2022-12-22

three books

 It took a while, but here are three books I've read.

Kevin Mitnick - The Art of Invisibility (2017)

I have been interested in Kevin Mitnick since his 1980ies hacking. He is mentioned in several books that I read in the past.

This book is about all the personal data one leaves behind when using the internet (or devices connected to the internet). It is a rather simple guide on how to increase your privacy or how to aim to become almost invisible on the internet.

I would not advice this book for nerds, or for IT security experts, the book is probably not aimed for those people anyway. People who know close to nothing about computers/networks could benefit from this guide. 


Robert M. Pirsig - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance (1974)

Now this is an interesting read. It is not about motorcycles, in fact it is perfectly fine if you replace the word motorcycle by 'smartphone' or 'computer' or 'internet privacy and tracking' in the first half of the book. There are some very insightful comments about how people react in different ways to technology.

The main part of this book though, is not the motorcycle trip with his son through the United States, but his alter ego named Phaedrus. The writer was diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia and received electric-shock treatment. In the book he remembers fragments of this Phaedrus personality (with an IQ of 170).

The second half is a tough read. I often needed to reread several sentences to grasp what he was saying. (Which was never the case in the Mitnick book above.)


Prusa 3D printing handbook

I finally bought a 3D printer and would advice this to anyone who has lot's of time. Yes, this is not yet ready for end users that only want a 'File - Print' option on the computer. But a whole new world opens, at least for me it's a new world with many possibilities and adventures.

It's a small booklet, but I mention it anyway because it is really good, as are all the follow-up guides on prusa3d.com.

2022-09-26

Software I am thankful for

An alphabetical list of software that I really like.

Apache: Not as popular as it used to be, but I know it and so still use it

apt/aptitude/apt-get: The origin of all 'apps' and the most user friendly and secure way to manage software

Audacity: Or is that too controversial now with their telemetry?

bash: The best interface to my computers

convert: From Imagemagick, for batch converting images 

Civilization IV: Yes 4, the only software that is not (yet?) open source

cron: It wakes me up every day (using mpv and bash)

Debian: I run it on almost everything

ffmpeg: to convert video formats

find: because I tend to forget where I put stuff :)

Firefox: because an alternative browser is crucial

FreeCAD: Amazing CAD software, and I like math

gcc: Because coding in C is fun!

gimp: Easy image manipulation

git: How did I ever live without it?

gramps: To keep track of my ancestors

grep: Often very useful.

Homebrew: To make a MacBook usable

Inkscape: Because vector graphics are essential

Linux: in background of course, like so many other tools that I am rarely aware of

make: For software that is not part of Debian

mariadb(mysql): So easy to build a database

mpv: For audio and video (and for their API

Openshot: To create Lego NXT or Prusa video's

PrusaSlicer: A 3D printer opens a whole new world of possibilities 

Python: I hate this language, but it is used so much and coding is still fun

return Youtube dislike: How else is Youtube usable?!

rsync: For backups

Singlefile: because web pages tend to disappear forever 

ssh: Multitool for anything remote

Thunderbird: Reading my mail since 1996 (as Netscape Mail)

tmux: used daily, configured to a quiet and relaxing layout

Video downloadhelper: because video's tend to disappear forever

vim: By far the best editor for text, code, config files and more.

wine: To play that one game on Debian (though I wish its 32-bit had as much memory as 32-bit Windows XP)

Wireshark: The best tool to learn about networking

XFCE: My GUI since almost 20 years

xfce-screenshooter: Because screenshots are useful

 

Inspiration HN.

2022-09-15

tmux resurrect

Why did I not know about this until now?

https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect

It restores all windows, all panes, all ssh sessions.

2022-08-21

Drie boeken

Door omstandigheden wat minder kunnen lezen, maar bij deze nog eens drie boeken:



De Hel van Deurne-Noord is een verzamling getuigenissen van voetballers en trainers, en reporters, over hun ervaring op den Bosuil. Het dateert van 2016 ofzo denk ik, dus het is vooral dromen van een groot Royal Antwerp FC. Ik denk niet dat er toen iemand was die Naingolan of Alderweireld als spelers van den Antwerp zag.

Het boek leest zeer vlot, elke getuigenis is maar een blad of twee, soms drie. Ideaal voor bus en treinritten.


Ons Antwerpen heeft me blij verrast! Dit is een van de beste boeken dat ik al gelezen heb. Het dateert van rond 1931, de auteurs zijn dus al lang dood, anders had ik hen zeker bedankt.

In dit boek wandel je rond in het Antwerpen van 90 jaar geleden. Er wordt bijvoorbeeld gezegd dat er plannen zijn om een Rubenshuis te maken in de buurt van de Meir/Wapperstraat. Het plein dat nu 'Wapper' heet, bestond nog niet. Er is ook geen Astridplein (dat heette toen Statieplein), maar ze hadden wel net meer dan tienduizend schepen gehad in Antwerpen op 1 jaar tijd.

Ik ben zinnens eens met dit boek rond te lopen, want echt elke straat waar ze zijn wordt vermeld, tot huisnummers toe. De weg zou dus helemaal moeten te volgen zijn.


Starten met C is mijn introductie tot programmeren in C (ik kende totdantoe enkel Basic, Assembler en PASCAL, ah en COBOL). Dit was ons cursusboekje in Leuven in 1991 denk ik... en maakte mij een grote fan van C.

Ik ben het terug aan het lezen nu en beleef er weer veel plezier aan. Nog steeds fan van C dus, helaas ben ik momenteel niet zo'n goeie programmeur. Nu het bijna uit is, zal ik mijn odio applicatie maar snel aanpassen, voordat iemand deze klucht kan zien :)



2022-07-29

HifiBerry AMP2

Setup of a HifiBerry AMP2...on a Rapsberry Pi 2.

First attempt was with Volumio, as advised by a friend. Well that works, but I personally find the interface a horror, and I seem to lose control of the Pi since Volumio is a full OS that seems only accessible by web interface. No thanks.

Using Raspberry Pi OS:

- download Raspberry Pi OS lite (command line is fine)

- extract the image

- dd the image to the sd-card

dd if=/home/paul/2022-04-04-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

- mount it to enable ssh

touch /boot/ssh

- I also had to set a password for the pi user, since 'raspberry' was not accepted?

- Boot the Pi (the HifiBerry is still attached)

- ssh into the Pi 

apt update
apt upgrade
apt install vim
vi /boot/config.txt
#dtparam=audio=on
#dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

# added by paul 2022-07-29 for HifiBerry AMP2
dtoverlay=hifiberry-dacplus
force_eeprom_read=0


Comment out the first two lines, add the last two. Check here for other HifiBerries.

Now, before using mplayer or something, LOWER THE VOLUME! Use a really low value, and gradually go up while playing music since the default is extremely loud.

amixer -c 0 sset Digital "20%"

Thanks for listening :)

2022-07-17

Vier bezoekjes van de voorbije maand

XPO Space

Zeker doen als je interesse hebt in ruimtevaart, er staan enkele boeiende objecten op ware grootte en dat geeft toch een andere indruk. De geschiedenis van de ruimtevaart wordt er goed in beeld gebracht, helaas gaat de rest van de XPO enkel over de Verenigde Staten, Rusland en een beetje ESA. Geen woord over de Indische, Japanse of Chinese ruimtevaart van de laatste tien-twintig jaren.

Er staat ook een foute schaal bij een Saturn V (1:144 ipv 1:72) en ze geven een nieuwe betekenis voor een 'dag' (op Aarde is een dag 24u, volgens XPO is een dag op de maan 14 Aardse dagen, maar dat moet 28 zijn gezien de nacht ook een integraal deel is van de dag).


Maagdenhuis Antwerpen

Het Maagdenhuis is enerzijds een standaard museum met schilderijen (ze hebben Pieter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens en Antoon van Dyck!) en oude voorwerpen, anderzijds geeft dit museum duidelijk aan hoe de tijdsgeest kan veranderen.

Hier staat ook de houten Clara (helaas bestaat het restaurant met dezelfde naam niet meer).


Mayer van den Bergh Antwerpen

Mayer van den Bergh is wereldberoemd voor al wie 'de Dulle Griet' van Suske en Wiske heeft gelezen. Het schilderij met dezelfde naam van Pieter Breugel is gerestaureerd sinds ik het de laatste keer zag, en ja, het ziet er geweldig uit vandaag.

Behalve de schilderijen en de (soms heel oude) voorwerpen, vind ik hier ook de kamers zelf al de moeite om te bekijken.


Rockoxhuis Antwerpen

Voluit het Snijders&Rockoxhuis is boeiend als je graag oude schilderijen ziet. Je krijgt hier een ipad om informatie te lezen over alles wat er staat (of hangt), en dat vind ik veel beter dan een audioplayer omdat ik veel liever lees dan luister (of kijk).

Hier hangt het beroemde spreekwoorden schilderij van Pieter Breugel. Er staat nu een touchscreen bij dit schilderij dat alle spreuken verraadt... maar misschien is het leuker om er zelf een paar te ontdekken die vandaag nog gangbaar zijn.


2022-07-02

Scripting FreeCAD with Python

A wise person recently told me:

"Release early, release often!"

So here goes... I know a teeny-weeny bit of Python and have recently learned to enjoy FreeCAD. This morning I discovered that FreeCAD can be scripted using Python, so here's my first attempt. Any hints are welcome.

 

 

The script creates a (very flat) cube, attaches four smaller flat cubes that serve as tenons, and then cuts out four small cubes that act as mortises. It ends by creating four simple copies of this piece, forming a four-piece puzzle.

The next step is to automate the inclusion of an SVG file on the surface of these pieces.

2022-05-15

Three books

 Two books about The Witcher and eentje over onze maatschappij.



 

I never played The Witcher game, but I did see the TV-series' first season in the months before Covid-19. The books are about the same characters, Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer and the others, but the story details differ from the TV-series. I saw the second season before I read any of the books.

Some dialogues are identical in both books and TV. And yes, the books also mix time periods! Anyway, so far these books are entertaining and I will definitely read more (I got eight, which is all of them I think).


While looking for wine in Antwerp I came across a 'Books & Wine' store. I did not find the wine I was looking for so I bought this book.

Bart Verhoeven is een millennial (een dertiger vandaag) en geeft zijn kijk op onze maatschappij. Hij slaat met momenten de nagel op de kop en het was leuk om typische Gen X observaties te lezen, maar dan geschreven door een snotneus. Het boek mocht ook 250blz langer zijn.

Hier en daar had ik wel mijn bedenkingen, zo kon ik me niet identificeren met de 'typische mens' in het begin van het boek. Ik laat immers mijn gsm achter als ik de stad in ga (het is rustgevend om offline te zijn in First life) en heb bijna nooit een smartphone bij.


2022-05-14

Three books

An emotional book about shame, a historical book about Constantinople and an interesting take on prehistory (and society).

 

Three book covers
 

Brene Brown has a world famous Ted talk, though I must admit I didn't really understand it back in 2010. But when a beautiful South American lady gives you a book, then you read it. I read this in the summer of 2019 I think, before Covid-19.

This book about vulnerability, about shame, gave me a lot of insight in human behaviour, including my own. I did not realise how important shame was in life. Thank you Brown for writing this.

 

Lost to the West was upvoted on Hackernews as an interesting read. I was not disappointed. The book is about the East Roman Empire, on which we did not spend much time in school. We studied Egypt, Greece and Rome in detail, but only the Western part of Rome until the split in East and West Roman Empires. School only mentioned that the Eastern Empire lasted for 11 centuries, but that was it.

Some people may find this book with 1100 year history of emperors boring, there is a lot of repetition, but the message is intriguing. Constantinople, now Istanbul, and sometimes called Byzantium, really did shape Western Europe. This empire is at least as important as the Greeks and the (West)Romans to the current society in Europe.


The Sapiens book has been recommended to me by several people. I like prehistory a lot, it's my favorite time period. The book is interesting, and really easy to read, but is it science? I don't know. It's a good book though!

 

2022-04-17

Scary car software updates

I have a user account (yes really) in a Hyundai Kona electric car.

A while ago there was a software update and now the owner cannot play radio (or any other music) through the car when Bluetooth on her smartphone is active. The car demands that music is played through the smartphone?!

Disabling Bluetooth on the smartphone solves this problem, but then phone calls are not handsfree?! The owner never accepted the new EULA for the update...

Yesterday I drove the car with my user account and was confronted with the new EULA. I decided to read it, but even though my account is in English (and the other account is in Dutch), this EULA was presented in French?!

I declined this EULA (the choice was 'agree' or 'disagree' in English even though the text was in French). The car immediately said "Audio Off". I could not open the "radio" menu on the screen, and also could not access the "media" menu to play the songs that I had been playing in that car from a USB stick since this summer?!

I find this very scary. 

Luckily I don't "own" a car. But can it even be considered "owning" if features can be disabled by the manufacturer?!

2022-02-17

Three books

 One book about science, one book about spying and eentje over mensen.

Three books

I finished "Lost in Math" by Sabine Hossenfelder last month. It is a story of her interviewing scientists that try to find order in (mainly) the smallest of elements. The gist is that while there is a lot of (mathematical) beauty in science (think how nice the atoms are for example), that most scientists are distracted by beauty while there is a real possibility that breakthroughs are going to be ugly (e.g. the standard model of Fermions and Bosons).

 

I am late to the party for reading "Permanent Record" by Edward Snowden. He tells his live story, from his first connection to the Internet, to being a 'document manager' in the NSA. The first half of the book is predictable, the second half is exciting. I learned that he never meant to go to Russia, he just got stuck at the airport in Moscow because the USA had revoked his passport.

Strange world though, I grew up with Russian dissidents fleeing to the *free* West. Today Snowden (and Assange in a way) are making the reverse journey.


In het derde boek "De meeste mensen deugen" van Rutger Bregman zit ik nog maar aan blz 70, maar ik wou toch al een citaat meegeven; blz 28:

"Koningen en dictators, gouverneurs en generaals denken dat gewone mensen egoïstisch zijn, omdat ze dat zelf zo vaak zijn. Ze gebruiken grof geweld omdat ze iets willen voorkomen dat zich alleen in hun eigen fantasie afspeelt."

Yep, niet alle koningen uiteraard, maar ook heel wat managers, vrees ik.

EDIT: Dit boek is zeker de moeite om te lezen. Het geeft een originele kijk op een tiental zeer bekende psychologische experimenten. Helaas komt het allemaal wat sensationeel over; boeiend en leuk dus, maar misschien niet correct.