Skype + Pulse Goodness
Looks like Auld Nick has got some ice skates..... There is a new version of Skype for GNU/Linux! And it supports PulseAudio pretty well 
Sound on Linux Anti-FUD: Calm, Certainty and Confidence
Over the years I've listened to several opinions expressing doubt over the Linux sound stack. There are lots of ill informed comments out there concerning various things sound related, both positive and negative, but more often than not commentators miss out very important aspects of a modern, multi-user, desktop sound stack. So in this article I'll attempt to discuss some of the misconceptions out there, provide a balanced view of the current state of affairs, discuss some of the perceived mistakes in the rollout of new sound stacks and where things are going in the future.
Sound on Linux is Confusing: Defuzzing Part 2: PulseAudio
In an earlier article, I describe how the low level ALSA configuration allowed us to route all applications using the ALSA API via PulseAudio. In this article we'll take a look at the various configuration files and variables that control this side of the audio path.
Sound on Linux is Confusing: Defuzzing Part 1: ALSA
So I often hear the phrase: "Sound on Linux is Confusing". While I don't totally disagree with this statement, as with everything on Linux the sound system is pretty logical and if you follow through the steps you can demystify things pretty quickly. So this article will explain how things work on Mandriva and should ensure users are more comfortable with "how things work".
Integrating Login and Home Directory on OS X Leopard Clients
I've recently been dabbling in OS X related stuff. One of the things that is important to me is ensuring that my login details and users can use the OS X machine just the same as any other. Not that I really have any need for this, seeing as I'm pretty much the only user, but I like to learn these things
New Website
Well, if you've ever visited this site before the 20th July 2009, then you'll probably see some changes!
I've not really updated my old site for a while and I rarely wrote articles etc. This new site probably won't change that and will receive the same update schedule, based on the orbital timeframe of a blue satellite.
So as you can probably tell I'm now using wordpress. So far I really like it. Simple and effective UI, lots of plugins and a ton of templates too. I didn't modify this template too much - just slapped in a nice header image and made the lifestream widget not look silly. I've not checked my changes in any browser than Firefox... so I've probably totally broken it!
The old URLs should be redirected as should my old RSS link. I had to copy the comments across manually but as I only had three real ones, that wasn't really a problem!
What’s cooking in the Pulse Pot
While I've done a bit of pavucontrol hacking, the most interesting stuff is happening in pulse itself, specifically in relation to better KDE support...
Configuring audio ports in PulseAudio
As I added support for changing card profiles in PulseAudio, now that pulse supports "ports" it's time for me to get my developer hat on again!
Upgrading to Mandriva 2009.1
Well it's that time of the bi-year again. The twice annual Mandriva upgrade! Well in fairness, I actually skipped 2009.0 at work, so it's been a year since I last fiddled there. There was no particular reason for me skipping this release, I just think we were quite busy and a convenient time to do the upgrades didn't really pop up.
So, what happened I hear you cry? Well, surprisingly little drama thankfully! There were a few issues, but they were mostly minor so I only mention them here in case they trip up the less ninja skilled out there :p
Configuring card profiles in PulseAudio
The upcoming 0.9.15 release of PulseAudio will support "card profiles". What in the name of Almighty Bob (where Bob is a deity of questionable existence) is a card profile I hear you all cry. Well in our world of cost savings the majority of sound cards can operating in different but mutually exclusive configurations. For example some devices are capable of outputting 5.1 surround sound, but to do this they use the same jacks as are normally used for sound input, so you cannot record sound from the device when it is playing 5.1 sound.
As expected, information concerning what these capabilities are and under what situation they can be used simultaneously is not supplied to us by the ALSA layer. So to get around this problem,PulseAudio will probe for various configurations for you and provide a handy list which will allow for easy configuration. Sadly there is no GUI to control this. Or rather there was no GUI....
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Lifestream
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Colin is watching the mens shot put in the European athletic championships.... oh wait, it's not the mens......
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Colin Some people have imaginary friends. Others have lucky numbers. Well I have a lucky imaginary number: √-1.
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Colin no longer has Dukes of Hazard style passenger door entry.
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Colin just did a Tim-Tam Slam with a penguin. Not quite as absorbent but not bad!
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Colin has completed five sides of his Rubiks Cube... tomorrow I will tackle the elusive sixth!
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Colin is happy, relieved, honoured, tired, relaxed, disappointed and sad. It's been a rollercoaster the past few weeks!
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Colin so Federer is human after all.
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Colin wonders if anyone else thinks that the Spanish team looks as if they've dressed up as Spiderman...
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Colin thought that "Barry Munday" was a very funny film.
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