Computing resources optimisation [1D]

Well a few posts back "pc4" was being set up with Debian 10 (buster) as an evaluation computer and that was purely for that purpose and it had my media collection installed in order to evaluate it as a media player. But it does struggle to achieve that role because the hardware is too old and slow to play back videos and so Kodi gives a choppy display in playback.

Since writing therefore a new purpose has arisen for a computer to be on my desk that will be permanently connected to a tethered phone for which purpose the requirement is to have access to the internet for times and reasons that would be outside of the scope of the school's internet connection which I can currently use for 10 hours per day. However it is still not a solution for times when I want to watch streamed church content from Australia or elsewhere because the volume would blow my data cap relatively quickly. But having that computer on my desktop instead of using the bedroom computer over VNC reflects that I would expect to be using the desktop computer more often and also that the VNC option has proved unreliable because of software crashes and problems getting the software to run as a service. I haven't seen these issues with VNC on the Win10 computer but I have spent a great deal of time trying to resolve these problems on Bedroompc to no avail.

So the computer will be renamed from "buster" or "pc4" to "ministrypc" as it is being used for ministry work and that work could, at times, run into problems with the school web filtering system and I want to keep this work separate from the use of the school wireless system because of that. This will also provide me with a more convenient option for general internet use outside of the hours that the school wireless is available. The computer will be plugged into the Ubiquiti bridge that I have and this bridge will in turn be able to automatically connect to one of my two phones that can be used in tethered mode to provide the required data connection.

On or about the 21st July I wrote a post highlighting that I had had problems with using a Vodem with various computers to gain access to the internet via my cellular data connection. I blamed the problems I was having at the time on the Vodem as it seemed to be possible to get a direct data connection on the Galaxy Tab Android tablet that I had and this seemed to show the Vodem must be the problem. Subsequently I was able to get the tablet to work which seemed to prove this was the issue. However while I have been able to use the tethered phone on a number of occasions, last evening it would not work at all while the tablet again worked (and is being used to write this post). The fact that this issue keeps occurring with either Vodems or tethered phones suggests rather strongly that Vodafone in actuality does have some kind of system that they use randomly and without notice and subject to their own whims to impose a total obstruction of tethering. This is obviously of considerable concern to me and is something I will have to keep evaluating in coming days to try and work out exactly what is going on as it imposes severe limitations on the work I was expecting to do with this computer that really depends on the tethered connection.

So a couple of days later Vodafone has still not resolved the blocking issue with tethering still being blocked so regrettably the idea I was going to be able to use this computer for ministry is under question at the moment. If I cannot get any sense out of Vodafone I will have to try to find an alternative solution.

At the moment I am still testing out VF but at least the network has been more reliable and ministrypc is able to get onto the internet much more readily. Interesting is that every Linux PC in the house is now running Debian (except for laptops which don't get used much). So mediapc and even bedroompc are running it now. It is just so much better set up than Xubuntu which is a bit nanny state in so many ways (like in regard to hibernation and using the root account). 

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.

Windows 10 Store apps for everyday things

Last time I wrote about becoming a broadbandless household for a while. Since then I have set up the Nanobridge permanently, in that it is located in a different room of the house, and is cabled back to the main network switch in a very neat and tidy way. This involved a lot of work to put its cable through a wall and the back of the kitchen cabinets. The bonus was being able to aim it properly and get a much stronger, and therefore faster, signal.

For my data plan I got a Vodem set up with a tablet share SIM onto a Windows 10 computer that isn't used for anything else much except playing music videos. The Vodem plugs into a USB port on this computer and I decided to install the Windows 10 apps for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As compared with the ideas I have had about running Instagram in an Android emulator under Windows, the native app for Windows 10 works very well but doesn't allow posting. Since RemixOS has its share of issues and I haven't been much bothered with attempting to get it working properly, I have just stuck with reading Instagram on the PC and doing posting with a phone or tablet - because you can compose a post in advance using Google Docs and then paste it on the phone or tablet - instead of having to type it on the handheld.

So on Windows 10 everything looks really good on this computer. The best thing about plugging in a Vodem is that everything that uses network traffic in the background on the computer stops when it is connected. So it doesn't suck up my data. Windows 10 is clever enough to realise I don't have a lot of data to play with on a cellular connection. Actually I burned through my phone data allocation without realising it the first time I tethered one of my computers to my phone because Google Drive was running and I didn't know it was going to download a whole lot of stuff onto my computer. So that was 5 GB gone in just a few minutes. The answer to that on Wifi (which is what a tether looks like to a computer, which can't tell the connection is different from regular Wifi) is to set the Wifi connection as a metered network. That works in a similar way to limit unnecessary traffic on the connection.

Broadbandless household

Well how do you have a household without broadband? You skive off free wifi and use your huge 6 GB cellular data on your $50 phone plan is how you do it. Since Vodafone has just upped the data on my plan to 6 GB for no extra cost.

Simply put, I have decided to have my home broadband chopped because of cost at the present time, and I have the ability to get what Vodafone calls a "tablet share" on my cellphone plan. Normally they charge $10/month per tablet but from time to time they have offered this at $0/month which they are doing at the moment. It isn't clear if this is just for the signup or whether it is ongoing after the end of the offer.

I will need to use the cellular data because some free wifi limits access to social media sites. I already have a tablet share for my Samsung tablet, getting a second one will enable me to use a laptop with the vodem that I already have which I used to use with the sim that is now in the Galaxy Tab A. The laptop has obvious advantages over the Galaxy Tab A with a keyboard and screen size etc.

I am connecting to the wifi using a Ubiquiti bridge to allow my regular desktop computers to work over the wireless. I started working with it in Bridge mode. This essentially makes each computer on your network an address on the remote network. Its main disadvantages are that your computer is on that network and therefore subject to the traffic on the rest of that network - and vice versa.

I then had a go at setting it up in Router mode. The Nanobridge needed to be updated to the 6.0 firmware a few days ago when I first started playing with it, and then once I set the router mode it handed out local addresses using its own DHCP server, but it didn't actually work, until I went back through the settings and saw the NAT box needed to be ticked. Once that was sorted it all started working as expected.

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.