Why GNU/Linux Rocks

[shikitohno]

I just thought of something that I'd be kind of interested in seeing. I was thinking that given my browsing habits, I could largely save myself from leaving firefox running all the time if I could find a text-based browser that supported having multiple pages open at once. Either in a fashion similar to how irssi does things, or with vim-style buffers. I've already got a url grabber set up for when people send me links in irssi, or I want to open something from an email in mutt, so I could just use that for opening up any pictures or videos I want to see. Anybody know of such a browser? No? Okay, I'll just be over here, dreaming my little nerd dreams.

Admittedly, such a thing would have a rather small audience, but I think that would be one of the cool things you could do to improve links or a similar browser. Hit ESC+# and switch between various open pages would make it a bit more usable for general purpose browsing.

[lxskllr]

I just thought of something that I'd be kind of interested in seeing. I was thinking that given my browsing habits, I could largely save myself from leaving firefox running all the time if I could find a text-based browser that supported having multiple pages open at once. Either in a fashion similar to how irssi does things, or with vim-style buffers. I've already got a url grabber set up for when people send me links in irssi, or I want to open something from an email in mutt, so I could just use that for opening up any pictures or videos I want to see. Anybody know of such a browser? No? Okay, I'll just be over here, dreaming my little nerd dreams.

Admittedly, such a thing would have a rather small audience, but I think that would be one of the cool things you could do to improve links or a similar browser. Hit ESC+# and switch between various open pages would make it a bit more usable for general purpose browsing.

Emacs probably has a plugin for it.

[sgreger1]

I just thought of something that I'd be kind of interested in seeing. I was thinking that given my browsing habits, I could largely save myself from leaving firefox running all the time if I could find a text-based browser that supported having multiple pages open at once. Either in a fashion similar to how irssi does things, or with vim-style buffers. I've already got a url grabber set up for when people send me links in irssi, or I want to open something from an email in mutt, so I could just use that for opening up any pictures or videos I want to see. Anybody know of such a browser? No? Okay, I'll just be over here, dreaming my little nerd dreams.

Admittedly, such a thing would have a rather small audience, but I think that would be one of the cool things you could do to improve links or a similar browser. Hit ESC+# and switch between various open pages would make it a bit more usable for general purpose browsing.

So like Lynx or Emacs with tabs basically? Actually I think there would be an audience for it. The raspberry pi for example isn't going to be able to run firefox or anything very well since the Pi isn't really made for that kind of stuff, so a lot of people could benefit from using a CLI based browser (which I imagine would run just fine, even on a Pi). As such, having tabs would make it more awesome.

[sgreger1]

Hey so I just bought a security camera for my house. It is an IP camera that is connected via ethernet to my computer and has software that runs on Windows. I have it all saving the files to a certain folder. Is there a way for me to go in on my linux partition and then access it from there even though it's stored on the windows side? I want to be able to automatically send the stuff from my movie folder to my server so it is backed up remotely. Wasn't sure if I could get rsync to work in a windows partition or not.

[shikitohno]

If you've got the ntfs-3g package installed, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to read from or write to your windows partitions. Also, though it might not be exactly what the manufacturor intended, if you can get your linux install to at least recognize the hardware, I'm just about willing to bet there's a native application that'll serve the same purpose.

As far as the browser goes, links with tabs would be ideal. Links has (at least at a rudimentary level) some Java script support, which makes rather it more useful than lynx in a number of situations. I've loved lynx for a while, but I've ran into too many circumstances where it simply won't do the job. Also, while emacs is probably perfectly serviceable in this regard, I just don't feel like relearning all the little tricks over again. I'm thoroughly in the vim camp in the editor debate, as I already know it and find it much easier to use. I tried both, but emacs just sort of annoyed me after a short while. I imagine it would still be rather simple to do with some sort of vim extension/plugin. There's add-ons for all sorts of other tasks. If there isn't one, I imagine it would be fairly simply to write such a plugin. Too bad I suck at programming, though. My irssi weather script to get the weather from google and print it to the channel only has about 20 lines of functional code in it, and that took me probably close to four hours to cludge together. I would expect an intergrated web browser would involve a bit more work.

[devilock76]

I just thought of something that I'd be kind of interested in seeing. I was thinking that given my browsing habits, I could largely save myself from leaving firefox running all the time if I could find a text-based browser that supported having multiple pages open at once. Either in a fashion similar to how irssi does things, or with vim-style buffers. I've already got a url grabber set up for when people send me links in irssi, or I want to open something from an email in mutt, so I could just use that for opening up any pictures or videos I want to see. Anybody know of such a browser? No? Okay, I'll just be over here, dreaming my little nerd dreams.

Admittedly, such a thing would have a rather small audience, but I think that would be one of the cool things you could do to improve links or a similar browser. Hit ESC+# and switch between various open pages would make it a bit more usable for general purpose browsing.

Well you could just use links/lynx. Granted it is not multi window/tab but since it runs in a terminal just have multiple terminals running. Also several xterm type programs have tab support, for example konsole if you are a KDE user.

I will say I have used them in the past but in this increasingly AJAX based web world they are become more of a niche use as they just don't handle AJAX well, if at all.

Ken

[devilock76]

So like Lynx or Emacs with tabs basically? Actually I think there would be an audience for it. The raspberry pi for example isn't going to be able to run firefox or anything very well since the Pi isn't really made for that kind of stuff, so a lot of people could benefit from using a CLI based browser (which I imagine would run just fine, even on a Pi). As such, having tabs would make it more awesome.

The lightest weight GUI browser for Linux I know of is Dillo. That might be suitable for the PI. It is very limited though.

Ken

[devilock76]

Hey so I just bought a security camera for my house. It is an IP camera that is connected via ethernet to my computer and has software that runs on Windows. I have it all saving the files to a certain folder. Is there a way for me to go in on my linux partition and then access it from there even though it's stored on the windows side? I want to be able to automatically send the stuff from my movie folder to my server so it is backed up remotely. Wasn't sure if I could get rsync to work in a windows partition or not.

As Shiki said, NTFS-3g is it is an NTFS partition which assuming any windows post XP it probably is. I have no stand alone windows machines they are all dual boot. I usually make my main storage partition in the dual boots a fat32 partition. That way both Linux and Windows see it easily without NTFS-3g. I don't recall if fedora natively has NTFS-3g in the distro, pretty sure it doesn't though and I think you need to enable one of the 3rd party repos for it. I forget though.

Here is a better solution if you want the software to save to Linux. Create a samba/windows share on your linux box and map that drive through the windows box and then have the windows program save to that drive. Should be seamless. You could also have windows backup write to that location. But a better solution to "rsync" the windows machine is share the drives you want to backup. Using samba again from linux map those drives on the linux side. Now here you might need to google some instructions but I believe there are ways to have rsync read from external samba shares and then it can backup the data to the linux native areas.

Ken

[sgreger1]

I just set up a little home security system in my house. This new Camera is so cool. It's got IR LEDs on it so it provides PERFECT night vision. In my house with all of the lights turned off I can still see 100% like it was daytime, it's just in grayscale. It has 2 way audio so not only can I hear what's happening in my house, but I can also use the camera like an intercom and speak through it. I've got it all set up to only record when motion is detected to save HDD space. I wish I had more money, would be awesome to have on of these at the front door, rear door, the driveway etc. And even better is that when my wife and I argue in the house and she claims she didn't say something, I can just go replay the tape! lolol.

[sgreger1]

Hey guys, I have a question for those who may know more about this than me. I have a business idea, but it revolves around having a raspberry pi (or some similar device) play a small movie in a loop on an LCD screen over long periods of time. On a simple device like that, with an OS centered around playing video, how long do you think you could keep a small video (maybe 10-20 min at max) running without having to reboot the device etc?

Like if I were goign to embed a display into something and just leave it alone with an infinite power source, how long do you think it would run before someone had to actually open it up and fix it?

[devilock76]

Hey guys, I have a question for those who may know more about this than me. I have a business idea, but it revolves around having a raspberry pi (or some similar device) play a small movie in a loop on an LCD screen over long periods of time. On a simple device like that, with an OS centered around playing video, how long do you think you could keep a small video (maybe 10-20 min at max) running without having to reboot the device etc?

Like if I were goign to embed a display into something and just leave it alone with an infinite power source, how long do you think it would run before someone had to actually open it up and fix it?

In theory forever, in practice who knows... I mean there is not much to that, but if you wanted something to play a loop of video over and over they have something that already does that easily, it is called a DVD player.

As long as there is electricity it should run.

Ken

[sgreger1]

In theory forever, in practice who knows... I mean there is not much to that, but if you wanted something to play a loop of video over and over they have something that already does that easily, it is called a DVD player.

As long as there is electricity it should run.

Ken

Actually the product in question would be mounted into something about 5 inches thick, and would play a looping video whenever a button is pressed. Powering issues aside, I am just curious how frequently you would have to service such a thing. Could I expect the thing, if properly powered, to run the video every time for like 5 years without crashing? If it did nothing else but play this video clip when the button is pressed? Is there any way to test this without actually waiting 10 years to see if it dies?

The key is that it has to be very small (hence why a DVD player will not work), and must work without human intervention for at least 5 years. This is assuming it is adequately powered of course.


Edit: The idea is to leave it in something, playing this video on demand, without ever crashing for at least a few years. Sort of like how at museums you go to an exhibit and press a button and then it starts playing the demo movie, just like that, just it has to be able to fit into a 5inch thick space, so the computer controlling it has to be very small.

[devilock76]

Actually the product in question would be mounted into something about 5 inches thick, and would play a looping video whenever a button is pressed. Powering issues aside, I am just curious how frequently you would have to service such a thing. Could I expect the thing, if properly powered, to run the video every time for like 5 years without crashing? If it did nothing else but play this video clip when the button is pressed? Is there any way to test this without actually waiting 10 years to see if it dies?

The key is that it has to be very small (hence why a DVD player will not work), and must work without human intervention for at least 5 years. This is assuming it is adequately powered of course.


Edit: The idea is to leave it in something, playing this video on demand, without ever crashing for at least a few years. Sort of like how at museums you go to an exhibit and press a button and then it starts playing the demo movie, just like that, just it has to be able to fit into a 5inch thick space, so the computer controlling it has to be very small.

5" by ? by ? They make DVD players pretty darn small these days.

Ken

[sgreger1]

Okay maybe I should just run the whole idea by you guys so you can understand where i'm coming from. Maybe a DVD player would work but I have a feeling it won't.

So my idea is this. Tombstones with an embedded LCD screen that plays a video collage of the person's life. Gone are the days where you go to visit your loved one only to find them represented only by a slab or rock with their name etched into it. The idea is that family members etc go to visit the gravesite, and the tombstone has within it an LCD display that, asfter pressing a button, plays a montage of the persons life. Growing up, marriage, their kids, etc. That way a visitor can really re-live that persons life with them, see their face, experience those memories that made their lives so great etc. This idea extends to pet cemetaries too.

Anyways, the idea is a bit more complex than that, but the issue is keeping the unit running. The plan is to drill a rectangular hole the size of a small LCD screen, perhaps 7 inches, straight through the tombstone. Take a raspberry pi or some other small device, strap it to the back of an LCD similar to what you see at the gas station that is hardened against the elements, and then make it all nice and flush with the hole. On the back of the tombstone would be a little door that swings open (locked of course) and this door allows one to change the battery, provide maintenance etc. The raspberry pi can then easily be unplugged from the LCD for maintenance, the battery can be changed etc etc.

The benefit in my mind of the rpi over a DVD player for example is power consumption and reliability. The Rpi is very energy efficient, and the plan is to have a battery in there that will allow it to run for as long as possible without needing to be changed. Additionally, a DVD player would have to be vertical and is prone to skipping if there is an earthquake etc. Loading the video onto a sd card seems more fullproof.

The issue is: If I just left this thing embedded into a tombstone in a box with a little ventelation, how long would it sit there working before I had to reboot the computer? I have never ran anything for long periods of time. Is it possible to leave it playing this video for a few years, or would it have to be rebooted periodically?

Is there a better device for this? The video would be medium quality and only 10 minutes or so in length. I imagine there is somethign even cheaper than the rpi that can do this.



Edit:

This idea has only been done by one company, the "Serenity Vidstone" and they have largely failed. Mainly because their product sucks, big time. First, look at how sucky and non-informative their website is. The units cost $2,000 and are old blocky, nasty looking video displays and they all have the Vidstone Logo all over them (do you really want that on your tombstone?)

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg...3080592146.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg...3080523948.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg...1090565438.jpg

http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg...3080523931.jpg


Absolutely ugly, expensive, and sucky by design. It utilizes a solar panel for a power source, but it only has 90 minutes of charge and doesn't start charging until you open the panel to expose the solar panel. It is from 2005 and they havn't done anything with it since. It did NOT sell well. It also has a headphone jack for the audio.

What I was thinking was a much simpler design there it is just the LCD screen that is flush with the tombstone, no logos or panels etc. To activate it, either a button or an IR snesor that would detect when someone was standing in front of it.

As far as price, they charge $2,000. I think a weather/shatter resistant LCD screen about 7 inches with an Rpi strapped onto the back of it could be done for waaaaaaaaaay less, like under a few hundred dollars. There is of course the cost of getting it embedded but I havn't gotten that far.

Anyways, the issue here is how to powerthe thing without a sucky solar panel, and also how it looks. The look I want is just an LCD panel in the tombstone, nothing extra, no frame, just the LCD flush witht he front of the stone. No audio either, though I suppose some people may want that.

Most people are turned off by the idea of an LCD on their tombstone showing a video montage of their memories, but I think I could get it to sell if I could pull it off cheap enough. Mainly I wanted to start with pet cemetaries since animal nuts love shit like that.

Do you think this could be accomplished relatively cheap? I don't see why it would be too expensive, the power source is the biggest bottleneck here. I need a battery that will last for 15 years. The Rpi takes up only a little bit of energy but the screen is probably power hungry.

[heppycat]

So you are saying that I should instead put them over in /? I'm still not too familiar with the directory structure yet, everything ive been doing is in the home folder, but I imagine Yum was smart enough to install everything to / hopefully. How do I go about seeing how much space is allocated to each directory/partition? Is that du-h?


Should I be putting things in /usr? I see a games folder in there, is that a good place? I am not sure where / is.

I try to keep anything related to my user account in /home/ (downloads, documents, extracted tarball that im compiling)
Working space for apps under /var/ (pcap captures, rsync backups, www)
and the odd program that doesnt automagically install itself to /opt/ (java, openfire, games)

df -h shows the size, used and free space for every mount (-h for human readable)
du -hs /var will show the used space for everything in and under /var (-s for summary, -h for human readable)
might have to run du as root to get an accurate count