Windows Media Player 11 : What a s%^?*hole

WARNING:I'm going to rant...Yes I am going to RANT!!

I have been currently working on a video show reel for a friend and it has gotten to a point where she can actually show someone it's current state. Yet it still a work in progress, I am still over the moon with my new audio and video editing skills even though I have only just begun to scratch the sufarace (getting a basic framework).

She said, "Can I get that burnt onto a CD" so I can show someone, I said, "Sure it should be able play it"... Boy was I wrong!!!

The Drama
I cannot believe how crippled Windows Media player 11 is. I have wasted around 3 cds just to find a suitable video format for "Windows Users" to view it int. I googled around and fount that utilizing the old "Windows Media Player Classic" supports more stuff.

Quick Solution :)
Install VLC

Slow Solution
Convert the video format to "wmv" (with VLC).

Additional Notes
Standard installed Windows Media Player 11 fails to support the following

• "avi dv" format [Camcorda thingy]
• "mpeg4" and dvd formats (You need to purchase a plugin?!)

Final Thoughts
I believe this is Microsoft saying, "If you think you so smart using opensource try this one for a laugh..."

Seriously though making Windows users having to pay for a plugin to play a DVD is a joke in my opinon when you can just insert into a standard DVD player. It wouldn't surprise me if the plugin cost the same as a buying a DVD player.

Having to wait an age to convert this mpeg4 into a WMV file is anoyingly slow as I write this entry.

The amount of CD/DVDs I had to trial on just to figure this one out, what a waste of resources.

On the PLUS side, the "wmv" is smaller, yet it's turned the video quality to mush :/

Well I'll be sure to remember this one once after I have found the best video conversion method.
Not forgetting getting used to converting qualities.

Yes yes yes... You can say it... "I assumed".... The mother of all ^"£% ups.

SharedCookbook : Updated 12/1/2010

Thanks to Reddit.com feedback I knew the layout and content for the front page had to be more inviting.

Screenshot of New Layout

Changes
+Front page now has same content as "Home"
+Change the layout of the "Home"
+Added a nice little greeting for guests and users
+Added a Tag Cloud that shows all User's tags

Additional
Sorry for such yet another long time in the development cycle also, still juggling with other projects and important mandatory life changing tasks.

I also apologizes for the site for being in "maintenance limbo" yesterday last night. I ran out of Internet credits on my mobile phone whilst updating and discovered, it isn't a good idea updating such a live site via mobile phone anyway... [My bad].

Ubuntu : Genius Pen F610

Thanks to this TabletSetupWizardpen I managed to get my pen configured and drawing. Yet I did stumble upon a a couple of issues. Here is how I managed it.

Oh and by the way, really the Genius Pen F610 is actually a WALTOP pen WALTOP International Corp. Slim Tablet.

You will find these steps will request you do steps in the "TabletSetupWizardpen" and then come back to this.

Resolution

1) Using this guide, do the following steps under "Setting up your tablet".

1.1) Installing needed packages
1.2) Downloading and installing the driver ( You will need an Ubuntu Forum account)

Once completed and you wave the pen around, you may find your tablet workspace small or larger

2) Under step "Calibration" you may find "/dev/tablet-event" does not exist, here is how I found mine.

ls /dev/input/by-id/

Mine is (remember this for later steps in the guide)

/dev/input/by-id/usb-WALTOP_International_Corp._Slim_Tablet-event-if00

When you run the command (Change the red )

sudo ./wizardpen-calibrate /dev/tablet-event

You may need to do this more than once and you need to click by pressing the "Mouse Pen" to the tablet or pad.

REMEMBER the this value for "Setting up X".

3) Follow "Setting up X" edit the xorg.conf with the following command

gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

3.1) In the "ServerLayout" section, add the line just below your primary mouse0

InputDevice "WizardPen Tablet" "AlwaysCore"

3.2) I kinda copied pasted one of the template Section "InputDevice" and then changed it. Here is mine anyway

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier      "WizardPen Tablet"
Driver          "wizardpen"
Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/by-id/usb-WALTOP_International_Corp._Slim_Tablet-event-if00"
Option          "TopX"          "295"
Option          "TopY"          "210"
Option          "BottomX"       "20000"
Option          "BottomY"       "12500"
Option          "MaxX"          "20000"
Option          "MaxY"          "12500"
EndSection

4) Follow step, "Making X start without a tablet connected" with the following command

gksu gedit /etc/rc.local

4.1) Verify the device line exists, change the text marked red, HINT : " ls /dev/input/by-id"

XORG_CONF=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
if [ -e /dev/tablet-event ]; then
sed -ie 's/^\(\s*\)\#\(\s*InputDevice\s\s*\"WizardPen\ Tablet\"\s\s*\"AlwaysCore\"\)\s*$/\1\2/' "$XORG_CONF"
echo "Udev created /dev/tablet-event = Tablet present! - Tablet-driver enabled"
else
sed -ie 's/\(^\s*InputDevice\s\s*\"WizardPen\ Tablet\"\s\s*\"AlwaysCore\"\)\s*$/\#&/' "$XORG_CONF"
echo "Udev did NOT create /dev/tablet-event = tablet NOT present! - Tablet-driver disabled"
fi

5) Update your .fdi with the similar settings to InputDevice section above.

gksu gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/99-x11-wizardpen.fdi

6) Restart Xserver by typing

sudo service gdm restart

If you get problems starting your X server (Graphics system), you may need to reset your xorg.conf or restore your backup. For nvidia type

nvidia-xconfig

7) To get the mouse buttons working (Yet I could only get the mouse pen nib to only work) Type the following

xinput set-button-map "WizardPen Tablet" 1 3 2

Apparently there is meant to be 6 buttons when running the commands

 xinput list

And if want a summary of known X pointers type

xsetpointer -l

Final Thoughts
I can tell, open source community needs to improve a bit more on MousePen Pen drawing thingy Tablet gadget friendliness.

Keep pushing ahead and you will eventually get your MousePen work :) It took me 3 days of fiddling before I Finally figured it out. I even tried "wacom" drivers and they just crash the GUI so I had to remove the wacom.fdi file.

Xubuntu: FTP Access Fails with Konqueror

The window manager Xfce that powers the GUI to Xubuntu has a nice setting for compatibility with KDE applications.

Resolution

1. Click Applications->Settings->Sessions and Startup
2. Click the Advanced tab
3. Tick "Launch KDE Services on startup" under "Compatibility"
4. Then restart your Xubuntu

Konqueror should now function normally :)

Special thanks to
Xubuntu Community member at freenode IRC channel #xubuntu