William's Blog

Netword Attached Storage: D-Link DNS-323

williamkow — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Today, I have discovered a very interesting product which is running Linux (Debian) and being used as networked attached storage. One of my friend is asking me to advise her to get a cheaper solution for network storage and they do not have file servers in their network. At first, I would recommend her to use the file sharing service which come with the Microsoft Windows XP professional, but there are still more issues that bringing me to seek for different way to fulfill her needs, there are:

* More than 10 users are accessing to the storage at the same times (Windows XP/Vista has limited to only 10 concurrent users) * Easy managing users and groups for files/folders permission or access restriction. * The Windows XP workstation does not have sufficient for more storage space and not redundant hard drive – worry if it fail. * Their data are very crucial to their business operations. * No plan to get a Windows server just for file sharing purpose. * Budget is limited to about RM1,000.00

So then I recall that there is a network device (Network Attached Storage) , that allow file sharing and the device is acted like a file server (and you do not need to buy Windows Server software licenses) which will save a lot cost : D-Link DNS-323 (about RM 498) Dual hard-disks with 500GB each (about RM200 each) Total cost come to about RM 900.00 After reading the product’s manual (downloaded from their website), I found that the device capability is fit her needs.

However, I still warn her about other limited: This device cannot be worked as application server. In other words,in future if u need to have accounting/inventory software, this cannot be used for the software. So, to say that the device is mainly for file/sharing with read/write permission settings for protection and privacy & confidentiality.

But, there are still many advantages of this product: * Cheaper way for files/folders sharing with permission and usage quota for different users. * Do not need to pay for software license fees (it is running on free linux O/S) * The O/S is very stable and good uptime. * Redundant hard drives (Mirror RAID) for great data protection.

Hemolysis can be caused by certain kind of drug/food intake

williamkow — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:26:00 +0000

The below is the list of items that is given by a doctor, and should not taken by my mother after the last incident – haemolysis (break open red-blood cells) and even if normal people, it would better to avoid to take those medicine or food containing such ingredient/chemical.

Fava beans (bread beans) – Must avoid it for people with G6PD deficiency
Aspirin or Acetylsalicylic acid – found in most drug for fever/anti-pain
Certain traditional herbs
Methylene blue

Antibiotics drugs that contain: Sulfonamides, Co-trimoxazole, Nalidixic acid, Chloramphenicol, Nitrofurantoin.

Chemicals like: Benzene , Napthalene (moth balls)

Antimalarial drugs that contain: Chloroquine, Quinacrine, Primaquine.

Hello world!

williamkow — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:19:22 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Unknown sickness – damage of Red Blood Cells

williamkow — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Last Saturday (4-July-2009), my mother was not feeling well, red-color urine, obvious yellow-color skin & eyes, breathing difficulty, dizziness, muscle weakness, so she was sent to hospital. Right after checking by doctor and blood test, she immediately sent to special room (HDU, high dependent unit) for constant monitoring. This room is similar to ICU (intensive care unit) it does not have a complete set of medical equipments and tools.

One of doctor’s report shows “Autoimmune disease” – breaking open of red blood cells, Hemolysis. Because of this she lost about 6 packs of blood (450ml each), and oxygen level are very low at about 80% (normal person is near to 100%), so she is given oxygen gas supply and 4 packs of blood to .

We are so worry, and could believe this can happen to our mother, and my mind is completely blank, just do not know what to do.

According to doctor, her illness are commonly cause by 2 main reasons, it is either wrong medicine taken (usually Chinese medicine herbs) or virus/bacteria attacks. The only thing that doctor can do is to provide her with antibiotics, and according to doctor, we can hope only for her own body to recover.

Luckily, after 2 days in the HDU, she has some signs of improvement, she has sent to normal ward. I am feeling better now.

Until today still no way to detect the real reason of her sickness, but Hemolysis can be caused by certain kind of drug/food intake.

Adobe Reader hang when open some PDF files

williamkow — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Recently, I have been receiving call for help on the problem of application hang.

It is about the opening of some PDF files (not all PDF) can causing Adobe Reader not responding/hang. This can happen even if latest version of Adobe Reader 9.1.2 is installed.

After searching google, the problem issue is due to an Add-On is not installed – the Add-On for Korean Language support (Adobe Reader 9 Font Packs – Korean).

We all know that all PDF reader (Adobe Reader) is supposed and designed for all users to view it without need to concern what application is required for the original source of the files. But it is not what we expected….sigh..

Linux failure statistics – KernelOops.org

williamkow — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:59:00 +0000

Before we deciding whether to upgrade to next Linux kernel version, we can check kernel crashed/failure statistics at http://www.kerneloops.org/

Free IRC XChat client for Windows user

williamkow — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:31:00 +0000

XChat (http://www.xchat.org/) is a good IRC client software, features full, free and famous among linux & unix users. However, it is not free for Windows users – free 30 trial period.

Today, I have problem with my Pidgin instant messenging software, and I was asking help from IRC groups, then during our discussion, someone introduced me a free version of XChat (YChat) for Windows users, and the link is http://www.silverex.org/ and it is just like the clone of XChat. But it is very interesting after trying it.

My latest Debian sources.list as at June-2009

williamkow — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:09:00 +0000

My latest (27-June-2009) apt sources.list with faster mirror to repositories, and enabling multimedia related packages.

Previously I have been using the mirror site from debian.nctu.edu.tw (Taiwan) but today I discovered another nearer mirror site mirror.oscc.org.my (Malaysia), and I think it will have faster link.

We need to install the keyring for debian-multimedia.org, before the command (aptitude update) can , and the single-line command is:
wget http://debian-multimedia.org/gpgkey.pub -O - | apt-key add - && aptitude install debian-multimedia-keyring
Then you can run the below command to refresh repo list:
aptitude update

And then edit /etc/apt/sources.list and refer below for any changes.

### Begin - /etc/apt/sources.list ###


deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main contrib non-free
# Main (Default) mirror
# deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
# Alternative mirror (fast)
# deb http://debian.nctu.edu.tw/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
# Alternative mirror (faster)
deb http://mirror.oscc.org.my/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
# Multimedia -- should not use for production server
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ lenny main
# Backports -- should not use for production server
# Running Debian-Stable somehow contain outdated packages, so Backports come in.
# Backports are recompiled packages from testing (mostly) and unstable (a few cases
#   only, example, security updates). Instruction:
#     aptitude -t lenny-backports install package-name
deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free
### End - /etc/apt/sources.list ###

Nearest Debian Repo mirror site (Malaysia)

williamkow — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:15:00 +0000

Previously, I have been using the mirror site from debian.nctu.edu.tw (Taiwan) – which is faster mirror compare to the original default repo site, but today I discovered another nearer mirror site mirror.oscc.org.my (Malaysia), and I think it will have faster link.

For detail, see http://blog.williamkow.net/2009/06/09062719a.html

Enable linux file sharing (open/no security)

williamkow — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:47:00 +0000

Logon as root

aptitude install samba

edit (eg. nano, gedit) /etc/samba/smb.conf

workgroup = WORKGROUPNAME
security = share

[printers]
browsable = yes
guest ok = yes

[myshare1]
path = /sharing/myshare1
available = yes
browsable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes

/etc/init.d/samba restart