July 15, 2007

Music in Linux without iTunes

Today I received an e-mail from someone asking how to get iTunes running in Ubuntu Linux. Rather than trying to help them navigate the mess that is running Windows-based Apple software in Linux, I instead offered some alternatives that I use myself. Below are my recommendations:

SOFTWARE

Rhythmbox - http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/
- Supports DAAP music sharing
- Supports AAC encoded files
- Supports iPods
Notes: I use this program extensively at home, as it is very robust and has great features/plug-ins like DAAP.

Songbird - http://www.songbirdnest.com/
- Features gallore - http://www.songbirdnest.com/features
- Supports iPods (with plug-in enabled)
Notes: A new player on the block, but looks promising. Built off the same framework as Firefox.

Floola - http://www.floola.com/modules/wiwimod/
- Transfer your music, video, picture etc library from any machine to any iPod and vice versa.
- Doesn't require your iPod to be registered with a specific machine in order to transfer files.

INSTALLATION

To install Rhythmbox:
- Should already be installed. You can find it under Applications > Sound & Video.
- If it's not installed, open Synaptic (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager). Do a search for Rhythmbox and install.

To install Songbird and all audio/video codecs:
- Download Automatix2 from this URL: http://www.getautomatix.com/apt/dists/feisty/main/binary-i386/automatix2_1.1-4.11-7.04feisty_i386.deb
- Double click on the file to open a package manager. There will be an "Install" button. Click on the button to do the deed.
- Open Automatix from Applications > System Tools > Automatix.
- Click on "YES" when asked if you agree.
- Under CODECS AND PLUGINS, check the following: AUD-DVD, FLASH PLAYER, MPLAYER AND FF PLUGIN, MULTIMEDIA CODECS, SUN JAVA 1.6
- Under MEDIA PLAYERS AND EDITORS, check the following: SONGBIRD.
- Click on the green START button to begin the installations.
- You may have to answer "YES" or "NO" questions to finish the installation.
- Once the installation has been completed, you will be able to find the new players under Applications > Sound & Video.

To install Floola:
- Download Floola for Linux (GTK) from this URL: http://www.floola.com/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=download
- This should save the file, Floola-linux.tar.gz, on your desktop. Right click on the file and select "EXTRACT HERE".
- This will place a folder on your desktop called "FLOOLA-LINUX".
- Open the folder and double click on the Floola icon. This will start the program.
- If you have your iPod connected to the computer, click on the "iPod Not Connected" message at the bottom of the page and it will connect.

Note: If you want to make it so that other people can use this program, do the following...
- Open a terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).
- Type in the following exactly as shown below (copy and paste if need be):
sudo mv Desktop/Floola-linux /usr/local/
ln -s /usr/local/Floola-linux/Floola /usr/bin/floola
- The first line will move the Floola-linux folder from your desktop into another folder called /usr/local.
- The second line will create a symbolic link (aka Shortcut) to the Floola binary into the /usr/bin directory, so it can be shared with others who may be using this machine.

From this point, you can create a customer launcher to start the Floola program from your machine:
- Right click on the desktop
- Select "Create Launcher..." from the menu that appears.
- Enter the following options exactly as shown below:
Type: Application
Name: Floola
Command: floola
Comment: Floola iPod Utility
Click on the "NO ICON" button to select an icon for the program.
Click on the OK button to finish the custom launcher.
- This will put a launcher on your desktop so you can start Floola easily. You can also start Floola by typing ALT+F2, which will bring up a "RUN APPLICATION" dialog box. Type in "floola" (without quotes and all lowercase) and click on the RUN button to launch the application.

Hopefully this information will be useful to others out there who're looking for a good iTunes alternative in Ubuntu Linux.

~out...

Posted by ed at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)

Rain

When I was growing up, I hated rain. I'm sure that most kids my age thought the same thing. It kept me in-doors, away from my friends and didn't serve any real purpose ... at least in the opinion of a 10 year old, anyhow. As I grew up, my appreciation of rain didn't change for the most part. While I knew that it was a necessity for life, I found it depressing and an irritation when I had to go to the car to drive to work. Having to pull out an umbrella to keep from getting wet was a hassle, at best.

It's amazing how one's opinion of rain can change when you own a home.

Amanda and I have been at the house 5 months now. In this period of time, it hasn't rained much at all. As a matter of fact, I would say that I could count the total number of days with any kind of significant rain on one hand. I definitely haven't seen a day where it did nothing but rain all day, much less where it rained several days in a row. As a direct result of all this non-rain, my yard has been suffering greatly.

Initially, I attempted to water my yard twice a week to help offset the lack of moisture in the ground. I would water both the front and back 4 hours each on both Saturday and Sunday. I soon realized that this was a futile attempt to keep the ground saturated, as it would take a significant amount of water to do so in the hot spring and summer days. Therefore, I made the decision to water the lawn enough to keep the grass from completely drying out and dying.

And now that's gotten to be a bit of a challenge as well. It's been so damn dry and humid over the past two months that I would literally need to water my yard on almost a daily basis in order to keep any kind of moisture in the ground. The grass has turned yellow in quite a few areas and the only parts of the yard that are actually staying any kind of green are the shaded parts next to the house.

I pray for rain these days.

My neighbor, Scotty, said it best to me when I first met him: "Rain is free water". And boy, was he ever correct. After seeing my water bill come in from the attempts to keep my lawn hydrated, I see myself wanting it to rain more and more these days. Any time that it does rain, it puts a smile on my face. I'm in a better mood when I see rain clouds forming and when I actually see it raining, I'm half tempted to go out and just stand in it just so I can appreciate it better.

We're half way through the summer months now, so I feel like we're at the peak of the misery. I'm hoping at this point in time that we may begin to see an increase in precipitation and that my poor yard will once again begin to show some green. I'm hoping that before Winter hits that I will be able to enjoy my back yard a few more times ... having a bar-be-que with my friends and neighbors and such.

Here's to hoping.

~out...

Posted by ed at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2007

Bringing ya up to speed

It's been a busy period since my last post way back on April 7th. It's been two months tomorrow since I last had the opportunity or inclination to post anything on this site. That doesn't mean that nothing has been happening and that my life has become stagnate. Actually, it's quite the opposite.

These days, having the spare time to do something simple like posting a comment on my Web site seems more like a luxury. I've been spending a significant amount of time at work, especially in the past month, trying to play catch-up because I've been so darn swamped. I've spent this time attempting to re-structure my department, as we've had a few people leave within a matter of weeks from each other. So, I've promoted some people from within my department (I'm all about being able to bring people up) and am now actively looking for replacement technicians.

By the time I get home, I'm beat. There have been quite a few times in the past two months where I've passed out on the couch almost immediately after walking in the door. I'll wake up right before bedtime, head up the stairs to the bedroom and go right back to sleep again. On days where I can actually do something productive after I get home, I've been working to improve the house on the inside. I've tried my luck at electrical wiring with a startling degree of success (i.e. the house has yet to burn down) by installing two wireless ceiling fans and a single hanging light.

The work on the yard has been an effort in frustration and futility. It hasn't really rained since early spring, and the grass stays dried out and mostly dead. I attempted to keep the yard watered twice a week, but realized rather quickly that any attempt to keep moisture in the ground was pointless. The heat and humidity seem to suck it out of the soil almost as quickly as it penetrates past the top of the earth. I haven't canceled my lawn treatments as of yet ... it's my last ditch effort to keep some kind of green in my lawn. I water the sucker for about 4 hours after the treatment to get the nutrients into the soil and then leave it be. Maybe come fall, I'll have a jungle in my back yard.

In other news, Amanda graduated from college in May. I've never been so proud of her. We've been through a lot together in the past 8 years that we've been together, and this is one of the last major hurdles that she has to go through. When we met, she was in college down at Murray State. She left college to come back home ... partially because she wasn't happy there and partially because she wanted to be with me. I told her that I would get her back into college, even if it meant that I would have to pay for it myself. Well, I kept my promise and we finally saw the end of the road about a month ago. Now that she's out of school, she's looking diligently to find a full time job that pays somewhat decent.

Here's to hoping that we find a good place for her. No one seems to appreciate her hard work...

Amanda and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary last month on the 17th. Hard to believe that it's been a year since that crazy day. We've all heard the expression that time flies as you get older. As each year passes, I tend to believe that statement more and more. I honestly don't know where the past year has gone. It doesn't seem like that much time has honestly passed. But then, I sit down and think about what has been accomplished in that year, I can honestly see that the time has passed. And has I think about time passing by, it makes me think of my upcoming 30th birthday, and that I will be 40 years old in just 10 more years.

I feel like I've just started my life ... how can I be so far along in age?

On a different topic, I got to meet some very nice people from California recently. At work, we're in the process of rolling out a brand new, proprietary printing system that will be used for production. Two of the people that are responsible for this system came here to Kentucky to help get the ball rolling. I knew that they had (and have) a significant task ahead of them, so I did everything in my power to make sure that their stay here was as enjoyable as I could possibly make it. Along the way, I believe that Amanda and I made two new friends from Ania and Jordan. They were a joy to have here and I hope that I will see them come back in the near future ... or maybe I will see them on their home turf when I finally get to make my way out to Cali.

Well, I think I've said enough for one post. Maybe things will start to calm down here in the next few weeks and I will be able to get back to a semi-regular posting schedule.

Until then!

~out...

Posted by ed at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)