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Paul Barker

@pbarker@social.afront.org
mastodon 4.8.0-alpha.3+glitch
  • Open on social.afront.org

Professional #SoftwareEngineer, #EmbeddedLinux expert & #OpenSource enthusiast.

I also enjoy amateur #WildlifePhotography and #Rambling.

398 Followers
313 Following
25 Posts
Joined April 27, 2022
Pronouns:
He/Him
Website:
https://pbarker.dev
Links:
https://gravatar.com/prbarker
Photography:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbrkr/
Location:
Leeds, UK
Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 3mo ago

Completely pointless Sunday project done! Stratum 1 NTP server on a Raspberry Pi 4, with an RMS offset of ~0.5µs.

$ chronyc tracking
Reference ID    : 50505300 (PPS)
Stratum         : 1
Ref time (UTC)  : Sun Jul 05 17:18:17 2026
System time     : 0.000000368 seconds fast of NTP time
Last offset     : +0.000000479 seconds
RMS offset      : 0.000000579 seconds
Frequency       : 10.106 ppm fast
Residual freq   : +0.004 ppm
Skew            : 0.023 ppm
Root delay      : 0.000000001 seconds
Root dispersion : 0.000010284 seconds
Update interval : 16.0 seconds
Leap status     : Normal
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
The NHS is planning to move from an open source software development model to a closed one due to fear of Mythos. As far as unintended consequences go, this is a big one, it's terrible, but it's not entirely surprising. The PR around Mythos has been threatening that the sky is falling, the world is ending, and millions of vulnerabilities will be found in the coming months (or even weeks) - so, is it really surprising that some organisations are making knee-jerk reactions? Now is a time for level heads and proper analysis, not knee-jerk reactions. "Keep calm and carry on" for lack of a better meme. Given that the sky probably isn't about to fall in on us, if you're in the UK please sign the petition at https://keepthingsopen.com urging the NHS not walk back on their commitments to open source. I also recommend the blog post "NHS Goes To War Against Open Source" by @Edent@mastodon.social on this subject: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/nhs-goes-to-war-against-open-source/ #OpenSource #AI
Open quoted post
Quoting
Terence Eden’s Blog
@blog@shkspr.mobi
Better TTS on Linux https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/better-tts-on-linux/

The venerable eSpeak is a mainstay of Linux distributions. It is a clever Text-To-Speech (TTS) program which will read aloud the written word using a phenomenally wide variety of languages and accents.

The only problem is that it sounds robotic. It has the same vocal fidelity as a 1980s Speak 'n' Spell toy. Monotonous, clipped, and painful to listen to. For some people, this is a feature, not a bug. I have blind friends who are so used to eSpeak that they can crank it up to hundreds of words per minute and navigate through complex documents with ease.

For the rest of us, it is a steep and unpleasant learning curve.

There are lots of modern TTS programs using all sorts of advanced AI. Many of them are paywalled or require you to post your text to a webserver - with all the privacy and latency problems that causes. Some are restricted to high-powered GPUs or other expensive equipment.

Piper is different. It is local first, runs quickly on modest hardware, and is open source.

The easiest way to install it on Linux is to use Pied - a simple GUI which allows you to select languages, listen to accents, and then install them.

GUI showing various British English languages.

It will change your speech-dispatcher to use the new Piper voice. That means it is immediately available to your Linux DE's accessibility service and to apps like Firefox.

I now have a reassuring Scottish lady speaking out everything on my computer.

#accessibility #firefox #linux #tts
Open quoted post
An open letter asking NHS England to keep its code open.
keepthingsopen.com

An open letter asking NHS England to keep its code open.

Code paid for with public money should, by default, be open to the public.

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@q This begs the questions: What's relationship FDMA? What about relationship CDMA?
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 4mo ago
Replying to
@thunfisch@chaos.social I love how they call it "Act 2", the bit where the protagonist fails repeatedly as they aren't learning the correct lessons, setting them up for redemption or complete failure in Act 3.
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 3mo ago
Replying to
@ravenlb@infosec.exchange Sure! I bought from The Pi Hut, you can probably find the same parts from other vendors: Uputronics GPS hat: https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-gps-hat Adafruit GPS antenna: https://thepihut.com/products/gps-antenna-external-active-antenna-3-5v-28db-5-meter-sma The Pi Hut also sell a GPS Hat Case, but don't buy it. Poor manufacturing tolerances mean it doesn't fit together properly with the hat above (despite advertising compatibility).
thepihut.com
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 10mo ago

I'm excited to announce that I'll be starting a new role as Ecosystem Engineering and Operations Lead for @yoctoproject@fosstodon.org on Monday 8th December.

I started using and contributing to OpenEmbedded & Yocto Project back in 2013 and since then it's been a key part of my career. I've seen the project from many points of view over the last decade-and-a-bit: first as a hobbyist, then working with board vendors, silicon vendors, system integrators and end users. Now I'll be seeing it from inside the project leadership team and helping to shape its future.

Yocto Project has an excellent team and a strong base of members & contributors. This new role will help to coordinate our activities, take pressure off our Software Architect and scale up what we can deliver. I expect to be spending a lot of time thinking about the challenges and opportunities presented by the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). And I'll still be getting my hands dirty on some actual code as needed to help the project move forward!

#EmbeddedLinux #OpenSource #YoctoProject

social.afront.org
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

An 18.5km walk up hill and down dale justifies a beer... or two!

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

Good morning #OggCamp2026! My lack of sleep is being made up for with caffeine

social.afront.org
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

This weekend (April 25th-26th) I'll be at OggCamp 2026 in Manchester, UK. If you're around then drop me a message, happy to chat about all things Open Source, Embedded Linux & Yocto Project!

@oggcamp@mastodon.social #OpenSource #OggCamp2026

social.afront.org
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@ShredderLivesOn this is the only way to deal with these things, investigate and prosecute what were clearly abuses of public office. I'm glad to see someone is learning the right lessons at least, even if the Labour party here and the Dems in the US aren't.
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 8mo ago

Less than two weeks to go until @fosdem@fosstodon.org 2026 😀

I'm happy to meet up with anyone who wants to talk about @yoctoproject@fosstodon.org and @openembedded@fosstodon.org. If you'll be attending FOSDEM and want to chat, drop me a message and we'll figure out a time to meet.

I'll also likely be bouncing between a couple of devrooms. Looking forward to the "Embedded, Mobile and Automotive" and "Community" tracks as usual!

#FOSDEM2026 #FOSDEM #EmbeddedLinux #OpenSource

social.afront.org
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago
Replying to
For comparison, the foreground blue track is after processing by gpxtidy with the default error threshold of 5m. The background red track is the original, just peeking out in a few places but barely distinguishable. The blue track is accurate enough for someone to follow the route you took. The original (red) GPX file was 1200 points, 278kiB of data. After gpxtidy processing (blue) it's 194 points, 10kiB as a GPX file, or 4.3kiB as geojson data you can use with leaflet.js. (Map data from https://www.openstreetmap.org/)
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago
Replying to
I'm particularly proud that I got to use some maths in this... both the haversine formula and Heron's formula. https://codeberg.org/pbarker/gpxtidy/src/commit/5016504a58a9afc93231f4f3e928ae83953061d0/src/main.rs#L70
codeberg.org
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

Searching for results for the Leeds City Council election results, one of the first hits was the Manchester Evening News website. I wouldn't trust it if I were you...

Time to write a complaint to the IPSO!

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@HailsandAles@metalhead.club Panopticon, Darkthrone and Draconian make it basically Christmas for me!
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@wurzelmann rm -rf the world!
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago
Replying to
@astro_jcm I'm interested to see if you find one! I'm currently using a Lowepro Flipside Trek BP 350 AW, which is a dedicated camera backpack, but it was affordable and it's pretty comfortable. Walked 15km with it yesterday and it did a good job. A single versatile bag would be great though, at the minute I have to have two hiking backpacks, one camera and one regular. That can make planning a trip difficult if I want my camera with me one some walks but not others.
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago

I have the privilege of being the first speaker of #EmbeddedRecipes2026! Bright and early, 9:45am on the first day.

I'll be speaking about Yocto Project and the Cyber Resilience Act.

I'll be covering:

- What the CRA means for the Yocto Project
- How the Yocto Project already helps manufacturers meet their obligations with SPDX3 SBoMs, CVE tracking, reproducible builds, etc
- A roadmap of where we can go in the future with your help

https://cfp.embedded-recipes.org/er2026/talk/CUMR8D/

#EmbeddedLinux #YoctoProject #OpenSource

social.afront.org

A Social Front Organization

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago
Replying to
@narthur It probably would, though you may need to adjust the maximum error threshold to get good results.
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 6mo ago
Replying to
It is published: https://crates.io/crates/gpxtidy https://codeberg.org/pbarker/-/packages/cargo/gpxtidy/0.1.0 https://codeberg.org/pbarker/gpxtidy/releases/tag/v0.1.0
crates.io
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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@mansr@society.oftrolls.com Though, looking at the framing of some of their other reporting, they definitely have a "side". https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-elections-reform-labour-33909081
Reform sweep to victory across Greater Manchester as Labour given 'a kicking'
Manchester Evening News

Reform sweep to victory across Greater Manchester as Labour given 'a kicking'

There were huge gains for Reform as voters turned their backs on Keir Starmer's beleaguered Labour party in the local elections

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

Nothing speaks to the disconnect between management, sales and frontline staff better than a hotel chain that will sell you "Early check in from 9AM", leaving the desk staff completely baffled why you're trying to check in so early as they desperately scramble to find a room.

As ever, the fault is with management, not with the person on the front desk who has to deal with this.

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago

@jpmens@mastodon.social This is absolutely what I need. I tried MinIO about 18 months ago, but it wanted to continuously scrub data (why not let the underlying filesystem handle this?) and is massively over-engineered unless you have 4 or more physical nodes and some 100's of TBs of data.

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Open post
Paul Barker @pbarker@social.afront.org
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@mansr@society.oftrolls.com I'm mindful to never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence, but it's awful convenient for them to report it this way!
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