By now everyone knows how to download their favorite clips from YouTube or where ever else you download FLV files, which can be played using MPlayer or VLC however some folks have friends that don’t use Linux (shame on them) You have the option of two ways to convert those files to .AVI files.

The first is to go and download KVM and follow the instructions on installing it and poof you will have in konqueror under actions the abilty to convert those files to nine different ways,including DVD if you so desire.

The other way is using the commandline and for that you open a terminal and type in teh following command, ffmpeg -i videotoconvert.flv -ab 56 -ar 22050 -b 500 -s 320×240 output.mpg , And then just sit and wait as Linux does it’s magic, as most distros include ffmpeg I won’t tell you that it is in most distros.

So there you go today’s quicky hint for new Linux users, have a good time folks.

Technorati Tags: Linux, How-To

Microsoft and Linux distributor Xandros on June 4 signed a broad set of collaboration and patent agreements that reminded many of the November 2006 Microsoft/Novell partnership. What do analysts and other Linux vendors think this new deal means for Linux?

While the FSF (Free Software Foundation) has tried to block such patent deals with the latest version of the GPLv3, Microsoft and Xandros didn’t let that legal objective stop them.

Now that the deal is in place, the question is, “What to make of it?”

We do know that the partnership has not drawn even a tenth of the criticism that the Novell/Microsoft patent partnership drew. Nonetheless, some other Linux vendors have little good to say about the new Xandros partnership.

Leading that side of the debate is Warren Woodford, president and founder of MEPIS, a well-regarded Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution. Woodford launched his attack on the deal quietly, “I believe that Xandros can do an excellent job of representing Microsoft’s interests in the Linux market. And I’m sure that the Xandros VCs are happy with the deal they made with Microsoft.”

Warming up to his theme, Woodford continued, “So far Microsoft hasn’t revealed any legitimate claims of intellectual property infringement. Their strategy appears to be to coerce weak players in the Open Source space to fold. This is reminiscent of the play made by SCO a few years ago, which some say was financed by Microsoft. Maybe that was just their trial run.”

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Technorati Tags: Linux, News