Over the years, I’ve built a number of file servers to suit my needs, all based on Linux, and mostly using software RAID in Linux. Unfortunately, there’s a number of issues that never seem to sit well with me.

So, needing to build (yet again) a newer, bigger file server, I started looking for alternatives. I considered Windows Home Server, freeNAS, OpenFiler, and others, including unRAID.

I finally settled on unRAID, as you might guess from the title of this story. Here’s just a few of the reasons:

1. It can spin down disks when they aren’t being used
2. Making a single disk larger is a piece of cake
3. Your disks do NOT need to be all the same size
4. The price is reasonable
5. It’s Linux based, albeit on Slackware (I know, you just vomited a little, so did I)
6. There’s a very active community surrounding it

So far, I’m very happy. I purchased a Norco 4220 case, with 20 hard drive bays, hopefully enough expansion room for a number of years. I’m using an older Asus A8N-SLI motherboard, with 2 PCIe x16 slots, which each house a Super Micro AOC-SASLP-MVP8. I tossed in 2GB of RAM, but it’s probably not necessary just to serve files.

In any case, if you’re stuck in a situation similar to mine, take a good look at unRAID. You might be really glad you did.

Maybe someday I can do a talk on unRAID at my local Linux Users Group.

Unfortunately, the current release of Ubuntu, 9.04, is currently using kernel 2.6.28, which isn’t new enough to have working wireless drivers for the chipset in the LT3103u. Fortunately, Ubuntu has a very clean way to upgrade to their “testing” release:

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

After having done this, wireless works perfectly. The beta of 9.09 Karmic Koala includes kernel 2.6.30. Other devices seem to work well, so far, with one exception: video.

Video was working fine until I closed the lid, at which point it never recovered. So, based on some data I read elsewhere, I disabled DRI using the following in xorg.conf:

Option “DRI” “off”

This is highly suboptimal, as DRI dramatically increases X11 performance. However, this does seem to have fixed the problem. I’ll do some more research to see if I can figure out a better solution. But in short, Ubuntu works well if you’re willing to run pre-release software. If I figure out anything else of note, I’ll be sure and update this post.

I just finished installing Fedora 11 using the Install DVD. Unfortunately, I failed to get the OS to install using the Net Install CD. It would fail halfway through, though I have a suspicion that it was my external DVD drive, and not necessarily the netbook.

After the initial install, the wireless sees networks but can’t connect to my WPA network. I’m doing a yum update now (453 packages!) and once that’s done, I’ll take a deeper look. There’s a post somewhere that says you need the latest ath9k driver and a patch for the synaptics touchpad to make scrolling work, but so far my scrolling is working fine, so perhaps that’s been patched already.

I’ll update this post once I get further along in making all the hardware work well. Then I’ll go on to do the same thing with Ubuntu.

Since the Mac zealots are out in full force, I guess I better chime in
quickly.     This is a very long post, sorry for that, but I'm trying to
be as thorough as I can be.

I am an extremely savvy computer user. My day job is managing a very
large server farm. I've been doing this stuff for nearly two decades.
You could argue somewhat that "I'm set in my ways" but I like to think
of it more like, "I know what works for me."

I didn't start out on Windows like most folks. The first "non-toy"
computers I learned on were UNIX systems. I later moved to Linux and did
start using Windows at the time Windows 95 came to be. I used (and still
use) Windows primarily for the purpose of playing video games. I have a
high end PC for this purpose.

For "real work/everyday use" I've primarily used Linux desktops. They
afforded a good set of features and stability, and I had the expertise
to tweak and maintain them the way that I wanted to work. I still use
Linux every day, and my wife does too. She'll tell you that she'd never
ever go back to using Windows or a Mac (she had both). The stability
coupled with the features she requires truly "just works." Her computer
usage is limited though; she surfs the web, reads email, posts on
forums, uses AIM, edits photos, etc. Just the basics. Any platform can
provide these things without too much difficulty.

In December of 2007 I purchased a 17" MacBook Pro; aside from the Mac
Pro, the highest priced machine available at the time. I was starting a
new job, and figured I would start out on the new platform with a clean
slate. I bought high end because I didn't want the "low end Mac" to
hinder my experience. I maxed out the memory in the system because I
wanted the system to run as smoothly as possible. Apple provides a
workflow and an application set, and they are, overall, not bad. But
they work a very specific way. If you don't want to work in that manner,
that's too bad. I found that very frustrating. Day in and day out I felt
like I was fighting against my computer. I'd try to do it "The Apple
Way" but I felt like it was just slowing me down. Mac laptops (in
specific, because you can't change their keyboard) have their "meta"
keys laid out differently than a PC. I found this very frustrating when
switching back and forth between systems. If you get a desktop, you can
replace the keyboard with whatever you like, if you don't like their
re-layout of the standard keyboard. There were a few applications that I
felt were really nice on the Mac; none of those were provided by Apple.
After 10 months of using the machine day in and day out, I was still
very frustrated multiple times a day with the machine. I decided to sell
it, and thankfully didn't lose my shirt. I still have a few Macs lying
around the house here, but none have been powered up in months or years.

A lot of folks will use the dual boot or windows emulation layer
arguments for "why you should get a Mac whether you want Mac or Windows"
but that's a fallacy in my opinion. If you do that, you're now
maintaining two operating systems, instead of one. Dual boot means you
have to shut down and load the other OS, do what you want, then shut
down and boot back into the one you started with. Personally, I find
that maddening. I don't want to have to reboot on a regular basis. If
you run the emulation route, your performance is hindered (though not
badly these days) and some things run a bit wonky. Overall, you can get
your Windows apps running without rebooting, but it'll cost you for the
application and it won't be the clean experience that running it
natively on Windows would be. So, if you "want" a Mac but "need" one or
two Windows apps, it's a good solution. If you are going to run a bunch
of Windows-specific applications all the time, buyer beware.

As some others have said, a lot of the "Windows problems" stem from
using the wrong software. Don't surf with IE. Don't read mail in Outlook
Express. Don't click on random attachments. Etc, etc. Choosing the right
software to accomplish your tasks in Windows may be all you need to get
the experience you're looking for, at a fraction of the cost of buying a
new computer.

Along those same lines, Linux might be a viable solution as well. The
big plus here is that Linux is "free" in that you don't have to pay
money to use it. You can download an Ubuntu Linux CD image, burn it to a
disc, and install it on your current hardware. You can play with it for
a few weeks, decide whether it's for you. If you do like it, you've
saved a ton of cash, again. If not, you've put off buying a new computer
for a few weeks. In the Apple world, that's never bad, since most of
their computers are not upgradeable, and updates happen reasonably
often. Worst case, you get the same computer you would have gotten a few
weeks ago, best case, you get new fancier hardware and aren't kicking
yourself for getting "screwed" by Apple's secret release schedule.

So, I guess, in some sort of bullet point form, here's my advice:

* Make an inventory of software you "must have" and make sure it or an
equivalent is available.
* Find a Mac that you can use, if at all possible. Try to use it
yourself, not just let someone else drive for you. The Apple store is
better than nothing, but someone's home is even better.
* Try Linux, if you're willing. You might be surprised.
* Don't give up on Windows before you have tried the "better" software.
* If you purchase a Mac, be prepared to feel lost for a little while.
The system is not a Windows clone.
* Don't think for a minute that OS X (or Linux) is "bulletproof." They
all have bugs and annoyances.
* Make sure you're OK with the glossy Mac screen. I find these maddening
to use in my room, because I have a lot of windows and love having
sunlight in here.

If money is absolutely no object, picking up a Mac Pro isn't a bad
choice. It's fast, powerful, expandable, and can run Windows if you
decide to go back. It'll also set you back $3k+, but we already said
money is not an object.

A lot of people will never open their computer to do anything. If you're
one of those people the iMac and MacBook lines are not bad choices. but
they are very limited in their ability to be upgraded, expanded, and
reconfigured. USB expansion can help a lot with this, but you can't use
USB to get a nicer monitor, video card, CPU, etc.

I've rambled on long enough so I'll try to wrap this up. If you choose
to use OS X or Linux, realize that you're voluntarily placing yourself
in a minority. Minorities aren't supported like the majority. You aren't
going to pick up the latest whiz bang software at your local Target
store. You'll have to be far more intelligent about buying hardware to
expand your system, and verify compatibility.

Hopefully some of what I've written above will help you. I've tried to
avoid telling you to buy X or Y. I think it's arrogant and foolish to
presume that I know what will work best for you. Teaching you to fish is
far more useful to your selection process, I think.

Cheers,
Chris

Turns out, Andrew Smith has written an app called ISO Master. I guess it was originally Linux only, but he now offers a Windows port as well. Editing the ISO image using his application is a piece of cake. You can even edit text files inside the ISO on the fly (great for poking at the syslinux.cfg, for example). It’s the perfect open source app; it work well, does what it advertises, and doesn’t try to do a bunch of other things.

According to his web site, he charges $20 for the Windows version, but the Linux version is free of charge. If you’re in the market to muck around with ISO’s (putting your serial number on a CD, for example) I’d highly suggest you check ISO Master out.