http://blog.nakedcellist.org/index.htmlNakedcellist Tech Blogenc.tan@blinck.comCC non commercial2008-09-28T21:13:34+02:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:39:28 +0200c.tan@blinck.comNone2008-09-28T21:13:34+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/539810be65577112d3f86e5b0daf45f8-14.html#unique-entry-id-14http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/539810be65577112d3f86e5b0daf45f8-14.html#unique-entry-id-14


This started it all. ]]>c.tan@blinck.comreviews2008-08-09T22:39:09+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/dd2df762c52dc2b5798fb75509fb859b-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/dd2df762c52dc2b5798fb75509fb859b-13.html#unique-entry-id-13
So I bought a Behringer BCD 3000 in an impulse. I am not a DJ, but I did take a DJ course some time ago, learning DJ-ing on decks and on CD. Well, I still would like to improve my DJ skills on vinyl, but I do not have a working recordplayeranymore, and I will skip CD’s. I see no use for cd’s in the mp3 age. Hence the Behringer.]]>c.tan@blinck.comgadgets2008-08-04T01:47:24+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/0a4e57cfa8aa5208e1c8b78347d59450-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/0a4e57cfa8aa5208e1c8b78347d59450-12.html#unique-entry-id-12

So I got myself an Iphone 3G 16G black, and after working with it for a few days I thought I'd write a review.

So first thing first: this phone rocks. There is nothing like it. Working with an iphone is like working for the first time with os X: it might not be perfect, and still has some quirks but everything else just blows compared to this one. Apple gets it. It gets how a smartphone should work, and in that aspect, it reminds me a bit of palm os in the beginning, which then was also quite good. The biggest thing is that it does not try to be a computer like the one on your desktop. That is a big flaw in for example, windows mobile.

I haven’t been so excited about a new device in ages like I am now with the iphone.]]>c.tan@blinck.comNakedcellist Tech Blog2008-07-14T13:25:21+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/ceb0242daf5e7d6595483bccf33eb8bc-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/ceb0242daf5e7d6595483bccf33eb8bc-11.html#unique-entry-id-11


So NXP makes the Mifare RFID chipcard which they want to use for public transport in the Netherlands, and which is already in use as the Oyster and Octopus card in the UK and Hong Kong. NXP turns out to be an incompetent bunch of people who are not able to implement decent encryption on their system. (Reminds me of Nedap). Researchers from Germany (CCC) and Netherlands (Radboud university) found this out, and wanted to publish the results. So instead of solving these problems and making NXP responsible for this failure they try to stop the publication of this paper by the university.

Fortunately, things thend to leak.

]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-07-13T01:36:52+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/82d032e168e8ce1b5377b5da3e43f318-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/82d032e168e8ce1b5377b5da3e43f318-10.html#unique-entry-id-10
I am finalizing the migration of my old to my new server. The last steps where email and dns, and this has been relatively painless. Some things that helped where:
- rsync 3.0.0. It is so much faster than rsync 2.x.
- powerdns. I moved from bind to powerdns with mysql backend. It is quite a joy to have your zones in a mysql database. Change MX records in one go with a simple query.
- poweradmin, a webinterface for powerdns. Not perfect, but combined with mysql queries you have a rather powerful combo.
]]>c.tan@blinck.comPhotography2008-04-04T22:26:40+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/6b3327303397c90006aa94a9adba63f8-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/6b3327303397c90006aa94a9adba63f8-9.html#unique-entry-id-9

After that, I recommend to switch off automatic functions one by one, and see how it affects things and what parameters you now have to control yourself. Switch off autofocus and focus manually, although this may be a bit of a hassle in modern dslr's. The next mode I would choose is A mode, for apperture in which you choose the apperture and the camera will choose the matching shutterspeed. This is actually the mode I use most of the time, both analog and digital. This has to do with the fact that I like taking pictures with maximum apperture and thus smallest sharpdepth, and I like taking pictures in low light conditions without flash. Use this, in combination with manual focus to see how apperture affects sharpdepth, which parts are in focus, and what range. Also, if you have different lenses or a zoom lens, see how sharpdepth is different among those lenses or among the different zoomlevels.

The next thing would be S for shutter mode. You choose shutterspeed and the camera chooses apperture. Check out how the picture is affected by shutterspeed, how you get motion blur or when you can freeze an action. Also see how this differs among different lenses or zoom settings.

Next: M for manual. Here you will have to do everything yourself, you set apperture and speed, you focus and then you take the picture. This is how it was done in the early days. See how this feels, learn how to use the light meter.

When you use these modes, you can of course choose if you want to use autofocus or not. But especially when using the A mode and you are trying to see how sharpdepth works, (use your DOF button if you have it!) I would recommend to use manual focus.

After this there are many other things you can experiment with, like iso settings: the more sensitive the iso mode, the more noise. White balance, different settings, how do they affect your colour represntation? Flash. This is a very difficult part of photography, which I try to avoid wherever possible. Bracketing.


New DSLR's have loads and loads of buttons, but I would say, limit yourself to the essentials.

The shutter button, the mode button which switches between P, A, M and S, the switch which turns on or off autofocus, the button for iso mode and th button for checking the pic on the display. Forget the rest for now.]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-04-02T14:52:49+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/54c793d5e690d24f67a118dfb6ed9c6c-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/54c793d5e690d24f67a118dfb6ed9c6c-8.html#unique-entry-id-8c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-03-30T21:14:32+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/e86a1419c81c7214759374bfa07b8527-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/e86a1419c81c7214759374bfa07b8527-7.html#unique-entry-id-7

For the n00bs who just got a mac, it might be usefull to compile an updated list of use full software.

I personally use a lot of the usual stuff, like mail.app, address book, ical, itunes, flip4mac, mplayer, vlc, perian, skype, adium X, toast, imagewell, quicksilver, iwork, chicken of the vnc, growl and of course seismac.

Apart from these programmes, I use the following software, divided in freeware, shareware and commercial software:
]]>c.tan@blinck.comPhotography2008-03-30T20:21:26+02:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/862584f9adf99e32d4d55acbcbe4c2f4-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/862584f9adf99e32d4d55acbcbe4c2f4-6.html#unique-entry-id-6]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-03-26T13:25:23+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/01af2f13cbc0e71e530b548a47e67219-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/01af2f13cbc0e71e530b548a47e67219-5.html#unique-entry-id-5
]]>c.tan@blinck.comPhotography2008-03-23T19:27:00+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/c0a623224c2c3b9238ff73f996631b0c-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/c0a623224c2c3b9238ff73f996631b0c-4.html#unique-entry-id-4
(Picture of Henning, taken with a Canon A-1 and Ilford XP2)

I have been doing photography for quite some time. Starting with a Fuji 110 roll film camera I got from my parents, to a Canon Pellix QL from my father, a Canon A-1 I got from my uncle and aunt for my high school graduation, a Nikon FE2, a Nikon D-1 I got from Ivo and a Nikon D-200 I borrowed from Bert. The Nikon dSLR's are great cameras but I really can't make great pictures with them. The D-200 is a nice camera, but it's viewfinder is tiny, making focussing with manual focus lenses very hard, even with the katz eyes focussing screen. The D-1 has a much better viewfinder, but it is noisy in high iso (800 or more) modes, which results in a very ugly noise. So I still make my best pictures using a Nikon FE2 camera (from 1984), analog, using Ilford XP2 film. I absolutely love the XP2 film, it is an amazing film with a beautiful texture and very flexible. You can expose it somewhere between 50 and 800, and it will adapt to the exposure, without having to push and pull, and you can just c-41 process it in any lab and have it scanned. It is also compatible with the infrared noise reduction of film scanners, since it is a c41 film. I also recommend solleveld, where I bring my fillm, development, scanning and contact sheet wil cost me about 7.50 with discount if I do bulk. Very good quality and 1 hour service. I stopped doing AH or other consumer labs, because they where making my negatives dirty. I expose the xp2 at 800 iso and it turns out very well. The problem with most fast b & w film is that they are not really that high speed. Ilford delta 3200 is actually 1000, and so is t-max 3200 (which is a crappy film, imho), so to really use 3200 iso you need to push develop it. The only film which is really fast is Fuji Neopan SS 1600, which I can also recommend. The perfect camera would probably be the nikon D3, but I am not going to spend 5400 euro on a camera. Besides, I prefer black & white photography, and I feel like cheating when I convert it, even though you can have some really nice results when you use alien skin exposure.
Finally I am considering getting a rangefinder camera, like the Leica M6, but cheaper. I am looking at a Zorki or something similar, I want a small, cheap camera to have always with me.

Check out my pictures at christiantan.com, which have been done with different cameras.]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-03-23T19:14:30+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/0a5194981020860a38942e447bb04ff1-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/0a5194981020860a38942e447bb04ff1-3.html#unique-entry-id-3centos to the rescue! Centos is the GPL version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. So it is mostly identical to redhat, minus some tools. It also uses yum and rpm packages of centos and redhat are interchangeable. Centos is identical to Red Hat, but centos has centos plus, which is a repository with additional goodies. So this solved our problem: we installed a centos plus kernel + headers and xfs tools, and now the server is happily running kerio mail server on redhat EL 5, with xfs. How ever, you do need to realize that your server is no longer a real Red Hat EL server, which affects you getting support. But for now it runs, but don't tell your PHB!]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-03-23T18:33:15+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/2f507962f62ffec42e17b78c652a4a47-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/2f507962f62ffec42e17b78c652a4a47-2.html#unique-entry-id-2I discovered rapidweaver thanks to the tips of a few friends of mine. The problem was, I did not have the time to build a new website from scratch, including writing new css and html code and all that. And not for every site I need a completely original homemade website. And more important than that: it is better to have a website which is not homemade, with off the shelf templates, than NO site at all. So rapidweaver. It is extremely easy to setup a website quickly with blog, slideshow etc. It is also quite reasonably priced. See: Rapidweaver.]]>c.tan@blinck.comSysadmin2008-03-23T18:09:45+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/15024ea3029a8e376e8349e63bd15459-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/15024ea3029a8e376e8349e63bd15459-1.html#unique-entry-id-1c.tan@blinck.comNews2008-03-23T18:08:50+01:00http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/819ac4c135fe48737de32ab6e61a04b9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://blog.nakedcellist.org/files/819ac4c135fe48737de32ab6e61a04b9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0