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:
- --
-
-
- 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. +
The last few days I came across a few good causes that should get +wider attention. I recommend signing and donating to each one of +these. :)
+ +Via Debian +Project News for 2013-10-14 I came across the Outreach Program for +Women program which is a Google Summer of Code like initiative to get +more women involved in free software. One debian sponsor has offered +to match any donation done to Debian +earmarked for this initiative. I donated a few minutes ago, and +hope you will to. :)
+ +And the Electronic Frontier Foundation just announced plans to +create video +documentaries about the excessive spying on every Internet user that +take place these days, and their need to fund the work. I've already +donated. Are you next?
+ +For my Norwegian audience, the organisation Studentenes og +Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond is collecting signatures for a +statement under the heading +Bloggers United for Open +Access for those of us asking for more focus on open access in the +Norwegian government. So far 499 signatures. I hope you will sign it +too.
+Wireless mesh networks are self organising and self healing +networks that can be used to connect computers across small and large +areas, depending on the radio technology used. Normal wifi equipment +can be used to create home made radio networks, and there are several +successful examples like +Freifunk and +Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network +(see +wikipedia +for a large list) around the globe. To give you an idea how it +work, check out the nice overview of the Kiel Freifunk community which +can be seen from their +dynamically +updated node graph and map, where one can see how the mesh nodes +automatically handle routing and recover from nodes disappearing. +There is also a small community mesh network group in Oslo, Norway, +and that is the main topic of this blog post.
+ +I've wanted to check out mesh networks for a while now, and hoped +to do it as part of my involvement with the NUUG member organisation community, and +my recent involvement in +the Freedombox project +finally lead me to give mesh networks some priority, as I suspect a +Freedombox should use mesh networks to connect neighbours and family +when possible, given that most communication between people are +between those nearby (as shown for example by research on Facebook +communication patterns). It also allow people to communicate without +any central hub to tap into for those that want to listen in on the +private communication of citizens, which have become more and more +important over the years.
+ +So far I have only been able to find one group of people in Oslo +working on community mesh networks, over at the hack space +Hackeriet at Husmania. They seem to +have started with some Freifunk based effort using OLSR, called +the Oslo +Freifunk project, but that effort is now dead and the people +behind it have moved on to a batman-adv based system called +meshfx. Unfortunately the wiki +site for the Oslo Freifunk project is no longer possible to update to +reflect this fact, so the old project page can't be updated to point to +the new project. A while back, the people at Hackeriet invited people +from the Freifunk community to Oslo to talk about mesh networks. I +came across this video where Hans Jørgen Lysglimt interview the +speakers about this talk (from +youtube):
+ + + +I mentioned OLSR and batman-adv, which are mesh routing protocols. +There are heaps of different protocols, and I am still struggling to +figure out which one would be "best" for some definitions of best, but +given that the community mesh group in Oslo is so small, I believe it +is best to hook up with the existing one instead of trying to create a +completely different setup, and thus I have decided to focus on +batman-adv for now. It sure help me to know that the very cool +Serval project in Australia +is using batman-adv as their meshing technology when it create a self +organizing and self healing telephony system for disaster areas and +less industrialized communities. Check out this cool video presenting +that project (from +youtube):
+ + + +According to the wikipedia page on +Wireless +mesh network there are around 70 competing schemes for routing +packets across mesh networks, and OLSR, B.A.T.M.A.N. and +B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced are protocols used by several free software +based community mesh networks.
+ +The batman-adv protocol is a bit special, as it provide layer 2 +(as in ethernet ) routing, allowing ipv4 and ipv6 to work on the same +network. One way to think about it is that it provide a mesh based +vlan you can bridge to or handle like any other vlan connected to your +computer. The required drivers are already in the Linux kernel at +least since Debian Wheezy, and it is fairly easy to set up. A +good +introduction is available from the Open Mesh project. These are +the key settings needed to join the Oslo meshfx network:
- +Setting | Value |
---|---|
Protocol / kernel module | batman-adv |
ESSID | meshfx@hackeriet | Channel / Frequency | 11 / 2462 | +Cell ID | 02:BA:00:00:00:01 | +
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.
+The reason for setting ad-hoc wifi Cell ID is to work around bugs +in firmware used in wifi card and wifi drivers. (See a nice post from +VillageTelco about +"Information +about cell-id splitting, stuck beacons, and failed IBSS merges! +for details.) When these settings are activated and you have some +other mesh node nearby, your computer will be connected to the mesh +network and can communicate with any mesh node that is connected to +any of the nodes in your network of nodes. :)
+ +My initial plan was to reuse my old Linksys WRT54GL as a mesh node, +but that seem to be very hard, as I have not been able to locate a +firmware supporting batman-adv. If anyone know how to use that old +wifi access point with batman-adv these days, please let me know.
+ +If you find this project interesting and want to join, please join +us on IRC, either channel +#oslohackerspace +or #nuug on +irc.freenode.net.
+ +While investigating mesh networks in Oslo, I came across an old +research paper from the university of Stavanger and Telenor Research +and Innovation called +The +reliability of wireless backhaul mesh networks and elsewhere +learned that Telenor have been experimenting with mesh networks at +Grünerløkka in Oslo. So mesh networks are also interesting for +commercial companies, even though Telenor discovered that it was hard +to figure out a good business plan for mesh networking and as far as I +know have closed down the experiment. Perhaps Telenor or others would +be interested in a cooperation?
+ +Update 2013-10-12: I was just +told +by the Serval project developers that they no longer use +batman-adv (but are compatible with it), but their own crypto based +mesh system.
+The other day I was pleased and surprised to discover that Marcelo +Salvador had published a +video on +Youtube showing how to install the standalone Debian Edu / +Skolelinux profile. This is the profile intended for use at home or +on laptops that should not be integrated into the provided network +services (no central home directory, no Kerberos / LDAP directory etc, +in other word a single user machine). The result is 11 minutes long, +and show some user applications (seem to be rather randomly picked). +Missed a few of my favorites like celestia, planets and chromium +showing the Zygote Body 3D model +of the human body, but I guess he did not know about those or find +other programs more interesting. :) And the video do not show the +advantages I believe is one of the most valuable featuers in Debian +Edu, its central school server making it possible to run hundreds of +computers without hard drives by installing one central +LTSP server.
+ +Anyway, check out the video, embedded below and linked to above:
+ + + +Are there other nice videos demonstrating Skolelinux? Please let +me know. :)
The Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project is making great progress and made its second Wheezy based -release today. This is the release announcement:
+ +A few hours ago, the announcement for the first stable release of +Debian Edu Wheezy went out from the Debian publicity team. The +complete announcement text can be found at +the Debian News +section, translated to several languages. Please check it out.
+ +There is one minor known problem that we will fix very soon. One +can not install a amd64 Thin Client Server using PXE, as the /var/ +partition is too small. A workaround is to extend the partition (use +lvresize + resize2fs in tty 2 while installing).
+The Freedombox +project have been going on for a while, and have presented the +vision, ideas and solution several places. Here is a little +collection of videos of talks and presentation of the project.
-New features for Debian Edu 7.0.0 alpha1 released -2013-05-14
+-
-
- FreedomBox - +2,5 minute marketing film (Youtube) -
- Eben Moglen +discusses the Freedombox on CBS news 2011 (Youtube) -
- Eben Moglen - +Freedom in the Cloud - Software Freedom, Privacy and and Security for +Web 2.0 and Cloud computing at ISOC-NY Public Meeting 2010 +(Youtube) -
- Fosdem 2011 +Keynote by Eben Moglen presenting the Freedombox (Youtube) -
- 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. -
- Presentation of +the Freedombox by James Vasile at Elevate in Gratz 2011 (Youtube) -
- Freedombox - +Discovery, Identity, and Trust by Nick Daly at Freedombox Hackfest New +York City in 2012 (Youtube) + +
- Introduction +to the Freedombox at Freedombox Hackfest New York City in 2012 +(Youtube) + +
- Freedom, Out +of the Box! by Bdale Garbee at linux.conf.au Ballarat, 2012 (Youtube) + +
- Freedombox +1.0 by Eben Moglen and Bdale Garbee at Fosdem 2013 (FOSDEM) + +
- What is the +FreedomBox today by Bdale Garbee at Debconf13 in Vaumarcus +2013 (Youtube) -
- 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).
This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux 7.0.0 edu
-alpha1, based on
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. Immediatly after installation a school -server running all services needed for a school network is set up just -waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable -Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after -initial installation of the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all -other machines can be installed via the network.
+This is the first test release based on Wheezy (which currently is -not released yet). Basically this is an updated and slightly improved -version compared to the Squeeze release.
+Software updates
--
-
Other changes
--
+
Known issues
+A larger list is available from +the +Freedombox Wiki.
+ +On other news, I am happy to report that Freedombox based on Debian +Jessie is coming along quite well, and soon both Owncloud and using +Tor should be available for testers of the Freedombox solution. :) In +a few weeks I hope everything needed to test it is included in Debian. +The withsqlite package is already in Debian, and the plinth package is +pending in NEW. The third and vital part of that puzzle is the +metapackage/setup framework, which is still pending an upload. Join +us on IRC +(#freedombox on irc.debian.org) and +the +mailing list if you want to help make this vision come true.
+The third wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today. This is the release announcement from Holger Levsen:
+ ++Hi,
+ +it is my pleasure to announce the third beta release (beta 2 for +short) of Debian Edu / +Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy!
+ +Please test these images extensivly, if no new problems are found +we plan to do this final Debian Edu Wheezy release this coming +weekend. We are not aware of any major problems or blockers in beta2, +if you find something, please notify us immediately!
+ +(More about the remaining steps for the Edu Wheezy release in +another mail to the edu list tonight or tomorrow...)
+ +Noteworthy changes and software updates for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b2 +compared to beta1:
+-
-- 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).
+- The KDE proxy setup has been adjusted to use the provided wpad.dat. This +also gets Chromium to use this proxy.
+- Install kdepim-groupware with KDE desktops to make sure korganizer +understand ical/dav sources.
+- Increased default maximum size of /var/spool/squid and /skole/backup on the +main server.
+- A source DVD image containing all source packages is now available as well.
+- Updates for chromium (29.0.1547.57-1~deb7u1), imagemagick +(6.7.7.10-5+deb7u2), php5 (5.4.4-14+deb7u4), libmodplug +(0.8.8.4-3+deb7u1+git20130828), tiff (4.0.2-6+deb7u2), linux-image +(3.2.0-4-486_3.2.46-1+deb7u1).
Where to get it
+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~b2-CD.iso
+- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso
+- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso .
+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 +The SHA1SUM of this image is: 3a1c89f4666df80eebcd46c5bf5fedb866f9472f
+To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use +
+
-- ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso
+- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso
+- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso .
The MD5SUM of this image is: 685ed76c1aa8e44b12d3fde21faf450b
+The SHA1SUM of this image is: 702d1718548f401c74bfa6df9f032cc3ee16597e
-The SHA1SUM of this image is: 6c874de157024da13e115bab29c068080a11ec4c
+The Source DVD image has the filename +debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-source-DVD.iso and the SHA1SUM +089eed8b3f962db47aae1f6a9685e9bb2fa30ca5 and is available the same way +as the other isos.
-How to report bugs
+How to report bugs
+ +For information how to report bugs please see +
+ + +
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsAbout Debian Edu and Skolelinux
-http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
+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 seventh test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically +this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the +Squeeze release.
+ +Notes for upgrades from Alpha Prereleases
+ +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 all users need to change their password +to make sure a password is set for CIFS access to their home +directory.
+ + +cheers, +
+
Holger