thelinuxlink.net

Yup, at least on her lappy. Her old iBook bit the dust, and since then, we've been waiting for Apple to get off their goddamned asses and release a rev2 of the macbooks - I don't give a rat's ass about yonah vs. merom, but there is no way in hell I'm buying one of the current 33% bad craptops this close to a refresh. BUT...Apple doesn't seem to want to release a new lappy before xmas - we've waited through 2 conferences and the end of the fiscal quarter with absolutely nothing to show for it. So, FSCK YOU APPLE. My wife is going to migrate to a thinkpad, running linux. She already been using one for about 3 months and doesn't have any dislikes (of course that's largely because I can usually fix any problems she has).

Edgy is due out this month, so I'll probably upgrade her to that, if for no other reason than to get a more recent kernel. I should probably install the RC on a spare drive and let her see whether she prefers gnome over KDE, but then agaon, if she has problems with gnome all I'd be able to do is shrug and say "Can't help ya."

Anyone know of:

Software that will allow you to use an iPod video with linux? I'm not even sure her ITMS videos will work on linux, period, since I'm SURE they are infected with some shitass apple drm.

Software that will encode for the iPod video? I've seen some very ugly mencoder hacks, but there's no way in hell I could ask her to deal with that. I figure once I get my mythtv box fully rolling, I can just encode them on the fly after recording, but that's a while off still.

An easier way to strip DRM from ITMS music than the old burn, rip encode technique?


In general, the iPod seems to be the major issue, here, which goes back to Cory's talk - I can't believe how pissed off I am that I'm going to have to work this hard to burn and rip music I ALREADY FUCKIN' OWN just so my wife will be able to listen to it on her lappy. Luckily she never really got into "airtunes" or I'd have to do some scripting to get raop_play working easily.

So, in closing, score one for the good guys - I hope this doesn't turn out to be an expensive mistake.

Snarkout wrote:Yup, at least on her lappy. Her old iBook bit the dust, and since then, we've been waiting for Apple to get off their goddamned asses and release a rev2 of the macbooks - I don't give a rat's ass about yonah vs. merom, but there is no way in hell I'm buying one of the current 33% bad craptops this close to a refresh. BUT...Apple doesn't seem to want to release a new lappy before xmas - we've waited through 2 conferences and the end of the fiscal quarter with absolutely nothing to show for it. So, FSCK YOU APPLE. My wife is going to migrate to a thinkpad, running linux. She already been using one for about 3 months and doesn't have any dislikes (of course that's largely because I can usually fix any problems she has).

Good stuff man, I hope it goes well for her.

Snarkout wrote:Edgy is due out this month, so I'll probably upgrade her to that, if for no other reason than to get a more recent kernel. I should probably install the RC on a spare drive and let her see whether she prefers gnome over KDE, but then agaon, if she has problems with gnome all I'd be able to do is shrug and say "Can't help ya."

If she's already happily used to KDE, and don't have any dislikes, why bother changing it? I have found that when people are already using something, and you try and get them to see if they like something else better, then they start to get confused. Of course, that's just my experience.
KDE 3.5.5 just came out, I could imagine it would be in Edgy.

I'm not saying this because I don't want her or other people to use GNOME, honestly, but it would be a shame to have to shell out extra doe into buying one of them fscking Crapple Crapintosh Crapbooks (CCC), that gets extremely hot and I don't know what.

Snarkout wrote:Anyone know of:

Software that will allow you to use an iPod video with linux?

If it's just about putting stuff on the iPod, Amarok or Banshee should do it.

Snarkout wrote:I'm not even sure her ITMS videos will work on linux, period, since I'm SURE they are infected with some shitass apple drm.

The sad truth my friend.

Snarkout wrote:Software that will encode for the iPod video? I've seen some very ugly mencoder hacks, but there's no way in hell I could ask her to deal with that. I figure once I get my mythtv box fully rolling, I can just encode them on the fly after recording, but that's a while off still.

The only thing I can find are these scripts that use MEncoder: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=114946

What you could do would be to make a shell script that converts everything in folder X into the iPod video format and puts it into folder Y. So that your wife just puts the video she want converted into folder X, clicks a button on the Kicker panel in KDE and off it goes and re-encodes the file and puts the resulting one in folder Y.

Snarkout wrote:An easier way to strip DRM from ITMS music than the old burn, rip encode technique?

I'm afraid I cannot reveal that information under the terms of the DMCA. I couldn't possibly comment on such a thing!

Seriously though, that could get Pat and the guys into trouble, but I've seen this discussed before, so I guess it's OK.

If the iBook just died, and you don't have the keys that are needed for decryption, it's a lost cause, however, if it still works, you could look at that QTFairUse6, although I think it's a Windows program, so that could make things problematic.

You need to be careful about updating iTunes, because the updates closes these holes that can be used to free up your music.

Here's a link for QTFairUse6: ihttp://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1553

Snarkout wrote:In general, the iPod seems to be the major issue, here, which goes back to Cory's talk - I can't believe how pissed off I am that I'm going to have to work this hard to burn and rip music I ALREADY FUCKIN' OWN just so my wife will be able to listen to it on her lappy. Luckily she never really got into "airtunes" or I'd have to do some scripting to get raop_play working easily.

This is why I just hate any freaking kind of DRM with a passion.

I've decided that my future music investings is only gonna be at Magnatune.com or that one ocational CD like once every two years, I simply refuse to buy DRMed music, because I don't wanna rent music, I wanna freaking buy the damn stuff!

And I gotta say, after having dug around at Magnatune.com, there's some really cool music.

Snarkout wrote:So, in closing, score one for the good guys - I hope this doesn't turn out to be an expensive mistake.

Let me know how this turns out, I'd be curious to know, and hey if Edgy is too "edgy", there's always openSUSE 10.2 on December 7th

Sorry, couldn't resist that last remark. But seriously, I subscribe to SUSE's the commit list, which shows pretty much every change in the development, and this thing looks to be totally awesome. Especially if NVIDIA could get that new driver done before the release date, AIGLX support would be nice, but then again I can just buy a Radeon 9250 card, if I really want AIGLX.

Yeah, most of my music comes from indie labels at this point, or places like audio lunchbox. I really like ubuntu and dislike it at the same time. In general, most stuff just works, and they have done a lot of patching to their kernel which makes it very lappy friendly, but I often feel like the "Just Works" they put in place is working against me. In general thoug, they've done a fantastic job, and have done a lot to bring attention to linux.

OK! One step closer!

I've found several video encoding solutions:
Handbrake - she's seen this on the Mac
podencoder - has a very basic gui
this easy script which also has a basic gui

Also, when I explained that if I got my myth box fully functional we could record whatever shows she wanted and convert them, she was stoked. So, looks like we have knocked down one more wall! There still seems to be fairly crappy support for moving videos to and from the iPod though - supposedly amarok will *do it* but not very well/easily.

Snarkout, great job. We need to see more of this migration. Turning people on to FOSS should start in the home. I'd like to hear more stories like this. In my home everyone uses Linux, that's the only OS in the house. Sure there are some occassional hurdles, but for the most part everyone is happy!

That's great, Snarkout.

I'm proud to say that I now have the first dual boot Mandriva 2007 / XP desktop PC at the office. Not a bleedin' "test box", but my actual "production" PC.

It's working out just great. The only road-block I have to overcome is getting Evolution talking to the office's frickin' Exchange e-mail server. I've tried all I can think of and that damn server refuses to communicate with my Linux box.

IT won't be much help. I'm pretty much on my own. I was surprised when they actually Okay'ed my request to set up a dual boot system.

I'm also helping our bench tech migrate to linux - we actually got the linux notes client 7 installed on Kubuntu after a ton of faffing around. Like many have said, the 6.5 client runs better under wine, but it's a step in the right direction (for those of us still using notes). We're installing Edgy Beta on his test box right now. His production box has Dapper on it. He wants to check out frugalware and arch, but I'm more or less insisting he stick with *buntu until he can overcome his issues with what root can do and what a regular user can do. Years of running Windows as Administrator cloud this line sometimes, I think. Still, he's having a lot more trouble than an average user might simply becasue he tinkers so much.

Well, it turns out handbrake doesn't have a gui on linux, so there really isn't much point in using it as far as I can see right now. I'm going to mess with it some though. That's kind of a big fat bummer.

Snarkout wrote:Well, it turns out handbrake doesn't have a gui on linux, so there really isn't much point in using it as far as I can see right now. I'm going to mess with it some though. That's kind of a big fat bummer.

Try Acidrip instead.

that was the first thing I tried, but none of the rips, though they were the right res, would play on the ipod. Same for avidemux. I'm sure I'm missing something simple. It doesn't matter, though - she's decided there's no way she can do without itms, so she's just going to use my old g4 tower for her ipod.

So, we ended up getting a clearance t43. No core duo (2 gig pentium M), but it's a really nice machine, I'm certain it's 100% linux compatible, and for $1100 I just couldn't say no. There was quite a bit of discussion about getting a clearance z60 for $200 less, but it was a 15", it has some linux-questionable parts (though the 8x dvd burner would have been nice), and has been roundly summed up several places as a battery eater. With the t-series we can swap parts back and forth, and when one dies it can be cannibalized for stuff for the other one.

I'm trying to imagine what 1400 x 1050 on a 14" screen will look like.

Huh - Lenovo's policies are getting worse and worse. Thinkpad used to be something that you could feel damn self assured about buying because if you were unhappy for any reason, IBM would make it right. Looks like those days are behind us:

Boilerplate from 7/05:

4.   Return Policy
For a new Lenovo Machine, you may return it to Lenovo for any reason within 30 days of the date of invoice and obtain a refund or credit. Lenovo does not provide refunds or credits for portions of a packaged offering provided at a single price. You may return the complete package for a refund or credit. To qualify for this credit or refund (as applicable), you must call Lenovo at 1-866-96-THINK to obtain a return-authorization form. You must return the new Lenovo Machine, including all documentation and accessories, intact and in its original packaging, to a Lenovo designated location by the date Lenovo specifies. A copy of the invoice, the return-authorization form, and the shipping label must accompany the return. Shipping and handling charges generally will not be refunded or credited. Lenovo Machines returned without a Lenovo return-authorization form or returned after the date specified by Lenovo, may be subject to a restocking fee equal to 15% of the price paid. You agree to pay the restocking fee as Lenovo specifies.

Boilerplate from today:

For a new Product that is unopened and still in it's sealed package, you may return it to Lenovo for any reason within 21 days of the date of invoice and obtain a refund or credit. Lenovo does not provide refunds or credits for portions of a packaged offering provided at a single price or for preloaded Programs installed by Lenovo. You may return the complete package for a refund or credit.

To qualify for this credit or refund (as applicable), you must call Lenovo at 1-866-42-THINK (1-866-428-4465) to obtain a return-authorization form. You must return the new Product, including all documentation and accessories, intact and in its unopened original packaging, to a Lenovo designated location by the date Lenovo specifies.

Wow. I guess I'm *really* glad I got a clearance cheapie. Maybe it's time to start looking for another lappy company.

My wife has been using Linux since we've been married. She not the average computer user since she has a degree in Comp-Sci and was an AS400 admin before we went into child rearing mode. She doesn't have a problem with it. I also have my dad using Linux and he's not what you would call a computer expert. He does pretty well with it.