Daniele 'eriol' Tricoli Website

Put a big calendar on the wall. On days you do the thing, draw a smiley face. On days you fail, write “FAIL”. </blockquote>
I already have a calendar in the room I use most, but it hangs on the wall opposite my desk and since it's small I barely see it. Too easy to ignore.
I wanted something really simple to print and I started searching... but I was not able to find anything that suited my needs.
LaTeX to the rescue</h2>
I decided to write something myself with the following requirements:

minimal;</li>
must be very easy to generate the calendar for a specific month;</li>
fast to build.</li> </ol>
(The last point because, well, I'm trying to reduce procrastination!)
With the requirements in mind, LaTeX was my default choice. The code is really simple and is here: https://noa.mornie.org/eriol/monthly-calendar</a>.
You just need to add a data.txt</code> file in the root of the repository with the desired title and the combination year-month and compile the document.
For example with the following data.txt</code>:
That nasty thing I want make in May 2023 2023-05 </code></pre> you will get: But I procrastinated to fight procrastination</h2> Yes... and it's fine for me because the calendar method is working and I'm happy with the results.

Using headscale for your home networks 2022-08-30T06:23:43+02:00 Tailscale</a> is a software defined mesh virtual private network (VPN) on top of WireGuard</a>. It's all open source except the control server (and GUI clients for proprietary OS). I don't care about GUI clients but the control server manages key distribution and I don't like to have an external entity with all this power on my machines. headscale to the rescue</h2> headscale</a> is an open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server. I deployed it writing and then using this ansible role</a> with Nginx as reverse proxy</a>. I have something like this: - hosts: my-server vars: headscale_base_domain: headscale.example.org headscale_listen_addr: 127.0.0.1:8080 roles: - eriol.kit.headscale </code></pre> If you want install my ansible collection you can follow the instructions provided here</a>. Deploy Syncthing on a Synology DS416 with DSM 7 2021-10-23T01:44:05+02:00 After updating my NAS, a Synology DS416, to DSM 7 I decided to deploy Syncthing</a> on it. Synology supports containers in its latest NAS but not in DS416 and the suggested way to deploy is to use docker. There is an alternative fortunately since the NAS uses an ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)</code> and Syncthing is written in Go, it's really easy to cross-compile from source and just copy the binary into the NAS. If you don't want to compile it you will find binaries here: https://syncthing.net/downloads/</a>. Download the ARM binary and you are ready to go. In the NAS I created a dedicated user for syncthing, copied the binary on a specific path and, since DSM 7 uses systemd, I added the following unit inside /etc/systemd/system</code>: [Unit] Description=Syncthing continuous file synchronization After=network.target [Service] User=<the user you created for syncthing> ExecStart=/path/to/syncthing serve --no-browser --no-restart --logflags=0 Restart=on-failure RestartSec=1 SuccessExitStatus=3 4 RestartForceExitStatus=3 4 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target </code></pre> Please mind to substitute <the user you created for syncthing></code> with the actual user you created and /path/to/syncthing</code> with the actual path syncthing is in. Look at your EU Digital COVID Certificate 2021-07-04T21:36:14+02:00 I wanted to look at my EU Digital COVID Certificate1</a> that just arrived the other day, so after looking at the specification</a> I wrote a simple decoder that ignore the signing part (I was only interested to look at the data itself) and print the relevant data. Code</h2> The code is at https://noa.mornie.org/eriol/eudccdec</a> and is licensed under the GPLv3 license. Since it's written in rust</a> you can install cargo</code>, and then: cargo install --branch main --git https://noa.mornie.org/eriol/eudccdec </code></pre> Usage</h2> Using the Italian test data, curl</code> and zbarimg</code>2</a>: curl -sL https://github.com/eu-digital-green-certificates/dgc-testdata/raw/main/IT/png/1.png | \ zbarimg --quiet --raw - | eudccdec </code></pre> you will get: Certificate { ver: "1.0.0", nam: Name { fn_: "Di Caprio", fnt: "DI<CAPRIO", gn: "Marilù Teresa", gnt: "MARILU<TERESA", }, dob: "1977-06-16", v: [ VaccineRecord { tg: "840539006", vp: "1119349007", mp: "EU/1/20/1528", ma: "ORG-100030215", dn: 2, sd: 2, dt: "2021-04-10", co: "IT", is: "IT", ci: "01ITE7300E1AB2A84C719004F103DCB1F70A#6", }, ], r: [], t: [], } </code></pre> To know what the fields mean look at the JSON schema specifications for EU Digital COVID Certificates available here</a>. ^{1 They are called also Green Pass. </div> ^{2 On a Debian based system use sudo apt install curl zbar-tools</code> to install them. </div>}} kioku: a simple and customizable memory game 2021-05-22T23:51:04+02:00 Unfortunately one of the parents of a friend of mine was diagnosed with Alzheimer. The good news is that it's still at the first stage so keeping the brain active will help a lot. The classic memory game with covered cards can be useful, but I thought that it could be more pleasant with cards showing something close to affections, for example photos or drawings of what you care about. Welcome kioku</h2> kioku (記憶) — it means memory in Japanese — it's a memory game where you can create your own levels released under the GPL3 license. I had to make it run also on Android so I used Python with the kivy framework</a> to support both Linux and Android. Here a screenshot of the game screen on Linux playing a custom level made with photo of cats1</a>: Code</h2> The code is at https://noa.mornie.org/eriol/kioku</a> and the README cover already topics like build and install</a>, level creation</a> and level load</a>, so I'm not repeating them here. ^1The used photos are released under Creative Commons licenses, see the details here</a>. </div> Designing a storytelling dice 2021-05-04T03:31:58+02:00 Some months ago while talking about 3D printing with a friend of mine (hi Agata!) she suggested me that I could design and print a storytelling dice as one of my first 3D projects because it's quite easy to do, and post pandemic it would be fun to play with friends. So I looked at a CAD I could use, as someone who never used a CAD before, and discovered solvespace</a>. In a couple of hours I made the dice and the first face, but then I stopped working on it since I had to setup my new VPS. Last Friday I took some time to complete it: I printed it using white PLA: Unfortunately my printer made the house face (the one laid on the printer bed) a bit more sticking out, I will try to print using supports next time rotating the dice to make it lay on an edge. The dice is released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 and you can find all the files (included the STL ready to be printed) in the repository</a> of the project. Gitea with pandoc 2021-04-27T17:09:07+02:00 Some days ago I wrote about using rst2html with gitea</a>. Unfortunately I noticed that HTML anchors were broken and other nuisances. A friend of mine (thanks tosky!) told me that they are using pandoc</a> on the opendev</a>'s gitea instance, so I did the same in my custom docker/podman image: FROM alpine:3.13 as builder ENV PANDOC_VERSION 2.13 ENV PANDOC_TARBALL_SHA256SUM 7404aa88a6eb9fbb99d9803b80170a3a546f51959230cc529c66a2ce6b950d4c RUN apk --no-cache add tar WORKDIR /opt ADD https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases/download/${PANDOC_VERSION}/pandoc-${PANDOC_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz pandoc.tar.gz RUN sha256sum pandoc.tar.gz | grep -q ${PANDOC_TARBALL_SHA256SUM} && \ tar xvzf pandoc.tar.gz --strip-components 1 FROM gitea/gitea:1.14.1 COPY --from=builder /opt/bin/pandoc /usr/local/bin/pandoc EXPOSE 3000 </code></pre> My gitea's app.ini</code> section related to reStructuredText is now: [markup.restructuredtext] ENABLED = true FILE_EXTENSIONS = .rst RENDER_COMMAND = "/usr/local/bin/pandoc -f rst" IS_INPUT_FILE = false </code></pre> Use a custom template for rst2html with gitea 2021-04-17T02:18:05+02:00 The other day I noticed that on my self hosted instance of gitea</a> reStructuredText files was not properly rendered: <html></code> and '</html>' tags were popping out to the rendered text. To solve the issue I decided to write a custom template for rst2html</code> to get only the body part: %(body_pre_docinfo)s %(docinfo)s %(body)s </code></pre> Then I just updated my gitea's app.ini</code> section related to reStructuredText: [markup.restructuredtext] ENABLED = true FILE_EXTENSIONS = .rst RENDER_COMMAND = "rst2html.py --template=/usr/share/docutils/writers/htmlbody/template.txt" IS_INPUT_FILE = false </code></pre> where /usr/share/docutils/writers/htmlbody/template.txt</code> is the absolute path of the custom template showed above. My first minutes on personal servers 2021-02-13T16:21:45+01:00 Almost a year ago I decided to migrate to a new VPS provider but I wanted to reduce the effort required to setup and maintain it. I started to learn and use ansible and I developed a personal collection of roles</a>. Since ansible 2.10 you don't need to use Ansible Galaxy</a>, you can just install it from git: this is great because I'm trying to stop using services that can't be self-hosted and Ansible Galaxy need a Github account to login. To install my collection I just add the following stanza into requirements.yml</code>: --- collections: - name: https://noa.mornie.org/eriol/ansible-collection-kit type: git version: 0.2.5 </code></pre> and then: ansible-galaxy collection install -f -r requirements.yml </code></pre> I use the -f</code> to handle the upgrade of the collection since it's easier to just recall the command from history, but from ansible-base 2.11 it will not be required anymore</a>. Security is hard</h2> A little but important digression before continuing. I used the word personal on purpose on the title of this post. It's not to say that on a personal server/service you can have a lower standard regarding security. It's to say that security is built around the applications that the system support and context. For example, on my personal VPS I'm the only user. This is a huge assumption and simplify a lot of things like accountability. Keep in mind this if you want to use my collection. How I bootstrap a new server</h2> I have the following playbook server-bootstrap.yml</code> with the common part: --- - name: bootstrap operations for a new server hosts: "{{ hostlist | default('bootstrapable') }}" roles: - eriol.kit.common - eriol.kit.hostname - eriol.kit.admin - {role: eriol.kit.nftables, when: not is_docker_used} - {role: eriol.kit.iptables, when: is_docker_used} - eriol.kit.sshd - eriol.kit.fail2ban </code></pre> I keep all the servers in a bootstrapable</code> group so I can just execute server-bootstrap.yml</code> playbook, but if I want a specific playbook for a server I do: --- - name: import the common server part vars: hostlist: example.org import_playbook: server-bootstrap.yml - name: stuff for example.org hosts: example.org roles: - # YOUR ROLES HERE </code></pre> This way I don't have to write down the common part. All the variables are inside the inventory split between groups variables and specific hosts variables to make the playbooks generic. Resume blogging 2021-02-08T00:39:38+01:00 Almost five years ago</a> was the last time I wrote something here. If I look back I can identify several reasons, but astonishingly the main cause was about me thinking about the need to write always something useful. Then I was lucky to read this inspiring post by Jeremy Friesen: Happy 10th Birthday Take on Rules</a>. I suggest you to read the whole post, but I want to quote a couple of phrases that impressed me more: I don’t keep a schedule, nor publish at peak hours. Instead, I release what I write when I’m done with it. [...] So I ripped out the analytics, and chose to write according to my current mood and interests. </blockquote> As I wrote on the fediverse: I never used a proper tool for analytics, but I had the idea that one have to write something useful for others, but now, as you say, I will just «write according to my current mood and interests». I will always try to write something useful, but it won't be the goal. </blockquote> This will be the new commitment, so a sort of no commitment at all. I was already working on the site itself, but without the words of Jeremy Friesen and also the words of support of Alex Schroeder</a> this post would come later. I want to thanks both of them! From Hugo to Zola</h2> If you are wondering why I switched, I'm sorry to disappoint you: no, it's not a matter of rust vs go. In fact at first, around a week ago, when I moved this site to a new VM I was still using hugo</a>. Then I wanted to change the style of the site and no, I really dislike the templating part of hugo. Please read carefully the following words: it's me that doesn't like it. If you enjoy it, I'm happy for you! I still wanted to use a fast generator so I looked at what rust had to offer. Zola</a> seemed the most complete so I tried it and I was happy with the result. The switch was extremely simple and fast I must confess. Zola doesn't have a command to create new content, but I don't miss it. I simply added the following snippet to my vim configuration: snippet zolan "Create a new zola entry" b +++ draft = true date = `date --rfc-3339=seconds` title = "$1" [taxonomies] tags = ["$2"] +++ $0 endsnippet </code></pre> Automate all the things</h2> To reduce the friction on my blogging workflow (but also because it was fun to setup) I'm using a self hosted instance of the CI/CD service called drone</a>. This means that to publish this post, I only need my editor and git. But I will talk about it another time. From Django to Hugo 2015-04-01T02:24:16+02:00 About eight years ago I wrote my own blog</a> (and my website) using Django</a>. It was time to change so I completely rewrote it with Hugo</a>, a static website engine made by spf13</a>. Why going static?</h2> I use this site mainly to write about stuff I think interesting and when I have to write I want to use Vim</a>. So while Django is a wonderful framework, it was not the right choice for this site. In fact, I wrote less and less... I know, I could use Django REST framework</a> with a Vim plugin, but a markdown file for each post is easier! :) You can find the code of the site on GitHub</a> and GitLab</a>. Git?</h2> It's clear by now who won the DVCS war, so I started to use git and I will migrate my repositories soon (I already started the migration). My plan is to keep my code both on Bitbucket</a>, GitHub</a> and GitLab</a>: since git is distributed, I will use it in the proper way. Still a Work In Progress</h2> No, this site is not completed yet, even an about page is missing! I will add more content on my spare time, so stay tuned! :) How to load an image from memory in Kivy 2013-11-06T19:55:04+01:00 Sometime you may have the need to load an image already in memory instead of use one of the several ways Kivy</a> provides to load images. I had this need for a project of mine so I came up with the following code (I was inspired by this thread</a>). #!/usr/bin/env python # encoding: utf-8 # kivy_memory_image.py # How to load an image from memory in Kivy # http://mornie.org/blog/2013/11/06/how-load-image-memory-kivy/ # Copyright (c) 2013, Daniele Tricoli # All rights reserved. # # License: BSD-3 import StringIO from matplotlib.backends.backend_agg import FigureCanvasAgg from matplotlib.figure import Figure import numpy as np from kivy.app import App from kivy.core.image.img_pygame import ImageLoaderPygame from kivy.properties import ObjectProperty from kivy.uix.image import Image def cardioid(start, stop, step): """A rotated cardioid.""" theta = np.arange(start, stop, step) r = 1 - np.sin(theta) return theta, r def polar_plot(theta, r, rmax): """Draw a polat plot. :returns: matplotlib.Figure """ fig = Figure(facecolor='white') ax = fig.add_subplot(111, polar=True, frameon=False) ax.grid(False) ax.set_xticklabels([]) ax.set_yticklabels([]) ax.plot(theta, r, color='g', linewidth=2) ax.set_rmax(rmax) return fig def fig2png(fig): """Convert a matplotlib.Figure to PNG image. :returns: PNG image bytes """ data = StringIO.StringIO() canvas = FigureCanvasAgg(fig) canvas.print_png(data) return data.getvalue() class MemoryImage(Image): """Display an image already loaded in memory.""" memory_data = ObjectProperty(None) def __init__(self, memory_data, **kwargs): super(MemoryImage, self).__init__(**kwargs) self.memory_data = memory_data def on_memory_data(self, *args): """Load image from memory.""" data = StringIO.StringIO(self.memory_data) with self.canvas: self.texture = ImageLoaderPygame(data).texture class TestApp(App): def build(self): return MemoryImage(self.options['image']) if __name__ == '__main__': theta, r = cardioid(0, 8.0, 0.01) image = fig2png(polar_plot(theta, r, 2.5)) TestApp(image=image).run() </code></pre> cardioid</code>, polar_plot</code> and fig2png</code> are simply support functions to simulate an image already loaded in memory. My actual use case is different: I have images as BLOB inside a SQLite database (just like I described years ago</a>). The real work is done by MemoryImage</code>'s on_memory_data</code> method, taking advantage of Kivy automatic property binding. You can download the whole example from here: kivy_memory_image.py</a>. How to fix CKEditor 4 default theme in Django admin 2012-12-22T16:22:54+01:00 CKEditor</a> 4 default theme, mOOno</a>, is very nice and has a good set of features: neutral design that fits all situations;</li> optimized for accessibility, using WAI-ARIA</a> standards for contrast;</li> supports the UI color feature;</li> supports High Contrast.</li> </ul> But inside Django admin there is a little layout problem: To fix this issue you may use the following css snippet: div>.cke_chrome { width: 100%; padding: 0!important; clear: both; } </code></pre> The result is this: django-c5filemanager 0.1 released! 2010-12-01T22:00:41+01:00 The first public release of django-c5filemanager</a> is out! :) django-c5filemanager is a connector for the Core Five Filemanager and provides an easy way to add the filemanager to your Django project. For more information browse online documentation</a>. Feel free to mail me to report bugs and request features. Bye bye Subversion! 2010-11-18T18:24:24+01:00 I have just turned off my SVN server as all my projects has been migrated to Mercurial</a>. The address of my new HG server is: hg.mornie.org</a>. pyth in Debian NEW Queue 2010-10-21T13:24:38+01:00 Thanks to Piotr Ożarowski</a> my first Debian package is in the NEW Queue</a>! :) Update 2010-11-08: It's in</a>! :) Still alive :D 2009-11-11T02:52:16+01:00 Yes, I'm still alive. I worked hard and life was too much busy to write something in the meanwhile. :( Fast news: I wrote again my blog engine during upgrade of this site to django 1.1.1: now is more comfortable!</li> I have just update my old entry about python and libcaca</a>;</li> I will return to work on netsukuku</a> soon!</li> I joined the DMI Eurobot</a> team. :)</li> </ul> Stay tuned! A GPL Snowman 2008-03-30T03:08:16+01:00 Penguins are everywhere! :D Python 3.0a2 Released! 2007-12-08T03:10:16+01:00 The second alpha</a> release is out! Python 3000 is getting real, real fast! :D How to fly? import antigravity 2007-12-06T16:39:32+01:00 xkcd</a> is great! Python 3.0a1 Released! 2007-09-01T00:12:03+01:00 Yes, the first alpha release is out</a>! :D Congratulations to all python developers for this release!!! Generating Maze using Python 2007-08-02T03:11:49+01:00 Do you like mazes? eriol@mornie:~$ python maze.py +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | | | | | + + + +--+ + +--+ + + + | | | | | | | | + + + +--+--+--+ +--+--+ + | | | | | | | + + +--+ + +--+--+ + + + | | | | | | | + + + +--+--+--+--+--+--+ + | | | | | + +--+--+ + + +--+--+--+ + | | | | +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ </code></pre> After reading this good</a> article, I decided to wrote some code to generate perfect maze. :D The result is here: maze.py</a>. As you can see, Depth-First Search</a> is not a complex algorithm: def create(self): cell_stack = [] while self.visited_cells < self.total_cells: neighbors = self.find_neighbors_with_walls(self.current_cell) if neighbors: new_cell = random.choice(neighbors) self.current_cell.destroy_wall(cell=new_cell) cell_stack.append(self.current_cell) self.current_cell = new_cell self.visited_cells += 1 else: self.current_cell = cell_stack.pop() </code></pre> My phone number! 2007-07-31T16:57:25+01:00 It was almost green: :D PyCon It 2007-05-19T17:46:58+01:00 The first Python Conference</a> in Italy will be held in Florence on June, the 9th and 10th. If you love Python, you can't miss it! :) RSS Feeds a Go-Go! 2007-05-06T08:36:25+01:00 Finally I had the time to add RSS feeds</a>! I hope you enjoy them. :) I'm not going to show some code because the documentation of Django's syndication feed framework</a> is very good! A reminder using GTK shaped window 2007-04-26T00:34:12+01:00 The GNU/Linux User Group Catania</a> meets the last thursday of every month. Usually a reminder is sent to mailing list by someone, but the other day a friend of mine started a «reminder contest». I could not miss it! :) I wanted something unusual to set the timer, so I decided to use the Heaviside step function</a>: def u(t): if t < 0: return 0 else: return 1 </code></pre> Obviously not a single unit step! :) def setTimer(t): return u(t) - 0.5 * u(t-TOTAL_HOURS-3) - 0.25 * u(t-TOTAL_HOURS-1) </code></pre> In this manner the reminder is more dynamic: I use the return value to change the display's frequency. It's time to write the GUI part! A shaped window is simply a pixmap where the background pixels are transparent. </blockquote> An image is worth a thousand words. Yes, the pizza is our window :) class PReminder: def __init__(self): self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_POPUP) self.window.set_events( self.window.get_events() | gtk.gdk.BUTTON_PRESS_MASK) self.window.connect("button_press_event", self.hide) # [...] </code></pre> Using gtk.WINDOW_POPUP</code> makes the window a popup so it will not have a titlebar. In addiction, the button_press_event</code> signal is attached to self.hide</code> callback to hide the reminder: def hide(self, *args): self.window.hide() if self.timerShow: gobject.source_remove(self.timerShow) </code></pre> To masks out everything except for the image we have to use gtk.gdk.Window.shape_combine_mask</a>: self.window.shape_combine_mask(self.mask, 0, 0) </code></pre> Changing the window itself as the time for the appointment approaches, can be useful. def draw(self): w = self.width, self.pangolayout.get_pixel_size()[0] offset = (max(w) - min(w)) / 2. if self.width < self.pangolayout.get_pixel_size()[0]: offset = -offset self.mask.draw_rectangle(self.bmgc, True, 0, 0, self.pieces * self.pixelpiece, self.height) textwidth = self.pangolayout.get_pixel_size()[0] self.pixmap.draw_layout(self.bgc, int(offset), int(self.height / 2.), self.pangolayout) self.mask.draw_layout(self.wmgc, int(offset), int(self.height / 2.), self.pangolayout) self.image = gtk.Image() self.image.set_from_pixmap(self.pixmap, self.mask) self.image.show() self.window.shape_combine_mask(self.mask, 0, 0) </code></pre> We have to change only the mask to obtain the desired effect. Checking for last thursday of every month can be done in few line of code using dateutil</a>: lastThursday = rrule.rrule(rrule.MONTHLY, byweekday=rrule.TH(-1), count=1)[0].date() </code></pre> The complete checking method: def check(self): today = datetime.today() lastThursday = rrule.rrule(rrule.MONTHLY, byweekday=rrule.TH(-1), count=1)[0].date() if today.date() == lastThursday: now = today.time() if START_CHECK_HOUR <= now <= FINISH_CHECK_HOUR: timerModulator = setTimer(now.hour - START_CHECK_HOUR.hour) timer = int(timerModulator * 60 * 60 * 1000) self.setText(DIPLAYING_TEXT) self.setPiece(now.hour - START_CHECK_HOUR.hour) self.show() self.timerShow = gobject.timeout_add(AUTO_HIDE_AFTER * 1000, self.hide) else: timer = CHECK_TIMER * 1000 self.timerID = gobject.timeout_add(timer, self.check) </code></pre> You can download the complete source code here: preminder-0.1.zip</a>. Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 released 2007-04-08T15:40:03+01:00 From the news</a>: The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 4.0, codenamed etch, after 21 months of constant development. </blockquote> Oh, yeah!!! :D Playing with ctypes and libcaca 2007-03-25T16:30:29+01:00 ctypes</a> is a foreign function interface for Python. It allows to call functions in dlls/shared libraries and access and manipulate C data types in Python: you can use it to wrap libraries in pure Python. It is included in Python 2.5 standard library. I want to code a funny example using it, so I will show how to make a snake game using libcaca. libcaca</a> is an ascii art library like AAlib</a>, but it has some cool features: Unicode support;</li> 2048 colours;</li> dithering of colour images;</li> advanced text canvas operations (blitting, rotations).</li> </ul> Update 2009/10/11: libcaca API changed so this entry in now obsolete but snake.py example works: you can read the source to get in touch with the new API. First of all we have to load libcaca, I use Linux so I will call libcaca.so.0</code>: import ctypes as C lcaca = C.cdll.LoadLibrary('libcaca.so.0') </code></pre> Now you can access libcaca's functions from Python. :) Create canvas and display for our snake is very easy: cv = lcaca.cucul_create_canvas(CANVAS_WIDTH, CANVAS_HEIGHT) dp = lcaca.caca_create_display(cv) lcaca.caca_set_display_title(dp, "snake.py - playing with ctypes and libcaca") </code></pre> To get events from keyboard call caca_get_event</a>: lcaca.caca_get_event(dp, 0x0001, C.byref(event), 0) </code></pre> Where event</code> is a caca_event</a> structure. We need it because if not null, it will be filled with information about the event received. How define event</code>? Simply like that: class MOUSE(C.Structure): _fields_ = [('x', C.c_uint), ('y', C.c_uint), ('button', C.c_uint)] class RESIZE(C.Structure): _fields_ = [('w', C.c_uint), ('h', C.c_uint)] class KEY(C.Structure): _fields_ = [('ch', C.c_uint), ('utf32', C.c_ulong), ('utf8', C.c_char_p * 8)] class ev(C.Union): _fields_ = [('type', C.c_uint), ('mouse', MOUSE), ('resize', RESIZE), ('key', KEY)] event = ev() </code></pre> Now we can code the snake class: class Snake(object): def __init__(self, center_point, length): self.head = center_point self.body = [] for y in xrange(self.head[1] + 1, self.head[1] + length + 1): self.body.append((self.head[0], y)) def move(self, direction): phead = tuple(self.head) if direction == 'UP': self.head[1] -=1 elif direction == 'DOWN': self.head[1] +=1 elif direction == 'LEFT': self.head[0] -=1 elif direction == 'RIGHT': self.head[0] +=1 self.body = [phead] + self.body[:-1] def grow(self): self.body += [tuple(self.head)] * 2 def draw(self): global cv lcaca.cucul_set_color_ansi(cv, 0x05, 0x00) for p in self.body: lcaca.cucul_put_char(cv, p[0], p[1], ord('o')) lcaca.cucul_set_color_ansi(cv, 0x02, 0x00) lcaca.cucul_put_char(cv, self.head[0], self.head[1], ord('@')) lcaca.caca_refresh_display(dp) </code></pre> And the target class: class Target(object): def __init__(self): self.total = 0 def random(self, width, height): self.x = int(random.uniform(1, width)) self.y = int(random.uniform(1, height)) self.value = random.choice(range(1,10)) def sum(self): self.total += self.value def draw(self): global cv lcaca.cucul_set_color_ansi(cv, 0x03, 0x00) lcaca.cucul_put_char(cv, self.x, self.y, ord(str(self.value))) lcaca.caca_refresh_display(dp) </code></pre> We are ready for the mainloop! ;) while True: while lcaca.caca_get_event(dp, 0x0001, C.byref(event), 0): if event.key.utf32 == 113: # 'q' pressed sys.exit() elif event.key.utf32 == UP: d = 'UP' elif event.key.utf32 == DOWN: d = 'DOWN' elif event.key.utf32 == LEFT: d = 'LEFT' elif event.key.utf32 == RIGHT: d = 'RIGHT' try: s.move(d) except NameError: pass if (tuple(s.head) in s.body[1:] or not 0 < s.head[0] < CANVAS_WIDTH - 1 or not 0 < s.head[1] < CANVAS_HEIGHT - 1): print 'Game Over!' print 'Total score:', t.total sys.exit() elif tuple(s.head) == (t.x, t.y): t.sum() t.random(CANVAS_WIDTH - 2, CANVAS_HEIGHT - 2) s.grow() lcaca.cucul_clear_canvas(cv) draw_border() s.draw() t.draw() time.sleep(0.1) </code></pre> The complete example is here: snake.py</a>. Update 2007/10/20: Sam Hocevar</a> pointed me about importance of checking caca_get_event's return value, otherwise from time to time invalid keys are read. Thank you, Sam! My blog with Django! 2007-03-08T05:10:33+01:00 At the end I made it! Django</a> is great! You can build your own blog in few minutes! :) Many thanks to Sal Zeta for his help with this site's design! Storing binary data in SQLite 2007-01-10T16:06:10+01:00 Storing images into a database is not common, usually you store only the file name, but sometimes it can be useful. Think you must log the position of several objects on a map. You can store the map and the logs in different files, but if your users have to share map and logs and they are not geek people, it can be a serious problem. Remember that, of course, store files into a database makes the storage space more expensive. However, if you have to store one or few files it's not a big problem. :-) Consider the following database schema: CREATE TABLE map ( name varchar(20) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, image_file blob NOT NULL ); CREATE TABLE logs ( -- <your logs schema here> ); </code></pre> Let's start to code: import Image import StringIO from pysqlite2 import dbapi2 as sqlite </code></pre> Storing an image into the database is very simple: def storeInDatabase(cur, image_name, data): cur.execute("INSERT INTO map (name, image_file) values (?, ?)", (image_name, sqlite.Binary(data)) ) con.commit() </code></pre> N.B. As said by Fredrik Lundh</a>, SQLite <3.0 has a limitation of 1 MB for each row of data, and the database uses NUL bytes to separate columns in the storage. Retrieve the previously image stored is simple too: def retrieveFromDatabase(cur, image): cur.execute("SELECT image_file FROM map WHERE name = ?", (image,)) img = cur.fetchone()[0] return StringIO.StringIO(img) </code></pre> I use StringIO.StringIO because cur.fetchone()[0]</code> returns a buffer-object and I want a file-object instead. ;) You can test with: if __name__ == '__main__': IMAGE = 'Surf.jpg' i = open(IMAGE, 'rb') idata = i.read() i.close() con = sqlite.connect('blob.db') cur = con.cursor() try: storeInDatabase(cur, image_name=IMAGE, data=idata) except sqlite.IntegrityError: print 'You have stored this map already' img = retrieveFromDatabase(cur, IMAGE) cur.close() Image.open(img).show() </code></pre> The whole example is here: blobexample.py</a>. Libero SMTP pain :( 2006-12-28T03:06:00+01:00 Since few days the SMTP server of my ISP</a> has problems. When I post in several mailing lists I get this message: RCPT address has non-existant domain. So now I'm using exim4 from my laptop when I get that error, but I hope to get a VPS soon to solve the problem's root. ;) Update: The SMTP of my provider sends only if it finds a MX record in the addressee's domain. I searched a little and I discovered that RFC 974</a> says: It is possible that the list of MXs in the response to the query will be empty. This is a special case. If the list is empty, mailers should treat it as if it contained one RR, an MX RR with a preference value of 0, and a host name of REMOTE. (I.e., REMOTE is its only MX). In addition, the mailer should do no further processing on the list, but should attempt to deliver the message to REMOTE. The idea here is that if a domain fails to advertise any information about a particular name we will give it the benefit of the doubt and attempt delivery. </blockquote> So I hope to get, as soon as possible, a VPS to setup and use a SMTP server that follows the RFC! Python in a Nutshell 2006-12-19T00:33:59+01:00 Today, when I arrived at home I saw a package on the table in the living room: My first purchase on Amazon! :) My new pet ;) 2006-12-18T01:06:21+01:00 Oh, yes I started to log my rants :D

But I procrastinated to fight procrastination</h2>
Yes... and it's fine for me because the calendar method is working and I'm happy with the results.</p>

Git?</h2>
It's clear by now who won the DVCS war, so I started to use git and I will migrate my repositories soon (I already started the migration). My plan is to keep my code both on Bitbucket</a>, GitHub</a> and GitLab</a>: since git is distributed, I will use it in the proper way.</p>

Still a Work In Progress</h2>
No, this site is not completed yet, even an about page is missing! I will add more content on my spare time, so stay tuned! :)</p>

Daniele 'eriol' Tricoli Website

Moving to Proton Mail

Future stuff</h2>
I plan to self-host at home an instance of dovecot to have a copy of my whole email archive. I have to figure out if hydroxide</a>, an open-source ProtonMail bridge, can be used for this use case.</p>

Default Apps 2024

A monthly calendar to fight procrastination

Using headscale for your home networks

Deploy Syncthing on a Synology DS416 with DSM 7

Look at your EU Digital COVID Certificate

kioku: a simple and customizable memory game

Designing a storytelling dice

Gitea with pandoc

Use a custom template for rst2html with gitea

My first minutes on personal servers

Resume blogging

From Django to Hugo

How to load an image from memory in Kivy

How to fix CKEditor 4 default theme in Django admin

django-c5filemanager 0.1 released!

Bye bye Subversion!

pyth in Debian NEW Queue

Still alive :D

A GPL Snowman

Python 3.0a2 Released!

How to fly? import antigravity

Python 3.0a1 Released!

Generating Maze using Python

My phone number!

PyCon It

RSS Feeds a Go-Go!

A reminder using GTK shaped window

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 released

Playing with ctypes and libcaca

My blog with Django!

Storing binary data in SQLite

Libero SMTP pain :(

Python in a Nutshell

My new pet ;)

Daniele 'eriol' Tricoli Website

Moving to Proton Mail

Default Apps 2024

A monthly calendar to fight procrastination

LaTeX to the rescue</h2> I decided to write something myself with the following requirements:</p> minimal;</li> must be very easy to generate the calendar for a specific month;</li>

But I procrastinated to fight procrastination</h2> Yes... and it's fine for me because the calendar method is working and I'm happy with the results.</p>

Using headscale for your home networks

Deploy Syncthing on a Synology DS416 with DSM 7

Look at your EU Digital COVID Certificate

kioku: a simple and customizable memory game

Designing a storytelling dice

Gitea with pandoc

Use a custom template for rst2html with gitea

My first minutes on personal servers

Resume blogging

From Django to Hugo

How to load an image from memory in Kivy

How to fix CKEditor 4 default theme in Django admin

django-c5filemanager 0.1 released!

Bye bye Subversion!

pyth in Debian NEW Queue

Still alive :D

A GPL Snowman

Python 3.0a2 Released!

How to fly? import antigravity

Python 3.0a1 Released!

Generating Maze using Python

My phone number!

PyCon It

RSS Feeds a Go-Go!

A reminder using GTK shaped window

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 released

Playing with ctypes and libcaca

My blog with Django!

Storing binary data in SQLite

Libero SMTP pain :(

Python in a Nutshell

My new pet ;)

But I procrastinated to fight procrastination</h2>
Yes... and it's fine for me because the calendar method is working and I'm happy with the results.</p>