Avidemux vob to avi, lightning fast

Avidemux is a fantastic piece of kit.

Transcoding takes a lot of time and CPU, whereas this application moves the content from one container (vob) to another (avi) instead.

Usage:

Open
select vob
e.g. VTS_01_1.VOB
Save
name the file
e.g. file.avi

Doing a Kamikaze run and Installing Lucid 10.04 Beta 1

So thinking of taking a chance and installing the 10.04 beta1 tonight :-)

I did a backup and started to do a mental check-list of what I would need, before doing the deed.

Spotted this article on Arstechnica… nice! Also very handy, cheers Ryan.

I am on 9.04 64bit so… get TestDrive and install.
____________________

Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install testdrive

____________________

Then run “TestDrive” (System Tools menu).

I went with the defaults:
____________________

Terminal:

Welcome to Testdrive!

1. Ubuntu Desktop (lucid-amd64)
2. Ubuntu Server (lucid-amd64)
3. Ubuntu Alternate (lucid-amd64)
4. Ubuntu DVD (lucid-amd64)
5. Ubuntu Desktop (lucid-i386)
6. Ubuntu Server (lucid-i386)
7. Ubuntu Alternate (lucid-i386)
8. Ubuntu DVD (lucid-i386)
9. Ubuntu Netbook (lucid-i386)
10. Other (prompt for ISO URL)

Select an ISO to testdrive [1]:
INFO: Using KVM for virtual machine hosting…

INFO: Syncing the specified ISO…

rsync://cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-amd64.iso

receiving file list …
1 file to consider
lucid-desktop-amd64.iso
711749632 100% 936.46kB/s 0:12:22 (xfer#1, to-check=0/1)

sent 143 bytes received 711988704 bytes 957617.82 bytes/sec
total size is 711749632 speedup is 1.00
INFO: Creating disk image [/home/sil/.cache/testdrive/img/testdrive-disk-JbZ_w9.img]…

Formatting ‘/home/sil/.cache/testdrive/img/testdrive-disk-JbZ_w9.img’, fmt=qcow2 size=6442450944 encryption=off cluster_size=0

INFO: Running the Virtual Machine…

____________________

5 minutes from start to finish and we have lift-off!

How Cool is that :-)

It even offered to install a bootable image to a USB drive (well we will see how successful that was later).

Now just waiting for the official 10.04 Beta1.

Some Screenshots to pass the time…

First Impressions

You know I think I like it :-)

• Wow purple… well that’s a bold choice :-)
• I wasn’t planning on using that dark a theme, but now I have seen it, I may be able to live with it.
• Controls on the left… yep I can retrain myself to use them, hopefully there is a good reason for the change.

I wonder what Mark is planing for the space on the right :-?

____________________

[Update 19th March 2010]

Release was postponed until the 19th!
But never mind, see the thrilling conclusion in my next post: Taking A Chance On Lucid 10.04 Beta 1 :-)