You can install it by downloading from SourceForge using the commands below:

cd
mkdir source
cd source
wget http://softlayer.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/hydrogen/hydrogen_0.9.4rc1_i386.intrepid.deb
dpkg -i hydrogen_0.9.4rc1_i386.intrepid.deb


Of note, is more use of Qt4 elements with less eye candy on the skins, and questionably easier to interpret. I kind of feel it clashes, but the Instrument and drum kit editor have been combined. It means one less place to find things, and that is progress.

Hydrogen drum computer software running on Ubuntu Linux

My setup is quite flexible. I’ve got two desktops and one laptop sharing one monitor. The two desktops are connected via KVM to a display. That display has two inputs, so my laptop is also connected to the same monitor as an extended desktop. I have two methods of selecting inputs to the monitor : a button on the front and the KVM control via keyboard.

This kind of flexibility really speeds up and streamlines my music production and progress on Sample Of The Day. I am able to be blogging and editing audio on one display, while on the other I can have Propellerhead’s Reason making loops and free audio samples using the software synthesizers.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the Ubuntu repositories, so I had to compile it. However, it was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I did have to compile one dependency, Taglib, and that was even easier.

Here’s the break down of the steps I went through, including taglib.

change to the folder where transkode was downloaded

cd /home/vmadmin/Downloads/transkode-0.7beta/

run the program to extract transkode. i used arK because it was easier than looking at a man page. i opened konquer in the current window using

konqueror $PWD&

change to source folder

cd transkode/

configure the setup

./configure

make the components

make

install the app

sudo make install

cleanup the source directory

make clean

download taglib

change to download folder

uncompress taglib

tar xzf taglib-1.4.tar.gz

change to the source folder

cd taglib-1.4/

configure the setup

./configure

make the components

make

install the components

sudo make install

cleanup

make clean

remove anything left behind

rm -f -R transkode-0.7beta/
rm -f -R taglib-1.4/


Installing KSquirrel

From the above link, click on Downloads and you’ll be taken to a page with multiple selections. You’ll need both files for the Debian binaries. In Konqueror, right click on the *-libs.deb file and use the Kubuntu package manager to install it. Mine failed, and that’s ok. Do the other file now using the same way, and it may fail again, like mine did. I fixed the install of both by using


sudo apt-get -f install


from Konsole. I was then able to launch by using alt+f2 and typing ksquirrel


Option "TwinViewOrientation" "CRT-0 RightOf TV"


The best source of information is here and here. All of the other forums posts are pages upon pages of people struggling with other problems. Fortunately the official TwinView documentation is top-notch.

Below are the contents of my entire xorg.conf now:


# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Wed Sep 12 14:29:35 PDT 2007

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type “man xorg.conf” at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Default Layout”
Screen 0 “Default Screen” 0 0
InputDevice “Generic Keyboard”
InputDevice “Configured Mouse”
InputDevice “stylus” “SendCoreEvents”
InputDevice “cursor” “SendCoreEvents”
InputDevice “eraser” “SendCoreEvents”
EndSection

Section “Files”

# path to defoma fonts
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1″
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi”
FontPath “/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi”
FontPath “/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType”
EndSection

Section “Module”
Load “i2c”
Load “bitmap”
Load “ddc”
Load “extmod”
Load “freetype”
Load “int10″
Load “vbe”
Load “glx”
Load “v4l”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Generic Keyboard”
Driver “kbd”
Option “CoreKeyboard”
Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
Option “XkbModel” “pc105″
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver “mouse”
Option “CorePointer”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “ImPS/2″
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5″
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “true”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “stylus”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/wacom”
Option “Type” “stylus”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4″# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “eraser”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/wacom”
Option “Type” “eraser”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4″# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “cursor”
Driver “wacom”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/wacom”
Option “Type” “cursor”
Option “ForceDevice” “ISDV4″# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “VA1912wb”
DisplaySize 1440 900
HorizSync 30.0 – 82.0
VertRefresh 50.0 – 85.0
ModeLine “1440×900_70.00″ 127.0 1440 1536 1688 1936 900 901 904 937 -hsync +vsync
ModeLine “1440×900_60.00″ 106.5 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 901 904 932 -hsync +vsync
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
#
Identifier “monitor1″
Gamma 1
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Generic Video Card”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA”
BoardName “NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series”
BusID “PCI:1:0:0″
Screen 0
Option “ConnectedMonitor” “TV,CRT”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Default Screen”
Device “Generic Video Card”
Monitor “VA1912wb”
DefaultDepth 24
Option “TwinView”
Option “TwinViewOrientation” “CRT-0 RightOf TV”
Option “TVOutFormat” “SVIDEO”
Option “TVStandard” “NTSC-M”
Option “MetaModes” “1440×900,640×480; 1440×900,NULL; 1024×768,NULL; 800×600,NULL; 640×480,NULL”
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
Modes “1440×900_70.00″ “1440×900_60.00″
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “Enable”
EndSection

cd . && make -f admin/Makefile.common configure
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/vmadmin/Downloads/soundkonverter-0.3.4'
Can't open configure: No such file or directory.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/vmadmin/Downloads/soundkonverter-0.3.4'
/bin/bash ./config.status --recheck
running CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash /bin/bash ./configure --no-create --no-recursion
/bin/bash: ./configure: No such file or directory
make: *** [config.status] Error 127

Well, I gave up and did it an easier way:

I downloaded the .deb from KDE-Apps and am relieved. After right clicking on the .deb and selecting to install the package, it complained I needed a couple of other packages. I was able to install those through the Adept Package Manger GUI interface and then soundKonverter finally installed.

It’s running rather smoothly and creating nice output. Give it a try for yourself.

Here’s why I like it:

•  Fast! It has no interface so there’s virtually no load time.
• Accurate encoding – It very accurately creates the output in the manner I specify.
• Quality – It uses already existing standard utilities to create output, producing clean quality DVDs.
• No GUI “pains” – smaller space, less resources for visual presentation, the paths are provided from the command line so you don’t have to click through several folders or find icons.
• The command line gives me the absolute power to do anything i desire with the video.
• I can run it from anywhere

I plan to post a more thorough tutorial in the future.

Installation was a snap. I downloaded a pre-packed .DEB file from GetDeb although the installation instructions appeared simple enough, I chose to use my regular method of installing a .deb in KDE  (because I use Kubuntu) via right clicking in Konqueror and selecting Package -> Install Package.

The program permits a broad range of options and formats for the user, and directly requests the desired output format. It expertly handles 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios.

Where it needs help is in localization. Even after selecting the English language for the program, throughout the rest of the user’s experience, the application still presents the user with many prompts, labels, titles, etc, in something other than English.

It’s also in need of volunteers for documentation as evidenced by the gaping void of a help file of any form.

Because the program’s does perform so well, I’d like to see some more community support for this application to improve on the areas that it does need more development.

It looks wonderful. It seems to support every feature I need. This includes permitting the user to define pan and scan versus letterboxing options, even skewing the aspect ratio for the very sick and twisted.

It allowed me use multiple video files to create one title. That’s important. Unfortunately, I was never able to view the output.

I forced a re-encode, which was a nice option, hoping to get an idea of the encoding quality, speed, and to thoroughly test it. Here’s where DeVeDe failed. Upon the 4th file of 5 it became stuck encoding at 76%.

I tried again using the same source .mpg files, and this time it became stuck at a different percentage in a different file. To me, that seems like a programming logic issue, and not a problem with the source data. I haven’t found a solution yet, but with so many alternatives I’m not spending much time on it, considering that while it was working, it seemed slow in comparison to others.

Check back for more multimedia related reviews.