Thread For Review of Linux Distro & Linux Softwares

[paragkalra]

Hi Chicks and Lads,
I personally feel that Open Source section of Digit forum is one of the best Linux Forum among the active Linux Forums.

It has almost everything but still it lacks something and that something is a sticky thread for Reviews of Distros and Linux Softwares.

We do need a section where users can share their experience apart from asking questions.


To start off with I am giving the first review of a software socalled Ktorrent which is nothing but BitTorrent Client for Linux.

Hope you will like my idea and make this thread a sticky thread where users can give reviews of Linux Related Stuff.

BitTorrent Client Ktorrent For Linux

It was nice for Novel to ship Ktorrent a Bittorrent Client for Linux. I use BitComent for Windows and it's a smashing bittorrent client. Likewise I was in search for a good Bittorrent Client from a very long time for Linux. It was a bliss to see a Bittorrent Client installed by default in SUSE 10.2 Linux.

KTorrent is a BitTorrent client written in C++ for KDE using the Qt user interface toolkit. It is maintained in the KDE Extragear.
It seem to be far superior than BitComet.
Here are some of its corner stones:
1.It gives the user the tool to decide the Upload / Download ratio , coz some of the Torrent Websites ban the users if their Upload / Download ratio is poor. No doubt you can do the same in other clients, but they don't let u decided the ratio. You just have the control over Upload Speed and Download Speeds. Thus through Ktorrent User is not required to do all the tedious calculations.

2.The other dazzling facet of it is that multiple torrent tasks (downloading as well as uploading) can all be stopped or started at the same time in one go. So you are not required to do the tiresome job of starting or stopping each and every task one by one.

3.Another noteworthy highlight of it is the colorful graphical manner in which it portrays the part of torrents downloaded and parts of torrent still remaining.


4.The most exemplary trait I came across was that it can even play uncompleted songs. Though it plays in random manner and not in sequential manner depending on the parts of song downloaded but still its quite praiseworthy. Well I haven't check it for Videos

Coming to other side of the coin, I just came across one goof. At times speed of the downloading tasks droops all of a sudden. In that state of affair you have to stop the downloading task and restart it. However it may be the blemish of the tracker or peer as well, coz I examined the software just using two torrents both having ample of seeds.

 

[mehulved]

No bad feelings but I'd go for Azureus over it anyday. And with acquistion of uTorrent by the BitTorrent team I am looking forward to the next release of the official client. I feel might just give everything else a run for it's money within next few releases.

 

[kalpik]

^ +1.

 

[eddie]

No bad feelings but I'd go for Azureus over it anyday.

Mind giving a reason? What do you miss with Ktorrent? It snubs a little more peers then Azureus but it is way lighter then the latter one and you don't loose much functionality

 

[mehulved]

I have enough system resources to run azureus and azureus gives me better speeds. Also I personally don't like it's interface. In short I don't see any reason why I should use it over Azureus.

 

[paragkalra]

I am back with a new REVIEW, hope you guys and gals like it:

SOUNDKONVERTER
COMPRESSING & CONVERTING MUSIC FILES FROM ONE FORMAT TO OTHER FORMAT IN LINUX WAS NEVER SO EASY.

HERE ARE THE SCREEN SHORTS:
*discoverlinux.blogspot.com/2006/12/soundkonverter-n-bluetooth.html

AIM:
Compressing MP3 songs in LINUX and Sending it Via BLUETOOTH using LINUX

It feels great to tell you that now I use LINUX to compress my MP3 songs and on the same lines I use LINUX only to send the same song via inbuilt BLUETOOTH facility provided by SUSE LINUX.

PREREQUISITES

1.SUSE LINUX preferably SUSE LINUX 10.2

2.BlueTooth Dongle

3.BlueTooth Compatible Handset. (I am having a L6 Motorola)

4. MP3 Compressor Software.

I received a CD along with my BlueTooth Dongle. But that CD contains drivers only for windows and Nice GUI based software for sending and receiving data.

However coming back to LINUX when I inserted my BlueTooth dongle into one of my USB port in LINUX, It showed no message. Then I clicked kbluetoothd which is nothing but the BlueTooth server or can be treated as BlueTooth daemon in SUSE LINUX, a message was displayed at topmost left corner indicating kbluetoohd – Bluetooth Adaptor found.

Unfortunately My L6 Motorola has only 10 MB internal Memory and no scope for external memory, so I can't afford to listen high quality songs on my cell. Thus I needed a software that could compress my songs. I went to *kde-apps.org/

Then I went to Multimedia section and in Multimedia section I went to Sound section. Fortunately I found a software named soundKonverter right at the top in second position. I downloaded the rpm belonging to SUSE 10.2 RC1 (RELEASE CANDIDATE) version. This is the short cut:

*kde-apps.org/content/download.php?content=29024&id=10

Just copy this in your browser's address bar and it will ask you to download or you can download the appropriate rpm depending upon your distro.

I installed the software using:

[root@localhost]# rpm -ivh soundkonverter-0.2.95-1.suse10.2.i686.rpm

Bang it got installed very neatly in one go (pretty rare scene in LINUX, anyways)

Now it was time to run the software, I just fired this at the KONSOLE:

[root@localhost]# soundkonverter

COMPRESSING MP3s

1.There are two options first one is SIMPLE and second one is DETAILED right at the top.

2.It always advisable to select DETAILED.

3.Select the RESAMPLE or SAMPLING FREQUENCY to 32KHz though not a hard fast rule. It depends on the clarity of the song you want. If you want high clarity keep the SAMPLING FREQUENCY less but it will take more time.

4.Make BIT RATE constant (cbr) and set BIT RATE to 128. Bit rate controls the size of the song. Thus more the BIT RATE more will the MP3 size

5.Also make the channel to STEREO

6.Now add the file music file and select the appropriate O/P source directory.

7.Finally start the compression.

8.Once compressed your music file is ready to get transfered.

9.Now click Applications –> Utilities --> Obex File Transfer.

10.Drag the file you are suppose to transfer and Enjoy Music on your Handset using LINUX.

HERE ARE THE SCREEN SHORTS:
*discoverlinux.blogspot.com/2006/12/soundkonverter-n-bluetooth.html


LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER MUCH

BIT RATES
Bit rate refers to the speed at which a bit stream (compressed audio data in this case) will travel, or the amount of bits per second. With MP3, you usually refer to it in terms of kbps or how many thousands of bits per second. Many MP3 enthusiasts will convert to MP3 at 128 kbps (kilobytes per second) as a good medium in sound quality and file size. However, I recommend 160 kbps , especially if you are a musician or if you have a sensitive ear to musical quality. Bit rate can be used to predict the size of the encoded file. It is simply calculated by whatever bit rate you have chosen to encode with multiplied by the length of the song.


Standard Bit Rates and their qualities:

96kbs: The sound clearly lacks definition: as an example, hall's noises are perceived as some breath. The result is comparable to a good FM radio.

112kbs: The sound seems less present and less natural than the original. The definition is a bit less good, the voice is less clear. Attacks are less spontaneous. The spatialization is different from the original recording: the sound seems to be located more far and more lower. There is however a very noticeable improvement compared to 96kbs.

128kbs: Hall's noises are slightly less defined than the original. The violin is a bit less present and the piano attacks a bit less sharp. The voice is nearly identical to the original recording but sibilants are less pronounced. We can notice the same spatialization problem as with the 112kbs's one although there is again a good improvement compared to the 112kbs rate.

160kbs: The sound is more natural than 128kbs but the improvement is less spectacular than during the two preceding stages. The sound is different from the original, without however being possible to tell in what. I think that the difference resides more in what we feel rather than in what we hear.

192kbs: The sound is not felt as the original recording. It is however totally impossible to tell in what.

256kbs: The sound is indiscernible from the original. It is impossible to make the difference with the original recording.

320kbs: The sound is indiscernible from the original. It is impossible to make the difference with the original recording.

CD Audio : The sound of the burned CD is strictly identical the manufactured CD. This test, although it could appear useless, is however necessary so in order to insure that it is impossible that the burning step introduces differences, that would have falsified tests.


SAMPLING FREQUENCY
The sampling frequency (or sample rate) is the number of samples per second in a Sound. For example: if the sampling frequency is 44100 Hertz, a recording with a duration of 60 seconds will contain 2,646,000 samples. The available sampling frequencies are 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz. 44.1 kHz is almost always used


Relation between Bit Rate and Sampling Frequency
Bit Rate = (Bits/sample) * Sampling Frequency

Now comes the million dollar question, What is more important BIT RATE , SAMPLING FREQUENCY or BIT PER SAMPLE

Any MP3 compressor gives you the option of controlling both BIT RATE & SAMPLING FREQUENCY but it doesn't allow you to play with BITS PER SAMPLE. So how to decide what is important and what is not.

First and Foremost size of any MP3 music file depends solely on is BIT RATE (kbps) and its pretty acceptable because SIZE (kb) = BITRATE (kbps) * TIME (s)

Thus the file's bit rate is simply an indicator of data size. You can, for example, have a 64kbps 44.1kHz stereo sound, or a 64kbps 22.05kHz stereo sound, or a 64kbps 44.1kHz mono sound. All will take up the same amount of disk space.

On the other hand SAMPLING FREQUENCY is the measure of COMPLEXITY of the encoder. Thus more the SAMPLING FREQUENCY less will the BITS PER SAMPLE required to encode , less complex will be the encoding process and lesser will the time required i.e. your song would get compressed much faster but at the cost of clarity.

On the same lines if SAMPLING FREQUENCY is less, more will be the BITS PER SAMPLE required to encode the music file, complexity involved will be more also compression will take comparatively more time but music file will have some what better clarity.

To be very honest SAMPLING FREQUENCY hardly makes any difference. CLARITY is more or less the same in facts its very difficult to make out any difference if at all it exits. It may just control the time it takes for the song to get compressed. Thus more the sampling frequency less would be the time required for compression or encoding process. Hence its a common practice to keep the sampling frequency high usually 44100 Hz

DOCUMENTATION, CONCEPT, COSTUME, REVIEW, STORY, SCREENPLAY, LYRICS, MUSIC, PRODUCED & DIRECTED BY
PARAG.A.KALRA

 

[paragkalra]

SMALL LINUX GAMES

Here are the screen shorts:
*discoverlinux.blogspot.com/2006/12/small-linux-games.html

Its a common myth buster that LINUX cannot be used as an ENTERTAINMENT BOX. No doubt presently it cannot be used for XTREME GAMES due to lack of support from the GAME MAKERS, but not every one is HARD CORE GAMER. Most of us use WINDOWS for small office applications, listening music, watching favorite movies and playing mild games that don't consume much of the system resources. Even Linux can handle these areas and that too in pretty efficient manner.

Well I have brought some of these types mild games, hope you like it:

All these games are from:
*kde-apps.org

First one is kBilliards. It has got a good interface and excellent soft background score.
Download it from here:
*kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=17723

Second one is Knights. Its a chess game.
Download it from here:
*kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=20534

Third one is Falling words. Its a Typing Tutor cum Game. So entertainment and education both go hand in hand.
Download it from here:
*kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=43265

Fourth one is Gnometrics TETRIS game. Its an Arcade game and is present by default in SUSE 10.2 LINUX

Here are the screen shorts:
*discoverlinux.blogspot.com/2006/12/small-linux-games.html

 

[subratabera]

Great thread...

Keep up the good work parag.


Subrata Bera.