X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/212faa34bf604fac8f0b85563ff1a2ff6b0fe086..2ee9b1f78f35dc0ff7232f2cf7c0671c32f815c5:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 9b4ce80295..6a4eab292e 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,32 +20,125 @@
-
I spent last weekend recording MakerCon Nordic
-
23rd October 2014
-

I spent last weekend at Makercon -Nordic, a great conference and workshop for makers in Norway and -the surrounding countries. I had volunteered on behalf of the -Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG) to video record the talks, and we -had a great and exhausting time recording the entire day, two days in -a row. There were only two of us, Hans-Petter and me, and we used the -regular video equipment for NUUG, with a -dvswitch, a -camera and a VGA to DV convert box, and mixed video and slides -live.

- -

Hans-Petter did the post-processing, consisting of uploading the -around 180 GiB of raw video to Youtube, and the result is -now becoming -public on the MakerConNordic account. The videos have the license -NUUG always use on our recordings, which is -Creative -Commons Navngivelse-Del på samme vilkår 3.0 Norge. Many great -talks available. Check it out! :)

+
Hvem fører Medietilsynet tilsyn med?
+
28th June 2015
+

I en global verden med eierskap på tvers, trengs det informasjon om +hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for å få tilgang +til slik informasjon for alle som ønsker å analysere eierskap, holder +med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det må globale +samledatabaser med åpne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en +internasjonal bevegelse for å gjøre selskapsinformasjon for alle land +offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter +OpenCorporates, der +informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en "del på samme +vilkår"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap, +konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge, +da bruksvilkårene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad +blokkerer OpenCorporates fra å samle den inn.

+ +

Men jeg er jo involvert i +Frikanalen, som har +TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne være fint om informasjon om alle +mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, så jeg sendte +avgårde følgende spørsmål til Medietilsynet 2015-06-22:

+ +
+

Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fører +tilsyn med som åpne data? Jeg lette etter den på +<URL:http://data.norge.no/> og +<URL:http://hotell.difi.no/> uten å +finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under +<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/>.

+ +

Jeg tenker på alle som har fått kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som +er omtalt under +<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/>.

+ +

Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert +organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til +organisasjonene. Tanken er å importere det i +<URL:https://opencorporates.com/> for analyse, så det bør ikke ha +bruksbegresninger som gjør dette umulig.

+
+ +

To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde +tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var +informativt og imøtekommende.

+ +
+

Vi viser til din e-post av 22. juni, der du ber om å få tilsendt oversikter +over aktører Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med.

+ +

Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle +bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med +eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter +medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at +beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra 1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye +aktører. Nærmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes på Medietilsynets +nettsted, her: +http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/ +. Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktørene, men vi sender +deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra våre databaser. Vi +har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder +organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du ønsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at +du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger +du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.

+ +

Vedlagt følger: + +

    + +
  • Konsesjoner - lokalradio FM pr. 31.12.2014 [PDF (original)]
    • + +
  • Konsesjoner - lokalfjernsyn i det digitale bakkenettet for fjernsyn, pr. mars 2015 [DOCX (original), +PDF]
    • + +
  • Konsesjoner - DAB-radio, status mars 2015 [XPS (original), +PDF]
    • + +
  • Registreringspliktige kringkastere - status mars 2015: [XPS (original), PDF] + +
      +
    • Kabelsendt fjernsyn +
    • Satellittsendt fjernsyn +
    • Nett-tv +
    • Kabelsendt radio +
    • Satellittsendt radio +
    • Nett-radio +
    • +
+ +

Vi må ta forbehold om at det kan være enkelte feil i oversiktene +siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye +oppdateringer i august.

+ +

Med hilsen

+ +

Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten +
Seniorrådgiver | Senior Legal Adviser +
Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority +
A: Nygata 4, NO-1607 Fredrikstad +
T: [telefonnummer fjernet] +
E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no +

+
+ +

Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og +mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem +Medietilsynet fører tilsyn med. Filene er på formatene PDF, XPS +(XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, så det vil +være en stor jobb å strukturere informasjonen på en måte som kan +importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i tråd med +Forskrift +om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning som sier epostvedlegg +skal sendes som PDF, så jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og +DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for å gjøre det enklere for alle å se +innholdet.

- Tags: english, nuug, video. + Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -53,91 +146,79 @@ talks available. Check it out! :)

-
listadmin, the quick way to moderate mailman lists - nice free software
-
22nd October 2014
-

If you ever had to moderate a mailman list, like the ones on -alioth.debian.org, you know the web interface is fairly slow to -operate. First you visit one web page, enter the moderation password -and get a new page shown with a list of all the messages to moderate -and various options for each email address. This take a while for -every list you moderate, and you need to do it regularly to do a good -job as a list moderator. But there is a quick alternative, -the -listadmin program. It allow you to check lists for new messages -to moderate in a fraction of a second. Here is a test run on two -lists I recently took over:

- -

-% time listadmin xiph
-fetching data for pkg-xiph-commits@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
-fetching data for pkg-xiph-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org ... nothing in queue
-
-real    0m1.709s
-user    0m0.232s
-sys     0m0.012s
+      
Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure

+      
15th June 2015

+      
It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies
+in Norway.  The information is publicly available, but one need to
+recursively look up ownership for all owners to figure out the complete
+ownership graph of a given set of companies.  To save me the work in
+the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the
+ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format.  The data source
+is web scraping from Proff, because
+I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of
+the ownership data, Brønnøysundsregistrene.

+
+
To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, fetch
+the code from git and run it using the organisation number.  I'm
+using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its
+ownership structure is very simple:

+
+
+% time ./bin/eierskap-dotty 958033540 > dagbladet.dot
+
+real    0m2.841s
+user    0m0.184s
+sys     0m0.036s
 %
-

- -

In 1.7 seconds I had checked two mailing lists and confirmed that -there are no message in the moderation queue. Every morning I -currently moderate 68 mailman lists, and it normally take around two -minutes. When I took over the two pkg-xiph lists above a few days -ago, there were 400 emails waiting in the moderator queue. It took me -less than 15 minutes to process them all using the listadmin -program.

- -

If you install -the listadmin -package from Debian and create a file ~/.listadmin.ini -with content like this, the moderation task is a breeze:

- -

-username@example.org
-spamlevel 23
-default discard
-discard_if_reason "Posting restricted to members only. Remove us from your mail list."
-
-password secret
-adminurl https://{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}
-mailman-list@lists.example.com
-
-password hidden
-other-list@otherserver.example.org
-

- -

There are other options to set as well. Check the manual page to -learn the details.

- -

If you are forced to moderate lists on a mailman installation where -the SSL certificate is self signed or not properly signed by a -generally accepted signing authority, you can set a environment -variable when calling listadmin to disable SSL verification:

- -

-PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME=0 listadmin
-

- -

If you want to moderate a subset of the lists you take care of, you -can provide an argument to the listadmin script like I do in the -initial screen dump (the xiph argument). Using an argument, only -lists matching the argument string will be processed. This make it -quick to accept messages if you notice the moderation request in your -email.

- -

Without the listadmin program, I would never be the moderator of 68 -mailing lists, as I simply do not have time to spend on that if the -process was any slower. The listadmin program have saved me hours of -time I could spend elsewhere over the years. It truly is nice free -software.

- -

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

+ + +

The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line, +allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The +resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges +are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the +organisation number as their name and the name as the label:

+ +
+digraph ownership {
+rankdir = LR;
+"Aller Holding A/s" -> "910119877" [label="100%"]
+"910119877" -> "998689015" [label="100%"]
+"998689015" -> "958033540" [label="99%"]
+"974530600" -> "958033540" [label="1%"]
+"958033540" [label="AS DAGBLADET"]
+"998689015" [label="Berner Media Holding AS"]
+"974530600" [label="Dagbladets Stiftelse"]
+"910119877" [label="Aller Media AS"]
+}
+
+ +

To view the ownership graph, run "dotty dagbladet.dot" or +convert it to a PNG using "dot -T png dagbladet.dot > +dagbladet.png". The result can be seen below:

+ + + +

Note that I suspect the "Aller Holding A/S" entry to be incorrect +data in the official ownership register, as that name is not +registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership +register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking +of the ownership links.

+ +

Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources. +The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.

+ +

Update 2015-06-15: Since the initial post I've been told that +"Aller +Holding A/S" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not +have a Norwegian organisation number. I've also been told that there +is a web +services API available from Brønnøysundsregistrene, for those +willing to accept the terms or pay the price.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -145,114 +226,59 @@ activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address
-
Debian Jessie, PXE and automatic firmware installation
-
17th October 2014
-

When PXE installing laptops with Debian, I often run into the -problem that the WiFi card require some firmware to work properly. -And it has been a pain to fix this using preseeding in Debian. -Normally something more is needed. But thanks to -my isenkram -package and its recent tasksel extension, it has now become easy -to do this using simple preseeding.

- -

The isenkram-cli package provide tasksel tasks which will install -firmware for the hardware found in the machine (actually, requested by -the kernel modules for the hardware). (It can also install user space -programs supporting the hardware detected, but that is not the focus -of this story.)

- -

To get this working in the default installation, two preeseding -values are needed. First, the isenkram-cli package must be installed -into the target chroot (aka the hard drive) before tasksel is executed -in the pkgsel step of the debian-installer system. This is done by -preseeding the base-installer/includes debconf value to include the -isenkram-cli package. The package name is next passed to debootstrap -for installation. With the isenkram-cli package in place, tasksel -will automatically use the isenkram tasks to detect hardware specific -packages for the machine being installed and install them, because -isenkram-cli contain tasksel tasks.

- -

Second, one need to enable the non-free APT repository, because -most firmware unfortunately is non-free. This is done by preseeding -the apt-mirror-setup step. This is unfortunate, but for a lot of -hardware it is the only option in Debian.

- -

The end result is two lines needed in your preseeding file to get -firmware installed automatically by the installer:

- -

-base-installer base-installer/includes string isenkram-cli
-apt-mirror-setup apt-setup/non-free boolean true
-

- -

The current version of isenkram-cli in testing/jessie will install -both firmware and user space packages when using this method. It also -do not work well, so use version 0.15 or later. Installing both -firmware and user space packages might give you a bit more than you -want, so I decided to split the tasksel task in two, one for firmware -and one for user space programs. The firmware task is enabled by -default, while the one for user space programs is not. This split is -implemented in the package currently in unstable.

- -

If you decide to give this a go, please let me know (via email) how -this recipe work for you. :)

- -

So, I bet you are wondering, how can this work. First and -foremost, it work because tasksel is modular, and driven by whatever -files it find in /usr/lib/tasksel/ and /usr/share/tasksel/. So the -isenkram-cli package place two files for tasksel to find. First there -is the task description file (/usr/share/tasksel/descs/isenkram.desc):

- -

-Task: isenkram-packages
-Section: hardware
-Description: Hardware specific packages (autodetected by isenkram)
- Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific packages are
- proposed.
-Test-new-install: show show
-Relevance: 8
-Packages: for-current-hardware
-
-Task: isenkram-firmware
-Section: hardware
-Description: Hardware specific firmware packages (autodetected by isenkram)
- Based on the detected hardware various hardware specific firmware
- packages are proposed.
-Test-new-install: mark show
-Relevance: 8
-Packages: for-current-hardware-firmware
-

- -

The key parts are Test-new-install which indicate how the task -should be handled and the Packages line referencing to a script in -/usr/lib/tasksel/packages/. The scripts use other scripts to get a -list of packages to install. The for-current-hardware-firmware script -look like this to list relevant firmware for the machine: - -

-#!/bin/sh
-#
-PATH=/usr/sbin:$PATH
-export PATH
-isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -l
-

- -

With those two pieces in place, the firmware is installed by -tasksel during the normal d-i run. :)

- -

If you want to test what tasksel will install when isenkram-cli is -installed, run DEBIAN_PRIORITY=critical tasksel --test ---new-install to get the list of packages that tasksel would -install.

- -

Debian Edu will be -pilots in testing this feature, as isenkram is used there now to -install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.

+
Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain
+
11th June 2015
+

Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers +everywhere. Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and +ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and +the viewers do not like this. This fact is well known to the TV +channels. See for example the BBC white paper +"Terminology +for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that" from 2011 for a +summary of the problem domain. To better address the need for even +loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a +new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in +standardizing loudness. From this came the ITU-R standard BS.1770, +"Algorithms to +measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level".

+ +

The ITU-R BS.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure +loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But +having a way to measure is not enough. To get the same loudness +across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize +on. For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton +R128, "Loudness +normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals", which +specifies a recommended level of -23 LUFS. In Norway, I have been +told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to +follow the R128 recommondation for playout from 2016-03-01.

+ +

There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness +level using the LUFS. In Debian, I am aware of a library named +libebur128 +able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary +named bs1770gain +capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting +for NEW processing. I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the +Debian +multimedia umbrella.

+ +

The free software based TV channel I am involved in, +Frikanalen, plan to follow the +R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to +do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of +the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen. +Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos +I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of the +NUUG member organisation. The program seem to be able to measure +the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I've only +successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files. I suspect it +should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.

- Tags: debian, english, isenkram, sysadmin. + Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video.
@@ -260,23 +286,332 @@ install firmware, replacing the earlier scripts.

-
Ubuntu used to show the bread prizes at ICA Storo
-
4th October 2014
-

Today I came across an unexpected Ubuntu boot screen. Above the -bread shelf on the ICA shop at Storo in Oslo, the grub menu of Ubuntu -with Linux kernel 3.2.0-23 (ie probably version 12.04 LTS) was stuck -on a screen normally showing the bread types and prizes:

- -

- -

If it had booted as it was supposed to, I would never had known -about this hidden Linux installation. It is interesting what -errors can reveal.

+
Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale med MPEG LA?
+
10th June 2015
+

Helt siden jeg i 2012 fikk beskjed fra MPEG LA om at +NRK +trengte patentavtale med dem hvis de distribuerte H.264-video til +sluttbrukere, har jeg lurt på hva som gjør at NRK ikke har slik +avtale. For noen dager siden fikk jeg endelig gjort noe med min +undring, og sendte 2015-05-28 følgende epost til info (at) nrk.no med +tittel "Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale +med MPEG LA?":

+ +

+

Jeg lurer på en ting rundt NRKs bruk av H.264-video på sine +websider samt distribusjon via RiksTV og kabel-TV. Har NRK vurdert om +det er behov for en patentavtale med +MPEG LA slik det står i +programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe +Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X?

+ +

Hvis dere har vurdert dette, hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering?

+ +

Hvis dere ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om å vurdere behovet +for patentavtale?

+ +

I følge en artikkel på +NRK +Beta i 2012 har NRK brukt eller testet både Apple Final Cut +Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X til bruk +for å redigere video før sending. Alle disse har bruksvilkår +understøttet av opphavsretten som sier at de kun kan brukes til å lage +filmer til personlig og ikke-kommersiell bruk - med mindre en har en +lisensavtale med MPEG LA om bruk av patenter utstedt i USA for H.264. +Se f.eks. bruksvilkårene for Avid, Adobe Premiere og Apple Final +Cut Studio og søk etter "MPEG LA".

+ +

Dette får meg til å lure på om det er brudd på opphavsretten å bruke +disse verktøyene i strid med bruksvilkårene uten patentavtale med MPEG +LA. Men NRK bruker jo tilsynelatende disse verktøyene uten patentavtale +med MPEG LA.

+ +

I følge forfatteren av Open Broadcast Encoder finnes det to typer +H.264-relaterte avtaler en kan få med MPEG LA. Det er én for å lage +programvare og utstyr som produserer H.264-video, og en annen for å +kringkaste video som bruker H.264. Dette forteller meg at selv om +produsentene av utstyr og programvare som NRK bruker har en slik avtale +med MPEG LA, så trenges det en egen avtale for å kringkaste video på det +formatet.

+ +

I følge Ryan Rodriguez hos MPEG LA, da jeg spurte ham på epost i +juni 2012, har NRK ikke en slik avtale med MPEG LA. Han sa videre at +NRK trenger en slik avtale hvis NRK tilbyr H.264-kodet video til +sluttbrukere. Jeg sjekket listen med +organisasjoner +med avtale med MPEG LA og NRK står fortsatt ikke der.

+ +

Jeg lurer dermed på hva som gjør at NRK kan bruke de overnevnte +videoredigeringsverktøyene, som tilsynelatende har krav om avtale med +MPEG LA for å kunne brukes slik NRK bruker dem, til å lage videofiler +for distribusjon uten å ha en avtale med MPEG LA om distribusjon av +H.264-video? Dette er spesielt interessant å vite for oss andre som +også vurderer å spre H.264-video etter å ha redigert dem med disse mye +brukte videoredigeringsverktøyene.

+

+ +

Samme dag fikk jeg automatisk svar om at min henvendelse hadde fått +saksid 1294699. Jeg fikk deretter følgende respons fra NRK +2015-06-09:

+ +

+

Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som kunne +svare på dette.

+ +

For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks +NRKs nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike +tjenester uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd +noen patentavtale.

+ +

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

+ +

Med vennlig hilsen +
Gunn Helen Berg +
Informasjonskonsulent, Publikumsservice

+ +

NRK +
Strategidivisjonen +
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 +
Post: NRK Publikumsservice, 8608 Mo i Rana +
nrk.no / info (at) nrk.no

+

+ +Da dette ikke helt var svar på det jeg lurte på, sendte jeg samme dag +oppfølgerepost tilbake: + +

+

[Gunn Helen Berg] +
> Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som +
> kunne svare på dette.

+ +

Takk for svar. Men det besvarte ikke helt det jeg spurte om.

+ +

> For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks NRKs +
> nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike tjenester +
> uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd noen +
> patentavtale. +
> +
> http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

+ +

Spørsmålet er ikke kun om MPEG LA krever patentavtale eller ikke +(hvilket ikke helt besvares av pressemeldingen omtalt over, gitt at +pressemeldingen kom i 2010, to år før MPEG LA ansvarlige for +internasjonal lisensiering egen Ryan Rodriguez fortalte meg på epost +at NRK trenger en lisens.

+ +

Det er uklart fra pressemeldingen hva "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video" konkret betyr, men i følge en +presentasjon +fra MPEG LA med tema "AVC PAtent Portfoli License Briefing" datert +2015-05-15 gjelder "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" kun kringkasting +på Internet som ikke tilbyr valg av enkeltinnslag ("not +title-by-title"), hvilket jo NRK gjør på sine nettsider. I tillegg +kringkaster jo NRK H.264-video også utenom Internet (RiksTV, kabel, +satelitt), hvilket helt klart ikke er dekket av vilkårene omtalt i +pressemeldingen.

+ +

Spørsmålet mitt er hvordan NRK kan bruke verktøy med bruksvilkår +som krever avtale med MPEG LA for det NRK bruker dem til, når NRK ikke +har avtale med MPEG LA. Hvis jeg forsto spørsmålet riktig, så mener +NRK at dere ikke trenger avtale med MPEG LA, men uten slik avtale kan +dere vel ikke bruke hverken Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere +Pro, Avid eller Apples Final Cut Pro X for å redigere video før +sending?

+ +

Mine konkrete spørsmål var altså:

+ +
    + +
  • Hvis NRK har vurdert om det er behov for en patentavtale med MPEG LA + slik det er krav om i programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple + Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X, + hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering? Kan jeg fÃ¥ kopi av vurderingen + hvis den er gjort skriftlig?
    • + +
  • Hvis NRK ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om Ã¥ vurdere behovet + for patentavtale?
    • + +
  • Hva slags saksnummer fikk min henvendelse i NRKs offentlige + postjournal? Jeg ser at postjournalen ikke er publisert for den + aktuelle perioden ennÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg fikk ikke sjekket selv.
    • + +
+

+ +

Det hjelper å ha funnet rette vedkommende i NRK, for denne gangen +fikk jeg svar tilbake dagen etter (2015-06-10), fra Geir Børdalen i +NRK:

+ +

+

Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

+ +

Jeg har sjekket saken med distribusjonssjef for tv, Arild Hellgren +(som var teknologidirektør da bakkenettet ble satt opp). NRK v/ +Hellgren hadde møte med MPEG LA sammen med den europeiske +kringkastingsunionen EBU før bakkenettet for TV ble satt opp +(igangsatt høsten 2007). I dette møtet ble det avklart at NRK/EBU ikke +trengte noen patentavtale for h.264 i forbindelse med oppsett av +bakkenettet eller bruk av MPEG4 h.264 som kompresjonsalgoritme fordi +tjenesten «in full»(nor: helt) var betalt av utsendelseselskapene og +ikke av forbrukerne.

+ +

http://www.nrk.no/oppdrag/digitalt-bakkenett-1.3214555

+ +

Det er også klart slått fast at selskaper som leverer video basert +på MPEG4 h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett, heller ikke påkrevd noen +patentavtale – så lenge de leverer slike tjenester uten betaling fra +sluttbrukere.

+ +http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y + +

“MPEG LA announced today that its AVC Patent Portfolio License will +continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to +end users (known as “Internet Broadcast AVC Video”) during the entire +life of this License. MPEG LA previously announced it would not charge +royalties for such video through December 31, 2015 (see +http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf), +and today’s announcement makes clear that royalties will continue not +to be charged for such video beyond that time. Products and services +other than Internet Broadcast AVC Video continue to be +royalty-bearing.”

+ +

Vi har derfor ikke noe behov for å vurdere noen patentavtale med +MPEG LA.

+ +

Understreker for øvrig at NRK ikke er låst til MPEG4 – h.264 som +utsendelsesformat – og at vi har brukt og bruker flere andre +alternativer i våre tjenester. Ulike «devicer» har ofte behov for +forskjellige løsninger – og NRK har forsøkt å levere med best mulig +kvalitet /økonomi /stabilitet avhengig av +plattform. Produksjonsformater i NRK spenner for øvrig over en rekke +forskjellige formater – hvor MPEG4 bare er en av disse. Når NRK kjøper +teknisk utstyr er betaling for kodekstøtte ofte en del av +anskaffelsesprisen for denne maskinvaren (enten dette er spesialiserte +enkodere eller forskjellige typer produksjonsutstyr).

+ +

Vennlig hilsen +
Geir Børdalen

+ +

________________________________________ +
Geir Børdalen +
Investeringsansvarlig NRK / Hovedprosjektleder - Origo +
Avdeling for utvikling, innovasjon, investering og eiendom +
NRK medietjenester +
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 +
Post: NRK, AUTV (RBM5), Pb. 8500 Majorstuen, 0340 Oslo +
nrk.no +

+ +

Et godt og grundig svar, som var informativt om hvordan NRK tenker +rundt patentavtale med MPEG LA, men heller ikke helt besvarte det jeg +lurte på, så jeg sendte epostoppfølging samme dag.

+ +

+

[Geir Børdalen] +
> Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

+ +

Hei, og takk for raskt svar. Er min henvendelse journalført slik +at den dukker opp i NRKs postjournal?

+ +

Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du skriver +at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via bakkenettet +gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge. Hvilke saksnummer fikk dokumenter +som ble opprettet i forbindelse med det omtalte møtet NRK v/Hellgren +og EBU hadde med MPEG LA (dvs. referater, avtaler, etc), +f.eks. dokumentet der formuleringen "in full" som du omtaler +finnes?

+ +

Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. Det ene er +hvorfor NRKs forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" dekker +ser ut til å avvike fra det som presenteres i +lysark +fra MPEG LA i mai, der MPEG LA på lysark med overskriften +"AVC/H.264 License Terms Participation Fees" og undertittel "Where +remuneration is from other sources" skriver "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) – no royalty for life of +the AVC Patent Portfolio License".

+ +

Her leser jeg MPEG LA dithen at det kun er kringkasting uten +abonnement via Internet som er dekket at vilkårne omtalt i +pressemeldingen, mens jeg forstår deg dithen at NRK mener NRKs +nettsider som også har enkeltfilmer og innslag (som jeg forstår dekket +av formuleringen "title-by-title") dekkes av "Internet Broadcast AVC +Video" fra MPEG LA. Hva baserer dere denne tolkningen på? Jeg har +ikke sett noe skriftlig fra MPEG LA som støtter NRKs tolkning, og +lurer på om dere har andre kilder enn den pressemeldingen fra 5 år +tilbake, der NRKS forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" +dekker er beskrevet?

+ +

Det andre er at eposten din ikke nevnte spørsmålet mitt om +bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene som NRK bruker. Disse +har som tidligere nevnt krav om at de kun skal brukes til private og +ikke-kommersielle formål med mindre en har avtale med MPEG LA, og uten +avtale med MPEG LA kan det jo virke som om NRK bruker verktøyene i +strid med bruksvilkårene. Hva gjør at disse bruksvilkårene ikke +gjelder for NRK?

+

+ +

Noen minutter senere får jeg foreløpig siste svar i +føljetongen:

+ +

+

Hei igjen

+ +

Vårt dokumentarkiv har fått en kopi (journalføringsnr kan jeg +dessverre ikke gi deg).

+ +

> Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du +
> skriver at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via +
> bakkenettet gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge.

+ +

Svar: Kan ikke svare for andre enn for NRK/EBU - og for bakkenettet +i Norge er det kun NRK som er et lisensbasert selskap. Kan ikke gi noe +svar på saksnr på dokumenter eller ytterligere informasjon da jeg selv +ikke var del i dette.

+ +

> Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. ...

+ +

Svar: Kan ikke gå ytterligere inn i dette fra min side og mitt +fagfelt som er produksjon/publisering og systemstrukturene bak +disse. For øvrig ligger det etter vår formening ingen begrensninger +for NRK i mulighetene til publisering mht til kodek i +produksjonssystemer. Som tidligere skrevet mener vi at NRK ikke +trenger noen avtale med MPEG LA og støtter oss til det vi allerede har +kommunisert i forrige epost.

+ +

Mvh +
Geir Børdalen

+

+ +

Det syntes vanskelig å komme videre når NRK ikke ønsker å gå inn i +problemstillingen rundt bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene +NRK bruker, så jeg sendte takk for svarene og avsluttet utvekslingen +så langt:

+ +

+

Tusen takk for rask respons, og oppklarende forklaring om hvordan +NRK tenker rundt MPEG LA.

+ +

Jeg vil høre med NRK-arkivet for å se om de kan spore opp de +omtalte dokumentene. Jeg setter pris på om du kan dele titler, dato +eller annen informasjon som kan gjøre det enklere for arkivet å finne +dem.

+ +

Når det gjelder hvordan bruksvilkårene til +videoredigeringsverktøyene skal tolkes, så skal jeg høre med MPEG LA +og produsentene av verktøyene for å forsøke å få klarhet i hva de +mener er rikgig rettstilstand.

+

+ +

Jeg ble litt klokere, men fortsatt er det uklart for meg hva som er +grunnlaget til NRK for å se bort fra bruksvilkår i +videoredigeringsprogramvare som krever MPEG LA-avtale til alt annet +enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: h264, multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web.
@@ -284,49 +619,92 @@ about this hidden Linux installation. It is interesting what
-
New lsdvd release version 0.17 is ready
-
4th October 2014
-

The lsdvd project -got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original -developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood. -This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve -Dibb.

- -

I just wrapped up -a -new lsdvd release, available in git or from -the -download page. This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version -0.17.

- -
    - -
  • Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks
    • -
  • Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is - non-existant, to work around additional copy protection
    • -
  • Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles
    • -
  • Fix pallete display of first entry
    • -
  • Fix include orders
    • -
  • Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway
    • -
  • Fix the chapter count
    • -
  • Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising - the palette size is the same.
    • -
  • Fix array printing.
    • -
  • Correct subsecond calculations.
    • -
  • Add sector information to the output format.
    • -
  • Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings - with more GCC compiler warnings.
    • - -
- -

This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various -Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the -project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)

+
Blir det virkelig krav om fingeravtrykk i nasjonale ID-kort?
+
12th May 2015
+

Noen finner det vanskelig å tro at Stortinget faktisk har vedtatt å +kreve at alle norske borgerne må avgi fingeravtrykk til politiet for å +fungere i samfunnet. Jeg er blitt spurt hva som er grunnlaget for +min +påstand i forrige bloggpost om at det nå blir krav om å avgi +fingeravtrykk til politiet for å fungere som borger i Norge. De som +spør klarer ikke lese det ut fra det som er vedtatt. Her er en liten +oppsummering om hva jeg baserer det på. Det sies ikke direkte i +hverken proposisjon, innstilling eller vedtak, men fremgår når en ser +på indirekte formuleringer.

+ +

I +stortingsproposisjon +66, avsnitt 6.3.5 (Avgivelse av biometriske personopplysninger) +står det

+ +

+ +

Departementet foreslår at både ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk skal + kunne opptas og lagres som identifikasjonsdata i de nasjonale + ID-kortene, på samme måte som i passene. Lovforslaget er derfor + utformet i tråd med passloven § 6 annet ledd, som fastslår at det + til bruk for senere verifisering eller kontroll av passinnehaverens + identitet kan innhentes og lagres i passet biometrisk + personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk (to + fingre). Dagens ordning med lagring av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk + i et kontaktløst smartkort i passet er basert på internasjonale + standarder. Fingeravtrykkene i nasjonalt ID-kort vil bli beskyttet + på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene i passene.

+ +

[...]

+ +

For norske forhold understreker departementet at innføring av + nasjonale ID-kort sammen med innføring av nye systemer for sikrere + utstedelse og kontroll av pass og relaterte dokumenter gir mulighet + til å utforme ordningen slik at den best mulig møter utfordringene + forbundet med identitetskriminalitet. Det tilsier at fingeravtrykk + opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort.

+

+ +

Departementet sier altså at sin anbefaling er at fingeravtrykk skal +opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort. Det skrives som om det +blir valgfritt, på samme måten som det skrives passloven, der det i +loven sier at det kan +«innhentes +og lagres i passet biometrisk personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto +og fingeravtrykk (to fingre)». Men på tross av bruken av «kan» i +passloven er det innført krav om å avgi fingeravtrykk for å få et pass +i Norge. Proposisjonen sier i tillegg i del 1 (Proposisjonens +hovedinnhold) at ID-kortene skal være like pålitelig som pass og ha +samme sikkerhetsnivå som pass. Departementet foreslår altså at +ID-kortene skal gis etter samme regler som for pass.

+ +

Formuleringene fra hovedinnholdet i proposisjonen er videreført i +innstillingen +fra stortingskomiteen, der det konkret står «De foreslåtte reglene +vil gi befolkningen tilbud om et offentlig utstedt identitetsbevis som +vil være like pålitelig som passet, og mer praktisk å bruke som +legitimasjon» og «Det nasjonale ID-kortet skal også holde samme +sikkerhetsnivå som passet». Komiteen har altså ingen kommentarer +eller innsigelser til dette forslaget, og gjorde i debatten da saken +ble vedtatt det klart at dette var en god sak og at en enstemmig +komité var glad for resultatet. Stortinget har dermed stilt seg helt +og fullt bak departementets forslag.

+ +

For meg er det åpenbart når en leser proposisjonen at «like +pålitelig» og «samme sikkerhetsnivå» vil bli tolket av departementet +som «med samme biometrisk informasjon som i passene», og departementet +forklarer i tillegg i proposisjonen at de har tenkt at +fingeravtrykkene «vil bli beskyttet på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene +i passene». Jeg ser det dermed som åpenbart at den samme +tvangsinnhentingen av fingeravtrykk som gjelder for pass vil bli +viderført til de nasjonale ID-kortene.

+ +

Det eneste som kan endre dette er massive protester fra +befolkningen på at folk som ikke er mistenkt for noe kriminelt skal +tvinges til å gi fingeravtrykket til politiet for å f.eks. kunne få +bankkonto eller stemme ved valg. Det kunne få departementet til å +snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

- Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -334,77 +712,67 @@ project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)

-
How to test Debian Edu Jessie despite some fatal problems with the installer
-
26th September 2014
-

The Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project provide a Linux solution for schools, including a -powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing -web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE -boot of both clients without disk and the installation to install Debian -Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small -to mention here). We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on -the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the -freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the -future. The -current -status can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of -work left. Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer, -but it is possible to work around these to get anyway. Here is a -recipe on how to get the installation limping along.

- -

First, download the test ISO via -ftp, -http -or rsync (use -ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso). -The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every -12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to -install with some tweaking.

- -

When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2 -(use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run

- -

-nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install
-

- -

and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata -optimization. Return to the installation, select the profile you want -and continue. Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install -due to a known bug in eatmydata.

- -

When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if -this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be. All my -test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit -your need.

- -

If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as -root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the -education-desktop-XXX metapackage. XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce -or mate. If you want several desktop options, install more than one -metapackage. Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working -graphical login screen. This workaround should no longer be needed -once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two -days.

- -

I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new -tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to -update the debian-cd git repository. The eatmydata, grub and desktop -issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up -on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again. Well the -eatmydata optimization is really just disabled. The proper fix -require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch -provided in bug #702711. -The rest have proper fixes in unstable.

- -

I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are -quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based -installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.

+
Norwegian citizens now required by law to give their fingerprint to the police
+
10th May 2015
+

5 days ago, the Norwegian Parliament decided, unanimously, that all +citizens of Norway, no matter if they are suspected of something +criminal or not, are +required to +give fingerprints to the police (vote details from Holder de +ord). The law make it sound like it will be optional, but in a few +years there will be no option any more. The ID will be required to +vote, to get a bank account, a bank card, to change address on the +post office, to receive an electronic ID or to get a drivers license +and many other tasks required to function in Norway. The banks plan +to stop providing their own ID on the bank cards when this new +national ID is introduced, and the national road authorities plan to +change the drivers license to no longer be usable as identity cards. +In effect, to function as a citizen in Norway a national ID card will +be required, and to get it one need to provide the fingerprints to +the police.

+ +

In addition to handing the fingerprint to the police (which +promised to not make a copy of the fingerprint image at that point in +time, but say nothing about doing it later), a picture of the +fingerprint will be stored on the RFID chip, along with a picture of +the face and other information about the person. Some of the +information will be encrypted, but the encryption will be the same +system as currently used in the passports. The codes to decrypt will +be available to a lot of government offices and their suppliers around +the globe, but for those that do not know anyone in those circles it +is good to know that +the +encryption is already broken. And they +can +be read from 70 meters away. This can be mitigated a bit by +keeping it in a Faraday cage (metal box or metal wire container), but +one will be required to take it out of there often enough to expose +ones private and personal information to a lot of people that have no +business getting access to that information.

+ +

The new Norwegian national IDs are a vehicle for identity theft, +and I feel sorry for us all having politicians accepting such invasion +of privacy without any objections. So are the Norwegian passports, +but it has been possible to function in Norway without those so far. +That option is going away with the passing of the new law. In this, I +envy the Germans, because for them it is optional how much biometric +information is stored in their national ID.

+ +

And if forced collection of fingerprints was not bad enough, the +information collected in the national ID card register can be handed +over to foreign intelligence services and police authorities, "when +extradition is not considered disproportionate".

+ +

Update 2015-05-12: For those unable to believe that the Parliament +really could make such decision, I wrote +a +summary of the sources I have for concluding the way I do +(Norwegian Only, as the sources are all in Norwegian).

- Tags: debian, debian edu, english. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -412,37 +780,62 @@ installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.

-
Suddenly I am the new upstream of the lsdvd command line tool
-
25th September 2014
-

I use the lsdvd tool -to handle my fairly large DVD collection. It is a nice command line -tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length, -etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format. But lsdvd have not seen -any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting -its use with some DVDs. Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I -sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the -project, without any reply. But I use it regularly and would like to -get an updated version -into Debian. So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with -the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that -he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take -over. And yesterday, I became project admin.

- -

I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian -maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream -project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly, -collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place. -I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git -repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too. If you got -a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out -the git source and join -the project mailing -list. :)

+
What would it cost to store all phone calls in Norway?
+
1st May 2015
+

Many years ago, a friend of mine calculated how much it would cost +to store the sound of all phone calls in Norway, and came up with the +cost of around 20 million NOK (2.4 mill EUR) for all the calls in a +year. I got curious and wondered what the same calculation would look +like today. To do so one need an idea of how much data storage is +needed for each minute of sound, how many minutes all the calls in +Norway sums up to, and the cost of data storage.

+ +

The 2005 numbers are from +digi.no, +the 2012 numbers are from +a +NKOM report, and I got the 2013 numbers after asking NKOM via +email. I was told the numbers for 2014 will be presented May 20th, +and decided not to wait for those, as I doubt they will be very +different from the numbers from 2013.

+ +

The amount of data storage per minute sound depend on the wanted +quality, and for phone calls it is generally believed that 8 Kbit/s is +enough. See for example a +summary +on voice quality from Cisco for some alternatives. 8 Kbit/s is 60 +Kbytes/min, and this can be multiplied with the number of call minutes +to get the storage requirements.

+ +

Storage prices varies a lot, depending on speed, backup strategies, +availability requirements etc. But a simple way to calculate can be +to use the price of a TiB-disk (around 1000 NOK / 120 EUR) and double +it to take space, power and redundancy into account. It could be much +higher with high speed and good redundancy requirements.

+ +

But back to the question, What would it cost to store all phone +calls in Norway? Not much. Here is a small table showing the +estimated cost, which is within the budget constraint of most medium +and large organisations:

+ + + + + + +
YearCall minutesSizePrice in NOK / EUR
200524 000 000 0001.3 PiB3 mill / 358 000
201218 000 000 0001.0 PiB2.2 mill / 262 000
201317 000 000 000950 TiB2.1 mill / 250 000
+ +

This is the cost of buying the storage. Maintenance need to be +taken into account too, but calculating that is left as an exercise +for the reader. But it is obvious to me from those numbers that +recording the sound of all phone calls in Norway is not going to be +stopped because it is too expensive. I wonder if someone already is +collecting the data?

- Tags: debian, english, lsdvd, multimedia. + Tags: english, personvern, surveillance.
@@ -450,263 +843,194 @@ list. :)

-
Hva henger under skibrua over E16 på Sollihøgda?
-
21st September 2014
-

Rundt omkring i Oslo og Østlandsområdet henger det bokser over -veiene som jeg har lurt på hva gjør. De har ut fra plassering og -vinkling sett ut som bokser som sniffer ut et eller annet fra -forbipasserende trafikk, men det har vært uklart for meg hva det er de -leser av. Her om dagen tok jeg bilde av en slik boks som henger under -ei -skibru på Sollihøgda:

- -

- -

Boksen er tydelig merket «Kapsch >>>», logoen til -det sveitsiske selskapet Kapsch som -blant annet lager sensorsystemer for veitrafikk. Men de lager mye -forskjellig, og jeg kjente ikke igjen boksen på utseendet etter en -kjapp titt på produktlista til selskapet.

- -

I og med at boksen henger over veien E16, en riksvei vedlikeholdt -av Statens Vegvesen, så antok jeg at det burde være mulig å bruke -REST-API-et som gir tilgang til vegvesenets database over veier, -skilter og annet veirelatert til å finne ut hva i alle dager dette -kunne være. De har både -en -datakatalog og -et -søk, der en kan søke etter ulike typer oppføringer innen for et -gitt geografisk område. Jeg laget et enkelt shell-script for å hente -ut antall av en gitt type innenfor området skibrua dekker, og listet -opp navnet på typene som ble funnet. Orket ikke slå opp hvordan -URL-koding av aktuelle strenger kunne gjøres mer generisk, og brukte -en stygg sed-linje i stedet.

- -
-#!/bin/sh
-urlmap() {
-    sed \
-    -e 's/  / /g'   -e 's/{/%7B/g'  \
-    -e 's/}/%7D/g'  -e 's/\[/%5B/g' \
-    -e 's/\]/%5D/g' -e 's/ /%20/g'  \
-    -e 's/,/%2C/g'  -e 's/\"/%22/g' \
-    -e 's/:/%3A/g'
-}
+      
First Jessie based Debian Edu beta release

+      
26th April 2015

+      
I am happy to report that the Debian Edu team sent out
+this
+announcement today:

 
-lookup() {
-    url="$1"
-    curl -s -H 'Accept: application/vnd.vegvesen.nvdb-v1+xml' \
-       "https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api$url" | xmllint --format -
-}
+
+the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first
+*beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first
+time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable
+release, Debian 8 "Jessie".
+
+(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been
+released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish
+later today ;)
+
+We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming
+weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades
+from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will
+be possible and encouraged!
+
+Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit
+bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
+
+Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete
+operating system for schools, universities and other
+organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles
+administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which
+will work in harmony on the school network.  With Debian Edu, the
+teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a
+complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or
+days.
+
+Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the
+world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come
+with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian
+archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach.
+
+For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
+installation instructions are available, including detailed
+instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting
+up a network or adding users.  Please note that the password for the
+user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at
+least 5 characters!
+
+== Where to download ==
+
+A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting
+can be downloaded at the following locations:
+
+    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso
+    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso . 
+
+The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a
+
+Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also
+available, with more software included (saving additional download
+time):
+
+    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
+    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso 
+
+The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636
+
+Sources are available from the Debian archive, see
+http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download
+options.
+
+== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages ==
+
+Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for
+the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual.
+
+This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian,
+Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists
+for Spanish.  See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for
+online version of the translated manual.
+
+More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the
+release notes and the installation manual:
+- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
+- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual
+
+
+== Errata / known problems ==
+
+    It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via
+    DHCP (#780461).
 
-for id in $(seq 1 874) ; do
-    search="{
-  lokasjon: {
-    bbox: \"10.34425,59.96386,10.34458,59.96409\",
-    srid: \"WGS84\"
-  },
-   objektTyper: [{
-     id: $id, antall: 10
-   }]
-}"
-
-    query=/sok?kriterie=$(echo $search | urlmap)
-    if lookup "$query" |
-    grep -q '<totaltAntallReturnert>0<'
-    then
-    :
-    else
-    echo $id
-    lookup "/datakatalog/objekttyper/$id" |grep '^  <navn>'
-    fi
-done
-
-exit 0
-
- -Aktuelt ID-område 1-874 var riktig i datakatalogen da jeg laget -scriptet. Det vil endre seg over tid. Skriptet listet så opp -aktuelle typer i og rundt skibrua: - -
-5
-  <navn>Rekkverk</navn>
-14
-  <navn>Rekkverksende</navn>
-47
-  <navn>Trafikklomme</navn>
-49
-  <navn>Trafikkøy</navn>
-60
-  <navn>Bru</navn>
-79
-  <navn>Stikkrenne/Kulvert</navn>
-80
-  <navn>Grøft, åpen</navn>
-86
-  <navn>Belysningsstrekning</navn>
-95
-  <navn>Skiltpunkt</navn>
-96
-  <navn>Skiltplate</navn>
-98
-  <navn>Referansestolpe</navn>
-99
-  <navn>Vegoppmerking, langsgående</navn>
-105
-  <navn>Fartsgrense</navn>
-106
-  <navn>Vinterdriftsstrategi</navn>
-172
-  <navn>Trafikkdeler</navn>
-241
-  <navn>Vegdekke</navn>
-293
-  <navn>Breddemåling</navn>
-301
-  <navn>Kantklippareal</navn>
-318
-  <navn>Snø-/isrydding</navn>
-445
-  <navn>Skred</navn>
-446
-  <navn>Dokumentasjon</navn>
-452
-  <navn>Undergang</navn>
-528
-  <navn>Tverrprofil</navn>
-532
-  <navn>Vegreferanse</navn>
-534
-  <navn>Region</navn>
-535
-  <navn>Fylke</navn>
-536
-  <navn>Kommune</navn>
-538
-  <navn>Gate</navn>
-539
-  <navn>Transportlenke</navn>
-540
-  <navn>Trafikkmengde</navn>
-570
-  <navn>Trafikkulykke</navn>
-571
-  <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert enhet</navn>
-572
-  <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert person</navn>
-579
-  <navn>Politidistrikt</navn>
-583
-  <navn>Vegbredde</navn>
-591
-  <navn>Høydebegrensning</navn>
-592
-  <navn>Nedbøyningsmåling</navn>
-597
-  <navn>Støy-luft, Strekningsdata</navn>
-601
-  <navn>Oppgravingsdata</navn>
-602
-  <navn>Oppgravingslag</navn>
-603
-  <navn>PMS-parsell</navn>
-604
-  <navn>Vegnormalstrekning</navn>
-605
-  <navn>Værrelatert strekning</navn>
-616
-  <navn>Feltstrekning</navn>
-617
-  <navn>Adressepunkt</navn>
-626
-  <navn>Friksjonsmåleserie</navn>
-629
-  <navn>Vegdekke, flatelapping</navn>
-639
-  <navn>Kurvatur, horisontalelement</navn>
-640
-  <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalelement</navn>
-642
-  <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalpunkt</navn>
-643
-  <navn>Statistikk, trafikkmengde</navn>
-647
-  <navn>Statistikk, vegbredde</navn>
-774
-  <navn>Nedbøyningsmåleserie</navn>
-775
-  <navn>ATK, influensstrekning</navn>
-794
-  <navn>Systemobjekt</navn>
-810
-  <navn>Vinterdriftsklasse</navn>
-821
-  <navn>Funksjonell vegklasse</navn>
-825
-  <navn>Kurvatur, stigning</navn>
-838
-  <navn>Vegbredde, beregnet</navn>
-862
-  <navn>Reisetidsregistreringspunkt</navn>
-871
-  <navn>Bruksklasse</navn>
-
- -

Av disse ser ID 775 og 862 mest relevant ut. ID 775 antar jeg -refererer til fotoboksen som står like ved brua, mens -«Reisetidsregistreringspunkt» kanskje kan være boksen som henger der. -Hvordan finner jeg så ut hva dette kan være for noe. En titt på -datakatalogsiden -for ID 862/Reisetidsregistreringspunkt viser at det er finnes 53 -slike målere i Norge, og hvor de er plassert, men gir ellers få -detaljer. Det er plassert 40 på østlandet og 13 i Trondheimsregionen. -Men siden nevner «AutoPASS», og hvis en slår opp oppføringen på -Sollihøgda nevner den «Ciber AS» som ID for eksternt system. (Kan det -være snakk om -Ciber -Norge AS, et selskap eid av Ciber Europe Bv?) Et nettsøk på - «Ciber AS autopass» fører meg til en artikkel fra NRK Trøndelag i - 2013 med tittel -«Sjekk -dette hvis du vil unngå kø». Artikkelen henviser til vegvesenets -nettside -reisetider.no -som har en -kartside -for Østlandet som viser at det måles mellom Sandvika og Sollihøgda. -Det kan dermed se ut til at jeg har funnet ut hva boksene gjør.

- -

Hvis det stemmer, så er dette bokser som leser av AutoPASS-ID-en -til alle passerende biler med AutoPASS-brikke, og dermed gjør det mulig -for de som kontrollerer boksene å holde rede på hvor en gitt bil er -når den passerte et slikt målepunkt. NRK-artikkelen forteller at -denne informasjonen i dag kun brukes til å koble to -AutoPASS-brikkepasseringer passeringer sammen for å beregne -reisetiden, og at bruken er godkjent av Datatilsynet. Det er desverre -ikke mulig for en sjåfør som passerer under en slik boks å kontrollere -at AutoPASS-ID-en kun brukes til dette i dag og i fremtiden.

- -

I tillegg til denne type AutoPASS-sniffere vet jeg at det også -finnes mange automatiske stasjoner som tar betalt pr. passering (aka -bomstasjoner), og der lagres informasjon om tid, sted og bilnummer i -10 år. Finnes det andre slike sniffere plassert ut på veiene?

- -

Personlig har jeg valgt å ikke bruke AutoPASS-brikke, for å gjøre -det vanskeligere og mer kostbart for de som vil invadere privatsfæren -og holde rede på hvor bilen min beveger seg til enhver tid. Jeg håper -flere vil gjøre det samme, selv om det gir litt høyere private -utgifter (dyrere bompassering). Vern om privatsfæren koster i disse -dager.

- -

Takk til Jan Kristian Jensen i Statens Vegvesen for tips om -dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.

+ The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087). + +Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the +hostname immediately. + +Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly +more current and complete list. + +== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 == + +=== Software updates === + +Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.: + + * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for + i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like + Intel Pentium and AMD K5). + + * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14, + Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6 + * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8 + * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of + the others see the manual. + * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41 + * LibreOffice 4.3.3 + * GOsa 2.7.4 + * LTSP 5.5.4 + * CUPS print system 1.7.5 + * new boot framework: systemd + * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12 + * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02 + * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14 + * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1 + * golearn 0.9 + * tuxpaint 0.9.22 + * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie. + * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation. + * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release + notes and the installation manual, see the link above. + +=== Installation changes === + + Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically + for the hardware present. + +=== Fixed bugs === + +A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable +from a user perspective: + + * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break + DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect + information is corrected (710362) + + * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608). + +=== Sugar desktop removed === + +As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not +available in Debian Edu jessie. + + +== About Debian Edu / 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. Directly 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, Xfce and MATE desktop +environment. + +== About Debian == + +The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly +free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of +the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of +volunteers from all over the world work together to create and +maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a +huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal +operating system. + +== Thanks == + +Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen! +You rock. +
- Tags: kart, norsk, personvern, rfid, surveillance. + Tags: debian edu, english.
@@ -714,221 +1038,193 @@ dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.

-
Speeding up the Debian installer using eatmydata and dpkg-divert
-
16th September 2014
-

The Debian installer could be -a lot quicker. When we install more than 2000 packages in -Skolelinux / Debian Edu using -tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever. -A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in -bug #613428 about too -much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package -responsible for unpacking the binary packages. Other parts (like code -executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during -installation. All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to -me. If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try -to salvage the half installed system. So the failure sync-ing is -supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really -relevant while the installer is running.

- -

A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file -system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to -change the code in several packages. The idea is not new, but I have -not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before. It -depend on the small and clever package -eatmydata, which -uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to -disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live -dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly. Instead of -modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the -packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages), -it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace -them with a simple shell wrapper calling -"eatmydata $program $@", to get the same effect. -Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple -implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.

- -

The effect was stunning. In my first test it reduced the running -time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44 -minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell -Latitude D505 machine. I am not quite sure what the optimised time -would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf -priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during -installation. As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation -along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the -installation. I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie, -and got these results. The time measured is the time stamp in -/var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the -"pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement -yourself. In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the -timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel -dialog.

- -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Machine/setupOriginal taskselOptimised taskselReduction
Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE64 min (07:46-08:50)<44 min (11:27-12:11)>20 min 18%
Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE57 min (08:48-09:45)34 min (07:43-08:17)23 min 40%
Latitude D505 Minimal22 min (10:37-10:59)11 min (11:16-11:27)11 min 50%
Thinkpad X200 Minimal6 min (08:19-08:25)4 min (08:04-08:08)2 min 33%
Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE19 min (09:21-09:40)15 min (10:25-10:40)4 min 21%

- -

The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the -time is spent downloading packages. The connection to the Internet -was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a -significant factor in the measurement. Download typically took a few -seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being -installed.

- -

The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in -Debian -Installer, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the -finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the -installation. I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the -post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the -eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in -Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO. The -negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this -optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i. If the code is -moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger -for the entire installation.

- -

I've implemented this in the -debian-edu-install -git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the -Debian Edu installation. If you want to test this yourself, you can -create two files in the installer (or in an udeb). One shell script -need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:

- -

-#!/bin/sh
-set -e
-. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
-info() {
-    logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*"
-}
-error() {
-    logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*"
-}
-override_install() {
-    apt-install eatmydata || true
-    if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then
-        for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
-            file=/usr/bin/$bin
-            # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already.
-            if [ -f /target$file ] ; then
-                info "diverting $file using eatmydata"
-                printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \
-                    > /target$file.edu
-                chmod 755 /target$file.edu
-                in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
-                    --rename --quiet --add $file
-                ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file
-            else
-                error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing."
-            fi
-        done
-    else
-        error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage"
-    fi
-}
-
-override_install
-

- -

To clean up, another shell script should go into -/usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this: - -

-#! /bin/sh -e
-. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
-error() {
-    logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@"
-}
-remove_install_override() {
-    for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do
-        file=/usr/bin/$bin
-        if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then
-            rm /target$file
-            in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \
-                --rename --quiet --remove $file
-            rm /target$file.edu
-        else
-            error "Missing divert for $file."
-        fi
-    done
-    sync # Flush file buffers before continuing
-}
-
-remove_install_override
-

- -

In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script -edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and -finish-install.d scripts.

- -

By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal -Debian installer too? I suspect it should, but am not sure the -current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough. It also -depend on the side effects of the change. I'm not aware of any, but I -guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing. -Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and -fsync() having effect? Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to -allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting -everyone.

- -

Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization -will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of -bug #702711. An updated -eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.

- -

Update 2014-10-17: The bug mentioned above is fixed in testing and -the optimization work again. And I have discovered that the -dpkg-divert trick is not really needed and implemented a slightly -simpler approach as part of the debian-edu-install package. See -tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.

+
Debian Edu interview: Shirish Agarwal
+
15th April 2015
+

It was a surprise to me to learn that project to create a complete +computer system for schools I've involved in, +Debian Edu / Skolelinux, was +being used in India. But apparently it is, and I managed to get an +interview with one of the friends of the project there, Shirish +Agarwal.

+ +

Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

+ +

My name is Shirish Agarwal. Based out of the educational and +historical city of Pune, from the western state of Maharashtra, India. +My bread comes from giving training, giving policy tips, +installations on free software to mom and pop shops in different +fields from Desktop publishing to retail shops as well as work with +few software start-ups as well.

+ +

How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?

+ +

It started innocently enough. I have been using Debian for a few +years and in one local minidebconf / debutsav I was asked if there was +anything for schools or education. I had worked / played with free +educational softwares such as Gcompris and Stellarium for my many +nieces and nephews so researched and found Debian Edu or Skolelinux as +it was known then. Since then I have started using the various +education meta-packages provided by the project.

+ +

What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?

+ +

It's closest I have seen where a package full of educational +software are packed, which are free and open (both literally and +figuratively). Even if I take the simplest software which is +gcompris, the number of activities therein are amazing. Another one of +the softwares that I have liked for a long time is stellarium. Even +pysycache is cool except for couple of issues I encountered +#781841 and +#781842.

+ +

I prefer software installed on the system over web based solutions, +as a web site can disappear any time but the software on disk has the +possibility of a larger life span. Of course with both it's more a +question if it has enough users who make it fun or sustainable or both +for the developer per-se.

+ +

What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?

+ +

I do see that the Debian Edu team seems to be short-handed and I +think more efforts should be made to make it popular and ask and take +help from people and the larger community wherever possible.

+ +

I don't see any disadvantage to use Skolelinux apart from the fact +that most apps. are generic which is good or bad how you see it. +However, saying that I do acknowledge the fact that the canvas is +pretty big and there are lot of interesting ideas that could be done +but for reasons not known not done or if done I don't know about them. +Let me share some of the ideas (these are more upstream based but +still) I have had for a long time :

+ +

1. Classical maths question of two trains in opposing directions +each running @x kmph/mph at y distance, when they will meet and how +far would each travel and similar questions like these. + +

The computer is a fantastic system where questions like these can +be drawn, animated and the methodology and answers teased out in +interactive manner. While sites such as the +Ask +Dr. Math FAQ on The Two Trains problem (as an example or point of +inspiration) can be used there is lot more that can be done. I dunno +if there is a free software which does something like this. The idea +being a blend of objects + animation + interaction which does +this. The whole interaction could be gamified with points or sounds or +colourful celebration whenever the user gets even part of the question +or/and methodology right. That would help reinforce good behaviour. +This understanding could be used to share/showcase everything from how +the first wheel came to be, to evolution to how astronomy started, +psychics and everything in-between.

+ +

One specific idea in the train part was having the Linux mascot on +one train and the BSD or GNU mascot on the other train and they +meeting somewhere in-between. Characters from blender movies could +also be used.

+ +

2. Loads of crossword-puzzles with reference to subjects: We have +enormous data sets in Wikipedia and Wikitionary. I don't think it +should be a big job to design crossword puzzles. Using categories and +sub-categories it should be doable to have Q&A single word answers +from the existing data-sets. What would make it easy or hard could be +the length of the word + existence of many or few vowels depending on +the user's input.

+ +

3. Jigsaw puzzles - We already have a great software called +palapeli with number of slicers making it pretty interesting. What +needs to be done is to download large number of public domain and +copyleft images, tease and use IPTC tags to categorise them into +nature, history etc. and let it loose. This could turn to be really +huge collection of images. One source could be taken from +commons.wikimedia.org, others could be huge collection of royalty-free +stock photos. Potential is immense.

+ +

Apart from this, free software suffers in two directions, we lag +both in development (of using new features per-se) and maintenance a +lot. This is more so in educational software as these applications +need to be timely and the opportunity cost of missing deadlines is +immense. If we are able to solve issues of funding for development and +maintenance of such software I don't see any big difficulties. I know +of few start-ups in and around India who would love to develop and +maintain such software if funding issues could be solved.

+ +

Which free software do you use daily?

+ +

That would be huge list. Some of the softwares are obviously apt, +aptitude, debdelta, leafpad, the shell of course (zsh nowadays), +quassel for IRC. In games I use shisen-sho while card-games are evenly +between kpat and Aiselriot. In desktops it's a tie between +gnome-flashback and mate.

+ +

Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?

+ +

I think it should first start with using specific FOSS apps. in +whatever environment they are. If it's MS-Windows or Mac so be it. +Once they are habitual with the apps. and there is buy-in from the +school management then it could be installed anywhere. Most of the +people now understand the concept of a repository because of the +various online stores so it isn't hard to convince on that front.

+ +

What is harder is having enough people with technical skills and +passion to service them. If you get buy-in from one or two teachers +then ideas like above could also be asked to be done as a project as +well.

+ +

I think where we fall short more than anything is in marketing. For +instance, Debian has this whole range of fonts in its archive but +there isn't even a page where all those different fonts in the La +Ipsum format could be tried out for newcomers.

+ +

One of the issues faced constantly in installations is with updates +and upgrades. People have this myth that each update and upgrade +means the user interface will / has to change. I have seen this +innumerable times. That perhaps is one of the reasons which browsers +like Iceweasel / Firefox change user interfaces so much, not because +it might be needed or be functional but because people believe that +changed user interfaces are better. This, can easily be pointed with +the user interfaces changed with almost every MS-Windows and Mac OS +releases.

+ +

The problems with Debian Edu for deployment are many. The biggest +is the huge gap between what is taught in schools and what Debian Edu +is aimed at. + +

Me and my friends did teach on week-ends in a government school for +around 2 years, and +gathered +some experience there. Some of the things we learnt/discovered +there was :

+ +
    + +
  1. Most of the teachers are very territorial about their subjects + and they do not want you to teach anything out of the + portion/syllabus given.
    2. + +
  2. They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever + is in the syllabus.
    3. + +
  3. There are huge barriers both with the English language and at + times with objects or whatever. An example, let's say in gcompris + you have objects falling down and you have to name them and let's + say the falling object is a hat or a fedora hat, this would not be + as recognizable as say a + Puneri + Pagdi so there is need to inject local objects, words wherever + possible. Especially for word-games there are so many hindi words + which have become part of english vocabulary (for instance in + parley), those could be made into a hinglish collection or + something but that is something for upstream to do.
    4. + +
- Tags: debian, debian edu, english. + Tags: debian edu, english, intervju.
@@ -936,62 +1232,33 @@ tools/edu-eatmydata-install in the source package.

-
Good bye subkeys.pgp.net, welcome pool.sks-keyservers.net
-
10th September 2014
-

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with the -Norwegian Unix User Group about -the -OpenPGP keyserver pool sks-keyservers.net, and was very happy to -learn that there is a large set of publicly available key servers to -use when looking for peoples public key. So far I have used -subkeys.pgp.net, and some times wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net when the former -were misbehaving, but those days are ended. The servers I have used -up until yesterday have been slow and some times unavailable. I hope -those problems are gone now.

- -

Behind the round robin DNS entry of the -sks-keyservers.net service -there is a pool of more than 100 keyservers which are checked every -day to ensure they are well connected and up to date. It must be -better than what I have used so far. :)

- -

Yesterdays speaker told me that the service is the default -keyserver provided by the default configuration in GnuPG, but this do -not seem to be used in Debian. Perhaps it should?

- -

Anyway, I've updated my ~/.gnupg/options file to now include this -line:

- -

-keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net
-

- -

With GnuPG version 2 one can also locate the keyserver using SRV -entries in DNS. Just for fun, I did just that at work, so now every -user of GnuPG at the University of Oslo should find a OpenGPG -keyserver automatically should their need it:

- -

-% host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no
-_pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net.
-%
-

- -

Now if only -the -HKP lookup protocol supported finding signature paths, I would be -very happy. It can look up a given key or search for a user ID, but I -normally do not want that, but to find a trust path from my key to -another key. Given a user ID or key ID, I would like to find (and -download) the keys representing a signature path from my key to the -key in question, to be able to get a trust path between the two keys. -This is as far as I can tell not possible today. Perhaps something -for a future version of the protocol?

+
I'm going to the Open Source Developers' Conference Nordic 2015!
+
7th April 2015
+

I am happy to let you all know that I'm going to the Open Source Developers' +Conference Nordic 2015!

+ +

It take place Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of May in Oslo next to +where I work, and I finally got around to submitting +a talk proposal for +it (dead link for most people until the talk is accepted). As +part of my involvement with the +Norwegian Unix User Group member +association I have been slightly involved in the planning of this +conference for a while now, with a focus on organising a Civic Hacking +Hackathon with our friends +over at mySociety and +Holder de ord. This part is +named the 'My Society' track in the program. There is still space for +more talks and participants. I hope to see you there.

+ +

Check out the talks +submitted and accepted so far.

- Tags: debian, english, personvern, sikkerhet. + Tags: english, fiksgatami, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -1006,6 +1273,23 @@ for a future version of the protocol?

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