I started to use google bookmarks. But syncing with it is rough, if not dangerous. The gmarks extension was not very helpful, though it could be used at points.
I wanted to merge my windows and linux bookmark files. Foxymarks is currently down, so I couldn't even try that. And I didn't like the fact that I HAD to sign up for their service. Just let me do it via the FTP option, and I'll handle it myself.
Finally I decided to make copies of each file, import them both into firefox, then using the duplicate bookmark detection extension in firefox, I was able to week out the dups quite easily. Still need a solution for syncing with google tho.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Rockbox database woes on the sansa; tagtool
Adding songs to the sansa with rockbox currently still has to be done via the original firmware (OF). But, everytime I would plug in the usb cable, (with the unit off to have it automatically start up and boot to OF), the OF would insist on "refreshing the database". This could take several minutes. The latest version of the rockbox bootloader fixed that. It now prevents an OF database refresh when the unit is powered up via usb. Great. Just had to run sansapatcher -d, then sansapatcher --install.
Now, the next issue was that sometimes the files loaded from linux would show up in the rockbox database, sometimes not. Turns out that many of the music files didn't have ID3 tags. So, in RB I changed it such that I could at least temporarily browse to the files to play them.
So, enter audio tag tool for linux. Excellent tool for updating/modifying ID3 tags en mass. Yet still the files didn't show in the database. I fiddled with various settings in RB to re-initialize, update the database to no avail. Finally I just deleted the database files in the root RB folder, restarted and all was well.
Now, the next issue was that sometimes the files loaded from linux would show up in the rockbox database, sometimes not. Turns out that many of the music files didn't have ID3 tags. So, in RB I changed it such that I could at least temporarily browse to the files to play them.
So, enter audio tag tool for linux. Excellent tool for updating/modifying ID3 tags en mass. Yet still the files didn't show in the database. I fiddled with various settings in RB to re-initialize, update the database to no avail. Finally I just deleted the database files in the root RB folder, restarted and all was well.
Rockbox on the sansa E280
Got the sansa last year for xmas. Hadn't used it too much. Wanted to play video, but the sandisk software for converting was pitiful at best and the highly uncommon video container and encoding made it near impossible to encode files in linux using something like mplayer.
Enter rockbox. Plays mpeg1 and mpeg2 videos, provides a highly customizable interface, and even plays gameboy games! Check out the manual for installation, etc.
My video conversion script ended up something like this:
#!/bin/sh
# convert $1 into an mpeg named $2 for use with the sansa
# options tried:
# 15, 24 fps
# 256kbps, 512kbps
# mpeg1, mpeg2
# 256k yields poor quality video
# 512k doesn't work with 24fps
# no noticeable diff for mpeg 1/2 - 1 is simpler, use it
mencoder "${1}" -of mpeg -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=128 -af resample=44100:0:0 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg1video:vbitrate=512 -vf scale,harddup -ofps 15 -zoom -xy 220 -o "${2}"
Enter rockbox. Plays mpeg1 and mpeg2 videos, provides a highly customizable interface, and even plays gameboy games! Check out the manual for installation, etc.
My video conversion script ended up something like this:
#!/bin/sh
# convert $1 into an mpeg named $2 for use with the sansa
# options tried:
# 15, 24 fps
# 256kbps, 512kbps
# mpeg1, mpeg2
# 256k yields poor quality video
# 512k doesn't work with 24fps
# no noticeable diff for mpeg 1/2 - 1 is simpler, use it
mencoder "${1}" -of mpeg -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=mp2:abitrate=128 -af resample=44100:0:0 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg1video:vbitrate=512 -vf scale,harddup -ofps 15 -zoom -xy 220 -o "${2}"
JanusVM, tor, privoxy, etc.
The need for anonymity and privacy lately has risen. The JanusVM vmware virtual machine is a simple entry into this area. This small vmx runs a whack of privacy things like tor, privoxy and squid. Just run the thing, and set your browser to http proxy localhost:8888. There are a myriad of other things that can be done with it, but this is usually sufficient.
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