ultra portable to carry around when they only want to do a limited set of tasks, such as check email or surf the Internet.
Asus have been in the Netbook market for a while now and they consistently produce cheap(ish), good quality Netbooks, and the Eee PC 1000HE is no exception.
SPECIFICATION
Weight wise it is not as light as some of the Netbooks I have seen, but it isn’t that heavy either.
For those of you who are interested in a little more detail on the hardware, see the report below:
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CONCLUSIONS
I quite like this Netbook, it has an amazing battery life and it quite light, however there is something about it that I just cant quite put my finger on that bugs me. I think its the keyboard to be honest, its a bit plasticy, in fact the whole Netbook feels a bit plasticy. Now don’t get me wrong, that is no reason not to seriously look at this machine if you are interested – the processor is good and the rest of the specification should keep people happy.
I suppose for me the thing that would make this Netbook better would be a lower price – but maybe I am just being picky!
The 1000HE can be purchased for around £330 in the UK from Amazon, and around $375 in the US from Amazon. Once again it is obvious that we in the UK are having to pay a significantly higher price than our American cousins!
If you are seriously in the market for a Netbook, take a look at the 1000HE, but you may also want to look at Asus’s new Seashell Netbook! Hopefully we will have a review of that shortly.
HP are offering a sweet 50% off deal on the HP MediaSmart LX195 Windows Home Servers.
Now through the end of July, customers can get the LX195 for 50 percent off ($199) when they buy any HP consumer notebook or desktop on http://www.hpdirect.com.
If you are in the market for a new desktop or notebook, this might be a really good bargain!
Well it has been a few weeks since we did a giveaway, so I figured it was about time for another one 🙂
Tim Daleo has written some fantastic articles on mControl for Windows Home Server, which you really should have a read of it you haven’t already.
https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2009/05/16/adding-mcontrol-to-windows-home-server-on-a-friday-night/
Anyway, on to the giveaway…..
Again, we have a full licence for mControl for Windows Home Server to giveaway from our friends at Embedded Automation.
To win this giveaway, just send an email to giveaways @ usingwhs.com (remembering to remove the spaces) and title your email New mControl Giveaway and tell us your top 3 add-ins. A winner will be picked at random and the closing date for the giveaway is Saturday 11th July 2009.
Good luck!
Dave over at the HomeServerShow.com has released the latest edition of his podcast, The Home Server Show, number 47.
This weeks show they mostly cover the ioSafe Solo video that was posted on July 1st as well as the new MVP’s, and some smartphone discussions.
You can get more information here, and download it from iTunes or your other favourite place.
Well it’s that time again when Microsoft award people as MVPs.
I would like to congratulate my friend David McCabe of the HomeServer Show, well done Dave, it’s about time 🙂
Also congratulations to two new MVPs from Japan – Masahiko Sada and Masashi Shimizu.
Also congratulations to Nigel “Cougar” Wilks and Alexander Kent (Sorry Alexander, I know I forgot to mention you) 🙂
Welcome to the family guys!
Today Tranquil PC launched their new computer, the T3N. According to their website:
“Our new range of fan less Intel Atom N270 powered PCs are based on our popular T3 chassis. These units are compact, cost effective and can be customised to your requirements. Finished in different colours, they can be mounted neatly on your desk or under your LCD monitor. The CPU powering the T3N series is the Intel Atom N270, this is an ideal processor for general daily internet and desktop tasks. It is not a games rig, but for general purpose web browsing, email, word processing etc it is ideal. The most interesting feature is the power consumption, even with a HDD spinning you will be using much less that 20W from this amazing, miserly PC.
All the products come with the Tranquil PC Ltd ‘Zero Carbon in use’ certification. All standard environmental requirements are adhered to i.e. RoHS.”
Prices start from £119 (excluding VAT) and more information can be found by clicking here.
Expect a review very soon – this could make a very interesting, and very very cheap Windows Home Server!
Unit dimensions
210 (d) x 65 (h) x 240 (w)
Unit construction
ABS outer shell, with SEC inner chassis
CPU
32 bit Intel Atom N270 (1 x 1.6GHz / 512KB L2 cache) with speed step – 533MHz FSB
Chipset
Intel 82945GSE Northbridge + ICH7M Southbridge
Graphics
Intel Extreme (GMA950)
Memory
1x DDR SO-DIMM 533/667MHz (up to 2GB) – 200 pin
HDD
1x 3.5″ (Green Power) or 1x 2.5″ SATA HDDs can be fitted
Expansion
1x Mini-PCI Express slot (for WiFi)
Internal expansion
1x SPDIF, 2+2 HD Audio, Front Mic/Headphone, 1x Parallel, 1x PS2, 2x RS232, 4x USB2.0 – LVDS
Colour options
Black, Sparkle Blue or Sparkle Pink
Front panel
Power switch and Power / HDD activity LEDs
Rear panel
12V DC power in / 3x USB2.0 / 10.100.1000 LAN (incl PXE Support) / Audio Out / VGA / DVI-D
Weight
Base unit (nett) 2.1Kg
Power supply
60W External AC/DC included with country specific power cord
Working temp
Maximum 40’C ambient
Mounting options
Desk
Power consumption
from 13W (base unit)
Acoustics
17dBA (incl 1x HDD) or 0dBA without HDD
Software
As selected
This week I am going to walk you through the installation of a sprinkler control module connected via mControl to my Windows Home Server. The irrigation module costs quite a bit more than a regular sprinkler timer but I am hoping that the convenience of internet access to my sprinklers will save time, water and frustration.
The mControl application with Windows Home Server allows you to control your home from Internet Explorer, the WHS Console or Windows Media Center. The system works by connecting your WHS to your electrical system and then transmitting signals through your home wiring to modules and switches that control lights and appliances. Through simple macros you can control and monitor lights, HVAC, irrigation, music and even your cameras and surveillance.
You can read my previous mControl articles at:
Installation of the mControl Add-In and WHS Setup
https://moviesgamesandtech.com/2009/05/16/adding-mcontrol-to-windows-home-server-on-a-friday-night/
Creating mControl Macros
Adding Modules
Adding mControl to Windows Media Center PCs
As a refresher, mControl is an Add-In that you install on your WHS that controls modules and other communications devices within your home. mControl is the software and not the control modules.
There are three components to a basic system:
These three parts are all that you need to begin. Before I started this project I thought it would be really complex but I was wrong!
The diagram below shows how you can connect to mControl via your PC, Internet Explorer, Mobile client, Extender or XBOX 360.
As I mentioned in previous articles, the Add-In and the device modules are from different companies. I downloaded mControl from their web site at http://www.embeddedautomation.com/EAHAmControl.htm
I live in Southern California and there is a place that sells modules close to my home called Smarthome. I bought my modem and two modules from http://www.smarthome.com/_/INSTEON/_/23b/land.aspx. mControl is compatible with INSTEON devices so to keep it simple I just bought those types of products. mControl can work with other devices but I will not talk about those in this series. The basic INSTEON modules are easy to use and run about $30. Some of these modules switch on and off and can even have dimmer options. Smarthome also sells outlets, wall switches, bridges, keypads, touch screens, sensors, remotes, thermostats, sprinkler controls and even infrared controllers. Make sure you choose INSTEON (or compatible) type devices.
mControl on your WHS
EZ Flora Irrigation Controller and AC Transformer
Two Beers (optional as always)
iTunes streaming your favorite radio station
My wife and I have recently been renovating our backyard and have had new sprinklers installed. While my existing sprinkler timer still works well, it is a pain to update for Daylight Savings, it is hard to access in the garage and it has limitations for times in different zones. In addition, every time I want to adjust the sprinkler heads I need to walk to the garage, turn it to manual and then walk back to the yard. I think you can see where I am going with this, yes?
I bought a Insteon-Compatible irrigation timer from Smarthome that controls 8 sprinkler valves. This module was flippin expensive ($124.99) but I had a $20 off coupon so it was $104.99.
http://www.smarthome.com/31270/INSTEON-8-Zone-Sprinkler-Controller-Lawn-Irrigation-System/p.aspx
Ok, it was expensive but even the good ones at Home Depot are $70.00. Did I mention you can control it from WHS? I have wireless. Do you see where this is headed? Seriously.
It is time to touch some hardware.
Lets set this pig on fire!
The installation of the module is actually quite easy. Since I already have a sprinkler timer near the power outlet all I have to do is disconnect the wiring from the old system and connect it into the new irrigation module.
Mental note: Having to connect a DC transformer to the EZ Flora controller sucks. The instructions say you can plug the transformer into the controller but it is so heavy it pulls out from the plug. At least add a secure point for the center screw of the wall plate. Is this the best your can do for $150? Seriously?
Another mental note: Neither the transformer nor the EZ Flora came with the wire to connect the transformer and the module. If you are not going to include it at least tell me that I have to purchase it separately. Is this the best your can do for $150? Had I not been writing the article I would have told you to shove the transformer up your ass. Seriously.
Now that I have connected the module to my home electrical wiring I can find the irrigation module in mControl and Windows Home Server.
Choose the Zone in which you want to add the device. Open Beer Number Two now.
Click on “Add Device”.
Give the Device a Name, choose the Adapter and Module, pick an image and enter the INSTEON address. Once you are done, click on “Save”.
Once you have saved the device you will see it in the Zone.
Click on “Back” and mControl will show the Zone View. Click on the arrow to view the Device.
This module controls 8 valves and can have 4 programs. Click on “Prog 1” to set the program times.
The default program times are “-1”. You will have to change any unused valve schedules to “0” before you “Apply”.
I am going to set my four zones at 15 minutes each. Click on “Apply” to finish.
Ok, now that everything is connected it is time to test the system. Do you really think I am going to do this from the office PC? Hell no. Lets take the laptop outside my friends. I have not dropped coin for a HD video camera yet so the following is a little grainy:
Now that the system has been tested all I have to do is create a macro to start Program 1 on the days our city allows sprinkler watering.
Follow the macro process from my prior article.
Once the macro is completed the view from Windows Media Center is easy to understand.
This module installation was easy once I got back from buying a stupid power cord from Home Depot. It would have been nice to know ahead of time that neither the transformer or the irrigation module was NOT going to include the wiring needed to complete the installation. I am done venting. Up yours. Ok, now I am really done.
Over the last few months I have added a bunch of modules and it has become second nature to me. I really enjoy working with mControl and it has shown itself to be a stable Add-In. I hope you get a chance to try mControl with Windows Home Server!
See you next Friday night.
Timothy Daleo
From now until July 7th, you can order Windows 7 Upgrades with a huge 50% discount, and in some cases even more than 50%!
Windows 7 will be released to the public on October 22 2009 so this is a great opportunity for you to order it now and save a lot of money.
To order the Windows 7 Upgrade, just click on the relevant link below (or on the relevant box above).
Microsoft have now started promoting Windows Home Server for both the Home Office and the Small Office.
Theme theme behind this is that Windows Home Server is not just for the home!
They have even commissioned a number of case studies and videos on the subject, one of which includes Kevin Royalty – who regular readers will recognise as a Small Business Server MVP and also the author of the WSUS Guide for WHS.
For more information, click here.
Even as a tech-savvy person, I never really got into Flickr. I’ve just never felt the need to post all my photos online. Still, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid these days—even if I wanted to—and it seemed like I’d get sucked in sooner or later. What better way than through looking at the PhotoSync add-in for Windows Home Server?
In theory, an add-in like this sounds fantastic. If you store your photos on a server, you could simply arrange them as you like, and let the server itself handle the uploading, tagging, arranging into sets, permissions, etc. Unfortunately, this crude implementation falls flat. Aside from the fact that features are pretty much non-existent, even the few things it can do don’t work well. Let’s take a closer look at my week with PhotoSync.
You can get PhotoSync for WHS here. As you can see, the download page is unassuming.
Not appearing in the screenshot is the “Release History.” Scrolling down reveals that this is the “initial release.” According to the We Got Served forum post containing the download, this is version 0.9.93, and the .zip file has Beta2 in the title, so it appears that this is only a half-finished version. Ordinarily, it might not be entirely fair to review a beta version of an add-in. But in this case, it appears from that forum post that this beta was released about two years ago (June 21, 2007, to be precise), so it seems pretty likely that this version is as final as we’re going to get. Besides, “beta” doesn’t mean quite the same thing it did ten years ago.
The .zip file is a reasonably sized 1.37 MB, and installation was as simple as WHS users have grown to expect. As usual, you must transfer the .msi file to the server’s “software\Add-Ins” folder and install the add-in itself from the console.
I had to disconnect and reconnect the console, not an unusual step when installing or uninstalling an add-in. When I reconnected, I was told that I’d have to authorize PhotoSync to work with my Flickr account.
I didn’t have a Flickr account, so I opened a browser window and used my musty, mothballed Yahoo! ID to create my Flickr account. Once that was done, authorizing the add-in was as simple as logging in.
Once that had been done, I was greeted by the PhotoSync configuration screen.
The screen shows roughly three main sections. The first contains information about synchronizations, the second is for configuring how the photos are uploaded, and the third governs where and when the add-in is to grab photos and upload them. They seem pretty straightforward, but it was weird to me that the default location of the Photo Sync Folder is “D:\shares\Photos.” We WHS users have been told time and time again—and for good reason—that we should always refer to files and folders using the server name. That is, “\\server\Photos.” It is disturbing that this add-in did not do that by default, or at least leave this section blank until the user fills it in.
In any case, the default sync folder was the first thing that had to be changed. The only photos I have so far customarily stored on my server is an archive of scanned family photos, all predating the age of digital photography. But that obviously wasn’t going to work for the purposes of this review. All the photos are in high-resolution .tiff format, and all together take up over 2.5 GB. Flickr, however, allows only 100 MB per month in uploads for its free account. Since I didn’t have two-plus years to get everything uploaded, and I didn’t want to spring for a premium account, I figured I’d upload a more frivolous set of photos—pets. My entire set was about 160 photos totaling about 45 MB, so I copied the whole thing in a newly created Pet Photos directory in \\server\Photos\Flickr. I then pointed PhotoSync in that direction and set permissions to friends and family only.
There’s no way to manually initiate a sync. So I waited.
Checking back a few hours later, PhotoSync still said “Not In Sync” for all the various sync status lines. That seemed wrong. So I checked Flickr. Clearly, something was not working quite right with the add-in, because some photos had indeed uploaded.
But not all of them. Out of 160 or so, only 48 uploaded. After waiting several days, there was no change. This was not the only problem I had, although I’ll spare you the sordid story of my attempts to add new photos in folders (and thus create new sets from the photos). Eventually, the add-in pretty much stopped working completely. For example, the status page, even after a week, continues to insist that the status is “Not In Sync.” At least it’s honest.
Stepping back for a moment, it seems pretty clear that this is an add-in that would be only minimally useful even if it flawlessly did what it purports to do. It was apparently written not to sync with Flickr, but to add photos to Flickr. Deleting or moving photos from the server was seemingly never supposed to have any effect on the Flickr account. The only organization and categorization tools enabled in the add-in was to use the folder name as the Flickr set name and set permissions—globally, not for particular sets. In other words, this version’s limited utility is pretty distant from the utopian ideal of being able to manage your Flickr account from your server.
But even the limited function that this add-in claims is wholly absent. When it does manage to upload photos, it doesn’t upload all of them. Enabling the Use Folder Name as Flickr Set Name function had no effect for me.
The question is, why? I assume that the developer, Ed Holloway, would not have released the add-in if he had noticed these problems. Perhaps something has changed in the Flickr API since release that makes the add-in malfunction? In any case, the cause of the problems are irrelevant for WHS users. The bottom line is that the add-in is simply broken. If it worked at all, I would call it a good way for very casual Flickr users to automatically add photos to a WHS and (undifferentiated) photostream at the same time. Truthfully, that would be perfect for me. But, broken as it is, I can’t even recommend it for that. Bottom line: don’t bother.
