sandip's blog

"SoX" (Sound eXchange) is a command line program that can convert most popular audio files to most other popular audio file formats. It can optionally change the audio sample data type and apply one or more sound effects to the file during this translation.

Fedora 3 does not come with "sox" compiled with mp3 support. You will need to download the source and recompile for mp3 support and install it. Else you can grab a prebuilt rpm if you are looking for a quick and easy way out. Download mp3 and lame enabled sox via FreshRPMS.net and install it:

1. FC3 automagically recognizes the iPod and mounts it to "/media/IPOD". Alternately, you could create a mount point and mount it manually:
   

   # mkdir /mnt/ipod
   # mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/ipod
   

   or automate it in the next reboot via the fstab entry:

   /dev/sda1    /mnt/ipod    vfat    sync,user,noauto,umask=000    0 0
   

2. For a friendly and graphical environment download and install GTKpod.
3. For Command Line Interface download and install GNUpod which is covered in the notes below.
   

SOFIA initiative is to support and advance education by making high-quality content freely available on the Web for learners and faculty across the nation and the world. Modeled after MIT’s OpenCourseWare Initiative, the Sofia initiative encourages the publication and free exchange of community college-level course materials on the World Wide Web.

Check out the course gallery for some excellent study material.

If you have had a hard time downloading linux distros due to slow internet connection. Here is an alternative in trying out a Linux distro. The Ubuntu team will send you CDs at no charge, for you to install and share. They cover the cost of shipping the CDs to you as well.

Get it here: shipit.ubuntulinux.org
Get the FAQs here: Ubuntu CDs FAQs

cwISPy is a billing management system for ISPs, forked from GCDB and released under GPL. It takes care of billing customers automatically at specified intervals.

eMoviX - a micro (7MB) Linux distro meant to be embedded in a CD together with all video/audio files. A CD burned with eMoviX will be able to boot and play automagically all of its files with MPlayer. Supported formats are AVI (in particular DivX & XviD formats), MPEG, QuickTime, WMV, ASF, MP3, Ogg, and in general everything supported by MPlayer.

1. Download and install BitTorrent.
   
2. The current version 4.0.2 of BitTorrent requires that you use python2.3 or above else you will not be able to import the modules.

   I got fedora core 1 rpms from python.org and installed via `rpm -ivh python2.3-2.3.4-3pydotorg.i386.rpm`. That way I still kept 2.2 as other application depend on it.

3. You can now run "btdownloadheadless.py":
   

   $ python2.3 /usr/bin/btdownloadheadless.py download.torrent --save_in /path/to/directory
   

   You could also use "/usr/bin/btdownloadcurses.py" instead.

4. For other options:
   

   $ python2.3 /usr/bin/btdownloadheadless.py -h
   

• NFS Server:

  1. You will need "nfs-utils" so `up2date --install nfs-utils` if you don't already have it.
     
  2. Start "portmapper" first - `service portmap start`.
     
  3. Setup the exports file with the directory, hosts and permissions for sharing.

     To export the external usb storage drive to everyone on the local subnet, I have the following:

     /mnt/usbdisk 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw)
     

     This entry allows every machine from the subnet 192.168.0.0 to access the NFS share over the network. After having edited the "/etc/exports" file all you have to do is start the NFS server - `service nfs start` .

     Note: If you are concerned about security edit "/etc/hosts.allow" and "/etc/hosts.deny" to specify which computers on the network can use services on your machine.

  4. Check the status with - `rpcinfo -p` .

• NFS Client:

  1. Check that the nfs module is loaded first - `grep nfs /proc/filesystems` .
     
  2. If nothing comes up then load the module with - `modprobe nfs` .
     
  3. Start "portmapper" - `service portmap start` .
     
  4. Mount the network file system with - `mount -t nfs nfs_server:/mnt/usbdisk /mnt/nfs_usbdisk` .
     
  5. If may take a while. Verify with `mount` after .

References:

• NFS Overview, FAQ and HOWTO
  
• Learning NFSv4 with Fedora Core 2

No worries! You are using GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) aren't you?

You should atleast know where your "/boot" partition is installed.

1. Here is my drive setup and "/boot" is setup in "hda3".
   

   # df -h
   Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
   /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
                          18G  4.3G   13G  26% /
   /dev/hda3              99M   19M   76M  20% /boot
   none                  506M     0  506M   0% /dev/shm
   

   # fdisk -l
   
   Disk /dev/hda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   

• Check if module is installed. Errors mean missing module.
  

  # perl -MModule::Name -e 1
  

• See documentation of the module if installed.

  # perldoc Module::Name
  

• Open CPAN shell:

  # perl -MCPAN -e shell
  

• To reconfigure the shell if needed.

  cpan>o conf init
  

• Install an available module.

  cpan> install Module::Name
  

• Force install if test fails.

  cpan> force install Module::Name
  

• To manual install perl modules.

  # perl Makefile.PL
  # make
  # make test
  # make install