Angrypeanut

When I first started playing with coffee I spent ages on the internet reading all the information I could, trying to get tips, tricks and any general points to follow. During my search I found Coffee Dominion (Townsville Coffee Roaster). Initially I went in to just get some fresh beans (Remember that Fresh GOOD Beans and a good grinder is 70% of making a good coffee) but after talking to the staff for over an hour I walked out with beans and lots and lots of information. I then proceeded home to practise. Many many many cups of coffee later I was bouncing off the walls on a caffeine high but still wanting to know more! So my body couldnt pyschically take anymore coffee I would have to turn back to the internet. During this search I came aross something called a Naked Portafilter. A naked or bottomless portafilter is just a normal portafilter but with its bottom cut out.

Why do this????

1. Looks really really good

2. You can see your shot being pulled directly (more information to follow)

3. Your shot is not coming in contact with anything but your cup. This will prevent any nastys ruining your coffee because you are too lazy to clean your machine reguarly.

Now that you are pouring with a naked portafilter you will notice the colouring etc, What does it all mean??

Over at Home-Barista.com you can get a full explaination but I will just show you the main section.

Blonding denotes the color transition of a pour from dark brown and tiger-striping to a light, uniform pale blond. This normally occurs in the last third of the pull and is a signal to end the pour. This overly-blond portion of an espresso is thin, nearly flavorless, and if allowed to continue too long, will dilute the body and taste characteristics of an otherwise enjoyable shot.

Channeling is the rapid passage of water through fractures in the coffee puck, which produces a thinner, under-extracted espresso. When it occurs, you'll often see sudden appearances of blond streaks in the stream of espresso; sometimes the puck will even have pencil lead-sized holes where channeling occurred.

Crema is one of the sure signs of a properly brewed shot of espresso (in non crema-enhancing espresso machines) and is created by the dispersion of gases— air and carbon dioxide —in liquid at a high pressure. The liquid contains emulsified oils, and forms a dark golden brown layer resembling foam on top of an espresso shot. [excerpted M.P.]

Extraction is the act of forcing hot water from the boiler though ground coffee, which in turn "extracts" flavors, oils, colloids, lipids and other elements that turn water into brewed coffee or espresso. [excerpted M.P.]

Golden rule is a common phrase that describes the ideal extraction time and volume for an espresso. The Instituto Nationale Espresso Italiano (PDF) provides a working definition of the characteristics of an ideal espresso, although I consider these parameters more "golden guidelines" than hard and fast rules. My own brief definition of an espresso is an extraction using approximately fourteen grams of coffee to produce a sixty milliliter double in 22 to 32 seconds (timing from the moment the pump starts).

Over-extraction occurs when too many coffee solids are extracted, resulting in a strong, harsh flavor. The visual signs are a low-volume extraction having a dark, thin crema. A dark "halo" at the edge of the cup is another classic indictor of an over-extraction, or of brew water that is too hot.

Pre-infusion: the act of pre-wetting the bed of ground coffee inside an espresso machine before actually commencing the brew. Some espresso machines do this by using the pump; water is pumped to the coffee for a second or two, and then halted for another second or two. After this pause, the pump activates again, and continues brewing the shot. Super automatics and some automatic espresso machines use this pre-infusion.

Another type of pre-infusion is called "natural" or progressive pre-infusion, and occurs in espresso machines equipped with an E61 grouphead. When the pump is activated, a secondary chamber must fill prior to full pressure being applied to the bed of coffee. This gives a 3 to 7 second saturation time for the grounds before the pressure builds up. This type of pre-infusion is preferable to pump and pause active pre-infusion.

There is a school of thought that progressive pre-infusion improves overall extraction from the coffee. [excerpted M.P.]

Tiger striping and mottling are leading visual indicators of a good extraction. Tiger striping is formed by the contrast of darker and lighter crema in the espresso stream; ideally it begins early in the pour and is sustained through the end. Mottling is the in-cup confirmation of a good extraction; it is the darker brown speckling and reddish-brown splotches formed on the surface of the crema.

Under-extraction occurs when too few coffee solids are extracted, resulting in a weak, dull flavor. The visual signs are a rapid, high-volume extraction having a uniformly light blond crema.

As you can see, you can tell alot more about your shot if you can actually see whats going on whilst the shot is being poured.

All the best with your coffee

Brewing Beer/Cider In Townsville

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:37:53 +0000

As many of us already know, nothing beats having a refreshing drink after work or a busy day. I initially started like most with a basic coopers home brew kit from Big W or something. This kit was very handy starting tool with its plastic bottles so they couldn't explode and the training DVD. Coopers kits come with EVERYTHING you need to make your first batch of home brewed beer, which is think it exactly what a new comer to the home brew scene needs. If you are like me though, you do slowly get sick of cleaning bottles etc. If this is the case you can then upgrade to KEGS!!!!! When I first looked into kegs I went to The Homebrewers Warehouse where I met Youngy. That morning with youngy I thought my brain would turn to mush with all the information that he was giving me. Youngy is a bit of a guru when it comes to homebrew. He has 3 national titles and tonnes of state titles for brewing beer.
After that a few days I walked back into youngy's and walked out with 2 kegs and all the other gear needed.

Kegs VS Bottles

Kegs are expensive

Bottles need to be individually cleaned and you only have to clean 1 keg.

Minimum of 4 weeks before you can drink your bottled beer. Bottling your beer you need to have you beer in your fermenter for a minimum of a week and then a minimum of 2 weeks in the bottle (highly recommend leaving them longer in the bottle). Kegs are 2 weeks in the fermenter and 2 days of gasing.

Some Tips

Go See Youngy!!!!!

When your keg is getting low, pour your remaining beer into a 2ltr bottle so you can start gasing your new keg (This is only needed if you don't have a spare keg or you have only 2 kegs and your partner is into brewing as well

Did I mention you need to see Youngy!!!!

I Will Add More ASAP

Best Free Applications For Windows

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:35:45 +0000

I just thought I would write a quick list of the FREE Applications that I use

Free Internet Browser

Firefox

With out a doubt firefox has to be the best piece of free software known to man. Firefox is in my mind the best Web Browser. It works on all operating systems. Currently Firefox has the second largest chunk of users on the internet only behind Internet Explorer which is in built to Windows. Once you download Firefox you will never go back

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

As Well as being the most reliable and most secure, you can also use ADD ON’s to improve and customize your firefox. I recommend and use

Adblock Plus (Blocks ad’s on wedsites)

Video Download Helper (To Capture Video and Music from webiste)

Down Them All!!! (Very good download tool)

Fast Dial (Open and new Tab and select from your commonly used sites)

Free Photo Editing Software

PAINT .NET

This is a free image and photo editing software for the windows operating system. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Basically I think of it as Adobe Photoshop for home users and for people who don’t wish to pay the insane price for Photoshop

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

Free Compression Software

7ZIP

This is an Open Source piece of software that is free to use. This is a great replacement for WinZip, WinRar etc.

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

Free Office Suite

Open Office

Open Office is a free Office suite. I have never used this suite personally but I have very good feedback for users who have

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

Free Anti Virus

Microsoft Essentials

Microsoft got sick of people saying that “Windows” gets viruses. Windows can get viruses but that usually caused by silly mistakes by users and having over 90% of the world wide computer market. Why write a OSX (Apple) virus when you have a less that 1 in chance that the person that attacking actually has your target operating system. To fix this, Microsoft just went out and bought a Anti Virus company and then tweaked their product and now give out Microsoft Security Essentials out for FREE! Easily one of the most used and highly regarded Anti Viruses out today. Why pay $90 a yr to run Nortons that crushes your computer when MSE is free and runs very very very well

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

This list is far from all the great free software out there.

I also have to mention Filehippo Update Tool. This will check all your currently installed programs and let you know which programs have been updated.

Click Here To Read More and Download This Software

Indy Video

admin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:32:12 +0000

Here is a little video of my trip to Indy

Vista Update Batch File

admin — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:46:02 +0000

The worst thing about rebuilding your machine after a virus or just to give your machine a fresh lease on life is sitting there for 2 days installing all your applications and getting everything back to how you had it. After doing this numerous times and to assist friends and family I thought I would do something about this. After some time reading about this problem I found a few products that could do what I was chasing,

Folder Layout I will be using is:

Vista

Office

Programs

WindowsUpdates

Office 2007

To get Office 2007 to install silently you need to edit CONFIG.XML in your STANDARD.WW or ENTERPRISE.WW folder. If you wish to know more go here

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack

The first thing you need to do is download K-Lite codec pack from HERE Next step to do is, create a folder called KLMCodec and copy the install file into it. If you have troubles or want to know more go to HERE

Batch File Creation

Below is the text you will need to copy. Create a blank notepad file and paste the text into it and then click FILE – SAVE AS, go to the drop down menu for SAVE AS TYPE and select ALL FILES and save it as Update.cmd.

________COPY ALL TEXT BELOW THIS POINT_____

CLS

@ECHO off

# This is the Text will appear in the Title Bar of our window

TITLE Angrypeanut's Vista Update Batch File

@ECHO off

# This is the colour’s of our Screen. The first one is the Background colour and the second is the text colour

# 0 = Black 8 = Gray

# 1 = Blue 9 = Light Blue

# 2 = Green A = Light Green

# 3 = Aqua B = Light Aqua

# 4 = Red C = Light Red

# 5 = Purple D = Light Purple

# 6 = Yellow E = Light Yellow

# 7 = White F = Bright White

color 0a

Net Stop "Automatic Updates"

# Firstly we shall tidy up the start menu

md "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Utilities"

md "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Entertainment"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Calendar.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Contacts.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Defender.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Fax and Scan.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Live Messenger Download.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\P
rograms\Entertainment"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Mail.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Meeting Space.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Movie Maker.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Entertainment"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Photo Gallery.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "%userPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Media Player.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Entertainment"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\games" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Entertainment"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Extras and Upgrades" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Maintenance" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"

del "%userPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Mail.lnk"

del "%userPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer.lnk"

del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Default Programs.lnk"

del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Meeting Space.lnk"

del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Live Messenger Download.lnk"

# Lets Install Some Programs

Office 2007Office\setup.exe /config silent.xml

del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\New Microsoft Office Document.lnk"

del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Open Microsoft Office Document.lnk"

Office\Office2007sp1 /quiet

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Office 2007

# Go to HERE to get the lastest Adobe Reader

Programs\AdbeRdr90_en_US /sPB

Del "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Adobe Reader 9.lnk"

Del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Adobe Reader 9.lnk"

Del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk"

Del "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Adobe Reader Synchronizer.lnk"

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Acrobat Reader

# Go to HERE to get the latest Adobe Flash

Programs\install_flash_player_active_x.msi /passive

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Flash Player

# Get all the info you need about KLite from the above section

Programs\KLMCodec\klmcodec416.exe /verysilent /norestart /LoadInf="Programs\KLMCodec\klmcp.ini"

echo. Angrypeanut Just K-Lite Mega Codec

# Paint .Net is a Free Photo editing program to replace Windows Paint

Programs\Paint.NET.3.36.exe /Auto

Del "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Paint.NET.lnk"

move "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Paint.NET.lnk" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Utilities"

echo. Angrypeanut Just Paint .Net

# Windows Updates

WindowsUpdates\KB905866-v10.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB905866-v10

WindowsUpdates\KB925902.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB925902

WindowsUpdates\KB928089.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB928089

WindowsUpdates\KB929123.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB929123

WindowsUpdates\KB929399.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB929399

WindowsUpdates\KB929916.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB929916

WindowsUpdates\KB930178.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB930178

WindowsUpdates\KB931099.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB931099

WindowsUpdates\KB931213.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB931213

WindowsUpdates\KB931573.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB931573

WindowsUpdates\KB931836.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB931836

WindowsUpdates\KB933579.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB933579

WindowsUpdates\KB935280.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB935280

WindowsUpdates\KB935807.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB935807

WindowsUpdates\KB936021.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936021

WindowsUpdates\KB936357.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936357

WindowsUpdates\KB936824.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936824

WindowsUpdates\KB936825.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936825

WindowsUpdates\KB937077.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB937077

WindowsUpdates\KB937143.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB937143

WindowsUpdates\KB938123.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB938123

WindowsUpdates\KB938127.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB938127

WindowsUpdates\KB936960 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936960

WindowsUpdates\KB890830 /Q

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB890830

WindowsUpdates\KB932080 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB932080

WindowsUpdates\KB934062 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB934062

WindowsUpdates\KB934173 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB934173

WindowsUpdates\KB934391 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB934391

WindowsUpdates\KB934393 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB934393

WindowsUpdates\KB936509 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936509

WindowsUpdates\KB936514 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936514

WindowsUpdates\KB936644 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936644

WindowsUpdates\KB936646 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936646

WindowsUpdates\KB937608 /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB937608

WindowsUpdates\KB938194.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB938194

WindowsUpdates\KB938979.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB938979

WindowsUpdates\KB933360.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB933360

WindowsUpdates\KB939159.msu /quiet /norestart

echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB939159

# Updates For December 2007

WindowsUpdates\KB930857.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB930857

WindowsUpdates\KB931365.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB931365

WindowsUpdates\KB933729.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update B933729

WindowsUpdates\KB933928.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB933928

WindowsUpdates\KB936782.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB936782

WindowsUpdates\KB941202.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB941202

WindowsUpdates\KB941568.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB941568

WindowsUpdates\KB941569.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just
Installed Windows Update KB941569

WindowsUpdates\KB941600.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update B941600

WindowsUpdates\KB941649.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB941649

WindowsUpdates\KB942615.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB942615

WindowsUpdates\KB942624.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB942624

WindowsUpdates\KB943078.msu /quiet /norestart
echo. Angrypeanut Just Installed Windows Update KB943078

@ECHO off

ECHO.

ECHO. Thanks for Using This Batch File

ECHO.

ECHO. "Your Computer Is Now Up To Date"

ECHO.

ECHO. "Service Provided By"

ECHO.

ECHO. "Angrypeanut"

ECHO.

ECHO. www.Angrypeanut.Com

ECHO.

Pause

________COPY ALL TEXT ABOVE THIS POINT_____

Updated to reflect windows updates for December as well as adding Office 2007 SP1

Once Service Pack 2 For Vista Is Released I Will Update This Post

Editing Smoothwall/Linux

admin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:35:12 +0000

This information may be useful for Windows users like me who are not
experienced with editing or transferring Smoothwall/Linux files across a
network. I have made this post long, perhaps painfully long, to cover every
detail a new Linux user is likely to need on this topic.

Introduction
Windows computer users can view and edit Smoothwall’s configuration files
using familiar Windows skills. Many of the tweaks and modifications
presented in the Smoothwall user forums require changing configuration
files in Smoothwall directories. These configuration files are plain text,
so a simple text editor is necessary. Smoothwall users can choose from a
variety of text editors, including two installed on the Smoothwall as part
of the standard package, and various text editors from other operating
systems, including Windows. This “how to” will focus on using a couple of
editors which can be used to edit Smoothwall configuration files from a
Windows computer connected to the LAN (on the green interface side of the
Smoothwall). Finally, I’ll mention using a Windows computer to transfer
files to or from Smoothwall.

Linux Editors Included with Smoothwall
But first, I’ll mention the editors included in the Smoothwall
distribution. If you are sitting at the Smoothwall keyboard and logged in
as “root” you can choose from two *nix text editors, joe and vi (pronounced
“vee eye”). To use either of these, just type “joe” or “vi” at the command
prompt, followed by the path and filename of the file you want to edit, and
hit the “Enter” key. Joe is a text editor which uses control-key commands,
like the older DOS-based WordStar, to perform common tasks such as copy,
paste, and save. “vi was the first real screen-based editor for Unix
systems. . . . [and] at first, vi may appear to be somewhat complex and
unwieldy” (Running Linux, O’Reilly, p. 276). When using vi, pushing keys on
the keyboard will do different things, depending on whether you are in
command mode, edit mode, or ex mode. Hilton covers the basics of using vi
and joe here. There may be times when you can only use joe or vi, but
Smoothwall allows alternatives in most situations.

Editing Smoothwall Files with Microsoft Windows Software
Many Smoothwall users who have primarily used Windows and who have little
previous experience with Linux will be more comfortable at first using
Windows-based editors. Doing so is possible because Smoothwall includes a
ssh server. The ssh server encrypts network traffic between the Smoothwall
and a remote machine, such as a computer running Windows, for any traffic
which is routed through the ssh tunnel. While ssh is included in
Smoothwall, it is not included in Windows, but a variety of ssh clients are
available for Windows.

Two popular and free, open source ssh clients for Windows are WinSCP and
PuTTY. The primary purposes of these two programs differ. The primary
purpose of PuTTY is to log in to the command line interface on the remote
machine. Using PuTTY, you can interact with the Smoothwall from a remote
machine exactly as if you were logged in directly to the Smoothwall (unless
you enter a command to shut down networking or ssh — then the connection
will be broken). Among other things, PuTTY will be handy if your Smoothwall
is not right next to you, or does not have a monitor and keyboard connected
to it all the time. You can, for instance, connect to the Smoothwall with
PuTTY, and then use joe or vi through PuTTY.

WinSCP
The other program, WinSCP, has a different focus. “WinSCP is an open source
SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows
using SSH (Secure SHell). Its main function is safe copying of files
between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this basic function, WinSCP
manages some other actions with files” (WinSCP web site).

What that means for us is that WinSCP will allow you to use a familiar
Windows, graphical user interface program to directly edit files on the
Smoothwall or to copy files between the Smoothwall and your Windows
machine. If a file is copied to the Windows computer, you could use other
Windows editors to edit the Smoothwall configuration file.

Here is what is required:
- Smoothwall, installed and running
- A Windows computer which is connected to the Smoothwall via the green
interface
- WinSCP ? available here.
- PuTTY ? available here.

On the Smoothwall, be sure that “Remote Access” is turned on. You’ll find
this option by logging in as “admin” on the Smoothwall web GUI, and
clicking on the “Services” and “Remote Access” tabs. Be sure that the “SSH”
box is checked. If it is not, click there and then on the “Save” button.
I’ll let you read the Smoothwall help file to see what “Allow admin access
only from valid referral URLs” option does for you.

On the Windows computer, install PuTTY and WinSCP. The current version of
PuTTY is 0.54b and of WinSCP is 3.5.6. If you are using a newer version,
things could be different.

To connect using WinSCP, start WinSCP and enter the following options:
On the Sessions page:
- Host name: enter the ip address of the Smoothwall’s green interface.
- Port number: enter 222 (NOT 22).
- User name: root

I have also selected the following options, but these are not essential:
On the Sessions page:
- Protocol: SFTP
On the SSH page:
- Preferred SSH protocol version: 2 only
On the Preferences page:
- Interface: Norton Commander

When you’ve created your preferred settings, you can save them for future
use on the Stored Sessions page.

To connect to the Smoothwall, click on the Login button. WinSCP will
connect to the Smoothwall and give you a “Enter Password” prompt. There you
will enter your password for the “root” user on Smoothwall. If all has gone
well, WinSCP will display files and directories from your local, Windows
computer on the left and files and directories from your Smoothwall on the
right (this is the “Norton Commander” style interface). If you don’t
connect, check everything again, from your “root” password to connectivity
between the Windows computer and Smoothwall, to ssh’s running on the
Smoothwall.

I won’t go into depth on navigating using WinSCP, because if you are
familiar with the basic functions of Microsoft Windows Explorer, you will
have no trouble with WinSCP. There are two new and important WinSCP
functions, however.

First, and the main point of this exercise, is that if you right click on a
filename on the Smoothwall, you will have the option to edit the file.
WinSCP includes a simple text editor which will suffice most of the times
you want to view or change text files on the Smoothwall. You can view or
edit Smoothwall configuration files and view raw log files.

Second, you can change the rights/properties of any file, by right-clicking
and choosing the properties option. If you edit any files on the Smoothwall
? especially if you have edited them while they were stored on your Windows
computer and then you manually copied them back to the Smoothwall ? be sure
that the rights/properties are set the same as the original file. If the
rights to a configuration file are incorrect, the program using that file
can fail.

You’ll also notice that you can right-click and rename files. This can be
used to create backups of the original files with a different name so that
if your changes cause a problem, you can go back to the original settings.
I add “.orig” to the end of the filename, but it doesn’t matter if it works
for you.

To copy files between Windows and Smoothwall, just drag and drop between
the left and right panes. You can store the files on Windows as a backup
for your Smoothwall configuration, and you can edit the files completely on
the Windows machine.

Remember two issues, however, when copying files back to the Smoothwall.
First is the properties/rights issue listed just above. Second is the fact
that Windows editors tend to treat the end of lines in text files
differently from *nix editors. If you create or edit a file using a Windows
editor and then copy the file back, Smoothwall will not read the ends of
lines the way you want and will be unable to use the file. You can overcome
this by using a Windows editor which understands Unix text files.

Some Other Windows Text Editors
I use a small and simple freeware editor called metapad, which can be set
in its preferences to use Unix end of line codes (Choose Options > Settings
> Advanced 1 > Default File Format: Unix Text). Metapad is by Alexander
Davidson and is available here. Metapad does add “.txt” to filenames,
however, unless you select the “Don’t autosave extensions” on the same
“Advanced 1″ options tab. You probably won’t want “.txt” on your files on
the Smoothwall.

There are several other good Windows editors which will also work well. The
Windows Notepad text editor will not get the right end of line codes for
Linux files. WinSCP gives you the option of making any Windows editor your
default editor in place of its integrated editor; just enter your choice in
the Options > Preferences > Editor > External editor dialog.

Some of the other Windows editors with *nix file support worth your
consideration:
- GVim (includes a GUI version of vim)
- ConTEXT Programmers Editor
- PSPad Text and Code Editor
- Syn Text and Programming Editor
- mpot recommended combination text editor and SSH client: UltraEdit
(shareware – $35 registration required after 45 day trial period)

Many of us, however, will do fine just using WinSCP’s built-in editor most
of the time.

PuTTY
I mention PuTTY here primarily because you after change configuration files
you will need to cause Smoothwall to use the new files. Smoothwall will not
immediately and automatically detect that you have changed a file and start
using your changed configuration. Smoothwall will use the changed file
automatically when you reboot/restart Smoothwall, but it is generally not
necessary to reboot. Normally you will just need to stop and restart the
particular service/program which uses that configuration file. The exact
command to do that depends on what part of Smoothwall you are editing.

Here are some example commands to restart a service after making changes:

- dansguardian:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|/etc/rc.d/init.d/dansguardian restart |
|———————————————————————-|

- dnsmasq:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|killall dnsmasq; dnsmasq -r /etc/resolv.conf.dnsmasq |
|———————————————————————-|

- Firewall and Network Settings:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|/etc/rc.d/rc.netaddress.down; /etc/rc.d/rc.netaddress.up |
|———————————————————————-|

- snort:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|/usr/local/bin/restartsnort |
|———————————————————————-|

- squid:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|/usr/local/bin/restartsquid |
|———————————————————————-|

- sshd:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|/usr/local/bin/restartssh |
|———————————————————————-|

- syslogd:
|———————————————————————-|
|Code: |
|———————————————————————-|
|killall -HUP syslogd |
|———————————————————————-|
PuTTY will allow you to enter Smoothwall commands from your Windows
machine. Parts of WinSCP are based on PuTTY and connecting with PuTTY is
the same as connecting with WinSCP, as covered above.

Transferring Files with WinSCP
As mentioned above, the primary purpose of WinSCP is to transfer files. A
number of mods presented in these forums now include files which need to be
downloaded and put on your Smoothwall. You cannot download directly from
the internet to Smoothwall. You cannot copy files onto a floppy disk and
get them onto Smoothwall either, as Smoothwall does not read any floppy
disks except its own backup disk. You can download files to your Windows
LAN client, however, and use WinSCP to get them onto Smoothwall. Login
using WinSCP as covered above, navigate in the left WinSCP pane to the
directory where the file is, and drag and drop the file from the left pane
to the right pane and into the Smoothwall directory where you want the
file.