Articles from August 2009

Hello everyone, I'm back online after more than a month of silence. I've been busy with a couple of exams at the university: now I can gladly report that I have 3 (or let's say, 2 and a half) exams less to do and I'm dangerously close to getting my post-graduation in computer science.

The exams I passed were mildly interesting this time: one economy class (basic demand and offer models and such stuff), one advanced algorithms class and finally an exam about how to statistically estimate system performance and simulate them (in a significant way). I'm not quite finished with the last one, since I still have to write a simulation using JavaSim. Anyway, won't be too difficult I hope.

In the meantime I have been going on with ASP.NET MVC and some other interesting stuff: my list of "things to blog about" is growing and growing - I will try to catch up in the next days.

Yesterday I released an update for OnTopReplica, which now reaches version 2.7.

I fixed a couple of things here and there (especially some localization issues), the region selection screen now draws two guides that should help you to crop the right portion of the screen more easily and some bugs with the auto-positioning have been fixed (now the cloned window correctly docks in the corner of the active monitor).

Other small changes: enabling and disabling the "chrome" works better (the clone window stays centered and doesn't move on its own), the [ALT]+[ENTER] combination to switch to/from fullscreen has been added and finally, in fullscreen mode, OnTopReplica will not be a top-level window anymore. This sounds kind of strange, but now you can watch movies in fullscreen, pull up an instant messaging window (or something like that) and write while you continue watching the big movie on the background.

That's all, I think. Get it now while it's fresh!

I'm back writing about Windows Home Server. After setting up the server and installing a private SVN server, having an always-on computer could be used for something useful and highly illegal, like... downloading torrents.

While there are some µTorrent add-ins for the WHS connector, they don't seem to work very well. The easiest way to get the thing up and running is to simply install the program as a service and then manage it through the WebUI which is already included in the application.

Follow this guide on how to install µTorrent as a service (with nice screenshots). The original article is meant for WHS CTP, but works equally well on the final version.

Some final suggestions:

• Limit the µTorrent user account: if you follow the guide, you'll end up with a special user account on the server that simply runs the µTorrent service and nothing else. During setup, you have to add the user to the Administrators group to allow him to log in remotely. But to make the server a little safer, switch the user back to a limited account once you're done and ensure he has access to the folders you are downloading to.
• Do not store active downloads on replicated shares: I suggest to create a simple folder in your D: drive and to store all downloaded files there (the option's name is "Put new downloads in" in µTorrent's preferences dialog). Apparently, WHS automatic file replication doesn't work well on files that are frequently written to, as is the case for your µTorrent downloads. You can set the application to move the downloaded files to a public share, which can then be replicated without problems.
• Enable port forwarding to the WebGUI: you'll be able to manage your downloads and add new torrents from anywhere.

And a final plea: please buy the stuff you like. Thanks to Amazon (also check out Amazon Marketplace), GOG.com, Play.com and so on, you can get music CDs, games and movies for - literally - a couple of euros. So, don't be cheap and support artist and software producers.