BimmaBlog

More fun to be had with your PS2 eyetoy as webcam. This all was tested using the silver eyetoy, but I see no reason why the black one won’t function just the same.
(Remember this is without pulseaudio!)
(a copy of the post I made on Ubuntuforums)
Recording Sound:

First off, define which device is generating the sound from the microphone

Code:

aplay -l

This tells me my eyetoy microphone is card 1, device 0, which translates to plughw:1,0. To record sound from the mic enter this command in a terminal:

Code:

arecord -f cd -t wav -c 2 -D plughw:1,0 foobar.wav

This records a wav file at CD quality.

Video Playback:

Lots of choices here:

Code:

mplayer tv:// -tv device=/dev/video0

Code:

cvlc v4l2:///dev/video0

and the monster that is gstreamer (you’ll need to ensure gstreamer-tools is installed)

Code:

gst-launch v4l2src device=/dev/video0 ! 'video/x-raw-yuv,width=640,height=480,framerate=30/1' ! xvimagesink

Capturing Video - Video and Sound:

This proved harder than I thought as vlc, ffmpeg and mencoder flatly refused to do the job with all the command lines I found out on google.

Using gstreamer again, although this is a bit unwieldy:
Capture Video only (no concurrent playback):

Code:

gst-launch v4l2src device=/dev/video0 ! 'video/x-raw-yuv,width=640,height=480,framerate=30/1' ! queue ! videorate! 'video/x-raw-yuv,framerate=30/1' ! theoraenc ! queue ! oggmux ! filesink location=output.ogg

Capture Video and Sound (with concurrent playback):

Code:

gst-launch v4l2src ! 'video/x-raw-yuv,width=640,height=480,framerate=30/1' ! tee name=t_vid ! queue ! videoflip method=horizontal-flip ! xvimagesink sync=false t_vid. ! queue ! videorate ! 'video/x-raw-yuv,framerate=30/1' ! queue ! mux. alsasrc device=plughw:1,0 ! audio/x-raw-int,rate=48000,channels=2,depth=16 ! queue ! audioconvert ! queue ! mux. avimux name=mux ! filesink location=output.avi

FFMPEG
Capture Video and Sound (variants on):

Code:

ffmpeg -t 10 -f video4linux2 -s 640x480 -r 15 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -ac 2 -i plughw:1,0  -aspect 4:3 -s 720x400 -qscale 3 video-with-sound.flv

Code:

ffmpeg -t 10 -f video4linux2 -s 640x480 -r ntsc -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -ac 2 -i plughw:1,0 -qscale 3 video-with-sound.avi

Just video:

Code:

ffmpeg -f alsa video4linux2 -s 720x480 -r 30000/1001 -i /dev/video0 -sameq -aspect 4:3 -f avi -vcodec mjpeg -r 30000/1001 -y output.avi

Enjoy

Did this a couple of years ago, forget what I did, so wrote it down this time. Had a bit of a fight getting the framebuffer up and running, but finally found the right blog post!

Distro:
Xubuntu 10.04 LTS ALT CD

Wired Connection (to start with)

#Apps
moc
mc
mplayer
fbi
htop
e-links
alpine

#Installs
openssh-server
screen
portmap
nfs-common
hwinfo
alsaequal + caps + libasound2-dev + libasound2-plugins + swh-plugins
aria2
wicd-curses
alsa-utils
build-essential
v86d

#Tweaks to Framebuffer

#edit /etc/default/grub
#add as follows:

GRUB_COMMAND_LINE_DEFAULT= nomodeset video=intelfb:mode_option=1024×600-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap  (plus whatever else you want there)

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024×600
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1024×600

#in terminal:
sudo update-grub2

#edit /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
#and add:
FRAMEBUFFER=yes
#or in terminal:
echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash
#then:
sudo update-initramfs -u

#reboot

#Tweaks to wicd
#It fails to start the network connection manager on installation added static IP, but it still takes a minute or two to make the connection, after that solid and quick to try manual config next

#Tweaks to Grub2
#see above for framebuffer
#only other change was to reduce grub timeout to 3:
#in terminal:
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
#edit as below:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=3

#in terminal:
sudo update-grub2

#Tweaks to mplayer
#Found that I needed to use vo=fbdev2 to play back movies on the framebuffer
#Also doesn’t completely take over when scale=1024:-3 & fs=yes is used so having to run setterm -cursor off blank 0,
#however in most situations will use video at fullscreen
#config file (in ~/.mplayer/config) as follows:
#in terminal:
nano ~/.mplayer/config
#add the following:

###
#gives proportionate scaling and centres on screen
#fs=yes
#vf=scale=1024:-3
####
#gives fullscreen
vf=scale=1024:600
###
vo=fbdev2
dr=yes
double=yes
framedrop=yes
ontop=yes
cache=8192
lirc=no
alang=en
slang=en
ao=alsa
#cuts down on the chatter - comment out if you need to debug
really-quiet=yes

#Tweaks to NFS
#Of course ensure portmap and nfs-common are installed on the AA0, and you have a working nfs server serving up shares you can connect to!
#Just did the usual, created mount points in /media and setup nfs shares in my fstab
#for example:
#in terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/films

#in fstab:

myserver:/films    /media/films    nfs    rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,intr,bg

#Tweaks to AA0
#Fan Control - basically shuts it up
#acerfand / acer_ec.pl
#see acer fan post

#Hot plugging for SD cards
#in terminal:
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/aa0-fix-sd-slots.conf
#add the following content:

# Enable USB card reader
options pciehp pciehp_force=1
install sdhci for i in 2381 2382 2383 2384; do /usr/bin/setpci -d 197b:$i AE=47; done; /sbin/modprobe –ignore-install sdhci

#Then edit /etc/modules:
#in terminal:
sudo nano /etc/modules
#add the following to the end of the file:

#fixes SD slots
pciehp

#reboot

#Tweaks to alsaequal

#Create/edit ~/.asoundrc
#in terminal:
nano ~/.asoundrc

ctl.equal {
type equal;
}

pcm.plugequal {
type equal;
slave.pcm “plug:dmix”;
}

#switch the commenting of the next two lines if you don’t want alsaequal as your default soundcard
#pcm.equal {
pcm!.default {
type plug;
slave.pcm plugequal;
}

#force-reload all your alsa modules:
#in terminal:
sudo alsa force-reload
#and start EQing with:
#in terminal:
alsamixer -D equal

#starting up moc with mocp, then playing music, press q, moc goes away but music carries on, then:
#in terminal:
alsamixer -D equal
#and play with the settings until you are happy

#alsaequal does tend to use a fair few cpu cycles, moc running at @ 25% CPU.

#Tweaks to

I’ll have a proper play with alpine and elinks later

There are two ways of doing this, depending upon the bios and kernel you are using

1. For older bios’ <3309 or for setups with an older kernel (say pre Ubuntu 10.04)

This is an oldie but goodie, thanks to netbook tech for guidance on this

#Download as follows:
wget http://electronpusher.org/~rachel/acerfand
wget http://aceracpi.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/acer_ec/acer_ec.pl

#Copy both files to /usr/local/bin
sudo cp acerfand /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp acer_ec.pl /usr/local/bin/

#Make acerfand executable
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/acerfand

#Add acerfand to your rc.local so that it fires up on boot
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
place /usr/local/bin/acerfand at the bottom of the file, before the exit 0

#Restart

#Configure
edit acerfand at your peril
or create an /etc/acerfand.conf with the following content:

INTERVAL=5
FANOFF=60
FANAUTO=70

These are the default values, temps are in celcius

This makes my setup with 10.04 LTs and bios 3310 shutdown after @ 30 seconds, so…

2. for newer bios > 3309 of newer kernels > Ubuntu 10.04+

This method can be u tried on older setups if 1. doesn’t work. From 2.6.31 this is included in the mainline kernel

Download this file:

wget http://www.piie.net/files/acerhdf_kmod-0.5.25.tar.gz

tar zxvf acerhdf_kmod-0.5.25.tar.gz
cd acerhdf_kmod
make
sudo make install

You might need to install you linux headers for your kernel to make/make install

Add acerhdf to /etc/modules so that it runs on boot

Run this command as root:

sudo -i

echo -n “enabled” > /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/mode

Now test by running

sudo modprobe acerhdf

As per a previous post, here is a breakdown of the installation carried out on a Dell Dimension 4100 with an PIII 833mhz processor and 256mb ram:

#XUBUNTU 10.04 LTS ALT CD
#On Install screen press F4 and select Command Line Install
#then Install Xubuntu

#UPDATE - RUN THIS AGAIN AFTER CONFIGRATION
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

#APPS
sudo apt-get install openbox openbox-themes tango-icon-theme-extras xorg obmenu obconf thunar firefox xfce4-terminal –no-install-recommends

sudo apt-get install arandr build-essential feh gdebi hicolor-icon-theme htop libxmu-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev g++ libxft-dev mousepad openssh-server portmap nfs-common mplayer-nogui mencoder audacious devilspie zenity htop ffmpeg rar cups-pdf python-software-properties synaptic tango-icon-theme thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin unrar update-manager vlc wbar xubuntu-restricted-extras wicd gksudo

#APP ALTERNATIVES
#Music players: potamus, moc, cmus, alsaplayer
#File Managers: pcmanfm, mc
#Browsers: chromium, midori, elinks
#Useful tools: winff (video/audio conversion), clicompanion, xfburn, aria2 (downloader), fireftp/filezilla (ftp), geany (development), mirage/gthumb (image mgt), remmina (vnc client), I could go on, but this IS meant to be a minimal install!

#SCREEN RESOLUTION CHANGER
arandr

#PANEL
sudo add-apt repository ppa:killeroid/ppa && sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install tint2
#follow this guide and example conf file for tint2
nano ~/.config/tint2/tint2rc

#DOCK
wget http://www.ihku.biz/wbarconf/wbarconf_0.7.2-1_i386.deb
#this following command may refuse, in need of dependencies
sudo dpkg -i ~/wbarconf_0.7.2-1_i386.deb
#so run this
sudo apt-get install -f
#then the install command again
sudo dpkg -i ~/wbarconf_0.7.2-1_i386.deb
#run wbarconf and add your preferred apps to the dock
wbarconf
#to prevent windows from crashing the dock, set the top margin of the screen to @ 40 pixels

#LOGIN MANAGER
wget http://download.berlios.de/slim/slim-1.3.2.tar.gz
#follow instructions here:
#if you swap out the background image for slim with the same one for your desktop, you get a seamless flow from login to desktop

#ICON THEME
#the default icon theme is grey and bland so change it to Tango
nano ~/gtkrc-2.0
#add this to the file you have created to get the Tango icon theme:
gtk-icon-theme-name = “Tango”
#for the Tango icon theme

#GRUB
#adjust settings for grub menu such a countdown timer
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub2

#DESKTOP BACKGROUND
#Find yourself a background
#open it with feh
#use the feh right click menu to set it as background
#do the startup routine to set background on startup
#see login manager about matching backgrounds

#STARTUP ROUTINE
nano ~/config/openbox/autostart.sh
#add the following
eval `cat $HOME/.fehbg` &
tint2 &
wicd &
sleep 6 &
wbar &

#RIGHT CLICK MENU
obmenu
#for apps that run in terminal use “xfce4-terminal -x nameofapp”
#to maximise app use “xfce4-terminal –maximize -x nameofapp”
for synaptic use “gksudo synaptic”

#WINDOW THEME
obconf

#CREATE NEW USER WITH SAME CONFIGURATION
#a new user created normally would have the basic configuration that you started with.
see here:

Finding the right app to record stuff is a bit of a pain on linux, and playing back midi files can be a trial also. But everything you need is right there in your alsa-utils package. Open up a terminal and let’s get going!

Recording from a microphone:

 arecord -f cd -t wav -c 2 -D plughw:1,0 foobar.wav

This will record you microphone input from your chosen soundcard (in this case card 1, device 0) at 2 channel CD quality, outputting to a wav file for you to play with later. To playback your recording:

aplay foobar.wav

For more information and options, simply type:

man aplay

OK, to play back midi files, you may need to ensure you have timidity installed. Then find a midi file (*.mid) or a kar file (*.kar) and download it. Then it is simply:

 aplaymidi -l

to find an open port, in my case 128:0, then:

 aplaymidi mymidifile.mid

If you want to get the best out of kar files, then install pykaraoke, it will play back the midi and highlight the lyrics through the song

Due to the festive season there was a need to contact relatives in far flung places. Of course I hadn’t done any preparation, so things didn’t work as I wanted. I plugged a PS2 Eyetoy into my htpc, and installed Skype. Was pleased to see the video worked off the bat, but when contacting my first relly, I could see and hear them, they could see me, but could not hear me. The mic on the Eyetoy wasn’t configured correctly. Due to my work with special needs kids, I put my sign language (Makaton) skills (limited!) to good use, and we had a fun conversation as I taught my rellies sign language using sign language

Anyway set about reconfiguring my htpc to get the mic working later that evening. It’s a Ubuntu 10.10 setup, so I removed pulse audio, and got back to a basic alsa setup. (Note: my main PC is set up the same way) I did all the setup via ssh from my main desktop. Needed a way to test my microphone was working:

arecord -l

gave the the number of my device:

card 1: Namtai [EyeToy USB camera Namtai], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I then tracked down via google a command that with some modification allowed me to listen to the microphone on the speakers on my main PC (in a another room). I put my smartphone next to the eyetoy, and set it to play an audiobook I had on it. Ran back to my study and ssh’d into the htpc. Once there I had to run the command, which included ssh’ing back to my main PC (bet that would confuse 2 windows PCs if you tried it!) Command all on one line:

 arecord -f dat -D plughw:1,0 | ssh -C bimma@10.10.10.10 aplay -f dat

and blow me, the sound of my audiobook being “listened to” by the microphone came through loud and clear on my main PC speakers

Key things: getting the device right, the arecord -l command gave the information of card 1 and device 0, which translates to plughw:1,0 (the -D option denotes the device for arecord to listen to), and -f dat indicates the format the sound will be recorded in and relayed to the remote PC. Have a good read of man aplay, for more info.

Now to try things out on a different relly tomorrow

KMandla’s been getting all hot under the collar about Tech Radar’s distro list, so I thought I would have a go:

1. Xubuntu 10.04 LTS / 10.10
2. Ubuntu ALT-CD Command Line Installation with Openbox Window Manager
3. SLiTaZ 3.0
4. PartedMagic 5.0
5. Arch Linux
6. Puppy Linux 5
7. Crunchbang Linux
8. XBMC Live
9. Clonezilla
10. Struggling here; a toss up between Mint, UNR and Windows 7

No place for Tiny Core Linux, but there, it gets a mention.

I do have modern PC hardware

I last came up with this subject a while ago, whilst working on my own backup. Been needing something slightly different, which allows pulling out files of the same type. This one uses find rather than a straight cp function.

 find /pathtoinputdir/ -name “*.*” -type f -exec cp -urvp ‘{}’ /pathtooutputdir \;

I’ll break it down again:

 find /pathtoinputdir/ (pretty obvious, you could use just / to search your whole drive)

 -name “*.*”  (what to search for, replace *.* with anything you want to search for, but say you wanted to find all your jpg files, change it to *.jpg)

-type -f   (brings back files as opposed to directories)

-exec   (allows a function to run based upon what is found by find)

cp -urvp ‘{}’  (the copy with arguments and some magic (the brackets) which allows files and directories with spaces, newlines etc. See my other post to get descriptions of the cp arguments. You could replace cp with mv if you wanted to move and not copy)

/pathtooutputdir  (straight forward again, I create it first)

\;    (more magic to go with the brackets)

Word of warning, if you have lots of files with the same name but different contents, you will overwrite the older ones with the latest one, regardless of content

Making mp3 playlists, a “simple” script

#!/bin/bash

touch ${PWD##*/}.m3u
export IFS=$’\n’
for i in $(find $1 -name “*.mp3″ -type f)
do
echo “$i” |sed ’s/..\(.*\)/\1/’ >> ${PWD##*/}.m3u
done

shuf ${PWD##*/}.m3u > ${PWD##*/}2.m3u
shuf ${PWD##*/}2.m3u > ${PWD##*/}.m3u
rm ${PWD##*/}2.m3u

You can leave out the last three lines if you don’t want to shuffle the list.

There is probably improved/easier code than this but it works for me.

To use, simply copy the code into a text file, save with a name of your choice, and make the file script executable. Put the file in your path, and then run in the directory you want to make a playlist from. it will work on all sub directories of that folder.

How long have I been using mplayer? Years. Why has it never bothered me to sort this out before? Don’t know. Ageism, autism, or general grumpiness sent me off in search of a solution, and how easy was it.

Every time I have run mplayer from the cli I got three lines written out before the “action”:

mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

The very simple fix to this is to add an entry to your ~/.mplayer/config file

lirc=no

That’s it, no more extra lines. Remember to comment out “lirc=no” if you want to use a remote control, though