/etc/init.d/networking stop; sleep 5; /etc/init.d/networking start; sleep 30; cp interfaces.old interfaces; /etc/init.d/networking stop; sleep 5; /etc/init.d/networking start

Acquire
{
Queue-mode "access";
http
{
Dl-Limit "25";
};
};

That limits apt-get to 25KB/s

Dimitrios Symeonidis wrote on 2008-10-14: (permalink)

this bug will soon celebrate it's 3rd birthday. it's marked as confirmed, high importance, and reported upstream (debian). are we going to do something about it, or are we just waiting for debian to resolve this?

(Emphasis added for extra lulz)

...so I don't have to think of it again.

I don't have to get it from testing and "break" my stable box with mixed trees!

Add to /etc/apt/preferences:
Package: *
Pin: release a=etch-backports
Pin-Priority: 750
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700

Add to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00Cache:
APT::Cache-Limit "33554432";
APT::Default-Release "etch-backports";

Do:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

imp@extweb:~> uptime
2:34pm up 674 days 3:03, 1 user, load average: 0.02, 0.11, 0.09

/etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian stable main non-free contrib
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian testing main non-free contrib
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main non-free contrib

When updgrading, stable versions of packages need to stay on stable. unstable versions are usually newer, so they overwrite stable versions if this is not properly handled with using Pin-Priority as stated below. If not explicitly requested, "apt-get install" installs stable version of a package.

/etc/apt/preferences:
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700
Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 650
Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 600

To install f.e. unstable version of a package with dependencies from unstable as well (preferred method, AFAIK), do the following:
apt-get install package -t unstable

To install the same package, but to resolve it's deps from stable:
apt-get install package/unstable

I wouldn't go pure, vanilla Debian because of it's "correctness" (ok ok, I can add other repositories to the system, but it simply doesn't feel... "native" enough?). I've tried Kubuntu, but it simply didn't feel polished enough; it felt like Ubuntu's bastard child, management wise (Adept, KDE based apt frontend, crashed on me several times, dist-upgrade from 6.10 depended on some GTK stuff which wasn't installed automagically, so I had to figure out "by hand" what to install -- more info on that on my Launchpad bug report, etc).

That lead me to try Gnome-based, good ol' Ubuntu, and I have to say that so far, few glitches aside, it looks good. I haven't used Gnome for some time now and it seems really nice. Gnome itself and Nautilus, as a file manager, really feel snappy and stable. Gnome Terminal looks nicer than before and more usable.

Anyway, as a regular nitpicker, few downsides. First, LILO didn't install properly (Grub was complaining about residing on XFS, which is a no-no, eh?), so I had to manually edit lilo.conf, only to find out that some vital options are left out, such as "prompt", "lba32" and "compact", framebuffer "vga" line, too, and I had to add the timeout... Hmm, some really pretty much expected stuff? Why are they left out? Beats me. Then, in fstab, vfat partition had fs_passno = 1, so it was checked on every boot. Onward to Gnome itself. Ugly, anti-aliased fonts? Unlike KDE, Gnome Font preferences don't include an option to exclude some font size ranges from anti-aliasing, so everything is anti-aliased. Ok, I edited it by hand only to find out that the fonts that came with Ubuntu look terrible when not anti-aliased. I installed MS fonts and... what? They look ugly, too? Hmmm... I remember that Freetype has some bytecode interpreter option that makes those fonts look just like in Windows, but it is, to quote Freetype site, "potentially patent infringing", so it's disabled by default in Ubuntu... Damn that correctness. I found on Ubuntu forums a source for bytecode interpreter-enabled version of Freetype, so I installed that and FINALLY fonts looked BEARABLE. Then, the system doesn't have Adobe Flash player installed as default. Ok, I can understand that, that perhaps in the licence it doesn't allow automatic installation, or even inclusion in some other form like a Linux distro, but SuSE somehow managed to pull it off: the installer asks you whether you want to install that plugin nicely.

That's it for the first thoughts, more on Ubuntu later (perhaps) heh.

Used the config file from 2.6.17, did a "make oldconfig", answered to 20-sh questions (about new stuff), only to find out that it panics because it can't find root FS..!? Hmm, booted the old kernel, did menuconfig, only to find out that CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX was moved to another option tree and wasn't properly selected as "Y" from the old config, so SATA wasn't available. When I fixed that, I found out that NAT and most of previous iptables functionality (from the previous kernel) simply.. wasn't there. After some Googling, I found out that the kernel devs made a major reorganization of the option trees, for some unknown reason (to me at least). The jump was almost like from 2.4 -> 2.6..

Crazyness! Lunacy!

Get all the information of the movie:
-mplayer dvd://1 -dvd-device /dev/hd* -vo null -ao null -frames 0 -v 2>&1 | grep sid >log.txt && mplayer dvd://1 -dvd-device /dev/hdd -vo null -ao null -frames 0 -v 2>&1 | grep aid >>log.txt

Use vobcopy to copy the disc:
-vobcopy -l -t video.vob
-Make sure you're dvd-drive is mounted or it may complain
-Copy the .IFO file beloning to the movie part (dvd://number) from pathtodvd/VIDEO_TS/VTS_number_0.ifo

Detect the black borders:
-mplayer video.vob -vf cropdetect
-Skip through the video to let it do it's work
-Note the suggested crop values in log.txt

Detect the filelength (for I never see the credits)
-mplayer video.vob -osdlevel 3
-Skip to the end, note down the time where the video ends in log.txt
-If you want to include the credits, please ignore this step, it will cost quality though

Run the first pass of Xvid (fast):
-mencoder video.vob -endpos hh:mm:ss -nosound -o pass1.avi -sws 2 -vf crop=xxx:xxx:xx:xx,scale=576:320 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=1:chroma_me:max_bframes=2:bvhq=1:vhq=1:trellis
-Your endpos is in your log.txt
-The cropvalue in in your log.txt

If the size of the first pass is reasonable, you can encode the audio and then run the second pass.
-The size is reasonable if the resulting video-only file has to be about < =30% smaller.
-Don't forget some MB for the audio
-If the resulting file has to be bigger, increase the resolution in steps of 32. For example try 640:352. Rerun the first pass with changed settings.
-If the compression would be higher than 30%, rerun the first pass with a denoise filter or decide to go for 2 CD's. Recommended denoise filter: hqdn3d=2:1:3 (Put it right after cropping with a ",")
-Based on the amount the video has to compress, choose a quality for the audio. I recommend using vorbis for movies. For hard to compress movies use vorbis at q0, otherwise stick to q2, or with real good compression q4. (Higher has no usage, for you won't possibly hear, if you insist just use the AC3 file)

Encode the audio:
-mplayer -vo null -vc dummy -ao pcm -aofile 2channels.wav video.vob -aid 128
-oggenc -q2 2channels.wav
-vorbisgain 2channels.ogg (Pumping up the volume without distortion)
-The -aid number you want is in your log.txt

Rip the subtitles:
-mencoder video.vob -ifo movie.ifo -vobsubout subtitles -vobsuboutindex 0 -sid 0 -ovc frameno -nosound
-for every extra subtitle you want to rip, increase vobsuboutindex with 1. With sid you can specify the languages found in your log.txt
-One subtitle usually costs you about 1,5 MB (compressed)
-Best way to measure the final size is to mux the subtitles only in a matroska file --> see end of instructions

Compute the bitrate:
vbr=(totalsize-audiosize-subtitlesize)*fps*8/frames
vbr=(734003200-62861936)*25*8/150750
vbr=870926

-These are examplevalues
-Bitrate is quite good, usually an undersize of about 1-2 MB.
-We'll use this bitrate for the second pass

Run the second pass:
mencoder video.vob -endpos hh:mm:ss -nosound -o pass2.avi -sws 2 -vf crop=xxx:xxx:xx:xx,scale=576:320 -ovc xvid -xvidencopts pass=2:bitrate=870926:chroma_me:max_bframes=2:bvhq=1:vhq=1:trellis

Now mux it all together and check for audio sync:
-Use mkvtoolnix (mmg to start)
-Open from mmg: pass2.avi, 2channel.ogg and subtitle.idx
-Set aspect-ratio of the video according the information outputted at the end of pass1/2
-Mux!
-Check if the audio is in sync with mplayer (mplayer pass2.mkv)
-Use control + or control - to see if it's getting better
-Redo the muxing with an other audio offset. This is positive if you used control +.

Enjoy your new quality rip!

When something goes wrong, he reinstalls the whole system.

avatar had a nice uptime of 88 days, but then the HDD failure happened and it's offline since then. 300 MHz have really did a nice job running fluxbox over TightVNC and monitoring the network with Cacti, among other things, including doing the print serving job... I must get a new hard drive for it.

Other Linux Distros: You can run any brand of Gas or Oil but your parts all come from the same company. You can tinker with the engine (compile your own software) but it voids your warranty. It comes with leather seats but they don't match with the rest of the interior.

Gentoo Linux: The car comes to you in pieces and once assembled, you find yourself constantly tuning the carbs, checking exhaust back pressure, tuning mixtures. You can choose any kind of seat covering, but if it is leather, you have to shoot the cow yourself. But perhaps the car is easier to drive and add new parts.

;)

(from Gentoo Forums)

Example:
[code]cat SOMETHING | sendxmpp -u SRC-USERNAME -p SRC-PASSWORD -j SRC-SERVER -t -s "SUBJECT" DST-USERNAME@DST-SERVER[/code]