Random Bits from Boredom
Thursday 15 February 2024
Halide Linux Digital Workflow with RawTherapee
Phone cameras have steadily been improving over the last decade but one issue for serious photographers has been the ability to obtain full control of their camera settings and then the ability to obtain a RAW image for imrproved processing.
The recent iPhone Pro Max models have Apple ProRAW and can be enabled by default for the iOS camera, but if you have the non-Pro Max models you will need specific camera apps to allow you to make the most of the camera sensor.
The Halide MkII app has been a very good camera app that gives us RAW images - coupled with the OpenSource RAW editor RawTherapee we have, in my opinion, the basis for acceptable iPhone digital workflow.
Friday 23 June 2023
Valgrind: noise reduction
Ensuring your delivered code is memory leak free is a standard concern for C/C++ developers and
valgrind
is a great tool to assist. One problem we can run into is extra noise from system/non project libraries masking your own issues. Refocussing is relatively straight forward:
Sunday 29 January 2023
Ford Focus Active X 2023 user experience
The 2022 facelifted Mk4 Focus, announced in Oct 2021, replaces the orginal Focus Mk4 (2018-2020) - only available in Europe - is to be the last production of the Focus line as Ford had previously announced it will be pivoting towards electric vehicles.
Focus Active X 2023 facelift
I have previously driven a variety of family orientated Fords designed between ~1993-2015, including the Mk1 and Mk2 Monedo/Focus and Mk1 S-Max, there are a number of changes to adjust to and this is the experience of driving the facelifted Mk4 Focus Active X 2023.
Focus Active X 2023 facelift
I have previously driven a variety of family orientated Fords designed between ~1993-2015, including the Mk1 and Mk2 Monedo/Focus and Mk1 S-Max, there are a number of changes to adjust to and this is the experience of driving the facelifted Mk4 Focus Active X 2023.
Labels:
gear
Saturday 14 January 2023
Faking RPM db dependancies
The fedora packager manager takes care of all your dependancies but how do we deal with user compiled binaries and misisng dependencies?
Labels:
linux
Sunday 9 October 2022
Herman Miller Aeron: Replacing the Gas Lift
Having documented other people's difficulties with replacing their Herman Miller Aeron gas lifts, it was finally time to do the same for my own 1999 chair. What are the current challenges and tools available for this activity in 2022?
Since acquring my late 90s Aeron, most of the common parts have been replaced (sunken seat pan, plastic clamshell hip bolts, torn seat back, fixed arm rests, wobbly castors, torn lumbar support, seat pan edge foam insert) but whilst the gas lift had always been sticky and the chair wobbled, this was put off due to the reported difficulties. However more recently this was no longer an option to defer replacement since the gas lift would no longer operate, being stuck after lowering. But how easy and what options for parts are available.
Since acquring my late 90s Aeron, most of the common parts have been replaced (sunken seat pan, plastic clamshell hip bolts, torn seat back, fixed arm rests, wobbly castors, torn lumbar support, seat pan edge foam insert) but whilst the gas lift had always been sticky and the chair wobbled, this was put off due to the reported difficulties. However more recently this was no longer an option to defer replacement since the gas lift would no longer operate, being stuck after lowering. But how easy and what options for parts are available.
Labels:
"Aeron",
"Herman Miller"
Saturday 10 September 2022
Disabling debuginfods and manually loading symbols
Fedora 32 introduced
debuginfod
which is meant to provide dynamic debug symbols to debugging tools. The problem I've found is that using valgrind
is horrifically slow as the debug symbols are downloaded and processed.
One way to avoid the debug is to disable debuginfod
is to rm /etc/debuginfod/*.urls; echo "set debuginfod enabled off" > /etc/gdbinit.d/debuginfo.gdb
. But how do we get our debug symbols for gdb
?
Labels:
code
Tuesday 5 July 2022
A local Openshift 4.x development environment on your laptop
Having access to dev
Setting up the rest of the cluster and dev ecosystem is a little complicated at first so here's a set of notes documenting how it can be done on an 8core / 16Gb Fedora 35 machine.
OpenShift
4.x cluster that you control is invaluable - Redhat now provides this ability through their Code Ready Container also known an crc
Setting up the rest of the cluster and dev ecosystem is a little complicated at first so here's a set of notes documenting how it can be done on an 8core / 16Gb Fedora 35 machine.
Labels:
docker,
linux,
openshift,
podman,
virtualisation
Sunday 10 April 2022
Custom live Linux USB image: Working around locked down ThinkPad
At work we are getting pushed into a hot-desking setup and each member of staff is being moved onto a thin client ThinkPad. Of course a thin client is nothing more than a customised and stripped down Windows 10 build that connects to the firm's virtual desktop infrastructure, via a combination of CiscoConnect and VMWare Horizon client.
Since we're being forced to carry the ThinkPad to and from the hot-desk office, I'm going to use the ThinkPad for my own dev purposes en route. The ThinkPad's BIOS is not locked down so we can get into the boot menu via
Since we're being forced to carry the ThinkPad to and from the hot-desk office, I'm going to use the ThinkPad for my own dev purposes en route. The ThinkPad's BIOS is not locked down so we can get into the boot menu via
F12
or the BIOS setup via Enter
but setting my own dev environment is not straight forward.
Labels:
"live usb",
linux,
thinkpad,
VMWare
Sunday 27 February 2022
Ardour DAW on Fedora
Whilst
audacity
is a well known and simple sound editor it has some limitations when compared to digitial audio workstations (DAWs): this space can be fileld with ardour and a number of basic plugins.Wednesday 15 December 2021
Dell TB16 docking station with Dell XPS/Fedora 35
With the Thunderbolt enabled laptop there are now more options available to integrate with your different workspaces; a docking station is one that has been a business staple for a long time but a lot of enterprise solutions are pricey but legacy and decontinued solutions exist, such as the Dell TB16 but do they perform?
Labels:
"Dell TB16",
"Dell XPS",
linux
Friday 26 November 2021
Fedora 35 on a Dell XPS13 9305
The Dell XPS 93xx (2020/2021) line with its Intel Iris XE integrated graphics has a native Debian developer edition available directly and its interesting to see how this works.
Labels:
"Dell DA310",
"Dell XPS",
ffmpeg,
linux,
windows
Saturday 10 April 2021
One of these is not like the other: iPod classic upgrade
One of the great things with electronc devices in previous years was the ability to replace/repair items but also importantly as the device ages, to replae the battery. Apple have a certain reputation when it comes to repairability of their portable devices (iPhones, iPods etc) and its not positive as they cram more and more into smaller spaces. However there is a set of iPod that can be relatively easily self serviced and revived.
Tuesday 12 January 2021
Windows drag n drop Batch Image Metadata Updates
Batch modifying the
With Windows, there exists a neat tick with batch files that you can drag and drop files onto batch file under Windows explorer and the batch file will accept them as arguments. For example, to set the lens information on any
exif metadata
on your images (NEF, DNGs, jpegs ....) in Windows can be a little painful. Exiftool
is a great tool that can perform the metadata updates but most would associate this with command line updates.With Windows, there exists a neat tick with batch files that you can drag and drop files onto batch file under Windows explorer and the batch file will accept them as arguments. For example, to set the lens information on any
exiftool
support file, create the following .bat
file and then drag and drop your files!
@echo off
FOR %%i IN (%*) DO exiftool -overwrite_original -Lens="Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI" -MaxApertureValue="3.5" -FocalLength="20" %%i
pause
Monday 11 January 2021
Overcoming missing DisplayCAL dependacies on recent Linux distros with X11 container
DisplayCAL has been a great free tool to partner your hardware colour calibrator, like your DataColor Spyder etc. However installing this on any of the newer mid-2020 distributions (like Fedora 32 and above) has become problematic due to the
How can we continue to use your DataColor Spyder with DisplayCAL on a recent linux?
python 2
requirements being dropped by a number of distributions.How can we continue to use your DataColor Spyder with DisplayCAL on a recent linux?
Labels:
containers,
displaycal,
linux,
podman
Monday 4 January 2021
Finally migrating from VMplayer to KVM
I have been running VMware, and in particular VMplayer 12.5.x, on my aging Sandybridge (circa 2010) i7-870 desktop for many years and over many interations of Fedora upgrades there have been fights to get it to continue to work.
Thursday 31 December 2020
Fixing ffmpeg and failing hardware NVenc/dec following software upgrade
If you find that
ffmpeg
is no longer able to use your NVidia's card for hardware decode/encode after an OS or software upgrade, ensure your running X11/NV driver and the CUDA libraries are compatible otherwise you will get cryptic error messages:
$ ffmpeg -y -hwaccel cuda -hwaccel_output_format cuda \
-c:v h264_cuvid -i 201231-163836.mkv \
-c:a copy \
-vf scale_npp=-1:720 \
-rc vbr_hq -c:v h264_nvenc \
-b:v 3M -minrate 500k -maxrate 12M \
output.mp4
...
failed call to cuInit: CUDA_ERROR_UNKNOWN: unknown error
Unable to create device
No device available for decoder: device type cuda needed for codec h264
Game Emulation Options on Linux
Emulation for old games, particularly on Linux, can be a bit of a difficult area to navigate. Whilst there are nice standalone setups like retropie, it does need a Raspberry Pi and a display. For those looking to run emulation on their normal OS will have the option of programs like Retroarch, mame and FB Neo. But where to start?
Friday 18 December 2020
Quick Nintendo Switch joystick comparison: Hori RAP and Fighting Stick Mini
Whilst revisiting Street Fighter on PC and Nintendo Switch I wanted to get a joystick. Hori make 2 joysticks, the Real Arcade Pro V (aka RAP V) or the Fighting Stick Mini, that meet this need but which is most suitable?
Monday 13 July 2020
Topping E30: another DAC for linux/RPi
The Topping brand has put out various well received budget Chi-fi units over the last few years, and of interest to me, with various USB enabled DACs such as the D90, D50s and so forth. The most recent addition as of Q2 2020, the Topping E30 is a hi-res DAC with an all metal case, requiring 5v ~1A via by a 2.1mm barrel jack. The E30 has traditional inputs and outputs: toslink/coax and USB digital input and RCA out and crucially for me, without the bloat of a headphone amp or bluetooth receiver- a pure DAC.
How does it work with Linux and a RPi music server running
How does it work with Linux and a RPi music server running
forked-daapd
.
Labels:
"raspberry pi",
gear,
linux,
music
Sunday 26 April 2020
Poor sound with Dell onboard Conexant CX20641 / HDA intel soundcard
Some Dell machines have a soundcard that is essentially wired up differently to how some software expects. This can be evident when using the line-out of the machine to go into speakers and finding that there is very poor bass output but can manifest itself in other soundcard jacks not behaving as expected. This is observed during enforced homeschooling on an old Dell Optiplex 390 running Fedora 32.
Verifying the soundcard is using a similar troublesome chipset:
Verifying the soundcard is using a similar troublesome chipset:
$ dmesg | grep snd_hda_codec_conexant
[ 19.026492] snd_hda_codec_conexant hdaudioC0D2: CX20641: BIOS auto-probing.
$ lspci -v -d 8086:1c20
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
DeviceName: Onboard Audio
Subsystem: Dell Device 04f5
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 36
Memory at e4c30000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities:
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
Labels:
linux
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