Comparing Calling Rates : Skype vs Fring Vs Rebtel

Comparing Calling Rates : Skype vs Fring Vs Rebtel

Rebtel wins hands down. (Best quality too!) (i use their android app) 



9.2c/min, 3.4c/min and 1.69c/min @Rebtel Wins!

install xbmc frodo on ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)

xbmc does not seem to provide PPAs for Ubuntu Lucid at the moment. Like many others, I am not upgrading from Lucid LTS for another 2 years until its LTS span runs out, if I can help it.

Here's how to install xbmc 12.0 (aka Frodo) on Ubuntu Lucid:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nathan-renniewaldock/xbmc-nightly 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install xbmc 
sudo apt-get install libtag1-dev 

Enjoy!

(reference)

mplayer and vdpau

So I was just using mplayer -vo vdpau... and here's my cpu util:

 PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
 6172 XXX      20   0  155m  50m  14m R 22.9  2.5   0:06.86 mplayer

Thats when I stumbled upon this ArchLinux Wiki post, and added these to my ~/.mplayer/config file:

vo=vdpau,
vc=ffh264vdpau,ffmpeg12vdpau,ffodivxvdpau,ffwmv3vdpau,ffvc1vdpau, 

And now,

  
PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
6397 XXX      20   0  157m  51m  15m S  2.3  2.6   0:03.73 mplayer

my %cpu dropped from 22.9% to 2.3%..! Amazing, isn't it?


Alternate link

script to download latest firefox aurora

script to download latest firefox aurora and extract to mydir

wget -q "https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-aurora/?C=M;O=A" -O - | awk '/en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2">/ {gsub(/href="/,"",$6)+gsub(/">.*/,"",$6); print "https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-aurora/"$6}' | while read a 
do  
 wget -c "$a" -q -O /tmp/firefox-aurora-en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2 && cd mydir  && tar -xvjf /tmp/firefox-aurora-en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2 
done

script to download latest firefox nightly build

script to download latest firefox nightly build and extract to mydir

wget http://nightly.mozilla.org/ -q -O - |awk '/en-US.linux-i686/ {gsub(/href="/,"",$2)+gsub(/">/,"",$2);print $2}' | while read a 
do   
   wget -c "$a" -q -O /tmp/firefox-nightly-en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2  && cd mydir && tar -xvjf /tmp/firefox-nightly-en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2 
done 

xbmc as myth frontend on macosx

xbmc these days can function as mythtv frontend. I found xbmc easier to setup on other OS'es other than my regular front and back ends.

For instance, my regular mythtv back and front ends are Ubuntu lucid LTS (10.04); but I also have a macbook pro (running mac osx), and a Lenovo U400 running Ubuntu precise.

Here's how I setup xbmc as my mythtv frontenv.

Assumptions:

My myth backend is 192.168.1.100

Step  1.

Install xbmc. Refer http://xbmc.org/download/ on howto, for your platform.

Step 2.

Install MythBox addon. Go to Videos -> Add-ons -> Get More.. and select and install MythBox.

Step 3.

Go into MythBox to where you can define the MySQL details.  Here's how I've configured mine:




Step 4.

Spawn xbmc. Before we do that, lets route 6543 traffic to the myth backend server.

(Note: you can use socat easier than ssh, there is an example elsewhere in this blog to use socat)

mac

$ /usr/X11/bin/xterm -title "Close_me_after_myth" -e "ssh -c blowfish -L 6543:localhost:6543 192.168.1.100 cat - " 

linux

 
$ /usr/bin/xterm  -title "Close_me_after_myth" -e "ssh -c blowfish -L 6543:localhost:6543 192.168.1.100 cat - " & 

Start MythBox, enjoy

the thin myth-tv frontend

Running a thin myth-tv frontend:
-------------------------------

Here's how to setup a thin frontend for mythtv with minimal config and filesets.

Install mythtv frontend and socat on your machine.


# apt-get install mythtv-frontend socat


Create a file called ~/bin/thin-myth.sh:
(in my case, the IP of my backend server is 192.168.1.100)


#! /bin/bash
log="~/myth-tv.log"

#set the IP of your backend server.
IP=192.168.1.100 

xrandr >> $log
socat -b 128000 -d -d -lmlocal2 TCP4-LISTEN:3306,fork,reuseaddr  TCP4:$IP:3306 &
socat -b 128000 -d -d -lmlocal2 TCP4-LISTEN:6543,fork,reuseaddr  TCP4:$IP:6543  &
/usr/bin/mythfrontend -l $log


Ensure that DBHostname in ~/.mythtv/config.xml and ~/.mythtv/mysql.txt is set to 127.0.0.1:

$ grep 127.0.0.1 config.xml mysql.txt
config.xml:        127.0.0.1
mysql.txt:DBHostName=127.0.0.1


Launch ~/bin/thin-myth.sh and enjoy.

How does it work?
-----------------
socat listens on 3306,6543 for mysql and mythbackend ports respectively and relays those onto your 
mysql and mythbackend ports on your backend server. 

more here.. 

Wifi recommendation for HD streaming

I stream HD media over wifi, lots and lots of it. I live in a rented apartment where there're no wired ports available. I tried Belkin Ethernet over power adapter to carry my HD traffic, it failed miserably. Then I tried to bridge my wireless G usb dongle along with my wired nic - it never worked.

Then I went onto buy a "NETGEAR WNDR3400-100NAS IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz Simultaneous Dual Band N600 Wireless Router" and a "NETGEAR WNCE2001 Wireless 802.11b/g/n Ethernet Port Universal WiFi Internet Adapter" as my bridge.

Sadly the bridge is in 2.4Ghz spectrum, and is susceptible to interference, even to microwaves. (2.4Ghz is such a crowded space - microwaves, garage door openers, cordless phones all use it - compared to that, 5.x GHz spectrum is squeaky clean..!)

I returned the 2.4Ghz WNCE2001 bridge and got a "Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter" from Amazon - as implied, this bridge can talk in the 5.x Ghz spectrum. It has been almost a month now, and my HD streaming is working smooth.

Gist: For HD streaming over wifi - go for Wireless N devices in the 5.x Ghz spectrum, you will be happy!

keywords: mythtv wifi recommendation, hd streaming over wifi

rsync delta-transfer algorithm

rsync delta-transfer algorithm is pretty cool, reduces the amount of data sent over the network by sending only the differences between the source files and the existing files in the destination.

export alias scpr='rsync -av --partial --progress --rsh="ssh -c arcfour -o compression=no -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no"'

myhost:/tmp# ls -ltrh somefile
-rw-r----- 1 root root 2.3G Jan 24 11:53 somefile

myhost:/tmp# time scpr somefile somehost:/tmp/
somefile
  2452194584 100%   67.76MB/s    0:00:34 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 2452494012 bytes  received 31 bytes  65399841.15 bytes/sec
total size is 2452194584  speedup is 1.00

real    0m37.408s
user    0m22.341s
sys     0m5.624s

append some data to somefile:

myhost:/tmp# dmesg >> somefile


myhost:/tmp# time scpr somefile somehost:/tmp/

somefile
  2452249209 100%  137.71MB/s    0:00:16 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 266589 bytes  received 396255 bytes  20395.20 bytes/sec
total size is 2452249209  speedup is 3699.59

real    0m32.525s
user    0m16.521s
sys     0m0.484s
myhost:/tmp#

rsync just sends out the delta(!), 2452494012 bytes the very first time vs. 266589 to accomodate delta.

scp: transfer speed & compression

With compression:

$ time scp -c arcfour -C somefile somehost:/somewhere 

real    47m30.974s
user    46m18.974s
sys     1m4.040s

Without compression:

$ time scp -c arcfour  somefile somehost:/somewhere 
real    10m41.195s
user    2m41.142s
sys     0m51.611s

details of somefile:

$ file somefile 
somefile: MySQL MISAM compressed data file Version 1

Gist: if a file is already compressed, scp-ing with -C (compression) rightly slows down the transfer.

suggestion to shareholic/boxee

I use shareholic to add items to boxee, and have a suggestion to make:

currently shareholic cannot find boxee-able itmes in pages like http://www.asianetglobal.com/ShowVdo.aspx?GlHID=2008, but can be easily fixed.


if you look closely, from,

http://www.asianetglobal.com/flvplayer.swf?videoURL=http://videos.asianetglobal.com/flv/asianet/VdoGallery/KKandathum2712.flv&thumbURL=Images/VdoGallery/Kettathum%20Kandathum.jpg

you should be able to extract just the flv url fairly easily,

http://videos.asianetglobal.com/flv/asianet/VdoGallery/KKandathum2712.flv

I'd love to see this added to shareholic

Microsoft LifeCam Cinema

So far this has been the best webcam I've ever used. It's an HD webcam, 720p HD widescreen, even works on ubuntu (lucid) linux right away under uvcvideo. It also has a microphone, and the audio quality is very clear.


[ 26.861845] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Microsoft® LifeCam Cinema(TM) (045e:075d)
[ 26.911241] input: Microsoft® LifeCam Cinema(TM) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0b.1/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.0/input/input6

$ lsusb |grep -i microsoft
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 045e:075d Microsoft Corp.

Above all, it is priced reasonably.

vital specs:

• 720p HD Widescreen Video
• Auto Focus
• High-precision glass element lens
• ClearFrame Technology for smooth, detailed video
• Digital, noise-canceling microphone

more here..

tl;dr: here's a good HD webcam for almost all operating systems. works with skype and other IMs.

nokia sale shrinks in india - here's why

here's why: shown is a nokia cellphone right after 12 months of purchase, few days outside the warranty period. what you see is 2 ginormous black dots on its color lcd screen.

in case you didnt know it already nokia, we indians like products which are durable. stop stealing from us, stop dumping flaky stuff on indian markets.

Microsoft Corp. LifeCam VX-7000

Microsoft Corp. LifeCam VX-7000 is an "OK" usb camera. here's the amazon.com page with more details



Technical Details
Model: CEA-00001
Audio Input: Built-in microphone
Video Capture Resolution: 1600 x 1200
Image types: JPEG
Image Capture Speed: 30 fps

here's the lsusb o/p against this webcam:

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 045e:0723 Microsoft Corp. LifeCam VX-7000 (UVC-compliant)

It also works on linux. I used Lifecam VX-7000 to make video calls on skype on linux. I start skype as shown below, and it works great:

$ cat /usr/bin/start-skype.sh
#! /bin/bash

bash -c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype'

So in short, if you're looking to buy a good cam which would work in linux, go for VX-7000.

hdhomerun single doing multirec

hdhomerun single doing mulirec (record multiple channels on the same DVB multiplex) on my lucid. (http://bit.ly/9hcBeo)




to setup this feature, do the following: (ref)

1. Exit the myth frontend.
2. Stop the myth backend (ALT-2)
3. Start mythtv-setup (ALT-s)
4. Select "2 Capture cards"
5. Select your capture card. Remember, it must be a digital tuner.
6. Hit the "Recording Options" button.
7. Increase "Max Recordings" from 1 to the number you want to allow.
8. Exit mythtv setup
9. Restart mythth backend (ALT-3)
10. Restart the front end (ALT-m)