[SLUG] Re: Ubuntu 9.04 performance [Was: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04]

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Tuesday 19 May 2009 00:55:18 Jeff Waugh wrote:
> The sluggishness is almost certainly related to the video driver
> performance regression in Ubuntu 9.04. There are some half-fixes
> which introduce new problems, but for most users I recommend going
> back to 8.10 for now. Easiest way around it, sadly.

My own domestic workstations are 4 Ghz AMD64 machines with 2Gb of RAM 
and an Nividia graphics card.  Built by me.  I used to build machines 
for IBM and Compaq. There is a slight glitch in the graphics from time 
to time but mostly it's okay.

I find these machines to be good for making videos and editing them.  
Kino or something similar Good for editing images from my Nikon 
digital SLR camera and of course the usual word processing and 
spreadsheets and e-mail (Kmail) and web pages.

Regards


Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Dell Latitude 2100 (for school kids) with Ubuntu -> here!

[Jeff Waugh]

Dell today announced its Latitude 2100, a netbook designed specifically for
school children. It is also the first Dell product in Australia to offer the
Ubuntu operating system pre-installed.

...

The Latitude 2100, which features a rubberised exterior and an activity
light to notify teachers when a student is using the wireless network, is
the first product Dell has offered in the country featuring the alternative
operating system.

  
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/Ubuntu-to-be-offered-by-Dell-Australia/0,130061702,339296519,00.htm

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2010: Wellington, NZ   http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/
 

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Daniel Bush 

>
>
> 2009/5/19 Steven Heimann 
>
>> Skype also failed for me with Jaunty but I simply went to Skype main
>> menu - options - sound devices and selected pulse.  After that it seems
>> to work.
>>
>> lspci lists sound card as Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7
>> Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
>
>
> Mine is:
> Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
>
> My skype settings were all pulse to begin with before I started hitting the
> permutations.
> I'm paying the price for getting a slightly fancier controller I fear.
> Playback with pulseaudio was definitely better than without.
>

Well, I took a deep breath and thought I'd give debian lenny 5.0.1 a try
rather than downgrading to previous ubuntu.
I've managed to get skype sound capture working again for my card (above).

For the sake of anyone who is in my situation with the intel 82801H HD audio
controller:

There was no sound initially after running the netinstall.
I ran 'alsaconf' as root, and it recognized my card and apparently did
some.twiddling for me.
I then ran the gnome sound tests and almost had my head blown off; it was
very very LOUD - so be careful boys and girls - let me sacrifice my hearing
so that you may keep yours.
Skype/microphone still wasn't working;  so in alsamixer (press F4 for
capture controls) I set 'Input Source' to 'Front Mic' for my first input
source control; also quite possibly one or more of the muxes and general
capture settings had to be turned up.
I let skype adjust my audio settings (that tick box near the bottom).
I was using the latest static skype 2.0.0.72.
Now it seems to be back to normal when I do a test call.
There's no pulseaudio on this system - I don't necessarily think or really
know if it had anything to do with the problems - just a datapoint for you.

I did most of this in ubuntu 9.04 except for the alsaconf bit.

-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] security monitor with webcam

[Amos Shapira]

Whatever you use, consider uploading the feed to a server in another location.

I remember reading about a guy from the UK who caught a thief who
stole his computer by having the entire incident recorded remotely,
including the face of the idiot as he walked over to pick up the
working computer.

Good luck.

-Amos

On 5/19/09, Ken Foskey  wrote:
>
> My flats have had a series of fires (BY Idiots) and I want to hook
> up a webcam and record all the comings and goings from the building.
> Fortunately I can do this from my kitchen window.
>
> Is there a way to snapshot every second and discard any significant
> duplicate pictures,  pictures would also need to be watermarked with the
> time.
>
> I then want to be able to replay a section of time that is the best
> estimate of when the fire was set.   I may not be home / awake.
>
>
> >From a hardware point of view,  can I extend the USB wire as I need
> about 3m extra.   Would it still work.
>
> Ta
> Ken
> --
> SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
> Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
>

-- 
Sent from my mobile device
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Online repository of Australian Legislation Re: [SLUG] OpenAustralia's first hackfest - Saturday 13 June

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Daniel Bush wrote:

2009/5/19 Matthew Landauer 


For those that were at my SLUG talk a few weeks ago, here's the
official announcement of OpenAustralia's first hackfest which will be
on Saturday 13th June, kindly hosted by Google at their Sydney
offices:

http://anyvite.com/5qitmm44gl

There are a limited number of places and a big chunk of them have gone
already so to be assured a place sign sooner rather than later at the
link above!

For those that weren't at the talk, http://www.openaustralia.org/ aims
to bring the goings on at the Australian parliament a little closer to
home for most people. The hackfest is an opportunity for a bunch of
hackers to get together for the day, build some cool stuff, help
democracy, and share some knowledge and generally have fun.



In the past I've sometimes thought it would be good to put legislation under
version control.  Maybe mercurial or bazaar or even git :)
Than you could tag releases that get passed; run diffs between older
versions; new acts that amend existing acts would hold these changes as diff
patches.
It'd be crazy awesome.  :)




Already done...

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AMENDMENT ACT 1998 No. 100, 1998 - LONG TITLE
An Act to amend the Copyright Act 1968, the Designs Act 1906, the Patents Act 
1990 and the Trade Marks Act 1995, and for other purposes



By the way, the Aust Parliament House website is currently under review more 
here:


Marghanita



Marghanita
--
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202


--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?

[david]

lloyd wrote:

I was surprised to get a written reply from the Education Minister to my
enquiries on this matter. I quote below, which may shed some light on
the Department's decisions.

"The NSW Dept of Education & Training manages  and currently
installs, in parallel with Microsoft Office suite, Open Office on all
Technology for Learning computers and runs appropriate servers on a
Linux base. In sourcing applications all avenues are explored to
identify the most appropriate and cost effective solution, taking into
account platform migration costs and interoperability with current
systems. . During the procurement process, a range of operating
systems and applications was offered to meet the Department's
requirements, including solutions based on Apple, Linux and Microsoft
platforms. ... It was determined that a Microsoft based solution best
met the Department's needs, particularly with respect to multimedia
applications."




I'm sad to say that there is probably some truth in this. I recently started 
messing with video, and ended up buying a Mac because video on Linux was simply 
too difficult for the amount of time I have to spend on it.


Not that it can't be done, but Apple make it EASY to do. I want to do video 
work, not system administration work.


Linux colour management simply isn't good enough. GIMP is fine, and I use it a 
lot, but it's too restricted in the colour management area, and doesn't handle 
16 bit.


Sound on Linux is patchy. There are too many times when I have to struggle to 
make it do what I want it to do.


That doesn't mean things won't change in the future. It's not so long ago that 
Gnome was a dog. Now it's my window manager of preference over MacOs or Windows.




L

On Mon, 2009-05-18 at 15:47 +1000, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

Adrian Chadd wrote:

On Mon, May 18, 2009, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

So, the school kids are being taught to develop content for four colour 
industrial printing, rather than websites?


Personally, I would think that school kids and FOSS developers time is 
better

spent improving tools and adding to content in the online world.
What really erks me, is that no doubt a PDF newsletters will be produced and
emailed around to be printed on home and school printers (no commercial 
printer

in sight). - Tell me I'm wrong.

I'd rather they'd be taught the difference between the two, so hopefully
those who are smart enough to "get it" will have the oppertunity to.

Don't dumb stuff down. Kids are smarter than you'd think. And god knows
that FOSS developers could do with being exposed to stuff -outside-
of the cool+hip FOSS environment(s) today.


Far from limiting the kids chances, I was hoping for the opposite. There is far
too much PDF/proprietary and "Desktop" published content/designed for the
printed page, on the web and not enough open accessible (HTML) web content.

If the kids are going to be provided with education on all the different 
formats, discussion about appropriate communication mediums etc, then fine but



Comparison with RGB

Comparisons between RGB displays and CMYK prints can be difficult, since the 

color reproduction technologies and properties are so different. A laser or
ink-jet printer prints in dots per inch (dpi) which is very different from a
computer screen, which displays graphics in pixels per inch (ppi). A computer
screen mixes shades of red, green, and blue to create color pictures. A CMYK
printer must compete with the many shades of RGB with only one shade each of
cyan, magenta and yellow, which it will mix using dithering, halftoning or some
other optical technique; this dithering produces a lower level of detail than
the printer's dpi suggests.


It would also appear introducing CMYK images to the web adds further problems
... see the discussion here:


Perhaps, in 12 months time we could do a survey and see how many kids laptops
have "the gimp" on them  or whether the school websites are full of PDF
documents.

I know, I might be a lone voice here, but I see it as atonement for once
recommending standisation on MSOffice in 1989 because it was the most
userfriendly - at the time, it wasn't as good as ?? for footnotes, or as good as
?? for table of contents and Excel just couldn't handle the data that Lotus123
could.

On the other hand, I was never a fan of Lotus Notes...and it would seem that's
been given away now

Welcome to OpenNTF.org

OpenNTF is devoted to enabling groups of individuals all over the world to 
collaborate on IBM Lotus Notes/Domino applications and release them as open 
source.



Marghanita
--
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202






--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] OpenAustralia's first hackfest - Saturday 13 June

[Kris Gesling]

I love the version control suggestion, especially if you were able to
propose you're own versions and there was some form of voting system. It
would still ultimately be up to the political parties in power unfortunately
but at least they'd have more guidance from the people on the ground.

OpenAustralia looks pretty interesting, anything that attempts to shift
voters from a passive obstacle requiring navigation to a real participatory
stakeholder is a good thing in my books.
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] security monitor with webcam

[Matthew Hannigan]

I run 'motion'.  It's in Fedora and I am sure Ubuntu and/or Debian.

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] OpenAustralia's first hackfest - Saturday 13 June

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Matthew Landauer 

> For those that were at my SLUG talk a few weeks ago, here's the
> official announcement of OpenAustralia's first hackfest which will be
> on Saturday 13th June, kindly hosted by Google at their Sydney
> offices:
>
> http://anyvite.com/5qitmm44gl
>
> There are a limited number of places and a big chunk of them have gone
> already so to be assured a place sign sooner rather than later at the
> link above!
>
> For those that weren't at the talk, http://www.openaustralia.org/ aims
> to bring the goings on at the Australian parliament a little closer to
> home for most people. The hackfest is an opportunity for a bunch of
> hackers to get together for the day, build some cool stuff, help
> democracy, and share some knowledge and generally have fun.
>

In the past I've sometimes thought it would be good to put legislation under
version control.  Maybe mercurial or bazaar or even git :)
Than you could tag releases that get passed; run diffs between older
versions; new acts that amend existing acts would hold these changes as diff
patches.
It'd be crazy awesome.  :)


-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] pulseaudio [Was: Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty]

[jam]

On Tuesday 19 May 2009 09:05:41 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is
> > entrenched.
>
> Of course you can remove it -- just 'apt-get remove pulseaudio'. Sure, that
> will prompt to remove the ubuntu-desktop meta-package, but that won't make
> a lick of difference to your running system (it's a meta-package after
> all). It will only come back to bite you when you decide to upgrade ->
> that's what the ubuntu-desktop meta-package helps with.
>
> An easy way to disable pulseaudio:
>
>   touch ~/.pulse_a11y_nostart
>
> (see /usr/bin/pulse-session, used by /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio)

I will feed that to the mythtv folk, thanks. Their trunk won't run if 
pulseaudio is detected (deliberate: pulseaudioOnOff ();)
James
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] OpenAustralia's first hackfest - Saturday 13 June

[Matthew Landauer]

For those that were at my SLUG talk a few weeks ago, here's the
official announcement of OpenAustralia's first hackfest which will be
on Saturday 13th June, kindly hosted by Google at their Sydney
offices:

http://anyvite.com/5qitmm44gl

There are a limited number of places and a big chunk of them have gone
already so to be assured a place sign sooner rather than later at the
link above!

For those that weren't at the talk, http://www.openaustralia.org/ aims
to bring the goings on at the Australian parliament a little closer to
home for most people. The hackfest is an opportunity for a bunch of
hackers to get together for the day, build some cool stuff, help
democracy, and share some knowledge and generally have fun.

Please come along!

All the best,
Matthew
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Steven Heimann]

Skype also failed for me with Jaunty but I simply went to Skype main
menu - options - sound devices and selected pulse.  After that it seems
to work.

lspci lists sound card as Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7
Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)

Regards
Steven


On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 08:09 +0800, jam wrote:
> On Tuesday 19 May 2009 07:28:23 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> > What a mess this is!
> > Found this skype forum:
> > http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=334081
> > I'd like to follow the advice of one of the posters at the end but my sound
> > settings aren't the same.
> >
> > Seriously thinking about downgrading all the long, sad way back to 8.04 -
> > well, it crossed my mind.
> > I'm screwed if it's skype's fault and they don't update; I'm potentially
> > less screwed if it is ubuntu.
> >
> > Nuking pulseaudio didn't do anything.
> >
> > Installing all of that junk above didn't do anything.
> >
> > Game over.
> 
> The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is 
> entrenched.
> James

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] pulseaudio [Was: Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty]

[Jeff Waugh]

> The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is
> entrenched.

Of course you can remove it -- just 'apt-get remove pulseaudio'. Sure, that
will prompt to remove the ubuntu-desktop meta-package, but that won't make a
lick of difference to your running system (it's a meta-package after all).
It will only come back to bite you when you decide to upgrade -> that's what
the ubuntu-desktop meta-package helps with.

An easy way to disable pulseaudio:

  touch ~/.pulse_a11y_nostart

(see /usr/bin/pulse-session, used by /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio)

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2010: Wellington, NZ   http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/
 
   "2.4.1ac17 is full of innovations and should be used with caution." -
 Linux Weekly News
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] security monitor with webcam

[Tony Sceats]

Not a great help because I can't remember any product names, but there is
all sorts of 'home security cam' software that only records movement in the
frame - I think they are taking advantage of some aspects of MPEG encoding
to acheive this so you can end up with an MPEG that only includes the
'interesting' bits

not sure if there's anything FOSS that does this, the software I've seen was
either part of a home security package or was otherwise propriety

so, um, hope that helps, despite it's vagueness :)



On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 9:41 AM, david  wrote:

> There is a thing called zoneminder which I've played with but not used
> seriously. I got it working without too much fuss and it seems to do what
> you want.
>
>
> Ken Foskey wrote:
>
>> My flats have had a series of fires (BY Idiots) and I want to hook
>> up a webcam and record all the comings and goings from the building.
>> Fortunately I can do this from my kitchen window.
>>
>> Is there a way to snapshot every second and discard any significant
>> duplicate pictures,  pictures would also need to be watermarked with the
>> time.
>>
>> I then want to be able to replay a section of time that is the best
>> estimate of when the fire was set.   I may not be home / awake.
>>
>>
>>  From a hardware point of view,  can I extend the USB wire as I need
>>>
>> about 3m extra.   Would it still work.
>>
>> Ta
>> Ken
>>
> --
> SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
> Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
>
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Ubuntu 9.04 performance [Was: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04]

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Jeff Waugh 

> 
>
> > > > ... nope, that didn't work either.  My desktop is really sluggish
> too.
> > > > It's the end of the road for me and 9.04.
> > >
> > > Do you happen to have an Intel video chipset?
> >
> > Yeah, it's all intel.  Integrated graphics and sound.  I can just about
> > live with the sluggishness (I'm not sure if it is a lot different to 8.04
> > or not to be honest) but I need to talk on skype.  I'm prepared to try to
> > debug or troubleshoot if it will improve ubuntu but I'm a complete novice
> > plus I seem to be a bit of an isolated case.
>
> The sluggishness is almost certainly related to the video driver
> performance
> regression in Ubuntu 9.04. There are some half-fixes which introduce new
> problems, but for most users I recommend going back to 8.10 for now.
> Easiest
> way around it, sadly.
>
> Your audio issue I'm not so sure about (Skype works okay here whether I
> have
> pulseaudio running or not, so, hrm).
>
>
It does seize up just momentarily on menus and dropdowns as well as slow
repaints when dragging windows creating an echo effect so I can confirm that
graphics are definitely an issue.
Thanks for the advice.

-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[jam]

On Tuesday 19 May 2009 07:28:23 slug-requ...@slug.org.au wrote:
> What a mess this is!
> Found this skype forum:
> http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=334081
> I'd like to follow the advice of one of the posters at the end but my sound
> settings aren't the same.
>
> Seriously thinking about downgrading all the long, sad way back to 8.04 -
> well, it crossed my mind.
> I'm screwed if it's skype's fault and they don't update; I'm potentially
> less screwed if it is ubuntu.
>
> Nuking pulseaudio didn't do anything.
>
> Installing all of that junk above didn't do anything.
>
> Game over.

The mythtv folk are bitching that you can't nuke pulseaudio in 9.04 it is 
entrenched.
James
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Ubuntu 9.04 performance [Was: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04]

[Jeff Waugh]

> > > ... nope, that didn't work either.  My desktop is really sluggish too.
> > > It's the end of the road for me and 9.04.
> >
> > Do you happen to have an Intel video chipset?
>
> Yeah, it's all intel.  Integrated graphics and sound.  I can just about
> live with the sluggishness (I'm not sure if it is a lot different to 8.04
> or not to be honest) but I need to talk on skype.  I'm prepared to try to
> debug or troubleshoot if it will improve ubuntu but I'm a complete novice
> plus I seem to be a bit of an isolated case.

The sluggishness is almost certainly related to the video driver performance
regression in Ubuntu 9.04. There are some half-fixes which introduce new
problems, but for most users I recommend going back to 8.10 for now. Easiest
way around it, sadly.

Your audio issue I'm not so sure about (Skype works okay here whether I have
pulseaudio running or not, so, hrm).

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2010: Wellington, NZ   http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/
 
   "I haven't been this excited since the introduction of devfs." - Mark
  Rosenstand on upstart-devel list
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Ubuntu 9.04 performance [Was: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04]

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Jeff Waugh 

> 
>
> > ... nope, that didn't work either.  My desktop is really sluggish too.
> > It's the end of the road for me and 9.04.
>
> Do you happen to have an Intel video chipset?
>
>
Yeah, it's all intel.  Integrated graphics and sound.  I can just about live
with the sluggishness (I'm not sure if it is a lot different to 8.04 or not
to be honest) but I need to talk on skype.
I'm prepared to try to debug or troubleshoot if it will improve ubuntu but
I'm a complete novice plus I seem to be a bit of an isolated case.

-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Sound in Ubuntu 9.04

[david]

Daniel Bush wrote:

2009/5/19 Heracles 


-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Just a short note relating to my earlier post about my "Sound Blaster
Live!" problem in Flash on my x86_64 install.

I reinstalled 9.04 from scratch and lost ALL sound. After reading the
Skype post from Richard I decided to remove pulseaudio (which took
ubuntu-desktop with it) and see what happened. Without further ado I now
have sound even in flash!



I didn't have any trouble with flash but I'm not on 64bit.  I think it might
be a skype issue for me but I truly have no idea and I think I might just
try what you said



IIRC Pulse audio also causes problems for Kino

I've given up on Kino recently because under 8.10 it was not as simple as it 
once was, and I've run out of time to play with it.







It would seem that either pulseaudio or ubuntu-desktop interferes with
sound. I would like to know which it is but if I install either, the
other installs automatically.

So it would seem that, on my system at least, pulseaudio gets in the way
of sound.




--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] security monitor with webcam

[david]

There is a thing called zoneminder which I've played with but not used 
seriously. I got it working without too much fuss and it seems to do what you want.


Ken Foskey wrote:

My flats have had a series of fires (BY Idiots) and I want to hook
up a webcam and record all the comings and goings from the building.
Fortunately I can do this from my kitchen window.

Is there a way to snapshot every second and discard any significant
duplicate pictures,  pictures would also need to be watermarked with the
time.

I then want to be able to replay a section of time that is the best
estimate of when the fire was set.   I may not be home / awake.



From a hardware point of view,  can I extend the USB wire as I need

about 3m extra.   Would it still work.

Ta
Ken

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Ubuntu 9.04 performance [Was: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04]

[Jeff Waugh]

> ... nope, that didn't work either.  My desktop is really sluggish too.
> It's the end of the road for me and 9.04.

Do you happen to have an Intel video chipset?

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2010: Wellington, NZ   http://www.penguinsvisiting.org.nz/
 
   "IMO we should end the thread based on that; configurability is always
   the best choice when it's pretty simple to implement." - Havoc
  Pennington, 1998
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Sound in Ubuntu 9.04

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Daniel Bush 

>
>
> 2009/5/19 Heracles 
>
>> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> Just a short note relating to my earlier post about my "Sound Blaster
>> Live!" problem in Flash on my x86_64 install.
>>
>> I reinstalled 9.04 from scratch and lost ALL sound. After reading the
>> Skype post from Richard I decided to remove pulseaudio (which took
>> ubuntu-desktop with it) and see what happened. Without further ado I now
>> have sound even in flash!
>>
>
> I didn't have any trouble with flash but I'm not on 64bit.  I think it
> might be a skype issue for me but I truly have no idea and I think I might
> just try what you said
>

... nope, that didn't work either.  My desktop is really sluggish too.  It's
the end of the road for me and 9.04.


-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Richard Ibbotson wrote:

On Monday 18 May 2009 13:45:48 Glen Turner wrote:

Also lacking in GIMP and Inkscape is support for spot
printing and multi-colour processes.  PANTONE is the most
common of those process -- it is commonly used to print
logos onto things.


Yes.  I've done a lot of work with old fashioned Letraset.


In short, you wouldn't notice with photos, but if you're
trying for a moderate level of graphics arts on paper then
the lack of ability to describe all that the printer is
capable of gets old pretty quickly. As a simple example,
I had to ditch GIMP to get a "sun rising" effect on some
PR material I was preparing.


Yes.  Gimp is much better than it was but some sort of Pantone colour 
integration would be good (eventually).  An open source version of 
that would need to be implemented.



Similarly, the lack of PANTONE support sucks if you are
printing stuff like your sporting club's logo onto water
bottles or whatever. 


I agree :)





Some of these issues are to do with the printer driver and the Gimp's
support/integration with these drivers [this can be a problem on linux] rather
than the Gimp itself. Bear in mind that whatever you see on the screen will be
different to what is printed. That was the point of the discussion between RGB
and CMYK (and this would be applicable to Pantone).

With regard to Technical/Architectural drawing - I suspect there would be lots 
of
shortcomings in the gimp apart from its printing capabilitybut my tech
drawing and
photography classes were too long ago, for me to comment on how the subject is
taught today. But I don't think the Gimp is a particularly good drawing package.

Also, note most cameras capture convert the images to JPG - there is some
discussion about CMYK support in JPG.

Use of Colours for reading on a screen vs printed material is critical for
legibility, clarity and aesthetics. A PDF Form with a Grey background may be
fine for commercial printing - but does not work particularly well on a screen
or ideal for your home or school printer.

I have worked with commerical printers, designers, filmmakers and photographers
to produce printed material and the quality is certainly better - from the fonts
they select,
to the tone of colour to the whitespacing.

However, alas when it comest to the Web/Computer systems the visual is only one
aspect of accesibility and good design.

Marghanita
--
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202




--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Sound in Ubuntu 9.04

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/19 Heracles 

> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Just a short note relating to my earlier post about my "Sound Blaster
> Live!" problem in Flash on my x86_64 install.
>
> I reinstalled 9.04 from scratch and lost ALL sound. After reading the
> Skype post from Richard I decided to remove pulseaudio (which took
> ubuntu-desktop with it) and see what happened. Without further ado I now
> have sound even in flash!
>

I didn't have any trouble with flash but I'm not on 64bit.  I think it might
be a skype issue for me but I truly have no idea and I think I might just
try what you said


>
> It would seem that either pulseaudio or ubuntu-desktop interferes with
> sound. I would like to know which it is but if I install either, the
> other installs automatically.
>
> So it would seem that, on my system at least, pulseaudio gets in the way
> of sound.
>

-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: Sound in Ubuntu 9.04

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Monday 18 May 2009 23:33:32 Heracles wrote:
> I reinstalled 9.04 from scratch and lost ALL sound. After reading
> the Skype post from Richard I decided to remove pulseaudio (which
> took ubuntu-desktop with it) and see what happened. Without further
> ado I now have sound even in flash!

Sounds about right :)

Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Sound in Ubuntu 9.04

[Heracles]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Just a short note relating to my earlier post about my "Sound Blaster
Live!" problem in Flash on my x86_64 install.

I reinstalled 9.04 from scratch and lost ALL sound. After reading the
Skype post from Richard I decided to remove pulseaudio (which took
ubuntu-desktop with it) and see what happened. Without further ado I now
have sound even in flash!

It would seem that either pulseaudio or ubuntu-desktop interferes with
sound. I would like to know which it is but if I install either, the
other installs automatically.

So it would seem that, on my system at least, pulseaudio gets in the way
of sound.

Heracles
-BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAkoR4jwACgkQybPcBAs9CE+I1ACgw5WlK0Xut938P8D4BOuS2jtA
fBAAoLMunmCpvgIfAho2lnnDT3UUJ+K2
=3niJ
-END PGP SIGNATURE-
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Monday 18 May 2009 13:45:48 Glen Turner wrote:
> Also lacking in GIMP and Inkscape is support for spot
> printing and multi-colour processes.  PANTONE is the most
> common of those process -- it is commonly used to print
> logos onto things.

Yes.  I've done a lot of work with old fashioned Letraset.

> In short, you wouldn't notice with photos, but if you're
> trying for a moderate level of graphics arts on paper then
> the lack of ability to describe all that the printer is
> capable of gets old pretty quickly. As a simple example,
> I had to ditch GIMP to get a "sun rising" effect on some
> PR material I was preparing.

Yes.  Gimp is much better than it was but some sort of Pantone colour 
integration would be good (eventually).  An open source version of 
that would need to be implemented.

> Similarly, the lack of PANTONE support sucks if you are
> printing stuff like your sporting club's logo onto water
> bottles or whatever. 

I agree :)


Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] security monitor with webcam

[Ken Foskey]

My flats have had a series of fires (BY Idiots) and I want to hook
up a webcam and record all the comings and goings from the building.
Fortunately I can do this from my kitchen window.

Is there a way to snapshot every second and discard any significant
duplicate pictures,  pictures would also need to be watermarked with the
time.

I then want to be able to replay a section of time that is the best
estimate of when the fire was set.   I may not be home / awake.


>From a hardware point of view,  can I extend the USB wire as I need
about 3m extra.   Would it still work.

Ta
Ken
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Monday 18 May 2009 14:56:54 elliott-brennan wrote:
> I agree about colour perception and the range of
> abilities people have. Similarly a (then)
> girlfriend's aunt insisted she could not tell the
> difference between stereo and mono. I ran a few
> tests for her. Despite the fact she could hear
> well enough in both ears she insisted she couldn't
> tell the difference (I think she was just a cranky
> old fart :))

Yeh... although I'm a well published photographer (not as much as 
some) who is supposed to be able to print his own colour photographs 
(as in the old fashioned version with film) the RAF put me through 
their stereo vision checks to see if they could move me over to their 
air side to analyse pictures of the things that they photograph from 
the sky.  70 m/m film.  I used to be an RAF photographer.  The RAF test 
showed that no part of my vision could possibly work at all !  .  What does this tell you about the RAF ?

In spite of this I can do a lot of Ju Jitsu and Aikido and judge 
distances very well.  On the other side of it my own colour vision 
would seem to be excellent.  Most people seem to balance around a 
slight red or blue shift.  I come out as slightly red.  A neutral 
photograph looks slightly warm to me.

Right... where's that free crack cocaine that comes with every Ubutnu 
(oh.. sorry Ubuntu) disk ?  Must get back to sniffing that ...


Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/18 Richard Ibbotson 

> > > It's driving me nuts; i've spent the last couple of hours
> > > twiddling knobs like crazy and making repeated calls to the test
> > > service.
>
> What I do after checking the sound levels with a gui based application
> is install another sound level controller.  Let's see..
>
> sudo apt-cache search sound ...
>
> alsa-firmware-loaders
> lib32asound2-plugins
> alsaplayer-alsa
> alsamixergui
> alsa-tools-gui
> ubuntu-restricted-extras
>
> Yes, I know it doesn't sound all that sensible but I found that after
> installing Jaunty Jackoffalot some things were missing.  I had to play
> around with apt-cache search for a while to find what I had missed.
> Don't know what this is about :)  Other than that it's a hardware
> issue.
>



What a mess this is!
Found this skype forum:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=334081
I'd like to follow the advice of one of the posters at the end but my sound
settings aren't the same.

Seriously thinking about downgrading all the long, sad way back to 8.04 -
well, it crossed my mind.
I'm screwed if it's skype's fault and they don't update; I'm potentially
less screwed if it is ubuntu.

Nuking pulseaudio didn't do anything.

Installing all of that junk above didn't do anything.

Game over.


-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[elliott-brennan]

I've taught the psychology of perception at
various institutions and I agree that it's a very
interesting subject (not that we needed to go into
the issue to the extent you would, naturally).

I agree about colour perception and the range of
abilities people have. Similarly a (then)
girlfriend's aunt insisted she could not tell the
difference between stereo and mono. I ran a few
tests for her. Despite the fact she could hear
well enough in both ears she insisted she couldn't
tell the difference (I think she was just a cranky
old fart :))

Written in response to Richard Ibbotson who wrote:

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:26:57 +0100

> Due to the fact that most people are taught only simple concepts to do 
> with a subjective concept like colour or colour analysis it can be 
> difficult and confusing for people to discuss this kind of issue.
> 
> To get to be a professional photographer I had to take written exams 
> which were all about colorimetry (Things like degrees kelvin and mired 
> values and colour balance) and sensitometric analysis of (old 
> fashioned) colour film emulsions
> 
> http://www.springerlink.com/content/w8j53q7180mn9226/
> 
> Since then I have taken a few degrees in pure sciences.  The clever 
> bit comes when you finally match up sensitometric analysis and 
> colorimetric related issues to your own subjective understanding of 
> colour (color if you were trained by Kodak).   Most people can only 
> manage to do this effectively (numerically as well as subjectively) 
> after many years of working as a photographer or through the process 
> of paint matching.
> 
> I find that while my own eyesight isn't very good due to having my face 
> crushed when I was a child but in actual fact my eyesight is very good 
> at judging colour balance which is a skill which was essential in old 
> fashioned colour print production. Some people have brilliant eyesight 
> but rotten colour judgement.  Vision and the optical nerve is a very 
> long and tortuous subject to understand :)
> 
> Richard
> www.sheflug.org.uk
> 

-- 
Registered GNU/Linux User 368634
www.youcantdothatinlinux.com
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: Colin McCormack contact details

[Ken Wilson]

Hi Stephen
No record of anyone paying membership under that name from 2003 on.
No Record on main mailing list of anyone under that name. ( but 
someone's email address may not bear any resemblance to their name and 
they could just read the archives and leave no trace.)

So I cannot pass on anything.
Cheers
Ken

Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:

Hi Ken,

Do we have the contact details for Colin McCormack?


-- Forwarded message --
From: Stephen Ode 
Date: 2009/5/18
Subject:
To: presid...@slug.org.au


Hi Sridhar

Im trying to contact Colin McCormack who is a member of slug. He has
done some programming for our company in the past and I have lost his
contact details. I would like top get in touch with him re some new
work could you either email his contact details or let him know my
contact details.

Thanking You

Kind regards
Stephen Ode
LCM Technologies
t 02 9401 5453
f 02 9401 5588
st...@lcmtechnologies.com

***
The contents of this e-mail may contain information that is legally
privileged and/or confidential to the named recipient. This
information is not to be used by any other person, entity and/or
organisation. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete
this message immediately. No entities in LCM Technologies Pty Ltd
warrant or guarantee that this e-mail (and attachments) are free of
errors, viruses or interference, or have been received in the form
sent. The recipient assumes all responsibility for any consequences
resulting from all uses made of this e-mail. The views expressed in
this document do not necessarily reflect those of the company.



--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[Glen Turner]

elliott-brennan wrote:

I've never been shown the difference (as in, "here
are examples of a photograph") and I don't know if
most (the majority of) people would notice or care
either way.


The difference is mainly apparent when using shades
around black. That's a part of the printer's palette
(ie, CMYK) where RGB lacks sufficient resolution to
describe all that the printer can do.  Getting silver
shades is particularly hard in RGB.

Also lacking in GIMP and Inkscape is support for spot
printing and multi-colour processes.  PANTONE is the most
common of those process -- it is commonly used to print
logos onto things.

In short, you wouldn't notice with photos, but if you're
trying for a moderate level of graphics arts on paper then
the lack of ability to describe all that the printer is
capable of gets old pretty quickly. As a simple example,
I had to ditch GIMP to get a "sun rising" effect on some
PR material I was preparing.

Similarly, the lack of PANTONE support sucks if you are
printing stuff like your sporting club's logo onto water
bottles or whatever.  I got particularly burned by Inkscape
having an error in the image flattening -- the image had
white over a gray spot, but this didn't flatten into a
hole in the gray spot, leading to Tasmania being dropped.

--
 Glen Turner
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Monday 18 May 2009 12:54:34 elliott-brennan wrote:
> I've never been shown the difference (as in, "here
> are examples of a photograph") and I don't know if
> most (the majority of) people would notice or care
> either way.

Due to the fact that most people are taught only simple concepts to do 
with a subjective concept like colour or colour analysis it can be 
difficult and confusing for people to discuss this kind of issue.

To get to be a professional photographer I had to take written exams 
which were all about colorimetry (Things like degrees kelvin and mired 
values and colour balance) and sensitometric analysis of (old 
fashioned) colour film emulsions

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w8j53q7180mn9226/

Since then I have taken a few degrees in pure sciences.  The clever 
bit comes when you finally match up sensitometric analysis and 
colorimetric related issues to your own subjective understanding of 
colour (color if you were trained by Kodak).   Most people can only 
manage to do this effectively (numerically as well as subjectively) 
after many years of working as a photographer or through the process 
of paint matching.

I find that while my own eyesight isn't very good due to having my face 
crushed when I was a child but in actual fact my eyesight is very good 
at judging colour balance which is a skill which was essential in old 
fashioned colour print production. Some people have brilliant eyesight 
but rotten colour judgement.  Vision and the optical nerve is a very 
long and tortuous subject to understand :)

Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] GIMP (Was: Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?)

[elliott-brennan]

I'm curious about the discussion in relation to
RGB and CMYK.

With GIMP I've modified and had printed loads  of photos I've taken and been
very happy with the outcome, as have the obviously
 highly discerning people I've given the
photos to.

One of my work colleagues' brother is a
professional photographer. He said that often his
brother will have stacks of printed photos he's
selling which make it into the 'not good enough'
pile. My colleague says that when it's pointed out
to him (eg. the green isn't the right green) he
can see it, but only just and wouldn't have
noticed otherwise.

I accept that this is important to those in the
industry and that a standard is needed to ease the
job of printing etc.

I also would agree that CMYK should be in GIMP to
assist with its utility, adoption and
competitiveness etc. Again industry standard for
accuracy etc etc, sure sure. For most people though?

I've never been shown the difference (as in, "here
are examples of a photograph") and I don't know if
most (the majority of) people would notice or care
either way.

My 2c worth here.

Regards,

Patrick
-- 
Registered GNU/Linux User 368634
www.youcantdothatinlinux.com
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Re: microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Richard Ibbotson]

> > It's driving me nuts; i've spent the last couple of hours
> > twiddling knobs like crazy and making repeated calls to the test
> > service.

What I do after checking the sound levels with a gui based application 
is install another sound level controller.  Let's see..

sudo apt-cache search sound ...

alsa-firmware-loaders
lib32asound2-plugins
alsaplayer-alsa 
alsamixergui
alsa-tools-gui
ubuntu-restricted-extras

Yes, I know it doesn't sound all that sensible but I found that after 
installing Jaunty Jackoffalot some things were missing.  I had to play 
around with apt-cache search for a while to find what I had missed.  
Don't know what this is about :)  Other than that it's a hardware 
issue.

Regards


Richard
www.sheflug.org.uk
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?

[lloyd]

I was surprised to get a written reply from the Education Minister to my
enquiries on this matter. I quote below, which may shed some light on
the Department's decisions.

"The NSW Dept of Education & Training manages  and currently
installs, in parallel with Microsoft Office suite, Open Office on all
Technology for Learning computers and runs appropriate servers on a
Linux base. In sourcing applications all avenues are explored to
identify the most appropriate and cost effective solution, taking into
account platform migration costs and interoperability with current
systems. . During the procurement process, a range of operating
systems and applications was offered to meet the Department's
requirements, including solutions based on Apple, Linux and Microsoft
platforms. ... It was determined that a Microsoft based solution best
met the Department's needs, particularly with respect to multimedia
applications."

L

On Mon, 2009-05-18 at 15:47 +1000, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> Adrian Chadd wrote:
> > On Mon, May 18, 2009, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> > 
> >> So, the school kids are being taught to develop content for four colour 
> >> industrial printing, rather than websites?
> >>
> >> Personally, I would think that school kids and FOSS developers time is 
> >> better
> >> spent improving tools and adding to content in the online world.
> >> What really erks me, is that no doubt a PDF newsletters will be produced 
> >> and
> >> emailed around to be printed on home and school printers (no commercial 
> >> printer
> >> in sight). - Tell me I'm wrong.
> > 
> > I'd rather they'd be taught the difference between the two, so hopefully
> > those who are smart enough to "get it" will have the oppertunity to.
> > 
> > Don't dumb stuff down. Kids are smarter than you'd think. And god knows
> > that FOSS developers could do with being exposed to stuff -outside-
> > of the cool+hip FOSS environment(s) today.
> > 
> 
> Far from limiting the kids chances, I was hoping for the opposite. There is 
> far
> too much PDF/proprietary and "Desktop" published content/designed for the
> printed page, on the web and not enough open accessible (HTML) web content.
> 
> If the kids are going to be provided with education on all the different 
> formats, discussion about appropriate communication mediums etc, then fine 
> but
> 
> > Comparison with RGB
> >
> > Comparisons between RGB displays and CMYK prints can be difficult, since 
> > the 
> color reproduction technologies and properties are so different. A laser or
> ink-jet printer prints in dots per inch (dpi) which is very different from a
> computer screen, which displays graphics in pixels per inch (ppi). A computer
> screen mixes shades of red, green, and blue to create color pictures. A CMYK
> printer must compete with the many shades of RGB with only one shade each of
> cyan, magenta and yellow, which it will mix using dithering, halftoning or 
> some
> other optical technique; this dithering produces a lower level of detail than
> the printer's dpi suggests.
> >
> 
> 
> It would also appear introducing CMYK images to the web adds further problems
> ... see the discussion here:
> 
> 
> Perhaps, in 12 months time we could do a survey and see how many kids laptops
> have "the gimp" on them  or whether the school websites are full of PDF
> documents.
> 
> I know, I might be a lone voice here, but I see it as atonement for once
> recommending standisation on MSOffice in 1989 because it was the most
> userfriendly - at the time, it wasn't as good as ?? for footnotes, or as good 
> as
> ?? for table of contents and Excel just couldn't handle the data that Lotus123
> could.
> 
> On the other hand, I was never a fan of Lotus Notes...and it would seem that's
> been given away now
> > Welcome to OpenNTF.org
> > 
> > OpenNTF is devoted to enabling groups of individuals all over the world to 
> > collaborate on IBM Lotus Notes/Domino applications and release them as open 
> > source.
> 
> 
> Marghanita
> -- 
> Marghanita da Cruz
> http://www.ramin.com.au
> Phone: (+61)0414 869202
> 
> 


-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Daniel Bush]

2009/5/18 david 

>
>
> Daniel Bush wrote:
>
>> Please, can anyone help.  I can't get my microphone to work in skype.
>>
>> It's driving me nuts; i've spent the last couple of hours twiddling knobs
>> like crazy and making repeated calls to the test service.
>>
>> If I load audacity and get it to monitor input and then do a skype it
>> works
>> but it's horrible - too much gain or something.  But at least this tells
>> me
>> it's working in some shape or form.
>>
>
> I'm still using 8.10, but Skype works fine for me. OTOH I've had problems
> with


It was all working for me with hardy; maybe occasional problems but
otherwise quite reasonable.


> audacity stealing ALSA and not giving it back when it's finished. Very
> frustrating. Why are you using audacity with skype?


I read somewhere that someone had used it whilst troubleshooting - I've
forgotten the link now.  I installed it because at the very least it seemed
like an independent indicator that I could use to test my mic.  (I can't
figure out how to test the mic using the gnome sound tests)

I'm wondering if it's pulseaudio.  It seems more prominent in jaunty than it
did in hardy or maybe I disabled it in hardy - can't remember.  I seem to
have difficulty with audio on linux even though I don't think I've got
particularly special hardware :((

skype versions tried: 2.0.0.68 and 2.0.0.72 .   Static, oss static, dynamic
etc...

-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Netbook application

[David Andresen]

Hey List

Just put easy peasy on a couple of MSI winds.

http://www.geteasypeasy.com/

It is a Norwegian led development.

You might like it too

It is pretty slick, good, great.

Cheers
David Andresen
...
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth
and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a
time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall - think of
it, ALWAYS.”

~~Mahatma Gandhi 

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[david]

Daniel Bush wrote:

Please, can anyone help.  I can't get my microphone to work in skype.

It's driving me nuts; i've spent the last couple of hours twiddling knobs
like crazy and making repeated calls to the test service.

If I load audacity and get it to monitor input and then do a skype it works
but it's horrible - too much gain or something.  But at least this tells me
it's working in some shape or form.


I'm still using 8.10, but Skype works fine for me. OTOH I've had problems with 
audacity stealing ALSA and not giving it back when it's finished. Very 
frustrating. Why are you using audacity with skype?



There are lots of posts from people, some with the similar card/chip (intel
HDA  Sigmatel STAC9228), saying how they solved mic/skype probs but it's not
working for me.





--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Laptops with Linux pre-installed?

[Glen Turner]

Andrew Cowie wrote:


Chatting with Bdale about this a few months ago, he articulated that
there was a vast difference in HP's laptop line between systems targeted
at the consumer audience, and systems targeted at the corporate market.

Notably, the consumer-targeted systems rapidly change chipsets based on
whatever was forklifted into a large bin in the corner this morning,
whereas the corporate systems were deliberately manufactured with a
defined load-out that would stay the same throughout the support
lifespan of the system. 


[Which is impressive if true. There's nothing worse than taking a
machine in for servicing and getting a new motherboard back with
_completely_ different hardware in it]

He also seemed to be saying that their focus with Linux support (ie,
drivers and availability installed at time-of-sale) was [would be?] in
the corporate product set.


This is certainly also true of Dell's support for Linux on their
desktops -- corporate line has certification and support, consumer
line doesn't.

--
 Glen Turner
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Lenovo wins $150m NSW schools deal or April Fools joke?

[Glen Turner]

Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
So, the school kids are being taught to develop content for four colour 
industrial printing, rather than websites?


I should hope that in an art or technical drawing class the students have
the opportunity to use the correct technology for the medium they are
working in -- be that RGB, CMYK or PANTONE.

Telling students that they must only present their computer-
generated images on three-colour illuminated media seems to me
to be the sort of petty fascism that disenchants students
and oppresses teachers.

It doesn't stand to the credit of the free software movement
that this long-outstanding bug in its premier graphics package
continues, and of course that bug should stand against free
software in an evaluation of software alternatives.

--
 Glen Turner
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] microphone / skype / ubuntu 9.04 jaunty

[Daniel Bush]

Please, can anyone help.  I can't get my microphone to work in skype.

It's driving me nuts; i've spent the last couple of hours twiddling knobs
like crazy and making repeated calls to the test service.

If I load audacity and get it to monitor input and then do a skype it works
but it's horrible - too much gain or something.  But at least this tells me
it's working in some shape or form.
There are lots of posts from people, some with the similar card/chip (intel
HDA  Sigmatel STAC9228), saying how they solved mic/skype probs but it's not
working for me.




-- 
Daniel Bush

http://blog.web17.com.au
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Laptops with Linux pre-installed?

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

Andrew Cowie wrote:

> In any case, the idea was navigate to the corporate audience side of
> their web site, rather than the generic home consumer side.

Well  I went to the small business side of their Australian website
[0]. I searched around and found that every single machine in the laptop
section (I didn't look at netbooks) was windows. I also found that
HP's site seemed to offer far less customisation of the machine than
Dell. Obviously their sales models are different.

I also searched for Linux and every search seemed to direct to Dell US.

> I haven't yet put this to the test yet, I'm afraid, but he was [as ever]
> extremely helpful, and I'm going to go with HP for my next system, I
> suspect.

I suspect that  mine will not be a Dell or a HP.

Erik

[0] HP's website is abysmal; it makes the pretty rancid Dell site look
like the site of some hot new web 2.99 startup.

-- 
--
Erik de Castro Lopo
http://www.mega-nerd.com/
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Laptops with Linux pre-installed?

[Andrew Cowie]

On Wed, 2009-04-29 at 07:40 +1000, Martin Visser wrote:
> And yes, I do find it a little frustrating that [HP] aren't more
> comprehensive in the Linux support across the range.

Chatting with Bdale about this a few months ago, he articulated that
there was a vast difference in HP's laptop line between systems targeted
at the consumer audience, and systems targeted at the corporate market.

Notably, the consumer-targeted systems rapidly change chipsets based on
whatever was forklifted into a large bin in the corner this morning,
whereas the corporate systems were deliberately manufactured with a
defined load-out that would stay the same throughout the support
lifespan of the system. 

[Which is impressive if true. There's nothing worse than taking a
machine in for servicing and getting a new motherboard back with
_completely_ different hardware in it]

He also seemed to be saying that their focus with Linux support (ie,
drivers and availability installed at time-of-sale) was [would be?] in
the corporate product set.

In any case, the idea was navigate to the corporate audience side of
their web site, rather than the generic home consumer side.

I haven't yet put this to the test yet, I'm afraid, but he was [as ever]
extremely helpful, and I'm going to go with HP for my next system, I
suspect.

AfC
Sydney

-- 
Andrew Frederick Cowie

Operational Dynamics is an operations and engineering consultancy
focusing on IT strategy, organizational architecture, systems
review, and effective procedures for change management: enabling
successful deployment of mission critical information technology in
enterprises, worldwide.

http://www.operationaldynamics.com/

Sydney   New York   Toronto   London


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html