jordswart.org

Worm the Rotterdam stage for culture and music is on sale on marktplaats.

Disregarding a very positive response by the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture (RRKC) to WORM’s plans concerning 2009-2012, it will not be possible to keep the organisation afloat with the amount of money assigned to it by this same council. It seems like we have perished amongst the waves of good intent, crushed by cultures mammoth-tank vessels in a pond which is too small. The fact that we would perish for budgetary reasons only – if RRKC’s advice is utilised in its present form - seems ridicules and has caused for much grief at Achterhaven 148.

Mike van Gaasbeek, the financial director and a good friend of mine, indicates that every bid from at least €400.000 will be taken seriously.

Link

People who read my blog now that I frequently post articles I have read on Boing Boing. This post is not different from that rule. There is just one funny twist about this one: I find it unbelievable that I have to read an American blog to know what is happening in Leeuwarden. Afterall my sister is living there.

So much for the intro.

Henk Hofstra installed a couple of fried eggs in the center of Leeuwarden. The project is called: art-eggcident. Each of the eggs is about 30 metres wide and will remain in the city for the next six months.

I finally found my way to wikileaks.org. Wikileaks is a website for whistleblowers, it accepts classified, censored or otherwise restricted material of political, diplomatic or ethical significance. I read a lot about it during the time they were brought offline by the Swiss bank, but never found a moment to just have a look at the site. Until today that is. Apart from a description of the US equipment in Iraq in 2007 they have a report desribing how former Stasi employees help out to classify the old Stasi reports.

 However from November 2006 allegations started to circulate, most notably in the German news paper Die Welt that the BStU, tasked to guard the Stasi files, had been infiltrated by a number of former Stasi officers and informers. In response the German government commissioned an investigation.

By June 2007, the investigative team, led by Prof. Hans Hugo Klien, a former judge of the German Federal Constitution Court and CDU politician, had completed its confidential report into the infiltration.

The report has been obtained by Wikileaks and is the subject of this analysis.

Link

Lifehacker has the 10 best ways to get rid of your cablesalad.

When you finally decide it’s time to do something about that rat’s nest of cables that’s spreading like kudzu, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and money to get it under control. Whether you’re looking to stow your headphone wires tangle-free in your gym bag, hide the ugly wire spaghetti you keep kicking further under your desk, or organize your gadget chargers and power plugs, we’ve got some cord management tricks for you. Hit the jump for photos and videos of our top 10 favorite ways to get cables under control.

Link

I found this beautiful website of the “Universität der Künste in Berlin”. It features some of the most interesting gadgets I have seen in years. If only they would be available. Two fine examples include:

The CharmingBurka:

The Charming Burka deals with Freud’s idea that all clothes can be positioned between appeal and shame. The Burka was chosen, because it is often perceived in the west as a symbol of repression. A digital layer was added so that women can decide for themselves where they want to position themselves virtually. The Burka sends an image, chosen by the wearer, via Bluetooth technology. Every person next to her can receive her picture via mobile phone and see the women’s self-determined identity. In the artists interpretation the virtual appeals can not be gathered by the laws of the Koran and so the Charming Burka fulfills the desire of living a more western life, which some Muslim women have today.
Therefore the Burka is equipped with bluetooth antenna/micro-controller and uses the OBEX protocol, already working with most mobile phones.

The Vanity Ring:

Update of the ring as a status symbol. It shows the number of Google hits you get, when you search for the name of the person who wears it.

While in earlier times richness and importance were equal to the amount of money or jewels someone possessed, in a post information society it’s the attention you get from the worlds people, that counts. Being in people’s mind means being important, whether they think about you in a positive way our not doesn’t matter. And what people have in their mind is what they read in the media. In the future this will mean, what they read/see on the net. Every content creator that copies and pastes your name will rise the value of your virtual mirrored importance. And there is a hard mechanical algorithm on the net, that extremely objectively measures your appearance, it’s called Google and has already passed the “line of no return” (Bruce Sterling). In most job interviews the personnel manager will already use this machine to check your importance and have a look at the first answers this mirror tells about you. Your mirror identity strikes back on your chances in the real world.

Oberwelt e.V., a German artists collective presents a nice device which can protect you from all the infrared security cameras installed on public roads. It sends out an invisible infrared light that will make your face show up as a white bulb.

I-R.A.S.C is a device giving every citizen a reliable protection from governmental security measures. I-R.A.S.C. is security against security and therefore a response to the dissymmetry of the forces between state and individual.

Instead of showing and interaction among human-beings, or between man and machine, I-R.A.S.C. demonstrates an interaction among machines. This is part of an absurd situation - while the time and effort invested into protection measures aims at the alleged safety of the citizens, the individual looses importance in this safety concept.

I-R.A.S.C is an infra-red device working as a protection shield from infra-red surveillance cameras. Everybody can rebuild this device without special technical skills.

Link via Boing Boing

Getting video to work
In kaffeine go to Settings->Xine Engine Parameters. Then select video and xshm from the dropdown list. Same trick should be available in other players as well.

Getting the cdrom to work
Out of the box Feisty will not interact with the cdrom. To fix this do the following:
$ sudo modprobe -v ide-generic
To make sure you don’t always have to modprobe yourself edit your /etc/modules files and append the following line:
ide-generic
You also want DMA access for your drive. Too bad it won’t work. Theoretically it should work like this:
hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda
But that line produces an error on my machine. Seems to have to do with the ICH7 (Intel Chipset). We probably need to wait until this gets fixed in the kernel.

You need to tell the kernel to use libata for atapi. Since Ubuntu uses initrd during boot the following will ensure this (please note, adding this as a kernel boot option will not work):
$ sudo -i
# echo "libata atapi_enabled=1" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
# update-initramfs -u

Now make sure the piix module is loaded on boot:
# echo "piix" >> /etc/modules
# exit

In case you still have “ide-generic” in your /etc/modules it might be a good idea to remove that line.

Now edit your /etc/hdparm.conf file, find the section describing /dev/hda and remove the remarks. It should then say:
/dev/hda {
mult_sect_io = 16
write_cache = off
dma = on
}

Other options are ok as well. Now reboot and things should be working. Test with:
$ hdparm /dev/hda

Install some extra tools to make live easier
ksynaptics: an applet to modify the settings of the touchpad (use gsynaptics if you are on Gnome)
$ sudo aptitude install ksynaptics

arno-iptables-firewall: a very easy to configure firewall script(!). It automatically protects all my network cards (eth1 and eth0), something I haven’t been able to set up with most of the GUI tools out there.

The configuration file can be found in /etc/arno-iptables-firewall/firewall.conf. If you sepcify eth0 and eth1 as external connection cards and don’t specify any internal ones, nothing can go wrong (well, ok, it is a firewall, so yes you can render your machine unusable). Don’t forget to open the ports you want open to the rest of the world.
$ sudo aptitude install arno-iptables-firewall

Start Beryl as a KDM session
Create the following file /usr/bin/startberyl.sh with the following contents:
#!/bin/sh
export KDEWM="/usr/bin/beryl-manager"
exec startkde

Save the file and make it executable:
chmod +x /usr/bin/startberyl.sh

Create the file /usr/share/xsessions/Beryl.desktop with the following contents:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Beryl
Exec=/usr/bin/startberyl.sh
Icon=
Type=Application

Save the file. Next time kdm is started you will have the possibility to start a “Beryl” session. This way one can switch between a normal KDE session and a beryl session upon login.

Install flash for Firefox (64 bit) and konqueror
This information is from this website. The site describes how to install flash for Firefox using nspluginwrapper. Since everything is described very well there, I am not going to copy it here.

One remark though. The howto instructs the following:
$ cd ~/.mozilla/plugins

That didn’t work for me, I had to execute the following:
$ cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins

Back to main page.

Since information on Google seems to be a bit hard to get and I wanted a central point for all the information, here it is.

Please note:
This information modifies files on your computer. After modification your computer may not work anymore which may result in loss of data. If this, or worse, happens don’t complain, you have been warned.

(K)ubuntu version
The question is what to use for this installation. My personal choice is to use Kubuntu. So everything here has only been tested with that particular distribution. Since nothing I have done has anything to do with either KDE or GNOME, everything should apply to all variations of ubuntu.

The second question was, what version should I use. Gutsy has the advantage that it supports OpenGL 3D effect (screensavers, beryl and Google Dekstop) out of the box. Feisty will freeze if you run those applications. But Gutsy still is very unstable and has a lot of issues. So I went with Feisty and decided to do some backports of the important packages.

Last but not least I asked myself the question whether it should be a 64 bit or a 32 bit installation. Since I have a 64 bit machine it didn’t make sense to me to go with a 32 bit installation. If you have a 32 bit installation, please refer to Ross Burton’s blog for ready compiled packages. This howto will describe how to build the 64 bit packages. It should work for 32 bit as well, but since you can just download them I don’t think you would like to do that.

Now without further delay, here comes the howto install Feisty 64 bit on a Dell Latitude D830 with Intel GPU and all the 3D graphics you could ever dream of.

Installing (K)ubuntu
To install (K)ubuntu on the DELL Latitude D830 forget about all fancy graphical interfaces. You will have to use the text installation provided by the alternate CD, so download that one. I went for the AMD64 distribution, but you might as well go for the 32 bit one, since that will save you some compatibility problems. Then again, why buy a 64 bit machine if you are not going to use it…

Getting X to work
After the installation is done and you reboot the machine you will be prompted by a nice command prompt. Since the cdrom will not function correctly there are a few steps you will have to execute:
Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list and remark the first line, listing your Feisty CD as an installation source. Then install all updates for feisty:
$ sudo aptitude update
$ sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

and install the xserver-xorg-video-intel package by typing
$ sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-intel

Then open your xorg.conf and change the device from vesa to intel. After this change save the file and restart kdm. Things should be better. If restarting kdm doesn’t work, try rebooting the pc.

X is a little bit blurry
No it is not you, you do not need any glasses. After starting X everything will look a bit blurred. We will fix that issue later when we update the intel driver. So for now, you just have to live with it.

Getting the latest intel drivers
The default intel GPU drivers in feisty will freeze your pc as soon as OpenGL is running (Beryl, Google Earth) so these need to be updated. This is probably the hardest part of the installation since it involves updating parts of your x-server installation. I did warn you about blowing up your laptop, didn’t I?

You can achieve this in two ways. The first way would be to install gutsy packages on feisty. This can be achieved by using a debian process called pinning, which involves making changes to your apt.conf. More information can be found here. This is a very easy and very quick process, but it will also upgrade your libc6.

Since I think one should only upgrade the packages really needed, I decided to compile the packages needed for my libc6. This also makes sure that other packages depending on that library will not run into conflicts.

For the update I followed the following procedure:

Open your /etc/apt/sources.list and append the following line (make sure you use your own mirror location):
deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted

Save the file and execute:
$ sudo aptitude update

Make a root directory for your sources:
$ mkdir ~/xorg

Install the dependencies needed to build everything:
$ sudo aptitude install fakeroot dpkg-dev
$ sudo apt-get build-dep mesa
$ sudo apt-get build-dep libdrm2

Install the libxdamage packages
$ mkdir ~/xorg/libxdamage
$ cd ~/xorg/libxdamage
$ apt-get source libxdamage
$ cd libxdamage-1.1.1
$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i libxdamage1_1.1.1-3_amd64.deb libxdamage-dev_1.1.1-3_amd64.deb

Install the mesa packages
$ mkdir ~/xorg/mesa
$ cd ~/xorg/mesa
$ apt-get source mesa
$ cd mesa-7.0.0/
$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i mesa-swx11-source_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb mesa-common-dev_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb libgl1-mesa-dev_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_all.deb libgl1-mesa-dri_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb libgl1-mesa-glx_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb libglu1-mesa_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb mesa-utils_7.0.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb

Install the libdrm2 packages
$ mkdir ~/xorg/libdrm2
$ cd ~/xorg/libdrm2
$ apt-get source libdrm2
$ cd libdrm-2.3.0/
$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i libdrm-dev_2.3.0-4_amd64.deb libdrm2_2.3.0-4_amd64.deb

Install the x11proto-print-dev packages
$ mkdir ~/xorg/x11proto-print-dev
$ cd ~/xorg/x11proto-print-dev
$ apt-get source x11proto-print-dev
$ cd x11proto-print-1.0.3.xsf1/
$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i x11proto-print-dev_1.0.3.xsf1-1_all.deb

install the xorg-server packages
$ sudo apt-get build-dep xorg-server
$ mkdir ~/xorg/xorg-server
$ cd ~/xorg/xorg-server
$ apt-get source xorg-server
$ cd xorg-server-1.3.0.0.dfsg/
$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i xnest_1.3.0.0.dfsg-6ubuntu3_amd64.deb xprint_1.3.0.0.dfsg-6ubuntu3_amd64.deb xprint-common_1.3.0.0.dfsg-6ubuntu3_all.deb xserver-xorg-core_1.3.0.0.dfsg-6ubuntu3_amd64.deb xserver-xorg-dev_1.3.0.0.dfsg-6ubuntu3_amd64.deb

Install the xorg-server-video-intel packages
$ sudo apt-get build-dep xserver-xorg-video-intel
$ mkdir ~/xorg/xserver-xorg-video-intel
$ cd ~/xorg/xserver-xorg-video-intel
$ apt-get source xserver-xorg-video-intel
$ cd xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.1.0/

The following is no longer needed with the 2.1.0 driver
This is where we patch the driver to be less blurry. If you like the blurry effect, please skip this part.
$ vim src/i830_lvds.c

Find the following line (line number 230):
pfit_control = (PFIT_ENABLE |
VERT_AUTO_SCALE | HORIZ_AUTO_SCALE |
VERT_INTERP_BILINEAR | HORIZ_INTERP_BILINEAR);

And replace it with the following:
pfit_control = 0;

Save the file (:x). And continue the installation.

$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.1.0-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb

Edit your /etc/apt/source.list again and remove (remark) the gutsy line we added above.

Now reboot and see if X is still running… if not you are in deep trouble.

Installing Beryl
Installing beryl is easy. Just type:

$ sudo aptidute install beryl beryl-manager

Then start it by typing beryl-manager in a konsole

Using my repository
I just setup a repository with the above packages as debs. Please note that I am on a limited download rate, so if you want to install them on a 1000 machines, please setup your own mirror. Please note all packages are amd64!

To use the repository, you should add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ubuntu.jordswart.org feisty backports

You will also need to add my key to your list of trusted keys:

wget http://ubuntu.jordswart.org/falcon.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The HFX arrived in a nice heavy box.

As can be seen in the pictures above, the box has been packed very nicely. Needless to say that the case arrived without any scratches.

Removing the case from the box was not easy; due to the cooling elements the case itself is pretty heavy (around 8kg).

Unpacked it looks like this:

It is a nice case and it definitely does not look out of place between the other stereo pieces.

Read more: putting the pieces in.

WFMU’s Beware of the the Blog features a great Bollywood video clip. The clip istself is very infectious and will surely get a smile on your face.

I can highly recommend the whole blog site. It features a large number of interresting movies. Highlights include the food triology by Jan Svankmajer and The Complaints Choir of Helsinki

Link.