I m baffled at how simple and reliable operating system updates have become.
Upgraded Debian bullseye to bookworm, across a few systems, easy. On
VMs, it s even so fast that installing base system from scratch is
probably the same time.
But Linux/Debian OFC works well. Shall we look at MacOS? Takes longer,
but just runs and reboots a couple of times and then, bam, it s up and
with windows restored.
Surely Windows is the outlier? Nah, finally said yes to the Upgrade
to Win 11? prompt, and it took a while to download (why is Win/Mac so
heavy and slow to download? Debian just flies!), then rebooted a few
times, and again, bam, it s up and GoG and Steam still work.
I swear, there was a time when updating the OS felt like an
accomplishment. Now, except for Raspberry Pi OS ( upgrades not
supported, reinstall! but I bet they also work), upgrading an actual
OS is just like new Android/iOS version.
And yes, get off my lawn! I still have a lower digit count Slashdot ID
A trip full of hitchhiking, beautiful places and welcoming locals.
Day 1: Arrival in Kochi
Kochi is a city in the state of Kerala, India. This year s DebConf was to be held in Kochi from 3rd September to 17th of September, which I was planning to attend. My friend Suresh, who was planning to join, told me that 29th August 2023 will be Onam, a major festival of the state of Kerala. So, we planned a Kerala trip before the DebConf. We booked early morning flights for Kochi from Delhi and reached Kochi on 28th August.
We had booked a hostel named Zostel in Ernakulam. During check-in, they asked me to fill a form which required signing in using a Google account. I told them I don t have a Google account and I don t want to create one either. The people at the front desk seemed receptive, so I went ahead with telling them the problems of such a sign-in being mandatory for check-in. Anyways, they only took a photo of my passport and let me check-in without a Google account.
We stayed in a ten room dormitory, which allowed travellers of any gender. The dormitory room was air-conditioned, spacious, clean and beds were also comfortable. There were two bathrooms in the dormitory and they were clean. Plus, there was a separate dormitory room in the hostel exclusive for females. I noticed that that Zostel was not added in the OpenStreetMap and so, I added it :) . The hostel had a small canteen for tea and snacks, a common sitting area outside the dormitories, which had beds too. There was a separate silent room, suitable for people who want to work.
Dormitory room in Zostel Ernakulam, Kochi.
Beds in Zostel Ernakulam, Kochi.
We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and it was hard to find anything vegetarian for me. I bought some freshly made banana chips from the street and they were tasty. As far as I remember, I had a big glass of pineapple juice for lunch. Then I went to the Broadway market and bought some cardamom and cinnamon for home. I also went to a nearby supermarket and bought Matta brown rice for home. Then, I looked for a courier shop to send the things home but all of them were closed due to Onam festival. After returning to the Zostel, I overslept till 9 PM and in the meanwhile, Suresh planned with Saidut and Shwetank (who met us during our stay in Zostel) to go to a place in Fort Kochi for dinner. I suspected I will be disappointed by lack of vegetarian options as they were planning to have fish. I already had a restaurant in mind - Brindhavan restaurant (suggested by Anupa), which was a pure vegetarian restaurant.
To reach there, I got off at Palarivattom metro station and started looking for an auto-rickshaw to get to the restaurant. I didn t get any for more than 5 minutes. Since that restaurant was not added to the OpenStreetMap, I didn t even know how far that was and which direction to go to. Then, I saw a Zomato delivery person on a motorcycle and asked him where the restaurant was. It was already 10 PM and the restaurant closes at 10:30. So, I asked him whether he can drop me off. He agreed and dropped me off at that restaurant. It was 4-5 km from that metro station. I tipped him and expressed my gratefulness for the help. He refused to take the tip, but I insisted and he accepted.
I entered the restaurant and it was coming to a close, so many items were not available. I ordered some Kadhai Paneer (only item left) with naan. It tasted fine. Since the next day was Thiruvonam, I asked the restaurant about the Sadya thali menu and prices for the next day. I planned to eat Sadya thali at that restaurant, but my plans got changed later.
Onam sadya menu from Brindhavan restaurant.
Day 2: Onam celebrations
Next day, on 29th of August 2023, we had plan to leave for Wayanad. Wayanad is a hill station in Kerala and a famous tourist spot. Praveen suggested to visit Munnar as it is far closer to Kochi than Wayanad (80 km vs 250 km). But I had already visited Munnar in my previous trips, so we chose Wayanad. We had a train late night from Ernakulam Junction (at 23:30 hours) to Kozhikode, which is the nearest railway station from Wayanad. So, we checked out in the morning as we had plans to roam around in Kochi before taking the train.
Zostel was celebrating Onam on that day. To opt-in, we had to pay 400 rupees, which included a Sadya Thali and a mundu. Me and Suresh paid the amount and opted in for the celebrations. Sadya thali had Rice, Sambhar, Rasam, Avial, Banana Chips, Pineapple Pachadi, Pappadam, many types of pickels and chutneys, Pal Ada Payasam and Coconut jaggery Pasam. And, there was water too :). Those payasams were really great and I had one more round of them. Later, I had a lot of variety of payasams during the DebConf.
Sadya lined up for serving
Sadya thali served on banana leaf.
So, we hung out in the common room and put our luggage there. We played UNO and had conversations with other travellers in the hostel. I had a fun time there and I still think it is one of the best hostel experiences I had. We made good friends with Saiduth (Telangana) and Shwetank (Uttarakhand). They were already aware about the software like debian, and we had some detailed conversations about the Free Software movement. I remember explaining the difference between the terms Open Source and Free Software . I also told them about the Streetcomplete app, a beginner friendly app to edit OpenStreetMap. We had dinner at a place nearby (named Palaraam), but again, the vegetarian options were very limited! After dinner, we came back to the Zostel and me and Suresh left for Ernakulam Junction to catch our train Maveli Express (16604).
Day 3: Going to Wayanad
Maveli Express was scheduled to reach Kozhikode at 03:25 (morning). I had set alarms from 03:00 to 03:30, with the gap of 10 minutes. Every time I woke up, I turned off the alarm. Then I woke up and saw train reaching the Kozhikode station and woke up Suresh for deboarding. But then I noticed that the train is actually leaving the station, not arriving! This means we missed our stop. Now we looked at the next stops and whether we can deboard there. I was very sleepy and wanted to take a retiring room at some station before continuing our journey to Wayanad. The next stop was Quilandi and we checked online that it didn t have a retiring room. So, we skipped this stop. We got off at the next stop named Vadakara and found out no retiring room was available. So, we asked about information regarding bus for Wayanad and they said that there is a bus to Wayanad around 07:00 hours from bus station which was a few kilometres from the railway station.
We took a bus for Kalpetta (in Wayanad) at around 07:00. The destination of the buses were written in Malayalam, which we could not read. Once again, the locals helped us to get on to the bus to Kalpetta. Vadakara is not a big city and it can be hard to find people who know good Hindi or English, unlike Kochi. Despite language issues, I had no problem there in navigation, thanks to locals. I mostly spent time sleeping during the bus journey.
A few hours later, the bus dropped us at Kalpetta. We had a booking at a hostel in Rippon village. It was 16 km from Kalpetta. On the way, we were treated with beautiful views of nature, which was present everywhere in Wayanad. The place was covered with tea gardens and our eyes were treated with beautiful scenery at every corner.
We were treated with such views during the Wayanad trip.
Rippon village was a very quiet place and I liked the calm atmosphere. This place is blessed by nature and has stunning scenery. I found English was more common than Hindi in Wayanad. Locals were very nice and helped me, even if they didn t know my language.
A road in Rippon.
After catching some sleep at the hostel, I went out in the afternoon. I hitchhiked to reach the main road from the hostel. I bought more spices from a nearby shop and realized that I should have waited for my visit to Wayanad to buy cardamom, which I already bought from Kochi. Then, I was looking for post office to send spices home. The people at the spices shop told me that the nearby Rippon post office was closed by that time, but the post office at Meppadi was open, which was 5 km from there.
I went to Meppadi and saw the post office closes at 15:00, but I reached five minutes late. My packing was not very good and they asked me to pack it tighter. There was a shop near the post office and the people there gave me a cardboard and tapes, and helped pack my stuff for the post. By the time I went to the post office again, it was 15:30. But they accepted my parcel for post.
Day 4: Kanthanpara Falls, Zostel Wayanad and Karapuzha Dam
Kanthanpara waterfalls were 2 km from the hostel. I hitchhiked to the place from the hostel on a scooty. Entry ticket was worth Rs 40. There were good views inside and nothing much to see except the waterfalls.
Entry to Kanthanpara Falls.
Kanthanpara Falls.
We had a booking at Zostel Wayanad for this day and so we shifted there. Again, as with their Ernakulam branch, they asked me to fill a form which required signing in using Google, but when I said I don t have a Google account they checked me in without that. There were tea gardens inside the Zostel boundaries and the property was beautiful.
A view of Zostel Wayanad.
A map of Wayanad showing tourist places.
A view from inside the Zostel Wayanad property.
Later in the evening, I went to Karapuzha Dam. I witnessed a beautiful sunset during the journey. Karapuzha dam had many activites, like ziplining, and was nice to roam around.
Chembra Peak is near to the Zostel Wayanad. So, I was planning to trek to the heart shaped lake. It was suggested by Praveen and looking online, this trek seemed worth doing. There was an issue however. The charges for trek were Rs 1770 for upto five people. So, if I go alone I will have to spend Rs 1770 for the trek. If I go with another person, we split Rs 1770 into two, and so on. The optimal way to do it is to go in a group of five (you included :D). I asked front desk at Zostel if they can connect me with people going to Chembra peak the next day, and they told me about a group of four people planning to go to Chembra peak the next day. I got lucky! All four of them were from Kerala and worked in Qatar.
Day 5: Chembra peak trek
The date was 1st September 2023. I woke up early (05:30 in the morning) for the Chembra peak trek. I had bought hiking shoes especially for trekking, which turned out to be a very good idea. The ticket counter opens at 07:00. The group of four with which I planned to trek met me around 06:00 in the Zostel. We went to the ticket counter around 06:30. We had breakfast at shops selling Maggi noodles and bread omlette near the ticket counter.
It was a hot day and the trek was difficult for an inexperienced person like me. The scenery was green and beautiful throughout.
Terrain during trekking towards the Chembra peak.
Heart-shaped lake at the Chembra peak.
Me at the heart-shaped lake.
Views from the top of the Chembra peak.
View of another peak from the heart-shaped lake.
While returning from the trek, I found out a shop selling bamboo rice, which I bought and will make bamboo rice payasam out of it at home (I have some coconut milk from Kerala too ;)). We returned to Zostel in the afternoon. I had muscle pain after the trek and it has still not completely disappeared.
At night, we took a bus from Kalpetta to Kozhikode in order to return to Kochi.
Day 6: Return to Kochi
At midnight of 2nd of September, we reached Kozhikode bus stand. Then we roamed around for something to eat. I didn t find anything vegetarian to eat. No surprises there! Then we went to Kozhikode railway station and looked for retiring rooms, but no luck there. We waited at the station and took the next train to Kochi at 03:30 and reached Ernakulam Junction at 07:30 (half hours before train s scheduled time!). From there, we went to Zostel Fort Kochi and stayed one night there and checked out next morning.
Day 7: Roaming around in Fort Kochi
On 3rd of September, we roamed around in Fort Kochi. We visited the usual places - St Francis Church, Dutch Palace, Jew Town, Pardesi Synagogue. I also visited some homestays and the owners were very happy to show their place even when I made it clear that I was not looking for a stay. In the evening, we went to Kakkanad to attend DebConf.
The story continues in my DebConf23 blog post.
The Framework is a 13.5" laptop body with swappable parts, which
makes it somewhat future-proof and certainly easily repairable,
scoring an "exceedingly rare" 10/10 score from ifixit.com.
There are two generations of the laptop's main board (both compatible
with the same body): the Intel 11th and 12th gen chipsets.
I have received my Framework, 12th generation "DIY", device in late
September 2022 and will update this page as I go along in the process
of ordering, burning-in, setting up and using the device over the
years.
Overall, the Framework is a good laptop. I like the keyboard, the
touch pad, the expansion cards. Clearly there's been some good work
done on industrial design, and it's the most repairable laptop I've
had in years. Time will tell, but it looks sturdy enough to survive me
many years as well.
This is also one of the most powerful devices I ever lay my hands
on. I have managed, remotely, more powerful servers, but this is the
fastest computer I have ever owned, and it fits in this tiny case. It
is an amazing machine.
On the downside, there's a bit of proprietary firmware required (WiFi,
Bluetooth, some graphics) and the Framework ships with a proprietary
BIOS, with currently no Coreboot support. Expect to need the
latest kernel, firmware, and hacking around a bunch of things to get
resolution and keybindings working right.
Like others, I have first found significant power management issues,
but many issues can actually be solved with some configuration. Some
of the expansion ports (HDMI, DP, MicroSD, and SSD) use power when
idle, so don't expect week-long suspend, or "full day" battery while
those are plugged in.
Finally, the expansion ports are nice, but there's only four of
them. If you plan to have a two-monitor setup, you're likely going to
need a dock.
Read on for the detailed review. For context, I'm moving from the
Purism Librem 13v4 because it
basically exploded on me. I
had, in the meantime, reverted back to an old ThinkPad X220, so I
sometimes compare the Framework with that venerable laptop as well.
This blog post has been maturing for months now. It started in
September 2022 and I declared it completed in March 2023. It's the
longest single article on this entire website, currently clocking at
about 13,000 words. It will take an average reader a full hour to go
through this thing, so I don't expect anyone to actually do
that. This introduction should be good enough for most people, read
the first section if you intend to actually buy a Framework. Jump
around the table of contents as you see fit for after you did buy the
laptop, as it might include some crucial hints on how to make it work
best for you, especially on (Debian) Linux.
Advice for buyers
Those are things I wish I would have known before buying:
consider buying 4 USB-C expansion cards, or at least a mix of 4
USB-A or USB-C cards, as they use less power than other cards and
you do want to fill those expansion slots otherwise they snag
around and feel insecure
you will likely need a dock or at least a USB hub if you want a
two-monitor setup, otherwise you'll run out of ports
you have to do some serious tuning to get proper (10h+ idle, 10
days suspend) power savings
in particular, beware that the HDMI, DisplayPort and
particularly the SSD and MicroSD cards take a significant amount
power, even when sleeping, up to 2-6W for the latter two
beware that the MicroSD card is what it says: Micro, normal SD
cards won't fit, and while there might be full sized one
eventually, it's currently only at the prototyping stage
Current status
I have the framework! It's setup with a fresh new Debian bookworm
installation. I've ran through a large number of tests and burn in.
I have decided to use the Framework as my daily driver, and had to buy
a USB-C dock to get my two monitors
connected, which was own adventure.
Update: Framework just (2023-03-23) just announced a whole bunch of
new stuff:
The recording is available in this video and it's not your
typical keynote. It starts ~25 minutes late, audio is crap, lightning
and camera are crap, clapping seems to be from whatever staff they
managed to get together in a room, decor is bizarre, colors are
shit. It's amazing.
Specifications
Those are the specifications of the 12th gen, in general terms. Your
build will of course vary according to your needs.
CPU: i5-1240P, i7-1260P, or i7-1280P (Up to 4.4-4.8 GHz, 4+8
cores), Iris Xe graphics
4 x USB-C user-selectable expansion ports, including
USB-C
USB-A
HDMI
DP
Ethernet
MicroSD
250-1000GB SSD
3.5mm combo headphone jack
Kill switches for microphone and camera
Battery: 55Wh
Camera: 1080p 60fps
Biometrics: Fingerprint Reader
Backlit keyboard
Power Adapter: 60W USB-C (or bring your own)
ships with a screwdriver/spludger
1 year warranty
base price: 1000$CAD, but doesn't give you much, typical builds
around 1500-2000$CAD
Actual build
This is the actual build I ordered. Amounts in CAD. (1CAD =
~0.75EUR/USD.)
Base configuration
CPU: Intel Core i5-1240P (AKA Alder Lake P 8 4.4GHz
P-threads, 8 3.2GHz E-threads, 16 total, 28-64W), 1079$
Memory: 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-3200, 104$
Customization
Keyboard: US English, included
Expansion Cards
2 USB-C $24
3 USB-A $36
2 HDMI $50
1 DP $50
1 MicroSD $25
1 Storage 1TB $199
Sub-total: 384$
Accessories
Power Adapter - US/Canada $64.00
Total
Before tax: 1606$
After tax and duties: 1847$
Free shipping
Quick evaluation
This is basically the TL;DR: here, just focusing on broad pros/cons of
the laptop.
Pros
easily repairable (complete with QR codes pointing to repair
guides!), the 11th gen received a 10/10 score from
ifixit.com, which they call "exceedingly rare", the 12th gen
has a similar hardware design and would probably rate similarly
replaceable motherboard!!! can be reused as a NUC-like device, with a
3d-printed case, 12th gen board can be bought standalone and
retrofitted into an 11th gen case
not a passing fad: they made a first laptop with the 11th gen Intel
chipset in 2021, and a second motherboard with the 12th Intel
chipset in 2022
four modular USB-C ports which can fit HDMI, USB-C (pass-through,
can provide power on both sides), USB-A, DisplayPort, MicroSD,
external storage (250GB, 1TB), active modding community
nice power led indicating power level (charging, charged, etc) when
plugged
they used to have some difficulty keeping up with the orders: first
two batches shipped, third batch sold out, fourth batch should have
shipped in October 2021. they generally seem to keep up with
shipping. update (august 2022): they rolled out a second line of
laptops (12th gen), first batch shipped, second batch shipped
late, September 2022 batch was generally on time, see this
spreadsheet for a crowdsourced effort to track those
supply chain issues seem to be under control as of early 2023. I
got the Ethernet expansion card shipped within a week.
compared to my previous laptop (Purism Librem
13v4), it feels strangely
bulkier and heavier; it's actually lighter than the purism (1.3kg
vs 1.4kg) and thinner (15.85mm vs 18mm) but the design of the
Purism laptop (tapered edges) makes it feel thinner
no space for a 2.5" drive
rather bright LED around power button, but can be dimmed in the
BIOS (not low enough to my taste) I got used to it
fan quiet when idle, but can be noisy when running, for example if
you max a CPU for a while
battery described as "mediocre" by Ars Technica (above), confirmed
poor in my tests (see below)
no RJ-45 port, and attempts at designing ones are failing
because the modular plugs are too thin to fit (according to Linux
After Dark), so unlikely to have one in the future
Update: they cracked that nut and ship an 2.5 gbps Ethernet
expansion card with a realtek chipset, without any
firmware blob
a bit pricey for the performance, especially when compared to the
competition (e.g. Dell XPS, Apple M1)
12th gen Intel has glitchy graphics, seems like Intel hasn't fully
landed proper Linux support for that chipset yet
Initial hardware setup
A breeze.
Accessing the board
The internals are accessed through five TorX screws, but there's a nice
screwdriver/spudger that works well enough. The screws actually hold in
place so you can't even lose them.
The first setup is a bit counter-intuitive coming from the Librem
laptop, as I expected the back cover to lift and give me access to the
internals. But instead the screws is release the keyboard and touch
pad assembly, so you actually need to flip the laptop back upright and
lift the assembly off to get access to the internals. Kind of
scary.
I also actually unplugged a connector in lifting the assembly because
I lifted it towards the monitor, while you actually need to lift it
to the right. Thankfully, the connector didn't break, it just
snapped off and I could plug it back in, no harm done.
Once there, everything is well indicated, with QR codes all over the
place supposedly leading to online instructions.
Bad QR codes
Unfortunately, the QR codes I tested (in the expansion card slot, the
memory slot and CPU slots) did not actually work so I wonder how
useful those actually are.
After all, they need to point to something and that means a URL, a
running website that will answer those requests forever. I bet those
will break sooner than later and in fact, as far as I can tell, they
just don't work at all. I prefer the approach taken by the MNT reform
here which designed (with the 100 rabbits folks) an actual paper
handbook (PDF).
The first QR code that's immediately visible from the back of the
laptop, in an expansion cord slot, is a 404. It seems to be some
serial number URL, but I can't actually tell because, well, the page
is a 404.
I was expecting that bar code to lead me to an introduction page,
something like "how to setup your Framework laptop". Support actually
confirmed that it should point a quickstart guide. But in a
bizarre twist, they somehow sent me the URL with the plus (+) signs
escaped, like this:
(They have also "let the team know about this for feedback and help
resolve the problem with the link" which is a support code word for
"ha-ha! nope! not my problem right now!" Trust me, I know, my own
code word is "can you please make a ticket?")
Seating disks and memory
The "DIY" kit doesn't actually have that much of a setup. If you
bought RAM, it's shipped outside the laptop in a little plastic case,
so you just seat it in as usual.
Then you insert your NVMe drive, and, if that's your fancy, you also
install your own mPCI WiFi card. If you ordered one (which was my
case), it's pre-installed.
Closing the laptop is also kind of amazing, because the keyboard
assembly snaps into place with magnets. I have actually used the
laptop with the keyboard unscrewed as I was putting the drives in and
out, and it actually works fine (and will probably void your warranty,
so don't do that). (But you can.) (But don't, really.)
Hardware review
Keyboard and touch pad
The keyboard feels nice, for a laptop. I'm used to mechanical keyboard
and I'm rather violent with those poor things. Yet the key travel is
nice and it's clickety enough that I don't feel too disoriented.
At first, I felt the keyboard as being more laggy than my normal
workstation setup, but it turned out this was a graphics driver
issues. After enabling a composition manager, everything feels snappy.
The touch pad feels good. The double-finger scroll works well enough,
and I don't have to wonder too much where the middle button is, it
just works.
Taps don't work, out of the box: that needs to be enabled in Xorg,
with something like this:
But be aware that once you enable that tapping, you'll need to deal
with palm detection... So I have not actually enabled this in the end.
Power button
The power button is a little dangerous. It's quite easy to hit, as
it's right next to one expansion card where you are likely to plug in
a cable power. And because the expansion cards are kind of hard to
remove, you might squeeze the laptop (and the power key) when trying
to remove the expansion card next to the power button.
So obviously, don't do that. But that's not very helpful.
An alternative is to make the power button do something else. With
systemd-managed systems, it's actually quite easy. Add a
HandlePowerKey stanza to (say)
/etc/systemd/logind.conf.d/power-suspends.conf:
And the power button will suspend! Long-press to power off doesn't
actually work as the laptop immediately suspends...
Note that there's probably half a dozen other ways of doing this,
see this, this, or that.
Special keybindings
There is a series of "hidden" (as in: not labeled on the key)
keybindings related to the fn keybinding that I actually
find quite useful.
Key
Equivalent
Effect
Command
p
Pause
lock screen
xset s activate
b
Break
?
?
k
ScrLk
switch keyboard layout
N/A
It looks like those are defined in the microcontroller so it
would be possible to add some. For example, the SysRq key
is almost bound to fns in there.
Note that most other shortcuts like this are clearly documented
(volume, brightness, etc). One key that's less obvious is
F12 that only has the Framework logo on it. That actually
calls the keysym XF86AudioMedia which, interestingly, does
absolutely nothing here. By default, on Windows, it opens your
browser to the Framework website and, on Linux, your "default
media player".
The keyboard backlight can be cycled with fn-space. The
dimmer version is dim enough, and the keybinding is easy to find in
the dark.
A skinny elephant would be performed with altPrtScr (above F11) KEY, so for
example altfnF11b
should do a hard reset. This comment suggests you need to hold
the fnonly if "function lock" is on, but that's
actually the opposite of my experience.
Out of the box, some of the fn keys don't work. Mute,
volume up/down, brightness, monitor changes, and the airplane mode key
all do basically nothing. They don't send proper keysyms to Xorg at
all.
This is a known problem and it's related to the fact that the
laptop has light sensors to adjust the brightness
automatically. Somehow some of those keys (e.g. the brightness
controls) are supposed to show up as a different input device, but
don't seem to work correctly. It seems like the solution is for the
Framework team to write a driver specifically for this, but so far no
progress since July 2022.
In the meantime, the fancy functionality can be supposedly disabled with:
echo 'blacklist hid_sensor_hub' sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/framework-als-blacklist.conf
Kill switches
The Framework has two "kill switches": one for the camera and the
other for the microphone. The camera one actually disconnects the USB
device when turned off, and the mic one seems to cut the circuit. It
doesn't show up as muted, it just stops feeding the sound.
Both kill switches are around the main camera, on top of the monitor,
and quite discreet. Then turn "red" when enabled (i.e. "red" means
"turned off").
Monitor
The monitor looks pretty good to my untrained eyes. I have yet to do
photography work on it, but some photos I looked at look sharp and the
colors are bright and lively. The blacks are dark and the screen is
bright.
I have yet to use it in full sunlight.
The dimmed light is very dim, which I like.
Screen backlight
I bind brightness keys to xbacklight in i3, but out of the box I get
this error:
sep 29 22:09:14 angela i3[5661]: No outputs have backlight property
It just requires this blob in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/backlight.conf:
This way I can control the actual backlight power with the brightness
keys, and they do significantly reduce power usage.
Multiple monitor support
I have been able to hook up my two old monitors to the HDMI and
DisplayPort expansion cards on the laptop. The lid closes without
suspending the machine, and everything works great.
I actually run out of ports, even with a 4-port USB-A hub, which gives
me a total of 7 ports:
power (USB-C)
monitor 1 (DisplayPort)
monitor 2 (HDMI)
USB-A hub, which adds:
keyboard (USB-A)
mouse (USB-A)
Yubikey
external sound card
Now the latter, I might be able to get rid of if I switch to a
combo-jack headset, which I do have (and still need to test).
But still, this is a problem. I'll probably need a powered USB-C dock
and better monitors, possibly with some Thunderbolt chaining, to
save yet more ports.
But that means more money into this setup, argh. And figuring out my
monitor situation is the kind of thing I'm not that big
of a fan of. And neither is shopping for USB-C (or is it Thunderbolt?)
hubs.
My normal autorandr setup doesn't work: I have tried saving a
profile and it doesn't get autodetected, so I also first need to do:
autorandr -l framework-external-dual-lg-acer
The magic:
autorandr -l horizontal
... also works well.
The worst problem with those monitors right now is that they have a
radically smaller resolution than the main screen on the laptop, which
means I need to reset the font scaling to normal every time I switch
back and forth between those monitors and the laptop, which means I
actually need to do this:
Expansion ports
I ordered a total of 10 expansion ports.
I did manage to initialize the 1TB drive as an encrypted storage,
mostly to keep photos as this is something that takes a massive amount
of space (500GB and counting) and that I (unfortunately) don't work on
very often (but still carry around).
The expansion ports are fancy and nice, but not actually that
convenient. They're a bit hard to take out: you really need to crimp
your fingernails on there and pull hard to take them out. There's a
little button next to them to release, I think, but at first it feels
a little scary to pull those pucks out of there. You get used to it
though, and it's one of those things you can do without looking
eventually.
There's only four expansion ports. Once you have two monitors, the
drive, and power plugged in, bam, you're out of ports; there's nowhere
to plug my Yubikey. So if this is going to be my daily driver, with a
dual monitor setup, I will need a dock, which means more crap firmware
and uncertainty, which isn't great. There are actually plans to make a
dual-USB card, but that is blocked on designing an actual
board for this.
I can't wait to see more expansion ports produced. There's a ethernet
expansion card which quickly went out of stock basically the day
it was announced, but was eventually restocked.
I would like to see a proper SD-card reader. There's a MicroSD card
reader, but that obviously doesn't work for normal SD cards, which
would be more broadly compatible anyways (because you can have a
MicroSD to SD card adapter, but I have never heard of the
reverse). Someone actually found a SD card reader that fits and
then someone else managed to cram it in a 3D printed case, which
is kind of amazing.
Still, I really like that idea that I can carry all those little
adapters in a pouch when I travel and can basically do anything I
want. It does mean I need to shuffle through them to find the right
one which is a little annoying. I have an elastic band to keep them
lined up so that all the ports show the same side, to make it easier
to find the right one. But that quickly gets undone and instead I have
a pouch full of expansion cards.
Another awesome thing with the expansion cards is that they don't just
work on the laptop: anything that takes USB-C can take those cards,
which means you can use it to connect an SD card to your phone, for
backups, for example. Heck, you could even connect an external display
to your phone that way, assuming that's supported by your phone of
course (and it probably isn't).
The expansion ports do take up some power, even when idle. See the
power management section below, and particularly the power usage
tests for details.
USB-C charging
One thing that is really a game changer for me is USB-C charging. It's
hard to overstate how convenient this is. I often have a USB-C cable
lying around to charge my phone, and I can just grab that thing and
pop it in my laptop. And while it will obviously not charge as fast as
the provided charger, it will stop draining the battery at least.
(As I wrote this, I had the laptop plugged in the Samsung charger that
came with a phone, and it was telling me it would take 6 hours to
charge the remaining 15%. With the provided charger, that flew down to
15 minutes. Similarly, I can power the laptop from the power grommet
on my desk, reducing clutter as I have that single wire out there
instead of the bulky power adapter.)
I also really like the idea that I can charge my laptop with a power
bank or, heck, with my phone, if push comes to shove. (And
vice-versa!)
This is awesome. And it works from any of the expansion ports, of
course. There's a little led next to the expansion ports as well,
which indicate the charge status:
red/amber: charging
white: charged
off: unplugged
I couldn't find documentation about this, but the forum
answered.
This is something of a recurring theme with the Framework. While it
has a good knowledge base and repair/setup guides (and the
forum is awesome) but it doesn't have a good "owner manual" that
shows you the different parts of the laptop and what they do. Again,
something the MNT reform did well.
Another thing that people are asking about is an external sleep
indicator: because the power LED is on the main keyboard assembly,
you don't actually see whether the device is active or not when the
lid is closed.
Finally, I wondered what happens when you plug in multiple power
sources and it turns out the charge controller is actually pretty
smart: it will pick the best power source and use it. The only
downside is it can't use multiple power sources, but that seems like
a bit much to ask.
Multimedia and other devices
Those things also work:
webcam: splendid, best webcam I've ever had (but my standards are
really low)
onboard mic: works well, good gain (maybe a bit much)
onboard speakers: sound okay, a little metal-ish, loud enough to be
annoying, see this thread for benchmarks, apparently pretty
good speakers
Combo jack mic tests
The Framework laptop ships with a combo jack on the left side, which
allows you to plug in a CTIA (source) headset. In human
terms, it's a device that has both a stereo output and a mono input,
typically a headset or ear buds with a microphone somewhere.
It works, which is better than the Purism (which only had audio
out), but is on par for the course for that kind of onboard
hardware. Because of electrical interference, such sound cards very
often get lots of noise from the board.
With a Jabra Evolve 40, the built-in USB sound card generates
basically zero noise on silence (invisible down to -60dB in Audacity)
while plugging it in directly generates a solid -30dB hiss. There is
a noise-reduction system in that sound card, but the difference is
still quite striking.
On a comparable setup (curie, a 2017 Intel NUC), there is
also a his with the Jabra headset, but it's quieter, more in the order
of -40/-50 dB, a noticeable difference. Interestingly, testing with my
Mee Audio Pro M6 earbuds leads to a little more hiss on curie, more on
the -35/-40 dB range, close to the Framework.
Also note that another sound card, the Antlion USB adapter that comes
with the ModMic 4, also gives me pretty close to silence on a quiet
recording, picking up less than -50dB of background noise. It's
actually probably picking up the fans in the office, which do make
audible noises.
In other words, the hiss of the sound card built in the Framework
laptop is so loud that it makes more noise than the quiet fans in the
office. Or, another way to put it is that two USB sound cards (the
Jabra and the Antlion) are able to pick up ambient noise in my office
but not the Framework laptop.
See also my audio page.
Performance tests
Compiling Linux 5.19.11
On a single core, compiling the Debian version of the Linux kernel
takes around 100 minutes:
I had to plug the normal power supply after a few minutes because
battery would actually run out using my desk's power grommet (34
watts).
During compilation, fans were spinning really hard, quite noisy, but
not painfully so.
The laptop was sucking 55 watts of power, steadily:
Time User Nice Sys Idle IO Run Ctxt/s IRQ/s Fork Exec Exit Watts
-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------
Average 87.9 0.0 10.7 1.4 0.1 17.8 6583.6 5054.3 233.0 223.9 233.1 55.96
GeoMean 87.9 0.0 10.6 1.2 0.0 17.6 6427.8 5048.1 227.6 218.7 227.7 55.96
StdDev 1.4 0.0 1.2 0.6 0.2 3.0 1436.8 255.5 50.0 47.5 49.7 0.20
-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------
Minimum 85.0 0.0 7.8 0.5 0.0 13.0 3594.0 4638.0 117.0 111.0 120.0 55.52
Maximum 90.8 0.0 12.9 3.5 0.8 38.0 10174.0 5901.0 374.0 362.0 375.0 56.41
-------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ------
Summary:
CPU: 55.96 Watts on average with standard deviation 0.20
Note: power read from RAPL domains: package-0, uncore, package-0, core, psys.
These readings do not cover all the hardware in this device.
memtest86+
I ran Memtest86+ v6.00b3. It shows something like this:
Software setup
Once I had everything in the hardware setup, I figured, voil , I'm
done, I'm just going to boot this beautiful machine and I can get back
to work.
I don't understand why I am so na ve some times. It's mind boggling.
Obviously, it didn't happen that way at all, and I spent the best of
the three following days tinkering with the laptop.
Secure boot and EFI
First, I couldn't boot off of the NVMe drive I transferred from the
previous laptop (the Purism) and the
BIOS was not very helpful: it was just complaining about not finding
any boot device, without dropping me in the real BIOS.
At first, I thought it was a problem with my NVMe drive, because it's
not listed in the compatible SSD drives from upstream. But I
figured out how to enter BIOS (press F2 manically, of
course), which showed the NVMe drive was actually detected. It just
didn't boot, because it was an old (2010!!) Debian install without
EFI.
So from there, I disabled secure boot, and booted a grml image to
try to recover. And by "boot" I mean, I managed to get to the grml
boot loader which promptly failed to load its own root file system
somehow. I still have to investigate exactly what happened there, but
it failed some time after the initrd load with:
Unable to find medium containing a live file system
This, it turns out, was fixed in Debian lately, so a daily GRML
build will not have this problems. The upcoming 2022 release
(likely 2022.10 or 2022.11) will also get the fix.
I did manage to boot the development version of the Debian
installer which was a surprisingly good experience: it mounted the
encrypted drives and did everything pretty smoothly. It even offered
me to reinstall the boot loader, but that ultimately (and correctly, as
it turns out) failed because I didn't have a /boot/efi partition.
At this point, I realized there was no easy way out of this, and I
just proceeded to completely reinstall Debian. I had a spare NVMe
drive lying around (backups FTW!) so I just swapped that in, rebooted
in the Debian installer, and did a clean install. I wanted to switch
to bookworm anyways, so I guess that's done too.
Storage limitations
Another thing that happened during setup is that I tried to copy over
the internal 2.5" SSD drive from the Purism to the Framework 1TB
expansion card. There's no 2.5" slot in the new laptop, so that's
pretty much the only option for storage expansion.
I was tired and did something wrong. I ended up wiping the partition
table on the original 2.5" drive.
Oops.
It might be recoverable, but just restoring the partition table
didn't work either, so I'm not sure how I recover the data
there. Normally, everything on my laptops and workstations is designed
to be disposable, so that wasn't that big of a problem. I did manage
to recover most of the data thanks to git-annexreinit, but
that was a little hairy.
Bootstrapping Puppet
Once I had some networking, I had to install all the packages I
needed. The time I spent setting up my workstations with Puppet has
finally paid off. What I actually did was to restore two critical
directories:
/etc/ssh
/var/lib/puppet
So that I would keep the previous machine's identity. That way I could
contact the Puppet server and install whatever was missing. I used my
Puppet optimization
trick to do a batch
install and then I had a good base setup, although not exactly as it
was before. 1700 packages were installed manually on angela before
the reinstall, and not in Puppet.
I did not inspect each one individually, but I did go through /etc
and copied over more SSH keys, for backups and SMTP over SSH.
LVFS support
It looks like there's support for the (de-facto) standard LVFS
firmware update system. At least I was able to update the UEFI
firmware with a simple:
Those instructions come from the beta forum post. I performed the
BIOS update on 2023-01-16T16:00-0500.
Resolution tweaks
The Framework laptop resolution (2256px X 1504px) is big enough to
give you a pretty small font size, so welcome to the marvelous world
of "scaling".
The Debian wiki page has a few tricks for this.
Console
This will make the console and grub fonts more readable:
Xorg
Adding this to your .Xresources will make everything look much bigger:
! 1.5*96
Xft.dpi: 144
Apparently, some of this can also help:
! These might also be useful depending on your monitor and personal preference:
Xft.autohint: 0
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault
Xft.hintstyle: hintfull
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.rgba: rgb
It my experience it also makes things look a little fuzzier, which is
frustrating because you have this awesome monitor but everything looks
out of focus. Just bumping Xft.dpi by a 1.5 factor looks good to me.
The Debian Wiki has a page on HiDPI, but it's not as good as the
Arch Wiki, where the above blurb comes from. I am not using the
latter because I suspect it's causing some of the "fuzziness".
TODO: find the equivalent of this GNOME hack in i3? (gsettings set
org.gnome.mutter experimental-features
"['scale-monitor-framebuffer']"), taken from this Framework
guide
Issues
BIOS configuration
The Framework BIOS has some minor issues. One issue I personally
encountered is that I had disabled Quick boot and Quiet boot in
the BIOS to diagnose the above boot issues. This, in turn, triggers a
bug where the BIOS boot manager (F12) would just hang
completely. It would also fail to boot from an external USB drive.
The current fix (as of BIOS 3.03) is to re-enable both Quick
boot and Quiet boot. Presumably this is something that will get
fixed in a future BIOS update.
Note that the following keybindings are active in the BIOS POST
check:
Key
Meaning
F2
Enter BIOS setup menu
F12
Enter BIOS boot manager
Delete
Enter BIOS setup menu
WiFi compatibility issues
I couldn't make WiFi work at first. Obviously, the default Debian
installer doesn't ship with proprietary firmware (although that might
change soon) so the WiFi card didn't work out of the box. But even
after copying the firmware through a USB stick, I couldn't quite
manage to find the right combination of ip/iw/wpa-supplicant
(yes, after repeatedly copying a bunch more packages over to get
those bootstrapped). (Next time I should probably try something like
this post.)
Thankfully, I had a little USB-C dongle with a RJ-45 jack lying
around. That also required a firmware blob, but it was a single
package to copy over, and with that loaded, I had network.
Eventually, I did managed to make WiFi work; the problem was more on
the side of "I forgot how to configure a WPA network by hand from the
commandline" than anything else. NetworkManager worked fine and got
WiFi working correctly.
Note that this is with Debian bookworm, which has the 5.19 Linux
kernel, and with the firmware-nonfree (firmware-iwlwifi,
specifically) package.
Battery life
I was having between about 7 hours of battery on the Purism Librem
13v4, and that's after a year or two of battery life. Now, I still
have about 7 hours of battery life, which is nicer than my old
ThinkPad X220 (20 minutes!) but really, it's not that good for a new
generation laptop. The 12th generation Intel chipset probably improved
things compared to the previous one Framework laptop, but I don't have
a 11th gen Framework to compare with).
(Note that those are estimates from my status bar, not wall clock
measurements. They should still be comparable between the Purism and
Framework, that said.)
The battery life doesn't seem up to, say, Dell XPS 13, ThinkPad X1, and
of course not the Apple M1, where I would expect 10+ hours of battery
life out of the box.
That said, I do get those kind estimates when the machine is fully
charged and idle. In fact, when everything is quiet and nothing is
plugged in, I get dozens of hours of battery life estimated (I've
seen 25h!). So power usage fluctuates quite a bit depending on usage,
which I guess is expected.
Concretely, so far, light web browsing, reading emails and writing
notes in Emacs (e.g. this file) takes about 8W of power:
Expansion cards matter a lot in the battery life (see below for a
thorough discussion), my normal setup is 2xUSB-C and 1xUSB-A (yes,
with an empty slot, and yes, to save power).
Interestingly, playing a video in a (720p) window in a window takes up
more power (10.5W) than in full screen (9.5W) but I blame that on my
desktop setup (i3 + compton)... Not sure if mpv hits the
VA-API, maybe not in windowed mode. Similar results with 1080p,
interestingly, except the window struggles to keep up altogether. Full
screen playback takes a relatively comfortable 9.5W, which means a
solid 5h+ of playback, which is fine by me.
Fooling around the web, small edits, youtube-dl, and I'm at around 80%
battery after about an hour, with an estimated 5h left, which is a
little disappointing. I had a 7h remaining estimate before I started
goofing around Discourse, so I suspect the website is a pretty
big battery drain, actually. I see about 10-12 W, while I was probably at
half that (6-8W) just playing music with mpv in the background...
In other words, it looks like editing posts in Discourse with Firefox
takes a solid 4-6W of power. Amazing and gross.
(When writing about abusive power usage generates more power usage, is
that an heisenbug? Or schr dinbug?)
Power management
Compared to the Purism Librem 13v4, the ongoing power usage seems to
be slightly better. An anecdotal metric is that the Purism would take
800mA idle, while the more powerful Framework manages a little over
500mA as I'm typing this, fluctuating between 450 and 600mA. That is
without any active expansion card, except the storage. Those numbers
come from the output of tlp-stat -b and, unfortunately, the "ampere"
unit makes it quite hard to compare those, because voltage is not
necessarily the same between the two platforms.
TODO: i915 driver has a lot of parameters, including some about
power saving, see, again, the arch wiki, and particularly
enable_fbc=1
TL:DR; power management on the laptop is an issue, but there's various
tweaks you can make to improve it. Try:
powertop --auto-tune
apt install tlp && systemctl enable tlp
nvme.noacpi=1 mem_sleep_default=deep on the kernel command line
may help with standby power usage
keep only USB-C expansion cards plugged in, all others suck power
even when idle
consider upgrading the BIOS to latest beta (3.06 at the time of
writing), unverified power savings
latest Linux kernels (6.2) promise power savings as well
(unverified)
Update: also try to follow the official optimization guide. It
was made for Ubuntu but will probably also work for your distribution
of choice with a few tweaks. They recommend using tlpui but it's
not packaged in Debian. There is, however, a Flatpak
release. In my case, it resulted in the following diff to
tlp.conf: tlp.patch.
Background on CPU architecture
There were power problems in the 11th gen Framework laptop, according
to this report from Linux After Dark, so the issues with power
management on the Framework are not new.
The 12th generation Intel CPU (AKA "Alder Lake") is a big-little
architecture with "power-saving" and "performance" cores. There
used to be performance problems introduced by the scheduler in Linux
5.16 but those were eventually fixed in 5.18, which uses
Intel's hardware as an "intelligent, low-latency hardware-assisted
scheduler". According to Phoronix, the 5.19 release improved the
power saving, at the cost of some penalty cost. There were also patch
series to make the scheduler configurable, but it doesn't look
those have been merged as of 5.19. There was also a session about this
at the 2022 Linux Plumbers, but they stopped short of
talking more about the specific problems Linux is facing in Alder
lake:
Specifically, the kernel's energy-aware scheduling heuristics don't
work well on those CPUs. A number of features present there
complicate the energy picture; these include SMT, Intel's "turbo
boost" mode, and the CPU's internal power-management mechanisms. For
many workloads, running on an ostensibly more power-hungry Pcore can
be more efficient than using an Ecore. Time for discussion of the
problem was lacking, though, and the session came to a close.
All this to say that the 12gen Intel line shipped with this Framework
series should have better power management thanks to its
power-saving cores. And Linux has had the scheduler changes to make
use of this (but maybe is still having trouble). In any case, this
might not be the source of power management problems on my laptop,
quite the opposite.
Also note that the firmware updates for various chipsets are
supposed to improve things eventually.
On the other hand, The Verge simply declared the whole P-series
a mistake...
Attempts at improving power usage
I did try to follow some of the tips in this forum post. The
tricks powertop --auto-tune and tlp's
PCIE_ASPM_ON_BAT=powersupersave basically did nothing: I was stuck
at 10W power usage in powertop (600+mA in tlp-stat).
Apparently, I should be able to reach the C8 CPU power state (or
even C9, C10) in powertop, but I seem to be stock at
C7. (Although I'm not sure how to read that tab in powertop: in the
Core(HW) column there's only C3/C6/C7 states, and most cores are 85%
in C7 or maybe C6. But the next column over does show many CPUs in
C10 states...
As it turns out, the graphics card actually takes up a good chunk of
power unless proper power management is enabled (see below). After
tweaking this, I did manage to get down to around 7W power usage in
powertop.
Expansion cards actually do take up power, and so does the screen,
obviously. The fully-lit screen takes a solid 2-3W of power compared
to the fully dimmed screen. When removing all expansion cards and
making the laptop idle, I can spin it down to 4 watts power usage at
the moment, and an amazing 2 watts when the screen turned off.
Caveats
Abusive (10W+) power usage that I initially found could be a problem
with my desktop configuration: I have this silly status bar that
updates every second and probably causes redraws... The CPU certainly
doesn't seem to spin down below 1GHz. Also note that this is with an
actual desktop running with everything: it could very well be that
some things (I'm looking at you Signal Desktop) take up unreasonable
amount of power on their own (hello, 1W/electron, sheesh). Syncthing
and containerd (Docker!) also seem to take a good 500mW just sitting
there.
Beyond my desktop configuration, this could, of course, be a
Debian-specific problem; your favorite distribution might be better at
power management.
Idle power usage tests
Some expansion cards waste energy, even when unused. Here is a summary
of the findings from the powerstat page. I also include other
devices tested in this page for completeness:
Device
Minimum
Average
Max
Stdev
Note
Screen, 100%
2.4W
2.6W
2.8W
N/A
Screen, 1%
30mW
140mW
250mW
N/A
Backlight 1
290mW
?
?
?
fairly small, all things considered
Backlight 2
890mW
1.2W
3W?
460mW?
geometric progression
Backlight 3
1.69W
1.5W
1.8W?
390mW?
significant power use
Radios
100mW
250mW
N/A
N/A
USB-C
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
negligible power drain
USB-A
10mW
10mW
?
10mW
almost negligible
DisplayPort
300mW
390mW
600mW
N/A
not passive
HDMI
380mW
440mW
1W?
20mW
not passive
1TB SSD
1.65W
1.79W
2W
12mW
significant, probably higher when busy
MicroSD
1.6W
3W
6W
1.93W
highest power usage, possibly even higher when busy
Ethernet
1.69W
1.64W
1.76W
N/A
comparable to the SSD card
So it looks like all expansion cards but the USB-C ones are active,
i.e. they draw power with idle. The USB-A cards are the least concern,
sucking out 10mW, pretty much within the margin of error. But both the
DisplayPort and HDMI do take a few hundred miliwatts. It looks like
USB-A connectors have this fundamental flaw that they necessarily draw
some powers because they lack the power negotiation features of
USB-C. At least according to this post:
It seems the USB A must have power going to it all the time, that
the old USB 2 and 3 protocols, the USB C only provides power when
there is a connection. Old versus new.
Apparently, this is a problem specific to the USB-C to USB-A
adapter that ships with the Framework. Some people have actually
changed their orders to all USB-C because of this problem, but I'm
not sure the problem is as serious as claimed in the forums. I
couldn't reproduce the "one watt" power drains suggested elsewhere,
at least not repeatedly. (A previous version of this post did show
such a power drain, but it was in a less controlled test
environment than the series of more rigorous tests above.)
The worst offenders are the storage cards: the SSD drive takes at
least one watt of power and the MicroSD card seems to want to take all
the way up to 6 watts of power, both just sitting there doing
nothing. This confirms claims of 1.4W for the SSD (but not
5W) power usage found elsewhere. The former post has
instructions on how to disable the card in software. The MicroSD card
has been reported as using 2 watts, but I've seen it as high as 6
watts, which is pretty damning.
The Framework team has a beta update for the DisplayPort adapter
but currently only for Windows (LVFS technically possible, "under
investigation"). A USB-A firmware update is alsounder
investigation. It is therefore likely at least some of those power
management issues will eventually be fixed.
Note that the upcoming Ethernet card has a reported 2-8W power usage,
depending on traffic. I did my own power usage tests in
powerstat-wayland and they seem lower than 2W.
The upcoming 6.2 Linux kernel might also improve battery usage when
idle, see this Phoronix article for details, likely in early
2023.
Idle power usage tests under Wayland
Update: I redid those tests under Wayland, see powerstat-wayland
for details. The TL;DR: is that power consumption is either smaller or
similar.
Idle power usage tests, 3.06 beta BIOS
I redid the idle tests after the 3.06 beta BIOS update and ended
up with this results:
Device
Minimum
Average
Max
Stdev
Note
Baseline
1.96W
2.01W
2.11W
30mW
1 USB-C, screen off, backlight off, no radios
2 USB-C
1.95W
2.16W
3.69W
430mW
USB-C confirmed as mostly passive...
3 USB-C
1.95W
2.16W
3.69W
430mW
... although with extra stdev
1TB SSD
3.72W
3.85W
4.62W
200mW
unchanged from before upgrade
1 USB-A
1.97W
2.18W
4.02W
530mW
unchanged
2 USB-A
1.97W
2.00W
2.08W
30mW
unchanged
3 USB-A
1.94W
1.99W
2.03W
20mW
unchanged
MicroSD w/o card
3.54W
3.58W
3.71W
40mW
significant improvement! 2-3W power saving!
MicroSD w/ card
3.53W
3.72W
5.23W
370mW
new measurement! increased deviation
DisplayPort
2.28W
2.31W
2.37W
20mW
unchanged
1 HDMI
2.43W
2.69W
4.53W
460mW
unchanged
2 HDMI
2.53W
2.59W
2.67W
30mW
unchanged
External USB
3.85W
3.89W
3.94W
30mW
new result
Ethernet
3.60W
3.70W
4.91W
230mW
unchanged
Note that the table summary is different than the previous table: here
we show the absolute numbers while the previous table was doing a
confusing attempt at showing relative (to the baseline) numbers.
Conclusion: the 3.06 BIOS update did not significantly change idle
power usage stats except for the MicroSD card which has
significantly improved.
The new "external USB" test is also interesting: it shows how the
provided 1TB SSD card performs (admirably) compared to existing
devices. The other new result is the MicroSD card with a card which,
interestingly, uses less power than the 1TB SSD drive.
That's 8mAh per 10 minutes (and 2 seconds), or 48mA, or, with this
battery, about 127 hours or roughly 5 days of standby. Not bad!
In comparison, here is my really old x220, before:
sep 29 22:13:54 emma systemd-sleep[176315]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 5070 [mWh]
... after:
sep 29 22:23:54 emma systemd-sleep[176486]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/energy_now = 4980 [mWh]
... which is 90 mwH in 10 minutes, or a whopping 540mA, which was
possibly okay when this battery was new (62000 mAh, so about 100
hours, or about 5 days), but this battery is almost dead and has
only 5210 mAh when full, so only 10 hours standby.
And here is the Framework performing a similar test, before:
... which is 49mAh in a little over 10 minutes (and 4 seconds), or
292mA, much more than the Purism, but half of the X220. At this rate,
the battery would last on standby only 12 hours!! That is pretty
bad.
Note that this was done with the following expansion cards:
2 USB-C
1 1TB SSD drive
1 USB-A with a hub connected to it, with keyboard and LAN
Preliminary tests without the hub (over one minute) show that it
doesn't significantly affect this power consumption (300mA).
This guide also suggests booting with nvme.noacpi=1 but this
still gives me about 5mAh/min (or 300mA).
Adding mem_sleep_default=deep to the kernel command line does make a
difference. Before:
... which is 2mAh in 74 seconds, which is 97mA, brings us to a more
reasonable 36 hours, or a day and a half. It's still above the x220
power usage, and more than an order of magnitude more than the Purism
laptop. It's also far from the 0.4% promised by upstream, which
would be 14mA for the 3500mAh battery.
It should also be noted that this "deep" sleep mode is a little more
disruptive than regular sleep. As you can see by the timing, it took
more than 10 seconds for the laptop to resume, which feels a little
alarming as your banging the keyboard to bring it back to life.
You can confirm the current sleep mode with:
# cat /sys/power/mem_sleep
s2idle [deep]
In the above, deep is selected. You can change it on the fly with:
... better! 6 mAh in about 6 minutes, works out to 63.5mA, so more
than two days standby.
A longer test:
oct 01 09:22:56 angela systemd-sleep[62978]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_now = 3327 [mAh]
oct 01 12:47:35 angela systemd-sleep[63219]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_now = 3147 [mAh]
That's 180mAh in about 3.5h, 52mA! Now at 66h, or almost 3 days.
I wasn't sure why I was seeing such fluctuations in those tests, but
as it turns out, expansion card power tests show that they do
significantly affect power usage, especially the SSD drive, which can
take up to two full watts of power even when idle. I didn't control
for expansion cards in the above tests running them with whatever
card I had plugged in without paying attention so it's likely the
cause of the high power usage and fluctuations.
It might be possible to work around this problem by disabling USB
devices before suspend. TODO. See also this post.
In the meantime, I have been able to get much better suspend
performance by unplugging all modules. Then I get this result:
oct 04 11:15:38 angela systemd-sleep[257571]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_now = 3203 [mAh]
oct 04 15:09:32 angela systemd-sleep[257866]: /sys/class/power_supply/BAT1/charge_now = 3145 [mAh]
Which is 14.8mA! Almost exactly the number promised by Framework! With
a full battery, that means a 10 days suspend time. This is actually
pretty good, and far beyond what I was expecting when starting down
this journey.
So, once the expansion cards are unplugged, suspend power usage is
actually quite reasonable. More detailed standby tests are available
in the standby-tests page, with a summary below.
There is also some hope that the Chromebook edition
specifically designed with a specification of 14 days standby
time could bring some firmware improvements back down to the
normal line. Some of those issues were reported upstream in April
2022, but there doesn't seem to have been any progress there
since.
TODO: one final solution here is suspend-then-hibernate, which
Windows uses for this
TODO: consider implementing the S0ix sleep states , see also troubleshooting
TODO: consider https://github.com/intel/pm-graph
Standby expansion cards test results
This table is a summary of the more extensive standby-tests I have performed:
Device
Wattage
Amperage
Days
Note
baseline
0.25W
16mA
9
sleep=deep nvme.noacpi=1
s2idle
0.29W
18.9mA
~7
sleep=s2idle nvme.noacpi=1
normal nvme
0.31W
20mA
~7
sleep=s2idle without nvme.noacpi=1
1 USB-C
0.23W
15mA
~10
2 USB-C
0.23W
14.9mA
same as above
1 USB-A
0.75W
48.7mA
3
+500mW (!!) for the first USB-A card!
2 USB-A
1.11W
72mA
2
+360mW
3 USB-A
1.48W
96mA
<2
+370mW
1TB SSD
0.49W
32mA
<5
+260mW
MicroSD
0.52W
34mA
~4
+290mW
DisplayPort
0.85W
55mA
<3
+620mW (!!)
1 HDMI
0.58W
38mA
~4
+250mW
2 HDMI
0.65W
42mA
<4
+70mW
Conclusions:
USB-C cards take no extra power on suspend, possibly less
than empty slots, more testing required
USB-A cards take a lot more power on suspend
(300-500mW) than on regular idle (~10mW, almost negligible)
1TB SSD and MicroSD cards seem to take a reasonable
amount of power (260-290mW), compared to their runtime
equivalents (1-6W!)
DisplayPort takes a surprising lot of power (620mW), almost
double its average runtime usage (390mW)
HDMI cards take, surprisingly, less power (250mW) in
standby than the DP card (620mW)
and oddly, a second card adds less power usage (70mW?!) than the
first, maybe a circuit is used by both?
Standby expansion cards test results, 3.06 beta BIOS
Framework recently (2022-11-07) announced that they will publish
a firmware upgrade to address some of the USB-C issues, including
power management. This could positively affect the above result,
improving both standby and runtime power usage.
The update came out in December 2022 and I redid my analysis with
the following results:
Device
Wattage
Amperage
Days
Note
baseline
0.25W
16mA
9
no cards, same as before upgrade
1 USB-C
0.25W
16mA
9
same as before
2 USB-C
0.25W
16mA
9
same
1 USB-A
0.80W
62mA
3
+550mW!! worse than before
2 USB-A
1.12W
73mA
<2
+320mW, on top of the above, bad!
Ethernet
0.62W
40mA
3-4
new result, decent
1TB SSD
0.52W
34mA
4
a bit worse than before (+2mA)
MicroSD
0.51W
22mA
4
same
DisplayPort
0.52W
34mA
4+
upgrade improved by 300mW
1 HDMI
?
38mA
?
same
2 HDMI
?
45mA
?
a bit worse than before (+3mA)
Normal
1.08W
70mA
~2
Ethernet, 2 USB-C, USB-A
Full results in standby-tests-306. The big takeaway for me is that
the update did not improve power usage on the USB-A ports which is a
big problem for my use case. There is a notable improvement on the
DisplayPort power consumption which brings it more in line with the
HDMI connector, but it still doesn't properly turn off on suspend
either.
Even worse, the USB-A ports now sometimes fails to resume after
suspend, which is pretty annoying. This is a known problem
that will hopefully get fixed in the final release.
I looked at building this myself but failed to run it. I opened a
RFP in Debian so that we can ship this in Debian, and also documented
my work there.
Note that there is now a counter that tracks charge/discharge
cycles. It's visible in tlp-stat -b, which is a nice
improvement:
Ethernet expansion card
The Framework ethernet expansion card is a fancy little doodle:
"2.5Gbit/s and 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet", the "clear housing lets
you peek at the RTL8156 controller that powers it". Which is another
way to say "we didn't completely finish prod on this one, so it kind
of looks like we 3D-printed this in the shop"....
The card is a little bulky, but I guess that's inevitable considering
the RJ-45 form factor when compared to the thin Framework laptop.
I have had a serious issue when trying it at first: the link LEDs
just wouldn't come up. I made a full bug report in the forum and
with upstream support, but eventually figured it out on my own. It's
(of course) a power saving issue: if you reboot the machine, the links
come up when the laptop is running the BIOS POST check and even when
the Linux kernel boots.
I first thought that the problem is likely related to the
powertop service which I run at boot time to tweak some power saving
settings.
It seems like this:
By default, USB power saving is active in the kernel, but not
force-enabled for incompatible drivers. That is, devices that
support suspension will suspend, drivers that do not, will not.
So the fix is actually to uninstall tlp or disable that setting by
adding this to /etc/tlp.conf:
USB_AUTOSUSPEND=0
... but that disables auto-suspend on all USB devices, which may
hurt other power usage performance. I have found that a a
combination of:
USB_AUTOSUSPEND=1
USB_DENYLIST="0bda:8156"
and this on the kernel commandline:
usbcore.quirks=0bda:8156:k
... actually does work correctly. I now have this in my
/etc/default/grub.d/framework-tweaks.cfg file:
# net.ifnames=0: normal interface names ffs (e.g. eth0, wlan0, not wlp166
s0)
# nvme.noacpi=1: reduce SSD disk power usage (not working)
# mem_sleep_default=deep: reduce power usage during sleep (not working)
# usbcore.quirk is a workaround for the ethernet card suspend bug: https:
//guides.frame.work/Guide/Fedora+37+Installation+on+the+Framework+Laptop/
108?lang=en
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 nvme.noacpi=1 mem_sleep_default=deep usbcore.quirks=0bda:8156:k"
# fix the resolution in grub for fonts to not be tiny
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
Other than that, I haven't been able to max out the card because I
don't have other 2.5Gbit/s equipment at home, which is strangely
satisfying. But running against my Turris Omnia
router, I could pretty much max a gigabit fairly easily:
The card doesn't require any proprietary firmware blobs which is
surprising. Other than the power saving issues, it just works.
In my power tests (see powerstat-wayland), the Ethernet card seems
to use about 1.6W of power idle, without link, in the above "quirky"
configuration where the card is functional but without autosuspend.
Proprietary firmware blobs
The framework does need proprietary firmware to operate. Specifically:
the WiFi network card shipped with the DIY kit is a AX210 card that
requires a 5.19 kernel or later, and the firmware-iwlwifi non-free firmware package
the Bluetooth adapter also loads the firmware-iwlwifi
package (untested)
the graphics work out of the box without firmware, but certain
power management features come only with special proprietary
firmware, normally shipped in the firmware-misc-nonfree
but currently missing from the package
Note that, at the time of writing, the latest i915 firmware from
linux-firmware has a serious bug where loading all the
accessible firmware results in noticeable I estimate 200-500ms lag
between the keyboard (not the mouse!) and the display. Symptoms also
include tearing and shearing of windows, it's pretty nasty.
One workaround is to delete the two affected firmware files:
cd /lib/firmware && rm adlp_guc_70.1.1.bin adlp_guc_69.0.3.bin
update-initramfs -u
You will get the following warning during build, which is good as
it means the problematic firmware is disabled:
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/adlp_guc_69.0.3.bin for module i915
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/adlp_guc_70.1.1.bin for module i915
But then it also means that critical firmware isn't loaded, which
means, among other things, a higher battery drain. I was able to move
from 8.5-10W down to the 7W range after making the firmware work
properly. This is also after turning the backlight all the way down,
as that takes a solid 2-3W in full blast.
The proper fix is to use some compositing manager. I ended up using
compton with the following systemd unit:
compton is orphaned however, so you might be tempted to use
picom instead, but in my experience the latter uses much
more power (1-2W extra, similar experience). I also tried
compiz but it would just crash with:
anarcat@angela:~$ compiz --replace
compiz (core) - Warn: No XI2 extension
compiz (core) - Error: Another composite manager is already running on screen: 0
compiz (core) - Fatal: No manageable screens found on display :0
When running from the base session, I would get this instead:
Also note that the iwlwifi firmware also looks incomplete. Even with
the package installed, I get those errors in dmesg:
[ 19.534429] Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
[ 19.534691] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[ 19.541867] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541881] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541882] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.541890] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-71.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541895] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-71.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541896] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-71.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.541903] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-70.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541907] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-70.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541908] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-70.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.541913] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-69.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541916] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-69.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541917] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-69.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.541922] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-68.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541926] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-68.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541927] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-68.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.541933] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-67.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541937] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-67.ucode (-2)
[ 19.541937] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-67.ucode failed with error -2
[ 19.544244] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-66.ucode
[ 19.544257] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: api flags index 2 larger than supported by driver
[ 19.544270] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 0.63.2.1
[ 19.544523] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwl-debug-yoyo.bin (-2)
[ 19.544528] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwl-debug-yoyo.bin (-2)
[ 19.544530] iwlwifi 0000:a6:00.0: loaded firmware version 66.55c64978.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-66.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
Some of those are available in the latest upstream firmware package
(iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-71.ucode, -68, and -67), but not all
(e.g. iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode is missing) . It's unclear what
those do or don't, as the WiFi seems to work well without them.
I still copied them in from the latest linux-firmware package in the
hope they would help with power management, but I did not notice a
change after loading them.
There are also multiple knobs on the iwlwifi and iwlmvm
drivers. The latter has a power_schmeme setting which defaults to
2 (balanced), setting it to 3 (low power) could improve
battery usage as well, in theory. The iwlwifi driver also has
power_save (defaults to disabled) and power_level (1-5, defaults
to 1) settings. See also the output of modinfo iwlwifi and
modinfo iwlmvm for other driver options.
Graphics acceleration
After loading the latest upstream firmware and setting up a
compositing manager (compton, above), I tested the classic
glxgears.
Running in a window gives me odd results, as the gears basically grind
to a halt:
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh. The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
137 frames in 5.1 seconds = 26.984 FPS
27 frames in 5.4 seconds = 5.022 FPS
Ouch. 5FPS!
But interestingly, once the window is in full screen, it does hit the
monitor refresh rate:
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.000 FPS
I'm not really a gamer and I'm not normally using any of that fancy
graphics acceleration stuff (except maybe my browser does?).
I installed intel-gpu-tools for the intel_gpu_top
command to confirm the GPU was engaged when doing those simulations. A
nice find. Other useful diagnostic tools include glxgears and
glxinfo (in mesa-utils) and (vainfo in vainfo).
Following to this post, I also made sure to have those settings
in my about:config in Firefox, or, in user.js:
user_pref("media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled", true);
Note that the guide suggests many other settings to tweak, but those
might actually be overkill, see this comment and its parents. I
did try forcing hardware acceleration by setting gfx.webrender.all
to true, but everything became choppy and weird.
The guide also mentions installing the intel-media-driver package,
but I could not find that in Debian.
The Arch wiki has, as usual, an excellent reference on hardware
acceleration in Firefox.
Chromium / Signal desktop bugs
It looks like both Chromium and Signal Desktop misbehave with my
compositor setup (compton + i3). The fix is to add a persistent
flag to Chromium. In Arch, it's conveniently in
~/.config/chromium-flags.conf but that doesn't actually work in
Debian. I had to put the flag in
/etc/chromium.d/disable-compositing, like this:
It's possible another one of the hundreds of flags might fix this
issue better, but I don't really have time to go through this entire,
incomplete, and unofficial list (!?!).
Signal Desktop is a similar problem, and doesn't reuse those flags
(because of course it doesn't). Instead I had to rewrite the wrapper
script in /usr/local/bin/signal-desktop to use this instead:
exec /usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 org.signal.Signal --disable-gpu-compositing "$@"
This was mostly done in this Puppet commit.
I haven't figured out the root of this problem. I did try using
picom and xcompmgr; they both suffer from the same issue. Another
Debian testing user on Wayland told me they haven't seen this problem,
so hopefully this can be fixed by switching to
wayland.
Graphics card hangs
I believe I might have this bug which results in a total
graphical hang for 15-30 seconds. It's fairly rare so it's not too
disruptive, but when it does happen, it's pretty alarming.
The comments on that bug report are encouraging though: it seems this
is a bug in either mesa or the Intel graphics driver, which means many
people have this problem so it's likely to be fixed. There's actually
a merge request on mesa already (2022-12-29).
It could also be that bug because the error message I get is
actually:
Jan 20 12:49:10 angela kernel: Asynchronous wait on fence 0000:00:02.0:sway[104431]:cb0ae timed out (hint:intel_atomic_commit_ready [i915])
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GPU HANG: ecode 12:0:00000000
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Resetting chip for stopped heartbeat on rcs0
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GuC firmware i915/adlp_guc_70.1.1.bin version 70.1
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] HuC firmware i915/tgl_huc_7.9.3.bin version 7.9
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] HuC authenticated
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GuC submission enabled
Jan 20 12:49:15 angela kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GuC SLPC enabled
It's a solid 30 seconds graphical hang. Maybe the keyboard and
everything else keeps working. The latter bug report is quite long,
with many comments, but this one from January 2023 seems to say
that Sway 1.8 fixed the problem. There's also an earlier patch to
add an extra kernel parameter that supposedly fixes that too. There's
all sorts of other workarounds in there, for example this:
from this comment... So that one is unsolved, as far as the
upstream drivers are concerned, but maybe could be fixed through Sway.
Weird USB hangs / graphical glitches
I have had weird connectivity glitches better described in this
post, but basically: my USB keyboard and mice (connected over a
USB hub) drop keys, lag a lot or hang, and I get visual glitches.
The fix was to tighten the screws around the CPU on the motherboard
(!), which is, thankfully, a rather simple repair.
USB docks are hell
Note that the monitors are hooked up to angela through a USB-C /
Thunderbolt dock from Cable Matters, with the lovely name of
201053-SIL. It has issues, see this blog
post for an in-depth discussion.
Shipping details
I ordered the Framework in August 2022 and received it about a month
later, which is sooner than expected because the August batch was
late.
People (including me) expected this to have an impact on the September
batch, but it seems Framework have been able to fix the delivery
problems and keep up with the demand.
As of early 2023, their website announces that laptops ship "within 5
days". I have myself ordered a few expansion cards in November 2022,
and they shipped on the same day, arriving 3-4 days later.
The supply pipeline
There are basically 6 steps in the Framework shipping pipeline, each
(except the last) accompanied with an email notification:
pre-order
preparing batch
preparing order
payment complete
shipping
(received)
This comes from the crowdsourced spreadsheet, which should be
updated when the status changes here.
I was part of the "third batch" of the 12th generation laptop, which
was supposed to ship in September. It ended up arriving on my door
step on September 27th, about 33 days after ordering.
It seems current orders are not processed in "batches", but in real
time, see this blog post for details on shipping.
Shipping trivia
I don't know about the others, but my laptop shipped through no less
than four different airplane flights. Here are the hops it took:
I can't quite figure out how to calculate exactly how much mileage
that is, but it's huge. The ride through Alaska is surprising enough
but the bounce back through Winnipeg is especially weird. I guess
the route happens that way because of Fedex shipping hubs.
There was a related oddity when I had my Purism laptop shipped: it
left from the west coast and seemed to enter on an endless, two week
long road trip across the continental US.
Sometimes you might want to run Docker containers on more than one host. Maybe you want to run some at one hosting facility, some at another, and so forth.
Maybe you d like run VMs at various places, and let them talk to Docker containers and bare metal servers wherever they are.
And maybe you d like to be able to easily migrate any of these from one provider to another.
There are all sorts of very complicated ways to set all this stuff up. But there s also a simple one: Yggdrasil.
My blog post Make the Internet Yours Again With an Instant Mesh Network explains some of the possibilities of Yggdrasil in general terms. Here I want to show you how to use Yggdrasil to solve some of these issues more specifically. Because Yggdrasil is always Encrypted, some of the security lifting is done for us.
Background
Often in Docker, we connect multiple containers to a single network that runs on a given host. That much is easy. Once you start talking about containers on multiple hosts, then you start adding layers and layers of complexity. Once you start talking multiple providers, maybe multiple continents, then the complexity can increase. And, if you want to integrate everything from bare metal servers to VMs into this well, there are ways, but they re not easy.
I m a believer in the KISS principle. Let s not make things complex when we don t have to.
Enter Yggdrasil
As I ve explained before, Yggdrasil can automatically form a global mesh network. This is pretty cool! As most people use it, they join it to the main Yggdrasil network. But Yggdrasil can be run entirely privately as well. You can run your own private mesh, and that s what we ll talk about here.
All we have to do is run Yggdrasil inside each container, VM, server, or whatever. We handle some basics of connectivity, and bam! Everything is host- and location-agnostic.
Setup in Docker
The installation of Yggdrasil on a regular system is pretty straightforward. Docker is a bit more complicated for several reasons:
It blocks IPv6 inside containers by default
The default set of permissions doesn t permit you to set up tunnels inside a container
It doesn t typically pass multicast (broadcast) packets
Normally, Yggdrasil could auto-discover peers on a LAN interface. However, aside from some esoteric Docker networking approaches, Docker doesn t permit that. So my approach is going to be setting up one or more Yggdrasil router containers on a given Docker host. All the other containers talk directly to the router container and it s all good.
Basic installation
In my Dockerfile, I have something like this:
This example uses my docker-debian-base images, so if you use them as well, you ll also need to add their parameters.
Note that it is NOT necessary to use --privileged. In fact, due to the network namespaces in use in Docker, this command does not let the container modify the host s networking (unless you use --net=host, which I do not recommend).
The --sysctl parameter was the result of a lot of banging my head against the wall. Apparently Docker tries to disable IPv6 in the container by default. Annoying.
Configuration of the router container(s)
The idea is that the router node (or more than one, if you want redundancy) will be the only ones to have an open incoming port. Although the normal Yggdrasil case of directly detecting peers in a broadcast domain is more convenient and more robust, this can work pretty well too.
You can, of course, generate a template yggdrasil.conf with yggdrasil -genconf like usual. Some things to note for this one:
You ll want to change Listen to something like Listen: ["tls://[::]:12345"] where 12345 is the port number you ll be listening on.
You ll want to disable the MulticastInterfaces entirely by just setting it to [] since it doesn t work anyway.
If you expose the port to the Internet, you ll certainly want to firewall it to only authorized peers. Setting AllowedPublicKeys is another useful step.
If you have more than one router container on a host, each of them will both Listen and act as a client to the others. See below.
Configuration of the non-router nodes
Again, you can start with a simple configuration. Some notes here:
You ll want to set Peers to something like Peers: ["tls://routernode:12345"] where routernode is the Docker hostname of the router container, and 12345 is its port number as defined above. If you have more than one local router container, you can simply list them all here. Yggdrasil will then fail over nicely if any one of them go down.
Listen should be empty.
As above, MulticastInterfaces should be empty.
Using the interfaces
At this point, you should be able to ping6 between your containers. If you have multiple hosts running Docker, you can simply set up the router nodes on each to connect to each other. Now you have direct, secure, container-to-container communication that is host-agnostic! You can also set up Yggdrasil on a bare metal server or VM using standard procedures and everything will just talk nicely!
Security notes
Yggdrasil s mesh is aggressively greedy. It will peer with any node it can find (unless told otherwise) and will find a route to anywhere it can. There are two main ways to make sure your internal comms stay private: by restricting who can talk to your mesh, and by firewalling the Yggdrasil interface. Both can be used, and they can be used simultaneously.
By disabling multicast discovery, you eliminate the chance for random machines on the LAN to join the mesh. By making sure that you firewall off (outside of Yggdrasil) who can connect to a Yggdrasil node with a listening port, you can authorize only your own machines. And, by setting AllowedPublicKeys on the nodes with listening ports, you can authenticate the Yggdrasil peers. Note that part of the benefit of the Yggdrasil mesh is normally that you don t have to propagate a configuration change to every participatory node that s a nice thing in general!
You can also run a firewall inside your container (I like firehol for this purpose) and aggressively firewall the IPs that are allowed to connect via the Yggdrasil interface. I like to set a stable interface name like ygg0 in yggdrasil.conf, and then it becomes pretty easy to firewall the services. The Docker parameters that allow Yggdrasil to run are also sufficient to run firehol.
Naming Yggdrasil peers
You probably don t want to hard-code Yggdrasil IPs all over the place. There are a few solutions:
You could run an internal DNS service
You can do a bit of scripting around Docker s --add-host command to add things to /etc/hosts
Other hints & conclusion
Here are some other helpful use cases:
If you are migrating between hosts, you could leave your reverse proxy up at both hosts, both pointing to the target containers over Yggdrasil. The targets will be automatically found from both sides of the migration while you wait for DNS caches to update and such.
This can make services integrate with local networks a lot more painlessly than they might otherwise.
This is just an idea. The point of Yggdrasil is expanding our ideas of what we can do with a network, so here s one such expansion. Have fun!
Note: This post also has a permanent home on my webiste, where it may be periodically updated.
The Great War and Modern Memory (1975) Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War (1989)
Paul Fussell
Rather than describe the battles, weapons, geopolitics or big personalities of the two World Wars, Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory & Wartime are focused instead on how the two wars have been remembered by their everyday participants. Drawing on the memoirs and memories of soldiers and civilians along with a brief comparison with the actual events that shaped them, Fussell's two books are a compassionate, insightful and moving piece of analysis.
Fussell primarily sets himself against the admixture of nostalgia and trauma that obscures the origins and unimaginable experience of participating in these wars; two wars that were, in his view, a "perceptual and rhetorical scandal from which total recovery is unlikely." He takes particular aim at the dishonesty of hindsight:
For the past fifty years, the Allied war has been sanitised and romanticised almost beyond recognition by the sentimental, the loony patriotic, the ignorant and the bloodthirsty. I have tried to balance the scales. [And] in unbombed America especially, the meaning of the war [seems] inaccessible.
The author does not engage in any of the customary rose-tinted view of war, yet he remains understanding and compassionate towards those who try to locate a reason within what was quite often senseless barbarism. If anything, his despondency and pessimism about the Second World War (the war that Fussell himself fought in) shines through quite acutely, and this is especially the case in what he chooses to quote from others:
"It was common [ ] throughout the [Okinawa] campaign for replacements to get hit before we even knew their names. They came up confused, frightened, and hopeful, got wounded or killed, and went right back to the rear on the route by which they had come, shocked, bleeding, or stiff. They were forlorn figures coming up to the meat grinder and going right back out of it like homeless waifs, unknown and faceless to us, like unread books on a shelf."
It would take a rather heartless reader to fail to be sobered by this final simile, and an even colder one to view Fussell's citation of such an emotive anecdote to be manipulative. Still, stories and cruel ironies like this one infuse this often-angry book, but it is not without astute and shrewd analysis as well, especially on the many qualitative differences between the two conflicts that simply cannot be captured by facts and figures alone. For example:
A measure of the psychological distance of the Second [World] War from the First is the rarity, in 1914 1918, of drinking and drunkenness poems.
Indeed so. In fact, what makes Fussell's project so compelling and perhaps even unique is that he uses these non-quantitive measures to try and take stock of what happened. After all, this was a war conducted by humans, not the abstract school of statistics. And what is the value of a list of armaments destroyed by such-and-such a regiment when compared with truly consequential insights into both how the war affected, say, the psychology of postwar literature ("Prolonged trench warfare, whether enacted or remembered, fosters paranoid melodrama, which I take to be a primary mode in modern writing."), the specific words adopted by combatants ("It is a truism of military propaganda that monosyllabic enemies are easier to despise than others") as well as the very grammar of interaction:
The Field Service Post Card [in WW1] has the honour of being the first widespread exemplary of that kind of document which uniquely characterises the modern world: the "Form". [And] as the first widely known example of dehumanised, automated communication, the post card popularised a mode of rhetoric indispensable to the conduct of later wars fought by great faceless conscripted armies.
And this wouldn't be a book review without argument-ending observations that:
Indicative of the German wartime conception [of victory] would be Hitler and Speer's elaborate plans for the ultimate reconstruction of Berlin, which made no provision for a library.
Our myths about the two world wars possess an undisputed power, in part because they contain an essential truth the atrocities committed by Germany and its allies were not merely extreme or revolting, but their full dimensions (embodied in the Holocaust and the Holodomor) remain essentially inaccessible within our current ideological framework. Yet the two wars are better understood as an abyss in which we were all dragged into the depths of moral depravity, rather than a battle pitched by the forces of light against the forces of darkness. Fussell is one of the few observers that can truly accept and understand this truth and is still able to speak to us cogently on the topic from the vantage point of experience. The Second World War which looms so large in our contemporary understanding of the modern world (see below) may have been necessary and unavoidable, but Fussell convinces his reader that it was morally complicated "beyond the power of any literary or philosophic analysis to suggest," and that the only way to maintain a na ve belief in the myth that these wars were a Manichaean fight between good and evil is to overlook reality.
There are many texts on the two World Wars that can either stir the intellect or move the emotions, but Fussell's two books do both. A uniquely perceptive and intelligent commentary; outstanding.
Longitude (1995)
Dava Sobel
Since Man first decided to sail the oceans, knowing one's location has always been critical. Yet doing so reliably used to be a serious problem if you didn't know where you were, you are far more likely to die and/or lose your valuable cargo.
But whilst finding one's latitude (ie. your north south position) had effectively been solved by the beginning of the 17th century, finding one's (east west) longitude was far from trustworthy in comparison. This book first published in 1995 is therefore something of an anachronism. As in, we readily use the GPS facilities of our phones today without hesitation, so we find it difficult to imagine a reality in which knowing something fundamental like your own location is essentially unthinkable.
It became clear in the 18th century, though, that in order to accurately determine one's longitude, what you actually needed was an accurate clock. In Longitude, therefore, we read of the remarkable story of John Harrison and his quest to create a timepiece that would not only keep time during a long sea voyage but would survive the rough ocean conditions as well. Self-educated and a carpenter by trade, Harrison made a number of important breakthroughs in keeping accurate time at sea, and Longitude describes his novel breakthroughs in a way that is both engaging and without talking down to the reader.
Still, this book covers much more than that, including the development of accurate longitude going hand-in-hand with advancements in cartography as well as in scientific experiments to determine the speed of light: experiments that led to the formulation of quantum mechanics. It also outlines the work being done by Harrison's competitors. 'Competitors' is indeed the correct word here, as Parliament offered a huge prize to whoever could create such a device, and the ramifications of this tremendous financial incentive are an essential part of this story. For the most part, though, Longitude sticks to the story of Harrison and his evolving obsession with his creating the perfect timepiece.
Indeed, one reason that Longitude is so resonant with readers is that many of the tropes of the archetypical 'English inventor' are embedded within Harrison himself. That is to say, here is a self-made man pushing against the establishment of the time, with his groundbreaking ideas being underappreciated in his life, or dishonestly purloined by his intellectual inferiors. At the level of allegory, then, I am minded to interpret this portrait of Harrison as a symbolic distillation of postwar Britain a nation acutely embarrassed by the loss of the Empire that is now repositioning itself as a resourceful but plucky underdog; a country that, with a combination of the brains of boffins and a healthy dose of charisma and PR, can still keep up with the big boys. (It is this same search for postimperial meaning I find in the fiction of John le Carr , and, far more famously, in the James Bond franchise.)
All of this is left to the reader, of course, as what makes Longitute singularly compelling is its gentle manner and tone. Indeed, at times it was as if the doyenne of sci-fi Ursula K. LeGuin had a sideline in popular non-fiction. I realise it's a mark of critical distinction to downgrade the importance of popular science in favour of erudite academic texts, but Latitude is ample evidence that so-called 'pop' science need not be patronising or reductive at all.
Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court (1998)
Edward Lazarus
After the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in *Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that ended the Constitutional right to abortion conferred by Roe v Wade, I prioritised a few books in the queue about the judicial branch of the United States.
One of these books was Closed Chambers, which attempts to assay, according to its subtitle, "The Rise, Fall and Future of the Modern Supreme Court". This book is not merely simply a learned guide to the history and functioning of the Court (although it is completely creditable in this respect); it's actually an 'insider' view of the workings of the institution as Lazurus was a clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun during the October term of 1988. Lazarus has therefore combined his experience as a clerk and his personal reflections (along with a substantial body of subsequent research) in order to communicate the collapse in comity between the Justices.
Part of this book is therefore a pure history of the Court, detailing its important nineteenth-century judgements (such as Dred Scott which ruled that the Constitution did not consider Blacks to be citizens; and Plessy v. Ferguson which failed to find protection in the Constitution against racial segregation laws), as well as many twentieth-century cases that touch on the rather technical principle of substantive due process. Other layers of Lazurus' book are explicitly opinionated, however, and they capture the author's assessment of the Court's actions in the past and present [1998] day.
Given the role in which he served at the Court, particular attention is given by Lazarus to the function of its clerks. These are revealed as being far more than the mere amanuenses they were hitherto believed to be. Indeed, the book is potentially unique in its the claim that the clerks have played a pivotal role in the deliberations, machinations and eventual rulings of the Court. By implication, then, the clerks have plaedy a crucial role in the internal controversies that surround many of the high-profile Supreme Court decisions decisions that, to the outsider at least, are presented as disinterested interpretations of Constitution of the United States. This is of especial importance given that, to Lazarus, "for all the attention we now pay to it, the Court remains shrouded in confusion and misunderstanding."
Throughout his book, Lazarus complicates the commonplace view that the Court is divided into two simple right vs. left political factions, and instead documents an ever-evolving series of loosely held but strongly felt series of cabals, quid pro quo exchanges, outright equivocation and pure personal prejudices. (The age and concomitant illnesses of the Justices also appears to have a not insignificant effect on the Court's rulings as well.) In other words, Closed Chambers is not a book that will be read in a typical civics class in America, and the only time the book resorts to the customary breathless rhetoric about the US federal government is in its opening chapter:
The Court itself, a Greek-style temple commanding the crest of Capitol Hill, loomed above them in the dim light of the storm. Set atop a broad marble plaza and thirty-six steps, the Court stands in splendid isolation appropriate to its place at the pinnacle of the national judiciary, one of the three independent and "coequal" branches of American government. Once dubbed the Ivory Tower by architecture critics, the Court has a Corinthian colonnade and massive twenty-foot-high bronze doors that guard the single most powerful judicial institution in the Western world.
Lights still shone in several offices to the right of the Court's entrance, and [ ]
Et cetera, et cetera. But, of course, this encomium to the inherent 'nobility' of the Supreme Court is quickly revealed to be a narrative foil, as Lazarus soon razes this dangerously na ve conception to the ground:
[The] institution is [now] broken into unyielding factions that have largely given up on a meaningful exchange of their respective views or, for that matter, a meaningful explication or defense of their own views. It is of Justices who in many important cases resort to transparently deceitful and hypocritical arguments and factual distortions as they discard judicial philosophy and consistent interpretation in favor of bottom-line results. This is a Court so badly splintered, yet so intent on lawmaking, that shifting 5-4 majorities, or even mere pluralities, rewrite whole swaths of constitutional law on the authority of a single, often idiosyncratic vote. It is also a Court where Justices yield great and excessive power to immature, ideologically driven clerks, who in turn use that power to manipulate their bosses and the institution they ostensibly serve.
Lazurus does not put forward a single, overarching thesis, but in the final chapters, he does suggest a potential future for the Court:
In the short run, the cure for what ails the Court lies solely with the Justices. It is their duty, under the shield of life tenure, to recognize the pathologies affecting their work and to restore the vitality of American constitutionalism. Ultimately, though, the long-term health of the Court depends on our own resolve on whom [we] select to join that institution.
Back in 1998, Lazurus might have had room for this qualified optimism. But from the vantage point of 2022, it appears that the "resolve" of the United States citizenry was not muscular enough to meet his challenge. After all, Lazurus was writing before Bush v. Gore in 2000, which arrogated to the judicial branch the ability to decide a presidential election; the disillusionment of Barack Obama's failure to nominate a replacement for Scalia; and many other missteps in the Court as well. All of which have now been compounded by the Trump administration's appointment of three Republican-friendly justices to the Court, including hypocritically appointing Justice Barrett a mere 38 days before the 2020 election. And, of course, the leaking and ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, the true extent of which has not been yet. Not of a bit of this is Lazarus' fault, of course, but the Court's recent decisions (as well as the liberal hagiographies of 'RBG') most perforce affect one's reading of the concluding chapters.
The other slight defect of Closed Chambers is that, whilst it often implies the importance of the federal and state courts within the judiciary, it only briefly positions the Supreme Court's decisions in relation to what was happening in the House, Senate and White House at the time. This seems to be increasingly relevant as time goes on: after all, it seems fairly clear even to this Brit that relying on an activist Supreme Court to enact progressive laws must be interpreted as a failure of the legislative branch to overcome the perennial problems of the filibuster, culture wars and partisan bickering.
Nevertheless, Lazarus' book is in equal parts ambitious, opinionated, scholarly and dare I admit it? wonderfully gossipy. By juxtaposing history, memoir, and analysis, Closed Chambers combines an exacting evaluation of the Court's decisions with a lively portrait of the intellectual and emotional intensity that has grown within the Supreme Court's pseudo-monastic environment all while it struggles with the most impactful legal issues of the day. This book is an excellent and well-written achievement that will likely never be repeated, and a must-read for anyone interested in this ever-increasingly important branch of the US government.
Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (2018) Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy (2021)
Adam Tooze
The economic historian Adam Tooze has often been labelled as an unlikely celebrity, but in the fourteen years since the global financial crisis of 2008, a growing audience has been looking for answers about the various failures of the modern economy. Tooze, a professor of history at New York's Columbia University, has written much that is penetrative and thought-provoking on this topic, and as a result, he has generated something of a cult following amongst economists, historians and the online left.
I actually read two Tooze books this year. The first, Crashed (2018), catalogues the scale of government intervention required to prop up global finance after the 2008 financial crisis, and it characterises the different ways that countries around the world failed to live up to the situation, such as doing far too little, or taking action far too late. The connections between the high-risk subprime loans, credit default swaps and the resulting liquidity crisis in the US in late 2008 is fairly well known today in part thanks to films such as Adam McKay's 2015 The Big Short and much improved economic literacy in media reportage. But Crashed makes the implicit claim that, whilst the specific and structural origins of the 2008 crisis are worth scrutinising in exacting detail, it is the reaction of states in the months and years after the crash that has been overlooked as a result.
After all, this is a reaction that has not only shaped a new economic order, it has created one that does not fit any conventional idea about the way the world 'ought' to be run. Tooze connects the original American banking crisis to the (multiple) European debt crises with a larger crisis of liberalism. Indeed, Tooze somehow manages to cover all these topics and more, weaving in Trump, Brexit and Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, as well as the evolving role of China in the post-2008 economic order.
Where Crashed focused on the constellation of consequences that followed the events of 2008, Shutdown is a clear and comprehensive account of the way the world responded to the economic impact of Covid-19. The figures are often jaw-dropping: soon after the disease spread around the world, 95% of the world's economies contracted simultaneously, and at one point, the global economy shrunk by approximately 20%. Tooze's keen and sobering analysis of what happened is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it came out whilst the pandemic was still unfolding. In fact, this leads quickly to one of the book's few flaws: by being published so quickly, Shutdown prematurely over-praises China's 'zero Covid' policy, and these remarks will make a reader today squirm in their chair. Still, despite the regularity of these references (after all, mentioning China is very useful when one is directly comparing economic figures in early 2021, for examples), these are actually minor blemishes on the book's overall thesis.
That is to say, Crashed is not merely a retelling of what happened in such-and-such a country during the pandemic; it offers in effect a prediction about what might be coming next. Whilst the economic responses to Covid averted what could easily have been another Great Depression (and thus showed it had learned some lessons from 2008), it had only done so by truly discarding the economic rule book. The by-product of inverting this set of written and unwritten conventions that have governed the world for the past 50 years, this 'Washington consensus' if you well, has yet to be fully felt.
Of course, there are many parallels between these two books by Tooze. Both the liquidity crisis outlined in Crashed and the economic response to Covid in Shutdown exposed the fact that one of the central tenets of the modern economy ie. that financial markets can be trusted to regulate themselves was entirely untrue, and likely was false from the very beginning. And whilst Adam Tooze does not offer a singular piercing insight (conveying a sense of rigorous mastery instead), he may as well be asking whether we're simply going to lurch along from one crisis to the next, relying on the technocrats in power to fix problems when everything blows up again. The answer may very well be yes.
Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness (2021)
Elizabeth D. Samet
Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War answers the following question what would be the result if you asked a professor of English to disentangle the complex mythology we have about WW2 in the context of the recent US exit of Afghanistan? Samet's book acts as a twenty-first-century update of a kind to Paul Fussell's two books (reviewed above), as well as a deeper meditation on the idea that each new war is seen through the lens of the previous one. Indeed, like The Great War and Modern Memory (1975) and Wartime (1989), Samet's book is a perceptive work of demystification, but whilst Fussell seems to have been inspired by his own traumatic war experience, Samet is not only informed by her teaching West Point military cadets but by the physical and ontological wars that have occurred during her own life as well. A more scholarly and dispassionate text is the result of Samet's relative distance from armed combat, but it doesn't mean Looking for the Good War lacks energy or inspiration.
Samet shares John Adams' belief that no political project can entirely shed the innate corruptions of power and ambition and so it is crucial to analyse and re-analyse the role of WW2 in contemporary American life. She is surely correct that the Second World War has been universally elevated as a special, 'good' war. Even those with exceptionally giddy minds seem to treat WW2 as hallowed:
It is nevertheless telling that one of the few occasions to which Trump responded with any kind of restraint while he was in office was the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.
What is the source of this restraint, and what has nurtured its growth in the eight decades since WW2 began? Samet posits several reasons for this, including the fact that almost all of the media about the Second World War is not only suffused with symbolism and nostalgia but, less obviously, it has been made by people who have no experience of the events that they depict. Take Stephen Ambrose, author of Steven Spielberg's Band of Brothers miniseries: "I was 10 years old when the war ended," Samet quotes of Ambrose. "I thought the returning veterans were giants who had saved the world from barbarism. I still think so. I remain a hero worshiper." If Looking for the Good War has a primary thesis, then, it is that childhood hero worship is no basis for a system of government, let alone a crusading foreign policy. There is a straight line (to quote this book's subtitle) from the "American Amnesia" that obscures the reality of war to the "Violent Pursuit of Happiness."
Samet's book doesn't merely just provide a modern appendix to Fussell's two works, however, as it adds further layers and dimensions he overlooked. For example, Samet provides some excellent insight on the role of Western, gangster and superhero movies, and she is especially good when looking at noir films as a kind of kaleidoscopic response to the Second World War:
Noir is a world ruled by bad decisions but also by bad timing. Chance, which plays such a pivotal role in war, bleeds into this world, too.
Samet rightfully weaves the role of women into the narrative as well. Women in film noir are often celebrated as 'independent' and sassy, correctly reflecting their newly-found independence gained during WW2. But these 'liberated' roles are not exactly a ringing endorsement of this independence: the 'femme fatale' and the 'tart', etc., reflect a kind of conditional freedom permitted to women by a post-War culture which is still wedded to an outmoded honour culture. In effect, far from being novel and subversive, these roles for women actually underwrote the ambient cultural disapproval of women's presence in the workforce. Samet later connects this highly-conditional independence with the liberation of Afghan women, which:
is inarguably one of the more palatable outcomes of our invasion, and the protection of women's rights has been invoked on the right and the left as an argument for staying the course in Afghanistan. How easily consequence is becoming justification. How flattering it will be one day to reimagine it as original objective.
Samet has ensured her book has a predominantly US angle as well, for she ends her book with a chapter on the pseudohistorical Lost Cause of the Civil War. The legacy of the Civil War is still visible in the physical phenomena of Confederate statues, but it also exists in deep-rooted racial injustice that has been shrouded in euphemism and other psychological devices for over 150 years. Samet believes that a key part of what drives the American mythology about the Second World War is the way in which it subconsciously cleanses the horrors of brother-on-brother murder that were seen in the Civil War.
This is a book that is not only of interest to historians of the Second World War; it is a work for anyone who wishes to understand almost any American historical event, social issue, politician or movie that has appeared since the end of WW2. That is for better or worse everyone on earth.
If you ve done anything in the Kubernetes space in recent years, you ve most likely come across the words Service Mesh . It s backed by a set of mature technologies that provides cross-cutting networking, security, infrastructure capabilities to be used by workloads running in Kubernetes in a manner that is transparent to the actual workload. This abstraction enables application developers to not worry about building in otherwise sophisticated capabilities for networking, routing, circuit-breaking and security, and simply rely on the services offered by the service mesh.In this post, I ll be covering Linkerd, which is an alternative to Istio. It has gone through a significant re-write when it transitioned from the JVM to a Go-based Control Plane and a Rust-based Data Plane a few years back and is now a part of the CNCF and is backed by Buoyant. It has proven itself widely for use in production workloads and has a healthy community and release cadence.It achieves this with a side-car container that communicates with a Linkerd control plane that allows central management of policy, telemetry, mutual TLS, traffic routing, shaping, retries, load balancing, circuit-breaking and other cross-cutting concerns before the traffic hits the container. This has made the task of implementing the application services much simpler as it is managed by container orchestrator and service mesh. I covered Istio in a prior post a few years back, and much of the content is still applicable for this post, if you d like to have a look.Here are the broad architectural components of Linkerd:The components are separated into the control plane and the data plane.The control plane components live in its own namespace and consists of a controller that the Linkerd CLI interacts with via the Kubernetes API. The destination service is used for service discovery, TLS identity, policy on access control for inter-service communication and service profile information on routing, retries, timeouts. The identity service acts as the Certificate Authority which responds to Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) from proxies for initialization and for service-to-service encrypted traffic. The proxy injector is an admission webhook that injects the Linkerd proxy side car and the init container automatically into a pod when the linkerd.io/inject: enabled is available on the namespace or workload.On the data plane side are two components. First, the init container, which is responsible for automatically forwarding incoming and outgoing traffic through the Linkerd proxy via iptables rules. Second, the Linkerd proxy, which is a lightweight micro-proxy written in Rust, is the data plane itself.I will be walking you through the setup of Linkerd (2.12.2 at the time of writing) on a Kubernetes cluster.Let s see what s running on the cluster currently. This assumes you have a cluster running and kubectl is installed and available on the PATH.
On most systems, this should be sufficient to setup the CLI. You may need to restart your terminal to load the updated paths. If you have a non-standard configuration and linkerd is not found after the installation, add the following to your PATH to be able to find the cli:
export PATH=$PATH:~/.linkerd2/bin/
At this point, checking the version would give you the following:
$ linkerd version Client version: stable-2.12.2 Server version: unavailable
Setting up Linkerd Control PlaneBefore installing Linkerd on the cluster, run the following step to check the cluster for pre-requisites:
kubernetes-api -------------- can initialize the client can query the Kubernetes API
kubernetes-version ------------------ is running the minimum Kubernetes API version is running the minimum kubectl version
pre-kubernetes-setup -------------------- control plane namespace does not already exist can create non-namespaced resources can create ServiceAccounts can create Services can create Deployments can create CronJobs can create ConfigMaps can create Secrets can read Secrets can read extension-apiserver-authentication configmap no clock skew detected
linkerd-version --------------- can determine the latest version cli is up-to-date
Status check results are
All the pre-requisites appear to be good right now, and so installation can proceed.The first step of the installation is to setup the Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) that Linkerd requires. The linkerd cli only prints the resource YAMLs to standard output and does not create them directly in Kubernetes, so you would need to pipe the output to kubectl apply to create the resources in the cluster that you re working with.
$ linkerd install --crds kubectl apply -f - Rendering Linkerd CRDs... Next, run linkerd install kubectl apply -f - to install the control plane.
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/authorizationpolicies.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/httproutes.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/meshtlsauthentications.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/networkauthentications.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/serverauthorizations.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/servers.policy.linkerd.io created customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/serviceprofiles.linkerd.io created
Next, install the Linkerd control plane components in the same manner, this time without the crds switch:
$ linkerd install kubectl apply -f - namespace/linkerd created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-identity created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-identity created serviceaccount/linkerd-identity created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-destination created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-destination created serviceaccount/linkerd-destination created secret/linkerd-sp-validator-k8s-tls created validatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/linkerd-sp-validator-webhook-config created secret/linkerd-policy-validator-k8s-tls created validatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/linkerd-policy-validator-webhook-config created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-policy created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-destination-policy created role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-heartbeat created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-heartbeat created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-heartbeat created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-heartbeat created serviceaccount/linkerd-heartbeat created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-proxy-injector created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-proxy-injector created serviceaccount/linkerd-proxy-injector created secret/linkerd-proxy-injector-k8s-tls created mutatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/linkerd-proxy-injector-webhook-config created configmap/linkerd-config created secret/linkerd-identity-issuer created configmap/linkerd-identity-trust-roots created service/linkerd-identity created service/linkerd-identity-headless created deployment.apps/linkerd-identity created service/linkerd-dst created service/linkerd-dst-headless created service/linkerd-sp-validator created service/linkerd-policy created service/linkerd-policy-validator created deployment.apps/linkerd-destination created cronjob.batch/linkerd-heartbeat created deployment.apps/linkerd-proxy-injector created service/linkerd-proxy-injector created secret/linkerd-config-overrides created
Kubernetes will start spinning up the data plane components and you should see the following when you list the pods:
kubernetes-api -------------- can initialize the client can query the Kubernetes API
kubernetes-version ------------------ is running the minimum Kubernetes API version is running the minimum kubectl version
linkerd-existence ----------------- 'linkerd-config' config map exists heartbeat ServiceAccount exist control plane replica sets are ready no unschedulable pods control plane pods are ready cluster networks contains all pods cluster networks contains all services
linkerd-config -------------- control plane Namespace exists control plane ClusterRoles exist control plane ClusterRoleBindings exist control plane ServiceAccounts exist control plane CustomResourceDefinitions exist control plane MutatingWebhookConfigurations exist control plane ValidatingWebhookConfigurations exist proxy-init container runs as root user if docker container runtime is used
linkerd-identity ---------------- certificate config is valid trust anchors are using supported crypto algorithm trust anchors are within their validity period trust anchors are valid for at least 60 days issuer cert is using supported crypto algorithm issuer cert is within its validity period issuer cert is valid for at least 60 days issuer cert is issued by the trust anchor
linkerd-webhooks-and-apisvc-tls ------------------------------- proxy-injector webhook has valid cert proxy-injector cert is valid for at least 60 days sp-validator webhook has valid cert sp-validator cert is valid for at least 60 days policy-validator webhook has valid cert policy-validator cert is valid for at least 60 days
linkerd-version --------------- can determine the latest version cli is up-to-date
control-plane-version --------------------- can retrieve the control plane version control plane is up-to-date control plane and cli versions match
linkerd-control-plane-proxy --------------------------- control plane proxies are healthy control plane proxies are up-to-date control plane proxies and cli versions match
Status check results are
Everything looks good.Setting up the Viz ExtensionAt this point, the required components for the service mesh are setup, but let s also install the viz extension, which provides a good visualization capabilities that will come in handy subsequently. Once again, linkerd uses the same pattern for installing the extension.
$ linkerd viz install kubectl apply -f - namespace/linkerd-viz created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-metrics-api created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-metrics-api created serviceaccount/metrics-api created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-prometheus created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-prometheus created serviceaccount/prometheus created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-tap created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-tap-admin created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-tap created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-tap-auth-delegator created serviceaccount/tap created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-tap-auth-reader created secret/tap-k8s-tls created apiservice.apiregistration.k8s.io/v1alpha1.tap.linkerd.io created role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/web created rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/web created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-web-check created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-web-check created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-web-admin created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-web-api created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-linkerd-viz-web-api created serviceaccount/web created server.policy.linkerd.io/admin created authorizationpolicy.policy.linkerd.io/admin created networkauthentication.policy.linkerd.io/kubelet created server.policy.linkerd.io/proxy-admin created authorizationpolicy.policy.linkerd.io/proxy-admin created service/metrics-api created deployment.apps/metrics-api created server.policy.linkerd.io/metrics-api created authorizationpolicy.policy.linkerd.io/metrics-api created meshtlsauthentication.policy.linkerd.io/metrics-api-web created configmap/prometheus-config created service/prometheus created deployment.apps/prometheus created service/tap created deployment.apps/tap created server.policy.linkerd.io/tap-api created authorizationpolicy.policy.linkerd.io/tap created clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-tap-injector created clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/linkerd-tap-injector created serviceaccount/tap-injector created secret/tap-injector-k8s-tls created mutatingwebhookconfiguration.admissionregistration.k8s.io/linkerd-tap-injector-webhook-config created service/tap-injector created deployment.apps/tap-injector created server.policy.linkerd.io/tap-injector-webhook created authorizationpolicy.policy.linkerd.io/tap-injector created networkauthentication.policy.linkerd.io/kube-api-server created service/web created deployment.apps/web created serviceprofile.linkerd.io/metrics-api.linkerd-viz.svc.cluster.local created serviceprofile.linkerd.io/prometheus.linkerd-viz.svc.cluster.local created
A few seconds later, you should see the following in your pod list:
The viz components live in the linkerd-viz namespace.You can now checkout the viz dashboard:
$ linkerd viz dashboard Linkerd dashboard available at: http://localhost:50750 Grafana dashboard available at: http://localhost:50750/grafana Opening Linkerd dashboard in the default browser Opening in existing browser session.
The Meshed column indicates the workload that is currently integrated with the Linkerd control plane. As you can see, there are no application deployments right now that are running.Injecting the Linkerd Data Plane componentsThere are two ways to integrate Linkerd to the application containers:1 by manually injecting the Linkerd data plane components 2 by instructing Kubernetes to automatically inject the data plane componentsInject Linkerd data plane manuallyLet s try the first option. Below is a simple nginx-app that I will deploy into the cluster:
Back in the viz dashboard, I do see the workload deployed, but it isn t currently communicating with the Linkerd control plane, and so doesn t show any metrics, and the Meshed count is 0:Looking at the Pod s deployment YAML, I can see that it only includes the nginx container:
Let s directly inject the linkerd data plane into this running container. We do this by retrieving the YAML of the deployment, piping it to linkerd cli to inject the necessary components and then piping to kubectl apply the changed resources.
Back in the viz dashboard, the workload now is integrated into Linkerd control plane.Looking at the updated Pod definition, we see a number of changes that the linkerd has injected that allows it to integrate with the control plane. Let s have a look:
At this point, the necessary components are setup for you to explore Linkerd further. You can also try out the jaeger and multicluster extensions, similar to the process of installing and using the viz extension and try out their capabilities.Inject Linkerd data plane automaticallyIn this approach, we shall we how to instruct Kubernetes to automatically inject the Linkerd data plane to workloads at deployment time.We can achieve this by adding the linkerd.io/inject annotation to the deployment descriptor which causes the proxy injector admission hook to execute and inject linkerd data plane components automatically at the time of deployment.
This annotation can also be specified at the namespace level to affect all the workloads within the namespace. Note that any resources created before the annotation was added to the namespace will require a rollout restart to trigger the injection of the Linkerd components.Uninstalling LinkerdNow that we have walked through the installation and setup process of Linkerd, let s also cover how to remove it from the infrastructure and go back to the state prior to its installation.The first step would be to remove extensions, such as viz.
Following on from last year's round-up of my reading,
here's a look at the fiction I enjoyed in 2021.
I managed to read 42 books in 2021, up from 31 last year. That's
partly to do with buying an ereader: 33/36% of my reading
(by pages/by books) was ebooks. I think this demonstrates that
ebooks have mostly complemented paper books for me, rather than
replacing them.
My book of the year (although it was published in 2019) was
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and
Max Gladstone: A short epistolary love story between warring
time travellers and quite unlike anything else I've read for
a long time. Other notables were The Glass Hotel by Emily
St John Mandel and Robot by Adam Wi niewski-Snerg.
The biggest disappointment for me was The Ministry for the Future
by Kim Stanley Robinson (KSR), which I haven't even finished. I love
KSRs writing: I've written about him many times on this blog, at
least in 2002, 2006
and 2009, I think I've read every other novel
he's published and most of his short stories. But this one was too
much of something for me. He's described this novel a the end-point
of a particular journey and approach to writing he's taken, which
I felt relieved to learn, assuming he writes any more novels (and I
really hope that he does) they will likely be in a different "mode".
My "new author discovery" for 2021 was Chris Beckett: I tore
through Two Tribes and America City before promptly buying
all his other work. He fits roughly into the same bracket as
Adam Roberts and Christopher Priest, two of my other favourite
authors.
5 of the books I read (12%) were from my "backlog" of already-purchased
physical books. I'd like to try and reduce my Backlog further so I hope
to push this figure up next year.
I made a small effort to read more diverse authors this year. 24% of
the books I read (by book count and page count) were by women. 15%
by page count were (loosely) BAME (19% by book count). Again I'd like to
increase these numbers modestly in 2022.
Unlike 2020, I didn't complete any short
story collections in 2021! This is partly because there was only one
issue of Interzone published in all of 2021, a double-issue which I
haven't yet finished. This is probably a sad date point in terms of
Interzone's continued existence, but it's not dead yet.
The Great Electric Airplane Race
It took me quite sometime to write as have been depressed about things. Then a few days back saw Nova s The Great Electric Airplane Race. While it was fabulous and a pleasure to see and know that there are more than 200 odd startups who are in the race of making an electric airplane which works and has FAA certification. I was disappointed though that there no coverage of any University projects.
From what little I know, almost all advanced materials which U.S. had made has been first researched in mostly Universities and when it is close to fruition then either spin-off as a startup or give to some commercial organization/venture to make it scalable and profitable. If they had, I am sure more people could be convinced to join sciences and engineering in college. I actually do want to come to this as part of both general medicine and vaccine development in U.S. but will come later. The idea that industry works alone should be discouraged, but that perhaps may require another article to articulate why I believe so.
Medical Device Ventilators in India
Before the pandemic, probably most didn t know what a ventilator is and was, at least I didn t, although I probably used it during my somewhat brief hospital stay a couple of years ago. It entered into the Indian twitter lexicon more so in the second wave as the number of people who got infected became more and more and the ventilators which were serving them became less and less just due to sheer mismatch of numbers and requirements.
Rich countries donated/gifted ventilators to India on which GOI put GST of 28%. Apparently, they are a luxury item, just like my hearing aid.
Last week Delhi High Court passed a judgement that imposition of GST should not be on a gift like ventilators or oxygenators. The order can be found here. Even without reading the judgement the shout from the right was judicial activism while after reading it is a good judgement which touches on several points. The first, in itself, stating the dichotomy that if a commercial organization wanted to import a ventilator or an oxygenator the IGST payable is nil while for an individual it is 12%. The State (here State refers to State Government in this case Gujarat Govt.) did reduce the IGST for state from 12% to NIL IGST for federal states but that to till only 30.06.2021. No relief to individuals on that account.
The Court also made use of Mr. Arvind Datar, as Amicus Curiae or friend of court. The petitioner, an 85-year-old gentleman who has put it up has put broad assertions under Article 21 (right to live) and the court in its wisdom also added Article 14 which enshrines equality of everyone before law.
The Amicus Curiae, as his duty, guided the court into how the IGST law works and shared a brief history of the law and the changes happening before and after it. During his submissions, he also shared the Mega Exemption Notification no. 50/2017 under which several items are there which are exempted from putting IGST. The Amicus Curiae did note that such exemptions were also there before Mega Exemption Notification had come into play.
However, DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) on 30-04-2021 issued notification No. 4/2015-2020 through which oxygenators had been exempted from Custom Duty/BCD (Basic Customs Duty. In another notification on no. 30/2021 dated 01.05.2021 it reduced IGST from 28% to 12% for personal use. If however the oxygenator was procured by a canalizing agency (bodies such as State Trading Corporation of India (STC) or/and Metals and Minerals Corporation (MMTC) and such are defined as canalising agents) then it will be fully exempted from paying any sort of IGST, albeit subject to certain conditions. What the conditions are were not shared in the open court.
The Amicus Curiae further observed that it is contrary to practice where both BCD and IGST has been exempted for canalising agents and others, some IGST has to be paid for personal use. To share within the narrow boundaries of the topic, he shared entry no. 607A of General Exemption no.190 where duty and IGST in case of life-saving drugs are zero provided the life-saving drugs imported have been provided by zero cost from an overseas supplier for personal use.
He further shared that the oxygen generator would fall in the same entry of 607A as it fulfills all the criteria as shared for life-saving medicines and devices. He also used the help of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 which provides such a relief.
The Amicus Curiae further noted that GOI amended its foreign trade policy (2015-2020) via notification no.4/2015-2020, dated 30.04.2021, issued by DGFT where Rakhi and life-saving drugs for personal use has been exempted from BCD till 30-07-2021. No reason not to give the same exemption to oxygenators which fulfill the same thing.
The Amicus Curiae, further observes that there are exceptional circumstances provisions as adverted to in sub-section (2) of Section 25 of the Customs Act, whereby Covid-19 which is known and labelled as a pandemic where the distinctions between the two classes of individuals or agencies do not make any sense. While he did make the observation that exemption from duty is not a right, in the light of the pandemic and Article 14, it does not make sense to have distinctions between the two classes of importers.
He further shared from Circular no. 9/2014-Customs, dated 19.08.2014 by CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) which gave broad exemptions under Section 25 (2) of the same act in respect of goods and services imported for safety and rehabilitation of people suffering and effected by natural disasters and epidemics.
He further submits that the impugned notification is irrational as there is no intelligible differentia rule applied or observed in classifying the import of oxygen concentrators into two categories. One, by the State and its agencies; and the other, by an individual for personal use by way of gift. So there was an absence of adequate determining principle . To bolster his argument, he shared the judgements of
a) Union of India vs. N.S. Rathnam & Sons, (2015) 10 SCC 681 (N.S. Ratnams and Sons Case)
b) Shayara Bano vs. Union of India, (2017) 9 SCC 1 (Shayara Bano Case)
The Amicus Curiae also rightly observed that the right to life also encompasses within it, the right to health. You cannot have one without the other and within that is the right to have affordable treatment. He further stated that the state does not only have a duty but a positive obligation is cast upon it to ensure that the citizen s health is secured. He again cited Navtej Singh Johars vs Union of India (Navtej Singh Johar Case) in defence of right to life. Mr. Datar also shared that unlike in normal circumstances, it is and should be enough to show distinct and noticeable burdensomeness which is directly attributable to the impugned/questionable tax. The gentleman cited Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Private Limited vs. Union of India, (1985) 1 SCC 641 (Indian Express case) 1985 which shared both about Article 19 (1) (a) and Article 21.
Bloggers note At this juncture, I should point out which I am sharing the judgement and I would be sharing only the Amicus Curiae POV and then the judge s final observations. While I was reading it, I was stuck by the fact that the Amicus Curiae had cited 4 cases till now, 3 of them are pretty well known both in the legal fraternity and even among public at large. Another 3 which have been shared below which are also of great significance. Hence, felt the need to share the whole judgement.
The Amicus Curiae further observed that this tax would have to be disproportionately will have to be paid by the old and the infirm, and they might find it difficult to pay the amounts needed to pay the customs duty/IGST as well as find the agent to pay in this pandemic.
Blogger Note The situation with the elderly is something like this. Now there are a few things to note, only Central Govt. employees and pensioners get pensions which has been freezed since last year. The rest of the elderly population does not. The rate of interest has fallen to record lows from 5-6% in savings interest rate to 2% and on Fixed Deposits at 4.9% while the nominal inflation rate has up by 6% while CPI and real inflation rates are and would be much more. And this is when there is absolutely no demand in the economy. To add to all this, RBI shared a couple of months ago that fraud of 5 trillion rupees has been committed between 2015 and 2019 in banks. And this is different from the number of record NPA s that have been both in Public and Private Sector banks. To get out of this, the banks have squeezed their customers and are squeezing as well as asking GOI for bailouts. How much GOI is responsible for the frauds as well as NPA s would probably require its own space. And even now, RBI and banks have made heavy provisions as lockdowns are still a facet and are supposed to remain a facet till the end of the year or even next year (all depending upon when we get the vaccine).
The Amicus Curiae further argued that the ventilators which are available locally are of bad quality. The result of all this has resulted in a huge amount of unsurmountable pressure on hospitals which they are unable to overcome. Therefore, the levy of IGST on oxygenators has direct impact on health of the citizen. So the examination of the law should not be by what intention it was but how it is affecting citizen rights now. For this he shared R.C.Cooper vs Union of India (another famous case R.C. Cooper vs Union of India) especially paragraph 49 and Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India vs. Union of India, (1989) at paragraph 46 (Federation of Hotel Case)
Mr. Datar further shared the Supreme Court order dated 18.12.2020, passed in Suo Moto Writ Petition(Civil) No.7/2020, to buttress the plea that the right to health includes the right to affordable treatment.
Blogger s Note For those, who don t know Suo Moto is when the Court, whether Supreme Court or the High Courts take up a matter for public good. It could be in anything, law and order, Banking, Finance, Public Health etc. etc. This was the norm before 2014. The excesses of the executive were curtailed by both the Higher and the lower Judiciary. That is and was the reason that Judiciary is and was known as the third pillar of Indian democracy. A good characterization of Suo Moto can be found here.
Before ending his submission, the learned Amicus Curiae also shared Jeeja Ghosh vs. Union of India, (2016) (Jeeja Ghosh Case, an outstanding case as it deals with people with disabilities and their rights and the observations made by the Division Bench of Hon ble Mr. Justice A. K. Sikri as well as Hon ble Mr. Justice R. K. Agrawal.)
After Amicus Curiae completed his submissions, it was the turn of Mr. Sudhir Nandrajog, and he adopted the arguments and submissions made by the Amicus Curiae. The gentleman reiterated the facts of the case and how the impugned notification was violative of both Article 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Blogger s Note The High Court s judgement which shows all the above arguments by the Amicus Curiae and the petitioner s lawyer also shared the State s view. It is only on page 24, where the Delhi High Court starts to share its own observations on the arguments of both sides.
Judgement continued The first observation that the Court makes is that while the petitioner demonstrated that the impugned tax imposition would have a distinct and noticeable burdensomeness while the State did not state or share in any way how much of a loss it would incur if such a tax were let go and how much additional work would have to be done in order to receive this specific tax. It didn t need to do something which is down the wire or mathematically precise, but it didn t even care to show even theoretically how many people will be affected by the above. The counter-affidavit by the State is silent on the whole issue.
The Court also contended that the State failed to prove how collecting IGST from the concerned individuals would help in fighting coronavirus in any substantial manner for the public at large. The High Court shared observations from the Navtej Singh Johar case where it is observed that the State has both negative and positive obligations to ensure that its citizens are able to enjoy the right to health.
The High Court further made the point that no respectable person does like to be turned into a charity case. If the State contends that those who obey the law should pay the taxes then it is also obligatory on the state s part to lessen exactions such as taxes at the very least in times of war, famine, floods, epidemics and pandemics. Such an approach would lead a person to live a life of dignity which is part of Article 21 of the Constitution.
Another point that was made by the State that only the GST council is able to make any changes as regards to exemptions rather than the State were found to be false as the State had made some exemptions without going to the GST council using its own powers under Section 25 of the Customs Act.
The Court also points out that it does send a discriminatory pattern when somebody like petitioner has to pay the tax for personal use while those who are buying it for commercial use do not have to pay the tax.
The Court agreed of the view of the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Datar that oxygenator should be taxed at NIL rate at IGST as it is part of life-saving drugs and oxygenator fits the bill as medical equipment as it is used in the treatment, mitigation and prevention of spread of Coronavirus. Mr. Datar also did show that oxygenator is placed at the same level as other life-saving drugs. The Court felt further emboldened as the observations by Supreme Court in State of Andhra Pradesh vs. Linde India Limited, 2020 ( State of Andhra Pradesh vs Linde Ltd.)
The Court further shared many subsequent notifications from the State and various press releases by the State itself which does make the Court s point that oxygenators indeed are drugs as defined in the court case above. The State should have it as part of notification 190. This would preserve the start of the notification date from 03.05.2021 and the state would not have to issue a new notification.
The Court further went to postulate that any persons similar to the petitioner could avail of the same, if they furnish a letter of undertaking to an officer designated by the State that the medical equipment would not be put to commercial use. Till the state does not do that, in the interim the importer could give the same undertaking to Joint Secretary, Customs or their nominee can hand over the same to custom officer.
The Court also shared that it does not disagree with the State s arguments but the challenges which have arisen are in a unique time period/circumstances, so they are basing their judgement based on how the situation is.
The Court also mentioned an order given by Supreme Court Diary No. 10669/2020 passed on 20.03.2020 where SC has taken pains to understand the issues faced by the citizens. The court also mentioned the Small Scale Industrial Manufactures Association Case (both of these cases I don t know) .
So in conclusion, the Court holds the imposition of IGST on oxygenator which are imported by individuals as gifts from their relatives as unconstitutional. They also shared that any taxes taken by GOI in above scenario have to be returned. The relief to the state is they will not have to pay interest cost on the same.
To check misuse of the same, the petitioner or people who are in similar circumstances would have to give a letter of undertaking to an officer designated by the State within 7 days of the state notifying the patient or anybody authorized by him/her to act on their behalf to share the letter of undertaking with the State. And till the State doesn t provide an officer, the above will continue.
Hence, both the writ petition and the pending application are disposed off.
The Registry is directed to release any money deposited by the petitioner along with any interest occurred on it (if any) .
At the end they record appreciation of Mr. Arvind Datar, Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Mr. Sudhir Nandrajog as well as Mr. Siddharth Bambha. It is only due to their assistance that the court could reach the conclusion it did.
For Delhi High Court
RAJIV SHAKDHER, J.
TALWANT SINGH, J.
May 21, 2020
Blogger s Observations Now, after the verdict GOI does have few choices, either accept the verdict or appeal in the SC. A third choice is to make a committee and come to the same conclusions via the committee. GOI has done something similar in the past. If that happens and the same conclusions are reached as before, then the aggrieved may have no choice but to appear in the highest court of law. And this will put the aggrieved at a much more vulnerable place than before as SC court fees, lawyer fees etc. are quite high compared to High Courts. So, there is a possibility that the petitioner may not even approach unless and until some non-profit (NGO) does decide to fight and put it up as common cause or something similar.
There is another judgement that I will share, probably tomorrow. Thankfully, that one is pretty short compared to this one. So it should be far more easier to read. FWIW, I did learn about the whole freeenode stuff and many channels who have shifted from freenode to libera. I will share my own experience of the same but that probably will take a day or two.
Zeeshan of IYC (India Youth Congress) along with Salman Khan s non-profit Being Human getting oxygenators
The above picture of Zeeshan. There have been a whole team of Indian Youth Congress workers (main opposition party to the ruling party) who have doing lot of relief effort. They have been buying Oxygenators from abroad with help of Being Human Foundation started by Salman Khan, an actor who works in A-grade movies in Bollywood.
I ve mentioned in the past my twisted EE network setup from when I moved in to my current house. The 4GEE WiFi Mini (also known as the EE Osprey 2 Mini or the EE40VB, and actually a rebadged Alcatel Y853VB) has been sitting unused since then, so I figured I d see about trying to get a shell on it.
TL;DR: Of course it s running Linux, there s a couple of test points internally which bring out the serial console, but after finding those and logging in I discovered it s running ADB on port 5555 quite happily available without authentication both via wifi and the USB port. So if you have physical or local network access, instant root shell. Well done, folks. And then I bricked it before I could do anything more interesting.
There s a lack of information about this device out there - most of the links I can find are around removing the SIM lock - so I thought I d document the pieces I found just in case anyone else is trying to figure it out. It s based around a Qualcomm MDM9607 SoC, paired with 64M RAM and 256M NAND flash. Wifi is via an RTL8192ES. Kernel is 3.18.20. Busybox is v1.23.1. It s running dnsmasq but I didn t grab the version. Of course there s no source or offer of source provided.
Taking it apart is fairly easy. There s a single screw to remove, just beside the SIM slot. The coloured rim can then be carefully pried away from the back, revealing the battery. There are then 4 screws in the corners which need removed in order to be able to lift out the actual PCB and gain access to the serial console test points.
My mistake was going poking around trying to figure out where the updates are downloaded from - I know I m running a slightly older release than what s current, and the device can do an automatic download + update. Top tip; don t run Jrdrecovery. It ll error on finding /cache/update.zip and wipe the main partition anyway. That ll leave you in a boot loop where the device boots the recovery partition which tries to install /cache/update.zip which of course still doesn t exist.
So. Where next? First, I need to get the device into a state where I can actually do something other than watch it boot into recovery, fail to flash and reboot. Best guess at present is to try and get it to enter the Qualcomm EDL (Emergency Download) mode. That might be possible with a custom USB cable that grounds D+ on boot. Alternatively I need to probe some of the other test points on the PCB and see if grounding any of those helps enter EDL mode. I then need a suitable firehose OEM-signed programmer image. And then I need to actually get hold of a proper EE40VB firmware image, either via one of the OTA update files or possibly via an Alcatel ADSU image (though no idea how to get hold of one, other than by posting to a random GSM device forum and hoping for the kindness of strangers). More updates if/when I make progress
Qualcomm bootloader log
Format: Log Type - Time(microsec) - Message - Optional Info
Log Type: B - Since Boot(Power On Reset), D - Delta, S - Statistic
S - QC_IMAGE_VERSION_STRING=BOOT.BF.3.1.2-00053
S - IMAGE_VARIANT_STRING=LAATANAZA
S - OEM_IMAGE_VERSION_STRING=linux3
S - Boot Config, 0x000002e1
B - 105194 - SBL1, Start
D - 61885 - QSEE Image Loaded, Delta - (451964 Bytes)
D - 30286 - RPM Image Loaded, Delta - (151152 Bytes)
B - 459330 - Roger:boot_jrd_oem_main
B - 461526 - Welcome to key_check_poweron!!!
B - 466436 - REG0x00, rc=47
B - 469120 - REG0x01, rc=1f
B - 472018 - REG0x02, rc=1c
B - 474885 - REG0x03, rc=47
B - 477782 - REG0x04, rc=b2
B - 480558 - REG0x05, rc=
B - 483272 - REG0x06, rc=9e
B - 486139 - REG0x07, rc=
B - 488854 - REG0x08, rc=a4
B - 491721 - REG0x09, rc=80
B - 494130 - bq24295_probe: vflt/vsys/vprechg=0mV/0mV/0mV, tprechg/tfastchg=0Min/0Min, [0C, 0C]
B - 511546 - come to calculate vol and temperature!!
B - 511637 - ##############battery_core_convert_vntc: NTC_voltage=1785690
B - 517280 - battery_core_convert_vntc: <-44C, 1785690uV>, present=0
B - 529358 - bq24295_set_current_limit: setting=0mA, mode=-1, input/fastchg/prechg/termchg=-1mA/0mA/0mA/0mA
B - 534360 - bq24295_set_charge_current, rc=0,reg_val=0,i=0
B - 539636 - bq24295_enable_charge: setting=0, chg_enable=-1, otg_enable=0
B - 546072 - bq24295_enable_charging: enable_charging=0
B - 552172 - bq24295_set_current_limit: setting=0mA, mode=-1, input/fastchg/prechg/termchg=-1mA/0mA/0mA/0mA
B - 561566 - bq24295_set_charge_current, rc=0,reg_val=0,i=0
B - 567056 - bq24295_enable_charge: setting=0, chg_enable=0, otg_enable=0
B - 579286 - come to calculate vol and temperature!!
B - 579378 - ##############battery_core_convert_vntc: NTC_voltage=1785777
B - 585539 - battery_core_convert_vntc: <-44C, 1785777uV>, present=0
B - 597617 - charge_main: battery is plugout!!
B - 597678 - Welcome to pca955x_probe!!!
B - 601063 - pca955x_probe: PCA955X probed successfully!
D - 27511 - APPSBL Image Loaded, Delta - (179348 Bytes)
B - 633271 - QSEE Execution, Start
D - 213 - QSEE Execution, Delta
B - 638944 - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Start writting JRD RECOVERY BOOT
B - 650107 - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Start writting RECOVERY BOOT
B - 653218 - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>read_buf[0] == 0
B - 659044 - SBL1, End
D - 556137 - SBL1, Delta
S - Throughput, 2000 KB/s (782884 Bytes, 278155 us)
S - DDR Frequency, 240 MHz
littlekernel aboot log
Android Bootloader - UART_DM Initialized!!!
[0] welcome to lk
[0] SCM call: 0x2000601 failed with :fffffffc
[0] Failed to initialize SCM
[10] platform_init()
[10] target_init()
[10] smem ptable found: ver: 4 len: 17
[10] ERROR: No devinfo partition found
[10] Neither 'config' nor 'frp' partition found
[30] voltage of NTC is 1789872!
[30] voltage of BAT is 3179553!
[30] usb present is 1!
[30] Loading (boot) image (4171776): start
[530] Loading (boot) image (4171776): done
[540] DTB Total entry: 25, DTB version: 3
[540] Using DTB entry 0x00000129/00010000/0x00000008/0 for device 0x00000129/00010000/0x00010008/0
[560] JRD_CHG_OFF_FEATURE!
[560] come to jrd_target_pause_for_battery_charge!
[570] power_on_status.hard_reset = 0x0
[570] power_on_status.smpl = 0x0
[570] power_on_status.rtc = 0x0
[580] power_on_status.dc_chg = 0x0
[580] power_on_status.usb_chg = 0x0
[580] power_on_status.pon1 = 0x1
[590] power_on_status.cblpwr = 0x0
[590] power_on_status.kpdpwr = 0x0
[590] power_on_status.bugflag = 0x0
[590] cmdline: noinitrd rw console=ttyHSL0,115200,n8 androidboot.hardware=qcom ehci-hcd.park=3 msm_rtb.filter=0x37 lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 earlycon=msm_hsl_uart,0x78b3000 androidboot.serialno=7e6ba58c androidboot.baseband=msm rootfstype=ubifs rootflags=b
[620] Updating device tree: start
[720] Updating device tree: done
[720] booting linux @ 0x80008000, ramdisk @ 0x80008000 (0), tags/device tree @ 0x81e00000
Linux kernel console boot log
[ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
[ 0.000000] Linux version 3.18.20 (linux3@linux3) (gcc version 4.9.2 (GCC) ) #1 PREEMPT Thu Aug 10 11:57:07 CST 2017
[ 0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [410fc075] revision 5 (ARMv7), cr=10c53c7d
[ 0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache
[ 0.000000] Machine model: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. MDM 9607 MTP
[ 0.000000] Early serial console at I/O port 0x0 (options '')
[ 0.000000] bootconsole [uart0] enabled
[ 0.000000] Reserved memory: reserved region for node 'modem_adsp_region@0': base 0x82a00000, size 56 MiB
[ 0.000000] Reserved memory: reserved region for node 'external_image_region@0': base 0x87c00000, size 4 MiB
[ 0.000000] Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x82a00000, size 56 MiB
[ 0.000000] Reserved memory: initialized node modem_adsp_region@0, compatible id removed-dma-pool
[ 0.000000] Removed memory: created DMA memory pool at 0x87c00000, size 4 MiB
[ 0.000000] Reserved memory: initialized node external_image_region@0, compatible id removed-dma-pool
[ 0.000000] cma: Reserved 4 MiB at 0x87800000
[ 0.000000] Memory policy: Data cache writeback
[ 0.000000] CPU: All CPU(s) started in SVC mode.
[ 0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on. Total pages: 17152
[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: noinitrd rw console=ttyHSL0,115200,n8 androidboot.hardware=qcom ehci-hcd.park=3 msm_rtb.filter=0x37 lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 earlycon=msm_hsl_uart,0x78b3000 androidboot.serialno=7e6ba58c androidboot.baseband=msm rootfstype=ubifs rootflags=bulk_read root=ubi0:rootfs ubi.mtd=16
[ 0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Memory: 54792K/69632K available (5830K kernel code, 399K rwdata, 2228K rodata, 276K init, 830K bss, 14840K reserved)
[ 0.000000] Virtual kernel memory layout:
[ 0.000000] vector : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000 ( 4 kB)
[ 0.000000] fixmap : 0xffc00000 - 0xfff00000 (3072 kB)
[ 0.000000] vmalloc : 0xc8800000 - 0xff000000 ( 872 MB)
[ 0.000000] lowmem : 0xc0000000 - 0xc8000000 ( 128 MB)
[ 0.000000] modules : 0xbf000000 - 0xc0000000 ( 16 MB)
[ 0.000000] .text : 0xc0008000 - 0xc07e6c38 (8060 kB)
[ 0.000000] .init : 0xc07e7000 - 0xc082c000 ( 276 kB)
[ 0.000000] .data : 0xc082c000 - 0xc088fdc0 ( 400 kB)
[ 0.000000] .bss : 0xc088fe84 - 0xc095f798 ( 831 kB)
[ 0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=64, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[ 0.000000] Preemptible hierarchical RCU implementation.
[ 0.000000] NR_IRQS:16 nr_irqs:16 16
[ 0.000000] GIC CPU mask not found - kernel will fail to boot.
[ 0.000000] GIC CPU mask not found - kernel will fail to boot.
[ 0.000000] mpm_init_irq_domain(): Cannot find irq controller for qcom,gpio-parent
[ 0.000000] MPM 1 irq mapping errored -517
[ 0.000000] Architected mmio timer(s) running at 19.20MHz (virt).
[ 0.000011] sched_clock: 56 bits at 19MHz, resolution 52ns, wraps every 3579139424256ns
[ 0.007975] Switching to timer-based delay loop, resolution 52ns
[ 0.013969] Switched to clocksource arch_mem_counter
[ 0.019687] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
[ 0.023344] Calibrating delay loop (skipped), value calculated using timer frequency.. 38.40 BogoMIPS (lpj=192000)
[ 0.033666] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[ 0.038411] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.044902] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.052445] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
[ 0.057057] Setting up static identity map for 0x8058aac8 - 0x8058ab20
[ 0.064242]
[ 0.064242] **********************************************************
[ 0.071251] ** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **
[ 0.077817] ** **
[ 0.084302] ** trace_printk() being used. Allocating extra memory. **
[ 0.090781] ** **
[ 0.097320] ** This means that this is a DEBUG kernel and it is **
[ 0.103802] ** unsafe for produciton use. **
[ 0.110339] ** **
[ 0.116850] ** If you see this message and you are not debugging **
[ 0.123333] ** the kernel, report this immediately to your vendor! **
[ 0.129870] ** **
[ 0.136380] ** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE **
[ 0.142865] **********************************************************
[ 0.150225] MSM Memory Dump base table set up
[ 0.153739] MSM Memory Dump apps data table set up
[ 0.168125] VFP support v0.3: implementor 41 architecture 2 part 30 variant 7 rev 5
[ 0.176332] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[ 0.180930] regulator-dummy: no parameters
[ 0.215338] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[ 0.220475] DMA: preallocated 256 KiB pool for atomic coherent allocations
[ 0.284034] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[ 0.314026] cpuidle: using governor menu
[ 0.344024] cpuidle: using governor qcom
[ 0.355452] msm_watchdog b017000.qcom,wdt: wdog absent resource not present
[ 0.361656] msm_watchdog b017000.qcom,wdt: MSM Watchdog Initialized
[ 0.371373] irq: no irq domain found for /soc/pinctrl@1000000 !
[ 0.381268] spmi_pmic_arb 200f000.qcom,spmi: PMIC Arb Version-2 0x20010000
[ 0.389733] platform 4080000.qcom,mss: assigned reserved memory node modem_adsp_region@0
[ 0.397409] mem_acc_corner: 0 <--> 0 mV
[ 0.401937] hw-breakpoint: found 5 (+1 reserved) breakpoint and 4 watchpoint registers.
[ 0.408966] hw-breakpoint: maximum watchpoint size is 8 bytes.
[ 0.416287] __of_mpm_init(): MPM driver mapping exists
[ 0.420940] msm_rpm_glink_dt_parse: qcom,rpm-glink compatible not matches
[ 0.427235] msm_rpm_dev_probe: APSS-RPM communication over SMD
[ 0.432977] smd_open() before smd_init()
[ 0.437544] msm_mpm_dev_probe(): Cannot get clk resource for XO: -517
[ 0.445730] smd_channel_probe_now: allocation table not initialized
[ 0.453100] mdm9607_s1: 1050 <--> 1350 mV at 1225 mV normal idle
[ 0.458566] spm_regulator_probe: name=mdm9607_s1, range=LV, voltage=1225000 uV, mode=AUTO, step rate=4800 uV/us
[ 0.468817] cpr_efuse_init: apc_corner: efuse_addr = 0x000a4000 (len=0x1000)
[ 0.475353] cpr_read_fuse_revision: apc_corner: fuse revision = 2
[ 0.481345] cpr_parse_speed_bin_fuse: apc_corner: [row: 37]: 0x79e8bd327e6ba58c, speed_bits = 4
[ 0.490124] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: pvs voltage: [1050000 1100000 1275000] uV
[ 0.497342] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: ceiling voltage: [1050000 1225000 1350000] uV
[ 0.504979] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: floor voltage: [1050000 1050000 1150000] uV
[ 0.513125] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.518335] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.524478] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.531111] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.536788] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.542886] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.549618] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.555202] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.561374] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.570613] msm-thermal soc:qcom,msm-thermal: msm_thermal:Failed reading node=/soc/qcom,msm-thermal, key=qcom,core-limit-temp. err=-22. KTM continues
[ 0.583049] msm-thermal soc:qcom,msm-thermal: probe_therm_reset:Failed reading node=/soc/qcom,msm-thermal, key=qcom,therm-reset-temp err=-22. KTM continues
[ 0.596926] msm_thermal:msm_thermal_dev_probe Failed reading node=/soc/qcom,msm-thermal, key=qcom,online-hotplug-core. err:-517
[ 0.609370] sps:sps is ready.
[ 0.613137] msm_rpm_glink_dt_parse: qcom,rpm-glink compatible not matches
[ 0.619020] msm_rpm_dev_probe: APSS-RPM communication over SMD
[ 0.625773] mdm9607_s2: 750 <--> 1275 mV at 750 mV normal idle
[ 0.631584] mdm9607_s3_level: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.637085] mdm9607_s3_level_ao: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.643092] mdm9607_s3_floor_level: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.649512] mdm9607_s3_level_so: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.655750] mdm9607_s4: 1800 <--> 1950 mV at 1800 mV normal idle
[ 0.661791] mdm9607_l1: 1250 mV normal idle
[ 0.666090] mdm9607_l2: 1800 mV normal idle
[ 0.670276] mdm9607_l3: 1800 mV normal idle
[ 0.674541] mdm9607_l4: 3075 mV normal idle
[ 0.678743] mdm9607_l5: 1700 <--> 3050 mV at 1700 mV normal idle
[ 0.684904] mdm9607_l6: 1700 <--> 3050 mV at 1700 mV normal idle
[ 0.690892] mdm9607_l7: 1700 <--> 1900 mV at 1700 mV normal idle
[ 0.697036] mdm9607_l8: 1800 mV normal idle
[ 0.701238] mdm9607_l9: 1200 <--> 1250 mV at 1200 mV normal idle
[ 0.707367] mdm9607_l10: 1050 mV normal idle
[ 0.711662] mdm9607_l11: 1800 mV normal idle
[ 0.716089] mdm9607_l12_level: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.721717] mdm9607_l12_level_ao: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.727946] mdm9607_l12_level_so: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.734099] mdm9607_l12_floor_lebel: 0 <--> 0 mV at 0 mV normal idle
[ 0.740706] mdm9607_l13: 1800 <--> 2850 mV at 2850 mV normal idle
[ 0.746883] mdm9607_l14: 2650 <--> 3000 mV at 2650 mV normal idle
[ 0.752515] msm_mpm_dev_probe(): Cannot get clk resource for XO: -517
[ 0.759036] cpr_efuse_init: apc_corner: efuse_addr = 0x000a4000 (len=0x1000)
[ 0.765807] cpr_read_fuse_revision: apc_corner: fuse revision = 2
[ 0.771809] cpr_parse_speed_bin_fuse: apc_corner: [row: 37]: 0x79e8bd327e6ba58c, speed_bits = 4
[ 0.780586] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: pvs voltage: [1050000 1100000 1275000] uV
[ 0.787808] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: ceiling voltage: [1050000 1225000 1350000] uV
[ 0.795443] cpr_pvs_init: apc_corner: floor voltage: [1050000 1050000 1150000] uV
[ 0.803094] cpr_init_cpr_parameters: apc_corner: up threshold = 2, down threshold = 3
[ 0.810752] cpr_init_cpr_parameters: apc_corner: CPR is enabled by default.
[ 0.817687] cpr_init_cpr_efuse: apc_corner: [row:65] = 0x15000277277383
[ 0.824272] cpr_init_cpr_efuse: apc_corner: CPR disable fuse = 0
[ 0.830225] cpr_init_cpr_efuse: apc_corner: Corner[1]: ro_sel = 0, target quot = 631
[ 0.837976] cpr_init_cpr_efuse: apc_corner: Corner[2]: ro_sel = 0, target quot = 631
[ 0.845703] cpr_init_cpr_efuse: apc_corner: Corner[3]: ro_sel = 0, target quot = 899
[ 0.853592] cpr_config: apc_corner: Timer count: 0x17700 (for 5000 us)
[ 0.860426] apc_corner: 0 <--> 0 mV
[ 0.864044] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.869261] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.875492] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.882225] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.887775] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.893941] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.900719] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 0.906256] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: error on clk_get(core_clk):-517
[ 0.912430] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: error probe() failed with err:-517
[ 0.919472] msm-thermal soc:qcom,msm-thermal: msm_thermal:Failed reading node=/soc/qcom,msm-thermal, key=qcom,core-limit-temp. err=-22. KTM continues
[ 0.932372] msm-thermal soc:qcom,msm-thermal: probe_therm_reset:Failed reading node=/soc/qcom,msm-thermal,
key=qcom,therm-reset-temp err=-22. KTM continues
[ 0.946361] msm_thermal:get_kernel_cluster_info CPU0 topology not initialized.
[ 0.953824] cpu cpu0: dev_pm_opp_get_opp_count: device OPP not found (-19)
[ 0.960300] msm_thermal:get_cpu_freq_plan_len Error reading CPU0 freq table len. error:-19
[ 0.968533] msm_thermal:vdd_restriction_reg_init Defer vdd rstr freq init.
[ 0.975846] cpu cpu0: dev_pm_opp_get_opp_count: device OPP not found (-19)
[ 0.982219] msm_thermal:get_cpu_freq_plan_len Error reading CPU0 freq table len. error:-19
[ 0.991378] cpu cpu0: dev_pm_opp_get_opp_count: device OPP not found (-19)
[ 0.997544] msm_thermal:get_cpu_freq_plan_len Error reading CPU0 freq table len. error:-19
[ 1.013642] qcom,gcc-mdm9607 1800000.qcom,gcc: Registered GCC clocks
[ 1.019451] clock-a7 b010008.qcom,clock-a7: Speed bin: 4 PVS Version: 0
[ 1.025693] a7ssmux: set OPP pair(400000000 Hz: 1 uV) on cpu0
[ 1.031314] a7ssmux: set OPP pair(1305600000 Hz: 7 uV) on cpu0
[ 1.038805] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 1.043587] AXI: msm_bus_scale_register_client(): msm_bus_scale_register_client: Bus driver not ready.
[ 1.052935] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0 (not a problem)
[ 1.062006] irq: no irq domain found for /soc/wcd9xxx-irq !
[ 1.069884] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 1.074814] AXI: msm_bus_scale_register_client(): msm_bus_scale_register_client: Bus driver not ready.
[ 1.083716] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0 (not a problem)
[ 1.093850] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 1.098889] AXI: msm_bus_scale_register_client(): msm_bus_scale_register_client: Bus driver not ready.
[ 1.107779] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0 (not a problem)
[ 1.167871] KPI: Bootloader start count = 24097
[ 1.171364] KPI: Bootloader end count = 48481
[ 1.175855] KPI: Bootloader display count = 3884474147
[ 1.180825] KPI: Bootloader load kernel count = 16420
[ 1.185905] KPI: Kernel MPM timestamp = 105728
[ 1.190286] KPI: Kernel MPM Clock frequency = 32768
[ 1.195209] socinfo_print: v0.10, id=297, ver=1.0, raw_id=72, raw_ver=0, hw_plat=8, hw_plat_ver=65536
[ 1.195209] accessory_chip=0, hw_plat_subtype=0, pmic_model=65539, pmic_die_revision=131074 foundry_id=0 serial_number=2120983948
[ 1.216731] sdcard_ext_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.220555] rome_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.224133] emac_lan_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.228177] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 1.233156] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 1.238578] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 1.244507] cpufreq: driver msm up and running
[ 1.248425] ION heap system created
[ 1.251895] msm_bus_fabric_init_driver
[ 1.262563] qcom,qpnp-power-on qpnp-power-on-c7303800: PMIC@SID0 Power-on reason: Triggered from PON1 (secondary PMIC) and 'cold' boot
[ 1.273747] qcom,qpnp-power-on qpnp-power-on-c7303800: PMIC@SID0: Power-off reason: Triggered from UVLO (Under Voltage Lock Out)
[ 1.285430] input: qpnp_pon as /devices/virtual/input/input0
[ 1.291246] PMIC@SID0: PM8019 v2.2 options: 3, 2, 2, 2
[ 1.296706] Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Initialized.
[ 1.302493] Add group failed
[ 1.305291] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 1.311216] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[ 1.317109] Switched to clocksource arch_mem_counter
[ 1.334091] cfg80211: DFS Master region: unset
[ 1.337418] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
[ 1.354087] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.361055] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.370545] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[ 1.374082] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.381851] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.389876] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.397857] cfg80211: (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.405841] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.413795] cfg80211: (57240000 KHz - 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 0 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.422355] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.428921] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.435192] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[ 1.441528] TCP: reno registered
[ 1.444738] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.450521] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.456950] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[ 1.462779] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[ 1.474555] msgmni has been set to 115
[ 1.478551] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 251)
[ 1.485041] io scheduler noop registered
[ 1.488818] io scheduler deadline registered
[ 1.493200] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[ 1.502142] msm_rpm_log_probe: OK
[ 1.506717] msm_serial_hs module loaded
[ 1.509803] msm_serial_hsl_probe: detected port #0 (ttyHSL0)
[ 1.515324] AXI: get_pdata(): Error: Client name not found
[ 1.520626] AXI: msm_bus_cl_get_pdata(): client has to provide missing entry for successful registration
[ 1.530171] msm_serial_hsl_probe: Bus scaling is disabled [ 1.074814] AXI: msm_bus_scale_register_client(): msm_bus_scale_register_client: Bus driver not ready.
[ 1.083716] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0 (not a problem)
[ 1.093850] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: probing driver i2c-msm-v2
[ 1.098889] AXI: msm_bus_scale_register_client(): msm_bus_scale_register_client: Bus driver not ready.
[ 1.107779] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0 (not a problem)
[ 1.167871] KPI: Bootloader start count = 24097
[ 1.171364] KPI: Bootloader end count = 48481
[ 1.175855] KPI: Bootloader display count = 3884474147
[ 1.180825] KPI: Bootloader load kernel count = 16420
[ 1.185905] KPI: Kernel MPM timestamp = 105728
[ 1.190286] KPI: Kernel MPM Clock frequency = 32768
[ 1.195209] socinfo_print: v0.10, id=297, ver=1.0, raw_id=72, raw_ver=0, hw_plat=8, hw_plat_ver=65536
[ 1.195209] accessory_chip=0, hw_plat_subtype=0, pmic_model=65539, pmic_die_revision=131074 foundry_id=0 serial_number=2120983948
[ 1.216731] sdcard_ext_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.220555] rome_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.224133] emac_lan_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.228177] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 1.233156] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 1.238578] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 1.244507] cpufreq: driver msm up and running
[ 1.248425] ION heap system created
[ 1.251895] msm_bus_fabric_init_driver
[ 1.262563] qcom,qpnp-power-on qpnp-power-on-c7303800: PMIC@SID0 Power-on reason: Triggered from PON1 (secondary PMIC) and 'cold' boot
[ 1.273747] qcom,qpnp-power-on qpnp-power-on-c7303800: PMIC@SID0: Power-off reason: Triggered from UVLO (Under Voltage Lock Out)
[ 1.285430] input: qpnp_pon as /devices/virtual/input/input0
[ 1.291246] PMIC@SID0: PM8019 v2.2 options: 3, 2, 2, 2
[ 1.296706] Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Initialized.
[ 1.302493] Add group failed
[ 1.305291] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 1.311216] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[ 1.317109] Switched to clocksource arch_mem_counter
[ 1.334091] cfg80211: DFS Master region: unset
[ 1.337418] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
[ 1.354087] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.361055] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.370545] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[ 1.374082] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.381851] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.389876] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.397857] cfg80211: (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.405841] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.413795] cfg80211: (57240000 KHz - 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 0 mBm), (N/A)
[ 1.422355] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.428921] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.435192] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[ 1.441528] TCP: reno registered
[ 1.444738] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.450521] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 1.456950] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[ 1.462779] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[ 1.474555] msgmni has been set to 115
[ 1.478551] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 251)
[ 1.485041] io scheduler noop registered
[ 1.488818] io scheduler deadline registered
[ 1.493200] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[ 1.502142] msm_rpm_log_probe: OK
[ 1.506717] msm_serial_hs module loaded
[ 1.509803] msm_serial_hsl_probe: detected port #0 (ttyHSL0)
[ 1.515324] AXI: get_pdata(): Error: Client name not found
[ 1.520626] AXI: msm_bus_cl_get_pdata(): client has to provide missing entry for successful registration
[ 1.530171] msm_serial_hsl_probe: Bus scaling is disabled
[ 1.535696] 78b3000.serial: ttyHSL0 at MMIO 0x78b3000 (irq = 153, base_baud = 460800 [ 1.544155] msm_hsl_console_setup: console setup on port #0
[ 1.548727] console [ttyHSL0] enabled
[ 1.548727] console [ttyHSL0] enabled
[ 1.556014] bootconsole [uart0] disabled
[ 1.556014] bootconsole [uart0] disabled
[ 1.564212] msm_serial_hsl_init: driver initialized
[ 1.578450] brd: module loaded
[ 1.582920] loop: module loaded
[ 1.589183] sps: BAM device 0x07984000 is not registered yet.
[ 1.594234] sps:BAM 0x07984000 is registered.
[ 1.598072] msm_nand_bam_init: msm_nand_bam_init: BAM device registered: bam_handle 0xc69f6400
[ 1.607103] sps:BAM 0x07984000 (va:0xc89a0000) enabled: ver:0x18, number of pipes:7
[ 1.616588] msm_nand_parse_smem_ptable: Parsing partition table info from SMEM
[ 1.622805] msm_nand_parse_smem_ptable: SMEM partition table found: ver: 4 len: 17
[ 1.630391] msm_nand_version_check: nand_major:1, nand_minor:5, qpic_major:1, qpic_minor:5
[ 1.638642] msm_nand_scan: NAND Id: 0x1590aa98 Buswidth: 8Bits Density: 256 MByte
[ 1.646069] msm_nand_scan: pagesize: 2048 Erasesize: 131072 oobsize: 128 (in Bytes)
[ 1.653676] msm_nand_scan: BCH ECC: 8 Bit
[ 1.657710] msm_nand_scan: CFG0: 0x290408c0, CFG1: 0x0804715c
[ 1.657710] RAWCFG0: 0x2b8400c0, RAWCFG1: 0x0005055d
[ 1.657710] ECCBUFCFG: 0x00000203, ECCBCHCFG: 0x42040d10
[ 1.657710] RAWECCCFG: 0x42000d11, BAD BLOCK BYTE: 0x000001c5
[ 1.684101] Creating 17 MTD partitions on "7980000.nand":
[ 1.689447] 0x000000000000-0x000000140000 : "sbl"
[ 1.694867] 0x000000140000-0x000000280000 : "mibib"
[ 1.699560] 0x000000280000-0x000000e80000 : "efs2"
[ 1.704408] 0x000000e80000-0x000000f40000 : "tz"
[ 1.708934] 0x000000f40000-0x000000fa0000 : "rpm"
[ 1.713625] 0x000000fa0000-0x000001000000 : "aboot"
[ 1.718582] 0x000001000000-0x0000017e0000 : "boot"
[ 1.723281] 0x0000017e0000-0x000002820000 : "scrub"
[ 1.728174] 0x000002820000-0x000005020000 : "modem"
[ 1.732968] 0x000005020000-0x000005420000 : "rfbackup"
[ 1.738156] 0x000005420000-0x000005820000 : "oem"
[ 1.742770] 0x000005820000-0x000005f00000 : "recovery"
[ 1.747972] 0x000005f00000-0x000009100000 : "cache"
[ 1.752787] 0x000009100000-0x000009a40000 : "recoveryfs"
[ 1.758389] 0x000009a40000-0x00000aa40000 : "cdrom"
[ 1.762967] 0x00000aa40000-0x00000ba40000 : "jrdresource"
[ 1.768407] 0x00000ba40000-0x000010000000 : "system"
[ 1.773239] msm_nand_probe: NANDc phys addr 0x7980000, BAM phys addr 0x7984000, BAM IRQ 164
[ 1.781074] msm_nand_probe: Allocated DMA buffer at virt_addr 0xc7840000, phys_addr 0x87840000
[ 1.791872] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[ 1.801126] cnss_sdio 87a00000.qcom,cnss-sdio: CNSS SDIO Driver registered
[ 1.807554] msm_otg 78d9000.usb: msm_otg probe
[ 1.813333] msm_otg 78d9000.usb: OTG regs = c88f8000
[ 1.820702] gbridge_init: gbridge_init successs.
[ 1.826344] msm_otg 78d9000.usb: phy_reset: success
[ 1.830294] qcom,qpnp-rtc qpnp-rtc-c7307000: rtc core: registered qpnp_rtc as rtc0
[ 1.838474] i2c /dev entries driver
[ 1.842459] unable to find DT imem DLOAD mode node
[ 1.846588] unable to find DT imem EDLOAD mode node
[ 1.851332] unable to find DT imem dload-type node
[ 1.856921] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295 probe enter
[ 1.861161] qcom,iterm-ma = 128
[ 1.864476] bq24295_otg_vreg: no parameters
[ 1.868502] charger_core_register: Charger Core Version 5.0.0(Built at 20151202-21:36)!
[ 1.877007] i2c-msm-v2 78b8000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0x3 (ok)
[ 1.885559] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_bhot_mode 3
[ 1.890150] bq24295-charger 4-006b: power_good is 1,vbus_stat is 2
[ 1.896588] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_thermal_threshold 100
[ 1.902952] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_sys_min 3700
[ 1.908639] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_max_target_voltage 4150
[ 1.915223] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_recharge_threshold 300
[ 1.922119] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_terminal_current_limit iterm_disabled=0, iterm_ma=128
[ 1.930917] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_precharge_current_limit bdi->prech_cur=128
[ 1.940038] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_safty_timer 0
[ 1.945088] bq24295-charger 4-006b: bq24295_set_input_voltage_limit 4520
[ 1.972949] sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver
[ 1.978151] sdhci: Copyright(c) Pierre Ossman
[ 1.982441] sdhci-pltfm: SDHCI platform and OF driver helper
[ 1.989092] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: sdhci_msm_probe: ICE device is not enabled
[ 1.995473] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: No vreg data found for vdd
[ 2.001530] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: sdhci_msm_pm_qos_parse_irq: error -22 reading irq cpu
[ 2.009809] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: sdhci_msm_pm_qos_parse: PM QoS voting for IRQ will be disabled
[ 2.018600] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: sdhci_msm_pm_qos_parse: PM QoS voting for cpu group will be disabled
[ 2.030541] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: sdhci_msm_probe: sdiowakeup_irq = 353
[ 2.036867] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: No vmmc regulator found
[ 2.042027] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: No vqmmc regulator found
[ 2.048266] mmc0: SDHCI controller on 7824900.sdhci [7824900.sdhci] using 32-bit ADMA in legacy mode
[ 2.080401] Welcome to pca955x_probe!!
[ 2.084362] leds-pca955x 3-0020: leds-pca955x: Using pca9555 16-bit LED driver at slave address 0x20
[ 2.095400] sdhci_msm 7824900.sdhci: card claims to support voltages below defined range
[ 2.103125] i2c-msm-v2 78b7000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0x5 (ok)
[ 2.114183] msm_otg 78d9000.usb: Avail curr from USB = 1500
[ 2.120251] come to USB_SDP_CHARGER!
[ 2.123215] Welcome to sn3199_probe!
[ 2.126718] leds-sn3199 5-0064: leds-sn3199: Using sn3199 9-bit LED driver at slave address 0x64
[ 2.136511] sn3199->led_en_gpio=21
[ 2.139143] i2c-msm-v2 78b9000.i2c: msm_bus_scale_register_client(mstr-id:86):0x6 (ok)
[ 2.150207] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 2.154864] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[ 2.159825] sps:BAM 0x078c4000 is registered.
[ 2.163573] bimc-bwmon 408000.qcom,cpu-bwmon: BW HWmon governor registered.
[ 2.171080] devfreq soc:qcom,cpubw: Couldn't update frequency transition information.
[ 2.178513] coresight-fuse a601c.fuse: QPDI fuse not specified
[ 2.184242] coresight-fuse a601c.fuse: Fuse initialized
[ 2.192407] coresight-csr 6001000.csr: CSR initialized
[ 2.197263] coresight-tmc 6026000.tmc: Byte Counter feature enabled
[ 2.203204] sps:BAM 0x06084000 is registered.
[ 2.207301] coresight-tmc 6026000.tmc: TMC initialized
[ 2.212681] coresight-tmc 6025000.tmc: TMC initialized
[ 2.220071] nidnt boot config: 0
[ 2.224563] mmc0: new ultra high speed SDR50 SDIO card at address 0001
[ 2.231120] coresight-tpiu 6020000.tpiu: NIDnT on SDCARD only mode
[ 2.236440] coresight-tpiu 6020000.tpiu: TPIU initialized
[ 2.242808] coresight-replicator 6024000.replicator: REPLICATOR initialized
[ 2.249372] coresight-stm 6002000.stm: STM initialized
[ 2.255034] coresight-hwevent 606c000.hwevent: Hardware Event driver initialized
[ 2.262312] Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
[ 2.266306] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (920 buckets, 3680 max)
[ 2.272312] ctnetlink v0.93: registering with nfnetlink.
[ 2.277565] ip_set: protocol 6
[ 2.280568] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[ 2.285723] arp_tables: (C) 2002 David S. Miller
[ 2.290146] TCP: cubic registered
[ 2.293915] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 2.298740] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[ 2.303407] sit: IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
[ 2.308481] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[ 2.312340] bridge: automatic filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables has been deprecated. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you need this.
[ 2.325094] Bridge firewalling registered
[ 2.328930] Ebtables v2.0 registered
[ 2.333260] NET: Registered protocol family 27
[ 2.341362] battery_core_register: Battery Core Version 5.0.0(Built at 20151202-21:36)!
[ 2.348466] pmu_battery_probe: vbat_channel=21, tbat_channel=17
[ 2.420236] ubi0: attaching mtd16
[ 2.723941] ubi0: scanning is finished
[ 2.732997] ubi0: attached mtd16 (name "system", size 69 MiB)
[ 2.737783] ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
[ 2.744601] ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
[ 2.751333] ubi0: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
[ 2.758540] ubi0: good PEBs: 556, bad PEBs: 2, corrupted PEBs: 0
[ 2.764305] ubi0: user volume: 3, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
[ 2.771476] ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 192/64, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 35657280
[ 2.780708] ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 556, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 38
[ 2.789921] ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 96
[ 2.796395] android_bind cdev: 0xC6583E80, name: ci13xxx_msm
[ 2.801508] file system registered
[ 2.804974] mbim_init: initialize 1 instances
[ 2.809228] mbim_init: Initialized 1 ports
[ 2.815074] rndis_qc_init: initialize rndis QC instance
[ 2.819713] jrd device_desc.bcdDevice: [0x0242]
[ 2.823779] android_bind scheduled usb start work: name: ci13xxx_msm
[ 2.830230] android_usb gadget: android_usb ready
[ 2.834845] msm_hsusb msm_hsusb: [ci13xxx_start] hw_ep_max = 32
[ 2.840741] msm_hsusb msm_hsusb: CI13XXX_CONTROLLER_RESET_EVENT received
[ 2.847433] msm_hsusb msm_hsusb: CI13XXX_CONTROLLER_UDC_STARTED_EVENT received
[ 2.855851] input: gpio-keys as /devices/soc:gpio_keys/input/input1
[ 2.861452] qcom,qpnp-rtc qpnp-rtc-c7307000: setting system clock to 1970-01-01 06:36:41 UTC (23801)
[ 2.870315] open file error /usb_conf/usb_config.ini
[ 2.876412] jrd_usb_start_work open file erro /usb_conf/usb_config.ini, retry_count:0
[ 2.884324] parse_legacy_cluster_params(): Ignoring cluster params
[ 2.889468] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 2.894186] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 at /home/linux3/jrd/yanping.an/ee40/0810/MDM9607.LE.1.0-00130/apps_proc/oe-core/build/tmp-glibc/work-shared/mdm9607/kernel-source/drivers/cpuidle/lpm-levels-of.c:739 parse_cluster+0xb50/0xcb4()
[ 2.914366] Modules linked in:
[ 2.917339] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper Not tainted 3.18.20 #1
[ 2.923171] [<c00132ac>] (unwind_backtrace) from [<c0011460>] (show_stack+0x10/0x14)
[ 2.931092] [<c0011460>] (show_stack) from [<c001c6ac>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x68/0x88)
[ 2.939175] [<c001c6ac>] (warn_slowpath_common) from [<c001c75c>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x20)
[ 2.947895] [<c001c75c>] (warn_slowpath_null) from [<c034e180>] (parse_cluster+0xb50/0xcb4)
[ 2.956189] [<c034e180>] (parse_cluster) from [<c034b6b4>] (lpm_probe+0xc/0x1d4)
[ 2.963527] [<c034b6b4>] (lpm_probe) from [<c024857c>] (platform_drv_probe+0x30/0x7c)
[ 2.971380] [<c024857c>] (platform_drv_probe) from [<c0246d54>] (driver_probe_device+0xb8/0x1e8)
[ 2.980118] [<c0246d54>] (driver_probe_device) from [<c0246f30>] (__driver_attach+0x68/0x8c)
[ 2.988467] [<c0246f30>] (__driver_attach) from [<c02455d0>] (bus_for_each_dev+0x6c/0x90)
[ 2.996626] [<c02455d0>] (bus_for_each_dev) from [<c02465a4>] (bus_add_driver+0xe0/0x1c8)
[ 3.004786] [<c02465a4>] (bus_add_driver) from [<c02477bc>] (driver_register+0x9c/0xe0)
[ 3.012739] [<c02477bc>] (driver_register) from [<c080c3d8>] (lpm_levels_module_init+0x14/0x38)
[ 3.021459] [<c080c3d8>] (lpm_levels_module_init) from [<c0008980>] (do_one_initcall+0xf8/0x1a0)
[ 3.030217] [<c0008980>] (do_one_initcall) from [<c07e7d4c>] (kernel_init_freeable+0xf0/0x1b0)
[ 3.038818] [<c07e7d4c>] (kernel_init_freeable) from [<c0582d48>] (kernel_init+0x8/0xe4)
[ 3.046888] [<c0582d48>] (kernel_init) from [<c000dda0>] (ret_from_fork+0x14/0x34)
[ 3.054432] ---[ end trace e9ec50b1ec4c8f73 ]---
[ 3.059012] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 3.063604] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 at /home/linux3/jrd/yanping.an/ee40/0810/MDM9607.LE.1.0-00130/apps_proc/oe-core/build/tmp-glibc/work-shared/mdm9607/kernel-source/drivers/cpuidle/lpm-levels-of.c:739 parse_cluster+0xb50/0xcb4()
[ 3.083858] Modules linked in:
[ 3.086870] CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper Tainted: G W 3.18.20 #1
[ 3.093814] [<c00132ac>] (unwind_backtrace) from [<c0011460>] (show_stack+0x10/0x14)
[ 3.101575] [<c0011460>] (show_stack) from [<c001c6ac>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x68/0x88)
[ 3.109641] [<c001c6ac>] (warn_slowpath_common) from [<c001c75c>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x20)
[ 3.118412] [<c001c75c>] (warn_slowpath_null) from [<c034e180>] (parse_cluster+0xb50/0xcb4)
[ 3.126745] [<c034e180>] (parse_cluster) from [<c034b6b4>] (lpm_probe+0xc/0x1d4)
[ 3.134126] [<c034b6b4>] (lpm_probe) from [<c024857c>] (platform_drv_probe+0x30/0x7c)
[ 3.141906] [<c024857c>] (platform_drv_probe) from [<c0246d54>] (driver_probe_device+0xb8/0x1e8)
[ 3.150702] [<c0246d54>] (driver_probe_device) from [<c0246f30>] (__driver_attach+0x68/0x8c)
[ 3.159120] [<c0246f30>] (__driver_attach) from [<c02455d0>] (bus_for_each_dev+0x6c/0x90)
[ 3.167285] [<c02455d0>] (bus_for_each_dev) from [<c02465a4>] (bus_add_driver+0xe0/0x1c8)
[ 3.175444] [<c02465a4>] (bus_add_driver) from [<c02477bc>] (driver_register+0x9c/0xe0)
[ 3.183398] [<c02477bc>] (driver_register) from [<c080c3d8>] (lpm_levels_module_init+0x14/0x38)
[ 3.192107] [<c080c3d8>] (lpm_levels_module_init) from [<c0008980>] (do_one_initcall+0xf8/0x1a0)
[ 3.200877] [<c0008980>] (do_one_initcall) from [<c07e7d4c>] (kernel_init_freeable+0xf0/0x1b0)
[ 3.209475] [<c07e7d4c>] (kernel_init_freeable) from [<c0582d48>] (kernel_init+0x8/0xe4)
[ 3.217542] [<c0582d48>] (kernel_init) from [<c000dda0>] (ret_from_fork+0x14/0x34)
[ 3.225090] ---[ end trace e9ec50b1ec4c8f74 ]---
[ 3.229667] /soc/qcom,lpm-levels/qcom,pm-cluster@0: No CPU phandle, assuming single cluster
[ 3.239954] qcom,cc-debug-mdm9607 1800000.qcom,debug: Registered Debug Mux successfully
[ 3.247619] emac_lan_vreg: disabling
[ 3.250507] mem_acc_corner: disabling
[ 3.254196] clock_late_init: Removing enables held for handed-off clocks
[ 3.262690] ALSA device list:
[ 3.264732] No soundcard [ 3.274083] UBIFS (ubi0:0): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_0" started, PID 102
[ 3.305224] UBIFS (ubi0:0): recovery needed
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[ 3.469627] UBIFS (ubi0:0): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 0, name "rootfs"
[ 3.476987] UBIFS (ubi0:0): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
[ 3.486876] UBIFS (ubi0:0): FS size: 45838336 bytes (43 MiB, 361 LEBs), journal size 9023488 bytes (8 MiB, 72 LEBs)
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[ 3.503078] UBIFS (ubi0:0): media format: w4/r0 (latest is w4/r0), UUID 4DBB2F12-34EB-43B6-839B-3BA930765BAE, small LPT model
[ 3.515582] VFS: Mounted root (ubifs filesystem) on device 0:12.
[ 3.520940] Freeing unused kernel memory: 276K (c07e7000 - c082c000)
INIT: version 2.88 booting
To start off, let me say it again: I hate light pollution. I really, really hate it. I love the night sky where you look up and see thousands of stars, and constellations besides Ursa Major. As somebody said once, You haven t lived until you ve seen your shadow by the light of the Milky Way .
But, ahem, I live in a large city, and despite my attempts using star trackers, special filters, etc. you simply can t escape it. So, whenever we go on vacation in the mountains, I m trying to think if I can do a bit of astro-photography (not that I m good at it).
Which bring me to our recent vacation up in the mountains. I was looking forward to it, until in the week before, when the weather prognosis was switching between snow, rain and overcast for the entire week. No actual day or night with clear skies, so I didn t take a tripod, I didn t take a wide lens, and put night photography out of my mind.
Vacation itself was good, especially the quietness of the place, so I usually went to be early-ish and didn t look outside. The weather was as forecasted - no new snow (but there was enough up in the mountains), but heavy clouds all the time, and the sun only showed itself for a few minutes at a time.
One night I was up a bit longer than usual, working on the laptop and being very annoyed by a buzzing sound. At first I thought maybe I was imagining it, but from time to time it was stopping briefly, so it was a real noise; I started hunting for the source. Not my laptop, not the fridge, not the TV but it was getting stronger near the window. I open the door to the balcony, and bam! Very loud noise, from the hotel nearby, where at midnight the pool was being cleaned. I look at the people doing the work, trying to estimate how long it ll be until they finish, but it was looking like a long time.
Fortunately with the door closed the noise was not bad enough to impact my sleep, so I debate getting angry or just resigned, and since it was late, I just sigh, roll my eyes not metaphorically, but actually roll my eyes and look up, and I can t believe my eyes. Completely clear sky, no trace of clouds anywhere, and stars. Lots of starts. I sit there, looking at the sky and enjoying the view, and I think to myself that it won t look that nice on the camera, for sure. Especially without a real trip, and without a fast lens.
Nevertheless, I grab my camera and just for kicks take one handheld picture. To my surprise (and almost disbelief), blurry pixels aside, the photo does look like what I was seeing, so I grab my tiny tripod that I carried along, and (with only a 24-70 zoom lens), grab a photo. And another, and another and then I realise that if I can make the composition work, and find a good shutter speed, this can turn out a good picture.
I didn t have a remote release, the tripod was not very stable and it cannot point the camera upwards (it s basically an emergency tripod), so it was quite sub-optimal; still, I try multiple shots (different compositions, different shutter speeds); they look on the camera screen and on the phone pretty good, so just for safety I take a few more, and, very happy, go to bed.
Coming back from vacation, on the large monitor, it turns out that the first 28 out of the 30 pictures were either blurry or not well focused (as I was focusing manually), and the 29th was almost OK but still not very good. Only the last, the really last picture, was technically good and also composition-wise OK. Luck? Foresight? Don t know, but it was worth deleting 28 pictures to get this one. One of my best night shots, despite being so unprepared
Stars! Lots of stars! And mountains
Of course, compared to other people s pictures, this is not special. But for me, it will be a keepsake of how a real night sky should look like.
If you want to zoom in, higher resolution on flickr.
Technically, the challenges for the picture were two-fold:
fighting the shutter speed; the light was not the problem, but rather the tripod and lack of remote release: a short shutter speed will magnify tripod issues/movement from the release (although I was using delayed release on the camera), but will prevent star trails, and a long shutter speed will do the exact opposite; in the end, at the focal length I was using, I settled on a 5 second shutter speed.
composition: due to the presence of the mountains (which I couldn t avoid by tilting the camera fully up), this was for me a difficult thing, since it s more on the artistic side, which is very subjective; in the end, this turned out fine (I think), but mostly because I took pictures from many different perspectives.
Next time when travelling by car, I ll surely take a proper tripod
Until next time, clear and dark skies
Here's yet another instance where the data processing I needed done
could be acomplished entirely in the shell, with vnlog tools.
I have some time-series data in a text table. Via some join and filter
operations, I have boiled down this table to a sequence of time
indices where something interesting happened. For instance let's say
it looks like this:
t.vnl
The Fifth Risk starts with the presidential transition. Max Stier,
the first person profiled by Lewis in this book, is the founder of the
Partnership for Public Service. That foundation helped push through laws
to provide more resources and structure for the transition of the United
States executive branch from one president to the next. The goal was to
fight wasted effort, unnecessary churn, and pointless disruption in the
face of each administration's skepticism about everyone who worked for the
previous administration.
"It's Groundhog Day," said Max. "The new people come in and
think that the previous administration and the civil service are lazy
or stupid. Then they actually get to know the place they are
managing. And when they leave, they say, 'This was a really hard job,
and those are the best people I've ever worked with.' This happens
over and over and over."
By 2016, Stier saw vast improvements, despite his frustration with other
actions of the Obama administration. He believed their transition
briefings were one of the best courses ever produced on how the federal
government works. Then that transition process ran into Donald Trump.
Or, to be more accurate, that transition did not run into Donald Trump,
because neither he nor anyone who worked for him were there. We'll never
know how good the transition information was because no one ever listened
to or read it. Meetings were never scheduled. No one showed up.
This book is not truly about the presidential transition, though, despite
its presence as a continuing theme. The Fifth Risk is, at its
heart, an examination of government work, the people who do it, why it
matters, and why you should care about it. It's a study of the surprising
and misunderstood responsibilities of the departments of the United States
federal government. And it's a series of profiles of the people who
choose this work as a career, not in the upper offices of political
appointees, but deep in the civil service, attempting to keep that system
running.
I will warn now that I am far too happy that this book exists to be
entirely objective about it. The United States desperately needs basic
education about the government at all levels, but particularly the federal
civil service. The public impression of government employees is skewed
heavily towards the small number of public-facing positions and towards
paperwork frustrations, over which the agency usually has no control
because they have been sabotaged by Congress (mostly by Republicans,
although the Democrats get involved occasionally). Mental images of who
works for the government are weirdly selective. The Coast Guard could say
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help" every day, to the immense
gratitude of the people they rescue, but Reagan was still able to use that
as a cheap applause line in his attack on government programs.
Other countries have more functional and realistic social attitudes
towards their government workers. The United States is trapped in a
politically-fueled cycle of contempt and ignorance. It has to stop. And
one way to help stop it is someone with Michael Lewis's story-telling
skills writing a different narrative.
The Fifth Risk is divided into a prologue about presidential
transitions, three main parts, and an afterword (added in current
editions) about a remarkable government worker whom you likely otherwise
would never hear about. Each of the main parts talks about a different
federal department: the Department of Energy, the Department of
Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce. In keeping with the theme of
the book, the people Lewis profiles do not do what you might expect from
the names of those departments.
Lewis's title comes from his discussion with John MacWilliams, a former
Goldman Sachs banker who quit the industry in search of more personally
meaningful work and became the chief risk officer for the Department of
Energy. Lewis asks him for the top five risks he sees, and if you know
that the DOE is responsible for safeguarding nuclear weapons, you will be
able to guess several of them: nuclear weapons accidents, North Korea, and
Iran. If you work in computer security, you may share his worry about the
safety of the electrical grid. But his fifth risk was project management.
Can the government follow through on long-term hazardous waste safety and
cleanup projects, despite constant political turnover? Can it attract new
scientists to the work of nuclear non-proliferation before everyone with
the needed skills retires? Can it continue to lay the groundwork with
basic science for innovation that we'll need in twenty or fifty years?
This is what the Department of Energy is trying to do.
Lewis's profiles of other departments are similarly illuminating. The
Department of Agriculture is responsible for food stamps, the most
effective anti-poverty program in the United States with the possible
exception of Social Security. The section on the Department of Commerce
is about weather forecasting, specifically about NOAA (the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). If you didn't know that all of
the raw data and many of the forecasts you get from weather apps and web
sites are the work of government employees, and that AccuWeather has
lobbied Congress persistently for years to prohibit the NOAA from making
their weather forecasts public so that AccuWeather can charge you more for
data your taxes already paid for, you should read this book. The story of
American contempt for government work is partly about ignorance, but it's
also partly about corporations who claim all of the credit while selling
taxpayer-funded resources back to you at absurd markups.
The afterword I'll leave for you to read for yourself, but it's the story
of Art Allen, a government employee you likely have never heard of but
whose work for the Coast Guard has saved more lives than we are able to
measure. I found it deeply moving.
If you, like I, are a regular reader of long-form journalism and watch for
new Michael Lewis essays in particular, you've probably already read long
sections of this book. By the time I sat down with it, I think I'd read
about a third in other forms on-line. But the profiles that I had already
read were so good that I was happy to read them again, and the additional
stories and elaboration around previously published material was more than
worth the cost and time investment in the full book.
It was never obvious to me that anyone would want to read what had
interested me about the United States government. Doug Stumpf, my
magazine editor for the past decade, persuaded me that, at this
strange moment in American history, others might share my enthusiasm.
I'll join Michael Lewis in thanking Doug Stumpf.
The Fifth Risk is not a proposal for how to fix government, or
politics, or polarization. It's not even truly a book about the Trump
presidency or about the transition. Lewis's goal is more basic: The
United States government is full of hard-working people who are doing good
and important work. They have effectively no public relations department.
Achievements that would result in internal and external press releases in
corporations, not to mention bonuses and promotions, go unnoticed and
uncelebrated. If you are a United States citizen, this is your government
and it does important work that you should care about. It deserves the
respect of understanding and thoughtful engagement, both from the
citizenry and from the politicians we elect.
Rating: 10 out of 10
While waiting for my priority date to become current, and with enough "quarantine time" on my hand, i just come up with a very simple Python tool to parse the USCIS Visa Bulletin to gather some data from that.
For now it only contains a single plot for the EB3 final action date; it answers a simple question: how many months ago your priority date should be if you want to file your AOS on that month. We started from FY2016, to cover the final full year of the Obama administration.
If you're interested in more classes/visas, let me know and the tool could be easily extended to cover that too. PRs are always welcome.
First of all, congratulations to all those who got us 2022 Debconf, so we will finally have a debconf in India. There is of course, lot of work to be done between now and then. For those who would be looking forward to visit India and especially Kochi I would suggest you to hear this enriching tale
I am sorry I used youtube link but it is too good a podcast not to be shared. Those who don t want youtube can use the invidio.us link for the same as shared below.
https://www.invidio.us/watch?v=BvjgKuKmnQ4
I am sure there are lot more details, questions, answers etc. but would direct them gently to Praveen, Shruti, Balasankar and the rest who are from Kochi to answer if you have any questions about that history.
National Science Day, GMRT 2020
First, as always, we are and were grateful to both NCRA as well as GMRT for taking such good care of us. Even though Akshat was not around, probably getting engaged, a few of us were there. About 6-7 from the Mozilla Nasik while the rest representing the foss community. Here is a small picture which commentrates the event
National Science Day, GMRT 2020
While there is and was a lot to share about the event. For e.g. Akshay had bought RPI- Zero as well as RPI-2 (Raspberry Pi s ) and showed some things. He had also bought up a Debian stable live drive with persistence although the glare from the sun was too much that we couldn t show it to clearly to students. This was also the case with RPI but still we shared what and how much we could. Maybe next year, we either ask them to have double screens or give us dark room so we can showcase things much better. We did try playing with contrast and all but it didn t have much of an effect . Of course in another stall few students had used RPI s as part of their projects so at times we did tell some of the newbies to go to those stalls and see and ask about those projects so they would have a much wider experience of things. The Mozilla people were pushing VR as well as Mozilla lite the browser for the mobile.
We also gossiped quite a bit. I shared about indicatelts , a third-party certificate extension although I dunno if I should file a wnpp about it or not. We didn t have a good experience of when I had put an RFP (Request for Package) which was accepted for an extension which had similar functionality which we later come to know was sharing the sites people were using the extension to call home and share both the URL and the IP Address they were using it from. Sadly, didn t leave a good taste in mouth
Delhi Riots
One thing I have been disappointed with is the lack of general awareness about things especially in the youth. We have people who didn t know that for e.g. in the Delhi riots which happened recently the law and order (Police) lies with Home Minister of India, Amit Shah. This is perhaps the only capital in the world which has its own Chief Minister but doesn t have any say on its law and order. And this has been the case for last 70 years i.e. since independance. The closest I know so far is the UK but they too changed their tune in 2012. India and especially Delhi seems to be in a time-capsule which while being dysfunctional somehow is made to work. In many ways, it s three body or a body split into three personalities which often makes governance a messy issue but that probably is a topic for another day. In fact, scroll had written a beautiful editorial that full statehood for Delhi was not only Arvind Kejriwal s call (AAP) but also something that both BJP as well as Congress had asked in the past. In fact, nothing about the policing is in AAP s power. All salaries, postings, transfers of police personnel everything is done by the Home Ministry, so if any blame has to be given it has to be given to the Home Ministry for the same.
American Capitalism and Ventilators
America had been having a history of high cost healthcare as can be seen in this edition of USA today from 2017 . The Affordable Care Act was signed as a law by President Obama in 2010 which Mr. Trump curtailed when he came into power couple of years back. An estimated 80,000 people died due to seasonal flu in 2018-19 . Similarly, anywhere between 24-63,000 have supposed to have died from Last October to February-March this year. Now if the richest country can t take care of their population which is 1/3rd of the population of this country while at the same time United States has thrice the area that India has. This I am sharing as seasonal flu also strikes the elderly as well as young children more than adults. So in one senses, the vulnerable groups overlap although from some of the recent stats, for Covid-19 even those who are 20+ are also vulnerable but that s another story altogether.
If you see the CDC graph of the seasonal flu it is clear that American health experts knew about it. One another common factor which joins both the seasonal flu and covid is both need ventilators for the most serious cases. So, in 2007 it was decided that the number of ventilators needed to be ramped up, they had approximately 62k ventilators at that point in time all over U.S. The U.S. in 2010, asked for bids and got bid from a small californian company called Newport Medic Instruments. The price of the ventilators was approximately INR 700000 at 2010 prices, while Newport said they would be able to mass-produce at INR 200000 at 2010 prices. The company got the order and they started designing the model which needed to be certified by FDA. By 2011, they got the product ready when a big company called Covidgen bought Newport Medic and shutdown the project. This was shared in a press release in 2012. The whole story was broken by New York Times again, just a few days ago which highlighted how America s capitalism rough shod over public health and put people s life unnecessarily in jeopardy. If those new-age ventilators would have been a reality then not just U.S. but India and many other countries would have bought the ventilators as every county has same/similar needs but are unable to pay the high cost which in many cases would be passed on to their citizens either as price of service, or by raising taxes or a mixture of both with public being none the wiser. Due to dearth of ventilators and specialized people to operate it and space, there is possibility that many countries including India may have to make tough choices like Italian doctors had to make as to who to give ventilator to and have the mental and emotional guilt which would be associated with the choices made.
Some science coverage about diseases in wire and other publications
Since Covid coverage broke out, the wire has been bringing variousreports of India s handling of various epidemics, mysteries, some solved, some still remaining unsolved due to lack of interest or funding or both. The Nipah virus has been amply discussed in the movie Virus (2019) which I shared in the last blog post and how easily it could have been similar to Italy in Kerala. Thankfully, only 24 people including a nurse succumbed to that outbreak as shared in the movie. I had shared about Kerala nurses professionalism when I was in hospital couple of years back. It s no wonder that their understanding of hygeine and nursing procedures are a cut above the rest hence they are sought after not just in India but world-over including US and UK and the middle-east. Another study on respitory illness was bought to my attention by my friend Pavithran.
Possibility of extended lockdown in India
There was talk in the media of extended lockdown or better put an environment is being created so that an extended lockdown can be done. This is probably in part due to a mathematical model and its derivatives shared by two Indian-origin Cambridge scholars who predict that a minimum 49 days lockdown may be necessary to flatten the covid curve about a week back.
Predictions of the outcome of the current 21-day lockdown (Source: Rajesh Singh, R. Adhikari, Cambridge University)
Alternative lockdown strategies suggested by the Cambridge model (Source: Rajesh Singh, R. Adhikari, Cambridge University)
India caving to US pressure on Hydroxychloroquine
While there has been lot of speculation in U.S. about Hydroxychloroquine as the wonder cure, last night Mr. Trump threatened India in a response to a reporter that Mr. Modi has to say no for Hydroxychloroquine and there may be retaliations.
As shared before if youtube is not your cup you can see the same on invidio.us
https://www.invidio.us/watch?v=YP-ewgoJPLw
Now while there have been several instances in the past of U.S. trying to bully India, going all the way back to 1954. In fact, in recent memory, there were sanctions on India by US under Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government (BJP) 1998 but he didn t buckle under the pressure and now we see our current PM taking down our own notification from a day ago and not just sharing Hydroxychloroquine but also Paracetemol to other countries so it would look as if India is sharing with other countries. Keep in mind, that India, Brazil haven t seen eye to eye on trade agreements of late and Paracetemol prices have risen in India. The price rise has been because the API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) for the same come from China where the supply chain will take time to be fixed and we would also have to open up, although should we, should we not is another question altogether. I talk about supply chains as lean supply chains were the talk since late 90 s when the Japanese introduced Just-in-time manufacturing which lead to lean supply chains as well as lot of outsourcing as consequence. Of course, the companies saved money but at the cost of flexibility and how this model was perhaps flawed was shared by a series of articles in Economist as early as 2004 when there were lot of shocks to that model and would be exaberated since then. There have been frequent shocks to these fragile ecosystem more since 2008 after the financial meltdown and this would put more companies out of business than ever before.
The MSME sector in India had already been severely impacted first by demonetization and then by the horrendous implementation of GST whose cries can be heard from all sectors. Also the frequent changing of GST taxes has made markets jumpy and investors unsure. With judgements such as retrospective taxes, AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) etc. it made not only the international investors scared, but also domestic investors. The flight of the capital has been noticeable. This I had shared before when Indian Government shared about LRS report which it hasn t since then. In fact Outlook Business had an interesting article about it where incidentally it talked about localcircles, a community networking platform where you get to know of lot of things and whom I am also a member of.
At the very end I apologize for not sharing the blog post before but then I was feeling down but then I m not the only one.
Tressie McMillan Cottom is an associate professor of sociology at Virginia
Commonwealth University. I first became aware of her via retweets and
recommendations from other people I follow on Twitter, and she is indeed
one of the best writers on that site. Thick: And Other Essays is
an essay collection focused primarily on how American culture treats black
women.
I will be honest here, in part because I think much of the regular
audience for my book reviews is similar to me (white, well-off from
working in tech, and leftist but privileged) and therefore may identify
with my experience. This is the sort of book that I always want to read
and then struggle to start because I find it intimidating. It received a
huge amount of praise on release, including being named as a finalist for
the National Book Award, and that praise focused on its incisiveness, its
truth-telling, and its depth and complexity. Complex and incisive books
about racism are often hard for me to read; they're painful, depressing,
and infuriating, and I have to fight my tendency to come away from them
feeling more cynical and despairing. (Despite loving his essays, I'm
still procrastinating reading Ta-Nehisi Coates's books.) I want to learn
and understand but am not good at doing anything with the information, so
this reading can feel like homework.
If that's also your reaction, read this book. I regret having waited as
long as I did.
Thick is still, at times, painful, depressing, and infuriating.
It's also brilliantly written in a way that makes the knowledge being
conveyed easier to absorb. Rather than a relentless onslaught of bearing
witness (for which, I should stress, there is an important place), it is a
scalpel. Each essay lays open the heart of a subject in a few deft
strokes, points out important features that the reader has previously
missed, and then steps aside, leaving you alone with your thoughts to come
to terms with what you've just learned. I needed this book to be an essay
collection, with each thought just long enough to have an impact and not
so long that I became numb. It's the type of collection that demands a
pause at the end of each essay, a moment of mental readjustment, and
perhaps a paging back through the essay again to remember the sharpest
points.
The essays often start with seeds of the personal, drawing directly on
McMillan Cottom's own life to wrap context around their point. In the
first essay, "Thick," she uses advice given her younger self against
writing too many first-person essays to talk about the writing form, its
critics, and how the backlash against it has become part of systematic
discrimination because black women are not allowed to write any other sort
of authoritative essay. She then draws a distinction between her own
writing and personal essays, not because she thinks less of that genre but
because that genre does not work for her as a writer. The essays in
Thick do this repeatedly. They appear to head in one direction,
then deepen and shift with the added context of precise sociological
analysis, defying predictability and reaching a more interesting
conclusion than the reader had expected. And, despite those shifts,
McMillan Cottom never lost me in a turn. This is a book that is not only
comfortable with complexity and nuance, but helps the reader become
comfortable with that complexity as well.
The second essay, "In the Name of Beauty," is perhaps my favorite of the
book. Its spark was backlash against an essay McMillan Cottom wrote about
Miley Cyrus, but the topic of the essay wasn't what sparked the backlash.
What many black women were angry about was how I located myself in
what I'd written. I said, blithely as a matter of observable fact,
that I am unattractive. Because I am unattractive, the argument went,
I have a particular kind of experience of beauty, race, racism, and
interacting with what we might call the white gaze. I thought nothing
of it at the time I was writing it, which is unusual. I can usually
pinpoint what I have said, written, or done that will piss people off
and which people will be pissed off. I missed this one entirely.
What follows is one of the best essays on the social construction of
beauty I've ever read. It barely pauses at the typical discussion of
unrealistic beauty standards as a feminist issue, instead diving directly
into beauty as whiteness, distinguishing between beauty standards that
change with generations and the more lasting rules that instead police the
bounds between white and not white. McMillan Cottom then goes on to
explain how beauty is a form of capital, a poor and problematic one but
nonetheless one of the few forms of capital women have access to, and
therefore why black women have fought to be included in beauty despite all
of the problems with judging people by beauty standards. And the essay
deepens from there into a trenchant critique of both capitalism and white
feminism that is both precise and illuminating.
When I say that I am unattractive or ugly, I am not internalizing the
dominant culture's assessment of me. I am naming what has been done
to me. And signaling who did it. I am glad that doing so unsettles
folks, including the many white women who wrote to me with impassioned
cases for how beautiful I am. They offered me neoliberal self-help
nonsense that borders on the religious. They need me to believe
beauty is both achievable and individual, because the alternative
makes them vulnerable.
I could go on. Every essay in this book deserves similar attention. I
want to quote from all of them. These essays are about racism, feminism,
capitalism, and economics, all at the same time. They're about power, and
how it functions in society, and what it does to people. There is an
essay about Obama that contains the most concise explanation for his
appeal to white voters that I've read. There is a fascinating essay about
the difference between ethnic black and black-black in U.S. culture.
There is so much more.
We do not share much in the U.S. culture of individualism except our
delusions about meritocracy. God help my people, but I can talk to
hundreds of black folks who have been systematically separated from
their money, citizenship, and personhood and hear at least eighty
stories about how no one is to blame but themselves. That is not
about black people being black but about people being American. That
is what we do. If my work is about anything it is about making plain
precisely how prestige, money, and power structure our so-called
democratic institutions so that most of us will always fail.
I, like many other people in my profession, was always more comfortable
with the technical and scientific classes in college. I liked math and
equations and rules, dreaded essay courses, and struggled to engage with
the mandatory humanities courses. Something that I'm still learning, two
decades later, is the extent to which this was because the humanities are
harder work than the sciences and I wasn't yet up to the challenge of
learning them properly. The problems are messier and more fluid. The
context required is broader. It's harder to be clear and precise. And
disciplines like sociology deal with our everyday lived experience, which
means that we all think we're entitled to an opinion.
Books like this, which can offer me a hand up and a grounding in the
intellectual rigor while simultaneously being engaging and easy to read,
are a treasure. They help me fill in the gaps in my education and help me
recognize and appreciate the depth of thought in disciplines that don't
come as naturally to me.
This book was homework, but the good kind, the kind that exposes gaps in
my understanding, introduces topics I hadn't considered, and makes the
time fly until I come up for air, awed and thinking hard. Highly
recommended.
Rating: 9 out of 10
If you are puzzled by the indistinguishability of the active tab from inactive tabs in any of the GTK3 based terminal emulators (mate-terminal, gnome-terminal, terminator, ), you are not alone. I have been plagued by that for far too long, and finally found a working solution.
In the above screen shot you see the tabs in the upper part are hardly distinguishable, and in the lower part the active tab is clearly indicated with different colors. Searching for relevant search terms brings up a variety of suggestions, most of them not working. I finally found this one and adapted the code therein to fit my need. The solution is to edit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css, and add the following at the end:
Here I didn t change the background color (commented above), but changed the styling of the tab title and added a frame. The above changes the tab layout for all GTk3 elements that use the notebook widget, if one wants to restrict it to a certain terminal one need to prefix each CSS selector with the correct terminal indicator, as shown in the original post.
Hope that helps.
Sent a patch for pristine-tar to allow storage of detached upstream signatures. (#871809)
Worked more on Lintian, a static analysis tool for Debian packages, reporting on various errors, omissions and quality-assurance issues to the maintainer (previous changes):
Address a number of issues in the copyright-year-in-future tag including preventing false positives in port numbers, email addresses, ISO standard numbers and street addresses (#869788), as well as "meta" or testing statements (#873323). In addition, report all violating years in a line and expand the testsuite.
Updated travis.debian.net (my hosted service for projects that host their Debian packaging on GitHub to use the Travis CI continuous integration platform for testing):
Move away from deb.debian.org; Travis appears to be using a HTTP proxy that strips SRV records. (commit)
Highlight double quotes are required for TRAVIS_DEBIAN_EXTRA_REPOSITORY. (commit)
Merged a pull request in django-slack, my library to easily post messages to the Slack group-messaging utility, where instantiation of a SlackException was failing. (#71)
Whilst anyone can inspect the source code of free software for malicious flaws, most software is distributed pre-compiled to end users.
The motivation behind the Reproducible Builds effort is to allow verification that no flaws have been introduced either maliciously or accidentally during this compilation process by promising identical results are always generated from a given source, thus allowing multiple third-parties to come to a consensus on whether a build was compromised.
I have generously been awarded a grant from the Core Infrastructure Initiative to fund my work in this area.
This month I:
Presented a status update at Debconf17 in Montr al, Canada alongside Holger Levsen, Maria Glukhova, Steven Chamberlain, Vagrant Cascadian, Valerie Young and Ximin Luo.
I worked on the following issues upstream:
glib2.0: Please make the output of gio-querymodules reproducible. (...)
Tidy diffoscope.progress and the XML comparator (commit, commit)
disorderfs
disorderfs is our FUSE-based filesystem that deliberately introduces non-determinism into directory system calls in order to flush out reproducibility issues.
4:4.0.1-5 Drop even more tests with timing issues.
4:4.0.1-6 Don't install completions to /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/debian/bash_completion/.
4:4.0.1-7 Don't let sentinel integration tests fail the build as they use too many timers to be meaningful. (#872075)
python-gflags1.5.1-3 If SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is set, either use that as a source of current dates or the UTC-version of the file's modification time (#836004), don't call update-alternatives--remove in postrm. update debian/watch/Homepage & refresh/tidy the packaging.
bfs1.1.1-1 New upstream release, tidy autopkgtest & patches, organising the latter with Pq-Topic.
We restarted our IRC meetings, now with a monthly schedule where we meet on the first Thursday of the month at a varying time. Our next meeting will be on the first 6th of July at 17:00 UTC. At the June meeting we had the following agenda, and if you are interested there is an automated summary and full logs too.
Introductions
Feedback for the reproducible.json spec format - is that suitable for Guix and F-Droid as well? LEDE/OpenWrt? Coreboot?
writing parser + user interface for reproducible.json
Chris Lamb wrote a proof-of-concept implementation for #863622 ("apt: warn when installing packages that are not reproducible"). Try it, it's fun!
Russ worked on making the debian-policy package build reproducibly which is a good opportunity to shamelessly plug that #844431 ("debian-policy: Packages should be reproducible") is still a work in progress.
4 package reviews have been added, 6 have been updated and 25 have been removed in this week,
adding to our knowledge about identified issues.
Weekly QA work
During our reproducibility testing, FTBFS bugs have been detected and reported by:
Ressurect rpi2c-armhf-rb.debian.net (Raspberry PI 2B, broadcom bcm2836 quad-core (cortex-A7), 1GB RAM) from the dead.
Holger Levsen:
Configure the rc.local service on all build nodes to only start when the network is actually up, as configuring half of them to run in the future requires networking to determine the real current date. See Running Services After the Network is up if you want to learn more about networking with systemd. Somehow this doesnt work yet on the Ubuntu 16.05 arm64 nodes; help welcome, either on #debian-qa or #debian-reproducible.
Add rpi2c back to the armhf network.
Also add ff64a, odc2a & jtx1a to the armhf network.
Add pbuilder/schroot-setup jobs for the new nodes.
Add 10 new armhf builder jobs.
Disable all build jobs on odc2a again as haveged segfaults on 4.12~rc2, which is needed for this board & setup.
Reproducible_cleanup_nodes.sh: adapt for new build service
Make performance.html show if build jobs are down due to remote node problems and make code to count enabled jobs more robust.
reproducible_build_service: Make it cope with disabled workers.
jenkins-master-wrapper: Fail loudly if remote node is not accessable.
Increase maximum scheduling queue sizes, to adjust for faster scheduler.
New script, init_node, to initialize new build nodes (derived from refactored existing script).
Update INSTALL documentation to reflect that we're testing arm64 now too.
Misc.
This week's edition was written by Chris Lamb, Bernhard M. Wiedemann and Holger Levsen & reviewed by a bunch of Reproducible Builds folks on IRC & the mailing lists.
Dormitory room in Zostel Ernakulam, Kochi.
Beds in Zostel Ernakulam, Kochi.
Onam sadya menu from Brindhavan restaurant.
Sadya lined up for serving
Sadya thali served on banana leaf.
We were treated with such views during the Wayanad trip.
A road in Rippon.
Entry to Kanthanpara Falls.
Kanthanpara Falls.
A view of Zostel Wayanad.
A map of Wayanad showing tourist places.
A view from inside the Zostel Wayanad property.
Terrain during trekking towards the Chembra peak.
Heart-shaped lake at the Chembra peak.
Me at the heart-shaped lake.
Views from the top of the Chembra peak.
View of another peak from the heart-shaped lake.
(no site yet)
in October 2021. they generally seem to keep up with
shipping. update (august 2022): they rolled out a second line of
laptops (12th gen), first batch shipped, second batch 
In my three most recent posts, I went over the 
Zeeshan of IYC (India Youth Congress) along with Salman Khan s non-profit Being Human getting oxygenators 
I ve mentioned in the past my 
My mistake was going poking around trying to figure out where the updates are downloaded from - I know I m running a slightly older release than what s current, and the device can do an automatic download + update. Top tip; don t run 
. Of course in another stall few students had used RPI s as part of their projects so at times we did tell some of the newbies to go to those stalls and see and ask about those projects so they would have a much wider experience of things. The Mozilla people were pushing VR as well as Mozilla lite the browser for the mobile.
We also gossiped quite a bit. I shared about 
If you are puzzled by the indistinguishability of the active tab from inactive tabs in any of the GTK3 based terminal emulators (mate-terminal, gnome-terminal, terminator, ), you are not alone. I have been plagued by that for far too long, and finally found a working solution.
In the above screen shot you see the tabs in the upper part are hardly distinguishable, and in the lower part the active tab is clearly indicated with different colors. Searching for relevant search terms brings up a variety of suggestions, most of them not working. I finally found 