My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 10)

In this part I'll conclude the Video Editing and Scree Capture series with Web Cam Video Capture, and talk about two Web Cam tools I've got installed, Cheese Webcam Booth & GTK UVC video viewer.

Cheese Webcam Booth

Cheese Webcam Booth is a simple Webcam video recorder & photo taking app. Cheese is ideal for recording videos & taking photos only and has a number of video & photo effects and has a burst photo mode, but if you want to overlay video onto a Screen Recorder session then its not ideal as it has got a UI that shows all the options & time stamp for video recording.

GTK UVC video viewer

GTK UVC video viewr is a better option for working with Webcam video as it has a separate Video window & tools meaning that you can use it to record video from your Webcam, take pictures with your Webcam or just minimize the controls window and have the video window open during a Screen Recorder Session that you can have Webcam footage showing while showing the applications etc, this is ideal for making video tutorials or OS reviews. GTK UVC video viewr is the most flexible and powerful of the two Webcam tools that I've talked about here and I've not had a play with GTK UCV video viewr so I'm not sure what it's fully capable of.

Conclusion

The probably the easiest & most powerful selection of tools has to be:

1. Kazam for Screen Recording & Screenshot taking.


2. GTK UVC video viewer for working with a Webcam.


3. HandBrake for Video Conversion.


4. KdenLive for video editing.

With the 4 tools I've mentioned in the list  above you'll be able to do pretty much anything for YouTube or any other distribution way you want. As I mentioned at the end of the last part YouTube is your best bet in learning everything that you could possibly need to use the above tools to their full potential

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 9)

In this part I'll be talking about Screen Recording, Video Conversion & Video Editing, and in Part 10 I'll be talking about Web Cam Software that's ideal for doing YouTube OS Reviews or even YouTube or even Offline Tutorials.

Screen Recording

There are various Screen Recorders for Linux, but the one that I chose to Download and Install was Kazam and for Ubuntu users Kazam is available in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Kazam allows you to record your Desktop Session which is ideal for producing OS Reviews or Tutorials, the only downside is that if you don't require any edits to your recorded Desktop Session you will have to run it through ether a Video Editor or Video Converter to be able to use the raw video as is. On a plus note though Kazam allows for Screenshot Capture which is ideal for YouTube producers that want to create a Thumbnail for their OS Review or Tutorial.

Video Conversion

The Video Converter that I've Installed is HandBrake, the only thing is that it's not available to Install from the Ubuntu software Centre and the only place to get it is from here.

HandBrake is a pretty straight forward piece of software and does the conversions pretty quick, but speeds will depend on the size of the video being copied so don't expect say a full HD Video with Full 5.1 Surround with a length of an eposode of Game Of Thrones to convert as quick as a 10-20 min Video captured using an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S4 that's High Quality SD or even 720p HD.

Also the more resources you've got will speed up the Conversion an 8 Core 64 Bit AMD CPU with 32GB of Matched RAM will fly compared to a Single Core 64 Bit intel Celeron CPU with 3GB of RAM.

Video Editing

I've Downloaded KdenLive from the Ubuntu Software Centre as two YouTube producers that use Linux & produce Linux OS Reviews also use it, so it can't be that bad.

KdenLive has a pretty simple but functional Layout with the top half of the screen split between a video & audio clip library on the left & preview window on the right, while the bottom is taken up by a multi track timeline.

I've not had chance to have a play with KdenLive much yet so can't really go into too much depth with all the features of KdenLive at this time.

Another good Video Editor is Lightworks by Red Shark. I've had a bit of a play with Lightworks when I last used Linux, but I might have to give it a go again in the future.

Lightworks is a Professional Video Editor with lots of powerful features that are probably beyond the knowledge or even use of most people unless they have got experience in using Adobe Premier Pro or Adobe After Effects as they are both Industry Standard Video Editors (Windows & Mac OSX only). Lightworks is currently only available on Windows & Linux with a Mac OSX version in development.

Note

I've not had much of a chance to play with ether HandBrake, KdenLive or Lightworks, but as soon as I've had a chance to have a play with them I'll post an in-depth review on them. Kazam on the other hand is so simple to use that the review would be to short to be of any use as the UI is basically self explanatory.

In the meantime a YouTube search on the software mentioned in this part will probably bring up video reviews and tutorials that will help.

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 8)

In this part I'll talk about gaming & mainly about more main steam gaming via the Steam Distribution Platform in particular all though a couple of the game also distribute via the Game Developers own website as well as via Steam.

There is a multitude of games that are available via the Ubuntu Software Centre and most can be Installed as Default in OpenSuse. I've got three Installed on my Ubuntu Laptop that I downloaded from the Ubuntu Software Centre, these are SuperTux & SuperTux 2 that are based on the classic side scrolling Platform Game Super Mario Bros & Super Mario Bros 2 and the third is SuperTuxKart which is based on the original Super Mario Kart (I think).

Gaming On Linux Using Steam

Even though I've got 7 Games with Linux versions on my Steam Account I've currently only got 1 game from my Steam Library currently installed at the minute & that's my current favourite game Euro Truck Simulator 2 by SCS Software. Apart from it being an addictive game by taking the Driving Simulator out of the Racing genre (but that's for a different part or Article) I needed a game with Steering Wheel support for an earlier part on Hardware Support in Linux.

There is only three other indie games that I've go:

• Bastion that is like a fantasy Platform game that I got via the Humble Bundle Weekly Sale.


• Game Dev Tycoon  that I got when I was using Windows 8. If you are using Linux already then I'd highly recommend getting games via Steam if they are available via Steam as I had all kinds of trouble getting the Ubuntu package of Game Dev Tycoon to Install when It was made available for Linux, and in the end just gave up and Installed the Windows version using Play On Linux (but that ended up with sound issues) fortunately the last time I was on Windows 8 I spotted a link in the game to upgrade to a Steam License which I did.


• Kerbal Space Program when I last moved to Ubuntu. Kerbal Space Program on the other hand doesn't allow for the upgrading of a License to Steam. Kerbal Space Program offers the choice to Download an Installer Version on Windows & Mac, but that  neater solution isn't available which only leaves the Steam Version as the neater and easier option  (which I'm going to have to re purchase through Steam at some point).

I've then got the Valve Produced HalfLife 2 & Addons and Counter Strike Source from years ago in my Library that I got years ago that doesn't work properly on my Laptop & the rest of my Steam Library is made up of Windows only games.

I've also got a vast Library of games on the Origin Distribution Platform that I'm unable to use for two reasons:

1. Origin isn't available for Linux.


2. If Origin was available for Linux it would then have to rely on the game Developers getting behind Linux, which is going to take time as Steam has still got gaps in it's vast Library of games that have also got Linux versions.

Conclusion

Gaming on Linux is slowly starting to gather steam as indie developers are starting to get behind Linux as well as Windows & Mac and when one of the biggest Developers Valve gets behind Linux by releasing HalfLife 2 and Steam for Linux the whole Gaming industry should take notice of Linux.

The forthcoming Linux based Steam OS Gaming platform developed by Valve should be a big game changer for Linux as it will offer far more than the proprietary OS's used by Sony in the Playstation, Nintendo in the Wii & Microsoft in the Xbox, also with Steam OS being Free & Open Source it means that  anyone will be able to build their own Steam OS powered Console as well as OEM's and presumably Valve building their own Steam OS based Console to rival the established Console's.

Linux maybe slowly moving out of the niche market to main stream, especially when it can support Hardware that will technically reach  End Of Life for Windows in about 2 or 3 versions of Windows due to Hardware requirements of newer versions of Windows, and will be totally End Of Life once the last version of Windows that runs fine once Microsoft stops all Support for it.

Microsoft then expects users to ether upgrade Hardware where possible or buy a new Computer with Windows pre-installed. Why a user should seriously consider purchasing a new Computer with the Latest version of Windows on when they can just Install the latest version of Linux on it is beyond me.

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 7)

In this part I go through some of the hardware that's advertised as Windows or Windows/Mac only that works in Ubuntu Linux & presumably in other Linux distributions.

Hardware Known To Be Working

• Kodak ESP 1.2 AIO Printer, the Printer side of the Kodak ESP 1.2 definitely works under Ubuntu 13.10, but the Printer Driver that needs to be used is the Kodak Hero 3.1 AiO one.


• Microsoft LifeChat LX-2000 Headset, the Headset works as it's a simple Headset with 3.5mm Headphone Jacks for the Microphone & the Headphones.


• Generic Wireless Lazar Mouse, as with all mice a generic Wireless Lazar Mouse works out of the box without needing any drivers.


• Kodak ESP 1.2 AIO Printer Photocopier, the Photocopier portion of the Kodak ESP 1.2 AIO Printer works as it employs an internal interface between the Flatbed Scanner & the Printer for Photocopying.


• Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 USB Headset works perfectly fine once the LX-3000 Headphones & Microphone are selected in Sound Settings.


• Generic USB Webcam with Microphone, the Webcam works fine even the 6 LED lights can be turned on and off. The Microphone works fine as it uses a separate Microphone cable with 3.5mm Jack.


• Thrustmaster Ferrari Challenge Wheel works with no problems or additional software required.

Hardware Unknown If Working Or Not

• Kodak ESP 1.2 AIO Printer Scanner, I don't tend to do any Scanning so I'm not sure if the Scannin side of the Printer works or not.

Not Working

I've so far not come across any Hardware that's not working.

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 6)

Since I started my transition from Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Centre last Wednesday I thought I'd try the Linux alternative to Myth TV. In this part I document my brief encounter with Myth TV.



Myth TV is the Linux alternative to Windows Media Centre, but it's far more powerful than Windows Media Centre, & with all the extra power and features it makes it more complex to setup. I found this oout the hard way when I tried to set it up yesterday evening.

Unlike Windows Media Centre MythTV is split into two separate parts:

• Part 1 is the Backend that can be thought of as a Server (and I guess in some way it is a Server) this means that you can setup the MythTV Backend & presumably the TV receiving Hardware & then put it in a Cupboard or in a Loft out of the way as long as you've got an Ethernet Connection to your Network where you have got the MythTV Backend machine.


• Part 2 is the Frontend, the Frontend is the UI of MythTV, this can be setup on another Machine and placed in your living room, bedroom, kitchen or Home Theater room and act as a Set Top Box. The Frontend can also be setup on your Laptop or Desktop Computer as well.

MythTV can have both the Backend & Frontend, this method is probably going to be the most common way of setting up MythTV as it's the cheapest method as it only needs one Computer. The HTPC method is probably one of the easiest routes to go as it doesn't require a Backend Server & separate Frontend STB to work, which is in keeping with how Windows Media Centre works.



If you're building a dedicated MythTV HTPC the you can't go wrong with MythUbuntu. Mythubuntu combines a stripped down veersion of XUbuntu with MythTV and can be used as Both an All In One Ubuntu HTPC or as a separate MythTV Server & separate MythTV STB. MythUbuntu also allows you to try out the MythTV Client Server model by having a MythUbuntu Computer & using the MythUbuntu Disk to boot any Desktop or Laptop into the MythUbuntu Frontend, this is ideal if you want to try out the Client Server model of MythTV/MythUbuntu without having to install it onto you existing Windows Media Centre HTPC.



I installed MythTV from the Ubuntu Software Centre & instantly found out the hard way that MythTV is a complex beast, but with all the power of MythTV it wouldn't be able to have the Client Server model that it does.

Once installed I went into the MythTV Backend setup and couldn't get past the first 3 dialogues before it went back to the beginning after 3 attempts with the Backend setup I tried the Frontend setup and got the same result, but this time with a constant Unity Notification that MythTV had restarted & no amount of Quitting MythTV would stop it from re-starting, and I was forced to unlock MythTV from the Unity Dock & Uninstall MythTV to be able to have a working Laptop back.

On reflection of my brief experience with MythTV maybe I should have gone to the MythTV website and downloaded the pdf version of the MythTV documentation to actually find out what I was supposed to be actually doing to correctly setup MythTV.

In no way is my brief experience with MythTV a knock on what I'm sure is an excellent Media Centre service, but compared to the ease of use of Windows Media Centre (Microsoft have done an excellent job of making Media Centre mimic as close as they possibly can the Firmware on a Consumer DVR STB whilst taking into account the extra power that a HTPC has over a traditional DVR STB.

I'll definitely give MythTV another look, but this time I'll use the MythTV Documentation to assist me in setting it up, and it'll make for another article in the future, maybe part 10 or 11 maybe eariler than that depending on how much free time I've got later this week to dedicate to having a concentrated attempt at setting it up.

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 5)

In this part I'll explain my thoughts on how Linux could get more of a main stream acceptance.

For Linux to get more of a main stream acceptance than it already has got Software Developers need to fill the gaps by making ether Linux equivalents to the big and more specialized Software suites that are on Windows, make there versions operate in as close to the same way as well as make them look as close as they can to the big Window's software suites without getting sued for copy right infringement or the Big Window's software manufacturers should bring out a Linux version of their software. Microsoft & Adobe already make Mac OSX versions of their software, they could easily make money out of people that need Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud at work or School/Collage/University and don't have a Windows or Mac Computer at home, as well as from people that don't like Windows but would like to keep all the Software that they have purchased on Windows.

There are ways to get Microsoft Office (Pre Office 2013/Office 365) along with other Windows only software using Crossover Office (Paid) Play on Linux (Free but mainly meant for Games) and the Free but not as user friendly way to get Windows Software to run on Linux Wine, but Native versions would certainly boost Linux's popularity.

The other way to use Windows only Software is to use something like VMWare or VirtualBox and installing a Licensed copy of Windows just for the Windows only software, but this method will severely impact the performance of the host Linux computer as well as have a negative impact on the Vitalized Windows Computer unless you have a new powerful Computer, but that then defeats one of the big draws of Linux, that it can run on ageing Computers that can't handle the newer versions of Windows that well.

With both independent Game Developers and even Valve getting behind Linux with the introduction of Halflife 2, its addons, Counter Strike, Portal & even Steam all being made available for Linux & Windows Natively by Valve and even independant Developers making both Linux & Windows native versions of their games it really makes sense that the other Big Game Developers like Electronic Arts and even the Big software Developers to make Linux versions of their software available natively on Linux, but I can't see many doing that as they are ether stuck in the Windows only world with a few diversifying to Mac OSX & probably don't see the extra expense of having to employ Linux Developers to translate or even re-package their games or software to Linux as viable compared to the amount of extra revenue that they would make, thus alienating owners of their games or even software who would get the game for free on Linux since they already have the Windows version ( only applicable to Game Developers like Electronic Arts that have the Origin distribution platform, Developers that use the Steam Distribution platform, Adobe with the Creative Cloud platform & Microsoft with the Office 365 platform), even some independent  game Developers that Distribute their games themselves as well as through Steam give their games away free to Linux users that purchase the Windows version as well as to Windows Users that purchase the Linux version.

Microsoft also don't help the growth of the big computer OEM's by giving them huge incentives to only install Windows on their computers if they left the big OEM's to pick and choose the OS they want to sell a computer with or even to allow them to sell computers OS free it would bring more people to try Linux by ether buying a computer with Linux Pre-Installed or even at a discount without anything installed, thus allowing people to even choose what OS to install without voiding their warranty. Currently there are only two OEM's that give an alternative to Windows, 1 is System 76 who make Ubuntu only Desktop, Laptop & Server Computers with Ubuntu Pre-installed and the other is Novatech who do mid range prices for a base configuration OS free computer, a more expensive fully customized OS free computer up to a very expensive fully customized computer with Windows and Office.

Novatech's Desktops are fully customizable and include the choice of no OS, Windows only or Windows & Office, & like Apple they also offer a cheaper version of their Desktop & Laptop computers in the form of a base configuration that you can also configure however you like & how bigger budget you've got, but unlike all the other OEM's including Apple they have the same options in OS free version which is a bonus for Linux users as they don't have to potentially void their Hardware warranty by replacing Windows with Linux or existing Windows users that have got their own Licensed copy of Windows & also own their own Licensed copy of Office or own their own Licensed copy of Windows and have one of the Office 2013 365 subscriptions or even for anyone who wants to buy their own Licensed copy of Windows to avoid the bloatware associated with buying a computer from one of the big OEM's.

Sure with some of these ideas Microsoft would see a loss of revenue from potentially less Windows sales, but that would be more than made up for by the increase in ether Office 2013+ or Office 365 Subscriptions. But I suppose that Microsoft has it's reasons for being anti- Linux, but that makes no sense when they release Office for both Windows, Mac OSX, iOS & Android along with its own Windows Phone & Windows 8 RT Platforms. Their long standing argument that Linux is complicated & expensive compared to Windows is harking back to the early days of Linux but with UI's that are more visually appealing and simpler than Windows 8 this is no longer true, also with Broadband Internet being the only option for many people now compared to when Linux first came to light it's so much cheaper than Windows as it just needs the price of a Blank DVD and time to backup files on a Windows computer, reboot the computer with the Linux DVD in the DVD, install and be running Linux in a matter of minutes compared to the close to 30mins to over an hour to Instalolandl Windows 8.1 (Depending if you are coming from a Windows 8 Upgrade DVD, Windows 8 DVD or Windows 8.1 DVD) and having to install Hardware Drivers.

Roland

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My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 4)

In this part I'll sum up my feelings after using Ubuntu13.10 & Linux full time for the last three days. I'll sum up what I think are Ubuntu 13.10's major selling points and what I feel should be worked on to make Ubuntu a vaible alternative to Windows, & what makes for a tough decision for someone wanting to switch to Linux.

Ubuntu 13.10's major selling points

Ubuntu 13.10 & linux in general's main selling point is, it's cheap as it only costs the price of a Blank DVD and Internet connection, It's also easy to setup with all Hardware being detected and setup during Installation, the only Linux Distribution that needs a bit of work to get fully working is OpenSuse with its oddity of having to different ways of handling the Wireless Card. There are loads of software applications both free & paid, Windows game developers are starting to bring out their catalogue of games on Linux. Ubuntu 13.10 has got a very intuitive and user friendly UI that makes it ideal for anyone who is new to Computers or Linux and it's far more productive than Windows 8.1's UI.

What needs to be changed in Ubuntu

The Hibernate feature used in Laptops and Netbooks to suspend & shutdown then resume from where you left off, needs to be fixed as in the last release it was broken & needed to be manually setup by getting help from the Ubuntu Forums on how to set it up & in this latest release it still needs to be manually setup, but it's still partially broken as it will only Hibernate when the battery is low & there doesn't seem to be a way to setup Hibernate to  work when the Laptop or Netbook lid is closed.  This needs to be fixed in the next version, but I highly doubt if it will get fixed as the developers probably don't even know that it's broken or just don't care that it's broken.

What makes it tough for anyone looking to switch to Linux from Windows

The one thing that makes it tough for anyone looking to switch to Linux from Windows is that there are a mass of different Linux Distributions.

Here is a list of the ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

• Debian


• Ubuntu and its derivatives KUbuntu, LUbuntu, XUbuntu, EdUbuntu, Linux Mint & Pear OS.


• Red Hat Enterprise Linux & its derivatives Fedora Core & Cent OS.


• Openuse.


• Slakware Linux.


• BSD Unix derivatives Open BSD, Free BSD & Net BSD.


• The more Technically involved but highly customizable, built from Source Code Gentoo Linux.

Then there are the different Desktop Environments:

• K Desktop Environment (KDE).


• Gnome Desktop Environment.


• Unity Desktop Environment (Used by Ubuntu).


• Enlightenment Desktop Environment ( a lightweight Desktop Environment).


• Xfce (another lightweight Desktop Environment).


• Cinnamon Desktop Environment (Used by Linux Mint).


• A heavily modded to look like Mac OSX Gnome Desktop Environment (used by Pear OS).

With all these different Linux Distributions & Desktop Environments there is no wonder that Linux is finding it hard to break out of the Niche market and make it into wat is a viable alternative to Windows & even Mac OSX when in windows there is only the Modern UI/Classic Desktop & in Mac OSX there is only the Mac Desktop that makes Mac OSX a true viable alternative to Windows if you can afford the price of Mac Hardware & with the dozens of OEM's that pre Install Windows onto Laptop/Desktop & Netbook Hardware with a varying price range to suit everyone. The only slightly Linux based system that is currently a viable alternative to Windows & Mac OSX being the Chromebook range running Google's Chrome OS as they are really cheap compared to Windows & even Mac Laptops & Netbooks.

Roland

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