+ <div class="entry">
+ <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">The new "best" multimedia player in Debian?</a></div>
+ <div class="date"> 6th June 2016</div>
+ <div class="body"><p>When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out
+<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">which
+multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats /
+MIME types</a>, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types
+the various players claimed support for. The range was from 55 to 130
+MIME types. I suspect most media formats are supported by all
+players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in
+their desktop files. There are probably also some bogus MIME types
+listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of
+the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files,
+and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my
+favorite media player VLC. The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable
+yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the
+<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">Multimedia
+player MIME type support status</a> Debian wiki page.</p>
+
+<p>The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? It is VLC, followed by
+totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and
+kmplayer. I am sure some of the other players desktop files support
+several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc,
+toten and parole.</p>
+
+<p>A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as
+supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their
+desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl,
+audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg,
+video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska,
+video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo. Personally I find
+it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media
+players in Debian. As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both
+formats.</p>
+</div>
+ <div class="tags">
+
+
+ Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
+
+
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="padding"></div>
+
+ <div class="entry">
+ <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html">A program should be able to open its own files on Linux</a></div>
+ <div class="date"> 5th June 2016</div>
+ <div class="body"><p>Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I
+decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a
+talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine. I
+wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed
+the day before I would give the talk. The next day I took a plane to
+the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I
+started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover
+that kpresenter refused to load its own data file. I cursed a bit and
+started making the slides again from memory, to have something to
+present when I arrived. I tested that the saved files could be
+loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued. I continued to polish the
+slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer
+be loaded into kpresenter. In the end I had to rewrite the slides
+three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and
+shorter. After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem –
+kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand.
+Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great
+program to make slides. The point I'm trying to make is that we
+expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is
+embarrassing to its developers if it can't.</p>
+
+<p>Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data
+files from the desktop file browser? It is not a uncommon problem. A
+while back I discovered that the screencast recorder
+gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file
+browser would refuse to open. No video player claimed to understand
+such file. I tracked down the cause being <tt>file --mime-type</tt>
+returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had
+installed listed as a MIME type they would understand. I asked for
+<a href="http://bugs.gw.com/view.php?id=382">file to change its
+behavour</a> and use the MIME type video/ogg instead. I also asked
+several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give
+the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files. After a
+while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the
+output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.</p>
+
+<p>But history repeats itself. A few days ago I tested the music
+system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file
+browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files
+(*.rg). I've reported <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/825993">the
+rosegarden problem to BTS</a> and a fix is commited to git and will be
+included in the next upload. To increase the chance of me remembering
+how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files
+from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.</p>
+
+<p>The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types.
+There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file. The output from
+<tt>file --mime-type</tt> mentioned above, and the content of the
+shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/). The file MIME
+type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this
+information is collected from
+<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/">the
+desktop files</a> available in /usr/share/applications/. If there is
+one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is
+activated when asking to open a given file. If there are more, one
+can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and
+selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar. In general
+this work well. But it depend on each program picking a good MIME
+type (preferably
+<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">a
+MIME type registered with IANA</a>), file and/or the shared MIME
+registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME
+type in its list of supported MIME types.</p>
+
+<p>The <tt>/usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml</tt> entry for
+<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec">the
+Shared MIME database</a> look like this:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote><pre>
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">
+ <mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden">
+ <sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/>
+ <comment>Rosegarden project file</comment>
+ <glob pattern="*.rg"/>
+ </mime-type>
+</mime-info>
+</pre></blockquote></p>
+
+<p>This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip
+(it is a gzipped XML file). Note, it is much better to use an
+official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own
+unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.</p>
+
+<p>The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list
+audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the
+file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote><pre>
+% grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop
+MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi;
+X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition
+%
+</pre></blockquote></p>
+
+<p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the
+MimeType= line.</p>
+
+<p>If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when
+selected from the file browser, please check out the output from
+<tt>file --mime-type</tt> for the file, ensure the file ending and
+MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check
+that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming
+support for this MIME type. If not, please report a bug to have it
+fixed. :)</p>
+</div>
+ <div class="tags">
+
+
+ Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
+
+
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="padding"></div>
+
+ <div class="entry">
+ <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html">Tor - from its creators mouth 11 years ago</a></div>
+ <div class="date">28th May 2016</div>
+ <div class="body"><p>A little more than 11 years ago, one of the creators of Tor, and
+the current President of <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">the Tor
+project</a>, Roger Dingledine, gave a talk for the members of the
+<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User group</a> (NUUG). A
+video of the talk was recorded, and today, thanks to the great help
+from David Noble, I finally was able to publish the video of the talk
+on Frikanalen, the Norwegian open channel TV station where NUUG
+currently publishes its talks. You can
+<a href="http://frikanalen.no/se">watch the live stream using a web
+browser</a> with WebM support, or check out the recording on the video
+on demand page for the talk
+"<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599">Tor: Anonymous
+communication for the US Department of Defence...and you.</a>".</p>
+
+<p>Here is the video included for those of you using browsers with
+HTML video and Ogg Theora support:</p>
+
+<p><video width="70%" poster="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/large_thumb/20050421-tor-frikanalen.jpg" controls>
+ <source src="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/theora/20050421-tor-frikanalen.ogv" type="video/ogg"/>
+</video></p>
+
+<p>I guess the gist of the talk can be summarised quite simply: If you
+want to help the military in USA (and everyone else), use Tor. :)</p>
+</div>
+ <div class="tags">
+
+
+ Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
+
+
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="padding"></div>
+
<div class="entry">
<div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html">Isenkram with PackageKit support - new version 0.23 available in Debian unstable</a></div>
<div class="date">25th May 2016</div>
</div>
<div class="padding"></div>
- <div class="entry">
- <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html">NUUG contests Norwegian police DNS seizure of popcorn-time.no</a></div>
- <div class="date">18th April 2016</div>
- <div class="body"><p>It is days like today I am really happy to be a member of
-<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the Norwegian Unix User group</a>, a
-member association for those of us believing in free software, open
-standards and unix-like operating systems. NUUG announced today it
-will
-<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Pressemelding__NUUG_og_EFN_begj_rer_rettslig_pr_ving_for_DNS_domenebeslag_av_popcorn_time_no.shtml">try
-to bring the seizure of the DNS domain popcorn-time.no as
-unlawful</a>, to stand up for the principle that writing about a
-controversial topic is not infringing copyrights, and censuring web
-pages by hijacking DNS domain should be decided by the courts, not the
-police. The DNS domain was seized by the Norwegian National Authority
-for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime
-a month ago. I hope this bring more paying members to NUUG to give
-the association the financial muscle needed to bring this case as far
-as it must go to stop this kind of DNS hijacking.</p>
-</div>
- <div class="tags">
-
-
- Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett</a>.
-
-
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="padding"></div>
-
- <div class="entry">
- <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Ny_utgave__v2_2__av_den_frie_norske_stavekontrollen_gitt_ut.html">Ny utgave (v2.2) av den frie norske stavekontrollen gitt ut</a></div>
- <div class="date">15th April 2016</div>
- <div class="body"><p>I dag tok jeg mot til meg og pakket sammen en ny versjon av den
-frie norske stavekontrollen, ca. tre og et halvt år etter forrige
-gang. Resultatet kan lastes ned fra
-<a href="http://no.speling.org/">no.speling.org-prosjeksiden</a>, både
-som kildekodepakke og som "pack"-fil som kanskje fortsatt kan brukes
-av OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice. Byggesystemet trenger oppussing, men i
-denne omgang hadde jeg bare tid til å fikse byggefeil forårsaket av
-endringer i GNU grep. De øvrige endringene var gjort tidligere i
-påvente av en ny utgave.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Her er det som er nytt (fra NEWS-fila i
-kildekodepakken):</strong></p>
-
-<p>Release 2.2 (2016-04-15)</p>
-
-<ul>
-
- <li>Rewrite how scripts/speling2words handle tripple consonants, to
- avoid importing duplicate words from no.speling.org, and getting
- rid of the existing duplicates in norsk.words.</li>
- <li>Remove duplicate entries with tripple consonants from norsk.words.</li>
- <li>Update frequency for entries in norsk.words based on
- <URL:http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/nta/ordlistf.zip> (ran 'make
- freq-update').</li>
- <li>Correct nn ispell build, avoid crash in munchlist causing lots of
- words to fall out of the database.</li>
- <li>Use grep -a to convince grep it is working on text files, to work
- with newer grep versions.</li>
-
- <li>Remove some words disputed in the no.speling.org review process:
- <ul>
- <li>apparent (nb)</li>
- <li>likke (nb)</li>
- <li>ugjest, ugjesten, ugjestens (nb)</li>
- </ul></li>
-
-</ul>
-</div>
- <div class="tags">
-
-
- Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll</a>.
-
-
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="padding"></div>
-
- <div class="entry">
- <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_F__Stone___an_inspiration_for_us_all.html">I.F. Stone - an inspiration for us all</a></div>
- <div class="date">13th April 2016</div>
- <div class="body"><p>I first got to know I.F. Stone when I came across an article by Jon
-Schwarz on The Intercept
-<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/05/07/new-documentary-legacy-f-stone/">about
-his extraordinary contribution to investigative journalism in
-USA</a>. The article is about a new documentary in two parts
-(<a href="https://vimeo.com/123974841">part one is 12 minutes</a> and
-<a href="https://vimeo.com/123974842">part two is 30 minutes</a>), and
-I found both truly fascinating. It is amazing what he was able to
-find by digging up public sources and government papers. He
-documented lots of government abuse and cover ups, and I find
-<a href="http://www.ifstone.org/weekly.php">his weekly news letters</a>
-inspiring to read even today.</p>
-
-<p><blockquote>
-All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.
-<br>- I. F. Stone
-</blockquote></p>
-
-<p>His starting point was that reporters should not assume governments
-and corporations are telling the truth, but verify all their claims as
-much as possible. I wonder how many Norwegian reporters can be said
-to follow the principles of I. F. Stone. They are definitely in short
-supply. If you, like me half a year ago, have never heard of him,
-check him out.</p>
-</div>
- <div class="tags">
-
-
- Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn</a>.
-
-
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="padding"></div>
-
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<div id="sidebar">
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/04/">April (8)</a></li>
-<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/05/">May (7)</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/05/">May (8)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2016/06/">June (2)</a></li>
</ul></li>
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- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (129)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (131)</a></li>
- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (156)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (157)</a></li>
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+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (321)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (23)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freedombox">freedombox (9)</a></li>
- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (16)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (17)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/h264">h264 (20)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/mesh network">mesh network (8)</a></li>
- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (38)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (39)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nice free software">nice free software (7)</a></li>
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- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (180)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (181)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (26)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (8)</a></li>
- <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (56)</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (58)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
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