Convert a VCD to CD

You might ask: can't you just listen instead of watching the video? Well, my car has CD player only and I listen to some of my CD converted from VCD in the car, thank to this guide. The key piece of software is VirtualDub and we make use of its Audio->Full Processing function. You could even choose the left or right channel, which is useful for Karaoke VCD. Why pay for 2 if you could convert 1 from another?

Watch video on mobile phone

I used a software called Fever link Super for converting video to the 3gp format to watch on my SE phone. Haven't used it for a long time since I have a small memory stick but I upgraded to a 4GB yesterday. I converted a RMVB video. Worked like a charm. Definitely deserved more love. Here is the latest version.

TRENDnet TEW-424UB 3.0R USB Wifi Adapter working on Ubuntu

No, it's not deja vu. I got a PCI Wifi card working on my brother's PC last week. It's more complicated for my desktop since I use a USB adapter. The additional piece of the puzzle is Ndiswrapper. Just follow this guide on how to install Ndiswrapper using the Windows (XP) driver files (I copied it straight from the included CD)

The weird part is that I was not able to use iwconfig to enter the Wifi setting successfully so I use the GUI instead and it worked. (Not the first time but after a reboot)

RealPlayer on Ubuntu Gutsy

Another example of user-unfriendliness of Linux: Remember I called RealPlayer a success from my experience with Feisty? I followed the same steps on my brother's PC, on which we install straight from the Gutsy Live CD, but it didn't work. The installer complained libstdc++5 is missing. Sounds like this version was included in Feisty but not Gutsy. At that time we couldn't get it connected to the internet so apt-get was out of the equation. Fortunately we were able to download the .deb package from here on another machine.

Another alternative (probably a better one anyway) is to bypass RealPlayer completely and install the codec and MPlayer plugin instead. Of course that would be easier if one has internet connection.

USB Modem on Ubuntu

Linux is notorious for diffcult to get USB Modem to work for dialup networking. (Built-in Modem on most notebook are so called Winmodem. It's used to be difficult to get them to work as well but much progress has been made thanks to http://www.linmodems.org/)

After much research and a little bit of experimentation, I got a Dynex DX-M300 USB modem working on Xubuntu. This modem is relatively cheap and easy to find online. Here are my steps:

1) Download the HSF driver from Linuxant. Choose the link for Ubuntu.

2) Install using dpkg (i.e. Method B on this page)

3) Open a terminal and run wvdialconf

4) Edit /etc/wvdial.conf and change Phone/Password/Username for your ISP

5) Run wvdial. It will dial the number and make the PPP connection for you. After it connects successfully, it will show the local and remote IP as well as the primary/secondary DNS server IP. Keep the terminal open.

6) Now you could surf web!

Notes:
1) For some reason the modem doesn't work after I boot the machine with it plugged in. In that case only the power light come on. I had to disconnect and reconnect. Then the MR light will also come on and it will work.

2) The free version of the Linuxant driver has its max speed limited to 14.4kbps. If you want to go full speed at 56k, you could buy a license from them for $20. (I haven't tried it)

3) If your modem is plugged into USB and is detected properly, lsusb should show:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0572:1301 Conexant Systems (Rockwell), Inc.

Wine problem on Gutsy

We got an error when we follow WineHQ's suggestion on installing Wine thru apt-get. Basically it complains about the dependency on libaudio2 but it is not installable.

Solution? Open Synaptic Package Manager and follow
sdibias's reply on this thread

Netgear WG311v2 PCI Wifi working on Ubuntu

We repurposed my brother's old PC to a Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon-based Media Center. (It's free upgrade! What's not to like?) However, it is not for the faint hearted. Even though the current generation of Linux is much user friendlier than the past. You still couldn't expect everything just works out of the box. For example, we tried using just the GUI to config the Wifi adapter to connect to the AP without success. Finally we found this very useful guide. Basically, all that were required are:
1) run iwlist (see section 6.8) to find out details of your AP (most importantly, the MAC address)
2) run iwconfig (see section 3.3 for the specific options) The command must include:
- the "name" of the AP, i.e, the ESSID,
- the MAC address
- the "password" (if you use WEP. I haven't tried WPA)

My iwconfig command complains about the mode but it still works.

May your installation to be as smooth as ours.