Reformatting my brain

Today I tried to do a very simple task using Ubuntu. I had purchased a new compact flash media card and I wanted to format it as well as my old ones to bring them back to original condition. I popped them into the media bay of my computer and attempted to run a simple reformat command on them from nautilus. I then realized that the reformat command was a reflex of my using Windows/msdos for so many years and that I'd have to try a new approach.

A simple task required a short search, which brought me to a simple solution.

First: Install gparted, either from synaptic or the Ubuntu package download page
Second: Run gparted and find the media card. Mine was listed as /dev/sdc. Unmount the drive.
Third: Choose Partition>Format to: There will be a list of choices for how you prefer to format the card from FAT16/ FAT32 to ext2 and linux-swap.

I formatted my compact flash to FAT 32 and it works well in my PDA.

I then decided to change the name of the card as I didn't like the default name it had. Another "simple solution" that I discovered. I couldn't just right click on the media card and rename it. I did find a way to accomplish it though.

1: Install mtools from synaptic.
2: Open a terminal window and sudo su to become root.
3: Unmount the card with the 'umount' command
4: Run the command that will rename the drive using mlabel -i /dev/sdc1 ::AximCF
(The drive on my PC is /dev/sdc1)
5: Remove the media from PC and reconnect it to see the new name, and take joy in the fact that the simple tasks make life worth living.


NBC hates linux

This post has more to do with the Olympics that started yesterday, than it does Linux.
I watched the Olympic opening ceremonies yesterday in glorious hi def on my TV, and then logged on to see what was available online. Two networks, NBC in the US and CBC here in Canada both have live Olympic coverage online.
(edit: read note at the bottom of post before trying to watch these videos)
I was able to watch the live proceedings without any problem via the CBC link

NBC online coverage was another matter altogether. It seems that their feed does not support Linux at all.

Shame on you NBC.
Although I shouldn't be too surprised.
While CBC was covering the event live, NBC only showed a rebroadcast of the opening ceremonies late in the evening. Also, I may sound biased, but I feel that CBC did a much better job with the video broadcast coverage than NBC. So with that in mind, I don't feel so bad for not being able to view NBC online.

All aboard!

I came across an interesting game today that reminds me of similar games that I enjoyed playing years ago, such as Transport Tycoon and Simcity. The game is called SimuTrans. They have just come out with version 1.0 this week and it looks like it's ready for prime time. It's a game that allows you to build a transportation network and move industrial goods which will allow raw materials to be used to produce other raw materials. All these goods need to be kept moving otherwise your town will not have cars to drive, for example, or gas to power them.

Downloads are available from the sourceforge site, but if you're not sure which files to grab or in what order to download them, just head over to the Ubuntu Packages site and do a search for simutrans using Intrepid as the distribution. You will find 4 deb files that you can download and install. Install the pak64 and data files before the main program and start building your empire. It couldn't get any easier.

Working with Photos Part II

The Sourceforge summary for Album Shaper states that:
Album Shaper strives to be the most friendly, easy to use, cross platform application for organizing, annotating, framing, enhancing, stylizing, and sharing your digital photos.

As this was the first linux photo software that I took for a test drive, I can attest that the above statement is true.
Installation was incredibly simple via the deb file that is available for download from the album shaper sourceforge site. This is for the version 2.1.
Once up and running, creating a simple photo slideshow simply involves creating a collection folder to store your photos, then choosing the photos that you wish to add.
Once complete, you can choose to save your project and select from several templates for your webpage as well as the directory the collection will be saved to. Next step is to export the collection into a finished webpage ready for viewing or for uploading to a website to share with the world.
I've created a sample page with some photos from my recent Alaskan Cruise. Try not to fall asleep as you watch my boring home photo slideshow.
There is no autoplay feature unfortunately, so you'll need to advance through each photo/collection manually.
There is quite a bit more that this program can do that I did not explore or work into my slideshow demo. You also have the ability to preview and edit photos, adjust brightness, contrast and tilt as well as annotate individual photos.
The Album Shaper site also includes to other programs Presenter and Reveal that both sound interesting, but that I haven't had a chance to try out yet.
All in all, Album Shaper is a great program that allows for a quick way to create a photo webpage without having to enroll at Harvard to figure out how it should work.

Working with Photos Part I

I've just returned from a great holiday and now I'm faced with the daunting task of sorting through the hundreds of photos and tons of video that I took while I was away. I brought my laptop while I was on holiday so that I could empty the camera memory card each day. I organized the photo files in a directory with a different folder for each day that I was away. This makes the process of sorting a little easier. It also makes remembering where I was and what I saw each day a little easier too! I also wanted to be able to back up my photos/AVIs by burning them to DVD in case something happened to the laptop, so I brought along some re-writable DVDs as well and burned a couple of DVDs using K3b.
Now that I'm home, I'd like to put the photos online for friends and family to view them. I used to do this quite a bit when I was still using Windows and two programs that I enjoyed using were Xatshow and Memories on TV.
I'm now searching around for Linux programs that can create similar type of online webshows.
I've found several linux programs that look interesting, but I haven't had a chance to fully exlore them yet. I'm planning to check each one out and I hope that they meet my expectations.
In the meantime, I've created a short slideshow of my cruise to Alaska. This was created with the freeware version of Xatshow. It's a Windows program that I've used for years and luckily, it runs just fine under Wine. If you've got Java installed then it should autoload after a short delay.