Every Flavour Beans

The reason I had decided to buy Nokia N800 Internet Tablet the very first week it was released, even before I could read decent reviews about the product, was that it is based on the highly customisable/extensible GNU/Linux platform. Also its predecessor Nokia N770 had already tasted reasonable success. Few things that could’ve been expected were that N800 might smooth-out some of the complaints that the early N770 users had(also fixed in N770 through updates) but it might not support as many applications in the first quarter of 2007 as N770 did. But I had trust in the Free software developer community that within an year or so, N800 can boast of more applications than any other device in its category. Less than six months since its release, I am already enjoying a number of applications ported to N800 platform(Skype is still missing! Not anymore).

I used the device for the first few months deliberately not installing any of the applications available in Nokia or third-party repositories to see how useful the device would be in its default state. I must say that most of the functionality I was looking for was already available in the device. One thing needs to be stressed here though: Nokia N800 is not a phone, it’s also not a wannabe phone. It’s just an Internet Tablet that allows voice based communication over Internet through applications like Google Talk(comes pre-installed in the device). If being able to call a traditional phone is high on the wish list, even though it might just be possible with N800 when Skype will be is ported to it, still I would say that it is definitely not the device for you. Nokia N800 vs iPhone just doesn’t make any sense to me(though it is fun mocking the Apple/Microsoft products :) ).

Now coming to why N800 is so perfect for me:

1. Browse Internet from anywhere in the house/office/etc. It’s better than a laptop because it is such a small device, it is so easy to carry it around the whole house, and even a bit farther too, if my access point can throw the signal that far. Thankfully it doesn’t come with some crappy old web browser that can’t handle anything beyond WML/HTML - N800 comes with full-blown Opera 8 web browser with good support for even Web 2.0/Ajaxified websites. The web pages can be zoomed in and out to increase/decrease font size etc of a page with a simple button press. The wireless connectivity is easy to set up(when I powered the device on, it searched and showed all my three access points, and after I selected one of them, it has been connecting to it without I having to repeat the selection process) and it has never dropped the connection. I can lay down on a couch while doing casual web browsing, download files, save or bookmark pages. Before going to shop for electronic items, I browse through all the products at home, and instead of taking notes, I just save the pages on the device and carry it with me to the shops. This would’ve been unnecessary if the shopping complexes in my area had WiFi access points or if Webaroo kind of application were supported for N800.
2. Audio and Video Player. I have never bought an MP3 player in my life. I have seen and ignored people around me buying iPods, Creative players etc but I never could see how a 5″x3″ sized device that didn’t also play video could be useful to me. iPod Video and Creative Zen Vision:M now support video too, but their screen size is like a joke to me. I was considering buying Creative Zen Vision:W(after disappointing experience with Creative Portable Media Center) which has a dream screen-size. N800 made it unnecessary as it plays MPEG, DivX, XviD, FLV etc. formats and I can copy the video files like copying any other file on a PC: no cumbersome synchronisation process using a tailor-made software is required. I am not completely happy with the video playback capability of N800 though. Without installing additional software, it plays only MPEG files. With proper codec support, it plays a lot more video formats. I wish that as long as the video is in a resolution compatible with the device, it should play most of the popular formats without additional software(just a single additional application like MPlayer is fine; most of us are going to install it anyway). The bass in audio playback is non-existent with the headphones that come with the device. I exchanged them with Creative E880 earphones and MP3 playback is nearly as good as iPod - with a better user interface.
3. Voice/Video Chat. Google Talk is pre-installed in Nokia N800 and N800 comes with built-in microphone and a video/web camera, so it’s at least as effective as chatting on a PC using a Web Camera, only a lot more convenient. The web camera especially can be rotated 360 degrees but is useful only while video chatting. It can not be used as a stand-alone camera either to take pictures or to record video. An application is available through Nokia repository that enables N800 to take pictures through this camera but I found the quality of the pictures to be too bad. You can’t imagine how bad. Google Talk is more than sufficient for my needs as I don’t carry N800 around the town to take pictures with it.
4. EBook Reader with FBReader. N800 may not be a dream device for the regular ebook readers but for a casual reader like me, it has enough features(except support for bookmarks) to make me happy. FBReader doesn’t come with N800 pre-installed but installing it from the “Application Manager” is a trivial task. It supports plenty of ebook formats and allows switching to portrait or landscape mode. N800 supports increasing/decreasing font size and full-screen reading mode.
5. FM Radio. When I get bored listening to all the MP3s present on the device, I tune into the local FM channels for variety. Earphones are needed to act as antenna for FM tuning. A small application also needs to be installed.
6. Support for more than 8GB memory! The device officially supports only 2GB cards but even that means 4GB in total as the device comes with two memory slots. 4GB SD cards come very cheap these days and work just fine with N800 - I have 2 x 4GB = 8GB memory. 8GB SDHC cards can also be used(so the total becomes 16GB of memory!) but a modified kernel an official update (2007) needs to be installed which though is straightforward but not a trivial task.
7. Terminal! I wouldn’t have bought the device if the terminal was not supported on it. The device can run ssh server, vnc server too so that it can be accessed from another computer.
8. Acts as USB storage device, doesn’t need a memory card reader or custom software. Most of the devices require a custom software to talk to the device even for simple file transfers. Some devices allow the memory cards to be removed from the device and attached to the computers through memory card readers. N800 connects to the computer through a USB cable and acts as a regular USB storage device(just like iPods do - for file transfers. For audio/video transfers, iTunes is needed). The big plus point of this feature, apart from the fact that a software doesn’t have to be installed before connecting the device to a computer and a memory card reader is not needed, is that it can be accessed from a gnu/linux system too. This may seem an insignificant feature who haven’t struggled and failed to connect 9 out of 10 devices to their primary operating system.

So that’s my list though I can add a few more features to it easily.
If you are looking for a balanced review of the product, inquirer has a good one:
Nokia’s cheap UMPC alternative is future-proof
Google for more info.

Update: This bug(bug #107925 at launchpad.net) has been fixed in the source code and the changes should make it to the next binary release of Synaptic Package Manager. (A deb package has since been built and made available on the launchpad website as synaptic 0.60ubuntu4 but I haven't tested it yet. It should make to the Gutsy Gibbon final release, and will also be back-ported to Feisty in all certainty.)

Ubuntu Edgy Eft was the first version to introduce this feature to Ubuntu users: Those who can't download large packages on, say, a home machine can just mark the packages to be installed in Synaptic Package Manager and then let it generate a download script. This script can be carried to a machine with good Internet connection and executed there to download all the required files. The download files can then be carried back to the home machine to complete the installation of selected packages through Synaptic Package Manager. I have explained the complete procedure in an earlier post:
Simple Way to Update Ubuntu Edgy With Slow/No Internet Connection

The download script generated by Synaptic Package Manager in Edgy contained simple wget commands, one for each file needed to be downloaded. Here is one example:

Elias brought to my notice in a comment post that Synaptic Package Manager in Feisty generates a slightly different command in the download script than in Edgy:

The '-c' option added to the command continues/resumes partially downloaded package files if the download was interrupted earlier. There is a bug in the generated command i.e. lack of space between the '-c' option and the download URL. It is a confirmed bug #107925 on bugs.launchpad.net(filed way back in April).

Here are some of the ways to fix it:

• Add a space manually after '-c' option in each wget command in the download script.
  wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/c/cvs/cvs_1.12.13-5build1_i386.deb

  Tedious if the script has hundreds of wget commands in it.

• Write a script to parse the download script and automatically add a space in every command. One such script is available from the bug page on launchpad: fix-download-script
  Or save the following text in a file(say 'fix.sh'):
  #!/bin/sh
  sed -i 's/-chttp/-c http/' $1

  Then run it like this:

  # sh fix.sh buggy-download-script
• Patch the buggy source file and rebuild the packages. Not for the typical users! Here is a diff file from the same launchpad page: synaptic.debdiff
  It's a simple edit of synaptic-0.57.11.1ubuntu/gtk/rgmainwindow.cc file.
  This line:
  Show Plain Text
  C++:

  1. out <<"wget -c" <<uris[i] <<endl;

  should be:

  Show Plain Text
  C++:

  1. out <<"wget -c " <<uris[i] <<endl;

• Wait for the patch to be applied by Ubuntu developers/volunteers and then apply the updates in your Ubuntu to fix the bug. The importance of the bug is set to 'medium' so it may take some time to get fixed. (The source code is fixed now; the next released binary of SPM application should have these changes in it.)

This bug was reported on April 20, 2007 and it is such a trivial fix, I totally fail to understand what is stopping anyone from applying this fix. I will update this post if it ever gets fixed.

Joel Durham Jr. has updated the 10 month old "Best Bang for the Buck" PC configuration on ExtremeTech website to reflect prices and performance of today's PC hardware components. Looking at the configuration, I just fancied comparing it with what I have got in my own computer. My criteria for buying each part of my computer also shares a similar philosophy: spend money to maximize the price/performance ratio.

The post says:

We have pretty much one rule for this Build It project: recommend the parts that we think will grab your cash and run farthest with it.

My specification shown below may not seem to exactly reflect that philosophy but that would be because the prices in my area are very different from the prices in the rest of the world(say in USA).

Comments:

• CPU & Motherboard:
  My system is more than a month old(which converts to 4-5 months in US time). Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 was the best bet at that time. ASUS, though, was my personal preference over both MSI and Gigabyte boards; go to the website to find out more by yourself. I like the ASUS board very much but I also agree that Gigabyte is better in the performance department and P35 is the newer chipset. Even my brother has an ASUS board: P5W DH Deluxe
• RAM:
  While buying the components, I spent a majority of the time to trying to find the Kingston RAM sticks but to no avail, so I had to settle for Transcend's :'(
• Graphics Card:
  I don't play games. At all. I used to play games 2-3 years ago but not anymore. For normal operation, even my 6600GT used to work pretty well. Windows Vista gave a pathetic rating of 4.7 to my 7300GT. I rest my case.
• How much storage is enough storage?:
  I have humongous-ly, bewilderingly huge needs for storage though, so I have 800GB inside of my computer(SATA) and more than 1000GB as external hard drives. I am still in the process of constructing eSATA drives(hard disk + Vantec NextStar 360U2 case) for improved performance and portability. My brother has 1000GB inside and little less than that as external storage. There is one network hard drive(Vantec NextStar LX casing) and around 7-8 USB thumb drives(1GB-4GB).
• LCD Monitor:
  I have Samsung SyncMaster 940BW LCD monitor which supports a native resolution of only 1440x900. But the day I had laid my hands on my Dell laptop with unimaginably spacious screen at 1900x1200 resolution(in a 19" monitor!), I had decided that I am not going to buy another LCD monitor unless it supports the same resolution.
• Sound Card & Speakers:
  I missed getting the X Fatal1ty model of Creative X-Fi sound cards and had to settle with XtremeGamer(I have XtremeMusic too). I have decent speakers in Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500. They are actually good for games and movies with surround sound. For MP3 songs, Altec Lansing ATP3 produces clearer sound output.
• UPS:
  An Unlimited Power Supply(UPS) unit is surprisingly missing from the ExtremeTech configuration. I can't imagine how a computer can be used without a UPS. It's at least more essential than memory card reader, which I would place even below a TV tuner card. I have an APC 550W UPS that interfaces well with the Windows operating systems through a USB cable.
• Keyboard, Mouse & Optical Drive:
  I haven't come across a keyboard & mouse combination of my satisfaction yet. I buy and throw them away almost once every three months just in the hope to find something good. Logitech mice with 7-8 buttons are for the gamers, not for me. Currently I am using Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse.

  Sony DRU-830A is a top class optical drive. It just didn't read scratchy media well(which is good as it protects the drive from getting damaged in the process) in my experience, so I went with Samsung. I don't use the optical drive much apart from installing operating systems and reading movie DVDs. Most other stuff comes from the Internet or thumb drives. I have an external LG USB DVD Writer which comes very handy with the laptops(whose dvd drives are oh-so genteel).

• Computer Case:
  It will be ages till Antec Sonata III will be available at my place, so had to go with Antec Sonata II. Another cheaper case that I am liking very much right now is Zebronics Peace. It's good for its cost.
• Others:
  My computer has plenty of networking options in two LAN ports, one WiFi/AP port built into the motherboard and an external ASUS WL-167G USB WLAN stick. I use Gentoo and Ubuntu as my primary operating systems. Pinnacle USB TV tuner card(records in iPod & DivX formats), Creative XMod, Creative EP-880 ear buds, NetGear routers etc are the other PC peripherals.

That's it for my PC's configuration. I don't have the patience to generate benchmark stats for my PC using something like 3DMark right now(I might do it in the future now that the ball got rolling), but Windows Vista Experience Index shows this:
Processor: 5.3, RAM: 5.6, Graphics & 3D: 4.7, Hard Disk: 5.7

Currently I am happy with the configuration, but hope that the eSATA drives will fill the remaining storage needs. I have to think and come up with what could be my dream configuration but it will definitely feature an infinite sized, fast, portable and hot-swappable storage device!

Egze posted this image to show how poorly Windows version of Apple's Safari web browser rendered Digg.com web page on a Windows machine. It made a pitiable sight but I guessed that such problems should be showing up only on some computers. So I tested out Digg.com in Safari on my Windows machine and it came out just fine. Here is a screenshot(click to see the bigger version):

Download Safari for Windows and find out how it fares on your computer(It's an ~8MB download). If you like it, go ahead and install the plugins too: Plugins for Safari.
I have been using Safari on Windows for a few days and neither its performance nor its stability has impressed me. To me it looks a long way short even from alpha stage. If its stability improves in coming days, it will be an invaluable tool to test out the websites without having own a Mac machine.

Is it a good time for someone to conduct a fresh benchmark of various web browsers(Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari, Flock etc)?

HandBrake is the easiest to use DVD to iPod converter application that does the job in one simple step. It's an actively developed, well supported GPL'ed application and is available for Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux platforms, in GUI and command line forms. The GUI version has good user interface, is stable and supports conversions to MPEG as well as XviD format. Refer its website to see the long list of features it supports. It is one of my most favourite media conversion applications.

1. Download and install HandBrake from its website. The procedure below is for the PC version; a very easy to follow procedure for the Mac version is available here. After the installation is complete, run HandBrake from the Start menu, the main window looks like this.
   
2. In the "Source" panel, select the folder where the ripped DVD files are stored by clicking the "Browse" button. HandBrake parses the selected DVD folder and fills the "DVD Title" drop-down box with all the available titles. Select the title you want to convert to iPod format.
   
   If it's a movie DVD, the longest title should be the main movie.
   
3. Select a folder where the converted video files should be stored by clicking the "Browse" button in the "Destination" panel. The two drop-down boxes allow the video and audio encoder to be specified. To convert to the iPod format, select the following settings:
   Video: H.264(iPod)
   Audio: ACC
   Width x Height: 320 x 240 (you can select any resolution supported by your iPod here)
   
   As noted earlier, HandBrake can be used to convert DVD format to non-iPod formats too.
   

The basic configuration is finished now. The many tabs available in the lower part of the window can be used for more fine tuning of the settings.
In the "Picture Settings" tab, select any subtitle if you want and also set any crop settings if required("Auto Crop" should work fine in most cases).

Now go to the "Video Settings" tab and enter a value preferably greater than 400 as the video bitrate. I usually select a bitrate around 700kbps but for iPod a lesser bitrate will also do fine. Higher bitrates result in larger output files, but with relatively higher output quality. 2-pass encoding takes longer time to get the conversion done but results in better output quality without any increase in the size.

Similarly modify the settings in the other tabs too, but the defaults should be fine if you don't have specific requirements.

4. When ready, either click the button "Encode Video" to immediately start the encoding process or click the button "Add to Queue" if you want to create more conversion jobs by repeating the above steps and add all of them to a job queue and process them together.
   
5. If you are happy with the quality of the output video file you get using the above entered settings, you can save this profile under a name to use it with later projects by going to File->Save Profile or by pressing Ctrl-S. To later open a saved profile, use File->Open Profile or press Ctrl-O.
   
6. You can also select one of the available preset configuration profiles iPod, Apple TV, PS3 etc from the "Presets" menu.
   

HandBrake also has a command-line version for windows. It also supports conversion to XviD and other formats. All in all, it is one of the most diverse conversion tools available today.