Amiga A500 + 1084S

Finally got my A500 setup complete, like I used to have 😄

Google Chromebooks

A few tips for Chromebook-beginners, from an ex-beginner :P

1. Plug in your Chromebook device with the supplied power-adapter!
   
   You cannot power on the device right after unboxing, Google have really made sure you have to plug in the device before the on-board battery is linked to the Chromebook motherboard.
   
   
2. Make a Google account!
   
   The Chromebook-devices are online account driven. Every detail (logins, wifi-passwords, IoT devices, documents, links, etc.) gets "siloed" into the Google online account cloud storage.
   
   Allthough you yourself control the encryption passphrase and / or more security (2FA / HW Enc.). And Google does not take ownership of the content you upload into their services, like Apple does with iCloud (yes, look it up).
   
   
3. Share it with friends and family!
   
   Because the Chromebook-devices are online account driven, they are also easy to swap out (online account contains everything needed to set up just like your previous device) and share between friends and family (easy account-swap directly from control-panel or login-screen.
   
   
4. Enable Play Store to use Android-apps!
   
   Chromebook-devices are (basically) running Android made for tablets (that sport a track-pad and keyboard). So you only have to sign in to Play Store and every app you use on your smart-phone will be available for your Chromebook, although some apps are not optimized for big screens so actual use may vary.

You really can use both the Android-app version of a service, or use the same service in the Chrome web-browser. Quality of use may vary a bit depending on if the app is optimized for big screens in 16:9-mode (widescreen).

A couple of personal notes:

• These devices are not fully Stadia-compatible at the time of writing.
• I could NOT install the Stadia-app ("not compatible with your device at this time").
• Nor could I launch a game through the web-portal in Chrome.
• And the chromebook did not recognize the Stadia-controller on a USB connection.

Google Stadia

Yes, I was one of the "fortunate" one's that got a hold of a Founders Edition Stadia-pack.

Stadia - Google Photos Album

The pack includes:

• Google Stadia Founders Edition Pro controller
• USB-C cable for PC-use / charging
• Google Chromecast Ultra HDMI-dongle
• Power-adapter for Chromecast Ultra
• and some Stadia-stickers 😂

I have to admit, the controller is actually pretty good. Sure, some exceptions do exist, but they are rather minor ("clicky" D-pad, raised buttons, etc.).

Overall it's pretty decent.

Amigan Joy

Streaming- / recording-setup
Flylink HD > HDMI splitter > USB 3.0 HDMI capture-dongle. Allowing for FHD (1080p/60Hz) streaming / recording. Hidden on the lower shelf of the top bench with the joyboards and dustcover.

Arcade Evolution Amiga joy-boards
DB9-connected arcade-sticks for the Amiga computers.

Commodore Amiga 500 Rev 6a
Upgraded from OCS to ECS (relative to 500+ specs, HiRes Denise + Fatter Agnus), 1MB chipram and a FlashFloppy USB floppy-emulator board (replacing the 3.5" floppy-drive).

ACA500plus accelerator side-cart
With dual CF-card reader and 7MB fastram allowing the use of Workbench v1.3, v2.1 and v3.1 (/v3.1.4 by Hyperion) and GUI-launching of HDD-installed games with WHDLoad.

Happy 28th! :D

Linux. Uploaded to public FTP, 28 years ago today.

JoySticks no more...

Competition Pro + ZipStik Joysticks for the Amiga computers.

30 year-old controllers have limited usability, I am fully aware of this... but I didn't think newly re-fitted joysticks would give up after only 2-3 months of use.

They did...

Then again, I am not a little kid anymore. These were built for kids, and surely not anticipated to last for 30+ years.

Guess I'll have to order some arcade-quality joystick-boards. Boards because I really like these kinds of controllers to have a solid base, keeping it from jiggling around in-use. And arcade-quality to ensure they outlast my Amiga-computer for sure.

I already decided on the maker and type.

Arcade Evolution Amiga Joystick

https://amigakit.amiga.store/product_info.php?products_id=1172

Ctrl+A+A

https://www.ctrlaa.com/

~--// AMiGA 500 \\--~

I am finally an Amigan again! Not that emulation hasn't worked the last 10-11 years 😛  almost native speed these days (with input-lag of course).

I have to admit though, having the original hardware cannot be beat.

Original Amiga 500 - Norwegian keyboard version.

512 KB memory-expansion PCB.

RGB>SCART converter cable with L/R RCA sound-plugs.

Getting an Amiga to display (correctly) on a big screen LCD TV (40-60" with decent built-in scaler), requires an RGB + RCA (stereo sound) > SCART adapter-cable, as shown in the picture above. The scaler in the TV also has to support sub-480p resolutions, as the Amiga outputs from 320×256 (mainly used for games) to 640×512 for PAL (704×576 with over-scan).

The video below shows the picture-output in 16:9-format, which is incorrect.

Video of the game "Jumping Jack 'Son", loading a "cracktro"

The video above (excuse the quality, I used my Google Pixel XL to record it 😛 I don't own any fancy capture-equipment / -cards) depicts what was (at the time) a very normal sight.

Back in the day (late 80s / early 90s) cracking crews left a "business card" on their cracked software distributions (3.5" diskettes).

Diskettes loading what is now called a "cracktro" (or "crack intro").

"A small introduction sequence added to cracked software. It aims to inform the user which "cracking crew" or individual cracker removed the software's copy protection and distributed the crack. Such intros grew very complex, sometimes exceeding the size and complexity of the software itself." (ref. wikipedia).

"Crack intros only became more sophisticated on more advanced systems such as the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and some IBM PC clone systems with sound cards. These intros feature big, colorful effects, music, and scrollers."

Kickstart v1.3 ROM installed.

Thank the powers that be for aspect-ratio control 😊 running the Amiga 500 at 16:9 did NOT look good (just look at the cracktro-video above for an example), 4:3 please! Thank you Sony!

"Cable-management"

Linux Presentation Day!

Although... we actually don't host Linux Presentation Day here in Norway, I'd like to make people aware of this event however possible. So to the few who actually reads this blog, you're welcome ;) :P

https://linux-presentation-day.org/

Full-range monitor speakers

Klipsch RP-160M monitor speakers with Scandinavian-produced stands 👍 (NorStone).

I have never experienced monitors that kick you in the nuts with the woofers, but these definitely do! Both on hard drop-kicks and low frequency emissions (LFO).

Not to mention the middle-notes, which sound fantastic on these speakers. Having Klipsch' patented LTS (Low Travel Suspension) horns also helps to better define high-notes.

Although they are only 100W / 8Ω, they pack some seriously loud volumes, even without distortion!

Thumbs up! 👍👍👍

Panorama(-ish) picture of my rig(s):

Happy 27th! :D

Linux celebrates another birthday today—27 years!

https://opensource.com/article/18/8/happy-birthday-linux

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/happy-birthday-linux-27

Ubiquiti UniFi

Recently acquired a Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC-PRO (1750 Mbps) wireless access-point, by recommendation from a professional friend. Telling me these things have ALL the pro-features of the more expensive APs around. And I have to admit, they... just work 👌 and very, very good I might add.

Even Linus Torvalds (yes, THAT Torvalds) uses these, because they are incredibly configurable for both simple and (very) advanced setups, and rock-solid in operation.

PoE+ (48V/24W) required though, as the USB-interface is misleading, it does not power the unit at all. Ubiquiti does not include a PoE+-injector with their APs, and does not specify this on the packaging either. But that was the only annoyance about them.

For the unit-price, you get a lot of features and functions compared to other "prosumer" choices.

And best of all: it runs Linux. Yes, this prosumer wifi-ap runs open-source software.

P.S. - 17th of August:

Acquired another AP for better coverage, as there are some rooms in the basement with sound isolation in the roofs. The signals got better, and reached through the intended rooms.

Also enabled mesh-networking (even though it was a beta-feature), and it got even better!

Ubiquiti FTW!

ZipStick®

1987 ZipStick® joystick. This yellow buttoned joystick uses micro-switches and has a triple fire action, and is THE best joystick I have ever used / abused. It can withstand practically ANYTHING!

Got hold of a near-mint copy (a few scratches on the housing and dirt beneath the screws), which tested OK and working on an Amiga A600 + Amiga A1200. SCORE!

Amiga-gaming will be a pleasure with this accessory! ;) :D

Switch

I was reading this article a couple of weeks ago, and sure was tempted in getting one...

Yes, I am a weak individual to g33k-marketing, I know this... 😅

So... I ended up shelling out the wet stinky, and it is on its way in the post 😋

Ubuntu on Nintendo Switch

Yes. Indeed. It will be used to do what its supposed main function is... But, I will also tinker and experiment with this gadget to my hearts content 😅 😎



Update Monday, May 28th:

Oh HELLZ YEAH!

Nintendo Switch Red/Blue JoyCons

Nintendo Switch + 8Bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth gamepad

Continuous Integration and Deployment

Continuous Integration is the practice of constantly merging development work with a Master/Trunk/Mainline branch so that you can test changes and test that those changes work with other changes. The idea here is to test your code as often as possible so you can catch issues early on. In the continuous integration process, most of the work is done by an automated tests technique which requires a unit test framework. It is best practice to have a build server designed specifically for performing these tests so your development team can continue merging requests even while tests are being performed...

Yes, automation here is key.

...Continuous Delivery is the continual delivery of code to an environment once the developer feels the code is ready to ship - this could be UAT (User Acceptance Testing), staging or production. The idea behind continuous delivery is that you’re constantly delivering code to a user base, whether it be QA or directly to customers for continual review and inspection. Although similar to continuous integration, continuous delivery differs because it can feed business logic tests where unit tests are unable to catch all business logic, particularly design issues.

...Continuous Deployment is the deployment or release of code to production as soon as it’s ready. There is no large batching in staging nor a long UAT (User Acceptance Testing) process before production. Any testing is done prior to merging to the Mainline branch and is performed on production-like environments. The production branch is always stable and ready to be deployed by an automated process. The automated process is key because it should be able to be performed by anyone in a matter of minutes (preferably by the press of a button).

And after all that, log-auditing after deployment; checking key metrics if they are influenced negatively or positively by change(s).

In the ideal workflow, the entire process could be automated from start to finish:

• Step 1: Developer checks in code to development branch.
  
• Step 2: Continuous integration server picks up the change, merges it with Master/Trunk/Mainline, performs unit tests and votes on the merge to staging environment based on test results.
  
• Step 3. If Step 2 is successful, developer deploys it to the staging environment and QA tests the environment.
  
• Step 4. If Step 3 passed, you vote to move to production and the continuous integration server picks this up again and determines if it’s ok to merge into production.
  
• Step 5. If Step 4 is successful, it will deploy to production environment. 

This process varies slightly based on needs, requirements and approaches.

Need for security-professionals in Norway

Yes, it's been an often-discussed topic in Norwegian media in later years:

"Lack of security-professionals."

Well, as commented in this (Norwegian) article, BY a security-professional; there seems to be a lack of security-oriented IT professionals, but, not because they aren't there at all. They are. What is seriously lacking in this scenario, is competence in recruiting firms looking for this kind of competence. Always has been.

Computer-security is not a fixed-set field, AT ALL. Even though a lot of so-called "professionals" seem to be stuck on the idea that it is.

Serious professionals wanting to work in this field on the other hand, are (often) painfully aware of what it actually entails to do so:

• constant refreshing on networking- / computing- / vulnerability-security in IT
• vulnerability-monitoring of often-used software in the company
• a simple awareness of the fact that: nobody is ever 100% secure

Computer-security is a weight-battle; does the securing of something vulnerable affect normal operations? Or, is the fix / security-measure absolutely needed for normal operations? These are everyday obstacles a security-professional has to deal with on a regular basis, so they have to be quite flexible on expanding their knowledge-base, and often.

These points are often completely missed by recruiters. They don't look for ability / knowledge / flexibility, they often tend to only look at academic degrees (preferably multiple(!)), gender, published articles / blog-posts and other non-related (and often quite unrealistic) demands for the position(s) in question.

Then, they complain about not finding any candidates for their outrageous requirements.

Seriously, re-define your demands / requirements to a more realistic degree, maybe you'll find a competent person to do the job. But you most certainly will NOT find the dream-candidate with the kind of demands currently set as standard.

when PIGS FLY!!

"After 43 years, this is the first day that we are announcing, and will be distributing, a custom Linux kernel," Microsoft President Brad Smith said

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-azure-sphere-is-powered-by-linux-2018-4?r=US&IR=T&IR=T

Yeah, well, OSS / Linux won...

8Bitdo NES30 Pro

8Bitdo is a company specializing in custom retro game-controllers (gamepads). Their motto is: "Everything Old Is New Again".

Recently I picked up a pair of NES30 Pro editions. Not too expensive either for what you get. A pro-grade game controller (ergo: can handle some abuse) made for use with practically ANY retro (and even today's) game-systems!

Compatible with: Linux (desktop+RPi3), Mac OS X, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS!

Everything I've tested them on functions as advertised, and even some that weren't listed! Easily paired through bluetooth or connected with USB 2.0.

Best thing: its firmware can even be upgraded through desktop-Linux!

Meltdown/Spectre + BSD

https://malcont.net/2018/01/dont-like-meltdown-spectre-releated-bugs-handled/

"Serverless Architecture"

Serverless computing refers to the concept of building and running applications that do not require server management. It describes a finer-grained deployment model where applications, bundled as one or more functions, are uploaded to a platform and then executed, scaled, and billed in response to the exact demand needed at the moment.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/servers-we-dont-need-no-stinkin-servers/

If you are an administrator, serverless architecture may be something to look into ASAP, as well as Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS) ;)

DevOps + Development

DevOps is not easy.

As software transitions from a monolithic to a microservice architecture, organizations are adopting DevOps practices to accelerate delivery of features to customers and improve their experience.

Jumping into continuous testing without the right infrastructure, tools, and processes can be a disaster.

Continuous testing plays an important role to achieve the fastest quality to market. Continuous testing requires several levels of monitoring with automated triggers, collaboration, and actions. Here’s what is required:

• Automatic Test Triggers to execute tests as software transitions from various stages – development / test / staging / production
• Service Health Monitoring to automate feedback on failures
• Test Result Monitoring to automate feedback on failures
• Identifying Root Cause of Failure and analyzing test results

As one can imagine this takes a hell of a toll on DevOps-personnel.

It is one of the most challenging fields today. Simply because it requires a deep understanding of the right principles, processes and practices that the DevOps philosophy is bringing to the IT world.

Because that is what it is: a philosophy.

Meltdown & Spectre --update--

Yeah, sometimes it does not warrant any extra security to be cutting edge... This I know.

That a hardware-vulnerability has gone unchecked for a couple of decades, however, eluded even me. Even more that it wasn't even addressed / announced before very recently.

Turns out, almost every computing-device I own has these bugs. And I find myself in a situation where I do as very many others do with vulnerable equipment, with little to no chance of patching; I just isolate them.

Don't get me wrong, I've taken measures and patched / disabled low-level functions as best I could. But when the issue is basically invisible (ring -3), there's limits to what I can do to fix it.

The ass-hats who made the shit have to fix it properly, or someone considerably smarter than me have to do what they can to mitigate as the circumstances will allow.

Which, from what I understand isn't much, and it's massively complicated to boot. The complications are the reasons for the "considerable performance slow-down" that will result from the software-fixes to the issue.

---

***UPDATE***

Seems these bugs / vulnerabilities have been blown totally out of proportion for the average computer-user.

Slowdowns only present themselves at huge workloads (think Big Data databases, enterprise computing, etc.), so average-Joe won't even notice any difference... I've been pretty buzy patching / fixing my affected systems lately, both at work and at home, and I can't say I've noticed any significant slowdowns in any way.

Not that I've got huge workloads, or global-spanning database-queries running 24/7, but I've definitely got bigger and heavier workloads than the average man.

--- If people just patch their systems regularly, they'll be fine ---

---

If you want to be sure you actually have the bugs, you can run this bash-script on Linux systems:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "cpuinfo           : "$(cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'model name' | awk 'NR==1' | awk '{ print $4" "$5" "$6" "$7" "$8" "$9 }');
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i bugs | head -1;

All your supercomputers are belong to us

It was a matter of when, not if...

http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-totally-dominates-supercomputers/

Norwegian article: https://www.digi.no/artikler/na-kjorer-alle-verdens-supermaskiner-pa-topp-500-listen-samme-operativsystem-dette-er-totalt-dominas/412214

Desktop-Linux + CLI?

"If there's one thing surrounding Linux usage that bothers me more than anything else, it's when the detractors say you cannot work with Linux without knowing the command line. This is a bit of FUD — fear, uncertainty, and doubt — that keeps new users from giving the open source platform a try. I'm here, right now, to dispel that myth."

Ubuntu Desktop

Linux Mint (MATE edition)

With personal experience, I can attest to this statement. The days when you HAD to deal with the Command Line even on desktop-Linux distros are past. Only server-distros demand this nowadays.


https://www.techrepublic.com/article/yes-you-can-use-linux-without-knowing-the-command-line/

To my doubters

Yes, seems I finally landed my dream-job =D It's not work, it's fun :)

I get to work with innovating and bleeding-edge technology every day, at my own terms, with all the tech-benefits I could wish for. Not to mention my contract-benefits, and office-benefits (sponsored gourmet coffee, UV-filtered water and Red Bull).

"Red Bull-fridge"

Working with as smart people as I do is, well, very rewarding in itself. Finally, people at my own level! People who actually appreciates open-source and Linux!

To all my doubters and nay-sayers:
how's that Microsoft-programming job working out for you?