useless data pt. II

Written by  on March 28, 2015

If you ever wondered how many times you compiled your project {today, the last week, ..} and got no answer: here is a clue.
Add the command “date >> someTextFile.txt” as custom command to QtCreator as build step before make is executed.
This will insert everytime you compile a new line with the current time into a textfile. Processing that data is your own task.
Small hint: if you are lazy and just want some alltime-stats use “wc compileDates.txt” 😉

compileRuns

Edit 20150407:
If you are just interested in the date, use this:

Get an overview which SilverFast8-version was used to process your photos

Written by  on March 26, 2015

It is very interesting to see which SilverFast8-version was used for scanning and processing the photos you have digitalized.
The following crude bash-chain-command relies on the GNU-tools, exiftool and some intermedite files. It is not sophisticated or using any syntactic sugar: it just works*.

(* means: has a lot of improvement-potential)

abilities:

  • checks for exiftool first: if not available (missed the installation?), then abort
  • checks all original SF8-output-types: tif, jpg, jp2 and dng
  • searchs stupidly for the “Software”-tag; if other software touched the files that can be missing
  • collects the data into files “versions.txt” and “uniqed.txt” which are not deleted after the run!

example output:

ps. Just noticed that SF6-files are also checked correctly.

stats for the masses: gitinspector

Written by  on March 24, 2015

I am always quite fond of statistics.
Sometimes there is a feeling that the pace of the project is slowing down, but in fact bigger changes take more time and therefore ‘look’ sluggish. But with some real analysis tool you can verify or invalidate this. Never underestimate the truth rock-hard data provides.
The downside is: is someone tweaks his output, because he is aware of the measurement, the stats can be distorted.

tl;dr

gitinspector is a Python-script which creates some output about the authors, their activity, .. as command-line-message or even HTML.
Easy to use (download, extract, run) and versatile.
I can’t provide any useful example-output, because for most of my repositories I am the sole author.

CHDK or “upgrade your old digital camera with new features”

Written by  on March 11, 2015

Canon Hack Development Kit is an alternative firmware for a lot of Canon cameras licensed under the GPL.
I decided to upgrade my fairly outdated 6 MegaPixel “Canon Ixus800” because the new “live view histogram”-feature sounded quite promising. Also: why not testing: loading and running scripts; like for motion detection(!); RAW-output; ..?

Installation was quite simple:

  • format the SD-card via the camera’s menu (of course: backup your old pictures/videos 😉
  • download; extract and copy the needed files to the root of the card via PC: URL
  • restart Ixus800, go to “Play”-mode; press “up” then “upgrade firmware” and confirm
  • done … wow … another great project. Kudos to all contributors!