Information Technology

“Cheap” should mean here that you don’t need to spend money on extra hardware like a remote timer or on extra software like Windoze (which Canon’s EOS Utility depends on). With a GNU/Linux system, just install gphoto2—in Debian, take version 2.4.5 from ‘squeeze’. After attaching your e.g. Canon EOS camera via USB, you can issue the command

to automatically shoot and download images for a time lapse, in this example every 10 seconds for one hour. You should keep all exposure values constant and switch to a lower resolution in advance. You can render an HD video e.g. with

If you make it bad, it might look boring like my very first try:

If you make it good, it should look like this.

My hope is that I can use gphoto2 with an Android smartphone.

It’s about time to do some more productive blog posts and review some apps I use.

For the start I want to review no less than the most annoying application of all times™. What is it, you wonder? No, it’s nothing from MS at all. It’s Workrave what I’m talking about.

Surprised? No longer if you read on. First, here’s what it is for:

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

That sounded quite promising to me, and this free app runs on Win and Linux. I started to give it a try in 2007 when I spent a lot of time writing at my Master’s thesis. I sometimes got burning eyes and a slight headache when ignoring to take a break from the screen once in a while. The app reminded me of important breaks and allowed me to work longer and more efficient.

The micro-breaks give you the chance to rest for a few seconds to relax your eyes. Then the regular breaks allow you to e.g. get something to drink or to go somewhere else. I usually have 8–10 minutes between micro-breaks that last for 20–30 seconds. The regular breaks come every 50 minutes and last for 10 minutes. All these times are configurable.

But the problem then comes with finding a compromise between break enforcement and break denial, and even more with the fact that the software isn’t smart enough to notice you being highly concentrated or busily typing at that time.

You can gain different enforcement levels by making use of these options: