Must haves for droid.

I have had a few friends ask if they should get a droid. If all you use it for is a phone…no. But if you want more–get the following apps (most are free):

A Online Radio: you have an unlimited data plan, right? A online radio tunes you into streaming audio. Stations from all over the world and every genre. Plays shoutcast, icecast, and several AAC formats.

bTunes: an audio player that looks suspiciously like another popular audio player’s interface. Plays mp3 audio, and downloads album art from last.fm.

WordPress: I used this app on my droid to do this post…just to prove my point.

Andrometer: ever wonder how tall a particular building or hill is? Andrometer uses triangulation, gps, and the compass the same way a surveyor uses a range-finder. Cool.

DocumentsToGo($9.99USD): ten bucks on sale, and then you can edit and view word, excell, and powerpoint files. Not perfect, but great in a pinch.

EasyNote: it allows you to jot notes, and quickly categorize them. You can also set alarms and e-mail them, making it the most flexible note app around.

Submarine Sounds for Droid(Android)

I recently made a few ringtones/alerts for my Droid using Submarine and Navy sounds. They can be found at: SubSounds at RapidShare. WordPress will not let me upload any mp3 files. The sounds are as follows:

688DiveAlarm.mp3 – 688 Dive Alarm
688General.mp3 – 688 General Alarm
688PowerPlantCasualty.mp3 – 688 Power Plant Casualty Alarm
726CollisionAlarm.mp3 – 726 Collision Alarm
726GeneralAlarm.mp3 – 726 General Alarm
726MissileJettison.mp3 – 726 Missile Jettison Alarm
726MissleEmergency.mp3 – 726 Missile Emergency Alarm
726PowerPlantCasualty.mp3 – 726 Power Plant Casualty Alarm
BilgeHighLevel.mp3 – Submarine Bilge High Level Alarm
EAM.mp3 – EAM Alarm

This is the md5 sum for the file:
a21319308cb2ce868b7ea44fe4e9f62f SubSounds.zip
If you do not know what an md5 is, don’t worry about it.

Droid does.

Got a droid and the wordpress for droid. It realy is the coolest thing I own. I usually don’t get gooey over a commercial piece of crap, but it is so darn useful. Expensive, but a great example of Free Software.

Hacking the iSee360i.

Big note: Please only use this for movies that you have legal right to. Use these instructions at your own peril.

This is the device in question: an ipod paired with iSee360i video recorder. I have tested it with an ipod photo 30gb and a ipod video 30gb(first gen). I got it at a TJ Maxx for $15 USD.

After installing the software on my ipod, I looked into the files therein. It installs a folder called “iSee” which is hidden. The contents are as follows (ROCKBOX is my ipod, BTW):

One file which I think may be promising is “Firmware.elf”. Methinks this is the firmware for the device. I viewed one of the sample videos in VLC. The videos are encoded like this:

Stream 1
Type: Audio
Codec: mpga
Channels: Stereo
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bitrate: 128 kb/s
Stream 0
Type: Video
Codec: XVID
Resolution: 640x480
Display resolution: 640x480
Frame rate: 29.970000

It this point most of you are thinking we could simply copy a properly encoded video into the video folder. I was wrong too. You must have a thumbnail jpeg that is 320×449 pixels. Every picture that I have edited or saved from the GIMP comes up flat black. You can copy one of the samples, and rename it. The thumbnail must be titled the same as the movie, except “.jpg”. All avi movies must have the “.AVI” extension (CASE SENSITIVE!).

Movie and JPEG thumbnail.

Once again I thought this would be enough to make the infernal machine work. Alas, I discovered that one must add a text entry in “YER_IPOD/iSee/video.txt”.

[Video\your_folder\Yer_movie.AVI]
CAT=Samples
DESC=yer_stinkin_movie
TITLE=Monky smells finger(or whatever)

Once the text entry is made, a black empty space shows up instead of a preview, but the movie is now selectable and can be played.

A few notes, in no particular order:

• AVI movie extensions are capitalized. JPEG (.jpg) extensions are not capitalized.
• If you encode the movie improperly, the device assumes it was not completely loaded properly, and promptly deletes the movie and thumbnail for you. Nice machine…
• I used fairly high bitrates (e.g. 2200 kb/s) and got ok results. Lower bitrates tend to look awful.
• I encoded a few at 25fps, and they seem to play ok. The codec and size seem to be the important things to be precise about.
• I plan to work on a script or program to ease the encoding, coping to the appropriate folder, and text file entries.
• The .txt files begin and end with an extra line. They are probably there for a reason.

I am quite satisfied with myself for finding a way to use free software to make this strange little screen work.

iSee360i Ipod video player.

I got a new toy today. it is a iSee360i video player for the ipod. It’s key feature is that it attaches to an Ipod and has a larger screen. It does not directly play Itune$ content, but it simply uses the Ipod for storage. I have seen prices on the Google for this thing from $24-$250USD. I got it at a TJ Maxx for $15. YES $15! It also RECORDS video from a composite video connector.

I was able to encode video using vlc and load it on the Ipod without using the included software (in linux).

The company that makes it doesn’t appear to be in business. It comes with “Vidiscape” by a company called VIVIDA. It works to transfer video to and from the device. The real turkey in the box is “Media Converter” from Arcsoft. The install from the provided disk doesn’t appear to work on Windows 7, and I believe it will not work anywhere else either. The shortcut installed by default is broken, and therefore, it will not do the transcoding that is needed to watch media on the device. That is why i decided to find a way to encode and copy videos to view on the device without the included software.

Now if only someone would port Rockbox to this thing…

My next post will detail how to add video to the ipod/iSee.

Ubuntu (Xubuntu) 9.10

Xubuntu 9.10

I upgraded my laptop to Xubuntu 9.10. I use Xubuntu because it has a smaller footprint than the gnome based Ubuntu. They are the same except for the desktop environment. My laptop is a P3 600mhz with 256MB  RAM. I use it for most of my posts and web browsing. I have not had many problems, but I do not use any encryption. I use the laptop mostly as a dumb netbook. The laptop was given to me, so I can’t complain.

Fall sucks.

Fall sucks for mountain biking. Can’t ride the trails because the weather is too wet. At least in winter the ground freezes.

A better man in Japan.

I have been beaten fair and square.

Honking big chainring Via Bike Hacks.

Bigger is better.

In the spirit of added bling, I couldn’t pass up the crank set on the left. It matches the one on the right which is the stock crank from my Kingfisher 1 freeride bike. The one I bought for $20 has bash/36/24 rings while the stock crank and the set on my bike now (Race Face Evolve DH) both have bash/32/22. I couldn’t even buy the bash for $20! I plan to switch out the rings soon.

32/22 and 36/24 for comparison.

The “King Earl” is Bontrager/Trek/Gary Fisher’s Freeride stuff. These use a Truvativ Howitzer bottom bracket. I think they are comparable to the Hozfeller crank. I haven’t put many miles on these cranks, but I am very fond of my Race Face Evolve DH cranks. They are two piece, and are stiff as all getout. I plan to transplant the rings on my ride.

Back side for comparison

Another possibility would be to change the drive side for DH races. Hopefully I will have time tomorrow.

My big boing bike.

Gary Fisher Kingfisher 1

My pride and joy. Gary Fisher Kingfisher 1. Seven inches of squishy goodness, front and rear. Raced, and riden at Highland.

Drivetrain

The drivetrain: SRAM X-0, except for the front deraileur which is Shimano XT. The Blackspire Stinger is my latest addition. I haven’t ridden it hard yet, but I plan to tomorrow.