(Binary) packaging with Debreate

Working on the binary packages of ArcheOS 5 (Theodoric), I found a software that make easy (through a GUI) the entire process, especially the final (package building). With this software, Debreate, if you are able to compile form source code, than you will be able to build a deb binary package with just a few more steps. The whole workflow is guided an pretty easy, but to make things more simple a recorded the videtutorial you can see here below:

The important thing in packaging for ArcheOS is to respect the schema we decided in ArcheOS 4, that for software application is:

/bin (for executables file)
/usr/share/archeos/softwarename-version (for the software files)
/usr/share/icons/archeos/48x48/softwareicon.png (for the icon)

In the example (OpenJUMP) I recorded in the vidotutorial, the schema is the following:

/bin
/usr/share/archeos/openjump-1.8.0
/usr/share/icons/archeos/48x48/openjump.png

I hope this tutorila will be useful and that someone will join us in packaging for ArcheOS Theodoric.

Have a nice day!

ArcheOS Theodoric OpenJUMP binary package: call for tester

Hi,

I finally found a little bit of time to work on ArcheOS 5 (codename Theodoric). As some of you know, one of our main goal for this version was to add all the software as source packages (instead of binary packages), in order to avoid problems in maintaining different hardware versions (source packages can be compiled by the Operating System independently on 32 bit or 64 bit machine without the necessity to prepare different binary packages). Thanks to the effort of +Fabrizio Furnari  (system engineer) and +Romain Janvier  (archaeologist and IT expert) we reached a good version of ArcheOS, with a lot of software already packaged in source version. If someone is interested in testing the state of the art of ArcheOS 5, he/she can visit the GitHub page and follow the instructions to build an updated ArcheOS 5 iso image. Despite this, a lot of work is still to be done to implement all the necessary software and this is the reason why I proposed, on the developer mailing list, to go on with binary packaging to speed up a final iso release ArcheOS Theodoric.

Today I started with a first package: OpenJUMP. I chose this software because during our last excavation we noticed that it is still an useful application, especially for 2D photogrammetric documentation of wall prospects and archaeological sections. I think that ArchaoSection (developed by the +Denis Francisci , archaeologist and GIS expert) could be a good replacement of OpenJUMP for this operations, but to tell the truth I did not have yet the time to test it. I will record ASAP a videotutorial regarding this topic. By now I share here the new package, in the hope that someone will help me to test it for Debian Wheeze (ArcheOS), so that later it will be uploaded into Theodoric's repository. Due to the fact that I am a little bit rusty in packaging, the software has to be considered as experimental.

OpenJUMP 1.8.0

For the next future I plan to work on packaging the software VTP (Virtual Terrain Prject) with @Bob Max's script to connect it with QGIS (in order to grant a good 3D visualization system in QGIS) and to RGBDemo (due to the feedbacks @Leonardo Zampi wrote about it).

OpenJUMP, auto assign attribute

This post will present a new videotutorial for ArcheOS 5 (codename Theodoric), regarding the software OpenJUMP.

Like for this other article, also in this case I chose to use a real project, to show the potentialities of ArcheOS in different archaeological missions. The main objective of the work was the inspection of an high mountain area (more than 3000 meters above the sea level), in order to verify the possible presence of historical remains connected with the World War I. One of my specific needs to prepare the mission was the setting of a GIS system, updating a geological vector map of the whole province in which I was operating. Luckily this province (Trentino) is at the forefront (in Italy) for the distribution and use of geographical open data, so I had no problems in finding the base map I mentioned before; the main work has been the updating of the database, connected with the vector layer, in which I had to insert some additional informations that were stored in an external spreadsheet.

In short, what I did in OpenJUMP is:

1. Query the Area Of Interest (AOI) of my project in the vector base map, in order to visualize a numerical code that was connected with the additional data in the spreadsheet

2. Edit the database schema of the vector map to add two new fields for the additional informations

3. Check the spreadsheet to read the values connected to the numerical code of the vector map

4. Query the vector map to select all the regions with the numerical code of my AOI (which would share with it all the same additional informations)

5. Use the Auto Assign Attributes Tool to fill (for all the selected regions) the new empty database fields with the right values

6. Repeat the operations till all the vector map has been updated with the additional informations

This videotutorial shows the main operations. I hope it will be usefull for you. As usual I uploaded it also in the DADP wiki.

Have a nice day!

Digital bones. New technologies for anthropological disciplines

Hi all,

we are organizing an open lesson in Padua on 5 June. The title is "Digital bones. Nuove tecnologie al servizio delle discipline archeologiche" ("Digital bones. New technologies for anthropological disciplines") and the topic will be the application of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) to Tanatology in archeology and forensic sciences.

The lesson will be held at 10.00 in the Aula Emiciclo of the Orto Botanico, which is the world's oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location, as it was founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic (so it can be also an occasion to visit to this monument).

The Aula Emiciclo (image in Public Domain form PHAIDRA system)

The speakers will be:

Nicola Carrara (Museum of Anthropology of Padua University), with a general introduction to tanatology

Luca Bezzi (Arc-Team), with a lesson/demonstration of 2D documentation through GIS of funerary contexts

Alessandro Bezzi (Arc-Team), with a lesson/demonstration of 3D documentation through SfM/IBM of funerary contexts

Cicero Moraes (Arc-Team), with a lesson/demonstration of digital forensic facial reconstruction

The attendance is free and during the lesson will be also given a preview of ArcheOS 5 (Theodoric), especially regarding its use for archeoanthropological aspects.

ArcheOS for anthopologists!

For more details and informations, here below is the poster of the lesson.

The poster regarding the lesson

You can also visit the FB event page (connected with the exhibition "FACCE. Imolti volti della storia umana"), where, if interested, you can register for the lesson.

Have a nice day!

Happy Easter

I write this fast post just to wish you a Happy Easter!

In these holidays I am testing very much ArcheOS 5, hoping that we will be able to release it soon (I'll do a new post connected with the first report I wrote in the mailing list). 

BTW, considering the occasion, I thought it was a good idea to check which of the many old easter eggs are still present in the next version of the system and here is what I found:

Iceweasel

The traditional Mozilla easter eggs are still working. Try to type about:mozilla in the address bar and you can read some sentences from the Book of Mozilla.

Terminal

Try out this command: apt-get moo

But my favorites are still these:

aptitude moo
aptitude -v moo
aptitude -vv moo
aptitude -vvv moo
aptitude -vvvv moo
aptitude -vvvvv moo
aptitude -vvvvvv moo

If you do not understand the joke, than maybe you have to read "The Little Prince" of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

That's all I found. The other easter eggs I knew (Star War in OpenOffice and the fish of Gnome) seems to missing in ArcheOS 5 (I guess due to the migration to LibreOffice and to Gnome 3). However, this post is nothing serious, so I hope you will forgive me if I do not investigate further about the matter :)... But before to leave, I want to let you a little easter present: in order to record some new videotutorial (they are on my long "good intentions" list), I reused the nice artwork Cicero Moraes did for ArcheOS Theodoric and created a wallpaper (this is optimize for my screen: 3823x2154 pixel, but you can download it and adapt it to your needs). I hope you like it :).

Again Happy Easter!

QGIS, oriental archaeology (basic tutorial 1)

Hi all,
today I start a new series of basic tutorial regarding the use of FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) in archeology (oriental archeology, to be exact). One of the most difficult thing in doing tutorial is to understand what people needs (especially when the necessities are simple). For this reason, following what the software developers call the KISS principle, I'll take the occasion to record the videotutorial I am doing to help some friends in organizing a project in which we should participate.
The mission regards an archaeological expedition in the Hrazdan river valley (Kotayk region, Armenia) and it is a collaboration between the IsMEO (it: Istituto Italiano per il Medio e l'Estremo Oriente; en: Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East) and the ISMA-CNR (it: Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico; en: Institute of Studies on Ancient Mediterranean See). The project is leaded by the Italian archaeologists Manuel Castelluccia, Roberto Dan, Riccardo La Farina e Mattia Raccidi.
I will record these tutorial answering the questions I receive day by day from the Italian team in order to meet their basic needs. The first problem regards how to create simple maps to illustrate the project using a GIS (instead of closed raster and vector image software). Obviously the series of tutorial will be inspired by the FLOSS philosophy, so, as I wrote, just this kind of tools will be used (in particular the operating system you see in the video is my testing version of ArcheOS 5, not yet released...), but this means also that will be used just open data. For example one of the first task to face will be to find open geographic data to trace our maps: normally it is not a good idea to present our works using Google Maps or Google Earth, due to the restrictions on this material, which I suggest to read carefully (quote from the Google Permission guidelines: "You may not use Google Maps or Google Earth as the basis for tracing your own maps or other geographic content").
For these reasons, the first videoturial shows how to use a simple GIS (Quantum GIS) to set up a fast project. Initially we will install the plugin OpenLayers to allow us to use open geographic data (like OpenCycleMap from OpenStreetMap) to trace our maps (in the Projected Coordinate System WGS84/Pseudo-Mercator). Than we will add a new vector layer (by now we will use a shapefile, but later, when a real database will be defined, we will introduce the SpatiaLite format), using some open data from the Innsbruck University projects in oriental archeology (Aramus and Khovle Gora, leaded by Walter Kuntner and Sandra Heinsch) and setting a very simple database schema. After we will fill the attributes of our two example sites and choose some graphic parameters (using for this purpose the same attributes). Finally we will do a very simple layout (the one you can see in the image below).

Just an example of a very basic layout

Like always I uploaded the videotutorial on the wiki of the DADP project, but you can see it also here:

I hope it can be useful!

Build packages for ArcheOS - Intro

One day it can happen, joining the #archeos IRC channel, to meet ORNis, alachis & C. and start learning how to build Debian package. That day I was in the channel to say hello and seeking help for some issue, and what happened to me after is logged in this wiki page.

It seems that I was in the right place at the right time, while the ArcheOS developers team was planning "the first ArcheOS Open Learning Day", and I was planning to help them in my unemployed time... :)

It seems that one of the "new year good intentions" was (is) to teach some volunteers to build Debian packages because Theodoric (ArcheOS 5.0 release) needs more developers and maintainers than the poor and only ORNis... :)

Building Debian packages can be very hard, so we decided to start the IRC tutorial with a less difficult software like Rectification, an abandoned module from e-foto  photogrammetry suit. At the moment the wiki page is just a log of that IRC meeting, but in the near future I want to complete the tutorial and build more packages.

So, invited by +Luca Bezzi, I agreed to write this post
* first of all, to thank +Romain Janvier;
* then to share my first experience with git-buildpackage;
* and finally to re-invite you to join the #archeos IRC channel, because good things happen.

Thanks,
Dome

We want you, for ArcheOS

In the last weeks we started again with the development of ArcheOS 5 (codename Theodoric) and I have to say that the first results are really promising, especially thanks to the work of Fabrizio Furnari and Romain Janvier.

The reorganization  of the whole system, planned by Fabrizio, is leading to a better management of the entire project. Moreover the division of the internal software in thematic metapackages (CAD, GIS, etc...) will help final users in customizing their own version of ArcheOS (in accordance with their specific needs).

On the other hand, Romain is working really hard to build source packages of the different applications, so that ArcheOS 5 will be architecture independent.

Last but not least, the 3D artist Cicero Moraes is preparing a brand new artwork for the upcoming release. If you are curious, just take a look on the preview for the splashscreen below.

New artwork from Cicero Moraes

So, what's missing now? Just you!

We need your help to improve ArcheOS 5! 

We want you, and GNU ;)

Any kind of help is welcome! Some examples? You can give us suggestions for a better software selection, or write tutorial (as well as record videotutorial). If you have some computer skills, you can package the missing applications, or develop new ones...

In any case, you can find us as usual on the developer mailing list or, even better, in our brand new IRC chanel (thanks to Fabrizio). The server is FreeNode and the channel #archeos. 

I prepared a short videotutorial to illustrate how to join our channel in a fast way.

We wait for you there ;)