Jarle's draw-log

Save Flash-videos in KDE 4.2

2009-03-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

Save Flash-videos you just have seen or are watching on internet in a super-easy way:

In KDE 4.2 with folder-view POWER.

Watch (tip: remember to tick off watch in high quality if it is possible on youtube) or let the whole flash-video download (let the progress bar reach the end) in the browser using Flash-player. Don't close the tab in the browser if you want to save it.
Drag the video from the folder-view-directory to another folder-view-directory on your desktop or a directory in dolphin and select; copy here.
Right-click the video in your destination-directory and rename it with a .flv extension (like somename.flv).

The video will remain in the folder-view-directory as long as it is open in the browser. Close the tab, select another video or close the browser; and it will disappear after a wile.

How to set this up
(this is also super-easy and can be done without need for a keyboard)
Do this only once:

(You have to have Adobe-Flash-player working in the browser and have a KDE4.2 desktop)

Find the "cashew" in the upper right corner of your screen and click unlock screen-elements if it is locked and then add screen-element.
Find the Folder-view in the list and drag one into the desktop (tip: drag one more witch you can use as a destination-directory for the videos).
Move your mouse over the newly created directory-view to select the setup-tool.
In setup; 1. select directory 2. click here to bring up directory-chooser 3. click on Root 4. choose the tmp-directory and click OK.
Still in setup; 1. select Filter 2. select hide files 3. click select all 4. uncheck the Flash-video in the list 5. click OK.

Use setup on the additional folder-view if you created one in step 2. select a directory of your choice to store the videos in.
Click the cashew and click lock screen-elements again if you done personalizing your desktop (see step 1).

After seeing tips on how to save online videos in linux again, I remembered the first time I saw this tip. I thought it was brilliant and tested it back then once. Since then; I know I had the power to save flash-videos, but didn't because it was to many step to do and that interfered with what I was doing; browsing the web. Since I newly discovered the power of folder-views and saw the tip again yesterday, I thought this could be more comforting to use wile doing the casual browsing.

Drawings for Kalzium update

2009-02-25T02:07:00.000-08:00

Long time since the last blogg. I don't use Inkscape so much during summer. When using it again in the autumn I do some playing/experimentation and some off-topic illustrations first.

After Christmas I was ready to get on track again and finished up the drawings I left half-done last spring, to warm up. After some productive weeks I'm now getting closer to reach my first goal of have a complete set of illustrations for the iconic-view of Kalzium. It's only missing nine illustrations (elements; 63-71) in the Kalzium I use to for testing. This is the first half of what done lately, contributed in January and February, second part will follow soon and the rest (9) will hopefully be completed within a couple of month (or sooner).

Google summer Code for Kalzium: There is a Kalzium beautification idea on the; Summer of Code/2009/Ideas I really hope this can be realized as it can make Kalzium appeal to a broader group of users.

I was thinking to also replace salt with stable soap because reacting fat with NaOH will make it solid and reacting fat with KOH will make soft or liquid soap.

This is a Parker 51 ink-pen even if its tip looks like a roller-pen. Palladium is one of the metals inside the catalytic converter.

Mercury in many of these energy-saving light bulbs, so don't throw them in ordinary garbage and "run" away if they crush.

Argon gas between the glasses in energy efficient windows.

Osmium needle on 78-rpm record-player; the phonograph.

After my last blog-post about graphics for plasmoids/widgets; I ended up getting a SVN account (this is at first very scary for a non-developer). Blackboard, whiteboard, projector-screen and window -SVGs is available in: trunk/playground/artwork/Oxygen/jarle/ for anyone interested.

SVG for Plasmoids/widgets. part 2: Universal

2008-06-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Dedicate this post to promote the use of genuine -looking windows on the desktop. Lets put windows in every homes desktop directory (well windows is not useful for every computer user, but maybe to some?)

This is a follow up on previous post. SVGs done (the windows, curtains and drop screen), no code from me. The pretend to be wallpaper is taken from OS/2 and only modified by me and is therefore not Free. Content in the window (the view is from photos I took today from our windows) is not in the SVGs.

I call them: My "~/desktop/windows"

Light conditions should depend on where it is brightest inside or outside. In these examples I have some of each, above is it bright outside and lots of highlights and shadow from the handle.

Dark outside: no highlight in the windows-frames (above).

More light from outside than on the inside (above).

Suggestions for usage:

Kalzium: Information about an chemical experiment written on the interior drop screen and a You-Tube/movie showing someone doing the experiment outside the window when the drop screen is rolled up.
Web cam: show your own or a distant web cam in a window to keep an eye on: your kids play in the garden, home surveillant camera or web cast.
Weather widget: Look out the window to see the weather information.
Photo frame widget: show local or online pictures.
Movie/TV widget: You-Tube, net-broadcast.
"insert your Idea here" or anything else.

I hope for some magic code for these, to bring them to plasmoids/widgets. Colors can easy be adjusted, let me know what you want, and the silly "logo" wears off when washed;-)

A little closer up.

SVG for Plasmoids/widgets. part 1: Education

2008-05-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

Small SVGs suitable for use as background for Plasmoids and widgets:

Blackboard

Example uses: for showing content with white or pastel color text (Kalzium - did you know) or simple drawings.

White board

Example uses: for showing content with black or typical white-board-colors on text or simple drawings.

Projector screen closed

For saving space on desktop when not in use?

Projector screen ready

For showing full color content like pictures movies or similar.

Projector screen and blackboard combined
blackboard active

Could be used to show different content in one widget were user could interact to select between two modes (example: text on the blackboard and illustration on the screen). A toggle between modes could be a mouse click in area A (below).

Projector screen and blackboard combined
screen active

The screen mode for full color possibilities on the content displayed.
Interactive area suggestions:
A - toggle between screen and blackboard content
B - draw new/more content
C - clean up and start over again

Functionality mentioned above is only suggestions from me. Use the drawings as you like. No interactions code exist from me and I can't code. I can help if code needs special content on the drawings, let me know what is needed.

Illustrations on this post is made in Inkscape: The blackboards, white-boards and projector-screens is the SVGs drawn by me. The stick-people-drawings on the first blackboard and on the white-board is early inkscape work by my (by then about 4 or 5 year old) son. The pretending to be desktop-background is an old OS/2 wallpaper heavy modified by me.

Vise-grip wrench and Lithium battery

2008-04-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite tools and a typically remote-control battery.

And:

New silver-drawing and the modified gold-ring. The first gold and silver drawings were both rings with only color difference. Silver deserve it's own illustration so I made the silver-chain.

Steel string -guitar and Digger

2008-03-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Musical instruments are fun to draw.

Two more illustrations; steel strings for phosphorus and a digger for manganese. The digger is drawn from a photo I took a couple of years ago of a old digger (Åkerman) belonging to my brother. The light in the photo was from the wrong side so I mirrored It.

Iodine and Camcorder

2008-02-23T14:45:00.001-08:00

I take the opportunity to start creating as many icons/drawings as possible now when it is winter and I got the time. The plan is to finish them up later when I don't have so much continuous time to spend on them. These (Iodine and Indium) however was finished some time ago. Lots of unfinished drawings laying in my desktop makes it easy to find something to do.

One drawing is bothering me a little;
I was planning drawing a car for Palladium to illustrate a Catalytic converter. If I draw a normal car the catalytic part wont show, a car who is nice to draw and viewed partly from down-up is hard to find and if I draw only the Catalytic converter it may be hard to recognize. These thoughts have made me put this drawing on hold, but I have to start it now so any opinion is welcome. To summon up, I can:

draw a normal car and the part won't show
draw the part without the car
draw a car witch show the exhaust system from behind (the part is hidden in the front)
wait an uncertain time until I find a car I can take a photo of from the down-up (not my favorite now, since I have been doing only this until now and it may not happend)

Status rapport from me: mainly start working on new drawings, not so much work being done on finished them, and some times consumed by experimenting.

Crt-TV, Xerox-machine, Oven and Nightlight.

2007-12-07T23:38:00.000-08:00

Some more drawings for Kalzium and a "remember to prepare for X-mas"-drawing. Maybe someone could make use of it for resepies or something these days?

OK, long time since the last drawings were send. I had to get the hang of it again after been away from it through the summer.

Coins, Flashlight and Satellite

2007-06-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

Some more icons for Kalzium finished:

Nickel and copper -coins
Flashlight with krypton light bulb
Satellite with atomic clock (Rubidium is resonant element)

More icons mostly done but not finished yet:
P (guitar strings), Sr (CRT- TV), I (antiseptics), Sc (Xerox-machine), In (LCD-screen on camcorder), Mn (digger-machine) and Ce (oven).
Next icon to create: Pd (car exhaust).

Microscope and Lead-glass door

2007-05-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

A microscope for Germanium to replace LED. The changes are:

As suggested by Blue Lightning: LED for Gallium instead of Germanium who is now represented with a microscope.
The old microchip for Gallium, represent Arsenic instead now.

Made another variation to the radioactive-icon, so there is more to choose from. J is from the first version (K), but with a black dot in the middle (thanks to the commenter's).
A to I is the new ones. They are all the same with different colors, except C who also have added transparency to the far out parts of the rings.
Since many elements is going to be represented by the radioactive-icon, I may try out more ideas later.

Tambourine, Pipe, LED and Chip

2007-05-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

More drawings for Kalzium. It was difficult to find nice objects to draw for beryllium, chlorine, germanium and gallium. These have often made me uncertain, but I hope they turn out OK.

Update: Copper-colored tambourine. Thank to all commenter's.

Tyre and TNT

2007-04-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Made some changes to the tyre for Tellurium (after the preview) and finished the TNT for nitrogen. Have started work on a flashlight for Kr (krypton).

Milk and Glass

2007-04-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

The glass for Si (silicon) should be the empty one, i guess.

Have started to work on; tire for Te (tellurium) (the preview), TNT for N (nitrogen), PVC-pipe for Cl (chlorine) and microchip for Ga (gallium).

Think I try a solar-cell for Rb (rubidium), and are looking around for a model.

I have some problems finding good objects for Ge (germanium) (something common, easy recognizable in 40 x 40 pixel - object). It seems like some optical-electronic devices uses it, but which devices and which part on it? (remote control? CD-player?) Maybe someone know? ;-)

Lighter and Radioactive-symbol

2007-03-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

The radioactive-ikon is only my first-suggestion (4 variant with various transparent parts, but the same object). Since it's gonna be used for several elements, I will try out more suggestions later.

The preview is for "Si" and "Ca" together, I tried out a cow for the milk-carton but it was too small for 40 x 40 pixel (upper-right corner) then I tried stripes. I want to thank the commenter's.

Milk-container preview

2007-03-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

I hope Milk is right for Ca (calcium). I syncing this drawing with the glass for Si (whom share the same glass). The milk container need some anonymous labels or something. And of course the colors here is only for helping me see things better, the final coloring is not started jet.
Many of my drawings are done after models witch i lit and photographed (tin-can), some are constructed entirely (micro-oven) and a few is a cross between constructed and inspired by a couple of commercials (prosjector). This one is a cross between to two first.

Tin-can and Smoke-detector/Fire-alarm

2007-03-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

First: Thanks for all comments, it's overwhelming and sooo nice :-)

These drawings were send; 9 and 14 mars. I did a preview earlier and like to present them here now. Some ongoing drawings are: lighter for La (Think is ready now), milk for Ca (calcium) (I hope this is valid?), water-glass/lemonade-glass for Si and Coins for Ni and Cu. I'll be back with previews for these.

Projector and Microphone

2007-03-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Done before 3 and 6 mars.

Lighter preview

2007-03-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Inkscape (0.45.1) is working extremely well now (the blur problem earlier, could have been caused by some old library I had? thou). I have only been using Inkscape since 0.44 but can't imagine being without it now.
As a newcomer (to vector) it so great to have a application like this in my native language. Because of this, the really good help-section and the easy to use interface (and more)- it got me into the vector-drawing. I have looked at other vector-editor earlier but they scared me away.
Meanwhile (playing with blur) I'm now trying to finish up this lighter.

Bench-wise and Thermometer

2007-03-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

More of some finished stuff. All the drop shadows in my drawings are for now very simple. I will fix this later, when I got a overall impression how they look together in Kalzium. Received a update for my Inkscape to 0.45.1 today, maybe the trouble with the blur I had is solved now. Think I add blur when all drawings are done, so I have a set with and one without blur.

Smoke-detector/Fire-alarm preview

2007-03-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

This one is also ready now (photo taken from our living room). Next preview will be a lighter which is not finished yet. Thank you Mukund for putting me on Graphics Planet.

Tin can preview

2007-03-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

The tin-can is ready for now, but here is how it looked before it was finished. I started with a box (bought for the occasion), lighted it (from front-left and above), located the right angle and took a photo. The photo is imported to Inkscape and is a base for all shapes to be drawn and later for the shades. The strange coloring used at this stage is for helping me keep the different pieces apart.

Toothpaste and Micro-oven

2007-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

These was finished 22 and 24 Feb. They were easier to make because I didn't have to have the outline in mind, but took longer time to draw.

Gold and Silver ring

2007-03-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

Finally the last drawings with an outline start. I tried to do this quick, since the salt-container did take so long. With the outline they looked alright, but without they became matte (tame). I have to redo many of the first drawings at a later point. But for now, there's so many more to create first - maintain later.

Magnet and Salt

2007-03-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Still with the outline in mind, the magnet made some trouble for me. I wanted it to be easy to delete it, but this was impossible with this shape and perspective. So I added a extra area of 1 curve witch covered the problem. Later I only had to delete the outline and this area. The salt-container was the first drawing which took several days too create (Not so much time every day though).

Sparkplug and Lightbulb

2007-03-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

I still thought it was cartoonish icons with outline I was supposed to make when I draw this two. I settled for a main perspective based on the car-battery. I reused element from the spark plug on the light bulb and later on the salt-container. I got rid of the outline at a later point.

My first drawing for Kalzium

2007-03-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

The matchstick was my first contribution, the first version was send 13 Feb. 2007. At first it had a part of a matchbox and a outline with 1 screen pixel. I made a touch up later, after I learned that this drawing will be viewed at 40 x 40 pixel. I made a new version later without outline on this one and the car battery, who is my second drawing. The car battery did I change after I discovered that the plus-pol was red on my car battery. I did also touch up.

Ok, first try:

2007-03-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog. I'm trying to use Inkscape to make some contribution to the word of Gnu-Linux. I will post here; ongoing drawings, some thoughts about it and results. My first focus will be drawing small illustrations for Kalzium (wonderful application about elements).

So Hello, my name is Jarle and I live in Norway with my wife and 2 children (1 and 5 years old). I have been using Gnu-Linux for about 10 years along with dos/windows OS/2. Got access to Internet for about a year ago, witch explain why it took so long to contribute. Hopefully I'm on a roll now. The drawing is done mostly on evenings, with frequently interruptions with small hands grabbing my mouse or keyboard from me (my 1 year old son). This way I can have something done, albeit slowly. Also I don't "do" English very good, so if someone is insulted by anything; its probably only because of this, its not my attempt to insult anyone here.