Android playing iOS MOV video

I am using an Android phone, specifically Vivo. I found that when I play the MOV video transferred from iOS, only sound is able to be played properly but the picture is not showing.

None of the solutions from the Internet helped me to solve my problem. After trial and error, I found that the MOV file can be converted to MP4 format using ffmpeg with some parameters. Eg,

fmpeg -i input.MOV -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -vf "scale=720:1280,fps=29" -ac 1 -x264opts "ref=0:cabac=0:b_pyramid=0:bframes=0" -profile:v baseline -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mp4

Based on my experience, the most crucial parameter is “-pix_fmt yuv420p”, so the MP4 video is 8-bit depth.

Switching from Openbox to IceWM

Bye-bye Openbox, welcome IceWM.

Due to the recent upgrade of glib2 on Arch Linux, it crashes my Openbox when I am running Wine or Proton. Downgrade to 2.74.6 is not a solution, because Nemo, Caja, Nautilus are using 2.76.0.

As a result, I have to find an alternative. From Wikipedia, I found that LXDE can be configured with other window manager rather than Openbox, eg Fluxbox, IceWM, or Xfwm.

I tried Xfwm, but it fails to run. Probably needs extra configuration, but I didn’t continue trying. I tried Fluxbox long time ago, can’t remember the feature. Then I found that, compare to Openbox, IceWM is still in development. Hence I decided to try IceWM.

After installation, I just need to configure it so that it resembles Openbox behaviour, especially the shortcut keys.

The following is the list of prominent configuration I did:

• Install dex to start XDG autostart applications
• Use shutdown script to pkill -u myusername , so that all the processes will be stopped/killed when I logout
• Hide the taskbar (ShowTaskBar=0), because I use tint2
• Use prefoverride to replace the default background image. Though, I am still using feh script to show random wallpapers
• Window related shortcut keys are edited in preferences file; launching application shortcut keys are edited in keys file

For shortcut key to toggle a window as always on top, it requires editing keys file with the following line,

key "Alt+F12" sh -c 'if icesh -f getLayer | grep -q 'OnTop' ; then icesh -f setLayer Normal ; else icesh -f setLayer OnTop ; fi'

Note: Make sure the key such as “Alt+F12” has no conflict in preferences file. If it exists, just empty the value in the preferences file.

Some limitations I faced:

• I cannot use Numix theme anymore
• Alt+Ctrl+Del (system dialog) has a strange behaviour if I cancel it. I can’t type on any window after cancel, unless I switch the workspace.

As a conclusion, I just need to adapt to this new window manager. Bye-bye Openbox.

Malaysia Airlines online booking review

Recently I was doing online booking using Malaysia Airlines (MAS). In summary, the experience is too bad.

• I cannot login using GMail with password.
• Sending email as feedback to get support, but never get reply.
• Passenger name cannot be too long. Need to use initials.
• The first name and last name is super weird. The last name suppose to be family name. For Chinese with Christian name, such as James Wong Hang Seng, the family name is Wong, the last name suppose to be Wong, but the instruction says to fill the last name as James Wong. This doesn’t make any sense.
• I signed up the account, but then I cannot edit my name, due to “security”.
• After I booked the tickets, the booking is not shown in my account. I have to add trip to my own account. This doesn’t make sense as well. What for I signed in to do the booking? Can’t it just auto associate my account with the booking? If I can add any trip to my account, that means I can just simply add anyone’s trip to my account. Security?
• When using web, I can’t sign in with “remember me” feature. Frequently logged out, and each time login requires OTP from mobile number.

In conclusion, it is super inconvenient to use MAS online for doing the booking. I will suggest MAS to learn from other airline. Or hire some very experienced project managers and software engineers.

Though I don’t think my review will be read.

P/S (2023-02-15): My email feedback was recently replied, and the GMail email address can be used to login with password, though I have signed up with another email account.

Twitter interests deselection bookmarklet

I like to use Twitter, but the new Topics and Interests feature of Twitter is damn annoying. It keep showing something I am not interested of.

I looked for the solution from Internet, and finally I come out with this bookmarklet, which can be used in Settings > Privacy and Safety > Content You See > Interests.

javascript:(async()=>{const sleep=ms=>new Promise(r=>setTimeout(r,ms));const inputs=document.querySelectorAll('section[aria-label="Section details"] input:checked');for(let i=0;i<inputs.length;i+=1){const rand=Math.floor(Math.random()*2e3);await sleep(9e3+rand);const input=inputs[i];input.click()}})();

After trigger the bookmarklet, just leave the page there, it will slowly deselect one by one.

Alternatively, just use Tweetdeck, which is much cleaner.

Dell Vostro 5459 revive

I was using Dell Vostro 5459 previously. However, it has some hardware deficiencies. The battery capacity keeps dropping drastically within a year. That’s a very bad experience. Now, the fully charged battery is only 1% of the designed capacity. Then I purchased an external power bank from Dell. But that’s not an ideal design for a laptop that you need to bring extra gadget to everywhere, and charging external battery is too troublesome.

Since I mostly work from home, battery issue is still bearable. Then about 4 years of usage, the keyboard became weird. It will randomly fire some keys (I forgot which key) (related post). That’s truly unbearable because it affects my working experience. At the end I bought a new laptop, Lenovo Legion Y7000.

But recently, I have done some online shopping and I bought some useful tools, including (i) laptop opener pry tools, and (ii) compressed air. Both are super useful for DIY hardware cleaning. I use opener pry tools instead of screwdriver to avoid physical damage of the hardware cover. Moreover, taking out Dell Vostro 5459 keyboard becomes much easier. For compressed air, it allows me to clean out the dirt from laptop without disassembling the laptop. Disassembling the laptop for cleaning is too difficult for a noob like me.

Finally, I bought a Dell Vostro 5459 compatible keyboard replacement through online shopping. That’s wonderful thing, since the laptop keyboard is not purchasable from Dell official website. I replaced the keyboard with the pry tools I bought earlier, then clean the fans with compressed air. I haven’t spent time to verify whether the keyboard issue is totally solved, though I think it is solved.

Great online shopping!

Solution on Evernote login issue

I faced the login issue with Evernote since around two weeks ago. It leads me to a blank page, with the HTTP status code 418. There is similar issue reported here. I made the bug report, but the issue not yet solved. Looks like it happened in Malaysia and Vietnam according to the forum. Suggested solution in the forum was to use VPN.

This is how I solved the issue as a temporary solution to login.

Requirement:

• Google account
• Tor browser or any VPN related connection

Try to login successfully from the web, by luck or by Tor browser or any VPN related connection.

After login, go to Settings > Connected Services, and enable “Sign in with Google (Sign in to Evernote with 1 click)”.

By enabling the above, I can just sign in with my Google account, which skips the status code 418 issue.

Brave or Chromium

I am in dilemma of choosing Brave or Chromium as my default browser.

The following is my comparison,

	Chromium	Brave
Arch Linux official repo	Yes, in Extra	AUR
Sync	Sync a lot of things, including tabs, history, compatible to Google Chrome	Sync bookmark only
AdBlock	Require extension, such as uBlock Origin	Built-in adblock, but leads to difficulty to customize blocking certain HTML elements. Adblock also breaks some anti-adblock sites. But adblock works on mobile version on both Android and iPhone
Start	Fast start	Slower than Chromium, because it runs pacman (Arch Linux package manager) to check pepper-flash.
Privacy	Nothing special	Built-in Tor feature for private browsing with Tor

I am still continue using Brave, because I prefer Brave over Firefox on Android. In order to conform with Brave on Android, I choose Brave on desktop.

Besides that, Brave has built-in Tor. Alternatively, we can use Tor Browser (based on Firefox), which means I need to use two browsers: Firefox and Tor Browser.

Microsoft To Do

In my previous post, I mentioned I migrated Wunderlist to Microsoft To Do.

However, there are two annoying things. Firstly, do not expect there will be Chrome App version of Microsoft To Do similar to Wunderlist and Google Keep, because Chrome Apps is going to be discontinued.

Secondly, I frequently experienced To Do web page doesn’t load properly, either stuck at the loading page, or the tasks not showing or showing partially.

In order to resolve the second issue, I need to test the page with incognito mode, to make sure the page works fine. Then in normal browsing, I need to remove the HTTP cookies for to-do.live.com, live.com, microsoft.com, and any cookies used by the page. Lastly, re-login to To Do.

LightDM background image

Recently my old laptop, due to some unknown configuration, it shows a background image in the LightDM login. It is annoying, and it is user specific. Meaning, if I choose another user, the background image will be changed to black background.

Searched for the solution on Internet, most of links are about gsettings, or edit the image in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf. But none of the related to my issue.

Finally, I found the solution. The problem is not LightDM itself, but related to AccountsService.

To solve the issue, edit the /var/lib/AccountsService/users/[username], there is a line

[org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.AccountsService]
BackgroundFile='/path/to/custom/image.jpg'

That’s the culprit. Remove or comment out the BackgroundFile, then the problem solved.

Vivo Y17 and Wunderlist

Recently changed to new phone Vivo Y17. Installed all the apps needed. Then I discovered an issue with Wunderlist.

Wunderlist widget keep showing “loading”, and I cannot change the list to be viewed.

The reminder doesn’t show notification in time.

Then I tried to migrate Wunderlist to Microsoft To-Do, and it has same issue as well.

Searching the solution and I finally get this page.

To summarise the solution, go to Settings > Permission Management > Autostart, then enable Wunderlist or Microsoft To-Do.