X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/358356cb3b7e8202c3284503f772fbab7ed66323..eb8ff3442e46d34cea37644170167d445c5cb3b4:/blog/archive/2016/03/03.rss diff --git a/blog/archive/2016/03/03.rss b/blog/archive/2016/03/03.rss index 464ab5e3c7..0b85ed8b0a 100644 --- a/blog/archive/2016/03/03.rss +++ b/blog/archive/2016/03/03.rss @@ -6,6 +6,166 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Full battery stats collector is now available in Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Full_battery_stats_collector_is_now_available_in_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Full_battery_stats_collector_is_now_available_in_Debian.html + Wed, 23 Mar 2016 22:10:00 +0100 + <p>Since this morning, the battery-stats package in Debian include an +extended collector that will collect the complete battery history for +later processing and graphing. The original collector store the +battery level as percentage of last full level, while the new +collector also record battery vendor, model, serial number, design +full level, last full level and current battery level. This make it +possible to predict the lifetime of the battery as well as visualise +the energy flow when the battery is charging or discharging.</p> + +<p>The new tools are available in <tt>/usr/share/battery-stats/</tt> +in the version 0.5.1 package in unstable. Get the new battery level graph +and lifetime prediction by running: + +<p><pre> +/usr/share/battery-stats/battery-stats-graph /var/log/battery-stats.csv +</pre></p> + +<p>Or select the 'Battery Level Graph' from your application menu.</p> + +<p>The flow in/out of the battery can be seen by running (no menu +entry yet):</p> + +<p><pre> +/usr/share/battery-stats/battery-stats-graph-flow +</pre></p> + +<p>I'm not quite happy with the way the data is visualised, at least +when there are few data points. The graphs look a bit better with a +few years of data.</p> + +<p>A while back one important feature I use in the battery stats +collector broke in Debian. The scripts in +<tt>/usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/</tt> were no longer executed. I +suspect it happened when Jessie started using systemd, but I do not +know. The issue is reported as +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/818649">bug #818649</a> against +pm-utils. I managed to work around it by adding an udev rule to call +the collector script every time the power connector is connected and +disconnected. With this fix in place it was finally time to make a +new release of the package, and get it into Debian.</p> + +<p>If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please +check out the +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a> +in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on +Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>. +As always, patches are very welcome.</p> + + + + + UsingQR - "Electronic" paper invoices using JSON and QR codes + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/UsingQR____Electronic__paper_invoices_using_JSON_and_QR_codes.html + Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:40:00 +0100 + <p>Back in 2013 I proposed +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Electronic__paper_invoices___using_vCard_in_a_QR_code.html">a +way to make paper and PDF invoices easier to process electronically by +adding a QR code with the key information about the invoice</a>. I +suggested using vCard field definition, to get some standard format +for name and address, but any format would work. I did not do +anything about the proposal, but hoped someone one day would make +something like it. It would make it possible to efficiently send +machine readable invoices directly between seller and buyer.</p> + +<p>This was the background when I came across a proposal and +specification from the web based accounting and invoicing supplier +<a href="http://www.visma.com/">Visma</a> in Sweden called +<a href="http://usingqr.com/">UsingQR</a>. Their PDF invoices contain +a QR code with the key information of the invoice in JSON format. +This is the typical content of a QR code following the UsingQR +specification (based on a real world example, some numbers replaced to +get a more bogus entry). I've reformatted the JSON to make it easier +to read. Normally this is all on one long line:</p> + +<p><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-03-19-qr-invoice.png" align="right"><pre> +{ + "vh":500.00, + "vm":0, + "vl":0, + "uqr":1, + "tp":1, + "nme":"Din Leverandør", + "cc":"NO", + "cid":"997912345 MVA", + "iref":"12300001", + "idt":"20151022", + "ddt":"20151105", + "due":2500.0000, + "cur":"NOK", + "pt":"BBAN", + "acc":"17202612345", + "bc":"BIENNOK1", + "adr":"0313 OSLO" +} +</pre></p> + +</p>The interpretation of the fields can be found in the +<a href="http://usingqr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/UsingQR_specification1.pdf">format +specification</a> (revision 2 from june 2014). The format seem to +have most of the information needed to handle accounting and payment +of invoices, at least the fields I have needed so far here in +Norway.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the site and document do not mention anything about +the patent, trademark and copyright status of the format and the +specification. Because of this, I asked the people behind it back in +November to clarify. Ann-Christine Savlid (ann-christine.savlid (at) +visma.com) replied that Visma had not applied for patent or trademark +protection for this format, and that there were no copyright based +usage limitations for the format. I urged her to make sure this was +explicitly written on the web pages and in the specification, but +unfortunately this has not happened yet. So I guess if there is +submarine patents, hidden trademarks or a will to sue for copyright +infringements, those starting to use the UsingQR format might be at +risk, but if this happen there is some legal defense in the fact that +the people behind the format claimed it was safe to do so. At least +with patents, there is always +<a href="http://www.paperspecs.com/paper-news/beware-the-qr-code-patent-trap/">a +chance of getting sued...</a></p> + +<p>I also asked if they planned to maintain the format in an +independent standard organization to give others more confidence that +they would participate in the standardization process on equal terms +with Visma, but they had no immediate plans for this. Their plan was +to work with banks to try to get more users of the format, and +evaluate the way forward if the format proved to be popular. I hope +they conclude that using an open standard organisation like +<a href="http://www.ietf.org/">IETF</a> is the correct place to +maintain such specification.</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2016-03-20</strong>: Via Twitter I became aware of +<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11319492">some comments +about this blog post</a> that had several useful links and references to +similar systems. In the Czech republic, the Czech Banking Association +standard #26, with short name SPAYD, uses QR codes with payment +information. More information is available from the Wikipedia page on +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Payment_Descriptor">Short +Payment Descriptor</a>. And in Germany, there is a system named +<a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/">BezahlCode</a>, +(<a href="http://www.bezahlcode.de/wp-content/uploads/BezahlCode_TechDok.pdf">specification +v1.8 2013-12-05 available as PDF</a>), which uses QR codes with +URL-like formatting using "bank:" as the URI schema/protocol to +provide the payment information. There is also the +<a href="http://www.ferd-net.de/front_content.php?idcat=231">ZUGFeRD</a> +file format that perhaps could be transfered using QR codes, but I am +not sure if it is done already. Last, in Bolivia there are reports +that tax information since november 2014 need to be printed in QR +format on invoices. I have not been able to track down a +specification for this format, because of my limited language skill +sets.</p> + + + Making battery measurements a little easier in Debian http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Making_battery_measurements_a_little_easier_in_Debian.html