www.andyduffell.com

Re-encoding video can be a bit baffling. I’ve tried a whole slew of different apps (Handbrake, Avidemux, Iriverter, PiTiVi) but they all seem to be far too complicated for the simple job of re-encoding a video file for a specific device.

That’s why I’ve really grown to  like Arista Transcoder. Instead of fiddling about with codecs, aspect ratios, and a million other obscure settings, Arista simply asks what device you want to view the video on. Some of the presets also allow you to tweak the quality, but that’s it. And when you think about it, 99% of the time that’s all you actually need.

Some of the highlights:

• It seems to be multithreaded (or use multithreaded codecs where possible) so it’s fast
• Integrates nicely with Gnome, including notification bubbles on Ubuntu
• Includes presets for most common devices, with more available on the website
• Can rip straight from DVDs
• Queues jobs

You can get it from the Ubuntu Universe repository, Arch AUR, or you can grab the pythony tarball off their site.

If you have an Nvidia 8XXX card or better, you can now use VDPAU

I’ve been using XBMC on my media centre for a while, and I’m very happy with it. One of the many cool things it can do is use the graphics card to do all the heavy lifting during video playback. That’s essential if you’re playing video at 720p or higher resolution.

The technology is called VDPAU, but it’s not switched on by default.

On Ubuntu, you’ll need to install an extra package: libvdpau1 (you need to be running Lucid or later), you’ll also need a 8XXX or later Nvidia card, and the restricted drivers for it. The Nouveau driver is no good.

Once you’ve installed that, fire up XBMC and go to Settings > Video > Player and change the render method from “auto” to “VDPAU”. You should immediately go from horrible jerky playback to nice silky smooth!

Chrome has been doing well, gaining new users faster than any other browser

Google’s rising star Chrome is now officially out of beta on the Mac and Linux.

They’ve bundled a couple of new features in with the release, such as expanded syncing (it now syncs other personal settings in addition to bookmarks). Otherwise it’s the same polished browser that you’ve come to expect.

Ubuntu users who’ve already plugged into the Google repo can upgrade by hitting the following apturl: Chrome for Linux. Macbois and folks with a non-Debian flavoured Linux can download a standalone version (you’ll have to keep it up-to-date yourself if you do).

Wishing you a harmonious minimalist experience

I’ve blogged before about how cool Ubuntu minimal is.

The one problem is that you have to know exactly what packages to install to get your system set up. So i’ve written a script that should take some of the guess work out of it and make installing a useful Ubuntu desktop from the minimal ISO as simple as answering a series of yes/no questions.

The script is a modified version of Robbie Ferguson’s Perfectbuntu script. Perfectbuntu is designed to be run once you’ve installed the default system, and adds a lot of useful software.

I’ve left all that in, so you can go from a command-line system, to a fully up-to-date and usable Ubuntu desktop in one step. Or you could use it to install a bare-bones system with a variety of desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, XFCE, or LXDE. You can also install Myth TV. All of this from a single 13MB disk image!

How to use the script

1. Install a command line-only system using the Minimal ISO
2. Download the script:
   

   wget www.andyduffell.com/perfectminimal

3. Make it executable:
   

   sudo chmod +x perfectminimal

4. Run it:
   

   ./perfectminimal

5. Profit!

Ubuntu Minimal project page, comments and suggestions welcome.

Why lug around a massive fat office suite when you can pull one down from the sky when you need it?

The soon to be released new version of Ubuntu contains some nifty new features that have been quietly snuck in. One of these is the ability to seamlessly use web-based  mail and office apps as if they were locally installed.

Simply install the packages desktop-webmail and webservice-office-zoho to get your machine all clouded up. For webmail you can choose to use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or Zoho. Once installed, all mailto links will open in your webmail instead of Evolution.

For office apps it will use the Zoho online office suite. Zoho was chosen over Google Docs because it doesn’t require you to log in. The integration is pretty good. Any local file will open in Zoho when clicked, and you can save new files locally or online in a range of formats.

This really shines on netbooks with small drives, where ditching 300MB of Open Office lard can make a big difference.

Gosh, is it that time already? Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid Lynx” is due out 29 April, and it’s looking good!

I’ve been testing Lucid a little bit, and it’s looking to be a great release. Some highlights:

• Integration of instant messaging, Twitter, and Facebook chat into the desktop. Say goodbye to having tons of apps open just to stay in touch. Gwibber and Empathy are both in the default install.
• Ubuntu One can now sync any folder to your online storage, and has an mp3 download store built right into Rhythmbox. Nice!
• Boot speed is even better. Great news for laptops and netbooks, you can power down to save battery life instead of using suspend or hibernating.
• New minimaltastic splash screens.
• New default themes, no more brown! (but, er, quite a lot of purple…)
• GIMP photo editor is out, PiTiVi video editor is in! GIMP is of course still available in the repos.
• The open source Nouveau driver for Nvidia cards, which sucks less than nv. But at least you can now have a composited desktop while you’re waiting for the proprietary drivers to download.

If you can’t wait until the 29th and are feeling game, grab the beta and help with squashing the last few bugs.

Three of the Microsoft dollars that could soon be in the hands of freetards

Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) released in April contains a small but interesting tweak. The default search engine and home page in the bundled Firefox browser will be set to use Yahoo instead of Google.

Seems like a small enough change, but what makes it interesting is that Yahoo and Microsoft have recently announced that Yahoo’s search engine will actually be powered by Microsoft’s Bing. Whenever an Ubuntu user types a search into their Yahoo search box, they’re actually using Microsoft’s search engine, and Yahoo pays Canonical for bringing them a customer. The exact nature of the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft is secret, but at least in a broader sense some of the money Microsoft is throwing at Yahoo is eventually making it’s way into Canonical’s pockets.

I don’t think anybody has set out to do this deliberately, but i’ll bet Canonical are laughing their arses off.

The Fonera is a compact green and black box. The multiple antennae betray the presence of high-speed wifi-n under the hood.

I’ve blogged about FON recently, but didn’t go into too much technical detail. The magic box behind it all is the Fonera router.

The latest iteration is the Fonera 2.0n, which unsurprisingly uses the new 802.11n standard for higher speeds and better range wifi. That alone is probably worth the £79 pricetag, but this beastie actually has a lot more tricks up it’s sleeve. Features include:

• A seperate public wifi signal, giving the owner access to all FON hotspots worldwide.
• USB port for adding storage, printers, soundcards, etc. With storage added the router functions like a NAS. With a printer added it works as a print server. Or you can plug in a USB hub and do both.
• Transmission bit torrent client.
• Download tool for file sharing sites (eg: Rapidshare).
• Facebook, Picasa, Youtube and Flickr uploaders.
• Plug in a 3G dongle and it’ll create a wifi hotspot from it. So you don’t even need a landline or ADSL connection to use it.
• An open application framework for extending it’s capabilities.
• As a “self-tweeting router” it has it’s own Twitter account, and will tweet you when your up/downloads are done.

On top of this it has all the usual router functionality such as DDNS, QoS, static and dynamic IP addresses, etc.

Overall it’s an impressive and flexible device, and FON seem committed to keeping it an open platform and encouraging people to play about with it. Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to someone looking for a simple cheap NAS and torrenting solution. It does have one major drawback though. Bizarrely, it doesn’t include a modem. You will need an ethernet ADSL modem or a modem/router as well. However, I was surprised to find how well it played with my old BT Voyager modem/router. It’s just a pain to have a second box plugged in just to get the Fonera online. For such a feature-packed device it’d be nice if it could handle the ADSL connection as well.

Despite this weird shortcoming, I think it’s a cool device. Access to thousands of wifi hotspots for a one-off payment is a good deal. Chuck in wifi-n and the bucketload of useful features and I can forgive it for not having a modem.

Incidentally, if it’s access to the FON network you want, they also do a stripped-back 2-port wifi-g device that’ll start you FONing for only £29.95, which is a great deal.

Ever since buying a smartphone and a netbook i’ve been on the constant lookout for free wifi hotspots. Paying the exorbitant rates for paid access just isn’t an option. But what if you could get free access to thousands of hotspots worldwide? FON does just that, in a very cunning way.

To get access to FON’s network (which includes all BT OpenZone hotspots in the UK) you need to buy a FON wifi router and plug it into your broadband at home. These FON routers are actually pretty cool devices, and i’ve reviewed one here. Besides working just like your normal router handling your own network traffic, the FON devices also create a seperate FON hotspot using your connection. It’s totally secure and once you’re sharing your own connection you’ve got free access to all of FON’s hotspots worldwide.

To check out the FON hotspots near you, check out the FON maps.