Saturday, August 15, 2020

FileRun - self-hosted file sharing and content collaboration solution for personal, family or enterprise

I was looking for a multimedia content sharing solution to perform some sort of e-library function in a hosted server.

I would like to upload documents, e-books, presentation slides, audio files, video files, and the like to the system. Those content then can be accessible by particular persons and/or group of persons that I assigned permission with. They should be able to open the content directly in web browser in their desktop, tablet or mobile phone. For editable content such as text files, MS Office documents, LibreOffice documents, etc., they should be able to edit the file directly in the web browser, if I give them the "edit" permission.

First thing I thought of was Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or similar cloud drive available in the Internet. However, those services will have stringent quota limitation, less flexible for me to control users and access rights, and does not have certain feature that I need.

Then, I looked into ownCloud, Nextcloud, and the like. They are a bit too complicated for both the users and administrator. They contain excessive features and functions that I don't need. Worse still, I found that they have little bugs here and there which I couldn't resolve nor found workable solution in the Internet.

Finally, I settled down with FileRun which run in LAMP environment. It is simple, easy to use, and has a nice user interface.


It even has special handling for photos and audio/music by making use of the metadata embedded in those multimedia files. I hope that in the future version, this can be extended to video files too.



Installation of FileRun to an existing LAMP platform is pretty easy too. There are 2 files to download:


After download, rename the FileRun zip file to just FileRun.zip without version number in its filename.

Upload both FileRun.zip and unzip.php to a web-accessible folder in your web server.

Use your web browser to access to unzip.php in your web server, and follow the step-by-step instruction to complete your installation.


You can even install FileRun in Synology DiskStation and RackStation NAS. Click here for the instruction to install FileRun on Synology network attached storage.

With FileRun, you can manage and organize your files, tag them for easier searching, bookmark certain files into your collections and/or starred folder.

You can share your folders and files to other users and groups in FileRun, and determine whether they can perform upload, download, make changes, share links, read comments, or add comments.

You can also create weblinks to share files or folders to be accessible by other FileRun users or external users without any FileRun account in your system.

You can put an expiration date for your weblink, limit its download, set a password before the linked file can be accessed, require user login before the linked file can be accessed, etc.


I find FileRun very suitable for simple e-library system for file sharing and content collaboration in self-hosted server. You can even access your files directly from Windows Explorer via WebDAV. It even has a Mozilla Thunderbird FileLink addon to enable you to send large file in your email.





Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Updated the firmware of my Samsung Xpress M2885FW printer to version 3.00.01.18

Despite Samsung printer business had been bought over by HP since 2017, there is still new firmware release for my Samsung Xpress M2885FW printer recently in mid-July 2020 to version 3.00.01.18.

You can download this latest firmware from HP Customer Support Website for Samsung Printers here. The filename is M2885_V3.00.01.18.zip with size of 17.2MB.

After unzip, you can find the following files in it.


If your printer is connected to your computer with USB cable, the firmware update is pretty easy.
  • Make sure the printer is idle with no printing/scanning/faxing job running.
  • Drag and drop the file SWUPGRADE-ON.prn to usblist2.exe.
  • After that, drag and drop the file M2885_V3.00.01.18.hd to usblist2.exe.
  • The firmware update process will start in the printer. The printer will reboot itself at the end of the process.
You can check for the firmware version running in the printer by accessing the printer's IP address using your web browser and login into its SyncThru Web Service and navigate to Maintenance > Firmware Upgrade.



Another way to update your printer's firmware is by clicking on the Upgrade Wizard button on the webpage as shown above, and select the file M2885_V3.00.01.18.hd from your computer.

Here is the changelog of the firmware for this printer for your reference.



Friday, August 7, 2020

Bursa Malaysia RM150 cashback for ETF investment

There are 19 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) listed in Bursa Malaysia, and majority of them are thinly traded.

One of the more active one is GOLDETF (0828EA), which is also risen the most among the ETFs in Bursa Malaysia, with more than 28% 1 year historical return as of today.

Bursa Malaysia has just rolled out an ETF cashback program. An investor who invests (buys) one or multiple Bursa-listed ETFs with cumulative value of RM3,000 and above within the program period will be eligible to receive Touch ‘n Go eWallet Reload PIN worth RM150.


Terms and conditions:
  • Program period is valid from 3 August to 2 November, 2020.
  • Investors who invest (buy) one or multiple Bursa-Listed ETFs (stock code beginning with "08") with cumulative value of RM3,000 and above within the Program period will be eligible to receive a Touch ' Go eWallet Reload PIN worth RM150.
  • All above ETF buy trades must be carried out in the investor's Direct CDS Account.
  • Investors who have not made any buy or sell trades in Bursa-listed ETFs from 1 January 2020 until 2 August 2020 are eligible for this Program.
  • Limited to the first 500 eligible investors only.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.