X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/08633c20a7bfab68c83605641ad0ec80d09480a9..47d68fecf3b10472c3afbc2a3341c3ed207bdebe:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 8b0f3435fa..bdf390a54a 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,766 +7,611 @@ - Alle Stortingets mobiltelefoner kontrolleres fra USA... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Alle_Stortingets_mobiltelefoner_kontrolleres_fra_USA___.html - Wed, 7 Oct 2015 09:55:00 +0200 - <p>Jeg lot meg fascinere av -<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/Stortinget-har-tilgang-til-a-fjernstyre-600-mobiler-8192692.html">en -artikkel i Aftenposten</a> der det fortelles at «over 600 telefoner som -benyttes av stortingsrepresentanter, rådgivere og ansatte på -Stortinget, kan «fjernstyres» ved hjelp av -<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airwatch.androidagent">programvaren -Airwatch</a>, et såkalte MDM-program (Mobile Device Managment)». Det -hele bagatelliseres av Stortingets IT-stab, men det er i hovedsak på -grunn av at journalisten ikke stiller de relevante spørsmålene. For -meg er det relevante spørsmålet hvem som har lovlig tilgang (i henhold -til lokal lovgiving, dvs. i hvert fall i Norge, Sverige, UK og USA) -til informasjon om og på telefonene, og hvor enkelt det er å skaffe -seg tilgang til hvor mobilene befinner seg og informasjon som befinner -seg på telefonene ved hjelp av utro tjenere, trusler, innbrudd og -andre ulovlige metoder.</p> - -<p>Bruken av AirWatch betyr i realiteten at USAs etteretning og -politimyndigheter har full tilgang til stortingets mobiltelefoner, -inkludert posisjon og innhold, takket være -<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act_of_1978_Amendments_Act_of_2008">FISAAA-loven</a> -og -"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter">National -Security Letters</a>" og det enkle faktum at AirWatch er kontrollert -av et selskap i USA. I tillegg er det kjent at kan flere lands -etterretningstjenester kan lytte på trafikken når den passerer -landegrensene.</p> - -<p>Jeg har bedt om mer informasjon -<a href="https://www.mimesbronn.no/request/saksnummer_for_saker_anganede_br">fra -Stortinget om bruken av AirWatch</a> via Mimes brønn så får vi se hva -de har å fortelle om saken. Fant ingenting om 'airwatch' i -postjournalen til Stortinget, så jeg trenger hjelp før jeg kan be om -innsyn i konkrete dokumenter.</p> + First draft Norwegian Bokmål edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook now public + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html + Tue, 30 Aug 2016 10:10:00 +0200 + <p>In April we +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">started +to work</a> on a Norwegian Bokmål edition of the "open access" book on +how to set up and administrate a Debian system. Today I am happy to +report that the first draft is now publicly available. You can find +it on <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/">get the Debian +Administrator's Handbook page</a> (under Other languages). The first +eight chapters have a first draft translation, and we are working on +proofreading the content. If you want to help out, please start +contributing using +<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the +hosted weblate project page</a>, and get in touch using +<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the +translators mailing list</a>. Please also check out +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for +contributors</a>. A good way to contribute is to proofread the text +and update weblate if you find errors.</p> + +<p>Our goal is still to make the Norwegian book available on paper as well as +electronic form.</p> - French Docbook/PDF/EPUB/MOBI edition of the Free Culture book - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_Docbook_PDF_EPUB_MOBI_edition_of_the_Free_Culture_book.html - Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:20:00 +0200 - <p>As I wrap up the Norwegian version of -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book by Lawrence Lessig (still waiting for my final proof -reading copy to arrive in the mail), my great -<a href="http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/">dblatex</a> helper and -developer of the dblatex docbook processor, Benoît Guillon, decided a -to try to create a French version of the book. He started with the -French translation available from the -<a href="http://www.wikilivres.ca/wiki/Culture_libre">Wikilivres wiki -pages</a>, and wrote a program to convert it into a PO file, allowing -the translation to be integrated into the po4a based framework I use -to create the Norwegian translation from the English edition. We meet -on the <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23dblatex">#dblatex IRC -channel</a> to discuss the work. If you want to help create a French -edition, check out -<a href="https://github.com/marsgui/free-culture-lessig">his git -repository</a> and join us on IRC. If the French edition look good, -we might publish it as a paper book on lulu.com. A French version of -the drawings and the cover need to be provided for this to happen.</p> + Coz can help you find bottlenecks in multi-threaded software - nice free software + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html + Thu, 11 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0200 + <p>This summer, I read a great article +"<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">coz: +This Is the Profiler You're Looking For</a>" in USENIX ;login: about +how to profile multi-threaded programs. It presented a system for +profiling software by running experiences in the running program, +testing how run time performance is affected by "speeding up" parts of +the code to various degrees compared to a normal run. It does this by +slowing down parallel threads while the "faster up" code is running +and measure how this affect processing time. The processing time is +measured using probes inserted into the code, either using progress +counters (COZ_PROGRESS) or as latency meters (COZ_BEGIN/COZ_END). It +can also measure unmodified code by measuring complete the program +runtime and running the program several times instead.</p> + +<p>The project and presentation was so inspiring that I would like to +get the system into Debian. I +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=830708">created +a WNPP request for it</a> and contacted upstream to try to make the +system ready for Debian by sending patches. The build process need to +be changed a bit to avoid running 'git clone' to get dependencies, and +to include the JavaScript web page used to visualize the collected +profiling information included in the source package. +But I expect that should work out fairly soon.</p> + +<p>The way the system work is fairly simple. To run an coz experiment +on a binary with debug symbols available, start the program like this: + +<p><blockquote><pre> +coz run --- program-to-run +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>This will create a text file profile.coz with the instrumentation +information. To show what part of the code affect the performance +most, use a web browser and either point it to +<a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/</a> +or use the copy from git (in the gh-pages branch). Check out this web +site to have a look at several example profiling runs and get an idea what the end result from the profile runs look like. To make the +profiling more useful you include &lt;coz.h&gt; and insert the +COZ_PROGRESS or COZ_BEGIN and COZ_END at appropriate places in the +code, rebuild and run the profiler. This allow coz to do more +targeted experiments.</p> + +<p>A video published by ACM +<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0V-p1odPg">presenting the +Coz profiler</a> is available from Youtube. There is also a paper +from the 25th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles available +titled +<a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc16/technical-sessions/presentation/curtsinger">Coz: +finding code that counts with causal profiling</a>.</p> + +<p><a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz">The source code</a> +for Coz is available from github. It will only build with clang +because it uses a +<a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55606">C++ +feature missing in GCC</a>, but I've submitted +<a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz/pull/67">a patch to solve +it</a> and hope it will be included in the upstream source soon.</p> + +<p>Please get in touch if you, like me, would like to see this piece +of software in Debian. I would very much like some help with the +packaging effort, as I lack the in depth knowledge on how to package +C++ libraries.</p> - The life and death of a laptop battery - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_life_and_death_of_a_laptop_battery.html - Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0200 - <p>When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK. -But this do not last. The last few laptops gave me a feeling that -within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be, -and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected -all the time. Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop -about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have -more hard facts when the battery started to fail.</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-24-laptop-battery-graph.png"/> - -<p>First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the -battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled -by someone else. I found -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a>, -which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely -broken. I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to -write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback -from him. Via -<a href="http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html">a -blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air</a> I also -discovered -<a href="https://github.com/jradavenport/batlog.git">batlog</a>, not -available in Debian.</p> - -<p>I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting -battery stats ever since. Now my -/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000 -measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now, -when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity. My -collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:</p> - -<pre> -#!/bin/sh -# Inspired by -# http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html -# See also -# http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/ -logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log - -files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \ - energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status" - -if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then - ( - printf "timestamp," - for f in $files; do - printf "%s," $f - done - echo - ) > "$logfile" -fi - -log_battery() { - # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition - # when several log processes run in parallel. - msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \ - for f in $files; do \ - printf "%s," $(cat $f); \ - done) - echo "$msg" -} - -cd /sys/class/power_supply - -for bat in BAT*; do - (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile") -done -</pre> - -<p>The script is called when the power management system detect a -change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into -and out of hibernation and suspend. In addition, it collect a value -every 10 minutes. This make it possible for me know when the battery -is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time. -The code for the Debian package -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-status">is now -available on github</a>.</p> - -<p>The collected log file look like this:</p> - -<pre> -timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status, -1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging, -[...] -1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full, -</pre> - -<p>I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development -over time. This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop -battery.</p> - -<p>But why is this happening? Why are my laptop batteries always -dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and -satellites keep working year after year. If we are to believe -<a href="http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries">Battery -University</a>, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a -chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100% -all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time. -I've been told that the Tesla electric cars -<a href="http://my.teslamotors.com/de_CH/forum/forums/battery-charge-limit">limit -the charge of their batteries to 80%</a>, with the option to charge to -100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car -like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another -story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on -Linux too.</p> - -<p>Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to -stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in -preparation for a longer trip? I found -<a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/34452/how-can-i-limit-battery-charging-to-80-capacity">one -recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to -80%</a>, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to -load).</p> - -<p>I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100% -at the start. I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some -times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery -back to design capacity. And I wonder if the discharge and charge -speed change over time, or if this stay the same. I did not yet try -to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery -level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from -those.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages -acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable) -packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use -initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start -and stop. I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast -and need to be replaced. The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad -specific.</p> + Sales number for the Free Culture translation, first half of 2016 + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html + Fri, 5 Aug 2016 22:45:00 +0200 + <p>As my regular readers probably remember, the last year I published +a French and Norwegian translation of the classic +<a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book</a> by the +founder of the Creative Commons movement, Lawrence Lessig. A bit less +known is the fact that due to the way I created the translations, +using docbook and po4a, I also recreated the English original. And +because I already had created a new the PDF edition, I published it +too. The revenue from the books are sent to the Creative Commons +Corporation. In other words, I do not earn any money from this +project, I just earn the warm fuzzy feeling that the text is available +for a wider audience and more people can learn why the Creative +Commons is needed.</p> + +<p>Today, just for fun, I had a look at the sales number over at +Lulu.com, which take care of payment, printing and shipping. Much to +my surprise, the English edition is selling better than both the +French and Norwegian edition, despite the fact that it has been +available in English since it was first published. In total, 24 paper +books was sold for USD $19.99 between 2016-01-01 and 2016-07-31:</p> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><th>Title / language</th><th>Quantity</th></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Culture Libre / French</a></td><td align="right">3</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Fri kultur / Norwegian</a></td><td align="right">7</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">Free Culture / English</a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The books are available both from Lulu.com and from large book +stores like Amazon and Barnes&Noble. Most revenue, around $10 per +book, is sent to the Creative Commons project when the book is sold +directly by Lulu.com. The other channels give less revenue. The +summary from Lulu tell me 10 books was sold via the Amazon channel, 10 +via Ingram (what is this?) and 4 directly by Lulu. And Lulu.com tells +me that the revenue sent so far this year is USD $101.42. No idea +what kind of sales numbers to expect, so I do not know if that is a +good amount of sales for a 10 year old book or not. But it make me +happy that the buyers find the book, and I hope they enjoy reading it +as much as I did.</p> + +<p>The ebook edition is available for free from +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Github</a>.</p> + +<p>If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.</p> - Book cover for the Free Culture book finally done - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Book_cover_for_the_Free_Culture_book_finally_done.html - Thu, 3 Sep 2015 21:00:00 +0200 - <p>Creating a good looking book cover proved harder than I expected. -I wanted to create a cover looking similar to the original cover of -the -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Free -Culture</a> book we are translating to Norwegian, and I wanted it in -vector format for high resolution printing. But my inkscape knowledge -were not nearly good enough to pull that off. - -<p>But thanks to the great inkscape community, I was able to wrap up -the cover yesterday evening. I asked on the -<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23inkscape">#inkscape IRC channel</a> -on Freenode for help and clues, and Marc Jeanmougin (Mc-) volunteered -to try to recreate it based on the PDF of the cover from the HTML -version. Not only did he create a -<a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/copy1.svg ">SVG document with -the original and his vector version side by side</a>, he even provided -an <a href="https://marc.jeanmougin.fr/share/out-1.ogv">instruction -video</a> explaining how he did it</a>. But the instruction video is -not easy to follow for an untrained inkscape user. The video is a -recording on how he did it, and he is obviously very experienced as -the menu selections are very quick and he mentioned on IRC that he did -use some keyboard shortcuts that can't be seen on the video, but it -give a good idea about the inkscape operations to use to create the -stripes with the embossed copyright sign in the center.</p> - -<p>I took his SVG file, copied the vector image and re-sized it to fit -on the cover I was drawing. I am happy with the end result, and the -current english version look like this:</p> - -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-09-03-free-culture-cover.png" width="70%" align="center"/> - -<p>I am not quite sure about the text on the back, but guess it will -do. I picked three quotes from the official site for the book, and -hope it will work to trigger the interest of potential readers. The -Norwegian cover will look the same, but with the texts and bar code -replaced with the Norwegian version.</p> - -<p>The book is very close to being ready for publication, and I expect -to upload the final draft to Lulu in the next few days and order a -final proof reading copy to verify that everything look like it should -before allowing everyone to order their own copy of Free Culture, in -English or Norwegian Bokmål. I'm waiting to give the the productive -proof readers a chance to complete their work.</p> + Vitenskapen tar som vanlig feil igjen - relativt feil + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html + Mon, 1 Aug 2016 16:00:00 +0200 + <p>For mange år siden leste jeg en klassisk tekst som gjorde såpass +inntrykk på meg at jeg husker den fortsatt, flere år senere, og bruker +argumentene fra den stadig vekk. Teksten var «The Relativity of +Wrong» som Isaac Asimov publiserte i Skeptical Inquirer i 1989. Den +gir litt perspektiv rundt formidlingen av vitenskapelige resultater. +Jeg har hatt lyst til å kunne dele den også med folk som ikke +behersker engelsk så godt, som barn og noen av mine eldre slektninger, +og har savnet å ha den tilgjengelig på norsk. For to uker siden tok +jeg meg sammen og kontaktet Asbjørn Dyrendal i foreningen Skepsis om +de var interessert i å publisere en norsk utgave på bloggen sin, og da +han var positiv tok jeg kontakt med Skeptical Inquirer og spurte om +det var greit for dem. I løpet av noen dager fikk vi tilbakemelding +fra Barry Karr hos The Skeptical Inquirer som hadde sjekket og fått OK +fra Robyn Asimov som representerte arvingene i Asmiov-familien og gikk +igang med oversettingen.</p> + +<p>Resultatet, <a href="http://www.skepsis.no/?p=1617">«Relativt +feil»</a>, ble publisert på skepsis-bloggen for noen minutter siden. +Jeg anbefaler deg på det varmeste å lese denne teksten og dele den med +dine venner.</p> + +<p>For å håndtere oversettelsen og sikre at original og oversettelse +var i sync brukte vi git, po4a, GNU make og Transifex. Det hele +fungerte utmerket og gjorde det enkelt å dele tekstene og jobbe sammen +om finpuss på formuleringene. Hadde hosted.weblate.org latt meg +opprette nye prosjekter selv i stedet for å måtte kontakte +administratoren der, så hadde jeg brukt weblate i stedet.</p> - In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book! - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html - Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:10:00 +0200 - <p>Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian -translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few -years arrived in the mail. I had to fake a cover to get the interior -printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is -irrelevant at this point. I asked for a printed pocket book version -to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how -good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the -pocket book version would look like. After receiving the 500 page -pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too -small for this book. I believe the book is too thick, and several -tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that -small page sizes. I believe I will go with the 5.5x8.5 inch size -instead. A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the -URLs look in print. They are very hard to read in the colophon page. -The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper. I need to -change the color of links somehow to look better. But there is a -printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)</p> - -<p>Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the -store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof -readers before the book is ready for proper printing. Cover artists -willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector -file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as -a graphics designer are mostly missing.</p> + Techno TV broadcasting live across Norway and the Internet (#debconf16, #nuug) on @frikanalen + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html + Mon, 1 Aug 2016 10:30:00 +0200 + <p>Did you know there is a TV channel broadcasting talks from DebConf +16 across an entire country? Or that there is a TV channel +broadcasting talks by or about +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625529/">Linus Torvalds</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599/">Tor</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/624019/">OpenID</A>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625624/">Common Lisp</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625446/">Civic Tech</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625090/">EFF founder John Barlow</a>, +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625432/">how to make 3D +printer electronics</a> and many more fascinating topics? It works +using only free software (all of it +<a href="http://github.com/Frikanalen">available from Github</a>), and +is administrated using a web browser and a web API.</p> + +<p>The TV channel is the Norwegian open channel +<a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a>, and I am involved +via <a href="https://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG member association</a> in +running and developing the software for the channel. The channel is +organised as a member organisation where its members can upload and +broadcast what they want (think of it as Youtube for national +broadcasting television). Individuals can broadcast too. The time +slots are handled on a first come, first serve basis. Because the +channel have almost no viewers and very few active members, we can +experiment with TV technology without too much flack when we make +mistakes. And thanks to the few active members, most of the slots on +the schedule are free. I see this as an opportunity to spread +knowledge about technology and free software, and have a script I run +regularly to fill up all the open slots the next few days with +technology related video. The end result is a channel I like to +describe as Techno TV - filled with interesting talks and +presentations.</p> + +<p>It is available on channel 50 on the Norwegian national digital TV +network (RiksTV). It is also available as a multicast stream on +Uninett. And finally, it is available as +<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/">a WebM unicast stream</a> from +Frikanalen and NUUG. Check it out. :)</p> - First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html - Sun, 9 Aug 2015 10:15:00 +0200 - <p>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is -mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text -on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated -<a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> based version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> book by Lawrence -Lessig. I've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to -give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because -its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very -helpful in solving my formatting challenges.</p> - -<p>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made -<a href="http://www.lulu.com/">Lulu.com</a> complain after uploading, -and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a -proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but -should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.</p> - -<p>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using -<a href="http://www.createspace.com/">CreateSpace</a>, but ended up -using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem -to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a -similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please -let me know if I am missing out on something here.</p> - -<p>But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for -pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, Digest -(5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches / -15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a -smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was -pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand, -but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to -bring the prize down further.</p> - -<p>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My -inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original -cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about -the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the -description on web based book stores). I would love help with this, -if you are willing to license the art source and final version using -the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up -to the task.</p> - -<p>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on -paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current -status can as usual be found on -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a> -in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the -PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the -dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I -expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub -formatting.</p> - -<p>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or -discover translations that should be improved. The final proof -reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished -result in a few months.</p> + Unlocking HTC Desire HD on Linux using unruu and fastboot + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html + Thu, 7 Jul 2016 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>Yesterday, I tried to unlock a HTC Desire HD phone, and it proved +to be a slight challenge. Here is the recipe if I ever need to do it +again. It all started by me wanting to try the recipe to set up +<a href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy">an +hardened Android installation</a> from the Tor project blog on a +device I had access to. It is a old mobile phone with a broken +microphone The initial idea had been to just +<a href="http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_ace">install +CyanogenMod on it</a>, but did not quite find time to start on it +until a few days ago.</p> + +<p>The unlock process is supposed to be simple: (1) Boot into the boot +loader (press volume down and power at the same time), (2) select +'fastboot' before (3) connecting the device via USB to a Linux +machine, (4) request the device identifier token by running 'fastboot +oem get_identifier_token', (5) request the device unlocking key using +the <a href="http://www.htcdev.com/bootloader/">HTC developer web +site</a> and unlock the phone using the key file emailed to you.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, this only work fi you have hboot version 2.00.0029 +or newer, and the device I was working on had 2.00.0027. This +apparently can be easily fixed by downloading a Windows program and +running it on your Windows machine, if you accept the terms Microsoft +require you to accept to use Windows - which I do not. So I had to +come up with a different approach. I got a lot of help from AndyCap +on #nuug, and would not have been able to get this working without +him.</p> + +<p>First I needed to extract the hboot firmware from +<a href="http://www.htcdev.com/ruu/PD9810000_Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029.exe">the +windows binary for HTC Desire HD</a> downloaded as 'the RUU' from HTC. +For this there is is <a href="https://github.com/kmdm/unruu/">a github +project named unruu</a> using libunshield. The unshield tool did not +recognise the file format, but unruu worked and extracted rom.zip, +containing the new hboot firmware and a text file describing which +devices it would work for.</p> + +<p>Next, I needed to get the new firmware into the device. For this I +followed some instructions +<a href="http://www.htc1guru.com/2013/09/new-ruu-zips-posted/">available +from HTC1Guru.com</a>, and ran these commands as root on a Linux +machine with Debian testing:</p> + +<p><pre> +adb reboot-bootloader +fastboot oem rebootRUU +fastboot flash zip rom.zip +fastboot flash zip rom.zip +fastboot reboot +</pre></p> + +<p>The flash command apparently need to be done twice to take effect, +as the first is just preparations and the second one do the flashing. +The adb command is just to get to the boot loader menu, so turning the +device on while holding volume down and the power button should work +too.</p> + +<p>With the new hboot version in place I could start following the +instructions on the HTC developer web site. I got the device token +like this:</p> + +<p><pre> +fastboot oem get_identifier_token 2>&1 | sed 's/(bootloader) //' +</pre> + +<p>And once I got the unlock code via email, I could use it like +this:</p> + +<p><pre> +fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin +</pre></p> + +<p>And with that final step in place, the phone was unlocked and I +could start stuffing the software of my own choosing into the device. +So far I only inserted a replacement recovery image to wipe the phone +before I start. We will see what happen next. Perhaps I should +install <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> on it. :)</p> - Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html - Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:10:00 +0200 - <p>I'm still working on the Norwegian version of the -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book by Lawrence -Lessig</a>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout. -One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the -original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes -chapter. Based on the -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/685063">feedback from the Debian -maintainer and the dblatex developer</a>, I came up with this recipe I -would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX -class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always -practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make -file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL -parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in -the generated LaTeX File.</p> - -<p>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes, -and add this text there:</p> + How to use the Signal app if you only have a land line (ie no mobile phone) + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html + Sun, 3 Jul 2016 14:20:00 +0200 + <p>For a while now, I have wanted to test +<a href="https://whispersystems.org/">the Signal app</a>, as it is +said to provide end to end encrypted communication and several of my +friends and family are already using it. As I by choice do not own a +mobile phone, this proved to be harder than expected. And I wanted to +have the source of the client and know that it was the code used on my +machine. But yesterday I managed to get it working. I used the +Github source, compared it to the source in +<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signal-private-messenger/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk?hl=en-US">the +Signal Chrome app</a> available from the Chrome web store, applied +patches to use the production Signal servers, started the app and +asked for the hidden "register without a smart phone" form. Here is +the recipe how I did it.</p> + +<p>First, I fetched the Signal desktop source from Github, using <pre> -&lt;?latex \theendnotes ?&gt; +git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git </pre> -<p>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the -code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the -generated LaTeX document, with content like this:</p> +<p>Next, I patched the source to use the production servers, to be +able to talk to other Signal users:</p> <pre> -&lt;?xml version='1.0'?&gt; -&lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'&gt; - &lt;xsl:param name="latex.begindocument"&gt; - &lt;xsl:text&gt; -\usepackage{endnotes} -\let\footnote=\endnote -\def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip } -\begin{document} - &lt;/xsl:text&gt; - &lt;/xsl:param&gt; -&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt; +cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p0 +diff -ur ./js/background.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js +--- ./js/background.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 ++++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js 2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 +@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ + }); + }); + +- var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org'; +- var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com'; ++ var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org:4433'; ++ var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com'; + var messageReceiver; + window.getSocketStatus = function() { + if (messageReceiver) { +diff -ur ./js/expire.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js +--- ./js/expire.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 ++++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 +@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ + ;(function() { + 'use strict'; +- var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0; ++ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 1474492690000; + + window.extension = window.extension || {}; + +EOF </pre> -<p>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like -this:</p> +<p>The first part is changing the servers, and the second is updating +an expiration timestamp. This timestamp need to be updated regularly. +It is set 90 days in the future by the build process (Gruntfile.js). +The value is seconds since 1970 times 1000, as far as I can tell.</p> + +<p>Based on a tip and good help from the #nuug IRC channel, I wrote a +script to launch Signal in Chromium.</p> <pre> -dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml +#!/bin/sh +cd $(dirname $0) +mkdir -p userdata +exec chromium \ + --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \ + --user-data-dir=`pwd`/userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd` </pre> -<p>The end result can be seen on github, where -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">my -book project</a> is located.</p> +<p> The script start the app and configure Chromium to use the Tor +SOCKS5 proxy to make sure those controlling the Signal servers (today +Amazon and Whisper Systems) as well as those listening on the lines +will have a harder time location my laptop based on the Signal +connections if they use source IP address.</p> + +<p>When the script starts, one need to follow the instructions under +"Standalone Registration" in the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the git +repository. I right clicked on the Signal window to get up the +Chromium debugging tool, visited the 'Console' tab and wrote +'extension.install("standalone")' on the console prompt to get the +registration form. Then I entered by land line phone number and +pressed 'Call'. 5 seconds later the phone rang and a robot voice +repeated the verification code three times. After entering the number +into the verification code field in the form, I could start using +Signal from my laptop. + +<p>As far as I can tell, The Signal app will leak who is talking to +whom and thus who know who to those controlling the central server, +but such leakage is hard to avoid with a centrally controlled server +setup. It is something to keep in mind when using Signal - the +content of your chats are harder to intercept, but the meta data +exposing your contact network is available to people you do not know. +So better than many options, but not great. And sadly the usage is +connected to my land line, thus allowing those controlling the server +to associate it to my home and person. I would prefer it if only +those I knew could tell who I was on Signal. There are options +avoiding such information leakage, but most of my friends are not +using them, so I am stuck with Signal for now.</p> - Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html - Thu, 9 Jul 2015 11:40:00 +0200 - <p>I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys -<a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/">WhatDoTheyKnow</a>. -Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/NUUG_lanserer_innsynstjenesten_Mimes_Br_nn.shtml">annonsert -av NUUG</a> via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. -Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få -på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært -primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og -oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, -og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før -ferietiden slo inn for fullt.</p> - -<p>Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der -tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke -til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, -før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se -om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende -inn via Mimes brønn.</p> - -<p>Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, -anbefaler jeg deg å se -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625321">TED-foredraget til -Heather Brook</a> om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære -hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende -historie.</p> + The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html + Mon, 6 Jun 2016 12:50:00 +0200 + <p>When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">which +multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats / +MIME types</a>, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types +the various players claimed support for. The range was from 55 to 130 +MIME types. I suspect most media formats are supported by all +players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in +their desktop files. There are probably also some bogus MIME types +listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.</p> + +<p>Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of +the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files, +and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my +favorite media player VLC. The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable +yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">Multimedia +player MIME type support status</a> Debian wiki page.</p> + +<p>The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? It is VLC, followed by +totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and +kmplayer. I am sure some of the other players desktop files support +several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc, +toten and parole.</p> + +<p>A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as +supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their +desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl, +audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg, +video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska, +video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo. Personally I find +it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media +players in Debian. As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both +formats.</p> - MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html - Tue, 7 Jul 2015 09:50:00 +0200 - <p>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_gj_r_at_NRK_kan_distribuere_H_264_video_uten_patentavtale_med_MPEG_LA_.html">why -they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with -the MPEG LA</a>, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA -if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it -does not.</p> - -<p>I started by asking for more information about the various -licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK -did not need a license for streaming H.264 video: - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>According to -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf">a -MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02</a>, there is no charge when -using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me. What -exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?</p> - -<p>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a -PDF named -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf">AVC -Patent Portfolio License Briefing</a>, which states this about the -fees:</p> - -<ul> - <li>Where End User pays for AVC Video - <ul> - <li>Subscription (not limited by title) – 100,000 or fewer - subscribers/yr = no royalty; &gt; 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = - $25,000; &gt;250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; &gt;500,000 to - 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; &gt;1M subscribers/yr = $100,000</li> - - <li>Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; &gt;12 minutes in - length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title</li> - </ul></li> - - <li>Where remuneration is from other sources - <ul> - <li>Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or - (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for &gt; 100,000 HH rising to - maximum $10,000 for &gt;1,000,000 HH</li> - - <li>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) - – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License</li> - </ul></li> -</ul> - -<p>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the -categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into -one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source -explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in -the license terms for AVC/H.264?</p> - -<p>Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a -"video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no -subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to -get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent -Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get -access to personalized services?</p> - -<p>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the -Internet.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate -with the MPEG LA:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We -appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.</p> - -<p>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License -which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of -the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10). Specifically, coverage is -provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264 -technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and -video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for -paying the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally -defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over -the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service -which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such -AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would -receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC -Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC -License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a -free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free -AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given -access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then -no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a -specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such -video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC -Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such -content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers -Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would -be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.</p> - -<p>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free -through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then -such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be -subject to the applicable royalties.</p> - -<p>For your reference, I have attached -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2015-07-07-mpegla.pdf">a -.pdf copy of the AVC License</a>. You will find the relevant -sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through -2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4. -You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video, -Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet -Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License. Please note that the -electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot -be used for execution.</p> - -<p>I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional -questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel -free to contact me directly.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing -that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made -me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong. -But I still had a few questions:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -<p>I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get -a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The -reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright -clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses -typically look similar to this: - -<p><blockquote> - This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for - the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode - video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b) - decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a - personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was - obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No - license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional - information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C. -</blockquote></p> - -<p>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into -an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if -there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will -differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is -MPEG LAs view on this?</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for -non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by -clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License -reads:</p> - -<p>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR -THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT -RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC -STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED -BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM -A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED -OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE -OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM</p> - -<p>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the -personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included -with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the -product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become -licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to -deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet -Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC -Product as their own branded AVC Product).</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC -Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free -Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to -conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were -payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a -Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their -own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced -above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC -Products by the licensed supplier.</p> - -<p>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in -countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including -Norway.</p> - -<p>I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further -assistance, just let me know.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I -asked for more information:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly, -you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent -Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the -list available from &lt;URL: -<a href="http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx</a> -&gt; incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents -were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi -Electric Corporation expired in 2012. Which patents are you referring -to that are relevant for Norway?</p> - -</blockquote></p> - -<p>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents -in that list:</p> - -<p><blockquote> - -<p>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio -Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012. Therefore, where AVC -Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no -royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License. -With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC -Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before -the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify -that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the -country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.</p> - -<p>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in -a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example, -Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need -coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are -initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio -Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to -conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a -country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell -such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent -Portfolio Patents.</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe -Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution -license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for -anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a -Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the -content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where -none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the -copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because -the patents are not valid in Norway?</p> + A program should be able to open its own files on Linux + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html + Sun, 5 Jun 2016 08:30:00 +0200 + <p>Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I +decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a +talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine. I +wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed +the day before I would give the talk. The next day I took a plane to +the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I +started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover +that kpresenter refused to load its own data file. I cursed a bit and +started making the slides again from memory, to have something to +present when I arrived. I tested that the saved files could be +loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued. I continued to polish the +slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer +be loaded into kpresenter. In the end I had to rewrite the slides +three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and +shorter. After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem &ndash; +kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand. +Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great +program to make slides. The point I'm trying to make is that we +expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is +embarrassing to its developers if it can't.</p> + +<p>Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data +files from the desktop file browser? It is not a uncommon problem. A +while back I discovered that the screencast recorder +gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file +browser would refuse to open. No video player claimed to understand +such file. I tracked down the cause being <tt>file --mime-type</tt> +returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had +installed listed as a MIME type they would understand. I asked for +<a href="http://bugs.gw.com/view.php?id=382">file to change its +behavour</a> and use the MIME type video/ogg instead. I also asked +several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give +the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files. After a +while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the +output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.</p> + +<p>But history repeats itself. A few days ago I tested the music +system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file +browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files +(*.rg). I've reported <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/825993">the +rosegarden problem to BTS</a> and a fix is commited to git and will be +included in the next upload. To increase the chance of me remembering +how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files +from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.</p> + +<p>The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types. +There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file. The output from +<tt>file --mime-type</tt> mentioned above, and the content of the +shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/). The file MIME +type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this +information is collected from +<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/">the +desktop files</a> available in /usr/share/applications/. If there is +one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is +activated when asking to open a given file. If there are more, one +can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and +selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar. In general +this work well. But it depend on each program picking a good MIME +type (preferably +<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">a +MIME type registered with IANA</a>), file and/or the shared MIME +registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME +type in its list of supported MIME types.</p> + +<p>The <tt>/usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml</tt> entry for +<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec">the +Shared MIME database</a> look like this:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; +&lt;mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"&gt; + &lt;mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden"&gt; + &lt;sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/&gt; + &lt;comment&gt;Rosegarden project file&lt;/comment&gt; + &lt;glob pattern="*.rg"/&gt; + &lt;/mime-type&gt; +&lt;/mime-info&gt; +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip +(it is a gzipped XML file). Note, it is much better to use an +official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own +unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.</p> + +<p>The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list +audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the +file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +% grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop +MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi; +X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition +% +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the +MimeType= line.</p> + +<p>If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when +selected from the file browser, please check out the output from +<tt>file --mime-type</tt> for the file, ensure the file ending and +MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check +that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming +support for this MIME type. If not, please report a bug to have it +fixed. :)</p> - New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html - Sun, 5 Jul 2015 21:40:00 +0200 - <p>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my -need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to -thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of -fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to -do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the -machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it -with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live -for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did -not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts -using <a href="http://www.francecrans.com/">FrancEcrans</a>, but it -might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.</p> - -<p>One tip I got was to use the -<a href="https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb">Skinflint</a> web service to -compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than -prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar -keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not -very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook -keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further. - -<p>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the -newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons -(which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with -Debian Sid/Unstable according to -<a href="http://www.corsac.net/X250/">Corsac.net</a>. The reports I -got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard -is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good. -Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250 -keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I -keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to -replace it. I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk -activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I'm -also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit -noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian -Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.</p> - -<p>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was -<a href="http://pro-star.com">Pro-Star</a>, another was -<a href="http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/">Libreboot</a>. -The latter look very attractive to me.</p> - -<p>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot -as I keep looking for a replacement.</p> - -<p>Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the -<a href="">lapstore.de</a> web shop for used laptops. They got several -different -<a href="http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/">old -thinkpad X models</a>, and provide one year warranty.</p> + Tor - from its creators mouth 11 years ago + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html + Sat, 28 May 2016 14:20:00 +0200 + <p>A little more than 11 years ago, one of the creators of Tor, and +the current President of <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">the Tor +project</a>, Roger Dingledine, gave a talk for the members of the +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User group</a> (NUUG). A +video of the talk was recorded, and today, thanks to the great help +from David Noble, I finally was able to publish the video of the talk +on Frikanalen, the Norwegian open channel TV station where NUUG +currently publishes its talks. You can +<a href="http://frikanalen.no/se">watch the live stream using a web +browser</a> with WebM support, or check out the recording on the video +on demand page for the talk +"<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599">Tor: Anonymous +communication for the US Department of Defence...and you.</a>".</p> + +<p>Here is the video included for those of you using browsers with +HTML video and Ogg Theora support:</p> + +<p><video width="70%" poster="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/large_thumb/20050421-tor-frikanalen.jpg" controls> + <source src="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/theora/20050421-tor-frikanalen.ogv" type="video/ogg"/> +</video></p> + +<p>I guess the gist of the talk can be summarised quite simply: If you +want to help the military in USA (and everyone else), use Tor. :)</p>