Angel Thinks !

Winamp and Auto-tag

2008-08-31T13:30:00.002+05:30

Winamp is one software I have always used like a utility packed in service packs ( installing it immediately after an windows installation ). It has been one of my one point solution to my music playing needs. Right from global shortcuts which enable me to fully control winamp with global hotkeys immaterial of whether winamp is in foreground or not. Recently due to my Linux addiction, I had switched to amarok in Linux. Last week when I had to switch back to winamp, v5.5 was a grand welcome. Not that I haven't seen benito skin, but I could see a whole lot of new features I had always been yearning for. This post is to talk about one of them. Auto-tag.

I am naturally finicky and it extends to the music I listen to as well. I expect my collection to be tagged properly ( atleast artist, album, title, etc). This was always a tough task as there were lot of backloads since I had collected a whole lot of mp3 right from my college days. Googling out each track and renaming them isn't a feasible task especially when the number of tracks run into volumes. During my recent stride in Linux, I had written a PERL script which would tag all the mp3 in my collection based on the folder structure. Thanks to the helpful perl libraries (MP3::Tag) which makes the task boil down to just writing into hashes. Since my collection was mostly arranged in folders with artist name and album names, this was the max I could do to organise my collection with optimal effort. In the recent editions of winamp, I stumbled across this new feature called Auto-tag. This comes as one of the very handy and appreciable features of this software. What this auto-tag does is to fetch the details of the song and automatically tag the song with the details. What makes it stand out is the fact that it doesn't seem to depend on the existing tag information of a song. It seems to send an og hash to the Gracenote's CDDB server and based on it, it retrieves other information and tag the file. It was able to fetch all information of a song which was named 'Track 10.mp3' with no id3 tag information. This feature is supported for single files as well as multiple files. When you try to edit the id3 info of a file in your playlist of media library, the edit dialog has a 'Auto Tag' information. On clicking this, it connects to the gracenote server and fetches all possible information it can collect about the song. More efficient way of tagging however would be to select multiple songs in the playlist and right click -> send to -> auto tag. This makes multiple connections, fetches the details and shows you the difference between the existing and fetched data. You can always choose to update or ignore the fetched data. In my tagging of 1000 titles, I found it more than 95 % accurate. What more can a music enthusiast ask for !

Also the album art window now supports 'Get album art' function which based on the tag info queries different servers on internet to fetch different album art pictures. You are free to choose appropriate one for your albums. I have included illustrations via screen shots. Enthusiasts give it a try.

Invoking the auto tagger. You can use single or multiple files here.

The Tagger interface. Here you can cross check the new info with the existing info and then choose to update.

Getting Cover art.

Choose from the list of downloaded art for your albums.

Now that you have a collection of tagged mp3 files, its not a very difficult task to rename your tracks in a specific pattern based on the id3 tags. All you need is a handy tool like mp3tag ( or the likes ) or some basic scripting knowledge in PERL (or the likes). mp3tag allows you to rename the files based on the tag names and organize based on the tags as well. There you go ! Simple steps ain't it. You are not far from having your own library of music. Go ahead and organize your music collections. After all its way too simple now :-)

Maintaining Multiple OS with 'NT Loader'

2008-04-25T14:49:00.000+05:30

Many people have approached me saying once you get into linux maintaining Windows operating system becomes a problem. For them installing linux is fine as long as linux detects existing operating system and adds it to the GRUB/LILO boot loader. Since GRUB takes the MBR and people don't seem to see a way out when they have to reinstall Windows operating system again ( As windows directly overwrites the MBR with the NT Loader - the boot loader for windows operating system.

There is certainly a way out of this problem and I thought I would share my way of tackling this problem in this post.

I feel the root cause for this problem is that people don't spend time to understand the booting architecture.

Boot Architecture :

'Boot strap' is title given to the process that starts up the OS and gets it ready for you to interact with the PC. This process essentially starts with ROM BIOS. BIOS contains hardwired code in the chips of the motherboard. When you power on your pc, BIOS code is run automatically which does POST ( power on self test ) to make sure that all the hardware is intact and sane. Once the BIOS is done with its routine all it knows is to invoke the code in Secondary Storage Device (HDD or CDROM). This is when your OS comes into picture. Since BIOS code is machine dependent and is ignorant of what resides in the secondary memory, it can't be used to invoke specific routines of any OS. So, all it does is to run the code in MBR.

'Master Boot Record' (MBR) is the first sector of your HDD ( also referred to as sector 0 ). This 512 bytes of memory in the sector 0 is very critical. This MBR is used by every OS as a spark plug to ignite themselves. This 512 bytes of memory is divided into various segments of which 'code area' (440 b) and 'partition table' (64 b) are most vital. The partition table contains data which describes how the disk is partitioned and what format is followed to write data into them. The code area usually contains machine code which is run by the BIOS at the end of boot strap. This piece of memory is used to invoke the OS residing in the HDD. This piece of code is often referred to as 'Boot Loader'.

Its the responsibility of the OS to put in the boot loader in the MBR during the installation process ensuring that it knows where the OS resides in the secondary memory and loads the kernel into the primary memory. This is the key information one should know in order to maintain multiple OS in a single PC. Microsoft OS calls this boot loader as 'NT Loader'. Linux users have various options like GRUB, LILO, etc.

Maintaining Multiple OS :

Whenever a user installs Windows OS, mostly it formats the MBR and writes its version of boot loader into it. On the contrary, when you install Linux OS, it gives you an option of installing the boot loader in a place of your choice. On the Linux installation process, after choosing your partitions to install, choose 'Advanced' options ( most of the linux variations hide this in advanced options - fedora, suse, ubuntu, etc ). Here it gives you an option to decide where you want to install your boot loader. By default, it is done in MBR but you can choose it to be the starting sector of any primary partitions that you have created. This is one feature you can exploit to have hassle free windows/linux multi-boot.

Here I will illustrate a simple way to do that.

Say you have windows installed in your system and you are trying to install Linux.
Choose the partitions properly for your root, home, swap, etc.
Choose Advanced options. Here you will be provided with a input field to enter where you want to install boot-loader. Enter the root partition ( usually hd ).
Continue with the installation and when you reboot you would still have your NT boot loader intact.
Now use the dd command in unix to fetch the first 512 bytes of the root partition which is necessarily the boot loader of your windows. You can do this by booting linux in rescue mode.

dd if=/dev/sda3 of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

Using the above command, you can copy the bootloader into the bin file. Copy this file to your windows primary partition and add the following line in your boot.ini file. This file has hidden and readonly attributes set. You have to unset them to write into the file.

c:\mbr.bin="Linux"

Once this is done, your pc is ready for multiboot with NT Loader. Just restart the system, and you will find "Linux" appearing in the boot menu. Next time you re-install linux you just need to redo the above mentioned steps. When you re-install windows, you need to take care that the entries in the boot.ini file and the bin file are intact after installation.

If you screw up your MBR in this process, don't panic, you just need to decide which boot loader you want to load.

In case you need NT Loader, plug in your startup disk and run the following command.

fdisk /mbr

You have to be careful while using the above command as using the above in OS prior to Win98 may lead to zero ing the partition table as well. After formatting, you can use fixmbr of the Recovery Console to write the contents of MBR.

In case you need Linux GRUB loader, start your linux in rescue mode with your linux CD/DVD-ROM. In the console, use the following command to mount the sysimage.

chroot /mnt/sysimage

This operation changes the apparent disk root directory to sysimage for the current running process and its children. Now, grub can be installed in by using the following command.

grub-install <device-name>

Disclaimer : This post was meant for novice users or newbie linux users. Tech Gurus please excuse the naiveness in the content of the post.

"Died in a _____ Accident"

2008-01-25T09:45:00.001+05:30

Yesterday, I happened to see this comic strip in XKCD. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw the last entry in the type of accident "Died in blogging accident" ... rofl ... When I recently checked the numbers have climbed upto 39100 :-P. As always, I was overwhelmed at the way XKCD caters to my taste of humor.

PS: I have company, On googling I could find many people who have blogged this pic :)

My Favourite Lines ...

2007-10-28T13:06:00.000+05:30

I only wish I was this articulate.

விழிகளின் அருகினில் வானம்
வெகு தொலைவினில் தொலைவினில் தூக்கம்
இது ஐந்து புலன்களின் ஏக்கம்
என் முதல் முதல் அனுபவம் ஒ ஏ

ஒலியின்றி உதடுகள் பேசும்
பெரும் புயலென வெளி வரும் சுவாசம்
ஒரு சுவடின்றி நடந்திடும் பாதம்
ஒரு அதிசய அனுபவம் ஒ ஏ

பெண்னை சந்தித்தேன்
அவள் நட்பை யாசித்தேன்
அவள் பண்பை நேசித்தேன்
வேரென்ன நான் சொல்ல ஒ ஏ

பூ போன்ற கண்ணித்தேன்
அவள் பெயர் சொல்லி தித்திதேன்
அது ஏன் என்று யோசித்தேன்
அட நான் எங்கு சுவாசித்தேன்?

காதோடு மௌனங்கள்
இசை வார்க்கின்ற நேரங்கள்
பசி நீர் தூக்கம் இல்லாமல்
உயிர் வாழ்கின்ற மாயங்கள்

அலை கடலாய் இருந்த மனம்
துளி துளியாய் சிதறியதே
ஐம்புலனும் என் மனமும்
எனக்கெதிராய் செயல் படுதே

இனி காண முடியாத மாற்றம்
அதை மூடி மறைக்கின்ற தோற்றம்
ஒரு மௌனப்புயல் வீசுதே
அதில் மனம் தட்டு தடுமாருமோ ஏ

பூவில் என்ன புத்தம் புது வாசம்
தென்றல் கூட சங்கீதமாய் வீசும்
ஏதோ வந்து பன்னீர் மழை தூவும்
யாரோ என்று எங்கோ மனம் தேடும் ...

கேட்காத ஓசைகள்
இதழ் தாண்டாத வார்த்தைகள்
இமை ஆடாத பார்வைகள்
இவை நான் கொண்ட மாற்றங்கள்

சொல் என்னும் ஓர் நெஞ்சம்
என்னை நில் என்னும் ஓர் நெஞ்சம்
எதிர் பார்க்காமல் என் வாழ்வில்
ஒரு போர்க்காலம் ஆரம்பம்

இருதயமே துடிக்கிறதா?
துடிப்பது போல் நடிக்கிறதா?
தொலைந்திடவா மறைத்திடவா?
ரகசியமாய் தவித்திடிவா?

ஒரு பெண்னின் நினைவென்ன செய்யும்
என்னை கத்தி இல்லாமல் கொய்யும்
இதில் மீள வழி உள்ளதே
இருப்பினும் உள்ளம் இருமாருதே ஒ ஏ

English version :

Vizhigalin Aruginil Vaanam
Vegu Tholaivinil Tholaivinil Thookam
Idhu Aindhu Pulangalin Yekkam
En Mudhal Mudhal Anubavam o yeah

Oliyindri Udhadugal Pesum
Perum Puyalena Veli Varum Swaasam
Oru Suvadindri Nadanthidum Paadham
Idhu Adhisaya Anubavam o yeah
Pennai Sandhithen
Aval Natpai Yaasithen
Aval Panbai Naesithen
Vaerenna Naan Solla o yeah

Poo Poandra KannitThaen
Aval Paer Solli Thithithaen
Adhu Yaen Endru Yoasithaen
Ada Naan Engu Swaasithaen?

Kaadhodu Mounangal
Isai Vaarkindra Nerangal
Pasi Neer Thookkam Illaamal
Uyir Vaazhgindra Maayangal

Alai Kadalaai Irundha Manam
Thuli Thuliyaai Sidhariyadhey
Aimpulanum Yen Manamum
Yenakkedhiraai SeyalPadudhey

Ini Kaana Mudiyaatha Maatram
Adhai Moodi Maraikkindra Thotram
Oru MounapPuyal Veesudhey
Adhil Manam Thattu Thadumaarumo yeah

Poovil Enna Putham Puthu Vaasam
Thendral Kooda Sangeedhamaai Veesum
Yaedho Vandhu Panneer Mazhai Thoovum
Yaaro Indru Engo Manam Thaedum

Kaetkaadha Oasaigal
Idhazh Thaandaadha Vaarthaigal
Imai Aadaatha Paarvaigal
Ivai Naan Konda Maatrangal

Sol Yennum Ore Nenjam
Yenai Nil Yennum Ore Nenjam
Edhir Paarkkaamal En Vaazhvil
Oru PoarkKaalam Aarambam

Irudhayamae Thudikkiradha?
Thudippathu Poal Nadikkiradha?
Tholaithidavaa Maraithidavaa?
Ragasiyamaai Thavithidivaa?

Oru Pennin Ninaivenna Seiyum?
Enai Kathi Illaamal Koiyum
Idhil Meela Vazhi Ulladhey
Iruppinum Ullam Irumaarudhu o yeah

Where the Lion Sleeps Tonight

2007-01-14T12:56:00.001+05:30


One of the videos that never failed to bring a smile on my face no matter how many times I have seen that. Hope you too enjoy this !

2 b or ! 2 b

2007-01-14T12:43:00.000+05:30

After 3 years of "should i" or "should i not", here i go finally. I too start blogging. One of the reason that always convinced me to be away from blog was "writing my thoughts over the blogs renders me vulnerable ... its more or less like stripping in public :O".

Now, I have come to a conclusion. What goes in the blog and what doesn't is still in my discretion. It took me quite a while to decide upon what to name this ( ofcourse my fav name is still in the other blog which i couldn't take over :( ). After so many suggestions, I decided to chop of nickname 'angel' from my blog url atleast.

Now, this marks the onset of another hunt ... "What should I write?".

Till I find something, happy surfing !