Strangely, when I made the same change in the texlive TDS directory file. I got the same error again. [I'm using Mac OS X (10.5.2, TeXShop v2.20]

Again, thanks!

This is a known bug in that version of tufte-handout.cls. It’s been corrected in the svn version.

If this doesn’t correct the problem, please let me know and we can investigate it further.

I just uploaded the beginnings of the book class to the svn repository.

Let me know if you find bugs and also what features are missing. As I said, it’s just a start!

Counter-hack! Way to use your powers for good, Kevin.

insmod: can’t read ‘./microdia.ko’: No such file or directory

I’ve posted a copy of the sample book here:

http://kevin.godby.org/latex/sample-book.pdf

Keep in mind it’s a work in progress. The next steps are:

1. Finish creating the sample book with all of the elements from Beautiful Evidence.
2. Abstract the useful elements to the tufte-book class.
3. Abstract the common elements from the tufte-handout and tufte-book classes into a tufte-common file.
4. Clean up the code and fix bugs.

At least, that’s the plan!

Thanks for your comment.

What kind of justification/centering are you looking for?

If you use the “justified” option, it will set all the text fully justified—that is, the text will be set flush with both the left and right margins:

\documentclass[justified]{tufte-handout}

Also, note that the main textblock will always be off-center on the page. This is to provide a wide margin for sidenotes.

If I misunderstood your question, please rephrase it and I’ll try again.

You can also get support from a wider group of people through the Tufte-LaTEX mailing list.

Try running ekiga -d 4 from the command-line and post the output. We’ll see if there’s anything more useful there.

Tried Ekiga, but got this error message:

Error while opening video device Microdia USB Video Camera

…(irrelevant stuff omitted) …

Your video driver doesn’t support the requested video format.

-Scott

The camera does work fine in Ekiga, though. I’ll just need to write new test instructions.

Try running Ekiga (formerly called GNOME Meeting). You’ll find it under the “Internet” menu. Once you’ve walked through the configuration wizard (if it’s your first time running the program), you should be able to test your webcam.

Please let me know if you hit any snags.

Much thanks for your help.

dmesg returned correctly but VLC did not display video, giving the message:

scott@ubuntu:~/microdia$ vlc v4l:// :v4l-vdev=”/dev/video0″ :v4l-adev=”/dev/dsp” :v4l-norm=3 :v4l-frequency=-1
VLC media player 0.8.6 Janus
[00000291] v4l demuxer error: mmap unsupported

If there’s no easy fix, I’ll wait until I upgrade to 8.04.

-Scott

It looks like the list_first_entry macro wasn’t added until kernel version 2.6.22. There are a couple options:

1. Upgrade your kernel. Since you’re running Ubuntu 7.04, that’s over a year old now. Might be a good time to upgrade. If you don’t want to do that, you can try the following option.
2. Add the following two lines of code to microdia.h:

   #define list_first_entry(ptr, type, member) \
           list_entry((ptr)->next, type, member)
   

   Add the line after the #define MICRODIA_H line (around line 35).

If you choose the second option, please let me know if it works. If it does, I’ll add that to the instructions for those who are running older kernels.

I’m running 7.04. The make command fails. Any recommendations?

scott@ubuntu:~/microdia$ make
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-17-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/scott/microdia modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-17-generic’
CC [M] /home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.o
/home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.c: In function ‘usb_microdia_isoc_handler’:
/home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.c:335: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘list_first_entry’
/home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.c:335: error: expected expression before ‘struct’
/home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.c:336: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[2]: *** [/home/scott/microdia/microdia-usb.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/scott/microdia] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-17-generic’
make: *** [driver] Error 2

Thanks,
-Scott

I also have the generic current ubuntu 2.6.24-19-generic kernel to boot into.

The microdia module compiles on the generic
and works for me using xawtv. However, I cannot capture anything – picture or video. I’ve been hunting for answers on the microdia list so, as you said , I’ll probably find aswers there.

Yes there is defiantly some differences in the real-time kernel that don’t jibe with the module compile – that’s what I’ll be trackig info for.

I guess the web-cam is not quite ready for any music videos yet – pun intended : – )
Johnwm

I haven’t seen that error message before. I just downloaded a fresh copy of the Microdia driver source code and recompiled it and it worked fine for me. One difference between our systems is the kernel. I’m using a slightly newer version (which I don’t think matters), and I’m using generic while you’re using real-time. I’m wondering if the real-time kernel has different function calls in some places.

I’d recommend emailing the developers of the Microdia drivers to see if they can help you more. I’m afraid since I’m not running the real-time kernel that I can’t be of much help. You can sign up for their email list here:

http://groups.google.com/group/microdia

At that same site, you can look in the “Pages” sections for more instructions and information that may be of some help.

Sorry I can’t be of more assistance. Best of luck, and please post back if you find a solution — it may very well help someone else in the future!

Thanks for writing.

–Kevin Godby

I get compiling error

/home/johnwm/microdia/microdia-usb.c: In function ‘usb_microdia_isoc_handler’:
/home/johnwm/microdia/microdia-usb.c:333: error: size of array ‘type name’ is negative

/home/johnwm/microdia/microdia-usb.c:333: warning: comparison of distinct pointer types lacks a cast

/home/johnwm/microdia/microdia-usb.c:337: error: size of array ‘type name’ is negative

and,

/home/johnwm/microdia/microdia-usb.c:337: warning: comparison of distinct pointer types lacks a cast

Please email me if you see this –
I’m unable to compile the driver so far
July-30-2008

thanks for any help
Johnwm

I’ve tried to write it so that it handles Unicode characters, but I haven’t had much to test it with yet.

Thanks!

I found a little bug, the converter (it seems) can’t handle Unicode. Some japanese characters gave me this exception :

“Exception in ^^XX attempt: ‘ascii’ codec can’t encode character u’\u307e’ in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)”.

But as in all contracts, their must be “value offered” on both sides.

And the STUDENTS’ side of this contract, as I see it, is to be attentive in class EVEN WHEN THEY FIND WHAT’S GOING ON AT THAT MOMENT BORING!

NO meaningful presentation can be entertaining during 100% of its duration! (This is not an assumption but a conclusion:) For a presentation to be “meaningful” it must relate to something the student ALREADY knows, either,as at the start of the term, from her/his previous experience, or, once the course is well-started, from the work s/he has (we assume) done earlier in the semester.

But for this to be educational there must be a time when the instructor is EXPLAINING how the presentation is related to the other material, and this explanation, being a “META-concept” (i.e., at a level ABOVE the levels of both the presentation and the prior experience, since it necessarily considers each of them as an object and then shows the higher-level relationship between them) WILL, for at least some of the students (especialy those who have NOT done the earlier work and so, regardless of how interesting they find the presentation in itself, are incapable of grasping its relationship to the earlier material, since the latter does not exit in their minds) be UNinteresting.

But typically each student is physically closer to other students in the class than s/he is to the instructor at the front of the room. Therefore the other students’ behaviors have the ability to distract even the most serious neighboring student from what the instructor is saying/doing.

And it is NOT part of the serious instructors’ job to compete with students in the course for the other students’ attention: rather it is one of the obligations of each student in the course to NOT act in ways which distract other students. (I tell my students, for example, that they are permitted to eat in class provided that they do so without distracting others – no food that goes “crunch”!)

And my experience has been that the students who are least interested in a presentation are generally those who have NOT doen the work assigned for that class (since what is being presented will be less meaningful to them) and that they are therefore more likely than the more interested student to perform behaviors which are unrelated to the lesson and thus distract other students.

I believe that as the person in charge of how the time in class is used, the instructor has an OBLIGATION to those students who HAVE done the work and are therefore most interested in the lesson, to prevent those who have not done the work from interfering with the presentation.

So I oppose the use of computers in the classroom.

That said, I more-than-admit that my experience also leads me to the conclusion that the great majority of instructors who ooppose the presence of computers do so for less noble reasons. I’ve known of instructors who do not allow students to record the lessons’ my suyspicion is that those instructors are afraid that something they say (or the generally low quality of their presentations) may later be used as “evidence” of there being somethig “wrong” with their teaching.

But, unfortunately, that does not make their position on the use of laptops in class incorrect. For the reason I explained above, that position is, in itself correct, regardless of an individual instructors’ motivation for invoking it.

Students’ recourse is to not attend classes that are so boring that they need to amuse themselves during class. If attendance is required, the students can select the same course with a “better” instructor. And if the course is taught ONLY by the one instructor, the students can (if there is consensus among a large-enough group) approach first the instructor, and, if still unsatisfied, the department head, with their feedback and a request for improved teaching. I recognize that this takes courage and in many cases will be of little use. The only alternatives I see are to NOT take the course OR to “put up with it” as part of the price of earning that degree at that college.

One other useful thing students can do (which I suspect they will NOT readily see as having as powerful an effect as it in fact does) is to make sure they communicate TO THE ADMINISTRATION, IN WRITING, their positive experiences with instructors they believe are EXCELLENT. Reinforcing desired behaviors is MUCH more effective than punishing undesired behavior.

But the bottom line is that I agree that, although it may be of some slight benefit in some cases, the use of laptops should NOT be permitted during lessons.

Interestingly, the total number of calls I’ve received has dropped significantly. I still get a few wrong numbers, but they give up after I shunt them to voicemail.