Arch Linux Home Server Challenge…Accepted

Chad

On a recent episode of Linux Action Show, Chris talked about his new home server setup based on Arch Linux. As a long time Arch Linux user myself, the thought of a server based on Arch is a bit concerning, but the points Chris made about going with Arch are valid. Being that if you keep the Arch install simple and focused, chances of breakage are greatly reduced, and you get the benefit of a rolling release with modern and constantly updated  packages. But there is still that Arch risk of a broken system when a package fails or the developers decide to make a major system change and you update the system without keeping track of Arch news. Yes, that’s happened to me plenty of times with my desktop install.

I’ve decided to give this a try myself following Chris’s model, using virtualized installs of Arch that are focused on specific tasks. I will also use Proxmox as the host and Arch Linux as the guests. I’m not familiar at all with Proxmox, and currently don’t have any powerful computers for an apples to apples comparison. I also won’t be going with a separate FreeNAS storage solution for all the data. However, I do think this will still be a great learning experiment and kind of fun. If I’m really happy with the results, maybe I will invest in some better hardware.

Also, I will do my best to to document my setup and install notes on my wiki here: http://cdavis.us/wiki/index.php?title=Arch_Linux_Home_Server_Challenge

Am I going back to an iPhone??

Chad

More than likely I am.

I was an iPhone user for years, and switched to a Nexus 5 back in March (when I became a Ting customer). I really like the Nexus 5 and plenty of others things about Android, HOWEVER, I think I am going back to iPhone. This decision has been made easier now that I can go iPhone 5 on ting (wasn’t available when I became a customer).

My phone, more than anything is a tool for my job. And frankly, apps that I rely on for my business simply do not exist in the Android world, and ones that do, act and perform different on Android (in a bad way).

The Nexus 5 is a great phone and I love, love, love the screen size. But for usability (for me and my needs), I think I have to stick with iPhone.

I’ll continue to monitor the state of Android through my Nexus 7, which works perfectly for its use.

My Android conversion gripes

Chad

funny cartoon androidI’ve been officially running Android for a couple of months now, and while the transition has been mostly pain free, I still have 3 issues that leave me kind of missing my iPhone.

  1. There is no Android Twitter client that compares to Tweetbot. I’ve tried the official Twitter app, Tweetcaster, Plume, and Carbon so far. And because they are all lacking in some way, I find myself rarely using Twitter anymore, unless I’m on my iPad. I’ve heard some good things about Tweetings, but I’d have to shell out $3 just to try it, and I’m not willing to do that just yet. So still looking for a decent Twitter app.
  2. Music. I still to this very day don’t have any idea how to easily listen to my music on Android. Yup, I am coming from the iTunes/iPhone world, where all this worked very, very good. I guess Android doesn’t even have a built in music app, so you have to install one. But there’s tons of choices, and none them look amazing. And what’s the best way to get my music files on my phone?? It’s just too much of a pain in the ass. So for now, I’m relying on my Pandora subscription for music, but that doesn’t allow to to listen to specific songs. I’ll post back when I find out a solution. Or feel free to share what works for you.
  3. The last issue, which isn’t too big, but is annoying, is not having Airplay anymore. While I don’t have any way to listen to my music yet, I do listen to a lot of podcasts and I’ve settled on Pocket Casts and my podcast app of choice. While it’s not as good as Downcast was on the iPhone, it works pretty well. But I like to listen to podcasts while I work and I used to Airplay them to the receiver I have in my office. I miss that. For now, I’m just using a cheap bluetooth speaker, but I look forward to the day I can send the audio of my phone back through my sweet sound system.

So those are my 3 major gripes. Aside from that, I really love the phone, and I love my provider, Ting. If Apple ever releases a larger screen phone, and that phone becomes available on Ting, there is a strong chance I would go back (at least as my feelings about Android stand right now).

Growing my own pineapple

Chad

20140509-093631.jpg

So I discovered this idea on Pinterest. I twisted the top off of a pineapple and set it in a shallow dish of water. After a couple of weeks, I’m going to transfer it to a pot and see what happens. If it doesn’t die on me, supposedly I could have my very own pineapple in two years. Yeah, I know, that’ same long ass time, but I’m super curious if it will work. I’ll post updates periodically.

Amazon releases the Fire TV set top box

Chad

This morning Amazon announced the Fire TV set-top box and I’ve already ordered one. At $99 it’s not a huge investment, and I’m very curious if something is capable of taking over the Apple TV in my household, which I use daily and like a great deal. My biggest complaint against the Apple TV is that it doesn’t support Amazon Prime content. Well, the Fire TV supports Amazon Prime content obviously, as well as pretty much everything else I use the Apple TV for. The big question will be what it does for local content. Right now the Apple TV connects to iTunes that I have running on a computer and where I keep all my ripped DVD’s and digitally purchased content. As well as a few video podcasts I watch. It does look like the Fire TV will work with Plex, so I may have to investigate that option. That’s all I got on it for now. Should be here in a couple of days and I will report again as I mess around with it.

My Nexus 5 is on the way

Chad

I received the email last night from Google that my Nexus 5 has shipped. Oh my, I guess I’m really doing this now. I’ll be honest though, since Ting announced that the iPhone 5 can now be activated on their network, I had serious thoughts to cancel my Google order and instead order me a compatible Sprint iPhone. But I didn’t, and soon I will be rocking a 32GB red Nexus 5. I already have the sim card and a case for the Nexus anyways, so I’m going to give this Android phone thing an honest go. But what’s awesome is if I don’t care for it, it’s nice to know I can stay with Ting, and go back to the iPhone 5.

Good News! Ting will be supporting iPhone 5 soon.

Chad

I have two driving reasons for moving to an Android based phone, but the absolute main reason was that I am sick of paying $100+ a month for something I really to don’t use that much. That’s what attracted me to ting.com‘s pay for what you use model. Based on my past three months usage on Verizon, my bill at Ting will be about $40/month. That is significant savings! So I wanted to switch to Ting sooner than later. However at the time I ordered my Nexus 5, the only iPhones that could be activated with Ting were 4’s and 4S’s. There was no way I would go backwards. I would be content, for now, to keep an iPhone 5 and having the better rates of Ting.

Well, as my luck would have it, Ting has announced that compatible iPhone 5’s will be able to activate on their service starting March 11th 2014. Even though I shelled out the cash for the Nexus 5, I’m still happy about this news. It means if I hate the Android experience, I can get me a compatible iPhone 5 and go back to what I know and like AND get the cost savings of Ting service.