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TECHNOLOGY LAB / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

LATEST FROM ARS TECHNICA/UK

How to build your own render farm

Yourmainworkstationhasalotofpower,sofreeituptodobetterthings.
byDaveGirardMay12,20143:00amCEST

62

Get those machines talking

Beforeyoucanreliablyuseyourmachinesinanetworkedrendersetup,therearesomethingsyou
shoulddotoensureitallworkswell.Sinceyouwanttobeabletofindyourmachinesconsistently,set
upeachmachinewithaspecificIPaddress:

100 psychology experiments

repeated, less than half
successful
UK police triples use of adhijacking tech on alleged
piracy websites
Germany hands over citizens
metadata in return for NSAs
top spy software
PHONEFAIL

Fire Phone flop blamed for layoffs

and reorganisation at Amazon, WSJ
says
AMDs R9 Nano crams a full
Fury X into a tiny 6-inch form
factor

LATEST FEATURE STORY

AnymachinesIneedtoaccessregularlyoversshorVNChavestaticlocalIPs.Thatalsoguarantees
thatmyopenporttotheinternetaccessibleadministrationmachineisalwaysavailabletotheoutside
world.

Mac setup
WedontneedRemoteDesktopsupport,sojustusethebuiltinScreenSharingprogramforVNC.If
youareworkingbetweenMacs,italsosupportsdraganddropbetweendesktops,whichmakesfile
sharingaloteasier.EitherbrowsethenetworkandconnectfromtheFinderorlaunchitfrom
/System/Library/CoreServices/ScreenSharing.app.ItalsoworkswithLinuxandWindowsVNC
clients,butIrecommendhavingiTeleport,whichisaniceprogramwithbothVNCandRDPsupport.

FEATURE STORY (2 PAGES)

NASA versus Katrina:

August 29, 2005
Or,how38NASAemployeeskeptthespace
programaliveamidthedevastatinghurricane.

WATCH ARS VIDEO

Rolling back to SMB1 for Linux clients

IfyouareplanningtoworkonlybetweenMacorWindowsmachines,youcanusethefasterSMB2
thatisbuiltintoMavericks.IfyouaregoingtobeusingaLinuxclientthatneedstoconnecttothe
Mac,youwillneedtouseSMB1becauseSMB2justdoesntworkyetwithanydistroIvetried.The
easiestwaytodothisiswithSMBconftellingOSXtouseSMB1insteadof2.
Wake on LAN (Mac OS X and Linux)
IfyoureusingMacrendermuscleandwanttowakethemachinelater,youneedtheMAC(Ethernet
hardware)addressofthemachine.YoucaneithergetitintheAdvancedNetworksettingssystem
preferencepaneorfromtheterminalinOSXorLinuxbytypingifconfig.Lookfortheen0addressif
youhaveonlyonenetworkcard:

Samsung Unpacked 2015

en0:flags=8863UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICASTmtu1500
....
ether80:08:sb:oo:80:08

STAY IN THE KNOW WITH

ArslooksattheSamsungGalaxy6Edge+and
theNote5.

ThatlastsetofnumbersisyourMACaddress.Inadditiontogettingthisinformation,makesurethat
"wakefornetworkaccess"isenabledinyourEnergySettings.

Windows setup

LATEST NEWS
Associated Press sues FBI over fake

Asidefromdisablingthelocalfirewallstuff,Windowsneedsafewthingstomakeitbetterforremote
administration.RemoteDesktopisbuiltin,butIdontlikethewayitworks.UnlikeVNC,itlogsout
youruseronthemachine,andthescreenresolutionishardwiredtoalowresolution.Instead,install
afreeVNCserverlikeTightVNC.Thisincludesbothaserverandclientsoyoucanuseitfor
rendermusclemachinesandyourmastercomputertoconnecttoMacsandLinuxmachines.
IfyouareusingWindowsasthedumbmuscle,thenextstepistoinstallCygwin.ThisisaUnix
commandlineenvironmentforWindows,so,ifyouinstallopenssh,youcanunifyyouradministration
workflowacrossallplatforms.YoucansendasleepcommandtotheWindowsmachineinasimilar
wayaswithOSXandLinuxmachines,andthereareotheradvantagesthatwillbecomecleareras
youreadthisarticle.ThereisagoodwalkthroughongettingsshworkingwithCygwinhere,so
theresnoneedformetoretracethosesteps.
WhenyouinstallCygwin,makesuretoalsoinstallthescreenprogramthatisanoptionalinstall.It'll
helplateron,anditcanbeinstalledafterthefactifyouforgetaboutitduringtheinitialinstall.Keepin
mindthatnoneofthisisessentialtogettingnetworkrenderingworking,itsjustforeasyheadless
management.
TogetWoL(wakeonLAN)working,youneedtoenablewakeonLANinyourPC'sBIOS/EFI
configurationandforyournetworkadapterintheDeviceManager:

news story

The new tech making game

preservation more authentic
and future-proof
WELCOMEBACK,HOCKER

Key Splinter Cell, Far Cry 2 designer

returns to Ubisoft after five years
FEASTORFAMINE,DATAEDITION

Nielsen is scanning 1,000 Netflix

shows to break the streaming black
box
BitTorrent patched against
flaw that allowed crippling
DoS attacks
Ashley Madison abusing
DMCA to put genie back in
the bottle, EFF says

WoLusesamagicpackettowakethecomputerfromsleeporhibernate.

TogetyourMACaddresstouseforlater,youcaneitherusethegetmaccommandfromthe
commandpromptwithinWindowsoroversshwithCygwin.ThisisthenicethingaboutCygwinyou
getboththeWindowsspecificcommandslikepowercfgandtheUnixshellprogramsandscriptability.
IfyouareusingWindowsasyourhostOSanddontplanonusingCygwin,butyoullbeconnectingto
aLinuxorOSXmachine,installPuttytouseforsshconnectionstothoseotherdevices.

For all platforms

BeforethelengthierLinuxdistrosetup,let'ssetupourmachinesshellstobeeasilydistinguishable
fromeachother.LetssaywehaveaMacOSXhostandaWindowsCygwinrenderingmachineat
thispoint.YoucansetupBASH(ourUnixshell)toshowyourtextasacolorinyourterminalby
changingthenumericvalueinthislinethatyouputinyour~/.bash_profileconfigurationfile(~means
yourhomefolderinUnixterms):
PS1="\e[0;36m[\u@\h\W]\$\e[m\n"
Ialwayskeepacommentedoutreferenceforthecolorsbelowthatline:
#ColorCode
#yellow33
#Black30
#Blue34
#Green32
#Cyan36
#Red31

#Purple35
#Brown33
#Blue34
#Green32
#Cyan36
#Red31
#Purple35
#Brown33
Bysavingdifferentnumericvalues(36,31,and33)inmy.bash_profileformyrespectivemachines,I
getaveryclearideaofwhichmachineiswhichwhenIhaveabunchofterminalsopen:

Enlarge

Mycyanhostmachineandothersshsessionsareindifferentcolors.Youcaneitheruseatexteditor
inplaintext(notrichtext!)modeorusethecommandlinetexteditorlikenano(nano
~/.bash_profile),whichiswhatIrecommendforUnixnewbiessinceitslessawkwardtousethanvi
is.Italsohasthecommandsclearlylaidoutatthebottomoftheinterface.IfyouwanttouseaGUI
apptoedittextfilesonCentOS,youcandogedit~/.bash_profile,andthatwillgiveyouamore
familiartexteditortodoyouredits:

Enlarge

Itwillalsolaunchtheeditorasrootifyouwereloggedinasrootorusedsudo,sothisisagoodfirst
stepforLinuxnewbswhoarewaryofdoingeverythinginthecommandlineatfirst.

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