Dustin Hess

If you have used linux, then you have most likely used TOP, it shows running processes on the computer and allows you monitor system resources as well as kill rouge processes. The trouble is it's fairly limited.

Ok, it took me quite a while of messing around with, and more than my fair share of random blog reading, but I have found a simple setup that allows the on the fly transcoding of HD (I tested only 720p videos) MKV's to your PS3.

It's actually fairly simple, and there are only a few things that you need. For reference the machine this was done on was running Ubuntu 9.04 64 bit. Run all the commands like this in Terminal.

1. sudo apt-get update

2. sudo apt-get install mencoder mediatomb

Ever tried it? It is not for the faint of heart as just getting it to install required that I delve heavily into the terminal, but if you are looking to get a OLD computer up and running for light tasks just as fast as your new Core i7 give it a try.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

To give you an idea, I installed it under a virtual machine, and only gave it 64 mb of ram, and it running basic tasks faster than the host, and only using 22 mb of ram in the process.

Ok, I have a 1 TB 7200 rpm system drive and two 1.5 TB 5400 rpm storage drives(all samsung drives). About a week after my fresh ubuntu install, I noticed that file transfers to my two 5400 rpm drives were getting slower and slower. Reads were fine, but whenever I had to write to the drive (however small) the whole system would slow down, or lock up, and the transfers would eventually slow to close to 3 MB/s. I expected them to be slower than the 7200 rpm drive, but not that bad.

I had my first major hiccup. The short version of the story is that I messed up the partitions on my system drive, locking me out of my installation.

I then spent almost 3 hours trying to re-install the OS, to only be greeted with ACPI errors (it has to do with energy saving my lowering the frequency of the processor when not under heavy use). I changed everything that I could find in the BIOS, changed the setup parameters of Ubuntu over and over again, changed my installation media, and checked the installation media all to no avail.

My computer is now running Ubuntu and only Ubuntu. It feels good to be 100% open source again, and I have to say that so far everything apart from a small hardware issue has been going swimmingly and I couldn't be happier. I will keep updating here as I re-discover my old love.

I love living in civilization. We had a pretty rough storm earlier tonight, there were telephone poles at 45 degree angles, rain coming in sideways, lightning everywhere, and debris flying all around.

And you know what? I didn't lose power, water, or internet. Not even once, and definitely not for hours at a time.

Thanks Charleston!

I am still a little mad about Charleston's $3.50 tax on my $15 internet though... Seems a little excessive.

**Update**
I spoke too soon, we lost power for a few minutes late last night. Damn...

I love a good TV show, some are better than others and I quote from the better ones all the time.

I think I have decided that I could survive with just 5 shows.

1.Seinfeld
2.Southpark
3.Top Gear
4.Friends
5.Family Guy

It may sound weird, but I don't think there is a situation that I could possibly find myself where I couldn't get a quote from one of those shows that fit pretty damn well.

She's getting married, and I just realized that I will no longer be able to call her Jen Ven, Jen VanDermolen (I think that's it) just doesn't have quite the same ring to it...sad day

Ok, me and Whitney joke that she is a stalker, but this woman takes the cake. Her boyfriend went to Europe for two weeks, and desptie the fact that he told her, she forgot about it. Things get a little crazy. Click to watch the video.