Making DVDs from video files

Recently I found myself needing to make a DVD from a recorded stream (of a family funeral that my Mum couldn’t attend because of covid). This is not a task I normally do, and I thought it was worth writing up how I did it in case I ever need to do it again.

Most of these instructions were put together using this wiki page, and assume you are using Ubuntu or some other Debian derivative.

Dependencies

  • ffmpeg
  • dvdauthor
  • mkisofs
  • k3b

The command line stuff

ffmpeg -i video_file_name.mkv -aspect 16:9 -target pal-dvd  -b 1800000 dvd.mpg
dvdauthor -o dvd/ -t dvd.mpg
export VIDEO_FORMAT=PAL
dvdauthor -o dvd/ -T
mkisofs -dvd-video -o dvd.iso dvd/

The GUI stuff

Take dvd.iso and burn it to DVD using K3B (or your burning software of choice – I really should investigate doing this on the command line next time).

Testing

Put the DVD into a normal DVD player and check it plays. The video should load automatically with no menus.

This worked for me. Hopefully if I have to do it again it will be in better circumstances.

Bank Holiday Projects

This weekend I finally got round to finishing off building my new keyboard (GMMK 60% with Gateron yellows and some generic black Glorious keycaps that are better than £18 keycaps have any right to be). This will almost certainly be my main keyboard eventually, because it’s so great to type on. I’m not sure it will be with these keycaps though. They look pretty when they are backlit, but they are very different to what I’m used to, so let’s see how long they last.

What will I do with the old keyboard? I think it will still be useful in certain situations (especially when travelling, as it’s much lighter), and whilst I want to try and get to the point where I’m using mainly ISO keyboards I don’t think the occasional ANSI will hurt.

I really recommend the GMMK keyboards. I’ve built two of them now (this 60% and a 100% for Steph), and I will probably get a third one at some point to use up some more switches and keycaps that I have lying around at home and to further explore what’s possible with macros. These boards are probably the easiest way to get a high quality keyboard at an affordable price; this one was £65, and I’m using sub-£20 switches and keycaps right now, so it comes out at about £100 for a really great keyboard.

I also bought a switch tester, because there are so many switches I’ve not tried yet, and also because I’m on a quest to find an even clickier set of switches for Steph. What I’ve currently got in it is:

Clicky

  • Kailh Speed Bronze
  • Kailh Box White
  • Kailh Box Jade
  • Cherry MX White
  • Cherry MX Green
  • Gateron Green

Linear

  • Cherry MX Silent Black
  • Cherry MX Silent Red
  • Cherry MX Speed Silver
  • Gateron Clear

Tactile

  • Kailh Pro Purple
  • Kailh Speed Copper

Of the clicky switches I think I’d go with the Box Jades if I wanted a really satisfying clicky sound, or the Kailh Bronzes if I wanted pure speed. I really liked the Silent Reds – the were totally silent and may be the future of using a mechanical keyboard at work if I ever have to work in an open plan office again, although I also like the Gateron Clears (but maybe they are a little too similar to the yellows I’m using right now). Both of the tactile ones I tried are great; and I would happily type with either on a day to day basis (and might at some point soon, as I’m slightly missing the tactile bump since I moved from browns).

Of course now I’m getting links to this in my email. That is more switches than the keyboard I’m typing this on and may be a little overkill (even for me).

Debconf21

I’ve managed to attend a lot of the talks at Debconf21. This was also true of Debconf20, but I very much feel like I’ve understood a lot more of what is being talked about this time, and I’m also very happy that I was sent a conference T-shirt and badge so I can participate fully in the experience.

Talks I’ve attended (with hyperlinks to the video of the talk if they currently exist) are:

Videos of all the talks I missed are also available so there is plenty for me to watch during my long holiday-at-home that starts in less than a week.

It’s interesting to see the different presentation styles as well as the content they are delivering, and I hope I’ve also learned a bit more about what works and what doesn’t when presenting content to a virtual audience.

I’m not sure I would attend a physical Debconf unless I was a little more involved with the project, but I’ve certainly enjoyed doing it virtually this year.

Reddit, IT support, and home offices

I used Reddit quite a bit around a decade ago. Mostly for keeping up to date with Linux and other computer-related things, but also to understand the kind of things people were generally interested in and talking about (became small talk is a thing, and I’m terrible at it). I drifted away a few year ago, but since the first lockdown started I’ve found it a useful source of information about things I’m interested in.

This started when I was researching computer parts for my new desktop PC. I’ve not built a desktop for a long time, so I wanted to see what other people were doing, and how the parts shortage was going to affect the choices I made. I have my PC now, and I’m very pleased with it, but I also didn’t stop using Reddit at that point; I just stopped caring about PC hardware and tapped into the community expertise around my other current hobbies (customising the i3 window manager, Linux in general, mechanical keyboards, cycling, music). It’s interesting to see how other people are customising their computers and their keyboards, and it gives me ideas for changes I want to make to my own setup.

The time I’ve spent on Reddit has also reminded me of how much it’s used as a general support forum for all sorts of things. I try not to get too involved in that side of it, but I am very interested in the way people ask for help with their IT issues and it gives me some useful data to reflect on when I’m thinking about these things as part of my day job.

I’m in no way surprised that people are generally quite bad at describing the issues they are having, and also that they are very bad at choosing the right place to ask for help. I do have vague intentions to write up long answers to things that people seem to struggle with, probably starting with my insights on how people switching to Linux invariably start off with doing something really hard as part of their initial switch (dual-boot, Nvidia drivers, getting Windows software to work in the same way it does on Windows) and give up soon afterwards, not realising that everything else they will ever do isn’t going to be that hard to set up. That’s an essay for another day, but this is definitely a statement of intent.

I’m also starting to get quite interested in the way people have their home offices set up. After 18 months of mostly remote working, I’ll be returning part-time to the office next week, but am still very interested in seeing how other people set their home offices up for maximum productivity. I’ve made a lot of changes since the start of last year, and I suspect many other people have as well. I have intentions to make a long list of people who have inspired me with their setups, but that’s also a job for another day.

Mechanical Keyboards

I’ve been using mechanical keyboards for a while now, but the fact that I’m working in more than one place now has required me either carrying a keyboard everywhere I go or having more than one keyboard. I have of course chosen the latter, and it seems that customising keyboards has become a new hobby.

I’ve tried out a number of different models and layouts, but always seem to keep coming back to a 61 key ANSI layout keyboard (my current favourite is an Epomaker SK61); partly because I love the form factor but also because it’s easier to buy keycaps for them. I’ve now got a keyboard on each of my desks, and I’m happy enough with how they work and with the aesthetics of the keys. I have also now got a perspex box full of the black keycaps that many keyboards come with, but that don’t work for me unless they are backlit (and even then…). What I generally prefer is something lighter; with black or grey lettering on a white, grey or beige background. All of my keyboards have some variation on this, with slightly darker keys down the side and different coloured escape and enter keys (which most keycap sets seem to have and which I’ve just got used to).

My one ISO keyboard broadly follows this aesthetic as well, but has a few more keys and sits on my desk in the office just in case anyone else might need to use it. It’s the only keyboard I have where what is printed on the key represents exactly what each key is mapped to; it’s much easier for me to not have to change the way I type when I switch between layouts, and I have been using ISO configured computers with ANSI keyboards for years now anyway so I just type the same way on each keyboard without really looking at what is printed on the keys.

I think I’ll be writing about this subject again. In the meantime if I know any other secret mechanical keyboard enthusiasts then please get in touch.

Debian Post-installation Script

Yesterday I spent the day working on a script to install my usual working environment on top of a clean install of the (soon to be) current version of Debian. This is a fork of my Ubuntu scripts that I use to set up all my machines.

It’s very much a work in progress, and I wouldn’t recommend running this on a machine you care about, but I thought it was worth documenting in case it’s of use to anyone else.

Pre-installation

Before you run this script ensure that you have sudo installed and that your user is in the group. To do this run the following as root (replacing <your username> with your username)

apt install -y sudo
sudo usermod -aG sudo <your username>

You will also need some extra repositories enabled. My /etc/apt/sources.list looks like this:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye/updates main contrib

Installation

Download the script, make it executable, and run it:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/teknostatik/debian/master/deploy_debian.sh
chmod 755 deploy_debian.sh
./deploy_debian.sh

I’ve tested this on top of a full desktop install and a command line only installation as well. My goal is to get a working i3 environment, so the latter is probably what I’m going to focus on going forward. I did get a few snaps working on my test machine, but that was non-trivial, and I’m still not confident enough about that aspect yet. I also suspect most people who choose Debian do not care for snaps anyway.

Investigating Launchers

Last night I was experimenting with ulauncher as a way of easily launching apps on my computer. After using it for a few hours it seems like something that I might want to start using all the time, but it also made me start looking at other launchers like Albert which seems a little harder to install but which promises to search across my applications, my local files, and the internet.

I think that as I try and use a keyboard for most things this is the sort of application I need. At the moment I’m using dmenu which does the job well enough but which is also quite basic and relies me to choose between knowing the package name or the name that would be displayed if I was using it in a more traditional menu (so files or naultilus but not both). The launchers I’m looking at now do both of these and more, but both of them require a little hoop-jumping to get them installed so may not be suitable for my default installation image (although there is at least a PPA for ulauncher so I may very well have a go at getting that added this afternoon)

It’s something I’ll come back to, but in the meantime it’s always fun trying out new software that may one day become part of my workflow.

Rough Trade Club 2021

I’ve been subscribed to the Rough Trade Club for a few years now, and receive a monthly record with a few other interesting bits of paraphernalia thrown in. The records I get are rarely bad, and many of them are things I would buy anyway, but the selection this year has been particularly strong, and If I had to only listen to these records for a whole year then I think I would be OK.

January’s selection was Welfare Jazz by Viagra Boys. I loved their last record and this one is also very strong. It fuses together quite a few genres of music, but it’s also immediately accessible and a lot of fun as well.

February saw the very welcome arrival of For The First Time by Black Country, New Road. I had already played a lot of these songs to death, but getting them all in one place was exactly what I needed to shed some truth and light on the cold winter days. I think this is still my record of the year (so far), and it will take something really special to dislodge it. It also came with a badge (more records should come with badges).

March’s record was Flock by Jane Weaver. An artist I already own music by, and another record that was already on my list to buy. Many people may not have heard of Jane Weaver, but this record is a joyous pop masterpiece that I think anyone who appreciates good music would enjoy. It was also the subject of a really entertaining listening party.

April bought with it the excellent New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning. It reminds me a bit of a cross between The Blue Aeroplanes and Arab Strap, but with female vocals. If that sounds intriguing then you should definitely give it a listen. The songs on the bonus CD are very good as well.

May’s record was Bright Green Field by Squid. A new name for me, but one that reminds me a little of Black Country, New Road and a lot of other things that I really like. It’s not an easy first listen, but it soon makes itself indispensable and is another one that will definitely feature on my end of year list.

I’ve also chosen to buy music by Arab Strap, Mogwai, Maximo Park and Field Music, all of which I’ve very much recommend, but it is the Rough Trade selection that I think best represent the musical journey I’ve been on so far this year.

Keyboard shortcuts

I use a fairly eclectic range of hardware and software, and keyboard shortcuts are required to get it to all work together. This list is mainly for me, but I’ve split it up by device/application in case it is of any use to other people with similar setups.

Epomaker SK61 keyboard shortcuts

I use a 61-key keyboard on my main computer. It doesn’t have some of the keys that I use occasionally, and whilst it’s perfect for writing there are a few keyboard shortcuts required to make some things I do a little bit easier. The main ones that I use are:

  • Up arrow – Fn + /
  • Down arrow – Fn + menu
  • Left arrow – Fn + Alt
  • Right arrow – Fn + Ctrl
  • Delete – Fn + M
  • Volume up –Fn + H
  • Volume down –Fn + G
  • Switch to layer 2 – Fn + W

There isn’t really much else I use that this keyboard doesn’t give me naturally, and the form factor and the way it handles more than make up for the lack of keys.

Motospeed CK61 keyboard shortcuts

My other keyboard is a Motospeed CK61, which seems to have increased dramatically in price since I got mine. The layout is the same as the SK61 (which is why I like it), but instead of layers it has shortcuts that translate specific parts of the keyboard to alternate keys, which I find quite useful sometimes. Shortcuts I use are:

  • Factory reset – Fn + Escape
  • Map /, alt, menu and ctrl to arrow keys – Fn + 3
  • Control brightness of backlight – Fn + U/I
  • Cycle through different lighting patterns – Fn + menu

i3 shortcuts

I’ve used i3 as my window manager for over a year now, and I find it fits my workflow perfectly. The main i3 shortcuts I find myself using are:

  • Open a terminal window – $mod + Enter
  • Open a different application – $mod + d then type the application name (eg firefox)
  • Open (or go to) a second desktop – $mod + 2
  • Send the focused application to that desktop – $mod + Shift + 2
  • Split a container vertically – $mod + v
  • Split a container horizontally – $mod + h
  • Move between containers – $mod + arrow keys
  • Switch to a tabbed layout – $mod + w
  • Switch to a stacked layout – $mod + s
  • Close a window – $mod + Shift + q
  • Exit i3 – $mod + Shift + e

I do have a few other custom shortcuts defined, which are detailed in my i3 config file.

Atom shortcuts

I use the Atom text editor for a lot of my workflow. My main shortcuts are:

  • Multi line editing – ctrl + alt (or shift on Linux) + arrow keys
  • Toggle markdown preview – ctrl + shift + m
  • Create a PDF of the current file – alt + ctrl + e
  • Open a terminal ctrl + alt + shift + i
  • Show a hidden menu bar – alt

Kitty shortcuts

I use Kitty as my terminal emulator on any computer that it works with, although I don’t really use too much advanced functionality. The main shortcuts I use in Kitty are:

  • New terminal within an existing session – ctrl + shift + enter
  • Toggle through windows – ctrl + shift + ]

There are lots more of these on the Kitty website

Qutebrowser shortcuts

I’ve just started experimenting with Qutebrowser. It’s very fast, but has a steep learning curve. The main shortcuts that I’ve found myself using so far are:

  • Open a URL in the current tab – o
  • Open a URL in a new tab – shift + o
  • Toggle through open tabs – shift + k and shift + J
  • Close the current tab – d
  • Back – shift + H

A lot of standard shortcuts (ctrl + t for a new tab, Fn + 5 to refresh) also work as expected.

Zathura shortcuts

Zathura is a lightweight PDF viewer, and something else I’ve been incorporating into my workflow over the last few months. I only ever really use it for reading PDFs, so just use the arrow key shortcuts detailed above, plus s to make what I’m reading fit the width on the window/container I’m reading it in. Zathura has a lot of other functionality which I really do need to explore at some point soon, at which point I’ll come back and update this guide with anything interesting I uncover.

My Setup – April 2021

My Setup

I’ve been maintaining an up to date list of what hardware and software I use since I discovered Uses This a few years ago. It used to live as a page in my blog, but I like to maintain an up to date version so I can keep track of exactly what I’m using and how it changes over time. Every couple of years I post a snapshot as a blog post to track the passage of time. This is one of those snapshots.

The hardware I use

Home – I’ve just bought a new desktop computer that mostly consists of components that are fairly new (this is a first for me). Everything feels snappy and fast, and I love it. I also have three monitors (now identical in both size and resolution which pleases me), a mechanical keyboard, a hand-me-down gaming mouse, and all the docks, cables and switches to connect everything together. My personal laptops are both Thinkpads – an x260 for travel and couch-surfing, and an x230 which largely gets used for digitising vinyl and testing software I plan on using on one of my main computers. I also have a variety of Raspberry Pis that fulfil various server and media functions, and a Synology NAS for backups. I’m trying to phase out a lot of my older computers and only use newer machines with SSDs and lots of memory, but it’s hard to let go sometimes.

Work from home – As home, but with a Thinkpad L13 doing the driving. All it requires is a couple of cable switches and toggling the input on two of my monitors. I’d love to do this without crawling under my desk, but that’s a problem for another day.

Work – I’ve not been in my office for a while, but I think I still have something largely similar to my home setup, but with one less screen. I think I’ll be taking my very quiet solar-powered keyboard in as I’ll be sharing an office soon and mechanical keyboards are not conducive to good working relationships.

Travel – I don’t travel right now, but which I did it would be some combination of a Thinkpad, Raspberry Pi Zero, Kindle and phone. I also carry bootable USB versions of Ubuntu and Tails everywhere I go (even places I don’t take a computer). Increasingly my travel hardware also includes a bike and related tools.

The software I use

At work I’m running Windows 10. It largely does the job, but I would like to be able to live without it. Most of my day is spent doing video calls using either Teams or Zoom, but apart from those I tend to use largely the same suite of applications as I do for everything else.

At home (and whilst travelling) It’s mostly Ubuntu with a side order of LibreElec and Raspbian for my Raspberry Pis. I’ve been using the i3 window manager for Ubuntu since early 2020, although I do have Gnome installed on most of my computers as well. The script I use for installing my computers is available on Github and is regularly updated so it generally represents the software I am currently using.

Firefox has always been my main browser, and it surprises me that more people don’t use it. I have a container running with various versions of all the main browsers so that I can test things, but otherwise it’s Firefox all the way.

Other software I use that I feel is somewhat noteworthy includes:

WordPress – All my blogs run on WordPress. I currently maintain a WordPress multisite installation and several stand alone sites.

Atom – A text editor that handles Markdown well, integrates nicely with GitHub, and can preview and export to PDF. I also use Pandoc to convert to PDF, HTML, and/or .docx if required (I try not to use office software until the point I have to share what I’m working on with someone else), and have also started experimenting with using Pandoc to generate slides and ebooks.

Trello – I use this for my to do list, and it’s a good way to visualise the planning and execution of any task based work. It also reminds me when I have forgotten to do something.

Dropbox – Cloud storage and syncing software to ensure I can access everything everywhere.

IFTTT and Buffer – To automate as much as possible. Between them they handle a lot of the seemingly clever things in my digital life, and explain why I seem to be able to post to social media sites at times when I appear to be elsewhere.

Virtualbox and Multipass – Because no-one needs as many physical computers as I had before virtualisation was a thing. Multipass is what I use the most at the moment, and it’s really transformed the way I use containers for anything volatile or requiring increased privacy or security. There are generally at least a couple of containers running on my computer which I can switch to if I need to use a different desktop environment or browser to test something.

Spotify for discovering new music, and Rhythmbox for playing the music I already own. I have 162 days of digital music on my computer, and that’s before we get to all the records and CDs I’ve not got round to digitising yet.

Github for collecting together code that I’ve written and making the way my computers are set up available to other people in case it’s useful. I’ve also increasingly started using private repositories to version control writing and the notes I take at work.

My dream setup

Maybe I’m already living the dream, but the one thing I’d really like is to go back to doing everything on one computer. I also long for reasonably priced mechanical keyboards that are designed for people who just like to type, rather than gamers. Give me RGB and I will activate it, but sometimes I think something a bit more stylish might be more in keeping with the rest of my setup.