Ubuntu username fail

So Ubuntu is pretty easy to use most of the time. But I've installed the system probably about two dozen times now, and each time I forget that I cannot add a username with a dot without doing some somersaults.

You cannot use the Gnome users-admin control panel to add a username such as "nels.nelson". Oh no. That would be horrible.

Instead, you have to use adduser.

sudo adduser nels.nelson --force-badname
Password:
Adding user `nels.nelson’…
Adding new group `nels.nelson’ (1002).
Adding new user `nels.nelson’ (1002) with group `nels.nelson’.
Creating home directory `/home/nels.nelson’.
Copying files from `/etc/skel’
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for nels.nelson
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
Full Name []: nels.nelson
Room Number []: 
Work Phone []: 
Home Phone []: 
Other []: 
Is the information correct? [y/N] y

Editing mp3 id3 tags with Ubuntu

This is probably unnecessary for people who use Ubuntu, but for those who don't already understand what this post is about, I'll define some stuff.

An mp3 is a type of encoding for audio and music files on a computer.

Usually an mp3 file is encoded or "ripped" from Compact Disc track, or a less compressed (larger) audio file like a WAV or an AIFF.

These mp3 files have special information stored inside them called id3 tags. The id3 tags describe the artist, album, and track number of a song. The accuracy and amount of information included in the mp3 file depends on what information is available to the encoding software at the time the mp3 file is encoded or ripped.

For Ubuntu users, you can easily view this information from the command line by installing the following programs:

sudo apt-get install id3
sudo apt-get install id3v2

Ta-da! Now you can do stuff like this:

$id3v2 --list "Midnight Voyage.mp3"
TPE1 (Lead performer(s)/Soloist(s)): Ghostland Observatory
TIT2 (Title/songname/content description): Midnight Voyage
TALB (Album/Movie/Show title): Paparazzi Lightning
TRCK (Track number/Position in set): 10
TYER (Year): 2006
TCON (Content type): Electronic (52)

Ooooh.