X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/077386f9640db7ba0e157f7af2d1d1de94e4b1ce..b8cfdc4c79eda32eae7d84374df6c3660e65f93a:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 1fd7f8f154..60979bb258 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,691 +7,835 @@ - 90 percent done with the Norwegian draft translation of Free Culture - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/90_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/90_percent_done_with_the_Norwegian_draft_translation_of_Free_Culture.html - Fri, 2 Aug 2013 10:40:00 +0200 - <p>It has been a while since my last update. Since last summer, I -have worked on a Norwegian -<a href="http://www.docbook.org/">docbook</a> version of the 2004 book -<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a> by Lawrence Lessig, -to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright -law. Yesterday, I finally broken the 90% mark, when counting the -number of strings to translate. Due to real life constraints, I have -not had time to work on it since March, but when the summer broke out, -I found time to work on it again. Still lots of work left, but the -first draft is nearing completion. I created a graph to show the -progress of the translation:</p> - -<p><img width="80%" align="center" src="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/raw/master/progress.png"></p> - -<p>When the first draft is done, the translated text need to be -proof read, and the remaining formatting problems with images and SVG -drawings need to be fixed. There are probably also some index entries -missing that need to be added. This can be done by comparing the -index entries listed in the SiSU version of the book, or comparing the -English docbook version with the paper version. Last, the colophon -page with ISBN numbers etc need to be wrapped up before the release is -done. I should also figure out how to get correct Norwegian sorting -of the index pages. All docbook tools I have tried so far (xmlto, -docbook-xsl, dblatex) get the order of symbols and the special -Norwegian letters ÆØÅ wrong.</p> - -<p>There is still need for translators and people with docbook -knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle -with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft -translation and proof reading. And I would like the figures to be -redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them. Any SVG master -around? There are also some legal terms that are unfamiliar to me. -If you want to help, please get in touch with me, and check out the -project files currently available from -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>.</p> - -<p>If you are curious what the translated book currently look like, -the updated -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.pdf?raw=true">PDF</a> -and -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig/blob/master/archive/freeculture.nb.epub?raw=true">EPUB</a> -are published on github. The HTML version is published as well, but -github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I -saw no point in linking to that version.</p> + Testing sysvinit from experimental in Debian Hurd + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_sysvinit_from_experimental_in_Debian_Hurd.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Testing_sysvinit_from_experimental_in_Debian_Hurd.html + Mon, 3 Feb 2014 13:40:00 +0100 + <p>A few days ago I decided to try to help the Hurd people to get +their changes into sysvinit, to allow them to use the normal sysvinit +boot system instead of their old one. This follow up on the +<a href="https://teythoon.cryptobitch.de//categories/gsoc.html">great +Google Summer of Code work</a> done last summer by Justus Winter to +get Debian on Hurd working more like Debian on Linux. To get started, +I downloaded a prebuilt hard disk image from +<a href="http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz">http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian-cd/hurd-i386/current/debian-hurd.img.tar.gz</a>, +and started it using virt-manager.</p> + +<p>The first think I had to do after logging in (root without any +password) was to get the network operational. I followed +<a href="https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install">the +instructions on the Debian GNU/Hurd ports page</a> and ran these +commands as root to get the machine to accept a IP address from the +kvm internal DHCP server:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +settrans -fgap /dev/netdde /hurd/netdde +pkill pfinet +pkill devnode +dhclient -v /dev/eth0 +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>After this, the machine had internet connectivity, and I could +upgrade it and install the sysvinit packages from experimental and +enable it as the default boot system in Hurd.</p> + +<p>But before I did that, I set a password on the root user, as ssh is +running on the machine it for ssh login to work a password need to be +set. Also, note that a bug somewhere in openssh on Hurd block +compression from working. Remember to turn that off on the client +side.</p> + +<p>Run these commands as root to upgrade and test the new sysvinit +stuff:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list &lt;&lt;EOF +deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ experimental main +EOF +apt-get update +apt-get dist-upgrade +apt-get install -t experimental initscripts sysv-rc sysvinit \ + sysvinit-core sysvinit-utils +update-alternatives --config runsystem +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>To reboot after switching boot system, you have to use +<tt>reboot-hurd</tt> instead of just <tt>reboot</tt>, as there is not +yet a sysvinit process able to receive the signals from the normal +'reboot' command. After switching to sysvinit as the boot system, +upgrading every package and rebooting, the network come up with DHCP +after boot as it should, and the settrans/pkill hack mentioned at the +start is no longer needed. But for some strange reason, there are no +longer any login prompt in the virtual console, so I logged in using +ssh instead. + +<p>Note that there are some race conditions in Hurd making the boot +fail some times. No idea what the cause is, but hope the Hurd porters +figure it out. At least Justus said on IRC (#debian-hurd on +irc.debian.org) that they are aware of the problem. A way to reduce +the impact is to upgrade to the Hurd packages built by Justus by +adding this repository to the machine:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hurd-ci.list &lt;&lt;EOF +deb http://darnassus.sceen.net/~teythoon/hurd-ci/ sid main +EOF +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>At the moment the prebuilt virtual machine get some packages from +http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian, because some of the packages in +unstable do not yet include the required patches that are lingering in +BTS. This is the completely list of "unofficial" packages installed:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +# aptitude search '?narrow(?version(CURRENT),?origin(Debian Ports))' +i emacs - GNU Emacs editor (metapackage) +i gdb - GNU Debugger +i hurd-recommended - Miscellaneous translators +i isc-dhcp-client - ISC DHCP client +i isc-dhcp-common - common files used by all the isc-dhcp* packages +i libc-bin - Embedded GNU C Library: Binaries +i libc-dev-bin - Embedded GNU C Library: Development binaries +i libc0.3 - Embedded GNU C Library: Shared libraries +i A libc0.3-dbg - Embedded GNU C Library: detached debugging symbols +i libc0.3-dev - Embedded GNU C Library: Development Libraries and Hea +i multiarch-support - Transitional package to ensure multiarch compatibilit +i A x11-common - X Window System (X.Org) infrastructure +i xorg - X.Org X Window System +i A xserver-xorg - X.Org X server +i A xserver-xorg-input-all - X.Org X server -- input driver metapackage +# +</pre></blockquote></p> + +<p>All in all, testing hurd has been an interesting experience. :) +X.org did not work out of the box and I never took the time to follow +the porters instructions to fix it. This time I was interested in the +command line stuff.<p> - First beta release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_beta_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - Sat, 27 Jul 2013 20:30:00 +0200 - <p>The first wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement:</p> - -<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b0 released -2013-07-27</strong></p> - -<p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux -7.1+edu0~b0, 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. Immediately 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. The provided school server provides LDAP -database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home -directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The -desktop contains -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more -than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from -the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE -and Xfce desktop environment.</p> - -<p>This is the fifth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.</p> - -<p>ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the -versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta -release.</p> - -<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p> + A fist full of non-anonymous Bitcoins + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_fist_full_of_non_anonymous_Bitcoins.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_fist_full_of_non_anonymous_Bitcoins.html + Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:10:00 +0100 + <p>Bitcoin is a incredible use of peer to peer communication and +encryption, allowing direct and immediate money transfer without any +central control. It is sometimes claimed to be ideal for illegal +activity, which I believe is quite a long way from the truth. At least +I would not conduct illegal money transfers using a system where the +details of every transaction are kept forever. This point is +investigated in +<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">USENIX ;login:</a> +from December 2013, in the article +"<a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/03_meiklejohn-online.pdf">A +Fistful of Bitcoins - Characterizing Payments Among Men with No +Names</a>" by Sarah Meiklejohn, Marjori Pomarole,Grant Jordan, Kirill +Levchenko, Damon McCoy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Stefan Savage. They +analyse the transaction log in the Bitcoin system, using it to find +addresses belong to individuals and organisations and follow the flow +of money from both Bitcoin theft and trades on Silk Road to where the +money end up. This is how they wrap up their article:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +<p>"To demonstrate the usefulness of this type of analysis, we turned +our attention to criminal activity. In the Bitcoin economy, criminal +activity can appear in a number of forms, such as dealing drugs on +Silk Road or simply stealing someone else’s bitcoins. We followed the +flow of bitcoins out of Silk Road (in particular, from one notorious +address) and from a number of highly publicized thefts to see whether +we could track the bitcoins to known services. Although some of the +thieves attempted to use sophisticated mixing techniques (or possibly +mix services) to obscure the flow of bitcoins, for the most part +tracking the bitcoins was quite straightforward, and we ultimately saw +large quantities of bitcoins flow to a variety of exchanges directly +from the point of theft (or the withdrawal from Silk Road).</p> + +<p>As acknowledged above, following stolen bitcoins to the point at +which they are deposited into an exchange does not in itself identify +the thief; however, it does enable further de-anonymization in the +case in which certain agencies can determine (through, for example, +subpoena power) the real-world owner of the account into which the +stolen bitcoins were deposited. Because such exchanges seem to serve +as chokepoints into and out of the Bitcoin economy (i.e., there are +few alternative ways to cash out), we conclude that using Bitcoin for +money laundering or other illicit purposes does not (at least at +present) seem to be particularly attractive."</p> +</blockquote><p> + +<p>These researches are not the first to analyse the Bitcoin +transaction log. The 2011 paper +"<a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524">An Analysis of Anonymity in +the Bitcoin System</A>" by Fergal Reid and Martin Harrigan is +summarized like this:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +"Anonymity in Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic currency system, is a +complicated issue. Within the system, users are identified by +public-keys only. An attacker wishing to de-anonymize its users will +attempt to construct the one-to-many mapping between users and +public-keys and associate information external to the system with the +users. Bitcoin tries to prevent this attack by storing the mapping of +a user to his or her public-keys on that user's node only and by +allowing each user to generate as many public-keys as required. In +this chapter we consider the topological structure of two networks +derived from Bitcoin's public transaction history. We show that the +two networks have a non-trivial topological structure, provide +complementary views of the Bitcoin system and have implications for +anonymity. We combine these structures with external information and +techniques such as context discovery and flow analysis to investigate +an alleged theft of Bitcoins, which, at the time of the theft, had a +market value of approximately half a million U.S. dollars." +</blockquote></p> + +<p>I hope these references can help kill the urban myth that Bitcoin +is anonymous. It isn't really a good fit for illegal activites. Use +cash if you need to stay anonymous, at least until regular DNA +sampling of notes and coins become the norm. :)</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + + + New chrpath release 0.16 + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_16.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_16.html + Tue, 14 Jan 2014 11:00:00 +0100 + <p><a href="http://www.coverity.com/">Coverity</a> is a nice tool to +find problems in C, C++ and Java code using static source code +analysis. It can detect a lot of different problems, and is very +useful to find memory and locking bugs in the error handling part of +the source. The company behind it provide +<a href="https://scan.coverity.com/">check of free software projects as +a community service</a>, and many hundred free software projects are +already checked. A few days ago I decided to have a closer look at +the Coverity system, and discovered that the +<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/">gnash</a> and +<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipmitool/">ipmitool</a> +projects I am involved with was already registered. But these are +fairly big, and I would also like to have a small and easy project to +check, and decided to <a href="http://scan.coverity.com/projects/1179">request +checking of the chrpath project</a>. It was +added to the checker and discovered seven potential defects. Six of +these were real, mostly resource "leak" when the program detected an +error. Nothing serious, as the resources would be released a fraction +of a second later when the program exited because of the error, but it +is nice to do it right in case the source of the program some time in +the future end up in a library. Having fixed all defects and added +<a href="https://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/chrpath-devel">a +mailing list for the chrpath developers</a>, I decided it was time to +publish a new release. These are the release notes:</p> + +<p>New in 0.16 released 2014-01-14:</p> <ul> -<li>Switched roaming workstation profiles from wicd to network-manager - for network configuration, as wicd didn't work any more.</li> -<li>Changed version numbers of patched gosa and libpam-mklocaluser - packages to make sure our locally patched versions will be replaced - by the official packages when they are released from Debian. Those - installing alpha version need to reinstall or manually downgrade gosa - and libpam-mklocaluser.</li> -<li>Added bluetooth tools to the default desktop (bluedevil, blueman).</li> -<li>Added tools for sharing the desktop on KDE (krdc, krfb).</li> -<li>Added valgrind to the default installation for easier debugging of - crash bugs.</li> + <li>Fixed all minor bugs discovered by Coverity.</li> + <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project.</li> + <li>Mention new project mailing list in the documentation.</li> </ul> -<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> +<p>You can +<a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the +new version 0.16 from alioth</a>. Please let us know via the Alioth +project if something is wrong with the new release. The test suite +did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also +include a test suite check.</p> + + + + + Debian Edu interview: Dominik George + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Dominik_George.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Dominik_George.html + Wed, 25 Dec 2013 13:40:00 +0100 + <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project</a> consist of both newcomers and old timers, and this time I +was able to get an interview with a newcomer in the project who showed +up on the IRC channel a few weeks ago to let us know about his +successful installation of Debian Edu Wheezy in his School. Say hello +to <a href="https://www.ohloh.net/accounts/Natureshadow">Dominik +George</a>.</p> + +<!-- http://www.dominik-george.de/images/foto.jpg --> + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>I am a 23 year-old student from Germany who has spent half of his +life with open source. In "real life", I am, as already mentioned, a +student in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, +Information Technologies and Anglistics. Due to my (only partially +voluntary) huge engagement in the open source world, these things are +a bit vacant right now however.</p> + +<p>I also have been working as a project teacher at a Gymasnium +(public school) for various years now. I took up that work some time +around 2005 when still attending that school myself and have continued +it until today. I also had been running the (kind of very advanced) +network of that school together with a team of very interested and +talented students in the age of 11 to 15 years, who took the chance to +learn a lot about open source and networking before I left the school +to help building another school's informational education concept from +scratch.</p> + +<p>That said, one might see me as a kind of "glue" between school kids +and the elderly of teachers as well as between the open source +ecosystem and the (even more complex) educational ecosystem.</p> + +<p>When I am not busy with open source or education, I like Geocaching +and cycling.</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>I think that happened some time around 2009 when I first attended +<a href="http://www.froscon.org">FrOSCon</a> and visited the project +booth. I think I wasn't too interested back then because I used to +have an attitude of disliking software that does too much stuff on its +own. Maybe I was too inexperienced to realise the upsides of an +"out-of-the-box" solution ;).</p> + +<p>The first time I actively talked to Skolelinux people was at +<a href="http://www.openrheinruhr.de">OpenRheinRuhr</a> 2011 when the +BiscuIT project, a home-grewn software used by my school for various +really cool things from timetables and class contact lists to lunch +ordering, student ID card printing and project elections first got to +a stage where it could have been published. I asked the Skolelinux +guys running the booth if the project were interested in it and gave a +small demonstration, but there wasn't any real feedback and the guys +seemed rather uninterested.</p> + +<p>After I left the school where I developed the software, it got +mostly lost, but I am now reimplementing it for my new school. I have +reusability and compatibility in mind, and I hop there will be a new +basis for contributing it to the Skolelinux project ;)!</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>The most important advantage seems to be that it "just +works". After overcoming some minor (but still very annoying) glitches +in the installer, I got a fully functional, working school network, +without the month-long hassle I experienced when setting all that up +from scratch in earlier years. And above that, it rocked - I didn't +have any real hardware at hand, because the school was just founded +and has no money whatsoever, so I installed a combined server (main +server, terminal services and workstation) in a VM on my personal +notebook, bridging the LTSP network interface to the ethernet port, +and then PXE-booted the Windows notebooks that were lying around from +it. I could use 8 clients without any performance issues, by using a +tiny little VM on a tiny little notebook. I think that's enough to say +that it rocks!</p> + +<p>Secondly, there are marketing reasons. Life's bad, and so no +politician will ever permit a setup described as "Debian, an universal +operating system, with some really cool educational tools" while they +will be jsut fine with "Skolelinux, a single-purpose solution for your +school network", even if both turn out to be the very same thing (yes, +this is unfair towards the Skolelinux project, and must not be taken +too seriously - you get the idea, anyway).</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>I have not been involved with Skolelinux long enough to really +answer this question in a fair way. Thus, please allow me to put it in +other words: "What do you expect from Skolelinux to keep liking it?" I +can list a few points about that:</p> <ul> -<li>Fixed artwork package to work with gnome, no longer break - desktop=gnome installations.</li> -<li>Adjusted installer to now work when forced to use a proxy with the - netinst CD.</li> -<li>Fixed code detecting and setting/loading hardware specific - setup/firmware to work more robust out of the box.</li> -<li>Adjusted Kerberos setup to detect realm and server settings at - install time instead of dynamically at run time. This avoid a crash - with krb5-auth-dialog on diskless workstations without a DNS name.</li> -<li>Worked around misfeature in network-manager not calling the dhclient - exit hooks, causing automatic proxy configuration and automatic host - name setting at run time to work again.</li> -<li>Fixed feature setting the default Iceweasel start page from URL - fetched from LDAP, to allow schools to set the global default by - updating the dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no LDAP object.</li> -<li>Changed default host name on all networked machines to be unique - (generated from MAC or reverse DNS) after boot.</li> -<li>Adjusted partition sizes to make sure they are big enough.</li> + <li>always strive to get all things integrated into Debian upstream + <li>be open to discussion about changes and the like, even with newcomers + <li>be helpful at being helpful ;) </ul> -<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> +<p>I'm really sorry I cannot say much more about that :(!</p> + +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> + +<p>First of all, all software I use is free and open. I have abandoned +all non-free software (except for firmware on my darned phone) this +year.</p> + +<p>I run Debian GNU/Linux on all PC systems I use. On that, I mostly +run text tools. I use +<a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/mksh.htm">mksh</a> as shell, +<a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/jupp.htm">jupp</a> as very advanced +text editor (I even got the developer to help me write a script/macro +based full-featured student management software with the two), +<a href="http://mcabber.com/">mcabber</a> for XMPP and +<a href="http://www.irssi.org/">irssi</a> for IRC. For that overly +coloured world called the WWW, I use +<a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">Iceweasel +(Firefox)</a>. Oh, and <a href="http://www.mutt.org/">mutt</a> for +e-mail.</p> + +<p>However, while I am personally aware of the fact that text tools +are more efficient and powerful than anything else, I also use (or at +least operate) some tools that are suitable to bring open source to +kids. One of these things is <a href="http://jappix.org/">Jappix</a>, +which I already introduced to some kids even before they got aware of +Facebook, making them see for themselves that they do not need +Facebook now ;).</p> + +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> + +<p>Well, that's a two-sided thing. One side is what I believe, and one +side is what I have experienced.</p> + +<p>I believe that the right strategy is showing them the benefits. But +that won't work out as long as the acceptance of free alternatives +grows globally. What I mean is that if all the kids are almost forced +to use Windows, Facebook, Skype, you name it at home, they will not +see why they would want to use alternatives at school. I have seen +students take seat in front of a fully-functional, modern Debian +desktop that could do anything their Windows at home could do, and +they jsut refused to use it because "Linux sucks". It is something +that makes the council of our city spend around 600000 € to buy +software - not including hardware, mind you - for operating school +networks, and for installing a system that, as has been proved, does +not work. For those of you readers who are good at maths, have you +already found out how many lives could have been saved with that money +if we had instead used it to bring education to parts of the world +that need it? I have, and found it to be nothing less dramatic than +plain criminal.</p> + +<p>That said, the only feasible way appears to be the bottom up +method. We have to bring free software to kids and parents. I have +founded an association named +<a href="https://www.teckids.org">Teckids</a> here in Germany that does +just that. We organise several events for kids and adolescents in the +area of free and open source software, for example the +<a href="http://kids.froscon.org">FrogLabs</a>, which share staff with +Teckids and are the youth programme of +<a href="http://www.froscon.org">the Free and Open Source Software +Conference (FrOSCon)</a>. We do a lot more than most other conferences +- this year, we first offered the FrogLabs as a holiday camp for kids +aged 10 to 16. It was a huge success, with approx. 30 kids taking part +and learning with and about free software through a whole weekend. All +of us had a lot of fun, and the results were really exciting.</p> + +<p>Apart from that, we are preparing a campaign that is supposed to bring +the message of free alternatives to stuff kids use every day to them and +their parents, e.g. the use of Jabber / Jappix instead of Facebook and +Skype. To make that possible, we are planning to get together a team of +clever kids who understand very well what their peers need and can bring +it across to them. So we will have a peer-driven network of adolescents +who teach each other and collect feedback from the community of minors. +We then take that feedback and our own experience to work closely with +open source projects, such as Skolelinux or Jappix, at improving their +software in a way that makes it more and more attractive for the target +group. At least I hope that we will have good cooperation with +Skolelinux in the future ;)!</p> + +<p>So in conclusion, what I believe is that, if it weren't for the world +being so bad, it should be very clear to the political decision makers +that the only way to go nowadays is free software for various reasons, +but I have learnt that the only way that seems to work is bottom up.</p> + +<!-- + +> * Who should be interviewed with this questions in the future? + +That's probably the hardest question of them all, as I do not know the +community. However, I would be willing to do the following: + + <li>Run an interview with a German headteacher who is very open to + free software, and also prefers it, but cannot really use it because + of the decision makers above; + <li>Run interviews with some kids, both with and without previous + knowledge about free software + +If that is wanted, just let me know ;). + +--> + + + + + Dugnadsnett for alle stiller på Oslo Maker Faire i januar 2014 + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle_stiller_p__Oslo_Maker_Faire_i_januar_2014.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle_stiller_p__Oslo_Maker_Faire_i_januar_2014.html + Tue, 10 Dec 2013 19:20:00 +0100 + <p>Helga 18. og 19. januar 2014 arrangeres +<a href="http://makerfaireoslo.no/no/program/dugnadsnett">Oslo Maker +Faire</a>, og <a href="http://www.dugnadsnett.no/">Dugnadsnett for +alle</a> har fått plass! Planen er å ha et bord med en plakat der vi +forteller om hva Dugnadsnett for alle er for noe, og et lite verksted +der vi hjelper folk som er interessert i å få opp sin egen mesh-node. +Jeg gleder meg til å se hvordan prosjektet blir mottatt der.</p> + +<p>Målet med dugnadsnett for alle i Oslo er å få på plass et datanett +for kommunikasjon ved hjelp av radio-repeaterstasjoner (kalt +mesh-noder) som gjør at en kan direkte kommunisere med slekt, venner +og bekjente i Oslo via andre som deltar i dugnadsnettet, samt gjøre +det mulig komme ut på internett via dugnadsnettet. Første delmål er å +kunne sende SMS-meldinger vha. IP-telefoni løsningen +<a href="http://www.servalproject.org/">Serval project</a> mellom +deltagerne i Dugnadsnett for alle i Oslo. Formålet er å ta tilbake +kontrollen over egen nett-infrastruktur og gjøre det dyrere å bedrive +massiv innsamling av informasjon om borgernes bruk av datanett.</p> + +<p>Høres dette interessant ut? Bli med på prosjektet, fortell oss +hvor du kunne tenke deg å sette opp en radio-repeater (slik at folk i +nærheten kan finne hverandre ved hjelp av +<a href="http://flynor.net/mesh/mesh.php">kartet over planlagte og +eksisterende radio-repeatere</A>), bli med på epostlisten +<a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/dugnadsnett">dugnadsnett +(at) nuug.no</a> og stikk innom +<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#dugnadsnett.no">IRC-kanalen +#dugnadsnett.no</a>. Så langt er det planlagt over 40 +radio-repeatere, med VPN-forbindelser via Internet for å la de delene +av nettet som ikke når hverandre via radio kunne snakke med hverandre +likevel.</p> + + + + + Debian Edu interview: Klaus Knopper + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Klaus_Knopper.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Klaus_Knopper.html + Fri, 6 Dec 2013 09:50:00 +0100 + <p>It has been a while since I managed to publish the last interview, +but the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / +Skolelinux</a> community is still going strong, and yesterday we even +had a new school administrator show up on +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu">#debian-edu</a> to share +his success story with installing Debian Edu at their school. This +time I have been able to get some helpful comments from the creator of +Knoppix, Klaus Knopper, who was involved in a Skolelinux project in +Germany a few years ago.</p> + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>I am Klaus Knopper. I have a master degree in electrical +engineering, and is currently professor in information management at +the university of applied sciences Kaiserslautern / Germany and +freelance Open Source software developer and consultant.</p> + +<p>All of this is pretty much of the work I spend my days with. Apart +from teaching, I'm also conducting some more or less experimental +projects like the <a href="http://www.knoppix.org">Knoppix GNU/Linux live +system</a> (Debian-based like Skolelinux), +<a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html">ADRIANE</a> +(a blind-friendly talking desktop system) and +<a href="http://www.knopper.net/linbo/index-en.html">LINBO</a> +(Linux-based network boot console, a fast remote install and repair +system supporting various operating systems).</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>The credit for this have to go to Kurt Gramlich, who is the German +coordinator for Skolelinux. We were looking for an all-in-one open +source community-supported distribution for schools, and Kurt +introduced us to Skolelinux for this purpose.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> <ul> - -<li>Grub is missing the new artwork.</li> -<li>KDE fail to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to - not use the http proxy as it should.</li> -<li>Chromium also fail to use the proxy.</li> - + <li>Quick installation,</li> + <li>works (almost) out of the box,</li> + <li>contains many useful software packages for teaching and learning,</li> + <li>is a purely community-based distro and not controlled by a + single company,</li> + <li>has a large number of supporters and teachers who share their + experience and problem solutions.</li> </ul> -<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> - -<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> <ul> + <li>Skolelinux is - as we had to learn - not easily upgradable to + the next version. Opposed to its genuine Debian base, upgrading to + a new version means a full new installation from scratch to get it + working again reliably. + + <li>Skolelinux is based on Debian/stable, and therefore always a + little outdated in terms of program versions compared to Edubuntu or + similar educational Linux distros, which rather use Debian/testing + as their base. + + <li>Skolelinux has some very self-opinionated and stubborn default + configuration which in my opinion adds unnecessary complexity and is + not always suitable for a schools needs, the preset network + configuration is actually a core definition feature of Skolelinux + and not easy to change, so schools sometimes have to change their + network configuration to make it "Skolelinux-compatible". + + <li>Some proposed extensions, which were made available as + contribution, like secure examination mode and lecture material + distribution and collection, were not accepted into the mainline + Skolelinux development and are now not easy to maintain in the + future because of Skolelinux somewhat undeterministic update + schemes.</li> + + <li>Skolelinux has only a very tiny number of base developers + compared to Debian.</li> -<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li> +</ul> -<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso</a></li> +<p>For these reasons and experience from our project, I would now +rather consider using plain Debian for schools next time, until +Skolelinux is more closely integrated into Debian and becomes +upgradeable without reinstallation.</p> -<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso .</li> +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> -</ul> +<p>GNU/Linux with LXDE desktop, bash for interactive dialog and +programming, texlive for documentation and correspondence, +occasionally LibreOffice for document format conversion. Various +programming languages for teaching.</p> -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 55d5de9765b6dccd5d9ec33cf1a07109 -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 996a1d9517740e4d627d100de2d12b23dd545a3f</p> +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> -<p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p> +<p>Strong arguments are</p> <ul> -<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li> -<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso</a></li> -<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso .</li> + <li>Knowledge is free, and so should be methods and tools for + teaching and learning.</li> -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: d8f0818c51a78d357de794066f289f69 -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 49185ca354e8d0543240423746924f76a6cee733</p> + <li>Students can learn with and use the same software at school, at + home, and at their working place without running into license or + conversion problems.</li> + <li>Closed source or proprietary software hides knowledge rather + than exposing it, and proprietary software vendors try to bind + customers to certain products. But teachers need to teach + science, not products.</li> -<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> + <li>If you have everything you for daily work as open source, what + would you need proprietary software for?</li> -<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a> +</ul> + + + + + Dugnadsnett for alle, a wireless community network in Oslo, take shape + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle__a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo__take_shape.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle__a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo__take_shape.html + Sat, 30 Nov 2013 10:10:00 +0100 + <p>If you want the ability to electronically communicate directly with +your neighbors and friends using a network controlled by your peers in +stead of centrally controlled by a few corporations, or would like to +experiment with interesting network technology, the +<a href="http://www.dugnadsnett.no/">Dugnasnett for alle i Oslo</a> +might be project for you. 39 mesh nodes are currently being planned, +in the freshly started initiative from NUUG and Hackeriet to create a +wireless community network. The work is inspired by +<a href="http://freifunk.net/">Freifunk</a>, +<a href="http://www.awmn.net/">Athens Wireless Metropolitan +Network</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roofnet">Roofnet</a> +and other successful mesh networks around the globe. Two days ago we +held a workshop to try to get people started on setting up their own +mesh node, and there we decided to create a new mailing list +<a href="http://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/dugnadsnett">dugnadsnett +(at) nuug.no</a> and IRC channel +<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#dugnadsnett.no">#dugnadsnett.no</a> to +coordinate the work. See also the NUUG blog post +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/E_postliste_og_IRC_kanal_for_Dugnadsnett_for_alle_i_Oslo.shtml">announcing +the mailing list and IRC channel</a>.</p> - How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken 180 GB SSD disk - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html - Wed, 17 Jul 2013 23:50:00 +0200 - <p>Today I switched to -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">my -new laptop</a>. I've previously written about the problems I had with -my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html">180 -GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware</a> that did not handle -sustained writes. My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in -trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another -identical 180 GB disks they decided to send me a 256 GB Samsung SSD -disk instead to fix it once and for all. The Samsung disk survived -the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with -random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus -decided to trust it with my data. I have installed it as a Debian Edu -Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main -server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work -station from now on.</p> - -<p>As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the -Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase -performance and increase life time of the disk. The Linux kernel and -user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such -environment. To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian -package <tt>ssd-setup</tt> to handle this tuning. The -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/ssd-setup.git">source -for the ssd-setup package</a> is available from collab-maint, and it -is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the -package. If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package -will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort -file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.</p> - -<p>I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best -set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD. It is adjusted to my use case, -where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in -addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on -top of this again. See the README file in the package source for the -references I used to pick the settings. At the moment these -parameters are tuned:</p> + Hvor godt fungerer Linux-klienter mot MS Exchange? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvor_godt_fungerer_Linux_klienter_mot_MS_Exchange_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hvor_godt_fungerer_Linux_klienter_mot_MS_Exchange_.html + Tue, 26 Nov 2013 18:50:00 +0100 + <p>Jeg +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_pent_m_te_p__onsdag_om_bruken_av_Microsoft_Exchange_ved_Universitetet_i_Oslo.html">skrev +i juni om protestene</a> på planene til min arbeidsplass, +<a href="http://www.uio.no/">Universitetet i Oslo</a>, om å gå bort fra +fri programvare- og åpne standardløsninger for å håndtere epost, +vekk fra IETF-standarden SIEVE for filtrering av epost og over til +godseide spesifikasjoner og epostsystemet Microsoft Exchange. +Protestene har fått litt ny omtale i media de siste dagene, i tillegg +til de oppslagene som kom i mai.</p> <ul> -<li>Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk - (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)</li> +<li>2013-11-26 <a href="http://www.version2.dk/artikel/gigantisk-outlook-konvertering-moeder-protester-paa-universitet-55147">Gigantisk Outlook-konvertering møder protester på universitet</a> - versjon2.dk</li> + +<li>2013-11-25 + <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article279407.ece">Microsoft-protest + på Universitetet</a> - Computerworld</li> -<li>Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in - this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from - 0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.</li> +<li>2013-11-25 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/nyheter/2013/11/uio-bor-bruke-apen-programvare.html">Kjemper + mot innføring av Microsoft Exchange på UiO</a> - Uniforum</li> -<li>Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file - systems.</li> +<li>2013-11-25 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/nyheter/2013/11/uio-utsetter-innforing-av-nytt-e-postsystem.html">Utsetter + innføring av nytt e-postsystem</a> - Uniforum</li> -<li>Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to - /etc/fstab.</li> +<li>2013-05-29 + <a href="http://universitas.no/nyhet/58462/forsvarer-nytt-it-system">Forsvarer + nytt IT-system</a> - Universitas</li> -<li>Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.</li> +<li>2013-05-23 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/nyheter/2013/05/uio-innforer-nytt-epost-og-kalendersystem.html">UiO + innfører nytt epost- og kalenderverktøy</a> - Uniforum</li> -<li>Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from - cron.daily).</li> +<li>2013-05-22 + <a href="http://universitas.no/nyhet/58424/protestgruppe-vil-stanse-it-system">Protestgruppe + vil stanse IT-system</a> - Universitas</li> -<li>Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure - to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.</li> +<li>2013-05-15 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/leserbrev/2013/uio-ma-ha-kontroll-over-sitt-eget-epostsystem.html">UiO + må ha kontroll over sitt eget epostsystem</a> - Uniforum</li> </ul> -<p>During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill -the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for -little gain. My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure -those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working -computer. I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people -from getting the data on the disk (see -<a href="http://xkcd.com/538/">XKCD #538</a> for an explanation why). -Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the -right thing to do.</p> - -<p>I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended -it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found -indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.</p> - -<p>I also considered using the 'discard' file system option for ext3 -and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a -file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day -instead of during my work.</p> - -<p>My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as -this is already done by Debian Edu.</p> - -<p>I have not yet started on the user space tuning. I expect -iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but -have not yet had time to investigate those parts.</p> - -<p>The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it -there.</p> - -<p>As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post, -as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the -disk. It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of -the Lenovo firmware. But I have not tried and did not want to do so -without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the -disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks -back.</p> - - - - - Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:30:00 +0200 - <p>A few days ago, I wrote about -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">the -problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk</a>, which -was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with -sustained write. My supplier is in contact with -<a href="http://www.lenovo.com/">Lenovo</a>, and they wanted to send a -replacement disk to try to fix the problem. They decided to send an -identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.</p> - -<p>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install -Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it. The new disk have the -same firmware version as the original. This time my hope raised -slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to -die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept -going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%. But around 60%, the disk -died again and I was back on square one. I still do not have a new -laptop with a disk I can trust. I can not live with a disk that might -lock up when I download a new -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ISO or -other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with -the next proposal from Lenovo.</p> - -<p>The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW: -LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW: -LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN, -SA, date and WNPP values. Mentioning all the details here in case -someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the -failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually -exist).</p> +<p>Prosjektledelsen har fortalt at dette skal fungere like godt for +Linux-brukere som for brukere av Microsoft Windows og Apple MacOSX, +men jeg lurer på hva slags erfaringer Linux-brukere i eksisterende +miljøer som bruker MS Exchange har gjort. Hvis du har slik erfaring +hadet det vært veldig fint om du kan send et leserbrev til +<a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/">Uniforum</a> og fortelle om hvor +greit det er å bruke Exchange i kryss-platform-miljøer? De jeg har +snakket med sier en greit får lest e-posten sin hvis Exchange har +slått på IMAP-funksjonalitet, men at kalender og møtebooking ikke +fungerer godt for Linux-klienter. Jeg har ingen personlig erfaring å +komme med, så jeg er nysgjerrig på hva andre kan dele av erfaringer +med universitetet.</p> + +<p>Mitt ankerpunkt mot å bytte ut fri programvare som fungerer godt +med godseid programvare er at en mister kontroll over egen +infrastruktur, låser seg inn i en løsning det vil bli dyrt å komme ut +av, uten at en får funksjonalitet en ikke kunne skaffet seg med fri +programvare, eventuelt videreutviklet med de pengene som brukes på +overgangen til MS Exchange. Personlig planlegger jeg å fortsette å +laste ned all eposten min til lokal maskin for indeksering og lesing +med <a href=="http://notmuchmail.org">notmuch</a>, så jeg håper jeg +ikke blir veldig skadelidende av overgangen.</p> + +<p><a href="http://dinis.linguateca.pt/Diana/ImotMSUiO.html">Underskriftslista +for oss som er mot endringen</a>, som omtales i artiklene, er fortsatt +åpen for de som vil signere på oppropet. Akkurat nå er det 298 +personer som har signert.</p> - July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - Tue, 9 Jul 2013 10:40:00 +0200 - <p>The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined -Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing -party in Oslo. It is organised by <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the -member assosiation NUUG</a> and -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project</a> together with <a href="http://bitraf.no/">the hack space -Bitraf</a>.</p> - -<p>It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening. Everyone is -welcome, and there is no fee to participate. There is on the other -hand limited space, and only room for 30 people. Please put your name -on <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2013/07/13/no/Oslo">the event -wiki page</a> if you plan to join us.</p> - - - - - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - Fri, 5 Jul 2013 08:30:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">replacement -for my trusty old Thinkpad X41</a>. Unfortunately I did not have much -time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe -will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived. I -ended up picking a -<a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad X230</a> -with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as -a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly. But my -second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful. More -on that below.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according -to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of -disks from my search parameters. I also asked around among friends to -get their impression on keyboards and robustness.</p> - -<p>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the -X41. I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is -significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my -hand a lot more to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly -good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope -I will get used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really -needed a new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick -visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.</p> - -<p>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop. The 180 GB SSD disk -lock up during load. And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy -with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data. -I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I -reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by -default in Ubuntu). And the bug with is already known. It was -reported to Debian as <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/691427">BTS -report #691427 2012-10-25</a> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new -Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD). It is also reported to the Linux -kernel developers as -<a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51861">Kernel bugzilla -report #51861 2012-12-20</a> (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load -(SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the -Lenovo forums, both for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-520-180GB-issue/m-p/1070549">T430 -2012-11-10</a> and for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-180GB-Intel-520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/1068147">X230 -03-20-2013</a>. The problem do not only affect installation. The -reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done -on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation -problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment. -There is even a -<a href="https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git">small C program -available</a> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few -minutes by writing to a file.</p> - -<p>I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after -contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support -requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk -firmware. Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from -Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i). I -hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be -fixed. :)</p> - - - - - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - Thu, 4 Jul 2013 09:20:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my -trusty old Thinkpad X41. Unfortunately I did not have much time to -spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived. I ended up -picking a <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad -X230</a> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu -Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly. As I write -this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation, -with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up -with an expencive door stop.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <ahref="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had -to drop number of disks from my search parameters.</p> - -<p>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly -wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more -to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly good and the -individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get -used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a -new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.</p> - - - - - Fourth alpha release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - Wed, 3 Jul 2013 14:00:00 +0200 - <p>The fourth wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement:</p> - -<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~alpha3 released -2013-07-03</strong></p> - -<p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux -7.1+edu0~alpha3, 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. Immediately 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. The provided school server provides LDAP -database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home -directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The -desktop contains -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more -than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from -the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE -and Xfce desktop environment.</p> - -<p>This is the fourth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.</p> - -<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Dropped ispell dictionaries from our default installation.</li> - <li>Dropped menu-xdg from the KDE desktop option, to drop the Debian - submenu. It was not included with Gnome, LXDE or Xfce, so this - brings KDE in line with the others.</li> - <li>Dropped xdrawchem, xjig and xsok from our default installation as - they don't have a desktop menu entry and thus won't show up in the - menu now that menu-xdg was removed.</li> - <li>Removed the killer system to kill left behind processes on - multi-user machines, as it was no longer able to understand when a - X display was in use and killed the processes of the active users - too.</li> - <li>Dropped the golearn (from goplay) package as the debtags in wheezy - are too few to make the package useful.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Updated artwork matching http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Joy - <li>Multi-arch i386/amd64 USB stick ISO available.</li> - <li>Got rid of ispell/wordlist related debconf questions that showed - up for some language options.</li> - <li>Switched to using http.debian.net as APT source by default.</li> - <li>Fixed proxy configuration on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Changed LTSP setup to ask dpkg to use force-unsafe-io the same way - d-i is doing it.</li> - <li>Made sure root and user passwords were not left behind in the - debconf database after installation on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Made Roaming Workstation dynamic setup more robust and added draft - script setup-ad-client to hook a Roaming Workstation up to a - Active Directory server instead of a Debian Edu Main Server.</li> - <li>Update system to install needed firmware packages during - installation, to work properly in Wheezy.</li> - <li>Update system to handle hardware quirks (debian-edu-hwsetup).</li> - <li>Corrected PXE installation setup to properly pass selected desktop - and keymap settings to PXE installation clients.</li> - <li>LTSP diskless workstations use sshfs by default, allowing them to - work without adding them to DNS and NIS netgroups for NFS access.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) - available yet (698840).</li> - <li>Artwork not enabled for all desktops.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> + New chrpath release 0.15 + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_15.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_15.html + Sun, 24 Nov 2013 09:30:00 +0100 + <p>After many years break from the package and a vain hope that +development would be continued by someone else, I finally pulled my +acts together this morning and wrapped up a new release of chrpath, +the command line tool to modify the rpath and runpath of already +compiled ELF programs. The update was triggered by the persistence of +Isha Vishnoi at IBM, which needed a new config.guess file to get +support for the ppc64le architecture (powerpc 64-bit Little Endian) he +is working on. I checked the +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/chrpath">Debian</a>, +<a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chrpath">Ubuntu</a> and +<a href="https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/acls/name/chrpath">Fedora</a> +packages for interesting patches (failed to find the source from +OpenSUSE and Mandriva packages), and found quite a few nice fixes. +These are the release notes:</p> + +<p>New in 0.15 released 2013-11-24:</p> -<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> <ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso .</li> -</ul> -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8</p> + <li>Updated config.sub and config.guess from the GNU project to work + with newer architectures. Thanks to isha vishnoi for the heads + up.</li> -<p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p> -<ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso .</li> -</ul> + <li>Updated README with current URLs.</li> + + <li>Added byteswap fix found in Ubuntu, credited Jeremy Kerr and + Matthias Klose.</li> -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 25e808e403a4c15dbef1d13c37d572ac -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 15ecfc93eb6b4f453b7eb0bc04b6a279262d9721</p> + <li>Added missing help for -k|--keepgoing option, using patch by + Petr Machata found in Fedora.</li> -<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> + <li>Rewrite removal of RPATH/RUNPATH to make sure the entry in + .dynamic is a NULL terminated string. Based on patch found in + Fedora credited Axel Thimm and Christian Krause.</li> + +</ul> -<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p> +<p>You can +<a href="https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=31052">download the +new version 0.15 from alioth</a>. Please let us know via the Alioth +project if something is wrong with the new release. The test suite +did not discover any old errors, so if you find a new one, please also +include a testsuite check.</p> - Automatically locate and install required firmware packages on Debian (Isenkram 0.4) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:50:00 +0200 - <p>It annoys me when the computer fail to do automatically what it is -perfectly capable of, and I have to do it manually to get things -working. One such task is to find out what firmware packages are -needed to get the hardware on my computer working. Most often this -affect the wifi card, but some times it even affect the RAID -controller or the ethernet card. Today I pushed version 0.4 of the -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram package</a> -including a new script isenkram-autoinstall-firmware handling the -process of asking all the loaded kernel modules what firmware files -they want, find debian packages providing these files and install the -debian packages. Here is a test run on my laptop:</p> + RSS-kilde for fritekstsøk i offentlige anbud hos Doffin + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RSS_kilde_for_friteksts_k_i_offentlige_anbud_hos_Doffin.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RSS_kilde_for_friteksts_k_i_offentlige_anbud_hos_Doffin.html + Fri, 22 Nov 2013 13:40:00 +0100 + <p>I fjor sommer lagde jeg en +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SQL_database_med_anbud_publisert_p__Doffin.html">offentlig +tilgjengelig SQL-database over offentlig anbud</a> basert på skraping +av HTML-data fra Doffin. Den har stått og gått siden da, og har nå +ca. 28000 oppføringer. Jeg oppdaget da jeg tittet innom at noen +oppføringer var ikke blitt med, antagelig på grunn av at de fikk +tildelt sekvensnummer i Doffin en godt stund før de ble publisert, +slik at min nettsideskraper som fortsatte skrapingen der den slapp +sist ikke fikk dem med seg. Jeg har fikset litt slik at skraperen nå +ser litt tilbake i tid for å se om den har gått glipp av noen +oppføringer, og har skrapet på nytt fra midten av september 2013 og +fremover. Det bør dermed bli en mer komplett database for kommende +måneder. Hvis jeg får tid skal jeg forsøke å skrape "glemte" data fra +før midten av september 2013, men tør ikke garantere at det blir +prioritert med det første. </p> + +<p>Men målet med denne bloggposten er å vise hvordan denne +Doffin-databasen kan brukes og integreres med en RSS-leser, slik at en +kan la datamaskinen holde et øye med Doffin-annonseringer etter +nøkkelord. En kan lage sitt eget søk ved å besøke +<ahref="https://classic.scraperwiki.com/docs/api?name=norwegian-doffin#sqlite">API-et +hos Scraperwiki</a>, velge format rss2 og så legge inn noe ala dette i +"query in SQL":</p> <p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: kernel drivers requested extra firmware: ipw2200-bss.fw ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw2200-sniffer.fw -info: fetching http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/Contents-i386.gz -info: locating packages with the requested firmware files -info: Updating APT sources after adding non-free APT source -info: trying to install firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -Preconfiguring packages ... -Selecting previously deselected package firmware-ipw2x00. -(Reading database ... 259727 files and directories currently installed.) -Unpacking firmware-ipw2x00 (from .../firmware-ipw2x00_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb) ... -Setting up firmware-ipw2x00 (0.28+squeeze1) ... -# +select title, scrapedurl as link, abstract as description, + publishdate as pubDate from 'swdata' + where abstract like '%linux%' or title like '%linux%' + order by seq desc limit 20 </pre></p> -<p>When all the requested firmware is present, a simple message is -printed instead:</p> - -<p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules. exiting -# -</pre></p> - -<p>It could use some polish, but it is already working well and saving -me some time when setting up new machines. :)</p> - -<p>So, how does it work? It look at the set of currently loaded -kernel modules, and look up each one of them using modinfo, to find -the firmware files listed in the module meta-information. Next, it -download the Contents file from a nearby APT mirror, and search for -the firmware files in this file to locate the package with the -requested firmware file. If the package is in the non-free section, a -non-free APT source is added and the package is installed using -<tt>apt-get install</tt>. The end result is a slightly better working -machine.</p> - -<p>I hope someone find time to implement a more polished version of -this script as part of the hw-detect debian-installer module, to -finally fix <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">BTS report -#655507</a>. There really is no need to insert USB sticks with -firmware during a PXE install when the packages already are available -from the nearby Debian mirror.</p> - - - - - The value of a good distro wide test suite... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0200 - <p>In the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / -Skolelinux</a> project, we include a post-installation test suite, -which check that services are running, working, and return the -expected results. It runs automatically just after the first boot on -test installations (using test ISOs), but not on production -installations (using non-test ISOs). It test that the LDAP service is -operating, Kerberos is responding, DNS is replying, file systems are -online resizable, etc, etc. And it check that the PXE service is -configured, which is the topic of this post.</p> - -<p>The last week I've fixed the DVD and USB stick ISOs for our Debian -Edu Wheezy release. These ISOs are supposed to be able to install a -complete system without any Internet connection, but for that to -happen all the needed packages need to be on them. Thanks to our test -suite, I discovered that we had forgotten to adjust our PXE setup to -cope with the new names and paths used by the netboot d-i packages. -When Internet connectivity was available, the installer fall back to -using wget to fetch d-i boot images, but when offline it require -working packages to get it working. And the packages changed name -from debian-installer-6.0-netboot-$arch to -debian-installer-7.0-netboot-$arch, we no longer pulled in the -packages during installation. Without our test suite, I suspect we -would never have discovered this before release. Now it is fixed -right after we got the ISOs operational.</p> - -<p>Another by-product of the test suite is that we can ask system -administrators with problems getting Debian Edu to work, to run the -test suite using <tt>/usr/sbin/debian-edu-test-install</tt> and see if -any errors are detected. This usually pinpoint the subsystem causing -the problem.</p> - -<p>If you want to help us help kids learn how to share and create, -please join us on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on -irc.debian.org</a> and the -<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@</a> mailing -list.</p> +<p>Dette vil søke opp alle anbud med ordet linux i oppsummering eller +tittel. En kan lage mer avanserte søk hvis en ønsker det. URL-en som +dukker opp nederst på siden kan en så gi til sin RSS-leser (jeg bruker +akregator selv), og så automatisk få beskjed hvis det dukker opp anbud +med det aktuelle nøkkelordet i teksten. Merk at kapasiteten og +ytelsen hos Scraperwiki er begrenset, så ikke be RSS-leseren hente ned +oftere enn en gang hver dag.</p> + +<p>Du lurer kanskje på hva slags informasjon en kan få ut fra denne +databasen. Her er to RSS-kilder, med søkeordet +"<a href="https://api.scraperwiki.com/api/1.0/datastore/sqlite?format=rss2&name=norwegian-doffin&query=select%20title%2C%20scrapedurl%20as%20link%2C%20abstract%20as%20description%2C%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20publishdate%20as%20pubDate%20from%20'swdata'%0A%20%20%20where%20abstract%20like%20'%25linux%25'%20or%20title%20like%20'%25linux%25'%0A%20%20%20order%20by%20seq%20desc%20limit%2020">linux</a>", +søkeordet +"<a href="https://api.scraperwiki.com/api/1.0/datastore/sqlite?format=rss2&name=norwegian-doffin&query=select%20title%2C%20scrapedurl%20as%20link%2C%20abstract%20as%20description%2C%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20publishdate%20as%20pubDate%20from%20'swdata'%0A%20%20%20where%20abstract%20like%20'%25fri%20programvare%25'%20or%20title%20like%20'%25fri%20programvare%25'%0A%20%20%20order%20by%20seq%20desc%20limit%2020">fri +programvare</a>" +og søkeordet +"<a href="https://api.scraperwiki.com/api/1.0/datastore/sqlite?format=rss2&name=norwegian-doffin&query=select%20title%2C%20scrapedurl%20as%20link%2C%20abstract%20as%20description%2C%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20publishdate%20as%20pubDate%20from%20'swdata'%0A%20%20%20where%20abstract%20like%20'%25odf%25'%20or%20title%20like%20'%25odf%25'%0A%20%20%20order%20by%20seq%20desc%20limit%2020">odf</a>". +Det er bare å søke på det en er interessert i. Kopier gjerne +datasettet og sett opp din egen tjeneste hvis du vil gjøre mer +avanserte søk. SQLite-filen med Doffin-oppføringer kan lastes med fra +Scraperwiki for de som vil grave dypere.</p>