Working towards Solang-0.2

Time is nigh for the 0.2 release for solang.
First of all a news: We have a solang-users list now.

Before we go into the details of the next release, I would like to address some issues and questions that were raised as a part of the comments to my blog and on this blog.

First of all MANY, MANY thanks for the interest. We are very happy you have noticed this project.

1) Solang is NOT an f-spot "clone". It contains / will contain features that f-spot may or may not ever have. (Searching using multiple dates, searching using photo-property, paginated browsing etc). It also lacks a lot of features that f-spot even currently provides (A plethora of editing options and filters etc)
2) Jaunty compilation issue: The git version of solang should be compilable. Exiv version 0.18 has been supported. The author of this article has been kind enough to test it out.
3) In-photo tagging: We are NOT planning to do this. Instead we plan to do something better... we plan to port solang to windows in the near future. The back end database path will be made configurable, so that the database may be placed in some shared user area visible to all OS installations on a host.
4) Import from f-spot: We are planning to do this probably in the next release. If this is an immediate requirement, please let us know on solang-users mailing list and we will try to make a patch release for this after the 0.2 release.
5) Exif-IPTC editing... we haven't decided yet .. but maybe soon enough ..

A request to all users, please file bugs at Solang Project Page (needs login). Also, we are available at sane indian working hours (and sometimes even the insane ones) on the #solang room on irc.freenode.net. Feel free to drop in to let us know of feature requests, any required build assistance, rants and whatever you feel like (we discuss movies also on the room .. :-P)

Okay, so, for the next release we present the following feature list:
1) Paginated views for memory and speed efficiency (in git already)
2) Icon zooming in browser view (in git already)
3) Undoable delete feature for tags and photos (partially in git)
4) Undoable basic editing (flip/rotate/scale) (underway)
5) Batch editing of pictures (hopefully) (TBD)
6) An importer from flickr (Underway)
7) A basic exporter that exports selected photos to a directory (hopefully through a basic editing pipeline) (TBD)

Another thing... it would be nice if someone could find the time to create some user documentation for solang... otherwise, it will take some time for us to come up with a decent doc for this.

Okay, enough talk... back to coding... and we are waiting to hear from you.

Solang...

Long is the way And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light

After many a long day and sleepless night we are pleased to announce Solang, a (or yet another if you may please) photo manager for GNOME.

Why solang? Well, I have a busted old laptop (a worn out HP NX6115 with 512 MB RAM) that aches and burns to manage my photo collection using the so called state-of-the-art foo written in the state-of-the-art bar language. So we thought, maybe re-inventing some wheels are not totally misplaced excursions of the mind. Besides I need to get something that runs on my ol' buddy.

Solang will not become a one-stop-shop for all photographic needs. We may never decide to give top-notch editing support in Solang. IMO, the UFRAW, RawStudio, Gimp and CinePaint stack do quite nicely for RAW processing and general photo-retouching. Solang will try to act a front-end for all photo-storage containers (Folders, CD/DVD, PicasaWeb, Flickr etc). We also want fast operation, powerful search capabilities and a flexible and extensible design.

The first developer version of Solang is available at: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/solang

Unfortunately the Savannah servers have gone Kaput!! for a few days. I am sure the good folks at GNU will get them back online soon enough. For the time being solang can also be found at: http://rishi.fedorapeople.org/solang/

Please checkout the README file before you do anything. Use at your own risk!!
Also practically speaking there may be som changes in the back-end database in the later releases. Oh and one more thing, currently you cannot delete anything (Tags/Photos) from Solang. We are working on an undoable deletion system. Should be committed shortly.

Feedback on this will be highly appreciated. You can also subscribe to solang-devel list. We will start a solang-users list after a few days.

Below are some screenshots of Solang in action:

Coming Soon to a PC near you

C for Censorship

Remember remember, the fifth of november
the gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot...

Yesterday I bought the DVD for "V for Vendetta". I already have the Alan Moore masterpiece of a Graphic Novel. I also caught the movie while I was abroad. While not as radical as the book, the movie is quite good in it's own right. So I decided to add it to my collection.
The DVD is from BIG Home Videos, the print quality is pretty good and so is the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. What are missing are major parts of the movie!!!
Watching a censored version of V for Vendetta is just to ironic. For the uninitiated, it is a movie about an anarchist who wreaks havoc on a totalitarian regime in England. I mean, the logic behind the censorship of an "A" (Similar to 18+) rated movie completely beats me. Okay, so what was censored? In the movie a gay couple is shown kissing. Now the resourceful and highly intellectual, moral police (a.k.a the censor board ) thought it was inappropriate for the indian adults to see this.
What is my problem with the removal of the scene? Simple, it breaks the continuity of the movie. Below I print the list of other DVD's (of the ones that I own or have seen) that are victims of censorship:

1) Bram Stroker's Dracula - Seems like half of the movie is gone. It is almost impossible to even begin to understand what is going on in the movie. For god's sake the theatrical version (I saw it twice, both times in Calcutta) was far more complete than the DVD version. (Sony)
2) Sin City - Half of the movie is gone (UTV)
3) 300 - Many scenes have been removed. (WB-SareGama - I think)
4) Casino Royal - Daniel Craig torture scenes are almost completely gone. Another scene where murino tells craig about the whereabouts of dimitrios has been edited out. Now, this is done such ruthlessly you would completely miss why suddenly craig suddenly orders for caviar and leaves. (Sony)
5) Schindler's List- Can you imagine they put knife even to this masterpiece!! (Univeral)
6) Kingdom of Heaven - Some important intimate scenes between eva green and orlando bloom (Fox)
Many others (read most others) have removals that make them unfit for viewing.
Currently the state that we are in, the only way to see a complete movie is to download it off the internet. Is this the way recommended by the govenrment? I want to know this, because, I spent 750 bucks on buying the platinum edition of Casino Royal. And none of the others that I mentioned cost less than 300 bucks. Most cost considerably higher.
The people sitting on the censorboard, I think, are completely clueless as to the importance of freeness of art for the proper development of society. Otherwise they would think twice before touching Schindler's List. I recommend to them, the movie "Salo" by Peir Paolo Pasollini (assuming, of course, they are qualified enough to read subtitles). What would they do about that? Or movies by Goddard, Bunuel, Antonioni, Bergman? What would happen to Apocalyse Now without the controversial scene of the bull sacrifice? Limit them to film festivals .. of course, so only a few are able to see them. I did. But howabout afterwards? What will I show to my friend in place of Salo, which I think is the single most powerful commentary on the perverseness of a totalitarian and fascist regime?
I am angry. I am depressed and I am sorry. Sorry for us. Sorry for the people that elect governments that censor art before public consumption. Why does the govenment need to censor a movie even after it is given a rating? Censorship is a social disease. It needs to be eradicated from it's root. The last time I checked we live in a democratic repulic. One with the largest number of voters. As the protagonist "V" so poignantly puts foward in one of his discourses to Evey Hammond:

The people should not be afraid of the government, The government should be afraid of the people

If this finds a place on your mind, please feel free to share with me what you think of censorship in art.

2 new lenses

Got 2 new lenses recently for my Pentax:

1) Sigma 70-300mm DG macro
2) An used Sigma 170-500 mm APO DG lens ... thanks to an old friend, i got this lens for 1/6th the price in calcutta...
Tried to take some snaps, results came out like this.

While reading came across this really great page on photography related tools on GNU/Linux

Currently i am using the Ufraw-CinePaint-Gimp pipeline on Debian/Sid and it works really well, at least for me.

Monsoons..

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked
the furthest city light.

-Robert Frost

Monsoon is here bigtime... and it has been raining like cats and dogs for three days now. Despite the cancellation of the post-workshop session, delays in coming to office and getting back home.. water clogged streets I still somehow manage to love the rainy season. Brings back many happy memories from times long since left behind.

Preparations for post workshop sessions

After the successful workshop we have started working for the post workshop session at science college. The items covered would be:

1. Demonstration of GNU/Linux installation using Fedora 7 and Ubuntu 7.04 Fiesty Fawn
2. Demonstration of configuration for commonly used peripherals such as Phones, Printers, Cameras etc.
   
3. Q & A session on topics covering the GCC workshop as well as general GNU/Linux related installation and configuration issues..

The workshop will be held from 4:30 PM onwards at Rajabazar Science College on Tuesday, 3- July-2007

Preparations have started as meetings on IRC at #ilug-cal. Topics have been discussed and delegated..