Notes on Educational Technology and Anything Else that Suits My Fancy
If you’re having trouble getting your HP printer to work on Linux, try the following:
Install hplip
Install the hplip GUI
As root (sudo) run hp-setup
My most recent problems involved he HP Laserjet P1005. The above fixed it. Simply having hplip installed wasn’t enough.
If you’re getting very poor audio performance in Skype on Mint 11, try disabling video. I disabled video, yet my friend could still see me and audio was fine. I start Skype video using this method.
Finally, a simple, easy to use pdf editor with a friendly gui. http://live.gnome.org/PdfMod
I use home-made mp3 files a lot in my work, often ripped from movie DVDs. Recently I found I hadn’t prepared them at an appropriate volume. This tool is great for fixing mp3 file volume issues:
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
mp3Gain, thank you!
UPDATE 120129: Try this if you’re on Mint64:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype
Thanks goes to http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/219 for this help.
The method below might still work for your setup, but I had to start using the above after a few updates of various software.
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The instructions on this link got my Skype video working on Mint 11: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=61103
I recommend you head straight to that link and follow their step-by-step instructions. I’m posting the following for my own reference.
The command line used to enable Skype video in Mint, at least as given on the above link, is different from what I use to use for Fedora.
For Mint 11 64bit, here’s what works for me: LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
For 32bit, see the above link. To make an executable bash file for the above command, you can:
sudo gedit /usr/bin/skype.sh #!/bin/bash
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so
skype &
sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype.shGoing through all the above to make a bash file really isn’t necessary though because you can also simply right-click on your Mint desktop, choose Create Launcher, name it Skype, then copy the appropriate command (mine is LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype) into the Command field. Keep in mind though that this method won’t change other Skype launchers in your system, such as the one in your main menu. It will only create a launcher on your desktop that enables video. To change your Skype launcher in the main menu, you need to create the above script, right click on Skype, go to properties, and change command Skype to Skype.sh. All of this is explained on the link at the top of this posting.
Linux Mint is fantastic!
Install Faad2
Navigate to source directory
Run ‘faad myfile.mp4′ without quotes
Your file will appear with wav extension
Here’s a handy bit of code for converting VOB to FLV:
VOB to flv | Southend Linux User Group
FLV file converter in Linux
Using “mencoder” to create “flv” from “VOB” DVD video format filesMany websites nowadays are using swf and flv file formats to play videos hosted on their site or sites, it’s advantage is clear in that the file itself is often in comparison to regular video format files, smaller and easier to upload so the site is able to hold and run more video content with much less bandwidth than would normally be required.
#> mencoder inputfile.VOB -of lavf -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=flv:vbitrate=150 -ofps 25 -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=32 -srate 22050 -vf scale=720 -o outputfile.flv
Why I uninstalled FC 15 and reinstalled FC 14
I was looking forward to FC 15 largely because it came with the new Gnome 3 Desktop and Libre Office.
I have two main reasons for uninstalling 15 and reinstalling 14.
First, and by far most importantly, FC 15 seemed to demand way more from my hardware. Whereas on FC 14 my admittedly whimpy mother board and quite hardy AMD dual core CPU float along quite well at around 40-60C, on FC 15 the CPU was consistently over 80C. It seems clear to me that the display demands of FC 15, or more specifically, Gnome 3, may have been contributing to this temperature increase. OK, I built this box myself using the best materials I could get for the price, but still, on FC 14 and before this box has performed very well.
Secondly, and almost as important, is that the usability of Gnome 3 just does not match that of Gnome 2+. I can see what they’re aiming for in Gnome 3, but the bottom line is that I found that it took, on average, one extra click to do something on Gnome 3 than it took me to do on FC 14 using Gnome 2+. There probably, almost certainly, is a way to make things work more efficiently on Gnome 3, but they didn’t jump out at me. No right click menues, no dragging and dropping, etc.
OK, I’m working on a 15 inch monitor, so that may have had something to do with it, but it shouldn’t. FC 14 works great. I’m reinstalling. My advice, if you’re considering upgrading to FC 15, is to play around with the live CD first.
Finally, I found that FC 15 gave me much less immediate control over my computer. With FC 14, you have much more access to root-level GUI interfaces. Play around with the live CD first.
I think Gnome 3 will find its stride eventually. But for now, one extra click is way too much time wasted.
Unzipping various tar files with the command line:
For rar files, you can install unrar and run:
This might come in handy if you’re getting Deprecated errors, most likely with ereg:
PHP: Deprecated features in PHP 5.3.x – Manual
Deprecated features in PHP 5.3.xPHP 5.3.0 introduces two new error levels: E_DEPRECATED and E_USER_DEPRECATED. The E_DEPRECATED error level is used to indicate that a function or feature has been deprecated. The E_USER_DEPRECATED level is intended for indicating deprecated features in user code, similarly to the E_USER_ERROR and E_USER_WARNING levels.
The following is a list of deprecated INI directives. Use of any of these INI directives will cause an E_DEPRECATED error to be thrown at startup.
* define_syslog_variables
* register_globals
* register_long_arrays
* safe_mode
* magic_quotes_gpc
* magic_quotes_runtime
* magic_quotes_sybase
* Comments starting with ‘#’ are now deprecated in .INI files.Deprecated functions:
* call_user_method() (use call_user_func() instead)
* call_user_method_array() (use call_user_func_array() instead)
* define_syslog_variables()
* dl()
* ereg() (use preg_match() instead)
* ereg_replace() (use preg_replace() instead)
* eregi() (use preg_match() with the ‘i’ modifier instead)
* eregi_replace() (use preg_replace() with the ‘i’ modifier instead)
* set_magic_quotes_runtime() and its alias, magic_quotes_runtime()
* session_register() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
* session_unregister() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
* session_is_registered() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
* set_socket_blocking() (use stream_set_blocking() instead)
* split() (use preg_split() instead)
* spliti() (use preg_split() with the ‘i’ modifier instead)
* sql_regcase()
* mysql_db_query() (use mysql_select_db() and mysql_query() instead)
* mysql_escape_string() (use mysql_real_escape_string() instead)
* Passing locale category names as strings is now deprecated. Use the LC_* family of constants instead.
* The is_dst parameter to mktime(). Use the new timezone handling functions instead.Deprecated features:
* Assigning the return value of new by reference is now deprecated.
* Call-time pass-by-reference is now deprecated.