Linux » GeowebInfo

Fix VLC’s problem playing audio in .avi files on Ubuntu

Sep 132008

I am a movie buff and prefer downloading my movies rather than watching online. I am also particular about downloading only .avi files, as they are the most common and usually have the best prints.

Off late, I’ve been trying to do all my computer related work in Ubuntu, trying to avoid Windows to the possible extent, including watching movies. VLC is what I use on Windows, because of its ability to play a wide range of formats and ease of use. As VLC has a Linux version too, I decided to stick with it in Ubuntu as well.

Problem:

All my movies of the .avi format do play in VLC with excellent video quality but without an audio output. To fix this issue, all that was required was a simple change in the output module of the audio settings.

To open VLC Media Player:

Applications -> Sound & Video -> VLC media player

Note: In my case, the audio output module was set to default, which I think is the reason for lack of audio playback. Make sure you have also plugin for vlc installed before changing the settings.

To install Alsa plugin for VLC:

At the terminal: sudo apt-get install vlc-plugin-alsa

Change the settings:

Once you have VLC opened, go to Settings -> Preferences

Expland the audio section of the settings and you’ll find three sub-sections Filters, Output modules and Visualizations.

Output Modules is what we are concerned with. Click this section and make sure the Advanced Options checkbox is selected in the bottom right of the Preferences window.

Fix it:

Change the audio output module (if set to default) to ALSA audio output. Save the settings, close VLC and restart the application. And that’s it, pretty simple huh…

Terminal Wikipedia – wikipedia2text

Linux 1 Response »

Jul 172008

I am sure every one of use who use the web on a daily basis for purposes other than e-mail and instant messaging, visit Wikipedia every now and then for the wealth of information that resides in it.

If you are a Linux user and a terminal junkie, and one that would rather prefer to get things done via the terminal, including browsing articles in Wikipedia, there is this interesting command line application wikipedia2text that fetches entries from Wikipedia and displays them in the terminal.

There are several options that accompany the command such as colorizing the output, displaying only a brief summary or full content, getting the url, opening in a web browser, etc.. The command can also be configured by altering environment variables to set a default browser, language settings, use standard output or a pager. There are no requirements other than an active internet connection and only one search term (can be more than one word) is supported which can include special characters.

To install, issue the command:
sudo apt-get install wikipedia2text

KGeography – A Geography Learning Tool

Linux No Responses »

Jul 122008

KGeography, is an interesting geography learning application for the KDE desktop environment, although it works hassle free in GNOME as well. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and has a pretty informative website on upcoming developments and how you can contribute to the project by submitting maps.

There are several maps to choose from – countries, continents and the world.

KGeography comes with six different ways of learning Geography.
1. Browse Map – With this option, a click on the map identifies the country, or state (province) with its capital. In case, the feature clicked is a country, you are presented with its flag too.

2. Click Division on Map – Select the number of questions you would like to attempt, and identify the country or state that is asked for by clicking on the map. The results are displayed once you are done with answering all the questions.

3. Guess Division From Its Capital – Select the number of questions just like the one above, and this time you’ve got to select country / state of the four options provided, for capitals. The map interface does not show up for this section.

4. Guess Capital of Division – Similar to guessing divisions from capitals, but the other way round. Select the right capital from the options provided for the country being questioned upon.

5. Guess Division From Its Flag – A flag is presented, with four options. Select the country that the flag belongs to. This option is disabled when the map is that of a country as individual states (provinces do not have flags in most of the countries.