A personal update...

After fighting with a number of Video NLE programs under Linux, and the only one that I liked seems to crash all the time, I have finally manage to find out why it was crashing. The program in question is Kdenlive. I initially installed it from the Linux Mint standard repository, and then had it crash on me a lot. Then again, it was a number of revisions out of date, and I couldn't get any support for it. So I installed the direct Kdenlive repository (aka PPA), and installed the latest stable version. That worked OK for a while...then started doing the same thing. So, I gave up on Kdenlive, and contemplated putting Windows back on my Primary Machine...

But then Linux Mint updated their KDE verison to 18.2, I had been on 18.1. So I did an in-place upgrade, then added the Kdenlive PPA, hoping that the newest versions of everything would work....and Nope. So I started doing some more research into the problem, and it turns out that one of the libraries that Kdenlive uses, FFmpeg, has to be up to a certain version...one higher than the one shipping with Mint...and have two other specific libraries linked in to FFmpeg...and so I added the relevent PPA, and installed the upgraded version...and TaDa! It now works reliably, even the GPU accelerated portions!

So my next project is to clean up the video that I shot at CAN-CON of Laurie Stewart's talk, and since I *finally* got permission to release that video from the ConCom of CAN-CON, I should have that ready for her in a week or so.

Yesterday, with help from Duncan, I was able to order a soldering iron so I can get started on a number of repair projects that have been waiting...It's not a *great* soldering, but it should be good enough for now. I mean, I would *love* to have a nice Hakko, or Weller soldering workstation...but the cheapest ones would eat up a large portion of my monthly food budget! So it's a soldering iron that is fairly cheap, which comes in a kit, including solder, and a number of other tools. I read and watched a lot of reviews of it, and it's fairly nice for what it cost, with a variable temperature setting and an on/off switch. It uses Hakko style tips, so replacing the tip should be no problem.

I also got some solder wick, and one of those snazzy refillable flux pens. It will be interesting blowing the cobwebs off my soldering skills, which used to be pretty good. And I should become much better quickly due to having watched a number of soldering videos on YouTube, and knowing that I have ADHD, and thus should be a little less hyper these days. :-)

I have at least three projects that need bloated capacitors replaced, and with any luck, that is all they need. Plus a power supply connector that needs to be soldered, and a USB connector on a cell phone.

Finally, I filled the tires on my bicycle, and next I will grease up the chain so that I can start getting out on my bike, and getting some decent exercise again!