Linux
FunPidgin patch for Debian’s Pidgin Package
This is a quick patch I whipped up to bring funpidgin to debian’s pidgin. Applying is pretty simple:
apt-get build-dep pidgin && apt-get source pidgin
cd pidgin-2.4.1
wget http://www.deftly.net/25_fun_pidgin.patch -O debian/patches/25_fun_pidgin.patch
./debian/rules binary
dpkg -i ../*.deb
Just make sure you remove the previous version of pidgin prior to installing the patched version - just for good measure
Backups using rsync and ssh
Managing multiple *nix machines can often be a pain in the arse. Backups are a must. I have written a basic backup script to meet my basic needs. It uses ssh and rsync, is capable of using ssh-agent - allowing for passphrase / phrase-less key usage ( handy for making it run out of cron ), runs pre/post operations - good for db backups. It is not supported, and will only chaged when I need changes :D!
The entire setup, including example pre/post scripts can be found here. If you find it useful, feel free to send me a comment or suggestion ;).
Cheers › Continue reading
I want my iPhone to run Android
Android is awesome, simple and elegant.. Perfect for the iPhone ( at least the hardware )! Maybe, someday, the iPhone will have a dandy SDK that will allow for awesome integration, more simplistic interfaces and better __insertsomethingthatshouldbebetterhere__.
Bastards.
Convert AVI to PS3 Compatable mp4
I recently purchased a PlayStation 3! When I booted it up I noticed the “Find Media Server” option. This got my juices flowing. I always have to connect my laptop to the TV when I want to watch movies from my network share ( I use samba to distribute them to the many computers at my house ). This gets very annoying, especially when using WiFi.
Enter Media Tomb, a UPnP ( Universal Plug and Play ) media server! MT is pretty easy to configure so I won’t go into that here.
So now I have a functional media server, presenting all my media to the PS3! GREAT! EFF! Wait… None of the movies play… SIGH.. I quickly pulled out the PS3 owners manual and checked for compatible video formats. Alas one of my ~70 movies where in the correct format.
Enter mplayer faac ffmpeg bc MP4Box x264 and Jarkko’s nifty script! On Debian, installation of the of the needed apps couldn’t be simpler apt-get install XXXXX and wham you are done and ready to transcode!
Mac OSX, however, is a different story.
First you need to have Mac Ports along with the following ports: wxWidgets libtheora spidermonkey freetype openjpeg faad2 XviD ffmpeg faac x264 . Once you have all the listed applications installed, you can start building GPAC ( this is where you get MP4Box ).
Building GPAC:
First off we need to set some variables so everything knows about the headers and libraries for the ports we have installed.
export CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -I/opt/local/include"
export CPPFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
export LDFLAGS="-L/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib -L/opt/local/lib"
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/opt/local/lib/pkgconfig"
export ACLOCAL_FLAGS="$ACLOCAL_FLAGS -I /opt/local/share/aclocal"
Now build GPAC with ./configure --prefix=/opt/local && make && make install. As long as you have your $PATH setup correctly everything should be in place for you to convert your movies!