log.matteo.desimone.name

Upgrading Archlinux and X stops working: Nvidia with wrong ABI version

2011-09-03T11:09:41Z

Today I've updated my ArchLinux distro and, magically, xserver stops working.

In the log file /var/log/Xorg.0.log I found the message:

================ WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING ================
This server has a video driver ABI version of 11.0 that this
driver does not officially support.  Please check
http://www.nvidia.com/ for driver updates or downgrade to an X
server with a supported driver ABI.

It could means the drivers are build for a different version of Xorg (older than the current one in ArchLinux). To solve the problem you can disable the check until the new drivers will be availables.

Just create a file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ called 20-nvidia.conf with the following code:

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option  "ignoreABI"     "True"
EndSection

If you aready have this file, just add those lines at the end of it. After the reboot you'll be able to use the xserver.

Anyway the nvidia drivers warn you in the log file:

(WW) NVIDIA: The driver will continue to load, but may behave stran
gely.
(WW) NVIDIA: This driver was compiled against the X.Org server SDK
from git commit b6c7b9b2f39e970cedb6bc1e073f901e28cb0fa3 and may 
not be compatible with the final version of this SDK.
(WW) NVIDIA: This server has an unsupported input driver ABI versio
n (have 13.0, need < 13.0).  The driver will continue to load, but
may behave strangely.

and, actually, it behave strangely on my pc :-)

Another script to rename files

2011-08-21T15:34:33Z

I'm posting another small script to rename files.

I'm working on files with spaces in their name (Oh! The Evil!) and I need to rename them to remove spaces and conver in camel-case.

At this time, I chose Python (version 3) to guarantee the script works also on Windows.

Just create a file called (for example) ToCameCase.py and past into it:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import sys
import os

if len(sys.argv)<2:
    print("Indicate the file pattern, please")
    exit()

for filename in sys.argv:
    name_tokens = filename.split(" ")
    new_name=""
    for token in name_tokens:
        new_name+=token[0].upper()+token[1:]

    os.rename(filename,new_name)

From the console call the script passing to it the file name o pattern to rename. For example

 ToCameCase.py *.obj

it will convert the name of all the OBJ files in the directory.

Just a warn: it is very simple and only-for-my-usage oriented, so be careful if you use it: read the code and test it before use on your files!

Upgrading to kernel 3 and the sed story of Grub error 15

2011-08-20T19:40:27Z

Calm down: this is an happy-ending story.

I've recently upgraded my Archlinux machine to linux kernel 3.0.

After that, obviously, I haven't be able to boot my machine because Grub claim the error 15 (file not found). Anyway the workaround is easy. The problem is in the naming convention for the kernel images. It is different in the new release respect of the old one: the vmlinuz2XX is now vmlinuz-linux and the initrd-2.XX.img is now initramfs-linux.img.

This post could be useful.

So when the Grub menu shows up you can press the 'e' key and edit the item to change the name of files. After, boot the system by hitting the 'b' key.

...and remember to properly reconfigure Grub (or (Grub2)[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2]) before restart linux again... this is a reminder for myself, obviously.

Writers use Emacs...

2011-08-20T18:42:52Z

...maybe.

I'm collecting some interesting reference about Emacs for writers. I want highlight two post here.

The first is Let's just use Emacs By Urpo Lankinen. He describes exactly my feeling about writers' tools and it faces the Scriveners dilemma (buy it, don't buy it). The post convinced me (I was already convinced actually) that Emacs could be a good tools to write novels.

Anyway a big doubt still stays into the deepest part of my soul: Emacs could be a distracting tool. Yes, I know, Emacs is (could be) a minimalist tool and it boosts your writing speed and it helps you to focus on your work and... and... and... but you have to learn it before to gain any sort of advantage form it. If you aren't a Emacs pro, you'll loose a lot of time in trying to be a pro. The main advantage of Scrivener is that you already know all you need to write and you can optimize your performances by learning tips and tricks day by day. To be clear, my suggestion is take your time to learn Emacs, anyway. This because some day in the future you'll wake up and latest Scrivener release will be full of feature that you'll never use (please Keith don't!) and the research of the perfect novelist tools will start back again...

The second post that I want link here is Writing in the Age of Distraction by Cory Doctorow. I quote, in toto, this post.

I'd linke to mention also The Woodnotes Guide to Emacs for Writers by Randall Wood. I suspect that the document is not fully update but it suggests good hints.

Nuke on Archlinux

2011-05-13T17:06:17Z

I've started my first Nuke fxphd course: it rocks!

Anyway I'm in trouble to run FrameCycle (Nuke image sequence player) and - until I'm not able to find a great idea to solve the problem - I've installed the open source alternative DJV: you have to just download it, untar and set some enviroment variable.

Here you can find a Nuke python script to use DJV for flipbook preview: http://www.creativecrash.com/nuke/downloads/scripts-plugins/c/flipbook-with-djv-view

Developing a multitouch table - test #1

2011-05-12T08:00:21Z

Click to Play

I'm working on a double technology multitouch table. We are going to fuse the FTIR technology to the DI technology.In this video you can see some tests about the DI equipment.

Python lib installer for 64bit windows systems

2011-04-02T13:47:14Z

I'm developing tools to support automatic tasks in a multi-system enviroment for the web radio RadioOhm.

To install additional python libraries on my Win7 64bit, I downloaded the easy_install windows installer and I tryed to launch it.

I realized that the official python website site provides only the 32bit version of the package so the installer fail to find the Python installation.

But this is an happy-ending story. I surfed the Net and I found this website where you can find windows installer for a lot of python library compiled for the 64bit environment. Enjoy it!

http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

Be an Emacs pro

2011-02-24T13:33:03Z

I saw a interesting page that explain how to be more productive by Emacs.

Read it, it is awesome: http://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/effective-emacs

Python tries to install packages in a directory that not read ".pth" files

2010-11-18T18:42:38Z

I compiled VTK and ITK libraries on both Debian and Archlinux machines.

On these machines I love to be clean and neat so: - all the software and libs installed by apt-get/pacman are in the dir /usr - all the libs and software manually compiled are installed in the dir /usr/local Sometime this introduces some path problems.

For example, installing manually Python packages, I found a "bad install directory or PYTHONPATH" error and a message like this:

"You are attempting to install a package to a directory that is not
on PYTHONPATH and which Python does not read ".pth" files from. "

It means that I'm going to install the Python package in a directory that is not in the search PATH of your Python system. The system looks for packages in /usr/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages but I'm going to install in /usr/local/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages.

In this case, I love the Python solution and so: - Create a file named altinstall.pth (or use the preferred file name just with the .pth extension) containing the code: import os, site; site.addsitedir(os.path.expanduser('/usr/local/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages')) - Put this site in your system python site-packages dir: /usr/lib/pythonX.X/site-packages

Now your Python know where are you new python modules! Clean and easy-to-maintain solution!

P.S

If you need add the /usr/local/bin to your system path follow the same idea and create a file in /etc/profile.d/ with the code: export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

Error importing vtk python module: a clean solution

2010-11-17T16:58:22Z

Well, after compiling your VTK (with Python support) on a Debian (or Archlinux), you could receive an error similar to this form python interpeter if you import vtk module:

ImportError: libvtkCommonPythonD.so.5.7: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This occurs because VTK installer puts all shared libraries in a subdirectory of /usr/local/lib Solve it by creating a file called vtk.conf in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ directory. In this file, put the path to VTK libs, for example: /usr/local/lib/vtk-5.7/

And so, launch (as root) the command ldconfig to update the shared library path cache.

This is a clean way to solve the problem: avoid symbolic links, copy/paste files or setting mess-oriented enviroment variable as PYTHONPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH, please!

Fluido - 4 hour short movie competition

2010-11-11T14:55:14Z

Click to Play

Last summer, my friend Matteo Maso (http://matteomaso.blogspot.com/) and me had partecipated to the "Pennoire in corto" competition: 4 hours to make one minute long video about the live in the disco-bar "Fluido" in Turin. This is our (revised) result.

Demo reel 2010

2010-11-11T14:55:05Z

Click to Play

This is a short reel of current projects and researches.

Open Source for Microsoft Kinetic

2010-11-11T14:33:00Z

I received this link: http://git.marcansoft.com/?p=libfreenect.git It is a open source window driver for the innovative Microsofr Kinetic device. More details about this low cost device which will be a revolution for consumer experience here.

Anyway, no open source SDK is available, and I think the most valuable part of the Kinetic technology is in it.

Requiescat imago - previz video

2010-11-07T22:50:15Z

Click to Play

This is a video made for preview and design the artistic event "Requiescat imago". More info: http://www.requiescat.it (Italian only) Thanks to Andrea Martina (http://www.andreamartina.info) who made part of 3D models: he did great job in a very short time. Tools: Houdini, Final Cut, Shake, Maya

Some link form View Conference

2010-11-01T14:20:52Z

The last week I was at the View Conference, the international computer graphics conference in Turin. Here I'm pasting some link that I collected during talks.

Software

Alchemy: 2D creative drawing open source software. The idea behind the software is very cool.
My Paint: Opens source clone of Auteodesk Sketchbook. Infinite size canvas, artist-centric user interface are the strongest ideas of this software.
Gimp Animation Plugin: a plug-in for GIMP focused on animation. To try as alternative to Photoshop.
3Delight: RenderMan compliant professional render totally free of charge (also for commercial use). A good start before buying RenderMan. If you are a student or educator, any way, RenderMan licenses are affordable.

Books

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. The book was cited by the [prof. Perlin] speaking about computer/human interfaces. You can find some futuristic ideas in this book.
The hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Tim Johnson refers to it as a fundamental book for storytellers. I agree.

Videos

Magic Projection: innovative user interface in illusionism.
What Matters to Me: concept video about the perfect futuristic user interface

And the website of the VFX italian artist Fernando Luceri who I met at View Conference: tons of smart and great tip&tricks for Blender user.