<link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>
+ <item>
+ <title>Appstream just learned how to map hardware to packages too!</title>
+ <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Appstream_just_learned_how_to_map_hardware_to_packages_too_.html</link>
+ <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Appstream_just_learned_how_to_map_hardware_to_packages_too_.html</guid>
+ <pubDate>Fri, 23 Dec 2016 10:30:00 +0100</pubDate>
+ <description><p>I received a very nice Christmas present today. As my regular
+readers probably know, I have been working on the
+<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">the Isenkram
+system</a> for many years. The goal of the Isenkram system is to make
+it easier for users to figure out what to install to get a given piece
+of hardware to work in Debian, and a key part of this system is a way
+to map hardware to packages. Isenkram have its own mapping database,
+and also uses data provided by each package using the AppStream
+metadata format. And today,
+<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/appstream">AppStream</a> in
+Debian learned to look up hardware the same way Isenkram is doing it,
+ie using fnmatch():</p>
+
+<p><pre>
+% appstreamcli what-provides modalias \
+ usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
+Identifier: pymissile [generic]
+Name: pymissile
+Summary: Control original Striker USB Missile Launcher
+Package: pymissile
+% appstreamcli what-provides modalias usb:v0694p0002d0000
+Identifier: libnxt [generic]
+Name: libnxt
+Summary: utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick
+Package: libnxt
+---
+Identifier: t2n [generic]
+Name: t2n
+Summary: Simple command-line tool for Lego NXT
+Package: t2n
+---
+Identifier: python-nxt [generic]
+Name: python-nxt
+Summary: Python driver/interface/wrapper for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot
+Package: python-nxt
+---
+Identifier: nbc [generic]
+Name: nbc
+Summary: C compiler for LEGO Mindstorms NXT bricks
+Package: nbc
+%
+</pre></p>
+
+<p>A similar query can be done using the combined AppStream and
+Isenkram databases using the isenkram-lookup tool:</p>
+
+<p><pre>
+% isenkram-lookup usb:v1130p0202d0100dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc00ip00in00
+pymissile
+% isenkram-lookup usb:v0694p0002d0000
+libnxt
+nbc
+python-nxt
+t2n
+%
+</pre></p>
+
+<p>You can find modalias values relevant for your machine using
+<tt>cat $(find /sys/devices/ -name modalias)</tt>.
+
+<p>If you want to make this system a success and help Debian users
+make the most of the hardware they have, please
+help<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">add
+AppStream metadata for your package following the guidelines</a>
+documented in the wiki. So far only 11 packages provide such
+information, among the several hundred hardware specific packages in
+Debian. The Isenkram database on the other hand contain 101 packages,
+mostly related to USB dongles. Most of the packages with hardware
+mapping in AppStream are LEGO Mindstorms related, because I have, as
+part of my involvement in
+<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the Debian LEGO
+team</a> given priority to making sure LEGO users get proposed the
+complete set of packages in Debian for that particular hardware. The
+team also got a nice Christmas present today. The
+<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/nxt-firmware">nxt-firmware
+package</a> made it into Debian. With this package in place, it is
+now possible to use the LEGO Mindstorms NXT unit with only free
+software, as the nxt-firmware package contain the source and firmware
+binaries for the NXT brick.</p>
+
+<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
+activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
+<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
+</description>
+ </item>
+
+ <item>
+ <title>Isenkram updated with a lot more hardware-package mappings</title>
+ <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_updated_with_a_lot_more_hardware_package_mappings.html</link>
+ <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_updated_with_a_lot_more_hardware_package_mappings.html</guid>
+ <pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2016 11:55:00 +0100</pubDate>
+ <description><p><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">The Isenkram
+system</a> I wrote two years ago to make it easier in Debian to find
+and install packages to get your hardware dongles to work, is still
+going strong. It is a system to look up the hardware present on or
+connected to the current system, and map the hardware to Debian
+packages. It can either be done using the tools in isenkram-cli or
+using the user space daemon in the isenkram package. The latter will
+notify you, when inserting new hardware, about what packages to
+install to get the dongle working. It will even provide a button to
+click on to ask packagekit to install the packages.</p>
+
+<p>Here is an command line example from my Thinkpad laptop:</p>
+
+<p><pre>
+% isenkram-lookup
+bluez
+cheese
+ethtool
+fprintd
+fprintd-demo
+gkrellm-thinkbat
+hdapsd
+libpam-fprintd
+pidgin-blinklight
+thinkfan
+tlp
+tp-smapi-dkms
+tp-smapi-source
+tpb
+%
+</pre></p>
+
+<p>It can also list the firware package providing firmware requested
+by the load kernel modules, which in my case is an empty list because
+I have all the firmware my machine need:
+
+<p><pre>
+% /usr/sbin/isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
+info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules. exiting
+%
+</pre></p>
+
+<p>The last few days I had a look at several of the around 250
+packages in Debian with udev rules. These seem like good candidates
+to install when a given hardware dongle is inserted, and I found
+several that should be proposed by isenkram. I have not had time to
+check all of them, but am happy to report that now there are 97
+packages packages mapped to hardware by Isenkram. 11 of these
+packages provide hardware mapping using AppStream, while the rest are
+listed in the modaliases file provided in isenkram.</p>
+
+<p>These are the packages with hardware mappings at the moment. The
+<strong>marked packages</strong> are also announcing their hardware
+support using AppStream, for everyone to use:</p>
+
+<p>air-quality-sensor, alsa-firmware-loaders, argyll,
+<strong>array-info</strong>, avarice, avrdude, b43-fwcutter,
+bit-babbler, bluez, bluez-firmware, <strong>brltty</strong>,
+<strong>broadcom-sta-dkms</strong>, calibre, cgminer, cheese, colord,
+<strong>colorhug-client</strong>, dahdi-firmware-nonfree, dahdi-linux,
+dfu-util, dolphin-emu, ekeyd, ethtool, firmware-ipw2x00, fprintd,
+fprintd-demo, <strong>galileo</strong>, gkrellm-thinkbat, gphoto2,
+gpsbabel, gpsbabel-gui, gpsman, gpstrans, gqrx-sdr, gr-fcdproplus,
+gr-osmosdr, gtkpod, hackrf, hdapsd, hdmi2usb-udev, hpijs-ppds, hplip,
+ipw3945-source, ipw3945d, kde-config-tablet, kinect-audio-setup,
+<strong>libnxt</strong>, libpam-fprintd, <strong>lomoco</strong>,
+madwimax, minidisc-utils, mkgmap, msi-keyboard, mtkbabel,
+<strong>nbc</strong>, <strong>nqc</strong>, nut-hal-drivers, ola,
+open-vm-toolbox, open-vm-tools, openambit, pcgminer, pcmciautils,
+pcscd, pidgin-blinklight, printer-driver-splix,
+<strong>pymissile</strong>, python-nxt, qlandkartegt,
+qlandkartegt-garmin, rosegarden, rt2x00-source, sispmctl,
+soapysdr-module-hackrf, solaar, squeak-plugins-scratch, sunxi-tools,
+<strong>t2n</strong>, thinkfan, thinkfinger-tools, tlp, tp-smapi-dkms,
+tp-smapi-source, tpb, tucnak, uhd-host, usbmuxd, viking,
+virtualbox-ose-guest-x11, w1retap, xawtv, xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse,
+xserver-xorg-input-wacom, xserver-xorg-video-qxl,
+xserver-xorg-video-vmware, yubikey-personalization and
+zd1211-firmware</p>
+
+<p>If you know of other packages, please let me know with a wishlist
+bug report against the isenkram-cli package, and ask the package
+maintainer to
+<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream/Guidelines">add AppStream
+metadata according to the guidelines</a> to provide the information
+for everyone. In time, I hope to get rid of the isenkram specific
+hardware mapping and depend exclusively on AppStream.</p>
+
+<p>Note, the AppStream metadata for broadcom-sta-dkms is matching too
+much hardware, and suggest that the package with with any ethernet
+card. See <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/838735">bug #838735</a> for
+the details. I hope the maintainer find time to address it soon. In
+the mean time I provide an override in isenkram.</p>
+</description>
+ </item>
+
+ <item>
+ <title>Oolite, a life in space as vagabond and mercenary - nice free software</title>
+ <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oolite__a_life_in_space_as_vagabond_and_mercenary___nice_free_software.html</link>
+ <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oolite__a_life_in_space_as_vagabond_and_mercenary___nice_free_software.html</guid>
+ <pubDate>Sun, 11 Dec 2016 11:40:00 +0100</pubDate>
+ <description><p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-12-11-nice-oolite.png"/></p>
+
+<p>In my early years, I played
+<a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Classic_Elite">the epic game
+Elite</a> on my PC. I spent many months trading and fighting in
+space, and reached the 'elite' fighting status before I moved on. The
+original Elite game was available on Commodore 64 and the IBM PC
+edition I played had a 64 KB executable. I am still impressed today
+that the authors managed to squeeze both a 3D engine and details about
+more than 2000 planet systems across 7 galaxies into a binary so
+small.</p>
+
+<p>I have known about <a href="http://www.oolite.org/">the free
+software game Oolite inspired by Elite</a> for a while, but did not
+really have time to test it properly until a few days ago. It was
+great to discover that my old knowledge about trading routes were
+still valid. But my fighting and flying abilities were gone, so I had
+to retrain to be able to dock on a space station. And I am still not
+able to make much resistance when I am attacked by pirates, so I
+bougth and mounted the most powerful laser in the rear to be able to
+put up at least some resistance while fleeing for my life. :)</p>
+
+<p>When playing Elite in the late eighties, I had to discover
+everything on my own, and I had long lists of prices seen on different
+planets to be able to decide where to trade what. This time I had the
+advantages of the
+<a href="http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page">Elite wiki</a>,
+where information about each planet is easily available with common
+price ranges and suggested trading routes. This improved my ability
+to earn money and I have been able to earn enough to buy a lot of
+useful equipent in a few days. I believe I originally played for
+months before I could get a docking computer, while now I could get it
+after less then a week.</p>
+
+<p>If you like science fiction and dreamed of a life as a vagabond in
+space, you should try out Oolite. It is available for Linux, MacOSX
+and Windows, and is included in Debian and derivatives since 2011.</p>
+
+<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my
+activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
+<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
+</description>
+ </item>
+
<item>
<title>Er lover brutt når personvernpolicy ikke stemmer med praksis?</title>
<link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Er_lover_brutt_n_r_personvernpolicy_ikke_stemmer_med_praksis_.html</link>
som er normalt for norske kommersielle nettsteder.</p>
<p>Angående spørsmålet ditt:
-<br>Du vil fortsatt vise i våre interne systemer om du blir Ekstra-bruker,
+<br>Du vil fortsatt vises i våre interne systemer om du blir Ekstra-bruker,
vi skrur bare av tredjeparts tracking.»</p>
</blockquote>
løsning, men det er bedre enn å håpe at f.eks. Google og alle som
lytter på veien skal prioritere norsk lov over sin lokale
lovgivning.</p>
+
+<p>Oppdatering 2016-12-09: Fikk svar fra direktøren Høie på mitt
+spørsmål litt etter at jeg hadde publisert denne artikkelen:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Vi kommer til å annonsere en oppdatert policy, og skal undersøke om
+vi er pliktig å varsle Datatilsynet.</p>
+
+<p>Det vi uansett ønsker å gjøre først, er å gå gjennom hele policy
+sammen med utviklerne og advokat, så vi er sikre på at vi går frem
+riktig og at det ikke er flere tvetydigheter som skjuler seg i
+teksten.</p>
+
+<p>Har du andre idéer eller konkrete innspill til hva som kan gjøre
+policy tydeligere, tar vi gjerne imot det. Dette er et felt vi ønsker
+å være ryddige på.</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Vi får se om de liker mine innspill, som i grunnen er å ikke pusse
+på personvernpolicyen men i stedet slutte å spre lesernes
+personopplysninger til eksterne aktører.</p>
</description>
</item>
projects / homepage.git / blobdiff