mintCast 344 – Getting Jacked

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BI-WEEKLY WANDERINGS:

• Leo
  • Attempting and being slightly successful with jack.
  • I did actually get some recording done in Ardour. The amount of bells and whistles on that software is mind boggling.
  • Jack is just about as complicated as I had originally expected. This isn’t really a bad thing because there’s just so much to audio production.
  • I really feel like I did way back when I started diving into the world of IT. Everything is new and shiny and every button press leads to a crash.
  • The thing that led me to fiddling with jack, however, was an issue with my Focusrite audio interface. It will pitch shift my audio down (or up depending on the settings) if I do certain things. On my main recording box, that trigger is if I use the interface’s audio out in Linux.
  • Here’s the fix:
  • In /etc/pulse/daemon.conf , edit the following lines to match your interface’s preference, and remove the semicolons at the start of the line

default-sample-rate = 48000

alternate-sample-rate = 48000

• Tony Hughes
  • So first of sorry for missing last time but I went out on the Sunday morning and as I was bending down at the Cash/ATM machine to see the screen in the bright sunlight my back decided to object and went into spasm, not a major one but it took several days before I can sit for long periods comfortably and last Sunday evening it was impossible. Last saturday evening I joined the BDLL Euro live chat and was reasonably OK!!!!
  • Since I was last on the show I returned from Woodbrooke, I go back again next Sunday for another 2 weeks, and after my return we are both planning to go to Scotland for 5 days, a delayed holiday due to Covid, we should have gone in May. 
  • This last 2 weeks I have been joining in with the diecast ‘Paint it Pink’ challenge to raise awareness of Cancer and I have a couple of videos of my attempts on my YouTube Channel which is linked in the show notes. I plan to record a little of the process and the final results of more of my general restorations in the coming months. 
  • As of yesterday I have been playing with Openshot to do some basic editing on these videos and this allows me to crop and scale to zoom in the video clips making them a slightly better experience for the viewer.
  • Myself and Moss recorded Distrohoppers last Thursday and after a few final tweeks I published it today. Five, yes 5 reviews this month, giving the listeners their money’s worth, oh I forgot they don’t pay for it do they!!!! lol. 
• Joe
  • Privateer Tales Jamie Mcfarlane
    • 18 book series although some of the books are just short stories
      • On book 17 right now
    • A very interesting space opera and the author is very prolific so I will be 
    • going through the rest of his series of books.
    • A couple of them were listed in the previous show
  • Wizard in a witchy world book 2 and 3
    • Imagine the guy from Unsolved Mysteries (Robert Stack) reading you a book.  Its kinda like that
    • Pretty good
  • Got a ring video doorbell and a ring spotlight camera
    • Easy to setup and install the android app
    • Also easy to integrate with Alexa
    • No Linux installation or access 
    • I chose ring because it is more likely to be accepted by authorities than a roll your own solution
    • My neighborhood has seen several vehicle break ins 
    • Also porch piracy and garage robberies when they are left open.
    • My neighbor’s car got stolen and I would like to help prevent this.  Hopefully my floodlight camera will not be a nuisance for the neighbors 
    • More expensive than a roll your own but like i said it is more likely to be usable by the authorities
    • Nothing set up in the house just outside.
  • My new workout routines are coming along.  
  • Built another macro keyboard.  Much lower profile then the last 
    • Used petg for the first time which should be a bit sturdier
    • For the petg i used rafts because i understand that it has a tendency to be hard to remove and the rafts make it a bit easier
    • Also at the suggestion of Ben Heck in one of his videos I ordered a small roll of multicolored ribbon cable which made the soldering much neater and easier to cable manage.
    • This one is 4×3 instead of the previous 6×2
    • The petg came out very well as did the cable connections
    • I am going to have try writing some different code for it however because what i am using now feels very restrictive 
  • Got a very good price on a mechanical bluetooth keyboard with full num pad
    • 25 dollars for a Logitech g613 which retails at 75
    • Very heavy at 3.2 lbs
    • The only thing wrong with it was the f3 key was broken off.  It uses romer switches instead of cherries so I had to order a couple.
    • It turned out to be a very simple replacement that only took about 10 minutes, It took more time to take the thing apart then it did to do the desoldering and resoldering.  
    • A bit of flux and some solder wick got the old pieces out and the new one popped right into place 
    • It has both a dongle and bluetooth capabilities so I can use it with 2 machines
  • Traded for a new microphone because I wanted to test it out and maybe replace my backup mic
    • Got the Hyperx Quadcast which I traded my old Dell venue 8 pro that I was no longer using and one of the usb 3.0 thinkpad docks.  Think I got a good deal considering what i paid for each
    • I think it makes a better interview mic than it does a solo podcasting mic because of how much it picks up in the room.
    • The guys from the linux lug cast helped me test the settings and it as dialed in as possible
    • Also it did not come with the adapter for an arm mount so i ordered a cheap articulating adapter that looked compatible
    • But it was not so i fabricated an adapter for that mount to the microphone mount
    • Took a couple of drafts to get it right but the adapter is printed in petg and holding up well.  Might do one more iteration to get better articulation
  • Found an interesting configuration change in Linux mint that i find very useful 
    • Make it so that the num lock key does nothing and the num pad is always a num pad.  I don’t need it for directions
    • Under keyboard > Layouts > Numeric Keypad always enters digits
    • Which worked for one of computer but not the other
  • Had to redo both sets of the mmcx modded 1more triple drivers and have a third set I’m getting ready
    • Changed up some of the techniques for what i hope will be better longevity
• Bo
  • SkiFree
  • Getting Jacked!
  • Playing card games on TTS
• Tony Watts
  • Music!
    • Recording a couple of test tracks with Echoes to send off for mixing
    • Now have 2 bands active again, one practicing at my house
    • No acoustic gigs on the map but they are out there, just need to put some work into getting booked
    • Still one more music project in the wings to start up when state of the world is in a better place
  • Recycled a bunch of old computers
    • 2 desktops and 4 laptops
    • Decided anything older than core duo had to go
  • Hard drive cloning and replacement on Asus ROG GL551
    • Explain the “why” 
    • Attempted with Clonezilla, Gparted
    • Ended up using macrium
  • Fixed (or at least greatly improved) my phone charging issue with a good port cleaning.  May rock the oneplus 3T a while longer
  • Actually burned some DVDs and CDs recently for the first time in a long time

THE NEWS: 

•  Bo – WSL2 Adding Linux Disk Support
•  Nvidia to acquire ARM Joe
  • Unites NVIDIA’s leadership in artificial intelligence with Arm’s vast computing ecosystem to drive innovation for all customers
  • NVIDIA will expand Arm’s R&D presence in Cambridge, UK, by establishing a world-class AI research and education center, and building an Arm/NVIDIA-powered AI supercomputer for groundbreaking research
  • NVIDIA will continue Arm’s open-licensing model and customer neutrality and expand Arm’s IP licensing portfolio with NVIDIA technology
  • Consideration of $40 billion to be met through a combination of NVIDIA shares and cash
• Next Gnome Version to be 40, not 3.40
• Gnome Extension Development to Be Made Easier
  • Proper documentation of how extensions work, reasonable expectations to be an extensions developer, participating in the GNOME extensions community.
  • Build CI pipeline (a virtual machine) for extension writers to test their extensions prior to GNOME releases.
  • Centralizing extensions for break testing on the GNOME gitlab space
  • Creating a forum for extension developers and extension writers to work together for the GNOME release cycle
• Arc Menu Development Leadership Changing hands
• Ubuntu 20.10 release date and planned features
  • “Groovy Gorilla” Oct 22 release date
  • Ubuntu’s Feature Freeze Means – Tony W?
  • Gnome 3.38
  • Linux Kernel 5.8
    • Linux Mint gets this soon after it hits the streets
  • Features
    • Support for fingerprint 

SECURITY UPDATE:

•  Tony – Tinfoil Hat!!!
  • This is an interesting topic that you guys discussed on the last show. Personally on my PC I’m not overly paranoid, I usually set up my firewall but do little else in regards to security apart from this and even then it is only the basic setup.
  • As for my Phone i’m more careful, I only allow apps access to things they need, so obviously the camera app will need to access the camera, but if an app requests access to the camera that should not need it this is denied. For some reason a lot of apps request access to your contacts and apart from the phone and messaging there are only a couple of other apps that I’m happy having access to contacts, such as whatsApp but other things get blocked or even deleted.z
  • I do switch off bluetooth and the GPS location on my phone and only use these when absolutely necessary such as my hands free use of the phone when driving, and using google maps to navigate. 
•  Bo

Announcements:

Our next episode will be Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 2 pm Central US time, 7 pm UTC and 8 pm British Summer Time. Time conversions are available at https://www.timeanddate.com. You can use Austin, Texas as a Central Time reference.

Wrap-up:

• Joe – www.Tllts.org  linuxlugcast.com MeWe [email protected] 
• Bo – undercastnetwork.com
• Moss – Triad Bardic College, Peaceful Hippo, MeWe, music on Bandcamp and Moss Bliss’ YouTube channel or Robert Warren’s channel, I should have my ReverbNation site back soon, [email protected], [email protected], Sponsus (Now with Tiers, and a Donate Button!)!
• Tony Hughes – HPR –  http://hackerpublicradio.org/correspondents.php?hostid=338 Occasional Blog https://tony-hughes.blogspot.com/ Twitter @TonyH1212, [email protected] [email protected]   
• Tony Watts – [email protected], Echoes of Savages (band)
• Josh – [email protected], [email protected], edublocks.org and @all_about_code on Twitter
• Leo – leochavez.org and @leochavez on Twitter, linuxuserspace.show and you can get your five minute news digest at Full Circle Weekly News

Before we leave, we want to make sure to acknowledge some of the people who make mintCast possible … 

• Owen Peery for audio editing
• Josh for all his work on the website
• Hobstar for our logo
• Bytemark Hosting for hosting mintcast.org and our Mumble server
• Archive.org for hosting our audio files
• HPR for our Mumble backup
• The Linux Mint development team for the fine distro we love to talk about <Thanks, Clem!>

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