plfiorini's blog

Hacking on documentation

2012-01-22T00:26:00.001+01:00

Tonight is a pretty boring night, instead of coding for the Vision operating system I'm writing some documentation.

Writing documentation is always boring but sooner or later I must start doing it in order to be prepared for the first technology preview.

I also evaluated the CMS. After trying Drupal and WordPress the latter have been chosen, it also seems easier to integrate with Wikimedia with some sort of SSO.

So I'm writing some articles on the project's history and goals and I'm writing the structure for the HIG.

Vision

2011-12-04T17:48:00.001+01:00

Some years ago I started several projects all based on the Linux kernel and GNU userland with the intent to create a better desktop user experience.
I was not satisfied by GNU/Linux distributions in the day by day use, my ideal system was BeOS which by that time was dead with Be, Inc the company behind it. An Open Source effort to recreate it, known as OpenBeOS (now Haiku), was started in 2001, but it certanly wasn't a viable option because it was in an embryonic state and what was missing from the original BeOS API was scheduled after R1 which as of today it's not reached yet!

BeOS shipped with a state of the art C++ API and a very elegant desktop with many features that later became standards like metadata and queries; it simply was everything Linux wasn't.

Basically I though GNU/Linux on desktop had the following major problems:

No coherent API and design.
Low propensity of developers of all desktop environments and toolkits towards a functional, uncomplicated and pleasant, out of the box experience.
Several software to do the same thing, none of them complete.
Inability to move to modern graphics architecture because of the dogma of X11 compatibility.

Haiku was progressing, and I kept thinking that it wouldn't go anywhere without a Linux kernel and its better hardware compatibility. Although Haiku was still years away from completion, in 2003 I started porting its API to Linux.

I made two prototypes, the first was running on X11 with Cairo (which I believe was called Xr/Xc at that time) and the other more successful was based on DirectFB and had not display server (all client side). The Haiku API would have been a good start to implement what was missing from BeOS because of its age (layouts, notifications, standardized actions a-la QAction and many more) without waiting a lot of years.

At some point the enourmous amount of work needed to complete the project and the lack of interest from the potential users threw me into despair. We have to be honest here, BeOS zealots were not willing to use a Linux-based BeOS bastard (they did prefer to wait more that ten years for an early 2000 era operating system almost exactly the same as BeOS), at the same time Linux users was skeptical about it and I certanly did not help missing the second part of the "release early, release often" mantra.

With this project left behind be I decided to take another path: between 2004 and 2005 Qt 4 Technology Preview came out and it was amazing. Clean, complete, modular, supported the MVC pattern, multi-threading and OpenGL. In 2005, the Mockup project was started.
I didn't have much spare time to dedicate on the project, so in the end it was abandoned.

The years passed...

...and suddenly last year, browsing the web, I discovered a nice project: Wayland. Finally there's a viable option that can finally let X11 retire. I started writing some code for a file manager and a panel without the goal to restart the Mockup project.

I was just looking for a challenging pet project and I didn't want to publicly announce something.
Some more month passed, it's 2011 now and I feel it's time for me to write this blog entry because I'm proud of the code I wrote so far - in the last month I wrote a lot of code, my effort and committment is way more than my previous attempts.

So stay tuned to learn more about the Vision operating system.

Piove!! Governo Ladro!

2010-06-05T11:44:00.004+02:00

Oblio di Stato - Marco Travaglio

2009-12-20T10:13:00.003+01:00

Difendiamo la Rete e magari mandiamo anche a casa la casta!

Let's celebrate Haiku R1A1!

2009-09-14T19:34:00.002+02:00

Finally, Haiku R1 alpha1 is here!

I also found a nice demo with 7 mpeg4 videos and an important Italian magazine is talking about Haiku! :)

vCard support for jabber and gtalk

2009-09-05T09:45:00.005+02:00

Great things are coming!

Besides gcc4 build fixes I (almost completely) implemented vCard support in order to close #323 for our jabber and gtalk protocol add-ons.

IM Kit Contact List

2009-08-30T12:21:00.003+02:00

These days I'm working on IM Kit again.
The documentation was updated, I packaged its dependencies binary packages for Haiku (available here) and I started a new client: im_contact_list.

It's still WIP but here's a screenshot.

Haiku is nice!

2009-08-27T02:04:00.006+02:00

It's two or three days that I boot Vista just to play some games and watch DiVx.
The other time is spent writing code on my Haiku gcc4 installation, I'm really happy!

Fender Precision Highway One

2009-07-05T22:00:00.003+02:00

Modello	Highway One™ Precision Bass®
Numero modello	011-1360-300
Serie	Highway One™ Series
Colore	(300) 3-Color Sunburst,
Corpo	Alder
Manico	Maple, Modern “C” Shape, (Satin Urethane Finish)
Tastiera	Rosewood, 9.5” Radius (241 mm)
Nr. di tasti	20 Medium Jumbo Frets
Pickup	1 Standard Vintage Alnico Split Single-Coil Precision Bass Pickup (Mid)
Controlli	Volume, Greasebucket™ Tone Circuit (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass).
Selettore pickup	Nessuno
Ponte	Leo Quan Badass® II Bridge with 4 Pre-Grooved Saddles
Meccaniche	Standard
Hardware	Cromato
Battipenna	3-Ply Parchment (colore bianco, originale)
Scala	34” (863.6 mm)
Dimensione capotasto	1.625" (41.3 mm)
Caratteristiche uniche	Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Body Finish, BADASS II™ Bridge with Grooved Saddles, Posiflex™ Graphite Neck Support Rods, ‘70s Headstock Logo, White Dot Position Inlays
Corde	Corde originali: Fender Super Bass 7250ML, NPS, p/n 073-7250-005 (.045, .065, .080, .100), Corde attuali: Rotosound SM-66 (.040, .060, .080, .100)
Accessori	Deluxe Gig Bag
Custodia originale	Deluxe Gig Bag
Introduzione nel	luglio 2006
Comprato nel	luglio o agosto 2007

Tavola periodica dei metalli!

2009-06-06T21:03:00.001+02:00

Dual-boot di Vista e XP con Vista installato

2009-05-31T12:20:00.012+02:00

Mi è capitato di avere Vista installato sul PC e di dover installare anche XP perchè ne Vista ne 7 RC sono in grado di registrare audio, neppure usando il leggerissimo Reaper (7 RC è nettamente migliore di Vista ma in riproduzione di diverse tracce con anche dei soft-synth presenti fa saltare la riproduzione durante il mixaggio, in maniera meno evidente di Vista ma lo stesso inutilizzabile).

Il problema di XP è che quando viene installato rimpiazza il MBR del disco con il suo, rendendo il bootloader di Vista (o qualsiasi altro) inutilizzabile. Almeno Vista ha la buona tendenza di rendere avviabili le versioni precedenti.

Una volta ripartizionato il disco per fare spazio a XP si procede con l'installazione di quest'ultimo.

Fatto ciò bisogna ripristinare il bootloader di Vista ed esistono due metodi:

Si possono usare gli strumenti di ripristino nel DVD di Vista, oppure si può utilizzare bootsect.exe da XP.

Va avviato il Prompt dei Comandi come amministratore (Start | Accessori | Prompt dei comandi | Click con il tasto destro | Esegui come...).

Si esegue poi il seguente codice:

X:\boot\Bootsect.exe –NT60 All

dove X è la lettera che figura in Windows XP della partizione in cui è installato Vista (basta vedere se ci sono le cartelle Windows e Users tipiche di Vista).

Ora dopo un riavvio si dovrebbe essere in grado di accere a Vista, ma non a XP.
In Vista va avviato il Prompt dei comandi come amministratore e si devono scrivere i seguenti comandi:

Bcdedit –create {ntldr} –d “Descrizione”

Dove "Descrizione" è il nome da assegnare al sistema XP nella schermata di selezione.

Bcdedit –set {ntldr} device partition=c:

Dove c: deve essere la partizione primaria.

Bcdedit –set {ntldr} path \ntldr
Bcdedit –displayorder {ntldr} –addlast

Che bei tempi che erano...

2009-05-20T19:04:00.003+02:00

Nuovo iPod shuffle

2009-04-07T00:53:00.004+02:00

Chissà se fanno la versione con le ali, LOL!

HAIKU!

2009-03-26T01:29:00.001+01:00

Altri preservativi da avere!

2008-10-24T20:01:00.002+02:00

I condom dei Kiss sono lubrificati probabilmente con la saliva di Gene Simmons!

Da indossare sicuramente con le fan sfegatate dei Kiss! Un must da portare sempre con sé, sopratutto ai concerti delle cover band (non si sa mai)...

IM Kit development restarted

2008-10-19T10:54:00.002+02:00

IM Kit development stopped the last year, latest commit is dated 2007-02-20 by xeD.

The repository is now moved to OsDrawer.net and we are working very hard to release v0.9.2

http://dev.osdrawer.net/projects/show/imkit

Somewhere Back In Time (Tour 2008)

2007-12-18T19:35:00.000+01:00

Finalmente, un nuovo tour per i Migliori!!

Per il vero Metallaro

2007-12-18T19:07:00.000+01:00

Se sei un vero uomo, ma soprattutto un vero Defender non puoi non avere questi:

Per ordinarli cliccare qui.

Installare Skype 1.4 su Ubuntu AMD64

2007-07-22T20:18:00.000+02:00

Tratto da questo articolo, non è farina del mio sacco ma lo posto qui per non dimenticarlo. Ah la cosa funziona anche su Kubuntu Gutsy Tribe3.

Beh..installare skype su un’architettura a 32 bit è semplicissimo..la versione stabile si trova già nei repository di ubuntu..quella beta (c’è è stata notevolmente migliorata) basta scaricarsela e installarla…
I problemi arrivano quando si vuole installare skype su un’architettura a 64 bit (es. AMD64) con Ubuntu 7.04 Festy a 64bit, infatti skype viene fornito solo nella versione a 32bit..

Come fare allora?
Basta seguire questi semplici passi, per far “digerire e funzionare correttamente questo potente mezzo di comunicazione..

Per prima cosa scaricare da qui la versione di skype per ubuntu (dovrebbe essere la stessa di debian credo) e metterla sul Desktop (per semplicità)

La versione beta necessita di due librerie per gestire al meglio l’interfaccia grafica:
sudo apt-get install libqt4-gui libqt4-core

Poi occorre installare le librerie necessarie a skype per fargli digerire i programmi progettati per architetture a 32 bit, quindi:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk ia32-libs-kde lib32asound2 lib32gcc1 lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 libqt3-mt

poi forziamo l’installazione:

cd Desktop sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-1.4.0.74.deb

ed il gioco è fatto!!! possiamo far partire skype digitanto skype da terminale..

nel caso ci sia un problema, relativamente alle librerie libqtdbus o una cosa simile è necessario installare un programma che si chiama getlib, che provvederà a sistemare il tutto cercando in rete la libreria giusta, scaricandola e convertendola x architettura a 64bit, quindi:

cd /tmp wget -q http://www.boundlesssupremacy.com/Cappy/getlibs/getlibs chmod +x getlibs sudo mv getlibs /usr/bin cd ~

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs*

poi:

skype sudo getlibs /usr/bin/skype

Se il passo precedente non dovesse andare a buon fine, ripeterlo ricorsivamente finchè tutte le librerie non sono state trovate e installate..

Install VMware Server on Ubuntu Feisty

2007-04-13T19:08:00.000+02:00

Getting VMware Server to run on Ubuntu Feisty can be a pain.
The following worked for me with 2.6.20-14-lowlatency but should work fine for other version too.

First, you need to be sure to have installed all the necessary tools for building kernel modules:
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`

Download a tarball of VMware Server, uncompress and enter vmware-server-distrib directory. Running vmware-install.pl should give you no problems.
When it asks if you want to configure VMware (running vmware-config.pl) just say 'no'. None of the kernel modules supplied by the VMware Server tarball will work.

You need to patch some of the source code in /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmnet.tar and /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source/vmmon.tar. For ease you can download a pre-patched vmmon.tar and vmnet.tar.

If these don’t work, you need to patch the code in vmnet.tar with this patch file and remove line 21 in vmmon.tar/include/compat_kernel.h.

Now, running vmware-config.pl should be possible to complete VMware Server configuration.

What if Operating Systems Were Airlines?

2007-04-13T16:18:00.000+02:00

DOS Airlines

Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again, then they push again jump on again, and so on.

OS/2 Airlines

The terminal is almost empty, with only a few prospective passengers milling about. The announcer says that their flight has just departed, wishes them a good flight, though there are no planes on the runway. Airline personnel walk around, apologising profusely to customers in hushed voices, pointing from time to time to the sleek, powerful jets outside the terminal on the field. They tell each passenger how good the real flight will be on these new jets and how much safer it will be than Windows Airlines, but that they will have to wait a little longer for the technicians to finish the flight systems.

Once they finally finished you're offered a flight at reduced cost. To board the plane, you have your ticket stamped ten different times by standing in ten different lines. Then you fill our a form showing where you want to sit and whether the plane should look and feel like an ocean liner, a passenger train or a bus. If you succeed in getting on the plane and the plane succeeds in taking off the ground, you have a wonderful trip...except for the time when the rudder and flaps get frozen in position, in which case you will just have time to say your prayers and get in crash position.

Windows Air

The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

Windows NT Air

Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.

Mac Airlines

All the stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look the same, act the same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are told you don't need to know, don't want to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.

Unix Airlines

Each passenger brings a piece of the airplane and a box of tools to the airport. They gather on the tarmac, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they want to build and how to put it together. Eventually, they build several different aircraft, but give them all the same name. Some passengers actually reach their destinations. All passengers believe they got there.

Wings of OS/400

The airline has bought ancient DC-3s, arguably the best and safest planes that ever flew, and painted "747" on their tails to make them look as if they are fast. The flight attendants, of course, attend to your every need, though the drinks cost $15 a pop. Stupid questions cost $230 per hour, unless you have SupportLine, which requires a first class ticket and membership in the frequent flyer club. Then they cost $500, but your accounting department can call it overhead.

Mach Airlines

There is no airplane. The passengers gather and shout for an airplane, then wait and wait and wait and wait. A bunch of people come, each carrying one piece of the plane with them. These people all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they're building. The plane finally takes off, leaving the passengers on the ground waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. After the plane lands, the pilot telephones the passengers at the departing airport to inform them that they have arrived.

Newton Airlines

After buying your ticket 18 months in advance, you finally get to board the plane. Upon boarding the plane you are asked your name. After 6 times, the crew member recognizes your name and then you are allowed to take your seat. As you are getting ready to take your seat, the steward announces that you have to repeat the boarding process because they are out of room and need to recount to make sure they can take more passengers.

VMS Airlines

The passengers all gather in the hanger, watching hundreds of technicians check the flight systems on this immense, luxury aircraft. This plane has at least 10 engines and seats over 1,000 passengers. All the passengers scramble aboard, as do the necessary complement of 200 technicians. The pilot takes his place up in the glass cockpit. He guns the engines, only to realise that the plane is too big to get through the hangar doors.

BeOS Air

You have to pay for the tickets, but they're half the price of Windows Air, and if you are an aircraft mechanic you can probably ride for free. It only takes 15 minutes to get to the airport and you are cheuferred there in a limozine. BeOS Air only has limited types of planes that only only hold new luggage. All planes are single seaters and the model names all start with an "F" (F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, etc.). The plane will fly you to your destination on autopilot in half the time of other Airways or you can fly the plane yourself. There are limited destinations, but they are only places you'd want to go to anyway. You tell all your friends how great BeOS Air is and all they say is "What do you mean I can't bring all my old baggage with me?"

Linux Airlines

Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"

Apple

2005-01-22T23:34:00.000+01:00

Mi domando come mai in tanti la odino quando invece realizza ottime
macchine e il miglior sistema operativo desktop che io abbia mai visto.

Cibo giapponese

2004-12-30T01:41:00.000+01:00

Credo che sia la cucina più buona e costosa che abbia assaggiato.
In due persone 60 €!

1. Zuppa di miso (erba cipollina, tofu e alga)
2. Vassoio piccolo di sushi
3. Tempura (fritto di verdure e gamberi con pastella molto leggera)
4. Torta con impasto di riso e crema freschissima
5. Sake
6. Caffé

Ho scoperto che al posto del wasabi (una pallina verde) in Italia ti danno il rafano colorato.
Io l'ho mangiato intero ed ha un sapore simile alla senape ma molto forte e sembra anche piccante (sono diventato rosso per qualche minuto).
C'era una sorta di "pellicina" rosa nel vassoio ma non so cosa fosse.

Risultato, il sake è ottimo come la grappa di rose e purtroppo ho dovuto rifiutare la grappa giapponese offerta dalla casa perchè dovevo guidare.

Adoro il pesce crudo però se non sei abituato è un pò duro, non si dovrebbe mangiare altro dopo.