Free mediacenter: Arch Linux and XBMC

Have a PC standing around gathering dust? If it's not much older than 3 years, you'll be surprised at how easily you can turn it into the centerpiece of your digital entertainment world 100% free of charge. This series tells you everything you need to know: hardware concerns, getting and installing the right software and finally: how to get your audio from all those plastic discs into your new mediacenter.

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Silicon Graphics workstations

Silicon Graphics Tezro workstation — © Silicon Graphics Inc.

Over the past year I've spent quite some time tinkering with old Silicon Graphics workstations. These MIPS-based UNIX machines have a certain historic appeal for those who are interested in such things. And of course it's always fun to play with gear that used to cost a small fortune to own. Be advised that -should you wish to acquire one- none of these machines are PC's.

A first look at Arch Linux: Arch Linux has been in use on my main laptop for 24 hours now. This article offers a first look at the distribution from an experienced UNIX user's perspective. It seems Arch Linux combines the best of many worlds. It offers the elegance of configuration I've come to love from FreeBSD while retaining Linux's superior hardware support. Arch is also almost as flexible as the source-based Gentoo Linux but without all the tedious compiling of huge wads of source code.
Be your own Certificate Authority with OpenSSL: OpenSSL is a completely free tool which allows you to employ industrial strength cryptography, on par with or even surpassing what major banks use, from the comfort of your own home. You can use it to create your own super-confidential Virtual Private Network (VPN) between your own PC and those of your friends across the public internet to exchange files confidentially. OpenSSL can also help your WLAN become the toughest one to crack in the entire neighborhood. However, it all starts with a certificate authority. This article shows you how to build a simple one.
Evade firewalls with Firefox and SSH: If you ever found your web surfing mojo cramped by a (corporate) firewall operated by a half-brained admin with a morality complex, this article is for you. Firefox and SSH allow you to bypass just about any proxy or firewall currently in the market to get to the outside world. As an added bonus you'll get to do it completely encrypted so nobody will be able to see where you're surfing.
Live streaming over HTTP with Ubuntu and FFmpeg: As part of a new hobby project involving real live mice, a couple of webcams and a laptop, I got to spend some time setting up a more or less robust live streaming service. At this point in time the whole setup is offline due to dust accumulating inside the laptop as well as the mice gnawing through too many USB cables. The setup should work in more forgiving environments, though.
FreeBSD 9 changes IPv6 settings: The way to set up IPv6 on FreeBSD changed quite a bit when FreeBSD version 9 came out. This article describes how to get it working properly.
Ironclad Time Machine backups on FreeBSD: Of course you could buy Apple's elegant Time Capsule product for your backup needs. But what if you already have a perfectly functional FreeBSD box in your network with a lot of storage to spare?

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Free mediacenter: Arch Linux and XBMC

Silicon Graphics workstations

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