Skype Call Recorder - Ubuntu 12.04 Problem

I am a big fan of Skype Call Recorder for Linux. The ability to record both sides of an interview in stereo, one end in each channel is a great feature, specially useful if you are recording a double-ender for a pod-cast or CD.

I have avoided Ubuntu since the move to Unity, but it is time to have a go.

I have just installed Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) on my Sony Vaio laptop.  Unfortunately the Skype Call Recorder did not seem to work.

I have found a fix.  Darik Horn has a link to a PPA for skype-call-recorder on Launchpad and a package for Ubuntu 12.04 can be found here.

Enjoy!

Why Would You Advertise Installing Windows 7 Starter Edition?

I recently purchased an Eee R051PX Net-book. It was a run-out version, I got the last one. But I was particularly impressed with the long battery life and general feature set.

It came with Windows 7 Starter Edition. Just booting Windows 7 Starter and opening a web browser took five minutes and used up 720Mb of the GB of RAM, 75% of all available memory.

I installed Linux Mint 11 and a boot takes about one minute and a running system with a web browser open used 270MB of RAM, about 30% or available memory.

The Windows installation cripples the machine. It is slow. It is so limited, you cannot even change the WALLPAPER!

Why on earth would you put a sticker on the computer advertising the fact that it had Windows 7 Starter installed??

Resizing Images in Linux - A Simple Easy Tool

The moon resizes, every 30 days

With the constantly growing pixel count in modern cameras we often capture images of quite large size.  my camera records 4000 x 3000 pixel images

We often want to resize a a few images, usually to post on a web site. I often want images only 320 pixels wide.

Only a few years ago it was common practice to show a low-definition or even monochrome image on a web page while a higher quality image loaded over the slow dial-up links that were in use. With mobile devices using expensive wireless connections, even today it is good manners not to use images any larger than necessary.

Most graphics editing software makes re-sizing an image easy. But if you have a folder full of images you would like to post as a slide show in Google+ or upload to Flickr, a bulk method is easiest.

Last night I stumbled upon a very simple solution for Linux users.

Picture Resize is a web site with a link to download a simple application to your computer. Instructions are supplied, and running the script provided installs a shortcut on your desktop that uses a library installed by default in most linux installs, and a 125 line script installed by Picture resize. The shortcut uses this string:


/home/userdirectory/bin/PictureResize -s 640


To chance the size of the end product, simply change the last number to the width you wish to finish with. I right-clicked on the newly installed icon, and edited the command to:

/home/userdirectoru/bin/PictureResize -s 1024

Then I dragged a folder with 20 pictures in it onto the icon. The result was each image was resized, and a new image added to the same folder. image1.jpg was resized as image1-1024.jpg.

This non-destructive method allows resized images to be used, removed or copied elsewhere without endangering the original images in the folder.

Simple. Useful. Outstanding.

The creator of this useful too identifies himself as tabishq, "I am a physicist by profession. My major interest is physics. To be more specific, my research interests are foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum entanglement and quantum dissipative systems.  My other interests are computers and everything related to them, promoting scientific temper around me, and studying the wildflowers of India."


Thank you Tabish, for a very useful tool. Live and Enjoy!
Phil Stephens

WD My BookThunderbolt Duo Drives - Read the Fine Print

I was quite impressed when I received an e-mail advising me that Western Digital are now offering a new drive called the My Book Thunderbolt Duo with an Intel Thunderbolt interface port with a supposed transfer rate of 10Gb/s or 10 Gigabits per second.

But all is not what it seems.

Unfortunate my initial enthusiasm was somewhat diminished by reading the fine print in the speed graphic.

The actual performance of the device is given in MB/s or Megabytes per second, not Gigabits, so some arithmetic has to be done. Eight bits to a byte leaves us with a maximum speed of 2000 Megabytes/s or 2Gb/s, way below the indicated throughput of either Firewire or Thunderbolt port.

In fairness to Western Digital, the fine print is there, you just have to work at finding the truth.

The 10Gb/s throughput of the Thunderbolt interface is actually supposed to be a combination of up to two HD video channels, and multiple data devices, on a single cable, not a single device. The transfer rates are based on the manufacturers specification, not the realities of the device in question.

In short read the fine print.

I have been stung by transfer speed claims before. This is not the first time a manufacturer has erred on the side of hype, and will not be the last.

Have you been caught by claims that where not supported by reality? 

Why not share with us, I would love to know how you feel.

Google Drive - Is the Microsoft Office Killer Finally Arriving?

Industry watchers including Venturebeat and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Google is about to announce a cloud drive similar to Dropbox, probably to be called Google Drive. There are many sites comparing (suggested) features and costs. Just search "Google cloud drive" on Google!

This is generally considered to be a bit of a non event.

Why? Because there are a number of similar services in the market already, including the incredibly simple and reliable Drop Box. Drop Box has become the Go To place for many app developers who need to synchronize data from their mobile apps. There is also a number of others including Skydrive, iCloud, Ubuntu One, Cloud Drive, Justcloud, Box and more.

Google Drive will Be the Game Changer.

I think Google's Drive will be the game changer that many small businesses, including mine have been looking for. It may well be the final piece in the puzzle for the Google Docs application suite. The magic bullet that takes Google Docs and possibly the Chromebook and Chrome OS into the real world.

Think about the one real limitation of Google Docs. It has applications good enough for most users, with the killer feature of almost magical collaboration tools. Its single weak point is that it needs a constant Internet connection, and in the real world that does not happen.

I am typing this currently on an Asus Net-book. I do not have access to WiFi, and because of that I am using Tomboy Notes as a text editor. Would I rather be using Google Docs? YES. But no network, No Docs editing. So I keep content locally, and later I will paste this into a document for formatting and collaborative editing by my partner.

The Magic Bullet.

If I had a Google Drive that allowed me to synchronize files on my computers, I assume Google could and would easily use that capability to store those Google Docs on my local machine as well. That would mean I could continue editing this document as a Google doc even when away from the network.

This would give me the best of both worlds. Browser/web based tools with collaboration, local storage, and access everywhere. Even offline.

This would take away the fear of cloud based applications losing data or going away, because the local store can be backed up locally.

Obviously, multiple users editing multiple copies off-line would cause problems, but they are not insurmountable. Version control systems have dealt with this problem for software developers for decades. It could be as simple as saving both versions, with changes highlighted (a current feature of Google Docs) and allowing the user to sort out what to keep.

Given that much of this functionality, including editing documents with Google docs was available using Gears until about a year ago, until Gears was discontinued, it seems logical the Google are fighting to bring it back on all platforms.

If Drive allows us to take a complete working office application suite and access to documents off the network, on multiple platforms, Google will have finally have the Microsoft Office Killer it has been looking for.

Google has fumbled the ball many times, but this may just be too important. They where careful and capable with Google+, delivering a killer service that will continue to grow. It was important.

Google Drive may well be the most important play they have made for a number of years, and possibly the most important key to getting Google outside the search box.

New Hosting for Serenity Computing

On the 18th of March we pulled hosting from Godaddy.com.  This site will continue to be available for the foreseeable future, but the change has resulted in links to many of the graphics on this site failing.

Most of the graphics are on posts that are out of date, so I am not rushing to update them. If anyone finds that a post of interest is compromised by losing the graphics please let me know and I will put them back.

Thanks - Phil Stephens

Image from Flicker by Causha

Which Version of Linux Should I Use?

Many business and home computer problems can be solved by simply switching from Windows XP or Windows 7 to Linux. If you are considering trying Linux, Which version should you try?

Linux Mint LTS is the best Linux choice.

Before you fire up your e-mail client to send me a nasty-gram, follow my thoughts.

Linux offers reliability, stability, and frugality.

It has a rich range of applications, yet can run on computers considered obsolete by Windows users. The majority of software is free, as is Linux. Free in the sense of free speech (you can see how it works, and change it to suit your needs) and free as in beer. Most distribution of Linux are free, and the only cost is professional support.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of Linux distributions. A distribution (or distro) is a collection of Linux tools, utilities, drivers and applications assembled as a single CD or DVD that contain someone's idea of a perfect Linux install. Many have a specific target in mind. It may be specifically designed as a web server, file server, firewall, Proxy server or a desktop PC like most users and businesses want.

Some Linux Versions are More Equal than Others

A visit to the Distro Watch web site reveals that a few distributions rule.

At the moment the top distros are: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian and Open Suse.

Here is a quick summary of each:

• Ubuntu - Designed for the desktop user, and very popular


• Linux Mint - Based on Ubuntu, but focusing on getting users moving from Windows working quicky.


• Fedora - Popular and well supported, but it is the guinea pig for new ideas before they are incorporated in Red Hat Linux.


• Debian - Reliable, and the base for many other versions, including Ubuntu. But it is not beginner friendly


• Open Suse - A reliable desktop, but now quite main-stream and perhaps lacking is support.

So my choice is Linux Mint. It is easy to install, has lots of support and is new user friendly. Because it is based on Ubuntu, both the Ubuntu and Mint community can help with problems. There is a wide range of software available. It looks nice.

But notice that I said Linux Mint LTS. Ubuntu and Mint each release a version every two years that they promise to support for three years. This means you can install one of these versions and not have to worry about updating it for at least three years. This is perfect if you want a computer that just works, and works, and works.

That describes the average business and home user.

So I recommend installing Linux Mint 9 LTS. It will be supported until the middle of 2013 with patches, updates and fixes. After that time it will be relatively simple, and free, to upgrade to the next version.

angry-linux-tux - by oddsock, Mint logo by ghostcero.