Installing and running Debian armel on an emulated ARM machine on Windows (QEMU)

Why, you ask me? Well, it all begun with Raspberry Pi... If you don't know the amazing, tiny, soon to be the greatest thing to happen to personal computing since... sliced bread?, please, do yourself a favor and click the link.

If you are feeling a little too TL;DR for that, maybe you should skip this post, but since I'm such a nice guy I'm willing to cut you some slack and give you the skinny: The RasPi is soon-to-be a tiny, sub-$50 full-featured computer. It is possible thanks to mobile technology, specially a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) manufactured by Broadcom for use in smartphones. It has a kick-ass graphics processor (capable of running 1080p video, or Quake 3, without heating much above body temperature. Don't take my word for it, click play and enjoy the show):

This amazing GPU is combined in the same package with a handful of on-board RAM (128 or 256MB, depending on version) and an ARM processor. Which is great, except that most of the software we use on a daily basis is built for Windows running on x86, not Linux on ARM. So people are excited about it, but at the same time they don't know if their favorite piece of software is gonna run on this puppy. And people being people (myself included), they don't want to wait until late November to get their hands on one. Therefore, here we are, trying to emulate it, at least well enough to test if we can compile... well, whatever the heck we may want to compile and run on the RasPi.

Full disclosure: You can emulate an ARM1176 on the latest versions of QEMU, but you cannot simply install a run-off-the-mill Linux distro on it, because no distro nowadays ships with compatible kernels. We could go thru all the trouble of cross-compiling one, and installing Debian using it, but we won't. Why? Because most software that runs on the ARM926 we are going to emulate will compile and run just fine on the ARM1176 core in the RasPi. If the emulated architecture were more advanced, like an ARMv7A, it would probably run software incompatible with the Raspberry Pi, like Adobe Flash 10. But since the ARM1176 is the natural replacement to the ARM926, emulating the earlier platform can have no impact other than performance, and that is already going to be puny thanks to being emulated anyways. Sure, you could also argue I'm just being lazy, and you'd not be far from the truth either.

First and foremost, you need to get yourself a copy of QEMU for Windows. I recommend downloading the latest binary from http://lassauge.free.fr/qemu/ (some assembly required, it does not come with required fmod.dll, SDL.dll, mgwz.dll and libusb0.dll, but has links to current versions of the files and/or instructions to roll your own). You can also cut some corners and download your copy from http://homepage3.nifty.com/takeda-toshiya/qemu/ (no longer updated, but has a version 0.13.0 of QEMU good enough for what we are trying here). If you're too lazy to bake your own DLLs, I have put together an easy to use ZIP file with QEMU 0.15 and all needed libraries. You can download it here. Just remember to unzip and/or compile all your QEMU files, including DLLs, to the same folder (hat-tip to obarthelemy @ the Raspberry Pi forums).

Edit: the networking section is under scrutiny in the Raspberry Pi forums. I'll be updating as I get new information from other users; if you can't get it to work, give us a call.

Now you'll need to download OpenVPN, in order to create a network tap. You can go straight ahead and click here. During installation it creates a couple of TAP-Win32 Adapters, one of which you can dispose of. Go to Adapter Settings - here's where to find'em on Windows 7:

- and rename your TAP-Win32 Adapter something single-worded, like TAP32. Now you'll need to manually set your TAP adapter. Right-click your it and select Properties. Once there, de-select all protocols, except the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP v4). Click it and then Properties:

Tricky part: you'll need to know your gateway IP address, but I guess if you haven't given up on this tutorial already, you know your local network inside out. Set the IP manually to something within your subnet's range, but not used by any of your machines, as well as put your router's IP as gateway and DNS server. Here's a screenshot, just don't copy it, use your local values instead:

Once you hit OK and are back at the Network Connections windows, hold Control, select both the TAP adapter and the one you use to connect to the internet, right click'em and select Add to Bridge:

You'll get a new adapter type, a MAC Bridge Miniport. You don't need to rename it, but you might also need to manually set it's IP address, Gateway and DNS servers (your mileage with Windows' auto-config may vary). Just follow the steps for the TAP-Win32 adapter and you'll be fine. Okeydokey, network ready. Now you'll need to get acquainted with the Command Prompt. It sits here, inside your Accessories folder:

You can always just type CMD on the Start menu and hit Enter, and you'll get one of the little buggers (don't you love Windows 7?). Now navigate to the folder where you put your QEMU installations and run

qemu-img create -f raw hda.img imagesize

where imagesize is the size of the disk you wish to create for your emulated device. It accepts the format number+suffix, as in 256M for 256 megabytes or 2G for gigabytes, etc. for some reason, my qemu-img refused to accept 8G as an argument, so I entered 8096M instead. Go figure (it seems crundy @ the RasPi forums had the same problem with 4G. I recommend you always use 1024M instead of 1G when trying to make gigabyte-sized disks). You now have a virtual hard-drive where you're gonna install Debian. To do it, you'll need two things: a kernel and an initrd. The kernel, as the name implies, is the core of the Linux operating system. The initrd is the initial ramdisk, a file containing information the kernel expects to find inside your computer's memory in order to find bootable devices, etc. When doing a networked install, the initrd contains the basic installer software, which will, in turn, download the rest of the Linux distribution from the internet. The latest stable Debian distribution for ARM can be found at http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-armel/current/images/versatile/netboot/.Just point your browser there get initrd.gz and vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-versatile. Now you have your hard dirk image, kernel and initrd. Time to start having fun! (not). On your Command Prompt window, type


qemu-system-arm -L . -kernel vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-versatile -initrd initrd.gz -hda hda.img -m 256 -M versatilepb -net nic -net tap,ifname=networkname -append "desktop=lxde"

where networkname is the name of your TAP-Win32 adapter (you DO remember it, don't you?) and -append "desktop=lxde" is optional. If you leave it out, you'll get the default Gnome desktop (assuming you install a desktop environment, a part we'll be getting into soon). Adding the desktop boot parameter allows you to choose an alternate desktop environment, in this case LXDE, the Lightweight  X11 Desktop Environment, which, the RasPi team informs us, is what we'll probably get with their boot images. It does help tons (pun intended) to replace Gnome with LXDE when everything runs so damn slow (no one said emulation was easy). Once you hit enter, assuming you did everything right (be sure to have all required files in the same folder), you'll be greeted with a new window:

Soon you'll see the Debian installer window. Select your local language, keyboard layout, country etc. according to your geographical location and preferred settings. The options are mostly idiot-proof, so when in doubt, just let the installer guide you. Unless you really do use a Domain on Windows, keep that field blank. Your Workgroup won't work, even if that's what the installer recommends (thanks again, obarthelemy!). Once the software selection screen comes up, be sure to select whatever packets you believe you'll need (including a graphical desktop environment, unless you're comfortable enough with Linux to leave that out). Don't go hitting Enter like I did the first time, the key you use to select packets is the space bar (duh!).

Now sit tight for what will be, depending on your connection, quite a long time. When the installer is finally done, it will warn you that no boot loader was installed. What it means is that you cannot simply reboot the Virtual Machine to load your freshly installed Linux. Wait for it to finish up and restart, then hit Control+Alt+2 to go to the QEMU console. This is where you can issue commands directly to the emulator. Simply type q and hit Enter to close QEMU (or you can just hit the big, red, X-button Your call). Now you'll need a new initrd (remember, the other one contains the installer payload, not the directions to boot your media). If we were running Linux, we could mount our virtual hard disk and copy the initrd from /root. Fortunately for us Windows users, we can also download one from http://people.debian.org/~aurel32/qemu/armel/. Go there, fetch yourself initrd.img-2.6.32-5-versatile and copy it to the QEMU folder. Now I recommend you open Notepad and make this new command into a batch file, otherwise you'll need to type this mouthful every time you want to run your emulated Linux box. Make sure to turn Word Wrap off in the Format menu and type
@qemu-system-arm.exe -L . -kernel vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-versatile -initrd initrd.img-2.6.32-5-versatile -hda hda.img -k en-us -m 256 -M versatilepb -net nic -net tap,ifname=networkname -append "root=/dev/sda1"
where networkname is the name of your TAP-Win32 adapter (repeat myself much?). Now save it to the QEMU folder with the .BAT extension. To run the Virtual Machine, just double click the .BAT file and off we go. The system will boot mostly like the installer, but (depending on whether you installed a desktop environment) will go to a login screen (Gnome shown below). Type the name and password you've set up during installation and voilá! Linux on ARM!

...now, if you're too damn lazy to go thru the entire installation process, I have a treat for you: downloadable images! All you need is to install a Torrent client, then click here for LXDE or here for Gnome. Alternately, you can download them via RapidShare: click here for LXDE or here for Gnome. Just copy the files to your QEMU folder and double-click the corresponding .BAT file, you remiss indolent!

Thanks go to Francisco Benitez's great tutorial for installing Debian on QEMU, which I've adapted for Windows and updated, and to Ken's tutorial on Windows networking for QEMU. This page wouldn't exist if it wasn't for these and other great resources I found online.

Andrew, Chapter 2, First Draft.

Andrew was born in New York City in the seventies when his parents were already over thirty. They had decided to move to some smaller town upstate to raise their children (the one already in the oven and whoever came later) but his mother was having trouble disentangling herself from her job back then. By the time Peter was born some 4 years later in the early eighties Andrew and his parents were already living in Amsterdam, NY where his father put his programming skills on the original Coleco videogames. When the gaming industry crashed his father was teaching a course on videogame design at SUNY Albany and his mom was working full time on her real estate business. It was the first time Andrew's dad made less money than his mom, a tendency that would only accentuate as the years went by. He was already decided to lead a fully academic career when the gaming industry recovered half a decade later.
In the same manner Andrew worshiped his father for his 'mad programming chops' as Andrew would put it, his brother Peter put his admiration on his mother's skill in making cold, hard cash. It would be only fitting that Andrew should follow a creative career while Peter became a very technical professional. The irony resided in Peter pursuing a computer engineering career while Andrew decided to major in architecture.
Séamus, Andrew' and Peter's father, was a professor at the College of Computer and Information for as long as Andrew could remember. He'd take the Amtrak from Amsterdam to Rensselaer and back to Albany towards SUNY Plaza almost every day. Sometimes he'd take the 214 across the Hudson, sometimes he'd walk half a mile to work. He cherished these walks after one hour or more of sitting in the train. Andrew loved to visit dad in the downtown campus, and dad would sometimes take the 63 with Andrew to the beautiful uptown campus when he had business in the central office. Andrew fell in love with architecture during these visits to the 'new' campus, with its fountains, towers and columns. He learned from Séamus that its designer, Edward Durell Stone, had been responsible for parts of the Radio City Music Hall, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Museum of Modern Arts in Andrew's native New York City, and all that before he was formally considered an architect. This man's connection to his hometown struck a chord with Andrew, one that would mold his decision to become an architect himself.
It would also influence another decision, the most stupid in his vast collection of stupid decisions.

Andrew, Chapter 1, 3rd Draft.

Andrew's first child had a very unceremonious burial: it was dumped in a biological waste bin outside a fertilization clinic upstate. Andrew and Vicky were no longer together when she found out she was pregnant of his son-or-daughter-to-be, and she took the decision to abort it and never mention it to him. I might have some of the details wrong, since I don't officially know about it, even after so many years; it might have been facilitated by her father the obstetrician or maybe she didn't tell him either. The fact is that she acted on her perceived prerogative and chose to keep Andrew off the loop.
Andy used to describe his views on abortion as pro-choice, but that was before being denied one; now he no longer seemed so certain. He's still learning to cope with the reality of having his fatherhood taken away and telling me this story was part of his dealing with it.
Maybe I should start by telling you the story of Andrew and Victoria and how they came to be apart. Their relationship started when he was a freshman in architecture school and she was a high school sophomore. He was one year away from graduating when she decided to pop the question, just like that (it was common for Vicky to take initiative in these subjects):
- So, Andrew, will you marry me ?
- Sure I will Vicky. As soon as we're both done with college and can afford a little apartment, I'm gonna sweep you away from your parents.
- No, I mean, right away. You're not gonna graduate for another year and I've just been admitted, it's gonna take ages and I want us to be married by the end of the year.
- Ha, ha. Funny Vick, very funny. You know we cannot afford to leave our parent's homes, not with both of us on student loans.
- Don't you love me, Andy ?
- More than I love myself, Vick. But that's beyond the point.
And so the discussion faded, but it would soon begin to sprout again in very similar variants for the few months their relationship survived this irreconcilable divergence. Andrew adored her, beyond anything he'd ever felt for anyone. But he was simply too rational to jump into a post-teenage marriage with no chance of survival.
A few months after the break up, Vicky was sharing an apartment with Bill. Guess she didn't love Andrew nearly as much as he loved her.

The Cribs - Be Safe

clique aqui para ouvir

One of those fucking awful black days when nothing is pleasing and everything that happens is an excuse for anger. An outlet for emotions stockpiled, an arsenal, an armour. These are the days when I hate the world, hate the rich, hate the happy, hate the complacent, the TV watchers, the beer drinkers, the satisfied ones. Because I know I can be all of those little hateful things and then I hate myself for realising that. There's no preventative, directive or safe approach for living. We each know our own fate. We know from our youth how to be treated, how we'll be received, how we shall end. These things don't change. You can change your clothes, change your hairstyle, your friends, cities, continents but sooner or later your own self will always catch up. Always it waits in the wings. Ideas swirl but don't stick. They appear but then run off like rain on the windshield. One of those rainy day car rides my head implodes, the atmosphere in this car a mirror of my skull. Wet, damp, windows dripping and misted with cold. Walls of grey. Nothing good on the radio. Not a thought in my head.

be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe
be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe
be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe

I know a place we can go when you fall in love so hard that you wish you were dead

Lets take life and slow it down incredibly slow, frame by frame with two minutes that take ten years to live out. Yeah, lets do that.

Telephone poles like praying mantis against the sky, metal arms outstretched. So much land travelled, so little sense made of it. It doesn't mean a thing all this land laid out behind us. I'd like to take off into these woods and get good and lost for a while. I'm disgusted with petty concerns; parking tickets, breakfast specials. Does someone just have to carry this weight? Abstract typography, methane covenant, linear gospel, Nashville sales lady, stygian emissary, torturous lice, mad Elizabeth. Chemotherapy bullshit.

be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe
be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe
be safe be safe be safe be safe be safe

I know a place we can go when you fall in love so hard that you wish you were dead

The light within you shines like a diamond mine, like an unarmed walrus, like a dead man face down on the highway. Like a snake eating its own tail, steam turbine, frog farm, two full closets burst open in disarray, soap bubbles in the sun, hospital death bed, red convertible, shopping list, blowjob, death's head, devils dancing, bleached white buildings, memories, movements, the movie unfeeling, unreeling, about to begin.

I know a place we can go when you fall in love so hard that you wish you were dead

I've seen your hallway, you're a darn call away, I've hear your stairs creak. I can fix my mind on your yes, and on your no. I'll film you face today in the sparkling canals, all red, yellow, blue, green brilliance and silver Dutch reflection. Racing thoughts, racing thoughts. All too real, you're moving so fast now I can't hold your image. This image I have of your face by the window, me standing beside you arm on your shoulder. A catalogue of images, flashing glimpses then gone again.

I'm tethered to this post you've sunk in me and every clear afternoon now I'll picture you up in the air twisting your heel, your knees up around me, my face in your hair. You scream so well, your smile so loud it still rings in my ears.

I know a place we can go when you fall in love so hard that you wish you were dead

Imitation. Distant, tired of longing. Clean my teeth. Stay the course. Hold the wheel. Steer on to freedom. Open all the boxes. Open all the boxes. Open all the boxes. Open all the boxes.

I know a place we can go when you fall in love so hard that you wish you were dead

Times Square midday: newspaper buildings, news headlines going around, you watch as they go, and hope that some good comes. Those tree shadows in the park they're all whistling chasing leaves. Around six pm, shadows across cobblestones, girl in front of a bathroom mirror she slowly and carefully and paints her face green and mask like, like Matisse's Portrait with Green Stripe. Long shot through apartment window, a monologue on top but no girl in shot. The light within you shines like a diamond mine, like an unarmed walrus, like a dead man face down on the highway. Like a snake eating it's own tail, steam turbine, frog farm, two full closets burst open in disarray, soap bubbles in the sun, hospital death bed, red convertible, shopping list, blowjob, death's head, devils dancing, bleached white buildings, memories, movements. The movie unreeling, about to begin.

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Resumo da situação atual do Design de Interface em uma versão altamente desbocada. Priceless.

25 things about me (a list I dragged from Facebook)

Rules:
Once you've been tagged*, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I hate these kinds of lists, but only because I'm so damn lazy.
2. I can withstand the lowest possible levels of comfort as long as I have broadband.
3. I'm a caffeine addict who can't drink coffee... Result ? I drink 2 litres (about half a gallon) of Diet Pepsi a day, sometimes much more.
4. I have a serious case of adult ADD and caffeine keeps me semi-focused. See item 3.
5. I'm a man child who refuses to grow up. See item 4.
6. I have several computers in my household. I name them after characters in "Back to the Future".
7. DeLorean is my newest computer. Don't ever tell me the time-machine wasn't a character.
8. I'm nearly proficient in English and could pass for a (rather pedantic) native speaker. In writing, at least.
9. My parents insisted both me and my brother studied English from a very young age.
10. Also, dad used to talk to us in English sometimes and his extensive library is more than half comprised of English literature.
11. That also reflects my personal library, where no books except those for school are ever bought in Portuguese.
12. I'm a major geek, even though I hide it under a very thin veneer of 'overweight sk8r boi' looks.
13. My musical taste can be very eclectic from time to time, but you could mostly sum it up with one word: emo.
14. No, that doesn't mean I wear black eyeliner and dress like a Robert Smith impersonator, I just like the branch of punk rock that evolved (if that can be considered so) into emo.
15. I've had a very stupid and quite destructive accident when I was sixteen. It left so little of my right knee intact that the doctors had to graft some 4 inches of bone back.
16. One result of such grafting was I had some titanium alloy in my leg for 12 years and had to undergo a second procedure a while ago to remove it.
17. Other result is that I can probably withstand as much pain as any woman who's given birth to a child has.
18. The most obvious result is I limp a little.
19. Yes, it affects my sex life a little, but not as much as people tend to think. Also, chicks dig scars, and mine is HUGE.
20. I can't remember what life used to be like before Google, Wikipedia and IMDb. Please don't remind me.
21. I want to seastead. Google the word.
22. I miss playing massive multiplayer RPGs. I just can't find one that suits me.
23. I fall in love too easily. Therefore I've decided I'll refrain from the whole love game for a while.
24. I wrote entry 25 when I was only halfway thru the list because I knew I'd do it anyway:
25. I went thru this entire list correcting punctuation before submitting.

* I tag anyone who feels like complying. Just leave a comment telling us where to find your list.

Burt Bacharach - I'll Never Fall in Love Again

What do you get when you fall in love?
A girl with a pin to burst your bubble
That's what you get for all your trouble
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

What do you get when you kiss a girl
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, she'll never phone ya
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

Don't tell me what it's all about
'cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out
Out of those chains, those chains that bind you
That is why I'm here to remind you

What do you get when you give your heart?
You get it all broken up and battered
That's what you get, a heart that's shattered,
I'll never fall in love again

What do you get when you fall in love?
You only get lies and pain and sorrow
So for at least until tomorrow
I'll never fall in love again
I'll never fall in love again

Bon Jovi - Something for the Pain

Happiness, it's been no friend to me
But 'forever after' ain't what it's all cracked up to be
Yeah I had a taste, you were my fantasy
But I almost lost my faith when I hit reality
I don't need no guru to tell me what to do
When you're feeling like a headline on yesterday's news

Come on, come on, come on
Give me something for the pain
Give me something for the blues
Give me something for the pain when
I feel like I'm danglin' on a hangman's noose
Give me something for the rain
Give me something I can use
To get me through the night
Make me feel all right
Something like you
Come on, come on, come on

Loneliness has found a home in me
My suitcase and guitar are my only family
I've tried to need someone like they needed me
I opened up my heart but all I did was bleed
I don't need no lover just to get screwed
They don't make no bandage that's gonna cover my bruise

Come on, come on, come on
Give me something for the pain
Give me something for the blues
Give me something for the pain when
I feel like I'm danglin' on a hangman's noose
Give me something for the rain
Give me something I can use
To get me through the night
Make me feel all right
Something like you
Come on, come on, come on

Pull me under, run through my veins
To a place where I feel no pain (Help I'm falling)
Be the pillow under my head
Cover me when I'm in your bed (Night is calling)
Take me higher than I've ever been
Take me down and back again (Feels like I'm flying)
Come to me, be my disguise
Open your coat, let me crawl inside (Christ I'm dying)
Come on, come on, come on

Come on, come on, come on
Give me something for the pain
Give me something for the blues
Give me something for the pain when
I feel like I'm danglin' on a hangman's noose
Give me something for the rain
Give me something I can use
To get me through the night
Make me feel all right,
Something like you

Leprosy

Today I finally learnt the meaning of "to be treated like a leper"

Last fotolog post

He says:

(...)
More than anything I want to see you, girl
Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

She says:

thank you.

He says:

No. Thank you. For the love you gave me, for making me feel alive.
Maybe someday we can pick up from where we left. Hopefully.

...

Printcrime

Printcrime - Copie esta história
Esta história foi originalmente publicada na revista Nature em janeiro de 2006. A revista devolveu ao autor os direitos de impressão do texto e ele o licenciou nos termos da Creative Commons, sob os quais ele está sendo reproduzido aqui. O resto deste site está coberto por termos da Creative Commons específicos para o Brasil.
Cory Doctorow
Os tiras destruiram a impressora do meu pai quando eu tinha oito anos. Eu me lembro do cheiro quente de rolopack no microondas, do olhar de concentração furiosa do papi enquanto ele a enchia de geleca fresca e da sensação de recém tirados do forno dos objetos que saíam dela.

Os tiras entraram brandindo os cacetetes, um deles lendo o mandado através de um megafone. Um dos clientes do papi tinha vendido ele. A polícia pagou em drogas de alto nível - anabolizantes, suplementos de memória, aceleradores metabólicos. O tipo de coisa que custa uma fortuna na farmácia; o tipo de coisa que você pode imprimir em casa, se não se importar com o risco da sua cozinha se encher de corpos grandes e musculosos com cacetetes balançando no ar acertando tudo e todos em seu caminho.

Eles destruiram o baú da vovó, aquele que ela trouxe da terrinha. Eles acabaram com a nossa geladeira e com o purificador de ar que estava na janela. Meu canarinho escapou da morte se escondendo no cantinho da gaiola quando um grande pé embotinado transformou quase que ela inteira num emaranhado de arame de impressora.

Papi. O que eles fizeram com ele. Quando acabou, parecia que ele tinha brigado com um time de rugby inteiro. Eles o arrastaram pra fora pros repórteres darem uma boa olhada nele enquanto era jogado pra dentro do camburão. Tudo isso enquanto um porta-voz contava ao mundo que a máfia da pirataria do papi tinha sido responsável por pelo menos 20 milhões em contrabando e que meu papi, o vilão desesperado, tinha resistido à prisão.

Eu via tudo pelo telefone, nos restos da nossa sala de estar, olhando a tela e me perguntando como alguém podia olhar pro nosso apartamentinho naquele prédio horrível e achar que era a casa de um chefão do crime organizado. Eles levaram a impressora, lógico, e mostravam a coisa como um troféu para os repórteres. O cantinho dela na kitchenete parecia horrivelmente vazio. Quando eu me recompus, resgatei meu canarinho e arrumei o apartamento, coloquei um liquidificador lá. Tinha sido impresso, então só ia durar um mês antes de eu ter que imprimir novos rolamentos e peças móveis. Naquele tempo eu sabia desmontar e re-montar qualquer coisa que pudesse ser impressa.

Quando eu fiz 18 o papi saiu da cadeia. Eu só fui visitá-lo três vezes - no meu aniversário de dez, no dele de cinqüenta e quando a mami morreu. Fazia dois anos que eu não o via e ele estava um caco. Uma briga na cadeia deixou ele manco e ele olhava tanto por cima do ombro que parecia um tique. Eu estava envergonhada quando o minitaxi nos deixou na frente do prédio e tentei manter distância daquele esqueleto manco e arruinado enquanto subíamos as escadas.

"Lanie," ele disse, e me fez sentar. "Você é uma garota esperta, eu sei disso. Você não sabe onde seu velho papi pode arrumar uma impressora e um pouco de geleca?"

Eu apertei meus punhos com tanta força que as unhas machucaram as mãos. Eu fechei os olhos. "Você ficou na cadeia por dez anos, papi. Dez. Anos. Você vai arriscar mais dez pra imprimir mais remédios, liquidificadores, laptops, chapéus de grife?"

Ele sorriu. "Não sou idiota, Lanie. Aprendi minha lição. Não tem chapéu ou laptop que valha ir pra cadeia. Não vou imprimir essa porcaria nunca mais."

Ele fez uma xícara de chá, que ele agora bebia como se fosse whiskey, uma bicada seguida de um longo suspiro. Ele fechou os olhos e se recostou na cadeira.

"Vem aqui Lanie, deixa eu cochichar no seu ouvido. Deixa eu te contar o que eu decidi nos meus dez anos de cadeia. Vem aqui e escuta o idiota do seu papi."

Eu senti uma pontada de culpa por ter gritado com ele. Ele estava meio lelé, isso era óbvio. Sabe Deus o que ele passou na cadeia. "O que, papi?" eu perguntei, chegando o ouvido junto dele.

"Lanie, eu vou imprimir impressoras. Muitas impressoras. Uma pra cada pessoa. Vale a pena ir pra cadeia por isso. Vale qualquer coisa."

Wired on AACS (where's my 15 minutes?)

Ryan Singel has written an interesting analysis on the current AACS/Digg/Google crisis for Wired. You can read it here. I'm not going to repeat any of the words on it because, well, you guys can read. I'm only gonna add a little remark: I've been a hardcore reader of Wired Magazine for 15 years (quite a feat if you live in a third-world country and make only about 20 times the price of the magazine a month. If it wasn't published online I'd still be busting my ass to buy it. Still, there are over 100 past editions littering my condo.). Why am I not being interviewed ? Huh ?

Now for some portuguese:

Saiu uma análise interessante da situação atual entre a AACS LA e os usuários do Digg e do Google. Vocês podem lê-la aqui. Eu só quero saber porque eu ainda não fui entrevistado... Heim ? Eu leio a Wired desde 1993, suava pacas pra juntar os quase 30 paus que a revista custa todo mês ganhando esse salário de merreca que a gente ganha no Brasil (ainda bem que agora ela é publicada online na íntegra, mas metade da minha casa está coberta de números velhos da Wired)... Cadê os reporteres ? Eu também sou parte da história, pô !

Disclaimer on 'Crypto'

This blog is (mostly) written in Brazilian Portuguese and so was the (in)famous Crypto post. It originally contained a AACS key (capable of decrypting both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs). On April 17 Google was contacted by Proskauer Rose LLP (a law firm in New York city that works for corporate sharks the likes of the MPAA) requiring that my post (and other three posts in blogs also hosted at blogspot.com) be removed otherwise Blogspot (and therefore Blogger and therefore Google) would be liable as described in the anti-circunvention provisions of the DMCA. The guys at Google sent me a very polite and direct e-mail asking me to comply, and so I did. It is my opinion that screwing Google would in no way help the fight for the extinction of Digital Rights (or Restrictions) Management. Removing the post will do nothing to stop the unavoidable demise of DRM. In fact it can only strengthen our ranks. Over 530 people from all over the world (as of April 30) have visited this blog since ChillingEffects.org has posted the C&D letter sent to Google. If at least one of them clicks the banners to DefectivebyDesign.org below it's already been a victory. So I invite you all to learn more on how the content industry is trying to use technology to screw your rights as a consumer. All you gotta do is click below. Thank you and keep on fighting !

Ed