As part of my masters project I will need a way of constructing movies from single images.
I have been having some issues with ffmpeg, and totem. Totem has been screwing up files somehow....
Here is the command I am using.
ffmpeg -f image2 -r 10 -qscale 1 -i %03d.jpg i.avi
-r = frame rate
-qsacle = VBR encoding quality (1-31)
This outputs you a nice little movie. Play with the -qscale option to get the output quality you want.
This has taken me a week to do, thanks Totem and your bizarre treatment of media files.
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I've tried doing graph plotting in Linux before and found it to be a bit of a nightmare.
All I ever wanted to do was get data from a comma separated value (.csv) file and plot it.
I used Octave + Gnuplot, as Octave was designed for mathmaticians I thought it was the best tool for the job. Turns out being able to add numbers together does not give you the ability to use Octave.
Using Octave together with Gnuplot I was able to plot a graph in about 4 days. (Do not take this as a criticism of Octave, but of me.)
Thankfully inbetween times I began to learn Python and now the time has come again for me to try my hand at plotting graphs myself.
Looking in Ubuntu's repositories I found there was a Gnuplot package for python ready to install. After installing and trying the demo that came with it I managed to plot some graphs. Even better there is a csv module built into python itself.
All in all it took about an hour to get some graphs out. Whoop! Thanks Python you saved me 4 days of pulling my hair out.
Here's the code
#! /usr/bin/env python
import csv
import Gnuplot
import sys
data = sys.argv[1]
title = sys.argv[2]
results = []
f = open(data, "r")
reader = csv.reader(f)
g = Gnuplot.Gnuplot(debug=1)
g.title(title)
g('set data style lines')
for i in reader:
a = []
for j in i:
a.append(float(j))
results.append(a)
g.plot(results)
g.hardcopy(title+".ps", enhanced=1, color=1)
I plan on extending the file to do some data analysis for me (integration, linear regression etc), but that will require me learning to count a few more numbers.
Enjoy.
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This year I was roped in to help with the audio recordings for the Spring 2008 UKUUG conference.
It was a very interesting conference, but unfortunately not aimed at the end-user so a lot of the talks went over my head. The talks were more suitable for the system administrators, programmers and computer scientists of the world.
None the less I went along to help and learn what I could. I managed to take part in the all day python tutorial, and did learn a few new things that are going to help me on my way to mastering the python.
Now setting up on the Monday morning involved learning about the audio equipment I would be using, and helping the rest of the crew. Main things were getting projects set up and wireless access points plugged in.
We have used the UCE/Birmingham City University Conservatoire for conferences before, and there is a particularly awkward power socket hidden behind 3 vending machines. It is become a tradition to send the skinniest person behind these machines in order to set up. Last year at PyCon UK is was Zeth, this year it was Alex's turn.
Although at the end of the conference, it was my turn to dive behind and unplug the access point.
;)
(Nb. I am a bit larger than Zeth and Alex, and used brute force to move the coffee vending machine out further, making it much easier and comfortable!)
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There's a bit of an Ubuntu meme, meme 1,meme 2, spreading around the net, making sure that we have all done our "5-A-Day".
Try to triage 5 bugs, help with 5 new users forum posts, shoot down 5 current bugs with your mad programming skills, every day.
I took this as an opportunity to try my hand at triaging bugs. My 5 for today are, 123647, 148832, 149048, 151929 and 155352
I suspect that I won't triage 5 bugs a day, but I'll try!
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Useful information that's not very clear or easy to find.
The old iBook G3 Clamshell design, the very first iBook produced, cannot read new 700mb CD-R disks as the drive is too old. Yet it can read the even older 650mb CDRs.
This is very useful if you are trying out Linux isos you have downloaded, but make sure that they are small than 650mb!
The only distribution that I could try was Ubuntu as they were the only distribution to provide professionally pressed CDs.
I hope this is useful to others.
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