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                <title>Petter Reinholdtsen - Entries from December 2010</title>
                <description>Entries from December 2010</description>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>

        
        <item>
                <title>Student group continue the work on my Reprap 3D printer</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Student_group_continue_the_work_on_my_Reprap_3D_printer.html</link>        
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Student_group_continue_the_work_on_my_Reprap_3D_printer.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Thu, 9 Dec 2010 19:30:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>
&lt;p&gt;A few days ago, I was introduces to some students in the robot
student assosiation &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.robotica.no/&quot;&gt;Robotica
Osloensis&lt;/a&gt; at the University of Oslo where I work, who planned to
get their own 3D printer.  They wanted to learn from me based on my
work in the area.  After having a short lunch meeting with them, I
offered them to borrow my reprap kit, as I never had time to complete
the build and this seem unlike to change any time soon.  I look
forward to see how this goes.  This monday their volunteer driver
picked up my kit and drove it to their lab, and tomorrow I am told the
last exam is over so they can start work on getting the 3D printer
operational.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The robotic group have already build several robots on their own,
and seem capable of getting the reprap operational.  I really look
forward to being able to print all the cool 3D designs published on
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thingiverse.com/&quot;&gt;Thingiverse&lt;/a&gt;.  I even got
some 3D scans I got made during Dagen@IFI when one of the groups at
the computer science department at the university demonstrated their
very cool 3D scanner.&lt;/p&gt;
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                <title>Martin Bekkelund: En stille bønn om Datalagringsdirektivet</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Martin_Bekkelund__En_stille_b__nn_om_Datalagringsdirektivet.html</link>        
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Martin_Bekkelund__En_stille_b__nn_om_Datalagringsdirektivet.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Thu, 9 Dec 2010 21:25:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bekkelund.net/&quot;&gt;Martin Bekkelund&lt;/a&gt; ved
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.friprog.no/&quot;&gt;friprog-senteret&lt;/a&gt; har skrevet
følgende
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bekkelund.net/2010/12/09/en-stille-bonn/&quot;&gt;korte
oppsummering&lt;/a&gt; rundt datalagringsdirektivet, som jeg videreformidler
her.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Det pågår i disse dager en intens diskusjon om
innføring av Datalagringsdirektivet (&lt;acronym
title=&quot;Datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;DLD&lt;/acronym&gt;) i norsk rett. Kanskje
har du gjort deg opp en mening, kanskje er du usikker. I begge
tilfeller ber jeg deg lese videre.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Samtlige fagmiljøer, både i Norge og EU, har konkludert med at
&lt;acronym title=&quot;Datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;DLD&lt;/acronym&gt; ikke bør
innføres på nåværende tidspunkt. Den tekniske kvaliteten på direktivet
er dårlig, det griper uforholdsmessig inn i personvernet, det har
store mangler og viktige spørsmål som hvem som skal ha tilgang og
hvordan data skal lagres er fortsatt uavklart.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://ikt-norge.no/norge-kan-slippe-datalagringsdirektivet/&quot;&gt;EU-ekspertene sier&lt;/a&gt; at konsekvensene av å benytte vetoretten er minimale&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.regjeringen.no/pages/2281080/Deninternasjonalejuristkommisjon.pdf&quot;&gt;Juristene påpeker&lt;/a&gt; at direktivet er i strid med EMK&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/12/06/kultur/debatt/kronikk/dld/personvern/14594699/&quot;&gt;Datatilsynet sier&lt;/a&gt; direktivet får store konsekvenser for personvernet og at direktivet er irreversibelt&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bekkelund.net/?s=dld&quot;&gt;Teknologene sier&lt;/a&gt; at sikker lagring ikke er mulig, at det er svært enkelt å omgå og mulig å manipulere data og produsere falske beviser&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.regjeringen.no/pages/2281080/NJ_247460_1_P.pdf&quot;&gt;Pressen sier&lt;/a&gt; nei av hensyn til kildevernet&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Det er store &lt;a href=&quot;http://tetzschner.blogspot.com/2010/03/den-tyske-forfatningsdomstol.html&quot;&gt;interne&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://stoppdld.no/2010/03/02/datalagring-stoppet-av-tysk-forfatningsdomstol/&quot;&gt;stridigheter&lt;/a&gt; i EU. Blant annet har den tyske forfatningsdomstolen funnet at måten &lt;acronym title=&quot;Datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;DLD&lt;/acronym&gt; er innført på er i strid med tysk grunnlov&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alle de store &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bekkelund.net/2010/12/08/lokasjonsdata-og-datalagringsdirektivet/&quot;&gt;operatørene og tilbyderne sier nei&lt;/a&gt;, av tekniske og personvernmessige årsaker&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Jeg liker å tro at jeg er en hyggelig fyr. Jeg har et rent
rulleblad, og med unntak av to fartsbøter har jeg aldri vært en byrde
for samfunnet. Det akter jeg å fortsette med. Det er mange som meg,
lovlydige, pliktoppfyllende borgere som aldri vil utgjøre en trussel
mot noe som helst. Vi synes derfor det er trist og sårende at all vår
atferd skal overvåkes døgnkontinuerlig.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Understøttet av faglige vurderinger kan du trygt si nei til
&lt;acronym title=&quot;Datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;DLD&lt;/acronym&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bekkelund.net/kontakt/&quot;&gt;Ta kontakt med meg&lt;/a&gt;
hvis du har spørsmål om &lt;acronym
title=&quot;Datalagringsdirektivet&quot;&gt;DLD&lt;/acronym&gt;, uansett hva det måtte
gjelde.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class=&quot;info&quot;&gt;Denne teksten er å anse som &lt;a
href=&quot;http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Public
Domain&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Spre den videre til alle som kan ha nytte av
den!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Siste &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nettavisen.no/it/article3043918.ece&quot;&gt;melding
fra Nettavisen&lt;/a&gt; er at regjeringen planlegger å fremme sitt forslag
til implementering av datalagringsdirektivet i morgen, i ly av
fredprisutdelingen for å få minst mulig pressedekning om saken.  Vi
får snart se om det stemmer.&lt;/p&gt;
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                <title>Pornoskannerne på flyplassene bedrer visst ikke sikkerheten</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Pornoskannerne_p___flyplassene_bedrer_visst_ikke_sikkerheten.html</link>        
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                <pubDate>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:45:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>
&lt;p&gt;Via &lt;a href=&quot;http://webmink.com/2010/12/10/links-for-2010-12-10/&quot;&gt;en
blogpost fra Simon Phipps i går&lt;/a&gt;, fant jeg en referanse til
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/9/exposed-tsas-x-rated-scanner-fraud/&quot;&gt;en
artikkel i Washington Times&lt;/a&gt; som igjen refererer til en artikkel i
det fagfellevurderte tidsskriftet Journal of Transportation Security
med tittelen
&quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://springerlink.com/content/g6620thk08679160/fulltext.html&quot;&gt;An
evaluation of airport x-ray backscatter units based on image
characteristics&lt;/a&gt;&quot; som enkelt konstaterer at
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/?a=2389&amp;c=124&quot;&gt;pornoscannerne&lt;/a&gt;
som kler av reisende på flyplasser ikke er i stand til å avsløre det
produsenten og amerikanske myndigheter sier de skal avsløre.  Kort
sagt, de bedrer ikke sikkerheten.  Reisende må altså la ansatte på
flyplasser &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thousandsstandingaround.org/&quot;&gt;se dem
nakne eller la seg beføle i skrittet&lt;/a&gt; uten grunn.  Jeg vil
fortsette å nekte å bruke disse pornoskannerne, unngå flyplasser der
de er tatt i bruk, og reise med andre transportmidler enn fly hvis jeg
kan.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
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        <item>
                <title>Some thoughts on BitCoins</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html</link>        
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Some_thoughts_on_BitCoins.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 15:10:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>
&lt;p&gt;As I continue to explore
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bitcoin.org/&quot;&gt;BitCoin&lt;/a&gt;, I&#39;ve starting to wonder
what properties the system have, and how it will be affected by laws
and regulations here in Norway.  Here are some random notes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One interesting thing to note is that since the transactions are
verified using a peer to peer network, all details about a transaction
is known to everyone.  This means that if a BitCoin address has been
published like I did with mine in my initial post about BitCoin, it is
possible for everyone to see how many BitCoins have been transfered to
that address.  There is even a web service to look at the details for
all transactions.  There I can see that my address
&lt;a href=&quot;http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&quot;&gt;15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&lt;/a&gt;
have received 16.06 Bitcoin, the
&lt;a href=&quot;http://blockexplorer.com/address/1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3&quot;&gt;1LfdGnGuWkpSJgbQySxxCWhv8MHqvwst3&lt;/a&gt;
address of Simon Phipps have received 181.97 BitCoin and the address
&lt;a href=&quot;http://blockexplorer.com/address/1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt&quot;&gt;1MCwBbhNGp5hRm5rC1Aims2YFRe2SXPYKt&lt;/A&gt;
of EFF have received 2447.38 BitCoins so far.  Thank you to each and
every one of you that donated bitcoins to support my activity. The
fact that anyone can see how much money was transfered to a given
address make it more obvious why the BitCoin community recommend to
generate and hand out a new address for each transaction.  I&#39;m told
there is no way to track which addresses belong to a given person or
organisation without the person or organisation revealing it
themselves, as Simon, EFF and I have done.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In Norway, and in most other countries, there are laws and
regulations limiting how much money one can transfer across the border
without declaring it.  There are money laundering, tax and accounting
laws and regulations I would expect to apply to the use of BitCoin.
If the Skolelinux foundation
(&lt;a href=&quot;http://linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html&quot;&gt;SLX
Debian Labs&lt;/a&gt;) were to accept donations in BitCoin in addition to
normal bank transfers like EFF is doing, how should this be accounted?
Given that it is impossible to know if money can across the border or
not, should everything or nothing be declared?  What exchange rate
should be used when calculating taxes?  Would receivers have to pay
income tax if the foundation were to pay Skolelinux contributors in
BitCoin?  I have no idea, but it would be interesting to know.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For a currency to be useful and successful, it must be trusted and
accepted by a lot of users.  It must be possible to get easy access to
the currency (as a wage or using currency exchanges), and it must be
easy to spend it.  At the moment BitCoin seem fairly easy to get
access to, but there are very few places to spend it.  I am not really
a regular user of any of the vendor types currently accepting BitCoin,
so I wonder when my kind of shop would start accepting BitCoins.  I
would like to buy electronics, travels and subway tickets, not herbs
and books. :) The currency is young, and this will improve over time
if it become popular, but I suspect regular banks will start to lobby
to get BitCoin declared illegal if it become popular.  I&#39;m sure they
will claim it is helping fund terrorism and money laundering (which
probably would be true, as is any currency in existence), but I
believe the problems should be solved elsewhere and not by blaming
currencies.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The process of creating new BitCoins is called mining, and it is
CPU intensive process that depend on a bit of luck as well (as one is
competing against all the other miners currently spending CPU cycles
to see which one get the next lump of cash).  The &quot;winner&quot; get 50
BitCoin when this happen.  Yesterday I came across the obvious way to
join forces to increase ones changes of getting at least some coins,
by coordinating the work on mining BitCoins across several machines
and people, and sharing the result if one is lucky and get the 50
BitCoins.  Check out
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bluishcoder.co.nz/bitcoin-pool/&quot;&gt;BitCoin Pool&lt;/a&gt;
if this sounds interesting.  I have not had time to try to set up a
machine to participate there yet, but have seen that running on ones
own for a few days have not yield any BitCoins througth mining
yet.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Update 2010-12-15: Found an &lt;a
href=&quot;http://inertia.posterous.com/reply-to-the-underground-economist-why-bitcoi&quot;&gt;interesting
criticism&lt;/a&gt; of bitcoin.  Not quite sure how valid it is, but thought
it was interesting to read.  The arguments presented seem to be
equally valid for gold, which was used as a currency for many years.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
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                <title>How to test if a laptop is working with Linux</title>
                <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_if_a_laptop_is_working_with_Linux.html</link>        
                <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_test_if_a_laptop_is_working_with_Linux.html</guid>
                <pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:55:00 +0100</pubDate>
                <description>
&lt;p&gt;The last few days I have spent at work here at the &lt;a
href=&quot;http://www.uio.no/&quot;&gt;University of oslo&lt;/a&gt; testing if the new
batch of computers will work with Linux.  Every year for the last few
years the university have organized shared bid of a few thousand
computers, and this year HP won the bid.  Two different desktops and
five different laptops are on the list this year.  We in the UNIX
group want to know which one of these computers work well with RHEL
and Ubuntu, the two Linux distributions we currently handle at the
university.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My test method is simple, and I share it here to get feedback and
perhaps inspire others to test hardware as well.  To test, I PXE
install the OS version of choice, and log in as my normal user and run
a few applications and plug in selected pieces of hardware.  When
something fail, I make a note about this in the test matrix and move
on.  If I have some spare time I try to report the bug to the OS
vendor, but as I only have the machines for a short time, I rarely
have the time to do this for all the problems I find.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Anyway, to get to the point of this post.  Here is the simple tests
I perform on a new model.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is PXE installation working?  I&#39;m testing with RHEL6, Ubuntu Lucid
and Ubuntu Maverik at the moment.  If I feel like it, I also test with
RHEL5 and Debian Edu/Squeeze.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is X.org working?  If the graphical login screen show up after
installation, X.org is working.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is hardware accelerated OpenGL working?  Running glxgears (in
package mesa-utils on Ubuntu) and writing down the frames per second
reported by the program.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is sound working?  With Gnome and KDE, a sound is played when
logging in, and if I can hear this the test is successful.  If there
are several audio exits on the machine, I try them all and check if
the Gnome/KDE audio mixer can control where to send the sound.  I
normally test this by playing
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20101012-chef/ &quot;&gt;a HTML5
video&lt;/a&gt; in Firefox/Iceweasel.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is the USB subsystem working?  I test this by plugging in a USB
memory stick and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is the CD/DVD player working?  I test this by inserting any CD/DVD
I have lying around, and see if Gnome/KDE notices this.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is any built in camera working?  Test using cheese, and see if a
picture from the v4l device show up.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Is bluetooth working?  Use the Gnome/KDE browsing tool to see if
any bluetooth devices are discovered.  In my office, I normally see a
few.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;For laptops, is the SD or Compaq Flash reader working.  I have
memory modules lying around, and stick them in and see if Gnome/KDE
notice this.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;For laptops, is suspecd/hibernate working?  I&#39;m testing if the
special button work, and if the laptop continue to work after
resume.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;For laptops, is the extra buttons working, like audio level,
adjusting background light, switching on/off external video output,
switching on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc?  The set of buttons differ from
laptop to laptop, so I just write down which are working and which are
not.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;Some laptops have smart card readers, finger print readers,
acceleration sensors etc.  I rarely test these, as I do not know how
to quickly test if they are working or not, so I only document their
existence.&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;By now I suspect you are really curious what the test results are
for the HP machines I am testing.  I&#39;m not done yet, so I will report
the test results later.  For now I can report that HP 8100 Elite work
fine, and hibernation fail with HP EliteBook 8440p on Ubuntu Lucid,
and audio fail on RHEL6.  Ubuntu Maverik worked with 8440p.  As you
can see, I have most machines left to test.  One interesting
observation is that Ubuntu Lucid has almost twice the framerate than
RHEL6 with glxgears.  No idea why.&lt;/p&gt;
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