The season of plum blossoms

The plum trees in the neighbourhood have started blooming.

Soon, it will be cherry blossom season again.

Dual upgrade: Proxmox 7 to 8 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 to 6

I had previously installed Proxmox VE 7 on Linux Mint Debian Edition 5. Note that this is not a recommended approach. Proxmox VE is based on Debian, and is best installed directly from its ISO. Or it should be installed on top of a vanilla Debian installation.

 

Anyway, since the time I made this "unrecommended" installation, Proxmox has gone from version 7 to 8, and LMDE from version 5 to 6. However, although there are guides for an in-place upgrade from Proxmox 7 to 8, and there is the mintupgrade tool that allows one to upgrade from LMDE 5 to 6, there is no guide on how to carry out a dual in-place upgrade.

In the end, I decided to venture into uncharted waters using the following two guides.

Upgrade 7 to 8

Developer Workstation (Proxmox-VE 8) with cinnamon (LMDE6)

Based on these two guides, the broad idea seems to be to change the repositories from bullseye to bookworm, and from elsie to faye. This includes all the files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

The apt pref files should already have been set up, and I confirmed it by checking /etc/apt/preferences.d/

So I backed up /etc/apt/sources.list and the files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, and ran the following commands:

sed -i 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

sed -i 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

sed -i -e 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-install-repo.list

sed -i 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list

sed -i 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list

sed -i 's/elsie/faye/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list

 

This updated the repositories.

If there are other repositories, you need to update them to bookworm too by

sed -i 's/bullseye/bookworm/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/other-repos.list

 

Debian 12 also added a new non-free-firmware archive separate from the existing non-free, and that needs to be added to if you are using non-free. However, note that Proxmox provides its own copy of the firmware files, and using the packages in the Debian non-free-firmware archive may conflict with the Proxmox version.

 

sed -i 's/non-free/non-free non-free-firmware/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
sed -i 's/non-free/non-free non-free-firmware/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list

 

The next step is to log in as root:

su

 

Then update the repository lists.

apt update

 

Finally, run the distribution upgrade.

apt dist-upgrade

 

Remember to read the notes here.

If anything happens and the upgrade fails, you can try to repair by using

apt -f install

Check if /etc/resolv.conf is empty. If so, install systemd-resolved using

apt install systemd-resolved

Then, go to the Proxmox VE web GUI and make a final confirmation that the DNS is set to the correct address. Otherwise, when you reboot, you are going to regret...

All that remains is to reboot the computer.

reboot

Also, Proxmox does not recognise the version codename "Faye" (which is LMDE 6). It causes the error message "unknown Debian code name 'faye' (500)" and so I had to edit /usr/lib/os-release and change

VERSION_CODENAME=faye

to

VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm

 

After rebooting, running neofetch showed this:

Remember, this is not the usual way of upgrading Proxmox or LMDE, so follow this guide at your own risk and responsibility.

NetworkManager and systemd-networkd will always be in conflict with each other, and I have yet to figure out a proper way to satisfy both. If you end up with some network issues, you will have to try and find your answers online. For me, NetworkManager's "wait for network" was activated together with systemd-networkd's "wait for network" service, causing slow bootup. In the end, I disabled NetworkManager's service (using it alone was causing my SAMBA shares not to mount during boot) using

sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service

I also changed systemd-networkd's "wait for network" service's timeout by

sudo systemctl edit --full systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

and changing

ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online

to

ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online --timeout=10

for a timeout of 10s instead of the default 2 minutes.

If icons seems to be missing, refresh the icon cache by executing

sudo update-icon-caches /usr/share/icons/*

in a terminal window.

Dahan 大寒

After Xiaohan, or 小寒, comes Dahan, or 大寒, another of the 二十四节气 24 solar terms. It literally means big cold, signifying that this is coldest time of the year.

 

And a cuter version.

 

This is actually the final set before the cycle restarts with 立春 in February.

Calligraphy piece 人生如夢

Just something to kill time, use some ink, and waste some paper.

人生如夢

Life is like a dream

6th anniversary of Violet Evergarden anime series

Today marks the 6th anniversary since Violet Evergarden anime series aired in Japan.

 

(A bit about dates... the series started showing on 10 January 2018 at 24:00, or 0:00 of 11 January 2018. This means the actual anniversary is 11 January, but in Japan, shows that start at midnight or later are counted based on the previous date, using times like 24:00 for midnight and 25:00 for 1:00 the next day. So depending on who you ask, it can either be 10 January, or 11 January.)

 

Anyway, I just wanted to create a post that has links to my Violet Evergarden-related posts.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Audio commentary notes for TV series

 

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Xiaohan 小寒

After the winter solstice, or 冬至, comes Xiaohan, or 小寒, another of the 二十四节气 24 solar terms. It literally means small cold, signifying that the weather is going into one of the coldest times of the year.

 

 

 

 

Calligraphy for the new year 迎龍送兎 and 飛龍走兎 (書き初め)

2024 is here, it is the Year of the Dragon in Japan (the upcoming Chinese New Year, though, is technically when the Year of the Dragon starts), and a common practice at the start of a new year is to write a piece of calligraphy. Well, I decided to write two pieces instead.

迎龍送兎

 

飛龍走兎

I will think of something to write again for Chinese New Year, which falls on 10 February 2024.

Poor translations can lead to the wrong impressions

Ministry: Coast Guard plane not given go-ahead before collision

It is poorly translated articles like this that makes it look like Japanese pilots and ATCs are not professional.

 

This is a screenshot of the relevant portion.
 

 

The ATC did not say "no obstruction to landing on runway 34R" or "Please drive on the ground to the runway stop position C5." as stated in the news article above. The transcript given out to reporters at the press conference was in English, with tentative Japanese translations that read "滑走路３４Ｒ着陸支障なし" and "Ｃ５上の滑走路停止位置まで地上走行してください". Instead of using the original English transcript, Asahi Shimbun had to try and translate the tentative Japanese text into English again, and the translation into English was poorly done without using the proper aviation terms.

 

In the end, a person reading this news report would think Japanese pilots and ATCs don't use professional aviation terms and form an image that this lack of professionalism was the cause of miscommunication leading to this accident. Yet the only miscommunication here was the poor and unprofessional work of a newspaper.

On the other hand, NHK probably did a better job quoting from the transcript.

Tokyo airport collision: What's known so far

In the NHK article, the quotes seem to come directly from the transcript. Such as "JAL 516 Runway 34R cleared to land, wind 310/8" and "JA722A Tokyo Tower. Good evening. No.1, taxi to holding point C5."

Based on a copy of the transcript show here (Japan Airlines collision: Transcripts show coast guard plane was not cleared for take-off):

it seems that the NHK article quoted from the actual transcript handed out.

Update 4 January 2024: NHK reported the full text of the transcript.

Full text: Air traffic control communications right before Tokyo Haneda collision

My "elemental" dragons (calligraphy practice)

The Year of the Dragon is coming, and I was practising the character 龍 (dragon) when I got a bit bored and decided to write a bit like the five elemental (金、木、水、火、土, or metal, wood, water, fire, and earth).

😅

No more rack servers

I migrated to another server a while ago, and ever since, my rack servers have not been really used at all.

So I made the difficult decision to let go of them.

 

First, I called up a local company that advertised itself as "we buy rack servers" but in the end, when their staff came to take a look, they said they cannot take the servers and I ending up passing them some of my GPUs instead for a bit of cash.

 

I then took out what I can from the rack servers (mainly the better CPUs and RAM) and kept them with the minimum needed to function. I then put the CPUs and RAM modules up for sale on Yahoo! Auctions, where I managed to find buyers for some of them, mostly the RAM modules and some of the faster CPUs. I actually got a nice return on them (given the age of the parts), even after subtracting the amount spent on shipping and commission.

 

I also called another local company which was willing to take the rack servers from me for a token (measly) price. But still, it was better than me trying to sell the servers myself, since they are bulky and hard to ship. So while I had wanted a bit more, I let go of them to save myself the hassle.  This company also took a few of the SAS drives and spinning SATA drives that I had no use for, and my NAS that ran on a Celeron J1900 CPU.

 

So now, I am only left with the HP ML110 Gen9 (main server), the HP Microserver Gen8 (which I use for PBS), and the workstations. More than enough to serve my needs.

Using the names of RSN's frigates for calligraphy practice (part 3)

Finally, I have managed to write all of the phrases based on the names of RSN's frigates. Each phrase was written on a sheet of 半切 paper which is about 34.5cm by 135cm.

 

RSS Formidable 威武号

威风壮志镇四海
武德明智服天下

 

RSS Intrepid 刚毅号
刚勇魄力似猛虎
毅然英姿如古松

RSS Steadfast 坚信号
坚守边疆固山河
信誉卓越留青史

RSS Tenacious 强力号
强盛精英日月勤
力护家园万古记

RSS Stalwart 忠诚号
忠义不歇护江山
诚恳全力保民生

 

RSS Supreme 精湛号
精锐之师稳天下
湛湛冰心治万民

This is how the entire thing looks. Obviously, I don't have a wall this big to hang everything for a single photo, so I digitally stitched them together.

 

I also used paper with gold flakes on them for this.

 

Here are the individual pieces on plain paper.

 

Here are the individual pieces on paper with gold flakes.

Watching SPY x FAMILY CODE: White on opening day

SPY x FAMILY CODE: White (劇場版 SPY×FAMILY CODE: White) opened in Japanese cinemas today. The first show of the day was quite early so I caught the second show instead. Waku waku!

The movie is a nice side story. The first 10 minutes also like a quick intro of the characters, so it is entertaining even for people who have not watched the anime or read the manga. The story itself is connected to the main story, but takes place mainly in a different town (and other places) with a few new side characters.

Visually, the movie is appealing but does not detract so much above the quality of the TV series as to make it feel out of place. Even the aspect ratio is the familiar 16:9 that we usually find on TV screens today.

In terms of pacing, the first 10 minutes was used to introduce the characters but without being too narrative. Instead, situations featuring the characters were used to help introduce them. The story progresses at a nice pace as it moves from the main storyline to the actual setting of this movie, the town that it is set in, and then a more exciting setting as it builds up to the climax of the story. And in the end, the story brings us all back to the main storyline so that the Forger family can continue with their lives (and Lloyd with his main mission).

By the way, stay till the very end of the movie, there is one final scene after the credits have finished rolling.

Official website

Winter solstice 冬至

After Daxue, or 大雪, comes Dongzhi, or 冬至, the winter solstice and another of the 二十四節気 24 solar terms. It literally means "extreme winter", and this is the day with the shortest period of daylight.

 

A prim and proper version.

 

Both were written using the mixed hair calligraphy brush I received as a gift.

 

Comparing the anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window 映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』 with the book

I went to watch the anime adaptation of Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (映画『窓ぎわのトットちゃん』) for the second time last night as I wanted to write something more in depth about it. This is that post. It will be full of spoilers and I highly recommend you read the book before reading further, because I will be making a lot of cross referencing.

There are the chapters in the book, with the chapters not adapted crossed out:

The Railroad Station

The Little Girl at the Window

The New School

"I Like This School!"

The Headmaster

Lunchtime

Totto-chan Starts School

The Classroom in the Train

Lessons at Tomoe

Sea Food and Land Food

"Chew It Well!"

School Walks

The School Song

"Put It All Back!"

Totto-chan's Name

Radio Comedians

A Railroad Car Arrives

The Swimming Pool

The Report Card

Summer Vacation Begins

The Great Adventure

The Bravery Test

The Rehearsal Hall

A Trip to a Hot Spring

Eurythmics

"The Only Thing I Want!"

Their Worst Clothes

Takahashi

"Look before You Leap!"

"And Then... Uh..."

"We Were Only Playing!"

Sports Day

The Poet Issa

Very Mysterious

Talking with Your Hands

The Forty-seven Ronin

"MaSOW-chaan!"

Pigtails

"Thank You"

The Library Car

Tails

Her Second Year at Tomoe*

Swan Lake

The Farming Teacher

Field Kitchen

"You're Really a Good Girl"

His Bride

"Shabby Old School"

The Hair Ribbon*

Visiting the Wounded

Health Bark

The English-speaking Child

Amateur Drama

Chalk*

"Yasuaki-chan's Dead"

A Spy

Daddy's Violin

The Promise

Rocky Disappears

The Tea Party

Sayonara, Sayonara!

Postscript

Epilogue

 

The chapters with an asterisk were not actually adapted but somehow worked into the story. For "Her Second Year at Tomoe", the part about parents taking their children out of Tomoe was mentioned in the adaption of "Shabby Old School". "Chalk" was not explicitly mentioned, but there was a scene of the children drawing with chalk on the floor of the assembly hall. "The Hair Ribbon" also did not take place but there were scenes where Totto-chan was wearing a huge ribbon on her head.

Meanwhile, "A Railroad Car Arrives" was combined with "The Library Car" as a single episode. "Totto-chan's Name" was brought forward, to when she first introduced herself to Mr. Kobayashi in "The Headmaster" as well as when she started her first day in class in "The Classroom in the Train". "You're Really a Good Girl" was also weaved into "The Headmaster".

In "Yasuaki-chan's Dead", instead of lilies (book), the movie had them place white Japanese camelia flowers in the casket, and Totto-chan placed a single red Japanese camelia flower on his chest.

 

"The Tea Party" was changed slightly. Instead of being a send-off for the janitor, who was being sent to war, it was because the children were being evacuated to other parts of Japan, and so they were bidding each other farewell and talking about what they want to be when they grow up.

Some scenes not found in the book:

- Yasuaki-chan challenged Totto-chan to sumo wrestling, but Mr. Kobayashi got them to do arm wrestling instead.

- Totto-chan got herself stuck in a drain while playing hide-and-seek and had to be pulled out by her classmates.

- Totto-chan being told by her father not to use Papa and Mama anymore when the war was announced on the radio.

- Totto-chan put money into a caramel vending machine but nothing came out. (The story about caramel vending machines was told in the book's sequel.)

- Totto-chan was given a pack of 15 soybeans by her mother, who told her this was her bento for the day. Totto-chan complaining about the cold and hungry and being told off by a soldier. (This story was told in the book's sequel, but her walking to the train station with Yasuaki-chan in the rain before being told off by the soldier was not in the book's sequel. However, it is mentioned in the book that Totto-chan often walked to the train station together with Yasuaki-chan, so this could just be trying to capture that part of the book in the movie.)

- The Kuroyanagi family was stopped by a policeman while they were shopping at Ginza, and Totto-chan's mother was told off for wearing flamboyant clothes.

- Totto-chan saw street musicians walking in the apple plantations while she was on the train when being evacuated to Aomori.

- The closing narration by Kuroyanagi Tetsuko herself. (The opening narration was the phrase used in the opening of the book.)

 

I will update this post if I discover anything new (if I watch the movie again...)

Official website (in Japanese)

Mixed hair calligraphy brush from Taiwan (gift)

A friend of mine was having a vacation in Taiwan, and sent over a mixed hair calligraphy brush as a gift.

The hair is 62mm long, with a diameter of 14mm.

I gave it a try the very same day, and wrote this.

The above was also posted here.

The brush itself is from a company called 國秦棉紙有限公司, with stores in Taizhong, Taipei, Tainan, and Gaoxiong (I can't find the store on the internet, except for its pages on Facebook). It writes very well, with goat hair on the outside, covering weasel hair on the inside, and some stiff, blackish hair (probably pig hair) at the innermost core. This means it can hold a lot of ink, but is also springy. I have a similar brush that I bought in Singapore, but this one is a bit easier to write since it has that stiff hair at the very core (the one I bought in Singapore only has goat hair covering weasel hair).

 

Due to its size, it is suitable for writing around 20 or more characters on 半切 paper, or around five papers on a sheet of 半紙. I really appreciate the thought and I will use this brush again when I need to work on such pieces.