Custom region recording.

Kazam 0.91-ubuntu5 and ubuntu6 for Oneiric Ocelot and Precise Pangolin packages are available. Source code is acab be found in the standard place on Launchpad. This is the last planned release before 0.92 which will be a week before Precise Pangoling Feature Freeze. Right now there are no immediate plans for adding new features before 1.0 release. Kazam release will coincide with Precise Pangolin release. So, a quick rundown of new feature in this release:

• Gtk3 port is finally complete.
• Appindicator will now fall back to Gtk.StatusIcon.
• It is now possible to record custom screen region.
• Recording frame rate is now a customizable option from 1 to 60 frames per second.
• If not needed or wanted, mouse cursor can be turned of in the recording.

You can get the packages from the unstable ppa. And please, do report those bugs you find. :)

Bugs addressed and fixes commited to: #896806, #661767, #656864, #662374, #635921, #732166, #739171, #908768, #660673, #660687.

If you had Kazam previously installed from unstable series PPA it will be upgraded automatically. If you are trying new installation, then you’ll find more detailed instructions here.

UPDATE: Kazam 0.91 was released, read more about it.

UPDATE: Kazam 0.91 was released, read more about it.

Main Window

Luckily there is not much more than that. ;) Here’s how it looks now and this is probably how it is going to stay.

Main window with the new options.

You will notice two selectors for audio source. Recording of multiple channels is the very first thing that will get implemented after the transition to Gtk3 is complete. Now if you enable recording from first audio source then second audio source is also enabled and it will also be recorded.

Encoder type will, for now, offer only GStreamer VP8/WebM and GStreamer H264/Matroska. In the future I am planning to add support for HuffYUV format, to really get that lossless quality. Also, ffmpeg is still not completely off the table and it might return in the future.

Few minor changes are also in the behavior of main window and application indicator. Indicator is now always present and an icon will give clear indication of what is going on with Kazam. Status can be: stopped, recording or paused. When recording and paused main window will disappear. Upon ending the recording and finishing with the export, main window will open again.

Other stuff

Countdown splash screen required almost a complete rewrite. Gtk3 is handling images and transparency a little different than Gtk2 and there was a reported bug (lp:#662374) about countdown window being fixed size which interfered with translated strings. Together with that I also added an option to increase or decrease countdown, closing another wishlist bug (lp:#732166).

Screens are now a little easier to identify if you have different resolutions, I am thinking about “Identify Screens” button that could display two identification windows for a short period of time on each screen.

I’ll try to squeeze in lp:#661763 and I’ll take a good look at lp:#910654.

Next release

Codename for this first release is NCC-1701A with the version number 0.91. Scheduled for February 1st, just a day before Precise Pangolin Alpha 2. It should be feature complete and UI complete, but I’ll leave some room until feature freeze in case something pops up. Most of the planned fixes are already committed in the unstable branch. Gtk3 port is being developed in my personal separate branch.

Screen selection and multiple audio channels.

Availability of audio channels.

Feedback

Is appreciated. Here, in launchpad, on IRC (irc.freenode.net #kazam) or in the mail.

Later, I’ve exchanged couple of emails with Andrew and offered my help. So, I’ll release an official version of Kazam in mid January and continue to work on it.

UPDATE: Kazam 0.91 was released, read more about it.

What has changed?

There were many isses with ffmpeg from audio recording device selection to codec nightmares. What to install, where to get it? Compiling my own codecs?! Seriously? Truth be told, ffmpeg and H264 are a minor nightmare on Ubuntu there are problems with legal restrictions and there are problems with continuously changing parameters for x264 and ffmpeg, beside that, ffmpeg has API that could be used for accessing it.

The first thing to go was ffmpeg support, then I decided to drop H264 encoding too. I sacrificed some quality and CPU power for ease of use. Ffmpeg is still there, just disabled and waiting for better times in one of next releases I’ll enable it for those users that have necessary support libraries installed and I’ll provide a short guide on how to install them.

• Default backend is now gstreamer.
• Video is encoded with vp8 instead of x264.
• Audio is encoded with Ogg Vorbis.
• Audio/Video container is now WebM.
• Package dependencies revised to include only essential packages.

Pulseaudio support

There as no real support for selecting audio devices and which input to use for recording sound. Right now the default pulse audio input was used and user had to change the default in order to use different input. To make things worse, Ubuntu sound settings don’t list monitor devices as input devices and recording application sound was close to impossible for most of the users. After a lot of digging I managed to whip up python support for pulseaudio and extracted list of all audio devices that can be used for recording.

• Pulseaudio basic support.
• Independent audio input device selection, no need to open sound settings.
• Volume setting slider in the working.
• The path to multiple source recording is now open. Next release should support recoding audio on two channels (application sounds and voice-over commentary, for example).

Kazam Screencaster - Audio selection

User interface changes

In Ubuntu 11.10 I found menu bar icons too subtle and hard to read. I changed them just tiny little bit and I added colors to record and pause indicator. Before I got rid of ffmpeg I also added one combo box for selecting back-end, currently it doesn’t do a thing.

• Panel icons made a bit less subtle so that you can easily notice if you are recording or not.
• Back-end selection combo box.
• Audio source selection combo box that actually works.
• Temporary files are now removed if you quit application and application exits gracefully.
• Added prefix “kazam_” to temporary files for easier recognition.

Kazam Screencaster - Combobox too long?

Is something broken?

Most likely it is. I didn’t even try to edit any of recorded videos. I will do that at some other time. Those parts of code are still as they used to be and rely heavily on ffmpeg. If you don’t have ffmpeg installed Kazam will break if you try to edit recorded captures.

There’s also multiple screen support. In my configuration it works, two screens side by side. If you have more than one screen not side by side or you have multiple screens then your mileage my vary. Gstreamer is very precise when it comes to specifying what part of the desktop to record.

How to install?

Update (01/01/2012): Kazam Team PPA from the unstable series is already available, info below.

Source code and PPA build for Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is available in my personal PPA. Official PPA will be available after some more polishing and few minor changes, most likely in January 2012.

Source code is available in Launchpad and there is an official unstable PPA available. Version number was bumped to 0.13.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kazam-team/unstable-series
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install kazam

All the input is greatly appreciated!

“Fantasy Flight Games is delighted to announce the upcoming release of Merchant of Venus, a board game of space traders and alien riches. Two to four players race through the galaxy on a wild dash for cash, locating and establishing vital trade lines to transport goods from the planets where they’re common, to the planets where they can sell for maximum profit.”

Then on the 22nd of October Stronghold games posted the following announcement on their web site:

“Stronghold Games, in conjunction with the Designer and license holder, A. Richard Hamblen, announced yesterday that we will reprint “Richard Hamblen’s Merchant of Venus“. We look forward to bringing you this great game during 2012 !”

If you care about this publishing fiasco then read on …

Naturally we don’t own Merchant of Venus. For all of you who were born after or around the year 1980; it is a classic science fiction board game with beautiful artwork and unprecedented rules of play. Trading in space while equipping your space faring bucket with lasers, shields, engines, additional cargo space … we are thinking about Elite, how about you? Perhaps Privateer if you aren’t as ancient as we are. Anyway, we will leave the review for a another post. The game was published by Avalon Hill; designed by Richard Hamblen and it all happened in year 1988.

The game has been out of print for some time and we would love to get our hands on a copy but eBay prices are to steep for our pocket. Both announcements gave us some positive love towards owning a copy; but on the other hand they generated a lot of fear that we will have to wait for some time due to possible lawsuits that both FFG and Stronghold Games could face.

In the light of developing events Stronghold Games clarified that they have come to an agreement directly with Mr. Hamblen for a license¹ to reprint the original version of Merchant of Venus board game. It seems that Stronghold Games and Mr. Hamblen believe they have exclusive license over the game. Unfortunately FFG also bought the exclusive license from Hasbro and they also believe they have the exclusive thing. Hasbro owns Avalon Hill company and all their licenses, which probably include the original Merchant of Venus license since they already released the game in 1988. Fantasy Flight Games CEO, Christian T. Petersen, posted on the BoardGameGeek forums his side of the story. We are wondering who got the most $$$ from the whole shady deal? Right now we known that the only one who will surely gain is Mr. Hamblen. It seems that he knew about both deals and he is turning out to be the master manipulator in the whole situation.

Both companies claim to have license to publish this long lost marvel. We would prefer that only one company prevails. We really don’t care if it is Stronghold Games or Fantasy Flight Games as long as Merchant of Venus gets published in due course. We believe that two versions of the same game would create a chasm in the market and divide player base. For now all parties seem to have valid claim to publish the game and the question which arises is, which side to back up?

Backing your side

There are some arguments which tell that Stronghold Games will make more accurate game. For example, they will do a reprint of the original game with support for six players while Fantasy Flight Games is thinking ahead and they are planning to release a four players base game, hinting to further expansions.

Then, there are actual session reports which tell us that the game of four players is an optimal group size for the game in terms of game time, components used and optimal fun. Fantasy Flight Games will surely do an expansion at a later stage of development allowing 5-6 player game. It would be the natural course of action.

Information available about rule set is scarce, but enough to push the original fans toward Stronghold Games. Fantasy Flight Games already announced changes to the original rules. It is unclear at this point if the additional rules will be optional or required.

From the manufacturing standpoint we feel much better with Fantasy Flight Games since they have an enormous amount of resources in designers, developers and money which they can throw in the production of the game. Stronghold Games just does not give us the same vibe.

While religious wars are being fought on the BoardGameGeek forums we feel that it is time for the gamers to decide for themselves what is best for them. Forum wars will clean all the dirty laundry of both companies and all fans who feel the urge to raise voice can speak up. The real losers here will, again, be the players. For now, let’s wait for the lawyers to get to the bottom of this licensing issue, stop the speculation and start to plan the strategy for your victory.

I can not wait for the Venus to rise

If you find the game interesting and can not wait for the war to end then go to BoardGameGeek site search for board game Merchant of Venus² and in files section search for files from user Dathkadan. He has recreated the game art with expansions. Print the game components, and recreate your own copy of this old gem.

What users in general need and want:

• stability
• reliability
• security
• simplicity

In reality you always need to keep those properties in some sort of balance.

What is a rolling release distribution?

In simple terms this means that your software is constantly updated and upgraded. You usually get all the new features and bug fixes very quickly and your operating system doesn’t have a distinct release number. If you installed FooBar Distro 1.5 today it will be 1.5 only today. In a couple of weeks you will get new browser, new office suite, new email software and so on and so on. Then at some point in time developers of FooBar Distro decide that current snapshot of all the software will be called FooBarDistro 2.0 and you don’t need to upgrade anything, you’re already there. You migrated slowly from 1.5 to 2.0.

The upside is that you are always running up to date software with all the bells and whistles. The downside is well, where do I begin?

• The need to upgrade. You must upgrade if you want security fixes. When I was using Gentoo there was no option to get only security fixes, you had to install new software. If I didn’t update for a longer period of time an upgrade usually broke during the upgrade process.
• Maintainability. If you have a lot of machines to maintain a rolling upgrade that can break becomes a pain. Even if you know how to fix it, it will require more time than a simple security update and bugfix release.
• In-house support. You will live in a dependency hell if your third-party software requires different versions of some essential library. Which immediately brings us to the most important downside of rolling releases.
• Third-party support. Developers and OEMs are having difficulty keeping track with current Ubuntu release cycle. New version every six months is a pain to support and support matrix for a product will look like a crosswords puzzle after a while. If you have libraries literally changing on a daily basis you are doomed and any kind of support becomes questionable.

For some people six months isn’t often enough and they would like to see a rolling release Ubuntu. Those people are a minority and I think that the correct approach is to have an even longer release cycle.

Why a longer cycle?

Because of third-party developers. Hardware or software development is a lengthy process in which you design and develop a product that will cover as much users as possible. You want a large user base. If you need to support a product for various operating systems with various libraries, software and architecture this is all what you will do. Support it and you will have no time to develop new features. Commercial software developers should already be targeting only LTS releases with their products, which is quite hard when majority of users will switch to a new Ubuntu release when it becomes available.

Ubuntu should move to a 12 month release cycle, with this they will give more time to their own developers and to all the contributors and third-party developers. What about new applications? Office suite? Browser? We would keep those in official PPA repositories that could be updated more frequently and independently. Applications that aren’t tied to the system can this way have more regular upgrades.

There are a couple of downsides to this solution. One is that someone will have to maintain those PPA repositories. Which shouldn’t be such a problem, but any additional work takes some time from the actual development. Second problem could arise with the upstream components. A year is a long time, what if upstream releases new version couple of months after the Ubuntu release? With six month release cycle this will amount to only four months of wait for early adopters. With a longer cycle this means ten months of waiting. For some this could be unacceptable.

Benefits of a longer cycle:

• More development time. This is critical, every release of Ubuntu that introduced something new on a bigger scale (PulseAudio, Unity, Gnome3, …) always seemed like it is a rushed-out release and the next release was a bug fix release.
• More testing time. Alpha and Beta cycles are not long enough. Ubuntu is still pretty much dependent in the community out there. Community needs more time to do all the testing. I do not know how exactly Canonical manages their QA but before I decided to be more active with Ubuntu development, I rarely tested Alpha and Beta releases. I usually didn’t have enough time to do it.
• Graphics cards vendors will have more stable environment to develop drivers for. Every Xorg release breaks proprietary graphics drivers and it happens every six months. Now it would happen only once a year.
•  Less demands for backports. Because of less releases there would be less backports, backports that could break and wreak havoc.
• Lastly, again, more time. More time for users to adapt to new release, more time to test it and more time to enjoy it before going through the frustration of yet another upgrade.

Longer release cycle will bring more stability and reliability. Security can also improve because new and untested software is introduced less frequently and for the same reason usability can also be increased. Learning all the quirks of the new software is a pain and users don’t like to adapt too much. Granted, in the long run everyone adapts, but from the UX perspective, changes shouldn’t be made just for the sake of changes and not too often. Even one year period could be seen as too short for big UI changes.

Good user interface concepts lasted for years before they evolved and were changed. Competition is a fine example of that.

Instructions were written on x64 so if you are running 32bit version of Ubuntu, adjust accordingly. First, you will need Oracle Java SDK which you can get here. Extract it in /usr/lib/jvm directory and give the newly created directory a pretty name and a symlink:

$ cd /usr/lib/jvm/
$ sudo tar -xvzf ~/jdk-7-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ sudo mv jdk1.7.0 java-7-oracle
$ sudo ln -s java-7-oracle java-1.7.0-oracle

Now, create a file .java-1.7.0-oracle.jinfo in /usr/lib/jvm with the following contents:

alias=java-7-oracle
priority=100
section=non-free
 
jre ControlPanel /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/ControlPanel
jre java /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/java
jre java_vm /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/java_vm
jre javaws /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/javaws
jre jcontrol /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/jcontrol
jre keytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/keytool
jre pack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/pack200
jre policytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/policytool
jre rmid /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/rmid
jre rmiregistry /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/rmiregistry
jre unpack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/unpack200
jre orbd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/orbd
jre servertool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/servertool
jre tnameserv /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/tnameserv
jre jexec /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/jexec
jdk appletviewer /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/appletviewer
jdk apt /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/apt
jdk extcheck /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/extcheck
jdk idlj /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/idlj
jdk jar /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jar
jdk jarsigner /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jarsigner
jdk java-rmi.cgi /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/java-rmi.cgi
jdk javac /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javac
jdk javadoc /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javadoc
jdk javah /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javah
jdk javap /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javap
jdk jconsole /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jconsole
jdk jdb /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jdb
jdk jhat /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jhat
jdk jinfo /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jinfo
jdk jmap /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jmap
jdk jps /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jps
jdk jrunscript /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jrunscript
jdk jsadebugd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jsadebugd
jdk jstack /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstack
jdk jstat /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstat
jdk jstatd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstatd
jdk native2ascii /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/native2ascii
jdk rmic /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/rmic
jdk schemagen /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/schemagen
jdk serialver /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/serialver
jdk wsgen /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/wsgen
jdk wsimport /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/wsimport
jdk xjc /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/xjc
plugin xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
plugin mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

After you created the file, you will need to tell the system about your new Java. For this you will have to use a bunch of pretty cryptic commands.

$ sudo -sH
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/libjavaplugin.so xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/appletviewer appletviewer /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/appletviewer 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/appletviewer.1 appletviewer.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/appletviewer.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/apt apt /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/apt 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/apt.1 apt.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/apt.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/extcheck extcheck /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/extcheck 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/extcheck.1 extcheck.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/extcheck.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/idlj idlj /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/idlj 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/idlj.1 idlj.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/idlj.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jar jar /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jar 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jar.1 jar.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jar.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jarsigner jarsigner /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jarsigner 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jarsigner.1 jarsigner.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jarsigner.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/javac javac /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javac 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/javac.1 javac.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/javac.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/javadoc javadoc /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javadoc 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/javadoc.1 javadoc.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/javadoc.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/javah javah /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javah 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/javah.1 javah.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/javah.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/javap javap /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/javap 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/javap.1 javap.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/javap.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jconsole jconsole /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jconsole 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jconsole.1 jconsole.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jconsole.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jdb jdb /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jdb 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jdb.1 jdb.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jdb.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jhat jhat /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jhat 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jhat.1 jhat.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jhat.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jinfo jinfo /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jinfo 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jinfo.1 jinfo.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jinfo.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jmap jmap /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jmap 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jmap.1 jmap.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jmap.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jps jps /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jps 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jps.1 jps.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jps.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jrunscript jrunscript /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jrunscript 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jrunscript.1 jrunscript.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jrunscript.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jsadebugd jsadebugd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jsadebugd 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jsadebugd.1 jsadebugd.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jsadebugd.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jstack jstack /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstack 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jstack.1 jstack.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jstack.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jstat jstat /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstat 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jstat.1 jstat.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jstat.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jstatd jstatd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/jstatd 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/jstatd.1 jstatd.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/jstatd.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/native2ascii native2ascii /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/native2ascii 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/native2ascii.1 native2ascii.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/native2ascii.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/rmic rmic /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/rmic 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/rmic.1 rmic.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/rmic.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/schemagen schemagen /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/schemagen 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/schemagen.1 schemagen.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/schemagen.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/serialver serialver /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/serialver 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/serialver.1 serialver.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/serialver.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/wsgen wsgen /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/wsgen 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/wsgen.1 wsgen.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/wsgen.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/wsimport wsimport /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/wsimport 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/wsimport.1 wsimport.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/wsimport.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/xjc xjc /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/xjc 100 --slave /usr/share/man/man1/xjc.1 xjc.1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/man/man1/xjc.1
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/java-rmi.cgi java-rmi.cgi /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/bin/java-rmi.cgi 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/ControlPanel ControlPanel /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/ControlPanel 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/java 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/java_vm java_vm /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/java_vm 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/javaws javaws /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/javaws 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jcontrol jcontrol /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/jcontrol 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/keytool keytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/keytool 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/pack200 pack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/pack200 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/policytool policytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/policytool 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/rmid rmid /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/rmid 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/rmiregistry rmiregistry /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/rmiregistry 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/unpack200 unpack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/unpack200 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/orbd orbd /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/orbd 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/servertool servertool /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/servertool 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/tnameserv tnameserv /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/bin/tnameserv 100
update-alternatives --quiet --install /usr/bin/jexec jexec /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/jexec 100

At last you can use update-alternatives to select newly installed Java SDK. When you run the first command, make sure that you select the newly installed Java SDK. At the end, don’t forget to exit from the root shell.

# update-alternatives --config java
# update-java-alternatives --set java-1.7.0-oracle
# exit

This worked for me and now I am able to switch between the Open JDK and Oracle JDK. Easier than eating pancakes, right? ;)

Oct 02 09:13:25 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
Oct 02 12:45:17 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
Oct 02 12:45:20 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
Oct 02 13:15:12 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
Oct 02 13:15:13 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up
Oct 02 13:22:13 machine kernel: r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link up

Read on if you want to know why this happens and how to solve the problem.

Driver that is included in vanilla Linux kernel is actually a driver for a different network adapter, but works with 8111E too. Sort of works. Realtek made new official driver that fixes the problem, but disables the old driver. Which could be a problem for you if you have RTL8169/8110 and RTL8168/8111¹.

First you will need the latest driver for your network adapter. Get it here. You will have to extract it and compile it. Current version is 8.025.00.

$ tar -xvjf r8168-8.025.00.tar.bz2
$ cd r8168-8.025.00
$ make modules

If you are running Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot then you can ignore the README file and autorun.sh script. The script is broken and the information in the README is obsolete. For other distributions and kernels autorun.sh might work. When make is complete you will have to get rid of the old module and replace it with the new one. Do this, while you’re still in the r8168-8.025.00 directory.

$ cd src
$ sudo cp r8168.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/
$ sudo mv /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/r8169.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/r8169.ko.old
$ sudo depmod -a

Now, all you need to do is to take care that the driver will load on boot.

$ sudo echo "r8168" >> /etc/modules

Wouldn’t it be wise to test if the new driver is working at all, before you reboot? Easier than eating pancakes!

$ sudo modprobe -r r8169 # At this point your network will stop working
$ sudo modprobe r8168 # And now network manager should pick up the new connection

Oh, and if you are annoyed that now your network interface is eth1 instead of eth0 as it used to be, remove the two lines from /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules that end with NAME=”eth0″ and NAME=”eth1″.

Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011

Parts, parts, parts

You will get 2 models with the package. You can field the models in a squadron that has 2-3 models. The model comes in 8 parts:

• back resign engine section; which also connects support pegs to the stand,
• front pewter section,
• 2 pewter middle sections,
• in 1 piece 3 pewter main structure beams,
• 1 long clear acrylic beam representing main weapon,
• 2 shorter clear acrylic beams representing support pegs,
• 1 80×40 mm stand

Assembly

Model requires a little bit of work, which is quite unusual for Firestorm Armada models. You will need to cut off the pewter main structure beams and file their end pieces so that they are flat and can stand perpendicular to a flat surface. Watch out that the lengths of beams will be the same. Next you will have to trim and file the other pewter pieces, specially the pewter middle sections on which the main structure beams will lay. Dry fit everything so that all of the pieces fit together without major gaps.

For the assembly I decided to use cyanoacrilic dry fast glue. Since there is quite some weight in the  front of the model and the main structure beams do not provide much support and do not have much contact surface with front section and engine section I decided to go with pinning of the front and engine sections together with main structure beams. I drilled holes in the middle of the beams on both ends about 5 mm in length and the same in the front and engine section in the middle of the holders where the beams will be glued. I used 0.4 mm drill with 0.4 mm wire for pins.

Then I glued together two of the main structure beams to the front section pins. The clear acrylic beam – the middle section beam was not glued, mainly for the painting reasons. It provides enough support to finish the gluing of the middle round support sections and provides enough stability for the model. First glue both support sections to the existing main structure beams. After they firmly hold in place, glue the last main structure beam to the front section and round support sections. When glue dries you should have a sturdy front part of model from which you can remove the middle beam.

Since you already pinned the engine section, and dry fitted model through the process, the model should fit together quite well. Maybe some drilling for the middle section beam will be required which I recommend will be done in engine section. If you are not worried with painting the model you can assemble the front and engine section with the middle section beam and also the stand with 2 pegs and fit your Xelocian Hantari Class Cruiser to them.

Good or Bad

It looks like the model is something new for the Spartans. My engine section had some problems with the casting so I needed to do some remodeling on the engine part.  Once painted it will look like battle damage.

The assembly is a little bit tricky. Lots of parts checking and dry fitting. There is also the pinning part which is probably not required, but recommended. I also noticed that the main structure beams are a little bit soft. Probably so you can simply bend them into the right direction if everything else fails.

The middle section beam – the main weapon – is problematic from painting standpoint. If you are going to paint it in specific color you should paint it before you assemble the model. This will also mean you will have to prime the model before you completely assemble it, then assemble it with painted middle section beam and paint it afterward.

But the result should be out of this Galaxy. Not easy to do but highly recommended!