The Debian Edu / -Skolelinux project have users all over the globe, but until -recently we have not known about any users in Norway's neighbour -country Sweden. This changed when George Bredberg showed up in March -this year on the mailing list, asking interesting questions about how -to adjust and scale the just released -Debian Edu -Wheezy setup to his liking. He granted me an interview, and I am -happy to share his answers with you here.
- -Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
- -I'm a 44 year old country guy that have been working 12 years at -the same school as 50% IT-manager and 50% Teacher. My educational -background is fil.kand in history and religious beliefs, an exam as a -"folkhighschool" teacher, that is, for teaching grownups. In -Norwegian I believe it's called "Vuxenupplaring". I also have a master -in "Technology and social change". So I'm not really a tech guy, I -just like to study how humans and technology interact and that is my -perspective when working with IT.
- -How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu -project?
- -I have followed the Skolelinux project for quite some time by -now. Earlier I tested out the K12-LTSP project, which we used for some -time, but I really like the idea of having a distribution aimed to be -a complete solution for schools with necessary tools integrated. When -K12-LTSP abandoned that idea some years ago, I started to look more -seriously into Skolelinux instead. - -What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?
- -The big point of Skolelinux to me is that it is a complete -distribution, ready to install. It has LDAP-support, MS Windows -integration tools and so forth already configured, saving an -administrator a lot of time and headache. We were using another Linux -based thin-client system called Thinlinc, that has served us very -well. But that Skolelinux is based on VNC and LTSP, to me, is better -when it comes to the kind of multimedia used in schools. That is -showing videos from Youtube or educational TV. It is also easier to -mix thin clients with workstations, since the user settings will be the -same. In our VNC-based solution you had to "beat around the bush" by -setting up a second, hidden, home-directory for user settings for the -workstations, because they will be different from the ones used on the -thin clients. Skolelinux support for diskless workstations are very -convenient since a school today often need to use a class room -projector showing videos in full screen. That is easily done with a -small integrated media computer running as a diskless workstation. You -have only two installs to update and configure. One for the thin -clients and one for the workstations. Also saving a lot of time. Our -old system was also based on Redhat and CentOS. They are both very -nice distributions, but they are sometimes painfully slow when it -comes to updating multimedia support and multimedia programs (even -such as Gimp), leaving us with a bit "oldish" applications. Debian is -quicker to update. - -What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?
- -Debian is a bit too quick when it comes to updating. As an example -we use old HP terminals as thinclients, and two times already this -year (2012) the updates you get from the repositories has stopped -sound from working with them. It's a kernel/ALSA issue. So you have -to be more careful properly testing the updates before you run them in -a production environment. This has never happened with CentOS.
- -I also would like to be able to set my own domain-settings at -install time. In Skolelinux they are kind of hard coded into the -distribution, when it comes to LDAP and at least samba integration. -That is more a cosmetic/translation issue, and not a real problem. -Running MS Windows applications within the Skolelinux environment needs -to be better supported. That is, running them seamlessly via RDP, and -support for single-sign on. That will make the transition to free -software easier, because you can keep the applications you really -need. No support will make it impossible if you work in a school where -some applications can't be open source. As for us we really need to -run Adobe InDesign in our journalist classes. We run a journalist -education, and is one of the very few non university ones that is ok:d -by Svenska journalistförbundet (Swedish journalist association). Our -education gives the pupils the right of membership there, once they -are done. This is important if you want to get a job.
- -Adobe InDesign is the program most commonly used in newspapers and -magazines. We used Quark Express before, but they seem to loose there -market to Adobe. The only "equivalent" to InDesign in the opensource -world is Scribus, and its not advanced enough. At least not according -to the teacher. I think it would be possible to use it, because they -are not supposed to learn a program, they are supposed to learn how to -edit and compile a newspaper. But politically at our school we are not -there yet. And Scribus lacks a lot of things you find i InDesign.
- -We used even a windows program for sound editing when it comes to -the radio-journalist part. The year to come we are going to try -Audacity. That software has the same kind of limitations compared to -Adobe Audition, but that teacher is a bit more open minded. We have -tried Ardour also, but that instead is more like a music studio -program, not intended for the kind of editing taking place in a radio -studio. Its way to complex and the GUI is to scattered when you only -want to cut, make pass-overs, add extra channels and normalise. Those -things you can do in Audacity, but its not as easy as in Audition. You -have to do more things manually with envelopes, and that is a bit old -fashion and timewasting. Its also harder to cut and move sound from -one channel to another, which is a thing that you do frequently -because you often find yourself needing to rearrange parts of the -sound file.
- -So, I am not sure we will succeed in replacing even Audition, but we -will try. The problem is the students have certain expectations when -they start an education towards a profession. So the programs has to -look and feel professional. Good thing with radio, there are many -programs out there, that radio studios use, so its not as standardised -as Newspaper editing. That means, it does not really matter what -program they learn, because once they start working they still have to -learn the program the studio uses, so instead focus has to be to learn -the editing part without to much focus on a specific software.
- -Which free software do you use daily?
- -Myself I'm running Linux Mint, or Ubuntu these days. I use almost -only open source software, and preferably Linux based. When it comes -to most used applications its OpenOffice, and Firefox (of course ;) -)
- -Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?
- -To get schools to use free software there has to be good open -source software that are windows based, to ease the transition. But -it's also very important that the multimedia support is working -flawlessly. The problems with Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and whatever -will create problems when it comes to both teachers and -students. Economy are also important for schools, so using thin -clients, as long as they have good multimedia support, is a very good -idea. It's also important that the open source software works even for -the administration. It's hard to convince the teachers to stick with -open source, if the principal has to run Windows. It also creates a -problem if some classes has to use Windows for there tasks, since that -will create a difference in "status" between classes, so a good -support for running windows applications via the thin client (Linux) -desktop is essential. At least at our school, where we have mixed -level of educations, from high-school to journalist-school.
- -Update 2012-07-09 08:30: Paul Wise tipped me on IRC about three -useful sources related to Free Software for radio stations: the LWN -article Radio station -management with Airtime, -Airtime which -claim to be a Free open source radio automation software and -Rivendell which claim to -be complete radio broadcast automation solution. All of them seem -useful to the aspiring radio producer.
+ +During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for +LEGO Mindstorm +NXT. My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I +discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were +already in Debian Squeeze. If Debian support for LEGO is something +you care about, please join me on the IRC channel +#debian-lego (server +irc.debian.org). There is a lot that could be done to improve the +situation. :)
In the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project, we have realised that one -of the major blockers for the project success is the purchasing skills -in schools and municipalities. We provide what the happy users of -Debian Edu / Skolelinux say they need and to a lower cost than the -alternatives, and yet so few schools decide to use our solution. I -was pleased to discover the same observation done by mySociety and Tom -Steinberg in his blog post -"Can -you recognize the million pound chair?". Read it and weep for the -spending of your tax money.
- -Of course there are other factors involved as well, like our -projects bad marketing skills and the Linux community fragmentation -causing worry with the people on the outside, so we as a project need -to keep working hard to gain users, but it is a up-hill battle when -public decision makers are unable to understand computer system -purchases.
+ +Her er noen lenker til tekster jeg har satt pris på å lese den +siste måneden.
+ +-
+
+
- 2012-12-07 + Myter og + FUD om fri programvare av min venn Christer Gundersen som + kommenterer noen av de påstandene som er spredt via Computerworld + Norge de siste månedene. + +
- BankID er et opplegg der utsteder (dvs. banken eller dens
+ leverandør) sitter på alt som trengs for å bruke BankID, men har
+ lovet å ikke bruke den unntatt på oppdrag fra deg. Det er greit nok
+ for banktjenester, der banken allerede har full kontroll over
+ resultatet, men problematisk når det gjelder tilgang til
+ helseopplysninger og avtaleinngåelse med andre enn banken. Jeg
+ håper protestene brer om seg.
+
+
-
+
+
- 2012-12-11 BankID + blottlegger helseopplysninger + +
- 2012-12-07 - + Helseopplysningene ikke sikre med Bank-ID + +
- 2012-12-07 + PÃ¥peker + alvorlige, men kjente utfordringer er den offisielle + holdningen til de som lager BankID. + +
- 2012-12-08 + NTNU + Researcher Warns against Security of Bank ID Password + +
- 2012-12-11 Norske elever er dårligst i Europa på algebra + +
- 2012-12-11 + Realfagsdødaren + +
- 2012-12-21 + - + Noen må bli skuffet - Politiet i Bergen forteller hvor lavt de + prioriterer hverdagskriminalitet. + +
- 2012-05-03 + + Kripos-ansatt dømt for snoking for venn - viser hvor svak + reaksjonen blir når politiet misbruker innsamlet informasjon. En + forvarsel på konsekvensene av nasjonal brev- og besøkskontroll - + ofte kalt Datalagringsdirektivet. + +
- 2012-12-14 + à + smøre en forskjell - om ensomhet og jul. + +
- 2012-12-18 + Ãn + krise av gangen, takk! + + +
- 2012-12-17 + NAV: + Et mangehodet monster + +
- 2011-01-12 + Pasienter + uten vern - forteller litt om hvordan Norsk Pasientregister og + andre helseregister raderer bort pasienters privatsfære. + + +
- 2012-12-19 + Hvorfor + er barnefamilier fattige? + +
- 2012-12-25 + Den + skjulte minoriteten â konservative kristne i Norge - kronikk av + Bjørn Stærk fra aftenposten + +
- 2009-05-04 + Folkebiblioteket + 2.0 - Min venn Sturle om opphavsrett og Internett, i debatt med + Olav Torvund. + +
Og et godt nytt år til dere alle!
Included in Debian Edu / -Skolelinux is a large collection of end user and school specific -software. It is one of the packages not installed by default but -provided in the Debian archive for schools to install if they want to, -is a system to automatically plan the school time table using -information about available teachers, classes and rooms, combined with -the list of required courses and how many hours each topic should -receive. The software is - -named FET, and it provide a -graphical user interface to input the required information, save the -result in a fairly simple XML format, and generate time tables for -both teachers and students. It is available both for -Linux, MacOSX and -Windows.
- -This is the -feature list, liftet from the project web site:
- --
-
-
- FET is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL v2 or later. - You can freely use, copy, modify and redistribute it - -
- Localized to en_US (US English, default), ar (Arabic), ca - (Catalan), da (Danish), de (German), el (Greek), es (Spanish), fa - (Persian), fr (French), gl (Galician), he (Hebrew), hu - (Hungarian), id (Indonesian), it (Italian), lt (Lithuanian), mk - (Macedonian), ms (Malay), nl (Dutch), pl (Polish), pt_BR - (Brazilian Portuguese), ro (Romanian), ru (Russian), si (Sinhala), - sk (Slovak), sr (Serbian), tr (Turkish), uk (Ukrainian), uz - (Uzbek) and vi (Vietnamese) (incompletely for some languages) - - -
- Fully automatic generation algorithm, allowing also - semi-automatic or manual allocation - -
- Platform independent implementation, allowing running on - GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac and any system that Qt supports - -
- Flexible modular XML format for the input file, allowing editing - with an XML editor or by hand (besides FET interface) - -
- Import/export from CSV format - -
- The resulted timetables are exported into HTML, XML and CSV - formats - -
- Flexible students structure, organized into sets: years, groups - and subgroups. FET allows overlapping years and groups and - non-overlapping subgroups. You can even define individual students - (as separate sets) - -
- Each constraint has a weight percentage, from 0.0% to 100.0% - (but some special constraints are allowed to have only 100% weight - percentage) - -
- Limits for the algorithm (all these limits can be increased on
- demand, as a custom version, because this would require a bit more
- memory):
-
-
-
- Maximum total number of hours (periods) per day: 60 -
- Maximum number of working days per week: 35 -
- Maximum total number of teachers: 6000 -
- Maximum total number of sets of students: 30000 -
- Maximum total number of subjects: 6000 -
- Virtually unlimited number of activity tags -
- Maximum number of activities: 30000 -
- Maximum number of rooms: 6000 -
- Maximum number of buildings: 6000 -
- Possibility of adding multiple teachers and - students sets for each activity. (it is possible - also to have no teachers or no students sets for an - activity) -
- Virtually unlimited number of time constraints -
- Virtually unlimited number of space constraints -
-
- - A large and flexible palette of time constraints:
-
-
-
- Break periods -
- For teacher(s):
-
-
-
- Not available periods -
- Max/min days per week -
- Max gaps per day/week -
- Max hours daily/continuously -
- Min hours daily -
- Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag - -
- Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of - days per week -
- - For students (sets):
-
-
-
- Not available periods -
- Begins early (specify max allowed beginnings at second hour) -
- Max gaps per day/week -
- Max hours daily/continuously -
- Min hours daily -
- Max hours daily/continuously with an activity tag - -
- Respect working in an hourly interval a max number of - days per week -
- - For an activity or a set of activities/subactivities:
-
-
-
- A single preferred starting time -
- A set of preferred starting times -
- A set of preferred time slots -
- Min/max days between them -
- End(s) students day -
- Same starting time/day/hour -
- Occupy max time slots from selection (a complex and - flexible constraint, useful in many situations) -
- Consecutive, ordered, grouped (for 2 or 3 (sub)activities) -
- Not overlapping -
- Max simultaneous in selected time slots -
- Min gaps between a set of (sub)activities -
-
-
- - A large and flexible palette of space constraints:
-
-
-
- Room not available periods -
- For teacher(s):
-
-
-
- Home room(s) -
- Max building changes per day/week -
- Min gaps between building changes -
-
- - For students (sets):
-
-
-
- Home room(s) -
- Max building changes per day/week -
- Min gaps between building changes -
- - Preferred room(s):
-
-
-
- For a subject -
- For an activity tag -
- For a subject and an activity tag -
- Individually for a (sub)activity -
-
- - For a set of activities:
-
-
-
- Occupy a maximum number of different rooms -
-
-
I have not used it myself, as I am not involved in time table -planning at a school, but it seem to work fine when I test it. If you -need to set up your schools time table, and is tired of doing it -manually, check it out. - -A quick summary on how to use it can be found in -a -blog post from MarvelSoft. If you find FET useful, please provide -a recipe for the Debian Edu project in the -Debian Edu HowTo -section.
+ +I was happy to discover a few days ago that the +Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project also this year received a Christmas present from Another +Agency in Trondheim. NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account +December 24th. I want to express our thanks for this very welcome +present. As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on +funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer +gatherings, this donation was most welcome. One developer gathering +cost around NOK 15 000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the +development pace we want. Thus, I hope their example this year is +followed by many others. :)
+ +The public list of donors can be found on +the +donation page for the project, which also contain instructions if +you want to donate to the project.