Making an animated clip from your photos – iMovie app (App 1)

For quite a long time now I have wanted to do an animated clip from a set of images, and what a better opportunity than a great weather at the weekend and a camping tent that hasn’t been put up in 20 years!

Last weekend I took over 100 images in total; this was a huge feat, not the picture taking but  setting up the tent!

After doing some research online on recommended apps to put all the pictures together I decided to start with the iMovie app on my iPad mini. if you want to see the final movie result, have a look at my Youtube channel. Here are there some of the things I learnt while putting the movie together, you might find them useful before starting your own similar project.

Create an album with your images

First of all I put all the images in a new album in the Photos app on my iPad so that they were easily accessible from the iMovie app. Put in the album only the images you want to form part of the clip. Unfortunately, once in iMovie, I had to select all the images I wanted for the movie one at a time and this is really a painful process that took me some time. There is no way to know which image you have already added, so keep a close eye when you do this. As you add images they will appear in the timeline that will form your movie

The images in your timeline

By default each image is added so it fills around 6 seconds of your timeline. I wanted a really fast moving clip so I had to manually shorten each image to approximately 1 second each. As I had finally decided to have 45 images or so on my clip this again was a time consuming process.

Choose the right transition for you

iMovie offers a number of transition effects between images.By default the app gives you a cross-dissolve transition that I had to also change manually and although this is not a difficult task  at all it is very time consuming. I decided to have ‘None’ as a transition for this project so that images would fly faster for one to another.

The Ken Burns effect

Finally, a Ken Burns effect is also applied to each photo by default. The video will appear to sweep across and zoom in on each of the images in your timeline. For this project I didn’t want this effect to take place so I changed this manually for each indivicaul image. This was really one of the most fiddly things i had to accomplish and was the last straw that convinced me that iMovie was not the appropriate app to get he final result I was looking for.

Add music to spicy it up

Adding music was really straight forward if you are happy with the samples that come with the app. At this stage I just put the music on and publish it in my Youtube channel, but you have many other export options.

The video is not as dynamic as I wanted and the main reason is that I couldn’t shorten the time spent displaying each image.

I will be testing more apps in the coming weeks, follow me to find what my findings.

Installing Minecraft into a Linux Mint computer

This is one of the less painful installs I have ever experienced.

Visit minecraft.net/download with your favourite browser in you Linux machine. The website will pick up straight away your operative system and offer you the appropriate download.

Click on the file name ‘Minecraft.jar’ to start the download. Select to Save the file when asked what to do with it. The file will be called ‘Minecraft.jar’ and will appear in your Downloads folder by default. Create a folder called Games in your Home directory and move the downloaded .jar file there.

To run Minecraft open your terminal and navigate to your Games folder. Then run the following command as per the wiki instructions in archlinux.org:

$ java -jar Minecraft.jar

Wait until you see the login screen and you are ready to start playing! The terminal will stay open in the background while you play.

Running Minecraft the easy way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets face it, having to use the terminal to run Minecraft is not very convenient. A blog post in sysads.co.uk had the answer for this dilemma. In short:

1. Right click on the Minecraft.jar file and choose Properties
2. Click on the Permissions tab and Tick ‘Allow executing file as program’
3. Click on the Open With tab and make sure that the default application is ‘OpenJDK Java 7 Runtime’
4. Finally close the Properties window

Now to run Minecraft double click on the .jar file and wait until you get the login screen.

Fun playing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intro to the Raspberry Pi computer’s hardware

 

Single Printed-Circuit Board: no more, no less.

GPIO (General Pourpuse Input/Output) Pins: to connect to common electronics, e.g. to control the motors of a robot or make a LED clock.

RCA Composite Video: also known as a ‘phono connector’, useful for an analogue connection to an older TV set. The connector creates a composite of colours – red, green and blue – and sends them on a single wire to the TV. Use the HDMI connector for a better quality picture.

Audio Jack: to provide a stereo analog signal for headphones or powered speakers (3.5mm jack socket). You won’t need to use this jack if you use the HDMI connector as this is also sound capable.

Status Lights: they signify the following:

• ACT: SD card access
• PWR: 3.3 volt power
• FDX: full duplex (LAN)
• LNK: link activity (LAN)
• 100: 10/100 MB (LAN)

USB 2.0 sockets (x2): to plug a keyboard and a mouse. Use a USB hub to gain more USB sockets that you can use to connect an external hard disk, joystick or wireless adapter, and also to save wear and tear of the two USB sockets. You might have a keyboard and mouse with a PS/2 connector (a round plug with a borseshoe-sharped array of pins), these cannot be used with the Pi as it only offers USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports.

Ethernet Socket: to connect to the network. Use a RJ45 Ethernet patch to connect the Pi to a switch, router or hub. It supports 10/100 MB. You can also get your desktop/laptop talking to the Pi by connecting both with a patch cable; then configure your PC to bridge the wired Ethernet port or another (typically wireless) connection. For wireless networking you will need a USB wireless adapter:

• ensure that Linux is supported
• check the wifi network type listed on the specifications ( a number + a letter); e.g. if your network is 802.11a, an 802.11g adapter won’t work
• check the frequencies supported, an adapter designed to work with 2.4GHz network won’t connect to a 5GHz network
• most adapters support all encryptions: WEP is an old encryption type while WPA and WPA2 are newer ones.

CSI Connector Camera: still experimental, to connect the type of cameras used in smartphones.

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) Video: for a high speed digital connection to a TV or monitor with sound included: one single cable to carry both the video and audio signals. By using the HDMI port your Pi will display at full HD 1920×1080 resolution. For monitors with only a VGA  or a DVI (Digital Video Interconnect) connector buy a HDMI-to-VGA or HDMI-to-DVI adapter.

Hynix Memory Chip: a 256 MB RAM memory chip; below it you can find the Raspberry Pi processor.

Broadcom ARM Processor: a Broadcom’s ‘System on a Chip’ (SoC) multimedia processor to drive the Raspberry Pi. It is architectured to integrate several traditionally separate components onto a single chip: graphics and general purpose unit and audio and communications hardware. The ARM architecture is uncommon on desktop computers but perfect for mobile devices and the Raspberry Pi due to  reduced instructions set (RISC) and low power draw. This means that the Pi is incompatible with traditional PC software which is built with a x86 structure architecture to work with processors like the AMD, , VIA and Intel. The processor runs at 700mhz.

Micro USB Power: to supply power to the Raspberry Pi. Plug a 5V micro-USB power supply, like the one used to charge lots of phones but make sure it supplies at least 700mA or your Pi will behave erratically.

SD Card Slot: to insert the SD (Secured Digital) card that contains the computer’s operative system and to store the files you create. This card is effectively your computer so if you put it in another Raspberry Pi all your stuff will be there. The SD card, which is a solid-stated storage system, needs to be at least 2GB and Class 4 or higher speed. Always check the SD card compatibility before buying one.

DSI Connector Display: for a video standard called Display Serial Interface (DSI) which is used for tablet and smartphones’ displays. The DSI display connects by inserting a ribbon cable into the matched connector on the Pi.

Ten top no-nonsense iPad tips for absolute beginners (iOS 7)

Image by Sean MacEntee

You might have bought or be given an iPad recently and are are wondering what you should know first and foremost before using it. Here are the tips that nobody tells you but will really help you enjoy your iPad to the maximum.

1- Experiment without fear

It is really difficult to break an iPad and it will always ask you before deleting anything. So go ahead and use all the gestures available: swipe to the left/right or up/down, tap, tap-and-hold, pinch, spread, press-wait-and-drag, double tap, three finger tap, … Downloaded a new app and no instructions? No problem, play with it and find out what it can do – it is all part of the fun.

2- You are never lost forever

The first days/weeks with an iPad might be difficult finding where you are and sometimes you might feel you have lost your way. This is really far from the truth, press the Home button on the front of your iPad and you will be taken to the home screen where all the apps live. And now you can start exploring again. Be careful not to hold the Home button for too long or you will get Siri, the speaking assistant, instead.

3- No options? Uncover them with one tap

Sometimes you might open an image or video, or you might be reading a book and all the options you usually see to play/pause/stop or go to the next page have disappeared. Using the Home button is no help as when you open the image/video/book again you are in the same situation. Tap once on the center of the screen to have access to all the options again.

4- Unfreeze a misbehaving app

On the rare occasions when apps seem to stop responding close them down completely and relaunch them again. To close an app either press the Home button twice in quick succession or swipe four fingers up from the bottom of your screen. You will find the multitasking screen where you can see all the apps you have open. Swipe left or right until you find the icon for the frozen app, then swipe the app upwards until it disappears.

5- Make it your own with your favorite picture

Changing the wallpaper – the background content of your home screen – is really easy. Head to Settings, and from the list available choose Wallpaper & Brightness. If you have some pictures already saved in the Photo app, you will be able to select them here. When you find the picture that you like tap on it, drag it around the screen until you are happy and then tap on ‘Set Both’ to display it in both your Lock and Home screens.

6- A longer pause for tea is also possible

You might find that you are using your iPad, pause to prepare a lovely cup of tea, and have to unlock it again. If this annoys you, you can extend the time the iPad takes to lock itself and asks you for the Passcode. Go to Settings and on the options available choose General. On the right hand side of the screen tap on Auto-Lock and then select a time of your liking.

7- Speedy battery charging

In a hurry to take your iPad for a spin outside but the battery is half full? Plug it to the mains and change your Settings to Airplane Mode ‘On’. While the Airplane Mode is ‘on’ your iPad will not connect to the internet and such it won’t spend energy in checking for emails, notifications, etc – it can concentrate in recharging itself!

8- Let me sleep, I cannot cope with the notifications!

If you have family and friends all around the globe your iPad might not let you sleep with all the beeping when you receive a new message or notification. For a a full night sleep without disturbance swipe one finger up from the bottom of your screen to discover the Control Center. Tap once on the moon icon to turn ‘Do not disturb’ on. Now head to your Settings to see how can disturb you. In Settings, under Do Not Disturb and set Manual on and select a little bit below who you want to Allow Calls From, choose No One for a perfectly peaceful night.

9- Make the iPad’s heart beat again

Again, on very rare occasions, your iPad might freeze completely. Usually a soft restart will sort out the situation. Hold the Home button and the on/off button at the same time for 10 seconds until the screen becomes black and you see the apple logo appear again. Wait until the iPad restarts again.

10- Come on, name it, I know you want to

What would be an iPad without a name, a soulless device. To name your iPad go to your Settings and tap on General. Then tap on the first option called About, here you will be able to change it’s name and call it …..well, I leave that to you!

Interesting snippets about the Raspberry Pi computer

I recently bough a Raspberry Pi computer and as I learn a little bit about it I thought to share here the snippets of information that I find more interesting. My sources of information: the book “Raspberry Pi – User Guide” by Eben Upton and Gareth Halfacree, the Raspberry Pi Education Manual, which is available for free, and advice from my friends Corinne and Richard from Justoutsource.it.

Why learn to code?

“Children know how to use computers for a diverse array of tasks since a young age”, you might say. But then, “who will program the software of the future?”. The Raspberry Pi is here to make coding fun and rewarding. And if the kids, or not so kids, are into games, they can be enticed to program and create their own game.

Why the Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi breaks the barriers to start learning to code: it is affordable, you probably have the extra equipment at home to make it work – TV, old SD card, mobile charger, keyboard and mouse, it is portable – you can take it to your friends, and most importantly, it is not a big deal if something goes wrong – just swap the SD card and get going again.

You can make the Raspberry Pi do what you want to do, instead of using a computer that does what someone else has programmed it to do.

What is in the name?

The ‘Raspberry’ bit comes from a long tradition of fruit names in computer companies. The ‘Pi’ bit comes from Python, the recommended programming language for learning and development.

Where does it come from?

Eben Upton started working on a tiny affordable computer at Cambridge University in 2006. The idea from the beginning to use it for educational purposes. Later Eban, together with Dr. Rob Mullins, Prof. Alan Mycroft, Jack Lang, Pete Lomas and David Braben started the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

In May 2011 Rory Cellan-Jones, after a Raspberry Pi demonstration, posted a video on his blog that went viral. The first educational launch of the Raspberry Pi was in 2012. Demand was so large that the foundation had to hand over the manufacturing to element14 and RS Components, both UK microelectronics suppliers, so they could concentrate on the development side. In February 29, people were doing more searches for “Raspberry Pi” than “Lady Gaga”, the success was totally unexpected.

What can I do with a Raspberry Pi computer?

First of all you can see the ‘guts’ of a computer, which is always very exiting. You can start learning basic coding concepts in a fun way using Scratch. Then the sky is the limit, you can use the Raspberry Pi for software projects, using coding languages like Python or others, as well as for physical computing, incorporating sensors, lights, motors and much more.

The only difference between the Raspberry Pi and your computer at home is the size. It just might run slower if you install large desktop application, and instead of Windows you can install Linux on it and other open source software for free.

Where can I find more information and help?

There is a big Raspberry Pi community of volunteers and enthusiasts willing to help, and you can also belong to it! It started with a web blog that then got a forum added on to allow more interaction from followers and contributors. For any questions, no matter how big or small, head to the Raspberry Pi forum. And to keep up to date with new development and ideas and tutorials for projects, download the free monthly fan magazine, The MagPi.

The Raspberry Pi, your first step to become a computer programmer!

Installing Linux Mint in a Samsung Notebook N130

Very recently I attended a Restarters London meetup for women interested in giving a new life to old computers by installing a Linux distro on them. I took with me an old Samsung Notebook N130 which was running Windows XP. The introduction to Linux by Paula @Fossbox was very informative and allowed me to decide that Linux Mint was the appropriate distro for the computer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t install Linux as the computer wouldn’t boot from the USB flash drive.

So at the end of the meeting Janet, who organises these meetups, challenged me to install it first; she had the same computer. This blog post is the result of the challenge, I hope you find it useful.

1- Download the Linux distro

Search for downloads of the Linux distro you want. I found a website dedicated to Linux Mint and used the UK mirror to download the latest 32-bit version which is called “Quiana” and has the ‘Cinnamon’ desktop; all sounded very interesting! Depending on your connection this might take a while; it took around 10 minutes for me. This is the name of the file that was saved on my downloads folder, notice the .iso extension at the end of the name:

linuxmint-17-cinnamon-dvd-32bit.iso

2- Create a bootable USB flash drive

I used my Mac to create a bootable USB flash drive. I believe you need a flash drive that is at least 4GB. Following the instructions, this is how it worked for me.

 

Step A – Plug-in your flash drive in the mac and open the Terminal so you can enter the following commands (Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app).

$ diskutil list

My flash drive can be found on /dev/disk1.

Step B – Unmount the disk. See step B on image.
Note:  substitute /dev/disk1 for the one you found on your computer on the previous step.

$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1 

Step C – Write the content of the iso file to your flash drive. See step C on image.
Notes:

• This is a one line of code and there is one space after the name of your iso download
• After ‘if=’ you need to enter the path to your iso download as per your own computer
• Substitute /dev/disk1 with your own one as in previous step
• Enter the password for your computer after running the command when prompted

$ sudo dd if=/Users/maripi/Downloads/linuxmint-17-cinnamon-dvd-32bit.iso
of=/dev/disk1 bs=4k 

Be patient now. The first time I tried something went wrong; after half an hour the process hadn’t completed so I decided to stop it by using Ctrl+c on the terminal. I then reformatted the flash drive. The second time it took around 20 minutes to complete.

Unplug your flash drive.

3- Install Linux Mint into the Samsung N130

Plug the flash drive in the Samsung notebook. Restart your computer and press the Esc key as it is restarting (thanks Richard from Just Outsource IT for this tip); this will bring up a window where you can select to boot the computer from the flash drive.

Finally on your desktop double click on the icon ‘Install Linux Mint’ and follow the prompts.
Notes:

• when prompted connect to the internet if possible, so that Linux Mint can install additional drivers
• make sure you write down your login and password details – I didn’t write mine down and had to repeat step 3 again!
•  Reformat the flash drive to be able to use it for something else