Category — How To

Besides the music data itself, MP3 files also include metadata that stores information like the artist, album, and track number. (These are also known as “tags”.) This is so that various media players can display this information without having to ask you for it. Sometimes though, different ways of storing these tags (ID3v1, ID3v2, APE, etc.) can conflict, causing problems in programs like Rhythmbox. Since ID3 is the most common form in which MP3 files store their metadata, it might be a good idea to erase any other tags so as to avoid problems.

PLEASE NOTE: Once you’ve erased APE tags, there’s no way to get them back except for adding them to your files again one at a time. Although the apetag package used in this guide is able to add and modify APE metadata, I cannot support this process. So use with caution!

1. Download the “apetag” Package

Download apetag from here. Don’t worry about the “i386″ part; if you’re on a 64-bit system, we’ll take care of that shortly.

2. Fulfill Dependencies

You may need to install libstdc++5 as a dependency. To check if you already have it installed, type this in the terminal:

dpkg -s libstdc++5

If you see “Package `libstdc++5′ is not installed”, then run:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

If instead you see a bunch of information, then the libstdc++5 package is already installed.

3. Install apetag

If you’re on a 32-bit system, simply double-click the .deb file to install apetag.

However, if you are running on a 64-bit computer, you’ll need to force apetag to install itself even though you have the “wrong” architecture. Do that by opening a terminal in the directory where you saved your apetag .deb file and running this command:

sudo dpkg –force-architecture -i apetag_*_i386.deb

Apetag will install itself and be fully functional. Now we can get to removing those pesky tags.

4. Remove APE tags from MP3’s

To remove APE tags from a single file, run this in terminal:

apetag -i musicfile.mp3 -m overwrite

You’ll have to replace the red “musicfile” text with the name of your MP3, obviously. Don’t forget to enclose the filename in quotes if it contains spaces or other funny characters.

To remove APE tags from all of your MP3’s at once, replace the red “music-directory” text with the name of your own music folder, then run this:

find music-directory/ -iname “*.mp3″ -exec apetag -i {} -m overwrite ;

This could take a few minutes depending on the size of your MP3 collection, but once it’s done, your MP3’s will be free of APE metadata. Huzzah!

[This guide has been cross-posted on Ubuntu Forums.]

If you’re constantly on the go (and who isn’t these days?), you know that having an up-to-date schedule with you at all times is a valuable asset. Some people keep their calendars in day planners, others use their PDA’s or cell phones, but for the oddballs out there who want to keep their schedule on their iPod too, here’s how.

1. Get the Calendar URL.

Browse to your Google Calendar. Go into Settings, then the Calendars tab, and click the name of the calendar you want to sync to your iPod. At the bottom, to the right of Private Address, you’ll see a green ICAL button like this:

Right-click that button and select Copy Link Location.

2. Write the Script.

Put on your scripting hat and open up a text editor. As always, the first line of our script needs to be:

#!/bin/bash

The next line will fetch our calendar file, so type “wget” and paste your iCal URL after it, like this:

wget http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/email%40gmail.com/hash/basic.ics

Then the script needs to move the file to the correct location on your iPod, so the next line is:

mv -f basic.ics ./Calendars

That’s it! Save the script as “autorun.sh” and close your text editor.

3. Place the Script and chmod it.

Now we need to place the script on your iPod, so plug it in. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Ok, now you need to cut and paste the file into the root directory of your iPod. Give the script permission to execute by opening a terminal, cd-ing to your iPod, and running:

chmod +x ./autorun.sh

Finally, we need to tell Nautilus to look for the autorun file when you plug in your iPod. To do so, open a Nautilus window and select Edit > Preferences. Go to the Media tab.

In the Software options box, select Open Autorun Prompt. Then just click Close, and that’s that!

NOTE: Allowing software to autorun, even with the prompt, is generally regarded as unsafe, so only allow sources you absolutely trust to autorun anything on your computer. You have been warned.

Everything is now set up correctly. From now on, plugging in your iPod will cause the autorun prompt to pop up. Just click Run to sync your calendar from Google. Enjoy!

As a (very) amateur web developer, the one good habit I’ve gotten into in the past year is using plain-text editors instead of WYSIWYG software. The first time I wrote HTML, it was in Dreamweaver, which seemed complicated and busy. When I switched to Linux, the available WYSIWYG editors were clunky and looked outdated. I used Bluefish for a while, but I could never quite get comfortable with it. Now all my coding is done in gedit, the Ubuntu equivalent of Windows’ Notepad. It’s got some great features built right in, but there are a lot useful of plugins too. Here’s how to set up gedit as an awesome web dev tool.

The first step is to adjust gedit’s preferences to your liking. Personally, I use these settings:

• Uncheck “Enable text wrapping”
• Check “Display line numbers”
• Check “Highlight current line”
• Check “Insert spaces instead of tabs” and set “Tab width” to 4.
• Check “Enable auto indentation”
• Set “Editor Font” to “Monospace 10″.

Gedit should now look similar to this:

Now we can get into plugins, the meat of customizing gedit. You’ll notice that gedit already has some plugins listed, but there’s a lot more. Run this in terminal to install a package full of them:

sudo aptitude install gedit-plugins

The ones I find useful are:

• Bracket Completion
• FTP Browser
• Code Comment
• Embedded Terminal
• File Browser Pane
• HTML Tidy
• Indent Lines
• Tags List

Now we’ve got gedit looking like a robust markup editor!

It’s no Coda, but it sure does rock.