Author Archives: Ben

About Ben

30 something IT geek and Sunday league goalkeeper from Hertfordshire.

Adding Personal Package Archives (PPA) to Ubuntu Server

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Personal Package Archives (PPA) are an easy to install and upgrade software on Ubuntu

Personal Package Archives (PPA) allow you to upload Ubuntu source packages to be built and published as an apt repository by Launchpad.

It saves you having to download and compile software if it isn’t available from the default Ubuntu repositories, it will also allow you (in some cases) to update existing software.

To easlity add a PPA to your list of repositories on Ubuntu Server, firstly you will need to install python-software-properties

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

You can now add PPA’s using the following command

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:name-of-repository

Setting up a simple Samba share with Ubuntu

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After the 1TB drive that was connected to my home server (running Windows XP) died, I decided to go for cheaper, more open source approach.

My requirements for a home server are pretty simple, I would like it to function as a seedbox, to be able to download from Usenet, stream my media using DLNA/UPnP and more importantly to be accessible from my Windows 7 desktop and laptop for file storage.

After looking at my various options, including FreeNAS and Amahi, I decided to go with Ubuntu Server.

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Streaming music via UPnP with foobar2000 and foo_upnp

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One of the many great features of foobar2000 is the ability for anyone to write plugins using the Software Development Kit (SDK).

My most frequently used and favourite plugin is foo_upnp, this will turn foobar2000 into a UPnP/DLNA renderer, server and control point.

You will need to install foo_upnp on the PC you wish to stream music from (server) and also any PC’s you wish to stream to (client).

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Organize your music with foobar2000 and foo_fileops

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Whilst browsing through the 674 albums stored on my PC, I decided it was time for a thorough tidy up!

In the past I have been using the excellent Mp3tag, however, after reading a few forum posts where people were mentioning and praising foobar2000 and it’s component “File Operations” (aka foo_fileops) I decided to looking into it myself.

I was amazed at how simple foo_fileops was to use and also by how powerful and configurable it was, it took no time at all for me to tidy up my entire music collection.

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