- <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html">First alpha release of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy</a></div>
- <div class="date">26th April 2013</div>
- <div class="body"><p>The Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is still going strong and made
-its first Wheezy based release today. This is the release
-announcement:</p>
-
-<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu ~7.0.0 alpha0 released
-2013-04-26</strong></p>
-
-<p>This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux ~7.0.0
-edu alpha0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p>
-
-<p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p>
-
-<p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as
-Skolelinux</a>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
-out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
-network. Immediatly after installation a school server running all
-services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
-and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
-environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
-the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
-installed via the network.</p>
-
-<p>This is the first test release based on Wheezy (which currently is
-not released yet). Basically this is an updated and slightly improved
-version compared to the Squeeze release.</p>
-
-<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p>
-
-<ul>
-<li>Everything which is new in Debian Wheezy, eg:
- <ul>
- <li>Linux kernel 3.2.x</li>
- <li>Desktop environments KDE "Plasma" 4.8.4, GNOME 3.4, and LXDE 4
- (KDE is installed by default; to choose GNOME or LXDE: see
- manual.)</li>
- <li>Web browser Iceweasel 10 ESR</li>
- <li>LibreOffice 3.5.4</li>
- <li>LTSP 5.4.2</li>
- <li>GOsa 2.7.4</li>
- <li>CUPS print system 1.5.3</li>
- <li>Educational toolbox GCompris 12.01</li>
- <li>Music creator Rosegarden 12.04</li>
- <li>Image editor Gimp 2.8.2</li>
- <li>Virtual universe Celestia 1.6.1</li>
- <li>Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.11.3</li>
- <li>Scratch visual programming environment 1.4.0.6</li>
- <li>New version of debian-installer from Debian Wheezy, see
- <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/installmanual">installation
- manual</a> for more details.</li>
- <li>Debian Wheezy includes about 37000 packages available for
- installation.</li>
- <li>More information about Debian Wheezy 7.0 is provided in the
- <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/releasenotes">release notes</a> and the <a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/wheezy/installmanual">installation manual</a>.</li>
- </ul></li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><strong>Documentation</strong></p>
-<ul>
-<li>The (<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Wheezy">English</a>) Debian Edu Wheezy Manual is fully translated to
- German, French, Italian and Danish. Partly translated versions exist
- for Norwegian Bokmal and Spanish.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><Strong>LDAP related changes</strong></p>
-<ul>
-<li>Slight changes to some objects and acls to have more types to
- choose from when adding systems in GOsa. Now systems can be of type
- server, workstation, printer, terminal or netdevice.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p>
-<ul>
-<li>LTSP clients start as diskless workstation / thin client can be
- configured via command line argument -- or individually adding an
- entry in lts.conf or LDAP.<li>
-<li>GOsa gui: Now some options that seemed to be available, but are non
- functional, are greyed out (or are not clickable). Some tabs are
- completely hidden to the end user, others even to the GOsa admin.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><strong>Regressions</strong></p>
-<ul>
-<li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) available
- yet.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><strong>No updated artwork</strong></p>
-
-<ul>
-<li>Updated artwork which is visible during installation, in the login
- screen and as desktop wallpaper is still missing or the same as we
- had for our Squeeze based release.</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p>
-
-To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use
-<ul>
-<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</a></li>
-<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</a></li>
-<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/</li>
-</ul>
-
-<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: c5e773ddafdaa4f48c409c682f598b6c</p>
-
-<p>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 25934fabb9b7d20235499a0a51f08ce6c54215f2</p>
-
-<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p>
-
-<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p>
-</div>
- <div class="tags">
-
-
- Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
-
-
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="padding"></div>
-
- <div class="entry">
- <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Bitcoin_er_ikke_anonymt___f_res_Stortinget_bak_lyset_av_finansministeren_.html">Bitcoin er ikke anonymt - føres Stortinget bak lyset av finansministeren?</a></div>
- <div class="date">22nd April 2013</div>
- <div class="body"><p><a href="http://bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a> er mye i mediene for
-tiden. Jeg følger med via Mylder for å finne
-<a href="http://mylder.no/?drill=bitcoin">artikler som omtaler
-temaet</a>, og takket være dette oppdaget jeg at stortingsrepresentant
-Ketil Solvik-Olsen fra FrP nylig har spurt finansminister Sigbjørn
-Johnsen om hans syn på Bitcoin, og
-<a href="http://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Sporsmal/Skriftlige-sporsmal-og-svar/Skriftlig-sporsmal/?qid=57052">fått
-svar for noen dager siden</a>. Jeg bet meg spesielt merke til
-følgende formulering fra finansministeren:</p>
-
-<p><blockquote>
-«Det er også utfordringer ved at handel med Bitcoins er uregulert og
-at transaksjonene er anonyme.»
-</blockquote></p>
-
-<p>At Bitcoin er anonymt er en myte som spres av både journalister og
-andre, så det er ikke veldig overraskende at også finansministeren har
-gått på limpinnen. Det er dog litt rart, da jeg håper at
-finansdepartementet ikke baserer seg på rykter og myter når de
-besvarer Stortinget. Men du trenger ikke bare tro på meg som kilde
-til påstanden om at Bitcoin ikke er anonymt. Sondre Rønjom har
-<a href="http://blogg.nsm.stat.no/archives/3241">via Sikkerhetsbloggen
-hos Nasjonal Sikkerhetsmyndighet</a> uttalt følgende:</p>
-
-<p><blockquote>
-«At [bitcoin] i utgangspunktet
-<a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524"><em>ikke</em> er anonymt</a>,
-kommer kanskje som en overraskelse på mange.»
-</blockquote></p>
-
-<p>Enhver bevegelse av Bitcoin er offentlig tilgjengelig for alle på
-Internet, og en må legge svært mye innsats inn hvis en skal hindre at
-nettverksanalyse av transaksjonsloggene kan brukes til å identifisere
-brukerne. F.eks. kan en enkelt se hva jeg har mottatt til min
-offentliggjorte mottaksadresse ved å besøke blockexplorer og slå opp
-adressen
-<a href="http://blockexplorer.com/address/15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a>.
-Det virker dermed på meg ganske klart at å påstå at
-Bitcoin-transaksjoner er anonyme strengt tatt er å føre Stortinget bak
-lyset.</p>
-
-<p>Finansministeren er ikke den eneste som har latt seg forlede av
-medieomtalen. I spørsmålet fra Hr. Solvik-Olsen skriver han at «For
-noen dager siden kom den første bitcoin-minibanken på Kypros», hvilket
-så vidt jeg har klart å finne ut ikke er riktig. Det er annonsert
-planer om en slik minibank (fra
-<a href="http://www.bitcoinatm.com/">BitcoinATM</a>), men jeg finner
-intet tegn til at en slik minibank er utplassert noe sted.</p>
-
-<p>Som vanlig, hvis du bruker Bitcoin og ønsker å vise din støtte til
-mine aktiviteter, så setter jeg pris på Bitcoin-donasjoner til min
-adresse
-<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>
+ <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html">Debian Edu interview: Jonathan Carter</a></div>
+ <div class="date">12th June 2013</div>
+ <div class="body"><p>There is a certain cross-over between the
+<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
+project</a> and <a href="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>