Relaunch
I finally decided to redo my website, and ditch WordPress in favor of a static site generator (I decided to use Jekyll). I also took the opportunity to simplify the design.
There’s a bit more to do, and likely some broken links here and there (not to mention some broken WP-to-markdown conversion), but it’s time I finally got this done.
In theory, I’ll start blogging again as well, but… we’ll see.
Relaunch
I finally decided to redo my website, and ditch WordPress in favor of a static site generator (I decided to use Jekyll). I also took the opportunity to simplify the design.
There's a bit more to do, and likely some broken links here and there (not to mention some broken WP-to-markdown conversion), but it's time I finally got this done.
In theory, I'll start blogging again as well, but... we'll see.
Xfce – Xfwm4 zoom mode in 4.12
Xfce is my main desktop environment since more than 6 years, and I really like it. I try to make some patch from time to time, and if you search a project to contribute, it’s here ;-)
The core team is really small (2 or 3 people), so development evolves rather slowly, and the 4.12 will be released when it is ready.
One of the latest feature is the implementation of a compositor zoom, like the compiz ezoom plugin, from an external developper ( see this thread).
Here a little video with latest git version ( from http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/ ). You just need to press ALT and scroll up/down to zoom in/out.
(yeah, it’s an excuse to test the html5 <video> balise with ogv file ;)).
I will try to make some blog posts about new features in xfce world for the upcoming 4.12 (in 2014 I hope!), stay tuned !
Xfce – Xfwm4 zoom mode in 4.12
Xfce is my main desktop environment since more than 6 years, and I really like it. I try to make some patch from time to time, and if you search a project to contribute, it’s here ;-)
The core team is really small (2 or 3 people), so development evolves rather slowly, and the 4.12 will be released when it is ready.
One of the latest feature is the implementation of a compositor zoom, like the compiz ezoom plugin, from an external developper ( see this thread).
Here a little video with latest git version ( from http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/ ). You just need to press ALT and scroll up/down to zoom in/out.
(yeah, it’s an excuse to test the html5 <video> balise with ogv file ;)).
I will try to make some blog posts about new features in xfce world for the upcoming 4.12 (in 2014 I hope!), stay tuned !
Xfce – Xfwm4 zoom mode in 4.12
Xfce is my main desktop environment since more than 6 years, and I really like it. I try to make some patch from time to time, and if you search a project to contribute, it’s here ;-)
The core team is really small (2 or 3 people), so development evolves rather slowly, and the 4.12 will be released when it is ready.
One of the latest feature is the implementation of a compositor zoom, like the compiz ezoom plugin, from an external developper ( see this thread).
Here a little video with latest git version ( from http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/ ). You just need to press ALT and scroll up/down to zoom in/out.
(yeah, it’s an excuse to test the html5 <video> balise with ogv file ;)).
I will try to make some blog posts about new features in xfce world for the upcoming 4.12 (in 2014 I hope!), stay tuned !
Xfce – Xfwm4 zoom mode in 4.12
Xfce is my main desktop environment since more than 6 years, and I really like it. I try to make some patch from time to time, and if you search a project to contribute, it's here ;-)
The core team is really small (2 or 3 people), so development evolves rather slowly, and the 4.12 will be released when it is ready.
One of the latest feature is the implementation of a compositor zoom, like the compiz ezoom plugin, from an external developper ( see this thread).
Here a little video with latest git version ( from http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/ ). You just need to press ALT and scroll up/down to zoom in/out.
(yeah, it's an excuse to test the html5
I will try to make some blog posts about new features in xfce world for the upcoming 4.12 (in 2014 I hope!), stay tuned !
Parole Media Player 0.5.90 Released
It’s been a while since my most recent post. Since then, I’ve become an official Ubuntu member, Ubuntu (and family) 13.10 was released, and I’ve been hacking on Parole Media Player. Today’s news, however, is all about Parole.
GTK+ 3, GStreamer 1.0, and Bug Fixes Galore
Today marks the first development release of Parole Media Player 0.6 (version 0.5.90). Over the past few weeks, Simon Steinbeiß and I have been focusing our development efforts on bringing together a shiny new version of Parole. We’ve completed porting and refreshing the interface to GTK+ 3, improved GStreamer 1.0 support to the point that we now recommend it instead of 0.10, and fixed many long-standing issues. Here’s the Changelog…
Completed port to GTK+ 3
- Removed deprecated GTK+ 2 symbols
- Use GtkOverlay for the playback controls
- Use symbolic icons for menus and plugins
Improve window maximization
- Window dimensions are no longer saved when maximizing the window
- Added a new Xfconf setting, “window-maximized” to keep your preferred maximization across sessions
Rearranged and improved the menubar
- Renamed the “Edit” menu to “Playback”
- Renamed the “Languages” menu item to “Audio Track”
- Added a new “Tools” menu; moved the “Plugins” and “Preferences” menu items to the “Tools” menu
- Added a new “DVD” menu, which houses DVD playback controls and is only shown when a disc is being played
- Added the “Save Playlist” menu item to the “Media” menu
- Added the “Report Bug” menu item to the “Help” menu
Improved the playlist
- Use an inline toolbar for a more streamlined experience
- Removed the redundant Settings button
- Added Move Up/Down buttons to make reorganizing the playlist easier
Added Previous/Next track actions to the Tray and Notification plugins
Other improvements
- Updated artwork (background image, icons)
- Fixed GStreamer 1.0 support
- Added ability to play DVD ISO files from the Open Dialog
- Improved plugin failure detection so users know something has gone wrong
Bugs fixed
- Missing option to open DVD from ISO ( Bugzilla #10300)
- Allow a playlist to be sorted and/or items to be moved ( Bugzilla #10066)
- Remember playlist option in GUI is not working ( Bugzilla #10269)
- Parole shows irritating edge ( Bugzilla #10081)
Build Requirements
Parole Media Player now has the following requirements (please correct me if I am wrong):
- GTK+ 3.2 or above
- GLib 2.32 or above
- Gio 2.28 or above
- DBus 0.60 or above
- DBus Glib 0.70 or above
- GStreamer: base, video, interface and GStreamer X version 0.10.24 or above
- libxfce4ui 4.11.0 or above
- libxfce4util 4.11.0 or above
Screenshots
How Do Get It?
To get Parole 0.5.90, download the source files from here. Take notice of the new build requirements listed above.
For Ubuntu users, you can get Parole Media Player from my daily PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:smd-seandavis/xfce-4.12-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install parole
What about GTK+ 2?
All future development efforts will be focused on Parole 0.6 and GTK+ 3. Bug fixes will be provided for the last GTK+ 2 version 0.5.x in the 0.5 branch.
Feedback Requested
We’re doing everything to make Parole 0.6.0 the best release yet. But we need your feedback.
- Found a bug? Please report it at the Xfce Bugzilla, but check here first.
- Do you have a suggestion or question, or want to let us know how we’re doing? Leave a comment, find me on Google+, or contact me on Launchpad.
rndc retransfer failed: not found
I came accross the dummy error rndc: 'retranfer' failed: not found, with many unhelpful articles. If you run a rndc retranfer command, and get this error, make sure there is an entry for the zone on the slave, it may be helpful…rndc retransfer failed: not found
I came accross the dummy error rndc: 'retranfer' failed: not found, with many unhelpful articles. If you run a rndc retranfer command, and get this error, make sure there is an entry for the zone on the slave, it may be helpful…archbang
i pulled the slow magnetic hdd running gentoo from my thinkpad r61i; swapped it with a 2009-era 32GB ssd running archbang, a variant of arch linux.
it’s been several years since i last tried arch, and i wanted a desktop environment installed & preconfigured. archbang offers a minimal openbox desktop with a few basic programs: web browser, terminal, text editor, file manager, etc.
arch is fast. from cold boot to logged-in at the desktop: 5.5 seconds. that’s on an old supertalent ssd, artificially limited to SATA-I speeds by the thinkpad’s BIOS; the hardware is capable of running at SATA-II. even topped out at 150MB/sec read/write, this system is screaming fast. apps execute instantly, queries and searches complete as soon as i hit Enter, and even heavyweight firefox only takes a second or so to load. my experience is vastly improved over the same environment on gentoo, on the magnetic hdd.
gentoo didn’t run this fast on this drive when it was installed in my now-defunct desktop. i switched to a more useful xfce desktop, which didn’t affect boot/login times at all; still under 6 seconds.
so, why arch, and not gentoo? apparently, my music-making environment went through too many upgrades and changes between 2011 and now. i probably should have left it as-is once i got a working setup for live performances and studio production. it mostly doesn’t work anymore. kernel changes, upstream audio package changes, lots of factors. it’s impossible to diagnose, so i’m temporarily without a gentoo system, at least until i swap disks.
the upstream developer of my primary audio software runs arch, so i figured i may get better support & overall user experience by running the same OS and environment. i haven’t yet configured my desktop for realtime/low-latency audio work besides install the ck kernel. arch has most of my usual music stack available as binary packages, so i’ll only have to compile a few apps from the AUR.
i really like installing binary packages, rather than having to spend a whole day building them on this slow 2007-era CPU. and, since this is an exceptionally light flavor of arch, i don’t have the bloat and slowdown i experienced when using ubuntu for music production.
i’m not sure if i’ll keep arch installed or not, but this has been an interesting trip so far.