[Tool] Compare Google Maps to OpenStreetMap
Just about everyone has heard of Google Maps, and rightly so, it's a great service.
However, Google Maps, being a proprietary service, comes with some restrictions. Proprietary applications and software can often hinder development and innovation due to, for example, licencing fees and exclusivity contracts.
That's where open source comes in, a term constantly gaining in importance and relevance. The beauty of open source is that it suffers far fewer restrictions and is often intended to bolster innovation.
LaCie Network Space Users Unite!
Fellow LaCie Network Space users, not doubt, many of you, like myself, purchased this NAS thinking it could be tweaked, configurated and hacked. Perhaps most of you have realised this is not the case. The LaCie resembles a brick that stares at you stupidly as you try to figure out what it does and how far you can push it.
If you have tried to contact LaCie customer service, you may have realised why the LaCie stares at you like a dumb brick.
So, let us pool our resources and knowledge to crack the LaCie open and hack it to our licking.
I have been searching the web for Network Space related info and would appreciate any info fellow users might have to add.
There is a Wiki over at nas-central.org that you should help populate!
If you have any tips, tricks, ideas, info on the LaCie Network Space, make sure to add it to the wiki. Let us pool our resources and knowledge to be able to gain the freedom to manage, hack, use and extend out LaCie Network Space.
Related links I found while searching:
http://forum.nas-portal.org/showthread.php?t=4201
http://community.lionhead.com/forums/thread/3292364.aspx
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=535181
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LaCie NetworkSpace and Source Code
Several months ago, I posted about comments by LaCie tech support staff, that the NetworkSpace was no longer being developed.
Looking through the log files of the NetworkSpace, it is obvious that the system uses a Linux kernel and open source software.
So the first through that struck me, was to request LaCie to publish the source code, in line with the GPL licence for example. LaCie has in fact released source code for othe products, such as the 2big Network or LaCie Ethernet Disk RAID.
Tech suppot was rather quick to answer, and informed me that only certain parts of the source code may be released, but there is no set date for this.
LaCie Network Space – no more development – can we have the kernel?
I have been in contact with LaCie tech-support for the past couple days. I cannot see my shared media in iTunes and they have been assisting me.
But that aside, tech support dropped a bombshell on my today. The LaCie Network Space 1TB, which I bought some two weeks ago, is no longer being developed.
Here a screenshot of the response by the tech support person (in German);
Firmware version 1.1.6 is where the fun ends. While this upset me, it also got me thinking. Since the Network Space uses a linux kernel, it is based on open source software, and as such, LaCie should release the source code.
I may be wrong, but no where on the LaCie website can one download the source code.
So users demand that the source code be released, so that we can continue to maintain our NAS devices.
I would hate to think that there is some destructive bug hidden away in the code, which might one day fry my backups and files because the code is no longer being maintained.
What do you think?
The iPhone as a platform for OpenSource
The iPhone is a great innovative step in mobile computing and combines a versatile and powerful combination of hardware.
Millions of people have purchased the iPhone, new markets are still being opened up. The AppStore is a big step forward in expanding the abilities of the iPhone and so is the Jailbreaking community.
However, due to Apples restrictive policies and the way the iPhone's OS has been designed, this superb device is very limited as a smartphone. In part due to power management and due to the walled garden principle, the iPhone in its default set-up leaves a lot to be desired.
Users who have bought the iPhone and expect a smartphone, won't get passed Jailbreaking the device in order to get pretty basic features:
- copy paste
- backgrounding
- installation of any software (not just from the AppStore)
- more control over the device (Terminal and tools such as BossPrefs)
- keeping services active even when the screen is turned off (apps such as insomnia)
- theming and customisation
- tethering and added networking capabilities
Apples marketing approach and handing of the iPhone is the Achilles Heel of this device.
Asking someone to pay for the ability to write using a widescreen keyboard, voice commands, or perhaps copy & paste might be a great marketing feat, and Steve "it's Wonderful" Jobs can pat himself on the back for this, but this is not innovation. Quite on the contrary, this serves only to put a damper on user experience.
Most of us who bought the iPhone thought we were buying a pretty smart and empowering device. The adds and commercials looked great and shiny, the iPhone looked like an übersmartphone. Instead we got a dumbed down device missing the most common and basic features and Apples intrusive (killswitch) and restrictive (AppStore and iTunes only) limitations.
OpenSource is the Answer
Apple has given us a great platform, let us build on it. The iPhone could serve as a superb and stable foundation for Linux based operating systems tailored to run on mobile devices. Intel has launched an initiative that could one day see Linux on the iPhone, and other projects exist as well with the same aim.
To be honest, the iPhone is what I want the Neo Freerunner to be.
Perhaps a symbiosis of the iPhone hardware platform and OpenMoko is the answer. How many would not say no to Ubuntu MID Edition on the iPhone, I sure dream of this on a daily basis as I battle to keep applications running in the background on my shiny iPhone 3G.
The advantages are obvious I hope:
- a solid and stable platform
- large developer, user and tester community
- speed of innovation
- fast updates
- hassle free upgrading
- thousands of applications to choose from
- opensource benefits
- customisation
- specialisation (distributions can be tailored to the needs of end users, for example business environments)
- no need to be subject to the whims of a massive corporation
- diversification
It cannot be, in the 21st century, that you need to void your warranty to have copy & paste or applications that run in the background. I'll leave it at that.
Flowcharts with DIA
Today I needed to make some simple flowcharts to mirror our invoicing path in the office. I set out to do this using PowerPoint, yet I quickly realised that this was not the right tool for the job. It was time consuming and not very user-friendly. Options and features were hidden in various menus, and it took time to find them, test them and then use them. To be fair, I do not think that PowerPoint is the right tool for such a task.
Microsoft Visio would be more applicable, but we do not have it in the office.
A helpful member over at ubuntuforums.org mentioned Dia, a free and cross-platform tool with which you can make diagrams and flowcharts. From the project website:
Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program 'Visio', though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams. It is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files, using a subset of SVG to draw the shape.
I thought I would give it a try. A Windows installer was included which installed without any problems on my Windows 2000 machine. With around 12MB file size, Dia is a relatively small application and so the installation was quite fast.
Dia is intuitive and very easy to use. Even someone like me, who does not need and therefore does not use PowerPoint or Visio, would have no trouble understanding the tools in Dia.
One thing does require getting used to however, the workspace you see in Dia is relative. In other words, while you do see dark blue solid outlines which highlight an A4 page for example, Dia while scale your work if you go beyond these outlines. If you try out Dia you will see what I mean. Make a box and fill it with text then print it out, it will be huge. Now add more boxes (especially horizontally) and you will notice that the boxes will be scaled to fit one page (if you choose to have them printed like this) or more pages.
I found this to be a rather good feature, I did not have to worry about spacing or alignment and could focus on the content.
A screenshot of Dia in action:
Dia gets a thumbs up from me, stable, functional and promising.
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