Ubuntu Media Server ... whats next?

    If you have been following my blog, then you already know that I use Ubuntu 11.10 and the Plex media server software as a "Media Center PC". The Ubuntu PC also functions as file server and has two 500GB partitions for Time Machine Backup from my two Mac's. I have also managed to get Netatalk 2.2.2 and Avahi to play nice with the default Samba file sharing software. I wanted to keep Samba available for when friends with Microsoft Windows laptop's came to visit.

    So far, this setup has been working out much better than expected. The server (which is really just plain Jane Ubuntu 11.10 for desktops) is more stable than I could have hoped for and everything integrates well enough into my network that even my "non-techie" wife can use it regularly from her Mac or from the Roku without any trouble. The real question is, where do I go from here?

Time Machine

    Working with Mac osX's Time Machine is suppose to be painless and easy. I suppose that would be true "if" you only used external hard drive's connected to a USB port. But what if your part of an organization? What if you just don't have the desktop real-estate to place a large, bulky, black brick of a drive? What if you just (here is the keyword) "want" your backups stored somewhere else?

Netatalk on Ubuntu 11.10, one last thing to do ...

    In my last post, I gave a nice (at least I thought so) tutorial on Netatalk 2.2.2 on Ubuntu 11.10 so you can share files and even use Apples' very own Time machine for back up.  Since that writing I have found a couple of things. Really, just one, so this post should be a great deal shorter than the last one, but no less important.

Setting up Time Machine and Netatalk 2.2.2 on Ubuntu 11.10

    This was the biggest pain to setup and get working that I have yet encountered with Ubuntu 11.10. There is a small mountain information available on the internet on how to do this, yet none if it worked. I followed all of the guides and searched "man pages" for almost two weeks before I found the the proverbial keys to the kingdom. What follows is everything I learned from weeks of trial and error.