1. Run this command to get the pre-req packages needed to build MiniDLNA:
   • sudo apt-get install libexif-dev libjpeg62-dev libid3tag0-dev libflac-dev libvorbis-dev libsqlite3-dev libavformat-dev cvs make
2. Log in and check out (download) the source code for MiniDLNA from SourceForge:
   • cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@minidlna.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/minidlna co -P minidlna
3. Change into the directory and build, then install it!
   • make
   • sudo make install
4. That’s it!

I called up their tech support line, hoping to get it reactivated for just a week or two, so I can move services that were associated with that account over to a new email account, but it’s a no-can-do. They’ve killed it for good and were unwilling to re-activate it. I even offered to pay, since working at the school I also know that the services their email servers provide aren’t free. Come on guys, I just need it turned on for a week.

Honestly I was hoping they would treat their alumni better, but they still don’t mind calling every now and then to ask for money. To make it worse, I can’t sign up on their alumni website either.

What a bunch of jerks. FYI any recent graduates, your account expires in 180 days.

Also, apparently since I am old school, I keep logging in to http://erau.thefacebook.com.

Yep.

As promised, I went to a local Sprint store and asked one of their sales agents if I could activate a non-contractual Palm Pre (purchased at the full retail price) on the SERO 500 plan. The agent was very understanding, and agreed that they were all instructed to NOT activate any Palm Pre’s unless the plan has the word “Everything” in it. He also said that while Sprint stores would be well stocked, Best Buy locations would be getting around a max of 5 per store. He then told me that if I did want to get a Palm Pre activated on SERO I should buy one at Best Buy at the non-contract price and attempt to activate it online.  

Apparently he doesn’t know if there are any specific checks in their system to disallow activating the Palm Pre yourself, but it would most likely not work and ask you to call customer service. What he said next suprised me: apparently there are around 35000 customer service reps in call centers – he suggested that not all of them know the policy or care about the policy and I would have a very good chance of getting it activated that way.

To add some relief – he then told me that the Palm Pre should be available for employee-referral type plans after 60 days from launch, much like the Instinct was. Happy Pre-hunting!

The requirements? Just a few:

• Must be able to track users to sessions to monitor and log abuse
• Links generated should be anti-leech and secured with one-time use tokens
• Links generated can only be accessible from this vBulletin community
• Links must be easy to use

The limitations? It’s like being handcuffed to a telephone pole:

• Hosting is done on shared hosting (no persistant readfile() sessions in PHP or other ugly CPU intensive scipting)
• Hosting can also be done on 150/150 VPS. I’ve used lighttpd, but it chokes on sending files that are bigger than my RAM capacity

Things I’ve tried, and failed to work:

• Doing the classic PHP readfile() and writing to the buffer
  • Far too slow
  • Persistant PHP session isn’t nice to shared hosting
  • readfile() in lighttpd and Apache cause the process to consume massive amounts of memory for large files, doesn’t work in VPS
  • More than 5 users or so and the load spikes to high heaven. Server /suicides
• Using lighttpd and mod_secdownload
  • Far faster than PHP readfile()
  • Will only work on VPS as shared hosting is Apache only
  • If you don’t have enough RAM (which I don’t on the VPS) – the process with explode and hang. I can’t kill it, and the server refuses connections until the watchdog resets the process or until I reboot the VPS. Server /suicides again.
• Using mod_rewrite in conjunction with rewritemap and prg in Apache
  • Sounds perfect – you can create tokens, and then revoke them with the rewritemap program, then use mod_rewrite to hide path source!
  • …Until you realize that you need to modify your apache.conf to specify the rewritemap program (requires root or sudo, not happening on either VPS or shared)
  • Your rewrite program is executed on server start, and is persistent – which is not allowed on shared hosting anyways. I /suicide
• Apache with mod_xsendfile
  • Can’t install custom modules on Apache in shared or VPS hosting
  • Apache is still a fat hog of a server, and using Apache to send binary files is about as efficient as using Humvees for mass transit.
• Dynamic mod_rewrite definitions in .htaccess files
  • Use a manual lockfile with a SQL database to dynamically generate .htaccess mod_rewrite definitions
  • Each rewrite entry for a unique URL a time limit
  • Each successful request for token updates both the database and the .htaccess file
  • This seems like the best solution – it will work with the most hosting environments too
  • This behavior is basically emulating mod_secdownload for lighttpd in Apache with mod_rewrite

The last entry (emulating mod_secdownload in Apache with mod_rewrite) looks good, and is probably going to be what I’m going to use – I’ll be posting the results here as soon as I finish coding it. Weeeee!