X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/38fec72de86ee84093487d9e4aa4a83bb80b9062..ba3d8fec15099b5b7fd668e75ec0825e6aa7079c:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 2c2f58ccaf..8b4c6d79bb 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,482 +7,794 @@ - Cutting it short - and picking the right tool for the job - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Cutting_it_short___and_picking_the_right_tool_for_the_job.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Cutting_it_short___and_picking_the_right_tool_for_the_job.html - Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:30:00 +0200 - <p><!-- IMG_5869.JPG --> -<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg"></p> - -<p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a -common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway. -But the last ones have not really been up to the task. My last -cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the -time, and cutting my head took forever. And the one before that did -not work very well either. We have looked for something better for a -while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we -discovered that there are indeed better tools available. But these -are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers". The hair saloons -can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell -companies. The models they sell, are very different from the ones -available from Elkjøp and Lefdal. The main difference is their -efficiency. It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40 -minutes required by my impotent Braun. The hairdresser I visited had -a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the -producer. But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p> - -<p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it. This was not -straight forward. The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser -did not want to sell anything to me. But searching for the model on -the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for -around NOK 4000,-. This was a bit much. We kept searching and -finally found a Danish supplier -<a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling -it for around NOK 1800,-</a>. We ordered one, and it arrived a few -days ago.</p> - -<p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started -to use it, so we left it charging over night. Normally it will only -need one hour to charge. The following evening we successfully tested -it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair -cutter. The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter -toys.</p> + Trenger en avtale med MPEG-LA for å publisere og kringkaste H.264-video? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Trenger_en_avtale_med_MPEG_LA_for___publisere_og_kringkaste_H_264_video_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Trenger_en_avtale_med_MPEG_LA_for___publisere_og_kringkaste_H_264_video_.html + Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:40:00 +0200 + <p>Trengs det avtale med MPEG-LA for å ha lovlig rett til å +distribuere og kringkaste video i MPEG4 eller med videokodingen H.264? +<a href="http://webmink.com/essays/h-264/">H.264 og MPEG4 er jo ikke en +fri og åpen standard</a> i henhold til +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fri_og__pen_standard__slik_Digistan_ser_det.html">definisjonen +til Digistan</a>, så i enkelte land er det ingen tvil om at du må ha +en slik avtale, men jeg må innrømme at jeg ikke vet om det også +gjelder Norge. Det ser uansett ut til å være en juridisk interessant +problemstilling. Men jeg tenkte her om dagen som så, at hvis det er +nødvendig, så har store aktører som +<a href="http://www.nrk.no/">NRK</a> og +<a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/">regjeringen</a> skaffet seg en +slik avtale. Jeg har derfor sendt forespørsel til begge (for +regjeringen sin del er det Departementenes Servicesenter som gjør +jobben), og bedt om kopi av eventuelle avtaler de har om bruk av MPEG +og/eller H.264 med MPEG-LA eller andre aktører som opererer på vegne +av MPEG-LA. Her er kopi av eposten jeg har sendt til +<a href="http://www.dss.dep.no/">Departementenes Servicesenter</a>. +Forespørselen til NRK er veldig lik.</p> + +<p><blockquote> + +<p>Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:18:33 +0200 +<br>From: Petter Reinholdtsen +<br>To: postmottak@dss.dep.no +<br>Subject: Innsynsbegjæring om MPEG/H.264-relaterte avtaler + +<p>Hei. Jeg ber herved om innsyn og kopi av dokumenter i DSS relatert +til avtaler rundt bruk av videoformatene MPEG og H.264. Jeg er +spesielt interessert i å vite om DSS har lisensavtale med MPEG-LA +eller noen som representerer MPEG-LA i Norge.</p> + +<p>MPEG og H.264 er videoformater som brukes både til kringkasting +(f.eks. i bakkenett og kabel-TV) og videopublisering på web, deriblant +via Adobe Flash. MPEG-LA, &lt;URL: +<a href="http://www.mpeg-la.com/">http://www.mpeg-la.com/</a> &gt;, er +en organisasjon som har fått oppgaven, av de kjente rettighetshavere +av immaterielle rettigheter knyttet til MPEG og H.264, å selge +bruksrett for MPEG og H.264.</p> + +<p>Via regjeringen.no kringkastes med MPEG og H.264-baserte +videoformater, og dette ser ut til å være organisert av DSS. Jeg +antar dermed at DSS har avtale med en eller annen aktør om dette.</p> + +<p>F.eks. har Adobe Premiere Pro har følgende klausul i følge &lt;URL: +<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000101-264.html">http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000101-264.html</a> +&gt;:</p> + +<p><blockquote> + + <p>6.17. AVC DISTRIBUTION. The following notice applies to software + containing AVC import and export functionality: THIS PRODUCT IS + LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR THE PERSONAL AND + NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (a) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE + WITH THE AVC STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (b) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT + WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL + ACTIVITY AND/OR AVC VIDEO THAT WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER + LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE + IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED + FROM MPEG LA L.L.C. SEE + <a href="http://www.mpegla.com">http://www.mpegla.com</a>.</p> + +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Her er det kun "non-commercial" og "personal and non-commercial" +aktivitet som er tillatt uten ekstra avtale med MPEG-LA.</p> + +<p>Et annet tilsvarende eksempel er Apple Final Cut Pro, som har +følgende klausul i følge &lt;URL: +<a href="http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/finalcutstudio2.pdf">http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/finalcutstudio2.pdf</a> +&gt;:</p> + +<p><blockquote> + + <p>15. Merknad om H.264/AVC. Hvis Apple-programvaren inneholder + funksjonalitet for AVC-koding og/eller AVC-dekoding, krever + kommersiell bruk ekstra lisensiering og følgende gjelder: + AVC-FUNKSJONALITETEN I DETTE PRODUKTET KAN KUN ANVENDES AV + FORBRUKERE OG KUN FOR PERSONLIG OG IKKE- KOMMERSIELL BRUK TIL (i) + KODING AV VIDEO I OVERENSSTEMMELSE MED AVC-STANDARDEN ("AVC-VIDEO") + OG/ELLER (ii) DEKODING AV AVC-VIDEO SOM ER KODET AV EN FORBRUKER TIL + PERSONLIG OG IKKE-KOMMERSIELL BRUK OG/ELLER DEKODING AV AVC-VIDEO + FRA EN VIDEOLEVERANDØR SOM HAR LISENS TIL Å TILBY + AVC-VIDEO. INFORMASJON OM ANNEN BRUK OG LISENSIERING KAN INNHENTES + FRA MPEG LA L.L.C. SE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM.</p> +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Tilsvarende gjelder for andre programvarepakker, kamera, etc som +bruker MPEG og H.264, at en må ha en avtale med MPEG-LA for å ha lov +til å bruke programmet/utstyret hvis en skal lage noe annet enn +private filmer og i ikke-kommersiell virksomhet.</p> + +<p>Jeg er altså interessert i kopi av avtaler DSS har som gjør at en +ikke er begrenset av de generelle bruksvilkårene som gjelder for +utstyr som bruker MPEG og/eller H.264.</p> +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Nå venter jeg spent på svaret. Jeg planlegger å blogge om svaret +her.</p> - NUUGs leverer høringsuttalelse om v3.1 av statens referansekatalog - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUGs_leverer_h_ringsuttalelse_om_v3_1_av_statens_referansekatalog.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUGs_leverer_h_ringsuttalelse_om_v3_1_av_statens_referansekatalog.html - Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:30:00 +0200 - <p>NUUG-styremedlem Hans-Petter Fjeld -<a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/110394259537201279374/posts/AGzRmAuFdW1">meldte -nettopp</a> at han har sendt inn <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>s -høringsuttalelse angående Difi sin standardkatalog v3.1. Jeg er veldig -glad for at så mange bidro og sikret at vår stemme blir hørt i denne -høringen. Anbefaler alle å lese våre -<a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/uttalelser/201204-standardkatalog-v3.1">to -sider med innspill</a>.</p> + Gatemagasinet =Oslo får konkurrent fra Folk er Folk + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gatemagasinet__Oslo_f_r_konkurrent_fra_Folk_er_Folk.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Gatemagasinet__Oslo_f_r_konkurrent_fra_Folk_er_Folk.html + Tue, 19 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0200 + <p>Aftenposten melder i dag at selgerne av +<a href="http://www.erlikoslo.no/">gatemagasinet =Oslo</a> er +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Oslo-selgerne-irritert-pa-nytt-gatemagasin-6850970.html">irritert +på at det er kommet en konkurrent på banen</a> fra organisasjonen +<a href="http://oslo.folkerfolk.no/">Folk er Folk</a>, +som støtter “rumenerne”, de mest uglesette av tiggerne i Norge. Min +første tanke da jeg leste nyheten er at slik må =Oslo-selgerne tåle +når de nekter "rumenerne" og andre utenlandske tiggere å selge +gatemagasinet sitt. Det ble rapportert for noen år siden at +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Ikke-rom-i-herberget-6677803.html">utenlandske +tiggere ikke var velkomne som selgere</a>, og å opprette en konkurrent +virker da for meg som et rasjonelt alternativ. Og at "rumerene" +utelukkes gjelder visst ikke bare i Oslo. I Adresseavisen fant jeg en +artikkel om at selgerne av +<a href="http://www.gatemagasinetsorgenfri.no/">gateavisen +Sorgenfri</a> i Trondheim også +<a href="http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/trondheim/article1122005.ece?index=20">utelukker +utenlandske selgere</a>.</p> + +<p>Men situasjonen er visst ikke så rett frem som opprinnelige +artikler kunne tyde på. Mens jeg søkte opp gamle artikler og +referanser om temaet, fant jeg et +<a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2008/07/29/542041.html">leserbrev +fra en av stifterne av =Oslo</a>, som protesterte på +<a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2008/07/23/541530.html">påstander +fra likestillingsombudet om diskriminering</a> og forteller at =Oslo +krever at de som selger magasinet skal kunne kommunisere med kundene +for å kunne representere magasinet utad, og at "rumererne" ikke +ekskluderes for å være utlendinger men pga. at de ikke kan snakke +norsk. Det er jo ikke urimelig å kreve at en selger skal kunne +kommunisere med kundene, men som kjøper har jeg ikke snakket så mye +med =Oslo-selgerne at det ville vært et problem for meg om selgeren +ikke kunne snakke norsk. Jeg er dermed i tvil om hvorvidt +argumentasjonen holder når effekten er at de mest uglesette tiggerne i +Norge ekskluderes.</p> + +<p>Uansett tror jeg ikke markedet for gatemagasiner i Oslo er mettet. +Personlig kunne jeg godt tenkte meg å kjøpe flere, men gidder ikke +kjøpe den samme utgaven av =Oslo flere ganger. En konkurrent som Folk +er Folk kan dermed ende opp med å gjøre markedet større i stedet for å +spise av markedsandelene til =Oslo.</p> - HTC One X - Your video? What do you mean? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/HTC_One_X___Your_video___What_do_you_mean_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/HTC_One_X___Your_video___What_do_you_mean_.html - Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:20:00 +0200 - <p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an -article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer -<a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports -that the video editor application included with -<a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One -X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use. The article is mostly -based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating: + SQL-database med anbud publisert på Doffin + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SQL_database_med_anbud_publisert_p__Doffin.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SQL_database_med_anbud_publisert_p__Doffin.html + Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:30:00 +0200 + <p><a href="http://www.doffin.no/">Doffin</a> er det offentlige Norges +portal for annonsering av anbudsutlysninger. Nettstedet er mye brukt, +men rådataene er ikke enkelt tilgjengelig for almenheten. For å bøte +på det har jeg som et <a href="htt://www.nuug.no/">NUUG-prosjekt</a> +laget en <a href="http://scraperwiki.com/">Scraperwiki</a>-skraper som +lager en +<a href="https://scraperwiki.com/scrapers/norwegian-doffin/">SQL-database +med nøkkelinformasjonen fra Doffin</a>, slik at det er mulig å søke og +analysere Doffin-oppføringene. Det publiseres mellom 900-1500 anbud +hver måned via Doffin. Jeg har ingen konkrete planer for analyse, men +håper enklere tilgjengelighet gjør at flere griper sjansen. På sikt +håper jeg å bruke denne databasen som grunnlag for å lage en database +over anbudsdokumenter, som i dag ikke er tilgjengelig fra doffin, men +må bestilles fra hver enkelt utlyser.</p> + +<p>Jeg var litt usikker på om det var rettighetsproblemer knyttet til +skraping av informasjon fra Doffin, men ser i +<a href="http://www.doffin.no/sitehelp/help_terms.aspx">vilkårene til +Doffin</a> følgende:</p> <p><blockquote> -"<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy -brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv -kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>" -</blockquote></p> -<p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p> +<p>Opphavsrett mv</p> + +<p>Ved innleggig av kunngjøringer på Doffin aksepterer Oppdragsgiver +at opphavsrett og andre rettigheter til materialet overføres til +Fornyings- og administrasjonsdepartementet, eller den departementet +utnevner. Oppdragsgiver har imidlertid bruksrett til materialet, og +kan benytte det til de formål de måtte ønske.</p> -<p><blockquote> -"Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos -commercially. Although I can ONLY use them privately." </blockquote></p> -<p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but -suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered -with my Canon IXUS 130</a>. The HTC One X specification specifies that -the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for -video. AMR is -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive -Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the -Wikipedia article require an license agreement with -<a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>. MP4 is -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with -H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement -with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p> - -<p>I know why I prefer -<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open -standards</a> also for video.</p> +<p>Hvis informasjonen er vernet av opphavsrettsloven (hvilket jeg +tviler på, gitt lovens begrensninger om informasjon fra det +offentlige), så er det FAD som har de immaterielle rettighetene. FAD +er en del av staten, som opererer på vegne av folket, og enhver borger +skulle dermed ha rett til å videreformidle informasjonen. Ingen av +offentlighetslovens unntak kommer til anvendelse, i og med at +informasjonen allerede er publisert.</p> + + + + + Debian Edu - some ideas for the future versions + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu___some_ideas_for_the_future_versions.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu___some_ideas_for_the_future_versions.html + Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:30:00 +0200 + <p>During my work on +<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.nb.html">Debian Edu +based on Squeeze</a>, I came across some issues that should be +addressed in the Wheezy release. I finally found time to wrap up my +notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit +explanation.</p> + +<p><ul> + +<li>We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel +changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages +with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation +system depend on tasksel tasks in +/usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package +installation.</li> + +<li>Enable Kerberos login for more services. Now with the Kerberos +foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more +services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions. We should +at least try to enable it for these services: +<ul> + + <li>CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using + quotas.</li> + <li>Nagios for admins checking the system status.</li> + <li>GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.</li> + <li>LDAP for admins updating LDAP.</li> + <li>Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.</li> + <li>ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.</li> + +</ul></li> + +<li>When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to +authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to +use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it +is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind</li> + +<li>Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install. The split made +sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an +inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.</li> + +<li>Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before +touching the disk if the disk is too small. This is +<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/653305">BTS report #653305</a> and the +d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply +it and upload. After this is done we need to adjust +debian-edu-install to use this new hook.</li> + +<li>Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install +time config). LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install +packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work +in Wheezy. + +<li>Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow +the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding +up KDE login on slow networks.</li> + +<li>Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to +change on first login. This is useful when handing out password on +paper, to make sure only the user know the password. This require +fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.</li> + +<li>Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary. +The current command line script is not very friendly to people most +familiar with GUIs. This should probably be integrated into GOsa to +have it available where the admin will be looking for it..</li> + +<li>We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service +actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses). None of the +Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.</li> + +<li>We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles +using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less +packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.</li> + +<li>We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password +when changing password using the Kerberos protocol. The hook was +requested in <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/588968">BTS report +#588968</a> and is now available in Wheezy. We might need to write a +MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.</li> + +<li>We should clean up the set of applications installed by default. +<ul> + +<li>reduce the number of chemistry visualisers</li> +<li>consider dropping xpaint</li> +<li>and probably more?</li> +</ul></li> + +<li>Some hardware need external firmware to work properly. This is +mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other +examples too. For popular laptops to work out of the box, such +firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide +some GUI to do this. Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we +could consider using their packages. At the moment we have some +command line script to do this (one for the running system, another +for the LTSP chroot).</li> + + +<li>In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options. We +should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to +install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to +use.</li> + +<li>The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out +interesting educational packages. We should work on the package +tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational +packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install +new applications with a simple mouse click.</li> + +<li>The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place, +with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to +be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable +filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled. We should +implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it, +instead of the "it is documented" method of today.</li> + +<li>A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to +"take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room. +There are at least three implementations, +<a href="italc.sourceforge.net/">italc</a>, +<a href="http://www.itais.net/help/en/">controlaula</a> og +<a href="http://www.epoptes.org/">epoptes</a> and we should pick one of +them and make it trivial to set it up in a school. The challenges is +how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room +and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a +given room.</li> + +<li>Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we +should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into +the Debian Edu network. Not quite sure how. Perhaps we should +provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for +them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange +configuration and data with the central server. This should be +investigated.</li> + +</ul></p> + +<p>I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy +version.</p> + + + + + Litt statistikk fra Offentlig Elektronisk postjournal + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Litt_statistikk_fra_Offentlig_Elektronisk_postjournal.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Litt_statistikk_fra_Offentlig_Elektronisk_postjournal.html + Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:30:00 +0200 + <p>De siste månedene har jeg sammen med andre i NUUG jobbet med å +gjøre det enklere å få innsyn i offentlige dokumenter, og dette +inkluderer å gjøre postjournaler enklere tilgjengelig for maskinell +analyse og søk. I den forbindelse tok jeg i dag å tittet litt på +<a href="http://www.oep.no/">Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal +(OEP)</a>, FAD/DIFIs fellesløsning for departementer og statlige +etater.</p> + +<p>Her er antall oppføringer pr. måned det siste året, +<a href="https://api.scraperwiki.com/api/1.0/datastore/sqlite?format=htmltable&name=postliste-oep&query=select%20strftime(%22%25Y-%25m%22%2C%20%60recordpublishdate%60)%20as%20oeppubmonth%2C%20count(*)%20from%20%60swdata%60%20group%20by%20oeppubmonth%20order%20by%20oeppubmonth">summert +opp</a> ved hjelp av +<a href="https://scraperwiki.com/scrapers/postliste-oep/">en +Scraperwiki-database</a>. Merk at denne Scraperwikien har +ytelsesproblemer pga. mengden data. </p> + +<p><table border="1"> +<tr><th>Måned</th><th>Antall</th></tr> +<tr><td>2011-07</td><td>164355</td></tr> +<tr><td>2011-08</td><td>153662</td></tr> +<tr><td>2011-09</td><td>173134</td></tr> +<tr><td>2011-10</td><td>170665</td></tr> +<tr><td>2011-11</td><td>198409</td></tr> +<tr><td>2011-12</td><td>175908</td></tr> +<tr><td>2012-01</td><td>206875</td></tr> +<tr><td>2012-02</td><td>202862</td></tr> +<tr><td>2012-03</td><td>204225</td></tr> +<tr><td>2012-04</td><td>207931</td></tr> +<tr><td>2012-05</td><td>223754</td></tr> +</table></p> + +<p>Det er også interessant å se hvor ofte ulike etater sender inn sine +journaloppføringer til OEP. OEP inneholder en liste med sist +innrapporteringsdato for alle som sender til OEP, og ved å se når og +hvor ofte det blir sendt inn fra etatene kan +<a href="https://api.scraperwiki.com/api/1.0/datastore/sqlite?format=htmltable&name=postliste-oep-deliverydates&query=select%20agency%2C%0A(julianday(datetime('now'))%20-%20%0A%20julianday(min(%60deliverydate%60)))%2Fcount(*)%20as%20dayfreq%2C%0A%20count(*)%0Afrom%20%60swdata%60%20group%20by%20agency%20order%20by%20dayfreq%20desc">frekvensen +beregnes</a>. Her er bunnlista, dvs. de som leverer sjeldnere enn hver 10. +dag beregnet fra +<a href="https://scraperwiki.com/scrapers/postliste-oep-deliverydates/">en +Scraperwiki-database</a>:</p> + +<p><table border="1"> + +<tr> <th>Etat</th> <th>Frekvens</th> <th>Leveringer</th> </tr> +<tr> <td>Norges geologiske undersøkelse</td> <td>83.7527546296</td> <td>1</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Medietilsynet</td> <td>33.7527546296</td> <td>1</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Departementenes servicesenter</td> <td>23.8763773148</td> <td>2</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Kunnskapsdepartementet</td> <td>15.8763773148</td> <td>2</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Kompetansesenter for distriktsutvikling</td> <td>15.3763773148</td> <td>2</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Toll- og avgiftsdirektoratet</td> <td>15.3763773148</td> <td>2</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Fredskorpset</td> <td>12.5842515432</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Statens legemiddelverk</td> <td>12.1881886574</td> <td>4</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Utlendingsnemnda</td> <td>11.5842515432</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Politidirektoratet</td> <td>10.9175848765</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Skattedirektoratet</td> <td>10.9175848765</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Statens innkrevingssentral</td> <td>10.5842515432</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet</td> <td>10.2509182099</td> <td>3</td> </tr> +<tr> <td>Kunst i offentlige rom</td> <td>10.2509182099</td> <td>3</td> </tr> + +</table></p> + +<p>En kan beregne lignende frekvenser ved å sammenligne +journalføringsdato med publiseringsdato for hver enkelt oppføring i +OEP, men den lenken legger jeg ikke ved her for å unngå at +søkemotorroboter begynner å overbelaste Scraperwiki-databasen.</p> + +<p>Jeg har spurt Norges geologiske undersøkelse om hvorfor de leverer +så sjelden, og det kommer av at de har problemer etter oppgradering av +arkivsystemet sitt og jobber med å fikse det slik at de kan gå tilbake +til å levere hver uke. Har ikke undersøkt noen av de andre.</p> - Holder de ord og NUUG lanserer testtjeneste med stortingsinformasjon - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Holder_de_ord_og_NUUG_lanserer_testtjeneste_med_stortingsinformasjon.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Holder_de_ord_og_NUUG_lanserer_testtjeneste_med_stortingsinformasjon.html - Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:45:00 +0200 - <p>I -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_har_mine_representanter_stemt_i_Storinget_.html">januar -i fjor</a> startet vi i NUUG arbeid med å gjøre informasjon om hvem -som har stemt hva på <a href="http://www.stortinget.no/">Stortinget</a> -enklere tilgjengelig. I løpet av få måneder fant vi sammen med -organisasjonen <a href="http://www.holderdeord.no/">Holder de ord</a> -som arbeidet mot et lignende mål.</p> - -<p>Siden den gang har vi fått tak i maskinelt lesbart informasjon om -hvem som stemte hva mellom 1990 og våren 2010, og tilgang til -stortingets nye datatjeneste som har informasjon fra høsten 2011 til i -dag. Det gjenstår litt arbeid med det første datasettet, men -datasettet fra høsten 2011 er klart til bruk. Begge datasettene er -tilgjengelig <a href="https://gitorious.org/nuug/folketingparser">via -git</a>.</p> - -<p>På -<a href="http://www.goopen.no/holder-de-ord-datadrevet-oppfolging-av-politiske-lofter/">Go Open</a> i morgen lanserer -NUUG sammen med Holder de ord <a href="http://beta.holderdeord.no/">en -test-tjeneste</a> som viser hva som er og blir behandlet på Stortinget og -hvem som har stemt hva siden oktober i fjor. Du får herved mulighet -til å ta en sniktitt.</p> + TV with face recognition, for improved viewer experience + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/TV_with_face_recognition__for_improved_viewer_experience.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/TV_with_face_recognition__for_improved_viewer_experience.html + Sat, 9 Jun 2012 22:00:00 +0200 + <p>Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a +<a href="http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/12/06/09/0012247/intel-to-launch-tv-service-with-facial-recognition-by-end-of-the-year">TV +with face recognition</a> to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to +me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face +recognition on the TV image itself. It could let the viewer know who +is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility, +company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better +evaluate what is being said and done. That would be a feature I would +be willing to pay for.</p> + +<p>I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my +household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel. +It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book +<a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt">1984 by George +Orwell</a>.</p> - RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html - Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:20:00 +0200 - <p>Here in Norway, the -<a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of -Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind -a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of -standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the -government. When the directory was created, the people behind it made -an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the -standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions -to the government. Free software and non-free software could compete -on the same level.</p> - -<p>But recently, some standards with RAND -(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable -And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the -directory. And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that -standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from -implementing them. The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per -user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone -willing to pay will get a license. Both sound great in theory. In -practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and -be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user. By -definition, users of free software do not need to register their use. -So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects. -And given that people will use the software without handing any money -to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free -software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights -to implement a standard when the income available is zero. The result -in these situations is that free software are locked out from -implementing standards with RAND terms.</p> - -<p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a -standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is -how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory. Because free -software developers are working in a global market, it does not really -help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable -in Norway. The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here. -I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more -attention to these issues in the future.</p> - -<p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms -from Simon Phipps -(<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND: -Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p> - -<p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a -<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog -post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the -same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government. I -can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for -<a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the -hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27). -It proposes to require video conferencing standards including -specifications with RAND terms.</p> + Web service to look up HP and Dell computer hardware support status + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Web_service_to_look_up_HP_and_Dell_computer_hardware_support_status.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Web_service_to_look_up_HP_and_Dell_computer_hardware_support_status.html + Wed, 6 Jun 2012 23:15:00 +0200 + <p>A few days ago +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html">I +reported how to get</a> the support status out of Dell using an +unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was +<a href="http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/2012-February/045959.html">discovered +by Daniel De Marco in february</a>. Combined with my web scraping +code for HP, Dell and IBM +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">from +2009</a>, I got inspired and wrote +<a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/">a +web service</a> based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the +support status and get a machine readable result back.</p> + +<p>This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON +output: + +<blockquote><pre> +% GET <a href="https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1">https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1</a> +supportstatus({"servicetag": "2v1xwn1", "warrantyend": "2013-11-24", "shipped": "2010-11-24", "scrapestamputc": "2012-06-06T20:26:56.965847", "scrapedurl": "http://143.166.84.118/services/assetservice.asmx?WSDL", "vendor": "Dell", "productid": ""}) +% +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add +support for other vendors. The python source is available on +Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.</p> - Forskning: "GPL gir lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling av makt fra produsent til bruker" - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Forskning___GPL_gir_lokal_frihet_og_kontroll_gjennom_omfordeling_av_makt_fra_produsent_til_bruker_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Forskning___GPL_gir_lokal_frihet_og_kontroll_gjennom_omfordeling_av_makt_fra_produsent_til_bruker_.html - Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0200 - <p>Da jeg googlet etter noe annet kom jeg tilfeldigvis over -<a href="http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/work.html?WORKID=58309">en -hovedfagsoppgave</a> ved Universitetet i Oslo som diskuterer verdien -av GPLs fire friheter for brukerne av IT-systemer. Jeg ble fascinert -over det som presenteres der. Her er sammendraget:</p> + Kommentar til artikkel i Adresseavisa som omtaler FiksGataMi + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kommentar_til_artikkel_i_Adresseavisa_som_omtaler_FiksGataMi.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kommentar_til_artikkel_i_Adresseavisa_som_omtaler_FiksGataMi.html + Sat, 2 Jun 2012 19:30:00 +0200 + <p>Jeg oppdaget nylig en +<a href="http://www.adressa.no/nyheter/trondheim/article1831198.ece">artikkel +i Adresseavisa</a> i Trondheim som nevner FiksGataMi, og der Trondheim +kommune ser ut til å fortelle at de ikke følger forvaltningslovens +krav ved mottak av meldinger sendt inn via FiksGataMi. La derfor +nettopp inn denne kommentaren til artikkelen:<p> <p><blockquote> -<p>Motivasjonen til å skrive denne oppgaven er en personlig undring -over hvorfor det primært, og ofte eksklusivt, fokuseres på det -økonomiske aspektet ved utredninger om fri programvare er et godt valg -for det offentlige. Fri og produsenteid programvare bygger på -fundamentalt forskjellige ideologier som kan ha implikasjoner utover -økonomiske kostnader. Kunnskapskulturen som er med på å definere fri -programvare er basert på åpenhet, og er en verdi i seg selv.</p> - -<p>Oppgavens tema er programvarelisensen GPL og frihet. GPL-lisensiert -programvare gir visse friheter i forhold til produsenteid -programvare. Mitt spørsmål er om, og eventuelt i hvilken utstrekning, -disse frihetene blir benyttet av ulike brukere og hvordan de -manifesterer seg for disse brukerne. Sentrale spørsmål i oppgaven -er:</p> +<p>Her er en liten faktaoppdatering om FiksGataMi-tjenesten, da noen +ser ut til å ha misforstått hvordan den fungerer.</p> + +<p>FiksGataMi er et privat initiativ opprettet og drevet av +medlemsforeningen NUUG. FiksGataMi tar imot meldinger om feil i +offentlig infrastruktur, og sender meldingen skriftlig videre på vegne +av innmelder til aktuell aktør i det offentlige, det være seg kommune, +fylke eller vegvesenregion. Offentlig etat blir valgt ut fra +geografisk plassering og kategori valgt av innsender. Offentlige +etater er i følge forvaltningsloven pliktig å følge opp og besvare +skriftlige henvendelser, og hvis noen av mottakerne ikke gjør dette +kan en klage på lovbrudd i det offentlige. FiksGataMi fungerer dermed +som en slags epostklient for innbyggerne der kopi av innsendte +meldinger gjøres tilgjengelig og knyttes til kartplassering for enkel +gjenfinning. Å sende inn nye problemrapporter via FiksGataMi er +dermed ikke avhengig av at kommunen aktivt må følge med på meldinger +hos FiksGataMi, da de får dem tilsendt på sine offisielle +epostmottakspunkter. Hvorvidt noe blir fikset og om innbyggerne er +opp til mottaker av meldingene. For Trondheim kommune er +mottaksadressen bydrift.vegdrift@trondheim.kommune.no, en adresse jeg +inntil jeg leste denne artikkelen trodde ble håndtert i henhold til +forvaltningslovens krav.</p> + +<p>Kan ellers fortelle at 57 kommuner lenker til FiksGataMi fra sine +nettsider, og at 37 % (4182 av 11266 ) av problemrapportene sendt inn +via FiksGataMi er markert som løst i løsningen. Trondheim kommune har +fått tilbud om å få rapportene levert på datamaskinlesbart format i +stedet for epost, men har ikke takket ja så langt.</p> + +<p>Vennlig hilsen Petter Reinholdtsen, en av NUUG-folkene bak FiksGataMi.no</p> -<ul> -<li>Hvordan fordeles handlekraft gjennom lisensieringen av programvaren?</li> -<li>Hvilke konsekvenser har programvarelisensen for de ulike brukere? </li> -</ul> - -<p>Fri programvare gir blant annet brukeren mulighet til å studere og -modifisere kildekoden. Denne formen for frihet erverves gjennom -kunnskap og krever at brukeren også er en ekspert. Hva skjer med -frihetene til GPL når sluttbrukeren er en annen? Dette diskuteres i -dialog med informantene.</p> - -<p>Jeg har i denne oppgaven samlet inn intervjudata fra IKT-ansvarlige -ved grunnskolene i Nittedal kommune, driftsansvarlig og IKT-veilederen -for skolene i kommunen, samt IKT-koordinator for utdanning i Akershus -fylkeskommune og bokmåloversettere av OpenOffice.org. Den empiriske -delen av oppgaven er delt inn i to seksjoner; den første omhandler -operativsystemet Skolelinux, den andre kontorprogrampakken -OpenOffice.org.</p> - -<p>Som vi vil se gir GPL lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling -av makt fra produsent til bruker. Brukerens makt analyseres gjennom -begrepene brukermedvirkning og handlingsfrihet. Det blir også lagt -vekt på strukturelle forhold rundt bruken av teknologi, og spesielt de -økonomiske begrepene nettverkseksternaliteter, innlåsing og -stiavhengighet. Dette er begreper av spesiell nytte når objektet som -omsettes eller distribueres er et kommunikasjonsprodukt, fordi verdien -til et slikt gode for en potensiell bruker avhenger av antall -eksisterende brukere av godet. I tilknytning til denne problematikken -inneholder oppgaven også en diskusjon rundt åpne standarder og -formater.</p> - -<p>Oppgaven konkluderer med at de «fire frihetene» som GPL-lisensen er -laget for å beskytte er av avgjørende betydning for bruken av -OpenOffice.org og Skolelinux, i Akershus fylkeskommune såvel som i -skolene i Nittedal. Distribusjonen av handlekraft er ikke helt -symmetrisk. Det er først og fremst de profesjonelle utviklerne i -Skolelinux som direkte kan nyttiggjøre seg friheten til å endre kode, -mens en sluttbruker som Nittedal kommune nyttiggjør seg den økonomiske -friheten til å kunne distribuere programmene. Det er imidlertid også -slik at ingen aktør klarer seg uten alle disse «frihetene».</p> </blockquote></p> -<p>Jeg fant også en masteroppgave fra 2006, men der ligger ikke -komplett oppgave tilgjengelig. På tide å holde et øye med -<a href="http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/search.html?q=skolelinux">Skolelinux-søket</a> -til DUO...</p> - +<p>Det høres for meg ut som om innbyggerne i Trondheim burde klage på +kommunens potensielle lovbrudd.</p> - Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html - Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:10:00 +0200 - <p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and -Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of -setting together all the pieces. This time I present to you Andreas -Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several -years. He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set -up in the recently released -<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian -Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p> + Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Mike_Gabriel.html + Sat, 2 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0200 + <p>Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the +<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> +mailing list. He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and +thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the +<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311.html">Debian Edu +Squeeze</a> version.</p> <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> -<p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany. After -studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in -Quantum Optics. After that I worked some years in an optics company. -Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started -teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school. I teach math, physics, -information technology and science/technology.</p> +<p>My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel, +Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner +(Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed +by Angela).</p> + +<p>During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator +and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work +touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During +the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in +becoming an osteopath.</p> + +<p>Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel) +have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at +introducing free software into schools. The project's name is +"IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT +skills with communication skills.</p> <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project?</strong></p> -<p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu -project because of my interest in education and Debian. Within the -qualification/training period for the teaching, I started -contributing.</p> +<p>While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for +"IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to +reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available, +people said. From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux +distributions that target being used for school networks.</p> + +<p>At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a +commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen, +Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we +went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing +and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian +Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that +got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most +attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within +the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.</p> + +<p>In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local +people. People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data +protection experts, other IT professionals.</p> + +<p>We came to two conclusions:</p> + +<p>First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in +bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit +by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup +whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard +IT solution. The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and +customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are +possible. In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a +standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some +degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here +locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting +point.</p> + +<p>Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at +all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions +for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What +has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment +of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule" +tries to provide an approach for this.</p> + +<p>Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains, +defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in +Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT +equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin) +teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there +spare time.</p> + +<p>We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were +networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school +here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to +teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi +non-existent until 2010/2011.</p> + +<p>Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in +class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this +avoidance do exist.</p> + +<p>We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this +social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey +for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with +several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and +they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management +at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new +and probably a gain for all.</p> <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?</strong></p> -<p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the -out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the -Debian Project!</p> +<p>There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to +any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian, +the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone +workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within +project communication, honest communication within the group of +developers, etc.</p> <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?</strong></p> -<p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its -downside, too. In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the -setup, if you need or want that. Further more, it is not easily -possible to upgrade the system to a new release. It takes much too -long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps -because the number of developers working on the core of the code is -rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p> - -<p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a> -project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p> +<p>Every coin has two sides:</p> + +<p>Technically: <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/311188">BTS issue +#311188</a>, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network +client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation +should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think +about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into +several portions (to make it easier for new developers to +contribute).</p> + +<p>Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should +find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for +Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany +promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are +there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring +these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and +all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last +meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people +there being rather disconnected from the development department of +Debian Edu / Skolelinux.</p> <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> -<p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian -on all my machines. For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then -mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing. At school I -have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p> +<p>For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.</p> -<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?</strong></p> +<p>For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For +serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for +more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.</p> -<p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom: -Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and -politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader". The school -administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor. -Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats. Even -free browsers do not work for the school administration. Publishers -of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p> - -<p>To change this, political work is very important. Parts of the -political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years. -However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free' -the system. There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and -"Free/Open Standards". I am not sure if all the involved parties have -a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a -fraction takes them seriously. However it might slowly make free -software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p> - - - - - Jeg skal på konferansen Go Open 2012 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jeg_skal_p__konferansen_Go_Open_2012.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jeg_skal_p__konferansen_Go_Open_2012.html - Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:30:00 +0200 - <p>Jeg har tenkt meg på konferansen <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go -Open 2012</a> i Oslo 23. april. -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Medlemsforeningen NUUG</a> deler ut -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/prisen/">prisen for fremme av fri -programvare i Norge</a> der i år. Kommer du?</p> - - - - - Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html - Sun, 8 Apr 2012 10:50:00 +0200 - <p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution -like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>, -and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big -contributor to the -<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian -Edu Squeeze release manual</a>. +<p>I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the +development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI. +PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently +is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.</p> -<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> - -<p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has -occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p> - -<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu -project?</strong></p> - -<p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user! The only -reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang -around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things -they'd like a native English speaker to proofread... So I did a sweep -through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of -"localisation".</p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it! In fact I -had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the -education system.</p> - -<p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up -as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do -everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend -money on the latest hardware.</p> - -<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> +<p>For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde +as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber +I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also +the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive +whiteboard.</p> -<p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the -software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other -words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p> +<p>My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.</p> <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools to use free software?</strong></p> -<p>Well, I don't know. I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning -with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked -you would hardly need a strategy.</p> +<p>Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people, +enrol people.</p> - Why the KDE menu is slow when /usr/ is NFS mounted - and a workaround - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_the_KDE_menu_is_slow_when__usr__is_NFS_mounted___and_a_workaround.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_the_KDE_menu_is_slow_when__usr__is_NFS_mounted___and_a_workaround.html - Fri, 6 Apr 2012 22:40:00 +0200 - <p>Recently I have spent time with -<a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding -up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> -Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the -process I discovered something very surprising. The reason the KDE -menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly -due to the way KDE find application icons. I discovered that showing -the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be -passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server. Most of these were - -NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response. Because the -ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20 -ms, the menus would be very slow. Looking at the strace of kicker in -Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that -the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for -non-existing files. KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find -one icon file. In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required -around 230 access(2) calls.</p> - -<p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon -directories, and the list of possible directories is large. In -(almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg -and .xpm. The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS -mounted. Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS -requests. I am not the first one to discover this. I found a -<a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report -from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p> - -<p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package -kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files -used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths -for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the -icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/. Finally, I add symlinks to -these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look -for them. This cut down the number of file accesses required to find -one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu -almost instantaneous. I'm not quite sure where to make the package -publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p> - -<p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu -and icon handling, but also the login process. Not quite sure how to -speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and -that is not really an option at the moment.</p> - -<p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu -(at) lists.debian.org.</p> + SOAP based webservice from Dell to check server support status + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/SOAP_based_webservice_from_Dell_to_check_server_support_status.html + Fri, 1 Jun 2012 15:20:00 +0200 + <p>A few years ago I wrote +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Checking_server_hardware_support_status_for_Dell__HP_and_IBM_servers.html">how +to extract support status</a> for your Dell and HP servers. Recently +I have learned from colleges here at the +<a href="http://www.uio.no/">University of Oslo</a> that Dell have +made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service. Given +the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine +readable information about the support status. This perl code +demonstrate how to do it:</p> + +<p><pre> +use strict; +use warnings; +use SOAP::Lite; +use Data::Dumper; +my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111'; +my $App = 'test'; +my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n"; +my ($deal, $latest, @dates); +my $s = SOAP::Lite + -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/') + -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } ) + -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx') + ; +my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation( + SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''), + SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''), + SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''), +); +print Dumper($a -> result) ; +</pre></p> + +<p>The output can look like this:</p> + +<p><pre> +$VAR1 = { + 'Asset' => { + 'Entitlements' => { + 'EntitlementData' => [ + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + }, + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + }, + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + } + ] + }, + 'AssetHeaderData' => { + 'SystemModel' => 'GX620', + 'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J', + 'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00', + 'Buid' => '2323', + 'Region' => 'Europe', + 'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620', + 'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex' + } + } + }; +</pre></p> + +<p>I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this +service outside the +<a href="http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx?op=GetAssetInformation">inline +documentation</a>, and according to +<a href="http://iboyd.net/index.php/2012/02/14/updated-dell-warranty-information-script/">one +comment</a> it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than +scraping HTML pages. :)</p> + +<p>Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service. If +you know of one, drop me an email. :)</p>