Are there simple line-powered MP3 recorders?

[Joerg]

As a long time linux user/self admin i have never found a case where i
could not access any file as root i wanted to. ...

Of course I can get to those as root. But from within the application I
can not.

... As for setting the
environment variables up properly yo need more instruction.

I asked this question in a forum of knowledgeable Linux users and they
said the only way is to put the special libraries under
/home/joerg/whatever, place a gafrc there and forget about running
gschem from the GUI. I began to wonder what the GUI in Ubunutu is really
for. Ok, I thought, not nice but can be done. So I did just that. After
all I grew up with DOS where almost everything was command line.

However, piece by piece came the next "workarounds" where I was told
that I'd have to close the schematic, run some script from the command
line, then re-open the schematic. For example for simple tasks such as
renumbering a schematic properly, meaning without trampling over
multiple opamp instantations. Well, that'all doable but it begins to
crimp my productivity.

 

[Joerg]

Joerg I think you misunderstood something from my explanation.
The idea is that you start from a script, and in the script you have the sudo.
The icon on the GUI points to the script.
Actually I just tried that, as user, with everything in root, on
xandros Linux.

With libs in /root/wherever_libs
script:
cd wherever
sudo whatever


Or just login as root (somebody already explained that very well).

Ok, maybe I can somehow circumvent this (to me somewhat nonsensical)
barrier. But there are more barriers than just that :-(

 

[Rich Grise]

Make? You mean re-compile it all? That wouldn't quite be my cuppa tea ;-)

It's Ubuntu.

That depends on if somebody's already compiled it and has made the
binaries available. I know virtually nothing about Ubuntu, other than
it's got a Linux kernel.

And there's really no problem with compiling from source - it's mostly
time-consuming, but you could run it in the background while you surf
the 'net or whatever.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

There is no security risk.
That is a fairy tale.
At least not much more then a normal user. The risk is that you will
modify something essential, like erasing a library. But you can do that
with sudo too, and if you are inexperienced as root, then the chances that
you will f*ck up with sudo only become bigger. One suggestion:
*Always* look what you have typed before you hit ENTER. A small typo can
wipe out something essential.

Like this?
$ rm -R /*

;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

That depends on if somebody's already compiled it and has made the
binaries available. I know virtually nothing about Ubuntu, other than
it's got a Linux kernel.

And there's really no problem with compiling from source - it's mostly
time-consuming, but you could run it in the background while you surf
the 'net or whatever.

Ok, but so far KiCad looks like a program where all that can be
configured with ease right within the GUI. And it lets me define library
parts with the proper power pin fashion, meaning VCC and VSS only at the
first part of a package and not also the others. Or, in engineering
speak, I might just take the path of least reistance.

 

[Joerg]

I wanted Firefox-3 on my system.
Downloaded it.
It told me it wanted a new gtk++ whatever.
To compile gtk (did it several times in the past), you need to first compile
a new glib, then for a new glib you need to first compile atk, and for atk you
need cairo, and you need pango too.
So after ./configure compiling all things in the right order, gtk gave a compile error.
As now the new stuff was linked in, and the new gtk did not work,
that was the end of gtk.
So I erased all gtk related (as above), and did the same thing again
for the old libraries.
Now the old firefox-2 no longer worked either.
I used the safety net, and used Opera (fast nice, but different).
Found some old beta of firefox-3 from years ago named 'minefield',
and that is what it is, if you select a bookmark it freezes, and can
then only be killed from an other xterm.
But at least it runs.
So now I use 2 browsers, perhaps until the next gtk comes out.
So, tell me again: compile from source is easy!!

That already happens with this dreaded .NET stuff. Case in point: SW for
the new DSO required .NET. Bit my lips so no cuss words would slip my
mouth because I had a hunch that this would not be too reliable.
Downloaded .NET. Loaded scope SW, started it, ... "MEEEEEP". Error. Call
manufacturer. "Oh, it will not work with .NET 2.0, it needs the older
1.1 and they are not backwards compatible. Great. Just great. Thanks,
Microsoft.

<clap, clap, clap ...>

 

[Vladimir Vassilevsky]

Joerg wrote:

That already happens with this dreaded .NET stuff. Case in point: SW for
the new DSO required .NET. Bit my lips so no cuss words would slip my
mouth because I had a hunch that this would not be too reliable.
Downloaded .NET. Loaded scope SW, started it, ... "MEEEEEP". Error. Call
manufacturer. "Oh, it will not work with .NET 2.0, it needs the older
1.1 and they are not backwards compatible. Great. Just great. Thanks,
Microsoft.

You should thank the DSO manufacturer, not M$. Dot net is worseless; it
is just another attempt to make the programming job available for utter
imbeciles. The fact that their software is incompatible with the newer
dot net is the proof of that.

VLV

 

[Joerg]

Joerg wrote:



You should thank the DSO manufacturer, not M$. Dot net is worseless; it
is just another attempt to make the programming job available for utter
imbeciles. The fact that their software is incompatible with the newer
dot net is the proof of that.

I see that a bit differently. From any kind of environment, whether CAD,
an OS, .NET or whatever I expect that newer versions are able to run
stuff that was written for older versions. Else it is IMHO not a good
product.

Instek had written they routines during a time when 1.1 was the current
version. I don't think they did anything wrong. They do not have
clairvoyant skills that would allow them to predict what could be
screwed up in the next .NET release by gazing at a crystal ball ;-)

It's not that Microsoft can't do it. Some of their business units
clearly can. For example, I can still read MS-Works files from 1989,
created on the very first DOS version. Of course, I encountered some
other bugs in Works 8.0 so I prefer the previous more stable version.

 

[JosephKK]

There is no security risk.
That is a fairy tale.
At least not much more then a normal user.
The risk is that you will modify something essential, like erasing a library.
But you can do that with sudo too, and if you are inexperienced as root,
then the chances that you will f*ck up with sudo only become bigger.
One suggestion:
*Always* look what you have typed before you hit ENTER.
A small typo can wipe out something essential.

BTDT

 

[JosephKK]

Well, first I made the decision that I will absolutely not have a dual
boot system because that all but kills productivity. So I got Sun
VirtualBox. Then I downloaded Ubuntu, installed it as a virtual machine
on this new VirtualBox. Installing applications such as gschem and PCB
Designer is a breeze in Linux. You go to a package manager (I used
Synaptics) look around what's there and check the boxes of the stuff you
want. Then click install and have a coffee. After that I was in business.

Then, while drawing some mock schematics I found out the limitations in
gEDA and they are so serious for an analog guy like me that I will
probably select KiCad as my next CAD system. But that decision isn't
final just yet. Mostly the issues have to do with things like explicit
power symbols and designator re-numbering. Yeah, there are workarounds
for some of these issues but most require to close the schematic, go to
the terminal, do stuff on the command line, then re-open gschem, re-load
the schematic. So things that take five seconds with my current CAD now
take minutes. Other issues seem to only be fixable if I use what SW pros
call a "fork". I just learned that from the gEDA NG, it means you would
now be using a version that will not necessarily remain compatible with
the main program that almost everyone else is using. That isn't quite
what I had in mind for a new CAD system.

The plus side of gEDA is a stellar support and help, and friendly people
in the newsgroup. Also lots of helper applications. And when you look
for one in the package manager just scrolling through all that Linux SW
out there can make you drool. There is a ton of good stuff.

BTW, once you get it loaded open up someone elses schematic and play
around in it. For me that is usually the best way to learn the ropes.

Where is the gEDA NG? I will load a ubuntu slice if i cannot find a
good package for Suse. My new experimental machine ought to be fast
enough to use something like VirtualBox. I am just about to
transition to my current experimental machine for my production
machine. I just have to get my next experimental machine built and
going. Then backups , backups, backups.

 

[JosephKK]

It could be, but a serious audio professional from Germany recommended
three models and this was one of them. For a church the fact that it can
be completely configured from remote and that you can download
recordings the same way is a huge upside. Certainly in our case because
our IT guru lives way out in the boonies.

I got curious, so i checked. They exited the consumer market
completely, and returned to their roots in Pro Audio and have been
alive and well through the years. The remote management facilities
sounds really tasty.

Sometimes true Pro Audio really IS the easiest to use.

 

[Joerg]

Where is the gEDA NG? I will load a ubuntu slice if i cannot find a
good package for Suse. My new experimental machine ought to be fast
enough to use something like VirtualBox. I am just about to
transition to my current experimental machine for my production
machine. I just have to get my next experimental machine built and
going. Then backups , backups, backups.

It's here:

gmane.comp.cad.geda.user

You need to go through one authorization cycle before your first post is
propagated. Sometimes Yahoo throws a wrench in there, then you have to
also sign up for this groups in Yahoo using the same email address.

I suggest to also try KiCad. Run directly on Windows and IMHO it has a
much more polished user interface. So far I never needed to close
everything and go to the command line. But there have been PADS netlist
issues, that't one of the things I'll probably get to the ground of
today. Quite important here because my layouter uses PADS.

 

[Joerg]

I got curious, so i checked. They exited the consumer market
completely, and returned to their roots in Pro Audio and have been
alive and well through the years. The remote management facilities
sounds really tasty.

Sometimes true Pro Audio really IS the easiest to use.

Yes. When I see a plastic 3.5mm jack as an audio input I get the creeps.
This Marantz has real inputs. Plus it can be rack mounted which is a
great plus for us. I don't like stuff flying and sliding about a table top.

 

[Rich Grise]

On a sunny day (Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:07:01 GMT) it happened Rich Grise


I wanted Firefox-3 on my system.
Downloaded it.
It told me it wanted a new gtk++ whatever. To compile gtk (did it several
times in the past), you need to first compile a new glib, then for a new
glib you need to first compile atk, and for atk you need cairo, and you
need pango too.

OOps! Forgot all about that. I guess I've had the same problem, and just
abandoned trying to install whatever-it-was, and blocked it out of my
memory. =:-O

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Charlie E.]

Of course I can get to those as root. But from within the application I
can not.



I asked this question in a forum of knowledgeable Linux users and they
said the only way is to put the special libraries under
/home/joerg/whatever, place a gafrc there and forget about running
gschem from the GUI. I began to wonder what the GUI in Ubunutu is really
for. Ok, I thought, not nice but can be done. So I did just that. After
all I grew up with DOS where almost everything was command line.

However, piece by piece came the next "workarounds" where I was told
that I'd have to close the schematic, run some script from the command
line, then re-open the schematic. For example for simple tasks such as
renumbering a schematic properly, meaning without trampling over
multiple opamp instantations. Well, that'all doable but it begins to
crimp my productivity.

Hi Jeorge,
And this doesn't just apply to open source! If you are a dedicated
user of Cadence ConceptHDL, then you learn pretty quickly to have perl
and other scripts where you exit the software, delete all the *.b and
*.c files, automatically do edits on the .a files, and then reopen the
software and do a hard save of the project. (You have to delete the
..b binary files, and .c files because these are compiled from the .a,
but have precedence over the .a (ascii) files.)

And users spend mucho bucks for this type of thing!

Charlie

 

[Joerg]

Hi Jeorge,
And this doesn't just apply to open source! If you are a dedicated
user of Cadence ConceptHDL, then you learn pretty quickly to have perl
and other scripts where you exit the software, delete all the *.b and
*.c files, automatically do edits on the .a files, and then reopen the
software and do a hard save of the project. (You have to delete the
.b binary files, and .c files because these are compiled from the .a,
but have precedence over the .a (ascii) files.)

Maybe. However, neither with OrCad nor Eagle nor any other CAD system
did I have to do that. Meaning it is possible to design it right. So far
it looks like Jean-Pierre Charras and his KiCad design group has managed
to also do that.

And users spend mucho bucks for this type of thing!

Not this here user ;-)

 

[JosephKK]

It's here:

gmane.comp.cad.geda.user

You need to go through one authorization cycle before your first post is
propagated. Sometimes Yahoo throws a wrench in there, then you have to
also sign up for this groups in Yahoo using the same email address.

I suggest to also try KiCad. Run directly on Windows and IMHO it has a
much more polished user interface. So far I never needed to close
everything and go to the command line. But there have been PADS netlist
issues, that't one of the things I'll probably get to the ground of
today. Quite important here because my layouter uses PADS.

I am a Linux guy for my personal stuff. If KiCad runs in wine i will
try it. Just checked, there are Linux versions, must try it.

 

[Joerg]

I am a Linux guy for my personal stuff. If KiCad runs in wine i will
try it. Just checked, there are Linux versions, must try it.

A few drawings in the docs are in French, so some basic skills there
can't hurt. Every time I see that I crave red wine and Camembert. Dang,
why do we still have this pasteurization law and can't get good Camembert?

But don't worry, the GUI is all English and can be switched to a
gazillion other languages.

 

[Rich Grise]

... Dang, why do
we still have this pasteurization law

Nanny State.

... and can't get good Camembert?

Is it too hard to make your own at home?

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

Nanny State.


Is it too hard to make your own at home?

Most definitely. A French guy once told me you "only" need about 2-3
generations of experience and then you'll get the hang of it.