Archive

Posts Tagged ‘GNU’

Jolla status report

January 26th, 2014 No comments

Jolla Logo After the excitement about the new GNU/Linux Sailfish OS phone Jolla and having tinkered around for a couple of days I come to the, – unfortunate, – conclusion, that the phone is not end-user ready (yet).

Although the OS offers an intuitive, fast and clever handling of the functions, many core functions are yet missing.

Watching the community reports and how desperate many are looking for a well working, nicely developed and secure smartphone, I hope that the Jolla team will come up with an update of the missing features soon.

GNU 30th anniversary

September 27th, 2013 No comments

GNU_30th

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I
must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good
conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license
agreement.

So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles,
I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that
I will be able to get along without any software that is not free.

30 years ago Richard Stallman started GNU with his announcement of the GNU’s not UNIX project.

Congratulations, Richard!

awk’ing lat/lon

January 10th, 2013 No comments

Here’s how one can convert latitude/longitude values from degrees to decimal format using GNU awk.

# description: convert dec values to lat/lon
# license: GPL 3.0
# input: "N010.00.21.698 E094.24.35.999"
# output: "10.006027 94.41

awk '{
lat=$1;lon=$2;
split (lat, latitude, ".");
latpre=substr(latitude[1],1,1);
latdeg=substr(latitude[1],2);
latmin=latitude[2];
latsec=latitude[3];
latmil=latitude[4];
latdec=latdeg+(latmin/60)+(latsec/3600)+(latmil/3600000);
if (latpre == "S"){
latdec=latdec*-1;
}

split (lon, longitude, ".");
lonpre=substr(longitude[1],1,1);
londeg=substr(longitude[1],2);
lonmin=longitude[2];
lonsec=longitude[3];
lonmil=longitude[4];
londec=londeg+(lonmin/60)+(lonsec/3600)+(lonmil/3600000);
if (lonpre == "W"){
londec=londec*-1;
}

printf "%.7f %.7f\n", latdec, londec;
}'

usage:
echo "N010.00.21.698 E094.24.35.999" | ./awk_converter.sh
output:
10,0060272 94,4099997

Embrace the remix

August 15th, 2012 No comments

“We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another. Admitting this to ourselves isn’t an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness, it’s a liberation from our misconceptions.”
Kirby Ferguson

Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.
Kirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where “everything is a remix.”

Source: TED

DSA 2670-1

May 12th, 2012 No comments

– ————————————————————————-
Debian Security Advisory DSA-2670-1 security@debian.org
http://www.debian.org/security/ Yves-Alexis Perez
May 11, 2012 http://www.debian.org/security/faq
– ————————————————————————-

Package : wordpress
Vulnerability : several
Problem type : remote
Debian-specific: no
CVE ID : CVE-2011-3122 CVE-2011-3125 CVE-2011-3126 CVE-2011-3127
CVE-2011-3128 CVE-2011-3129 CVE-2011-3130 CVE-2011-4956
CVE-2011-4957 CVE-2012-2399 CVE-2012-2400 CVE-2012-2401
CVE-2012-2402 CVE-2012-2403 CVE-2012-2404
Debian Bug : 670124

Several vulnerabilities were identified in WordPress, a web blogging
tool. As the CVEs were allocated from releases announcements and
specific fixes are usually not identified, it has been decided to
upgrade the WordPress package to the latest upstream version instead
of backporting the patches.

This means extra care should be taken when upgrading, especially when
using third-party plugins or themes, since compatibility may have been
impacted along the way. We recommend that users check their install
before doing the upgrade.

For the stable distribution (squeeze), those problems have been fixed in
version 3.3.2+dfsg-1~squeeze1.

For the testing distribution (wheezy) and the unstable distribution
(sid), those problems have been fixed in version 3.3.2+dfsg-1.

We recommend that you upgrade your wordpress packages.

Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply
these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be
found at: http://www.debian.org/security/

Mailing list: debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

Source

… any suggestions?

The digital need for freedom

November 2nd, 2011 2 comments

This is becoming a hassle again. The way the Apple operation system OS X evolves is not convenient to my personal needs and the way I want to use my computer. Apple managed to incorporate impure and illicit functionalities into their operation system, that locks the user into a product range, which they control. The users freedom of choice and control fades away, thus OS X Lion is based on BSD UNIX. The command line is the only application that is turning out to allow full straightforward and controlled accessibility to the system and information. After intensively having tested and deployed OS X Lion, I decided that my next computer has to be a complete GNU/Linux machine again. Steve is dead now anyways, so things won’t improve.

Looking around in the local stores, no vendor seems to offer a up-to-date notebook computer, which respects the users choice for freedom. Either I am offered a 1 years old computer, for which I would have to wait for 3 weeks, or I’d have to “bite into the sour apple” and buy a computer, which, – illicitly, – comes together with an operation system, for which I’d have to pay for, thus I’d never use it.

In my e-mail to Lenovo I get the answer:

“Dear Alex,
Thank you for contacting Lenovo.
We apologize. We do not support any other Operating System apart from Windows.
Sincerely,
Deboshree Mukherjee”

… whereas my answer follows like

“Dear Deboshree

That is very sad to read. Sounds like your company is bound to unfair
competition* and does not allow users freedom either.

Do I at least have the possibility to acquire a computer, without
having to pay the license of an operation system, such as M$ Wind00ze,
which I wouldn’t use?

Sorry to say that I won’t acquire a computer that forces me to use an
operating system that is unresistant to viruses and locks me into the
choice of the manufacturers formats and applications.
How comes that M$ is legally capable to establish such a contract with
your company that your products are bound to an operation system that
violates human rights?
Thus technology still evolves thanks to innovators, that are freely
sharing their ideas and creativity, based on the principles that
know-how and knowledge want to be free (as in freedom).

Let me kindly remind you, that your company, that was former IBM, has
historically evolved based on this principles!

As I am working in the field in technology research, I strongly have
to make sure, that I have complete control over my devices and
instruments. – This is only possible with software that is
non-proprietary, such as GNU/Linux & UNIX.

Wishing you all the best & remaining with kindest regards, Alex

*(which in my country is a crime.)”

I need a hardware manufacturer and vendor who grants me my human rights and freedom, without violating international competition laws and rights.

[Update 4th of October 2011]
Lenovo, – surprisingly, – writes back.

“Dear Alex,

Thank you for your feed back and for your time and patience! We will surely forward this e-mail to the appropriate department to review for the betterment of the company. Thank you once again.

Sincerely,
Deboshree Mukherjee”

“Dear Deboshree

Thank you for your e-mail.
Would be great, if you could forward our correspondence to the respective department. I appreciate and, – honestly, – did not expect and answer.

I am sure you understand my concern and hope that we can establish a fair business relationship. It would be disappointing to see that your great computer products couldn’t be used together with an operation systems that guarantees freedom.

Have a good weekend and looking forward to read you soon again, Alex”

Social Network Freedom

September 27th, 2010 No comments

Diaspora Logo

Today I took a glimpse into the first developer release of Diaspora and installed it on my GNU/Linux Ubuntu testserver. What a nice feeling of having the ability to use the advantage of social network freedom, without having to disclose personal and private data to non-trustful parties such.

Congratulations to Daniel Grippi, Maxwell Salzberg, Raphael Sofaer and Ilya Zhitomirskiy!

Get your own copy through Github.

Congratulations, Georg Greve!

April 28th, 2010 No comments


Bundesverdienstkreuz_MaleI am very happy and proud, that Georg Greve, the former President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, was awarded with the German “Bundesverdienstkreuz” today.

My felicitation, Georg!

Georg Greve

Georg Greve