johnmata.com

Rip Music CDs to MP3 in Ubuntu

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:47:09 -0600

The best software I have found for ripping music CDs to MP3 is Sound Juicer. Sound Juicer can be found in the Synaptic Package Manager. Once it is installed you can rip to wav or ogg files. For MP3 format one must also install the following packages:

Copy and paste the following into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

Once installed open the application: Applications --> Sound & Video --> Audio CD Extractor

Go to edit --> Preferences (as shown below)

sound Juicer

As shown in the following image, select CD Quality, MP3 (.mp3 type)

preferences

Also notice in the 'Preferences' window you can choose a location on your hard drive for placement of the MP3 files.

Click close, insert a music CD, then select 'Extract', found on the main Sound Juicer application window.

And, that's it!! Enjoy!

Gilmour - On An Island

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:08:13 -0700

Guests: David Crosby and Graham Nash

Vinny Vedeci: Transformers

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:55:37 -0700

The Gun

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 16:09:02 -0700

The Black Hole

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:41:27 -0700

a short movie

The Great Outdoors

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:34:01 -0700

Here's a nice picture of my younger sister doing what she enjoys most, rock climbing. Click here to see a gallery of pictures she has been sending me, all rendered in the same fashion. These images were rendered using an online tool called Vector Magic.

vic

Palmer España Guitar

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:00:41 -0600

Here's the result of a fun little Gimp project I did today. The guitar is my Palmer España classical guitar which I purchased from Yoshi Oshima back in the day. See the tutorial on how I created this image here: Extreme42.com

palmer espana

Don't Tell Me So, © 2008

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:56:59 -0600

''Don''t Tell Me So'' I wrote back in the late eighties. I enjoyed recording this particular version because I love playing the guitar. There are several guitar tracks stacked on one another; I can''t even remember how many. I guess I got a little carried away.

lead vocal: Chris Algiene
All guitars: John Mata

Free Falling

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:55:02 -0600

Here I am at the Colorado National Monument.
Here''s two pictures taken at the Colorado National Monument, then fused together using the Gimp.

Setting up Nvidia on Ubuntu [ dual monitors ]

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:08:47 -0600

I have an Nvidia video card. To get the most appropriate driver I will install and run EnvyNG-gtk, which can be downloaded via the Synaptic Package Manager. Once it''s installed, running it is a snap! Applications -> System Tools -> EnvyNG

I selected "Automatic Hardware Detection", then Apply.
ubuntuInstall7

Immediately after selecting apply the following window popped up. Once the operation was complete I confirmed and closed the application.
ubuntuInstall8

Now I can attempt to get my dual monitors working by using the Nvidia GUI. The previous operation installed the Nvidia X Server Settings tool which can be accessed at Administration -> NVIDIA Server Settings.

At this screen select X Server Display Configuration
nvidiaServerSettings1.jpg

At this screen select the "[Disabled]" monitor on the right, then select Configure below.
nvidiaServerSettings2.jpg

I prefer to have my screen extended over two monitors, so I chose "TwinView". Selecting "Seperate X screen" will result in a menu bar on each screen. In "Seperate X screen" one will not have the ability of dragging items from one screen to the other. I recommend "TwinView", then select "OK".
nvidiaServerSettings3.jpg

At this stage you should save the settings to the Xorg.conf file by selecting "Save to X Configuration File".
nvidiaServerSettings4.jpg

As shown below, select "Merge with existing file" and Save
nvidiaServerSettings6.jpg

The reason I have an error, "Unable to remove old X config backup file ''/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'', is because I can''t save the xorg.conf file unless I am in super user mode.

nvidiaServerSettings7.jpg

Thus, one should not launch the NVIDIA Server Settings application from Administration menu. Instead it the NVIDIA Server application should be opened using sudo in the terminal:

$ sudo nvidia-settings

From the sudo command in the terminal the NVIDIA Server Settings application will launch in sudo mode. One can now follow the instructions as mentioned above, but this time there will be no error when saving to the xorg.conf file.