GnuByExample

android - be discerning at the lower end (part 2)

2011-11-06T21:00:00.000Z

Android tablets span a whole range of functionality and build quality.

In my February article (part 1), I covered some of the features which you should look for in the sub £200 bracket.

This article is an update. I hope to do two or three more updates until ...

£100 buys you a 768MB 10 inch tablet running Android 4.0 on a 1Ghz dual core.

[ It might take a while :) ]

...or the ten inch...

Here I quote from my February article as to what to look for:

3D graphics support (OpenGL ES)
256MB ram
SD card slot (or microSD at a push)
Android 2.1 or later (2.3 or later for WebM)

Bingo! Here you have two sub £200 tablets that meet most of points 2, 3, 4.
I am guessing 3D graphics support is asking too much just now, however you are £50 less than £200 limit on price.

But surely these are no good, would you buy one personally?

It depends. Budget is the thing here. If you only want to spend £200, then this is what supply and demand currently says you can have.

One thing that did previously hamper low end tablets was frugal built in memory. Here we see that is no longer an issue. Hurrah!

But Joe down the pub says that these are resistive touch screens and no good.

If you are not sure, then read up on the difference here.

The Samsung Galaxy and others have popularised heat sensitive touch, however there are some merits to pressure sensitive screens also.

If you are led mostly by fashion and popularity, then you are probably in the wrong price category here.

If Joe offers you a second hand tablet, then do consider battery life before you invest. After a years constant use, a Samsung Galaxy Tab might have a battery that does not hold charge so well. Can you buy a replacement battery and fit it?

The £200 category redefined - early 2012 and beyond:

If it had not been for the flooding in South East Asia, I would have speculated that 768MB might become the new bar for sub £200 tablets.

However 512MB is probably a more sensible limit given the temporary memory shortages.

Sub £200 Android tablets running version 3.0 of Android should start appearing in early 2012.

I stand by my previous requirement 3D graphics support (OpenGL ES). I think it is achievable at that price point at a stretch.

WebM support out of the box is something you should also check for.

linux is lateral - uk corridor

2011-11-02T13:11:00.000Z

Linux use in UK companies, clustered on M62 and M4?

Apart from stating the obvious (Central London) where big financial is regularly advertising for Linux, the two corridors stand out.

Between Warrington and Leeds the M62. With a particular focus on Manchester.

The M4 corridor, not that it is news to see this area mentioned for startups.

Cardiff and Bristol - a nice tech cluster going on there either side of the River Severn.

Developments in 2012 and 2013:

The Silicon roundabout and other initiatives should help Linux move further east of Central London. At the moment skills are concentrated in Central London and other parts of London, but not much in East London.

( Middlesex and/or the stretch Left of Central London between M1 and M4, has always traditionally been a tech hotspot also )

The Silicon roundabout will stretch the reach of Linux a little further along that southern corridor, but what about the Midlands and North?

Tech startup success in Warrington, Manchester, and Leeds should spur on the extremes (Liverpool and Hull) to eventually play catch up.

Birmingham is underrepresented, and I will keep watching the news for any development there.

Linux and Tech Startups:

Take the map above and overlay it onto a map of startup clusters. What do you see?

Note: That map at the top is a point in time analysis, and will change month to month, however I suspect the picture will look broadly the same until those initiatives mentioned above take off.

git - recreation / clone and wordiness - dvcs

2011-10-28T00:31:00.000+01:00

You deleted your git repository or are given a brand new machine - what to do?

But why am i not on 'origin' - seem to remember that from github last time?

Think of 'origin' as your first breadcrumb in your source work - where did you start from. More eloquently put...

Origin indicates the original repository from which you started. As we started from scratch this name is still available.

Here in my case we cloned, and unless we tell git differently, we are going to be tracking the remote repository pointed to by origin/HEAD (which in my case means origin/master or simply master on my local reporting)

git push

What do you think that will do given the images shown above?

First thing to bear in mind is that unless you tell it differently a push will go to where you started.

In my case, I started from a remote .git file which I gave as part of my clone command.

The diff command is your way of testing things before your push

( Note: The diff did not need your credentials as git keeps track
locally of how you have differed from your start point.* )

The push here knew where to send your changes.

You can be explicit about things by giving arguments to push if you wish.

git checkout - some musings:

Two things are bothering me here so let's clear this up

checkout sounds like a hangover from previous version control
master sounds like it does not belong as a branch name

If you were creating your own branch then you can pick a better name than master I am sure.

Branching - do it locally or do it remotely:

This seems to be an attitude / workflow thing.

'I am little' versus 'I am big' - workflow

You have a meeting with all the devs, you agree that a significant feature named 'serialization' is going to be added to your project.

"Okay I'll create a 'serialization' branch" you say before leaving the meeting.

This is an example of 'I am big' - you are making an 'ahead of time' branch on the remote repository to which you will later commit.

git push origin origin:refs/heads/serialization

Now you do all your serialization work and commit and push.

The 'I am little' workflow is a little less formal. You might have just joined the project by cloning. Probably you have a local branch master that is tracking the remote origin/master.

Create your branch locally, make your changes, push your changes to the remote as a new branch

Here you have not made a central decision on behalf of the entire project, until after all your code changes where complete which I say as 'I am little' workflow.

Note: If other folks have committed or branched the remote repository, then you will have to find a way to merge or latch onto the current running position.

git rebase might help you in that case.

Reasons to use ssh instead of https when cloning:

Convenience.

If you have ssh keys locally that enable you easy authentication with the remote repository, then cloning via ssh has everything set up so that pushing goes ssh also.

If you have ssh keys but do your original clone via https, then your pushes will default to https also. You can adjust things in between but why make life difficult.

Here are two portions of a url - which git clone method were they?

The first is https and the second is ssh.

Note: when cloning using ssh there is no need to put ssh:// for git, however you will be in the habit of doing that for mercurial.

Note: @bitbucket.org:username is not something you would see appearing in a mercurial clone command.

Notes and Further reading:

Git is tracking by default. What I mean by this is that cloning usually creates a local branch that tracks a remote branch.

Seeing --track in commands is reassuring, but these days is often the default anyway.

The only time you will be operating locally in a non tracking mode is usually when you have simply created a local directory and ran git init

You have to do something then to hook up git with a remote url, and give it enough information to do tracking.

Creating your own branches locally will usually have you operating in non-tracking mode, unless you tell git differently. See 'I am little' workflow described above.

git push origin somebranch

...assuming somebranch was created locally and is non-tracking, the above command would create a remote branch somebranch using what you have locally.

What if you see git branch returning the following:

* (no branch)
master

...means that you should either switch to master using git checkout master or else create a branch that you want to work in.

If you like the --track in checkout commands then try this:

git checkout --track origin/somebranch

which avoids the need to expressly say what the local branch will be and git will just create one named 'somebranch' that tracks the remote you supplied.

When is the following command legal?

git remote add origin

Answer: When you have started out locally rather than cloning. When you use bitbucket or another remote that does not make an assumption in how you should start.

Github does the origin/master thing right from the outset - some will prefer this and some not.

git checkout superprogram.c is valid ... in this case checkout is not being used to switch branches.

The very last note - git pull is really a git fetch;git merge

There are probably several mistakes in my notes in this article - feel free to constructively comment and/or correct.

Why is social media on my one year old smartphone slow?

2011-10-23T13:59:00.001+01:00

The short answer is the the developers have a trade off to make - browser bottleneck / network bottleneck.

Client side / Server side - Turning back the clock 10 years:

I write this to create context. Trying to be brief.

10 years ago there were no smartphones really, and very little in the way of mobile internet.

The database lived on a server in the computer room, your desktop intranet web pages interacted with the database via server side code (JSP, PHP, ASP, whatever)

The desktop machine itself did not have to be very powerful as JSP, PHP, ASP did all the hard work in the computer room.

The phrase "Server Side round trip" was born, to give a catchy phrase to what some folks described as a network bottleneck.

Mobile net & Smartphones - ½ of Server Side now replaced by Javascript:

Sun/Oracle and Intel sell less servers because of this. Cue displeasure.

Client side development using Ajax and jQuery is popular in some startups.

The downside for the mobile user, is that the network bottleneck has now been replaced by a browser bottleneck - javascript processing.

In 2011, the biggest browser announcements, were all about the speed of the javascript processing engine.

In 2012 the push for dual core smartphones is mostly going to be driven by single core, becoming sluggish under the weight of client side javascript.

Phrases like "Sluggish page loading" and "smartphone lockup" are just two of the new phrases emerging from this shift.

Is a browser bottleneck better than a network bottleneck?

For desktops in the workplace, a network bottleneck is unlikely to be an issue, so server side processing makes perfect sense.

For tablets, smartphones, access via 3G/4G dongles, it all depends on the country in which you live, and the amount of time you spend on the move.

I use a tablet and 90% of my browsing is done via home / work fast WiFi - no network bottleneck. Heavy Ajax and jQuery is probably using up battery life unnecessarily.

I live outside of the metropolitan areas in India, and my smartphone connection regularly varies between 2 bars and the maximum 5 bars.
Heavy Ajax and jQuery client side processing is the answer.
Your battery takes the hit, but you are able to work very effectively with less reliance on the network.

Giving just two examples does not really cover it, but I hope that is enough to stimulate your own research.

Big social media - where is my bottleneck?

Twitter and Google+ place least reliance on the network, and prefer to put a good portion of the database access and scroller code on the client side.

Seem strange to me to be naming Google there, as Google does have pretty unlimited server side resources.

Identica and Facebook place more reliance on the network, but are less taxing on your smartphone processor.

Server side scripting such as Php takes a lot of the strain in Identica and Facebook, meaning you are borrowing less of your phone out, when browsing their social media.

In short the Facebook datacentre is humming when you browse, rather than your smartphone processor being fully taxed.

Just to clarify, I am by no means a Facebook fan, however this an article about choice of technologies, which does not require me to like Facebook or Google+ or both.

Big Social Media is very expensive, and if the company can borrow half of your smartphone processor, rather than compute on the server side, then there is a financial incentive there, to use your electricity rather than their own wherever possible.

How can I see this for myself? I want to experiment:

Browse around on Twitter and Identica and notice the speed and strain on your browser. Are they different? Does one seem more responsive than the other?

By Twitter and Identica, I mean searching or logging in to the www.twitter.com or www.identi.ca urls, rather than using a dedicated smartphone app.

The dedicated smartphone app for Twitter avoids Ajax and jQuery and suchlike, and is optimised for the best native device language, and API access available.

IT skills - market recovery - back to 2007 levels

2011-10-21T19:38:00.000+01:00

The collapse of the financial services sector in UK, Europe, and US in late 2007 had a knock on effect on IT recruiting. It has taken 4 years to recover.

The above is a graph of Linux advertisements for one particular job site.

The big question now, is, whether it will last.

Financial regulation, certainly in the UK, is on the increase. Ringfencing of retail banking from investment banking risk in particular.

The UK banks are saying it will take 5 years to implement.

Linux is particularly strong in the financial sector, so I hope to be able to look back on that graph again in a year or so, and see the levels staying broadly the same / slight rise.

Birmingham - city visit

2011-10-21T13:08:00.002+01:00

Having never visited Birmingham except for business, i took the opportunity for a short two day hotel stay as a leisure visitor.

First impressions of this Pedestrian visitor to Birmingham, UK:

There is a lot to it. Do have satnav enabled on your phone if you plan to go walkabout.

If you are planning a shopping trip, then your activities are already laid out in the several great shopping areas in the city centre. No satnav required.

(If you are going purely for a shopping day, then you can probably ignore the rest of this section)

One of the things that attracts medium sized and large businesses to Birmingham is the excellent road network.

Unlike Leeds though, Birmingham have yet to reconfigure the inner ring roads and connecting arteries to suit current needs of traffic / pedestrian mix.

The car is king in Birmingham, and being on foot feels a bit like visiting London used to feel, before the congestion charging move.

There are expanses of paved area where shoppers are somewhat shielded from king car, however these are not well connected enough to complete the impression.

Having lived in Leeds for a decade, and witnessed the gradual change in the inner ring road & one way systems, I now understand why those changes were required.

Proactive traffic planning and a decade of staggered disruption is what Birmingham will have to endure to create the pedestrian / traffic complimentary mix which Leeds have succeeded in providing.

Alternatively the London model (congestion charging) and moving the arteries away from the centre, through charges, might be another alternative.

Now the 'Big City Plan' is Birmingham's answer to my comment above.

It also sets out visionary proposals in which each of the seven 'quarters' will be able to evolve.

The developments of New Street Station, the Library and Museum & Art Gallery (most of which complete in 2014 / 2015) will be a big step forward.

However the connectivity of those seven areas and, more importantly, creating one way systems or other ways of pushing the high speed traffic out, from the very centre, need to be addressed (my humble opinion).

Art and Birmingham - Wow!

Pleasantly surprised to find the central Art locations so well stocked.

The Museum and Art Gallery has some fantastic works, however the layout of the listed building in which it is housed, does the visitor few favours.

I challenge any couple to spend a few hours in the main Museum & Art Gallery and rely on just signage for directions.

When the renovation work is complete in 2015, I do intend to visit again. Part of me hopes that the signs will have improved, and that the lack of renovation work makes the difference in visitor experience.

Do visit. The range and total number of items on display is fantastic.

Culture and Birmingham - just dipping a toe:

It is impossible to understand the culture of a city in a couple of days, so I will not try. Do treat my comments lightly - they are not thoroughly researched and are really just some minor observations.

If you like a Cultural mix (I do) then you will feel right at home in Birmingham, it is a melting pot of cultures and friendly with it.

Whilst I am sure reading the local press I might find some examples of when this mix does not work, it certainly wasn't my impression, during my short visit, that this was the case.

Travel on a bus. Yes there are some groups of folks in two or threes chatting about aspects of their shared culture. But that never seemed to create a feeling of division. My impression was that it was just 60 people from Birmingham on a bus, with more in common, than otherwise.

If you live in an area that is uni-culture, then do visit Birmingham and see for yourself. But do so with the intention of being open and receptive. Otherwise why bother wasting your own time, and the time of the good folks of Birmingham.

Real Ale and Ska - now there is a potent combination:

I cannot think of a better activity than having a few pints in friendly company, whilst listening to some good jukebox music.

In Selly Oak, I followed my visit to the Barber Art Institute, with a few pints of Banks and some relaxed Reggae and Ska on the jukebox.

Notes and Further Reading:

Did I enjoy my 2 night city break in Birmingham? Yes.
Would I visit again? I will.

If you are visiting and the weather is good, then do explore the tourist trail near the canal - sun bouncing off the water will give you a good dose of Vit D.

You need the sun's ultraviolet B rays to manufacture vitamin D.

I try not to get too hung up on musical categories, but here are two links, if your interest takes you further:

Ska [ wikipedia ]
Rocksteady [ wikipedia ]

Fredrickson International - Scam debt collection?

2011-10-15T18:56:00.003+01:00

Ways to tell disreputable companies - some ideas:

PO Box Address only
Signature is not a signature - no named individual

Writing letters with no named individual, is not something that a reputable company would do.

PO Box 260,
Weybridge
Surrey
KT13 0YH

Why would a reputable financial services company hide behind a PO Box?

But they must be a reputable company - they have a website and a data protection 'notification' entry.

So it seems De Havilland Drive, Brooklands Business Park, Weybridge, Surrey is the real address behind the PO Box.

An even fuller address might be Persimmon House, De Havilland Drive, if you are planning on calling in person.

Telephone: 0870 774 4111
Fax: 0870 777 6609

Google map search - here.

Seems this company used to collect Debts for Plant Hire / Leasing, but might want to now expand it's area of business.

Now back to the website - and here is the London address to tie it all together:

Fredrickson Int Ltd

7-10 Chandos Street
W1G 9DQ

Google map search - here.

Now a bit more about the company - who are the key people?

MR JAN MICHAEL LACEY 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
ROY FREDERICK JONES 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
PAUL WILLIAM BUTLER 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
PAUL FAITHFULL 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
DARREN SEAN WRIGHT 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
DR DEREK LOUIS JONES 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
FRANK HANAFIN 12 Jan 10 director - Particulars Changed
JAN LACEY 11 Dec 08 director - Particulars Changed
MR JAN MICHAEL LACEY 11 Sep 08 director - Appointed

Now I don't know - but the thing that stands out here is the name Lacey - Mr Jan Micheal Lacey - appointed September 2008, then particulars changed 3 months later and again in 2010 - what sort of reorganisation is going on there exactly?

Promotion apparently - since 2008 Jan Michael Lacey has been promoted to "Director – Head of Group Marketing"

Quite a fancy title for a company that has less than £10,000 capital on file?

Financial Services and name changes - dodgy? You decide:

Apparently Mr S R Jones also a director of ...

PBELLA VISTA RESTAURANTS LIMITED     05524500
BOB THE BACKUP LIMITED     05752111
CREDIT ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT LIMITED     05811099
CYCLONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED     04243606
FREDRICKSON MAILING SERVICES LIMITED     05231083
FREDRICKSON MANAGED SERVICES LTD     06323973
FREDRICKSON SECURE SERVICES LIMITED     07183391
GOLF MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL LIMITED     04549653
INTERLAKEN GROUP LIMITED     03167536
MERLIGEN INVESTMENTS LIMITED     07786814
PAYOFFLINE LIMITED     06194989
SRJ DEBT RECOVERIES LIMITED     05064551

Why all these different Fredrickson companies? All requiring company registration and Directorship filing.

Paying back the banks - who has Fredrickson owed money to?

RBS Invoice Finance Limited - Fixed And Floating Charge - Outstanding 1 Jun 07

National Westminster Bank Plc - Debenture - Outstanding on 02 Jun 04

Ideal Homes Limited - Rent Deposit Deed - Outstanding on 14 Sep 02

National Westminster Bank Plc - Legal Mortgage - Outstanding on 09 May 1996

Is this a service for debt reduction swap that Fredrickson are involved in?

Perhaps if S R Jones and J M Lacey were not so busy setting up so many different companies and Directorships, they might have a clearer business and make their own payments always on time.

Phone Harassment? - multiple outgoing phone numbers maybe:

0207 998 1074,
0208 127 0829
0208 616 0016
0208 759 9577

Mostly 0208 London, but also Manchester 0161 425 7458 and some other assorted numbers also.

Seems like that Manchester number has seen regular complaints.

Any phone less than two years old should have a call barring feature as standard.

Read the online manual for your phone or download the manual as .pdf

On some android phones there is a menu entry for 'auto reject'

settings -> call settings -> all calls -> auto reject

Then you need to go into the 'auto reject' list and add that list of numbers above.

There are various smartphone apps for doing similar things, but this is usually unnecessary cost. However if you cannot find auto reject or similar, then maybe buying an app from the app store is the way to go.

Speaking of phones - what an innovative way of asset stripping:

We don't just take cash - we take your phone too!

But Fredrickson International Limited have just written to me?

It was probably for an old debt which you have already paid off years ago.

It is likely speculative.

Is this no more than an 0870 scam - where the whole point is to get people to waste their own time whilst the company collect 'per minute' call charges?

Well if Fredrickson are knowingly holding incorrect / uncorroborated data, and are not taking the time to 'prove the debt', it is certainly one argument.

Go here and ask some questions if you feel you might benefit from peer support.

Here is what Bill had to say about dealing with calls from this company:

Do not discuss anything, just leave them hanging on the phone. Do not even give them your name. They will also let it ring twice, as though you have a missed call and let you phone back......

Naming and shaming companies who deal with Fredrickson:

O2
Vodafone
Tiscali
BT
Virgin

Boycott those companies. It should be part of how you choose your services to consider who a company associates with.

Note: Just because Fredrickson International write in a letter that their client is "Such and Such Bank", does not make it so. One such example showed "Client: Bank of Scotland", however I am pretty sure that this is misleading.

Compiling a 'filtered list' of the most vulnerable - the 'mark' list:

Do not under any circumstances contact Fredrickson International without first checking your own credit record.

Courts should appreciate the argument:

I believed it to be a scam, so I promptly ordered a copy of my credit reference file. And this arrived within 7-10 days.

So work to your own timetable, diligently, and do not be rushed by scare tactics and barmy court cost figures in a letter.

Solicitors and part qualified legal executives who get involved in compiling 'mark' lists, based on response to scare tactics are bringing the law into disrepute.

The law was never about allowing exploitation of societies most vulnerable, by somebody with a two year City & Guilds equivalent in basic law.

The first time you respond to a bogus debt claim, you have just been promoted to the class B list.

Class A - the original list
Class B - those who have responded in any way
Class C - those who seem most unable to 'hold their own' in telephone conversation, and might pay twice for something already cleared.

That Class C 'mark list' is very valuable to all companies operating in grey areas of law.

If you make it onto the Class C list, then even if you get rid of the company that is currently bothering you, by sharing that valued list, another bogus claim from a different company is likely in the future.

Trading in lists of societies most vulnerable? How on earth did we end up here?
UK Prime Minister - what are you going to do to address this awful situation?

But my Sister who has Learning Disabilities has already visited fredpay.com?

If have verified that this is a bogus claim (Statute Barred / Already settled), then your Sister (with your help) will have to write to Fredrickson International, and ask them to remove all records they hold on her.

If they have not responded within 14 days confirming receipt of your letter, then they are in violation of Data Protection regulations, and seek help at http://www.ico.gov.uk/

If it were me doing the writing, then I would address the letter to the Data Controller at the Surrey address listed above, and do not bother with recorded delivery - too easy to ignore (I was not in the office)

If the company are genuinely ignoring data removal requests, then the Information Commissioner (see Helpline number) will respond to your complaint.

Notes and Further reading:

Official UK Helpline for Data Protection issues: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745

'Statute Barred' debts - time limits [ hmrc.gov.uk ]
'Statute Barred' - how it works [ dpcregistry.co.uk ]

Next time you are being pitched a Broadband contract - ask the sales operator. Does your company have any business dealings with Fredrickson International?

If enough people ask this, then companies might think twice about who they partner with in future.

career/life goals from retrospective points.

2011-10-08T16:43:00.000+01:00

Here are 4 phrases, that I hope will never appear on my fictional obituary

If it didn't involve 100% markup, then he wasn't interested
He sought to divide the globe into the 10% who could afford his product, and the other 90%, and, to make that division very tangible.
He made some very uninteresting people proud to wear a turtleneck
He learned from previous examples of 'patent aggression', then took it to the max.

I can be pretty sure about the third entry, and the other three make good personal targets of 'how not to' for my future.

Here are some experimental entries:

He wrote an anti-EULA that made app store software installation really difficult
He refused to dress up, and was rarely the best dressed gentleman at the convention.
He missed the opportunity to branch out into high street 'churches'.
He told a lie once about a guy with a different ideology.

...and some more...

He chopped and changed endeavours so frequently, and failed to see out some projects to true proof or disproof.
He often placed too little value on business partners, and failed to move forward quickly enough, by 'in-housing' too much.
He did not take the time to ensure that his own moral code was part of the company make up. When it went public, it turned into the very thing which he had been fighting against most of his career.

Experimenting this way, and, for a short time trying to play the external critic, can be useful in firming up your own objectives.

Organised religion makes a big thing about some central figure. Whilst it is okay to borrow some features and achievements from somebody else, achieving your own potential fully, will probably not come from imitation.

If you want to explore the 'central figure' / worship theme a little, then the argument and counter arguments here are a good entry point.

Minimum Wage levels are Symptom not Cause

2011-10-03T12:34:00.007+01:00

Institute of Economic Affairs quote about National Minimum Wage:

This is basically pricing people out of the labour market and onto welfare

Source: Panorama article on BBC

I was never a fan of the minimum wage 'idea', however it is now in place in the UK.

As it happens I think that statement from Mark Littlewood, sidesteps the wider issue of Housing.

The minimum wage being 'too high' is purely a reflection of rising living costs.

Think of it as nothing more than a number/statistic helps.

The true problem, in my opinion, is the daft idea of turning 'housing' (an essential item) into a 'free market' driven by folks looking for 20% or 10% annual return.

Whilst that situation exists, living costs will continue to be driven by, that underlying market force, and that living cost reflection (minimum wage) will also continue to rise.

There have been many headlines in the past 5 years from Company Directors*, complaining about the minimum wage.

Directors and recruiters bleating about a minimum wage being too high, seems to me to be a lazy sidestepping of the wider issue.

Do these same Directors* and recruiters own second homes?

Because if they did, you could understand why they may be reluctant, to give up on a market system (housing) in which, they have major capital invested.

*Directors here means Company Directors in general, and does not refer to any one individual.

Better off on welfare - how the 'Housing market' creates this situation:

As a Mathematician and follower of logic, this seems all too easy to describe, and illustrate with numbers.

You are a blue collar worker named Bob and you work full time at a biscuit factory.

Your weekly earnings have increased steadily from £200 in 1990, to £300 in 2000, and £400 in 2010.

1994 was a good year, you got Married to Janet and bought a semi-detached for £30,000 with a Mortgage arrangement. You are 24 years old and things are rosy.

2002 was not a good year, you got divorced, agreed to sell the house and split the proceeds.

The 'Housing Market' now in full effect had increased the value of your property to £80,000.

You pay the divorce lawyer, and sale fees and You and Janet end up with roughly £30,000 each.

You choose to rent a flat at £100 per week.

The 'buy to let' effect on the Housing Market has increased average rents, now between 2003 and 2009, your rent has increased on the flat from £100 to £180 per week.

Luckily for you your wages in 2010 are now £400, but of the £220 remaining after your rent is paid, you must contribute to the living costs of the children from your marriage.

You struggle financially, but have got past the divorce, and enjoy spending a couple of days with the kids midweek and weekends.

The £30,000 you had from the sale of the house has been pretty much spent on treating the kids - organised school holidays skiing for little Pete, and a pony for Lucy. You now have £5,000 in a saver account.

In 2011 the Biscuit Factory closes and you lose your job.

Now let's pretend for a second that there is no minimum wage.

Bob has a flat for £180 per week. He has to contribute to the upkeep of his children with Janet also.

He liked the job at the Biscuit Factory, and it gave him stability for many years, however he has few transferable skills.

Bob's cost of living has very little to do with whether he lives in a country that has a minimum wage.

If there was a minimum wage and it was scrapped overnight, it does not alter Bob's situation.

Adding some detail - Bob lives in the UK and there is (currently) a National Minimum Wage of £6.08

( For International Readers - I give some context ... £6.08 will buy between 4 and 6 loaves of sliced bread depending on where you shop )

Bob goes down to the job centre. Most of the jobs for which he would have any hope of showing 'previous experience' are priced at the Minimum Wage rate of £6.08 per hour.

£212.80 per week is what you will get on Minimum Wage for working a 35 hour week.

Assuming Bob takes the job at Roundhouse Cake Factory at £212.80 per week, and does not claim any housing assistance, he cannot stay in the flat and support his kids.

Instead Bob takes the job at Roundhouse Cake Factory at £212.80 per week, and does claim housing assistance - he can stay in the flat and support his kids.
Welfare won. Bob works hard but finds life is worth living and adores his children.

Should Welfare win? - the different opinions:

The welfare staff are chatting over lunch. The discussion is about Bob. He should really have moved out of the flat, and into a shared house with cheaper rent says Charlie. Jenny points out that a 40 plus single man with children staying over Wednesdays and Saturdays, might not work with a house of young students.

Have your own discussion folks. Is Bob right? Is Charlie talking sense? Does Jenny have a valid opinion?

What did not matter at all in that scenario was Minimum Wage.

What did matter looking back at the history was ...

1994 -> 2002 the cost of a semi-detached rose from £30,000 to £80,000
2003 -> 2009 the rental for a flat rose from £100 to £180

Now let's consider a clone of Bob (Bob2), who has let himself go a bit. He makes an effort with the children, but feels a little downtrodden and is not very happy except on Dad days.

Bob2 fails to get the job at Roundhouse Cake Factory - the employer had a more enthusiastic applicant and gave the job to Ted.

...or...

Bob2 fails to get the job at Roundhouse Cake Factory - the employer had 50 applicants for 2 jobs. Ted and Sally got the jobs.

Bob2 claims job seekers allowance, and claims help with his living costs.
Welfare won.

Charlie and Jenny and the rest of the lunchtime crowd from welfare are commenting on Bob2's situation. Somebody suggests that it is not right that Bob2 should have his Flat paid for. Another person disagrees. What do you think?

Idle Chatter, the Housing Market, the Housing Market:

My Opinion: All that talk is just idle chatter - the bigger problem - affordable housing is the real issue.

Until the government take measures regarding second ownership (tax it out of existence?), the housing costs of Bob and Bob2 will be driven by those seeking 10% to 20% annual returns on residential housing.

This generation (and the previous generation) have been raised to maximise the income to their family unit. Whilst a situation exists where 10% to 20% annual profit can be obtained through owning a second home, the welfare system is taking up the slack.

Everyone meets the cost of welfare, but only the second home owners get to keep the 10% to 20% profit.

Schooled in profit - would I ever own a second home:

The easy answer here would be to say NO NEVER, however I think it is naïve of me to reach right away for that answer.

Let me put it to you another way...

If I had £100,000 today and could earn 4% in a bank, or 20% in a second home, would you consider me an idiot for taking the 4%? Probably.

If I take the 4% I am considered a fool for giving up 16% earnings.

Regulation is required to prevent bank and building society investments, being the poor choice for most 'well off' couples and their investment.

Residential Housing is not a 'free market' and should not be treated like one.
Yes have a market, but have it regulated to moderate profits, through capital gains tax and other taxation measures.

If it is 'too profitable' then speculation and greed take over, and affordable housing becomes a myth.

Until this happens, those 20% annual returns are going to be too tempting for anyone to resist.

But nobody makes 10% or 20% per annum on a second house now?

If this is the case, then regulation is still required, just not as urgently.

It does not alter the situation that all those 10% and 20% yearly increases, between 1994 and 2009 have been taken out of the system.

Only when house prices fall so that those 10% or 20% rises are undone will the affordable housing problem go away.

But that is impossible? Only if housing is really not a free market or there is a fundamental change in our social makeup.

With the lack of regulation, a lack of buyers could well undo those past rises.

However second home owners would not allow that to happen. Lobbying for removal of rent caps on social housing, and other roundabout methods of propping up the residential property market, would likely come into effect.

The 'well off' do not like to lose money, and expect MPs, and other representatives to take action if that looks likely. Cynical? Maybe.

I mentioned a 'fundamental change in our social makeup' - see next.

Alternative housing - a threat to second home owners:

Bob loses the Flat and decides to take off and become a 'traveller'. The £5,000 buys him a motor home.

Wherever Bob goes around the UK, he is pestered by councils to 'move on'

Bob2 loses the Flat. He meets Victoria and in order to save up a deposit, they move into a large shed in the back garden of Victoria's folks house.

However an Anonymous complaint is received at the council, and the shed living arrangement cannot continue.

The couple will have to scrimp and save for a decade, before having any hope of affording to buy a house.

Note: I have misrepresented Victoria and Bob2 as a couple here. Victoria is a real person (see link), however I felt it a useful addition to this article. Bob2 bears no relation to the boyfriend of Victoria in the linked article. My words are fictional.

So it seems that there are perhaps too many vested interests in the 'free market' of residential property, to allow any change.

Alternative housing will be vilified, as if it is not, then those 10% or 20% annual profits might never return!

Notes and Further Reading:

It is not my intention to suggest that welfare staff discuss individual cases over lunch. I just found it a useful way of introducing ideas and opinions, which the reader can mull over.

If this article comes across as being negative towards second home owners, it is not so deliberate. I only point out the negatives to get to the root cause - Having residential housing as a truly 'free market' is in my opinion a big mistake. This article is my attempt to illustrate that, rather than targeting those individuals outright.

An extract from a report by Shelter about Affordable Housing in UK:

Shelter's research found rents had risen at one-and-a-half times the rate of incomes in the 10 years up to 2007.

Shelter defines 'Affordable' as 35% of median average local take-home pay.

Do you think 35% of take home pay is a reasonable level?

Institute of Economic Affairs [ iea.org.uk ]
Rents in over half of UK areas are no longer 'Affordable'

Xfce desktop with kde apps - a mime issue

2011-09-17T22:49:00.000+01:00

As an Xfce user, I sometimes still find myself grabbing the occasional Kde application.

Most of the time this desktop 'mix and match' works well.

However there is a mime type incompatibility/annoyance that might affect your opening of .doc files.

KDE and mime types:

Installing kdelibs5-data (just to satisfy a dependency) will bring in the following file:

/usr/share/mime/packages/kde.xml

and here is an issue...

The package libfile-mimeinfo-perl in Debian GNU / Linux will give you two utilities that can help you diagnose your issue:

mimetype
mimeopen

I am going to try mimeopen first and mimetype second, which seems like the roundabout way of doing things, but stay with me whilst I explain.

mimeopen --ask --database=/usr/share/mime yuck.doc

None of my three choices were correct - illustrates the problem nicely.

Now there is a search sequence for the mime information itself, and it is helpful to know whether the rogue setting, is in your personal user space or system wide.

There are two commands issued above (separated by a date just for easier reading).

What those two command together tell me is that it is not a personal (user) setting that is causing the issue.

( By specifying --database in the second command I ignore user specific database checking. )

None of this is actually fixing the issue, we are just diagnosing.

Just hacking around - not recommended :)

mv /usr/share/mime/packages/kde.xml /tmp/

and running mimetype and mimeopen showed no improvement :(

This is to be expected as you need to run update-mime-database to give your system a chance to react to the new situation.

The full command is as follows:

update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

and now mimeopen behaves as it should:

If you run a full KDE desktop then you are probably not going to be happy with losing kde.xml from /usr/share/mime/packages

However as an Xfce user, I probably do not care, and will just keep a copy lying around in case I really need it.

The comment in kde.xml reads...

As discussed on xdg list, *.doc is needed here for disambiguation

However I think if this 'catch all' is to work as intended, somebody needs to give a bit more though to magic / priority so that the correct program is opened in all situations.

Notes and Further reading:

libfile-mimeinfo-perl [ packages.debian.org ]
kdelibs5-data package filelist [ packages.debian.org ]
priority attribute [ websearch of standards.freedesktop.org ]

google API - command line access to googledocs

2011-09-11T14:05:00.000+01:00

Each google service has an API.

These APIs change regularly as google develops it's services, however the core activities should always work.

If you want to take advantage of the latest features, then the API might well be developing as I write this. However things like 'Uploading a pdf' should work and be stable ... or so I thought.

I repeat the text below for easy copy/paste for future web searching:

Loading ./cal_man_EL531_509refBySharp.pdf
Failed to upload ./cal_man_EL531_509refBySharp.pdf: {'status': 415,

'body': 'Content-Type application/pdf is not a valid input type.',

'reason': 'Unsupported Media Type'}

Other types of file might work fine, however the lack of .pdf upload facility from command line, was enough to halt my experiment.

On Debian GNU/Linux the following install will help get you started:

apt-get install python-gdata googlecl

fairplay drm and 5 device restrictions != 'free as in speech'

2011-09-08T12:21:00.001+01:00

So Apple app store restrictions seems to have won out (vlc)

'Free software' developers who keep buying Apple, need to square this with whether, they truly believe in 'free redistribution', 'sharealike' and 'source availability requirements'

Putting conditions like 'you can only install this app on 5 devices', seems to raise no issue with some developers, who are only too happy to wear a badge saying 'free software'

Extract from a user comments (link below) seems prophetic

Apple users are the losers here. Instead of complaining to Apple, the source of the problem, a lot of you clueless wonders want to change VLC, or try to make out that GPL should be banned.

If you need a refresher on the spirit of sharing software, then have quick read of the bullet points in the Debian social contract at http://www.debian.org/social_contract

Listing points (1) free redistribution, (2) source code, and (3) derived works

App stores (as Apple defines them) prevent free redistribution, and wrap drm around the app. Both of these in my opinion are against the spirit of what you just read.

Another comment (link provided below) seems to get to the root of the issue:

The legal problem here is that there's no way to distribute an App on the App Store without the FairPlay DRM (even if that App is free and open source).

The licence that VLC was originally released under (GPL) requires that anyone distributing the App not impose any restrictions on the further distribution of that software.

If I download VLC for Windows, I can send the installer to a friend and they can pass it on to their friends etc.

That's not possible with iOS Apps. If I download it from Apple App Store, my copy will only work with my iTunes Store account.

Links and Further Reading:

Debian Social Contract [ debian.org ]
VLC in Apple app store - article and discussion [ blogs.computerworld.com ]
VLC statement on license change to LGPL [ videolan.org ]
Apple App Store - FairPlay DRM requirement comment
[ http://forums.macrumors.com ]

I have no problem with the LGPL3 or LGPL as licenses, both are endorsed and in general use. Plenty of software in Debian is LGPL3.

What I do object to is the influence of proprietary software companies (and their supporters) in weakening of the licensing, of an established 'free software' project.

If you cannot see the dangers in this, then it is really because you do not understand the argument, or is it simply inconvenient?

About the comments I have linked to: Neither comments are my own, and yes I have cherry picked comments in support of the arguments I make in this article.

If you are the original author of either of those two comments, then please use the contact link on my blogger profile so that I may correctly attribute them in my post.

software licensing - permissive licensing, countermeasures

2011-09-06T14:14:00.003+01:00

GPL2 (used by Linux kernel) was released in 1991. Since then 2 or 3 large companies have used those 16 years to identify it's weaknesses and develop counter measures.

In 2007 the GPL3 adopted clauses in response to those countermeasures (drm, tivoization, patent grants) and so it goes on.

But MIT/Apache2 is the only license you ever need?

A subject of much debate. MIT / Apache2 fill a need, however they do not require 'share alike' (code / patent grants) in the same way as the GPL, and, do little to protect against the counter measures of the last decade, I mentioned above.

What is wrong with permitting large corporations to bundle your software?

Nothing, however you need to give consideration to the following:

Attribution
Robocopping

Robocopping - what does that mean?

It could be argued (for and against) that Apache2 / MIT permissive sort of licenses have actually helped, create one of the silicon valley monsters, that every day works against free software and user control.

Here is how it goes - it's the eighties and you want a big slice of the personal computer market. What is your pitch? Well we want to free you from the tyranny of control, of huge software like IBM and buggy software like MSDOS.

So you take a project like BSD (which has a permissive license) and start the Robocopping.

Robocop began as a human, and then had non-organic parts grafted onto his torso in place of original biological components.

When OS8 was released it contained a good chunk of BSD low level utilities for most system tasks (free software) and this was bundled with proprietary software for the cosmetic end of things (the GUI).

Now with OS10, more and more of the free software has been gradually removed. Ironically, whilst pitching itself as a friend of the 'hacker', the development OS8 -> OS9 -> OS10 has gradually removed more and more of the code over which those 'hacker' types have any rights.

But Robocopping - that's just your opinion?

Here I lift a few phrases from a 2004 message exchange, there are plenty more examples of folks expressing similar sentiments:

Quite honestly, I don't think they've taken a great deal more than /bin, /sbin, /lib, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/lib or if they have, I couldn't tell...

Source: 2004 message here.

If FreeBSD wanted more than attribution, perhaps the choice of BSD license was a bad idea. :-)

Source: 2004 freebsd discussion here.

Reasons to install KDE packages in a non-Kde desktop

2011-09-02T12:33:00.002+01:00

My default desktop is Xfce.

However there are some KDE specific or Gnome specific packages that I use also.

The Gnome ones are few (and easy to remember for me), but I need reminding about the Kde ones, so here goes:

k3b
cantor-backend-r
dragon-player
filelight
gwenview
katomic
kcollectd
kdenlive
kdiff3
kmplot
kstars
ksysguard
ktuberling
okular
rocs

The really important programs, for me, are marked in bold.

( younger family members make use of katomic and ktuberling )

k3b - backup to cdrom and dvd - why that particular program?

For me k3b was the first 'burner' program to get it right. It is not perfect. Some might call the user interface a little clunky.

In short 'It works' and it has never let me down.

But 'blah' program is prettier? Well you can keep your pretty desktop integrated whatever - I'll stick with something that is stable and reliable thanks.

Okular for pdf reading - but I have Adobe?

Adobe reader goes much further than 'reading pdfs'. In short, I find the program exceeds what I want.

Adobe products have a habit of doing things in the background, without being too informative about that to the user. This I do not like.

Okular is a very capable replacement, and warns before opening embedded content.

But I need Adobe reader as I need to compete pdf forms?
Okular supports forms - but it prompts you to ensure your agreement before activating the form fields.

Manually: View -> Show Forms

Rocs for 'Graph Theory':

There is the beginnings of a package for 'Nodes' and 'Edges' in the KDE suite.

By no means complete, 'rocs' is a good start, but needs perhaps to attract a few more developers to progress.

Programming rocs graphs to autogenerate nodes / edges uses a javascript type language, something I may dabble with in the future.

Installing software direct rather than package archives - Ubuntu

2011-09-01T12:25:00.000+01:00

A cautionary tale regarding self-installing a browser on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has a protection system labelled 'AppArmor'.

It's big strength is in protecting users from themselves, when it comes to 'Install Me Java' type popups.

Above is an example of what I refer to as 'Install Me Java' type popups.

Without being a Java expert, the user is giving some Trust to the publisher (wisely or unwisely) as to what the code will do with their computer.

AppArmor is a resident protection system, that is configured (by default) to work with a standard Firefox install*

(*By standard Firefox install, I mean listed at packages.ubuntu.com and installed using Ubuntu supplied tools such as Synaptic)

What happens if I install my own browser? Am I protected?

You are still afforded some protection, however AppArmor is not intercepting script execution (Java)

Can you give me an example of why this is a bad idea?

As it happens, Daniel Dieterle has a great article that illustrates the dangers very clearly.

The title probably needs a bit of qualification, and there should be some more clarification regarding the target system (see next paragraph)

How would your system be different & reaction to that article:

Okay, well your target system needs a bit of description here - did Daniel install Chrome himself?

Official release of Ubuntu (as far as I know) has Firefox6 and a stripped version of Chrome named Chromium, however that article seem quite particular in saying Chrome.

To reiterate my previous point:

If you install a browser yourself (manually or manually from ppa) your system AppArmor resident protection, will not give you the same level of protection as an officially supported browser release.

Solution: Stick with Firefox6 (installed by default), or disable Java scripting in any browser you self install.

Both are simple solutions (see image below)

If you *choose* to make your system 'non-standard', then you must also accept responsibility for any extra security precautions then required.

Running Firefox6 with Java disabled is the most secure option.

Running Firefox6 (with no self tinkering, and so benefiting from AppArmor protection of Java scripts), is a fairly secure option.

Self installing Chrome and leaving Java scripting activated is the least secure option. Security conscious users never choose the least secure option.

My browser is Official Ubuntu Firefox 6 and a AppArmor failed to intercept Java script?

Then post the output from the following command:

sudo egrep -i '(profile|apparmor)' /var/log/kern.log

...into a bug report on launchpad.

Summary in two sentences:

Malicious java should be stopped by AppArmor from executing withing Firefox6.

If you still feel a 'stock system' is vulnerable or firefox6+java is not blocking malicious scripts and reporting so in /var/log/kern.log, then file a bug and help close the hole :)

protecting a section / paragraph in a document

2011-08-21T17:07:00.000+01:00

Here are the two ways which I protect portions of a document:

...wanting to protect it often occurs for important content which I'll also frame (hence protecting frames)

But sometimes I just want to protect a block of text to prevent accidental overtyping...

Create a section, then paste in your text, and then 'protect' the section. Example...

Don't let the actual text (gcc / pthread, etc) put you off, I just wanted to show a real world example.

Here I have included in my document some commands, which I will later use as reference. What I don't want to happen is to accidentally overtype some of those commands whilst editing my document, and losing the concrete reference.

Frames or Sections, both will do a job for you in protecting a block of content - choose whichever you find most convenient :)

Notes and Further Reading:

How to protect a section is discussed in Chapter 4 of the LibreOffice / OpenOffice documentation (links below)

Chapter 4 "Formatting pages" (as .odt file) [ wiki.documentfoundation.org ]
Chapter 4 "Formatting pages" (as .pdf file) [ wiki.documentfoundation.org ]
LibreOffice documentation homepage [ libreoffice.org ]

Chapter 4 pdf is 1.4MB and the .odt version is much smaller.

If you have LibreOffice or OpenOffice installed then you might have local copies accessed by pressing F1 (help)

The 'main' threat - 10-k filings - take aim - fire!

2011-08-16T12:43:00.001+01:00

Dominant market players have a substantial revenue stream to protect.

Threats to this revenue stream have to be explained regularly to US shareholders in 10-k filings.

The change in a 10-k filing from year to year can be quite revealing.

It's official - what everyone suspected - Microsoft now sees Google and Apple as it's main threats to revenue. But a more important question is left unanswered*

How Google and Apple can threaten Microsoft business model:

Here is a question that you can answer just be reading Microsoft latest 10-k and without any regard for any competitor.

Which of Desktop/Server, Cloud, or Mobile is Microsoft's 'main' revenue stream?

That is the *unanswered question which you should answer for yourself.

Firstly it is important to pick your pitch - Desktop/Server, Cloud or Mobile

...which of these 'spheres' you select has a separate set of arguments.

My feeling, Microsoft is trying desperately to reposition itself and wants a foothold in all three, but it is unsure of none of it:

Could be that Desktop/Server takes a profit hit soon - many have speculated this is coming in 2012/2013. Hence the rearguard in the 10-k declaration?
Could be that Cloud (BPOS and Azure) never really dents Amazon/Rackspace/Google App Engine
Could be that Windows Mobile continues to be a resource drain, and despite ridiculous media blitz in Fall 2011, still fails to dent Android market share.

Considering each of those 3 spheres by company - here are some future fictional headlines - any of which could be true in 2012 / 2013

Google Chrome takeup amongst SMEs in Europe shows healthy growth
Google Apps deployments accelerate
Android app store - new submissions rate is 50,000 per month

Similar fictional headlines, involving Apple taking revenue from Microsoft could be written involving Macbook, iCloud, iTunes.

Linux gets a breather - all good news:

Previously Microsoft only had one 'arch' rival which it liked to talk about in it's 10-k filings - Linux

Microsoft has very few tricks up it's sleeve, that it hasn't already played out in it's attempts to deny market access to Linux.

Foundations have been launched and the GPL3 drafted, in direct response to some of these tricks.

Now Linux can just get on with the job of being the preferred server operating system of High Performance Computing, some of the larger startups, and those who want a secure desktop experience.

In short Linux can take a breather from being the most targeted operating system in history - it's main enemy for the last 10 years, is now turning it's attentions, to it's neighbours in America's West.

Notes and Further Reading:

Android app store now receiving 28,000 new submissions per month
[ technorati.com ]
Microsoft 10-K submission 2011 [ investing.businessweek.com ]

When 'denying market access' is dressed up as 'piracy prevention'

2011-08-14T13:29:00.000+01:00

How can you prevent a PC manufacturer from bundling Debian or Ubuntu?
Easy, just get them to sign an exclusivity clause in order to allow them to preinstall Windows.

If a domestic supplier of PCs in China makes a PC model (let's say PC500 just to give it a name), in order to be able to preinstall Windows 7, they have to sign an agreement that says that no PC500 models will ever be distributed with anything other than Windows 7.

So if that manufacturer wants to produce 100,000 PC500s with Windows 7, and has a small market of 15,000 it thinks it could serve by preloading Ubuntu, it simply cannot.

Tying up hardware manufacturers so that they cannot preload an alternative OS, is dressed up as a piracy prevention measure, but it seems to me is more about denying market access to newer rival OSs such as Debian or Ubuntu.

The phrase "other unlawfully pre-installed software" appears in the USTR report discussed in this Forbes article.

Because of those tied manufacturer agreements, that unlawfully pre-installed software includes Debian and Ubuntu.

The nonsense in the argument - where is the fallacy?

The argument (from the proprietary software company) goes a little something like this.

We went to china and in this one market, we found that there were 100 PCs that were preloaded with illegal copies of Windows XP

This provides the cover for 'denying market access' which I will return to later.

The Fallacy - some preamble:
Selling proprietary software that has not been paid for is an offence, so the software vendor has existing recourse to seek law enforcement help, and financial compensation for those 100 PCs preloaded with unpaid copies of Windows XP

The fallacy is the suggestion that there needs to be additional 'legal protection measures' in the form of tied manufacturer agreements.

Tying a manufacturer by creating an additional 'legal offense' and creating a category of 'approved software' is just a cover, to deny market access to vendors wishing to serve local markets with alternative operating systems.

By using these tied agreements the manufacturer who wants to serve a local market with Ubuntu, is forced to create a new model identifier PC500n or similar and go again through the expensive certification processes that lead up to sale through retail channels.

Plenty of manufacturers will baulk at the idea of paying twice for certification process, and this amounts to denial of market access - precisely what the proprietary software vendor seeks to obtain.

social media - the rebirth of the Stasi

2011-08-11T19:57:00.000+01:00

Having watched the Award winning "The Lives of Others" recently, and witnessing the knee jerk reactions to UK unrest, the two things come together in this article.

Here is an extract from a news article following the sporadic looting in the UK that occurred August 2011.

(1) "The use of social media in the unrest looks like a game-changer. But any attempt to exert state control over social media looks likely to fail,"

(2) "A much better approach would be to encourage and support individuals and community groups in identifying alarming developments on social media and even speaking out on the internet against extremists and criminals, and ensuring that the police have the skills and technical support to get pre-emptive and operational intelligence from social media when necessary."

Attributing the comments to an individual, is less important than recognising that if one person can suggest it, then it will occur to others also.

( I have added the numbering to help organise this post )

(1) Proactive monitoring of social media - what the UK is proposing

The only way to 'know' in advance is to monitor social media for keywords and other such broad brush markers - bit like the telephone network monitoring in less enlightened countries.

The question of "When we know they are..." is obviously a thorny one - does a judge get to verify the intelligence gathered is conclusive, or is it just guesswork?

(2) Encourage voluntary creation of groups of 'flaggers' on social media.

This is genius in a rather perverted fashion, and is where the phrase 'Stasi' came in to the article title.

To those not living in the UK, there has been deep cuts in the funding of charities and voluntary organisations.

( I am not going to debate the need for cuts or otherwise - I am aware of the arguments both ways )

So what can all the 'do gooders' who are without an occupation do now? Spy on their own communities of course. They probably spend a good deal of this newly spare time on 'Facebook' anyway, so why not put it to 'the greater good'?

If this does progress, then we have learned nothing from the dismantling of the Stasi in East Germany.

There is a long history of states becoming paranoid about unrest in difficult ideological or financial times.

Encouraging citizens to flag up their neighbours and social media 'friends' who might use a phrase, or have an opinion, they feel is suspect, is the start of a march back to Stasi society.

Notes and Further Reading:

"The Lives of Others" movie (2006) [ imdb.com ]
Stasi [ wikipedia.com ]

move / resize partitions - the zero cost way

2011-08-08T11:05:00.000+01:00

There was a time when resizing and moving partitions required a trip to the computer store for some software.

No longer the case.

GNU Fdisk is a feature rich fdisk replacement that supports many options including:

v - move a partition
c - rescue a lost partition
z - resize a partition
h - check the consistency of a partition
o - copy the partition over another partition

By default GNU Fdisk will work in 'compatibility mode', so as to aid users who are making the switch from traditional fdisk.

So options v, c, z, h, o would not show in your menu.

However the -G flag turns off the compatibility mode.

By running gfdisk -G /dev/sda the extra options are available.

( Replace /dev/sda above with whatever your disk device identifier is )

In Debian GNU / Linux you will find GNU Fdisk here.

dpkg - non super user - path limitation

2011-08-08T09:40:00.000+01:00

Dpkg is the [ command line ] tool for adding / removing packages in Debian and derivatives.

Running dpkg as ordinary user - why would you?

This for me is just about historical working style.

Sometimes I will be doing preparatory work for system changes as a regular user, and just paste my final command into a root terminal

It should not be too hard to leave this behind, but I document it here for posterity and to aid questions by other debian users.

The complaint above appears because executables such as /sbin/ldconfig are not in the path of a regular user.

This is how a secure system should be set up.

In contract a super user (root) might have a path that looks like:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

Adjusting your way of working (or not) - the options:

So you can just avoid trying to use dpkg as ordinary user, or choose one of the options below:

Setup sudo to allow a particular (non root) user to run dpkg
Setup sudo to allow a particular (non root) user to run dpkg (passwordless)
Alter $PATH to include /sbin and /usr/sbin

There are security risks involved in doing (2) or (3) above, so I would not recommend them personally.

If you are leaning towards (2), then perhaps a better way is to run 'sudo bash' or similar as a way of switching into a way of adding / removing packages.

Note: You might want to think carefully before making sudo calls passwordless

A good book on Unix / Linux security will cover things like $PATH settings and sudo.

If you are tempted to ignore my warning about security risks of (2) or (3), then you might want to browse such a book.

folders versus tags - organisation of record collection

2011-08-02T21:59:00.000+01:00

Using Gmail & Googledocs gives me an analogy which I will use here.

When organising emails, folders are great, however some folks struggled.

Here is an extract from an email reply from a server provider about Debian Squeeze:

Indeed, it is not a problem - we have quite a few customers who are using - albeit these customers have freshly installed Squeeze from our own images rather than upgrading themselves.

If Gmail only had folders, then this would go in 'datacentre'

Gmail has 'labels', and, if I were the thorough type, then I might give this 3 labels ... 'datacentre', 'debian', 'server'

Only having the ability to label an item once, is precisely the thing that caused Gmail to adopt labels (imap and pop3 have always had folder facilities traditionally)

'New wave' - is it 'pop', 'rock', or 'electronica'?:

The easy answer is to say 'all three', or just accept that somebody came up with the category 'New wave' because it did not conveniently fit into 'pop' or 'rock'

Reading around a few 'New Wave' top tens, here are a random smattering which for my mind, might not be out of place in a bucket labelled 'rock':

Talking heads
Elvis Costello
INXS
The Police
The Pretenders

However reading through other peoples lists, there are many bands which fit several of the labels 'pop', 'rock', 'electronica', or maybe non at all.

Email search - why bother with labels?

If you have a decent desktop client, then the capable search facilities make multiple labelling less important perhaps.

Using Gmail and Thunderbird together, there might actually be good reasons not to do multiple labelling as explained next.

When you create a label, an imap client will usually pull that down as a 'folder'. If you have many labels and actively multiple label, then you might want to unsubscribe from some of the labels which commonly occur together.

Using too many labels, and multiple labelling, whilst unnecessary (you have search!) might also create a difficulty / annoyance around switching between working in your cloud mail client and working imap on the desktop.

Multiple labelling, then pulling down every label, will probably make you feel that your imap client is not doing a sterling job in managing space / complexity. Simple solution is to use multiple labelling sparingly if at all.

Earlier in this post I mentioned Debian Squeeze, which has Thunderbird 3 prepackaged for you here.

persona versus real name - twitter / google+

2011-07-26T13:03:00.001+01:00

The 'individual' version of Google+ is in 'beta' right now.

Once the individual version is launched, there will be work on the 'corporate' version of Google+ designed for trading entities.

As we are talking about a beta product and only speculating about what might come from the future business version, all of this might change.

Real name versus Persona - Twitter / Google+

There are strong arguments both ways.

Here I give my input...

There is one company that has registered 500 or so twitter accounts for it's corporate marketing.

If this real name thing helps reduce the 'persona' style stuff, which often just a marketing tool used by one or two dumb companies overdoing the marketing, then, for me, that is a positive.

It is one of the things that put me off twitter a bit, hundreds of corporate accounts from the same company, all spewing the latest marketing hype.

Not saying I agree entirely with the Google approach (it does have some drawbacks - some of which you have mentioned), or that I disagree with your sentiment ... just presenting some input.

Twitter is there for those folks who feel better about wearing a persona ... like being at a masked ball, everyone else is allowed to wear a mask also.

There are lots of drawbacks to the 'real name' approach, and the blog of Alison Wheeler is a good source of counter argument.

I leave it up to you to form your own arguments and decide if you want to be on Twitter, Google+, both, or neither :)

Notes and Further Reading:

There are a whole bunch of issues around gender, that may come up in the debate about Google+ and real names.

Websites and Social Networks section of Practical Androgyny
[ practicalandrogyny.com ]
Google+ on gender [ blogs.phillymag.com ]
Female authors who wrote under male or gender neutral pseudonyms
[ wikipedia.org ]

Note: As of July 12th 2011, Google has made gender optional

Your gender is no longer required on your profile: Some of you were concerned about having to share your gender with people you don't know. We hear you, and we've now made displaying your gender on your profile optional.

internet holiday companies - hand to mouth - atol / abta

2011-07-24T00:08:00.000+01:00

Having a look at some of the fantastic deals for holidays in Egypt at the moment.

Are the offers 'too good to be true'?

Maybe.

The global recession and the increase in airline fuel and flight taxes, has meant fewer people travelling abroad.

The same number of package holiday companies are chasing a shrinking pool of customers.

The main questions that you should ask of any 'internet only' travel company:

Which charter company will be providing the flight?
Do you regularly rearrange flights within a month of departure date?

That second question is one which you will not ask the travel company directly. Do a bit of research and find out if, last year, folks had their travel dates moved, or flight numbers changed.

( Last minute rearrangements of charter, could be an indicator for problems meeting payment terms with Charter companies. )

Cash flow and travel companies living 'hand to mouth':

Last year it was the turn of Goldtrail. This year who knows.

Goldtrail was not a new venture, they had been in business since the late 90s!

When there are too many operators vying for that shrinking pool of business, the temptation is there to keep cutting costs, and offering even more competitive pricing.

So much so that the entire business can be put at risk!

It might sound appealing to be a customer 'chased' by these increasingly good offers, however there is another side to things.

Cutting all of the profit from the deal, can leave some of these travel companies with cash flow issues.

Did they already pay the charter company? Or is some of my flight cost just patching up cash flow issue?

It is entirely possible that companies with this sort of cash flow issue, might be living hand to mouth, and paying your charter flight from expected future business.

Atol / CAA / Abta protection - reality and myth:

In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) / Atol might offer some protection for your flight.

If you book an Internet holiday and the company is using a UK charter company, then you might have some protection as hinted above, however this will be in the form of an 'after the fact' remedy.

In practice your name will be added to a list of customers suffering lost due to unpaid charters / lost flights. Months later, if successful, you might get some or all of the cost of the flight back.

Read up on Abta or Aito protection. It may offer some protection for the entire package, however that would probably only apply if the package was booked in the UK through a bricks and mortar travel agent (perhaps high street / retail park / town centre)

Notes and Further Reading:

Extract from the February 2006 article (link below)

ABTA has announced it will 'cease direct payments to consumers in respect of failure of member agents conducting retail activities when nothing has been booked by travel agents.'

Websearch the phrase "Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992" for some details, of the mandated regulations, regarding financial protection and package holidays.

In the UK Aito do offer some protection if your package is booked through an independent travel agent. See their website here.

Holiday makers suffer as ABTA guarantee goes [ dailymail.co.uk ]
AITO revamps financial protection for holidaymakers [ telegraph.co.uk ]
Abta / FTO merger must benefit small travel agents [ travelweekly.co.uk ]

knee jerk - the removal of freedom and civil liberty - Utøya island

2011-07-23T22:33:00.000+01:00

Having visited Norway several times, I find it a refreshing experience.

One of the things that struck me when I visited Oslo, was the relaxed and untroubled nature of the locals.

The openness and integration of the parliament into the main areas of Oslo seemed unusual, compared to the segregation and visible police guard (in numbers), of say London.

Knee Jerk reactions are inevitable, however that does not necessarily mean that these reactions make it into law, or are allowed to alter that relaxed atmosphere irrevocably.

To the politicians of Norway and the Mothers and Fathers of those victims of Utøya island, an important thing in the coming months might seem to 'prevent this happening again'.

To the people of Norway, do not allow this tragedy to be used as an excuse for clamping down on civil liberties. The loss of personal freedoms as a result of this outrage would be, some might feel, a greater loss.

There is a whole industry around 'security', from the people that manufacture the CCTV, to the smartcard industry, to the record check bureaus, to the paid security services that could be deployed by mandate.

That very industry will be working, and lobbying hard, over the coming months to have a greater role in the lives of ordinary Norwegians.

The hardest question that anyone can ask is...

Could this really have been prevented?

The answer, which nobody with a financial interest in the security industry would actually say out loud is "Probably not".

It will take a long time for the healing process in Norway to be complete. I hope that Oslo and Bergen retain their excellent reputation as great places to enjoy a city break.

us budget negotiations - end of shuttle program

2011-07-08T12:07:00.134+01:00

In the rush to devote headlines to Ireland and Greece, commentators overlook a greater threat - US default.

Here is the scariest graph I have seen in a long time:

Source: Bbc 7th July 2011

First scary portion - history Bush and Clinton

Look at the portion 2001 to 2002 - that downward slope on the blue line shows a drastic fall in revenue - either an economy shrinking or a tax cutting agenda.

Clinton left office January 20, 2001 however for much of fiscal 2001, the tax policies put in place in 2000 would have been in effect.

Do a websearch for Clinton+Greenspan, and form your own opinion as to what happened there.

I will not even comment in detail on 2001->2008 and Bush - look at the Blue revenue line versus the amount being spent - frightening.

Second scary portion - needs revenue climb from 14% to 20% of GDP

Sales, Sales, Sales.

Exports, Exports, Exports

Those two sentences are, perhaps, the preferred way of increasing revenue - sell more outside of your own country.

I do not doubt the need to increase taxes drastically and some of that activity has already happened.

If this makes uncomfortable reading, then go back and look at the graph again - the gap between the lines must be narrowed, and narrowed quickly!

The US economy needs to grow (internally or externally) by 6% in two years, a staggering challenge.*

Are Obama and Bernanke the team to do it? I hope so.

*Germany just managed 3% growth, however they are the outlier.

The end of the Space Shuttle program:

Most folks with an interest in Science, will probably feel a tinge of regret when the Space Shuttle program at Nasa closes. Hey, personally, I love the Shuttle.

Go back and look at the brown line in that graph. However it is achieved, spending needs to come down.

In the UK we are having to make difficult choices also, it is not easy. We recognise the need for cuts, but feel a natural hesitation when a final decision is made to cut some funding area.

Debt as % of GDP - surely that is the measure of 'financial strength'?

Speak to a bank about personal financial difficulties and they will ask about:

How much you spend per month, versus how much you earn per month
Your total debt versus your annual income.

The graph I referred to earlier is (1) and Debt as a % of GDP is closer to (2)

The UK has a truly shocking picture when viewed under the (2) microscope - the UK as a nation in 2011 owed 82% of GDP (Up from 75% in 2010)

Is America worse?

Well here is the thing - I am not going to argue the case, however taking what is known for sure - a GDP figure for the US of 15 trillion is about right.

If US debt stood at 5 trillion then that is 30% of GDP as debt (very roughly)

However official IMF figures have US listed as 99% of GDP as debt.

That figure fits broadly with the picture painted on money.cnn.com

So where is the distinction - who can say 5 trillion or 15 trillion?

A figure of $4.5 trillion is doing the rounds in news articles at the moment, inspired by the narrower definition 'US bonds owned overseas'.

In the rush to talk about 'owned overseas' some of those articles are popularising a figure that represents less that half of total debt.

The UK situation 75% of GDP - how shocking?

Just so. Looking at the top 50 'financial offenders' :) we see that 82% buys the UK a place in the top 30. The UK ranks 22nd between France and Canada in the list.

Source: Scrape from imf.org figures for 2011 (see link at the end of this article)

How did the UK get into that position? The financial sector, as a proportion of all business in the UK is very significant.

When the banks failed, the bailout was big.

How did the UK banks fail, was it property speculation like Ireland, or subprime like America?

There was in the UK an over-reliance on 'the housing market' to drive growth, it wasn't the overheating that killed it (like Ireland), but the lack of new entrants due to low growth elsewhere in industry.

The UK did not have the subprime mortgage situation of the US, however personal loans and credit cards to 'subprime' candidates, had been rife for a decade.

Here are some questions about the interplay between countries that might twist your noggin :)

In borrowing the US a trillion dollars, did China provide the rope with which it would hang itself?
If China had instead stashed that trillion in the worlds biggest mattress, would there have even been a financial crisis?
When MBNA arrived in the UK 8->10 years ago, offering low interest credit, to a wider range of folks, was that the start of UK personal 'subprime'?

I mentioned China twice in those points, so let me answer that second point, to show this is not an attempt to blame China.

Showing a fool your money and offering to borrow it to them is not a crime.*
Lack of oversight and appetite for greed, will fuel the sort of activities that existed in many countries prior to the recognition of a crisis.

*Part of the solution this time around is to make it socially unacceptable, for banks to lend to 'high risk' individuals.

The reason it was a 'Global financial crisis' was in part due to the interconnectedness of capital borrowing, however it was Global also, because so many countries were 'at it'.

An appetite for risk with governments afraid to allow institutions to fail, it could be the stuff of fiction. Unfortunately not.

It was 70 years from the Great Depression to the Global Financial Crisis.

It will happen again, but the big question is whether it will be in 2070 or have human memories got shorter or longer than this time around.

In 2070 perhaps somebody could do a graph showing the maximum % mortgages available in past decades. 80% mortgage means you have to have 20% capital yourself. 90% mortgage means you have to have 10% capital yourself.

When the world is offering 100% mortgages, then we will again be asking for trouble.

The Euro as a gravytrain - why attitude matters:

This applies to recent entrants aswell as those who joined at the outset.

If within your own country, leading politicians, are of the opinion that joining the Euro is good because it allows you to be lax financially, and have others share the pain, then...

You are heading for trouble.

Were you in Ireland or Greece around the time that those countries joined the Euro? Please add something in the comments of this post if you have some first hand experience.

Did Ireland view the Euro as a way of maintaining the gravy train?
It may be that Ireland viewed joining the Euro as a way of cosying up to partners who might then be shy, about cutting the generous CAP allowances for fallow fields.

Apparently Greece falsified some key economic statistics, in order that it might meet the entry requirements for the Euro.

Banking is an organic system, if you are dishonest, or think that sustaining an economy on generous allowances from other members, is the way to go, then the wheels will come off at some point in the future.

Borrowing to countries 'extremely high risk' - French Banks:

Half of the entire Greek debt is made up of money loaned by French banks.

Why did (and do) these banks loan to people who are considered 'too risky' by other European lenders?

This is a very different situation from Argentina before it's crisis, where Wall Street and 'private' European investors were the ones doing the ready lending.

Bonds with no maturity date - Argentina II:

One of the contributing factors, as to why, the crunch in Argentina, came so late and so hard, was the lack of a by when in loan agreements.

Bonds have a fixed term.

When you start 'rolling over' terms or extending the life of a bond, the warning bells should sound.

This is why with the Greece situation at the moment, a 'rolling over' of debt will rightly be treated as a default marker.

If misguided financiers choose to pressure bondholders into accepting flexibility around when the bond terminates, then that is just storing up more trouble for the future.

The financial crisis in Argentina should have happened in 1990 rather than 2000.
By rolling over bonds and introducing greater flexibility into repayment dates of debt, external financiers were making a bad situation worse.

Lack of transparency - a risk to any financial system:

By allowing large financial transactions through private accounts, there are some organisations who, it might be speculated upon, are contributing to financial instability.

When a government and / or large enterprise has access to a clearing system, that allows huge financial transactions to go unpublished, then the system suffers.

Examples of transactions that might pass through such a system:

Private (and secret) buying of debt from default countries
Private (and secret) payments as a result of winning contracts
Private (and secret) reserve accounts held by countries who are on notice of economic sanctions.

Any 'bona fida' banking service which allows transactions of £5000 or more, must register a 'Transaction report' with European or American authorities.

How companies like Clearstream and Clearstream account holders such as Société Générale and Seimens can justify a service that does not adhere to 'Transaction reporting requirements' is beyond me.

That is not to say that Clearstream has just European users, there are American companies involved also.

Notes and Further Reading:

On a personal level, I have no great affiliation to any American president.

I am neither a great supporter nor strong detractor of Clinton, Bush, or Obama.

I simply did some light analysis of past financial performance, and commented on the challenges that the current administration face.

Can president Clinton claim that he was just following advice? Possibly, although I am sure there are strong arguments for and against such claims.

I have no intention of reading "My Life", however there must be at least some mention of finance and economy in it somewhere.

Further Links:

2008 article about Ratings agencies part in the mess [ moneymorning.com ]
Article describing "Moral Hazard" - bank appetite for risk [ telegraph.co.uk ]
Obama challenges Congress in $4tn budget gamble [ bbc.co.uk ]
US debt limit: Obama says sides are 'still far apart' [ bbc.co.uk ]
US debt now stands at $14 trillion [ money.cnn.com ]
IMF figures for Debt as % of GDP for 2011 [ imf.org ]
U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know It [ bloomberg.com ]

A comment attributed to Hilary Clinton regarding the current levels of Chinese investment in US:

China now holds $755 billion in U.S. securities.

I have no way of verifying the actual figure, a more recent article by the Guardian puts the figure at $1,152.

Just a final note about rating agencies...

Fitch, Moodys, Standard & Poor - all US rating agencies right? Wrong.

Fitch is a subsidiary of the French company Fimalac SA.

The Bbc program 'All watched over by machines of loving grace', provides an interesting backdrop to the global financial crisis - apparently we asked for it.

cloud providers - patriot what?

2011-07-02T16:47:00.002+01:00

There are at least 3 big US cloud appliance* providers who are selling into the UK at the moment.

Each offers a 'European' region service based in mainland UK or Ireland.

Example Region Location:

Rackspace - London & Slough
Amazon - Dublin

Burstnet are a company that I expect will enter the cloud appliance market in the next 2 years, having been opening new datacentres in Manchester since 2010.

European Region - what and why?

The Rackspace and Amazon European appliance region is a way of reducing latency between the 'home' customers and the appliance.

In short, if you are a UK company and most of your web traffic comes from UK & Europe, then it makes little sense, to force all that traffic through a transatlantic web pipe to Northern Virginia

Another reason for a US cloud provider to offer European location, is to offset the argument that, using the cloud is off-shoring outside of Europe.

By creating jobs in London and Europe, both Rackspace and Amazon appeal to the desire of UK businesses to support some employment, in the country where they sell.

In Amazon's case there a tax benefit to their choice of Dublin - 12.5% corporation tax.

Privacy, compliance, and National Security of a Foreign Government:

Here everything gets a little complicated.

Some preamble ...

Firstly, I do not intend to disparage 'the cloud' or any of the cloud providers, who have HQ and corporate tax base in the US.

Secondly I do use Rackspace & Amazon myself, in amongst a mixed pool of server provision.

Thirdly I operate servers in the UK and US - I believe that I am fully informed, and aware of the implications of hosting data in those locations.

I will not cover the patriot act in detail, however as a business, you should be aware of the following...

If you host data in the US or regional datacentre operated by a company having HQ and corporate tax base in the US, then your data is covered by the patriot act

What this means in effect is, that providing the US authorities can meet the oversight requirements, that Rackspace, Amazon, and Microsoft might be obliged to hand over any and all of your hosted data, to comply with an access request.

Quoting from a recent readwriteweb article:

Microsoft has admitted that it will hand over data to the U.S. government, if properly requested, even if that data is stored somewhere other than the U.S.

The issue, according to ZDNet's Zack Whittaker, is that because Microsoft is a U.S. company it has to comply with the Patriot Act, and that means handing over data that may be offshore. The same rules would apply to Amazon Web Services and any other U.S. based cloud provider that has servers overseas.

With server memory price decreasing, and processors getting more powerful, cloud datacentres are placing 50 / 100 / more appliances on each underlying host.

If just 1 tenant (cloud appliance) is subject to a seizure request, then the data of the other 99 tenants gets carted off with that server also.

Data protection act and Encrypted Data requirement:

In the UK there is a mandatory requirement to best practice security of customer data for every UK business, however to my knowledge data on company servers is not currently required to be encrypted.

Here we now have two things working against each other it seems.

Using a US headquartered cloud provider increases the requirement for server data encryption ... your customer data must be protected from all external access (disclosed or otherwise).

However the UK requirement for 'key disclosure' (RIPA part III) could be viewed as a disincentive to businesses use of encryption keys.

Employees who want to avoid personal responsibility for 'key disclosure', are probably going to be less willing to engage with US headquartered cloud providers.

Cloud providers with HQ in London, or Frankfurt, or Paris, or Toronto:

To my knowledge UK, Germany, France, Canada have nothing even remotely close to the patriot act, and it's non-court order server seizure.

Here is a sample list of cloud providers:

Elastic Hosts (elastichosts.com) [ HQ in Worcestershire ]
Memset (memset.com) [ HQ in Surrey Research Park ]
VMhosts (vmhosts.co.uk) [ UK plc with HQ in West of Scotland Science Park ]
UK2.net (formerly vps.net) [ HQ in London ]
Enomaly (enomaly.com) [ HQ in Toronto ]
CloudSigma (cloudsigma.com) [ HQ in Zurich, Switzerland ]
OVH (ovh.co.uk) [ HQ in Roubaix in Northern France ]

Notes and Further Reading:

Rackspace operates data centers Texas, Illinois, Virginia, UK, and Hong Kong

Enomaly is based in Toronto, Canada, and has operations in Vancouver, Canada, South Korea, and Ukraine.

The European Commission has recently been asked for an opinion regarding several of the point raised in this article.

In this article I have argued things from my personal point of view, here is a thorough counter argument, by SurveyMonkey, to some of the points I touched upon.

Just one comment on the SurveyMonkey blog article...
There is a distinction between applying for a warrant and court process, versus the FBI non-court authorised server seizures, that have happened under the banner of the US Patriot act.

I hope the message from this article is not Anti-cloud, as that is not my intention. If I were to repeat one line from this article as a summary it would be:

When choosing a cloud provider, do your research

If Scotland or Iceland manage to really sell and deliver the 'lower cooling' promise, then perhaps these locations might be future cloud provider HQ, or Regional datacentres.

Scotland and Cloud Opportunity [ bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland ]
Northern Ireland corporation tax reduction might create 4,500 jobs a year
[ accountancyage.com ]
How Worried Should Canadians be About the U.S. Patriot Act?
[ http://blog.surveymonkey.com ]
What Employers should know about the Patriot Act [ theisonlawgroup.com ]
Amazon buys space for second datacentre in Dublin [ datacenterknowledge.com ]
Double Irish / Dutch Sandwich - tax strategies [ wikipedia.org ]

python gdbm, like rrd, is 64 bit specific

2011-07-01T18:14:00.001+01:00

If all your machines are 64 bit installs, then this issue is not something you will likely come across.

However if you have some 32 bit and some 64 bit and try and take mydb.gdbm across from 32 bit to 64 bit machine, or vice versa, then look out.

gdbm is wordsize specific. That means that your sample 10 row database created on a 32 bit machine, will look different than the same 10 row database created on a 64 bit machine.

gdbm fatal: lseek error

Not the most helpful message, but should you encounter this message then you have probably hit the issue I described above.

Solution: Create your data on the appropriate architecture machine.

Round robin databases (.rrd) have a similar issue and this restriction is long understood.

GDBM files are not portable between different architectures.

If a database being wordsize specific, is a serious limitation for you, then gdbm and rrd are probably not the technology you should invest your time in. Perhaps sqlite or mongodb are alternatives you might consider.

Notes and Further Reading:

gdbm was originally created as part of the GNU project.

The GNU project acted as an incubator and first implementation for this project, which has now gone on to maturity / stability.

Red Hat enquiry about message 'lseek error'
Dumpgdbm utility [ krabulator.free.fr ]
gdbm project [ cvs.savannah.gnu.org ]
gdbm project [ git.gnu.org.ua ]

sample data in postgres

2011-07-01T16:44:00.000+01:00

This article takes some sample data and imports it into Postgresql (i) using CSV import and (ii) using INSERTs from an export of MySQL

Now to get the data into postgres we could go back to the spreadsheet (csv loading approach) or maybe take a compatible export from mysql and load that (compatible loading approach)

The data we will be using can be found here and I am about to start working with this file.

CSV loading approach:

In postgres use COPY FROM to get data from the filesystem into the database.

But wait; surely you need to already created a table so as to have a table to load into?
Yep, otherwise you would see postgres complain about a missing relation like so...


postgres=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  relation "amd_bang_per_watt" does not exist

So you here you need to 'create table'.
I cover this in more detail in the next section 'Compatible loading approach' so either consult there or have a go yourself first perhaps.

I now assume you have the table amd_bang_per_watt created.

My table needed emptying first but you can likely ignore the next command:


: #root@156ns1(~) ;echo 'delete from amd_bang_per_watt' | psql amd_power_dissipation postgres
Password for user postgres:
DELETE 50

...and pick things up again here where I will try the COPY FROM:


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  value too long for type character varying(10)
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 1, column model_family: "Model Family"
amd_power_dissipation=#

and taking care of the header we execute


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  null value in column "speed_power_ratio" violates not-null constraint
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 4: ""X2 ","6??? x¹ ",2.3,,,"3.4 HT3 ",,,45,"x¹ 2009 ","
amd_power_dissipation=# select count(*) from amd_bang_per_watt;
count
-------
0
(1 row)

which is still not completing as we would wish so attempt 3:


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042' FORCE NOT NULL speed_power_ratio;
ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type numeric: ""
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 4, column speed_power_ratio: ""

...attempt 4...


amd_power_dissipation=# ;COPY amd_bang_per_watt (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "1"
LINE 1: COPY amd_bang_per_watt (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) FROM '/tmp/amd...

...attempt 5...


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt (model_family,model,clock_speed,l2cache,l3cache,ht_bus_ghz,voltage,socket,tdp_watts,process_comments) FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  extra data after last expected column
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 2: ""X2 II ","550 Black Edition ",3.1,"2x512k ","6MB ",2,"1.15-1.425 ","AM3 ",80,"45nm Callisto Q3-2009 ..."

...attempt 6...


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt (model_family,model,clock_speed,l2cache,l3cache,ht_bus_ghz,voltage,socket,tdp_watts,process_comments,process_comments) FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  column "process_comments" specified more than once

...and still no success so back to the drawing board (or rather sed in fact):


sed 's/\,$/\,0/' <> amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-truncated
: #root@156ns1(tmp) ;sed 's/\,$/\,0/' <> amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-edited
: #root@156ns1(tmp) ;sed 's/\,\,\,/\,0\,\,/' <> amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-edited2

Here is some dialogue to explain how I came to have three sed commands of which the first is now redundant:


amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-truncated' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  missing data for column "speed_power_ratio"
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 4: ""X2 ","6??? x¹ ",2.3,,,"3.4 HT3 ",,,45,"x¹ 2009 ""
amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-edited' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
ERROR:  null value in column "clock_speed" violates not-null constraint
CONTEXT:  COPY amd_bang_per_watt, line 10: ""X2 ","6??? x¹ ",,,"2MB ","DDR2 ",,,,"x¹ 65nm Kuma Q2/2008 ",0"
amd_power_dissipation=# COPY amd_bang_per_watt FROM '/tmp/amdAM3clockSpeedsAndWattage__200907.csv-edited2' WITH CSV HEADER QUOTE AS E'\042';
COPY 50

and now a few selects to check things look okay:


amd_power_dissipation=# select count(*) from amd_bang_per_watt;
count
-------
50
(1 row)

amd_power_dissipation=# select count(*),substr(process_comments,1,4) as nm from amd_bang_per_watt group by nm;
count |  nm
-------+------
2 | x¹
3 | x¹ Q
1 | x¹ 4
6 | x¹ 2
19 | 65nm
15 | 45nm
4 | x¹ 6
(7 rows)

All looks well here.

The CSV files (original, and edited using sed) are listed below:

If recommend saving the above files to your filesystem and viewing them from there, however if you do instead open them directly in your browser and you see xÂ¹ rather than x¹ then try using Konqueror instead.

Konqueror is a clickable install on most Linux desktop distributions and is available to Windows users via KDE on Windows project.

Compatible loading approach:

Here is an extract of some ruby code which I looked up, so as I have an idea of what mysql types map to what postgres types:

def convert_type(type)
case type
when "tinyint(1)"
"boolean"
when /tinyint/
"tinyint"
when /int/
"integer"
when /varchar/
"varchar"
when /decimal/
"decimal"
else
type
end
end

You might find a more accessible read in the form of the Mark Slade migration guide for mysql to postgres. That guide includes some discussion about datatype mappings.

What I wanted to check was that decimal in mysql would mean decimal in postgres, and, yes it seems that it does.

One recommendation for using decimal fields in any database is to always specify both parameters rather than relying on database defaults.
That way if you do end up exporting/importing as part of some migration, then you will not be tripped up by differing defaults for precision.

Now in part 3 of the 'sample data and mysql' postings I used --compatible=postgresql flag to produce these files:

amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresSansCreate
[ -^- data only (no create statement) using --skip-opt --no-create-info --compatible=postgresql ]
amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresSansOpts
[ -^- data+create (less compact form) using --skip-opt --compatible=postgresql ]
amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgres
[ -^- data+create (compact form) using --compatible=postgresql ]

Having following the mysqldump documentation link through to reading about server modes it seems that a reasonable expectation is as follows:

Mysql is going to do what it can to help you when you ask for --compatible=somerdbms
Mysql will try and avoid giving you sql output it knows for sure will cause somerdbms a problem.
Mysql does is not promising 100% compatibility but just goes some way to making your task less onerous.

In particular you should not expect --compatible=postgresql to spit out sql which postgres can feed on right away - there is still some work to do.

To give a quick illustration I took the .mysqldump4postgresSansOpt file and removed the row inserts and tried to get psql to execute it:


cat /tmp/amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresCreateOnly | psql amd_power_dissipation postgres
Password for user postgres:
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "@"
LINE 1: SET @saved_cs_client     = @@character_set_client;
^
ERROR:  unrecognized configuration parameter "character_set_client"
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "COMMENT"
LINE 12: ...power_ratio" decimal(5,2) NOT NULL default '0.00' COMMENT 'b...
^
ERROR:  syntax error at or near "@"
LINE 1: SET character_set_client = @saved_cs_client;

As you can see postgres is not happy.

So I clean it up a bit and retry:


: #root@156ns1(~) ;cat /tmp/amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresCreateOnlyCleanedUp | psql amd_power_dissipation postgres
Password for user postgres:
CREATE TABLE

...better. Now what I had to do was get rid of the column comment for speed_power_ratio and get rid of the set type stuff mysql had placed before and after the create table block.

Here are the files as I worked on them:

amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresCreateOnlyCleanedUp
[ -^- worked well once I /* */ wrapped the set type stuff ]
amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresCreateOnly
[ -^- postgres disliked the column comment amongst other things ]

So we have the table - lets get on run the inserts as follows (abbreviated):


: #root@156ns1(~) ;cat /tmp/amd_bang_per_watt.mysqldump4postgresInsertsOnly | psql amd_power_dissipation postgres
Password for user postgres:                                                                          
INSERT 0 1
...
INSERT 0 1

The 'INSERT 0 1' feedback above is what we should expect given our setup here.
Further reading of the postgres documentation for INSERT and scanning down for oid should make things clear.

A few quick selects to see if things look okay:


postgres@ns1:~$ psql
Password:       
Welcome to psql 8.3.7, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit                     

postgres=# \l                                                                                           
List of databases                                                                         
Name          |  Owner   | Encoding                                                            
-----------------------+----------+----------                                                           
amd_power_dissipation | postgres | UTF8                                                                
postgres              | postgres | UTF8                                                                
template0             | postgres | UTF8                                                                
template1             | postgres | UTF8                                                                
(4 rows)                                                                                                

postgres=# \dt
No relations found.
postgres=# \c amd_power_dissipation
You are now connected to database "amd_power_dissipation".
amd_power_dissipation=# select count(*) from amd_bang_per_watt;
count                                         
-------                                        
50                                         
(1 row)                                        

amd_power_dissipation=# select count(*),substr(process_comments,1,4) as nm from amd_bang_per_watt group by nm;
count |  nm                                                                                  
-------+------                                                                                
4 | x¹ 6                                                                                 
19 | 65nm                                                                                 
2 | x¹                                                                                   
3 | x¹ Q                                                                                 
1 | x¹ 4                                                                                 
6 | x¹ 2                                                                                 
15 | 45nm                                                                                 
(7 rows)                                                                                      

amd_power_dissipation=# select model,clock_speed,l3cache,tdp_watts,speed_power_ratio from amd_bang_per_watt where speed_power_ratio > 27;
model        | clock_speed | l3cache | tdp_watts | speed_power_ratio
--------------------+-------------+---------+-----------+-------------------
550 Black Edition  | 3.1         | 6MB     | 80        |             38.75
545                | 3           | 6MB     | 80        |             37.50
720 Black Edition  | 2.8         | 6MB     | 95        |             29.47
710                | 2.6         | 6MB     | 95        |             27.37
705e               | 2.5         | 6MB     | 65        |             38.46
810                | 2.6         | 4MB     | 95        |             27.37
900e               | 2.4         | 6MB     | 65        |             36.92
905e               | 2.5         | 6MB     | 65        |             38.46
910                | 2.6         | 6MB     | 95        |             27.37
945                | 3           | 6MB     | 95        |             31.58
9100e              | 1.8         | 2MB     | 65        |             27.69
9150e              | 1.8         | 2MB     | 65        |             27.69
(12 rows)

Sidenote: Having tried the substr() funtion, it seems that the sql statement shown below works unaltered in both mysql and postgres:

select count(*),substr(process_comments,1,4) as nm from amd_bang_per_watt group by nm;

Conclusion:

The --compatible option of mysql goes some way to getting your data into postgres and this article hopefully gives a flavour of what manual steps you might have to take.

Having worked through both options for getting the data in (csv and --compatible), I have to say that I am much in favour of using --compatible=postgresql and going that way.

milium / mila removal 3 options - DIY

2011-06-27T21:53:00.002+01:00

When your skin regenerates, it is perfect (mostly).

Sometimes the skin might trap a little of the keratin when it regenerates.

There are essentially 3 options based on cost and squeamishness

Exfoliate (burn a little of the skin off to release the trap)
Laser treatment - hey to some this is a social visit - whatever.
DIY with pin and water

Not for the squeamish - small amount of bleeding - cost zero:

Watching an episode of Lost at a friends recently, had me wondering what if we did not have access to some fancy alternatives.

It inspired me to get together a little DIY kit for this job:

I had four milia to remove - never made an effort at removal before.

Entire process took 15 minutes.

For a week I will have four blemishes on my forehead where the skin has been broken.

Warning: Doctors and Health Professionals will warn you against undertaking any procedure yourself that draws blood. Sound advice, as perhaps some folks do not sterilise what they use, and not sterilising is asking for infection.

The clean egg cup contains boiling water, and dipping the items in that water was enough to satisfy my own personal sterilisation standards.

Disclaimer: Whilst I myself might be happy to cut into skin to remove trapped Keratin, I do not advise you to do the same. Any action you take is at your own risk.

Following options (1) or (2) given earlier might be better advice.

The location was important in my choice. If I were to get Milia on my forehead I would repeat my approach. However, if the Milia were close to my eye (they are for some folks), then that might change my decision. If a target Milium was within an inch of my eyelid, then I might not be so confident of working with pin and blade.

firefox 5 on Ubuntu Lucid LTS

2011-06-26T13:35:00.001+01:00

This household has at least ten installs of GNU / Linux on 5 computers.

In the mix are two older installs of Ubuntu Lucid LTS.

( End of life for Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 is April 2013 for Desktop and April 2015 for Server )

Doing security updates on a Laptop Dual Boot the other day, my Firefox was automatically updated to Firefox 5.

...what puzzled me was that another Desktop in the lounge was updated but still sits at Firefox 3.6?

The key appears to be an extra entry in /etc/apt/sources.d which exists on the laptop:

the entry of interest is shown below:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-stable/ubuntu lucid main

This entry might have appeared on my system in preparation for Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS point release, which is scheduled for July 2011.

( Failing that it might have been created by my using the Ubuntu 'alternate' cd in preparing a blog post, and hinting to my system that I might want to update to Maverick / Natty )

Firefox 5 is not on my system and I want it:

Just edit your source entry (using a text editor or the updates manager gui) to include a new entry for the mozilla team.

You can copy / paste the entry directly from the line above beginning deb http://

Firefox 5 is not on my system and I want to stick with Firefox 3.6 thanks:

It is not too difficult to 'hold' / 'lock' a package using dpkg / synaptic

The wording 'Lock Version' might be more familiar for graphical types, but a screenshot helps:

...and how to Package -> Lock Version...

System Administrators deploying to many machines, might prefer to issue the following using a deploy tool:

echo firefox hold | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Command line apt-get upgrade and complaints about key:

As a non-root user (aren't you always) run the following:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys CE49EC21

The above will stop you receiving the command line complaint:

W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net lucid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 9BDB3D89CE49EC21

( The observant will notice that the argument following --recv-keys is the trailing 8 digits of the NO_PUBKEY message, rather than the full measure )

My company has an upgrade policy - we schedule this with 200 users:

System Administrators deploying to many machines, can hold off on firefox version bumping, by issuing the following using a deploy tool:

echo firefox hold | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Perhaps you might want to arrange a quick training session, covering the minor changes since Firefox 3.6

If you are a company of 500 or a 1000 Ubuntu desktops, you probably run your own Ubuntu Mirror, and do a weekly review of new packages to aid upgrade planning. If you don't then hire me

( In this scenario, you are choosing the updates and timing and it really is worth the effort. )

Err .. we haven't got round to the mirror thing - can I rollback Firefox5?

Systems Administrators: The transitional package firefox-3.5 is your friend here, just select it using your deploy tool.

echo firefox-3.5 install | sudo dpkg --set-selections

...and later once everything is reverted, you place a hold...

echo firefox-3.5 host | sudo dpkg --set-selections

If you have just 5 or 10 machines to revert, then you might be quicker just running around each, and selecting the firefox version you want.

Quoting from Synaptic Package Manager:

Note: To install a version that is different from the default one, choose Package -> Force Version... from the menu.

What are the exact version numbers on your machine at time of writing?

...command line...

Notes and Further Reading:

I think of 'Transitional' packages as navigation aids or bump tools to help with renaming of packages / other packaging changes.

Sometimes when a package becomes too large or can no longer be distributed under a unified license, the packager might split things off.

Using transitional packages, is one way of helping your system remain logically the same despite the package split.

Ubuntu Upgrades - 'alternate' cd way
Ubuntu release schedule showing April 2013 and April 2015 key dates
Ubuntu Lucid LTS release schedule showing 10.04.3 and 10.04.4 dates

Of course if you have decided to upgrade to a non LTS version of Ubuntu (Wheezy / Natty), then firefox 3 is considered a little outdated, so you probably will not have the choice in that case.

touch sensitive - pressure sensitive - heat or pen

2011-06-17T15:48:00.002+01:00

Oooh look at my new precious - a shiny new device has arrived, but which kind of 'touch' is it?

Touchscreen - heat sensitive - Samsung Galaxy and Apple:

Promising a revolution in 'touch sensitivity', these devices work by detecting 'heat' from your finger.

Supposedly this allows for greater accuracy, but there are caveats.

Touchscreen - pressure sensitive - TomTom and Nokia N5800

Great for general use and most devices, however you probably will not be happy if you are a pinch zoomer*.

Also used by Nintendo DS gaming systems.

*pinch zoomers is just my way of labeling folks who use portable devices, that make extensive use of touch gestures, rather than just point and press.

Stylus / Pen / Nintendo DS pen:

Touchscreens get dirty, touchscreens get greasy fingerprints

My father likes to keep his touchscreen pristine, and often prefers to use a plastic stylus, to press the selections on his SatNav.

Pros and cons - pressure sensitive versus heat sensitive:

Cleanliness and hygiene - students pay attention:

Fingers leave greasy, germ ridden prints on touch screens - try leaving your touchscreen uncleaned for a month and take a good look.

Put the bag of crisps down, before you go playing your phone / tablet, and wash the grease off before you go to 'touching'

Grease, the sort of cooking oil you find in crisps and fried snacks, is probably an ideal medium, for germs to stick to a contact surface ( keyboard / touchscreen ).

Pressure sensitive:

Can (generally) use a wider range of screen protectors*
Allow the use of pens / stylus**
If you are in a hurry to answer the phone, you can probably get by without taking your glove off.
Can be thrown off by particles and grit, that might gather, where the screen and bezel meet.

Heat sensitive:

Only very thin screen protectors are advised, so as to not block heat transmission
Older folks might find the screen less accurate / responsive.
Generally a little dirtier - as you are pretty much discouraged from using an inanimate object, rather than your finger to do the 'touching'
Where the screen is particularly crowded, might increase the chance of a correct selection (folks with ideal circulation)

As you get older your circulation reduces very gradually.
Extremities are usually worst affected, and that means fingers and toes. Any reduction in heat in the fingertips, will affect the ability of a heat sensitive touchscreen to respond correctly.

*screen protectors can be slightly thicker if your touchscreen is working on pressure.

**anything roughly pen shaped and non-sharp will do really, and quite often I'll use the wrong end of a biro.

Using the ink end of a biro or ink pen nib on a touchscreen is a bad idea, however the blunt non-writing end is sometimes okay.

Earlier I mentioned students ... in communal IT suites and learning resources, there are often free access computers. The keyboards (and no doubt soon touchscreens) have been used by johnny random and jillian surly.

Do johnny and jillian wash their hands in the toilet, or are they head in the clouds type, too lazy to bother, or too distracted to remember.

Well the next thing was that they used the keyboard on free access computer 1, right before you did.

( Unless you work in a University that is extremely vigilant about hygiene, those germs will be on that keyboard all week, or maybe the hands of the next user. )

You just got your brand new 10 inch Internet tablet, and want to show it off.

Is there someone in your group, that you are pretty certain never washes their hands on leaving the toilet? Do you pass them your tablet to play with?

Notes and Further Reading:

There is in fact a stylus / pen solution for some heat sensitive screens - seems fairly new. Quoting from the marketing:

Nothing is less convenient than taking a GLOVE off just to answer your phone or check a text message. With the blah blah, you won't need to.

The purpose of such a pen is...

to simulate the touch of a finger on the Multi-Touch display.

Here is a question on a forum, that might be related to the circulation in older folks issue I mentioned earlier:

Forum Poster: My parents find it difficult to type on the iPhone but otherwise think it's ideal.

Is there a special pen or pointer available to help them select the keys more accurately on the touch keyboard?

Here is some marketing blurb from Samsung about the special pen you can buy to use with their tablets:

The conductive tip of this stylus simulates a finger touch, tap or swipe to provide a full touch screen environment without leaving a single fingerprint behind.

I am guessing the Samsung pen will work on the Motorolla Xoom and iPad2 also, but try it instore before you buy.

vegetarian on the go - london buffet

2011-06-14T16:07:00.000+01:00

My diet is mostly meat free - there are various labels, but perhaps a useful description is 'rarely eats meat'

When visiting London, I usually make an effort to take advantage of the opportunities to lunch vegetarian.

The lunchtime take out buffet above is excellent value, and grabbing a tray, I can sit out in a public area, and enjoy London.

I'll just repeat some of the items from the sample menu:

Basil salad
Singapore noodles
Lemon Grass
Seaweed
Spiced Aubergines

I am not a mad Tofu fan, however, I usually taste a bit of most things from the buffet, and 9 out of 10 things hit the spot :)

According to one reviewer, this type of buffet might be described as "Tai Chinese fresh veg style"

There are many of these buffet style vegetarian restaurants across London, and I usually make an effort to find the nearest when booking a city break.

Vegetarian to Vegan - what to leave out:

Although my diet is not so easily labelled, you might consider me almost Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, Pescatarian, or 'Flexitarian', that does not prescribe that I may not have an interest in animal additives in food generally.

Gelatin is a substance made from boiling the skin, bone, and connective tissues of animals.

Cheap low fat yoghurts might have Gelatin added, and apparently even some breakfast cereals and fruit juices. Can't see the point really so perhaps I should make an effort to read and avoid those.

Fish is an important part of my current diet, however if I ever decided to alter my diet to contain less fish, then any real ale home brewing in which I engage might want to avoid using Isinglass as a finer.

There seems to be a distinction made between 'bright' and 'cloudy' when it comes to any discussions about 'Real Ale' and Isinglass. I suspect this is more about habit, and like the colour grey, there is a whole shade of appearance between 'bright' and 'cloudy'.

My guess is that Greene King IPA (which always looks really bright in the glass) would definitely have used a finer, however insisting on finer, is perhaps just a concession to aesthetics - a bit like insisting all apples are bright green and perfectly round - silly really.

Certainly if I ever brew real ale at home, I would make an effort to produce a couple of batches, without fining just to test my theory.

E120 or Cochineal as a colouring, perhaps that one is an easy one to avoid also.

Notes and Further Reading:

Lemongrass Tofu recipe [ ourprivatekitchen.blogspot.com ]
User Review of Buffet V [ tripadvisor.co.uk ]

The reviews of Buffet V / Veg are not universally good. There are one or two folks who seem to have wandered in (maybe after a few drinks), and expected sticky sugar coated Chinese meat dishes.

Buffet V as a advertising label, does seem to be downplaying the vegetarian aspect of what it offers (rightly or wrongly).

Perhaps in avoiding the fuller 'veg' or 'vegetarian' in the signage, they might be opening themselves up to negative internet feedback.

power consumption - blacker the better

2011-06-11T15:58:00.001+01:00

Here I present an obvious fact that is easily overlooked.

Having a large screen monitor, it is easy to save on power consumption - just work in terminal more often.

I write this article on a 24 inch Iiyama Prolite B2403WS, which is rated at 65 watts maximum (specification given in the manual)

However that that 65 watts is a peak load when watching a high definition movie.

Running a normal graphical desktop and switching between programs will use nowhere near that amount, and uses 30->45 watts

( measured at the electricity outlet - monitor usage only )

GNU / Linux types who are skilled in command line use, can easily cut that down to 15 watts.

A black background terminal (the sort Linux folks prefer), will see the monitor consume 15 watts under normal use.

That might increase to anything up to 24 watts, when watching fast console output such as strace, or significant compile output.

What about a laptop - can I save there also?

Same principle applies. Particularly for 17 inch or 15 inch laptops.

It is easy to stretch your battery life, as a full graphical display that is being constantly updated, is taking a good dose of your battery and feeding it to the flat panel display half.

Certainly when you get to the last hour of your laptop battery, switch off anything strictly unnecessary, and that includes a graphical display (unless you really need it).

Have 30 minutes of battery time left, and working in terminal but within Xfce or Gnome?

Switch to console using Ctrl+Alt+F1 or Ctrl+Alt+F2 and carry on working there.

Your power management daemon is still sitting in the background, and should shut down when % battery life becomes critical.

But you just doubled your working time remaining from 20->30 minutes to 40->60 minutes, by dropping down the display to almost idle :)

What about the entire system - how much does an oldish desktop use?

In preparation for a newer six-core AMD FX-6110 sometime next year, my desktop parts have been passed on, and gone backwards to an ancient AM2 Athlon, for the next 6 -> 12 months.

It is not very power efficient (by todays standards), but it does okay for a 2GHz three year old.

The third digit of the CPU model number for AMD Athlon processors details the power rating. ADD... or ADO... or ADV... for Athlon 64 dual core processors says 35, 65, 89 watts respectively. Sometime ADA will be used to represent 89 watts.

Not having the model number to hand, but being fairly certain the processor is from the 'Windsor' family, my measurements were as follows:

70 graphical desktop (not enough usually to stress either core above 1Ghz)
85->90 dual cpu compression task - both cores maxed - system hits 90w
70 watts when idle / grub
90 system bootup - cpu is normally stressed during first 30 seconds bootup

Note: These are at plug measurements that exclude the monitor, and include the motherboard, hard drive, and dedicated Ati 3450 graphics, giving total usage 70->90 watts, with 70w being more likely under normal load.

The processor based on my measurements is either 90 watts peak (but overrated in documentation versus real usage), 65 watts peak, or 35 watts peak.

My guess is cpu is 65 watts peak, and see little point in pulling the cooler off the cpu to check.

Power consumption of this system at 70 watts is acceptable in my opinion.

The Samsung Ecogreen hard drive is helping - it uses very little compared to other hard drives > 1TB.

If I were not planning on and upgrade to FX-6110, my other choice would be to replace this entire system with a socket FM1 combined Cpu+Ati graphics.

Such a socket FM1 system, when connected to that Samsung Ecogreen, would probably tick over at less than 30 watts!

Using 1 kilowatt of power and that AM2 system + monitor:

In the UK right now 1 kilowatt of power (for an hour) costs around £0.20 rewritten 20 pence.

Translating that in power terms that could be considered 100 watts for ten hours.

This system is used for business and word processing, and there is very little gaming / movie watching in any 1 month.

System+Monitor uses 110 watts in normal use.

So that says that running that system for 9 hours every weekday would cost £1.

I can easily make an effort to reduce that power consumption further, by using terminal as describing earlier.

Notes and Further Reading:

If you are conscious of your power usage, and are thinking of buying a new larger hard drive, then do consider the Ecogreen or other lower power alternatives.

Sata drives are so fast these days that reducing power by having a larger disk cache, but variable / lower spin speed is an option (Ecogreen)

In 2012 and 2013, a 256GB solid state drive will be much more affordable, so there is an additional option for upgraders there also.

Socket AM2 Athlon 3800+ 2GHz ADO... example 65 watts
Socket AM2 Athlon 3800+ 2GHz ADA... example 89 watts

debian - update flash plugin - packaged script

2011-06-09T18:30:00.000+01:00

In Debian GNU / Linux there is a script named update-flashplugin-nonfree, that will take care of updating flash for you*

Most of the time this works just fine, however if Adobe have several flash updates in quick succession ( like just now mid 2011), then there might be a small lag.

*Run /usr/sbin/update-flashplugin-nonfree manually or put it in a regular cron.

My flash version is 10.3.181.14 and it is outdated.

The command to check in a convenient form for copy / paste is below:

strings /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/flash-mozilla.so 2>&1 | \

grep LNX | sed -e "s,^,Flash Player version: ,"

...or an alternative version in two bulleted lines....

FSO=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/flash-mozilla.so
strings $FSO 2>&1 | grep LNX | sed -e "s,^,Flash Player version: ,"

verbose output from update-flashplugin-nonfree - version confirm:

As root run the following:

/usr/sbin/update-flashplugin-nonfree  --install --verbose

In the output you should see a line that starts with Flash Player version: LNX , and tells you what version is being installed.

The output is useful for debugging, but a bit lengthy to reproduce in full in this article. If you want an example of such output, then you can find that here.

Adobe flash 10.3.181.22 - an example:

Here (above) we have a problem that we have manually detected, in that 10.3.181.14 is not the newest version available from Adobe.

( Detailed output showing a sha512 checksum failure is available here )

tar -O -zxf /var/cache/flashplugin-nonfree/install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz 'libflashplayer.so' | strings 2>&1 | grep LNX | sed -e "s,^,Flash Player version: ,"

...or an alternative version in three bulleted lines....

SO=libflashplayer.so
TGZ=/var/cache/flashplugin-nonfree/install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz
tar -O -zxf $TGZ $SO | strings 2>&1 | grep LNX | sed -e "s,^,FVer: ,"

Above are ways of checking the version in the .tar.gz file, that is cached on your system.

The .tar.gz is cached on your system, I assume, to prevent the unnecessary repeated downloading of the same file.

However providing that bandwidth is not an issue, you should be removing the cached version before running...

rm /var/cache/flashplugin-nonfree/*flash*.tar*

Alternatively run the three commands to be sure of avoiding caching and having a good way of automating things for a cron job setup:

update-flashplugin-nonfree  --uninstall;

rm /var/cache/flashplugin-nonfree/*flash*.tar*;

update-flashplugin-nonfree  --install 2>&1 >> /var/log/update-flashplugin-nonfree.log;

The human in the chain and wisdom of bandwidth saving:

Automated update processes are often seeded and / or managed by humans.

Having a pgp check as part of the update process for flash seems reasonable, providing the plugin does not need updating too regularly.

If too many updates to flash are released, then the pgp check files are going to become tiresome to keep regenerating :|

Bandwidth saving is a noble goal, however in a process that has human management, it makes sense to be sure that the user is somehow informed of an out of date cached file.

Adobe would be less than happy if hundreds of thousands of daily crons were re-downloading the same .tar.gz daily.

Conversely having cached copies of the .tar.gz and a delay in the pgp file regeneration, might mean that many debian desktop users are blissfully unaware that their flashplugin is out of date even if they have a weekly cron running update-flashplugin-nonfree --install.

See my notes in earlier paragraph for cron suggestion and removing the cached .tar.gz file.

Notes and Further Reading:

strings is a program that finds and prints text strings, embedded in binary files such as executables.

On Debian you can find an 'after the fact' copy of what update-flashplugin-nonfree downloaded in directory /var/cache/flashplugin-nonfree/

strings - description [ wikipedia.org ]
Bug #629417 - No up to date sha512sum available [ bugs.debian.org ]

The sha512sum for 10.3.181.22, which replaces 10.3.181.14 flash:

Having convenient Debian packaging should not lock you into a habit of expecting everything on your system, to just run automatically.

Reporting bugs is important, however running an outdated flash plugin, when a simple untar and mv can make your system secure again, is not advisable.

you are not privileged to mount the volume - linux hal - my fault

2011-06-07T00:31:00.000+01:00

The GNU / Linux hal subsystem does an okay job for drive management.

You insert a usb key and through thunar-volman on my Xfce system, the drive is mounted and browsed automatically.

...unless you inadvertently put a block in /etc/fstab through hacking around :|

You are not privileged to mount the volume:

There are several possible causes, but first the symptoms and clues:

Here is a clue to the cause for my case...

hald[1619]: 22:32:03.942 [I] hald_dbus.c:4169: failed with 'org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.Per
missionDenied' 'Device /dev/sdb1 is listed in /etc/fstab. Refusing to mount.'

Above was obtained from /var/log/syslog after switching on hal debugging.

...and here is the /etc/fstab entry causing the problem

Now that /dev/sdb1 line was added manually by me post install. One aspect of GNU / Linux which can be a benefit is that it is infinitely configurable and can be tailored to your needs entirely.

As with all file level configurations, you take responsibility yourself for manual changes.

Simply commenting out that /dev/sdb1 line in /etc/fstab, returns my system to expected behaviour (automount of usb key).

Responses to the cause - volman or install alternative automounter:

There is no volman group on my system, your 'you are not privileged to mount' message may have a different cause. However in my case, the solution is clear above and does not involve creating any group or adjusting group membership.

First things lots of folks do when they receive an error message such as shown at the top of this article, is hunt around for another way for the system to automount.

Your mileage may vary, however if hal is giving you the error message then you might at least consider:

DAEMON_OPTS="--verbose=yes --use-syslog"

and rebooting your machine, to give you more information about what hal is unhappy about.

Why are you even running hal - the thing is deprecated?

In using an light desktop (Xfce), I try where possible to fit with it's default setup and work with it.

Thunar -> thunar-volman -> hal

...is a dependency chain that exists in Debian Squeeze, and gives a workable solution to automounting.

There are other alternatives - different automounters, or relying on udev rather than hal.

Notes and Further Reading:

Recap on the cause in my case: No fault of the system, purely a manual configuration change which I made, that blocked normal functioning of thunar-volman+hal

thunar-volman package in Debian [ packages.debian.org ]
udev subsystem [ kernel.org ]
udev-extras now merged into udev [ debian.org ]
Running Xfce without using any hal functionality [ wiki.debian.org ]
Running Xfce without hal and without login manager
[ zitzlinuxblog.blogspot.com ]

Natural Muesli - Wholegrain using your own ingredients

2011-06-05T22:41:00.001+01:00

Just what exactly is in shop Muesli?

Well that depends where you buy, but here is one 'basic' ingredients list:

Wholegrain Oat Flakes (50%)
Wholegrain Wheat Flakes (40%)
Vegetarian Whey Powder (5%)
Raisins (3%)
Hazelnuts & Nuts (2%)

If you visit a 3 or 4 star hotel, then the Muesli you will be presented with, will be quite different. But just how different?

Whole grains and variety of fruit and nuts - luxury:

Premium oat flakes will be whole and perhaps of a larger size.

Whole hazelnuts or halved hazelnuts rather than a few chips scattered about.

Dried Apricots and fruit which is a bit pricier, rather than the cheapest ingredients often glazed.

Fruit which has not been processed to aid longer storage ( glazing )

Perhaps fresh seeds, rather than seeds toasted / glazed to aid preservation.

Note: I have used the term Muesli here, if you instead use the term Granola then please substitute as you read.

Toasting Seeds - Makes for Tasty Muesli some folks feel:

Dry Toast seeds over a textured heated surface for 2 to 3 minutes.

Toss regularly during toasting and do not blacken the seeds.

Evil head of Dentistry - Toasting and Oil:

Toasting seeds is one thing, toasting flakes another thing entirely.

If I were the [fictional] Evil head of Dentistry, sitting stroking my cat, here is what I would mandate adding to all muesli:

Glazed banana chips
Toasted oat flakes - toasted in oil
Toasted malted wheat flakes
Fruit all covered with a glazing agent ( vegetable oil )
Good old sugar ;)

Why? Because all of these things will increase the pressure on a weak tooth, and make Muesli into a crunching exercise, rather than a mild grinding exercise.

If you were Kwik Fit and wanted to sell more suspension parts, then one way is to persuade ordinary motorists to 'off-road' once every day.
No different for [fictional] Evil head of Dentistry and your daily morning meal.

Adding sugar to cereal is a great way of removing user choice.
Most folks who are aware of their sweetener intake, would make a conscious choice to sprinkle a little sugar on, or pass - might depend on mood or fancy.

Adding sugar to cereal it could be argued does remove that choice, and any extra sugar in your diet, is good news for the Dentistry business.

Tesco 'Value' Muesli - how tasty, how healthy?

'Value' ranges tend to ignore health as a measure of value and focus almost entirely on cost.

The 'Value' Muesli ingredients list:

Wheat Flakes, Oat Flakes, Barley Flakes, Malted Toasted Wheat Flakes, Raisins (4.5%), Whey Powder, Sugar, Hazelnuts

Malted Toasted Wheat Flakes contain: Wheat Flakes, Barley Malt Extract.
Raisins contain: Flame Raisins, Glazing Agent (Vegetable Oil).

Some notable figures from the Tesco 'Value' Muesli Nutrition sheet:

60% Carbohydrate
15% Fibre
10% Protein
10% Sugars
5% Fat

How healthy? Well it helps to have something to compare it to - see next section.

Morrison 'Value' Muesli - how tasty, how healthy?

Add you own dry fruit (Apricots / Raisins / whatever)

Add you own seeds or whatever you think makes a great breakfast taste for you.

...and how healthy....

Hints quoted from the Muesli Recipe at greenfootsteps.com (below)

It is best not to have too many nuts and seeds in your muesli mix as they are rich in proteins and oils - the mix can become rather a challenge to the digestive system!

Chop the larger nuts into pieces. Almonds and coconut are best flaked.

Soak Muesli for at least half an hour before you want to eat it.

How about the Morrisons 'Value' and your Government recommended daily amount (GDA)?

How about Morrisons 'Value' versus Tesco 'Value' summary values quotes previously?

Carbohydrates and Fat - the two 'Value' Muesli are comparable.

Slightly more Protein in Morrisons

Bit less Fibre in Morrisons

Can I make my own Muesli for £1 a Kilogram?

£2->£4 per Kilogram is a more realistic figure.

If you happen to live right near a supplier of staple goods, and have no transportation costs to consider, then you might just be able to hit £1 per kilogram.

Supermarkets are really making no money at selling Muesli for £1 per Kilogram.
My feeling is that it is a 'loss leader' intended to tempt you into the supermarket, rather than being a profitable line.

At the top end of the market is £10 per kg "Ultimate" organic muesli

Soak Muesli - Surely you can just eat it right after adding milk?

Soaking Muesli helps break down the phytates in the fibre.

Unsoaked Muesli (phytates intact) might prevent the absorption of Iron and other minerals by your system.

If you don't like the idea of adding milk then waiting 30 minutes, then instead perhaps fortify your Muesli with iron rich additions such as:

Chopped Almonds
Dates
Prunes
Pumpkin
Raisins
Wheat Bran
Sesame Seeds

Having a Muesli made of Wholegrain Oats and Wholegrain Wheatflakes is higher in Iron, but higher in Phytates also, so do soak if you can.

Phytates are an anti-nutrient, and by soaking you are helping to stop those compounds from binding to your nutrients, thus allowing your body to gain the nutrients as intended.

Notes and Further Reading:

Most Health Foods stores and Supermarkets offer a 'Luxury' or 'Premium' muesli, and some are very good.

The more pricier offerings, are probably little different to your 3* or 4* hotel variety, once you add some premium fresh / unpreserved fruit, seed, nuts to brighten further :)

Waitrose Muesli takes an interesting approach with main ingredients being Barley Flakes (12%) and Rye Flakes (8%) and Spelt Flakes (8%)

Excellent Muesli Recipe [ greenfootsteps.com ]
Wheatflakes for about 50p per Kilogram (25kg pack*)
[ survivalwholefoods.co.uk ]
"Muesli Fruit and Nut Original" 2kg at Holland & Barret
Muesli Base at Holland & Barret [ hollandandbarrett.com ]
Wheat Bran 750kg for £1.19 (2011 price) at Holland & Barret
Iron - Getting Enough [ purifymind.com ]
Tesco "Value" Muesli - soon to disappear? [ tesco.com ]
Jordans Muesli - Fat and Carbohydrate % [ fatsecret.com ]
Malt - Description on Wikipedia
Barley, Oats, & Rye Muesli [ foodily.com ]
Luxury Muesli - ingredient amounts in cups [ foodily.com ]

*Buying for a commune or social housing project, you might be able to justify a 25kg pack of Wheatflakes, however a single person might take 20 -> 50 weeks to eat there way through that pack!

Ingredient amounts in cups / mugs - some examples to help with conversion to grams:

Cup of Oats is 70 grams

Mug of Oats is 100 grams

Cup of Morrisons 'Value' Muesli is 90 grams

Mug of Morrisons 'Value' Muesli is 130 grams

For dry cereals you can approximate using Mug = 1.45 Cups

All figures above are approximate. Use your own cup and scales for exact figures.

xfce4 themes - application icons examples

2011-06-04T00:50:00.005+01:00

Here is a default Xfce theme (Tango) from a Debian GNU / Linux install:

...and the next example (below) is the set of icons named GNOME:

The icons represent the same things, you are just toggling between Tango and GNOME theme and you should be able to observe the difference.

The 'applets-screenshooter' icon is an easy example to use to test which theme you have active.

That icon is usually used on my desktop and laptop for the following command:

/usr/bin/xfce4-screenshooter -w -d 2 -o /usr/bin/gimp

and given a shortcut key of AltGr+Print

Window manager themes and Xfce:

The package xfwm4-themes will install themes for the Window manager in

/usr/share/themes/Crux/xfwm4/

...and similar locations

Notes and Further Reading:

The package gtk2-engines is a must if you want some alternative themes in Xfce.

Crux, formerly known as the Eazel engine;

... is included in gtk2-engines

There are some other packages with similar names, that you might also explore.

By default a Debian Xfce desktop will install the package gtk2-engines-xfce which has some working, but basic looking themes.

On any new system of mine I will execute the following after completing the initial install:

apt-get install gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-nodoka

apt-get install xfwm4-themes gnome-icon-theme

None of the above installs bring in anything too heavy as there are few dependencies :)

If you are choosing to use gnome-icon-theme instead of the default tango-icon-theme, then you could also clean up 10 megs of space by executing:

dpkg --purge tango-icon-theme

The gtk2-engines-nodoka package brings themes from Fedora.
Nodoka-Rounded is a theme which freshens up my Xfce desktop nicely :)

The xfce4-panel package, that would normally be included on your system, contains a simple clock which is perfectly usable*:

( Note: If you have your laptop clock set to UTC then getting above clock to show local time is not so straightforward and you might prefer the Orage digital clock on your panel in that case )

The xfce4-mixer package will give you a sound control, which you can add to your panel:

On a laptop I usually set 'PCM' as the control, whose setting will be displayed graphically (blue curved bars):

"Xfce mixer application"

This is the frontend for mixer settings delivered together with the Xfce4 desktop environment. It does the same jobs other mixer frontends do but is integrated into the Xfce4 desktop as a plugin for the Xfce4 main panel.

It uses GStreamer as a backend.

Xfce plugins - do I really all that are installed?

Here is a list from a long standing desktop:

Here is a list from a fresh install:

Seems a little counter intuitive to have a fresh install showing a longer list, however the first (shorter) list, was from an install that did not use meta packages during installation.

apt-get install xfce4-appfinder

...is a command worth running, if you are interested enough to read up and explore the different ways, of adding launchers to your 'Customizable panel' on the Xfce desktop.

Xfce launchers and % placeholders:

%u is a useful placeholder, here are a couple of examples:

/usr/bin/wget "%u"
/usr/bin/curl -o curl.out "%u"

... and some more complex examples ...

/usr/bin/curl -o curl.out --show-error --connect-timeout 35 --max-time 120 "%u"

/usr/bin/curl -o curl.out --show-error --connect-timeout 35 --max-filesize 4096000 --max-time 120 "%u"

Xfce - Task list - Window list - Icon box:

Icon box plugin is included in Xfce without having to add any additional package.

Doing 'Add to Panel' then 'Icon box' gives something clean and minimal for window switching.

Debian on Laptops - 2011 experience Dell Inspiron

2011-06-03T15:25:00.001+01:00

It's fast :)

Boot time is less that 30 seconds. Program startup times are impressive :)

As with all manual installs*, I expect to make a few observations, and have one or two niggles.

This install of Debian Squeeze is no different.

*If your hardware has a GNU / Linux recovery cd, and has a distribution tailored exactly to your hardware, then you should have fewer / no niggles.

( My Dell Inspiron 1525 does have a GNU / Linux recovery cd, however I want a brand new 2011 system instead of the default system )

Wireless and GB - this one is enough to put off a noob:

cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US

Above appears in /var/log/dmesg and is not strictly correct*

However that did not stop my wireless from connecting fine at home using WPA2

Wicd does a good job of managing wireless, however I needed a little manual intervention to get the wireless detection going:

...manually entering wlan0 into the box marked 'Wireless interface' was all that was needed :)

Channel 6 seems popular in the UK and this is not barred by having CRDA set to US.

*If you want to tinker and try and make your crda setting correct (GB, NL, or whatever), then you should maybe install the iw package.
Plenty of writeups available by websearching regarding changing crda.
Those writeups might suggest compiling iw yourself, however the package is in Debian Squeeze, so seems sensible to use that precompiled version

What follows next are a result of reading /var/log/dmesg - something most users will [rightly?] not bother with.

Entries in here (dmesg) are naturally a little chatty, which is why some distributions choose to hide this output during bootup.

dmesg says Calgary: detecting Calgary via BIOS EBDA area:

Nothing other than a chatty dmesg here.

Calgary is, apparently, a piece of hardware that appear in some blade systems.

Do desktop installs get installed on blade systems? They sure do.
Thin client computing, and splitting of resources between light base and datacentre, is today a workable solution in plenty of UK businesses.

Your kernel / hardware detection is just checking if it is present.

When you share kernels between different form factors, say Desktop, Tablet, smartphone, Server you have two choices:

Tailor the build to each individual segment
Rely more on detection routines

Ubuntu has recently decided to roll it's netbook edition into the main Ubuntu edition.
This I suspect is a direct result of the cost (and 'marketing' complexity) of having different editions.

Windows next year will have a small piece of the smartphone and tablet market. If the company opts for kernels tailored, to each individual segment, then the company will have similar considerations to that just mentioned.

dmesg says Driver 'pcspkr' is already registered, aborting...

In most cases this is just chatter.

If however you are without a pc beep, and really want the beep in terminal (and elsewhere), then debian bug #604197 is worth a read.

I have the opposite position, wanting no beeps whatsoever, which inspired the article here.

Notes and Further Reading:

In the next version of Debian (due for release in 2013) there is a package named crda, which should do a better job than simply basing crda zone on the main market, for the wireless hardware, detected in your machine.

Question #252354 about Calgary hardware detection messages
[ launchpad.net ]
Package crda in Debian Testing (Wheezy) [ packages.debian.org ]
Really want pc beep bug #604197 [ bugs.debian.org ]

Having wireless-tools package installed on my machine, I was able to issue the command:

iwlist wlan0 channel

...and obtain a list of wireless channels which would be detected by my wireless setup. 32 channels showed up in that list (based on crda US), and in case you are interested, channels 6, 10, 11, 12, 13 are in that channel list.

It would be theoretically possible (but not very considerate) of me, to now change my router to use a US channel, simply because I could, and the laptop might detect that signal.

If your crda zone is being set as 'default' and you are missing the channels that you need, then here are a couple of links that might be worth a read:

"Nice hardware but no channel 13" [ smorgasbord.gavagai.nl ]
"Altering crda database entries hack" [ brokenhomeboy.co.uk ]

notifications - wait 30 seconds and X to delete

2011-06-03T01:08:00.000+01:00

Xfce desktops have a choice of notification system.

Here is a notification from the default Xfce Debian GNU / Linux install:

... produced by xfce4-notifyd package, here is an alternative

... this second example (New updates) is produced by notification-daemon-xfce package.

If you really like a square dialogue then you might prefer the results from notification-daemon-xfce.
But wait - I like the ability to 'click off' a notification, so I should go with notification-daemon-xfce? Maybe.

Xfce4-notifyd and 'click off' feature:

Hover over the notification and an X will appear for you to 'click off' the notification so that it disappears.

Prefer to have notifications stay around until you manually 'click off'?

Increase 'Disappear after' to be 300 seconds, which means notifications stay on screen for 5 minutes.

It is now up to you to 'click off' notifications yourself pretty much.

The theme 'Smoke' is selected above, that gives the grey with rounded edges, that you see in first screenshot example 'Device is now safe to remove'.

( That colour is probably #4D4D4D which some folks label 'grey 30' )

But my notifications options screen does not have all those options?

If you have notification-daemon-xfce installed then your 'Notifications' options would instead look like this:

Where are all these notification settings anyway - which menu?

Xfce Menu -> Settings -> Xfce4 Settings Manager

Notes and Further reading:

About xfce4-notifyd package:

Themable using the GTK+ theming mechanism. Visually appealing: rounded corners, shaped windows

About notification-daemon-xfce package:

Clone of notification-daemon but without GNOME dependencies. It permits doing passive popups notification on the user desktop to notify about events.

If you are running Ubuntu, then do be aware that notification mechanisms for some applications might well be patched by Ubuntu to fit in with their particular way of doing things.

xfce4-notifyd package [ packages.debian.org ]
notification-daemon-xfce package [ packages.debian.org ]

Beep Beep - pcspkr and snd_pcsp quiet please!

2011-05-31T14:16:00.003+01:00

Having the flexibility to have the pc speaker / beep active in different contexts is useful, however it does require you to know, how to switch off beep, in each context.

tty terminal Ctrl+Alt+F1 - silence the beep:

Here (as root) I created a file named /etc/profile.d/beep-pcspkr-pcbeep-disable.sh and included a setterm command.

Permissions of 644 work okay for this file.

What you should now experience is a TTY console having no beep.

Switch to a tty console login using Ctrl+Alt+F1 and login, your shell completion should now be free of any audible feedback beep.

X terminal - xfce4 terminal - silence the beep:

Graphical desktops (X based) have their own preferences for audio feedback beep, and in my terminal xfce4-terminal, the preference is shown below:

MiscBell=FALSE

...which can be found in the file .config/Terminal/terminalrc

But my MiscBell=TRUE?

Change it to FALSE using an editor if you want to silence the beep.

But my user does not have a file .config/Terminal/terminalrc - does not exist?

Xfce4-terminal has a preferences screen in Edit->Preferences, go into there and change 'initial title' from Terminal to Xfce4terminal and select 'Close'

What your action above did, was trigger the creation of .config/Terminal/terminalrc

Now you can make your edit.

Why would you want a beep anyway?

Some command line novices find the audible beep a useful feedback mechanism.

Being a novice, back before Red Hat became Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I remember using the feature myself.

But I still have a bootup and reboot Beep - absolute silence please?

Mute the 'PC Beep' column in alsamixer using the 'm' key.

Startup alsamixer from a terminal (not required to be root)
Navigate right until the PC beep column is highlighted
Press 'm' to mute that column

Exit alsamixer using Esc (avoid pressing Q as this is the key for volume increase)

There is no need to explicitly save alsa settings, as simply exitting using Esc is enough to make your new settings persisent.

Note: PC Beep '00' is probably not going to be complete silence. Mute the thing.

Notes and Further Reading:

Manpage of alsamixer [ manpages.debian.net ]
Screenshot of alsamixer [ screenshots.debian.net ]
alsa-utils list of programs [ alsa-project.org ]
Soundcard testing guide [ alsa-project.org ]

The alsa-utils package contains the program alsamixer. The package alsa-utils should already be installed on your system. If not use the following:

apt-get install alsa-utils

( apt-get above is for Debian and derivatives including Ubuntu)

yum install -y alsa-utils

( yum for Fedora / Red Hat / MeeGo and similar )

That alsa-utils package includes a utility named aplay, which can be used to check which sound devices in your system are known to alsa.

The above is a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop, which I am currently setting up with Debian Squeeze. This laptop will have an Xfce desktop, and I have yet to test HDMI audio output, as HDMI port is not something I use regularly.

Terminal Preferences - #C0C0C0 and "Terminus Bold" 16

2011-05-28T16:48:00.002+01:00

Terminal and "Grey on Black":

I am fascinated by folks who use white on black, and often wonder if it is just a lack of knowing, where / how to change the text colour.

#C0C0C0 is an nice Grey for text appearing on a Pure Black (#000000) background

Terminal Font - Monospace or Terminus:

The default in my Xfce terminal on Debian is 'Monospace', which is a perfectly usable font.

Going a little retro with Terminus

For widescreen desktop: "Terminus Bold" 16

For 15" laptop: "Terminus Bold" 14

Terminal Bell - love it or loath it:

For Xfce terminal, there is a MiscBell option in preferences file which should be set TRUE if you want to hear beep.

Terminal programs and terminal fonts - listings:

Just a quick hint or two for programs / fonts you might try.

Onboard Sata type - Ahci or IDE - which best

2011-05-26T15:43:00.004+01:00

If you are a Windows user then you will have to go search based on your particular version - advice varies per version, and read up about install time drivers.

For GNU / Linux there is just a single set of current advice, and some of those elements are listed here.

Choose at the outset - don't try changing it later:

The reasons for choosing Ahci or IDE will be covered next. But first you should make a commitment now to 'get it right' and stick with that setting.

To enable fast booting, grub (by default) will only includes the drivers it really needs, based on your initial system configuration.*

If you set your system up with 'Onboard Sata type' as Ahci, then later try and switch that mode in your bios, then you are asking for trouble.

If you set your system up with 'Onboard Sata type' as IDE, then later try and switch that mode in your bios, then you are asking for trouble.

Read on to make sure you 'get it right' at the outset.

*Sometimes this minimal approach is termed 'targeted' grub.

SATA and IDE emulation:

Do not use 'IDE mode' for Sata for any new install unless you are installing operating systems which had an initial release prior to 2007.

Use Ahci for current Debian and current Red Hat and similar.

The whole point of having a 'IDE mode' for SATA controllers was to help then current software ( Red Hat 5 & Windows XP ) cope with the change in disk standards.

The change to a newer version of Windows from Windows XP is not to be taken lightly for organisations with > 50 employees, which is why some IT departments continue to support that stable release.

Moving versions of Debian (Etch -> Lenny -> Squeeze) is much less of an issue, which is why most Debian installs were migrated from Etch long ago.

Moving versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (5.2->5.4->5.6->6.0) is also not a big deal, however there is just one caveat.

Red Hat is extremely popular as a base system for lots of virtualisation 'hosting containers'. If this is your situation, then that might require a little more planning as hosting 40->200 VPS atop of Red Hat does make a migration a bit more involved.

Grub (initrd) and Ahci:

What will happen if you have 'Onboard Sata Type' set Ahci, and then do a GNU / Linux install, is that the boot mechanism (grub and initrd) will be built during install with --preload=ahci

To keep boot times down and loading from disk optimal, GNU / Linux installs keep the initrd minimal (only what your system needs*).

This approach gives sub 30 second boot times on my laptop (which I appreciate), however it does put the onus on you to choose the right bios setting and stick with it.

If 'Onboard Sata Type' was IDE mode when you installed, and then later you switched bios to be 'Onboard Sata Type' as Ahci, then ...

the workaround is to build a new initrd containing the AHCI module.

Source: Wikipedia

There is a great Fedora specific posting here describing in more detail why changing the bios setting after your install was done, will lead to issues.

*The latest Debian installer, specifically asks you if you want a 'targetted' boot setup or the more bloated but future proofed version - the choice is yours :)

Initially bios option was set 'Ahci' but for some reason now want IDE:

Hey maybe this is a little dose of nostalgia...what you are saying is in 2011 my system will be set to act like a 2006 / 2007 system.

Have no idea why you might choose to do this, however the kernel boot time option all_generic_ide might be what you require.

Ahci is not listed as an option in my bios - what should I do:

The bios menu selection might be titled 'Sata Controller Mode' or 'Onboard Sata Type' and should list two or three options.

Some bios have a selectable option named 'Compatible (sata only)', which is I guess just another way of saying Ahci

My operating system is very early version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5:

Check your kernel version. Kernel 2.6.18 is 5 years old now. Kernel 2.6.19 and newer, all support Ahci.

If you are thinking about doing an install today of a version of GNU / Linux that uses Kernel 2.6.18 then think again. Justify your choice to yourself.

The current 'stable' of Debian uses 2.6.32 and that is pretty conservative.

RHEL6 kernel is RHEL 6.0, Linux 2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64

Any kernel configured from the current kernel tree in the last 5 years,
should be > kernel 2.6.19 and therefore have Ahci support.

If you are a CentOS user, then CentOS 6 is due for release around end of June 2011. Worth the wait if you are planning on virtualizing on top of CentOS, kernel 2.6.32 will give you a big performance boost (as well as excellent Ahci support)

There are other reasons why Kernel 2.6.18 for an OS acting as host container, might not be ideal.

Notes and further reading:

Ahci operating system support [ wikipedia.org ]
Kernel 2.6.18 is now considered 'legacy' [ linode.com ]
Linux Kernel and signalfd support [ kvmdedicated.blogspot.com ]
Kernel 2.6.18 released in 2006 [ kerneltrap.org ]
Switching modes between Ahci and IDE - initrd implications
[ fedoraforum.org ]
Getting nostalgic with kernel option all_generic_ide
Switching modes between Ahci and IDE - system woes [ techpowerup.com ]
Supplying the correct driver to Windows XP and Ahci
[ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk ]

If you are working with bios that make necessary choice between Ahci and IDE today, then perhaps rather than being nostalgic, you are installing GNU / Linux on second hand machines.

Plenty of non-profits and charities are using donated hardware, and this might be your work.

If so, you might also find this link regarding AC97 audio, handy for new installs of Debian Squeeze, on that legacy hardware.

For native English speakers a translation here

java plugin and Linux - are webex .so security risk?

2011-05-25T02:41:00.001+01:00

Whilst it is useful that Cisco decided to make available a .jar for cross platform webex viewing, a native Linux client would be much better.

Given that the Apache webserver on GNU / Linux powers two thirds of all internet traffic, and Cisco's business is in routing equipment for the internet (primarily), it seems a little rude not to give back to the GNU / Linux community.

Clicking 'run' for npatsun.jar when Java plugin asks for confirmation:

If you want to participate in the webex, or watch a .wrt file you have locally, then you will have to authorise Java plugin to run the Java.

What this will do is create a .webex directory in your home folder and run the webex process.

The detail in the above screenshot is provided for reference, but just be aware that the Java jar file has placed a .so file named npatgpc.so, in your plugins directory for your browser.

I am not so sure this makes me comfortable.
Most .so files I install on my system come from official Debian repository mirrors.

User 1000 is an unprivileged user - that much is good, as the harm the plugin can do is limited. However I am really relying on Firefox own plugin sandboxing of privileges, to prevent that .so from doing something unwelcome to my system.

If all that .so is doing is calling .webex/atrecply to play the .wrt, then maybe there are no worries there.

My advice - when you have finished watching the webex, move out .webex directory to .webex-movedout. You can always reinstate it when you come to want webex participation again.

To permanently remove webex, you would have to also remove npatgpc.so from your plugins directory.

What sort of trail does webex leave when you playback / participate:

...and...

Hopefully those screenshots give you a bit more information, if you want to dig around and find out, what precisely, webex playback / participation will do.

Mozilla.org reports the plugin as 'ActiveTouch General Plugin Container' ( Version 113 ) as shown here:

Browser plugins can affect memory usage and stability of browsers, so generally some good advice might be to only have enabled those you really regularly use.

Move out the webex plugin if you are not using it.

Notes and Further reading:

There are plenty of alternatives to Webex if you are planning on hosting your own web meetings. Do some research or have a look at Yuuguu or

Yuuguu Web Conferencing - reasonably priced annual subscription
[ yuuguu.com ]
Cisco Webex - open source software that it utilizes [webex.com ]
Webserver survey - 63% of the Internet uses Apache webserver
[ news.netcraft.com ]
Buy webex (monthly subscription) [ webex.com ]
Webex is a 'no go' - how to remove webex [ jroller.com ]
ActiveTouch General Plugin Container launches WebEx Meeting Center

ready meals (vegetarian) - supermarket fare

2011-05-25T01:02:00.000+01:00

Vegetarian Lentil Moussaka ... sounds rather nice.

...and lets have a look under the hood (so to speak) ...

Tomato (16%), Potato (11%), Cooked Lentils (9%), Aubergine (8%)

Probably better titled Tomato and Potato Moussaka, that is just me being glib :)

Daily allowance of fat 70g, with only 20g of that allowed as saturates:

The clue to this using half your daily allowance of fat, and also having 10g of carbohydrate as sugars, is in the ingredients list.

Largest ingredient in the Vegetable stock is Sugar, followed closely by Salt.
Third place goes to Vegetable Concentrate.

The main ingredients list has Vegetable Oil & Double Cream listed.

Is this meal healthy?

Depends on your interpretation.

If you were watching your weight, then you certainly wouldn't want to eat it every day.

Adding Sugar and lots of salt to ready meals, is something I consider less than healthy, however some folks would argue that bland food is unhealthy also.

Things to note in particular is that this meal has 35% of your maximum daily intake of Salt.

This would not be in your weekly shopping if you fit any of these categories:

High blood pressure
Diabetic
Weak liver / renal treatment
Known predisposition / risk of Heart Disease

Not fitting any of those categories, you could happily eat such a meal, provided your other meal of the day was not also high fat.

But is the high fat content just because it is vegetarian?

Most folks who eats a meat reduced / meat free diet know that pulses, beans, and legumes are not 'low fat' foods.

However Tomato and Potato (the main ingredients) are not 'high fat' foodstuffs.

The legumes (lentils) make up 9% of the meal (by weight) and so are not what is making this a high fat meal on their own.

What I suspect is making it 'high fat' is the combination of lentils+vegetable oil+double cream+sbrinz cheese

That would probably do it!

But I really like the taste of this meal, what else could I do:

200g of this + a decent portion of Salad (no dressing) is a much healthier way to go.

300g is about right if it is eaten on it's own. If you are watching your weight, or want to eat a little more healthy, then toss a third of the portion away and add the salad to your plate.

Are trans fats an issue with this meal?

Hard to say for sure.

Going back 5 years or so in the UK, the major supermarkets were supposed to voluntarily stop adding trans fats to these sort of ready meals.

In fact only Sainsbury's made a public declaration, although other supermarkets were supposed, at the time, to be refraining from adding trans fats during preparation.

Notes and Further Reading:

Vegetarian Lentil Moussaka [ tesco.com ]
Saturated fat - recommended daily amount & cutting down [ nhs.uk ]
Trans Fat - UK situation [ wikipedia.org ]

Printing on the go - pogo & zink from polaroid

2011-05-24T15:45:00.000+01:00

Back in the eighties, this was instant photo printing:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Now the closest you will get today, is a Polaroid device called 'Pogo'

It uses 'Zink' paper technology, and from personal experience the results are pretty. good.

Zink 'Smart Sheet' - the magic blue sheet:

The instructions are pretty clear that the blue sheet is to be the first through the printer, when you open a new pack of zink.

STOP!

DO NOT toss the blue sheet in the bin (see comments below)

Ten packs of Zink paper - where to get them and expiry:

The zink paper (by law) requires an expiry date as it is classed as a Consumable

The printing technique for Zink involves the Pogo applying heat to the paper, which activates the crystals.

( The crystals, and therefore the paper, do not deteriorate in any other way )

But my Pogo printing is streaky - what to do to Zink paper:

That blue 'Smart sheet' is textured and designed as to clean the print head.

Just take out any remaining sheets from the Pogo, place the blue 'smart sheet' in on it's own, and press print.

Repeat two or three times.

Each time that textured smart sheet passes over the print heads, it is cleaning up any residue from previous prints.

There is a blue sheet in every ten pack, and the principle is that before doing a batch of ten prints, that blue sheet will have passed through the printer, to clean up an previous residue.

Polaroid and 3"x4" photos:

The Pogo prints business card sized 2"x3" photos.

Great for customised seasonal greetings cards, or birthday cards - just instaglue the thing inside the card.

Great for family men, who travel through work, and sometimes need reminding about their family. A couple of recent 2"x3" will fit nicely in the wallet.

The larger (think 80s or 90s polaroid sized) snaps are coming in June 2011.

The GL10 is the new model, which Polaroid will be launching soon with a campaign with Lady Gaga.

If you prefer the more classic camera 'all in one', then the One600 is still available today.

( Greeting card tip: Apparently you can just peel the photo away from backing paper, to make it even easier to create custom cards )

Notes and Further reading:

Technical details about the Polaroid SLR 690
[ anapolomo.com ]
Search Amazon.com for Polaroid instant camera 600

If you are feeling nostalgic about instant printing, then Polaroid were still issuing the 600 range, in late nineties. As recently as five years back these were still selling well.

Second hand models of the 690 can still be obtained, however do check that you can get the printing refills / paper, before splashing out.

The Polaroid 690 image used at the top of this article is courtesy of Wikipedia
[ Creative Commons Sharealike licensed ]

debian - webgl and canvas capable iceweasel / firefox

2011-05-22T20:17:00.000+01:00

Today has been a little bit of an experiment.

My regular browser is Iceweasel 4 (Firefox 4), and I am bending the rules of the angry birds beta, by using my browser to beta test.

Use the 'SD version' and get playable results:

I don't know precisely which features of Firefox 4 are utilised, but for now I am just having fun completing as many levels as I can.

But there is no sound in the 'sd version':

Remember that you are using a non supported browser against a 'beta' setup.

( If you are desperate for sound and / or the 'hd version' then chromium from the 'sid' unstable repository is a non-recommended option )

Hey if you've heard the background music once, you've heard it a thousand times, why not have libre.fm play you some background music instead :)

But I use Nvidia / Intel graphic card and cannot even play 'sd version':

I have only tested 'sd version' on two ATI equipped desktops, but I ask a question here to check that there are no issues for other graphics cards.

Iceweasel 4 freezes on loading on my machine:

Go directly to the 'sd version' url

( Note: I tested that 'sd version' url today, however being a 'beta' it is very subject to change )

If you still have no joy, then you are free to install firefox nightly and try that.

If you are able to participate in the 'beta' using either an official browser ( Chromium 9 / Chrome 9 ) or an unofficial mozilla browser, then have fun and enjoy this free game :)

ubuntu upgrades - 'alternate' cd way

2011-05-21T15:51:00.000+01:00

The box shown below is my preferred 'graphical' way of upgrading Ubuntu

The 'alternate' cd - who uses it and why:

Quoting directly from help.ubuntu.com:

If your computer is not able to run the standard Desktop installation CD, you can use an Alternate installation CD instead. The Alternate CD also allows more advanced installation options which are not available with the Standard LiveCD.

A little vague perhaps, however the idea is to encourage folks, where possible, to use the standard Desktop installation CD.

As stated earlier, the alternate cd is my preferred 'graphical' way of upgrading Ubuntu, and my reasons are:

Detection of existing installation is moot
It allows the existing Ubuntu installation some interaction / control over the upgrade process.
No partition selection nonsense to go through, and therefore less chance of losing data through eager clicking.

Regular and 'alternate' cd - some naming examples:

ubuntu-11.04-desktop-amd64.iso
ubuntu-11.04-alternate-amd64.iso

If you plan to download both for experimentation, and have anything other than a fast connection, then do look at the .zsync file if your download has been interrupted.

( Description of .zsync and how it might save you bandwidth here. )

Note: .zsync workings are not like Debian jigdo, however using .zsync to resume a failed download might be useful.

Kickstarting the Upgrade manually if your prompts do not appear:

In a terminal window:

gksu "sh /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade"

If the above does not work then you might instead try:

gksu "sh /media/cdrom0/cdromupgrade"

( The path cdrom0 or cdrom - one of those should work )

That shell script cdromupgrade will do the following for Natty:

Go to dists/natty/main/dist-upgrader/binary-all/ on the cd
Find natty.tar.gz
Follow the instructions and python scripts in natty.tar.gz to perform upgrade

For reference, a copy of natty.tar.gz can be obtained directly from archive.ubuntu.com here , however use that only for reference as the cd version is signed, and is likely gpg verified as part of running of cdromupgrade.

The cd dialogue shows 'Start package manager' but not 'Run Upgrade'?

You inserted the wrong cd and the (wrong) dialogue is shown similar to this:

It is possible to make use of the Standard Desktop cd to help keep bandwidth down during an upgrade (see next section), however if you want to follow the cdromupgrade method, discussed so far in this article, then insert the correct cd.

Updating instead by manually starting update-manager :

The earlier method in this article, is not the only way of having some manual control over your Ubuntu upgrade.

update-manager -c

...is the traditional way for command line types, and will work today.

Having the standard installation cd or 'alternate' cd loaded and starting Synaptic, should add the cdrom as a package source.

This will save plenty of downloading, as update-manager knows now that it has several hundred .deb files that it can get locally, rather than download.

Updating instead by manually starting do-release-upgrade :

do-release-upgrade is an automated alternative to update-manager, and does not require any graphical desktop to be running.

The 'No new release found' message should not happen on your system, if it does then the cause can be found by grepping like this:

If yours says 'Prompt=lts' or 'Prompt=never' then adjust things by changing your preference via update-manager.

( Emacs / vi editing probably a better alternative for command line types )

Using do-release-upgrade is a great way to get some hints about issues that will prevent your Ubuntu upgrade from completing.

...nothing too bad in the above, but then here is my showstopping issue shown below....

blcr-dkms in my case is probably safe to remove, as it is only a 'recommends' of another package. So I should remove it and then run apt-get autoremove

Right now I am not going to update Ubuntu, as I will likely wait for the next LTS in April 2012., however is always good to keep up to date with install procedures.

Notes and Further reading:

Before you attempt any upgrade it really is worth ensuring that your system has picked up recent packages from the 'updates' repository.

Example using Ubuntu Lucid LTS as the system being upgraded.

Ubuntu LTS is known as 10.04, but there is more to it than that.

There is a repository named lucid-updates that is used for enhancements and what you might term 'after market' fixes.

Your Ubuntu LTS system will work just fine and is secure as it is, however enabling the lucid-updates repository, gives you access to fixes that are useful, but not deemed worth retro inserting into stable.

If the file /etc/lsb-release reports 10.04.2 then you have probably got lucid-updates enabled already, and are using the point release from February 2011.

Typing lsb-release in a terminal will output 10.04.1 or 10.04.2 and so on, depending on what point release you are running.

The last piece of the number 10.04.2 indicates the point release of your LTS.

System -> Administration -> System Monitor reports your version, but unfortunately does not give details of which point release.

The February 2011 point release 10.04.2 announcement
"The Art of Release" showing 10.04.4 point release planned for 2012
[ markshuttleworth.com ]

twitter - this application will be able to - oauth

2011-05-20T20:09:00.002+01:00

Twitter opened up to developer applications several years back.

What has happened in 2011 is the authorization mechanism has been made more granular.

Above is a type of authorization I will call 'read only', now for a more clumsy example:

Both examples have in the 'will be able to' section:

Read Tweets from your timeline
See who you follow, and follow new people.

The second example is NOT 'read only' as it has extra access which allows:

Update your profile
Post Tweets on your behalf

Friend of Follow or other types of 'read only' services:

If you go to use a Friend or Follow type service that helps you understand who you follow back and suchlike, then there should only be 2 items in the 'will be able to' section.

What these sort of services offer is a query of your friend list and some analysis on that friend list.

There is no need for a friend analysis service to have 'Update your profile' or 'Post Tweets on your behalf'

So if you go to such a service and the section will be able to shows 4 items:

Read Tweets from your timeline
See who you follow, and follow new people.
Update your profile
Post Tweets on your behalf

...then do NOT authorize it!

Instead check the 'About' information or terms of service, and ask the developer why they feel they need 'Update your profile' access, or 'Post Tweets on your behalf' access.

The developer will probably contact you back and say that they have fixed it and it was an oversight. You might even get a thank you :)

How did this happen - is the developer doing something bad?

Probably not.

Back when the api was first launched, Twitter probably did not have the flexibility and control that it has today.

Early apps (written more than a year ago) plugged into an authorization system, which likely did not distinguish between the 2 item and 4 item lists you are shown today.

Rather than just shut down those early apps, Twitter now showing you the item lists is probably hoping your interaction will gee up the developers to modernize to the new api and only request the lesser privileges.

Shouldn't be a massive change for developers, but will require a little bit of work.

If a year from now you sign up to a new app service and that shows you 4 items in the 'will be able to' list, then that newer app service might be open to strong criticism :|

ubuntu install cd - two purposes (1) update (2) fresh

2011-05-18T22:04:00.006+01:00

You have just download an Ubuntu cd - what to do?

An ubuntu cd has two ways of operating.

You want a fresh install or are installing Ubuntu for the first time
You have a previous version of Ubuntu and you want to upgrade, keeping some settings.

(1) cd inserted at boot time - menu from the cd:

This is the classic use. If you have installed any operating system before, and somebody gives you an Ubuntu cd, this is likely what you would do.

The cd is booted by bios and you get a menu for Ubuntu Natty or whatever the latest version is.

This mode is generally used for installing Ubuntu for the first time. The default will help you setup that computer hardware for a brand new installation of Ubuntu.

(2) cd not inserted at boot time - update manager is the key:

I have Ubuntu, I like it, I want a newer version <-- If this is you then keep reading.

Have the cd drawer unloaded or grab the cd before it is pulled in.

Boot your existing Ubuntu (from the hard disk) where you have been using it for the last few months whatever.

Here you system does not know (just yet) that you are planning to change anything.

So you have your desktop now loaded and fully updated*. Now you insert the cd.

Ubuntu should automatically start 'Update Manager' or give you a pop up prompt.

The message should say "a volume with software packages has been detected.
would you like it to open with packager manager?"

You choose 'Start Package Manager' ... (in effect you are saying yes / OK)

Next you will see a new dialogue title "Do you want to start the upgrade"

Proceed if you are happy with what you are being asked to confirm.

Updating this way, you can be sure that your settings (/home) have the best chance of being retained, as there is simply no option to remove them by accident.

But I am not sure if I want to upgrade - what should I do? See this earlier post describing some factors which you might consider.

*Quoting from Ubuntu.com:

Be sure that you apply all updates to your current version of Ubuntu before you upgrade.

Notes and Further Reading:

If you have your desktop already running, then you insert the cd and nothing happens, then do the following:

System -> Administration -> Update Manager

From the menu you have now started 'update manager'.

Now you should be able to upgrade your existing system.

Note: This method is only for existing installs, if you have no existing install then the cd needs to be inserted already at boot time - see (1) above.

Ubuntu Upgrade notes - community maintained
[ help.ubuntu.com ]
Ubuntu Upgrade - now my separate /home is not used?
[ askubuntu.com ]

Ubuntu Natty - more menu options on the boot cd:

Now with the latest Ubuntu cd, an existing installation will be detected and the menu will be headed:

This computer currently has Ubuntu xx.yy on it

The second option in that menu, allows you to update an existing version to the latest version.

The icon for that update option looks a little like the reload icon on Wikipedia:

( Creative Commons Icon courtesy of Wikipedia )

I still suggest (for updating rather than fresh install) booting your system without the cd inserted and updating that way (2), as folks who do not do a lot of upfront reading, seem to find it easy to wipe hard disk partitions* by using the install cd boot menu way to update.

Updating my recommended way (2), you can be sure that your settings (/home) have the best chance of being retained, as there is simply no option to remove them by accident.

*Read the forums and you will from time to time see a posting from some eager beaver, who inserted a cd for the latest Ubuntu, and did the happy key dance, resulting in the loss of some partition they wanted to keep.

If it is your intention to update an existing Ubuntu installation and booting from the Ubuntu cd asks "who are you?", and prompts you to pick a username and password, then you will likely have no alternative but to reboot, and follow instructions for (2) above.

The problem then is likely that the detection routines have failed. This is unusual but can happen. Ubuntu is pretty good at detecting existing operating systems, here is a Debian / Ubuntu dual boot example:

Ubuntu - can skip versions? ... say Lucid skip Maverick goto Natty:

Yes. Look closely at the screenshot above which is promising to upgrade 10.04 to 11.04

In the example above, not skipping versions would instead see you upgrade 10.04 to 10.10 and then 10.10 to 11.04 by two manual update stages.

If you are pushed for time and have not kept up with your versions, then go ahead and use that cd boot menu option to jump directly to the latest version.

My recommendation*: Avoid skipping versions unless you are in an awful hurry. Rather than choosing the above highlighted menu option, do instead follow option (2) at the beginning of this article, and use update manager.

This will inevitably remove a small utility program or two as part of the upgrade (version shifting usually does). By going the update-manager way you can see what is being removed and manually reinstall those utilities right after the upgrade.

Run the intermediate Ubuntu version for a week and iron out any issues you find. Then you are certainly ready to use update-manager again, to make the next hop :)

*my recommendations are based on past experience, I cannot say for sure that you will feel any ill effects from skipping an intermediate version when upgrading your system.

Save £15 per month - check the fridge and freezer

2011-05-18T17:10:00.007+01:00

Knowing how much your house uses, without your activity, can be a useful fact for managing costs at home.

Background electricity and refrigeration:

An 'A' rated freezer might be rated with a maximum consumption of 60 watts, however it should still be checked.

Today an energy efficient refrigeration appliance should use 1 kilowatt per day or for really modern appliances, only 500 watts per day.

( Reference links provided at the end of this article )

So per hour that freezer or fridge should be taking 20 watts to 40 watts of power.

It might peak at 60 watts, but that short burst (after you stood with the freezer door open then shut it again), should not affect the hourly average too much.

'A' rated or otherwise - what happens when appliances get old?

Signs of age or wear and tear - refrigerator / freezer:

They breech the maximum 60 watts and might even peak at over a kilowatt when refrigerator cycle is triggered.
They fail to drop to an acceptable 20 -> 40 watts after the moving part buzzing has stopped.

In the house here, the landlord has an 'A' rated freezer that was left locked on 'overdrive' by the previous tenant. Not sure for how long, but it seems to have affected the efficiency.

The background usage for that freezer alone never falls below 100 watts.

The background usage for that fridge and freezer together sometime sticks at 300 -> 400 watts - way too high.

The fridge has been located next to the cooker, so I imagine it has not had the best time of things either.

Predicting costs - the simplest mathematics you will see:

Get an electricity usage monitor - the type that has a clip you loop around the cable leading to the meter, with a separate display you read off in another room.

( See "What if I don't have a 'clip to supply'" section if you don't have one and don't want to spend out )

Turn off all the devices that are non-background (laptops, computers, televisions, whatever).

What do you read? 100 watts, 200 watts, 300 watts?

Take whatever you read and divide by ten.

( You can round to the nearest hundred and then drop a zero if you find it easier )

Here you have the monthly electricity bill (assuming you all went away on holiday for a month)

Was yours 300 watts so £30? Frightening.

If yours was 500 watts so £50, then you probably have a garage or utility room with some extra fridges or freezers? No. Well seek out an explanation.

The mathematics is simply assuming a 14 pence per kwh cost - not unreasonable in the UK in year 2011.

Rechargeable devices - constant drain:

Modern rechargeable devices should not 'constant drain', once the battery in the main unit is charged, they should draw 1 watt or less.

Rechargeable Caravan vacuum cleaner - a counter example.

The Caravan vacuum upright sits in a recharge housing and uses 8 watts constantly. It is a fault with the design or just wear and tear, but the charging circuit never drops to zero watts.

Going back to the mathematics - that is costing 80 pence per month, whether the device is ever used or not.

Older devices that have constant drain > 20 watts:

Non usb scanner ( 25 watts )
[ lide scanners that plug into a usb port do not waste power in this way ]
Sky+ box ( 25 watts )

The Sky+ box is probably a design fault :-
The hard drive (used for live recording playback), runs constantly rather than spinning up and spinning down again.

If you have a Sky+ box and a non usb scanner, then there is £5 a month in electricity right there.

Do switch them off when not using them, or upgrade to more energy efficient alternatives, which don't 'constant drain'.

What if I don't have a 'clip to supply' electricity monitor - they are expensive?

In that case you probably have time rather than money at your disposal - you will need an hour.

Pick a time when all the people in the house are out and you only have background electricity usage.

Read off the current kilowatts used on the electricity meter, wait an hour, read again.*

*Remember that often the rightmost dial (sometimes coloured differently) is tenths of a kilowatt rather than whole kilowatts

Do your subtraction (now kilowatts used - then kilowatts used) and you have a figure you can use.

Was it 1 tenth of a kilowatt - so £10 per month
Was it 3 tenths of a kilowatt - so £30 per month
Was it 5 tenths of a kilowatt - so £50 per month

Notes and Further Reading:

Adjust the mathematics to suit your situation. If your standard electricity rate is 28 pence per kwh, then double the figure you get using my formula.

Energy Efficiency and Refrigeration [ wikipedia.org ]

I used the word formula in the sentence above - a bit grand for a simple division operation, however I intend this article to be useful to people having all levels of mathematical ability.

Notes about the calculation - 100 watt example - method 1:

730 hours per month; 14 pence per kilowatt hour; 100 watts constant usage

100 watts is a tenth of of a kilowatt so begin with 0.1

730 hours per month and 14 pence (£0.14) per kilowatt hour is 730 * 0.14 is 100 approx.

Multiply 0.1 by 100 gives £10

Notes about the calculation - 100 watt example - method 2:

Suppose for a moment that your background usage was 1 kilowatt.

There are 730 hours in a month. So that background usage would cost you 730*'rate per kwh'

Rate per kilowatt hour is 14 pence (£0.14) so to get a pound figure we replace
730*'rate per kwh' with 730*0.14 giving £102.2

£102.20 is roughly speaking £100

100 watts is one tenth of a kilowatt.

So we take our £100 calculated figure and divide by ten, which gives £10.

Large Upright Freezer - non 'A' rated - real world measured example:

120->134 watts when the motor is running.

2 watts when idle / at temperature.

Cooling override (struggling to maintain temperature), can see temporary surges of 995 watts.

Measured usage during single day in June was 1.5 KWh

1.5 * 0.14 * 1.2 gives £0.25 rewritten 25 pence.
( Note: The 1.2 final multiplier is VAT )

25 pence per day is roughly £8 per month

This particular upright freezer is outside in a shed which does get extremely warm, when there are two consecutive days of unusually warm weather.

Realistically my hunch is that during June, July, August, that upright freezer will consume £12 per month.

And £5-£6 per month averaged over the other 9 months of the year.

Budget for £90 per year to run that 7 cubic feet upright freezer.

A new 'A' rated upright freezer that is kept inside in a room that does not get excessively warm, should have annual consumption around 250KWh per year.

The large upright in this example is not 'A rated' and has an annual consumption double that of any new replacement.

That £90 per year budget buys around 550 KWh per year of running.

Buying a replacement (assuming current electricity costs remain static), the replacement will have paid for itself in 3 to 4 years.

A house with 2 fridges and 2 freezers - options for reducing power:

Some families who have utility rooms and outside storage, but a small kitchen, may have small fridge / freezer in the kitchen, and extra cold storage elsewhere.

For this example, I will use a house that has small fridge + small upright freezer in the Kitchen, and larger versions of the same in outside storage.

Fridge capacity: 4.5 + 7 = 11.5 cubic feet
Freezer capacity 4.5 + 7 = 11.5 cubic feet

That amount of storage, if managed effectively should be enough for 5 or 6 people.

Options for reducing power consumption:

Turn off one of the 4.5 cubic feet small units during June, July, August.
Rearrange kitchen to house one large+one small, rather than two small
Buy a new 'A' rated fridge freezer to replace two of the current units.

In the days when electricity was reasonably inexpensive, having extra storage was not much of a financial issue.

This year and in the coming 5 years, electricity prices are more in tune with actual generating and cleanup costs, and extra cold storage is a luxury that may be reviewed in your family budget.

I mentioned earlier that 23 cubic feet or cold / freeze storage is more than enough for a family of 4 or 5 people.

Students often have the reverse problem - lack of cold / freeze storage.

People wonder why students eat plenty of food 'on the go' - Subway, chilled food, take away.

Usually these student shared houses have a single fridge freezer for 5 or 6 people.

Roughly speaking that is 10 cubic feet of cold / freeze storage between 5 or 6.

Having other people eat your ready meals is a hazard in any shared house with some friends, some strangers.

But having only 2 cubic feet of cold / freeze storage per person can also be limiting to any 'health eating' good intentions.

mercurial init - git init - summary clone and push

2011-05-16T22:12:00.001+01:00

hg init or git init

...are generally the first commands I use.

Have your code ready and a reasonable directory structure in place.

Add a README and a LICENSE file (OSI approved licenses in my case)

hg init

...and you are up and running (for your git stuff git init)

If you are working from an existing codebase then you might want 'clone'

hg clone http://hg.savannah.nongnu.org/hgweb/someproject

Publishing one time projects via git lends itself well to a set recipe:

git init
git add .
git commit -m 'first commit of GPL3 licensed python scripts'
git remote add origin git@github.com:someuser/apt-utils-python-shell.git
git push -u origin master
[ Above we used -u switch (--set-upstream) which is correct ]
git add README
git commit -m 'added some to README'
git push origin master
[ Note there is no -u switch here which is correct ]

Openshift and git - what commands there?

In order to commit to your new project, ...

Make your changes, then run:

git commit -a -m 'Some commit message'
git push

Then reload this page

Note: The above is quoted from the openshift page

Notes and further reading:

If you feel the desire to host your own Mercurial from which other folks can pull, then:

hg serve

and the point browser at http://localhost:8000/

Note: If your machine is internet facing rather than on a private company network, then you should think about authentication / security, and follow this guide:
Setting up a Mercurial CGI server

Alternatively you could think about Trac

If you feel the desire to host your own Git from which other folks can pull, then:

git-daemon

and the point browser at http://localhost:9418/

Note: If your machine is internet facing rather than on a private company network, then you should think about authentication / security, and read up about gitosis or gitweb.

Openshift repo at Red Hat
Openshift tutorial videos [ openshift.redhat.com ]
Openshift - sync local git repo with remote 'express' repo

mailserver A is "inherently" better than mailserver B

2011-05-14T19:03:00.005+01:00

For GNU / Linux there are several good mailserver packages.

Here are a handful (in alphabetical order):

Exim
Postfix
Qmail
Sendmail

There are others, but for the purposes of this article that is enough to go on.

Each of these packages will have their own fanbase. If you have a long history with Plesk hosting automation, then you might well love Qmail ... why? Because you know it inside out.

Exim 4 is inherently more secure than Postfix:

No it is not.

Neither is Exim 4 inherently less secure than Postfix.

But there was recently a vulnerability in Exim 4 around dkim signatures?

Yes there was. Debian users should have the security repository of Debian active (by default) and automatic updates (usually active by default on login to Gnome).

( See links at the end for further information about Debian and automatic updates)

However postfix does get vulnerabilities also.

Mailservers are complicated and involve a huge codebase. Recent changes have been made, particularly to incorporate functionality around dkim.

When humans code, other humans will review and sometimes mistakes will be found and then corrected.

But what about Qmail - there is a stable codebase that has changed little in 10 years? Well Qmail has a small core codebase and recent functionality is added via patches. Is this a better way to maintain a mailserver? You decide.

Debian and Automatic Updates:

For Gnome desktop users (including Ubuntu migrants), the easiest way is to install update-manager-gnome

Here are some other useful packages if you run a different desktop, or prefer to have updates happen, without a graphical interaction:

cron-apt which is a utility for background download (optional email output)

[ once installed issue ln -s /usr/sbin/cron-apt /etc/cron.daily/ ]
aptdaemon another daemon, that can be used with user privileges and an optional frontend
package named unattended-upgrades (see below)

If you are really comfortable with cron anyway, you might just want something like this for your updates:

50 11 * * * ( apt-get -q update && apt-get -qy upgrade -u )

The Debian project, and how an active upstream can influence choice:

Distributions are a little like biological systems in some ways, things become more popular, things become less popular. Not unlike natural selection in a fashion.

One of the things that Debian novices and even some experienced SysAdmins do not appreciate, is the importance of 'upstream'

It might be the tastiest code morsal your system has chewed in years, however somebody has to package the thing and maintain it

If upstream is inactive or uncooperative (it does happen), then it sometimes can put undue pressure on the maintainer.

With no upstream support, a complex package, will perhaps, have more outstanding bugs, or the maintainer might decide the weight it too much to carry alone.

Even if you are not doing Debian packaging, but might be making a commitment to a certain mailserver, then do ask about upstream.

How active is the upstream of Mailserver A?
How active is the upstream of Mailserver B?

If you are going to build a business around systems that include mailserver installs, then you want to know this!

Here is Exim own bug tracking system - how convenient :)

Crackers and mailservers - the case for mailserver diversity:

( Crackers: Folks who break into systems - think hackers if that is clearer for you )

If there was only one single GNU / Linux distribution, and every desktop and server in the world was GNU / Linux - wouldn't the world be great!

Well actually, NO.

Folks who make a business out of breaking into systems, have a skillset, just like regular developers and System Administrators.

The less the diversity in commonly run server based services, the better for the cracker.

In todays diverse GNU / Linux world that cracker is not going to just crack mailservers, he will likely have a toolkit of useful things s/he is knowledgeable in. SSL, file obfuscation, whatever.

However the wider the skill set required to be effective, the fewer people will be drawn into seeing 'blackhat' activities as an easy career.

Now if that cracker wants to compromise the mail server on a Red Hat system, then he needs to know Sendmail and it's vulnerabilities / attack vectors.

Now if that cracker wants to compromise the mail server on a Plesk automation system, then he needs to know Qmail and it's vulnerabilities / attack vectors.

Now if that cracker wants to compromise the mail server on a Debian system, then he needs to know Exim and it's vulnerabilities / attack vectors.

This is all assuming that the mailserver administrator has just 'gone with the flow'. They might not, they might have installed any of the 4 mailservers in my original list.

You know the Red Hat admin might have installed Exim, or the Debian admin might have installed Postfix.

My point is, that reducing diversity in mailservers, to the point that there is only one type of mailserver, might be considered making it easy for crackers.

Modern day cracking toolkits have lowered the barriers to entry for crackers somewhat. Let's not make it too easy for intruders by trying to extinguish choice through rabid fanboyism.

There are arguments for 'biodiversity' in the plant world. In this article, I have presented one argument for diversity in server based services.

I personally hope Qmail is around for another decade ... my argument for diversity.

Notes and Further reading:

An Extract from the Exim4 description:

If you build exim4 from the source package locally, you can also build an exim4-daemon-custom package tailored to your own feature set.

If your business is going to create some custom functionality around a mailserver, then that sort of thing might appeal.

Number of installs of Exim 4 on Debian systems
Number of installs of Postfix on Debian systems
More about the Exim 4 dkim error including examination of the C code
Exim dkim bug (bug #1106)
Exim dkim Debian bug report #624670
Debian Security page for Exim
Postfix TLS and SASL related memory vulnerability May 2011
CVE-2011-1720 and Debian package update

Here is an example of the type of debate that starts up when somebody asks "What mailserver for Debian".

( Nothing wrong with that sort of discussion, however do bear in mind my earlier point, about mailservers and fanbase. )