Les Chantiers OpenBSD
20 Sep 2005 10:17 AM / Filed in: I.T.
Le numéro 21 de MISC, un magazine français dédié à la sécurité informatique, vient de paraître. Il est habituellement vendu en kiosque en France, Belgique, Maroc et certainement d'autres pays francophones.
Ce numéro contient un article sur les chantiers d'OpenBSD que j'ai co-écrit avec Guillaume Arcas, consultant indépendant et ami de longue date.
Dans cet article, nous couvrons 4 chantiers du projet OpenBSD : OpenSSH, OpenCVS, OpenNTPD, et PF. Par manque de place et, dans une moindre mesure, de connaissances nous n'avons pas pu couvrir OpenBGPD/OpenOSPFD.
Si vous avez l'occasion de lire cet article, je serais intéressé par vos commentaires (constructifs bien entendu) car c'est ma première tentative dans un magazine à large diffusion comme MISC.
Ce numéro contient un article sur les chantiers d'OpenBSD que j'ai co-écrit avec Guillaume Arcas, consultant indépendant et ami de longue date.
Dans cet article, nous couvrons 4 chantiers du projet OpenBSD : OpenSSH, OpenCVS, OpenNTPD, et PF. Par manque de place et, dans une moindre mesure, de connaissances nous n'avons pas pu couvrir OpenBGPD/OpenOSPFD.
Si vous avez l'occasion de lire cet article, je serais intéressé par vos commentaires (constructifs bien entendu) car c'est ma première tentative dans un magazine à large diffusion comme MISC.
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So you want to start listening to Raï music?
09 Sep 2005 04:07 PM / Filed in: Music
Raï is a very popular kind of folk music from Algeria and nearby countries (Morocco and Tunisia). In case you didn't know or didn't think about clicking on the link at the beginning of this entry, Raï means opinion in Arabic.
Raï has the right mix of eastern and western instruments to please westerners. While singing is mainly performed in Maghribi Arabic, there is also some songs that contain more or less French.
To get you started with Raï music or if you are already listening to it and want to listen to some fine records, I highly recommend the following albums:
Prince of Rai, Cheb Mami
Cheb Mami is an excellent singer. He has a very beautiful voice. But that's not all. He has also a very capable band that backs him very nicely. Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. This is a 6 songs album (about 32 minutes total play time). Some of these songs are very rich in oriental instruments and used to be played during weddings (at least in Morocco which I originate from). If you are an eMusic member, you can get this album from there. The sound is not of high quality (my guess is that it was recorded on tape first then converted to a CD later on but what do I know about music recording?).
Rai Love, Cheb Hasni
Cheb Hasni, who was shot to death in 1994, was a very popular Raï singer and his recordings are still big sellers. His voice was not as great as Mami's but for those who understand Maghribi Arabic, his lyrics are outstanding. He used to sing about women, alcohol and divorce and some said that he was killed because of that (do I really need to tell you what happened in Algeria during the 90's?). Rai Love, one of his masterpieces is available from eMusic too. Note that electronic keyboards are heavily used.
Khaled, Khaled
Khaled's Khaled (ugh) was met with big success in Europe when it was released. It was innovative in its use of western rhythms. I think this is the album that allowed Khaled to make the crossover and start being a hot seller in France and other European countries. I don't like his recent albums because of their too westernish sounds (it hasn't the right mix of east vs. west) and Khaled's voice is not as great as it was.
1, 2, 3 Soleils, Taha, Khaled & Faudel
This a live album (double CD) containing lots of Raï gems. At first, I didn't understand why Rachid Taha took part in this trio with Khaled and Faudel. While Khaled and Faudel have (or used to have) a great voice, Rachid Taha is more of a true rocker to me (did you know that he is apparently the only Arabic singing rocker in the World?). His raucous voice doesn't marry well with the other two voices and Cheb Mami would have been a better choice. Only after listening to this record a few times that I understand that Taha brings just the right dose of Rock to this Live, though he is somewhat out of note in a few songs such as the legendary Abdel Kader (the opening song on the second CD). Otherwise, the album contains lots of classic and very good Raï songs.
I'd like to thank Sascha Welter who gave me the idea of this blog post, in an attempt to make me unslack. That was a good unslacking idea Sascha ;-)... Or was it more slacking?
Raï has the right mix of eastern and western instruments to please westerners. While singing is mainly performed in Maghribi Arabic, there is also some songs that contain more or less French.
To get you started with Raï music or if you are already listening to it and want to listen to some fine records, I highly recommend the following albums:
Prince of Rai, Cheb Mami
Cheb Mami is an excellent singer. He has a very beautiful voice. But that's not all. He has also a very capable band that backs him very nicely. Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. This is a 6 songs album (about 32 minutes total play time). Some of these songs are very rich in oriental instruments and used to be played during weddings (at least in Morocco which I originate from). If you are an eMusic member, you can get this album from there. The sound is not of high quality (my guess is that it was recorded on tape first then converted to a CD later on but what do I know about music recording?).
Rai Love, Cheb Hasni
Cheb Hasni, who was shot to death in 1994, was a very popular Raï singer and his recordings are still big sellers. His voice was not as great as Mami's but for those who understand Maghribi Arabic, his lyrics are outstanding. He used to sing about women, alcohol and divorce and some said that he was killed because of that (do I really need to tell you what happened in Algeria during the 90's?). Rai Love, one of his masterpieces is available from eMusic too. Note that electronic keyboards are heavily used.
Khaled, Khaled
Khaled's Khaled (ugh) was met with big success in Europe when it was released. It was innovative in its use of western rhythms. I think this is the album that allowed Khaled to make the crossover and start being a hot seller in France and other European countries. I don't like his recent albums because of their too westernish sounds (it hasn't the right mix of east vs. west) and Khaled's voice is not as great as it was.
1, 2, 3 Soleils, Taha, Khaled & Faudel
This a live album (double CD) containing lots of Raï gems. At first, I didn't understand why Rachid Taha took part in this trio with Khaled and Faudel. While Khaled and Faudel have (or used to have) a great voice, Rachid Taha is more of a true rocker to me (did you know that he is apparently the only Arabic singing rocker in the World?). His raucous voice doesn't marry well with the other two voices and Cheb Mami would have been a better choice. Only after listening to this record a few times that I understand that Taha brings just the right dose of Rock to this Live, though he is somewhat out of note in a few songs such as the legendary Abdel Kader (the opening song on the second CD). Otherwise, the album contains lots of classic and very good Raï songs.
I'd like to thank Sascha Welter who gave me the idea of this blog post, in an attempt to make me unslack. That was a good unslacking idea Sascha ;-)... Or was it more slacking?
Evaluation de 11 distributions Linux et BSD par PC Expert
01 Sep 2005 06:05 PM / Filed in: I.T.
PC Expert, un magazine informatique français, vient de sortir son numéro de septembre dans lequel Philippe Roure évalue 11 distributions Linux et *BSD. Pour élaborer son dossier, il m'a interviewé cet été pour mieux appréhender OpenBSD et savoir à quels besoins il répond le mieux. Et il y a même une petite interview de votre humble serviteur (shameless plug comme ils disent outre-atlantique).
Je viens de lire le dossier et je le trouve très bien réalisé. OpenBSD a eu une note de 5/5. Il en est de même pour NetBSD et Debian. Fedora Core et Red Hat Linux Enterprise ont eu respectivement 2/5 et 3/5 !!! Une note ne veut pas forcément dire grand-chose mais j'apprécie le fait qu'un magazine grand public français s'intéresse finalement à ce système d'exploitation.
Je n'ai pas vu l'article en ligne. Il faut peut-être attendre le mois prochain pour espérer le voir sinon il faut passer chez votre marchand de journaux préféré.
Je viens de lire le dossier et je le trouve très bien réalisé. OpenBSD a eu une note de 5/5. Il en est de même pour NetBSD et Debian. Fedora Core et Red Hat Linux Enterprise ont eu respectivement 2/5 et 3/5 !!! Une note ne veut pas forcément dire grand-chose mais j'apprécie le fait qu'un magazine grand public français s'intéresse finalement à ce système d'exploitation.
Je n'ai pas vu l'article en ligne. Il faut peut-être attendre le mois prochain pour espérer le voir sinon il faut passer chez votre marchand de journaux préféré.