Ubuntu logo used to sell Windows 7

We know that Ubuntu and Linux in general is more and more widely used.
So much used that we can see Ubuntu logo on the screen of a laptop advertised by a major electronic shop brand (The Source) both on the flyers and the home page of the web site.
You can see below pictures of the flyers and web site advertisement. But wait, this computer is sold with Windows 7, not Ubuntu.

Is Ubuntu so good that they use it to trick customer into buying Windows 7?

Flyer:

Web Site Advertisement:

Ubuntu logo used to sell Windows 7

This Post Has Moved Here

Mac AppStore revolutionizes software installation???????

Have I missed something or it is the way it works on all Linux distributions for years now?

Prevent mythtv from shutting down while you are connected to it

This is a simple python script I use to prevent my mythtv backend to stop when I'm connected to it with samba, http, ssh or other streaming systems...

Just replace 192.168.0.3 or 192.168.0 with the ip numbers from your mythtv backend.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8

import commands
import sys

res = commands.getoutput('netstat | grep ESTABLISHED | grep -v -e .*192.168.0.3.*192.168.0.3.* -e .*192.168.0.3.*192.168.0.:microsoft-ds.*')
if len(res) > 10:
    sys.exit(1)
sys.exit(0)

 I know that it is possible to use only shell script without python to do that, but I do not master shell script so feel free to modify it to use only shell.

Use this script as the command to launch before shutting down mythtv backend to verify that it can really shutdown.

Do not buy a Linksys WRT610N

UPDATE 2
Since I use dd-wrt, my random deconnections on irc are gone...  Everything works perfectely!
do not hesitate, switch to dd-wrt.

UPDATE
 After playing a few with the v2 (switch to 5Ghz wifi N), things went wrong. Wireless G stopped working correctly like before. Connection drop, ssid disappeared, etc.. Tried factory default configuration, flash firmware again, hard 30-30-30 reset...Nothing saved my router. This router is really a shame. It is clearly defective by design! Finally, I decided to install dd-wrt on, and since this time, everything works perfectly.  To find the last versions of dd-wrt, it's here (just write wrt610n in the field and choose your version of the router). For instructions on how to flash the router, it's here for v1 and  here for v2. Follow all instructions very carefully, this manipulation is risky for your router. Be informed that you may brick your expensive router. When the tutorial says do "hard reset", this means press the reset button during several seconds until the lights on the router blink.

Last but not least: with dd-wrt you will be able to do much more things with your router than what you could do with the original firmware.
END OF THE UPDATE


Here is a my experience with one.... in fact two Linksys WRT610N routers.
Basically, on the paper this router is really good:

• Dual b,g,n Wifi card with 2.4 and 5Ghz support
• 4 Gigabits ethernet connectors
• 1 USB connecteor for mass storage disks or anything you want with specific linux distribution like dd-wrt.

When I received my first WRT610N v1, everything was fine. The 5Ghz wifi N worked perfectly with a 10MB/s (100Mb/s) bandwidth.

Then, I bought a PS3 old generation. And things started to go wrong. I switched the router to 2.4Ghz mixed b,g,n and tried to connect. The result: a very bad or impossible connection from the PS3. It seems that there is an incompatibility with the PS3. I changed my PS3 with a new slim version. The wifi started workimg correctly except that regularly, the wifi crashed, and the router needed to be rebooted. This was not a PS3 issue since all my wifi system stopped working.

Since this was not an acceptable behavior, I returned my router to the shop and get a new WRT610N v2 for free, as a replacement.

I expected major improvements with this new release. Unfortunately, things were as bad as before. The wifi regularly stopped working. It was even impossible to see the wifi (no ssid broadcast) from any of my computers. The ultimate solution I found was to set only the wifi G. With only G and no mixed mode, everything started working well.

When I say well... I don't talk about my normal connections using ethernet cable. Indeed, since I replaced this router, I am randomly disconnected from irc. This is something I never had before.

So basically, this router is really a shame, and should have been removed from the market since a long time.

It seems that most of the problems are hardware, since I tested the v1 of the router with standard firmware and dd-wrt and I had the same issues in both cases.

Time Traveler... a sort of Time machine system

This is not a nice script, but it does the job for me in the way I need it to work. I share it with you in the case it can be useful to you.
I did it to store Time Traveler data on a separate disk, it is why I don't use a maximum backuped data size, and instead a free space to keep before starting the backup.
All backups are stored in folders starting with the time_t value, then the date in human readable format.
It is used in a server, so it sends the result to an email address. You can use it with cron for example.

The script is in python, so just copy it in the file timetraveler.py, change source and destination folder and email address at the top of the file, then chmod 700 timetraveler.py, then run it. Be sure you have python and rsync installed. Us only a linux compatible file system as backup folder (ext2, ext3, ext4 or other... not fat32 or ntfs, since I don't know if it will work)

Here is the script.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8
#  TimeTraveler (c) 2009 Walter  http://computersstoneage.blogspot.com/
#
#
#TODO:
#     Répér dans les logs la sortie des commandes:
#            rm
#            rsync
#
import commands
import datetime
import time
import array
import string
import os


freeSpaceLimit = 50*1024*1024; #required disk space to start the backup in Ko. here it is 50Go.
path = "/mnt/timemachine/"  #folder where to store backups
source = "/mnt/data/"  #rértoire à auvegarder
mail = "/usr/bin/mail" #mail software
email = "timemachine"    #mail address to send the result of the backup


def disk_get_free(path):
    res = commands.getoutput('df -k '+path).splitlines()
    return int(res[1].split()[3])
  
def get_size(val):
    if val < (1024):
        val = str(val)+ ' KB'           
    elif  val < 1048576: #(1024*1024):
        val = str(float(int(val/102.4))/10.0)+ ' MB'       
    elif val < 1073741824 :#(1024*1024*1024):
        val = str(float(int(val/(104857.6)))/10.0)+ ' GB'   
    else:
        val = str(float(int(val/(107374182.4)))/10.0)+ ' TB'
    return val




date = str(datetime.datetime.now())
date = date.split()[0]
total = int(time.time())
#print(str(total)+"_"+date)

dest = path+str(total)+"_"+date

log = "STARTING TIMEMACHINE: "+str(datetime.datetime.now())+"\n"
log=log+"Backup folder: "+path+"\n"
log=log+"Source folder: "+source+"\n"
#lastInt = 0
#lastName = date+"_"+str(total)




#methode 1: je purge en fonction de l'espace disque
#print disk_get_free(path)
freeSpace = disk_get_free(path)
log = log+"Starting disk space recovery:\n"
log = log+"\tActual disk size: "+get_size(freeSpace)+"\n"
log=log+"\tDisk space to keep: "+get_size(freeSpaceLimit)+"\n"
if(freeSpace >= freeSpaceLimit):
    log=log+"\tNo need to free disk space.\n"
empty = False #cela me permet de savoir si j'ai encore des fichiers àffacer
while freeSpace < freeSpaceLimit and empty==False:
    files = os.listdir(path)
    files.sort()
    empty = True
    if len(files)>0:
         tab = files[0].split('_')
         if(len(tab) > 1) and str(tab[0]).isdigit():
            command = "rm -rf "+path+files[0]
            #print(command)
            log = log+commands.getoutput( command )
            freeSpaceNew = disk_get_free(path)
            log=log+"\tRemoving "+files[0]+": "+command+" recovered "+get_size(freeSpaceNew - freeSpace)+" => "+get_size(freeSpaceNew)+" free.\n"
            freeSpace = freeSpaceNew
            empty = False
   
if(empty==True):
    log=log+"ERROR: Can't recover enough space from previous backup. Current free space: "+get_size(freeSpace)+".\nABORTING BACKUP.\n"
    #print(log)
    p = os.popen(mail+" -s  \"Time machine "+str(datetime.datetime.now())+" - ERROR\" "+email, 'w')
    p.write(log)
    exitcode = p.close()
    exit()
log=log+"Disk space recovery finished.\n"

files = os.listdir(path)
files.sort()
found = False
i=0;
lastBackup = ""
size = len(files)
while found==False and i
    #print("i:"+str(i)+" size:"+str(size))
    tab = files[size-i-1].split('_')
    if(len(tab) > 1) and str(tab[0]).isdigit():
        found = True
        lastBackup = files[size-i-1]
    i = i+1
   
   
#lastBackup = "path"+files[len(files)-1]
#La, j'ai plus qu'a faire mon backup
command = ""
if lastBackup != "":
    log=log+"Found previous backup to increment: "+ lastBackup +"\n";
    command = "/usr/bin/rsync -a --safe-links  --stats --link-dest="+path+lastBackup+" "+source+" "+dest
    log=log+"Starting incremental backup:\n"+command+"\n"
else:
    log=log+"No previous backup to increment found.\n";
    command = "/usr/bin/rsync -a --safe-links --stats "+source+" "+dest
    log=log+"Starting complete backup:\n"+command+"\n"

log = log+commands.getoutput( command )
log=log+"\nBACKUP FINISHED!"
#print("Commad: "+command)



log = log+"Time machine finished: "+str(datetime.datetime.now())+"\n"
p = os.popen(mail+" -s  \"Time machine "+str(datetime.datetime.now())+" - OK\" "+email, 'w')
p.write(log)
exitcode = p.close()

 That's it

Frets on Fire and FoFix Song Cover Art and/or Album Cover Art Downloader

Maybe you are a fan of Frest On Fire or FoFix (personnaly, I prefer Fofix, since it has much more capabilities and less bugs).
Maybe you have some songs to play, and you would like to have cover art for your song list. To help you retrieving them automatically, I created this short script.
It is a very dirty script, and is not able to get all cover art. However It seems to make the job pretty well
For linux users, this script is usefull to, since it changes filenames starting with a upper case to lower case in songs folders.

WARNING: BE VERY CAREFUL. THIS SCRIPT IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DO. THIS SCRIPT CONNECT TO AMAZON TO FIND THE COVER ART. YOU HAVE TO CHECK WITH AMAZON FIRST TO KNOW IF YOU CAN USE IT AS IS. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY THING THIS SCRIPT CAN DO. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK AND AT YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY. CHECK IT DOESN'T DO THINGS WHICH MAY BE FORBIDDEN BEFORE USING IT.

Maybe you can modify this script to use another search engine.
This script needs ImageMagick program called "convert" to work.
It is a python script. To use it, create a file called coverart.py in your "songs" folder, then copy/paste the script below, and save the file. Then, using a terminal, go in your song folder and execute: python coverart.py
The script will check for songs in sub-folders recursively and download album cover art for each song.

Here is the bad and dirty script:


#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8

##########################################################
#                                                        #
# Copyright Walter http://computersstoneage.blogspot.com #
#                                                        #
# This program is free software; you can redistribute    #
# it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General #
# Public License as published by the Free Software       #
# Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at    #
# your option) any later version.                        #
##########################################################

import urllib
import shutil
import re, os
import commands

def download(url):
    webFile = urllib.urlopen(url)
    a = webFile.read()
    start = a.find('._SL')

    a = a[start-70:start]
    start = a.find('http://')
    img =  a[start:]+"._SL500_AA240_.jpg"
    #print img
    return img

def getinfo(path, cover):
    artist = ""
    song = ""
    try:   
        f = open(path+"song.ini", "r")
        tmp = f.readlines(2000)
        f.close()
        for line in tmp:
            if (line.strip().startswith('name') or line.strip().startswith('Name')):               
                song = line.strip().split("=")[1].strip()
                a = song.find('(')
                if a > 0:
                    song = song[:a]
            if (line.strip().startswith('artist') or line.strip().startswith('Artist')):
                artist = line.strip().split("=")[1].strip()
                a = artist.find('(')
                if a > 0:
                    artist = artist[:a]
        song = song.replace(' ','+');
        artist = artist.replace(' ','+');
       
        return 'http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=%22'+artist+'%22+%22'+song+'%22&x=0&y=0'
    except:
        print "Failed to open "+path+"song.ini"
        #return ""
        exit
       
   
def AddCoverArt(path):
    url = getinfo(path,True)
    if len(url) < 10:
        return
    img = download(url)
    if ((len(img) < 20) or (len(img)>1000)):
        print("Nothing found with cover for: "+path+" "+url);
        return
    img=urllib.unquote_plus(img)
    print("Loading: "+img)
    try:
        webFile = urllib.urlopen(img)
        localFile = open(path+"album.tmp.png", 'w')
        localFile.write(webFile.read())
        localFile.close()
    except:
        print "Can't get: "+img
        return ""


def ScanDir(g):
        files = os.listdir(g)
        for f in files:
                if(os.path.isdir(g+f)):
                        print('Entering: '+g+f+'/')
                        ScanDir(g+f+'/')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'Song.ogg')):
                print( 'mv '+g+'Song.ogg '+g+'song.ogg')
                os.rename(g+'Song.ogg', g+'song.ogg')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'Song.ini')):
                print( 'mv '+g+'Song.ini '+g+'song.ini')
                os.rename(g+'Song.ini', g+'song.ini')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'Notes.mid')):
                print( 'mv '+g+'Notes.mid '+g+'notes.mid')
                os.rename(g+'Notes.mid', g+'notes.mid')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'Rhythm.ogg')):
                print( 'mv '+g+'Rhythm.ogg '+g+'rhythm.ogg')
                os.rename(g+'Rhythm.ogg', g+'rhythm.ogg')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'Guitar.ogg')):
                print( 'mv '+g+'Guitar.ogg '+g+'guitar.ogg')
                os.rename(g+'Guitar.ogg', g+'guitar.ogg')
        if(os.path.exists(g+'guitar.ogg')) and (not os.path.exists(g+'song.ogg')):
                shutil.copy2(g+'guitar.ogg', g+'song.ogg')
                print( 'cp '+g+'guitar.ogg '+g+'song.ogg')
    if(os.path.exists(g+'Album.png')):
        os.rename(g+'Album.png', g+'album.png')
                print( 'mv '+g+'Album.png '+g+'album.png')
    if(os.path.exists(g+'song.ini'))and (not os.path.exists(g+'album.png')):
        AddCoverArt(g)
    if(os.path.exists(g+'album.tmp.png')):
        #os.rename(g+'album.png', g+'album.tmp.png')
        cmd = 'convert "'+g+'album.tmp.png" "'+g+'album.png"'
        print('Convertion: '+cmd)
        commands.getstatusoutput(cmd)
        os.unlink(g+'album.tmp.png')
       
ScanDir('./')



That's it...