Welcome at my website. yours, benjamin italiaander.
My other website: http://www.italiaander.org
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Documents: |
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| Phone documents: | Midas XL-3 Service and maintenance manual download |
| Audio documents: | Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK-2 Service and mainenance manual download Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK-3 Service and mainenance manual download Pioneer DJM-800 Service and mainenance manual download Pioneer DJM-600 Service and mainenance manual download |
| Audio documents: | MX-50 drwaings download |
| Audio documents: | Technics SL-1200 / SL1210 drawings |
| Audio documents: | Harting Audio Multicable bussen 36ch Harting Audio Multicable pennen 36ch Harting Audio Multicable bussen 42ch Harting Audio Multicable pennen 42ch Harting Audio Mulismart touring 42 kabel Harting Audio Klotz 36 + 6 |
| Audio documents: | SUM 600 Ohm / Optel kabel 600 Ohm |
| Audio documents: | Klark DN-360 EQ |
| Audio documents: | Ackermann FX-multi drawings |
| Audio documents: |
Software:
Mixcraft acustica simple software
MathMagic
MathType
hese pic projects use Flash based microcontrollers
so you can re-program them in circuit using
ICSP.
You can re-program most PIC Flash microcontrollers up to 100,000 times!
| So if you re-programmed a part 10 times a day it would take you 27 years before it wore out! |
Note: Some older devices only re-program 1000 times e.g. 16F84. |
| So don't worry about re-programming you can re-program them as much as you want to. Projects on this site mainly use the following devices: PIC12F675 (8pin).PIC16F88 (18 pin). PIC16F877A (40/28pin). |
| You can use an ICSP programmer in circuit to test your projects out. |
| And once set up you don't need to remove the programmer during testing. So it's easy to change the code and you don't need to fiddle about transferring microcontrollers from sockets to project board. Note: You have to design the circuit to operate with the ICSP port but its not difficult. |
All you need to program the microcontroller in each of the following projects is a pic programmer that has an ICSP connector. You can find a programmer project below.
Note that most of the pic projects are retargetable to different devices - some are not as they use a lot of pins to drive displays. But in general you can change to a different device. You could also run using a different display e.g. for the frequency counters you could use an RS232 output which would let it operate from a 12F675 (8 pin device).
| Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Needs Timer 1. |
| Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Needs Timer 1. |
| Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Needs Analogue module. |
| Target | 16F88 |
| Retargetable | Yes: needs CCP module. |
| Target | 16F88 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros. |
| PIC Projects Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros. (Any micro that can set pin directions). |
To unlock this page please visit my E-Zine subscription page here. Note that the project and E-Zine are free.
| IC Projects Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros with at least 3 pins! |
| PIC Projects Target | 16F88 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros. |
This project creates a serial port driven LCD display module. All commands are in ASCII so you can test out the project by driving it directly from a PC serial port. The project relies on the built in USART but you could create a software UART (receiver part) and drive it in the same way.
There are no 'odd' commands e.g. to clear the display you would type #C or #c and to write text to the display you just type text! Setting an x or y position is also easy e.g. #X10 sets the cursor to x position 10.
| PIC Projects Target | 16F877A |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros with a built in USART. |
With this project you can use a PIC micro to read any infrared remote control, TV, DVD,Video, satellite etc. With it you can control your PC e.g. start programs, move the mouse, turn the Windows volume up and down etc.
| PIC Projects Target | 16F88 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micros with a built in USART. |
The start of a tutorial on the 12F675.
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Microcontroller |
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC with analogue input port. |
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC with analogue input port |
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micro |
| PIC Projects Target | 12F675 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micro |
| PIC Projects Target | 16F88 |
| Retargetable | Yes: Any PIC Micro with enough pins. |
| On a quiet October morning in 1997 Micscape's Maurice Smith, Jan Parmentier (chairman of the Dutch microscopy club) and I went for a trip to the Dutch province Zeeland. Zeeland is formed by several peninsulas and has many interesting aspects for microscopists and those who like marine biology. |
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Licmophora in dark field illumination |
| Half the province of Zeeland was flooded in 1953. That's why the dikes were reinforced and a vast system of sluices was build. The most interesting part of these so called deltaworks is it keeps the vulnerable tidal ecosystem intact. We went to one of Jan Parmentier's favourite collecting spots at the Oosterschelde, a little harbour called Burgsluis. The quality of the water of the Oosterschelde is good and the water is very clear. It is fairly easy to get near to the water. Attached to the wooden poles of the pier are all kinds of interesting marine organisms: anemones, several kinds of algae, bryozoans, tunicates, etc. |
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The colony in phase contrast illumination. |
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By laying flat on the pier I could easily reach for them. The real challenge is then to grab some algae while keeping your belongings inside your pockets. I filled a little jar with water and selected several species of red algae. On some of the algae I could see some brown dirt. I knew that dirt growing on top of something could be very beautiful under the microscope (or just dirt.) This time I was lucky. No sand grains which make it impossible to get a flat sample. I found an epiphytic diatom called Licmophora flabellata. It is a spectacular fan-shaped colony of diatoms. I tried to make photographs of them. The red algae are rather large compared to the diatoms. When you want to use stronger objectives the sample will be so deep that it is very difficult to get the diatoms focused. So I took a little knife and cut the about 1 mm. sized colony carefully from the red algae. I gently lowered the cover glass and removed water with a tissue until the sample was as flat as possible. Then I could get a sharp picture. I photographed it in phase contrast to show the almost transparent stem. I also took some dark field pictures. |
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The diatom approach to cubism. An epiphytic diatom colony of the genus Rhabdonema. |
| It is very easy to make dark-field illumination yourself. See the article "Making dark-field illumination is easy" to learn how. |
There was a time long ago when advertisements for toothpaste told an unfortunate truth: brush with Brand X, and your teeth were guaranteed to shine as never before. An explanation was never given- for good reason. Vigorous brushing with Brand X scoured your tooth enamel as thoroughly as sandpaper! When I got my first microscope in the 1930s, I learned that if you took Brand X (there were others with the same ingredients), squeezed some toothpaste and diluted it with a little water, then placed a drop on a slide and examined it under a microscope, you would enter a glassy wonderland of beautiful geometric shapes. They were the ornamented siliceous shells of diatoms.
Diatoms first appeared 200,000 million years ago, but flourished in Mesozoic times (ten million years ago) when they lived in such enormous numbers they left vast deposits of their shells up to three thousand feet thick. We call this diatomaceous earth and use it for filters, insulation, and as an abrasive. That last quality appealed to toothpaste manufacturers. What did they care if you wore your teeth down to nubs, as long as they shone? Eventually the government stepped in, the practice was deemed injurious and for the microscopist an easy source of wonderful shapes was gone.
Over the years I've seen living diatoms in oceans, rivers, lakes and in the soil. They never fail to astonish. Although a diatom is a microscopic plant, it can grow in huge quantities until the resulting mass becomes visible to the naked eye. It is the intricate architecture of an individual diatom that is so fascinating.
The glassy shell of a diatom comes in two parts, one fitting over the other exactly like a container with a lid. The upper and lower halves are sculpted with exceedingly fine lines that actually are rows of ultra-microscopic pores through which the enclosed protoplasm remains in touch with the exterior environment. There was a time after the Civil War when microscope manufacturers were vying with one another to produce the highest quality lenses, but in an age without computers or a means of etching micrometer rulers, they turned to the one microscopic object that was perfection. Diatoms were placed under a new instrument and if their decorative lines appeared perfectly parallel or symmetrical, the technician had succeeded in making a distortion-free lens. But if the lines were wavy or fuzzy, the lens-which may have taken months to grind and mount in a metal objective-was summarily chucked out. Nature was perfect, human efforts were not.
The rigid pillbox shell of a diatom suggests a question: how does the cell reproduce? After the internal cellular contents bunch together in preparation for cell division, the lid comes off and half of the protoplasm forms a new bottom, while the bottom-now serving as a lid-forms a new bottom. Each of the two offspring therefore have one of their parent's shells. Think about that. With every generation one of the two daughter diatoms is going to be progressively smaller than its parent, and if this went on forever, they would simply vanish into nothingness. Obviously such reduction doesn't continue for long. From time to time a daughter cell discards its single parental shell and produces two new larger ones, returning to its ancestral size in one fell swoop.
The asexual reproductive process (far more common among diatoms than sexual reproduction) occurs mostly after dark and can result in enormous numbers over a short period-a billion in a month from a single ancestral diatom. Why aren't oceans and lakes clogged with diatoms? Despite their hard glassy shells, they are a favorite food for countless kinds of small animals. Watch a pond snail rasp its way across a submerged rock; using its file-like tongue to remove blankets of diatoms. The glass sides of an aquarium often develop a splotchy brownish coating of diatoms. Put in a couple of snails and they will happily browse through the unsightly stain, leaving clear zigzag paths behind where the coating of diatoms has been scraped bare by the snails' tongues.
The variety of diatom shapes seems endless, although individuals of each species are identical to one another, except for size. What surprises a watcher of diatoms is the movement of some, slow or rapid depending upon the species. If you watch a long, spindle-shaped diatom, it moves across the microscope's field of view in slow and stately fashion. Suddenly it reverses itself and heads back where it came from. Movement is made possible by slender bands of cytoplasm streaming out from clefts in the lid and bottom. The strands flow out, then in circuitous fashion go back into the shells again. They remind me of endless caterpillar tractor treads. Movement obviously benefits these tiny plants, allowing them to congregate where sunlight enters the water.
One needlelike species congregates in a flat stack of individuals parallel to one another. As you watch, the entire array suddenly zips out, expanding into a very long chain that resembles an old-fashioned carpenter's rule. After being extended for a moment, the colony slides back, either back into its original parallel array, or it keeps on until all individuals are extended out as far as they can go in the opposite direction. Somehow each cell "communicates" with its two adjacent neighbors, but so quickly it appears the entire colony acts simultaneously.
There are over five thousand species of diatoms. Some move, some don't. Some are circular, others are elongated, or square or rectangular or shaped like dumbbells. Some colonies resemble jointed dominoes. Because of the great variation of shape and the sculpturing of their shells, they have fascinated microscopists and botanists for centuries. There still are scientists who spend their lives studying these fascinating little plants with good reason, because diatoms are superb indicators of water quality.
Other biologists seek new species of diatoms. I visited Paul Conger at the Smithsonian Institution many years ago (he was a distant relative of my wife), but to do so we had to climb up one of those ancient red brick towers to his laboratory at the very top where we could look over the entire Mall. The room was crowded with shelves reaching the ceiling, each shelf holding hundreds of microscope slide boxes, every one of which contained a hundred slides he had mounted or acquired.
Long ago when they occasionally got bored doing whatever they were doing with diatoms, microscopists would select certain ones under a microscope, then move them about on the slide with a single human hair mounted on a wooden shaft. Imagination ran riot and they created geometric designs, pretty scenes and cartoons before cementing them in place. From his collection Paul pulled out some of his prizes and showed them to us, several over one hundred years old. There under a microscope were ornamental designs and mosaic landscapes of mountains and trees and birds.
A few showed people dancing or throwing balls to running dogs. Once I clumsily tried moving some diatoms around on a slide, but they flipped off into space and vanished. I couldn't even get three or four lined up near one another. Yet two centuries ago men and women with greater patience and skill created intricate arrangements from diatom shells, then preserved the tiny scenes for others to see. It was only a sidelight and not science, but it must have been fun. I wonder if there is anyone in the world today bothering with such artistry that only a privileged few might ever see.
If ever there was a time to hit the gym, it's this Spring. Hemlines have crept up to shorter than short; in fact reaching the negative. Hot pants, boy shorts, and tap pants are all variations on this shorter-than-short style, which in many cases reveal more than just one's legs. Click to read more about the hot pants trend.
Knee high socks - as well as over-the-knee and thigh high socks - are back as a trend, and the options on how to wear them are many. From the sporty to the sparkly, to layerings of socks over tights; a great pair of socks can add volumes to an outfit. Click to read more about the knee high socks trend and how to wear it.
The military and tribal trends collide to become this fierce fashion trend. Ancient civilisations come to life in leather tunics, metal plating, and war paint. Unequivocally fearless and with room for endless creativity, the main criteria for the modern warrior is confidence. Click to read more about the warrior trend.
How to pull off the ultimate in sexy without reaching for the micro-mini? Add a long dress with a high split to your Spring wardrobe. From Versace's knock-out gowns to Lanvin's elegantly draping numbers, we look at numerous ways to rock a high dress split. Click to read more about the high dress splits trend.
Sportswear takes on a whole new level of cool when it hits trend status in 2010. Football inspirations turn tomboy chic to sexy yet effortless looks; while Bond girl scuba inspired clothing is the pinnacle of sporty bombshell. Dance and 20s inspired tennis looks also feature in our comprehensive look at sporty clothing in 2010. Click for more on sportswear fashion.
The dawn of a new decade brings forward-projecting thoughts which reflect in many a designer's work in 2010. From the dark depths of dystopia to the possibilities of evolution, sci-fi finds its way into fashion in various forms, as do re-interpretations of traditional futurist concepts. Click for more on science fiction and futuristic fashion.
Every so often, one-piece styles of clothing have a revival. What started with bodysuits and leotards is now becoming a fully-fledged trend towards jumpsuits, playsuits, and rompers. As a unique style for Spring 2010, they won't be for everyone, but they will offer more options than you'd think. Click to read more about the jumpsuits and playsuits trend.
If you've kept a keen on on past year's fashion trends military fashion will be nothing new to you. Yet, after two years of being the dominant fashion trend fashionable military clothing is evolving. Gone are the ostentatious reproductions of 18th and 19th century military uniforms. What replaces them though? Read our military fashion / clothing trend report to find out.
No longer must we stick to boring block colours on our lower half, for all varieties of printed pants have made their way onto the Spring runways. Whether floral, striped, abstract, bold or subdued... patterns on pants are giving us new bold wardrobe options for the warmer months. Click to read more about the printed pants trend.
In Spring and Summer fashion tends to get a little more revealing; we blame it on the heat, and one's desire to show off. So in 2009 turn to the sheer / see-through trend to keep you cool yet sexy. 2009/2010's sheer pieces are a mixture of the soft and feminine, to the opposite extremes of the hardcore sex-kitten. Click for more on the see-through/sheer/nude fashion trend.
Continuing to be a wardrobe staple for Spring/Summer 2010, the "boyfriend" blazer is a simple way to look chic whether on a fresh Spring day or mild a Summer's night. A slightly oversized jacket or blazer, sleeves rolled up, is the pinnacle of relaxed cool. Click to read more about the boyfriend blazer trend and how to wear it.
Two accessory trends have caught our eye for Spring 2010: the latter is more suited to print (and the more confident fashioniser) while the former is the toned down version perfect for everyday wear.
Oversized and attention grabbing, bows in 2010 come in many styles and forms. They can be cutesy or pretty, without a doubt - but there's also room for attitude and quirkiness too. Marc by Marc Jacobs, Luella, and Temperley all sported bows on their Spring 2010 runways. Click for more on bow headbands.
Headbands take a quirky turn with this unique micro-trend. Bunny ears, Mickey Mouse ears, and oversized bows are all styles which fit this vintage-sex-kitten meets sugar sweet girl-next-door look. This trend is a definite favourite for editorials and shoots; but that doesn't mean it can't work on the streets. Click to read more about the bunny ears trend.
Find out what swimwear you'll be wearing when you hit the beach this Summer with our Bikinis 2009/2010 trends guide. Which monikinis should you be wearing? And what style of bikinis? And which designer is making the sexiest, must-have pieces? Click to read more about the hottest swimwear and bikini styles.
Just when you thought they would never return... ripped jeans are back. Starting in 2008 with a horde of sexed-up editorial shoots and celebrity sightings, those torn denim shorts and shredded jeans are hitting the streets. Ripped denim in 2009 is certainly sexy and revealing - possibly more than ever. Click here to read more on the 2009 take on ripped denim.
We've seen jeans go from ripped to torn to downright shredded; so what can you possibly do next? Patch them of course! It's not for everyone, but its an option that's gaining traction. Patched jeans work well as skinnies, or try patched denim flares for a revival of 70s chic. Click to read more about the patched jeans trend.
To describe this as a hair trend report is an understatement. With every key hair cut, hairstyle, and hair colour trend for 2010 described and photographed, this is the one article you must read to stay in fashion in 2010. Read about women's 2010 hair trends.
With the continuation of the global financial crisis one can expect subdued colour trends from Spring/Summer 2010. Interfiliere have released their interpretation of the season's palette which we're pleased to say at least provides a vast array of colours, all with different, if somewhat earthy, tones. For the most part we're impressed; read up on Spring/Summer 2010 colour trends.
The radical work of Pop Art artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein will be exhibited at the Paine Art Center and Gardens, Oshkosh, opening June 26, 2004. From soup cans to superstars, Warhol and Lichtenstein blurred the distinction between high art and popular culture by integrating advertising and comic book images in their artwork. They are the two most influential figures of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s.
Showcasing over forty artworks, the Paine's exhibition will be the first major presentation of the artists in the Fox Valley. Warhol & Lichtenstein has been organized by the Paine Art Center and Gardens and curated by Tracey Fugami, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections. The exhibitionwill be on view through Sunday, October 3, 2004. Numerous prestigious museums and collections from across the country have loaned works to the exhibition.
The Paine will display Warhol's signature portrait screen prints and Lichtenstein's female depictions alongside each artist's interpretations of nature, such as Landscapes by Lichtenstein and Flower by Warhol. Both themes provocatively relate and contrast to the Paine's world-class art collection of portraits and landscapes. The exhibition includes other highly recognized works by both artists such as, Chicken Noodle by Warhol and Red Lamp by Lichtenstein.
Warhol revolutionized the Pop Art Movement by transforming average, everyday items such as soup cans into celebrated works of art. Born Andrew Warhola in 1928, he grew up in Pittsburgh and moved to New York City in 1949. He secured steady work as a commercial artist by illustrating many popular magazines including Glamour, The New Yorker and Vogue.
Warhol's infamous New York studio called "The Factory" was the site of many renowned avant-garde parties and artistic experiments. His eccentric persona attracted many celebrity writers, actors and artists, and his popularity rose to cult status. Leaving behind masses of devotees, Warhol unexpectedly died of heart failure in 1987 after routine surgery on his gall bladder.
Roy Lichtenstein was born in Manhattan in 1923. He first gained recognition in New York City art world with exhibits of his found-object assemblage works. He tried many artistic styles including abstract expressionism, the dominant art movement of the 1950s, before experimenting with budding pop art imagery.
Lichtenstein's interest in the style of cartoons motivated him to create his signature technique, which incorporates Ben-Day dots, lettering and speech balloons juxtaposed with vibrant primary colors. Lichtenstein worked exhaustively finessing his signature style through painting, printmaking and sculpture until his death in 1997.
Many commonalities exist between Warhol and Lichtenstein. They both explored similar themes in their work including comics, advertisements, politics, portraits and nature. In particular, both Warhol and Lichtenstein used the process of printmaking, which mimicked the commercial sources of their imagery and allowed the artists to easily create multiple pieces.
Sample listing of artworks in the exhibition include:
Special Events
RLM readers may also enjoy these articles and essays:
Benjamin Italiaander, Amsterdam 2010. Never givup .
Het portretrecht is een aspect van het auteursrecht; het wordt in Nederland dan ook geregeld in de Auteurswet 1912 (art 19-21). Het verschil tussen portretrecht en auteursrecht kan worden uitgelegd aan de hand van het volgende voorbeeld. Als een fotograaf iemand op de foto zet, komt het portretrecht toe aan de afgebeelde persoon en de auteursrechten aan de fotograaf.
Er zijn in de Nederlandse wetgeving enkele verschillen tussen het auteursrecht en het portretrecht:
Er wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen de volgende situaties:
Als de afbeelding niet in opdracht van of ten behoeve van de afgebeelde persoon is gemaakt, is het portretrecht beperkt. De afgebeelde persoon kan zich dan alleen maar verzetten tegen publicatie (openbaarmaking), voor zover die persoon een redelijk belang heeft om zich daartegen te verzetten. Er is geen grond om het maken van de foto zelf te verbieden. In de woorden van de Auteurswet 1912:
Als de afgebeelde persoon de publicatie van het portret wil verbieden, zal de rechter een belangenafweging maken. (Artikel 21). De rechter zal daarbij zo nodig ook rekening houden met de vrijheid van meningsuiting en de persvrijheid.
De volgende omstandigheden kunnen een redelijk belang vormen voor iemand om zich tegen publicatie te verzetten:
De wet bevat een uitzondering voor opsporingsberichten en dergelijke van justitie, ten behoeve van de openbare veiligheid of het opsporen van strafbare feiten. (artikel 22).
Als een portret in opdracht is gemaakt, brengt het portretrecht een inperking van de rechten van maker met zich mee. Wie bijvoorbeeld een foto van een zeldzame vlinder maakt, kan, als houder van de auteursrechten, zelf bepalen hoe vaak en waar die foto vermenigvuldigd of gepubliceerd mag worden. Wie als fotograaf of filmer een opdracht aanneemt om iemands portret te maken, heeft geen zeggenschap meer over het vermenigvuldigen of publiceren van het portret. Als hij de afbeelding openbaar wil maken, heeft hij toestemming van de geportretteerde nodig (ook al heeft hij het auteursrecht). De afgebeelde persoon of diens nabestaanden mogen het portret vermenigvuldigen en openbaarmaken zonder toestemming van de maker. De maker heeft er bij publicatie van het portret wel recht op dat zijn naam niet weggelaten wordt. Het tentoonstellen van foto's en het publiceren op Internet is ook een vorm van openbaarmaken (artikel 19 en 20).
In de filmindustrie wordt vaak gebruikgemaakt van een quitclaim, hierin doet men afstand van alle hierboven genoemde rechten.
Het illegaal openbaar tentoonstellen of op andere wijze openbaar maken van een portret is een overtreding, die kan worden bestraft met een geldboete van de vierde categorie. (artikel 35)
Bij inbreuk op het portretrecht kan iemand de illegale kopieën opeisen of ze laten vernietigen en de onrechtmatig verkregen winst opeisen. Het opeisen van de illegale kopieën kan overigens alleen als de bezitter zelf schuldig is aan de schending van het portretrecht of als de bezitter handelaar is in soortgelijke artikelen. Los daarvan kan iemand vergoeding van de geleden schade eisen.
Een op een foto afgebeelde persoon die daarop weliswaar het portretrecht bezit, kan zich, indien hij deze opname van zichzelf verveelvuldigt en verspreidt op een wijze die het wettelijk vrijgelaten "beperkt eigen gebruik" overschrijdt, desalniettemin schuldig maken aan een inbreuk op het auteursrecht van de maker [1].
| Artikel 19 | |
| 1. Als inbreuk op het auteursrecht op een portret wordt niet beschouwd de verveelvoudiging daarvan door, of ten behoeve van, den geportretteerde of, na diens overlijden, zijne nabestaanden. | |
| 2. Bevat eene zelfde afbeelding het portret van twee of meer personen, dan staat die verveelvoudiging aan ieder hunner ten aanzien van andere portretten dan zijn eigen slechts vrij met toestemming van die andere personen of, gedurende tien jaren na hun overlijden, van hunne nabestaanden. | |
| 3. Ten aanzien van een fotografisch portret wordt mede niet als inbreuk op het auteursrecht beschouwd het openbaar maken daarvan in een nieuwsblad of tijdschrift door of met toestemming van een der personen, in het eerste lid genoemd, mits daarbij de naam des makers, voor zoover deze op of bij het portret is aangeduid, vermeld wordt. | |
| 4. Dit artikel is slechts van toepassing ten aanzien van portretten, welke vervaardigd zijn ingevolge eene opdracht, door of vanwege de geportretteerde personen, of te hunnen behoeve aan den maker gegeven. | |
| Artikel 20 | |
| 1. Tenzij anders is overeengekomen is degene, wien het auteursrecht op een portret toekomt, niet bevoegd dit openbaar te maken zonder toestemming van den geportretteerde of, gedurende tien jaren na diens overlijden, van diens nabestaanden. | |
| 2. Bevat eene zelfde afbeelding het portret van twee of meer personen, dan is ten aanzien van de gansche afbeelding de toestemming vereischt van alle geportretteerden of, gedurende tien jaren na hun overlijden, van hunne nabestaanden. | |
| 3. Het laatste lid van het voorgaande artikel is van toepassing. | |
| Artikel 21 | |
| Is een portret vervaardigd zonder daartoe strekkende opdracht, den maker door of vanwege den geportretteerde, of te diens behoeve, gegeven, dan is openbaarmaking daarvan door dengene, wien het auteursrecht daarop toekomt, niet geoorloofd, voor zoover een redelijk belang van den geportretteerde of, na zijn overlijden, van een zijner nabestaanden zich tegen de openbaarmaking verzet. | |
| Artikel 22 | |
| 1. In het belang van de openbare veiligheid alsmede ter opsporing van strafbare feiten mogen afbeeldingen van welke aard ook door of vanwege de justitie worden verveelvoudigd of openbaar gemaakt. | |
| 2. Als inbreuk op het auteursrecht op een werk van letterkunde of wetenschap wordt niet beschouwd het overnemen ervan ten behoeve van de openbare veiligheid of om het goede verloop van een bestuurlijke, parlementaire of gerechtelijke procedure of de berichtgeving daarover te waarborgen. | |
Uitspraken op www.rechtspraak.nl:
MAY 2010 trend words |
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I’d like to thank Jamie Kennedy for his influence in bringing this site back. Without him, it would not have happened.
It became increasingly difficult to write and stay focused with the intense negative energy of the internet in general and the tech community in particular. Hate and anger sell, and sell very well online. I got bogged down in off site wars about KDE 4. Tech reporting and sites seemed to either blindly trumpet Open Source/Free Software (Winoze is teh suck, Ubuntu ROXORZ!) or more typically attack it (Plasmoids? I’d rather gouge out my eyes and cut off my fingers than use them!!!!) I would write an article, then sit on it and eventually not publish it because the threat of insane emails became too much. Dare I say something positive about Kontact? Should I mention that I liked the compositing effects of KDE 4? It just wasn’t worth it.
Combine this with well written and clever sites that nit picked the hell out of Free Software. These sites were enjoyable, fun reads and brought an important perspective to the table. But… over time the negativity became overwhelming, turning me off to the whole free software world that had become so important to me. I had a life, why bother writing about this stuff?
I then accidentally found Jamie Kennedy’s documentary Heckler. In short, he examines hecklers and looks at bloggers and the internet. He exposes a lot of these douchebags that write vitriol for who they are, failures in life that now have a voice. Tech writing seemed somewhat tame compared to these people. I felt an urge to provide a voice that wasn’t so negative, to adjust the site and get back to business. Ultimately I write for enjoyment, who cares how it is received? It might bring my internet income down to 17 cents a month from 29, but I can take that hit.
Linux Tech Daily is back, the rules here will be changing, and I commit to providing a non-biased look at things. I doubt I will be daily, but I hope to be more than yearly. I hope you find it worthwhile.
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It has been too long since the last post. Things may be changing over the next few days as I prepare to relaunch the site. There is a lot to talk about. The dream many of us had years ago is coming true, Linux is becoming mainstream. We are now seeing the meaning of the curse “May your wishes come true”. Pissing matches, regressions and catfights rule the day. A voice has appeared like a prophet from the wilderness.
These are interesting times (another curse).I’m in the odd position of being both as happy and as frustrated as I’ve ever been with Linux.
More soon.
Sebastian Kuegler of KDE recently agreed to give an interview, the first in what I hope will be a series. His responses are well thought out and detailed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
1. For the readers unfamiliar with you, tell us about yourself and the work you do for KDE.
I’m a 31 year-old German, living in the Netherlands with my girl-friend and my two chinchillas. My KDE history involves coding on Guidance, a set of system administration tools written in Python using PyKDE and PyQt. My current coding activities for KDE focus on Plasma, KDE4’s new desktop shell.
During aKademy 2005, I’ve started with the help of some others the KDE Marketing Working Group. With this group we have improved KDE’s PR work consistently over the past years. In 2006, I was elected into the Board of Directors of the KDE e.V., the foundation that is backing the KDE Community legally, financially and administratively.
2. How was the Release Event? What stood out the most to you?
The most amazing thing during the late Release Event was that KDE, while traditionally a bit Europe-centric, has an impressive presence in America as well. The event in Mountain View almost felt a bit like our yearly get-together Akademy. From a community-building and -strengthening aspect, it was a huge success. I also got to meet some people I’ve never met before. This kind of event is vital to nourishing a community and was a great success.
On the other hand, the event was a great opportunity to show what KDE offers right where the industry is. We got quite some people from companies interested in KDE, and we showed well what KDE has to offer, and how to make use of it.
The event itself was well-balanced between community and industry. Something which I particularly liked is that we kept it open, we gave everybody, including the press a look into the “KDE kitchen”. We don’t have anything to hide, this is how we work.
3. You have mentioned being thrilled at how KDE has improved its processes. Would you mind elaborating?
Sure. While the most apparent presence of KDE is often screenshots and surely new software for those who want to try the new version, during the last two years we were also able to improve the organisational side of things. Project governance is an important aspect for Free Software projects, and KDE has managed to make itself more sustainable and stable from this point of view.
2.5 years ago, the members of the KDE e.V. decided to formalise certain aspects of the KDE Community. This was achieved by creating a set of so-called Working Groups, small committees that deal with a field of interest within KDE. The initial set of Working Groups was the Technical Working Group (more on that later), the Human Computer Interaction Working Group, dealing with usability, accessibility and artwork and the Marketing Working Group.
The Technical Working Group didn’t work out very well. The members, that had been elected by the KDE e.V. members, all core developers of KDE didn’t have
enough time left to formally deal with issues related to release management and decision-making in technical matters. The only real result of the Technical Working Group was the decision to use CMake as a build system for KDE (back then, there were 3 buildsystems in use). CMake turned out to be an excellent choice for KDE, of course, but the TWG itself didn’t last that long. After some discussions about the form and members of the TWG, we have decided to put back this problem into the hands of the wider community, calling for people to take responsibility and form a release team.
Some people stood up to take this responsibility, a mailing list was set up and the release team started its work. Most important aspect was to get on the release train towards KDE 4.0. It turns out that this Release Team works really well. It’s very open, everyone can subscribe to its mailinglist and follow discussions, and its members are respected so the decisions that are being made are followed by the rest of the community.
The HCI Working Group has been working continuously to integrate usability and accessibility engineering into the KDE development process. Recently, there is for example hardly any developer meeting without a usability expert present. This way, we make sure that usability and accessibility are not applied as an aferthought, but are one of the bases of the technical design process. To make applications more consistent, and developing easier for the hackers, the HCI group is also working on human interface guidelines, which explain how certain aspects of our user interfaces should be designed. The Oxygen team, which is responsible for artwork in KDE is also flourishing. We can see that KDE has gotten a new, contemporary and modern look through the last 3 years.
The Marketing Working Group has taken care of good relationships with the press, has fostered the idea of “Guerilla Marketing”, promotional activities carried out by the wider community, and has also provided guidance for those that want to get involved with promoting KDE. One of the most important achievements of the Marketing Working Group is being accepted by the developers, and creating a strong brand which is based on fairness, honesty and other elements of the Free Culture spirit. More tangible improvements are materials telling about KDE (remember Troy Unrau’s “The Road to KDE 4″ series of articles?) and generally improved communication channels with the press.
This all shows one thing well, KDE as a Free Software community is turning into a community of Free Culture people. “Just coding” is not enough to spread Free Software, making Free Software a success is something that requires a multi disciplinary team working together well. That is what we see happening in KDE.
4. How can everyday users help with “Guerilla Marketing”? Is there an easy way to step in and help?
Yes, there are many easy ways to help. The most obvious is helping people installing KDE, answering questions on forums, IRC and other media. Lately, we’re getting also an increased amount of requests for speakers. Often local LUGs are interested in talks by KDE knowledgeable people. It might sound a bit scary, representing KDE in your local LUG, but it’s really what KDE is about. Everybody comes from a local community, that is where our grassroots are. People often don’t think that they are entitled to represent KDE, but that’s just not the case at all. In fact, the marketing and promo team have a hard time finding enough speakers for all events. Slides are usually available, so it doesn’t need all that much preparation.
There are of course many more areas where you can support KDE. Writing articles for magazines is a way to even earn some money, helping with maintenance of websites, submitting KDE-related news to your local newssites, maybe even writing for them, translating news (or of course applications), helping out at events and fairs, there’s lots to be done, much of which doesn’t involve writing a single line of code, but it’s just asimportant.
5. I was excited to see the new release schedule for KDE. How did this come about?
Well, we obviously need a release schedule, otherwise our developers don’t get an idea of when their code should be release-ready, and of course not knowing when to release doesn’t have a great effect on motivation. That’s the immediate reason why we worked on a release schedule quickly after 4.0.0 was released, but our release plans are really two-fold. The next 6 months with a monthly bugfix update and 4.1 in July are only part one. Part two is that we agreed to release a feature release every 6 months.
This is where public perception and our own didn’t really match lately. Looking into the past, KDE had a pretty steady release rhythm where we released a new feature version (3.x) at least every 8 months. Unfortunately, this was found to unpredictable by some external parties, especially distributors, so we thought how we could accommodate them better. At the same time, we need to have a close look at our development cycle. How long will people need to stabilise the codebase? How long does it take to implement new features? What part of our development time between releases do we want to spend feature-frozen? All those are important questions. First and foremost, we want to develop software, if we don’t, we don’t need to release at all. So our development process is what should dictate release schedules.
If we have a look at how the KDE 3.x cycle worked, we can get a clue of what’s to be expected for 4.x. With 3.0 we had put the pieces necessary that are necessary to build great applications in place. It turned out that we could release more than once a year, and with every release provide exciting changes and nice new and updated applications.
Now with 4.0 delivering even better frameworks, we can build on those. Having a stable basis in place makes it possible for us to cut down the time between
releases — because changes don’t need to be done under the hood. Oversimplified, we don’t need to change much but can build exciting new stuff on top of our frameworks. The issue how long a feature takes to be implemented becomes less important. Our community has reached a size where there will always be the bigger thing that just won’t make it into the release. We should learn to live with that.
On the other hand, we seem to have lost a bit of our traction with larger Linux distributions. We hope we can address parts of that with being more predictable. I don’t think that merely a release cycle is to be blamed for that, but really, we are putting the pieces together to make living with KDE easier for our commercial partners. We have emphasised focus in UI aspects such as usability and artwork, but we’re also more actively working together with distributions and try to engage them more in our development process. The release schedule, as an example, has been created after consideration of some distributions.
6. Are there any misconceptions about KDE 4 you see regularly and would like to address?
The most striking misconception I saw in the review is that people don’t really get what KDE is. I saw quite some bad press that didn’t go any further than “The panel lost some features”, but without really having a look at what changed. The Panel, belonging to Plasma is a completely new component. As that, it’s not exactly surprising that it has not yet reached feature parity. It’s quite a pity though to see that some journalists don’t look any further than that. We have some terrific new applications, our frameworks are greatly improved (which will make for many more new and improved applications in the near future). KDE 4.0.0 is really what it’s called. A dot-oh-oh release. Some people said that we should have waited half a year and released 4.0 as 4.1, but those don’t seem to understand how the Free Software development process works.
Having 4.0.0 out gives it more exposure to users, but also shows some other components down the stack that they really need to catch up. We’re raising the bar of what’s being done with desktop operating systems, this is not free of pain. Plasma for example exposes some bugs in video drivers and other toolkits such as GTK — simply because we’re the first to make extensive use of ARGB visuals (or, for the less technical inclined, transparency effects). Hadn’t we released 4.0.0, nobody would’ve tested their drivers with it. Result, if you then release 6 months later: the bugs are still there, simply because no one has run into them (well, except for us developers, but we are only so many). See, we’re not an island, we cannot create all great stuff only by ourselves. We’re highly dependent on projects like X.org, the Linux kernel and of course a lot of Freedesktop components. And some of those just don’t accept bug reports that come from a beta release of KDE. It’s a chicken-egg situation, if you want.
So sure, 4.0.0 is not as polished as anyone (especially ourselves) would have wanted it to be. It certainly is a usable desktop, if not up to all the goodness of 3.5.8 (which is what people seem to be used to, which shows that we do deliver quality work). We knew from the beginning that the development cycle leading up to a stable KDE 4 release would be painful. The fact that the definition of stable varies widely within our userbase and the expectations of everyone doesn’t make it any easier.
And then, most of the issues people have been complaining about are already fixed (and will be released in early February with KDE 4.0.1). Others will certainly be addressed with KDE 4.1, coming this summer. And of course, we always have our good old proven 3.5 branch, which is the perfect fit for those that cannot or do not want to live on the bleeding edge. KDE 3.5 is still fully supported, we’ll be releasing an update with quite some improvements especially in the KDE-PIM components in February. KDE-PIM in KDE 4 is scheduled to be released along with 4.1, making this release much more attractive to the users that are a bit more hesitant than our average developer.
7. What in the upcoming 4.1 release excites you the most?
I think the part that most people — just like me — are really looking forward to is an improved Plasma desktop shell. It really is the most visible part of the desktop. The good news here is that Plasma, a relatively young subcommunity within KDE is really alive and kicking. We’ve already been able to fix most of the problems that were still there in 4.0.0, and if we continue to keep the current pace of development, it looks like we have exceeded feature parity in those part with the 3.5 series already by summer.
Then of course, I’m looking forward to KDE-PIM in 4.1. It will make use of the Akonadi storage framework and as such be more stable and usable as the 3.5 series. Then, just recently, Dragon Player has been merged into our 4.1 tree. Dragon Player is a very simple but powerful video player, which of course makes use of Phonon, our new multimedia framework. For non-Linux/UNIX users, 4.1 will also bring the first stable applications to Mac OSX and Windows, which is another very big thing in my eyes.
Other features include more scripting support, newly ported applications (Amarok for example seems to be aiming for a summer release as well), performance improvements all over the place, new plugins for the KWin window manager with its nifty compositing features, and many more.
This really suggests what I expect from the KDE 4 series, new, innovative and really exciting features and improvements at a steady pace. With the KDE 4
series, we’ll simply outperform our proprietary competitors in terms of speed of innovation and user orientation.
8. What are your feelings about Gnome? People love to play up a war between KDE and Gnome and fight it out in comment sections. How is your relationship with Gnome? Do you find anything interesting about the Gnome desktop?
It’s sometimes a bit tiring that people try to put everything into the KDE vs. GNOME perspective. We’ve been working together with people from GNOME for a
long time and reached a lot together. A quick glance at freedesktop.org shows that there is plenty we have in common, and that we are doing quite a good job sharing efforts where it makes sense. I feel that the sentiments are often caused by people that simply have nothing better to do, or are out for sensationalism. The friendly competition between KDE and GNOME has probably helped both projects to become what they are now: Serious competitors of proprietary desktop systems.
On the other hand, GNOME often is not all that interesting to us to work with since one essentially can replace the other. Our issues up an down in the stack usually don’t hit GNOME directly, and GNOME offers an alternative to KDE, which also means that we don’t have to suit everyone’s need.
Frankly, I don’t like the whole concept of the “Linux Desktop”. Linux is really just a kernel, and in this case very much a buzzword. Having to mention Linux (which is just a technical implementation detail of a desktop system) suggests that something is wrong. Should it matter to the user if he runs Linux or BSD on his machine? Not at all. It only matters because things just don’t work so well (mostly caused by to driver problems, often a matter of ignorance on some vendor’s side).
The result is that people talk about Linux, then get confused between KDE and GNOME. The first question they ask “Why do I have to choose?” which expresses
that they are having a hard time dealing with the complexity that is offered immediately. The really important concept is plurality, and that is where we
can all win. Once people understand that the choice for KDE and GNOME is very much like the choice between, say Mac OS and Windows (nobody ever says: “Well, the world would be much better off if the effort wouldn’t be spread between Apple and Microsoft!”), so I keep asking myself why people often come up with this when talking about the Free Desktops. What we want is raising consciousness that you don’t have to swallow everything that a certain vendor wants you to, that there is choice, and that consumers can actively influence the market and put pressure onto those that don’t respect the consumer’s needs.
The term “Linux” serves more or less as a buzzword, but I think calling KDE “The Linux Desktop” is harmful. First, it ignores the concepts of plurality and choice, which are very much core values in the Free Software community. Second it ignores the efforts being undertaken to push KDE onto other Free Platforms such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD and OpenSolaris — those are not second class citizens for us.
To fix this problem, we need to increase awareness of the Freedom concept and not so much “teach people what Linux is”. The concept of Freedom is also much
more appealing to the masses than the concept of an operating system kernel, it just requires us to start thinking outside the box. Creating strong brands of user-visible components makes a lot of sense here.
John Palmieri, a top GNOME developer who attended KDE’s annual conference two years ago said: “Competition and collaboration are not mutually exclusive”. I
agree with this statement.
9. Thank you so much for your time, Sebastian. It certainly has been illuminating. Any final thoughts?
Thanks a lot for offering the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Thank you Sebastian, for an interesting and thoughtful review. It is appreciated. Be sure to check out Sebastian’s blog, vizZzion.org, for news on planned features of KDE 4.1, a horrific story of a crocodile attack and much more.
I received an AOC Envision 20†LCD Monitor (TV) from Geeks.com to review. I was familiar with AOC from their excellent computer monitors, it only makes sense they would get into the television business. If you are looking for an affordable, quality set that serves a variety of uses, this might be for you.
The unit is attractive, with a basic, non-invasive design. Thin, as an LCD should be. As a geek, I liked all of the connectors/connections available. It is lightweight with a nice base. Overall it gave me a positive first impression. The unit is wall-mountable. You can adjust the viewing angle from the base. This is handy depending on where you will be using it. There are power, menu, channel, volume and source buttons handily located at the top of the screen.
The TV is listed as being EDTV ready. I had was unfamiliar with that term. Enhanced Definition Television (EDTV) is designed to be a mid-step between Standard Definition Television (SDTV) and High Definition Television (HDTV). EDTV is 480p (p= progressive scan). HDTV is 1080i or p. The benefit of the smaller size is that 480p gives excellent definition on a 20†screen, particularly for the price.
The choices for signal input are plentiful. You have basic co-axial cable, composite, S-video, component and VGA. Based on my research, composite would give me the best picture. I use AT&T’s U-verse service (a review is coming) and read rave reviews of their composite signal. Someone even claimed that they broadcast in HD, but cut the signal back to 480p to conserve bandwidth. I read claims that the composite output was just about as good as the HDMI output. I tried all of the connections and this is what I found:
Thanks to the multiple outputs of the U-verse box, I was able to run the LCD tv and my SDTV side by side making a comparison simple. I drove myself crazy for a while adjusting the colors on both the SDTV and LCD. The on-screen menu makes immediate sense and has a pleasant layout. Once I got the sets to match, I’d feel that maybe it just needed a little tweaking here and there. An hour later, I felt comfortable that they were as close as they were going to be. The LCD picture was unarguably better. It was no comparison. Any text displayed on the screen was very sharp, as opposed to the sloppy rendering on SDTV. Franky, I was shocked at how poor the SDTV looked in comparison. Anything with a line looked a lot better on the LCD. Colors were richer. Blacks and whites looked truly black and white. The picture was outstanding.
The picture is meant to be viewed from some distance. I’ve read anywhere from three times the width of the screen to eight feet. Three times the width works well for me. Up close, the picture does look boxy and jagged. Viewed from the appropriate distance, it looked fantastic. I doubt you would be using it with your face right up to it anyway. This is not the case using the VGA connection, where you probably would be sitting close.
U-verse gives you the option to choose your definition. You can choose 4:3, widescreen, 720p or 1080p. It defaults to 4:3. When I chose widescreen, it didn’t give me a widescreen picture, but the resolution almost looked HD. I don’t know what the difference is in how AT&T puts out the signal, the widescreen is strikingly better. I’ve read that EDTV provides 80% of the definition of HDTV, and using the widescreen setting that proves true. It is amazing to look at. The standard 4:3 definition is still very, very good, and I found myself sticking to that.
The speakers were a surprise. U-verse offers surround sound through the box, I enabled it and was taken aback at the quality of the sound. I did not notice the change at first, but soon sound were coming from all areas of the room. This television somehow gives a 3-D sound that is very clear. It is impressive for a budget TV to sound this good. There is an audio out line if you wish to attach it to an existing speaker system.
I’m no gamer, so I didn’t have a console to plug in. Consoles output a 480p resolution, so this unit should work very well with your console of choice.
I hooked my Windows Vista box up to it, the picture looked great. Fonts were off slightly, I’m sure they just need tweaking for the screen. The 800 x 600 resolution, while not normally what I would use, actually works well at a comfortable distance. I started Miro, and bingo, I had a media center going for all intents and purposes. With my wireless mouse and keyboard, I was comfortably chilling and surfing. I tried Netflix’s new streaming service and was watching a movie instantly (almost). Look for a review of this service soon. It is nice to view the content available on the internet without being chained to a desk. It is also convenient to just plug into a VGA port without going through the typical hassle of connecting the tv to the computer.
The menu options for PC input are nice. You can adjust the red, green and blue levels. You can choose “cool†or “warmâ€. One particularly nice thing is that you can choose the source of Picture In Picture (PIP), so I can have live TV running in a little box while I am using the computer. It might be helpful if I were a sports fanatic, stock junkie or didn’t want to miss any of my “storiesâ€.
The remote is well designed. I’ve suffered through poorly designed remotes, where doing a basic task (like fast-forwarding) becomes at best a chore, at worst a nightmare when it does something you do not want it to do. It is trim and fits nicely in the hand. My only nit-pick with it is I wish more real estate was devoted to the volume buttons, since those are used the most. They are conveniently located where my thumb rests so I can’t complain too much about them. Switching to the PC has its own button. Choosing the input is directly across from that. The layout makes sense and is easy to get used to.
The smaller size of this unit is a selling point for me. The ability to effortlessly switch between the television and computer makes it useful. I could see it as a great addition to a kitchen. You could watch tv while you cook, jump online to get a recipe or check your email. The adjustability of the viewing angle enables you to easily have it face where you are. It works well in a bedroom. It would be perfect for a smaller dorm room or a kid’s playroom. If you don’t need HD but don’t want the enormity of a SDTV and don’t need a gigantic screen for the space, this unit is perfect.
Priced at $214.50, this is a no-brainer to recommend. The picture is outstanding. The variety of inputs is very nice. The VGA port is an excellent addition. The sound is fantastic. It is built well. The manual is actually helpful. I could find nothing to complain about. If you are looking for quality at an affordable price this unit will work very well for you.
Features/Specifications:
AOC A20E221 Envision Series 20-inch EDTV-Ready LCD TV
General Features:
Silver profile
20-inch TFT LCD display
Built-in 181 Channel NTSC TV Tuner
EDTV-Ready (480p)
800 x 600 resolution
4:3 aspect ratio
0.51 mm x 0.51 mm pixel pitch
500:1 contrast ratio
500 cd/m2 brightness
160°(H) /120° (V) viewing angle
16.7 million colors
16 ms response time
10-watt speakers
31.5 – 48 KHz horizontal frequency
56 – 756 Hz vertical frequency
PC input resolution 800 x 600 @ 60 Hz
NTSC color system
MTS/SAP sound system
V-chip and Closed Caption
Motion Adaptive De-interlacer
Adaptive 4H Y/C Comb Filter
3:2 Pull Down Recovery
Progressive Scan
On Screen Display (OSD) function
Wall mountable
Top Panel Controls:
Power
Menu
Source
Channel up
Channel down
Volume +
Volume -
Side Connectors:
L/R Audio line out, L/R AV1 in
Component in Y/Pb/Pr, L/R
L/R/Video AV2 in
S-Video, L/R RCA
Mini Headphone jack
Rear Connectors:
TV tuner
15-pin VGA
Mini Stereo jack
Power plug
Power Specifications:
100 – 240V, 50/60Hz, 1.5A
Unit Dimensions:
17.6 x 27.4 x 9.9-inches (H x W x D with stand, approximate)
15 x  27.4 x 3.7-inches (H x W x D without stand, approximate)
Regulatory Approvals:
FCC
cULus
Package Includes:
AOC A20E221 Envision Series 20-inch EDTV-Ready LCD TV
Manual
Stand
Power cord
Remote control w/twwo AAA batteries
KDE 4.0 was released last week and all hell seemed to break loose. What I view as a solid first step in a very positive reaction was met with some applause, but generally scorn and complaints. I think some perspective is needed, and I humbly offer to try and provide some. I’d like to take issue with some things I see that are just plain wrong.
KDE 4 is Vista. Vista is an operating system. KDE 4 is a desktop environment. Right off the bat, on a basic level, this is wrong. If you only look at the DE aspects of Vista, it still doesn’t stand up. People complain about Kickoff, the new (possibly temporary) menu in KDE 4. Have you used the monstrosity that Vista provides? Plus, if you do not like Kickoff, you can drag the old style launcher to the taskbar and be happy. Vista offers nothing of the sort. KDE 4 runs very well on modest hardware. Vista is painful on modest to good hardware. I had a hardware failure on my main machine yesterday. It runs Linux. I’m stuck writing this from Vista on a 64 bit processor (AMD 3200+) with 3 gigs of RAM and it is unbearably slow. My desktop effects consist of some translucency and some crummy 3-D window switcher. With KDE 4 there are a lot more useful effects this early in. KDE 4 = Free Software. Vista = closed source. Complaints people have with KDE 4 are already being addressed. Some have been fixed. Get that kind of action from Microsoft. The Promised Land, KDE 4.1, is rumored to be released in about six months. The Promised Land for Vista, SP1, is still unreleased a year into its life (and the reports of the beta are less than glowing.) Maybe it kind of looks like Vista with the use of black, but that is about it.
KDE 4 is Gnome. This is usually meant as a swipe at Gnome as well as KDE, based in the belief that the Lords of Gnome sit in their ivory towers deciding how the peons can use their computers. The great Nautilus-Spatial-View Wars of 2004 saw a lot of bickering on this front. Since a lot of configurability that KDE is famous for just wasn’t ready for the 4.0 release people are assuming that it is just gone forever. It is coming; you can relax or file bug reports. If the configurability you are used to isn’t there in 4.1, then I’ll be right there with you. I believe the developers when they say it is coming. It isn’t like there is a lack of options in KDE 4; I’ve even read complaints that there are still too many. It is just that the most visible ones, like in the taskbar, just aren’t there yet. That is right in your face immediately.
This also feeds into the Holy War that Gnome and KDE are locked in. We have choices. Some people like Gnome, some KDE. There are plenty of other choices as well. Fans of gerbils can use XFCE. Enlightenment is cool. FVWM Crystal works nicely. Blackbox, Openbox or Fluxbox. Why so much energy is devoted to Gnome people attacking KDE people and vice versa confuses me, other than people love to have an enemy. In the words of convicted wife-beater Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?†When the negativity impacts development (my 10 things I hate about KDE 4 RC2 article was accused of stopping development for hours, weirdly) then things are getting out of hand. Some thicker skins might be in order as well.
KDE 4 is lacking in cowbell. The “needs more cowbell†joke stopped being funny about three days after you heard a co-worker say it for the first time. That was years ago! Enough already.
It was a mistake to release KDE 4.0. This has already been addressed nicely here, here and here. For the “tl;dr†crowd, the release has to get out into the real world and take a beating. I’m sure the complaints so far have been useful in some sense and will influence direction. This is a complicated issue that has been covered in more detail by people smarter than me; I just wanted to address it. I’m surprised to even see this, since “Release early, release often†is such an ingrained part of Open Source. Imagine if Duke Nukem Forever was Open Source and followed this philosophy.
“My experience with KDE 4 is the One True Experience†There are so many odd combinations of hardware, distributions and preferences that everything becomes equally valid. The experience you have with KDE 4, for you, will set your ideas into stone. I’ve read there were numerous problems with the Kubuntu packages. People who used those are naturally going to be unhappy with 4.0 for good reason. OpenSUSE has done an outstanding job with their packages. I’ve used them and have a positive feeling about 4.0. Nvidia cards perform well with the proprietary driver and KWin’s composite. I’ve read ATI doesn’t work that well. For the ATI owners, composite will be horrible. Some people love Kickoff. Some people hate it more than anything else in the world, apparently. Who is right? People passionately hate Dolphin, others love it. Most people, for these reasons, are going to have very different experiences with KDE 4. If we could just cut each other some slack and recognize the validity of each person’s opinion I think the overall atmosphere will improve.
Things haven’t been perfect. It is too bad that KDEPIM wasn’t ready. From what I have seen and read, it will be worth the wait. Distros have had some trouble with packaging. Things are nowhere nearly as bad as you may read, either. Before my hardware failure, I had been using 4.0 as my main desktop for weeks. I’m starting to prefer it, warts and all.
Here is my somewhat lousy analogy for KDE 4. You’ve lived in a house (KDE 3) for years. You have everything set the way you want it to, have gotten used to the oddities of it and love it. Some major parts of it have fallen into disrepair (arts) and it is time to move. You decide to build a new house from the ground up (KDE 4). It reaches a point where you can move into it, or stay in the old one for a few more months. You decide to move. The old house had cable. The neighborhood for the new on is being wired for cable, but it isn’t available just yet. Is your old house better because it had cable? Is the new one a failure because cable isn’t ready yet? The new house has a different thermostat that is quite different from the old one, and you can’t set it the same way you could the old. The builder promises that in a couple of months you will have three thermostats to choose from that are a lot better than the old one, but at least the current one works. The builder also says that if you do move in, he’ll listen to things you don’t like and give you the opportunity to change things, instead of just giving you something set in stone. He even promises to continue to improve the house for years to come. You can either live in the old house for a while longer and watch the progress of the new one and stay comfortable; or jump into the new one and get used to it. Odds are you aren’t going to complain that you shouldn’t even have built a new house. Particularly because it is free and built at no cost to you. It could be worse; you could be in the luxury prison down the street, where the prisoners complain that the old one, while bad, was much better than the new one.
The KDE Release Event is today. I had hoped to go, but the complete lack of free flights complicated it. Congratulations again to everyone involved. You have a lot to be proud of, and a lot more work ahead.
Yours, Benjamin Italiaander
digg_url = 'http://www.linuxtechdaily.com/2008/01/editorial-kde-40-a-call-for-perspective/';
405diggsdigg
Filed Under kde, kde4, quick links | 6 Comments
KDE 4.0 is out as of today. Click here for the official announcement. A separate announcement with info on packages for different distributions is here. OpenSUSE had the updated packages available when I checked at midnight last night–great job yet again by the packagers (or packager?).
A wll written and helpful Visual Guide to KDE 4.0 is available here. It has plenty of screenshots and information.
A post on Aaron Seigo’s blog is very interesting, and gives you more of an idea on why you should be excited about the KDE 4 series. Click here for that. If anything, it should give you an appreciation for what the devs are going through and the hard work they put in. All for something we get for free.
This is a big step forward, and the first of many big steps for KDE. Congratulations to all of the developers and to everyone involved!
Using KDE 4.0 yet? If so, leave a comment with your experience.
Update! The following link, and Emergency FAQ, has been posted and is helpful:
http://software-libre.rudd-o.com/KDE_4.0.0_emergency_FAQÂ
Filed Under Editorial, kde, kde4 | 7 Comments
I’ve complained and cheered about KDE 4 RC2 from openSUSE. I’ve updated to the latest openSUSE packages since writing those articles, and things have moved in a very positive direction. I’ve been able to use it as my main desktop without issues for about a week now. I’d like to commend openSUSE for the outstanding job they have done with KDE 4. Using one-click install, it couldn’t be easier to get it going. With YAST it is very easy to keep it updated. With the release imminent, I thought I would take one last look at what openSUSE terms KDE 4 RC2++. I’ll warn you, the list may be odd, these are just things I have come across in daily usage. I promise no rhyme or reason!
Fixes to my complaints:
-It is no longer crashy and inconsistent. I haven’t had a crash in days. Behavior now works as expected, consistently. Improvement was quick and dramatic.
-Right click in Dolphin now works correctly.
-Right click on the taskbar does give options, albeit limited. There is still no option to change the bar size, but changing my resolution has made this less of an issue. I don’t even mind the transparent strip across the top of it now that I am used to it.
-Blurry fonts are no longer blurry fonts.
General Improvements:
-Responsive. The overall speed of the desktop has improved with the latest updates. Everything feels very close to normal.
-Pager is in the taskbar. I think this will give people a level of comfort. I’m preferring to use Ctrl + F8 and Alt + Tab to move around. Old people will like seeing the familiar four box grid.
-Digital Clock is configurable. At some point for me it wasn’t. It now acts exactly as I would expect it to. You can choose your timezone, font, whether to display a 24 hour format, show the date, basically, anything a configuration junkie would want. It looks nice, too. Now maybe the Clock Nazis can chill.
-Composite effects work nearly flawlessly on my setup (Nvidia 8400 GS). I’m liking the effects more and more. Compiz has always felt like a second class citizen with KDE, this helps to overcome that. The effects are smooth and feel natural. I hope there is a webpage with the keystrokes and tips for using it once 4.0 releases. If not, I’ll make one.
Small things I like:
-The new splash screen and logout screen are beautiful. Nice touches. Pic of logout screen below:
-I like the new default wallpaper. It fits the darker theme but isn’t too dark. There is already a lot of whining about the choice, like it won’t take five seconds to change it.
-Being able to right click the title bar and choose the window opacity. That is slick, and helpful.
-Marble is cool. what is marble, you ask? It looks like GoogleEarth, but uses no hardware acceleration, so it is small and lightweight. More info here.
-Oxygen Cursor Theme- I’m using the White Cursor Theme, it looks nice but is not obnoxious. More info here.
-Deal or No Deal- until they get sued, the game Deal or No Deal from playground, I believe, is a nice little time waster.
Bigger things I like:
Okular- Great interface and it works very well. I love being able to uncheck the “Obey DRM limitations” box. Clever. It is fast. The toolbar is clean, with options to junk it up as much as I’d like. I love that it can handle multiple formats. It is consistent with the rest of kde 4 and fits in well.
KPlayer- I’ve never liked KPlayer, for no good reason. I like the updated interface. Unfortunately there isn’t an openSUSE package for Dragonplayer (formerly Codeine) at the moment. I may actually start using KPlayer.
Kdegames – The games are cleaned up and consistent looking. They look fantastic in SVG. Excellent job here.
KDEPIM- Ridicule me, remind me it is alpha, I don’t care. I really like it and it doesn’t even crash all that much. I cannot wait until it is finished. Pictured is KOrganizer:
Consistency- It has been hard to write this without using the word consistent fifty times. Everything just goes together nicely. I normally wouldn’t care too much about this, but the more I use the desktop the nicer it seems. KDE 4 apps have a KDE 4 identity. That is a good thing.
I could go on and on, but the release is tomorrow and I’d rather write about it.
Final Thoughts:
Once again, I have to applaud openSUSE’s KDE 4 packaging team. Outstanding job. My hat goes off the the KDE developers, the progress in the last few weeks has been incredible, and this release is shaping up to be phenomenal. We are stepping into the future tomorrow, and making a big jump. I respect the courage and hard work that has gone into KDE 4.0 and I cannot wait to install the release tomorrow.
I hope the negativity–that I contributed to–settles down once people use KDE 4. Install it and stick with it for a week. You may not like it at first, you may love it at first but give it a chance. Use it for a week before you start bitching. I think, like me, you will be pleasantly surprised. It is better than you have read. I look forward to KDE 4.1, and can’t wait to see how this grows and changes, but 4.0 will be my desktop of choice. Now that I am used to using it daily, I prefer it to anything else. It isn’t as if 3.5 is going away, or there are a lack of other choices if it isn’t for you. I predict the community will rally around this release. Complainers will still complain and further progress will be made. The bottom line: The future begins tomorrow. I’m excited.
405diggsdigg
Yours, Benjamin Italiaander
Filed Under Hosting Providers, Interview | 3 Comments
Fused Network is the best webhost, period. When I have a problem, I hear back almost instantly. When my site was flooded, it went offline for four minutes, compared to two days with my previous host. I’ve reviewed them here. Fused’s David McKendrick is amazing work with. He serves as an inspiration. Of the many great things I can say about David and Fused, two jump right out. Fused Network has offered free web hosting for Open Source projects since 2005. Can you say that about your web host? They also recently ended a Holiday Giveway where 100% of proceeds from the month of December went to the charity of your choice. David agreed to be interviewed, after humbly telling me my readers would be more interested in hearing from a coder. I thought you would like to hear about someone that loves Open Source (sorry RMS–Free Software) and puts his money where his mouth is.
1. Fused Network has a generous offer to host open-source projects for
free. Can you tell me about the projects you currently host, and give
details on the offer?
Well, since our inception back in 2003 under an alternate brand name,
we’ve always been firm supporters of open source. Fused Network was
primarily initiated to help cover the costs of hosting a couple of
existing open source projects like e107 (http://www.e107.org), a content
management system that I’ve spent several years using personally.
Since starting the open source hosting program (which is less than
official) we’ve hosted the likes of e107, BitComet, mirrors for FreeCiv,
Lingua and a wide range of other projects. We’re always on the lookout
for new projects to host, it’s our way of giving back to the community.
Essentially the offer is for any open source project that requires web
hosting of any sort, we’re open to any arrangement of any capacity.
While most projects these days are satisfied with providers like
SourceForge, it never hurts to have alternatives just in case they want
a full-fledged site and a bit more control. Fused Network offers just
that along with very reliable connections, gorgeous performance and a
small vessel full of features.
2. What is the appeal of open-source to you?
Almost every aspect of open-source appeals to me in some form. There’s a
number of key features of the movement itself that really spark my
interest though. Primarily, the fact that it’s community driven is one
alluring quality. Not only is it powered by people from all different
walks of life but in a number of cases they’re developing selflessly for
the greater good. The end-users are equally as vibrant though: Open
source offers a wide range of benefits all the while being free in most
cases!
The second reason is the fact that it’s open. The ‘open’ aspect of it
allows there to be greater security (ironic, isn’t it?) in that masses
of people can audit the code, add & subtract from it and develop it to
fit their needs. If they need a specific feature they can add it in;
Likewise, if they don’t need a specific feature they can remove it to
lessen the bulk of the software itself.
That isn’t to say that closed-source or proprietary software doesn’t
have its’ own benefits as well but it’s simply not as selfless. There’s
a great deal of downsides to closed-source as well including lack of 3rd
party code auditing and in the end if a company goes under, the entire
project tends to cease. Anyone left holding a license is essentially
left holding a worthless piece of paper.
Open Source tends to alleviate a lot of those fears because projects can
continue on essentially forever.
In a nutshell, Open Source is freedom.
Freedom from obscene licensing fees, freedom from oppressive licensing
structures & with it comes the ability to contribute, use & spread
software freely.
3. What open-source software do you use the most? Do you have favorites?
One of the benefits of open source software is the ability to try
multiple projects. At any given moment I’ve got at least ten different
audio players, browsers & operating systems floating around on my pc and
laptop. I’m a kid in the candy store when it comes to options.
On the larger scale, there’s a wide range of ‘internet only’ open source
applications I’ve been utilizing as well. To merely say I’m addicted
would be a far cry from the truth.
These days, wordpress & e107 are my current favourites on the web. Both
projects have excellent leadership, development speeds and goals. While
each has an entirely different purpose, to me each are gorgeous in their
own respects.
Wordpress allows the easy dissemenation of information & e107 allows
communities to be effortlessly constructed. There’s a number of other
projects out there like Filebrowser, Vanilla & SMF that I also consider
works of art.
On my desktop, Ubuntu’s release of Linux is probably 3rd in line for my
love: It’s a feature-packed distribution that makes it very easy for
end-users to utilize the product. Aeons ago, I recall being reprimanded
for destroying our home computers with my horrible linux administration
skills. At the time, we were floating around on the slowest dial-up in
existence so I kept finding copies of redhat in the bargain bin at
walmart to supplement my needs.
These days, I’ve had everyone from my aging grandparents to family
members try out Linux. It’s impressive to watch them try it for the
first time & see just how easy it is for the end-user. They themselves
are surprised at the ease of use. Most find it easier to wrangle than
Windows!
Beyond the operating system itself, I’m a huge fan of XMMS, Audacity,
gnuCash, Ktoon, Songbird, Firefox & most of all the SWORD project. All
of the software I enjoy using fills a need in my life that never could
have been fulfilled in a closed source operating system: The licensing
fees alone would have bankrupted me long ago. There’s hundreds of other
projects that I could mention and use frequently but I’ll spare that for
another time.
4. Tell me the history of Fused Network.
Fused Network has been involved in the web hosting industry since
February 2006. Prior to 2006, I had operated a smaller web hosting
provider that merged with Fused Network. Since our inception, we’ve had
absolutely insane growth rates. Just this year, we’ve tripled our
clientbase and now host almost 1,000 domain names — a far cry from the
150 we hosted at the beginning of this year.
A large part of our success can be attributed directly to open source
projects. A great number of users from every project have signed up as
clients after hearing about us supporting their projects selflessly.
It’s great seeing the community rewarding those involved.
5. If you don’t mind, tell us about yourself.
How in depth one could go on about this question, I was born in the
woods & raised by wolves? Not quite, but close.
I’m just a regular ol’ joe, since about 2003 I’ve been involved in web
hosting, web development and online media.
After having spent a number of years handling support for web hosting
companies like HostGator, Hostingplex & several others I decided it was
time to launch a solid provider for a change. At the time while working
my full-time job, I had a small ‘hobby provider’ but there was always a
limit on how much time I could really devote to the project. In April of
this year, I went full-time with Fused Network and haven’t looked back
since.
Every day since our inception we’ve experienced explosive growth and
there’s always something different going on.
As far as myself — I’m fairly regular. I enjoy sailing, technology,
scuba diving & piloting small cessnas are on the top of the list of the
things I enjoy most though. I spent most of my childhood living in a
number of diverse areas like Florida, Costa Rica & Prince Edward Island.
In 2001 I returned to Canada for University and spent a couple of years
hacking away at an Economics degree at the lovely Carleton University in
our nation’s capital, Ottawa. It wasn’t for me, so I tried web hosting
instead: Less math that wasn’t directly related to cashing cheques.
The majority of my days are spent helping clients and exploring the big
city of Toronto while chowing down on more raw fish than any man should
intake.
6. What prompted the Holiday Giveaway Promotion?
Well, since our meager beginnings, Fused Network has always been
involved in charitable activities. I would consider myself a
philanthropist of sorts, and I’m always on a quest to help others no
matter how small or large the cause.
In Toronto and any large city we often see the needy strewn across
sidewalks & sleeping under stairwells. We’re reminded daily that there
are others out there that are not as blessed as we are — so that’s one
place these programs launch out of, pure need.
Spending 12 hours a day helping clients & generating revenue simply
isn’t enough, each of us has a responsibility to help those around us.
Since I can’t get out there as frequently as I would like to myself,
this program simply offers a way for myself and my clients to help in
whatever way we can, no matter where we’re at in life.
7. What do you find the most challenging in web hosting? The most
rewarding?
Technology is always a challenge. The beauty of it, is every day there’s
something new going on. That’s also a downside, though. The entire
industry seems like it changes on an almost daily basis — what users
might want today, will be entirely different tomorrow. Technology can be
fun on the other hand in that it’s quite exciting to work with something
or someone new, all of the time.
The most rewarding aspect is definitely the giant smiles & the thank
yous. Client satisfaction is what I got into the industry for and it’s
what has kept me here. Just recently, a new client from Germany
overnighted me a bundle of chocolate and a postcard telling me about her
city — the mere thought of having someone from halfway around the world
thank you from the bottom of their heart — ah, that’s what keeps me
going 
My clients are blessings.
My previous article, 10 things I hate about KDE 4 RC2, got a lot of unexpected attention. At Digg I was called a “damn fool”, “dumbass” (for some reason that guy thought I believed RC referred to Plasma) (?!) and an “idiot”. I apparently hurt developer feelings. The point of the article was to imitate complaints I expect to see if some things do not change. Had I read this post, I may not have even written it. I stand by my complaints about Release Candidate 2 (the openSUSE version), overall they were mainly minor. I will revisit that post once the release goes gold. I promised to follow up with 10 things I love about KDE 4 RC2+, so here goes.
10 things I love about KDE4 RC2+ (openSUSE flavor):
10. Oxygen Icons – Someone mentioned in a comment somewhere that I I could take the time to complain, but not take the time to mention how nice the Oxygen Icons look. Here you are! They do look nice. They aren’t cartoonish, they don’t look like Fisher-Price designed them (sup, XP). They look attractive and modern. I definitely prefer them to Tango, and it isn’t like Tango is bad. They present a nice face as the default icon set. A lot of work and thought has been put into them, and it shows. Great job, Oxygen-Icon team!
9. Look and Feel – Huge improvement here. The environment looks modern, subtly flashy (which couldn’t have been easy to pull off) and clean. I like the use of blacks throughout. I’m glad to see bright blue off of my screen. Little things like “Alt + F2″ are improved. First, it looks great. The Plasma box that opens is sharp looking. The added functionality, putting “application, location or search term” together is nice. The button to show system activity is helpful. A small area, but indicative of the work done. There is a consistency using it that I have not seen in an operating system (more on this below). It is a lot more attractive than Vista, to my eye. It looks fantastic and feels fast, and I’m using openSUSE’s somewhat dated packages. The more I use it, the more I like it.
8. Konqueror improvements – The over cluttered-looking Konqueror loved and bitched about endlessly is gone. We now have a snazzy looking default Konqueror, with helpful links on the opening page, seven icons on the bar by default. As I complained about before, some of the functionality I am used to is not there, more likely than not due to openSUSE providing an outdated kde-konqueror-addons package. It looks damn good. It has been solid as a web browser. I look forward to the release version. The recent Dolphin/Konqueror controversy is positive in a sense, showing the love and fanatical devotion we have for the swiss army knife on steroids that Konqueror is.
7. Koffice2 is amazing – This will get its own article, but Koffice2 looks and behaves beautifully. It fits in very nicely with the very attractive default desktop. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with Koffice2. Excellent job here, developers. I already prefer it to OpenOffice. Much more about this topic soon.
6. Doing away with the desktop-is-file-manager idea – This is a bold step. It may feel odd at first, particularly for those of you addicted to stuffing your desktop full of icons. I like that it is a push in a new direction. The payoff might not show up entirely with the release of 4.0, but I expect to see big things here. Change is good.
5. Kickoff - Hold up, haters. It isn’t Kickoff itself that I love as much as the idea that it is there by default. It reminds me of the story (that I hope is true) of the French government doing away with phone books years ago to force people to use the internet. With the upcoming Raptor, Lancelot and other ideas moving forward, this choice again helps push us to the future. The more I use Kickoff the more I like it. I don’t find it to be the spawn of satan that a lot of you do. The familiar menu is still available if you prefer to kick it old school.
4. Composite effects – nicely done. Kwin’s Composite effects look great. Modern, not too much going on. I like that they are there but do not get up in your face. Tasteful default choices yet again. This area will be getting its own article soon. I want to spend more time with it and become more knowledgeable than I am. I like that “Ctrl + F8″ shows me my desktops. “Alt + Tab” is an attractive switcher. “Ctrl + F10″ show me all of my windows. This hands down beats Vista. It will be interesting to see how it will interact with Compiz-Fusion. Overall, I really like this and will have more to say very soon. Excellent job again, Developers.
3. Gwenview – Poorly named Gwenview is now cleaned up, as stated here, and now only gives you the image and a basic toolbar when opening an image. (Click link for nice screenshots) Images opened from Gwenview you get many more choices. This shows the level of detail and thought that went into creating KDE 4. It also brings me to my next point:
2. Consistency – I love this. It doesn’t jump right out at first, but settled in slowly for me. KTorrent looks like a KDE 4 app, because it is. KMail fits in perfectly. The games have been updated and look in place. I can’t imagine the work that went into achieving this, but it was time well spent. Going back to other desktops really magnifies the lack of consistency in them. The consistency is outstanding in KDE 4.
1. Guts, courage and balls – To me, this is the biggest thing about KDE 4. Frankly, I was surprised to read that developers were “hurt” and “disillusioned” by my “10 things I hate” post. I’m sorry to hear that they have been beaten down by criticism. A _really_big_thing_ is happening here. A move to the future has been committed to and the first step is close to being achieved. KDE 4 is better than Vista. KDE 4 improves upon the outstanding 3 series. There will be more improvements down the road, but honestly things are in good shape as of my dated RC2 system. I commend the developers for the outstanding work done. I can’t wait to see the results of the final weeks of bug killing and squashing. From what I read, development is at a frantic pace. You guys have done something tremendous for which you should be proud.
The fact that the KDE team has pulled this off is inspiring. My stupid little top ten lists do not do justice to this accomplishment. Trying to narrow things I love to ten was not easy. I decided to focus on what was immediate. The big-picture changes are just too big to be dropped into a little list. Phonon, Solid, Decibal and all of the other big technologies didn’t even get on the list. They need their own articles to get the attention they deserve. The changes are so big and so interesting that it is easy to become overwhelmed trying to write about them. If that is true, imagine coding them!
So, to close, I apologize to anyone I offended with my first article. I meant in no way to take away from the work that has been done. I can’t wait to install the final release. I can’t wait to see the firestorm of controversy that will erupt on that day. We Linux users are passionate, and this passion, while seeming destructive at times, is the fuel that drives the improvements. The future is very bright for KDE. The future is now. Thanks again for all of the work put into a system that I can use for free.
Yours, Benjamin Italiaander
Filed Under kde4 | 38 Comments
KDE4 has a lot of hype. It is a significant change, reportedly a big jump forward. There is a lot of new technology and names: Plasma, Oxygen, Phonon, Okular, Solid and more . Depending on what you read, and where you read it, it is either the second coming of the DE Christ, or the first coming of the DE Anti-christ. I decided to live with KDE 4 RC2+ on OpenSuse for an entire month, Dec 11 – Jan 11th (the release date) and record my experiences. I’ll be publishing an article a day about KDE 4 through the release.
The desktop computer I had recently reviewed from Geeks.com (the Pentium 4 Geek kit) served as my test system. It has been solid. The OS is openSUSE 10.3, installed via 1Click. I’m updating RC2 daily. The hardware is reasonably modern, a Pentium 4 based system. I upped the RAM to 3 gigs from 1 gig. I was ready to go. Knowing how you haters are, I figured the best way to start this series is with link bait. I present you with:
10 things I hate about KDE 4 RC2+ (the openSuse flavor) !
10. Crashy and inconsistent. Dragging a widget to the Panel wrecks it, every single time. I get some garbled half-bar, end up having to log out and log back in only to find the widget did not go into the TBR. Key combos, like Cntl + F8 (to show all desktops) work some of the time, other times do things like CLOSE THE WORD PROCESSOR i AM USING WITHOUT WARNING, making me lose everything I have typed. Other times KDE4 will just crash without warning. I will say this, the quantity of crashes keeps diminishing with each update.
9. I’m stuck with a big, fat Panel. One of the first things I typically do when running a new system is resize the taskbar. I like my taskbars like Americans like their female celebrities, super thin. I can’t change the size of the taskbar (or for that matter get widgets to go into it) as far as I can tell. I’m a KDE freak. One of my complaints about the 3 series of KDE is that it lacks configuration options! Getting stuck with a huge Panel with no way to change it creates a small feeling of hostility, like I’m at the mercy of what someone thinks my computer should look like. This brings me to petty point eight:
8. Right clicking on the Panel does nothing. For some reason this makes me nuts. I wouldn’t even mind it if a box appeared telling me “nothing to see here!” Instead, I feel like I am locked out of something. It might not make sense, but do us Linux users make sense?
7. Space wasting translucent strip on top of the Panel. It might look nice, but it gets old very quickly.
6. Get your Dolphin out of my Konqueror, or let me do it. I have no problem with Dolphin. It seems to work well as a basic file browser. I thought I had read that Konqueror would use Dolphin as a file browser, but you could change this. I can’t see how to do it, and now I feel like I am using something neutered. Things that are part of my daily life, right clicking and choosing “Extract here” or the excellent “Move to” or “Copy to” are just gone. I’m hoping it is just an add-on package that isn’t ready or that I have overlooked, because if these things fall out of KDE 4 I see problems.
5. Desktop Icons from KDE 3 sessions get ugly and crazy. This might be a specific Opensuse issue. When I log into KDE 4, all of the desktop icons sit in a big pile in the middle of the desktop. If I spread them out, they get chopped and become ugly half-icons, some showing a translucent box around them. It is simple enough to close them, I don’t need desktop icons anyway, but it is still an annoyance and unpleasant to look at.
4. Right click opens both the file and a dialog in Dolphin. I’m sure this will change upon final release, but man, I really hate this.
3. Why do I want to “Zoom out” and “Zoom in”? I’m given these choices from the little wrench in the upper corner of the screen, but I don’t know why I would want to do that, or what purpose it serves.
2. Blurry fonts. Fonts are blurry in Ocular and KWord, which I am using to write this. I feel like I need glasses.
1. Upcoming Firestorm. This is the real reason I wrote this. It is only recently that I have seen recommendations that people hold off until KDE 4.1 to really use series 4. Unfortunately, the expectations are so high that when people do use it for the first time anger might be the first emotion they feel. That is a shame. I can see countless posts like this all over the internet. I hope people get some sense of perspective about the huge amount of effort that has gone into KDE 4.
I’m impressed with KDE 4, this post aside. It has become usable very quickly. It will take months for some of the radical changes to bear fruit. Complaints will be listened to and addressed. Change isn’t easy, and for those of us who love KDE, this is a big change. I had a hard time coming up with ten things I hate about KDE 4. Tomorrow I will give you ten things I love about it, it will be much easier to write.
Yours, Benjamin Italiaander
Review: Geeks.com Pentium 4 3.4Ghz Barebones System
Filed Under Hardware, Reviews | 2 Comments
 
One of the great things about Linux is how well it runs on older hardware. The combination of overcapacity in processors and the failure of the resource hog Vista has created a sweet spot. You can get a powerful processor that may be a generation or two back (but still overkill for daily usage) at a great price. You can also help the environment. I thought it would be interesting to review a system that may not be the latest and greatest, but still provided a big bang for the buck. Geeks.com has a great selection of desktop computers, and they provided a bare bones kit to review: Pentium 4 3.4GHz Bare bones Kit w/Foxconn MB 1GB DDR2 CD.
Update: The kit is now out of stock 
Here is a replacement link.
I’m sure most of you have built a computer before. If you haven’t, give it a try. This kit is an easy starting point. It comes with everything you need, sans a hard drive and video card. Included:
My initial impression was very positive. I was very impressed with the motherboard, FoxConn 925XE7AA-8EKRS2 Socket 775 ATX. I used to manage a computer store, and have sold countless motherboards. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to upgrading is a lot of times functionality is pulled from a board. I would find the perfect board but then hit the wall of only one IDE slot. There would be onboard video that you can’t disable. You would only have two slots for RAM. Inexpensive meant giving something up. Isn’t it better to go with a solid, older board with full functionality?
This Foxconn is a monster. It has three IDE slots, four serial ATA slots. Silicon Image 3114 RAID controller. No onboard video to waste resources. Three PCI slots, three PCI-E x1 slots and one PCI-E x16, so a fair amount of room to upgrade. It is a solid board. It comes with the most cables I have seen in a motherboard box. 3 IDE cables. 8 SATA data cables, 1 floppy cable, 4 2-port SATA power adapter cables, 1 4 port USB extension and 1 Firewire extension. This motherboard will hold up to 4 gigs of RAM. The included 1 gig of Kingston RAM is a nice touch.
The processor, a Pentium 4 3.4GHz, is great. In an era where overcapacity is the norm, you can save yourself some money and still have an outstanding machine. Linux flies with this processor. Is there that much of a huge benefit to dual and quad cores for everyday usage, particularly running Linux? I really don’t think so. If you can swallow your geek pride and use an older generation processor, this is a great deal. The included processor fan, the Masscool 8WT15-38 isn’t as loud as I expected a Pentium 4 fan to be. It comes in at 30 dBA, not the quietest but certainly acceptable.
e { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->Installation was simple and took about an hour. I put the processor and memory in, put in the I/O shield and attached the motherboard, connected all the cables. I dropped in the CD Rom and hard drive and connected them. I threw in a video card, Nvidia 8400 (not part of the kit), double checked everything and closed the case. It powered right up. I installed OpenSuse 10.3 to get it up and running.
This is a fast machine. So fast that it sometimes finishes a task before I even start it (kidding). If you run Linux, you will be more than happy with the performance. I have an Athlon64 system with 3 gigs of ram that occasionally runs Vista. The speed of Linux + this hardware blows it out of the water. That is like comparing apples to anvils (thanks Garry!), but helps illustrate my point. 1/3 the ram and a comparable processor running like greased lightning compared to Vista. If you miss spyware and viruses (viii?) I’m sure this machine would run XP well. OpenSuse 10.3 is very fast on this system.
The wireless mouse and keyboard (Kensington Wireless Mouse and Keyboard for Mac and PC) are very nice. I hadn’t used wireless before with Linux, I was pleasantly surprised to plug them in and have them work immediately. The mouse has some weight to it. It feels substantial, unlike the lightness of a cheap mouse. The keyboard is built well. It may not have the power and fury of the old IBM Model M, but the keys are responsive and it feels spacious. There are a lot of extra buttons that I don’t mess with too much. Surprisingly, the two scrolls on the keyboard worked right out of the box with OpenSuse. The other extra buttons all seem to work as well, this comes as a shock to me. I guess I need to get with the times.
The case is reasonable. It has six expansion slots and plenty of space inside. There is a front panel USB port, but no front panel audio. The 300W power supply is sufficient, but a bit on the lower side. The case has plenty of holes for good ventilation, but lacks any fans. Considering the price point, there is nothing to complain about here. Unfortunately mine got bumped around in shipping, but was still usable.
With the included CD Rom and Floppy, you can throw a nice workable system together easily. If you are upgrading, you will probably transfer your CD/DVD burner to this system along with your power supply. The great thing about this path is you could install the motherboard/processor into your existing system, build a computer for your kid/parents/grandma/aunt/weird cousin with the supplied case, CD Rom and floppy.
I can easily recommend this kit. I’m very happy with it. You simply cannot beat the power you get for this price. The components are quality. You aren’t getting some cheapo motherboard, you are getting a great older generation model. The excellent wireless mouse and keyboard are an asset. If you are running an older system and looking for an easy and inexpensive upgrade, this does the trick. If you want to build a system that and are unconcerned with running the latest and greatest, look here. I don’t want to look like a slappy here, but I have had no problem with this system and it has run nonstop for a week. If I had a complaint I’d be more than happy to let you know. You can’t beat the price at $189.
Full specs available on the product page, Click here.Even though the system is out of stock, you can be notified when it returns though the link.
I’m going to use this system to revisit Sabayon Linux. I’ve been itching to see how Sabayon is doing since my last review.
Finally, I’d like to give a shout out to the Metro Detroit Linux User’s Group, they reassured me that this hardware was very powerful for everyday desktop usage.
Regularly I find some tool that changes the way I interact with the internet in a positive way. BlogRovR, a Firefox extention, is one of these tools. It was included as part of my Mandriva 2008 system. At first, I didn’t pay it much attention. It would pop out periodically from my browser and annoy me. I decided to check it out, and I am very happy I did. So what is BlogRovR?
Once you install the BlogRovR Add-on, you sign up for the service. Once you are signed up, you can choose from “blog bundles”, which are collections of topics and blogs. You can choose Business, Entertainment, Politics, Sports, Science and Technology and Thinkers. These bundles are prepopulated with subscriptions to blogs. For example, Thinkers includes gladwell.com and kottke.org. You can also import your own personal OPML file of feeds or simply add the URL or feed of a blog you like. Simple enough. You can also add a BlogRovR button, which gives you a link the the BlogRovR page, the option to subscribe to the site you are on, to twitter what you are doing and to get help.
Once this is done, as you surf the web the RovR tray will open when the blogs you have chosen have written about the page you are on. You can then click on a post and the post opens in a small window on the page you are on. The tray pops open, then slides into a small tab you can expand by clicking on a button, listing the number of posts about the page.
There are a few things I like about this immediately. I control the content, so I only hear from sites I’ve chosen. I like seeing what other sites are saying about what I am reading. I go to Mixx.com, and fifteen stories appear about the site. I’m sure the more I use this and the more sites I add the better my results will be. Currently, of the fifteen stories, eight are from TechCrunch and Mashable. Interestingly, I was able to read how Mixx is now the place for Digg refugees and how Digg is still the best, both from TechCrunch, right from the reader. It makes it easier to follow conversations on topics, a big selling point for me.
Another benefit to BlogRovR is the ability to add a button on my sites, enabling people to add me to their BlogRovR. This may become as valuable as anything else I place on the sites. Content that just sits on this site collecting cyberdust will now have new life, if people think enough of this site to add it. My review of the Google Browser Sync Add-on that no one cares about will suddenly pop up and become relevant at that moment (hopefully) someone is reading about it elsewhere. It is a way to keep my site on people’s minds as they browse the web. The only downside to this is I could stand to lose revenue (ha, I crack myself up, revenue) since only the story shows and not the carefully (lovingly?) chosen ads. I think the upside far outweighs any downside though. It is also useful to add my own sites and see if anyone else is talking about what I write.
I can see this catching on, particularly for power surfers. It is one way to stay up to date with what the sites you like are saying, without having to spend all day every day checking them. I easily recommend BlogRovR. It is easy enough to install, and if you do not like it, easy enough to remove. Give it a try, you may end up finding it indispensable.
Screenshot below shows BlogRovR in action. The tray is on the lower right side, the opened window on the upper left side.
Mozilla Labs recently released the Prism prototype for Linux. What is Prism? From the site:
“Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.” The site holds a lot more detail, here. If you are familiar with Webrunner, it is now this. Oversimplifying it, Prism gives you a web browser without all the “browseriness”. You click an icon and it looks just like an app on your desktop. You get a title bar and browser window and the web app itself. The concept is to turn web applications into desktop apps.
Initial reaction to Prism itself has included excitement, yawns, typical “Opera has been capable of this for years!” comments and controversy. I figured I would try it out on my Mandriva 2008 system and write about my experience.
Installation was very simple:
1. Download Prism
2. Extract with “tar -xvjf prism-0.8-linux.tar.bz2 -C /opt ”
3. From the terminal type “/opt/prism/prism”
4. Done
You can create a shortcut on your desktop to the executable for convenience sake. I simply dowloaded and extracted it to my home folder and run it from there. I’m sure there are a variety of ways you can install and run it.
Running Prism:
A box opens up, showing you this:
You then put in the URL of the web application or site and give it a name. You can decide if you want to show the location bar, show status notifications and progress, and enable navigation keys. You are also given a choice to create a shortcut to the desktop. Windows users can also create a shortcut to the start menu and quick launch bar. Windows users also can choose an icon and have a mysterious “Advanced” button. The Linux client lacks these options but we can make any of that happen ourselves, with the exception of “Advanced”, which I cannot tell you about until I have the patience to boot into Windows.
Using Prism:
For something billed as a “prototype”, it has worked very well for me. Here is a breakdown of my limited use.
Apps that worked perfectly:
Google Apps (Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets)
Zoho
30boxes (which always makes me think of the “Weeds” theme song”)
37signal’s Backpack (I am a calendar app whore)
Problematic but workable:
Gmail worked fine, except when I tried to compose a message. I had to switch to “Plain Text” in order to write an email.
Yahoo Mail gave me trouble, when I switched to Yahoo Mail Classic I had no problem.
Once I got flashplayer running, I was able to use YouTube.
Not working:
Buzzwords, the online word processor.
Pandora. I read someone has it working, I don’t know if it is on Linux though. No worky for me.
Since this isn’t billed as a final version, my complaints about what works or didn’t work are better filed as bug reports. I will say I was surprised at the success I had. It was pretty smooth sailing.
Thoughts:
I like Prism. It has become part of my daily routine. It seems counter intuitive, but I like the idea of stripping the web apps out of my web browser. Running four fat apps at once in different tabs has always bugged me. Now I can use my browser for web surfing, Prism for accessing web apps. People that have been screaming about what a memory hog Firefox is, this is one way to combat it. Not ideal, but it is one solution. It is nice to click an icon on my desktop and be brought to 30boxes. It makes it feel like I am using a program. Typing this and reading it, I realize it makes absolutely no sense, but it is the way it feels.
Using Prism is like using a toaster oven as opposed to using the whole oven, Firefox. A one cup coffee maker instead of making a whole pot… you see where I am going with this. As much as I like it and think others will, it isn’t even what is important about Prism to me. What is important about Prism to you, then? Glad you asked.
*Distributions can use Prism to make their own “Newbie Edition” ala gOS. The initial success of gOS is undeniable. Prism is the same idea behind gOS’s icons, only executed better. The mythical grandmother that we are all trying to convert to Linux can just click the MySpace button or Google Maps button and so on and so forth. A big barrier to Linux adoption then no longer exists. They see things they are familiar with. Lets just hope grandma’s webcam works with Linux! Granny Hotornot will be good to go. Kidding aside, as I’ve argued in the past, it isn’t the grandmas we should be chasing. It is the YouTube generation. Customized Prism launchers to their favorite sites will help pull in the less technically savvy of their ranks.
* Distributions can make money from Prism. Prism allows you to drop a “GMail” or “Facebook” or whatever icon right on the desktop. This could turn into a revenue stream for the distributions. It might be worth it for Zoho to get a leg up on the other online office suites by buying some real estate on Mandriva One, for instance. Mandriva then benefits by saving space on the One disc, keeping OpenOffice.org off but available as a download after installation. Google would be hard to beat here. If I were starting out, like Buzzwords, I’d jump in before Google gets in. I can think of a bunch of online apps that would benefit in this way.
* Making your cross-platform web app just got easier. It seems like it would be fairly trivial to bundle prism with your own .app link. Distribute it and you are good to go.
Overall I am happy with Prism. I do find myself using it regularly. Obviously, if you prefer to have these apps running in a browser then you won’t find it compelling. You could tweak your browser yourself to run like Prism. I think Prism has a bigger upside for Linux than Windows or OS X, for the reasons stated above. I’m glad to see Mozilla trying some new things. Some of the future ideas, like Firefox 3 integration and offline data storage and 3D graphics hardware access sound very interesting. Give it a try, you may find yourself surprised like me and using it daily.
Pictures below are Prism running YouTube and of the ugly default icon created.
Further Reading:
Yours, Benjamin Italiaander
Call z. Benjamin italiaander informacione të tjera
Filed Under Editorial, Ubuntu, linux | 5 Comments
There is a story today that WalMart’s $200 Linux machine running Ubuntu with Enlightenment is sold out and selling like hotcakes. The article links to WalMart’s product page, where it is listed as sold out and filled with glowing reviews. It feels good to see that. I’ve always felt that Linux was ready for general consumption. At one point I got to put my money where my mouth was, but was burned by bad timing. Hopefully the story might interest you.
I managed a regional computer store in Metro Detroit. I had always loved the company, it was one of the few places you could go and actually see the product you were buying. Motherboards were open and available to handle. If you needed it, they carried it. The sales staff was always knowledgeable and helpful. I felt fortunate to work for them, and took over a store in a major regional mall.
I had always wanted to see Linux systems up and for sale. One day the owner and COO were in the store, so I stepped away and fired up Mandriva 2007 Spring on one of the machines. It looked fresh and impressive. Compiz definitely gave the OS a unique look and feel. Based on this, I was given the opportunity to sell Linux systems. The experience was an eye opener.
My initial thought was to go with an underdog. Since Mandriva had been the distro that helped me sell it to the bosses, I thought I would give them a try. I contacted them, they were very nice with a thought out plan. The costs were more than I could justify, though. This was a pilot program, and the costs had to be as close to zero as possible, initially, to justify the experiment. The major selling point was to be able to offer systems where hardware was the only cost. It became apparent that Mandriva would not work, initially at least.
I contacted Novell. I knew how the community felt about them, so I had hesitations. We were also potentially going after the business market, so it made sense. I found out right away that my pilot program was just not big or fancy enough for Novell. I suffered through a condescending phone call basically saying “How cute! When you become a player, let us know and we will work with you!†Never mind the fact that at the time my company was a major regional player that worked on a national scale. I was now 0 for 2.
PCLinuxOS was next. I have always loved PCLinuxOS. Some of my fondest Linux memories were the Mandrake days when Texstar would supply packages. I thought this would be a great opportunity to help the distribution get business cred, and would bring a lot of publicity to my company and PCLinuxOS. I got absolutely nowhere here. I never heard back from anyone. I’ve since read that Texstar is interested in making the distro, but does not care how popular it is. I can respect that, if it is true. It is a great OS. I was now 0 for 3. It was time to stop avoiding the inevitable, and go to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is on their game. From the minute I first contacted them, they were all over it. The entire time I dealt with them I had a sense that whatever I needed (within reason) they would provide. Costs were going to be zero, initially. They offered a clear cut program that made sense. The only thing they ask in return for outstanding service is one key factor. You can ship Ubuntu, but only Ubuntu. They were very clear about this. It is brilliant, when you think about it. They give you everything you need, and one of the only conditions is that they lock other distributions out. That is good business for Ubuntu.
As the ball got rolling, I put a machine on display in the store. It got a lot of attention. I went high on the specs, thinking people would recognize the good deal the machine was. People responded well, but hesitated to drop $400 on an experiment. We were soon going to offer a full line of notebooks that were certified to run Linux. I decided to drop the specs of the display machine and managed to get it to under $200 without a big hit in performance.
At some point during the Ubuntu plan, I got cold feet and wanted to put Sabayon on the machines. I think what Fabio is doing is nothing short of revolutionary. I have to hand it to him. He was as good, maybe even better than Ubuntu in customer service. He was very clear that whatever I needed, I would get, even to the point of a customized distro. By this point it was too late in the game. Dell had launched the Ubuntu notebooks, and my boss wanted to capitalize on the publicity. My dream of a full line of Sabayon laptops died a quiet death.
I continued to be pleasantly surprised by Ubuntu. Every communication was positive. They were going to help in whatever way I needed. By this point it was a matter of waiting for the notebooks to come in, then there would be a launch with a lot of publicity. I was certain I had a home run on my hands. We finally received the notebooks. I loaded them with Ubuntu, customized the install so it ran Compiz-Fusion and threw a bunch of extras on the install. I was pumped. We had forty notebooks and I knew once the announcement was made, we would sell all forty in one day. I would be a hero.
As my ex father-in-law is fond of saying, “Timing is everything.†Just as I was finishing the notebooks, the effects of the dismal Michigan economy took its toll on my company. Just like that most of the stores closed. In the ensuing chaos, my pet project got buried. Soon I was out of a job. My grand experiment died just as it was being born.
So, I am glad to see WalMart having great success with its Linux desktops. It helps me to feel that I did know what I was talking about, and given different circumstances could have really made a go of my idea. I’m not done yet…
Filed Under Mandriva, random thoughts | 6 Comments
I tend to switch distributions as often as Paris Hilton switches sexual partners. At any time I am running two or three different distros in addition to windows vista (how can I complain about Vista if I don’t occasionally use it?). when Mandriva 2008 came out, I decided to stick with it, day in and day out and see how I felt. This isn’t a review, just a look at my experience with it. For those wanting a review, I’ll imitate one you one in one paragraph!
Mini-Review:
Installation: flawless, except my (insert odd hardware or ati card here) didn’t work without fiddling around. Mandriva 2008 contains (list of updated packages with boring numbers i.e. 3.4.7). I (really like!) (hate) the updated look (circle one). Talk about Mp3/W32 stuff. Mention Ubuntu. Complain about Gael Duvall’s dismissal years ago. Wrap it up by saying either you love it, think it is okay but you are sticking with whichever distro, or hate it because something didn’t work.
I just can’t write those anymore. I want to give a shout out to those that do, though, because the current round of distribution reviews have been excellent. You go girls! Why do you need me to tell you what others have said eloquently enough already? You don’t, and I can live with that.
So, back to my point, which is I thought it might be interesting to stick with one distribution and see how it fit my day to day needs. Most reviews I have written were written after spending a couple of days with a distribution. It is like having a friend over for the weekend. A whole different world than living with the friend every day. Or…. Having a one night stand, then deciding to date the person. The way you feel one day is probably very different a month later. So I moved in with Mandriva.
It was made easier to stick with Mandriva after the new video card came to town. I believed the hype and rushed out and got an HD ATI card. Previously, ATI and Linux got along like John Bolton and the UN. The new AMD/ATI Linux driver situation is very promising. In that there are a lot of promises being made. OpenSuse couldn’t handle the card. It gave me one of the most screwed up errors I have ever seen. It was nothing compared to Vista, though. Vista could not handle the righteous intensity of having on board video and a PCIe video card. I’m stuck in 4bit graphics hell. ATI says it is the motherboard’s fault. the motherboard manufacturer blames vista. Visa blames the motherboard. Every fix does not work. How did mandriva do? Worked right out of the box. Big ups!
All of my hardware, none of it exotic, just works. I couldn’t play around with Compiz-Fusion due to my poor choice of video card and its proprietary drivers. No biggie. I am sure if I hacked around I could have gotten it to work, but it is too big a hassle for the benefit of bling that will cause an occasional crash or freeze.
Everything I need to do in my daily life I can do with Mandriva 2008 Powerpack. The same can be true of most distributions these days, but the feel of the Mandriva System is better. There is a lack of annoyances that I find in other popular distros.
Pluses I find:
I like the new menu layout, with XDG integration. The mixture of KDE/Gnome apps is smooth. I feel *buntu gets crazy and incoherent when you run more than one Desktop Environment on the system.
Everything just works. I run a 64-bit system, and that is important to me. Adobe’s Flashplayer would not work on OpenSuse. Unfortunately Flash is an essential in my web surfing, so that detail was a deal killer for O/s.
I love Mandriva’s community. Adam Williamson impresses me. He is all over Mandriva’s forums being helpful. Any article mentioning Mandriva he is usually there representing the company in a favorable light. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Adam has given Mandriva a public face, and it is positive.
Drak3D as a login choice, to get it set up outside of being in a DE, is smart. I like.
Blogrover and Foxmarks installed by default is an interesting choice. Blogrover has proven to be irritating (Stop jumping out at me!) Foxmarks (sync-er of bookmarks) does its job well.
Annoyances:
I’m not crazy about the new theme. No big deal, it takes all of a minute to adjust things. The Orange look of Mandriva 2007 Spring was fresh and new, the updated look, while decent, is a bit boring and cheap looking.
No description of packages in the otherwise excellent package manager. I am sure there is an easy fix out there, but they should be in there by default. Or, since there is a brief description right next to the title that says it all, just get rid of that message.
No Katapult?
Surprisingly, nothing else!
I am glad to see this release getting the respect it deserves. For too long Mandriva has been viewed under the harsh light of past failures instead of the strength of the product they deliver. They are racking up a string of great releases. A lot of hard work was put into 2008, particularly at the end, and it has paid off. I feel it is better than OpenSuse 10.3. Ubuntu hasn’t caught up to Mandriva in my eyes.
This is currently my favorite popular distro. From a practical standpoint, I feel it is better than Windows Vista. I don’t say that as a Linux slappy. Looking at it from an angle of which OS enables me to do the things I need to do day in and day out, Mandriva shines. My next article will compare Vista and Mandriva 2008 in depth, and I will convince you why 2008 wins.
Filed Under Ubuntu, automatix2, quick review | 2 Comments
Automatix2 for Ubuntu 7.04 has just been released. What is Automatix2? From the site:
“Automatix2 is a free graphical package manager for the installation, uninstall and configuration of the most commonly requested applications in Debian based Linux operating systems. Currently supported are Ubuntu 7.04, 6.10, 6.06, Debian Etch and Mepis 6.
Our list of supported applications include a whole range of multimedia codecs, burning and ripping software, file sharing software, email clients, VoIP enabled chat clients, browsers, encryption software and a lot more!”
I am running 64bit Ubuntu Feisty. The selling point of Automatix2 for me is that it simplifies getting Flash player running (via 32bit Swiftfox), handling installation of codecs, etc… that can sometimes be a hassle using a 64-bit distro. It helps to make a true multi-arch system without any chroot hassles. It does all of the work. It also provides one place to get everything you want to install for a full featured operating system.
Installation was as simple as clicking a link and allowing Gdebi to install it. You can run it later from Application –> System Tools in Ubuntu and Main Menu –> System in Kubuntu.
Starting Automatix2 brings up an Information screen warning you that it is a crime in the United States to install w32 codecs, libdvdcss and other codecs without paying a fee to the concerned parties. It also advises not installing AUD-DVD codecs if you are a US resident. The land of the free and the home of the brave, baby. You have to agree to this screen to start.
Automatix2 gives you software sections:
Burning and Ripping
Codecs and Plugins
Eyecandy
File Sharing
Miscellaneous
Web Browsers
Chat Clients
Drivers
Email Clients
Media Players and Edit
Office
Programming Tools
Utilities
Programs include Gaim 2.0 beta6 and Extras, 64-bit Multimedia codecs, 64-bit Sun JAVA 1.6 JRE, Azureus, Frostwire, aMule, Songbird, Mplayer, VLC, 32-bit Skype, Automatix read/write NTFS and FAT32 Mounter, Extra Fonts, KDE Extras, Google Earth, Krusader, OpenOffice Clipart, 64-bit Bluefish and Scribus, KFTPGrabber, 32-bit Swiftfox and Swiftfox Plugins, NDISWrapper, 64-bit Nvidia Driver, KDE Security Suite (includes ClamAV AntiVirus and Guarddog Firewall) and much more. There are other means of obtaining these, but Automatix2 makes it easy. Gnome applications are hidden by default, clicking the “Show gnome apps” button brings up a lot more choices, including VMware Player and Slab (the menu used in SLED 10). There is a description of each program, telling you what it is and what it does.
Everything installed without a hitch. A window opens showing a dialog of what is going on. My only complaint is that it does not provide version numbers, so there is no way of knowing if the Nvidia driver is newer than the one I am currently using, other than exiting the program and using Synaptic or something. Other than that, it couldn’t be simpler. You simply check what you want to install or uninstall, click “Start” and Automatix2 handles the rest.
There are a variety of ways to do what Automatix2 does, but I like its simplicity and ease of use. I continue to lack a lot of free time so I appreciate this program for what it does. If you lack the technical know how to get things installed, or even to know what you are looking for , I recommend Automatix2. It is a fine program. It is so simple, there isn’t much to say about it.
“The year of Linux on the Desktop.” Typically, these articles show up near the end of the year. They always cause a big debate “Will 200* be the year of Linux on the Desktop?!” is the headline, followed by comment wars. The comment wars break down like this. Linux vs. Windows users, Mac vs. Linux users, a branch war of Windows vs. Mac users, KDE vs. Gnome users, Ubuntu lovers/haters, Compiz vs. Beryl, pro/anti DRM people and the list goes on and on. A consensus is never reached. Some concepts show up over and over. This editorial addresses those concepts.
Dear Old Grandma
“Linux will never be ready until my mom/grandma/aunt can use it!” It is funny to me that it almost always is a female. Linux is ready, since this mythical female only uses the computer to do email and browse the web. Linux isn’t ready because this same female won’t understand the package manager or this or that. Once everyone agrees that this female can use Linux, the heavens will open and finally, Microsoft’s monopoly will be over. This concept is fundamentally flawed.
When speaking of the mom/grandma/aunt, people are really speaking of “normal” everyday users. I’ll refer to them as older people for the sake of this article. The goal is to get Linux to the point where older people can use it. Oddly enough, we are pretty much there. For simple and basic computing tasks (think internet appliance) there is no reason why Linux isn’t appropriate. If the old person isn’t going to play games or run Photoshop, modern distros provide everything needed. Firefox and Thunderbird give you a great web browser and email client. OpenOffice.org covers word processing needs. There are plenty of other great programs, including Gaim (now renamed Pidgin) for instant messaging, GIMP for photo editing and plenty of card games. They will run into trouble when they try and download “The Prize Machine” or some other junk from a website, but for all intents and purposes they are covered. Linux can handle, very nicely, their basic computing needs.
That doesn’t mean they will switch, though. These people have a different mindset than you, the person reading this. They want to stick with what is familiar to them, what is known. Do you have a relative that refuses to switch from AOL, even after they have gotten broadband? I do, and I bet there are plenty out there. You can tell them all you want about the security of Linux, how it is “Free as in Freedom”, how they won’t really notice a difference, but it will fall on deaf ears. In their mind, Linux is this weird thing that they are better off not taking a chance on. These are the people that are happy to pay the Geek Squad to install an anti-virus on their Windows 98 Celeron box, rather than get something better, for free, from you. That is fine. When their ten year old motherboard fails, they can’t fault the “Linux you installed on it that broke it”. After all, it was working fine until you got to it.
Let them be. They can be someone else’s problem. If you’ve ever lived the nightmare of free phone support to these people then you know you are better off staying away.
Me: “Click ‘file’ which is on your top toolbar”
OP: “Toolbar? I don’t have a toolbar!! What does it look like?”
Me: “It should be near the top of your screen, above the navigation buttons…”
OP: “Navigation buttons? You mean at the bottom?! I don’t see any buttons. You mean on the keyboard?”
God forbid they accidentally delete their Internet Explorer icon from the desktop. They no longer have the internet!
The times are changing. Leave the old people that aren’t technically inclined to their comfortable existence, with its viruses, spyware and network of zombie drone machines. You can’t really teach an old dog new tricks. A lot of effort is being wasted on preparing something for people that do not want it. Imagine if video game manufacturers said games won’t be ready until their grandma can play them.
The YouTube Generation
Younger people are different. The world they know is different than the one most of us grew up in. Music for them isn’t something you go and purchase at the store. Cheap thrills don’t come through the underwear section of the Sears catalog, they flow freely through their torrent clients. It isn’t the number of signatures in their yearbook that count, it is the size of their friends list on MySpace. Technology isn’t some newfangled thing to gripe about, it has been part of their existence their whole life. A lot of these kids are trying Linux. They may not know that Ubuntu is a Debian derivative or have read the GNU manifesto, but they are installing and running Linux. They run MythTV. This is our audience. These are the people to court.
The 3D desktop in Linux is pulling these people in. Flaming window animations, spinning transparent cubes, wobbly windows are catching people’s imaginations. This is completely unscientific, but will illustrate my point. A search for “Beryl” on YouTube gives 4,120 results. “Compiz” gets 799. “XGL” nets 2640, “AIGLX” 500. “Ubuntu” gets 3240. “Aero” gives 3,900 with a lot of non-Windows results. “Aero Vista” gives 167. “Kelly Ripa” gets 352, so Beryl is immensely more popular than Kelly Ripa on YouTube. At this point, it isn’t trivial to install Compiz or Beryl but these people are doing it. Not only are they doing it, but they are taking the time to take video of their screens and promote it on YouTube.
The more technically inclined of this group is fiercly anti Digital Rights Management (or Digital Restrictions Management). They want their media on their terms. Piracy is rampant. Paying for software is a concept to be mocked by some of them. They want bling. They want speed. They are installing Ubuntu and Sabayon and aren’t concerned about how Flashplayer or their video card drivers fit into the Free Software world. Free Software is familiar to them from Firefox, Wordpress, Drupal and to a lesser extent, Blender. They game on their consoles.
These people will make excellent converts to the cause. If I were running a distribution targeted at them, like Linux Mint or Sabayon, I’d make education part of the Distribution. Include links to the Free Software Foundation, the GNU project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation prominently in Firefox. Get some documentation out saying that while you include MP3, Flash and Nvidia/Ati drivers by default, here is why people are against doing that. Promote the fact that they are running a legitimate operating system and why this is better than just pirating XP or Vista. I admit that this sounds cheesy, but I believe that we can gain some traction here. As dark clouds gather, with Trusted Computing, DRM and Patent disputes on the horizon, we need as many people as we can behind us. Now is the time.
But… My App Won’t Run
One thing I read consistently is that this or that app doesn’t run on Linux. Photoshop, CAD Software, I even read a complaint that Visual Studio doesn’t run on Linux. Wine has come a long way, and you can get some programs running with it, but it is mostly irrelevant. Cedega from Transgaming has done nice work getting games to run on Linux. Still, Photoshop does run under Linux. Any Windows program you name does. All you have to do is install a Virtual Machine, be it VMware, Xen, QEMU or whatever, then install Windows. You can then run Linux, and easily run any Windows native program you need. This solves the perceived hassle of dual booting. Linux doesn’t require complete monogamy.
I have run Linux almost exclusively for the past ten years. I love it. It does just about everything I need, and more. It still did not save me from the hand of the Great Monopoly, though. When sending out my resume, most employers requested it in Word format. Using Open Office and saving it as a .doc screwed up the formatting, something unacceptable to future employers. After trying a few things, I finally had to bite the bullet and use Microsoft Office. OpenDocument (.odt) is a great format, but it isn’t widely known and accepted. Did I sell out? Possibly. The way I looked at it, I had to use the right tool for the right job. I needed to create a perfect looking Word document, so I used Word to do it.
This is changing, as well. There are great free online office suites. Google Docs and Spreadsheets work well. Zoho Office is amazing. Offline, Open Office, Abiword and Kword all do a very good job, a hell of a lot cheaper than Microsoft Office. If you have basic word processing needs, I can easily recommend all of the above.
The Future
64 Bit Computing. Distros should focus more on this area. The need to run 64 bit applications is debatable; 64 bit processors run fine in 32 bit mode. The problem is that you really cannot buy a 32 bit processor anymore, so the future is now. I haven’t run into too many problems running 64bit distros, but there are a few gotchas here and there. Let’s continue the work so we can run what we need natively.
Educate. As new users enter the fold, let’s make sure they understand the importance of why they are able to freely use what they are using. Most may not care, but the ones that do can help to be influential. The stakes are high, and we should make sure they understand what they are.
We welcome our new Google Overlords. Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Zoho Office are our best chance of breaking the Microsoft Office monopoly. Picasa and Google Earth run on Linux. The move away from applications being OS dependent will only help us in the long run.
Compiz/Beryl/Compositing Community. It is still early, and the 3D desktop on Linux is working very well. There are a lot of great changes coming in the near future. I have seen nothing excite normal people the way this has. It may be frivolous to have all of these effects running, but overall people like them. The days of Linux being disregarded as some UNIX dinosaur that is a nightmare to use are over. Things are moving rapidly in this space, and it is great to see.
Virtualization. You can now run Windows fairly easily within Linux using any of the Virtualization tools out there. You can also dabble in Solaris or any of the BSDs. If you have to run something that will not run on Linux, fine. Boot up your VM and run the program from there. Obviously, the reverse is true. If you are afraid of getting rid of windows, go ahead and install VMware Server and try Linux out inside of it. Hell, install Linux, then Windows in a VM, then install a VM in windows and install BSD, repeat until you reach infinity.
Keep the Faith. Since I’ve long past gone out on the limb of sounding cheesy, I’m going for broke. There are a lot of challenges ahead for Linux. There is also nothing out there like Linux. It has been an exciting ten years, watching this thing grow and improve almost daily. First and foremost, it is an operating system written by nerds for nerds. That is our greatest strength. Infighting in the community is good, when it displays the passion people feel for a particular piece of software. In my eyes, all of this choice is a good thing. As Linux continues to evolve, things will fall into place. We just need to stay vigilant. The year of the Linux Desktop is here, for those of us that use it every day.
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Filed Under Compiz, Editorial, beryl | 12 Comments
It isn’t official yet, but Compiz and Beryl are merging. For the last few weeks I have been following the mailing list discussions on this topic. A lot of the work has been started. It is sort of unofficially announced, so I feel now is as good a time as any to comment. First some back story:
The war between Compiz and Beryl has been entertaining if counterproductive. Originally I planned to interview Quinn (Beryl’s unofficial leader) about the Beryl project. That turned into an interview with the team that never really got anywhere. I dropped the ball. My feelings at the time were typical of those in the community. Beryl seemed to be this fantastic project that saved Compiz from being boring and a slave to Novell. They launched a beautiful website. It was exciting to see the frequency of their releases. At the time, I decided to check out Compiz to see what it was up to. It was surprising. Their forums were very helpful and positive. The more I read, the more I realized that I had made a mistake. There was more to the story than I was aware.
The communities were getting along a lot worse than I had realized. People in the Beryl camp dismissed David Reveman (creator of Compiz and XGL among other things) as a bad coder. Compiz dismissed Beryl as hacky code. Personal attacks flew around. Through decisions made with (hopefully) good intentions, like the insistence that Beryl code be GPL (thus unable to move upstream to the MIT licensed Compiz core) or the desire on some Beryl developers part to rip apart the Compiz core and ” improve” it, it looked as if the teams were hopelessly split.
Meanwhile, Beryl continued to grow. Resentment grew in the Compiz community. One estimate was that Beryl used 95% Compiz code while taking all the credit. YouTube filled up with tons of spinning transparent cubes and burning windows. Any Digg story mentioning Beryl received a lot of Diggs. Flamewars in comment sections broke out regularly. Things reached a low point when a frustrated Compiz community member hacked the Beryl site.
This state of affairs was a shame. Something that was finally getting the general public excited about Linux, the 3D desktop, was wasting time with duplication of effort and fighting. There were concerns about the long term viability of Beryl. The perception in the community overall was, Compiz = old and stale, Beryl = fresh and exciting. This despite the feeling in the Compiz community that the "real work" was being done by David Reveman and Compiz, and there were exciting things with Compiz core (like input redirection, etc…) on the horizon.
It was a pleasant surprise to see talks of a merge start to show up on the mailing lists. This article by Kristian Hogsberg seemed to kick it off. The talks so far have been bumpy. There are fights about whether to rename the communities. There are heated discussions about what the merger means and where things should go from here. Old wounds have been reopened. There are complaints about the egos of the developers in the forums. At one point, reading a twenty-four page forum discussion, I wondered if the merge was a good idea after all. Little by little things seem to be working out, though. Quinn mentioned in one forum post that the fork was a mistake and regrettable. It takes a big person to make an admission like that.
I have to hand it to both communities. This is a brave and bold step. Not many of us can check our egos, put hurt feelings aside and move forward. The road ahead won’t be easy, but the benefit to the Linux community will be immense. Energy won’t be wasted on fights and duplication of effort. Confusion over what to use will be eliminated. Hopefully more effort can be spent by the distributions on getting the combined product packaged properly (How many times can I install a distro and the 3d desktop only to have no window borders in KDE?). The discussions I read are passionate. It looks like the project will be a meritocracy, which works the best in Free Software. My take is that at this point, it is best for both teams to focus on the code and technical details, trust each other and then make decisions on what to name it down the road. It seems early to deal with emotional things like what to name it. As everyone gets used to working together, tough decisions like that should come easily. Trust and respect will be established and the name calling will cease.
I don’t want to be over dramatic, but this could not have come at a better time. The 3d desktop is the first thing to grab the general public’s imagination and push people into trying out Linux. Compiz and Beryl provide an experience you really can’t get on Windows or Mac. There is an exciting Wild West feel to the projects. As things mature, this will be what brings Linux to the mainstream. The passion everyone involved feels may look like a negative. It is the project’s greatest strength.
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Filed Under Linux Distributions, Reviews | 7 Comments
Live CDs are great. If you are on the road an unable to access a Linux box, you just pop it in to the drive and away you go. You can use them as restore discs, play practical jokes and install a full operating system from them. One of the more interesting areas in Live CDs are the minimal (or business card) distributions. Designed for older machines, these can be a lifesaver if you are visiting your parents and using an old computer. Over the next week I will be reviewing them and decide which one is the best.
One of my favorites is Austrumi. It is under 50mb in size and surprisingly full featured. It will run with 128Mb of ram or less. When Distrowatch Weekly mentioned version 1.4.0 was out, I was interested in trying it again.
A big change in this release is the switch from enlightenment to Metacity + LXPanel. They have added a MySQL client and server (?!) and the bittorrent client Transmission. The kernel is 2.6.20.1. More details are available on the project’s home page.
So what do you get on a 50Mb Live Cd? Austrumi has made interesting choices.
* File Manager – emelFM2 and Midnight Commander
* Web Browser – Firefox 1.5
* Email – Web-Mail (Uebimiau)
* Graphics – GIMP, Inkscape, GQview and the Ghostview Postscript/PDF Viewer
* Audio/ Video – MPlayer, Sweep and SimpleCDR-X
* Development – Bluefish Editor, QEMU
* Games – Atomix, Ltris, Mines, GtkBalls, Icebreaker and XBoard
* Office – Abiword and Gnumeric Spreadsheet
* Accessories – Calculator, Terminal, Stardict and Partimage
* Networking – Transmission, DC++, Linphone, XChat and vqcc-gtk Chat Client
You get a good amount of programs for such a small distro. You also have the option to install to disc or install to USB.
I booted into Austrumi. You are given four choices at the boot prompt:
1. al nocache (don’t attempt to cache CD) for systems with less than 128Mb Ram
2. al union (read-write filesystem)
3. al text (run text mode)
4. al noddc (for old monitor)
I simply hit enter and booted with no problem. The default language is Latvian. I changed this by clicking the menu, then Istatiejumi (Apparently the Latvians use a lot of letters in their words) and choosing valodas to change language to English. This restarts the X server. This could be made easier. The look of Austrumi is striking. The Wallpaper chosen gives it a sophisticated look. This distribution has a reputation of being very fast. It lived up to its reputation for me.
I clicked Firefox and found out my internet connection was not set up. Clicking the Connection Manager icon in the upper right corner opened Netconfig (a connection dialog.) I chose DHCP and I was online in less than a minute. This couldn’t have been simpler. You can set up a printer via the Cups web interface. The selection of printing drivers is minimal, so you may need to download your own.
Austrumi is not without its problems. Web-Mail did not work for me, it gave me a blank Firefox browser window. Install to hard drive did not recognize a disc, so I was unable to test it. As I mentioned earlier, it would not hurt to make the language switch more intuitive. If I remember correctly, in past editions you just clicked a flag on the toolbar. One program didn’t make the translation to English, Ugunsvarti. It is a firewall/router program. The program runs in English, though. I couldn’t connect to MySQL. Install to USB was not working. This is listed as being fixed as of version 1.4.1.3, but as I mentioned below I was unable to download it.
The website is a bit lacking. There are mentions of newer versions (up to 1.4.1.3), but the link on the download page only lists version 1.4.0. You won’t find a lot of information on the site, mainly a link to Slackware, some screenshots and an outdated list of programs. The history page only goes up to version 1.2.0. There are no English forums, there is a Latvian forum. To be fair, most distros do not provide Latvian forums and this is a Latvian distribution.
One great feature is that you can remaster and create your own Live CD from within Austrumi. You are able to remove the Live CD and burn a new one. The screenshot shows all of the steps you take. It is remarkable to me that you are even able to test it using QEMU before burning. I give them a lot of credit here. This is cool.
If you load Austrumi into RAM when you boot (which is done automatically do unless you have less than 128Mb) you can eject the disc to burn CDs as well. The provided program, SimpleCDR-X, is a nice and simple CD burning program that I was previously unaware of. I also had not heard of the audio editor and player Sweep. It looks like a very interesting program, one deserving of its own article. (Note: The Sweep website mistakenly lists the last update as February 2006 instead of 2007.) MPlayer uses the old skin, which I hadn’t seen in years, and runs fine.
The games are simple and entertaining. This is Linux, and a 50Mb Live CD, so don’t expect the latest and greatest. What they lack in fancy graphics they make up for in challenge. Atomix is a game where you have to put molecules together and drive yourself crazy in the process. Icebreaker is similar to Kbounce, where you trap the bouncing penguins in increasingly smaller blocks of ice. Similar to what is going on right now in Antarctica. LTris is, you guessed it, a Tetris clone. If you are looking to waste a little time, Austrumi comes through.
Austrumi is good at what it does, which is provide you with a reasonably full featured Linux Distribution that will fit on a 50Mb business card and run on an old machine. I recommend it. The small size makes the download painless. If you are stuck using an older machine, Austrumi is a good way to go. It is not without its bugs, but overall I found it worked well for me. It could use a bit more polish and attention to detail. Overall, I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Next up: Puppy Linux.
Firefox Tweaks:
Element14 has a collection of very useful Firefox tweaks here. I the site when searching for the solution to an annoying firefox bug, when I would try to drag something to my Bookmarks Toolbar Folder a tooltip would open and cover where I was trying to drop the link. The solution was as simple as going to about:config and toggling the value for toolbar_tips to “false”. I found a bunch of other things here that I was unaware of, such as increasing speed, killing RAM usage to 10mb when minimized, adjusting tab width (very helpful when you have tons of tabs open as I tend to do) and other things. It is worth checking out.
Disposable Email:
This has been around for a while, and there are quite a few providers out there. For those unaware of Disposable Email, they are sites that give you a temporary email address. You can then provide this email address to a site requiring registration, without filling your normal inbox with spam. Emails are held on the server anywhere from 15 minutes to 7 days, longer at some sites. Guerrilla Mail provides you with an email address that they pick. You have 15 minutes to use it. They have a timer that starts counting down and a button that will give you 15 more minutes. The site is clean, the interface is simple and intuitive. There are no ads on the page. Ipoo.org lets you pick your username, ending with @ipoo.org, @hatespam.org and a couple other ones. The mail stays on their server for 7 days. It is a nice looking and simple site. The only ad you see is on the mail page. Much better than ad cluttered sites like this one. One thing to remember is that this is insecure, both of these sites aren’t password protected. You shouldn’t be using them for anything sensitive anyway. I recommend each site, they do what they do very well.
Breaking Bad *nix Habits:
IBM provides this short tutorial; “UNIX tips: Learn 10 good Unix Usage Habits” . Some of these were bad habits I didn’t realize I had developed, like moving a .tar archive into the directory I am expanding it in, instead of just changing the path or piping grep to wc -1 instead of just giving it the -c option. Check it out, it is a helpful page. There is a lot of good stuff in their developerWorks section.
OpenOffice.org Training and Tips:
Aptly titled Openoffice.org Training, Tips and Ideas offers a wealth of information and links for Open Office. The information provided has plenty of screenshots to show you what to do. If you are like me and use OpenOffice but don’t dig down into it very often then this site may be a help.
Site News:
I plan to transition this site from Wordpress to Drupal in the next week, unless someone convinces me that it is a bad idea. I want this to be more of a community site. I will be tweaking the advertising in the near future. I want to bring you things relevant to you.
Running Linux Tech Daily causes me to switch between distributions often. One of the pains caused by this is keeping my Firefox bookmarks synchronized. There are Firefox Add-ons out there to take care of this, but none have worked the way I want them to. My folders get jumbled, or I have to move everything back to my bookmarks toolbar where I generally navigate from. When I read about Google Browser Sync from Google Labs I was intrigued. It seemed a great fit for my needs.
Google Browser Sync not only synchronizes your bookmarks, also syncs your Cookies, Saved Passwords, History, Tabs and Windows. This is a godsend for me. It is an annoyance to punch in my username and passwords each time I am running a fresh install. I visit a lot of sites. This looked to be a very helpful add-on. It works only with Firefox, version 1.5 or later.
Installation was very easy. I went to the page, clicked install, and it installed just like any other add-on. I restarted my browser, associated it with my Google Account and punched in the Security PIN. I refreshed, which sends the information to the Google servers and was done. Your cookies and saved passwords are automatically encrypted. You are given the option of encrypting your bookmarks, history, tabs and windows. I booted out of my Arch Linux system and rebooted into my fresh PCLinuxOS install. I ran through the installation routine again, synced and I was running essentially the same browser. I keep my bookmarks organized into folders on my Bookmarks Toolbar, and this is where I typically run into trouble. Google Bookmark Sync set it up identically. Very nice. Images of the install procedure are below.
My bookmarks are identical in each Firefox on each computer. My username and passwords transfer correctly, so I am able to log right in. It is nice to log off of one system, log onto another and have the option to restore my tabs from my last session. History works very well. It was a hindrance to be on one system and try to remember where I was earlier. Now my history follows me, no matter what system I am on. I can’t escape my past.
Google Browser Sync has worked exactly as promised. I read in the Google-Firefox-Extentions group that a few people have had problems with it. Luckily for me, it has been flawless. The convenience that it offers outweighs any privacy concerns I may have. You may feel differently, so be sure to review the Privacy Policy and Terms Of Service before using. Your information will be stored on Google’s servers. They claim that they cannot unlock your data without your PIN. I don’t know if that means Google can access it or not. I emailed them for clarification, but haven’t received a response yet. I will update when I get it. If I wasn’t comfortable with there being a record of my 4chan usage out there, I can simply use Konqueror or Opera to view it.
Google does not recommend that you use this on a shared computer. To quote the FAQ:
“Why shouldn’t I install Google Browser Sync on computers that other people can access?
Browser Sync keeps all your browsers in sync with each other, so it needs to send potentially sensitive information like your stored passwords, bookmarks, and browser history to the other computers where you’ve installed it. Also, once you install Browser Sync, you don’t need to log in every time you start the browser to access this info. Therefore, someone who uses a computer where you’ve installed browser sync will have access to all the info you’ve chosen to sync across your computers. Any new browser settings they create, such as browsing history, will also show up on your other computers.”
That is clear and makes sense. If you share a computer and don’t want others to access your info, this isn’t for you. If you use multiple computers and don’t mind having this information stored by Google, I recommend Google Browser Sync. It has made my life easier. Google Labs have done a very nice job here.
Screenshots:
If for some reason you are using Internet Explorer, get Firefox. It is worth trying. You can get it here:
Filed Under Linux Distributions, Sabayon, beryl | 28 Comments
There is a newer distro in town, gaining traction. Sabayon Linux is an installable, Gentoo based live Cd/DVD. It has the stated goal of being 100% Gentoo compatible. A lot of attention has been paid to the Sabayon brand. Theming is consistent and striking. Sabayon is one of the best looking distros I have used. They use a yellow,orange and red theme that is fresh and unlike any other Linux distribution. Beryl is used by default. It is a KDE distro with the option to use Fluxbox as your Desktop Environment. Sabayon gets it’s name from an Italian desert, to quote the website and Wikipedia: "Sabayon is an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, a sweet liqueur (usually Marsala wine), and sometimes cream or whole eggs. It is a very light custard, which has been whipped to incorporate a large amount of air." Sabayon refers to its users as "Hens" which isn’t as off putting as you might think.
Sabayon uses the Anaconda installer, from Red Hat. It is fully themed and consistent with Sabayon’s desktop look. The install goes as painlessly as an Anaconda install should, the difference is that instead of Fedora you have a fully running and configured Gentoo system without the hassle of a Gentoo install. You are left with a metaphysical question, am I using Sabayon or Gentoo? Is Sabayon a flavor of Gentoo? What was your original face before you were born? I can say that I don’t feel as if I am running Gentoo, I feel like I am running Sabayon.
I installed using the Mini Edition X86_64 3.2 as opposed to the full edition. My DVD burner is on the fritz, so it was my only choice. It was easy to add the programs I need and use. I prefer this method, actually. It is nice to build my system from a smartly configured base. 3D effects worked right out of the box. Package selection was intelligent. It contains proprietary and non-OSS software, which you can disable with the "noproprietary" boot flag. The mini edition gave me a fully featured operating system. It includes the Koffice office suite, the Amarok audio player, Codeine for video, K3B for Cd/DVD burning. Post install I emerged Mplayer, OpenOffice and other programs without a problem. Need your Google apps? Google Earth and Picasa install very easily.
Portage is your package manager. A graphical front end, Kuroo, is provided. I found Kuroo a bit confusing, and felt safer working through the command line. Kuroo is nice to see what if available, then emerge from the command line. Since it is Gentoo, expect installing packages to take some time. It isn’t as if your computer is rendered useless while programs compile, so that didn’t bother me. Sabayon uses Portage with a Sabayon overlay. Before installing and upgrading anything with Portage, be sure to read the forums. You need to mask packages, specifically dbus and qt or you may break your KDE, as I did. Be careful updating. Do not do an "emerge –update world" just because you can. You really need to take the time and make sure you understand Portage before doing anything. Sabayon recommends waiting for a new release and updating using the ISO. You can save yourself a lot of trouble following that advice if you are new to Gentoo. You are given the power to completely hose your system. Use it wisely.
I use the 64 bit version, Sabayon installs 32 bit versions of packages that have trouble running in 64 bits or are unavailable. That means you get Adobe’s Flashplayer for your browser. Mplayer uses 64 bit Realplayer for its codecs, so they are truly 64 bit. I have run into no problems or slowdowns. Everything runs seamlessly, whether it is using 64bit or 32bit libs. All of my multimedia needs are met with Sabayon.
As I mentioned, Sabayon uses Beryl by default. I run Compiz on my Arch install, so it was interesting to see what Beryl brings. I am running Beryl 0.2.0 beta 2. It is snappy and running without problems. Kudos to both the Compiz and Beryl teams. 3d effects are moving along very rapidly. I find it hard to work without the cube or transparency (Alt + mouse scroll) now. There seems to be a lot in this Beryl release, more than I have had time to play with. The new Beryl Settings Manager is nice and clean looking. There are still so many options that I end up getting overwhelmed and closing it. I read that "Beryl-settings-simple" exists, but it isn’t part of my install. Sabayon has a partnership with Beryl, so if you are a Beryl addict, this is the distro for you.
In the few weeks I have been using it, Sabayon has become one of my favorite Linux distributions. The developers have done a very nice job, particularly for a newer distribution. It is great for the whole spectrum of Linux users, from a new user to a seasoned vet. It is very simple with the potential to be as complicated as you wish. If you have been curious about Gentoo but put off by the installation, I heartily recommend Sabayon. They have a great and helpful user community that is growing. They have the weight of Gentoo’s documentation behind them. In this age where most new distros seem to be Debian based, Sabayon is a breath of fresh air. It is a great Distribution.
Screenshots:
LinuxQuestions.org has graciously allowed me to link to thier comprehensive screenshot gallery here. It is appreciated.
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Filed Under Uncategorized, announcement, forum, linuxtechdaily | Comments Off
I have added a forum to the site. I hope that some of you may find it useful. I will leave it up to the readers how it should shape up. If you are interested in moderating, drop me an email.
Thank you for visiting,
Rich
Filed Under Novell, Uncategorized, linux, openSuse | Comments Off
OpenSUSE 10.2 was released today. Torrents are here. The download page is here, It will be interesting to see the community reaction to this release. I feel bad for the OpenSUSE team. Novell put them in a bad position. The release features ext3 as the new default file system, Firefox 2.0, updated Gnome and KDE and an install add-on disc featuring proprietary software. It is a five cd set, they mention you only need the first 3 discs to install a default Gnome or KDE system in English or German. The announcement is here.
I tried running the 64bit release candidate. I had planned to review it.I wanted to give OpenSUSE an chance. I couldn’t give it a fair review. I hate Yast. I find it gets in my way. I couldn’t use it to edit grub properly. Software management was a nightmare. Updates were unbearable, loading software management took forever. I read that uninstalling zmd (the ZENworks Management Daemon) speeds things up, but I wasn’t able to accomplish this. I don’t know why, but I was caught in rpm hell, a phrase I hadn’t used in years. It was impossible for me to install GCC. Overall, it was a horrible experience and I was glad to wipe it from my hard drive. I understand that I was running a release candidate, but I have never had as many problems running an RC before. I am sure there will be plenty of glowing reviews of openSUSE in the semi-mainstream tech press, though. It looks pretty. Benjamin Italiaander
More recipes for Sugar Cream Pie.
Sugar cream pie, or Hoosier sugar cream pie, Indiana cream pie, sugar pie, or finger pie, is simply a pie shell spread with layers of creamed butter and maple or brown sugar with a sprinkling of flour, then filled with vanilla-flavored cream and baked.
1850s -The recipe appears to have originated in Indiana with the Shaker and/or Amish communities in the 1800s as a great pie recipe to use when the apple bins were empty. You will find somewhat similar pies in the Pennsylvania Dutch County and a few other places in the United States with significant Amish populations. The Shakers believed in eating hearty and healthy food. They definitely must have had a sweet tooth, though, judging by the sugar cream pie.
This pie was also know as finger pie because the filling was sometimes stirred with a finger during the baking process to prevent breaking the bottom crust. People used to skim the thick yellow cream from the top of chilled fresh milk to make this delectable dessert.
The following information is courtesy of Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, author of Cafe Indiana:
I suspect there is no single origin of sugar cream pie. It is a simple and basic pie "desperation pie" that could be made with ingredients that would have nearly always been on hand on any farm, just like buttermilk pie, vinegar pie, and mock apple pie using green tomatoes. It's possible that it may have originated with Indiana pioneers, or with the Amish, who make a similar type of egg less baked cream pie. The Hoosier Cookbook (1976), by Elaine Lumbra and Jacqueline Lacy, includes but one recipe for sugar cream pie. The note says it is a 160-year-old recipe; it was contributed by Mrs. Kenneth D. Hahn of Miami County. This would take the recipe back to 1816, the year of Indiana statehood. So, you might ask, which came first? Indiana or sugar cream pie? The arrival of the Amish began in the 1830s, so apparently Hoosier sugar cream pie predates the Amish. I find it very interesting that in The Hoosier Cookbook, the two recipes following the one for sugar cream pie are Amish Vanilla Pie and Vinegar Pie, two other desperation pies.
I've had a chance to do some research and make some calls to the Shaker villages in Kentucky, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, a historian of Shaker religion at Indiana University, and the local extension homemakers council. The "finger" sugar cream pie you have in your cookbook may be derived from the Eastern Shaker community, West Union Shaker Village in Busro, Indiana. A recipe for Sister Lizzie's Sugar Pie appears in The Best of Shaker Cooking by Amy Bess Williams Miller and Persis Wellington Fuller. The historian at Shaker Hill is unfamiliar with the pie among the foodways of the Western community, of which the short-lived Indiana community (1810-1827) was a part. She doubts that its origins lie in the western community.
The dry mix method was/is apparently also by the Amish (Haedrich, 373), of which there are large and very old communities in Indiana. I am also familiar with a baked Amish cream pie that is similar to sugar cream, but it has a stiffer texture (more like pumpkin pie) and is not as "gluey" as sugar cream.
There are many varied recipes for sugar cream pie in Hoosier compiled cookbooks. Most have very similar ingredients (a few have eggs or egg yolks), but the cooking methods vary. Instructions include cooking the filling on the stovetop and pouring it into a baked pie shell, at which time the pie is finished; or, then putting the cooked filling/baked pie shell in the oven and baking 10 to 15 minutes; or putting the uncooked filling in an unbaked pie shell and baking the pie until it is done, about an hour or longer. None of the methods have the baker putting the dry ingredients into the shell, pouring over the liquid, and baking the pie in the oven. No one I have talked to here in Indiana has ever made the pie that way. Although to be honest, few people I talked to make the pie at all, or had mothers who made it.
In my opinion, Hoosier sugar cream pie is best distinguished by the lack of eggs (even though some local recipes include them) and the wet filling.
Cas tepe betaalt zijn huur niet, verhuur nooit een apartement aan hem, in de periode van 2008 tot 2010 heeft hij drie kamers gehuurd in amsterdam. Na verloop van tijd betaald hij geen huur meer. Hij vind de huur spontaan tehoog. Hij rookt en blowt. En bij het verlaten van de kamer geeft hij de sleutels niet terug. en heeft 3 maanden geen huur betaald. NIET VERHUREN AAN CAS TEPE.
I stumbled across your "History of sugar cream pie" article and was interested in the additional information provided by Joanne Raetz Stuttgen below. While she states that she has not encountered anyone who mixes the ingredients right in the pie crust, we have a very old family recipe (Quebec "habitant" or farm folk) that has been passed down through the generations that calls for mixing the dry ingredients in the pie shell and adding the liquid. There are only three ingredients: brown sugar, flour, and cream. The filling is the mixed either with a finger or a wooden spoon before baking for about an hour. - Yves Quinty, Ottawa, Ontario Canada (3/25/09)
8-inch Pie Crust Recipe
1 cup lightly-packed brown sugar1 tablespoon all-purpose flour1 cup (minus 2 tablespoons) heavy or whipping creamPreheat oven to 325 degrees F.Mix brown sugar and flour directly in prepared unbaked pie crust until flour disappears. Add the cream and mix with finger or wooden spoon.
Bake until entire surface of filling is boiling and crust is well bronzed, approximately 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature before serving.
Notes:
- A fresh pie crust can be used, but I got into the habit of freezing my pie crusts before using. This allows me to mix the ingredients with a spoon without damaging the crust.
- It is easier to tell when the pie is baked by eye rather than by time. You will see lively boiling in the center, and sluggish boiling on the edge where the filling has thickened.
(5/29/07) - I googled “sugar cream pie” because members of my family from Richmond, Indiana, are wondering about the origins. My mother’s recipe, handed down from her mother, who descended from a pioneer Quaker family, uses the dry method and uses the finger for stirring. My mother told me that finger stirring in the unbaked crust is necessary so as not to whip the cream before baking. We sprinkle fresh grated nutmeg over the top before baking. Our family recipe, by the way, does not include butter or eggs.
I appreciate your research in this area. The study of food ways is fascinating. An old eastern Indiana/western Ohio trait is to refer to bell peppers as mangos. The practice has pretty much died out as real mangos are so readily available in the groceries today.
Sister Susan Karina Dickey, O.P., Ph.D.
Director of Archives & Diocesan Historian
Diocese of Springfield in Illinois
Apollo 1 (official designation Apollo/Saturn-204) was planned to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program to launch in February 1967. Its flight was precluded by a fatal fire on January 27, which killed all three crew members (Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee), and destroyed the Command Module cabin. This occurred during a pre-launch test of the spacecraft on Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral. The name Apollo 1 chosen by the crew, was officially assigned retroactively in commemoration of them.
The Apollo 204 Accident Review Board was promptly formed to determine the cause of the tragedy. Although the ignition source of the fire was never conclusively identified, the astronauts' deaths were attributed to a wide range of lethal design and construction flaws in the early Apollo Command Module. The manned phase of the project was delayed for twenty months while these problems were fixed. The Saturn IB launch vehicle SA-204 (Saturn/Apollo) intended to fly the mission was later used for the first unmanned Lunar Module test flight, Apollo 5.
In this unit you will learn about:
- Disasters and Disaster Workers: What defines a disaster, what defines an emergency, and who makes up the response workforce.
- The Impact on the Infrastructure: The potential effect of extreme emergencies and disasters on transportation; electrical service; telephone communication; fuel; food, water, and shelter; and emergency services.
- Structural and Nonstructural Hazards: Potentially hazardous conditions in various types of structures and their contents during a disaster.
- Hazard Mitigation: What to do to reduce the risk of damage from hazards that threaten your area.
- Home and Workplace Preparedness: How you can prepare in advance to reduce structural and nonstructural hazards and survive the initial period after a disaster.
- Community Preparedness: How a community can prepare in advance to respond.
- Protection for Disaster Workers: Laws that protect disaster workers from liability.
Unit 1: Disaster Preparedness
Objectives
At the conclusion of this unit, the participants will be able to:
- Describe the types of hazards that are most likely to affect their homes and community.
- Describe the functions of CERTs and their role in the immediate response to a disaster.
- Identify steps to prepare themselves for a disaster.
Scope
The scope of this unit will include:
- Welcome and Introductions.
- Recent Disasters and Emergencies.
- Course Preview.
- Disasters and Disaster Workers.
- Participant Introductions.
- Impact on the Infrastructure.
- Structural and Nonstructural Hazards.
- Disaster Hazard Mitigation.
- Unit Summary.
Estimated Completion Time
2 hours 30 minutes
Training Methods
The Lead Instructor will begin by welcoming the participants to the course, introducing himself or herself and the other Instructor(s), and making any necessary administrative announcements. The Instructor will then briefly review a major disaster that recently affected the area or the State, stressing its aftermath, lessons learned (including the importance of preparedness), and the role that CERTs might have had in that disaster.
Next, the Instructor will briefly explain the course objectives and discuss the topics to be covered in the course.
The Instructor will then give a brief overview of the nature of disasters and extreme emergencies, stressing how CERTs fit into the response and recovery picture.
Then the Instructor will begin an introductory activity. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the participants to each other and illustrate the types of skills and abilities that CERTs require.
Training Methods (Continued)
During this activity, each participant will introduce himself or herself and provide a brief description of:
- Why he or she is attending the course.
- Where he or she lives or works in the community.
Following the introductions, the Instructor will review the collective distribution of participants and facilitate a brief discussion of how the skills demonstrated in the introductory activity might be useful in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. During the discussion, the Instructor will stress the importance of communication, trust, and teamwork (the whole being greater than the sum of the parts) as critical elements of effective CERTs.
Next, the Instructor will lead a discussion of the chief threat(s) for the community and the impact that the threat(s) is(are) likely to have on the community’s infrastructure and emergency services.
The Instructor will then lead a discussion of the types of structural and nonstructural hazards that the participants may face in the different types of structures located within the community and how those hazards can be mitigated through individual and community preparedness efforts both at home and in the workplace.
Finally, the Instructor will summarize the key points of the session while creating the linkage that, as CERT members, the participants will play a vital role in response.
Resources Required
- Community Emergency Response Team Instructor Guide
- Community Emergency Response Team Participant Manual
- Visuals 1.1 through 1.22
- Visuals for hazard modules selected from Appendix 1-A
Equipment
The following additional equipment is required for this unit:
- A computer with PowerPoint software
- A computer projector and screen
- Scissors (1 for every 5 participants)
- Tape (1 roll for every 5 participants)
- Two pieces of cardboard (approximately 8" X 10" ) (1 set for every 5 participants)
- Forty pieces of construction paper (8½" x 11") (1 set for every 5 participants)
Preparation
Prepare information on State and local laws that protect CERT members in your area.
Review this unit and the hazard modules that are included at the end of this unit, carefully. Select the hazards that present the greatest threat to your community, and incorporate them into the unit. If possible, tailor the hazard materials by including local examples and photographs.Notes
A suggested time plan for this unit is as follows:
Welcome and Introductions............................................................ 20 minutes
Introduction and Unit Overview........................................................ 5 minutes
Recent Disasters and Emergencies............................................... 15 minutes
Course Preview................................................................................ 5 minutes
Disasters and Disaster Workers....................................................... 5 minutes
(Disaster Threats) [From Appendix 1-A]................................... (25 minutes)
Impact on the Infrastructure........................................................... 10 minutes
Structural and Nonstructural Hazards............................................ 10 minutes
Hazard Mitigation............................................................................ 15 minutes
Home and Workplace Preparedness............................................. 15 minutes
Community Preparedness............................................................. 10 minutes
Protection for Disaster Workers....................................................... 5 minutes
Unit Summary.................................................................................. 5 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutesRemarks
This unit includes information on a variety of hazards, some—but not all—of which may affect your community. Review this unit and the additional materials carefully before training to identify hazards that pose a threat to your community.
After determining which hazard presentations you wish to include, you will want to add the PowerPoint slides into the main file for Unit 1. To merge the slide presentations:
- Open the PowerPoint file for Unit 1.
- Open the PowerPoint file for the hazard you wish to include.
- While in the hazard presentation, click “Slide Sorter View” (
) at the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Click “Edit” at the top of the screen.
- Click “Select All” from the edit pull-down menu.
- Click “Window” at the top of the screen and select the Unit 1 presentation.
- Click “Slide Sorter View” (
).
- Place the cursor where the hazard insert should be by clicking between the slides at the appropriate place in the Unit 1 presentation.
- Right click, and select “paste” to pull in the hazard slides.
- Repeat steps 2 through 8 for each hazard presentation that you wish to include in this unit.
Unit 1: Disaster Preparedness
Welcome and Introductions
Introduce Course
Welcome the participants to Community Emergency Response Team training.
Introduce yourselves and provide some background information about your past experiences in emergency response.
Tell the participants that the introduction section in their Participant Manuals contains excellent information on:
- When a Disaster strikes.
- Community preparedness.
- How CERT teams operate.
- The CERT training program.
Encourage the participants to review this information after the training session is adjourned.
Participant Introductions
Introduce Unit
As the participants are arriving, develop a class roster by passing around a sheet of paper. Ask the participants to write down their name, address, and phone number.
Activity: Building a Tower
Conduct Activity
Instructions: Follow the steps below to conduct this exercise:
- Assign the participants to groups of five.
- Distribute the following materials to each group:
- 1 pair of scissors
- 1 roll of scotch tape
- 2 pieces of cardboard (approximately 8” x 10”)
- 40 pieces of construction paper (8½” x 11”)
- Tell the group that they will spend the next 10 minutes planning and designing a free-standing tower that stands at least five feet tall from the bottom of the structure to the top. Explain that you will tell the groups when to begin and that they will have 5 minutes from that point to construct the tower.
- Tell the groups when to begin their work and when to end.
- At the end of the allotted time, facilitate a group discussion of what the groups have learned through the exercise. Be sure to cover the following points:
- Unfamiliar people. . .
- Can work on an unfamiliar problem. . .
- Using unfamiliar tools. . .
- In unfamiliar surroundings. . .
- In a time-compressed environment. . .
- To reach a common goal.
Stress that the skills and abilities that the groups used during the exercise are the same skills that they will use as CERT members.
Introduction and Unit Overview
Unit Objectives
Display Visual
Unit Objectives
- Describe the types of hazards to which your community is vulnerable.
- Describe the functions of CERTs.
- Identify preparedness steps.
At the end of this unit, the participants should be able to:
- Describe the types of hazards most likely to affect their homes and community.
- Describe the functions of CERTs and their role in immediate response.
- Identify steps to prepare for disasters.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies
Introduce Topic
Stress to the participants that:
- Emergency response personnel cooperate at many levels to provide immediate response capabilities.
- Emergency service capability can be greatly enhanced by well-organized, well-trained, and well-managed CERTs that are able to:
- Prepare in advance of a disaster event.
- Respond in their communities to address immediate needs brought about by the disaster.
Display Visual
Preparing for a Disaster
CERTs should prepare by:
- Identifying potential hazards in their homes and workplaces.
- Reducing hazards, where possible.
- Developing a disaster supply kit.
Tell the participants that, as CERT members, their role is to prepare for a disaster by:
- Identifying potential structural and nonstructural hazards in their homes and workplaces.
- Reducing the hazards to the degree possible before a disaster strikes.
- Developing a disaster supply kit.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
Instructor’s Note
Tell the participants that a complete list of items to include in a disaster supply kit is included later in this unit and in a FEMA publication titled, Are Your Ready?, which is available on FEMA’s website at: www.fema.gov/areyouready/ in either Word or PDF format.
Display Visual
Responding To a Disaster
CERTs should respond by:
- Locating and turning off utilities, if safe.
- Extinguishing small fires.
- Treating injuries.
- Conducting light search and rescue.
- Helping to relieve survivor stress.
CERTs respond after a disaster by:
- Locating and turning off utilities, if safe to do so.
- Extinguishing small fires.
- Treating life-threatening injuries until professional assistance can be obtained.
- Conducting light search and rescue operations.
- Helping disaster survivors cope with their emotional stressors.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
Briefly review a recent disaster or emergency in your area or State. Discuss:
- The event (e.g., Category 4 hurricane, earthquake measuring 6.3).
- The damage (e.g., lives lost, injuries, cost to rebuild).
- Lessons learned, especially as they relate to preparedness.
Then explain the role that CERTs might have had if they were operational during that disaster. Relate their role to the key CERT functions:
- Fire safety
- Medical operations
- Light search and rescue
- Disaster psychology
CERTs in Disaster Roles
Explain that there are many instances of CERT members’ participation in disaster response.
Point out that during the Northridge Earthquake, the following use of CERTs were recorded:
- Search: 203
- Rescue: 17
- Medical treatment: 57
- Patient transport: 4
- Fire suppression: 5
- Utility control: 156
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
Tell the group that in Alachua County, FL, during Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and during Tropical Storm Gordon in 2000, CERTs were called by the EOC to contact special-needs residents to ensure that they were aware of the approaching storms and to ascertain whether they would use the county’s special needs shelters and transportation. The CERTs arranged transportation, as necessary.
About a dozen CERTs were used during the Hidden Lake and Lake Louise fires in 2000 to provide food for the firefighters, move supplies, and assist with preparation in the area.
Tell the group that the CERT concept has extended from its original purpose as a response operation following catastrophic disasters. CERTs are now activated for a wide range of emergencies. For example, in Whatcom County, WA, CERT members were used in the following situations:
- Whatcom Creek gasoline pipeline explosion (Olympic Pipeline)
- Explosion at the Georgia-Pacific Pulp & Paper Mill
- Y2K Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation
- Sandy Point wind and flood event
- Nisqually earthquake
The CERT members who responded to the Whatcom Creek incident received The American Red Cross Real Heroes Award for their contributions. CERT members in the county have received Federal, State, and local recognition for their response efforts.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
CERTs in Nondisaster Roles
Display Visual
Nondisaster CERT Roles
CERT members can:
- Distribute preparedness materials.
- Staff first aid booths at special events.
- Assist with installation of smoke alarms.
Explain that CERT members also are a potential volunteer pool for the community. They can help with projects such as:
- Distributing preparedness materials.
- Staffing medical booths during special events.
- Assisting with the installation of smoke alarms for seniors and special-needs households.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
Display Visual
Citizen Corps
- The President has encouraged Americans to volunteer to improve and safeguard the nation.
- Areas of emphasis for volunteer efforts:
- Crime
- Natural Disasters
- Terrorism
Additionally, in his January 29, 2002, State of the Union address, the President asked that Americans volunteer their services to improve and safeguard our country. The three areas of emphasis for these volunteer efforts are crime, natural disasters, and terrorism. The Citizen Corps Program was created to help Americans meet this call to service. One of the volunteer opportunities offered to the American public under the Citizen Corps umbrella is the CERT program.
Instructor’s Note
If anyone asks, explain that other opportunities under Citizen Corps include Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers in Police Service, and the Medical Response Corps.
Recent Disasters and Emergencies (Continued)
Display Visual
Additional CERT Training Opportunities
- Shelter management
- Community relations
- Donations management
- Special needs concerns
- Debris removal
- Utilities control
- Advanced first aid
- Automated External Defibrillator use
- CPR skills
After completing initial CERT training, many CERT members seek to expand and improve their skills—through continuing CERT modules offered locally, courses offered through The American Red Cross, or programs from other sources. Some CERT members have sought additional training opportunities in:
- Shelter management.
- Community relations.
- Donations management.
- Special needs concerns.
- Debris removal.
- Utilities control.
- Advanced first aid.
- Automated External Defibrillator use.
- CPR skills.
Ask the participants if they have any questions about the use of CERTs in recent disasters.
Tell the participants that next, you will provide an overview of the course.
Course Preview
Explain that this unit will provide an overview of the course by establishing a context for CERTs within the specific hazards faced by the community.
roughly in and after periods of heavy or continuous rain and during building works.
1.3 Disaster Prevention Checklist: Preservation Services Staff
As you walk around the building check for the following (please note: the warehouse should also be checked every six months) and report problems to the Building and Security Services Help Desk:
- Evidence of water
- dripping from sprinkler heads, pipes, building expansion joints, drip / drainage trays
- water anywhere
- sound of water dripping
- water stains on floor, walls, ceilings, light fittings, etc
- high humidity
- damp musty smell
- mould
- used Emergency Supply Cabinets
- Fire hazards
- staff and/or visitors smoking in the Library
- accumulation of litter, stores or other items in fire stairs and tunnels
- faulty electrical wiring or appliance
- items blocking access to exits, egress, fire protection appliances and alarms
- any missing or discharged extinguishes or extinguishes positioned on floors
- any leakages or flammable gases or liquids, and
- any excessive collection of rubbish, dust or spill of liquids
- Evidence of pests
- any pests found may be an indication of more in hiding
- damage, nests, droppings / frass, or remains
- smell
- damage to collections
1.4 Special Action for Wet Weather
Checks of storage areas in wet weather
Checks for water leaks in storage areas are to be made during and up to a week after any period of heavy or continuous rainfall. Preservation Staff are rostered each month to carry out checks. Stack and Special Collections staff working in the storage areas are also responsible for making the checks. The Collections Disaster Coordinator and Preservation Services Staff will coordinate checks through phone and personal contact.
If any problems are found Building and Security Services Help Deks are to be advised immediately.
During periods of rain, particularly heavy or continuous rain or hail storms, Stack supervisors and Collection Managers listed in section 1.6 will check for leaks and advise Building and Security Services Branch and the Collection Disaster Coordinator of any problems.
1.5 Leakage Risk Sites
** omitted **
1.6 Wet Weather Staff Contact List
** omitted **
During Working Hours
** omitted **
After Hours
When leaving the building during wet weather, Preservation staff will either contact LG2 Security or call in on the way out and ask for regular patrols to be made of risk areas to check for leaks.
Security Guards are provided with a 2-way radio or mobile to make them contactable during building patrols
1.7 Disaster Prevention Checks During Building Works
Work on the Library building presents an added risk of disaster, requiring special precautions by Building and Security Services Branch, the Collection Emergency Coordinator, the Collections Disaster Coordinator, Preservation Services Staff, relevant Collection Manager and/or Director of Exhibitions and the contractor.
It is the responsibility of the Building Manager, Building and Security Services Branch to ensure that any areas of potential risk and necessary precautions are identified and discussed with contractors as early as possible. Building and Security Services Branch, the Collection Emergency Coordinator, the Collection Disaster Coordinator, the Collection Manager and the Director of Exhibitions, where appropriate, are required to include preproject contingency planning in the initial project-planning phase.
When building work is commenced, Building and Security Services Branch, the Collection Emergency Coordinator, the Collection Disaster Coordinator and the relevant Collection Manager and/or Director of Exhibitions will meet as appropriate to monitor the progress of the building work in the collection areas and take any action that is deemed necessary.
It is the responsibility of the Building Manager, Building and Security Services Branch to inform the Collections Emergency Coordinator, the Collections Disaster Coordinator, Preservation Services and the Collection Manager and/or Director of Exhibitions of any contract work being carried out which may present an increased risk of disaster (water, fire, dust, structural failure) and to negotiate a regime of checking the work site to ensure:
- all collections are covered with ample plastic sheeting to protect them from dirt and water at all times during building works
- no collection material is placed on the floor or moved unnecessarily
- dust produced by the work site is kept to a minimum and/or fully extracted away from collection areas
- risk to the collections is at its absolute minimum. If necessary collections may be moved to an agreed location to minimise risk.
- contractors are aware of emergency supplies, their locations and when they are to be used
- contractors are aware of their responsibilities when working near collections
- contractors know whom to contact in an emergency involving collection materia
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This report was compiled from data given to ARRL HQ from ARRL State Government Liaison volunteers. If you know that any of this information is incomplete or incorrect, please contact the Regulatory Information Branch at HQ. Some of this information (as noted by asterisks) is dated, so any assistance in updating it is appreciated. Benjamin Italiaander
Niniejsze sprawozdanie zostało opracowane na podstawie danych podanych do ARRL HQ z ARRL rządzie wolontariuszy łącznikowych. Jeśli wiesz, że te informacje są niekompletne lub nieprawidłowe, należy skontaktować Informacje prawne Oddział w HQ. . Niektóre z tych informacji (jak zaznaczono gwiazdkami) jest datowany, więc wszelka pomoc w aktualizacji jest to doceniane. Benjamin Italiaander
Naomi Italiaander
Indonesië 2005
Profiel
Mijn naam is Naomi Italiaander (20) en ik ben een geboren en getogen Amsterdamse. Eigenlijk heb ik tot mijn zeventiende niet zoveel van het echte leven meegekregen, aangezien ik op een orthodox joodse meisjesschool heb gezeten. Op de middelbare school was ik vast besloten om journalistiek te gaan studeren, omdat ik eigenlijk niks van de ‘buitenwereld’ wist en ik wel heel nieuwsgierig was naar wat er allemaal in de wereld gaande was/is. In mijn eerste jaar journalistiek heb ik in Utrecht gewoond, waar ik een ontzettende shoque kreeg, aangezien ik totaal niet wist hoe de wereld in elkaar zat. Uitgaan en het echte studentenleven was een openbaring voor mij, waar ik dankbaar gebruik van maakte. Ondanks het vele uitgaan in Utrecht, mistte ik Amsterdam. Na één jaar ben ik dan ook terug verhuisd, naar de heilige stad. Op dit moment woon ik op het Leidseplein in het centrum van Amsterdam, waar ik het erg naar mijn zin heb. Mijn leefomgeving strekt zich dan ook niet veel verder uit dan om en op het Leidseplein. Mijn werk is naast mijn deur en ook om uit te gaan hoef ik niet ver van huis te gaan. Maar goed, naast het uitgaan en met vrienden afspreken hou ik heel erg veel van voetballen. Tussen mijn achtste en veertiende jaar speelde ik op een hoog niveau, wat ik stop zette na een gebroken pols. Nu voetbal ik vaak met vrienden op het museumplein, maar na onze reis naar Indonesië, waag ik me weer aan het zaalvoetbal.
Ik zit nu in mijn derde jaar journalistiek en heb vanaf de eerste introductie met verre reis gezegd dat ik dat ook wilde doen. Reizen is een passie die ik niet kan omschrijven. Lang op één plek blijven is voor mij niet weggelegd. De wereld zien, andere culturen leren kennen en vooral mijn eigen horizon verbreden is iets wat voor mij erg belangrijk is. Ik hoop dan ook veel over de Islam en het Hindoeïsme te weten te komen. Mijn doel van de reis is, om me in anderen en hun situatie in te kunnen leven en vooral een andere cultuur te leren begrijpen.
Na Verre Reis ga ik beginnen aan de mediumdiff tijdschrift. Ik wil zeker verder in de journalistiek en het liefst wil ik reizen en daarover kunnen schrijven. Afgelopen januari ben ik dan ook naar New York geweest. Daar heb ik een artikel geschreven voor het Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad en zo heb ik reizen kunnen combineren met schrijven. Omdat ik denk dat het heel moeilijk is om hiervan rond te kunnen komen, zou ik ook wel voor een opinieblad willen schrijven.
Ik denk dat we heel veel gaan leren over een cultuur en maatschappij die ons vreemd is. Ik weet dat iedereen van de groep voor dingen komt te staan, die ze nog nooit meegemaakt hebben. Naast het bezoeken van instanties en het interviewen van mensen, hoop ik dat er ook wat tijd voor ontspanning overblijft. Zo wil ik graag naar Glodok,de oude Chinese wijk, en een bezoekje brengen aan de grootste discotheek van Jakarta. Ik hoop dat iedereen in de groep uit de reis kan halen, waarvoor ze is meegegaan. Ik denk dat wij het als groep erg leuk gaan hebben en wens iedereen een blije, vrolijke, gezellige en leerzame reis toe!!!!
Naomi Italiaander
Indonesien 2005
Profil
Mein Name ist Naomi Italiaander (20) und ich bin geboren und aufgewachsen in Amsterdam. Eigentlich war ich nicht so sehr des siebzehnten geerbt wirklichen Leben, da ich eine orthodoxe jüdische Schule für Mädchen sitzt bin. In der Highschool war ich entschlossen, Journalismus zu studieren, weil ich nichts von der "Außenwelt" und ich wußte sehr neugierig, was los ist in der Welt war / ist. In meinem ersten Jahr im Journalismus ich in Utrecht, wo ich eine schreckliche shoque gelebt haben, weil ich absolut nicht wissen, wie die Welt funktioniert. Ausgehen und die eigentliche studentische Leben war eine Offenbarung für mich, wo ich gut gebrauchen. Trotz der vielen Ausflüge in Utrecht, Amsterdam ich verpasst. Nach einem Jahr bin ich auch zurück, um die heilige Stadt umgezogen. Derzeit lebe ich auf dem Leidseplein im Herzen von Amsterdam, wo ich bin sehr glücklich. Meine Umwelt erstreckt sich nicht viel weiter als über-und Leidseplein. Meine Arbeit ist mein nebenan und auch zu gehen brauche ich Nähe zu Hause. Anyway, neben der Unterhaltung der Freunde und Ich mag sehr viel Fußball. Zwischen meinem achten und vierzehnten Jahr habe ich auf einem hohen Niveau gespielt, hielt ich nach einem gebrochenen Handgelenk. Jetzt habe ich oft Fußball mit Freunden im Museum, aber nach unserer Reise nach Indonesien, wage ich zurück zum Fußball.
Ich bin jetzt in meinem dritten Jahr Journalismus und trotzdem von der ersten Einführung in die Ferne zu sagen, dass ich tun wollte. Reisen ist eine Leidenschaft, die ich nicht beschreiben kann. Long einen Platz für mich zu spielen bleiben. Sehen Sie die Welt, andere Kulturen kennen und besonders meine eigenen Horizont ist etwas für mich sehr wichtig. Ich hoffe, eine Menge über den Islam und Hinduismus zu lernen. Mein Zweck der Reise ist es, mich und andere für ihre Situation im Leben und vor allem eine andere Kultur zu verstehen.
Nach einer langen Reise, fange ich an mediumdiff Magazin. Ich würde definitiv in den Journalismus gehen, und ich bevorzuge es zu reisen und zu schreiben. Im vergangenen Januar bin ich nach New York. Ich habe einen Artikel für die New Weekly israelitischen geschrieben und so kann ich Reiseliteratur zu kombinieren. Weil ich denke, es ist sehr schwer für sie, Come Around, würde ich auch gerne für ein Nachrichtenmagazin schreiben.
Ich denke, wir lernen viel über eine Kultur und Gesellschaft, die uns fremd ist. Ich weiß jeder in der Gruppe von der Liste für die Dinge, die sie nie hatte. Neben dem Besuch Agenturen und interviewen Leute, ich hoffe, dass einige Zeit zur Erholung bleibt. Deshalb möchte ich Glodok, die alte chinesische Viertel und besuchen die größte Diskothek in Jakarta. Ich hoffe, dass jeder in der Gruppe kann die Reise, die sie gingen zusammen zu machen. Ich denke, wir als Gruppe Spaß zu haben und wünschen allen eine glückliche, fröhliche, freundliche und informative Tour hier!
My name is Naomi Italiaander (20) and I am a born and bred in Amsterdam. Actually, I was not so much of the seventeenth inherited real life, since I'm an Orthodox Jewish school for girls seated. In high school I was determined to study journalism, because I have nothing from the "outside world" and I knew very curious about what's going on in the world was / is. In my first year in journalism I have lived in Utrecht, where I got a terrible shoque because I totally did not know how the world worked. Going out and the real student life was a revelation for me where I made good use of. Despite the many entertainment in Utrecht, Amsterdam I missed. After one year I am also moved back, to the holy city. Currently I live on the Leidseplein in the heart of Amsterdam, where I'm very happy. My environment stretches much further than not over and the Leidseplein. My work is my next door and also to go out I need close to home. Anyway, besides the entertainment of friends and I like very much football. Between my eighth and fourteenth year I played at a high level, I stopped after a broken wrist. Now I often football with friends at the museum, but after our trip to Indonesia, I venture back to soccer.
I am now in my third year journalism and won from the first introduction to travel far to say that I wanted to do. Travelling is a passion I can not describe. Long remain a place for me to play. See the world, other cultures know and especially my own horizons is something very important to me. I hope a lot about Islam and Hinduism to learn. My purpose of travel is to me and others to their situation in life and especially a different culture to understand.
After long journey, I begin to mediumdiff magazine. I would definitely go into journalism and I prefer to travel and to write about. Last January, I am to New York. I have written an article for the New Israelite Weekly and so I can combine travel writing. Because I think it is very difficult for them to come around, I would also like to write for a newsmagazine.
I think we learn a lot about a culture and society that is foreign to us. I know everyone in the group of the list for things that they never had. Besides visiting agencies and interviewing people, I hope that some time for relaxation remains. So I want to Glodok, the old Chinese quarter, and visit the largest discotheque in Jakarta. I hope everyone in the group can make the trip, which they went along. I think we as a group to have fun and wish everyone a happy, cheerful, friendly and informative tour here!!
内奥米伊塔利安德尔
印度尼西亚2005年
剖面
我的名字是内奥米伊塔利安德尔（20）和我是出生在 阿姆斯特丹和繁殖。其实，我不是这样的17多继承的现实生活，因为我是东 正教的犹太女孩坐在学校。在高中，我决心要学习新闻学，因为我已经从“外面的世 界什么”，我也很好奇这是怎么回事，在世界上是/是。在我的第一年我在乌得勒支新闻，我在那里住了一个可怕 的shoque因为我完全不知道这个世界是如何工作的。走出去，真正的学生生活对我来说是一个启示，我在那里 取得了良好的利用。尽管在乌得勒支的许多娱乐，阿姆斯特丹我错过了。一年后，我也搬回到圣城。现在我住在莱兹广场在阿姆斯特丹，在那里我感到非常高 兴的心。我的环境中舒展远远超出没有结束和 Leidseplein。我的工作是我的隔壁，也去了，我需要离家近。无论如何，除了娱乐和我的朋友很喜欢足球。我的第八和14年我在一个较高的水平发挥，我停下来 后，手腕骨折。现在，我经常与在足球博物馆的朋友，但经过我们的印尼 之行，我冒昧回足球。
我现在在我的第三个年头，从第一次新闻介绍韩元老远地 说，我想做的事。旅游是一种激情，我无法描述。龙仍是我能打球的地方。看到这个世界，了解其他文化，尤其是我自己的眼界是很 重要的东西给我。我希望一对伊斯兰教和印度教很多东西需要学习。我的旅行目的是要我和其他人的生活状况，尤其是在一个 不同文化的理解。
经过漫长的旅途，我开始mediumdiff杂志。我肯定会进入新闻界，我喜欢旅行和写。今年1月，我到纽约。我已写了一篇对新以色列人周刊的文章，这样我就可以结 合旅游写作。因为我觉得这是非常困难来解决，我还要写一个新闻杂 志。
我认为，我们学习有关的文化和社会，是外国对我们很 多。我知道在他们的东西从来没有列表分组每一个人。除了到机构和面试的人，我希望有一些放松的时间仍然存 在。所以我想Glodok，旧中国的四分之一，在雅加达访 问的最大的迪斯科舞厅。我希望大家在小组中可以成行，他们居然同意了。我想，作为一个群体，我们有乐趣，祝大家幸福，快乐 的，友好的和内容丰富的参观在这里！
Mon nom est Naomi Italiaander (20) et je suis né et élevé à Amsterdam. En fait, je n'étais pas tellement de la vie réelle septième hérité, depuis que je suis un école juive orthodoxe pour les filles assises. Au lycée, j'ai été déterminé pour étudier le journalisme, parce que je n'ai rien du «monde extérieur» et je savais très curieux de savoir ce qui se passe dans le monde a été / est. Dans ma première année en journalisme, j'ai vécu à Utrecht, où j'ai obtenu un shoque terrible parce que je ne savais pas tout à fait comment le monde fonctionne. Sortir et la vie étudiante réel a été une révélation pour moi, que je profité avec gratitude des. Malgré les nombreux divertissements à Utrecht, Amsterdam j'ai raté. Après un an, je suis également déplacé en arrière, dans la ville sainte. Actuellement je vis sur la place Leidseplein au coeur d'Amsterdam, où je suis très heureux. Mon environnement se prolonge pas au-delà, et de la place Leidseplein. Mon travail est ma voisine et aussi de sortir j'ai besoin près de chez eux. Quoi qu'il en soit, outre le divertissement des amis et j'aime beaucoup le football. Entre ma huitième année et quatorzième j'ai joué à un niveau élevé, je me suis arrêté après une fracture du poignet. Maintenant, j'ai souvent au football avec des amis au musée, mais après notre voyage en Indonésie, je risque de retour au football.
Je suis maintenant dans ma troisième année de journalisme et a gagné de la première introduction au Voyage de dire que je voulais faire. Voyager est une passion que je ne peux pas décrire. Long rester un lieu pour moi de jouer. Voir le monde, d'autres cultures et surtout connaître mon horizon est quelque chose de très important pour moi. J'espère que beaucoup de choses sur l'islam et l'hindouisme à apprendre. Mon but est de Voyage de moi et d'autres à leur situation dans la vie et surtout une culture différente de comprendre.
Après un voyage long, je commence à mediumdiff magazine. Je serais certainement prêt dans le journalisme et je préfère Voyage et à écrire. En janvier dernier, je suis à New York. J'ai écrit un article pour le nouvel hebdomadaire d'Israël et je ne peux donc combiner écrit Voyage. Parce que je pense qu'il est très difficile pour eux de venir te chercher, je tiens également à écrire pour un magazine.
Je pense que nous en apprendre beaucoup sur une culture et une société qui nous est étranger. Je sais que tout le monde dans le groupe de la liste des choses qu'ils n'avaient jamais eu. Outre les organismes visiteurs et interviewer des gens, j'espère que peu de temps pour la détente reste. Je tiens donc à Glodok, le vieux quartier chinois, et visiter le plus grand discothèque à Jakarta. J'espère que tout le monde dans le groupe peut faire le voyage, qui ils sont allés le long. Je pense que nous en tant que groupe pour s'amuser et souhaite à tous un heureux, joyeux, convivial et informatif tour ici!
Mitt namn är Naomi Italiaander (20) och jag är en född och uppvuxen i Amsterdam. Egentligen var jag inte så mycket av den ärvda sjuttonde verkliga livet, eftersom jag är en ortodox judisk skola för sittande flickor. I gymnasiet var jag fast besluten att studera journalistik, eftersom jag har ingenting från "omvärlden" och jag visste mycket nyfiken på vad som händer i världen var / är. Under mitt första år i journalistik jag har bott i Utrecht, där jag fick en fruktansvärd shoque eftersom jag helt inte vet hur världen fungerade. Att gå ut och det verkliga studentlivet var en uppenbarelse för mig, där jag gjorde nytta av. Trots de många underhållning i Utrecht, Amsterdam jag missat. Efter ett år är jag också flyttat tillbaka till den heliga staden. Just nu bor jag på Leidseplein i hjärtat av Amsterdam, där jag är väldigt glad. Min miljö sträcker sig mycket längre än inte över och Leidseplein. Mitt arbete är min nästa dörr och gå ut och jag behöver nära hemmet. Hur som helst, förutom underhållning av vänner och jag tycker mycket om fotboll. Mellan min åttonde och fjortonde året jag spelade på en hög nivå, slutade jag efter en bruten handled. Nu har jag fotboll ofta med vänner på museet, men efter vår resa till Indonesien, vågar jag tillbaka till fotboll.
Jag är nu inne på mitt tredje år journalistik och vann från första introduktion åka långt för att säga att jag ville göra. Att resa är en passion som jag inte kan beskriva. Lång förbli en plats för mig att spela. Se världen, andra kulturer känner och speciellt min egen horisont är något mycket viktigt för mig. Jag hoppas en hel del om islam och hinduism att lära sig. Mitt syfte med resan är att jag och andra att deras situation i livet och framför allt en annan kultur att förstå.
Efter lång resa börjar jag mediumdiff tidningen. Jag skulle definitivt gå in på journalistik och jag föredrar att resa och att skriva om. I januari förra året är jag till New York. Jag har skrivit en artikel för den nya israelitiska Weekly så jag kan kombinera reseberättelser. Eftersom jag tycker att det är mycket svårt för dem att komma runt, vill jag också skriva för ett nyhetsmagasin.
Jag tror att vi lär oss mycket om en kultur och samhälle som är främmande för oss. Jag vet att alla i gruppen på listan för saker som de aldrig hade. Förutom att besöka myndigheter och intervjua folk, hoppas jag att lite tid för avkoppling återstår. Så jag vill Glodok, den gamla kinesiska kvarteren, och besök det största diskoteket i Jakarta. Jag hoppas att alla i gruppen kan göra resan, som de följde med. Jag tror att vi som grupp att ha roligt och önskar alla en glad, glad, vänlig och informativ turen här!
Naomi Italiaander
Naomi Italiaander presenteert nu De 5 W's.loadFlash("/_flash/wekker_zetten_stamp.swf?itemName=Naomi Italiaander&clickTag=", 190, 160);
DE NIEUWE REVU 2006, 1, p.14-17 DE UITBUITING VAN EEN ZIELIG MEDIUM Door Naomi Italiaander In het tv-programma Er Is Zo Veel Meer blunderde medium Robbert van den Broeke (25) door informatie over overleden mensen met wie hij 'contact' had van internet te plukken. Nu blijkt dat de KRO al veel eerder twijfelde aan zijn geloofwaardigheid. En dat de echte kwade geest achter Robbert zijn vader is. De mediahype rond Robbert van den Broeke (25) begint in 2004 bij Life & Cooking, gepresenteerd door Carlo Boszhard en Irene Moors. Daar zorgt hij tijdens een Halloween-uitzending voor commotie als hij laat zien dat hij lichtbollen (volgens hem van geesten) kan fotograferen. Op 2 januari 2005 keert Robbert terug in het programma en straalt zijn krachten via de televisie naar de kijker uit. Het publiek wordt uitzinnig, kijkers voelen geesten en huilen. Robbert krijgt honderden wanhopige brieven van kijkers waarin ze hem om zijn bovennatuurlijke hulp vragen. Een nieuw medium is geboren en Irene Moors springt er handig op in. Haar productiebedrijf House of Television laat Robbert de afgelopen maand in vier goed bekeken afleveringen readings houden en geesten oproepen in oude gebouwen. Ook verschijnt in december de biografie Robbert, van Zorgenkind tot Medium, van de hand van zijn vader Peter van den Broeke. Binnen twee weken gaan er meer dan 10.000 exemplaren over de toonbank en is er een tweede druk in de maak. Het boek beschrijft Robbert van den Broeke's bijzondere jeugd. Vrienden heeft hij niet en vanaf de basisschool wordt hij als schizofreen en autistisch bestempeld. Na van school naar school te zijn verkast, verdwijnt hij uiteindelijk in een psychiatrische inrichting. Niemand weet wat er met de jongen aan de hand is en uiteindelijk biedt een verpleegster uit de inrichting uitkomst: Robbert is 'meerziend' en 'meervoelend'. Robberts ouders nemen Rens Hendriks in de arm, een psycholoog en ziener die Robbert geneest, zonder hem overigens ooit te ontmoeten (Hendriks staat overigens niet geregistreerd bij Beroepen en Individuele Gezondheid (BIG), een organisatie waar psychologen bij aangesloten moeten zijn om de volgens de wet beschermde titel te mogen voeren). De directie van de inrichting wil niks met Robberts escapades te maken hebben en ontslaat hem. Als Robbert weer thuis is, gebeuren daar vreemde dingen. Buitenaardse wezens maken volgens hem graancirkels in zijn tuin en in de velden van omliggende boerderijen. Daarnaast ontwikkelt Robbert in die periode de speciale gave om met overledenen te praten. Er verschijnen enkel jubelende verhalen over hem in de media, wat leidt tot contact met de redactie van Life & Cooking en zijn landelijke zegetocht als medium lijkt niet meer te stuiten. Tot stichting Skepsis, een organisatie die pseudowetenschappen onder de loep neemt, vorige week een grote blunder van Robbert onthult. Tijdens een uitzending van Er Is Zoveel Meer gaat Robbert op bezoek bij een vrouw wier man overleden is. Daar lepelt het medium data op met een foutje erin over de voorouders van de man. 'Geneverbrander', het beroep van de op 29 april 1790 geboren Lubbert Wessels, wordt door Robbert verward met het niet bestaande beroep 'genverbrander'. Deze informatie is mét spelfout op internet terug te vinden. En een week later gaat Robbert weer in de fout, volgens Theo Meder, onderzoeker van Volksverhalen aan het Meertens Instituut. Tijdens de laatste uitzending van Er Is Zoveel Meer op 1 januari is Robbert met Irene Moors aanwezig in Kasteel Singraven, in het Twentse plaatsje Denekamp. Eerst zien we hoe Moors een verhaal te horen krijgt over een non die wegens onkuis gedrag werd ingemetseld in een muur. Even later komt Robbert binnen en voelt hij iemand die erg opgesloten is. "Dit is een typisch volksverhaal," legt Meder uit. "Maar als we in de geschiedenis kijken, zien we dat inmetselen nooit voortkomt uit straffen. Nonnen besloten zelf in een muur te gaan zitten waar ze zelf konden lopen, eten, drinken en zelfs een butler mee konden nemen." Meder, die voor het tv-programma Willem Wever onderzoek deed naar het kasteel, denkt dat Robbert zich ook in dit geval via intenet heeft voorbereid. "Op het net is met één zo'n opdracht de sage terug te vinden die Robbert heeft gebruikt. Een andere verklaring heb ik er niet voor, omdat zijn verhaal duidelijk een volksfantasie over de middeleeuwen is." Dat Robbert niet betrouwbaar is, was overigens al veel eerder bekend. Een jaar geleden ontving de redactie van het KRO-programma Wonderen Bestaan een telefoontje van Peter van den Broeke, de vader van Robbert, waarna ze bij hem langsgaan. Eindredactrice Claudine Everaert: "Een jongen die niet gek, maar paranormaal begaafd blijkt te zijn, is zeker niet alledaags." Al was er al meteen twijfel. "Een door hem gefotografeerd marsmannetje leek wel heel erg op knutselwerk. Maar ondanks de argwaan namen we toch een kijkje." Presentatrice Yvon Jaspers vertrekt met een cameraploeg naar het Brabantse dorpje Hoeven, waar Robbert woont. Daar brengen zij een nacht in het weiland achter het huis van Robbert door waar hij foto's van de lichtbollen maakt. Everaert: "De filmploeg maakte opnamen van Robbert die Yvon fotografeert. Op de foto's staat de presentatrice in een wolk van vage slierten. Entiteiten, volgens Robbert. De filmcamera registreerde echter niks bijzonders." Terug op kantoor gaat de redactie de montagekamer in om de opnames te bekijken. Daar zien de programmamakers iets opzienbarends. "We hebben beeld voor beeld bekeken hoe Robbert foto's in het veld maakte. Toen zagen we dat hij de camera heel dicht tegen zijn hoofd hield, naar onze mening om het fototoestel warm te maken. Daarna blies hij lucht uit, net op het moment dat hij tegen Yvon zei dat ze ergens anders moest gaan staan. Door de lucht zie je schimmen op de foto's, maar die zijn volgens ons niks anders dan uitgeblazen lucht. We hebben daarna zelf geprobeerd dit soort foto's te maken en dat was geen enkel probleem. Daarna hebben we besloten de beelden nooit uit te zenden." Everaert vindt het jammer dat Robbert tegenwoordig met de emoties van duizenden mensen speelt. ========================================================================== ROBBERTS GRAPPIGE GRAANCIRKELS John Lundberg, een professionele Engelse graancirkelmaker, moet lachen als hij over Robbert hoort. "Ik maak al meer dan vijftien jaar de moeilijkste graanformaties. Elke krant en elk tv-programma heeft mijn formaties wel behandeld. Die makkelijke graancirkels achter Robberts huis zijn absoluut mensenwerk." Ook buurtbewoners weten niet wat ze met de cirkels aanmoeten. Een boer die anoniem wil blijven: "Ik weet dat mensen Robbert en zijn vader uit een veld zagen komen en de volgende dag lag er een graancirkel. Het fijne weet ik er niet van, maar dit is een feit." Als we de boer in kwestie benaderen, doet hij niet open. Wel vertelt een andere boer dat ook in zijn veld formaties werden gevonden: "Het is wel vreemd dat die graancirkels alleen 's nachts ontstaan en niemand ooit iets gemerkt heeft. Behalve Robbert dan." ========================================================================== Ook buurtbewoners zetten vraagtekens bij de geloofwaardigheid van Robbert. Vooral de rol van vader Peter van den Broeke vindt men dubieus. Nieuwe Revu gaat naar de Rietmade in Hoeven waar huizen in een U-vorm staan, met daarachter een groot weiland. Dit is de straat en het weiland waar Robbert voor het eerst verschijningen had. De meeste buren willen niet reageren. Maar op een boerderij brandt een familie los over Robberts vader Peter. Deze directeur van de Rabobank in het nabijgelegen Loon op Zand staat bij vrienden en buurtbewoners bekend als een ambitieus man die de motor is achter Robberts opkomst als medium. Een andere buurtbewoner die ooit bevriend was met Peter van den Broeke: "Falen past niet in het straatje van Peter. Robbert moet nu goedmaken dat hij in het verleden 'anders' was. Die arme Robbert heeft helemaal geen jeugd gehad. Hoe kan een jongen die niets van de wereld weet en geen diploma heeft met de ellende van anderen bezig zijn? Zelfs de biografie is niet het idee van Robbert, maar van zijn vader. Die heeft zelfs drie maanden onbetaald verlof genomen om het te schrijven. De vader gaat echt veel te ver." "Collega's bij de bank hebben angst voor Peter van den Broeke," weet de vrouw van een ex-Rabobankdirecteur die voorheen ook bij het gezin Van den Broeke over de vloer kwam. "Hij gaat onmenselijk te werk om zijn doel te bereiken. De man is een gevaar voor zijn omgeving, maar vooral voor Robbert." De vrouw is natuurgenezeres en heeft in die hoedanigheid altijd al speciale interesse gehad in Robbert. "Zo'n gevoelige jongen hoorde niet in een psychiatrische inrichting thuis. Ik weet dat hij daar geestdodende medicijnen kreeg, dat wilde Peter. Ik ken weinig mensen die zo statusgevoelig en publiciteitsgeil zijn als deze man. Toen Robbert klein was, wilde Peter hem al wegstoppen in een inrichting. Ik ben erg bang dat die zachte jongen het psychisch allemaal niet meer aan kan. Hij gaat gebukt onder een vader die hem volledig afbreekt om geld en status te verkrijgen." Ook dr. Eltjo Haselhoff, een biofysicus en graancirkel-onderzoeker uit Eindhoven, heeft zijn twijfels over de familie Van den Broeke. Haselhoff wordt in het boek van Robbert als wetenschapper vermeld en was jarenlang kind aan huis bij de paranormale familie. "Peter dacht dat ik informatie voor mijn eigen boeken achterhield, wat niet klopte. Ik kreeg een aangetekende brief van Peter waarin duidelijk werd dat ik niet meer welkom was," vertelt Haselhoff. "Alleen goedgelovige mensen mogen huize Van den Broeke nog betreden." Volgens Haselhoff heeft Robbert zich na de internetblunder ongeloofwaardig gemaakt. "Zo zie je maar dat telepathie en tv niet samen gaan. Dan gaan er altijd economische motieven achter schuil." Irene Moors laat in een interview in het blad Paravisie weten dat Robbert haar laat zien dat er waarschijnlijk meer tussen hemel en aarde is dan wij denken. Maar na de internetaffaire vertelt Moors in RTL Boulevard dat ze alleen maar registreert en verder niks. Twijfelt ze nu zelf ook aan Robberts geloofwaardigheid? Namens Robbert, Peter en Irene meldt RTL-voorlichtster Karin Bouwknegt: "Het zijn allemaal meningen van anderen, aannames en geruchten. Ik kan zeggen dat alles uitgebreid wordt belicht in de uitzendingen van Er Is Zoveel Meer en in Robberts boek. Hoe buurtbewoners, kijkers en andere mensen hier verder over denken, is uiteraard aan hen."DIE NEUE ReVu 2006, 1, S.14-17
Die Verwertung eines pathetischen MEDIUM
Von Naomi Italiaander
In der Fernsehsendung Es gibt so viel mehr Medien stolperte Robbert
van den Broeke (1925) durch Bereitstellung von Informationen über verstorbene Personen, mit denen
er 'Kontakt' hatte mit dem Internet holen. Nun, da der KRG
viel früher bezweifelt seine Glaubwürdigkeit. Und das
real bösen Genie hinter Robbert seinem Vater.
Der Medienrummel rund um Robbert van den Broeke (1925) beginnt im Jahr 2004
Life & Cooking, hosted by Irene Mauren und Carlo Boszhard.
Wie macht er während einer Sendung für Aufregung, als Halloween
Er zeigt, dass er Orben (er von Geistern) können
Foto. Am 2. Januar 2005 geht Robbert wieder in das Programm
und strahlt seine Kraft über den Fernseher auf den Betrachter. Der
Öffentlichkeit ist verrückt, und die Zuschauer fühlen Geister weinen. Robbert
empfängt Hunderte von Briefen von Zuschauern verzweifelt nach ihm, in denen sie
übernatürliche Hilfe. Ein neues Medium geboren wurde und Irene
Mauren springt in handliche. Ihre Produktionsfirma House of
Fernsehen Ende letzten Monats in vier Robbert gut aussehen
Episoden und Lesungen zu halten Geister ruft in Altbauten.
Erschienen in der Dezember-Biographie Robbert, Cares for Children
Medium, aus der Hand seines Vaters, Peter van den Broeke. Innerhalb
zwei Wochen auf mehr als 10.000 Exemplare über den Ladentisch und
ist halb Druck in der Pipeline. Das Buch beschreibt Robbert van den
Broeke die besondere Jugendarbeit. Er hat keine Freunde und aus der
Schule ist er schizophren und autistischen gestempelt. Nach
von Schule zu Schule verlegt werden, verschwindet er schließlich
in einem psychiatrischen Krankenhaus. Niemand weiß, was passiert mit dem Jungen
ist falsch und letztlich auch eine Krankenschwester aus dem
Innere Lösung: Robbert's "meerziend" und "mehr Gefühl."
Rens Hendriks Robberts Eltern nehmen in den Arm, ein Psychologe und
Robbert Seher, der heilt, aber sonst nicht immer gerecht
(Henry ist auch nicht mit Karriere und registriert
Individuelle Gesundheit (BIG), eine Organisation, die Psychologen in
muss den gesetzlich geschützten Titel angeschlossen werden
kann) durchzuführen. Die Leitung der Niederlassung will nichts damit zu tun Robberts
Reisen nach und entlässt ihn.
Wenn Robbert zurück nach Hause, dort seltsame Dinge passieren. Fremd
Kreaturen in seinem Garten und Kornkreise auf seinen Feldern in der
aus den umliegenden Bauernhöfen. Robbert entwickelt auch in diesen
Zeitraum die besondere Gabe des Sprechens mit dem Verstorbenen. Erscheinen
nur jubelnde Geschichten über ihn in den Medien, was zu kontaktieren
mit den Redakteuren von Life & Cooking Triumph wie in ländlichen
Medium scheint unaufhaltsam. Bis Skepsis Foundation, einer
Organisation unter Pseudowissenschaft die Lupe nimmt letzte Woche
zeigt eine große Dummheit von Robbert. Während einer Sendung von It
Ist viel mehr los Robbert besucht eine Frau, deren Mann verstorben
ist. Da das Medium lepelt Daten mit einem Fehler auf sie
Vorfahren des Menschen. "Geneverbrander" die Wirkung des am 29. April
Geboren 1790 Lubbert Wessels, ist nicht zu verwechseln mit Robbert
Aktueller Job "genverbrander. Diese Angaben sind falsch schreiben
Internet gefunden werden kann. Und eine Woche später, wieder in den Robbert
Fehler, nach Theo Meder, ein Forscher an der Folktales
Meertens Institut. Während der letzten Ausstrahlung Es gibt so viel mehr
Am 1. Januar Robbert Irene Castle maurischen Präsenz in Singraven,
Denekamp in der Region Twente. Zuerst sehen wir eine Geschichte Mauren
hören von einer Nonne, die wegen unzüchtigen Verhaltens zugemauert war
in eine Mauer. Ein paar Minuten später fühlt er sich innen und Robbert jemand sehr
eingesperrt. "Dies ist ein typisches Volksmärchen ist", sagt Meder aus. "Aber
wenn wir die Geschichte betrachten, dass wir bis Wand kommt nie zu sehen
von Strafe. Nonnen entschied sich in einer Wand zu sitzen, wo sie
selbst konnte gehen, essen, trinken und sogar ein Butler tragen konnte. "
Meder, für das TV-Programm war die Erforschung der William Weaver
Castle, Robbert denke auch in diesem Fall durch Intenet hat
vorbereitet. "Auf dem Netz mit einer solchen Zuweisung der Agentur gefunden
Robbert verwendet. Eine andere Erklärung habe ich nicht,
denn seine Geschichte ist eindeutig eine populäre Phantasie über das Mittelalter. "
Robbert, die nicht zuverlässig ist, hatte schon viel früher bekannt.
Vor einem Jahr hat die Redaktion der KRO Programm Miracles
Es gibt einen Anruf von Peter van den Broeke, der Vater von Robbert,
Dann gehen Sie mit ihm lang. Final Editor Claudine Everaert:
"Ein Junge, der nicht verrückt ist, scheint aber zu sein psychisches ist
sicherlich nicht alltäglich. "Al hatte Recht jeden Zweifel erhaben." One von ihm
Mars fotografiert sah sehr gerne basteln. Aber
Trotz des Verdachts Wir haben uns trotzdem. "Yvon Jaspers Vergleichen
Blätter mit einem Kamerateam an die Brabanter Dorf Hoeven, wo
Robbert lebt. Da sie verbringen eine Nacht auf der Wiese hinter dem Haus
Robbert, mit denen er Bilder von den Kugeln geschaffen. Everaert, "Die
Filmteam von Robbert Yvon diese Fotos aufgenommen. In den Bildern
ist die Moderatorin in einer Wolke von vagen Wirbeln. Entities,
von Robbert. Aber der Film Kamera aufgezeichnet nichts Ungewöhnliches. "
Zurück im Büro, der Redakteur im Schneideraum, um die Aufnahmen
Ansicht. Da die Programmierer sehen etwas Erschreckendes. "Wir haben
Frame für Frame zu prüfen, wie Robbert Fotografien im Bereich vorgenommen. Wann
sahen wir, dass er die Kamera ganz nah an seinem Kopf war, um unsere
Blick auf die Kamera heiß. Dann blies er Luft aus, nur
Yvon, wenn er erzählt hatte, sagte sie, woanders hinzugehen
stehen. Mit dem Flugzeug können Sie Schatten auf den Fotos zu sehen, sondern nach
uns nichts als Luft gesprengt. Wir haben dann versucht es
Diese Bilder und das war kein Problem. Danach
entschieden wir uns nicht um die Bilder zu senden. "Everaert bedauert
Robbert jetzt, dass die Gefühle von Tausenden von Menschen zu spielen.
================================================== ========================
Robbert FUNNY Kornkreise
John Lundberg, ein englischer Kornkreis maker, lächelt, wenn
Robbert er hört. "Ich habe seit mehr als fünfzehn Jahren die schwierigsten
Ernte-Formationen. Jede Zeitung und jedes TV-Programm habe ich Formationen
behandelt werden. Diese einfachen Kornkreise sind definitiv hinter Robberts home
Leute arbeiten. "Selbst Einheimische wissen nicht, was mit den Kreisen zu tun, um zu leuchten.
Ein Landwirt, der anonym bleiben möchte: "Ich kenne Leute und Robbert
Vater sah ein Feld, und am nächsten Tag gab es einen Kornkreis.
Der feine, weiß ich nicht, aber das ist eine Tatsache. "Wenn wir den Bauern
Frage Ansatz, tut er nicht öffnen. Nun sagte ein anderer Landwirt, dass
Formationen wurden in seinem Feld gefunden: "Es ist merkwürdig, dass
Kornkreise in der Nacht nur erstellt werden, und niemand etwas bemerkt.
Außer Robbert dann. "
================================================== ========================
Einwohner auch die Frage der Glaubwürdigkeit der Robbert.
Insbesondere die Rolle von Vater Peter van den Broeke findet zweifelhaft. Nieuwe Revu
Reed geht an den in Hoeven Made, die einen U-förmigen Ständer, mit Häusern
Hinter einer großen Wiese. Dies ist die Straße und die Wiese, wo Robbert
ersten Auftritte hatte. Die meisten Nachbarn nicht zu reagieren.
Aber auf einem Bauernhof auf einem losen Familie Robberts Vater Peter.
Diese Direktor der Rabobank in den nahe gelegenen Bundesstaat Loon op Zand
Freunde und Nachbarn als ein ehrgeiziger Mann, der Motor ist bekannt
Robberts hinter Schwellenländer als Medium. Ein weiterer Nachbar immer
Freundschaft mit Peter van den Broeke: "Fehler nicht in die Vene des FIT
Peter. Robbert muss nun seine Vergangenheit "anders" war. Dass
Robbert Armen haben keine Kindheit. Wie kann ein Mann, der nicht
die Welt weiß und hat nicht das Elend der Leute beschäftigt erreicht
werden? Auch die Biographie ist nicht die Idee von Robbert, aber sein Vater.
Wer hat noch ergriffen von drei Monaten unbezahlten Urlaub zu schreiben.
Der Vater ist wirklich zu weit. "
"Die Kollegen in der Bank aus Furcht vor Peter van den Broeke," kennt die
Ehefrau des Ex-Rabobank Regisseur, der auch früher der Familie Van den
Broeke lag auf dem Boden. "Er geht an Unmenschlichkeit, um sein Ziel der Arbeit
zu erreichen. Der Mann ist eine Gefahr für seine Umgebung, sondern vor allem für Robbert.
Die Frau ist natürlich, Heilerin und als solche seit jeher besondere
interessiert Robbert. "Solch ein sensibler Junge nicht in einem gehören
psychiatrischen Klinik zu Hause. Ich weiß, dass er Betäubungsmittel
kam, dass Peter war. Ich kenne einige Leute, die so empfindlich sind und den Status
Werbung wie diese geile Mensch. Robbert war dann wenig, wollte Peter ihm
Verstecken in einem Gerät. Ich bin sehr Angst, dass süßer Junge
alle geistig nicht mehr kann. Er stammt von einem Vater zu ihm Leid
komplett zerlegt, um Geld und Status. "
Auch Dr. Eltjo Haselhoff, ein Biophysiker und Kornkreis-Forscher
Eindhoven, hat seine Zweifel an der Van den Broeke. Haselhoff ist
in dem Buch von Robbert als Wissenschaftler und wurde viele Jahre von Kindersoldaten
Familienhaus in der paranormalen. "Peter dachte, ich für meinen Informationen
einbehaltenen eigenen Bücher, was falsch war. Erhielt ich einen eingeschriebenen Brief
Peter, wo es war klar, dass ich nicht mehr willkommen war ", sagte Haselhoff.
"Nur leichtgläubige Menschen können weiterhin auf den Van den Broeke. Durch
Haselhoff Robbert nach dem Internet gemacht unglaubliche Dummheit.
"Sie sehen also, dass Telepathie und Fernsehen nicht zu mischen. Dann gibt es immer
wirtschaftliche Motive hinter ihnen. "
Irene Moors spät in einem Interview in der Zeitschrift ParaVisie kenne sie Robbert
zeigt, dass es wahrscheinlich mehr zwischen Himmel und Erde als wir glauben.
Aber nach dem Internet-Affäre erzählt Mauren in RTL Boulevard, dass sie nur
aufzeichnen und nichts anderes. Sie bezweifeln selbst nun auch Robberts
Glaubwürdigkeit? Robbert Namen von Peter und Irene sagt RTL-Sprecherin Karin
Bouwknegt: "Das sind alles Meinungen anderer, Annahmen und Gerüchten. I
kann sagen, dass alles weitgehend in der Sendung von Es diskutiert wird
Und vieles mehr Robberts Buch. Wie Anwohner, Zuschauer und andere Menschen
Diese weitere Überlegung ist eindeutig zu ihnen. "LA NOUVELLE ReVu 2006, 1, p.14-17
L'exploitation d'un pathétique SUPPORT
Par Naomi Italiaander
Dans le programme de télévision Il ya des médias beaucoup plus gaffe Robbert
van den Broeke (1925) en fournissant des informations sur des personnes décédées avec qui
il «contact» a dû prendre l'Internet. Maintenant que l'ARK
beaucoup plus tôt en doute sa crédibilité. Et ce
véritable génie du mal derrière Robbert son père.
Le battage médiatique entourant Robbert van den Broeke (1925) commence en 2004
Life & Cooking, accueilli par les Maures et Irene Carlo Boszhard.
Comme il fait lors d'une émission pour la commotion que Halloween
il montre qu'il orbes (il des esprits) peuvent
photo. Le 2 Janvier 2005 Robbert remonte dans le programme
et rayonne sa force grâce à la télévision pour le spectateur. Le
public est fou, et les téléspectateurs se sentent cri des fantômes. Robbert
reçoit des centaines de lettres de téléspectateurs désespérée pour lui dans lequel ils sont
aide surnaturelle. Un nouveau média est né et Irene
Maures sauts dans la main. Sa société de production de la Chambre des
Télévision fin du mois dernier dans quatre Robbert bien paraître
lectures épisodes et garder le moral appel à de vieux bâtiments.
Paru dans le Robbert biographie Décembre, s'occupe des enfants
Moyen, de la main de son père, Peter van den Broeke. Dans
deux semaines à plus de 10.000 exemplaires sur le comptoir et
est la moitié de pression dans le gazoduc. Le livre décrit Robbert van den
spéciale à la jeunesse de Broeke. Il n'a pas d'amis et de la
l'école, il est schizophrène et autiste estampillé. Après
d'une école à être déplacés, il finit par disparaître
dans un hôpital psychiatrique. Personne ne sait ce qui s'est passé à l'enfant
est erroné et constitue finalement une infirmière de la
solution intérieure: Robbert "meerziend» et «plus de sentiment."
Rens Hendriks parents Robberts prendre dans les bras, un psychologue et
Robbert devin qui guérit, mais ne sont pas contraires jamais rencontré
(Henry n'est pas non plus enregistré auprès Carrières et
De santé individuels (BIG), une organisation que les psychologues en
doit être raccordé au titre légalement protégé
peut effectuer). La direction de l'établissement ne veut rien à voir avec Robberts
voyages et le licencier.
Si Robbert retour à la maison, des choses étranges se produisent là-bas. Étranger
créatures dans son jardin et les crop circles dans son champs de la
dans les fermes environnantes. Robbert développe également dans ces
période, le cadeau de parler avec le défunt. Apparaître
juste des histoires jubilatoire autour de lui dans les médias, conduisant à contacter
avec les rédacteurs de Life & Cooking triomphe ainsi que les zones rurales
moyennes semble imparable. Jusqu'à la fondation Skepsis, un
organisme en vertu de pseudo science se penche la semaine dernière
révèle une gaffe majeure par Robbert. Lors d'une diffusion de Il
Est-ce beaucoup plus d'Robbert visites d'une femme dont le mari défunt
est. Comme les données lepelt moyennes avec une erreur à ce sujet
ancêtres de l'homme. "Geneverbrander" l'action des le 29 avril
Né 1790 Lubbert Wessels, ne se confond pas avec Robbert
emploi actuel »genverbrander. Cette information est mal orthographié
Internet peut être trouvée. Et une semaine plus tard, de retour à l'Robbert
Erreur, selon Théo Meder, chercheur à l'Folktales
Institut Meertens. Au cours de la dernière émission de Il est tellement plus
le Janvier 1 Robbert Irene Castle présence maure dans Singraven,
Denekamp dans la région de Twente. Nous avons d'abord voir une histoire Maures
entendre parler d'une religieuse qui a été scellée en raison du comportement obscène
dans un mur. Quelques minutes plus tard, il se sent à l'intérieur et une personne très Robbert
enfermé. «C'est un conte typique», explique à Meder. "Mais
si nous regardons l'histoire, nous voyons que murer ne vient jamais
de la peine. Sœurs décidé elle-même dans un mur de s'asseoir où ils
elle pouvait marcher, manger, boire et même un maître d'hôtel pouvait porter. "
Meder, par l'émission de télévision a été la recherche des Weaver William
Château, Robbert pense aussi que dans ce cas par Intenet a
préparés. "Sur le net avec une telle cession l'Office a conclu
Robbert utilisé. Une autre explication je n'ai pas,
parce que son histoire est clairement un fantasme populaire sur le Moyen Age. "
Robbert qui n'est pas fiable, avait déjà connu beaucoup plus tôt.
Il ya un an, le comité de rédaction du programme de KRO Miracles
Il ya un appel de Peter van den Broeke, le père de Robbert,
puis elle aller avec lui longtemps. Final Everaert Claudine Editeur:
«Un garçon qui n'est pas fou, mais semble être psychique, est
certainement inhabituelle. "Al a eu raison de tout doute." One par lui
photographié martienne ressemblait beaucoup à du bricolage. Mais
Malgré les soupçons, nous avons pris un coup d'oeil quand même. "Yvon Jaspers Comparer
laisse avec une équipe de tournage dans le village du Brabant Hoeven, où
Robbert vie. Depuis qu'ils passent une nuit dans le pré derrière la maison
Robbert par lequel il photos des orbes créé. Everaert, "Le
équipe du film a enregistré de Robbert Yvon ces photographies. Dans les photos
est le présentateur dans un nuage de verticilles vague. Entités,
par Robbert. Mais la caméra a enregistré rien d'inhabituel. "
De retour au bureau, l'éditeur dans la salle de montage pour les enregistrements
point de vue. Étant donné que les programmeurs voir quelque chose d'effrayant. «Nous avons
étude image par image de la façon dont Robbert photographies réalisées dans le domaine. Quand
nous avons vu qu'il était très proche de la caméra à la tête, à notre
vue de la caméra à chaud. Puis, il soufflait de l'air sortir, juste
quand il a dit Yvon a dit qu'elle devait aller ailleurs
stand. En avion, vous pouvez voir les ombres sur les photos, mais selon
nous rien d'autre que l'air soufflé. Nous avons ensuite essayé
ces images et qui a été sans aucun problème. Par la suite,
nous avons décidé de ne pas diffuser les images. "Everaert regrette
Robbert maintenant que les émotions de milliers de personnes à jouer.
================================================== ========================
Robbert milieux de culture FUNNY
John Lundberg, un professionnel de la machine en anglais crop circle, sourit quand
Robbert qu'il entend. «J'ai passé plus de quinze ans le plus difficile
crop circles. Tous les journaux et tous les programmes TV j'ai formations
traités. Ces crop circles sont faciles définitivement derrière la maison Robberts
les gens travaillent. "Même les habitants ne savent pas quoi faire avec les cercles d'être allumé.
Un agriculteur qui souhaite garder l'anonymat: "Je connais des gens et Robbert
père a vu un champ, et le lendemain il y avait un crop circle.
L'amende je ne sais pas, mais c'est un fait. "Si nous les agriculteurs
approche la question, il ne s'ouvre pas. Eh bien, dit un autre agriculteur qui
formations ont été trouvés dans son domaine: «Il est étrange que
crop circles dans la nuit seulement créé et personne ne remarque quoi que ce soit.
Sauf Robbert ensuite. "
================================================== ========================
Les résidents ont également mis en doute la crédibilité de Robbert.
En particulier le rôle du père de Peter van den Broeke trouve douteuse. Nieuwe Revu
Reed va au Made in Hoeven, qui abrite un stand en forme de U, avec
derrière une grande prairie. Il s'agit de la rue et la prairie où Robbert
premières apparitions avaient. La plupart des voisins ne réagissent pas.
Mais sur une ferme est une famille libre du père Robberts Peter.
Ce directeur de la Rabobank dans l'état voisin de Loon op Zand
amis et voisins connu comme un homme ambitieux, qui est le moteur
Robberts derrière apparaît comme un moyen. Un autre voisin jamais
amitié avec Peter van den Broeke: «L'échec ne rentre pas dans la veine de
Peter. Robbert doit maintenant faire son «passé» a été différente. Qui
Robbert pauvres n'ont pas d'enfance. Comment un gars qui n'a pas
le monde le sait et n'a pas atteint la misère des autres engagés
être? Même la biographie n'est pas l'idée de Robbert, mais son père.
Qui a même pris trois mois un congé non payé pour l'écrire.
Le père est vraiment trop loin. "
«Collègues de la Banque, de peur de Peter van den Broeke,« connaît le
femme d'un ex-directeur Rabobank qui a aussi autrefois la famille Van den
Broeke a été sur le sol. "Il va travailler l'inhumanité de son but
atteindre. L'homme est un danger pour son entourage, mais surtout pour Robbert.
La femme est guérisseur naturel et en tant que telle a toujours été spéciale
été intéressé par Robbert. "Un garçon sensible n'a pas sa place dans un
hôpital psychiatrique à la maison. Je sais qu'il médicament anesthésique
se, qui a été Peter. Je connais peu de gens qui sont tellement sensibles et le statut
la publicité que cet homme excité. Robbert a été peu alors, Peter voulait
cacher dans un seul appareil. Je crains fort que ce garçon doux
tous handicapés mentaux ne peuvent plus. Il souffre d'un père pour lui
rompt totalement à l'argent et de statut. "
Aussi M. Eltjo Haselhoff, un biophysicien et chercheur de crop circles
Eindhoven, a des doutes quant à la Van den Broeke. Haselhoff est
dans le livre de Robbert en tant que scientifique et a reçu de nombreuses années de l'enfant
maison de famille dans le paranormal. "Peter pensait que j'étais pour mon information
retenu propres livres, ce qui n'allait pas.
