CloudCompare on Debian Wheezy by pinning from ArcheOS5 Theodoric

CloudCompare is a 3D point cloud processing software. It's deb is already packed for ArcheOS 5 Theodoric, under development on https://github.com/archeos/ArcheOS . To install on Debian Wheezy (7.8), just add theodoric's repo:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

then add this lines and save (ctrl+o, then ctrl+x):

#Archeos5 Theodoric deb http://repos.archeos.eu/apt theodoric main contrib non-free

To validate gpg's keys, write :

gpg --keyserver pgpkeys.mit.edu --recv-key 5AC5D028 gpg -a --export 5AC5D028 | sudo apt-key add -

and update source.list by:

sudo apt-get update

 
now you can able to install any software from theodoric's repo,  just pinning by "sudo apt-get install -t theodoric packet-name", let me show you an example that installs CloudCompare:

 sudo apt-get install -t theodoric cloudcompare

that's all.

Raw data to WKT: a line

Hi all,

Again a short videotutorial about FLOSS in archeology. In the last one we saw how to turn raw data (from the total station) into the WKT code of a point; this time we will see how to create a line. 

This videotutorial is also available on the DADP wiki (I updated the old tutorial). 

Like before, the system I am using is a preview version of ArcheOS Theodoric, done building the iso image just following the instruction of the readme file on the github page.

Now, thanks to +Fabrizio Furnari we also have the project for an ArcheOS manual (still work in progress). If you want to help us, you will find the code on the github page (yes, we like github very much...). 

A great help it would be to translate these videotutorials into text :). If you want to participate to the documentation, you can contact us in many ways (also commenting this post), like the official IRC channel #archeos, or the developer mailing list (for more info, read the text here)

Here is the video, I hope it will be useful!

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!

Raw data to WKT: a point

Hi all,

I go on in recording basic videotutorial about FLOSS in archeology. This time I show how to turn raw data (from the total station) into WKT, starting with the simplest shape (a point). 

Like always I will upload this material on the DADP wiki, udpdating the old tutorial (I am using a preview version of ArcheOS Theodoric).

Here is the video, I hope it will be useful!

ArcheOS Theodoric CAD metapackage

Hi all,

with this post I would like to start a series of report about ArcheOS 5 (Theodoric) development, both to keep you informed on the state of the art of the new release and to have more feedback from the community (nowadays ATOR reaches about 7000 or 8000 readers per month). 

As most of you know, Fabrizio Furnari had the good idea to reorganize ArcheOS software selection into different metapackages (divided by the topic already used for the archaeological menu). This will optimize the software management (from the developers point of view) and will spare users time during the installation process (everybody will be able to install just the applications he really needs).

Today I will shortly describe the CAD (Computer-Aided Design) metapackage. For thins kind of software we decided to proceed on the path of ArcheOS 4 (Caesar, beta release), confirming the choice of LibreCAD, for 2D operations, and FreeCAD for 3D. 

In the image below, you see, for example, the use of LibreCAd to rebuild a 2D Cartesian coordinates system, trough triangulation (it can be useful in those cases where it is impossible to use total stations or GPS to record Ground Control Points, for photomapping, or other archaeological elements).

Building a Cartesian coordinates system through triangulation in LibreCAD

In this other screenshot, you can see the use of FreeCAD during the architectural documentation of the church of S. Maria Assunta in Riva del Garda (Trentino, Italy).

FreeCAD (Architectural documentation)

Unfortunately, for this category of applications, we are not yet able to evaluate, from an archaeological point of view, the software BRLCAD, which seems to have great potentialities. For ArcheOS Theodoric release, we decided to exclude BRLCAD form the software selection, but it is till under observation. 

We will go on testing the use of BRLCAD for archaeological purposes, but if someone of you has the necessary knowledge for the application of this software in cultural heritage (or has some feedbacks about it), please contact us (or simply reply this post). Thanks to your help we hope to improve ArcheOS faster and faster!