Half a Page of Scribbled Linux

Raw photograph files are too big to keep on my hard drive, so I archive them to DVD every so often. I make three copies of each disc and distribute two of them to family or friends. This provides protection from computer failure and site disaster.
To do this, I copy files to a new directory until it reaches DVD capacity, around 4.7 Gb. Then I use Brasero to create an ISO, copy the ISO to the backup computer (that has a working DVD burner) and make the discs. I also use CD Label Gen and a script to make a cover that has a picture from the archive set and a list of the contents. Here’s the script:
#!/bin/sh
# convert img.jpeg cover.eps
cdlabelgen \
--category "Family Photos" \
--subcategory "25 October - 12 December 2010" \
--cover-image cover.eps \
--cover-image-scaleratio 0 \
--slim-case \
--no-date \
--items-from-file items.txt \
--output-file photos-label.ps
echo ghostscript photos-label.ps

The contents are listed in a text file called items.txt. It looks like this:

{#M}2010 Oct 25 Test video
{#M}     Nov  9 Fall colors
{#M}         13 "
{#M}         15 Japanese Maple in Fog
{#M}         17 Fallen Japanese Maple leaves
{#M}         24 Birthday cupcakes
{#M}         25 First snow; pies; Thanksgiving
{#M}     Dec  3 Camera test shots; fireplace

The funny M’s at the start of each line signal cdlabelgen to use a monospaced font so the dates and descriptions line up.
I put the script and text file and output postscript in the root of the DVD, so if I need to make another copy, the label is already there.

I’ve been looking for a Raw photo editing app similar to Adobe Lightroom that does non-destructive edits. It seems one’s already out there called Darktable. It’s not part of the Ubuntu standard repositories, but you can add it with
Launchpad. This is all I had to do:
Add PPA: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmjdebruijn/darktable-release-plus
Update: sudo apt-get update
Restart Synaptic and install darktable.

A new video adventure has begun.  Before cheerleading season began, I wanted to upgrade my video equipment.  Rather than get a separate camcorder and DSLR, I went with an integrated solution, a Canon EOS 60D.

My first attempt at video was this afternoon at a short recital at a local bookstore.  The video is only 9 minutes long and was shot in 1280×720 at 60fps.  Although this is a higher resolution than DVD, I thought it better to downconvert to DVD and have a higher resolution for the future than to shoot at lower resolution.

The first attempt to burn a DVD was with Brasero.  This was easy enough, but the quality wasn’t what I was expecting.  It was noticeably blotchy, like a JPEG with the quality set too low.  Then I tried FFMPEG:

ffmpeg -i MVI_1234.MOV -target ntsc-dvd MVI_1234.mpeg

This was much better.  From there I took the output MPEG and fed it into Brasero to burn a DVD.  And it looked crappy again.

Finally, running the FFMPEG file through DVD Styler worked fine.

I thought some people might like to watch the original 720p video, so after burning the DVD, I set out to upload it to YouTube.  The video is almost 3 GB, and YouTube’s file limit is 2 GB unless you use the advanced uploader.  But the advanced uploader didn’t work because I didn’t have Java.  At least that’s what YouTube said.  I do have Java, just not the Java browser plugin.  That’s available in the Ubuntu Software Center as “Sun Java 6.0 Plugin”.  What’s cool is Firefox found the plugin after installation without restarting.  All I had to do is refresh the YouTube page and the advanced uploader started itself.

The video will be up in, uh, 45 minutes.

While I’m waiting, I’ll create the DVD case sleeve.  Wow, more trouble.  I use cdlabelgen, which requires an EPS file for the graphic.  It won’t take any other format.  In the past, I’ve just used convert picture.jpg cover.eps.  This isn’t working any more.  Trying to look at the output EPS with ghostscript causes a syntax error.  My first thought was the JPEG was too large, so I shrunk it.  But that didn’t fix it.  Maybe convert is broken?  I looked for another converter and found sam2p in Synaptic.  The syntax is the same as convert’s.  Hey, it worked!  But I’m kinda shocked that convert is broken.

CR2 files are Canon RAW format photograph files. By default, Nautilus can’t display them. To have the thumbnails show as the pictures, install gnome-raw-thumbnailer and restart nautilus (nautilus -q to quit).

In Eclipse, there are tools available to make using version control and code coverage easy.  These are the ones I’m using.

For version control:  EGit.  This is an Eclipse plug-in for Git.  In Eclipse from the menu, Help -> Install New Software.  Click Add.  Enter EGit for the Name and use the Main Site URL from the EGit site for the Location.  Click OK.  Make sure “Work With” is set to EGit.  Select EGit (it will pick up JGit automatically).  From there, follow the EGit tutorial to set up your repository.

To validate your tests cover all your source code:  EclEmma.  This is an Eclipse plug-in for Emma.  Follow the instructions above for EGit, but enter http://update.eclemma.org/ as the URL.  Instructions for use are on the EclEmma site.  It’s dead simple.  Note EclEmma doesn’t work with the Android JUnit tests, just JUnit.

This list is what I check after a new Linux installation.  Some of these items are specific to my equipment.

Things to check after a new Linux installation:

• Old installation is the default for boot loader and it still works
• Windows installation still works
• Budget in OpenOffice
• Firefox with Delicious plug-in
• Ctrl-Alt-Delete brings up log off dialog
• Backup to Mothball
• GnuCash
• APC UPS Daemon (apcupsd and GUI)

I’ve recently started using a password manager. My old scheme wasn’t cutting it anymore. The requirements I had were:

• Security (no trusting my passwords to the cloud)
• Run on Linux, Windows and Android
• Synchronize between different machines

What I settled on is a combination of KeePass and Dropbox. The former is an open source password manager that encrypts all information with AES or Twofish. The latter is like an NFS mounted directory. Using KeePass, I can store all my web site log in information. Dropbox frees me from having to copy the KeePass database around. I store the password database in a Dropbox folder and that folder is automatically synchronized on all my machines. I now have two passwords to remember, one for Dropbox and one for KeePass.

This is the list of software:

• Dropbox on Linux, Android and Windows. If you use this referral link to sign up, you’ll get an extra 250 MB of storage in addition to the 2 GB you get free (and I will too).
• KeePass version 1 (Classic Edition) on Windows
• KeePassX on Linux
• KeePassDroid for Android

To try it out, first install Dropbox. To install Dropbox on Windows without administrator rights, click Cancel on the Run As dialog.

After the Dropbox folder is running, get KeePass v1 and create the database in the dropbox folder. To install KeePass on Windows without Administrator rights, use the portable version.

After you’ve created a record for a web site, try out the autotype feature. In KeePass portable, select a record. Press Ctrl-U to launch the URL. At the log-in screen, press Ctrl-Alt-A to have KeePass log you in. The default action is to type username, Tab, password, then Enter. If this won’t work for a particular site, it can be set up any way you’d like.

The last time I installed a font I was using Fedora. Of course, things change and the instructions need to get updated. Here’s how to install a TTF in Ubuntu 10.04.

As root:
# cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype
# mkdir my-new-font
Copy your TTF files to the my-new-font directory
# sudo fc-cache -f -v

Restart any running applications that need to use the new font.

Android development Quick Start
Notes on System Requirements

• With Synaptic, install eclipse and sun-java6-jdk
• Run sudo update-alternatives --config java and choose the java in java-6-sun.
• Test with java -version. It should say “Java (TM)” rather than “OpenJDK”.

Notes on adb
For adb to see the Android when connected via USB, on the phone, enable Menu->Settings->Applications->Development->USB Debugging.
Run adb devices. If you see
List of devices attached
???????????? no permissions
Run this:
adb kill-server
sudo adb start-server
adb devices

Install ssh (a meta package for Open SSH server and client)
Install bum (Boot-Up Manager, a runlevel editor)
Menu->System->Administration->BootUp-Manager
Check ssh and Apply
Set up SSH log in for BackupPC