How To Enable AAC Encoder on Ubuntu and Fedora using NeroAAC

So you have a wav file that you want to convert on Linux to MP4 format (aka AAC) and want to know how to get the encoder installed so you can use your conversion program to complete the conversion.

Well, thanks to Nero this is a possible task due to their generosity of the NeroAAC Encoder. the process we are going to use is the same for Ubuntu and Fedora. Also, we will need to install gpac: MPEG-4 multimedia framework

Ubuntu

$ mkdir AAC
$ cd AAC/
$ wget http://ftp6.nero.com/tools/NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip
$ unzip -j NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip
$ sudo install -m 0755 neroAacEnc /usr/bin/
$ sudo apt-get install gpac

Fedora

$ mkdir AAC
$ cd AAC/
$ wget http://ftp6.nero.com/tools/NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip
$ unzip -j NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip
$ sudo install -m 0755 neroAacEnc /usr/bin/
$ sudo yum -y install gpac

Now that we have the encoder installed we can convert from the command line.

Usage:
neroAacEnc [options] -if <input-file> -of <output-file>

Where:
<input-file> : Path to source file to encode.
The file must be in Microsoft WAV format and contain PCM data.
Specify – to encode from stdin.
<output-file> : Path to output file to encode to, in MP4 format.

There is also two other applications included in the zip file, neroAacTag and neroAacDec for tagging and decoding AAC/MP4 files. You can install them as follows.

$ sudo install -m 0755 neroAacDec /usr/bin/
$ sudo install -m 0755 neroAacTag /usr/bin/

Now you have all you need to convert, decode and tag a Microsoft WAV file to AAC/MP4 on Linux!

Opening rar Files in Fedora and Ubuntu

There are many different file compression tools out there, one of them is RAR which is being used more frequently as of late. To open a rar compressed file you will need to install unrar. This is not installed by default and for Fedora but is available via RPMFusion. For Ubuntu nothing extra is needed.

Fedora 17/18/19 Installation

First let’s add the rpmfusion repository to our installation. Open a terminal session and add the free and non-free rpmfusion repositories.

$ su -c ‘yum localinstall –nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm’

$ sudo yum update

Now we can install unrar.

$ sudo yum install unrar

$ sudo yum install unrar
Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package unrar.x86_64 0:4.2.4-4.fc19 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved
=============================================================================================================================
 Package               Arch                   Version                 Repository                  Size
=============================================================================================================================
Installing:
 unrar                 x86_64                 4.2.4-4.fc19         rpmfusion-nonfree-updates      115 k
Transaction Summary
=============================================================================================================================
Install  1 Package

That’s all you need for Fedora.

Ubuntu 13.04 / 13.10 Installation

The unrar package is part of the multiverse repository for Ubuntu which should be enabled. Installation is simple.

$ sudo apt-get install unrar

That’s all there is to it. You should now be able to open rar files!

How To Install ownCloud 5 on CentOS 6

So you want to be part of the “Cloud”, how about your own personal cloud? Enter ownCloud, ownCloud is a free Open Source

software, used to setup your own personal cloud for file sharing, Calender, Contact and Bookmark sharing and Personal

Audio/Video Streaming. It is pretty easy to setup and manage.

In this post I will be using CentOS 6.3 minimal server to setup ownCloud.
Install the necessary packages for ownCloud

[root@owncloud ~]# yum -y install mysql-server httpd php php-mysql wget php-json php-xml php-mbstring php-zip php-gd curl php-curl php-pdo

Start mysql and httpd services and let them to start automatically on every reboot.

[root@owncloud ~]# /etc/init.d/mysqld start
[root@owncloud ~]# /etc/init.d/httpd start
[root@owncloud ~]# chkconfig mysqld on
[root@owncloud ~]# chkconfig httpd on

Adjust iptables to access owncloud server from outside of the network.

Add the following lines to the iptables config file and restart iptables.

[root@owncloud ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state –state NEW –dport 80 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m state –state NEW –dport 80 -j ACCEPT
[root@owncloud ~]# service iptables restart

Now install and create mysql user and database for owncloud.

Note: In this tutorial i use password as “centos” for mysql database, owncloud admin account.

[root@owncloud ~]# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MySQL
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MySQL to secure it, we’ll need the current
password for the root user. If you’ve just installed MySQL, and
you haven’t set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on…
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MySQL
root user without the proper authorisation.
Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
… Success!
By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] y
… Success!
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from ‘localhost’. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] y
… Success!

By default, MySQL comes with a database named ‘test’ that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] y
- Dropping test database…
… Success!
- Removing privileges on test database…
… Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y
… Success!
Cleaning up…
All done! If you’ve completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.

Thanks for using MySQL!

[root@owncloud ~]# mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
mysql> CREATE DATABASE owncloud;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.01 sec)
mysql> GRANT ALL ON owncloud.* TO ‘owncloud’@'localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘centos’;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
mysql> GRANT ALL ON owncloud.* TO ‘owncloud’@'localhost.localdomain’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘centos’;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> exit

Getting and installing ownCloud

Goto to Apache root document folder and download the latest version of owncloud.

[root@owncloud ~]# cd /var/www/html/
[root@owncloud html]# wget http://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-5.0.13.tar.bz2

Expand the archive
[root@owncloud html]# tar xvf owncloud-5.0.13.tar.bz2
[root@owncloud html]# rm owncloud-5.0.13.tar.bz2
[root@owncloud html]# chown -R apache:apache owncloud
[root@owncloud html]# chmod 750 owncloud/data/
[root@owncloud html]# chmod 777 owncloud/config/

Find and edit the lines as shown below in “/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf” file.

[root@owncloud html]# vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

<Directory “/var/www/html”>
     Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
     AllowOverride All
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
</Directory>

Restart the httpd and mysqld services.

[root@owncloud html]# /etc/init.d/mysqld restart
[root@owncloud html]# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

Now goto any client system if your owncloud server doesn’t has GUI mode and access it by “http://ip-address/owncloud or http://domain name/owncloud. The index page of own cloud will open now. Create the administrator username and password for your cloud server.

Thats it. You can upload/download your images, files and Audio/Video here and you can access them from your network. Make

it easier and install the desktop and mobile client from http://owncloud.org/install/.

How to Watch Netflix on Ubuntu 13.10

Well everyone else is watching Netflix, how about Ubuntu users? This is possible thanks to Netflix Desktop App available through the PPA. The Netflix Desktop App has updated to version 0.8.0 and supports Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 and 10.04.

Installation is simple.

Open a terminal and type:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio

Now let’s update the repository and install the application.

$ sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop

To start Netflix Desktop app shortcut. The first time you run the application Wine will start and may require additional packages to be installed, which it will tell you and give you the option to install.

That’s all there is to it! Happy Streaming!

Using the New VirtualBox 4.3 Video Capture Feature

With the release of VirtualBox 4.3 a new Video capture feature was added that will allows you to save high quality videos of the guest OS easily through the VirtualBox Manager GUI. A wonderful addition to allow creation for training, blog posts and much more!

To start video capture just click on Devices >Video Capture and to stop the capture click on Devices >Video Capture. But before we start the capture process you my want to set a few settings and enable video capture. Make sure your VM is not running and go to Settings > Display >Video Capture. Click on Enable Video Capture and now make a few changes.

As you can see there are several options available.

File Path
Frame Size
Frame Rate
Quality
Screens

For the most part the defaults are ok for me except with the Frame rate which is set at 25 fps and being in the US and using NTSC I prefer to change this to 30 fps and also maybe a good idea to change the Frame Size to match you VM’s window size to make sure you capture everything.

Click OK to save the changes and fire up the VM. Note: This will start the video capture up when you start the VM so, if you do not want to start it go back and un-check Enable Video Capture and it will keep your settings and you can toggle it on and off by using Devices >Video Capture.

The resulting capture files will be save and accessible in the location defined in the settings. So you can upload, convert and publish them however you want! For the best playback results download and install VLC to your system.

How To Setup Your Own Camera Security with ZoneMinder on Ubuntu 10

You know how it is, we need some kind of security in out homes but the camera security systems that are out there are expensive and use proprietary software. Being the geeks we are how about an open source solution that works with cameras out there and allows you to have your own DVR security system.

In this post we will cover using ZoneMinder on Ubuntu 10.04. ZoneMinder is an integrated set of applications which provide a complete surveillance solution allowing capture, analysis, recording and monitoring of any CCTV or security cameras attached to a Linux based machine.

So let’s get started. First step is to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server yet, I opted for the 32 bit version and installed the base server and accepted the defaults.

Next we will need to install openssh-server and ZoneMinder.

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server
 $ sudo apt-get install zoneminder

All of the supporting cast will be installed at this point (Apache, MySQL). No we need to make a few changes to the kernel memory parameters.

At the end of /etc/sysctl.conf, add:

kernel.shmall = 512000
kernel.shmmax = 1000000000

Those numbers worked for my 2 GB Ram setup. That .shmmax is 1GB, or half of my RAM. Be sure that your .shmmax does not exceed the RAM in your machine. There are several posts on this shared memory issue in the ZoneMinder wiki.

Load the changes

$ sudo sysctl -p

Now we will need to make a few changes so that Apache sees and displays ZoneMinder.

First, you will need to edit /etc/zm/apache.conf. Add after the Alias /zm line, or else your streaming won’t work, since the html produced by ZoneMinder expects /cgi-bin to be at the top of your Apache website.

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/share/zoneminder/cgi-bin

Then, link the zoneminder apache.conf into the apache configuration:

$ sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf

Restart Apache for things to work.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now we need to start zoneminder up.

$ sudo /etc/init.d/zoneminder start

Now lets open a browser and take a look at the interface. <system_ip>/zm/index.php

Now we have a working installation. Next we will need to create monitors and add some cameras. Which will be covered in part 2 of this post.

How To Install Dig on Windows

Another one of those old but good commands that Linux / Unix users have enjoyed for years is Dig. Great for looking up information on IP’s and names. Not something that is readily available to Windows users, but there is a way to get it installed.
Download the latest bind zip file from ftp://ftp.isc.org/isc/bind9/cur/9.9/BIND9.9.4.zip

Extract the zip and copy the following files:

libbind9.dll
libdns.dll
libisc.dll
libisccc.dll
libeay32.dll
libisccfg.dll
liblwres.dll
dig.exe

For 32 bit Windows copy files to c:\windows\system32 and to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 for 64 bit windows.

Now just open a command prompt and run dig!

Monitoring Your System with Munin on Fedora

Have a few servers and want to get some stats on IO, CPU, networking and other data don’t have full blown monitoring, this is where Munin can help out.

Installation is simple

Install Munin.

 $ sudo yum install munin munin-node

Enable and start munin-node service

$ sudo systemctl enable munin-node.service
$ sudo systemctl start munin-node.service

Set the password for the Munin id to access the site

$ sudo htpasswd -c /etc/munin/munin-htpasswd
 New password:
 Retype New password:

Restart Apache

$ sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

Open your web browser and login.

From this point you can click on localhost and see the statistics gathered by Munin. This is the default but as with other Monitoring programs there is always more.

Now that we have the base we can add more monitoring.

Add Apache Status monitoring.

First make sure your Apache installation has server-status setup and running. Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and add to the bottom of the file.

<location /server-status>
 SetHandler server-status
 Order Allow,Deny
 Allow from all
 <location>

Restart Apache

$ sudo systemctl restart httpd.service

Adding Additional Monitors

To monitor Apache create that the following sym-links in “/etc/munin/plugins“.

$ cd /etc/munin/plugins
$ sudo ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/apache_accesses apache_accesses
$ sudo ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/apache_processes apache_processes
$ sudo ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/apache_volume apache_volume

Edit the node configuration file and add the code below to set up the Apache plug-in.

$ sudo vi /etc/munin/plugin-conf.d/munin-node

[apache_processes]
 env.url http://localhost/server-status?auto
 env.port 80

[apache_accesses]
 env.url http://localhost/server-status?auto
 env.port 80

[apache_volume]
 env.url http://localhost/server-status?auto
 env.port 80

Save the changes to the file and restart the munin-node service on the server. Refresh your browser and you will now see an Apache monitor displayed.

Restart munin-node service

 $ sudo systemctl restart munin-node.service

Adding Additional Systems

Now that we have a master server and a node configured we can add additional systems. First we need to allow the Munin server to connect to the node you want to monitor. Edit /etc/munin/munin-node on the node to add.

$ sudo vi /etc/munin/munin-node

And add the Munin master server. This example we are allowing 192.168.1.100. Make sure port 4949 is open between the servers.

allow ^192\.168\.1\.100$

Save the changes and restart the service.

$ sudo systemctl restart munin-node.service

Edit /etc/munin/munin.conf on the master server and add the server for munin to monitor.

[mysrv1.domain.com]
address 192.168.1.102
use_node_name yes

Give the server a few minutes to receive the information and refresh your browser and you should now see the added node.

xterm-256color error in Fedora 18 and 19

After upgrading to the latest release of Fedora I started noticing an error when connecting to older RHEL and Solaris servers and getting an error. This change was implemented in Fedora 18 to allow for support of 256 color terminals.

xterm-256color: Unknown terminal type
I don't know what kind of terminal you are on - all I have is 'xterm-256color'

This was causing issues trying to edit configuration files on older systems which can be an issue if you support alot of older systems. This is also an issue with MacOSX Lion’s release as well.

So how do we fix the issue, well in my case I added an alias to the ~./bashrc file.

$ vi .bashrc

Add the line

alias ssh='TERM=xterm ssh'

Save the file and next time you login the changes will be in place. If you want to put them in place now just execute alias ssh=’TERM=xterm ssh’.

How to Restore Dell XPS 420 and Dell XPS 1530 to Factory

Recently ran in an issue where spyware and viruses was all a system could take and it was time to restore the system back to factory and start again. This post describes how to restore back to the Dell factory image on Dell XPS 420 (desktop) and Dell XPS 1530 (laptop) but will work on other models as well.

Back in the days the manufacturer would send the restore DVD’s but then stopped and started using software like Symantec Ghost and other programs to create recovery partitions. So let’s get started.

Make sure to backup any files you want to keep and then reboot the system.
As the computer starts, press <F8> on the keyboard until the Advanced Boot Options menu appears on the screen.
Use the Arrow keys to select Repair Your Computer on the Advanced Boot Options menu, and then press <Enter>.
Specify the language settings that you want, and then click Next.
Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click OK. As part of the selection you will see user accounts that are on the system, you can select one of them as long as you have the password and it has administrator privileges.
Click Dell Factory Image Restore.
In the Dell Factory Image Restore window, click Next.
Click to select the Yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition check box.
Click Next. The computer is restored to the default factory configuration. This will take some time to complete.
When the restore operation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.

The system is now installed as it was when the computer was first received. This will usually only have the OS and the drivers and sometimes some programs. You are now ready to go through and configure the system fresh.

Life of a Geek Admin

The Daily adventures of a true geek administrator