<link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/</link>
<atom:link href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/index.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
+ <item>
+ <title>Debian Edu interview: Jonathan Carter</title>
+ <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html</link>
+ <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html</guid>
+ <pubDate>Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:50:00 +0200</pubDate>
+ <description><p>There is a certain cross-over between the
+<ahref="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
+project</a> and <ahref="http://www.edubuntu.org/">the Edubuntu
+project</a>, and for example the LTSP packages in Debian are a joint
+effort between the projects. One person with a foot in both camps is
+Jonathan Carter, which I am now happy to present to you.</p>
+
+<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
+
+<p>I'm a South-African free software geek who lives in Cape Town. My
+days vary quite a bit since I'm involved in too many things. As I'm
+getting older I'm learning how to focus a bit more :)</p>
+
+<p>I'm also an Edubuntu contributor and I love when there are
+opportunities for the Edubuntu and Debian Edu projects to benefit from
+each other.</p>
+
+<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
+project?</strong></p>
+
+<p>I've been somewhat familiar with the project before, but I think my
+first direct exposure to the project was when I met Petter
+[Reinholdtsen] and Knut [Yrvin] at the Edubuntu summit in 2005 in
+London. They provided great feedback that helped the bootstrapping of
+Edubuntu. Back then Edubuntu (and even Ubuntu) was still very new and
+it was great getting input from people who have been around longer. I
+was also still very excitable and said yes to everything and to this
+day I have a big todo list backlog that I'm catching up with. I think
+over the years the relationship between Edubuntu and Debian-Edu has
+been gradually improving, although I think there's a lot that we could
+still improve on in terms of working together on packages. I'm sure
+we'll get there one day.</p>
+
+<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
+Edu?</strong></p>
+
+<p>Debian itself already has so many advantages. I could go on about
+it for pages, but in essence I love that it's a very honest project
+that puts its users first with no hidden agendas and also produces
+very high quality work.</p>
+
+<p>I think the advantage of Debian Edu is that it makes many common
+set-up tasks simpler so that administrators can get up and running
+with a lot less effort and frustration. At the same time I think it
+helps to standardise installations in schools so that it's easier for
+community members and commercial suppliers to support.</p>
+
+<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
+Edu?</strong></p>
+
+<p>I had to re-type this one a few times because I'm trying to
+separate "disadvantages" from "areas that need improvement" (which is
+what I originally rambled on about)</p>
+
+<p>The biggest disadvantage I can think of is lack of manpower. The
+project could do so much more if there were more good contributors. I
+think some of the problems are external too. Free software and free
+content in education is a no-brainer but it takes some time to catch
+on. When you've been working with the same proprietary eco-system for
+years and have gotten used to it, it can be hard to adjust to some
+concepts in the free software world. It would be nice if there were
+more Debian Edu consultants across the world. I'd love to be one
+myself but I'm already so over-committed that it's just not possible
+currently.</p>
+
+<p>I think the best short-term solution to that large-scale problem is
+for schools to be pro-active and share their experiences and grow
+their skills in-house. I'm often saddened to see how much money
+educational institutions spend on 3rd party solutions that they don't
+have access to after the service has ended and they could've gotten so
+much more value otherwise by being more self-sustainable and
+autonomous.</p>
+
+<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
+
+<p>My main laptop dual-boots between Debian and Windows 7. I was
+Windows free for years but started dual-booting again last year for
+some games which help me focus and relax (Starcraft II in
+particular). Gaming support on Linux is improving in leaps and bounds
+so I suppose I'll soon be able to regain that disk space :)</p>
+
+<p>Besides that I rely on Icedove, Chromium, Terminator, Byobu, irssi,
+git, Tomboy, KVM, VLC and LibreOffice. Recently I've been torn on
+which desktop environment I like and I'm taking some refuge in Xfce
+while I figure that out. I like tools that keep things simple. I enjoy
+Python and shell scripting. I went to an Arduino workshop recently and
+it was awesome seeing how easy and simple the IDE software was to get
+up and running in Debian compared to the users running Windows and OS
+X.</p>
+
+<p>I also use mc which some people frown upon slightly. I got used to
+using Norton Commander in the early 90's and it stuck (I think the
+people who sneer at it is just jealous that they don't know how to use
+it :p)
+
+<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
+get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
+
+<p>I think trying to force it is unproductive. I also think that in
+many cases it's appropriate for schools to use non-free systems and I
+don't think that there's any particular moral or ethical problem with
+that.</p>
+
+<p>I do think though that free software can already solve so so many
+problems in educational institutions and it's just a shame not taking
+advantage of that.</p>
+
+<p>I also think that some curricula need serious review. For example,
+some areas of the world rely heavily on very specific versions of MS
+Office, teaching students to parrot menu items instead of learning the
+general concepts. I think that's very unproductive because firstly, MS
+Office's interface changes drastically every few years and on top of
+that it also locks in a generation to a product that might not be the
+best solution for them.</p>
+
+<p>To answer your question, I believe that the right strategy is to
+educate and inform, giving someone the information they require to
+make a decision that would work for them.</p>
+</description>
+ </item>
+
<item>
<title>Fixing the Linux black screen of death on machines with Intel HD video</title>
<link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_the_Linux_black_screen_of_death_on_machines_with_Intel_HD_video.html</link>
</description>
</item>
- <item>
- <title>How to transform a Debian based system to a Debian Edu installation</title>
- <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_transform_a_Debian_based_system_to_a_Debian_Edu_installation.html</link>
- <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_transform_a_Debian_based_system_to_a_Debian_Edu_installation.html</guid>
- <pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 11:50:00 +0200</pubDate>
- <description><p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is
-an operating system based on Debian intended for use in schools. It
-contain a turn-key solution for the computer network provided to
-pupils in the primary schools. It provide both the central server,
-network boot servers and desktop environments with heaps of
-educational software. The project was founded almost 12 years ago,
-2001-07-02. If you want to support the project, which is in need for
-cash to fund developer gatherings and other project related activity,
-<a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">please
-donate some money</a>.
-
-<p>A topic that come up again and again on the Debian Edu mailing
-lists and elsewhere, is the question on how to transform a Debian or
-Ubuntu installation into a Debian Edu installation. It isn't very
-hard, and last week I wrote a script to replicate the steps done by
-the Debian Edu installer.</p>
-
-<p>The script,
-<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/branches/wheezy/debian-edu-config/share/debian-edu-config/tools/debian-edu-bless?view=markup">debian-edu-bless<a/>
-in the debian-edu-config package, will go through these six steps and
-transform an existing Debian Wheezy or Ubuntu (untested) installation
-into a Debian Edu Workstation:</p>
-
-<ol>
-
-<li>Add skolelinux related APT sources.</li>
-<li>Create /etc/debian-edu/config with the wanted configuration.</li>
-<li>Install debian-edu-install to load preseeding values and pull in
- our configuration.</li>
-<li>Preseed debconf database with profile setup in
- /etc/debian-edu/config, and run tasksel to install packages
- according to the profile specified in the config above,
- overriding some of the Debian automation machinery.</li>
-<li>Run debian-edu-cfengine-D installation to configure everything
- that could not be done using preseeding.</li>
-<li>Ask for a reboot to enable all the configuration changes.</li>
-
-</ol>
-
-<p>There are some steps in the Debian Edu installation that can not be
-replicated like this. Disk partitioning and LVM setup, for example.
-So this script just assume there is enough disk space to install all
-the needed packages.</p>
-
-<p>The script was created to help a Debian Edu student working on
-setting up <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org">Raspberry Pi</a> as a
-Debian Edu client, and using it he can take the existing
-<a href="http://www.raspbian.org/FrontPage">Raspbian</a> installation and
-transform it into a fully functioning Debian Edu Workstation (or
-Roaming Workstation, or whatever :).</p>
-
-<p>The default setting in the script is to create a KDE Workstation.
-If a LXDE based Roaming workstation is wanted instead, modify the
-PROFILE and DESKTOP values at the top to look like this instead:</p>
-
-<p><pre>
-PROFILE="Roaming-Workstation"
-DESKTOP="lxde"
-</pre></p>
-
-<p>The script could even become useful to set up Debian Edu servers in
-the cloud, by starting with a virtual Debian installation at some
-virtual hosting service and setting up all the services on first
-boot.</p>
-</description>
- </item>
-
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