Csabi's blog

...Superstar, un proiect imaginat de catre chinezi, de unde si conceptul de Mobile Chinatown.
Superstar poate adaposti pana la 15.000 de oameni pe care ii transporta, din patru in patru ani, in cele mai frumoase locuri.

Mai multe aici si aici.

Prin acest post de slashdot: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/11/1742223&from=rss
... am ajuns la acest articol http://www.economist.com/research/articlesbysubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348909&story_id=12081445

Ideea este urmatoarea: spatiu de stocare online imprastiat pe discurile userilor.
In articol se explica ceva formula matematica sofisticata prin care se prezinta functionarea sistemului. Desi multe chestii nu am inteles, ideea principala este faina. O metoda matematica prin care este nevoie doar de 6 copii a ceea ce este uploadat si imprastiat pe bucati pe statii peste tot in lume, cu o prezenta minima a computerelor de 17% si disponibilitate de 999.999 din 1 milion de incercari (adica o ratare din 1 milion de incercari).

Am zis wow, ok, interesant ... let's take a look.

Site-ul oficial: http://wua.la este unul prietenos. Surprinzator aplicatia este gratuita, ruleaza pe Windows, Linux si MacOS respectiv, prin Java direct din browser incarcandu-se un applet java intr-o fereastra separata ce seamana cu un file manager.
Evident pentru upload trebuie facut un cont si trebuie acceptati termenii de folosire a serviciului ... si aici incep si problemele. Iata cateva citate din conditii:

The agreement may be terminated by e-mail without prior notice and without indication of reasons at any time either by Caleido or by the user.

Caleido reserves the right to discontinue or modify its service or Wuala at any time without prior notice. On the same scale, the user's right of use ends automatically.

In case of a violation against the present GTC, Caleido has the right to limit, block or delete the user account as well as the right to terminate the agreement with the user without notice.

In case of a deletion of the user account, the user may not regain or try to regain access to Wuala without the written consent of Caleido. A user may not assist a user whose user account has been deleted or blocked to regain access to Wuala, neither through his own nor through any other account.

The user undertakes to delete the user account in case of a termination of the contractual relationship, to discontinue the use of Wuala and to delete Wuala from the harddisk, the networks and the remaining storage media as well as all copies of Wuala in its sphere of influence. Furthermore, he undertakes to renounce all rights granted through this agreement.

In any case of termination of the GTC, Caleido is entitled to delete the users account, including all data the user may have stored in Wuala.

Poftim? Adica ma invita la ei, sa fac cont, sa pun fisierele mele in reteaua lor, imi ofera criptare si garanteaza ca nu verifica datele (informatiile/fisierele) trimise de mine si ca numai eu am acces ... dar in acelasi timp pot sa le stearga cand vor, cum vor si fara sa ma anunte in prealabil. Sa folosesc asa ceva pentru back-up? Mai bine dischete!
Singurul scop pentru care as folosi asa ceva este share de fisiere cu altii, ceea ce se poate face mult mai usor in alte parti si anonim ... so what? What's the big deal?

Mai mult...

The user agrees, that by making data public, the user grants Caleido a free, worldwide, non-commerical right of use of such data as well as the right of commercial use for marketing purposes in connection with Wuala.

Ii dau dreptul sa faca publicitate pe seama mea si marketing la fel? No way!

If the user fills his online storage, no additional data can be uploaded until the occupied storage is smaller again than the users available storage capacity. If the user exceeds his/her available storage capacity, Caleido reserves the right to warn the user and to start to delete any of the user's files until the amount of occupied storage is smaller than the available storage capacity 30 days after the warning was issued.

Hmm... daca cumva reusesc sa depasesc limita de spatiu alocata contului meu ei vor sterge arbitrar datele mele?

OK, restul nici nu mai dau citat, doar mentionez:
- ei nu garanteaza nimic
- ei nu sunt raspunzatori pentru nimic
- ei pot altera sau opri serviciul lor oricand
- ei pot face orice fara sa anunte utilizatorii in prealabil ...

Toate astea fiind spuse, ramane doar sa dau "Cancel" in fereastra de inregistrare si sa ma mir cum de au peste 15 milioane de fisiere in serviciul lor si se adauga un numar 5-10 / secunda ...

by Csabi

Se pare ca in pofida temerilor, pornirea cu succes al LHC nu a generat gauri negre care sa inghita pamantul.
Desigur, astazi a fost doar un fel de "test run", adavarata treaba incepe in cateva saptamani/luni. Dar nici atunci nu cred ca ne asteapta sfarsitul lumii.

Bravo celor de la CERN.

Click image to see / download in full size.

In 3 septembrie a fost oficial lansat X Server 1.5.0.
Dupa o lunga perioada de proiectare si productie, acum este gata si va fi mai mult ca sigur "inima" lui Xorg 7.4 care urmeaza a fi lansat (daca nu intervine nimic), la sfarsitul acestei saptamani.

Sursa.

This will be my last post about Hungary / Budapest. I'll show you some more places to visit and I'll finish this series of posts with some overall conclusions.

• The Budapest ZOO
  
  Recently modernized, this zoo hosts a great variety of local and exotic animals.
  
  
• "The Gellert Mountain"
  This is the highest place in Budapest. Up on the hill you can visit The Citadel and the Statue of Freedom.
  
  ... and of course you can see the hole city from above.
  
  
• Margit Island
  The perfect place for relaxation.
  
  This big island on the Danube river offers a great place to take walk, to take a swim, to stay on the sun, to ride a bike, to take a bath in thermal water or other relaxation activities. It is a kind of small paradise of nature in the middle of a big city.
  

Some conclusions
I'll give some points to the different things and aspects of my visit. 0 = very bad - 5 = very good

Hotel room: 2
Hotel personnel: 4
Hotel equipment: 3
Hotel comfort: 2
Price/Service ratio: 4
Overall impression of the hotel: 3

The city in general: 4
The possibility to visit museums/historical buildings with guide (like payed tour of the Opera house): 2
The view in general on the important places: 4
The public transportation system: 5

The restaurants: 3
The personnel: 5
The food: 5 (if you like Hungarian tastes) - or 3 (if you don't like)
The prices compared with the serving and food in the restaurants: 3 (that means a little bit expansive, but acceptable)

Overall impression of my journey: 4 (that means good, but could be better)

by Csabi

Ah, it's night again here, 4th day is over... but there is time for a short post.
Let's talk about food and restaurants.

One thing is certain, you can eat, and eat, and eat... here. The food is very good and it comes in great variety.
The prices and the luxury level of the restaurants vary with the distance from the City Center. You can choose a less luxurious restaurant in the peripheral area and eat huge portions with less money, or you can enjoy the luxury of the restaurants in the city center but for much higher prices.

If you like testing different foods, here is your chance to taste some Hungarian specialities like Gulyas or Paprikas. Gulyas is a soup having the main components porch meet, potatoes and carrots. The soup is somewhat spice but not too piquant. This special taste comes from the spice called "Paprika", a spice you can find in almost all Hungarian food. In fact it is a type of red pepper, sometimes hot and sometimes mild.
The other food I mentioned, Paprikas, as you can probably guess has the main spice ... Paprika. It contains noodle, roasted meet (chicken, beef or pork), sour and cream and lot of Paprika.

But if you are not in testing mood, you can easily find traditional food or special food by nations (Italian, Russian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Irish and so on).

So, enjoy your meal and have a good night.

by Csabi

I'll write this post in English, so more people can benefit from it...

I'll tell you here my first 3 days in Budapest as a tourist. I have 3 more days to stay here, in the capital of Hungary.
As you can guess from my name - and this blogs title - my nationality is Hungarian even if I live in Romania, a neighbouring country to Hungary. Even in these conditions this is my first visit to Budapest, a beautiful city, and I wish to share my first experiences with you.
Click image to enlarge!
First of all, it is a huge advantage if you speak Hungarian. If you don't, you may want to travel with someone who speaks the country's language. But if all these are impossible for you, don't be scared, everything important is also written in English and you can have some great time here.

Before I continue, you should know, that I'm a guy who don't like to go to disco, big festivals and laud spaces, so I concentrate on visiting the city in itself, to go to the famouse places and to see the beauty of the everyday life.

So, let's begins with the facts and with the experiences.

I arrived in Budapest 3 days ago, by car and with a GPS. It was no problem to find my hotel, even if it took me more than one hour on the streets of the city. Being a capital, Budapest is pretty crowded, and I arrived at 5PM local time, so there was even more traffic than usual. If you are in a car driving through Budapest, you will shortly observe that they have very large roads with 3-4 traffic lanes per direction plus parking lanes plus 2 tram ways. Additional traffic lanes can appear near road lights. So, if your only guide is your GPS, I suggest to use the leftmost or rightmost traffic lanes based on your next directions on the GPS, otherwise you can find yourself in the wrong traffic lane without chances to change near the corner.

Now, about the hotels... In Budapest, there is one simple rule: In the city center and surrounding areas you can find only 4-5 stars hotels which are very expensive (over 100Euro/night/double-room); as you search for cheeper hotels you will find out that the prices are dropping fast according with the distance to the city center. On a half way between the city center and the city limit, the prices will be half too. So I found a hotel, called Seni Hotel Studium, with only 46Euro/night/double-room with breakfast included. This is a 3 star hotel but probably built under the communist era. The building is not so beautiful and the rooms are small, at least I expected much bigger from a 3 star hotel. What I found in the room: there is shower cabin, a toilet (of course separated from the room itself by doors), a small refrigerator with some drinks (you have to pay whatever you consume from there), a small TV (but at least color, and only Hungarian TV channels ... and about 2 German channels too, nothing in English), a very comfortable double-bed, a small table with 2 seets, air conditioning with remote control and of course the hotels regulations/prices for the drinks in the refrigerator/other instructions in at least 2-3 languages (English included). There is also a Yellow Pages book, but only in Hungarian; but you may use it for the included detailed map of the city with street indexes - very helpful.
On the other hand the hotel itself is not so spectacular, I expected more from a 3 star hotel, but it's OK for the 46Euro/night. You can have 2 kind of view from your room: to the main street - more louder but to the east; or to the back of the hotel where there is a park, trees and a lake, and it's much silent - but it's to oriented to west so it's hotter. In none of the cases you will find mosquitoes, that's a good thing.
Click image to enlirge!
First morning.
Breakfast is served between 7 and 10 o'clock local time. It's a Swedish table and you will find lot of good food for all kind of tastes. Coffee, tee, milk or yogurt is included too in great variety.

First travel downtown.
The fastest way to travel in the city is by the subway (metro), but you will probably need to use the buses too, depending how far from the metro station is your hotel. I have to take a bus, travel 4 stations (about 5-10 minutes) than take the subway and travel 6-10 stations depending on which part of the city center I want to stop (about 10-20 minutes). This way, in approximately 30 minutes you can reach the city center. But Budapest is a huge city (well, compared with New York it is small, but being a capital, you can imagine it's big). The city center has 2 main parts separated by the Danube river. The river divides in fact the hole city in 2 parts, as the name of the city suggests it too: Buda and Pest. My hotel is in Pest, so I have to take another subway to get to Buda. There are 3 subway lines in Budapest, and there is one big subway station where the 3 lines intersects each other. Blue is subway 3, Orange/Yellow is subway 1 and Red is subway 2.
Now, the tickets. All tickets are universal and you can use them on all transportation: subway, bus, tram, train (only inside the city), electric buses and so on. The cheapest and simplest solution, if you plan to stay more than 2 days, is to buy a 1 week ticket (costs 4000 HUF ~ 15 Euro). With this ticket you have unlimited travels for 1 week and believe me you will need it. These tickets can be bought at any subway station. Basically, the best way to see the city is to take a map or a city guide, choose your destination and take subway. By foot you loose too much time wondering on not so important streets toward your destination and you will get there tired. Distances, even if they don't look so big, they are too long by foot. If you want to go somewhere and you see on your map that there are at least 2 subway stations, take the subway. All mass transportation vehicles are coming at every 3-6 minutes so you don't have to way too much.

Just one more observation before I finish this first part of my post, it's getting late here: if you use your 1week ticket, you just enter the metro (subway) without any checking necessary. There are officials to control the tickets, but they will stop you for checking very rarely. If they do, you show them your ticket (IMPORTANT! DON'T FORGET TO WRITE YOUR NAME ON THE TICKET, OTHERWISE YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS). They have the right to ask for you passport or ID, you show them the ID or passport BUT NEVER HAND IT OVER TO THEM. Just show your document and keep it firmly in your hand. I had no bad experiences, but I know people who were scammed, their passports were taken by false controllers and returned only when they payed ... so be careful.

Stay tuned on this post, tomorrow I'll present you the few interesting places I visited in my first 3 days here. There will be pictures too.

Have a good night.

by Csabi

Vara asta, pe langa caldura imensa de afara mai trebuia sa ma si mut ... blogul ... a ramas neglijat ultima vreme. Da, nici chef de butonat nu are omul cand sunt 35 grade afara, chiar daca inauntru este aer conditionat. Pe langa astea mai e si mult de lucru, iar capacitatea mea de a sintetiza, inventa, reproduce sunt extrem de reduse. Abia astept sa se mai racoreasca atmosfera...

Pana atunci, o chestie interesanta. Aseara, ascultand postul de radiou BBC, am aflat ca Chinezii au fentat la deschiderea jocurilor olimpice. Cele mai cunoscute si recunoscute, de catre organizatori, fente sunt artificiile si fetita care a cantat la inceput. Pentru cei care nu stiu, multe artificii s-au vazut doar la televizor, fiind efecte speciale generate pe computer, ca de exemplu la inceput cand erau artificii ce semanau cu urme de pasi ce se apropiau de stadionul central (The Nest). In realitate era o singura "urma" de genul asta, ultimul, care a explodat deasupra stadionului ... restul erau doar la televizor. Iar cu fetita e simpla treaba, nu ea a cantat ci o alta fetita de 7 ani. Cantareata era considerata prea urata, asa ca au bagat pe altcineva in locul ei care se prefacea ca (virgula) canta. Si sa mai zica cineva ca aparentele nu conteaza!

Pentru cei voinici cu teste si riscuri, a mai venit un Flashplayer 10 pentru Linux, cica RC. Mai multe despre el puteti citi pe blogul lui Beranger, inclusiv smecheria necesara instalarii
Eu l-am instalat si aparent functioneaza bine, desi nu vad nici o deosebire fata de beta-urile de dinainte, care si ele mergeau bine, chiar impresionant fata de seria 9-a. Pentru cei care aveau probleme cu beta2, cu unele animatii de flash care pur si simplu dispareau sau nici nu se incarcau (le aveam si eu, dar am trait cu problema asta), dupa vreo 30 minute de utilizare, cu flashplayer 10 RC nu am observat acest fenomen. Totul se incarca ... cel putin pana acum.

by Csabi

Nu prea am timp momentan pentru mai multe teste cu KDE4... Pe tema KDE voi reveni in viitor.

Pana atunci, iata ca in sfarsit a ajuns pe piata o "jucarie" mult asteptata. Un controler pentru PC bazat pe unde cerebrale Beta ... asa ca veti avea in curand sansa sa controlati computerul prin "puterea mintii".

Treaba nu este totusi asa de simpla. Aparatul, OCZ NIA, are trei senzori care detecteaza fiecare trei lucruri: miscari al muschilor faciali superiori, miscari ale ochilor si una din frecventele undelor cerebrale Beta. Astfel ofera in principiu 9 controale. NIA vine sub forma unui headset cu sensori si o mica cutie de procesare cam de marimea a doua iPhone-uri (modelul original). Cutia se leaga la computer prin portul USB si nu necesita alimentare separata de curent. Headseat-ul se aseaza pe cap orizontal, sub forma unei banderole peste frunte.


Conform celor de la HotHardware device-ul ofera o experienta unica de control dar necesita un timp de invatare indelungat. Cel mai usor este sa-ti insusesti controlul prin miscarea muschilor fetei, urmand controlul prin miscarea ochilor iar controlul prin unde cerebrale este cel mai greu de insusit. Aparatul mai degraba sesizeaza stari de spirit / emotii (relaxare, agitatie, concentrare etc.) decat comenzi directe. Cu alte cuvinte daca te gandesti la "du-te la stanga" nu va determina aparatul sa-ti miste personajul din joc spre stanga. E ca si cum ar trebui sa inveti sa mergi sau sa scrii. Trebuie sa-ti antrenezi creierul pentru a se prinde de ce si cum sa faca pentru rezultatul dorit. Acest lucru fiind insa diferit de la individ la individ nu exista un manual pentru controlul mental al aparatului. Pur si simplu iti dai seama pe parcurs. Partea buna e, ca nu trebuie sa faci altceva, decat se te joci pe computer.

Dupa o luna de testare, HotHardware a ajuns la conlcluzia ca este un device deosebit, care poate fi folosit cu orice aplicatie, nu numai jocuri, insusirea cotrolului este cam greu dar dupa aceea iti ofera avantaje deosebite in special daca este folosit in combinatia cu tastatura si mouse-ul - ca o a 3-a mana. Timpul de reactie in jocuri prin NIA este cu aproximativ 100ms mai rapid decat prin click cu mouse-ul oferind astfel un avantaj destul de mare jucatorilor de FPS-uri rapide.

Inca un punct pozitiv este pretul, de doar 148 dolari, ceea ce il face accesibil pentru multi impatimiti de jocuri.

Deocamdata exista suport de drivere doar pentru Windows, dar fiind un device pe USB care din puctul de vedere al computerului ofera doar un dispozitiv simplu de imput ce activeaza taste sau combinatii de taste in functie de imput, nu cred ca este foarte complicat de implementat un driver pe orice sistem de operare.

Speram sa vedem cat mai repede o astfel de jucarie si pe piata romaneasca.

Sursa.

by Csabi

16 Iulie 2008
Fiindca a iesit prima varianta mai serioasa de KDE, in special versiunea 4.1, desi nu editie finala - doar primul Release Candidate - m-am hotarat sa arunc si eu o privire in lumea KDE4.

Instalarea pachetelor pentru Mandriva din mirror-ul iasi.roedu.net era un pic mai anevoioasa decat ma asteptam. Sistemul de dependinte a pachetelor nu este bine pusa la punct, astfel era nevoie sa rulez de 3 sau 4 ori "urpmi task-kde4", de fiecare data s-a instalat cate ceva mai mult. Vestea buna este ca intr-un final si-a rezolvat - cu chiu si cu vai - dependintele. Insa aventurile de instalare nu s-au terminat aici, mai trebuia facut si un update la toate pachetele legate de KDE4 pentru a-l putea rula.

Pentru a-l putea compara cel mai bine cu KDE3.5.9 m-am hotarat sa nu opresc Compiz-Fusion ci sa il incerc in aceleasi conditii ... de stres grafic.

Dupa rezolvarea micilor probleme sus-amintite, in sfarsit a inceput incarcarea desktopului. Design-ul splash-ului este placut, efectele cum apar icoanele sunt faine. Recunosc, timpul de incarcare, cel putin prima oara (acum scriu din sesiunea respectiva, adica nu am pornit inca de 2 ori KDE4) dureaza mai mult ca la KDE3.5.x.

Dupa incarcarea desktopului un singur lucru am putut spune ... WOW! Arata exceptional. Rog sa considerati ca folosesc rezolutie 1600x1200.

Am inceput sa trag de fereastra aceea de "Welcome" ... si surpriza, se intinde, se rasuceste, se misca foarte cursiv. Ma gandesc, hai sa dau repede un "Maximize" ... se alungeste ... se maximizeaza ... totul foarte cursiv. De mentionat ca pe KDE3.5.9 toate efectele de Compiz-Fusion se misca un pic sacadat (si am placa grafica NVidia FX 8600 GT / 512MB memorie ram video). Pana acum toate bune si frumoase...

Ce sa facem? Ce sa facem? ....
Click dreapta pe "Task Manager" ... cum e denumit mai nou bara de taskuri "TaskBar" si dau pe settings. O alta surpriza placuta, se poate alege sa arate ferestrele nu numai din Desktop-ul curent ci si numai din Screen-ul curent, o chestie ce o sa-mi fie foarte utila in combinatia cu Compiz-Fusion. In KDE3.5.9 mi-a lipsit enorm optiunea asta, iar acum l-am gasit din prima ... chiar la nimereala.

In continuare, pot doar sa admir ce cursive si rapide sunt toate efectele aplicate ferestrelor, cubului etc...

Ce sa urmeze? Parca de la sine cursor-ul mouse-ului aluneca spre dreapta ecranului ... Add Widgets ... Install New Widgets / Download from Internet. Imediat apare o ferestruica cu plasmoide de la KDE-Look.org ... searching ...
Eh, treaba asta nu functioneaza ... am dat install pe mai multe plasmoide ... nimic nu s-a bagat in lista ferestrei "Add Widgets". Hai sa incercam manual. Treaba asta este incomoda un pic, dar am patit-o si cu teme de karamba sau skin-uri sau alte chestii KDE3.5.9.
Rapdare ... rapdare ... se pare ca majoritatea plasmoidelor trebuie compilate cu manuta. Aceasta chestie probabil o sa dispara in momentul in care KDE4 intra ca DE principal si se va afla in acelasi loc pe toate sistemele.
OK, nu merge compilarea din prima ... mai revizuiesc asta, acum este prea tarziu ... ora 00:23 ... deja 17 Iulie

O mica observatie, aplicatiile QT3 / KDE3.5.x merg un pic parca mai incet decat cele de QT4 si arata vizibil diferit.

O chestie ciudata este metoda de a prinde si a muta plasmoidele astea. De exemplu pe plasmoidul Desktop trebuia dat click un pic peste el (in afara ei) ca sa poti sa-l apuci si sa-l muti.

Hmm ... redimensionarea ferestrelor merge sacadat ... dar acceptabil.

Some more playings ... quickly ... nu am gasit o metoda rapida de a redimensiona nici Task Manager-ul si nici Digital Clock-ul ... mai vedem ce ofera KDE Control Center-ul.

Intre timp admir consumul de procesor: 7-8%, de memorie: 358MB. Ceea ce consider rezonabil pentru KDE4 + Compiz-Fusion, nici pe KDE3.5.9 nu este mare diferenta.

Noul System Monitor arata atragator. Mult mai bine decat in KDE3.5.9 (SysGuard se numeste acolo).

System Settings??? What the HELL??? Asta e KDE Control Center in KDE4???

Ce sa facem, ia sa vedem ce gasim "sub" icoanele alea... Ha? Este si "Advanced" tab.
Tot nu inteleg ... de ce System Settings? Nu fac setari de sistem, fac setari de KDE! In fine.
In interior arata mai familiar. Pana acum toate cele bune. Apropo, functioneaza Emerald pentru decoratiunea ferestrelor.
Interesant ... dupa prima vedere lucrurile sunt evidente, am gasit usor tot ce am cautat. Poate acest nou layout este diferit, dar cu siguranta este intuitiv.

Cred ca ajunge atat pentru astazi, au trecut 1 ora si jumatate de cand am pornit KDE4, si pana acum sunt multumit de el. Are mici chestii neplacute, dar ce se vede este frumos si rapid.

Maine seara voi trece la testarea efectelor KDE4, fara Compiz-Fusion. Am vazut in setari ca are aproape toate efectele care-mi sunt necesare sa ma simt bine, de exemplu cubul.

Pe maine. (Sau mai precis astazi - 17 iulie)

by Csabi

Ma plimbam pe site-ul http://counter.li.org/, asa de plictiseala, si ma uitam cum sta Romania cu utilizatorii Linux. Spre surprinderea mea, dupa Bucuresti (404), Timisoara se afla pe locul 2 cu 76 de utilizatori Linux inregistrati, urmand Iasi cu 75...

UPDATE: Tot pe acelasi site, alte statici... Am dat peste o informatie supertare:
- Cel mai lung uptime inregistrat vreodata a fost de 3833.2 zile (din pacate nu mai merge computerul respectiv).
- Dintre computerele active si inregistrate pe site-ul Linux Counter, recordul tine un Cyrix 486, cu kernel de MANDRAKE!!! 2.2.13-7mdk si 2464.5 zile uptime.