How to watch P2P stream using SopCast in Ubuntu: an Idiot Guide

Another step in eliminating Windows completely from my laptop. The last thing being getting a complete astronomy software package (camera control, autoguiding, image processing).

OK, here it is:

1) If you’re using Ubuntu 9.10, the instruction given in this page may save a bit of your working time.

2) If you’re not that lucky (I have 8.04 for instance, and am for some reasons too reluctant to change), get sp-auth from this page. Download it to your home directory, e.g. /home/you

3) Extract the tarball. Open a terminal, and type (don’t forget to press ENTER afterwards ): tar xvfz sp-auth.tgz

4) Change the working directory: cd sp-auth

5) Now try opening a channel. E.g. from the command line: ./sp-sc-auth sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/69850 3908 8908 > /dev/null  & (Get the sop url from the channel you want to view. The number 8908 is the port number you’ll use later, the 3908 is rather arbitrary; I don’t know what it is exactly)

6) If there’s an error message saying something about “libstdc++…” you probably need libstdc++5. Type: sudo apt-get install libstdc++5-3.3-dev from the command line. Retry step 5), you should see no more error messages.

7) Open vlc. From the menu: Applications –> Sound & Video –> VLC media player, or type vlc from the command line.

‘8) In vlc, open a network stream. From the menu: File –> Open Network Stream, or press Ctrl+N.

9) Select the “HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS” radio button, and type: localhost:8908/tv.asf in the text box. Press OK. You should be able to watch the channel now.

10) If there’s no sound coming out, check vlc settings, make sure that ALSA audio output module is selected. In vlc, edit the settings from the menu: Settings –> Preferences, or press Ctrl+S. Select the “Advanced Options” check box, and look at the options Audio –> Output modules. Select “ALSA audio output” from the drop-down menu. Restart vlc.

This page provides another instruction, if you follow it you won’t need vlc anymore to play the stream. Setup time will be more or less the same however, I think.

./sp-sc-auth sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/69850 3908 8908 > /dev/null  &

A Runner’s Tale

See here how a failed attempt to run 10km turns into a cross-country run:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18270426

Half of the run was spent thinking, how the hell do I get out of this forest!

But it was a fine run after all. Not bad, even if the timing is anything but close to being “good”.

Do you know that Apu has a PhD degree?

See here: http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Apu_Nahasapeemapetilon

This is the second funniest satire next to PhD comic that I’ve ever heard about the fate of PhDs

Leaving Indonesia for Indonesian: Airport To Do list

I’ve been doing this for like three times, yet still made a mistake, lacking one or two documents. There’s just too much bureaucracy in this country. So I thought a ToDo list would be useful.

1. Before you enter the check-in area, you need to show your flight ticket to the officer standing at the entrance door, and pass through the security check.

2. Once you pass the first security check, go to the fiscal counter to pay the fiscal fee. It is now Rp 2,500,000.00, unless you have an NPWP (Indonesian tax ID, sort of) or you can show a proof that you live abroad. In those cases you don’t need to pay the fiscal fee, and may go directly to step 3 below.

3. Check in, get the boarding pass. Pay an airport tax of Rp 100,000.00. This tax is not included in your flight ticket, even though there it is stated that the ticket cost includes service fee, tax, etc. And they don’t accept credit card. So remember to bring this minimum amount of cash when you check in.

4. Ask for immigration card at the check-in counter. This card consists of two parts: departure and arrival part. Fill out both, except for the flight number field in the arrival part.

5. Before entering the gate area you will pass through two counters, one checks your fiscal fee payment, the other checks your passport and visa. Show your fiscal payment receipt or the proof that you don’t need to pay the fiscal fee at the first counter (your NPWP, or in case you live abroad, a signed statement saying that you’ve presented yourself to the Indonesian embassy in the country where you live usually will do). At the second counter you will have to show your immigration card and give the departure part to the officer there. Keep the arrival part with you, you’ll need it later when you return to your ‘beloved’ country. I usually slip it inside my passport cover and leave it there all the time.

6. Well, that’s all. If you’ve done all these long before the boarding time, say an hour or so, don’t enter the gate immediately. Just wait somewhere near the souvenir shops, there’s a lot of seats there. If you try to enter the gate, the officer will say something like “Are you an idiot or what? your boarding time is still one hour from now. Just wait outside!”

There you are… Hope it’s helpful. Have a nice flight!

Riddles

Some riddles from one of the (largely unseen and unpopular) German TV shows… Just drop me a comment if you think you know the answer. Correct answers will be awarded with……… congratulations from me

1. Some months in a year have 31 days, some have 30. How many months have 28 days?

2. A man has 6 daughters, each of them has one brother. How many children does the man have?

Behold…

Found this in a book; just can’t stand not to share it

“Reader,

You may feel tempted to write your own (simpler) proof of Fermat’s last theorem.

I have strong views about such a project. It should be written in the Constitution of States and Nations, in the Chapter of Human Rights:

It is an inalienable right of each individual to produce his or her own proof of Fermat’s last theorem.

However, such a solemn statement about Fermat’s last theorem (henceforth referred to as THE theorem) should be tempered by the following articles:

Art. 1. No attempted proof of THE theorem should ever duplicate a previous one.

Art. 2. It is a criminal offense to submit falso proofs of THE theorem to professors who arduously earn their living by teaching how not to conceive false proofs of THE theorem.

Infringement of the latter, leads directly to Hell. Return to Paradise only after the said criminal has understood and is able to reproduce Wiles’ proof. (Harsh punishment.)”

Document-eering

A short search on google shows that there’s actually no such word in English. Probably there’s one in Dutch. I kind of invented it to have a short form of “Documentation” and “Engineering”. Trust me, although they sound exciting, they’re actually quite boring. It is not writing smart scientific publications, it’s simply drawing pictures, creating tables, mapping from requirements to validation method, all those kinds of stuff. And I kind of think that you actually don’t need to stay years in engineering school, study probability, linear algebra, number theory, markov chain, queuing systems, electromagnetism, all kind of things that require complex, abstract thinking, just to do documenteering.

Probably I should have taken English literature instead of engineering, and get paid by writing blogs or thesis about Spielerfrauen.

Zurrück zur Arbeit!

Stuck

Mohon maaf para pemirsa sekalian, udah lama ga ngisi blog. Lagi mentok nih. On one hand, there’s a lot of interesting things to do, but not enough resource available to do them. On the other hand, procrastination rules. Both lead to the same effect: do nothing. Let nature do its task: keep the time running. And me? I’ll simply trust the creativity theorem…

Creativity Theorem

There’s a very well known and fundamental relation known to both academia and industry, which is probably more fundamental than Newton’s three laws of motion. It is:

where:

= creativity

= current time

= time of deadline

Thus, it is easy to show using simple calculus manipulation, that:

How’s BHTV today?

An excerpt from a book entitled “Smart Questions – Learn to Ask the Right Questions for Powerful Results” by Gerald Nadler and William J. Chandon.

So, how is Bandung High Tech Valley (BHTV) today? =)