April 2013 - luv-talk

Demuxing an MPEG TS from a USB PVR where the TS is prefixed with invalid data
by Anthony Hogan 16 Jun '13

16 Jun '13

Hi all, I have a TV which has a built in USB record feature (which basically dumps DVB-T MPEG TS in 2GB chunks). I'd like to pull the audio track out of something I recorded. VLC happily plays the file and identifies the video, audio and EPG info in the transport stream, but if, for example, I run: avconv -i ... -acodec copy audio.mp3 ... I end up with about 2 seconds of silence. It seems there's a couple of dummy streams and also that the overall file is prefixed with what looks like null garbage. I know that if vlc can play it, there's gotta be a way of extracting it, but must admit that I haven't had any luck thus far. Any ideas on recommended tools for stubborn MPEG TS demuxing? Anthony

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Setting up for a blind user, no braille
by Mark Trickett 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Hello All, I am making some efforts, in association with others, to set up a bootable USB stick with Knoppix for the Adrienne audio desktop for a blind user. Since they are a diabetic, and have regular finger pricking for a blood sample for the sugar levels, setting up a braille output device is not an option. I am cooperating with another person by email (and snail mail, to the US) in this endeavour. I would appreciate comments about which browsers are better with various audio environments, and to remember that the established system will require to be run solely by the audio, including confirming all typed keys for input. In this regard, it may even need to report the actual keys typed when providing the password. Yes, that is quite insecure, but will be necessary for the targeted user to be able to log in. Mark Trickett

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Re: [luv-talk] New Computer System
by Russell Coker 27 Apr '13

27 Apr '13

On Wed, 24 Apr 2013, Brett Pemberton <brett.pemberton(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 3:27 PM, Craig Sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au> wrote: > > On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 01:21:41PM +1000, Russell Coker wrote: > > > http://www.graysonline.com > > > > > > When I'm buying new hardware I visit Grays Online. You can get entire > > > systems [...] > > > > i've never actually dealt with them so maybe i'm wrong but whenever i > > look at the grays online website (usually because you mention it, so i > > check it out), something about them really creeps me out and they don't > > seem like the kind of company i'd want to buy anything from. > > They also have a nasty habit of 'accidentally' giving you the wrong item. > > ie: You won model X-6000 and they give you X-5000, a model down without the > bells and whistles. The only time I've received systems from Grays which differed from the specs was when I bought a batch of PCs and got one with half the described RAM and another with a defective motherboard. I moved a DIMM from the broken system to the system that lacked RAM and reported the problem of a defective system with missing RAM. They arranged to have the system collected and refunded my money with no questions asked. The only time I had a problem with Grays was when I bought some Compaq desktop systems which have external PSUs which were shipped without the PSUs. Grays said that the description didn't say that a PSU was included so they considered that to be OK. The moral is that you have to make sure that any extra bits which are necessary are included in the description. > I'm sure Russell will say he's used them for X years and has never had a > problem, but these problems do exist, and if you search I'm sure you'll > find many people complaining about the dodgy practices that do happen at > Grays. If you want an Australian auction site with a reasonable amount of computer gear then the options are eBay and Grays. As being more reliable than eBay isn't a challenge that makes Grays the best option. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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New Computer System
by David Zuccaro 27 Apr '13

27 Apr '13

Hi, I'd like to get a new desktop computer system; I'm currently using a 1.8 GHz C2D with 2 GB of memory with debian squeeze. It doesn't seem up to the job any more; HD movies are choppy; iceweasel is sluggish. I use my computer system for typical desktop reasons: Gnome Internet browsing Evolution mail client amarok Watching movies Basic image processing with gimp. I'm thinking of getting something along the lines of: i7 3.4 GHz 4GB DDR3 2 TB HD Graphics card. I'll probably stick with debian but I might try out ubuntu and linux mint distros. Does this sound reasonable? Any suggestions or recommendations?

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Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) Survey 2013.
by Daniel Jitnah 26 Apr '13

26 Apr '13

Hello, Open Source Industry Australia, OSIA, would like to invite you to participate in an online survey relating to the Open Source software industry in Australia. Any one who has an interest in the Open Source software sector is welcome to complete this survey. This includes but is not limited to OSIA present and past Members, Open Source Software service providers, other IT service providers, users of Open Source software. This survey serves 2 main purposes: 1. To provide a better understanding of the sentiments of its Members and other Open Source practitioners in regard to OSIA's activities. 2. To provide a better understanding of the general state of the Open Source Software sector in Australia and enable baseline data to be established which will facilitate the evolution and progress of Open Source software to be traced in future surveys. The available capacity in Australia to deliver Open Source services and products, and human resource issues are of particular interest in this survey. This survey should take about 10 to 15 mins to complete. To access the survey please follow the link below. http://osia.com.au/surveys/index.php/288243?lang=en Or visit the OSIA website (http://www.osia.com.au) and follow the link. This survey is open until the 8 May 2013. If you have any query or which to provide further comment about this survey, please email: survey(a)osia.com.au. We hope that your contribution will help OSIA better support the Open Source Business Community in Australia. Regards, OSIA Board

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Redundant network links.
by Tony Langdon 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

About to rebuild the network here after moving house. One issue I'm contemplating is performance and redundancy. One part of the network can't (easily) be reached by Cat 5/6, running cables t that part of the house would be too messy at best. I have two ways I can bridge this gap - Powerline Ethernet adapters, which have worked extremely well in the past, or WiFi, using an access point in client bridge mode. Now the powerline adapters do work extremely well, with a rated speed of 85 Mbps. I've never had an issue, except for the switchmode supply of one laptop, which trashed the link (took a bit of detective work that one!). The biggest weakness of these devices is that they can't be battery backed up. If the mains goes down, so do they. WiFi can be backed up, especially since a lot of the gear I have will happily run off a 12V battery, and some of the systems on the far end will be running off a battery backed DC supply. However, performance with the WiFi solution isn't as good. Is there a way I can (easily and cheaply) arrange to run on the powerline devices by default and fail over to WiFi, if the power goes down? -- 73 de Tony VK3JED http://vkradio.com

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New Computer System
by David Zuccaro 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

Hi, I'd like to get a new desktop computer system; I'm currently using a 1.8 GHz C2D with 2 GB of memory with debian squeeze. It doesn't seem up to the job any more; HD movies are choppy; iceweasel is sluggish. I use my computer system for typical desktop reasons: Gnome Internet browsing Evolution mail client amarok Watching movies Basic image processing with gimp. I'm thinking of getting something along the lines of: i7 3.4 GHz 4GB DDR3 2 TB HD Graphics card. I'll probably stick with debian but I might try out ubuntu and linux mint distros. Does this sound reasonable? Any suggestions or recommendations?

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Remote controlling an Android 4.2.1 device
by Anthony Hogan 19 Apr '13

19 Apr '13

Hey folks, Anyone use an Android remote control solution? Not using Android to remote control something else, but another device to control Android? Preferably over WiFi.. I've used Airdroid and SSHDroid to do file, SMS etc. access, but looking for something that'll provide remote GUI access. There are a few things about that I found, but some seem to be rather old and unmaintained, of dubious background (not many reviews etc.). One even suggested "chmod 777" on one of the Android system areas... Uh.. NO.. How do you folks go about remote control of Android devices? Anthony

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Re: [luv-talk] gpt and grub: aging digression
by Rohan McLeod 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Erik Christiansen wrote: > .........snip. >> Would the converse hold true ie. doubling for each 10°C fall bellow the >> temperature at which the lifetime is predicted? > Yes, if the equipment is rated to operate at those temperatures. The > examples I gave are simply based on Arrhenius' law, which has long > served for describing the failure rate of electronics, in addition to > its use in chemistry. It's only an approximation, as mentioned here: > > http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/841248-BSrmuy/webviewable/8… Many thanks I'll check out the URL; I seem to have a fascination with durability. There was an interesting program on the deserted city of Chernabyl on SBS; it made the point that little in the modern world will last more than a 100 years. Also amongst those materials which do last : stone obviously; there seem to be others which are peculiarly durable for no obvious reason; I seem to recall mention of Chinese cement containing rice powder ! > > The last time ...........snip >> and >> >> "Running at 80°C above nominal for 6 months is equivalent to >> 128 years of life.)" would imply the test was conducted at 0°C; >> is this standard or just for example? > OK, with only commercial or industrial grade devices in the equipment, > 80°C above nominal would be out of spec, since nominal is usually 25°C. > It was just an example, thanks > regards Rohan Mcleod

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