December 2012 Archives

December 27, 2012 @ 16:25 EST

111/365: Isabella helps me pack

This time tomorrow I'll be landing in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three (full) days, four nights, and a rental car. Tonight I'll try to flesh out a rough itinerary, but my game plan is to pretty much wing it.

This will be my last update until after the new year. See y'all on the other side...


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 26, 2012 @ 19:44 EST

110/365: Holiday Spirit(s)


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 25, 2012 @ 23:23 EST

More reverse engineering goodness

I decided to make a sweep of it and decode the raw spool formats for the remaining "Professional" Kodak photo printers, the 8500 and 9810. This means that all of Kodak's professional dyesub printers will be supported, save for the long-since-discontinued ML-500.

But I digress. It turns out the 8500 is essentially a rebadged/tweaked Mitsubishi CP3020D, albeit without 8x12 support and a third variation of the Mitsubishi block-chunked image format -- packed BGR data, sent in one ginormous data block but wrapped in the "traditional' 3020D control blocks. That will require no changes to gutenprint to support, so I'll probably implement support for the 8500 before the CP3020D/DA models it's based on.

Meanwhile, The 9810 is very different from the other Kodak models. It uses a command-stream type of format that's on the verbose side but is otherwise well-structured, with the raw RGB data being sent in a plane-interleaved fashion. Supporting it will require no core changes either.

so, this is my plan of attack over the next couple of days:

  • Kodak 9810
  • Kodak 8500
  • Mitsubishi CP3020D
  • Mitsubishi CP3020DA
  • Other (current!) Mitsubishi models?

Anyway. Time to go to bed.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software

December 25, 2012 @ 22:46 EST

109/365: Not One Red Cent


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 25, 2012 @ 12:08 EST

Another two Kodak printers supported..

Just added support to Gutenprint for the Kodak 605 and 805 dyesub printers. They were mostly the same as the 6800 and 1400 (respectively) they replaced.

I've also reverse-engineered the raw dump formats of the Mitsubishi CP3020D and the CP3020DA 8x10 dyesub printers. They use a somewhat convoluted block-oriented format, with the former using CMY-based plane interleaving and the latter using RGB-based scanline interleaving. To add joy to the mix, the blocks are sent to the printer in reverse order (bottom-up), but within each block the scanlines are top-down.

Once the Kodak 1400/805/6800/6850/605 support is reviewed and committed into Gutenprint, I'll start working on the low-level changes necessary to support these Mitsubishi printers.

Maybe a grateful user will mail one of them to me in thanks? (hint hint)


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software

December 24, 2012 @ 23:06 EST

And then there were two more

Just added support for Kodak 6800 and 6850 photo printers to Gutenprint. The main difference between them is that the 6850 is faster -- 8s (vs 11s) for a 4x6 print -- and natively supports 5x7 media.

There are many thousands of these printers deployed in self-serve photo kiosks, and they're trivial to find on ebay. Cost per 4x6 print is under $0.17 and media refills are very easy to obtain.

Meanwhile, the 6800/6850 has been superceded by the 605, and the 1400 has been superceded by the 805. If I'm still motivated I may try to add support for those models too..


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software

December 24, 2012 @ 22:33 EST

108/365: Dare to be Different

This shot is begging for some distortion correction, eh?

Given that I had nothing else to do on Xmas Eve, I deciced to bike down to the post office in search of stamps and photo opportunities. It was a brisk five and a quarter miles round-trip, and my asthma behaved itself, which was surprising given the relatively cool (~60 degree) and dry (40% RH) air.

I should do this more often. I need the exercise and an outlet for my um, frustrations.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 24, 2012 @ 15:34 EST

Pre-Holiday Hackery

It's been a busy few days, and my vacation hasn't even started yet.

I accomplished two major tasks this weekend. First, I finally kicked off new attempt to mainline a Linux driver for the ST-E CW1100/CW1200 WLAN chipsets. The first post to linux-wireless went over fairly well, and the suggestions (many of which were already on the pending list) kicked off a flurry of updates culminating in a second revision posted later that day.

Those submissions have spawned a fair amount of commentary and some patches; I've spent most of the day so far incorporating a massive code drop from Sony, for example. That's undergoing some testing now, and I'm hoping other interested parties will step up and get some wider test coverage in so we can get this driver into the next Linux release cycle (3.9). I created a public git repo of my working tree, which will live on until the driver is accepted upstream:

git://git.shaftnet.org/compat-wireless-cw1200.git

I'm going to hold off on submitting a v3 patch until I get more feedback and testing, which means it probably won't happen until after the new year. Apparently most folks take it easy this time of year.

Thankfully, I've had another project to keep me busy. I've spent a fair amount of time working on the Gutenprint printer driver package too, fixing support for the Kiosk-scale Sony UPP-DR150 photo printer (~8 seconds for a 4x6 print!) and adding support for the larger-format (8x10/8x12) Kodak Professional 1400 printer. I don't own either printer; instead I reverse-engineeried the raw data generated by the printers' Win32 drivers.

Not bad for two and a half days' work, eh?

Meanwhile, there are now twelve Canon SELPHY photo printers on my desk. The entire line is supported except for the CP-790, CP-530, and CP-520 -- and then only because we don't know what their USB PIDs are. The only one with known problems is the positively-ancient CP10, which locks up after the first (successful!) print. All other models JustWork(tm) now. I should start getting rid of most of these.

If I find myself with more time on my hands I may try to add support to Gutenprint for another Dye Sublimation printer. Ideally it would be one still commercially available, not too expensive, and a larger format (eg 8x10) because I can put that to use. We shall see..

If I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I'll continue with my fumbling efforts to implement dock detection for Rockbox on the Sansa Fuze v2. I haven't made much headway on that gargantuan reverse-engineering effort; it's mainly an exercise in learning a new set of skills.

I've also started reworking my website's CSS to improve its curb appeal. Like any other software undertaking, days when you delete more than you add fill me with joy. If I'm feeling particularly ambitions, I'll try doing the same to my photo archive; it could use some sprucing up too, but its underlying plumbing is what could use some real hardcore loving. It's been neglected for far too long, but even that's beginning to pick up, as I've begun to experiment with different workflows.

I'm really enjoying this burst of coding. It's especially nice when you have something to show for it!


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software

December 23, 2012 @ 20:40 EST

107/365: The Glow


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 22, 2012 @ 23:10 EST

Changes are afoot

I've started mucking with the CSS of this site again. The first step is to undo a lot of the hacking I did when I had no clue what I was doing, and to that end it's back to a simpler, more consistent, and less quirky layout. It should also behave better on smaller screen sizes.

I'm not sure where I'm going to take this, but I'll be doing some experimenting. Even things as mundane as the date format are being tweaked.

And this is what I'm doing for Fun. Sheesh.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Life and other BS

December 22, 2012 @ 20:21 EST

106/365: Alien Forest


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 21, 2012 @ 22:49 EST

105/365: Taste the Rainbow

Skittles hasn't been out to play in far too long.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 21, 2012 @ 22:21 EST

Puerto Rico?

I'm escaping to Puerto Rico next weekend, returning on New Year's day. Anyone reading this have any suggestions on how best to spend three full days and four nights in a tropical paradise, alone, knowing nobody there, knowing no Spanish (not even enough to get into trouble!), with a rental car and a small pile of camera gear?

My only firm goal is to watch the sun come up somewhere awesome on New Year's Day. I'd like to spend time in the mountains, hike to some awesome waterfalls, and hopefully hit Vieques for the Bioluminescent spendor, but that may be problematic due to ferry schedules.

Or I can just completely wing it. Which is what I'll probably end up doing...


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Life and other BS

December 20, 2012 @ 17:43 EST

104/365: Too many words

...scary, no?


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 19, 2012 @ 22:59 EST

103/365: Ravings

Ravings of a right-wing lunatic or a pinko commie liberal? YOU DECIDE!


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 18, 2012 @ 21:30 EST

102/365: Illegal Aliens and the War on Christmas


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 17, 2012 @ 20:17 EST

101/365: Filler II

Came home from work feeling quite ill, and collapsed on the bed. Both of my kitties immediately hopped onto the bed and curled up with me, a bundle of purr on each arm. It was... much appreciated.

Times like this I almost believe they genuinely care about me...


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 16, 2012 @ 18:54 EST

100/365: Is it supposed to be that color?

Thanks to the insatiable thirst of undead zombie babies, I ran out of blood.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 15, 2012 @ 22:01 EST

Words..

"The words you speak become the house you live in." -- Hafiz


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Life and other BS

December 15, 2012 @ 08:01 EST

99/365: Silent Hill, Florida

There's perhaps 75 yards total visibility before the world dissolves into a very Silent-Hill-esque pea soup.

All I need is a radio that emits some not-quite-static that changes as I get... closer...


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 14, 2012 @ 22:43 EST

98/365: Street Party

In December there's no official street party in downtown Melbourne, but that doesn't stop some of us from throwing one anyway.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 14, 2012 @ 22:32 EST

97/365: C is for Cookie

I baked a batch of peanut butter cookies to return a favor. Didn't keep anything for myself, because I don't actually like peanut butter.

Fortunately they were well-received.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 13, 2012 @ 20:16 EST

96/365: Accept no Subsitutes.

"AK-47, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every motherfucker in the room; Accept no substitutes.

This baby belongs to Nathan's current roommate. It's the real deal, made under license in Romania in 1965. Needless to say, I was giggling like a schoolgirl when he brought it over.

We're going to um, have some fun this weekend..


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 13, 2012 @ 18:50 EST

95/365: Broken Fingers

This is how I managed to ruin my mp3 player. I went from one working one and one broken one to two broken ones. Identically broken. Sigh.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 13, 2012 @ 18:17 EST

94/365: Holy Product Shot!

I made a light box out of an old file box, lined it with white paper, cut two holes in the lid, stuck the flash through one, the macro lens through the other, and went to town. This thing is about an inch long, if that gives any sense of scale.

Oh, this is my employer's SG901-1203 module. I'm responsible for nearly all of the software running in it, including the 802.11/WiFi stack.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 13, 2012 @ 17:54 EST

93/365: We are NOT amused

This kitty camps quite well, apparently. You shold have seem him at the drum circle the night before!


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 12, 2012 @ 20:54 EST

Flamen Volcanalis


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos

December 12, 2012 @ 20:46 EST

Falling Angel

One of the few longer exposure shots that turned out well. Very well.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos

December 12, 2012 @ 20:31 EST

Peachy

It rained every day (and night), and apparently my water bottle became an um, bottle of refuge for this little guy. Oh, and he's covered in wet sand.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos

December 12, 2012 @ 20:21 EST

92/365: Grandmother

Every time I'm here, I make time for some tree climbing-up-and-reading-in. She's excellent company!


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 10, 2012 @ 20:28 EST

91/365: Lovers


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 10, 2012 @ 19:29 EST

Pondering Photo Organizer's Future

Last week I formally released an update to Photo Organizer. It was the first release in two years, and had no new features whatsoever -- just a largeish pile of bugfixes.

I've been thinking about PO's future lately; where I'd like it to go, and to a lesser extent, how to get there. I still don't have a good answer. Pretty much every feature on the wishlist is pretty invasive, and I just don't have the drive to make it happen, because PO has largely done what I've needed.

Most features I've added over the years have been due to my workflow requirements, and I've largely hit a dead end on that front. I've started to experiment with alternative workflow models, but until something gels into a new ideal, PO won't change much.

Since I started on a photo-a-day commitment, my workflow has had to cope with more regular postings, and it's exposed a few cracks in how I used to do things. I'd like to automate some things better, but I'm running into bigger-picture limitations in how I combine PO with my blogging software. For example, none of my "witty" captions have made it back into PO. Fixing this properly means writing a RESTful API to manipulate arbitrary data, which is a huge undertaking.

That said, the biggest driver of change is the massive event-type photography binging like what I got up to last weekend. (Last night I batch imported 44 gigabytes of NEF files; 3,588 images) -- I need a better way of grouping, tagging, and ranking images to manage this sort of thing better. Proper hotkey support would make this a lot easier.

Meanwhile, if the other seeds I've been sowing come to fruition, I'll be working with models on more formal shoots. This will require yet another type of workflow -- less organization, but considerably more post-processing. This means the current versioning system must be beefed up to handle multiple RAW renderings and sidecars. Distributing the final images also exposes weaknesses of PO's permission system.

At the of the day, PO's just a tool that's supporting my needs as a photographer. I'd rather be behind a camera than in front of a computer, especially given that I already spend eight or so hours a day writing software for my day job.

Anyway. As I type this, my PO instance houses some 143,434 images, of which 120,070 are mine. Not counting filesystem overhead, they take up some 1,509,037,063,959 bytes of disk space. Yowza.

In other words, PO's going to be maintained pretty much forever.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software

December 10, 2012 @ 19:02 EST

90/365: Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Gnome?

This is one of the first things I saw in the dew-kissed morning light.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 09, 2012 @ 21:52 EST

89/365: Road Trip!

Random shot out the truck window; On my way to a long weekend of camping in the woods with a bunch of hippie pagans to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

It was a great, weekend, in spite of the daily rain and subsequent horrid headaches. And my kitties really missed me, judging by my purring lap.

It'll take me a few days to catch up.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 04, 2012 @ 23:04 EST

88/365: Silky Tulip

Each stitch on this silk carpet is 1mm across.

I didn't get the shot I wanted because I broke my light source. The magic smoke escaped and everything. Oops..

In other news, I'll be heading out of town tomorrow evening -- for a long weekend of camping! Don't expect any updates before Sunday night.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 03, 2012 @ 21:23 EST

87/365: Cray-Zee


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 02, 2012 @ 19:44 EST

86/365: Surf's Up!

I only brought an 135mm lens with me because I hadn't planned on going beachside when I left the house. The number of wetsuited folks in the water was a testament to the perfection of the surf conditions.


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365

December 02, 2012 @ 08:00 EST

Daisy in Da Hoodie


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos

December 02, 2012 @ 07:56 EST

85/365: Firelight

Went out to the Orlando Brewery for a drum circle. It was nice to see some familiar faces, even though I spent longer on the road than I actually did there..


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Photos, Project_365