Upgrading Linux and DisplayCAL

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I recently re-installed one of my Linux machines. I did this because some software I need would only run on newer versions of Linux, some problems happened with my old Linux install (probably from badly timed power failures), and I wanted to upgrade to a release with a longer support period.

The issue is that some software I used would not work on newer versions of Ubuntu based Linux, and this is what initially delayed my upgrade. Eventually I found new programs that are still in active development, using old software just to avoid changing to a program that was abandoned is not a wise decision. I know people that have machines dating from the 1990's that they keep running so they can run one specific program that they refuse to replace with a modern equivalent. Ideally, our software would move to new hardware with us, but in times when it does not, there are two possible decisions that I support. First is to replace with a new program, and the second is to use emulation or virtual machines to run that one program on a modern system. Running another PC that cannot be upgraded just to remain compatible with one program is not a wise idea, and it also opens the door to security issues down the line.

DisplayCAL is a program used to calibrate monitors. Most people don't realize just how out to lunch most monitors are with regards to color. Most monitors are unable to display colors as they were intended to be, this is why people who want their screens to be accurate will use a special device that checks their monitors for color accuracy. Photographers and web designers can benefit from accurate color on their monitors. Even an expensive monitor wont be accurate, even two monitors of the same model will look different when placed next to each other. The way to fix this issue is to use a color calibration program and a colorimeter device to tell the computer how to compensate for the differences in each screen. DisplayCAL is one of the better programs for this task that is also easy to use.

The problem with DisplayCAL is that it's written to use an older version of Python that has since been deprecated. Thankfully, DisplayCAL is open source, and someone else rewrote it to use a newer version of Python that is still supported.

To anyone having the same issue as I did with DisplayCAL, head to this repository https://github.com/eoyilmaz/displaycal-py3 which holds a more up to date version of DisplayCAL. Following the directions to build and install this program worked on my system.

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Helping a project

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While programming micro-controller chips that will eventually control a semi-custom radio for a friend of mine, I was browsing for a library for the radio chip we are using. We eventually found a library and decided that it might not work for us due to memory usage and the limited memory available on the micro controllers we are using.

Still, the library is well made, and easy for a beginner to use. The choice to use object oriented programming makes it far easier for someone coming from other areas to utilize since object orientated programming is quite popular these days.

Our main issue was that the library's documentation could use a little cleaning up from a native English speaker. Rather than complain about it, I forked the repository on Github and I started working on said documentation. Sometimes the best solution is to just offer to lend a hand rather than expect someone else to volunteer their time to make your life easier.

The beauty of open source software is that if you see a problem and you either know how to fix it or you know someone who knows how to fix it, you can fix the issue even if it otherwise would not get fixed. With closed source software, you would be at the mercy of whatever company is writing the software, most people cannot program and therefore don't care, but they should still care since they could ask someone else they know to fix their issue without waiting for the company. The same applies to security software, open source code may not help the non-programmers in ways they can see directly, but they still benefit from people who can program being able to verify the integrity of the code on their behalf.

To the writer of the Arduino library for SI47XX radio chips, your library is great and has given me the resources I need to write my own library that matches the particular edge-case that I have to contend with. Though, if I needed to use all the features of the SI4731 based module I have been tasked with programming, I would definitely be using your library.

Check out his repository: https://github.com/pu2clr/SI4735

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