Dapper Drake is finally all set up on my desktop. Thanks to samba, I can move files between my PowerBook and desktop with ease. My portable drives work with both. It’s pretty darn nice at this point.
I also have the TV-out on my old crappy nVidia FX5500 working the way I want. Took a few tries to get right, but it’s quite good. So now, in addition to having a DVD player that will play nearly every video file you can throw at it, both the Mac and the PC can send video to the TV. Convergence.
It’s not quite perfect yet, but it all works. That’s a Good Thing (TM).
So, in honor of the fact that the last time I had TV out going, it was for Doctor Who, that’s what I’ve thrown up on here. I’m even getting the episode I was missing and the Christmas special that bridges the first and second series.
I’ve also set up the Remove Wonder II with the desktop. Watching The Office and My Name is Earl with the remote was great. Now all I need is a hardware TV tuner, and I’ve got a perfect PVR setup.
Digital audio is also working, but thanks to what I’ve come to call the Linux Audio Conundrum, I don’t get audio from my browsers.
There’s two major Linux sound systems, and a few ancillary ones. OSS, or the Open Sound System, was first. It’s antiquated, but it still tends to work. There are a few problems though: only one application can use it at once and it doesn’t work properly with digital audio outputs.
ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Daemon), on the other hand, can do plenty great software mixing, works with digital outs and surround sound setups with ease. Application support for it, however, is messy as all hell.
There’s a nifty trick for my setup, thanks to the fact that I’m using onboard audio with software mixing, that I can route everything through the Enlightenment Sound Daemon, ESD. ESD feeds everything to ALSA, which talks to my sound hardware. Basically, it allows for proper software mixing.
The only things that conk this up are appilctions that only work correctly with OSS. Quake IV, browsers, etc.
It’s a pain in the ass. There’s means of routing OSS through alsa, but they’re not great. I’m pretty sure I can get Firefox working properly (for flash and whatnot), but probably not Opera. Quake IV works okay, but it locks up my X-server on exit.
We’re getting there, I promise.
I’ll keep you cats posted. More on Dapper when it goes final.
I need to get laid.

Tom

I had a really great post here, but bad things happened when RapidMetaBlog tried to post it. Might have to find a new widget for that.
Check out Tapioca if you’re a Linux person. It’ll give you full gTalk voice features from your Linux PC. I’ll post more when I’ve had the chance to test it out fully. Congrats to the devs at Tapioca for beating Google to the punch.
Real update while I’m in Dallas. Later all!

For those without geeky leanings (which is likely most of you reading this), Dapper Drake is the development nickname for Ubuntu Linux 6.04. It’s scheduled to be released next month, but a number of prelease versions have dropped.
After wanting to hurt myself after using Kubuntu (same as Ubuntu, but with the KDE (ugly in my eyes) desktop instead of pretty Gnome) and having a little fun with Damn Small Linux, I figured “what the hell, the laptop should be a dev box with the PowerBook coming in a week,” and dropped Dapper Drake Flight 4 on the lappy.
The install went all right, the updates butter smooth (but Easter Mass long on my slow lappy) and I found a bunch of fun new packages to install. The improved Add/Remove utility now shows a lot more packages than the Breezy Badger (previous version of Ubuntu) Add Applications utility.
One of the new apps installed by default is Ekiga. It’s an updated version of GnomeMeeting, which is basically an internet video phone. They’ve added SIP support, an open communications protocol. It’s the same that Gizmo Project uses. GTalk will soon be interfacing with SIP networks.
But that’s not why I’m excited.
While playing with Ekiga, I got to the video setup for it. I have an old Creative NX webcam lying around from my Windows days. It’s never worked in Linux. On a whim, I plugged it in. At first, nothing, but after messing with some other video settings, I saw that it posted. It tested fine and pulled up my image when I clicked the webcam button.
My webcam works in Dapper!
But that’s not all.
With the two previous versions of Ubuntu I’ve used, the two elusive pieces of hardware have been that webcam and my Remote Wonder II. Moving a mountain is easier than settting up these particular devices. But, traditonally, after each new install I test them both, and get exactly nowhere.
So, not expecting much, I plugged in the USB reciever for the remote. It lit up, as ususal, sucking power from my lappy. I grabbed the remote and hit the pointer surface.
The mouse pointer moved.
It was amazing! Many of the buttons worked without having to do anything extra. I was able to set up some shortcuts to the buttons, and map commands in Xine (video/DVD player) to the controls. I’ve got my remote back. Strangely enough, the very same night I was telling my roommate how much I loved that remote, and how I’ve missed being able to use it.
My remote works in Dapper!
There’s still a lot of work to be done on that laptop. I don’t know how much will work, as Dapper itself still needs some work before the final release. But I’m now looking forward to the release. Release week is always a cool time (and we get them twice a year), but now I can finally use all the hardware I’ve wanted to use with my main PC for a year now.
Christ, has it really been a year? Last April, Hoary Hedgehog (Ubuntu 5.04) came out. I’d been dabbling with other distributions for a couple months, but hadn’t settled on anything. I was also still dual-booting with Windows XP. After spending a couple weeks with Hoary, I fell in love and kicked Windows to the curb. Hard.
One year on, I’m very happy with that decision. I’ve got Cedega to run my old Windows games. I’ve got software to play every audio and video format under the sun (save for DVD-Audio, but due to DRM restrictions and sheer lack of adoption, it’s likely not coming to Linux any day soon. I can always just listen in 5.1 audio if not 24-bit in the future). I’ve got powerful Internet applications.
I’ve also got a PowerBook coming next week. It’ll fill in the holes, like having better VoIP recording for the podcast and improved DVD ripping and authoring support. It’ll also have iTunes, which I’m not a huge fan of, but I’m pretty sure my iPods are. Plus, the PB itself is ultraportable, which makes it great for my upcoming trips.
I’m rambled enough. So much for sleep tonight, but as the tag says below, I’m giddy
Rap with you cats after weigh-in tomorrow.