I’ve never claimed to be an architect, but I love great tools that work well.  One such tool belonging to that category is Google SketchUp.  In the past, I’ve fiddled with 3D software before.  I think that Blender is awesome…but it also has a steep learning curve.  Almost a learning cliff. It honestly is just to much for my needs....

Well, it has been a while, so I thought I better at least complete this thought regarding XBMC.  Overall, it is one of the slickest open source projects I’ve encountered.  Well run, well designed, and very active.  However, there are some downsides.  Let me break this down as well as I can from my perspective: XBMC – The Good: Super fast and...

Here is a link to my article on Linux.com.  It is my first effort, and while it turned out pretty well, I think I’ll do some things different next time.  And there will be a next time. http://www.linux.com/feature/144179 Give it a read and let me know what  you...

It’s been a little too long since my last post–apologies.  Here’s what I’ve found out since: The pre-built Xebian/Myth distro seems to have trouble finding my backend server.  Which is strange, as they are both on the same 100MB network segment.  It complains about no UPnP sources. Apparently no one can watch live TV on the...

Well, this little issue hit me with a brief feeling of deja-vu.  It is the exact same trouble that I faced trying to get Nessus security scanner frontend to write data to a MySQL database.  I don’t know when exactly it changed, but new versions of MySQL writes passwords in a hashed table (and perhaps a new location, too) so that older apps trying to...

Yes, I will now be referring to these efforts as the Joseph Baxter’s Smart Home Media Project ™.  There’s no way I’ll be able to resist coming up with some sort of logo for that, I’m sure. So, now to the part that, quite frankly, spooked me a little.  Yeah, the Myth stuff was fairly hard, and my Linux knowledge is somewhat...