Although the MyBook World’s interface offers the ability to join a domain, and use domain users and groups to controll access, this is not supported.

Basically, the MyBook “advanced” interface allows for you join the device to the domain and to specify AD users and groups for folder permission, but they won’t help you troubleshoot when it doesn’t work.  And it doesn’t work by default on a Windows 7 or OSX machine.  Thanks WD, and yes, this post is my ‘screw you’ answer to that policy.

So here’s the 2 issues most people run into when you do a Google search for ‘MyBook domain’, and how to fix them.

Machine can’t be added to the domain

• In the advanced web interface on the MyBook, click ‘System’ – ‘General Setup’.  Check out the time – it’s probably wrong.
• The MyBook is getting the time by default from a global time server by default, pool.ntp.org.  For whatever reason, the MyBook seems to get the correct time from the NTP server, then screw it up when applying it to itself, making the time be off anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
• When you try to add the MyBook to the domain, the MyBook sends the time along with that request.  The domain sees this incorrect time and assumes something is wrong and won’t let the MyBook join the domain.
• Change the ‘NTP Time Server’ field from pool.ntp.org to the IP address of whatever domain controller you’re going to send the request to.  At least then they’ll agree on the time, even if it’s not perfectly accurate.
• In some domains, the MyBook needs to also be able to reference itself by name, which means you need to make an A record and its corresponding Reverse Lookup record on your DNS server.  You probably don’t want to have to refer to a folder share as “\\10.10.1.1\sharename” anyway when you can have something more memorable like “\\WD-MyBook\sharename”, so you might as well go ahead and make this record on your network’s DNS server (usually the domain controller) to keep you and the MyBook happy.

You should be able to now join the MyBook to the domain at this point.

• Click ‘Network’ – ‘Workgroup’, and enter
• ‘Domain Name’ is the Fully Qualified Domain Name, or FQDN. If you don’t know what this is, right-click ‘My Computer’ on your machine and click ‘Properties.  In Windows 7, the FQDN is listed in the ‘Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings’ next to ‘Domain:’.  It’ll say something like domain.com or domain.local.
• Leave NetBIOS blank.  If this works, it’ll fill that in automatically. If this doesn’t work, filling that field in probably isn’t your problem.
• Domain controller IP address: this is the IP address of the domain controller that the MyBook should get its time from.  It’s also hopefully the same machine that you entered the A record into.
• The last 2 fields are for a username and password of someone authorized to add computers to the domain.  You just enter in the username and password, you don’t need to enter the username as ‘DOMAIN\username’ or anything.

After the device is on the domain:

1. Create a shared folder. (‘Storage’ – ‘Folder Shares’ – click the page icon with a “plus” on it)  Fill in the share name, be sure to leave ‘Setup access control after creating this share’ is checked and click ‘Submit’. The MyBook will take forever to think about this, just let it be – it can take 30 seconds or so.
2. Now you’re asked who gets access to this new shared folder on a horribly-laid-out page.
3. On the left you’ll see 2 windows: the top one has all of your domain users, and the bottom one has all of your domain groups.  It only shows the first 18 characters or so until the scroll bar cuts off the names of the users, so hopefully your domain name is short enough so you can tell who is who.  (What’s up with that, WD?)
4. On the right are 6 boxes.  They’re labeled stupidly, so just so you know, the first 3 boxes are for full, read only or no access for AD users, and the last 3 are exactly the same thing, but for AD groups.  I can’t think of how to make this interface more confusing, but it seems to function, so…whatever.
5. Click ‘Submit’ and you’re done.

but wait!

Windows 7 machines can’t access shares controlled by AD permissions

And you thought you were done.  As it turns out, Windows XP handles passing your AD credentials to the MyBook just fine.  Windows 7, not so much.  Windows 7 is passing your username and password to the MyBook incorrectly, and when it breaks, it’ll ask you for a domain username and password that has permissions to access the folder.  You probably have access to this folder, it’s just asking because it knows something went wrong and is assuming you don’t have access.  You can type valid usernames and passwords into this window all day long and it won’t work, whether you have access or not.

Before the Windows XP holdouts in the office snicker too loudly, this is an easy-ish fix.

1. The problem here is that Windows 7 is trying to work with the SAMBA protocol of the MyBook.  Except someone at Microsoft decided that it would be a good idea to ship Windows 7 and (at least on my 64-bit edition) not specify the way in which Windows 7 should respond to SAMBA requests.  SAMBA is a protocol used by non-Microsoft file servers, so…intentional?  Who knows.
2. Tell Windows 7 how to talk to non-Microsoft file servers by clicking ‘Start’ -> ‘run’ -> type “secpol.msc” and hit enter.  Hopefully you have the permissions to do this.  If not, show your IT department this section and they’ll see you’re not trying to do anything too ridiculous, just trying to make Windows 7 play nice with SAMBA. (Hey IT folks – maybe you want to include this as a GPO setting for any folks that use non-MS fileservers)
3. Click ‘Local Policies’ -> ‘Security Options’ -> ‘Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication’
4. If you’re anything like me, the drop-down was blank.  You actually can’t make this drop-down be blank through this interface, so obviously something is wrong.  According to Microsoft’s documentation,  ’NTVLM2 responses only’ is supposed to be selected by default, but this won’t help you.   To talk to the MyBook correctly, you need to use ‘LM and NTLM – use NTLMV2 session security if negotiated’.  Change to this setting and click ‘OK’.

Now, when you access the share at \\MyBook\share, your computer will automatically pass the domain username and password you used to log on to your computer.  If you have permissions to this folder, it’ll just open.  If you don’t have access, it’ll ask for a username and password of someone in your domain that does.

If you have problems beyond this, post in the comments – this should cover 99% of the problems people are having in the first few pages of results when you search for ‘MyBook domain’, but I’ll be interested what other issues are out there.

This procedure will set up your Macbook Pro in such a way that a menu will appear on boot that will require the selection of Mac OS (tested with 10.5.3), Windows (tested with Vista 64-bit), or Linux (tested with Ubuntu 8.04 64-bit – Alternate Install CD). This procedure assumes that you want the drive divided evenly between all operating systems, and can take up to 5 hours to complete, not including burning OS install disks. Most of this time will be spent waiting for progress bars, and the laptop will be unusable for work.  (So you can plan accordingly)

Install Mac OS X

(Assumes Mac OS X 10.5.3)

1. Back up all documents, including Notes files, browser bookmarks, etc. to the network or USB thumbdrive.
2. Install OS X to the Macbook Pro, using the entire hard drive.
3. Use the Boot Camp Assistant to partition the drive.
   1. Start the Boot Camp Assistant, located at /Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant
   2. The “Windows” partition shown will eventually become both the Windows and Linux partitions. Therefore, if you wish for the drive to be divided equally across all operating systems, slide the divider until the Windows partition takes up two-thirds of the disk.
   3. Click ‘Partition’ and wait for the process to complete.
   4. When the partitioning process completes, click ‘Quit and Install Later’. Do not use the Bootcamp installer.

Install Windows

(Assumes Windows Vista 64-bit)

1. Insert the Windows install CD or DVD and reboot the machine. Hold down the ‘c’ key to boot from the CD. (note: at this time, the Windows XP 64-bit install DVD does not recognize the keyboard or USB keyboards when booting from DVD)
2. Once the Windows installer loads, proceed as normal through the installation. When asked where to install Windows, select the partition that is approximately two-thirds of the disk. In testing, this was ‘Disk 0 Partition 3 BOOTCAMP 126.1GB’.
3. Highlight the partition and click ‘Drive Options (advanced)’.
4. Click ‘Format’ and ‘OK’.
5. Now that the drive is formatted, click ‘Next’. Windows will install.
   1. During the Windows install process, the machine may reboot on its own several times.
   2. Windows is rebooting and expecting to boot back into the installation process. You need to help it do so by holding down the ‘Option (Alt)’ key when the machine reboots, and manually selecting the ‘Windows’ hard drive. (not the ‘Windows’ CD)
   3. If you miss the chance to reboot into the Windows install process, the machine will boot into OS X. Just reboot the machine, hold down the option key, select the ‘Windows’ hard drive (not the CD) and continue from there.
6. Once installation is complete, the machine will boot into Vista and have the user complete the setup procedure.
7. Eject the CD from within Vista by clicking the drive once in ‘Computer’ and selecting ‘Eject’ on the title bar. Vista now needs drivers for the Macbook Pro hardware.
   1. If you want to be able to have greater control over the fans in the Macbook Pro cooling system, you need to install the ‘inputremapper’ application (tested version 1.0.04) first. This is recommended, as the Macbook Pro can run quite hot at times, dependent on the ambient air temperature.
      1. Download and install inputremapper. You will need to use a USB key, as the networking drivers for the Macbook Pro have not yet been installed.
      2. Reboot the machine, holding down the ‘option’ key and choosing the Windows drive.
   2. Install the Windows drivers for the Macbook pro hardware by inserting the ‘Macbook Pro Install CD 1′ in the drive. If the Bootcamp Drivers application doesn’t start automatically, double-click on the CD in ‘Computer’ and run WindowsSupport/setup.exe.
   3. Once the drivers are installed, eject the CD and reboot the machine into the Mac OS partition.

Install rEFIt

1. Boot into the Mac OS partition and install rEFIt. This is our boot menu application.
   1. Download and install rEFIt (tested version 0.11)
2. To set rEFIt to always be the boot menu, open a terminal window and give the command:

   /efi/refit/enable-always.sh

3. rEFIt has a default timeout of 20 seconds, then will boot into OS X. If you would like to disable the timeout:
   1. Open /efi/refit/refit.conf in Text Editor
   2. Change ‘timeout 20′ to ‘timeout 0′.
   3. Save and close.

Install Linux

1. Enter the Linux install CD (tested Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Desktop 64-bit Alternate Install) and reboot the machine. Hold down the ‘c’ key to boot from the CD. You might need to use an external USB keyboard, as sometimes the Linux install CD doesn’t recognize the built-in keyboard correctly.
2. Install as usual, until you get to the partitioning section.
   1. When Linux installs, it will corrupt the portion of the Master Boot Record on the current Windows partition. In order for Windows to be usable, the MBR installed on this partition must be backed up.
   2. When the installation procedure asks about partitioning disks, exit to a command line and make a backup of the MBR of the Windows partition.
      1. In Ubuntu, this is done by pressing Alt-F2 to get a command line.
      2. Enter

         dd if=/dev/sda of=/tmp/sda.mbr bs=512 count=1

         and hit the ‘Enter’ key.

      3. Press Alt-F1 to return to the Ubuntu installation.
   3. Choose the ‘Guided – Resize…’ option. (in testing, this was ‘Guided – Resize SCSI3 (0,0,0), partition #3 (sda) and use freed s’)
   4. Make the Linux partition 50% of the resized space (one-third of the overall drive, if the Windows partition was two-thirds…)
   5. Continue the installation process.
   6. After the base Linux OS files are installed, but before installing a Linux bootloader, the MBR must be restored from the backup that was created earlier.
      1. In Ubuntu, this is done by pressing Alt-F2 to get a command line.
      2. Enter

         dd if=/tmp/sda.mbr of=/dev/sda

         and hit the ‘Enter’ key.

      3. Press Alt-F1 to return to the Ubuntu installation.
3. Continue the installation process until reaching the bootloader installation screen. (in testing, this was the ‘GRUB installation’ page.)
   1. In Ubuntu, do not install GRUB to the MBR. Windows needs the MBR as it is.
   2. When asked where to install GRUB, choose the Linux installation partition (not the swap). In testing, this was /dev/sda4. (Note that this partition is one greater than the partition specified on the ‘Guided – Resize…’ line of the ‘Partition disks’ screen.
4. When the installation is complete, eject the CD (if it is not done for you) and reboot the machine.

Update rEFIt

At this point, rEFIt will see all three operating systems and can load Mac OS and Windows, but needs to have its own partition records updated to be able to properly allow Linux to load.

1. Once the machine is rebooted and on the rEFIt screen, press the arrow keys until you reach the ‘Partitioning Tool’ icon. Press the ‘Enter’ key.
2. When it asks “May I update the MBR as printed above?” press the ‘y’ key. rEFIt’s partiton records will update.
3. You should now be able to boot into any Operating System.

Notes and Observations

General

• To disable the Apple ‘bong’ noise when the machine starts, install and configure StartupSound.prefPane.

Windows

• Windows will check (CHKDSK) its partition the first time it boots. It notices the difference in partition size. This is fine, let it check it. Windows still loads afterwards.
• The right-click behavior in Mac OS (Control-click) can be replicated in Windows by using inputremapper.

Linux

• To reduce the amount of time the GRUB menu appears when booting Linux (tested Ubuntu), edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst where it says ‘timeout 10′ to say ‘timeout 3′ or whatever your preference is.
• To replicate the right-click (and middle-click) functionality in Mac OS by using Control-click,
  • Go to System > Preferences > Keyboard > Accessibility tab > General – and enable “Allow to turn accessibility features on and off from the keyboard”
  • Go to System > Preferences > Keyboard > Mouse Keys tab > and enable “Allow to control the pointer using the keyboard”
  • From the terminal, type

    gedit ~/.xmodmap

  • Type:

keycode 116 = Pointer_Button3

keycode 108 = ISO_Level3_Shift

• • Save and close the file.
  • Go to System > Preferences > Sessions and click ‘Add’.
    • Name: xmodmap
    • Command: xmodmap /home/fuz2y/.xmodmap
    • Comment: Add middle- and right-click functionality
    • Click ‘OK’.
  • Restart X to use the changes (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace).

“Anything behind walls” sounds too invasive…

“SCiB” touted to be safer than today’s Lithium Ion, lasts 10 years, charges in minutes (@ up to 50 amps).

1/3 pound (150 gram) cell is
- the size of a mobile phone
- provides 4.2 aH @ 2.4 volts. (devices)

4.4 pound (2 kg) cell is
- the size of a small paperback novel
- provides 42 aH @ 24 volts. (vehicles)

If they are able to deliver in mass production at a profit, this could be a major new development in both transportation and electronic devices.

Toshiba Press Release

What this means is that while in the past, you were stuck choosing either to record:

• Any show named ‘Mythbusters’, or
• Any showing that listed ‘Adam Savage’, or
• Any showing that listed ‘Jaime Hyneman’, or
• Any showing on channel 48 at 9pm…
• (etc)

You can now use AND, OR or XOR…which TiVo calls ‘This and that’, ‘This or that’, and ‘This but not that’. So if you’re a big fan of the Mythbusters, and want to see where they pop up elsewhere other than on the show, you can record Mythbusters Wednesday nights, but you can also make a WishList to record shows where the title has the keywords ‘Jaime Hyneman’ AND ‘Adam Savage’.

Other uses for this might be if you’re a NASCAR fan and want just the races. You could choose keyword = ‘NASCAR’ AND category = ‘Auto Racing’. That way, you get the races and none of the NASCAR talk shows.

Or maybe you want all showings where title = ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ and keyword = ‘Andy Richter’, and nostalgicize about the old days.

A few notes, however: (TiVo this is your homework)

1. I could add multiple items, but had no way to select ‘AND’ or ‘OR’. It just shows a dot between the keywords, so I’m at a loss as to what that means. No idea where I can choose the ‘This but not that’. I have a pretty non-standard TiVo unit (Toshiba TiVo/DVD player), but that seems like a major voyage of the failboat on TiVo’s fault. Too difficult to have a lab with all the models in it to test feature rollouts?
2. TiVo’s database is terrible. It seems that I can only choose from actor’s names that will be on shows in the next few weeks. How hard could it be to give imdb.com a ring and work out a linkup? For example, I put in ‘Carolla’, and no listing for Adam. So no luck for people who want to catch Adam on any rare rerun of the Man Show? I realize his other shows aren’t in the rotation these days, but at least give people the capability to toss that net out there just on the offchance that they’re reshown at 3am some day.

Please comment with any suggestions as to what features you’d like to see, etc. I’d love to be doing this type of user experience development, think it’s a good idea? I enjoy creatively making things better, but I’ve basically been in an Admin role in different parts of IT thus far… (Plus, somewhere like San Jose is looking pretty nice right now, as it’s -15F out here in Chicago…)

Product picture:

(Don’t mind the pic, first time on GIMP and using a touchpad…)

Product Description:

Based on the Insignia NS-DA2G, this NS-DA4G-P player boasts the size of an Altoids gum tin, while remaining under a half-inch thick. Offering FM radio, 4GB of mp3 storage, and the Pandora music service, this player offers a superior listening experience, not only by delivering the music you know you love, but finding the music suited to your tastes that you don’t know about, just like Pandora.com! Not only are listeners able to carry their music with them, but they are also able to listen to their Pandora music channels, and even buy-on-the-fly the tracks they like! (DRM free, of course) Price: US$119.99

Product Specs:

• 4GB storage
• FM Radio with 20 presets
• WiFi 802.11g and Bluetooth enabled
• Just over 0.5″ thin and weighs only 1.5 ounces
• Supports MP3, WMA, OGG, Audible and JPEG formats

Product Accessories:

• Car radio faceplate dock, with WiFi extender antenna / SatNav network linkup and audio amplifier
• Recharging Desk dock with audio-in to computer (don’t need pandora in the browser to listen)
• Armband, NON-white earbuds

Menu Structure: (note – new menus are in bold, the rest is the same as the current NS-DA2G)

• Now Playing (Displays current source)
• Music Library (Plays mp3 collection)
  • Play all
  • Artist
  • Album
  • Track
  • Genre
  • Playlist
• FM Radio (plays Radio)
• Pandora (plays Pandora) (note – arrows up and down change channels, FF arrow skips song, ‘guide us’ button brings up Pandora-specific menu)
  • Rate
    • I like it
    • I don’t like it
      
  • Bookmark
    • Song
    • Artist
      
  • Buy
    • Buy-on-the-fly (PayPal? Pandora music store?)
      
    • Queue for later (iTunes / Amazon music store?)
      
• Settings
  • Audio
    • Shuffle
      • On
      • Off
    • Repeat
      • Off
      • 1
      • All
    • Equalizer
      • Off
      • Rock
      • Jazz
      • Classical
      • Pop
      • Custom
    • A-B Repeat
      • Off
      • On
  • FM Settings
  • Display
    • Brightness
      • Level 1
      • Level 2
      • Level 3
      • Level 4
      • Level 5
      • Level 6
      • Level 7
      • Level 8
      • Level 9
      • Level 10
    • Rotation
      • Right Hand
      • Left Hand
    • Backlight
      • 2 Sec
      • 5 Sec
      • 10 Sec
      • 30 Sec
  • Time
    • Auto Power Off
      • 5 min
      • 10 min
    • Sleep
      • Off
      • 30 Min
      • 60 Min
      • 90 Min
  • System
    • Erase All
      • Yes
      • No
    • System Init
      • Restore Defaults
      • No
  • USB Mode
    • Media Manager
    • File & Folder
  • Information
  • Pandora Settings
    • User Information
      • Edit User Information
      • Add another User
        
  • WiFi Settings
    • Scan for Networks
    • Edit Saved Profiles
      
  • Bluetooth Settings
    • Make Discoverable
    • Connect to Devices

Afterthought: Ooh! What if it could read the ID3 tags off of your music collection, and build a new channel for you off of a particular Genre or group of selected songs? What about a temporary channel based off of whatever you currently have in the 4GB of storage? Nice!

edit: a few hours after I wrote this, Seagate announced D.A.V.E. Scoble has the inside track on what DAVE is. Check it out, it’s basicaly a generic 10 or 20GB hard drive with USB / WiFi / Bluetooth and an API to make it into whatever you want. If I can get my hands on one, I’ll learn whatever language the API is in, make a PandoraPod prototype (still need to figure out what device will tie into DAVE, and release the code, if it works.

It seems that there is a general agreement that the MacBook Pro’s run way too hot for many people’s preference.  This seems to be a poorly defined threshold as to when the fans kick in or stay off.  As with many laptops, fan use has to be balanced with battery life, but it appears that Apple missed the mark with this one, with the result being a hotter-than-usual laptop.
Luckily, a freeware app from Lobotomo called Fan Control solves this.  You can set the default base fan speed, as well as the lower and upper temperature limits to properly cool your MacBook Pro to your liking.  Check out this freeware today, and say goodbye to your burning lap!

via kraneland

You all know that I have been an AMD user for ages now.

But the truth is that Core Duo by Intel, not the first and second generation dual cores, are indeed better proc as of today. You know what, if I have to go with new system it would definetly be Intel Core Duo, but would change back to AMD asap they have a better one.

As of today the config I’d go with would be:
Core Duo 6600 overclocked to 3.6Ghz+ – beating any other proc by far
2GB DDR2-800 reachable to 850-900Mhz
For sure the 975 chipset, and not the 965 … think Asus Deluxe one
And a new case – Thermaltake Armor Junior (Black)
Also would love to get new Cordless Desktop from Logitech

But but but … my current Athlon64 (single core) overccloked to 2.9Ghz os really enough for me …. so I guess I will wait and see what it’s gonna be around the start of 2007 with Quad-cores …. yups … I think i made up my mind.

And what’s your choice?

The end result? Instead of a brute-force attack on the combination, which could theoretically take weeks, the safe was cracked in just a few days. Not bad!

Congrats to Kyle Vogt on using a bit of forthought in his algoritm to cut out 90% of the time cost. Am I cheering on the idea of making theft easier? No. Better cracking methods make better locks.

For the first time, you can hit your computer and get a meaningful response! Using Linux® and the Hard Drive Active Protection System (HDAPS) kernel drivers, you can access the embedded accelerometers on Lenovo (formerly IBM®) ThinkPads, then process the accelerometer data to read specific sequences of “knocking” events — literally rapping on the laptop case with your knuckles — and run commands based on those knocks. Double tap to lock the screen, and knock in your secret code to unlock. Tap the display lid once to move your mp3 player to the next track. The possibilities are endless.

[youtube]sbh_JGbPoJU[/youtube]

More here on how to accomplish this on your Thinkpad.