linux 5 Comments

Updates on my Lenovo X230 situation: Skype, screencap work; Vidyo not so much

Here was my wish list from before:

  • Camera working: Done! The trick was ‘uvcvideo‘, which I eventually built as a kernel module.
  • A Skitch replacement: Mostly done. I was given Shutter Project as a recommendation. I haven’t had a look at it yet. PrtSc actually takes pics of my visible desktop and I added a Firefox Addon called “Awesome Screenshot”. That solves my problems for now.
  • Vidyo working: Not working. I can now get video, and audio OUT, but I can’t hear other people. I need to dig into and troubleshoot this more. Skype, however, does work well. It does tend to flake out (slow video, loss of audio) far more on the Lenovo than on the Mac.
  • A package for my .bash_profile, .ssh and .gpg directories that I can install in any new system: Not done.
  • A better driver for the touchpad that doesn’t let my mouse jump around while I’m typing: Not done.
  • Change configuration to have the mouse behave like the latest OS X (reverse scrolling): Not done.

Overall, I feel much more comfortable on my Linux laptop now than my Mac. The mousing in particular is frustrating without buttons on the Mac.

I still switch back and forth because of Vidyo. I’m hoping in the next week or so to figure out what’s wrong with my audio and get it solved for good.

The nicest productivity improvements have been around test servers like HBase and Thrift, and being able to recompile my kernel at a moment’s notice for new features.

5 thoughts on Updates on my Lenovo X230 situation: Skype, screencap work; Vidyo not so much

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  1. M. Edward (Ed) Borasky (@znmeb) · January 18, 2013 at 5:20 pm ·

    Which distro are you using?

    Re the touchpad: depending on which desktop you have, there’s a setting package that you can use to disable the touchpad entirely when you’re using the mouse. On GNOME / Fedora, it’s ‘gpointing-device’. That’s what I invariably end up doing – touchpads are the enemy. 😉

    • selena · January 18, 2013 at 5:23 pm ·

      I’m using Ubuntu Precise. I’ve already disabled the touchpad when using the mouse. The problem is resting my hands at all on the keyboard while typing. I probably shouldn’t be doing that anyway (based on what my orchestra/piano teacher told me!) but it’s annoying that it affects my keyboarding at all.

  2. Katie Urey · January 18, 2013 at 6:25 pm ·

    Hi Selena,

    Funny to see this, especially as I have been tending my Mom’ Dell Inspiron 6000 for the past few years, new hard drive, more memory, ubuntu, and soon a new fan.

    WOuld it be easier and less expensive to buy a new computer? Yes, but not nearly as much fun.

    Best,
    Katie

  3. F2 · January 18, 2013 at 9:50 pm ·

    Hello Selena,
    You have listed some of my favorites, but here are a couple that you have not: 1. Guake (a Quake-style terminal, comes down from the top on a key combination). 2. a clipboard manager, like Glipper or Parcellite – nothing like having the last 20 cuts and copies at your disposal.

    Happy to hear you are on ‘Buntu!

    Best -F