Month: December 2010

Sound Server Idea

digitaleagle Great Links, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Yesterday, I ran across a product called a GuruPlug while reading the comments for this article.  I hadn’t heard of anything like this before, but it sounded like something our church could use.

Here is the thought:  Our church has been having issues with the sound equipment going out.  I wondered about using PulseAudio servers and clients to create a network of speakers throughout the auditorium.  Using GuruPlugs would provide a cheap computer to hook speakers into.

The GuruPlug appears to run a version of Debian Linux.  PulseAudio should run on that with no problems.  From what I can tell, it looks like it runs about $100.  Then, we would need a USB soundcard, maybe like this one.  One of the comments mentioned someone getting it to work on Ubuntu 9.10 with no problems.  Right now it is on sale for $17.  Then, all we need is a pair of speakers, maybe like these for $5.  This brings the whole client system to about $125, which isn’t too bad.

I found another person who looked like he was running PulseAudio on the GuruPlug: Linux Plug Computers as Music Servers.  Does anyone else have any thoughts?  Have you tried anything like this?  Do you know of other devices that are similar?

Google Code and Mylyn

digitaleagle Eclipse, Google Code, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Since I am using Eclipse with my Google Code projects(Project Shaphan & Project Sarah), I did some research to see if I could connect Mylyn and found this project: GoogleCode Mylyn Connector.

To install it, I had to add this URL to the install sites:

http://knittig.de/googlecode-mylyn-connector/update/

Then, it installs through the Eclipse installation tool.

Next, I added a repository with the “New Task” menu on the right side of the Tasks view.  This walks through the wizard.

  • Step 1: Select repository type: Google Code
  • Step 2: Repository Settings
    • Project URL: http://code.google.com/p/project-shaphan/
    • Label: Project Shaphan (I believe this is the label you will see on the category)
    • Unchecked “Anonymous” (since I am the owner of the project)
    • entered user name and password
    • clicked “Validate Settings”
    • Clicked Finish
  • Yes to create a new query
  • Use a predefined query — All open issues

For some reason, I get the following error: “could not execute query”.  Then, I found this Issue.  The solution is to use the regular Google Account user name and password that you would use to login to GMail as opposed to one you would use to connect via SVN.

WebGL

digitaleagle Chrome, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I just noticed in the release notes for Chrome the mention of Web GL .  So, I looked up some instructions to enable it.

I am running Ubuntu Linux, and I installed Chrome from the Deb package.  It created a shortcut in my Applications Menu.  So, I went to the menu editor, and edited the shortcut for Chrome.  I changed the shortcut from this:

/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome %U

to this:

/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome –enable-webgl %U

When I first started this post, the examples that I found didn’t work.  But, when I tried tonight, this example actually worked.

Resources

SuperTuxKart

digitaleagle SourceForge, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Ok, time for a quick break.  I saw SuperTuxKart had a new version, and I wanted to try it out a long time ago.   I never could get it to compile — there was a dependency that I only saw in Windows.  When I got the SourceForge newsletter recently, it reminded me to check again.  They have a Mac version for download, so maybe it will work.

Packages I installed for dependencies:

configure: error: cannot find useable OpenAL installation. You need to install OpenAL.

libopenal-dev

checking for library containing ov_open… noconfigure: error: cannot find useable Ogg Vorbis installation. You need to install libogg and libvorbis.

libogg-dev, libvorbis-dev

configure: error: Can’t find irrlicht installation in standard prefixes, use –with-irrlicht…

libirrlicht-dev, libirrlicht1.7

Finally, all the packages are installed.  Now, “./configure”. Next, run “make”.

Now, it tested fine with “./src/supertuxkart”.

Since, it worked, I did “sudo make install” to install it.

Tip: Uploading to Google Code

digitaleagle Google Code, Java, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I learned this the hard way: put a version number in your Google Code releases!

I kept receiving an error when I tried to upload my new Jar file.  It was the same 403 error as this person.  The problem is that you can’t overwrite files any more.  Each new download needs to have it’s own unique file name.

So, the easy fix is to include and incrementing version number in the file name.

From Ant, I was able to accomplish the version number is this manner:

  • I created a version.txt to hold a minor number and major number property — saves the version
  • In the destfile parameter of the Jar step, I use the ${major.number} and ${minor.number} properties in the file name.
  • In the release section, I use the propertyfile command to increment the version number

Here is the full Ant Build file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><project default="all" name="Create Runnable Jar for Project ProjectShaphan">    <target name="all" depends="clean,compile,create_run_jar"/>
<target name="clean">       <delete dir="bin"/>    </target>
<target name="compile">       <mkdir dir="bin"/>       <javac destdir="bin">          <src path="src"/>          <classpath>             <pathelement path="/home/skp/app/workspaces/pscompare/ProjectJob/demo-bin"/>          	<fileset dir="lib">          		<include name="**/*.jar"/>          	</fileset>          </classpath>       </javac>    </target>
<target name="create_run_jar">    <!--this part was created by Eclipse Runnable JAR Export Wizard-->    <!--ANT 1.7 is required                                        -->        <property file="./version.txt"/>        <jar destfile="project-shaphan-${major.number}.${minor.number}.jar" filesetmanifest="mergewithoutmain">            <manifest>                <attribute name="Built-By" value="${user.name}"/>                <attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.skp.shaphan.ShaphanApp"/>                <attribute name="Class-Path" value="."/>            </manifest>            <fileset dir="bin"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/derby.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/sqljdbc4.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/ojdbc6.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/grouplayout.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/iText-2.1.7.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/iText-rtf-2.1.7.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/iText-rups-2.1.7.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.7-bin.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/ProjectJob.jar"/>            <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="lib/jtds-1.2.5.jar"/>        </jar>    </target>
<target name="release">         <taskdef classname="net.bluecow.googlecode.ant.GoogleCodeUploadTask" classpath="lib/ant-googlecode-0.0.2.jar" name="gcupload"/>        <property file="./version.txt"/><gcupload         username="${google.code.username}"         password="${google.code.password}"         projectname="project-shaphan"         filename="project-shaphan-${major.number}.${minor.number}.jar"         targetfilename="project-shaphan-${major.number}.${minor.number}.jar"         summary="Runnable Jar File"        labels="Featured, Jar, OpSys-All" />        <propertyfile file="./version.txt">	   <entry key="minor.number" type="int" operation="+" value="1" pattern="00"/>        </propertyfile>    </target></project>

Sword Bible on Android

digitaleagle Google Code, Google Phone, Software to Watch, Uncategorized 1 Comment

I have been using the Sword Bible project for years, and so, it was only natural for me to ask if it exists on Android for my phone.  The short story is that a project exists at Google Code, but it doesn’t quite look like it is ready for prime time.

First, if you want to know a little more about the Sword project, you can read up on it at this Wikipedia article.  I think I first started with it when I bought a Bible program from our college bookstore.  Now, in Linux, I use a program called Xiphos, which is a Linux/Gnome frontend for the Sword Project.  The program used to be called Gnome Sword.  You can also find more information from the main Sword Website including a small list of sofware.

My first find was this post on Werx Limited.  The post mentions a project named Bishop, but that project is more of a tech test than an actual application for use.  So, I read through the whole conversation thread discussing Bishop and the development of an application.  To my delight, I hit Martin Denham’s message about his And-Bible project.

I haven’t had a chance to install it or anything.  For now, I just wanted to capture these links, but I hope to mess with it some more.  For now, I am just using Virtue Bible FE.  I will keep you updated.

Thanks CyanogenMod — My G1 Isn’t That Out of Date!

digitaleagle Google Phone, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Yea!  I have Froyo finally!  Several Co-workers had rooted their phones and were talking about it, and I thought I would take a look.  I was skeptical, but the instructions I found weren’t too bad.  It was a little scary working around all of the warnings, but the end result was a version of Android 2.2 on my HTC G1 phone.

I didn’t keep good notes of exactly what I did.  I was more concern with getting it done rather than blogging it, but basically, I started with the instructions at The Unlocker.  The AndRoot application didn’t work for me, so I ended up going to Cyanogen’s Website for the directions.  I could have probably just used the original instructions at The Unlocker even though it said they were outdated.

I did just have one issue yesterday that I noticed.  My battery was draining much faster than normal.  Ever since my battery went bad and I replaced it with a 2200mah battery, I haven’t had to worry about conserving power.  My phone could easily last two full days with no charging.  Yesterday, it died after one day of use, and I didn’t hardly do anything special.

I found this post, and it seems to have fixed the problem!  All I did was disable the notifications on the Downloads screen of the Market application.

The two new big features that I gained through all of this were the Wireless Tether and the Chrome to Phone.  Both of those features were things I had admired from Google IO.  The Wireless Tether worked with no problem.  I tested with my laptop the other night, and it worked pretty fast.  I had to configure the wireless settings like the SID and the security key.  Then, I could connect to it with Network Manager the same way I connect to my home router.  The Chrome to Phone tool worked pretty good too, but I haven’t played with it much.

In the process of reinstalling, I had to download a few new applications.  One of the areas that I found new programs was for my Guitar.  I decided to try out ChordBoard.  It is a great program, but I think I am going to have to find something else because it doesn’t have sharps or flats.  The other application is gStrings, which is a tuner that works great.  You can play a string, and it will tell you if it is in tune.

F-Spot to Shotwell

digitaleagle Photo Management, Uncategorized 3 Comments

I still haven’t upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 yet.  I have been procrastinating, but I have been reading about the new Shotwell.  Since I have been having issues with uploading to Facebook directly from F-Spot, I thought I would give it a shot.

To, upgrade, I basically followed the directions on the Shotwell website.  It is important to use the ppa:yorba/ppa repository because that will give you the new 0.7 version with the import from F-Spot tool.

First, I was excited to see that the Facebook upload worked with no problems.  Now, it time to get our vacation pictures uploaded!

I did notice that the tag features were not near as robust in Shotwell.  I didn’t see Event tags, People tags, etc.  Most importantly, I missed the feature of F-Spot where I could drag and drop tags to search on multiple tags.   F-Spot’s searching features far surpassed Shotwell’s.

That is just a first impression.  I need to spend some more time with it to get a better feel.