Internet Upgrade

Well, it’s been a long wait, but I finally ditched the business class dsl with static IP address for business class fiber with a static IP.  Now, ftp users shouldn’t have to throttle their connection speed so that my connection wouldn’t saturate.  My connection is symetrical, so I have lots of headroom.  The amazing thing is, that the static ADSL was costing me $130/month, and the fiber will only cost me $60/month.  That’s a win.

I had a fairly custom set up.  A Dlink ADSL bridged modem, and a pair of DD-WRT flashed linux based linksys routers.  One was the main router, and the other a wireless bridge.  As usual, the private IP numbers were in the 192.168.1.1 address block.  Everything was under that range, with many IP addresses static.  Servers, security servers, security cameras, printers, Kodi android tv box, etc.  Other items, such as wifi lightbulbs, were handled by the main router’s DHCP server.

So, the installer that showed up was just that: an installer.  He knew very little about networking or anything besides getting the fiber router up and running so that computers, etc could get the internet.  Pretty much okay for a residential customer, but not so much for a business customer.

So, I decided that the easiest way to get everything working was to keep the wifi lights, cameras, camera servers, etc on the linksys infrastructure.  So, I moved the two main publicly accessible servers to the new arris fiber router, and set up the intial port forwards for services.  However, there was something that had to be dealt with first.  The arris router comes set to 192.168.254.254, which won’t talk to the 192.168.1.1 block.

I could have simply changed the netmasks from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0 making it a class B network.  However, I would prefer having just a class C private network.

So, I changed the arris router to 192.168.1.1, and the main linkys infrastructure router to 192.168.1.3, since 192.168.1.2 was taken by the wireless bridge.  I then hooked that to the arris router just like an extension switch, by connecting the eth ports together.  (Not the linksys WAN port)

I went through the arris configure pages to set it all up, including the SSID and password of the wireless interface.  The only wierd thing is that for a couple laptops (most were fine), they wouldn’t properly pick up the gateway, so connections were borked.  Solved this easily by setting the laptop’s connection to ‘static’ and manually entered in 192.168.1.1 for the gateway and dns.  I really don’t perceive that as a problem, and may be an issue with the arris router.  In a few days, I’ll try to hook a wireless access point to the arris, to see if that fixes it.  I really don’t think I’ll lose much sleep over it.

Moral of this story:  If you are a business class customer of your ISP and you choose an upgrade like this, you better know what you are doing network-wise.  Or, enlist the help of someone like me.  😉

Fixing borked AJAX Chat

A little while ago,  both the AJAX Chat servers, the main one on Quackhouse Radio server, as well as the backup on the KRAB radio server crapped out.  I’ll fill you in how I fixed it, as well as the symptom.

The symptom was that if a connected user just closed their browser instead of using the LOGOUT button, the chat server would crash, and the next person to try to log in, would get something like this in their browser:

Query: INSERT INTO `AJAXChat`.ajax_chat_messages( userID, userName, userRole, channel, dateTime, ip, text ) VALUES ( ‘5150515051’, ‘[KRAB]’, ‘4’, ‘0’, NOW(), ‘��’, ‘/logout Cap Timeout’ ); Error-Report: Out of range value for column ‘userID’ at row 1 Error-Code: 1264

Pretty much undecipherable, unless you are a linux sql geek like I am.  😀 The way to get past this would be to use install.php to reinitialize the database tables.  However, the next time a user fails to log out properly, the same thing happens.  Here’s how I fixed the backup server.

It can be done using the command line, but the easiest way is using phpMyAdmin.  So, if you don’t have it, you must install it.  It is set by default to only allow connections from localhost, so keep that in mind.

First thing to do is to either Remove or Rename the AJAXChat database.  Login to phpMyAdmin and click on the AJAXChat database, then select Operations.  Then, either Remove, or Rename it.  I chose to Rename it rather that Remove it.  I can always Remove it later.

Second thing to do, is to add a new user and top level database.  Click on New (on the left), then User Accounts.  Click on Add User Account.  Type the access info you want in the Login information area. (username, host, password.)  FYI, the host should be localhost. 😉  Then click on the radio button for Create database with the same name and grant all privileges.  Then, click Go.

Finally, you need to go to the config.php script in the AJAXChat lib directory,  and open it in your editor.  I prefer to use nano, but you can use ed, vim, or a host of others.  Then, you need to update the config.php.  You will need to update the user, password, and database name that you just set up.

Then, you just need to rerun the install.php, it it will recreate everything automatically.

Now, the only time you should end up with that sql garbage when trying to login to AJAXChat, is if that login is currently logged in…. 😉

That’s it!  With luck, that will take care of your issue.

 

MAME Arcade Cabinet

Well, my vision of about five years ago has made it to a working machine. A MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) machine is one that will play all the classic arcade games as long as you have the ROM files.  (You can click on the pics below for larger size ones.)

Here, you see my friend just after  we powered it up for the first time, after mounting the monitor to the top half of the cabinet and installing it on the bottom half.  Then, the computer got installed, and for this first test, we didn’t even have the controller screwed down.  Here, we have just gone into the Robotron 2084 game for a first run.  At this point, we still had to map the controllers for a true experience.  This includes the trackball for games like Missile Command, Arkanoid, Centiped, etc. My friend opted to not install a coin door in the hole in the front, but insted decided on a blank panel….  This Arcade cabinet has all the roms that you might encounter in a true video arcade: Space Invaders, Mario Brothers, Asteroids, and the list goes on and on.  Here, you can see his girlfriend taking Ms Pac Man out for a spin.  This arcade cabinet seems to be a big hit.  I put together an Elite 8200 USDT computer with Windows 10 Pro on it, along with Maximus Arcade front end for MAME.  The computer boots directly into the front end, and you only need to select the game you want to play.  My friend picked up the cabinet and tankstick controller from recroommasters.  You can just google it.  He also had to pick up a 32″ vesa mount display.  (I recommended a VGA input, but he could have used the native DP++, Display Port, or adapt that to HDMI, but a VGA input is easiest.)  There was a bit of initial angst, and my friend noticed the display would occasionally flip upside down, so I just had to disable the intel video driver’s hot keys, as the tankstick emulates keyboard buttons, etc, and was causing this.  Turning the hot keys off fixed that.  Another bit of startup tweaking was the trackball wasn’t being picked up, so I had to go into the mame.ini file and set MOUSE and MULTIPLEMOUSE from 0 to 1.  If you don’t want to go thru the time and expense (not cheap) of setting a cabinet like this up, for the price of a computer, ram and hard drive, you could actually connect to your wide screen TV set, and play the classic arcade games right from your couch.  🙂

 

Huge Music Addition

Well, I got the blog’s emailing notices fixed in time for the year-end music uploads.  (About 25GB)  As such, now the emails will be coming from tunezmeister, so you may have to add that to your address  book, if it’s picked up as spam.  So, Here it is, the music titles that I’ve added in this update.  As always, they will be in New for awhile.  This update includes the 2020 albums from Blue Öyster Cult , Wishbone Ash, and  ACDC!   I’ll list the bootlegs first…

Bootlegs:

Budgie – 1974-02-11 – Live at the Marquee, London, UK
Budgie – 1974-03-09 – Live at Global Village, London, UK
Budgie – 1974-03-23 – Let The Bird Out Of Its Cage! (Live Northampton, PA, USA)
Budgie – 1974-09-12 – Örebro Concert Hall, Örebro, Sweden
Budgie – 1976-12-04 – Live In Concert (St.Louis, USA)
Budgie – 1977-11-12 – Second Whisky, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Budgie – 1978-02-25 – Manchester Apollo, Manchester, UK
Budgie – 1978-04-22 – 3rd Night, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Budgie – 1978-04-22 – Dodge City (Live at Electric Ballroom and The Whiskey, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Budgie – 1978 – Budgie Live 78
Budgie – 1981-06-18 – The Marquee, London, UK
Budgie – 1981-12-13 – Nightflight In Guildford (Guildford, UK)
Budgie – 2005-10-20 – Little Puddles – Live @ Mr. Kyps
Budgie – 2009-04-24 – Olsztyn, Poland
Cactus – 1971.06.26 – Gilligan’s, Buffalo NY CD1
Cactus – 1971.06.26 – Gilligan’s, Buffalo NY CD2
Cactus – 1971.07.05 – Bronx Youth Center, Bronx NY
Cactus – 1971.10.18 – Auxiliary Studios, Rochester NY
Cactus – 1971 – Ultra Sonic Studios, WLIR FM Broadcast, Hempstead NY
Joe Satriani – 1987 – Surfing With The Alien
Van Halen – 1974.11.xx – Gazzari’s, Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA [SBD]
Van Halen – 1974 – 1976 Demo Daze
Van Halen – 1976.05.29 – Pasadena, CA
Van Halen – 1976.06.15 – Hilton, Pasadena, CA
Van Halen – 1977.10.15 – Pasadena On Fire
Van Halen – 1977.10.xx – Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA

And, the rest:

ACDC – 2020 – Power Up
Ace Frehley – 1987 – Frehley’s Comet
Ace Frehley – 1988 – Frehley’s Comet, Second Sight
Ace Frehley – 1988 – Live + 1
Ace Frehley – 1989 – Trouble Walkin’
Ace Frehley – 2006 – Greatest Hits Live
Ace Frehley – 2009 – Anomal
Ace Frehley – 2014 – Space Invader
Ace Frehley – 2016 – Origins Vol. 1
Ace Frehley – 2018 – Spaceman
Ace Frehley – Kiss – 1978 – Ace Frehley
Badlands – 1989 – Badlands
Badlands – 1990 – Live In Boston
Badlands – 1991 – Voodoo Highway
Badlands – 1998 – Dusk
Blackjack – 1979 – Blackjack
Blackjack – 1980 – Worlds Apart
Blue Öyster Cult – 2020 – The Symbol Remains
Brownsville Station – 1970 – No BS
Brownsville Station – 1973 – Yeah!
Brownsville Station – 1974 – School Punks
Brownsville Station – 1975 – A Night On The Town
Brownsville Station – 1975 – Motor City Connection
Brownsville Station – 1977 – Brownsville Station
Brownsville Station – 1978 – Air Special
Budgie – 1971 – Budgie
Budgie – 1972 – Squawk
Budgie – 1973 – Never Turn Your Back On A Friend
Budgie – 1974 – In For The Kill!
Budgie – 1975 – Bandolier
Budgie – 1976 – If I Were Brittania I’d Waive The Rules
Budgie – 1978 – Impeckable
Budgie – 1980 – If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting
Budgie – 1980 – Power Supply
Budgie – 1981 – Nightflight
Budgie – 1982 – Deliver Us From Evil
Budgie – 1997 – The Best Of
Budgie – 1998 – Heavier Than Air, Rarest Eggs
Budgie – 1998 – We Came, We Saw
Budgie – 2002 – Life In San Antonio
Budgie – 2004 – The Last Stage
Budgie – 2005 – Radio Sessions 1974 & 1978
Budgie – 2006 – The BBC Recordings
Budgie – 2006 – You’re All Living In Cuckooland
Cactus – 1970 – Cactus
Cactus – 1971 – One Way…Or Another
Cactus – 1971 – Restrictions
Cactus – 1972 – ‘Ot ‘N’ Sweaty
Cactus – 1996 – Cactology, The Cactus Collection
Cactus – 2004 – Barely Contained, The Studio Sessions 1972
Cactus – 2004 – Fully Unleashed, The Live Gigs 1972
Cactus – 2006 – V
Cactus – 2007 – Fully Unleashed, The Live Gigs Vol. II, 1971
Cactus – 2010 – Ultra Sonic Boogie, Live 1971
Cactus – 2016 – Black Dawn
Camel – 1969 – Underage
David Byron – 1975 – Take No Prisoners
David Byron – 1978 – Baby Faced Killer
David Byron – 1995 – Man Of Yesterday, The Anthology CD 1
David Byron – 1995 – Man Of Yesterday, The Anthology CD 2
David Byron – 2006 – The Lost Songs Vol. I
David Byron – 2006 – The Lost Songs Vol. II
David Byron – 2008 – That Was Only Yesterday, The Last EP 1984
David Byron Band – 1981 – On The Rocks
David Byron Band – 2003 – Lost And Found, 1980-1982
David Byron – Rough Diamond – 1977 – Rough Diamond
David Byron & The Byron Band – 2008 – One Minute More
Fuzzy Duck – 1971 – Fuzzy Duck
John Lennon – 1969 – The Plastic Ono Band – Live Peace In Toronto
John Lennon – 1970 – Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon – 1971 – Imagine
John Lennon – 1972 (1986) – Live In New York City, 1972
John Lennon – 1973 – Mind Games
John Lennon – 1974 – Elton John & John Lennon – Live At Madison Square Garden
John Lennon – 1974 – Walls And Bridges
John Lennon – 1975 – Rock ‘n’ Roll
John Lennon – 1996 – The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes Vol 1-22
John Lennon – 1998 – Wonsaponatime, Selections From Lennon Anthology
John Lennon – 2004 – Acoustic
John Lennon – 2006 – The U.S. vs John Lennon
John Lennon – 2010 – Power To The People, The Hits
John Lennon – 2020 – Gimme Some Truth
John Lennon with Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band – 1972 – Sometime in New York City
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – 1968 – Unfinished Music No. 1 Two Virgins
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – 1969 – Unfinished Music No.2, Life With The Lions
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – 1969 – Wedding Album
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – 1980 (1984) – Milk And Honey (1984)
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – 1980 – Double Fantasy
Midnight Oil – 1978 – Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil – 1979 – Head Injuries
Midnight Oil – 1980 – Bird Noises
Midnight Oil – 1981 – Place Without A Postcard
Midnight Oil – 1982 – 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Midnight Oil – 1984 – Red Sails In The Sunset
Midnight Oil – 1985 – Species Deceases EP
Midnight Oil – 1987 – Diesel And Dust
Midnight Oil – 1990 – Blue Sky Mining
Midnight Oil – 1992 – Scream In Blue, Live
Midnight Oil -1993 – Earth And Sun And Moon
Midnight Oil -1996 – Breathe
Midnight Oil – 1997 – 20,000 Watt R.S.L
Midnight Oil – 1998 – Redneck Wonderland
Midnight Oil – 2000 – The Real Thing
Midnight Oil – 2002 – Capricornia
Midnight Oil – 2006 – Flat Chat
Pat Benatar – 1979 – In the Heat of the Night
Pat Benatar – 1980 – Crimes of Passion
Pat Benatar – 1981 – Precious Time
Pat Benatar – 1982 – Get Nervous
Pat Benatar – 1983 – Live From Earth
Pat Benatar – 1984 – Tropico
Pat Benatar – 1985 – Seven The Hard Way
Pat Benatar – 1988 – Wide Awake In Dreamland
Pat Benatar – 1989 – Best Shot
Pat Benatar – 1991 – True Love
Pat Benatar – 1993 – Gravity’s Rainbow
Pat Benatar – 1997 – Innamorata
Pat Benatar – 2003 – Go
Pat Benatar – 2005 – Greatest Hits
Poison – 1986 – Look What The Cat Dragged In
Poison – 1988 – Open Up And Say… Ahh!
Poison – 1990 – Flesh & Blood
Poison – 1991 – Swallow This Live
Poison – 1993 – Native Tongue
Poison – 2000 – Crack A Smile… And More!
Poison – 2000 – Power To The People
Poison – 2002 – Hollyweird
Poison – 2006 – Seven Days Live, 1993
Poison – 2006 – The Best Of Poison, 20 Years Of Rock
Poison – 2007 – Poison’d!
Poison – 2008 – Live, Raw & Uncut
Poison – 2009 – Collector’s Edition
Poison – 2010 – Nothin’ But A Good Time, The Poison Collection
The Marcus King Band – 2014 – Soul Insight
Widespread Panic – 1988 – Space Wrangler
Widespread Panic – 1991 – Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic – 1993 – Everyday
Widespread Panic – 1994 – Ain’t Life Grand
Widespread Panic – 1997 – Bombs & Butterflies
Widespread Panic – 1998 – Light Fuse, Get Away CD 1
Widespread Panic – 1998 – Light Fuse, Get Away CD 2
Widespread Panic – 1999 – Til The Medicine Takes
Widespread Panic – 2000 – Another Joyous Occasion
Widespread Panic – 2001 – Don’t Tell The Band CD 1
Widespread Panic – 2001 – Don’t Tell The Band CD 2
Widespread Panic – 2002 – Live In The Classic City CD 1
Widespread Panic – 2002 – Live In The Classic City CD 2
Widespread Panic – 2002 – Live In The Classic City CD 3
Widespread Panic – 2003 – Ball
Widespread Panic – 2004 – Jackassolantern
Widespread Panic – 2004 – Night Of Joy
Widespread Panic – 2004 – Uber Cobra
Widespread Panic – 2005 – Live At Myrtle Beach CD 1
Widespread Panic – 2005 – Live At Myrtle Beach CD 2
Widespread Panic – 2006 – Earth To America
Widespread Panic – 2008 – Free Somehow
Widespread Panic – 2010 – Dirty Side Down
Widespread Panic – 2010 – Live In The Classic City II CD 1
Widespread Panic – 2010 – Live In The Classic City II CD 2
Widespread Panic – 2012 – Wood CD 1
Widespread Panic – 2012 – Wood CD 2
Widespread Panic – 2015 – Street Dogs
Widespread Panic – 2016 – 2016 Halloween Compilation
Widespread Panic – 2016 – 2016 New Years Compilation
Widespread Panic – 2016 – Arkansas Music Pavilion
Widespread Panic – 2016 – Civic Theatre
Widespread Panic – 2016 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Widespread Panic – 2016 – The Joint At Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Widespread Panic – 2016 – The Wiltern
Widespread Panic – Panic In The Streets CD 1
Widespread Panic – Panic In The Streets CD 2 – Live From The Georgia Theatre
Wishbone Ash – 2020 – Coat Of Arms

Enjoy!

Tech, music, and general ramblings…..