Light reflected in a glass of coke to create the illusion of a camino shell
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ExFat Stability Issues

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Yesterday a drive failed to mount so Photoprism and Audiobookshelf failed to work. The server was up and running but the files were not accessible. For this reason two of my services have been unusable for several hours. I believe that the issue came from using an ExFAT drive rather than EXT4 or another journalled file system.

The reason for which journalling is important is that Pis and other systems crash, and when they crash, read write cycles are not completed. The consequence of this is that the drive that had been fine before the crash becomes corrupted after the crash and needs to be fixed. Most of the time this is quite easy. I use disk utility two to three times, and eventually the problem is fixed long enough to backup the data.

Why This Matters

The rational thing to do is to think, “I’m using these drives for something that NAS drives are designed for so it’s normal that external drives would fail.” The reality is that the file system has a bigger role to play than the drive type. If the drive keeps track of what it was doing, and what was interrupted then it can quickly resume from where it left off. Without a journal the drive just sees missing data and asks for repairs to be done. By “asks for repairs to be done” I mean that it fails to mount until the issue is resolved.

Looking Forward

From now on I will use ExFAT as a temporary solution for when I move data from one OS to another but once the move is finished I will use APFS for mac, EXT4 for Linux systems and NTSF or equivalent for windows when flexibility is not needed. It’s easy to format a drive to a more resilient file system.

And Finally

Once I have backed up the data I will reformat the drive to EXT4 and copy the data back. This should make the drive more resilient.

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Sony and Crosscall Mobile phone advertising

Byrichard

The Sony Xperia Z5 compact is for women who blog about fashion and the Sony Xperia M5 is for baristas who dream of owning a sports car but can’t quite pay for it yet. These adverts will never hook me in to wanting their products. I’m the type of person who lives in the countryside and spends his weekends in the mountains on adventures.

I want the Sony Xperia Z5 because of it’s fast autofocus, it’s new technology and it’s 4k recording technology and new image sensor. The geek press gave me information about the device and that’s what woke up my interest. Marketing to geeks is all about the specs and the technology. Marketing to normal people is about “This is the lifestyle you have and this device will survive it”. In the land of Sony people live in cities. Now to contrast with crosscall.

 

Crosscall make rugged strong mobile phones and their advertising is more in line with my own lifestyle.In the space of one month I shattered three screens on two phones. Two of those screen shatters were as a result of playing Ingress. In one case I stood up and the phone slipped from my lap on to the floor, bounced and then fell down again. It fell about two metres and the screen became unresponsive. In the second case I tripped on a step and fell with my hand rotated so that the screen took the impact rather than my wrist. I was so disgusted with myself for the incident that I was tempted by the Crosscall Odyssey+. The phone is rugged and would probably survive such a fall. It has excellent battery life but it’s data connection leaves to be desired especially when playing location based games like Ingress.

Crosscall advertise their devices as rugged, for the adventurous among us. They use runners, surfers, climbers and snowboarders as brand ambassadors. It’s through one of Xavier De La Rue’s posts on Facebook that I learned of the brand and that my curiousity was peaked. The Crosscall Odyssey+ is a niche device. The Trekker X1 has a better chance of appealing to a broader audience.

 

I love that devices by Sony and Crosscall are being advertised as weatherproof now. As an iphone user I liked that Lifeproof provided me with weatherproofing. I appreciate that brands are making their devices weatherproof by default. Soon it will be possible to throw people in to pools without warning once again… once autumn and winter have left place for next summer, of course.

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How Using a Laptop for Client Led Video Editing Work Helps The Environment (Blog Action Day)

Byrichard

When I started video editing it required a powerful desktop computer and moving it around was hard. Now I’m working on a laptop. This is great for the environment and here’s why.


When the equipment you are using is portable it means that you can edit from the client’s offices rather than your own. Several times already I have gone to the office of those whom I work for. If there is a desk free beside them then they may go along with their daily routine whilst I keep working on my own work. Once there’s a rough cut I show them the edit and see whether they like it, apply any changes and once that’s done I can author a DVD.


In the past I would need a VHS machine, a tower, and a monitor. All of these take space and use energy. As a result there’s more energy being consumed. There’s then the issue of finishing a rough cut, driving to see the client, getting their feedback before driving back to the edit suite, and applying the changes. On some projects this type of process may have required quite a few trips.


Now I’m the one that moves with my laptop to the office. Work on the project and the net result is a great decrease in the number of trips that need to take place.  I’ve done my bit for the environment. I’ve also saved a few hours of commuting.


This post was part of the Blog Action Day. Check the image on the right sidebar for more information about this blog day and others.

On The Value of Not Being Anonymous on Social Media

On The Value of Not Being Anonymous on Social Media

Byrichard

For years I felt comfortable tweeting as myself for two reasons. The fist reason is that we met up so often than tweeting under my actual name made sense. The second reason is that it was a network of friends of friends and we were seldom, if ever trolled. That changed during the pandemic so I chose to tweet under one pseudonym, before another, and then another. The reason is that I felt that I was going to be attacked by people online, if they knew who I was. 


I decided to create an account on Calckey where I was posting as myself. until I was trolled and insulted. I blocked the offending account but I also created an anonymous account, in reaction to this attack. It’s not that I want to be anonymous. It’s that I don’t feel comfortable tweeting as myself on a network, and in an era, where trolling is normal. I am on social media for conversations that will eventually encourage me to meet people in person. 


I believe that this is a coming of age thing. The Fediverse is still young and growing up. Communities are not mature. Communities are not yet networks of friends of friends so the social bonds that would normally keep people civil have not been formed yet. I believe that, in time, this will come. For now I think it makes sense to be anonymous, until we find a community where we feel safe being ourselves, rather than pseudonyms. 


On Reddit, Quora, Twitter and Facebook you respond to posts by strangers. Every time that those strangers attack us, is a time we feel that we should not speak to “strangers” on the web. It consolidates the habit of lurking, rather than participating. I don’t want to lurk, I just want to insulate the real me from internet trolls, in case it escalates and potentially damages my reputation. Remember, a troll is anonymous, but their trolling can have real life consequences, if we are not anonymous. 

Playing With Angular

Byrichard

I have been playing with Angular again over the last few days. I was playing with the Angular.io Tour of Heroes Tutorial. The course is simple to follow. For a while I was stuck on one problem but was able to find an answer using search engines. I then got stuck with a separate issue. The advantage of getting stuck is that it encourages reading around the subject. It gets us to make sure that we understand what we are working on.


The course will leave you with an overview, but for a deeper understanding courses like the one mentioned below are better because they explore topics in depth.


For those who prefer to learn by watching there are a few videos available on YouTube. They may be using Angular 9 or other versions. The tutorials are from two to four years old so may not reflect the latest iterations of the framework.


I had been studying this course: “Angular – The Complete Guide (2021 Edition)” I like video tutorials, and I plan to complete this one, but I also like to learn to use different methods. I liked being able to skim through text, write a few lines of code, see if it worked and move on. It is the old-fashioned way of learning. Videos are the new way.
With what I learned via the angular.io website I feel that I could experiment with bringing the html part of my website into the modern era. I want to try to use components for each section of the website. I have an idea of how it would work.


The COVID-19 Dynamic European Restriction Map

Byrichard

COVID-19 rules, restrictions and regulations are dynamic and changing much like drone rules. In Europe before you fly you should visit the local flight rule maps, to see where current restrictions are.


Information ranges from “You need third party insurance with coverage for up to two million in damages” or “In a town you are allowed up to this altitude, outside of a town, to that altitude, and in these regions you have a military flight corridor, thus a flying ban.


COVID-19 is a rapidly evolving situation so it would make sense to keep a Google Maps layer up to date with current information.


This information could be


  • prevalence of the virus
  • whether the number of cases is rising or declining
  • whether there are barriers or restrictions to entry
  • What are the curfew hours
  • What establishments are authorised to open
  • Where are the closest COVID-19 testing locations
  • Where are the closest Vaccination points
  • What is the hospital bed situation for COVID-19 situation


The demand for such a service is currently world wide and long lived. The motivation for such services may last for at least a few more months, if not seasons and years.


Google, Apple, Facebook, and maybe even Amazon, should work on creating such a service.

Garmin Expedition Challenges
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Garmin Expedition Challenges

Byrichard

Garmin have had challenges for years. Most of them have been about distance, or vertical climbing. Now they have new Expedition challenges. Each expedition is named after an expedition or adventure by the same name.


List of Garmin expedition challenges
List of Garmin expedition challenges


The Camino De Santiago challenge is a challenge to walk 784 kilometres. The Denali challenge is to climb 6190m. There are two Mont Blanc Challenges. The Mont Blanc challenge is to climb 4808 metres whilst the Mont Blanc Circular (Tour Du Mont Blanc is to walk 160 kilometres.


Due to my character I have chosen to take on the Appalachian Trail challenge. It’s 3500 kilometres of walking, approximately 4.9 million steps. So far I have completed just 17.5 kilometres of that challenge. I have walked four million four hundred and twenty three thousand steps in the last year with an average of twelve thousand six hundred per day.


In theory the challenge will take me more than a year to complete, if it wants me to walk and run the distance. If I can cycle part of it then I will complete this goal within the year.


Climbing and Stepping


At the time of writing this blog post it is possible to take on one climbing challenge at the same time as taking on one stepping challenge. Both progress bars are shown together. With climbing the progress is shown in metres, and for distance it is shown in kilometres.


Pacer Challenges


If you want to try these challenges without paying for a Garmin device Pacer has offered such challenges for years now. You pay 29 CHF per year, and you can try the Camino De Santiago and other challenges. These are based on walking distance rather than height gain.


With Garmin you get a progress bar but with pacer you get your progress shown on a map, alongside everyone else trying the same challenge at the same time. You see how you overtake or keep up with them.


A Month to Completion


I would complete most of the walking challenges within a month, except for the AT and the Camino. The climbing challenges would take me a few weeks at the moment, but if I hike in the mountains in summer then I can reach those goals within three or four hikes, depending on goals.


Frustrations


These challenges count floors climbed and steps taken, rather than distance. This means that you need to walk or run for your efforts to count. Cycling will not count. In a few weeks or months we could find that they add cycling and other challenges, as people work their way through what is already around.


Another frustration is that you can’t save the progress in one challenge, to complete another challenge, before resuming the last. The Camino and AT will take two months to over a year to complete. This means that other challenges will not be possible for that extended amount of time.


Privacy


Due to these challenges being step based, or floor climbing based, you can preserve your privacy. There is no need to track with a GPS because steps are enough. Whether you have a 96 CHF Forerunner 45S (because it’s white and less popular) or a 1200 CHF Fenix or other you’re equal.

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