X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/1d6a7533d4612a3ca58505a2b73b5defe66bb8e8..1a61a65f98e142155ea20c7a346739b629d5511f:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 431c70088f..bb3cd1213b 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,50 +20,135 @@
-
Welcome to the world, Isenkram!
-
22nd January 2013
-

Yesterday, I -asked -for testers for my prototype for making Debian better at handling -pluggable hardware devices, which I -set -out to create earlier this month. Several valuable testers showed -up, and caused me to really want to to open up the development to more -people. But before I did this, I want to come up with a sensible name -for this project. Today I finally decided on a new name, and I have -renamed the project from hw-support-handler to this new name. In the -process, I moved the source to git and made it available as a -collab-maint -repository in Debian. The new name? It is Isenkram. -To fetch and build the latest version of the source, use

- + +
10th September 2013
+

I was introduced to the +Freedombox project +in 2010, when Eben Moglen presented his vision about serving the need +of non-technical people to keep their personal information private and +within the legal protection of their own homes. The idea is to give +people back the power over their network and machines, and return +Internet back to its intended peer-to-peer architecture. Instead of +depending on a central service, the Freedombox will give everyone +control over their own basic infrastructure.

+ +

I've intended to join the effort since then, but other tasks have +taken priority. But this summers nasty news about the misuse of trust +and privilege exercised by the "western" intelligence gathering +communities increased my eagerness to contribute to a point where I +actually started working on the project a while back.

+ +

The initial +Debian initiative based on the vision from Eben Moglen, is to +create a simple and cheap Debian based appliance that anyone can hook +up in their home and get access to secure and private services and +communication. The initial deployment platform have been the +Dreamplug, +which is a piece of hardware I do not own. So to be able to test what +the current Freedombox setup, I had to come up with a way to install +it on some hardware I do got access to. I have rewritten the +freedom-maker +image build framework to use .deb packages instead of only copying +setup into the boot images, and thanks to this rewrite I am able to +set up any machine supported by Debian Wheezy as a Freedombox, using +the previously mentioned deb (and a few support debs for packages +missing in Debian).

+ +

The current Freedombox setup consist of a set of bootstrapping +scripts +(freedombox-setup), +and a administrative web interface +(plinth + exmachina + +withsqlite), as well as a privacy enhancing proxy based on +privoxy +(freedombox-privoxy). There is also a web/javascript based XMPP +client (jwchat) +trying (unsuccessfully so far) to talk to the XMPP server +(ejabberd). The +web interface is pluggable, and the goal is to use it to enable OpenID +services, mesh network connectivity, use of TOR, etc, etc. Not much of +this is really working yet, see +the +project TODO for links to GIT repositories. Most of the code is +on github at the moment. The HTTP proxy is operational out of the +box, and the admin web interface can be used to add/remove plinth +users. I've not been able to do anything else with it so far, but +know there are several branches spread around github and other places +with lots of half baked features.

+ +

Anyway, if you want to have a look at the current stat, the +following recipes should work to give you a test machine to poke +at.

+ +

Debian Wheezy amd64

+ +
    + +
  1. Fetch normal Debian Wheezy installation ISO.
  2. +
  3. Boot from it, either as CD or USB stick.
  4. +
  5. Press [tab] on the boot prompt and add this as a boot argument +to the Debian installer:

    +

    url=http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat
  6. + +
  7. Answer the few language/region/password questions and pick disk to +install on.
  8. + +
  9. When the installation is finished and the machine have rebooted a +few times, your Freedombox is ready for testing.
  10. + +
+ +

Raspberry Pi Raspbian

+ +
    + +
  1. Fetch a Raspbian SD card image, create SD card.
  2. +
  3. Boot from SD card, extend file system to fill the card completely.
  4. +
  5. Log in and add this to /etc/sources.list:

    +
    +deb http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox wheezy main
    +
  6. +
  7. Run this as root:

    -git clone http://anonscm.debian.org/git/collab-maint/isenkram.git
    -cd isenkram && git-buildpackage -us -uc
    -
    - -

    I have not yet adjusted all files to use the new name yet. If you -want to hack on the source or improve the package, please go ahead. -But please talk to me first on IRC or via email before you do major -changes, to make sure we do not step on each others toes. :)

    - -

    If you wonder what 'isenkram' is, it is a Norwegian word for iron -stuff, typically meaning tools, nails, screws, etc. Typical hardware -stuff, in other words. I've been told it is the Norwegian variant of -the German word eisenkram, for those that are familiar with that -word.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-26: Added -us -us to build -instructions, to avoid confusing people with an error from the signing -process.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-27: Switch to HTTP URL for the git -clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.

    +wget -O - http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/BE1A583D.asc | \ + apt-key add - +apt-get update +apt-get install freedombox-setup +/usr/lib/freedombox/setup +
  8. +
  9. Reboot into your freshly created Freedombox.
  10. + +
+ +

You can test it on other architectures too, but because the +freedombox-privoxy package is binary, it will only work as intended on +the architectures where I have had time to build the binary and put it +in my APT repository. But do not let this stop you. It is only a +short "apt-get source -b freedombox-privoxy" away. :)

+ +

Note that by default Freedombox is a DHCP server on the +192.168.1.0/24 subnet, so if this is your subnet be careful and turn +off the DHCP server by running "update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server +disable" as root.

+ +

Please let me know if this work for you, or if you have any +problems. We gather on the IRC channel +#freedombox on +irc.debian.org and the +project +mailing list.

+ +

Once you get your freedombox operational, you can visit +http://your-host-name:8001/ to see the state of the plint +welcome screen (dead end - do not be surprised if you are unable to +get past it), and next visit http://your-host-name:8001/help/ +to look at the rest of plinth. The default user is 'admin' and the +default password is 'secret'.

@@ -71,84 +156,283 @@ clone argument to avoid the need for authentication.

- -
21st January 2013
-

Early this month I set out to try to -improve -the Debian support for pluggable hardware devices. Now my -prototype is working, and it is ready for a larger audience. To test -it, fetch the -source -from the Debian Edu subversion repository, build and install the -package. You might have to log out and in again activate the -autostart script.

- -

The design is simple:

+ +
8th September 2013
+

I 2011 raderte et stortingsflertall bestående av Høyre og +Arbeiderpartiet vekk en betydelig del av privatsfæren til det norske +folk. Det ble vedtatt at det skulle registreres og lagres i et halvt +år hvor alle som bærer på en mobiltelefon befinner seg, hvem de +snakker med og hvor lenge de snakket sammen. Det skal også +registreres hvem de sendte SMS-meldinger til, hvem en har sendt epost +til, og hvilke nett-tjenere en besøkte. Saken er kjent som +Datalagringsdirektivet +(DLD), og innebærer at alle innbyggerne og andre innenfor Norges +grenser overvåkes døgnet rundt. Det ble i praksis innført brev og +besøkskontroll av hele befolkningen. Rapporter fra de landene som +allerede har innført slik total lagring av borgernes +kommunikasjonsmønstre forteller at det ikke hjelper i +kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. Den norske prislappen blir mange hundre +millioner, uten at det ser ut til å bidra positivt til politiets +arbeide. Jeg synes flere hundre millioner i stedet burde vært brukt +på noe som kan dokumenteres å ha effekt i kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. +Se mer på +Wikipedia +og Jon Wessel-Aas.

+ +

Hva er problemet, tenkter du kanskje? Et åpenbart problem er at +medienes kildevern i praksis blir radert ut. Den innsamlede +informasjonen gjør det mulig å finne ut hvem som har snakket med +journalister på telefon, SMS og epost, og hvem som har vært i nærheten +av journalister så sant begge bar med seg en telefon. Et annet er at +advokatvernet blir sterkt redusert, der politiet kan finne ut hvem +som har snakket med en advokat når, eller vært i møter en med advokat. +Et tredje er at svært personlig informasjon kan avledes fra hvilke +nettsteder en har besøkt. Har en besøkt hivnorge.no, +swingersnorge.com eller andre sider som kan brukes til avlede +interesser som hører til privatsfæren, vil denne informasjonen være +tilgjengelig takket være datalagringsdirektivet.

+ +

De fleste partiene var mot, kun to partier stemte for. Høyre og +Arbeiderpartiet. Og både Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet i Oslo har +DLD-forkjempere på toppen av sine lister (har ikke sjekket de andre +fylkene). Det er dermed helt uaktuelt for meg å stemme på disse +partiene. Her er oversikten over partienes valglister i Oslo, med +informasjon om hvem som stemte hva i første DLD-votering i Stortinget, +basert på informasjon fra mine venner i +Holder de +Ord samt data.stortinget.no. +Først ut er stortingslista fra Høyre for Oslo:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + -
    +
+ + -
  • Add desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ causing a program -hw-support-handlerd to start when the user log in.
  • + + + -
  • This program listen for kernel events about new hardware (directly -from the kernel like udev does), not using HAL dbus events as I -initially did.
  • + + + -
  • When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware modalias in -the APT database, a database -available -via HTTP and a database available as part of the package.
  • + + + -
  • If a package is mapped to the hardware in question, the package -isn't installed yet and this is the first time the hardware was -plugged in, show a desktop notification suggesting to install the -package or packages.
  • + + + -
  • If the user click on the 'install package now' button, ask -aptdaemon via the PackageKit API to install the requrired package.
  • + + + -
  • aptdaemon ask for root password or sudo password, and install the -package while showing progress information in a window.
  • +
    #Navn, fødselsår og valgkretsStemme/kommentar
    1.Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (1976), Gamle OsloStemte for DLD
    2.Nikolai Astrup (1978), FrognerStemte mot DLD
    3.Michael Tetzschner (1954), Vestre AkerStemte mot DLD
    4.Kristin Vinje (1963), Nordre AkerIkke til stede
    5.Mudassar Hussain Kapur (1976), NordstrandIkke til stede
    6.Stefan Magnus B. Heggelund (1984), GrünerløkkaIkke til stede
    7.Heidi Nordby Lunde (1973), GrünerløkkaIkke til stede
    8.Frode Helgerud (1950), FrognerIkke til stede
    9.Afshan Rafiq (1975), StovnerIkke til stede
    10.Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg (1936), FrognerIkke til stede
    11.Camilla Strandskog (1984) St.HanshaugenIkke til stede
    12.John Christian Elden (1967), UllernIkke til stede
    13.Berit Solli (1972), AlnaIkke til stede
    14.Ola Kvisgaard (1963), FrognerIkke til stede
    15.James Stove Lorentzen (1957), Vestre AkerIkke til stede
    16.Gülsüm Koc (1987), StovnerIkke til stede
    17.Jon Ole Whist (1976), GrünerløkkaIkke til stede
    18.Maren Eline Malthe-Sørenssen (1971), Vestre AkerIkke til stede
    19.Ståle Hagen (1968), Søndre NordstrandIkke til stede
    20.Kjell Omdal Erichsen (1978), SageneIkke til stede
    21.Saida R. Begum (1987), GrünerløkkaIkke til stede
    22.Torkel Brekke (1970), Nordre AkerIkke til stede
    23.Sverre K. Seeberg (1950), Vestre AkerIkke til stede
    24.Julie Margrethe Brodtkorb (1974), UllernIkke til stede
    25.Fabian Stang (1955), FrognerIkke til stede
    - +

    Deretter har vi stortingslista fra Arbeiderpartiet for Oslo:

    + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
    #Navn, fødselsår og valgkretsStemme/kommentar
    1.Jens Stoltenberg (1959), FrognerIkke til stede i Stortinget, leder av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget
    2.Hadia Tajik (1983), GrünerløkkaStemte for DLD
    3.Jonas Gahr Støre (1960), Vestre AkerIkke til stede i Stortinget, medlem av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget
    4.Marianne Marthinsen (1980), GrünerløkkaStemte for DLD
    5.Jan Bøhler (1952), AlnaStemte for DLD
    6.Marit Nybakk (1947), FrognerStemte for DLD
    7.Truls Wickholm (1978), SageneStemte for DLD
    8.Prableen Kaur (1993), GrorudIkke til stede
    9.Vegard Grøslie Wennesland (1983), St.HanshaugenIkke til stede
    10.Inger Helene Vaaten (1975), GrorudIkke til stede
    11.Ivar Leveraas (1939), AlnaIkke til stede
    12.Grete Haugdal (1971), Gamle OsloIkke til stede
    13.Olav Tønsberg (1948), AlnaIkke til stede
    14.Khamshajiny Gunaratnam (1988), GrorudIkke til stede
    15.Fredrik Mellem (1969), SageneIkke til stede
    16.Brit Axelsen (1945), StovnerIkke til stede
    17.Dag Bayegan-Harlem (1977), UllernIkke til stede
    18.Kristin Sandaker (1963), ØsteinsjøIkke til stede
    19.Bashe Musse (1965), GrünerløkkaIkke til stede
    20.Torunn Kanutte Husvik (1983), St. HanshaugenIkke til stede
    21.Steinar Andersen (1947), NordstrandIkke til stede
    22.Anne Cathrine Berger (1972), SageneIkke til stede
    23.Khalid Mahmood (1959), ØstensjøIkke til stede
    24.Munir Jaber (1990), AlnaIkke til stede
    25.Libe Solberg Rieber-Mohn (1965), FrognerIkke til stede
    + +

    Hvilket parti får så min stemme i år. Jeg tror det blir +Piratpartiet. Hvis de kan bidra +til at det kommer noen inn på Stortinget med teknisk peiling, så får +kanskje ikke overvåkningsgalskapen like fritt spillerom som det har +hatt så langt.

    -

    I still need to come up with a better name for the system. Here -are some screen shots showing the prototype in action. First the -notification, then the password request, and finally the request to -approve all the dependencies. Sorry for the Norwegian Bokmål GUI.

    - -

    -
    -
    -
    -

    - -

    The prototype still need to be improved with longer timeouts, but -is already useful. The database of hardware to package mappings also -need more work. It is currently compatible with the Ubuntu way of -storing such information in the package control file, but could be -changed to use other formats instead or in addition to the current -method. I've dropped the use of discover for this mapping, as the -modalias approach is more flexible and easier to use on Linux as long -as the Linux kernel expose its modalias strings directly.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-21 16:50: Due to popular demand, -here is the command required to check out and build the source: Use -'svn checkout -svn://svn.debian.org/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/; cd -hw-support-handler; debuild'. If you lack debuild, install the -devscripts package.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-23 12:00: The project is now -renamed to Isenkram and the source moved from the Debian Edu -subversion repository to a Debian collab-maint git repository. See -build -instructions for details.

    @@ -156,137 +440,138 @@ instructions for details.

    - -
    19th January 2013
    -

    This Christmas my trusty old laptop died. It died quietly and -suddenly in bed. With a quiet whimper, it went completely quiet and -black. The power button was no longer able to turn it on. It was a -IBM Thinkpad X41, and the best laptop I ever had. Better than both -Thinkpads X30, X31, X40, X60, X61 and X61S. Far better than the -Compaq I had before that. Now I need to find a replacement. To keep -going during Christmas, I moved the one year old SSD disk to my old -X40 where it fitted (only one I had left that could use it), but it is -not a durable solution. - -

    My laptop needs are fairly modest. This is my wishlist from when I -got a new one more than 10 years ago. It still holds true.:)

    + +
    22nd August 2013
    +

    The second wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today, slightly delayed because of some bugs in the initial Windows +integration fixes . This is the release announcement:

    + +

    New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b1 released 2013-08-22

    + +

    These are the release notes for Debian Edu / Skolelinux +7.1+edu0~b1, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".

    + +

    About Debian Edu and Skolelinux

    + +

    Debian Edu, also known as +Skolelinux, 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 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 +more +than 60 educational software packages and more are available from +the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE +and Xfce desktop environment.

    + +

    This is the sixth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically this +is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the Squeeze +release.

    + +

    ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the +versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta +release. Both alpha and beta0 based installations should reinstall or +deal with gosa.conf manually; there are two options: (1) Keep +gosa.conf and edit this file as outlined +on +the mailing list. (2) Accept the new version of gosa.conf and +replace both contained admin password placeholders with the password +hashes found in the old one (backup copy!). In both cases every user +need to change their their password to make sure a password is set for +CIFS access to their home directory.

    + +

    Software updates

      -
    • Lightweight (around 1 kg) and small volume (preferably smaller - than A4).
    • -
    • Robust, it will be in my backpack every day.
    • -
    • Three button mouse and a mouse pin instead of touch pad.
    • -
    • Long battery life time. Preferable a week.
    • -
    • Internal WIFI network card.
    • -
    • Internal Twisted Pair network card.
    • -
    • Some USB slots (2-3 is plenty)
    • -
    • Good keyboard - similar to the Thinkpad.
    • -
    • Video resolution at least 1024x768, with size around 12" (A4 paper -size).
    • -
    • Hardware supported by Debian Stable, ie the default kernel and - X.org packages.
    • -
    • Quiet, preferably fan free (or at least not using the fan most of - the time). +
    • Added ssh askpass packages to default installation, to ensure ssh + work also without a attached tty.
    • +
    • Add the command-not-found package to the default installation to + make it easier to figure out where to find missing command line + tools. Please note, that the command 'update-command-not-found' + has to be run as root to actually make it useful (internet access + required).
    -

    You will notice that there are no RAM and CPU requirements in the -list. The reason is simply that the specifications on laptops the -last 10-15 years have been sufficient for my needs, and I have to look -at other features to choose my laptop. But are there still made as -robust laptops as my X41? The Thinkpad X60/X61 proved to be less -robust, and Thinkpads seem to be heading in the wrong direction since -Lenovo took over. But I've been told that X220 and X1 Carbon might -still be useful.

    - -

    Perhaps I should rethink my needs, and look for a pad with an -external keyboard? I'll have to check the -Linux Laptops site for -well-supported laptops, or perhaps just buy one preinstalled from one -of the vendors listed on the Linux -Pre-loaded site.

    -
    -
    - - - Tags: debian, english. - - -
    -
    -
    - -
    - -
    18th January 2013
    -

    Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to -install to get support for a given MIME type. Thanks to -specifications -done by Ubuntu and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian. -Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta -information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser -plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:

    +

    Other changes

    -
    -#!/usr/bin/python
    -import sys
    -import apt
    -def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    -    cache = apt.Cache()
    -    cache.open(None)
    -    thepkgs = []
    -    for pkg in cache:
    -        version = pkg.candidate
    -        if version is None:
    -            version = pkg.installed
    -        if version is None:
    -            continue
    -        record = version.record
    -        if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'):
    -            continue
    -        mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',')
    -        for t in mime_types:
    -            t = t.rstrip().strip()
    -            if t == mimetype:
    -                thepkgs.append(pkg.name)
    -    return thepkgs
    -mimetype = "audio/ogg"
    -if 1 < len(sys.argv):
    -    mimetype = sys.argv[1]
    -print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype
    -for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype):
    -    print "  %s" %pkg
    -
    - -

    It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:

    +
      -
      -% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype 
      -Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg:
      -  gecko-mediaplayer
      -% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash
      -Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash:
      -  browser-plugin-gnash
      -%
      -
      - -

      In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser -itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed -packages. It would be great if Debian supported such feature too. Is -anyone working on adding it?

      - -

      Update 2013-01-18 14:20: The Debian BTS -request for icweasel support for this feature is -#484010 from 2008 (and -#698426 from today). Lack -of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature -is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.

      +
    • Adjusted the USB stick ISO image build to include every tool +needed for desktop=xfce installations.
    • +
    • Adjust thin-client-server task to work when installing from USB +stick ISO image.
    • +
    • Made new grub artwork (changed png from indexed to RGB format).
    • +
    • Minor cleanup in the CUPS setup.
    • +
    • Make sure that bootstrapping of the Samba domain really happens + during installation of the main server and adjust SID handling to + cope with this.
    • +
    • Make Samba passwords changeable (again) via GOsa².
    • +
    • Fix generation of LM and NT password hashes via GOsa² to avoid + empty password hashes.
    • +
    • Adapted Samba machine domain joining to latest change in the + smbldap-tools Perl package, fixing bugs blocking Windows machines + from joining the Samba domain.
    • + +
    + +

    Known issues

    + +
      + +
    • KDE fails to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to + not use the http proxy as it should.
    • +
    • Chromium also fails to use the proxy when using the KDE desktop + (using the KDE configuration).
    • + +
    + +

    Where to get it

    + +

    To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use

    + + + +

    The MD5SUM of this image is: 1e357f80b55e703523f2254adde6d78b +
    The SHA1SUM of this image is: 7157f9be5fd27c7694d713c6ecfed61c3edda3b2

    + +

    To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use

    + + + +

    The MD5SUM of this image is: 7a8408ead59cf7e3cef25afb6e91590b +
    The SHA1SUM of this image is: f1817c031f02790d5edb3bfa0dcf8451088ad119

    + + +

    How to report bugs

    + +

    http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs

    - Tags: debian, english. + Tags: debian edu, english.
    @@ -294,115 +579,29 @@ is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.

    - -
    16th January 2013
    -

    The DEP-11 -proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive, is a -proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to -the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME -type, font, library etc. that is currently missing. With such -mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to -automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is -downloaded by the browser.

    - -

    To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided -to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the -Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there. The result -can be found on the -Skolelinux FTP -site. Using the collected information, it become possible to -answer the question in the title. Here are the 20 most supported MIME -types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid). -The complete list is available from the link above.

    - -

    Debian Stable:

    - -
    -  count MIME type
    -  ----- -----------------------
    -     32 text/plain
    -     30 audio/mpeg
    -     29 image/png
    -     28 image/jpeg
    -     27 application/ogg
    -     26 audio/x-mp3
    -     25 image/tiff
    -     25 image/gif
    -     22 image/bmp
    -     22 audio/x-wav
    -     20 audio/x-flac
    -     19 audio/x-mpegurl
    -     18 video/x-ms-asf
    -     18 audio/x-musepack
    -     18 audio/x-mpeg
    -     18 application/x-ogg
    -     17 video/mpeg
    -     17 audio/x-scpls
    -     17 audio/ogg
    -     16 video/x-ms-wmv
    -
    - -

    Debian Testing:

    - -
    -  count MIME type
    -  ----- -----------------------
    -     33 text/plain
    -     32 image/png
    -     32 image/jpeg
    -     29 audio/mpeg
    -     27 image/gif
    -     26 image/tiff
    -     26 application/ogg
    -     25 audio/x-mp3
    -     22 image/bmp
    -     21 audio/x-wav
    -     19 audio/x-mpegurl
    -     19 audio/x-mpeg
    -     18 video/mpeg
    -     18 audio/x-scpls
    -     18 audio/x-flac
    -     18 application/x-ogg
    -     17 video/x-ms-asf
    -     17 text/html
    -     17 audio/x-musepack
    -     16 image/x-xbitmap
    -
    - -

    Debian Unstable:

    - -
    -  count MIME type
    -  ----- -----------------------
    -     31 text/plain
    -     31 image/png
    -     31 image/jpeg
    -     29 audio/mpeg
    -     28 application/ogg
    -     27 image/gif
    -     26 image/tiff
    -     26 audio/x-mp3
    -     23 audio/x-wav
    -     22 image/bmp
    -     21 audio/x-flac
    -     20 audio/x-mpegurl
    -     19 audio/x-mpeg
    -     18 video/x-ms-asf
    -     18 video/mpeg
    -     18 audio/x-scpls
    -     18 application/x-ogg
    -     17 audio/x-musepack
    -     16 video/x-ms-wmv
    -     16 video/x-msvideo
    -
    - -

    I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of -information mentioned in DEP-11. I have not yet had time to look at -it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these -issues.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-16 13:35: Updated numbers after -discovering a typo in my script.

    + +
    18th August 2013
    +

    Earlier, I reported about +my +problems using an Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB disk. Friday I was +told by IBM that the original disk should be thrown away. And as +there no longer was a problem if I bricked the firmware, I decided +today to try to install Intel firmware to replace the Lenovo firmware +currently on the disk.

    + +

    I searched the Intel site for firmware, and found +issdfut_2.0.4.iso +(aka Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool) which +according to the site should contain the latest firmware for SSD +disks. I inserted the broken disk in one of my spare laptops and +booted the ISO from a USB stick. The disk was recognized, but the +program claimed the newest firmware already were installed and refused +to insert any Intel firmware. So no change, and the disk is still +unable to handle write load. :( I guess the only way to get them +working would be if Lenovo releases new firmware. No idea how likely +that is. Anyway, just blogging about this test for completeness. I +got a working Samsung disk, and see no point in spending more time on +the broken disks.

    @@ -415,119 +614,57 @@ discovering a typo in my script.

    - -
    15th January 2013
    -

    Yesterday, I wrote about the -modalias -values provided by the Linux kernel following my hope for -better -dongle support in Debian. Using this knowledge, I have tested how -modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages -to hardware. This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant -packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace -discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to -packages.

    - -

    I create a modaliases file with entries like the following, -containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise -the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware -modalias.

    - -

    -Package: package-name -
    Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)

    -

    - -

    It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages -for a given modalias value using this file.

    - -

    An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application -cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):

    - -

    -Package: cheese -
    Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)

    -

    - -

    An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a -CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:

    - -

    -Package: pcmciautils -
    Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*) -

    - -

    An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when -plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:

    - -

    -Package: colorhug-client -
    Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)

    -

    - -

    I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages -file in the Debian archive. Ubuntu already uses their Packages file -to store their mappings from packages to hardware.

    - -

    By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can -announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand. -This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the -Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the -hardware mapping are included in the package meta information. I've -tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping -is working as it should with my prototype. It even made it to Ubuntu -Raring.

    - -

    To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only -the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell -implementation of the lookup code. The idea is to create files for -each modalias and let the shell do the matching. Please check out and -try the -hw-support-lookup -shell script. It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the -hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion -repository where I currently work on my prototype.

    - -

    When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to -install yubikey-personalization:

    - -

    -% ./hw-support-lookup -
    yubikey-personalization -
    % -

    - -

    When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it -propose to install the pcmciautils package:

    - -

    -% ./hw-support-lookup -
    pcmciautils -
    % -

    - -

    If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to -my -database, please tell me about it.

    - -

    It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between -packages and hardware. One source would be to look at packages with -kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and -extract their modalias information. Another would be to look at -packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in -/lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to -generate a modalias matching rule. I have not tested any of these to -see if it work.

    - -

    If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what -packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian -machine, please send me an email or talk to me on -#debian-devel.

    + +
    2nd August 2013
    +

    It has been a while since my last update. Since last summer, I +have worked on a Norwegian +docbook version of the 2004 book +Free Culture 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:

    + +

    + +

    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.

    + +

    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 +github.

    + +

    If you are curious what the translated book currently look like, +the updated +PDF +and +EPUB +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.

    @@ -535,260 +672,250 @@ machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
    - -
    14th January 2013
    -

    While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware -information, to find the packages that support a given piece of -hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided -to document the details. Here are my findings so far, also available -in -the -Debian Edu subversion repository: - -

    Modalias decoded

    - -

    This document try to explain what the different types of modalias -values stands for. It is in part based on information from -<URL: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias >, -<URL: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device >, -<URL: http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c > and -<URL: http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup >. - -

    The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using -this shell script:

    + +
    27th July 2013
    +

    The first wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today. This is the release announcement:

    + +

    New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b0 released +2013-07-27

    + +

    These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux +7.1+edu0~b0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".

    + +

    About Debian Edu and Skolelinux

    + +

    Debian Edu, also known as +Skolelinux, 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 +more +than 60 educational software packages and more are available from +the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE +and Xfce desktop environment.

    + +

    This is the fifth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically +this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the +Squeeze release.

    + +

    ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the +versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta +release.

    + +

    Software updates

    -
    -find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u
    -
    +
      -

      The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found -using modinfo:

      +
    • Switched roaming workstation profiles from wicd to network-manager + for network configuration, as wicd didn't work any more.
    • +
    • 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.
    • +
    • Added bluetooth tools to the default desktop (bluedevil, blueman).
    • +
    • Added tools for sharing the desktop on KDE (krdc, krfb).
    • +
    • Added valgrind to the default installation for easier debugging of + crash bugs.
    • -
      -% /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
      -alias:          serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
      -alias:          serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
      -%
      -
      +
    -

    PCI subtype

    +

    Other changes

    -

    A typical PCI entry can look like this. This is an Intel Host -Bridge memory controller:

    +
      -

      -pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00 -

      +
    • Fixed artwork package to work with gnome, no longer break + desktop=gnome installations.
    • +
    • Adjusted installer to now work when forced to use a proxy with the + netinst CD.
    • +
    • Fixed code detecting and setting/loading hardware specific + setup/firmware to work more robust out of the box.
    • +
    • 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.
    • +
    • 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.
    • +
    • 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.
    • +
    • Changed default host name on all networked machines to be unique + (generated from MAC or reverse DNS) after boot.
    • +
    • Adjusted partition sizes to make sure they are big enough.
    • -

      This represent these values:

      +
    -
    - v   00008086  (vendor)
    - d   00002770  (device)
    - sv  00001028  (subvendor)
    - sd  000001AD  (subdevice)
    - bc  06        (bus class)
    - sc  00        (bus subclass)
    - i   00        (interface)
    -
    +

    Known issues

    -

    The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci --n' as 8086:2770. The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as -0600. The 0600 class is a host bridge. Other useful bus values are -0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).

    +
      -

      Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it -means.

      +
    • Grub is missing the new artwork.
    • +
    • KDE fail to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to + not use the http proxy as it should.
    • +
    • Chromium also fail to use the proxy.
    • -

      USB subtype

      +
    -

    Some typical USB entries can look like this. This is an internal -USB hub in a laptop:

    +

    Where to get it

    -

    -usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00 -

    +

    To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use

    -

    Here is the values included in this alias:

    +
      -
      - v    1D6B  (device vendor)
      - p    0001  (device product)
      - d    0206  (bcddevice)
      - dc     09  (device class)
      - dsc    00  (device subclass)
      - dp     00  (device protocol)
      - ic     09  (interface class)
      - isc    00  (interface subclass)
      - ip     00  (interface protocol)
      -
      +
    • ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso
    • -

      The 0900 device class/subclass means hub. Some times the relevant -class is in the interface class section. For a simple USB web camera, -these alias entries show up:

      +
    • http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso
    • -

      -usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00 -
      usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00 -
      usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00 -
      usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00 -

      +
    • rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso .
    • -

      Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka -camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka -microphone). Thus this is a camera with microphone included.

      +
    -

    ACPI subtype

    +

    The MD5SUM of this image is: 55d5de9765b6dccd5d9ec33cf1a07109 +
    The SHA1SUM of this image is: 996a1d9517740e4d627d100de2d12b23dd545a3f

    -

    The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff. This is an IR -receiver in a Thinkpad X40:

    +

    To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use

    -

    -acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511: -

    + -

    The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case -and model. This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from -/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:

    +

    The MD5SUM of this image is: d8f0818c51a78d357de794066f289f69 +
    The SHA1SUM of this image is: 49185ca354e8d0543240423746924f76a6cee733

    -

    -dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable: -

    -

    The values present are

    +

    How to report bugs

    -
    - bvn  IBM            (BIOS vendor)
    - bvr  1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
    - bd   06/15/2005     (BIOS date)
    - svn  IBM            (system vendor)
    - pn   2371H4G        (product name)
    - pvr  ThinkPadX40    (product version)
    - rvn  IBM            (board vendor)
    - rn   2371H4G        (board name)
    - rvr  NotAvailable   (board version)
    - cvn  IBM            (chassis vendor)
    - ct   10             (chassis type)
    - cvr  NotAvailable   (chassis version)
    -
    - -

    The chassis type 10 is Notebook. Other interesting values can be -found in the dmidecode source:

    +

    http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs +

    +
    + + + Tags: debian edu, english. + + +
    +
    +
    + +
    + +
    17th July 2013
    +

    Today I switched to +my +new laptop. I've previously written about the problems I had with +my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an +180 +GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware 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.

    + +

    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 ssd-setup to handle this tuning. The +source +for the ssd-setup package 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.

    + +

    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:

    -
    -  3 Desktop
    -  4 Low Profile Desktop
    -  5 Pizza Box
    -  6 Mini Tower
    -  7 Tower
    -  8 Portable
    -  9 Laptop
    - 10 Notebook
    - 11 Hand Held
    - 12 Docking Station
    - 13 All In One
    - 14 Sub Notebook
    - 15 Space-saving
    - 16 Lunch Box
    - 17 Main Server Chassis
    - 18 Expansion Chassis
    - 19 Sub Chassis
    - 20 Bus Expansion Chassis
    - 21 Peripheral Chassis
    - 22 RAID Chassis
    - 23 Rack Mount Chassis
    - 24 Sealed-case PC
    - 25 Multi-system
    - 26 CompactPCI
    - 27 AdvancedTCA
    - 28 Blade
    - 29 Blade Enclosing
    -
    - -

    The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI -table. For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias -claim it is a desktop.

    - -

    SerIO subtype

    - -

    This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs. One example is from my -test machine:

    - -

    -serio:ty01pr00id00ex00 -

    - -

    The values present are

    +
      -
      -  ty  01  (type)
      -  pr  00  (prototype)
      -  id  00  (id)
      -  ex  00  (extra)
      -
      +
    • Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk + (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)
    • -

      This type is supported by the psmouse driver. I am not sure what -the valid values are.

      +
    • 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.
    • -

      Other subtypes

      +
    • Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file + systems.
    • -

      There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to -file2alias.c. There is the rest of the list from that source: amba, -ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp, -mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio, -vmbus, x86cpu and zorro. I did not spend time documenting all of -these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping -hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.

      +
    • Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to + /etc/fstab.
    • -

      Looking up kernel modules using modalias values

      +
    • Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.
    • -

      To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias, -one can use the following shell script:

      +
    • Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from + cron.daily).
    • -
      -  for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \
      -    echo "$id" ; \
      -    /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/  /' ; \
      -  done
      -
      +
    • Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure + to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.
    • -

      The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the -list is very long on my test machine):

      +
    -
    -  acpi:ACPI0003:
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko 
    -  acpi:device:
    -  FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
    -  acpi:IBM0068:
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko 
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko 
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko 
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko 
    -  acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko 
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko 
    -    insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko 
    -  [...]
    -
    - -

    If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what -packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian -machine, please send me an email or talk to me on -#debian-devel.

    - -

    Update 2013-01-15: Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to -"find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories -in /sys/ with space in them.

    +

    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 +XKCD #538 for an explanation why). +Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the +right thing to do.

    + +

    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.

    + +

    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.

    + +

    My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as +this is already done by Debian Edu.

    + +

    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.

    + +

    The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it +there.

    + +

    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.

    - Tags: debian, english, isenkram. + Tags: debian, english.
    @@ -796,31 +923,54 @@ in /sys/ with space in them.

    - -
    10th January 2013
    -

    As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian -for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket -Launcher and updated the Debian package -pymissile to make -sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in. I -also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and -hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user -plug in his rocket launcher. In the process I moved the source to a -git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to -contribute. Upstream -is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five -years of relative silence. The new git repository is not listed in -the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a -bit more before I upload the new version. If you want to check out -the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the -gitweb -view or use "git clone -git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git".

    + +
    10th July 2013
    +

    A few days ago, I wrote about +the +problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk, which +was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with +sustained write. My supplier is in contact with +Lenovo, 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.

    + +

    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 +Debian Edu / Skolelinux ISO or +other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with +the next proposal from Lenovo.

    + +

    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.

    + +

    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.

    + +

    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).

    - Tags: debian, english, robot. + Tags: debian, english.
    @@ -828,98 +978,26 @@ git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git".

    - -
    9th January 2013
    -

    One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in -general, is that there is a great package management system with the -ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them -from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically -install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my -machine. Even if the package to use it is easily available from the -Linux distribution. When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could -suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages -I need to talk to it. When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the -yubikey-personalization package. The information required to do this -is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.

    - -

    Some years ago, I proposed to -use -the discover subsystem to implement this. The idea is fairly -simple: - -

      - -
    • Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program - starting when a user log in.
    • - -
    • Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new - hardware is inserted into the computer.
    • - -
    • When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a - database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed - packages.
    • - -
    • Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered - package, and make it easy to install it.
    • - -
    - -

    I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my -initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the -discover database to find packages and -PackageKit to install -packages.

    - -

    Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the -draft package is now checked into -the -Debian Edu subversion repository. In the process, I updated the -discover-data -package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to -the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version -2.2013.01.09 to unstable. I also discovered that the current -discover -package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because -/proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present. I ported it to use -libusb as a fall back option to get it working. The fixed package -version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable -because of the freeze).

    - -

    With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this -desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is -inserted):

    - -

    - -

    For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically -install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install -program(s)" button should to be implemented.

    - -

    If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it -happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings -from hardware to Debian packages. Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l' -list the package you would like to have installed when a given -hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using -reportbug if it isn't. Or, if you know of a better way to provide -such mapping, please let me know.

    - -

    This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that -should be considered before it is ready for production use. Is dbus -the correct way to detect new hardware? At the moment I look for HAL -dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see -on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop. Are there better events to use? -How should the user be notified? Is the desktop notification -mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a -popup instead? How should packages be installed? When should they -not be installed?

    - -

    If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian, -please send me an email. :)

    + +
    9th July 2013
    +

    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 the +member assosiation NUUG and +the Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project together with the hack space +Bitraf.

    + +

    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 the event +wiki page if you plan to join us.

    @@ -927,27 +1005,79 @@ please send me an email. :)

    - -
    2nd January 2013
    -

    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 -Debian support for LEGO designers. For example both CAD software -and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)

    - -

    Update 2012-01-03: A -project page -including links to Lego related packages is now available.

    + +
    5th July 2013
    +

    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, 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 +Thinkpad X230 +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.

    + +

    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 Prisjakt, 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.

    + +

    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. :)

    + +

    Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick +visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.

    + +

    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 BTS +report #691427 2012-10-25 (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 +Kernel bugzilla +report #51861 2012-12-20 (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load +(SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the +Lenovo forums, both for +T430 +2012-11-10 and for +X230 +03-20-2013. 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 +small C program +available that will lock up the hard drive after running a few +minutes by writing to a file.

    + +

    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. :)

    - Tags: debian, english, robot. + Tags: debian, english.
    @@ -967,6 +1097,22 @@ including links to Lego related packages is now available.

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