1 <?xml version=
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2 <rss version='
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4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen
</title>
5 <description></description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
7 <atom:link href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel=
"self" type=
"application/rss+xml" />
10 <title>In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book!
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/In_my_hand__a_pocket_book_edition_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Wed,
19 Aug
2015 22:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian
15 translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few
16 years arrived in the mail. I had to fake a cover to get the interior
17 printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is
18 irrelevant at this point. I asked for a printed pocket book version
19 to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how
20 good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the
21 pocket book version would look like. After receiving the
500 page
22 pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too
23 small for this book. I believe the book is too thick, and several
24 tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that
25 small page sizes. I believe I will go with the
5.5x8.5 inch size
26 instead. A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the
27 URLs look in print. They are very hard to read in the colophon page.
28 The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper. I need to
29 change the color of links somehow to look better. But there is a
30 printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)
</p
>
32 <p
>Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the
33 store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof
34 readers before the book is ready for proper printing. Cover artists
35 willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector
36 file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as
37 a graphics designer are mostly missing.
</p
>
42 <title>First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way
</title>
43 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html
</link>
44 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html
</guid>
45 <pubDate>Sun,
9 Aug
2015 10:
15:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
46 <description><p
>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is
47 mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text
48 on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated
49 <a href=
"http://www.docbook.org/
">docbook
</a
> based version of the
50 <a href=
"http://free-culture.cc/
">Free Culture
</a
> book by Lawrence
51 Lessig. I
've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to
52 give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because
53 its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very
54 helpful in solving my formatting challenges.
</p
>
56 <p
>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made
57 <a href=
"http://www.lulu.com/
">Lulu.com
</a
> complain after uploading,
58 and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a
59 proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but
60 should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.
</p
>
62 <p
>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using
63 <a href=
"http://www.createspace.com/
">CreateSpace
</a
>, but ended up
64 using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem
65 to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a
66 similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please
67 let me know if I am missing out on something here.
</p
>
69 <p
>But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for
70 pocket book (
4.25x6.875 inches /
10.8x17.5 cm) with
556 pages, Digest
71 (
5.5x8.5 inches /
14x21.6 cm) with
323 pages or US Trade (
6x8 inches /
72 15.3x22.9 cm) with
280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a
73 smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was
74 pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand,
75 but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to
76 bring the prize down further.
</p
>
78 <p
>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My
79 inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original
80 cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about
81 the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the
82 description on web based book stores). I would love help with this,
83 if you are willing to license the art source and final version using
84 the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up
85 to the task.
</p
>
87 <p
>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on
88 paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current
89 status can as usual be found on
90 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig
">github
</a
>
91 in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the
92 PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the
93 dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I
94 expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub
97 <p
>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or
98 discover translations that should be improved. The final proof
99 reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished
100 result in a few months.
</p
>
105 <title>Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex
</title>
106 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html
</link>
107 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html
</guid>
108 <pubDate>Thu,
16 Jul
2015 18:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
109 <description><p
>I
'm still working on the Norwegian version of the
110 <a href=
"http://free-culture.cc/
">Free Culture book by Lawrence
111 Lessig
</a
>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout.
112 One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the
113 original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes
114 chapter. Based on the
115 <a href=
"https://bugs.debian.org/
685063">feedback from the Debian
116 maintainer and the dblatex developer
</a
>, I came up with this recipe I
117 would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX
118 class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always
119 practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make
120 file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL
121 parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in
122 the generated LaTeX File.
</p
>
124 <p
>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes,
125 and add this text there:
</p
>
128 &lt;?latex \theendnotes ?
&gt;
131 <p
>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the
132 code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the
133 generated LaTeX document, with content like this:
</p
>
136 &lt;?xml version=
'1.0'?
&gt;
137 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl=
"http://www.w3.org/
1999/XSL/Transform
" version=
'1.0'&gt;
138 &lt;xsl:param name=
"latex.begindocument
"&gt;
139 &lt;xsl:text
&gt;
140 \usepackage{endnotes}
141 \let\footnote=\endnote
142 \def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip }
144 &lt;/xsl:text
&gt;
145 &lt;/xsl:param
&gt;
146 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet
&gt;
149 <p
>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like
153 dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml
156 <p
>The end result can be seen on github, where
157 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig
">my
158 book project
</a
> is located.
</p
>
163 <title>Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert
</title>
164 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html
</link>
165 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html
</guid>
166 <pubDate>Thu,
9 Jul
2015 11:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
167 <description><p
>I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys
168 <a href=
"https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
">WhatDoTheyKnow
</a
>.
169 Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble
170 <a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/news/NUUG_lanserer_innsynstjenesten_Mimes_Br_nn.shtml
">annonsert
171 av NUUG
</a
> via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer.
172 Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få
173 på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært
174 primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og
175 oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem,
176 og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før
177 ferietiden slo inn for fullt.
</p
>
179 <p
>Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der
180 tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke
181 til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren,
182 før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se
183 om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende
184 inn via Mimes brønn.
</p
>
186 <p
>Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til,
187 anbefaler jeg deg å se
188 <a href=
"http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/
625321">TED-foredraget til
189 Heather Brook
</a
> om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære
190 hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende
196 <title>MPEG LA on
"Internet Broadcast AVC Video
" licensing and non-private use
</title>
197 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html
</link>
198 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html
</guid>
199 <pubDate>Tue,
7 Jul
2015 09:
50:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
200 <description><p
>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK)
201 <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
202 they can broadcast and stream H
.264 video without an agreement with
203 the MPEG LA
</a
>, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA
204 if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it
207 <p
>I started by asking for more information about the various
208 licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the
"Internet
209 Broadcast AVC Video
" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK
210 did not need a license for streaming H
.264 video:
212 <p
><blockquote
>
214 <p
>According to
215 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%
20LA%
20News%
20List/Attachments/
226/n-
10-
02-
02.pdf
">a
216 MPEG LA press release dated
2010-
02-
02</a
>, there is no charge when
217 using MPEG AVC/H
.264 according to the terms of
"Internet Broadcast AVC
218 Video
". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of
"Internet
219 Broadcast AVC Video
" is, and wondered if you could help me. What
220 exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?
</p
>
222 <p
>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a
224 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf
">AVC
225 Patent Portfolio License Briefing
</a
>, which states this about the
229 <li
>Where End User pays for AVC Video
231 <li
>Subscription (not limited by title) –
100,
000 or fewer
232 subscribers/yr = no royalty;
&gt;
100,
000 to
250,
000 subscribers/yr =
233 $
25,
000;
&gt;
250,
000 to
500,
000 subscribers/yr = $
50,
000;
&gt;
500,
000 to
234 1M subscribers/yr = $
75,
000;
&gt;
1M subscribers/yr = $
100,
000</li
>
236 <li
>Title-by-Title -
12 minutes or less = no royalty;
&gt;
12 minutes in
237 length = lower of (a)
2% or (b) $
0.02 per title
</li
>
238 </ul
></li
>
240 <li
>Where remuneration is from other sources
242 <li
>Free Television - (a) one-time $
2,
500 per transmission encoder or
243 (b) annual fee starting at $
2,
500 for
&gt;
100,
000 HH rising to
244 maximum $
10,
000 for
&gt;
1,
000,
000 HH
</li
>
246 <li
>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription)
247 – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License
</li
>
248 </ul
></li
>
251 <p
>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the
252 categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that
"Internet
253 Broadcast AVC Video
" is the category for things that do not fall into
254 one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source
255 explaining what is ment by
"title-by-title
" and
"Free Television
" in
256 the license terms for AVC/H
.264?
</p
>
258 <p
>Will a web service providing H
.264 encoded video content in a
259 "video on demand
" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no
260 subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to
261 get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the
"Internet
262 Broadcast AVC Video
", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent
263 Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get
264 access to personalized services?
</p
>
266 <p
>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the
268 </blockquote
></p
>
270 <p
>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate
271 with the MPEG LA:
</p
>
273 <p
><blockquote
>
274 <p
>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We
275 appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.
</p
>
277 <p
>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License
278 which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of
279 the AVC/H
.264 Standard (MPEG-
4 Part
10). Specifically, coverage is
280 provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H
.264
281 technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and
282 video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for
283 paying the applicable royalties.
</p
>
285 <p
>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally
286 defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over
287 the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service
288 which allows users to upload AVC/H
.264 video to its website, and such
289 AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would
290 receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC
291 Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC
292 License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a
293 free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free
294 AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given
295 access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then
296 no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.
</p
>
298 <p
>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a
299 specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such
300 video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC
301 Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such
302 content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers
303 Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would
304 be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.
</p
>
306 <p
>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free
307 through an
"over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission
", then
308 such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be
309 subject to the applicable royalties.
</p
>
311 <p
>For your reference, I have attached
312 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
07-
07-mpegla.pdf
">a
313 .pdf copy of the AVC License
</a
>. You will find the relevant
314 sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections
2.2 through
315 2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section
3.1.2 through
3.1.4.
316 You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video,
317 Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet
318 Broadcast AVC Video in Section
1 of the License. Please note that the
319 electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot
320 be used for execution.
</p
>
322 <p
>I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional
323 questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel
324 free to contact me directly.
</p
>
325 </blockquote
></p
>
327 <p
>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing
328 that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made
329 me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong.
330 But I still had a few questions:
</p
>
332 <p
><blockquote
>
333 <p
>I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get
334 a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The
335 reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright
336 clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses
337 typically look similar to this:
339 <p
><blockquote
>
340 This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for
341 the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode
342 video in compliance with the AVC standard (
"AVC video
") and/or (b)
343 decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a
344 personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was
345 obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No
346 license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional
347 information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C.
348 </blockquote
></p
>
350 <p
>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into
351 an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if
352 there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will
353 differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is
354 MPEG LAs view on this?
</p
>
355 </blockquote
></p
>
357 <p
>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for
358 non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:
</p
>
360 <p
><blockquote
>
362 <p
>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by
363 clarifying that the Notice from Section
7.1 of the AVC License
366 <p
>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR
367 THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT
368 RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC
369 STANDARD (
"AVC VIDEO
") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED
370 BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM
371 A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED
372 OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
373 OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM
</p
>
375 <p
>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the
376 personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included
377 with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the
378 product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become
379 licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to
380 deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet
381 Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party
's AVC
382 Product as their own branded AVC Product).
</p
>
384 <p
>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC
385 Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free
386 Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to
387 conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were
388 payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a
389 Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their
390 own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced
391 above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC
392 Products by the licensed supplier.
</p
>
394 <p
>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in
395 countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including
398 <p
>I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further
399 assistance, just let me know.
</p
>
400 </blockquote
></p
>
402 <p
>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I
403 asked for more information:
</p
>
405 <p
><blockquote
>
407 <p
>But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly,
408 you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent
409 Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the
410 list available from
&lt;URL:
411 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx
">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx
</a
>
412 &gt; incorrectly, as I believed the
"NO
" prefix in front of patents
413 were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi
414 Electric Corporation expired in
2012. Which patents are you referring
415 to that are relevant for Norway?
</p
>
417 </blockquote
></p
>
419 <p
>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents
420 in that list:
</p
>
422 <p
><blockquote
>
424 <p
>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio
425 Patent in Norway expired on
21 October
2012. Therefore, where AVC
426 Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no
427 royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License.
428 With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC
429 Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before
430 the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify
431 that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the
432 country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.
</p
>
434 <p
>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in
435 a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example,
436 Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need
437 coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are
438 initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio
439 Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to
440 conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a
441 country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell
442 such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent
443 Portfolio Patents.
</p
>
444 </blockquote
></p
>
446 <p
>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe
447 Premiere and other video related software with a H
.264 distribution
448 license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for
449 anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a
450 Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the
451 content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where
452 none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the
453 copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because
454 the patents are not valid in Norway?
</p
>
459 <title>New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback
</title>
460 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html
</link>
461 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html
</guid>
462 <pubDate>Sun,
5 Jul
2015 21:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
463 <description><p
>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my
464 need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to
465 thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of
466 fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to
467 do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the
468 machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it
469 with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live
470 for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did
471 not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts
472 using
<a href=
"http://www.francecrans.com/
">FrancEcrans
</a
>, but it
473 might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.
</p
>
475 <p
>One tip I got was to use the
476 <a href=
"https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb
">Skinflint
</a
> web service to
477 compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than
478 prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar
479 keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook
840 keyboard is not
480 very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook
481 keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further.
483 <p
>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the
484 newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons
485 (which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with
486 Debian Sid/Unstable according to
487 <a href=
"http://www.corsac.net/X250/
">Corsac.net
</a
>. The reports I
488 got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard
489 is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good.
490 Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250
491 keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I
492 keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to
493 replace it. I
'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk
494 activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I
'm
495 also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit
496 noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian
497 Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.
</p
>
499 <p
>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was
500 <a href=
"http://pro-star.com
">Pro-Star
</a
>, another was
501 <a href=
"http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/
">Libreboot
</a
>.
502 The latter look very attractive to me.
</p
>
504 <p
>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot
505 as I keep looking for a replacement.
</p
>
507 <p
>Update
2015-
07-
06: I was recommended to check out the
508 <a href=
"">lapstore.de
</a
> web shop for used laptops. They got several
510 <a href=
"http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/
411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/
">old
511 thinkpad X models
</a
>, and provide one year warranty.
</p
>
516 <title>Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years
</title>
517 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_to_find_a_new_laptop__as_the_old_one_is_broken_after_only_two_years.html
</link>
518 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Time_to_find_a_new_laptop__as_the_old_one_is_broken_after_only_two_years.html
</guid>
519 <pubDate>Fri,
3 Jul
2015 07:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
520 <description><p
>My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a
521 replacement soon. The left
5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230
522 started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken
523 cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the
524 flickering.
</p
>
526 <p
>My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is
528 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
">I
529 described them in
2013</a
>. The last time I bought a laptop, I had
531 <a href=
"http://www.prisjakt.no/category.php?k=
353">prisjakt.no
</a
>
532 where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin,
533 wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually. Three button mouse
534 and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three
535 laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook
820 G1 and
536 G2) lack three mouse buttons). It is also unclear to me how good the
537 keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are. I hope Lenovo have not messed up
538 the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have
539 deteriorated since X41.
</p
>
541 <p
>I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options
542 seem sensible to me? Are there better services around to search the
543 set of available laptops for features? Please send me an email if you
544 have suggestions.
</p
>
546 <p
>Update
2015-
07-
23: I got a suggestion to check out the FSF
547 <a href=
"http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom
">list
548 of endorsed hardware
</a
>, which is useful background information.
</p
>
553 <title>MakerCon Nordic videos now available on Frikanalen
</title>
554 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MakerCon_Nordic_videos_now_available_on_Frikanalen.html
</link>
555 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MakerCon_Nordic_videos_now_available_on_Frikanalen.html
</guid>
556 <pubDate>Thu,
2 Jul
2015 14:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
557 <description><p
>Last oktober I was involved on behalf of
558 <a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/
">NUUG
</a
> with recording the talks at
559 <a href=
"http://www.makercon.no/
">MakerCon Nordic
</a
>, a conference for
560 the Maker movement. Since then it has been the plan to publish the
561 recordings on
<a href=
"http://www.frikanalen.no/
">Frikanalen
</a
>, which
562 finally happened the last few days. A few talks are missing because
563 the speakers asked the organizers to not publish them, but most of the
564 talks are available. The talks are being broadcasted on RiksTV
565 channel
50 and using multicast on Uninett, as well as being available
566 from the Frikanalen web site. The unedited recordings are
567 <a href=
"https://www.youtube.com/user/MakerConNordic/
">available on
568 Youtube too
</a
>.
</p
>
570 <p
>This is the list of talks available at the moment. Visit the
571 <a href=
"http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/?q=makercon
">Frikanalen video
572 pages
</a
> to view them.
</p
>
576 <li
>Evolutionary algorithms as a design tool - from art
577 to robotics (Kyrre Glette)
</li
>
579 <li
>Make and break (Hans Gerhard Meier)
</li
>
581 <li
>Making a one year school course for young makers
582 (Olav Helland)
</li
>
584 <li
>Innovation Inspiration - IPR Databases as a Source of
585 Inspiration (Hege Langlo)
</li
>
587 <li
>Making a toy for makers (Erik Torstensson)
</li
>
589 <li
>How to make
3D printer electronics (Elias Bakken)
</li
>
591 <li
>Hovering Clouds: Looking at online tool offerings for Product
592 Design and
3D Printing (William Kempton)
</li
>
594 <li
>Travelling maker stories (Øyvind Nydal Dahl)
</li
>
596 <li
>Making the first Maker Faire in Sweden (Nils Olander)
</li
>
598 <li
>Breaking the mold: Printing
1000’s of parts (Espen Sivertsen)
</li
>
600 <li
>Ultimaker — and open source
3D printing (Erik de Bruijn)
</li
>
602 <li
>Autodesk’s
3D Printing Platform: Sparking innovation (Hilde
605 <li
>How Making is Changing the World – and How You Can Too!
606 (Jennifer Turliuk)
</li
>
608 <li
>Open-Source Adventuring: OpenROV, OpenExplorer and the Future of
609 Connected Exploration (David Lang)
</li
>
611 <li
>Making in Norway (Haakon Karlsen Jr., Graham Hayward and Jens
614 <li
>The Impact of the Maker Movement (Mike Senese)
</li
>
618 <p
>Part of the reason this took so long was that the scripts NUUG had
619 to prepare a recording for publication were five years old and no
620 longer worked with the current video processing tools (command line
621 argument changes). In addition, we needed better audio normalization,
622 which sent me on a detour to
623 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html
">package
624 bs1770gain for Debian
</a
>. Now this is in place and it became a lot
625 easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.
</p
>
630 <title>Hvem fører Medietilsynet tilsyn med?
</title>
631 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvem_f_rer_Medietilsynet_tilsyn_med_.html
</link>
632 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvem_f_rer_Medietilsynet_tilsyn_med_.html
</guid>
633 <pubDate>Sun,
28 Jun
2015 23:
20:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
634 <description><p
>I en global verden med eierskap på tvers, trengs det informasjon om
635 hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for å få tilgang
636 til slik informasjon for alle som ønsker å analysere eierskap, holder
637 med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det må globale
638 samledatabaser med åpne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en
639 internasjonal bevegelse for å gjøre selskapsinformasjon for alle land
640 offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter
641 <a href=
"http://opencorporates.com
">OpenCorporates
</a
>, der
642 informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en
"del på samme
643 vilkår
"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap,
644 konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge,
645 da bruksvilkårene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad
646 blokkerer OpenCorporates fra å samle den inn.
</p
>
648 <p
>Men jeg er jo involvert i
649 <a href=
"http://www.frikanalen.no/
">Frikanalen
</a
>, som har
650 TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne være fint om informasjon om alle
651 mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, så jeg sendte
652 avgårde følgende spørsmål til Medietilsynet
2015-
06-
22:
</p
>
655 <p
>Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fører
656 tilsyn med som åpne data? Jeg lette etter den på
657 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://data.norge.no/
">http://data.norge.no/
</a
>&gt; og
658 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://hotell.difi.no/
">http://hotell.difi.no/
</a
>&gt; uten å
659 finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under
660 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/
</a
>&gt;.
</p
>
662 <p
>Jeg tenker på alle som har fått kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som
664 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/
</a
>&gt;.
</p
>
666 <p
>Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert
667 organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til
668 organisasjonene. Tanken er å importere det i
669 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"https://opencorporates.com/
">https://opencorporates.com/
</a
>&gt; for analyse, så det bør ikke ha
670 bruksbegresninger som gjør dette umulig.
</p
>
673 <p
>To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde
674 tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var
675 informativt og imøtekommende.
</p
>
678 <p
>Vi viser til din e-post av
22. juni, der du ber om å få tilsendt oversikter
679 over aktører Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med.
</p
>
681 <p
>Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle
682 bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med
683 eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter
684 medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at
685 beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra
1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye
686 aktører. Nærmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes på Medietilsynets
688 <a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/
</a
>
689 . Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktørene, men vi sender
690 deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra våre databaser. Vi
691 har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder
692 organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du ønsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at
693 du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger
694 du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.
</p
>
696 <p
>Vedlagt følger:
700 <li
>Konsesjoner - lokalradio FM pr.
31.12.2014 [
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Konsesjoner_lokalradio_fm_felles_31.12
.2014.pdf
">PDF (original)
</a
>]
</li
>
702 <li
>Konsesjoner - lokalfjernsyn i det digitale bakkenettet for fjernsyn, pr. mars
2015 [
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Lokalfjernsyn_DTT_konsesjoner_mars_2015.docx
">DOCX (original)
</a
>,
703 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Lokalfjernsyn_DTT_konsesjoner_mars_2015.pdf
">PDF
</a
>]
</li
>
705 <li
>Konsesjoner - DAB-radio, status mars
2015 [
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Konsesjonaernummer_DAB.xps
">XPS (original)
</a
>,
706 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Konsesjonaernummer_DAB.pdf
">PDF
</a
>]
</li
>
708 <li
>Registreringspliktige kringkastere - status mars
2015: [
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Registreringspliktige_kringkastere_register_-_aktive.xps
">XPS (original)
</a
>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Registreringspliktige_kringkastere_register_-_aktive.pdf
">PDF
</a
>]
711 <li
>Kabelsendt fjernsyn
712 <li
>Satellittsendt fjernsyn
714 <li
>Kabelsendt radio
715 <li
>Satellittsendt radio
717 </ul
></li
>
720 <p
>Vi må ta forbehold om at det kan være enkelte feil i oversiktene
721 siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye
722 oppdateringer i august.
</p
>
724 <p
>Med hilsen
</p
>
726 <p
>Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten
727 <br
>Seniorrådgiver | Senior Legal Adviser
728 <br
>Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority
729 <br
>A: Nygata
4, NO-
1607 Fredrikstad
730 <br
>T: [telefonnummer fjernet]
731 <br
>E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no
735 <p
>Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og
736 mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem
737 Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med. Filene er på formatene PDF, XPS
738 (XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, så det vil
739 være en stor jobb å strukturere informasjonen på en måte som kan
740 importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i tråd med
741 <a href=
"http://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/
2013-
04-
05-
959">Forskrift
742 om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning
</a
> som sier epostvedlegg
743 skal sendes som PDF, så jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og
744 DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for å gjøre det enklere for alle å se
750 <title>Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure
</title>
751 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Graphing_the_Norwegian_company_ownership_structure.html
</link>
752 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Graphing_the_Norwegian_company_ownership_structure.html
</guid>
753 <pubDate>Mon,
15 Jun
2015 14:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
754 <description><p
>It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies
755 in Norway. The information is publicly available, but one need to
756 recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete
757 ownership graph of a given set of companies. To save me the work in
758 the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the
759 ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format. The data source
760 is web scraping from
<a href=
"http://www.proff.no/
">Proff
</a
>, because
761 I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of
762 the ownership data,
<a href=
"http://www.brreg.no/
">Brønnøysundsregistrene
</a
>.
</p
>
764 <p
>To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch
765 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/brreg-norway-ownership-graph
">the code from git
</a
> and run it using the organisation number. I
'm
766 using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its
767 ownership structure is very simple:
</p
>
770 % time ./bin/eierskap-dotty
958033540 > dagbladet.dot
778 <p
>The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line,
779 allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The
780 resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges
781 are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the
782 organisation number as their name and the name as the label:
</p
>
787 "Aller Holding A/s
" -
> "910119877" [label=
"100%
"]
788 "910119877" -
> "998689015" [label=
"100%
"]
789 "998689015" -
> "958033540" [label=
"99%
"]
790 "974530600" -
> "958033540" [label=
"1%
"]
791 "958033540" [label=
"AS DAGBLADET
"]
792 "998689015" [label=
"Berner Media Holding AS
"]
793 "974530600" [label=
"Dagbladets Stiftelse
"]
794 "910119877" [label=
"Aller Media AS
"]
798 <p
>To view the ownership graph, run
"<tt
>dotty dagbladet.dot
</tt
>" or
799 convert it to a PNG using
"<tt
>dot -T png dagbladet.dot
>
800 dagbladet.png
</tt
>". The result can be seen below:
</p
>
802 <img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
15-ownership-graphs-norway-dagbladet.png
" width=
"80%
">
804 <p
>Note that I suspect the
"Aller Holding A/S
" entry to be incorrect
805 data in the official ownership register, as that name is not
806 registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership
807 register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking
808 of the ownership links.
</p
>
810 <p
>Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources.
811 The code is licensed according to GPL
2 or newer.
</p
>
813 <p
>Update
2015-
06-
15: Since the initial post I
've been told that
814 "<a href=
"http://www.proff.dk/firma/carl-allers-etablissement-aktieselskab/københavn-v/hovedkontorer/
13624518-
3/
">Aller
815 Holding A/S
</a
>" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not
816 have a Norwegian organisation number. I
've also been told that there
817 is a
<a href=
"http://www.brreg.no/automatiske/webservices/
">web
818 services API available
</a
> from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those
819 willing to accept the terms or pay the price.
</p
>