1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"utf-8"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/' xmlns:
atom=
"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
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>First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_paper_version_of_the_Norwegian_Free_Culture_book_heading_my_way.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Sun,
9 Aug
2015 10:
15:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is
15 mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text
16 on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated
17 <a href=
"http://www.docbook.org/
">docbook
</a
> based version of the
18 <a href=
"http://free-culture.cc/
">Free Culture
</a
> book by Lawrence
19 Lessig. I
've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to
20 give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because
21 its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very
22 helpful in solving my formatting challenges.
</p
>
24 <p
>Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made
25 <a href=
"http://www.lulu.com/
">Lulu.com
</a
> complain after uploading,
26 and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a
27 proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but
28 should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.
</p
>
30 <p
>Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using
31 <a href=
"http://www.createspace.com/
">CreateSpace
</a
>, but ended up
32 using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem
33 to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a
34 similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please
35 let me know if I am missing out on something here.
</p
>
37 <p
>But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for
38 pocket book (
4.25x6.875 inches /
10.8x17.5 cm) with
556 pages, digest
39 (
5.5x8.5 inches /
14x21.6 cm) with
323 pages or US Trade (
6x8 inches /
40 15.3x22.9 cm) with
280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a
41 smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was
42 pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand,
43 but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to
44 bring the prize down further.
</p
>
46 <p
>My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My
47 inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original
48 cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about
49 the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the
50 description on web based book stores). I would love help with this,
51 if you are willing to license the art source and final version using
52 the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up
53 to the task.
</p
>
55 <p
>I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on
56 paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current
57 status can as usual be found on
58 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig
">github
</a
>
59 in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the
60 PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the
61 dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I
62 expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub
65 <p
>Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or
66 discover translations that should be improved. The final proof
67 reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished
68 result in a few months.
</p
>
73 <title>Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex
</title>
74 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html
</link>
75 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Typesetting_DocBook_footnotes_as_endnotes_with_dblatex.html
</guid>
76 <pubDate>Thu,
16 Jul
2015 18:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
77 <description><p
>I
'm still working on the Norwegian version of the
78 <a href=
"http://free-culture.cc/
">Free Culture book by Lawrence
79 Lessig
</a
>, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout.
80 One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the
81 original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes
83 <a href=
"https://bugs.debian.org/
685063">feedback from the Debian
84 maintainer and the dblatex developer
</a
>, I came up with this recipe I
85 would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX
86 class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always
87 practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make
88 file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL
89 parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in
90 the generated LaTeX File.
</p
>
92 <p
>First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes,
93 and add this text there:
</p
>
96 &lt;?latex \theendnotes ?
&gt;
99 <p
>Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the
100 code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the
101 generated LaTeX document, with content like this:
</p
>
104 &lt;?xml version=
'1.0'?
&gt;
105 &lt;xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl=
"http://www.w3.org/
1999/XSL/Transform
" version=
'1.0'&gt;
106 &lt;xsl:param name=
"latex.begindocument
"&gt;
107 &lt;xsl:text
&gt;
108 \usepackage{endnotes}
109 \let\footnote=\endnote
110 \def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip }
112 &lt;/xsl:text
&gt;
113 &lt;/xsl:param
&gt;
114 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet
&gt;
117 <p
>Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like
121 dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml
124 <p
>The end result can be seen on github, where
125 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig
">my
126 book project
</a
> is located.
</p
>
131 <title>Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert
</title>
132 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html
</link>
133 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mimes_br_nn__norsk_utgave_av_Alaveteli___WhatDoTheyKnow__endelig_lansert.html
</guid>
134 <pubDate>Thu,
9 Jul
2015 11:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
135 <description><p
>I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys
136 <a href=
"https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
">WhatDoTheyKnow
</a
>.
137 Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble
138 <a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/news/NUUG_lanserer_innsynstjenesten_Mimes_Br_nn.shtml
">annonsert
139 av NUUG
</a
> via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer.
140 Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få
141 på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært
142 primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og
143 oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem,
144 og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før
145 ferietiden slo inn for fullt.
</p
>
147 <p
>Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der
148 tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke
149 til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren,
150 før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se
151 om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende
152 inn via Mimes brønn.
</p
>
154 <p
>Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til,
155 anbefaler jeg deg å se
156 <a href=
"http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/
625321">TED-foredraget til
157 Heather Brook
</a
> om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære
158 hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende
164 <title>MPEG LA on
"Internet Broadcast AVC Video
" licensing and non-private use
</title>
165 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html
</link>
166 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MPEG_LA_on__Internet_Broadcast_AVC_Video__licensing_and_non_private_use.html
</guid>
167 <pubDate>Tue,
7 Jul
2015 09:
50:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
168 <description><p
>After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK)
169 <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
170 they can broadcast and stream H
.264 video without an agreement with
171 the MPEG LA
</a
>, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA
172 if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it
175 <p
>I started by asking for more information about the various
176 licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the
"Internet
177 Broadcast AVC Video
" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK
178 did not need a license for streaming H
.264 video:
180 <p
><blockquote
>
182 <p
>According to
183 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%
20LA%
20News%
20List/Attachments/
226/n-
10-
02-
02.pdf
">a
184 MPEG LA press release dated
2010-
02-
02</a
>, there is no charge when
185 using MPEG AVC/H
.264 according to the terms of
"Internet Broadcast AVC
186 Video
". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of
"Internet
187 Broadcast AVC Video
" is, and wondered if you could help me. What
188 exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?
</p
>
190 <p
>The only source of more information I have been able to find is a
192 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avcweb.pdf
">AVC
193 Patent Portfolio License Briefing
</a
>, which states this about the
197 <li
>Where End User pays for AVC Video
199 <li
>Subscription (not limited by title) –
100,
000 or fewer
200 subscribers/yr = no royalty;
&gt;
100,
000 to
250,
000 subscribers/yr =
201 $
25,
000;
&gt;
250,
000 to
500,
000 subscribers/yr = $
50,
000;
&gt;
500,
000 to
202 1M subscribers/yr = $
75,
000;
&gt;
1M subscribers/yr = $
100,
000</li
>
204 <li
>Title-by-Title -
12 minutes or less = no royalty;
&gt;
12 minutes in
205 length = lower of (a)
2% or (b) $
0.02 per title
</li
>
206 </ul
></li
>
208 <li
>Where remuneration is from other sources
210 <li
>Free Television - (a) one-time $
2,
500 per transmission encoder or
211 (b) annual fee starting at $
2,
500 for
&gt;
100,
000 HH rising to
212 maximum $
10,
000 for
&gt;
1,
000,
000 HH
</li
>
214 <li
>Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription)
215 – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License
</li
>
216 </ul
></li
>
219 <p
>Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the
220 categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that
"Internet
221 Broadcast AVC Video
" is the category for things that do not fall into
222 one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source
223 explaining what is ment by
"title-by-title
" and
"Free Television
" in
224 the license terms for AVC/H
.264?
</p
>
226 <p
>Will a web service providing H
.264 encoded video content in a
227 "video on demand
" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no
228 subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to
229 get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the
"Internet
230 Broadcast AVC Video
", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent
231 Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get
232 access to personalized services?
</p
>
234 <p
>Note, this request and all answers will be published on the
236 </blockquote
></p
>
238 <p
>The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate
239 with the MPEG LA:
</p
>
241 <p
><blockquote
>
242 <p
>Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We
243 appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.
</p
>
245 <p
>As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License
246 which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of
247 the AVC/H
.264 Standard (MPEG-
4 Part
10). Specifically, coverage is
248 provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H
.264
249 technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and
250 video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for
251 paying the applicable royalties.
</p
>
253 <p
>Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally
254 defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over
255 the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service
256 which allows users to upload AVC/H
.264 video to its website, and such
257 AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would
258 receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC
259 Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC
260 License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a
261 free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free
262 AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given
263 access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then
264 no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.
</p
>
266 <p
>On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a
267 specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such
268 video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC
269 Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such
270 content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers
271 Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would
272 be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.
</p
>
274 <p
>Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free
275 through an
"over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission
", then
276 such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be
277 subject to the applicable royalties.
</p
>
279 <p
>For your reference, I have attached
280 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
07-
07-mpegla.pdf
">a
281 .pdf copy of the AVC License
</a
>. You will find the relevant
282 sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections
2.2 through
283 2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section
3.1.2 through
3.1.4.
284 You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video,
285 Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet
286 Broadcast AVC Video in Section
1 of the License. Please note that the
287 electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot
288 be used for execution.
</p
>
290 <p
>I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional
291 questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel
292 free to contact me directly.
</p
>
293 </blockquote
></p
>
295 <p
>Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing
296 that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made
297 me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong.
298 But I still had a few questions:
</p
>
300 <p
><blockquote
>
301 <p
>I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get
302 a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The
303 reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright
304 clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses
305 typically look similar to this:
307 <p
><blockquote
>
308 This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for
309 the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode
310 video in compliance with the AVC standard (
"AVC video
") and/or (b)
311 decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a
312 personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was
313 obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No
314 license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional
315 information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C.
316 </blockquote
></p
>
318 <p
>It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into
319 an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if
320 there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will
321 differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is
322 MPEG LAs view on this?
</p
>
323 </blockquote
></p
>
325 <p
>According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for
326 non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:
</p
>
328 <p
><blockquote
>
330 <p
>With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by
331 clarifying that the Notice from Section
7.1 of the AVC License
334 <p
>THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR
335 THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT
336 RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC
337 STANDARD (
"AVC VIDEO
") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED
338 BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM
339 A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED
340 OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
341 OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM
</p
>
343 <p
>The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the
344 personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included
345 with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the
346 product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become
347 licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to
348 deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet
349 Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party
's AVC
350 Product as their own branded AVC Product).
</p
>
352 <p
>Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC
353 Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free
354 Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to
355 conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were
356 payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a
357 Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their
358 own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced
359 above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC
360 Products by the licensed supplier.
</p
>
362 <p
>Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in
363 countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including
366 <p
>I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further
367 assistance, just let me know.
</p
>
368 </blockquote
></p
>
370 <p
>The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I
371 asked for more information:
</p
>
373 <p
><blockquote
>
375 <p
>But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly,
376 you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent
377 Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the
378 list available from
&lt;URL:
379 <a href=
"http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx
">http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx
</a
>
380 &gt; incorrectly, as I believed the
"NO
" prefix in front of patents
381 were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi
382 Electric Corporation expired in
2012. Which patents are you referring
383 to that are relevant for Norway?
</p
>
385 </blockquote
></p
>
387 <p
>Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents
388 in that list:
</p
>
390 <p
><blockquote
>
392 <p
>Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio
393 Patent in Norway expired on
21 October
2012. Therefore, where AVC
394 Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no
395 royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License.
396 With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC
397 Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before
398 the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify
399 that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the
400 country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.
</p
>
402 <p
>Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in
403 a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example,
404 Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need
405 coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are
406 initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio
407 Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to
408 conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a
409 country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell
410 such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent
411 Portfolio Patents.
</p
>
412 </blockquote
></p
>
414 <p
>As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe
415 Premiere and other video related software with a H
.264 distribution
416 license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for
417 anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a
418 Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the
419 content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where
420 none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the
421 copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because
422 the patents are not valid in Norway?
</p
>
427 <title>New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback
</title>
428 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html
</link>
429 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_laptop___some_more_clues_and_ideas_based_on_feedback.html
</guid>
430 <pubDate>Sun,
5 Jul
2015 21:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
431 <description><p
>Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my
432 need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to
433 thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of
434 fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to
435 do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the
436 machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it
437 with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live
438 for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did
439 not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts
440 using
<a href=
"http://www.francecrans.com/
">FrancEcrans
</a
>, but it
441 might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.
</p
>
443 <p
>One tip I got was to use the
444 <a href=
"https://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb
">Skinflint
</a
> web service to
445 compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than
446 prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar
447 keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook
840 keyboard is not
448 very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook
449 keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further.
451 <p
>When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the
452 newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons
453 (which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with
454 Debian Sid/Unstable according to
455 <a href=
"http://www.corsac.net/X250/
">Corsac.net
</a
>. The reports I
456 got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard
457 is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good.
458 Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250
459 keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I
460 keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to
461 replace it. I
'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk
462 activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I
'm
463 also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit
464 noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian
465 Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.
</p
>
467 <p
>I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was
468 <a href=
"http://pro-star.com
">Pro-Star
</a
>, another was
469 <a href=
"http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/product/libreboot-x200/
">Libreboot
</a
>.
470 The latter look very attractive to me.
</p
>
472 <p
>Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot
473 as I keep looking for a replacement.
</p
>
475 <p
>Update
2015-
07-
06: I was recommended to check out the
476 <a href=
"">lapstore.de
</a
> web shop for used laptops. They got several
478 <a href=
"http://www.lapstore.de/f.php/shop/lapstore/f/
411/lang/x/kw/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X_Serie/
">old
479 thinkpad X models
</a
>, and provide one year warranty.
</p
>
484 <title>Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years
</title>
485 <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>
486 <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>
487 <pubDate>Fri,
3 Jul
2015 07:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
488 <description><p
>My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a
489 replacement soon. The left
5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230
490 started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken
491 cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the
492 flickering.
</p
>
494 <p
>My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is
496 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
">I
497 described them in
2013</a
>. The last time I bought a laptop, I had
499 <a href=
"http://www.prisjakt.no/category.php?k=
353">prisjakt.no
</a
>
500 where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin,
501 wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually. Three button mouse
502 and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three
503 laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook
820 G1 and
504 G2) lack three mouse buttons). It is also unclear to me how good the
505 keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are. I hope Lenovo have not messed up
506 the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have
507 deteriorated since X41.
</p
>
509 <p
>I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options
510 seem sensible to me? Are there better services around to search the
511 set of available laptops for features? Please send me an email if you
512 have suggestions.
</p
>
514 <p
>Update
2015-
07-
23: I got a suggestion to check out the FSF
515 <a href=
"http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/respects-your-freedom
">list
516 of endorsed hardware
</a
>, which is useful background information.
</p
>
521 <title>MakerCon Nordic videos now available on Frikanalen
</title>
522 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MakerCon_Nordic_videos_now_available_on_Frikanalen.html
</link>
523 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/MakerCon_Nordic_videos_now_available_on_Frikanalen.html
</guid>
524 <pubDate>Thu,
2 Jul
2015 14:
10:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
525 <description><p
>Last oktober I was involved on behalf of
526 <a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/
">NUUG
</a
> with recording the talks at
527 <a href=
"http://www.makercon.no/
">MakerCon Nordic
</a
>, a conference for
528 the Maker movement. Since then it has been the plan to publish the
529 recordings on
<a href=
"http://www.frikanalen.no/
">Frikanalen
</a
>, which
530 finally happened the last few days. A few talks are missing because
531 the speakers asked the organizers to not publish them, but most of the
532 talks are available. The talks are being broadcasted on RiksTV
533 channel
50 and using multicast on Uninett, as well as being available
534 from the Frikanalen web site. The unedited recordings are
535 <a href=
"https://www.youtube.com/user/MakerConNordic/
">available on
536 Youtube too
</a
>.
</p
>
538 <p
>This is the list of talks available at the moment. Visit the
539 <a href=
"http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/?q=makercon
">Frikanalen video
540 pages
</a
> to view them.
</p
>
544 <li
>Evolutionary algorithms as a design tool - from art
545 to robotics (Kyrre Glette)
</li
>
547 <li
>Make and break (Hans Gerhard Meier)
</li
>
549 <li
>Making a one year school course for young makers
550 (Olav Helland)
</li
>
552 <li
>Innovation Inspiration - IPR Databases as a Source of
553 Inspiration (Hege Langlo)
</li
>
555 <li
>Making a toy for makers (Erik Torstensson)
</li
>
557 <li
>How to make
3D printer electronics (Elias Bakken)
</li
>
559 <li
>Hovering Clouds: Looking at online tool offerings for Product
560 Design and
3D Printing (William Kempton)
</li
>
562 <li
>Travelling maker stories (Øyvind Nydal Dahl)
</li
>
564 <li
>Making the first Maker Faire in Sweden (Nils Olander)
</li
>
566 <li
>Breaking the mold: Printing
1000’s of parts (Espen Sivertsen)
</li
>
568 <li
>Ultimaker — and open source
3D printing (Erik de Bruijn)
</li
>
570 <li
>Autodesk’s
3D Printing Platform: Sparking innovation (Hilde
573 <li
>How Making is Changing the World – and How You Can Too!
574 (Jennifer Turliuk)
</li
>
576 <li
>Open-Source Adventuring: OpenROV, OpenExplorer and the Future of
577 Connected Exploration (David Lang)
</li
>
579 <li
>Making in Norway (Haakon Karlsen Jr., Graham Hayward and Jens
582 <li
>The Impact of the Maker Movement (Mike Senese)
</li
>
586 <p
>Part of the reason this took so long was that the scripts NUUG had
587 to prepare a recording for publication were five years old and no
588 longer worked with the current video processing tools (command line
589 argument changes). In addition, we needed better audio normalization,
590 which sent me on a detour to
591 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html
">package
592 bs1770gain for Debian
</a
>. Now this is in place and it became a lot
593 easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.
</p
>
598 <title>Hvem fører Medietilsynet tilsyn med?
</title>
599 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvem_f_rer_Medietilsynet_tilsyn_med_.html
</link>
600 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvem_f_rer_Medietilsynet_tilsyn_med_.html
</guid>
601 <pubDate>Sun,
28 Jun
2015 23:
20:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
602 <description><p
>I en global verden med eierskap på tvers, trengs det informasjon om
603 hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for å få tilgang
604 til slik informasjon for alle som ønsker å analysere eierskap, holder
605 med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det må globale
606 samledatabaser med åpne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en
607 internasjonal bevegelse for å gjøre selskapsinformasjon for alle land
608 offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter
609 <a href=
"http://opencorporates.com
">OpenCorporates
</a
>, der
610 informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en
"del på samme
611 vilkår
"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap,
612 konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge,
613 da bruksvilkårene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad
614 blokkerer OpenCorporates fra å samle den inn.
</p
>
616 <p
>Men jeg er jo involvert i
617 <a href=
"http://www.frikanalen.no/
">Frikanalen
</a
>, som har
618 TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne være fint om informasjon om alle
619 mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, så jeg sendte
620 avgårde følgende spørsmål til Medietilsynet
2015-
06-
22:
</p
>
623 <p
>Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fører
624 tilsyn med som åpne data? Jeg lette etter den på
625 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://data.norge.no/
">http://data.norge.no/
</a
>&gt; og
626 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://hotell.difi.no/
">http://hotell.difi.no/
</a
>&gt; uten å
627 finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under
628 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/
</a
>&gt;.
</p
>
630 <p
>Jeg tenker på alle som har fått kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som
632 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/
</a
>&gt;.
</p
>
634 <p
>Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert
635 organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til
636 organisasjonene. Tanken er å importere det i
637 &lt;URL:
<a href=
"https://opencorporates.com/
">https://opencorporates.com/
</a
>&gt; for analyse, så det bør ikke ha
638 bruksbegresninger som gjør dette umulig.
</p
>
641 <p
>To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde
642 tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var
643 informativt og imøtekommende.
</p
>
646 <p
>Vi viser til din e-post av
22. juni, der du ber om å få tilsendt oversikter
647 over aktører Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med.
</p
>
649 <p
>Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle
650 bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med
651 eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter
652 medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at
653 beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra
1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye
654 aktører. Nærmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes på Medietilsynets
656 <a href=
"http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/
">http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/
</a
>
657 . Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktørene, men vi sender
658 deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra våre databaser. Vi
659 har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder
660 organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du ønsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at
661 du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger
662 du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.
</p
>
664 <p
>Vedlagt følger:
668 <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
>
670 <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
>,
671 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Lokalfjernsyn_DTT_konsesjoner_mars_2015.pdf
">PDF
</a
>]
</li
>
673 <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
>,
674 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
28-medietilsynsdata/Konsesjonaernummer_DAB.pdf
">PDF
</a
>]
</li
>
676 <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
>]
679 <li
>Kabelsendt fjernsyn
680 <li
>Satellittsendt fjernsyn
682 <li
>Kabelsendt radio
683 <li
>Satellittsendt radio
685 </ul
></li
>
688 <p
>Vi må ta forbehold om at det kan være enkelte feil i oversiktene
689 siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye
690 oppdateringer i august.
</p
>
692 <p
>Med hilsen
</p
>
694 <p
>Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten
695 <br
>Seniorrådgiver | Senior Legal Adviser
696 <br
>Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority
697 <br
>A: Nygata
4, NO-
1607 Fredrikstad
698 <br
>T: [telefonnummer fjernet]
699 <br
>E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no
703 <p
>Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og
704 mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem
705 Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med. Filene er på formatene PDF, XPS
706 (XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, så det vil
707 være en stor jobb å strukturere informasjonen på en måte som kan
708 importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i tråd med
709 <a href=
"http://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/
2013-
04-
05-
959">Forskrift
710 om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning
</a
> som sier epostvedlegg
711 skal sendes som PDF, så jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og
712 DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for å gjøre det enklere for alle å se
718 <title>Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure
</title>
719 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Graphing_the_Norwegian_company_ownership_structure.html
</link>
720 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Graphing_the_Norwegian_company_ownership_structure.html
</guid>
721 <pubDate>Mon,
15 Jun
2015 14:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
722 <description><p
>It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies
723 in Norway. The information is publicly available, but one need to
724 recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete
725 ownership graph of a given set of companies. To save me the work in
726 the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the
727 ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format. The data source
728 is web scraping from
<a href=
"http://www.proff.no/
">Proff
</a
>, because
729 I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of
730 the ownership data,
<a href=
"http://www.brreg.no/
">Brønnøysundsregistrene
</a
>.
</p
>
732 <p
>To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch
733 <a href=
"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/brreg-norway-ownership-graph
">the code from git
</a
> and run it using the organisation number. I
'm
734 using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its
735 ownership structure is very simple:
</p
>
738 % time ./bin/eierskap-dotty
958033540 > dagbladet.dot
746 <p
>The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line,
747 allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The
748 resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges
749 are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the
750 organisation number as their name and the name as the label:
</p
>
755 "Aller Holding A/s
" -
> "910119877" [label=
"100%
"]
756 "910119877" -
> "998689015" [label=
"100%
"]
757 "998689015" -
> "958033540" [label=
"99%
"]
758 "974530600" -
> "958033540" [label=
"1%
"]
759 "958033540" [label=
"AS DAGBLADET
"]
760 "998689015" [label=
"Berner Media Holding AS
"]
761 "974530600" [label=
"Dagbladets Stiftelse
"]
762 "910119877" [label=
"Aller Media AS
"]
766 <p
>To view the ownership graph, run
"<tt
>dotty dagbladet.dot
</tt
>" or
767 convert it to a PNG using
"<tt
>dot -T png dagbladet.dot
>
768 dagbladet.png
</tt
>". The result can be seen below:
</p
>
770 <img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/
2015-
06-
15-ownership-graphs-norway-dagbladet.png
" width=
"80%
">
772 <p
>Note that I suspect the
"Aller Holding A/S
" entry to be incorrect
773 data in the official ownership register, as that name is not
774 registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership
775 register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking
776 of the ownership links.
</p
>
778 <p
>Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources.
779 The code is licensed according to GPL
2 or newer.
</p
>
781 <p
>Update
2015-
06-
15: Since the initial post I
've been told that
782 "<a href=
"http://www.proff.dk/firma/carl-allers-etablissement-aktieselskab/københavn-v/hovedkontorer/
13624518-
3/
">Aller
783 Holding A/S
</a
>" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not
784 have a Norwegian organisation number. I
've also been told that there
785 is a
<a href=
"http://www.brreg.no/automatiske/webservices/
">web
786 services API available
</a
> from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those
787 willing to accept the terms or pay the price.
</p
>
792 <title>Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain
</title>
793 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html
</link>
794 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Measuring_and_adjusting_the_loudness_of_a_TV_channel_using_bs1770gain.html
</guid>
795 <pubDate>Thu,
11 Jun
2015 13:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
796 <description><p
>Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers
797 everywhere. Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and
798 ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and
799 the viewers do not like this. This fact is well known to the TV
800 channels. See for example the BBC white paper
801 "<a href=
"http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP202.pdf
">Terminology
802 for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that
</a
>" from
2011 for a
803 summary of the problem domain. To better address the need for even
804 loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a
805 new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in
806 standardizing loudness. From this came the ITU-R standard BS
.1770,
807 "<a href=
"http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BS
.1770/en
">Algorithms to
808 measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level
</a
>".
</p
>
810 <p
>The ITU-R BS
.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure
811 loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But
812 having a way to measure is not enough. To get the same loudness
813 across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize
814 on. For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton
815 R128,
"<a href=
"https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf
">Loudness
816 normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals
</a
>", which
817 specifies a recommended level of -
23 LUFS. In Norway, I have been
818 told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to
819 follow the R128 recommondation for playout from
2016-
03-
01.
</p
>
821 <p
>There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness
822 level using the LUFS. In Debian, I am aware of a library named
823 <a href=
"https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libebur128
">libebur128
</a
>
824 able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary
825 named
<a href=
"http://bs1770gain.sourceforge.net
">bs1770gain
</a
>
826 capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting
827 for NEW processing. I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the
828 <a href=
"https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?email=pkg-multimedia-maintainers%
40lists.alioth.debian.org
">Debian
829 multimedia
</a
> umbrella.
</p
>
831 <p
>The free software based TV channel I am involved in,
832 <a href=
"http://www.frikanalen.no/
">Frikanalen
</a
>, plan to follow the
833 R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to
834 do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of
835 the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen.
836 Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos
837 I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of
<a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/
">the
838 NUUG member organisation
</a
>. The program seem to be able to measure
839 the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I
've only
840 successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files. I suspect it
841 should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.
</p
>