Use sudo without Password

Those of you that use Ubuntu with any regularity might have run into the very annoying instance of always having to enter the root password when running certain commands with sudo.

For me, I use a LAMPP server on my computer to test scripts and such locally and I installed the LAMPP control panel, a GUI, to make things a bit easier. LAMPPCP is one of those programs that requires the root password every single time you run it.

So, I had to find a way around it.

A word of caution: performing the below steps can screw some things up pretty nicely so be sure you know what you're doing before you jump right into this whole thing.

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Write "sudo nano /etc/sudoers" to open up the /etc/sudoers file.
3. Add the following at the bottom: "username ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL"
   
4. Save and exit.

If you do this right, you now have one less password to enter, especially if you're running this program through the start menu.


Sources:

• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=102758
• http://linux.byexamples.com/archives/315/how-to-shutdown-and-reboot-without-sudo-password/
• http://linuxtipstricks.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/how-to-change-sudo-to-not-ask-for-your-personal-password/
  

DirecTV2PC Success!

I mentioned in my previous post how I stumbled over DirecTV2PC while trying to get some of the media sharing functionality of the DirecTV receiver to work. Well, I have taken a bit of time to download and try it out and I have to say it works remarkably well.

In a nutshell, DirecTV2PC does the following: it connects to your Dish DVR (that is connected to your network) and allows you to view any of your recorded shows on your computer. Essentially, it gives you a remote version of your list of recordings that looks and behaves just like the DVR version. From there, you just pick the show you want to watch, relax in your lawn chair, bath tub or bed and enjoy the show.

The obvious question is this: does it work well?

The short answer is yes. It works very well.

To give you an idea of what's needed for it to work well, here's a quick description of my network. I'd say it's fairly typical. My DVR is connected by cable to my router. The computer this was tested on, a Dell XPS laptop, connects using wifi to the router and streams it this way. Very simple yet very functional.

I have tested both SD content and HD content and both work without noticable problems. I don't have a HD display on my laptop so I can't really say how well it would work on a real HD screen but with what I have, full screen playback works great with both SD and HD content.

As far as I am concerned, DirecTV2PC is a great little piece of software and I expect that I'll get quite a bit of use out of it.

Now, if I can just get the media sharing part with my computer to work, I'll be all set...

Oh, and no, DirecTV2PC does not work on Linux, at least not using Wine...from what I can tell, at least.

DirecTV

A little over a month ago, we decided to drop out local phone company as our phone carrier (we don't use local phone service anymore), Internet carrier (go wireless!) and TV provider, mostly because we were able to shave about $75 of our monthly bill in regards to these specific services.

I'm very happy with DirecTV and I'm especially enjoying their HD channels. This past week, I found something I hadn't known before: the HDDVR that I have is capable of showing media from the media server I run on one of my computers. Up to this point, I have primarily used this to listen to music and such on my PS3 but it was always an extra step. Being able to feed it directly to my DVR would be even better.

So, I've started exploring this "MediaShare" functionality of the DVR. As of yet, I have had no luck getting it to work with either Orb, TVersity or WMP but it's just a matter of time, I'm sure.

In the process of researching this, I also stumbled upon DirecTV2PC, which is a feature that allows you to view recorded shows on your PC while on your home network. What a great idea! So, I have now started the process of trying this out so let's see if I can get it to work. It would be really cool under Wine on Ubuntu but we'll see about that, I suppose.

Computer Failure

I saw it coming a long time ago and I guess I just hoped it never really would happen. Something has finally happened to my desktop computer and it won't boot past the memory test. In fact, it won't boot at all, Linux or XP.

Great.

Luckily, I don't use it a whole lot anymore but I still have a ton of stuff on it. So now it's time for tinkering again, I suppose. Take the thing apart, investigate and so on.

I sure hope it comes back to life...

Transformers 2 Trailer

For you Transformers fans out there, check out the Transformers 2 trailer

XPS 1530 Camera Problems

Throughout the last few months, I have successfully used the integrated camera of my XPS 1530 to do video conferencing with friends and family. However, recently, I've been looking more into actually recording videos for some other purposes. So I started looking for some other software.

I soon found a little program called Cheese, which allows you to take photos and video very easily. It actually has some very interesting effects as well, for both video and photo.

To my surprise, I find that Cheese isn't quite working for me. It's not loading any photo or video as I load it. I found this highly irritating, naturally, especially when I have no problems with Skype or AMSN.

After a quick search online, I found the following solution:

1. Go to System > Administration > Software Sources.
2. Click on the Updates tab.
3. Check "intrepid-proposed" and "intrepid-backports" and click Close.
4. When it asks about update, select Update.
5. It should ask you to reboot and once you've done this, you're good to go.

Source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1025992

Linux Gaming

While surfing around seemingly at random, I ran into this site:

http://live.linux-gamers.net

This site essentially provides a live-type disc loaded with Linux and games that work with Linux, all for free and for our enjoyment. Although I already have Linux installed and as such am unlikely to just download and try this when I can just download and install the games directly, the website does have a nice list of Linux compatible games.

So, if you're at all into Linux and want to have some fun on the side, by all means, check out this site.