It’s been quite a while in the making (and maybe a bit late), but Camelot has arrived for Windows, OSX, Linux, and XBMC Live, and just in time for the holidays. Noteworthy changes include a revamped user interface via the new default skin “Confluence“, DirectX support by default for the Windows platform, a complete reorganization of the settings menus, automatic video information extraction, and smoother video playback. In addition, all scrapers have been updated, new remotes are supported out of the box, and codecs have been updated for more reliable playback.

More information and Download:-

http://xbmc.org/team-xbmc/2009/12/24/xbmc-9-11-camelot/

NEWSFACTOR.com classes Windows Home Server as one of the undiscovered tech products of 2009 alongside the likes of Google Voice and cloud based password management utility Lastpass

Windows Home Server is probably Microsoft ’s best-kept secret, and that’s a shame.

You can read the undiscovered tech products of 2009 here.

Entertainment 2.0 is a podcast about digital media which we all use in our daily life’s, and in the latest episode 57 hosts Josh Pollard and Adam Thursby are joined by special guest Dave McCabe from The Home Server Show podcast.

Dave chats about his Media Center experiences and tells us how Windows Home Server can be used to help add some functionality to MCE (Media Center Edition).

You can catch the podcast here.

The Home Server Show podcast episode 69 has plenty of news items this week.

You can listen to Dave, Jim and John right here.

We would like to wish all our readers a wonderful Christmas/happy holidays (depending on your faith) and wish you a wonderful time with family, friends and your Home Servers

A wonderful photo from the WHS page on Facebook.

From our contributors Steve Crick, Gary Quigley, Matthew Glover, Al West and myself Philip Churchill – Thanks guys!

How do you integrate multiple Windows Media Center computers, Zunes, an XBox 360, and also a Windows Home Server?

Easy, and here’s a basic home network map

And everything syncs together too.

You can read more here.

The add-in CloudBerry Backup for Windows Home Server has been updated to version 1.3.3.

The online backup service for Home Server users now provides full support for Drive Extender, a backup windows where you can setup how long to run a backup plan. e.g. you can have it start every day at midnight and finish by  6AM  and better support for Volume Shadow Service.

If you are unaware CloudBerry Backup for Windows Home Server provides the following features:

• Easy installation and configuration
• Seemlesly integrates with WHS control panel
• Default backup plan is designed to quickly start WHS data backup
• Scheduling capabilities
• Data encryption
• Data retention schedule
• Secure online storage
• Data versioning
• Differential backup
• The ability to restore to a particular date
• Backup verification

CloudBerry Online Backup for Windows Home Server is available for $29.99 and a 30 day trial is also available – More details here.

The latest nvidia graphic driver 195.62 WHQL is available for downloading .This will support all the Windows Media Center based platforms.

For download and more information:-

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

If you would like to know how to install PowerShell onto Windows Home Server then Maximo Trinidad has the details.

Maximo takes you step by step through the process to get PowerShell setup and configured on our Home Server’s, which you can read here.

It’s that time of year again, you can go over to WeGotServed and vote for your most favourite WHS goodies (HW/SW,Addins,…).
Even AutoExit 2009 is in the list of nominations

Go and give your vote over here: http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/12/21/vote-in-the-we-got-served-reader-awards-2009/

Jeremy Jones has updated his post on how to backup your Mac using Time Machine to a Windows Home Server

Jeremy states that there has been many updates to Windows Home Server and Mac OS X that has complicated the process and therefore previous methods will probably not work.

The good news is that he has documented a easy process to get your Mac Time Machine working with Windows Home Server again, and posted a video as well which you can find here.

Lights-Out enables you to put a Windows Home Server into suspended mode or hibernation and resume on user defined events.

The latest 1.0.0.0 version is now available as 2 versions. A free community edition and a licensed edition for €15 personal/€25 commercial.

What’s New:

• Support for non WHS clients like Macs, Xbox, streaming clients
• Support for process, file, cpu and network load monitoring
• Scheduled wake-up, backups and a client option to shut down after backup
• Localized for English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese
• Polished GUI

More details are available from here.

TigerDirect’s com.puter.tv channel has a 4 minute video on the HP StorageWorks X510 Data Vault Windows Home Server which is worth a look if you want to see what the X510/EX495 looks like in the flesh.

Windows sysadmin Claus Valca wanted a way to RDP to his copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, which doesn’t allow connections to it. So he copied over 4 files from a Windows 7 build which does support the full Windows Remote Desktop, and now has it working.

You can find out how he done it here.

While you’re on the Microsoft Connect website adding your vote and thoughts on MSE’s relationship to WHS, have a look at the other suggestions as well.  I’ve just voted in support of functionality to automate backup of WHS to an external HDD (link requires Windows Live profile to log in).  At the moment, a backup of the content of your WHS is only possible (excluding those that have a subscription to an online backup to the cloud) by:

1. Connecting an external drive to your WHS;
2. Opening the WHS console (and configuring the external drive as an external archive, if this is the first time);
3. Hitting the backup now button.

I suspect that any solution is going to require the pressing of at least one button somewhere, otherwise your WHS won’t know whether you’re intending on running a backup or doing a restore.  In any event, it would be nice if execution could be handled by the pop-up on the client – after all, the comms are already there to send messages to connected clients.

How would you like to see external backups work?

The past few months have been pretty eventful, though nothing in terms of figure acquisitions. I am, however, expecting a couple things in the near future, including a set of Summer Uniform Lucky Star Figma (Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki), Yoko Real Image ver., and a bunch of BDs and DVDs from RightStuf’s 12+ Days of Christmas sale.

Black Friday also came and went, and while I didn’t actually go out, I did score a couple interesting items. The first of which came in the week before Thanksgiving…

Yes, that is a brand new DLP television in my living room. Just how big is it and how much did I pay? Keep reading…

Prior to the upgrade, I had a 42in LCD from Vizio in the living room (the whole setup looked like this). The new display is a whopping 60in DLP from Mitsubishi. After some prodding from a coworker, I went to check it out at a local store. Since DLP TVs are slowly being phased out of the market (Mitsubishi is the only company still making them), the price was already marked down. On top of that, the store was running a coupon for $250 off any HDTV bigger than 52in. Final price was ~$750 with taxes. Not bad, eh?

Since the TV was much bigger, some new furniture was required. This meant several runs to IKEA and I ended up with a LACK TV stand and two EXPEDIT shelving units. Combined with the existing decor and lamps, the whole room has really filled up and looks extremely nice!

Going back a bit further, I’d also done some upgrades to my home computer setups. Chikane now sports two separate drives, with the primary disk being a 300 GB Western Digital Velociraptor. The secondary disk remains the same with a 750GB Samsung SpinPoint F1, though I have noticed a slight performance increase by installing the high performance drive. Additionally, Kagami got a space upgrade in the form of a 1.5 TB hard drive. This replaced one of the 750 GB drives already in service, bringing total drive space up to 5.25 TB (4.78 TB according to the computer).

Well, at this point, that’s really about it! Thanksgiving was full of family visits and Christmas is just around the corner! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

About a month ago, I posted questions about the strategy for MSE, particularly in relation to the home market, and specifically in relation to Windows Home Server.  In that time, the suggestion on Microsoft Connect has been voted up with 50 people marking it as important.  Thanks to all those that have added their support and comments.

Have you added your vote?

If you are running a headless Windows Home Server such as the HP MediaSmart Servers you best option is to use the Windows Home Server Console from a Windows or Mac Computer.  However, it is possible to use Remote Desktop (RDP) to connect to your server and there are many clients out there for a number of devices like mobile phones, PDAs or the iTouch.  TSMobiles is one such client available from RDMPlus  (http://www.rdmplus.com/tsm/java/download.html).  The configuration within this review is the Java client running on a Nokia N97.  Clients from RDMPlus also include the BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm and Window Mobile.  They all have the same functionality and, apart from slight User Interface differences, behave the same.

RDMPlus offer a free 7 day trial and a full license costs around £21.50 ($34.95) depending on the exchange rate.  In this review I detail the installation and show you what TSMobiles looks like when connecting to Window Home Server.

Installation

First go to http://www.rdmplus.com/tsm/java/download.html and download the java client.  Most devices support Java but if you are using one of the devices mentioned before you should use the ‘Change device’ option in the top right of the download page to select the version that is best suited to your unit.

Once you have the installation downloaded to your PC you can either double click on it to start the installation process (assuming you have setup Nokia PC Suite correctly) or copy the installation to your device using a memory card or USB.  Once the installation has been initiated you’ll be asked to confirm this on your device.

Select OK

Continue through the security warning – due to network access.

Select where the installation should be made.  On the N97 it’s a good idea to install your apps on the Mass Memory device to leave as much memory free on the Phone Memory as that location is shared with the operating memory.

A few seconds is all it take to install this application and once installed it should be available in your applications folder.

Once installed you can either run the app directly or in this case I selected close.

Here is the TSMobiles in the applications folder.  You can move it to where ever you like.

TSMobiles takes a few moments to load and will use any existing network connection.  In this review we consider the case where you are accessing your Windows Home Server from within a Wireless LAN within your home network.  Though with some of configuration of your home router you could connect to your Windows Home Server from outside your home network.

TSMobiles allows you to try the product for up to 7 days and it needs to connect to the internet to check on your entitlement to try it out. 

Another thing to remember is with the trial version is it will display trail version on the screen from time to time when using the Remote Desktop.

On the N97 you have to confirm anytime a Java Application needs to use services on the phone that require authorization, such as network access.  Remember TSMobiles will use any connection that is available so you might want to disconnect your mobile network data connection to allow a wireless connection to be used instead.

From the options menu select New address to add your Window Home Server Details.  You will need to know the IP of your home server.

Though you can connect to your Home Server using the Administrator account it’s recommended you use one of the user accounts that you have setup previous within you Windows Home Sever.  Remember that these accounts need to be setup from remote access.  You can find this User Accounts tab in the Windows Home Server Console.

Under Setup within TSMobiles is the option to setup the desktop size when logged into your Windows Home Server.  This can be independent of your device and server.  Though it cuts the right hand side of the Windows Home Server Console I find 800×600 works best for me on the N97 without having to use zoom.  Text it just about legible and you can easily navigate most of the console at this size.  Though if you are happy to keep popping in and out of zoom then you could set the Custom size to 1024×768.  First select the custom radio button and then enter the resolution you want to use in the Custom field.

Another trail nag screen – this wouldn’t be seen with the registered version.

If at this point your server won’t connect it may be because your device is trying to connect over the network.  Ensure that your mobile data access is disconnected.

I found in using TSMobiles that sometimes not all of the screen is rendered.  For a mobile device a lot of data is being sent and received so it’s asking quite a bit from a Java compatible phone to match up to the user experience you might find on a computer.

As you can see the settings option is not show where it normally would be in the top right.  Personally I use the Update History and Advanced Admin Console Add-Ins which have functions that show the Windows Home Server Settings window.  The server storage tab is a good example of widgets that resize nicely under TSMobiles – other windows may be truncated depending on what they are and what resolution you are using.

For example the Shared Folder tab show most of the information but the important status LEDs are not fully shown in 800×600.  It’s a shame Microsoft didn’t design for 800×600 displays.  I seem to remember talk of creating a console that fits the more common net-top displays of 1024×600 so maybe this a better size to use with TSMobiles.

All in all TSMobiles is a great solution if you want to be able to access your Window Home Server, or any other Windows PC within your network.

A few months back I was tinkering with creating Windows Home Server Add-Ins in Visual Studio.  I started work on an Anti-Virus Add-In based around ClamAV, the open source (GPL) anti-virus toolkit.  I’m considering continuing the project and I’m interested to know how much interest there would be in such an Add-In.  If you would use such an Add-In then please leave a comment below.

The Linux community has been busy creating Greyhole, which is based on the Windows Home Server Drive Extender concept, but open source, running on Linux

Greyhole is an application that uses Samba to create a storage pool of all your available hard drives (whatever their size, however they’re connected), and allows you to create redundant copies of the files you store, in order to prevent data loss when part of your hardware fails.

If you would like to try it, it’s available now for testing. More details are available from here and here.

Due this month (December) was software from HP for owners of the previous generation EX47x and EX48x MediaSmart Servers to update them to the latest version 3 software. But unfortunately due to compatibility problems with PP3 and also the media streaming software the update will not be available till Febuary 2010.

HP has also confirmed that the cost of the upgrade media will be will be US$25 or €25.

Here’s the full press release:

HP MediaSmart Server 3.0 Software Update Progress

In the latter stages of testing our 3.0 software update, a couple of issues were discovered with the upgrade disks.  One was related to compatibility with PowerPack 3 and the other with the media streaming software.  Both issues have fixes and we are now going back through our build and testing process.  As a result, the 3.0 software update DVD availability will now be in February.  While this delay was unexpected, we remain committed to providing this upgrade path for owners of our EX470/475/485/487 products.  As previously communicated, these upgrades will be available as a server recovery solution.   

The cost of the upgrade DVD has been finalized and will be US$25 or €25.

Windows guru Paul Thurrott has a review of Power Pack 3 up on his SuperSite for Windows site.

Paul also has a tip on the Windows 7 library support. If you have a lot of  shared folders then your library is going to be rather bloated, but as Paul states it is easily rectified by turning off any server-side shares from the Windows 7 library setting.

You can read Paul’s review here.

How does a Zune device, Windows 7 Media Center, an Xbox 360 and Windows Home Server work together?

Visual Studio Magazine has the answer:

… (1) Media Center can now archive TV recordings to Home Server, (2) I can view the status of my Windows Home Server rig from my Media Center PC, using the remote control, and can do likewise from either of my Xbox consoles, and (3) I can configure Windows Home Server to transcode my TV recordings to a lower bit rate, suitable for transfer to, and viewing on, a Zune device, Granted, I don’t own a Zune, but the feature is intriguing nonetheless.

You can read more about Microsoft products "working together" here.

Missing Remote has a review of the VIA Artigo A200 2-drive barebone system.

The comprehensive review compares the unit to the HP EX487 and the VIA NSD-7800 and takes a look at the unit from both the outside and the inside.

Pros:

• Super low powered
• Smallest storage unit tested in-house
• Compact Flash slot
• VGA Port
• Front USB port
• Very nice looking, tiny case

Cons:

• Cost adds up given lack of WHS license, drives and memory
• Audio Ports on backpanel
• No Dual Gigabit
• Slower/Older 1.5 GHz CPU
• No RAM Included
• 40mm CPU Fan could get loud over time
• No hot swap drive bays
• No eSATA Ports

Catch it here.

Before I go any further, There is something I must do and that is apologise to my eldest daughter.

Rebecca I unreservedly apologise for incorrectly holding you responsible for the resent issues with the home server and computers, 

The reason I believed this to be this case was both the server and your laptop were the worst computers affected (however there were previous instances where you were the guilty party which did influence my reasoning).

After browsing the web I came across this statement from my AV supplier Avast.

On Thursday 3.12. 2009 Avast! had a bad false positive issue. At around 00:15 AM GMT we released VPS update 091203-0 which started flagging hundreds of innocent files as a ‘Win32:Delf-MZG‘ Trojan (or, in less common cases, as ‘Win32:Zbot-MKK‘). Among the files affected were high-profile programs produced by Adobe, Realtek, sound card drivers, various media players etc.

This is disgraceful thing to happen, because of this I stripped a server to bare (seven) drives, formatting all, deleted data from the system and backup’s to ensure that it did not follow back on to the system and reinstalling the OS, I also ended up buying new AV software for my clients as this was the only way to clear the infection for which some were urgently needed for collage work.

And it turns out the tool that I spent a lot of money and used to protect my data ended up being the reason for lost data, time and money, because no matter how many time I thought it was gone due to the faulty product the issue kept showing up and why it appeared to be almost impossible to clear.

I would after this disgrace recommend that you do not use the Avast product for something as important as you home server for the very reason I have outlined above.

While my subscription ends in January I still paid £50 (for 6 Norton licences) to clear non existent viruses off PC’s as such I will not be renewing my subscription for the server either and will be looking at other solutions.

While my time is something I consider to be valuable there is no way for me to put an absolute time spent or finical price on the time consumed by this, however I will investigate what options are available to me for perusing my financial losses/expenses be that by Avast making good or by other avenues.

I am not a happy bunny to say the least.