MrBalky Heavy Industries » misc

dvdstyler on debian

mrbalky — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:09:33 +0000

Maybe this is obvious, but it took me more effort than I thought to get dvdstyler working on my debian machine. So here’s the quick-n-dirty(tm) recipe.

It is easily installable via apt-get from debian-multimedia.org after all. Don’t bother with the package advice on the dvdstyler site. Just add deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org lenny main to your /etc/apt/sources.list file and run apt-get update. You should then be able to install with a simple apt-get install dvdstyler

If you run a headless debian server as I do, vncserver works like a champ.
Install: apt-get install vnc4server.
Execute: vnc4server -geometry 1024×768 -depth 24.
Export your display: export DISPLAY=myserver:1.
Run: dvdstyler.
Connect a VNC client to myserver:5901 to drive dvdstyler.

See the man pages for vnc4server for more info about the display number and connecting a client.

This about sums it up

mrbalky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:58:15 +0000

I have no status.

Paris flashbacks

mrbalky — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:43:02 +0000

Perhaps you’ve heard about the credit card class action settlement? It revolves around the major credit card companies overcharging on exchange rates and service fees for transactions made overseas, including ATM withdrawals. Basically, if you had a transaction outside the U.S. between 1996 and 2006, you are entitled to a piece of the settlement. There are 3 options: a flat $25, 1% of an estimated total or 1-3% of individual yearly estimations.

Well, since we lived in Paris for 16 months, one can imagine we racked up the activity. For the entire time, I was paid by direct deposit to our U.S. bank, and we did everything with our cards.

So I’ll be itemizing, thank you very much.

Now the interesting thing about the whole deal is that the bank and credit card statements are kind of like a diary. By looking at the locations for the transactions, you can see when we went to Cologne for Mardi Gras, the trip Steph and I took to Positano and Capri, Christmas in Muenster, London, Bruges, the Camarque… all of it.

And at the end, I had to laugh out loud. After a final visit to Muenster in June, we got home on July 2. The first three visits were to an ATM, Conoco, and Liquor Mart.

Apparently our priorities are cash, gas and booze.

Gettin’ all Web 2.0 on yer ass…

mrbalky — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:46:24 +0000

There’s been a mad account creation frenzy recently.

I have shiny new identities on reddit, flickr, stumbleupon, digg, and the most useful of all, Bar Diver. They’re still in the shrinkwrap.

Keep your hands and feet clear; they might get sucked into the whirling maelstrom.