How to Convert Standard MIDI files to WAV Audio Format

Applications->Add/Remove Programs->and Install Timidity
from prompt: $timidity [midi_filename].mid -Ow -o [wav_filename].wav

You can also check out the manual: $man timidity
if you want to output to a different format.

Reference: Thanks to Ubuntu Philippine Team especially to Samhain13! :)

How to Install Ubuntu on a USB Flash Drive

Read this link: Live USB Drive,
this: Bootable USB,
and this: Making the USB Persistent

Note: Even it is stated to use ext2 filesystem for casper-rw, I partitioned the disk with ext3 for filesystem use.

Now you have Ubuntu-On-A-Stick! :)

Mplayer: Cannot find codec for audio format 0x56444152

I experienced this problem when playing VCD using command line: $mplayer -zoom -vo x11 -framedrop vcd://1 and it will output this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Opening audio decoder: [libdv] Raw DV Audio Decoder
Unknown/missing audio format -> no sound
ADecoder init failed :(
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
Cannot find codec 'dvaudio' in libavcodec...
ADecoder init failed :(
ADecoder init failed :(
Cannot find codec for audio format 0x56444152.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html!
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
V: 0.0 0/ 0 ??% ??% ??,?% 0 0
gnome_screensaver_control()
Exiting... (End of file)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This could be resolved in two ways:

1. $mplayer -vo x11 -zoom -framedrop vcd://n
where 'n' is the track or chapter (it should be 2 or greater).
-vo x11 is the video output since I'm using vesa driver
-zoom is the scaling of video so I could watch in fullscreen
-framedrop so the video and audio syncs.

2. $mplayer -gui -zoom -vo x11 vcd://n
where 'n' is the track or chapter
-gui the mplayer playback controls will show

This will play the VCD and an gnome-screensaver-control error will show. Ignore the error by clicking ok then right-click on mplayer screen select Open->Play VCD. enjoy! :)

Adjusting Amarok's Buffer

edit /home/(username)/.kde/share/apps/amarok/xine-config and find the line: #engine buffers_audio_num_buffers:230. Instead of 230, put 10000 then uncomment the line by removing '#'. That's it!

Just the Other Day...

           Just the other day I was searching every posts in forums on how I could get my blender running since it keeps on crashing on my new laptop. Yeah, I am using Ubuntu GNU/Linux version 7.10- the latest. My first thought was blender uses OpenGL and that is connected to the video card. And since this is the newest laptop around, I guess Ubuntu's latest version didn't have the capability to render correctly on my laptop, but I got graphics though and with a few tweaks, I have desktop effects, which is cool. I can see the driver I am using is Intel's experimental driver. So, I got connected and browsed the forums. Fortunately, I read this post saying that he tried to use the vesa driver instead of intel's. I typed in my console $dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorg, and chose vesa as my default and restarted my desktop manager. Behold, blender is working perfectly! Sure, 3D acceleration is not available maybe in a month or so still, it's ok.

Firebug Javascript Debugger

This is a firefox extension that helps you debug javascript code.

Link here

To Invoke Eclipse PHP code assist

ctrl+ [space] after typing in few php keywords.

Check out Help->Help Contents->PDT User Guide->References->keymap.

How To's Web Development in Linux

Web Development in Linux

   I. Installing Requirements:

      A. Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP (LAMP)

         $sudo aptitude install php5 apache2 mysql-server
         (link here)

      B. (another alternative) XAMPP

         How To Setup (link here)

   II. Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

      A. Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT)

         (updated) you can just go to this link http://www.zend.com/pdt/ and download Complete Package from Zend. (tnx to yossi leon for pointing this out).

         1. extract. run eclipse executable.

      B. (another IDE) Quanta Plus

         1.System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager
         2.Install Quanta.

            a. Installing the PHP debugger for Quanta

               i. How To Setup (link here) click on the link: "PHP Debugging with Gubed"

Ubuntu and Windows Time Sync

In Ubuntu:
$sudo nano /etc/default/rcS
-change
UTC=yes
to
UTC=no

LIVES

-install transcoder to encode

Ubuntu's Control Panel

Type in console:

$gnome-control-center

Running PHP Webpages Locally

PHP
Failed to open stream
-chmod 755 /var/www -R

To Make Your Bash Scripts Work

/etc/fstab
-ext2 async,auto,rw,users, exec(to execute bash scripts)

When Using Gparted Live CD to partition disks

When Using Gparted Live CD to partition disks
-Run: chkdsk /f in windows
-Use installation Windows CD Recovery Console and Run:
chkdsk at prompt

To Play MP3 in Rhythmbox

Rhythmbox
To Play MP3
-install gstreamer_fluendo_mp3

Firefox 2 Edgy 6.10 When Corrupted

Firefox 2 Edgy 6.10 When Corrupted
$firefox –safemode
-copy or export bookmarks
$mv ~/mozilla ~/mozilla_bakcup

No Text in Menus

No Text in Menus
-edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change /usr/share/X11/fonts->
/usr/share/fonts/X11

Can't Start Graphical User Interface Desktop (No Server at Login)

10/29/2006

Upgrade to Edgy Eft 6.10
No Server at Login

$sudo dpkg-reconfigure –phigh xserver-xorg
$sudo aptitude update
$sudo aptitude reinstall xserver-xorg gdm
$sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg
xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-dev
$sudo dpkg –reconfigure-phigh xserver-xorg
$sudo killall gdm
$sudo gdm

$sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Useful LADSPA Audio Plugins

Audacity Plugins
-install swh-plugins
-install TAP-plugins

Easiest Way to Write .ISO Files to a CD

Writing .ISO Files to CD
-open nautilus
-right-click ISO file image choose write CD

To Launch Openoffice Writer when clicking ODT Document Files

Openoffice Writer Launch from ODT File
-right-click file
-open with other application
-use custom command
/opt/openoffice2.0/program/./swriter %f

I used this when I manually installed OpenOffice from a CD or downloaded on the internet web site.