Pod Puppy!

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merlot56
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Pod Puppy!

#1 Post by merlot56 »

Hi, I'm a poet, writer and podcaster in LA, and I fix and maintain computers part time. I'm new to the forums, but I've been playing around with Puppy since version 2. I liked the Live CDs, but I had to go 'all in' with it right before Xmas when my main PC (PIII running Win 2000) developed motherboard problems. I have an older backup PIII, but it wouldn't boot my HD. Crap!

Luckily, I had Puppy 4 on live disk, so I managed to access the HD files through Puppy. Also kept me online as I performed voodoo on the motherboard. Saved my ass.

So, once the windows box was back up, I went ahead and installed 4.1.2 on a spare hard drive for a rainy day, and sure enough, a few days ago it rained hard enough to wash all my voodoo away.

So now, I'm back on the older PIII, running Puppy, with the Win. HD as a mountable drive on the desktop. I'm going about the current adventure of customizing Puppy and learning Wine so that I can use my Win-based podcasting software to put out my shows. As a backup, I'm also going to try Audacity, just in case...

Ok, my podcasts are "Sundown Lounge" - music, spoken word, etc., with a progressive attitude, and "Banjo Strings" - Erotic Horror / Science Fiction / Neo Southern Gothic dark fable, a novel-in-progress, in audio and written formats. Production is on hiatus until me and Puppy both learn a couple tricks...

Caneri
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#2 Post by Caneri »

I'll take the erotic..without the horror...reminds me of my younger days waking up in the morning after a night out.

Welcome to the kennels..what's your links to listen?

Eric
[color=darkred][i]Be not afraid to grow slowly, only be afraid of standing still.[/i]
Chinese Proverb[/color]

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merlot56
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Links

#3 Post by merlot56 »

For both podcasts, there is a streaming player on the podpage, or you can check out the feed...


Sundown Lounge:

A laid back (and often explicit, you bet your ass...) weekly podzine of music, spoken word, progressive politics, weird science, and occasional etc.

Podpage, Feed

Image


Banjo Strings:

An epic and graphic tale of antebellum ghosts, supernatural spies, and a den of iniquity amid the Red Maple and Magnolia trees. For mature audiences.

Podpage, Feed

Image
Last edited by merlot56 on Mon 16 Feb 2009, 01:54, edited 1 time in total.

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merlot56
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browsers

#4 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, I've had time to try out Firefox 3 in Puppy 4.1.2, without, and with, Wine. Without, FF3 is slow and a little clunky on my setup (I preferred using Bon Echo). With Wine, FF3 is fast, smooth, and handles my extensions and add-ons really well.

I'm not casting aspersions on Puppy; I didn't like FF3 at all when it first came out, sticking with my very-customized FF2 until the upgrades were released.

Anyway, I've added much of the same tools here that my FF3 has in Windows, with the execption of the Windows Media Player plug-in, which doesn't work yet, so no streaming video, though I can get streaming audio and YouTube and Shockwave just fine.

One other thing FF3 does is refuse to minimize when you try to shrink the window. I just open it in the second 'desktop' now.

As for SeaMonkey, I primarily use that browser for Puppy-only stuff, like this forum topic. My e-mail is mostly web-based as well.

I don't use Internet Explorer unless I absolutely have to, and only at work.

Caneri
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#5 Post by Caneri »

Hey merlot56,

I'm just listening to show #170

I like the podcast...I'll keep listening.

To the forum...this is NOT a family channel.

Thanks,
Eric
[color=darkred][i]Be not afraid to grow slowly, only be afraid of standing still.[/i]
Chinese Proverb[/color]

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merlot56
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#6 Post by merlot56 »

Uh, yeah. Let me state clearly:

Sundown Lounge is rated PG-13 and up.

"Banjo Strings" is full of explicit sex, voodoo, and violence, which is pretty apparent by ch. 2.


Hey, glad you like the show, BTW.

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merlot56
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Audacity

#7 Post by merlot56 »

So, I tried to install Audacity directly to Linux, but I couldn't get the OpenSUSE version to work and didn't find a Slackware version, so I went ahead and installed the Windows version, along with Lame, into Wine. It sounds fine running through my old Sound Blaster Live card, and it took me less than five minutes to test edit a vocal sample.

It came out well enough to ease my anxiety about getting my regular apps working. Cool.
:lol:

bugman

Re: Audacity

#8 Post by bugman »

merlot56 wrote:So, I tried to install Audacity directly to Linux
there are custom puppy versions floating around the forum, do a search, i have 1.3.6 running nicely here...

Caneri
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#9 Post by Caneri »

Hey #169...the opening reminds me of Firesign theater.

Oh my..Nick Danger is coming back to me now...ty

Eric
[color=darkred][i]Be not afraid to grow slowly, only be afraid of standing still.[/i]
Chinese Proverb[/color]

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#10 Post by merlot56 »

Thanks bugman. I took your advice and looked up Audacity 1.3.6, found the forum topic and read the whole thread. And what a fun tale it was, of the great time some have had tinkering with the app since its release. Cool.

Audacity on Wine had all the plug-ins working just fine, from the start, on this old box I'm using, which is all I want in a backup. And hey, I'm on a mission here - I have a weekly podcast to put out and I've already missed one week. So, for expediency, this whole week will be spent either tinkering with my regular audio production apps, or eptifying* myself on Audacity. One way or another, I'm going back into production next week.

Once I'm up and running again, I'll investigate the pup versions, because I don't intend on just running Windows apps on Puppy; hell, dumping Windoze entirely is an ultimate goal for me :P


(* eptify - from 'EPT,' Education for Particular Tasks, term stolen from John Brunner's novel "Stand on Zanzibar")

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merlot56
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So far...

#11 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, I've managed to get one of my regular apps working from my mounted Windows drive as well as on Wine, but the other app will only open in demo mode on both Wine and Windows; the damn thing won't take its serial number anymore. WTF!! :twisted:

Since that one's my multi-track app, and is a too-old-to-repurchase version, this is a glitch tinkering won't fix, so, gotta move on. :roll:

Anyway, this morning I looked at other multi-track audio recording apps strictly for Puppy, and some I installed to test - Ardour, SLab, ProTux, I'm looking at Traverso right now, and I'm gonna try Jokosher tonight. There are many more apps, some in better shape than others, but one of them might be a good fit.

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#12 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, after fooling around with those other Linux apps (that each came with a long list of extras to install and tweak), I either didn't like the sound quality or found the interface too fussy or the damn thing would jam up my ALSA sound driver, so I'm gonna stick with Audacity for now, since it demonstrated the shortest learning curve in 'set up and go.'

So much for having a backup. Oh well, moving on, which in this case means attempting a test production of 'Sundown Lounge.' If it comes out ok, I'll post it here.

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#13 Post by Lobster »

weird science
Are you going to do a pawedcast too? (Puppy orientated)

I am loath to listen to adult podcasts that have not been bleeped - however I have been playing Grand Theft Auto, which seems to involve some swearing, so maybe I am becoming immune . . .
I am also tempted by weird science which might include technology still not exploited?

Look forward to listening . . . :)
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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So far...

#14 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, I'm taking a short break to note that I've collected the music, rounded up some science news, and I'm writing the show script now for the test production, show 170p, 'The Pod Puppy Acid Test.'

One item I wanted for the test was an audio sample of Barry Kauler. I spent over a day searching online with no luck, so instead I open the show with Linus Torvalds (yes, I know about the 'pawedcast' Lobster does. I even have one of his 'casts from 2005, no. 14 to be exact, but I don't want to be accused of buttering up a moderator).

Anyway, I should have the show ready tomorrow, fingers crossed.

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170p

#15 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, the show is up and playing, the podzine pages are updated, and I already have over a dozen hits (that's a surprise; Sunday night is usually very slow, 'net traffic wise...)

My immedate impression of the process is that Audacity will take some getting used to, but it worked ok. The equalizer gave me a little trouble, but not as much as Gxine; the vocal track had some distortion I couldn't work out. Actually, Gxine plays my previous shows a little distorted as well. I'll need to check another MP3 player...

I'm not ready to resume full production yet, but I'm getting there.

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Re: So far...

#16 Post by Lobster »

merlot56 wrote: One item I wanted for the test was an audio sample of Barry Kauler.
Never heard of one. Barry is very private a lot of the time. For many years this was the only pic we had of him. I thought he was a tree!

Image

I am very much looking forward to your podcast - gonna listen now :)
Update: Well it was very mild (suitable for Puppys) with quite a mixture of material. I liked the solar kiosks for Africa and ambient music. A lot of people in rural Africa use mobile phones and for electricity a car battery, which has to be taken to a local charging point. Shame Google did not find Atlantis . . .

One of the things I am interested in is a nanobyte CPU
- never heard of such a thing but it would be invulnerable to
ball lightening, magnetic pulse weaponry,
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/g ... ls-of.html
so I am sure is being developed. It would be a sort of advanced and miniaturized difference engine.
Something similar was demonstrated to Mussolini by Marconi
(it stopped a whole armoured division - Mussolini sent his girlfriend to report back) but hey where is the fun in war if you don't get to play with tanks? And where is the profit?

I have to keep an eye on military projects because Darpa fund so many essential science projects.
Meanwhile a probabilistic CPU
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09 ... sity.pcmos

Anyway . . . glad you are able to use Puppy for your podcasts.
I am gonna have to do one now :)
Puppy Raspup 8.2Final 8)
Puppy Links Page http://www.smokey01.com/bruceb/puppy.html :D

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...One step back...

#17 Post by merlot56 »

After sweating over Audacity, fiddling with the EQ with no improvement, then attempting (and failing) to get either Songbird or Amarok installed, I got the bright idea to try the Windows app that didn't crap out on me. I normally only used it to clean up background noise on my voiceover after recording it on the now-nonfunctioning app, but, surprise, it has a record function.

I cut a sample, cleaned it up, took it to Audacity and added some background music, exported to MP3, and it sounded great on Gxine, no distortion! :P

So, I'll put together another test show and try to release it on my regular podcast day, Friday.

Fingers crossed.

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#18 Post by Caneri »

Hi merlot56,

I'm just listening to #170P.

Good stuff.

Eric
[color=darkred][i]Be not afraid to grow slowly, only be afraid of standing still.[/i]
Chinese Proverb[/color]

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#!*?!!!

#19 Post by merlot56 »

So much for easy steps...

I recorded the vocal last night using my old app, got up this morning expecting to breeze through the editing, but found the audio full of clipping and cut off words every 10 - 20 seconds! :evil:

I went back to Audacity to record a 2 min. tirade, then used the old app strictly for noise removal. This time the sample came through clean and non-clipped, so I'm gonna try again...

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Not very...

#20 Post by merlot56 »

Ok, after I re-recorded the voiceover on Audacity, I tried to clean it up on the old app. The vocal track itself came out ok, but it seems that the distortion comes in when the entire production is mixed down during the 'Export to MP3' function. It also happened to wav. files.

There was no change to the sound quality, and the opening audio - an Emily Dickinson poem - came out sounding worse.

This is not good. I almost didn't release the show, but the music came out ok. Still, I'm not doing show no. 171 till I work this out :x

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