Debian Edu / Skolelinux is -an operating system based on Debian intended for use in schools. It -contain a turn-key solution for the computer network provided to -pupils in the primary schools. It provide both the central server, -network boot servers and desktop environments with heaps of -educational software. The project was founded almost 12 years ago, -2001-07-02. If you want to support the project, which is in need for -cash to fund developer gatherings and other project related activity, -please -donate some money. - -
A topic that come up again and again on the Debian Edu mailing -lists and elsewhere, is the question on how to transform a Debian or -Ubuntu installation into a Debian Edu installation. It isn't very -hard, and last week I wrote a script to replicate the steps done by -the Debian Edu installer.
- -The script, -debian-edu-bless -in the debian-edu-config package, will go through these six steps and -transform an existing Debian Wheezy or Ubuntu (untested) installation -into a Debian Edu Workstation:
+ +I was introduced to the +Freedombox project +in 2010, when Eben Moglen presented his vision about serving the need +of non-technical people to keep their personal information private and +within the legal protection of their own homes. The idea is to give +people back the power over their network and machines, and return +Internet back to its intended peer-to-peer architecture. Instead of +depending on a central service, the Freedombox will give everyone +control over their own basic infrastructure.
+ +I've intended to join the effort since then, but other tasks have +taken priority. But this summers nasty news about the misuse of trust +and privilege exercised by the "western" intelligence gathering +communities increased my eagerness to contribute to a point where I +actually started working on the project a while back.
+ +The initial +Debian initiative based on the vision from Eben Moglen, is to +create a simple and cheap Debian based appliance that anyone can hook +up in their home and get access to secure and private services and +communication. The initial deployment platform have been the +Dreamplug, +which is a piece of hardware I do not own. So to be able to test what +the current Freedombox setup, I had to come up with a way to install +it on some hardware I do got access to. I have rewritten the +freedom-maker +image build framework to use .deb packages instead of only copying +setup into the boot images, and thanks to this rewrite I am able to +set up any machine supported by Debian Wheezy as a Freedombox, using +the previously mentioned deb (and a few support debs for packages +missing in Debian).
+ +The current Freedombox setup consist of a set of bootstrapping +scripts +(freedombox-setup), +and a administrative web interface +(plinth + exmachina + +withsqlite), as well as a privacy enhancing proxy based on +privoxy +(freedombox-privoxy). There is also a web/javascript based XMPP +client (jwchat) +trying (unsuccessfully so far) to talk to the XMPP server +(ejabberd). The +web interface is pluggable, and the goal is to use it to enable OpenID +services, mesh network connectivity, use of TOR, etc, etc. Not much of +this is really working yet, see +the +project TODO for links to GIT repositories. Most of the code is +on github at the moment. The HTTP proxy is operational out of the +box, and the admin web interface can be used to add/remove plinth +users. I've not been able to do anything else with it so far, but +know there are several branches spread around github and other places +with lots of half baked features.
+ +Anyway, if you want to have a look at the current stat, the +following recipes should work to give you a test machine to poke +at.
+ +Debian Wheezy amd64
-
-
- Add skolelinux related APT sources. -
- Create /etc/debian-edu/config with the wanted configuration. -
- Install debian-edu-install to load preseeding values and pull in - our configuration. -
- Preseed debconf database with profile setup in - /etc/debian-edu/config, and run tasksel to install packages - according to the profile specified in the config above, - overriding some of the Debian automation machinery. -
- Run debian-edu-cfengine-D installation to configure everything - that could not be done using preseeding. -
- Ask for a reboot to enable all the configuration changes. +
- Fetch normal Debian Wheezy installation ISO. +
- Boot from it, either as CD or USB stick. +
Press [tab] on the boot prompt and add this as a boot argument +to the Debian installer:
+
url=http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat
+
+- Answer the few language/region/password questions and pick disk to +install on. + +
- When the installation is finished and the machine have rebooted a +few times, your Freedombox is ready for testing. + +
Raspberry Pi Raspbian
+ +-
+
+
- Fetch a Raspbian SD card image, create SD card. +
- Boot from SD card, extend file system to fill the card completely. +
Log in and add this to /etc/sources.list:
++deb http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox wheezy main +
+Run this as root:
++wget -O - http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/BE1A583D.asc | \ + apt-key add - +apt-get update +apt-get install freedombox-setup +/usr/lib/freedombox/setup +
+- Reboot into your freshly created Freedombox.
There are some steps in the Debian Edu installation that can not be -replicated like this. Disk partitioning and LVM setup, for example. -So this script just assume there is enough disk space to install all -the needed packages.
- -The script was created to help a Debian Edu student working on -setting up Raspberry Pi as a -Debian Edu client, and using it he can take the existing -Rapbian installation and -transform it into a fully functioning Debian Edu Workstation (or -Roaming Workstation, or whatever :).
- -The default setting in the script is to create a KDE Workstation. -If a LXDE based Roaming workstation is wanted instead, modify the -PROFILE and DESKTOP values at the top to look like this instead:
- --PROFILE="Roaming-Workstation" -DESKTOP="lxde" -- -
The script could even become useful to set up Debian Edu servers in -the cloud, by starting with a virtual Debian installation at some -virtual hosting service and setting up all the services on first -boot.
+You can test it on other architectures too, but because the +freedombox-privoxy package is binary, it will only work as intended on +the architectures where I have had time to build the binary and put it +in my APT repository. But do not let this stop you. It is only a +short "apt-get source -b freedombox-privoxy" away. :)
+ +Note that by default Freedombox is a DHCP server on the +192.168.1.0/24 subnet, so if this is your subnet be careful and turn +off the DHCP server by running "update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server +disable" as root.
+ +Please let me know if this work for you, or if you have any +problems. We gather on the IRC channel +#freedombox on +irc.debian.org and the +project +mailing list.
+ +Once you get your freedombox operational, you can visit +http://your-host-name:8001/ to see the state of the plint +welcome screen (dead end - do not be surprised if you are unable to +get past it), and next visit http://your-host-name:8001/help/ +to look at the rest of plinth. The default user is 'admin' and the +default password is 'secret'.
The Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project is making great progress and made its second Wheezy based -release today. This is the release announcement:
+ +I 2011 raderte et stortingsflertall bestående av Høyre og +Arbeiderpartiet vekk en betydelig del av privatsfæren til det norske +folk. Det ble vedtatt at det skulle registreres og lagres i et halvt +år hvor alle som bærer på en mobiltelefon befinner seg, hvem de +snakker med og hvor lenge de snakket sammen. Det skal også +registreres hvem de sendte SMS-meldinger til, hvem en har sendt epost +til, og hvilke nett-tjenere en besøkte. Saken er kjent som +Datalagringsdirektivet +(DLD), og innebærer at alle innbyggerne og andre innenfor Norges +grenser overvåkes døgnet rundt. Det ble i praksis innført brev og +besøkskontroll av hele befolkningen. Rapporter fra de landene som +allerede har innført slik total lagring av borgernes +kommunikasjonsmønstre forteller at det ikke hjelper i +kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. Den norske prislappen blir mange hundre +millioner, uten at det ser ut til å bidra positivt til politiets +arbeide. Jeg synes flere hundre millioner i stedet burde vært brukt +på noe som kan dokumenteres å ha effekt i kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. +Se mer på +Wikipedia +og Jon Wessel-Aas.
+ +Hva er problemet, tenkter du kanskje? Et åpenbart problem er at +medienes kildevern i praksis blir radert ut. Den innsamlede +informasjonen gjør det mulig å finne ut hvem som har snakket med +journalister på telefon, SMS og epost, og hvem som har vært i nærheten +av journalister så sant begge bar med seg en telefon. Et annet er at +advokatvernet blir sterkt redusert, der politiet kan finne ut hvem +som har snakket med en advokat når, eller vært i møter en med advokat. +Et tredje er at svært personlig informasjon kan avledes fra hvilke +nettsteder en har besøkt. Har en besøkt hivnorge.no, +swingersnorge.com eller andre sider som kan brukes til avlede +interesser som hører til privatsfæren, vil denne informasjonen være +tilgjengelig takket være datalagringsdirektivet.
+ +De fleste partiene var mot, kun to partier stemte for. Høyre og +Arbeiderpartiet. Og både Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet i Oslo har +DLD-forkjempere på toppen av sine lister (har ikke sjekket de andre +fylkene). Det er dermed helt uaktuelt for meg å stemme på disse +partiene. Her er oversikten over partienes valglister i Oslo, med +informasjon om hvem som stemte hva i første DLD-votering i Stortinget, +basert på informasjon fra mine venner i +Holder de +Ord samt data.stortinget.no. +Først ut er stortingslista fra Høyre for Oslo:
+ + + +# | Navn, fødselsår og valgkrets | Stemme/kommentar |
---|---|---|
1. | +Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (1976), Gamle Oslo | +Stemte for DLD |
2. | +Nikolai Astrup (1978), Frogner | +Stemte mot DLD |
3. | +Michael Tetzschner (1954), Vestre Aker | +Stemte mot DLD | + +
4. | +Kristin Vinje (1963), Nordre Aker | +Ikke til stede |
5. | +Mudassar Hussain Kapur (1976), Nordstrand | +Ikke til stede |
6. | +Stefan Magnus B. Heggelund (1984), Grünerløkka | +Ikke til stede |
7. | +Heidi Nordby Lunde (1973), Grünerløkka | +Ikke til stede |
8. | +Frode Helgerud (1950), Frogner | +Ikke til stede |
9. | +Afshan Rafiq (1975), Stovner | +Ikke til stede |
10. | +Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg (1936), Frogner | +Ikke til stede |
11. | +Camilla Strandskog (1984) St.Hanshaugen | +Ikke til stede |
12. | +John Christian Elden (1967), Ullern | +Ikke til stede |
13. | +Berit Solli (1972), Alna | +Ikke til stede |
14. | +Ola Kvisgaard (1963), Frogner | +Ikke til stede |
15. | +James Stove Lorentzen (1957), Vestre Aker | +Ikke til stede |
16. | +Gülsüm Koc (1987), Stovner | +Ikke til stede |
17. | +Jon Ole Whist (1976), Grünerløkka | +Ikke til stede |
18. | +Maren Eline Malthe-Sørenssen (1971), Vestre Aker | +Ikke til stede |
19. | +Ståle Hagen (1968), Søndre Nordstrand | +Ikke til stede |
20. | +Kjell Omdal Erichsen (1978), Sagene | +Ikke til stede |
21. | +Saida R. Begum (1987), Grünerløkka | +Ikke til stede |
22. | +Torkel Brekke (1970), Nordre Aker | +Ikke til stede |
23. | +Sverre K. Seeberg (1950), Vestre Aker | +Ikke til stede |
24. | +Julie Margrethe Brodtkorb (1974), Ullern | +Ikke til stede |
25. | +Fabian Stang (1955), Frogner | +Ikke til stede |
Deretter har vi stortingslista fra Arbeiderpartiet for Oslo:
+ +# | Navn, fødselsår og valgkrets | Stemme/kommentar |
---|---|---|
1. | +Jens Stoltenberg (1959), Frogner | +Ikke til stede i Stortinget, leder av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget |
2. | +Hadia Tajik (1983), Grünerløkka | +Stemte for DLD |
3. | +Jonas Gahr Støre (1960), Vestre Aker | +Ikke til stede i Stortinget, medlem av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget |
4. | +Marianne Marthinsen (1980), Grünerløkka | +Stemte for DLD |
5. | +Jan Bøhler (1952), Alna | +Stemte for DLD |
6. | +Marit Nybakk (1947), Frogner | +Stemte for DLD |
7. | +Truls Wickholm (1978), Sagene | +Stemte for DLD |
8. | +Prableen Kaur (1993), Grorud | +Ikke til stede |
9. | +Vegard Grøslie Wennesland (1983), St.Hanshaugen | +Ikke til stede |
10. | +Inger Helene Vaaten (1975), Grorud | +Ikke til stede |
11. | +Ivar Leveraas (1939), Alna | +Ikke til stede |
12. | +Grete Haugdal (1971), Gamle Oslo | +Ikke til stede |
13. | +Olav Tønsberg (1948), Alna | +Ikke til stede |
14. | +Khamshajiny Gunaratnam (1988), Grorud | +Ikke til stede |
15. | +Fredrik Mellem (1969), Sagene | +Ikke til stede |
16. | +Brit Axelsen (1945), Stovner | +Ikke til stede |
17. | +Dag Bayegan-Harlem (1977), Ullern | +Ikke til stede |
18. | +Kristin Sandaker (1963), Ãsteinsjø | +Ikke til stede |
19. | +Bashe Musse (1965), Grünerløkka | +Ikke til stede |
20. | +Torunn Kanutte Husvik (1983), St. Hanshaugen | +Ikke til stede |
21. | +Steinar Andersen (1947), Nordstrand | +Ikke til stede |
22. | +Anne Cathrine Berger (1972), Sagene | +Ikke til stede |
23. | +Khalid Mahmood (1959), Ãstensjø | +Ikke til stede |
24. | +Munir Jaber (1990), Alna | +Ikke til stede |
25. | +Libe Solberg Rieber-Mohn (1965), Frogner | +Ikke til stede |
Hvilket parti får så min stemme i år. Jeg tror det blir +Piratpartiet. Hvis de kan bidra +til at det kommer noen inn på Stortinget med teknisk peiling, så får +kanskje ikke overvåkningsgalskapen like fritt spillerom som det har +hatt så langt.
+ +The second wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today, slightly delayed because of some bugs in the initial Windows +integration fixes . This is the release announcement:
+ +New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b1 released 2013-08-22
+ +These are the release notes for Debian Edu / Skolelinux +7.1+edu0~b1, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".
+ +About Debian Edu and Skolelinux
+ +Debian Edu, also known as +Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an +out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school +network. Immediately after installation a school server running all +services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users +and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting +environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of +the main server from CD or USB stick all other machines can be +installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP +database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home +directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The +desktop contains +more +than 60 educational software packages and more are available from +the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE +and Xfce desktop environment.
+ +This is the sixth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically this +is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the Squeeze +release.
+ +ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the +versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta +release. Both alpha and beta0 based installations should reinstall or +deal with gosa.conf manually; there are two options: (1) Keep +gosa.conf and edit this file as outlined +on +the mailing list. (2) Accept the new version of gosa.conf and +replace both contained admin password placeholders with the password +hashes found in the old one (backup copy!). In both cases every user +need to change their their password to make sure a password is set for +CIFS access to their home directory.
Software updates
+-
-
- Install freemind (0.9.0) by default, and stop installing vym by - default. -
- Install chromium (26.0.1410.43) by default. -
- Install goplay (0.5-1.1) to make golearn available by default. -
- Updated support for Japanese input methods, now based on - ibus-anthy. + +
- Added ssh askpass packages to default installation, to ensure ssh + work also without a attached tty. +
- Add the command-not-found package to the default installation to + make it easier to figure out where to find missing command line + tools. Please note, that the command 'update-command-not-found' + has to be run as root to actually make it useful (internet access + required). +
Other changes
+-
-
- Switched default file system from ext3 to ext4 for speed and - reliability improvements. -
- Got rid of unwanted winbind daemon and PAM setup activated because - of 706434. -
- Extended and improved the testsuite tests to detect more possible - problems. -
- Corrected proxy handling to not set http_proxy to a bogus - direct:// URL. -
- Corrected proxy setup for diskless workstations. -
- Corrected PXE setup to use our updated udebs during installation. -
- Made installation handling of low entropy level more robust. -
- Create larger partitions for Roaming workstations and Thin client - servers, to make room for all the software installed. -
- Fix bug in Roaming workstation PAM setup, making it impossible to - log in (706753). +
- Adjusted the USB stick ISO image build to include every tool +needed for desktop=xfce installations. +
- Adjust thin-client-server task to work when installing from USB +stick ISO image. +
- Made new grub artwork (changed png from indexed to RGB format). +
- Minor cleanup in the CUPS setup. +
- Make sure that bootstrapping of the Samba domain really happens + during installation of the main server and adjust SID handling to + cope with this. +
- Make Samba passwords changeable (again) via GOsa². +
- Fix generation of LM and NT password hashes via GOsa² to avoid + empty password hashes. +
- Adapted Samba machine domain joining to latest change in the + smbldap-tools Perl package, fixing bugs blocking Windows machines + from joining the Samba domain. +
Known issues
+-
-
- IP resolution for the local hostname give useless IPv6 address - (705900). Only install - libnss-myhostname on roaming workstations until it is fixed. -
- DVD images are not yet ready. -
- No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) - available yet (698840). -
- Missing artwork for the KDE desktop (and probably a few others). -
- KDE Debian submenu lacks icons. -
- LXDE menu lacks entry for changing GOsa password - (website). Installing gosa-desktop will be an option. -
- Backup configuration via web interface is impossible due to - password submission problem - (700257). +
- KDE fails to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to + not use the http proxy as it should. +
- Chromium also fails to use the proxy when using the KDE desktop + (using the KDE configuration).
Where to get it
To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use
+ +-
+
+
- ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso + +
- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso + +
- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso . + +
The MD5SUM of this image is: 1e357f80b55e703523f2254adde6d78b
+
The SHA1SUM of this image is: 7157f9be5fd27c7694d713c6ecfed61c3edda3b2
To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use
+-
-
- ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso -
- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso -
- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso debian-edu~7.0+edu0~a1-CD.iso +
- ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso +
- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso +
- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso .
The MD5SUM of this image is: 685ed76c1aa8e44b12d3fde21faf450b
+The MD5SUM of this image is: 7a8408ead59cf7e3cef25afb6e91590b
+
The SHA1SUM of this image is: f1817c031f02790d5edb3bfa0dcf8451088ad119
The SHA1SUM of this image is: 6c874de157024da13e115bab29c068080a11ec4c
How to report bugs
- +