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Can you share what tools / scripts / arguments you use for this?

I've not found any way to do it without a massive headache.

I use Windows and AnyDVD, which removes all protections from both DVD and BluRay, but if you only use DVD, pretty much anything will work to get the content into the right format. I would recommend something like DVD Shrink to quickly grab only the main movie and the soundtracks and subtitles that interest you.

After that, I prefer semi-manual means instead of an all-in-one system, so I use DG Index to feed into AVISynth. You don't need anything fancy in AVISynth, but you will want to use something like SmartDecimate to de-interlace the movie back to the original 24fps. Apply other filters as you see fit.

Then, to convert to H.264, something like x264 --preset slower --tune film --crf 18 --output "MovieName.264" "MovieName.avs" will do the job fine, giving you filesizes averaging about 700MB/hour. Eventually, you can learn more about x264 and do some fancier things, but all they will buy you is a smaller filesize for the same visual quality.

Then, rename the MovieName.264 file to MovieName.h264 and use mkvmerge or the GUI front-end to combine the original audio and subtitles from the DVD with your newly encoded video. This will get you movies you can watch. If you want to add things like chapters, or modify the original audio, you'll have to use a few more tools, but those are completely optional steps.

Another option for interfacing: http://www.greta.dhs.org/UBW/

The UBW shows up as a serial port and you just send commands to it to toggle pins and do other stuff. For example, it has ADC support, so you could connect a thermistor and you can read the temp anywhere. Use the GPIOs and you can control stuff based on sensor readings.

Still in "hammer swatting a fly" territory though. :)

The lizard's a bearded dragon, you can see a few pictures of Kaijyu over time here:

http://xyzzy.dyn.dhs.org/camera/kaijyu/

The local pet shops all agree that the heat lamp is safer for lizards than a heating pad, and since the bearded dragon originally came from a desert climate it should provide a more home-like feeling along with the "calcium" sand. We let Kaijyu out most days to roam, but he/she (we haven't checked, since it could be a painful process) always wants to go back in the cage after a short time - probably due to the temperature difference.

Unfortunately that means that you need to bother the router with the PPPoE.
For Cisco IOS routers, this is troublesome (I know it is no problem with home routers).
You get a "dialer" interface to route your packets to, and in many ways it is inferior to a normal ethernet port.
(when we bought the routers we got ADSL WICs with them, ADSL modems that plug into the router, and to use PPPoA we got the same dialer config and a lot of trouble, solved by using external modems)

The Cisco prefers to just bounce ethernet frames around. The modems should do the ADSL-specific handling.
Right now we have Thomson/Alcatel SpeedTouch 510's doing the job using http://jp.dhs.org/~jp/510_tpl.html . They work fine.

However:
- they are ADSL, not ADSL2+
- they are not available anymore
- they are home products, with the associated build quality

I know there are Speedtouch 516/546 modems with old firmware that still do what we need. But when ordering one, you might get a "new" one that has the unstable new firmware. This also is a "while supplies last" situation.
It would be nice if there was a modem that is just a modem. Preferable with a build quality that you would use in a business situation.

A lot of Googling still did not yield the answer, although the Linksys ADSL2MUE seemed right on target. With better firmware, it would be.

Here's the torrent for the video collection he's talking about:
http://kalak.dhs.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_ op=getit&lid=70

I've got a LSW worshiping video collection for those who need more than screen shots. After playing about 100+ hours of this with my son, I decided to record a speed run through the entire game.

http://kalak.dhs.org/

and LSW II looks like they's integrated it into the extras. You can unlock a timed run of an episode. Started it this morning, but I didn't get to finish. I did get to play the race to collect 1,000,000 studs in a giant battle with my son. This one is even better than the last (more challenging too, but not so much my 8 year old gets frustrated).

• USB Bit Whacker
• Arduino
• (you can buy the above two from SparkFun if you don't feel like DIY)
• LabJack
• various FTDI-based devices from many companies

Final Fantasy X would not let you skip cut scenes. Believe, me, I have a strange reason for knowing this

Also, for the Xenosaga comments below, thankfully it will let you skip or I'd have killed them. (For fair time, I'll link to http://www.onegaistudios.com/

Now a rewind button is what we really need for those times the kids just *have* to show you something at the wrong plot point in the FMV

Well, they run a good project at dhs.org...

(Yes I know it's not run by that dhs...)

I have been doing some research on the notion of "Decentralizing the Poo Structure," and came across a very appropriate article, " Re-engineering the toilet for sustainable wastewater management ," which discusses the "NoMix Toilet" concept. Essentially (for those unable to RTFA), this has a separate flush mode for urine, enabling it to use a fraction of the normal water needed. Personally, this sounds better than putting oil into the black water stream or disposable filters. The NoMix, combined with a storage tank or with a specialized wastewater exit infrastructure allows for many possibilities:
You can store and release into the regular wastewater stream during non-peak hours (e.g. NOT during a storm or early morning); you can reuse--since urine is so high in phosphorous and other useful nutrients it's perfect for agriculture, especially organic farms; etc. Reuse offers you the possibility of saving significantly more water than the "no-flush urinal." Redirecting from the normal stream is then not only useful, but important and necessary because the current WasteWater Treatment System is unable to handle all the nutrients it is currently receiving.

This is definitely the way to go, separating streams of wastewater. Granted it seems very difficult, but then you have to factor in the need to build up current systems further, and you start to realize what a great alternative this can be. To me, this is all notably suited to areas that lack good sanitation infrastructure, so that they can start off right the first time.

Supposedly, people can learn from others mistakes, or so I've been told! Well, that's my 5 paise. To see some of the other interesting links I dug up, or read the paper I'm working on, you can check my files for my Natural Resource Economics class.
All from me, hasta luego, -Ajay

I have been doing some research on the notion of "Decentralizing the Poo Structure," and came across a very appropriate article, " Re-engineering the toilet for sustainable wastewater management ," which discusses the "NoMix Toilet" concept. Essentially (for those unable to RTFA), this has a separate flush mode for urine, enabling it to use a fraction of the normal water needed. Personally, this sounds better than putting oil into the black water stream or disposable filters. The NoMix, combined with a storage tank or with a specialized wastewater exit infrastructure allows for many possibilities:
You can store and release into the regular wastewater stream during non-peak hours (e.g. NOT during a storm or early morning); you can reuse--since urine is so high in phosphorous and other useful nutrients it's perfect for agriculture, especially organic farms; etc. Reuse offers you the possibility of saving significantly more water than the "no-flush urinal." Redirecting from the normal stream is then not only useful, but important and necessary because the current WasteWater Treatment System is unable to handle all the nutrients it is currently receiving.

This is definitely the way to go, separating streams of wastewater. Granted it seems very difficult, but then you have to factor in the need to build up current systems further, and you start to realize what a great alternative this can be. To me, this is all notably suited to areas that lack good sanitation infrastructure, so that they can start off right the first time.

Supposedly, people can learn from others mistakes, or so I've been told! Well, that's my 5 paise. To see some of the other interesting links I dug up, or read the paper I'm working on, you can check my files for my Natural Resource Economics class.
All from me, hasta luego, -Ajay

First, Sun's own executives are pretty clear that they are _NOT_ looking to put Star/OO.org on the web, as they already tried a java-based version with StarPortal and weren't happy.
Schwartz said he has no regrets: "Is AJAX or a browser an appropriate vehicle for heavyweight office productivity software? Absolutely not," he said. (Reference: Sun and Google shake hands.)

    Second, there already _ARE_ Companies bundling StarOffice right now! (Which, as has been mentioned, is what Sun offers, since they don't own OO.org)

    the \. community needs to work on not only RFTA'ing, but the articles referenced by the articles, and the commentary.. there's gold in them thar commentaries! (Biggest reason to read slashdot, since the editorial abilities are below par!)
Hasta luego,
        -Ajay

He _SAID_ Javascript, not Java, making your 'Do it in AJAX' weave in perfectly with the 'Funny' parent.. ugh!
      -@

I thought it might be something like that... and I *still* think Linux can handle it :-). What DirectCD uses is the "UDF" format, which allows incremental "packet" writing. There is now UDF support for Linux.

Funnily enough, I wrote up my experiences with BitTorrent only the other day, and it might be of some help to you: Using BitTorrent on Linux.

I'm not sure what they're using now, but as of 2000, they were using Talarian's SmartSockets. That was back when I worked there, and they IPO'ed. A dude from the NYSE came out to the festivities and told us how important we were. Pretty crazy stuff, I couldn't believe our product was that stable.
Talarian's stock crashed shortly thereafter, rounds of layoffs (hi! :), and eventually, they got bought by the 800-lb gorilla of messaging--their only competitor--Tibco.
It's hard to imagine the NYSE converting all over to Tibco's software, but it's also hard to imagine Tibco keeping Talr's Smart Sockets for very long, as its not a strategy I usually see companies adopt.
Though, if you look up those terms in google, you get sites such as http://www.wallstreettechjobs.com/ which list "Experience with sockets and messaging including Tibco EMS and
SmartSockets" for some developer job.
Anywho, that's my 5 pesos.. -Ajay

(Reading slashdot since '97, and never got an account. Oh yeah..)

There was an attempt to rewrite the Mozilla project in all Java at one time called Jazilla. I think the original focus of the project changed over time, why reinvent the wheel. Here is the main page of the current Jazilla project

Of course, if he'd used a Tablet PC to doodle on, this whole hullabaloo would never have happened.... But then, that too is telling, that it's easier to doodle on paper than on a tablet pc.

"not as tied to Windows"? Yeah right!
I've visited my relatives in India semi-frequently (94, 99, 2000 and 2004 most recently), and all I see is windows on all of their computers, and now in the internet cafes.
I ask about Linux, of which there is an awareness, but most of my relatives and their friends think it's "too hard". (Of course, supposedly some think that about web pages too, for what that's worth! :)
They're plenty tied to Windows. Indians make a lot of Indian-specific softwares (Hindi, Kannada and other language editors) on Windows, and have been for years. There's a few such products for Linux, but they're few and far between by comparison. Interestingly enough, The stuff on Windows is majority freeware/shareware too.. -Ajay

Well, there are cards that are not Software Radio's yet have been "reverse-engineered" to operate "out of spec". Take the hermes chipset from Orinoco/Lucent/Agere/Proxim for example. It's trivial to add all the ability to use all 14 channels onto cards - soon it will be possible to change power rx/tx values too. Dig it : http://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/orinoco/ http://geocities.com/lincomatic/software.html/

I think Linux is great and all, but I don't think its portability matches that of NetBSD.

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I'd have to recommend DHS. Very reliable, they've mentioned outages on their site a few times but I never notice them. And they've been around forever... way back when Monolith (remember ml.org anybody?) went under, a few of the guys who worked for/supported ML created their own, and DHS was born.

I used to work for a company that did CGI. We heard by word of mouth that Paramount were looking for tenders for the CGI for a licensed Star Trek game, including a short demo movie. But the catch was, there would be no contract, and nothing could be done in writing.

When we eventually got someone on the phone (really, they wouldn't talk about this in email) and asked why, they reluctantly explained that it was because when Paramount's legal team gets a whiff of something like this going on, it becomes their job to kill it. They tend to refuse anything that gives even a suggestion that $NON_PARARMOUNT_EMPLOYEE is licensed to create Star Trek content. In practice, this makes anything but a full, final contract for the winning bidder simply impractical. The best that our contact could promise was that he would try and ensure that we weren't sued for putting in a tender.

And so we did the demo movie (quite nice, actually), and delivered it, by hand, in a face to face meeting that never happened. We didn't win the bid, but it certainly opened our eyes.

What's the relevance to this? It's that MMORPGs necessarily involve ordinary $NON_PARAMOUNT_EMPLOYEE people creating content. Paramount were killing this stuff while it was still in its infancy. Even if they do manage to license the whole kit and kaboodle, can you picture the tortous EULA and T&C's for a Star Trek MMORPG? Try and imagine the limitations that will be placed on players, and the atmosphere of fear and mistrust that will spring up. If you think Sony Online have poor customer relations, just wait until you meet a Paramount Intellectual Property Protectorate lawyer in game. The Borg are a pale shadow of these guys.

Sure, it could go differently, but years of history says otherwise. Best not to get your hopes up over this one.

... in simple words, why you seem to be smoking crack while posting your comments?

A tablet has a keyboard, can be closed to protect the screen (though these ones don't run MacOS), and you can run Linux on it.

Obviously, a random Slashdot reader like myself is better at this than you are (and I'm not making one dollar a year plus benefits), but it would seem that you're not a very well-informed person.

• Argentine Ants Invasion: Success Tied to Reduced Genetic Variation
• Supercolony of ants found (Europe; Mirrored articles: #1 and #2)
• Invading Ants Press United Front in California
• Argentine Ants Threaten Californian Horned Lizards
• It's the weather
• Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia (similar story.
• Might not be 'supercolony' after all: #1 and #2.

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The Planet/ServerMatrix do a simular thing. They get those shelves and just dump ATX towers. See a live picture here. (Warning: Java applet). I feel sorry for the support guy there.

Personally, for my home clustering project where Mini-ITX is not a option and I don't have real room for towers, I'm going to pick up some Jaycar 2U Rackmounts for AUS $95. Keep in mind that I don't need to place hard drives etc. in there, and that my power supply needs will be taken care of externally.

Yes. Most NGOs that currently refurb/recycle computers to less-priveleged communities install Linux on the PCs, and often provide training to the locals when the PCs are brought in. See http://graham.dhs.org/techmobius.html for a list of computer recycling organizations if you're ever interested in helping out or starting a similar project from your own community. I think this is a nice (and politically clever) gesture by M$. Just bringing computer hardware and software into these communities is a huge first step. I just hope that M$ also provides some support for when computers in remote communities get a Blue Screen or the latest viruses...

And all this time I thought is_computer_on_fire() was just a joke. :)

Possibly. Having never used SuSE, I can't really speculate. The demo CD I have here is based on Morphix and looks nothing like a typical Linux distro. But I personally think it's for secretaries only

Have we ever thought about the idots who actually bother providing the backbone connections to spammers in the first place. Qwest is one

PCWorld Review

Compaq Project

Ever tried going to hotmail-ppe.com before M$ released it's new hotmail design. read more.

I guarantee something should turn up at msn-ppe.com.

Here are some pics. (Not mine, brought a non-digital cam.)

The ready availiability of computers enables teachers and students to maximise usage of information technology. Students employ their laptops as more than mere word processors. Each unit exploits and develops student information technology skills through a range of programmes including WORD, EXCEL, PUBLISHER, PHOTOSHOP[1], POWERPOINT.....

The ready availiability of computers enables teachers and students to maximise usage of information technology. Students employ their laptops as more than mere word processors. Each unit exploits and develops student information technology skills through a range of programmes including WORD, EXCEL, PUBLISHER, PHOTOSHOP[1], POWERPOINT.....

The ready availiability of computers enables teachers and students to maximise usage of information technology. Students employ their laptops as more than mere word processors. Each unit exploits and develops student information technology skills through a range of programmes including WORD, EXCEL, PUBLISHER, PHOTOSHOP[1], POWERPOINT.....

Whoops. Looks like someone had that idea before you.

The Qube 3 sourcecode was released to the Cobalt Users Group of Japan at open.cobaltqube.org (down at the moment) :(

What a sad ending. I am still drooling over this sexy Cobalt Qube 2 advertisment

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No, that's a smart billboard!

Making the NForce2 onboard ethernet card work in Linux is easier than you might think.

Either: Go to NVIDIA's websiteand get their driver wrapper, and compile it (if you are using kernel 2.5+, there is a patch for the builder to make it build a .ko module instead)

Or, help start testing the new ForcedEth clean room implementation of the driver. It's not perfect but it works, and it was included in Andrew Morton's -mm patch set in about 2.6.0-test9; so as soon as it's a bit better I'm sure it will be in the mainline kernel.

It's a bit hard to get it going compared to out of the box support, sure, but no different to the rigamarole I have to go through to get almost any network card working on Windows 98.

If you want an excellent source of notes on the NForce2 and Linux, that you are encouraged to update as you find things yourself, check the WLUG Wiki.

Anyone working w/ hotmail might want to see details of the hotmail devel site:

http://mcbridematt.dhs.org/hotmail-ppe

I have an SMTP server running on my computer. I set it up a few years ago mainly to try to see how good a handle I had on how SMTP works, and I've continued to make use of it mainly so I can create my own Email aliases and help curb the amount of spam I get and keep track of its "real" origins... But setting it up was very little trouble for me. I grabbed a copy of sendmail, compiled it, spent a few hours figuring out how to configure it, registered an MX record with DHS International and that's it... It's running. DHS was a free service the first few years I was with them -- now they charge me $5 per year.

For a brief period my ISP was filtering access to the SMTP port on my residential address, which meant I couldn't receive messages using my SMTP server... But I was still using it to send them out with no trouble! But at some point I contacted them and told them that I only want to have it running for my own usage, just to help curb the amount of spam I get, that I won't be giving anyone else accounts on it and that I understand how relaying works and have correctly restricted it... And a week or two later my SMTP port became accessible again. (Hopefully they actually reviewed my usage logs and tried to relay something through me before they did this... I'd hate to think they weren't careful.)

Sooooo... If I had no trouble setting up my own SMTP server, isn't it reasonable to assume that any halfway intelligent spamming organization would do the same -- set up their own server, then use that server to send out their spam, and avoid giving their ISP the chance to easily monitor their messages' content?

So isn't this really a more or less completely pointless violation of almost always legitimate Email users' privacy?

1) An OpenGL driver is an entire OpenGL implementation. Its not like a NIC where the whole thing is small, hardware-specific, and mostly useless to any other manufacturer. There is tons of stuff in there that ATI would love to get their hands on.

AFAIK, isn't their implementation from SGI.

Oh yes, did I say that their driver has a NV30 Emulator.

NVIDIA has their Cg shader tools kinda open sourced though. All of their Cg shader stuff can run on Linux.