Yea that didn’t take long!

So I stumbled onto this site Talking MP3 Players and I had to give it a shot.

I’ve played a bit with the older rockbox on a series 1 ipod so needless to say it was a while ago, and I had forgotton about rockbox and what players it supported (and if your wondering why I chose the sanza fuze, it’s because I run linux and finding an MP3 player that’s supported is harder then you think!) then I saw that they now also support Talking directory and song titles!

Wait, OMG! An mp3 player that even the blind could use? This is a great idea! So to support them (and get me a new mp3 player!) I’ve ordered a new sanza fuze 8gb and am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival with rockbox and voicebox support already installed and configured! SWEET! I’ll post some pics of it when I get it unwrapped!

A great post from Stormdragon has shown me a great and easy way to do this using a program called hunspell.

Following most of his steps you can do this as well on any debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint pc.

First install hunspell and it’s english library.

then cd over to your ~/bin/ directory

create and edit a file named “spellcheck”

Enter in the following script

then save and close gedit.

Now we need to make the file executable

Then just close and reopen your terminal of choice (I prefer terminator myself) and try out your new spellchecker!

Correctly spelled words will just respond with an “*” if a word is misspelled it will offer you suggestions! Just that easy! Yea BASH!

Open your .bashrc file in your favorite editor and add this below the alias section.

Now when you want to extract an archive in the terminal, just type in “extract filename” obviously replacing filename with your actual filename.extention and hit enter

Isn’t linux beautiful!?!

Next we build the recording script. I can’t remember where I got this from but it’s a great script!
In your home directory create a new blank file and open it with gedit or the likes.

Of course you can set your own recording directory if you like.

Save and name the file.

Right click on it and choose “properties” then go to the permissions tab and check the box that says “Allow executing file as program” and let’s add a section in our .bashrc file.

Open .bashrc with gedit (or the likes) and add the following to your alias section:

Now when you have something playing through your soundcard that you’ld like to record, just open a terminal window and type in “tape” and it will begin recording!

Have you recently re-installed windows yet again, just to have to individually install all those apps you need and use every day all over again?

You need to go and check out ninite.com your one stop shop for most of the apps and codecs you’ll be needing with only one installer needed, as it’s automated the install for quite a few of your favorite apps.

Just visit the website, check in the boxes for the apps you want to download and install, and click the go button on the bottom of the page to get your own customized installer.

It will automatically install (without common annoying things like toolbars) the proper app for your system (32 or 64 bit) and in no time your system is back where you wanted it to be!

Awesome!

So I went to darkness’s bon fire and raver was there.
Here’s his reaction.

It’s high time the networks realized this as well with item’s such as Tivo (and I’ve loved mine!) having been and succeeding in the market for years, that on demand viewing is what the customer wants, and almost every cable provider now offers there own DVR’s as well. Why not just have it streaming and instantly available without having to remember to record it?

Well the folks at Hulu have finally done just that, and are releasing (under special circumstances which I’ll get into in a bit) The “Hulu Plus (Preview)” it’s free (for a limited time I’m guessing) and you have to be both a hulu Plus Subscriber, as well as a Playstation Plus member (both of those are also pay for services) so all in all it’s not “Free” but eh, at least the app is looking like it’s going to see the light of day.

This is exciting! – Stay tuned! (I’m on the list for an invite to Hulu Plus, but if you have an invitation referral code, please feel free to contact me!)

This will be the first installment of these media tips as I plan on preparing many to help others enjoy there lightweight and silent media pc’s using Linux.

So I’m going to assume you already have VLC Media player installed, if not quickly just type in:

Now let’s open a folder holding your video files. Right click one and go to properties on the bottom of the pop up menu.

Next choose the Open With tab.

click the add button
It will display some default options, however we want to make our own, so click the add button.

Another window will pop up and at the very bottom you’ll see an option to Use a Custom Command. Select that.

In the text field that appears type in the following noting that there is 2 dashes not just one.

And click the Add button when finished.Open With

Now let’s right click the file again and this time you’ll see another option from the Open With tab that we just created.

Select the new VLC entry and your file will be opened in VLC running full screen automatically!

Do take into account that this only works for each file extension that you select it to, so if you want it to do this over multiple file types, you’ll need to set this as the default Open With option for each of them.

IE: if you’ve done this on an .avi file, you’ll also need to do this for the .mpeg files .mov files, etc. However the full screen option is already available, it just needs to be set in the Open With tab for each t

My Acer Aspire Revo running Boxee on Ubuntu 10.04

I’ve been VERY Pleased with the performance of this machine, and it’s alot more responsive after swapping out Windows 7 for Ubuntu 10.04, however I’ve been toying with trying out the netbook edition, as it looks like the interface might be a little better for distant navigation, however I haven’t taken that step yet. (give it time lol!) Also it looks like it’s going to be easy to open being there’s only one screw under a sticker on the bottom keeping the thing snapped together. Yea hardware swapping! I’m thinking an SSD hd and changing from 2 to 4 gig’s of ram should really show this tiny pc off the way it should!

I am having issues getting wireless working under Ubuntu 10.04 however have read that other’s seem to be having issues with the wired connection. Mine worked fine out of the box under Ubuntu however I’ve read that other’s running the older 9.x Karmic wifi drivers worked fine?! So a little research (and a cheap usb wifi dongle that works great!) will do for now, but I’ll keep you updated on getting the internal wifi working.

On a good note, HDMI Audio works fine, and shows up in the sound preferences by default.

What it would look like if the BP oil leak happened over the California Bay Area.

Now no I don’t live in Modesto like I put in the map image I just wanted to get a good fit for the spill and the shape of California.

The images were from http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/ (not that you couldn’t read it in the screenshot’s but w/e) Very good representation of the sheer size of the issue.