Here's one that was added. Valorie is the real deal, and a fun gal to make a record with.

Valorie Miller - "Autumn Eyes" - Available on CDBaby

        

Mac OSX comes with SSH, so setting it up wasn't too hard, and I found a new VNC viewer JollyVNC that is really top notch. The author also has a really inrteresting VNC based product called "screenrecycler" that turns any spare computer/display in to an extra monitor.

Setting up the SSH Server

This site has a great overview

http://www.stocksy.co.uk/articles/Mac/ssh_on_mac_os_x/

and Redhat Magazine has details on customizing your setup, just ignore some of the paths they reference for linux, all of the Mac OSX config files are in /etc/ .

Basically, you just enable Remote Login and OSX turns on the SSH server. Make sure your firewall will forward this port.

Edit the sshd_config file found in the /etc/ directory to suite your servers needs. Recommended security, set "AllowRootAccess no" and "AllowUsers " to only allow users that have a strong password, also you can change the SSH port number from the defualt 22 to something more obscure in the "services" file. See Adam Knight's Blog on Mac Geekery for more security tips.

Tip: sshd_config is the server side config file and ssh_config is the client side config file.

Setting up the VNC server

I use Vine VNC server, it's opensource, free and is easy to setup. Set a Password and a Port, and you're good to go.

Configure The Setup

I had a couple of VNC servers behind my firewall, so I setup one of them as the SSH server. After you tunnel in you can connect to any of the computers behind the firewall. It can be very helpful to define a ssh_config (local client) config file for your remote network to streamline your Tunneling. You can then run it using "ssh -F CUSTOM_CONFIG_FILE_HERE RemoteHost"

The config file below will define a remote host, and then define the relationshp between a few local ports, and remote computers behind the firewall. This same setup can be used for any server/port on your network not just VNC.

#Define tunnel to Remote Machine
Host RemoteMachine
    #Define Remote Host
    #SSH Server to Initiate Tunnel
    HostName ssh.XXX.net
    Port 22
    User SECUREUSER

    # Forward Local Ports to Remote VNC ports
    LocalForward localhost:5910 192.168.1.10:5900
    LocalForward localhost:5911 192.168.1.11:5900
    LocalForward localhost:5912 192.168.1.12:5900
    LocalForward localhost:5913 192.168.1.13:5900

#End Config

If you save this in a new config file, for example "homeTunnel_config" you can run "ssh -F homeTunnel_config RemoteMachine". Much simplier than running SSH on every machine and tunneling to each individually using for example "ssh -L 5910:127.0.0.1:5900 SECUREUSER@ssh.XXX.net".
To make it even easier put the config file in your user's preferences folder, and write an AppleScript to automate it all.

set PrefPath to path to preferences folder from user domain as string
set ConfigPath to POSIX path of PrefPath & "homeTunnel_config"

tell application "Terminal"
	activate
	do script "ssh -F " & ConfigPath & " RemoteMachine sleep 30"
end tell

A terminal window will popup and you enter your password, you have 30 seconds to utilize the SSH tunnel or else it will close, after the application using the tunnel quits, the connection will close.

Connecting

So, after you open the SSH tunnel, run your VNC client, since you are tunneled in and have forwarded the local ports, you just need to connect to the appropriate local port. So in your VNC client you can enter "localhost:5910" or whatever the appropriate port number is.

        

Check it out. Its got a cool Flash header that does some subtle alpha effects based upon mouse movement. It's a Wordpress backend, and uses some interesting wordpress plugins including Kimili Flash embed, GigPress, the XSPF music player, Flickr Manager, FeedWordPress (in conjunction with www.makedatamakesense.com), and MailChimp's Wordpress plugin.

UPDATE: The Flash Header proved to be very cumbersome, and was abandoned. A great photo by our friend cyril was used as the basis of a new design. Regardless, check out the site, it looks good.

        

Arizona's Glowing Bird (Bass, Co-Engineer & Co-Mix w/ Danny Kadar), Valorie Miller's Autumn Eyes (Produce, Engineer, Mix), and Mad Tea Party's Found a Reason (Mix), were on a short list of good local records made this year in WNC. Right on. All good records, all fun to work on. 2009... you're on notice...

        

So, we stopped yesterday after james complained that the van was surging, loosing power suddenly, and just not behaving right. I found a Dodge dealership in Toledo Ohio that apparently does has tons of sprinter experience and parts.

Two hours of diagnostics later, I was told we needed a new fuel pressure sensor, a $400+ part, that would need to be ordered. Not an option, had to be in Cleveland for the show last night. So, we hit the road, and tried to just deal with the problem, the sprinter slipping in to "Limp mode" as mercedes calls it, until we eventually lost power on the highway at full speed, a little scary. We eventually made it to the venue, and after we played I inspected the fuel pressure sensor as seen above. To my surprise the wiring harness was damaged. Really?!?! why didn't the techs at the dealership catch this. Two of the wires shorting out. I used a bit of electrical tape to insulate the wires, pulled out my OBD2 pocket scan tool, cleared the codes, restarted the van, drove it 10miles on the highway at full speed, with no problems, rescanned, No Codes! Any competent tech would have caught this immediately. In the service manual it explicitly states after scanning the code P2306 Sensor Supply 2 Voltage Low that the first thing to do, is to turn the car off, clear the code, and then rescan. The second step is to visually inspect the wiring on the boost pressure sensor, and the fuel pressure sensor. Either the tech didn't read the manual, or didn't follow the directions.

        

So the idea is to cut this blank out, you can see that I've already got starting slots cut in the 4 sides. I used my angle grinder with a cut off wheel to make these cuts. You want to cut just on the outside of where the sheet metal transitions from being flat to bubbling out where the window should be. This is where the window is designed to fit, and this is the smallest cutout you can make while still leaving a flat edge for the window to grab on to.

Below is the window. It is split at the bottom with a small vent opening. You can see my greasy paw marks all over it, nothing windex won't fix.

Okay, so now we cut a big gapping hole in the side of a perfectly good van. (Thanks for the reciprocating saw Danny!) To my surprise the 18v cordless black and decker firestorm reciprocating saw, while not the finest piece of machinery, does cut through sheet metal like butter with a good blade on it.

One side left to cut.

Cut out done. All i did then was grind down the edges to get rid of any burs, and clean any dust and dirt from the edge. Then lay down some weather stripping along the inside edge (Note: the side window required weather stripping inside and out, this one has a rubber gasket on the edge of the window, so only weatherstripping inside was required.)

Window in. There aren't any pictures of the window going in, because I was more worried about the window not breaking or falling than I was concerned about taking pictures. But you set the window in from the outside, check that all the edges have a good place to seal, then there is a flange on the inside the screws in to the frame holding the window securely in place.

Voila!