Gizmod for Volume on Mythbuntu

Our remote control has been working fine with my Mythbuntu setup for a while now, but there are a few things I would like to work better. Volume is one of those thing. Lirc controls the volume differently between Hulu Desktop and the built-in video player. It is a little annoying.

So, after a little Googling, this thread sparked my interest in Gizmod.

Installing…

To install it on my system, I followed the Ubuntu directions. That calls for installing via the repositories:

sudo apt-get install gizmod

Next, I had to address the UDev / Security. First, that means creating an “input” group:

sudo groupadd -f input
sudo gpasswd -a username input

Then, I added the following lines to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-input.rules:

KERNEL=="event*",       NAME="input/%k", MODE:="660", GROUP="input"
KERNEL=="js*",          NAME="input/%k", MODE:="664", GROUP="input"

Then, to make the changes take effect, I ran:

sudo service udev restart

Here’s the problem. When I tried to start gizmod, I got this error:

GizmoDaemon v3.4 -=- (c) 2007, Tim Burrell <tim.burrell@gmail.com>=---------=
Unable to Initialize Gizmod :: User Script dir [/usr/etc/gizmod/modules.d] does NOT exist or permissions are wrong!
GizmoDaemon Shut Down.

Recompiling

I found a bug report that seemed to suggest that maybe recompiling from the source might fix the problem. So, here is what I did.

So, I downloaded the latest version from the Download Page. Then, here’s the command to unzip:

tar -xjvf gizmod-3.5.tar.bz2

cd gizmod-3.5/

Installing dependencies

The easiest way to make sure that you have all the dependencies is with apt-get. Otherwise, you need to check the documentation and manually go through the list installing all the programs.

sudo apt-get build-dep gizmod

Then, continuing on, I followed the instructions and ran CMake.

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DSYSCONF_INSTALL_DIR=/etc ../../gizmod-3.5

make

The make command failed with this error:

skp@gabriel:~/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/build$ make
[ 29%] Built target H
[ 31%] Building CXX object libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/CPUUsage.o
/home/skp/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/libGizmod/CPUUsage.cpp: In constructor ‘Gizmod::CPUUsageInfo::CPUUsageInfo()’:
/home/skp/Downloads/gizmod-3.5/libGizmod/CPUUsage.cpp:83: error: ‘memset’ was not declared in this scope
make[2]: *** [libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/CPUUsage.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [libGizmod/CMakeFiles/Gizmod.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

I found a fix online. The fix was to add #Include <cstring>:

Then, it worked. Everything compiled with no problem.

Lastly, I finished the compile/install with:

sudo make install

Now, I haven’t used it very much. I think I need to do some configuring and hacking to get it to do what I want it to. Currently, it doesn’t seem to do well with Hulu Desktop.

Taking Cheesy Pictures With Your WebCam

If you have to go to the grocery store, you may as well make it fun.  My son can’t quite read yet, so I like to make picture lists of what we need and I have him go through the list and help me get all of the items.  Usually, I just use Google’s image search to build my list of pictures.  Today, I couldn’t find the right picture, and I decided to try my hand at taking my own pictures.

Here’s where I got lazy.  Why take a picture with my phone or digital camera and then take the time to copy over to my laptop?  I have a camera on my laptop.  Why can’t I use that?

Here’s how to make it work…

Installing Drivers and Software

I found my answers in Ubuntu’s Documentation.  If you need help with the drivers part, you can look there, but my driver was installed by default with the Ubuntu installation.  The part I needed was Cheese.  The Cheese program did exactly what I needed.

Ubuntu Documetation: WebCam

You can either use Ubuntu Software Center to install Cheese like this…

Installing Cheese with Ubuntu Software Center

Or, you can use Synaptic…

Synaptic to Install Cheese

Once installed, you’ll find it under the Sound and Video menu:

Cheese on the Menu

Using Cheese

Taking the picture is as easy as saying Cheese!  Open the program, get your web cam pointed right, and click the take photo button.

Taking the Picture

Note, Cheese has different modes.  You can either take a picture, video, or burst mode.  You can select the mode at the bottom:

Mode Icons

More Info…

Cheese Website

To Watch: Free Software University

I would say Software to Watch, but it’s more learning to watch.  I made it through college.  Do I really want more punishment?  Well, I guess I am a nerd.  Bring it on!  Knowledge is always something I can use more of.  Maybe I will even get the chance to teach.  In any regard, keep an eye on this Free Software University.

Links:

Great Link: How to Become and Amazing Open Source Person

I ran across this the other day:

Open Source.com: How to become an amazing contributor (to an open source project)

I would love to be one of those people in the story.  Being amazing is always a good thing.  Actually, one of the things that stood out to me was that this is a two way street.  The author was lauding these people, but at the same time, they commented on how it was easy to contribute.  They found documentation that helped.  The code was structured in a way that made hacking easier.  I think both the contributor and contributee are amazing.

News: New Skype Version

Seems like it has been a while since we have seen a new version of Skype, but last week, my update manager offered me a new version!  The biggest advantage to me is the improved voice and video quality.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to try the voice and video recently.  Skype access is another new feature, but since I have Android tethering, I probably won’t have any need for it.

Download from Here

You can read more details from the blog post.

Here are the new features advertised on the main page:

Skype Access New Feature

Improved Experience

Ubuntu 11.04 Coming Soon; Where’s the Count Down!

I like the count down banners that get us excited about the new version of Ubuntu coming out.  Thanks to ikt, I finally found one!

The Wiki has a page dedicated to the countdown banners.  The sad part is that none of the counters made it to the Community countdown page.  The Facebook and Android ideas sounded cool, but I didn’t go looking for them.

You can check out the Natty Release schedule to see that the release date is April 28th.

Looking for TV Software

After having some sound issues with my TV Laptop, I am looking to reinstall with the latest version of Ubuntu.  It is past due for an upgrade! Here are some options that I found:

What I have is an old laptop where the hinge broken on the screen.  Everything works except it isn’t portable.  So, I turned it into an entertainment system.  MythTV has worked very well so far.  I have been able to hook in Hulu’s Desktop application and you wouldn’t know it isn’t a TV.  Plus, I have been able to put our home videos and some other video into the library, and it works great.

I am looking for a better front end interface.  It works good enough now, but I wouldn’t mind something that might iron out some of these issues.  If you have any thoughts or have used any of the tools, please comment.

Resources

More Avidemux Settings

I tried my memcoder trick to concatenate/combine my flash videos, and it didn’t work this time for some reason.  It gave this error message.

All video files must have identical fps, resolution, and codec for -ovc copy.

Exiting...

So, I tried avidemux:

Again, you can open the first .flv file. Then, you use the Append option in the File menu to add the rest of the videos. These are the options that I found to save it: