Provisional pub

[enemy anemone]

thanks for looking into it, Vlad!. I've noticed the weird characters on some of my mp3s too. if I remember correctly, those are the ones that were encoded with bonkenc or winamp on my dad's computer, which has a Chinese character thing installed on it. but then I edit them on my computer when I notice them. so maybe those extra things mess things up even though it looks fine to me. *puzzled*

uploading a zipped-up folder called "stuff for danny". I have to leave for my other job soon so hopefully my internet doesn't disconnect before it finishes.

[Vlad!]

Schil, the stuff for danny archive is a whopping 60 MB but appears to be corrupt. Your client appears to behave awkwardly in the case of a dropped connection:
(000002) 25-May-2007 20:47:04 PM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> STOR stuff for danny.zip
(000002) 25-May-2007 20:47:04 PM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> 150 Connection accepted
(000002) 25-May-2007 21:33:04 PM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> disconnected.
(000003) 26-May-2007 0:58:35 AM - (not logged in) (***.***.***.***)> Connected, sending welcome message...
(000003) 26-May-2007 0:58:36 AM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> 230 Logged on
(000003) 26-May-2007 0:58:44 AM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> QUIT
(000003) 26-May-2007 0:58:44 AM - phorum (***.***.***.***)> 221 Goodbye

[murlough23]

I finally got a decent mp3 of Bjork's "Wanderlust", so I went ahead and uploaded it for all of you to enjoy/cringe at. Whatever your reaction to Bjork is.

[enemy anemone]

sorry, Vlad!! I got back from work and saw that fireFTP still said it was connected even though it should have gotten kicked off after being idle (assuming the uploaded had completed successfully), so I suspected something was wrong. too tired to think about what to do about it right now and you're probably offline anyway, but I did want to say thanks for letting me know.

[cowdude]

I uploaded two tracks from Rock Plaza Central's Are We Not Horses?. The music reminds me of The Decemberists, but the voice of the dude that sings reminds me of Neutral Milk Hotel. It has everything a good album needs: some strings, some banjo, some third graders yelling in the background... It's pretty much the best concept album I've ever heard, or at least the coolest concept for an album. I'm too lazy to describe it so I'll have songwriter/singer Chris Eaton do it for me: "Well, now I’m imagining that during the war, the humans rode on these six-legged robotic horses. But now that the war is over, though, the robot horses have to face the consequences of what they’ve done in overthrowing the angels. They figure out that the humans lied to them, tricking them into thinking that they were real horses. And then the robot horses get worried that maybe they fought on the wrong side in the war. But even more than that, they’re completely baffled by the fact that all of a sudden they have no idea what they even are, since they’ve only ever known what it means to be horses. And they’re not horses." Yeah, it's awesome.

I also uploaded a song by I'm From Barcelona, because it is twee-rocking goodness that is also worth checking out.

[murlough23]

I'm too lazy to describe it so I'll have songwriter/singer Chris Eaton do it for me

You don't mean that Chris Eaton, do you? As in, "Breath of Heaven" Chris Eaton?

[cowdude]

You don't mean that Chris Eaton, do you? As in, "Breath of Heaven" Chris Eaton?

I'm thinking no...

Here is Rock Central Plaza covering Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" (Not edited, so the F-word is uttered, for those who care about such things) : http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Rock%20Plaza%20Central%20-%20SexyBack.mp3

[Josh Powell]

That's almost as brilliant as Alanis doing My Humps

[danparedes]

Hey Everyone.

I uploaded an mp3 of one of my favorite mexican bands - fear not, is not my band  - It's a song in english, I like it.

[murlough23]

I haven't listened to anybody's Pub stuff in a long time. This week I'll try to catch up on some of it.

[Josh Powell]

Uploaded one song I particularly like from Icky Thump.

[murlough23]

Uploaded two highlights from last fall's Jars of Clay concert: Matt Wertz's just-for-fun breakup song "Heartbreaker" (which featured great crowd participation when played live), and a live version of Jars of Clay's "Light Gives Heat" from the Live Monsters EP, which differs significantly from the album version, but not in a bad way.

NP: "Factory of Magnificent Souls", Iona

[PopePouri]

I uploaded 2 songs off the new Civil Twilight album that's coming out later this year.

Also a cute song from Harris Tweed that I love. 

[enemy anemone]

I saw the name Harris Tweed and immediately thought "what a great name; I shall have to check out the song". but alas, the pub doors are closed at this time. but I found their website--it's purty!--and myspace and listened to some of their songs. I like! I shall have to check them out further.

[Vlad!]

The Pub will be down from a bit after noon tomorrow (Sunday), and it will be down for approximately half a week. I will post again once it's back up.

[Vlad!]

We're back again. Feel free to resume not commenting on songs and uploading songs that others will then busily not comment on.

[bloop]

I uploaded a track from the forthcoming Liars self-titled LP.

[murlough23]

We're back again. Feel free to resume not commenting on songs and uploading songs that others will then busily not comment on.

Love your cynicism there. I downloaded and listened to a batch that I promised comments on a few weeks ago, and didn't deliver. But I am at least listening. Honest!

[Vlad!]

Don't worry, I am one of the worst offenders in this regard. I have even less excuse, since I don't even have to download them. I have a folder full of mp3s you pholks have uploaded that dates back to--erk--last year, which I have been meaning to process and comment on. Usually what happens is that I say "OK, I'll just listen to these while I'm doing work", and then I put on the 'phones, start doing something productive, and the next thing I know I've played through the entire list (or finished what it is I'm doing) and haven't really heard a song.

[murlough23]

Don't worry, I am one of the worst offenders in this regard. I have even less excuse, since I don't even have to download them. I have a folder full of mp3s you pholks have uploaded that dates back to--erk--last year, which I have been meaning to process and comment on. Usually what happens is that I say "OK, I'll just listen to these while I'm doing work", and then I put on the 'phones, start doing something productive, and the next thing I know I've played through the entire list (or finished what it is I'm doing) and haven't really heard a song.

Looks like we'll have to find some more jarring and obnoxious songs to upload, just to get your attention.

NP: "Love and Learn", Steven Curtis Chapman

[Nathan]

Uploaded a couple songs from Waterdeep's new album: "Northern" and "Cold." The album isn't out on CD yet, but you can download it from their website for about $10. I think fans of OtR or Sufjan will likely find it a good investment.

[Brenden]

Uploaded the new Eisley song.

[murlough23]

Currently uploading: Some newly discovered songs by Deas Vail, Wavorly, and Lifehouse. Have fun with 'em, especially the Deas Vail songs. Those two in particular have been haunting me in a good way.

[Vlad!]

Sorry for not mentioning it, but the Pub will be down today and tomorrow. In addition, Pub hours are likely to be (even more) irregular over the next two months; hopefully after that I will be settled down again and the Pub can resume as good (or better!) as before.

[murlough23]

I put up four new pub songs today - two from the fantastic new Iron & Wine record (which is solid enough that I had a hard time choosing only two standouts to upload), one from the new Mae album (which rocks even if it doesn't have a ton of substance), and one from Andrea Corr's solo album (which is saccharine, sentimental pop music for the most part, but interestingly constructed in this case).

NP: "Carousel", Iron & Wine

[Vlad!]

Sorry for short (OK, no) notice, but the Pub will be down for a while--hopefully only two weeks, realistically more like three.

[Vlad!]

No, this isn't a "The Pub is up" notification, so don't get too excited

As to when it will be up, I'm not sure. I'm still in California right now (that's not a bad thing since I love the bay area, but the pub server is on the east coast...), and then when I get back I still have to get Internet access hooked up for the server.

Even when that's done, I'm going to be making some changes to my network layout. In the past, the pub has been running off my desktop machine. This means that when I turn the machine off, when Windows decides it's time to reboot, or whatever, the pub dies. Instead, I'm setting up a Unix (probably OpenBSD, for those who care) server backed by a hardware RAID-5 storage solution. This should provide a more reliable and hopefully more robust pub.

I'll let everyone know when this all happens. At least not for a week or two (I have to get back from CA, build the server, and get Internet access...).

[bloop]

Hey, take your time.  Your plans with the pub sound rather promising. 

I have some things I've been wanting to put up, but just haven't done so.  I'll have to try ftp at the local library sometime to see how well it'll work for me there (I really need a speedier connection to be more involved).

[murlough23]

(probably OpenBSD, for those who care)

Ooh, kinky.

Oh, wait, that's BSDM. Sorry.

[Vlad!]

Google search for 'BSDM' suggests 'Did you mean bdsm?'. Sorry to make a lame pun look lamer, but I get defensive when people start joshin' up my beloved BSD

[murlough23]

Google search for 'BSDM' suggests 'Did you mean bdsm?'. Sorry to make a lame pun look lamer, but I get defensive when people start joshin' up my beloved BSD

You might not want to continue with your quest for knowledge on Google.

My puns probably don't need any help looking lame anyway.

NP: "Fake Light from the Sun", Fiction Plane

[Vlad!]

At least I didn't use Google Image Search.

[murlough23]

Hey Vlad!, any luck getting the Pub back up thus far?

NP: "Anything at All", Fono

[Vlad!]

Heh, it's complicated. The short answer is, not as much luck as I was hoping for. The long answer...well...is pretty long:

The internet to my apartment is hooked up. However, there is no router in place. I have been working on building a router, but something is dodgy with the components. It works fine when I boot it into Windows 2000, but then when I boot into OpenBSD, it can't seem to send/receive any packets through one of the NICs. It's not a broken NIC either, since a friend gave me an old 3Com NIC to try and it was broken as well. I tried to install Arch on the box, but it completely borked. I'm planning on trying FreeBSD tonight. The mobo is kind of questionable anyway (the PS/2 ports are inexplicably burnt out), so I'm not sure entirely what the issue is.

I have all the components I need for the fileserver which will actually be storing the Pub files except for RAM (which is arriving this weekend) and an enclosure to hold it all. I ordered a server enclosure from Newegg about two weeks ago, but when it finally came, it had been all busted up in shipping. I RMA'd it, but Newegg is taking their own sweet time about it. Since the old one (shipped off yesterday) has to go all the way across the country and then the new one has to come all the way back (hopefully not getting mauled by the UPS guy this time), so I doubt I'll get it before early next week.

I realize I could just buy a consumer-grade router at Best Buy or whatever (the old Linksys which we used to use was my former roommate's, so when I moved to North Carolina, he kept it). However, these routers are not very good quality, both in terms of the ability to administer them and in their speed. A BSD system running packet filter or a Linux system using IPTables (hopefully configured by some intelligent software like FireHOL) is going to both be more secure and offer lower latency.

All my hobbies and side projects have been suffering recently, but as I start to get these time sinks like getting a NC driver's license and moving furniture, boxes, electronics, and my small but growing library of books around all taken care of. Hopefully I can get things set up by the end of October; maybe earlier, but unless things go really well with the router then I'm not optimistic.

[murlough23]

Bummer. Well, thanks for trying.

[enemy anemone]

funny, I randomly tried to log into the pub yesterday (I think it was yesterday) and got in, deleted my old song, and uploaded a new one just for the anyhow. (neglected to rename it though.) or did I just imagine it?

[Vlad!]

No, it actually happened.

Like I said, the internet is hooked up in my apartment. However, since there's no router/firewall, it's pretty insecure, so I keep the software defenses up. However, sometimes I need to access this computer from work, so I poke a hole in the software firewall.

The problem is that, once a scanner sees a public FTP server, it will start attacking the computer pretty heavily. That's the sort of thing a hardware router can filter out pretty easily, but I don't like devoting my computer's resources to looking at each packet and deciding whether it's legit or not, so I keep everything shut down.

[danny316]

I realize I could just buy a consumer-grade router at Best Buy or whatever (the old Linksys which we used to use was my former roommate's, so when I moved to North Carolina, he kept it). However, these routers are not very good quality, both in terms of the ability to administer them and in their speed.

I'll make a point not to get you one then (I see quite a few old Linksys routers for just a few dollars when I'm out yardsaling). How long have you been in Morrisville, by the way? That's about 20 minutes from where I am right now.

[Vlad!]

I moved my stuff to Morrisville exactly two months ago, August 16th. I actually relocated about three weeks later, September 6 (in the meantime I slept on my former roommate's futon).

As a side note, NewEgg completely screwed me on that server chassis order, so I'll have to order from somewhere else.

In case anyone's curious, when I installed FreeBSD on the router, it did slightly worse than OpenBSD, and it failed to see DHCP packets coming from the cable modem. So I guess I'll try to find a new mobo. I think the processor is an Athlon XP, though I'm not sure what exact model (maybe a 2200), so I'm guessing it's a Socket A motherboard, which of course nobody sells anymore (except probably NewEgg, curse them). I'll see if I can find one that's not too sketchy.

[Vlad!]

Lest I be accused of doing no work on this, you will (hopefully) be pleased to hear that the router is now working! Yes, after purchasing a motherboard from a non-NewEgg vendor, I have installed it and set up OpenBSD to work as a packet router. I still have to set up pf (packet filter) rules to allow connections through, but know that progress is being made.

On the fileserver front, a new (hopefully non-mauled) server chassis is on its way (from Circuit City, who not only gave me a good price but shipped it free; take that, NewEgg). It will take me a while to get it set up (I've never installed a hardware RAID under Linux before), but I'm pretty excited about some of the uber-cool hardware and software I get to play with. I may even post pictures

I realize you come here to read about music, not hardware. But if you want free ftp hosting, you gotta put up with me geeking out over it occasionally .