Have an Old PC? Turn it into a Router/Firewall

A friend of mine recently gave ma an old Sony Vaio desktop he had sitting in a corner. It had Windows ME and 64MB RAM (it would have had 128 but one stick was corrupt) and a little over 1 GB for the HD.

I like to download copyrighted material like everyone else; it's not legal but we all do it, kind of like rolling through a stop light when turning right, it's expected. Having a router "in house" does two things. It will hide your computers that you use on the web (your IP for your PC will be invisible) and it also give you a heightened level of security by putting a gate between your PC(s) and the 'Net.

This article isn't going to give you the down and dirty to do it. There are too many technical things for me to describe here. I want to however give you the links I have found helpful so you can try it on your own.

If you have an old PC you aren't using and it's too slow or has low memory, that's OK. A router/server/firewall machine doesn't need all the bells and whistles of a full fledged PC that you use daily. It is only moving packets of information around. You don't even need a monitor or keyboard hooked up to it once you have it in place (except of course to maintain it occasionally).

You can have as little as 60 MB RAM and less than 4-6GB on the HD.

Here are the links to get you started:

Using OpenBSD As A Firewall/Gateway for Home DSL or Cable

Set Up a Linux Firewall on Your Network | Webmonkey | Wired.com 

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/networking/how-to-build-your-own-router-915419

http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-an-old-Computer-into-a-web-server/

Downloads | Coyote Linux 

Realize that this is not for you if you are not confortable with command line entries and fooling around "under the hood" of a PC, but if it's an old PC, why care? It's for the learning as well as the security!

Have fun!






 

Use Magnet Links When "Torrenting"

Magnet Link VS .Torrent Files

A .Torrent is a small file that has info about the actual bigger file (i.e. a movie, a CD, etc.) you want. The file tells your download program all kinds of techy stuff and also calculates a hash code, unique to that CD or film you want to download--think of a bar code. With that code it finds other people uploading those files, so you can download from them all at one time.

A magnet link is a hyperlink containing the hash code for that torrent, so your program uses it right away to start finding those shared files. Simple.

Using a Magnet Link

Go to Pirate Bay (or other torrent site) and click on the magnet link. Your browser should automatically open up your default BitTorrent client and start downloading. It's that easy.

WARNING! ABOUT TORRENTS!

Many people (including me until recently) thought that just having a Firewall protected you when downloading torrents. It does, but your ISP will still be seen by others who are hired by media companies to monitor the swarms (i.e. you and others after a popular file). They contact your ISP then your ISP sends you a letter (that's how I found out!) to cease and disist or risk losing your connection or even worse--getting sued! To prevent this you need a program that essentially hides your IP.

You can find more info about that HERE. IMHO I think everyone needs to heed this because the letter I got scared me!.

FREE EMAIL with your NAME in the Suffix

Wow! I only just discovered this, so if you know about it, you'll understand my excitement. It's a free email service that has over 2,000 "domains" so you can personalize it. Look at examples below that I randomly picked:

from names mail2Anthony.com

mail2Graham.com
mail2Sean.com
mail2Warren.com

from professions
mail2Artist.com
mail2Fireman.com
mail2Mechanic.com

from places
mail2California.com
mail2Zurich.com

I think you get the picture. So you can create an email that is very personal. It has lots of free extras, but if you really want to pay, for about $20 USD/year you get other services.

Go check them out HERE and start creating your unique email address today!     

A Few Great FREE Web Hosting Sites and FREE URLs

You want a web site, but aren't sure about paying for space to host it right now. Or you have a website provided free for some reason (your internet service provider for example. Also, you are not quite ready to fork out $15 for a domain name as yet, like mamashomemadepickles.com.

I am going to recommend two free web hosting services where you can upload your web pages to with plenty of storage for a basic site.

I will also show you a few places you can get free URLs like janie.knows.it/ or robby.v3.com/ (you can't get free yourname.com or yourname.net or .org--those you pay for).

Some restrictions apply at the free hosting sites. For example, you can't have anything with adult content. And you most certainly cannot have "hate content" that promotes racism or cultural negativity. An example from one of the sites I am recommending is below taken from their TOS.

(from Mezoka.com Terms of Service Agreement)

You agree to not use the Service to:

1. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
2. harm minors in any way;
3. impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a mezoka official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity 

The two free web hosting services I recommend are:
Mezoka.Com
.....................Unlike other free hosting sites, Mezoka gives you a wopping 1200 MB disk space!
Freehostia.com
.....................Sign up for their chocolate plan (the free one). You do not get as much storage, only 250 MB, but what you lose in total storage size you gain POP3/IMAP E-mail accounts, which Mezoka doesn't offer.

The free URL redirect services or sites I recommend are:
kickme.to
....................They have a lot of subdomain redirect URLS under a lot of catagories. Just browse until you find the one for you.
ekurd.net
....................This site is evidently owned by Kurds. It has a nice list of subdomain redirect places with short descriptions by each. 

Good luck with putting together your new web page or site with your free URL. New articles are coming so check back soon.
 

So You Want To Be a Screenwriter, Huh?

Aloha! Ni Hao! And hello and welcome to South China Stories.

George Orwell hard at work

I recently started working on writing screenplays based on or inspired by some real life adventures. In doing so I realized that a lot of people don't have a clue on how to go about it!

For one thing, there are two types of screen plays one would write--on spec (i.e. unsold and unsolicited) and one that is comissioned (i.e. an actual buyer wants your work!).

Besides that, what type of screen play do you want to write? Is it for an epic film? A TV drama or recurring series? Or is it for new media like the web or E-books?

Regardless of what its intended audience, you must be able to write a script, and that is the issue at hand. If you try to just write it using a simple word processor, then you are going to waste a lot of time--and I do mean a lot--typing up redundant details per page. A script takes on a very unified formula and it has to be to exact standards; you can't simply try to market a script written like a manuscript for a book publisher. These are two different animals.

Script writing software to the rescue! The standard is Final Draft, and Expect to pay $200 or more for a copy. It's available for both Windows and Mac (sorry Linux! Not yet) But what about really good free software?

It's called Trelby. Rather than duplicate what is already on their site I've listed the links for downloading the program as well as the online user's manual. You can see screenshots of the program HERE.

I wish any of you well with your future scripts and if someday someone buys your story, don't forgot who got you on the "write" road!

Download Trilby HERE

Basic instructions for Trilby are HERE  

Online Trilby user's manual is HERE

Below are some useful links to help you on your path with writing

WikiPad This program is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac. It works directly with Wiki sites and very intuitive and user friendly.

Script Frenzy This site has a lot of "get started" pages and info for new screenwriters.

Don't forget to check out my article(s) on where to get free web space and a couple of free short URLs you can use until you actually buy a domain name. Also a great article on creating an online business card.

Happy writing! China Mike