I’ve blogged in the past about my exploits with MythTV, and playing around with Personal Video Recorders. Over Christmas we bought ourselves a new TV and DVD player, to replace our aged tv, freeview box and dvd player, all of which had faults. However, our video recorder is also showing some signs of age – it was a wedding present – and I recently saw that eBuyer now have the Acer Revo “nettop” PCs for only £120, and I began investigating the world of PVRs again.

Here’s what I would really like:

• something that can (at least) mimic the functions of the video recorder, ie recording and playing back shows from TV
• something that can handle our library of DVDs
• something that can give easy access to online video content, ideally iplayer and seesaw as they now cover most of the stuff I’d want

Other items (picture viewing, other video plugins, etc, etc) are a bonus that is a consideration, but not a deal breaker.

So I started to look around at some of the current popular offerings. As far as I can tell, MythTV is still the one to beat for straight PVR, although there’s a certain amount of confusing online as to whether or a not a Revo could handle it as a combined backend/frontend. (The dual-core model seems like it might, unsure about the ‘bargain’ box).

When it comes to the online content, there are 3 big boys out there – XBMC, Plex (which is only for MacOS) and Boxee. I’ve looked at all three, and here are my conclusions:

• XBMC – the code upon which the other 2 are based, but seems to be nice. The interface is usable and looks a lot like plex. However, the browsing for plugins is rudimentary, and the list of plugins only had a couple of things I wanted. A search online seemed to come back with a lot of ‘this can’t be done because of DRM’ replies, and yet the plugins exist for Plex, so why not….?
• Plex – pretty nice, although it did have one or two annoyances, not least the reliance on OSX which would make the Acer Revo a more difficult prospect (if a prospect at all)
• Boxee – the new kid on the block making a lot of noise, but, in my opinion, not yet delivering. They need to sort out getting more plugins in there, and it needs an interface to MythTV too It had a whole load of “social” stuff built into it, but, frankly, I don’t think I want/need that. (Reminds me a bit of the Flock browser)

I _want_ to like Boxee, but I find myself leaning towards XBMC more at the moment. Alternatively, there are a load of plugins for MythTV itself, so maybe that is a better option?

I’d love to hear from anybody who has similar needs, and also anyone who’s running Myth on a Revo.

mrBen

Those of you with geek leanings, and possibly some of you who aren’t, will have experienced the problem – you have a great idea for a new project/product/business/etc and you’ve come up with a name for it and it’s beginning to come together, and then you go to buy the domain, only to discover that .com, .net and .org are all taken. And suddenly you have to decide – do you go for a marginally more obscure ending – .co.uk, org.uk, .info, .me – or do you change the name of the project?

The happened for me with both linkpot.net and fosstr.org (both of which I handed over to a friend when I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain them). In both of those, I took the option to choose a new name and get a ‘decent’ domain. However, it’s happened to me again, and, in light of the recent hubbub from ReadWriteWeb which seems to indicate that a significant proportion of the web use Google rather than actually type in addresses, am I better off keeping the name I like and having a longer TLD, or is there still value in having a short TLD?

Thoughts welcome (although let’s not have a discussion about whether someone in the UK should be using .***.uk rather than a US TLD )

mrBen

OK – it’s not really new any more – been here for more than 3 months. But I promised Félim that I would blog about it

I started work on Nov 16th at Central with the job title of ‘Junior Developer’. The extra hour in bed in the mornings is wonderful, as is getting home a good 45 minutes earlier at night. I’ve been able to help out with the kids in the morning and evening, which I (hope/think) is a bit of relief for Heather.

I’m doing a stack of Python, which is great, and working on a product that I genuinely think is brilliant. (More on that when it gets formally released ). I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.

All in all, it was definitely the right move to make.

mrBen

Back in December 2007 I tried a bit of cycle commuting on a borrowed mountain bike. I stopped when I realised that it wasn’t really saving me any money, and because I thought I was about to move to a job closer to home, whereupon I would start again. Sadly, the job never materialised, and I never started up cycling again, despite having done over 200 miles at that point.

Fast-forward to 2009, where I got 2 offers – a new job at Central and a new (to me) bike via an online friend. He had been given an old 10-speed road-bike, but wasn’t allowed by his wife to keep it, so I said I would take it.

I took delivery of an old Peugeot Carbolite 103 (actually the name of the frame, the model is an obscure number on a sticker near the bottom bracket that is a bit torn ) in November, but sadly there is no such thing as a free bike. New tyres were a good start, but when I went for my first serious test ride, the chain broke. A new chain then enabled me to see that the saddle was woefully uncomfortable, so a new saddle arrived for Christmas. I’m still in need of some mud guards, and I suspect a rack at some point, and some additional cycling clothes, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture

Me collecting the bike:

A few alterations later:

Of course, then there are the alterations that need doing. The brakes are shoddy and need a bit more work, if not replacing. The brake levers have been moved, but need moved a lot more to make the drops anything more than decoration. I have bar tape to fit (matching the saddle…). Plus it now needs a good clean and oiling.

However, I’ve done 100 miles in January, having ridden every work day, and I intend to ride at least 200 work days in 2010, which would be about 1000 miles of cycling. It will also save me in the region of £400, although I would need to minus expenses off that…… now – where’s that cycling mag….

mrBen

Wow – I am so behind on blog posts it’s unbelievable. I have 3 or 4 in my head at the moment. However, just a small one for now to wish all our readers a Happy New Year. Some things to look forward to posts on:

• My New Job
• My New Bike / Commute / Fitness plan for 2010
• Thoughts on PVRs
• Snow!

But for now, a few excellent links for those of you who are into cycling. My aim this year (more later) is 200 weekday commutes, so I am officially “into” cycling (again!)

• .citycycling (free monthly online cycling magazine)
• Yehuda Moon (cycling webcomic)
• Cyclogs (site for recording all your cycling stats)

L8rs…

mrBen

It’s been a while since I released any code into the public realm. Until today \o/

Sadly, the code is probably not something that many people are interested in, but I was interested and that’s enough for me

Whetstone is a small application to help you memorise verses of scripture over a period of time. Currently it only runs on Linux, although the Windows version is around the corner. Testers are welcomed

mrBen

Meant to post this a couple of months ago when I originally took it.

(Click for fullsize. Thanks to the Ubuntu UK Podcast guys, from whom I won the Canonical store vouchers that paid for the hat )

I love my daughter

mrBen

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/29/bbc-hd-encryption

I am a huge fan of the BBC, and I gladly pay my license fee in return for the oodles of quality content we get over the airwaves and internet-tubes. Tying themselves down in the way described in this article would be a monumental fail, and I would cry.

mrBen

Back in May I asked the question as to whether or not I should have two blogs, my existing Jedimoose blog (which you’re reading now) and an additional blog to cover the new work that Heather and I were beginning in the church.

After a certain amount of internal debate, I chose a rough compromise – I would have 2 blogs, but I would post regular summaries of links here to posts on the other site. This has the additional benefit that the other site will likely contain posts from multiple people involved with the project over time.

And so, at long last, I am pleased to officially announce (meaning it happened a while back, but I didn’t get around to posting before) the life`boat project. If you want to read the posts regularly, you’ll find them there, otherwise there will be summaries here every now and then when I remember (I hope to get something automagic, but haven’t found a plugin to my liking at the moment).

Summary of all previous posts from life`boat:
First post (7th July)
Ships and the sea (17th July)
Back from CLAN (26th July)
Tasks for the next couple of months (4th August)
More from CLAN (10th August)
Influences (Part 1) (13th August)
Brief Update (6th September)
Influences (Part 2) (15th September)
Influences (Part 3) (23rd September)
Balancing Act (30th September)

Comments, as ever, welcomed, although I realise this won’t be everyones cup of tea

mrBen

It’s been a week since my Aspire One got delivered, so here are a few thoughts (posted from it, of course).

• Linpus Lite lasted about 10 minutes before the novelty wore off and Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) got installed
• UNR is pretty sweet – installed quickly, and I really like the launcher and maximus (the window manager that auto-maximises most applications
• The keyboard is surprisingly easy to type on
• The screen is nice – Serenity looks great
• I need to try one of the other wifi drivers – this one does seem to drop out when under high load
• Adobe Flash is somewhat slow at times – need to see if anyone else suffers from that
• Battery life is not as good as I would like, but liveable with

Overall, I’m extremely happy with my new piece of kit – it has outperformed my expectations in most areas, and I am anticipating it getting plenty of use over the next few weeks and months.

One thing I have been thinking about is storage, and whether or not to get some online storage. Dropbox has been around for a while and seems to be popular, although part of me is tempted by Ubuntu One, as a way to support Canonical. Anybody got experience of either of these, another service, or alternatively using something like space on Dreamhost for synchronising data?

mrBen

It’s been 13 years since I bought a whole computer for myself. But today I put in my order for an Acer Aspire One netbook, which is very exciting. Sadly, in order to pay for it, I am selling on the Nokia N800 that I won at LugRadio Live 2007, which I do with some sadness, but it is at least going on to a good home at another former LugRadio Community Hero.

So, why the change. Well, I’d been thinking about Netbooks since Asus brought out the Eee pc – I love the balance between portability and power. While my N800 has bags of power for it’s size, and was definitely portable, it basically got relegated to being an audio media player, with the odd bit of video, and playing Aisleriot (and Flight of the Amazon Queen on SCUMMVM when I first got it). Certainly the screen is lovely for video, and it fulfilled it’s function wonderfully. If I didn’t need the cash to fund the netbook, I’d keep it….

Instead, however, my media player functions will move to my phone, and the netbook will become the place for watching video and playing games. In addition, I’m hoping to use the netbook as a calendar/diary, which the N800 wasn’t ideal for (although GPE Calendar twinned with Erminig to sync with google was not bad), plus take on some additional functions that I would normally use my laptop for, like running OpenOffice.org and GnomeSword (now apparently called Xiphos, but not yet in Ubuntu…).

According to Parcelforce, it’s out for delivery today, so hopefully my next post will be done via the netbook

mrBen

Given that the news is mostly out through twitter/facebook, I thought I would put some extra information here as a bonus to my blog readers

Heather went in for a checkup yesterday evening, and we got home at 1900, at which point she had her first contractions, and they continued sporadically from then. At around 0030 they were consistent enough, and frequent enough, that it was time to head out. We arrived at the Southern General at around 0050.

The labour was actually pretty quick, and drugless apart from gas and air this time. At 0240 Jamie popped out and had some skintime with Mummy. He weighed in at exactly 9lbs, which is 1lb 13oz heavier than Mira was! He fed a bit and then I got my first hold, and then he slept for a good while, during which the midwives did all the necessary cleaning up and paperwork and stuff.

I hung around until after they had bathed Jamie and Heather had a shower, and then headed home for about 0600. Jackie had been staying over for Mira (thanks Jackie!) and so I got 90 minutes sleep and she handled getting Mira up and breakfast before I took over. The rest of the day has been a whirlwind of texting, emailing, phoning and taking Mira to visit her new baby brother.

mrBen

Not what I normally get to see in my back garden in the middle of Glasgow. Sadly the photos are too shaky for public consumption, but this bit of video came out great:

mrBen

In the past year of using Ubuntu fulltime at work, there have only been a couple of consistent annoyances. One was that when booting up with 2 screens attached it would default to the external monitor, not the internal. I wrote a quick script which sorts that.

The other was that, when the previous occurs, or when playing games etc, the panel icons and applets seem to move around, rather than staying where I had carefully placed them. Now, the positions of all the applets and icons are stored in gconf, so I thought it would be a cunning plan to write to script to store/restore them, and here it is!

To run it you simply do:

$ python panel-tool.py store

which will store the positions of all the icons/applets in your top panel in a text file, and then

$ python panel-tool.py restore

when you want them restored to normal. This requires a restart of the panel, which is a bit ugly (it does a complete reload, which takes a few seconds) but it works!

Anyway – thought somebody else might be wanting this, so I’m releasing this version into the wild. It’s nowhere near perfect, I’m sure, but it WFM…

mrBen

panel-tool.py

(Save the file and rename to panel-tool.py due to hosting weirdness)

UPDATE
OK – there seems to be some issues with the login/out menu applet, and the clock applet. Sometimes they show up in the wrong place, although if you move them to where they should be and rerun panel-tool it seems to work itself out properly. I’ll see if I can resolve this (and do a proper config file as suggested by aq)

Wow – this is quite late. Here are some basic results, although, as has been pointed out many times, this is far from statistically accurate or in any way a valid experiment.

There were only 7 completed responses to the survey, and the results go something like this:

Background:
5 Female, 2 Male; 6 UK, 1 US; 6 Christians, 1 agnostic (nominally marked as Christian, but neutral in belief in God and neutral in following their prescribed set of beliefs). All but one prayed for more than 25 of the 40 (the one being one of the Christians, not the agnostic)

Prayer:
There was a spread between the different options for what to pray for. The Christians believed that God would answer (although one was unsure it would happen in this timescale). The Christians all felt they had an answer, although only one thought it was “complete”. The agnostic gave it a -1, so not a complete opposite, but worse than a no answer. Interestingly, the number of times people prayed did not seem to have much effect – the person who prayed the least seemed to have one of the more answered prayers.

Changes:
The Christians had no change in their belief in God, but a little more faith in prayer. The agnostic had less faith in God, and less faith in prayer. The Christians would definitely keep praying, whereas the agnostic stayed neutral.

I’ll leave the rest of you to formulate your own opinions on this, as you probably would anyway. Thanks to those who took part (especially those who filled out the survey).

mrBen

There are few things in my life that have lasted a decade. I’ve never lived in the same house for 10 years. I’ve never had the same car for 10 years. Or computer. I’ve had my bike for more than 10 years, but it hasn’t been ridden for 10 either. I have been playing guitar for more than 10 years, but not the same guitar (although my first acoustic from 14 years ago is still kicking about). While it feels like eternity, I haven’t worked at IBM for 10 years. I have been using Linux on and off for 10 years, but only as my primary desktop for about 7 or 8.

But on Saturday, Heather and I will have been married for 10 years. Depending on the stats you read, it would appear that we are now in the minority. We’ve certainly passed through the statistically difficult period (the 25-29 age bracket has the highest %age of divorces). It hasn’t always been easy, but I have no regrets, and still very much believe in marriage, both generally and specifically.

Apparently, it takes the average person 9 years of marriage before they start thinking unselfishly. So things should be getting much better now Roll on the next 10.

mrBen

We’re in the process of decluttering our house a bit, and I was thinking of trying to raise a bit of cash to maybe buy some new tech (assuming I can get permission…), and so I’m thinking of flogging my small collection O’Reilly books. Before I consign them to ebay, I thought I would offer them out to the faithful readers of my blog. All offers considered. Postage will need to be covered, or pick them up in person if you’re nearby. Unless noted, the books are all as new, although some are older editions than the current print version.

• Linux in a Nutshell (4th Ed)
• LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell
• Linux Desktop Hacks
• Linux Cookbook
• Tim O’Reilly in a Nutshell
• Managing NFS and NIS (quite an old copy)
• Programming Python 2nd Edition
• Java and XSL
• Sed and Awk (2nd Edition) (bought from work library but in good condition)
• Learning the vi editor (bought from work library but in good condition)

I also have another book on programming Java from a different publisher. Will confirm details on that later.

Lastly, I may also consider parting with a couple of older commercial games for Linux, namely:

• Heavy Gear II
• Soul Ride
• Hopkins FBI
• Soldier of Fortune
• Doom3
• Quake4
• Unreal Tournament 2003
• Unreal Tournament 2004

All the games are boxed with all the appropriate manuals, although they have all been used. I’m not entirely sure I want to get rid of all of these, but if you are interested, please let me know and I’ll think harder about it.

For any of these items either leave me a comment, or drop me a mail at mrben -at- jedimoose -dot- org.

mrBen

Jedimoose has been up and running for a number of years now, over a number of different webhosts, blog software, designs, etc. And, to be honest, I’m pretty happy with it. Having 2 of us blog on the same site does, in some parts, is less pressure than doing one on your own. And my portion of it is also syndicated in a couple of “planets”, which is always gratifying.

However, there are times (and this is one of them) where I wonder whether or not I would be better served by having 2 blogs. There are 2 main strands of people that read my blog – people who know me through church and/or faith-related activity (say “hi”), and people who know me through technology – mostly scotluggers and lugradians (wave, people). For the most part over the years, the latter group has probably had more interesting content to read, with a lot of people in the former scratching their heads. Even some of the interesting stuff for the former is related to the latter – things like questions over DRM and privacy which affect us all.

As has previously been talked about, things are changed relatively rapidly in my life. What, in that previous post, I described as a 3-5 year timespan looks now like it might be as little as a year, and we are beginning a process now that will see us gathering a team to start a new work in a church. I will probably have a lot to say about this (as will Heather), and so I come to the point as to whether or not Jedimoose.org is the right place for all that content.

I’ve got to admit, I’m torn for a couple of reasons. On the one-hand, where my blog is syndicated it is because it’s people who know me, and want (I hope) to hear what’s going on in my life. On the other, the 2 distinct groups of people might be better served by having the choice. Back on the first hand, Jedimoose has been my home for a long time, and I’m not sure that adding an additional site will keep the content flowing here. On the flip side, having a shiny new domain to share with Heather might be more productive and cohesive as a record of our adventure.

Thoughts welcome; suggestions of potential new domains if we decided to go down that route encouraged

mrBen

Too funny.

mrBen

Well – Lent is over, and so it’s time for the Great Lent Challenge Survey.

If you took part, head on over to the survey to fill out your responses. Any problems or questions, please don’t hesitate to mail me – mrben -at- jedimoose -dot- org

I know some folks have got a bit of time left to wait on their answers or lack thereof, so I won’t be publishing the results until around the end of May.

mrBen