Installing Mythtv 0.27 on Fedora 20 with Mate desktop

Warning! This is a publish of a draft post I found from September 2014 (11 years ago!).. its waaay out of date, but I’ve lately been contemplating trying to get Mythbackend up and running, so tidied it up and will hit publish. If I can’t publish it in the past, it’ll show up in 2026..…

FreeNAS 9.2.1.5 with Xen PVHVM support

So after a couple of comments from readers (what? you mean I’m not just screaming into the void?), I decided to investigate building the latest version of FreeNAS with Xen support. Since my original post about building FreeNAS 9.2 for Xen, the FreeNAS developers released 9.2.1 which added some cool stuff like Samba 4, newer…

Fedora virtualization setup as Xen dom0

In my previous blog post about choosing the right dom0, I came to the conclusion that in the face of an upcoming RHEL7 which is based on Fedora 19/20, it made sense to set up my dom0 for using Fedora 20. Given the similarity between Fedora 20 and RHEL7, it should be the same process…

Make the Vantec EZ Swap F4 quiet with a new fan

Ok, I posted a review the other day of a Vantec EZ Swap F4  (model MRK-425ST-BK) in which I noted that the thing screams like a banshee.  Well ok, so maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic, but I don’t like noise, and prefer my technology to be unobtrusive, and the fan in the EZ swap…

freeNAS 9.2 ISO with Xen PVHVM support

Update 2/10/2014:  A new build updating the files to FreeNAS 9.2.1.8 which includes a bunch of samba updates, and importantly, the fixes for the bash shellshock vulnerability. Update 17/5/2014:  I’ve replaced the links on this page to a newer version, FreeNAS 9.2.1.5, and added the Upgrade file.  Note for the upgrade through the FreeNAS UI,…

Encrypted backup to the cloud

My current off-site backup is a couple of hard drives in external (usb2) enclosures, which are rotated to a family member’s house.  I’m now pondering adding a cloud-based backup to my environment. The problem with cloud backups is security – I want to encrypt the data locally, and then be able to rsync it to…

Cheap FLAC capable car stereo

So Kenwood have released some cheap, apparently decent FLAC capable digital media head units (i.e. car stereos).  Digital media means there’s no CD transport – they play back via USB or Aux-in only, and include iPod control. The European version is the KMM-257, and in North America its called the KMM100. The difference is basically…

Review – Vantec EZ Swap F4 drive cage

I specifically chose the case for my new home server for its internal bays (7x 3.5″) and its external dimensions, as it has to fit on the same closet shelf as my old Microserver N36L.  I ended up choosing the Lian-Li PC-V354b Case which is working out great for me. More on that in another…

FreeNAS LSI Host Bus Adapter setup

This post is short and to the point – annoyingly, the LSI drivers for FreeBSD seem to have issues using MSIX interrupts, which causes the adapter to either not work at all, or to stop working.  The fix is simple, once you know how to do it 🙂 Lets start by assuming you’ve got your…