Hook up a serial port and configure minicom

find a linux box closeby and hook the db9(m) to db25(m) null modem cable up to the port marked 'A' on the back of the machine
run minicom on the linux box
press ^A, then z
press o
-> Serial port setup
you will most likely have to change the serial port to /dev/ttyS0, so press a and do so
press e and make the bps/par/bits 9600 8n1
enter
-> Save setup as dfl
^A then q, to quit without reset
yes
run minicom again
^A then t, press b to make backspace send DEL

press enter, you should see a prompt
type ^A, f to send a break, you should see the solaris "{0} ok" prompt
ensure you have backed up your data, and type:
boot cdrom


(key words : minicom, linux, solaris, serial, port, console, terminal)

Converting Realvideo files to avi

In this article, I am going to show how to convert a rmvb file to an avi file (mpeg4 video + mp3 audio)

Tools
1. mplayer
2. mencoder
3. essential codecs for mplayer

note: to install the above tools, please take a look to http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_co...tion_notes.html

File
1. rmvb file: in.rmvb
2. avi file: out.avi

Information for the avi file
Video
format: mpeg4
bitrate:1200 kb/s
fps: 25 fps
Audio
format: mp3
bitrate: 128 kb/s

Command
mencoder in.rmvb -oac mp3lame -lameopts preset=128 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=1200 -ofps 25 -of avi -o out.avi

Explanation
-oac: output audio codec
mp3lame: library used for audio encoding
-lameopts: options used along with lame
preset: values for audio bitrate, you can set 64, 128, 224, etc
-ovc: ouput video codec
lavc: library used for video encoding
-lavcopts: options used along with lavc
vcodec: video codec, you can use mpeg1video, mpeg4, etc
vbitrate: video bitrate, you can set 600, 1000, 1200, etc
-ofps: outpt frame per second ( fps)
-of: output file container type
-o: output filename

Mencoder is a powerful tool to convert multimedia, just like the above example, we can use it to convert rmvb to avi. With suitable library and codecs, we can even use it to convert file format like rm, wmv etc.