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Re: [Wlug] Help finding decent headset?

by Jorden M

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 2:50 PM, Randall Mason <clashthebunny(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I would probably convert to Bluetooth, but that's up to you. What are I thought Bluetooth audio on Linux was still too much of an adventure to be worth it. > your requirements? Does it need to just need to get audio both ways > from your face to your computer, or is it a wired handset, like your > phone? I had a boss that had a Platronics Bluetooth phone headset > (Bluetooth base station plugs into a handset jack, and the rest is > wireless to your ear), and he really liked it. I've also liked many > of my Bluetooth headsets from Platronics. > > Randall Mason > > > > On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 12:39 PM, E Johnson <iris.gates(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Going nuts here trying to find a headset I can use for long periods of time >> in VoIP. Last thing I bought was comfortable and worked OOB, but had very >> fuzzy sound in and out. >> >> I've been using headsets with 3.5 mm jacks, but never found a hedset that >> was both comfortable and had decent mic output plus phones input. What to >> get? >> >> VoIP needs are apparently very different than gaming needs... headsets that >> gamers like might not be the greatest for VoIP. VoIP headsets seem to be >> expensive for the build and/or quality. >> >> I don't need fabulous quality for playing music (don't listen to music or >> watch movies), but VoIP must sound good on my end and on my contact's side >> too. >> >> ALSA is working well here, want to keep it, but if anyone can provide clear >> direction on other options that do succesfully work with a >> non-zillion-dollar headset, I would dearly appreciate some consultation. >> >> Does anyone have experience with USB or 3.5 mm headsets in (hopefully) >> Debian or Ubuntu? >> >> TIA, >> Liz J >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wlug mailing list >> Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >> http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

April 19, 2010

Re: [Wlug] Help finding decent headset?

by Randall Mason

I would probably convert to Bluetooth, but that's up to you. What are your requirements? Does it need to just need to get audio both ways from your face to your computer, or is it a wired handset, like your phone? I had a boss that had a Platronics Bluetooth phone headset (Bluetooth base station plugs into a handset jack, and the rest is wireless to your ear), and he really liked it. I've also liked many of my Bluetooth headsets from Platronics. Randall Mason On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 12:39 PM, E Johnson <iris.gates(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Going nuts here trying to find a headset I can use for long periods of time > in VoIP. Last thing I bought was comfortable and worked OOB, but had very > fuzzy sound in and out. > > I've been using headsets with 3.5 mm jacks, but never found a hedset that > was both comfortable and had decent mic output plus phones input. What to > get? > > VoIP needs are apparently very different than gaming needs... headsets that > gamers like might not be the greatest for VoIP. VoIP headsets seem to be > expensive for the build and/or quality. > > I don't need fabulous quality for playing music (don't listen to music or > watch movies), but VoIP must sound good on my end and on my contact's side > too. > > ALSA is working well here, want to keep it, but if anyone can provide clear > direction on other options that do succesfully work with a > non-zillion-dollar headset, I would dearly appreciate some consultation. > > Does anyone have experience with USB or 3.5 mm headsets in (hopefully) > Debian or Ubuntu? > > TIA, > Liz J > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

April 19, 2010

Re: [Wlug] Help finding decent headset?

by John Stoffel

Liz, Have you looked at the stuff Plantronics sells? They're fairly decent. I use a wireless headset at work hooked to a phone. Not sure if they have a plain headset though. Can you tell us which model(s) you've had bad experiences with, so we can steer clear of them as well? Thanks, John

April 19, 2010

Help finding decent headset?

by E Johnson

Going nuts here trying to find a headset I can use for long periods of time in VoIP. Last thing I bought was comfortable and worked OOB, but had very fuzzy sound in and out. I've been using headsets with 3.5 mm jacks, but never found a hedset that was both comfortable and had decent mic output plus phones input. What to get? VoIP needs are apparently very different than gaming needs... headsets that gamers like might not be the greatest for VoIP. VoIP headsets seem to be expensive for the build and/or quality. I don't need fabulous quality for playing music (don't listen to music or watch movies), but VoIP must sound good on my end and on my contact's side too. ALSA is working well here, want to keep it, but if anyone can provide clear direction on other options that do succesfully work with a non-zillion-dollar headset, I would dearly appreciate some consultation. Does anyone have experience with USB or 3.5 mm headsets in (hopefully) Debian or Ubuntu? TIA, Liz J

April 18, 2010

New President

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI everybody, It is my pleasure to announce that Chuck Anderson was elected as the next WLUG President. Chuck has been a WLUG member since the very first meeting (July 1997) and has been very active for all of these years. Chuck hosts the WLUG website and has been getting us the meeting rooms. I'm sure that Chuck will do a fine job as WLUG's new president. Congratulations, Chuck! Andy - -- Andy Stewart (KB1OIQ) Founder: Worcester Linux Users' Group Founder: Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group President: PART of Westford, MA (WB1GOF) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFLxvXCOjiraCaOTOoRAuFhAJ4pCNu6IiwG4m/YJxjo5TQGBSh8hgCeO//T 9ytuswrp1cA/XhbP+sNCnwk= =PFSI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

April 15, 2010

REMINDER: WLUG meeting WED evening, 7:00 PM

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - -- Andy Stewart (KB1OIQ) Founder: Worcester Linux Users' Group Founder: Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group President: PART of Westford, MA (WB1GOF) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFLxSwFOjiraCaOTOoRAgY9AJ48+m3FtDHzJFkYYXvZ+WDSOuxbSwCg4tOJ ZJq6U7xYepjyR10/dha1Jus= =kNxp -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

April 14, 2010

Upcoming meeting: April 14th (Wednesday)

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, This is an early announcement about our upcoming WLUG meeting, which is next week on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010, at 7:00 PM. I have been the acting president of WLUG since I founded the group back in July 1997. Due to increasing pressures on my personal time, I think it is time for me to step aside and let another person be the president of WLUG. I definitely have enjoyed the privilege of being the group president, and I plan to continue attending the group meetings. I think that our next meeting should include a detailed discussion of the future of WLUG, and sometime soon, an election of at least a president, and probably a treasurer. I am happy to continue acting as president until such an election occurs. I don't know if we really need a vice president and or a secretary, but those topics should definitely be part of the discussion. I think the group has been very successful due to all of you who come to the meetings, give presentations, etc. This announcement, and the election of a new president, will definitely change the group. I see this is an opportunity for the group to grow in different ways. There is no doubt that the group will be different. Whether it becomes better or worse is really up to all of us. I look forward, as always, to seeing you at the meeting *next* week on Wednesday, April 14th. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart (KB1OIQ) Founder: Worcester Linux Users' Group Founder: Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group President: PART of Westford, MA (WB1GOF) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFLuoNmOjiraCaOTOoRAun1AJ9Wz6jx4wvHKat9UUnOhrjcsIeZEgCglkUD x02mDM/AGIAGYPwAQ48qDUg= =iwnj -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

April 6, 2010

Re: [Wlug] How to manipulate audio (ALSA) a lot with a HD audio card?

by Gregory Avedissian

You might be looking for something like jackaudio or maybe pulseaudio. I know that Jack lets you connect things any way you want. Not sure about pulse. http://jackaudio.org/ The extra jack on your computer is probably a line in, for external sources, such as your stereo. You should be able to record input from that in Audacity without doing anything special. Recording digital input is another story, and I don't know that story. Greg Tatsh wrote: > Stupid Intel decided to build-in DRM into the spec of these things. I have a > Conexant which has Nvidia codec to provide audio for the HDMI output (this > works fine except that in alsa settings I have to force a default output > device, 3). > > What I'd like to do is be able to record from the stereo mixer, which I have > none in alsamixer. So how do I go about creating one? I've tried a few > different configs I found on-line but nothing seemed to work for me. > > WIth this capability of course I could record audio from my computer in say, > Audacity, or I could even broadcast audio through Skype. And the best part > would be if I could broadcast audio through Skype AND use my headset at the > same time (mixing the 2 into one channel input). I have 3 mic inputs > apparently (one of them is webcam, another is the jack, and I don't know what > the 3rd one is). > > Image of KMix: http://bitpic.net/image/kmix-nvidia-hd-audio-codec > > So far I know it's something I can do with ALSA settings where I can tell ALSA > to redirect audio and 'copy' whatever is going on on any input channel > (overriding the jack of course). No luck there yet. > > Any help appreciated > Thanks

April 2, 2010

Two Senior IT positions open at TripAdvisor in Newton (IT and Operations)

by Ryan Pugatch

Hi all, We have a couple of tech positions open at TripAdvisor. The first is for a "Principal Technical Operations Engineer" which is on our operations team, handling our livesite environment. The second, "IT Lead", is on our internal IT team. Below are the job postings. We're definitely looking for people with several years experience. If you are interested, please email me your resume. I am also glad to answer any questions. - Ryan (Systems Administrator @ TripAdvisor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Principal Technical Operations Engineer Hundreds of servers. Thousands of requests per second. Millions of users. Two admins (you could be number 3)! We are looking for a senior hands-on network (mostly Cisco) and systems (mostly Linux) administrator. You will have several years of prior experience in the operation of one or more of the following: High traffic web application OR Software as a service OR Internet/Network Service Provider TripAdvisor is the top site for travel advice and reviews on the Internet. It is very profitable. It's also a fun place to work where "speed wins" is the operating principle. We move fast. We are flexible and we take risks. An open mind and ideas are always welcome. Dogmatism and inflexibility not so much. You will play a lead role in the design and operation of the network, server, and datacenter infrastructure beneath TripAdvisor's applications. The environment currently spans 3 datacenters, and that is likely to increase. You will work closely with the software engineering team to support product changes and enhance their performance, scalability, reliability, and security. We are small team. You will be expected to work on a project or task from end to end with a comfort level running projects and implementing the details. One day you might be working with our ISPs to transition from static routing to BGP, and the next day you are racking and cabling switches. This morning you are kicking off a load balancer replacement project, and in the afternoon you are upgrading firewall firmware after you determine that we are exposed to a potential security vulnerability. This week you are putting together a comprehensive network monitoring system, and next week you are running tcpdump with a DBA to try and diagnose why database replication is "slow". You will have a thorough knowledge of enterprise networking including Cisco switching, routing, and security as well as TCP/IP internals. You will also preferably have a strong Linux or Unix background. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IT Lead TripAdvisor is looking for an IT generalist who will provide leadership and mentoring to a team of 4 supporting the IT needs of roughly 350 employees worldwide. This role is part hands-on sysadmin and part team lead with the potential to grow into a team management role. TripAdvisor is the top site for travel advice and reviews on the Internet. It is very profitable. It's also a fun place to work where "speed wins" is the operating principle. We move fast. We are flexible and we take risks. An open mind and ideas are always welcome. Dogmatism and inflexibility not so much. We are not your typical Windows / Active Directory / Exchange shop. Desktops: 60% Windows 40% OSX. Our email/collaboration system is Zimbra running on Linux. Our phone system is Asterisk running on Linux. Instead of Active Directory, we use OpenLDAP. Our file/print servers run Samba. We tend to prefer open solutions that we can take off the shelf and adapt to our needs, but we are not wedded to a particular OS or vendor. To be successful in this role you will: Possess excellent interpersonal skills, patience, and a genuine desire to help people with their technology challenges Have strong troubleshooting skills and a diagnostic intuition Enjoy and excel at mentoring other talented team members to reach their full potential Be a self-starter. If you don't know how to do something you consider it a challenge to try to figure it out for yourself You will have demonstrated experience with: Linux systems administration Windows systems administration Samba OpenLDAP Postfix Server virtualization Scripting (perl, python, bash...) Duties and Responsibilities include: Operation of corporate networked applications and infrastructure (Zimbra, OpenLDAP, Samba, Asterisk) Overseeing backups of roughly 20+TB of data weekly Ensuring the security of TripAdvisor's corporate systems Procuring and deploying server hardware Tier 2/3 Helpdesk support Working with the Director of IT to develop IT strategy

April 2, 2010

Re: [Wlug] the website is in need of some love

by Tim Keller

Yeah, I agree the site needs an overhaul. However, what does the website need to minimally do? * - Meeting Information * - Mailing List sign up * - Past Meeting info * - IRC channel info We've kicked around the idea of a wiki, which I'd be totally cool with and I'd help maintain. My personal opinion is that between the IRC channel, Dr. Google and the mailing list, a forum is overkill. On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> wrote: > On Thu, Apr 01, 2010 at 09:20:44AM -0400, Jeff Moyer wrote: > > I'm not sure who maintains it, but it's in a very sad state at the > > moment. > > Congratulations! You've just been volunteered to enhance it! :-) > > But hey, at least it validates now. > > Seriously though, if anyone would like to help, feel free to email me. > There was a time when I was playing with Moin for a wiki site but that > fell by the wayside. I really need to rebuild the system that the web > server is running on, so I could deploy something new/better if there > was someone who would commit to helping maintain it. I just don't > have the time to do anything fancy, learn new web frameworks, etc. > > Alternatively, people could submit some designs, code, and content > that uses plain HTML/CSS and I could maintain that manually. > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

April 2, 2010