29
Jul2010
Filed in Meta with
All posts from 2010 are gone forever; my previous host, Host2X, went down in flames after datacenter issues, leaving me with no blog and an outdated backup file. To recap what’s been lost:
Tsunamix is no longer going to be released all at once; files will be released individually, then repackaged as a single project once I hit 50 songs. You can download the individual files at tsunamix.xtil.
I now maintain two blogs: the mental moshpit (for unimportant stuff like amusing images) and the one you’re reading right now (for projects like Tsunamix).
And as of today, Xtil is hosted by Linode and their 768 plan, which means blazing fast connections, fewer restrictions, and a respectable amount of storage and bandwidth!
This has actually been around for awhile, but here it is now:
25 songs in total. Some are incomplete and bound to be edited at some point. I’m also taking a break from working on this at the moment, so don’t expect the full pack to be released anytime soon. 
21
Dec2009
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After much frustration and pain, I’ve found a way to convert a static image and an audio file into a high-quality YouTube video with the help of ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -loop_input -i image.png -i audio.mp3 -y -b 628k -acodec libmp3lame -ab 320k -vcodec libx264 -s hd720 -shortest output.mp4
Now you can upload mp3s to YouTube from any major operating system without worrying about poor transcoding. Just replace image.png and audio.mp3 with the appropriate files. Thanks to Kuukunen of irc.freenode.net/#ffmpeg for helping me work out an issue with uploading.
As of today, I have completed eight of the fifty simfiles I want to make for Tsunamix. Get them here! Expect a beta preview within the next month or two, and a complete pack of 50 songs within the first half of 2010.
All artwork and songs copyright their respective owners; I attributed most of the art, but I think I forgot to do so on at least one of the backgrounds.
28
Nov2009
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Over the last month, I’ve learned the following things about Ubuntu:
- Don’t try to convert an encrypted LVM into a normal partition unless you’re prepared to spend a few full days fixing the boot-up process.
- Make a concerted effort not to screw up file permissions on your home directory. Or any directory, for that matter.
- Some GNU tools like chmod, chown, cp, mv, etc. do not work on hidden files. Running “cp oldDir/* newDir/” followed by “rm -r oldDir” is a recipe for disaster if you have any files/directories that start with a full stop.
- Regularly back up your entire partition. It may seem unnecessary and a waste of time, but it’s a life saver in some situations.
- Be careful when changing your login name, and VERY careful when changing your home directory. You might want to avoid the latter altogether.
Yes, I know all this from experience. It is entirely possible to permanently decrypt an encrypted LVM; if anyone’s interested, I’ll make a tutorial, but considering that there isn’t already one on the Internet, there’s probably not much demand.
It looks like Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic” has fixed the issues with StepMania. That’s just one less reason to boot into Windows now.
On another note, I finally finished stepping and making graphics for Raar by Noisia. This song has the second slowest BPM in Tsunamix so far, but it’s no less awesome than the rest. The stepchart will be released with Tsunamix.
01
Nov2009
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Ubuntu 9.04 doesn’t work with StepMania- the X server repeatedly crashes and forces me to log in again. Meanwhile, Windows 7 doesn’t work with my wireless adapter- the entire computer locks up, mouse and everything, forcing me to reboot. Due to all this, I have had little time to work on Tsunamix. I’m hoping that Karmic will fix the X server issues, and I’ll upgrade Wednesday or Thursday. There are no guarantees, though.
The StepMania pack I was previously working on, KBcore, has been abandoned/renamed. The new pack will still contain most of the songs that were in KBcore, but the main difference is that there will be pad files in addition to keyboard ones. That means more fun for everyone!
Hopefully there will be an official webpage for it sometime this or next week. We’ll see what happens.
07
Oct2009
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My old host, izfree.com, got bricked by their provider. This means that the old contents of my blog (all of two posts) are unrecoverable.
Now that I’ve finally fixed all the DNS issues with my new host (probably mostly my fault) my site is back up for good. Hooray.