Moving iTunes

Background:

I've been dual booting my laptop for quite a long time between Vista (for iTunes) and Linux Mint (for everything else). Over time, my Vista install has degraded, and my last attempt to clean it up killed it. Unfortunately, my iTunes library was trapped on that partition.

Sure, I could have backed it up, by I didn't think I needed to. I don't keep music files within the iTunes library, and I knew I could always resubscribe to podcasts if they were lost. However, I learned that I can't sync the iPhone to a new library without basically erasing everything on the phone, including all of the music. It would take hours to reload all of the tunes.

The Solution:

I read many tutorials online that outlined how to transfer the library. What a mess! Each was more confusing and tedious than the one before. Odd that even though Apple does a good job of making things clear and easy, this was not something most people could do. Especially tricky is the proper naming for the media files. Since I am moving from Vista to XP (virtual on the new Linux server), the path to "My Music/iTunes" will be different from one to the other. I did find one little section of a web page that told me that if iTunes couldn't find the media files in the directory listed, it would try in the default location for that install.

Now, it's easy. Using Linux, I copied the entire iTunes directory tree from the ailing Vista partition to the new virtual machine. Took a while to move 5GB+, but iTunes came right up. After a quick once through on the library, it is working fine.

But Can It Sync?

Yes.

(Before I could use USB on the virtual machine, I had to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions.)

I plugged the iPhone into a USB port on the Linux machine, and told VirtualBox to pass it through, and it worked. This was the first sync in a month, so there were many podcasts to load, and I also added some new tunes.

This whole process was much easier than I thought it would be.

(Because of other problems that have to be cleared up, I won't be able to sync again for a while.)

HTPC #5 - Trouble

This project has gone pretty well. Assembly was easy, software installation was challenging but successful, and setting up the file server functions was a breeze. I was even able to setup iTunes in a virtual machine. This box runs fast and works well.

Well, except for one thing. I've only been able to get HDMI to work one time for about 15 minutes. Every other time I hook it up, either using the HDMI port or using a DVI to HDMI adapter, the resulting picture has been horrible. Very green with shades of pink, and intensely overstaturated. I tried different cables and all three inputs on my television, but no luck. (Using the supplied DVI to VGA adapter, I get a good picture on an old CRT.)

After talking with a friend (who works at Nvidia) and corresponding with the vendor, it has been decided that the motherboard is faulty and should be replaced. I applied to Newegg for an RMA for replacement and it was issued. Tomorrow, I take the whole thing apart and send it back. Then, I wait for the replacement. Wonder how long this will take.

HTPC #4 - Configuring Samba

This was so easy!

I installed samba:

sudo apt-get install samba

Created the configuration file:

[global]
workgroup = MYGROUP
netbios name = HTPC
server string = HTPC
security = share
encrypt passwords = yes
local master = no
guest ok = yes
#===== Share Definitions =====

[files]
comment = Files
path = /export
public = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
force user = nobody
force group = nogroup

And restarted the daemon:

sudo restart smbd

Now I have a share called files that contains the /export directory. Anyone on my network can read or write files without a login.

See? I told you it was easy.

HTPC #3 - Software

Now that I have the computer assembled, it's time for software. I've been playing with different versions of Ubuntu and Fedora as I wait for Ubuntu 10.04 to be released. It dropped a couple of days ago, so it's time to go!

Downloading the OS way easy. My employer, a major Midwestern research university, keeps a local archive of several open source packages, so the download was fast and trouble free. As usual, the install was quick and without issue.

Next, I installed the restricted extras package to get the various codecs I need for media playback. After a reload of the repositories in Synaptic, the package was in the list, and I started in the install. Since I was competing with a lot of other leading edge Linux geeks, these downloads took a lot longer to download. When the process estimated 4 hours until completion, I went to bed.

The next morning, the install was complete, and I ran the program that sets up DVD playback capabilities. The restricted extras install process is documented in many places, including https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats.

Next, it's time for Boxee. A new beta has just been release that works with 10.04, although not officially. I had trouble with earlier versions on the 10.04 RC not being able to connect, even while running on 9.10 worked OK. Sure enough, after the install, I couldn't login. The error message said "Internet connection not available".

I should mention that I had been seeing some strange behavior with DNS lookups when web browsing. They seemed to take a long time to complete. Could this be the problem with Boxee?

To test my theory, I switched my DNS settings in the computer from the default Comcast settings via my router, to the Google DNS servers. Voila! It worked! Both DNS lookups in general, and the Boxee login in particular are now functional.

Next, I'm going to setup the repository for music, video, and photo files. Stay tuned!