I've not submitted a bug just yet, but I shall do so tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be running the Ubuntu for a little longer ;)
Monday, 29 January 2007
Solaris Express b56
Installed Nevada b56 on my desktop machine, only to discover that things were off to a very bad start:
I've not submitted a bug just yet, but I shall do so tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be running the Ubuntu for a little longer ;)
I've not submitted a bug just yet, but I shall do so tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be running the Ubuntu for a little longer ;)
What's on my... bottom bookshelf!
Hello and welcome to the first instalment of my exciting new blog-o-theme. In this episode we will be looking into the private life of my bottom bookshelf!
My bottom bookshelf has a close and personal relationship with my top bookshelf. After all, they live in the same cupboard together.
Here's a photo of my bottom bookshelf (click for a big version where you can actually read the writing):
For the rest of this exciting and introspective look at the wide range of items on my bookshelf... I'll list each and every topic and give a short review of what it is about.
From left to right:
The Tale of Genji -- I haven't actually read this yet, but the first few pages did seem interesting. It was a 2006 Christmas present from my Uncle Quentin and his girlfriend. Genji was an imaginary character dreamed up by 'Murasaki Shikibu', a maid in the imperial court. 'Murasaki' was the author's nickname, taken directly from one of the many characters in her writings; in fact, Murasaki's real name is unknown. Genji is a loose collection of short stories that deal with the issues of love, romance, competition and heartbreak, set in the time of Feudal Japan. Beyond that, I can't go into much detail. It is worth noting that I first heard about Genji from the book Murasaki, which is also interesting (but doesn't live on my bottom bookshelf). Many people claim that Genji is one of the earliest examples of a novel; this makes it pretty interesting, but from my understanding it is more a collection of loosely-intertwined short stories.
Secrets of the Samurai -- A gift from my ex-girlfriend Kirsty, this book is an impressive look at Feudal Japanese culture, dealing specifically with the mighty Samurai warriors. Entirely unrelated to the book, it is interesting to know that the word samurai literally translates as 'to serve'. This is a book I pick up every once in a while in an attempt to make headway, but the writing is a little too terse and time really does start to drag. It's also annoying that I have to look every fourth word up in my English dictionary. Still, in terms of reference or for when you want to be cool and learn the names of a few traditional weapons: this is the book to have! (katana, dai-katana, naginata, etc.)
Colloquial Chinese: The Complete Course for Beginners -- After about an hour sat in the bookshop I chose this book over another similar style of "teach yourself" Chinese. As with almost all of my books, I didn't really get too far. In the case of Chinese, this is often down to the fact that I have a love-hate relationship with the language, but in addition it massively clashes with my desire to learn Japanese. The net result is that I have one Chinese book, a Japanese dictionary, a Japanese phrasebook, two Japanese university course textbooks and the ability to swear in both languages. Beyond that, things start to get hairy. But the book... yes, it's good. I quite like structure to my learning, and this book provides it. A good introduction to the make-up of the characters and basic grammar. In all honesty what I need to do is sit down at night with a list of words and just learn them off by heart. Then I'd be ichiban no... no, wait, that's Japanese...
Sayo Masuda: Autobiography of a Geisha -- I'm starting to see a pattern here. So far all of the books have been about China or Japan: this is no different. I've read a number of books about geisha: all of the ones everybody has read: Memoirs of a Geisha (now a TV series), Geisha by that funky American lady that spent some time being a geisha, and probably one or two more. I've also read a couple less well-known ones; I don't think I've really picked up any more knowledge about what it is to train as a maiko, but I have a pretty good handling on exactly what route most of the girls took, how a danna features in their lives, and so on. Supposedly this is one of the very few true biographies... but in all honesty I don't know if I'd trust it as a definitive source. There's plenty of flashy novel-stuff in there, but in sharp contrast to other books, it does paint a slightly more bleak picture for the profession. Well worth a read, but check out Memoirs of a Geisha first.
KAFKA: The Complete Short Stories -- No idea at all. I bought three books all at the same time one rushed lunch break: this one, some Truman Capote book and the novel Pi by some guy with an Indian-sounding name. The only thing I can tell you about this book is that it caught my eye thanks to another novel I read by Haruki Murakami (surely the greatest writer of fiction that has ever lived?). Murakami's Kafka on the Shore is an amazing tale that covers the span of Japan, includes talking cats and fish falling from the sky. I believe that Franz Kafka was one of the big influences on Murakami, so I figured that there must be something worth finding out about.
Effective awk Programming -- This O'Reilly book was a gift from my other ex-girlfriend Rowena (it even has writing 'n' stuff inside to prove it). awk is obviously a funky scripting-language thing that allows you to manipulate text and other cool stuff. From time to time I get this book out when I feel that awk might be an appropriate solution to my problem, but beyond that my net knowledge of the language involves something like: =ps auxw | awk '/lewiz/&&/bash/ { print $2}'=. This would print out the PIDs of all of my bash processes. Thrilling stuff, I know.
The C Programming Language -- aka the K&R book. Doesn't everybody have a copy of this? No? It's a classic... albeit a second edition classic, in my case. I bought this book because the university said it was good. It did a fairly poor job of explaining C pointers to me; I'd recommend that you save your money (buy a few rolls of process-paid Ektachrome, or something) and head off to this website I heard about called Google. You can search for something inventive like 'c pointers' or 'what does this **p shit mean?'.
Solaris Internals -- Another second edition here. A very good book, too. This book covers the working internals of the Solaris Operating System; Sun will have you know that Solaris is the most advanced OS on the planet. I'm inclined to agree, and you should too. I'm slowly working my way through this book, but like many others, it is heavy going. Really handy get-to-sleep material (second only to Secrets of the Samurai, really), but an indispensible reference for system admin, kernel hackers, programmers, performance gurus and young children with a desire to prod the insides of what appears to be a T2000 without anti-static protection. Details of plenty of useful kernel structures, how the UFS file system works, how process scheduling works... sort of how everything except ZFS works, really.
Portraits, Steve McCurry -- If ever there was a genius photographer, Steve McCurry was he (or her). Unfortunately this collection of portraits from around the world is pretty cheap (I think it was a tenner) so the print quality is crap. Still a nice little book to have, full of some great shots. Helps pad the other expensive books out too, which makes you look brainy.
Robert Doisneau -- Some French photographer guy that did B&W stuff. He has a couple of good shots (the one where the guy and gal are kissing in the street after hearing news of the war) and the rest of the stuff is indeed good to view. Nice, but other books have to come first.
20th Century Photography -- A bunch of black and white photos, really. There's some really random stuff (especially from the Germans), but on the whole it's one of those books that helps you decide on your next purchase by providing a helpful selection of random photos from random people.
People Photography -- A Lonely Planet book about how to take photos of people. There are a few interesting concepts here, but of them all I don't honestly expect there are any that you wouldn't figure out pretty quickly on your own. What it does provide is a nice selection of photos that you can have a go at copying... hmm, what do you mean you don't have a Karen longneck shopping at your local Tesco?
Landscape Photography -- Aha, another pattern emerges. On the whole I found this more useful than the former, if only because it was the first landscape photography book I read. What I do like is that it is short and snappy, which helps as I have a limited attention span. Some great example photos and good discussion on what the guy did to achieve the desired result. My general feeling for "how to" photography books is that they contain some good concepts, but nothing that you can't discover on the Internet (if only because somebody else has spent the money and doesn't mind sharing the wealth). But, as with anything, it's all about signal-to-noise, and if that's what matters, this is a handy book... you could probably even take it with you.
Backpacking Photography -- I borrowed this from my Dad (along with three more that are soon to come)... I can't say I think it's very good. Too much time discussing which lenses to take, how to attach a rock to the bottom of your tripod to increase stability, etc. Hell, the time they wrote this Billingham bags were probably ultra-modern. Replace this with some common sense and a few trial runs. Read the forums, etc.
Nobuyoshi Araki: Tokyo Lucky Hole -- Porn, really. A bunch of technically 'interesting' shots of Japanese prostitues. In this book you'll find black and white photos of every bit of the female Japanese body under the sun. They even have a token blonde American. Some of it is surely an acquired taste, but it does cover the full range. Ever wondered what they got up to back in the day? Well, this is one place to start... but I'll help you out by telling you that not much has changed.
Criticizing Photographs -- Been sat on my shelf for a while. Supposedly it's a degree-level book about how to criticise photographs in a good way. To be honest, in retrospect I think it's the precursor to going out and buying some 'intelligent' glasses (you know, the rectangle-shaped ones), picking up some of F Scott Fitzgerald's writing and heading down to your local 'art house' cinema for wacko cinema. Of course, come the end you'll have enjoyed the picture, despite the fact you didn't fully understand it, but it won't have been quite on a par with the last film you saw from Japan... you know, that one by the guy who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
Creative Techniques in LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY -- This and the next two are ones I borrowed from my Dad. This seems like it could be a good book, but I haven't had enough time to really sit down and appreciate it. Certainly the first few chapters covered the usual topics pretty well. Have you ever noticed how older books tend to not make the reader into an idiot? These days you're lucky if they let you know that if you make the F-number smaller it'll let more light in... but if memory recalls, this book has decent diagrams showing the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and film sensitivity. Good ones too.
The Joy of Photography -- Now that I start to write about this one, I begin to wonder if this was the book that had the good diagrams... ? Anyway, not looked into this too heavily. I mostly enjoy it because it's sort-of like having a copy of The Joy of Sex on your bookshelf... except it isn't!
More Joy of Photography -- Those bunnies are really working hard now. Err, same as above.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Europeans -- This was a gift from James and Kim for my last birthday. HCB is a bit of a legend when it comes to the old photography. Decisive moment, and all that. I can't say a great deal about this book, other than that you should buy it. It's a great collection of well-presented photos of people from around Europe. Obvious, really.
Phillip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM INC. -- Just go out and buy this book... now. Without doubt one of the best purchases I've made in a good few years. Griffiths was a photographer that covered, er, Vietnam. It's all very classic TRI-X 400 looking to me, with some expert darkroom work to really set the photos off. He captures a lot of emotion in the way of happiness, pain, suffering and failed hope... but this he does in a unique way that preserves dignity, while at the same time managing to produce photos that I doubt I will ever come close to producing. Really, a good book indeed.
Pink Box: Japanese Sex Clubs -- Woo! This book is a combination of three great things: photography, Japan and nakedness! What more could you want from a book? Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. The photos are fun, but look as though they were taken with a $5 throw-away digicam. The girls, well, yes, some of these are nice, but this isn't really a pornography book, as I call ARAKI. There's some good text that accompanies the photos, but overall it wasn't the stellar purchase I had hoped for.
The Bob Dylan Scrapbook 1956-1966 -- This was a gift from my girlfriend Xiaoxiao for... my birthday, I think. I don't know if it's a limited edition or not, but it's like a pre-made scrapbook that Mr Zimmerman might very well have come up with in his spare time. Not really. It has some cool stuff inside, but it does seem a little below my age and IQ level. That said, it comes with one (two?) interview CD(s) that make interesting listening.
The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture & Cabinet Construction -- A potential evening hobby... until I realised that I didn't have a saw, bench, any glue, chisels, clamps... in fact, I didn't even have any wood. I read the first few chapters, which did look interesting. In terms of a beginners guide, I think I bought the right book. Plenty of useful photos and some really basic writing. What I didn't like was the fact that it spent loads of time talking about which instruments one might need, without explaining what they are or did.
Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection -- Capa was mates with HCB, but did different stuff. One of the all-time-great war photographers, Capa is sure to turn up a few hits on the old Google. This is a hefty collection, but the print quality isn't amazing. Overall I can't say that Capa's style is exactly what I'd look for... it's functional, but in terms of photography I'd say he's well behind Griffiths, but I dare say many would argue this point with me. This was a pretty cheap collection, so overall I can definitely recommend it.
Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs -- Not looked at this yet. I picked it up because it and its sister volume were going on the cheap. My initial page flicking suggested that there would be some interesting photos, although maybe not as good as a photographer's own personal collection.
In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits -- As above :)
Well, that's it for this first instalment of the "What's on my..." series!
My bottom bookshelf has a close and personal relationship with my top bookshelf. After all, they live in the same cupboard together.
Here's a photo of my bottom bookshelf (click for a big version where you can actually read the writing):
For the rest of this exciting and introspective look at the wide range of items on my bookshelf... I'll list each and every topic and give a short review of what it is about.
From left to right:
The Tale of Genji -- I haven't actually read this yet, but the first few pages did seem interesting. It was a 2006 Christmas present from my Uncle Quentin and his girlfriend. Genji was an imaginary character dreamed up by 'Murasaki Shikibu', a maid in the imperial court. 'Murasaki' was the author's nickname, taken directly from one of the many characters in her writings; in fact, Murasaki's real name is unknown. Genji is a loose collection of short stories that deal with the issues of love, romance, competition and heartbreak, set in the time of Feudal Japan. Beyond that, I can't go into much detail. It is worth noting that I first heard about Genji from the book Murasaki, which is also interesting (but doesn't live on my bottom bookshelf). Many people claim that Genji is one of the earliest examples of a novel; this makes it pretty interesting, but from my understanding it is more a collection of loosely-intertwined short stories.
Secrets of the Samurai -- A gift from my ex-girlfriend Kirsty, this book is an impressive look at Feudal Japanese culture, dealing specifically with the mighty Samurai warriors. Entirely unrelated to the book, it is interesting to know that the word samurai literally translates as 'to serve'. This is a book I pick up every once in a while in an attempt to make headway, but the writing is a little too terse and time really does start to drag. It's also annoying that I have to look every fourth word up in my English dictionary. Still, in terms of reference or for when you want to be cool and learn the names of a few traditional weapons: this is the book to have! (katana, dai-katana, naginata, etc.)
Colloquial Chinese: The Complete Course for Beginners -- After about an hour sat in the bookshop I chose this book over another similar style of "teach yourself" Chinese. As with almost all of my books, I didn't really get too far. In the case of Chinese, this is often down to the fact that I have a love-hate relationship with the language, but in addition it massively clashes with my desire to learn Japanese. The net result is that I have one Chinese book, a Japanese dictionary, a Japanese phrasebook, two Japanese university course textbooks and the ability to swear in both languages. Beyond that, things start to get hairy. But the book... yes, it's good. I quite like structure to my learning, and this book provides it. A good introduction to the make-up of the characters and basic grammar. In all honesty what I need to do is sit down at night with a list of words and just learn them off by heart. Then I'd be ichiban no... no, wait, that's Japanese...
Sayo Masuda: Autobiography of a Geisha -- I'm starting to see a pattern here. So far all of the books have been about China or Japan: this is no different. I've read a number of books about geisha: all of the ones everybody has read: Memoirs of a Geisha (now a TV series), Geisha by that funky American lady that spent some time being a geisha, and probably one or two more. I've also read a couple less well-known ones; I don't think I've really picked up any more knowledge about what it is to train as a maiko, but I have a pretty good handling on exactly what route most of the girls took, how a danna features in their lives, and so on. Supposedly this is one of the very few true biographies... but in all honesty I don't know if I'd trust it as a definitive source. There's plenty of flashy novel-stuff in there, but in sharp contrast to other books, it does paint a slightly more bleak picture for the profession. Well worth a read, but check out Memoirs of a Geisha first.
KAFKA: The Complete Short Stories -- No idea at all. I bought three books all at the same time one rushed lunch break: this one, some Truman Capote book and the novel Pi by some guy with an Indian-sounding name. The only thing I can tell you about this book is that it caught my eye thanks to another novel I read by Haruki Murakami (surely the greatest writer of fiction that has ever lived?). Murakami's Kafka on the Shore is an amazing tale that covers the span of Japan, includes talking cats and fish falling from the sky. I believe that Franz Kafka was one of the big influences on Murakami, so I figured that there must be something worth finding out about.
Effective awk Programming -- This O'Reilly book was a gift from my other ex-girlfriend Rowena (it even has writing 'n' stuff inside to prove it). awk is obviously a funky scripting-language thing that allows you to manipulate text and other cool stuff. From time to time I get this book out when I feel that awk might be an appropriate solution to my problem, but beyond that my net knowledge of the language involves something like: =ps auxw | awk '/lewiz/&&/bash/ { print $2}'=. This would print out the PIDs of all of my bash processes. Thrilling stuff, I know.
The C Programming Language -- aka the K&R book. Doesn't everybody have a copy of this? No? It's a classic... albeit a second edition classic, in my case. I bought this book because the university said it was good. It did a fairly poor job of explaining C pointers to me; I'd recommend that you save your money (buy a few rolls of process-paid Ektachrome, or something) and head off to this website I heard about called Google. You can search for something inventive like 'c pointers' or 'what does this **p shit mean?'.
Solaris Internals -- Another second edition here. A very good book, too. This book covers the working internals of the Solaris Operating System; Sun will have you know that Solaris is the most advanced OS on the planet. I'm inclined to agree, and you should too. I'm slowly working my way through this book, but like many others, it is heavy going. Really handy get-to-sleep material (second only to Secrets of the Samurai, really), but an indispensible reference for system admin, kernel hackers, programmers, performance gurus and young children with a desire to prod the insides of what appears to be a T2000 without anti-static protection. Details of plenty of useful kernel structures, how the UFS file system works, how process scheduling works... sort of how everything except ZFS works, really.
Portraits, Steve McCurry -- If ever there was a genius photographer, Steve McCurry was he (or her). Unfortunately this collection of portraits from around the world is pretty cheap (I think it was a tenner) so the print quality is crap. Still a nice little book to have, full of some great shots. Helps pad the other expensive books out too, which makes you look brainy.
Robert Doisneau -- Some French photographer guy that did B&W stuff. He has a couple of good shots (the one where the guy and gal are kissing in the street after hearing news of the war) and the rest of the stuff is indeed good to view. Nice, but other books have to come first.
20th Century Photography -- A bunch of black and white photos, really. There's some really random stuff (especially from the Germans), but on the whole it's one of those books that helps you decide on your next purchase by providing a helpful selection of random photos from random people.
People Photography -- A Lonely Planet book about how to take photos of people. There are a few interesting concepts here, but of them all I don't honestly expect there are any that you wouldn't figure out pretty quickly on your own. What it does provide is a nice selection of photos that you can have a go at copying... hmm, what do you mean you don't have a Karen longneck shopping at your local Tesco?
Landscape Photography -- Aha, another pattern emerges. On the whole I found this more useful than the former, if only because it was the first landscape photography book I read. What I do like is that it is short and snappy, which helps as I have a limited attention span. Some great example photos and good discussion on what the guy did to achieve the desired result. My general feeling for "how to" photography books is that they contain some good concepts, but nothing that you can't discover on the Internet (if only because somebody else has spent the money and doesn't mind sharing the wealth). But, as with anything, it's all about signal-to-noise, and if that's what matters, this is a handy book... you could probably even take it with you.
Backpacking Photography -- I borrowed this from my Dad (along with three more that are soon to come)... I can't say I think it's very good. Too much time discussing which lenses to take, how to attach a rock to the bottom of your tripod to increase stability, etc. Hell, the time they wrote this Billingham bags were probably ultra-modern. Replace this with some common sense and a few trial runs. Read the forums, etc.
Nobuyoshi Araki: Tokyo Lucky Hole -- Porn, really. A bunch of technically 'interesting' shots of Japanese prostitues. In this book you'll find black and white photos of every bit of the female Japanese body under the sun. They even have a token blonde American. Some of it is surely an acquired taste, but it does cover the full range. Ever wondered what they got up to back in the day? Well, this is one place to start... but I'll help you out by telling you that not much has changed.
Criticizing Photographs -- Been sat on my shelf for a while. Supposedly it's a degree-level book about how to criticise photographs in a good way. To be honest, in retrospect I think it's the precursor to going out and buying some 'intelligent' glasses (you know, the rectangle-shaped ones), picking up some of F Scott Fitzgerald's writing and heading down to your local 'art house' cinema for wacko cinema. Of course, come the end you'll have enjoyed the picture, despite the fact you didn't fully understand it, but it won't have been quite on a par with the last film you saw from Japan... you know, that one by the guy who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
Creative Techniques in LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY -- This and the next two are ones I borrowed from my Dad. This seems like it could be a good book, but I haven't had enough time to really sit down and appreciate it. Certainly the first few chapters covered the usual topics pretty well. Have you ever noticed how older books tend to not make the reader into an idiot? These days you're lucky if they let you know that if you make the F-number smaller it'll let more light in... but if memory recalls, this book has decent diagrams showing the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and film sensitivity. Good ones too.
The Joy of Photography -- Now that I start to write about this one, I begin to wonder if this was the book that had the good diagrams... ? Anyway, not looked into this too heavily. I mostly enjoy it because it's sort-of like having a copy of The Joy of Sex on your bookshelf... except it isn't!
More Joy of Photography -- Those bunnies are really working hard now. Err, same as above.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Europeans -- This was a gift from James and Kim for my last birthday. HCB is a bit of a legend when it comes to the old photography. Decisive moment, and all that. I can't say a great deal about this book, other than that you should buy it. It's a great collection of well-presented photos of people from around Europe. Obvious, really.
Phillip Jones Griffiths VIETNAM INC. -- Just go out and buy this book... now. Without doubt one of the best purchases I've made in a good few years. Griffiths was a photographer that covered, er, Vietnam. It's all very classic TRI-X 400 looking to me, with some expert darkroom work to really set the photos off. He captures a lot of emotion in the way of happiness, pain, suffering and failed hope... but this he does in a unique way that preserves dignity, while at the same time managing to produce photos that I doubt I will ever come close to producing. Really, a good book indeed.
Pink Box: Japanese Sex Clubs -- Woo! This book is a combination of three great things: photography, Japan and nakedness! What more could you want from a book? Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. The photos are fun, but look as though they were taken with a $5 throw-away digicam. The girls, well, yes, some of these are nice, but this isn't really a pornography book, as I call ARAKI. There's some good text that accompanies the photos, but overall it wasn't the stellar purchase I had hoped for.
The Bob Dylan Scrapbook 1956-1966 -- This was a gift from my girlfriend Xiaoxiao for... my birthday, I think. I don't know if it's a limited edition or not, but it's like a pre-made scrapbook that Mr Zimmerman might very well have come up with in his spare time. Not really. It has some cool stuff inside, but it does seem a little below my age and IQ level. That said, it comes with one (two?) interview CD(s) that make interesting listening.
The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture & Cabinet Construction -- A potential evening hobby... until I realised that I didn't have a saw, bench, any glue, chisels, clamps... in fact, I didn't even have any wood. I read the first few chapters, which did look interesting. In terms of a beginners guide, I think I bought the right book. Plenty of useful photos and some really basic writing. What I didn't like was the fact that it spent loads of time talking about which instruments one might need, without explaining what they are or did.
Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection -- Capa was mates with HCB, but did different stuff. One of the all-time-great war photographers, Capa is sure to turn up a few hits on the old Google. This is a hefty collection, but the print quality isn't amazing. Overall I can't say that Capa's style is exactly what I'd look for... it's functional, but in terms of photography I'd say he's well behind Griffiths, but I dare say many would argue this point with me. This was a pretty cheap collection, so overall I can definitely recommend it.
Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs -- Not looked at this yet. I picked it up because it and its sister volume were going on the cheap. My initial page flicking suggested that there would be some interesting photos, although maybe not as good as a photographer's own personal collection.
In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits -- As above :)
Well, that's it for this first instalment of the "What's on my..." series!
What's on series
I thusly present the beginning of the "what's on" series.
In this series we will be discussing what is "on" various things I have.
Sit tight and hold tight... the first instalment is up as soon as I come up with something to write about!
In this series we will be discussing what is "on" various things I have.
Sit tight and hold tight... the first instalment is up as soon as I come up with something to write about!
Saturday, 27 January 2007
Simon Lewis: sinosimon
I came across a really great blog written by a travel writer now based in China. He seems to be mostly around Yunnan province, but has a few entries in Shanghai, Tibet and other cool places.
It's a refreshing change to see real writing, unlike the stuff I come up with, which is mostly for me to record what I'm doing, as well as to share with friends and family.
There's plenty of stuff that I could happily quote, but so far I think this is my favourite bit:
This causes me quite a bit of concern: our holiday is all planned around the Chinese New Year festivities, and we're expecting to visit all of the big tourist sites in Beijing, Xi'an and Hangzhou at just the same time as all of the locals. I'm seriously considering changing our itinerary such that we visit Thailand and Cambodia before Beijing... at least that way we'll be well away from the crowds.
But I digress, do yourself a favour and head over to http://www.simonlewiswriter.com/blog/ for some really great writing.
It's a refreshing change to see real writing, unlike the stuff I come up with, which is mostly for me to record what I'm doing, as well as to share with friends and family.
There's plenty of stuff that I could happily quote, but so far I think this is my favourite bit:
"An American was filming a pedestrian crossing, whispering a commentary into his video camera’s microphone: ‘one billion people… a sea of humanity… crossing the road.’ There weren’t one billion people crossing the road, but there were certainly far more than could reasonably be expected."
This causes me quite a bit of concern: our holiday is all planned around the Chinese New Year festivities, and we're expecting to visit all of the big tourist sites in Beijing, Xi'an and Hangzhou at just the same time as all of the locals. I'm seriously considering changing our itinerary such that we visit Thailand and Cambodia before Beijing... at least that way we'll be well away from the crowds.
But I digress, do yourself a favour and head over to http://www.simonlewiswriter.com/blog/ for some really great writing.
Fuji S5 Pro
I blogged about the S5 Pro a short while back, suggesting that it may well be the next DSLR that I buy (if I can afford to buy one).
Well, I decided to have a look around today, and spotted that Jessops are now advertising the S5 Pro on their website.
Details available here; in short, the price is £1,249.99. If the CCD can deliver as it should, then this seems to be a pretty impressive price, especially when you take into account that this is the price that the D200 started retailing for just a short while ago.
Expected availability date is April 2007, so it may well be Q3 of 2007 before we can realistically expect to get them in our grubby hands.
This leaves the question: buy a D200 now or hang back with a D70 and upgrade later?
Well, I decided to have a look around today, and spotted that Jessops are now advertising the S5 Pro on their website.
Details available here; in short, the price is £1,249.99. If the CCD can deliver as it should, then this seems to be a pretty impressive price, especially when you take into account that this is the price that the D200 started retailing for just a short while ago.
Expected availability date is April 2007, so it may well be Q3 of 2007 before we can realistically expect to get them in our grubby hands.
This leaves the question: buy a D200 now or hang back with a D70 and upgrade later?
Ultimate monitor experience
Clearly some purchasing of a Dell 2407WFP (24" widescreen TFT) and a Dell 2007FP (20" TFT) in combination with an EMM312 dual VESA mount.
Imaging it: on the left you have your 20" TFT panel for web browser and other full screen apps and on the left the 24" widescreen panel for other work, photo editing and film viewing.
A match made in heaven.
(both have a vertical resolution of 1200, so it would work well; unfortunately the dot-pitch is marginally out and it is unlikely that both panels would have the same "brightness")
Imaging it: on the left you have your 20" TFT panel for web browser and other full screen apps and on the left the 24" widescreen panel for other work, photo editing and film viewing.
A match made in heaven.
(both have a vertical resolution of 1200, so it would work well; unfortunately the dot-pitch is marginally out and it is unlikely that both panels would have the same "brightness")
StorageTek L20 Library Admin Webpage
If your StorageTek L20/40/180/700 autochanger library is sat on a private network and you fancy prodding the web GUI (assuming you purchased the serial dongle upgrade), try something like:
In this example IP_ADDR is the private IP address of the library, as it is reached by the ssh server you are tunnelling through, in this case SSH-HOST.
You can now access the library interface by navigating to http://localhost:1234/ in your browser.
ssh -L 1234:IP_ADDR:80 -L 5001:IP_ADDR:5001 -L 5002:IP_ADDR:5002 SSH-HOST
In this example IP_ADDR is the private IP address of the library, as it is reached by the ssh server you are tunnelling through, in this case SSH-HOST.
You can now access the library interface by navigating to http://localhost:1234/ in your browser.
Manchester
It's surprising how much you miss somewhere you've lived for a while.
I always did enjoy late starts to the day, messing around in the stifling CompSoc office, trips to Pizza Express and the cinema, oh, and the odd lecture.
I always did enjoy late starts to the day, messing around in the stifling CompSoc office, trips to Pizza Express and the cinema, oh, and the odd lecture.
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Sunday, 21 January 2007
Paddington to Beijing by train
There's an interesting article over at the BBC News website about a correspondent opting to travel to his new post by train.
I met a traveller who had travelled from Russia all the way down through China and had somehow ended up on a train in southern Thailand... he seemed to have enjoyed himself, but for me, I'm not sure I could think of anything worse.
With any trip like this, it might be something that has to be tried to be understood.
I met a traveller who had travelled from Russia all the way down through China and had somehow ended up on a train in southern Thailand... he seemed to have enjoyed himself, but for me, I'm not sure I could think of anything worse.
With any trip like this, it might be something that has to be tried to be understood.
China, meet Drive-thru; Drive-thru, meet China
McDonald's have finally twigged onto the fact that in Beijing and Shanghai there are a lot of cars. In the last three years (I first visited about three years ago) there has been a massive increase in the number of cars.
So, McD's have teamed up with, of all people, Sinopec to provide car drivers a Chicken McBurger (heh) at the same time as they top their SUV up with "gas".
Great(!)
So, McD's have teamed up with, of all people, Sinopec to provide car drivers a Chicken McBurger (heh) at the same time as they top their SUV up with "gas".
Great(!)
Phnom Penh
Capital and largest city in Cambodia.
But is it pronounced "puh-nom penn" or "nomm penn"?
Well, from what I can gather, either is fair game.
I think the same applies to my favourite laid-back south-east Asian country, where both "Laos" and "Lao" are correct.
This reminds me of the two types of visitors to Laos: those who are on their way (the "Laos" group), and those on their way back (the "Lao" group). While both are correct, you'll never hear a native say anything other than "Lao", which suggests to me that the same is true of Phnom Penh.
But is it pronounced "puh-nom penn" or "nomm penn"?
Well, from what I can gather, either is fair game.
I think the same applies to my favourite laid-back south-east Asian country, where both "Laos" and "Lao" are correct.
This reminds me of the two types of visitors to Laos: those who are on their way (the "Laos" group), and those on their way back (the "Lao" group). While both are correct, you'll never hear a native say anything other than "Lao", which suggests to me that the same is true of Phnom Penh.
Saturday, 20 January 2007
openSuSE 10.2: the first ten minutes
I borrowed an openSuSE 10.2 DVD from Anton and finally got around to giving it a whirl. Here are my thoughts about it:
* GRUB bootsplash and boot-up is very nice and swish; better than Ubuntu
* installer is way behind the Ubuntu equivalent; there is *too much choice* and potential to go wrong
* partition editor is a recipe for disaster; different disks aren't clearly defined: it would be *very* easy for a newbie to nuke their disk by accident
* the install went smoothly and the overall presentation of the OS is good
* GNOME support is much improved over previous releases; it feels like less of an afterthought
* I ended up with a CD-only application repository thanks to not having an uplink at install time. YaST2 sucks monkey balls; this is a real shame considering how great it used to be. The options are ambiguous and it took me a good amount of time to find out how to add a new YUM repository
* What is YUM? What is ZEN? What is going on with the consistency in this operating system? There are two available tools to add/update repositories and whatnot. One of them crashed half-way through, and the other wanted me to insert a disc!
* YUM is *very* slow, apt/deb is far superior
* Installing nvidia drivers was more complicated than Ubuntu (I gave up)
* The GNOME slab is very nice, not because it is better, but because it is good that people are thinking about things
* Beagle (with the Firefox plugin) by default is good news for all
* I didn't get the 3D desktop stuff working
* Nice to have some proprietary stuff included by default: Flash, etc.
* My webcam wasn't recognised (Ubuntu manages it)
* Much improved integration between KDE and GNOME
Overall I wasn't impressed. Some things are definitely ahead of Ubuntu: the GRUB menu is one big thing that I think the Ubuntu guys need to concentrate on. It seems the Novell guys are spending more time with whiz-bang than they are on the fundamentals.
Ubuntu, on the other hand, now have a very solid foundation and the next release (which won't install on my machine right now (but it is an alpha)) should definitely help level things out.
If you want desktop Linux: use Ubuntu.
* GRUB bootsplash and boot-up is very nice and swish; better than Ubuntu
* installer is way behind the Ubuntu equivalent; there is *too much choice* and potential to go wrong
* partition editor is a recipe for disaster; different disks aren't clearly defined: it would be *very* easy for a newbie to nuke their disk by accident
* the install went smoothly and the overall presentation of the OS is good
* GNOME support is much improved over previous releases; it feels like less of an afterthought
* I ended up with a CD-only application repository thanks to not having an uplink at install time. YaST2 sucks monkey balls; this is a real shame considering how great it used to be. The options are ambiguous and it took me a good amount of time to find out how to add a new YUM repository
* What is YUM? What is ZEN? What is going on with the consistency in this operating system? There are two available tools to add/update repositories and whatnot. One of them crashed half-way through, and the other wanted me to insert a disc!
* YUM is *very* slow, apt/deb is far superior
* Installing nvidia drivers was more complicated than Ubuntu (I gave up)
* The GNOME slab is very nice, not because it is better, but because it is good that people are thinking about things
* Beagle (with the Firefox plugin) by default is good news for all
* I didn't get the 3D desktop stuff working
* Nice to have some proprietary stuff included by default: Flash, etc.
* My webcam wasn't recognised (Ubuntu manages it)
* Much improved integration between KDE and GNOME
Overall I wasn't impressed. Some things are definitely ahead of Ubuntu: the GRUB menu is one big thing that I think the Ubuntu guys need to concentrate on. It seems the Novell guys are spending more time with whiz-bang than they are on the fundamentals.
Ubuntu, on the other hand, now have a very solid foundation and the next release (which won't install on my machine right now (but it is an alpha)) should definitely help level things out.
If you want desktop Linux: use Ubuntu.
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Sun Fire V1280
This machine is a bit of a beast. Fully populated it has 12 UltraSPARC III CPUs, 96GB of RAM and a weight rivalling that of your local Indian elephant. With these impressive figures in mind, I now tell you that it is the lowest end machine in the Serengeti range of machines. Its bigger brothers and sisters include the 4800/4900 and the 6800/6900. In addition it shares a lot in common with the Starcat systems: the Sun Fire 15k and 25k (a herd of Indian elephants).
Over in our second lab we had a sick 1280 that was throwing all sorts of errors during the power on self tests. Months ago I spent some time looking into this and came to the conclusion that none of the system or repeater boards were faulty. By process of elimination (I could have said Sun Global Resolution (SGR) here; it's the same thing) I came to the conclusion that we had a faulty baseplane.
The V1280 is quite different from the rest of the Serengeti and Starcat systems in that it was designed primarily for the telco industry (the Netra V1280). For whatever reason, the engineers decided to orient the boards vertically and as such the V1280 is equipped with a fairly unique ratchet mechanism to support boards as they are being inserted into the chassis.
Anybody who has ever dealt with a 1280 will know exactly what I mean when I say that the first time you install a board is a memorable experience. The ratchet system is very effective in supporting the load, so much so that to get the board down into the chassis requires a fair amount of force... all very well good until you find out (at the cost of your system board and baseplane?) that the ratchet system stops about an inch before the bottom of the chassis. This discovery is usually accompanied by a loud crashing sound and potentially a hefty repair bill.
That said, I *like* this mechanism. If your first experience isn't a bad one and if you understand the system it works very well. The trick is to utilise the latches at each end of the board... use these to push the board into the chassis and, when it nears the bottom, hold them in such a way that they cannot leave the vertical position and snap shut. If this is done the board will drop just a short distance but the clasps will hold the delicate interconnect away from the internal baseplane. Once this has been done it is a case of gently closing the clasps to properly install the system board.
Unfortunately it seems that somebody wasn't aware of this technique and the cost was our V1280 baseplane. Fortunately we didn't lose a system board at the same time.
Months went by until last weekend we reworked the lab and moved this system to a rack that has an anti-tilt mechanism (it's just a foot that sticks out). I immediately ordered a replacement baseplane and got around to installing this yesterday.
The procedure is relatively straightforward, but the twist is that the baseplane is on the bottom of the chassis (logical, but different from the other Serengeti boxes). After removing the power supplies, the main fan tray, the IB_SSC board and a crazy internal power board I was ready to lift out the three system boards and two repeater boards. The proper thing to do here is to lift them up a few inches until they are properly held by the ratchet mechanism. As I've already mentioned, this is strong and holds the boards well.
Next up is ten minutes lying on my back undoing the screws on the bottom of the chassis. "Undo 31 of the 32 screws securing the baseplane. Remove the final screw and be prepared to support the weight. WARNING the baseplane is heavy."
Fortunately all of this went off without a hitch. One thing I particularly liked was the ability to lie with my head under this monstrous box and look up at the five high density interconnects above my head. Each "pin" is so fine that it can (and often do) pierce a hole in the surround of the female high density connector they mate with... certainly not something I'd like to have land on my head!
The good news is that following the baseplane replacement the system is back up and running. I have one issue left regarding the two onboard gigabit ethernet interfaces, but this is a very minor issue by comparison.
Another job well done :)
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
Sun Ray course
Last week Liam, James, Chris, Anton, Wilson and myself were all on a SunRay training course being held for OpenAnswers. We were lucky enough to get the places in return for setting the conference room up with a whole pile of Ultra 60s, a few Ultra 10s and some SunRay 1s with attached monitors.
I had messed briefly with SunRays before the course (setting up SunRay@Home) and obviously we use and support these on a day-to-day basis.
I think that of us all it was just Chris and Anton who hadn't quite gotten around to setting up a knock-off SunRay at home. For those of us that had, the first day or two was very straightforward: it covered installing the packages, the very basic setup and initial setup of the DHCP server.
Beyond the first day or two a lot more useful things began to crop up: the full workings of failover groups, exactly how/what happens in multi-head and Xinerama setups (although I swear Sun haven't quite got their definitions of multi-head and Xinerama the right way around) and fancy multi-failover groups on the same subnetwork.
All in all there was plenty of useful information, although much of it was in the form of "gap filling" and getting some actual hands-on experience.
I've got myself booked onto another training course starting this coming Monday morning. I've opted to go for the Solaris System Performance Management (SA-400) course, which appears to cover plenty of really useful and interesting stuff. I'm still desperate to get on the Solaris Internals course, but the big problem is finding enough other people wanting to attend.
I had messed briefly with SunRays before the course (setting up SunRay@Home) and obviously we use and support these on a day-to-day basis.
I think that of us all it was just Chris and Anton who hadn't quite gotten around to setting up a knock-off SunRay at home. For those of us that had, the first day or two was very straightforward: it covered installing the packages, the very basic setup and initial setup of the DHCP server.
Beyond the first day or two a lot more useful things began to crop up: the full workings of failover groups, exactly how/what happens in multi-head and Xinerama setups (although I swear Sun haven't quite got their definitions of multi-head and Xinerama the right way around) and fancy multi-failover groups on the same subnetwork.
All in all there was plenty of useful information, although much of it was in the form of "gap filling" and getting some actual hands-on experience.
I've got myself booked onto another training course starting this coming Monday morning. I've opted to go for the Solaris System Performance Management (SA-400) course, which appears to cover plenty of really useful and interesting stuff. I'm still desperate to get on the Solaris Internals course, but the big problem is finding enough other people wanting to attend.
On why a personal blog is better than a blogs.sun.com blog...
You clearly can't get away with uploading/blogging about the good stuff.
Japanese tourist in Africa (NSFW)
Vlad sent me a link to this image. It's one of those funny ones... if it weren't for all of the guns, in some strange way it is almost normal... or is it just me?
(P.S. enjoy the NSFW tag... that's there after everybody complained about the last time I uploaded naked ladies)
(P.S. enjoy the NSFW tag... that's there after everybody complained about the last time I uploaded naked ladies)
Interviewing for Sun Microsystems
As most people will know, I'm working for Sun on a one-year contract. My job involves setting up hardware configurations for support engineers. As part of the lab team I help run a large lab packed full of almost all of the hardware and parts Sun have sold in the last decade (or more). We get hands-on experience with pre-release, beta and even alpha hardware; we can work head-to-head with the engineers to resolve issues affecting customers.
In addition to this we get to play with some pretty funky software, for me this was playing with the Logical Domains support on the Niagara boxes way before it had even been announced to the customers.
The structure of the lab team in our office is probably quite different from many support organisations. We have the big boss (that's Paul), David (who has an uncanny ability to remember all sorts of useful info) and then the five student "lab rats". Paul would argue against calling us lab rats, but it does a good job to describe what our primary role is. In addition to the student guys is Wilson, an ex-student who is now back with Sun on a contract; he works on software issues and server maintenance. The reason the structure is interesting is because of us students... currently we've been at Sun for a little over six months, at the beginning of this period we were more or less new to all Sun hardware, software and the Way Things Work, but so too were the guys before us, and those before them, and so on.
In simple terms: every twelve months almost all of the accumulated knowledge in the lab team buggers off back to university to let a new bunch of clueless guys take over.
So, back on track: it's six months since I started my job, and this means that it is time to interview second year university students to help find another five guys to run the shop once we've gone. We reviewed a whole pile of CVs before Christmas and let a number of applicants know that they had been successful in getting a telephone interview, the first of these was last Tuesday and was conducted by Paul and David (most of us students were still slacking off on holiday).
On Wednesday Anton and I sat in on a couple more telephone interviews and were given the opportunity to run the show the following Thursday.
The telephone interview structure is quite straightforward: Paul introduces the job, provides some more info as to what exactly it involves and then one of us begins the technical side of the interview by asking a number of UNIX questions. There is a short break in the middle for more non-technical questions and a chance for the interviewee to ask any questions she/he may have, before a few more technical questions to finish the interview off.
So what was it like to act as an interviewer for a job I was interviewed for just six months ago?
Surprisingly difficult. It looked and sounded very straightforward, but when you get down to it you know that the way that you phrase the questions has a direct impact on whether or not the candidate will be able to give the answer we want, and could therefore be the deciding factor in whether or not they reach the second stage of the interview -- I quickly realised that if I bugger the question up and the interviewee gets the wrong end of the stick, changing their perception of the question is next to impossible. And, as Paul says, stressing out the applicants isn't going to help us make any sort of decision.
My general feeling was very much for the person I was interviewing: I wanted them to do well and did it was quite difficult to put myself in their position and think how best to pose the question. Unfortunately I think I made a mess of one question, and then made it even more confusing by re-asking in a slightly different manner. That said, after sitting in on a few interviews even the most straightforward questions can be misinterpreted, but often with a little help we can appreciate that the person on the end of the 'phone does know the answer, and that nerves or "newness" to non-face-to-face interviews are at play.
I originally started this blog entry on January 9 2007, but I've managed to keep it sat in a semi-composed state for quite some time. It is interesting to note that on January 9 2006 I was heading down from Manchester to Guillemont Park for my second interview. Obviously I got the job (goes without saying, right? ;) and I've been very happy ever since. I've got about five or six months left at Sun and then I've got to sort something else out or try and bribe Paul to give me a really good reference for somebody else in the company! In the meantime... I've got plenty of stuff to be getting on with.
In addition to this we get to play with some pretty funky software, for me this was playing with the Logical Domains support on the Niagara boxes way before it had even been announced to the customers.
The structure of the lab team in our office is probably quite different from many support organisations. We have the big boss (that's Paul), David (who has an uncanny ability to remember all sorts of useful info) and then the five student "lab rats". Paul would argue against calling us lab rats, but it does a good job to describe what our primary role is. In addition to the student guys is Wilson, an ex-student who is now back with Sun on a contract; he works on software issues and server maintenance. The reason the structure is interesting is because of us students... currently we've been at Sun for a little over six months, at the beginning of this period we were more or less new to all Sun hardware, software and the Way Things Work, but so too were the guys before us, and those before them, and so on.
In simple terms: every twelve months almost all of the accumulated knowledge in the lab team buggers off back to university to let a new bunch of clueless guys take over.
So, back on track: it's six months since I started my job, and this means that it is time to interview second year university students to help find another five guys to run the shop once we've gone. We reviewed a whole pile of CVs before Christmas and let a number of applicants know that they had been successful in getting a telephone interview, the first of these was last Tuesday and was conducted by Paul and David (most of us students were still slacking off on holiday).
On Wednesday Anton and I sat in on a couple more telephone interviews and were given the opportunity to run the show the following Thursday.
The telephone interview structure is quite straightforward: Paul introduces the job, provides some more info as to what exactly it involves and then one of us begins the technical side of the interview by asking a number of UNIX questions. There is a short break in the middle for more non-technical questions and a chance for the interviewee to ask any questions she/he may have, before a few more technical questions to finish the interview off.
So what was it like to act as an interviewer for a job I was interviewed for just six months ago?
Surprisingly difficult. It looked and sounded very straightforward, but when you get down to it you know that the way that you phrase the questions has a direct impact on whether or not the candidate will be able to give the answer we want, and could therefore be the deciding factor in whether or not they reach the second stage of the interview -- I quickly realised that if I bugger the question up and the interviewee gets the wrong end of the stick, changing their perception of the question is next to impossible. And, as Paul says, stressing out the applicants isn't going to help us make any sort of decision.
My general feeling was very much for the person I was interviewing: I wanted them to do well and did it was quite difficult to put myself in their position and think how best to pose the question. Unfortunately I think I made a mess of one question, and then made it even more confusing by re-asking in a slightly different manner. That said, after sitting in on a few interviews even the most straightforward questions can be misinterpreted, but often with a little help we can appreciate that the person on the end of the 'phone does know the answer, and that nerves or "newness" to non-face-to-face interviews are at play.
I originally started this blog entry on January 9 2007, but I've managed to keep it sat in a semi-composed state for quite some time. It is interesting to note that on January 9 2006 I was heading down from Manchester to Guillemont Park for my second interview. Obviously I got the job (goes without saying, right? ;) and I've been very happy ever since. I've got about five or six months left at Sun and then I've got to sort something else out or try and bribe Paul to give me a really good reference for somebody else in the company! In the meantime... I've got plenty of stuff to be getting on with.
Sunday, 14 January 2007
Holiday photo
I'm going to be using my photoblog at www.lewiz.org/plog to display my holiday photos.
There won't be too many, but I'm including the first entry now, in an attempt to get you subscribed to the photoblog RSS feed.
This shot was taken in the village Xiaoxiao and her family grew up in. It's near Taizhou city in Zhejiang province. The man is using a hoe to mix mortar for the construction of a simple ditch for irrigation. There were five or six villagers working together on the project.
There won't be too many, but I'm including the first entry now, in an attempt to get you subscribed to the photoblog RSS feed.
This shot was taken in the village Xiaoxiao and her family grew up in. It's near Taizhou city in Zhejiang province. The man is using a hoe to mix mortar for the construction of a simple ditch for irrigation. There were five or six villagers working together on the project.
Saturday, 13 January 2007
I hate Windows
After working on a bunch of images in Photoshop for a little over an hour, Windows decided that it would tell me to restart for some updates. Not being quite finished, I politely declined, did some more work and then stopped to read a website.
When I came back, I was very happy to discover that it had ignored me and issued a reboot.
Bye-bye one hour of photo editing changes.
When I came back, I was very happy to discover that it had ignored me and issued a reboot.
Bye-bye one hour of photo editing changes.
Friday, 12 January 2007
Revival of the Photoblog
I let things slip, but after spending three evenings scanning film I decided to resurrect my photoblog.
From now on it will be kept up-to-date. For the latest instalment, which also happens to be the first post from my Chinese Christmas holiday, head on over to www.lewiz.org/plog.
Don't forget to update your bookmarks and RSS readers!
From now on it will be kept up-to-date. For the latest instalment, which also happens to be the first post from my Chinese Christmas holiday, head on over to www.lewiz.org/plog.
Don't forget to update your bookmarks and RSS readers!
Thursday, 11 January 2007
Next DSLR
It seems crazy to say it, but my trusty Nikon D70s DSLR is starting to get a little rusty, not to mention that I feel as though I'm starting to outgrow its functions. Why?
* Small, dim viewfinder (by comparison with D80/D200)
* Poor high ISO performance (by comparison with D80/D200)
* Luminosity histogram only (no RGB)
* Relatively poor AF performance (by comparison to D200/D80/D2)
* Slow AF motor (of little importance considering AF-S glass)
* Inability to map custom buttons, no custom setting banks
* Limited viewfinder information (e.g. ISO setting)
* Less-than-optimal handling
Depending on how familiar you are with your cameras, you might notice that I haven't listed sensor resolution in the above list. My D70s is a 6.2MP DSLR, the D200 and D80 are around 10MP, the D2X is something like 12. But right now, 6MP is perfectly adequate for me. That said, CF cards are cheap, storage is cheap, I wouldn't say no to more MP, if the trade-off is right (it is with both the D200 and D80... the D2 high ISO performance isn't quite as good, but it's still way above my D70).
So, with these functions in mind, which cameras am I looking at?
I'm not looking to Canon and I'm not looking to Olympus. The Canon 5D is on a par with the D200, despite being much more expensive; that said, it does have a 35FF sensor, which is where the price and demand comes in. The Canon 30D is barely worth consideration; it pales by comparison with the D80 (i.e. a Nikon consumer DSLR beats a Canon prosumer DSLR). The Olympus E-400 is a great looking little body, plenty of features, a good sensor, but a shocking viewfinder and (currently) no real upgrade route. Olympus will really have to do something good with the E-1 succesor for people to start taking notice again.
Unsurprisingly, I'm looking at Nikon bodies; this time around it'll definitely be a pro body, this leaves the D200, D2X and the soon-to-be-announced Fujifilm S5 Pro (okay, not a Nikon camera, but it has a D200 frame licensed from Nikon, along with the F-mount and the other goodies).
D200: Good high ISO performance, excellent viewfinder, plenty of settings, excellent price
D2X: So-so high ISO performance, 100% viewfinder coverage (but not as large as the D200), loads of settings, best handling and performance, expensive
S5 Pro: D200 body, film modes, Fuji's Super CCD for increased dynamic range images (one set of receptors for shadow/midtone detail, another set for highlight detail), "just" 6MP sensor, limited sensor update between previous Fuji body, price TBA
Fujifilm S5 Pro (image courtest dpreview.com)
Right now I'm really liking the potential that the S5 Pro has. The ability to record highlight detail is a real benefit over the other two bodies. What concerns me is the apparent lack of CCD update since the S3 Pro (there was no S4 Pro). Before buying this body I'd definitely wait for reviews, and the price would have to be right.
Currently the D2X is a non-starter, due to the high price, not to mention all of the current D3 rumours abounding. The next month or so will be very interesting, if only to find out whether the S5 Pro is really worth my attention, or if my next body purchase will be a D200 or a D200s.
* Small, dim viewfinder (by comparison with D80/D200)
* Poor high ISO performance (by comparison with D80/D200)
* Luminosity histogram only (no RGB)
* Relatively poor AF performance (by comparison to D200/D80/D2)
* Slow AF motor (of little importance considering AF-S glass)
* Inability to map custom buttons, no custom setting banks
* Limited viewfinder information (e.g. ISO setting)
* Less-than-optimal handling
Depending on how familiar you are with your cameras, you might notice that I haven't listed sensor resolution in the above list. My D70s is a 6.2MP DSLR, the D200 and D80 are around 10MP, the D2X is something like 12. But right now, 6MP is perfectly adequate for me. That said, CF cards are cheap, storage is cheap, I wouldn't say no to more MP, if the trade-off is right (it is with both the D200 and D80... the D2 high ISO performance isn't quite as good, but it's still way above my D70).
So, with these functions in mind, which cameras am I looking at?
I'm not looking to Canon and I'm not looking to Olympus. The Canon 5D is on a par with the D200, despite being much more expensive; that said, it does have a 35FF sensor, which is where the price and demand comes in. The Canon 30D is barely worth consideration; it pales by comparison with the D80 (i.e. a Nikon consumer DSLR beats a Canon prosumer DSLR). The Olympus E-400 is a great looking little body, plenty of features, a good sensor, but a shocking viewfinder and (currently) no real upgrade route. Olympus will really have to do something good with the E-1 succesor for people to start taking notice again.
Unsurprisingly, I'm looking at Nikon bodies; this time around it'll definitely be a pro body, this leaves the D200, D2X and the soon-to-be-announced Fujifilm S5 Pro (okay, not a Nikon camera, but it has a D200 frame licensed from Nikon, along with the F-mount and the other goodies).
D200: Good high ISO performance, excellent viewfinder, plenty of settings, excellent price
D2X: So-so high ISO performance, 100% viewfinder coverage (but not as large as the D200), loads of settings, best handling and performance, expensive
S5 Pro: D200 body, film modes, Fuji's Super CCD for increased dynamic range images (one set of receptors for shadow/midtone detail, another set for highlight detail), "just" 6MP sensor, limited sensor update between previous Fuji body, price TBA
Fujifilm S5 Pro (image courtest dpreview.com)
Right now I'm really liking the potential that the S5 Pro has. The ability to record highlight detail is a real benefit over the other two bodies. What concerns me is the apparent lack of CCD update since the S3 Pro (there was no S4 Pro). Before buying this body I'd definitely wait for reviews, and the price would have to be right.
Currently the D2X is a non-starter, due to the high price, not to mention all of the current D3 rumours abounding. The next month or so will be very interesting, if only to find out whether the S5 Pro is really worth my attention, or if my next body purchase will be a D200 or a D200s.
Olympus OM-4, underexposer
Well, the OM-4 seems to be a persistent underexposer.
All of my holiday snaps from the OM-4 are underexposed by about 2/3rds of a stop. This is pretty annoying, but certainly not the end of the world as I only have two rolls of film.
Even underexposed I find that there is still plenty of shadow detail for me to pull up. In future I'll adjust the ASA rating to compensate... but I'm not too sure how this will be handled when I come to use the spot metering, maybe I'll have to manually underexpose by 2/3rds of a stop?
All of my holiday snaps from the OM-4 are underexposed by about 2/3rds of a stop. This is pretty annoying, but certainly not the end of the world as I only have two rolls of film.
Even underexposed I find that there is still plenty of shadow detail for me to pull up. In future I'll adjust the ASA rating to compensate... but I'm not too sure how this will be handled when I come to use the spot metering, maybe I'll have to manually underexpose by 2/3rds of a stop?
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Lake Guillemont
A day in the life at Lake Guillemont...
Our office area. (Clockwise) Chris, James and Anton
Anton making use of the recreational facilities
Work hard, play harder.
Work interests always come first (we never discuss how to hack wireless routers)
Christmas is a big event at Lake Guillemont
Everybody is very friendly
Chris learns from David-sensei
Lake Guillemont. A place of respect
Our office area. (Clockwise) Chris, James and Anton
Anton making use of the recreational facilities
Work hard, play harder.
Work interests always come first (we never discuss how to hack wireless routers)
Christmas is a big event at Lake Guillemont
Everybody is very friendly
Chris learns from David-sensei
Lake Guillemont. A place of respect
Woo! Vlad-blog!
Somehow Vlad has finally been convinced/coaxed/tricked into starting a blog.
Who knows how long it will last, how often it'll get updated, or whether we'll even see another post.
But for the time being, be sure to head over to inomine.walktojapan.com for all your Vlad 'bog'ging needs.
Who knows how long it will last, how often it'll get updated, or whether we'll even see another post.
But for the time being, be sure to head over to inomine.walktojapan.com for all your Vlad 'bog'ging needs.
Film vs Digital
Film is ace, digital is ace. Here's why I like both:
Film
* Loads of dynamic range
* Photos "look good" without any fiddling
* Small bodies available
* Loads of sexy lenses to play around with
* Manual film bodies look "old" and don't scare people away * Get a whole new look by buying a different type of film (much cheaper than a new DSLR/sensor)
* Retro and cool; RESPECT!
* Awesome viewfinders
Digital
* Cheap for amateurs: buy a body and lens and you need not pay for film or processing costs
* Shoot lots, shoot often
* No more frantic lunchbreaks dropping film off for processing
* Instant review, histograms, highlight detection, etc.
* Date/time and camera settings available for review
* Photoshopping
* Auto-focus (okay, so we have AF film bodies, but my review is about old school film bodies)
There are surely a whole pile more things too. But I have to admit that I increasingly consider that the size and brightness of a viewfinder is one of the most important things going; DSLRs are getting better (especially 35FF bodies), but there still isn't anything that matches an OM-4. Another must-have is dynamic range: film provides it, highlights, shadows, mid-tones. Beautiful.
Of course in the DSLR camp we have fast auto-focus which is really great for candid shots (pity that the body is so damn big and obvious).
I just don't know which camp I want to be in!
Film
* Loads of dynamic range
* Photos "look good" without any fiddling
* Small bodies available
* Loads of sexy lenses to play around with
* Manual film bodies look "old" and don't scare people away * Get a whole new look by buying a different type of film (much cheaper than a new DSLR/sensor)
* Retro and cool; RESPECT!
* Awesome viewfinders
Digital
* Cheap for amateurs: buy a body and lens and you need not pay for film or processing costs
* Shoot lots, shoot often
* No more frantic lunchbreaks dropping film off for processing
* Instant review, histograms, highlight detection, etc.
* Date/time and camera settings available for review
* Photoshopping
* Auto-focus (okay, so we have AF film bodies, but my review is about old school film bodies)
There are surely a whole pile more things too. But I have to admit that I increasingly consider that the size and brightness of a viewfinder is one of the most important things going; DSLRs are getting better (especially 35FF bodies), but there still isn't anything that matches an OM-4. Another must-have is dynamic range: film provides it, highlights, shadows, mid-tones. Beautiful.
Of course in the DSLR camp we have fast auto-focus which is really great for candid shots (pity that the body is so damn big and obvious).
I just don't know which camp I want to be in!
Holiday Plans for 2007
It seems absolutely crazy to be posting this so soon after my return from China (about this time last week) but here goes:
Outbound (Wednesday 14 February 2007):
* 14:05 depart Manchester T2 (KL1084)
* 16:30 arrive Amsterdam
* 17:30 depart Amsterdam (KL895)
* Feb 15 10:50 arrive Shanghai
Return (Monday 12 March 2007):
* 12:45 depart Shanghai (KL896)
* 17:25 arrive Amsterdam
* 18:15 depart Amsterdam (KL1093)
* 18:35 arrive Manchester
So... in just over one month I'll be jetting off to Shanghai PuDong International Airport with my Mum and Uncle Quentin; this will be my fourth trip to China.
I'll be acting as a tourguide-of-sorts as I've already visited many of the Chinese destinations. However, in addition to China, we'll also be visiting Bangkok (and probably Ayutthaya) in Thailand, not to mention the highlight: Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia.
Our itinerary isn't yet confirmed, but it will be very busy and involve a good number of internal flights. I expect it to be something like this:
* Arrive Shanghai
* Immediately travel by bus to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province for a day visiting the West Lake
* Journey by bus from Hangzhou to Taizhou, Zhejiang, where we'll meet Xiaoxiao and her family for the New Year celebrations on February 18... roll on the Year of the Pig
* Fly from either Wenzhou or Shanghai to Xi'an, Shaanxi province for a day or two visiting the Terracotta Warriors and other tourist attractions
* Fly to Beijing for a number of (freezing) days visiting the main tourist attractions: The Forbidden City, Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Hutongs, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc.
* Fly from Beijing to Bangkok where we'll spend a night or two trying not to get bombed and enjoying the warmth. We may visit Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, for the many temples
* Travel west by bus into Cambodia and Siem Reap for the temples at Angkor Wat
* Time depending a visit to Phnom Penh (the Cambodian capital)
* Travel back to Bangkok and fly either to Shanghai direct, or via Beijing
* A day/night to enjoy what Shanghai has to offer before catching the return flight on March 12
In the meantime, I need to work out what camera stuff I'll be taking with me and probably pick up a Lonely Planet or other book to cover the things to see in Cambodia. It looks like this time my China book will be given a rest, as Quentin already has a copy of the latest edition, as well as a thin Beijing book.
Outbound (Wednesday 14 February 2007):
* 14:05 depart Manchester T2 (KL1084)
* 16:30 arrive Amsterdam
* 17:30 depart Amsterdam (KL895)
* Feb 15 10:50 arrive Shanghai
Return (Monday 12 March 2007):
* 12:45 depart Shanghai (KL896)
* 17:25 arrive Amsterdam
* 18:15 depart Amsterdam (KL1093)
* 18:35 arrive Manchester
So... in just over one month I'll be jetting off to Shanghai PuDong International Airport with my Mum and Uncle Quentin; this will be my fourth trip to China.
I'll be acting as a tourguide-of-sorts as I've already visited many of the Chinese destinations. However, in addition to China, we'll also be visiting Bangkok (and probably Ayutthaya) in Thailand, not to mention the highlight: Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia.
Our itinerary isn't yet confirmed, but it will be very busy and involve a good number of internal flights. I expect it to be something like this:
* Arrive Shanghai
* Immediately travel by bus to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province for a day visiting the West Lake
* Journey by bus from Hangzhou to Taizhou, Zhejiang, where we'll meet Xiaoxiao and her family for the New Year celebrations on February 18... roll on the Year of the Pig
* Fly from either Wenzhou or Shanghai to Xi'an, Shaanxi province for a day or two visiting the Terracotta Warriors and other tourist attractions
* Fly to Beijing for a number of (freezing) days visiting the main tourist attractions: The Forbidden City, Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Hutongs, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, etc.
* Fly from Beijing to Bangkok where we'll spend a night or two trying not to get bombed and enjoying the warmth. We may visit Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok, for the many temples
* Travel west by bus into Cambodia and Siem Reap for the temples at Angkor Wat
* Time depending a visit to Phnom Penh (the Cambodian capital)
* Travel back to Bangkok and fly either to Shanghai direct, or via Beijing
* A day/night to enjoy what Shanghai has to offer before catching the return flight on March 12
In the meantime, I need to work out what camera stuff I'll be taking with me and probably pick up a Lonely Planet or other book to cover the things to see in Cambodia. It looks like this time my China book will be given a rest, as Quentin already has a copy of the latest edition, as well as a thin Beijing book.
Tuesday, 9 January 2007
Nude
I guess this post is different from the usual sort of stuff I post... a couple of nude shots I stubmled across while browsing the web. I've managed to track the stuff down to Leap of Faith where there are a bunch more galleries.
So, why did I pick these two? I can't say for sure... they seemed pretty good. They're really natural shots, not necessarily perfect technically, but among the most interesting I've seen recently. And let's face it: the subject isn't exactly hard on the eyes :)
On the gallery, the above image was actually ordered after the next one, but I can't say I was too keen on that order; this way seems better.
Well, enjoy :)
So, why did I pick these two? I can't say for sure... they seemed pretty good. They're really natural shots, not necessarily perfect technically, but among the most interesting I've seen recently. And let's face it: the subject isn't exactly hard on the eyes :)
On the gallery, the above image was actually ordered after the next one, but I can't say I was too keen on that order; this way seems better.
Well, enjoy :)
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Super Hero
Your results:
You are Green Lantern
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
You are Green Lantern
| Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.  |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Hacking T-Mobile Web Proxy (update)
My previous suspicions about the Firefox cache being bypassed were actually not correct... it turns out that the local disk and memory caches that Firefox uses are still in-place. This is all good for me, a quick clear of my local cache and all of the stale fuzzy images will be force-fetched from the appropriate servers.
Hacking T-Mobile Web Proxy
The subject is a little misleading, but I couldn't remember what the datacard that I've borrowed from Vlad is called.
I'm connecting to the Internet from home via a T-Mobile PCCard, which uses some fangled 3g technology to give me a 1.8Mbps Interweb connection. Latency is a little higher than with conventional 'broadband', but the overall feel is good.
The big issue I have is with images... T-Mobile made a blanket decision to enable image compression by default. This means that I get garbled crappy images which are a pain in the backside.
After a little reading about I discovered that you could use a force reload (Shift+Ctrl+R in Firefox) to get the full-res samples. Yet more reading and I discovered that some people were setting a custom User Agent (appending "Blazer/4.0") to fool the transparent proxy server into thinking the browser was incapable of page compression (although I don't fully understand how this would help with inline JPEG compression, but anyway). Unfortunately this neat little trick didn't work to me.
This got me thinking... if I can use my browser to force the proxy to send me a full-res image then it must be doing something special. A trip over to http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/, a new Firefox plugin and restart later and I was able to observe the HTTP headers that Firefox was sending to the server.
I quickly spotted that the following two extra headers were being sent on a force reload:
So it looked as though the Pragma and Cache-Control force the proxy to send me the real deal. Now, time for another plugin, this time Modify Headers which I configured to be active at all times ("Always on") and to send the exact two headers I mentioned in the last paragraph.
Modify Headers is a neat little plugin that allows the user to send any custom headers in a reasonably fine-grained way. But for me, I wanted the headers active for all requests.
The result? It was good... all of the pictures were now pretty. Of course, this isn't without its drawbacks... all requests bypass the cache, which means I'll be pulling more data down, but in exchange for the good images I guess I don't have much other choice.
I've not played around much yet, but I'm sure there will be other issues. I'm a little curious as to how a regular page refresh is different to a forced page refresh... from what I've read there are a bunch of odd little things that go on, mostly historical.
But for now, I'm a happy bunny :)
I'm connecting to the Internet from home via a T-Mobile PCCard, which uses some fangled 3g technology to give me a 1.8Mbps Interweb connection. Latency is a little higher than with conventional 'broadband', but the overall feel is good.
The big issue I have is with images... T-Mobile made a blanket decision to enable image compression by default. This means that I get garbled crappy images which are a pain in the backside.
After a little reading about I discovered that you could use a force reload (Shift+Ctrl+R in Firefox) to get the full-res samples. Yet more reading and I discovered that some people were setting a custom User Agent (appending "Blazer/4.0") to fool the transparent proxy server into thinking the browser was incapable of page compression (although I don't fully understand how this would help with inline JPEG compression, but anyway). Unfortunately this neat little trick didn't work to me.
This got me thinking... if I can use my browser to force the proxy to send me a full-res image then it must be doing something special. A trip over to http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/, a new Firefox plugin and restart later and I was able to observe the HTTP headers that Firefox was sending to the server.
I quickly spotted that the following two extra headers were being sent on a force reload:
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-cache
So it looked as though the Pragma and Cache-Control force the proxy to send me the real deal. Now, time for another plugin, this time Modify Headers which I configured to be active at all times ("Always on") and to send the exact two headers I mentioned in the last paragraph.
Modify Headers is a neat little plugin that allows the user to send any custom headers in a reasonably fine-grained way. But for me, I wanted the headers active for all requests.
The result? It was good... all of the pictures were now pretty. Of course, this isn't without its drawbacks... all requests bypass the cache, which means I'll be pulling more data down, but in exchange for the good images I guess I don't have much other choice.
I've not played around much yet, but I'm sure there will be other issues. I'm a little curious as to how a regular page refresh is different to a forced page refresh... from what I've read there are a bunch of odd little things that go on, mostly historical.
But for now, I'm a happy bunny :)
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