Subject6051

DroidCam is a freemium application which allows you to use your phone as a web camera (thus getting a better picture quality for meetings than ordinary webcams)

So, needless to say, it's very helpful.

Now, I have been facing a number of issues with this application for a few days and I felt it would be best if I just share stuff regarding how I make it work seamlessly, it won't look good when you are late for a meeting because you are troubleshooting droidcam, so here's how I use it.

1. v4l2loopback package can cause a lot of problems, so, I would suggest you to download it from source, you can do that using this script given below (this also installs droidcam on your linux computer)

This isn't the most efficient script there is, but it works.

First, run the command

vim installation_droidcam.sh && chmod +x installation_droidcam.sh

(you might have vi editor installed by default, so if you don't have vim, just replace vim with vi, if neither are available, run sudo apt install vim, I personally use featherpad)

Now, paste the below script into your text editor (this doubles as a reinstallation script too, but if you want the latest and greatest, you would have to replace the installation commands of droidcam given below with whatever is available here on the official website

#!/bin/bash

cd ~

pkill droidcam

sudo /opt/droidcam-uninstall

# installation script for droidcam
# if you want the latest version, go to
# https://www.dev47apps.com/droidcam/linux/
cd /tmp/
wget -O droidcam_latest.zip https://files.dev47apps.net/linux/droidcam_2.1.3.zip
# sha1sum: 2646edd5ad2cfb046c9c695fa6d564d33be0f38b
unzip droidcam_latest.zip -d droidcam
cd droidcam && sudo ./install-client
# end of installation script


cd ~

sudo rm -r v4l2loopback

pkill droidcam


gh repo clone umlaeute/v4l2loopback

cd v4l2loopback

make && sudo make install $ sudo depmod -a

cd ~

sudo modprobe v4l2loopback

Now, save the script and exit it.

Everything required for droidcam to work has been installed on your laptop (you would still have to install Droidcam (green) on your android device and set it up over there tho, I am not gonna guide with that)

Here's a video for that by Mental Outlaw

Now, you would have to edit the desktop entry for droicam on your laptop to include sudo modprobe v4l2loopback command, because this needs to be running for droidcam to work. So, to do that, we will create another script

run vim /home/$USER/droidcam_start_menu_libre_desktop_file.sh && chmod +x /home/$USER/droidcam_start_menu_libre_desktop_file.sh and paste the below script and save it

#!/bin/bash

sudo modprobe v4l2loopback

/usr/local/bin/droidcam

After this, menulibre if you don't have it already by doing sudo apt install menulibre and edit the desktop file entry for droicam such that it looks like the image below (make sure you Tick Run in Terminal) as you need to have v4l2loopback running in the background for droidcam to work.

In the command text box, you much have /home/$USER/droidcam_start_menu_libre_desktop_file.sh (location of the script we just created) and now save it.

And that's it!

From now on, you would be able to start droidcam (while keeping droicam on on your android device) The terminal would open, enter your password and you can now connect and use your phone as a second camera (a much better second camera)

I haven't been very articulate, so doubts are welcome

I am low on money these days and my life is hell for it. I have to do with substandard everything in my life I recently had an incident where an elderly woman asked me for money while roaming the street with her family begging for money. I had no money to spare, but had I had any, I wouldn't have given a penny to her (Life is tough, I can't give away money I didn't earn)

But, she later said something which melted my heart, "Majboori hai beta!" (Hindi) "We don't want to do this, but we have to do it son" (now add some emotional value to it), I didn't know what to do, I was on my cycle and I could feel their eyes on me as I passed them and I just peddled faster with teary eyes.

I didn't know how to deal with that. i.e., I don't have enough money for medical necessities or to improve the standard of living of my own life, but I was being asked to spare change by a poor family that was demonstrably in a worse spot than me.

I was always taught that if you give beggars money, they will spend it all on alcohol (not blaming them), and given the number of beggars who have come to be smelling like alcohol and death with wobbly balance, it has been a rule not to provide them with money. Also, let's not forget, if you're really poor (homeless and have nothing to lose) and you are really desperate, you are often dangerous i.e., not someone around whom your kids can roam, again, not blaming them. But... I don't know what is right or wrong in this situation!

How do you deal with external problems you can't solve around you? What is the moral thing to do here?

edit: This kinda reminds of a story about Jesus where a prince once came to him and told him that he isn't at peace with himself no matter what he does, and Jesus told him that to get peace he must give away everything to the poor and follow Jesus around and the prince refused (something along those lines).

I know what the most moral thing might be in this case, but even if you tell me that I should give money to those who live in abject poverty, I probably won't do it as often as I should.

I am not in a great place right now in terms of productivity and flourishing in my personal and professional life, and every time I waste a day, every time I do something that I enjoy at the moment but which is not productive, I feel ashamed.

I live in a country, where students sometimes end their own lives for not being able to get into their dream college or for not passing the exam that would have allowed them a job in the government bureaucracy, I have always thought that they were not ending their lives because they didn't pass the exams, but they are ending it because they have indulged in activities which are not conducive to their goal of passing the exam so many times that they have given up on themselves and every time they spend a lot of time doing stuff which they might like to do in the moment but would regret right after they do it, their respect for self decreases a little more and when they get the sad news that could not progress towards their goals, they have not only failed as an aspirant for an exam, they have also failed as a person (for now at least)

i.e., As Dostoevsky states in C&P, "Your worst sin is that you've destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing", even though I might indulge in activities that are pleasurable for me now, they add up to nothing and if I do this enough times, I will just give up and sometimes some people will give up on all not just their goals because they hate themselves so much!

I don't want to end up like them (even though I feel pity for them, too bad there isn't an afterlife for them where they can be happy) , so I thought I would whip myself into a frenzy by reading a complication of suicide notes, this is for me an interesting task, but it also serves a purpose of warning me into things that I should not do! And to be completely honest, if I can derive some utility/meaning out of suicide notes, I mean the exact things that advertise the meaninglessness and the ugly side of life, that's pretty inspirational to me, I mean, it's like a metaphor for life, trying to life despite all the ugly stuff. So, to come back to the question,

Has there ever been a compilation of suicide notes, if so, where can one get it? And is it a good idea to get it?

PS: Sorry if this comes out the wrong way, if you haven't noticed, I am not that articulate. Also, I am alright right now, I am good, but I don't want to end up in a real bad situation, so I am looking for what I should I avoid.

edit 2: I like this community, but I don't have enough time to respond to everyone, but know that I am grateful and know that I have heard you! :)

I live in India and I am pretty poor, I hope to be middle-class/upper-middle class someday, but I have noticed something sinister from some people who are extremely privileged, they can be still be bought with money.

Lack of money makes you desperate, and paranoid, and comparison drives you crazy, hard to be morally perfect as a poor man, but I see actors who have made insane amounts of money on the backs of their Indian fans like Shahrukh Khan, Canada Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Hrithik Roshan and many more who are well-respected in the industry and who still can sell their own fans financial ruin (gambling) or death (Tobacco) in ads. I thought the point of being rich was that you could be more moral, what is the use of getting rich if you use your influence and fame to do more harm than good?

Also, all the actors mentioned above have made numerous movies about patriotism, many in their private conversations like to brag how much they "love their country... blah... blah... blah", but yet they feel ok selling Tobacco to their fans who made them what they are.

I have a cousin who worships Shahrukh Khan and who took up Pan(Tobacco) because he was naive and because he probably thought it was "cool" since his favorite actor (on whom he has modeled all aspects of his life was selling tobacco), thankfully we were able to get him off that a few years ago, but he spent money like water and he gained worse health for it. He got off easy, many suffered financial ruin or even death. So, when is it fucking enough!? When will these people have enough money?

edit: It's just not India, it happens everywhere (just watch CoffeeZilla to see more prime examples of this) Also, I am not saying I am perfect, if someone gave me an insane amount of money to sell Pan, I will, judge me if you will. But, I like to think if I had "enough" money, I would be immune to the attractions of blood money, I like to think I can try to be as moral as I can be then, but these people almost make me think that there is never "enough" money.

edit 2: Kurt Vonnegut's Quote on Money is quite interesting

I realize this is a Linux community, but I was wondering why you still hate Windows. I mean, I love Linux, but I will not argue that it's more convenient to the average person in most use cases to use Windows, I recently had to switch back to Windows and I realized how convenient it all was and how I was missing so many things because of my love for Linux. But at this point, Linux is a part of my personality and my self-image and I will not leave it, but I gotta be honest, it's pretty convenient being on Windows. So, why have you guys chosen to still stay on Linux? Some reasons I can appreciate include

1. The terrible privacy policies of Microsoft. It sometimes makes you feel like your computer is not owned by you but lent to you by Big Tech.
2. The community and the spirit of sharing
3. The joy of "figuring it out" and customizing everything you want to the minutest details
4. FREEDOM!!! sudo su Kinda ties into the previous points, but still one of the best selling points, the freedom to do whatever you want is liberating. You can run a server on it or you can create a script while knowing you have control over almost every FOSS app there is or just destroy your whole system with one command. Idk, feels good man!

These are the big ones, but one must realize you are sacrificing many things while not using windows too, productivity can be much greater there if you are a normie, it's really convenient! So yeah! Give me your reasons! Also, how many of you dual boot?

I am an Indian and I have become hyperaware of the people and the culture that surrounds me and I am beginning to see the flaws in it. One of the flaws that trouble me the MOST is how most Indians behave when they encounter any authority figure (mostly higher class or "higher" caste or the wealthy or the bureaucrat class).

When an average Indian walks into a Government office with a corrupt bureaucrat in it, he begins treating himself as an insect, he is way too afraid and he is way too submissive and slavish, this doesn't end here however, if you meet someone of a higher social status than yourself you become slavish and submissive there too and this happens every time an authority figure is in the room and even with people who think very highly of themselves(at their homes, with their families etc.,) I dress well and look somewhat well so once I had a guy who is my father's age call me sir and use language which is reserved for "the higher classes". This is not ok! I wish he had a spine, I don't want to be him when I grow up, but I know he didn't choose to be that way, it's the environment he was brought up in and not being aware of one's own slavishness.

I am not blaming my people, but I do detest the culture which caused this. And don't be fooled, I am not an observer, I (used to) do this too and I hate this

It's like our bones melt and our brain switches off and we become in our own eyes the lowest form of life on earth. Probably justifiably because the education we have received is subpar (counter-productive) in most cases. And you can't think highly of yourself if you are capable of doing anything productive, but it's not just that, it happens with those people who are productive members of the society, but to a lesser extent.

I have heard many Southern Asian countries are like this in this aspect. So, I was wondering how you treat authority in your culture and if you thought it was healthy. I would be very much interested if your culture is similar to mine and what you think might have caused it.

And most importantly, how do you think I can get rid of this disgusting habit, is it even possible in India? (fellow Indians jump in here)

edit: Thanks to everyone who replies! :)

I am an Indian and I have noticed that Indians are way too proud of their country for some reason and at the same time lack any civic sense towards it, they are extremely loud and extremely proud. We feel like the world revolves around India and our culture is superior to that of others. Also, a considerable chunk of the population has been sold the "India is a world-leader" myth and they think India is somehow leading the world in innovation, science and technology, human development etc.,

Now, I know for a fact that this is not true, when I try to gauge the perception of Indians abroad on Twitter, I get pretty negative results, but Twitter has nothing good to say about any group of people, so... I kinda wanted to know what you people though of India, don't base it upon the etnic Indians who might be your friends and are decent people, but base it upon the news you read, the stories you hear from those Indians, etc.

I should be studying right now, but everytime I sit to study, I can't sit there long enough, I want food even though I am not hungry, I want to watch TV/youtube, self-pleasure... etc...

No matter what productive work I want to do, I will try to not do that and do something which gives me momentary pleasure. I want to masturbate, eat lots of food even though I am not hungry while watching TV/Youtube and I don't seem to be able to break the cycle and it's destroying me. How can I break the cycle and do something good for a change instead of pleasuring myself in the moment meaninglessly?

I managed to install waydroid after a long and rather stressful installation process, but now that I have installed it, I am realizing that since Waydroid doesn't come with DRM software (or malware) installed with it, it won't play no videos, which is one of the reasons I installed it. Is there a way I can run drm protected videos on Wayland?

Also, what's the likelihood that when I install drm and try to play it, it would just disappear since it is not technically a phone?

My Views: I would love it if Solar, Hydro and Wind and other renewable sources of energy + Non Renewable Nuclear were to provide enough energy reliably to completely replace fossil fuels, but I know it's not a feasible solution at least at this point. And maybe it will never be. Renewable sources of energy are highly dependent on some metal mining (some are rare metals) and I doubt if the prices of those metals would go lower as the demand for those renewable sources of energy sky rockets. i.e., It's a non-linear equation, the price of renewables will not remain the same if we want to meet 100% of our energy needs from renewables. So, Just Stopping Oil is a pretty stupid idea concocted by people who have a much better standard of living than me.

Skip This if you must: As an Indian, I can speak for 1.4B people (I asked) when I say that, no matter how much pressure developed nations impose on India and countries like India, we will still keep using the least costliest source of energy, because we too want nice things and we too want our women to be liberated from cow dung/wood stoves and from the burden of washing clothes and utensils. So yeah, there is no way bar great scientific innovation which will phase out fossil fuels at least in the near future and perhaps ever.

PS: I don't like fossil fuels, I don't like the pollution or the effect it has on the environment and I wish they could be replaced by something renewable, but I just don't like the chances of that happening.

The media won't give me great answers to this question and I think this I trust this community more, thus I want to know from you. Also, I have heard reports that Russia was winning the war, if that's true, did the west miscalculate the situation by allowing diplomacy to take a backseat and allowing Ukraine to a large plethora of military resources?

PS: I realize there are many casualties on both sides and I am not trying to downplay the suffering, but I am curious as to how it is going for Ukraine. Right now I am hearing ever louder calls of Russia winning, those have existed forever, but they seem to have grown louder now, so I was wondering what you thought about it. Also, I am somewhat concerned of allowing a dictatorship to just erase at it's convenience a free and democratic country.

My phone screen broke but everything else works fine except for the fact that I can't see what's happening on my phone, I was able to install an app which mirrors my phone and thus control my phone indirectly, but I was wondering if there was a way I could do basic functions like reading texts without seeing the screen. I mean, I am also curious what do people with visual disabilities use? Are there any apps like VoiceOver which help you read texts?