Author Archives: skullbochs

Human Knowledge Belongs to the World

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Posted by skullbochs on 6 June 2009 – 2:39 am
Filed under something nice to look at
Tagged as , , , , ,
Screenshot from "Antitrust"

Screenshot from "Antitrust"

Download videos from YouTube as MP4s

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Posted by skullbochs on 4 June 2009 – 11:53 pm
Filed under ain't that nifty
Tagged as , , , ,

For a while now I’ve been wanting a way to download YouTube videos in 720p. I knew how to do it in Safari using the Activity Window, so it’s only been since I’ve switched to GNU/Linux as my main that the need has became pressing (especially since even Adobe’s proprietary Flash plugin has a hard time with HD and any video in fullscreen). So, tonight, having decided I’d download Home, I went looking for a way to download in HD.

I found a nifty little bookmarklet: Download YouTube HD. Drag that link your bookmarks bar, go to a YouTube video with HD, and click on it, and a link will be added at the bottom of the info box saying “Download as 720p HD MP4.” Right click on it, and save the video wherever.

I also found a bookmarklet for saving the high-quality (but no HD) mpeg4 version of any video: Download YouTube MP4. Similar deal: drag that to you bookmarks bar, go to a YouTube video, and click on it. This time, however, you’ll simply be asked by your browser to save the file. You don’t have to click any other links.

As I said, these are especially useful under GNU/Linux, where there are a million great desktop video players but the Adobe Flash plugin, let alone the free implementations of swf, is not that great.

One protocol, too many names

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Posted by skullbochs on 4 June 2009 – 1:20 pm
Filed under dependency hell
Tagged as , , , , , , ,

I almost reinstalled my OS today. I have a Brother HL-5250DN series laser printer, which I keep in the other room hooked straight into the network. From my iMac and MacBook Pro, I have it set up through ZeroConf, known there as Bonjour.

On my Trisquel box, on the other hand, I wasn’t able to set it up no matter what I tried. I searched the package manager for zeroconf and installed what seemed to be the right packages, but still nothing, and I tried searching for a solution, but didn’t find anything I needed (it doesn’t help that my distro’s forums are in Spanish).

So, I downloaded and burned Ubuntu 9.04 and backed up my files, anticipating a reinstall. Then, as I’m talking to Joshua Rogers, it dawns on me that ZeroConf is called “avahi” on GNU/Linux, just as it’s called “Bonjour” on Mac OS X. So I searched for “avahi,” installed a few packages, reopened the printer config panel and, lo and behold, there it was.

Considering that, protocol-wise, ZeroConf == avahi == Bonjour, did it have to be so confusing?

Schmownce vs. Cyndle

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Posted by skullbochs on 3 June 2009 – 11:55 pm
Filed under this vs that
Tagged as , , , ,

In light of SocialKloud’s closing, I’ve created accounts on its two main competitors: Schmownce and Cyndle. On first glance, Schmownce is more fully-featured and mature than Cyndle. Schmownce can post text, links, files, and events, just like SocialKloud and Pownce. Cyndle can only post text (though URLs are detected as links, just like Twitter and SK).

However, Schmownce has an annoying bug at the moment: the userpic associated with a post is the one you were using when you posted it. If you change userpics, the picture and for some reason also the post’s stand-alone page will be broken.

Cyndle also has a more interesting black-and-orange theme than Schmownce’s elegant and respectable black-and-white. Cyndle is also run by teenage furries, if that makes a difference either way.

RIP, SocialKloud

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Posted by skullbochs on 3 June 2009 – 9:50 pm
Filed under well this sucks
Tagged as , , ,

SocialKloud, like Pownce before it, has closed down. I’ve bitten the bullet and created an account on Schmownce. If I can remember the name of the other Pownce clone, I may try it out, too.

SocialKloud is dead. Long live SocialKloud.

Goodbye, Adobe, hello libswfdec

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Posted by skullbochs on 3 June 2009 – 7:38 pm
Filed under proprietary perils
Tagged as , , , , , , ,

Almost the only piece of non-free software I’d been using on my Trisquel GNU/Linux box was Adobe Flash, so that I could watch YouTube videos. It’s always iffy whether you’re going to be able to watch YouTube videos with libswfdec.

But early this morning, while watching the live feed of Democracy Now!, I paused the video to try to watch an .ogv I was ripping with Thoggen. No dice. So, I decided to try listening to a podcast with Banshee. Same problem: wouldn’t even start. So, I started cursing GNOME, assuming for some reason that the old problem of only one application being able to use the sound-system at a time had come back. So, I close the browser and try again. Nope.

So, I tried re-opening the browser and watching the video again. The browser hung. I opened the Terminal to kill it. The Terminal opened and immediately hung. I tried closing the two and re-opening. Nope. I tried restarting X, but it gave me a blank screen when I logged back in. Finally, I just restarted the whole machine, uninstalled Adobe Flash and installed libswfdec.

I can’t watch all YouTube videos, but at least my computer’s not crashing because Adobe doesn’t care about their GNU/Linux users.