Category Archives: Technology

Skype Video on Ubuntu 64 Bit

I was very happy when I had got my new Core 2 Duo E8400 processor. I immediately installed Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 64Bit on it. Everything I wanted to use worked, except Skype.  After a lot of research, I did manage to install Skype, but the Video always gave a green screen, and crashed when I started the video. Here’s how to make it work successfully.

  1. Download the Skype for 64Bit Ubuntu OS. It is not a true 64Bit version, but manages the dependencies well.
    http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu-amd64
  2. Sign In to Skype and see all works as per requirements. You may need to go to Skype Options and fiddle with the Audio settings and select your audio card instead of pulseaudio.
  3. Through Synaptic, install lib32v4l. Through console, you can do apt-get install lib32v4l
  4. Download skype.start script (right click and select Save Link As) and save it in the /usr/bin directory. You may need root privileges for that. Otherwise save it on your Desktop, and use it to run Skype with Video compatibility. The privileges of the script need to be made executable. Through console you can do chmod 755 /path/to/skype.start and through GUI you can right click on the file, select Properties and under the Permissions tab, select “Allow executing file as program”. Remember, you need to start skype.start and not skype for the video to work.

The new version of Skype probably will fix the issues. There has been a long thread on Skype Forums regarding Linux this where the developers have promised that it will be out “Real Soon Now(tm)”. However, a month and a half has passed. Regardless, the solution works for voice and video both, and I’m happy using it.

And yes, if you need the content of the skype.start script, here it is

#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

Have fun Skyping!

Doing GPS Conversion – Degrees to Latitude Longitude and vice versa

Converting Degrees to Latitude Longitude

INDIA is North East (NE)

  1. The whole units of degrees will remain the same (i.e. in 121.135° longitude, start with 121°).
  2. Multiply the decimal by 60 (i.e. .135 * 60 = 8.1).
  3. The whole number becomes the minutes (8′).
  4. Take the remaining decimal and multiply by 60. (i.e. .1 * 60 = 6).
  5. The resulting number becomes the seconds (6″). Seconds can remain as a decimal.
  6. Take your three sets of numbers and put them together, using the symbols for degrees (°), minutes (‘), and seconds (“) (i.e. 121°8’6″ longitude)

You can do it fast by visiting
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html

Convert Degree, Minutes, Seconds to Latitude and Longitude

  1. latitude and longitude in a decimal format: 42.1361
  2. latitude and longitude in degree, minute, second format: 42deg, 08min, 10sec
  3. To convert coordinates from degrees, minutes, seconds format to decimal format, use this easy formula:

    4. degrees + (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600)

    The example coordinate above would be calculated as:

42 + (8/60) + (10/3600) = 42.1361
or
42 + (.1333) + (.0028 ) = 42.1361

Build a home of the future : Part 1 – the basics

A selected few would want to delve into this. No, this post is not about how the houses of the future would be. For that you may visit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7348940.stm

This post is about how you, as a Linux enthusiast, can take a combination of all wonderful applications available, and leverage them to create something which defines what you are. This is no howto, and I just skim the surface as I myself am trying to figure out how to work out all this.

Following is where I am coming from : You wake up in the morning, ask for the time and weather outside. The system responds back. You give voice commands to take backups of the system, check your e-mails, record voice messages, play music, make phone calls, and watch your favorite TV channels. Then you leave for office. The home is now under surveillance mode. Any activity which happens behind your back is emailed to you instantly as a video. The primary power fails and the system switches to the secondary power. There are solar cells on top of your building which are charging the batteries. You come back with some friends of yours. You put the system in silent mode and record all activity that happens. Its night time now and you go to bed. The infra-red cameras keep a watch on the house.

Next day is a weekend, and you plan a trip outside. You get ready your stuff and take out the mini-computer which is connected with your base station wirelessly. The mini computer has GPS inbuilt which keeps a track of where you are and communicates it back to the base station. Your backpack has solar cells which keep charging the mini-computer. You are continuously updated of what’s happening back at home.

All of this is possible, though with some expenditure on the hardware front. Here’s what I think you would need

Hardware

  1. Base Station : A laptop/battery powered device for the base station. A desktop would also do but power consumption may be a concern. A wifi router, UPS, a set of speakers and a good microphone and internet connection would be necessary.
  2. Power Generation : Solar Cells, and a battery system which they can charge
  3. Electrical Devices Control : I’ve heard about X10 and http://www.smarthome.com – am not sure as none of them is available here (in India).
  4. Mini-Computer : A Gumstix motherboard with USB, Flash Memory, Wifi, GPS and LCD screen.
  5. Monitoring : A infra-red webcam. A wireless one would be better, but USB one would also do.
  6. Internet Connection : A USB based internet connection device which allows you to connect from anywhere. Shall be compatible with Linux & wvdial.

Software

  1. Speech Recognition : HTK, Julius/Julian
  2. Text to Speech : Festival, with MBROLA
  3. Motion Detection : motion
  4. Scripting Language : PHP and bash – this will help in defining and acting upon commands
  5. Home Automation : Mister House
  6. Others : wvdial for net connection, audacity for audio recording, mail tools for sending out e-mails, Apache for providing a connectivity to base station

The intention is to create a home of the future, today. I would keep on adding stuff here as and when I find time; the first one probably would be about Speech Recognition. I personally believe that the technology is available, and if used effectively, it can be really exciting.

Storage Nirvana – Unlimited Storage using LVM, iSCSI and AoE

UPDATE: I don’t recommend this. See comment #4 – all you do is at your own risk.

If you want to have unlimited space like what google.com is doing with gmail, then here’s what you need to do. I used Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and Gutsy Gibbon to test out the solution.

  1. Setup and understand the usage of a LVM
  2. Setup iSCSI or AoE for network devices so that network storage can be used easily
  3. Setup RAID so that redundancy can be provided to LVM Physical Volumes

Important: Following steps may corrupt your data or partitions. Use them at your own risk. Also, I have listed down the steps as I went ahead doing them. They may not be accurate in your environment or all scenarios may not be covered. I would recommend going through the entire article before attempting anything.

Assumptions

  1. You are comfortable using Linux and fdisk
  2. You have backed up your data so that in case something goes wrong, nothing is lost
  3. You can connect to network and have access to more than 1 Linux machine to do the testing

This article is not complete and does not include the iSCSI and AoE related information as of now. I am working on it and will update it soon. However, you may continue on this page and learn about the LVM :-)

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Life after Linus Torvalds, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

This thought has continuously been in my mind – what will happen to Microsoft after Bill Gates, and whether Linux would remain a force to reckon with after Linus Torvalds, Richard M. Stallman and Mark Shuttleworth (for Ubuntu). I was generally browsing through the internet and came across an advertisement on blogs.zdnet.com about a book by Mary Jo Foley, titled “Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era“. Here’s what the summary is

No one – including Microsoft’s own leadership – can predict exactly what’s next for Microsoft. But lots of smart folks, inside and outside the company, have some pretty educated guesses. This book provides a quick look back at Microsoft’s past, and then it focuses on the people, products, and strategies that will define the next chapter for Microsoft.

So, as it seems, there are people who are spending their time thinking about What next?. Not having RMS and Linus sometimes gives me jitters, as to what way would Linux and other open source software be headed to. No doubt, Canonical, Novell and Redhat would take it forward, but then it might traverse into a commercial/non open-source domain. Same is for Microsoft. I don’t trust Steve Ballmer, and probably he’d be the one who may be responsible for the downfall of the Microsoft Empire. It though can survive for a significant amount of time, considering the deep pockets that it has. And a fellow wordpress blogger has written about “What happens to Apple after Steve Jobs“.

When we were kids and used to study history, it depicted that the once the leaders who made their provinces successful were gone, the downfall began. Sometimes the downfall spanned a few decades due to the wealth that was accumulated by the leaders – and it bred a sense of complacency in the newer generations. Spending the wealth without any profitable returns was primarily what took them on the declining path.

Since our world is pretty much dependent on these evangelists, I hope that the next generations would take it forward in a better sense.