Category: How To


Proxmox VE 1.8 and KVM: Adding sound to your virtual machines!

Filed Under: How To, Linux, OS, Proxmox VE, virtualization, Windows by Jason L Froebe — Leave a comment
April 7, 2011

This assumes that your host machine has a sound card! :)

Add the args line in your /etc/qemu-server/<vm id>.conf file should give you sound:

args: -soundhw

On my Proxmox VE 1.8, I have several virtual audio devices available.   I’ve had the best luck with ac97 with Windows XP/Vista and Win7.

red:/etc/qemu-server# kvm -soundhw ‘?’
Valid sound card names (comma separated):
pcspk       PC speaker
sb16        Creative Sound Blaster 16
ac97        Intel 82801AA AC97 Audio
es1370      ENSONIQ AudioPCI ES1370
hda         Intel HD Audio

-soundhw all will enable all of the above

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How to install PostgreSQL 9 on Ubuntu Linux 10.04/10.10

Filed Under: Databases, How To, Linux, OS, PostgreSQL by Jason L Froebe — 1 Comment
December 18, 2010

Very easy, just add a repository and run apt-get install postresql-9.0 :)

Dctr Watson explains how:

Installing PostgreSQL 9.0 on Ubuntu 10.04

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Western Digital’s Firmware 1.04.10 blocks PlayOn Media Server (workaround)

Filed Under: Gadgets, How To by Jason L Froebe — 4 Comments
November 28, 2010

Western Digital released firmware upgrade 1.04.10 yesterday (November 27th) for the Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player and Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player.  This caused the media players (little boxes that hook up to the tv) to no longer see some network media servers such as Playon from MediaMall Technologies.

There is currently no fix but we do have a workaround:  downgrade the firmware to 1.03.49.  Don’t worry it is very easy.

  1. Download the firmware from Western Digital
  2. Unzip the file to a USB thumb drive (make sure you put it in the top directory)
  3. Insert the thumb drive into the WD box
  4. Press the Home button (blue button)
  5. Upgrade the firmware (note that the version number displayed for the old firmware will show up as a larger number – this is necessary for it to downgrade the firmware)
  6. That’s it
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Print three 4×6 postcards on one 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper??

Filed Under: Crafts, How To by Jason L Froebe — 1 Comment
September 20, 2010

Does anyone know how to print three 4×6 inch postcards on a single 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper like so?

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OpenVPN really really slow? This performance tip might help

Filed Under: How To by Jason L Froebe — 1 Comment
September 14, 2010

I use the virtual private network software, known as OpenVPN, to connect from my laptops to my home every day.  There are several things I’ve noticed:

  • Most offices and many coffee shops will block the default port 1194 (UDP).  It is also a very popular port for naughty people trying to see what you have on your network.  If you’re not running a web server, set it to port 80 or 443 (TCP) as these ports are normally accessible.  If these don’t work, try other ones like 21 (TCP) which is normally used for a FTP server.  You will likely see better throughput on some ports than on others due to ‘traffic shaping’, aka giving network priority to certain applications.
    • Comcast blocks ports 21,80,443 for UDP and but not for TCP
  • The network packets that are sent through the vpn tunnel can become fragmented, split into two or more packets to make them fit into the vpn network packet.  Let’s increase the size of the vpn network packet to reduce the network packet fragmentation
    • tun-mtu 1500
    • mssfix 1400
  • Compression.  This is a little more subjective than you would think.  If most of your activity is based on data streams (e.g. watching video, listening to music), then the compression may cause delays (think extra buffering / stuttering).   My advice is to try with it on and try with it off..  which seems to be more responsive to you?
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