Ciao Ciao Xorg, thanks for all these years

I just realized I’ve been using Xorg/Xfree86 since my mid teens. After more than 30 years (!!!!) of faithful service, finally all the conditions were met and I moved on to Wayland hopefully without looking back. I’ve tried this a few times over the last 10 years but either apps were not ready, the environment wasn’t mature or stable, or there was some roadblock (nvidia: looking at you). Finally with ubuntu 24.04.1LTS all my pre-conditions seem to be met. I can even hibernate my TPM-encrypted desktop PC without worrying of losing the session. Thanks xorg and it’s countless devs for driving us to here. Thanks wayland folks for carrying the linux desktop forward from here.

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OpenAI & ChatGPT

write a short story in the style of jorge luis borges

As the sun set over the city, Jorge made his way to the library. He had always been drawn to the ancient, musty volumes that filled the shelves, and tonight he had a particular book in mind.

He found it at last, a small, leather-bound volume with a title he could not decipher. The pages were yellowed and fragile, and as he turned them, he felt a sense of awe and mystery wash over him.

The book was a collection of stories from all over the world, tales of magic and adventure, of love and loss, of mystery and revelation. As Jorge read, he found himself lost in the words, transported to other times and places, caught up in the power of the stories.

But as the night wore on, he began to notice strange patterns in the stories. Characters and events seemed to repeat themselves in different guises, crossing between tales and blending together in strange and inexplicable ways.

Jorge couldn’t shake the feeling that the book was more than just a collection of stories. It seemed to hold some deeper truth, some secret knowledge that he couldn’t quite grasp.

As the first rays of dawn spilled through the windows, Jorge closed the book and made his way home, his mind racing with the possibilities of what he had read. He knew he would return to the library again and again, searching for the secrets hidden within its pages.

rewrite the story in the style of HP lovecraft

As the moon rose over the ancient city, I made my way to the library, a place of forbidden knowledge and eldritch secrets. I had always been drawn to the dark and ancient tomes that filled its shelves, and tonight I had a particular book in mind.

I found it at last, a small, leather-bound volume with a title written in a language long forgotten by man. The pages were blackened with age, and as I turned them, I felt a sense of dread and foreboding wash over me.

The book was a collection of tales from realms beyond our own, tales of cosmic horror and madness, of ancient deities and otherworldly beasts. As I read, I felt my mind begin to unravel, as the tales described horrors beyond human understanding.

But as the night wore on, I began to notice strange patterns in the stories. Characters and events seemed to repeat themselves in different guises, crossing between tales and blending together in ways that defied logic and reason.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that the book was more than just a collection of stories. It seemed to hold some deeper truth, some secret knowledge that would drive me to the brink of insanity if I dared to fully comprehend it.

As the first rays of dawn spilled through the windows, I closed the book and fled the library, my mind racing with the horrors I had seen. I knew I would never be able to forget the secrets hidden within its pages, and that they would haunt me forever.

rewrite the story again, in the style of julio cortazar

As the night settled over the city, I made my way to the library, a place of endless possibility and endless possibility. I had always been drawn to the shelves of books, each one a doorway to a new world, and tonight I had a particular volume in mind.

I found it at last, a small, leather-bound book with a title I couldn’t quite make out. The pages were thin and delicate, and as I turned them, I felt a sense of excitement and wonder wash over me.

The book was a collection of stories from all over the world, tales of magic and adventure, of love and loss, of mystery and revelation. As I read, I found myself lost in the words, transported to other times and places, caught up in the power of the stories.

But as the night wore on, I began to notice strange patterns in the stories. Characters and events seemed to repeat themselves in different guises, crossing between tales and blending together in strange and inexplicable ways.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that the book was more than just a collection of stories. It seemed to hold some deeper truth, some secret knowledge that I couldn’t quite grasp.

As the first rays of dawn spilled through the windows, I closed the book and made my way home, my mind racing with the possibilities of what I had read. I knew I would return to the library again and again, searching for the secrets hidden within its pages.

Game changer? generative pre-trained transformer

Colonia Apacible

Después de una punta de años, vuelta a Colonia, Uruguay. Por un lado, no cambió, increíble estar tan cerca y tan lejos del ruido y  del BAires. Por el otro – no recordaba que todas las tardes soleadas son un privilegio allá.

Tranquilas aguas del Atlántico en Punta del Este.

Este viaje conocimos San Antonio de Areco – gran descubrimiento, pueblo y estancia.

 

Usando OpenCL en Fedora (28) con darktable &c

Acá va un post bien técnico.

La motivación

  • Usás Fedora u otra distro basada en rpm, versión reciente (Fedora 28 o más nueva)
  • Tenés una tarjeta gráfica AMD (ejemplo: GPU RX560)
  • Usás darktable y GIMP para procesar fotos
  • Querés usar OpenCL para acelerar darktable/GIMP (500% más rápido en muchas operaciones), pero no querés arriesgar tu desktop/workstation instalando el driver propietario amdgpu-pro
  • En tu desktop, para OpenGL etc (aceleración gráfica normal) y para juegos, querés seguir usando el driver amdgpu open-source, que es más rápido y está mucho mejor soportado que el propietario
  • Tampoco podrías usar el driver propietario porque sólo soporta RedHat or CentOS con kernels viejísimas
  • Te diste cuenta de que la implementación open-source que viene en tu distro es tan mala que darktable la ignora y no te deja activar OpenCL
    • en otras palabras, el comando darktable-cltest te dice que no encuentra ninguna implementación OpenCL que valga la pena activar. Así, sin anestesia.

La solución

  • Utilizar solamente las librerías OpenCL que vienen en el driver propietario amdgpu-pro versión CentOS, y hacer que tu sistema las vea, sin modificar nada más

El procedimiento

  • download a recent amdgpu-pro (tested with 18.20), CentOS flavor, for example: this one; store it somewhere where it can stay
  • Extract the content of the .tar.xz file to a folder; inside that folder navigate to ./RPMS/x86_64, and «Open a Terminal» in it (or: inside any terminal, ‘cd’ to this same folder)
  • Now we will unpack the RPMs to extract the libraries; this procedure will generate a lot of files and may take a minute or two in a slower machine; run this in the terminal:
for i in *.rpm; do rpm2cpio $i | cpio -idmv; done
  • A bunch of new subdirectories are created; navigate to this one: ./RPMS/x86_64/etc/OpenCL  – it contains two files: amdocl64.icd and amdocl-orca64.icd
  • Copy both files to /etc/OpenCL/vendors
  • Now navigate back to x86_64, and forward to: ./opt/amdgpu-pro/lib64; make sure this folder exists and that it contains a bunch of libraries (.so files); note the full path to this folder; for example
/opt/amdgpu-pro/amdgpu-pro-18.20-606296/RPMS/x86_64/opt/amdgpu-pro/lib64
  • Before the final step, confirm that darktable-cltest can use these libraries, this can be done easily like so:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/amdgpu-pro/amdgpu-pro-18.20-606296/RPMS/x86_64/opt/amdgpu-pro/lib64 darktable-cltest
  • if all went well, darktable-cltest will find the OpenCL libraries and your card, and compile all its «opencl kernels», showing a bunch of «successfully loaded kernel» messages
  • At this point you could launch darktable or GIMP with the same LD_LIBRARY_PATH trick as above, modify your launchers etc, and you will get OpenCL acceleration exposed to the apps you want.
  • Test performance directly with darktable after enabling OpenCL (Options > Core Options > Activate OpenCL) – two darktable modules particularly impacted are «denoise (profiled)» and JPG exports – I measured 5X improvement in performance in the latter.

 

Tantas vueltas para usar OpenCL en Fedora y otras distros seguramente se van a simplificar de acá a uno o dos años, cuando la nueva implementación OpenCL open-source de AMD (ROCm) sea finalmente incluída en las distribuciones. Al parecer esto puede tomar un tiempo. He aquí el procedimiento que se puede usar en el ínterin.

Marrakesh, Tanger y País Vasco

El año pasado el viento nos llevó una vez más hacia el Este.

Explorando Ksars y Kasbahs en la ruta del desierto,

(Ksar Ait Ben Haddou = uno de los escenarios naturales de Game of Thrones).

Luego Tánger, cruzando el Mediterráneo en ferry, Algeciras > Córdoba y la ineludible catedral,

(hermosa pequeña ciudad que excedió todas las expectativas!).

Y qué se puede decir de San Sebastián, cocina incluída.

… y de su ciudad gemela del lado Francés, Biarritz. Cerrando via Bilbao, París, vuelta a casa.

Algunas fotos aquí.

 

 

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