Fun with Putty.

No...not silly putty. Putty - you know, the cool SSH client. I wanted to be able to log in to my Windows XP box at the house from work, but figure out how to do it securely with no weird holes in my firewall to open, etc. I also wanted to do it with free software. It was a success. Here's a brief rundown....



HOME COMPUTER STEPS.

1. Download the OpenSSH "SSHWindows - Installer" here. Install program using defaults.

2. Edit c:\program files\openssh\etc\sshd_conf file, uncommenting the line:
# AllowTcpForwarding yes
(Note: Uncommenting means to take the # sign out of the line, then saving the file. You can use notepad for this step)

3. Navigate to the c:\program files\openssh\bin directory.

4. Execute from the prompt the following, substituting a local user on your computer for the bracketed [USERNAME].

mkpasswd -l [USERNAME] >> ..\etc\passwd

5. Go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services, and restart (or start) the service OpenSSHd. Change the properties so that it will start automatically.

6. Download RealVNC, TightVNC, UltraVNC, or you can use Remote Desktop, etc. For my example I used RealVNC, but many frown on its use because its not 'secure'. Well, we ARE going through a secure tunnel, so this is a moot point.

7. Install according to defaults, and choose a password. Make sure the VNC icon is in your system tray.


HOME FIREWALL STEPS.

1. This is going to be harder if you don't know how to use your firewall. The idea here is to forward all WAN traffic on your network on port 22 (SSH's tunnel port) to your Home PC's IP address. This will involve knowing your IP address, and knowing how to forward your port 22 traffic. This step is the same as if you would be running a WebServer from the house, except in that case, port 80 would be forwarded.

WORK COMPUTER STEPS.

1. Install RealVNC. (Or TightVNC, etc...) Take the defaults.

2. Install Putty. Note: Download the link that says "Windows-style installer (x86)". Take the defaults.

3. Create a new session, with the external IP address of your network. Note: Go to here from a computer on your home network to find out what your REAL IP address is.

4. Under the 'tunnels' section of the Putty configuration, add a local/destination port forward as follows:



Click the 'Add' button. Make sure to save your session, back on the 'session' tree item.

5. Click 'Open' from Putty, and authenticate, using the user account you set up with OpenSSH. If the firewalls are configured, and OpenSSH is configured properly, you should be able to log in.

6. Open RealVNC on the work computer, and connect to "localhost:5900". Log in using the VNC password you set up on your home computer.

It took several tutorials on this process to get me through the whole setup. I was crucially missing the step to uncomment the 'AllowTcpForwarding' flag. Most tutorials skipped this step of the process.

This doesn't have to be just RealVNC applications. The port-forwarding principle is the same for any Internet protocol.

Suds

I've opened an Open Source project at SourceForge for a program called 'Suds'. I will fold in the code for DiddilyCrypt (below) plus a new Sudoku puzzle game. Eventually, it will have wordsearches as well. Other puzzle games to come. This is my first venture into the open source community. A link for this project to follow.

DiddilyCrypt

Like Crypt-o-quotes? I wrote a program a while back for my wife and daughter, and to tell you the truth, I had forgotten all about it until today. Here's a link to download the installer. Please forgive the simple interface. It works without any issues that I'm aware of, and you can add your own dictionary of quotes in addition to the ones already there.

If this program is used by anybody out there, and you have a new 'dictionary' file, please share it with me, and I'll roll it into the next version.

Please provide any feedback/suggestions/comments to ahp3 AT bellsouth DOT net. (address written like this to eliminate any spam bots...)

DiddilyCrypt 1.0

Good Link...

Stumbled across the 46 best freeware list. Good stuff. May be of interest to someone. I know it will be for me.

Creating movies and bloggin' em.

Ever want to post digital movies into your blog? Here's a brief how-to on how I did it for my other blog.

1. My digital camera takes quicktime movies. (These are files with the *.mov extension.)

2. I used a program by RadTools to convert my MOV file to an AVI.

3. I used Windows Movie Maker (comes with Windows XP Start>Programs>Accessories) to chop off the parts I didn't want. I then output the file to a WMV file. (Windows Video)

4. I signed up at Anywhere (for free) to store my file on the web.

5. I uploaded my file, and was able to retrieve a valid URL for it.

6. I then created my post, adding a link to my file.

TO DO: Perhaps a good embedded player post would be more attractive. I attempted this with Media Player, but got some unexpected results with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Some things of note:
1. It's hard to edit quicktime files directly without QuickTime Pro. (~$30)

2. Many free software titles exist for AVI file manipulation. (That's the reason I converted from mov to avi.)

3. AVI files seem to have a 10 to 1 file size increase from MOV -> AVI. This is unacceptable in a web environment.

4. WMV files are nice and compressed, but lose a good bit of video quality. There are also limitations with non-Microsoft browsers.

Stumbling around...

Ever have some spare time? Ever want to see those weird sites? Surf around with StumbleUpon. Set up a profile, and then select areas that interest you, download the tool bar, and away you go! I've found some cool sites this way.

The cursory first post.

Here's where I guess I promise to do this or that, to write often, and plead with the reader to please come back soon.

Oh well...