Accessing Dell RAC(Remote Access Controller) over WAN/Internet

In order to access your Dell RAC from the Internet/WAN you will need to foward 3 ports on your router. RAC is a card that allows access to the server regardless of the servers state. From the web interface of the RAC you can reboot,start-up,shutdown the server. Check server status, view last crash screen, redirect the console over the connection and much more. RAC is Dell's version of HP's iLo(intergrated Lights-Out) port.

Foward the following ports on your router:
Port: 80
Port: 5900
Port: 443


Once these ports are fowarded you should be able to access you server's RAC by entering the following in a web browser(note the 's' in http, its important):

https://ip-address
or
https://domain-nam

VB Script to Reboot WebSTAR DPC2100R2 Cable Internet Modem

VB Script to Reboot Scientific Atlanta WebSTAR DPC2100R2 Cable Internet Modem

I noticed that a lot of people read my post about rebooting the cable modem using cURL, so I decided to post my VB Script I created to reboot this modem. Since the following scripts works perfectly with Internet Explorer Version 6, you may need to add or remove TAB's from the script to have it work in other IE version's. Or if you guys request it I will make a script for each version of IE, just leave a comment and let me know.

Update:See this post instead, Script removed.Curl Method

Cheap Decent Remote for HTPC (Home Theatre PC)

Well, I was building a HTPC and decided to use XBMC because of there interface and support for creating your own DVD covers to be shown when viewing your video library(there search sometimes gets it wrong).

XBMC

Remote

I decided I needed a remote for my HTPC because keyboard and remote for watching movies ? no thanks. So I found a remote from DealExtreme for $8.77 with FREE Shipping. 2 weeks later it arrived I plugged in the IR receiver to the computer (it auto installed the driver), put batteries in the remote and launched XBMC, to my surprise there was no other configuration, all the keys on the remote worked with XBMC right out of the box!!

The only settings I changed was to configure a shortcut on the remote to launch XBMC, so once I turned on the computer I did not need a keyboard or mouse, just press the XMBC button and start browsing your movies.

Launch XBMC using Remote
To create the quick key short cut on the remote; right click on the XBMC shortcut on the desktop, click properties, now click in the box where it says Shortcut key, now press the button on the remote you want to use to launch XBMC, the contents of the "Shortcut key:" box should have changed from "None" to something else.Click Apply and OK.

DealExtreme Link: IR Remote

XBMC Site: http://xbmc.org/
XBMC Download Link: http://xbmc.org/download/

View/Find/Clean-up Large Files in Windows

SpaceMonger 1.40

Download Link: SpaceMonger 1.40 
Mirror Link: SpaceMonger 1.40

This applications allows you to open a drive in it and gives you a graphical view of the files on this drive in different colors for file types and folders. Gives you an idea of which files are large and taking up space in a graphical way(larger the box=larger file). This can help you find those large files you forgot about somewhere on your hard drive.

Version 1.40 is the last Free version this company offered.

Build Your Own Linux LiveCD

Here is a website that lets you build a Linux LiveCD for your desired requirements, with the applications you want. You can build a live cd for multimedia, or office use, etc. As you add programs the size of the ISO changes on the top of the screen. The best part of this is that you build the ISO first and then download it.

Make your customized CD here:NimbleX2007V2

The ISO starts at 200MB and grows as you add applications, you can even customize the desktop background image and start-up audio of the live cd. You even have the option of setting your default language and your root account password and a user account username and password.

Now this is just perfect way to customize a livecd  to match your requirements since it will never be installed and only booted from the CD/DVD its nice to atleast choose settings and applications you like/require.

Reboot WebSTAR DPC2100R2 Cable Internet Modem

Here is how to reboot a WebSTAR DPC2100R2 Cable Internet Modem using a cURL command in Windows.  This command will reboot this modem regardless of the ISP; be it BT, Comcast, Virgin Media, Rogers, etc.


1) First you will need to download curl for windows, you can get it here: cURL

2) Now extract the curl archive you downloaded to your D drive, you can use any drive but just make sure you continue to use the same drive in the next steps.

3)Open command prompt(or click start->run  type "cmd" without quotes and press enter)

4) Navigate to the drive where you extracted the cURL program if its in D drive type D: and press enter. Now type "cd curl-7.21.2-devel-mingw32", then type "cd bin" Your command prompt should now be showing this path: D:\curl-7.21.2-devel-mingw32\bin>

5) Copy paste the following command into the command prompt window and when you press enter your modem will reset: curl http://192.168.100.1/goform/gscan -d SADownStartingFrequency=687000000

Viewing Exif Data using Opanda IExif

Opanda IExif

[Freeware][Installation Required]
Site:http://www.opanda.com/en/iexif/
Download Link:Opanda IExif 2.3

Well my last post showed you how to remove exif data and what exif data was. Well here is an application that will show you the exif data hidden in the images. Notice that there is a GPS tab as well, if your image has GPS data in it you can click on the link in that tab and it will show you on the map where that photo was taken. Well, have fun checking out photos and see whats been hiding.

Removing Exif Data from your photographs using Easy Exif Delete

Easy Exif Delete

[Freeware][Standalone]
Site:http://www.easyexifdelete.com/
Download Link:Easy Exif Delete

Firstly let me give a short description of what exif data is. Exif data is data contained in an image that can include date/time the photograph was taken, what type of camera was used, details on the distance of the subject and much more. Some cameras even show the exact location in the world of where the photo was taking using built in or external GPS accessory. My next post will show you how to view this exif data and see whats been hiding in your photo's.

Now there are many reasons you might want this exif data removed such as privacy when posting online, protecting the reason your pictures are looking so great(the settings and equipment you use is in the exif data) or any other reason.

To remove the exif data select all the images you want this information removed from in the application and click delete, it will batch delete exif data from all the photographs you chose.

Easy Duplicate Finder, Free up space on your HDD by removing duplicate files

Easy Duplicate Finder  

[Freeware] [Standalone]
Site: http://www.easyduplicatefinder.com/
Download Link: Easy Duplicate Finder

Wow, this app is soo usefull found multiple large files on my external that were duplicates and were named differently. Can help you find duplicates of any file type and help you clear up some space on your drive.

Very useful, you can search and entire drive or just a folder. Matter of fact you may search multiple specified drives and or folders. So it will tell you if the same file exist in external2 and Folder3 and Drive B:, providing your added these locations to your search.

This program checks the MD5 hash of the files and compares them so regardless of the file name or the extension it will find the duplicates for you. You can have Video1.avi and the same video renamed to Dma.rar and if its the same file it will find it.

Update: Well apparently they now require registration, well it still works great, not sure of the limitations without registration. Will update on that when I get some time.

Test Live/Bootable CD/DVD and USB's

Here is a useful application that I found to test Live/Bootable CD/DVD and USB's. After multiple burning and rebooting to test live cd/dvd's and USB drives I decided to look for a better way, but did not want to spend money on a Virtual Machine software.

I finally found an application that you do not need to install and do not need to create a virtual disk/hard drive. You just open the live cd/dvd iso in it or point it to the Live USB and just click run. It will boot the iso/usb inside your O/S, so you can test it before you burn. It uses a emulator called Qemu to accomplish this.


MobaLiveCD

 

[Freeware][Standalone]
Site: http://mobalivecd.mobatek.net/en/
Direct Download Link: MobaLiveCD2.1

First Post

So here is my first post, Ive decided to start a blog to post about tips and tricks for tech and sometimes life(general fix-its). Problems that I have encountered, I have a lot of hobbies so I have encountered many problems in many different things. Hope some of you will find it useful. Will be updating periodically.

Ill leave you with a little piece of software I found useful.

Unlocker

[Freeware] [Installation Required]

Site:http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
Download Link:Unlocker 1.9.0

Having trouble deleting a file or folder or remove a USB drive because the computer says its in use, well with this application installed just right click on the file click "Unlocker" from context menu and click unlock all and you may now delete it.