Friday, November 20, 2015

Synaptics touchpad erratic on Knoppix 7.x

The title is self-explanatory. I first discovered this issue with Knoppix 7.0.5 (IIRC), and it continued "well" into Knoppix 7.2 CD versions. I prefer to use CD versions of Knoppix, because of a lack of storage and download speeds. Yes! Mmh!!

Note, that to avoid fancy Compiz effects, I almost always use the no3d parameter at Knoppix startup.

The Synaptics touchpad is highly erratic (in Metacity), and until today, I had had nothing that would resemble workaround to make it less erratic. One of the symptoms in a browser, for example, is that text suddenly gets selected, and I can't release the selection. No, nothing helps. I could only use the keyboard to navigate, and LXDE/Metacity environments don't appear to have any keyboard shortcut to access the taskbar (start) menu.

Some of the workarounds:
  1. An immediate workaround is to restart X from the console via restartx
    One can have a non-minimised terminal window (uxterm) ready in the background, and then use extant keyboard and menu commands to close active apps. Another is to use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to revert to the text-only console. Restarting X is not a longer-term solution, because the problem might return again.
  2. Another is to fall back to Knoppix 6.7.1, which allows a stable pointer with the Synaptics touchpad, but this Knoppix release has outdated software (Iceweasel 6.0, for example).
  3. Yet another in Knoppix 7.x consists of adding the psmouse parameter into the Knoppix start-up command-line:
    knoppix no3d psmouse.proto=imps
    The imps somehow changes the pointer input device. At least on my machine, the immediate effect was that cursor tracking (movement) with the touchpad became slower.

    While the terrible and annoying erratic behaviour was not there as much, it still kept being somewhat erratic in other ways, albeit less so, and in a more manageable manner. Then I discovered the following:
  4. The thing is to never open the CompizConfig Settings Manager. — Because I noticed that it will start changing settings right after it's started or when a user changes settings on their own. That way, I have been able to evade issues that cause/d the pointer to misbehave so terribly.
  5. 04.08.2018 update:

    At some point, I realised, that since the touchpad is misbehaving, it would be saner to use an external pointing device, such as a USB mouse (or PS/2, or what have you). That doesn't fix the problem, but prevents usage of the touchpad.
  6. The issues crop up less, but even using an external USB mouse is not perfect enough for uninterrupted work. Disconnecting the external mouse from the USB port, using the touchpad for a short while to resolve the pointer hang, and re-connecting the USB mouse may help.
  7. Then I got the idea, that perhaps I should disable the touchpad entirely, because I'd occasionally touch it by accident, and it interefered with the pointer driven by the external mouse, forcing the pointer to get stuck again.

    Here I got very nice instructions as to how to disable a misbehaving pointing device: The output of xinput --list with the pointing devices that X has identified:
    Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
      ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
      ↳ Logitech USB RECEIVER                     id=9    [slave  pointer  (2)]
      ↳ PS/2 Generic Mouse                        id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
      ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
    
    • "Virtual core XTEST pointer" is the first, and should never be shut down, as it will cause X to restart, and lose any unsaved work.
    • Logitech USB RECEIVER is the wireless USB mouse. It's the first wireless laser mouse, and as such, the receiver is a separately mains-powered cradle that connects to the USB port.
    • PS/2 Generic Mouse. I can't tell, if it belongs to an external mouse, or is identified separately by X. Because it's not the external USB RECEIVER mouse, and not then touchpad.

    Follow the id= number of the device, and use that to enable/disable it with the respective console commands below:

    xinput --disble 12
    xinpute --enable 12

    — to shut off what one could think is the offending device. Instructions from here.

    Then again, disabling the TouchPad didn't work, and I was still stuck with a stuck pointer. Ugh.
  8. 19.11.2018 update: Use a different window manager, such as twm.

    At first, I thought the erraticity of the Synaptics Touchpad to be because of LXDE and its use of Metacity. No.

    I'd somehow installed twm (Klaus Knopper gutted the CD-version of Knoppix 7.2 so much, that he omitted twm from it).

    Switching between twm and LXDE requires creating and then editing the local .xinitrc file, and then launching restartx to choose the correct window manager / desktop environment.

    In .xinitrc, the execution commands for twm and lxde are different: For twm, it's just

    twm

    ; For LXDE, it's

    exec startlxde

    For one window manager to be chosen via $ restartx, comment the other out with a hash # sign.

    And so I thought at first to be safe from the Erratic Synaptics Touchpad. Well, no. That still happened, but somehow less, and it was easier to escape the erraticity and non-responsiveness of the pointer. On the other hand, if the pointer did become sticky, I'd be stuck until I'd restartx, sometimes even via Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, if hovering over a terminal window in twm would no longer switch focus to it to allow retartx to happen. In console (as in, Ctrl+Alt+F1...F4), restartx would start, but wouldn't display. Ugh.

    But at least now I know, that it's the fault somewhere in the driver and how X handles it, and not directly with LXDE.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Nutitelefoni valimine (09.2015)

Ehk peamised kriteeriumid mobiiltelefoni mitte-telefoni funktsioonidele.

Kombineerida saab olemasoleva eelarve piires; heast poest on võimalik osta ka kasutatult, aga uurimistööd tuleb teha rohkem.

Omadused on toodud enam-vähem tähtsuse järjekorras.

Kes on tootja. Tuumarelvi omavate riikide kaubamärke ma ei eelista ega soovita. Selliste riikide hulka kuuluvad näiteks USA, Hiina, India, Prantsusmaa, Venemaa. Ainsaks erandiks oleks Lenovo. kuid valik on mobiili-turul piisavalt kirev. Tuleb siiski tõdeda, et lõviosa tarbe-elektroonikast toodetakse Hiinas.

• Kui kaua kestab aku.

• Kas telefonil on FM-raadio. See on tähtis.

Mälukaardi tugi. Juhuks kui telefoni sisemine mälu täis saab, sest on palju fotosid ja videosid; samuti kaardirakenduste andmed.

Füüsilised omadused


Mõõdud

  • Kompaktsus — et kas telefon mahub püksitaskusse. Väiksemad seadmed mängivad siin rolli. Sest kui telefon ei ole vee- ja tolmukindel, peab ta halva ilmaga olema kuskil taskus, ning kasutada saaks kõnekomplekti.
  • Ekraan. Diagonaali kui mõõteväärtust ma niiväga määravaks ei pea; vt. ülemine punkt. Küll võib tooni anda ekraani resolutsioon, kus suurem resolutsioon (pikselite arv) on teatud veebilehtede kuvamisel määrav siis, kui neid pole mobiiliekraanide jaoks sobivaks küljendatud.

Vastupidavus.

  • Tugevdatud ekraaniklaas. Peaks olema vähemalt Gorilla Glass. Et kui seade kukub, jääks ekraan terveks. Mida suurem Gorilla Glass number, seda parem.
  • Veekindlus on sobiv Põhja-Euroopa kliimas, sest siis saab telefoni kasutada vihmas või udus; näiteks fotode tegemiseks. Väiksem võimalus rikkiminekuks niiskuskahjustuse tagajärjel.
  • Tolmukindlus loeb siis, kui tegutsetakse väga tolmustes oludes või minnakse puhkama lõunamaadesse, kus juhtub olema liivatorme. Arvestada tuleb selliste märksõnadega nagu ehitus, remont, puidutööstus (saepuru), liiv jmt.

Kaamera

    Peavad olema:
  • Autofookus — selleks, et pilt oleks selge. Isegi kui megapikseleid pole palju, on autofookus sama tähtis kui võimendi muusikariistale.
  • Välk. Pimedas pildistamiseks ja ka sellisteks juhtudeks nagu Laulupidu või teised suured kontserdid.
    Parematel ja kallimatel aparaatidel:
  • Pildistabilisaator ehk OIS (i.k. Optical Image Stabilisation) — samuti selleks, et pilt ei tuleks foto tegemisel ise liikudes või telefoni liigutades udune/virvendav. Seadmetel, kus pildistabilisaatorit pole, aga on vaja suhteliselt selgemat pilti kui ise vajutades, saab kasutada kaamera viitsütikut.
  • Tehnoloogiad pimedas või hämaras pildistamiseks. Võrdeline ka toas pildistamisega, kus nähtavast valgustusest tihtipeale ei piisa. Nokia Lumia 920, 925 ja paremad sobivad siia hästi.
    Esikaamera
  • Selfie-de tegemiseks. Isegi kui selfie-sid ei tehta, siis järgmine huvitav punkt oleks
  • Videokõned. Skype vms suhtlusäpis.

    Siin jätaks ma valiku on vabaks, vastavalt eelistustele ja maitsele + järgmine punkt. —
Kaamera megapikselid
Nii põhi- kui esikaamera puhul sõltub megapikselite arv eelarvest.

Kui pildi detailsus pole väga tähtis, siis megapikselite arv ei oma samuti suurt tähtsust.

Eesti mobiili-operaatorite pakutavate odavamate nutitelefonide kaamerad on praegugi peamiselt 5-megapikselised, mis tähendab seda, et suurel osal seadmetest on autofookus juba vaikimisi olemas, ning paljud (aga mitte kõik) on ka välklambiga varustatud. Seega piltide kvaliteedi ja detailsuse alampiir on juba aastal 2015 piisavalt hea.

Määravaks muutub megapikselite arv siis, kui pildistada saab ainult kaugelt, aga tarvis on saada võimalikult detailseid kujutisi, näiteks spordisündmustel. Siin sobiks kindlasti 8-megapikseline või suurem kaamerasensor.

Selliste telefonide hinnad on viimasel ajal alanenud, ning odavama otsa brändide valikus on juba uusi 8-megapikselisi telefone, mille hind jääb alla 100€. Heades poodides on tuntud tootjate 8-megapikselise kaameraga kasutatud telefonid ka umbes 100€ või õige pisut vähema ringis.
Opsüsteemi valik ei ole vähemtähtis: huvitavamate äppide jaoks on parem Android või Sailfish (toetab Androidi äppe), ning nendel saab käitada äppe, mis toetavad kasutaja privaatsust ja turvalisust.

Näiteks konkreetselt Gecko-põhise mootoriga Firefox töötab ainult Androidil (ja Sailfishil). Lisaks on Firefoxile saadaval NoScript, Adblock Plus ja palju muid turvalisust ja privaatsust parandavaid laiendusi.

Kui oma Android pole enam uuendatav ning hiljem ka sellel käiv Chrome lehitseja, siis eraldiseisvat Firefoxi saab pikka aega veel edasi uuendada. Firefox töötab siiani ka Android 2.3 peal. Selle Androidi versiooniga telefonid on tänapäevaga võrreldes suhteliselt nõrgad, kuid näiteks "Postimehe" kodulehe kuvamiseks vaikimisi Android 2.3 lehitseja ei kõlba enam ammu.

Teiste opsüsteemide puhul niisuguseid asju lihtsalt ei ole. Kui tavakasutajale privaatsus väga suureks mureks pole, siis sobib Nokia Lumia ilusti, sest Nokiate Carl Zeiss-i optikaga kaamerad on üle prahi.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

HTC konkurentsivõimest

Disclaimer: HTC ühtegi seadet ei oma

Hiljuti ilmus Delfile omapäraselt alusetut hirmu ja õudu tekitav artikkel HTC kohta, ning otsustasin sellel teemal jagada oma mõtteid, seekord väljaspool kommentaariumi.


Nutitelefoni valijad võiksid mõelda selle peale, et HTC on pärit Taiwanist, mis on demokraatia; Hiina tootjad Meizu, ZTE, Huawei on pärit mandri-Hiinast, mis ei ole demokraatia.
Ehkki Hiina (Rahvavabariik) on mitmeski mõttes avanenud, ning riigis toodetakse peaaegu kõike, on selle maa poliitiline joon muutumatu. Kuigi vähesed poliitilised kommentaatorid on rääkinud Hiinas (või pigem selle seadusandluses) moodustunud proto-demokraatiast, ei ole see võrreldav Taiwanis valitseva tõelise demokraatiaga. Küll pole Taiwan diplomaatliselt tunnustatud riik, ehkki de facto on maa iseseisev. Mõnes mõttes annab selline strateegiline kahesus teatud eeliseid.
Kui oleks valida mandri-Hiina tootjate ja HTC vahel, siis väärtustele tuginedes on HTC oluliselt parem variant.

HTC üks probleemidest on ehk see, et nende tooteportfell on veidi kesine, ning erinevalt Sonyst, Samsungist, LG-st, ASUSest, Huaweist ja mõnedest teistest, on neil vähesele tagasi langeda puhuks, kui turg on küllastunud ja mobiilimüük mitte nii suurepärane. Teise probleemi puhul tekib küsimus, et kas Mandri-Hiina mobiilitootjad müüvad oma kaupa liiga odavalt, mispuhul ei oleks usutav, et see oleks vaid odava tööjõu mõjust.

HTC saaks oma müüki parandada sellisel juhul, kui oma tooteid piisavalt hästi diferentseerida.

LG-l, Samsungil ja Sonyl on teatud mobiilitooted, mis müüvad hästi oma erinevate funktsioonide või välimuse poolest. Näiteks on Sony nišiks väga vastupidavad Z-seeria telefonid.

HTC-l pole selles vallas kerge konkureerida, kui nende praegusel lipulaeval puudub mõni tänapäevastele lipulaevadele omane funktsioon, nagu näiteks optiline pildistabilisaator (OIS).

Senimaani on HTC eelisteks disain ja kõlarid, lukustamata alglaadija (bootloader), ning ka see, et ettevõte uuendab korralikult (ehk järjepidevalt) oma mobiilide tarkvara.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Copying and pasting table contents into comments in social networks and discussion forums

There isn't much sense in posting whole contents of tables into a comment under a post in most social networks, because directly copied-and-pasted content becomes plaintext, data is misplaced and garbled, because the comment and display area are not wide enough, and the intended overview becomes non-sensical anyway.

One can also choose to copy and paste only the first two columns, by holding down the Ctrl key in Firefox and dragging the mouse cursor across the cells with actual data starting from the ranking.

The data should first and foremost be pasted into a text editor, all the unnecessary data removed, and then copied and pasted here:
Top 10 countries by PEV market share of total new car sales in 2014 and 2013
^ Copied and pasted separately
# Country 2013 2014
1 Norway 13.84% 6.10%
2 Netherlands 3.87% 5.55%
3 Iceland 2.71% 0.94%
4 Estonia 1.57% 0.73%
5 Sweden 1.53% 0.71%
6 Japan 1.06% 0.91%
7 Denmark 0.88% 0.29%
8 Switzerland 0.75% 0.44%
9 United States 0.72% 0.60%
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country#Top_10_countries

The result looks much nicer, but is still relatively unwieldy, because of variable-width fonts used by most social networking sites.

Section anchors and other anchors in MediaWiki code

It's possible to link to specific article sections or other in-article items in Wikipedia and other projects that use MediaWiki software.
Hereonafter I'm going to use 'MediaWiki', because this is the software that Wikipedia and similar projects rely on, and functionality is not limited to just Wikipedia. Other projects that use MediaWiki code are at Wikia, such as Memory Alpha, a comprehensive Star Trek canon encyclopedia.
The simplest way to find the jump link is by clicking on a section name in the article table of contents — the browser then jumps to the section — and then copying the URL from the browser address bar, where the address is appended with anchor text when an anchor is jumped to.

An anchor in HTML and newer web page standards is an in-page point one can jump to if a link exists, or if the anchor is used in a web address (URL).

Each section title is also made into an anchor, and sections are the most prominent jumping points in MediaWiki-based projects, because the anchor is always there whenever there's a section.

In a web address, the anchor is known as part of the URL that starts with a hash # sign:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country#Global_outlook

This link takes to the Wikipedia article "Electric car use by country", but jumps the browser view into the "Global outlook" section, which may have more relevant information than the whole article.

One can thus link to an in-article position either by targeting a section via pre-existing section anchors, or by creating a separate anchor using the {{Anchor}} template (exists in Wikipedia and its sister projects), or by creating and adding in article code a specific easily-readable ID to almost any tag or object present in an article, such as a table, a <DIV> or <SPAN>:
{| class="wikitable" id="Top_10_countries"
|-
|Table in wikicode
|-
|}


<!-- or somewhere else: -->

<div id="Other_countries">Some content inside a block</div>
That way, the anchor is created to a table, and after saving, one can jump to it by using this link instead:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country#Top_10_countries

Article sections in MediaWiki-based projects may contain all UTF-8-encoded characters, and the characters are then transformed into UTF-8-encoded text parts acceptable in web addresses:

The highlighted anchor part of the below URL was converted from the Russian word 'Возможности' (Features) from the Russian-language article about Mozilla Firefox, wherein the Russian-language capital 'В' (V) was converted into .D0.92. in an anchor. This, of course, makes links in non-Latin scripts very long:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#.D0.92.D0.BE.D0.B7.D0.BC.D0.BE.D0.B6.D0.BD.D0.BE.D1.81.D1.82.D0.B8

Friday, July 17, 2015

Vim tips on searching and replacing

This is not exhaustive or anything, just a memo.
's' means substitute. While it may also mean "search", the search command is usually a slash /, as in
/searchabletext
The simple of it:

:s/whatimlookingfor/whatshouldreplaceit

The slash separates the command, the searchable item, the replaceable item, and additional parameters.

To replace stuff throughout the whole file (or document), use the percent % sign before s:

:%s/whatimlookingfor/whatshouldreplaceit

:s/\&,/^M/g

This replaces commas across one (long or large) line with a newline (carriage return). Breakdown:

s/ — starts the substitute command
after slash, enter search string
\& — all occurrences of desired search string within a line
, — comma is what one is looking for
/ — the next slash separates the search string from the replacement
^M — newline (carriage return). in gVIM (for Windows), it's highlighted, as it's actually entered as <Ctrl+V> <enter>
/g — replace till the end of line. Useful for if there's a huge amount of text in one line.

If one wants carriage returns after a comma, use this:

:s/\&,/&^M/g
— where the usually coloured (and special) carriage return symbol ^M follows the ampersand &. The ampersand is used to to add text: stuff before it is added before the searchable string; stuff added after the ampersand means that instead of deleting, stuff is added after the searchable string.

Convenient.

:s/\&&quot\;/"/g

Here it replaces all &quot; with normal quote characters "
\& — all occurrences of search string within a line;
&quot\; note that the semicolon is escaped.

:s/\&description="/&\t

\& — search in a line all instances of
    description="
/
&\t — As stated above, the ampersand & is used to add stuff; in this instance, a tab \t is added after the searchable string.

Turn highlight off
Like this:nohlsearch
^ Given that all searchable strings found are highlighted. But then it becomes somewhat annoying when proceeding to edit text after things are done. Instructions from the Vim wikia.

Or:

:noh

16.04.2018:
Search for strings not containing a character (search with exclusions)

Search for a line not containing dots (periods):

/^[^\.]*$

Breakdown:

/ — starts a search
^ — start of a line
[^stuff_to_be_excluded] — exclusion [^inside square brackets, starting with caron]
[^\.] — the dot is escaped with a backslash \
* — wildcard for everything
$ — end of a line

Pressing enter/return will get you to the nearest match (if any), and highlight other matches. Move to the next match with the n key.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

List of Nokia phones offered by Canadian mobile operators (end of April 2015)

This is an updated list of Nokia phones offered by Canadian mobile operators.
I decided to create an update, largely because there has been consistent interest towards the previous post. The research was made around 24./25.04.2015. It left it at that for a few weeks until today (07.05.2015).
* The list of operators herein is based on the
Canadian mobile phone companies Wikipedia navbox.
* Criteria for inclusion: That the phone not be a Windows Phone device, so operators and MVNOs with non-Windows-Phone Nokia phones are at the top of the list; Microsoft-branded Lumias don't count.
  • I added one LG F4NR, which, strangely, according to the Rogers website, features the Symbian operating system. Since it's an OS formerly managed by Nokia, then I have also included that model, which seems to be one of the more popular basic phone models available in Canada. LG F4NR a 3G flip phone (HSPA/HSPA+), and its specifications have it that the OS is REX.

    AFAIK, Nokia sold Symbian to Accenture.

    LG could earn well by selling affordable feature/function phones with the no-frills Symbian operating system, which on its own is very battery-friendly, and sufficiently feature-packed.
Canada is generally Blackberry country, and almost all operators offer Blackberry devices. For many things and in many ways, Blackberry devices are superb over most other smartphones.

My motivation, then, was to include mobile phones with European roots, so I've also included operators that offer Doro phones, given that Doro is a Swedish company.
For those not in the know, while Alcatel has originally been a French brand, then Alcatel cellphones fall under Alcatel Mobile Phones, which is managed by TCL Mobile Limited, which in turn operates under TCL Corporation, which is headquartered in China. This is something similar to Nokia devices and services division now owned by Microsoft, which is headquartered in the U.S. So Alcatel enjoys brand recognition inertia.

Jump to operators that offer:
Non-Windows-Phone Nokia phones Nokia Lumia & Doro phones Nokia Lumias LG F4N*

Operators that offer non-Windows-Phone Nokia phones

Only one non-MVNO operator offers non-Windows Phone Nokia phones as new.

ICE Wireless

Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut

Personal
* Nokia 208 (under Regular Phones)
· Nokia Lumia 530 (Windows Phone)

Chatr (MVNO)

Owned by Rogers, coverage limited to Wind Mobile and Mobilicity.
* Nokia C2-02

· Nokia Lumia 520
· Nokia Lumia 635

· Sony Ericsson txt pro

Petro-Canada (MVNO)

Uses the Rogers GSM network.
* Nokia C3

This section includes operators that normally include Nokia devices with Windows Phone, but also offer Doro phones (Doro is a Swedish company).

Cityfone (MVNO)

Owned by Rogers.
· Nokia Lumia 635

· Doro PhoneEasy 620

~ LG F4NR

Primus Canada

Chose Ontario.
· Nokia Lumia 635
· Doro PhoneEasy 620

~ LG F4NR

The following are all operators that offer at least Nokia Lumia phones. Apparently, the most popular devices are Nokia Lumia 635 and Nokia Lumia 830.

Rogers Wireless
Main page lists phones by operating system.
On ''All phones'' page, brands are positioned below operating systems, and Nokia is listed in brands:
Residential & (Small) Business
· Nokia Lumia 635
· Nokia Lumia 830
Interestingly, Symbian is featured in OS platforms, and that yielded
~ LG F4NR
Strange only, that the phone's standby time on the Rogers website was rated as 16 hours, while music playback is 21.5 hours. This is a mistake on the part of Rogers, because the standby time is up to 16 days. Nearly as much is confirmed on LG's own website for the phone, which lists standby time as 'up to 15 days and 17 hours'.
- Sony Ericsson is listed as a brand under the Business section, but only Sony Xperia phones are on offer.

Fido Solutions (MVNO)
MVNO, subsidiary of Rogers
· Nokia Lumia 635
· Nokia Lumia 830
Bell Mobility
General & Small business:
· Nokia Lumia 830 (under Windows)
_ In the General section at Phones > Devices, the Nokia brand is not listed.
_ Under Small Business (at mobilebusiness.bell.ca), Nokia is found under 'Filter devices'.


MTS Mobility (Manitoba Telecom Services)
Primary carrier in Manitoba;
Offered under all customer categories:
· Nokia Lumia 830 (under Devices)

Under Voice devices:
~ LG F4NR
SaskTel Mobility
Serves Saskatchewan.
Personal:
· Nokia Lumia 830

Under Other Devices > Cell Phones
~ LG F4NR
(?) also has LG F4N
Telus Mobility
As of 2014 has completed purchase of Public Mobile, an MVNO on Telus's 4G network. Telus has since 2008 also operated a Koodo Mobile MVNO.

Chose Ontario.
Nokia is listed.
Offered under all customer categories:
· Nokia Lumia 635 (under "Smartphones Lite" section)
· Nokia Lumia 830 (under one of "Smartphones" sections)
Tbaytel
(Formerly Thunder Bay Telephone)
Operates in Thunder Bay, ON, and the surrounding area.
Personal & business:
· Nokia Lumia 635
· Nokia Lumia 830

The following operators don't have any Nokia phones on offer, but they have LG F4NR and LG F4N phones, which might be running Symbian.
I haven't verified this information, so I don't have much to say about whether the phone actually runs this operating system.

Eastlink Wireless
Serves Nova Scotia and Prince Edward island; website requires region, so I chose Nova Scotia + Halifax.
[x] Apparently no Nokia phones.

Certified refreshed phones feature only
~ LG F4N, which has Symbian/REX

[x] Business: Site not very usable.
Vidéotron Mobile
Serves Quebec and the National Capital Region.
Residential & business:
 Base [phones] / classic devices
 ~ LG F4NR
Under small and medium business section, the refined criteria selection lists Nokia, but no Nokia phones are offered.

Wind Mobile
Nokia not listed.
~ LG F4NR
Wind Mobile specifies the phone's OS as 'LG Platform'.

Although the BREW Mobile Platform does not stem from Europe, the Huawei U2801 featurephone is offered as another device with an alternative operating system. Huawei is a Chinese company.

PC Mobile (MVNO)
Devices operate on Bell Mobility (prepaid), or Telus Mobility (postpaid) networks; branding and payment media with President's Choice supermarket store brand.

No Nokia phones listed as of 24.04.2015.

Wikipedia article on PC Telecom features Nokia Lumia 520, but that information is very likely outdated.
Prepaid phones
~ LG F4N
Virgin Mobile Canada (MVNO)
Used Bell Mobility CDMA network, after launch adopted HSPA+ and 4G LTE.

Website requires JavaScript to display any content.
Has good device filter.

Nokia not listed.
~ LG F4NR

Other Canadian MVNOs

The following are MVNOs that don't offer either Nokia phones or the said LG F4N* phones.

Koodo Mobile (MVNO)
Subsidiary of Telus

One of the few websites served in https, but wants to access a user's location via browser (Firefox normally prompts for these things).

No Nokia phones available.

Latitude Wireless or Northwestel
An incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), serves the very northern parts of Canada, which have the most adverse weather.

Bell authorized dealer. See Bell.


Public Mobile (MVNO)
Subsidiary of Telus.

Website requires JavaScript, only offers service, but no phones.


7-Eleven SpeakOut Wireless (MVNO)
Uses Rogers GSM network in Canada.

Sold Ottawa outlets to Quickie Convenience Stores, existing Ottawa SpeakOut subscribers could move their prepaid balances to Quickie's Good2Go programme.

No Nokia phones.


Inukshuk Wireless
Has a one-page site with only the company address.

Mobilicity
Serves Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa + Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton, Greater Vancouver Area. No new cities served since 28.04.2011.

CityWest Mobility (MVNO)
Exited wireless services, existing customers were given to Telus.
Otherwise serves the following BC communities: Prince Rupert, Port Edward, Terrace/Thornhill, Kitimat, Hazelton, Smithers/Telkwa, Houston, Stewart.

Zoomer Wireless (MVNO)
Under Cityfone; no mobile service advertised.


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Social networks and avatars

This was a comment I wrote to someone in a social network where their avatar was somewhat direct in its presentation.

The first thing people will look at is another person's avatar (profile picture), which often reveals quite a bit about that person. For example, if an avatar only shows a face, then the picture says "here I am, this is me." — People who look for meaningful relationships tend to gravitate towards those profiles that only show a person's face.

On dating sites that are often used for short-term liaisons, photos of people are more direct with what they have to offer, because potential dates then look for something else than a face or a personality. — Yet such photos anywhere in a profile are not effective on sites where meaningful relationships are sought.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Convert percentage values formatted as numbers into percentages in LibreOffice

The Problem:


Suppose that percentage values have been entered in LibreOffice this way:

(the decimal separator is a comma)
42,63
27,78
14,72

and the objective is to make sure that 42,63 and other cells display as 42,63% and act like percentages instead of general numbers or normal text.

Only that the values are treated as normal (General) numbers. The problem is bigger, if lots of cells are formatted like that, and the dataset's percentage values use decimals, as in 25,5 and so on.

When AutoInput is active (in Tools menu > Cell contents), then entering text with a percentage sign, such as 25,5% — automatically formats the cell and cell contents as a percentage, in which actual cell content is 0.255. But this works when entering data manually.

Adding a percentage sign to data in existing cells may or may not work: in some cases, when adding a percentage sign to 42,63, it will instead become 0,43 or 4263,00%.

The solution:


Select these cells, format them as text.

Use Find & Replace (Ctrl+H) to add a percentage sign:
* You need regexp functionality, so check [\/] Regular expressions;
* Check [\/] 'Current selection' only;
* The 'Search in' drop-down box must have 'Values' selected;
* The 'Search for' field must contain a dollar sign $ to signify end of paragraph;
* The 'Replace with' field must contain an ampersand and a percentage sign: &%
* Click [Replace All].

You're not done yet, as that only adds a percentage sign to the end of each value, but does not put them into percentage format.

Select all these cells, and cut or copy them.

* Then paste cut/copied cells as unformatted text. This opens the Text Import window, where:
* values are (•) Separated by [\/] Tab;
* Check [\/] Detect special numbers
* (To make sure that cells are positioned properly, then don't merge delimiters.)
* Press OK.
Now, each value should be formatted as a percentage, and the percentage sign toolbar button must also be active for these cells.

I don't know if there's any difference when in the Text Import window 'Quoted field as text' is checked while pasting unformatted text.

To keep the original dataset intact, then experiment by using a copy of the file, or at least paste into a new file or new sheet in the same file.

This might also work with OpenOffice.org that supports the 'Detect special numbers' function.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Tips on making a good YouTube video

In order of importance:

• Use a tripod or something that can hold your phone in place while you're filming;
• When filming with a modern mobile phone, always hold it sideways to avoid 'tall' vids;
• Make sure the aspect ratio matches the YouTube video box, which is 16:9;
• If video aspect ratio is different, then YouTube allows letterboxing;
• Avoid uploading videos in less than 360p; else they will look pixelated in the video box;

Audio

• Do not upload videos with low volume, because most other videos are louder, and so are video ads;
• Avoid excessive audio treble, otherwise 's' sounds are too loud, which might hurt ears;
• To minimize echo, set up an almost wall-height bookshelf full of books or stuff along at least one nearby wall. Keep it clean and dust-free.

Intro and end clips

• Intro clips should be short, at best up to 15 seconds (else boring);
• If intro has music, its volume should fade in from 0 or 25% to normal;
• End clips should always have lower volume than your video;

Text in video

• Do not use cursive fonts, they are hard to read;
• See if you can do without very thin fonts, as these can be hard to read on small displays or from a distance;
• Do not use too large text size, as that's hard to read, too. It's good only for a separate video thumbnail image;
• Try to avoid colouring each letter, because that is also hard to read;
• Consider text contours or text shadow or some translucent text background color if video content changes from light to dark at text position;

You

• You may look gorgeous, but if you have an important message, then keep your shirt on like Russ Marine (now Civilian) does, so that your listeners won't get distracted.

Other people

• Avoid publishing videos with your own or anyone else's children in them. They are not your dog or cat, and they need privacy, too, even if they don't yet understand what it means — Small children are unable to give consent, as they don't yet have the concept of public/private and what consent is.
• A child of school age can be taught these things, so they will eventually learn to understand, so they can make their own choices.
• There are times and places when publishing videos with children in them are necessary:
If you happen to document any kind of abuse with anyone anywhere, then be ready for the following: You need to have a device of insignificant cost, good recoding features, fast connection, and instant upload to a throwaway account for backup, because authorities are very keen on gatherng evidence.

Speech manners

• When talking,
avoid using words like "don't", "doesn't", "didn't", etc., because these can be misheard wrongly. Try instead "do not", "does not", "did not", and so on with 'could', 'should' and the like. Unless you want to be ambiguous on purpose.
• Do not confuse 'may', 'can', and 'might': Avoid "bad people may or can do something", as if you might be giving them permission, and use 'might' instead; whereas "really good people _can_ do something good."

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Proov vanast mobiilist

Postituse algne tekst on võetud ingliskeelse Wikipedia Linuxi-artiklist:
  Linux is a Unix-like and mostly POSIX-compliant operating system assembled under the model of free and open-source software ...  
Niisiis oli seesinane algselt postitatud Samsung SGH-C170 mobiiltelefoniga, mida kasutan paari enda tehtud wap-lehekülje (jah, WAP-lehekülje) testimiseks, sest see telefon on niivõrd piiratud funktsionaalsusega.
Blogisissekande mobiiliga postitatud sisu eraldasin postitust tavalise arvutiga laiendades teksti lõppu.

Samsung SGH-C170

Samsung SGH-C170 on väga algne 2007. aastast pärinev mobiiltelefon, mis toetab ainult GPRS mobiil-andmeside standardit, ning milles on väga algne WAP-lehitseja, mis toetab vaid WML 1.2.1 standardit, kerget XML-i, ning GIF ja JPEG pilte (max suurus vist kuni 30 Kb, kui mälu ei peta). GPRS peaks nagu tähendama 2.5G toetust...

Muud piirangud

2015. aasta probleem kuupäevaga
Esile tuleb tuua seda, et mis tahes 2015. või hilisema aasta kuupäeva ei otseselt võimalik lisada. Kiiruga toimis see lahendus: selleks, et vähemalt esiekraanil näidatud kuupäev peaks nädalapäeva paika, valisin 11 aastat varasema aasta, mis ei langeks kokku peale 2007. aastat olevate aastatega. Sarnase probleemiga mudeleid on veelgi.

Huvitavama lahenduse leidsin antud telefonimudelit arutava gsmarena foorumi postitusest:

• Keera kuupäev 31.12.2014 23:59 peale, siis muuda kellaaega iga kord 23:59 peale ja oota minut seni kuni kukub õige kuupäevaga uus kuupäev.
Ääremärkus: Aasta lõpupoole novembris-detsembris on muidugi aeganõudev kogu see tsirkus läbi teha...

Kuid kui telefoni kasutada vaid ajutiselt (testimiseks vms), siis on muidugi lihtsam sisestada 3-4 või 11 aastat varasem aasta, kus nädalapäevad sobivad olemasoleva kuupäevaga ilusti kokku.

WAP lehitseja piirangud
C170 mobiili WAP-lehitsejas on WML-lehekülje ühe deki (WML-formaadis lehekülje-osa) piirsuuruseks seatud 4000 baiti. Testimisel selgus serveris oleva üheainsa dekiga faili maksimumsuuruseks 4501 baiti, mispuhul on ühe niisuguse WML-lehekülje kerimine väga-väga aeglane. Niisugust (deki)suurust ületavaid lehekülgi konkreetne telefon ei tõmba, sest "lehekülg on liiga suur." Antud mobiili WAP-lehitsejal puudub ka funktsioon, mispuhul leheküljest esitatakse vaid vastuvõetavas mahus tekst ja ülejäänud jääb tõmbamata.

Antud mobiilimudeli WAP-lehitsejal ei ole https-turvaprotokolli toetust, mis tähendab, et andmeedastus ei ole krüpteeritud. Sellest johtuvalt ei ole lõviosa populaarseid e-posti- jms teenuseid üldse kättesaadavad.

Kirjade saatmine

Algne blogipostitus oli saadetud läbi Elioni (hot.ee) e-kohviku WML(XML?)-formaati toetava e-posti keskkonna.

Kirjutatavale tekstile on suuremgi kitsendus, mis lubab koos e-posti aadressi ja teemaväljaga kasutada kõige rohkem 159 märki. Kirja enda teksti suurus sõltub e-posti aadressi ja teemavälja jaoks algselt läinud tekstimahust, kuid üldjoontes tuleb arvestada kirja 128-märgise limiidiga.

Limiidini jõuab siis, kui kirja tekstiväli (sõltuvalt muude tekstiväljade täituvusest) rohkem märke lisada ei võimalda. Siis tuleb igaks juhuks kustutada umbes viimased viis märki või jätta umbes viis märki varu mõttes kirjutamata. Sest saadetud kujul tuli postituse ette kaks tühikut ja taha samapalju tühikuid. Endal oli selline tunne, et kui _kõik_ märgid olid teksti lõpuni alles jäetud, tekkis kirja saatmisel WAP-lehitsejas tõrge.

Nii et lühemaid e-sõnumeid saab saata küll.

Et Wikipedia tekstile kohandatud litsents on Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike tingimustega, tähendab see, et litsentsitingimused peaksid laienema vähemalt antud blogipostitusele ka. (Samas võib muidugi nentida, et teksti lühiduse tõttu on tegemist tsitaadiga, ning tsitaate võib mõistlikus ulatuses vabalt kasutada.)

Lahtiütlus: See blogipostitus ei ole mingil moel Samsungi toetus; blogipostitus kannab informatiivset funktsiooni.