Posts

The state of Alcatel Pop 4 Tablet

This tablet had kind of died few months back. I tried to revive it using the Raspberry Pi 5V 2.5A power adapter but it did not work. Today after few more months I decided to use AI to see if it can be resuscitated. I used the power station this time and saw it's taking 2W charge for some time and later it went to 6W. And then voilla!! It powered on and showed battery image on the screen with battery in red. I was completely floored. Anyway I queried chatgpt and it said the tablet is recovering. And it asked me to let it charge for about 45 minutes and then start it. I did that and after 45 minutest the tablet did start up. But then I ran into next roadblock. The first problem is old google account. So added a new account and removed the old - probably dead - account. Next hurdle - no updates for apps. Did even more research and found out it's version 6 of android is outdated and apps need at least version 8 or 10. By this logic my realme 3 will also go dodo in next couple of ye...

How to delete duplicate file on linux

fdupes is a program that can help.  fdupes -r . -d -N Above command will recursively scan current folder & subfolders, and keep first instance and remove following duplicate instances.  

Playing with audio Pt.2

Audacity could not handle it properly so chatGPT produced below ffmpeg command to split it. ffmpeg -i input.wav -map 0:a -c copy -f segment -segment_time 3600 out_%02d.wav We can still use audacity to see the waveforms and targeted playback.

Playing with audio

I recorded an audio of 34 hours as a test. Wanted to go through that hour by hour and figure out a good way to do that. ChatGPT suggested Audacity. I ended up with version 3.7.7. The installer worked fine on windows. But the instructions chatGPT provided, did not work exactly but I was able to find the menus and split the file into hour chunks by using labels. It although detected only 14 hours of audio. The split chunks played fine, so seemed like some kind of issue with either data or the audio-file. In the recording software I checked the size and playback and it was fine and the file size reported of ~10GB was also fine. Then further R&D on chatGPT told me it could be erroneous header. It provided a command using ffmpeg to fix that so that Audocity sees full 34 hours of file. Below is the command ffmpeg -err_detect ignore_err -i input.wav -c copy fixed.wav But first I had to install ffmped. That involved downloading a latest build, then creating c:/ffmpeg. And then edit path so...

How is my preowned desktop doing

Well its about a month and half since I got the desktop. Since I have put a bunch of AI models on the desktop in both windows and Linux. On windows I am mostly gaming. On Linux I'm doing mostly college-projects and I'm also doing AI things. But one thing I have found out is local AI models are just not up to the mark. And with 4-5 free providers we have enough free AI that we are not limited to local AI. Another problem is I could not get the VS code Continue extension to really do great. It was kind of average and it was not really smart. So we are not really doing vibe coding. Looks like vibe coding is an expensive hobby. Anyway I do plan to put in some efforts to run some visual models and learn more in coming months. Right now though I'm in survival mode. So I have put everything on hold for next six months. So was it a good value? Very much so. Blowing 50-60k on PS5 would not have given me this much value. Also I could spend another 50K and upgrade this to a serious sy...

Canon 200D image coloring tips

Color grading JPG photos from a Canon 200D requires a slightly more delicate touch than RAW files because JPGs have less "dynamic range" (the amount of detail stored in highlights and shadows). In GIMP 3 , you have access to powerful non-destructive-like workflows and high-bit depth processing that make this easier. Here is a professional workflow tailored for your Canon 200D JPGs. 1. Preparation: The "Do No Harm" Setup Before you touch the colors, you need to protect your original image data. Duplicate Layer: Press Ctrl + Shift + D . Always work on a duplicate so you can compare with the original. Check Precision: Go to Image > Precision . Even though your JPG is 8-bit, GIMP 3 works best if you set this to 32-bit float and Perceptual gamma (sRGB) . This prevents "banding" (ugly stripes in gradients like skies) while you edit. 2. Color Correction (The Foundation) You must "fix" the photo before you "grade" it. Canon JPGs tend to...

Canon 200D color enhancing guide by Gemini AI - It works!

📸 Mastering the Canon 200D in GIMP 3: The Color Grading Guide If you are shooting with a Canon 200D (SL2), you know that the "Canon Colors" are beautiful but the JPGs can sometimes feel a bit "heavy" or overly warm. This guide walks you through a professional-grade workflow to transform your photos using the power of GIMP 3 . Phase 1: The "Digital Negative" Setup Before you touch the colors, you must maximize the data available in your 8-bit JPG to prevent the image from "breaking. " Create a Safety Layer: Press Ctrl + Shift + D to duplicate your image. Enable High Precision: Go to Image > Precision and select 32-bit float and Perceptual gamma (sRGB) . This prevents "banding" (ugly stripes) in your gradients. Recover the Shadows: Go to Colors > Shadows-Highlights . Set Shadows to 12 to lift the dark areas without making the photo look flat. Phase 2: Technical Correction Fix the "foundation" of the photo b...