./erppeek.py -d testdb -u admin -p admin -m res.users 1

in it’s simplist form that will connect to an openerp server running on localhost, (port 8069) with username admin and password admin to a database called testdb. It will then return all fields for the model res.users with id 1 (which will be the admin user)

./erppeek.py --server 'http://myserver.com:8069' -d testdb -u admin -p admin -m res.partner 1 3 5

This connects to a remote server called myserver.com and returns all fields from partners 1, 3 and 5

./erppeek.py --server 'http://myserver.com:8069' -d testdb -u admin -p admin -m res.partner -f name -f city 1 3 5

and now we are using the -f field parameter to return just the name and city (and it always returns the id as well) of those partners

./erppeek.py --server 'http://myserver.com:8069' -d testdb -u admin -p admin -m res.partner -f name -f city -s "name like School" -s "city = Southampton"

This time it is not relying on us passing in a list of object IDs, but it is doing a search of the res.partner objects where the name field contains ‘School’ and the city field is equal to Southampton.

To grab a copy of this small but handy little utility please download it from launchpad and make it executable. It works fine on Ubuntu, and should work on most platforms with Python. Do let me know in the comments what you think of it and what else you would like it to do.

Security note – this does at the moment get you to enter a password on the command line, which means the password will be available in your bash history and other users on your computer looking at processes you are running. This doesn’t bother me much as I am only using it on local development databases with trivial passwords anyway, but you have been warned. If someone wants to help fix that then great.

Anyhow, back to the subject of this post, which is the CDs. If you are living in the UK and want an Ubuntu CD, a Kubuntu CD or an Ubuntu Server CD (or combination thereof) then you are most welcome to one. Please follow the procedure and I will send one out to you. For a while I will also include an 11.04 CD until I run out of them. If you want more than one CD then do ask me and we will try and work something out particularly if you are wanting to distribute them at a University or similar.

I almost forgot to mention, I removed their old Kubuntu 11.04 CD and washed the muck off and stuck it in a desktop, it still boots!

Next year’s central government budget proposal, which the Cabinet
of Ministers has now submitted to the parliament for review, has
dominated the headlines in Latvian media in recent weeks. The
Cabinet has been struggling to prepare a budget with a target
deficit rate of 1.85% of GDP by reducing ministry spending,
eliminating staff positions, postponing planned wage increases for
public sector employees, and even proposing measures as drastic as
closing specific ministries and switching to open source software.
Labor unions and other affected parties have met these proposals
with strong condemnation.

Sounds like switching to open source would release a saving in the order of magnitude of closing a ministry.

While U.S. weapons are shrouded in secrecy like a “black box,” BAE
Systems takes pride in “open source.”
Latham said: “We are willing to meet Japan’s requirements, whether
it is licensed production or importation.”
MOD officials in charge of arms trade with the U.S. have taken note
of BAE Systems’ posture of emphasizing the merits for Japan. A
senior ASDF officer says:
“Actually, the top secret documents in the MOD mostly consist of
information on U.S. weapons. When parts designated as top secret
black box break down, they need to be sent back to the manufacturer
in the U.S. for repairs. Sometimes, these parts are left unattended
for extended periods of time due to circumstances on the other side.
It is possible that we will not be able to use them at a critical
moment.”

and just to rub in how much they value access to the source code:

When Tamogami was in active service, he told this reporter: “We need
only some 50 FXs. I have a feeling that since the number is small,
the U.S. will not object too strongly if we choose the Eurofighter.
If the U.S. is willing to open up the black box of the F-35, we are
willing to consider it.”

Obviously in this example they might not be talking about Free Software as such, I have no idea if the BAE fighter control software is licensed under the GPL or another copyleft license or if it is more of a “published but proprietary” thing. Either way, having the right to know what their hardware is being commanded to do is important to Japan, and it should be to you too.

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2010/02/10CHIANGMAI18.html
---------------------------------------------
IPR: Concern Over Open Source Software and Data Protection
---------------------------------------------
9. (SBU) Microsoft-Thailand's Corporate Affairs Director
identified software copyrights as a big issue. On the one hand,
he praised the Thai government (RTG) for strengthening its IPR
enforcement and education efforts, and said Microsoft was "very
pleased" that Thailand's software piracy rate has decreased by
two percent a year since 2006. On the other hand, he expressed
concern over the RTG's Creative Economy policy of promoting the
"open source" software model over the "commercial source" model
as a means to curb piracy. (Note: this is an issue for IT
companies worldwide, and not unique to Thailand).

10. (SBU) The Business Software Alliance (BSA) Director for
Software Policy-Asia also urged the RTG not to favor open source
over commercial source. He argued that (1) the open source
model has been shown to have an insignificant impact on reducing
software piracy; and (2) by focusing on an open source policy,
the RTG signals the market to stunt the development of
commercial source software, which in turn undermines Thailand's
ability to fully service market needs.

In case you think this post is Microsoft bashing, I generally don’t pick on Microsoft, they are by no means the only big bad wolf out there. Remember, I didn’t pick Microsoft for this post, they picked the Open Source as the thing they wanted to get rid of in Thailand. There were other proprietary vendors in the meeting, the main anti-open source quote was attributed to Microsoft, but this kind of thing goes on all the time. The anti-FUD message needs to be just as strong and persistent.

Keyboard made from pure awesome

Today I got a new keyboard, nothing unusual and particularly blogworthy in that you might think, but look a little closer, especially at the two little keys on the bottom row that traditionally host two little adverts for a legacy operating system – they are gone! The little flags (previously discussed in the context of Google ChromeOS) are replaced with the Circle of Friends, the Ubuntu Logo that symbolises friendship and freedom. So where, I hear you ask, did I get such a marvel of modern clavicula engineering? Well the answer to that is from our friends at the Keyboard Company where they distribute and customise high end and specialist keyboards. This one is a Filco Majestouch which they modified by replacing the super keys with custom printed ones with the Circle of Friends on. Now you might note the price tag for this keyboard is £95 ex VAT, and yes this is a high end keyboard. It has a solid quality feel to it and the key action is superb. In fact when ordering you can specify one of three different key actions, tactile action, click action or linear action. I got the tactile one, which is not clicky, but has a point of resistance to push past in the travel at the actuation point. Kind of like pushing the accelerator on an automatic car past the bump to get it to kick down a gear.

It also does N Key rollover, which is great. Most cheap keyboards have a matrix of wires and switches that link keys into groups and when pressing multiple keys together this can lead to ambiguous signals that cause ghosting (keys being signalled as pressed which were not) and jamming (keys pressed, but not signaled). This keyboard has each key individually addressable, you can press a whole bunch of keys at once and it will know exactly which ones you have got pressed. This helps for the rapid typist and in gameplay where you might be holding down a bunch of keys to move a character whilst jumping, turning and firing. A missed keypress in this scenario could lead to an almost tragic loss of virtual life.

Qwerty to Steno keyboard mapping

I am not really a gamer, but the N-Key rollover does interest me for a completely different reason, it means I can try out the chorded keyboard typing with Plover. This allows you to write instead of one key at a time by pressing a chord of multiple keys like a court reporter would do on a stenotype machine, this can in theory allow you to communicate at a blistering 250wpm. This open source software reads what you are typing using the steno chords and maps it from a kind of syllable level shorthand into what you intended to say.

If you would like to have one of these fine keyboards you can order them from the keyboard company, at the same price as the version with the flag key, just specify in the additional information box on the order form that you would like the Ubuntu Circle of Friends on the super key. They can ship anywhere and do them in pretty much any international layout, so if you want AZERTY or whatever then they can oblige. I would love to see them listed as a product in the Ubuntu store but as yet I have been unable to contact a human there, if anyone knows how to do that then do leave a comment.