I know I've been ignoring this blog for a while but I've had good reason...finishing uni and now I have finished I can write more of my thoughts and research into my new project.
Part of this centres around having a rolling release linux distro on my PC and of those that I have looked at Chakra still seems the best BUT theres issues.
Recently there seems to be problems in various areas. The first was that I have a feeling the KDE or at least something was going wrong. sound didn't work right, if it worked at all. Things I should have been able to do with files management and Amarok as well others just didn't so I reinstalled my system keeping the /home partition. I have it up and working again but not as it should. I cann't install stuff as I did before. And the thing that really gets me is not being able to upgrade.
I am going to wait for the next release with systemd and other new stuff and start again. I will try and keep the home partition but if I have to redo that then I have everything backed up.
Oh, the new new project?
It centres around one main computer where I do everything but the machine is a slave to me and is more to keep my life simple and save me time. Something that it doesn't at the moment. I want something that is in tune with me and something that is more like you see in Sci-Fi. Not something that is constantly going wrong or is full of problems. It also involves a kindle and my android phone.
Nighthawk
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Vinyl to digital using Linux part 2
Following on from my last post where I described my set up now comes the bit where you should, if all goes according to plans produce some music on your computer from your vinyl.
When you have all the hardware and software set up and ready to go the process should be simple but there may be one or two problems.
The one that I have encountered a couple of times, is a strange screech. I simply restarted the recording to get rid of it. I have no idea what it is.
The other problem was when I first started recording but the problem is solved by moving the start indicator past the '0' on the bar that shows the recording (the waving line sound level, no idea what its called).
To get the recording simply play the record as normal and press the red record. If all goes well you should have the music play through the computer speakers and you should see the indicator on Audacity progress as well while the recording takes place.
When finished you are faced with the task of splitting up the recording into separate tracks. This is normally very easy unless the tracks run into each other like the one I had yesterday. When you zoom out of the bar with the recording you should see the large areas of noise separated at intervals. The picture below shows what a tracks look like with the intervals with a single track highlighted (shaded area).
Once you have done one track the rest are simple to do.
Do NOT delete anything at any stage, it will mess things up.
The following steps will hopefully lead through the process. If not let me and I will make the changes.
1. Mark the beginning of the track to be saved.
2. Hold the left click on the mouse and move the curser to the end of the area to be saved. It should be shaded as in the picture.
3. Create a folder to save the track so that you can have the album in one place. I simply have the band and album title.
4. Go to file and click on Export Selection (this means just the shaded area will be saved/exported).
5. When the file window open, name the track/file, song title is normal in this instance.
6. Once you click save, that window will go and a new one will appear. This will enable you to enter the import stuff, basically the metadata for the track. Once the information is in, click save.
7. That track is done, now repeat for the next track.
Suggestions for improving these instructions are welcome and will be edited in.
Nighthawk
When you have all the hardware and software set up and ready to go the process should be simple but there may be one or two problems.
The one that I have encountered a couple of times, is a strange screech. I simply restarted the recording to get rid of it. I have no idea what it is.
The other problem was when I first started recording but the problem is solved by moving the start indicator past the '0' on the bar that shows the recording (the waving line sound level, no idea what its called).
To get the recording simply play the record as normal and press the red record. If all goes well you should have the music play through the computer speakers and you should see the indicator on Audacity progress as well while the recording takes place.
When finished you are faced with the task of splitting up the recording into separate tracks. This is normally very easy unless the tracks run into each other like the one I had yesterday. When you zoom out of the bar with the recording you should see the large areas of noise separated at intervals. The picture below shows what a tracks look like with the intervals with a single track highlighted (shaded area).
Once you have done one track the rest are simple to do.
Do NOT delete anything at any stage, it will mess things up.
The following steps will hopefully lead through the process. If not let me and I will make the changes.
1. Mark the beginning of the track to be saved.
2. Hold the left click on the mouse and move the curser to the end of the area to be saved. It should be shaded as in the picture.
3. Create a folder to save the track so that you can have the album in one place. I simply have the band and album title.
4. Go to file and click on Export Selection (this means just the shaded area will be saved/exported).
5. When the file window open, name the track/file, song title is normal in this instance.
6. Once you click save, that window will go and a new one will appear. This will enable you to enter the import stuff, basically the metadata for the track. Once the information is in, click save.
7. That track is done, now repeat for the next track.
Suggestions for improving these instructions are welcome and will be edited in.
Nighthawk
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Vinyl to digital using Linux part 1
Its just one of those things where you want to listen to a favorite track while in the car or working away but it is on vinyl back at home. Often I really need to hear a track because it is stuck in my mind or I'm in the mood for it but its not on my phone or computer and I know full well that I have it on vinyl so recently I did something that I have been meaning to do for some time. Got my turn table connected to my computer. Or laptop to be precise.
This will be part 1 of 2 parts. The actual setting up and recording.
Part 2 will be separating the results into the separate tracks and saving them as individual songs instead of one big track.
Apart from the obvious laptop the only additional hardware is a turn table (I used the one connected to my sony midi hi-fi but any standard turntable should work).
The important bit for this to work, is a USB Audio Phono Preamp. I use one by Pinnacle systems which came with Steinberg Clean plus version 5. I got this years ago (when I still had XP that got deleted one drunken night). I get really good results with this set up.
To actually get started you need to check a number of things are set right in software.
1. Before you launch Audacity turn your turn table so that software picks up on start up, otherwise it won't be work.
2. Click on the Device Toolbar and check that USB Audio CODEC is set as the recording devices and that the default sound card that you use is also selected.
Also makes sure that the recording channels are set on 2 (stereo).
3. You will also want to have software play through clicked on so that you can hear if its actually get through. (Also means that you can listen to the music). This is where having more memory pays off because it doesn't work at all well on the old laptop or the desktop with 2gb.
4. In the mixer toolbar, turn the left-hand output volume slider up.
The right-hand volume slider can be used to vary the volume/loudness of the recording it self.
5. Also, make sure that the Project Rate botton is set to 44 100 Hz.
Right, that should now make it all work,
Now start playing the record and press the red button to record.
Play and record the whole of the record as this is a lot easier than doing each track.
In part 2 I will deal with what to do with the recording.
Nighthawk
This will be part 1 of 2 parts. The actual setting up and recording.
Part 2 will be separating the results into the separate tracks and saving them as individual songs instead of one big track.
Hardware
Apart from the obvious laptop the only additional hardware is a turn table (I used the one connected to my sony midi hi-fi but any standard turntable should work).
The important bit for this to work, is a USB Audio Phono Preamp. I use one by Pinnacle systems which came with Steinberg Clean plus version 5. I got this years ago (when I still had XP that got deleted one drunken night). I get really good results with this set up.
Audio File Type.
Audacity start as .ogg as the default but you can change this to what feel is more convenient or works best on your music device.
Software
For this I used what appears to be the standard software: Audacity or at least that is what I have found to be the standard in audio recording with Linux.To actually get started you need to check a number of things are set right in software.
1. Before you launch Audacity turn your turn table so that software picks up on start up, otherwise it won't be work.
2. Click on the Device Toolbar and check that USB Audio CODEC is set as the recording devices and that the default sound card that you use is also selected.
Also makes sure that the recording channels are set on 2 (stereo).
3. You will also want to have software play through clicked on so that you can hear if its actually get through. (Also means that you can listen to the music). This is where having more memory pays off because it doesn't work at all well on the old laptop or the desktop with 2gb.
4. In the mixer toolbar, turn the left-hand output volume slider up.
The right-hand volume slider can be used to vary the volume/loudness of the recording it self.
5. Also, make sure that the Project Rate botton is set to 44 100 Hz.
Right, that should now make it all work,
Now start playing the record and press the red button to record.
Play and record the whole of the record as this is a lot easier than doing each track.
In part 2 I will deal with what to do with the recording.
Nighthawk
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Nightingale 1.11 Released
New releases of blogs in quick succession normally means a back log of stuff. In this case it includes things that I didn't get to post when they happened. In this case, one thing was that I didn't post about was the new release of Nightingale media player at the time it was released.
Nightingale 1.11 was released last month, there are a number of new bits but these aren't really that obvious at first although there is a bug that causes the display pane for music files, etc to be blank when its first started.
The list of improvements that the site gives are-
Nightingale 1.11 was released last month, there are a number of new bits but these aren't really that obvious at first although there is a bug that causes the display pane for music files, etc to be blank when its first started.
The list of improvements that the site gives are-
- Fixed interface issues
- Several fixes on the default feather
- Performance improvements
- Faster search
- Now Playing list
- Now based on XULRunner 1.9.2.3
- Fix Credits page (Typo and Songbird Credits)
- Better icon on Windows (better resolution)
- Build script updated
- Implemented update-checker and update mechanism
One thing that I did find, was that the feather, Blue glow, does not work for some reason. I am going to have to check information that I found in the forum and the wiki for clues that will make it work. Once this is done I am going to release it. But this will have to wait till my uni work is out the way.
It can still be installed the same way as described before but there has recently been a RPM made for fedora made available but it needs a maintainer, would love to do it but I don't have the time at the moment. A;lso available for Arch and Chakra, [possibly for ubuntu as well.
Nighthawk
Please welcome the NovaTech NSPIRE B960,
Its finally happened, the old 8 year old Toshiba has been replaced, it still works and when the dissertation is done, will be tidied up with any unused software and files gone.
The new family member is the Novatech Nspire B960,
Specs-
15.6" INTEL PENTIUM DUAL CORE B960 MOBILE PROCESSOR -
4GB DDR3 MEMORY -
500GB SATA HARD DRIVE -
DVD WRITER - INTEL HM65 CHIPSET
and the big plus is that it comes with NO OS. Well actually, it can do but I don't want that microsoft crap. I wanted a laptop with nothing on it because, as you may have guessed I was going to put Linux on it. I chose Fedora 16 KDE (thought about Chakra but still love Fedora), for the pure reason I like it. The only big trouble is the curser not behaving. Actually at times it is uncontrollable which results in me having to resort to rebooting the machine to get it back under control again. I had this problem before on the toshiba and would have thought this kind of thing would have been fixed, like other basic things, before the powers that be come out with new stuff.
I have found that setting up a double monitor set up with the laptop was easy and worked well. The second monitor was my PC one with a different resolution but I was happy with it. just got to get my hands on a cable to replace the one that I borrowed to check the idea out.
The web cam and mic was tested for skype and G+, these worked well although I wasn't fully sure if I had both at first because the mic wasn't listed in the specs. Thankfully I did. Also found was the SD card reader (not tested and the USB3 sockets (tested with USB2 device, also working).
In conclusion, would I recommend this?
Yes I would, being able to buy a machine without an OS was fantastic and as the nice call centre person said, 'made for people who like to play with their machines'. May test Chakra Linux on it but for now, Fedora it is.
Nighthawk
The new family member is the Novatech Nspire B960,
Specs-
15.6" INTEL PENTIUM DUAL CORE B960 MOBILE PROCESSOR -
4GB DDR3 MEMORY -
500GB SATA HARD DRIVE -
DVD WRITER - INTEL HM65 CHIPSET
and the big plus is that it comes with NO OS. Well actually, it can do but I don't want that microsoft crap. I wanted a laptop with nothing on it because, as you may have guessed I was going to put Linux on it. I chose Fedora 16 KDE (thought about Chakra but still love Fedora), for the pure reason I like it. The only big trouble is the curser not behaving. Actually at times it is uncontrollable which results in me having to resort to rebooting the machine to get it back under control again. I had this problem before on the toshiba and would have thought this kind of thing would have been fixed, like other basic things, before the powers that be come out with new stuff.
I have found that setting up a double monitor set up with the laptop was easy and worked well. The second monitor was my PC one with a different resolution but I was happy with it. just got to get my hands on a cable to replace the one that I borrowed to check the idea out.
The web cam and mic was tested for skype and G+, these worked well although I wasn't fully sure if I had both at first because the mic wasn't listed in the specs. Thankfully I did. Also found was the SD card reader (not tested and the USB3 sockets (tested with USB2 device, also working).
In conclusion, would I recommend this?
Yes I would, being able to buy a machine without an OS was fantastic and as the nice call centre person said, 'made for people who like to play with their machines'. May test Chakra Linux on it but for now, Fedora it is.
Nighthawk
Friday, 9 March 2012
Emusic dowloading Part Deux
The recent re installation of Chakra on my tower as well as a new laptop as meant that I have had to reinstall a downloader for Emusic. However, for some reason Emusicj (see earlier) didn't want to run what ever I did. so I tried a search for the official downloader and yes their still is one but it doesn't appear to have been updated to their version 5.
You can download here-
http://www.emusic.com/info/download-manager/
You need to click on 'get older version version near the bottom of the page'.
To install.
1. Unzip the file in its own folder in home.
2. Go to that folder and click on emusicloader -> builds -> emusicdlm
3. It should then run, follow the set up instructions, job done!
It works well in conjunction with firefox (not tried chrome), after the first time go to the setting in firefox where you will fine applications and click on emusic downloader to open with the file type from emusic.
Nighthawk
You can download here-
http://www.emusic.com/info/download-manager/
You need to click on 'get older version version near the bottom of the page'.
To install.
1. Unzip the file in its own folder in home.
2. Go to that folder and click on emusicloader -> builds -> emusicdlm
3. It should then run, follow the set up instructions, job done!
It works well in conjunction with firefox (not tried chrome), after the first time go to the setting in firefox where you will fine applications and click on emusic downloader to open with the file type from emusic.
Nighthawk
Charkra Linux 2012.2, a personal review
About a week and half ago I decided that my tower PC was getting a bit in need of updating to something that was a rolling release but not Arch (I've heard its a pain). I am coming to the opinion that an OS should be more of a rolling release with improvements made along the way rather the Linux standard of re install every time a new version is released. I see it as a waste of time an that it is more important to improve what we have rather than replace with something just as buggy or doesn't work quite right.
I started looking and found exactly what I want in the form of Chakra 12.2, Arch with out the rumoured pain and with KDE. Chakra is actually a fork of Arch and if Chakra is anything to go by after my sort experience with it then I may one day have a go with Arch because, quite frankly, its been a joy! Well almost.
The other thing that attracted me to this distro is that it is KDE which I have a great liking for because I find it much more pleasant to use than Gnome3. This distro is only KDE, meaning that there are no Gnome files, if you want these so that you can run some software it is easy to download from the distros' repos.
Everything just worked apart from the problem that my HP printer/scanner does not work right as a scanner. There seems to be something missing, not sure what, but there is. It works fine a printer though.
One of the first things added was Nightingale (naturally), didn't work properly at first. I found by chance that after rebooting it did work.
When I installed the system I checked the wiki in case of anything extra, seeing as though its a new distro for me. I found the instructions slightly different when it comes to partitioning for the new system and was able to follow the instructions so that I could have a seperate /home folder so that I wouldn't lose anything personal files like music and photos.
Apart from that not much to it. So I can highly recommend it.
Nighthawk
Link for downloading the ISO- http://chakra-linux.org/get/
Wiki Link- http://chakra-linux.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_Chakra#Partitioning_Schemes
I started looking and found exactly what I want in the form of Chakra 12.2, Arch with out the rumoured pain and with KDE. Chakra is actually a fork of Arch and if Chakra is anything to go by after my sort experience with it then I may one day have a go with Arch because, quite frankly, its been a joy! Well almost.
The other thing that attracted me to this distro is that it is KDE which I have a great liking for because I find it much more pleasant to use than Gnome3. This distro is only KDE, meaning that there are no Gnome files, if you want these so that you can run some software it is easy to download from the distros' repos.
Everything just worked apart from the problem that my HP printer/scanner does not work right as a scanner. There seems to be something missing, not sure what, but there is. It works fine a printer though.
One of the first things added was Nightingale (naturally), didn't work properly at first. I found by chance that after rebooting it did work.
When I installed the system I checked the wiki in case of anything extra, seeing as though its a new distro for me. I found the instructions slightly different when it comes to partitioning for the new system and was able to follow the instructions so that I could have a seperate /home folder so that I wouldn't lose anything personal files like music and photos.
Apart from that not much to it. So I can highly recommend it.
Nighthawk
Link for downloading the ISO- http://chakra-linux.org/get/
Wiki Link- http://chakra-linux.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_Chakra#Partitioning_Schemes
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