Quick tip on transfering files from your phone to your gnome-ill computer

So, I just hate when things that are supposed to work
right out of the box just doesn't..., Anyway, 4 steps
recipe to get this working under debian/sid:

1.- Install gnome-bluetooth and bluez-gnome: (as root) apt-get install gnome-bluetooth bluez-gnome
2.- Run bluetooth-applet if its not running already: bluetooth-applet
3.- Make your adapter discoverable and connectable: Right click on bluetooth-applet, then preferences, then choose 'Visible and connectable for other devices' under 'Mode of operation'.
4.- run gnome-obex-server from the console, an small icon should pop up on your pannel.

Now do what you need to do on your phone to select and send your files.

Not saying this is the right way to do it but what the hell, this should get you going.

Quick tip on encoding video for your iriver E100

So you bought one of these players just to find out that

• It supports just a subset of MPEG4 SP (strictly speaking it is NOT MPEG4 SP complaint).
  
• The bundled movie converter, while based on MPlayer and FFmpeg does not work on Linux.
  

Let alone the blatant GPL violation (friends at MPlayer/FFmpeg fame says a team of assassins was already dispatched iriver's way. Rumor has it includes members of the Project From Hell age -- you have been warned).

I thought about quickly drafting a better and cross plataform movie converter but then realized I should maybe give you a working encoding recipe first (not to mention I have a lot on my TODO already), so, here it is:

• Install MPlayer. If the one you installed has support for XviD in mencoder you are golden, otherwise you might have to build and install a custom one (If you use debian and maybe in ubuntu too, installing libxvidcore4-dev before building MPlayer from svn should be enough).


• Proceed to encode your video with this cmd line:
  
mencoder INFILE.SOMETHING -vf scale=320,expand=320:240 -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr=128 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=600:max_bframes=0:vhq=4 -of avi -o OUTFILE.AVI

  

Of course you can customize this, specially the -vf part. I myself have to try other codecs yet.

Special thanks go to Robert Swain who helped figuring this
out yesterday. The dude has a lot of talent encoding with constrained/crippled neat gadgets as targets. Go read his blog and send him my regards.



Shame on you Iriver..., Shame on you.

Fun

There are 2 kinds of guys in this world; the ones who think the 'there are 10 kinds of ppl in this world..' joke is funny... And those who got laid already.

--
Reynaldo

Talk in Concepción

I have been invited to give an small introductory talk about our beloved XO as part of the second 'Free Software and Technology' meeting at the Universidad Católica de la Santisima Concepción. This year's topics are centered around education and its my intention to be able to highlight the amazing features of the children's laptop as an educational tool. This is happening tomorrow at 16:00 local time (currently UTC-3) so if you are by any chance near Talcahuano/Concepción feel free to drop by.

The world as he saw it

for those out there seeking for a reason to *believe* (if there is such a thing), this quote may come in handy:

What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion, Is there any sense then, you ask, in putting it? I answer, the man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.

The quote is from 'The world as I see it', a collection of Einstein authored texts that picture him in a way his relatives and friends like. This must be the third time I read it (I have made several attempts as my English improved -- yeah, It was even worst) but this time it stroke me harder. I'm living a whole new tale now, surrounded by my childs & taking care of needs other than my own. Dunno about you but I can sure use some guiltless believing.

Farewell light

So, sad but true -- Keyboard LEDs were removed a while back and I still miss them. Not that I haven't mourn enough on this but still hurts. Why, you might wonder (if you care at all). Well, here is the story:

When approaching OLPC for the first time I quickly sought something to do to start bonding with the existing development team. It wasn't really that difficult, this was soon after A-Test prototypes became available so really, there was a massive amount of stuff for a newcomer to pick and do. I don't recall if writing the kernel driver for these LEDs was my first choice but I do recall Chris Ball helped me through it from the ground up, Andres Salomon was there too and at some point I got help from Marcelo Tosatti and Jonathan Corvet (Thanks All). The driver had two incarnations, It's latter one used the LED subsystem (which btw, I advice you to hack on if you're starting or thinking on doing some kernel work for the first time) and made its way into the shipped kernel. I'm not good with dates but I will go ahead and pretend the code made a few hundred keyboards shine for about two months, now its gone. It turned out the LEDs where not fulfilling their purpose not to mention they sucked too much power so they were banned.

These LEDs were for me like a badge for others; a way to open some doors. From there I have done a few things but sadly -- none of them 'shines' the way these folks did. I'm going to miss them, Can't help it.

Long live light!

Mathsalvation

There was a footpath leading across fields to New Southgate, and I used to go there alone to watch the sunset and contemplate suicide. I did not, however, commit suicide, because I wished to know more of mathematics.

--
Bertrand Russell