Using Kdenlive to extract segments from videos

This is a simple procedure, but it took me long time to figure out how to do it because I couldn't find any instructions. So, here they are:


A) Click on Project in the main menu, then click on Add Clip, then on the source-file of interest, which then becomes known as a "clip."

B) Play the clip in the CLIP monitor (not the Project monitor) and pause the clip at the beginning of the segment to be extracted. (You can also simply drag the current-position marker under the clip monitor to the start-point of the segment.) If you're trying to extract a short segment from a long video, you might have to extract a segment, and then extract a segment from the segment, to get a sufficient degree of precision.

C) Click on the "left-arrow" button on the left in the row of buttons under the clip monitor. This marks the beginning of the segment or "zone" to be extracted.

E) Somehow get the aforementioned current-position marker to the end of the zone of interest (play the clip and pause it, or pause the clip and drag the marker), and then click on the "right-arrow" button next to the aforementioned left-arrow button to mark the end of the zone to be extracted.

F) Right-click on the display-area of the clip monitor and select "Extract Zone" in the menu which appears.

G) The rest should be obvious.

Using Ethernet-to-wifi bridges to connect Linux installations to wifi hotspots

I recently ran afoul of the problem of connecting some types of Linux installations to wifi via USB adapters. After working my way into the maze of useless information on this subject, which appears to be intended to overwhelm us (the obviously-desired information, such as a list of adapters whose drivers are built into the Linux kernel, and to which manufacturers could add their devices for fairness, is nowhere to be found), it occurred to me that it might be possible to find an Ethernet-to-wifi adapter, and use the Ethernet port to get to the point where I could use a USB port.

It turns out that such things exist, and I got one by an outfit named Vonets (vonets.com) from Amazon for $20. Setting it up is easy - just connect the device to your PC (Ethernet port, and a USB port for power), and it will find any wifi hotspots in the area. To connect, you just open a web-browser, enter a certain address (192.168.254.254 for the typical Vonets device), enter the default user ID and password (admin in both cases) and then select one of the hotspots which the adapter found, and enter its password. After doing this once, it's ready to go from then on - just hook it up and wait a bit.

XFCE live user ID, password

If you're using some XFCE-based distribution of Linux as a live installation, and it times out and goes to sleep, you might need a user ID and password to wake it up. I ran into this problem, and just kept trying stuff until I found the magical combination, which is "user," and "live."