jhthorsen's blog

Online DOCSIS config file editor

2009-09-18T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve written an online DOCSIS config file editor which (of course) can be used to generate config files for equipment that follow the DOCSIS specification.

The frontend is written using Catalyst, and the “backend” use DOCSIS::ConfigFile, meaning the whole thing is powered by Perl.

(The frontend will soon support “shared secret”, which the backend already supports)

CatalystX::Controller::Sugar

2009-09-10T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve written a module I think is rather useful: CatalystX::Controller::Sugar. This module (will hopefully) make chained actions be your default when writing a controller in Catalyst. I remember when I first started looking at Catalyst - I didn’t see the reason for doing chained actions, and I certainly didn’t understand how they worked. I still think it’s a pain to set it up, but hopefully it’s a bit easier using the sugar module.

In addition to sugar for chains, it exports some other functions, which I use most the time. This is something I think is a pain:

# 139 characters
sub foo :Chain('/') PathPart('') CaptureArgs(0) {
  my $self = shift;
  my $c = shift;
  $c->stash->{'answer_to_everything'} = 42;
}

…which can be written this way, with sugar:

# 53 characters
chain sub {
    stash answer_to_everything => 42;
};

I hardly ever use $self, but I wery often use stash(), session() and forward() so that’s why I’ve chosen to export those functions (among some others). The module is also quite simple to use:

use CatalystX::Controller::Sugar;
# your controller code
1;

…instead of:

use CatalystX::Controller;
use Moose;
BEGIN { extends 'Catalyst::Controller' }
# your controller code
1;

Does my pod suck? Is the module not flexible enough? Let me know.

rt.cpan.org - great fun!

2009-09-09T00:00:00-07:00

I must say I enjoy getting rt-tickets. “Why?”, you might ask. Well, It’s probably the only way I can actually know that someone use, or has tried to use a module I’ve written. The bad (if you can call it bad) thing about getting a ticket is that it’s rather critical that it gets fixed. This part I’m not so good at. But let’s not forget that it’s not only the original auther that can fix a bug… Which reminds me that I should also file some bugs/requests/patches to various projects I’ve forked off github.

So much to do, and so little time :-)

Line noise: parentheses

2009-06-01T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve been discussing how bad perl code looks and I’m a bit surprised: I consider () more noisy than $, %, @ and friends, while the people I discuss this with, really likes parentheses. Consider this:

push(@text, sprintf('I got %i foos', int(shift(@{ $obj->get_foo() }))));

Versus:

push @text, sprintf 'I got %i foos', int shift @{ $obj->get_foo };

I don’t understand how the first one is less noisy than the second (!). I also don’t understand how you can maintain or read the first one.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know the example code doesn’t make any sense.

Wow, Moose is cool!

2009-05-30T00:00:00-07:00

I was introducing Moose (and perl oo) to a java guy the other day, and he replied: “No, shit. Is that possible?”, “Now I understand the fuzz about multiple inheritance” and “Wow, Moose is cool!”.

I must confess: It brings comfort to my heart to hear a Java guy talk down on his own language, but it’s even sweeter to hear something nice about perl.

But back to the topic: What was so cool about Moose? The short answer is Moose::Role. I had a hard time understanding roles, and the usage for them, but after getting the short answer “You use roles to build your classes, and your classes to build objects” - it suddenly got a lot clearer to me.

Roles to build classes, ey? Yes, instead of putting functionality in different packages, and inheriting from them, you write roles and consume their functionality in a class, which imho gives me a lot cleaner interface.

I try to look at Roles like something like this:

package Foo;
do MyOtherFile.pm;
1;

But of course there’s a lot more sugar to it in “Mooseland” :-)

Which name to pick?

2009-05-12T00:00:00-07:00

I’m writing a new module, which is currently named “Net::DHCPd”. It’s not a good name imo, since Net::DHCPd sounds more like a module that actually is a dhcp server, which mine is not.

This is what it can, or is supposed to support in the future:

Interact with ISC DHCPd
Start/stop/restart the daemon
Parse and build config
Check config file for error
Parse leases file

So what should it be called? I’m thinking about naming it ISC::DHCPd, since it’s primary target is to interact with that spesific server. But can I call it the same as what the actual server is called?

Let me know if you have any idea.

Multimedia updates (partially old news)

2008-05-25T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve been enjoying xbox mediacenter on my xbox 1.x for several years now and I’ve finally gotten the opportunity to install it on my htpc as well. This is because the xbmc-team has ported it to Windows, Mac and Linux.

To my big surprise I was able to install the Linux port through Ubuntu’s package system, with this source:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main

It works very well, and I encourage everyone to try it out. It can play any media you can think of, and has some additional interesting features. Browse Youtube for previews if you don’t know what XBMC is.

Another update is Banshee. I’ve been swapping between banshee and rhythmbox, without knowing which to use. They both suck in different ways… I’m hoping banshee to keep up the good work, since it really looks promising. You can try it out in Ubuntu, using this source:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu hardy main

Some of thhe cool things in Banshee 1.0beta is that:

it doesn’t take forever to load, no-matter how much music you have.
it can play movies
it has smart playlists

…And for all of you, who don’t think need to try out another multimedia-app: Have you tried Songbird ?

More perl modules

2008-05-06T00:00:00-07:00

I’m working on some more perl-modules now: YAML::Object and POE::Component::TFTPd. I’ve also fixed some issues with SNMP::Effective, and written a new implementation, that uses Net::SNMP instead of SNMP.

The YAML-module is a result of bad typing: I’m quite sick of doing $config->{typoo}{key}. YAML::Object enables you to use method notation, so the above would become $config->typoo->key, and calling key() on an undef value will barf with a nice error message.

I’m pretty exited about the POE::Component, since I’ve never written anything quite like it before. Check out POE If you haven’t already done so, it’s really cool :)

Fixed overscan

2008-01-13T00:00:00-08:00

I’ve been googling for quite som time now, and finally I found settings that works for my 720p DFP.

I don’t think the specs are important, but I’ll list them anyway:

Ubuntu 7.10
xserver-xorg 7.2
nvidia-glx 1.0.9639
Plasma TV 720p / 1080i

xorg.conf

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Generic Monitor"
    ModeLine    "720p"          74.5   1216 1272 1400 1664  684  685  688  746 -hsync +vsync
   #ModeLine    "overscan"      61.8   1280 1390 1430 1648  720  725  730  750 +hsynv +vsync
   #ModeLine    "1152x672"      74.25  1152 1326 1366 1650  672  701  706  750 +hsync +vsync
   #ModeLine    "720p"          73.825 1280 1320 1368 1640  720  722  724  751 +hsync +vsync
   #Modeline    "1208x679"      74.25  1208 1353 1393 1650  679  707  712  750 +hsync +vsync
   #Modeline    "1840x1016"    148.5   1840 1966 2004 2206 1016 1052 1057 1125 +hsync +vsync
   #ModeLine    "1840x1016@60" 148.5   1840 1966 2004 2206 1016 1052 1057 1125 +hsync +vsync
   #ModeLine    "1280x720@60"   74.5   1280 1336 1472 1664  720  721  724  746 -hsync +vsync
   #ModeLine    "800x600@60"    40.0    800  840  968 1056  600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync
   #DisplaySize 320 180
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Default Screen"
    Device      "NVIDIA"
    Monitor     "Generic Monitor"
    Option      "NoLogo"                "true"
    Option      "BackingStore"          "true"
    Option      "RenderAccel"           "true"
    Option      "RandRRotation"         "true"
    Option      "AllowDDCCI"            "true"
    Option      "HWCursor"              "true"
    Option      "NoBandWidthTest"       "true"
    Option      "NoPowerConnectorTest"  "true"
    Option      "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
    Option      "AddARGBGLXVisuals"     "true"
    Option      "ExactModeTimeingsDVI"  "true"
   #Option      "DPI"                   "100x100"
    Option      "ModeValidation"        "AllowNon60HzDFPModes, NoMaxPClkCheck,
                                         AllowInterlacedModes, NoMaxSizeCheck,
                                         NoVirtualSizeCheck,   NoVesaModes,
                                         NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck"
    Option      "FlatPanelProperties"   "Scaling = centered, Dithering = enabled"
    Defaultdepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "720p"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Comments

ModeLine “720p”: This is the modeline that works for me. I’ve commented out the other modelines that not work.
Option ModeValidation: Not quite sure if all of these params are nescessarly, but I guess the most important param is “NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck”.
Option FlatPanelProperties: “Scaling = centered” makes the resolution from the modeline centered, instead of stretched. This is really important, since it will not help no matter which resolution you use, if it gets stretched.
Modes 720p: Here I force xorg to use the modeline I defined earlier, instead of using nvidia’s auto-detected resolutions.
Option DPI: I’ve commented this one out, but you might need to set it manually if xorg does some strange calculations. DisplaySize might also help you out.

References

Site working...for now

2007-09-09T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve finally manage to get my serer running again. Unfortunatly, it wasn’t all that easy, and my website might stop responding again… Not sure what to do about it, but I’m looking for a new place where I can have my server.

YAPC::Europe::2007 Vienna

2007-08-30T00:00:00-07:00

YAPC::Europe::2007 was a blast! I can’t really put my finger on what was the best, because it was all good. I really recommend every Perl-programmer out there to come to next years YAPC in Denmark/Copenhagen.I had a talk this year as well (Operator overloading, one of the magicks of Perl), but I wasn’t any happy about it. Even so, I got some positive feedback, which I don’t really understand. I will try again next year, if they accept me. I might have to trick them into accepting me, since it’s a bit off topic, but I’ll wait and see…

Moving to Oslo

2007-08-18T00:00:00-07:00

Today I moved to Oslo. I still don’t have any apartment, so I’m staying at a friends place for now. Hopefully, I’ll find an apartment soon, but I don’t think it’ll be easy, because there’s a lot of students trying to get a place to live as well. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this: New location, new job, new opportunities.

Resume of the last six months

2007-08-08T00:00:00-07:00

I was on a business trip to Wuhan, in China. I almost didn’t make it, because I was sick the week upfront, but on the last day I drank a lot Fernet, which really kicked some sickness ass, so off I went - destination China.

I was in China for twelve days. During those days I had a lot of exiting experiences and great fun: I tasted a lot of new food that the people from the company ordered to me. Almost everything tasted good, but there where some exceptions: Like the foot of a chicken and stomach of a cow. Another thing that was totally different was the way to drive: They didn’t seem to be any specific rules, but I was never afraid and the traffic went surprisingly smooth.

I did and saw a lot more than this, but it just won’t fit in this “blog-resume”… It was a bit strange to leave China and my new friends after the twelve day long stay, but it was also good to get back home.

I’ve started using facebook. I haven’t really been the most active user, and after getting to know the terms, I’ve become a bit of a skeptic: Facebook owns you body and soul - or at least everything you add to your facebook. I still think it’s nice to have a placeholder for old and new friends.

Sometime in May, I got a new job-offer. It wasn’t a direct offer, so I needed to attend some job-interviews, but after telling about myself and what I can, I got myself a new job at Linpro. I’m really looking forward to the new job, that starts the 20th of August. I also went to an interview at Opera, but they were not interested. It didn’t really matter to me, since I was already keen about the job at Linpro. Linpro is in Oslo, so I need to get an apartment. I still haven’t got one, but it doesn’t stress me, since I have some backup plans…

I broken up with my girlfriend in June, so you can call me “Jan Solo” now:P It was kind of ugly, but I think it was for the best, even though some might disagree.

The rest of the summer, I’ve been working at Eidolon, trying to tide up any loose ends. It have been a lot of work, but it’s nice to know that I don’t leave things half-done. Next week I’ll have a well earned vacation, before starting in my new job. It will be nice.

Football (Soccer)

2007-04-08T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve joined UBR FC</a>, a football team in Grimstad. We just teamed up about a month ago, but we’re allready commited to a local league, and we’re thinking about playing in the norwegian cup later this fall. I’m not sure if we’re fit enough for the task, but it’s great fun to play soccer anyway, and I’m looking forward to the matches either way it’s outcome will be.

Christmas - 24th, 25th and today

2006-12-26T00:00:00-08:00

Merry Christmas to you, known and unknown guests. My holiday has so far been pretty enjoyable: Christmas eve was kind of strange this year, since it was only me and my parents. Both my sister and brother celebrated with their repspectable’s family. The three of us still made a nice evening. My mother cooked a fantastic dinner. Then later we had a tasty desert and a pile of presents to open. Myself got a lot of useful gifts, suitable for my new apartment, plus a scarf and tie from my gf. I was especially happy about the tie and scarf, since they suited my taste, and I therefor didn’t have lie when I said “Thank you” :)

Yesterday I cought a flue. I was feeling pretty lousy, but I still manage to participate in a family dinner + a gathering at a friends place. Both events was quite enjoyable, and my flue kind of disappeared after a couple of gin&tonics. I’m still feeling a bit crappy today, but I really want to go to another party later this evening, so I better pull myself together…

How to secretly buy jewlery to your girlfriend

2006-12-23T00:00:00-08:00

This might be a late “mini-howto”, but I’m still posting it.

Tell your girlfriend that you have allready bought her a gift.
Ask her what she likes, while going through various jewlery shops.
Tell her that you’re collecting ideas for another occasion.
A couple of days later, tell your gf that you have to buy some bread. (or make up some other excause)
When going to the groceries, stop by the jewlery shop and by what ever she wanted.
DO NOT FORGET TO BUY BREAD!
Hide the present for later.

Extra tip is to hide the gift in different bag, than the one they gave you in the jewlery shop.

PS: This mini-howto can also be applied for other gifts :)

New apartment

2006-12-17T00:00:00-08:00

I’ve finally escaped the old apartment! I guess the old apartment is news to some of my readers, so I’ll give a short resume: I’ve been living for four years below ground, with some friends. We’ve had quite a few good times, but living together for that many years does something to you: You kind of grow tired of other people habits, but you also grow into other people habits. I think moving around is healthy from time to time. I earlier this fall figured out it was about time to find a new place, but I didn’t really have too much time to find one.

I really felt the need for my own space, after getting a girlfriend. We started reading ads, but the breakthrough came after adding our own ad in the local newspaper: "Couple seeks apartment for rent. Central location. Good references. Rate between 4k and 6k." There were quite a few who called me, but there were only some that was interresting. The apartment I finally decided to rent is a bit expensive (for me), but it’s also really nice: There is about 12 feet between floor and ceiling in the bedroom and livingroom. A rosette is located in the center of the ceiling, where the lights hang from. I have an spare bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. Total base is around 800 sq. feet.

YAPC::Europe::2006 Birmingham

2006-09-04T00:00:00-07:00

Hello peeps. It’s been a while now, but I finally got some spare time to communicate with the world again…

I’ve been to the YAPC::Europe this week, and I must say it was quite fun – or at least the time I actually spent in Birmingham. Read more in my diary.

The sun is shining

2006-06-11T00:00:00-07:00

My body screams “Help!”…

Some of my friends “tricked” me out of my apartment today. We went out at sea where we drove around in my friend’s boat and got some sun at our bodies. Apparently it was a bit too much, since I’m allready feeling the heat and pain from my skin (4:45pm). I put on some sunscreen (factor 6), but it was from last year…

Remember kids: Don't use sunscreen from last year! So what have I learned today? Well about the same thing I learned last year and year before that: Remember proper lotion when sunbathing :P I still think the day was worth the pain, since I enjoy being at the sea with good friends.

A little note about my psyche

2006-05-03T00:00:00-07:00

I’m quite interrested in what people think about themselves. I don’t care that much about what you’ve done, what you’re doing, or what you’re going to do. What interests me is to know how people think about stuff and themselves. Asking “what have you been up to?”, usually end after a couple of minutes with a relatively boring resyme. While asking “how are you?” - and getting an honest answer can be much more interresting.

Dumb people online (Update)

2006-04-04T00:00:00-07:00

I’ve gotton some negative response to the blog “Dumb people online”. Let me answer: I’m not really trying to express that I am better than anyone else. Believe me; I’ve made some boo-boo’s in my life as well. But what I want to say that if you feel targeted by the “Dumb people online”, you might just want to try to learn some more.

Here is some examples on what I would like you to know:

Internet is not the same as Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is simply a tool to browse / explore the internet - And let me say: a rather poor tool. Please be aware that there exist other browsers.
Try to learn how to use a computer, before trying to go online. If you don’t know how to turn the computer on/off, then you’re probably gonna be a security risk for yourself and million of others.
Learn about phising, but don’t get scared - get aware. Phising is when you see something that looks “real”, but it’s really just a good duplicate created to fool you. It can ask for personal information, money or something else that has value… K_F has written RSA dilutes phishing hauls to fight fraud which kind of says the same as me, but maybe in a more gentle way (?)
Are you tired of waiting on the phone, because you cannot get online, or your email doesn’t work? Next time someone helps you, try pick up some tips and tricks. Like try to see how everything is plugged together, and which lights should be lit on the equipment. There might even be a handbook, that could tell you about the most common mistakes. This could actually save you from a lot of trouble.

Dumb people online

2006-04-03T00:00:00-07:00

Security online can be increased by adding digital certificates. These certificates provides encryption, which makes the data submitted/retrived to/from the server unable to be read by sniffers which may be located on the path of information. I agree on the fact that these digital certificates are a nescessity, but still there are so many dumb and/or ignorant users online, that I would like to see another certificate as well: Why not set a minimal requirement for users to be able to use the net? A simple course where a final exam would grant or deny the participant access to the internet would decrease the number of ignorant users online, which again could save alot of money and time! My head starts spinning every time I get a client calling, asking all kinds of dumb questions. No questions are dumb you say? – Well, I can agree to some degree, but when the client is unable to respond to the simplest counter-questions… Arg!

I will update this blog, when my head stops spinning :/

My leg...

2006-03-21T00:00:00-08:00

I removed the plaster from my leg yesterday. I was at the hospital where the doctor asked me if I had used my leg the last few weeks. I answered that I was told not to use it, but he could inform me that it’s smart to start using the foot the last weeks, before removing the plaster! Why wasn’t I told earlier…? I now have to fit and stretch my leg, but it might take a while, since my foot is kind of stuck now, and most common movements hurts like hell. Anyway; the plaster is off, and I’m in “recovery mode”. (Wish me luck)

Xgl

2006-03-07T00:00:00-08:00

I’ve managed to get Xgl to work! (Special thanks to DavidK-64 for A: telling me about Xgl B: helping me get through the basic install-steps It’s really amazing, you just got to see for yourself to get the real impression. The compiz manager features Wobbling windows, transparancy, a new “switcher” and a whole lot more. I’m truly speachless. This is the best eye-candy I’ve ever experienced. Even though I’m no fan of windows, It will be interresting to see how Vista’s 3D effects will be, compared to Xgl+compiz… The basic install-steps are really quite basic - at least in ubuntu with nvidia:

Install Xgl and compiz* packages
Start Xgl and xterm
su - <username>
Start compiz + gnome
Run gconf-editor and configure the plugins

Pan Fish

2006-03-03T00:00:00-08:00

My Pan fish stocks are finally going up again :) A friend of mine “tricked” me and a third guy into buing the stocks a couple of years ago. He told us that there’s no guaranty in the stock marked, and it turned out he was right - but now it has rized again, from something like 0.01 NOK pr share.

The day after...

2006-02-25T00:00:00-08:00

The time is 1:45 PM, I’ve been up for an hour now, and I feel like crap. The only thing that’ll get me through this day, is a Quarter pounder at Apotekergaarden, one of the best restaurants in southern Norway. The food was of course excellent, and the service aswell. Afterwards we had some drinks, beer, and whatever we came across :P

Summed up; I had a great time, and my foot didn’t suffer from any further damage.

SNMP::Effective

2006-02-19T00:00:00-08:00

I’m done writing the code for SNMP::Effective now. It has show to be quite promising after some tests: 4000 hosts in 50 seconds is quite better than what I had with a previous module. I’m hoping to release SNMP::Effective on CPAN, later this year. But first I need to complete eAdmin 2.0

In the meanwhile, you could try SNMP::Multi, which gave me the idea to write my own.

1000 visitors

2006-02-15T00:00:00-08:00

Thanks my fellow surfers for visiting my site a 1000 times. Visitor number 1000 entered my site seven minutes past ten (pm). The request came from Norway/Oslo.

Broken leg

2006-02-11T00:00:00-08:00

I broke my leg while sledging down ”korketrekkeren” in Oslo. It happened while I sat behind a friend on a snow racer and tried to brake with my foot. The foot got hooked in something and was turned into an “incorrect position”… The leg had to be plastered, so I’ll be stuck inside for several weeks (six to be accurate). This incident changes my plans as well: I were supposed to celebrate my own, my brother and his fiancee’s birthday, but these events are all located in this timespan. - Thanks a million Lars;P

New design

2006-02-08T00:00:00-08:00

I’ve redesigned my site again. I’ve gone dark this time, even though I don’t fancy dark-designs… (strange indeed) The old site is added to the archive.