Culture

This is just a short article to let you know that life without Google’s mapping and navigation systems is possible. For mapping, I now use OpenStreetMap on the PC and OsmAnd on Android. For navigation, I also use OsmAnd on Android and Yournavigation on PC. So far, everything worked really, really well. I just have to use my eyes a bit more often and actually read what’s written on the map instead of relying on some weird additional overlay to take care of that for me. ...

If you’re one of those people who only now discover GNU/Linux for gaming (with Steam and all), you might find this useful: http://www.ryochan7.com/projects/antimicro/ I’ve tried several tools that map controller input to keyboard keys, but AntiMicro is the most reliable and easiest to use in my opinion. Many GNU/Linux developers forget to implement native Linux joystick device support into their games, but often this is crucial for games like Stealth Bastard Deluxe or Super Meat Boy. If you encounter such a game, AntiMicro will let you play it just fine with any USB controller, ranging from cheap-ass $2 Chinese crap up to expensive Logitech controllers. ...

I’ve written about getting rid of Google before, and that was before the whole NSA/PRISM shitstorm. I’m sure people today find even more reasons to get Google out of their lives. I wasn’t just doing nothing all this time either. Since the last post, the following has happened: My contacts are synced with my own CardDAV server instead of to Google, so Google won’t get their hands on my friends’, colleagues’ and family’s personal data through me anymore. My calendar goes to my own CalDAV server, so Google no longer knows what I’m doing when, where and with whom. DuckDuckGo has improved so much as a search engine that I don’t feel like I’m missing something by not searching on Google anymore. One problem still remains: I use an Android device, so you never know what else Google might be collecting through there. I’m watching Jolla and Sailfish as well as Firefox OS to see if and when there is some way to get a truly independent mobile device. That is the only piece of the puzzle still missing, and Google Play is the only way Google still gets at my stuff. ...

I recently bought a book through Amazon because their price was ridiculously cheaper than the competition’s. Of course their crazy DRM prevented me from using the book on my open and friendly Boox reader, but then I found Alf the Apprentice’s tools on his blog. I used Calibre, Wine and the Windows version of Kindle’s reader software, and ten minutes of fiddling later I could actually read the book I bought. ...

I’m struggling with those crazy Chinese fonts in Mingti and Kaiti style and couldn’t find a goot Heiti font, but now this page: http://wiki.debian.org.hk/w/Where_can_I_find_fonts_for_GNU/Linux Mentions that there is a perfectly fine Heiti-style font available in Debian: ttf-wqy-zenhei. So do this and be happy: apt-get install ttf-wqy-zenhei Here’s a sort of preview from Wikipedia’s multilingual support page: The samples above are in Heiti, the ones below in Mingti. Putting it into a screenshot makes it look shitty, so you’ll have to install the font (don’t install any other Chinese fonts!) and look at the page zoomed in to see it really well. ...

Roman Haefeli strikes again: Watchteleboy makes it possible to watch dozens of live TV channels using mplayer in your very own machine, without the need for Flash, a web browser or any other such nonsense. Here’s the source code: https://github.com/reduzent/watchteleboy Here are Ubuntu packages he maintains: https://launchpad.net/~reduzierer/+archive/reduzent Caveat: This only works if you’re located in Switzerland or in some other place that Teleboy’s geotargetting likes (such as Italy).

Give this a look: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/12/vegan-black-metal-ch.html Thanks, lix! 🙂

This is a great Google Suggest Venn diagram generator: http://www.technomancy.org/google-suggest-venn. Only a fool would suggest that not being part of the EU makes a country rich and expensive 😛

I used to have a mirror of all sorts of decryption tools here, but the legal situation has improved over the last few years so that this is no longer necessary. Instead, I am happy to refer you to Apprentice Alf’s blog with his decryption tools.

If you have Ubuntu, give KDE 4.3 a try or check out some information first. I’ve followed the KDE development since version 1.0. I remember installing it in circa 1999 on a PowerPC machine with a 200 MHz 603e and 24 MB RAM, and it ran faster than the native OS I had on that box, Mac OS 7.6. When the KDE team hit version 3.0, I thought development got very slow, KDE itself slowed down as well, and things weren’t looking great all in all. Now that I’m trying KDE 4.3, I’m surprised at every corner. This thing rocks. It’s fast, it’s quite different to any other desktop, but extremely configurable. I can set this thing up to work like Mac OS X, like Windows, like a mix between the two, like none of them. I can add the latest lolcats to my desktop in a widget, with a dictionary and my home dir next to it, and they’re available at the push of a button. ...