欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

Swiss Toll road pass (vignette) and its e-Version
In many European countries, motorways are not toll-free or simply toll roads.

In Germany motorways, Autobahns, are free.

In France, you have to pay for them as you go. In other words, most of the time the further you go, the more you pay.

In Switzerland, there is only one way to pay for them, a yearly pass, or a vignette. I think the first time I paid for it must be around 2005 or 2006. Since then the basic system has not been changed. You have to purchase the sticker that would go on the inner side of the windshield. It is valid for one year or more precisely within a year plus one month on both ends. In other words, you can buy it in December and it will expire in the second January. For example if you buy it in December 2024 and it will expire at the end of January 2025 (by then you are supposed to get the new vignette).

In Austria as far as I know there were a couple of ways to pay for them (motroways). There were, ten years ago or so, short-term vignettes and long-term vignette.

I am thinking of a short car trip to Zurich (Zoo-rick in English and Choo-ri-he in German), Switzerland toward the end of September. That is when and where the World Championship of road race is held.

I would buy it (vignette) at the border crossing points from the people who were there (border police officers?) on arriving at the border. This time I want to change the way I buy it.

I knew that I could buy it (the vignette sticker) in Luxembourg at the office of ACL (perhaps Auto Club Luxembourg, a variant of AAA in the U.S.). This time I checked its web page and then I learned that I could buy as a non-member I have to pay extra 2.5 euros in addition to the 44 euros (equivalent of 40 Swiss Francs). Adding the required time and fuel, I would end up paying more, I thought.

I checked out the website and learned that there was a brand-new way to purchase it. It is called e-vignette. Unlike its sibling, normal old-school sticker vignette, it does not have a physical presence. It exists in the database kept by the issuing body, a branch of Swiss government, I guess. I have to register my license plate information.

I think all those cameras installed on the Swiss highways pick up the license plates and check if the vehicle have valid vignette if the camera can not make out the physical sticker vignette on the windshield before sending the citation for traffic violation tickets.

If my plans for a small trip (taking some days off) is granted (from my workplace), I would purchase the e-vignette and see what happens at the border crossing point.

antiX (version 23 and updated to the latest) on Mac Pro Late2013 experiencing a problem
I installed antiX on my Mac Pro Late2013 and I was enjoying it. Well I was but now I ran into a problem.

antiX works well generally on my Mac Pro Late2013. I tested the USB memory stick Live environment for several times before deciding to install on a USB connected SSD (formerly used in my MacBook Pro 13-inch Late2010).

I had already tested this Linux distribution on Compaq Presario CQ56 for a while tyring to install Japanese Input System before abandoning it. I knew that I was so close to completing the setup but I had to abandon it. I wanted a revenge. I needed it.

I wanted to install antiX on my Mac Pro for several reasons.

First I wanted to see if antiX was a better choice than Kali Linux or Lubuntu as a daily drive.

Seconly, I wanted to complete the installation of Japanese Input System on antiX. This details will follow in the following paragraphs below.

Thirdly, I think Linux is is very cool. I want to be associated with this coolness.

Some reviews praise the outlook or the appearance of particular distributions. "... looks stunning" or "... beautiful" but every time I see one of those I think to myself that looks are deceiving or the look has nothing to do with what lies inside.

Why do they (those review articles) focus on the appearances? Maybe because they (review writers) spend so much time just enough to touch the surface (appearance) but not enough to see what really lies underneath. Or the review writers do know that the readers can not understand the subtle differences among those Linux distributions but that the readers can only recognize them by their looks. I strongly believe the latter is the case here.

How did it go?

antiX on Mac Pro Late2013
antiX 23 works very well on it. The installation image (Full/64 bit/runit) on the USB memory stick worked fine and still works fine.

I installed it on an SSD connected to one of its USB ports. It worked fine at first but upon updating "Pulse Audio Volume Control" ceased to work.

Since it (Pulse Audio Volume Control) is responsible for selecting the audio stream channels (Mac Pro's inner speakers or monitor's speakers through HDMI cable), now the audio comes out of the inner speaker (or speakers?). I wish future updates solve this problem soon.

Japanese Input Method fcitx5 and mozc combination
For some unknown reasons, antiX has Japanese Input Method as a package (bundled software pieces) ready to be installed. The problem that I found, however, was that it features "anthy" not "mozc". mozc is what I want.

I once installed this "package" on one of the Compaq Presario CQ56 machines and did not like it.

Now I chose "fcitx5" and "mozc" as separate pieces of software and let the installer install "recommended (by those two above" pieces of software.

After the installation, I could now write in Japanese. I was happy. Only a minor piece of annoyance remained then.

fcitx5 does not automatically start. I have to invoke "fcitx5 Configuration" first. This configuration software notices that what it is going to configure (namely the fcitx5) has not been running and then kindly tells me if I want it to run. When I click the button, fcitx5 runs.

How should I make it run automatically? I figured that
Menu -->
Control Center -->
Session -->
startup

I know I am supposed to write something to run fcitx5.

After searching for some information on the Internet and reading something on the Ubuntu forum, I decided to put "fcitx5 -d" and it seemed it worked.

Now I have to find out why so far Geany (or LibreOffice) only can handle Japanse Input but not Leafpad or Featherpad. I can read Japanese in any of these editors but can not write in Japanese in Leafpad or Featherpad.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [fcitx5 and mozc and other things]の続きを読む

テーマ:Linux - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2024/08/27(火) 18:42:12|
2. Linux
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How do I make it work?
I am now at a loss a bit. I was trying to make the Japanese input method work on this newly installed antiX Linux system. So far my attempt has failed miserably.

How come? Why does it not work? I think I have installed everything needed.

fcitx (fcitx 5) and mozc are the key components. There is no mistake about it. I have to add small software related to these to make them work together and configure them. I know that. I have some experience with them. Somehow I can not make them work.

I have them working well on my Lubuntu. One think I can do is to see which software components are installed on it and try to make the same installation on this antiX system. For this, I need something like Synaptic or Muon on the Lubuntu system to see the detailed individual components.


Now I can type in Japanese on antiX
After a short while writing the above entry, I could successfully type in Japanese. It was not exactly what I thought I would be doing.

The "Software Intaller" is the name on the antiX system for the application which is responsible installing and removing applications.

It has three tabs (or some kind of repository levels).

The First one "Popular Applications" tab includes categorized and pre-packaged applications. You can check the application check boxes and install them. You don't have to know how many small components of software programs will get installed or which components depend on which ones and so on.

The Second tab "Enabled Repos" (=repositories, I guess) includes (or shows) the small individual components behind those "Popular" or not-so-popular applications. You can pick them up individually. I am not sure if the dependency and conflicts are handled automatically but it seems that they are handled. It is very useful if you know the ropes. The downside is that you may fail to pick up small components to make your wished application work as they are not "packaged".

The third tab "Debian Backports" seems to be the components for Debian but not necessarily for antiX. I don't know for sure as it does not provide any explanations at all.

I was using the second tab "Enabled Repos" and got frustrated as "fcitx and mozc" combination did not work well. I thought there was not pre-packaged fcitx/mozc package. I just assumed so and did not try the first tab so far.

I used the first tab to search for "fcitx" and found four pre-packaged packages. One of them was "Japanese_Input_fcitx Japanese fcitx" to my surprise.

I installed "it" and several or many components were installed as a result.

Then I could use Japanese courtesy of fcitx and anthy.

Anthy? I did not see that coming.

Am I happy? Well, not completely as I have been using "mozc" and used to it. I will keep digging until I can use mozc.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [fcitx and anthy?]の続きを読む

テーマ:Linux - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2024/06/10(月) 10:24:54|
2. Linux
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antiX seems great but
It is a great Linux distribution as far as I know by now. It is light and agile. I love it.

The only problem (I will solve it soon I hope) is that the fcitx and mozc don't work well so far. I can not use (write in) Japanese. I can read and display Japanese, of course but I can not type in Japanese.

I need to solve this problem. I will switch to antiX from Lubuntu.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [antiX, here I come]の続きを読む

テーマ:Linux - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2024/06/09(日) 21:26:15|
2. Linux
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SRT files
I was watching a movie, an old (not too old around 2014) on my PC with the subtitle on. It (the subtitle) bothered me too much as it keeps flashing. It seemed that it did not have enough time duration to show the lines on the screen. The show time expired before the playback software (VLC media player) could put the lines up on the screen in their entirety.

I sometimes edit the *****.srt files accompanying the movie. It seems to be a simple text file with lot of formatted numbers and the actual lines that the actors and actresses use. The formatted numbers are time frames. It goes like this.


1
00:01:00,123 --> 00:01:03,998
I will be back!
Help yourself!

2
00:01:10,998 --> 00:01;12,012
[suspenseful Music]


I figured (maybe I could search for the format definition somewhere in Wikipedia but I am lazy) that the first number (as 1 or 2 above) refers to the line number.

The following formatted numbers are time in the movie as in;
H:MM:SS, (milisecond?).

I am sure the first three sets refer to "hour", "minute" and "second" but I am not too sure the fourth set of numbers. It seems to refer to even smaller fraction of time than a second in one thousandth.

The second time frame after "-->" is the time to make the line(s) expire.

For those audibly challenged, some explanatory lines are added to tell what is audibly happening at the moment like noises, music or lyrics.

It happened before that I noticed some typos or misspelling and I opened up the SRT file and corrected the text for my own satisfaction.

This time the situation was total snafu. I examined the contents and noticed that the two time stamps squeezing the "-->" were too close to show the text below. I remedied the situation by expanding the time gaps but there were too many of those, nearly all of them.

So I gave up, gave up correcting the subtitle of this movie. Who made this SRT file!

Subtitle editing with Linux?
Lubuntu 23.04 uses "Discover" as its default software downloading (installation) gateway. I found there;

1. Gaupol (With some user reviews)
2. Subtitle Editor (Abandoned? No user reviews)
3. Gnome Subtitle (No user reviews)
4. Aegisub (No user reviews)
5. Subtitld (No user reviews)

These software can help one create and edit srt files, I think.

General search on the Net seems to suggest that these days using AI to help one create subtitle text from movies. It certainly is a good use of AI. I don't aspire to become a subtitle making author in near future. I won't be an even remote match for the AIs available these days.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [A subtitle file is messed up and I was sick to see it work]の続きを読む

テーマ:Linux - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2023/08/06(日) 15:26:29|
2. Linux
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"Fcitx 5 Mozc for Fcitx 5" was the key

I have been wondering quite for a while if I was right about installing mozc through Muon or other (I forgot the name but predecessors of Muon).

IBUS was (or used to be) the choice of running INPUT methods under Linux.

I noticed a while ago that this Discover (or its predecessors?) had Fcitx in place of IBUS. I did not looked into it as I was used to installing mozc in ancient method I had been used to.

I was aware that current Discover (kind of software center) for Lubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster did show "Fcitx 5 Mozc for Fcitx" software package.

I was curious and I had to install it. When I had the chance to do it, I did it. The result was a bit surprising and at the same time pleasing.

It seems that mozc for IBUS was a thing of the past and I imagine current Japanese input method development has been around "Fcitx" but not IBUS.

It has been tweaked so that it meets the need of Japanese speaking (and writing) people.

For example (the only or almost the only thing I hated with mozc for IBUS), it is possible to change the default input mode when one evokes mozc to "Hiragana" mode. With mozc for IBUS, it was not possible.

Now I like Fcitx and I will change other Lubuntu's desktop to use Fcitx instead of IBUS.

続きをどうぞ [Drawing a line in the sand and Mozc for Fcitx 5]の続きを読む

テーマ:Linux - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2023/06/20(火) 21:40:48|
2. Linux
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