First make sure to create a new share on your Drobo from the Drobo Dashboard. The subversion install requires that the share name begins with “svn” or “subversion“, I named mine svnrepos. Save the share and make sure its there before you install the subversion DroboApp else you will have to remove the app and reinstall it.

Next you need to download subversion for the Drobo from the following URL: http://drobo.jhah.net/apps/subversion/start

Copy the subversion app to the DroboApps folder on your DroboFS.
Install the app by either restarting the Drobo or connecting in via SSH and issuing the following command

/usr/bin/DroboApps.sh install

Now that its installed change to the following directory

/mnt/DroboFS/Shares/DroboApps/subversion/bin

Create a new subversion repository with the following command, swapping out REPONAME for the new repo you are creating.

./svnadmin create /mnt/DroboFS/Shares/svnrepos/REPONAME

Now you need to setup the access levels for the repo that you just created. My DroboFS and repos are behind my firewall and only accessible from the LAN, so I used the simple setup that is shown below. I am sure there are many other ways to get this setup but for me this worked. Change into the following directory

/mnt/DroboFS/Shares/svnrepos/REPONAME/conf

Now you need to edit the the svnserve.conf file. Simply uncomment the following lines and save the file

anon-access = read
auth-access = write
password-db = passwd

Now you have to edit the passwd file which will hold the allowed users to this repo and their password. The format is really simple as shown below, save the file when done

shelby=PASSWORD

Now to create the initial directories and the first import before connecting to the repo with your subversion client. I created a generic project folder with the basic, trunk, tags, and branches folder. You will only have to create the structure the first time through every other project you can just run the initial import

mkdir -p projects/{trunk,tags,branches}
./bin/svn import project file:///mnt/DroboFS/Shares/svnrepos/REPONAME -m "Inital Import"

And thats all you have to do to get subversion installed, configured and ready to connect on your DroboFS. Now you can fire up your subversion client of choice (I use Versions.app on my Macbook) and setup the connection with the username and password and connect to the IP address of your DroboFS.

UPDATE: This was originally a local story in Lansing, but has since been picked up by CBS and will be airing nationally on Feb 17th, 2012 @ 6:30pm.

1. Stop MySQL

   sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

2. Start MySQL with the following command

   sudo mysqld --skip-grant-tables &

3. Login to MySQL as root with out a password

   mysql -u root mysql

4. Replace PASSWORD with the new password of your choice.

   UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('PASSWORD') WHERE User='root'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; exit;

I was able to see Tool last year and wasn’t too overly impressed with that show, but I was blown away with this one.  They stuck with a lot of their older stuff.  While the seats were kind of nose bleed it was nice to be able to sit back with a drink in hand and watch the show.

I took a few videos and uploaded them to YouTube, while they are not the best it does give you a decent view of the crowd/stage show.

Solution: Doing some reading you can actually make all of the XBMC instances store data to a central server running MySQL.  Why would you want to do that? Well there are a few reasons, besides having everything in sync across the board it also gives you the ability to resume playback from where you left off in another room.

Since I already had a server on my LAN which is providing the media via Samba and already has MySQL running for a development environment it was a pretty simple setup.  I followed the tutorial here, which pretty much calls for making a MySQL user for XBMC and then I took it a step further and have all of the actor/movie thumbnails being stored on a network share too.  I have included my advancedsettings.xml file which you need to create and add to each XBMC instance.

<advancedsettings>
    <videodatabase>
        <type>mysql</type>
        <host>10.0.1.100</host>
        <port>3306</port>
        <user>xbmc</user>
        <pass>xbmc</pass>
        <name>xbmc_video</name>
    </videodatabase> 

    <musicdatabase>
        <type>mysql</type>
        <host>10.0.1.100</host>
        <port>3306</port>
        <user>xbmc</user>
        <pass>xbmc</pass>
        <name>xbmc_music</name>
    </musicdatabase>

	<pathsubstitution>
  		<substitute>
			<from>special://masterprofile/Thumbnails/</from>
			<to>smb://10.0.1.100/XBMC/Thumbnails/</to>
		</substitute>
	</pathsubstitution>
</advancedsettings>

I decided to rebuild my whole library, which takes a little but but all said and done its a pretty nice setup and being able to resume playback from room to room is nice too.  If you have a dedicated machine, and multiple XBMC instances I would recommend this type of setup.

Life – I have traveled a bunch over the last year, and attended quite a few concerts and festivals.  Had some bad times but mostly good times it was a really exciting year that allowed me to experience a lot of new things.  I hope this coming year and the years after hold just as much fun and excitement as 2011 did for me.

WordCamp Las Vegas – For never organizing a WordCamp before, I must say it went pretty well.  I am not just speaking on my own here as a lot of attendees have stated that it went really well and they enjoyed it a lot.  I was able to get a fantastic hotel deal from the Hard Rock Hotel here in Vegas, work out a great venue space with UNLV and then setup and after party at the Freakin Frog.  It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be once the ball got rolling. I am debating on doing a WordCamp for 2012, if I do it should be easier now that I already have 1 under my belt.

Christmas – Nothing much to report on this front.  Seems as though I am getting to that age in life where Christmas is just yet another day on the calendar…. except I don’t have to work.

New Years – 2011 went by really quick, seemed like every day that I got up it was another month in.  As much fun as I had over 2011 I sure hope 2012 lasts a bit longer and doesn’t fly by so quick.

Projects – Over the past year I have been working on various projects and have a few more that I want to add to my list this year… and well hopefully finish up the ones I already started.

1. Performance Server Setup - I have been playing around with NGINX, Varnish, APC, and Memcached for the past year.  I cant even begin to count how many installs of each I have done and different server builds to make use of the technologies.  Its been a really good learning experience and I hope to actually apply it to something soon.
2. LED Hula Hoops – About 6 months ago Kat and I started messing around with the idea of creating LED Hula Hoops.  The idea kind of sparked in my mind after going to a music festival in Colorado where I started to notice people using these LED Hula Hoops.  After speaking with Kat about it and doing some research I thought it was a task I could take on and make a few bucks doing so.  I hope sometime this year to start mass producing them and selling them online.
3. Internal Network – Since I started working from home I started to look at my internal network that I have setup.  I have been trying to consolidate my systems and build in redundancy along the way.  I hope soon to have my dedicated server setup with RAID and everything on a gigabit network as well.  On top of that over the years I have been getting more into gathering data such as hard drive temps, and my snakes aquarium temp and logging it to MySQL and graphing out the data.  I hope to continue adding more data gathering to the mix, possibly with a Twine once released or another Arduino.

Well that concludes my first post of the new year, and as always I hope to start expanding on this site more and more with more consistent updates too.

What’s new in iTunes 10.5.2
iTunes 10.5.2 includes several improvements for iTunes Match and fixes an audio distortion problem when playing or importing certain CDs.

iTunes 10.5.1 included:
• iTunes Match. Store your entire music library in iCloud, including music you’ve imported from CDs, and enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer, or Apple TV.
• iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.
• Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac, PC and iOS devices.
• Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.
• Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.
• Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

So for XMas this year I ended up getting Kat a Mini Dachshund.  I had planned on meeting up with the breeder to have a look at the puppies she had to see if this is what I was looking for.  She had driven from Utah with the puppies and upon seeing them I was sold on the spot.  I originally was going to try to get her a few days before XMas and giving her a bit early, but since I couldn’t resist I got it to her a bit earlier than planned.  Kat was pretty much in shock when I came back home and placed a puppy on the couch next to her.
So far she’s pretty awesome, besides the whole house training and crying though the night hehe

• Jawbone – I had a Fitbit which was awesome, But between washing it with the clothes and then it falling out of my pocket this seems much better.
• Corsair Performance Pro Series CSSD-P256GBP-BK 2.5″ 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) – Whew that was a mouthful.  I have been wanting to make the switch to SSD on my laptop and this looks like a nice drive.
• Threadless Shirts – I think this goes with out saying, they have some awesome shirts.
• Socks – Its that one gift as a kid that I would have hated to get, but now I have reached that point in my life where I actually want them.
• Levi 514 Slim Straight Jeans – Really all I have been wearing recently, could use a few more pairs.
• Logitech Harmony One Remote – Thing looks sweet and would help do away with the 4 remotes I currently have on the coffee table.
• Bath robe – Then I can truly not get dressed in the mornings.
• Henge Docks for 13in MacBook Pro (Mid 2009-Current) and a Mini DisplayPort Extension – I have a nice 23in LCD monitor which is not being used, this would help me fill the gap of not having a desktop.
• Apple Wireless Keyboard – Cant have a dock with out a keyboard
• Mac Mini – I guess if I don’t get the dock I could always use a Mac Mini instead.
• Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bars, Peanut - I could eat about 5,000 of these and still want more.
• Nest – What a cool way to set the temp in your place. And you can control it from your phone too.
• Acqua Di Gio By Giorgio Armani – I am running pretty low on this, I need something to cover up my stench.

I think thats about it for this years Christmas wish list, though I will probably keep adding to it until Christmas.