jonobacon@home

Archive for June, 2008


Posted on June 30, 2008 - by jono

The End Of LugRadio

DIGG THIS!

Today we announced that we have decided to call it a day with LugRadio. Our last show will be LugRadio Live UK 2008 on the 19th and 20th July 2008 at The Lighthouse in Wolverhampton. We announced this in the latest episode of LugRadio, Season 5 Episode 21 – go and have a listen to the show to hear more.

In a nutshell, we have decided that LugRadio has had a good run for the last four years and five seasons, and a show such as ours has always faced the risk of getting old and tired unless the formula is changed to keep it fresh. This growth and evolution has happened to a decent degree over the seasons as we introduced interviews, musical comedy skits, points based segments, competitions, focusing on different types of content etc, but as we near the end of Season 5 we came to the conclusion that the show was nearing its natural conclusion. From the beginning, when we have discussed if and when LugRadio was to finish we were always determined to take it out on a high, and this is part of the reason we feel now is a good time. The last thing we would want people to say is “yeah LugRadio was fantastic, well apart from that dire sixth season“. We feel we have had five good solid seasons under our belt, so now is probably a good time to wrap things up.

Now, as with when Matt left, some people are bound to jump to conclusions why we are calling it a day. To clarify:

  • We have not fallen out. We are all still best friends.
  • Severed Fifth is not why I am leaving.
  • Adam’s business dreams is not why he is leaving.
  • Aq has not decided to join a travelling circus.
  • Chris has not set up a cult around the Network Block Driver. Actually, that’s a lie. He has.
  • We have not been acquired by the Linux Action Show and Jupiter Enterprises.

A am massively proud of what we have managed to achieve. Over 100 shows, 7 full-time presenters and countless guest presenters, 200+ hours of audio, 100+ guests, 2million+ downloads, 1000+ forums members, 40000+ forums posts, 5 live events in two countries, 5000+ emails to the show and an incredible community of people who have surrounded the show, discussed it, got involved in some way, and otherwise given us all an immense enthusiasm to keep doing LugRadio. I am also proud of every one of my co-presenters over the years – Steve “Sparkes” Parkes, Matt Revell, Ade Bradshaw and the current roster of Adam Sweet, Chris Procter and Stuart “Aq” Langridge. I am particularly proud of Aq, my best mate and someone who has been my partner in crime in LugRadio since Season 1 Episode 1.

The thing I am most proud of about LugRadio is that it shook things up. It has always been raw, unexpected and at times uncomfortable to listen to. We always set out to do a show on our terms, knowing full well it would not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we forged ahead and I am proud of how the history looks.

Everyone has their favorite moments, and I just wanted to highlight just a few of mine:

  • Our many incredible guests – Nat Friedman, Jeff Waugh, Eric Raymond, Miguel de Icaza, Mark Shuttleworth, Matthew Garrett, Rob McQueen, Sacha “Sago” Goedegebure, Alexandre Juillard, Havoc Pennington, Colin Walters, Quim Gil, Greg Kroah-Hartman and many more.
  • The many strong debates Aq and I have launched into on the show. We have a somewhat unusual style of debating and some people have been worried we were on the verge of falling out, which has never happened. I know, its odd, and something that started back in 2001 at LUG meetings. It never stops being fun. :)
  • The Gong-a-thong was an idea that Aq and I concocted late one night while on the phone. The first time we did it in Wolverhampton, we both stood at the side of the stage and it was a very surreal, proud and frankly hilarious moment. We replicated such insanity in San Francisco with Aaron Bockover and it was another comedy gem. The final gong-a-thong will happen at LugRadio Live UK 2008 in a few weeks.
  • Ade’s random stories, and strange expectations of life. Who can forget Ade asking if any of us looked at our arses in the mirror, expecting a fully reasoned and learned discussion about said activity. Oh, and Ade’s perspectives on women in technical roles and his idea of compliments to a lady in a nightclub (“You sit well for an old girl…“). Bonkers.
  • The booting of Matt Lee and GNU/FSF on the show and his admirable efforts at retort. Oh, and RMS refusing to come on the show as we use the words “Open Source” in the description of the show.
  • Theatrics and comedy skits – The National Lottery segment, musical efforts (Pigeon Street, Lion Sleeps Tonight), Mrs Mudchild appearing because Matt was late for the show, Stallman only wanting a kipper, the What The F**k Book Truck, Filthy Gamble and more.
  • LugRadio Live USA 2008. Wow, what an experience – a lot of fun, and a lot of work, but well worth it.
  • LugRadio Live And Unleashed – there is nothing like doing a show in front of hundreds of people. It is a lot of fun and a real buzz.
  • Sparkes availing us of his many stories, particularly the girl taking the piss out of his shoes in Wolverhampton. When I was editing his best bits segment I had tears streaming down my face laughing.
  • Filming the LugRadio Live 2007 promo videos. It was a lot of fun making them. Actors, we are not.
  • The emails. Our emails were always eclectic. Sometimes random, sometimes wise, sometimes hilarious, sometimes deeply offensive, but always inspiring. We loved every one of them, even the ones we thought were crap. :)
  • The competitions – Stupid Hat For Corporate Tat, Look Queer In The New Year, Pimp My LugRadio, Asa Raskin’s Hat Dilemma and more.
  • Bruno’s talk at LugRadio Live 2006 about how much we all swear in LugRadio and his rather amusing delivery and graphs.
  • Matt’s impressions, particularly his Irish leprechaun impression. Specifically, Matt’s leprechaun impression that he used to impersonate Lucky Charms when at Skycon in Limerick.
  • The Finger Of God.

It is certainly going to be unusual not having my mates around to my house every two weeks to record a show, drinking endless amounts of tea, taking an average of 15 takes to record an intro (really), regularly ribbing each other about everything under the sun, and then releasing a show and hearing about how it was received by our community.

So, the last episode of LugRadio will be recorded in front of a live audience at LugRadio Live UK 2008 on the 19th July 2008 in Wolverhampton. Why not come and share it with us, and the Saturday night we will be toasting to four years surrounded by our friends from the community; I can’t think of a better way to get off the roller-coaster. :)

Also see Aq’s write-up.


Posted on June 29, 2008 - by jono

Iron Maiden Tickets

Dammit! I missed out grabbing tickets for Iron Maiden at Twickenham on the 5th July. This is the tour I have been waiting years for. If anyone knows of any spare tickets I can get my hands on, please email me. I will be super grateful if someone can help hook me up with some tickets!


Posted on June 25, 2008 - by jono

Recording

Wow, busy few days – I have been locked in my studio recorded Denied By Reign – the debut Severed Fifth album which will be part of my exploration into the new music economy. For the curious, see Studio Report #1 and Studio Report #2.

Also, thanks to Ars Technica for writing up Severed Fifth here – if you believe the project is a worthy one, do go and Digg the article. :)


Posted on June 21, 2008 - by jono

Severed Fifth Recording Begins

Well, tomorrow I begin recording the debut Severed Fifth album; Denied By Reign. This is an album that has been in the works for a long time, and primary recording begins tomorrow and finishes on Wednesday. This will involve eight songs and all of the tracking and production for all of the instruments – safe to say…its gonna be a long session!

What this will result in is the first chunk of content that can be used to push Severed Fifth forward as a campaign and as an experiement in elements of free culture. It will be this content that will be used to try and push the concept of free culture, and to explore the many questions I have about how to be successful as a free culture musician. I hope that irrespective of whether each person reading this likes the music, the message behind Denied By Reign and the wider Severed Fifth project will answer some of the questions we are faced with when discussing and advocating a free culture music industry. It is an exciting time, and I can’t wait to see just what is possible with this debut release.

Keeping up to date

To keep everyone up to date with the progress of the recording, I will be doing the following:

So, check in and see what is going on. Here we go… :)


Posted on June 20, 2008 - by jono

Ashley Highfield Reviews Ubuntu

The original meeting with Ashley, back in February

As some of you will remember, a while back I went to London to see Ashley Highfield, the Director Of Future Media and Technology to talk to him about Ubuntu. It was a successful and productive meeting, and Ashley was interested in Ubuntu and Open Source.

Well, today Ashley has written up a blog entry reporting his experience using Ubuntu. I think it is a broadly positive review, and at the end of the blog entry he says “Critically though, I think the BBC can, and should, do more to support the Free and Open Source community, and I hope this has at least shown my commitment to listen and learn!“. Good man.

I threw this into Digg so lets get this on the front page of the Linux/UNIX section – GO AND DIGG IT!


Posted on June 18, 2008 - by jono

Severed Fifth Album and Recording Details

Well, I am pleased to unveil that the debut Severed Fifth album will be called Denied By Reign and it will feature the following tracks, which are confirmed right now:

  • Metric Of Hate
  • Beating Heart
  • Dollar Plague
  • The Lake
  • Edge Of Design
  • Take The Test
  • War
  • Enslaved By Pain

There may be some additional content recorded for the album – I am considering the viability of this right now. I enter my studio this coming Saturday for five long days of recording. Of course, all of this content will be made available under a Creative Commons Atribution ShareAlike license, and you can find out the wider intentions of Severed Fifth here.

More details on the album and the recording are available in this blog entry and I will be providing regular updates on the Severed Fifth Blog as the recording session continues. Feel free to swing by our growing Severed Fifth Forums to hang out too. :)


Posted on June 17, 2008 - by jono

Organise your good-self a Ubuntu Global Bug Jam partay

Work continues apace on the rather excellent Ubuntu Global Bug Jam which takes place from Fri 8th August to Sun 10th August 2008. Put simply, the aim of the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam is for groups around the world to get together, fix Ubuntu bugs and have a great time. :)

Right now, we don’t want you to just look at the rather snazzy image above and admire its iconic sub-text. Right now we don’t want you to simply get excited about how much fun you can have with a bug jam. No, no, no…

…right now, all we want is for you to talk to your LoCo Team, your Linux User Group and your friends about organising a bug jam to take part in the wider Ubuntu Global Bug Jam, and joining the legions of Ubuntu fans who will be kicking arse and taking names at the same time around the world. It is a great way to get together, have some fun, fix some bugs (or learn how to fix bugs if you are new to Ubuntu) and just enjoy what we all enjoy about free software – working together.

Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Perú, Chicago, Columbia and Berlin can’t be wrong – they have already organised bug jams – go and read this guide about what is involved and add your team to the Ubuntu Global Bug Jam page.


Posted on June 17, 2008 - by jono

So very true

“To me it seems like people are taking turns at kicking arse“. — Daniel Holbach talking about some of the progress we have been making recently in the Ubuntu community.


Posted on June 17, 2008 - by jono

Ubuntu Developer Channel

Recently the Ubuntu Developer Channel has been pumping out a pretty serious chunk of content – the channel now has 22 videos with over 360 subscribers. I wanted to provide a bunch of links to the content – go and check out some of the fascinating interviews from UDS as well as our packaging tuition content – the channel is proving to be a great place to learn about Ubuntu as well as learning how to contribute to Ubuntu.

Learning MOTU Videos

A collection of videos in which Daniel Holbach shows you how to get started with different packaging tasks.

I have two more Learning MOTU videos to upload yet over the next two weeks, so stay tuned! The videos are also being made available here in Ogg Theora format.

Ubuntu Developer Summit Videos

Video interviews and content from the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Prague a little while back.


Posted on June 17, 2008 - by jono

Polycom Communicator Low Mic Volume

Dear Lazyweb,

UPDATE – READ BELOW THE SOLUTION

I am having troubles getting my Polycom Communicator for Skype speakerphone working in Ubuntu – the microphone volume is always very low in Skype, and when I try to adjust the mixer volume slider for the mic, there is no luck. This does not appear to be a Skype issue – I tried recording in Audacity and the problem exists there too.

Has anyone found a fix for this, and does this exist on other distros?

UPDATE: Solution

Much thanks to Tom Mann who left a comment to point to his forums post with a possible solution. Well, I did the following, and it worked:

  • sudo alsactl store
  • sudo cp /var/lib/alsa/asound.state /var/lib/alsa/asound.state.old
  • sudo nano /var/lib/alsa/asound.state

I then found the state.Communicator block and the sub-block with name 'Mic Capture Volume' – the value was set to 0, so I set it to the maximum value, which is 64. My block looks like this:

control.2 {

            comment.access 'read write'

            comment.type INTEGER

            comment.count 1

            comment.range '0 - 64'

            iface MIXER

            name 'Mic Capture Volume'

            value 64

    }

Then unplug the Polycom Communicator and plug it back in again. It should now work. :)