Information Technology - 15

I recently managed to reactivate my dear old Epson HX-20, a retro computer released in 1983 which I used at the end of the 1980’s and early 1990’s to learn programming. Since I even could read in some BASIC programs that were still stored on the micro cassette, I wondered if I could rescue the code directly, without using OCR on printouts or even typing it off by hand. I was aware that I was very lucky that this machine still worked after all those years—the soldering seemed to have been much more rigid back then, it might cause more issues to attempt to run old PCs which are a decade younger! To be on the safe side, I invested into a new NiCd battery pack and replaced the original one.

My research first led me to the machine’s RS-232 output, internally called “COM0”. Someone had used that some years ago to directly connect an HX-20 to a PC’s serial port, using a special cable and some adapters. Sadly, it seems that this is no longer an option, since these cables disappear, and serial-to-USB adapters only seem to work with a certain chip in this case.

Then I stumbled upon the GPL software HXTape, and I was totally baffled: What, the Epson HX-20 had an external cassette interface as well? I knew that concept from our even older machine, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. It connected to a special music cassette recorder and encoded data into simple “magnetic bits” onto the tape:

It was quite funny to listen to the noisy sounds when playing the MCs on an ordinary player.

This bidirectional data transfer works over ordinary mono audio cables, one for each direction. And now, it turns out the HX-20 had such an interface as well, and we never used it. But the point is, one could exploit it to decode the audio signals into the original bits and bytes by connecting the HX-20’s “MIC” port to the microphone input of a PC using a simple mono audio cable with standard 3.5 mm jacks! (How tremendous the analog world was! Keep a music cassette lying around in the basement for decades and then just play it. Try this with your ¡Phone!) And that audio decoding is exactly what HXTape is doing.

Eight years ago, I wrote in the history of my computer usage,

In 1988, when I entered grammar school, [...] I did a bit more serious BASIC programming on an Epson HX-20, which I still own today, but isn’t working anymore. [...] My cousin René taught me some BASIC things like how to use the random number generator.

Well, it turns out that this machine is still alive, as you can see in this video:

You can even watch me loading my cousin’s learning program from the micro cassette—that very lines he’d written for me on Dec 29th, 1988. Though, its output was designed for a separate and larger screen that I don’t own anymore.

I’m pretty sure that this machine had slept from ~1995 until I woke it up now. I hope I can also have a look at my other programs on that micro cassette.

Being so content with Wuala’s features I gulped when I read that they shut their service down. At least they partnered with Tresorit, another Swiss zero-knowledge cloud storage provider, to provide a dedicated transition path. Tresorit had failed for me in my research last year, because they didn’t provide a Linux client—meanwhile, they do, but it’s still a beta. In addition, there’s no easy way to test their service other than during a 14-day trial. [Update 25 Aug: The trial period is now 30 days.]

Rather than looking at what they had in common, I checked Tresorit against my usual requirements, and sadly, it misses a few points:

• There’s no on-demand-only download of files like in Wuala. You either sync 100% of a GB-heavy “Tresor”, or not at all. In Wuala, you could browse through the directory tree without allocating much disk space. [Update 25 Aug: Their desktop client is also a cloud file browser, where you can explicitly download files from unsynced Tresors.]
• The client doesn’t provide an unencrypted view of an encrypted data container on the disk while it runs. If the client shuts down, the files remain plainly unencrypted in the file system like with Dropbox. [Update 25 Aug: Files remain unencrypted only if you actually sync a Tresor.]
• There’s only a Premium plan with 100 GB for one user, or a Business plan with 1 TB for at least two users. If you only need 200 or 300 GB, you’re out of luck, as it seems. [Update 25 Aug: For Wuala switchers, their Business plan is now also available for a single user, what means 1 TB for just double the price.]

Luckily, they have planned to implement the first two, but that could take a while.

And, other than Wuala’s and Tresorit’s recommendation to export Wuala’s data once and import it as a single Tresor into Tresorit, I found out it’s much better to reorganize Wuala’s subfolders into dedicated Tresors. This makes sense, because you can configure which Tresors to sync on each machine. This way, you could e.g. create a dedicated Tresor for each employer and sync only that, so you don’t accidentally put private or third-party data onto your employer’s machines. Should you need access to one of those unsynced Tresors, though, you either do have to sync it (100%), use their web client (but file download failed in my first test), or use one of your mobile clients. [Update 25 Aug: Their desktop client is also a cloud file browser, where you can explicitly download files from unsynced Tresors.]

But, so far their service looks promising. Their clients are much more modern; e.g. Wuala’s Java desktop app or Android app have been an inferior UX. I neither know Wuala’s nor Tresorit’s user numbers, but that kind-of “merger” might generate a user base that helps Tresorit survive for a while.

And never forget: Any item in the cloud should only be a copy of an item on one of your disks.

Bzgl. Netzzugang kommt langsam das Mobilnetz ins Spiel: Die A1 Telekom öffnet nun 4G/LTE für alle, allerdings nur von der Netzfrequenz her und ggf. mit einer Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung je nach Tarif. Ich habe an meinem ländlichen Wohnort auf 4G gestern 20 Mbps Downstream/2 Mbps Up gemessen, was ganz OK ist und über meiner ursprünglichen Annahme von 10 Down liegt. Mir nützen diverse Geschwindigkeitsoptionen oder -fortschritte aber genau garnichts, solange ich entlang meiner Bahnstrecke oder hinter den Mauern meines Arbeitgebers in der Wiener Innenstadt(!) überhaupt um Internetzempfang kämpfen muss. (Und die ÖBB putzt sich in der WLAN-Diskussion ausgerechnet an 4G/5G ab.) So fad, dass ich YouTube schauen muss, ist mir zum Glück selten.

A1 hatte für mich Juli bis Oktober 2014 wegen eines Smartphone-Kaufs die LTE-Option gratis aktiviert. Ich war wirklich öfter auf 4G aktiv, und es war ziemlich flott, einmal ~30 Mbps Upstream! Nach Auslaufen der Option habe ich sie nicht vermisst. Problematisch ist zudem eine nötige Preissteigerung im doppelten Sinn: Mehr Speed verlangt eigentlich auch nach mehr Volumen. Ich möchte mit meinen 2 GB/Monat, die ich seit 2011 habe, noch längere Zeit Auslangen finden.

Ach ja, und das Glasfaser Power 30 Paket erhöht sich von 9,90 auf 12,90 €/Monat.

I’m using Wuala’s cloud storage for some years now, and I tried to challenge the status quo to see if there are better alternatives available in the meantime. The main requirement for me is a zero-knowledge provider, a provider that does not know my password and cannot decrypt my data (without brute force). I found these candidates:

Wuala, Tresorit, SpiderOak, MEGA, SeaFile

(Note that SeaFile is a self-hosted open-source solution.) The next requirement is location: Servers should not be located in the USA, and there should be an Android client that supports upload ...

Wuala, Tresorit, SpiderOak^{Double-Plonk!}, MEGA, SeaFile

... and there should be an official Linux client ...

Wuala, Tresorit^Plonk!, MEGA, SeaFile

... and the service shouldn’t require exotic TCP ports such that clients work behind a corporate firewall ...

Wuala, MEGA, SeaFile^Plonk!

... and the service should support file revisions, download on demand only, and files should stay encrypted on client exit ...

Wuala, MEGA^{Triple-Plonk!}

Way to go, Wuala!

I’m adding to my phone history:

A look back at the Galaxy Nexus

I only noticed recently that this phone never had a “Samsung” tag at all; while Samsung indeed was the hardware manufacturer, that device simply was a Google phone.

Surprisingly, I was less into rooting/modding with this phone than I was with my first Android phone, the Motorola Milestone, although the pureness and openness of the Nexus devices was dedicated to such purposes. Maybe because Android 4 finally featured a lot innately: Useful home screen, editing contact groups & birthdays, taking screenshots, mobile data usage control, unlocking by face recognition, panorama camera mode, rich notifications, better search, better messaging. I only rooted it once it was clear there won’t be any further updates; I did so to be able to use advanced anti-theft features. But now it’s beginning to bug me that the hardware (RAM) is getting old (small); the phone is lagging a lot if the uptime reaches one week. I had to turn off various useful but RAM-eating services, like, live wallpapers. Well, it’s 2½ years old.

Mentioning Android features, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Google Now experience becomes the actual core in the future, making devices smart and active companions that exactly know about their users’ habits.

... and the AppIe ¡Phone

Yes, I used an ¡Phone 4 for some months. I didn’t find it that intuitive like it was always praised; e.g., where do you find email settings? No, not at all in the email app, but in the system settings! Also, the ¡Phone has no idea of the concept of widgets or background services. There is no such thing as a third-party keyboard with swipe gestures and text prediction, or a service that changes settings according to detected current conditions. AppIe physically seals phones and notebooks, tries to trick users into buying entirely new devices by making component upgrades expensive or impossible. Yet, ¡People only seem to care about the smoothness of animations. Whoever buys AppIe, it’s their own fault.

Coming up: Samsung Galaxy S5

I somehow drifted away from praising Google’s “pure Android” experience, although they drive core innovations. Having used my first “real” Samsung device, the NotePRO tablet, for some time, I came to appreciate the AppIe-like benefit (what!!1) of an interlinked environment: Samsung devices are “magically” in touch with each other—I can remote control both my TV and my sat receiver/HDD recorder/Blu-ray player (but, strangely enough, not my microwave), I can stream pictures, videos and even my whole UI screen to my TV over the freakin’ air. I mean, totally on their purpose and without me “hacking” anything. It’s no longer Android or Google integration that’s exciting to me, it’s the Samsung experience. I don’t mind TouchWiz as long as they have a mission behind it. (OTOH, the Samsung store praises cheap and foolish third-party apps exclusively, it’s totally pointless to search for apps there, IMO.)

I notice, Samsung is the new Nokia: Every jerk has got one—people who don’t know how to mute their phones or change the standard sounds. I’m the next in line!

... and the Gear Fit

In addition, I’m leering at Samsung’s health-centric smartwatch Gear Fit, as it perfectly integrates into their (or my) device environment.

Do they also build toothbrushes?