Rotating Video

The missus just took some video footage of me cleaning the windows. I don't know why. Maybe she's secretly entered me for a George Formby look-a-like competition. I wouldn't put it past her...

Anyway, it was shot with the camera (a Sony Cybershot) held sideways so the resulting video, an .mpg file, was the wrong way round.
She wanted to rotate the video and opened it in PiTiVi in the hope that it would do it for her.
But it wouldn't.

So, after a little bit of searching I found this command, which will do it for you. You will need mencoder installed... Just change the INPUT.AVI bit to the name and extension of your file.

mencoder -vf rotate=1 -o OUTPUT.AVI -oac copy -ovc lavc INPUT.AVI

Kudos to the chap who posted it originally, a Mr Jose Catre-Vandis, no less!

Ubuntu 10.10 on the HP Pavilion DV6-3131SA

I got my new laptop yesterday from the nation's favourite retailer, John Lewis. It set me back £649 and this is what I got for my money:

Processor: 2.1 GHz AMD Phenom II Triple-Core Processor N830 (Level 2 cache 1.5 MB)

RAM: 4GB DDR3 (2 x 2048 MB) Upgradeable to 8GB DDR3

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics (switchable) with up to 2685MB total graphics memory with 1 GB DDR3 dedicated

Display: 15.6" High Definition LED BrightView Display (1366 x 768)

HDD: 500GB SATA 7200 rpm

Optical Drive: Blu-Ray ROM with Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Dual Layer

Network Card: Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN

Wireless connectivity: WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth

Sound: Altec Lansing speakers (Dolby Advanced Audio)

Keyboard & Pointing Device: Full size island-style keyboard & HP Clickpad supporting Multi-Touch gestures with On/Off button

Card Reader: 5-in-1 Digital Media Reader

External Ports: Ethernet, VGA, Headphones, Microphone-in, 3 USB 2.0, eSATA + USB port

Webcam: VGA HP TrueVision

And it comes with Windows 7. Which isn't a bad thing, but it ain't for me.

Here's how it looks:



It has a nice lid with an engraved pattern and a little HP logo which lights up:



The engraving is continued across the front where you will also find the power button and the fingerprint scanner There were three stickers on the right which I promptly removed. I'll get rid of the one on the left as soon as I can:



Ports on the left side from left to right are VGA, Ethernet, HDMI, E-SATA (which doubles as a USB 2.0), USB 2.0, Mic, Headphones, Card Reader:



Ports on the right side from left to right are, USB 2.0, Optical Drive, USB 2.0, AC Power Socket. There are also three LEDs here for Power On, HD Activity and Battery Charging:



Now, I should point out that this wasn't my first choice. I originally bought an Acer 5745 (i5 Processor), but having got it home and installed Ubuntu 10.10, it turned out that while the onboard HD graphics were available to me, the 1GB graphics card would probably never be available to use. This is because it uses Nvidia's Optimus Technology to switch the graphics cards and that can only be done using Windows 7. No, you can't use Vista or XP and it appears that no Linux distro will do it either.

So, how's Ubuntu 10.10?
Windows 7 never saw the light of day on this machine. I hooked up the AC power, inserted my Ubuntu 10.10 USB stick, powered up, hit ESC after the HP splash screen and chose to boot from USB.
Once it was up and running, I hit the installation icon. I chose to use the entire disk when asked.
When it was all done, I rebooted and inserted my Ethernet cable.
Then I opened Synaptic, reloaded and applied all updates. Then I installed the Broadcom and ATI restricted drivers and rebooted again.

At this point I discovered that the right-click on the touchpad didn't work. Luckily, a workaround was found for this issue. It's not very elegant and there's no multitouch but it restores the right-click, which is what I wanted.

And this is the only time I've had to use the command line during this install.

What's working? And just as importantly, what isn't?

External display ports work (connected via HDMI and VGA to TV).
Ethernet works (connected to router).
USB ports work correctly (tested with external HDD).
Display is at the correct resolution and sound via internal speakers work. Headphones also work.
The optical drive works (ripped a CD with RhythmBox), as does the eject button.
The card reader works (tested with an 8Gb SD).
Webcam and built in microphone work (tested with Skype).
Bluetooth also works (transferred a file from my Nokia N900).
Keys for display brightness (up and down), volume (up, down and mute) work.
Keys for Play/Pause, Next track, Previous track and Stop all work with RhythmBox.
On the left hand side of the keyboard, the Calculator key starts the calculator, the Email key starts Evolution and the Key with a globe on it (I assume this is supposed to launch the web browser) starts Nautilus. The other two keys don't appear to do anything.
Suspend on closing the lid works and it will come back correctly and connect to the wireless network correctly.

The key for toggling wireless connectivity sort of works. It will correctly toggle Bluetooth On/Off (the Bluetooth icon disappears and comes back) but it doesn't actually switch the wireless card off. It just disconnects/reconnects to the access point.

The fingerprint scanner doesn't appear to work, but I haven't researched how to get get it working, if it does at all.

The graphics card can be configured with the ATI Catalyst Control Centre which you can find under System > Preferences. I'm not too hot on this subject, so further testing will be needed.

With the patch applied, updates applied and restricted drivers installed, it was time to set up Ubuntu the way I like it.

New Bag Alert!!

Today I took delivery of my new laptop bag.

And I love it!



It's got more pockets than you could shake a stick at, it's got two (TWO!) Ubuntu things on it, three of the zip pulls have the Circle Of Friends logo on them, it's got a handle and a shoulder strap and it's black and everything!

And now I need to get a laptop for it...

Anyway, you can get one from the Canonical Store if you so wish. It's not the cheapest laptop bag on the market, but it is made by the good people at Ogio and, by purchasing from the Canonical Store, helps to support the Ubuntu foundation. And considering how much I've taken from them over the last six years it only seems right to give a little back.

Installing Linux Mint On A Dell Inspiron 2200

Lately, I've read forum posts and blog comments from people who are still convinced that installing Linux involves messing around with the command line at every turn, that dependency hell when installing software will ruin your Linux experience and that wireless just doesn't work.
They also say that Linux is not ready for the desktop.

This, my friends, is bollocks.

We have a temporary house guest staying at the moment and when she described her laptop, a Dell Inspiron 2200, as ancient, that it had been dropped on a number of occassions and takes forever to do anything, I offered to take a look. She also described herself as technically retarded. I was pretty sure I could fix the laptop, but not so sure about fixing her technical retardation.

So I connected it to the mains (the battery is completely shot) fired it up and once it had passed the Dell splash screen it started to boot WinXP. And then it promptly gave me the BSOD.
I tried booting to its last known good configuration, safe graphics mode, safe mode without graphics etc. but to no avail.
I booted Linux Mint from a USB stick and had a look at the hard drive using gParted. Checking the drive threw up an error and it wouldn't fix it.
I searched for and tried a number of solutions, but it just wasn't having it.
Sian, for that is her name, mentioned buying a Macbook to replace this machine (an excellent choice), but I was determined that this laptop wouldn't go to the local recycling facility without a fight and suggested that she let me install Linux Mint 10.

So, in went the Mint Linux live USB alongside an ethernet connection, I double clicked the installer, answered a few simple questions and within half an hour it was done. Rebooting, installing all the latest updates and rebooting again brought me to the desktop.

Then something popped up suggesting a driver for the wireless card. I chose to install the driver, the wireless card sprang to life and I was able to connect to my WPA2 encrypted network.



Then it turns out that Sian has been using a mobile broadband package on the Three network using a Huawei E220 dongle/modem. Having plugged one if these into my Ubuntu box, I know that it works out of the box. But, it turns out that this isn't the case with Mint 10. Which is odd.
Anyway, the solution to this was to boot with the dongle/modem inserted. You can then unplug it and plug it back in and it will still be picked up until you close down the computer, when it must be booted with it inserted again for it to work. Not great, but it works.



She asked for Picasa to be added and it was just a case of opening the Software Manager, searching for Picasa and hitting Add. I also added the Frozen Bubble game. Everyone likes Frozen Bubble.



After I had finished doing everthing, I closed the machine down and handed it to Sian.
She almost instinctively knew where to find everything, it connected automatically to my wireless network and within a couple of minutes she was surfing, exploring the menu and asking if Adobe Acrobat Reader was available. I explained that it really wasn't needed and when she clicked on a .pdf file it would just open in a reader. And it did.

And she is a very happy bunny.

She is no more technically aware than she was when she ran Windows, but she's a lot happier.
Not once has the command line been called upon, the wireless works, her mobile broadband works and installing software is easier than it is with Windows. She may well still get a Macbook, though, if only to give this design nightmare from Dell to someone else.

It doesn't exactly fly when running two or more programs, it's a relatively slow processor and it could use some more ram, but for web browsing and media playback, it works just fine.






So, if you're a first time user and would like to experience the incredibly easy to install (and use) Linux Mint 10, click here and get the full featured DVD edition :)

Upgrading The Netgear Router Firmware With FireFox

Okay, so I'm now the owner of a Netgear DGN1000 Wireless Router & Modem.
And when I logged into the router for the first time, itchecked to see if there was a new version of the firmware.
Which there was.
But it just hung with a "This could take few minutes" message.
So, I popped off to the Netgear website, got the latest firmware, logged into the router and attempted to upgrade using the file.
"This will take a few minutes", my arse.

So, what to do? After a scout round the Netgear forum, it looked like I was out of luck. "Internet Explorer is required" seemed to be the only answer bobbing about.

Pathetic, isn't it?

Still, A solution wasn't too far away for this FireFox user.

Simply go to Tools > Add-ons, search for User Agent Switcher and install it.
When Firefox restarts, go to Tools > Default User Agent > Internet Explorer and choose one.
Now log into the router and upgrade your firmware.

Sweet!

Starting Out With Plusnet

Well, it was going to happen eventually. We moved into a new property recently and getting a home phone and broadband installed was something that just had to be done.

I've never had contracts for either of these before (don't ask) and had a look round at what was available. A recent copy of PC Pro magazine listed the top ten suppliers according to a reader's poll. Top of the list was Zen Internet (seven times now!), but it's not particularly cheap. O2, my mobile provider, was also up there in the top five, but I don't like putting all my eggs in one basket. I'd heard good things about Plusnet who were also listed in the top five. Having seen the TV advert and checked out the site, I decided to go with the Plusnet Extra broadband and Talk Evenings & Weekends home phone packages along with a router.

So, on the 10th October, I went through the registration process on the website which was an entirely simple and painless process. As I was having a phone put in, I had to choose three dates for BT to send an engineer. My first choice of the 25th October (between 8am and 1pm) was the soonest date available, so that meant a two week wait. I don't know if this is normal for BT but it seems a little excessive.
A confirmation email regarding my direct debit setup quickly followed and a "Welcome to Plusnet" email arrived a few minutes later with various information regarding my Plusnet account.

On the 11th October, I received an email, "We've place your Home Phone order" and shortly after I recieved a call from Simon, who had a heavy Yorkshire accent, at Plusnet confirming the installation date. I also received an email saying Plusnet was now following me on Twitter.

The BT engineer turned up on the 25th October, just after 8am. That's pretty damned efficient! He checked the master socket and then the other sockets round the flat, one of which doesn't appear to work properly, but I wasn't planning to use it anyway.

The engineer's visit was followed on the 26th October by an email from Plusnet, "Your Home Phone is now active", containing my username, call credit and phone number.
Two other emails arrived that day with regards to payment by direct debit.

Two more emails arrived on the 27th October, one regarding advance notice of direct debit payment and the other informing me that my broadband order was being processed.

By this time, I was aware that my broadband would be ready for use on the 03 November after 12pm.

Then, on the 30th October, the router arrived. Or it tried to. I got home to find the postie had stuck one of the dreaded "We tried to deliver..." cards through the door and it informed me that I had to wait 72 hours before calling in at the sorting office to collect it..
Now, the first issue here is that if Plusnet had informed me that the router was en route, I could have arranged for someone to be here. As it was, I received a Service Notice on the 1st November saying the router had been dispatched.

Too late, Plusnet. You lose a point.

The second issue isn't a Plusnet issue. I called in at the sorting office on the 3rd November (the date my broadband was due to be connected) only to be told they couldn't find my parcel and couldn't provide a reasonable explanation as to what had happened to it.

So, I popped into Argos and picked up a Netgear DGN1000 wireless router/modem, as I really wanted to get online as soon as possible. I then raised a question on the Plusnet support explaining what had happened. They promptly replied, saying they would send out another router. Which was nice.

My broadband, however, wasn't activated until the 5th November. This does happen, I pretty much expected it, and it wouldn't have been an issue if Plusnet hadn't said that if the date of activation changed, I would be emailed about it. But no mail was forthcoming regarding this.

So, Plusnet, you lose another point.

Emails arrived on the 5th November regarding broadband activation, payment for broadband and one telling me that my Plusnet Protect software was ready for download.
Essentially, Plusnet Protect is an anti-virus package provided by McAfee, for which users are charged £2 a month for.
Sorry, Plusnet, it's all Linux in this household, so that's a non-starter.

So here I am, 27 days on from signing up and all is good. I still don't have a Plusnet router, but that's okay as the Netgear only needed my Plusnet account username and password to connnect to the internet.

Overall, the whole thing was really quite painless.

BT needing two weeks to send an engineer to install a phone and Royal Mail losing my router are par for the course, according to the general public, so they score no points.

Plusnet, you lose a point for failing to inform me in time that my router had been dispatched and you lose another for late delivery of my broadband. But you get half a point back for quick and efficent support with regards to my missing router.

Plusnet, you scored 8.5 out of 10. Well done!

Recording My Desktop

There aren't many desktop recorders for Ubuntu and the one I use is called recordmydesktop. It can be found in Synaptic and the Ubuntu Software Centre.
However, it only outputs to the .ogv format which is no good for uploading to YouTube and I couldn't find a converter. So, after a little Googling I came across a command which will convert it to .avi
To make it a little easier, be sure to record your desktop to your home folder and then when it's done, open a terminal and type:

mencoder thenameofthefile.ogv -ovc xvid -oac mp3lame -xvidencopts pass=1 -o output.avi

And watch it fly! Soon enough, you'll have a file called output.avi which you can rename and upload.

Note: You will need to have mencoder installed