Seattle Code Camp 2017

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Seattle Code Camp organizers have finalized selection of this year talks and I am proud to say I got two sessions.

My first topic will be Crash Course In Foreign Language Support For ÜS Developer. If title looks familiar, it is actually a rerun of last year talk under, surprise-surprise, the same title. :) Of course, it won’t be exactly the same talk as session will be 15 minutes longer, and hopefully more polished.

My hope is that after this talk an average developer will understand different regional environments, how complicated stuff can get, what C# has to offer in regards to regionalization, where C# fails, and what are the most common mistakes.

Second session will be Path Over the Desktop Bridge, a suspenseful tale of desktop application visiting the Windows Store for the first time. I will talk about my experience, lessons learned, and how to talk with testers in 1000 characters or less. It will be wild ride of back and forth culminating in a happy ending. If this innuendo doesn’t peek your interest, I don’t know what will.

Seattle Code Camp will be held on Saturday, September 9th at Seattle University. You will be able to register for attendance soon.

[2017-08-10: Registration is now open.]

Boot Linux ISO From USB

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Let’s face it - nobody uses DVD drives for installations any more. Even if your computer has it, chances are it also has USB drive support. And USB drive is MUCH faster than DVD.

There are many different ways to get Linux ISO onto USB for the purpose of Penguinification. My favorite desktop distribution - Linux Mint - has instructions for quite a few of them. However, with great selection comes great confusion.

Assuming you have Windows computer lying around, I will describe what I’ve found to be the least intrusive method leaving no permanent traces on Windows nor requiring installation of any applications.

Assuming you already downloaded Linux ISO file, you will also need to download PORTABLE version of Rufus. Yes, you could also install it but we are looking into the least intrusive way so portable reflect that philosophy better.

What you will see is trivial interface with all defaults being set properly for any modern Linux distribution, whether you need UEFI or BIOS installation. The only thing is selecting appropriate ISO image hidden behind button next to combo box saying ISO Image. If you forget this you will find yourself booting into Free DOS. Good for getting BIOS firmware updates and not much more.

If you are installing a bit newer version of Linux, you will probably get a warning that different ldlinux.sys and ldlinux.bss are needed. Answering yes will let Rufus download them from Internet.

The next question might be (depending on options selected) about a method of USB creation. USB mode worked for me every time.

After answering Yes to the final warning of imminent data destruction of the destination, your USB drive will get ISO applied to it and you are ready to use it for installing a Linux of your choice.

PS: I personally tested this with Linux Mint and Fedora but I don’t believe there is any that will not work.

Cheap Cybersecurity Books

Those into cybersecurity, rejoice.

Humble has a new book bundle and, unlike their lately book offerings, this one is actually good and extremely cheap considering the books included. Frankly, it would be a good deal if only Applied Cryptography was included.

Yes, lowest tier is useless and middle tier essentially lives on Cryptography Engineering with Mitnik’s The Art of Deception adding a bit of flair.

But the most expensive $15 tier more than makes it up with Applied Cryptography, aged book that still somehow manages to stay current in the approach to security if not in all examples. And there is Secret and Lies proving that Schneier is getting all philosophical as he ages.

Based on my picks you can already see that they might have called this Schneier’s bundle and I would be equally interested. The only two books I wish were here are Applied Cryptography and The Twofish Encryption Algorithm (yes, I know how old it is).

If you have any interest in security do think about this bundle. Probably the cheapest (legal) way to get some real classic and a good read.

My SSH Crypto Settings

With ever-expanding number of scripts on my NAS I noticed that pretty much every one had similar, but not quite the same parameters. For example, my automatic replication would use one set of encryption parameters while my Mikrotik router backup script would use other, and my website backup script would use a third variant.

So I decided to see if I could still keep the reasonable security but consolidate all these to a single type.

For key exchange, I had choice of diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256, diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1, diffie-hellman-group14-sha1, and diffie-hellman-group1-sha1. Unfortunately there is no curve25519-sha256@libssh.org or similar algorithms that are considered more secure.

For a while I considered using diffie-hellman-group14-sha1 as it uses 2048 bit prime but its abandonment by modern SSH versions made me go with diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256. As this method allows for custom groups, it should be theoretically better but it also allows server to setup connection with known weak parameters. As servers are in my control, that should not pose an huge issue here.

For cipher my hands were extremely tied - Mikrotik, my router of choice, supports only aes256-ctr and aes192-ctr. Both are of acceptable security so I went with faster: aes192-ctr.

For authentication Mikrotik was again extremely limited - only hmac-sha2-256 and hmac-sha1 were supported. While I was tempted to go with hmac-sha1 which is still secure enough despite SHA1 being broken (HMAC part really does make a difference), I went with hmac-sha2-256 as former might get obsoleted soon.

My final set of “standard” parameters is as follows:

-2 -o KexAlgorithms=diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 -c aes192-ctr -o MACs=hmac-sha2-256

Additional parameter is not strictly encryption related but I find it very reasonable to enforce SSH protocol version 2.

My Settings for Panasonic LX100

On these pages I cover a wide array of topics. There is no order to it - just things that interest me and problems I faced trying to make them work. More often than not, posts are just a way for me to remember solutions thinly veiled into a more generic topic.

However, some posts are so specific I cannot even pretend I am actually helping somebody else than me. This is one of those posts - my general settings for Panasonic LX100 camera. Probably of no interest to anyone, oddly specific to my way of shooting photos, and for a camera that is a bit on the old side.

PS: Panasonic also makes available online full basic and advanced manual where much more detail can be found.

Rec
Photo StyleStandard: NR-2Standard profile with a touch of lower noise reduction.
Picture SizeL 12MNot sure why you would go any lower.
QualityFineOccasionally I might add Raw to it too, but not in general. I found myself too lazy to do a lot of post-processing.
AFS/AFF/AFCAFFThis setting is actually one I change the most and value varies between AFS (single focus) and AFF (flexible focus). They are both really similar but AFF does adjust a bit for moving subjects so it fits my use better as default choice.
Metering ModeMulti-meteringFor evening/night time photography I sometime change it to center-weighted or spot settings. However, for daytime use it almost always stays at default.
Burst RateMI love mid-speed setting as it gives me 7 pictures per second bursts while keeping the live view working. Even better, at this speed, fast card, and with JPEG-only you can shoot forever. For sports it is tempting to switch to high speed but there is no benefit if you are using AFF/AFC and you lose live view. Super-high speed uses electronic shutter so approach with care.
Auto Bracket-I almost never do bracketing of any kind other that for HDR which uses other settings anyhow. So I just pretend this doesn't exist.
Self Timer10 seconds (3)I really rarely use this - frankly cannot remember the last time I had it. However, I feel as having it shoot three pictures instead of one is a nice feature.
Highlight Shadow-I generally leave this at default setting. If I have picture where adjusting it would make sense I simply record it raw and edit it on computer.
i.DynamicStandardI found enabling this feature gives me better shadows for a general use case without having to fiddle with raws.
i.ResolutionOffIt basically just increases sharpness at the cost of fine detail.
Simultaneous record without filterOnI really rarely mess with filters but when I do, I like option to have the same picture with and without filter applied. Do notice this setting can only be changes if filter is selected and you are not shooting raw (annoying restriction!).
iHandheld Night ShotOnI love this setting on my FZ-300 as it helps tremendously during night recording. Unfortunately available only in automatic mode (iA).
iHDROffThis is automated HDR and not necessarily too bad if you are on a lazy side. However, I leave it off by default.
HDROffThis is manually enabled HDR and I set it to On only if I really want it. While some settings can be adjusted (e.g. EV) I like to use it on full auto.
Multi Exposure-This setting is more of a guide for taking pictures with multiple exposures. I could never been bothered to play much with it.
Time Lapse Shot-If you are fan of leaving your camera somewhere and recording a time-lapse, this camera has really nice helper. Just set the starting time and interval, and away you go.
Stop Motion Animation-If you like to make stop-animation movies this helper saves you a bit of time and even creates end video for you.
Panorama DirectionRightDefault is good.
Shutter TypeMechanicalWhile you can use higher shutter speeds with electronic shutter, that comes at the cost of various artifacts for the fast-moving subjects as it takes as much as 100 ms to read the whole sensor. That's an eternity. I prefer to use mechanical shutter unless silence is needed. In silent mode you have electronic shutter whether you like it or not.
Flash-Haven't used it in eternity - don't even know where flash that came with camera is.
Red-Eye RemovalOffThere used to be time when subjects in every picture seemingly had red vampire eyes. Not sure if people evolved in last few years or cameras got better but I don't see it happening as often anymore. And it is trivial to adjust in any photo editor so I leave it off.
ISO Limit Set6400While this camera can go all the way up to 25600, I find that anything above 6400 is really noisy. If I really need ISO that high I prefer to set it manually instead.
ISO Increments1EVI find that thirds are simply too finicky for me to bother.
Extended ISOOffUnlike with most other cameras, extended ISO doesn't increase your maximum setting but it lowers your minimum ISO to 100 instead of native 200. As this is done in software, I cannot see why you would bother.
Long Shutter Noise ReductionOnIt turns on only at low shutter speeds (1/15th and below) and it does make a difference if you need to go that low.
i.ZoomOffRealistically, it is a small digital zoom and it will impact your picture quality. Yes, 3x lens can be a bit limiting but suck it up.
Digital ZoomOffWhy would you do this to yourself?
Color SpacesRGBWhile Adobe RGB is better, sRGB is what literally every consumer device supports for viewing. Use Adobe RGB only if you know what you are doing.
StabilizerVertical-onlyFull stabilizer is a nice thing but quite annoying when panning - i.e. catching your kids running next to you.
Face RecognitionOffSomehow I never bothered to register the faces needed for this.
Profile SetupOffJust more stuff for kids and dogs.
 
Motion Picture
4K PhotoOffIt is nice idea but requires you to record everything in 4K and it changes compression method a bit.
Rec FormatMP4I find MP4 a bit better supported with amateur software.
Rec QualityFHD 20M 30pI rarely record videos and, when I do, I stick to HD most of the time. Only if I know I will be editing video further or upload it to YouTube I switch to 4K 100M 30p.
Picture ModeMotion-priorityAllows you to take 2M picture while video is recorded. I don't generally use it but I prefer it to Still-priority which essentially stops the movie in order to take picture. Annoying if done by accident.
Continuous AFOnFor most of time I want camera to refocus to action. If I am recording something where I can control field of action, I might switch it Off to keep focus steady.
Mic Level DisplayOnWhile it does add additional clutter, I find it useful to see if camera is picking up some noise it shouldn't.
Mic Level Adjust3It is default and I wen't with it.
Wind CutAutoI might change this if I record in windy situations but I generally just leave camera to decide.
Custom
Utilize Custom Set FeatureOffAs I am the only one using this camera, I never found myself needed different customization styles.
Silent ModeOffI usually keep it off as it enforces dreadful electronic shutter. However, I do keep it on quick menu for occasions when I need it.
AF/AE LockAF/AE LockI prefer to lock both focus and exposure when using that button. As I use it only if I am recording something,
AF/AE Lock HoldOnSetting this to on allows locking of AF/AE with the long press to the button and then using shutter without having to hold the button at the same time. I find default setting requires way too much fidgeting on a small space for my taste.
Shutter AFOnIt just enables half-press focus, full-press take picture mode.
Half Press ReleaseOffIt just enables half-press focus, full-press take picture mode.
Quick AFOffIdea of this setting is that camera focuses as you get ready to take picture. In reality it just eats up the battery and doesn't work when you need it the most (e.g. low-light).
Eye Sensor AFOffI prefer to set my focus by half-press and not to have camera refocus every time I switch between monitor and viewfinder.
Pinpoint AF TimeMIDI rarely use pinpoint AF so I simply go with default.
Pinpoint AF DisplayPIPI rarely use pinpoint AF so I simply go with default.
AF Assist LampOffSomehow I always find myself in positions behind glass or with shiny metal around me and AF assist lamp goes berserk. I might re-enable it during low-light.
Direct Focus AreaOffSince I use Fn1 to adjust focus area, I keep this off.
Focus/Release PriorityReleaseI'll rather have blurry picture than no picture at all.
AF+MFOffCall me lazy but I usually don't mess with auto-focus. If I want manual focus I simply use the side lever and go crazy.
MF AssistWheel FocusIt uses control ring for adjusting.
MF Assist DisplayPIPPicture-in-picture works for me.
MF GuideOnWhen using manual focus, a small scrollbar is shown with focus position marked.
PeakingOn / HighWhen manually focusing, blue dots are nice hint to know what is in the focus.
HistogramOnI would say histogram is mandatory. My favorite position is down-right; just far enough not to mess with picture framing.
Guide Line3x3I love guide lines. Makes framing much easier.
HighlightOnEven with histogram, it is easy to get picture overexposed by accident. With highlight you will see all those overexposed areas blinking and that is much harder to ignore. :)
Zebra PatternZEBRA2I like to see my errors early. :)
Monochrome Live ViewOffSupposedly it is easier to focus in black-and-white; I just ignore it.
Constant PreviewOnI love constant preview as it allows me to immediately see if I messed up Aperture/Shutter/ISO trinity instead of figuring that once my button is already half-pressed.
Exposure MeterOnWhen changing aperture or shutter speed, it is nice to see where you stand.
Dial GuideOnMore guides never hurts. :)
LVF Display StyleTop+BottomI like lot of details.
Monitor Display StyleTop+BottomI like lot of details.
Monitor Info DisplayOnWhy not having more info? :)
Recording AreaPictureI like my default setup to show how stills would look.
Remaining DisplayStillsAs I don't use videos much, I prefer to see number of stills remaining.
Auto Review2 secondsTwo seconds is more than enough to see picture you have taken.
Fn Button SetFn1I only remap Fn1 to Focus Area Set. Fn2 I leave on Wi-Fi and Fn3 stays LVF/Monitor switch.
Zoom LeverSmoothDefault is fine.
Control RingOffIf there is one thing I don't like on LX100 it is its control ring. It simply doesn't feel right and it is easy to move by accident. So I simply turn it off. Mind you, control ring still works for manual focus even if you turn it off.
Zoom ResumeOffI prefer to start on the widest zoom.
Quick MenuCustomDefault menu is OK but I find it a bit on a crowded side with all settings I can set more easily directly on the button. With custom menu, I can configure up to 3 screens with 5 settings each albeit I keep it on a single screen for even faster adjustments.
iA Button SwitchPress And HoldTwo things I find easy to do by accident: changing exposure compensation and entering iA mode. While I cannot do anything about oversensitive wheel, I can at least make later a bit harder to enter.
Video ButtonOnAs someone who takes stills most of the time, I like having video recording on a separate button.
Eye SensorLowI lower the sensibility of eye sensor to minimize misdetects.
Setup
Menu ResumeOnI prefer menu state to be remembered between visits.
Menu InformationOnI leave it on since even if you turn it off, you don't get an extra row.
Self Timer Auto OffOnI don't see purpose of remembering self-timer between camera restarts.
Playback
Delete ConfirmationYes firstI prefer to have Yes preselected when deleting images. I guess I like to live a dangerous life.
Custom Quick Menu
AFS/AFF/AFCI like to be able to quickly switch between AFS and AFF.
Metering ModeSwitching between 49-area and single-area focusing comes in handy.
HDRFor rare occasions I need HDR, I don't need to hunt it in menu.
StabilizerEssentially just to select between full and vertical-only stabilization.
Silent ModeNice for museums and similar places. Lousy for high-speed subjects.