Project Linux:
For the next 30 days I will be using only Ubuntu 8.04 for all of my personal computing.
This is a chronological document of issues that I encounter and how I solved the problem.
Updated as events occur.


DAY ONE (07.12.08)

Internet Connection
   1. Open System / Administration / Networking.
   2. Click on Unlock / Type Password
   3  Select Wired connection / Click Properties  
   4. Choose Automatic Configuration DHCP
   5. Ok

Flash Player 9 for x86 Installation
(this gets me YouTube and ustream videos)
   1. Click download .tar.gz
   2. Unpackage the file
   3. Double Click on install flash player 9
   4. Double click on installer file
   5. Choose open with terminal
   6. Follow on-screen instructions
Mozilla installation directory= /home/citizenx/.mozilla


DAY TWO (07.13.08)

How to get to Terminal
There are install instructions that will ask you to type specific code into Terminal
Applications / Accessories / Terminal

Installed Skype without issue
played out like a Windows install

--- IE Tab Fireox Add-On is not available for Linux

Installed Audacity successfully
Instructions found at http://www.ubuntux.org/how-to-install-the-audio-editor-audacity
But I am missing the drop down box where I chose STEREO MIX
To record Streaming Audio (beta though....)

DAY THREE (07.14.08)

Streaming Radio Issues
Could not stream Computer America Tonight
http://www.computeramerica.com/listen.htm

Installed VLC per instructions for Hardy Heron

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-esd mozilla-plugin-vlc

Trying VLC
(stream would not start with a click)
In VLC had to go to VIEW / choose STREAM AND MEDIA INFO
and put this into the address bar:
http://www.warpradio.com/player/embed.asp?page=Tuner&id=14085
and now I hear the audio.
(At restart, I can click the link and listen)

Getting Java to install:
(For Java based chat room)
I installed the required 4 instances:
(one at a time and re-tried after each)
GCJ web browser plugin
Java SE6 plugin
Java SE5 plugin
GCJ using open JDK
...then I restarted the machine.
I now get the "loading" chat screen but it hangs...

Also tried sudo
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk
same same same

Via USSROVER:
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts
(restarting)
same same same

BTW: I now have a better understanding of this t-shirt:
sudo make me a sandwich (biotch!)
--> okay I added the biotch part

How to add/remove programs in Linux:
USSROVER sent me some different files to try
so I have to remove the previous Java installs
Video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS5cC8OJNME
Plus I learned there is
Synaptic Package Manager
but it looks too "official" afraid to delete from there.
I was ALMOST THERE on my own with the Synaptic Package Manager!

DAY FOUR (07.15.08)

Here is the fix Java using FireFox3
(Fix via Larry Bushey  LIVE on Computer America in the 1st half hour!)
Listen to the show!
Using Synaptic Package Manager
-Remove all installed instances of Java
Then (using Synaptic Package Manager)
-Install the following
java-common
sun-java5-bin
sun-java5-jre
sun-java5-plugin
sun-java6-bin
sun-java6-jre
sun-java6-plugin
tzdata-java

Utilizing Synaptic for this fix enabled me to understand its function
for both removal and adding needed programs. It was very simple to use
and the knowledge gained from this fix will surely carry over into other areas.
Today was a great learning day!


FYI: Added Extra Visual Effects under Appearance Preferences
(a simple radio button gave me those cool *wiggly* windows)
Set back to a normal visual setting and now my screen flickers occasionally.

Installed Ubuntu Restricted Areas
via Add/Remove
(Installing this package will pull in support for MP3 playback and decoding, support for various other audio formats (gstreamer plugins), Microsoft fonts, Java runtime environment, Flash plugin, LAME (to create compressed audio files), and DVD playback.)
This also added MS fonts. I am not a fan of Ubuntu installed fonts.
Tend to be small and harder to read on a LCD monitor.

Evolution Email
Configured Evolution to work with my Gmail account
Great tutorial:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingGmailWithEvolution

DAY FIVE (07.16.08)

I had issues getting VLC to work with streaming radio.
Thankfully I found a great post via engadget
that taught me how to use VLC differently
in order to get the radio streams to come through
http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/29/how-to-stream-almost-anything-using-vlc/

I also posted to my website today and had to resize an image.
Normally I would right click and resize the image via
Windows Power Tool Image Resizer.
Gimp made it easy.
I found the solution under
Image/Scale image.
Save.

BTW: Screen no longer flickering.
(see prev days post)
Not sure what that was about. But happy!!
...............
I also utilized the MS fonts under appearances.
MUCH happier with displayed fonts on web pages.
LCD screens require nice fonts IMHO

DAY SIX (07.17.2008)

I missed MTS because Comcast was not so Comcastic.
After 45 minutes of waiting to get back online
I called Comcast to see what was up
(have been experiencing small outages 15-20 minutes the last 2 months)
After he located my account he asked me what version of Windows I was running.
*ahem*
Well, Sir, I am running Linux
He said, "Comcast does not support Linux"
Yes, I understand, but I can assure you
the problem does not lie within my settings
because I was online 45 minutes ago.
The problem lies with you.

So I have another appointment
this Wed 23rd
with a comcastic tech in-house that will surely tell me
he has no "Foxtrot" idea.
Well duh.
Makes no sense to me neither.
And I am the Über  G33k.
[edit] Our connectors to the outside box were lose[/edit]

Testing the platters
I should mention that when I booted up the Linux machine today
It auto went-into testing the hard drive for errors.
Really? Serious?
I just let it run. Took 5 minutes
and I felt better about myself, my harddrive and Linux
*all at the very same time*
Nice feature.
I did a memtest on the memory when it was still my clients computer
(and not bequeathed to me)
So I am good to go.. right yo?

DAY EIGHT (07.20.2008)

Still having problems with Audacity
but I blame the beta version 1.3.4
(for some reason sudo only loads this version)
I want 1.2.6
but I do not understand how to install
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=audacity

After playing with it for a few hours trying to get it to record
I emailed Larry Bushey at Going Linux because he helped me
step-by-step with that whole Java issue I was having.

Here is my email to him
Followed by his response (w/i a few hours, mind you)

My Email:

Hello Larry!

I really appreciated your help on 07.16.2008 Tuesday's Computer America Show.
That was epic that it was fixed live on air with the right direction for a new Linux user.
It made my day!!

Better still your instruction gave me a better understanding of
synaptic that I will relate to other tasks I want to preform.

I have one other headache that I cannot solve myself regarding Audacity.
In Windows, I was able to record streaming audio using this program.

Ubuntu installs the beta version of Audacity 1.3.4 (why??)
and now I no longer have that choice of recording through the sound card.
I need that feature.

I believe it is due to the newer version of Audacity.
When I go to the Audacity site I have the option of installing 1.2.6
But I do not understand the directions/how to install it.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/linux

Could you cover this topic for those of us
wanting to record streaming audio
that is not necessarily a radio station?

Can you cover this topic?

In case you need further clarification
I have a daily motion video tutorial
explaining what I want to do:
http://www.dailymotion.com/tanjentsdotcom/video/x2mozp_audacity-tutorial_music
I am missing that "drop down box" allowing me to choose
either mic or stereo mix.

Thank you for your time, Larry.
Looking forward to your next appearance on Computer America!

Barbra aka CitizenX
http://www.tanjents.com


His Reply:
Hi Barbra,
Nice video tutorial, by the way. Soon you will be able to post one on how to do the same thing with Linux!
First, the drop-down is not there because in the new version of Audacity, that tool bar is hidden by default. (You'll also notice that importing audio and manually inputting ID3 tags are now in the File menu.) There are very easy ways to go back to the older version of Audacity in Linux, but since this would appear to be the direction the Audacity folks are going, I'd like to be able to figure out how to record streaming audio using this latest version. (If you would like me to discuss how to find the .deb package for an older version, and install it, just let me know -- but even that might not work, for the reasons discussed below.)

To show the tool bar you need, in the Audacity menus, select View, then Toolbars, and select Device Toolbar. Now you have the missing tool bar. (See the attached screen shot.) Unfortunately, I don't see "Stereo Mix" as a selection on it in my Linux computer. I see:
OSS: /dev/dsp
ALSA: HDA Intel: ALC268 Analog (hw:0,0)
ALSA: HDA Intel: Si3054 Modem (hw:0,6)
ALSA: modem
ALSA: phoneline
ALSA: default

Each is a potential input or output based on the hardware in my laptop. You, however, will see the various selections for YOUR computer. I don't think you'll see the "Stereo Mix" selection that you see under Windows, but the secret is to find the right input that will allow you to record the input. Another secret is that you will need to ensure that the check box labeled, "Software Playthrough..." is not selected. You can find it under Edit, Preferences, Audio I/O.

I haven't yet been able to get  recording streams working, but I haven't been all that motivated until now. I have discovered that the Audacity FAQ's talk about recording streaming audio here, and that there are apparently some issues with Audacity when your computer is using PortAudio v19. Canonical is using PortAudio for the first time ever in Ubuntu 8.04. You can read about the issues on the Audacity wiki, here. That last post includes a lot of scary stuff about compiling Audacity from source code. I wouldn't resort to that yet. I'm sure that this is an issue for a lot of Ubuntu users, so I will continue to do some research to see if there is anything that I can recommend. Knowing the Linux community, it's only a matter of time before someone finds the solution, a work-around or suggests something we can use. In the mean time, make note of your current Input/Output settings and experiment with different inputs. It may be that you can get recording streams working on your particular hardware. You might also try looking at your mixer settings to ensure that the volume sliders for your sound card are "up" and that the selection is made to record from them is set to "on". In Ubuntu, you can do that by right-clicking the speaker icon in the notification area in the upper task bar. Choose "Open Volume Control". In the menus, select Edit, Preferences and ensure that Mic Boost, Mic Input, Recording, Capture, Input Source or other things related to recording are selected. This will add a "Recording" tab to the volume control and reveal the settings you will need to adjust.

If you figure it out before I do, please let me know and I will publish the solution for the podcast. In the mean time, I recommend that you go to the Ubuntu community support wiki and post your question. I'm sure someone will respond quickly, maybe even with a way of making it work!
Larry
..............................
Tried all that.
So yeah I have this Audacity issue that remains unresolved.
I have searched for other stream catchers but it is all radio stream related
I need software that records from the sound card.
I know about station ripper.
I want MORE from my recorder.
.................................
Maybe I should have Larry talk me through the install of 1.2.6?
I could care less about the version numbers.
I just need it to do this job.
.................................
This is how 4Week dedicated I am to Linux
I have three people wanting me to send them the .mp3 of a hard to find song
.. that I posted to YouTube.
I never SAVED the song to my HD because I knew
I could use Audacity to record the song when needed.
And I cannot do it from Linux.

The Windows machine is within an arms reach
.. and I could easily do the job from there ..
but I will not connect it
for this or any other task for the remainder of the 4 weeks.
so yeah a solution would be nice to find.


DAY TWELVE (07.24.2008)

Problem solved regarding recording streaming audio in Linux
(Well, grabbing the audio from YouTube anyway...)
A big THANK YOU to Larry Bushey, Tom Chaudoir and Klaatu for the solution.
The instructions seem a bit "steppy"
But it feels stealthy and I have used this to capture 4 songs so far
Easy as pie.

Instructions for extracting audio from YouTube:
Open this page with Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3590

It's the "Fast video download" add on for Firefox. Click on "Add to Firefox."

Now visit the YouTube page. We are going to steal the flv file. Note that you have a new icon at the lower right of Firefox. Hover over it and it will say "Video Download". Click it and you will be asked where to put the file. Put it in your home dir. Don't hit the save button yet. Go to the top of the window and rename it from the five star thing to something easy to type in the terminal like maybe song.flv.

Skip this if you have mplayer installed:
(personal note: mplayer is not Movie Player- I had to install this)

Get mplayer from the package manager or open a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install mplayer

Now we are going to rip the audio from the flv file. Open a terminal and type:
mplayer song.flv -dumpaudio -dumpfile song.dump

Now there's a file in your home directory called song.dump. What's the format? Beats me. It's a crap shoot with flv files. No worry. Audacity can figure it out. Use it to open the file, and then export it into mp3 or whatever. Done.

Different (easier) instructions for extracting audio from YouTube:
So of course it makes perfect sense that after I have driven
two perfect strangers insane with my request to FIND A WAY
I would come across this little gem of a tutorial:
How To Extract Audio From YouTube

I bookmarked the maketecheasier site
because I found lots of cool tutorials in the Linux section.

DAY THIRTEEN (07.25.2008)

VLC issues with no sound unless I restart.

Since on Linux
I have downloaded the HD QT file of diggnation
because I appreciate the clarity that is not found in streaming.

I open it in VLC (because it plays everything/anything)
but sometimes the sound is not there if I have used other utilities to play songs
in the same internet session.

I have to restart to get the sound
Sincerely, no problems with this
because on Linux in less than a minute
I can click and play

Just an annoyance at this point.
Just wanted to mention

One other gripe:
(since I can)
In Windows I was able to right click on my Music Folder
and open in VLC/WMP and shuffle
I cannot do that in Linux.
Why VLC? Why??

DAY FOURTEEN (07.26.2008)

I tried installing Limewire for Linux
it displayed wonky
so I searched for other programs
FrostWire was also not the answer.

So where does a girl go if she wants
to acquire her favorite Prince tunes like
Starfish & Coffee
Forever In My Life
Black Sweat ( I shimmied through the kitchen to this one-daughter laughed )
And my favorite way to get music without P2P
jimmyrcom google mp3 search
failed me on the Prince front.

That man is just ruthless about locking down his shit.

DAY SIXTEEN (07.26.2008)

As I type this I am cheating on Linux
I am doing very bad things.
Worse than running Windows, even.

I had to buy a wireless USB adapter
and take advantage of clueless neighbors
because Comcast wanted more money than I had this week.
So I spent what I *could afford* on a wireless USB adapter.
NetGear WPN111

I tried installing it on Linux first.
but could not figure it out.

I knew Windows would accept it
..and here I am online. ONLINE!
(when I have been declared not worthy)

I do not know how to ask for help
in getting it to  work with Linux
without looking like a deadbeat.
I am NOT a dead beat.
Summer brings double grocery bill
Double electric bill
.. and I still need my internet tubes damnit.

Linux challenge is on hiatus
until I can werk this bitch out.

Keepin it real. Always.

(08.01.08)

I thought I found a step-by-step
instruction on getting this wireless adapter to work on Linux.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652910

Either I am not able to hash it out
or I do not understand the instructions
or the instructions do not leave wiggle room for interpretation.

Still on Windows.
Not happy.

(12.25.2008)
Just handed my Linux box over to my Mom
Her computer was hanging for several seconds
every 15 minutes or so.
She loves Ubuntu !!
"It is SO FAST!"