Reinstall KDE system with LXQt [3]

This is the third article in a series about problems with KDE leading to a reinstallation with LXQt. Both running on top of Debian 10.

The computer concerned is running two NICs because it needs to access both networks that I have here. I have the main one based on a corporate wireless link from next door, which is filtered and throttled, and a second networtk based on a Skinny cellular broadband network modem, which is not filtered or throttled, although speed is moot since there are limitations inherent with 4G cellular data. The Skinny modem is connected to the local devices through a Ubiquiti AirRouter, which includes a DHCP server and network switch. It also provides the wireless network for phones or tablets. The capabilities of the AirRouter are much better than those built into the Huawei Skinny modem for internal networks and that is why I am using it.

There are some issues with LXQt mainly in panels but apart from that the reinstallation of software has gone well on the platform. One issue with this computer in general is that it needs more installed RAM and I am planning to address that in the next week or two, since I need it to be able to run a virtual machine at the same time as the range of stuff I normally use it for. One issue was reinstalling Gimp, I had difficulty in working out where Gimp keeps its config data as I wanted to copy over the config from my existing computer. It turns out that Gimp uses ~/.config/Gimp as a path, but apparently it also used a Flatpak specific path in ~/.var/ to store some data and there is considerable confusion over why it maintains these two paths especially as the user interface of the Preferences dialog doesn't actually point to the ~/.config path when it appears it should.

One of the interesting experiments this week has been to work with the mounting arms that I use to hold some displays. I have used Brateck wall mount arms with VESA adapters on them for this for some years. The key has been to modify these to allow fine control of the height so that when displays are stacked vertically, it is easy to put them close together. 

This photo shows how the attachment of the arm to the "wall" (in this case a vertical post attached to the desk) has been modified to allow its height to be adjustable. This is done with two right angle brackets which are bolted together using 80 mm length M6 gutter bolts, which gives theoretically an adjustment range of 80 mm.

I have to work around issues with the backup system from one of my computers at the moment. rynsc has not been able to connect over the network between the computers and running the backup locally on a computer seems to be the way to go at the moment.

Wireless broadband [2]

So in my last post I wrote about Skinny 4G wireless broadband. I have had this for about 10 days and it's been really good. I have two computers connected to it, one in each main room of the house, and using a proper computer with it instead of a limited Raspberry Pi is really the key to getting the most out of it. But just as relevant is the observation that it is way better than the Vodem that I used to plug into one of my PCs via the USB port. There were plenty of times when that wouldn't connect reliably and it was often very slow especially in daytime. I was half expecting the same sort of challenges with Skinny but like my earlier evaluation of the new Spark wireless broadband for a relative, I was left pleasantly surprised by the performance and reliability of Skinny Wiress Broadband.

It so happens the same product is available as Skinny Jump at a much cheaper cost for people who have various forms of economic or social constraints that make it difficult for them to pay for a full wireless product, and certainly paying $10 for 60 GB is quite a lot cheaper than my $39 plan for the same volume. However although I can qualify for the Jump product and would not have to pay upfront for a modem as I have, I will continue with what I have purchased as I believe I am able to afford it and therefore the Jump funding subsidy can be directed to those most in need of it.

I don't have the modem running the whole time, it gets turned on and off with the computer - and it comes on and connects itself up pretty quickly without any issues at all. It took very little effort to get it in a position where it gets 3 bars of signal (maximum strength) and the speeds it is giving me are really good, easily comparable with Jetstream (ADSL) and way better than the throttled speeds I have been getting on my free connection from the school. The Huawei B618 modem is not quite as full featured as the Nanobridge that connects to the school - the B618 can issue DHCP addresses for example but can't handle address reservations and some of the other bells and whistles that the Nanobridge manages. But it is quite satisfactory for home use. I have turned off its WLAN because I don't as yet need to be able to connect to it wirelessly and also to avoid interfering with the existing wireless network in the house from the Unifi AP Pro. 

At the moment Skinny have granted us extra free data because of the COVID-19 lockdown but I will still have to pay $39 at the end of the month whether I use the extra data or not but at least I don't have to worry about going over cap for the next month or two. But so far usage is going well and I don't have to worry about going over cap in any case because most days would average less than 2 GB.

Overall therefore Skinny 4G Wireless Broadband is highly recommended.

Wireless broadband [1]

For the past four years I have had the privilege of a free internet connection shared from a corporate site next door to me where I used to work. It has been and in fact still is good and I intend to keep using it. However in order to supplement it and work around some of its limitations I am now planning to sign up for Skinny Wireless 4G Broadband. This has only recently become available in my area and appears to be limited to the Spark network (not Vodafone).

Skinny have a few plans starting with $39 for 60 GB of data with a downlink speed around 36Mbps and uplink 10Mbps. This is slow by fibre standards but a lot faster than my throttled 1Mbps Wifi connection from next door. According to a current deal they will give the first month free but you have to pay for the modem which costs $99, however their overall rates are the cheapest - Vodafone where available starts at $53 (albeit for 120GB which Skinny charges $49 for) whilst Spark starts at $65 for 60 GB but they don't charge you for the modem. So the first month would cost $99 and each month thereafter $39.

Up until now when I have needed an independent connection I have used either a laptop or a Raspberry Pi tethered to my mobile phone. The problem is that these mobile data connections are throttled quite severely during busy times (i.e. daytime) and the Pi is too slow to manage very much without grinding to a halt. Under the new arrangement I will have a regular computer that gets its internet exclusively from the wireless modem but will still be connected to the internal network as well except that it will have a different default gateway from the rest so that it won't connect to the corporate internet. Its internal network connection will generally be used just for file transfers and remote access.

Of course now there is the question of do I need my relatively expensive mobile plan with its large amount of data, and in reality I don't. However incorporated into that plan is two free tablet shares that let me use my tablet and second phone on the same data connection without an additional cost. So that is the reason I will probably stick with my current mobile plan but it is tempting to think I could switch to a cheaper prepay plan if I was willing to drop the tablet shares. One day perhaps Vodafone will stop letting me use my current plan but they are probably doing alright on it for now as it is pretty rare for me to use anything like my full data allocation and it will be even less likely with the wireless broadband installed. This is a backup to the corporate connection which is still going to be used for the rest of my needs.

Eyefi & FlashAir wireless SD cards for camera

Eyefi is a technology that's been around for a while, that combines a regular SD memory card with a wireless chipset so that images that are being recorded onto the card by the camera can be transmitted wirelessly to another device. The cards can be purchased mainly on Amazon. The technology has also been licensed to Toshiba for their FlashAir series. Compared to Eyefi, the FlashAir cards have a somewhat lower range and less sophistication but can still be used for the same overall purpose. Both systems have a range measured in the tens of metres in any case, they don't have a big antenna or high power output, they are really just useful for transferring pictures between two devices that it would be hard to connect with a cable. This is especially applicable to the Nexus 5X since it doesn't have an SD card slot, and just about any phone with a MicroUSB socket can't be connected to another device like a camera with a regular USB cable - a special host adapter and cables would be required. (This technology is called USB OTG, and is not supported by all phones, however the Nexus 5X does support it, but at the moment I am not planning to experiment with it.)

My interest has shifted to the EyeFi technology since I stopped using the Ixus 135 camera that I bought a few years ago, which has built in Wifi that works through a mobile phone app that Canon provide to automatically transfer images. The Ixus 135 is a much less sophisticated camera than the Powershot SX260 that I currently use, but the SX260 doesn't have Wifi. So to get this capability, if I don't want to buy a new camera and don't want to go back to using the Ixus 135 then I have to look at one of these cards. The reason I want to use the SX260 is for superior low light performance or optical zoom etc which a camera phone can't really manage. Being able to transfer photos wirelessly to the phone in real time means I don't have to download them to a computer and then transfer them to the phone by Bluetooth or Google Drive.

The Toshiba card costs about $40-50 depending on the model so I will have a look at buying one when I have time.

Canon MILC Cameras: EOS M Series

Canon has been slow to produce viable MILC cameras but their latest range has done a lot for their credibility in leveraging the benefits of this relatively new technology for interchangeable lens cameras. Briefly put, MILC is an abbreviation for Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera and essentially it is a DSLR without the optical viewfinder and the mirror that enables you to look directly through the lens (TTL); instead the camera has a LCD viewfinder on the back like most compact cameras these days and so the main differentiation with a lot of P&S or "prosumer" cameras is the ability to change the lens and typically the use of a APS-C sensor (about the same size as lower end DSLRs). The main advantage a MILC has is that it can be made much smaller and lighter than a DSLR because of the space taken up by the mirror in the latter. MILC design is commonly referenced to a Japanese design standard called "Micro Four Thirds". The design standard for these cameras was revolutionised a few years ago when Sony brought out the first of the NEX series models. It was notable for some years that non-traditional SLR makers like Sony and Panasonic (and Olympus since they exited the DSLR market) were leading the way in MFT camera design and that those manufacturers with a long track record in film and high end DSLRs like Canon were relatively slow to innovate in MFT. Consequently the EOS M, Canon's first offering in the MFT sphere released in 2012, was a fairly tame offering at a price point that ensured it was not going to undercut the DSLR range. But both the M and the followup M2 model had poor sales, and Canon only redeemed themselves in the marketplace by massively discounting the M to less than half its original price, while the M2 didn't even make it to some of the major markets. Consequently Canon has had to make a much better effort in its latest round of models and the EOS M3 and M10 (only the former is officially available in Aust/NZ) are much better value for money for those who are looking for something that has the compactness of a high end P&S camera and the performance of a lower end DSLR with pricing to match. The M3 has now been replaced by the M6 model which is due to be released to the marketplace in NZ this month.

Whilst at present for financial reasons I can only dream of supplementing my highest quality compact camera (the middle range Powershot SX260, which is what I use for most of my day to day stuff nowadays when I want to carry a camera in a pocket and don't want to lug along the bulky EOS 600D), the M3 and especially the M10 are worth serious consideration as alternatives to both. The M3 is available in NZ for around $1000 with a twin-lens kit, while the landed price to privately import a M10 with a single lens would be around $600. However, the current cost of the M3 may well be lower end-of-line pricing as the M6 replacement is closer to the original EOS M being around $1500 with a single lens. The models share the same basic design but have many detail differences. In particular the M10 has a lower sensor resolution (18 vs 24 MP), is made mainly of plastic instead of metal, omits the flash/accessory hot shoe of the M3, weighs a little less and has generally lower shooting performance and capabilities. The M10 also relies more on the touchscreen for changing camera settings as it has fewer physical dials and controls on the camera body compared to the more expensive models. However, the touchscreen still gives access to full PASM shooting modes.

Having the accessory shoe on the M3 enables the use of an external flash as well as an eye level viewfinder (although still electronic) for people that prefer to compose shots in that way. I can appreciate the debate over the ergonomics of LCD vs eye level viewfinders, but for me the LCD screen is definitely the way to go; even with my years of SLR and rangefinder film camera experience, I have grown to prefer the LCD screens on most cameras these days. The only advantage a traditional viewfinder has over a LCD is in low light, and that's only possible when it is an optical design. These disappeared in compact cameras altogether a few years ago and their inclusion in DSLRs is the main reason for the inclusion of a mirror and the resulting added bulk. One issue with MFT cameras compared to a compact is that the interchangeable lenses are typically much bulkier than those fitted onto a compact; the larger lens is what gives the MFT its greater image quality (as with a DSLR) but understandably it takes up a lot more room. However on the M10, Canon have made the standard lens supplied with it collapsible so it is a lot smaller when the camera is turned off. This lens also has image stabilisation which naturally comes in quite useful, but the lens itself is only a 15-45 mm zoom range in an era where a lot of higher end compacts at a similar price can have a zoom range of as much as 40x (e.g. the Powershot SX720 which effectively replaced the SX260 at a higher price). The M10 does have an adjustable LCD screen rather than a fixed one - it isn't fully articulating but instead it can be tilted up by 180 degrees so selfies can still be taken (and it does have an automatic selfie mode when the screen is tilted right up). With the inbuilt Wifi connectivity it can download photos automatically to a Android or iOS phone with the apps Canon supplies and can also use these phones to obtain GPS coordinates to tag onto pictures.

Overall although the M10 is somewhat less capable than my EOS 600D in various respects, it would be a useful step up for me from the SX260 albeit at a somewhat bulkier size and with less zoom capability in the lens, although this is somewhat compensated for by the larger sensor size making it more feasible to crop and zoom pictures on the computer when needed. If I bought this camera I probably wouldn't bother with buying a second lens as these tend to be quite expensive as are most accessories for these cameras. It is notable that Canon continues to resist fitting a Micro USB port to this model as with the majority of its range, sticking with its backward-compatible Mini USB port (that Canon has customised with extra contacts for composite video playback) so we still won't get a camera that allows for an external battery or in-camera charging. This is among the most annoying features of Canon cameras in that you are limited to the range of batteries and chargers they supply, and pumping up the internal battery with an external USB battery the same way as we all can do with our cellphones these days is simply not possible. All one can do is buy a third party USB adapter for charging a battery externally to the camera using the same Micro USB power sources. This also limits the download options to a computer if I have forgotten to carry the less common Mini USB cable and the computer doesn't have a SD card slot, although the wifi capability makes up for this. So the main issue here is really the limitation on external power sources and this is really inexcusable in this day and age when it is clear Canon really wants to lock you into their proprietary batteries and chargers. There have been one or two models of Canon that did have a micro USB port and in camera charging via this port but Canon overall does not care for this capability and it is clearly not their intent to offer it to the vast majority of their customers even for a sophisticated alternative compact like the EOS M.

Overall at the price point the EOS M10 is offered at (when purchased through Amazon) it would be a worthwhile step up from the SX260 and probably a better alternative overall than the SX720 or its current equivalent (at a similar price) as a camera with interchangeable lenses and an APS-C sensor is always going to be a better option than a fixed lens compact with a small sensor. But there will inevitably be comparisons made with the Powershot G7x and the like which has a fixed and faster lens and more features but costs over $1000. So my view is that the M10 is quite good value for money if you are focused on bang for the buck and that has to be the way I look at it with my limited budget for camera gear even at the best of times, which in this case probably means next year rather than in 2017.

Capturing video in Linux / Video resizing / DVR recording

Simple Screen Recorder is a great Linux software package that can be used to capture video from the screen. I set up my media PC to use it after connecting a second screen to use as the control screen for all applications (in other words, the application itself runs on the control screen while the video to be captured is playing on the main screen). I tested it out by capturing a Vimeo video clip and a clip from iTBN which has all the Hillsong Channel previous content available for playing. Both of these worked quite well. The iTBN clip included a Christine Caine message from Colour Conference 2016. As the videos for this conference are no longer available from Hillsong I may look to capture more of them from iTBN if anyone I know wants them for any particular purpose. This particular one was played on Colour Conference Main Stage on Hillsong Channel earlier this week, but for some reason these Mainstage clips aren't being repeated throughout the week so I was pleased to be able to find it on iTBN.

DVR recording is something I have begun to do with my satellite box. It has 16 GB of internal memory available for recording programs and I used it this week to record part of "The Story" broadcast on Hillsong Channel. I prefer to use a USB stick plugged into the front USB port of the box to record onto. The resultant .ts file can simply be renamed as .mpeg and then imported into an editing program like AviDemux. The main issue then is that the aspect ratio of the source video needs to be fixed.

In AviDemux the file from the DVR turned out to be too high vertically (rather common to see with video playback but not at all desirable) so configuring it to resize to 840x484 as I found on a tutorial on Youtube fixed the problem and put the aspect ratio back correctly for when I play the clip in Kodi. The "Story" clip had a 6 1/2 minute segment from when Hillsong United visited a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon as part of their "Of Dirt And Grace" project in the Middle East in April 2016.

I am now getting the maximum usage out of my satellite box by connecting it to a second TV and speakers in the bedroom. I first experimented with having a fourth computer in there with the same TV as a display. This was OK playing the Hillsong Channel from iTBN except for the video being slow and the computer generally challenged because of its slow speed (it is one of the AMD E350s). As I had already put a network cable through the wall I decided a better option was to have a analogue video cable and sound cable through from the satellite box making the most of the multiple outlets on the box. This also meant making use of the second discrete audio output and running it through the CYP digital to analogue sound converter that I purchased last year. So the box has the maximum number of cables connected to it to drive all the different devices. The picture on the TV in the bedroom, while made with an analogue composite cable, is still way better than with a computer playing iTBN in a web browser because it is good quality and doesn't have jerky video or problems when the network speed is slow. The sound is also better quality. So I have dispensed with the fourth computer and now just back to three computers in the lounge.

For social media I now have the Vodem that I plug into my Windows 10 PC when I want to access Instagram etc with my tablet share SIM. This computer is really being annoying because unlike the other Windows 10 computer I tried the Vodem on, it won't redetect the Vodem when it comes back up from hibernation, so I have to keep unplugging and replugging the Vodem to use it.

UPDATE:

• The Vodem is being detected as a Remote NDIS thingy when the computer comes back from hibernation/restart, all you have to do is to enable and disable it.
• Since writing the original post about using captures I have discovered that the incredible youtube-dl software will work with both the Vimeo and iTBN sites. So both of the above mentioned videos could be downloaded from their respective sites and no screen capture was necessary. (Since about the fourth week in April however iTBN has a new site format that does not work with youtube-dl)
• Computer 4 (the AMD E350 in the Antec mini chassis) has gone back into the bedroom not to play iTBN over the internet, but to enable videos to be played there. Instead of using a network cable connection it is using wireless.
• I have found out how to save Instagram stories with a Chrome app. How to save Instagram videos is a mystery - youtube-dl allegedly supports them but I can't make it work. Fortunately I can play them in a web browser, which means I can use SimpleScreenRecorder on a VM running Xubuntu on the computer that has the Vodem plugged into it.

Bits and Pieces

Old server or desktop chassis make great little tables to put stuff on next to your desk. So that I don't spill that drink on my keyboard while I am writing my assignments. It is another step along the way in getting everything set up in the house the way it needs to be. The living room is looking a lot better with things getting put in the right place and made tidy. This has been pushed along in a big way this week because I have started my studies for this semester and need to have everything set up for this. The bedroom is also getting a makeover as an alternate study location and I am making a keyboard slide to go under the desk there. It will also need a 2nd computer running Windows to work with the scanner so I have fitted a screen mount post to the side of the desk. That means both the bedroom and the living room will have two PCs each. I have a couple of old USB KVMs to mount under each desk to switch the keyboard and mouse (but not the screen) between computers. Each computer has its own screen(s) rather than switching them through the KVM. This is because the KVM can only switch one screen, which is useless if you have more than one, and because these KVMs only have VGA connectors. I am using Logitech Mk270r wireless keyboard/mouse sets at both locations.

MS is apparently releasing Windows 10 for the Nokia Lumia 635 Real Soon Now. Vodafone in other parts of the world has released it to their customers, but I suppose little old NZ will be last in line as usual. It will be interesting to see if Cortana is still vapourware for NZ or whether MS have pulled their finger out and got it out the door this time. I'm not too bothered as I am not going to use my Lumia unless there is a much wider range of apps released for it. Win10 is supposed to cater for this by allowing Android apps to be released for Phone, although only if they are recompiled under the Win10 platform. MS should have gone the whole way and embedded the Android APIs but I suppose there would still be a problem of where to source apps, so I suppose this makes more sense.

I have found that Ubiquiti 802.11n Unifi access points can give faster speeds than the wireless router that Vodafone supplied me with. So a UAP is installed in the right place to beam a signal out to the sleepout and also provide the wireless for the house, in place of the Netcomm router, which is reduced to being a gigabit switch and DHCP server. The computer in the sleepout uses a Edimax 802.11ac USB wireless adapter. Although the access point isn't working on 802.11ac, it doesn't really matter because the line speed on my home broadband connection is only a maximum of 50 Mbps which is well within its capabilities.

Vodafone have at last brought the cost of tablet share down to zero in a special promotion lasting until the end of July. I have been pretty tightfisted about this but I just don't see why I should have to pay $10/month extra for the tablet share plan when I can tether the tablet to my phone for no extra cost. The tablet share SIM will go into a Vodem for my tablet as it doesn't have a sim slot of its own.

The "main" PC is getting a memory upgrade. As running a lot of open browser tabs gobbles up the memory, I am getting another 8 GB for it, which will take it up to 20 GB. I will have to also resize the partitions on the SSD to bring the swap partition up to 40 GB to match. The computer's motherboard was specially selected by me because it is capable of addressing 32 GB with four DIMM slots.

Edimax EW-7811UAC Wireless Adapter

These days with wireless everywhere and getting faster all the time, there are situations where we need to hook up a desktop computer to a wireless network. The solutions these days can include a card installed in the PC, or a plug in USB device. Internal cards have the advantage of having an external antenna that could be substituted with one of a higher gain if your situation demanded it. However there are times when a card is not an option, in my case my Mini-ITX board has no PCI Express slot in which a card could be installed. Hence I am limited to USB devices.

Edimax has a nice little and cheap 802.11ac solution which retails for around $40 in NZ in the EW-7811UAC, which also includes an accessory USB cradle with a 1.2 metre cable so you can put the adapter a distance from the computer for better signal reception. The photos below show the device. The overall height of the unit when attached to the cradle is around 20 cm.

The CD comes with drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux. The Linux driver was the subject of yesterday's post about compiling and installing a hardware driver. Suffice it to say that the supplied instructions will get you no further than how to load the driver into your current running session, and additional knowledge is needed to have the driver reloaded automatically each time the computer is started. Admittedly these instructions will vary between distros. Doing it a second time on a different Linux Mint computer from the one used to write yesterday's post was very straightforward and should pose no issues for competent tech-savvy Linux users. However when the computer was resumed from hibernation although the adapter still appeared to work the little blue light on it did not flash anymore. This was fixed with a reboot and there may well be an issue for the driver when a system is hibernated and then resumed. This may also be an architectural limitation of Mint as hibernation is a relatively new feature for some Linux systems and not 100% dependable in my experience to date, although fair to say it can be because of hardware issues on some systems.

The adapter gives variable results with my 802.11n home router on Speedtest.net from 5-15Mbps. I am not sure why the variance shows up. When hooking to a full 802.11ac network the typical speed is around 35-40Mbps. So with 802.11ac access points and strong signal reception it can go quite well but the claimed 433Mbps speed seems to be just puffery. The only time I have seen anything like that on wireless is when using a point to point link between a pair of Ubiquiti Nanobeams. It may be however that the network I am using for these tests has some kind of limiting applied, in fact I think in both cases the speeds were likely to be the result of rate limiting on those networks. A little more playing has got me 25Mbps on the home network so putting this thing in the right place also helps. Since that is only 802.11n it is a pretty good result and it would seem the purported benefits of 802.11ac are only achievable over short distances, at the distance I am at I am probably not getting much 5 GHz signal which ac works on so maybe that is the reason I am not seeing much speed on that system.