After the work to support 16384 columns in LibreOffice Calc I have also made sure that the feature works also in Collabora Online, thanks to the funding of NGI.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871498.

 

 

 

 

Since the Calc core is the same, the underlying functionality works just like in LibreOffice. But the online functionality presented some additional challenges that needed handling, as having more cells in a spreadsheet may mean more data sent over the network, slowing things down. There definitely used to be problems with large spreadsheets, as the tiled rendering used by Online in fact was already limited to 500000 rows compared to 1048576 rows of the desktop version (in fact, git history shows that this started at only 1000 rows initially and then was continually raised over the time as things improved). So together with raising column count to 16384 I have raised this to the normal 1048576 rows as well.

While working on this, one of the problems I needed to handle was a rather unusual one - some automated tests were failing because of timing out. Only with debug builds, because they of course do more checks compared to optimized release builds. And the problem turned out to be how some tests checked resulting spreadsheets after some operations. Since testing Calc running in a browser is more complicated than testing the desktop version, what the tests did was to select a large number of cells (e.g. one entire row), paste that to the clipboard and then the clipboard data was present in browsers HTML data, so the testing framework could test it and verify it is as expected. And this failed with unoptimized debug builds because even though the spreadsheet was almost empty, the unoptimized code checked every cell involved and together it added up enough to exceed the test timeout. Ironically enough, a significant portion was spent in code that was trying to optimize the size of the clipboard data. So I needed to improve the tests and optimize handling of unoptimized code, as strange as it may sound.

Now with hopefully all performance problems solved, Collabora Online 22.05 should support these spreadsheet sizes just as fine as the desktop version.

This week’s openSUSE Tumbleweed snapshots had several KDE packages updated and an update affecting scripts related to grep.

In addition to some changes with YaST affecting grep, the rolling release had snapshots updating Plasma, Gear and Frameworks in that order.

Snapshot 20220914 is finishing testing and the snapshot could be released before this article is published, which would make this week another full week of snapshots if the testing passes openQA.

Frameworks 5.98.0 arrived in snapshot 20220913. The update deduplicated color loading codes with KConfigWidgets and Kirigami had a fix for a potential crash in imagecolors. Frameworks also delivered a lot of additions and fixes to KTextEditor. There were some fixes of inconsistencies in the completion config tab and KTextEditor enabled the clipboard history with non read-only. An update of fetchmail 6.4.33 removed an upstream patch and a wrapper script for HTMLDOC was added for use with Flatpak because the snapd version was broken. Audio format flac 1.4.0 added a FMA instruction set extension to speed up audio for x86_64 CPUs. There is also now a set of files available to test whether a FLAC decoder implements the format correctly. The update of libstorage-ng 4.5.44 fixed the resizing of Linux Unified Key Setup and did some Czech translations. Also updated in the snapshot was the 4.5.4 versions of yast2-bootloader and yast2-kdump.

Just a few packages were updated in snapshot 20220912. Caching proxy package squid 5.7 fixed a regression and a handful of bugs. The package now supports OpenSSL 3.0. An update of the smartcard middleware library pcsc-lite 1.9.9 made some minor improvements and improved the log from the smartcard daemon to log the return code in text instead of hex. A fix to a missing comma in the JSON output of tree 2.0.4 was made and yast2-trans had multiple translations updates for German and Czech.

Device mapper package multipath-tools had its second update of the week in snapshot 20220911. The other package to update in the snapshot was the font drawing library libXft 2.3.6, which fixes a regression in 2.3.5 for dimension-length checks.

The 20220910 snapshot focused on a VERY IMPORTANT update to autoyast2 4.5.4, which replaced egrep with grep -E. This is important to Tumbleweed users to pay attention to as the package replaces obsolete egrep with grep -E. Both egrep and fgrep are deprecated in favor of grep -E and grep -F and a deprecation warning output can break output-parsing scripts. This grep -E change also were listed in yast2 4.5.13, yast2-printer 4.5.2 and yast2-scanner 4.5.1 version updates. The kernel-source updated to 5.19.8. The Linux Kernel had a fix for a memory leak for virtual multilayer switch Open vSwitch. The kernel added a Rosewill USB adapter dongle to the device tables and most of there fixes were related to Bluetooth in this kernel update. Other packages to update in the snapshot were a Plymouth 22.02.122 version, gnome-browser-connector 42.1, ibus-table 1.16.12 and more.

KDE applications were updated in snapshot 20220909 with the update of Gear 22.08.1. Updates to video editor Kdenlive fixed a broken paste clip if trying to paste an invalid clip. The package also made sure that tasks are properly terminated upon closing and had a fix for an incorrect lock that could cause corruption. Some logic and internationalization fixes were made in KMail. News on the starting page was disable with KDevelop as the section is currently unmaintained. Network Time Protocol (NTP) package chrony improved stability with hardware timestamping in its 4.3 version update; it also improved the filter option to better handle missing NTP samples. Some changes with the yast2-core 4.5.4 and yast2-hardware-detection 4.5.1 updates are important for Tumbleweed users becasuse these packages replaced obsolete fgrep with grep -F; egrep and fgrep are both deprecated in favor of grep -E and grep -F. There is a deprecation warning output that can break output-parsing scripts, so be careful Tumbleweed users. Another package to update in the snapshot was multipath-tools.

KDE users received the update of Plasma 5.25.5 in snapshot 20220908, which seems to address a few touchy topics. This bugfix version disabled the Plasma Desktop drag and drop for touch; it conflicted with drag/flick scrolling. The drag and drop was deemed less important than scrolling or opening the context menu for touch. Some brightness actions were changed with PowerDevil and configuration modules for Plasma Workspace now considers the GTK theme setting when computing the default state. A problem with scrolling animations was also fixed in the gtk4 4.8.0 package update. The snapshot also improved the handling of OpenType-font features with the toolkit. Another package to update in the snapshot was Mozilla Firefox 104.0.2. The package fixed a bug making it impossible to use touch or use a stylus to drag the scrollbar on pages. Other packages to update in the snapshot were ipmitool 1.8.19.0, libssh 0.10.4, yast2-network 4.5.6 and more.

I worked from home all my life, or at least that’s what I thought. Recently I learned that what do is actually called “hybrid” work. I do most of my work from home, however I also regularly visit the office. I can work a lot more efficiently at home, so, I work from there. Once a week I’m at the office where I do not progress that well with my tasks. Still, I find these visits very important.

This is a follow-up post to my working from home blog from last week.

Meetings

When I started working at my current workplace more than a decade ago, I had a saying that “I only work four days a week for Balabit”. When someone asked me what I do on the fifth work day, I said that “I go to the office for a full day of meetings.”. At that time I considered any meetings a waste of time, taking time from doing actual work.

As a first step I learned that meetings can actually be useful. What I work on between meetings, the main targets of the next software release for example are all decided in meetings. I need to participate to take part in the decisions. Of course I still consider that many meetings could easily be replaced by a few e-mails. However, I quickly remove those from my calendar. There are topics however, that are not easily discussed in e-mail threads. Talking with interested participants in real-time can speed up the discussions and lead to a decision quicker.

In person

The pandemic also taught me that meeting people in person regularly is important as well. Yes, virtual meetings are just as efficient as IRL meetings. In some ways even better, as during less interesting topics you can catch up with your e-mails without disturbing others. But normally meetings have a few fixed topics, and when the discussion is finished or the meeting time is over, people leave and do so with a lot less wasted time. Or is it really wasted time?

Virtual meetings can completely fulfill their jobs. However, many of the best discussions and ideas are born after meetings, in the kitchen or around the water cooler. These are informal discussions where there is no formal agenda, no fixed participants list, just a few random people meeting without any planning. Rushing back to your desk or avoiding the office completely makes these random encounters impossible.

Going hybrid

Many people – including me – are (a lot) more efficient when working from home. That is where work can be done. In the office it is a lot less efficient. Meetings, people talking around you, lots of interruptions. Why do I still say that visiting the office regularly is very important? Because you can meet random people in person. Why is meeting random people is important?

• In regular meetings people talk to close colleagues. You do not see outside your silo. In the kitchen you might run into members of other teams, join discussions with higher management, or the other way around. This can help to break down silos, listen to different views of the same problems.

• In an informal discussion people are more open to share why a problem frustrates them. If the other side better understands a problem and why is it frustrating, there is a better chance to resolve it quicker.

• Even when starting to talk about the weather with someone you just met at the coffee machine, the discussion can easily lead to something useful from the work point of view.

• Learning about a common hobby with your colleague can bring you closer together, and gain you more attention from the colleague even when discussing work.

These random in person encounters in the office can create tremendous value. Working from home is more efficient in most cases, that is how most people in IT can work through their task lists systematically with minimal interruptions. However, random discussions in the office can break down silos, facilitate quicker problem solutions and even lead to groundbreaking new ideas. This is why in most cases hybrid is better than both in office or full remote.

Happy Hours

If you really cannot get to the office regularly, for example because you moved far and away while remote work was mandatory during the pandemic, you should still visit the office every once in a while. A good occasion is the Happy Hours in the office, when people stay in the office after work and have some great discussions next to a hamburger or other fine food. You can even meet some of the otherwise full-remote colleagues on these special evenings. These events also help team bonding which is especially important when team members rarely see each-other in real life. And, of course, the informal discussions have all the benefits I listed earlier.

What do you think?

Of course, in a more strict interpretation, hybrid means that everyone works where it is the most efficient. From this point of view, the kind of office day I describe is just socializing. In my view going to the office with an open mind and talking to random people you meet there is beneficial, even if you cross out less tasks from your to-do list on office days. These discussions open new perspectives and can be huge productivity boosts, even if somewhat unpredictable. So, it even fits the stricter definition of hybrid: you spend part of your work hours in the office to be more efficient: probably not always on the day you are in the office, but in the long run.

What do you think? You can reach me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Como ya sabrán los seguidores del blog, a diferencia del año anterior, Akademy-es 2022 se celebrará en de forma presencial y en línea, es decir, híbrida el 29 y 30 de septiembre. Estamos cerca ya de su celebración y prueba de ello es que ha sido abierto el registro, se ha publicado el programa y, como novedad, este año se ha diseñado una camiseta para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona que seguro os gustará.

Hace unos meses compartí con vosotros que este año Akademy-es 2022 se va a realizar de forma híbrida en Barcelona el 29 y 30 de septiembre, en una edición muy especial ya que volveremos a encontrarnos de forma física pero que seguirá siendo accesible para todo el mundo utilizando tecnologías de telecomunicación libres.

Siguiendo el esquema habitual cuando coincide con una Akademy, las charlas se celebrarán el jueves y el viernes, para dejar libre el fin de semana para las ponencias el evento Internacional.

Y esta semana, y las que vienen, el blog va a ser casi un monográfico dedicado a la promoción tanto de este evento como el de su hermano mayor, Akademy que se celebrará los días posteriores.

De esta forma, el lunes hablamos de que se había abierto el registro para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona y ayer martes comentamos que había sido publicado el programa, con un total de trece charlas normales más las charlas relámpago. Será una oportunidad de aprender con gente destacada tanto de la comunidad KDE como del resto de comunidades del Software Libre, y en que se tratan temas como usos destacados del software KDE, personalización de Plasma, el futuro del Software Libre, el licenciamiento del software y la sostenibilidad.

Camiseta para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona #akademyes

Este año, como novedad tenemos la posibilidad de adquirir una camiseta del evento, una oportunidad única hasta la fecha y que tiene varios objetivos: poder llevarte un recuerdo de la primera Aakdemy-es presencial tras la pandemia y para mostrar con orgullo que participas en la difusión del Software Libre y de sus Comunidades.

Los detalles de la camiseta creada por Rosie «Mose» Matthews son los siguientes:

• Precio:
  • Para asistentes presenciales a Akademy-es 2022: 22,5€
  • Para asistentes en remoto que vivan en España peninsular o Baleares: 27,5€, incluyendo gastos de envío.
• Reserva al realizar la inscripción en Akademy-es 2022.
  • Si vas a asistir presencialmente, podrás pagar y recoger tu camiseta en Akademy-es 2022 en Barcelona.
  • Si vas a asistir en remoto y vives en España peninsular o Baleares, recibirás un email tras inscribirte para coordinar el pago y el envío.
  • Desgraciadamente, no podemos asegurar que nos sea posible hacer el envío a Canarias o a otros países fuera de España.
  • Si quieres pedir más de una camiseta, por favor, envía un email a akademy-es-org (en) kde-espana.org

Más información y tallas en Akademy-es 2022.

¿Qué es Akademy-es?

Akademy-es (#akademyes, que es la etiqueta para las redes sociales) es evento más importante para los desarrolladores y simpatizantes de KDE, que se ha ido celebrando desde el 2006 con éxito creciente.

En general, las Akademy-es son el lugar adecuado para conocer a los desarrolladores, diseñadores, traductores, usuarios y empresas  que mueven este gran proyecto.

En ellas se realizan ponencias, se presentan programas, se hace un poco de caja para los proyectos libres (camisetas, chapas, etc) pero sobre todo se conoce a gente muy interesante y se cargan baterías para el futuro.

Podéis repasar las anteriores ediciones en estas entradas del blog:

• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (I): 2006 – 2008
• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (II): 2009-2010
• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (III): 2011-2012
• Anteriores ediciones de Akademy-es (IV): 2013 y 2014

La entrada Camiseta para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona #akademyes se publicó primero en KDE Blog.

I make it a point to buy new software for old computers at least annually. One particular game that I rather enjoy is called “PETSCII Robots” by The 8-Bit Guy, David Murray. Here is the first video published about the game. In short, this is a blast to play on the Commodore 64 or VIC-20. […]

Previously we started the redesign of the request workflow as part of the beta program. We received a lot of feedback from you and still have a lot on our TODO list. This time we focused our attention on the support of multi-action submit requests and on creating more clarity in the conversations area by highlighting comments. Support of Multi-Action Submit Requests One important feature was still missing, the support of requests with multiple actions....

Como ya sabréis este año se celebra Akademy-es 2022 se celebrará en de forma presencial y en línea. Hoy se ha publicado el programa de charlas de Akademy-es 2022. Léelo y seguro que encuentras más de una razón para acompañarnos.

Programa de charlas de Akademy-es 2021 en línea #akademyes

El 29 y 30 de septiembre se va a celebrar Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona que se celebrará en modalidad híbrida organizado por KDE España y que será la antesala de Akademy, el evento internacional de la Comunidad KDE.

Este año se volvemos a tener un gran programa de ponencias, que van desde lo último en Plasma y en proyectos KDE pasando por temas de hardware, programación, ciberseguridad y privacidad.

Y si no te lo crees simplemente échale un vistazo al programa.

Jueves 29 de septiembre

• 16:00 – 16:10 Ceremonia de apertura
• 16:15 – 17:00 Linux hoy y mañana – Aleix Pol, Presidente de KDE e.V.
• 17:05 – 17:30 Como hacer temas para KDE – Fabián Inostroza, Diseñador gráfico de temas para KDE – En remoto
• 17:35 – 18:15 Charlas relámpago
• Descanso
• 18:35 – 19:05 Albert Vaca, desarrollador KDE Connect
• 19:10 – 19:55 KDE y el SL, ante el horizonte de cambio – Rubén Gómez Antolí, KDE España

Viernes 30 de septiembre

10:00 – 10:25 KDE España – José Millán Soto, KDE España
10:30 – 11:15 ¿Dónde están las mujeres en la Wikipedia? – Ester Bonet, Wikimedia España y Wikimujeres Grupo de Usuarias
11:20 – 12:05 Software Libre en la Astronomía Amateur. Caso: Kstars – Juan Antonio González Herrera, Estrellas Compartidas – En remoto
Descanso
12:25 – 13:10 Los Services Menu: cómo aumentar tu eficiencia con Dolphin – Baltasar Ortega, editor de KDEBlog – En remoto
13:15 – 14:00 Licencias libres y derecho – Marelisa Blanco, nolegaltech

Pausa para la comida

15:30 – 16:15 REUSE: Indicar derechos de autor y licencias sin morir en el intento – Lina Ceballos, FSFE
16:20 – 17:05 Subtítulos y KDE – Juan Febles, editor de Linux Podcast – En remoto
17:10 – 17:55 LliureX: personalizando KDE a nuestras necesidades – Enrique Medina Gremaldos, equipo LliureX
18:00 – 18:45 Sostenibilidad en SL y permacomputing – Paula de la Hoz – En remoto
18:45 Ceremonia de clausura

Nota: Las charlas y horarios pueden sufrir ligeras modificaciones dependiendo de la disponibilidad de los ponentes

Vía: KDE España

La entrada Programa de charlas de Akademy-es 2022 híbrida de Barcelona #akademyes se publicó primero en KDE Blog.

The syslog-ng team started publishing container images many years ago. For quite a while, it was a manual process, however, a few releases ago, publishing a container image became part of the release process. Recently, nightly container images have also become available, so you can test the latest features and bug fixes easily.

The syslog-ng images are still available under the Balabit namespace on the Docker hub. Balabit was bought by One Identity almost five years ago, and we stopped using the old company name years ago. However, there are many scripts, blogs and even books that feature this location, so changing the location would cause problems for many people. Not to mention, that moving to a new location would reset the download counter :-) Close to 50 million pulls over the years!

From this blog you can learn about the various container images the syslog-ng team provides. You can find basic information about how to use the syslog-ng container image at https://hub.docker.com/r/balabit/syslog-ng, where you can learn how to use your own syslog-ng configuration or open ports for syslog-ng.

You can read the blog at https://www.syslog-ng.com/community/b/blog/posts/nightly-syslog-ng-container-images

Como ya sabrán los seguidores del blog, a diferencia del año anterior, Akademy-es 2022 se celebrará en línea el 29 y 30 de septiembre. Estamos cerca ya de su celebración y prueba de ello es que ha sido Abierto el registro para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona #akademyes, y en breve muchas más noticias sobre este evento.

Abierto el registro para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona #akademyes

Hace unos meses compartí con vosotros que este año Akademy-es 2022 se va a realizar de forma híbrida en Barcelona el 29 y 30 de septiembre, en una edición muy especial ya que volveremos a encontrarnos de forma física pero que seguirá siendo accesible para todo el mundo utilizando tecnologías de telecomunicación libres.

Siguiendo el esquema habitual cuando coincide con una Akademy, las charlas se celebrarán el jueves y el viernes, para dejar libre el fin de semana para las ponencias el evento Internacional.

Ya se tiene el programa preparado, con más de una docena de charlas tanto presenciales y en línea con todo tipo de temas: divulgativos, técnicos, éticos, etc.

En otras palabras, el evento se acerca y es por ello que ya se ha abierto el registro para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona, un registro que se realiza para tener un poco de control sobre el número de asistente y así poder tener una previsión de aforo y de otros detalles como refrescos, café o algo de comidad para las pausas para el café.

Y este año, como novedad, posibilidad de adquirir una camiseta del evento que sirve para poderte llevar un recuerdo y para mostrar con orgullo que participas en la difusión del Software Libre y de sus Comunidades. En breve más noticias.

¿Qué es Akademy-es?

Akademy-es (#akademyes, que es la etiqueta para las redes sociales) es evento más importante para los desarrolladores y simpatizantes de KDE, que se ha ido celebrando desde el 2006 con éxito creciente.

En general, las Akademy-es son el lugar adecuado para conocer a los desarrolladores, diseñadores, traductores, usuarios y empresas  que mueven este gran proyecto.

En ellas se realizan ponencias, se presentan programas, se hace un poco de caja para los proyectos libres (camisetas, chapas, etc) pero sobre todo se conoce a gente muy interesante y se cargan baterías para el futuro.

Podéis repasar las anteriores ediciones en estas entradas del blog:

• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (I): 2006 – 2008
• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (II): 2009-2010
• Camino Akademy-es 2013: Las anteriores ediciones (III): 2011-2012
• Anteriores ediciones de Akademy-es (IV): 2013 y 2014

La entrada Abierto el registro para Akademy-es 2022 de Barcelona #akademyes se publicó primero en KDE Blog.

Baseado nas informações da Amazon, o seu novo modelo superou o GPT-3 do OpenAI e também o PaLM da Google em diversos testes de NLP. Batizado como Alexa Teacher Models, o modelo de linguagem de seq2seq com 20 bilhões de parâmetros ainda não está disponível publicamente. Entretanto, mais dados disponíveis no paper e no blog da Amazon.

O modelo seq2seq é utilizado para resolução de linguagem natural como tradução, interação em chatbots, respostas e resenha. Diferente dos seus concorrentes, o Alexa Teacher (AlexaTM 20B) é um modelo que apresenta codificador e decodificador. Com isto teoricamente permite um maior desempenho em traduções automáticas. Mesmo apresentando menos parâmetros, o modelo da Amazon superou o fantástica GPT-3 alcançando excelente desempenho.