Beli’s blog

Easy and free video converting is not any more sole priviledge of GNU/Linux operating system. Program called FFMPEG, which is the ultimate video editor and converter has came to Windows too. You can download it from here: http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/

However, there is a problem: FFMPEG is a command line program which is difficult to use. Instead of searching for expensive solutions or front-ends, I have made simple batch script that you can use to convert video files. Script is set to be used to convert videos downloaded from youtube to a format playable on most TV sets that has USB etc.

Script is changable easily, and legally. Here it is. You need to select all and copy text to your favorite text editor. Save file under any name you wish, but add “bat” extension. Example: “convert.bat”.

@echo off
rem --- This program will change all files of type set in EXT_IN to a files of type set in EXT_OUT (MP4 to AVI)
rem --- It is free and is published under GNU/GPL v2 GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE 
rem --- see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html for more info.
rem --- FFMPEG is necessary for this program to work. Please download it if needed from 
rem --- http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/  and use STATIC 32-bit or 64-bit according to your OS

rem ------- Settings. Change as required. -------

REM ******* INPUT and OUTPUT file extensions. Change accordingly to your needs. 
SET EXT_IN=mp4
SET EXT_OUT=avi

REM ****** executable ffmpeg with path. Change accordingly to your case
SET FFMPEG=C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ffmpeg.exe

REM ****** set video and audio codec: XVid = libixvid, MP3 = libmp3lame *********
SET VIDEO_CODEC=libxvid
SET AUDIO_CODEC=libmp3lame

REM ****** set bitrate. 3Mb/s = 3192 Kb/s *****
REM **** Low quality, small file: 1M
REM **** best quality/size ratio, 3 to 4M
SET BITRATE=3M

REM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REM ******************* program - do not change unless you know what you are doing
REM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if %1.==Sub. goto %2
 
for %%f in (*.%EXT_IN%) do call %0 Sub action %%~nf
goto end
 
:action
%FFMPEG% -i "%3.%EXT_IN%" -vb %BITRATE% -vcodec %VIDEO_CODEC% -acodec %AUDIO_CODEC% -y "%3.%EXT_OUT%"
 
:end

In the beginning, I must say that I am far from being expert in this area. Most that I know was learnt by reading blogs and manuals, and much experimenting. Also, I have to add that I rarely use Windows or Mac for this job as tools are very expensive – the ones which really does the job good, so I use two of the most powerful tools available – and free in Linux. Those tools are “mencoder” and utterly the most powerful: “ffmpeg”. Both tools are command line programs while there are many programs that use graphical interface as front-end of those tools. There are very useful for common operations, while if you need some tweeking, better go with command line.

Let’s explain some things first to avoid explaining unknown with unknown.
Video files are composted of VIDEO stream and AUDIO stream, and are stocked together in a CONTAINER. Read more…

It’s the first time that I used SuSE Studio to build appliance of openSUSE linux that is customized by my taste.

It’s installable live DVD appliance of openSUSE 11.4 for 64-bit architecture. It’s KDE-only build, including all software that any desktop user would want. It has multimedia codecs, skype, vector and bitmap tools, audio and video editing tools, office tools, LAMP, Broadcom drivers and many more. It’s by my opinion, complete desktop solution.

This beefed-up version has size of 2.6 GB DVD ISO image that can be booted from, and installed if desired. You may download it by clicking here:
Download Emil’s KDE4 Live Desktop

There are two users by default, root and tux, both having password “linux”. So if password for some operation is required, type “linux” without quotes.

Notice: I found that if ran within VirtualBox 4.04 virtual machine, sometimes won’t boot. Not tested with other virtual machine servers.

Sometimes there is a need for installing proprietary graphic driver, and utterly easiest way is to install a package from YaST or other package manager. However, when new distro comes out, and you install it right away, packaged driver is not yet available. Some time must pass until proprietary packages appears. So, we must go “hard way” of installing graphic drivers by hand.

Way I am going to describe is fairly easy and it’s how global administrator of openSUSE forum does it for himself. His nickname is “OldCpu” and he hold my great respect. Some text below will be his words. Before I write a procedure of installation, I must mention that there is very easy script that does this automatically. You may find it here: Easy install of ATI proprietary driver in the console.

Ok, open your terminal or Konsole and let’s go… (type “su” and password when requested as we need root access)
*** note: proprietary ATI driver is called “fglrx”

Prerequisites: gcc, make, kernel source and kernel syms must be installed on the system.
Let’s check: Read more…

Broadcom is a real nag. I was in a rush and careless when I was buying laptop. If I remembered to ask, would never-ever bought any device with Broadcom wireless. But things usually don’t go smoothly in life. Especially if you DO NOT have wired ethernet nearby and wireless is all you get.

Following is tested on openSUSE 11.3, 11.4 RC, Mint 10 Julia, Ubuntu 10.x,Kubuntu 10.x and LMDE.

1. download the official driver for your device from official site. Names are usually “hybrid-portsrc_x86*****.tar.gz”.

2. unpack it (with command “tar xzvf hybrid[PRESS TAB]“), and KEEP THIS DIRECTORY IN BACKUP

3. compile it (with command “make”. Before you can do that, you need basic development package installed, and kernel headers/source)

4. now you need to be root and follow the commands:
cp wl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r’/kernel/net/wireless
insmod wl.ko
depmod -a
modprobe wl

(if last command fails, try before it : modprobe lib80211)

that is it… you can use wireless immediately

On openSUSE, module will be loaded on boot. In Mint/Ubuntu/Kubuntu/LMDE I needed to add it manually in /etc/modules file

There are a lot of posts about this. All of them are personal impressions. There is no possibiliy to make unbiased post as linux distros are often tagged as “Flavors”, so as they are actually a kind of flavor, tastes are not to be discussed. Each distro has its own purpose, strengths and weaknesses. There are literally hundreds of different tastes, but few of them are major and more general purpose.
I have presented here distros I actually had and worked on my machines, longer than few months, selected by my own taste and opinions. So, lets begin… Read more…

Before I knew how, I was avoiding Gnome distros. I don’t like Gnome, I really don’t like it, however, I would recommend it to new linux users with all my heart, because it is more windows-like and there is far milder learning curve.
But, KDE4 is a lightyear in front of Gnome on technological aspect and totally configurable, which I like very much.

There are very good distros that use Gnome as default desktop. Ubuntu is one (which I also don’t like), and there are my favorites: Mint and Mint Debian Edition. Mint does have community edition that is KDE4-based, but it is usualy one version behind.

So, on debian/ubuntu based distros, that comes with Gnome, there is a way to install KDE4:

ebeli@laptux ~$  sudo apt-get install kde-full

Be prepared to download ~430 MB of files. Then setup will ask you for window manager (kdm or gdm – kdm should be set) and one more question I forgot. After installation is done, reboot computer. On login screen, select KDE session from login menu.
Voila!

However, there is a little tweak that must be done:
1. Since it is Gnome based distro, GTK for KDE and qtcurve for GTK hasn’t been installed by default. It can be installed from Synaptic package manager.
2. Restart graphics server (ctrl+alt+backspace).
3. Go to system settings, Application Appearence, come to GTK icon, and there, select QtCurve

That would be it. Enjoy full power of KDE4 on Gnome – Debian/Ubuntu based distro

I am generally an openSUSE user, I like it’s philosophy, I like KDE4 integration, I like YaST and just about everything openSUSE has to offer. However, I had desire to try something else, outside Virtual Machine. I had desire to install rolling distribution. One that has no versions, that just regular updates make it as fresh as it gets. As I said, openSUSE is excellent, but versions differ greatly one from another (usually for better), but heavy upgrade is needed or complete reinstall.

I was considering few options: Arch, Mint debian edition, Gentoo and Sabayon. Arch is too… well arch… Yes, the most customizable, but I had no time to pack system fully. Gentoo, used it before, excellent system, but had no time for compiling everything. Mint, I love Mint totally, but LMDE is on Gnome. I don’t like Gnome at all.
So my choice fell on Italian distribution: Sabayon. Read more…

With rising problem of SWF reverse engineering, I was looking for a simple tool that does SWF protection. There are variety of tools out there, but one got the hold of my eye, so I decided to do a little testing. Not that I have something to hide, as I usually write GPL code, but when I do it for clients, then it is reasonable to mess up some sensitive code parts.
That tool is SWF Protector 3.0 which has nice interface and it is very simple to use.

According to author, it provides unbreakable protection for reverse engineering. I do not believe that, as everyting is breakable sooner or later, but for now it does the job good. It has two levels of protection, for Actionscript 2, for which I do not care about as I don’t use AS2, and two for AS3: Obfuscate and Protect.
Obfuscate does not protect SWF from decompressing and reverse engineering, but it really messes up code beyond readable. Protect protects from reverse engineering completely. Good thing is that default setting is to do both at once. However, since they increase size of the file, if size of SWF is really important, Read more…