Extra Hardware - Plex Media Server

If you're a PC-Gamer/computer person then you are a lot like me and have a tons of extra hardware laying around. So with all this you try to find uses for the older hardware and trust me there are many uses for it. Just because its no longer the top of the line super fast machine to play the latest greatest games you can still do a lot with it. I am going to be writing some articles about what to use this old hardware for and some of the software I use around my house. 

Lets be truthful, kids can be very hard on today's media formats for video entertainment. DVDs are the most common, and don't hold us well to scratches. So with this I decided to create a media center machine out of some of my old hardware laying around, and when we buy the kids a new movie I encode it into a stream able video format that my Amazon Fire TV can view. Cutting down on the destruction of the DVDs yeah they maybe a cheap format but lets face it, your sick of buying another copy of Frozen for the sixth time at ten bucks a pop which is getting pricey ($10 x 6 = $60) and that just one DVD the kids are breaking, you will go broke by the time the kid hits second grade if you haven't gotten them to put the movie back correctly and lets face it my 11 and 9 year old still have issues with getting that right. 

So a new media setup is needed just what do I use well... Plex (view features)

Plex is a multi media server system, with very little technical knowledge needed. Plex allows you to share you media anywhere you want across the Internet to your own devices you allow using an account you create. So you can share you media be it movies, music, and photos to your phone, TV, tablet, and even your game console. 

So lets get the technical break down out of the way. Plex minimum requirement have two settings, with trans-coding or w/o trans-coding. Since you want to be able to watch your videos on any item I recommend with trans-coding. These specs are at least a Duel core 2.4 processor, if you are going to have a lot of devices on at once I recommend a quad core, at least 2 GB of ram, Windows Vista or newer, OS:X Snow Leopard 10.6.3 or newer, or you can have to following versions of Linux running(Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE Linux) You can read more about it here. 


My server specs are the following:(white case)

• AMD Athlon II X2 2.9 GHz
• 4 GB Ram
• Windows 7 Pro x86
• Network is a Wired 10/100 Ethernet
• Seagate 80 gig 7200 rpm (boot drive)
• Western Digital 500 Gig 7200 rpm (videos, photo, music; ex Plex drive)

The fist thing I would so with my server is make sure my OS is fully setup and any virus scanner is loaded and ready and everything is up to date. If using an older machine, I would do a full reload of the software, if restoring from a big box supplier (HP, Dell, or so forth) I would go threw and remove any software not needed for basic PC usage as the machine will just sit some where and not be used by a user. Next set would be to setup where my media is stored. I would recommend creating a folder named Plex, then do a break down from there. One folder for each item Photos, Videos, Music. This give the software a clear place to find the files and also helps for saving the items to a simple location. Once this is all done you can download the Server Software. Follow all the steps from the installer. It will ask you to create an account this is key as you will use this log in to connect any device you are using with Plex. 
Once this is all done, you can go to your device you want to connect. We use the Amazon Fire TV in our living room so I use Plex to stream all my media to that. Each device has its own setup the software will cost you five bucks but once you have bought it on one account you can load it to all your devices you have that account on. So our two Fire boxes both have it. Now that you have it loaded on the device just log in with your account and boom if you followed all the steps in the setup you should see all your files from your server. 

This wasn't a major break down of how to setup a new Plex server, but I hope it gave you some ideas of what to do and how to think about sharing your media with kids around. 

Have you built a media center for your home?  What software did you use? or even the hardware you used?

Mind Blockage Will Kill Your Time

Writers block is a wall that can be destroyed with effort.

All of us have been there before. A major paper due in college, last minute report for the boss, and the ever dreaded meeting time change. All these items cause a major blockage to our minds. Then we head home to our families trying to keep an upbeat mind. Our minds try to keep us going all day long and then we finally get a chance to sit down and write or game and BOOM!!! The Wall hits us. You might have noticed I said game in there too. As the wall can also stop us gamer's from enjoying our favorite game.

I myself find this happening a lot not only has the wall come and crashed down on my mind when I am trying to write a blog post, a YouTube video, the new Tech tutorials I am working on but also into my gaming lately. I have found that after coming home from working my 10 hour days as of late, I help the wife with dinner and goof off with the kids for a bit then off to my desk for and hour or two of work. I have been trying to write something for this blog, a video and clean up around my area the first hour and half, then mess with a game for the last half before I go and watch a movie or show with the wife. I find that in the first hour I have been spending more time looking at my notes of what I want to write about, or a website way too much. This causes me to cut down big time  on my gaming or cleaning up around the desk. Not a good thing, I need to use my time wisely, what little of it I have as a full time working man/husband/father of four that wants to veg out a bit in the world of gaming. So I created a quick little list for myself to crush this wall of stoppage before things get too bad.

1) 15 Minutes of Prep setup (gathering all materials, sites, links)
2) 25 Minutes writing article (no spell check, or grammar that is done later)
3) 15 Minutes adding graphic, spell checking, grammar check)
4) Take 5 minutes to re-read over then post or save article.

Yeah its quick and a lot of errors can be made with this method. But here is the key, if you are sitting down every night doing some writing then you should have a ton of saved items or even things you are building on in the back ground. What this does is create a back log of things for you to post down the road and always keeping the creative thoughts going, can't get the new items written go back to an old item you haven't posted and add more to that and clean it up.

There is no wall you can't over come as long as you have a little effort you can crush anything in your path.

Rebuilding a Home

Creating something new is always good, but rebuilding something that was once great takes even more effort then you would ever know. 

So over the weekend I went back out to my in-laws which is a huge farm, and my kids love it out there. So much room to run around and different things to do unlike in the city where we live. They can walk over to the lake and fish, shoot off guns and bows. This time of year is great because my older two boys get to go hunting with their Pap and Great Uncle Gene. I think this is great because it helps then learn patience waiting for a deer and learning how to use the bow and gun correctly and always with parental supervision.

Now in the last four years the farm has gone down hill a bit, but that is bound to happen due to the age of not only Gram (now 83) and my in laws are both in their 50's so their age has slowed them down doing things. Since my kids love being out there so much, I have spoken to my wife and the in-laws that I will be helping out some more on some projects out there. I will also be having the kids help, its a big part of my wife's memories being out there and how it was when she was a girl, and I want my kids to have some of the same memories.

Now being the gamer I am, I have decided to look at things from a different point of view. Knowing the funds available and the items around the place for resources we can create not only a farm that produces something to use but a place to re-use a lot of the items laying around. Yep, that's right folks time to use all those hours and hours of RTS (real time strategy) game play to my advantage. But it wont be just a simple lets try this and go, I will also be using my memory of standard business management to make sure we will not be wasting our time and money on things. I will be making plans and doing a lot of small testing of things here at my own home before I try to ramp anything up to help out there. My over all goal is to make life easier for my in-laws and to teach my kids something new; and you can apply what you learn in not only books, school but in video games too.
Some of the ideas I am looking into is recycling of the items out there, water storage, some basic house weatherization, and plant control around the house for Gram. Those weeds are taking over the yard and the colder months are a good time to remove their area before the next year.

Here is my starting list which you all will see updates on and a break down of how I did it:

1. Weatherization of house
2. Plant control
3. Water Storage
4. Recycling of Material around

Its a short list but I think it will be a good project for the boys and I this winter, not to mention they will be seeing a lot of their Gram with me being out there doing these things. Creating a home is easy, but rebuilding one that has been left out in the cold brings more memories then ever.

Mess of a Mad man

Oh the mess of a mad man can be seen here, good thing I can't show you whats in my mind. 

When most people think of a working area, you think of the normal TV show or movie desk. An all clean area with all stock of items you would normally find in an office. Well this here shows you what a real person desk is, a mess of work an ideas. I am not alone, even great men of the past have left a mess of work behind when they move on. As you can see from the pic of Albert Einstein desk was always a mess even up to his death. There have been many test showing a messy desk is a sign of brilliance or even madness.

Now I have to say I have been trying to keep things in a neater order. Now you might think, just how Dark?  Well I have been spending a few hours a night on Pinterest looking at ideas from a lot of cleaver people. Yes, that right I'm on Pinterest there are thousands on there, its not just a site for ladies to show of their crafts, I have found a lot of men posting home make over ideas, man cave changes, desk hacks to make things cleaner, and so much more.

I know this isn't a blog to talk about arts and crafts, but it is a place to talk about what to do with the gaming, consoles and all the fun stuff that comes w
ith them.  All this stuff takes up tons of space so much that I have over six 40 gallon storage totes of all my gaming stuff in them. not to mention my four pcs that I use, and the two laptops that are mine(yes I'm a pc hoarder.) Then there is the green screen for videos, the kids pc, and the tv with all the game consoles that I have around me, and this is just one room of the house. Now you can see on why I have started to look into creative storage solutions. As you can see I have a lot to take in and start sorting. This winter I plan to clean this all up and create a move pretty area for the kids and I to game/create new videos in.

Yep quiet a mess I have on my hands, but in the next few weeks, this gaming dad will be cleaning it all up and creating a whole new area of gaming.

1. Clean up the area
2. Create a new storage setup
3. Create a roll-up setup for Green Screen
4. Proper cable management around PCs & Consoles. 

Failures of Promoting

Ok, so for the last few days I have been doing a ton of reading on how to properly promote this blog, and damn it's confusing. Most of the post or info out there is other sites trying to get hits on their own sites. To which I can't blame them, but most of it seems to be like anything. Create some type of drama/click bait and hope for the hits.
I think I'm gonna take the side road and talk about some bad misses I've seen.

1) Trying to compare sites/blogs:
This item is funny to me, most people try coping or being like blog that is already established or popular. It's like the old high school gang that thinks they are the real deal being like or wanting to be the popular kid. I just can't do that, I've always been the odd man out. So pass on this one.

2) Click Baiting:
Yes I know, isn't every blog about creating a click bait topic just to get views/traffic. Yes and no. Yes bloggers want traffic every Web page wants traffic, but using the old fashion we need to scare, fool, or just plain treat you like an idiot to click onto a page is bullshit. So I won't be kissing up to anyone or trying to yell the world is coming to an end just to get you to read my post.

3) Hipster Types:
I hate hipsters, the whole attitude of "I was cool before, it was cool" is crap. If you have to tell someone you were cool then you missed both trains. Being cool back then and now. Just give it up already, you failed at being something just because you wanted to fit in. Just be yourself damn it.

At this point I'm suppose to tell you how to do promoting a blog correctly. Well I'm sorry but there is no sure fire method.  Every site/blog is different, the people that visit each of them are different. One thing might work wonders for me but fail massively for you. I feel that you should try anything you can think of, but remember you always should leave room for the reader of the site/blog should have room to ask questions or state how they feel about the subject. Opening lines of communication creates a wider field of experience to not only the reader but the writer. We all don't think the same when we read something so the more that talk about it, the more information we gather.