In a previous post I showed some interesting facts about Zipf’s law and how many different things show a pattern of logarithmic decrease with the most popular or numerous item largely being much more so than the very rare ones – in a logarithmic pattern. Let’s look at that pattern and how you can chart it…
Continue reading “Another look at Zipf’s law, and you can chart it yourself!”Wordle game analysis with Python
Wordle is an interesting word game in the style of the old mastermind game. You can try it out on NYT puzzle page or other places. Check it out and try a round!
Continue reading “Wordle game analysis with Python”Plus codes as an easy location-sharing option
You may know of grid squares for general location in a ham radio contest, or the What3Words system with its easy access if you have network access, but there is another often-used location project you may not have heard of which is also easier than sharing a long latitude and longitude number!
Continue reading “Plus codes as an easy location-sharing option”Testing solutions to the 100-prisoners puzzle.
Both Matt Parker and the Youtube Veritasium channel have reviewed the surprising best practice for the 100 prisoners puzzle. The puzzle is a way to find a solution that will let the prisoners win with the most probability. If you have not seen this already please see the video here before some spoilers below.
Continue reading “Testing solutions to the 100-prisoners puzzle.”OpenShot on Ubuntu 22.04
If you install OpenShot on Ubuntu 22.04 or other newer Linux distributions you may note that it doesn’t run – which is an easy fix. Running the program from the terminal gave an error:
Continue reading “OpenShot on Ubuntu 22.04”Packaging a Python application for ArchLinux/Manjaro Linux
In a previous howto I showed how to build a .deb installer file for a Python program. This would work for the majority of systems with Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint etc. However there are many users on Arch Linux or Manjaro, which do not take this .deb installer file. Some Linux computers such as the popular (and currently out of stock 🙁 ) Pinebook laptop, and Pinephone come with Manjaro Linux, which takes Arch packages. Thankfully there is an easy way to add a package to the AUR for these Arch-based devices.
Continue reading “Packaging a Python application for ArchLinux/Manjaro Linux”Optimizing a Python program with profiling data
If you have been maintaining a Python program that has been growing for some time with new features you may notice at some point it can get a bit lagging and slow. For example, the app that is powered by hearham.com repeaters listing has grown from thousands of repeaters to now over 10,000 repeaters in the listing shown in the app. This hung things up especially on devices like Raspberry Pi or Librem phone while starting up the app.
Continue reading “Optimizing a Python program with profiling data”Re-flashing the Librem Phone with Byzantium
If you just received a Librem 5 you probably have the latest software – including the new software that has a (mostly) working photos app, gps and a basic maps app! Development has continued on these devices but if you have one of the previous preorders you probably have been waiting on new updates and only getting a few standard package updates and no new apps 🙁
If you want to upgrade the phone in this case you need to re-flash it and wipe it with the newer version. Note this deletes everything and starts anew!
Their instructions here should be fine for some, but only if you have a very very new Ubuntu based system. If you have an older one such as Ubuntu 20.04 then you can get set up as shown below.
Continue reading “Re-flashing the Librem Phone with Byzantium”Linux tools on Windows with MSYS2 (And a Repeater app for Windows!)
One thing many don’t consider when setting up a GTK+ window application is that the same code that runs on a Linux phone or Linux computer, can also run on MS Windows with the same libraries! Next time you are on a Windows system and trying to set up a command or tool normally working on Linux, try this:
Continue reading “Linux tools on Windows with MSYS2 (And a Repeater app for Windows!)”GTK Choice box with Glade and Python
There may be times you have a simple choice or listing in a GTK list box – for this example, in choosing a serial connection or other device. Glade is a good way to build an application window easily with an interface to build in to your app on Linux desktop, Ubuntu or Librem phone or other Linux based phones. I was able to use this to create a Winlink user interface for the previous tutorial to call up the Pat interface.
Continue reading “GTK Choice box with Glade and Python”