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Frans Pop

My good friend Frans Pop died on the 20th of August, just over a week ago. We had worked together for several years within Debian (especially within the Debian CD team), and we had become firm friends during that time. He was great to work with, always ready to help design new features or pick holes and find the bugs in the stuff I was developing myself, happy for others to dig into his own projects. On the more personal side, we met up many times at different Free Software events like DebConf and FOSDEM, and also for pure social things like BBQs and parties. We shared a lot of good times.

Last week, along with some other Debian people who had worked with Frans, I headed over to the Netherlands for his funeral. His family also asked me to talk about him, and I was honoured to do so. I spoke briefly about Frans' work in Debian, highlighting the areas where he worked and the number of people he had worked with in various teams. I also told the group about the massive number of messages of sympathy and condolence which I had been asked to pass on from all over the world. His family knew that Debian was important to Frans, but were not aware of just how wide his influence and effect had been. They were especially surprised and grateful that people had travelled so far for the funeral; I told them that I would not have missed it for anything.

Rest In Peace, my friend. You will be missed.

15:00 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Debian GNU/kFreeBSD CDs now happening

Thanks to the sterling work of aurel32, debian-cd now supports creating CDs for the kfreebsd-amd64 and kfreebsd-i386 ports. For now, only the daily "sid" builds will be available - see http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/sid_d-i/arch-latest/. Once there's been another alpha/beta release of d-i then we'll get squeeze daily builds and weekly builds too.

21:55 :: # :: /debian/CDs :: 0 comments

Debian at seventeen

Happy birthday Debian!

Thanks to all my fellow Debian contributors for all your work on making the best OS there is. And especially thanks to the people who worked on the birthday surprise for us all yesterday - excellent work!

During the couple of years I was DPL, I received messages of thanks on behalf of the project many many times, whether by email or in person. I was happy to accept and pass on a lot of those messages, as I know they mean a lot to people working hard in a volunteer project. Now due to thanks.debian.net, there'a an easier way for people to voice their gratitude directly to the individual people and teams that are working on Debian. Awesome! Although it'd also be nice if we could have the wiki back without balloons now we're after the 16th... *grin*

Reminder: if you'd like to share in the birthday celebrations (and the beer!), there's still time to come along to the Debian BBQ I'm hosting at the end of the month in Cambridge, UK. See the OMGWTFBBQ wiki page for more details.

11:28 :: # :: /debian/misc :: 1 comment

Bad news

Mum's been to the hospital today for some test results and apparently they've found some cancer. This is a bit of a shock for all of us, as you might imagine. The doctors now need to do some more tests to help find out what they can do. We're waiting with fingers crossed now...

17:15 :: # :: /misc :: 4 comments

DebConf in New York

Nearly at the end of the week already - time flies! As always, it's been a great event. The orga folks have done a wonderful job, and New York is a cool place. Well, rather more of a hot place at the moment with the weather... :-)

The highlight for me, as always, has been meeting up with people during the conference. Old friends like Lars, Joey, Marga, Bdale (and many more than I can mention here!). And finally getting to say hi to people whom I feel I know well from their blogs via Planet, and their Debian work that I benefit from every day. It was great to see John Goerzen at the baseball on Wednesday night and thank him in person for his offlineimap development. Even if I didn't recognise him directly, but via the photos of his two sons that he's been posting over the last few years *grin*

19:42 :: # :: /debian/dc10 :: 1 comment

Poulsbong redux

I wrote a while back about the "fun" Jo and I were having with her Acer Aspire One 751 netbook, a machine that was "blessed" with Intel's integrated GMA500 graphics. It was a PITA to set the machine up and the final installation of Ubuntu Jaunty was anything but reliable, locking up frequently.

Well, there's more to the story. In the comments on that blog entry, Ben Armstrong pointed me at some very useful information from the Debian EeePC team: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/Model/1101HA, specifically notes on how to use grub2 and the fbdev X driver to get native resolution on a 1366x768 screen. A couple of weeks back I finally managed to steal the laptop from Jo for a few minutes and try that setup. The results are very promising - X performance is perfectly acceptable and the X lockups have totally gone away. So (shock!) it looks like the crappy binary drivers were to blame.

Jo is over the moon that finally her Linux laptop is happy and she has specifically asked me to blog again and thank Ben for his help. Thanks! I'm also hoping that this post will help other people searching for useful information on this nasty hardware and how to make it work as well as possible.

21:22 :: # :: /debian/misc :: 2 comments

Fuse-music, a transcoding filesystem

Now that disk space is cheap, it makes more and more sense to rip music and store it in FLAC format. I used to use abcde to encode directly to Ogg Vorbis, but a while back I decided to re-rip. The disks in the server at home now have lots of hours of music in a nice lossless format ready for easy playback on various machines on the network.

However, that's not all I need. I also want to be able to create Ogg Vorbis files for my own music player with limited space. And Jo's Ipod won't play either .ogg or .flac (yay for closed devices!)... At least I now have readily-available original quality music already on hard disk, so I don't need to go and find CDs again. But I really don't want to have to work through my directories of music by hand, re-encoding individually.

My solution: write a filesystem that will read in the .flac files and convert to .ogg or .mp3 on the fly. Now I can simply read the files I want off the server (via sftp/rsync/whatever) and it will create them for me!

So, fuse-music is my first attempt to do this. It's a simple perl program that works using the perl FUSE bindings to generate a pseudo-filesystem where a tree of .flac files will appear as a tree of .ogg or .mp3 files instead. It's not wonderfully fast (as encoding takes time), but it works. The only major difficulty I have at this point is calculating the sizes of the output files: if I want rsync to work reliably then the reported sizes need to be static and correct. But it's not possible (AFAICS) to predict the size of an MP3 or Ogg Vorbis file without actually doing the encoding and measuring the output size. So (ick!) that's what the code currently does when necessary. It caches the output size in a perl hash DB so the work is only needed once per file; ideally I'd like to not to have to do this at all!

If this sounds interesting at all, feel free to have a look at and play with the code: http://git.einval.com/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=fuse-music.git;a=summary and I'd love to hear your feedback.

TODO:

• Make it work with NFS?
• Cache output for a while, rather than re-encode every time
• Go multi-threaded, but may need to move to C for that, multi-threaded perl is nasty!
• Add support for more output formats (wav/aac?)

18:53 :: # :: /software/fuse-music :: 9 comments

Also sad about the Poulsbong^H^H

Apropos Matthew's post...

I picked up a cheap netbook for Jo a couple of months ago, an Acer Aspire One 751. She liked the look and feel of the machine, and it was much smaller and more carryable than the massive old Dell "slab" she'd been using previously. Got a very good deal on it too, as it was the last one in stock at the local Comet store.

All went well until we got it home and I started playing with it. That was when I found the painful truth: it was based on the Poulsbo, using Intel's crippled GMA500 graphics chipset. Up until then, I'd been very happy with buying Intel kit: for the last few years it's been a sure sign that the hardware would work well with Debian and Linux. Now they've come out with a crappy product that has destroyed that goodwill. I spent many hours working through various options to try and get this new netbook up and running properly using Debian, but to no avail - the various binary blobs wanted newer versions of code than was in Lenny and (by then) older stuff than was available in Squeeze. In the end I gave up and installed an outdated version of Ubuntu on the machine just so Jo could have it working for her when we went on holiday together.

Since then, she's had to get used to the machine locking up once or twice a day while she's using it (something I can only assume is caused by the shitty drivers). She's happy enough in that it's much better than her old Vista-infested Dell machine, but it's really not a great experience for her compared to the Thinkpads she sees others using reliably and flawlessly at home.

At some point I guess we'll simply ditch the machine altogether and get something less nasty. Thanks for the good stuff you used to make, Intel, but you've lost your way. I'll be damned careful next time to avoid this trap.

18:33 :: # :: /debian/misc :: 10 comments

TTOTD:

When you're calculating checksums, be careful that you use the correct version of the result. Don't use the version printed in hex when you actually need the binary version in your binary format. Doh!

01:06 :: # :: /debian/misc :: 0 comments

End of the road, and congratulations

By my reckoning I've got about 7 hours left in my tenure as DPL. There's still a few things I haven't finished up yet and won't by the end of the day, and for those I apologise. I'll try to follow through anyway.

Congratulations to Zack for winning the election this year, and of course thanks to the other candidates for standing and helping to make it such an interesting campaign. I have great hopes for the future of Debian with our new Italian overlord in charge - he's got some very good ideas and I already know he has the enthusiasm to put in the efforts that are needed. :-)

Now it's time for me to step back and concentrate on technical work for a while. Oh, and make wedding plans for next year. TTFN.

17:22 :: # :: /debian/dpl :: 3 comments

Flights booked for DebConf

I'll be there, and so will Jo for the first time. Be nice to her, please? :-)

12:44 :: # :: /debian/dc10 :: 0 comments

Leaving Amino, on to ARM

Number 2: Although most of the details were finalised a while ago, I haven't blogged about this yet. I've been working at Amino for over four years, developing software for a range of Linux-based set-top boxes. It's been a good place to work for most of that time, but recently I've decided that it's time to find new employment.

At the end of March, I'll be joining ARM as a Staff Software Engineer, working on Linux and other Open Source / Free Software with them. The job looks awesome, just about exactly what I've been looking for. And I'll be joining two more Debian folk who are working there already. Woo! :-)

11:04 :: # :: /misc :: 3 comments

It's been a while

Apologies for not posting in a while. I've been a little busy of late, but I promise to fill in some of the details in the next few days.

Number 1: Jo and I are engaged. We went to a nice restaurant on Saturday for her birthday. I totally surprised her by asking the question in her birthday card: "P.S. Will you marry me" at the bottom. The look on her face as she said "yes" was awesome. *grin*

I had already surprised her a couple of weekends back by taking her to Paris for Valentine's weekend. She didn't know we were going until we got to the checkin desk for the Eurotunnel.

Now I've got a problem, though: what do I do for a surprise two weekends from now? :-)

10:56 :: # :: /misc :: 1 comment

Helsinki in the autumn

I arranged a weekend trip for me and Jo at short notice when other plans for the weekend didn't happen. And I'm glad I did, we both had an excellent time! :-)

We met up with Lars and Soile for dinner at their place on Saturday when we arrived, and they were great hosts. We hit the sauna then went back to our hotel, tired from the travel but happy.

I had promised Jo that we would find some reindeer for her, so on Sunday we went overboard. First of all, a trip to the natural history museum in the middle of Helsinki where we got to see models of reindeer and reindeer skeletons (amongst other things!)...

Then we went to the Zetor Tractor Bar for lunch, including (of course!) reindeer to eat. Then on to the zoo to see various animals including big cats and ... reindeer! *grin*

We headed back to the centre of Helsinki and met up with a bunch of the locals for drinks and some dinner. It was excellent to meet up with these folks; I'd not met some of them in a couple of years!

Finally, last thing that night, I surprised Jo with a trip to the Ice Bar in the middle of the city. She had no idea where we were going, and when we got there the look on her face was wonderful!

We both loved the trip, and we'll have to go back again soon.

01:08 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

Silly photos from Spain

While driving through Spain around DebConf, I saw a few things that I thought I should share with the world...

San Sebastian runs on dbus!

ALSA on a coach:

Wonderful fuel economy! We managed to fill up with diesel, then coast for about 15 miles down a very very very long downhill stretch into Bilbao. And just before we stopped at a toll booth at the bottom of the hill, the car's estimated MPG figure flipped to 99.9 and we got a blurry photo.

01:20 :: # :: /debian/dc9 :: 1 comment

Cool DebConf

Yeah, OK, I suck and I should have posted about DebConf 9 while I was there or shortly afterwards. Well, I've been busy with various things (or, to be more specific, one person \o/). I'm slowly catching up on stuff now, so I thought I'd write something and link to some photos!

I drove down from the UK with Neil, Chris and Chris and we had a good trip. We left Cambridge really early on Wednesday the 22nd, stopped at Le Mans for lunch, then headed to San Sebastian overnight. The French autoroutes were mostly empty and we made very good time, swapping drivers every two hours.

The venue was superb, with just about all the facilities we needed on site. And there was a handy outdoor bar in the park just up the street. Yay!

As always, it was excellent to meet up with Debian friends old and new from all over the world. The DebConf team did a great job of making the conference happen and I had a wonderful time, as did everybody else I spoke to.

There was an official day trip involved, but as we had 2 cars from the UK a group of us rebelled and made our own trip out to do touristy things. We visited the Roman ruins in Merida (photos here), then as we were so close to Portugal we decided to head over the border and found the lovely old town of Elvas.

After the conference, we headed slowly back up to the north coast of Spain, stopping over in Madrid and then Bilbao before catching the overnight ferry back to England. Along the way on that trip we saw a few sights such as the historic city of Pamplona and the "Valley of the Fallen", the monument to people killed in the Spanish Civil War.

I got back to Cambridge late on Monday the 3rd, tired but happy. We'd done 2,400 or so miles in the car and several hundred more on the ferry, and we'd all had a great journey. We saw some silly stuff along the way too, and I'll post more about those soon.

22:58 :: # :: /debian/dc9 :: 4 comments

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

I went down to Goodwood House again this year for the Festival of Speed, and it was excellent fun. I spent the day with a bunch of friends looking at and listening to a massive range of silly cars. We got to see Formula 1 drivers showing off for the crowd on the hillclimb, rally drivers reliving their best on the specially-made rally stage in the forest and historic sports cars being driven the way they were intended: FAST. *grin*

And, to cap it all, Jo came with us too for the first time and she loved it too. Yay!

23:45 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Christian, that's too easy!

Give us a harder riddle? :-)

21:17 :: # :: /debian/misc :: 0 comments

Keep libel laws out of science

The "Sense about Science" group have written about a ridiculous lawsuit currently happening in the UK. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel, based on an article he wrote in the Guardian newspaper in 2008. There is a campaign to express support for Simon and call for an urgent review of English law of libel, and I have signed the petition myself. The right place for scientific debate is out in the open, not shut down by cowards who refuse to show evidence for their claims and instead pay for lawsuits.

16:05 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

age++

On Thursday it was my birthday, and I fulfilled a promise I made to myself many years ago. I've always been a car nut, and when I was about 6 years old and had posters of Lamborghinis on my bedroom walls I promised myself that by the time I reached 35 I would have one. That would be long enough in the future that it might happen, but I'd still be young enough to still be able to appreciate it. Well, as it got to the beginning of this year I realised I was running out of time and my bank balance didn't quite look large enough to buy a Lamborghini. So, I cheated a little and I hired one for the day on Thursday.

More pictures here.

I had one car booked a few weeks ago, but unfortunately the company involved had to let me down as the car developed problems a couple of days before I was due to have it and needed to go away for repairs. I'm not going to complain too much about them, as it wasn't their fault and they did their level best to make things right: offering a different car, a refund or a later replacement hire. But dammit! I wanted the Lamborghini and I wanted it on my birthday! I quickly rang around on Wednesday to find somebody else, and thankfully the folks at Signature Car Hire were very helpful, sorting out a car with just a few hours' notice. Yay!

When they guys turned up on Thursday morning to deliver the car to my office, I couldn't stop myself grinning like the 6-year old boy whose promise I was keeping. Here was a gorgeous car, and it was mine for the day!!! I planned a route for the day to take in some nice driving roads and, importantly, some tunnels. I've watched Top Gear on the TV and I read Autocar every week, and they had both said that taking a fast sports car through a tunnel with the roof down was a good thing to do. I now know that's an understatement!

As a whole, the car was awesome: the acceleration, the handling, the brakes were all wonderful. But, as I found out on that day, the noise from the engine was just astonishing. I went through several tunnels that day, heading down past Baldock to Hatfield and back, and at full throttle I could not help but laugh out loud at the music coming from the 5-litre V10 orchestra just inches behind me. It's an experience I'm never going to forget. grin.

I also gave short rides to quite a few of the people at work; oddly I had lots of friends that day... :-)

I'd also planned other things for the day. I bought myself a new camera in advance to make sure I got some nice photos of the day. Then at the end of the day I went out to the pub with a huge group of friends and I was forced to drink lots of beer. It was horrible, horrible I tell you.

12:26 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments