I started using linux about a year ago and slowly began moving over from using Windows software. If you don't know anything about linux, have a look at this intro from IBM and check out the Distrowatch site for the range of linux "flavours".
Basically, linux is an operating system that's designed to function like Unix but run on consumer PC hardware. It picked up speed in the early 1990's when a software developer named Linus Torvalds came up with the Linux Kernel. The same people who developed the original web browser that eventually became Netscape also got involved and the anti-windows movement began as software geeks began to hate paying high pricess for the microsoft software. You can read about it here and/or watch a movie called "Revolution OS" that talks about the whole story (it isn't all that exciting to watch, but is informative if you like documentaries).
Incidentally, Apple's Mac OS X is based on a similar unix-like operating system called Darwin, which based on something called FreeBSD.
Anyways, the big deal about linux is that it is open source and free. Almost all the distributions on distrowatch are completely free and are readily available for download. Some distros have bootable live cds which you can use to try out the software on your computer without installing anything. It runs from the cd/dvd drive and loads into your RAM memory and leaves your hard drive untouched. After you're done with it you can run your computer as usual. They run on both pc and apple hardware. Viruses aren't much of a problem either since the operating system is more secure in general and the there isn't much of an anti-linux cult of hackers out there tying to bring down a massive corporation.
It's a big topic and I don't want to get into it too much, but there are also different desktop environments like KDE, Gnome, and XFCE. You can read about them yourselves...just google them and you'll get their websites. Have a look at screenshots here, here, and here. I used to use Gnome, but switch to KDE because it seemd to run better to me. XFCE runs well on old machines that used to run Windows 98...I have it running on an old Pentium laptop that I use for web browsing in the living room.
In terms of digital photo mangement, there is a KDE application called Gwenview that I found pretty useful in going through my many pictures. You can browse through your pictures pretty easily and do some quick editing on the fly like rotating, flipping, and mirrorring. There are plugins available that also allow you to do batch operations like resizing, converting, renaming, and applying some image effects. Very usefull when you have a ton of images to process !
There is also an opensource photoshop package called Gimp. Although it's not as slick as Adobe Photoshop, it's pretty good for most people...especially because it's free. There are packages for installing it in Windows and Mac OS X too.
It takes a while to get to know how to use the software, but since it's an opensource project, there are lots of sources on the web for tutorials and help on how to use it. Once source is the Gimpology site where you can learn how to add some neat effects to your pictures like this one about tilt-shift photos like these and these.
The entire opensource and linux movement is kind of a neat phenomenon. It's got a lot of steam in places like Brazil and India where people want access to technology without having to pay a 3 months' wages to pay for a license. Governments are starting to look into it as well.
Personally I use Kubuntu. I've gotten used to how it works and so I've stuck with it. A really good one to look at the is OpenSuse project. Try to download the live dvd first to try it out, although if you don't have broadband it will take a long time.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Square Format Pictures
Square format pictures used to be popular in the 60's and 70's. I wonder why the format faded and the rectangular 2x3 format came out and became the standard? It would have been just as easy for camera manufacturers to make smaller cameras that made square pictures on 35mm film. You would have gotten more pictures on a roll than the standard 24 or 36.
I have two square format cameras: A small Yashica 44A Twin Lens Reflex that uses the now out-dated 127 roll film and a Yashica Mat 124 that uses 120 roll film. The 44A makes 4cm x 4cm megatives while the 124 makes 6cm x 6cm negatives.
I've been itching to take these cameras out. A Croation company called Efke still makes B&W 127 roll film for the 44A. I read somewhere that they use blind people in their assembly line and keep their facilities totally dark...makes sense. I bought 5 rolls on ebay at a decent price. I also have a 120 roll of B&W Ilford Pan F lying around. Unfortunately, I can't go out and buy scanner I want to scan the negatives after I've processed them at home. I could print them on a contact sheet and then scan them on my current flatbed, but I can't really afford the paper and chemicals right now either so the whole project will have to wait until I've got a job.
In any case, I was browsing on ebay again for some other medium format cameras and got to thinking about why camera makers don't make a square format digital camera ? I suppose that you can always crop a picture so that it's square, but that would involve lots of time at a computer just to get an album together. To take it a step further, the camera makers don't even have to change their hardware at all, just put an option on the software side for a square format that would invovle an automatic crop.
After digging around the web for a while a came across a square format digital camera from Rollei, one of the manufacturers of the best TLR cameras. Have a look at it here. It looks more like a toy, but it does work. I wonder where you can buy them here in Canada...
A little more digging around and I found this site that talks about square format 35mm cameras.
In any case, have a look at some square pictures here and here to get a feel for the format.
I have two square format cameras: A small Yashica 44A Twin Lens Reflex that uses the now out-dated 127 roll film and a Yashica Mat 124 that uses 120 roll film. The 44A makes 4cm x 4cm megatives while the 124 makes 6cm x 6cm negatives.
I've been itching to take these cameras out. A Croation company called Efke still makes B&W 127 roll film for the 44A. I read somewhere that they use blind people in their assembly line and keep their facilities totally dark...makes sense. I bought 5 rolls on ebay at a decent price. I also have a 120 roll of B&W Ilford Pan F lying around. Unfortunately, I can't go out and buy scanner I want to scan the negatives after I've processed them at home. I could print them on a contact sheet and then scan them on my current flatbed, but I can't really afford the paper and chemicals right now either so the whole project will have to wait until I've got a job.
In any case, I was browsing on ebay again for some other medium format cameras and got to thinking about why camera makers don't make a square format digital camera ? I suppose that you can always crop a picture so that it's square, but that would involve lots of time at a computer just to get an album together. To take it a step further, the camera makers don't even have to change their hardware at all, just put an option on the software side for a square format that would invovle an automatic crop.
After digging around the web for a while a came across a square format digital camera from Rollei, one of the manufacturers of the best TLR cameras. Have a look at it here. It looks more like a toy, but it does work. I wonder where you can buy them here in Canada...
A little more digging around and I found this site that talks about square format 35mm cameras.
In any case, have a look at some square pictures here and here to get a feel for the format.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
New Photo Links
I added a few new photo links and took a couple old ones out that didn't work anymore.
Ken Rockwell's site is really good and has a wealth of techincal information. If you're in the hunt for a new camera, this article is worth reading. So is this one.
Since I use an old Minolta X-9 SLR with manual focus lenses, The Rokkor Files is of interest to me. It also has an interesting article on using old, but really good minolta manual focus lenses with the Olympus series digital SLRs.
Justin Oulette's site is pretty neat and his article on B&W film development is good. It got me started doing it at home. I want to do more B&W film, but I'm waiting to buy a scanner like this one so I can scan the film at home.
Matt Denton's camera collection is just really cool to me.
Ken Rockwell's site is really good and has a wealth of techincal information. If you're in the hunt for a new camera, this article is worth reading. So is this one.
Since I use an old Minolta X-9 SLR with manual focus lenses, The Rokkor Files is of interest to me. It also has an interesting article on using old, but really good minolta manual focus lenses with the Olympus series digital SLRs.
Justin Oulette's site is pretty neat and his article on B&W film development is good. It got me started doing it at home. I want to do more B&W film, but I'm waiting to buy a scanner like this one so I can scan the film at home.
Matt Denton's camera collection is just really cool to me.
The Gummy Bear Project
Inspired by sites like this one about pictures of gummy bears. I decided to do something similar. My digicam, a Canon A520, has a macro setting that allows me to get close. I also had parts of an old minolta manual focus lens that I took apart one day. I played with the inner optics and one of the inner lenses allowed me to go in really close.
I started using an empty styrofoam egg container and different coloured light bulbs, but settled with the regular bulb and a blank sheet of paper. I wanted to build a light tent like this one, but with the bad weather and a driveway blocked with snow made it hard to get out and pick up some tracing paper. I'll save that project for another time.
Anyways, here are a few shots:
I uploaded the rest to an album on my Yahoo Photos account. Have a look here.
Update-- Yahoo Photos is done. Please look at my Flickr album.
I started using an empty styrofoam egg container and different coloured light bulbs, but settled with the regular bulb and a blank sheet of paper. I wanted to build a light tent like this one, but with the bad weather and a driveway blocked with snow made it hard to get out and pick up some tracing paper. I'll save that project for another time.
Anyways, here are a few shots:
I uploaded the rest to an album on my Yahoo Photos account. Have a look here.
Update-- Yahoo Photos is done. Please look at my Flickr album.
An Inconvenient Truth
With a big snowstorm blowing through and nowhere to go really, I decided to watch Al Gore's movie: "An Inconvenient Truth". I bought a copy of it while I was in Hong Kong. I'm not sure if it's in video rental places like Blockbuster, but if you come across it on video or in a theatre, you should watch it. It's basically about his presentation on how bad our environment is getting and he does point out some alarming data.
After the movie I decided to start clearing our long driveway from up to 3 feet of snow. It took me around 2.5 hours to clear it even with the help of our inefficient and highly polluting snow blower.
If you keep up with the news in general, then you'll know that the environment is in the headlines quite frequently these days. Canadian politicians are competing for the public's attention on the subject with the Conservative Party all of a sudden turning into champions of the environment and experts on how to fix it without hurting the economy.
They also keep pointing out that Canada's CO2 emissions rose sharply under the Liberal government and that our record is worse than that of the US. I don't know why, but it seems to me that the Liberals and the other opposition parties are failing to point out some vital facts to debunk the Conservative rhetoric:
1. The substation portion of the increase in Canada's emissions is due to the development of the Oil Sands in Alberta which became financially viable and profitable once the price of oil rose to it's current value. The political base of the Conservative party is predominantly in Alberta and they are not about to put the reigns on any businesses in Alberta.
2. Our levels of pollution are not worse than that of the US. Granted we are far above our Kyoto targets, but we are a long way from being worse polluters than the US.
Have a look at this graphic from Nationmaster.com. In 2003, the US produced 5,762,050 metric megatons of CO2 from energy use and cement manufacturing, while Canada only produced 521,404 from the same type of sources. Canada's CO2 emissions are around one tenth of that of the US. Not even close.
I think that the whole issue about pollution would be a lot clearer to the public if everyone stuck to the facts and not try cloud the issue with rhetoric and half truths.
After the movie I decided to start clearing our long driveway from up to 3 feet of snow. It took me around 2.5 hours to clear it even with the help of our inefficient and highly polluting snow blower.
If you keep up with the news in general, then you'll know that the environment is in the headlines quite frequently these days. Canadian politicians are competing for the public's attention on the subject with the Conservative Party all of a sudden turning into champions of the environment and experts on how to fix it without hurting the economy.
They also keep pointing out that Canada's CO2 emissions rose sharply under the Liberal government and that our record is worse than that of the US. I don't know why, but it seems to me that the Liberals and the other opposition parties are failing to point out some vital facts to debunk the Conservative rhetoric:
1. The substation portion of the increase in Canada's emissions is due to the development of the Oil Sands in Alberta which became financially viable and profitable once the price of oil rose to it's current value. The political base of the Conservative party is predominantly in Alberta and they are not about to put the reigns on any businesses in Alberta.
2. Our levels of pollution are not worse than that of the US. Granted we are far above our Kyoto targets, but we are a long way from being worse polluters than the US.
Have a look at this graphic from Nationmaster.com. In 2003, the US produced 5,762,050 metric megatons of CO2 from energy use and cement manufacturing, while Canada only produced 521,404 from the same type of sources. Canada's CO2 emissions are around one tenth of that of the US. Not even close.
I think that the whole issue about pollution would be a lot clearer to the public if everyone stuck to the facts and not try cloud the issue with rhetoric and half truths.
Friday, February 09, 2007
AJAC Furniture
My cousins in Cebu recently had a website done for their furniture business. Have a look at the site here. They have some neat stuff and are in the process of producing a new line of furniture.
I don't think they take individual orders, but ship to furniture retailers or suppliers. Please pass the web address along to anyone you know in the furniture business and may be interested.
I don't think they take individual orders, but ship to furniture retailers or suppliers. Please pass the web address along to anyone you know in the furniture business and may be interested.
Photo albums....
It's seems I arrived back home just in time for the arctic wind to blow down and send everyone into a deep freeze. It's a bit of a switch going from hot and muggy weather in excess of 30C to -20C with the wind chill. I've been reluctant to leave the house. I've had to shovel the driveway a few times too...I'm just glad I didn't have to do it the night I got back. The upside is that I haven't been bitten by mosquito !
Well this past week has been a little strange. It's nice to be back in familiar surroundings, but it's also been a bit of a sobering experience. I've updated my resume (new version is linked in the sidebar) and started applying for a few jobs. I can't really do or plan much because of a shortage of cash.
I've managed to sort out some of my pictures. I've added Philippines1, Philippines2, Philippines3, and Hong Kong to the photo albums list.
I now have to go through over all my pictures and pick out the best ones. The task of organizing them seems daunting...there are almost 2500 of them.
I took some pictures on the flight back when flying over Alaska at sunrise. The view was awesome and I don't think the picture does it justice. The way the light was hitting the mountains and all the snow and ice made it seem surreal. Here's a picture:
Well this past week has been a little strange. It's nice to be back in familiar surroundings, but it's also been a bit of a sobering experience. I've updated my resume (new version is linked in the sidebar) and started applying for a few jobs. I can't really do or plan much because of a shortage of cash.
I've managed to sort out some of my pictures. I've added Philippines1, Philippines2, Philippines3, and Hong Kong to the photo albums list.
I now have to go through over all my pictures and pick out the best ones. The task of organizing them seems daunting...there are almost 2500 of them.
I took some pictures on the flight back when flying over Alaska at sunrise. The view was awesome and I don't think the picture does it justice. The way the light was hitting the mountains and all the snow and ice made it seem surreal. Here's a picture:
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Time travel
I left Hong Kong at 4:30pm on Feb 1 and arrived in Toronto at 8:20pm on the same day after 18 hours on a plane and 1 hour in Anchorage, Alaska. A long trip to say the least, but I'm finally home after a 2 hour shuttle ride from the airport to Fort Erie.
I knew it would be cold when I got here, but somehow it's still a bit of a shock. It's good to be home though.
I'll take the weekend to veg out and get my fill of hockey and the superbowl and then figure out what to do next. There are a lot of people to catch up with and I also have to figure out what to do about income. All in good time though...
As far as this blog goes, I still have to upload pictures from the Philippines to online albums. I'll try to get through it tomorrow. I also have a few ideas in mind for some photo projects. I'll try to keep it fresh with some interesting pictures. I hope to be able to publish at least once a week if not more often. I'll also try to get out to the areas around south Niagara on some mini-road trips.
I knew it would be cold when I got here, but somehow it's still a bit of a shock. It's good to be home though.
I'll take the weekend to veg out and get my fill of hockey and the superbowl and then figure out what to do next. There are a lot of people to catch up with and I also have to figure out what to do about income. All in good time though...
As far as this blog goes, I still have to upload pictures from the Philippines to online albums. I'll try to get through it tomorrow. I also have a few ideas in mind for some photo projects. I'll try to keep it fresh with some interesting pictures. I hope to be able to publish at least once a week if not more often. I'll also try to get out to the areas around south Niagara on some mini-road trips.
Around Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a nice city. Very safe to walk around. I stayed at the Guang Dong hotel in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. Basically, I toured the Kowloon side of the city via the MTR subway system and my feet. I stopped at different areas that my little visitor's guide book suggested and checked them out.
I did go to check out the night life at Lan Kwai Fong on the Hong Kong island. It was smaller than I thought it would be and basically unremarkable from my perspective...just another street with lots of bars. I was tired from walking around all day so I didn't even bother stopping to have a beer.
I thought about going to Lantau island to see the giant Buddha statue and maybe take a cable car ride at Ngong Ping, but I decided to sleep in instead and just relax before checking out at noon and heading to the airport.
I didn't take any pictures on my second day in Hong Kong. So here are some pics from my first day:
I did go to check out the night life at Lan Kwai Fong on the Hong Kong island. It was smaller than I thought it would be and basically unremarkable from my perspective...just another street with lots of bars. I was tired from walking around all day so I didn't even bother stopping to have a beer.
I thought about going to Lantau island to see the giant Buddha statue and maybe take a cable car ride at Ngong Ping, but I decided to sleep in instead and just relax before checking out at noon and heading to the airport.
I didn't take any pictures on my second day in Hong Kong. So here are some pics from my first day:
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