Digg Town Hall #1

Howto: Run Amarok under Windows XP

If you're reading this blog post, you've surely heard about Amarok, one of the best music players out there. Unfortunately it's currently only being developed for Linux, which is great too, but many of us have to use Windows for many reasons. So with the latest release of AndLinux, I sat down and developed a solution for all the desperate Windows users who want to run Amarok.
I haven't tested this guide with Vista, but since AndLinux claims that it's compatible with the 32-bit version of Vista, I assume it will work fine.

1. Download and install the KDE version of AndLinux (direct download link).
   During install, chose whatever options you want to use (I suggest activating the "run as NT service" feature, since you probably want Amarok to be open most of the time you're on your PC).
   
2. Restart your computer.
3. Start "Konsole" from the quickbar button the installer has created (if you can't find that button use c:\Program Files\andLinux\Launcher\andKonsole.exe).
4. After a little while, you should see a command prompt (starting with a # which means you're logged in as root). Type in: "apt-get install xterm libavutil1d libgsm1 libavcodec1d libmad0 libpostproc1d libxine1-ffmpeg". These are packages which are required by Amarok and which do not come with AndLinux per default.
5. Now that you've installed all the required packages, you can install Amarok with this command: "apt-get install amarok".
6. You probably want to access your Windows files to listen to your MP3s. To do this, we have to add a mountpoint. Simply follow these steps:
1. Create a Windows share for your MP3 folder and set the permissions to "Everyone"-> "Everything".
2. Find out what your local IP address is (127.0.0.1 will not work for some reason).
3. Go back to Konsole and start up your favourite editor to edit /etc/fstab (I like mcedit, so you'd have to type: "mcedit /etc/fstab").
4. At the end of the file, add the following line:
   "//local-ip/share /media smbfs username=windows-user,password=windows-pass"
   (i.e. "//192.168.0.3/mp3s /media smbfs username=Administrator,password=SuperSecret")
5. Save the file and exit (in mcedit, press F10 and select "yes").
6. Now you have to create the /media folder by entering "mkdir /media" into Konsole.
7. To test your configuration out, type "mount /media && ls /media". If you cannot see the contents of your share, something went wrong and you should check your settings again.
   
7. So, let's go on. It is not recommened to run any applications as root user, so you should go and create your own user: "adduser ", i.e. "adduser jimmy". You'll have to enter a password, but you can leave out all the other details (full name, room number, etc).
   
8. Switch to that user by typing: "su " ("su jimmy").
   
9. Now we're ready to go. Really? Type "amarok" and hit the enter key. Your music files will be located in /media.
   

I hope this wasn't too complicated. However, if you have any questions, feel free to post them as a comment and I'll try to respond as soon as possible (moderation is activated to avoid spam issues).

Google Reader Team: Please bring back Opera support !

This issue really made me wonder. Google Reader used to support Opera just fine when it was still in beta. But since Google released the final version, it's all messed up (see screenshot) and I really don't know what the hell the developers were thinking.


So, what's the problem here? It seems that they changed the stylesheets right before the release, probably to make some minor "improvements". I've waited quite a long time before I decided to publish this problem (hoping they'd fix it in the meantime), but now I am really sick of switching my browser in order to read some feeds in a proper way.

Seriously Google, Opera is one of the few browsers that passes the Acid2 test, why are you boycotting us so much?


Please bring back Opera support for Google Reader!

Another Best Warning Sign Ever

Since someone at Digg.com decided to post his or her personal best warning sign, here is another one:

Howto: Google Maps Street View outside US

Google is making excessive use of their GeoIP database these days to test new features in a limited area of their choice. Now they decided to only let users from the US use the street view option in Google Maps. If you live in another country, you'd actually have to wait until Google releases the feature worldwide or use a proxy from inside the states.
There's another way to avoid Google's IP filter though:

Add &gl=us at the end of the URL !

Example link: http://maps.google.com/maps?[...]&gl=us

And for all you non-believers, here's a screenshot of me walking around in New York City while I am actually sitting in Germany writing this post:

Have fun!
 

Boy shoots pig the size of a horse

THEY swear he is one of the most humungous hogs ever seen – and not just a giant porkie. A pig the size of a hatchback has been reported shot dead by an 11-year-old boy using a pistol.



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Screenshot of Windows Vista SP1

How NOT to conduct a forum ad campaign.

What starts as a thread advertising a computer company goes from odd to outright bizarre. Things start getting interesting on page 2 when the owner goes on a expletive filled tirade, including classics like "Newegg.com went bankrupt 6 times", "Btw, f*** Stanford University", "Besides I own 75 million dollars of farm land". And it gets better...



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More of Knut the polar bear baby

Look at that thing - cuuuute! :)
This is Knut, a polar bear who got repudiated by his mother and is now being raised by a german zoo keeper. Some stupid politicians wanted to put him down, because in their opinion the whole thing was not natural - which led to massive protests among the german population.
Enough talk, here is the video:

[GER] Verstörter Bremer im Interview

Ganz kurz als Einleitung: Das Video entstand Anfang des Jahres in der Bremer Innenstadt, als wir ein paar Leute für ein Soziologie-Projekt interviewen sollten. Neben vielen Standardantworten gab es halt noch diesen Typen, der sich uns regelrecht aufgedrängt hat um auch aufgenommen zu werden. Zum Thema Utopie und Dystopie befragt, hatte er folgendes zu sagen:

What does your sleeping position say about you?

Scientists believe the position in which a person goes to sleep provides an important clue about the kind of person they are. So .... what does your sleeping position actually say about you ?



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Beer launching fridge

Wow. Now this is an idea that could pick-up: a mini fridge with a catapult on top and an automatic beer launcher. The cool part is that it's very small and incredibly accurate. Seriously, it's a gadget that I would buy!



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Linux fans write open letter to Ballmer: Show us the code!

This is definately a great idea. Some linux fans got together and composed an open letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer,
demanding evidence for his recent accusations against the Linux
community. He stated that parts of Linux contain intellectual
property owned by Microsoft. He didn't say that once, he didn't say
that twice, he actually repeated that statement over and over again.



So what was to do?
The only and best solution the Linux community could possibly make
was to set up a website called showusthecode.com and call on Ballmer to reveal the disputed code parts.

Nice going, guys!



Personally I don't think that Ballmer is going to do
anything, or he maybe just tells his press secretary to tell the public 
some lame excuses, like "if we disclosed the code, we'd just support
piracy by making it public".



I'm really looking forward to a response, though.

Panda sneezes

This video is hil - wait for it - arious!
You have to watch it a couple of times in a row to get the best viewing pleasure :-)

Some more hot panda action:








[via b3ta.hnldesign.nl]

Order pizza from the commandline with pizza_party script! Yes this is REAL!

* Can order pizza with only a few keystrokes. * Can save pizza preferences. * Can use batch files for ordering many pizzas. * Has easy to use flags for ordering different toppings. * Runs on most UNIX-like operating systems. * Supports most currently popular topings like "mushrooms", and "pepperoni"! * Unattended



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