Month: July 2004

Another TiVo

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TiVo Series2Ok, yes, I am addicted … but I can stop any time I want … really!

Today I purchased my second TiVo. Now that the Home Media Option is no longer an option (i.e., it’s free and included with the TiVo service) and the subscription price for multi-TiVo homes has gone down (only $6.95/month for extra units past the first, which is still $12.95/month unless you have the lifetime service) I really wanted the benefit of two tuners to record shows to avoid conflicts (something that’s standard in the DirecTiVos and other DVRs offered by digital cable providers) and the ability for multi-room viewing.

I grabbed a 60 hour Series2 unit off of e-Bay (something else I am slightly addicted to) for a good price. For now I’m not going to upgrade it like I did to my 40hr device (which can now hold 133hrs), but I’m sure its time will come.

History of my Linux servers

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I’ve gone through quite a few Linux “servers” as I’ve acquired new computers and relegated the older ones to more menial (but still important!) tasks. Years ago, I had been running Linux on my old 486 with only 16mb of RAM and it did the job admirably by serving up MP3s and running a small web site. I also used it to tinker with and learn UNIX, shutting down unneeded services, experimenting with secure shell (SSH), etc. When I got a new desktop PC, I decided to finally retire the 486 from service and moved Linux to the replaced Pentium II/400 with 256mb of RAM. This allowed me to run a newer distribution of MandrivaLinux (formerly known as Mandrake). Even that Pentium II box was eventually retired and scrapped for parts.

Right now, my media/file server is my wife’s old Toshiba Satellite S157. It runs Samba 3.0.24 to share files with the other PCs on my home network, and Galleon to serve MP3s to my TiVo DVRs and save recorded shows in a central location. It also runs Apache 2.2.4 for a little personal web site. Since it’s a laptop, it runs a lot quieter (and cooler!) than the Pentium II tower, which is good since it resides in the guest bedroom closet near the wireless router and cable modem. My personal uptime record for this “server” is 155 days!