Just some thoughts
Whether newcomer, enthusiast, or professional photographer, I bet you’ve run into the dilemma of choosing a camera and lenses, or switching your current system to another brand. It may even be more far reaching, such as choosing a different technology.
Yesterday I updated my Manjaro Linux host and ran into a problem (it likely started already with update 2023-11-28). At boot, after I logged in, the desktop background would not change to my chosen picture and no desktop icons would appear. Also, when clicking the file browser, it wouldn’t open. After nearly 30 seconds the desktop background changes and the icons appear. Also, the file browser opens.
Continue reading “Manjaro Update 2023-12-01 and the XFCE Desktop”Updated January 19, 2024
About a year ago I switched to the new Linux NTFS3 driver built into the kernel. Up until then I used the user space NTFS-3G driver to mount Windows NTFS drives on my Linux host. Yesterday when running my hash script on one of my NTFS photo backup drives, I noticed an input/output error.
Continue reading “Does the Linux NTFS3 Driver Corrupt Directories?”Updated March 28, 2024
I already wrote about my trip to Spain and Europe and choosing the camera. Traveling with the Nikon Z7 II was definitely the right choice for me. What I haven’t mentioned was that I packed the wrong USB cable.
Continue reading “The Importance of Choosing the Right USB Cable”Can an AI chat bot like ChatGPT understand and explain program code, or even write its own code based on your directions?
Everybody (almost) is talking about artificial intelligence (AI). I wanted to see if ChatGPT, a large language model-based chatbot developed by OpenAI, is able to help in coding. Can ChatGPT evaluate and improve program code? Or can it even write its own program code, based on the task you set forth?
Continue reading “ChatGPT for Coding”In June this year I embarked on a 6-week photography trip to Spain and other places in Europe. A few days before the departure I received the brand new Nikon Z8. I wanted to travel light, only a small camera backpack and a boarding trolley. But which camera should I pack – the Nikon Z8 or Nikon Z7 II?
Update January 27, 2023: The issue described below is limited to users of RAW partitions. But there is a workaround. See under “What to do?”
A recent update from QEMU 7.1 to QEMU 7.2 caused my Windows 10 VM to show 100% utilization of the C: drive. Performance of the Windows VM dropped to the bottom – the VM was pretty much unusable.
Users at the VFIO Reddit reported similar issues. However, as it turned out, it seems to affect only storage on LVM raw volumes. In other words, if you have your VM in a qcow file, all should be well.
Continue reading “QEMU 7.2 and Raw Disks”Half a year ago I replaced my Canon R5 and RF lenses for the Nikon Z7 II and some selected Z mount lenses. Both mirrorless cameras feature a 45 MP sensor, weather sealing, and are in many ways comparable. But a closer look shows substantial differences between both cameras and lenses.
This Nikon Z7 II review attempts to not only show the pros and cons of the camera and the lenses I own or used, but I feel also able to compare it with the Canon R5 and some Canon lenses. I will also share some impressions on how the Nikon Z7 II works with the FTZ-II adapter and the Nikon 200-500mm/f5.6 F mount lens.
Continue reading “Nikon Z7 II Review”Kernel 6 not booting with VFIO – workaround
Recently I upgraded to kernel 6.0 on my Manjaro rig, but that didn’t go well. The PC booted but there was no screen output. I was able to ssh into the Manjaro host, though.
Searching for an answer led me to the “Linux Kernel 6 seems to be incompatible with the vfio_pci module needed for PCI passthrough” on Level1Techs. If you go further down the thread, you’ll see how someone posted a working solution “Using the driver_override feature“.
Continue reading “Kernel 6.0 and VFIO”Yesterday I finally decided to part with my Canon gear. I tried everything to make it work but it doesn’t work for me. See my Canon EOS R5 Disappointment post.
So, the first thing I thought a potential buyer of a camera might want to know is the shutter count. It is kind of the milage of the camera. Mechanical shutters have a maximum life expectancy that is published by the camera manufacturer. My Canon EOS R5 has an impressive shutter life of 500,000 actuations. That is a lot even for a professional camera body. Compare that to the shutter rating of the Nikon D850 with a mere 200,000 shutter actuations.
Continue reading “Canon: Why Make Shutter Count Inaccessible?”