Another Thought

Sorry that the website theme is a bit messed up at the moment, this is due to me losing the hosting I had gotten before. I might be able to use my campus online storage to host the images in the near future. I'm going to clean up the design soon.

Also I changed my Twitter username to gavintlgold, and it's not just FusionCast-centered anymore.

Feel free to follow me :) > http://twitter.com/gavintlgold

On the subject of capturing my desktop

So, after hearing the response of the readers I think I may start up again, maybe not just for Compiz Fusion but other things as well. Even though there haven't been that many comments I know that my 400+ subscribers on Youtube might also appreciate more videos.

However, I can't keep using the system I have been so far. Xvidcap, as good as it might seem, is not the best option. All my screencasts were actually sped up because of frame dropping, and the performance wasn't phenomenal even so.

I'm considering buying a capture card to plug in to my graphics card (which has s-video out) to record the video. On Newegg it seems like I can get one for around $25 to $30.

This way video would be nice and smooth and I can show you guys the real truth behind my desktop, which, though it's not the most top-of-the-line in terms of hardware, performs amazingly with Compiz Fusion. Screencasts taken with software just don't do the cube justice.

Also I'd rather not use a camcorder like I did for my big million views video. Having such a capture card would also likely open the doors for linux gaming and other features.

Now, I know capture cards are not designed to capture video from the computer to record onto the computer, but I'm thinking this should be all right. Then again, I could be totally wrong about this increasing performance. Would recording with the capture card on linux be a CPU hog or would it be all right? If it's a CPU hog I suppose the situation isn't any better.

If anyone could give me advice about this or another method of using hardware to record the desktop it would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I'm removing the Adsense ads and replacing them with a Paypal donation button. I don't think any of the ads are really relevant, they must be annoying, and I've only gotten about $35 total through Adsense after all these years. If you would like to speed up the process of me getting started up again I would always appreciate a small donation. Perhaps if I get enough I could use it for the capture card!

Once again, thanks for your patience and helping me out with this capture card business, I'm not an expert with hardware like this.

Not much happening...

I figured I might as well update you by now. I assume most of you have given up hope of seeing a new video.

I'm in college now, studying Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I still use linux on my laptop (on my desktop I play computer games so I'm forced to use XP).

My current Linux setup uses Compiz Fusion (of course), Docky, and the Global Menu Applet to emulate a sorta pseudo-mac look.

Since Compiz hasn't undergone any major visual changes I haven't really found it necessary to update this blog with anything. However, the underlying code is being restructured completely and ported to C++, which I consider a big step forward. As for me I still like coding in Python but I have a better understanding of how C++ style coding works so I could probably begin to read and tweak the Compiz code myself.

Anyway, the main reason I wanted to post this was to see how many people still visit this site or have it in their feeds. My Youtube account still seems pretty active and I've got a lot of subscribers, so I suppose a new video wouldn't go missed.

However, I'm not sure what to make a video about. I suppose I could make a presentation of my current setup, which I think is excellent for getting work done, or I could make a video showcasing my 30-second boot into Ubuntu Karmic.

If anyone's alive out there let me know in a comment, and give me your opinion about where I should go with FusionCast. Thanks :)

Long time no post

Hello, I'm still alive, but busy in High School, finishing my senior year. I hope that I will have time in my college years to continue this, as compiz moves in new directions.

Indeed, as Compiz Fusion seems to be coming to an end, I may have to rename the cast. At the moment I do not have time enough to make more episodes, and compiz fusion hasn't developed much anyway.

I am pretty sure that this summer I will be able to start 'er up again, maybe with a new name, and start fresh with all new bleeding edge compiz++! :)

Another reason for me posting this is an important message: DO NOT INSTALL VIA GIT ANYMORE. As Kristian mentioned, the new work on Compiz has moved to git, and confused up scripts and how-tos. Just use what Ubuntu ships with; it's up-to-date enough to have all the plugins I've reviewed.

I don't know how many people still check this blog, but I hope to start something again sometime in the near future. :) Thanks for staying subscribed all this time!

--gavin

FusionCast on Twitter!

I just joined Twitter as FusionCast. If anyone is interested feel free to add me :) Videos coming very soon... I've updated my compiz and am now figuring out which new plugin to feature! (see the twitter for more updates!)

Youtube Annotations + More Vids to Come!

A very interesting feature that may be extremely useful for me is the new Youtube Annotations feature. Take a look at the page of my latest fusioncast for an example. It allows me to put notes in the middle of the cast. I think it'll be very useful in the future. What do you think?

Speaking of the future, I am now out of school (summer!) That means that I'll have considerably more time to work on video casts. Expect quite a few coming up! And tell me if they should have annotations too. Thanks!

Resolution!

So, finally we find out what happened to the webspace. Our friendly host fsckr found a notice from 1and1 saying that there was pornography on his page, and that they deleted it. He then asked them to remake it, since he had no knowledge of it.

Well, it was my forum's spam gremlins that did it. So now we know what was up.

In this very very late update, I may as well add that I have ubuntu and compiz fusion git back, and have all those mouthwateringly cool new plugins installed.

So..... I think I'll see if I can make a silent (Since audio takes a lot of work) new fusioncast vid featuring those (think Shelf, freewins, freescale, atlantis2, snowball... all those good things).

Sorry for being the typical bad vidcaster and leaving you all alone without an update.

Luckily SmSpillaz has done nothing of the sort, and remains faithful with his Community News. Read that for now.

Bye Bye Webspace?

I am not sure what happened to fsckr's hosting space, but it seems to have disappeared--so the site looks a bit bad without its background image, and anything I had hosted like the mpegs are not available. Youtube is still up of course.

Bear with me, my install is currently broken for Compiz Fusion to run so I can't make any videos, when I get a Gutsy CD I'll fix that.

fsckr, if you see this please email me: fusioncast@gmail.com ... thanks. :/

Don't worry though, I'm still here and interested in doing fusioncast. I need to fix my install, get up to date, and do lots of schoolwork, etc.

Sorry that nothing has been coming out recently :)

(also the forums are gone since that was on fsckr.net too :P)

New Feed Service

I've just switched to FeedBurner, and you can subscribe to the video with a "watch now" link on your feed. So I would suggest unsubscribing if you have a subscription now, and subscribing to the feed link on the sidebar.

[iTunes still doesn't work, but no one uses iTunes anyway.... right?] ;)

Cancel that.... Instead, a plea for help!

I have decided not to do the dock special, since the docks are under too much development currently. There would end up being bickering over features I didn't know about.

Instead, we thought a troubleshooting episode would be good, with common problems and places to get help with them.

Please discuss this here: http://www.fusioncastforums.fsckr.net/viewtopic.php?p=30

I need ideas on which errors and problems to feature. Thanks! The less I have to spend working on putting together the episode, the faster I can get this out. What with school, I've been very busy with homework and the like. I even have SAT class on Saturdays now, adding to my homework as well as taking away another day of the week.

So if you guys (I know you're out there, I have a hit counter) can give me ideas, we can get this thing rolling again. You helped me with the theme music, now let's get some content!

Video delayed due to school, etc.

I can't release the video about kiba-dock and a-w-n as soon as I expected since I just started school again and also there were a few things I discovered about a-w-n that require re-voiceovering, since what I said is now inaccurate.

Better late than inaccurate, I suppose! :D Expect something on Sunday or Monday, ok?

PS: I added a hit counter to the site, and that's made me realize how many visitors I have here. For instance, today I have had 51 unique visitors so far (though you who are reading this may make it higher ;) ) I get on average 68 unique visitors and 113 visits per day.

I consider that to be quite high, considering there's almost nothing on this site right now. I believe the majority of visitors come across this after googling something, and I hope to be more useful soon, with more videos! And all new visitors please see the archives, there are two videos posted so far.

Enjoy!

I Found Music!

I found some awesome free music to use as background music! Thanks to Puthali in an email, I have discovered this webpage: http://www.blackstratblues.com/ with an entire free album. Please donate money (via Paypal) to this guy. He's letting people have his music for free, but wants new equipment.

Check out the music, and expect it to be in the next episode!

Background or Theme Music Wanted!

If anyone has a piece or knows of a piece of great upbeat-sounding Creative Commons music that would sound good as the background or theme track to FusionCast, PLEASE write a comment or an email (fusioncast AT gmail DOT com) to me. I need some free (as in beer and freedom) music for FusionCast.

Alternatively, if you are an aspiring band or artist who thinks one of their tracks is worthy, let me help with your publicity by allowing me to use it as my theme! I'll mention that it's done by your band, and give a link if you have a website.

I'm still picky though, so make sure it really sounds good and is appropriate. The fewer vocals, the better, since it won't interrupt my talking so much if I play it during a speech. An instrumental would be ideal.

Let me know. Thanks!

Fix for new compiz git

The new version of compiz in the git repos requires xcb, something that ubuntu doesn't have. You will need to do this: http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showpost.php?p=22332&postcount=4 if you are running ubuntu.

These instructions are only valid if you are compiling compiz from git with the old get-git script or with fyda's OLD instructions. Her instructions now work without this fix.

Those using repositories will NOT need to follow these instructions.

Waiting a bit...

I think I'll wait a bit before making the next cast. Sorry folks, but kdenlive is not working, and I'm gonna be kinda busy in the next days (school's coming up!).

I do want to continue this, though! Stay subscribed for now.

By the way, how do you like the new look? Since Compiz Fusion has a logo now, I'm using it instead of mine.

This post should have been called "Episode III" :(

Well, it happened.

After the latest kdenlive update, video export has broken, so that the video is not synced properly. This means that, sadly, I will not be able to present episode III to you. I promise that I finished it. I worked a week on it. It was going to be good, informative, helpful even.

Sadly, I am going away tomorrow for all of August, and so even if there is a fix in a couple of days, I will not be around to try it out.

So all you subscribers can only sit tight, and wait and see what the NEXT few kdenlive updates bring. And I suppose all my work will have been for naught.

*sigh*

Anyway, I'm happy, I'm leaving for Austria to visit my girlfriend tomorrow! (well today actually, but that's 'cause it's 1 AM.)

/me tries to forget about the futile work he spent on it, then realizes that the "/me" tag only works on IRC.


ANYWAY, you can still catch updates on http://smspillaz.wordpress.com , and visit the OpenCompositing forums at http://forums.opencompositing.org . And if you want videos, you can search youtube, i'm sure there are other folks who actually can export videos who have already.

Also, say hi on fusioncast forums (see post below).

I'll probably be around the forums occasionally, and in September I'll see what I can do about kdenlive... as for today, there's no time left. I have to pack!

FusionCast Forums Launched!

Hello. I haven't written much, but I'm still here. Expect a new episode by Saturday evening :)

What is new, is I've started FusionCast Forums! I'm sure there will be next to nothing on it, but why not join and talk about stuff?

The link is fusioncastforums.fsckr.net.

I'm having problems with the url, which may get fixed later, but for now you may have to add www. to the beginning of some links.

If you are reading this just after I've made it, the link may not work. Hold on, I'm still making it!

And don't forget to look on the opencompositing.org forums, too.

Sorry about all the broken links!

Hello all, thanks for voting!

You might have tried to click on the links for the get-git script, only to find them broken! This is thanks to uploadingit.com, which, though often good, is never perfect.

Luckily, fsckr on irc donated his domain to me for all my server needs! Thank you very much, once again.

Isthatall had donated a server already (for the videos) but it turns out it ran out of space after only about 140MB or so!

With my new server, I have about 300GB available. So no worries! And no more dead links!

:)

SUPERB news!

I have my audio working perfectly now. Sadly, I have to say that Jokosher does no longer work. This, however, is just until the small bug is fixed. Although I have to say, Audacity is much more stable :)

So from now on, my casts will by MUCH better, with no popping between audio segments.

Page Design: Before and After

I changed the look around a bit ;)