Yogarine

Eigendomeineerst.nl

2010-01-18T06:53:00.001-03:00

Eclipse plugin packages for Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10

2009-10-29T17:42:00.005-03:00

Still using Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope"? Check here!

So Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" was released today, and the official universe repository _finally_ contains proper packages for Eclipse 3.5.1! However, it still misses packages for many plugins, so I repackaged all the plugins for my Jaunty Eclipse PPA for Karmic so that they are compatible with the Eclipse package in Ubuntu's repository.

You can add my repository by entering this on the terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yogarine/eclipse/ubuntu && sudo apt-get update

Now you can install the Eclipse plugins like you would any other application in Ubuntu, e.g.:
sudo apt-get install eclipse-pdt

Enjoy!

Eclipse 3.5 "Galileo" packages for Ubuntu

2009-08-11T07:57:00.005-03:00

UPDATE 29/10/2009: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala finally has a proper Eclipse package, but you'll probably still be interested in my plugins: take a look here

If you're still using Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, keep reading.

If you're both an Ubuntu user and a developer using Eclipse, you probably know about the humiliating state the Eclipse packages in the Ubuntu repository are in at the moment. The latest version available in Jaunty is Eclipse 3.2!

So I decided to set up a PPA with up-to-date eclipse packages and also packages for many of it's more popular plugins. To use it, just add the following line to your software sources list:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/yogarine/eclipse/ubuntu jaunty main

And then run the following on the terminal to add my gpg key:
wget http://www2.yogarine.com/eclipse-ppa.key -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

Now you can install my eclipse packages like you normally would, e.g.:
sudo apt-get install eclipse-pdt
Will install the Eclipse PHP Development Tools and all it's dependencies.

For a list of available packages and more info check:
https://edge.launchpad.net/~yogarine/+archive/eclipse

php-nl

2009-07-29T19:45:00.002-03:00

Vorige week heb ik besloten een Nederlandstalige PHP discussiegroep op te richten: php-nl

Het initiatief om deze discussiegroep op te richten is gemotiveerd door de wens om een grotere interactie tussen ontwikkelaars (en nieuwsgierigen) op het gebied van PHP in Nederland op gang te brengen. In Brazilië, het land waar ik onlangs 5 jaar hebt doorgebracht, zijn dit soort groepen vrij populair. Toen ik terugkwam en op zoek ging naar een vergelijkbare Nederlandse lijst om wat contacten op PHP gebied op te doen viel het me dus tegen dat hier in Nederland geen échte discussielijst bestaat.

Oké, we hebben al PHPBenelux en PHPFreakz, maar op het forum van PHPBenelux is in weken niets gepost. En de site en forum van PHPFreakz, hoewel goed bezocht, lijken uit de jaren '90 te stammen. Verder geef ik persoonlijk de voorkeur aan mailing lists, omdat het een veel directere en efficiëntere manier van communiceren is.

Dus daarom heb ik besloten deze lijst op te richten, en ik reken voornamelijk op jullie hulp. Schrijf je snel in en geef zoveel mogelijk de boodschap door zodat we hier snel een interessante gemeenschap kunnen opbouwen om te discussiëren over de programmeertaal, twijfels kunnen ophelderen en later, wanneer het wat drukker wordt, wellicht wat leuke eventjes kunnen oprichten en andere leuke dingetjes. ;-)

Een ander doel is ook om een gecentraliseerde plek te hebben waar interessante vacatures bekend kunnen worden gemaakt. Goede PHP programmeurs zijn immers moeilijk te vinden.

Vergeet ook niet zoveel mogelijk anderen uit te nodigen. Maakt niet uit of ze ervaren PHP programmeurs zijn, of nu pas om de hoek komen kijken. Iedereen is welkom! Hopelijk kunnen we er dan spoedig een levendige groepen van maken.

Dus check it out: http://php-nl.org

Opera Unite: the good, the bad and the ugly

2009-06-16T07:00:00.007-03:00

So I tried out Opera Unite, and here are my first impressions:

Good:

The Opera Unite proxy that allows you to serve even behind a firewall, very nifty. Even experienced SysAdmin's have a hard time with this in some cases. The Opera Unite solution Just Works™.
Works fine cross-browser (on the client side)

Bad:

No option to use Opera Unite with your own domain or proxy (very proprietary to me)
No way to backup/sync collection of installed services.
No real open social network framework features included, as I had hoped...
PHP? Python? Java?

Ugly:

The Opera Unite server simply is terminated when you close Opera, without warning! FAIL!
No auto-update functionality for installed services
Force-reinstall to reactivate a deleted service, huh?

So basically all you get is a very fancy proxy for hosting pages with server-side JavaScript, all baked into a proprietary browser, accessible from a proprietary domain...

Good idea for a Firefox Extension though... ;-) Oh wait! That allready exists (well except for the proxy part anyway)!

Status update

2009-06-04T04:46:00.002-03:00

Hey folks, it's been a while since I posted. Just for my future referral (I don't keep a diary), and the interest of anyone that cares, I thought I'd sum up what I've been up to lately.

In December or so I decided I got fed up with Brazil (more about that in future posts) and started planning my trip back to Holland. So I quit my job in February and left for Holland end of march.
Thanks to the fact that I actively started looking for a job in the Netherlands as early as January it didn't take me long to get a new job in the Netherlands. So in April I started my new job as web developer at Q-pon.

So, as for Vulpes, that project is currently on hold due to lack of free time on my part. If anyone wishes to continue development on Vulpes, let me know!
LibFox, on the other hand, is now being developed on in an internal branch at Q-pon. Though I still need to ask my boss for permission to distribute the changes. There are some really neat new features in there though.

I also finally got myself a proper phone, a T-Mobile G1. :-) It's thanks to this phone that I finally have time to write on my blog again. (This post was written on my G1 in the train to work.)

So that's it for now. I will be following up soon with some more stuff I have been wanting to write down for a while now. Stay tuned.

LostBmx.com

2009-03-05T14:44:00.004-03:00

Last week I finished the site lostbmx.com, for a group of Dutch BMXers, I'm pretty pleased with the result myself, so check it out. :-)

II Encontro PHP-Paraíba

2009-02-10T21:38:00.001-03:00

Nem faz 6 meses que tivemos o primeiro encontro, e agora já vamos ter o II Encontro de PHP-Paraíba!

Será realizado no dia 07 de Março na Unipê em João Pessoa começando com o credenciamento às 8 horas da manhã. Eu também vou realizar uma palestra la, falando sobre sistemas de controle de versão, como Subversion, GIT e Bazaar.

A inscrição "custa" 1Kg de alimento não perecível e pode ser feita em: www.php-pb.net.
A grade de programação é a seguinte:

08:00 - Credenciamento

09:00 - Social Media e Wordpress: o poder dos plugins e themes PHP - José Fernando S. Carvalho "Fish"
10:00 - Desenvolvimento organizado com controle de versão - Alwin Garside
11:00 - PHP nas nuvens: Desenvolvendo para o mercado corporativo - Marcos Bezerra

12:00 às 14:00 - Intervalo para almoço

14:00 - Moodle: Integração de Sistemas em PHP - Gleidson Lacerda
15:00 - Aplicações Web Acessíveis - Diego Pessoa

16:00 às 16:30 - Coffee-break

16:30 - PHP Jedi - Boas práticas e alta performance - Felipe Ribeiro
17:30 - Caminhos para a certificação Zend - José Berardo
18:30 - Mesa Redonda para resolução do ZCE Practice Test

20:00 - PHPinga/PHPizza

Mais detalhes podem ser obtidas no site do evento www.php-pb.net.

Seven things you probably don't know about me

2009-01-28T20:54:00.006-03:00

Happy new year! (oh and Mery Christmas as well...)
Yeah that's really late, I've been just really busy lately. And twitter also has reduced my need to post.

Anyway, I got tagged by Felipe Ribeiro to follow some meme that seems to be hip in the PHP community right now, and since he speaks so highly of me (crazy dutch nerd troll) I guess I'm obliged to follow his lead. ;-) So here we go, seven things you probably don't know about me:

1. I started coding with BASIC on an old C128 and later an Atari XE, when I was about 11-12 years old, way back in 1995.
2. I spend the whole day listening to game soundtracks, movie soundtracks and game soundtrack ReMixes while I work.
3. I'm shortsighted (myopic) and use contact lenses. 6.5 degrees in the left eye, and 6.0 in the right eye.
4. I'm heavily addicted to caffeine. On average I drink 4 to 5 cups of coffee per day. To detoxify I need to stay off the coffee for at least 7 days. Whenever I try I give up after one day because of the headache it causes. :-P
5. I'm epileptic.
6. The name "Yogarine" comes from a Dutch salad sauce called "Yogorine", which is a form of "Yogonaise": Mayonaise mixed with Yoghurt. Most people say it fits me well because I'm kinda... Yaknow... pale.
7. I'm an atheist, materialist and critical rationalist.

There you go, seven things you ~~don't~~ didn't know about me. Now you can all see what a wonderful, interesting and genius person I am!

Anyway, now it's my turn to tag. *evil laughter* Aaaaand I choose you:
- Joost Ruis, another crazy Dutch nerd.
- Rosivaldo Azevedo, even though he doesn't have a blog. He'd better create one!
- Andreas Gohr, a PHP developer I secretly admire, responsible for DokuWiki.
- Marcos Júnior
- Theoziran Lima
- Björn Verzijlbergh, another Dutch guy.
- Karlisson Bezerra, faz um quadrinho, vai!

Well guys, here are the rules:
- Link your Original tagger(s), and list these rules on you blog
- Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
- Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
- Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Have fun! ;-)

I Encontro PHP-Paraíba

2008-11-20T18:40:00.002-03:00

Dia 29 vai ter o primeiro encontro do grupo PHP-Paraíba, que tem como objetivo reunir os membros do grupo, estudantes e profissionais da área de TI para troca de conhecimentos na tecnologia PHP e relacionadas. Eu to ajudando na organização, e também vou dar uma palestra sobre Flex e PHP.
Se ficou interessado, acesse http://php-pb.net. A inscrição é gratuito.

Programação:

08:00 - 09:00 Credenciamento
09:00 - 10:00 Joomla - Hugo Rabelo
10:00 - 11:00 PHP não é coisa de moleque! - Felipe Ribeiro
11:00 - 12:00 Smarty - Desacoplando lógica e layout - Marcus Antonius

12:00 - 14:00 Pausa para almoço

14:00 - 15:00 Segurança com PHP- Theoziran Lima
15:00 - 16:00 Desenvolvimento MVC com Zend Framework - Diego Pessoa
16:00 - 17:00 Desenvolvimento de interfaces ricas com Flex e PHP - Alwin Garside

17:00 - ... PHPinga ou PHPizza, a ser definido... :-)

Ubuntu 8.10 Release Party - Campina Grande

2008-10-29T17:31:00.006-03:00

Eu vou organizar um Release Party / Install Fest do Ubuntu 8.10 na casa dos meus pais no sábado dia 8 de novembro. Você esta convidada para aparecer la de 10:00 ás 18:00 horas. (Embora é possível que a festa vai demorar até muito depois de 18:00... ;-) Feijoada vai ter de 12:00.

O que posso oferecer:

Um jardim com mais de 100m²
Energia elétrica (vou instalar aterramento sábado/domingo que vem)
Muita feijoada :-)
Piscina \o/
Rede local com conexão a internet e um rede wireless
Um mirror local de repositórios (Ubuntu, Medibuntu, Akirad e Playdeb)
CD's de Ubuntu de sobra
Meu conhecimento do Ubuntu :)

O que você deve trazer:

Bebidas alcoólicas e refrigerantes ;-)
Amigos e família
Microsoft fanboys (para converter :-)
Mac fanboys (para torturar >:-)
Seu computador/notebook (para instalar Ubuntu)

O plano é simples: não há plano! Vai ser uma festa onde vamos conversar, comer, se divertir e instalar Ubuntu. Tudo mundo esta bem vindo!

A look at Opera 9.6

2008-10-09T09:45:00.005-03:00

Opera 9.6 got released recently, and I decided to take a look at it to see if it has anything to offer over the Firefox+Twitterfox+Foxmarks+FlashGot+FireGPG+Ubiquity combination that I'm using now.

One of the things I like about Opera is that they take the Linux crowd seriously. Their site offers binaries for every major distro. Installing Opera in Ubuntu is as simple as downloading the .deb, and installing it by double-clicking it.

Then then the Opera EULA showed up. Since it isn't a particulary lengthy license, and I wondered why a freeware program like Opera would even need an EULA, I read it through. Then I stumbled upon the following:

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN (I) ON-LINE CONTROL OF AIRCRAFT, AIR TRAFFIC, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS; OR (II) IN THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION OR MAINTENANCE OF ANY NUCLEAR FACILITY.

lol. Tipical legal absurdaties like these really made me consider not agreeing to the license, but what the heck, I agreed.

The new theme is very vista-ish, and doesn't integrate with my Ubuntu theme at all. I also really wonder when they will switch from QT3 to QT4. (So much for Opera taking Linux serious I guess.) Sure, Opera is completely skinnable, but the menu still looks... ugly. And you can't guarantee a skin is available that fits with my desktop theme.

Anyway, let's look at features.
Let's start with my bookmarks. Hey, Opera didn't import my Firefox bookmarks! There is [File]->[Import]->[Import Netscape/Firefox Bookmarks] but it doesn't offer support for the new Firefox3 SQLite format. So I first have to export my Firefox bookmarks to HTML, blah. Anyway, after importing they are all placed in a "Netscape bookmarks" subfolder. No problem, just manage my bookmarks and reorganise things. :-)
Opera has a quicksearch from the address bar just like Firefox, which is notably faster. It doesn't have a quick bookmark button like Firefox does, which is one of the things I love about Firefox 3. The quickest way to bookmark in Opera is Ctrl+D, which still pops up a window. The other means are two or three clicks away.

Okay, now sync my favorites! [File]->[Syncronize Opera]. There... Now my bookmarks are synced! Yay! Gah! Wait! It seems I had already synced my bookmarks before (probably when I tried Opera 9.2) and now... All my old bookmarks got added as well! So now most of my bookmark folders show up two times! Argh! What lame syncing method are they using at Opera? It doesn't even filter out the doubles! *sigh* Okay, let me filter out the old folders. Done...

Opera also doesn't allow me to subscribe to feeds using Google Reader, instead subscribing it to it's own feed reader, which sucks. Who needs freedom of choice anyway? Grrr. Also it's feed autodiscovery sucks.

Next: Twitter. I easily found a neat Twitter widget. But it always keeps a windows open... Crap. No match for TwitterFox. Ah well, I could still use a desktop twitter client I guess. ;-)

Download manager integration? Couldn't find it... But I guess there's nothing wrong with Opera's built in download manager.

Opera's mail client also doesn't offer GPG integration. Meh. I also couldn't find anything like FireGPG. And it doesn't even have check-spelling-as-you-type. Crap.

Finally, I couldn't find anything matching Ubiquity either.

So I hereby declare that Opera 9.60 still can't match Firefox 3. Even though it _is_ much faster and it interface is much snappier than Firefox overall. It won't make me more productive...

sudo apt-get --purge remove opera

My Desktop

2008-10-07T15:06:00.007-03:00

After reading this post, I simply couldn't resist posting my Desktop:

Yup, that's my son.

Eclipse and Firefox. Everything a web developer needs. ;-)

Pandora: Open Source handheld

2008-10-03T16:32:00.002-03:00

Wow, I'm definitly getting one of these. It's a homebrewers wet dream come true:

"How did this system come to be?
The Pandora is a unique machine. It was designed based on the input of thousands of forum users with one goal in mind - to make the ultimate open source handheld device.

How powerful is it?
It is by far the most powerful handheld in the world both in terms of raw CPU power and 3D graphics capability, it will be able to handle things such as Firefox3 or Quake3 with ease."

http://openpandora.org/

Crossover Chromium - Google Chrome on Linux

2008-09-20T10:00:00.004-03:00

For those that want to test their sites with Google's promising new browser, but are using Linux or Mac, and don't want to wait for Chromium to be ported, My friend Joost posted about how to run Google Chrome using Wine, but there is an easier solution, called Crossover Chromium:
http://www.codeweavers.com/services/ports/chromium/

They offer .deb's and .rpm's, so instalation should be a piece of cake.

Kung Fu Red

2008-09-20T09:58:00.001-03:00

I love this homage to old kung fu flicks. Directed by none other than Michael "Dorkman" Scott. ;-)

Hug a developer today!

2008-08-28T17:54:00.002-03:00

Not everyone at once please! <;o)

Get your compile optimizations straight

2008-04-27T11:32:00.007-03:00

I guess that 90% of all Desktop Linux users probably will never ever have to worry about this, since they'll never compile a single executable in their life. But for people that occasionally compile a program, this post might be interesting, especially since I never ever see people writing about this subject when they talk about compiling programs from scratch.

You see, when you compile C/C++ programs on Linux, the compiler (GCC in almost all cases) allows you to set special options to optimize the program for use on a certain CPU model. However, if these options aren't set then any source package you compile will be compiled with whatever default optimization settings the author has set for you. Often this will mean your program will be optimised for generic i686 (Pentium 2/AMD K6-2) processors, with little extra optimization and in some cases even debug signals enabled.

Fortunately it's pretty simple to set your own settings that should be used whenever you compile a program. Almost all make scripts use these three environment variables: CHOST, CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS.

First you need to figure out what the best flags for your CPU are. To find out exactly what kind of CPU you have, type cat /proc/cpuinfo on the terminal. After that head over to http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags to find the best CFLAGS for your CPU.

Once you know what your CFLAGS are, you need to set them before you go compile your source package. Do this using the export command, like this:

export CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
export CFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
export CXXFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

You have to do this before you run the ./configure script for it to have any effect. Also, these variables only last for as lang as your have your terminal open. If you switch to another terminal, or close it, you'll have to export the CFLAGS again.
After this, your program should now compile with the CFLAGS you set, you can check this by keeping a close eye on the output when you run make.

So now you want to always have these CFLAGS set automatically whenever you start your computer and open a new terminal? Easy! Just edit /etc/environment and add your CFLAGS to that file (without the export part). After that you'll have to restart for the default environment settings to be applied.

One CFLAGS option that you might want to change depending on the program you are compiling is the -O# flag. It defines the optimization level used. -O2 stands for normal optimization, whereas -O1 stands for little optimization and -O3 for maximum optimization. The tradeoff for using -O3 instead of -O2 is mostly the memory usage of the program. So normally you'll only want to use -O3 for media programs that you don't run continually on your computer, like mplayer/ffmpeg etc. However when compiling an application that you run all the time, like Firefox, Pidgin or driver modules, I recommend you use -O2 because the small increase in CPU performance doesn't justify the increased memory usage. Besides, -O3 tends to make programs less stable as well.

Carambola

2008-04-15T16:58:00.007-03:00

[ENGLISH POST FOLLOWS]
Carambola é um software, escrito em PHP, de controle academico que eu desenvolvi quando eu estava trabalhando na Universade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB), e ainda esta sendo usado la. (http://matricula.uepb.edu.br/, http://alunos.uepb.edu.br/) Eu sempre tive planos de ajeitar o codigo mais um pouco e começar um projeto direitinho, mais nunca tive o chance pra fazer isso.

Agora não trabalho mais na UEPB e por enquanto não tenho mais tempo para continuar o desenvolvimento de Carambola, mais resolvi lancar o codigo fonte aqui para que outros quem estão interesados em um Controle Academico completamente livre podem continuar. Sente-se a vontade de perguntar sobre duvidas, mandar patches ou relatar bugs aqui no meu blog.

Muitas coisas estao faltando (como uma forma de adicionar alunos ou disciplinas), então ainda tem muita coisa pra fazer.

Esta tudo licenciado pelo GPLv3, divertem-se! ;-)

Instruçoes:
Precisa de um servidor web (como Apache) com PHP, e MySQL.
Cria um novo banco de dados (exemplo: carambola)
Imprta carambola.sql pro teu novo banco de dados. Pode user phpMyAdmin ou rodar mysql -u root -p carambola < carambola.sql.
Copia connect.php-dist para connect.php e modifica ele para configura Carambola para teu banco de dados.

[ENGLISH]
Carambola is a piece of software, written in PHP, for academic controls (universities etc) that I developed while I was working at the State University of Paraíba (UEPB), and is still in use there. I always planned on cleaning up the code and create a proper project with a nice website for it, but never had a chance to do so.

Now I no longer work ate UEPB and I won't have time to continue working on Carambola any time soon, so I decided to release the source here to see if anyone else is interested in developing a completely free Academic Control system. Feel free to ask, send me patches or report bugs here on my blog.

Many things are still missing (like ways to actually add students or disciplinas), so there is still a lot of work to do here.

Everything is licensed under the GPLv3, enjoy! ;-)

Instructions:
You'll need a webserver with PHP configured, and MySQL.
Create a new db (for example: carambola)
Import the carambola.sql file into the newly created table. Either use phpMyAdmin or run mysql -u root -p carambola < carambola.sql.
Copy connect.php-dist to connect.php and configure it for your database.

[GET IT!]
Download: http://www2.yogarine.net/carambola-0.5.3.tar.bz2

Trunk:

svn co svn://svn.yogarine.net/carambola/trunk carambola

0.5.3 branch:

svn co svn://svn.yogarine.net/carambola/branches/0.5.3 carambola-0.5.3

Juno

2008-04-14T15:36:00.005-03:00

I saw Juno yesterday, (it's still in the cinema here in Brazil,) and now I have a new actrice to add to my favorite list (Ellen Page). I've also instantly become a fan of Diablo Cody. I'll be keeping a close eye on those two girls from now on. I'm just waiting to see what great movies we can expect from them.

We'll have some more of those, please!

O homem realmente foi a lua

2008-03-07T10:28:00.015-03:00

André Basílio é um idiota.

Já faz um tempinho que um colega meu me mostrou o site http://www.afraudedoseculo.com.br/, onde André mostra com "evidencias" que o homem nunca foi pra lua, e até hoje fico furioso quando eu leio a merda que essa cara fica falando.

Tudo bem, eu também não sou muito fã dos Americanos, mais não é certo aproveitar da ignorância dos outros para ganhar pontos como André faz. E sempre tem que respeitar as conquistas que um pais consegue fazer. E se tiver algo a reclamar, venha com boas evidencias. Está parecendo que André está com um tipo de inveja nacionalista.

Da pra ver que André 1.) não tem o mínimo conceito de fotografia, telecomunicações e física ou 2.) ele realmente quer enganar pessoas só para ganhar publicidade.
De toda forma ele é uma idiota. Odeio ele.

Vamos ver as "provas":
1. Existem diversas fotos com sombras em várias direções, sendo que a única fonte de luz deveria vir do Sol.
Os fotos a que André refere são fotos panorâmicas ou de grande ângulo... Todo mundo pode tirar fotos panorâmicos até com uma câmera simples. É só tirar um foto, virar um pouco pra a direita, tirar outro, virar um pouco mais... etc. Quando você for colar os fotos você vai perceber que as sombras apontem cada mais pra esquerda, porque você estava virando para a direita.

Ate com fotos panorâmicas tirados com cameras especializados vc percebe que as sombras mudam de posição.

Pareça que o câmera que o time do Apollo 11 levou pra a lua tinha um lente Biogon 38mm f/4.5 para tirar esse fotos panorâmicos... Com um anglo grande assim sempre acontece distorção. Mais quem não sabe porra nenhum de fotografia também não sabe disso né?
Mais informações:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panoramic_photography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasselblad

2 - Fotos com diferentes tamanhos da Terra, vista da Lua, evidenciando montagens desproporcionais.
Já ouviu falar em "zoom"? Nas fotos que ele mostra ate da pra perceber que no foto onde a terra parece mais perto, o superfície da lua esta menos arrendado... Eles usarem mais zoom do que no outro foto.

3 - Existem milhares de fotos com penumbra, sendo que é impossível haver penumbra na Lua pela ausência da atmosfera.
Penumbra não tem nada a ver com a atmosfera, mais com o tamanho do do objeto iluminoso! Volta pra segundo grão pra estudar fisica! E pode ser o reflexo do chão e ate do outro astronauta (que tirou a foto) que ilumina um astronauta quando esta na sombra. As roupas das astronautas também são branco-claro enquanto a poeira na lua é cinza, por isso que as sombras no chão são mais escuros. (E ainda nem falei sobre o rango dinâmico da câmera, etc, etc...)

4 - Faltam as estrelas no fundo de todas as fotos. Com a ausência da atmosfera, as estrelas tornam-se ainda mais reluzentes.
O brilho das estrelas relativo aos objetos na lua e tão fraco que não aparecem no foto. Vai estudar fotografia rapaz...

5 - Nas fotos e vídeos, a bandeira dos EUA fica tremulando ao vento. Só que, não existe vento na Lua porque lá não há atmosfera.
Esta tremulando? Realmente? Você pode ver isso num FOTO? Incrível! Tudo bém, existe um video onde da pra ver a bandeira se mechendo... Na hora que ele colocado no solo. E como não tem a resistencia de uma atmosfera na lua, ele demora mais do que normal para ficar parado.
A bandeira foi segurado com um pequeno tubo, pra poder ficar em pé. Se esta parecendo que a bandeira fica tremulando é porque ele estava dobrado.

6 - Em centenas de fotos, vê-se as pegadas dos astronautas na Lua. Mas, sem oxigênio e umidade, é complicado que haja a formação de pegadas.
Que viajem é essa? Desde quando precisa de oxigênio e umidade para formar pegadas!? A lua é tudo coberto por poeira! Na poeira da pra formar pegadas como em qualquer outra substancia com bastante cohersia.

7 - Embaixo de um dos pés do Módulo Lunar, há indícios de alguém ter levado um montinho de terra para o pé não ficar no ar.
Os pés não são perfeitamente planos. E no impacto o pé empurrou a areia (Terra não é, né? A final estamos na LUA! <;o) pra os lados, criando um montinho.

8 - Pelo que se vê nas fotos, não houve pouso do Módulo Lunar. Ele teria sido colocado delicadamente lá. Não há marcas dos propulsores da nave.
Porque nas ultimas etapas do pouso quase não é preciso usar os propulsores, como a gravidade é apenas 1/6 do que da terra.

9 - No mesmo lugar onde o pé do astronauta cria uma profunda pegada na superfície lunar, o pé do módulo lunar se mostra muito delicado na superfície da Lua, sem causar qualquer estrago.
Os pegadas são "profundos"? Onde? A camada de poeira é fino... E também os pés são grandes e rondados e ainda mais tem QUATRO deles... Ja sentou com uma cadeira numa lugar irregular? Não ficou balançando?

10 - Pelo tamanho do Módulo Lunar, dificilmente existiria nele combustível suficiente para colocá-lo em órbita.
Na lua 1.) existe apenas 1/6 da gravidade da terra e 2.) não tem atmosfera pra causar resistência.

11 - Não existem, até hoje, filmes fotográficos que resistam à enorme variação de temperatura na Lua.
André diz: "Segundo a NASA, as câmeras utilizadas para tirar as fotografias foram de modelo HASSELBLAD 500EL munidas de filme Kodak especial (vide www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11-hass.html) e de um revestimento de prata que foi colocado nas câmeras para deixá-las mais resistentes às variações térmicas, mas creio eu que não o suficiente para suportar as extremas variações de temperatura da Lua. A temperatura na Lua varia tanto, que seria impossível trazer de lá uma única fotografia para ser exibida na Terra. Só para se ter idéia, a temperatura na Lua varia de -153ºC à noite a +107ºC durante o dia, conforme dados obtidos na NASA no endereço http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/features/planets/moon/moon.html."

Ahh claro, VOCÊ creia que não é o suficiente. Pois... E eu com isso?
Para ser mais conciso: A temperatura da superfície da Lua varia de -153ºC a 107ºC, a Lua não tem atmosfera, lembra? E uma dia na Lua dura 28 dias, por isso que a temperatura do solo chega ate esses temperaturas... Um câmera revestida com prata reflete muito mais radiação do que o superfície da lua. No pouco tempo que eles usarem as câmeras (eles geralmente não andarem mais do que 7 horas por vez) a temperatura não mudaria tanto assim. Também pausarem nas sombras de vez em quando para esfriar. E de fato no Apollo 12 eles queimarem um câmera, apontando ele pro sol sem querer.

12 - Em 1969, os astronautas conversavam, da Lua, com a NASA, na Terra, em tempo real. Esta tecnologia não existe até hoje.
Tempo real? Tem algum fonte? Pelo que eu sei sempre tive um delay de ums 10 segundos? E esse delay não tem nada a ver com a tecnologia, mais com a velocidade de ondas radiografas. (300.000 km/s)

13 - A radiação solar incidente na Lua, sem atmosfera, é mortal para qualquer ser humano.
Posso saber, então, como os astronautas já desde das anos 80 conseguem fazer manutenção em satélites em plena espaço?
Vai se informar rapaz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacesuit

14 - Dificilmente existiriam roupas espaciais, na época, que resistissem às enormes variações de temperaturas da Lua (-153ºC a +107ºC).
Baseado em que?
Mais uma vez: Temperaturas da superfície da Lua. A roupa só precisa proteger contra o radiação (térmica, ultravioleta, etc)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacesuit

15 - Dificilmente existiriam roupas espaciais, na época, que resistissem à ausência da pressão atmosférica na Lua.
Veja a minha resposta na pergunta 13.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacesuit

16 - Extrema semelhança do ambiente das fotos "da Lua" com o Deserto de Nevada, nos Estados Unidos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_Desert
Você acha?

17 - Evidência de Stanley Kubrick na NASA, que teria a auxiliado na criação dos efeitos especiais utilizados na fraude.
Stanley Kubrick tava trabalhando junto com Arthur C. Clarke na criação do filme 2001: A Space Odysee. Stanley Kubrick era uma perfeccionista e queria tudo o mais realista que possivel...
O imagem http://www.afraudedoseculo.com.br/images/kubrick3.jpg é do set desse filme...

18 - O homem só teria ido à Lua por seis vezes, exatamente durante a gestão de Richard Nixon, num prazo de três anos. Após isso, nunca mais o homem teria voltado à Lua.
Em 1975 a guerra fria já estava se acalmando, e ainda mais tinha o crise econômico dos anos 70. Depois que a guerra fria acabou, não tive mais incentivo para ir pra lua...
E o projeto Apollo já começou na época de Kennedy e o presidente Johnson também ajudou muito no desenvolvimento do projeto Apollo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo-Soyuz_Test_Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race

19 - Richard Nixon, envolvido em falcatruas que mancharam a imagem dos Estados Unidos, foi o principal articulador do escandaloso Caso Watergate, o qual culminou em sua renúncia durante o primeiro processo de impeachment estadunidense. Sua história o condena.
E que isso tem a ver com a NASA? A final, ele só fez dar o dinheiro a eles.
E também isso não conta como fato, é apenas um insinuação.

20 - Evidência de manipulação na foto do "Jogo dos 7 erros" mostra várias cruzes distorcidas, mas tais cruzes não poderiam estar distorcidas nem mesmo por lentes objetivas, que ficam do lado externo da câmera, já que essas cruzes fazem parte de um recurso interno do equipamento.
Essa foi uma foto panorâmica, criado juntando várias fotos... Por isso que ocorre distorção. Se tivesse estudado fotografia você ia saber disso.

E ae, que você acha? O homem foi pra Lua ou não? Pensa antes de ir na onda de algum idiota que nem sabe do que esta falando.

[UPDATE]
Depois de ter escrito esse post, achei outros sites (em Inglés) que também falem sobre esse hoax:
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/ConspiracyTheoryDidWeGototheMoon.htm
http://www.braeunig.us/space/hoax.htm

E André Basílio até ganhou um premio do dragão invisivel:
http://www.projetoockham.org/dragao_entrada.html

Basicamente tão falando as mesmas coisas que eu, mas em mais detalhes. Se você quiser aprofundar mais nesse assunto, aqui é um bom começo: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/apollohoax.html

Games I'd love to see ported to PSP

2008-03-02T23:50:00.003-03:00

List of open source games I'd love to see ported to the PlayStation Portable:

Whenever I get the opportunity I'll probably have a look at Battle for Wesnoth. I was allready messing a bit with Chromium B.S.U. but I got kinda stuck and just didn't have the time to really look at it properly. (I think it was trying to get libPNG or OpenAL to copile properly.) Anyway, last month I noticed Royale was allready taking care of a port of Chromium B.S.U. for the PSP. I guess I'll grab his patch some day to at least learn what he did to get it working.
Battle for Wesnoth will probably be a lot more work though. And don't coun't on me having time for that anytime soon. ;)

Converting MP4 video for the PSP (h264/AVC) on Linux

2008-02-24T09:17:00.008-03:00

After my earlier post about converting video for the PSP proved to be pretty popular, I decided to do a new, easier, better and improved guide.
Well, here it is, as promised. It took me a while because I had a lot of other things on my head the last few months. Well, better late then never, so they say.

This time we're going to do MPEG-4 AVC (aka H.264) instead of plain old MPEG-4 ASP I used in the last post.

A lot of things have happened since I wrote that other guide more than a year ago. First of all, I've learned a lot more about the PSP's compression techniques, mostly thanks to Robert Swain's great blog. Secondly, newer firmwares released by Sony have loosened up the restrictions for Video on the PSP. So first I'll show you a updated list of the restrictions for video on the PSP in AVC (AFAIK):

MPEG-4 File Format
MPEG-4 AVC Video codec

H.264 Main Profile up to Level 3.0
Any framerate up to 30 fps
Up to 2 reference frames
Arithmetic Coding (CABAC)
Width/Height must be a multiple of 16
Allowed Resolutions:

Any resolution up to 320x240
352x240 (VCD)
352x480 (CVD)
480x272 (Native)
720x480 (DVD)

No 8x8 transform
No reference b-frames

MPEG-4 AAC Audio codec

48000 kHz

We no longer have to use the command-line tool ffmpeg, thanks to a great piece of software called Avidemux. If you're using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, Avidemux 2.4.1 comes in the repository so all you have to do is install the 'avidemux' pakage through your prefered method. Older versions of Ubuntu come with Avidemux 2.3 which, unfortunately, can't handle the PSP format properly. So in that case I recommend you to go over at GetDeb and download an Ubuntu package of the latest version of Avidemux there. If you're not using Ubuntu, check http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/download.html to see if there are any packages of Avidemux 2.4 or higher for your Linux distribution.
To install the package in Ubuntu, just double-click it and let gdebi do the rest.

Another tool that can help a lot when working with video, and a great video player in general, is mplayer. In Ubuntu you can install it from the repository. (sudo apt-get install mplayer)

After installing Avidemux, run it. In Ubuntu it should be in the [Applications]->[Audio & Video] menu. Avidemux' interface is pretty straightforward. The first step is to load the video that you want to convert. To do that just click the [Open] button in the toolbar, select your video and click Ok. It is possible Avidemux will ask you whether you want to index or rebuild the frames for you video. Just click Yes and let it do it's work.
After opening your video, you can play it and browse trough it like any other media player.
Now let's convert this video!
Avidemux comes with a preset that will automatically configure it to convert to PSP-compatible video. All you have to do is go to the [Auto] menu and select [PSP (H.264)]. Then a little dialog window will show up.
Target type can be PSP 480*272 or PSP full res (720x480). Full res is only really useful if you have a PSP Slim and want to play your movie on TV through the Video-out cable. (The PSP's native resolution is 480x272, while standard NTSC resolution is 720x480.) Converting at the higher resolution will, as you probably know or guessed, result in a bigger file. (Around 700 MB for a whole movie vs. 400 MB for a movie at lower resolution.)
If you know the aspect ratio of your movie you can configure this as well. If you don't, just leave both at 1:1.

After confirming this dialog, if you're in a hurry, you could just click Save, choose a destination and Avidemux would produce a file that's perfectly playable on your PSP. However, the default encoder options used by Avidemux will produce large files with comparably lower quality, so I really recommend you go through this guide.
Also, you might want to take a look at the filters to make sure the video will look exactly the way you want it to.

First let's optimize the codec options. Click on [Configure] on the left panel under the Video codec dropdown box.

The first and probably most important step in improving the encoding quality and reduce size is to change the Encoding Mode from One Pass to Two Pass. This will make Avidemux encode the video two times, the first pass serves to analyse the video for scene changes etc. so it can encode the video more efficiently in the second pass.
If you are encoding for 480x272 resolution, set the bitrate to 384 kbit/s, that will be plenty with all optimizations enabled. If you are going for full res (720x480) you should choose a higher resolution, like 632 kbit/s 768 kbit/s.

Now go through all the tabs and set the options exactly like you see them in the pictures below. I'm not going to explain what every option does, but just trust me when I say that this will configure the encoder for super-mega-uber-optimized encoding.

The Motion & Misc tab.

The Partitions & Frames tab.

The only changes on the Rate Control tab are Scene Cut Threshold: 40 and Max IDR frame interval: 300

You don't have to change anything on the More tab, just click OK now.

After this tedious process it is a good idea to save the current configuration as a project, so you don't have to open up this page every time you decide to encode some videos. Click [File]->[Save Project]. Avidemux doesn't dictate any file extension, but for your own sanity it might be a good idea to make up one of your own. I just tend to call them 'foo.project'. (Yes, not very creative, I know.)
Now that you have saved the current project, whatever happens, you won't have to go and configure all those settings again. You can open projects through [File]->[Load/Run Project...].

One of the coolest things of Avidemux (well, at least for videophiles like me) is the ease with which you can configure filters. In the main Avidemux window click on [Filters] under the Video section on the sidebar and the Video Filter Manager will pop-up, it looks something like this.

On the left you see all available filters, on the right you see the filters currently applied to the video.
Now Avidemux tries to act somewhat intelligent when you choose an 'auto'-preset. Basicly it will resize the video so it fits in the PSP's resolution, and then add black borders to fill up the remaining space. That means that if your movie is too wide (like the cinematic 2.35:1 aspect), it will add black borders above and under the video. If it's too narrow (like good ol' 4:3 video) it will add borders left and right.
However if your video uses a non-square pixel (anamorphic) resolution, your video might get deformed on the PSP if Avidemux can't figure out what the correct aspect of the source video should be. If you want to know if the video is anamorphic, open it with mplayer from the command line. Look out for a line containing something like 720x480 => 853x480. If the resolution is adjusted, (it shows to different resolutions) the video is anamorphic. (NOTE: if you have a widescreen monitor you have to edit /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf and add/change the option "aspect = 16:10", assuming your monitor's aspect ratio is 16:10. Otherwise mplayer will assume your monitor is 4:3 and adjust all videos correspondingly.)
Another problem is that when a video is allready letterboxed (ie. a widescreen movie that allready contains black borders), Avidemux will still add borders left and right, resulting in black borders all around the video.

I will handle 2 different use cases here to help you understand everything better.

Anamorphic Video
This is most common with downloaded music clips, older television shows, etc.
I found out I got an anamorphic video by playing it with mplayer from the command line first, one of the lines it outputted on the terminal was:
VO: [xv] 352x240 => 352x270 Planar YV12
The resolution of this vid is 352x240, but it is in fact in 4:3 perspective. Mplayer figured this out and automatically adjusted the resolution.
Actually, I could allready have guessed it was anamorphic by just looking at the video in any video player, see it was a normal 4:3 video, and noting that the resolution is not 4:3. (352/4*3 = 264)
Now Avidemux's isn't as smart as mplayer, and will think the vid is 352x240 with square pixels. The PSP preset will just resize it in the same preset so that it fits, and then add black borders. First of all, with 4:3 video black borders aren't necessary at all, and just make the video bigger, so first we remove the 'Add black borders' filter (just select the filter and click the minus button).

Now we change the MPlayer resize filter (select the filter, click configure) so that it resizes the video to a 4:3 resolution. It might seem logical to just resize it to 352x264 but there's one detail: 264 isn't dividable by 16, so the PSP won't play it. Instead it's better to just resize 4:3 video to 320x240 (it's the highest real 4:3 resolution that will cleanly divide and fits in the PSP's native resolution).

Cropping Widescreen Video
Ok, so now we have a movie in it's original 2.35:1 widescreen format. The PSP prefix will just resize it to 480 x something and then add borders. If you want the video to be in it's original form, without any cropping, that's okay. However, the PSP's screen isn't a 42" TV. So it's sometimes a good idea to crop the movie so it will fit optimally on your PSP's display.
Figure out the videos resolution before going to the filters. (You can find out everything about a video inside Avidemux by clicking the little properties button.)
The first step is to remove the black borders filter, the resize filter and any other filters. Then you add a crop filter.
Now you need to do some math. For example, my video is 620x256. I want to crop it to 16:9, so I do 256 / 9 * 16 = 455.111. So the cropped size is going to be 455x256. That means I need to crop a total of 620 - 455.111 = 164.889. Divide that by 2 and you get 82,44. In other words, I crop 83 pixels from one side and 82 pixels from the other.
After you have applied the crop filter, all that is left is to resize the movie to the proper 480x272 resolution.

Anyway, whenever you're happy with your settings all you need to do is save the video and voila. Remember that you can see what the resulting video will look like by clicking on the combobox that sais 'Input' and changing it to 'Output'.

Well there you have it, now you can easily convert your favorite videos to your PSP. Have fun!

[UPDATE 23/06/2008]
Updated the list of restrictions on the PSP.

Traveling

2007-12-23T09:18:00.000-03:00

I'll be spending this christmas in João Pessoa, without any PC or WiFi hotspot closeby, so looks like you'll have to wait a little bit longer for my post about how to easily convert video for your PSP on Linux. ;) Probably until wednesday or perhaps thursday. Unless, of course, my wife let's me spend some time and money in a lanhouse. ;) I also copied the post to my PSP and I have ucLinux with vim on my PSP as well so I can work on the post whenever I get bored. (Good practice for using the onscreen keyboard as well, har har.)

So as I probably won't post again until after Christmas, I want to wish all of you a very merry christmas! (But not a happy new year, yet, because I'll be back by then. <;o)

Ten reasons to buy a PSP

2007-12-20T18:00:00.000-03:00

Whenever I start showing (off), or talking about my/the PSP, I quickly find myself repeating the same features over and over in an attempt to make someone buy a PSP as well.
So to make my life easier I now present: Ten reasons to buy a PSP or, "get your own" ;)

1. Pictures
The PSP was always a great way to show your pictures to friends & family. No more dragging around large foto albums that can only cary so much pictures, just grab your PSP and you have al your albums at hand. Pictures aren't big in terms of disk space so you can place thousands of them on a 2GB memstick and still have plenty of room to spare. The PSP's 4.3" display is great for viewing fotos and if you need more detail you can always just zoom in and pan with the analog nub. You can also easily send your pictures to other PSP's over WiFi.
And if you pop in a Go!Cam the PSP turns into a simple digital camera. True, 1.3 Megapixel (1280x960 at 24bpp) isn't a lot to write home about but for the price ($45 - $50) it's a good deal and makes your PSP experience a lot more fun. (Ohh, and the Go!Cam can film too, 480x272 at 30fps)
As of firmware 3.70 it's also possible to play MP3's while you're viewing pictures.

2. Music
The PSP can play MP3, AAC, ATRAC3 and WMV. So basicly it's all you need when you're on the road and want to listen music. It comes with a little remote control cable extension, which means you can just lock the PSP control and use the extension to switch music. The PSP Phat is only a little heavier than the avarage diskman, and the PSP Slim is 33% lighter... The unit will fit into most pockets.

3. Video
When the PSP was launched, UMD Video was promoted as a major feature. UMD Video wasn't quite the success Sony hoped it would be, but what's interesting is the codec that Sony decided to use: H.264, aka AVC. Sure, the PSP also supports good old-fasion MP4 but the quality/size ratio of AVC is much and much better. With AVC you can fit a 90m movie into 400MB. AVC used to be very restricted on the PSP but with more recent firmwares Sony has decided to loosen the restrictions of AVC on the PSP.
There are many free programs out there that make converting a video from DVD or from a file a breeze.
The new PSP Slim even let's you watch your videos on the TV thanks to a TV-out connecter.

4. Games
In the end, no matter how much features you load it with, at it's heart the PSP is still a handheld game console. There are loads of great games available for it and their graphic quality is on par with most that the PS2 can offer.
Some games that deserve mentioning here: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War, Burnout Dominator, LocoRoco, and lot's more.
Ohh and a Gran Turismo is still in the works. ;-)

5. Internet
The PSP has a built-in WiFi adapter, so whenever there's a WiFi network available you can go and surf the internet. :)

6. Emulation
Thank's to the homebrew community the PSP now has a range of emulators. Some notable ones:

POPS (PlayStation, comes with the firmware and is unlocked using Dark-Alex' M-33)
Daedalus (Nintendo 64)
SnesPSP TYL (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
gpSP (Nintedo Game Boy Advance)
RIN (Nintendo Game Boy Color)
CPS2PSP (Capcom Play System 2)
MVSPSP (Neo Geo MVS)
Picodrive (Sega CD / Genesis)

7. GPS
The GPS addon helps you never get lost again!

8. Easy Backup
One of the things that a lot of people don't really think about, but can be of big importance in some cases, is the fact that you can easily backup the savegames of your PSP games through USB. Anyone who has ever lost a PS2 Memory Card with all their Final Fantasy savegames on it will understand how important this is.

9. Integration with the PS3
If you've got PS3, than you can watch and listen all the media you have stored on your PS3 on your PSP. This can be done through ad-hoc WiFi at home, or thanks to the LocationFree player which let's you play your media from any place on the earth.

10. Homebrew community
There is a big and (mostly) friendly community of PSP users that like to create their own programs for the PSP. From calendar applications to a port of the Linux kernel. Anything you can imagine can be done thanks to these homebrew apps.

Are there any great features here I forgot? Let me know...