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Roalt Dot Com upgrade underway
Thursday, 02 June 2011 07:47
Written by Roalt
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Because of the upgrade of the home-server, I'm also upgrading roalt.com to a newer version of the Joomla! CMS system. At this moment I'm still configuring the main page, so expect some limited functionaility until I'm completely done.
Review for Tcl/Tk book in 2011
Thursday, 12 May 2011 22:24
Last Updated on Thursday, 12 May 2011 22:26
Written by Roalt
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I was asked- as an expert in Tcl/Tk programming- to write a review on a new book. The book is called Tcl/Tk programming Cookbook by Bert Wheeler. Until the review is available on amazon.com (within 48 hours), you can read in here as well.
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Asus HDP-R1 media player
Sunday, 04 April 2010 13:06
Last Updated on Sunday, 04 April 2010 21:59
Written by Roalt
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Choosing a media player
I've just acquired the ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 media player for about 90 EUROs. Media players have become really cheap and there are a number of popular choices including the Western Digital WD TV Live, the Popcorn hour (C-200 or A-200), and the Xtreamer.
I didn't want an expensive one, just one to play my media files and one that could mount my network shares on my server. Further more, I have my Harmony 885 remote, so the remote should work with infrared so I could replace it (that knocked out the Popcorn C-200 that works on radio/frequency, except that it is too expensive for my need).
Valid options were the WD, the Asus, and the Xtreamer. I really wanted to play DVD media files that are stored as .iso and use the DVD menu functionality. Only the ASUS HDP-R1 supports this functionality which made my choice easy. The ASUS also has an ethernet connector (no wireless, therefore you need the Asus HDP-R3 one) and an e-SATA connector for a fast external hard-drive connection (next to the more commonly found USB connectors). 
Connecting the ASUS O!Play HDP-R1 to your local (SAMBA) shares 
It's quite simple to adjust the HDP-R1 to your needs because it runs linux. Of course, it's a scaled down version, based upon Venus linux, and you see this when you logon using telnet. Just use root as username name with no password.
The storage devices are mounted under /tmp/ramfs/volumes, and to add your own storage device, just create a mount point there and use mount:
# mkdir -p /tmp/ramfs/volumes/media
# mount -t cifs -o username=my_username,password='my_password' //my_server_ip_address/media /tmp/ramfs/volumes/media/
In this example, you have to replace my_username, my_password, and my_server_ip_address with the settings from your own server and network. And, of course, you have to replace media by the name of the share you use. Additional shares can be added just as easy.
After this effort, you will see your share appear in the list of Storage devices when playing movies or other media. 
Keeping your shares active after a power-outage
The HDP-R1 does have a power button (via the r